USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V. 2 > Part 7
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" ' My dear sir,' interrupted the old gentleman, 'if you will quote, and I see you are getting into one of your quot- ing moods, you had better quote old Kats, my maternal
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grandmother's favorite book, the great poet of Holland and common sense. He has said it better than Horace : " Haar lagehend coysheid laert, haar spelend vormt ter deuyd." You ought always to quote old Kats, whenever you can, for I suspect that you and I and Judge Benson are the only natives south of the Highlands who can read him. But to return to your barber-author.'
"' Huggins became as fond and as proud of these con- tributions as if he had written them all himself, and at last collected them and printed them together in one goodly volume, entitled Hugginiana, illustrated with de- signs by Jarvis, and wood-cuts by Anderson He was now an author in all the forms. Luckless author! His vaulting ambition overleaped itself. He sent a copy of his book to the Edinburgh Review, then in the zenith of its glory, and the receipt was never acknowledged. He sent another copy to Dennie, whose Port Folio then guided the literary taste of this land, and Dennie noticed it only in a brief and cold paragraph. What was excellent in a newspaper jeu d'esprit, whilst events and allusions were fresh, lost, of course, much of its relish when served up cold, years after, in a clumsy duodecimo. Besides, not having been able to prevail on himself to part with any- thing which had once appeared under his name, much very inferior matter was suffered to overlay those sprightly articles which had first given him éclat. Then the town critics assailed him, and that " most delicate monster," the public, who had laughed at every piece, good, bad, and indifferent, singly in succession, now that the whole was collected, became fastidious, and, at the instigation of the the critics aforesaid, pronounced the book to be "low." Frightful sentence! Huggins never held up his head after it. " His razors and scissors lost their edge, his napkins and aprons their lustrous whiteness, and his conversation its soft spirit and vivacity. His affairs all went wrong thence-
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forward, and whatever might have been the immediate cause of his death, which took place a year or two after, the real and efficient reason was undoubtedly mortified literary pride. "Around his tomb," as old Johnson says of Archbishop Laud-
"' Around his tomb, let arts and genius weep,
But hear his death, ye blockheads, hear and sleep."'
" We had now got far down into the old part of the city, when, turning up Vesey Street from Greenwich, Mr. De Viellecour made a sudden pause. 'Ah,' said he, 'one more vestige of the past. There,' pointing to a common- looking old house, 'there, in 1790, was the atelier of Ceracchi, when he was executing his fine busts of our great American statesmen.'
"' Indeed !' answered I. 'I have often thought of it as a singular piece of natural good fortune, that, at a time when our native arts were at so low an ebb, we had such an artist thrown upon our shores to perpetuate the true and living likenesses of our Revolutionary chiefs and sages. Ceracchi's busts of Washington, Jay, Alexander Hamilton, George Clinton, and others, are now, as mere portraits, above all price to this nation; and they have, besides, a classic grace about them which entitles the artist to no contemptible rank as a statuary.'
" ' It was not a piece of mere good fortune,' said my friend; 'we have to thank the artist himself for it. Cerac- chi was a zealous republican, and he came here full of enthusiasm, anxious to identify his own name in the arts somehow or other with our infant republic-and he has done it. He had a grand design of a national monument, which he used to show to his visitors, and which he wished Congress to employ him to execute in marble or bronze. Of course they did not do so; and, as it happened, he was much more usefully employed for the nation in modeling the busts of our great men.'
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" 'He was an Italian-I believe a Roman -- and had lived some time in England, where he was patronized by Reynolds. Sir Joshua (no mean proof of his talent) sat to him for a bust, and a fine one, I am told, it is. Ceracchi came to America enthusiastic for liberty, and he found nothing here to make him change his principles or feel- ings. But the nation was not ripe for statuary : a dozen busts exhausted the patronage of the country, and Con- gress was too busy with pounds, shillings, and pence, fixing the revenue laws, and funding the debt, to think of his grand allegorical monument. Ceracchi could not live upon liberty alone, much as he loved it; and, when the French Revolution took a very decided character, he went to France, and plunged into politics. Some years after, he returned to Rome, where he was unfortunately killed in an insurrection or popular tumult, growing out of the uni- versal revolutionary spirit of those times.'
