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 39
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The banks of Philadelphia, no doubt influenced by the tottering Bank of the United States, of Penn- sylvania, whose transactions affected Bong Moore" the entire State, on August 29 de- cided, in general meeting, that it was inexpedient to appoint dele- gates to the New-York convention. Understanding this condition, the New-York committee invited a meeting of delegates on Novem- ber 27, 1837, in New-York. Delegates from banks of seventeen States and the District of Columbia appeared. On the 30th a reso- lution was brought in recommending a general resumption on July 1, 1838, with privilege to any banks that felt it to be necessary to resume earlier. This was to cover the New-York condition. The Pennsylvania banks replied, condemning the idea of immediate re- sumption as impracticable and, in the absence of delegates from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, as unwise. It has been seen that the entire southwestern system of banking and cur- rency had descended to the Bank of the United States, of Pennsyl- vania, from the old bank. The convention met again on December 2, when an adjournment was carried to April 11, 1838, when delegates
1 Bishop Benjamin Moore, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, succeeded Bishop Provoost in 1801. He was also president of Columbia College from 1801 to 1811. EDITOR. VOL. III .- 23.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
from the banks not represented were invited to attend. As in all cases where such conventions are controlled by numbers, the weaker institutions for a time protracted the debate, dreading the conse- quence of a resumption, which is as severe upon the weak as suspension is upon the strong. It was evident that Mr. Biddle had the power of postponement. The Boston banks had joined forces with those under Biddle's influence. Meanwhile ex- change on London, the true par of which was 109}, had fallen from NEW-YORK SOCIETY LIBRARY. 121 to 111, a rate about 2} per cent. below specie par, New-York bank paper being at a discount of 5 per cent. The export of specie had ceased.
High authority in Pennsylvania giving the opinion that the banks of that State were in a condition to resume, Mr. Gallatin's committee made a general report on December 15. On February 28, a further report from the same source showed that the liabilities of the New- York banks had been reduced more than twelve and one half mil- lions, or fifty per cent., and that, with the support of the community and the State authorities, they could resume on May 10, 1838. A general meeting of citizens joyfully ratified this decision. On April 11, the general convention again met in New-York, the Philadelphia banks once more declining to attend. A letter from Secretary Wood- bury engaged the support of the United States treasury. A com- mittee of one from each State recommended the first Monday in October as the earliest day, but the general body could not be brought to a date so early, and finally fixed upon January 1, 1839. The New-York banks would have accepted July 1, 1838, as a day for general resumption, and would have postponed it till then if that date had been set; but this being refused they resumed alone on May 10, 1838. The banks of the country were compelled, by the force of public opinion, to resume on July 1. The terrible contrac- tion was fatal to the Bank of the United States, of Pennsylvania, which, after desperate struggles to redeem itself from the meshes, closed its doors in October, 1839, carrying with it the entire banking system of the southern and southwestern States. With it ended the last hope of the friends of a United States bank as a fiscal agent of the government.
With the failure of this hope came the desire for a powerful insti- tution in New-York to serve as a check on the banks,- an institution with a large capital, controlled by men removed somewhat from the temptations of active business, which should hold a large reserve,
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THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 355
confine itself to short discounts, and consider absolute safety rather than profit as the purpose of the bank. Mr. Samuel B. Ruggles, by his active exertions at Albany, secured the passage of a free banking law in 1838, under which the Bank of Commerce went into opera- tion in that year. The presidency of this bank was tendered to Mr. Gallatin, but he declined. He had already resolved to withdraw from active business, and in fact resigned the presidency of the National Bank of New-York in June, 1839. Samuel Ward was chosen president of the Bank of Commerce. This gentleman died in the first year of office, and John A. Stevens was chosen in his place. Mr. Stevens conducted the bank with eminent suc- cess until after the close of the civil war, holding in that critical period of our national CITY HOTEL, TRINITY CHURCH, AND GRACE CHURCH, 1831. finances the most intimate relations with Salmon P. Chase, the worthy successor of Hamilton and Gallatin in the department of the treasury of the United States.
