USA > New York > The Empire State: a compendious history of the commonwealth of New York > Part 47
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465
GRAND AQUATIC DISPLAY AT NEW YORK.
A flotilla of canal-boats was towed from Albany to New York by Hudson River steamboats. The Chancellor Livingston was the flag- ship of the squadron, having in tow the Seneca Chief, whose passengers were now transferred to her escort, and were joined by many others.
The aquatic procession moved at an early hour in the morning. It was greeted by groups or crowds of men, women, and children, the firing of great guns, and the waving of flags all along the banks of the Hudson. The flotilla was fully twenty-four hours descending the noble stream ; and when it anchored off Greenwich Village, a suburb of the great city, before the dawn of November 4th, the people of the metropolis were astir, for ample preparations had been made for celebrating the event.
The day was welcomed by the ringing of bells and the roar of cannons. At a signal given from the Chan- cellor Livingston flags were un- furled all over the city, and the new steamboat Washington, handsomely decorated and bear- ing the banner of the corpora- tion, proceeded to the fleet, conveying a committee of the municipal authorities and the officers of the governor's guard. When within hailing distance of the Seneca Chief, one of the officers of the Washington in- quired of the strange craft, " Where are you from and what is your destination ?" PHILIP HONE.
The response was, "From Lake Erie and bound for Sandy Hook." At an early hour the waters at the month of the Hudson and the harbor of New York were dotted with floating craft of every kind. The fleet from Albany took a position between the Battery and Governor's Island, where it was joined by several steamboats conveying naval, military, and civil officers and invited guests. After receiving salutes from the Battery, Castle Williams on Governor's Island, and two British ships-of-war lying in the harbor, a grand procession was formed, composed of twenty- nine steamboats and sailing ships, schooners, barks, canal-boats, and sail-boats in large numbers, led by the Chancellor Livingston, and moved toward the sea. After passing the Narrows and receiving salutes from the forts there, the United States schooner Dolphin
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
approached, as a " messenger from Neptune," to inquire who the visitors were and what was the object of their coming. This query answered, the motley fleet formed a circle around the Dolphin about three miles in circumference, preparatory to the performance of the grand nup- tial ceremonies of wedding the gentle lakes and the sturdy Atlantic Ocean.
The Seneca Chief had brought from Buffalo two handsomely painted kegs filled with water from Lake Erie. One of these kegs was received by Governor Clinton on the deck of the Chancellor Livingston. Then there was silence and eager watching among the vast multitude floating on the unruffled bosom of the Atlantie under a serene and cloudless sky. Then Governor Clinton, lifting the keg of Erie water in full view of the spectators, stepped to the side of the Chancellor Livingston and ponred its contents into the sca, saying :
" This solemnity, at this place, on the first arrival of vessels from Lake Erie, is intended to indicate and commemorate the navigable com- munication which has been accomplished between our Mediterranean seas and the Atlantic Ocean, in about eight years, to the extent of more than four hundred and twenty-five miles, by the wisdom, public spirit, and energy of the people of the State of New York ; and may the God of the heavens and of the earth smile most propitiously on this work, and render it subservient to the best interests of the human raee."
After a long address by Dr. Samuel L. Mitehell," personal congratu- lations between men of the seaboard and Western New York, and the firing of a salute, the fleet, enlivened by the music of several bands, moved back to the city in a grand triumphal procession, the passengers on the steamboats partaking of a collation on the way.
Meanwhile a vast civic procession such as had never before been seen
* Samuel Latham Mitchell, M.D., was an eminent scientist, born at Hempstead, L. I., in August, 1764, and died in New York City in September, 1831. He studied both law and medicine. He was a member of the New York Legislature in 1790 ; made Professor of Chemistry, Natural History, and Philosophy in Columbia College in 1792, and in 1796 published a report of his tour along the Hudson River which gave him fame at home and abroad. He was one of the founders of a Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Manufactures, and the Useful Arts. He was a member of the lower house of Congress twice between 1801 and 1813, and was United States Senator, 1804-1809. Was active in the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Rutgers Medical School, in New York. With other eminent men he founded the New York Literary and Philosophical Society. A warm friend of Fulton, he accompanied him on the trial trip of the Clermont, in 1807. Dr. Mitchell was endowed with a remarkably retentive memory, and possessed great learning.
