USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress Vol. III > Part 27
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Their report, drawn up by Morris, who acted as president of the board, and signed by each of the commissioners, was published in the spring of
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1811. De Witt Clinton immediately introduced a bill into the Legisla- ture, which passed into a law April 8, 1811, investing the commission- ers with " power to manage all matters relating to the navigation between the Hudson and the Lakes." This law, the first passed on the subject of the great canals, added Chancellor Livingston and Robert Fulton to the board of commissioners. It was authorized to apply to other States and to Congress for co-operation and aid; to ascertain if loans could be pro- cured to the extent of five millions of dollars ; and to treat with the Inland Lock Navigation Companies for a surrender of their rights and interests. The Legislature was induced to give the commissioners power to ap- ply to Congress, because reliance was placed on the seeming promise of President Jefferson in his message of 1807, and on the report of Secretary Gallatin, who, although not having mentioned the Erie Canal, was supposed to be warmly in favor of enterprises of this nature; Gou- verneur Morris and De Witt Clinton proceeded to Washington in order to promote by their presence the success of the application to the gen- eral government. But while the project was thought no less interesting to the nation than to the State in which it was to be executed, it met with little favor. It was not absolutely rejected. . But the answer received was, that nothing could be done for New York that was not done for the other States ; thus the matter was left for future action. Evidently Congress had the power to afford assistance, if it was its pleasure to do so; and the disappointment was severe when, in 1817, President Madison conceived that "the Constitution would not permit an appropriation of any part of the national funds or means to these purposes."
This disappointment was the greater since no objection was made by the President to acts of Congress appropriating very large sums for roads in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. It was not well understood how the Constitution could allow an appropriation for roads and not permit a water highway.
New York was so fortunate as to be able in the end to complete her canals without any extraneous aid. The other States sent their best wishes - not one of them a dollar. "Happily for us," wrote Colden, "the objection of the executive prevailed so long as the State of New York needed the aid of the general government; and, most happily for every other State in the Union, these scruples have since entirely sub- sided, and we are gratified that in similar enterprises they will not only be aided by funds from the National Treasury, but will have the assist- ance of the distinguished foreigners and natives who are employed in the engineering departments of the general government."
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DR. DAVID HOSACK.
When the Erie Canal was completed, as Colden said, " without the interference of Congress," a polite petition from New York for the priv- ilege of enjoying it in the same manner was not out of place. Con- gress was requested "not to sanction any such pretension as of late made by some of its revenue officers, that our canal-boats, traversing our hills and valleys in an artificial channel made by ourselves, entirely within our own territory, hundreds of miles from the sea, and six or seven hundred feet above its level, were engaged in the coasting trade of the United States - and that they must, therefore, take custom-house licenses, and pay a tax to the general government."
But from the time of these movements in 1811 until the conclusion of the second war with Great Britain, little appears to have been done towards carrying into effect the scheme which the new law made practi- cable. The State was obliged to employ its funds on objects properly belonging to the general government; and the commissioners met with great opposition from those who would not believe that the hand of man could effect such a stupendous work.
Dr. Hugh Williamson published a series of newspaper articles on canal navigation, and an essay entitled Observations on Navigable Canals ; also, Observations on the Means of preserviny the Commerce of New York. His writings were argumentative, possessing an element of power that converted multitudes. He was an enthusiast, and proved a most able and effective advocate of the canal policy. Being a resident of the city, he was in intimate association with the magnates of the period; he was also connected with many of the medical, literary, and philanthropic in- stitutions of New York, contributing generously to her material interests. His biography was subsequently written by Dr. Hosack, and his portrait was painted by Trumbull.
