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 50
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On the night of the great celebration, while New-York was lost in festivity and rejoicing, a strange scene was witnessed across the bay, on Staten Island. The quarantine station had long been an object
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of dislike and dread to its murmuring people. They fancied that it brought disease and death among them; they knew that it injured their property, and kept away many who would have been glad to settle upon their lands. A quarantine is always an unpleasant neigh- bor, and the people were, no doubt, right. After many vain efforts to remove it by legal means, they resolved to use force. A party esti- mated at one thousand men gathered around the buildings and set them on fire; they persisted in their aim, in defiance of the legal offi- cials, and the military who were sent to subdue them, and at last suc- ceeded. The quarantine was taken to the lower bay, and the islanders became once more orderly and obedient citizens. It was the error of the State government, in not yielding to the reasonable demands of the people, that drove them to des- perate measures. At once Staten Island became a favorite summer re- treat for our citizens, and was soon covered with cottages and villas. One noted event of the late autumn was the burning of the Crystal Palace while occupied by the fair of the American Institute. The various ar- ticles on exhibition represented a loss of $2,000,000, but fortunately the two thousand persons who were in the SECOND METHODIST CHURCH.1 building at the time escaped injury. The palace had been the theater of many notable occurrences; it was here the banquet to Mr. Field was given, on the completion of the Atlantic cable; it was the scene of Julien's concerts, of balls and dinners, of children's Sunday-school gatherings, and of public meet- ings, until at last its unfortunate career closed with a disastrous fire.
A strange feature of these not very distant times was the revival of the slave-trade. Near the extremity of Long Island, off Montauk, a small vessel was found scuttled and sunk, and her crew, well sup- plied with Spanish gold, was observed wandering from town to town, in separate parties, spending their doubloons freely. It was at once suspected that these men had belonged to a slaver, and they were ar- rested. It was soon discovered that the sunken vessel was the "Hai- dee," that had sailed to the coast of Africa from the port of New-York, apparently with the connivance of the custom-house officials. She had brought back nine hundred slaves, landed them at Cardenas,
1 The Second John Street Methodist Church. erected on the site of the First or Old John Street building, was dedicated January 4, 1818. The church shown in the engraving was taken down in 1841, and rebuilt as the First Methodist Epis- copal Church, and in this edifice the last anniver-
sary of the establishment of American Methodism was celebrated, October 30, 1892, several bishops taking part in the services. Numerous memorial tablets and relics of early Methodism are pre served in the present church. EDITOR
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Cuba, and was then sunk off Montauk. A small, sharp, swift schoo- ner, built at Providence, Rhode Island, the nature of her cargo when she set sail from New-York, and the provision made for the confine- ment of her unhappy passengers, might easily have shown to the United States officials of the port the object of her voyage. Two slavers, the Wanderer and the Echo, were also known to have landed their cargoes on the coast of Georgia or South Carolina; but the Southern jurymen refused to convict the officers and crews. "The revival of the slave-trade," said the "New- York Times," December 28, 1858, "is the practical issue for 1860, if these men have their way." It knew little of the real meaning of these leaders in secession. All through the summer of 1858 RUTHERFORD ARMS. the building of the Great Eastern, "Brunel's Folly," the largest vessel ever built by man, had constantly engaged the attention of New- York. The great ship was now approaching its completion. The illustrated papers of the time are filled with the accounts of its vast dimensions, its powerful engines, its indestructible covering of iron. Every intelligent intellect was interested in this unusual experiment, and the pictures of its progress at Millwall, in the " Illustrated Lon- don News," were eagerly sought for, and studied in every American town and city. At last the monster steamship was nearly ready and was about to sail for New-York.
