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 70
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
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Graham, and Nicholas Hill commissioners on practice and pleadings. Mr. Hill resigned in September following, and Mr. David Dudley Field was appointed in Mr. Hill's place by a resolution of the two houses of legislature on September 29, 1847. On February 29, 1848, the first instalment of a code of civil procedure was enacted, to take effect July 1 following. The completed code of civil procedure was reported December 31, 1849, but its adoption was delayed. On the same day the code of criminal procedure was reported, but it was not adopted at that time. That instalment of the code of civil procedure which was enacted abolished all distinction between actions at law and suits in equity, and substituted one form of action for the pro- tection of private rights, or the redress of private wrongs. At this time this single reform was the greatest ever accomplished in the 'remedial law of an English-speaking people. Its design and accom- plishment were largely if not exclusively due to the efforts of Mr. Field, one of the most lucid of all legislative draftsmen, as well as one of the most powerful and original thinkers ever seen in the ranks of English-speaking lawyers. Unfortunately, the symmetry and ex- cellence of Mr. Field's legislative work have been much marred either by the action of the legislature, or by its failure to adopt the entire scheme of reform as reported by the codifiers. Not until April 6, 1857, were efforts to continue the reform contemplated by the consti- tution of 1846 successful. In that year an act was passed revising a former code commission. The earlier commission had failed to codify the whole body of the law of the State, or to perform any part of the task assigned to them by the legislature.1 The act of 1857' appointed David Dudley Field, William Curtis Noyes, and Alexander Bradford commissioners to codify so much of the law as was not included in the reports of the commissioners on pleading and practice reported to the legislature in 1850. On April 10, 1860, a political code was accordingly reported to the legislature. On March 30, 1861, a book of forms adapted to the necessities of the practice code was reported, but not adopted. The penal code was reported in December, 1864, and the civil code on February 13, 1865.
The civil, criminal, penal, and political codes, together with the book of forms, would have completed the entire scheme of reform contem- plated by the constitution of 1846. But of these great works only the penal and criminal codes have passed into laws.3 The civil and polit- ical codes have up to this time failed of enactment. For whatever reason these completed codes have failed to become laws, it cannot be doubted that their enactment would have relieved the jurispru- dence of the State from many anomalies and archaisms peculiar to that part of the law of England which we have seen to be the law of
1 Chapter 49, Laws of 1847 ; Chapter 289, id .; Chapter 312, Laws of 1849. 2 Chapter 266. 3 Chapters 442 and 676, Laws of 1881.
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the former province of New-York. The whole body of the law of the State would then have been reduced to a written form, with the effect, as many believed, of permitting the energies of the bar to be directed to a higher and more philosophical exposition of principles than is permissible when the text of the law is unwritten and deduced only from cases and precedents.
As the law stands,- several of the codes not having been enact- ed,-the private jural relations of all the citizens of the State are now determined either by certain inhi- bitions contained in the written constitutions of government re- lated to private law, or by the acts of the legislature of New-York, in- eluding the Revised Statutes (fre- quently amended by later legisla- tures of the State), or lastly by the common law of the province of New-York, as it stood on the date of the battle of Lexington, in the year 1775, and as since altered by legislation. The constitution of 1846, adopting the phraseology of the constitution of 1821, provided also that the acts of the old assembly of the province, and the resolutions of the congress and of the con- vention of the State in force April 20, 1777, and not since repealed or altered, should also form part of the fundamental law; but as a mat- ter of fact the acts of the provincial assemblies were all repealed in the year 1828, while those acts of the convention and the resolutions of the congress of any permanent effect had by the year 1846 been re- vised by statutes of the State, so that the common law and the legisla- tive acts of the State government may be roughly said to constitute the entire body of the substantive law of the State in force since 1846. The common law so in force has of late years received so much ju- dicial interpretation that almost all its leading institutes appear in the printed reports of the adjudications of the State courts. That such a form for the great body of law of the State is now at all what was contemplated by the constitution of 1846, cannot be pretended. Yet, that the contents and substance of the law as it actually exists are adequate at present to all the exigencies of a highly civilized State, experience affirms. To indicate more fully the nature of the institutes of this great body of private law would require greater technical pre- cision than the limits of this outline permit. By force of the constitu- tional definition of the law of the State, the remnant of the old VOL. III .- 42.
