Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library When you leave, please leave this hook Because it has been said "Ever'thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned hook." OLD YORK LIBRARY - OLD YORK FOUNDATION Historic Towns EDITED BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN, D.C.L. & Rev. WILLIAM HUNT, M.A. NEA¥ YORK I i Historic Towns NEW YORK BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT AUTHOR OF "the WI>'NIXG OF THE WEST," ETC. LONDON LONGMAiVS, GREEN, AND CO. AND NEW YORK; 15 EAST IC" STREET 1891 All rights reserved miu\)crsitg ^rcss : JoH.N Wilson and Son, Cambiudge, U. PKEF ACE. Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's "History of the City of New York," the other histories of the city by Miss Booth, and Messrs. Lossing, Todd, and Valentine; the Brodhead and O'Callaghan papers ; Hammond's " Political History of New York ; " Dougherty's " Con- stitutions of New York;" Cooper's "Satanstoe" and "Miles Wallingford ; " Tuckerman's "Diary of Philip Hone ; " Parton's " Topics of the Time ; " Adams's " Chapter of Erie ; " Shea's and De Courcey's " His- tory of the Catholic Church in the United States;" and Lounsbury's admirable " Life of Cooper," — the bast piece of American literary biography ever yet done, — are among the authorities consulted in pre- paring this volume. I wish to express my particular thanks to Mr. Brander Matthews, who indeed is re- sponsible for my undertaking to write the book at all. The limited space allowed forbade the use of the vast mass of manuscript w^hich was obtainable. The temptation was very great to attempt a more exhaust- ive study of the events of the last forty years, — that viii Preface. is, the history of modern and contemporary New York ; ibr this is the most important and instructive portion of our history, with the possible exception of the Fed- eralist period. But of course such a study w^ould be entirely out of place in a book of this kind. It has been my aim less to collect new facts than to draw from the immense storeliouse of facts already collected those which w^ere of real importance in New York history, and to show their true meaning, and their relations to one another ; to sketch the workings of the town's life, social, commercial, and political, at succes- sive periods, with their sharp transformations and con- trasts ; and to trace the causes which gradually changed a little Dutch trading-hamlet into a huge American city. I have also striven to make clear the logical sequence and continuity of these events ; to outline the steps by which the city gradually obtained a free political life ; and to give proper prominence to the remarkable and ever-recurring revolutions in the ethnic make-up of our mixed population, — a population which from the begin- ning has been composed of many different race-elements, and which has owed its marvellous growth more to immigration than to natural increase. I had to content myself with barely touching on the social and political problems of the present day ; for to deal with these at any length would turn the volimie into a tract instead of a history. I have no wish to hide or excuse our faults; for I hold that he is often Preface. ix the best American who strives hardest to correct Amer- ican shortcomings, and is most willing to profit by the wisdom and experience of other nations, especially of those that are nearest akin to us by blood, belief, speech, and law, and that ai'e knit closest to us by the kindly ties of a former common history and common tradition. Nevertheless, I am just as little disposed to give way to undue pessimism as to undue and arrogant optimism. Both our virtues and defects should be taken into ac- count. For instance, there are great European cities with much cleaner municipal governments than ours ; but on the other hand, the condition of the masses of the population in these same cities is much worse than it is in New York. Our marked superiority in one respect is no excuse or palliation for our lamentable falling off in another ; but it must at least be accepted as an offset. We have been favoured with some -pecu- liar advantages, and we have been forced to struggle against other peculiar disadvantages; and both must be given due weight. In speaking to my own countrymen there is one point upon which I wish to lay especial stress ; that is, the necessity for a feeling of broad, radical, and intense Americanism, if good work is to be done in any direc- tion. Above all, the one essential for success in every political movement which is to do lasting good, is that our citizens should act as Americans ; not as Americans with a prefix and qualification, — not as Irish Americans, X Preface. German Americans, Native Americans, — but as Ameri- cans pure and simple. It is an outrage for a man to drag foreign politics into our contests, and vote as an Irishman or German or other foreigner, as the case may be; and there is no worse citizen than the profossional Irish dynamiter or German anarchist, because of his attitude toward our social and political life, not to mention his efforts to embroil us with foreign powers. But it is no less an outrage to discriminate against one who has become an American in good faith, merely be- cause of his creed or birthplace. Every man who has gone into practical politics knows well enough that if he joins good men and fights those who are evil, he can pay no heed to lines of division drawn according to race and religion. It would be well for New York if a larger proportion of her native-born children came up to the standard set by not a few of those of foreign birth. The two men who did most to give Brooklyn good muni- cipal government were two mayors, one of German birth, the other of pure native American stock. My own warmest and most disinterested political friends and supporters in the city, and most trusty allies in the State Legislature, included men of Irish and German no less than of native American descent, — but all of them genuine Americans, the former just as much so as the latter. No city could wish representatives more loyal and disinterested in their devotion to the welfare of the commonwealth, — a devotion for which they were often Preface. xi ill rewarded. Of the last four mayors of New York, two have been of native and two of Irish stock ; and no political line can be drawn among them which will not throw one Irishman and one American on one side, and one Irishman and one American on the other. In short, the most important lesson taught by the history of New York City is the lesson of Americanism, — the lesson that he among us \7ho wishes to win honour in our life, and to play his part honestly and manfully, must be indeed an American in spirit and purpose, in heart and thought and deed. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Sagamore Hill, Isovember, 1890. CONTENTS. CHAPTER 1. DTSCOVKRY AND FIKST SETTLEMENT. 1609-1626. PAGE Hendrik Hudson's Discoveries — Spirit of Exploration — Conquests of Spain and Portugal — Sea-Rovers of Holland and England — Settle- ments on the Atlantic Coast — Effect of Battle of Lutzen on America — Hudson's Relations with the Indians — Exploration of the Hud- son River— Adrian Block, the First Shipbuilder of America — The F ur Trade — The New Netherland Company — The West India Corn- pan}' — Foundation of the City — Arrival of Peter Minuit ... 1 CHAPTER II. THE DUTCH TOWN UNDER THE FIKST THREE DIRECTORS. 1626-1647. Purchase of Manhattan Island — New Amsterdam Founded — Physical Features of the Island — Minuit's Administration — Old- World Ideas of Colonization — The Fur Trade — Patroons — Vassalage of Early Settlers — Early Farming — Shipbuilding — Wouter Van Twiller's Administration — The First Schoolmaster — Relations with Indians — Troubles between Dutch and English — Colonies on the Connecticut and the Delaware — Kieft's Administration — Improve- ments under Kieft — Immigration — Swedish Settlements on the Delaware — Indian Wars and Massacres — Foundation of Popular Government — Removal of Kieft 12 CHAPTER III. STUTVESANT AND THE END OF DUTCH RULE. 1647-1664. Stuyvesant's Character — Improvement of the Colony — Ethnic Fea- tures of Early Population — Incorporation of the City — The Stock- ade on the Site of Wall Street — The Canal — Ravages by Wolves — Early Colonial Architecture and Costumes — New Year Celebra- tions — Troubles with Indians — Revolt on Long Island — Religious Persecution — Seizure of New Netherlands by the English ... 26 xiv Contents, CHAPTER IV. NEW AMSTERDAM BECOMES NEW YORK. THE BEGINNING OF ENG- LISH RULE 16t)i-l(374. PAGE The City Rechristened — English Rule all along the Coast — Dangers Surrounding the Settlements — Rule, of Governor Nicolls — Religious Liberty — Naturalization — Race Prejudice — Aristocracy — Refusal of Right to Elect Representatives — The Peace of Breda — Adminis- tration of Governor Lovelace — The First Social Club — Troubles with Long Island Puritans — Prosperity — Whaling and Fislieries — Early Conception of the New York Exchange — English and Dutch War — Establishment of Mails — Recapture of New York by ilie Dutch — Administration of Governor Colve — Cession of ihe City to the English — Appointment of Governor Andros ....... 38 CHAPTER V. NEW YORK UNDER THE STUARTS. 1674-1688. Administration of Governor Andros — Flour Monopoly — Abolition of In- dian Slavery — Contemplated Invasion of New England — Recall of Andros — Administration of Lieutenant-Governor Brockholls — In- ternal Disturbances — Demand for a Provincial Assembly — Adminis- tration of Governor Dongan — Religious Toleration — Establishment of the Provincial Assembly — Charter of Liberties and Privileges — Self-Government Secured — Naturalization — Increased Prosperity — The Board of Aldermen — Sabbatarian Laws — Tyranny of James II. — Downfall of Dongan — Reappointment of Andros — Accession of William III. — Fall of Andros — Union between English and Dutch Elements — Race Differences and Fusion 49 CHAPTER VL THE USURPATION OF LEISLER. 1689-1691. Internal Dissensions — Rise of the Popular Party — Leadership of Leis- ler and Milborne — Religious Troubles — Seizure of the Fort by Leisler — The Popular Party in Control of the City — Machinations of the House of Stuart — Headstrong Policy of Leisler — Animosity between Leisler and the Aristocracy^ — Leisler's Treason — Com- mittee of Safety — Election of the First Mayor — Congress of the Colonies — Expedition against Canada — Privateering — Waning Power of Leisler — Appointment of Governor Sloughter— Skirmish between Regulars and Militia — Execution of Leisler and Milborne — Downfall of the Popular Party — Limited Religious Liberty . . GO Contents. XV CHAPTER VII. THE GROWTH OF THE COLONIAL SEAPORT. 1691-1720. PAGE Wars with France — Self-Government — Shipping Industries — Priva- teers and Pirates — (Slave Trade — Foundations of Large Fortunes — Freebooters — Governor Fletcher's Connivance at Piracy — Adminis- tration of Fletcher — Smuggling — Recall of Fletcher — Administra- tion of Governor Bellomont — Active Measures against Pirates — Career of Capt. Kidd — Reform of Land System — Election Frauds — Administration of Lord Cornbury — Demands for Self-Government — Administration of Governor Hunter — German Immigration . . 73 CHAPTER VIIL THE CLOSE OF THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 1720-1764. Characteristics of Population — Religious Bodies — English the Official Language — King's College — Social Lines — Social Customs — Sports — Armorial Bearings — Dutch Festivals — Education — Con- stituents of New York Society — Labour — Negro Slavery — Negro Insurrection — Incendiary Fires — The " New York Gazette" — The *' Weekly Journal " — Liberty of the Press — Family Factions , . 89 CHAPTER IX. THE UNREST BEFORE THE REVOLUTION. 1764-1774. A New Chapter in American History — Threatened Disruption of Col- onial System — European Theory of Colonization — Attitude of Col- onies toward Mother Country in Matters of Defence — Verdict of History on Revolt of the Colonies — British Operations ~ Position of the Colonies Contrasted with that of the Federal Union of States — Classes and Parties — New York Leaders of the Revolution — The Stamp Act — Sons of Liberty — Stamp-Act Riots — Repeal of the Stamp Act — The Billeting Act — The Liberty-Pole Riots — The Tea Act and its Results — The First Continental Congress 104 CHAPTER X. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 1775-1 78.'>. The Second Continental Congress — Lukewarmness about Revolution — The Loyalists — Mob Violence — Closing of Fpiscopal Churches — The Struggle for Independence — Abolition of the Colonial Assem- bly— Washington Assumes C'ommand in New York — Weakness of the City — British Operations against New York — The Hessians — xvi Contents. Tory Plots — American Defeat on Long Island — Washington's Evacuation of the City — Defeat at Kip's Bay — Action at Haarlem Heights — Battle of Wiiite Plains — Washington's Retreat to New Jersey — Victory at Trenton — Terrors of the British Occupation — Great Fires — Execution of Nathan Hale — Horrors of the Prisons — Washington's Difficulties — British Evacuation 123 CHAPTER XI. THE FEDERALIST CITY. 1783-1800. Depression after the Revolution — Improvements and Rebuilding — Columbia College — The New York Society Library — The State Constitution — Religious Toleration — The New York Medical So- ciety — The " Doctor's Mob " Riots — Enlargement of Commerce — Suffrage, and Appointment to Office — Municipal Government — State Patronage — Foundation of the Federal Government — Lead- ers of the Federalist Party — Governor Clinton — " The Federalist " — Procession in Honour of the Fedenil Constitution — New York the Federal Capital — The Jeffersonian Republicans — Federal Patron- age — Aaron Burr — Scurrility of the Press — Political Riots — Elec- tion of Burr to the Vice- Presidency — Downfall of the Federalist Partv " 142 CHAPTER XXL THE BEGINNING OF DEMOCRATIC RULE. 1801-1821. Tie Vote between Jefferson and Burr — Rise of Democratic Supremacy — The Spoils System — Family Influence in Politics — Downfall of Burr — Hamilton Killed by Burr — Fall of the Livingstons from Power — Political Bitterness — State Banks — Social Life and Cus- toms — Municipal Regulations — Markets — Sanitary Deficiencies — Charities — Foundation of Free-School System — Scientific and Lit- erary Societies — Literature — Beginning of Steam Navigation — The War of 1812 - Right of Search — Privateering— European Im- migration— Assnnilation of tlie Du'cli — Nogro Emancipation — The • New E.ngland Invasion " 159 CHAPTER XITI. THE GROWTH OF THE COMMERCIAL AND DEMOCRATIC CITY. 1821-1860 Increased Population — Constitutional Amendments — Extension of Suffrage — Negro Suffrage — Constitutional Provisions for Election Contents. XVll PAGE of Officers — Material Prosperity — The Erie Cana' — Steam Trans- portation and Electricity — Commercial Enterprise — Careers of John Jacob Astor and Cornelius Vanderbilt — The Fur Trade — The Clipper Ships of New York — Decay of Shippmg — Dangers of Povert}' — Increase of Immigration — The German Population — The Irish Population — Americanization of Immigrants — Growth of the Roman Catholic Church — The Cholera Epidemic — Riots — Political Parties — Roman Catholic Opposition to the Public-School System — Power of Tammany Hall — Election Frauds — Municipal Bribery — State Interference in INIunicipal Matters — Police Riots — Architecture — Art and Literature — European Travel and its In- fluence — Social Features 175 Increase of Population and Municipal Territory — Outbreak of the Civil War — Secession Influences — Reawakened Loyalty — Active Sup- port of the Federal Government — Draft Riots — Hibernian Riots — Political Corruption — Stock-Swindling — The Tweed Ring — Dangers of the Political System, and their Remedies — Change of Character of Immigration — Relative Strength of the Churches — Improvement in Architecture — The East River Bridge — Central Park — Clubs — Public Buildings — Charities — Cooper Union — Celebration of the Federal Constitution's Centennial — Science, Art, and Literature — Social Life — Future Prospects 201 CHAPTER XIV. RECENT HISTORY. 1860-1890. MAPS. The To AVNE of New York. 1664-1668 New York City. 1767 ..... New York City. 1890 . . Frontispiece . To face page 104 At end of volume NEW YORK CHAPTER 1. DISCOVERY AND FIRST SETTLEMENT. 1G09-1626. Early in September, 1609, the ship " Half-Mooii," restlessly skirtiug the American coast, in the vani quest for a strait or other water route leading to India, came to the mouth of a great lonely river, flowing silently out from the heart of the unknown continent. The" Half-Moon" was a small, clumsy, high-pooped yacht, manned by a score of Dutch and English sea-dogs, and commanded by an English adventurer then in Dutch ])ay, and known to his employers as Hendrik Hudson. He, his craft, and his crew were all typical of the age, — an age fertile in adventure-loving explorers, eager to sail under any flag that promised glory and profit, at no matter what cost of hardship and danger; an age fertile also beyond measure in hardy seamen, of whom the hardiest and brav^est came from England and the Netherlands. It was a period when the greatest deeds were done on the ocean by these rough heroes of cutlass and compass. They won honour by exploring unknown 1 2 New York. seas and taking possession of and subjugating unknown lands, no less than by their prowess in the grim water- fights which have made their names immortal. Their small ships dared the dangers of the most distant oceans, and shattered the sea-might of every rival naval power ; and they themselves led lives of stormy peril and strong pleasure, and looked forward unmoved to inevi- table death in some one of their countless contests with man or with the elements. For a century and a quarter Spain and Portugal had not only taken the lead in, but had almost monopolized all ocean exploration and trans-oceanic settlement and conquest, while the most daring navigators were to be found inlheir ranks, or among the Italians who served both them and their rivals. Even at the beginning of the seventeenth century they were still the only peoples who had permanently occupied any portion of the New AVorld; and their vast possessions included all of tropi- cal, sub-tropical, and south-temperate America. But by this time, in a hundred fights the sea-beggars and sea-rovers of Holland and England had destroyed the cumbrous navies of the Spanish king, and won from those who fought for Ids flag the mastery of the ocean. Spain was still a great power; but it was a power whose might was waning. From the time when the races of middle and northern Europe first planted their standards in the New World they have stood toward the Spaniards and Spanish Americans as aggressors. Their blows had to be parried and returned ; sometimes they have been returned with good effect, but as a whole the Spanish people have always been on the defensive, fearing, not threatening, conquest. First Settlement. igo9-i626. 3 Yet, though tlie career of Spaiu as a conquering power was thus cut short, two pregnant centuries passed by before her children lost any considerable por- tion of the land which she held when the ships of the English colonists first sighted the shores of America. During the early part of the seventeenth century the Atlantic coast from Acadia to Florida became dotted with the settlements of half a dozen different European na- tions. At irregular intervals along this extended sea- board the French, the English, the Dutch, the Swedes, as well as the Spaniards, built little forts and established small trading-towns. When the English had fairly be- gun to take root in New England and Virginia, the Dutch still held the Hudson, and the Swedes the mouth of the Delaware ; Acadia was still French, and Florida Span- ish. It was altogether uncertain wliich one of these races would prove victor over the others, or whether any one would. There was at least a good chance that even the Spaniards would hold their own, and that temperate North America, like temperate Europe, would be held by many nations, differing one from the other in speech, in religion, and in blood. We have grown so accustomed to regarding America north of the Ptio Grande as the natural heritage of the English-speaking peoples that we find it hard to realize how uncertain seemed the prospect at the period when colonization began. None could foretell which power would win in the strug- gle ; and the fate of America was bound up in wars in which her future was hardly, if at all, consid- ered. If Gustavus Adolphus had not fallen on tlie field of Llitzen, and had he founded, as he hoped, a great Scandinavian kingdom encircling the Baltic, and with. 4 New York. fleets as powerful as her armies, it may well be that the fame and terror of the Swedish name would have insured peace and prosperity to the transatlantic Swedish colonists. Had the Dutch fleets been but a trifle stronger, and had the Dutch diplomats prized Manhattan as they prized Java, the New Netherlands might never have become New York. It seemed, and was, perfectly possible in the seventeenth century, that the nineteenth would see flourishing Dutch and Swedish states firmly seated along the Hudson and the Dela- ware, exactly as a thriving Erench commonwealth actually is seated along the lower St. Lawrence. Thus it came about that the English colonists and their American descendants not only had to tame a wild and stubborn continent, and ever to drive back from before their advance the doomed tribesmen of the forest and prairie, but also had to wrest many of the fairest portions of the domain which the English-speak- ing Americans inherit, from the hands of other in- truders of European blood. Many of the cities of the Union bear testimony by their early history to this fact, Albany, Detroit, and Santa Ed are but three out of many towns wherein the English reaped what the Dutch, the Erench, or the Spaniards had sown. The history of New York deserves to be studied for more than one reason. It is the history of the largest English-speaking city which the English conquered but did not found, and in which though the Enolish law and governmental system have ever been supreme, yet the bulk of the population, composed as it is and ever has been of many sliifting strains, has never been First Settlement, leou-me. S Euglisli. Again, for the past hundred years, it is the histor}^ of a wonderfully prosperous trading-city, the largest in the world in whicli the democratic plan has ever been faithfully tried for so long a time ; and the trial, made under some exceptional advantages and some equally exceptional disadvantages, is of immense interest, alike for the measure in which it has suc- ceeded and for the measure in which it has failed. Hudson, on coming to the river to which his name was afterward given, did not at first know that it was a river at all ; he believed and hoped that it was some great arm of the sea, that in fact it was the Nortliwest Passage to India, which he and so many other brave men died in vainly trying to discover. For a week he lay in the lower bay, and then for a day shifted his anchorage into what is now New York Harbour; his boats explored the surrounding shore-line, and found many Indian villages, for the neighbourhood seemed well peopled. The savages flocked to see the white strangers, and eagerly traded off their tobacco for the knives and beads of the Europeans. Of course occa- sions of quarrel were certain to arise between the rough, brutal sailors and the fickle, suspicious, treacherous red men ; and once a boat's crew was attacked by t\vo canoes, laden with warriors, and a sailor was killed by an arrow which pierced his throat. Yet on the whole their relations were friendly, and the trading and bar- tering went on unchecked. Hudson soon found that he was off the mouth of a river, not a strait ; and lie spent three wrecks in explor- ing it, sailing up till the shoaling water warned him 6 New York, that he ^vas at the liead of navigation, near the pres- ent site of Albany. He found many small Indian tribes scattered along the banks, and usually kept on good terms with them, presenting their chiefs with trinkets of vai-ious kinds, and treating them for the first time to a taste of " hre-water," the terrible curse of their race ever since. In return he w^as well re- ceived when he visited tlie bark wigwams, his hosts holding feasts for him, wliere the dishes included not only wild fowl, but also fat dogs, killed by the squaws, and skinned Avith mussel shells. The Indians, who had made some progress in the ruder arts of agriculture, brought to the ship quantities of corn, beans, and pump- kins from the great heaps drying beside their villages ; and their fields, yielding so freely to even their poor tillage, bore witness to the fertility of the soil. Hudson had to be constantly on his guard against his new- found friends , and once he w^as attacked by a party of hostile warriors whom he beat off, killing several of their number. However, w^hat far out-w^eighed such danger in the gain-greedy eyes of the trade-loving ad- venturers, was the fact that they saw in the possession of the Indians great stores of rich furs ; for the mer- chants of Europe prized furs as they did silks, spices, ivory, and precious metals. Having reached the head of navigation the " Half- Moon " turned her bluff bows southward, and drifted down stream with the rapid current until she once more reached the bay. The brilliant fall w^eather had been varied at times with misty days and nights ; and during the " Half-Moon's " inland voyage her course had lain through scenery singularly wild, grand, and lonely. First Settlement. 1609-1626. 7 She had passed the long line of frowning, battlemented rock-walls that we know by the name of the Palisades ; she had threaded her way round the bends where the curving river sweeps in and out among bold peaks, — Storm Kinsf, Crow's Nesfc, and their brethren; she liad sailed in front of the Catskill Mountains, per- haps even thus early in the season crowned with shin- ing snow. From her decks tlie lookouts scanned with their watchful eyes dim shadowy wastes, stretching for countless leagues on every hand ; for all the land was shrouded in one vast forest, where red hunters wdio had never seen a white face followed wild beasts, upon whose kind no wliite man had ever gazed. Early in October, Hudson set out on his homeward voyage to Holland, where the news of his discovery excited much interest among the daring merchants, especially among those whose minds were bent on the fur-trade. Several of the latter sent small ships across to the newly found bay and river, both to barter with the savages and to explore and report further upon the country. The most noted of these sea-captains who followed Hudson, was Adrian Block, who while at anchor off Manhattan Island lost his vessel by fire. He at once set about building another, and being a man of great resource and resolution, succeeded. Creating every- thing for himself, and working in the heart of the primeval forest, he built and launched a forty-five- foot yacht which he christened the " Onrest " (the " Eest- less "), fit name for the bark of one of these daring, ever- roaming adventurers. This primitive pioneer vessel was the first ever launched in our waters, and her keel 8 New York. was the first which ever furrowed tlie waiters of the Sound. The first trading and exploring ships did well, and the merchants saw that great profits could be made from the Manhattan fur-trade. Accordingly, tliey deter- mined to establish permanent posts at the head of the river and at its moutli. Tlie main fort was near the mouth of the Mohawk, but they also built a few cabins at the south end of Manhattan Island, and left therein half a dozen of their employees, with Hendrik Chris- tiansen as head man over both posts. The great com- mercial city of New York thus had its origin, not unfittingly, in a cluster of traders' huts. From tliis obscure beginning w^as to spring one of the mightiest cities of any age, marvellous alike for its wonderful!}^ rapid growth and its splendid material prospeiity. From the outset the new town, destined to be the largest in the New World, mayhap even the largest in all the world, took its place among those communities which owe their existence and growth primarily to commerce, their whole character and development for good and evil being more profoundly affected by com- mercial than by any other influences. Even in its very founding, the direction in which the great city on Manhattan Island should develop w^as foreshadow^ed, and its course outlined in advance. Christiansen was soon killed by an Indian. For two or three years his fellow^ -traders lived on Manhattan Is- land much in the same way as men now^ live at the re- moter outposts of the fur-trade in the far north w^est of this continent. Some kept decent and straight; others grew almost as squalid and savage as the red men in First Settlement. 1609-1628. 9 whose midst they lived. They hunted, fished, and idled ; sometimes they killed their own game, sometimes they got it hy barter from the Indians, together with tobacco and corn. Now and then they quarrelled with the sur- rounding savages, but generally they kept on good terms with them ; and in exchange for rum and trinkets they gathered innumerable bales of valuable furs, — mostly of the beaver, which swarmed in all the streams, but also of otter, and of the many more northern kinds, such as the sable and the fisher. At long intervals these furs were piled in the holds of the three or four small vessels whose yearly or half yearly arrival from Holland formed the chief relief to the monotony of the fur- traders' existence. The merchants who first sent over vessels and built a trading-post, joined with others to form the "New Netherland Company ; " for it was a time when settle- ment and conquest were undertaken more often by great trading companies than by either the national govern- ment or by individuals. The Netherlands government granted this company the monopoly of the fur-trade witli the newly discovered territory for three years from 1615, and renewed the grant for a year at a time until 1621, when it was allowed to lapse, a more powerful competitor being in the field. The company was a mere trading corporation, and made no effort to really settle tlie land ; but the fur-trade proved profitable, and the post on Manhattan Island was continued, while an- other was built near the head of the Hudson, close to the present site of Albany. "In 1621, the great West India Company was char- tered by the States-general, and given the monopoly lo New York, of the American trade , and it was by this conipan}^ that the city was really founded, the tirst settlement being made which was intended to be permanent. AH the magnificent territory discovered by Hudson was granted it under the name of the New Netherlands. The com- pany was one of the three or four huge commercial corporations of imperial power that played no small part in shaping the world's destiny duriug the two centuries immediately preceding the present. It was in its constitution and history archetypical of the time. The great trading-city of America was reall}^ founded by no one individual, nor yet by any national government, but by a great trading corporation, created however to fight and to bear rule no less than to carry on commerce. The merchants who formed the West India Company were granted the right to exercise powers such as belong to sovereign States, because the task to which they set themselves was one of such in- credible macfnitude and danojer that it could be done only on such terms. They were soldiers and sailors no less than traders ; it was only merchants of iron will and restless daring who could reap the golden harvests in those perilous sea-fields, where all save tlie strongest surely perished. The patli3 of commerce were no less dangerous than those of war. The West India Company was formed for trade, and for peopling the world's w^aste spaces : and it was also formed to carry on fierce war against the public enemy, the King of Spain. It made war or peace as best suited it ; it gave governors and judges to colonies and to conquered lands ; it founded cities, and built forts ; and it hired mighty admirals to lead to battle and FiKST Settlement. i609-m6. plunder, tlie ships of its many fleets. Some of the most successful and heroic feats of arms in the history of the Netherlands were performed by the sailors in the pay of this company ; steel in their hands brought greater profit than gold ; and the fortunate stockholders of Amsterdam and Zealand received enormous dividends from the sale of the spoil of the sacked cities of Brazil, and of the captured treasure-ships which had once formed part of the Spanish " silver fleet." In the midst of this turmoil of fighting and trading, the company had little time to think of colonizing. Nevertheless, in 1624 some families of protestant Wal- loons were sent to the Hudson in the ship " New Neth- erland," a few of them staying on Manhattan Island. The following summer several more families arrived, and the city may be snid to have been really founded, the dwellers on Manhattan Island after that date in- cluding permanent settlers besides the mere transient fur-traders. Finally in May, 1626, the director Peter Minuit, a Westphalian, appointed by the company as first governor of the colony, arrived in the harbour in his ship the " Sea-Mew," leading a band of true colonists, — men who brought with them their wives and little ones, their cattle and their household goods, and who settled down in the land with the purpose of holding it for themselves and for their childrens' children. 12 New York. CHAPTER II. THE DUTCH TOWX UNDER THE FIRST THREE DIRECTORS. 1G26-1647. With the arrival of Director Minuit, the settlement at the mouth of the Hudson first took on permanent form and became an organized community. He bouglit Manhattan Island from its Indian owners for the sum of sixty guilders, or about twenty-four dollars, and dur- ing the summer founded thereon a little town, chris- tened New Amsterdam. It soon grew to contain some two hundred souls. Even at the beginning, the popu- lation was composed of peoples diverse in race and speech ; not only were there Dutchmen and Walloons, but also even thus early a few Huguenots, Germans, and Englishmen. The island was then a mass of tangled, frowning forest, fringed with melancholy marshes, which near the present site of Canal Street approached so close together from either side that they almost made an- other small island of the southern end. The settlers staked out a fort on the southernmost point, and hud- dled near it in their squalid huts ; while they closely watched their cattle, which were in imminent danger from wolves, bears, and panthers whenever they strayed into the woodland, Minuit was a kindly man, of firm temper, much en- ergy, and considerable executive capacity ; on the whole The Dutch Town. 1020-104.7. 13 he was by far the best of the four directors who suc- cessively ruled the city and colony during the forty years of the Dutch supremacy. But the scheme of colonization was defective in more than one vital par- ticular. The settlement was undertaken primarily in the interest of a great commercial corporation, and only secondarily in the interests of the settlers themselves. The world had not yet grasped the fact that those who went abroad to build mighty States in far-off lauds ought by rights to be themselves the main beneficiaries of their toil and peril. A colony was considered as being established chiefly for the good of the people who stayed at home, not for the good of the colonists. The West India Company wished well to its settlers, who were granted complete religious freedom, and in prac- tice a very considerable amount of civil liberty like- wise ; but after all, the company held that the first duty of the New Netherlands colony was to return laige dividends to the company's stockholders, and especially to advance the worldly welfare of the company's most influential directors. It sought to establish a chain of trading-posts which should bring great wealth to the mother country, rather than to lay the foundations of a transatlantic nation of Dutch freemen. Hence, the settlers never felt a very fervent loyalty for the govern- ment under which they lived, and in its moment of mortal peril betrayed small inclination to risk their lives and property in a quarrel which was hardly their own. This attitude of the old West India Company was that naturally adopted by all such corporations. It was curiously parallelled, even in our own day, by the 14 New York. way in which the great Hudson Bay Company shut the fertile valleys of the Ked lliver and the Saskatcha- wan to all settlement. It was a thoroughly unhealthy attitude. Minuit was active in establishing friendly relations with the savages. His boats explored the neighbouring creeks and inlets, and the Indians were well treated whenever they came to the little hamlet on ]\Ianhattan Island. In consequence they freely brought their stores of valuable furs for barter and sale. For twg or three years the trade proved profitable, wliile, from other causes, the stock of the company rose to a higli pre- mium on the exchanges of Holland. In 1628, for the purpose of promoting immigration, an act was passed granting to any man who should bring- over a colony of fifty souls a large tract of land and va- rious privileges, with the title of " Patroon." These pat- roons were really great feudal lords, who farmed out their vast estates to tenants who held the ground on various conditions. Their domains were often as large as old- world principalities ; as an instance, Eensselaerswyck, the property of the Patroon Van Eensselaer, was a tract containing a thousand square miles. The introduction of this very aristocratic system was another evidence of the unwdsdom of the governing powers. Moreover, the patroons, wdiose extensive privileges were curtailed in certain directions, — notably in that they were for- bidden to enter into the lucrative fur-trade, the chief source of profit to the company, — soon began to rebel against these restrictions. They quarrelled fiercely with the company's representatives, and traded on their own account with the Indians ; and the various private The Dutch Town. ig26-i64-7. 