USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume III > Part 32
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The idea was general that New-York would soon be attacked by a powerful expedition of land and sea forces, and a descent was daily expected. The cruise of the President was therefore countermanded, and Decatur was ordered to remain in the city and take entire charge of the naval defense. Advantage was taken of Decatur's presence in the city to confer on him the municipal honors voted to him by the common council. On November 14 a committee, consisting of Alder- men Peter Mesier and John Munson, introduced him to the common council at the City Hall. Mayor Clinton, in his address to him, said that " the city looked to him as one of her most efficient protectors in the hour of peril"; and, alluding to the many successes at sea, said: "Sir, during the Revolutionary War, our contest with France and the Bar- bary powers, and in the present war with Great Britain, the gallantry and skill of our seamen have been constantly gaining upon the admira- tion of mankind. Wherever they have approached an Enemy victory has almost invariably attended the American flag. The Great Lakes, the Mediterranean Sea, the British Channel, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, bear witness to their illustrious exploits, and they have ele- vated America to the pinnacle of naval glory." When Decatur left the hall he was saluted by the citizens who had "assembled to wit- ness the honors paid to their gallant countryman." The number of men enrolled for the force under his orders, including man-of-war's- men on the ships and gunboats, and the Sea Fencibles,-a kind of naval militia,-exceeded five thousand. These Decatur thoroughly
1 This officer had served in the Continental army from Bunker Hill to Yorktown. He entered New- York on the day the British evacuated the city, as lieutenant colonel of the Second Continental Artillery, which was essentially a New-York re- giment. Entering into business, he was at this time one of the leading merchants of the city.
After the death of Hamilton, he was the acknow- ledged head of the veteran Revolutionary element of the city. While not partizan, his sympathies were with the Republican party. He had been Lafayette's chief of artillery, and his house was the rendezvous of many French officers and gen- tlemen who visited New-York.
.
. V-VORE
ban in person. His squadron !! ! "Le crew of the President
ms. Destined for the East D. 52 guns; the new sloop
2- bay, closely blockaded by
. wirl" irilled several hours a day,
ma stevens, who was a strict disci- -1: twee regiments once a week, the
..
viewed them in parade three or
it three months' service. In a grand
'pales at the close of the campaign,
.my-three thousand men,-all, except
. erseif and amply able to defend her ! 'he frontier of the State, but New- uars, being volunteers. The army of
. * Le war De Witt Clinton held the office . o ine war in the beginning, and in fact the . i the Republican party in 1812, against as cordial and patriotic in his support of all "he Republican party was divided into two + who had their headquarters in Tammany .il : and the Clintonians, or Martling-men, 'hace of meeting at Martling's Long Room."
" Engiand as to the propriety and policy of ta wern, caused distrust in Washington as to , which in its turn caused apprehension in
a 'he conditions of peace they might be left 1. Britain. A committee of the Massachusetts 'hte state of public affairs, suggested that the secution of the war should be retained for ti expended elsewhere. A convention from vas recommended, to provide "some mode of . ivumustanees and exigencies of those States." :: delegates from every New England State met er 15, 1814. The sessions were held with closed warm throughout the country. The convention 'anuary 5, and made a report which, ill-judged was, went no further than to propose amend-
quartels and the sued the mayor-
1 .' adopted by the ne , harter election
in 1816, and then only by one section of the domi- nant organization. The Federalists steadily dr- clined after the peace, their best element support. ing De Witt Clinton in the subsequent political struggles in the city and State.
NEW-YORK IN THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN 289
ments to the Constitution of the United States restricting the powers of Congress and of the executive to declare and make war, etc. The evils which this separatist movement might have caused were hap- pily averted by the signing of the peace. New-York, thoroughly loyal to the Union although the greatest sufferer by the war, cut off as she was from the contraband trade, was profoundly disturbed by this agitation on her eastern border.
RESIDENCE OF THE AMERICAN COMMISSIONERS IN GHENT.
From the beginning of the war the support of the treasury of the United States came chiefly from the Middle States. Of the loan of sixteen millions authorized by Congress in December, 1812, New-York took $5,720,000, Pennsylvania $6,858,400, Maryland $2,393,300, while New England subscribed for but $486,700, and the Southern States $541,000, together but little over one million dollars. The extremely small subscription in New England (Boston taking but $75,300) can only be explained by a fixed determination not to support the war, based on a belief in the dissolution of the Union. The influence of Mr. Gallatin saved the loan, David Parish and Stephen Girard in VOL. III .- 19.
