CORRUPTION OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 NEW YORK JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, 
 
 OF 
 
 A Scries of Unanswered and Unanswerable Editorials, 
 
 SHOWING DEEP ABUSES IN THE 
 
 NEW YORK CITY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 JggT READ AND CIRCULATE. ^Jgfl 
 
 Taxes for 1852 $3,380,511 05 
 
 Taxes for 1853 5,171,802 79 
 
 Increase for this year $1,791,291 34 
 
 (OVER 50 PER CENT. ;) AND THIS IN ADDITION TO A LARGE 
 INCREASE IN THE PERMANENT DEBT. 
 
 WHO PAYS THE TAXES P 
 
 Not the rich man who owns. No. The poor man who hires Whether he hire 
 a house, room, 6hanty or lot, when the taxes are increased, the owner im- 
 mediately adds the increased tax to his rent, so that nearly the whole 
 amount of two millions of additional tax for tbis year comes 
 out of the pockets of the hard-working men of the city. 
 R. Let every poor man see how deeply he is interest- * 
 -•*J7 ed in the question of " Reform in the Cor- 
 poration." 
 
 "CORRUPTION IS THE DEADLIEST FOE TO LIBERTY." 
 
 Saw "S<D!R!S 8 
 WM. C. BRYANT & CO., PRINTERS, 18 NASSAU STREET 
 
 1853. 
 
 Ex ICtbrts 
 
 30 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 f 
 
 httpV/archive.org/details/corruptionofcityQK®^ P ' 
 
 \OURST 1 . 
 
REFORM THE COMMON COUNCIL, 
 
 CITY REFORM. 
 
 City Reform. — "We press this measure now upon the attention of 
 citizens, because the Legislature, -which is expected to take part in 
 measures of relief, -will sit but one hundred days from the opening 
 of the session, and it will be necessary to consider the subject care- 
 fully, to prepare measures deliberately, and press them earnestly 
 before that body. It is a subject fit to engage the warm exertions of 
 all citizens ; for all are interested — the poor and the rich, the humble 
 and the great — in the inestimable boon of a well-framed government, 
 wisely administered. The duty of aiding in reform at this moment 
 — when that power which the people have erected for public and 
 useful purposes, is wielded to defeat these objects, and to shield 
 open violation of law — devolves on every citizen. No one has a right 
 to shift the duty over upon others. No effective organization is now 
 in existence ; it must be created. "Who will take part in it, and what 
 * shall be its particular duties ? The first branch of the question we 
 leave to be answered by our readers. Consider whether or not you 
 have taken your appropriate part in keeping the ship of state in an 
 onward, steady, straight course ; whether its deviations are the re- 
 sult of your indifference, or belong to the system of free government, 
 If to the latter, remedies are hopeless ; and we must sink down 
 step by step, to that condition of disgrace when a despotic arm will 
 be welcomed as a substitute for roguery. The general tone of deep 
 condemnation uttered every where but in the Common Council 
 against what is now going on, is proof that the populace are yet 
 pure ; that the general sentiment is sound ; and that it only needs to 
 be concentrated to a point, and directed properly, in order to reach 
 the object in view. A public meeting composed of the best citizens, 
 selected without respect to party, would induce the Legislature to 
 carry out its recommendation. The policy of giving more force to 
 the veto power of the Mayor, has been discussed. He is an officer 
 
selected generally with more care than is bestowed on others, and 
 certainly it should require more votes to pass a measure after a veto 
 than before, whereas fewer are necessary. The policy of amending 
 the criminal law so that bribery may be reached and punished, by 
 authorizing the District Attorney to compel witnesses to testify, 
 (make them testify, but let them go clear,) by taking from aldermen 
 the power to make up the Grand Jury list, (devolve this on assessors,) 
 and by giving to a court in which aldermen do not preside the power 
 to try aldermen : the policy of doing this has been presented to pub- 
 lic consideration. The important matter to be done, relates to the 
 power of the Common Council. They are now Supervisors, and fix 
 on the amount of tax, for authority to lay which application is made 
 to the Legislature. They sit also as a Board to authorize expendi- 
 ture. They have, on the nomination of the Mayor, a power of ap- 
 pointment to office, They preside in Criminal Courts. Here is a 
 union of political,, legislative and judicial power. The union of all 
 these powers in a single person ; the compensation awarded for ser- 
 vice, (they are paid as Aldermen, Judges, Supervisors and Canvas- 
 sers, and sometimes for all on the same day,) and the collateral ad- 
 vantages of the post, have placed in office a set of men, who have gone 
 there for emolument and political patronage. If the power of the Board 
 of Supervisors were devolved on others, those others would have power 
 to fix on the aggregate of expenditure for the year, and the Alder- 
 men would determine on its division among particular subjects. The 
 duty of keeping within the aggregate, could be guarded by such pro- 
 visions as would enable any citizen to proceed to impeach or to en- 
 force a personal liability against offenders. In this simple arrange- 
 ment, a check over the total of expenditure is presented. A check 
 on the manner of its distribution should be provided in the careful 
 adjustment of the veto power. With these arrangements a corrupt 
 Common Council would be fettered — the efficiency of an honest one 
 would not be impaired. 
 
 The next question is, how shall this Board of Supervisors be con- 
 structed ? If it shall be composed of men of the same character as 
 those now in the Common Council, there would be three badly con- 
 structed Boards instead of two, and consequently no benefit from the 
 tbird. The benefit must come from its mode of construction. As it 
 will not have the power of appointment, or the power to vote on 
 
5 
 
 measures of legislation, the mere politician will not seek it. There 
 is a chance that it will be left to the taxpayers. They, at all events, 
 will feel deeply interested in its composition, and will go to the polls. 
 Party conventions will have a pride in nominating for it the best citi- 
 zens, as they seem yet to have in nominations for our higher courts 
 of justice. But if these considerations may be thought to be un- 
 sound, then the object of having good Supervisors can be accom- 
 plished in the mode of appointment. It would subject all measures 
 of reform to the danger of defeat, to iuterfere with the qualifications 
 of voters. A property qualification will be regarded with odium, 
 and cannot be thought of. No man is wise in reforms, who is wiser 
 than his time. The Board should not be large. It would be well 
 constructed to consist of, say, nine persons : three to be elected from 
 the city at large, three by the Common Council on the nomination of 
 the Mayor, three by the Governor of the State. It must be recol- 
 lected that the Governor appoints our notaries, our port wardens 
 and other officers, and that to devolve the power in question on him, 
 would be no new feature. This would be the commencement only 
 of reform ; the rest would certainly follow.* There is a necessity for 
 immediate measures, as a check on present expenditure and present 
 corruption. It is too long to wait for another general election. The 
 odds will be greatly favorable to those in power, if the tax bill ap- 
 plied for — nearly five millions — be granted, without in any manner 
 fettering the authority of members. In whatever tax bill is passed, 
 it may be expedient also to specify the subjects of expenditure, or to 
 exclude particular subjects. It has already been decided by the Su- 
 preme Court, that a Board of the character of ours, has no power to 
 expend for junketings. At the present time, a public man of much 
 eminence w»uld feel himself disgraced by accepting civilities involv- 
 ing expenditure, from the present Common Council. The city will 
 perhaps be exempt from such expenditures ; but if the public author- 
 ities do attempt to confer honor (?) on distinguished men, let it be 
 done without the necessity for increasing the taxes. The objection 
 to it lies chiefly in the fact that it is use"d as an occasion for defraud- 
 ing the public. 
 
 * After the corruptions mentioned in the following articles had been exposed, other 
 measures of reform were ehown to be necessary, which are spoken, of at another 
 page. " * 
 
6 
 
 Citizens of New York, such is your government ! Do you not feel 
 ashamed of your condition and prospects ? Are you entitled to the 
 high privileges of an American citizen, when misgovernment is at 
 your doors ; in the streets ; when it disturbs your slumbers : when 
 it exposes your person, your property, and is not instantly and effec- 
 tually rebuked and corrected ? The time is auspicious for action. 
 No general elections present themselves to drown the voice of remon- 
 strance against wrong. All is now calm in politics, and if you are 
 quick, wise and patriotic, you will soon have cleansed a stable, filthy 
 far beyond that Augean nuisance, which seems still to stink in the 
 nostrils of the world. Consider the subject thoroughly, and ascertain 
 the appropriate remedies. Every man may add his mite. Form 
 your thoughts speedily into the shape of action. 
 
 HENRY E. DAVIES. 
 
 Good pay — $60,000 and upwards per Annum. 
 City Reform. — A few days ago, a statement was put into our hands 
 showing the expenses of opening the Third avenue some years ago, and 
 of the Fourth avenue, from 84th street to the Harlem River, within this 
 year. In the former case they were $2,023.81. In the latter case, £33,- 
 058.51. The proceedings to open the Third avenue were conducted by 
 that honest and excellent man Michael Ulshoefter. The proceedings in 
 the latter by Henry E. Davies. Not wishing to make any statement of the 
 expenses occasioned by Mr. Davies, that we did not Jcnow to be correct, 
 we went to the City Hall to make the requisite inquiries. The examina- 
 tion had scarcely commenced before there was opened a most astonishing 
 display of recklessness on the part of those who are invested with public 
 trusts. The fees of Mr. Davies on opening the 4th avenue, were $15,240. The 
 amount was received on the last day of the official term of the late officers 
 of this City Government; the last also, fortunately for the*city, of Mr. 
 Henry E. Davies. The book being before us, curiosity led us to ascertain 
 how much had been received within the year, on this head of service. 
 
 Att'y and Counsel fees— Liberty street $1,188 97 
 
 Albany street 826 19 
 
 " " 51st street 448 02 
 
 " " Eloomi no-dale road 2,378 44 
 
 82d street 581 23 
 
 " " 125th street 1,149 34 
 
 " * Stuwesant square 254 26 
 
 " " liyth street 724 16 
 
7 
 
 Attfy and Counsel tees— 124th street 996 87 
 
 « « Bloomingdale square 7,478 70 
 
 « « First avenue 4,448 43 
 
 « « Canal and Walker 6,341 65 
 
 " " 11th avenue (part) 1,735 37 . 
 
 « « 120th street— say 600 00 
 
 " a 4th avenue, above 15,246 00 
 
 $47,500 63 
 
 We are not sure that this embraces tbe whole amount received, but it 
 will be found to exceed the united salaries of the gentlemen at Washing- 
 ton, who compose the Cabinet of the President. 
 
 The items are composed, with the exception of very inconsiderable 
 sums, of charges for services as Attorney in drawing the papers, and of 
 Counsel fees. Some of the counsel fees are as follows : — 
 
 Motion to appoint Commissioners $75 
 
 Advising with Commissioners 500 
 
 Preparing to argue and arguing 500 
 
 $1,075 
 
 These magnificent amounts are certified to by the commissioners. Their 
 fees are procured to be taxed by the counsel. The two have an interest 
 to swell the amount to the utmost capacity of property owners to pay. 
 These sums, it must be recollected, are over and above various other 
 amounts paid for services rendered by this well known officer. The or- 
 dinances of the Corporation fix the salary of the counsel at three thousand 
 \ jwe hundred dollars.- He is allowed for clerk hire, two thousand one 
 hundred dollars. For contingencies, printing and stationery, he receives 
 in addition, and doubtless pays away, $6,200. The counsel also receives 
 large sums, large, we mean, in our view, small no doubt in his, for mort- 
 gages drawn for purchase moneys on sales of corporation lots, for leases 
 of land, docks, ferries, and for taxed costs on suits in which the city pre- 
 vails. We speak now of what are called the legitimate fees of the office. 
 We do not take into view the supposed receipts from other sources. The fee 
 for draw ing a ferry lease we hear has been fifty dolors, in the most unim 
 portant cases. Whilst we were present in the Comptroller's office, a gen- 
 tleman who had bought a gore from the city, and who was charged $11 
 for fees, was endeavoring to ascertain from Mr. Flagg, in what manner 
 he could recover it back. The counsel of the Corporation holds his office 
 under the Charter of 1849, which provides that there shall be "an execu- 
 " tive department known as the Law Department, which shall have the 
 "charge of and conduct all the law business of the corporation, and of the 
 " departments thereof, and all other law business in which the city shall 
 * * be interested, when so ordered by the corporation, and shall have the 
 
8 
 
 "charge of and conduct the legal proceedings necessary in opening, 
 "widening, or altering streets; and draw the leases, deeds, and other 
 "papers connected with the Finance Department, and the chief officer 
 "thereof shali be called the Counsel to the Corporation." In order to 
 carry this provision of the charter into effect, certain ordinances were 
 drawn up in 1849, after Mr. Davies had been appointed counsel, in which 
 ordinances he doubtless took a part, at least in the matter appertaining to 
 his duties. Before his appointment a law had been drawn up by Alder- 
 man Purser, with the advice of important members of the Judiciary, having 
 for its object to cut off fully the charges by the counsel for any services 
 over and above his salary, and it was adopted. This had become an es- 
 tablished policy. This principle could only be invaded by indirection. 
 It was thus accomplished. The 425th section of the new ordinances 
 provides that ** the salary to be paid to the counsel to the cor- 
 "poratien shall be a full compensation, as between him and the 
 "corporation, for all the services he may be required to render by this 
 "article (art. 11 meaning.) He shall nevertheless be entitled to receive 
 "from parties other than the corporation, the taxable costs in all actions 
 " and proceedings which may be conducted, prosecuted or defended by 
 "him as such counsel as provided in section 420." Section 240 requires 
 "him to prosecute and defend as the Attorney and Counsel of the Cor- 
 poration, all actions which may be brought by or against them, or any of 
 "the heads of Department or bureau, or any officer thereof, for or by 
 " reason of any matter connected with or growing out of their respective 
 " offices, or in which the corporation are interested, in any court in this 
 " State," except, &c. 
 
