USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress Vol. III > Part 14
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The envoys to France found the government in new hands.1 Napoleon Bonaparte, as first consul of the republic, was energetically engaged in try- ing to establish order. He was disposed to negotiate, and before the end of September differences had been adjusted between the two nations and a treaty signed.2 It seemed at this juncture as if a universal cessation of hostilities was about to mark the history of Europe.
The wisdom of the mission was thereby justified ; for had negotiation been unprovided for, the speedy European peace that followed would have left America to fight alone; or, that being out of the question, as it would have been, to accept such terms as France might choose to dictate.
Whatever may be thought of the policy of Adams, his determination to exercise his own judgment and boldly risk his personal popularity to secure to his country an honorable peace, made one thing evident. He could not be depended upon as the instrument of a party. Long before the results of the mission to France were known, the bitter feud between the Federal leaders rendered it certain that Adams could not be re- elected to the Presidential chair.
Hamilton was acutely indignant upon learning that the President had freely mentioned him by name as acting under British influence. He sub- sequently wrote and privately circulated a pamphlet to portray the unfit- ness of Adams for the administration of the government. Wolcott and the two ex-secretaries, confident in their own wisdom and integrity, matured a plan in connection with Hamilton for quietly displacing Adams without seeming to make an open attack upon him. In this they were aided by the method in vogue of voting for two candidates without distinction as to the office for which they were intended. They resolved to bring forward the two names of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and John Adams, and then find means to secure Pinckney the larger vote.
The Republicans took immediate advantage of the situation. By a current calculation the result of the Presidential election was made to rest upon the vote of New York alone, and even upon the members of Assembly to be chosen in the city of New York at the spring election, as the Presidential electors were chosen by the legislature in joint ballot. Aaron Burr was not himself a city candidate, which circumstance pre- vented the Manhattan Bank question from prejudicing the election, but was shrewdly nominated and elected from the county of Orange. With matchless foresight he drafted an imposing catalogue of names for the
1 Napoleon Bonaparte was chosen first consul of the republic December 13, 1799, from which time his line of policy distinctly unfolded itself.
2 The treaty between France and the United States was signed September 30, 1800. It was ratified by President Adams, February 18, 1801, and by Bonaparte, July 31, 1801.
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city ticket, and then applied himself resolutely to the task of inducing the gentlemen to permit their names to be used. As jealousies existed between the Clintons and Livingstons, he adroitly placed ex-Governor George Clinton at the head of the list, Judge Brockholst Livingston second, and General Horatio Gates, whose enmity to Schuyler and Hamilton still rankled, immediately following. Each of these men represented a faction of the Republican party, and were by no means disposed to act together.
For a long time each was deaf to arguments and entreaties. Burr was persistent in trying to overcome their objections. Clinton had himself pretensions to the Presidency. Seven years before he had received fifty electoral votes out of one hundred and thirty-two, while Jefferson had but four. He did not like Jefferson, and he liked Burr less than Jefferson. To be asked to stand for the Assembly for the sole purpose of helping Jefferson into the Presidential chair, brought heavy lines into his stern face. And the solicitation coming from an aspiring individual who was only a stripling aide-de-camp when he was the foremost man in the State, and who had actually received thirty electoral votes to his four in 1797, did not brighten the prospect. Burr was mildly persuasive, and talked eloquently of sacrificing personal or ambitious considerations for the good of the party. For many days Clinton was firm in his refusal. The final interview occurred at Burr's residence, at Richmond Hill. Burr was never more fluent or captivating. When all the old and new arguments had been exhausted in vain, and the committee was in despair, Burr said that it was a right inherent in the community to command the services of an able man at a great crisis, and announced the intention of the party to nominate and elect Clinton without regard to his inclination. Clinton at last promised that he would not publicly repudiate the nomina- tion ; and that during the canvass he would refrain in his ordinary con- versation from denouncing Jefferson, as had become habitual with him. He kept his word, but rendered no personal assistance in the campaign.
