USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress Vol. III > Part 24
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March 4. ity in theory and authority in practice. He had pursued his policy of peace, with one half the nation lauding him as a political saint and the other charging him with intolerable tyranny, until earth and sea seemed to have united in one great paroxysm of madness, and war threatened both at home and from abroad.
Madison was inaugurated with the usual ceremonies, and in his address declared his intention "to cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations having correspondent dispositions ; to maintain sincere neutrality
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towards belligerent nations ; and to exclude foreign intrigues and foreign partialities." At the same time he acknowledged the difficult crisis of affairs, the more striking by its contrast to the extraordinary commercial prosperity of preceding years, a crisis resulting, in his opinion, solely from the misconduct of the powers in Europe who were at war with each other, and not from errors of administration.
One of his first acts, in view of the dark clouds of war which for years had overshadowed Europe and were now rolling towards America, was to send John Quincy Adams on a mission to Russia. The youthful Emperor Alexander was rising to a prominent and influential position among the nations of the Old World. Adams had veered about in politics and sustained Jefferson and his embargo policy, and with his eminent talents and literary acquirements, his perfect knowledge of the relations of nations, and of the diplomatic language of Europe, he was well fitted for such an embassy. Twenty-eight years before, while a mere lad, he had been in the same place as private secretary to Dana. He was now in his prime, and, arriving at St. Petersburg in the autumn of 1809, made such a favorable impression upon the court, that the emperor, charmed by his varied qualities, admitted him to terms of personal inti- macy seldom granted to the most favored individuals.
An attempt to negotiate a treaty with Great Britain was unsuccessful. Erskine, the English minister at Washington, had been sincerely desirous of effecting conciliatory arrangements with the United States, and entered into an agreement with Madison's Secretary of State that the British orders in council should be repealed on the tenth day of the coming June. The highest hopes of commercial freedom began to fill the American mind. But news came that turned the tide into a flood of bitter resent- ment. The British government peremptorily refused to honor the treaty of their minister, and charged him with having exceeded his instructions, knowingly. President Madison, who had fondly hoped to relieve the nation from the multiplied evils of the restrictive policy, had no alterna- tive but to issue a mandate renewing non-intercourse.
The excitement was intense. Republicans generally charged the Brit- ish Cabinet with a palpable breach of public and pledged faith, and the Federalists blamed the President and his advisers. A remarkable change had taken place in the respective politics of Republicans and Federalists during the eight years of Jefferson's rule, showing that party distinction had arisen greatly from differences of opinion as to certain questions of temporary policy, together with divided sympathies respect- ing the contest between England and France. The embargo system had increased the strength of the Federalists, particularly in New England,
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where at the election in 1809 the union against the administration was complete. In New York the Federalists carried the State election, for the first time in ten years.
Consequently, at the first meeting of the new Council of Appointment De Witt Clinton was removed from the mayoralty of the city, and Jacob Radcliff chosen in his stead ; while Pierre Cortlandt Van Wyck was exchanged for Josiah Ogden Hoffman in the recordership. The politics of New York at this time would puzzle a stranger unfamiliar with the deadly feuds between families, which had raged for upwards of a century. The tactics and the manœuvres of the factions for supremacy might be likened to a kaleidoscope, presenting many fine colors and symmetrical forms, but leaving a singular uncertainty upon the mind as to the future charac- ter of the exhibition. Purely partisan conflicts are of as little moment to history as the rise of cliques which after brief existence suddenly disappear from the horizon of politics. A few brave men of the Republican party still clung to Aaron Burr, who in abject poverty was at this moment vainly trying to get out of France, and believed his vexatious detention was due to the enmity of Armstrong ; he was under the surveillance of " that perfect police which could make the empire as impassable a prison as a walled and moated fortress," and learned from Theodosia that the news- papers in America seldom mentioned his name but to stigmatize it, and that politicians knew too well that to appear in his defense would be to share his odium, and destroy all their hopes of the smallest governmental favor. Another section of the Republican party, which had supported Madison for the Presidency in opposition to George Clinton, made com- mon cause with the Livingstons.
