USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, Vol. II > Part 16
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1825, having accomplished a tour through the whole country in the space of thirteen months, despite his lameness and his eighty-six years, the citizens bade adieu to him in a fête at Castle Garden which surpassed any- thing of the kind before witnessed in the country.
The year 1825 witnessed the completion of a public work to which the city owes much of its present import- ance-the Erie Canal. This gigantic enterprise grew out of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, incor- porated in 1792, with fifty members, for the purpose of improving the navigation of the Mohawk River and of opening a communication by canal to Seneca Lake and Lake Ontario. Of this company, General Philip Schuy- ler was president, and Barent Bleecker, Jeremiah John- son and Elkanah Watson of Albany, with Thomas Eddy and Walter Bowne of New York, the most active mem- bers. The Northern Inland Lock Navigation Company was also organized about the same time for the purpose of opening a communication between the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. The route in question was care- fully surveyed by Mr. Weston, a civil engineer from England, in company with Thomas Eddy ; and their reports, added to a tour of observation made by himself in 1800 through the western part of the State, suggested to Gouverneur Morris, who was actively interested in the enterprise, the idea of a canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The proposal attracted general attention ; the aid of the federal government was solicited in the matter, and, failing to obtain this, a resolution calling attention to the subject was introduced into the State Legislature, in 1808, by Joshua Forman, of Onondaga
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County, and the surveyor-general directed to have the route in question explored and surveyed, the sum of six hundred dollars being appropriated for the purpose. The survey was made by James Geddes, and a.report of it furnished to the surveyor-general in 1809. On the 13th of March of the following year, the subject was brought up in the Senate by Jonas Platt, and De Witt Clinton, at this time a member of the Senate, was induced to give his support to the measure. From this time, dates the interest of Clinton in the canal ; and, though he was not the original projector of the scheme, it may safely be affirmed that to his practical talent, his indomitable energy and his obstinate perseverance is due the successful termination of the stupendous work-the giant of canals and the pride of the Empire State. Through his influence, the project was received with favor in the Senate, and a committee appointed con- sisting of Gouverneur Morris, Stephen Van Rensselaer, William North, Thomas Eddy, Peter B. Porter, Robert R. Livingston, and Robert Fulton, of which Morris was chairman, to survey the track of the canal, take levels, make estimates and form plans. In 1811, a report was furnished in behalf of the committee by Gouverneur Morris, accompanied with a finely executed map of the whole route; upon the receipt of which, a bill was brought into the Legislature by Clinton and passed on the 8th of April, vesting the canal commissioners with full executive power in respect to the navigation between the Hudson and the Lakes-and now the struggle began. The war, breaking out almost immediately, greatly retarded the progress of the work. The magnitude of
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the undertaking startled the citizens, many of whom sneered at it as visionary, and termed it, in derision, "Clinton's big ditch ;" and the opponents of Clinton made of the scheme a political issue, and thus strength- ened the opposition by the prejudice of party. Clinton and Morris, after vainly soliciting aid from the national government, appealed for assistance to individual States, and, anded by their friends, struggled long and earnestly for the success of the enterprise. How much the public expression of sympathy in the city of New York contri- buted to the ultimate success of their endeavors will best be told in Clinton's own words. "At the commence- "ment of the year 1816," says he, in his reply to the New York Address, "a few individuals held a consulta- " tion in the city of New York, for the purpose of call- "ing the public attention to the contemplated Western "and Northern Canals. The difficulties to be sur- "mounted were of the most formidable aspect. The "State, in consequence of her patriotic exertions during "the war, was considerably embarrassed in her finances; "a current of hostility had set in against the project; "and the preliminary measures, however well intended, "ably devised or faithfully executed, had unfortunately "increased instead of allaying prejudice. And such was " the weight of these and other considerations, that the " plan was generally viewed as abandoned. Experience " evinces that it is much easier to originate a measure "successfully, than it is to revive one which has already " been unfavorably received. Notwithstanding those "appalling obstacles, which were duly considered, a " publie meeting was called. of which William Bayard
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" was chairman and John Pintard secretary ; a memorial "in favor of the canal policy was read and approved, "and a correspondent spirit, which induced the Legisla- "ture to pass a law authorizing surveys and examina- "tions, took place in every part of the State."