 The limitation in any Court of this State had a particular object. There 
 were thirty odd suits against the city depending in the State of New Jer- 
 sey, growing out of the great fire, the care of which necessarily fell to Mr. 
 Davies under the provision of the charter above quoted. The suits were 
 an experiment after failures in the Courts in this State. Mr. Cornelius W. 
 Lawrence, on his way to Washington, had been sued and the suits were 
 to be defended. The charter required the counsel to defend all suits, 
 whether in or out of the State ; the compensation provided in the ordin- 
 ances applied only to those in the state. A test suit was tried and finally 
 decided in behalf of New York by the bench in New Jersey. Mr. Davie3 
 finding that his term was about to expire, set about to obtain, without 
 going to the corporation und without notice to the public, a fee in that 
 matter, and he found an old ordinance which the late Finance Committee 
 were induced to apply to this subject. Under these circumstances he re- 
 ceived, a few weeks before his term ended, the sum of ten thousand dol- 
 lars for his services there as counsel. The persons who adjudicated upon 
 this charge were Aldermen Bard and Boyce, and Assistant Aldermea 
 
9 
 
 Wells and Ring. At the same time, other charges by other counsel were 
 presented and allowed, amounting to Eleven Thousand Dollars. The 
 ordinance referred to as authority for this extraordinary proceeding, was 
 one passed in 133S, and bad in view the suits then pending in this State, 
 and not those commenced in New Jersey aftenmrds. It was indeed a 
 mere resolution which could be carried into effect only by the Finance 
 Committee then in existence, although in the book of ordinances of 1845 
 it is improperly published among them. It is as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That the suit and claims for damages sustained by the blow- 
 ing up buildings during the great fire, be referred to the Finance Com- 
 mittees, together with the Law Committees of both boards, with power to 
 direct the further prosecution or defence of the same or some of them, 
 or to settle and pay the same or some of them, and all expenses attending 
 the same, as they in their discretion shall judge proper, and to direct the 
 sale and transfer of so much of the stock of the Fire Indemnity Loan as 
 shall be necessary to make such payment. 
 
 Resolved, That the Comptroller be authorized to sell and dispose of so 
 much of the stock of the Fire Indemnity Loan, and to pay such claims as 
 the Finance Commiitee in pursuance of 'the above resolution shall direct. 
 
 Under this assumed authority, these enormous payments are made, 
 and that too, not in pursuance of the first resolution ; for that required 
 the consent of the Law Committees, which was not obtained. 
 
 Citizens of New York, it is thus that your purse is opened, and that 
 arms are thrust in to the very armpits, in open day, and your taxes rais- 
 ed nearly fifty per cent, in one year, in addition to large permanent debts 
 incurred under authority of the Legislature. That body has been deceiv- 
 ed and you betrayed. Go to them. to reform your difficulties. They will 
 listen to your honest appeals, and fetter the roguery by which the city is 
 dishonored. Are you ready to act ? The time is auspicious. The Legis- 
 lature is now in session. You must be quick, active, firm, and all will 
 yet be well. A great duty is imposed upon you for yourselves and your 
 children. Shall reproaches fall on you for your indifference, or shall the 
 blessings of an approving conscience and of posterity rest upon you ? 
 
 HENRY E. DAVIES, ESQ. 
 Good Pay for Services in Fire Suits, $10,000. 
 The SI 0,000 Fee.— The right to a fee to the Corporation Counsel for 
 defending suits brought against the city in the State of New Jersey, was 
 hinged upon a resolution passed in 1837, authorizing the Finance and the 
 Law Committees to adjust claims against the city growing out of the great 
 fire, and the expenses attending the same. It has already been shown that 
 the resolution related to suits then pending in this State, in which a deci- 
 
10 
 
 sion was subsequently made in favor of the city; that it was a direction io 
 committees then in existence; that its operation, (as it was a resolution 
 and not an ordinance) was temporary; and that to revive it, and avply it 
 fifteen years afterwards, was wholly improper; and especially when but 
 four out of six members of the Finance Committee had been consulted, and 
 not one of the Law Committee. The fee of $10 r 000 was received by Mr, 
 Davies from the Comptroller, (no one will suppose that we refer to Mr. 
 Flagg,) on the certificate of but two members of each Finance Committee, 
 without being placed before the Common Council, without notice to the 
 public, and in express defiance also of various ordinances of the Common 
 Council, passed subsequently to the date of that resolution. At the risk 
 of being tedious, we feel obliged to present the matter fully to the public. 
 In 1847, various claims for extra services by a former counsel had been 
 presented, and referred to the Finance Committee for adjustment. The 
 Common Council, in order to cut off all like claims, passed the following 
 preamble and resolutions : 
 
 " Mli.ereas, By an ordinance of the Common Council of the City of New 
 York, passed May 14, 1839, it was ordained, that the Counsel to'the Cor- 
 poration should advise the two Boards and their committees and officers, 
 on such legal questions as might, from time to time, arise in relation to the 
 business of the corporation, and perform all such other services in the line 
 of his profession connected with the business of the corporation, as were 
 not comprised in the duties of the Attomey. 
 
 " And Whereas, By a resolution passed May 29th, 1844, the salary to the 
 
 counsel was fixed at $2,00o, and, by an ordinance passed , $1,600 
 
 was allowed him for clerk hire. 
 
 And Whereas, There are now before the Joint Finance Committee, for 
 adjustment, bills to the very large and extravagant amount of nearly 
 $25,000, for alleged extra services rendered by persons heretofore occupy- 
 ing the situation of counsel to the corporation, in violation vt the spirit, 'if 
 nol the letter of the ordinance, allowing a definite salary to the counsel, in 
 heu of any and all fees. Therefore, 
 
 •* Resulted, That in fixing the salary of the Counsel of the Corporation 
 at §2,<)oo per annum, it was clearly meant and intended that it should be 
 received bv lain in lull tor any and all professional sei vices rendered by 
 him. either to the Mayor, Common. Council, or any member thereof, in his 
 official capacity, and for any and all services rendered by him, either in 
 fhe preparing or di awing of any lease, deed, or other conveyance, or in- 
 strument in Cv.king. fof the said corporation, and for the prosecuting and 
 defending of qm a?id all suits, or legal proeeedinys, brought against the 
 said Corpor,: ion, a d .hat the said corporation were not. to be considered 
 as liable or responsible for any extra services rendered by him in ihat ca- 
 pacity, and that, hereafter, the Common Council will not sanction or ap- 
 prove of or allow, any charge for services rendered by the counsel to the 
 corporation over and above the salary of $2,000 per annum, or such other 
 sum as may be fixed by Common Council. 
 
 "Adopted by the Board of Aldermen, July 26, 1847. 
 
 " Adopted by the Board of Assistants, Sept. 6, 1847. 
 
 " Approved by the Mayor, Sept. 7, 1847." 
 
11 
 
 Notwithstanding this resolution, (which was loosely drawn, though its 
 object could not be mistaken,) claims for subsequent extra services were 
 presented and recovered. Alderman Purser, then in the Board, applied 
 for a committee to prepare an ordinance on the subject, which was appoin- 
 ted. In order to close up the openings through which recoveries for extra 
 services had been made, he consulted with those members of the Judiciary 
 who had examined the question, and prepared, under their direction and 
 with due care, an ordinauce on the subject, which was adopted with great 
 Unanimity. This proceeding took place about twelve months in advance 
 of the term of Mr. Henry E. Davies, who knew its character perfectly Well 
 when, through his expressed desire to render public service, he became a 
 candidate for office. The ordinance, approved by the Mayor on the 9th of 
 May, 1348, is as follows : 
 
 The Mayor, Ald-ennen and Commonalty of the City of Xew York, in Com- 
 mon Council convened, do ordain as follows: 
 
 § 1. There shall be a Department of the City Government known as 
 the Law Department, the chief officer whereof shall be denominated the 
 " Counsel of the Corporation;" and he shall keep his office in such rooms 
 of the City Hall as may be assigned by the Common Council. He shall 
 be appointed by the Common Council, and receive a salary of thirty-five 
 hundred dollars per annum, which salary shall be in full for all services 
 rendered by said officer, ivhether in the capacity of Attorney, Counsel, So- 
 licitor, Proctor or Conveyancer; and said salary shall be in lieu of all 
 costs at law or in equity, and of all fees or other charges against the Cor- 
 poration, Supervisors, or Departments, or against any other person or per- 
 sons, for the perfor mance of any service connected with, or arising out of, 
 the business of the said Corporation, which shall or may be committed to his 
 care, under or by vhrtxie of this ordinance. 
 
 § 2. The said Counsel shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, 
 take and subscribe an oath, or affirmation, well and faithfully to per'orm 
 the duties of said office. He shall also £ive a bond, with sufficient sureties, 
 to be approved by the Finance Committees of both Boards, in the penal 
 sum of two thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of 
 the duties of his office. 
 
 § 3. It shall be the du'y of the said Attorney and Counsel to advise the 
 two Boards and their Committees and officers, on such questions as may, 
 from time to time, arise in relation to the business of the Corpo ation. He 
 shall keep his office in one of the moms adjoining tho«e occupied by the 
 Comptroller, and shall attend to all the business of the corporation not 
 committed to the Attorney of the Corporation ; and shall perform, without 
 any charge beyond the compensation before specified, all such duties, in 
 the Ime of his profession, in defending or prosecuting suits at law, or in 
 equity, in which the Corporation of New York have any interest or concern, 
 and all such deeds, conveyances, contracts, reports of committees, peti- 
 tions, drafts of laws or other papers, or services as shall be required. 
 
 § 4. All fees received by said Attorney and Counsel for taxed costs in 
 any suit, or for the drawing of deeds, mortgages, or other papers or ser- 
 vices connected with, or arising out of, the business of the Corporation 
 Board of Supervisors, or any of the departments of the City Government^ 
 
12 
 
 shall be paid by him into the City Treasury at the close of each month, and 
 he shall immediately after file a detailed report thereof, verified by oath or 
 affirmation, accompanied by the Chamberlain's receipt, with the Comp- 
 troller. 
 
 § 5. The said Corporation Counsel shall keep an account of all the fees 
 of court and actual disbursments paid out and disbursed by him in the 
 conducting of any suit or proceeding, essential in the performance of his 
 duties, and shall monthly render to the Comptroller, a statement in detail, 
 verified by oath, of all such fees of court and disbursment, actually paid 
 out and disbursed by him, and the Comptroller shall pay the same after 
 proper examination ; but the said Corporation Counsel shall not be, direct* 
 ly or indirectly, interested in any such fees or disbursments. 
 
 % 6. The said Attorney and Counsel shall have two clerks to assist him 
 in the performance of his dulies, who shall be appointed by him, one at a 
 salary of one thousand dollars, and one at a salary of six hundred dol- 
 lars. 
 
 § 7. Section 1st, Title 1st, of Chapter 4th of Revised Ordinances in re- 
 lation to the Counsel of the Corporation, and all other Ordinances and 
 resolutions inconsistent with this Ordinance, are hereby repealed. 
 
 These ordinances have the merit of precision and comprehensiveness. 
 Under them no claims for extra services of any description could be re- 
 covered. Mr. Davies found them in operation when he was first appointed 
 in May, 1849. In order to reform the abuses that had previously existed 
 in the Government, the Legislature, on the 2d of April, 1849, made nume- 
 rous and important alterations in the charter, which were to be submitted 
 to the people for approval on the 2d Tuesday of that month, and, if ap- 
 proved, were to take effect on the first day of June in the same year. Such 
 submission and approval took place, and the charter, as amended, was 
 adopted. Among other things, it made the heads of department elective, 
 and among them that of the law department. Mr. Davies, under the ap- 
 pointment in May, 1849, took possession of his office. He held it to the 
 first of January last. The provisions of the new charter, applicable to his 
 office, are as follows : 
 
 Sec. 18. " There shall be an executive department, known as the " Law 
 Department," which shall have the charge of and conduct all the law bus- 
 iness of the Corporation, and of the departments thereof, and all other 
 law business in which the city shall be interested, when so ordered by the 
 corporation ; and shall have the charge of and conduct the legal proceed- 
 ing necessary in opening, widening, or altering streets ; and draw the 
 leases, deeds, and other papers connected with the Finance department, 
 and the chief officer thereof shall be called the Corporation Counsel." 
 
 Sec. 19. "No expense shall be incurred by any of the departments or 
 officers thereof, whether the object of expenditure shall have been ordered 
 by the Common Council or not, unless an appropriation shall have been 
 previously made concerning such expense." 
 
 The then existing ordinances in respect to the compensation of the 
 Counsel remained in full force ; but, as the new charter produced a deci- 
 
13 
 
 sive change in the organization of the city government, an alteration of the 
 ordinances was necessary in order that there should be conformity be- 
 tween them. A committee was appointed for this purpose in both Boards ; 
 about 200 pages of additional ordinances were reported ; they were adop- 
 ted a day or two before the new government was to go into effect ; but the 
 haste with which they were acted upon, may be inferred from the fact, 
 that they were adopted by one Board on the 28th, by another on the 29th, 
 and were approved by the Mayor on the 30th May, 1849, — all within two 
 months of the passage of the Act to submit the new charter to the peo- 
 ple. 
 
 The new ordinances on the subject of the compensation of the Counsel, 
 left the salary of the counsel and his clerks at the amount fixed under Al- 
 derman Purser's proceedings ; but the precision and force of Alderman 
 Purser's ordinance were, in part, destroyed. There was a partial enume- 
 ration of subjects to which the duty of the counsel applied, and an omis- 
 sion of others certain to fall within it, which destroyed the force of the 
 following provision, intended apparently to cut off extra claims : — " The 
 salary to be paid to the Counsel to the Corporation, shall be a full com- 
 pensation as between him and the Corporation, for all the services he may 
 be required to render by this article." Ke was not required by that article 
 (Art. 2) to take proceedings to open streets, or to defend suits out of the 
 State, or to draw mortgages to the City, or lease to ferries, &c. It is ow- 
 ing to these omissions that he has received, during his official term, pro~ 
 bably Two hundred thousand dollars over and above what would have 
 been allowed if the ordinance as to his compensation had remained in the 
 shape given to it by Alderman Purser. It was, however, changed. The 
 hand of a master evidently appears in its structure. It is divided into three 
 articles. The first follows the language of the charter and requires the coun- 
 sel to conduct the proceedings in opening streets ; the second omits it, and 
 applies the salary only to what is required by the second article ; and 
 these words are judiciously added : 
 
 "He shall nevertheless be entitled to receive from parties, otJier than 
 the Corporation, the taxable costs in all actions and proceedings which 
 may be conducted, prosecuted or defended by him as such counsel, as 
 provided in section 420." 
 
 These ordinances were in the course of preparation from the day of his 
 appointment, the 22d May, to the day his duties commenced, the 30th 
 May, on which day the ordinances took effect. They were adopted on that 
 day without proper reading, as they were understood to be mainly of that 
 organic character which was required to set the new machinery of Go- 
 vernment in motion. They were then to be printed ; but whether they 
 received modification as they went through the press, no stranger to the 
 
14 
 
 proceeding can tell. No individual could at that time have made the im- 
 mense change in the rule of compensation applied to the counsel, in an 
 open manner. It required indirection and haste, such as prevents exam- 
 ination and care, to accomplish it. The repealing clause declaring that 
 all ordinances inconsistent with those then adopted were repealed, has 
 failed to accomplish its purpose so far as to repeal that portion of the re- 
 solution adopted in 1847, which declares that "hereafter the Common 
 Council will not sanction or approve of, or allow any charge for services 
 rendered by the Counsel to the Corporation over and above the salary of 
 $2,000 per annum, or such other sum as may be fixed by the Common 
 Council." If the resolution of 1837 remained in force beyond the year, 
 this did also. 
 