In all prominent movements connected with the arts, the drama, liter- ature, medicine, city improvements, or State affairs Dr. Hosack bore a conspicuous part. For thirty or more years he was a leading practitioner in the city, and distinguished beyond all rivals in the art of healing. He is universally acknowledged, also, to have been the most eloquent and impressive teacher of scientific medicine and clinical practice this country had as yet produced. His manner was pleasing, and his descriptive powers and his diagnosis were the admiration of all. His efficiency in rear- ing the College of Physicians and Surgeons to a state of high consideration won for him the respect of the whole Republic; and his early efforts to establish a medical library in the New York Hospital, his co-operation with the numerous charities which glorify the metropolis, his primary formation of a mineralogical cabinet, his copious writings on fevers,
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quarantines, and foreign pestilence, his biographical essays, prepared in a style of great elegance, and his adventurous outlay in establishing the Botanical Garden evinced the lofty aspirations which marked his whole career as a citizen. It was a frequent remark in New York during his lifetime that Clinton, Hosack, and Hobart were the tripod upon which the city stood. Through his fondness for society he exercised a strong
David Hosack, M. D., F. R. S. [From the painting by Sully. ]
personal influence. He gave Saturday evening parties, and, surrounded by his large and costly library and his works of art, there never was a more genial and captivating host. Great divines, jurists, statesmen, phi- losophers, philanthropists, physicians, merchants, scholars, authors, artists, editors, educated men in any specialty, and distinguished foreigners, were summoned to his entertainments, and charmed with his liberal hospi-
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tality. Indeed, his house was the resort of the learned and enlightened from every part of the world. No European traveler rested satisfied without a personal interview with Dr. Hosack, who received many a deserved compliment in the foreign journals and books of travels ; the Duke of Saxe-Weimer mentions in his diary the social prominence of the Hosack Saturday evenings.
Thomas Sully, who was keenly alive to the refined phases of life, was anxious to paint Dr. Hosack's portrait. He came to New York after having passed through a severe ordeal of privation and discouragement, and was introduced to some of the leading characters of the city by Robert Fulton. He was cordially welcomed by Dr. Hosack, who promptly consented to sit for his picture. Sully had an extremely dexterous method of crystallizing better moments, of fixing happy attitudes, and of seizing upon felicitous combinations. Thus we find the celebrated Botanical Garden founded by Dr. Hosack deftly introduced into the background of his portrait, with some of the volumes he had produced resting care- lessly upon the table by his side. The value of the picture is greatly enhanced through this illustration of the peculiar aptitude of the gifted artist. The handsome, finely moulded features of Dr. Hosack, as revealed upon the canvas, express singular sweetness of character, and his grace- ful costume and air of high breeding are most effectively represented. Sully did not at any time reside permanently in New York, but he was employed on various occasions to delineate celebrated people, as, for in- stance, in painting the portrait of Commodore Decatur for the city. He thus became well known, and a universal favorite. He was unassuming, amiable, and intelligent, with a quick eye for whatever of grace was dis- cernible in the whole range of literature and art. His association with such men as Mayor Clinton, Dr. Mitchill, Thomas Addis Emmet, who aided materially in giving immortality to Irish genius and private worth, Gouverneur Morris, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Cadwallader D. Colden, Dr. Macneven, who in addition to his prominence as a physician and a sur- geon was an accomplished scholar and writer, and Dr. Hosack, favored his ambitious tendencies. No American artist ever enjoyed more permanent social esteem and sympathy. His portraits are widely scattered, and may be found in all the principal cities of the United States. He spent the greater part of his life in Philadelphia.
Governor Tompkins, in his speech to the Legislature at the opening of the session in 1812, took occasion to protest in strong terms against the increase of a paper currency through the growing ten- 1812. dency to the multiplication of banks of issue. But he made no mention whatever of internal improvements. On the 14th of February commis-
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sioners for the organization of a common-school system for the State of New York made an elaborate and able report, accompanied by a bill for that purpose, which subsequently became a law.
Early in the session a bill was introduced for the charter of the Bank of America in the city of New York, with a capital of six millions of dollars; four hundred thousand of which was to be paid over for the benefit of the common-school fund, one hundred thousand to the literature fund for the support of colleges and academies, one hundred thousand to the State treasury at the expiration of twenty years, provided no other bank should during that period receive a charter, one million to be loaned to the State for the construction of canals, and another million to farmers and others for the promotion of agriculture and manufactures throughout the State.
