USA > New York > New York City > Old New York : a journal relating to the history and antiquities of New York City, Vol. II > Part 6
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Next day the Chief Justice delivered one of the exceptions to the clerk, and Justice Philipse the other, Mr. Smith then arising and asking the judges whether they would hear him upon two points : First, that the subject had a right to take such exceptions if they judged the commissions illegal; and secondly, whether the exceptions offered were legal and valid. This the Chief Justice would by no means allow of. He said they would neither hear nor allow the exceptions; "for," continued he, "you thought to have gained a great deal of applause and popularity by opposing this Court, as you did the Court of Exchequer ; but you have brought it to that point that either we must go from the bench or you from the bar. Therefore we exclude you and Mr. Alexander from the bar."
He then delivered his order to the clerk, and ordered it to be entered, which was done, and the paper returned to the Chief Justice. After this the Chief Justice ordered the clerk to read publicly what he had written, which was as follows:
At a Supreme Court of judicature held for the province of New York, at the City Hall of the city of New York, on Wed- nesday, the 16th day of April, 1735,
PRESENT.
The honourable James De Lancey, Esq., Chief Justice.
The honourable Frederick Philipse, Esq., second justice.
James Alexander, Esq., and William Smith, attorneys of this court, having presumed (notwithstanding they were forewarned by the court of their displeasure if they should do it) to sign, and having actually signed and put into court exceptions in the name of John Peter Zenger, thereby denying the legality of the judges their commissions (though in the usual form) and the
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being of this Supreme Court. It is therefore ordered that for the said contempt the said James Alexander and William Smith be excluded from any farther practice in this court, and that their name be struck out of the roll of attorneys of this court.
Per Cur',
JAMES LYNE, CI.
Mr. Alexander declared, as soon as he heard the order read, that the judges were mistaken in their reading. No exceptions had been taken to the being of the court, but simply to the validity of the commissions of those who were holding it, and he therefore . prayed that the order might be modified accordingly. Mr. De Lancey said that he conceived the objections'were against the being .of the court. But Mr. Alexander and Mr. Smith both de- nied that they were, and asked the Chief Justice to point to the place that contained such exceptions, and further added that the court might well exist, though the commissions of all the judges were void. This De Lancey confessed to be true. The disbarred counsel therefore prayed that the order in that point might be altered. This was, however, denied. The Chief Justice was de- termined to get rid of factious opposition, and he had besides the personality of the Governor urging him on. No men in the province could be more distasteful to him.
Upon this exclusion of Zenger's counsel he petitioned the court to order counsel for his defense. John Chambers was thereupon appointed, who pleaded not guilty to the information. Mr. Chambers moved that a certain day in the next term might be appointed for the trial, to be by a struck jury. The court fixed the date for Monday, the 4th of August, and said it would consider until the first day of the next term whether he should have a struck jury or not, and ordered that the Sheriff should in the meantime, at Zenger's charge, return the freeholders' book- that is, in more modern phraseology, the list of freeholders, from whom alone a jury could be empanelled, should be drawn off, to be produced in court, and that Zenger should pay the costs.
On the 29th of July, the first day of the next term, the court decided that Zenger was entitled to have a struck jury. Accord- ingly at five o'clock that afternoon some of his friends went to the clerk's office to strike the jury, when, to their surprise, the
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clerk, instead of producing the freeholders' book, to strike the jury out of it, as usual, produced a list of forty-eight persons whom he had privily and without superintendence taken out of the volume. It was not an impartial list, nor a good list in the eyes of the law, having been done without adverse scrutiny. Zenger's friends told him that a great number of these persons were not freeholders ; that others were persons holding commis- sions and offices at the Governor's pleasure ; that others must be supposed to have resentment against the prisoner for what he had printed concerning them ; that others were persons who sup -. plied the Governor's household, being his baker, tailor, shoe- maker, candlemaker, joiner, etc. ; that there would not remain a jury, if they struck out all the objectionable men, and according to the custom they had only the right to strike out twelve. But finding no arguments could prevail with the clerk to strike the jury as usual, Mr. Chambers applied to the court next morning, and the court, upon his motion, ordered that the forty-eight should be struck out of the freeholders' book, in the actual presence of the parties, and that the clerk should hear objections to persons proposed to be of the forty-eight and allow of such exceptions as were just. In pursuance of that order a jury was that evening struck to the satisfaction of both parties.