 It is, therefore, clear that the charge of ten thousand dollars was wholly 
 illegal, and its receipt under the circumstances, a clear fraud upon the 
 public ; and it may be recovered back on a suit brought for that purpose. 
 The ordinances also provide " that no officer of the Corporation who re- 
 ceives a fixed salary, shall be entitled to any extra compensation for any 
 service which he may render to the Corporation." We trust a committee 
 may be appointed by the Legislature to inquire into the total amount re- 
 ceived, with power to send for persons and papers ; as the foundation not 
 only of proper laws on the subject, but also as the foundation of proceed- 
 ings for recovering these iniquitous gains. 
 
 SACRIFICE AT PRIVATE SALE OF THE FORT 
 GANSEVOORT PROPERTY. 
 The sale made by the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to Mr. 
 Simeon Draper, embraces the piece of land mostly under water, ex- 
 tending from the bulkhead running along West street and the 10th 
 Avenue out to another bulkhead running parallel with it, lately 
 erected, which constitutes the exterior line of the city. On the in- 
 ner line it is 584 feet, on the exterior line 870, from which the city 
 reserves the use of 108£ feet for streets, running East and West. 
 The Southerly line of the lots is 400 feet, the Northerly about 580. 
 When filled up, the purchasers will own between 70 and 80 lots, 
 and 781 feet of the preseut exterior bulkhead, from which they will 
 be entitled to wharfage and dockage. The land lies open to the 
 river on the South side only, and that, for only part of the way. 
 There is a bulkhead returning towards the shore 65 feet. The 
 Northerly boundary of this land is Twelfth street, which was filled 
 
15 
 
 up by the city and a private owner at the expense of $1*7,340, borne 
 jointly. Its West boundary is the bulkhead lately erected by the 
 city at a cost of 894,920.33. Its east boundary is the bulkhead along 
 West street, which originally cost the city $26,500. Its South line 
 is Gansevoort street, which is not filled up except for 65 feet. The 
 land under water inside of these boundaries is so sheltered from the 
 action of the river, by the fruits of the large outlay made, that it 
 can now be filled up without waste. The city reserves the right to 
 throw in coal ashes and street rubbish from several wards until it 
 is filled up, but it is not reserved as an exclusive right, and others 
 who pay for the privilege will no doubt be allowed to use it also. 
 The purchasers agree to make the streets and so much of the 13th 
 avenue as are within the grant, and to pave and repair them, but 
 they will be made by the deposits above mentioned. The purchase 
 money was $160,000, only about §30,000 beyond the outlay already 
 made by the public to bring the land under water into use* 
 
 It will readily be perceived that as the city needs a dumping 
 ground for the refuse, this property should have been reserved, and 
 when filled up, sold, at the greatly advanced value thus to be given 
 to it by the city. But, for some singular reasons, certain officers of 
 the city entrusted with the care of this property (the Sinking Fund 
 Commissioners,) thought proper to sell it to another officer (a Com- 
 missioner of the Alms House,) in which sale the plainest provisions of 
 the statutes of this State, the ordinances of the city and its charter, 
 were directly violated. The 19th section of the amended charter 
 provides that — 
 
 " No member of the common council, head of department, chief of 
 bureau, deputy thereof, or clerk therein, or other officer of the Cor- 
 poration, shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract, 
 work or business, or the sale of any article, the expense, price or 
 consideration of which is paid from the city treasury, or by any as- 
 sessments levied by any act or ordinance of the common council, 
 nor in the purchase of any real estate or other property belonging to 
 the Corporation, or which shall be sold for taxes and assessments." 
 
 For a violation of this ordinance, the party offending may be im- 
 peached and disqualified from holding any civil office under the 
 charter. Mr. Draper is such officer. The sale made nominally to 
 the keeper of a restaurant, was on the spot transferred to Mr- 
 Draper ; but after the deed had been drawn to him by the Corpora 
 
 * This property was at the time, valued by A J. Bleecker, Auctioneer, at $300,000. 
 
16 
 
 tion Counsel, (Mr. Davies,) this provision was examined, and 
 another party selected as the grantee. The purchaser violated this 
 law. The sellers violated it in selling to him, and they violated 
 others, equally explicit and important. 
 
 In 1851, the city of jNew York, through the exertions of the late 
 Comptroller, applied to the Legislature for authority to increase 
 largely and imprudently its debt. It was for the purpose of hiding 
 from tax payers the increase in expenditure and to distribute greater 
 advantages to favorites. The laws for this purpose embraced a new 
 principle, authority to create debt for annual repairs. A large por- 
 tion of it was created to build bulkheads. In order to induce the 
 Legislature to pass them, and overcome the expected hesitancy of 
 capitalists to take the debt, a provision was inserted in one of the 
 acts, that those ordinances of the city which appropriate its property 
 to its debt and provide a particular manner of sale, shall be above 
 the power of future Corporations. The act says (June 20th, 1851,) 
 that those ordinances "shall not be amended without the consent of 
 the Legislature first had and obtained" The ordinances thus secure 
 from amendment are as follows : — 
 
 "The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund are hereby authorized to 
 sell and dispose of all real estate belonging to the Corporation, and 
 not in use for and reserved for public purposes, at public auction, at 
 such times and on such terms as they may deem most advantageous 
 for the public interest ; provided, however, that no property shall 
 be disposed of for a smaller sum than that affixed to the description 
 of said property under Title V of this Ordinance ; and that at least 
 twenty days' previous notice of the time and place of such sale, in- 
 cluding a description of the property to be sold, be published in each 
 of the newspapers employed by the Corporation." 
 
 The provisions of Title V., thus referred to, and to control in ascer- 
 taining the valuation in advance of a, public sale, are as follows : 
 
 Section 1. Real estate, under lease, without covenants of renewal, 
 shall not be sold for a less sum than the same may be appraised at 
 by the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund and the Street Commis- 
 sioners, or a majority of them, at a meeting to be held, and an ap- 
 praisement made, within one month prior to the date of the sale. 
 
 Sec. 2. Real estate, under lease, with covenants of renewal, shall 
 not be sold for a less sum than an amount equal to a commutation on 
 the present rents reserved, calculated at 6 per cent. 
 
 Sec. 3. " Real estate not embraced in the last two preceding sec- 
 tions" (this was not) " shall not be sold for a less sum than the same 
 may be appraised at, pursuant to the first section of this title." 
 
17 
 
 i 
 
 These provisions authorise only a public sale ; they require an ap- 
 praisement by the Sinking Fund Commissioners and the Street Com- 
 missioners, an advertisement in all the corporation papers, and a sale 
 at not less than a recently fixed minimum price. The land in ques- 
 tion was clearly real estate, not only that gained from the river, but 
 also that under water and to be filled up. There was no appraise- 
 ment of its value, such as the law contemplates ; the sale was made 
 not publicly, but in a peculiarly private manner. A resolution was 
 offered on the 27th Dec. 1852, that the land be sold for $160,000. It 
 was agreed to instanter. The Commissioner who urged it drew from 
 his pocket a bid of Reuben Lovejoy, which was accepted. He then 
 drew from another pocket a transfer of it to Simeon Draper ; and 
 from another pocket an acceptance of it by the latter, and an agree- 
 ment to pay. The deeds were drawn, executed, delivered, and the 
 transaction closed before the term of the new Comptroller com- 
 menced, which was five days afterwards. Forty thousand dollars 
 were paid down ; the balance was secured by bond and mortgage. 
 The grantee selected, after it was found that Simeon Draper could 
 not take title, was the elder Joseph B. Varnum. There was an 
 especial duty in this matter devolved upon the late Mayor, which he 
 omitted to perform. The fourth section of the above chapter of ordi- 
 nances provides as follows : 
 
 " § 4. Whenever any real estate shall have been sold pursuant to 
 the preceding sections of this title, it shall be the duty of the said 
 Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, or a majority of them, to give 
 a certificate under their hands, that the same has been sold pursuant 
 to the provisions of this ordinance, and on the production of such 
 certificate, and the evidence that the proceeds of such sale have been 
 paid into the treasury, to the credit of the Sinking Fund for the re- 
 demption of the city debt, it shall be the duty of the Mayor of the 
 city and the clerk of the Common Council, to execute proper convey- 
 ances of such real estate, under their hands and the seal of the city 
 Corporation." 
 
 None of these formalities could, of course, have been observed, and 
 the seal of the city, placed under the control of the Mayor as a 
 sacred trust, has, consequently, been affixed without authority. He 
 has doubtless been deceived into connection with this matter, anr has 
 some explanation to offer.* 
 
 * No explanation has been made to the public 
 
18 
 
 Thg affair was closed on the 30th or 31st of December. Alderman 
 Bard, of the Finance Committee of the Board of Aldermen, and As- 
 sistant Alderman "Wells, of the Finance Committee of the Board of 
 Assistants, were actors in this transaction. They also fixed the fee 
 of Ten Thousand dollars to Henry E. Davies, which the Comptroller 
 improperly paid. It was on the same 31st of Dec. that Mr. Davies 
 received from the Comptroller and Street Commissioner his costs of 
 §15,000 for opening an Avenue. Mr. Davies was doubtless the legal 
 adviser of the Mayor and others in this transaction. 
 
 We are told that the scene at the Comptroller's office on that day 
 was a most remarkable one. On the next a bull-dog was to be placed 
 at the door of the Treasury. Whatever was to be accomplished in 
 the way of fraud and theft, was to be done in advance of the change 
 or never. The activity of subordinates was immense. The usual 
 segar-smoking was for once omitted. The transactions of that day, 
 when they are all disclosed and all ripped up, as they shall be, will 
 urgje citizens onward to those great duties of reform and purification 
 which they have so long culpably neglected. 
 
 Within the past year every profitable street and avenue has been 
 granted to favorites of the Common Council ; the taxes have been 
 increased nearly two millions ; the permanent debt has been largely 
 extended ; the property of the city has been thrown away ; Alder- 
 men have protected criminals ; and every form of misgovernment 
 is at our doors. With the frauds and abuses so openly perpetrated, 
 the Legislature of this State can have no sympathies. They will 
 grant the required relief. Go to them, and ask, that through their 
 influence, the government derived from them may be saved from de- 
 struction. The petition of those who are helpless, men, women and 
 children, who expect no other favor but protection to life, liberty and 
 property, their prayers will be heard, and those who have put all 
 these great interests in peril, be visited with shame, disgrace and 
 final punishment. Go to the Legislature for full relief They have 
 the power to grant it ; and if they refuse, they will be parties to the 
 great crimes under which we suffer. Let no timid counsels lead you 
 into half-way measures. Expel from power the rogues who still 
 hold it, for purposes of further corruption. They belong to no party 
 but that of Robin Hood. Party will not protect them. Orgaiu'ze 
 your government on a plan, which, while it sacredly regards every 
 
19 
 
 popular principle, shall yet enable honest citizens to control the first 
 city on the continent, a city which has the capacity to confer honor, 
 when well managed, but if not, to stamp disgrace on the State at 
 large. 
 
 The inhabitants of the city of New York compelled to apply 
 
 to the Legislature for relief — WHY? 
 To the Legislature of this State : 
 
 We learn that some surprise has been expressed among that por- 
 tion of your body which has no sympathy for crime, that proceedings 
 to impeach or punish the Aldermen of the city have not been taken. 
 The answer is very evident. In the charter received from you in 
 1849, there is a clause providing that " the Board of Assistant Al- 
 dermen shall have the sole power of impeachment of all city officers, 
 not otherwise provided for ; " and further that " the Board of 
 Aldermen shall have the sole power to try all impeachments." To the 
 question why are they not otherwise punished, the answer is equal- 
 ly complete. Under your laws, the Aldermen preside with a Judge, 
 or the Recorder, in the criminal courts. The Grand Jury are organ- 
 ized by and report to them. The Aldermen, as Supervisors of the 
 city, make out the list of the latter; and it may readily be supposed 
 that, when crime has been long meditated and openly committed, 
 the same attempts that have been made to shake the Judiciary 
 (through the provision authorizing the Supervisors to raise the salary 
 of the Judges) would be extended to other administrators of the law, 
 and that a proper care over the composition of the Gra,nd Jury would 
 not be overlooked. 
 
 There is still another reason. The rules of law enable any person 
 sworn as a witness in cases of bribery and fraud, to relieve himself 
 from the obligation to testify by declaring that his answers will 
 criminate himself; and hence, as he would be liable to immediate 
 conviction, proof of the guilt of others cannot be expected. It is 
 therefore, that men who should be at work with shaved heads and 
 striped jackets in one class of public buildings, occupy in others the 
 honorable post of Legislators in our local legislature, throw over 
 their persons the pure ermine of justice, and hold in their hands the 
 
20 
 
 power to govern a city whose example for good or evil, influences 
 every place on this great continent. A trial of these men will be a 
 farce, until you shall have answered the petitions that will soon reach 
 you for relief, the petitions of men who have trusted and been be- 
 trayed, the prayers of men, women and children who now look to 
 you to preserve from deep contamination the charter created by 
 your hands. 
 
 The abuses which we have suffered for a few years past, were 
 greatly augmented durirjg the past year. The tax bill now on your 
 table speaks volumes on that subject. There will be those in your 
 body from our city, who will try to press it speedily into a law. The 
 tax payers expect that you will hold it, until they have the oppor- 
 tunity to be heard before you. Those abuses, by which the taxes 
 have been increased nearly two millions of dollars, have been perpe- 
 trated for the benefit of members of the Common Council, and such 
 others as expediency required them to benefit. The cry of all these 
 is — " We can take care of ourselves; we need no aid from the Legis- 
 lature ; New York is competent to manage her own affairs." You 
 will presently see that the whole virtue, intelligence, and substauce 
 of this community rely on you for those organic features of reform, 
 which fraud, robbery, and violence have demonstrated to be neces- 
 sary. In the performance of our duty as conductors of a newspaper, 
 we have endeavored to present with detail and explicituess many of 
 the monstrous wrongs under which the community suffers. 
 
 We beg leave now to call your attention to the habitual violation 
 by our city government of two statutes of an important character. 
 One of these is your act which sacredly applies the large real estate 
 owned by the Corporation to the payment of its debt ; the other, the 
 law that no executive business shall be performed by any committee 
 or member of the Common Council. It is declared that if a member 
 converts anv public property to his own use, or knowingly permits 
 any other person so to convert it, he shall be deemed guilty of a mis- 
 demeanor. 
 