467
WEDDING THE LAKES AND THE SEA.
in the city of New York had been formed and paraded through the prin- cipal streets. It was composed of representatives of every respectable class in the metropolis arranged in organized groups. The benevolent, literary, and seientific institutions were represented, also the Fire De- WATER partment, the bar, the pulpit, and various occupations. Every society seemed emulons to excel in the rich- ness and beanty and art excellence of its banner and designs. Twenty-two industrial societies had furnished themselves with large platforms, upon Eric which the artisans were employed in their several occupations as the procession moved through the streets. KEG WITH LAKE ERIE WATER. Upon one car was a printing-press, from which were continually issned and scattered among the people copies of a long " Ode for the Canal Celebration," opening with the following stanzas :
" 'Tis done ! "Tis done ! The mighty chain Which joins bright ERIE to the MAIN For ages shall perpetuate The glory of our native State. ** * **
" To-day the Fire of Ocean takes A sylvan maiden to his arms, The Goddess of the crystal Lakes In all her native charms !"
The festivities of the day were closed in the evening by the illumina- tion of the public buildings. On the following day (Saturday) the dele- gations from the West were entertained at a banquet given in their honor on board the Chancellor Livingston. The public institutions were opened to them. Sunday was passed quietly, and on Monday, the 7th, the festivities of the " canal celebration" were closed in the evening by a grand ball in the vast rooms of the Lafayette Amphitheatre in Lanrens Street, near Canal Street. It was a brilliant assemblage (estimated) of more than three thousand persons. Among these were Governor Clinton and his wife.
To every guest of the corporation of New York on that occasion, both ladies and gentlemen, a beautiful medal was presented, bearing on one side the image of Pan and Neptune in loving embrace, and also a well-
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THE EMPIRE STATE.
filled cornucopia showing the productions of the land and sea, with the words, " UNION OF ERIE WITH THE ATLANTIC." On the other side were the arms of the State of New York-the State which had borne the whole burden in the construction of the great work-and a representation of a section of the canal, its locks and aqueducts, and a view of the harbor of New York. On this side were the words, " ERIE CANAL, COMMENCED 4TH DAY OF JULY, 1817 ; COMPLETED 26TH OCTOBER, 1825. PRESENTED BY THE CITY OF NEW YORK." *
Wise and sagacious men had prophesied that this canal, when com- pleted, would give an impetus to business of every description in the city of New York and in the interior of the State, and produce a wonderful increase in the population, commerce, and wealth of both sections. This prophecy was speedily fulfilled.+ The canal did more. It presented an ample outlet to the sea for the products of the then rapidly developing region in the vicinity of the great lakes and the valley of the Ohio, which added untold millions to the value of that then almost wilderness region ; and thus it became a national benefaction. It changed the whole aspect of commercial affairs in the lake region. The total area of these four great inland seas is about nine thousand square miles, and their inlets drain a region estimated at about three hundred and thirty- six thousand square miles. Upon its bosom have floated products of the North-western States and Territories valned at billions of dollars. In the year 1872 the value of property transported on that canal, not- withstanding a three-track railway lies parallel with it, was abont $168,000,000.
The Erie Canal was built by the State of New York at a cost of $9,000,000. A greater portion of the country through which it passes was then an uncultivated wilderness. It was by far the most extensive public work ever attempted in this country up to that time, and excited
* The medals were made of white metal. Some were made of silver, and fifty-one gold ones were struck and sent to European monarchs and other distinguished persons. They were presented by a committee composed of Recorder Richard Riker, John Agnew, and William A. Davis.
+ In the year 1812, five years before the construction of the canal was begun, the lately appointed canal commissioners-Gouverneur Morris, Stephen van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, and Peter B. Porter-gave the following prophetic utterance :
" Viewing the extent and fertility of the country with which this canal is to open com- munication, it is not extravagant to suppose that, when settled, its product will equal the present export of the United States [$58,000,000]. Will it appear improbable that twenty years hence [1832] the canal should annually bring down 250,000 tons ?" Twenty years after the completion of the canal (1845), there came upon it to tide-water 1,107,000 tons of produce, valued at $45,000,000, the tolls upon which amounted to $2,500,000.