29%
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
:aines ti at wien wacob Later in New-York, all personal friends . 'si statuer, aking over ten millions for themselves and the. ... tree of these men were foreign-born. This was to stay inangai transaction. Between June 1, 1811, and - to -peer in the Massachusetts banks increased from
griwww in the latter year. Of the $41,010,000 sup- "panout in various ways from the beginning of the " -iri of the year 1814,-the Eastern States con- ... Middle States #35,790,000, the Southwestern
aiki, moreover, four fifths of the floating debt on
. : was held by the cities of New-York, Philadelphia, , District of Columbia. An application of the text,
ive los
-Ir and Brooklyn Ferry.
is ne niennes to compound,
In, n the Steam Ferry-Boat, ' mien Horse Boats, will be pleas- 'le subscribers, who are authori-
GEORGE HICKS, Brooklyn, OHN PINTARD, 52 Wall-st. w i Angie person not
semble, For !' months,
$10 00
8 months,
6 67
6m.
"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also," seems not inap- propriate in a review of this selfish public policy. The capture of Wash- ington by the British in August, 1814. precipitated a general suspension of the banks of the United States, in- eluding those of New-York city. The depression of the currency in New- York was from seven to ten per cent. (much less than the average of that in other cities). The price of commod- ities increased one half. The banks of New England, continuing their policy, within a little over a year drew to their vaults over eight millions of
! specie, one half the entire stock of the United States.
the negotiations undertaken in England for peace had not been
. sed, thanks to the vigorous defense of New-York territory, ! conquests which Great Britain might pretend to claim under inciple of the uti possidetis (hold what you possess)-a claim
h, when advanced by Lord Bathurst, the American commission-
hoi peremptorily refused to admit. Upon this Lord Liverpool :
: named on a vigorous prosecution of the war with the troops now . ..
I 'berty in Europe, when Wellington frankly told him that the Brush hold no territory in the United States in other than temporary ... .. ion. The news of the burning of Washington did not discour- to but strengthened the American commissioners in their deter- ". nation to surrender nothing. The treaty of Ghent was signed on mitmas day, 1814, on the basis of the American instructions, viz., ihe Jatus quo ante bellum. Neither country gained or gave up any- thing. Nothing was said of the employment of the savages, nothing
NEW-YORK IN THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN 291
conceded as to the impressment of sea- men; no concession on the other hand as to the navigation of the Mississippi, or the fisheries. Yet the United States had received another les- son as to the impor- tance of union, and England had learned to respect the flag which now floated over her conquered frigates. The lesson taught her regulars at the battle of the Chippewa was re- peated at New Orle- ans by General An- drew Jackson sev- eral days after the peace was signed. It was fortunate, as it completed the asser- tion of the sover- eignty of the United States over every inch of its territory, not by agreement in articles, but by the supreme arbitra- ment of arms.
The glorious news of the battle of New Orleans reached New-York city on February 6, 1815. In the midst of the rejoicings for this satisfaction for the burning of Washing- ton, the still more
Done in Triplicate at Ghent The twenty fourth day of December one thousand eight hundred and . fourteen
Tambien
Henry Goulburn William Adams John Quincy Adams
Mr. Clay
Jon Aufsres
Albert Gallatin
292
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
satisfactory news of the signing of the treaty of Ghent was received in the city on the night of Saturday, February 14, 1815. The treaty itself reached the city by express in twenty-six hours from Washing- ton on the 25th. There were universal rejoicings. There were din- ners by all the societies and a grand public dinner on Washington's birthday, the committee upon which comprised such men as Au- gustus M. Lawrence, John A. King, Jonathan Goodhue, Philip Hone, Dominick Lynch, George Brinckerhoff and William Neilson, Jr. And on the same appropriate day a general illumination was ordered by the common council and universally obeyed by the citizens. The war was over. Discord was hushed, and an era of peace and good will was entered upon.
LAWRENCE AND LUDLOW.