THE MERCANTILE LIBRARY.
Early in the month of November, 1820, there appeared upon the bulletin of the New York Daily Advertiser a notice, ad- dressed to the young men of the city and others interested in the formation of a new library for the use of merchants' clerks. The plain accommodations of a boarding house in Pearl street gave shelter to a number of young men engaged in mercantile pursuits downtown. They formed a debating club, and held stated meet- ings. The improvement experienced in the course of these social gatherings encouraged a desire for more enlarged opportunities, and a call for a public meeting was issued. The call was drafted
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by Mr. William Wood, to whom the enterprise owed much of its early successes.
In pursuance of this call a meeting, attended by two hundred and fifty persons, was held on the evening of Nov. 9, 1820, at the old Tontine Coffee House. Mr. Churchill C. Cambreleng pre- sided. Preliminary measures were taken for the establishment of a library. At a second meeting, held Nov. 27, the present society was founded, under the title of the " Mercantile Library of the City of New York." The Constitution adopted at this time differed in no essential respect from that which now governs the Association. Its preamble is simple and concise :
" We, the subscribers, Merchants' Clerks of the City of New York, being desirous to adopt the most efficient means to facili- tate mutual intercourse ; to extend our information upon mercan- tile and other subjects of general utility ; promote a spirit of use- ful inquiry, and qualify ourselves to discharge with dignity the duties of our profession and the social offices of life-have associ- ated ourselves for the purpose of establishing a Library and Read- ing Room, to be appropriated to the use of young men engaged in mercantile pursuits ; and have for our government adopted, etc."
The objects set forth in this pronunciamento of intentions have never been swerved from. Upon the adoption of the Con- stitution, measures were taken to enlist the co-operation of the leading merchants. The compliment of honorary membership was bestowed upon sixty-four highly influential persons, among whom appear the names of Philip Hone, J. J. Astor, Jonathan Goodhue, Peter Schermerhorn and Samuel Leggett. An address to the public was prepared, and appeals for aid were put forward. They were not unheeded. A sufficient number of volumes was collected to encourage the foundation of a library, for which rooms were accordingly rented on the second floor of No. 49 Fulton street, at a yearly rate of $130.
The first Library Rooms, thus prepared, were opened to mem- bers on the 12th of February, 1821. Seven hundred volumes graced the plain, substantial shelves which the society's funds en- abled it to provide. Before the end of the year, this number had increased to 1,000. The donations in cash, from Nov. 20, 1820, to
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Nov. 6, 1821, amounted to $600, and the whole of this sum was invested in books. The first librarian was Mr. John Thompson, who held the office until his decease in 1825. He received a salary of 8150. Mr. John C. Dinnies succeeded him on the 16th May, 1825. The first book presented to the Association was Hume's " History of England," the gift of De Witt Clinton, then Governor of this State.
The first year showed a membership of about two hundred. The numbers increased quite slowly for a time, but more cheer- ing prospects appeared as the society advanced. On the first of January, 1826, there were enrolled upon the books the names of 438 members, and from that time to this the number has annually increased. "The progress of the institution," says an old report, " during the first three or four years was, as may be supposed, slow and unsteady. It encountered a good deal of hostility from a class of short sighted and narrow minded merchants, who fancied their clerks could not devote their whole souls to their business if they were allowed the recreation which the library furnished. * There were instances, however, in that day, in which merchants with more enlarged views even allowed their clerks a good share of time to assist in building up this great work." At the fifth annual meeting of the Association a peculiar interest attached to the ceremonies of the anniversary. The late Philip Hone presided, and Mr. Charles King, now President of Colum- bia College, was one of the principal orators of the evening.