Before the end of the year the pressure from the Federalists was so great that the Clintonians and the Livingstons coalesced, and re-elected Governor Tompkins by ten thousand majority over Jonas Platt, the Federal candidate. Thus the Federalists, although having increased their strength in the city, lost both the Assembly and the council of appointment, and were doomed to see every man of their party hold- ing office removed to make room for former incumbents. De Witt Clinton was restored to the mayoralty, and Van Wyck to the recorder- ship.
A celebration was planned in the summer of 1809 by the New York Historical Society, to commemorate the discovery of Manhattan Island. Two hundred years had elapsed since Henry Hudson came in sight of our shores, as described in the second chapter of the first volume of this work. The anniversary of such a momentous event attracted universal attention. The corporation of the city tendered the use
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of the front court-room in the City Hall to the Society for the exer- cises of the day, which was accepted, and a large audience of ladies
1809. and gentlemen assembled therein to listen to a brilliant and Sept. 4. learned historical address by Rev. Dr. Miller. Governor Tomp- kins was present, also the mayor and corporation of the city.
At the conclusion of the discourse, about four in the afternoon, the So- ciety adjourned to the City Hotel on Broadway, where an elegant dinner had been prepared. Among the invited guests were ex-Mayor Marinus Willett, Judge Nathaniel Pendleton, Theodorus Bailey, the postmaster, Colonel
City Hotel, Trinity Church, and Grace Church. [From a rare old print.]
Peter Curte- nius, Charles Baldwin, and Henry Gahn, the Swedish Consul. The viands served were "a vari- ety of shell and other fish with which our waters abound, wild pigeons and succotash (In- dian-corn and beans), the fa- vorite dish of
the season, with the different meats introduced into this country by the European settlers." 1 It was a banquet in keeping with the historical spirit of the occasion, all modern delicacies having been rigidly excluded.2
Among the nominees for membership of the Historical Society at this meeting were Oliver Wolcott, David B. Ogden, William Paulding, Jr., Washington Irving, Richard Riker, James Swords, and Matthias B. Tallmadge. A few of the honorary members elected were Lindley Murray, Noah Webster, Charles Brockden Brown, George Gibbs, Timothy Alden, Rev. Dr. Jedediah Morse, Rev. Dr. John Elliott, Rev. Dr. William Samuel Johnson, Rev. Dr. Benjamin Trumbull, Dr. Samuel Bard, Dr.
1 Minutes of the New York Historical Society in Manuscript, Vol. I. p. 23 ; Dr. Miller's Discourse, New York Hist. Soc. Coll. Vol. I. 1809.
2 The sentiments offered at this notable dinner were :-
"Christopher Columbus. - The discoverer of America. His monument is not inscribed
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THE BANQUET.
Benjamin Rush, Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, president of Princeton College, Josiah Quincy, and Vice-President George Clinton.
with his name, yet all nations recognize it. Its base covers half the globe, and its summit reaches beyond the clouds."
"Queen Isabella of Spain. - The magnanimous and munificent friend and patron of Columbus."
"John and Sebastian Cabot. - The contemporaries of Columbus and the discoverers of North America."
"John Verrazano. - His enterprising genius and his visit to this part of our country deserve to be better known."
" Henry Hudson. - The enterprising and intrepid navigator. Though disastrous his end, yet fortunate his renown, for the majestic river which bears his name shall render it immortal.'
" The Fourth of September, 1609. - The day on which Hudson landed on our shores."
" Wouter Van Twiller. - The first governor of New Netherland."
" Peter Stuyvesant. - The last Dutch governor, an intrepid soldier and faithful officer."
"Richard Nicolls. - The first English governor of the Province of New York."
" George Clinton. - The first governor of the State of New York."
" William Smith. - The historian of New York."
" Richard Hakluyt and Samuel Purchas. - May future compilers of historical documents emulate their diligence and fidelity."
"William Smith, Cadwallader Colden, Samuel Smith, Jeremy Belknap, and George Richards Minot - American historians. - They have merited the gratitude of their country."
" The United States of America. - May our prosperity ever confirm the belief that the discovery of our country was a blessing to mankind."
" The State of New York. - May it ever be the pleasing task of the historian to record events that shall evince the wisdom of her Legislature, and display the virtue of her people."
" The Massachusetts Historical Society, which set the honorable example of collecting and preserving what relates to the history of our country."