15 traders not only cut into the company's profits, but also, being amenable to no law, soon greatly demoralized the savages. The settlers on Manhattan Island were not treated as freemen, but as the vassals of the company. For many years they were not even given any title to the land on which they built their houses, being considered simply as tenants at will. Minuit, it is true, chose from among them an Advisory Council, but it could literally only advise, and in the last resort the company had absolute power. The citizens had certain officers of their own, but they were powerless in the event of any struggle with the director. When the latter was, like Minuit, a sensible, well-disposed man, affairs went well enough, and the people were allowed to govern themselves, and were happy ; but a director of tyran- nous temper alwaj's had it in his power to rule the colony almost as if he were an absolute despot. For six years Minuit remained in New Amsterdam, ruling the people mildly, preserving by a mixture of tact and firmness friendly relations with the In- dians and with his Englisli neighbours to the eastward, — to whom he sent a special embassy, which was most courteously received, — and keeping on good terms with the povv'erful and haughty patroons. During these years the trade of the colony increased and flourished, rich cargoes of valuable furs being sent to Holland in the homeward-bound ships, and the population of Man- hattan Island gradually grew in numbers and wealth. Farms or " boueries " were established ; and tlie settlers raised wheat, rye, buckwheat, flax, and beans, while their herds and flocks tlirove apace. The company i6 New York. soon built a mill, a brewery, a bakery, aud great ware- houses, and society began to gain some of the more essential comforts of civilization. Nevertheless, the company quarrelled with Minuit. He was accused of unduly favouring the patroons, whose private ventures in tlie fur-trade were encroaching upon the company's profits, and moreover he had been drawn into a scheme of ship-building, which though successful, — a very large and line ship being built and launched in the bay, — nevertheless proved much too expensive for the taste of his employers. Accordingly, he was recalled ; and later on, deeming himself to have been ill-treated, he took service under the Swedish queen. His successor was Wouter Van T wilier, who reached New Amsterdam early in 1633. Van T wilier w^as a good-natured, corpulent, wine-bibbing Dutchman, loose of life, and not over-strict in principle, and with a slow, irresolute mind. However, as he was an easy-going- man his rule did not bear hardly on the colonists, while he won for himself an honourable reputation by devoting much of his time to the construction of public buildings. Thus, he made a new fort of earthen banks with stone bastions, enclosing within its walls not only the soldiers' barracks, but also at first the governmental residence and public offices ; he also built several windmills and the first church which was used solely as such, as well as houses for the dominie and for the sellout -fiscal. The latter was the most important of the local officers ; he possessed curious and extensive powers, being the chief executive of the local government, and answering roughly to both the English sheriff and town constable, tliough with a far wider anil more complicated range of The Dutch Town. 162G-1647. 17 duties. The colony had at this time received two im- portant additions in the shape of the first school-master — who failed ingloriously in his vocation, and then tried to eke out his scanty salary by taking in tvashing, — and the first regular clergyman. The clergyman, Dominie Bogardus, was a man of mark and of high character, though his hot temper made him unpopular. Van T wilier kept on fairly friendly terms with the Indians, though causes of quarrel between the settlers and the savages were constantly arising. Plenty of wrong was done on each side, and it would be hard to say where the original ground of offence lay. Prob- ably the whites could not have avoided a war in the end ; but they certainly by their recklessness and bru- tality did all in their power to provoke the already suspicious and treacherous red men. The history of the dealings of the Dutch with the Indians is not pleasant reading. Under Van Twiller there were endless troubles with the English. Both England and Holland claimed the country from the Connecticut to the Delaware, each wishing it really more for purposes of trade than of colonization ; and the quarrels generally arose over efforts of rival vessels of the two nationalities to control tlie trade with some special band of savages. In Van Twiller's time an English vessel entered the Hudson and sailed to the head of navigation, where she anchored and began to barter with the savages for their furs ; whereupon the Dutch soldiers from the neighbouring fort fell upon her and drove her off, confiscating the furs. At the same time Van Twiller built a fort and established a garrison on the Connecticut, threatening 2 i8 New York. to hold it by force against the Eogiish ; but when the pinch came the Hollanders failed to make their threats good, and the Puritans from Plymouth sailed up the river and took possession of the banks in defiance of their foes. Better luck attended Van Twiller's efforts on the Delaware, the Cavaliers proving easier to deal with than the Eoundheads. The Dutch had already built a colony on this river ; but the colonists became embroiled with the Indians, who fell on them and massacred them to a man. Then a party of Virginians established them- selves in one of the deserted Dutch forts, and set about founding a settlement and trading-post ; but when the aews was brought to the director at New Amsterdam, he promptly despatched a party of troops against the invaders, who were all taken captive and brought in triumph to Manliattan Island. Van T wilier hardly knew what to do with them ; so he scolded them soundly for the enormity of their offence in trespassing on Dutch territory, and then shipped them back to Virginia again. The internal affairs of the colony went more smoothly. There were occasional quarrels with the powerful pa- troons, but the director was much too fond of his ease, and of wine and high living to oppress or rule harshly the commonalty; and the value of the trade with the home country on the whole increased, though it never became sufficient to make the company take very much thought for its new possession. But Van Twiller tliough easy going to the people was not an honest or faithful servant to the company in matters financial; and in 1637 he was removed from his office on tho charge The Dutch Town. ig2c-ig47. 19 of having diverted tlie moneys of the corporation to his own private use. His successor, Wilhelm Kieft, was much the worst of the four Dutch governors. Unlike his predecessor, he was industrious and temperate ; but he possessed no talent whatever for managing men, and had the mean, cruel temper of a petty despot. His mercantile repu- tation was also none of the best; though during his administration he himself kept reasonably clear of financial scandals. In fact, the West India Company was tired of a colony which proved a drain on its rev- enue rather than a source of profit ; and any second- rate man, who bade fair not to trouble the people at home, was deemed good enough to be governor of such an unpromising spot. Kieft found the Xew Netlierlands in a far from fiourisliing condition. The Dutch colonists, though stubborn and resolute, were somewhat sluggish and heavy tempered, without the restless energy of their far more numerous and ever-encroaching neighbours on the east (the New Englanders), and lacking the intense de- sire for what was almost mere adventure, which drove the French hither and tliitlier through the far-off wilder- ness. Population had increased but slowly, and the town which huddled round the fort on tlie south point of Manhattan Island was still little more than a collection of poor hovels. The Hollanders were traders and seafarers, and they found it hard to settle down into farmers, wdio alone can make permanent colonists. Moreover, at the outset they were naturally unable to adapt themselves to the special and peculiar needs of their condition. The frontier and frontier life data 20 New York. back to the days when the first little struggling settle ■ nients were dotted down on the Atlantic seaboard, as islets in a waste of savagery ; but it always took at least a generation effectively to transform a European colonist into an American frontiersman. Thus the early Dutch settlers took slowly and with reluctance to that all-important tool and weapon of the American pioneer, the axe, and chopped down very little timber indeed. As a consequence, they lived in dugouts or cabins of bark and poles, lacking the knowledge to build the log- huts, which always formed the first and characteristic dwellings of the true backwoodsmen. It was a good many years before the backwoods tj^pe, so characteristi- cally Ameiican, had opportunity to develop. Kieft was not well pleased with the colony, and the colony was still less pleased with Kieft. From the beginning he took the tone of a tyrant, treating the col- onists as his subjects. He appointed as council but one man, a Huguenot of good repute, named La Mon- tague, and then, to prevent all danger of a tie, decreed that La Montague should liave but one vote and he himself two. He then filled the different local offices with his own flatterers and sycophants, and proceeded to govern by a series of edicts, which were posted on the trees, barns, and fences ; some of them, such as those forbidding the sale of fire-arms and gunpowder to the Indians, were good; while great discontent was excited by others, such as the sumptuary laws (^for he made a bold attempt to stop the drinking and carousing of the mirth-loving settlers), the establishing of a passport system, and the interference with private affairs by settling when people should go to bed, labourers go to The Dutch Town. 1626-164.7. 21 work, and the like. The Dutch were essentially free and liberty loving, and accustomed to considerable self-government ; and the Manhattan colonists felt that they were unjustly discriminated against, and cliafed under the petty tyranny to which they were exposed. However, under Kieft the appearance of the town was much improved. Streets began to be laid out, and a better class of private houses sprang up, while a new church and the first tavern — a great clumsy inn, the property of the company — were built, and the farms made good progress, fruit-trees being planted and fine cattle imported. New settlements were made on the banks of the Hudson and the Sound, on Staten Island, and on what is now the flersey shore. The company made great efforts further to encourage immigration, al- lowing many privileges to the poorer class of immi- grants, and continuing, in diminished form, some of the exceptional a Wantages granted to the rich men who should form small colonies. The colonists received the rigiit to manufacture, hitherto denied them ; but, un- fortunately, the hereditary privileges of the patroons were continued, including their right of feudal jurisdic- tion, and the exclusive right to hunt, fish, fowl, and grind corn on tlieir vast estates. The leader in pushing these new settlements, and one of the most attractive figures in our early colonial history, was the Patroon de Vries, a handsome, gallant, adventurous man, of brave and generous nature. He was greatly beloved by -the Indians, to whom he was always both firm and kind; and the settlers likewise loved and respected him, for he never trespassed on their riglits, and was their 22 New York. leader in every work of danger, whether in exploring strange coasts or in fronting human foes. Besides the Dutch immigrants, many others of differ- ent nationalities came in, particularly English from the New England colonies ; and all, upon taking the oath of allegiance, were treated exactly alike. There was al- most complete religious toleration, and hence many Baptists and Quakers took refuge among the Hol- landers, fleeing from the persecutions of the Puritans. All this time there was continual squabbling with the neighbouring and rival settlements of European powers. A large body of Swedes, under Minuit, arrived at and claimed the ownership of the mouth of the Delaware, bidding defiance to the threats the Dutch made that they would oust them ; while tiie English, in spite of many protests, took final possession of the Con- necticut valley and the eastern half of Long Island. But tlie distinguishing feature of Kieft's administration was the succession of bloody Indian struggles waged between 1640 and 1645. For these wars Kieft himself was mainly responsible, though the settlers and savages were already irritated with each other. Occasional murders and outrages were committed by each side. The Indians became alarmed at the increase in numbers of the whites, and the whites became tired of having a horde of lazy, filthy, cruel beggars always crowding into tlieir houses, killing their cattle, and by their very presence threatening their fam- ilies. A strong and discreet man might have preserved peace ; but Kieft w^as rash, cruel, and irresolute, and precipitated the contest by ordering a brutal vengeance to be taken on the Earitan tribe for a wrong which The Dutch Town: I626-164.7. 23 they probably had not committed. They of course re- taliated in kind, and there followed a series of struggles, separated by short periods of patched-up truce. Kieft took care to keep shut up in the fort, away from all possible harm, whereat the settlers murmured greatly. All their wisest and best men, including the Patroon de Vries, the councilman La Montague, and Dominie Bogardus, protested against his course in bringing on the war. Early in 1643, he caused by his orders, one of the most horrible massacres by w^hich our annals have ever been disgraced. The dreaded Mohawks had made a sudden foray on the Eiver Indians, who, like the other neighbouring tribes, were Algonquins ; and the latter, fleeing in terror from their adversaries, took refuge close to the wooden walls of New Amsterdam, where they were at first kindly received. On Shrovetide night, Kieft, with a hideous and almost inconceivable barbar- ity and treachery, as short-sighted as it was cowardly, caused bodies of troops to fail on two parties of these helpless and unsuspecting fugitives, and butchered over a hundred. This inhuman outrage at once roused every Indian to take a terrible vengeance, and to wipe out his wrongs in fire and blood. All the tribes fell on the Dutch at once, and in a short time destroyed every outlying farm and all the smaller settlements, bringino- ruin and deso- lation upon the entire province, while the surviving settlers gathered in New Amsterdam and in a few of the best fortified smaller villages. The Indians put their prisoners to death with dreadful tortures, and in at least one instance the Dutch retaliated in kind. 24 New York. Neither side spared the women and children. The hemmed-in Dutch sent bands of their soldiers, assisted by parties of New England mercenaries, under a famous woodland fighter, Capt. John Underbill, against the In- dian towns. They were enabled to strike crippling blows at their enemies, because the latter foolishly clung to their stockaded villages, where the whites could surround them, keep them from breaking out by means of their superiority in firearms, and then set the wooden huts aflame and mercilessly destroy, with torch or bullet, all the inmates, sometimes to the number of several liundred souls. These Indian stockades offered the best means of defence against rival savages ; but they were no protection against the whites, who, on the other hand, were much inferior to the red men in battle in the open forest. At first the Indians did not under- stand this ; and in their ignorance they persisted in fighting their new foes in the very way that gave the latter most advantage. It was in consequence of this that the seventeenth-century Algonquins suffered not a few slaughtering defeats at the liands of the New Englanders and New Netherlanders. Finally, crippled and exhausted, both sides were glad to make peace; and tlie whites again spread out to their ruined farms. In his dire need Kiefu had summoned a popular meeting and chosen from among the heads of families a council of twelve men to advise him in the war. This popular meeting was the first of its kind ever lield on Manhattan, and may be considered as the first fnre-shadowing of our whole present system of popular government. The Council of Twelve at once proceeded to protest against the director's arbitrary The Dutch Town, lese-mr. 25 powers, and to demand increased rights for the people, and a larger measure of self-government. Instantly Kieft dissolved them ; but later on, when the settle- ment seemed at the last gasp, a council of eight was chosen, this time by popular vote, and took advantage of the dread of the public enemy to demand the needed internal reforms. They protested in every way against Kieft's tyranny. The latter would not yield. The muti- nous spirit became very strong; disorder, and even murder took place, and affairs began to drift tow^ard anarchy. Numerous petitions were sent to Holland asking Kieft's removal, and finally this was granted. The harassed colony was given a new director in the shape of a gallant soldier named Peter Stuj^vesant, who arrived and took possession of his office in May, 1647. 26 New York. CHAPTER III. STUYVESAXT AND THE END OF DUTCH RULE. 1647-1664. Grim old Stuyvesant liad lost a leg in the wars. He wore iu its place a woodeii one, laced with silver bands, — so that some traditions speak of it as silver. No other figure of Dutch, nor indeed of colonial days, is so well remembered ; none other has left so deep an impress on Manhattan history and tradition as this whimsical and obstinate, but brave and gallant old fellow, the kindly tyrant of the little colony. To this day he stands in a certain sense as tlie typical father of the city. There are not a few old Xew Yorkers who half-humorously pretend still to believe the story which their forefathers handed down from generation to gen- eration, — the story tliat the ghost of Peter Stuyvesant, the queer, kindly, self-willed old dictator, still haunts the qSXjJ he bullied arid loved and sought to guard, and at night stumps to and fro, with a shadowy wooden leg, through the aisles of St. Mark's church, near the spot where his bones lie buried. Stuyvesant was a man of strong character, whose personality impressed all with whom he came in con- tact. In many waj-s he stood as a good representative of his class, — the well-born commercial aristocracy of Holland. In his own person he illustrated, only with marked and individual emphasis, the strong and the End of Dutch Rule. m7-i664. 27 weak sides of the rich traders, who knew how to fight and rule, who feared God and loved liberty, who held their heads higli and sought to do justice according to their lights ; but whose lights were often dim, and whose understandings were often harsh and narrow. He was powerfully built, with haughty, clear-cut fea- tures and dark complexion ; and he always dressed with scrupulous care, in the rich costume then worn by the highest people in his native land. He had proved his courage on more than one stricken field ; and he knew how to show both tact and firmness in dealing with his foes; But he was far less successful in deal- ing with his friends ; and his imperious nature better fitted him to command a garrison than to rule over a settlement of Dutch freemen. It was inevitable that a man of his nature, who wished to act justly, but who was testy, passionate, and full of prejudices, should arouse much dislike and resentment in the breasts of the men over whom he held sway; and these feelings were greatly intensified by his invariably acting on the assumption that he knew best about their interests, and had absolute authority to decide upon them. He always proceeded on the theory that it was harmful to allow the colonists any real measure of self-government, and that what was given them was given as a matter of grace, not as an act of right. Hence, though he was a just man, of sternly upright character, he utterly failed to awaken in the hearts of the settlers any real loyalty to himself or to the government he represented ; and they felt no desire to stand by him when he needed their help. "He showed his temper in the first speech he made to the citizens, when he addressed them in the 28 New York. tone of an absolute ruler, and assured them that he would govern them " as a father does his children." Colonists from a land with traditions of freedom, put down in the midst of surroundings which quicken and strengthen beyond measure every impulse they may have in the direction of liberty, are of all human beings those least fitted to appreciate the benefits of even the best of paternal governments. When Stuy vesant came to Manhattan tlie little Dutch doiy thereon was just recovering from the bloody misery of the Indian wars. No such calamities occurred again to check and blast its growth ; and it may be said to have then fairly passed out of the mere pioneer stage. It w^as under Stuy vesant that New Amsterdam became a firmly established Dutch colonial town, instead of an Indian-harried village outpost of civilization ; and it was only in his time that the Dutch life took on fixed and definite shape. The first comers were generally poor adventurers ; but when it was plainly seen that the colony was to be permanent, many well-to-do people of good family came over, — burgliers wdio were proud of their coats-of-arms, and traced their lineage to the great worthies of the ancient Netherlands. The Dutcli formed the ruling and the most numerous class of inhabitants ; but then, as now, the population of the cit}^ was very mixed. A great many English, both from old and New England, had come in ; while the French Huguenots were still more plentiful, — and, it may be mentioned parenthetically, formed, as everywhere else in America, without exception the most valuable of all the immigrants. There were numbers of Walloons, not a few Germans, and representatives of so many End of Dutch Rule. 1647-16G4. 20 other natious that no less than eighteen different languages and dialects were spoken in the streets. An ominous feature was the abundance of negro slaves, — uncouth and brutal-looking black savages, brought by slave-traders and pirates from the gold coast of Africa. The population was diverse in more ways than those of speech and race. The Europeans who came to this city during its first forty years of life, represented almost every grade of old-world society. Many of these pioneers were men of as high character and standing as ever took part in founding a new settlement ; but on the other hand there were plenty of others to the full as vicious and worthless as the worst immigrants wdio have come hither during the present century. Many imported bond-servants and apprentices, both English and Irish, of criminal or semi-criminal tendencies escaped to Manhattan from Virginia and New England, and, once here, found congenial associates from half the countries of continental Europe. There thus existed from the start a low, shiftless, evil class of whites in our popu- lation; while even beneath their squalid ranks lay the lierd of brutalized black slaves. It may be questioned whether seventeenth-century New Amsterdam did not include quite as large a proportion of undesirable in- habitants as nineteenth-century New York. The sharp and strong contrasts in social position, the great differences in moral and material well-being, and the variety in race, language, and religion, all combined to make a deep chasm between life in New Amsterdam and life in the cities of New England, with their orderly uniformity of condition and their theocratic democracy. Society in the New Netherlands was distinctly aristc- 30 New York^ cratic. The highest rank ^vas composed of tlie great patroons, with their feudal privileges and vast landed estates ; next in order came the well-to-do merchant burghers of the town, whose ships went to Europe and Africa, carrying in their holds now furs or rum, now ivory or slaves ; then came the great bulk of the pop - ulation, — thrifty souls of small means, who worked hard, and strove more or less successfully to live up to the law; while last of all came tlie shifting and intermingled strata of the evil and the weak, — the men of incurably immoral propensities, and the poor whose poverty was chronic. Life in a new country is hard, and puts a heavy strain on the wicked and the incompetent ; but it offers a fair chance to all comers, and in the end those who deserve success are certain to succeed. It was under Stuyvesant, in 1G53, that the town was formally incorporated as a city, with its own local sellout and its schepens and burgomasters, whose powers and duties answered roughly to those of both aldermen and justices. The schouts, schepens and burgomasters to- gether formed the legislative council of the city; and they also acted as judges, and saw to the execution of the laws. There was an advisory council as well. The struggling days of pioneer squalor were over, and New Amsterdam had taken on the look of a quaint little Dutch seaport town, with a touch of picturesqueness from its wild surroundiniis. As there was ever menace of attack, not only by the savages but by the New Engkinders, the city needed a barrier for defence on the landward side ; and so, on tlie present site of Wall Street, a higli, strong stockade of upright timbers, with End of Dutch Rule. 1047-100^. 31 occasional blockhouses as bastions, stretched across tlie island. Where Canal Street now is, the settlers had dufi^ a canal to connect tlie marshes on either side of the neck. There were many clear pools and rivulets of water; on the banks of one of them the girls were wont to spread the house linen they had washed, and the path by which they walked thither gave its name to the street that is yet called Maiden Lane. Manhat- tan Island was still, for the most part, a tangled wilder- ness. The wolves wrought such havoc among the cattle, as they grazed loose in the woods, that a special reward was given for their scalps, if taken on the island. Tiie hall of justice was in the stadt-huys, a great stone building, before which stood the high gallows whereon malefactors were executed. Stuyvesant's own roomy and picturesque house was likewise of stone, and was known far and near as the Whitehall, finally giving its name to the street on which it stood. The poorest people lived in huts on the outskirts ; but the houses that lined the streets of the town itself were of neat and respectable appearance, being made of wood, their gable ends checkered with little black and yellow bricks, their roofs covered with tiles or shingles and surmounted by weather-cocks, and the doors adorned with burnished brass knockers. The shops, wherein were sold not only groceries, hardware, and the like, but also every kind of rich stuff brought from the wealthy cities of Holland, occupied generally the ground floors of the houses. There was a large, bare church, a good public-school house, and a great tavern, with neatly sanded floor, and heavy chairs and tables, the beds being made in cup- boards in the thick walls ; and here and there windmills 32 New York. thrust tlieir arms into the air, wliile the half-moou of wharves jutted out into the river. The houses of tlie rich were quaint and comfort- able, with steeply sloping roofs and crow-step gables. A wide hall led through the middle, from door to door, with rooms on either side. Everything was solid and substantial, from the huge, canopied, four- j)ost bedstead and the cumbrous cabinets, chairs, tables, stools, and settees, to the stores of massive silver plate, each piece a rich heirloom, engraved with the coat-of- arms of the owner. There were rugs on the floors, and curtains and leather hangings on the walls ; and there were tall eight-day clocks, and stiff ancestral portraits. Clumsy carriages, and fat geldings to draw them, stood in a few of the stables , and the trim gardens were filled with shrubbery, fruit-trees, and a wealth of flowers, laid out in prim, sweet-smelling beds, divided by neatly kept paths. The poorer people were clad, — the men in blouses or in jackets, and in wide, baggy breeches; the women in bodices and short skirts. The schepens and other func- tionaries wore their black gowns of office. The gentry wore the same rich raiment as did their brethien of the Old World. Both ladies and gentlemen had clothes of every stuff and color ; the former, with their hair frizzed and powdered, and their persons bedecked with jewelry, their gowns open in front to show the rich petticoats, their feet thrust into high-heeled shoes, and with silk hoods instead of bonnets. The long coats of the gentle- men were finished with silver lace and silver buttons, as were their velvet doublets, and tliey wore knee- breeches, black silk stockings, and low shoes with silver End of Dutch Rule. 1647-1664. 33 buckles. They were fond of free and joyous living; they caroused often, drinking deeply and eating heavily ; and the young men and maidens loved dancing parties, pic- nics, and long sleigh rides in winter. There were great festivals, as at Christmas and New Year's. On the latter day every man called on all his friends ; and the former was then, as now, the chief day of the year for the chil- dren, devoted to the special service of Santa Glaus. All through Stuyvesant's time there was constant danger of trouble with the Indians. Men were occasion- ally killed on both sides ; and once a burgher was slain in the streets of the town by a party of red warriors. There were even one or two ferocious- local uprisings. By a mixture of tact and firnmess, however, Stuyvesant kept the savages under partial control, checked the brutal and outrage-loving portion of his own people, and prevented any important or far-reaching outbreak. Yet he found it necessary to organize more than one campaign against the red men ; and these, though barren of excit- ing incident, were invariably successful, thanks to his indomitable energy. By the exercise of similar quali- ties, he also kept the ever-encroaching New Englanders at bay; while in 1655 he finished the long bickerings with the Swedes at the mouth of the Delaware by march- ing a large force thither, capturing their forts, and defi- nitely taking possession of the country, — thereby putting an end to all chance for the establishment of a Scandi- navian State on American soil. Once the New England- ers on Long Island began to plan a revolt; but he promptly seized their ringleaders, — including the In- dian fighter, Underbill, — fined, imprisoned, or banished them, and secured temporary tranquillit3^ ' ' ■ 3 34 New York. From the outset, Stuyvesant's imperious nature kept him embroiled with the colonists. In some respects this was w^ell for the commonwealth, for in this way he finally curbed tlie feudal insolence of the patroons, after nearly coming to a civil war with the patroou of Eensselaers- wyck ; but generally he managed merely to harass and worry the settlers until they became so irritated as to be almost mutinous. He struggled hard, not only to retain his own power as dictator, but to establish an aristo- cratic framework for the young society. With this end iu view, he endeavoured to introduce as a permanent fea- ture the division of the buri^hers into two classes, minor and major, — the major burghers' rights being hered- itary, and giving many privileges,. among others the sole right to hold office. He failed ignominiously in this, for the democratic instincts of the people, and the demo- cratic tendencies of tlieir surroundings, proved too strong for him. He himself strove to be just toward all men ; but he chose his personal representatives and agents without paying the least heed to the popular estimate in which they were held. In consequence, some of those most obsequious to him turned out mere profligate, petty tyrants, to wliom, nevertheless, he clung obsti- nately, in spite of all complaints, until they had thor- oughly disgusted the people at large. He threw his political opponents into jail without trial, or banished them after a trial in which he himself sat as the judge, announcing that he deemed it treason to complain of the chief magistrate, whether with or without cause ; and this naturally threw into a perfect ferment the citizens of the popular party, who were striving for more freedom with an obstinacy as great as his own. End of Dutch Rule, mr-ieo^. 35 Abandoning the policy of complete religious toleration, he not only persecuted the Baptists and Quakers, but even the Lutherans also. He establislied impost and excise duties by proclamation, drawing forth a most determined popular protest against taxation without representation. When the city charter was granted, he proceeded to appoint tlie first schout, schepen, and burgo- masters who took office under it, instead of allowing them to be elected by the citizens, — though this conces- sion was afterward wrung from him. He was in per- petual conflict witli the council, — the " Nine Men," as they were termed, — who stood up stoutly for the popular rights, and sent memorial after memorial to Holland, protesting against tlie course that was being pursued. Tlie inhabitants also joined in public meetings, and in other popular manifestations, to denounce the author of their grievances ; the Dutch settlers, for the nonce, making common cause with their turbulent New Eng- land neighbors of the city and of Long Island. Stuy- vesant himself sent counter protests ; and also made repeated demands for more men and' more money, that he might put into good condition the crumbling and ill- manned fortifications, which, as he wTote home, would be of no avail at all to resist any strong attack that miglit be made by the ever-threatening English. But the home government cared for its colonies mainly because they w^ere profitable. This Stuyvesaut's prov- ince was not ; and so, w^ith dull apatliy, the appeals for help were disregarded, and the director and the colo- nists were left to settle their quarrels as best they might. Thus, with ceaseless wTangling, with much of petty 36 New York. tyranny on tlie one hand, and much of sullen grumbling and discontent on the other, the years went by. Stuy- vesant rarely -did serious injustice to an}^ particular man, and by his energy, resolution, and executive capacity he preserved order at home, while the colony grew and pros- pered as it never had done before ; but the sturdy and resolute, though somewhat heavy, freemen over whom he ruled, resented bitterly all his overbearing ways and his deeds of small oppression, and felt only a lukewarm loyalty to a government that evidently deemed tliem valuable only in so far as they added to the wealtli of the men who had stayed at home. When the hour of trial came, they naturally showed an almost apathetic indifference to the overthrow of the rule of Holland. Wlienever the English and Dutch were at war, Xew Amsterdam was in a flutter over the always-dreaded attack of some English squadron. At last, in 1664, the blow really fell. There was peace at the time between the two nations ; but this fact did not deter the England of the Stuarts from seizing so helpless a prize as the province of the Xew Netherlands. The English Government knew well how defenceless the country was ; and the king and his ministers de- termined to take it by a sudden stroke of perfectly cold-blooded treachery, making all their preparations in secret, and meanwhile doing everything they could to deceive the friendly power at which the blow was aimed. Stuyvesant had continued without cessation to beseech the home government that he might be given the means to defend the pro^^nce ; but his ap- peals were unheeded by his profit-loving, money-getting superiors in Holland. He was left with insignificant End of Dutch Rule. m7-iuG4. 