USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Albany bi-centennial. Historical memoirs > Part 28
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THE END OF THE FIRST CENTURY.
A hundred years of the city's existence was completed in 1786, and the anniversary was appropriately celebrated. The Revolutionary war had .but recently closed, and the Dongan City Charter, modified in a few essential particulars, was still the fundamental law of the city. At the beginning of the struggle for independence, the clarion voice of liberty, which resounded over the colonies, had little effect on the
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people of Albany. The tory element in the city was large, and for a time held the balance of power; but the news of the conflicts at Concord and Bunker Hill soon reached it, and then the voice of toryism was silenced, and the Decla- ration of Independence, subsequently read from a historic spot in the city, was hailed with loud and prolonged applause by the assembled people.
Historians have told us of the sufferings and privations of the people of Albany during the struggle for independence. To the north and north-west, and up the Mohawk River, all the horrors of border and terrible civil warfare raged, ren- dering the city a scene of terror. The city suffered greatly. If it was not a decisive battle ground, if it was not devastated by the march of opposing armies, or cannonaded by the enemy, it was in constant danger of many of these fearful visitations. The roar of Burgoyne's cannon from Saratoga, answered by the guns of the Continentals, reverberated over it .; while the citizens knew the fleet of Sir William Howe and his army were endeavoring to make their way up the Hudson to fall upon them from the south.
The position of Albany rendered it one of the most im- portant points in the struggle. Situated almost midway in the territory, which by the great plan of the British generals to crush the rebellion - as they termed the patriotic cause - was to be swept by Burgoyne from the north and Howe from the south, whose armies were to unite at Albany, it became a great strategic point, made so by its geographical position. For not dissimilar reasons it afterwards became a political and governmental center.
A STRATEGIC POINT.
The importance of Albany's position to the State and Nation is illustrated by an incident connected with the soldierly foresight and discernment of General Winfield Scott. He was once riding with a distinguished citizen of the State from Sharon Springs to Cherry Valley, by the route known as the Ridge road, twelve hundred feet above tide water, which overlooks to the north, to the east and to the west, regions below embracing the confluence of the Hudson and the Mohawk. As they were gazing in admira- tion upon this magnificent view, stretching over into Ver- mont and Massachusetts, General Scott exclaimed, as he pointed in the direction where the two rivers approached
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each other: "There is the grand strategic point of the American continent, and Albany is next in importance. An invading army that could take and hold those points could dictate terms to the Republic." On one of General Grant's visits to Albany this point was shown him, and General Scott's remarks related to him. After reflecting a few moments he replied, with his characteristic brevity : " Yes, General Scott was right."
" It was," said Governor Seymour, in his centennial address at Schuylerville, " the design of the British govern- ment in the campaign of 1777 to capture the center and stronghold of this commanding system of mountains and valleys. It aimed at its very heart -the confluence of the Hudson and the Mohawk. The fleets, the armies and the savage allies of Britain were to follow their converging lines to Albany, and there strike the decisive blow."
The importance of Albany during the Revolution was fully understood by the British ministry ; carefully drawn views of the interior and exterior of old Fort Frederick, whose guns swept the river and the surrounding country, were seen in London and Paris, and were carefully studied by engineers and soldiers. Its proximity to the great strategic point described caused them, as well as Washington and his generals, to watch the movements of Burgoyne and his powerful army with the most intense interest. Sherman's march to the sea, in the late Rebellion, did not, in the beginning, promise more favorable or decisive results to the Union cause than did the invasion of Burgoyne to the cause of Britain in the Revolution. The progress of the British ships up the Hudson to a point east of the Allegany range, the capture and burning of Kingston, where the British admiral awaited communication from Burgoyne, are events familiar to the readers of history. There were those in Albany at that time who knew full well that the cause of free- dom was suspended in a balance. They knew if Howe pushed rapidly to Albany he would soon unite with Burgoyne, and the American commander would be forced to retreat to New England, if he escaped the powerful combination against him. But for some cause Howe delayed, and his delay was fatal to Burgoyne, and his troops were marched prisoners of war through Albany, and himself also became a prisoner of war in one of the mansions of the city, whose
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old walls saw this proud commander a prisoner-guest of one of Albany's most illustrious citizen-soldiers.
