USA > New York > New York City > Record of the semi-centennial anniversary of St. Nicholas Society of the City of New-York, February 28, 1885 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
I observe that Mr. Washington Irving's por- trait graces our card of invitation. Our character survived his humorous historical romance. The feigned name of his historian, Knickerbocker, has become the synonym of social distinction.
The Society will meet on Saturday, in the plenitude of prosperity. The language, the names, the associations of the centuries, give dignity to your gathering. Ours is a history whose past grasped a struggle for freedom and whose present is its enjoyment.
Regretting that I must deny myself the pleas- ure of being with you,
I remain, my dear Mr. Pine, Respectfully your friend, WILLIAM H. BOGERT.
26
The President then said :
The weather-cock which we all see on the opposite side of the room has, within a few days, been presented to the Society, and I call upon Mr. Mills, our Second Vice-President, through whom it was given, to read the correspondence. Mr. John C. Mills replied as follows :
I have the following letter from Mr. Welch, late proprietor of the St. Nicholas Hotel :
LETTER FROM MR. URIAH WELCH.
NEW AMERICAN, RICHFIELD SPRINGS,
February 18th. JOHN C. MILLS, Esq. :
Dear Sir : As the St. Nicholas Hotel no longer exists, it seems to me proper to send to the Society which took such an interest in laying the corner-stone, its emblem of good cheer,-the old Weather-cock,-so long a prominent object on Broadway.
Leaving the particular manner of placing it in the custody of the St. Nicholas Society to your- self, I remain,
Very truly yours, URIAH WELCH.
In reply to Mr. Welch's communication I said to him, that I would deem it an honor to make the presentation, and I felt confident that the
27
Society would highly value the gift. I also took the liberty of saying - perhaps drawing largely on the imagination - that we would soon have a home of our own, and that on the top of its flag- staff the old weather-cock might once more bask in the sunshine and battle with the storm. I fear, however, that for many years to come he will repose, with other relics of the Society, in the vault under Mr. Treasurer Schell's Savings Bank. Nevertheless, I have the honor, on behalf of Mr. Welch, to present you with the weather-cock.
It was then moved and seconded, that a vote of thanks be tendered to Mr. Welch, and the mo- tion was carried with much applause.
The President then introduced Mr. Depew.
ADDRESS BY THE HON. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
TRUST we will not have many recur- rences of Semi-Centennials, because they seem to lead to a plenitude of weather- cocks, and the staid and consistent char- acteristics of our Society do not encourage too many emblems of that nature.
I do not stand here to-night, as did my friend Dr. Vermilye, to recall from personal recollections the first landing of the first Dutchman in New- York, nor am I one of the several gentlemen on this platform who, in middle life, inaugurated this Society fifty years ago, and are still in a state of good preservation. The Committee have arranged with commendable discretion, and with that sense
28
29
of propriety which characterizes the work of all our committees, a memorial which recalls and dis- tinguishes in a peculiar way the thoughts and aspirations of the members present at the first meeting of this Society. The day after that first and memorable gathering, the gentlemen present on that night gave an order to the proprietors of the Gobelin Tapestries to have woven in wonderful and enduring pictures, the portraits of those sons who were expected to succeed the fathers who founded this organization ; and in the rosy cherubs playing amidst the tropical foliage of the tapestries which adorn the galleries, and which were bor- rowed from Sypher, you will find correct repre- sentations of the Beekmans, the Fishes, the de Peysters, the Livingstons, the Millses, and the rest of them, as they appeared at that early day. The artist, being a Frenchman, supposed that perpet- ual summer reigned in these latitudes. But, gen- tlemen, we meet here to-night not to be facetious, and there falls upon me the duty of delivering the historical address, which in its character is neces- sarily serious. We all of us, for fifty years, have been having a good time,-that is, all those who are fifty years old; I am not,-and the object of our gathering on all festive occasions has been to have a good time. A Scotchman cannot thor- oughly enjoy himself, for he is continually plunged in dejection and gloom in the effort to grasp the
30
jokes which he don't understand ; and the English and the French recall with sorrow the land from which they fled. But these, our festive occasions, are free from griefs, and are marked by no jeal- ousies or strifes. We meet as becomes those who have life to enjoy, and know how to enjoy it, and we do it on these and all other occasions, where our circumstances will permit. Our fund of thirty thousand dollars has accumulated from the fact that the Committee appointed by the Society to seek out the objects who should be the recipients of its assistance, have never been able to discover one worthy of its charity within the limits of their view. He was always just beyond. But for once in fifty years, you will pardon me if I am serious. Gentlemen who are present representing other nationalities and societies will forgive us, if once in half a century we lay aside our characteristic modesty, and emulate their frequent examples by speaking of ourselves. It is emphatically our night and our Hall. We are met to recall the purposes and history of the Saint Nicholas Soci- ety, to commemorate the object for which it was organized, and the excellence, the nobleness, and the virtue of the ancestry from whom we sprang.