 The Sinking Fund Act expressly pledges the property of the city 
 to the payment of its debt. " The powers and duties of the Commis- 
 sioners " (said the late Mayor in his message of the 20th December) 
 "are defined by law of the State." That law permits them to sell, 
 but limits them to a public sale, duly advertised, and requires that 
 
21 
 
 Certain officers of the city shall affix a valuation upon the property. 
 The pledge thus made was of the most sacred character. You de- 
 clared that these provisions should not be amended except by you. 
 Now mark the manner in which the law was lately and shamefully 
 violated. Property valued by an old and trusted auctioneer (A. J. 
 Bleecker) at three hundred thousand dollars, was sold privately 
 at one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and there was an effort 
 to sell it for less. The matter commenced in the Common Council. 
 The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund who had sole charge of this 
 property, were the Mayor, Comptroller, Recorder, Chamberlain, and 
 Alderman Bard, and Assistant Alderman "Wells. Four constituted 
 a majority. It had so long been the custom to sell at public auction, 
 that the Commissioners dared not violate the law requiring it, with- 
 out a specific direction. To procure it, was attempted in the Com- 
 mon Council, which had no power to act, Mr. Bard, who was in both 
 Boards, (Aldermen and Sinking Fund,) introduced a report in the 
 former, that the property in question " be sold to D. R. Martin, and 
 that it be referred to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to fix 
 the terms and price." The extraordinary character of this resolution, 
 which attempted to limit the city to a single purchaser, attracted im- 
 mediate observation ; and it was referred back to the Finance Com- 
 mittee, after a proposition had been voted down to sell it at public 
 auction to the highest bidder. This was on the 10th of last Novem- 
 ber. The eyes of some others were opened to this proceeding ; and 
 on the 17 th, Mr. Bard's colleague on the Finance Committee, pre- 
 sented the petition of Reuben Lovejov, as an apparent competing 
 purchaser. Mr. Lovejoy ultimately procured the property only to 
 transfer it immediately to Simeon Draper. A few other knowing 
 ones, appearing to have opposing interests, applied for it. On the 
 24th November, the resolution was again presented by Alderman 
 Bard, slightly altered. It provided that the land might be sold to 
 " D. R. Martin, or either of the other applicants." A motion for a 
 public sale was again made, and voted down ; but the members had 
 not been sufficiently prepared in the usual manner to carry the pro- 
 position, and it was again laid on the table. The term of the Com- 
 missioners was fast drawing to a close, and on the 8th of December 
 the resolution was again brought up. A motion was made to strike out 
 the words either of the, and insert any, which was accepted, and the 
 
22 
 
 resolution passed. The first step in this illegal and disgraceful transac- 
 tion was thus taken. It passed the Board of Assistants on the 10th of 
 December, on motion of Mr. Wells, also a member of the Sinking Fund 
 Board. The Mayor, (Mr. Kingsland,) although he vetoed the resolution 
 requiring the Sinkiug Fund Commissioners to stop the sale of most of 
 our wharves and piers, — stating in his message that the powers and 
 duties of the Commissioners were prescribed by a law of the State, — 
 allowed this resolution, which equally interfered with those duties, 
 to go into effect. It was to be sold now, not to D. R. Martin only, 
 and not merely " to either of the applicants," but to " D. R. Martin, 
 or any other applicant." 
 
 A system of peculiar bidding now took place. It i3 evident that 
 many of the bids were put in to show that there had been competi- 
 tion among several independent bidders. An inspection of them 
 shows their character. The body of three (those of James B. Tay- 
 lor, Reuben Lovejoy, and S. H. Smith,) are in the handwriting of 
 the former. The body of two of them, (Silas C. Herring's and Ben- 
 jamin Westlake's,) are in the handwriting of Herring. Those of 
 Smith, Taylor and Herring, are on paper with the same stamp. 
 
 The bids first offered were as follows : 
 
 A. Van Santvoord, $108,000 
 
 Dec. 20.— S. H. Smith, 115,000 
 
 B. Lloyd Jones, 122,500 
 
 Benjamin Westlake, 125,090 
 
 James B. Taylor, 130,000 
 
 Reuben Lovejoy, (no sum.) 
 
 It had, we learn, been determined to close the matter so that it 
 would fall to Taylor at $130,000, or Lovejoy at the same sum, (they 
 were the same,) but one of the Commissioners inquired if bids were 
 open, and offered $5,000 beyond any sum contained in those pro- 
 posals. The sale was thus frustrated, and the Board adjourned. 
 
 After that meeting, Mr. A. J. Bleecker examined the property at 
 the request of the Recorder, and valued it at $300,000, which was 
 stated to the Board when they met again. But other bids were re- 
 ceived. That of Mr. Draper was as follows : 
 
 New York, Dec. 27, 1852. 
 To the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund : 
 
 Gentlemen, — I will give for the Corporation property, between 
 
23 
 
 Ganzevoort, Twelfth street, and the North River, one hundred and 
 fortv thousand dollars, or such sum as may be fixed upon by your 
 Board, and on such terms as you may fix upon the same. 
 
 S. Draper. 
 
 *Preston H. Hodges bid $132,000 
 
 f Silas C. Herring, 135,000 
 
 Mr. Tillou moved to fix the value at $300,000, but he was voted 
 down. The Commissioners voted to fix the price at one hundred 
 and sixty thousand dollars, and declared Reuben Lovejoy the pur- 
 chaser at that sum. No amount was named in his bid. The follow- 
 ing were then produced by Alderman Bard : 
 
 To the Honorable the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners of the 
 City of New York. 
 
 Gentlemen, — The undersigned is an applicant for the purchase 
 of the property owned by the Corporation, situate on the Hudson or 
 North River, in the city of New York, between Ganzevoort and 
 Twelfth street, and Tenth and Thirteenth avenues, and should your 
 Board award the sale of said property to me, I hereby authorize 
 and request you to make out the deed for the same to Mr. Simeon 
 Draper, who will comply with the terms thereof. 
 
 Yery respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Reuben Lovejoy. 
 
 New York, Dec. 20, 1852. 
 
 "Witness, Geo. Oakes. 
 
 To Joseph R. Taylor, Comptroller, or any member of the Sinking 
 Fund Commissioners. 
 
 New York, Dec. 20th, 1852. 
 To the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of the City of New 
 York. 
 
 Gentlemen, — Should the proposition made by Reuben Lovejoy 
 for the purchase of the property between Twelfth and Ganzevoort 
 streets be accepted, I hereby authorize him to transfer the purchase 
 to me; the payment and mortgage will be given by me upon the 
 rendering of the title by the city. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 S. Draper. 
 
 It will be perceived that Mr. Draper's agreement last copied, is 
 dated the 20th of December, and was intended to apply to the bids 
 first made, but it was used after the price had been raised, and after 
 his own higher bid of subsequent date was made. Mr. James B. 
 Taylor (who wrote Lovejoy's bid) has since received a deed for one- 
 
 * Taylor boards with Hodges . 
 
 t Herring and Draper are brothers-in-law. 
 
third of this property — a fit recipient of a title thus acquired. Four 
 
 votes were required to carry the matter ; and it had the support of 
 Bard, who carried the resolution in the Board of Aldermen, of 
 Wells, who carried it in the Board of Assistants, of the Mayor, who 
 allowed it to pass without his veto, and of the Comptroller. Mr. 
 Tillou was voted down in an effort to procure a public sale. The 
 transaction was immediately carried into effect, and a deed for the 
 property drawn and recorded in the Comptroller's office, to Mr. 
 Draper, who gave his mortgage for three-fourths of the purchase- 
 money, which was deposited in the Register's office. Your act de- 
 claring that no officer of the Corporation shall be interested directly 
 or indirectly in the purchase of " any real estate, or other property 
 belonging to the city," was then examined ; and the Comptroller, 
 whose power over the matter had then terminated, canceled the 
 deed, without order or authority, satisfied the mortgage, and a new 
 deed was drawn and delivered to Joseph B. Varnum. One other 
 third of the land has since been conveyed to Mr. Coleman, of the 
 Astor House. It cannot be doubted that from the time when the 
 application of Reuben Lovejoy was first made to the Common Coun- 
 cil, on the 17th of November, there was a plan on foot to sell him 
 this property as the tool of others in defiance of law, and that it wa 3 
 steadily pursued by members of the Common Council and others, 
 until the completion of the sale. The most extraordinary influences 
 could alone have produced this remarkable state of things. Of course, 
 this nefarious transaction will be ripped up, and the City restored to 
 its property ; but those who alone have power to authorize a suit, 
 are in possession of the city government, under such circumstances 
 of suspicion in regard to this sale that no such step can be expected 
 from them. That they have violated the following section of the 
 charter received from your hands, many suppose : 
 
 " Sec. 25th. — Any officer of the City government," (the Aldermen 
 and Assistan's are,) "or person or persons employed in any depart- 
 ment thereof, who shall wilfully violate any of the provisions of this 
 charter, or commit any fraud, or convert any of the public property 
 to his own use, or knowingly permit any other person so to convert it, 
 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and in addition to the 
 penalties imposed by law, shall forfeit his office, and be excluded 
 forever from receiving or holding any office under the city charter." 
 
 Gentlemen of the Legislature : In addition to this specific wrong, 
 
25 
 
 both Boards habitually appoint Committees to make large expendi- 
 tures without any accountability, and -without accounting ; and with- 
 in the last year they have performed executive business of this cha- 
 racter, in express defiance of another provision we have quoted. But 
 so glaring is the violation of the law we have presented, that more 
 detail is unnecessary. The injury extends beyond the city itself to 
 public creditors, and is calculated to affect the sanctity of those pub- 
 lic pledges which States and communities give when they borrow the 
 earnings of others. The voice of a community, whose credit and 
 honor are its wealth and most valuable possession, rises to you, to 
 wipe away the deep stains that are thus inflicted, (it can only be 
 done by hurling such servaRts from power,) and if one of you shall 
 be more distinguished than the rest in conferring this blessing, it may 
 be said for him, as was said of the great Chatham, that "grateful 
 honors shall cluster around his name." 
 
 WHO IS JOHX DILLON ? 
 
 "Who is John Dillon ?" — In asking this question a few days ago, 
 we had no conception of the astounding answer which has been pre- 
 sented to our inquiries. The case out of which it arose looked bad- 
 ly on its face ; but it has an aspect wholly unexpected, calling for in- 
 vestigation and punishment. The public will doubtless ponder over 
 a statement of the facts. 
 
 The charter of 1849 was designed to establish in the City Govern- 
 ment a distinct legislative and executive establishment. The legis- 
 lative power was defined and limited, it was intended to be deposited 
 with the Common Council. The executive power was lodged wholly 
 in the Mayor, the heads of department, and certain enumerated 
 officers. The divisions between the two powers were precise and 
 unmistakable. The ninth section of the charter declared that " nei- 
 ther the Common Council nor any committee or member thereof, 
 shall perform any executive business whatever, except such as is or 
 shall be imposed on them by the laws of the State, and except that 
 the Board of Aldermen may approve or reject the nominations made 
 to them as hereinafter provided." The specification of two distinct 
 subjects in the enumeration of what is excepted, greatly strengthens 
 the force of the preceding prohibition. The offence to which we in- 
 •2 
 
26 
 
 tend now to call your attention, fellow-citizens, is,expressly prohib- 
 ited by the plain language and obvious intent of the charter of 1849 
 in the provision quoted. It is equally against _the language and 
 meaning of the succeeding section, which provides that the Finance 
 Department " shall settle and adjust all claims whatsoever by the 
 Corporation or against them, and all accounts in which the Corpora- 
 tion is concerned, either as debtor or creditor." Those who have fol- 
 lowed the disgusting exhibitions with which we have been compell- 
 ed to load our columns, will recollect the clause which declares the 
 punishment for a wilful violation of those provisions. "VYe repeat it, 
 however, that it may be applied to the facts of this case : — 
 
 Sec. 25. Any officer of the city government, or person or persons 
 emploved in any department thereof, who shall wilfully violate any 
 of the provisions of this charter, or commit any fraud, or convert any 
 of the public property to his own use, or knowingly induce any 
 other to convert it, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and in 
 addition to the penalties imposed by law, shall forfeit his office, and 
 be excluded forever after from receiving or holding any office under 
 the city charter. 
 
 A Committee of the Board of Aldermen, of which "Wesley 
 Smith was Chairman, and of the Board of Assistants, of which 
 Charles H. Ring was Chairman, were appointed in June last, to per- 
 form jointly a certain service. They immediately organized in the 
 performance of the duty, and made an expenditure of four thousand 
 two hundred dollars. All the contracts were made by the Commit- 
 tee, the bills were rendered to and audited by them, and they were 
 paid by the officers on the sole action and responsibility of the Com- 
 mittee. The expenditures of a similar character were large during 
 the year, and it is probable that each case will exhibit many enormi- 
 ties of the character of that we are now exposing. The principal 
 subjects on which Committees thus performed executive and also 
 auditing duties, were the funerals of Messrs. Clay and Webster, the 
 various junketing operations of the year, and the celebration of our 
 National Anniversary. The expense of the latter, which came with- 
 in the pervieu of the Committee, were $2,542 in 1851 ; but as the 
 corruptions of the members increased, the expenses were increased, 
 so that in 1852, they amounted to $4,113,58. 
 
 Among the bills was one purporting to be that of John Dillon, of 
 $300, for fireworks alleged to have been furnished at Randall's Is- 
 
27 
 
 land. The bill was in the hand-writing of Wesley Smith, and, upon 
 looking at the endorsement on the back of the check given by the 
 City, we were struck with the remarkable similarity in hand-writing. 
 "We were struck also with another fact, viz. : that below the endorse- 
 ment were the initials, such as receiving tellers affix on checks depo- 
 sited, of the Chairman of the Committee of the Board of Assistants, 
 Charles H. Ring. "We desired the Comptroller, Mr. Flagg, to ascer- 
 tain from his clerk, to whom the check had been delivered, and were 
 told to Mr. Wesley Smith. On the strength of these facts, we in- 
 quired of the public who is John Dillon, and the following is the ans- 
 wer : 
 
 " The Editors : — In Saturday's paper you inquire, " Who is John 
 Dillon V He is a young dentist ; his office is in Hudson street, near 
 Dominick street, and is the brother-in-law of Wesley Smith, Alderman 
 of the \\th Ward. Monday, 31st January, 1853." 
 