"' May his remains rest in peace,' added I. 'What- ever higher works of art he may have left elsewhere-and he who could produce those fine classic, historical busts, was undoubtedly capable of greater things -- whatever else he may have left in Europe, here his will be an enduring name. As long as Americans shall hold in honored remembrance the memory of their first and best patriots, -as long as our sons shall look with reverent interest on their sculptured images, the name of Ceracchi will be cherished here :
'" And while along the stream of time, their name Expanded flies and gathers all its fame ; Still shall his little bark attendant sail, Pursue the triumph and partake the gale."'
" We had now finished our long walk, and, as the old gentleman was going into his lodgings, I took leave of him, saying that our afternoon's walk had furnished me with the materials, and I was now going home to record our con- versation as a chapter of ' Reminiscences of New York.' "
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CHAPTER VII.
THE year 1834 * may with propriety be called the YEAR OF RIOTS. In that year, the civil authorities were obliged, for the first time, to call for military aid to
1834. assist in maintaining the peace of the city. It was on the 10th of April, during the municipal election, t that the services of the National Guard were called into requi- sition-a call, says a chronicler of that day, which " was responded to with an alacrity that produced a very strik- ing impression on the minds of the people." }
The elections, at that time, were held for three succes- sive days; and, in the inefficient condition of the city police, they were oftentimes the cause of great excitement and turbulence. On the present occasion, party strife ran high, and gave rise to a series of brawls and riots in the
* From the year 1829 to the present year (1834), there is no event in the his- tory of the city-with the exception of the cholera in 1832-that calls for par- ticular mention. The cholera of 1832 (which then visited the city for the first time) raged to a fearful extent, " almost depopulating the city, and creating a universal panic among the inhabitants. It returned two years afterward, modi- fied in violence, then disappeared entirely until 1849, when it broke out early in the summer, and raged fearfully until autumn." In 1855, it again appeared, nor has it since wholly abandoned the city.
+ It was in 1834 that the Mayor was elected by the city for the first time. Hitherto, as r entioned in a preceding note, that office had been filled by appointment by the Governor and Council.
# Asher Taylor.
Bonj"Franklin
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New York Virtue & Yorster:
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Sixth Ward, perfectly in keeping with the questionable reputation which that precinct has ever maintained .*
Toward noon of the 10th, a large concourse of people collected around the head-quarters of their respective political leaders, whence they sallied forth, armed with bludgeons and stones, and endeavored to drive their oppo- nents off the ground. At length, their passions getting the mastery of their reason, many from either side made a dash upon the gun-shops in Broadway for fire-arms. By this time the entire population of that part of the city, becoming greatly alarmed at the probable result of the disturbance, were in a condition to believe any report that might be started. Accordingly, when it was rumored that the mob were on their way to the State Arsenal to obtain by force the arms and ammunition there stored, a large number of peaceable citizens hastened to seize and hold possession of that building against the fighting men of all parties.
The State Arsenal was a three-story brick building (erected in 1808), on the corner of Elm and Franklin Streets, and, with its yard and out-buildings, occupied the block between Center and Elm, and Franklin and White Streets. In the center of the front, facing on Franklin Street, was a handsome three-story brick dwelling, the residence, at that time, of the Commissary General, who had charge of the establishment.
The party that made for the Arsenal was increased on the way by a large crowd, actuated by various motives. Some were for peace, and some for war; while many were in for anything that might turn up. Gaining access to the yard and obtaining the keys of the main building in which the arms were deposited, the party armed themselves, and · prepared to defend the establishment from the belligerent crowds who, they apprehended, might make an attempt
* Hence its appellation-" The Bloody ould Sixth."
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upon it-a course which their own hasty action was well calculated to invite.