On the 17th of April, 1816, a law was passed, appoint- ing a board of commissioners with authority to lay out the track of the canals, and appropriating twenty thousand dollars for the purpose. De Witt Clinton was appointed president of the board, then removed from the office in 1824, in direct opposition to the wishes of the friends of the undertaking. On the 10th of March, 1817, the commissioners presented an elaborate report of their proceedings to the Legislature; and on the 17th of April, 1817, a law was passed amid the most strenuous opposition, providing funds for the construc- tion of a grand canal, three hundred and sixty-three miles in length, with a surface of forty feet in breadth, declined to eighteen feet at the bottom, and containing a depth of four feet of water, sufficient for convey- ing vessels of more than one hundred tons burden, which should connect the waters of the Great Lakes with the Atlantic ocean, and form, next to the great wall of China, the longest line of continued labor in the world.
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On the 4th of July, 1817, the ground was first broken for the canal by James Richardson, on the middle section in the vicinity of Rome, and from this date the work did not cease for a single day until its completion in 1825. On the 22d of October, 1819, the first boat sailed on the Erie canal from Rome to Utica, with De Witt Clinton
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then governor of the State, Chancellor Livingston, Gen, S. Van Rensselaer, and a large party of friends of the enterprise on board. This was a passenger-boat, named the Chief Engineer, in compliment to Benjamin Wright, and was dragged by a single horse.
The work completed, the city of New York was naturally selected as the most suitable place for the canal celebration. On the morning of the 26th of October, 1825, the first flotilla of canal-boats left Buffalo for New York, where the intelligence of its departure was received one hour and twenty minutes. after by the sound of cannon . stationed along the line. The answer was returned in the same time ; and thus, in less than three hours, Buffalo had spoken to New York and received a reply. In our days of telegraphs, this seems slow conversation ; but the electric wire had not then girdled the earth, and this rapid transmission of news seemed almost a miracle.
On the 4th of November, at about five o'clock in the morning, the fleet, consisting of the Chancellor Living- ston, in which were Clinton and his party, with a long line of canal packet-boats in tow, arrived at New York and anchored near the State Prison at Greenwich, amid the ringing of bells and the salutes of artillery. Here they were met by the steamship Washington, with a deputation from the Common Council on board, to con- gratulate the company on their arrival from Lake Erie. The fleet soon after weighed anchor, and, rounding the Battery, proceeded up the East River to the Navy Yard, where salutes were fired, and the visitors were met by the corporation. Here a grand naval procession was
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formed, consisting of nearly all the vessels in port, gaily decked with colors of all nations, and escorted to the United States schooner Dolphin, moored within Sandy Hook, where the great ceremony of the day was to be performed. The actors in the programme having entered the schooner, the vessels in the procession formed a circle about the spot, and Clinton poured a keg of the fresh water of Lake Erie into the waves, thus wedding the inland seas with the Atlantic ocean. Fol- lowing in his footsteps, Dr. Mitchill poured into the waves waters which he had gathered from every zone- from the Ganges and the Indus, the Nile and the Gambia, the Thames, the Seine, the Rhine and the Danube, the Mississippi and Columbia, the Orinoco, the Plate and the Amazon, in token of the varied commerce which would gather about the island, destined to become the commercial centre of the world. On the land, the celebration was not less imposing. A civic procession four and a half miles in length, numbering nearly seven thousand persons, paraded with banners and music through the principal streets of the city, then proceeded to the Battery to meet the corporation on their return from Sandy Hook. A magnificent display of fireworks was given in the evening in the Park, the public and private buildings were illuminated, and the whole city wore an air of festivity. Not a single accident occurred to mar the harmony of the day, and the Erie Canal celebration may justly be ranked as one of the most successful pageants ever witnessed in the city.