The year 1859 opened with new prospects of prosperity, of ease and peace, to close with the deep shadows of political strife. Trade was active, population increased, and the city was full of energy and hope. Yet the New-York of 1859 was still provincial and submissive to foreign fashions and opinions. Its government was still imperfect, and the "Times," January 27, complains that its health was little cared for, and its death-rate far above that of London. Its quaran- tine was still unsettled. New Jersey refused to permit its shores to become a lazaretto. Coney Island and Long Island were equally re- bellious; and the State authorities proposed to use ships anchored in the lower bay. "Truly," said the editors, "we are in a poor way about our quarantine." The unpleasant odors of factories, sewers, gas, and slaughter-houses, the uncleanly streets and careless officials, are often complained of. There were peculation and bribery abroad. The manners of our working-classes of foreign origin were still rude, and riots and strife were frequent. Among the wealthier classes there were a pleasant grace of manner, hospitality, and often an excess of conviviality. At weddings and large parties wine and liquors were used more freely than to-day. High prices in land had not yet been reached. A house and lot on the Fifth Avenue, No. 102, thirty-six
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feet wide and eighty deep, brought $31,200; another lot, vacant, ou Fifty-fourth street, near Sixth avenue, $1100. The chief topics of conversation at the time were the poems of Tennyson, the histories of Prescott and Macaulay; in politics, the struggle in Kansas, or the threatening cloud of war in Europe. Napoleon was about to invar Te Italy, and his armies drive out the Austrians.
The Great Eastern, still unfinished, was watched with constant i -n- terest. The mail from California came slowly over the plains through a wilderness : the Pacific Railway was only talked of as yet. Of cour the Suez Canal was unknown. Our people were fond of oratory a good public speaking. Henry Ward Beecher, George W. Curtis, Dr. Francis L. Hawks were always sure of an intelligent audience. A
natural orator, Dr. Hawks was the popular preacher of the time. Le. tures on various subjects were always well attended; and Emerson arad Beecher were heard with delight. The Sickles trial filled the news papers; Morphy came back from Europe, and was received with as much attention as a martial conqueror. A banquet was given him in Boston, a supper and a costly testimonial in New-York. At last the fearful war in Europe began to overshadow all other subjects of in- terest. The news came of dreadful battles and heaps of slain. At Magenta twenty-seven thousand Austrians were killed and wounded; Solferino added to the frightful news, and few could fancy that within two years Magenta and Solferino would be surpassed in horrors on our own soil. "Harper's Weekly," always a picture of the times, gave striking illustrations of the battle-scenes in Italy. Napoleon, the con- queror, seemed the master of the destinies of Europeans; he fancied, of America. Peace came soon, and the next subject of conversation was the Great Eastern. Would it come to New-York? Was the chan- nel deep enough to admit so large a ship? The "New-York Times" argued that the steamer might easily enter our harbor; it had a trial trip, with great success, on the Thames, and was to sail for New-York on September 17. "The coming, whenever it may take place," it was said, "will be one of the most interesting and important events of the age." But soon news came that a frightful explosion had occurred on the great steamer, twelve persons were killed and wounded, the splendid saloon was torn to pieces, and the day of sailing was postponed. So calmly and prosperously the year passed on that it affords few events to history. The movement of trade had continued to drive the homes of the citizens before it. Fifth Avenue had become a street of fine brownstone houses, and was already invaded by several shops. The private dwellings of the people had grown in convenience, if not in grace; but the public buildings were still as they are now-mean and poor. The United States government had never sought to decorate New-York with fine architectural ornaments. Its buildings were in-
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ferior to those of Washington and other cities. Its post-office was a decayed church; its assay-office a low structure on Wall street; its custom-house was removed at last to the former Merchants' Ex- change, a building dark, damp, unhealthy; its subtreasury is a finer but even less convenient one. No one seemed to care for the architectural improve- ment of New-York. The city government had left its only fine building, the City Hall, in a condition of ruinous neglect since the cable celebration, when it had suffered from fire. Its front was blackened with smoke, THE GREAT EASTERN. its windows closed up with boards, its whole appearance saddening and repulsive. The Battery was unchanged; the Central Park, slowly advancing, was already the joy of the city, and when Dodworth's band played on the mall in the summer days, crowds filled the walks, and rejoiced in their new possession.