The Board in 1826 leased from the Messrs. Harper a suite of rooms in Cliff street, then newly opened, for a term of five years, at an annual rent of $300. The removal was completed in the early part of June, 1826. About this time, Mr. Dinnies, the librarian, tendered his resignation, and was succeeded by William Thompson, with a salary of $300. Ill health compelling Mr. Thompson to withdraw, the office next fell upon Mr. William B. Kinney, late editor of the Newark Daily Advertiser, and now United States Chargé to Turin. The increasing business demand- ing the services of an assistant, one was appointed at a salary of $50.
In 1827 the plan of life membership was determined upon. The number of this class of members has increased to the extent that was deemed advisable. In 1828 the accumulations of ma-
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· terial and the requirements of the Association demanded more ample accommodations. The "Clinton Hall Association" was formed, and Arthur Tappan was the first contributor, in the gen- erous sum of $1,000, to the objects contemplated in the new organization. Numerous wealthy merchants contributed large sums, varying from $100 to $1,000, and the end of that year showed an aggregate subscription of $33,500.
The corner of Beekman and Nassau streets, now occupied by the substantial building known as "Clinton Hall," was covered in 1828 by a pile of tumble-down, unpromising wooded shells. The site was valuable, but was offered for sale, and through the liberality of Mr. Hone was secured to the Clinton Hall Associa- tion. Its cost was 855,000. The Association was left with an indebtedness of 821,000, of which $500 was paid out of the first receipts. The mortgage held upon the property gradually dwindled, until in 1850 it was but 84,000, and on the 1st of January, 1853, it was entirely canceled, and the library now re- mains free from debt.
: On the 11th of November, 1830, the new edifice christened Clin- ton Hall was formally dedicated to the service of literature and the diffusion of useful knowledge. The Association took posses- sion of it with a membership of 1,200, and a library of 6,000 volumes. Since that period, nearly a quarter of a century has passed, bringing many changes. The library, on the 1st of January, 1853, had increased in membership to the large figure of 4,194, and contained not less than 37,486 volumes. It was also in 1830 that the trustees of Columbia College saw fit to confer upon the Association the right to two scholarships in that venerable insti- tution. The first person appointed under this provision was Mr. Benjamin S. Huntington, who graduated in 1834. No other ap- pointment was made until 1838, but since that time half a dozen young gentlemen have availed themselves of the grant. The University of the City of New York followed the example, and in 1845 two appointments to that institution were tendered to the Association.
The class department of the library was originated in 1838, and is still in active operation. During the past year classes were organized in French, German and Spanish, in penmanship, book-
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keeping, phonography, vocal music, gymnastics, etc., and nich good has been accomplished. Thus ends our historical sketch. It is an interesting one, in view of the enterprising industry which has carried forward the work to its existing proportions. Little room is left in this chapter to speak of the modern values of the library and its contents. To say that there must be something good in thirty-seven thousand volumes is to repeat a truism. To read through one-half the books upon the shelves would be the work of a lifetime, especially when the additions yearly amount to 4,346, as in 1852.
To close without a word for the newest features of the library and the courses of public lectures which the managers always pro- vide so choicely would be indeed to leave the new wine untasted and unknown. With the pleasant sarcasms and ready wit of Thackeray still ringing in our ears, and the remembrance of others hardly less attractive, we can ill forbear some expression of regard for the skillful caterers by whom the feast was furnished. It is pleasant to know that the course of Mr. Thackeray, twice repeated, yielded a handsome surplusage above the high amount paid to the lecturer. The sum has been duly invested for the benefit of the institution. The Demilt legacy of $3,000; the establishment of the geographical department in connection with the library, and the struggle in relation to the removal of the in- stitution to. an uptown site, are all recent subjects, upon which comment may be deferred to a more convenient opportunity. A meditative ramble among the shelves of the library may some day bring out new facts and interesting conclusions.
TIMES, February 28, 1853.