Governor Tompkins was vehemently opposed to this project. The winding up of the Bank of the United States, and the failure to procure a charter in Pennsylvania, had thrown back into the hands of the stock- holders a large amount of uninvested cash capital. It was plainly to be seen at this juncture, however deluded the inhabitants of Philadelphia may have previously been, that the city of New York, and not Philadel- phia, was destined to become the great commercial emporium of North America. Hence the capitalists and others interested in establishing a gigantic moneyed institution had turned their eyes towards the Island of Manhattan. They had also been courting the favor of politicians who wielded power in the Legislature of New York, that their application for a charter might not be in vain. De Witt Clinton declared himself opposed to the new bank, but thought the question of its charter ought not to be made a party test ; whereupon he was charged fiercely with hav- ing his eye upon the Presidency of the nation, and with accepting the promise of support from the friends of the bank as the price of his neu- trality. His enemies scouted the whole question of canals as visionary and absurd. A proposed railroad from the earth to the moon could not elicit more derision to-day than the idea of a canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie did then - at least among the unsympathizing poli- ticians. They pronounced the canal scheme a ridiculous hobby on which Clinton would ride into power if possible.
When the bill passed the House by a strong majority, all the Federalists and a part of the Republicans voting for it, and when its passage by the Senate was inevitable, Governor Tompkins resorted to an March 27. extraordinary power - conferred indeed upon the governor by the constitution of New York as it then stood, but never exercised except in this single instance. He prorogued the Legislature for sixty days,
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DECLARATION OF WAR.
giving as a reason that attempts had been made to bribe the members.1 The scene upon the reading of the governor's message was one of con- fusion and uproar, and for a few moments outrage and violence. The bank advocates charged Tompkins with having his own eye fixed upon the Presidency, and said his bold exercise of the remnant of royal prerogative, unsuitable to the genius of our government, was for the express purpose of preventing the nomination of Clinton. Intense excitement ensued. On the 21st of May the Legislature reassembled, and the bill for chartering the Bank of America almost immediately passed both May 21. Houses. Oliver Wolcott, late of the Merchants' Bank, and former Secre- tary of the Treasury, became its first president. A few days later De Witt Clinton received the nomination for President of the May 28. United States from the Republicans of the State of New York, not, how- ever, without violent opposition from Morgan Lewis and from the old Burr party. A very large faction throughout the country, distrusting the energy of Madison, was favorably disposed towards Clinton, while several of the influential newspapers were filled with constant flings at the feebleness and irresolution of the administration.
The grave question of war at this moment occupied all minds. The friends of peace were in terrible consternation. A New York member of Congress wished to know what was the situation of our fortresses, and our preparations generally, and called attention to a letter from Judge Livingston, who stated that the forts at New York had neither cannon nor men. Henry Clay replied with angry vehemence that he did not want, on this subject, Brockholst Livingston's opinions, or those of any- body else. Gentlemen who said so much about want of preparations were really opposed to war. After the injuries we had received he should support war measures. Weak as we were said to be, we could fight France and England both if necessary. An Indian war was raging in the West, which he thought had been excited by the British. We had complete proof that Great Britain would do everything to destroy us, and resolution and spirit were our only security. Dr. Mitchill said the British were a proud, overbearing nation, who thought they had a right to
1 At the September term of the Circuit Court, held in Chenango County, David Thomas, the State Treasurer, was indicted and tried before Judge William W. Van Ness for attempting to bribe Casper M. Rouse, one of the State senators, during the pendency of the bill for the charter of the Bank of America. No sufficient proof of the charge having been produced, Thomas was acquitted. Solomon Southwick, editor of the Albany Register, was also tried and acquitted during the same month of September before Chief Justice Kent, for an at- tempted bribery of Alexander Sheldon, Speaker of the Assembly. Thomas Addis Emmet, recently appointed attorney-general of New York in place of Matthias B. Hildreth, deceased, conducted these prosecutions on the part of the State.
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despise us because we were not united enough to fight them. “With a population of seven millions, we should not be frightened by political screech-owls."
The relations existing between the United States and Great Britain had been for several years of an anomalous and unsettled character. While the two governments were not in a state of declared hostilities, the irritating discussions of many knotty questions of international and maritime law, with the collisions of antagonistic opinions and pretensions, had created and kept alive a vindictive feeling in both countries ; and the criminations and recriminations which formed the burden of diplo- matic correspondence, as well as the prominent topics of newspaper controversies, seemed to point with unerring certainty towards the field of battle. Great Britain took no special care to prevent war - incensed by the supposed leaning of the United States towards France - believing that in such an event she would quickly prove the vast superiority of her naval power in decisive victory, and in defeat and disgrace on the part of the United States.