The next movement was to secure the consent of Gates, and it is said that the art with which Burr worked upon his foibles and judgment was marvelous. Gates yielded, as did also, after repeated interviews, Judge Livingston. The consent of the nine less conspicuous persons was obtained only after much trouble. Burr then commenced operations directly upon the public mind. He provided for a succession of ward and general meetings, nearly all of which he attended and addressed. He was continu- ally declaring that the Republicans had really a majority in the city ; and he superintended the making out of lists of the voters with the political history of each appended in parallel columns, to which was added all new information obtained. The finance committee had prepared a list
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of the wealthy Republicans, with the sum of money it was proposed to solicit from each, attached to his name. Burr glanced over it, and observ- ing that a certain politician, equally remarkable for zeal and parsimony, was assessed one hundred dollars, said, quietly, “ Strike out his name, for you will not get the money, and from the moment the demand is made upon him his exertions will cease, and you will not see him at the polls during the election." The name was erased. Lower down in the cata- logue he noticed the same sum placed opposite the name of another man who was liberal with his money, but incorrigibly lazy. "Double it," he said, " and tell him no labor will be expected from him, except an occa- sional attendance in the committee-room to help fold the tickets." The result was as predicted. The lazy man paid the money cheerfully, and the stingy man worked day and night. In all Burr's lists a man's opinions and temperament were not only noted, but his habits, and the amount of excitement or inducement necessary to overcome any fatal disposition to neglect visiting the polls. Whenever Burr came in con- tact with the humblest of his adherents he treated them so sweetly and blandly that his manners were remembered when the whole conversation had passed from the mind.
The polls opened on the morning of the 29th of April, and closed at sunset on the 2d of May. During these few days the exertions of both parties were beyond parallel. Hamilton was personally in the field, animating the Federalists with his powerful orations. Burr was perpetually addressing large assemblages of Republicans. Sometimes the two appeared on the same platform, and addressed the multitude in turn. On these occasions their bearing toward each other was so defer- entially courteous and graceful as never to be forgotten by those present.
Several causes served to weaken the Federalists other than the signifi- cant division of party. The enforcement of the odious Alien and Sedition Laws had exasperated a large community of good citizens. The arrest of Judge Peck, for instance, at Otsego, for circulating a sharply worded petition that the odious laws might be repealed, roused the whole State. " A hundred missionaries stationed between New York and Cooperstown could not have done so much for the Republican cause as this journey of Judge Peck, a prisoner, torn from his family, to the capital of the State," writes Hammond. "It was nothing less than the public exhibi- tion of a suffering martyr for the freedom of speech and the press, and the right of petitioning." A special point was also made by the Oppo- sition of the fact that nearly all the Tories of the Revolution, then living, had allied themselves with the Federalists.
Before the two great rivals slept, after the contest ended, they learned
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that the Republicans had carried the city by a majority of four hundred and ninety votes. The news took the whole country by surprise. It was a great national victory for the Republicans, after twelve years of defeat. Vice-President Jefferson called upon President Adams the evening after the startling intelligence was received in Philadelphia, and found him in great dejection. "Well, I understand that you are to beat me in this contest, and I will only say that I will be as faithful a subject as any you will have," said the President. " Mr. Adams," replied Jefferson, "this is no personal contest between you and me. Two systems of principles on the subject of government divide our fellow-citizens into two parties ; with one of these you concur, and I with the other. As we have been longer on the stage than most of those now living, our names happen to be more generally known. One of these parties, therefore, has put your name at its head, the other mine. Were we both to die to- day, to-morrow two other names would be in the place of ours, without any change in the motion of the machinery. Its motion is from its principle, not from you or myself."
Congress was in session, and the possibility being settled that a Repub- lican President and Vice-President could be elected, it became necessary to decide upon candidates. For the first office all eyes turned towards Jefferson. It was agreed to nominate a Vice-President from New York, and Chancellor Livingston, ex-Governor Clinton, and Burr were all mentioned. The deafness of Chancellor Livingston presented an insur- mountable barrier to his nomination, and as the sudden rise of the Republican party was due to the exertions of Burr, he became the nomi- nee, with the distinct understanding, however, that Jefferson was the choice of the party for President.