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INFLUENCE OF THE ERIE CANAL.
universal admiration. It has been twice enlarged, and is now seventy feet wide on the surface east of Rochester (and larger westward of that city), fifty feet wide at the bottom, and seven feet deep.
The canal system of New York rapidly extended after the completion of the Erie Canal, embracing nearly every section of the State. The whole number of the canals is fifteen." The larger ones after the Erie are the Champlain Canal, 64 miles in length, finished in 1822 ; the Black River Canal, with its feeder, 87.5 miles in length, finished in 1849 ; the Genesee Valley Canal, with its Danville branch, 125 miles
١ -
BUFFALO IN 1815.
long, begun in 1826 and finished in 1861 ; and the Chenango Canal, 97 miles in length, completed in 1836.
The marvellons influence of the Eric Canal in promoting the increase of population in Western New York may be approximately estimated by the growth of two of its chief cities-Buffalo and Rochester. The British, as we have observed, literally " wiped out" Buffalo in 1813. In 1825, on the completion of the canal, it contained a population of about sixty-three hundred. Five years later the population had doubled. Now (1887) it is over two hundred thousand. Rochester was a wilder- ness three fourths of a century ago. The first dwelling-a log-cabin-
* Erie Canal, 364 miles in length ; Champlain Junction, 64 ; Waterford Junction, 2; Oswego, 38 ; Cayuga and Seneca, 21 ; Crooked Lake, 8 ; Chemung, 39 ; Chenango, 97 ; Genesee Valley, 108.5 ; Danville Branch, 11; Black River, 77.5 ; Black River Feeder, 10 ; Delaware and Hudson, 83 ; Oneida, 8. Total length of canals in the State, 946.10 miles.
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was built there in 1812. The picture shows an actual occurrence at that time. In 1825 it had a population of about eighteen hundred. Five
ROCHESTER IN 1812.
years later it was eleven thousand. Now the population is probably one hundred and fourteen thousand .*
* At the beginning of 1813 the Seneca Indians, at a great gathering of the tribe, en- camped on the site of Rochester, performed pagan rites there. It was a " great sacrifice and thanksgiving" after the corn harvest was secured and the barbarians returned from their first hunting. The festival occupied several days. Two dogs, as nearly pure white as could be found, were killed by strangulation (for the effusion of blood would spoil the victim for sacrificial purposes) at the door of the council-house. The dogs were then painted with bright colors, decorated with feathers, and suspended about twenty feet above the ground at the centre of the camp. Then the ceremonies, which consisted chiefly of feasting and dancing, began.
Two carefully chosen bands, one of men the other of women, ornamented with trinkets and feathers, each person furnished with an ear of corn in the right hand, danced in a circle around the council-fire, their steps regulated by rude music. Thence they went to every wigwam in the camp, and in like manner danced in a circle around each fire. On another day, several men, clothed in the skins of wild beasts, covering their faces with hideous masks and their hands with the shells of tortoises, went among the wigwams, making frightful noises, taking the fuel from the fire and scattering the embers and the ashes about the floor for the purpose of driving away evil spirits.
These persons were supposed thus to concentrate within themselves all the sins of their tribe. These sins were transferred into one of their own number, who, by magie, worked off from himself into the two suspended dogs the concentrated wickedness of the tribe. The dogs were then placed on a pile of wood which was ignited, while the surrounding multitude east tobacco and other "incense" upon the flames, the odor of which was supposed to be a " sweet-smelling savor," which would conciliate the favor
411
STORY OF MORGAN, A FREE MASON.
In his message at the opening of the session of the Legislature early in January, 1826,* Governor Clinton urgently called attention to needed improvements in the common-school system of the State, and recom- mended the establishment of normal schools for the education of teachers. In accordance with this recommendation John C. Spencer, a son of Judge Ambrose Spencer, submitted an able report from the Literature Committee of the Senate, early in February, concurring with the gov- ernor's recommendation and directing the attention of the Legislature to the propriety of employing the various academies of the State for the purpose ; also appropriating a specific portion of the public funds to this important end. The report also suggested the expediency of a plan of county supervision of the common schools ; resolutions recommend- ing the election of justices of the peace by the people and an amendment of the State Constitution removing all restrictions to the right of voting, excepting only citizenship and a residence of six months. These resolu- tions were adopted by the Legislature, and the amendment was made accordingly. So, in the year 1827, the people of the State of New York were forever freed from the control over public opinion by the central power, and universal suffrage has sinee prevailed.
