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 36
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1 Up to the present time the writer's conjecture has been proved correct.
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It was one of those few bright visions whose evanescent glory is allowed to light up the path of human life - which, as they are pass- ing, we feel can never return; and which, in diffusing a sensation of pleasing melancholy, consecrate, as it were, all surrounding objects, even to the atmosphere we inhale."
Another circumstance connected with these demonstrations of good feeling must not be omitted: On board of the Swallow an elegant breakfast was given, in honor of the occasion, by her commander, Lieutenant Baldock, to a numerous company of ladies and gentlemen, on which occasion was tastefully displayed a series of elegant and
NORTH END OF THE CITY HALL PARK, 1825.
appropriate drawings in water- colors, representing Britannia, Columbia, the Eagle, the Lion, and an English and an American sailor, Neptune, Liberty, and the flags and shields of both nations, all classically arranged, denoting good feeling, fellowship, and union of sentiment. There were also round one of the devices for a tower two designs of canal-basins, with double locks-one as coming through Welsh mountains, the other as through American mountains of granite; and on their basements were conspicuously inscribed "Clinton and Bridgewater," in honor of men whose pursuits in each country were so similar. The whole was designed by John R. Smith, and executed by him and an assistant.1
Meanwhile, the head of the land procession, under General Augustus Fleming, marshal of the day, assisted by Colonels King and Jones, Major John Low,2 and Mr. Van Winkle, had already arrived on the Bat- tery, where it was designed the whole should pass in review before
1 It would be extremely interesting if one could know where these water-color paintings are now to be found : for they must, of course, have been deposited in some public institution. I have, however, searched for them in vain. As a sou-
venir - to be preserved so long as New-York city shall endure as a city -they would be simply priceless.
2 The banker, and father of Mr. Abiel A. Low, the eminent East India merchant.
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the corporation and their guests, and the spectators on board of the other boats, which lay to near the shore to afford an opportunity of witnessing the cars, and banners, and other decorations of the several societies, professions, and callings which had turned out in the city in honor of the event commemorated. The Washington and Chancellor Livingston touched at Pier No. 1, in the East River, disembarking the corporation and their friends at the proper time for them to fall into line in the rear of the procession. The fleet then dispersed, each vessel repairing to its own moorings; and thus, without a single accident to alloy the festivities of the day, ended an agreeable fete, unrivaled in beauty and magnificence in the annals of the United States, and perhaps of the world. Indeed, the magnificence of this naval pageant is worth dwelling upon, since, in all of the different land and aquatic processions of recent years, the palm, by universal consent, has in- variably been awarded to those upon the land.
The civic procession was composed of the several benevolent and mechanical societies of New-York city, the fire department, the offi- cers of the State artillery and infantry in uniform, the literary and scientific institutions, the members of the bar, the members of many occupations and callings not formally organized into societies, ac- companied by fine bands of music, exclusive of the corporation, their associate committees and distinguished guests, who fell into line in the rear of the procession, as before mentioned, at the Battery. This procession, the largest of the kind ever witnessed in America, began forming, six abreast, in Greenwich street, near the Battery, and ex- tended to the distance of more than a mile and a half. The line of march was taken up at half-past ten. Its first movement was a countermarch of the whole column upon the right wing. By this manœuver every society and division was brought into such close proximity to each other as to afford every individual a distinct view of the whole. The procession moved from Greenwich street through Canal street into Broadway, up Broadway to Broome street, across Broome street to the Bowery, down the Bowery to Pearl street, down Pearl street to the Battery, over the Battery to Broadway, and thence to the City Hall. Along the whole extensive line of march the spectacle was of a most imposing and animating de- scription. The various societies and occupations seemed to have been engaged in a laudable strife, regardless of expense, to excel each other in the richness of their banners and the beauty and taste exhibited in their badges and other decorations. Nor had the money of the societies been expended, or the skill of the artists of our city exer- cised, in vain. For never did a more imposing array of banners of exquisite design and magnificent appearance stream and flutter in the breeze. Many of the societies, likewise, had furnished themselves
RETURN OF PEACE, AND COMPLETION OF ERIE CANAL 325
ILLUMINATION OF THE CITY HALL UPON COMPLETION OF THE ERIE CANAL.