Governor Clinton did not long enjoy his triumph, but expired suddenly of disease of the heart while sitting in
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his library on the 11th of February, 1828. The news of his decease occasioned deep grief in the city of which he had been the greatest benefactor. Suitable public testimonials of respect were offered by the corporation to his memory, and, on the Canal anniversary of 1853, a colossal bronze statue of him, executed by H. K. Brown, of Brooklyn, to the order of several private citizens of New York, was set up with appropriate ceremonies in Greenwood Cemetry. Mr. Clinton was twice married ; first, to Miss' Maria Franklin, daughter of an eminent merchant of the city, by whom he had seven sons and three daughters ; and lastly, to Miss Catherine Jones, daughter of Dr. Thomas Jones of New York, who sur- vived him.
CHAPTER XXI.
1825-1855.
Gas Companies-The Italian Opera-Journalism in the city-Great Fire of 1835-Com. mercial Panic in 1837-The Croton Aqueduct-Astor Place Opera House Riot-Crystal Palace-Position of Affairs in 1855.
NOR was the Erie Canal-a work, of all others, rele- vant to the history of the city, to the growth of which it has contributed so largely-the only public improve- ment that sprung into existence during the year 1825 ; gas-pipes, joint-stock companies, the opera, the Sunday press, and the Merchants' Exchange, all made their first advent in the great metropolis in the course of the same year.
First, of the introduction of gas into the city. Hitherto, the streets had been dimly lighted with oil ; and though efforts had been made to substitute something better, and experiments had even been made in the Park with gas-lighits as early as the summer of 1812, nothing defi- nite was done until March, 1823, when the New York Gas Light Company was incorporated with a capital of $1,000,000, with the privilege of supplying all that part
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of the city south of Canal and Grand streets. In May, 1825, it commenced the proposed improvement by laying gas-pipes in Broadway on both sides of the street, from Canal street to the Battery. From these, they were gradually extended over the southern part of the island, though for years the city presented a checkered appear- ance, with one block dimly lighted by the ancient oil- lamps, and the next brilliantly illuminated from the works of the new gas company. In 1830, the improve- ment was extended to the northern part of the island by the incorporation of the Manhattan Gas Light Company, with a capital of $500,000, for the purpose of supplying the upper part of the city, not included within the limits of the New York Company. The innovation soon grew into favor ; both companies have been eminently success- ful, and at the present day, nearly the whole of New York Island is veined with a net-work of pipes, both of gas and water, bringing the two elements into the homes of the citizens, ready to gush forth at the touch of the obedient fancet.
Not so beneficial in their results were the joint-stock companies, which, following in the lead of the specula- tive fever which was raging at this time so fiercely in England, rose only to lead an ephemeral existence, and to fall again in the course of the following year with a terrible crash, involving the all of thousands in a com- mon ruin. The history of these is of too recent a date to be classed as yet among historical facts, nor would our limits permit.it, were we disposed for the investigation ; it suffices to say that the commercial panie of 1826, brought on by the failure of numerous joint-stock com-
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panies, some under the control of fraudulent stock-job- bers, and others of visionary enthusiasts, honest in purpose, yet misled themselves and misleading others by the bubble of colossal fortunes, built up in a day by a fortunate stroke, destroyed, for a time, all confidence in business, and utterly paralyzed the commerce of the city. But this state of affairs was of short duration ; business gradually revived on a surer basis, the public lost confi - dence in the lotteries, bogus banks, and kindred schemes with which the whole country had previously been flooded, and the chaos resulted in good to the whole community.