Two parties opposed the war in America : the old Federalists on the ground that we had equal or greater cause for war with France than Great Britain ; and the Clintonians and others, because the country was notoriously unprepared for the commencement of hostilities. A very large majority of the old Republican party were in favor of the war. For the time, war became the sole subject of disputation between the political parties which existed in the country.
, Madison was averse to war in any shape; under the pressure of cir- cumstances he was willing to sign a bill declaring hostilities, but wished to take no further responsibility. The leaders of the war party were inexo- rable. A committee headed by the imperious Clay waited upon the Presi- dent with an intimation that he must consent to recommend a declaration of war, or he would not be supported for the next term of the Presidency. And it must be his war, not the war of a few hot-headed statesmen. The President yielded finally to this hard condition. On the 20th of June 20. June, the same day that the New York Legislature adjourned, the edict went forth, and war was declared by the United States of America against Great Britain.
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CHAPTER XL V.
1812 - 1814.
THE WAR.
INSECURITY OF NEW YORK. - CONDITION OF EUROPE. - HOSTILITY TO THE WAR. - NEW YORK PRIVATEERS. - PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN. - OFFICERS OF THE ARMY. - HULL'S EXPEDITION TO DETROIT. - THE NEW YORK ARMY. - GENERAL VAN RENSSELAER. - ALEXANDER MACOMB. - DEATH OF VICE PRESIDENT GEORGE CLIN- TON. - COLONEL SOLOMON VAN RENSSELAER. - THE NIAGARA FRONTIER IN 1812. - SURRENDER OF DETROIT. - MASSACRE OF CHICAGO. - SAVAGES COMING EAST. - CREATING AN INLAND NAVY. - CAPTAIN ISAAC CHAUNCY. - NEW YORK SHIPBUILD- ERS ON THE LAKES. - ELLIOTT'S DARING EXPLOIT. - STORMING OF QUEENSTOWN. - DEFEAT OF THE AMERICANS. - ELECTION OF PRESIDENT. - COMMODORE HULL'S CAPTURE OF THE GUERRIERE. - JONES' CAPTURE OF THE FROLIC. - DECATUR'S CAPTURE OF THE MACEDONIAN. - THE VICTORY OF BAINBRIDGE. - BANQUET TO THE VICTORS. - PECULIAR SITUATION OF NEW YORK CITY. - SHOCKING MASSACRE AT FRENCHTOWN. - LAWRENCE'S CAPTURE OF THE PEACOCK. - CELEBRATION OF VIC- TORY IN NEW YORK. - COMBAT OF THE CHESAPEAKE AND SHANNON. - DEATH OF LAWRENCE. - EXPLOITS ON THE ST. LAWRENCE. - PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE. - RECOVERY OF DETROIT. - BATTLE OF THE THAMES. - TECUMSEH KILLED. - STORMING OF FORT GEORGE. - THE BLOCKADE OF NEW YORK CITY. - GARDINER'S ISLAND. - THE CREEK WAR. - THE EMBARGO.
N EVER was an offensive war voluntarily undertaken in the face of such untoward circumstances. The youngest nation in the world, with self-reliant audacity, had buckled on her armor to compel one of the oldest, haughtiest, and most powerful of nations to respect her maritime rights. Would she succeed ? The plan, so far as any definite plan was matured, was to invade and conquer the contiguous British provinces in America. But no financial provisions were yet made adequate for 1812. the vigorous prosecution of hostilities, no army was in readiness, no commanders had received the needful training, no just conception of the nature and character of the coming conflict existed, and the entire naval force of the United States consisted of eight frigates and twelve sloops- with a few smaller vessels - while the proud mistress of the ocean gloried in a navy embracing one thousand and sixty sail.
New York was exposed on every side. Her Canadian frontier of many hundred miles, and her defenseless harbor, were regarded with dismay by her inhabitants. A war of invasion would doubtless invite a war of inva-
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sion. What was to prevent Great Britain from sending her ships through the Narrows or Long Island Sound, and taking possession of the city ?
