USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884, Volume I > Part 39
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Mr. Beach married Nancy Day, a sister of the founder of the Sun newspaper, and in 1821 established himself in business in Springfield, Mass. Possessed of genius for in- vention, several projects claimed his attention. A favorite one was aerial navigation. One of his daily associates was Thomas Blanchard, inventor of the stern-wheel steamboat and the lathe for turning irregular forms, such as lasts, gun-stocks, etc. The two neigh- bors were so intimate that MIr. Beach's friends regarded them as joint inventors of the stern-wheel.
Mr. Beach was also intimate with the paper-makers in his neighborhood, and he de- vised the simple machine now in universal use to obviate the necessity of a large amount of hand labor in cutting the rags. This led to his obtaining an interest in a paper- mill at Sangerties, on the Hudson, and to that place he removed with his family in 1827.
In 1835 Mr. Beach purchased an interest in the Sun newspaper, and finally he became the sole proprietor of it. His management of the business from the beginning was marked by great enterprise in the adoption of new methods for obtaining the earliest intelligence of enrrent events for his paper. On special occasions he established daily expresses. For example : During the trial at Utica of Alexander McLeod, a British sub- ject, for complicity in the burning of the steamboat Caroline in the Niagara River, an express was run between that city and the Sun office in New York. Another was run from Halifax to New York, carrying European news brought by the Cunard steamships, then the only regular line of vessels carrying the mails between Europe and America. Frequently expresses were run from Boston and from Albany to New York at the expense of Mr. Beach. Those from Boston were usually confided to Alvin Adams and his associ- ates. In this service Mr. Dinsmore, the (present) president of the Adams Express Com- pany, distinguished himself by celerity of movement with a single horse between Spring- field and Hartford, in forwarding Mr. Beach's news budget.
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scene-painter at the Park Theatre, who is still living (1883), one of the three survivors of the founders of the National Academy of the Arts of Design. It was very popular for a while. The Hoax gave the Sun a great business impetus.
This was the era of the advent of two mighty powers which have played a most important part in the growth, prosperity, and marvellous expansion in the wealth and population of the city of New York. These were railways and ocean steam navigation.
At the beginning of this decade, steamboats, which had been in operation only about twenty years, were comparatively few in num- ber ; and the first charter given to a railway company in the United States was granted by the Legislature of New York to the Mohawk
To-day, on the roof of the Commercial Advertiser (the old Sun) building, corner of Nassau and Fulton streets, may be seen a structure erected by Mr. Beach as the abode of numerous carrier-pigeons, the services of which were often used in the swift trans- mission of news to the San from many directions. Sometimes a pigeon was set free on the deck of a jast-arrived steamship from Liverpool in Boston harbor, with European news wrapped about its legs ; others would come from political nominating conventions, from race-courses, and from other public gatherings, with news of the results. But with the advent of the electro-magnetic telegraph these enterprises were superseded : Mr. Beach found his " occupation gone."
When the war with Mexico was agitating the country the telegraph wires were not extended farther southward than Richmond, Va. The " fast mail " then occupied seven days and nights in the transit between New Orleans and New York. It was the quickest method for communication between the two cities, and consequently from the seat of war. Mr. Beach was satisfied that the time might be much shortened by running an express somewhere. He sent his son to investigate the matter, and it was found that the route between the cities of Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, which occupied the " fast mail" thirty-six hours, might be traversed in twelve hours by a horse and his rider. MIr. Beach established an express with this result, and it was continued several months. He asked his fellow-publishers to join in the expense of this important enterprise. They did so, and this was the origin of the alliance of the leading newspapers of the country known as the " Associated Press."
It is an interesting fact not generally known that Mr. Beach was instrumental in obtaining the basis of the treaty of peace between the United States and Mexico at Guadaloupe Hidalgo, in 1848. Impressed with the disastrous effects of war upon any country, he conceived a project of ending this one through the indirect intervention of the Roman Catholic clergy. His acquaintance with Bishop Hughes and with President Polk and his cabinet opened the door for proceedings in that direction. With simple letters of introduction and commendation he went to Mexico, obtained important inter- views, and secured the points of agreement on which peace was afterward ratified.