But in the midst of its ease and progress came suddenly one of the premonitions of civil war, that for a moment roused the city from its delusion. On October 18 came the news of a rising of the negroes in Virginia. They had seized upon Harper's Ferry, with all its muni- tions of war; they had visited the estate of a Mr. Washington, in its neighborhood, set free his slaves, and ill-treated his family. Then it was said that a Captain Brown was at the head of the insurrection; and next came intelligence of his defeat and capture, and of the ven- geance that was to fall upon all concerned in the invasion. The story of John Brown is too well known to need repetition. Fanatic and martyr, his trial and his death filled the columns of the newspapers for months, and touched the hearts of many who scarcely shared his peculiar principles. To New-York came for the first time a sense of the political dangers of the hour, and of the intensity of the feeling that separated the political parties. Yet soon again, as the year 1860 opened upon it, the city sank back into a sense of perfect security. Disunion seemed a kind of madness that could never last long. No Southern State, it was asserted, would be so unwise as to secede; and the city, prosperous and advancing in strength and greatness, gave itself up to its delusions. At the election in December, 1859, Fer- nando Wood had been chosen mayor through the division of his op- ponents, and the reforms they hoped for were laid aside. It was a summer of festivity and careless prosperity that now opened upon New-York-the last for many years, the close of the period of its pro- vincialism, the beginning of a new existence. Its first excitement was
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the arrival in June of the Japanese Embassy, the first of that peculiar and yet unknown people to visit New-York. They were made the guests of the city, and entertained, at great expense, with a ball, illu- minations, and a serenade, and shown all the wonders of Western eiv- ilization. Our aldermen were the hosts, and were liberal in their outlay. But the occasion was one of real im- portance, since it tended to open commer- cial relations be- tween Japan and New-York.
CASTLE POINT, THE RESIDENCE OF MRS. STEVENS.
Next came the Great Eastern in
received with delay, and was July, after long
generous hospi- tality. Crowds visited the great ship as it lay off
the dock in the North River, and were amazed at its vastness. The high price charged for admission kept many from visiting it, but thousands sailed around the steamer, and looked at it from a distance. Some mismanagement always followed the wonderful vessel, and when, on August 2, it made an excursion to Cape May and back, the passengers complained that they could find no place to sleep in, and were starved for want of food. A remarkable meteor, that passed over New-York and seemed to fall into Long Island Sound on July 20, was studied with attention by the scientific, and startled the people. Its light was like that of the moon. Among the guests of the city were Lady Franklin, who came to thank its people for their liberal aid in the search for her husband, Sir John, and for the sympathy they showed for her in her desire to know his fate. She was received with respect and many attentions. The Prince de Joinville was an- other visitor to our city, and Garibaldi was greeted by his many ad- mirers. But to none did our people give so generous and enthusiastic a reception as to the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, young, fair, good-humored, who had come over to visit America. He was known as Baron Renfrew, and with his party passed through Canada and some of the Western and Southern States before he reached New-York. Little could he have foreseen that the city he looked upon, arrayed
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in all its fairest colors, eager with childish expectation, was soon to be covered with mourning and almost lost in despair. Its harbor was filled with ships, steamers, boats, all gay with flags and banners, to welcome a young prince, the first of his line who had entered New- York since the Revolution. At Castle Garden, amidst an immense crowd, he was introduced to the city magistrates. He passed up Broadway through such throngs of people, such an array of flags, banners, and emblems of welcome as might have almost persuaded him that he was about to assume his ancestral sway over his faithful subjects. A ball was given him, where diamonds glittered on every side, and fair women sought his attentions. He was taken to see the few objects of interest in the city-its university, Cooper Institute, the City Hall, and Trinity Church- and then passed away. It was the last of our peace- ful spectacles. Meantime the fierce excitement of a presidential election, the most important in its re- sults ever held, was mov- ing over the land. New- York felt the impulse, and night after night its peo- ENTRANCE TO CASTLE POINT. ple listened to the speeches on either side in great assemblies. As the autumnal months came on the contest deepened, and something stern and earnest in the style of its oratory might have warned men of the great events that were near. We have nothing like it now. Our political discussions are tame and spiritless compared to those