HONOR TO PHILIP SCHUYLER.
The central figure of the Albany heroes of the Revolution was General Philip Schuyler. He was one of the ablest and most distinguished of the officers who served the patriot cause, and impartial history concedes the fact that it was under his generalship that the plans were matured and the movements conceived which subsequently led to the victory of Saratoga ; deprived of the honor of actually participating in that memorable and decisive engagement, by the unwise action of Congress in removing him from his command shortly before that battle, he, nevertheless, did not permit the personal wrong to himself to swerve his loyalty to the American cause. While Gates was the immediate commander under whom the contest was fought, the glory belonged, in reality, greatly to Schuyler. His is not the only instance in history where the laurels of one commander, who had patiently disciplined his army, formulated his campaign, and planned his victory, have been snatched from him by another, who, at the eleventh hour, was put in command, and, by the fortunes of war, was enabled to reap what the former had sown.
Military reputation is fickle at the best, but, notwithstand- ing the ill-fortune that overtook the gallant Schuyler on the eve of his greatest triumph, he maintained the confidence- if not of Congress - at least of the people of the country and the warm friendship of Washington, the Commander-in- Chief. The people have always respected his memory, and forts, garrisons and public institutions without number in various parts of the country have been named in his honor. With pleasure I recall the fact that the youngest county in the State of New York - my own native county - bears the name of Albany's most distinguished soldier.
Albany, as we have before seen, was, by natural causes, destined to be not only a point of great importance in colonial history and in the War of the Revolution, but in her relations with the distant Indian tribes and the early set- tlers. She did not lose the benefit of her advantages in her later history, for she possessed those which always tend to establish the capital of the country. As the Acropolis and Mars Hill, in view of the " Eye of Greece," made Athens,
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despite every opposing influence the capital of an early republic ; as Rome, situated on her seven hills, was the most fitting place for the capitolium of her mighty empire; as Edinburgh, London and Dublin became the capitals of their respective countries, so Albany, with its Capitol Hill, as beautiful as that seen from the Acropolis of Athens, became the capitol of the Empire State.
On March 21, 1787, after a long and bitter opposition, an act for altering the chartered rights of the city passed both branches of the Legislature and became a law. Down to that period the Dongan charter had continued to exist, with a few changes rendered necessary by the State Constitution. This act did not effect a radical change in the charter; it merely divested the Mayor of the power of acting as sole coroner of the city and county, and deprived the aldermen and Mayor of the exclusive right to the regulation of trade with the Indians. The charter amended by this act con- tinued to be the fundamental law of the city, with some amendments, until March 16, 1870, when it was changed by extensive amendments with which you are all familiar.
MADE CAPITAL OF THE STATE.
With this glance at the charter, I return to the considera- tion of Albany as the capital and its relation to the State. Immediately after the Revolution, the location of the State capital became a great and absorbing question to the people. The important position of Albany during the colonial period and the Revolution made it, in the estimation of a large class of the people, as well as many statesmen and legislators of the period, a most proper place for the capital. It was not, however, without antagonism from political influence, and from rival cities and towns claiming to possess superior advantages, that it was finally established here. For a time the prolonged contest over the seat of the capital gave the seat of State Government and the State Legislature a kind of mercurial existence, and the State had no established capital.