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Dutch law which had become a part of the common law of the pror- ince, still remains, in very limited instances, a rule of particular prop- erty held under Dutch ground-briefs, or by Dutch subjects under the articles of capitulation of 1664. Otherwise the law of New Nether- land has been repealed, abrogated, or wholly displaced. In many in- stances the common law of the province of New-York, referred to by the constitution of 1846 as continuing in effect under that constitu- tion, has until a comparatively late period regulated wholly many of the domestic relations in this State, such as husband and wife, parent and child, guardian and ward, and master and servant. But of late years the common law has been modified by such statutes as the mar- ried women's property acts, and other acts in conformity with the trend of modern thought and opinion. On March 2, 1870,1 efforts were again made to accomplish the work directed by the constitution of 1846, and remaining unperformed. The new commissioners, of whom Mr. Field was not one, were directed to incorporate into and make part of their revision the proposed codes reported to the legis- lature by the earlier commissions. The last commission proceeded to revise the early code of procedure: the other portions of their task have remained unfulfilled. Thus, up to the present time, the com- plete codification contemplated by the constitution of 1846 has not been accomplished.
Having now outlined the form of the public and private law of the State as it exists at the present day, a word of application may be made to the status of a citizen of the city of New-York. The com- mon law of the State is the same in all parts of the territory under the jurisdiction of the State, there being no portion subject to a dif- ferent common law from the rest. Of the statutes of the State some are general in application, while others, by limitation, apply to specific communities, such as the city of New-York. Thus, those inhabiting the city of New-York are, as a rule, subject to a common law of uni- versal application throughout the State, and to a statute law which may or may not be general in operation. Of the statutes of the State not everywhere operative, the municipal charters of the city of New- York afford good examples; for these charters contain not only fran- chises to the city as a corporation, but also occasional rules for the government of the citizens within the jurisdiction of such municipal corporation. In the preceding volumes? the Dongan and Mont- gomerie charters were noticed. At the adoption of the first consti- tution of the State, the Montgomerie Charter of 1730 was in full force, and both the State constitutions of the present century have pro- vided that nothing therein contained should annul any charters to bodies politic and corporate made prior to the 14th of October, 1775. Until the year 1830 the Montgomerie Charter, as somewhat modified
1 Chapter 33. 2 Chapter XIV, Vols. I and II.
CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL HISTORY OF NEW-YORK 659
by statute, remained the fundamental charter of the city. In that year an amended charter was adopted. In June, 1829, the common council had recommended the citizens to choose delegates to a con- vention for the purpose of amending and revising the ancient char- ter. Steps were accordingly taken under the advice of Ex-Chancellor Kent, and on the 7th day of April, 1830, at the request of a majority of the citizens, the legislature passed an act "to amend the Charter of the City of New-York."1 In this act the old charter is recognized as subsisting, in so far as it is not inconsistent with the new act's own provisions. On April 2, 1849, July 11, 1851, April 10, 1852, April 11, 1853, and at other times, further amendments were made to the char- ter. But on April 4, 1857, most of the more recent amendments were repealed, and chapter 446 of the laws of 1857 was substituted for them. It was, however, still provided that the provisions of the royal charters should continue in force where not abrogated or inconsistent with chapter 446 of the laws of 1857.