rare and almost matchless speeches, when every orator seemed to bear in his soul and on his tongue the welfare of all futurity. Seward, Sumner, Greeley, Chase, Doolittle, and Beecher spoke to immense audiences on the noblest of human themes - the story of humane progress. On the other side, Wood, Tilden, Seymour, and others de- fended the administration. Few who heard those great debates can fail to remember the deep awe that fell upon the assemblies as they listened to the story of Kansas, or heard in Cooper Institute the low refrain of a campaign song, "For Lincoln and Hamlin we 'll conquer or die"; and many from the assembly, still all unconscious, went out to the battle-field to fulfil their pledge. Yet the perfect confidence of the leaders of opinion at the North in the security of the Union seems now almost inexplicable. In July the "Times" had said: "If the South had the slightest desire for dissension, that [John Brown's
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raid] was their opportunity-one of their States was invaded; ... nothing shows more clearly that the Southern people are utterly and unconquerably averse to disunion"; and the "Tribune," as late as October 11, after the Republican success in many elections, said: "Gladness beams from a million eyes, and joy glows in the popular heart, for it is felt that our peaceful convulsion bodes simply the replacement of the bad by the better." Meantime drought and famine had brought intense suffering to the people of Kan- sas. No rain had fallen for months; no crops were raised in many districts; the people once more appealed to the generosity of the East, and New-York gave with its usual liberality. It is SCHIEFFELIN ARMS. computed that several hundred thousand dollars
were sent to the famished settlers. The city was well able to lend aid from growing resources. Its population had risen from 630, 000
in 1856, to 814,000 in 1860. This may seem a small number to us, accustomed to reckon by millions. It is even less than the p-op ulation of Brooklyn to-day; but it still showed a great increase.
The wealth of New-York was proved in the constant growth of its mercantile palaces, and in the extravagance of the time. It was
period of singular deference to the fashions and manners of the
Eu-
ropean courts. Our fair women walked abroad in the enorme Ous
skirts of steel or whalebone that were enforced at the imperial recep- tions of Paris, and our young men too often borrowed the vices a. Id the crimes of their foreign models. Despotism and reaction ruled in Europe, and republican austerity was a conception that seemed for- ever to have passed away. It is quite impossible for us who live in a
republican era to conceive of the extreme peril that in 1860 hung over all free institutions. With us slavery ruled over half the nation, and was about to seize upon the Territories. In Europe, France, triumph- ant from its war with Austria, with its apparently invincible ar- mies and its astute ruler, was again the master spirit among nations, the center of European politics. The influence of Paris upon New-
York in 1860 cannot be measured by any modern scale; it was excessive; the corrupt ambition of the imperial court threatened everywhere the destruction of freedom. It was at this moment that the power of American literature was felt in its new strength, and the songs of the poets, and the labors of the scholar, awoke again republi- can virtue. Whittier sang his Tyrtæan odes, and called men back to truth and honor; Longfellow told the sorrows of the hunted slave in musical lines; the fine speakers of the time painted to New-York audiences the horrors of despotism and slavery. Never had the in- tellect of our city been so intensely active. In November the election
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of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency was not at first supposed to threaten the peace of the nation. It was received with general joy by a large majority at the North, as the opening of a new period of human progress. Bells were rung, cannon were fired, and congratu- lations exchanged. The city was still full of business prosperity, its hotels crowded with strangers, and the factories of the North every- where employed. Yet many indications of the approaching danger might have been noticed by more experienced eyes. On October 26 the "Times" had printed an account of a plot that had been prepared at Washington to promote disunion. The discontented States, it was said, would refuse to submit to the rule of Lincoln, would seek protection from France and England, and submit even to a vassalage to the foreign powers, rather than yield. The disunionists wore already a black cockade. South Carolina would lead in the revolt. The rumor of a plot made little impression on our people. It was thought too extravagant for belief. But, when the election was decided, the report of warlike preparations at the South, and the activity of the disunionists, the timidity of the government, and the trea- son of its officials, spread doubt and alarm. NEAR FORTY-SECOND STREET.1 It was found that large quantities of arms had been purchased by the governors of Southern States in the Northern cities, and that the shops of New-York were almost bare of guns and pistols. A report was brought of a large body