So far as known, the last survivor of the famous engagement between the Shannon and Chesapeake in Boston Harbor, seventy-eight years ago, is Sir Provo William Parry Wallis, G. C. B., who, since the death of Sir George Sartorius in 1885, has been the senior admiral of the British navy. He has just completed a century of existence, having been born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 12, 1791. As he was entered on the books of the navy in May 1, 1795, he has been in the naval service for ninety-six years! Sir Provo may be said to have been the actual captor of the always unfortunate Chesa- peake, the first lieutenant of the Shannon having been killed and Captain Broke seri- ously wounded, so that the command devolved upon Wallis, the second lieutenant, who carried his own frigate and her prize, the Chesapeake, into Halifax, where, among the thousands awaiting their arrival, was his own father, then chief clerk in the navy-yard. For young Ludlow, the second officer of the American frigate, who was mortally wounded in the engagement, Wallis did everything in his power, and he was among the chief mourners at his funeral in Halifax.
lu a letter addressed to the writer, dated February 18, 1890, from his estate in the south of England, Sir Provo says: " I regret to state that I cannot give you any ac- count of Captain James Lawrence more than to say that we on the Shannon thought him a gallant fellow, who brought the Chesapeake into action in first-rate style, who was mortally wounded, and I never saw him alive. Lieutenant Ludlow lived for about ten days after our arrival at Halifax, but died, to the great regret of all of us. He was a fine, gentleman-like fellow, and they are both deserving of being kept in mem- ory by their countrymen."
. Wallis was & midshipman on the Cleopatra when captured after a long action, in 1805, by the French frigate Ville de Milan. For his gallantry and good conduct in the uffair in Honton Harbor, June 1, 1813, although only twenty-two, he was made a com- mander, received the thanks of the British government, and was soon after given the counnaud of a small ship of war, the youngest officer of the British navy then enjoy- ing that distinction. All this, it should be remembered, happened before the battle of Waterloo was fought, and but a few years later than the death of Lord Nelson at Tra- fulgar. In 1847 Wallis was appointed aide-de-camp to the queen. Four years later he was made an admiral, and in 1857 was sent out as commander-in-chief on the At- lautic cuent of America, hoisting his flag on board the line-of-battle-ship Cumberland.
NEW-YORK IN THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN 293
In 1860 the admiral was created a K. C. B., soon afterward a G. C. B., and in 1863 ar- rived at full flag rank as admiral of the fleet. As already mentioned, Sir Provo has been for the last six years the father of the British navy. Until a very recent date . he was one of the dock commissioners of Southampton, and the venerable sailor is still in the enjoyment of a fair measure of health and strength for a man who is almost as old as the Constitution of the United States, and who was a sturdy lad of nearly nine when George Washington died in the last month of the year 1799.
Among the many souvenirs of his long life of a century there is, perhaps, none that Sir Provo appreciates and values so highly as a beautiful sword presented to him by the commander of the Shannon for his gallantry in the action with the Chesapeake. A few lines concerning this gallant officer and good friend of Sir Provo's will perhaps form a suitable pendant to this brief notice of the aged admiral.
Philip Bowes Vere Broke was born at Broke Hall, near Ipswich, September 9, 1776. He was bred to the sea from the age of twelve, and, after passing through all the intermediate grades, was promoted to a captaincy in 1801. He was placed in command of the Shannon six years later, and sailed for Halifax in August, 1811. On the first day of June, 1813, after having sent a challenge to Captain Lawrence, which he never received, and while cruising off Boston, he fell in with the Chesapeake. A J. Laurence severe engagement ensued, during which Lawrence was twice wounded. Broke, at the head of fifty or sixty men, boarded the American frigate, and succeeded in driving the survivors of the crew below, but was himself disabled for life by a blow on the head from the butt-end of a musket. For this vic- tory, which greatly elated the enemy, several of whose frigates we had recently cap- tured, Broke was knighted, and the Tower of London guns were fired. Sir Philip never went to sea again, but lived for nearly three decades the life of an English country gentleman at Broke Hall, and died in London, January 2, 1841.