In the ordinary life of a nation or a munici- pality, fifty years have been but a day. The original conditions of our American existence have destroyed the value of time as an element of
3I
progress and development. Cities whose founders are still living rival in population and prosperity the oldest and most successful capitals. This Society was organized to "collect and preserve information respecting the history, settlement, and manners of New York, and to promote social intercourse among its native citizens." Its first half-century, though devoid of incident to itself, covers a period of municipal growth unparalleled in history. For more than a hundred years in dif- ferent forms the descendants of the early inhabit- ants have sought to preserve the traditions of the fathers. "Rivington's Gazetteer " reports a cele- bration of the Sons of St. Nicholas at Waldron's tavern, a road house on the Brooklyn side, in 1763 ; and again in 1784 that old chronicle records that the anniversary of St. Nicholas was cele- brated " by the descendants of the ancient Dutch families." Doubtless each recurring birthday of our patron saint has for over two hundred years received appropriate recognition in festival and speech.
But it was not until fifty years ago to-night, that, with Constitution and definite purposes, a society was formed to perpetuate the memories of old New York and the virtues of its founders. Washington Irving walked into the assembly carrying the gilded rooster which had served as a weather-vane upon the old stadt huys, or city 5
32
hall, from the first settlement of the city, until the needs of a larger population required a new structure. He was so overcome with fright that he forgot the little speech he had prepared and broke down during the first sentence. But this ancient bird, built in Holland after an old model, looking down for a century upon the city's daily life, its steady growth, the gathering of patriots, the conventions and congresses which preceded and formulated the republic, and now the silent Mentor at our meetings, speaks more eloquently than any records or musty documents of the sources of our strength. It saw the land from which we sprang. It marked the storm signals for the early mariner sailing in and out our harbor, and under its weather eye political clouds burst first in protest and then in arms, to be followed by the pure atmosphere and clear sunlight of liberty.
Our Society may properly trace its origin to 1609, when our Dutch ancestors first established on Manhattan Island their colony. The Puritan proves his claim to have originated and inspired all that makes our country free, intelligent, and great, by the repetition of the history, principles, and characteristics of his forefathers. It is often better for fame to have eminent historians than to have enacted history. The judgment of mankind upon nations and peoples of the past is never formed from original sources, but made up from
33
the accepted picture of the most popular artist. While the Pilgrim fully merits most of the praise, which has crystallized into settled opinion, it has been his wonderful fortune to have the highest genius, eloquence, thought, and philosophical acumen devoted to throwing about himself, his mission, his words and creations, now as they assert in course of partial realization in our insti- tutions and progress, a meaning, a self-denial, and prophetic construction for humanity, of which Brewster and Carver and Captain John Smith never dreamed.
The Dutch settlers, on the other hand, by the magic pen of the father of American literature, became the victims of a caricature which captivated the fancy of the world, and made the most potent factors in the founding and development of the freedom and prosperity of our country, the ac- cepted subjects of good-natured ridicule and mer- riment. Two generations have been laughing at a marionette, whose antics have concealed the most important figure in the preservation of civil and religious liberty.
