USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > The semi-centennial souvenir : an account of the great celebration, June 9th and 10th, 1884, together with a chronological history of Rochester, N.Y. > Part 8
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our primitive inland commerce, al- ready on its triumphant westward course. But that little family has increased apace, until to-day he who responds to the toast of "our sister cities" located within the boundaries of this commonwealth maist speak for twenty-five- not the modest and sunny sisters of sixty years ago, but twen- ty-five boisterous, aggressive and prosper- ous damsels, who are elamoring in the halls of the legislature and in the executive chamber, insisting that they shall severally be accorded their just right to control their own households in their own way.
"I have referred to the cities of sixty years ago because it was then that the pro- ple of the young state, with De Witt Clinton as their leader, had been able, unaided, to complete the first great publie work toward improving the vast natural advantages lying within the boundaries of their common- wealth. On the fourth day of November next it will be just fifty-nine years since --- with pomp and ceremony unequalled in the celebration of any subsequent event in the history of this state --- the waters of Lake Erie were mingled with those of the Atlan- tic at Sandy Hook. and an unbroken water Way was established between the great lakes and the Atlantic ocean. The forests, which a few years before had been the hunting grounds of the Five Nations, faded away to give place to fertile fields, which began to contribute their wealth of golden harvests to increase the riches and the commerce of the stato. Thus were laid in the valleys of the Hudson, the Mohawk and the Genesee, the foundations of nineteen of 'our sister cities.'
"But the benefits rising from the con- struction of the Erie canal were wide- spread and of great national importance. Our vast inland seas were thus unlocked, so that agriculture and commerce con- tinued their triumphal course along the great lakes into the heart of the continent. Manufacturing interests following closely the march of agriculture and commerce, clustered about the centers which these had established; and, as a thrifty and growing community would establish in its midst a manufactory of some of the neces- sities, conveniences or luxuries of life, and would protect and foster it by a voluntary tax, if necessary, upon the patriotic mem- bers of the community at large until it should become strong and self-sustaining, so our national government by wise provis- ions of law protected the manufacturing enterprises thus established until they have become important factors in the wealth and strength of our flourishing cities, and giants of pover and influence in our stato -able to compete successfully and unaided, with Har manufacturingenterprises through- out the world. We are thus brought fare to face with a living question which will ro-
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quire all the wisdom of the statesmen and the discreet and conservative action of the people of our day justly and equit- ably to solve it. I
refer "the question of the continmance or discon- tinuance of national protection to our wanu- facturing interests -- the continuance or dis- continuance of what has become the most insidious of all our taxes, the protective. tariff. But whatever may be the solution of this great national question, if we follow the policy of Clinton and his contemporaries, fostering agriculture and commerce, we need have no fear for the continued pros- perity of our manufacturing interests ; they will continue-more largely than ever- to angment the wealth of the state and to contribute to the growth and prosperity of her 'sister cities.'
"I have referred to the fact that the cities of this empire state are demanding the right to control their local affairs in their own way. While the question as to the proper form of government for cities has become one of deep interest to all the states of the noion, to our own state it is of great- er importance than to any other, for a larger proportion of our population resides in cities. To the state of New York, therefore, the country has a right to look for a permanent and equitable solution of this growing question. In its solution we must relyupon the wisdom and the love of fairness and justice by the pro- ple of our own state. The fathers of the republic devised, inaugurated and be- neathed to us forms of state and national government which for harmony, symmetry and strength have not been surpassed in the world's history. but they had no occa- sion to exercise their wisdom in devising a form of government for large cities, be- cause there were no large cities in the infant republic to govern. Consequenty our cities have thus far grown up without a well defined system of government, but with a perpetual recourse to such tempor- ary expedients and such special legislation as seemed to suit the purposes of the parti- san power which chaneed to be strongest in the legislature for the time being. The result is curious to behold. Looking over what is called our city charters one is re- minded of the old-time New England farm house, which, at first small and clearly de- fined, grew as the family grew : a room was added here, an extension there, another story and a bay window somewhere else, until the whole became an indescribable jumble of ill-connected apartments, and thus it is with the laws governing the affairs of our cities, and thus it must continue to be un- til they are clothed with the power and the responsibility of the management of their own affairs under general permissive laws of the state.