James Lawrence, who possessed what old Fuller quaintly calls " a handsome man case," and was one of the most gallant officers of the war of 1812, was born at Burlington, N. J., October 1, 1781, being five years younger than Broke. He entered the navy in 1798, and in 1811 attained to the rank of captain. Early in the second war with England, when in command of the Hornet, he won a great victory over the Peacock. After this success, Lawrence was given command of the frigate Chesa- peake. A few days after his arrival in Boston the Shannon appeared in the offing, and the Chesapeake immediately went out to meet her. After exchanging a few broadsides, the Chesapeake fouled the Shannon; Lawrence fell mortally wounded, and was carried below, saying, "Don't give up the ship." Captain Broke saw his opportunity and boarded the Chesapeake, whose flag was soon after hauled down. Several incidents of the action show that the crew of the Chesapeake were lacking in discipline. They were for the most part newly shipped and imperfectly trained, while the Shannon was noted for excellent gunnery practice, and her captain had supplied sights for the guns at his own expense. In size and armament there was not much disparity between the ships. Neither was seriously injured during the action, but the loss of the Chesapeake was forty-four killed and ninety-nine wounded, while the Shannon's total loss was only eighty-five. The remains of Lawrence and Ludlow were restored to their country, by whom they were received with public honors and buried in state in Trinity churchyard, New-York city. The bitter disappointment that was caused by the loss of the Chesapeake might have led the public to criticize the conduct of Lawrence in accepting a contest for which he was so poorly prepared,
294
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
had it not been for his tragic fate and his dying injunction, "Don't give up the ship." If he erred in admitting chivalric traditions into modern warfare, it must not be forgotten that he associated with them both courtesy and humanity in the very highest degree.
When Lawrence fell, there being no first officer on board the Chesapeake, the com- mand devolved upon Augustus C. Ludlow, the second lieutenant, who was almost immediately mortally wounded, as were also Lieutenant James Broome, U. S. M. C., and Courtlandt Livingston, a midshipman. Ludlow, after the surrender of the frigate, was removed to the Shannon, where he became an object of solicitude to Second Lieutenant Wallis, who left nothing undone to save the life of the young sailor of only twenty-one, Ludlow being but a few months his junior. He was born in Orange County, N. Y., and came of a fighting family, being the youngest of four brothers, all holding commissions in the United States navy. He was with Lawrence in the Hornet when the great victory was gained over the Peacock, and he now shares the same grave with the hero in Trinity churchyard. Justice Story, in his glowing eulogy on Lawrence and Ludlow, well says: "Nor can we forget the gay, the gallant, and noble-hearted Ludlow. Though the history of his life be short, yet it can never be uninteresting to those whose hearts beat high with the love of their country. Scarcely was he twenty-one years of age, when, like the blooming Euryalus, he accom- panied his beloved commander to battle. Never could it have been more truly said:
" His amor unus erat, pariterque in bella ruebant.
" He was, indeed, worthy of the confidence and friendship of Lawrence. His soul was formed for deeds of active valor and martial enterprise. . . The bodies of these heroes may molder away and become indistinguishable from the common mass of mortality, but their spirits, we trust, shall repose in the bosom of heaven, and their fame, their spotless fame, shall perish but with the country of their birth."- THE EDITOR, in "Illustrated American," June, 1891.
MORRIS ARMS.
CHAUNCEY ARMS.
LAWRENCE ARMS.
.
CHAPTER VIII
THE RETURN OF PEACE, AND COMPLETION OF THE ERIE CANAL 1815-1825
HE conduct of New-York city during the war of 1812, in view of the severe blow she had received to her com- mercial prosperity, was no slight proof of patriotism; for many of her citizens who, at the beginning of the war, were rich, found themselves, when the treaty of peace was signed on December 24, 1814, ruined. The condition in which New-York was at the close of the war, as well as the extravagant demonstrations of joy with which the news of the termina- tion of hostilities was received, is thus graphically described by the late Francis Wayland, president of Brown University, who was an eye-witness of the scene :
"It so chanced that, at the close of the last war with Great Britain, I was temporarily a resident of the city of New-York. The prospects of the na- tion were shrouded in gloom. We had been, for two or three years, at war with the mightiest nation on earth, and as she had now concluded a peace with the continent of Europe, we were John Revenus obliged to cope with her single-handed. Our harbors were blockaded; communications coastwise between our ports were cut off ; our ships were rotting in every creek and cove where they could find a place of security; our immense annual pro- ducts were mouldering in our warehouses ; the sources of profitable labor were dried up; our currency was reduced to irredeemable paper ; the extreme portions of our country were becoming hostile to each other; and differences of political opinion were embittering the peace of every household; the credit of the Government was
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
exhausted ; no one could predict when the contest would terminate, or discern the means by which it could much longer be protracted. '
" It happened that, on a Sunday afternoon in February, 1815, a ship was discerned in the offing, which was supposed to be a cartel, bringing home our Commissioners at Ghent from their unsuccessful mission. The sun had set gloomily before any intelligence had reached the city. Expectation became painfully intense, as the hours of darkness drew on. At length, a boat reached the wharf, announcing the fact that a treaty of peace had been signed, and was waiting for nothing but the action of our Government to become a law. The men on whose ears these words first fell, rushed in breath- less haste into the city, to repeat them to their friends, shouting, as they ran through the streets, 'Peace ! Peace ! TIC SEQ Peace!' Every one who MID AMERICA heard the sound re- peated it. From house to house, from street to street, the news spread MEDAL COMMEMORATING PEACE. with electric rapidity. The whole city was in commotion. Men, bearing lighted torches, were flying to and fro, shouting like madmen, 'Peace! Peace!' When the rapture had partially subsided, one idea occupied every mind. But few men slept that night. In groups they were gathered in the streets, and by the fireside, beguiling the hours of midnight by reminding each other that the agony of war was over, and that a worn out and distracted country was about to enter again upon its wonted career of prosperity."