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PEACE AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 .-- Years ago the office of the old Gazette was in Hanover Square, near the corner of Pearl street. It was a place of resort for news and conversation, especially in the evening. The evening of February 15, 1815, was cold, and at a late hour only Alderman Cebra and another gentle- man were left with Father Lang, the genius of the place. The office was about being closed, when a pilot rushed in and stood for a moment, so entirely ex- hausted as to be unable to speak. "He has great news !" exclaimed Mr. Lang. Presently the pilot, gasping for breath, whispered intelligibly, " Peace ! peace !" The gentlemen lost their breath as fast as the pilot gained his. Directly the pilot was able to say, " An English sloop-of-war is below with news of a treaty of peace." They say that Mr. Lang exclaimed in greater words than he ever used before or after. All hands rushed into Hanover Square crying, "Peace ! peace ! PEACE !" The windows flew up, for families lived there then. No sooner were the inmates sure of the sweet sound of peace than the windows be- gan to glow with brilliant illuminations. The cry of "Peace ! peace ! PEACE !" spread through the city at the top of all voices. No one stopped to inquire about "free trade and sailors' rights." No one inquired whether even the national honor had been preserved. The matters by which politicians had irri- tated the nation into the war had lost all their importance. It was enough that the ruinous war was over. An old man in Broadway, attracted by the noise to his door, was seen to pull down a placard, "To Let," which had been long posted up. Never was there such joy in the city. A few evenings after there was a general illumination, and although the snow was a foot deep and soaked with rain, yet the streets were crowded with men and women, eager to see and partake of everything which had in it the sight or taste of peace.
The above account was printed in the Journal of Commerce at the beginning of 1846. It was copied soon after by Francis Hall, of the Commercial Advertiser, with a statement of how the news was received by that journal:
The news of peace was received on Saturday evening, the eleventh of Febru- ary, 1815, and at an early hour on that evening. We distinctly recollect the events of that evening and of the night and day that followed. It had been our practice for some years to be at the office on Saturday evenings, for the purpose of sending off marine and other intelligence that might be received after the paper was put to press in the afternoon and previous to the closing of the mails for the next morning. On the evening in question we were at the office, with one of the clerks, and about 8 o'clock one of the Hook pilots came into the office in great haste, and almost breathless, saying, "There is peace, I have brought up the messenger, who is now at the City Hotel !" In a few minutes all the printers' candlesticks were put in requisition, and from the win- dows of our office, then No. 60 ,Wall street, we showed as good a blaze of light as, on the spur of the moment, our means would allow. The office was speedily crowded with visitors, who went forth proclaiming the welcome tidings, and the whole city soon partook of the general joy. We ascertained from the pilot
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that the only newspapers brought by the ship were in the possession of the messenger, and on him we waited. We learned that he had a file of papers, but that they were intended for Mr. Monroe, then Secretary of State, and it required a good deal of entreaty to obtain the loan of them. We finally pre- vailed and took them to the office, with strict injunctions that they were " not to be cut," and must be returned by five o'clock the next morning. It was no small task to copy the several columns which were put in type that night, but it was done, and before the appointed hour we returned the papers.