Mr. Jefferson, in his message of 1806, recommended a national university for education in the higher sciences, but Mr. Gallatin, then a member of his cabinet, thought the time little propitious and the scheme not likely to find popular favor. An old companion of Galla- tin in Geneva had even conceived the idea of transporting the entire University of Geneva to the United States, and had broached this in letters to Jefferson and Adams. But as the country developed Gallatin thought the plan, often referred to in his conversation and correspondence with the "Sage of Monticello," not impossible of attainment. This was, to use his own words, "the establishment of a general system of rational and practical education fitted for all and gratuitously open to all." New-York, already a great and a rapidly growing city, offered the most promising field for a grand national university on a broad and liberal scale. There was much difficulty in obtaining teachers in the lowest branches of education in the public schools. Great learning and the teaching faculty are not always, nor indeed often, found in the same person. Governor Enos T. Throop, in his message to the legislature of the State of New-York
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in 1830, called attention to this deficiency, but recommended no remedy. It was evident, however, that if such an institution were to be formed, it must be by private enterprise. From the colleges con- trolled by religious prejudice neither aid nor sympathy was to be expected. The colonial jealousies of Church of England men and Presbyterians were still strong, and, moreover, there was a distrust of scientific investigation as tending to undermine belief in the accepted letter of scriptural faith.
To Mr. Gallatin's personal appeals for support abundant subscrip- tions of money and scientific material were instantly forthcoming. The literary societies all over the United States were enthusiastic at the proposal. In October, 1830, a convention of more than one hun- dred literary and scientific gentlemen arrived in the city, delegates from every section of the country. The result of their conference, which was held in the common-council chamber at the City Hall, was the foundation of the New-York University. Mr. Gallatin was the president of the first council, but finding that, as in Columbia College, the clergy had obtained control of the new institution, he abandoned the idea he had conceived of endowing the city of New- York with a great American Sorbonne. ·
The upper class of society was clustered at this time in the streets which surrounded the academic block, on which old King's College was first built. Barclay and Murray streets, Church street and Col- lege Place were the confines, which extended as high as Chambers on the north, and on the blocks between Greenwich street and Broad- way as far as the Battery. There were residences outside these limits, but this was the best-inhabited section. There was a charming liter- ary coterie at this time in New-York, of which Columbia College was the center. The fame of one of these societies or gatherings, "The Club," has almost disappeared. An account of it, written by Dr. John Augustine Smith in the letter of invitation to Mr. Gallatin to join the company, November 2, 1829, deserves to be recorded among the memorials of this city :
Nearly two years ago some of the literary gentlemen of the city, feeling severely the almost total want of intercourse among themselves, determined to establish an association which should bring them more frequently into contact. Accordingly they founded the "Club," as it is commonly called, and which I believe I mentioned to you when I had the pleasure of seeing you in Bond street. Into this "Club" twelve persons only are admitted, and there are at present three gentlemen of the bar, Chan- cellor Kent, Messrs. Johnston and Jay ; three professors of Columbia College, Messrs. Mc Viokar, Moore, and Renwick ; the Rev. Drs. Wainwright and Mathews, the former of the Episcopal, the latter of the Presbyterian Church; two merchants, Messrs. Bosworth and Goodhue; and I have the honor to represent the medical faculty. Our twelfth associate was Mr. Morse of the National Academy of Design, of which he was president, and his departure for Europe has caused a vacancy. For agreeableness of
THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 357
conversation there is nothing in New-York at all comparable to our institution. We meet once a week, no officers, no formalities; invitations when in case of intelligent and distinguished strangers, and after a light repast retire about eleven o'clock.
Chancellor Kent had been the one center of attraction at these meetings, but Mr. Gallatin brought in a more varied conversation. Indeed, in this art he is said to have had no rival on this side of the Atlantic, and Talleyrand alone on the other. Naturally the member- ship of the club changed. About the year 1837 it numbered Professor Henry J. Anderson, John A. Stevens, Gallatin's countryman Henry C. De Rham, the Swiss consul, John Wells, Samuel Ward, Gulian C. Verplanck, and Charles King. New-York has not seen a literary symposium more de- lightful, more instruc- tive, more dignified than the gathering at these meetings. The old-time simplicity was maintained in elegant surroundings. The club met at the houses of the mem- bers on winter even- ings. Supper was at nine o'clock. The rule was absolute that only one hot dish should be served; but the ladies managed to evade the regulation by sundry subter- RESIDENCE OF BISHOP MOORE. fuges. Nor did they absolutely submit to exclu-
sion. On one occasion Miss Sarah Moore, the sister
of Professor Nathaniel F. Moore, of the college, surprised the com- pany with an impromptu dish sent into the house of her friend with an elaborate effusion on the matter of the intruding delicacy, which was found sufficient apology. On another this ingenious and admir- able lady met the withdrawing guests with an impromptu of another character-this time in the form of four Italian trovatori, with their national instruments, posted at the door.