In the year 18732 an act was passed "to reorganize the local gov- ernment of the City of New-York," which made extensive changes in the administrative part of the city charter, repealing various amend- ments enacted in the present century, but still continuing in force those provisions of the ancient royal charters then operative and not inconsistent with its provisions. In 1874 the city's boundaries were much enlarged,3 and the power of the separate county government was transferred to the city authorities.4 In the years 1879 and 1880, the legislature authorized a revision of the special and local laws af- fecting New-York city, and made such revision presumptive evidence in the New-York courts of justice of all special or local laws in force in the city of New-York.5 In 1881,6 most of the local acts affecting New-York city passed subsequent to 1784 being contained in the re- vision mentioned, were otherwise repealed. In 1882 all the laws af- fecting public interests in the city of New-York, having been revised, were consolidated in one act known as the "consolidation act,"7 and it was thought that all future laws affecting the city of New-York should refer to this act. But such has not been the case, and various acts affecting the city have been since passed without any special ref- erence to the consolidation act of 1882. Curiously enough, the an- cient royal charter known as the Montgomerie Charter of 1730, in so far as it has not been swept away by inconsistent legislative enact- ment, remains in force, having never been expressly repealed. Thus, though the nature of the city government in most of its administra- tive features has completely changed, that feature of the Dongan Charter which, in the year 1686, vested the powers of local government
1 Chapter 122, Laws of 1830.
2 Chapter 335, Laws of New-York.
3 Chapter 411.
4 Chapter 304.
5 Chapters 594 and 595, Laws of 1880.
6 Chapter 537.
7 Chapter 410, Laws of 1882.
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in a mayor, alderman, and commonalty, exists at the present time. Notwithstanding the many changes introduced by the legislature in the present century, the skeleton of the city government possesses a very considerable antiquity. To give in detail the nature of the changes actually instituted would exceed the limits prescribed for a mere outline, and has not been attempted.
In conclusion, it may be remarked that in the State of New-York popular sovereignty, which attained its highest phase under the State constitution of 1846, has been developed somewhat differently from that in the other original States, where it was often observable, even before the war of independence, in town and city governments. But in the city of New-York, down to the war of independence, the crown government exercised unusual influence and authority. After the American Revolution the State government succeeded to this power over the city government. Not until 1834 were the mayors of this city elected by the inhabitants of the city. At the present time the old legislative powers of the municipal authorities have almost dwindled into insignificance, having been largely assumed by the legislature of the State, so that the measure of freedom now enjoyed by the inhabitants of this city is determined, not by the history and the laws of the city itself, but by those of the State, although the history of the city long antedates that of the State. By a change instituted in the State constitution of 1846, restoring to the clergy eligibility for public office, and by the fifteenth amend- ment to the federal constitution, forbidding any State to abridge the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, the political equality of all citizens of the State is abso- lute. Notwithstanding the annual introduction into the State and city of a large number of persons of foreign birth, wise naturaliza- tion laws have incorporated most of them into the very heart of the body politic, so that they too are amenable to the same laws and possess the same rights as the descendants of the original settlers, thus avoiding many complications peculiar to those mixed States where extensive consular jurisdictions are recognized. By the four- teenth amendment to the federal constitution the children of for- eigners, if born in the United States, are citizens of the State where they reside. Thus most of the inhabitants of the city of New-York are citizens, and all citizens possess precisely the same rights and are subject to the same law. Under such conditions there is happily no excuse for political discontent. The object of the founders of the State has been in this respect fully consummated. Yet to assert that the condition of the law and the constitution is perfect would be an exaggeration ; but the assertion that there has been and is, on the whole, a steady and healthy growth of law and liberty here, would be one which few will deny.
TABLE OF DATES IN NEW-YORK HISTORY
1784 - February 7, James Duane appointed Mayor. First American city government organized. Chamber of Commerce (founded in 1768) incorporated. Custom-house established. Congress removed from Philadelphia to New-York.
1785 General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen established. Philanthropic and other societies organized, including the Society for the Manumission of Slaves. Petition to legisla- ture to regulate trade.
1786 Rebuilding of the city pushed rapidly.
1787 Mutual Fire Assurance Company organized. October 27, first number of the " Federalist " papers published.
1788 - April 13, Doctors' riot. Procession in honor of adoption of Constitution by ten States. August 21, corner-stone laid of new Trinity Church building.