 Wishing to be sure of matters of this character, a skilful person was 
 asked merely to take the note and ascertain its truth. His answer 
 (which we do not in part understand) is as follows : 
 
 " Mr. Butler, — This John Dillon, dentist, has his sign up at 250 
 
 Hudson street, next to the corner of Broome. Mr. , on Hudson 
 
 stieet, says he understands that Mr. Dillon is a brother-in-law of Wes- 
 ley Smith, lumber merchant, <tc. 
 
 " Mr. , corner of Broome, says Mr. Dillon has lately returned 
 
 from California ; knows nothing particularly as to John Dillon s res- 
 ponsibility, but if the endorsement of Alderman Smith, his brother-in- 
 law, could be obtained, he would think it safe. 
 
 " This information can be relied on, I think, and I suppose is suffic- 
 ient for your purpose. 
 
 "February 2, 1853." 
 
 Upon these extraordinary facts comment is unnecessary. Whether 
 or not the case is one of a large class, will probably be developed in 
 the exhibitions to be made by Mr. Flagg, in respect to expenses of 
 this character, in his annual report, with the effect of which we do not 
 wish to interfere, by a premature disclosure of what he has ascer- 
 tained and will present. The following are copies of the voucher and 
 check which appear as the only authority and evidence of this pay- 
 ment : 
 
 Bill for Fire Works. 
 
28 
 
 v 
 
 John Dillon Randall's Island, 300 
 
 {Endorsed on the back.) 
 
 Approved. 
 "Wesley Smith, 
 C. H. Ring, 
 W. M. Tweed. 
 Oscar W. Stutevant, 
 Thos. J. Barr, 
 S. L. H. Ward, 
 
 The following is the check : 
 New York, July 21, 1852. No. 3353. $300 
 
 To the Treasurer of the City of New York at the 
 MECHANICS' BANK, 
 
 Pay John Dillon, or order, three hundred dollars, for fire works 4th 
 July. 
 
 A. C. Kingsland, Mayor. 
 D. T. Valentine, Clerk. 
 
 Jos. B. Taylor, Comptroller. 
 (endorsed) 
 JOHN DILLON, 
 C. H. R, 
 
 This voucher is marked in the margin, " contingencies." 
 
 This is a specimen, citizens of New York, of the manner in which 
 (through the action of Committees expressly prohibited from exercis- 
 ing auditing and executive power,) you have been bleeding at an ar- 
 tery. The men who thus use the hard earnings of our industry, still 
 meet in legislative halls, still sit on the bench which tries criminals, 
 and continue their wrongs and depredations ; and there are those med- 
 itating reform, who fear to raise the issue before you whether such 
 representatives shall go on in their misdeeds, or be hurled from office 
 by your indignant action at the polls, at a new election to be applied 
 for to the Legislature. If there can be any sympathy in the Legisla- 
 ture for such acts, let the sympathy be known to the public. The 
 sweep of reform will ultimately embrace all who thus violate the 
 law, and all who approve the violation. Failure to dissent, is con- 
 sent. No question more certain to arouse the animation and indig- 
 nation of the people can be presented, than one of this character. It 
 is weakness, criminal weakness, to refuse to the City the opportunity 
 speedily to speak through their united ballots, against the monstrous 
 wrongs that we suffer. Wrongs that must be corrected, and also 
 
29 
 
 punished, or we shall be sunk in infamy "deeper than did plummet 
 ever sound." 
 
 CORPORATION JOBS. 
 
 Nearly 8500,000 wasted. 
 Some years ago, Mr. Charles F. Grim, then a member of the bar, 
 commenced, on his own behalf, the work of making an index of all 
 deeds relating to city property, with a view to aid in the examina- 
 tion of titles. It was a work of great consequence to the owners of 
 real estate, as it was calculated to diminish the expense which at- 
 tended a transfer of property ; and the bar was unanimous in desir- 
 ing that it should be completed. The person then in charge of the 
 Register's office stopped Mr. Grim, after he had collected materials 
 for a single printed volume, on the ground that the work would in- 
 terfere with his perquisites. A single printed volume alone remains 
 to show the character of the work. The author of it is a man of 
 great industry, remarkable not only for his precision and care, but 
 for the highest integrity and for many valuable attainments ; and it 
 has been ever a subject of regret to the bar that his work was not 
 finished. An index made by such a man would be relied on as ac- 
 curate, and it would obviate the enormous delays and the vast ex- 
 pense incident to the examination of titles. The accomplishment of 
 the work has ever since been the object of desire ; and Mr. Tillou, 
 Recorder of the City, in the month of May, 1852, took the incipient 
 steps in the Board of Supervisors to set the work in motion. He 
 had no sooner opened the eyes of the jobbers in the Board (they are 
 also Aldermen) to this subject, than they determined to use it as 
 they have every other power within their grasp. The Index, it 
 must be borne in mind, is only valuable from its entire accuracy ; it 
 must not only be accurate, it must be known to be so ; it will be 
 worthless paper if inaccurate. A lawyer expert in the service of 
 examining titles, and competent to devise the mode of performing 
 such a work with skill and care, would have selected a person like 
 Mr. Grim, (he has now, we think, retired from the profession,) and 
 paid him a salary for his labors, and a proper sum for such persons 
 as he should employ. The duty of arranging this important matter 
 
30 
 
 fell into the hands of two aldermen — Wesley Smith and Thomas J. 
 Barr. 
 
 It would have cost, managed on the plan pursued by Mr. Grim, 
 from thirty to forty thousand dollars. We learn that it has been 
 jobbed out, -without advertisement, and without proper proposals, at 
 an expense of about two hundred thousand dollars. The contract 
 we saw yesterday : it was signed, sealed, and delivered, in the month 
 of November last. 
 
 On looking at the Comptroller's Report, we found that the cost of 
 a vote of thanks to the principal agent of the Collins line, and some 
 others connected with its establishment, had been about eight hun- 
 dred dollars ; of a similar vote to the Hudson River Railroad Di- 
 rectors, about the same. The Erie Railroad Directors had a like 
 honor conferred on them at about the same expense. The certifi- 
 cates presented to the individual Directors were handsomely got up 
 and framed. We had the curiosity to ask who had received these 
 large amounts for this service, and learnt that it was Arthur & Bur- 
 net, stationers, in Wall street. 
 
 The contract for making the Index was also made with Arthur & 
 Burnet. What Counsel drew it, we know not ; but its features show 
 a most decided willingness to put the city in the power of the con- 
 tractors. It is as disgraceful to the author, whoever he may be, as 
 are the ordinances regulating the fees of the Counsel. 
 
 Messrs. Arthur & Burnet agree " to collate and prepare a perfect, 
 true, and correct index of the records in the said Register' office, 
 after the same are coined from the records, and to execute the same to 
 the satisfaction of the said Committee on County offices.'''' They are 
 to do the work "of the best materials, and as soon as possible ;" 
 and the Corporation is to " pay or advance such sum or sums of 
 money as may be required, not to exceed the amount which may be 
 estimated as due at the time of such payment." 
 
 " After the same are copied from the records !" At the very 
 outset, there is a claim that the Corporation shall make these copies; 
 and we learn that the city is to pay for this, or does pay, in addition 
 to the contract price ! " To the satisfaction of the said Committee 
 on County offices !" Mr. Ward is named with the other two alder- 
 men as the parties to the contract ; but he did not sign. The two 
 others constitute a majority, and do sign. Think of the service likely 
 
31 
 
 to be rendered in this delicate matter by Wesley Smith, a lumber 
 
 dealer, and Thomas J. Barr, a keeper of a livery stable ! 
 
 The work to be done " as soon as possible !" What does this 
 mean ? It is wholly indefinite. No two will agree as to its mean- 
 ing. 
 
 " The Corporation to pay or advance such sum or sums of money 
 as may be required /" Required by whom ? 
 
 There are no provisions for putting the copyright in the hands of 
 the city ; but a contract, so loose and disgraceful as to be fraudulent, 
 was made for this important object. 
 
 The number of record books is now six hundred and thirty. For 
 furnishing materials, blanks, <fec, for copyists, and preparing the in- 
 dex, the rate fixed is $16 per volume of records; for 1000 sets of 
 index complete, $5 10 per page for first 250 copies, and §4 20 per 
 page for the next 250, and at the same rate for the residue and any 
 f urther number ; for binding in Russia and calf, $3 50 per volume of 
 500. 
 
 It is estimated there will be 17 volumes. An expert has estima- 
 ted the whole amount at 8225,130 over and above what the eity 
 will be required to pay out for preparing the copies. 
 
 It is said in justification of this job, that the City will receive, on 
 the sale of the books, a sufficient sum to pay baek the expected out- 
 lay. Such was the argument under which the State expended be- 
 tween four and five hundred thousand dollars for its " Natural His- 
 tory," as it is called, when only about twenty thousand dollars were 
 received from sales. But our alarms are most excited from the ex- 
 pected character of a work let out as a job, and to be superintended 
 by such persons as are named in the contract. 
 
 In the appropriations made out by the late Comptroller, and pass- 
 ed by the Common Council, in order to be sent to the present Legis- 
 lature, there is an item of fifty thousand dollars to cover the expected 
 expenditure within the present year. The Legislature will be asked 
 to confirm this bargain, and tax the labors of our citizens and their 
 hard earned property to pay for such abuses of power. The Board 
 of Supervisors, by the terms of the resolution adopted, authorized a 
 committee to make the bargain, without specifying any terms. They 
 voted down motions to advertise for proposals., and other motions to 
 ascertain, in advance, the expected cost, so that some rule should be 
 
32 
 
 formed by -which a contract might be made. In thus delegating- their 
 powers to others, they hare clearly violated the law prescribing their 
 powers. Rut even the Board of Supervisors itself had no authority 
 to make the contract. Their powers are prescribed by a general law 
 applicable to all such bodies in the State, in which nothing of this 
 character is specified, or justified under any general grant. They 
 are a supervisory body, and adjust accounts, and determine the rate 
 of taxation; but the expenditures proceed from another source, the 
 Common Council. In 1826, authority was specially conferred on the 
 clerks of counties, to have general indexes prepared ; but uo author- 
 ity was conferred to print, and the City of jN"ew York was expressly 
 excepted from the operation of the Act. The Supervisors of those 
 counties (other than New York) were authorized to adjust the bills. 
 In 1845 or 6, an act was passed that the Supervisors of the City 
 might authorize copies to be made of mutilated records, which, when 
 certified by them, might have the force of originals. This is the ex- 
 tent to which such legislation has been earried, which clearly shows 
 a defect of power to do what the Committee has undertaken. They 
 have contracted to print seventeen thousand volumes of a work as 
 foreign to their duties as possible, and expect to go into the market 
 as sellers. With Collins, Bowne & Co. another contract has been 
 made, for preparing and printing a digested index of wills ; and with 
 some other person, an index of the deeds and judgments in the Coun- 
 ty Clerk's office ; or the latter is in the course of preparation. The 
 City must first, according to these contracts, prepare a statement of 
 each deed, the parties, its date, the property conveyed, tfcc, and the 
 matter then goes into the hands of the contractors. The preliminary 
 work is now being done, under the direction of that Committee. — 
 There are four persons at work in the Register's office, five in the 
 Surrogate's, and two in the County Clerk's office, in this service. 
 For its accuracy no one is responsible, except Messrs. Smith and Bam 
 It constitutes the entire groundwork of the whole. The errors that 
 exist must necessarily appear in the subsequent work, and be fatal to 
 its character. We notify these parties, that they are proceeding 
 without warrant of law, and that the moneys of the City cannot, un- 
 der such circumstances, be applied to compensate them. The whole job 
 will cost near half a million of dollars. 
 
 We have urged yoa, fellow citizens, earnestly and often, to arous* 
 
33 
 
 from your indifference and put can end to such iniquities. We have 
 reason to hope that a day of deliverance is fast dawning upon you. 
 The Legislature have watched what is going on. They have sent 
 encouraging assurances to our honest citizens; urged speedy and ef- 
 ficient action on our part, and promised to do their duty, after such 
 incipient steps have been taken here, as shall authorize them to act. 
 Act soon. Act boldly. The detestation of fraud and crime is yet 
 deep seated in the hearts of men, and when appealed to by a whole 
 community, will be answered promptly and with effect. Be satisfied 
 with nothing but a speedy termination of the official career of those 
 who have stamped disgrace upon us, and such organic measures a3 
 will stop further corruption. If you hesitate in this great duty, you 
 will disgrace those from whose loins you sprang, and leave the inher- 
 itance of your own dishonor to your children. 
 
 PRIVATE SALE OF CORPORATION PROPERTY AT IM- 
 MENSE SACRIFICE, TO SCHMIDT, DURFEE & CO. 
 
 Books Erased, Interlined, dkc. 
 
 The Sinking Fund Commissioners, during the past year, were 
 Ambrose C. Kingsland, Mayor, F. R. Tillou, Recorder, Joseph R. 
 Taylor, Comptroller, Shepherd Knapp, City Chamberlain, Alderman 
 James M. Bard, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Board of 
 Aldermen, and Assistant H. M. Wells, Chairman of the Finance 
 Committee of the Board of Assistants. They were charged by law 
 with the express duty of preserving the funds and property ap- 
 plicable to the public debt, and stood in this safe position, that 
 the ordinances prescribing their duties had, by the Legislature, 
 been declared incapable of change by the Corporation. They were 
 authorized to sell the real estate of the city not in use, but the 
 power was fettered by many safeguards, to secure open, fair, 
 public sales. As the official term of the late Comptroller was 
 drawing to a close, an activity wholly unusual took place in this 
 department, and so numerous were the deeds and water grants 
 that the clerks of the late counsel were turned into recording of- 
 ficers in the Comptroller's office. It will be recollected that among 
 the contemplated sales was the sale of a large number of piers 
 and docks, which was to have been public, a sale that was cut off 
 
84 
 
 "by the actios of the Courts. Complaints were made by pefs&na 
 who desired to purchase that proper information, in respect to the 
 matter could not be obtained freni the Comptroller, and it is pro- 
 bable, if not certain, that in defeating the sale, a system of favorit- 
 ism smd fraud were defeated, under which that immense property 
 would have produced much less than its actual value. The sales 
 actually mads privately within this period, were made in defiance 
 of all prudence and propriety, and we do not see from an inspec- 
 tion of the minutes, that any of the Commissioners fully performed 
 their duty to the public. Some of them are reprehensible for acts 
 of omission, the others for acts of commission. In the index of Mr. 
 Grim, to which we referred a few days ago, he observes in the 
 preface that a single case illustrates a principle. We shall present 
 in detail this morning the case of a sale to a person whose resi- 
 dence and occupation we cannot ascertain, Mr. Robert A. Durfee. On 
 its face there are many circumstances of suspicion. When the late 
 Comptroller was a candidate for re-election, he thus in the early 
 part of last year addressed the public : — " The wharves and piers 
 and the real estate belonging to the Corporation are worth (exclusive 
 of the Croton Aqueduct and Reservoir) more than nineteen, millions ; 
 are also pledged for the redemption of the city debt ; thus placing 
 the credit of the city beyond the reach of suspicion, and furnishing 
 the most undoubted security for the redemption of its stocks and 
 loans as they become due." This encomium upon our credit is fol- 
 lowed with a specific valuation of property. The bulkhead and wa- 
 ter right sold to Mr. Durfee heads the list : 
 
 '* 120 feet of bulkhead between Bank and Hammond street, $25,000 " 
 The Comptroller, with commendable prudence, placed it below it» 
 actual value. The city owned the upland and pre-emptive right. It 
 is probably worth now from thirty to thirty-five thousand dollars. 
 This land was sold in December (the sale consummated about the 
 time of that of the Fort Gansevoort property) for twelve thou- 
 sand dollars. It was a private sale. All the Commissioners were 
 present. All joined in the act. Some of them knew well its va- 
 lue, others of them probably did not ; but each was bound in the 
 performance of the high trust with which he was invested, to as- 
 certain it. The valuation put on it by Mr. Ludlum, and adopted 
 
35 
 
 by the Comptroller, was published in the annual report of the lat- 
 ter, a document with which the Commissioners of the Fund should 
 have been familiar. The minutes throw but little light on the 
 transaction, but they show a carelessness in proceeding, not common 
 in important matters. 
 