"In conclusion, Mr. Mayor, pormit me on
behalf of the city of New York to congratu- late the city of Rochester, not only upon the attainment of her fiftieth birthday, but upon the proud position she has attained as the queen of a noble and prosperous family of sister cities.'"
The toast to which Mayor Smith of Phil- adelphia was called upon to respond was : "Pennsylvania, keystone of the arch ; Phil- adelphia city of brotherly love and of his- toric fame within whose sacred preeinets first was rocked the cradle of Liberty." In the course of his happy speech, Mayor Smith said that in whatever made New York great, Pennsylvania was with her, save upon the question of the tariff. He con- gratnlated the city upon the rapid progress and its happy, cultured and prosperous people. "I am glad to know," said the speak- er, "that when Rochester wanted a good mayor to serve four terms she went among the Parsons to find him. I am willing to admit his good looks, but I cannot admit his elerical looks."
The toast-"Oureducational institutions : from the grammar school to the university; they are our pride and safeguard"-was responded to by President Anderson of the university in the following language;
"I thank you for the honor of represent- ing the teacher's profession-one which is most vitally connected with all the moral, intellectual and economical interests of human society. This profession has a com- mion object and embraces all departments from the kindergarten to the university, and I am glad to speak for them all as members of a common brotherhood. Our city has been noted for its efforts to secure the best education possible for the children of its citi- zens. To no influence does it owe more for its past prosperity than to its provisions for training the young.
" We have a common school systent free to all, and erowned by our high school with its broad and vigorous course of instruction. This free system is supplemented by a large number of private schools of a high order of excellence. We have facilities for instruction in the processes of business and in the fine arts. Especially would we mention the edu- cational infinence of the gallery of art which we owe to the single thought and action of Mr. Powers, giving us a collection of pictures and statues to which comparatively few cities in our country can furnish a parallel. Soon we shall have the Reynolds' library. and in the not distant future connected with it a course of instruction for clerks and appren- tices similar in its organization to the Cooper
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Institute in New York. We have a largely endowed, ably manned and well-equipped theological seminary, with a library of great value open for consultation to the public,
"We have a university which within the past thirty years bas accumulated property. costing nearly a million -- with a library of over 20,000 volumes stored in the hall erected by Mr. Sibley, our fellow citizen-open for consultation through the year. It has a well equipped elaboratory and specimens of geol- ogy and natural history. more than 40,000 in number. The university has sent out 860 graduates and as many more have pursued partial courses of study within its walls. Of these graduates 181 have come from our own city. Of these graduates a large number from abroad have settled in life among us. Of our university graduates forty have be- come presidents or professors in colleges in various states of our union. They have served in the army, engaged in business and the professions, divinity, law and medicine. You have only to listen to their arguments in our courts, to watch their treatment of the sick in your own families, to follow in your minds the clergymen among their number who have filled pulpits in fifty cities in our land, to become satisfied that the work of our university has been a worthy and success- one. I do not claim too much when I say that the proportion of successful men among our graduates has been equal to that shown by any of our sister institu tions. I believe it has done a work of which no citizen of Rochester need be ashamed."
The next toast was: "The clergy, by whose example, as well as precept, our citi- zens have ever been led to a higher and bet- ter life. May their influence never be less potent to preserve our city from vice and corruption, in whatsoever form it may ap- pear." The response of Bishop McQuaid was as follows :
" While engaged in taking note of the ad- vancement of our city in many ways and on many lines during the fifty years of its innni- cipal existence, it is highly proper not to forget the spiritual element and the religious forces at work in promoting material growth and progress.