While in Mexico Mr. Beach felt the first symptoms of the disease (paralysis) which finally terminated lis life. After struggling against it for some time he retired from business late in 1849, and took up his residence among his native hills, where he lived quietly twenty years longer, dying January 19, 1868.
Mr. Beach was a warm friend of popular education, and in all matters of public need he was ever an active worker.
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and Hudson Railroad Company in 1825. This railroad, which ex- tended from Albany on the Hudson to Schenectady on the Mohawk River, a distance of about sixteen miles, was completed in the summer of 1831. It was opened for passenger traffic on the 9th of August. The first passenger train went over the road from Albany to Schenec- tady and back on that day, carrying twelve citizens of Albany. One of these was the late Thurlow Weed, who was the representative of the press. On the crown of each of the two steep slopes leading to the Hudson and the Mohawk there was a stationary engine to place the train on the summit of the high plateau, an extensive pine-barren. The cars were ordinary stage-coach bodies on four-wheeled trucks, and were drawn by a very small engine constructed by the Kembles at the West Point foundry, Cold Spring, and named De Witt Clinton. The cars were connected by a three-link chain. There were seats on the tops of the coaches, where the passengers screened themselves with umbrellas from flying sparks from the locomotive, that was fed with pine wood. These umbrellas were sometimes made skeletons by fire when the end of a journey was reached. Passengers frequently had holes burned in their clothes. Such was the beginning of the magnifi- cent railway system which now radiates from New York City and transports annually to and from the metropolis merchandise valued at billions of dollars, as well as millions of human beings. This is the marvellous growth of that single promoter of business in the city of New York within the space of fifty years.
The first instance of ocean steam navigation originated in the harbor of New York. In the year 1808 the steamboat Phunir, built at Hoboken, opposite New York, by John C. Stevens, was sent round to the Delaware River. She had been intended for navigating the Hudson River, but Livingston and Fulton had procured an act from the Legislature giving them a monopoly of navigation by steam on that stream.
This bold experiment was followed by one still bolder in 1819. In that year the steamship Savannah, built in New York by Fitchett & Crocket for Daniel Dodd, of Savannah, Georgia, crossed the Atlantic Ocean from that port to Liverpool, and after tarrying there some days" went on to the Baltic Sea and reached St. Petersburg, her destina- tion. Her whole sailing time from Savannah to St. Petersburg was only twenty-six days. Her commander was Captain Moses Rogers.
The Sarannah was a vessel of three hundred and fifty tons burden. and her engine, constructed by Stephen Vail and Daniel Dodd. of Morristown, N. J., was ninety-horse power. She carried only seventy-
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five tons of coal (the amount consumed each day by one of our large ocean steamers now) and twenty-five cords of wood. She was also furnished with sails.
On the arrival of the Seannak in the Mersey she attracted much attention. Compelled to lie outside the bar until the tide should serve. hundreds of people went off in boats to see her.
"During this time she had all her colors flying," narrates the cap- tain's log-book, " when a boat from a British man-of-war came along- side and hailed. The sailing-master was on deck at the time. The officer of the boat asked him :
"' Where is your master'? '
" ' I have no master,' was the laconic reply.
"' Where's your captain, then ? '
" ' He's below. Do you want to see him ? '
" ' I do, sir.'
" The captain, who was then below, on being called, asked what he wanted, to which the officer answered :
"' Why do you wear that pennant, sir ?'
"'Because my country allows me to, sir.'
"' My commander thinks it was done to insult him, and if you don't take it down he will send a force that will do it.'
" Captain Rogers then exclaimed to the engineer :
"' Get the hot-water engine ready! '
" Although there was no such machine on board the vessel, the order had the desired effect, and John Bull was glad to paddle off as fast as possible." *
As the Sarannah entered the harbor, the shipping, piers, and roofs of houses were thronged with wondering spectators, and naval officers. noblemen, and merchants visited her, and were very curious to ascer- tain her speed, destination, and other particulars.