This year witnessed the first effort to introduce the Italian opera to the shores of the New World. The . theatre was already a fixed institution ; the stage ot the old Park Theatre had witnessed the performances of Cooke, Kean, Cooper, Booth, Wallack, Conway, Math- ews and many others ; Incledon, Braham, Phillips and other vocalists had also been received with favor by the New York public ; yet no attempt had been made at operatic performances. In 1825, the Garcia troupe arrived, and, on the 29th of November, made their first appearance at the Park Theatre in the opera of " Il Barbiere di Seviglia," in which Signorina Garcia, after- ward the celebrated Malibran, then but seventeen years of age, made her debut before the American public, and was received with unbounded enthusiasm. The genius of the great artist was quickly recognized, and the press of the city teemed with her praises. The first opera was continued for thirty consecutive nights, then replaced by others with equal success. She afterward appeared in English opera at the Bowery Theatre, opened for the
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first time in October, 1826, where she received ten thousand dollars for seventeen nights' performances. But the attempt was premature ; the country was still too young to afford the necessary encouragement to art, and, finding their success not commensurate with their wishes, the artists determined, after two years' trial, to abandon the enterprise, and, in 1827, set sail for France, where the youthful prima donna won herself a world-wide reputation as the acknowledged Queen of Song, then expired in the midst of her triumph, at the early age of twenty-eight. Other attempts to establish the Italian Opera on a permanent basis soon followed with like success. Palmo, with a choice troupe of artists and a tasteful little Opera House, seemed likely for a time to succeed, but was forced at last to abandon the enterprise. The Astor Place Opera House, built in 1848, bore the stamp of failure from its very foundation, and, passing in 1852 into the hands of Donetti, was converted into a menagerie ; then, in 1854, was purchased by the Mer- cantile Library Association and transformed into the present Clinton Hall. The Academy of Music was opened in 1855, and, after repeated failures, Max Maret- zek succeeded in naturalizing the Italian opera within its walls. It was burned on the night of May 21, 1866, together with the Medical College in Fourteenth street, but was immediately rebuilt, and was formally reopened by a masked ball, March 1, 1867.
This was also the epoch of the introduction of marble as a building material, Marbles abounded of every shade and texture, and of a fineness unsurpassed by any in the Old World, yet so strong was the prejudice exist-
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Academy of Music.
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ing against them that when the American Museum, the first marble-fronted building in the city after the City Hall, was built in 1824, not a workman could be per- suaded to put up the edifice, and, as a last resort, a con- vict was pardoned out of the State Prison at Sing Sing on condition that he would perform the work. This museum was built by John Scudder, who removed his collection thither from the rooms which he had formerly occupied in the New York Institution. It remained in his hands and those of his heirs until 1840, when it was purchased by P. T. Barnum, who soon after added to it the collection of Peale's New York Museum, located in Broadway near the corner of Murray street, which had been purchased of the proprietor in 1838 by the New York Museum Company.
In 1825, the erection of the Merchants' Exchange in Wall street was commenced and finished in 1827, when the Post-office was removed to the Rotunda, where it remained until its destruction by the conflagration of 1835. The New York University, the Masonic Hall in Broadway, nearly opposite the New York Hospital, the Arcade in Maiden Lane, and many other buildings of more or less interest were also erected about the same time.
The approaching presidential election of 1828, rallied the parties together for a new contest. John Quincy Adams, the regnant President, was the candidate of the National Republicans, the lineal descendants of the old federal party ; while the pseudo "Albany Regency "party," with the republicans at large, supported the claims of General Andrew Jackson, the hero of New
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The New York University.
Orleans. The friends of the latter at this time assumed the name of Democrats ; a term which had first been bestowed on them in derision in the days of the French Revolution, and which originated, like most of the parti- san names, in New York city. The city, increased in 1827 by the addition of two wards, was now again under the rule of Mayor Paulding, who had superseded Mayor Hone in 1826. The democrats had clearly gained the ascendeney, and in the charter elections of 1826, 77, '8 and '9, succeeded in electing a majority in both boards
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of the Common Council. In the federal election, they also obtained the victory, and placed their candidate in the presidential chair of the United States.