Pliny says of this indomitable people, that though dwelling in marshes and subsisting on fish, they resolutely refused to become absorbed into and enjoy the benefits of the great Roman empire. Their conquests were beneficent victories over nature, and not bloody confiscations of subject
34
peoples. They won their country from the ocean, and by their dykes set bounds to the waters. They have pumped out the Haarlem Sea and the Zuyder Zee, and transformed their depths into fruitful soil. They alone for a thousand years have enforced upon Neptune, "Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther, and here shall thy proud
waves be stayed." Though their country is only one-fourth the area of the State of New York, they fought for sixty-eight years to secure their independence against the power of Spain, then the strongest nation in Europe. And they won, because with them was liberty of conscience, and of the individual, and universal education ; while the Spanish despotism crushed in dungeons, and punished with torture and the stake, enlighten- ment, religious liberty, and opinion. When the rest of Europe was in intellectual darkness, Hol- land had her universities, and a system of general education upon which our common schools are founded. While learning languished elsewhere, Grotius promulgated a system of international law, Erasmus taught Greek to Oxford, Zacharias Janssens invented the telescope and the micro- scope, whose revelations created modern science, and Lawrence Koster discovered the art of printing. When Koster made a Bible for five crowns, which before him had cost the ransom of a prince, the American republic first became
35
possible. For a time free thought was impossible in England, or upon the Continent, and Holland became the bulwark, the refuge, and salvation of humanity. The spirit of her sons was illustrated at the siege of Leyden. There was but little food, and that the vilest offal ; starvation and pestilence afflicted the inhabitants; but when the Spaniard proposed surrender and generous terms, with sub- mission to king and creed, "No," they replied, " we will eat our left arms and fight with our right, and set fire to our houses, and die in the flames, before we will be slaves." When, for their heroic defense, they were asked what should be their indemnity and reward, they answered, " Give us a national university." They gave to England that Bill of Rights which is the basis of Puritan liberty, and to us our form of government. In 1579 the seven provinces of the Netherlands formed a republic at Utrecht, and adopted for their motto, " Unity makes might"; and in 1581 they promul- gated their declaration of independence in these memorable words: " The people are not made for the prince, but the prince for the people, who always have the right to depose him if he should oppress them." This grand formula of liberty the Dutch asserted and maintained with their swords, a hundred years before the English declaration of rights, and two hundred years before the Ameri- can declaration of independence, and at a time
-
36
when the belief was universal that kings were gods anointed, and could do no wrong. Here was the inspiration of Cromwell, Milton, and of Hampden, of Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Adams.
This was the people who in 1609 settled upon Manhattan Island, and founded our city and State. They bought twenty-two thousand acres from the Indians for sixty guilders, and upon an honest title founded their city. They had circled the globe with their colonies; with their three thousand ships and a hundred thousand sailors they were the chief of maritime powers, and controlled the commerce of the world; but they had no country save that submerged land, where Puritan and Huguenot, Catholic, Protestant, and Jew, have found hospitable and tolerant asylum. Their coming was attended by no loud professions of their virtue or their mission, but their object was to extend the trade of Holland, and by increasing the wealth and opportunities of her people to add to their happiness ; but the things above all others which they guarded and maintained were the common school and religious liberty. The first Dutch governor brought with him a dominie and a schoolmaster, each the first of his class on this continent, and Everardus Bogardus, the preacher, and Adam Roolandson, the teacher, were the pioneers of our American civilization. In this free
37
and tolerant atmosphere the witchcraft superstition never found lodgment. The unfortunate victims fleeing to New-York for their lives from New England were warmly welcomed, and only by threat of war did Governor Stuyvesant rescue his sister-in-law, Judith Varlet, from the clutches of the fierce sectaries at Hartford, who had determined to burn her as a witch, because the Connecticut swains had lost hearts and heads for the Dutch beauty, who safely returned, married a Dutchman, and became the ancestress of some of the noblest people in our State. While the Puritan colonies were in their wild terror imprisoning and executing the suspected, and every family was at the mercy of the accuser, the Dutch and Huguenot ministers of New Amsterdam ,unanimously resolved that " the apparition of a person afflicting another is very insufficient proof of a witch, and that a good name obtained by a good life should not be lost by mere spiritual accusation." Baptists, and the dissenters of every creed, fleeing from Massa- chusetts, were given homes and lands, the deeds declaring that they should "enjoy in peace the free exercise of their religion." The only effort to curb heresy which was affecting the prosperity of the Dutch church was made by Peter Stuyvesant. But the sturdy old governor received from the home government so sharp a reprimand, that neither by him nor any man has the right of
38
freedom of worship and opinion ever been ques- tioned in New-York. In words which should be put upon our public buildings in letters of gold they wrote : " The consciences of men ought to be free and unshackled. Such have been the maxims of prudence and toleration by which the magis- trates of this city, Amsterdam, have been governed; and the consequences have been that the oppressed and persecuted from every country have found among us asylum from distress. Follow in the same footsteps and you will be blessed."