The Sarannak remained at Liverpool twenty-five days, and became an object of suspicion. The journals suggested that she might " in some manner be connected with the ambitious views of the United States." It was known that Jerome Bonaparte, of Baltimore, had offered a large reward to any one who should succeed in releasing his brother Napoleon from St. Helena, and some surmised that the Sucan- nak had this undertaking in view.
Sailing from Liverpool late in July, the Sarannah touched at Copen-
* " The Log-Book of the Savannah," by Dr. H. C. Bolton, in Harper's Magazine. voi. liv. p. 345.
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hagen and at Stockholm, where she excited great curiosity. At the latter place she was visited by the royal family, and on the invitation of Christopher Hughes, the American minister at Stockholmn, she made an excursion among the neighboring islands. Arriving at St. Peters- burg early in September, she remained there a month, and then " set sail on her homeward voyage with about eighty sail of shipping."
This achievement of the Savannah, a New York built vessel, seems to have been forgotten when, nearly twenty years afterward, on the arrival in New York harbor of the steamships Sirius and Great Western. the New York Erpress said that it produced " unusual joy and excite- ment in the city, it being almost universally considered as a new era in the history of Atlantic navigation."
It seems to have been forgotten then-indeed it is hardly known now- -that New York is entitled to the credit of a pioneer in ocean steam navigation. Nevertheless it is so. In the year 1821 or 1822 the emi- nent shipbuilder, Henry Eckford, completed a steamship (which was also fitted for sails) for David Dunham, an old and prominent auction- eer, which was named Robert Fulton. She was fitted out for carrying on freight and passenger business between New York, New Orleans, and Havana. After making a number of successful voyages on that route she was sold to the Brazilian Government on account of the pecu- niary embarrassments of her owner. Mr. Dunham afterward lost his `life by being knocked overboard from a sloop while on a passage be- tween Albany and New York. The Fulton was converted into a war- vessel, carrying sixteen guns, and was the fastest sailer in the Brazilian navy.
The beginning of regular ocean steam navigation between Europe and America was postponed until 1838. The unwisdom of the Ameri- can Government and the jealousy of the British public of everything originating in America were the principal causes which effected this postponement. Even with the practical proof of the feasibility of ocean steam navigation offered by the Sacannah in the harbor of Liver- pool, England, the great philosopher, Dionysius Lardner, proved to his own satisfaction and to that of the average Englishman that it could not be done !
Enterprising and thoughtful Americans had for some time cherished a project for the establishment of lines of ocean steamships, and early in 1835 Nathaniel Cobb, of the old Black Ball line of sailing packets. ยท proposed a line of steamships to run between New York and Liverpool, and application was made to the Legislature of the State of New York for an act of incorporation. But nothing came of it. Almost simulta-
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neously enterprising citizens of Bristol, England, with others, projected a line of ocean steamships between that port and New York, and in the spring of 1838 the Sirius sailed from that port for New York-the port in western England out of which sailed Sebastian Cabot three hundred and forty years before, on the voyage during which he discovered the continent of North America. The London Times, which had spoken disparagingly of the project, said, a few days before the Sirius sailed :
"There is really no mistake in the long-talked-of project of navigating the Atlantic by steam. There is no doubt of an intention to make the attempt, and to give the experi- ment, as such, a fair trial. The Sirius is absolutely getting under weigh for America."
Meanwhile an association had been formed in London called the British and American Steamship Company. They built the Great Western, which was launched on the 19th of July, 1837. She sailed for New York early in April, and on a beautiful morning (the 23d) of that month the Great Western and the Sirius both entered the harbor of New York. The Sirius arrived very early in the morning, the Great Western a few hours later. Their arrival created intense excite- ment, not only in the city but throughout the country. The New York newspapers were full of glowing notices of the event. One of them said : " Myriads of persons crowded the Battery to have a glance at the first steam vessel which has crossed the Atlantic from the British Isles and arrived safely in port."