The first session of the Legislature was held at Kingston and Poughkeepsie in 1777-8; the second session at Pough- keepsie, 1778-9; the third Legislature held three meetings, one at Kingston in 1779, one at Albany and one at King- ston in 1780; the fourth had three meetings, one at Pough- keepsie in 1780, and at Albany and Poughkeepsie in 1781 ;
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the fifth Legislature met at Poughkeepsie in 1781-2; the sixth session was held at Poughkeepsie and Kingston in 1782-3 ; the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth sessions in the city of New York from 1784 to 1787; in 1788 the eleventh session at Poughkeepsie ; the twelfth session, 1788-9, at Albany ; from 1789 to 1793, the Legislature met in the city of New York; the seventeenth session was at Albany, 1794; the eighteenth at Poughkeepsie and New York city; the next session was held in New York, 1796, and the twentieth session, 1796-7, at New York and Albany. At this latter session the question as to the site of the future capital was settled, and Albany became the perpetual seat of govern- ment in the State. It was not political influence alone, nor the influence of wealth, nor the weight of local importunity that decided this great question. It was, to a great extent, those natural advantages which have been already described. Albany became the capital of the State the same year the United States Constitution was transmitted to Congress for ratification or rejection. Its ratification met the strongest opposition in our own State, the center of which was in Al- bany, where it engendered a fierce contest.
RATIFYING THE CONSTITUTION.
A singular feature of this contest was that Hamilton, the leader of the Federalists in this State and Nation, favored the Constitution, while many of the anti-Federalists, despair- ing of anything better, united with him in favoring the rati- fication. This arrayed old political friends against each other with that intensity of hatred which seems to have been incident to such contests in the early days of the Republic. The discussions in the city over this question rendered it almost the pivotal point touching the adoption or rejection of the Constitution. George Clinton, the grand old soldier of the Revolution, the venerated patriot and statesman, who sat in the Executive Chair of the State twenty-one years, the uncompromising enemy of the Fed- eralists, the unswerving friend of popular and State rights, and his friends in the city, who were powerful, opposed the ratification of the Constitution with most intense determination. Political writers have attributed Clinton's policy in this regard to his hatred of Hamil- ton. It is believed, however, that his opposition was stimulated by higher and loftier motives. He regarded
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the Constitution as fantastic and experimental - a fit instrument to deprive the people of the State of their liberties. The convention for ratifying it met at Pough- keepsie, June 17, 1788. Of the seven delegates from Albany, at the head of whom was one of its most beloved and honored citizens and jurists, John Lansing, jr., four voted against the ratification and three declined to vote. At this time Clinton was Governor of the State and a resident of Albany, but he represented Ulster, his native county, in this convention, and was president of that body. He also declined to vote on the question. On July 26, the Constitution was ratified by a vote of thirty to twenty-seven. When this result was announced in Albany the city became the scene of a memorable contest between the friends and opponents of the Constitution. The greatest and most dis- tinguished citizens participated in it. Though Clinton and his friends were overthrown in their opposition, a brilliant triumph awaited them in the amendments to the Constitution which he had favored, and which were soon made. He and the Albany delegates caused these amendments to the Con- stitution, in accordance with their views to be proposed at the first session of the first Congress. In securing the adoption of these they were successful. Ten of these amendments were ratified by the Legislature of 1790, and another by the Legislature of 1791. These eleven amend- ments, originally favored by Governor Clinton and the Albany delegates, and a few delegates from other parts of the State, were added so soon after the adoption of the Constitution that they may fairly be considered a part of the original instrument. Thus it will be seen the opposition to the Constitution by Clinton and his Albany friends was just and honest, and the amendments which he had urged were in accordance with the true doctrines of a Republican government.
CONTEST IN THE FIRST LEGISLATURE.
The first session of the Legislature, which assembled after the events which I have described at Albany, December II, 1788, was the scene of another contest, to which, from our standpoint to-day, it is proper to refer: The Federalists controlled the Senate, but Clinton had a large majority in the House. This resulted in an uncompromising dead-lock over the choice of presidential electors and the election of
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a United States Senator. So the State was not represented in the first Electoral College which voted for George Wash- ington, and was also unrepresented in the Senate of the next Congress. This session was convened by Governor Clinton for the purpose of choosing these electors and a United States Senator. One of the strong charges made against Clinton was his delay in convening this Legislature so that the electors chosen by it had not time to receive the legal notice of their election and to be present at the time assigned by the Constitution for the meeting of the college. But it was the protracted contest in the Legislature that delayed the selection, and not the action of the Governor. Those who have examined the State journals of that day will see how deep and radical was the contest over these matters. They will also see with gratification how a large majority of the citizens of Albany united in sustaining the Governor not only during this contest, but in the gubernatorial contest which soon followed, in which he was again a candidate for Governor, and which resulted in his election.