"I thank the committee in charge of our semi-centennial celebration for coupling my name with the sentiment of "The Clergy." I deeply appreciate the honor of being called on to respond to this sentiment. There are others whose years and longer residence in our city might well have entitled them to this honor, but they will. I am sure, not begrudge a favor to another, which strikingly illustrates the remarkable change that has come over the relations of various bodies of religionists
within the period commemorated. Fifty years ago it would not have been possible to do what to-day may be done with pleasure to most of our fellow citizens, and certainly without stirring up bitterness in the minds of any. It is an important foet to note that, under a well adjusted arrangement of relative rights and duties, the differences of re- ligions belief and practices do not necessarily interfere with our social and civic obligations and intercourse. The change is creditable, and is due to the growing good sense of the people, to a not unsalutary restraint exercised by the press, and to the wisdom acquired by the pulpit that a good cause is best fostered among an intelligent people by moderation in statement and the absence of theological acrimony and all lingual rasping. In my long experience, and in several sections of the country, I know of no city whose pulpits are freer than those of Rochester from the fierce onslaughts of polemies which hurt and never help. The clergyman who has been some time in Rochester catches the tone of the city, and soon learns that his ministra- fions will be more acceptable to his herrers if the spirit of charity pervade lis discourses. None the less is he free to present his doc- trines forcibly and unflinchingly, while keep- ing within the bounds of established pro- priety. The office of a clergyman is not ouly to teach doctrinal truth, but to illustrate and honor these teachings by a life of prac- tical charity and active benevolence. Kind and gentle toward all in word and manner, he is helpful toward the sick, the distressed. and the indigent, according to his limited means. Fifty years ago there were in the city no hospitals, no asylums, no homes for the old and the homeless, because there was little or no need of them. To-day these in- stitutions abound in our city, suffice for every form of suffering, are ample in their accommodations, complete in equipments. and are directed by skilled and faithful guardians. They are deservedly among the chief glories of Rochester. Oar two hospitals, in sisterly rivalry, under the enre of noble and devoted women, leave no form of dis- eased and crippled humanity uncared for ; our four asylums offer shelter to all fatherless and motherless little ones ; our many homes welcome the broken down and unprotected to food and a roof. In building up and providing these institutions of christian benevolence, the clergy have led the way and shared the labor and anxiety incidental to growth and snecess. If they lacked the heavy purse, they held the magic wand with which to strike the plethoric purses of their more wealthy parishioners. Without being a pro- fessional politician, the clergyman is often called on to rise above the storm and fury of heated political contests, and tone the un- reasoning passions of augry partisans down to sober thought and speech that detriment
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VIEW OF MAIN STREET IN 1840.
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to the republic's welfare may not follow through greed of political ambition and pre- ferment. When danger to liberty and peace- ful order threatens, he rises above the grade of the politician, and reaches to the dignity of the patriot. His utterances are thought- ful and weighty, and savor of the carnestuess and wisdom of the statesman.
" From the nature of his work and office, seemingly away from the people and not of them, no man in a Christian community is more of the people, with thein and for them, than the clergyman. He belongs to all classes, is ever at their call and service, and his church must be for the people Exponent of the law of his Master, he brings it to bear to restrain the uujust and uphold the op- pressed. He rebukes, counsels, soothes and comforts, rich and poor, as occasion may de- mand. In our republic dignity and influence wane as the clergyman recedes from the people and their legitimate sympathies and necessities ; they take on glory and power as he comes nearer to the people in their daily aspirations and struggles. He will never be able to load them, or check their unreason- able and dangerous ontbursts of frenzy, unless the people feel that their clergyman is of them and with them in all lawful en- deavors.