New-York was the favorite refuge of the political exiles of every land. In 1834 there came quite a number of Poles, among whom was Etsko, a nephew of Kosciusko. A committee was formed to collect funds, and the exiles were quartered on the willing inhabitants. Among the papers of Mr. Gallatin, who was the chairman of the
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH AND BROADWAY IN 1001.
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CARPETING
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MUSEUM
THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 359
committee, preserved in the New-York Historical Society, there is a list of names ending in ski; to each is affixed a number and an allot- ment. No. 182, one Szelesegynski, was taken by Mr. Gallatin himself to look after horses. From their temporary homes these unfortunates were sent into the interior as fast as places could be found for them. All were provided for in this manner except fourteen boys, for whom a subscription was taken up. Congress assigned a tract of land in Illinois to these exiles from oppression.
Warren street has been named as about the upper limit of ultra- fashionable residence before 1837. Two houses built of marble on Chambers street about this period were considered foolish extrava- gances, because too high up-town. The Sunday walk of the ladies was from the south corner of Warren street down Broadway to Grace Church, below Trin- ity, and return. Children were taken each morning to play and to enjoy the fresh air on the Battery, then as lovely a spot as heart could desire. There was a colony about St. John's Park, and in the neighborhood of Varick and Laight streets ; but it was considered remote. The New-Yorker of that day, whether of Holland stock or not, had the lethar- gic traits of that old race. A walk from the park to the sycamores which stood Chris Colles ! on the west side of Broadway at about Twenty-sixth street was considered to be a feat of pedestrianism suited only to athletic youths. Hot corn and ice-cream were carried about the streets on summer evenings, and eagerly purchased by the citizens, who not infrequently took the evening breeze on their front- door steps. Nor was it considered below the dignity of a gentleman to drink a draught, or, taking off his hat, to cool his head of a seeth- ing day, at the town pumps. Fires were numerous, and one of the chief pleasures of the New-Yorker was to "run with the engine." It was considered a privilege to be permitted to take a hand at the hose on some great "washout " between rival engines. The assemblies or subscription balls were dignified affairs, and the waltz was as yet unknown; but the highest in name and fashion did not disdain to take the broidered scarf and display the graces of her motions in the dance of the bayadere.
' Christopher Colles, who is mentioned in pre- vious chapters of this volume, died in this city in 1821. The vignette is copied from a painting
in the possession of the New-York Genealogical and Biographical Society. He is still represented here by descendants. EDITOR.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
The Cafe Français, in Warren street, was the resort of the wits of the city. Here the poets Halleck and Hoffman were daily visitors, and many are the legends of this famous spot. It was here also that the Siamese twins took up their abode on their first visit to New- York. This quiet room was favored only by the chosen gentler spirits. The gayer bloods, who loved glare and glitter and the noise of Broad- way, patronized the Café de Mille Colonnes, where music was had with the coffee or juleps or ices of the period. It was at this time also that Delmonico started on his suc- cessful career. He had the favor of Gallatin at once as his compatriot and as a lover of good cheer, of which he had shared the best, if not an epicure in the narrow sense of the word. Never had caterer CONTOIT'S GARDEN, BROADWAY, 1830. such a field for his art, with the product of every zone cheap and in bountiful profusion close at hand. And never did ca- terer better improve his opportunities, teaching the inhabitants of this new world the culinary habits of the old, and revolutionizing the processes of the old by the devices suggested by the various and admirable customs of hospitable citizens of old New-York.