37 defences, guarded by an utterly insufficient force of troops. The unblushing treachery and deceit by which the English took the city made the victory of small credit to them ; but the Dutch, by their supine, short- sighted sellislmess and greed, were put in an even less enviable light. In September, 1664, three or four English frigates, and a force of several hundred land-troops under Col. Eichard Mcolls suddenly appeared in the harbour. They were speedily joined by the levies of the already insurgent New Englanders of Long Island. Nicolls had an overpowering force, and was known to be a man of decision. He forthwith demanded the imme- diate surrender of the city and province. Stuyvesant wished to fight, even against such odds ; but the citi- zens refused to stand by him, and New Amsterdam passed into the hands of the English without a gun being fired in its defence. 38 New York. CHAPTER IV. NEW AMSTERDAM BECOMES NEW YORK. THE BEGINNING OF ENGLISH RULE. 1664-1674. The expedition against New Amsterdam had been or- ganized with the Duke of York, afterward King James II., as its special patron, and the city was rechris- tened in his honour. To this day its name perpetuates the memory of tlie dull, cruel bigot with whose short reign came to a close tlie ignoble line of the Stuart kings. With Manhattan Island all the province of the New Netherlands passed under the Englisli rule; and the arrooant red flai;' fluttered witliout a rival alonj]j the whole seaboard from Acadia to Florida. Yet tlie set- tlements were still merely little dots in the vast wooded wilderness whicli covered all the known portions of tlie continent. They wTre strung at wide intervals along the seacoast, or the courses of the might}' rivers, sepa- rated one from another by the endless stretches of gloomy, Indian-haunted woodland. Every step in the forest was fraught with danger. The farms still lay close to the scattered hamlets, and the latter in turn clunCT to the edi^es of the navigable waters, where travel was so much easier and safer than on land. New Amsterdam, when its existence as such ceased, held some fifteen hundred souls (many of them negro slaves) ; yet the sloops that plied from thence to Fort Orange, — Beginning of English Rule. 1664-- 1074 . 39 now Albany,— or to any other of the small river towns, were obliged to go well armed, and to keep a keen watch night and day for the war-canoes of hostile Indians. The •conquered province had been patented to tlie Duke of York, and Nicolls acted as his agent. The latter w^as a brave, politic man of generous nature and good character, and he executed well the difficult task allotted him, doing his best to conciliate the colonists by the justice and consideration with which he acted, and at the same time showing that timidity had no share in influencing his course. By the terms of the surrender the Dutch settlers were guaranteed their full civil and religious rights, and as a matter of fact they were gainers rather .than losers by the change. Their interests were as carefully guarded as were those of the English settlers, their prejudices were not shocked, and if anything tliey were allowed greater, rather than less privileges in the way of self-government. Moreover, it must be remembered that the chancre was not so violent as if a city peopled exclusively by one race had been suddenly conquered by the members of another. Under Dutch rule all foreigners had been freely natu- raHzed, and had been allowed to do their share of ad- ministration, — for our city has always allowed every privilege to that portion of her citizens (generally the majority) born without her limits. The Dutch element was largest among the wealthy people, to whom fell the duty of exercising such self-government as there was ; but there were also plenty of rich men among the French Huguenots and English settlers. It is prob- able that at least a third of the population, exclusive of 40 New York. tlie numerous negro slaves, and inclusive of tlie Hugue- nots was neither Dutch nor English ; and to this third the change was of little moment. The English had exercised considerable influence in the government throughout Stuyvesant's rule, and even before, mnkiug as third in numbers and importance among the various elements of the composite population ; while on the other hand the Dutch continued, even after the sur- render, to have a very great and often a preponderant weight in the councils of the city. The change was merely tliat, in a population composed of several distinct elements, the one which had hitherto been of primary became on the whole of secondary importance; its place in the lead being usurped by another element, which itself had already for many years occupied a position of much prominence. There was of course a good deal of race-prejudice and rancour ; and tlie stubborn Dutch clung to their language, though with steadily loosening grasp, for over a century. But the lines of cleavage in the political contests did not follow those of speech and blood. The constitution of the Dutch settlement was essentially aristocratic ; and the party of the populace was naturally opposed to the party of the patroons and the rich merchants. The settlers w^ho came from Eng- land direct, belonged to the essentially aristocratic Es- tablished Church. They furnished many of the great officials ; and many of the merchants, and of those who became large land-owners, sprang from among them. These naturally joined the aristocratic section of the original settlers. On the other hand the New England- ers, who were of Puritan blood, — and later on the Presbyterians of Scotland and Ireland, — were the Beginning of English Rule. 1664-1674. 41 stanchest opponents of Episcopacy and aristocracy, and became the leaders of the popular party. Similarly, the Huguenots and the settlers of other nationality separated (though much less sharply) on lines of property and caste ; and hence the fluctuating line which divided the two camps or factions was only secondarily influenced by considerations of speech and nationality. Nicolls made the necessary changes with cautious slowness and tact. For nearly a year the city was suffered to retain its old form of government ; then the sellout, schepens, and burgomasters were changed for sheriff, aldermen, mayor, and justices. Vested rights were interfered with as little as possible ; the patroons were turned into manorial lords ; the Dutch and Huguenots were allowed the free exercise of their re- ligion; indeed, the feeling was so friendly that for some time the Anglican service was held in the Dutch Church in the afternoons. No attempt was made to interfere with the lani^uaQfe or with the social and busi- ness customs and relations of the citizens. Nicolls showed liimself far more liberal than Stuyvesant in questions of creed ; and one of the first things he did was to allow the Lutherans to build a church and install therein a pastor of their own. He established a fairly good system of justice, including trial by jury, and practically granted the citizens a considerable measure of self-government. But the fact remained that the colony had not gained its freedom by changing its condition ; it had simply exchanged the rule of a com- pany for the rule of a duke. Nicolls himself nominated all the new officers of the city (choosing them from 42 New York. iunong both the Dutch and the English), and returning a polite but firm negative to the request of the citizens that they might themselves elect their representatives. He pursued the same course with the Puritan Long Islanders; and the latter resented his action even more bitterly than did the Dutch. However, his tact, generosity, and unfailing good temper, and the skill with which he kept order and secured prosperity endeared him to the colonists, even though they did at times just realize that there was an iron band beneath the velvet glove. He completely pacified the Indians, who during his term of command remained almost absolutely tranquil, for the first time in a quarter of a century. He put down all criminals, and sternly repressed the licentiousness of his own soldiery, forcing them to behave well to the citizens. His honesty in financial matters was so great that he actually impoverished himself during his administration of the province. Meanwhile, the city flourished ; for there was free trade with Ensfland and the English o o possessions, and even for some time a restricted right to trade with certain of the Dutch ports. J^'icolls soon wearied of his position, and sought leave to resign ; but he was too valuable a servant for the duke to permit this until the war with Holland, w^hich had been largely brought on by the treacherous seizure of Xew Amsterdam, at length came to a close. The Peace of Breda left New York in the hands of the English ; for tlie cold northern province, where now are States already far more populous than Hol- land, or than the England of that day, was then considered of less value than any one of half a dozen Begixnixg of English Rule- 1664-1674. 43 tropical colonies. On both sides the combatants warred for the purpose of getting possessions Avhich should benefit their own pockets, not to found States of free men of their own race ; they sought to establish trading- posts from whence to bring spices and jewels and prec- ious metals, rather than to plant commonwealths of I their children on the continents that were waiting to be conquered. Tlie English were inclined to grumble, and the Dutch to rejoice, because the former received New York rather than Surinam. As for Nicolls, when his hands were thus freed he returned home, having shown himself a warm friend to the colonists, espe- cially the Dutch, who greatly mourned his going. His successor was an archetypical cavalier named Francis Lovelace. He had stood loyally by the king in disaster and prosperity alike, and was a gallant, generous, and honest gentleman; but he possessed far less executive capacity than his predecessor. However, he trod in the footsteps of the latter so far as he could, and strove to advance the interests of the city in every way, and to conciliate the good -will of the inhabitants. He associated on intimate terms with the leading citi- zens, whether English, French, or Dutch, and established a social club which met at their different houses, — all three languages being spoken at the meetings. Being fond of racing, he gave prizes to be run for by swift horses on the Long Island race-course. Like his pred- ; ecessor, his chief troubles were with the hard-headed and stiff-necked children of the Puritans on Lonfj Is- I land. AVhen he attempted to tax them to build up the ' fort on Manhattan, they stoutly refused, and sent him an indignant protest ; while on the other hand he was 44 Kew York. j wariDly sup[)orted by his Dutch and English council- , lors in New York. With the Indians he kept on ^ good terms. = The city prospered under Lovelace as it had pros- \ pered under Nicolls. Its proprietor, the Duke of York, ; was a mean and foolish tyrant ; but it was for his inter- i est while he was not king to treat his colony well. ] Though an intolerant religious bigot, he yet became ; perforce an advocate of religious tolerance for New I York, because his own creed, Koman Catholicism, was j weak, and the hope of the feeble never rests in persecu- ' tion. New York was thus permitted to grow in peace, : and to take advantage of lier great natural resources, i Trade increased and ships were built ; while in addi- i tion to commerce, many of the seafaring ibJk took to \ the cod and whale fisheries, which had just been started ; off the coasts. The whales were very plentiful, and I indeed several were killed in the harbour itself. The ' merchants began to hold weekly meetings, thus laying ' the foundation for the New York Excliange ; and wealth i increased among all classes, bringing comfort, and even \ some attempt at luxury, in its train. ■ This quick and steady growtli in material prosperity ' was rudely checked by the fierce war which again broke ' out between England and Holland. Commerce was i nearly paralyzed by the depredations of the privateers, 1 and many of the merchants were brought to the verge | of bankruptcy, while the public distress M'as widespread, j It was known that the Dutch meditated an effort to re- • capture the city ; and Lovelace made what preparations | he could for defence. He busied himself greatly to es- I tablish a regular mail to Boston and Hartford, so that j 1 Beginning of English Rule. igg4-ig74- 45 there might be overland communication with his eastern neighbours ; and it was on one of his absences in New England that the city was recaptured by its former owners. In July, 1673, a Dutch squadron under two grim old sea-dogs, Admirals Evertseu and Binckes, suddenly ap- peared in the lower bay. The English commander in the fort endeavoured to treat with them ; but they would hearken to no terms save immediate surrender, saying that " they had come for tlieir own, and their own the}^ would have." The Dutch militia would not fight against their countrymen ; and the other citizens were not inclined to run any risk in a contest that concerned them but little. Evertsen's frigates sailed up to within musket-sliot of the fort, and firing began on both sides. After receiving a couple of broadsides which killed and wounded several of the garrison, the English flag was struck, and the fort was surrendered to the Dutch troops, who had already landed, under the command of Capt. Anthony Colve. So ended the first nine years of English supremacy at the mouth of the Hudson. The victors at once proceeded to undo the work of the men they had ousted. Dutch was once more made tlie formal official language (though it had never been completely abandoned), and the whole scheme of the English government was overturned. In the city itself the schepens, burgomasters, and sellout again took the place of sheriff, mayor, and aldermen. There was verv little violence, although one or two houses were plun- dered, and a citizen here and there insulted or slightly maltreated by the soldiers, — much as had happened after the original conquest, with the important excep= i 46 New York. \ tion that it was now the Dutch who did the maltreatingj 1 and the English who were the sutl'erers. j When the province was lost it was a mere proprietary ; colony of the West India Company ; but this corpora- \ tion had died prior to 1673, and the province was, regained by the victory of a national Dutch force, and was held for the whole nation. Evertsen, acting for the , home government, made Colve the director of the j province. Colve was a rough, imperious, resolute man, ; .'I good soldier, but with no very great regard for civil \ liberty. The whole province was speedily reduced. ' The Dutch towns along the Hudson submitted gladly ; ; but the Puritan villaQes on LouLi; Island were sullen and . showed symptoms of defiance, appealing to Connecticut; for help. However, Colve and Evertsen, backed up byi trained soldiers and a well-equipped squadron, were not j men to be trifled with. Tliey gave notice to the Long ^ Islanders that unless they were prepared to stand the chances of war they must submit at once ; and submit they did, Connecticut not daring to interfere. The New • Englanders had been willing enough to bid defiance to, ; and to threaten the conquest of, the Nev»^ Netherlands \ while the province was weakly held by an insufficient! force ; but they were too prudent to provoke a contest : with men of such fighting temper and undoubted capa- • city as Evertsen and Colve, and the war-hardened troops ; and seamen who obeyed their behests. \ Colve ruled the internal affairs of the colony with ; a high hand. He made the citizens understand that' the military power was supreme over the civil; audi when the council protested against anything he did, hej told them plainly that unless they submitted he would | 4 Beginning of English Rule. 100/^-1074. 47 summarily dismiss them and appoint others in their places. Military law was established, and heavy taxes were imposed ; moreover, as the taxes took some time to collect, those who were most heavily assessed were forced to make loans in advance. Altogether the burghers probably failed to find that the restoration of Dutch rule worked any very marked change in their favour. This second period of Dutch supremacy on Manhat- tan Island lasted for but a year and a quarter. Then in November, 1G^74, the city was again given up to tlie English in accordance with the terms of peace between the belligerent powers, which provided for the mutual restitution of all conquered territory. With this second transfer New Amsterdam definitely assumed the name of New York; and the province became simply one of the English colonies in America, remaining such until, a century afterward, all those colonies combined to throw off the yoke of the mother country and become an inde- pendent nation. Thus the province of the New Netherlands had been first taken by the English by an attack in time of peace, when no resistance could be made, and had been left in their possession because it was deemed of infinitely less consequence than such colonies as Java and Surinam ; it had then been reconquered by the Dutch, in fair and open war, and had been again surrendered because of an agreement into which the home government was forced, owing to the phases which the European struggle had assumed. The citizens throughout these changes played but a secondary part, the fate of the city and province being decided, not by them, but by 48 New York. .; the ships and troops of Holland and England. Kor ' were the burghers as a whole seriously affected in their ■ civil, religious, or social liberties by the changes. The ! Dutch and English doubtless suffered in turn from j certain heartburnings and jealousies, as they alternately -| took the lead in managing the local government; but i the grievances of the under-party were really mainly sentimental, for on the one hand no material dis- ' crimination was ever actually made against either ' element, and on tlie other hand the ruler for the time ' being, whether Dutch direcktor or English governor, • always made both elements feel that compared to him ; they stood on a common plane of political inferiority. Sir Edmund Andros was appointed by the English j king as the governor who was to receive New York \ from the hands of Director Colve. This he did formally ' and in state, many courtesies being exchanged bet\A een \ tlie outgoing and incoming rulers ; among the rest, ' Colve presented Andros with his own state-coach and , the tliree horses that drew it. Andros at once rein- j stated the English form of government in both province and city, and once more, and this time finally, made ■ the English the official language. Xew York was still \ considered as a proprietary colony of James ; New Jersey j was severed from it, and became a distinct province. ! The city itself, which had numbered some fifteen hun- | dred inhabitants at the date of the original conquest from the Dutch, included about tliree thousand when ' English rule was for the second time established. Under the Stuarts. 1G74-1688. 49 CHAPTER V. NEW YORK UNDER THE STUARTS. 1674-1688. Andros was a man of ability and energy, anxious to serve his master the duke, and also anxious to serve the duke's colony, in so far as its interests did not clash with those of the duke himself. He was of course a devoted adherent of the House of Stuart, an ardent royalist, and a believer in the divine right of kings, and in government by a limited ruling class, not by the great mass of the people governed. Yet, in spite of his imperious and fiery temper, he strove on the whole to do justice to the city of mixed nationalities over whose destinies he for the time being presided, and it throve well under his care. But though he tried to rule fairly, he made it distinctly understood that he, acting in the name of his over-lord the duke, was the real and supreme master, Tfie city did not govern itself ; for he appointed the mayor, aldermen, and other officers. Even some of his decrees which worked well for the city showed the arbitrary character of his rule, and illustrated tlie vicious system of monopolies and class and sectional legislation which then obtained. Thus he bestowed on New York the sole right to bolt and export flour. This trebled her wealth during the sixteen years that elapsed before it was repealed, but it of course caused great hardship to the inland towns. 4 50 New York. \ Unmixed good however resulted from his decree put-! ting an end to the practice of holding Indians as! slaves. i It might have been expected that after the conquest j of New York the incoming English would have been! divided by party lines from the Dutch, and that they: would have been in stroncr alliance with their English • neighbours to the eastward. The extreme royalist tone \ of the new government, and the anti-Puritan or' Episcopal feeling of the most influential of the new set-' tiers, were among the main causes which prevented! either of these results from being brought about. Tliej Euglisli Episcopalians and Eoyalists hated their sour, : gloomy, fanatical countrymen of difierent belief nmch : more bitterly than they did their well-to-do Dutch : neighbours ; and the middle-class citizens, Dutch and . English alike, were bound together by ties of interest ' and by the stubborn love of liberty which was common to -both races. 1 The high-handed proceedings of Audros roused more < or less openly avowed ill feeling among the poor but | independent citizens of all nationalities ; and he clashed ; rather less with tlie Manhattaners than with the Long \ Islanders. Moreover, under his rule New York's at- ! titude as regards the Puritan commonwealths of New ; England continued as hostile as ever, Andros adopting toward them the exact tone of his Dutch predecessors. ! He asserted the right of his colony to all land west of \ the Connecticut. He actually assembled a large body "! of troops wherewith to subdue the New England towns 1 on its banks, and only halted when it became evident • that such a proceeding would without fail be despe- ^ i 1 Under the Stuarts. ig7^-igss. 51 rately resisted, and ^vould surely briug 011 an inter- colonial war. Andros was certainly true to his master; yet James became suspicious of him, and, after he had been gov- ernor for over six years, suddenly summoned him home, and sent over a special agent, or spy, to examine into the affairs of the colony. Early in January, 1681, An- dros left for London, where he speedily cleared his name of all suspicion, and came into high favour once more. New York meanwhile was left under the charoe o of Lieutenant-Governor BrockhoUs, a Roman Catholic, and of course a high Tory, — an inefficient man, utterly unable to cope with the situation. He was hampered rather than aided by the duke's special agents, who bungled everything, and soon became the laughing- stock of the population. In consequence, the province speedily fell into a condition not very far removed from anarchy. The traders refused to pay customs duties, and Brockholls was too timid to try to collect them ; and the taxes, generally, fell into arrears. Disorderly meetings were held in various places, and mob violence was threatened, — the Puritan element of course taking the lead. Equally of course, and very properly, the friends of free government took advantage of the con- fusion to strike a blow for greater liberty. When un- der a despotic rule which nevertheless secured order and material prosperity, there was small hope of effect- ing a change ; but the, instant the tyrant for the time being became weak, there was a chance of success in raoviuCT against liim, there beincr no longer, to the minds of the citizens, any substantial offset to atone for his tyranny. Accordingly, a New York jury formally pre- 52 New York, j sented to the court that tlie lack of a Provincial As- sembly was a grievance. Popular feeling declared itself so strongly to this effect that the court adopted ! the same view. Accordingly, it accepted as its own ' and forwarded to the duke a petition drawn up by the : high sheriff of Long Island. This petition set forth . that New York had long groaned under the intolerable 1 burden of being subjected to an arbitrarj^ and irrespon- ! sible government, wliereby the colonists were forced | against their wills to pay revenue, while their trade was burdened, and they tliemselves practically entliralled. | The document pointed by way of contrast to tlie freer ' and more flourishing colonies by which New York was ■ flanked on either hand, and besought that tliereafter \ the province should be ruled by a governor, council, and ! assembly, the latter to be elected by the colonial free- \ holders. The stoppage of the collections of taxes caused the • colony to become a drain instead of a source of revenue j to James ; and the duke seriously considered the pro- | ject of selling such an unproductive province. Finally ! however he decided, as an alternative, to grant the ! wished-for franchise, and see if that would improve ; matters ; being, it is said, advised to take this course i by William Penn, whose not over-creditable connection ! with the Stuarts occasionally bore good fruit. As the ; person to put his plans into execution and to act as i first governor under the new system, the duke chose j Thomas Dongan, a Eoman Catholic Irish gentleman of j good family, the nephew of the Earl of Tyrconnel. ' Dongan acted with wise liberality, both in matters j political and in matters religious, toward the province \ Under the Stuarts, m^-iess. 53 he was sent to govern ; for he was a man of high char- acter and good capacity. Yet it is impossible to say liow much of his liberality was due to honest conviction, and how much to the considerations of expediency that at the moment influenced the House of Stuart. It was an age of religious intolerance and of government by privileged classes ; and the religion to which Dongan and his royal master adhered was at that time, wherever it was dominant, the bitterest foe of civil and religious liberty. But in England the nation generally was Episcopalian ; and Duke James, a Catholic, was perforce obliged to advocate toleration for all sects as a step toward the ultimate supremacy of his own. So in New York, Dongan the Catholic found himself ruler of a province where there were but a few dozen citizens of his own faith, the mass of the people being stanch Protestants, of several jarring creeds ; and he was not drawn by any special bonds of sympathy to the class of crown officials and the like, who were mostly of the very church which in England was supreme over his own. His interests and sympathies thus naturally inclined him to side with the popular party, and to advocate religious liberty. As he was also vigilant in preserving order and warding off outside aggression, and devoted to the well-being of the. colony, he proved himself per- haps the best colonial governor New York ever had. Dongan reached New York in 1683, and from the first was popular with the colonists. He at once issued writs for the election of the members of the long-desired Provincial Assembly. They were elected by the free- holders ; and with their meeting, in tlie fall of the same year, the province took the first real step, — and a very 54 New York. \ long one, — toward self-government. Dongan of course , appointed his own council ; and he generally placed ; thereon representatives of tlie different nationalities and • creeds. New York City was of course the governmental \ seat or capital, as well as the metropolis of the province, j The Assembly, the popular branch of the govern- j ment, consisted of eighteen members, the majority being \ Dutch. They promptly passed a number of acts, all of i which were approved by Dongan and his council. By ; far the most important, was the special charter of j Liberties and Privileges," granted by the duke to the \ province. By this the right of self-taxation was re- ; served to the colonists, except that certain specific duties on importations were allowed to the duke and \ his heirs. The main features of self-government, so ! long and earnestly desired by the people, were also , secured ; and entire liberty of conscience and religion ; was guaranteed to all. This cliarter was sent over to : the duke, by whose suggestion several small amend- I ments w^ere made therein ; he then signed and sealed \ but did not deliver it. Thus it never formally went into \ effect ; yet tlie government of New York was carried : on under its provisions for several years. ; One of the acts of this first Assembly was well in j line with the policy of extreme liberality toward all j foreign-born citizens wliich New York has always con- ^ sistently followed: it conferred full rights of citizenship upon all white foreigners who should take the oath of ; allegiance. The especial purpose of passing the act ; was to benefit the Huguenots, wdio were being expelled \ from France by tens of thousands, thanks to the cruel \ bigotry of the French king, Louis XIV. | 1 Under the Stuarts, ler^-ms. 55 With the return of order and the dawn of liberty, the city once more began to flourish. Trade increased, the fisheries did well, new buildings were put up, and taxes were paid without grumbling. Addresses of grati- tude were sent to the duke, and the citizens were fer- vent in their praise of Dongan. Even the religious animosities were for the moment softened. The old church in the fort was used every Sunday by the repre- sentatives of all tliree of the leading creeds, the services being held in as many different languages, — the Dutch in the morning, the French at mid-day, and the English, by the Episcopalians, in the afternoon ; while Dongan and his few fellow-religionists worshipped in a little chapel. Even the austere Calvinist dominies could not refrain from paying their meed of respect to the new governor. As soon as the Assembly adjourned, Dongan granted new "liberties and privileges" to the city itself. In accordance with these new articles, the aldermen were elected by the freeholders in the various wards, the mayor being appointed by the governor. The board of aldermen was a real, not (as in our day) a nominal, legislative body, and enacted by-laws for the govern- ment of the city. Some of them were of very stringent character; notably those which provided against any kind of work or amusement on tlie Sabbath, and which forbade all assemblages of the numerous negro slaves, — for the slave-holding burg^hers were haunted by the constant terror of a servile insurrection. Affairs went on smoothly until the death of Charles II. and tlie accession to the throne of J^ew York's ducal proprietor, under the title of James II. Dongan made journeys hither and thither through his province, paci- 56 New York. tying the Indians, and seeing to the best interests of his own people. He was especially zealous in keeping- guard over the northern frontier, already threatened by the French masters of Canada, so long the arch foes of | the northeastern English colonies. Although Dongan ( was a Roman Catholic, he did not show any of that ; feeling which made some of his co-reli"ionists sacrifice \ country to creed, nor did he ever become a tool of ' France, like so many of the Stuart courtiers of his day. On the contrary, he was active in thwarting French i intrigues in the north, giving full w^arning concerning j them to his royal master, to whom his active and loyal ' patriotism could hardly have been altogether pleasant. : At any rate, no sooner had the duke become king ' than he dropped the mask of liberality, and took up his natural position as a political and religious tyiant. • Under the influence of Dongan, he did indeed grant to i the city itself a charter of special rights and privileges, ! which formed the basis of those subsequently granted \ in colonial times. The instrument not ouly confirmed , the city in the possession of the privileges it already ! possessed, but allowed it a large quantity of real estate, j from some of which the municipality draws a revenue \ to the present day, while the rest has been given over i for the common use of the people. But on the main j point of self-government the king w^as resolved to re- \ trace his steps. He would not consummate his action o-iving a liberal charter to the province, and though in ' 1G84 Dongan summoned the Assembly to m.eet on his : own responsibility, it was never thereafter called ; and \ New York's share in self-government came to an end as j far as the Stuarts were concerned. t Under the Stuarts, m^-ioss. 57 111 16S8 Dongan himself was deprived of the control of the province he had ruled so faithfully and wisely. The kiug was bent upon being absolute master of the colonies no less than "of the home country ; and in the spring of that year he threw New England, New York, and New Jersey into one province, abolishing all the different charters, and putting the colonists under the direct control of the royal governor. Dongan was too liberal a man to be entrusted with the carrying out of such a policy. Sir Edmund Andros was sent over in his stead, to act as the instrument for depriving the people of such measure of freedom as they possessed. The bitterness of the religious feeling of the day may be gathered from the fact that many of the more bigoted Protestants of Manhattan actually welcomed the change of governors, being unable to pardon their friend be- cause he was not of their creed, and greeting their foe warmly because, forsooth, tbey did not quite so widely disagree with his theological tenets. However, the mass of the people in both New^ York and New England speedily became welded into one in opposition to the absolutism of the Stuart king, as typi- fied by his lieutenant. Hollander and Puritan were knit together by the bond of a common hatred to the common oppressor; the Puritan as usual taking the lead. They were outraged because of the loss of their political rights ; and they feared greatly lest they should soon also lose their religious freedom. Moreover, the colonies were already jealous of one another, and deeply imbued with the Separatist feeling ; and they counted tlie loss of their special charters, and the obliteration of their boundary lines that they might be put under one 58 New York. g'overnment, as grievances intolerable and not to be borne. Nor did they have to bear them long. That very year Williani of Orange landed in England and drove the last Stuart king from his throne. The news reached America early in 1689, when Andros was in Boston, and the New Englanders rose instantly and threw him into prison, while his governmental fabric throughout the provinces perished almost in a day. The accession of the Dutch prince to the throne of Enoland added another to the forces that were tendinhiiid was to assume the burden of the common defence, she had to quarter her troops in the colonial towns, and it seemed fair that the colonists should pay for their quarters. On the other hand, if the colonists were not consulted in the matter, and if they were forced to pay for troops sent among them in time of peace, when no foreign enemy was to be feared, it looked much as if they were being made to support the very force that was to keep them in subjection. Ou the whole, the colonists were right in objecting to the presence of the troops in time of peace except on their own terms ; although tlrey thereby estopped themselves from insisting that the mother country should do more than its share in protecting them in time of war. If, of two parties, one raises the army for common defence, the other cannot expect to have much to say about its disposal. Tlie Britisli troops in garrison naturally disliked the townsfolk, on whom in turn tlieir mere presence acted as an irritant The soldiers when out of barracks and away from the control of their officers were alwa3^s coming into collision with the mob, in which the sea- faring element was strong ; and the resulting riots not infrequently involved also tlie respectable mechanics and small traders, and even the merchants and gentry. The great source of quarrel was the liberty pole. This had been erected on the anniversary of the king's birth, June 6, 1766, to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act; there was a great barbecue on the occasion, — an ox being roasted whole on the common, — while hogsheads of punch and ale were broached, bonfires were lit, and amid Before the Revolution. 170^-1774. 