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with cars of gigantic structure, upon which their respective artisans were busily engaged in their several occupations. The ornaments of many of these cars were curiously wrought, and they were other- wise beautifully and splendidly decorated. The richest Turkey or Brussels carpets covered the floors of some, whilst the costly gild- ing of others reflected the golden rays of the sun with dazzling efful- gence. The eye of beauty, too, gazed with delight upon the passing scene; for every window was thronged, and the myriads of hand- kerchiefs which fluttered in the air were only rivaled in whiteness by the delicate hands which suspended them; while the glowing cheeks, the ingenuous smiles of loveliness and innocence, and the intelligence which beamed brightly from many a sparkling eye, pro- claimed their possessors worthy of being the wives, mothers, and daughters of free men.
The festivities of the day were closed in the evening by illumina- tions of the public buildings and the principal hotels, upon many of which appropriate transparencies were exhibited. The illumination of the City Hotel contributed largely to the brilliant appearance of Broadway. Great taste was also displayed in the illumination of the New-York Coffee House. The front in Sloat Lane presented a bril- liant wreath encircling the letter "C." The front in William street displayed the words "Grand Canal" in large and glowing capitals. We do not remember to have seen a more original and beautiful method of illuminating than that adopted at this establishment. Peale's Museum presented a beautiful transparency-rays of glory, containing a motto illustrative of the dependence of the fine arts upon the success of commerce. Scudder's Museum, likewise, was brilliantly illuminated, and a very large and beautiful transparency was exhibited in front. The Park Theater was illuminated, and also exhibited appropriate transparencies without; while within an inter- lude, composed for the occasion by Mr. Noah,1 with scenery specially prepared for the occasion, was received with great applause. A simi- lar production, from the pen of Samuel Woodworth,2 was played at the Chatham Theater, and was likewise well received. The house of Moses B. Seixas, in Broadway, was illuminated, and an appropriate transpar- ency, representing Fortune embarking on board of a canal-boat loaded with bags of money, and several appropriate emblematical devices were exhibited. At "The Lunch" a transparency was shown, representing the canal-boat Seneca Chief receiving on board his Ex- cellency the Governor, the Buffalo deputation, Indian chiefs, etc., preparatory to her passage from Lake Erie into the canal. But the City Hall was the grand point of attraction, and too much praise cannot be given to our corporation for the great exertions which
1 Mordecai M. Noah, the author and journalist. 2 The author of " The Old Oaken Bucket."
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it made to contribute to the enjoyment and festivities of the day. The City Hall, under its direction, was superbly illuminated, the front presenting a very magnificent transparency, on which were painted interesting views of the canal, columns with the names of worthies, figures emblematical of the occasion, etc." The fireworks, prepared by Mr. Wilcox, far exceeded the public expectation, and were unrivaled of the kind. Such rockets were never before seen in New-York. They were uncommon- ly large. Now they shot forth al- ternately showers of fiery serpents and dragons, gorgons and hydras, and chimeras dire; and now they burst forth and rained down show- ers of stars, floating in the atmo- sphere like balls of liquid silver.2 The volcanic eruption of fire-balls and rockets, with which this exhi- bition was concluded, afforded a spectacle of vast beauty and sub- limity. They were sent up appar- ently from the rear of the hall to a great height, diverged like rays from a common center, then, float- John & Abreh ing like meteors of the brightest light, they fell in graceful curves, presenting a scene magnificent and enchanting. The park was filled to overflowing; not less than ten thousand admiring spectators having collected in it to view the splendid display.