"In vain do we attempt to build up a city in a Christian land ou any other basis than that of Christian morality. Prisons are to hold in check the criminal classes, and protect the law-abiding from their depre- dations. Churches and schools - and the more Christian they are the better-are to form character and conscience in the young, and maintain them in the old, that the criminal classes may not grow, but diminish in number. . Our churches and schools have kept pace with the increase of popula-, tion. As the boundaries of the city widen, churches adapted in size and adornment to the means of the people spring into exist- ence. They are new centers of Christianizing influence."
"There is aspecies of church whose value and significance should not be ignored. It is the church-the sanctuary-of the home whose head is its priest. No where else do these sanctuaries so abound as here in Rochester. Only one family dwells under the one roof. The privacy thus secured guards the sacredness of this Christian home. Around the little house the light and the sunshine play. There is room for garden culture and for flowers and fruits. The moral atmosphere is the purer for the ! seclusion, and for the freer air. A clergy- man's task is less difficult when the mem- bers of his flock ate so favorably honsed and protected from contamination.
"The record of the clergy of Rochester during this half century is one that no dlergyman need be ashamed of. There have
been able and illustrious men among them in the past ; there are such among them to- day. They need fear no man's scrutiny. While the past is now under the microscope of inspection, not to detect flaws and blem- ishes, so much as to draw encouragement from knowledge of small beginnings end- ing in glorious success and prosperity, the clergy of the city point with pride to their work and court examination. The study of the past will teach members of other pro- fessions and of industrial and commer- cial bodies much that is useful for warning and guidance, and will
not to be thrown away on us. Our respon- sibility is the greatest. Rightly more is expected of our profession. The wonders of mechanical achievements in the future may eclipse all that this half century can show, but if our country, destined to be a land of many cities counting their inhab- itants by the million, cannot keep pace in good order, respect for law and sound morals, with this increase of population, these crowded cities will become hot-beds of vice, of lawlessness and of danger to a republie founded on principles of Chris- tian morality and submission to law, benefi- cent in its spirit of justice and equality for all, and free from partiality and favoritism to individuals or classes."
Judge Macomber responded to the toast : "To the judiciary : Pure, able, independ- ent ; the palladium of our rights and bul- wark of our liberties-to whose honored ranks our city has furnished some of the foremost names our nation boasts." The response was as follows :
"The judiciary could not be dropped from the history of Rochester without se- rious loss to the renown of the city. The general growth of our city, the increase of our population, the gradual spread of the city limits, the substitution of new and ele- gant buildings for the old, the expanding fortunes which thrift and industry have wrought, the advance in the arts and sci- ences, are physical facts palpable to the seuses. We see them, therefore they are. Within the same time there have been also changes of legal systems, a develop- ment of jurisprudence in our state, none the less real. but which do not strike so directly the senses, in effect- :. ing which the city may take just praise to itself for the part which she has borne. I refer to the struggle in this state for a thoroughly independent judiciary. for a distinctively judicial court, whose duty it is to interpret the law and administer justice in the light of legal science with historical accuracy. and with an art which is born only of learning and honesty. I say ju- dietal court' advisedly ; for formerly the tri- bunal wherein the ultimate judie-
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ial authority was vested, was, in the colonial period. the governor and his associates, called a council. ali la- ter, and under the fight constitution it was vested in the lieutenant-governor and the senate, the chancellor and the justices of the supreme court. Men unacquainted with legal principles and unskilled in the appli- cation of established laws, though asso- ciated with others who had both learning and experience, had the power and the op- portunity by their voice and their votes, to make decisions and prononnee judgments which. however just as arbitrations, would not contributo much to the scientific value of the law. The fact that so little actual inconvenience was caused by this method of pronouncing decisions in the court of errors does not ronder the system the less illogical and unscientific. When it gave way, under the constitution of 1846, to the court of appeals, a second and a mighty stride was taken towards making the court of last resort a body such as the imperial commercial supremacy of the state demanded. But it fell just short of being what was most desired. Trained lawyers, it is true, were secured for its judges; but on account of the representative element n it from the supreme court. by which .our justices of that court sat with the four who were chosen as judges of the court of appeals, a shifting or rotary motion was given to it which detracted much from its dignity. Its learning was equal to the de- mands of the age, but it lacked that stabil- ity of membership which is so essential to a court wberein the ultimate authority is reposed. When the constitution of 1869 was adopted, permanency of membership was attained, and the most ardent evolu- tionist in morals and governmental systems could not well ask for more.