The news of the attack on the Arsenal and its capture spread, greatly exaggerated, like wild-fire throughout the city, and, superadded to the stories of war already afloat, created an alarm unprecedented heretofore in the civil history of the city. Meanwhile, Mayor Lee called for military aid upon General Morton, who acted with such promptitude that in a very short space of time most of the members of the Twenty-seventh regiment had assembled at the Arsenal, armed and uniformed. The irregular force that had been holding the establishment at once retired, and left it in charge of the soldiers; and the turbulence and disorder soon subsiding, the peace of the city was restored.
After midnight, the Mayor visited the garrison, and relieved the regiment from further duty, thanking the men for their prompt response to his call for aid, and declaring emphatically that " the city had been in a state of insurrection, beyond the power of the civil authorities to control or subdue."
"The people of the city, of all classes, were enlight- ened by the novel experience of that day-the mass of quiet citizens, by the knowlege that a disorderly element existed in their midst of a most formidable and alarming character, spreading widely, and including parties and classes before undreamed of in such connections; and the civil authorities, by the assurance that they possessed a power and a force hitherto untried, reliable, and at ready command for such emergencies, which was deemed by them of incalculable importance ; and the members of the National Guard, by the evidence that had passed under their observation, that on their organization, in a great measure, the orderly people and the civil authorities of the city inust rely for their future security of ' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' within its borders. The
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reflections called up by the events of that day sank deeper in the minds of observing and thinking men than appeared at the moment."*
In reference to the duties of the 10th of April, the Common Council passed the following resolution :
" That the thanks of the Common Council be presented to the individuals who thus nobly sustained their reputation as citizen soldiers, and proved the importance and the necessity to the city of a well-disciplined militia, in time of peace as well as in time of war."
Major-General Morton, in promulgating the resolution of the Common Council, adds
"Next to the satisfaction arising from the consciousness of having performed a duty, is the approbation of those whose good opinion we prize. These reso- lutions, emanating from the municipal authorities of our city, cannot, therefore, but be highly gratifying.
" The late occurrences will show to the public the necessity and the use of a well-regulated militia, prepared at all times to support the magistracy in sus- taining law and order in the community. It will confirm us in the opinion, long entertained. that the time has not yet arrived when we may beat our swords into plowshares, and our spears into pruning-hooks.
" The Major-General doubts not that the corps will still continue to perform their duties ; they will be sustained by their fellow-citizens, who will see in them, not the array of an uncontrolled force, but a power directed by the ven- erable majesty of the laws in the persons of the magistrates."
On the 21st of June, Major-General Morton " had the melancholy duty to announce to the Division the death of General LAFAYETTE," in France, on the 20th of May pre- ceding, in the ninety-seventh year of his age. The Gen- eral thus concluded :
" But a few years since we were engaged in wel- coming him, with joyful and grateful hearts, as one of the soldiers of our Revolution, and the adopted son of our country. We are now called upon to pay funeral honors to his memory.
" The Common Council have resolved to pay funeral honors to the deceased, and have invited the corps to unite with the n on the occasion.
* Recollections of the Seventh Regiment.
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"The Division is therefore ordered for duty on the 26th inst.," on which day the regiment united in an im- posing military and civic demonstration in celebration of the funeral obsequies of the last General officer of the Rer- olution, "the confidential friend of the great Washington, and the adopted son of our country-the illustrious MAR- QUIS DE LAFAYETTE."
Three months after the National Guard had quelled the " Election Riot," they were again called upon to put down a disturbance of a much more formidable character.
For several months in the early part of the year there had been considerable feeling against certain citizens en- tertaining anti-slavery opinions, or, as they were from this period styled, " Abolitionists," who were holding a series of public meetings in which, as their opponents alleged, they "indulged in the most latitudinarian discussions, and vio- lent and exciting declamations in favor of their peculiar views, and in denunciation of all adverse to them."