119 tlie booming of caimoii and pealing of bells a flag was hoisted with the inscription, "The King, Pitt, and Liberty," — the colonists being enthusiastically devoted to their two great parliamentary champions, Pitt and Burke. The liberty pole was an eyesore to the soldiers in the fort, and its destruction or attempted destruction became one of their standing pastimes. Several times they succeeded, usually when they sallied out at night ; and then the liberty pole was chopped down or burnt up. The townsfolk, headed by the Sons of Liberty, always gathered to the rescue. If too late to save the pole, they put up another one, and stood guard over it ; if in time to attempt a rescue, a bloody riot followed. In the latter part of January, 1770, parties of soldiers and townsfolk fought a series of pitched battles in the streets, the riot lasting for two days. It began by a successful surprise on the part of the soldiers, who cut down the pole early one morning. The townsfolk held an indignation meeting aod denounced vengeance on the soldiers, who retaliated by posting derisive placards on the walls of the fort and public buildings. A series of skirmishes ensued in which heads were broken, and men cut and stabbed, — tho soldiers being usually over- come by numbers, all of the working-men and every sailor in town swarming out to assail the red-coats. Some of the hardest fighting occurred when a troop of soldiers attacked a number of sailors, who were rescued by some of the Liberty Boys who' had been playing ball on. the Common. Several persons w^ere badly injured, nnd in one scuffle a sailor was thrust through with a bayonet, and slain ; after which his comrades, armed I20 New York. with bludgeons, drubbed the soldiers into their bar- racks. The upshot was that the townsfolk were victo- rious, and the liberty pole was not again molested. This was the first bloodshed in the strui^iile which culminated in the Revolution. It occurred six weeks before the so-called " Boston Massacre/' — an incident of the same kind, in which, however, the Americans were much less clearly in the right than they were in the ^^J^ew York case. Even in New York the soldiers had doubtless been sorely provoked by the taunts and jeers of the townsmen ; but there was absolutely no justifica- tion for their cutting down the liberty pole, and the New Yorkers were perfectly right in refusing to submit tamely to such an outrage. The chief fault seems to have lain with the garrison officers, who should have kept their men under restraint, or else have taken im- mediate steps to remedy the wrong they did in cutting down the pole. Til is rioting however produced no more than local irritation. After the repeal of tlie Stamp Act, the col- onies were not again stirred by a common emotion un- til the passage by Parliament of the Tea Act, avowedly passed, and avowedly resisted simply to test tlie prin- ciple of taxation. Its enactment was the signal for tlie Sons of Liberty and other societies — such as that of the Mohawks — to reorganize at once. In Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, the sentiment was unanimous that the tea shipped from England should be thrown overbonrd or shipped back ; and Boston was the first to put the threat into execution. New York followed suit in April 1774, when the first tea ships reached the harbour, only to be boarded by an excited Before the Revolution. 1764-1774. 121 multitude who heaved the tea-chests of one vessel into the harbour, and forced the other to stand out to sea witliout landing her cargo. The measures of retahation against Boston taken by the British government, aroused in New York the liveliest sympathy for the New Englanders. The radical party, acting without any authority through a self-con- stituted Committee of Vigilance, began to correspond with the Boston extremists ; and this gave alarm to the moderate men, who at once aroused themselves and took the matter into their own hands, so as not to be compromised by unwise and hasty action. Accord- ingly, to the chagrin of the extremists, they promptly disowned and repudiated the action of the vigilance comnnttee. At the same time they thoroughly dis- trusted the zeal of their aristocratic legislature. They therefore convoked a meeting of the freeholders, who with due solemnity elected a Committee of Fifty-one to correspond with tlie other colonies. This commit- tee was entirely in tlie hands of the moderate men, even containing in its ranks several Tories and very few of the radicals, and did a piece of work of which it is dif- ficult to over-estimate the importance ; for it was the first authoritatively to suggest the idea of holding the first Continental Congress. This suggestion is said to have been adopted by the advice of John Jay, a young lawyer of good Huguenot family. Under the auspices of the committee the freeholders chose five delegates to this congress, — including John Jay, and as a matter of course, one of the Livingstons also. The radicals and extremists, the Sons of Liberty and the old Committee of Vigilance, with the Committee of Mechanics — the 122 New York. body supposed to represent most nearly the unenfran- chised classes — were greatly discontented with the moderate measures of the Committee of Fifty-one ; and there was very nearly a rupture between the two wings of the patriot party. By mutual concessions this was averted ; and the delegates were elected without op- position. Tliey took their full part in the acts of the first Continental Congress during its short session, the colony being thereby committed to the common cause. At tlie same time, when the Conmiittee of Fifty-one went out of existence its place was taken by anotlier, differing in little more than the fact of having sixty members. The Revolutionary War. i775-m3. 123 CHAPTER X. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 1775-1783. The year 1775 was for New York City one of great doubt and anxiety. All classes had united in sending dele.Gjates to the first Continental Congress. The most ardent supporters of the Crown and Parliament were op- posed to the Stamp Act and Tea Act, and were anxious to protest against them, and to try to bring about a more satisfactory understanding between the mother country and her colonies. On the other hand the pop- ular party as yet shrank from independence. The men who thus early thouglit of separation from Britain were in a small and powerless minority ; indeed, they were but a little knot of republican enthusiasts, who for several years had been accustomed at their drinking- bouts to toast the memory of the famous English regicides. With the summoning of the second Continental Congress this unity disappeared, as the Whigs and Tories began to drift in opposite ways, — the one party toward violent measures with separation in the background, the other toward reconciliation even at the cost of submission. A Tory mob tried to break up tlie meeting at which delegates to the second Congress were chosen, and were only driven off after a number of heads had been broken. 124 New York. Kew York still remained doubtful. In fact, all of the colonies outside of Virginia and New England — althougli containing strong patriot parties, animated by the most fiery zeal — were as a whole somewhat luke- warm in the Eevolution, for they contained also large Tory, and still larger neutral elements in their midst. If left to themselves it is even doubtful if at this pre- cise time they would have revolted ; they were pushed into independence by the Virginians and New Eng- landers. Not only w^as the Tory element in New York very large, but there was also a powerful body of Whigs — typified by Schuyler and Gouverneur Morris — who furnished very able soldiers and statesmen when the actual fighting broke out, but who were thoroughly disgusted by the antics of the city mob ; and though the major portion of this mob was rabidly anti-British as far as noise went, it was far more anxious to maltreat unhappy individual Tories than to provoke a life and death struggle with the troops and war-ships of the British king. Nor must it be forgotten that there were plenty of Tories in the mob itself, and these among the most abandoned and violent of the city's population. The provincial legislature was as a body actively loyal to the king. But, in spite of the presence of the large Tory and neutral elements, the revolutionary party w^as unquestionably in the lead among the people, and contained the most daring spirits and the loftiest minds of the colony. There is much to admire in the resolute devotion which many tens of thousands of Loyalists showed to the king, whose cause they made their own; and there is much to condemn in the excesses com- mitted by a portion of the popular party. Neverthe- The Revolutionary War. 1775-17 83. 125 less, as ill tlie great English civil war of the precediug ceiituiy, the party of liberty was the party of right. The purest and ablest New Yorkers were to be found in the ranks of the revolutionists ; for keen-eyed and right thinking men saw that on the main issue justice was with the colonists. The young men of ardent, generous temper, such as Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and Gouverneur Morris, found it impossible to side with the foreign party. They were Americans, freemen, conscious that they deserved to stand on a level with tlie best of any land ; and they could not cast in their lot with the party which held as a cardinal point of its creed the doctrine of their inferiority. The mass of quiet, good, respectable people, of conser- vative instincts and rather dull feelings, might rest content with being treated as inferiors, if on the whole they were treated well ; might submit to being always patronized and often bullied, if only they were pro- tected ; might feel they owed an honest debt of grati- tude to their champions in former wars; and might shrink from enduring the hundred actual evils of civil conflict merely for the sake of protesting against the violation of certain abstract rights and principles ; but the high-spirited young men, the leaders in thought and action, fixed with unerring certainty upon the central and vital truth of the situation. They saw that the struggle, when resolved into its ultimate elements, was to allow Americans the chance for full and free develop- ment, uncramped by the galling sense of admitted inferiority. The material benefits conferred by the con- tinuance of British rule micrlit or mi^lit not offset the material disadvantages it involved ; but they could not 126 New York. weigh against the evils of a system which dwarfed tlie character and intellect, — a system which condemned all colonists to remain forever in the second rank, which forbade their striving for the world's great prizes, unless they renounced their American birthright, and which deprived them of those hopes that especially render life worth living in the eyes of tlie daring and ambitious. To their free, bold spirits, the mere assumption of their inferiority was an intolerable grievance, as indeed it has ever been esteemed by the master races of the world. Sooner than submit, in ignoble peace and safety, to an order of things which would have stunted the moral and mental growth of the country, they were willing to risk not only the dangers of war with the British king, but the far worse dangers of disorder, violence, anarchy, and a general loosening of the social bonds among Americans themselves. The event proved their wisdom. Yet the dangers were very real and great. The country was still in the gristle; the thews had not hardened. There had been much lawlessness, in one quarter and another, already ; and the long struggle of the Eevolu- tion produced hideous disorganization. It is impossible to paint in too dark colours the ferocity of the struggle between the Whigs and Tories; and the patriot mobs, either of their own accord or instigated by the Sons of Liberty and kindred bodies, oi'ten took part in pro- ceedings which were thoroughly disgraceful. New York had her full share of these mob-outbreaks during the summer of 1775. The lawyers, pamphleteers, and news- paper writers, who contributed so largely to arouse the people, also too often joined to hound tlie populace on to the committal of outrages. The mob broke into and The Revolutionary War. lUo-nss. 127 plundered the houses of wealthy Loyalists, rode Tunes on rails, or tarred, feathered, and otherwise brutally mal- treated them, and utterly refused to allow to others the liberty of speech and thought they so vociferously de- manded for themselves. They hated and threatened the Episcopalian, or Church of England, clergy, because of that part of the liturgy in which the king was prayed for; and finally the Episcopalian churches had to be closed for fear of them. They drove oft" the Tory presi- dent of King's (now Columbia) College, and joined with a Connecticut mob to wreck the ohice of the Loyalist newspaper. It is to their credit, however, that there was little interference with the courts of justice. They did not come into collision with the soldiers of the garrison, and the latter were permitted to embark for Massachusetts Bay, where hostilities had fairly begun; but they refused to allow any stores or munitions of war to be shipped to the beleaguered garrison at Boston. There were frequent rows with the boats' crews of the frigates in the bay ; once with the result of a broadside being fired into the town by an affronted man-of-war. In spite of these disturbances, New^ York still re- mained reluctant to burn her boats, and throw in her lot once for all with the patriots. Both Washington, on his way to take command of the American army at Boston, and Tryon, the royal governor, were received with the same formal tokens of respect. Meanwhile business was at a standstill, and a third of the inhabi- tants had left the town. By the beginning of the year 1776 the real leaders of the city and province, the men of mark, and of proved courage and capacity, saw that all hope of compromise 128 New York. Avas over. Tiiey had beeu disgusted with the turbu- lence of the luob, and the noisy bragging and threaten- ing of its leaders, — for the most part frothy men, like Isaac Sears, who sank out of ken when the days of rioting passed, and tlie grim, weary, bloody years of lighting were ushered in; but they were infinitely more disgusted witli the spirit of tyrannous folly shown by the King and Parliament. The only possible outcome was independence. The citizens had become thoroughly hostile to the Tory Colonial Assembly, and had formally set it aside and replaced it, first by a succession of committees, and then by a series of provincial congresses, corresponding to the central Continental Congress. The mob never controlled these congresses, whose leaders were men like Schuyler, Van Zandt, Van Cortlandt, Jay, the Liv- ingstons, the Morrises, the Yan Rensselaers, the Lud- lows, — representatives of the foremost families of the New York gentry.^ When the Provincial Congress, with unanimity and the heartiest enthusiasm, ratified the 'Declaration of Independence, it was evident that the best men in New York were on tlie Revolutionary side. In January, 1776, Washington sent one of his gene- rals to take command in New York, and in April he himself made it liis headquarters, having at last driven 1 Tlie names of the members of these committees and provincial congresses are English. Dutch, Huguenot, Scotch, Irish, and German, tlie English in the lead, with the Dutch coming next. Many of tlie families were represented by more than one individual : thus of the Livingstons there were Walter, P.eter Van Brugh, Robert L., and Philip; of the Ludlows, Gabriel and William; of the Beekmans, David and William ; of the Roosevelts, Isaac and Nicholas ; etc. The Revolutionary War. 1775-1783. 129 the enemy from Boston. Soon the motley levies of the patriot army were thronging the streets, — some in homespun or buckskin, a few in the dingy scarlet they had worn in tlie last French war, Marylanders in green hunting-shirts, Virginians in white smocks, militia in divers uniforms from tlie other colonies, and Washing- ton's guards, tlie nucleus of the famous Continental troops of the line, in their blue and buff. All New York was in a ferment ; and the ardent young patriots were busy from morning till night in arming, equipping, and drilling the regiments that made up her quota.^ The city was in no state to resist a siege, or an attack by a superior force. Her forts, such as they were, would not have availed against any foe more formidable than a light frigate or heavy privateer. The truth was that the United States — for such the revolted colonies had become — were extremely vulnerable to assault. Their settled territory lay in a narrow belt, stretching for a thousand miles along the coast. Its breadth was but a hundred miles or so, in most places ; then it faded off, tlie inland frontier lying vaguely in the vast, melan- choly, Indian-haunted forests. The ferocious and un- ending warfare with the red woodland tribes kept tlie thinly scattered pioneers busy defending their own hearthstones, and gave them but scant breathing spells in which to come to tlie help of their brethren in the old settled regions. The eastern frontier was the coast- ^ The younger men among tlie lenrling city families furnished most of tlie captains for the city roiriments, — among them being Henry S. Livingston, Abraliam Van Wyck. John Berrian, John J. Roosevelt, aiifl otlicrs Many of the most (listinguished, however, had themselves risen from tlie ranks. y I30 New York. line itself, wliicli \va.s indented by countless sounds, bays, and harbours, and here and there broken by great estuaries or tide-water rivers, which could carry hostile fleets into the heart of the land. The bulk of the popu- lation, and all the chief towns, lay in easy striking dis- tance from the sea. Almost all the intercolonial trade went along the water-ways, either up and down the rivers, or skirting the coast. There was no important fortress or fortified, city ; no stronghold of note. A war power having command of the seas possessed the most enormous advantage. It menaced the home trade almost as mucli as the foreign, threatened the whole exposed coast-line, — and therefore the settled country which lay alongside it, — could concentrate its forces wlierever it wished, and could penetrate the country at will The revolted colonists had no navy, while the mother coun- try possessed the most powerful in the world. She ■was fourfold tlieir superior in population, and a hun- dred-fold in wealth ; she had a powerful standing army, while they had none. Moreover, the colonists' worst foes were those of their own household. The active Tories and half-hearted neutrals formed the majority of the population in many districts, — including Long Island and Staten Island. The Americans were then a race of yeomen, or small farmers, wlio were both warlike in temper and unmilitary in habits. They were shrewd, brave, patriotic, stout of heart and body, and proudly self-reliant, but imptaient of discipline, and most un- willing to learn the necessity of obedience. Tlieir notion of war was to enlist for a short campaign, usually after the hay was in, and to return home by winter, or sooner, if their commanding officers displeased them. They The Revolutionary War, ms-nss. 131 seemed unable to appreciate the Deed of sustained effbit. The jealousies of the different States and their poverty and short-sighted parsimony, the looseness of the Fed- eral tie, the consequent impotence of tlie central gov- ernment, and the radical unfitness of the Continental Congress as a body to conduct war, all combined to render the prospects of the patriots gloomy. Only the heroic grandeur of Washington could have built up victory from these jarring elements. It was therefore natural for the patriot party of New York to look before it leaped ; but the leap once taken, it never faltered. No other State north of South Carolina was so harried by the forces of the king ; and against no other State did they direct such efforts or send such armies, — armies which held portions of it to the close of the war. Yet the patriot party re- mained firm throughout, never flinching through the long years, cheering the faint-hearted, crushing out the Tories, and facing the enemy with unshaken front. Eirly in tlie summer a great armament began to gather in the lower bay ; a force more numerous and more forniidable than tlie famous Armada wliich nearly two centuries before had sailed from Spain against England. Scores of war-ships of every kind, from the heavy liner, with her tiers of massive cannon, to the cutter armed with a couple of light cannon, and hun- dreds of transports and provision-sliips began to arrive, squadron by squadron. Aboard them was an army of nearly forty thousand fightiug-men. A considerable number were Hessians, and other German troops, hired out by the greedy and murderous baseness of the princelets of Gern:any. The Americans grew to feel a 132 New York. peculiar hatred for these Hessians, l.)ecause of tlie rav- ages they committed, and because of the merely mer- cenary nature of their services ; but the wrong lay not with the poor, dull-witted, hard-fighting boors, but with their sordid and contemptible masters. AVith tlie near approach of this great army the Tories began plotting; and most rigorous measures were taken to stamp out these plots. For some reason the lower class of liquor sellers were mostly Tories, and many of the plots were found to have their origin among tlieui or their customers. The Loyalist gentry had for the most part fled to the British lines. Those who re- mained behind — including both the mayor and ex-mayor of the city — were forced to take a stringent oath of allegiance to the Continental Congress and the new na- tion. The Tory plots were not mythical ; one was unearthed which aimed at nothing less than the abduct- ing or killing of Washington, — the ring leader, Thomas Hickey, an Irish soldier who liad deserted from the roy.d army, being hanged for his villany. Washington saw the hopelessness of trying to defend New York witli the materials he had, acrainst such a force as was coming against it : and it was proposed to burn the town and retire so tliat the king's troops might gain nothing by tlie capture. Tliis was un- doubtedly the proper course to follow, from a purely military standpoint ; but the political objections to its adoption were insuperable. Washington laboured un- ceasingly at the almost hopeless task of perfecting the di.icipline of his raw, ill-armed, ill provided, jealousy- riven army , and he put down outrages, where he could, with a heavy liand Xevertheless, many of the The Revolutionary War. i775-i7es. 133 soldiers plundered riglit and left, ti'eating tlie property of all Loyalists as rightfully to be confiscated, and often showing small scruple in robbing wealthy Whigs under pretence of mistaking them for Tories. At last, in mid-August, the British general, Lord Howe, made up his mind to strike at the doomed city. He landed on Long Island a body of fifteen or twenty thou- sand soldiers, — English, Irish, and German.^ The Amer- ican forces on the island were not over half as numerous, and were stationed in the neighbourhood of Brooklyn. Some of the British iVigatos had already ascended the Hudson to the Tappan Sea, and had cannonaded the town as they dropped down stream again, producing a great panic, but doing little damage. Tiie royal army was landed on the 22d : but Lord Howe, a very slow, easy-going man, did not deliver his blow until hve days later. The attack was made in three divisions, early in the morning, and was completely successful. The Americans permitted themselves to be surprised, and were out-generalled in every way. Not half the force on either side was engaged. Some of the American troops made but a shoi t stand ; others showed a des- perate but disorderly valour. About two thousand of them were killed, wounded, or captured, principally the latter ; while the British loss was less than four hundred, ^ It is a curious fact that in the Eevolutiounry War the Germans and Catholic Irish should liave furnished the l)ulk of the auxiliaries to the regular Eniflish sohliers ; for as the English is the leading strain in our blood, so the German and the Irish elements come next. The Maryland Catholics, and most of the German settlers, wore stout adherents of the Revolutionary cause. The fiercest and most ardent Americans of all, however, were the Presbyterian Irish settlers and their descendants. 134 New York. the battle being won without difficulty. Howe seem- ingly had the remainder of tlie American army com- pletely at his mercy, for it was cooped up on a point of land which projected into the water. But he felt so sure of his prey that he did not strike at once ; and while he lingered and made ready, Washington, wlio had crossed over to the scene of disaster, perfected Ijis plans, and by a masterly stroke ferried the beaten army across to New York during the night of the 29th. The following morning the king's generals woke to find that their quarry had slipped away from them. The discouragement and despondency of the Ameri- cans were very great, Washington almost alone keeping up heart. It was resolved to evacuate New York; the chief opponent of the evacuation being General George Clinton, a hard-fighting soldier from Ulster county, where his people of Anglo-Irish origin stood well, having intermarried with the Tappans and De Witts of the old Dutch stock. Clinton did not belong to the old colonial families of weight, being almost the only New York Revolutionary leader of note who did not ; and in consequence they rather looked down on him, while he in turn repaid their dislike with inter- est. He was a harsh, narrow-minded man, of obstinate courage and considerable executive capacity, very am- bitious, and a fanatical leader of the popular party in the contest with the Crown. On September 15, Howe, having as usual lost a valuable fortniglit by delay, moved against Manhattan Island. His troops landed at Kip's Bay, where the Americans opposed to them, mostly militia, broke in disgraceful panic and fled before them Washington The Revolutionary War 1775-1783. 135 spurred to the scene in a frenzy of rage, and did his best to stop the rout, striking the fugitives with his sword, and hurling at them words of bitter scorn ; but it was all in vain, the flight could not be stayed, and Washington himself was only saved from death or capture by his aides-de-camj), who seized his bridle- reins and forced him from the field. However, Washington's acts and words had their effect, and as the Americans recovered from their panic they became heartily ashamed of themselves. The king's troops acted with such slowness that the Ameri- can divisions south of Kip's Bay were able to march past them unmolested. These divisions, on their re- treat, were guided by a brilliant young officer, Aaron Burr, then an aide-de-camjp to the rough, simple-hearted old wolf-killer General Putnam ; and the rear was pro- tected by Alexander Hamilton and his company of New York artillerymen, who in one or two slight skir- mishes beat off the advance guard of the pursuers. Washington drew up his army on Haarlem Heights, and the next day inflicted a smart check on the enemy. An American outpost was attacked and driven in by the English light troops, who were then themselves attacked and roughly handled by the Connecticut men and Vir- ginians. They were saved from destruction by some regiments of Hessians and Highlanders ; but further reinforcements for the Americans arrived, and the royal troops were finally driven from the field. About a hun- dred Americans and nearly three times as many of their foes were killed or wounded. It was nothing more than a severe skirmish ; but it was a victory, and it did much to put the Americans in heart. 136 New York. Besides, it was a lesson to the king's troops, and made Howe even more cautious than usual. For an entire month he remained fronting Washington's lines, which, he asserted, were too strong to be carried by assault. Then the rougli sea-dogs of the fleet came to his rescue, with the usual daring and success of British seamen. His frigates burst through the obstructions which the Americans had fondly hoped would bar the Hudson, and sailed up past the flanks of the patriot army ; while the passage to the Sound was also forceil. Washington had no alternative but to retreat, which he did slowly, skirmishing heavily. At White Plains, Howe drove in the American outposts, suffering more loss than he inflicted. But a fortnight later, in mid-November, a heavy disaster befell the Americans. In deference to the wislies of Congress, Washington had kept garrisons in the two forts which had been built to guard tlie Hudson, and Howe attacked them with sudden energy. One was evacuated at the last moment ; the other was carried by assault, and its garrison of nearly three thousand men captured, after a resistance which could not be called more than respectable. Washington re- treated into New Jersey with his dwindling army of but little more tlian three thousand men. The militia liad all left him long before; and his short-term 'Tegular" troops also went off by companies and regiments as their periods of enlistment drew to a close ; and the stoutest friends of America despaired. Then, in the icy winter, Washington suddenly turned on his foes, crossed the Delaware, and by the victory of Trenton, won at the darkest moment of the war, re-established the patriot cause. The Revolutionary War. 177 5- ms. 137 For the next seven years, New York suffered all the hnniiliations that fall to the lot of a conquered city. The king's troops held it as a garrison town, under military rule, and made it the headquarters of tlieir power in America. Their foraging parties and small expeditionary columns ravaged the neighbouring coun- ties, not only of New York, but of New Jersey and Connecticut. The country in the immediate vicinity of the city was overawed by the formidable garrison and remained Loyalist; beyond this came a wide zone or neutral belt where the light troops and irregular forces of both sides fought one another and harried the wretched inhabitants. Privateers were fitted out to cruise against, the shipping of tlie other States, precisely as the privateers of the patriots had sailed from tlie harbour against the shipping of Britain in the earlier days of the war. Most of the active patriots among the townsfolk had left the city ; only the poor and the faint-hearted re- mained beliind, together with the large Tory element, and the still larger portion of the population whiih strove to remain neutral in the conflict. This last di- vision contained the only persons whose conduct must he regarded as thoroughly despicable. Emphatically the highest meed of praise belongs to the resolute, higli- minded, far-seeing men of the patriot part}^ — as distin- guished from the mere demagogues and mob leaders who, of course, are to be found associated with every great popular movement. AVe can also heartily respect the honest and gallant Loyalists who sacrificed all by their devotion to the king's cause. But the selfish time- servers, the timid men, and those who halt between two New York. burdens, and can never make np their minds which side to support in any great political crisis, are only worthy of contempt. The king's troops were not cruel conquerors; but they were insolent and overbearing, and sometimes brutal. The Loyalists were in a thoroughly false posi- tion. They had drawn the sword against their country- men; and yet they could not hope to be treated as equals by those for whom they were fighting. They soon found to their bitter cliagrin that their hauglity allies regarded them as inferiors, and despised an Amer- ican Tory almost as much as they hated an American Whig. The native army had not behaved well in the half-Tory city of New York; but the invading army which drove it out behaved much worse. The soldiers broke into and looted the corporation, the college, and the small public libraries, hawking the books about the streets, or exchanging them for liquor in the low saloons. They also sacked the Presbyterian, Dutch Eeformed, and Huguenot churches, which were later turned into prisons for the captured Americans ; while on the other hand, tlie Episcopalian churches, which had been closed owing to the riotqjis conduct of the patriot mob, were re-opened. The hangers-on of tlic army, — the camp-followers, loose women, and the like, — formed a regular banditti, who infested the streets after dark, and made all outgoings dangerous. There was a completely organized system of gigantic jobbery and swindling, by which the contractors and commissaries, and not a few of the king's officers as well, were en- riched at the expense of the British government ; and when they plundered the government wholesale, it was The Revolutionary War. ms-ms. 139 not to be supposed that they would spare Tories. The rich Royalists, besides of course all the Whigs, had their portable property, their horses, provisions, and silver taken from them right and left, — sometimes by bands of marauding soldiers, sometimes by the commissaries, but always without redress or compensation, their repre- sentations to the officers in command being scornfully disregarded. They complained in their bitter anger that the troops sent to reconquer America seemed bent on campaigning less against the rebels than against the king's own friends and the king's own army-chest. Many of the troops lived at free quarters in the private houses, behaving well or ill according to their individual characters. A few days after New York was captured it took fire, and a large portion of it was burnt up before the flames were checked. The British soldiers were infuriated by the belief that the fire was the work of rebel incendi- aries, and in the disorganization of the day they cut loose from the control of their officers and committed gross outrages, bayoneting a number of men, both Whigs and Tories, whom on the spur of the moment they ac- cused of being privy to the plot for burning the city. Two or three years afterward there was another great fire, which consumed much of what the first had spared. On the day of this first fire an American spy, Nathan Hale, was captured. His fate attracted much attention on account of his high personal character. He was a captain in the patriot army, a graduate of Yale, and betrothed to a beautiful girl ; and he had volunteered for the dangerous task from the highest sense of duty. He was hanged the following morning, and met his I40 New York. death with quiet, unflinching firmness, his List words expressing his regret that he had but one lile to lose for his country. He was mourned by his American com- rades as deeply and sincerely and with to the full as much reason as a few years later Andrd was mourned by the officers of the king. Four or five thousand American soldiers were captured in tlie battles attending the taking of New York; and thenceforward the city was made the prison-house of all the captured patriots. The old City Hall, tlie old sugar- house of the Livingstons (a gloomy stone building, tive stories high, with deep narrow windows), and most of the non-Episcopal churches were turned into jails, and packed full of prisoners. It was a much rougher age than the present ; the prisons of the most civilized countries were scandalous even in peace, and of course prisoners of war fared horribly. The king's officers as a whole doubtless meant to behave humanely ; but the provost- marslial of New York was a very brutal man, and the cheating commissaries who undertook to feed the prison- ers made large fortunes by furnishing them with spoiled provisions, curtailing their rations, and the like. The captives were huddled together in ragged, emaciated, vermin-covered and fever-stricken masses ; while disease, bad food, bad water, the cold of winter, and the stilling heat of summer ravaged their squalid ranks. Every morning the death-carts drew up at the doors to receive the bodies of those who during the night had died on the filthy straw of which they made their beds. The prison-ships were even worse. They were evil, pestilent hulks of merchantmen or men-of-war, moored mostly in Wallabout Bay ; and in their noisonje rotten holds The Revolutionary War. iiis-nss. 141 men died by hundreds, and were buried in shallow pits at the water's edge, the graves being soon uncovered by the tide. In after years many hogsheads of human bones were taken from the foul ooze to receive christian burial. So for seven dreary years New York lay in thraldom, while Washinoton and his Continentals battled for the o freedom of America. Nor did Washington battle only with tlie actual foe in the field. He had to strive also with the short-sighted and sour jealousies of the differ- ent States, the mixed impotence and intrigue of Con- gress, the poverty of the people, the bankruptcy of the government, the lukewarm timidity of many, the. open disaffection of not a few, and the jobbery of speculators who were sometimes to be found liigh in the ranks of the army itself. Moreover, he had to contend with the general dislike of discipline and sustained exertion natural to the race of shrewd, brave, hardy farmers whom he led, — unused as they were to all restraint, and unable to fully appreciate the necessity of making sacrifices in the present for the sake of the future. But his soul rose above disaster, misfortune, and suffering; lie had the heart of the people really with him, he was backed by a group of great statesmen, and he had won the unfaltering; and devoted trust of the band of veteran soldiers with whom he had achieved victory, suffered defeat, and wrested victory from defeat for so many years ; and he triumphed in the end. On November 25, 1783, the armies of the king left the city they had held so long, carrying with them some twelve thousand Loyalists ; while on the same day Washington marched in with his troops and with the civil authorities of the State. 