"Thus passed," says Stone, "a day so glorious to the State and city, and so deeply interesting to the countless thousands who were permitted to behold and mingle in its exhibitions. We have before said that all attempts at description must be utterly in vain. Others can comprehend the greatness of the occasion. The Grand Canal is
1 The City Hall was illuminated with 1542 wax candles, 454 lamps, and 310 variegated lamps, total 2306. To eclipse this great effusion of light was not within the power of ordinary fireworks, hence extraordinary means were employed, con- sisting of 13 compounded gerbes, each containing 58 pounds of brilliant Chinese and diamond fires, which changed alternately. These fires were sup- ported by a background of spur fire, which pro- jected 1500 brilliant stars, intersecting each other in fanciful directions. During the evening were projected 320 four-pound rockets, 30 nine-pound and 24 twenty-pound rockets, total 374; supple-
mented by a great variety of minor amusing pieces. Vide page 325. EDITOR.
2 It would seem as if our present fireworks, splendid as they are, are in no wise superior to those of seventy years since.
3 Dr. John Neilson Abeel, D. D., was born in the city of New-York in 1769, and was the son of Colonel James Abeel, who served through the Revolutionary war on Washington's staff. He was appointed one of the ministers of the Col- legiate Church in 1795, remaining in that office until his death; and he was one of the founders of the New-York Historical Society. EDITOR.
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completed; and the waters of Lake Erie have been borne upon its surface, and mingled with the ocean. But it is only those who were present and beheld the brilliant scenes of the day, that can form any adequate idea of their grandeur, and of the joyous feelings which pervaded all ranks of the community. Never before had been pre- sented to the sight a fleet so beautiful as that which then graced our waters. The numerous array of steamboats and barges proudly breasting the billows, and dashing on their way regardless of oppos- ing winds and tides; the flags of all nations, and banners of every hue, streaming splendidly in the breeze; the dense columns of black smoke ever and anon sent up from the boats, now partially obscuring the view, and now spreading widely over the sky and softening down the glare of light and color; the roar of cannon from the various forts, accompanied by heavy vol- umes of white smoke, contrast- ing finely with the dark smoke of the steamboats; the crowds of happy beings who thronged the decks, and the voice of whose joy was mingled with the sound of music, and not unfre- MANHATTAN RESERVOIR, CHAMBERS STREET. quently drowned by the hissing of the steam: all these, and a thousand other circumstances, awak- ened an interest so intense that the eye could not be satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing. We rejoiced, and all who were there rejoiced ; although, as we looked upon the countless throng, we could not but remember the exclamation of Xerxes, and feel that 'a hundred years hence not one of all that vast multitude will be alive.' The splendor of beauty and the triumph of art serve to ex- cite, to dazzle, and often to improve the condition and promote the welfare of mankind; but the 'fashion of this world passeth away'; beauty and art, with all their triumphs and splendors, endure but for a season; and earth itself, with all its lakes and oceans, is only as the small dust of the balance in the sight of Him who dwells beyond the everlasting hills."1
On Monday evening, November 7, the festivities of the city were appropriately concluded by a ball, which was given in the Lafayette Amphitheater, in Laurens street, by the officers of the militia, asso-
1 This remark is brought home to us continually in our own experience. As the writer says, prob- ably no one who witnessed this celebration - un- less it was the babe in arms carried by some mother who herself wished to view the proces- sion -now lives. It is, of course, & melancholy thought; and yet how many who daily cross on
our ferry-boats and see the crowds crossing to and fro, give a thought to the fact that of all these human beings a few short years will see them in their graves. Indeed, as Gray has well said in his immortal elegy, neither "storied urn" nor "animated bust" can call back the fleeting breath, nor the flattery of inscriptions, deserved
RETURN OF PEACE, AND COMPLETION OF ERIE CANAL 329
ciated with a committee of citizens. The circus building, compris- ing a spacious stage used for dramatic representations, was enlarged by the addition of an edifice in the rear, which had been used for a riding-school. These were connected in such a manner as to form an area of much greater extent than that of any other ball-room in the United States, being nearly two hundred feet in length, and varying from sixty to about one hundred feet in width. The usual entrance to the circus from Laurens street was closed up, and new entrances opened from Thompson street, in the rear, through the riding-school. The front was brilliantly illuminated, presenting in large letters, formed by bright lamps extending over the doors across the building, the words "The Grand Canal." The whole area within was newly floored for the occasion, and arranged in three compartments by the original divisions of the audience part of the circus, the stage, and the addi- tional building on Thompson street. Of these we shall speak in order, but briefly. The two tiers of boxes were reserved, and deco- rated for the accommodation of that part of the company which chose to retire and be spectators of the busy assemblage below. Access was obtained to them through a flight of steps in the middle of the boxes, of which the center one had been removed. The dome in this part of the hall was ornamented with green wreaths, which were appropriately festooned with beautiful and various flowers, sweeping gracefully to the pillars which supported the boxes, terminating at and around them. Above the proscenium were the names of the engineers who had been employed in the construction of the canal, viz .: Briggs, White, James Geddes, Benjamin Wright, David Thomas. Opposite these, and in the center of the circle of boxes, was a bust of Washington, surrounded with evergreens, and around were inscribed the names of the canal commissioners: Eli Hart, William C. Bouck,1 Myron Holley, Simeon De Witt, William North, Robert R. Livingston, Robert Fulton, De Witt Clinton, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Gouverneur Morris, Thomas Eddy, Samuel Young, Henry Seymour, Peter B. Porter, and Joseph Ellicott.