Hamilton was greatly disappointed. Yet he did not despair. One of his first acts, with the approval, it is said, of a caucus of his political friends in New York, was to address a letter to Governor Jay requesting and urging him to convene the Legislature before its year expired - on the 1st of July - with a view of changing the manner of choosing Presi- dential electors in the State. Jay refused to yield to the pressing solici- tation, and on the back of the letter indorsed with his own hand these words, " Proposing a measure for party purposes, which I think it would not become me to adopt."
On the first Tuesday of November Governor Jay appeared before the newly chosen Legislature of the State, and in his speech alluded to the cause of the early session, which was to appoint Presiden- tial electors, and recommended the suppression of all inflammatory feeling .. The two houses immediately proceeded to the business before
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them. The Senate nominated Federalists, the Assembly Republicans. Upon a joint ballot the Republican ticket received a majority of twenty- two votes. The men chosen were, Pierre Van Cortlandt, Jr., Anthony Lispenard, Isaac Ledyard, James Burt, Gilbert Livingston, Thomas Jenkins, Peter Van Ness, Robert Ellis, John Woodworth, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Jacob Acker, and William Floyd. On the 6th John Arm- strong was elected to the Senate of the United States in place of John Lawrence, who had resigned. He was eminent for talents and a political writer of great force and originality; and the brother-in-law of Chancellor Livingston. He had been a Federalist until a recent period, even as late as 1797, since when he had joined the Republicans. Before the session adjourned on the 8th to the last Tuesday in January, 1801, the Republicans nominated George Clinton for governor, and Jere- miah Van Rensselaer for lieutenant-governor, to be supported at the next election. On the same day the Federalists held a meeting and addressed Governor Jay, with a request that he should be a candidate for re- election, which he positively declined, having determined to retire from all public employment. Stephen Van Rensselaer accordingly received the nomination for governor.
Meanwhile the seat of government had been, during the early summer months, removed from Philadelphia to its new home on the Poto- 1800. mac. Secretary Wolcott wrote on the 4th of July, from the building at Washington erected for the use of the Treasury Department: " Immense sums have been squandered in buildings which are but partly finished, in situations which are not, and never will be, the scenes of business, while the parts near the public buildings are almost wholly unimproved. You may look in almost any direction, over an extent of ground nearly as large as the city of New York, without seeing a fence or any object except brick-kilns and temporary huts for laborers. There is one good tavern about forty rods from the Capitol, and several other houses are built and erecting ; but I do not perceive how the members of Congress can possibly secure lodgings, unless they will consent to live like scholars in a college, or monks in a monastery, crowded ten or twenty in one house, and utterly secluded from society. There appears to be a confident expectation that this place will soon exceed any city in the world. No stranger can be here a day, and converse with the propri- etors, without conceiving himself in the company of crazy people. On the whole, I must say that the situation is a good one, and I perceive no reason for suspecting it to be unhealthy; but I had no conception, till I came here, of the folly and infatuation of the people who have directed the settlements. Though five times as much money has been expended
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as was necessary, and though the private buildings are in number suffi- cient for all who will have occasion to reside here, yet there is nothing convenient and nothing plenty but provisions ; there is no industry, society, or business."
In regard to the Executive Mansion, Wolcott spoke of it as "The Palace," a term in common use for many years ; he wrote : " It is about as large as the wing of the Capitol, except that it is not so high. It is highly decorated, and makes a good appearance, but it is in a very unfin- ished state. I cannot but consider the Presidents as very unfortunate men if they must live in this dwelling. It is cold and damp in winter, and cannot be kept in tolerable order without a regiment of servants. It was built to be looked at by visitors and strangers, and will render its occupant an object of ridicule with some, and of pity with others."