It was now Sunday morning, and although it was the Lord's Day, on which we had never before worked and never have since, we believed the state of the public mind required that we should lay before our readers the tidings of which we were in possession. Our carriers were sent out at an early hour, and we retired to seek a little repose, instructing the clerks as soon as they got through with the mails to close the office ; and if any should call for extras to supply them, without charge. Between seven and eight o'clock one of the clerks called at our residence to inform us that the crowd was so great at the office that those left in charge did not know what course to take to satisfy them. We repaired to the office, and with some difficulty found our way into the printing department. The crowd continued until about two o'clock ; and in the mean- time such was the press for the extra that all our partitions, in the lower office and on the stairway, from the lower to the third story were torn down. It will be remembered that at that time we had no steam presses, nor had we what is known as the " single pull press ;" consequently every sheet required to have a "second pull." From five o'clock in the morning until two o'clock we worked off about four thousand copies, equal to forty thousand with our present means. The following is the leading article which appeared in the Commercial Advertiser on Monday afternoon, February 13th, 1815 :
The News of Peace .- No event has occurred, since the termination of the Revolutionary War, which has produced in this city such an instantaneous and lively expression of joy and of gratitude as the glad tidings of peace, which reached us at eight o'clock on Saturday evening. In the course of an hour the heart cheering intelligence was probably known to every individual in the city. A great proportion of the houses were illuminated ; cannon were fired from he forts ; the bells of Trinity Church were chimed; the principal streets (notwithstanding the severity of the weather, accompanied with a slight fall of snow) were thronged with citizens of both sexes ; the huzzas for the return of Peace were echoed and reechoed throughout our city from eight o'clock until midnight. Stronger testimony of the fact that the whole body of our citizens were tired of War and ardently desirous of Peace cannot be exhibited. At an early hour in the evening we had an interview with Mr. Carrol, the Secretary of Legation, and were favored with the loan of London papers to the 31st of December. Anxious to gratify the wishes of our fellow citizens, many of whom were crowding to our office to learn the news, we published a half sheet supplement, which was sent out to most of our subscribers at an early hour yesterday morning. Of the extra our pressmen worked off and delivered out nearly 4,000 copies, before they could find the office sufficiently freed from the crowd of citizens to lock the doors and retire to their dwellings for refreshment
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and rest. We have to regret that in the course of the crowd and its consequent confusion, many boys, and some who call themselves men, found means to get hold of our supplement and sold them in the streets at a very exorbitant price.
WHAT ROOM HAVE WE ?- From a report made by the Tax Commissioners to the Board of Supervisors we learn that New York city proper, being the whole of Manhattan Island, contains 141, 486 building lots, of which only 54, 725 are occupied, leaving 86,761, or nearly two-thirds of the whole number, yet vacant. Of the vacant lots, about 78,000 are above 42d street, 54,239 of them being above 86th street, or in the Twelfth Ward alone. The Second Ward has but one open lot, the Third Ward has five, and the Fourteenth Ward six only. Superficially, as presenting the greatest number of lots, the Twelfth Ward is first, having a total improved and unimproved of 56,301 ; then comes Nineteenth Ward, with 15,045, and the Twenty-second, with 14,258. The Second Ward is the smallest, having only 1,215 lots ; the Third next, with 1,237.
Here is certainly room enough for all the rapid growth of the next hundred years. Fifty years ago we had less than 100,000 inhabitants. This was just before Fulton had established his grand discovery of steam navigation, and when getting into the country was matter of time and difficulty. With the per- fection of the steamboat and the locomotive New York began to overflow. The green hills of Brooklyn first attracted attention, and beautiful rural residences soon bordered the East river ; additional ferries were established, and in a few years Brooklyn began to think itself a town of no small importance. Williams- burgh was next established, and flourished finely for a while ; but it was attacked by the great speculative fever about twenty-five years ago, and nearly ruined in the crash of 1837. Within the past ten years, however, this section of Brooklyn has grown rapidly and safely. Five years ago these rural settle- ments were consolidated into the suburb of the metropolis known as Brooklyn, now lodging about 300,000 people, who are as much the population of New York as are the residents of Harlem and Manhattanville.
The tapping of the city by railroads has also drawn away a vast throng who have dotted Westchester county with villages, and cut up the old Dutch farms into rural building lots, too often to the ruin of the property. Well nigh a hundred thousand are withdrawn in this direction from the great city. Like the Brooklynites, they do nearly all their business in New York, drawing their sustenance from its trade and commerce, and having little more than a traveler's interest in the counties where they sleep. Whether it was true policy on the part of the city to establish these railroad drains we will not inquire ; but cer- tain it is that the entire surrounding country on Long Island as far as Jamaica, in Westchester county up to Peekskill on the West, and to the Connecticut line on the East, the northern half of Staten Island, and the Jersey coast, from Bergen Point to Fort Lee, to a considerable extent, are peopled by the families of men who are in all other respects residents of the city of New York. We, therefore, reckon our metropolitan population at about 1,300,000, of which the city proper has nearly 800,000; Long Island, 350,000; Westchester county, Staten Island and New Jersey. 150.000.
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