The victorious Napoleon was at this moment pushing towards Moscow in his struggle for universal dominion. His good understanding with the Russian Emperor had not been destined to endure. Both nations were, for months prior to this date, making formidable preparations for war. June 24. Five days after the United States declared war against Great
Britain, Napoleon crossed the Niemen, with an immense and splendid army, to oppose three hundred thousand Russians, who retired step by step before the invaders. The French encountered tempests, rains, and famine as the summer rolled on, but they still advanced. At Borodino, on the morning of the 6th of September, a battle ensued in which upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand men were engaged, and when the curtain of night fell upon the scene ninety thousand were among the slain. It decided the fate of Moscow, and on the 15th Napo- leon rode into the ancient capital in triumph ; but suddenly, at midnight, the glare of a thousand flames shot into the sky, and the baffled French, enveloped in fire, fled to the desolate surrounding country for refuge.
Great Britain had united with Russia, Sweden, and Spain against France, Prussia, Italy, Austria, and Poland. The Duke of Wellington commanded the armies of Great Britain in the Spanish Peninsula, and exhibited a degree of military skill and activity which was holding the marshals of Napoleon firmly in check, and which courted the presence of the Grand Master of War himself. Affairs in Europe thus left Great Britain free to send as many ships as necessary against America.
The worst feature of the situation on this side of the Atlantic was the lack of unanimity and concord on the part of the American people in prose- cuting the war. Several of the States from whence men and money must come disapproved of the action of the government. Constantly recurring disputes and discords among politicians proved serious obstacles in the way of raising an efficient army. Boston, so illustrious in the Revolu- tionary conflict, upon hearing the news of the declaration of the second war, denounced the President and the whole war-party, while the flags of her shipping were hoisted at half-mast in token of mourning and humilia- tion. All New England resounded with invectives of a style and vio- lence without parallel elsewhere in history. Josiah Quincy opposed the measure in Congress to the last. His fluency of speech in debate, his withering sarcasm of tongue and pen, his sterling worth in private life, his family connections and influence, together with his handsome and commanding presence, had made him peerless as a leader. Yet he was in the minority. He was caricatured by one of the artists of the day as
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a king - upon his head a crown, his coat scarlet, his knee-breeches light green, his stockings white silk, and two codfishes crossed upon his left breast ; he held a scepter in his hand, proclaiming himself " Josiah the First, King of New England; Grand Master of the Noble Order of the Two Codfishes." But no amount of ridicule could kill the force of his arguments, which were scattered broadcast, and re- peated by every school-boy in his native State: " Is national honor a principle which thirsts after vengeance and is appeased only by blood ? When we visit the peaceable, and, to us, innocent colonies of Canada with the horrors of war, can we be assured that our own coast will not be visited with like horrors ? What are the United States to gain by this war ? Will Canada compensate the Middle States for New York, or the Western States for New Orleans ?"
The clergy, the State authorities, the merchants, the lawyers, the wealth and the talent of New England, declared, as with one voice, that the war had been instituted on the most frivolous and groundless pre- tenses. In the Middle and Southern States there was greater diversity of sentiment. Many were hostile to the war, but thought the time for discussion was ended. In the West the war-spirit prevailed over all opposition, and the bold pioneers were ready, almost without exception, to fight the British, whom they cordially hated.
New York was torn with conflicting opinions. A large portion of her substantial citizens believed "that the declaration of war was neither necessary, nor expedient, nor seasonable, but, having been constitutionally declared, should be supported in the manner prescribed by constitutional laws." Great outrages were committed in Baltimore - upon law and humanity, as well as the liberty of the press - because of the persistent and scathing opposition to the war by one of the Federal newspapers, and several valuable lives were lost in the riot that ensued. But to the honor of New York be it spoken, few and unimportant were the audible murmurs after the news of the positive action of the government reached the city. An immense meeting in the Park, June 24, with Colonel Henry Rutgers president, and Colonel Marinus Willett secretary, unani- mously resolved "to lay aside all animosity and private bickering, and aid the authorities in constructing fortifications "; also, to unite in arms on the first approach of the enemy, and defend the city to the last extremity.
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