1789 - February 2, Corporation authorized to raise ten thousand pounds by taxation, for the poor, the street improvements, the bridewell, watchmen, and street lamps. March 4, First Congress assembled in New-York. April 30, Washington's inauguration as first President of the United States, at Federal Hall. New Federal Constitution ratified. May 13, first meeting of the Tammany Society.
1790 - July 5, grand celebration of Independence Day.
1791 - March 21, Bank of New-York incorporated.
1792 - October 12, celebration of the third centenary of the discovery of America. Contest between Clinton and Jay for governor- ship. Tontine Coffee House built.
1793 - December 9, first issue of the "Commercial Advertiser," then called " The Minerva."
1795 Visitation of yellow fever. The Park Theater erected. Society Library opens its first building.
1798 State capital removed to Albany. Second visitation of yellow fever. The Park Theater opened.
1799 Slaves set free. Manhattan Company chartered to supply water to the city.
1801 - November 16, New-York "Evening Post " first issued. 661
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TABLE OF DATES IN NEW-YORK HISTORY
1803 Corner-stone laid of the present City Hall.
1804 Hackney-coaches first licensed. July 11, Hamilton-Burr duel. November 20, New-York Historical Society founded.
1806 - March 15, New-York Orphan Asylum Society organized. May 19, first Free School opened.
1807 College of Physicians and Surgeons organized. August 11, Fulton's steamboat Clermont makes first trip to Albany in thirty-two hours, returning in thirty hours. City surveyed and laid out by Gouverneur Morris, De Witt Clinton, and others. December, the Embargo Act passed.
1808 American Academy of Fine Arts incorporated.
1809 New-York Historical Society celebrated the two-hundredth an- niversary of the discovery of Manhattan Island by Henry Hudson. First woolen-mills established in New-York.
1811 - May 19, nearly one hundred buildings destroyed by fire. 1812 War with England declared. Present City Hall completed. First steam ferry to Jersey City. New-York blockaded by a British fleet, 1812-14.
1814 Suspension of specie payments, continuing until July, 1817.
1815 - February 14, news of the signing of the treaty of peace at Ghent (December 24, 1814) reaches New-York.
1816 American Bible Society formed.
1817 - February, intense cold; Hudson River frozen over, and people crossed to New Jersey on the ice.
1818 Another severe winter; Long Island Sound entirely closed by ice. July 8, General Montgomery's remains reach New-York, and are deposited in St. Paul's Church.
1820 - May 25, burning of the old Park Theater. Apprentices' Library founded.
1821 Mercantile Library founded.
1822 - August, visitation of yellow fever. Castle Garden ceded to the city by the United States.
1824 - August, General Lafayette revisits the city.
1825 Gas first introduced. November 4, celebration of completion of the Erie Canal.
1830 First stage line begins, from Bowling Green to Bleecker street. Manhattan Gas-light Company organized.
1831 University of City of New-York founded. The Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum established.
1832 First horse-railroad in the world (the New-York and Harlem Railroad Company's) opened to travel. University of New- York organized. First appearance of Asiatic cholera.
1833 New-York "Sun " established by Benjamin H. Day. June 12, President Jackson visits the city, and is publicly received.
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663
TABLE OF DATES IN NEW-YORK HISTORY
1834 - April 10, Election riot. July, Abolition riot. Mayoralty made an elective office.
1835 - June, Five Points riot. August, Stone-cutters' riot. "New- York Herald " established by James Gordon Bennett. De- cember, great fire, lasting nearly three days.
1836 Union Club formed. Union Theological Seminary founded.
1837 - February 10, Bread and Flour riot. Great financial panic throughout the country. May 10, suspension of all the New- York city banks.' October 24, Fourth Avenue Tunnel opened. 1838 - May 10, city banks resume specie payments. The Bank of Commerce established.
1840 The "New-York Tribune" founded by Horace Greeley.
1842 All property qualifications for city voters abolished. October 14, celebration of the completion of the Croton Aqueduct. Common-school system of the State extended to New-York city by legislative act.
1844 Municipal Police Act passed by legislature. Anti-rent riot. 1845 - July 19, disastrous fire; 300 buildings destroyed.