When the English conquered New-York in 1664, the city had about a thousand inhabitants, and three hundred houses; but there were three public, one Latin, and twenty private schools. The accession of William of Orange to the English throne brought here about five thousand more Dutch, and with the increase of the means of education the society of New-York was the most learned and cultured in the country. Both men and women were familiar with the classics and the modern languages. The English paid little attention to education, and it continued under Dutch auspices until ten years after the Revolu- tionary war. The formation of the Free School Society in 1810 was a remarkable example of the Dutch faith in universal education. For fifty years almost unaided it furnished the means for popular learning, and only surrendered its great
39
and magnificently administered trust when the state was prepared to undertake this its most im- portant duty.
Upon this broad basis of civil and religious lib- erty, of toleration and education, was formed the metropolis of the New World. Here, nearly a hundred years before the Boston Tea Party, Jacob Leisler began the battle of colonial rights. Here, forty years before the declaration of independence, the trial of John Zenger established the freedom of the press upon principles which have since been incorporated in every State in the Union. Eleven years before the battle of Lexington, the Assem- bly of New-York protested against the Stamp Act, and organized the colonies for resistance to British aggression, and the Stamp Act Congress, sitting in this city, first boldly proclaimed that taxation without representation is tyranny, and paved the way to American independence. When the last British soldier had embarked at the Battery, those two most prominent citizens of New-York, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, began the publication of the Federalist, which out of the chaos of confederation organized a constitutional republic. The government of the United States which began life in this city, with the inauguration of Washington in Wall Street, reflected in every part the influences of Dutch examples. Its federal form, its toleration of creeds, its hospitable in- 6
40
vitation to the oppressed of all lands, its liberal views on trade and commerce, its official terms and titles, came from the home of the first settlers in New-York. They proclaimed no mission for themselves or mankind, but without boasting, with modesty, industry, and inflexible principle, they so builded their part of our great temple of liberty as to deserve the undying affection and reverence of their descendants, and the respect and gratitude of the world. This city and State which they founded, and in which, in their spirit, the peoples of every nation and of every faith enjoy equal privileges and freedom, with their sons, are their monuments. When William of Orange received the crown of England in the old hall of West- minster, and the charters of English liberty were read to him, with his hand on his sword he swore, " I will maintain." To-night we take up anew the glories, the traditions, and the lessons of old New-York, with the solemn oath, "We will main- tain."
S
MOTION OF THANKS.
At the conclusion of Mr. Depew's address, Mr. Augustus R. Macdonough rose and said :
Mr. President, while those eloquent accents are yet ringing in our ears, as they have deeply thrilled all our hearts, it seems only fitting that this Society should express its appreciation of the service done us by our Committee in arranging this evening's brilliant entertainment.
I therefore move that the thanks of the St. Nich- olas Society be offered to our orators, and to the Managing Committee. And in making this mo- tion, Mr. President, I am not merely stirred by the emotion of the moment, but I speak with the deep conviction that our orators have nobly dem- onstrated and illustrated that truth known to all of us, and which should be better known to all
41
42
others; and that is, that in the progress of this great city, in the magnificent advance which she has made, and is still making, in prosperity, in intelligence, in greatness, as it has always been in the past, so will it always be in the future, that in that grand march the Dutchman keeps the van.
The Hon. Abraham R. Lawrence seconded the motion, and moved that the Record of the Anni- versary be printed, which amendment was ac- cepted, and the resolution being put to vote, was adopted unanimously.
The President then declared the meeting adjourned, and the Anniversary was concluded by the singing of "Auld Lang Syne."
AS
.1885-
-
At a stated meeting of the St. Nicholas Society, held on the 5th of March, 1885, the printing of the Record of the Society's Semi-Centennial An- niversary was referred, with power, to the follow- ing Committee :
Charles A. Schermerhorn, Esq., Secretary of the Society ; John B. Pine, Esq., Secretary of the Semi-Centennial Committee.
·
88
WASHINGTON HOTEL, BROADWAY. NEW YORK .
1
く
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0 014 114 142 9
T
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.