Among the schools of the period most in vogue was the grammar- school for boys. This stood in Murray street, on the college block, and was presided over by Professor Charles Anthon, of Columbia Col- lege, better known to literary fame as the translator of Lemprière's "Classical Dictionary," which, with the "Gradus ad Parnassum," was a favorite study of lovers of Roman and Grecian history and legend, and of easy quotations in the Latin vernacular. Professor Anthon, with his pearl-colored, tight-fitting cloth trousers, and his light cane, was an admired and dreaded character. To reach the fit of the one was the ambition of the youthful postulant, as much as the descent of the other was his dread. There was a legend current about this schoolmaster, that he breakfasted daily on twelve hard-boiled eggs, and that his morning exercise was taken on the bodies of the gram- mar-school boys. He may have been rough, but he was not brutal, and no one was ever seriously damaged in these morning exercises.
THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 361
Besides this there was the French Institute in Bank street, kept by the brothers Louis and Hyacinth Peuquet. No young gentleman was considered to have completed his preliminary education until he had mastered the French language. The Peuquets were well-bred gentlemen. Louis, the elder, carried a ball received at the battle of Waterloo, which made him an unpleasant master of a wet day. Hyacinth was an excellent mathematician, and no youth left his school without a thorough training in the science of "fractions."
There were two equally celebrated schools for the education of young ladies. Before 1837 Mrs. Mary Okill, a lady of refinement, the daughter of Sir James Jay, had her institution in Bar- clay street. Here almost every young miss of distinction in the city had her first train- ing, and many completed their education under her guidance. But there were other families who preferred that the finish- ing touches should be acquired by attendance at a French school. Of these there were two of social renown, that of Madame Fulgence Chegaray, and that of Mr. Charles Canda. Mr. Canda also was a soldier of the empire, and was fond of relating his terrible experi- ence on the return from Mos- cow. The scions of this fam- ily are well-known citizens of New-York, and one of the THE CANDA MONUMENT.1 best-remembered and saddest episodes of New-York life was the death and funeral of the accomplished daughter of Mr. Canda, killed by being thrown from her carriage on her return from an evening entertainment. Both sexes were taught dancing by Monsieur Charu- aud, whose method was thorough in the training of the body, as well as in grace of motion. Traditions of his amiability and skill remain with three generations of New-Yorkers, whom the veteran taught up to the age of fourscore. Others trod in the footsteps of these admirable instructors, but New-York has never seen institutions of a higher character than those which marked this interesting decade.
1 The illustration represents the beautiful Gothic monument erected to Miss Canda's memory in Greenwood Cemetery. EDITOR.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY AS A MARK OF HONOR.
The bestowal of this mark of esteem is so frequently mentioned in the preceding chapters, that it seems proper to collect some account of the practice and its signifi- cance, and to give a list of those threescore persons who have thus been honored from the time of Lord Cornbury, the first to whom it was given, to the present time- January, 1893-a period of nearly two centuries.
I. Of the freedom of the city, Chancellor James Kent says: "The 20th and 21st sections of the Montgomerie Charter gave to the Mayor and four or more Aldermen the power to make free citizens of the City, on payment of a fee not exceeding £5. to the use of the corporation. This was only a repetition of the power conferred by Governor Dongan's charter. . . . This chartered power has ceased [Kent wrote in 1836] to be of any importance, and is used only as a testimonial of respect or gratitude, on the part of the corporation, towards persons in high station, or who may have entitled themselves to the honor by personal merit, or some distinguished service. There are many instances in the annals of the corporation of this mode of reward. But the ad- mission to the freedom of the city was, at the date of the charter, not only a token of honor, but a grant of substantial benefit. By making a person a freeman of the city, he became entitled to all its municipal privileges; and, among others, to the right of voting for, and of being voted to, corporate offices, which right belonged only to corpo- rate freemen and to freeholders, until the Charter was altered by statute, in 1804." ("The Charter of the City of New-York, with notes," New-York, 1836, pp. 152, et seq.)
II. The following oath was required of those who acquired the privileges of free- men : "I, -, do swear, That I, as a Freeman of the city of New-York, will be obeisant and obedient to the Mayor, and other Ministers or Peace Officers of the said city ; the franchises and customs thereof I will maintain, and keep the said city harm- less as much as in me lieth. I will know of no unlawful gatherings, assemblies, or meetings, or of any conspiracies against the peace of the people of the State of New- York, but I will warn the Mayor, or other Magistrate thereof, or hinder it to the ut- most of my power. All these points and articles I will well and truly maintain, and keep according to the laws and customs of the said city. So help me God." ("New- York Historical Society Collections," 1885, p. 240.)