LONG A JUDICIAL CENTER.
During the Dutch colonial period, and that of the English, Albany was largely the center of provincial jurisprudence. Here the Dutch courts of Burgomasters and Scheppens were held in the old Stadt Huys or State House, erected soon after the settlement of Albany. When the English took possession of the colony, courts of justice were organ- ized here, under the authority known as the Duke's laws, a name derived from the Duke of York.
In 1685, one year before the city charter was granted, Governor Dongan established in the colony a Court of Ex- chequer, which was composed of the Governor and his council. The history of this tribunal exhibits the judicial wisdom of this accomplished Chief Magistrate. The court had jurisdiction over all matters relating to the lands, rents, rights, profits and revenues belonging to the crown. On the abolishment of this court in 1691, the Colonial Supreme Court was given jurisdiction in these matters. After the adoption of the State Constitution this court was reorgan- ized as a branch of the State Supreme Court, for the better levying and accounting for the fines, forfeitures and debts due the people of the State. One term of Governor Don- gan's court was held in Albany in the fall of 1685.
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We have seen that long before the adoption of the Fed- eral Constitution, and even before the city became the capi- tal of the State, Albany was what might be termed a judicial center. From the time it became the State capital to the present time, the great courts of the State have held their sittings here. The great Court of Dernier Resort - the court for the correction of errors - composed of State Sena- tors, Justices of the Supreme Court and the Chancellor of the State, held its sittings here from its organization under the Constitution until abolished by the changes in the Con- stitution of 1846. Here, too, the Court of Appeals, the highest judicial tribunal of our State, has mostly held its sittings since its establishment under that Constitution.
Over our early tribunals presided the great expounders of our legal and judicial system : Jay, Hobart, Benson, Brock- holst, Livingston, James Kent and others. The early decis- ions of these courts exhibit the trained minds, enlarged legal abilities and unwearied industry of the judicial officers who resided in this city - Woodworth, Lansing, Yates, Spencer and Marcy; while the latter decisions also show the abun- dant talents of Albany jurists equally esteemed. Here Henry, Van Vechten, Van Buren and Butler, and at a later period, Reynolds, Stevens, Wheaton, Hill, Cagger, Peck- ham, Tremain, Hand and others, became renowned at the Albany bar.
GREAT CENTER OF POLITICAL POWER.
From the adoption of the Constitution to the present time, Albany has been a great center of political power. From here have extended the arteries which have sent their pulsations into every town and into almost every home in the State. We are standing to-day on ground where great political campaigns have been planned since the organiza- tion of the State government. Not far from us stood the mansion of the first Clinton, and that of Jay and Van Vechten, and yonder was the house of Schuyler, within the rooms of which not only personal political plans were ma- tured, but plans of wholesome State policy and legislation had their origin. In this mansion Hamilton wrote some of the best pages of the " Federalist," a work which stands pre- eminent for its far-seeing wisdom and is honored as the most powerful literary influence that was wielded in behalf of the Constitution. Whatever ground we here tread seems
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consecrated to those primal principles of legislation, jurispru- dence, fundamental laws and equitable systems which aided much in causing New York to be regarded as the Empire State of the Federal Union.
We pass the Old Elm Tree Corner and memories of the Declaration of Independence, with all the thousand associa- tions of that event, come upon us, for there lived Philip Livingston, one of its signers. Among the many great political contests between the intellects of other days, which recollections of Albany bring up, is the one between De Witt Clinton and his opponents ; a contest which culminated in 1824, in his sudden removal, by a concurrent resolution of the Senate and Assembly, from the office of Canal Commissioner, which he held so long, with honor to himself and profit to the State. Few events of the past created such popular indignation as this ; and the ground on which we stand is rendered memorable by the immense gathering of people who came to express their dissatisfaction at this excessive measure of political warfare. To this great meet- ing came distinguished citizens from every part of the State. From the city of New York came the illustrious Irish lawyer, orator and exile, Thomas Addis Emmet; with him were other eminent sons of the metropolis. They came to express their regard for the man whose creative energy, great native ability and self-sacrifice, aided largely in creating those improvements that have given so much happiness and pros- perity to the people of this State; their admiration for the man who took an appeal from the passions, prejudices and jealousies of his own time to the future for his reward, and whose appeal has been abundantly and grandly sustained.