142 New York. CHAPTER XL THE FEDERALIST CITY. 1783-1800. New York was iudeed a dreary city when the king's troops left it alter their sojourn of seven years. The spaces desolated by the great tires had never been built up, but still remained covered with tlie charred, melan- choly ruins ; the churches had been dismantled, the houses rifled. Business was gone, and the channels in which it had run were filled up. The Americans on taking pos- session once more had to begin all over again. They set busily to work to rebuild the fallen fortunes of the town ; but the destruction had been so complete, and the difficulties in the way of getting a fair start were so great, that for four years very little progress was made. Then affairs took a turn for the better ; the city began to flourish as it never had flourished before, and grew in wealth and population at a steadily increasing pace. The dismantled churches were put in order ; and Trinity, wliich had been burnt down in the fire of 1776, was entirely rebuilt. King's College had its name changed to Columbia, and was again started, the first scl)olar being De Witt Clinton, a nephew of George Clinton, at the tiuie governor of the State. The free public library — tlie New York Society Library — was revived on a very much larger scale, and a good build- ing erected, wherein to house the books. The new constitution of the independent State of New York The Federalist City, ms-isoo. 143 completely did away with the religious disabilities enforced under the old provincial government, and de- clared and maintained absolute religious toleration and equality before the law. In consequence a Catholic church was soon built; while the Methodists increased rapidly in numbers and influence. The New York Medical Society began its career in 1788 ; and one of the most curious of New York's many riots occurred shortly afterward. The mob engaged in this riot was always known as " the doctors' mob " be- cause their wrath was directed against the young medi- cal students and their teachers. Eumours had been rife for some time that the doctors rifled the graveyards to get subjects for dissection, which excited the populace greatly. One day a boy looking into the dissecting- room saw the medical students at work on a body, and immediately ran home and alarmed his father. With- out any more reason than this, the mob suddenly assem- bled, hunted the doctors out of -their homes, entered houses and destroyed property, refused to obey the com- mands of the civil officers when called on to disperse, and finally came into collision with the State troops, who scattered them with a volley, killing and wounding several. An occasional turbulent outbreak of this sort, how- ever, could not check the city's growth. Commerce throve apace. The more venturesome merchants sent sliips for the first time to the far China seas ; and in a i"ew years, when the gigantic warfare of the French Eevolutiou convulsed all Europe, New York began to take its full share of the traffic which was thereby forced into neutral bottoms. 144 New York. The acbieveiiient of liberty had not worked any rad- ical change in the municipal government of the city; and the constitution under which the State entered on its new life of independence was not ultra-democratic, although of course marking a long stride toward democ- racy. The suffrage was rigidly limited. There were two kinds of franchise : any man owning a freehold worth £20, or paying rent to the value of forty shillings could vote for the members of the Assembly ; while only a freeholder whose freehold was worth £100 could vote for senator or governor. Almost all the executive and legislative officers, whether of the State, the county, or the town, were appointed by the Council of Appoint- ment, which consisted of the governor and four senators. The large landholding families thus still retained very much influence. The destruction of the power of the great Tory families, however, had of course diminished the weight of the rich land-owning class as a whole ; and in the country the decisive power was in the hands of the small freeholding farmers. The State was not yet governed by an absolute democ- racy, because as yet no one save theorists were believers in an absolute democracy, and even manhood suffrage was not advocated by many persons ; while the unen- franchised were not actively discontented. The framers of the State constitution were not mere paper-government visionaries ; they were shrewd, honest, practical poli- ticians, acquainted with men and affairs. They in- vented new governmental methods when necessary, but they did not try to build up an entirely new scheme of government; they simply took the old system under w>.ich the aff'iirs of the colony had been administered The Federalist City, ms-isoo. 145 and altered it to suit the altered conditions of the new- State. This method was of course much the wisest; but it was naturally attended by some disadvantages. The constitution-makers kept certain provisions it would have been well to throw away; they failed to guard against certain dangers that were sure to arise under the changed circumstances ; and on the other hand, they created difficulties by their endeavours to guard against certain other dangers which had really vanished with the destruction of the old system. This was notably shown by their treatment of the governorship, and by tiieir fear of one-man power geuerally. The colonial governor was not elected by the people, nor responsible to them in any way ; it was tiierefore to the popular interest to hem in his power by all lawful expedients. This was done by the colonial legislature, the only exponent and servant of the popular wish. The State governor, however, was elected by the people, was re- sponsible to them, and was as much their servant and representative as the legislature. Nevertheless, the dis- trust of the non-representative, appointed, colonial gov- ernor was handed down as a legacy to his elective and representative successor. The fact that the colo- nial governor was made irresponsible by the method of his appointment, and that a colonial legislature ap- pointed in the same way would have been equally irresponsible and objectionable, was seemingly over- looked, and the governorship was treated as if a single per- son were more dangerous than a group of persons to those who elect both, and can hold both equally responsible. Accordingly, he was hampered with the Council of Appointment, and in other ways. We liave since gi'own 10 146 New York. wiser in this respect; but the curious fear still survives, aud shows itself occasionally in odd ways, — such as standing up for the " rights " of a wholly useless and pernicious board of aldermen. The government of the city was treated in the same way. In colonial times the freeholders elected their own aldermen, while the mayor and executive officers were appointed by the representatives of the Crown. The system was continued, the State governor and Council of Appointment being substituted for tlie royal governor and his council. The freeholders continued to elect their aldermen, and the constables, wlien constables were elected ; but the mayor, the sheriff, and the other officers were appointed by the State autliorities. James Duane was the first mayor thus appointed. There was thus in one respect far less local independence, far less riglit of local self-government granted the city then than now. The entire patronage or appointing power was centralized in the State authorities. On the other hand the city had greater liberty of action in certain directions than nowadays. The aldermen formed a real local legislature; and the city treasurer was actually accustomed to issue paper money on the credit of the municipality. On the whole, however, American cities have never possessed the absolute right to independent life and the exercise of local sover- eignty that have been enjoyed by most European burghs. In America, both in colonial days and under the na- tional government, the city has been treated merely as a geographical section of the State, and has been granted certain rights of self-government, like other sections; though those rights are of a peculiar kind, because of The Federalist City, ms-isoo. 147 the peculiar needs and characteristics of the grantee. They can be altered, amended, enlarged, or withdrawn at the pleasure of the grantor, the State legislature. Even the enormous growth of the urban population during tlie last half-century has not in the least altered the legal and political status of the city as the creature of the State. Long before the Revolutionary War had closed, the old government of the confederation had demonstrated its almost utter impotence ; and tilings grew w^orse after the peace. The people at large were slow^ to accept the idea that a new and stronger government was necessary. The struggle they had just passed through was one for liberty, against power ; and they did not for the moment realize that license and anarchy are liberty's worst ene- mies. Their extreme individualism and their nltra- independent feelings, perpetually excited and played upon by all the legion of demagogues, inclined them to look with suspicion and distrust upon the measures by wdiich alone they could hope to see their country raise her head among the nations of the earth. The best and wisest men of the land saw from the first the need of a real and strong union; but the mass of the people came to this idea w^ith the utmost reluctance. It was beaten into their minds by the hard logic of disaster. The outbreak of armed rebellion in Massachusetts and North Carolina, the general lawlessness, the low tone of commercial honour, the bankruptcy of the States and their loss of credit at home and abroad, the contempt with which the confederation w^as treated by European nations, and the jarring interests of the different com- monwealths themselves, which threatened at any mo- - 148 New York. iiieut to break out into actual civil -war, — all these combined with the wisdom and elocj[uence of the ablest statesmen in the land, and the vast weight of Wash in o- ton's character were needed to convince an obstinate, suspicious, and narrow-minded, though essentially brave, intelligent, and patriotic people that they must cast aside their prejudices and jealousies and unite to form a stable and powerful government. Had they not thus united, then' triumph in tlie Eevolutionary War would Jiave been a calamity for America instead of a bless- ing. Freedom without unity, freedom with anarchy, would have been worse than useless. The men who opposed the adoption of the present constitution of the United States committed an error to the full as great as that of the Tories themselves ; and they strov^e quite as hard, and fortunately quite as unsuccessfully, to damage their country. The adoption of the constitution was the completion of the work begun by the War of Independence. This work had two stages, each essen- tial ; and those who opposed it during the second stage, like those who opposed it in the first, however honest of intent, did all they could to injure America. The Tory and the disunionist, or non-unionist, were equally dangerous enemies of the national growth and well- being. It was during this period of the foundation of the Federal government, and during the immediately suc- ceeding period of the supremacy of tlie Federalists in national affairs that New York City played its greatest and most honourable part in the government of the na- tion. Never before or since lias it occupied so high a position politically, compared to the country at large; The Federalist City, nss-isoo. 149 for during tliese years it was tlie seat of power of the brilliant Federalist party of New York State. Alex- ander Hamilton, John Jay. and at the end of the time Gouverneur Morris, lived in the city, or so near it as to have practically the weight and influence of citizens ; and it was the home likewise of their arch-foe Aaron Burr, the prototype of the skilful, unscrupulous ward- politician, so conspicuous in the later periods of the city's development. Hamilton, the most brilliant American statesman who ever lived, possessing the loftiest and keenest in- tellect of his time, was of course easily the foremost champion in the ranks of the New York Federalists ; second to him came Jay, pure, strong and healthy in heart, body, and mind. Both of them watched with uneasy alarm the rapid drill toward anarchy ; and both put forth all their efforts to stem the tide. They were of course too great men to fall in with the views of those whose antagonism to tyranny made them averse from order. They had little sympathy with the violent prejudices produced by the w^ar. In particular they abhorred the vindictive laws directed against the per- sons and property of Tories ; and they had the manli- ness to come forward as the defenders of the helpless and excessively unpopular Loyalists. They put a stop to the wrongs which were being inflicted on these men, and finally succeeded in having them restored to legal equality with other citizens, standing up with generous fearlessness against the clamour of tlie mob. As soon as the project for a closer union of the States was broached, Hamilton and Jay took it up with ardour. New York City followed their lead, but the State as a New York. whole was against them. The most popidar man within its bounds was stout old Governor Clinton, and he led the opposition to the proposed union. Clinton was a man of great strength of character, a good soldier, and stanch patriot in the Eevolutionar}^ War. He was bit- terly obstinate and prejudiced, and a sincere friend of popular rights. He felt genuine distrust of any form of strong government. He was also doubtless influenced in his opposition to the proposed change by meaner motives. He was the greatest man in New York ; but he could not hope ever to be one of the greatest in the nation. He was the ruler of a small sovereio^n State, the commander-in-chief of its little army, the admiral of its petty navy, the leader of its politicians ; and he did not wish to sacrifice the importance that all of this conferred upon him. The cold, suspicious temper of the small country freeholders, and the narrow jealousy they felt for their neighbours, gave him excellent material on which to work. Nevertheless, Hamilton won, thanks to the loyalty with which New York City stood by him. By untiring effort and masterful oratory he persuaded the State to send three delegates to the Federal constitutional con- vention. He himself went as one, and bore a promi- nent part in the debates ; his two colleagues, a couple of anti-Federalist nobodies, early leaving him. He tlien came back to the city where he wrote and published, jointly with Madison and Jay, a series of letters, after- ward gathered into a volume called " The Federalist," — a book which ranks amono; the ablest and best which have ever been written on politics and government. These articles had a profound effect on the public The Federalist City, iiss-isoo. mind. Finally he crowned his labours by going as a representative from the city to the State convention, and winning from a hostile body a reluctant ratificatiou of the Federal constitution. Tiie townsmen were quicker witted, and politically more far-sighted and less narrow-minded than the average country folk of that day. The artisans, me- chanics, and merchants of New York were enthusiasti- cally in favour of the Federal constitution, and regarded Hamilton as their especial champion. To assist him and the cause they planned a monster procession, while the State convention was still sitting. Almost every representative body in the city took part in it. A troop of light horse in showy uniforms led, preceded by a band of trumpeters and a light battery. Then came a personator of Columbus, on horseback, surrounded by woodsmen with axes, — the axe being pre-eminently the tool and weapon of the American pioneer. Then came farmers in farmers' dress, driving horses and oxen yoked to both plough and harrow, while a new modelled thresh- ing-machine followed. The Society of the Cincinnati came next. The trades followed ; gardeners in green aprons, tailors, grain-measurers, bakers, with a huge " Federal loaf" on a platform drawn by ten bay horses, brewers, and coopers, with a stage drawn by four horses, bearing the " Federal cask," which the workmen finished as the procession moved, butchers, tanners, glovers, furriers, carpenters, masons, bricklayers, whitesmiths, blacksmiths, cordwainers, peruke-makers, florists, cabi- net-makers, ivory-turners, shipwrights, riggers, and representatives of scores of other trades. In every part of tlie procession fluttered banners with Hamilton's 152 New York. figure and name, and tlie great feature of the show was the Federal ship " Hamilton," drawn by ten horses. It was a thirty -two-gun frigate in miniature, twenty-seven feet long, fully rigged, and manned by thirty seamen and marines. Thirteen guns from her deck gave the signal to start, and saluted at times during the proces- sion. The faculty and students of the University, the learned societies and professions, the merchants, and distinguished strangers brought up the rear. The pro- cession moved out to the Bayard House, beyond the city, where a feast for six thousand people was served. For the first year of government under the new constitution, New York was the Federal capital. It was thither that Washington journeyed to be inaugu- rated President witli stately solemnity, April 30, 1789. The city had by this time fully recovered its prosperity ; and when it became the headquarters for the ablest statesmen from all parts of tlie Union, its social life naturally became most attractive, and lost its provincial spirit. However, its term of glory as the capital was short, for when Congress adjourned in August, 1790, it was to meet at Philadelpliia, The political history of the city during the twelve years of Washington's and Adams's administrations, is the history of a nearly balanced struggle between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists, who gradually adopted the name, first of liepublicans and then of. Democrats. As always in our ])olitical annals, individ- uals were constantly changing sides, often in large numbers ; but as a whole, party continuity was Avell preserved. The men who had favoured the adoption of the constitution grew into the Federal party ; the men 1 hb: Federalist City, nss-isoo. 153 who had opposed it, and wished to construe it as nar- rowly as possible, and to restrict the powers of the central government even to the point of impotence, became Jeffersonian Eepublicans. Hamilton and Jay wei-e the heart of the Federalist party in the city and State. Both were typical New Yorkers of their time, — being of course the very highest examples of the type, for they were men of singularly noble and lofty character. Both were of mixed and non-English blood, Jay being of Huguenot and Hollander stock, and Hamilton of Scotch and French Creole. Hamilton, born out of New York, was in some ways a more characteristic New Yorker than Jay ; for New York, like the French Eevolution, has always been pre- eminently a career open to talent. The distinguisliing feature of the city has been its broad liberality ; it throws the doors of every career wide open to all adopted citizens. Jay lacked Hamilton's brilliant audacity and genius ; but he possessed an austere purity and poise of character which his greater companion did not. He was twice elected governor of the State, serving from 1795 to 1801 ; indeed, he was really elected to the position in 1792, but was cheated out of it by most gross and flagrant election frauds, carried on in Clinton's interest, and connived at by him. His popularity was only tempo- rarily interrupted even by the storm of silly and un- warranted abuse with which New York City, like the rest of the country, greeted the successful treaty which he negotiated when special envoy to England in 1794. Hamilton was, of course, the leader of his party. But his qualities, admirably though they fitted him for the 154 New York. giant tasks of constructive statesmanship with which he successfully grappled, did not qualify hiui for party leadership. He was too impatient and dictatorial, too heedless of the small arts and unwearied, intellioent industry of the party manager. In fighting for the adoption of the constitution he had been heartily sup- ported by the great families, — tlie Livingstons, the Van Eensselaers, and his own kin by marriage, the Schuylers. Afterward he was made secretary of the treasury, and Jay chief-justice, while through his efforts Schuyler and Rufus King — a New York City man of New England origin — were made senators. Chancellor Eobert R Livingston was not an extreme believer in the ideas of Hamilton. He was also jealous of him, being a very ambitious man, and was offended at being, as he conceived, slighted in the distribution of the favours of the national administration. Accordingly, he deserted to tlie Republicans with all his very influential family fol- lowing. This was the first big break in the Federalist ranks. When Wasliington was inaugurated President he found tliat he had a number of appointments to make in New York. Almost all tlie men he thus appointed were members of the party that had urged the adoption of the Constitution, — for Washington, though incapable of the bitter and unreasoning partisansliip which puts party above the public welfare and morality, was much more of a party man than it has been the fashion to represent him, and during the final years of his life, in particular, was a strong Federalist. Clinton distributed tlie much larger and more important State patronage c])iefly among his anti-Federalist adherents. As already The Federalist City, ms-isoo. 155 explained, there was then no patronage at all in the hands of the local, that is, the county and city, authori- ties; for though an immense amount was given to the mayor, he was really a State official. The parties were very evenly matched in New York City, no less than in the State at large, during the closing twelve years of the century, — the period of Federalist supremacy in the nation. The city was the pivotal part of the State, and the ^reat fiohtino-i^round. It was carried alternately by the Federalists and Democrats, again and again. Aaron Burr, polished, adroit, unscru- pulous, was the most powerful of the city Democracy. He was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Schuyler, and was in turn himself succeeded by Schuyler. Hamilton grew to regard him with especial dislike and distrust, because of his soaring ambition, his cunning, and his lack of conscience. The Livingstons backed him ardently against the Federalists, and one of their number was elected and re-elected to Congress from the city. De Witt Clinton was also forging to the front, and was a candidate for State office from the city on more than one occasion, sharing in the defeats and victories of his party. Jay's two successive victories, on the other hand, gave tlie Federalists the governor- ship of the State for six years. Under Hamilton's lead they won in New York City rather more often than tliey lost. In 1799 they gained a complete victory, utterly defeating the Democratic ticket, wliich was headed by Burr ; and the legislature thus chosen elected the Fed- eralist Gouverneur Morris to the United States Senate. The newspapers reviled their opponents with the utmost bitterness, and often with ferocious scurrility. The 156 New York. leading Federalist editor in the city was the famous dictionary-maker, Noah Webster. Party and personal feeling was intensely bitter all through these contests. Duels were frequent among the leaders, and riots not much less so among their followers. The mob turned out joyfully, on mischief bent, wdienever there was any excuse for it; and the habit of holding open-air meetings, to denounce some particular person or measure, gave ample opportunity for outbreaks. At these meetings, speakers of the for- the-moment unpopular jjarty were often rather roughly handled, — a proceeding which nowadays would be con- demned by even the most heated partisans as against the rules of fair play. The anti-Federalists, at some of their public meetings, held to denounce the adoption of the Constitution, or to break up the gatherings of those who supported it, got up regular riots against their oppo- nents. At one of the meetings, held for the purpose of denouncing Jay's treaty with England, — a treaty which was of great benefit to the country, and the best that could then have been negotiated, — Hamilton was him- self maltreated. At the approach of tlie Presidential election of 1800, Burr took the lead in organizing the forces of tlie Democracy. He was himself his party's candidate for the Vice Presidency; and he managed the campaign with consummate skill. As before, the city was the pivotal part of the State, while the State's influence in the election at large proved to be decisive. The Democracy of the city was tending to divide into three factions. The Clintons were the natural leaders ; but the Livingston family was very powerful and was con- The Federalist City, nss-mo. 157 nected by marriage with such men as James Duane, a city politician of great weight, and Morgan Lewis, after- ward governor ; and both the Clintonians and Living- stons, jealous of one another, were united in distrust of Burr. Accordingly, the latter dexterously managed to get up a combination ticket containing the names of the most prominent members of each faction. This secured him against any disaffection. He then devoted himself to the work of organization. By his tact, address, and singular personal charm, he had gatliered round him a devoted band of henchmen, mostly active and energetic young men. He made out complete lists of all the voters, and endeavoured to find out hov\^ each group could be reached and influenced, and he told off every worker to the district where he could do most good. He was indefatigable in getting up ward meetings also. Hamilton fought him desperately, and with far greater eloquence, and he was on the right side ; but Hamilton was a statesman rather than a politician. He had quarrelled uselessly with some of the greatest men in his own party ; and he could not devote his mind to the mastery of the petty political detail and intrigue in which Burr revelled. Burr won the day by a majority of five hundred votes. As so often since in this city, the statesman, the man of mark in the national arena, went down before the skilful ward-politician. Thus the great Federalist party fell from power, not to regain it, save in local spasms here and there. It was a party of many faults, — above all the one un- forgivable fault of distrusting the people, — but it was tlie party whicli founded our government, and ever most jealously clierished tlie national honour and integrity. 138 New Vo/v'A^. New York City lias never produced any other political leaders deserving to rank with the group of distin- guished Federalists who came from within, or from just without, her borders. She has never since stood so hi^li politically, either absolutely, or relatively to the rest of the country. Democratic Rule, isoi-mi. 159 CHAPTER XII. THE BEGINNING OF DEMOCRATIC RULE. 1801-1821. In the electoral college, Jefferson and Burr, the Demo- cratic-Eepublican candidates for President and Vice- President, had a tie vote under the curious system tiien prevailing, and this left the House of Eepresentatives to decide which should be given the Presidency. The Federalists, as a whole, Irom hatred to Jefferson, sup- ported Burr ; but Hamilton, to his honour, opposed this move with all his might, and from thenceforth was regarded by Burr with peculiar and sinister hostility. Jefferson was finally chosen. In the spring of 1801 the Democrats also elected the veteran George Clinton as governor, De Witt Clinton being at the same time made one of the Council of Appointment. They then for the first time had complete and unchecked control of the entire governmental system of the nation and State, and therefore of the city. From that day to this the Democratic party has been the dominant party in New York City. Occasionally, in some period of violent political upheaval, or at a mo- ment when the ever-existincr faction-fight in its own ranks has been more than usually bitter and exhausting, its opponents for the time being, whether Federalists, Whigs, Eepublicans, or members of ephemeral organ- izations, like that of the Native Americans, have suc- ceeded in carrying a given election. But their triumph i6o New York. has never been more than momentary ; after a very short time the Democracy has invariably returned to power. The complete Democratic victory in both State and nation, under Clinton and Jeflerson, was followed by the definite entlironement of the system of so-called " spoils " politics in New York ; that is, the system according to which public otiices are used to reward partisan activity became established as the theory on which politics were conducted, not only by the Demo- crats, but by Federalists, Whigs, and Eepublicans, down to the present time, — though of late years there has been a determined and partially successful effort to overthrow it. As a matter of fact, politics had had much to do with appointments, even before 1800 ; but the theory of making purely political ap[)ointments had not been openly avowed, and there liad been a very real feeling against political removals. Moreover, there liad been comparatively little pressure to make these removals. In national affairs the Federalists had been supreme since the constitution was adopted, and so had nobody to remove. When Washington took the Presi- dency, the citizens were divided on party lines accord- ingly as they did or did not favour the constitution ; and lie made his appointments in much the greatest number of cases from among the former, although allowing his political opponents a certain share of the offices. Dur- ing his second term, and during Adams's presidency, very few non-Federalists indeed were appointed. In New York State Clinton was governor from the organi- zation of the State government until 1795. He was therefore not tem})ted to make any removals for politi- Democratic Rule. 1801-1821. 161 cal reasons. Moreover, the whole question of removals and appointments was in the hands of the Council of Appointment, which was sometimes hostile to the gov- ernor. During the first ten years of Clinton's governor- ship there was practically but one party in the State ; after the rise of the Federalists very few , of them were appointed to office, Clinton dexterously managing the patronage in the interest of his party and personal friends, but always with an eye to the benefit of the public at large. When Jay succeeded as governor, he appointed mainly Federalists; but he rejected with indignation any proposition to make removals merely for political reasons. After 1800 all this was changed. Jefferson, as has been well said, enunciated the doctrine that " to the victors belong half the spoils ; " nor did he stop when by removals and resignations half of the Federalists had left office. In foct it is impossible to act on any such theory; if half of the offices are taken as spoils, the other half must follow suit. Most of the national ap- pointees in New York were speedily changed ; and the remainder were temporarily saved only because Jefferson had in his cabinet one man, Albert Gallatin, who alj- horred a general partisan proscription. The wielders of power in the State government were not so moderate. Stout old Governor Clinton protested against the mean- ness of making purely political removals ; but he was overruled by the Council of Appointment, which was led by his nephew, De Witt Clinton. The latter had ada])ted Jefferson's theory to New York conditions, and declared that all heads of cities, of counties, of big offices and the like, ought to be political adherents of 11 New York. tl)e adiiiiiiistration, while all minor office-holders should be apportioned between the parties according to their numbers. Of course this meant in practice that all Federalists were to be removed and Democrats appointed in their places. In other words, the victors promptly proceeded to make a clean sweep of all the State, and therefore all the local, offices. The city had been the stronghold of Federalism, and its officers were among the first to feel the axe. liichard Varick had made a most admirable mayor for twelve years. He was now summarily removed and Edward Livingston appointed in his place. Livingston at tlie same time was also given, by the national governmrnt, the position of United States District Attorney. Tlie mayoralty was a much coveted prize, as the incum- bent not only presided over the conimon council and wielded much patronage, but was also presiding judgd of a court of record with peculiar and extensive powers,. His emoluments came in the sliape of fees and perqui- sites, arranged on sucli a liberal scale as to form a very large salary. When Livingston left the office it was given to De Witt Clinton, then United States senator ; and he actually resigned from the Senate to take it. However, the Senate was not then held in as high rei3rard as now. About this time another New York o senator resigned for the purpose of accepting the city postmastership. A dozen members and connections of the Livingston family w^ere appointed to important offices, the entii-e patronage of the State being divided between them and the Olintonians. They had formed an alliance to crush Burr, — receiving the hearty support of Jefferson, who Democratic Rule, isoi-mi. always strove to break down any possible rival in his party. From this time on every faction of the Demo- cratic party in turn, when it was in power, used the patronage mercilessly against its antagonists within and without the party, making a clean sweep of the offices ; and so did the Federalists, when for a brief moment, just before the Wai' of 1812, they again took the reins of government in the State. It was of course but a short step from making removals for political reasons, without regard to the fitness of the incumbent, to making ap- pointments in which considerations of political expedi- ency outweighed considerations of propriety. The step was soon taken. The Council of Appointment even occasionally gave lucrative local offices m the city of New York to influential partisans of loose character from remote sections of the State. The Clintonians and Livingstons, backed by all the weight of the national administration, reduced Burr's influence in the Democratic party to a nullity, and finally drove him out. He was not renominated for Vice-President, George Clinton being put in his place. In the State election, about the same time, Chancellor Livingston's brother-in-law, Morgan Lewis, was nomi- nated for governor. Burr ran for the office as an Inde- pendent, hoping to carry not only his own faction of the Democracy, but also the entire Federalist vote. The majority of the Federalists did support him ; but a large number, under Hamilton's lead, refused to do so, and though he just carried the city, he was beaten overwhelmingly in the State at large. Burr was now a ruined man, hated by all factions and parties. Nevertheless, he played out the losing New York. game to the last with umiioved force and unflinching resolution ; and he took cool and ferocious vengeance on his greatest and most formidable foe, Hamilton. The duel was tlien a recognized feature of society and politics, and had become a characteristic adjunct of the savage party contests in New York. One of Burr's followers had killed Hamilton's eldest son in a duel ; and another had been severely wounded by De Witt Clinton in a similar encounter. In 1804, after his defeat for the governorship, Burr forced a duel on Hamilton, and mortally wounded him in a meeting witli pistols at Weehawken, then a favourite resort for duellists. Ham- ilton's death caused the utmost horror and anger. The wdiole city mourned him, even his political opponents forgetting all save his generous and noble qualities, and the renown of his brilliant statesmanship. Burr was thenceforth an ostracized man ; and duelling in New York received its death-blow. In 1807, wdien Governor Lewis's successor in the governorship was to be nominated, the Clintonian or popular wing of the Democracy turned on him, defeated him for the nomination, and drove the Livingston family from power, serving them precisely as the two factions together had already served the Burrites. For a few years longer the Livingstons continued to have a certnin influence in the State; and while the Federal party was still of some Aveight, one or two of the great Federalist families — notably the Van Eensselaers — counted for a good deal in the political world. After the close of the War of 1812, however, the Federalists became of no moment, and