Some of the leading party newspapers of the day, also, pandered to the prejudices of the lower classes of the com- munity, and suggested a course of open hostility and acts of violence, with the view of making short work of the " pestilent faction." At the same time it must be admitted that the Abolitionists themselves were not without blame, and, in many instances, exhibited a " zeal without knowl- edge." Indeed, their conduct was in some respects most reprehensible ; for, while the excitement was almost at its height, among other things calculated to inflame their oppo- nents, they posted an incendiary placard all over the city, headed,
" LOOK OUT FOR KIDNAPPING ! ! "
Then followed a cut representing a negro-driver mounted on a horse, with a double-thonged whip, driving before him a colored man, whose wife and children were cling-
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ing to him to prevent the unnatural separation. The result may easily be seen. The meetings of the Aboli- tionists were attacked and broken up; and the mob, " increasing in boldness under the promptings and encour- agement of their friends and advisers," as in the case of the " Draft Riot " in 1863, proceeded to the dwellings of Arthur and Lewis Tappan, on Rose Street, and other well-known and reputable citizens who were specially obnoxious, and, in their own expressive slang, " went through them," breaking furniture, and burning such pieces as were too heavy to be lifted. At length, a proc- laniation from the Mayor, and several troops of the city cavalry called out for the occasion, having failed to dis- perse the rioters, who were every moment becoming more violent and threatening, that personage, on the afternoon of the 11th of July, called upon the National Guard (the Twenty-seventh regiment) for assistance. The inen responded with alacrity, and in two hours from the time of receiving their orders had assembled in the Arsenal yard, to the number of four hundred.
Upon being directed by the Mayor to march with his command to the City Hall and hold himself in readiness for such action as might be required, Colonel Stevens asked for a supply of ammunition before he moved. To this request the Mayor at first gave a refusal; but, upon the Colonel telling him decidedly that he should not advance a step without it, he gave a reluctant consent, and six rounds of ball-cartridges were thereupon served out to the regiment .*
* " Colonel Stevens used, in after times, often to speak of his anxiety at the time as to how ' his boys' would conduct themselves in this their first appear- ance in such a trying position. They were, a large portion of them, quite . young, and had had but little training of their minds to the reality of such grave duties s were then before them; he watched, with no little solicitude, their reception of the ball-cartridges, which seemed a novelty to many of them ; they turned them over in their hands as if surprised at their appearance, and
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The troops then marched down Broadway to the Park. The street was filled with an excited crowd of rowdies, who assailed the men at every step with hisses and hoot- ings. The mob and the riotous proceedings seemed, in fact, to be "rather popular with the people generally, even of the better classes, who were in the streets looking on." This ill-judged sympathy and the insults of the rowdies, however, had the effect, the Colonel observed, of exciting the " boys" to a proper pitch of feeling for the occasion, so that by the time they reached the Park "nothing would have suited them better than an order to 'pitch into' their blackguard assailants." The regiment remained for a considerable time in front of the City Hall, march- ing and countermarching in presence of the collected crowd, that the latter might see that they were ready for the work on hand. This came sooner, perhaps, than was expected.
About ten o'clock in the evening, word was brought of a large and disorderly gathering in the vicinity of the Spring-street Church (Rev. Mr. Ludlow's), between Mac- dougal and Varick Streets. This was one of the most ob- noxious points, several meetings of the Abolitionists hav- ing been held there, and the minister of the congregation being understood to be among the most zealous of that class. It was feared that the rioters intended to destroy the church building, and Colonel Stevens was ordered to march as quickly as possible to the scene of the riot. Before moving, he gave the order to load with ball-car- tridges ; "and closely watching, with no little interest, the motions of the men, he was satisfied, from the jerk and emphasis with which the 'ram down' was given, that they were all right, and that there would be no hesitation
appeared to be remarking to each other upon the new and strange position in which they found themselves; they all, however, he noted, placed the car- tridges in their boxes."-Recollections of the Seventh Regiment.
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or hanging back on their part when the time came for action."
The churches, indeed, seemed to be the special object of dislike to the rioters. Besides Rev. Mr. Ludlow's church, on Spring Street, the mob made demonstrations against Dr. Cox's church, corner of Laight and Varick Streets ; the African Chapel, corner of Leonard and Church; St. Philip's Church (also a colored Church), on Center Street, and a church corner of Dey and Washington Streets. The residence of Dr. Cox was also attacked; but fortunately the Doctor and his family, having received notice of the intentions of the mob, had, a few hours before, packed up their furniture and moved to the house of a friend.