 Dec. 6, 1852. — '-The Comptroller presented the following appli- 
 cations, which were referred to the Comptroller and Street Com- 
 missioner. The application of /. W. Schmidt, Jr., for water grant on 
 the North River between Bank and Hammond street." 
 
 The law required a minimum valuation in advance of a sale, and 
 this was deemed a compliance with the provision. The Street 
 Commissioner was not a member of the Board, but he was required 
 by law to un\Je in fixing the minimum. No written report was pre- 
 sented, but on the back of the application there are figures, which 
 we are told constituted the report. The minutes then proceed : — 
 
 " Dec. 10. — " The Comptroller presented the report of the Comp- 
 troller and Street Commissioner on the application of J. W. Schmidt, 
 Jr., for water grant on the North River between Bank and Hammond 
 streets, whereupon it was 
 
 " Resolved, That the Comptroller be authorized to issue a grant 
 for land under water on the North River, between Bank and Ham- 
 mond streets, 120 feet front on West street, from the S. W, corner 
 of Bank and West streets, extending to the exterior line of the city 
 now fixed, and containing the usual covenants to Robert A. Durfee, 
 per order of J. W. Schmidt, Jr., at the rate of 8100 per foot running 
 measure — subject to a lease on the bulkhead to May 1st, 1853." 
 
 On examining the record book in the Comptroller's office, the 
 grantee's name (Robert A. Durfee) is written on an erasure. The 
 deed must have been drawn in the first place, and recorded there in 
 another name, but for some reason the latter was erased and Durfee's 
 substituted. The minutes of the Sinking Fund Commissioners were 
 interlined with the words " Robert A. Durfee, per order of," which 
 appear above in italics. In the margin of the minutes, the word 
 " Davies" appears. The papers were doubtless handed to him to 
 complete ; he drew a deed, conveying absolutely to Durfee, the land, 
 and one-half the street beyond, making 150 feet, reserving to the 
 public the right of passage over it, and whatever wharfage might 
 accrue from the 30 feet of bulkhead at the end of the street. The 
 mode of conveyance, it will readily appear to lawyers, was exceed- 
 ingly desirable to the purchaser in its influence on what will be 
 
36 
 
 gained from the river in front of Bank street. The deed was ac- 
 knowledged on the memorable 30th of December, and was recorded 
 by the clerk of Davies. The sale to Durfee for himself or others, 
 embraced the land under Avater, beginning from the present bulkhead 
 on West street, and extending 410 feet out into the river, (equal to 
 over 32 lots of 60 feet deep,) with the right to wharfage and dockage 
 on the exterior line. It was a violation of those careful and neces- 
 sary provisions of law which required a public sale of the premises. 
 It was a violation of prudence in parting from ground which the 
 city needed for depositing the rubbish (earth and ashes) collected in 
 the vicinity, and by means of which it must necessarily be rapidly 
 filled up without expense, and be made a valuable piece of property. 
 The purchasers are to make the necessary streets (th«y will be made 
 by those means) and pave and repair them. The bulkhead in front 
 they are also to build. There are parties, we learn, who would pay 
 for the property, subject to these conditions, from thirty to thirty- 
 five thousand dollars. Numerous grants that were legal, so far as 
 the power is concerned, and sales that were wholly illegal and wrong, 
 were also made. Mr. Edmund Griffin (late an alderman) was a pur-v 
 chaser, at a low price, of a water grant (with unusual and improper 
 provisions) on West street. Mr. Smith, father of the alderman 
 Wesley Smith), was a purchaser of a wharf at the foot of Stanton 
 street. Much of that property represented by the Comptroller in 
 this report as "furnishing the most undoubted security for the redemp- 
 tion" of the city debt, and on which the city relied " to place its cre- 
 dit beyond the reach of suspicion" was sold, and there seems to have 
 been no efficient effort to prevent it. 
 
 In the case of the sale of the Fort Gansevoort property, Mr. Til- 
 Ion moved to fix the valuation at $300,000, at which it had been va- 
 lued, instead of 8160,000, at which it was sold, and he also moved to 
 make the sale public, in which it is understood that he was supported 
 by Mr. Knapp, but it does not appear on the minutes. The propo- 
 sition was voted down. 
 
 It is no idle motive that prompts us to place before you the names 
 of men of high standing and wide influence, in order that you may 
 require them to explain their conduct. This Board of Commissioners 
 has not been equal to the duty required of them in a trust of the high- 
 est magnitude. They have set an example which must be so repro- 
 
37 
 
 bated that those who follow shall act in a wholly different manner. 
 The property should in all these cases be recovered and restored to 
 the Sinking Fund. 
 
 There is a still higher duty imposed on the community. The city 
 must be reformed. Reformed by expelling from power quickly and 
 forever such men as remain in the Common Council, and whose in- 
 fluence is at the bottom of every act of omission and commission by 
 which our present condition has been reached. There are those (men 
 of substance and influence in both parties) who have deserted their 
 duty as citizens for years past, and connived by their silence and in- 
 difference at the present state of things. It is through their neglect 
 that a government capable of conferring manifold blessings has fallen 
 into the hands of sharpers and robbers, who rely on the disgraceful 
 love of ease so generally manifested, to perpetuate them in that vil- 
 lany by which they thrive. Be no longer disgraced by such inaction. 
 You may yet do some service that will entitle you to grateful honors. 
 Unite with those who are now engaged in the work of reform. But 
 whatever you do, do it on a thorough plan. Great evils require 
 great remedies. Reform your charter as you did in 1849. Cut off, 
 as you did then, the term of Aldermen. Put others in their place. 
 The rapid steps of the city towards disgrace — in which all are in- 
 volved, and which will soon weaken every trust — will then be arrest- 
 ed, and our government put on a track to save our property from 
 sacrifice, our franchises from forfeiture, our streets from appropria- 
 tion to private objects, and that will check the demoralization which 
 threatens such wide disaster. "We shall presently turn you from 
 these disgusting details to the contemplation of an officer (Mr. Flagg) 
 who is meeting many of these abuses with courage and effect, an of- 
 ficer who will be swept from power by the Common Council under 
 theif powers of impeachment and suspension, on the adjournment of 
 the Legislature, if the fate intended for him be not visited upon them. 
 The battle with corruption is fairly commenced. Be firm, and the 
 victory will be yours. 
 
 MORE WATER LOT BUSINESS. 
 Quick work on the 28th, 29th and 30th December. 
 On the 29th of December last, John Cox signed with other parties 
 a receipt for $9,786 89-100, for costs of the Commissioners, (of 
 
88 
 
 whom he -was one,) and of the counsel, Henry E. Davies, on the 
 opening of the Eleventh Avenue. The persons selected for these 
 positions are some of them nominated and controlled by the counsel. 
 On reading his name, it became impressed on our memory. Yester- 
 terday, on inspecting the minutes of the Sinking Fund Commission- 
 ers of the same 29th of December, it again appeared. It was in a 
 resolution agreeing to sell to him, as assignee of the owner of the 
 upland, the land next South of the Fort Gansevoort property sold to 
 Draper. The circumstances prompted an examination of the matter. 
 The land is under water, and when gained from the river will con- 
 stitute sixteen lots of 81 feet 8£ inches deep. In front of it, on the 
 exterior line, there will be a bulkhead of 81 feet 8£ inches. The 
 City, in May last, made an agreement to build that bulkhead at the 
 price of $9,49*7 04-100, of which it had paid on the 15th December 
 last, on account of the work done, $7,122 78-100, leaving $2,374 
 26-100 to be paid when it is completed, which it soon will be. On 
 the completion of the bulkhead, the property will immediately be in 
 condition for filling in, winch will speedily be done afterwards with- 
 out cost. When filled in it will be worth in the neighborhood of 
 Fifty Thousand dollars. It was sold by the Sinking Fund Com- 
 missioners to John Cox for $4085 04-100, on the condition express- 
 ed in their minutes, that he was " to pay for the bulkhead in front of 
 the same, as contracted for by the Street Commissioners." The deed 
 for it, (it was not a grant for rent reserved,) was drawn by Mr. 
 Davies, recorded by his clerk, and the transaction was completed on 
 the day of the completion of the Fort Gansevoort sale. The grant 
 was executed by the Mayor. It will readily be perceived that there 
 was a sacrifice of this property, but the neglect of all prudence in 
 the mode of closing the transaction, stamps it with its greatest pecu- 
 liarity. We presume the late Comptroller and the Counsel are in 
 the main responsible. The minutes stated that the grantee was to 
 pay for the bulkhead. It is the universal custom, in making grants, 
 to compel the grantee to build and pay for, not only the bulkhead in 
 front of the land granted, but also for that in front of the adjacent 
 street. The city in this case contracted to pay for both ; the grant 
 to Mr. Cox required him to pay only for that in front of the land, 
 leaving the city to bear the residue. But this is not the worst as- 
 pect of the case. Instead of requiring pay, as the resolution direct- 
 
89 
 
 ed, an agreement to pay is taken. An agreement from John Cox I 
 The City parts with its valuable title, and takes only a personal ob- 
 ligation for the cost of the bulkhead, part of which it had already 
 paid. The property was not in a condition for sale, but the term of 
 the late Board was soon to expire, and there was some interest be- 
 hind the curtain which required "haste, and feared to subject the mat- 
 ter to the decision of the new Sinking Fund Commissioners. No 
 prudent man would manage his affairs in this manner. No set of 
 prudent men would thus part from property. No counsel who valu- 
 ed his reputation would dare to draw a deed so much at variance 
 with what he knew to be the usual condition of such grants, and turn 
 into a covenant, not binding on the land but merely personal, the 
 condition prescribed by the Sinking Fund Board. The Commissioner 
 whom he nominates to open streets is the party who receives these 
 favors. He doubtless acted on the suggestion of others. The sales 
 to Draper, Durfee and Cox, are nearly simultaneous. Cox applied 
 through Lewis B. Griffin, on the 28th, for the grant; it was reported 
 on by the Street Commissioner and Comptroller on the 29th ; it was 
 consummated on the 30th. The minutes in each case bear this pe- 
 culiarity, that the person named to the Sinking Fund Commissioners 
 as the actual party, was different from the one who took the deed. 
 Lewis B. Griffin applied for a water grant in the Cox case, and the 
 name of the latter does not appear until the Board are about to pass 
 on it, J. W. Schmidt, Jr., applies in the Durfee case, and the name 
 of Durfee is interlined after the grant had been agreed to. Reuben 
 Lovejoy is the apparent purchaser in the sale to Draper. The grant 
 to Cox adjoins the grant to Draper. Such proceedings are unusual, 
 and lead to the belief that sales thus made simultaneously, have 
 some connection with each other. We desire to be informed who is 
 Mr. Robert A. Durfee, and who is Mr. John Cox, and what claim 
 they have to peculiar bounties from the City ? The answers may 
 furnish some clue to these extraordinary proceedings. 
 
 Citizens of New York, your Common Council, for the last year, 
 produced an atmosphere of corruption that filled all the public 
 offices, and poisoned the morals of too many public servants. They 
 remain most of them yet in power. The work of corruption is going 
 on daily, and breaking down all the safeguards on which you have 
 relied for an honest performance of duty, and yet you go on in the 
 
40 
 
 ordinary occupations of profit, as if the increasing circle of corrup- 
 tion -would not ultimately widen so as to embrace every prominent 
 interest, and every branch of government, and produce deep and in- 
 curable disorders among them. Your repose is not only unjustifiable, 
 it is criminal. "With well directed efforts, free from the spirit of 
 party, and entered upon with a view to establish the supremacy of 
 wisdom and virtue in public affairs, you may easily drive into 
 merited privacy and obloquy those who now govern for purposes of 
 plunder, and leave no interest free from their pollution. If you 
 timidly retire from the encounter, on the disgraceful plea that no- 
 thing can be done, oppression will go forward. But if you strike 
 a successful blow at the villany we are enduring, it will strengthen 
 the arm of honest men everywhere, and break down the tendency 
 now so general towards deep and universal corruption. 
 
 MORE WATER LOTS. 
 
 Who is Mr. Durfee ? — Who is Mr. Cox ? 
 The Sales to Cox and Durfee. — In answer to our inquiries yes- 
 terday — who is John ,Cox, and who Robert A. Durfee — the pur- 
 chasers of Corporation property from the Commissioners of the 
 Sinking Fund, at prices far below its value, — we have received 
 much information, some of it in letters, part of which we publish 
 
 The first is as follows : 
 
 " There is a man by the name of Robert A. Durfee, foreman in 
 Mr. Kingsland's oil works in Jersey City." 
 
 On the back, is a note to us from one of our best citizens, as fol- 
 lows — " A modest young friend, who cannot appear, has sent me 
 this note for you. 
 
 " Yours, truly, ." 
 