" From the roof," says Stone, "splendid chandeliers added their blaze of light to the numberless lamps which hung nearly parallel to the upper boxes. Passing into the upper apartment, the eye was met by a scene of equal splendor. One side of this room, which is the stage of the theater, was formed by a beautiful piece of scenery represent-
or undeserved, "soothe the dull, cold ear of death "; and it is also a sad, a melancholy reflec- tion, how very short a period do nearly all the memorials reared to the memory of the dead by the hand of surviving friendship and affection endure! A few, a very few brief years, and the headstone has sunk, the slab is broken, the short column or pyramid overturned; and yet, while
they do remain, they are often mementos of interesting incidents or endearing recollections. For a letter from Colonel Stone to Dr. Hosack upon the legislative proceedings of 1816-17, in regard to the Erie Canal, see Hosack's " Memoir of De Witt Clinton."
1 Afterward governor of New-York State, hav- ing been elected in 1843.
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ing the interior of an elegant chamber, with proper doors, hand- somely ornamented. The other side was occupied by a band of music, placed behind a species of turret, on the face of which arches were skillfully painted, and in the distance of which landscapes were repre- sented. Here was also hung the painting, spoken of near the begin- ning of this narrative, from the cabin of the canal-boat, faithfully represent- ing the whole arrangement in that place. The music of the band, which was placed here, was excellent, and we discovered that the bugle-notes were NEW YORK BATH, Nº17 Chamber Street. those of Willis of West-Point. Our national stripes were suspended from the center and tastefully looped up from the extremities of the ceiling, forming a complete circumference of regular semicircles, meeting in a common center. Here, also, were lamps and chandeliers, and wreaths of flowers, and garlands of roses. But it was to the third apartment that the exertions of the committee were directed. Imagine in a large hall, collected and displayed in one grand view, the flags and emblems and costly decorations, which, in a continued procession, called forth such enthusiasm of admiration. Imagine them presented in one overwhelming view blazing with light, and bright with reflected beauty; and when a proper idea is formed of the complete enchantment of the scene, add to this, in one pro- digious mirror, the whole reflected back in trebled brilliancy, doubling the immense area, including the thousand lights in tenfold greater splendor. Floods of light were poured forth from every point, which were glanced back by the glittering array of the military, and a thousand other objects of brilliant reflection.
"But entrancing, above all other enchantments of the scene, was the living enchantment of beauty-the trance which wraps the senses in the presence of loveliness, when woman walks the halls of fancy- magnificence herself-the brightest object in the midst of brightness and beauty. A thousand faces were there, bright in intelligence and radiant with beauty, looking joy and congratulation to each other, and spreading around the spells which the Loves and the Graces bind on the heart of the sterner sex.
"It only remains to speak of the ladies' supper-room, which was separated from the large apartment by flags elegantly festooned, and raised at the given signal. Mirrors, and splendid lights, and emblems, and statues, and devices, beyond the writer's abilities to describe, or- namented this part of the house in common with the rest. Upon the supper-table was placed, floating in its proper element (the waters of Lake Erie), a miniature canal-boat, made entirely of maple-sugar, and
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presented to Governor Clinton by Colonel Hinman of Utica. The re- freshments were excellent; and, considering the vast number who were to partake of them, very plentifully provided. At a seasonable hour the company retired, with memories stored with the events, and decorations, and splendors of the Grand Canal Ball."