This was also the epoch of the anti-masonic excite- ment, arising from the abduction and supposed murder, in 1826, of William Morgan, a recreant Mason of Bata- via, who had threatened to expose the secrets of the fra- ternity. This charge was soon converted into a political weapon, a combination was formed against the Masons, at this time a large and flourishing society, the most extravagant rumors of diabolical practices in their secret conclaves were put in circulation, and at the elections of 1827, the people, forgetting the ancient party divisions, ranked themselves as Masons or anti-Masons at the polls. The persecution of the luckless society was fanatical in the extreme ; a number of prominent papers opened a crusade against it, public meetings were held at which seceders from its ranks denounced it as the sum and sub- stance of all wickedness, and a prejudice was excited throughout the community which paralyzed it for years, and seemed for a time to threaten its existence. Before the presidential election, the anti-Masonic colors were adopted by the enemies of Jackson, while the democrats ranged themselves on the side of the hunted Masons , but, though the latter succeeded in electing their candi- dates at the polls, their efforts could not save the fated society from the unpopularity which long checked its growth. The fate of Morgan was never positively known ; a body found in Lake Ontario was declared to be his by the anti-Masonic party-" a good enough Morgan till after the election," the friends of the Masons
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called it ; and much doubt there was indeed of its iden- tity. The society became almost a dead letter, and it is only within a few years that it has revived from the paralysis and regained its former position.
In the course of the year 1829, Walter Bowne, a mer- chant of New York, and a prominent politician of the democratic party, was appointed mayor in the place of William Paulding. Mr. Bowne was a lineal descendant of John Bowne, the leader of the Quakers at Flushing, who had been imprisoned for his faith by the order of Stuyvesant ; then released by the West India Company, who would sanction no religious persecution within their dominions.
On the 7th of April, 1830, an amended charter was granted to the city, which provided for separate meet- ings of the two boards, and excluded the mayor and recorder from the Common Council, giving the mayor, however, the power of approving or disapproving the acts of this body. In the course of the following year, the Fifteenth Ward was added to the city.
New political issues arose on the approach of the pre- sidential election of 1832, and with them new divisions of party. The workingmen's party, suddenly arising in the State election of 1830 to secure for mechanics a lien on the buildings which they had erected for the better security of their wages and electing Throop as gov- ernor, then as suddenly vanishing from existence, had not interfered with the charter elections of the city. The democrats still preserved their ascendency, electing a majority in both boards, though enough national repub- licans were found in the city to insure a warm contest
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at the polls. The first steps toward the organization of the whig party were taken by the latter in 1830, at a meeting held in the city of New York, at which Henry Clay was nominated to the Presidency.
The party lines were now distinctly drawn, and for more than twenty years the people continued to be divided into the two great sections of Whigs and Demo- crats. The former, first adopting their distinctive appel- lation in the charter elections of 1833, rallied at first by the name of the Clay party under the banners of Henry Clay, in favor of a protective tariff together with the preservation of a national bank ; the latter supported the reelection of Jackson, who had lately doomed this bank to dissolution by his veto of the bill passed by Con- gress to grant it a new charter in 1836, when the first would expire by its own limitation.
The democrats were everywhere successful, electing Jackson as Presi- dent and William L. Marcy as governor of the State, and gaining large majorities in both boards of the Common Council. In the following year, Mayor Bowne was super- seded in the mayoralty by Gideon Lee, a New York mer- chant of eastern extraction, notable for having been one of the pioneers of the leather business in Ferry street.
In 1832, New York, now freed from the periodical ravages of yellow fever by the strict enforcement of quarantine regulations, was visited for the first time by the Asiatic cholera, which raged to a fearful extent, ; almost depopulating the city and creating a universal panic among the inhabitants. It returned two years after, modified in violence, then disappeared entirely until 1849, when it broke out early in the summer, and
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raged fearfully until late in autumn. In 1855, it again appeared, nor has it since wholly abandoned the city, but remains lurking in its midst, striking down a few victims here and there every summer, yet reserving its force for some future devastation.
One of the most important events in the history of this era in its bearings upon the city as well as the whole country, was the establishment of the penny press ; an institution which opened the way for cheap literature, and, by placing the daily journals within reach of every citizen, disseminated general knowledge, and tended emphatically to make of our people what they are now acknowledged to be-the greatest reading nation of any on the globe.
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