" Our Forefathers. - To whose enterprise and fortitude, under Providence, we owe the blessings we enjoy."
Among the numerous volunteer toasts - after the governor and the mayor had retired from the table - were the following : -
By William Johnson, the chairman (in the absence of Judge Benson, the president of the Society) : - " The Governor of the State of New York."
By John Pintard :- "The mayor and corporation of the city of New York."
By Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill : - " A speedy termination of our foreign relations."
By Simeon De Witt :- "May our successors, a century hence, celebrate the same event which we this day commemorate."
By Dr. David Hosack :- "The memory of St. Nicholas. May the virtuous habits and simple manners of our Dutch ancestors be not lost in the luxuries and refinements of the present time."
By Judge Pendleton :- " May the same virtues and the same industry combine in our land which have converted an Indian cornfield into a Botanic Garden."
By Josiah Ogden Hoffman : - " Egbert Benson, our absent and respected president."
By Colonel Curtenius : - " Pierre Van Cortlandt, the first lieutenant-governor of the State of New York." .
By Mr. Gahn, the Swedish Consul : - "The mouth of the Hudson. May it soon have a sharp set of teeth to show in its defense.
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The new City Hall in the Park was not yet completed, although work- men had been employed upon it almost without intermission since 1810. the corner-stone was laid by Edward Livingston in 1803. In 1810 an order was sent to England for copper with which to cover the roof, and it came at last, although not until 1811, costing ten thousand five hundred dollars. The edifice was pronounced finished in 1812, upwards of half a million of dollars having been expended upon it, exclu- sive of its furniture. It was the handsomest structure at the time in the United States.
The white marble of the front and sides was brought from Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The architecture was both Ionic and Corinthian, the great columns resting upon a rustic basement of brown freestone, nine feet in height. The principal entrance was on the south front by a ter- race walk extending the length of the building, about forty feet in breadth, and raised some three feet above the level of the Park. From this walk a flight of steps led to an Ionic colonnade, thence to a large vestibule adjoining a corridor which communicated with the different apartments and staircases. In the centre of the edifice, facing the entrance, was a large circular stone staircase, with a double flight of steps upheld without any apparent support. On the level of the second floor stood ten mar- ble columns of the Corinthian order, with a circular gallery around them. The columns were fluted, and the entablature fully enriched ; the whole covered by a hemispherical ceiling, ornamented with stucco in novel designs, and lighted from the sky with fine effect. A balustrade-of marble surrounded the building, hiding a great portion of the roof. The centre had an attic story crowned with a well-proportioned cupola surmounted by the figure of Justice.
The council chamber was richly ornamented with wood and stone carvings, and the chairs provided for the mayor the same that had been used by Washington while presiding over the first Congress in New York City ; it was elevated by a few steps on the south side of the room, and graced with a canopy overhead.
The City Hall Park was described by a writer of the period as " a piece of inclosed ground in front of the new City Hall, consisting of about four acres, planted with elms, planes, willows, and catalpas, the surrounding foot-walk encompassed with rows of poplars. This beautiful grove, in the middle of the city, combines in a high degree ornament with health and pleasure ; and to enhance the enjoyments of the place, the English and French reading-room, the Shakespeare gallery, and the theater, offer ready amusement to the mind; while the mechanic-hall, the London hotel, and the New York gardens present instant refreshment to the body.
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Though the trees are but young, and of few years' growth, the Park may be pronounced an elegant and improving place."
The Park Theater will be recognized in the sketch, upon the southeast side of the Park, and has the effect of a large and commodious building, as it must necessarily have been to accommodate twelve hundred persons with seats. The boxes are said to have been remarkably well adapted to the display of beauty and fashion, as well as to the view of the scenic per- formances. In November of this year George Frederick Cooke Nov. 21. appeared in Richard III., before the largest audience ever crowded within its walls. The throng was so great that many were pushed through
City Hall Park. [With the Park Theater and Brick Church to the right.]
the doors without paying. Ladies were taken to the alley and introduced to the boxes from the rear. Cooke's vast renown had preceded him to this country, and his arrival was one of the chief milestones in the prog- ress of the drama. He was fifty-four years of age, possessing all the elasticity of thirty, of stalwart figure and commanding presence, and be- ing a man of keen observation who had for a decade made mankind a perpetual study, his breadth of vision and boldness and originality of conception convinced the New York community that he was the first of living actors. He engrossed all minds ; and old play-goers discovered a mine of wealth in Shakespeare never before comprehended.