That this joyous and amazing demonstra- tion was commensurate to, and fully war- ranted by, the occasion which had called it forth, the steady increase of the productive- ness of the State affords conclusive proof. Many of the supporters of the "Big Ditch," who at the time were regarded as enthusi- astic and visionary, have lived to see their most sanguine predictions more than real- ized, as well as the complete refutation of the opinion which one of our greatest , statesmen, whose zeal for internal improve- ments could not be questioned, was known to have expressed, that this enterprise had been undertaken a hundred years too soon, LEGGETT HOUSE.1 and that, until the lapse of another century, the strength of our popula- tion and of our resources would be inadequate to such a gigantic work.
While, however, New-York city was thus vindicating her claim to a place in the van of internal improvements, she did not hesitate to take the lead, also, in extending aid to a nation at that time strug- gling for its release from the thraldom of an oppressor. Greece was at this period writhing under the heel of the sultan. In the first three years of the war that nation had received no material aid, either in men or money. This arose, probably, from the fact that at this time the Greeks were in no need of assistance. Fighting with en- thusiasm and upon their own soil, they had beaten off the Turkish hordes, and cleared most of the country of their oppressors. In this year, however, affairs wore a different aspect. Byron, their great friend and champion, had died the year before, and the dark days of the revolution had begun. The Egyptian vizier had responded to the appeals of the sultan, and his son, Ibrahim Pasha, landing an organized and regular army on the Peloponnesus, swept everything before him. In less than two years the Greeks were driven from the plains and all the open country to the caves and recesses of the moun- tains, retaining only here and there a fortress. As it was a war with- out quarter, every one fled; for surrender was death to every man
1 No. 7 Cherry street, the residence of Samuel Leggett, first president of the New-York Gas-light Company, was the earliest house in this city that was lighted with gas, in 1825. EDITOR.
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and dishonor to every woman. Two seasons brought them to the point of starvation. Their vines had been pulled up, their olive-trees burned, their fields desolated, their flocks slain and eaten. Snails and sorrel were their only food; and the only alternative left, on the part of the Greeks, was starvation or submission. Guerrilla bands alone hovered around the flanks and rear of the invading hosts. At this point Dr. Samuel G. Howe, urged by a pure philanthropy, set out for Greece. After experiencing many vicissitudes and languishing for several months in a Prussian dungeon, he at length landed upon the Peloponnesus alone, from an Austrian vessel going to Smyrna. As there was, however, no organization among the Greeks, he could do no- thing; and he accordingly returned to the United States to obtain aid. On his arrival at Boston, he found that Greek committees, under the lead of Edward Everett and Daniel Webster, were already formed; and, after doing what he could to organ- ize efforts for raising supplies, he came to New-York, at the solicita- tion of Colonel Stone, with whom he had been for a long time in corre- spondence, with a view to this end. Colonel Stone now threw himself Sausones heartily into the good work. He roused his fellow-citizens through his paper, the "Commercial Advertiser," issued stirring appeals for aid, depicted in vivid colors the sufferings of the Greeks, and got up private meetings composed of the wealthy men of New-York city, at which large amounts of money were obtained. After doing all that could be done in the city, he accompanied Dr. Howe upon a tour up the Hudson River and through the western towns of the State, preaching a sort of crusade for the relief of the Greeks.
The general results are well known. Through the efforts of those persons who have been mentioned, the citizens of New-York city and State contributed most liberally; ships were purchased, and large amounts of grain, flour, clothing, and money were obtained, for- warded, and distributed among the starving people of Greece, which, by the immediate relief thus brought, and by the moral support thus given at the most critical period of the Greek revolution, helped materially to aid their cause.
In closing the history of this year, it only remains to say that in May the first gas-pipes were laid by the New-York Gas-light Company,
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