1848 The Astor Library founded by John Jacob Astor.
1849 - May 10, the Astor Place riot.
1851 The "New-York Times " founded by Henry J. Raymond. The Hungarian patriot, Kossuth, visits New-York. The Erie Railway opened from this city to Dunkirk. The Nicaragua route opened between New-York and San Francisco.
1853 World's Fair held in the Crystal Palace (site of Bryant Park), Sixth Avenue and Forty-Second street. Children's Aid So- ciety founded. Yellow fever in the city.
1856 Site of Central Park purchased for about five and a half mil- lions of dollars.
1857 Metropolitan Police Act passed. October 14-15, financial cri- sis; banks suspend. December 12-14, banks resume specie payments.
1858 Atlantic cable laid. Corner-stone of St. Patrick's Cathedral laid.
1860 Japanese Embassy arrives. New-York "World " founded by Manton Marble. June 28, steamship Great Eastern reaches the city. Prince of Wales visits New-York. South Carolina secedes from the Union.
1861 - April 12-13, bombardment of Fort Sumter. April 19, depar- ture of Seventh Regiment for Washington. The banks of the city suspend specie payments.
1863 - July 13-15, anti-draft riots in the city ; violent attacks on the negroes; many rioters killed. October, corner-stone laid of New-York Academy of Design.
664
TABLE OF DATES IN NEW-YORK HISTORY
1864 New-York Sanitary Commission's Fair held, realizing over a million dollars. July 16, gold reaches highest premium, viz., 284 per cent.
1865 - April 9, surrender of General Lee. April 14, assassination of President Lincoln at Washington.
1866 Atlantic cable successfully completed. Queen Emma of the Sandwich Islands visits the city.
1869 - September 24 (" Black Friday"), disastrous financial panic.
1870 - September 30, funeral of Admiral Farragut.
1871 - July 12, the Orange riot. Visit of Grand Duke Alexis.
1872 Tweed Ring broken up and the leaders imprisoned.
1876 - July 4, celebration of the Centennial of American Indepen- dence. September 24, Hallett's Point obstructions at Hell Gate blown up. Visit of Emperor of Brazil.
1877 - May 16, unveiling in Central Park of a bronze statue of Fitz- Greene Halleck, the first erected in the New World to a poet. July 23-27, labor riots and railroad strikes.
1878 The Chinese Embassy visits the city. December 17, gold sold at par, the first time since 1862.
1883 - May 24, the East River Bridge opened for travel.
1884 Panic in Wall street. Suspension of Marine Bank. Greely relief steamers Bear and Thetis leave New-York.
1885 Special-delivery system inaugurated in the post-office. Flood Rock blown up. August 8, funeral of General Grant.
1886 Senate passes bill appropriating $250,000 toward erecting the Grant monument at Riverside. Bartholdi statue unveiled in New-York Harbor.
1889 - April 30, celebration in New-York city of the one-hundredth anniversary of Washington's presidential inauguration.
1890 - February 4, one-hundredth anniversary of the United States Supreme Court celebrated in the city.
1891 - January 29, sudden death of William Windom, United States Secretary of the Treasury, at a banquet at Delmonico's. February 19, Funeral of General Sherman.
1892 - October 10, 11, and 12, grand Columbian celebration in New- York city, in honor of four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. December 27, corner-stone laid of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, with impressive ceremonial.
A carefully prepared index to the complete work will appear in the fourth volume.
END OF VOLUME III.
PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENT
OF
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK,
From the earliest settlements on Manhattan Island to the year 1892, inclusive, the four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, edited by Gen. James Grant Wilson, assisted on the cooperative plan by a corps of able writers who prepare chapters on periods or departments in the history and life of the city to which they have given special study. To be illustrated by portraits and autographs of prominent personages, also by fac-similes of important and rare documents, and by maps, views of historic scenes and houses, tombs, statues and monuments, executed in the handsomest manner, and numbering more than one thousand, including several hundred vignettes by Jacques Reich, the accomplished artist who contributed above a thousand portraits to General Wilson's "Cyclo- pædia of American Biography" and other valuable works.