the Livingstons, the aristocratic wing of the Democratic party, sank out of sight. The reign of Democratic Rule, isoi-mi. i6s the great faiiulies who for over a century had played so proinineut a part iii New York political life, was then at an end. They lost every shred of political power, and the commonwealth became what it had long been becoming, in fact as well as name, absolutely democratic. The aristocratic leaven in the loaf disap- peared completely. The sway of the people was absolute from that time on. After Washington, the greatest and best of the Fede- ralist leaders, died, and after the Jeffersonian Democrats came into power, tlie two parties in New York, as else- where throughout the country, began to divide on a very hAimiliating line. They fought each other largely on questions of foreign politics. The Federalists sup- ported the British in the European struggle then raging, and the Democrats the French. One side became known as the British, the other as the French faction. Each man with abject servility apologized for and de- fended the numerous outrages committed against us by the nation whose cause his j)arty championed. It was a thoroughly unwholesome and discreditable condition of politics, — worse than anything we have seen in the country for many years past. Neither party at this time was truly national or truly American. To their lionour be it said, however, many of the New York Demo- crats refused to go wdth the extreme Jeffersonians, as regards the embargo and subsequent matters. Moreover tlie Federalists, in their turn, with the exception of a minority led by Gouverneur Morris, refused to take any part in the secessionist movements of their party friends in New England, during tlie War of 1812. After this war the Federalists gradually disappeared ; while their New York. opponents split into a perfect tangle of factions, whose innumerable liglits and squabbles it is nearly impos- sible and entirely unnecessaiy to relate in intelligible form. During all this period the political bitterness was intense, as the scurrility of the newspapers bore witness. One of its most curious manifestations was in connection with the chartering of banks. These were then chartered by special acts of the legislature; and it was almost absolutely impossible for a bank of which the officers and stockholders belonged to one party to get a charter from a legislature controlled by the otlier. Aaron Burr once accomplished the feat, before the Federalist overthrow in 1800, by taking advantage of the cry in New York for better water. He prepared a bill chartering a company to introduce water into the city, and tacked on an innocent-looking pro- vision allowing them to organize " for other purposes " as well. The charter once granted, tlie company went into no other enterprise save banking, and let the w^ater- supply take care of itself. At the beginning of the century, New York w^as a town of sixty thousand inhabitants. The social life was still aristocratic. The great families yet retained their prestige. Indeed, the Livingstons w-ere at the zenitli of their power in the State, and possessed enormous influ- ence, socially and politically. They were very w^ealthy, and lived in much state, with crowds of liveried negro servants, free and slave. Their city houses were large and handsome, and their great country-seats dotted the beautiful banks of the Hudson. The divisions between the upper, middle, and lower classes were sharply marked. The old families formed Democratic Rule, isoi-mi. 167 a rather exclusive cii'cle, and anioiig tlieiii the large landowners still claimed the lead, though the rich mer- chauts, who were of similar ancestry, much outnumbered tliem, and stood practically on the same plane. But the days of this social and political aristocracy were num- bered. They lost their political power first, being swamped in the rising democratic tide ; and their social primacy — mere emptiness when thus left unsup- ported — followed suit a generation or so later, when their descendants were gradually ousted even from this last barren rock of refuge by those whose fathers or grandfathers had, out of the humblest beginnings, made their own huge fortunes. The fall of this class, as a class, was not to be regretted ; for its individual mem- bers did not share the general fate unless they them- selves deserved to falh The descendant of any old family who was worth his salt, still had as fair a chance as any one else to make his way in the world of politics, of business, or of literature ; and according to our code and standard, the man who asks more is a craven. However, the presence of the great families undoubt- edly gave a pleasant flavour to the gay social life of New York during the early years of the century. It had a certain half-provincial dignity of its own. The gentlemen still dressed, with formal and elaborate care, in the costume then worn by the European upper classes, — a costume certainly much more picturesque, if less comfortable, than that of the present day. The ladies were more apt to follow the fashions of Paris than of London. All well-to-do persons kept their own heavy carriages, and often used them for journeys no less than for pleasure drives. The social season was at New York. its height in the winter, when there was an uninter- rupted succession of dinners, balls, tea-parties, and card- parties. One of the great attractions was the Park Theatre, capable of holding twelve hundred persons, and always tlironged when there was a good play on the boards. Large sleighing-parties were among the favour- ite pastimes, dinner being taken at some one of the half- dozen noted taverns a few miles without the city, while the drive back was made by torchlight it' there was no moon. Marriages were scenes of great festivity. In summer tlie fashionable promenade was the Battery Park, with its rows and clumps of shade- trees, and broad walk by the water ; and on still nights there was music played in boats on the water. The "gardens" — such as Columbia Gardens, and Mt. Vernon Gardens ^ on Broadway — were also meeting-places in hot weather. They were enclosed pieces of open ground, covered with trees, from which coloured lanterns huns^ in festoons. There were fountains in the middle, and little tables at which ice-cream was served. Bound the edges were boxes and stalls, sometimes in tiers ; and there was usually a fine orchestra. When the hot months ap- pronched, the custom was to go to some fashionable watering-place, such as Ballston Springs, where the gaiety went on unchecked. The houses of the well-to-do were generally of brick, and those of tlie poorer people of wood. Tliere were tliirty-odd churches; and the two principal streets or roads were Broadway and the Bowery. After niglitfall the streets were lighted with oil lamps ; each householder was obliged to keep the part of tlie thoroughfare in iThis was at Leonard Street, then "a little out of town." Democratic Rule. i8oi-is2i. 169 front of his own house clean swept. There were hirge markets for vegetables, fruits, and meat, brought ia by the neighbouring farmers, and for fish and game, — Long Island furnishing abundance of venison, and of prairie fowl, or, as they were tlien called, heath hens. Hickory wood was generally used for fuel ; the big chimneys being cleaned by negro sweep boys. Milk was carried from house to house in great cans, by men with wooden yokes across their shoulders. The well-water was very bad ; and pure spring- water from without the city was hawked about the streets in carts, and sold by the gallon. The sanitary condition of the city was very bad. A considerable foreii^n inmiii'Tation had beoun, — thouoh a mei'e trickle compared to what has come in since, — and these immigrants, especially the Irish, lived in cellars and miserable hovels. Every few years the city was scourged by a pestilence of yellow fever. Then every citizen who could, left town ; and among those who remained, the death rate ran up far into the hundreds. As the city grew, the class of poor who were unable, at least in times of stress, to support themselves, grew likewise; and organized charities were started in the effort to cope with the evil. Orphan asylums and liospitals were built. Societies for visiting the poor in their homes were started, and did active work, — and by their very existence showed how much New York already differed from the typical American country district or village, where there were few so poor as to need such relief, and hardly any who would not have resented it as an insult. As early as 1798 one society 170 New York. reported that it had supported through a hard wiuter succeeding a summer of unusual sickness, over three hundred widows and orphans who w^ould otherwise have had to take refuge in the ahnshouse. It goes without saying, however, that this acute poverty was always local and temporary ; there was then no opportunity ior the pauperism and misery of overcrowded tenement- house districts. The first savings-bank was established in 1816. The foundations of our free-school system were laid in 1805. The Dutch had supported schools at the jjublic expense during their time of supremacy ; but after their government was overturned, the scliooling had been left to private effort. Every church liad its own school, learning being still the special property of the clergy; and there were plenty of private schools and charity free schools in addition. Public-spirited citizens, however, felt that in a popular government the first duty of the State was to see that the children of its citizens were trained as they should be. Accordingly, a number of prominent citizens organized themselves into a society to establish a free school, obtained a charter from the legislature, and opened their school in 1806. They expressly declared that their aim was only to provide for the education of such poor children as were not provided for by any religious society ; for at that time the whole theory of education was tliat it should be religious, and almost all schools were sectarian. Tlie free schools increased in number under the care of the society, and finally grew to be called public schools; nnd by growth and change the system was gradually transformed, until one of the cardinal points of public Democratic Rule, mi-mi. lyi policy in New York, as elsewhere in the northern United States, became the establishment of free, non-sectarian public schools, supported and managed by the State, and attended by the great mass of the children who go to school at all. The sectarian schools, all-important before the rise of the public-school system, have uow been thrust into an entirely secondary position. Perhaps the best work of the public school has been in the direction of Americanizing immigrants, or rather the children of immigrants; and it would be almost impos- sible to over-estimate the good it has accomplished in this direction. Many scientific and literary societies were founded in New York early in the present century. The city began to have room for an occasional man of letters or science, in addition to the multitude of lawyers and clergymen, — the lawyer, in particular, occupying the front rank in Eevolutionary and post-Eevolutionary days. A queer, versatile scholar and student of science, who also dab- bled in politics and pliilanthropy. Dr. Samuel Latham Mitchell, was one of New York's most prominent and most eccentric characters at this time. Charles Brock- den Brown published one or two mystical novels which in their day had a certain vogue, even across the Atlantic, but are now only remembered as being the earliest American ventures of the kind ; and in 1807 Washington Irving may be said to have first broken ground in the American field of true literature with his " Knickerbocker's History of New York." . This same year of 1807 was rendered noteworthy by the beginning of steam navigation. Eobert Fulton, aiter many failures, at last invented a model that would 172 New York. work, and took his steamboat, the Clermont, on a trial trip from New York to Albany and back. Thus he began the era of travel by steau), to which, more than to any other one of the many marvellous discoveries and inventions of the age, we owe the mighty and far-reaching economic and social changes which this century has witnessed. Fulton's claim to the discovery was disputed by a score of men, — among them his fellow-citizens, John Fitch, Nicholas Roosevelt, and John Stevens, all of whom had built steamboats which had just not succeeded. But the fact remained that he was the first one to apply the principle successfully; and to him the credit belongs. Very soon there were a number of American steamboats in existence. In 1811 Nicholas Roosevelt introduced them on the Mississippi, while Stevens took his to the Delaw^are. During the War of 1812 Fulton planned and built at New York,, under the direction of Congress, a great steam frigate, with cannon-proof sides and heavy guns ; she worked well, but peace was declared just before she was ready, otherwise she would probably have anticipated the feats of the Merrimac by half a century. It was a calamity to the city that this steam frigate was not ready earlier ; for New York was blockaded closely throughout this war, which was far from popular with her merchants. Yet the}'' ought to have seen that tlie war was most necessary to their commercial well- being, no less than to their honour and national self- respect ; fortlie frigates of Britain had for a dozen years of nominal peace kept the city under a more or less severe blockade, in the exercise of the odious right of search. They kept a strict watch over all outgoing and Democratic Rule, isoi-ispa. 173 incoming ships, hovering off the coast like hawks, and cruising in the lower bay, firing on coasters and mer- chantmen to bring them to. Once they even killed one of the crew of a coaster in this manner, and the outrage w^ent unavenged. When war at last came, many of the ardent young men of the city, who had chafed under the insults to which they had been exposed, went eagerly into the business of privateering, which combined both profit and revenge. New York sent scores of privateers to sea to Jjrey on tlie enemy's commerce ; and formidable craft tliey were, especially toward the end of the w'ar, when the typical privateer was a large brig or schooner of wonderful speed and beauty, well armed and heavily manned. The lucky cruiser, wdien many prizes were taken, brought wealth to owner, captain, and crew ; and some of the most desperate sea-struggles of the kind on record took place between New York privateers of this day and boat expeditions, sent to cut them out by hostile frigates or squadrons, — the most famous in- stance being the really remarkable fight of the brig "General Armstrong" at Fayal With the close of the war, the beginning of immigra- tion from Europe on a vast scale, and the adoption of a more radically democratic State constitution, the history of old New Yoik may be said to have come to an end, and that of the modern city, with its totally different conditions, to have begun. The town has never, before or since, had a populaticjn so nearly homogeneous as just after this second w^ar wdtli Great Britain ; the English blood has never been so nearly dominant as at that time, nor the English speech so nearly the sole speech in common use. The Dutch language had died out, and 174 New York. the Dutch themselves had become completely assimi- lated. With the Huguenot French this was even more completely the case.^ German was only spoken by an insignificant and dwindling remnant. Of the Irish immigrants, most had become absorbed in the popula- tion ; the remainder was too small to be of any impor- tance. The negroes no longer formed a noteworthy element in the population, and gradual enumcipation, begun in 1799, became complete by 1827. For thirty- five years after the Iievolution the great immigration was from New England, and the consequent influx of nearly pure English blood was enormous. The old New Yorkers regarded this "New England invasion," as they called it, with jealous hostility ; but this feeling was a mere sentiment, for the newcomeis speedily became ahuost indistinguishal)le from the old residents. Even in religious matters the people were more in unison than ever before or since. The bitter jealousies and antagonisms between the different Protestant sects, so characteristic of colonial times, had greatly softened ; and Eoraan Catholicism was not as yet of importance. There was still no widespread and grinding poverty, and there were no colossal fortunes. The conditions of ci\ic or municipal life then were in no way akin to what they are now, and none of the tremendous ]:)rob- lems with w^hich we must now^ grapple had at that time arisen. 1 However one Hug:nenot church has always kept up its language, mainly for the use of foreigners. Growth of the City, mi-mo. 175 CHAPTEE XIII. ' THE GROWTH OF THE COMMERCIAL AND DEMOCRATIC CITY. 1821-1800. In 1820 ISTew York City contained about a hundred and twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The demand for a more democratic State constitution found its realization in the convention of 1822. The constitutional amend- ments proposed and adopted at tliis time, and in the following years, were in the direction of increasing the direct influence of tlie people by widening the suffrage, and of decentralizing power and increasing the amount of local self-government. The Council of Appointment was abolished. In 1822 the suffrage was given to all tax-payers ; and in 1826 all property qualifications were abolished, except in the case of negroes, who Avere still required to be freeholders. It is noteworthy that the most bitter opponents of negro suffrage were the very men wlio most zealously championed universal suffiage for all white citizens, no matter how poor and ignorant; while on the other hand, the old Federalists and Con- servatives who strenuously opposed universal suffrage, and prophesied that it would bring dire disaster on tlie State, favoured granting equal rights to the blacks. It is small wonder that tlie free blacks should generally have voted with the Federalists, — precisely as at a later date in the southern States, as for instance North Carolina, such of the free blacks as even in the days of New York. slavery were allowed to vote, always followed the lead of the local gentry. The white mob which detested the white " aristocrats," and believed in the most absolute democracy among the whites themselves, clamoured loudly against the blacks, and favoured the establish- ment of aristocratic and inferior castes separated by the colour line. The conduct of the popular party toward the negroes w^as the reverse of creditable. Under the constitution of 1822 the mayor of New York was chosen by the municipal council; after 1834 he was elected by the citizens. The constitution of 1846, the high-water mark of democracy, which made some very good and a few very bad changes in the State government, affected the municipal system compara- tively little, with the important exception that it pro- vided for the election not only of local but of judicial officers. The election of judges by universal suffrage in this great city, even though it has worked much better than was expected, has nevertheless now and then worked badly. Still the long terms and hiuh salaries, and above all the general pojailar appreciation of the high honour and dignity conferred by the office, have hitherto given us on the whole a very good bench. The distinguishing features of the life of the city be- tween 1820 and 1860 were its steady and "rapid growth in population, the introduction of an absolutel}" demo- J cratic system of government, the immense immigration \^ from abroad, completely changing the ethnic character ii\ of the population, the wonderful growth of the Roman Catholic Church, and the great material prosperity, to- getlier with the vast fortunes made by many of the busi- ness men, usually of obscure and humble ancestry. i Growth of the City, mi-mo. 177 The opening of tlie Erie Canal gave an extraordinary impetus to the development of the city. The canal had been planned, and reports concerning it drawn up, at different times by various N"ew York citizens, notably l)y Gouverneur Morris ; but the work was actually done, in spite of violent opposition, by De Witt Clinton. Clinton was, more than any other man, responsible for the introduction of the degrading system of spoils poli- tics into the State ; most of his political work was mere faction fighting for his own advancement; and he was too jealous of all competitors, and at the same time not a great enough man, ever to become an important figure in the national arena. But he w^as sincerely proud of his city and State, and very much interested in all philanthropic, scientific, and industrial movements to promote their honour and material welfare. He fore- saw the immense benefits that would be brought about by the canal, and the practicability of constructing it ; and by indomitable resolution and effort he at last com- mitted the State to the policy he wislied. In 1817 the work was started, and in 1825 it was completed, and the canal opened. During the same period regular lines of steamboats were established on both the Hudson and the Sound ; and the steamboat service soon became of great com- mercial importance. It was a couple of decades later before the railroads became factors in the city's develop- ment, but they soon completely distanced the steam- boats, and finally even the canal itself; and as line after line multiplied, they became the great inland feeders of New York's commerce. The electric telegraph likewise was introduced before the middle of the century ; and, 12 1/8 New York. as with the steamboat, its father, the man who first put it iuto practical operation, was a New Yorker, Samuel Morse, — though there were scores of men who had per- ceived its possibilities, and vainly striven to translate them into actual usefulness. Steam transportation and electricity have been the two prime factors in the great commercial and industrial revolutions of this century; and I^ew York has produced the two men who deserve the most credit for their introduction. Fulton and Morse stand as typical of tlie inventive, mechanical, and commercial genius of the city at the mouth of the Hudson. Few commercial capitals liave ever grown with more marvellous rapidity than Xew York. The great mer- chants and men of affairs who have built up her material prosperity, have not merely enriched themselves and their city; they have also played no inconsiderable part in that rapid opening up of the American continent during the present century, which has been rendered possible by the eagerness and far-reaching business am- bition of commercial adventurers, wielding the wonder- ful tools forged by the science of our day. The merchant, the "railroad king," the capitalist who works or gambles for colossal stakes, bending to his purpose an intellect in its way as shrewd and virile as that of any statesman or warrior, — all these, and their com- peers, are and have been among the most striking and important, although far from the noblest, figures of nineteenth-century America. Two Xew Yorkers of great note in this way may be instanced as representatives of their class, — John Jacob Astor and Cornelius Yanderbilt. Astor was originally G-ROWTH OF THE CiTY. 1821-1860^ lyg a German pedler, who came to the city immediately after the close of the Revolution. He went into the I'etail fur-trade, and by energy, thrift, and far-siglited- ness, soon pushed his way up so as to be able to command a large amount of capital ; and he forthwith embarked on ventures more extensive in scale. The fur-trade was then in the North almost what the trade in gold and silver had been in the South. Vast fortunes were made in it, and the career of the fur-trader was checkered by romantic successes and hazardous vicissi- tudes. Astor made money with great rapidity, and entered on a course of rivalry with the huge fur compa- nies of Canada. Finally, in 1809, he organized the American Fur Company, under the auspices of the State of New York, with no less a purpose than the es- ' tablishment of a settlement of trappers and fur-traders at the mouth of the Columbia. He sent his parties out both by sea and overland, established his posts, and drove a thriving trade; and doul)tless he would have anticipated by a generation the permanent settlement of Oregon, if the war had not broken out, and his colony been destroyed by the British. The most sub- stantial portion of his fortune was made out of success- ful ventures in New York City real estate ; and at his death he was one of the five richest men in the world. His greatest service to the city was founding the Astor . Library. Vanderbilt was a Staten Island boy, whose parents were very poor, and who therefore had to work for his living at an early age. Before the War of 1812, when a lad in his teens, he had been himself sailing a sloop as a ferry-boat, between Staten Island and New York, and loO New York. soon Lad saved enough money to start a small line of tliem. After the war he saw the possibilities of the steamboat, and began to run one as captain, owning a share in it as well. He shortly saved enougli to be- come his own capitalist, and removed to New York in 1829. He organized steam lines on the Hudson and Sound, making money hand over hand; and in 1849 — the period of the California gold fever — he turned his attention to ocean steamships, and for several years carried on a famous contest with the Pacific Mail Steam- ship Company, for the traffic across the Isthmus to California. He was drawn into antagonism with tlie filibuster Walker, because of his connection with the Central American States, and became one of tlie forces which compassed that gray-eyed adventurer's downfall. Then he took to building and managing railways, and speculating in them, and by the end of his days had amassed a colossal fortune. The history of the Wall Street speculations in which he took part, forms much the least attractive portion of the record of his life. Astor and Vanderbilt were foremost and typical representatives of the commercial New York of their day, exactly as Hamilton and Jay were of the Eevolu- tionary and post-Revolutionary city. Neither was of English blood ; Astor was a German, and Vanderbilt a descendant of the old Dutch settlers. Both were of obscure parentage, and both hewed their way up from the ranks by sheer force of intellect and will-power. Of course, neitlier deserves for a moment to be classed on the city's roll of honour with men like Hamilton and Jay, or like Cooper and Irving. Before the days of steamship, railroad, and tele- Growth of the City, issi-iseo. i8i grapli, were the days of the fast "clippers," wliose white wiijgs sped over the ocean up to the time of the Civil War. The New York clippers, like those of Baltimore, were famous for their speed, size, and beauty. Their builders exhausted every expedient to bring them to perfection ; and for many years after steamers were built they maintained a nearly equal fight against these formidable rivals. Crack vessels among them repeat- edly made the voyage to England in a fortnight. It is a curious fact that the United States, which only rose to power at the very end of the period of sailing-vessels, and which has not been able to hold her own amon<>' o those nations whose sons go down to tlie sea in ships, should nevertheless, during the first half of the present century, have brought the art of building, handling — and when necessary, fighting — these same old-time sailing-ships, in all their varieties of man-of-war, pri- vateer, merchantman, and whaler, to the highest point ever attained. The frigates and privateers were per- fected during the War of 1812; the merchant clippers were immensely improved after that date. The older vessels were slow, tubby craft ; and they were speedily superseded by the lines of swift packet-ships, — -such as the "Blackball," "Red Star," and "Swallow Tail," — established one after the otiier by enterprising and venturesome New York merchants. The packet-ships sailed for European ports. Before tlie middle of the century, lines of clippers were established to trade, and also to carry passengers to California and the China seas. In size they sometimes went up to two thousand tons, and compared to European merchant A^essels, tlieir speed and safety were such that they commanded from l82 New York. shippers halt' as imicli again in payment fur the freight- age on cargoes of teas and other Eastern goods. The large importers, and their captains as well, made money rapidly by these ships ; yet now, from divers canses, the carrying- trade has slipped through their fingers. But the city's growth has not been checked by this loss. The commerce-bringing fleets of other na- tions throng its harbour, while its merchants retain their former energy, and command their former success in other lines ; and the steady and rapid growth of fac- toiies of many kinds has changed the city into a great manufacturing centre. There is no danger of any loss of commercial prosperity, nor of any falling off in the amount of wealth as a whole, nor of any diminution in the ranks of the men who range from well-to-do to very ricli. The danger arises from the increase of grinding poverty among vast masses of the population in certain quarters, and from tlie real or seeming increase in the inequality of conditions between the very rich and the very poor ; in other words, as colossal fortunes grow up on the one hand, tliere grows up on the other a large tenement-house population, partly composed of wage- earners who never save anything, and partly of those who never earn quite enough to give their families even the necessaries of life. This ominous increase in the numbers of the class of the hopelessly poor is one among the injuries which have to a greater or less degree offset the benefits accru- ing to the country during the present century, because of the unrestricted European immigration. There was considerable immigration from abroad even before the War of 1812 ; but it did not become of great moment Growth of the City, mi-mo. 183 until after the close of the contest. Tlie volume then swelled very rapidly. In 1818 and 1819 over twenty tliousand immigrants arrived in New York, and were reported at the mayor's office. Most of them were very poor and ignorant, and at first ill able to cope with their new surroundings. They housed in sheds, cellars, and rookeries of all kinds, and in winter time were reduced to desperate straits for food, thousands being supported for short periods by the charity of private citizens and of organized relief associations. They did not go out to the frontier, and like most of the immi- grants of the present century preferred to huddle in the large cities rather than to go into the country. Year by- year the mass of immigration increased, though with occasional and purely temporary fluctuations. By 1830 it had already become so great as to dwaif all move- ments of the kind which the world had hitherto seen ; and after the potato famine in Ireland and the revolu- tions of 1848 in continental Europe, fugitives from hunger or political oppression came over by hundreds of thousands. A greater proportion of these inmiigrants, relatively to the population, made their homes in New York than in any other part of the country. The large majority of them were of course from the lower or lower-middle classes. The immigration worked a complete ethnic overturn in the character of the population, — an overturn of which there had been several similar instances already in the city's history. The immigrants and their children soon grew to outnumber the descendants of the old pre- Revolutionary inhabitants, and the process was hastened by the fact that very many of the latter, probably far i84 New York. mure than half, themselves drifted westward, witli the restless love of change so characteristic of their iiatiou. There were many English, Scotch, and Welsh, and a few Scandinavians among the innnigrants, and these speedily amalgamated with, and became indistinguish- able from, the natives. But by far the largest number — - probably more than live sixths of those who settled in New York City during the half-century before the close of the Civil War — were Irish and Germans, the for- mer beiuo; at this time much in the lead. The Germans had formed an important element of the city's population ever since the days of Leisler, wlio was himself a German, and, with the exception of Stuy- vesant, the most important figure in the history of the colonial town. They were probably, in point of nuui- bers and importance, at no time lower than the fourth in rank among the nationalities which were being fused together to make New York citizens. By the beginning of the present century the descendants of the old Ger- man immigrants had become completely Americanized. The new swarms of Germans who came hither, re- vived the use of the German tongue ; and as they set- tled in large bodies, — often forming the entire popula- tion of certain districts, — they clung pertinaciously to their own customs, kept to their own churches, and pub- lished their own newspapers. Nevertheless, the public- school system and the all-pervading energy of American life proved too severe solvents to be resisted even by the German tenacity. Some remained un-American- ized in a sodden, useless lump; but after a generation or two this ceased to be tlie case with tlie majority. The children of the first generation were half, and the Growth of the City, mi-mu. i8s grandchildren in most cases wholly, Americanized, — to tlieir own inestimable advantage. As long as they remained mere foreigners, speaking an alien tongue, they of course occupied a lower grade in the body politic and social than that to which their good qualities enti- tled them. As they became Americanized in speech and customs, they moved up to the same level with the native born. Perhaps two thirds were nominally Protes- tants, and these had no religious prejudices to overcome or be hampered by. They were thrifty, hardworking, and on the whole law-abiding, and they not only rose rapidly in the social scale, but as soon as they learned to speak our language by preference, as their native tongue, they became indistinguishable from the other Americans with whom they mixed. They furnished leading men to all trades and professions, and many founded families of high social and political distinction. They rendered great service to the city by their efforts to cultivate a popular taste for music and for harmless public pleasures. Only the fact that the Lutheran clergy clung to the German language, prevented their church from becoming the most important of the Prot- estant churches. The Catholic or Celtic Irish formed, in point of num- bers, the most important class among the new immi- grants. Those of their race who had come here in colonial days were for the most part only imported bond-servants and criminals. Unlike the Germans, they had never formed an element of appreciable weight in the community until after the Eevolution. Soon after the opening of the present century they became the most numerous of the immigrants and began to New York. form a class of New Yorkers whose importance steadily increased. They displayed little of the German frugality and aptitude for business, and hence remained to a far larger extent niere labourers, — comparatively few rising, at least for the first generation or two, to non-political positions of importance , and they furniiahed much moi'e than tlieir share to the city's turbulent and lawless ele- ments, for in their new surroundings they were easily misled by both native and foreign-born demagogues and agitators. On the otlier hand, they have invariably proved admirable soldiers when the city has sent out lier quota of troops in time of war ; they have taken little part in anarchical and socialistic movements, and — though this is a quality of a more doubtful kind — they have mastered the intricacies of local politics with aston- ishing ease. Tlie improvement in their material condi- tion became very marked aiter tliree or four decades. Moreover, their less fortunate qualities were such as inevitably attended the ]ieculiar conditions of their life in the old country; and these gradually tended to dis- appear as the successive generations grew up on Amer- ican soil. The fact that they already spoke English gave them an immense advantage, compared to the Germans, in that they were able from the outset to mingle freely in American life ; but the difference of religion tended to keep at least the first two generations apart from the citizens of old American stock. The Irish, like the Germans, came over in such numbers that they w^ere able to introduce their own separate social life ; but in both cases the ambitious and ener- getic among the descendants of the immigrants soon grew to realize that they must become thorough-going Growth of the City, issi-iseo. 187 Americans in order to win the great prizes of American life, while every family that acquired wealth and culture desired nothing so much as to get a