Such was the beginning of permanent ocean steam navigation. The voyage had been made by the Great Western in eighteen days. Other vessels soon followed. In less than twenty years there were fifteen lines of steamships running between Europe and America, numbering forty-six ships in all, of which thirty-seven ran out of New York, making the trips each way on an average of from nine to twelve days. At that time fully half a million of passengers had been carried across the Atlantic in steamships. of whom only twelve hundred had been lost.
The most successful of the lines then, as now, was that established by Samuel Cunard in 1840, to run between Liverpool and Boston and New York. The first Cunard steamship (the Britannia) arrived in Boston on July 18, 1840. In the year ending June 30, 1882, 4027 ocean steam vessels entered the ports of the United States, having an aggregate tonnage of $,520,027. Of these vessels 1903, with a ton- nage of 5,099,185. entered the port of New York.
CHAPTER XX.
ITHE beginning of permanent ocean steam navigation was the dawning of a new era in journalism in New York-namely, the employment of regular foreign correspondents. This had been done to some extent before, but only in a limited and desultory manner. Robert Walsh had written letters for the National Gazette from Europe, Nathaniel Carter for the Statesman, N. P. Willis for the New York Mirror, James Brooks (who established the New York Express newspaper in 1836) for the Portland Advertiser, in which he gave sketches and incidents of travel of a young American on foot in Europe ; the late R. Shelton Mackenzie (long connected with the Philadelphia Press) with gossipy letters from London for Noah's Evening Star and Sunday Times ; but no organized European corre- spondence like that of the leading journals of to-day was then known.
This new feature in journalism was introduced in 1838 by Mr. Bennett, of the New York Herald. He took passage in the Sirius, on her return trip in May, to make extensive arrangements for correspond- ence with the principal political and commercial centres of Europe. These, and indeed Europe itself, were not then known in detail in America.
With the advent of the ocean steamers came also a change, as we have observed, in the methods of obtaining news for the morning journals of New York. News-schooners, that put out to sea to meet incoming ships, were now made obsolete. These were superseded by swift row-boats and light sail-boats. These would meet the steamship below Quarantine, and while the inspection of the health officer was going on they would hurry up to the city with the news, and have it published before the passengers arrived. On these occasions the excitement among the aquatic news-gatherers was intense.
About the middle of this decade an abnormal expansion of the credit system occurred, which speedily bore its legitimate fruit. In 1533 President Jackson began a deadly warfare against the United States Bank. because he knew it to be a moneyed institution of great power. socially and politically, and therefore possibly dangerous to the perma-
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nent prosperity of the country. In his annual message to Congress in December, 1832, he recommended that body to authorize the removal from that institution of the government moneys deposited in it, and to sell the stock of the bank owned by the United States ; in a word, to decree an absolute divorce of the goverment from the Bank. Con- gress refused to do so. After the adjournment of that body the Presi- dent took the responsibility of ordering Mr. Duane, the Secretary of the Treasury, to withdraw the public funds from the bank, then amounting to about $10,000,000, and deposit them in certain State banks. The Secretary refused to do so, and he was dismissed from office. He was succeeded by Roger B. Taney, who was afterward chief-justice of the United States. He was then attorney-general. Taney was ordered to remove the deposits, and he obeyed his superior.
The process of removal began in October, 1833, and the task was completed in the space of nine months. This act produced great excitement all over the country, and much commercial distress. The loans of the bank were over 860,000,000 when the work of removal began. So intricate were the financial relations of the institution with the business of the country, that when the funds of the bank were thus paralyzed all commercial operations felt a deadly shock. This fact confirmed the President in his suspicions and opinions of the dangerous character of the institution, and he persistently refused to listen favor- ably to all prayers for a modification of his measures, or for relief, made by numerous deputations of manufacturers, mechanics, and mer- chants who waited upon him. He said to all of them, in substance : "The government can give no relief or provide a remedy ; the banks are the occasion of the evils which exist, and those who have suffered by trading largely on borrowed capital ought to break ; you have no one to blame but yourselves."