On the 23d he played Sir Pertinax, and, notwithstanding a violent snow- storm, the receipts of the house were fourteen hundred and Nov. 23. twenty-four dollars. It was his greatest performance, and was
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rendered the more acceptable by his wonderful enunciation of the Scotch dialect. He was told that all the town had concluded he was a Scotch- man. "They have the same opinion of me in Scotland," he replied, "yet I am an Englishman." When asked how he had acquired so com- plete a knowledge of the Scotch accentuation, he said, "I studied more than two and a half years in my own room, with repeated intercourse with Scotch society, in order to master the Scotch dialect, before I ven- tured to appear on the boards in Edinburgh as Sir Pertinax, and when I did Sawney took me for a native. It was the hardest task I ever under- took." 1
The Brick Church with its little yard of tombs, then occupying the site of the present building of the New York Times, was the scene of the ordination and installation of Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring in August, 1810. He was a young divine of great promise, who first saw the light in New- buryport, Massachusetts, twenty-five years before, and who maintained for over half a century the position as pastor of this church organization - un- moved by invitations to preside at Hamilton and at Dartmouth colleges. He was one of the most able, popular, and esteemed preachers of the city, as well as the author of twenty or more valuable works which have passed through many editions, and have been in part translated and re- published in Europe.2
During the summer of the same year the Wall Street Presbyterian Church was rebuilt on an enlarged plan, ninety-seven feet long and
1 George Frederick Cooke was born in England, April 17, 1756, died in New York City September 26, 1812. He began life as a printer's apprentice, but his fondness for the stage led him early into that career. He was three years in Dublin, and in 1800 appeared at Covent Garden in Richard III., taking his place in the front rank of actors. He was also celebrated in Macbeth, Iago, Shylock, and Sir Pertinax. His habitual intemperance destroyed his constitution, and while it never impaired his dramatic reputation, it disgusted the world and terminated his dazzling career. (Drake ; Dunlap ; Old New York, by Francis.) He was buried in Trinity Churchyard, where a monument was erected to his memory in 1821, by Edmund Kean, of the Theater Royal, Drury Lane. "His funeral was an imposing spectacle. He had no kindred present, but the clergy of New York, physicians, members of the bar, offi- cers of the army and navy, the Literati and men of science, together with the dramatic corps, and a large concourse of citizens, moved in the procession." - Tombs in Old Trinity, by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, in Harper's Magazine, November, 1876.
2 Rev. Gardiner Spring, D. D., was the son of Rev. Dr. Samuel Spring, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, one of the chaplains of the army who accompanied Arnold in his attack on Quebec in 1775. He graduated at Yale in 1805, after which he studied law with the distin- guished jurist, David Daggett, of New Haven, who was at one time chief justice of the State and also mayor of New Haven. Admitted to the bar in December, 1808, he commenced practice. But the effect of one of the great sermons of Rev. Dr. John M. Mason - from the text, "To the poor the gospel is preached " - was to turn his mind to the study of theology. After a year passed at Andover he was licensed to preach, and in a few months received and accepted the call to the Brick Church. - Greenleaf ; Sprague ; Hardie ; Duyckinck ; Drake.
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THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES OF 1810.
sixty-eight feet wide, with a handsome spire. Rev. Dr. Rodgers was at the time bending under the weight of years, and died the following spring at the ripe age of eighty-four. He continued his pastoral relations with the church, however, until the last, and was one of the most active in urging the work forward on the new edifice. Rev. Dr. Miller, who had been associated with him as collegiate pastor, assumed the entire charge until 1813, when he resigned in consequence of his appointment to the professorship of divinity at Princeton. He was succeeded by Rev. Philip Melancthon Whepley, the son of Rev. Samuel Whepley, of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, an author and clergyman who established a very popular school in New York about 1814, and who died in 1817. Young Whep- ley was but twenty-three at the time of his installation over the Wall Street Church in 1815, yet he fulfilled his duties satisfactorily until his death in 1824. For two years the church was without a pastor, but in 1826 Rev. William W. Phillips accepted a call, and entered upon his pastorate on the 19th of January.