 Another is as follows : 
 
 " Durfee is foreman in Kingsland's oil factory, Jersey city." 
 This is from a firm in Pearl street. Another is as follows, signed 
 with a responsible name : 
 
 New York, 25th January, 1853. 
 "Messrs. Editors:— As you wish to be informed who Mr. Robert 
 A. Durfee is, of whom mention is made in your paper this morning, 
 
41 
 
 he is foreman in D. At A. Kingsland & Co.'s oil factory, in Jersey 
 City, K J. 
 
 " Yours, respectfully, " 
 
 The following is from one who signs himself — A. Tax Payer: 
 " Messrs. Editors : — The Robert A. Durfee mentioned by you this 
 morning, in connection with the sale of property on the North River, 
 is now, and has been for many years, foreman for D. & A. Kingsland 
 & Co., at their factory at Jersey City. * * * * Many, many 
 thanks to you for your services in bringing to light the iniquities that 
 have been practised upon the people by the Common Council. Go 
 on, for the sake of virtue, and let us know whom we can trust. It 
 cannot be that all our public men are guilty alike." 
 
 The information we have received as to John Cox, is not suffi- 
 ciently definite to justify its use in so grave an investigation. 
 Enough is presented to require from Mr. Kingsland a full explana- 
 tion of these extraordinary sales, in which he took part as Commis- 
 sioner of the Sinking Fund. As Mayor of the City, he executed the 
 grants.* 
 
 Pursuing our investigations yesterday, into the sale to Cox, we 
 learnt some further particulars. Mr. Lewis B. Griffin was the owner 
 of the upland adjoining this grant. It was claimed on the part of 
 the city that he had forfeited his pre-emption right to a grant in 
 front ; and such grant was therefore (as we are informed by a clerk 
 in the Street Commissioner's office) expressly refused. Upon this 
 ground, the Street Commissioner, in May last, entered into an agree- 
 ment to build a bulk -head on the new exterior line (13th avenue) in 
 front of this property. There was no other justification for its con- 
 struction by the city, except that the pre-emptive right of the up- 
 land owner had been forfeited. The difference between the two po- 
 sitions was this : If the pre-emptive right had been forfeited, the 
 city could gain the land from the river and sell it to strangers. If 
 not forfeited, then, in case a grant were issued, it could only be is- 
 sued to the upland owner. In either case, the city was authorized 
 to fix its own price and terms ; but a grant to the owner of the up- 
 land of the mere water-right, is generally at a lower price than when 
 the City holds both the water right and the adjacent land. In this 
 case, the City had assumed its position as owner, by reason of such 
 
 * No proper explanation has been made. 
 
42 
 
 forfeiture, and taken the proper steps to gain the land from the river 
 as the property solely of the City, and had paid over seven thou- 
 sand dollars on an agreement to pay $9,497 04-100 in this object. 
 It was for the exterior bulk-head. Such was the position of the 
 City. Rights had been acquired that should have been securely 
 guarded. The lots filled up and in order for sale will produce, in 
 the aggregate, with the right of wharfage, in the neighborhood of 
 fifty thousand dollars. Now, how is it disposed of? On the 28th of 
 December, an application was made in two or three lines, by Lewis B. 
 Griffin, for a water grant in front of his property. The body of it is 
 in the handwriting of the late Comptroller, and was presented to the 
 Sinking Fund Commissioners, and referred to the Comptroller and 
 Street Commissioner. On the back are the figures $50 — meaning that 
 a verbal report had been made, that a grant should be executed at 
 that rate per foot. On the next day (the 29th) the Board confirms 
 the report, and orders the grant to John Cox per order of Griffin. 
 The order requests that the grant to him be made to Cox, and the 
 body of this is in the handwriting of the Comptroller's Clerk. There 
 was a disregard of all business habits in this mode of proceeding, 
 and of all prudence. The reference to the Comptroller and Street 
 Commissioner, was a compliance with a statute which contemplated 
 deliberate action, and a proper report. If Griffin had a pre-emptive 
 right, there was no power thus to dispose of it. He could assign it 
 only Avith due formalities. But the transaction as completed by the 
 Counsel, Comptroller, and Mayor, shows that they regarded the title 
 as in the City perfectly, and an absolute deed to Cox was made ir- 
 respective of the upland. 
 
 We have no time nor disposition to repeat the enormities of the 
 sale, as developed yesterday, and the omission of all care and pru- 
 dence in carrying it into effect. But we call upon you, fellow-citi- 
 zens, to require from your public servants, that they take quickly 
 the steps necessary for the recovery of this property. It can only 
 be recovered, after the passage of a resolution to authorize it by the 
 Common Council. If the sale is allowed to stand, the security thns 
 afforded to such outrages will insure their repetition. If it shall be 
 ripped up, the warning will deter others from repeating the iniquity. 
 How shall the resolution to authorize proper proceedings, in this 
 
43 
 
 and other cases, be passed ? You must expel from power the Al- 
 dermen who now disgrace the Common Council. Assemble together 
 in your might, and with one voice demand from the Legislature, and 
 the public, that an opportunity be instantly given to prove that 
 New York reprobates, and will punish, the low vices which now 
 stain the bright metal of her honor. 
 
 ATTEMPT OF SUPERVISORS TO SHAKE THE JUDICIARY. 
 
 The independence of the Judiciary has been seemed in various Con. 
 stitutions, by provisions that prevent a capricious removal of Judges 
 or a change in their compensation during the existence of their term 
 of office. It was justly supposed by the framers of such instruments, 
 that if the salary of a Judge could be increased during his term, the 
 power might be used to affect his decisions. Men without a high or- 
 ganization and refined culture, have proved too generally, that where 
 the treasure is, there the heart is also. Considerations of this char- 
 acter induced the Convention of 1846 to adopt this clause: 
 
 " Section 7. The Judges of the Court of Appeals and Justices of 
 the Supreme Court, shall severally receive, at stated times, for their 
 services, a compensation to be established by law, which shall not be 
 increased or diminished during their continuance in office." 
 
 In pursuance of this provision, the salary of the Judges of the 
 Supreme Court was fixed by law. 
 
 In the month of June last, application was made to the Board of 
 Supervisors to increase the compensation of Judges of the Supreme 
 Court, and a report and resolutions were introduced in conformity 
 with the application. There were various matters pending in Court 
 in which the Corporation was interested, under the management of 
 the late Counsel, such as the appointment of Commissioners to open 
 streets, the confirmation of the proceedings, and the taxation of costs 
 of Counsel and Commissioners ; and the resolution, which provided 
 for an increase of salary from the first of July last, was laid on the 
 table. In the mean time, various grants were made of valuable fran- 
 chises and property of the city to persons standing in a peculiar re- 
 lation to members of the Common Council, the legality of which was 
 questioned, and on the 27th of December last, the very time when 
 some of these illegal grants were being consummated, the authors of 
 them passed the following resolution : 
 
44 
 
 " Resolved, That in pursuance of the authority vested in the Board 
 of Supervisors, there shall be allowed to each of the Justices of 
 the Supreme Court of this State, in the First Judicial District, a 
 compensation for their services, of one thousand five hundred dol- 
 lars a year, which shall be paid to them quarterly, out of the county 
 treasury, in each year, after the first day of July, one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty- two. 
 
 :< Resolved, That there shall be allowed to each of the Justices of 
 the said Supreme Court, in other districts, the sum of eight dollars a 
 day, for the expenses of such Justices, during each day that they 
 shall hold any court in the city and county of New York; and the 
 sum of eight dollars for each one hundred miles which the said Jus- 
 tices shall necessarily travel, in coming to the said city and county, 
 from their places of residence, to hold every such court, and in re- 
 turning thereto, and that the said several sums shall be paid out of 
 the county treasury." 
 
 The above compensation is in addition to their ordinary salary. 
 It is of course competent for the Board of Supervisors to repeal these 
 resolutions at any moment. The complexion of the Board is in no 
 respect changed, except in the office of the Mayor, who presides. The 
 members, doubtless, have expected that their sense of justice, in pro- 
 viding adequate compensation — it is not more than adequate — will 
 be duly considered by the bench, in the adjudication of those impor- 
 tant questions now before them, relating to the powers of the Com- 
 mon Council. The very evil contemplated by the framers of the 
 Constitution, has thus arisen, and the power of the bench to overcome 
 a great temptation is now to be shown. 
 
 The independence of the Judiciary is one of the greatest safe- 
 guards of the community. Without it, no people can long maintain 
 their liberties and their happiness. The weak rely on it for protec- 
 tion against the strong. Laws are enacted for this purpose. But of 
 what avail is the passage of good laws, if they are not administered 
 wisely, honestly, and firmly? If the Judiciary is made dependent 
 their dependence will rest, not on the weak, for these are inefficient, 
 but on the strong, for they can render service. Courts of justice, 
 which are the refuge and protection of the weak when the Judiciary 
 is elevated and independent, are, when otherwise composed, convert- 
 ed into instruments of wrong and oppression. Is there not immi- 
 nent danger that the Judiciary of this State may be shaken in the 
 firm administration of justice, by subjecting their compensation to 
 the caprice of those who are suitors before them, urging a decision 
 
45 
 
 on questions involving not only their immediate pecuniary interests, 
 but also their personal liberty ? The man who does not tremble at 
 this state of things, knows little of human nature, and is blind to a 1 
 the warnings of experience. If the great safeguard of an hones 
 and unyielding bench, thrown around the rights of the citizen, is 
 swept away, a dark night will come over the fortunes of the coun- 
 try. Protection will then be afforded to criminals, who, by violence, 
 interfere with the exercise of political rights, on the part of those 
 who are inimical to the bench, and the frauds and injustice of those 
 who fix the compensation of judges be upheld. We do not belong 
 to the class who would make the compensation of those who occupy 
 the bench, too light to command the highest talent and the best 
 character. We believe that salaries are generally much too small 
 for high judicial stations. The compensation now fixed by the Board 
 of Supervisors, should, by a law of the State, so far as this is pos- 
 sible, be made permanent, and incapable of being affected by those 
 who establish it, having possibly in view the villanies that were 
 being perpetrated and their ultimate maintenance by judicial deci- 
 sions. We make the distinction between the necessity for adequate 
 payment and the time and manner of payment now adopted, and its 
 peculiar attending circumstances. The calendars were full, and will 
 be to overflowing. The Governor had called attention to the sub- 
 ject, and recommended that the labors of the bench be devolved 
 partly on others. An Act was passed in 1852 authorizing the Board 
 of Supervisors to raise the salaries and pay certain traveling ex- 
 penses of Judges from other quarters of the State. The proceeding 
 of the Board appeared to have the warrant of law, but it must be 
 clear that the injunction of the Constitution that the compensation 
 of Judges " shall not be increased or diminished during their conti- 
 nuance in office," applies not only to the Legislature, but also to 
 every subordinate instrument established to carry into effect the po- 
 litical power. The Comptroller of the city ought, we respectfully 
 submit, to obey the mandate of the Constitution, which he has sworn 
 to support, and refuse the payment ; but means should be taken by 
 good citizens to place the whole subject on a proper footing. 
 
 It is to gratify no idle curiosity that we place before you so often 
 and earnestly, fellow citizens, these startling disclosures. Means are 
 being taken by men in power to accomplish personal designs widely 
 
46 
 
 at variance with the permanent interests of the country, and they 
 are prosecuted with a boldness and perseverance that show wide 
 and deep corruption as being the condition already reached in too 
 many quarters. The tendency must not only be met and opposed, 
 but wholly overcome, and its authors held up to just detestation and 
 punishment. The efforts of the press, powerful though they be, 
 when prosecuted with fearlessness, are yet as nothing, except they 
 arouse the community into decisive warfare against gross abuses. 
 Too many stand aloof from the contest. The indifference of those 
 who have already earned a competence, and who live to enjoy only 
 pleasure, is the reliance and prop of the corrupt, and the drag 
 which the enemies of corruption most feel. It is a criminal indiffer- 
 ence which should awake the censures of the community. A free 
 government imposes on all the necessity of attending to its preser- 
 vation : and the time has now come when we must take efficient steps 
 to preserve and protect our rights, liberties and property, or these 
 high interests will be successfully invaded. Reader, how will you 
 act ? If you shall determine to obtain reform, act quickly, act tho- 
 roughly. Be satisfied with nothing short of an organic change, one 
 that will at the ensuing Spring, through the aid of the Legislature, 
 enable you to drive from power the men who hold it, to pollute 
 even the pure ermine of justice with the filth of their Augean 
 stable. 
 
 THE LATE ABUSES AND THE REMEDY. 
 
 We take the first opportunity to pause over the work already 
 accomplished, and endeavor to turn it to useful account. Those who 
 have watched the progress of development for a few weeks past, 
 have perceived that the frauds of the Common Council were exhib- 
 ited in two forms. 1st, In selling to others their votes and influence, 
 whereby valuable franchises and property have been parted from 
 without compensation to the city ; and 2nd, In grants directly to 
 themselves, a third party being used as a matter of ceremony, with 
 a right to a share of profits. There are other iniquities of different 
 kinds, with the character of which you are familiar. You were in- 
 formed a few days ago of the pertinacity of the Common Council in 
 
47 
 
 endeavoring to force the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to sell 
 the Fort Ganzevoort property to one D. R. Martin. Alderman Sturte- 
 vant has his office in the building in which D. R. Martin is located 
 Mr. Martin is also lessee of the following piers from the Corpo- 
 
 ration : 
 
 South half of Pier 23, at rent of $1,265 
 
 Pier No. 22, do 1,316 
 
 North half of Pier 20 and bulkhead, at 1,366 
 
 South half of pier 14, at rent of 2,006 
 
 Pier 39, Vestry street, do 1,380 
 
 Pier 35, Franklin street, do 2,356 
 
 Pier at Laight street, do 507 
 
 The piers owned by the city were valued by the late Comptroller 
 at $3,258,000. The net income from them, after deducting cost of 
 repairs and salaries, is only $12,485 52-100 — six per cent, and a 
 fraction on two hundred thousand dollars ! We have the most reli- 
 able information, that a single pier let by the Corporation at $1,200 
 per annum, is underlet (one-sixth of it) at $1,000 per annum. How 
 fortunate Mr. Martin must be if he is the real owner of these leases 
 Under the Sinking Fund Act, the piers and their avails were pledged 
 to the debt : but all care of them seems to have been utterly aban- 
 doned, and the power has been absorbed into the Common Coun- 
 cil, through the Committee on Finance. It is not to be supposed 
 when law is openly and disgracefully violated, and a vast property, 
 utterly sacrificed by public officers, that they take upon themselves 
 merely the odium of the transaction, and leave its benefits to others. 
 Happening to be at the City Hall on Friday, we looked for the first 
 time into the names of the grantees of the Broadway Railroad, and 
 there saw as one of them the name of this D. R. Martin. Why is he 
 the recipient of these vast privileges ? What entitles him thus 
 to " roll and tumble in the ocean" of Corporation bounty ? Look 
 over the list of other names in the Broadway grant, and you will see 
 in the close relationship of blood and pecuniary interests between 
 Aldermen and grantees, the answer to the question. The same influ- 
 ence that prompted the passage of the resolution referred to, induced 
 the leases and the railway grant. We present this matter now, and re. 
 fer to a single instance, only by way of illustration ; but if the promised 
 affidavit of Mr. Jacob Sharpe, (who, in addition to being one of the 
 railway grantees, built last year the bulkhead at Fort Ganzevoort for 
 