THE FAMOUS ALBANY REGENCY.
In the midst of these scenes another citizen of Albany, a statesman of the Republic, a leader of a great party, was developing the force and power of his abilities. He was the leading spirit in the famous Albany Regency, which was as powerful here as was the Areopagus at Athens, the Decem- viri at Rome, the Council of Ten in Venice, or the famous Cabal in the reign of the Second Charles of England. This personage was Martin Van Buren, who wielded power with all the subtlety of a Richelieu, a Buckingham or a Halifax. With him were associated William L. Marcy, the first of American statesmen ; Benjamin F. Butler, the learned and
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accomplished reviser of the statutes; and Edwin Croswell, whose trenchant pen in journalism never found but one rival in the State. Amid the collisions of Clinton and Tompkins, and the collisions between Clinton and his adversaries when Tompkins left the field, these master minds deepened the foundations of a party that ruled the State and largely the Nation for many years. Whatever were the faults of this regency, it was not a junta of petty politicians; it was formed of men whose intellects placed them in the front rank of American statesmen and commanded the respect of men of all parties. What other city in the Nation, if we except Washington, has been the theatre of such political action and policy as that planned and carried into effect by this Albany Regency ? It made Albany the home of a President, the home of Governors, of United States Sena- tors, Cabinet Ministers, Diplomats and Foreign Ambassa- dors; for its influence was most extensive and controlling.
A TRIBUTE TO ALBANY JOURNALISTS.
A few years later and Albany was the home of another regency scarcely less powerful - a regency which largely aided in forming the great and now historical Whig Party, and whose activities afterward guided its destinies in the State and largely in the Nation. At the head of this regency stood Thurlow Weed, who might have said, "I am the Whig Party of the State of New York !" with more force and with more truth than did Louis XIV. when he ex- claimed, " I am France !" One who made journalism his truncheon of political power; one who, without personal ambition, caused the most ambitious and aspiring to ac- knowledge their fealty to him ere their own political schemes could succeed, or their political ambition be gratified. What thoughtful man can walk the streets of Albany without call- ing up the remembrance of this prominent Albanian - this great Richelieu of State and National politics; so perfectly acquainted with the temperament of the people; knowing so well how to bear with their caprices, to foresee their wishes, awaken their sympathies and stimulate them to action.
It was the fortune of Mr. Weed to encounter in his politi- cal orbit another mind, gifted with equal powers of com- manding success ; quite as fortunate in possessing elements, serviceable at the time, for securing popular favor. The
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struggle was what might have been expected from the colli- sion of two such powerful antagonists. It rendered Albany the center of a prolonged newspaper warfare unequaled in the history of the Nation. Both men had surprising quick- ness of thought ; they seemed to invent arguments and to pour out their views and arrive at conclusions almost in- stinctively. Many of their editorials were written during the night preceding publication, without correction or previous preparation ; yet they compared favorably with the more elaborate compositions of the magazines. It is singular that what they did on so short notice bore so few marks of haste. Mr. Weed's editorials were brief, sharp, incisive; their effect was like the quick thrust of a rapier; while Mr. Croswell's words were as plain as those of Swift, as piercing and con- vincing as those of Junius. His editorials had that perfect union of elegance and strength, logical finish, and a refined intensity of argument which always told with effect. Intim- ately associated with the work of Croswell, and in fact his successor, was one whose name will always be held in affec- tionate and honored remembrance - the genial, the brilliant, the accomplished William Cassidy.
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