foothold in the upper circles of the American portion of the community. By the outbreak of the Civil War the flood of immi- gration had swamped the older " native American " stock, as far as numbers went. The mixed blood of New York had been mixed still further. It is curious to trace the successive additions of race elements to the population of the city. At its founding the Dutcli were dominant, but with a considerable Walloon ele- ment, which was soon absorbed by the Hollanders, while there was a larger element of French Huguenots, who kept coming in, and were absorbed more slowly. There were also many English, and a few Germans. After the final English conquest there was a fair amount of immigration from England and Scotland ; the Hugue- nots also continued to come in for a little while, and there was a large German and a considerable Scotch- Irish immigration. At the end of the Revolution all of these peoples had grown to use the English tongue, and were fast being welded together; but the great majority of the citizens were non-English by blood. There then began a great inrush of New England ers ; and for the first time the citizens of English blood grew to outnumber those of any other strain, — all however beino- soon fused together, and becoming purely American. The immense immigration between 1820 and 1860 changed this. B};^ the latter date the men of Irish birth and blood had become more numerous than any others ; the Germans, at some distance off, next ; i88 New York. while the native Americaus, who still led and con= trolled the others, were a close third. Of course, how- ever, the older races of the city made the mould into which the newer were poured. The task is sometimes slow and difficult, but in the end the German or Irishman is always Americanized ; and his influence upon the country of his adoption, although consider- able, is as nothing compared to the influence of the country upon him. Tlie wonderful growth of the Catholic Churcli was of course due to the immigration, especially of the Irish. In colonial times Eoman Catholicism had not been tol- erated. When complete religious freedom was estab- lished, with the organization of the new government, the Catholics began to come in, and soon after the Eevo- lution they built a church ; but its congregation led a fitful life for the first thirty years. There were years of prosperity, when a convent, a school, etc., were estab- lished ; and years of adversity, wdien they were aban- doned. The congregation was, of course, composed mainly of immigrants, chiefly Irish, even thus early; but there were enough Germans and French to make it necessary to hold services also in those languages. But on the whole the Church at this time languished, and religious instruction and supervision were provided for but a small portion of the Catholic immigrants. Ac- cordingly, they and their children became to a very large extent Protestant. After the close of the War of 1812, matters were radically changed. New^ York be- came the permanent seat of a bishopric, a multitude of priests came in, churches were built, and tlie wliole or- ganization sprang into vigorous life. The immense Irish Growth of the City, mi-mo. 189 immigration gave the Church the stamp it yet retains, and settled that its language should be English, thus turning it into a potent force for Americanizing the Catholic immigrants from continental Europe. As early as 1826 the New York Catholics murmured against hav- ing a Frencli bishop put over them ; though by that time it had been found necessary to establish separate German churches, as tlie German immigration had also begun. So enormous had been the inrush during the preceding dozen years, that at this date the Catholics already formed in the neighbourhood of a fifth of the city's population. The Protestant sects became seriously alarmed at this portentous growth of the Church of Eome, and for the thirty years preceding the Civil AVar there was fierce religious and political agitation against it, the feeling growing so bitter that there were furious riots, accompanied with much bloodshed, between Catli- olic and Protestant mobs in the great cities, including New York. Nevertheless, the Church went on steadily growing ; and much, though by no means all, of the bitterness gradually wore away. Catholicism gained in numbers by converts from among the native Americans, often of high social standing; though this gain was probably much more than offset by the loss of Catholic immigrants who drifted into Protestantism. The Irish have formed the main-stay of the Church in America ; and this, and the readiness with which on the whole it has adapted itself to American conditions, has deter- mined its development. The Catholic Church in Ire- land, unlike ! he Catholic Church in most portions of continental Europe, has been the Church of popular feeling; and American Catholicism also gradually grew 190 New York. "to identify itself witli all movements in tlie interests of the masses of the people, while it was likewise aliected by the American theories of complete religious tolera- tion, and separation of Church from State. In other words, it tended to become Americanized. It was at first, outside of Baltimore, and the French, Spanish, and Indian missions, a church of poor immigrants, chiefly labourers. Many of the descendants of these innni- grants acquired wealth, or rose to distinction in tlie community, and the different nationalities began to fuse together, and to assimilate themselves in speecli and customs to the old. American stock. In consequence, the Church gradually tended to grow into one of the regular American churches, even though still all-power- ful among the immigrants ; and it began to possess its proper share of men of high social and intellectual position. When, in the '20's, the immigration began to attain formidable dimensions, it excited much uneasiness in tlie minds of many of the native citizens, who disliked and looked down on the foreigners. Much of this feel- ing ^yas wholly unjustifiable, while nmch of it was war- ranted by the fact that the new-comers contributed far more than their share to the vice, crime, misery, and pauperism of the community. They w^ere popularly held responsible for various epidemics of disease, — nota- bly a terrible visitation of cholera in 1832. New York having been peopled by relays of immi- grants of different nationality, each relay in turn, as it became Americanized, looked down upon the next, as has already been said. So it is at the present day. The grandchildren of the Germans and Irish, to whom Growth of the City. is2i-mo. 191 such strenuous objection was made sixty years ago, now in turn protest against the shoals of latter-day Scla- vonic and Italian incomers. Race and religious antipa- thy have caused not a few riots during the present century, in New York ; and this was especially the case during the period covered by the forty years preceding the Civil War. However, riots of various kinds were common all through this period ; for the city mob was far more dis- orderly and less under control than at present. Nor were the foreigners by any means the only ones to be found in its ranks, for it contained a large and very dangerous element of native American rouglis. One specially frequent form of riot was connected with the theatres. The mob was very patriotic and boisterously anti-British; and on the other hand many English actors who came to America to make money were un- wise enough to openly express their contempt for the people from whom they were to make it. Eival tlieat- rical managers would carefully circulate any such re- marks, and the mob would then swarm down to the theatre, fill it in a dense mass, and pelt the unfortunate offender off the boards as soon as he appeared. The misused actor was not always a foreigner; for a like treatment was occasionally awarded to any American against whom the populace bore a grudge. Cei'tain of the newspapers — not a few of which were edited by genuine Jefferson Bricks — were always ready to take a hand in hounding down any actor whom they had cause to dislike. Some of tbese outl)reaks were very serious ; and they culminated in 1849 in the " Astor Place," or "Opera-house " riot. On this occasion the mob tried to 192 New York. gut the tiicatrc wliere an obnoxious English actor was playing, but Avere held in check by the police. They then gathered by thousands in tlie streets, and were finally fired into by the troops, and dispersed with a loss of twenty killed, — a most salutary and excellent lesson. Other riots Avere due to more tangible troubles. The enormous immio'ration had created a hui>e class of ua- Ibrtunates who could with difficulty earn tlieir daily bread, and any period of sudden and severe distress tlirew them into a starvin<^ condition. There were one or two great fires wdiich were really appalling calami- ties to the city; and the terrible panic of 1836-37 pro- duced the most widespread want and suffering. Flour went up to fifteen dollars a barrel. The poor were cast into abject misery, and were inflamed by dema- gogues, who raised the cry of "the poor against the rich," and denounced in especial the flour and grain dealers. The " Bread Eiots " of Jan.uary, 1837, were the result. A large mob assembled in response to pla- cards headed Bread ! Meat ! Eent ! Fuel ! their prices must come down!" and assailed and sacked some of the stores and w^arehouses, strewing the streets with flour and wheat. It was toward nightfall before the police could restore order. There were also savage labour riots, generally caused w-hen the trades-unions ordered a strike, and strove to prevent other w^orknien from taking the places of the strikers. In all of these cases the masses of the rioters were foreign born. There were also riots against tlie Abolitionists ; their meetings were broken up and their leaders sometimes maltreated. Moreover there were bloody encounters Growth of the City, mi-iseo. 193 between native American and foreign — usually Irish — mobs. Finally there were frequent riots about elec- tion time, at the great open-air meetings and proces- sions, between the adherents of the rival parties. Politically, the steady movement toward making the government absolutely democratic was checked by curi- ous side-fights. The Whig party was the regular, and at times the successful, opponent of the Democracy throughout the middle part of this period. The Demo- cratic party contained, as always, the bulk of the foreign and Catholic voters ; its strength lay in the poor wards. Hence it was always in danger when any new popular faction arose. In 1830 a short lived labour party was started, but this came to nothing. In 1834: the first elective mayor was chosen by universal suffrage. The contest was very close ; and the Democrat, Lawrence, was chosen over the Whig, Verplanck, by only a couple of hundred votes, out of thirty-five thousand. Among the heads of the Democratic party were still to be found some influential merchants and the like; as yet the mere demagogue politicians did not dare to make them- selves the titular leaders. Lawrence was a wealthy gen- tleman. On New Year's day he threw open his doors to all callers, as was then the general custom. But the mass of ward-leaders and political " heelers " of every kind who thronged his house, turned it into a bear gar- den, destroying everything until he had to summon the police to rid him of his guests. The democracy was not yet quite used to power, and did not know how to behave. A year or two later one of the labour parties led a .brief career in the city, arising — as has usually been 13 194 New York. the case — from a split in the Democratic party. Its adherents styled themselves " equal-rights men " or "anti-monopolists."^ By outsiders tliey were usually dubbed " Loco-focos," because at the outset of their career, in the course of a stormy meeting of the city Democ- racy in a hall, their opponents put out the gas ; where- upon they, having thoughtfully provided themselves with loco-foco matches, relit the gas, and brought tlie meeting to a triumphant close. The chief points in their political creed were hostility to banks and corpora- tions generally, and a desire to have all judges elected for short terms, so as to have them amenable to the peo- ple, — tliat is, to liave them administer the law, not in accordance witli the ])rinciples of justice, but in accord- ance with the popuhir whim for the moment. Tliey split up the Democratic party, and tlms were of service to the Whigs during the two or three years of their existence. The Native American i^arty began to make a stir about the time tlie Loco-focos came to an end. The Native Americans represented simply liostility to foreign- ers in general, and Catholic foreigners in particular. They therefore liad no permanent root, as they merely represented a ])rejudice, — for depriving foreigners al- ready here of political rights is a piece of iniquitous filly, having no connection with the undoubted and evident wisdom of limiting immigration to our shores, and exercising a rigid supervision tliereover. The Na- tive Americans led an intermittent party life for a score of years, ending as the Knownothings, who were swept out of sight by the rise of the Eepublican pai-ty. In 1841 the Catholics very foolishly and wrongfully ti'ied Growth of the City, mi-mo. 195 to form a separate party of their own, on account of irritation over the disposal of the public-school fund. They insisted that a portion of it should be given to them for their sectarian schools, and organized a party tv) support only such candidates as would back their de- mands. But by this time the people iiad become wedded to the public-school system, and the effort proved wholly fruitless. The only result was to give a great start to the Native American party, which as a con- sequence, in 1844, actually carried the mayoralty election. In spite of occasional interludes of this kind, how- ever, the Democratic party, under the leadership of Tammany Hall, in the long run always recovered their hold on the reins. As the years went by, the party escaped more and more from the control of the well-to- do merchants and business men, and fell into the hands of professional politicians of unsavory character. The judiciary was made elective in 1846 ; and most local officers were thenceforth chosen in this manner. The mass of poor and ignorant voters, mainly foreign horn, but drilled and led by unscrupulous Americans, held the command, and contemptuously disregarded their former leaders. Business men shrank from going into politics. There was not much buying of voters, but election frauds, and acts of brutal intimidation and vio- lence at the polls, became more and more common. The Federal, State, and Jocal offices were used with abso- lute shamelessness to reward active political work. By the '50's, politics had sunk as low as they well could sink. Fernando Wood, an unscrupulous and cunning demagogue, whose financial honesty was more than doubtful, skilled in manipulating the baser sort of 196 New York. \vard politicians, became the " Loss " of the city, and was finally elected mayor. His lieutenants were brutal rowdies of the type of Isaiah Eynders, his right hand man ; they ruled by force and fraud, and were hand in glove with the disorderly and semi-criminal classes. Both Wood and Eynders were native Americans, the former of English, the latter of Dutch ancestry. It w^ould be difficult to pick out any two foreign-born men of similar stamp who were as mischievous. In 1850 street railways wei'e started, and the franchises for them were in many cases procured by the bribery of the common council. This proved the final touch ; and it is from this year tlmt the hopeless corruption of the local municipal legislature dates. In 1857 the State Legis- lature at Albany began a long and active course of dab- bling in our municipal matters — sometimes wisely and sometimes foolishly — by passing a charter wbich di- vided responsibility and power among the different local officers, and needlessly multiplied the latter by keeping up the fiction of separate governments for the county and cit}^ which had really become identical. Tliey also created local boards and commissions which were appointed by the state, .not tlie city, authorities. This last act aroused intense hostility among the city politicians; especially w^as this the case in regard to the new Police Board. The city authorities wished at all costs to retain the power of appointing and ruling the police in tlieir own hands ; and they resisted by force of arms the inti'oduction of tlie new system. Fernando Wood's old " municipal " police and the new State, or so-called " metropolitan " police fought for a couple of days in the streets, with considerable bloodshed. But Growth of the City, isn-mo. 197 the courts declared in favour of the constitutionality of the acts of the legislature, and the municipal authori- ties were forced to abandon their opposition. Throughout this period New York's public and pri- vate buildings were increasing in size and costliness as rapidly as in numbers. It is difficult to say as niucli for their beauty, as a whole. Nevertheless, some of them are decidedly handsome, — notably some of the churclies, such as Trinity, and above all St. Patrick's, the corner- stone of which was laid in 1858. A really great piece of architectural engineering was the Croton aqueduct which was opened for use in 1842. The city had also done something for that higher na- tional development, the lack of wliich makes material prosperity simply a source of national vulgarization. She did her share in helping forward the struggling schools of American painters and sculptors; and slie did more than her share in founding American litera- ture. Sydney Smith's famous query, propounded in 1820, was quite justified by the facts. Nobody of the present day does read any American book whicli was then written, with two exceptions ; and the witty Dean could scarcely be expected to have any knowledge of Irving's first purely local work, while probably liardly a soul in England had so much as heard of that really wonderful volume, "The Federalist." Both of these were New York books ; and New York may fairly claim to have been the birthplace of American literature. Immediately after 1820 Washington Irving and Feni- more Cooper won w^orid-wide fame ; while Bryant was chief of a group of poets which included men like Eod- man Drake. For the first time we had a literature New York. worthy of being so called, which was not saturated witli the spirit of servile colonialism, the spirit of humble imi- tation of things European. Our political life became full and healthy only after we had achieved political inde- pendence ; and it is quite as true that we never have done, and never shall do, anything really worth doing, whether in literature or art, except when working dis- tinctively as Americans. We are not yet free from the spirit of colonialism in art and letters ; but the case was, and is, much worse with our purely social life, — or at least with that por- tion of it which ought to be, and asserts itself to be, but emphatically is not, our best social life. In tlie " Potiphar Papers," Mr. Curtis, a New Yorker of whom all ^N'ew Yorkers can be proud, has left a description which can hardly be called a caricature of fashionable New York society as it was in the decade before the war. It is not an attractive picture. The city theu contained nearly three quarters of a million inhabitants, and the conditions of life were much as they are to-day. The era of railroads and steamships was well under way;. all the political and social problems and evils which now exist, existed then, often in aggravated form. The mere commercial classes were absorbed in making money, — a pursuit which of course becomes essentially ignoble when followed as an end and not as a means. It had become very easy to travel in Europe, and im- mense shoals of American tourists went thither every season, deriving but doubtful benefit from their tour. New York possessed a large wealtliy class which did not quite know how to get most pleasure from its money, and which had not been trained, as ail liood citizens Growth of the City, mi-mo. 199 of the republic should be trained, to realize that in America every man of means and leisure must do some kind of work, whether in politics, in literature, in sci- ence, or in what, for lack of a better word, may be called philanthropy, if he wishes really to enjoy life, and to avoid being despised as a drone in the community. Moreover, tiiey failed to grasp the infinite possibilities of enjoy- ment, of interest, and of usefulness, which American life offers to every man, rich or poor, if he have only heart and head. With singular poverty of imagination they proceeded on the assumption that to enjoy their wealth they must slavishly imitate the superficial feat- ures, and the defects rather than the merits, of the life of the wealthy classes of Europe, instead of borrowing only its best traits, and adapting even these to their own surroundings. They put wealth above everything else, and therefore hopelessly vulgarized their lives. The shoddy splendours of the second French Empire natu- rally appealed to them, and so far as might be they im- itated its ways. Dress, manners, amusements, — all were copied from Paris ; and when they went to Europe, it was in Paris that they spent most of their time. To persons of intelligence and force their lives seemed equally dull at home and abroad. They took little in- terest in literature or politics; they did not care to explore and hunt and travel in their own country; they did not have the taste for athletic sport which is so often the one redeeming feature of the gilded youth of to-day, and which, if not very much when taken purely by itself, is at least something. Fashionable society was composed of two classes. There were, first, the people of good family, — those whose forefathers at 200 New York. some time had played their parts manfully in the world, and who claimed some shadowy superiority on the strength of this memory of the past, unbacked by any proof of merit in the present. Secondly, there were those who had just made money, — the father having usually merely the money-getting faculty, the presence of which does not necessarily imply the existence of any other worthy quality w^iatever, the rest of the family possessing only the absorbing desire to spend what the father had earjied. In the summer they all went to Saratoga or to Europe ; in winter they came back to New York. Fifth Avenue was becoming the fashion- able street, and on it they built their brownstone-froiit houses, all alike outside, and all furnished in the same style within, — heavy furniture, gilding, mirrors, glit- tering chandeliers. If a man was very rich he had a few feet more frontage, and more gilding, more mirrors, and more chandeliers. There was one incessant round of gaiety, but it possessed no variety whatever, and little interest. Of course there w^ere plenty of exceptions to all these rules. There were many charming houses, there was much pleasant social life, just as there were jjlenty of honest politicians ; and there w^ere multitudes of men and women well fitted to perform the grave duties and enjoy the great rewards of American life. But taken as a whole, the fashionable and political life of Kew York in the decade before the Civil War offers an instructive rather than an attractive spectacle. Recent History, isgo-isqo. 201 CHAPTER XIV. RECENT HISTORY. 1860-1890. Ix 1860 New York had over eight hundred thousand inhabitants. During the thirty years that have since passed, its population has nearly doubled. If the city limits were enlarged, like tliose of London and Chicago, so as to take in the suburbs, the population would amount to some three millions. Recently there has been a great territorial expansion northward, beyond the Haarlem, by the admission of what is known as the Annexed District. The growth of wealth has fully kept pace with the growth of population. The city is one of the two or three greatest commercial and manufactuiini^ centres of the world. The ten years between 1860 and 1870 form the worst decade in the city's political annals, although the sombre picture is relieved by touches of splendid heroism, martial prowess, and civic devotion. At the outbreak of the Civil War the city was — as it has since contin- ued to be — the stronghold of the Democratic party in the North ; and unfortunately, during the Rebellion, while the Democratic party contained many of the loyal, it also contained all of the disloyal, elements. A Democratic victory at the polls, hardly, if at all, less than a Confederate victory in the field, meant a Union defeat. A very large and possibly a controlling ele- ment in the city Democracy was at heart strongly dis- 202 New York. union in sentiment, and showed the feeling whenever it dared. At the outset of the Civil War there was even an effort made to force the city into active rebellion. The small local Democratic leaders, of the type of Isaiah Eynders, the brutal and turbulent ruffians who led the mob and controlled the politics of the lower wards, openly and defiantly threatened to make common cause with the South, and to forbid the passage of Union troops through the city. The mayor, Fernando Wood, in January, 1861, jn-oclaimed disunion to be "a fixed fact " in a message to the Common Council, and pro- posed that New York should herself secede and become a free city, with but a nominal duty upon imports. The independent commonwealth was to be named " Tri- Insuhi," as being composed of three islands, — Long, Staten, and Manhattan. The Common Council, a cor- rupt body as dislo5'al as Wood himself, received the message enthusiastically, and had it printed and circu- lated wholesale. But when Sumter was fired on the whole current changed like magic. There were many more good men than bad in New York ; but they had been supine, or selfish, or indifferent, or undecided, and so the bad had had it all their own way. The thunder of Sumter's guns waked the heart of the people to passionate loyalty. The bulk of the Democrats joined with the Itepublicans to show by word and act their fervent and patriotic devotion to the Union. Huge mass-meetings were held, and regiment after regiment was organized and sent to the front. Shifty Fernando Wood, true to his nature, went with the stream, and was loudest in Recent History, mo-isoo. 203 proclaiming liis horror of rebellion. The city, tlirongh all her best and bravest men, pledged her faithful and steadfast support to the government at Washington. The Seventh Eegiment of the New York National Guards, by all odds the best regiment in the United States Militia, was the first in the whole country to go to the front and reach Washington, securing it against any sudden surprise. The Union men of New York kept their pledge of loyalty in spirit and letter. Taking advantage of the intensity of the loyal excitement, they even elected a Eepublican mayor. The New Yorkers of means were those whose part was greatest in sustaining the nation's credit, while almost every high-spirited young man in tlie city went into the army. The city, from the begin- ning to the end of the war, sent her sons to the front by scores of thousands. Her troops alone would have formed a large army ; and on a hundred battle-fields, and throughout tlie harder trials of the long, dreary campaigns, they bore themselves with high courage and stern, unyielding resolution. Those who by a hard lot were forced to stay at home busied themselves in caring for the men at the front, or for their widows and orphans ; and the Sanitary Commission, the Allotment Commission, and other kindred organizations which did incalculable good, originated in New York. Yet the very energy witli which New York sent her citizen soldiery to the front, left her exposed to a terrible danger. Much of tlie low foreign element, as well as the worst among the native-born roughs, had been hostile to the war all along, and a ferocious outbreak wa3 produced by the enforcement of the draft in July, 204 New York. 1863. Tlie mob, mainly foreign, especially Irish, but reinforced by all tlie native rascality of the city, broke out for three days in what are known as the draft riots. They committed the most horrible outrages, their hos- tility being directed especially against the unfortunate negroes, many of whom they hung or beat to death with lingering cruelty ; and they attacked various charitable institutions where negroes were cared for. They also showed their hatred to the national govern- ment and its defenders in every way, and even set out to burn down a hospital filled with wounded Union soldiers, besides mobbing all government officials. From attacking government property they speedily went to assailing private property as well, burning and plunder- ing the houses of rich and poor alike, and threatened to destroy the whole city in their anarchic fury, — the criminal classes, as always in such a movement, taking the control into their own hands. Many of the baser Democratic politicians, in order to curry favour with the mob, sought to prevent effective measures being taken against it; and even the Democratic governor, Seymour, an estimable man of high private character, but utterly unfit to grapple with the times that tried men's souls, took refuge in temporizing, half measures, and conces- sions. The Eoman Catholic archbishop and priests opposed and denounced the rioters with greater or less boldness, according to their individual temperaments. But the goverijing authorities, both national and municipal, acted with courage and energy. The American people are good-natured to the point of lax indifference ; but once roused, they act with the most straightforward and practical resolution. Much fear Recent History, mo-isoo. 205 had been expressed lest the large contingent of Irish among the police and state troops would be lukewarm or doubtful, but throughout the crisis they showed to the full as much courage and steadfast loyalty as their associates of native origin. One of the most deeply- mourned victims of the mob was the gallant Colonel O'Brien of the Eleventh New York Volunteers, who had dispersed a crowd of rioters with considerable slaughter, and was afterward caught by them when alone, and butchered under circumstances of foul and revolting brutality. Most of the real working-men refused to join with the rioters, except when overawed and forced into their ranks ; and many of them formed themselves into armed bodies, and assisted to restore order. The city was bare of troops, for they had all been sent to the front to face Lee at Gettysburg; and the police at first could not quell the mob. As regiment after regiment was hurried, back to their assistance desperate street-fighting took place. The troops and police were thoroughly aroused, and attacked the rioters with the most wholesome de- sire to do them harm. In a very short time after the forces of order put forth their strength the outbreak was stamped out, and a lesson inflicted on the lawless and disorderly which they never entirely forgot. Two mil- lions of property had been destroyed, and many valu- able lives lost. But over twelve hundred rioters were slain, — an admirable object lesson to the remainder. It was several years before the next riot occurred. This was of a race or relii^ious character. The different nationalities in New York are in the habit of parading on certain days, — a particularly senseless and objec- 206 New York. tiuiiable custom. The Orangemen on this occasion paraded on the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, with the usual array of flags and banners, covered with mottoes especially insulting to the Celtic Irish ; the lat- ter threatened to stop the procession, and made the attempt; but the militia had been called out, and after a moment's sliarp fighting, in which three of their num- ber and seventy or eighty rioters were slain, the mob was scattered to the four winds. For the last twenty years no serious riots have occurred, and no mob has assembled which the police could not handle without the assistance of the State troops. The outbreaks that have taken place have almost invariably been caused by strikes or other labour troubles. Yet the general order and peacefulness should not blind us to the fact that there exists ever in our midst a slumbering " vol- cano under the city," as under all other large cities of the civilized world. This danger must continue to exist as long as our rich men look at life from a standpoint of silly frivolity, or else pursue a commercial career in a spirit of ferocious greed and disregard of justice, while the poor feel with sullen anger the pressure of many evils, — some of their own making, and some not, — and are far more sensible of the wrongs they suffer than of the folly of trying to right them under the lead of ignorant visionaries or criminal demagogues. For several years after the war there was a jierfect witches' Sabbath of political coi-ruption in New York City, which culminated during tlie mayoralty of Oakey Hall, who was elected in 1869. The Democratic party had absolute control of the municipal government; and this meant that the city was at the mercy of tlie ring RECEyr History, mo-mo. 207 of utterly unscrupulous and brutal politicians who tlien controlled that party, and who in time of need had iViends among some of their so-called Kepublican oppo- nents on whom they could always rely. Eepeating, ballot-box stuffing, fraudulent voting and counting of votes, and every kind of violence and intimidation at the polls turned the elections into criminal farces. The majorities by which tlie city was carried for the Democratic presidential candidate Seymour in 1868, represented the worst electoral frauds which the coun- try ever witnessed, — far surpassing even those by which Polk had been elected over Clay. This was also the era of gigantic stock-swindling. The enormously rich stock-speculators of Wall Street in their wars with one another and against the o-eneral public, found ready tools and allies to be hired for money in the State and city politicians, and in judges who were acceptable alike to speculators, politicians, and mob. There were continual contests for the control of railway systems, and "operations" in stocks which barely missed being criminal, and which branded those who took part in tliem as infamous in the sight of all honest men ; and the courts and legislative bodies became parties to the iniquity of men composing that most dangerous of all classes, the wealthy criminal class. Matters reached their climax in the feats of the " Tweed Eino'." William M. Tweed was the master spirit among the politicians of his own party, and also secured a hold on a number of the local Eepublican leaders of the baser sort. He was a coarse, jovial, able man, utterly witliout scruple of any kind ; and lie or- ganized all of his political allies and adherents into a 2o8 New York. gigantic " ring " to plunder the city. Incredible sums of money were stolen, especially in the construction of the new Court House. When the frauds were dis- covered, Tweed, secure in his power, asked in words that have become proverbial, " What are you going to do about it?" But the end came in 1871. Then the decent citizens, irrespective of party, banded together, urged on by the newspapers, especially the Tinus and Haiyer's Weekly, — for the city press deserves the chief credit for the defeat of Tweed. At the fall elections the ring candidates were overwhelmingly defeated ; and the chief malefactors were afterward prosecuted, and many of them imprisoned, Tweed himself dying in a felon's cell. The offending judges were impeached, or resigned in time to escape impeachment. For the last twenty years our politics have been better and purer, though with plenty of corruption and jobbery left still. There are shoals of base, ignorant, vicious "heelers" and "ward workers," who form a solid, well-disciplined army of evil, led on b}^ abler men whose very ability renders them dangerous. Some of these leaders are personally corrupt ; others are not, but do almost as much harm as if they were, because they divorce political from private morality. As a prominent politician recently phrased it, they believe that " the purification of politics is an iridescent dream ; the decalogue and the golden rule have no place in a political campaign." The cynicism, no less silly than vicious, with which such men regard political life is repaid by the contemptuous anger with which they themselves are regarded by all men who are proud of their country and wish her well. Recent History, mo-isso. 209 If the citizens can be thoroughly waked up, and a plain, naked issue of right and wrong presented to them, they can always be trusted. The trouble is that in ordinary times the self-seeking political mercenaries are the only persons who both keep alert and understand the situation ; and they commonly reap their reward. The mass of vicious and ignorant voters — especially among those of foreign origin — forms a trenchant weapon forged ready to their hand, and presents a standing menace to our prosperity ; and the selfish and short-sighted indifference of decent men is only one degree less dangerous. Yet of recent years there has been among men of character and good standing a steady growth of interest in, and of a feeling of respon- sibility for, our politics. This otherwise most healthy growth has been at times much hampered and warped by the political ignorance and bad judgment of the leaders in the movement. Too often the educated men who without having had any practical training as politicians yet turn their attention to politics, are and remain utterly ignorant of the real workings of our governmental system, and in their attitude toward our public men oscillate between excessive credulity con- cerning their idol of the moment and jealous, ignorant prejudice against those with whom they tempomrily disagree. They forget, moreover, that the man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic, — the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done. Neither tlie unintelligent and rancorous partisan, nor the unintelligent and rancorous independent, is a 14 2IO New York. tk'sirable member of the body politic; and it is uufortu- luitely true of each of them that he seems to regard with special and sour hatred, not the bad man, but the good man. with whom he politically difl'ers. Above all, every young man sliould realize that it is a disgrace to him not to take active part in some way in the work of governing the city. Wlioever fails to do this, fails notably in his duty to the Commonwealth. The character of the imn)igration to the city is changing. The Irish, who in 1860 formed three fifths of the foreign- born population, have come in steadily lessening numbers, until the Germans stand well at the head ; while increasing multitudes of Italians, Poles, Bohemians, Russian Jews, and Hungarians — both Sclaves and Magyai s — continually arrive. The English and Scandinavian elements among the immigrants have likewise increased. At the present time four fifths of New Yolk's population are of foreign birth or parentage ; and among them there has been as yet but little race intermixture, though the rising generation is as a whole well on the way to complete Americanization. Cer- tainly hardly a tenth of the people are of old Revo- lutionary American stock. The Catholic Church has continued to grow at a rate faster than the general rate of increase. The Episcopalian and Liitheran are the only Protestant Churches whereof the growth has kept pace with that of the population. The material prosperity of tlie city has increased steadily. There has been a marked improvement in architecture ; and one really great engineering work, the bridge across tl>e East River, was completed in 1883. The stately and beautiful Riverside Drive, Recent History, mo-mo. 211 skirting the Hudson, along the hills which front tlie river, from the middle of the island northward, is well worth mention. It is one of the most striking roads or streets of which any city can boast, and the liandsome houses that are springing up along it bid fair to make the neighbourhood the most attractive portion of New York. Another attractive feature of tlie city is Central Park, while many other parks are being planned and laid out beyond where the town has as yet been built up. Tliere are large numbers of handsome social clubs, such as the Knickerbocker, Union, and University, and many others of a politico-social character, — the most" noted of them, alike for its architecture, political influ- ence, and its important past history, being the Union League Club. There are many public buildings whicli are extremely interesting as showing the growth of a proper civic spirit, and of a desire for a life with higher possibilities than money-making. There has been an enormous in- crease in the number of hospitals, many of them admir- ably equipped and managed ; and the numerous News- l)oys' Lodging Houses, Night Schools, Working-Girls' Clubs and the like, bear witness to the fact that many New Yorkers who have at their disposal time or money are alive to their responsibilities, and are actively striv- ing to help their less fortunate fellows to help them- selves. • The Cooper Union building, a gift to the city for the use of all its citizens, in the widest sense, keeps alive the memory of old Peter Cooper, a man whose broad generosity and simple kindliness of character, while not rendering him fit for the public life into which he at times sought entrance, yet inspired in New 212 New York. Yorkers of every class a genuine regard such as they i'elt fur no other philanthropist. Indeed, uncliaritahle- ness and lack of generosity have never heen New York failings ; the citizens are keenly sensible to any real, tangible distress or need. A blizzard in Dakota, an earthquake in South Carolina, a flood in Pennsylvania, — after any such catastrophe hundreds of thousands of dollars are raised in New York at a day's notice, for the relief of tlie sufferers ; while, on the otlier hand, it is a difficult matter to raise money for a monument or a work of art. It is necessary both to appeal to the practical busi- ness sense of tlie citizens and to stir the real earnest- ness and love of country which lie underneath the somewhat coarse-grained and not always attractive sur- face of the community, in order to make it show its real strength. Thus, there is no doubt that in case of any important foreign war or domestic disturbance New York would back up the general government witli men and money to a practically unlimited extent. For all its motley population, there is a most wholesome un- derlying spirit of patriotism in the city, if it can only be roused. Few will question this who saw the great processions on land and water, and the other ceremonies attendant upon the celebration of the one hundredtli anniversary of the adoption of tlie Federal Constitution. The vast crowds which thronged the streets were good- luimoured and orderly to a degree, and were evidently interested in much more than tlie mere spectacular part of the celebration. They sliowecl by every action their feeling that it was indeed peculiarly ^//^ir celebration ; for it commemorated the hundred years' duration of a ReceIvt History, mo-mo. 213 government which, with many shortcomings, had never- theless secured order and enforced kvv, and yet was emphatically a government of the people, giving to the workinoman a chance which he has never had else- where. In all the poorer quarters of the city, where the population was overwhelmingly of foreign birth or origin, the national flag, the stars and stripes, hung from every window, and the picture of Washington was dis- played wherever there was room. Flag and portrait alike were tokens that those who had come to our shores already felt due reverence and love for the grand memory of the man w^io, more than any other, laid the foundation of our government; and that they already challenged as their own American nationality and Amer- ican life, glorying in the Nation's past and confident in its future. In science and art, in musical and literary develop- ment, much remains to be wished for ; yet something has already been done. The building of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of the American Museum of Natural History, of the Metropolitan Opera House, the gradual change of Columbia College into a University, — all show a development which tends to make the city more and more attractive to people of culture ; and the growth of literary and dramatic clubs, such as the Century and the Players, is scarcely less significant. The illustrated monthly magazines — the Century, Scinhners, and Har- pers — occupy an entirely original position of a very high order in periodical literature. The greatest piece of literary work which has been done in America, or in- deed anywhere, of recent years, was done by a citizen of New York, — not a professed man of letters, but a great 214 New York. General, an Ex-President of the United States, \vritiua liis memoirs on his death-bed, to save his family from ^vant. General Grant's book has had an extraordinary sale among the people at large, though even yet hardly appreciated at its proper worth by the critics ; and it is scarcely too high praise to say that, both because of the intrinsic worth of the matter, and because of its strength and simplicity as a piece of literary work, it almost deserves to rank with the speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln. The fact that General Grant toward the end of his life made New York his abode, — as General Sherman has since done, — illustrates what is now a well-marked tendency of prominent men throughout the country to come to this city to live. There is no sucli leaning toward centralization, socially or politically, in the United States as in most European countries, and no one of our cities will ever assume toward the others a position similar to that held in their own countries by London, Paris, Vienna, or Berlin. There are in the United States ten or a dozen cities each of which stands as tlie social and commercial, though rarely as the political, capital of a district as large as an average European kingdom. Xo one of them occupies a merely provincial position as compared with any other; while the political capital of tlie country, the beautiful city of Washington, stands apart with a most attractive and unique life of its own. There is thus no chance for New York to take an unquestioned leadership in all respects. Nevertheless, its life is so intense and so varied, and so full of manifold possibilities, that it has a special and peculiar fascination for ambitious and Recent History, mo-mo. 215 high-spirited men of every kind, whether they wish to enjoy the fruits of past toil, or whether they have yet their fortunes to make, and feel confident that they can swim in troubled waters, — for weaklings have small chance of forging to the front against the turbulent tide of our city life. The truth is that every man worth his salt has open to him in New York a career of boundless usefulness and interest. As for the upper social world, the fashionable w^orld, it is much as it was when portrayed in the " Potiphar Papers," save that modern society has shifted the shrine at which it pays comical but sincere homage from Paris to London. Perhaps it is rather better, for it is less provincial and a trifle more American. But a would-be upper class based mainly on wealth, in which it is the exception and not the rule for a man to be of any real account in the national life, whether as a politician, a literary man, or otherwise, is of necessity radically de- fective and of little moment. Grim dangers confront us in the future, yet there is more ground to believe that we shall succeed than that we shall fail in overcoming them. Taking into account the enormous mass of immigrants, utterly unused to self-government of any kind, who have been thrust into our midst, and are even yet not assimilated, the wonder is not that universal suffrage has worked so badly, but that it has worked so well We are better, not worse off, than we were a generation ago. There is much gross civic corruption and commercial and social selfishness and immorality, upon which we are in honour bound to wage active and relentless war. But honesty and nioial cleanliness are the rule ; and under the laws 2l6 New York. order is well preserved, and all men are kept secure in the possession of life, liberty and property. The sons and grandsons of tlie immigrants of fifty years back have as a whole become good Americans, and have prospered wonderfully, both as regards their moral and material well-being. There is no reason to suppose that the condition of the working classes as a whole has grown worse, though there are enormous bodies of them whose condition is certainly very bad. There are ^rave social dangers and evils to meet, but there are plenty of earnest men and women who devote their minds and energies to meeting them. "With many very serious shortcomings and defects, the average New Yorker yet possesses courage, energy, business capacity, much gen- erosity of a practical sort, and shrewd, humorous com- mon-sense. The greedy tyranny of the unscrupulous rich and the anarchic violence of the vicious and ignor- ant poor are ever threatening dangers ; but though there is every reason why we should realize the gravity of the perils ahead of us, there is none why we should not face them with confident and resolute hope, if only each of us, according to the measure of his capacity, will with manly honesty and good faith do his full share of the all-important duties incident to American citizenship. r IISTDE X. ACADIA Acadia, 3. Adventure, an age of, 1, 2. Advisory Council, Minuit's, 15; Stuy- vesant's, 30. Africa, early trade with, 74, 75. Albany, Hudson's arrival near site of, 6; establishment of post near site, 9; refuses allegiance to Leisler's rule, 08; trade with, 74. Aldermen, first, 41; otfice abolished, 45; elected by freeholders, 55; dis- orderly election for, 85 ; " rights " of, 146 ; how elected after Kevolu- tion, 146; a local legislature, 146. AUjonquins, massacre of, 23; reasons for their defeats, 24. Allotment Commission, the, 203. America, Spanish possessions in, 2, 3; uncertain ownership in early times, 3. American Fur Company, 179. American Museum of Natural His- tory, 213. Amusements, of early settlers, 33, 95; at beginning of nineteenth century, 167, 168. Anarchy, threatened, 25. Andres, Sir Edmund, appointed gov- ernor, 48; reinstates English form of government, 48; makes Engli-h the official language, 48 ; character of liis rule, 49; grants monopoly of bolting and exporting flour, 49; abolishes Indinn slavery, 50-, hos- tility to Puritans, 50; summoned BAKERY to England, 51 ; restored to favour, 51; reappointed, 57; imprisonment of, 58; consequences of fall of, 60. Annexed District, the, 201. Anti- Monopolist party, 194. Architecture, 197, 210. Aristocratic element, 14, 40, 94 and note. Aiistocratic party, in 1689,61; sup- ported by Fletcher, 79, 80 ; trial of leaders for treason, 85. Armorial bearings, 94. Art, encouragement of, 197. Assembly, the, constitution of, 54; early acts of, 54; property qualifi- cation for election to, 71; struggles in, 72, 73; Fletcher's interference with elections for, 79, 80 ; charac- teristics of, 81; quarrels with Fletcher, 81 •, parsimony as regards defences, 81, 106, 107; condemns Roman Catholic priests to death, 86; issues paper money, 88; mi- nority of popular party in, 117 ; set aside, and rejilaced by Provincial Congress, 128. Astor, John Jacob, 178, 179. Astor Library, 179. A.m, 22, 210; seizes New Amsterdam, 36, 37; Avar with Holland, 42, 44; early trade wi:h, 74; treatment of colonies compared with other nations, 104; how col- onies might have been preserved, 103, 110. English, settlements in America, 3; early settlers, 12, 28; Minuit's re- lations with, 15; Van Twiller's re- lations w^ith, 17, 18 ; innnigration of, 22, 210; early settlers belong to aristocratic party, 40; regain pos- session of New York, 47. See also BiaxisH. English law, supremacv of, in New York, 4. English rule, transition from Dutch to, 38-42 ; overthrown by the Dutch, 45-47; restored, 47. EngVu^h-speaking race, marvellous spread of, 105. Episcopalian Church, the fashionable organization, 92; growth of, 210. See also Chuhch of England. Episcopalian churches, closed for fear of mobs, 127; reopened during British occupation, 138. Episcopalians, detestation of Leislcr, 66 ; persecutions of Presbvterians by, 90, 92. Equality, necessity of, in the Federal Union, 110. Equal Rights Afen. 194. Ei ie Canal, effect on city, 177. Evacuation, by Washington's troops, 134 ; by British troops, 141. 222 Index. EVEUTbEN Evfrtsen, Adm. Cornelis, takes the city, 45; nmlces Colve director of the province, 4G. Exchange, foiiuda;ion of the, 44. Execution Duck, Captain Kidd hung at, 83. Explorers, an age of, 1, 2. Farming, advance in, 21. ''Federalist,'' the,*160, 197. Federalist party. New York tlie seat of power of, 148, 149; striigi^le ■with Anti-Federalists, 152, tirst b.'g break in, 154; successes of, 155; fall of, 157; merciless use of patron- age, 163; support the British, 135. Federal Union, equality a necessity in, 110, 111. Feudal privileges, 14, 21. Fifth Avenue, 200. Fires, incendiary, in 1741, 100; dur- ing British occupation, 139; large losses by, 192. Fire-toater, introduction among In- dians, 6. Fisheries, early, 44, 55, 74. FitcJi, John, pioneer in sicani navi- gation, 172. Fl tcher, Benjamin, governor, 79; connection with pirates, 79; char- acter, 79, 80; quarrels with New Ergland and with Assembly, 81; recalled, 81. Florida, 3. Fluur, monopoly of bolting and ex- porting, 49. Fort, early, 12. Fort Orange, 38. France, enmity to, 58, 73; wars with, 74. Franchise, different kinds of. 144. Freeholders, privileges of, 97, 144, 146. French, settlements in America, 3; characteristics of pioneers, 19. HA Ai; I.EM French wars, retarded American Ke volution, 109. French war-ship, terrorizes city, 86. Fruntenac, Louis do B., cruelties in New York and New England, 68. Frontiersman, evolution of, 20. Fulton, Kobert, introduces steam navigation, 171 ; builds steam frig- ate, 172. Fur trade, 6-9, 15, 16, 108, 179. G'ige, Gen. Thomas, commander of garrison, 115; yields stamps to municipal authorities, 116. Gallatin, Albert, abhorrence of par- tisan proscription, 161. Gallows, the, 31. "■Gazette,'^ the, first newspaper, 101. " General Armstrong,"" fight of the, 173. George III., effect of his blunders, 113; address by Stamp Act Con- gress to, 114; erection of monu- ment to, 117 ; monument destroyed, 117. German Calvinists, in the eighteenth century, 90. German Lutherans, in the eighteenth century, 90. Germans, early settler.«, 12. 28; im- migration of, 87,184, 185, 187-189, 210; furnish large proportion of auxiliaries to British troops, 133, note. Governor, restrictions on power of, 145. Grant, Gen. U. S., Memoirs of, 213, 214. Guinea Coast, t-ade with, 75. Gustavus Adolphus, influence of his death on America's future, 3, 4. riaarlem Heights, American victory at, 135. Index. 223 HALE Bale, Nathan, capture and execution of, 13y. 140. " Half Moon,'' the, reaches the Hud- son, 1; returns to Holland, 6, 7. Hall, Oakey, mayoralty of, 20G. Hall of Justice, 31. Hamilton, Alexander, conservative principles of, 113; attitude in the Revolution, 125 ; in retreat at Kip's Bay, 135; leader of Federalist party, 149; character, 149, 153, 154; defender of Loyalists, 149; success in Federal movement, 150, 151 ; procession in honor of, 151, 152; heart of Fedeiali-t i>arty, 153; Sec- retary of Treasury, 154; Living- ston's opinion of, 154 ; dislike of Burr. 155; maltreatment of, 156; killed by Burr, 164. "■Harper's Mngazitie,'^ 213. ^'■Harper's Weekly,'' exposures of Tweed, 208. Hartford, Conn., mail between New York and, 44. Hehren) iimniqrat'um, 210 Hessinns, employment as troops, and hatred of, 131^ 132. Hickey, Thomas, hunc; for plot against Washington, 132. Holland, war with England, 42, 44. Horse-racinf] under Governor Love- lace, 43. H.spitals, 1G9, 211. Houses, of early settlers, 31, 32; at beginning of nineteenth century, 1G8; modern, 200. Hmve, Lord, attncks the city, 133- 136; victories of, 133-136. ' Hudson, Hendrik, discovers Hudson River, 1, 5-7; returns to Hol- land, 7. Had^on Bay Company, 14. Hudson River, in hands of the Dutch, 3; early belief about, 5; scenery, 6, 7; new settlements on, 21 ; opera- IKISH tions of British fleet on, 133; steam- boats on, 177. Emjutnots, early settlers, 12, 28, 39, 41; religious liberty under English rule, 41, benttits conferred on, 54; element in population, 58, 91. Hungarian immigration, 210. Hunter, Robert, appointed governor, 87. Immi(jrantf, a bad class of, 98. Jmniifjnition, encouragement of, 21, 22; increase of, 169, 173, 174, 176, 182 et serj. ; change in character of, 210. Impoi-t duties, reserved to Duke of York, 54. Independence, but dimly seen at first, 113; the logical result of revolu- tionary measures, 128. India, search for new route to, 1, 5. Indian Ocean, trade with ports of, 75; piracy on, 77. Indians, fate of, 4; on shores of Hud- son River, 5, 6; early strife with, 5; first taste of fire-water, 6 ; trade with, 9; sell Manhattan Island, 12; Mmuit's relations with, 14, 15; Van Twiller's relations with, 17 ; massa- cre Dutch colonists on Delaware River, 18, sale of weapons to, for- bidden, 20 ; war with, under Kieft's administration, 22-24; Stuyvesant's relations with, 33; danger from, 38, 39; treatment by Governor Nicolls, 42; relations with Gover- nor Lovelace, 44; end of slavery of, 50; Dongan's relations with. 56; pri- vate acquisitions of land from, 80. Ingol'/sby, Richard, lieutenant-gov- ernor, lands at New York, 70; skir- mish with Leisler's troops, 70. Inn.<, 21, 97. Irish, prominent element of popula- tion, 90,91; Protestantism of early 224 Index. IRVING settlers, 91; furnish large propor- tion of auxiliaries to British troops, 133, note; immigration, 184-18ti-, riots, 205, 206; decrease of immi- gration, 210. Irvlny, Washington, 171, 197. Jtfiliiins, maritime enterprise of, 2; immigration, 210. Jail, the, 97. James J J. (see also York, Duick of), accession of, 55; change of policy, 5(3; opposition to, 57; tyranny of, 62 ; hatred of his government, 62, 63; action in exile, 65. Java, value compared with New Netherlands, 4, 47. Jay, John, conservative principles of, 113; member of Committee of Fifty-one, 121; attitude in the Rev- olution, 125; leader in Provincial Congress, 128; leader of Federalist part}', 149, 153; character, 149, 153; defender of Loyalists, 14.J; joint author of the "Federalist," 150; opposition to, 153; appointed chiel-justice, 154 ; treaty with England, 156 ; appointments of, 161. Jealousy, class, 60; ill effects of, 106, 131; Washington's troubles from State, 141. Jefferson, Thomas, tie-vote in Elec- toral College, 159; chosen Presi- dent, 159; maxim as to patronage, 161; antagonism to Burr, 162. Jeffetsonian Republicans, rise of, 153. Jews, religious community in eigh- teenth century, 90, prohibition, of suffrage to, 92. Jiihnson family, leaders in court party, 112; rulers of Mohawk Val- ley, 112. Judges, election of, 176. Justice.-!, first, 41. LEISLER Kidd, Captain, fitted out as pirate- hunter, 83', turns pirate, 83; iiung, 83; buried treasure of, 83, 84. Kitft, William, succeeds Van Twil- ler, 19; character and government, 19-25; Indian wars, 22-24; chooses council, 24; removed, 25. Kinrj, Kufus, made senator, 154. Kilty's Colleye, under control of Church of England, 92; expulsion of president, 127 , change of name, 142. See also Columbia Col- leg k. Kip's B'ly, American forces routed at, 134, 135. Knickerbocker Club, 211. Know-Notliing puity, 194. Labour, early colonial, 97-100. Labour party, of 1830, 193. Labour riots, 192, La Montagne, Johannes, councillor witli Kieft, 20, 23. Language, English, the official, 91; abandonment of Dutch, 91, 173; Irench, 174 and note; German, 174, 184, 185. Launderer, a pedagogical, 17. Lawrence, Cornelius Van Wyck, elected mayor, 193. Legislaiire council, the first, 30. /legislature, loyalty to George III., 124; control citv government, 146, 147. Leisler, Jacob, leader of popular party in 1689, 61; character, 62, 68-70; quarrel with collector of the port, 63 ; overcomes lieutenant- governor and city council, 64; sliort-sighted policy of, 65-67; op- position to Episcopalians and Puri- tans, 66; general opposition to, 67, disobey royal proclamation, 67; nominated as commander-in-chief, 68 ; assumes title of lieutenant-gov- ernor, 68 ; rule not recognized by Index. 225 LEISLERIAN Albain-, 68 ; quarrel with New Eng- land allits, 69; treatment of Long- Islanders, 69 ; deserted by his sup- porters, 70, 71 ; refuses to recognize Lt.-Gov. Ingoldsby, 70 ; arrested and hung, 71; disinterred and hon- oured, 82. Leislerian party, put down, 85 ; in- fluence of, 87. Lewis, Morgan, 157: elected gover- nor, 163; defeat of, 164. Libel law, obsolete theory of, 102. Liberties and privileges, charter of, 54 ; granted by Dongan, 55. Liberty, struggle for, 147. Liberty pule, erection of, 118; riot over, 119, 120. Libraries, the New York Society, 142; the Astor, 179. Literary societies, 171. Literature, early colonial, 97; rise of, 171; the birthplace of American, 197; growth of, 213, 214. Livingston, Edward, appointed mayor and U. S. district attorney, 162. Livingston, Robert R., feelings to- ward Hamilton, 154. Livingston, Robert, partner with Cap- tain Kidd, 83. Livingston family, descent of, 72, note; armorial bearings of, 94; leaders in the popular party, 103, 112, 117; prominent members of, 128, note, 129, note ; supporters of Hamilton, 154; indorse Burr, 155 ; distrust of Burr, 157; apportion- ment of patronage among, 162 : op- . position to Burr, 162, 163; decline of power, 164; power of, 166. Local boards, 196. Loco-foco party, 194. Long Island, English take possession of eastern half of, 22; revolt against Stuyvesant on, 33; Puritans refuse to be taxed, 43; horse-racing on, 43 ; troubles between Puritans and MANHATTAN Colve, 46; Leisler's operations in, 69; Tory majority in, 130; landing of British troops on, 133; supply of provisions from, 169. Long Island Sound, first ship on, 7, 8; new settlements on, 21; pas- sage forced by British fleet, 136; steamboats on, 177. Li-velace, Gov. Francis, successor to Nicolls, 43; character, 43; trou- bles with Long Island Puritans, 43 ; supported by Dutch and Eng- lish, 44; relations with Indians, 44; establishes mail to Boston and Hartford, 44, 45. Loynlists, devotion of, 124; plun- dered, 127, 133 ; their newspaper ollice wrecked, 127 ; flight of, 132 ; in population surrounding the ot}', 137 ; deported on evacuation, 141 ; Hamilton and Jay as defenders of, 149 ; restored to legal equality with other citizens, 149. See also Tories. Loyalty, lack of, in early Dutch set- tlers, 13 ; of citizens at outbreak of civil war, 202. Ludlow family, prominent members of, 128 and note, Lutheran Church, growth of, 210. Lutherans, persecution by Stuyve- sant, 35 ; religious liberty under English rule, 41. Liitzen, battle of, 3. Madagascar, pirate station at, 77. Madison, James, joint author of the "Federalist," 150. Magazines, 213. Magyar immigration, 210. Maiden Lane, origin of name, 31. Mall, the, 93. Manhattan, discover}' of, 1, 5; value compared with Java, 4 ; Dutch post on, 8; early civilized life on, 8, 9; sold to the' Dutch, 12. 5 226 Index. MANUFACTURE Manufaclurv, right to, 21. Marktts, 169. Massachusetts, effects of rebellion in, 147. Mayor, first, 41 ; office abolished, 45; appointed by governor, 55 ; first elective, G8; appointment of James Duane, 146. Mayoralty, colonial system of ap- pointment to, 146; change in man- ner of election to, 176; first elec- tion by universal suffrage, 193. Mayors, various nationalities of, 88. Meeting, first popular, 24. Mercenary troops, New England, 24; emplo^-ment of Hessians, and hatred for,' 131, 132. Mi-rchants, early colonial, 97. Methodist Church, strengtli before the Revolution and at present day, 90; increase in, 143. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 213. Metropolitan Opera House, 213. Milborne, Jacob, leader of popular part}' in 1689, 61; hung, 71; disin- terred, 82. Military law, established bv Colve, 46, 47. Militia, rising against Gov. Nichol- son, 63, 64. Mill, the first, 16. Minuit, Peter, first governor of the colony. 11; character, 12; buys Manhattan Island from Indians, 12; relations with Indians, 14, 15; relations with English, J5; rule of, 15, 16; recall of, 16 ; enters Swed- ish service, 16; leads band of Swedes to the Delaware, 22. Mitchell, Dr. Samuel, 171. Mohawk River, fort near, 8. Mohawks, secret society, reorganiza- tion of, 120. Mohawk Valley, under rule of John- son family, 112. Money, issue of paper, 88. NEW ENGLAND Montreal, Schuyler's raids on, 69. Morris, Chief-Justice, expelled from office, 102 ; conservative principles of, 113. Morris, Gouverneur, type of Whig party, 124; attitude in the Revolu- tion, 125; leader of Federalist party, 149; position in 1812,165; elected senator, 155 ; plans Erie Canal, 177. Morris family, armorial bearings of, 94; leaders in Provincial Congress, 128. Morse, Samuel F. B., 178. Mount Vernon Gardens, 168. Museums, 213. Native American party, 159, 194. Naturalization, 39, 54. Negroes, early importations of, 29; legislation against assemblages of, 55 ; in early colonial times, 89-101 ; plot of 1741, 99 ; massacre of, 100, 101; annual celebration of Pink- ster, 96 ; emancipation, 174 ; suf- fiage. 175; in draft riots, 204. Netherlands, cradle of seamen, 1. New Amsterdam, founded, 12; mix- ture of population, 12, 28, 29; be- ginning of stable existence, 28; compared with New England, 29 ; society in, 29, 30 ; incorporation of, 30 ; appearance of the town, 31, 32 ! costume in, 32 ; amusements, 33 ; seized b}' England, 36, 37; name changed to New York, 38, 47. New England, English settlements in, 3; compared with New Amster- dam, 29; colonists held in check by Stiivvesant, 33 ; settlers opposed to aristocracy and Episcopacy, 40, 41 ; united to New York and New Jer- sey, 57; action on fall of the Stuarts, fiO; indifference to welfare of New York, 81 ; quarrels with Gov. Fletcher, 81; indifference to New Index. 227 ENGLANDERS York's prosperity, 107; sympathy for, in New York, 121. Ntw Enylandtrs, characteristics of, 19; kept in check by Colve, 46. ''New Lnyland Invasion,'' the, 174. New Jersey, settlements in, 21; sev- ered from New York, 48 ; united with New York and New England, 57; retreat of Washington to, 136. '' New Netherlands'" the, 11. New Netherland Company, forma- tion of the, 9. New Netherlands, value compared with Java and Surinam, 4, 47; named, 10; decline of, 19; seized by England, 36, 37. Newsboys^ lodging house, 211. Newspapers, scurrility of, 155, 166. See also their titles. New Year observance, 95. New Yorker, composition of a typi- cal, 89. New York Medical Society, 143. New York Province, united with New England and New .Jersey, 57. New York Society Library, 142 Nicholson, Sir Francis, leader of aristocratic party in 1689, 61 ; qnarrel with militia, 64. Nicolls, Col. Richard, seizes New Amsterdam, 37; agent for Duke of York, 39; rule in New York, 39- 43; character, 39, 41, 42; refuses right of election of representatives, 42; treatment of Indians, 42: bene- fits of his control, 42; returns to England, 43. Nif/ht-schools, 21 1. '* Nine Men'' the, 35. Non-importation agreement, the, 114. North Carolina, effects of rebellion in, 147. Northwest passage, search for, 1, 5. O'Brien, Colonel, killed in draft riots, 205. PLOTS " Onres',^^ the, tirst ship built in American waters, 7. Opera-house riot, 191, 192. Facijic Mail Stearnship Company, 180. Packet ships, 181. Palisades, the, 7. Panic, of 1836, 192. Paper money, issue of, 88, 146. Parks, 211. Park Theatre, 168. Parties, political, 40, 41, 50; effect of race on, 61. Passport system, 20. Paternal government, 20, 27, 28. Patriotism, of Revolutionary party, 131; of Presbyterian settlers, 133, note. Patronage, early system of, 146; Jefferson's maxim as to, 161; mer- ciless use of, 163. Pfitroon, title of, 14. Patroons, troubles with, 14, 15; privileges of, 21; turned into ma- norial lords, 41 ; Stuyvesant's struggles with, 34. Penn, William, advice to James TI., 52. Philadelphia, compared with New York in 1710, 89; sentiment about Tea Act, 120; meeting of Congress at, 152. PhilHpse family, leaders in court party, 61, 112. Pinkster, observance of, 95, 96. Piracy, premium on, 81. Pirates, 74, 75; success and numbers of, 76-79; engaged in slave trade, 77; efforts toward abolition of, 79 ; Bellomont's crusade against, 83; career of Captain Kidd, 83. Pl nji^rs' Club, 213. Platf, rumours of Catholic, 63 ; negro, 99; for abduction or murder of Washington, 132. 228 IXDEX. PLrXDKRTNG Tlundtring, by Contiuental Arinv, 13:3. Plymouth settlers, enter the Con- necticut Valley, 18. Police board, 196. Police riots, 196. Polish, immigration, 210. Political corruption, 206-208, 215. Poor-house, 97. Poor-laws, 88. [of, 24. Popular government, foreshadowing Popular party, in 1689, 61; constitu- tion of, 61, 112; in control of the city, 61; downfall of, 71; opposed by Fletcher, 79, 80; corruption of, 85; hated by Cornbury, 85 ; news- paper of the, 102 ; known as Whigs, 103; great families in, 112; shrink from independence, 123 ; excesses by, 124. Popular rights, struggle for, 72. Population, increase of, 15; character of early, 28, 29, 39, 40 ; at time of second establishment of English rule, 48; fusion of races, 58, 59, 89, 90, 187; in 1710, 89, 90 ; at out- break of Revolution, 89 ; diversity of, 89; line drawn between Pro- vincial and Old World people, 94; Presbyterians, Dutch, and Hugue- nots, 112; increase after Revolu- tion, 142; at beginning of nine- teenth centurv, 166; condition at dose of war of 1812, 173, 174; in 1820, 175; increase of, 176; in 18^)0, 201; proportion of foreign element in, 210; Americanization of, 210,216. Por/ugal, early explorations of, 2. " P"tiphar Papers,'' 198. Poverty, dangers of, 182. Presbyterians, opposed to aristocracy and episcopacy, 40, 41; persecuted by Cornbury, 86; immigration of, 87; strength in eighteenth cen- tury, 90. KKLIOIOUS Press, liberty of, 102. Preis-gangs, 114, 115, Princeton College, 96. Prison-ships, horrors of, 140, 141. Privateering, popular and profitable, 75, 76, 173. Privateers, depredations on com- nK^rce, 44, 74; capture of French ships by, 69; riots of crews, 75, 76; fitted out in British interests, 137. Protestants, liberty of conscience granted to, 71. Provincial Assembly, demanded and granted, 52 ; issue of writs for, 53. Public buildings, 16, 211. Public lands, apportionment of, by Fletcher, 80. Puritans, hostility to Dutch, 18 ; in- subordination on Long Island, 43 ; troubles with Colve, 46; hostility of Andros to, 50. Putnam, Gen. Israel, 135. Quakers, refuge for, 22; persecution by Stuyvesant, 35 ; in the eigh- teenth century, 90. Queen Anne, appoints Lord Cornbury governor, 85 ; resemblance of Lord Curnbury to, 86. Pace, effect on parties, 61. Pace prejudice, early, 40. Paces, mixture of, 12. Bailroads, development of, 177. Raritan Indians, war with, 22, 23. Redemptioners, 97. Red River, Valle}' of, barred from settlement, 14. Red Sea, trade with ports of, 75; piracy on, 77. Red Star Line, the, 181. Religion, effect on parties, 62. Religpnis bodies, in colonial times, 90. Relif/ious dijferencen. 189. Religious liberty, 22, 39, 41, 44, 53- 55, 141-143. Index. 229 RENSSELAERSWYCK J?ensseZae/s«J?/c/;, extent of, 14; Stuy- vesant's troubles with the patroon of, 34. Republican party^ origin of name, 152; rise of, 194. " Restless," the. See " Onrest." Revolution, causes leading to, 104- 327; first bloodshed in the, 120; dangers of, 126; operations against New York, 131; results of war, 142. Ring politics, 206-208. Riots, Stamp Act, 115, 116; liberty- pole, 119, 120 ; ante-Revolution, 126, 127 ; anti-Federahst, 156 ; theatre, 191; Astor Place, 191, 192; bread, 192; labour, 192; abolition, 192; election, 193; police, 196; draft, 203-205 ; Hibernian, 205, " 206. Ricerside Drive, 210, 211. Roman Catholic Church, hatred of, 62, 63 ; priests condemned to death by Assembly, 86; weakness before the Revolution, 90 ; increased strength at present day, 90 ; growth, 176, 188, 210; Americanization of, 189, 190. Roman Catholics, forbidden entrance to the colony, 92; patriotism of, in Maryland, 133, note; liberation of, 143. Roosevelt, Isaac, 128, note. Roosevelt, John J., 129, note. Roosevelt, Nicholas, leader in Pro- vincial Congress, 128, note; pio- neer in steam navigation, 172. Russian immigration, 210. Rynders, Isaiah, 196, 202. Sabbatarian legislation, 55. St. Lawrence River, French common- wealth on, 4. St. Mark's Church, 26. St. Patrick's Church, 197. Sanitary Commission, the, 203. SEPARATIST Sanitary conditions, 169. Santa Fe, 4. Saskatchewan Valley, barred from settlement, 14. Savings bank, the first, 170. Scandinavian immigration, 210. Schepens, abolition of the, 41 ; office restored, 45. Schoolmaster, the first, 17. Schools, 97. School system, founded, 170, Roman Catholic opposition to, 194, 195. Schout-Jiscal, the, 16 ; abolition of the, 41 ; office restored, 45. Schuyler, Peter, leads opposition to Leisler in Albany, 68; raids on Montreal, 69. Schuyler, Philip J , elected senator, 155. Schuyler family, leaders in the pop- ular party, 112 ; supporters of Ham- ilton, 154'. Scientijic societies, 171. Sclave immigration, 210. " Scribner's Magazine," 213. Seafaring population, 74, 75. Seamen, an age of, 1, 2 ; bravery of colonial, 107. Sea- Mew," the, brings the first true colonists 11. Sea-rovers, 2. Sears, Isaac, 128. Secession, proposed, 202. Sedan chairs, 95. Self-government, Dutch love for. 21; demands for, 25 ; early steps to- ward, 53, 54, 74; failure under James II., 56; action of Assembly in regard to, 86; a necessary in- gredient in, 87 ; of Canada and Australia, 108; restriction of, 146; powers of American cities con- trasted with those of Europe. 146. Selfishness, among colonists, 106. Separationists, 123. Separatist idea, hi. 230 Index. SERVANTS Fronde's English in Ireland In the 18th Century. 8 vols, crown 8vo. 18*. — History of England. 12 vols, crown 8vo. 3*. 6d each. — Short Studies on Great Subjects. 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