Early in the autumn of 1826 an event occurred in Western New York which produced a great effect on society in general, and upon the politieal parties in this State and in several other States in the Union. William Morgan, a native of Virginia, a printer by trade, and a Royal Arch Free Mason, living in Batavia, N. Y., determined, for some reason, to publish a pamphlet in which the secrets of Free Masonry were to be disclosed. Some of his fellow-members discovered this intention, and it was soon made known to Masonic lodges in Western New York. On September 11th Morgan was arrested at his home, on a charge of theft, at the instance of the master of a lodge of Masons at Canandaigua, and by him and other members of the order was hurried into a coach and taken to that town. He was discharged by a justice because he found no cause
of the Great Spirit. When the dogs were partially consumed, one was taken from the sacrificial pyre, put into a large kettle with vegetables of various kinds and boiled over a fire, when the whole company devoured the contents of the caldron. After this they performed the dances of war and peace, and smoked the calumet. Thus purified from sin, they returned to their homes and began the occupations of the new year.
# The year 1826 is memorable in our national history because of the almost simultane- ous deaths of two of the leading founders of our Republic-Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. They both died on July 4th, within a few hours of the same time. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. They were both on the committee which was appointed to draw up that Declaration. Jefferson wrote it. and both signed it.
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of action. He was immediately rearrested on a eivil process for a trifling debt and cast into jail.
On the following night Morgan was taken from the jail by a number of Free Masons, thrust into a carriage in waiting, taken by a relay of horses to Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the Niagara River, and confined in the powder magazine there. He was taken from that prison on the night of September 29th, and was never heard of afterward.
It was known that Morgan's brethren had made violent attempts to suppress his book, and when this outrage was made public the Free Masons were charged with its perpetration. There was widespread excitement. A public meeting held at Batavia appointed a committee to investigate the affair. They found evidence of what they believed to be an extended conspiracy to effect Morgan's death, with many agents moved by powerful motives. Similar meetings were held elsewhere. Public excitement continnally deepened and widened, and a strong feel- ing soon pervaded the public mind that the Masonic institution was responsible for the crime.
The profound mystery in which the affair was involved gave wings to a thousand absurd rumors. Mutual criminations and reeriminations became very violent, and entered into all religions, social, and political relations. A very strong Anti-Masonic party was soon created, at first only social in its character, but very soon it assumed a decided political aspect. This feature of the party first appeared at town meetings in the spring of 1827, when it was resolved by considerable majorities that no Free Mason was worthy to receive the votes of free men.
A political party formed for the exclusion of Free Masons from public offices was spread over the State of New York and into several other States, and continued several years. In August, 1830, an Anti-Masonic Convention at Utica nominated Francis Granger for Governor of New York. Enos T. Throop was the opposing candidate. Throop received 128,842 votes and Granger 120,861 votes. This result showed a power- ful anti-Masonic sentiment in the State. Mr. Granger was again nominated for governor in 1832. In the same year a National Anti-Masonie Conven- tion was held in Philadelphia, at which several States were represented. William Wirt, of Virginia, was nominated for President of the United States. The party polled a considerable vote, but soon afterward it began to gradually fade, and speedily became extinct as a political organization.
The fate of Morgan will never be known. It is believed that he was taken in a boat from Fort Niagara, cast into the water, and drowned .*
* In a series of letters written by Colonel W. L. Stone and addressed to John Quincy Adams, and published in a volume of over five hundred pages, a full and important his- tory of the events I have alluded to is given.
473
NATIONAL TARIFF CONVENTION.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
IN the fall of 1826 Governor Clinton was re-elected, with Nathaniel Pitcher as lieutenant-governor. The chief events in the history of the State during this-the fourth-term of Mr. Clinton as governor were the Morgan episode and a State Convention held at Albany on July 27th, 1827, to appoint delegates to a National Tariff Convention, which was held at Harrisburg, Pa., on the 30th of the same month.