In the month of April, 1809, the three Presbyterian churches of the city, which hitherto had been one collegiate charge, were separated in an orderly manner by the Presbytery ; and the Rev. Dr. Philip Milledoler, installed as a colleague in 1805, became the sole pastor of the Rutgers Street Church until 1813, when he resigned. He was a distinguished scholar, born at Farmington, Connecticut, in 1775, educated at Edinburgh, and developed into a most philosophical and industrious literary man. He was one of the founders of the Bible Society ; and subsequently pres- ident of Rutgers College - from 1825 to 1841. The Rutgers Street Church was a spacious frame edifice erected on land presented by Henry Rutgers in 1797, and had a cupola and a public clock. Rev. Dr. John McKnight, who had labored incessantly with the ministers since 1789, resigned his sacred office with the consent of the Presbytery in 1810.
This was a period when new churches were being founded by every denomination. The Presbyterians commenced a new house of worship in Spring Street, near Varick, in 1810, the venerable Dr. Rodgers being present and offering a short prayer. The Canal Street Church was organ- ized in 1809, the original structure being located on Orange Street, near Grand, the corner-stone of which was laid by Dr. Rodgers. The site proving unfavorable and the building badly constructed, it was aban- doned, in 1825, for a larger and more substantial brick edifice erected upon the corner of Canal Street and Green. Meanwhile the Pearl Street Church, between Elm and Broadway, built of stone in 1797, had for a few years formed a collegiate charge with the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Cedar Street, but separated in 1804. In 1810 a third Associate Pres-
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byterian Church was formed chiefly from the Cedar Street congregation, and an elegant stone edifice was built on Murray Street, opposite Colum- bia College. When completed, in 1812, Dr. John M. Mason became its pastor, he having retired from his former charge. The Duane Street Church was established with twenty-eight members in November, 1808, and first occupied a small church edifice in Cedar Street, between William and Nassau. Under the ministry of Rev. Dr. John B. Romeyn until his death in 1825, a large congregation was gathered, and not until 1836 was it thought expedient to remove to the elegant house of worship erected on Duane Street, corner of Church.1 The spring of 1836 marked also the removal of the Scotch Church in Cedar Street to a new edifice in Grand Street, near Broadway. The organization known as the earliest Associate Presbyterian Church, formed in 1785, worshiped in a small edifice in Nassau Street erected in 1787 ; that of the earliest Reformed Presbyte- rian Church dated back to 1797, and occupied a church edifice built in 1801, in Chambers Street, east of Broadway, the Rev. Dr. Alexander McLeod being its pastor from 1800 to 1818.2 In 1810 a religious meet- ing under a Congregational or Independent form was established in Elizabeth Street, and the following year it was reorganized as a Presby- terian Church, admitted to the Presbytery of New York, and Rev. Henry P. Strong was installed pastor.3
While the Presbyterians of the city prior to the war of 1812 had multiplied into twelve distinct organizations, the Episcopalians, inclusive of chapels and mission churches, had fourteen places of worship. Trinity, St. Paul's Chapel, and St. George's Chapel in Beekman Street, have hith- erto been brought before the reader's notice. St. John's Church, an ele- gant stone structure costing upwards of two hundred thousand dollars, was built by Trinity Church in 1807. The site chosen, in Varick Street, between Laight and Beach, was one of the most desolate imaginable, the scenery comprehending little else than a dreary marsh, covered with brambles and bulrushes, and tenanted by frogs and water-snakes. How-
1 In May, 1836, Rev. George Potts was installed pastor of the Duane Street Church, but after a few years the congregation had scattered towards the north to such an extent that he followed, and, preaching for a time in the chapel of the New York University, laid the foundation for the handsome church edifice in University Place, corner of Tenth Street. Rev. Dr. James Waddell Alexander succeeded to the pulpit of the Duane Street Church, which subsequently removed to Fifth Avenue, corner of Nineteenth Street ; and in 1875 again removed to the handsome edifice, corner of Fifth Avenne and Fifty-fourth Street, of which the present pastor is the eloquent and popular divine, Rev. Dr. John Hall.
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