No time seems more appropriate than the present for placing before the American public a work like this, which shall utilize the abundant original material bearing on the history of the metropolis that has come to light since the last important history of the city was pub- lished in 1878, and which combines the united researches of several writers in their chosen and lifelong fields of inquiry. It is for this reason that the publishers do not hesitate to commend the present work to the scholar and to the general reader as a trustworthy source for the latest and most accurate historical information.
The Memorial History of the City of New-York will be completed in four volumes, royal octavo, of above 600 pages each. The first volume was published in the autumn of 1891; the second volume appeared in the summer of 1892, and the third volume in February, 1893; the entire work to be completed by the publication of the fourth volume in May, 1893.
VOLUME I
Embraces the events falling within the seventeenth century, beginning with the discovery of Manhattan Island and its earliest colonization by the Dutch.
VOLUME II
Covers the events of the eighteenth century down to the year 1783, thus including the momentous period of the Revolution, during the whole course of which the position of our metropolis was a unique and trying one. This has been fully set forth by the military writer on this period, and has also been most copiously illustrated.
VOLUME III
Takes up the history of the city when it became a part of a free Republic, and treats of the nineteenth century, bringing the account down to our own day, and telling the story of the city's marvelous progress and rapid growth until it has reached the magnificent metropolitan proportions of the memorial year of 1892.
VOLUME IV
Will contain exhaustive monographs and interesting accounts of special departments, such as Arts and Sciences, Hospitals and other Charities, Churches, Commercial and Literary Associations and So- cieties, Libraries, Seats of Learning, Clubs, Theaters, Museums, Music, Magazines and Newspapers, Coins and Currency, Central Park, Governor's Island, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and other suburbs, Statues and Monuments, the Military, Navy-yard, Shipping, Yachts, Notes on Portraits and other Illustrations, Bibliography, and an extended article by the Editor on the Authors of New-York, pro- fusely illustrated with beautiful vignette portraits.
THE NEW-YORK HISTORY COMPANY,
132 NASSAU STREET, NEW-YORK.
PRESS AND PRIVATE INDORSEMENTS
The reception accorded the " Memorial History of the City of New-York" by the press has been highly flattering. It has been universally commended for its historical accuracy, literary excellence, artistic illustrations, and general mechanical execution. The following commendatory expressions from leading journals and personages are but a few of the many the work has evoked :
"We can cordially recommend these volumes to all lovers of history."-Chicago Herald.
"No history of an American city has ever embraced nearly so much valuable material."-Brooklyn Eagle.
"An elaborate and valuable work, superbly prepared. It will be a permanent literary treasure."-The Observer.
"A comprehensive and scholarly history of the city by well-known historians and antiquarians."-Publishers' Weekly.
" A literary gem of high order, by eminent scholars and historical writers, that to our knowledge has not its peer upon American soil."-Christian Union.
" We are at last to have a narrative of the origin and growth of the American metropolis worthy of the theme in respect of exhaustive, luminous and trustworthy treatment."-Literary News.
" A magnificent work. . The world owes a debt of gratitude to the pains- taking editor of these volumes for putting in such interesting form all these valuable materials."-Christian at Work.
"It has been reserved for Gen. Wilson to prepare, with the aid of experienced writers and specialists, what is likely to survive as the only standard and compre- hensive history of New-York City."-Jewish Messenger.
" This history exhibits the story of New-York in the light of the latest researches. The pages bristle with dates and foot-notes, and everywhere the reader finds evidence that all the reliable sources have been thoroughly ransacked."-The Churchman.
" The local importance alone of this superb undertaking lifts it above the ordinary field of mere ' book notices.' . . . It is as perfect as the printer, artist, and engraver can make it, and a credit and honor to the city of New-York."-New-York Advertiser.
" The leading city of the Union is to have a history worthy its preeminence, . . . being supplied in this monumental work. It is of a high literary as well as historical merit, and cannot fail to be of surpassing value and interest."-Christian Intelligencer.