The regiment first met the rioters in large force in Thompson Street, above Prince, where they were prepar- ing to sack the parsonage of the Spring-street Church. This, however, was prevented by the timely appearance of the troops, who, pressing forward with the bayonet, compelled the mob to fall back. All the streets in the vicinity were filled with angry faces, on which the most malignant and diabolical passions were depicted ; and as the regiment wheeled from Macdougal into Spring Street, to protect the church-the especial object of the fury of the mob-the men were assailed with stones and other missiles thrown from windows and from the crowd, by which many were hit, and several were felled to the ground. This so exasperated the soldiers that it was only with the greatest difficulty they were restrained from at once opening fire. " A striking feature of this occasion," says General Prosper M. Wetmore, who was present, " was the shower of sparks struck out by the stones glancing on the bayonets and barrels of the muskets."
Near the church the regiment encountered a barricade of carts, barrels, and ladders chained together, planted
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across the street. On top of this obstruction a City Hall politician was haranguing and encouraging the mob to further resistance and deeds of outrage. He, however, was quickly disposed of, and, with a dozen men of the same stripe, sent to the rear under guard. The troops had not arrived a moment too soon. Already a portion of the pews and furniture had been thrown into the street, and one of the rioters was in the steeple ringing the bell, to attract the mob. He, too, was immediately seized and placed in custody ; and " the church cleared of its irrev- erent congregation."
At this juncture, the Aldermen who had been deputed
. by Mayor Lawrence to accompany the military, and to direct, as magistrates, the action of the regiment, became greatly alarmed, and, having entered into negotiations for an armistice, agreed to a cessation of hostilities upon a promise of some of the mob to disperse. Accordingly, they endeavored to prevail on Colonel Stevens to "retreat" to the City Hall, asserting that the rioters were too for- midable for his little band to contend with. To this the Colonel answered that " there was no retreat in the case ; that he was there with his regiment for the purpose of dis- persing the mob and quelling the riot; that he should not retire until that was done; and that he should proceed to the City Hall only through that crowd .* He then, in defi- fiance of the orders of the Aldermen again reiterated, moved two companies up to the barricade under a shower of stones, broke it up, and, marching through the débris, wheeled into Varick Street, driving the mob before him at the point of the bayonet. Here he met Justice Olin M. Lowndes, t who had formerly been a captain in the regi- ment, with a force of police, and, thus reinforced, he
* Can it be that General Grant borrowed his famous phrase of " fighting it out on this line" from these words of Colonel Stevens!
+ Justice, not Sheriff, Lowndes, as Asher Taylor states.
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turned round and marched back against the mob. Charg- ing with prolonged cheers through the remains of the barricade, the troops and police pushed the rioters rapidly back to Sullivan Street. Here Colonel Stevens halted his first division, holding Spring Street in that direction, and, wheeling the second across Sullivan Street, and the third and fourth to the left, facing opposite, he held securely all the streets, severed the mob into four pieces, and thus restored order in that section of the city.
The whole performance of the regiment, says Asher Taylor, was admirable. The men were assailed with stones and every offensive missile, and some of them were spit upon by the rabble. A number of them were struck and severely bruised. The sergeant-major was felled to the ground at the side of his colonel; notwithstanding which, with a forbearance from retaliation, and a subordi- nation to discipline, truly surprising, and reflecting the highest credit on the commanding officer and all engaged in the duty, the colonel, elated at having accomplished his ends without resorting to the use of fire-arms, joyously exclaimed, " A victory, without firing a shot !"
On their way back to the City Hall, the troops marched through Center Street, and quickly put to flight a party of the rioters that was assailing St. Philip's (colored) Church. *
The regiment was put on duty again the next after- noon; but; with the exception of slight disturbances at the head of Catharine Street, near Chatham Square, and in Greenwich village, the night passed off quietly. The troops, however, were kept under arms until Sunday, the 13th, at three o'clock, when they were dismissed to their homes, with orders to hold themselves in readiness to re-assemble at three strokes of the City Hall bell. Hap- pily their services were not again required. The mob had been effectually put down, and peace was again restored.
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