The State banks in which the government funds had been deposited came to the relief of the business community. That relief was spasmodic, and resulted in more serious commercial embarrassments. They loaned the money freely ; the panic subsided ; confidence was gradually restored, and there was an appearance of general prosperity Speculation was stimulated by the freedom with which the State banks loaned the public funds, and the credit system was enormously expanded. It was upon this insecure basis that New York merchants largely resumed active business after the great fire in December, 1835. Trade was brisk : the shipping interest was prosperous ; prices ruled high : luxury abounded, and nobody seemed to perceive the dangerous
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undercurrent that was surely wasting the foundations of the absur! credit system and the real prosperity of the city and nation.
Suddenly the Ithuriel spear of Necessity pierced the great bubble. A failure of the grain crop of England caused a large demand for com to pay for food products abroad. The Bank of England, seemg ex- changes running higher and higher against that country, contracted its loans and admonished houses who were giving long and extensive credits to the Americans by the use of money loaned from the bank, to curtail that hazardous business.
It was about that time that the famous Specie Circular was issued from the Treasury Department of the United States Government. It was put forth in July, 1836. It directed all collectors of the public revenue to receive nothing but coin. Thus it was that from the parlor of the Bank of England and from the Treasury of the United States went out almost simultaneously the significant fiat, "Pay up !" American houses in London failed for many millions of dollars, and in 1837 every bank in the United States suspended specie payments, but resumed again within two years afterward. The United States Bank had been rechartered by the Legislature of Pennsylvania ; it soon fell into hopeless ruin, and with it went a very large number of the State banks of the country. A general bankrupt law passed in 1841 relieved of debt about forty thousand persons, whose liabilities amounted in the aggregate to almost $441,000,000.
The city of New York suffered severely from the terrible business revulsion of 1836-37. Martin Van Buren succeeded Jackson as Presi . dent in March, 1837. During the two months succeeding his inaugu- ration there were mercantile failures in the city of New York to the amount of more than $100,000,000. The panic there was fearful. Two hundred and fifty mercantile houses had been compelled to suc- cumb in the month of April. Every business man and every moneved institution seemed to be standing on an insecure foundation. At this crisis a deputation from the merchants and bankers of New York waited on the President and petitioned him to defer the collection of duties on imported goods, suspend the operations of the Specie Circu- lar, and call an extraordinary session of Congress. Their prayer was rejected. When this fact became known all the banks in New York City suspended specie payment. That event occurred on the 10th of May. This act embarrassed the government, for it could not get coin wherewith to discharge its own obligations. In this dilemma the President was induced to call an extraordinary session of Congress, which met in September. It did very little toward adopting measure :
ace y
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of relief except to authorize the issue of treasury notes to an amount not exceeding $10,000,000.
The banks had resolved to resume specie payments within one year. On the day of the suspension there was a large meeting of business men at the Exchange, when James G. King, the junior partner of the banking-house of Prime. Ward & King, addressed them, and offered resolutions to the effect that the paper currency should be recognized as money and pass as usual among business men until the banks should find it practicable to resume specie payments. These resolutions were seconded by Mr. Prime, the senior of that banking-house, and they were adopted by unanimous vote. This measure produced a feeling of relief, and the panic gradually subsided.
In October Mr. King went to London to confer with the officers of the Bank of England. To these gentlemen he made the startling proposition that the bank and the great capitalists should cease embar- rassing American merchants by discounting paper connected with the American trade, and send over to New York at once a large amount of coin. The officers of the bank hesitated. Such a transaction would be wholly foreign to the business policy of the institution. But they finally consented to send several million dollars in coin, on the sole responsibility of the house of Prime, Ward & King and the guaranty of Baring Brothers, of Liverpool. The first consignment of $5,000,000 was forwarded in March, 183S. This coin was sold on casy terms to the banks, and confidence being revived, business resumed its usual activity. Another large meeting of merchants and others had been held, which pledged the business community to stand by the banks.
During the winter of 1836-37 there were abundant signs of distress and discontent among the so-called laboring classes. The cereal crops of the preceding season throughout the country did not amount to much more than half the usual yield, and flour during that winter, which was one of unusual severity, was from $12 to $15 a barrel.
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