" Everything pertaining to the history of New-York is chronicled in these volumes. . . Gen. Wilson has displayed remarkable tact in the management of this immense . work. It will be welcomed by the citizens of the country generally."-New- York World.
"The plan of making a continuous history of essays on successive periods and epochs will be cordially approved by such readers as desire history instead of mere annals. . . . All New-Yorkers with any local pride in them will want to own this work."-New-York Herald.
"Many scarce and early portraits, maps, and views, never before published, have been engraved for this work, and it has been beautifully printed from large type on a fine quality of paper. The care which the contributors have taken is obvious and commendable."-New- York Times.
" Among the publications this season the palm for real value must be given to the work edited by Gen. James Grant Wilson. . . . No New-Yorker with any affection for his native town or the city of his adoption should fail to subscribe for this master- work."-The American Hebrew.
PRESS AND PRIVATE INDORSEMENTS
" The city that carries the keys of the continent at her girdle, has her seat on the site most favored of nature within the bounds of the Republic, and withal numbers more years than make a quarter of a millennium, is having her annals fitly costumed by masters of the 'art preservative.'"-The Critic.
" After a careful reading we unhesitatingly pronounce it in every respect a superior work and a valuable addition to American history. In wealth of illustrations, in ac- curacy of its historical statements, and in the high standard of literary excellence main- tained throughout, it is unequaled by any publication of its kind."-National Magazine.
"Nothing has been neglected to produce a book of the greatest beauty and sub- stantial usefulness. . . . We note a valuable historic series of original documents recently obtained in Holland, and which appear in fac-simile in the present volume. The illustrative merits of these volumes are very striking. They will be as useful as a museum of well-chosen and systematic illustrations."-The Independent.
" The history of New-York during the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Constitutional periods must always have an interest for Americans who would understand aright the genesis and growth of the Republic, and especially for citizens of the Western States, in view of the marked influence exerted by our City and State upon their legislative, constitutional, and judicial progress. Perhaps no city of its age, ancient or modern, conveys lessons of higher example or of graver warning; and this memorial work justifies Carlyle's remark that 'history is the essence of innumerable biographies, . . . philosophy teaching by experience.'"-JOHN JAY.
"Of the books called forth by the approaching celebration of the discovery of the New World, none will commend itself more strongly than the 'Memorial History of the City of New-York.' There has been during the present century, and even in recent years, no lack of attempts to describe the origin and growth of the American metropolis, but none has been made upon a scale commensurate with the importance of the subject, nor have the methods and results of inquiry conformed to the high standards of modern historical research. The work planned and edited by Gen. James Grant Wilson was undertaken on the cooperative system, which has been applied so successfully by Mr. Justin Winsor to the general history of the North American continent. That is to say, the exposition of particular branches of the subject has been confided to men specially qualified by their studies to speak with authority."- (Extract from a six-column review in the New-York Sun, written by Mr. M. W. Haseltine.)
"No pains or expense have been spared in the preparation of this work. It is printed on heavy paper in large type, and is illustrated with fine steel full-page en- gravings, hundreds of woodcuts in the text, and a large number of fac-similes, maps, and plans. Many of these fac-similes, and many also of the historical documents which appear in the work, are now published for the first time. The archives of Holland have been ransacked to furnish new material for the history of the Dutch occupation. . . . At such a distance in time, and after so many laborious inquests as have been made into the beginnings of New-York, it might be thought that the last word must have been said on every really important event and question. But this is not the case. The researches of General Wilson and his contributors have resulted in the discovery of much new evidence materially affecting the conclusions to be drawn in several matters of consequence, so that an element of novelty enters into this history which differentiates it from all its predecessors. . . . In short, the Memorial History has been written and made mechanically in the most careful and thorough manner, and it gives conclusive evidence that it is to be a monumental work, and standard."- New- York Tribune.
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STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES STANFORD AUXILIARY LIBRARY STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305-6004 (415) 723-9201 All books may be recalled after 7 days DATE DUE
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