III. On pages 246, 247 of this volume there have been given in foot-notes the ad- dress and proceedings at the presentation of the freedom of the city to Captain Isaac Hull, of the Constitution, in recognition of his victory over the Guerrière. It will be of interest, also, as a specimen of similar documents delivered to other persons, to present the certificate of the grant to George Washington :
" By James Duane Esquire, Mayor, and the Recorder and Aldermen of the City of New-York. To all to whom these Presents shall come or may concern, Greeting.
" Whereas His Excellency George Washington, late Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States of America, by a series of the most illustrious Services is entitled to the Respect, Gratitude, and Applause of every Heart which is truly Ameri- can; And as none can have greater Reason to cherish the most honorable and affec- tionate Sentiments towards him than the Citizens of the State of New-York; So we have the fullest Confidence that there is no State in which they are more generally and emphatically felt. Flattering ourselves that, convinced of this Truth, His Excel- lency may be pleased to have his name enrolled among the Citizens of a Metropolis for the Recovery of which so much of his Care and Solicitude have been employed: Now there- fore know ye that we, considering that Effusions of public Esteem are the most welcome Tribute to a patriot mind, have admitted and received, and by these Presents Do ad- mit and receive, his said Excellency to be a Freeman and Citizen of the said City.
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THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY AS A MARK OF HONOR 363
"To hold, exercise, and enjoy all the Rights, Privileges and Immunities to the Free- dom and Citizenship of the said City incident and appertaining as a permanent Proof of the admiration we feel for his exalted Virtues, for the Wisdom, Fortitude and Magnanimity which he has so gloriously displayed thro' all the Vicissitudes and Em- barrassments, thro' all the alternate Scenes of prosperous and adverse Fortune, pro- duced in the Progress of an arduous and difficult War. And finally for that patriotic Heroism which, after having been an essential instrument in giving by the Divine Blessing Liberty and Independence to the thirteen Republicks, hath led him to retire with Chearfulness from the Head of a victorious Army to the modest Station of a private Citizen.
"In Testimony of these Truths and to perpetuate them to our remotest Posterity, we the said Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen have caused these Presents to be entered on our public Records, and our common Seal of the said City, enclosed in a golden Box, to be hereunto affixed. Witness James Duane Esqr, Mayor of the said City, this 2d Day of December in the Year of our Lord 1784, and of the Independence of the State the ninth." (" At a Common Council held the 2d Day of December, 1784," from the Records at the City Hall. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1885, pp. 267, 268.)
The letter which Washington wrote in acknowledging the receipt of this certificate and the gold box containing it, appears in facsimile on pages 23 and 24 of this volume.
IV. A list of the names of those upon whom the freedom of the city has been be- stowed, together with the dates, is here given :
Viscount Cornbury
. Dec. 1, 1702.
George Washington . Dec. 2, 1784.
Earl Lovelace
March 1, 1709.
Pierre Charles l'Enfant 6 Oct. 12, 1789.
Governor William Hunter.
June 16, 1710.
Horatio Gates .. Feb. 25, 1791.
Governor William Burnet.
Sept. 26, 1720.
Alexander Hamilton Mar. 16, 1795.
Captain Peter Solgard 1
Aug. 6, 1723.
Robert Fulton Aug. 10, 1812.
Captain Coril Mayne2
. Oct. 16, 1728.
Isaac Hull .Sept. 7, 1812.
Governor William Cosby
. Aug. 9, 1732.
Jacob Jones.
Nov. 30, 1812.
Lord Augustus Fitz Roy.
. Oct. 23, 1732.
Dec. 17, 1812.
Major Alexander Cosby
Aug. 27, 1733.
William Bainbridge . Mar. 1, 1813.
Thomas Freeman 3
James Lawrence Mar. 29, 1813.
Captain Matthew Norris.
Nov. 4, 1734.
Oliver H. Perry
. Oct. 4, 1813.
Captain Robert Long
Thomas McDonough
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