48 
 
 about $90,000, the pier at Manhattanville for an enormous sum, and 
 is the recent grantee of the Wall street ferry and wharves, among 
 numerous other favors,) if his promised affidavit shall be true, that 
 nothing was paid, the question will ariue, whether it was necessary 
 for Mr. Martin to pay Mr. Sturtevant, or for other relations or friends 
 to pay other Aldermen for such a grant In such a matter he and 
 his colleagues could afford to be magnanimous. We must leave 
 much in what we write on these subjects to be appreciated from the 
 facts, without the aid of deduction from us ; for a thousand enemies 
 have started up from the strongholds of corruption, to render 
 investigation and criticism difficult; and we desire, by the use of 
 all the moderation compatible with a disagreeable duty, to show 
 that a feeling animates us which no citizen should censure. The 
 city is fast rushing on to the brink of destruction : and unless our 
 steps are arrested, all . will be involved in the same disasters — the 
 criminal who is the active agent in this state of things, the rich who 
 by silence and inaction connive at it, and the humble citizen who 
 raises his voice of remonstrance, but who is crushed between the two 
 influences. An effort now made with singleness of purpose, with 
 wisdom and with courage, will check, if it will not correct the disor- 
 ders of the times. We think we perceive, that that wealth which 
 has been increased through means of corruption, would now be pour- 
 ed out like water, if it could wash away the ineffaceable stains which 
 attend its possession. A feeling and sentiment have been aroused, of 
 a character so deep and so widely spread, that if we but use them as 
 the occasion prompts, fraud will be detested and reform accomplish- 
 ed. The danger which lies before us arises from the anxiety of some 
 to aim the action of the public towards those particular abuses from 
 which they derive injury — the Broadway railroad case, for instance 
 — and of others to make the reforms only of a partial character. The 
 great feeling now aroused must not be wasted on what is partial or 
 temporary, but concentrated into one purpose, and directed towards 
 it with energy, courage and confidence. To procure wide and 
 effectual reform is an object worthy of high effort, and must in the 
 end triumph over every obstacle. Present defeat before the Legis- 
 lature or the public, is not to be compared to the disaster which at- 
 tends success with partial, temporary and ineffectual measures. 
 Such measures wiU be prosecuted on the admission, direct or impli- 
 
49 
 
 ed, that ell'ectual remedies are hopeless, and that we must ultimate- 
 ly sink down into irremediable confusion and disgrace. The time 
 has arrived to exhibit the true character and the powerful energies 
 of a free people, their abhorrence of fraud and wrong, their deter 
 initiation that the virtue of the community shall control its vice, 
 their capacity to govern wisely and firmly. The opportunity must 
 not be lost. In the contest the tone of the public will be raised, 
 and virtue become invincible. Let us examine some of the defects 
 in our system to which we owe the evils that prevail. If the worst 
 i lemagogue in the city had been the democratic candidate for the 
 Uomptrollership, the popularity of General Pierce would have elect- 
 ed him. It will be very obvious that it is impolitic to subject the 
 city to that hazard. Many officers were carried in, wholly through 
 that influence — some for three years, others for only one. If we 
 are not greatly mistaken, there will be abundant cause to regret the 
 success of some who were thus elected. This difficulty will be cor- 
 rected by separating our municipal from our general elections, and 
 by changing the former from the Fall to the Spring. It may be ob- 
 jected, that this was tried for a short time, and abandoned. The 
 reasons for the abandonment we well know ; they were more con- 
 nected with the fortunes of party, than with the prosperity and good 
 government of the city. No argument can be presented by even 
 the most ingenious mind, in favor of mixing up the two election? 
 together, that cannot be overwhelmingly answered. We take it for 
 granted that this change will be insisted on, and that all measures 
 that do not embrace it will be promptly rejected. The change 
 draws after it necessarily a change of the present incumbents of of- 
 fice. Their term must either be shortened, so as to terminate this 
 Spring, or be lengthened so as to run over to the next. We now- 
 elect in November those who take offiee in January, we should 
 elect in April those who take office in May. It would create a feel- 
 ing of horror to propose to add four months to the term of the pre- 
 sent Common Council — a body which has made New York corrup- 
 tion a by-word over the whole continent. Therefore it should be 
 shortened, so that the political life of those who have been tried and 
 found wanting, who have brought disgrace on their home, their 
 children, their friends, shall be forever terminated. It is the ne- 
 cessary result of a necessary change. It will be a blow struck at 
 
 3 
 
50 
 
 corruption everywhere. It will strengthen the arm of honest men in 
 similar contests, in other cities and other States. The vote on the 
 question, whether or not their term shall be lengthened or shortened, 
 if submitted to the people, as we hope it may be, will give a spirit to 
 the contest that will prove that a great community has firmly put its 
 foot on the neck of corruption. The Legislature have therefore only 
 to be asked to allow the people who know these men, and who will 
 give them a fair trial, to decide on the character of their deeds 
 The power to change the form of government, or even to abolish it, 
 is inherent in every people. This is at the bottom of American con- 
 stitutions. Great movements of that character should not be entered 
 upon without grave deliberation. The proceeding now necessary it 
 different from that, and wholly inferior and subordinate. It is a ne- 
 cessary change in the time of election, which draws after it the ques- 
 tion whether a representative without any vested right, shall repre- 
 sent his principal four months more than a prescribed term, or eight 
 months less. The man who imagines that any constitutional right, 
 safeguard, interest or policy, is interfered with in such an act, mis- 
 understands the character of our institutions, and of those, also, 
 whose spirit and tone are so largely infused into them. There has 
 ever been a hesitation about interfering with the term of regular ju- 
 dicial incumbents, but none whatever in any quarter against a change 
 which affects only the mere representative. An extraordinary emer- 
 gency has arisen, and there is a necessity for its exercise. The 
 danger which the enemies of reform advance, that it may be ap- 
 plied at other times, and under circumstances that do not justify 
 a change, is met by the consideration that the people are to vote 
 upon it, and they would rebuke an attempt to displace honest 
 officers. Such a9 are dishonest, and who impress the whole body 
 with their infirmities^ can never be removed with disadvantage, 
 whether the act be vieAved by itself or as a precedent. The prece- 
 dent will tend to purify the administration of public affairs. The 
 Legislature, when asked to submit to the people of New York, the 
 question, — " Shall the term of the present Board be lengthened or 
 shortened ? " decide nothing against the present incumbents. They 
 allow us to decide for or against them. 
 
 Another defect is equally obvious. No legislative establishment 
 anywhere but here, has two bodies with the same constituency. A 
 
51 
 
 member of the lower House of Assembly represents one part of the 
 State, — and of the upper, another. In our city wo send from the 
 same ward a member to the Board of Aldermen, another to the 
 Board of Assistants, and, substantially, a third to the Legislature. 
 They are elected at the same time, and like influences prevail to 
 stamp them with the same character. Hence one Board is not a 
 check upon the other, and the tax bills of the city pass the Legisla- 
 ture as they are prepared by the Common Council. The anomaly of 
 this condition should be changed. The change which we would pro- 
 mote, squares with every valuable popular principle. When the 
 members of the Legislature were elected by general ticket, they were 
 far better than now. The reputation of nominating bodies was 
 pledged for the excellence of the nomination. The Board of Alder- 
 men should be nominated and elected on this plan. As they have 
 much work to do, the number cannot be made small. If the Board 
 consists of twenty, elected by general ticket, five of whom shall go 
 out yearly, the attention of men of substance will be turned intently 
 to its construction. There will then be one Board which will owe 
 its powers and feel its responsibility to the whole public. As a com- 
 pensation for the separation of members of this Board from direct 
 accountability to particular wards or districts, the Board of Assistants 
 could be made more popular. Send a member to it from every two 
 election districts. The city is divided into about 90 districts, which 
 would give 45 members. They would be brought into clo^e contact 
 with the people. The wants of the latter could easily be made 
 known. A sufficient number of strong and honest men would reach 
 this Board to overcome every tendency towards corruption. Its size 
 will render corruption difficult ; but imagine the effect with which a 
 strong mind, desirous to do battle for the right, might there denounce 
 iniquity, and drive it into its dark recesses. With a legislative es- 
 tablishment thus constituted, meeting, not in the night as 
 now, but in the open day, proper means would be provided for 
 the passage of all good laws, and to obstruct bad ones. The popular 
 and the conservative principle are both represented, and furnish not 
 only the opportunities to forward, but also the means properly to 
 guard the steps of progress. If, in addition to this, you constitute 
 the Board of Supervisors an independent body, and turn them into 
 auditing officers, or create a Board of Finance of that character, the 
 
52 
 
 anomalies of our condition will be changed, and proper legislative and 
 supervisory boards be established. There is much more to be done, 
 but it takes more the shape of detail than do the subjects discussed. 
 There will be a strong effort to confine the action of the public in 
 this great juncture, to such measures as proceed on the idea that 
 mis-government must exist, and that only measures which chain up 
 representatives to the limit of a particular circuit, and appoint a 
 keeper to feed and watch them, can be relied upon. 
 
 It will be said that the creation of a Board of Finance, to hold 
 power over the representative bodies, will be effectual; indeed, it 
 will be claimed to be more organic and more thorough than the mea- 
 sures we have proposed. Whilst the plan might be accepted, in 
 connection with others, which establish reform in the sentiments of 
 the people, as a necessity which they may and must accomplish, we 
 have no hesitation in saying, that its adoption alone, would be a 
 waste of the immense feeling now aroused, and which is capable 
 of extension to every heart that feels a stake in the great principles 
 that lie at the foundation of our free system, and an abhorence 01 
 fraud and wrong. The people, if they are not already, must be excited 
 to the requisite point of elevation. They must not be lowered from it to 
 accept only a partial, ineffectual remedy, by which we are to be sunk 
 down to the level of those who act on the policy that only knaves 
 and fools will be elected, and that all thorough remedies will be hope- 
 loss. We are not constructed, said a great orator, to conquer by 
 endurance ; we are not encrusted with a shell ; it is by active, vig- 
 orous, manly steps that we reach our true position. 
 It may be objected against this plan of reform, that it interferes with 
 a Board newly elected (the Board of Assistants,) and which is not re- 
 sponsible for the iniquities that have been disclosed. Although there 
 was a new election last fall, yet there were few changes. A large 
 majority of the old members was returned. If the next election la 
 not changed from the fall to the spring (the ensuing spring) a like 
 result will take place. The members use the funds of the city to 
 pay their retainers and bullies, and in the confusion of an election 
 which embraces many interests, they will certainly prevail. The 
 power resulting from the lavish use of the money collected from taxa- 
 tion, to perpetuate the villany of members, is superior to the strength 
 of party discipline, and the latter is overborn. Hence the promi- 
 
53 
 
 nence, which you behold, of city Aldermen in all political assemblages. 
 The funds they apply enable them to dictate in most of the pro- 
 ceedings. As political conventions are now organized here, those, as 
 a general rule, who are aspirants for office and political honors, com- 
 pletely govern. It is they who pay the expenses of the election. Their 
 contributions in this behalf comprise also the purchase money requir- 
 ed for a nomination. So long as these bodies arc composed of needy 
 members, who reach the place, as most of them do, for the rewards 
 that attend it, such will ever be their character. In this respectthero 
 is no difference between " the two great parties." Cannot any man 
 of judgment and resolution plainly see, that any such miserable or- 
 ganization can easily be overthrown ! It has no single element of 
 real strength. It stands on the tottering basis of corruption. A thou- 
 sand substantial men who will form an organization on an independ- 
 ent basis, and subscribe enough to paralyze dictation from those who 
 desire office, will mow down the miserable devils who contif>l iu 
 politics, and control on a plan that disgraces the land in which they 
 live. We have measured fully those who now rule, and speak witli 
 confidence in saying, that less forcible, or less respectable bodies could 
 not well be assembled together. Arise, then, citizens of New York, 
 with confidence, courage and strength, and wrest your city from such 
 hands. Establish in the place of misrule and" corruption, a solid gov 
 ernment, one which the vicious shall feel, and the good revere. A 
 few party men of weight may oppose your movements, but their er- 
 ror will be seen. A few old "Whigs suppose they will get possession 
 of the city in the fall, from the unpopularity of their opponents now 
 in office. Some old Democrats oppose any disturbing element in the 
 elections. They forget that men of both parties in the present Com- 
 mon Council, have rejected party, and stand together on one broad 
 platform — the platform where lie scattered the contents of the public 
 treasury, the franchises of the city, its grants for ferries, land and 
 property — and that they stand upon it filling their pockets with the 
 vast plunder, with which they corrupt Conventions ami the Grand Ju- 
 ry, control the primary meetings and hire bullies whom they discharge 
 from imprisonment or, as Judges, so gently punish, that the criminal 
 is encouraged to repeat his dangerous offences against the sanctity of 
 the ballot. A party man of either side must see in this state of 
 things, what is fatal to the supremacy of the party. He must dis- 
 cover a far deeper danger. 
 
54 
 
 The union of Whigs and Democrats in the Common Council on the 
 basis of plunder, suggests a union of honest men on the opposing basis. 
 A distinct issue of that character can be formed. The plunderers 
 will fall and be disgraced forever. 
 
 To those, therefore, who assemble in the work of reform, we say, * 
 be satisfied with no half-way measures. Accept only those which are 
 complete. The Legislature of the State is in the hands of the Demo- 
 cratic party. The executive offices are held by them. The two will 
 be responsible for what they grant to you, and for what they refuse. 
 Hold them to the responsibility. Place your grievances before them 
 in a manly spirit. You have no power to amend the Charter ; the 
 power is theirs, and if they refuse what is necessary to accomplish 
 perfect reform, they make the crimes of those now invested with the 
 local government their crimes, and thus give to reform a wider thea- 
 tre for action. But if you demand from them ouly what is right, and 
 show tha4 you will submit to nothing that is wrong, they will be with 
 you in the effort, and entitle themselves to the warmest blessings. 
 
AY*KY