At the close of the war foreign goods, admitted almost free, prevented the revival of American mannfactures, especially of woollen goods. A moderate tariff law was passed in 1818, and continued seven years. It was inadequate, and the manufacturers of New England and the Middle States clamored for protective laws. An act imposing heavier duties was passed in 1824. Still the northern manufacturers clamored for more protection, and called a convention at IIarrisburg, Pa.
The cotton-growers of the South, meanwhile, perceiving that the tariffs were injurious to their interests, opposed them. Only four of the slave-labor States were represented at Harrisburg. Those of the North were numerous. New York sent about ten delegates to the convention. That body adopted a memorial to Congress on the subject, and Congress passed laws in 1827-28 which established a most stringent tariff. It was denounced by the Southern people as unjust and unconstitutional ; and it led to the " nullification movement" in South Carolina in 1832. These tariff laws, of which Henry Clay was the principal champion, formed the foundation of the " American System," so called, for protecting home manufactures.
The State of New York and, indeed, the whole country now experi- enced a severe loss. Governor Clinton had suffered symptoms of organic disease of the heart for several months. On the evening of February 11th, 1828, while sitting in his study conversing with two of his sons, he suddenly fell forward and expired. His death cansed deep and sincere sorrow throughout the State and nation. The voice of partisanship was hushed. Mr. Van Buren, long his most persistent political antagonist, said in a public address : "The triumph of his talents and patriotism cannot fail to become monuments of high and enduring fame." Allud- ing to their political antagonism and mutual personal respect, Mr. Van
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Buren said : " I, who, while living, never, no, never, envied him any- thing, now that he has fallen, I am greatly tempted to envy him his grave with its honors." Lieutenant-Governor Pitcher performed the duties of governor during the remainder of the term.
An act was passed during the session of 1828 for the organization in the city of New York of a Superior Court of Common Pleas for the trial of civil actions, of which Chancellor Samuel Jones * was appointed chief-justice, and J. Ogden Hoffman and Thomas J. Oakley assistant justices. In the same year a contest for the Presidency of the United States ocenrred between John Quincy Adams and General Andrew Jackson, which resulted in the election of the latter, with John C. Calhoun as Vice-President. The New York Legislature chose twenty electors favorable to Jackson and sixteen favorable to Adams. In the election for State officers in the fall, Martin Van Buren was chosen Governor of New York.
In his message at the opening of the Legislature in 1829 Governor Van Buren recommended the appropriation of the surplus funds of the State and a judicious use of its credit to an extension of the system of · internal improvements ; also the establishment of a safety fund for the ultimate redemption of the notes of the several State banks, the choice of presidential electors by the people, and the promotion of the interests of popular education. A safety-fund bill planned by Joshua Forman, of Onondaga, was passed, and thirty-one banks, exclusive of three of the city of New York, were rechartered under the law. This excellent safety-fund system prevailed in New York until the establishment of our present national currency during the late Civil War.
In March, 1829, Governor Van Buren accepted the position of Secre- tary of State of the United States in the Cabinet of President Jackson, and forthwith he resigned his chair, which was filled by Lieutenant- Governor Throop. The fall election gave a very large majority of the political friends of Jackson (Democrats) to both branches of the Legisla -- ture. The Anti-Masons carried fifteen of the western counties and polled sixty-seven thousand votes.
* Samuel Jones was born in New York in 1769 ; was educated at Columbia College ; studied law with De Witt Clinton in his father's office, the Chief-Justice of New York and " father of the New York bar," and became an eminent jurist. He was a member of the New York Assembly, 1812-14 ; Recorder of New York City in 1823 ; appointed Chancellor of the State in 1826, and accepted the office of Chief-Justice of the Superior Court iu New York City in 1828. In 1847-49 he was a justice of the Supreme Court of the State and er-officio a judge of the Court of Appeals. Judge Jones died at Cold Spring, L. I., in August, 1853.
475
AN INFLUENTIAL ANTI-MASONIC JOURNAL.
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