of cavalry in camp near Richmond, that was soon to seize upon Washington. South Carolina began its prep- arations for civil war, was arming, and had called together its con- vention to declare its independence. Other States, imitating its leadership, were soon to follow it. A new nation was thus about to be brought to life, founded upon slavery. At once the certainty of some great civil convulsion fell upon New-York, and a commercial panic spread over its business circles with unequaled rapidity. Gold disappeared, credit was no longer given, the banks came forward bravely to assist the merchants and each other; but the effort could not long be successful. South Carolina on December 20 declared itself out of the Union. Its editors spoke of the Northern States as foreign countries. At New Orleans, when the news of the action of South Carolina arrived, a hundred guns were fired, and the city was given up to rejoicing. Mobile followed its example. The cotton
1 The engraving indicates the inconvenient situ- ation in which many householders were left in various parts of the city, after new streets, con- forming to the established grade, had been opened
through the solid rock. The above is a view of a house on Second Avenue, near Forty-second street; other houses similarly situated are still to be seen. EDITOR.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
States soon showed that they were prepared for disunion, and every one felt, as the "New-York Times " had said already, "If we have disunion, we shall have war." Yet the people of the North and Presi- dent Buchanan seemed equally unprepared to meet the pressing dan- ger, and all was hesitation and doubt. Compromises were talked of, hopeless projects of conciliation offered. The president, undecided, seemed in league with the disunionists; the members of his cabinet were open traitors. The first trait of energy shown by the people of the North was when the citizens of Pittsburg assembled to prevent the transfer of seventy-eight cannon to the South, where they must have fallen into the hands of the disunionists. They were ordered by Secretary Floyd to be sent to Ship Island, at the mouth of the Mississippi. Heavily the month of December, 1860, passed on, laden with the fate of centuries. It was be- lieved that a proper decision on the. part of the administration would have checked disunion, and given courage to its opponents in the South ; but the government did nothing. Its enemies . were active, and the people of our city looked on in helpless alarm, while the country was amused with
Killian 18 Second . vain attempts at com- promise, and the gun- shops of New-York and Hartford were freely supplying the ar- senals and military companies of disunion. The days and weeks passed over New-York full of eager interest and expectation. An intense sorrow was the first emotion of our people when they saw that the real meaning of the conspiracy was the destruction of the nation. They watched every movement at the South with hope or fear; not that they ever thought that the disunionists could be sue- cessful. They felt that the people were against separation. The news, the telegrams, and the Washington letters of the close of 1860 are full of intense interest, and even to-day no one can read them without sharing it. At last came the startling news that Fort Moultrie had been evacuated by the government troops, the guns spiked, the stores removed, and the small garrison of less than sixty men transferred to Fort Sumter. New-York felt the sudden shock; the business of the city paused, and all was expectation. "This," cried the "Charleston Mercury " insolently, "is war." The mad infatuation of the conspira-
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tors increased. They assailed the government with reproaches be- cause it had feared to trust to the Charleston mob. Floyd resigned. Yet the sanguine in the North still hoped for peace, while all the Southern States were drilling their young men, and gathering munitions of war. New-York, meantime, remained still incredulous, still hope- ful, still amazed at the madness of the hour. Its trade had received what seemed a fatal blow. The disorder in the government finances had affected the credit of the country; its men of action and of thought felt the inde- cision of the administration, and condemned GALLATIN ARMS. it; but New-York, confident in its strength, did not fear the result of a contest. It only waited for events, when it should have led them.
How nobly New-York bore itself in the war that followed; how it lavished its wealth and its youth in the defense of the nation; how Det. Brady its ships and its seamen guarded the seas; how its soldiers were famous on every battle-field; with what patriotic liberality its bankers and its financiers managed the immense money trans- actions of the country, will be told by other writers in the succeeding chapters. But it must be remarked that the close of the contest made a perfect change in its condition and destiny. It was no longer a provincial city ; it rose at once to be the metropolis of a mighty na- tion. It has advanced, in population, wealth, and general ease, beyond any other city; with the growth of knowledge it may be made the happiest and most peaceful of all.
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