At the time that the news of peace was received, Samuel G. Good- rich happened also to be in the city. Speaking of the joyful effect produced, he adds similar testimony to that of President Wayland. "I had gone in the evening," he writes, "to a concert at the City Hotel. While listening to the music, the door of the concert-room
1 The following lines, entitled "Hard Times," are quoted from a New-York newspaper, published in New-York city at the close of the war of 1812 :
"No business stirring, all things at a stand, People complain they have no cash in hand.
'Dull times' re-echoes now from every quarter, Even from father to the son and daughter. Merchants cry out, 'No money to be had,' Grocers say the ' times are very bad'; Mechanics work, but they can get no pay, Beaux dress genteel, and ladies, too, are gay. Cash very scarce, dancing twice a week - Business dull -amusements still we seek.
Some live awhile, and then, perhaps, they fail, While many run in debt and go to jail. The females must have ribbons, gauze, and lace. And paint besides, to smooth a wrinkled face; The beaux will dress, go to the ball and play, Sit up all night, and lay in bed all day, Brush up an empty pate, look smart and prim. Follow each trifling fashion or odd whim. Five shillings will buy a good fat goose, While turkeys, too, are offered fit for use. Are those bad times, when persons will profess To follow fashions, and delight in dress ! No! times are good, but people are to blame, Who spend too much, and justly merit shame.'
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RETURN OF PEACE, AND COMPLETION OF ERIE CANAL 297
was thrown open, and in rushed a man breathless with excitement. He mounted on a table, and swinging a white handkerchief aloft, cried out, 'Peace ! Peace! Peace!' The music ceased; the hall was speedily vacated. I rushed into the street, and oh, what a scene! In a few minutes, thousands and tens of thousands of people were march- ing about with candles, lamps, torches, making the jubilant street appear like a gay and gorgeous procession. The whole night Broadway sang its song of peace. We were all Democrats, all Federalists! Old enemies rushed into each other's arms; every house was in a revel; every heart seemed melted by a joy which banished all evil thought and feeling. On Monday morning I set out for Connecticut. All along the road the people saluted us with swinging hats and cries of rejoicing. At one place, in rather a lonesome part of the MRS. JOHN MORTON.1 road, a schoolmaster came out with the whole school at his heels to ask us if the news were true. We told him it was; whereupon he tied his bandanna handkerchief to a broom, swung it aloft, and the entire school hosannaed, 'Peace ! Peace !'"
Nor were the effects of the peace confined merely to natural out- bursts of delirious delight or to sentimental gushes of feeling. An increased material prosperity was at once apparent. Under the changed condition of affairs every industry, as if touched by the wand of an enchanter, awoke to new life and vigor. Instead of "ships rotting in every creek and cove," as so graphically described by Dr. Wayland, the different ship-yards of the city resounded from morning till night with the blow of the hammer, as keel after keel of new vessels was daily laid; in place of our "immense annual products mouldering in our warehouses," vessels could not be built or chartered fast enough to convey these products to foreign consumers; and in lieu of the "sources of profitable industry being dried up," the streets were filled with artisans plying their several vocations, and with laborers going to and from their daily toil. In the counting-houses, where a short time previous a few clerks yawned languidly over their desks, all was bustle and animation, as, briskly engaged with foreign correspondence, their faces beamed with satisfaction at the prospect of services being well requited. New buildings, public and private,
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