Mrs. Adams wrote in a similar strain on the 21st of November. She thought it would require about thirty servants to keep the house and stables in proper order. "An establishment very well proportioned to the President's salary," she added ironically. She had made up her mind to content herself anywhere for three months, until the expiration of her husband's term of office, but the want of comforts was a great trial. " If they will put me up some bells - there is not one hung through the whole house and promises are all. you can obtain -and let me have wood enough to keep fires, I design to be pleased," she said. "But sur- rounded by forests, can you believe that wood is not to be had, because people cannot be found to cut and cart it ! The principal stairs are not up, and will not be this winter. There is not a single apartment finished, and all withinside, except the plastering, has been done since Briesler came. We have not the least fence, yard, or other convenience without, and the great unfinished audience-room (East Room) I make a drying room of, to hang up the clothes in. Woods are all you can see from Baltimore until you reach the city, which is only so in name. Here and there is a small cot, without a glass window, interspersed along the forests, through which you travel miles without seeing a human being."
The public offices had hardly been established at Washington when the War Office took fire and was burned, occasioning the destruction of many valuable papers. In the course of the winter a like accident happened to the Treasury Department, although the destruction of papers was comparatively trifling. In the rabid party fury these fires were by the Opposition newspapers attributed to design on the part of certain public officers, who, it was said, hoped thus to destroy the evidence of pecuniary defalcations.
Secretary Wolcott had felt his position in the President's cabinet ex-
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ceedingly uncomfortable ever since the dismissal of his colleagues, and had fixed on the end of the year as a period for retiring. In notifying the President and Congress of his determination, he asked an investi- gation into his official conduct. He had not been less decisive in his political opinions than the secretaries who were removed, but he had always preserved towards President Adams great courtesy of manner ; and he was, moreover, an excellent Secretary of the Treasury, whose place it was not easy to fill. It was found that he was leaving the Treasury in a flourishing condition after twelve years of laborious and important public service, and with very little money in his pocket. Adams, with a magnanimity which quite took Wolcott by surprise, appointed him judge of the second district.
Samuel Dexter of Boston, who had been appointed Secretary of War in the early part of the year, succeeded Wolcott in the Treasury. Oliver Ellsworth, being detained in Europe by ill health after his mission to France was successfully concluded, sent in his resignation of chief justice, which office was immediately tendered for the second time to John Jay, who declined, having resolved that nothing should interfere with his purpose of retiring from public life. Adams then conferred the important post upon John Marshall, the successor of Pickering as Secretary of State.
New York City, although the focus of Hamilton's influence, and the field where Burr was distancing all his competitors in the arts of intrigue, the center indeed of the obstinate struggle for the supremacy of a national party, was not entirely given over to politics. Its inhabitants and its institutions multiplied in rapid ratio. The population already numbered sixty thousand. The third Presbyterian Church edifice had been erected upon a lot donated by Henry Rutgers, corner of Rutger and Henry Streets, and was first opened for public worship in May, 1798. The location was barren of habitable surroundings until after the beginning of the century. The bridge at Canal Street presented a rural picture which it is interesting to perpetuate. During the same year (1798) the first monthly concert of prayer was held in the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Cedar Street, the second in the Wall Street Presbyterian Church, the third in the Middle Dutch Church, in Nassau Street. It was a union of the three denomina- tions and grew out of private prayer-meetings instituted by Mrs. Isabella Graham, a remarkable Scotch lady who had been persuaded in 1789, by Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, to break up a flourishing school in Edinburgh and establish a similar school for young ladies in New York City. She was gifted with exceptional religious as well as intellectual activity, and was considered a great acquisition to the cause of education in this country. She was sustained in her enterprise by the clergy of all denominations,
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CHARITIES AND CHURCHES.
and the most influential families were among the patrons of her school. She originated the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, organized at her own residence in 1797; her name appears as first directress of its board of managers, Mrs. Sarah Hoffman second directress, and Mrs. Joanna Bethune third directress. At the first annual meeting of this society, in 1798, ninety- eight widows, with two hundred and twenty-three children, were reported as having been brought through the severity of the winter with comfort, who would otherwise have been condemned to the almshouse. Erelong the ladies discovered the necessity of some systematic provision for the orphan children of the deceased widows, hence the foundation of the New York Orphan Asylum at a later date.
The Methodists had by this time be- come numerous in the city. Their first house of worship in John Street was built Bridge at Canal Street in 1800. in 1768, but the regular establishment of the Methodist Episcopal Church did not occur until 1784. The second church edifice of this denomina- tion was erected in Forsyth, near Division Street, about 1790, a wood structure, costing two thousand dollars. Another organization built a house of worship in Duane Street, near Hudson, in 1797, upon which was expended about ten thousand dollars. The fourth Methodist Church was instituted in 1800; an old building was hired on a long lease and occupied as a place of worship, standing near the present St. Mark's Place. It was called the Two-mile-stone Church, having originated in a weekly prayer-meeting established by two members of the John Street Church many years before, among the scattered residents on the road leading to Harlem, and styled the Two-mile-stone Prayer-meeting, from being two miles from what was then the center of the city. The fifth Methodist Church was not organized until 1810. The Methodist clergymen of the period were Rev. Daniel Smith, Rev. William Phoebus, Rev. John McCloskey, Rev. Michael Coats, and Rev. Thomas Sergent.
The first missionary society was founded in 1796, its purpose being to propagate the gospel among the Indians and the destitute settlers ou the frontier. Rev. Dr. Rodgers was president, Rev. Dr. Livingston vice- president, Alexander Robertson treasurer, Rev. Dr. John M. Mason secretary, and Rev. John N. Abeel clerk. The directors were Rev. Dr. William Linn, Rev. Dr. John McKnight, Rev. Benjamin Foster, Rev.
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Gerardus A. H. Kuypers, Rev. Samuel Miller, Leonard Bleecker, John Broome, J. Machaness, Thomas Storm, Ezekiel Robbins, George Lindsay, and John Murray. The earliest annual sermon preached before this society was by Rev. Dr. Livingston, a sermon which was published and found its way to Williamstown, where it was read by the students who prayed under the haystack in the field back of Williams College.
Several religious societies were in existence at the beginning of the century. Also a charity for the relief of distressed persons, of which Rev. Dr. Rodgers was president, Rev. Dr. Abram Beach vice-president, John Murray treasurer, and James Bleecker secretary. Dr. Rodgers was also president of the City Dispensary, Moses Rodgers treasurer, Anthony Bleecker secretary, and Rev. Dr. Linn, Rev. Dr. Beach, Dr. John Charlton, John Watts, Matthew Clarkson, General Jacob Morton, James Watson, John Broome, John Cozine, Samuel Osgood, and John Murray, trustees.
Anthony Bleecker was at this time about thirty years of age, a grad- uate of Columbia, a lawyer and a gentleman of classical education and belles-lettres tastes. He was a member of the Drone Club, a social and literary circle instituted about the year 1792 as an aid to intellectual advancement. Its members were recognized by proofs of authorship, and included such men as Kent, Dunlap, Johnson, Dr. Ed- ward and Rev. Samuel Miller, Dr. Mitchill, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, and Charles Brockden Brown. Bleecker wrote for the Drone in prose and verse, and was for many years a prolific contributor to the period- icals of the day. Charles Brockden Brown came to New York in 1796, at the age of twenty-five, ambitious to devote himself to letters, and in 1798 issued his first novel, entitled Wieland, a powerful and original romance; and in 1799 Osmond, or the Secret Witness. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Dr. Linn. He is said to have been the first American who ventured to pursue literature as a profession. In 1800 he published the second part of Arthur Mervyn, and had at the same time several other works in progress.
Near the river shore, the grounds ornamented with majestic sycamores, stood the venerated seat of classical lore, Columbia College. "Those venerable trees," said the Hon. John Jay in his centennial address in 1876, " had an historic interest from the fact which, when a boy, I heard from the lips of Judge Egbert Benson during one of his visits to my grandfather at Bedford, that those trees were carried to the green by him- self, Jay, Robert R. Livingston, and I think Richard Harrison, and planted by their own hands." President William Samuel Johnson resigned his office at the close of the college year in 1800, and Rev. Dr. Charles Henry
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