"In all this the city of Rochester, I have said, may take a just pride ; for since the adoption of the constitution of 1816, the people of the state have not failed to look here for a member of that court, and ex- cept for a few years when a voluntary resignation made a vacancy, this city has not been without its representative in that court. No like honor can, I believe, be successfully claimed by any other city in the state. Its fortune in that rospeet is unique. While, therefore, we congratulate each other to-day upon our material pros- perity, the reflective mind will naturally turn to the contemplation of the more eu- during contribution to the judicature of the state which its representatives have made and which shall last forever.
"The first of our justices of the supreme court was William B. Rochester, who was appointed in 1823. He was not. I believe. a resident of the city at the time, but he soon thereafter removed here. Our next representative in that court was Addison
Gardiner. The honor of Vice-Chancellor Whittlesey is ours also, being one of the only two, I believe, who ever bore that dis- tinetive appellation. After 1816, Rochester has never been unrepresented in the su- prome court. Samuel L. Sollen, Therop R. Strong. E. Darwin Smith and George W. Rawson well merited the honor which was bestowed upon them. I refrain from speaking of the living; but of the dead the character of not one could be spared and leave the judicial history of our city unim- paired.
"Years hence the Hallam of our constitu- tional history will find, that at Rochester in an age when political passion was rite, there was found in Addison Gardiner a judge who conld not be swerved by the pas- sion of partizan strife; he will find in the transitional period of a new constitution not only a Gardiner but Samuel L. Seldon and Henry R. Seldon, whose decisions illu- mined the way to true development of a pure and scientific jurisprudence ; and an- other whom you selveted to respond to this toast, but whose official duties precluide it, George F. Danforth, into whose worthy hands the people placed the succession.
"These courts have always' shown not. only a disposition to preserve, but also an ability to improve, and thereby have easily met the changes in business by which new property rights have been created and new wrongs defined, and have impressed them- selves favorably upon the age, as may be seen by the adoption, in a majority of the states in the union, of their system of pro- cedure, and in the repayment to England, of any prior indebtedness of ours by the enactment there of the judicature act of 1575, where so many of our law reforms were engrafted upon the ancient methods of English jurisprudence.
"Not deeming it fit to speak further of the influence of the city through the court of which I am a member, and not at all of its present occupants, I leave untouched much of your honor and reputation among men. But when I reffeet how far-reaching is its daily influence upon the lives and fortunes of the people, and how a case 10- day may be the precedent of to-morrow, and the authority for generations to come, I may with modesty exclaim,
"How far that little candle throws his beam."
The toast to the barwas briefly but hap- pily responded to by W. F. Cogswell.
Dr. E. M. Moore responded with charac- teristie felicity to the toast "Medicine :" which " soothes our pains and shortens our woes. If4 duty done, the tender mercies of the doctor of divinity caluis the troubled breast and merge discordant fears into the sweet harmony of eternal rest."
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The toast proposed to the press was: "The Press; as in the past and present, so may it be in the future. that :
ยท " Here shall the press the people's rights main- tain,
Unawed by influence and uubribed by gain: Here patriot truth her glorious precepts draw, Pledged to religion, liberty and law.'"
In response William Purcell said :
"MR. PRESIDENT -- As a citizen of Roch- ester in its village days, and during the half century of its city growth, I feel that my first duty on this occasion is to thank Divine Providence for the preservation and guidance that have kept me here, and that keep me here still. As one connected with the press of Rochester for more than forty years, I respond to the toast just offered in its honor with peculiar pleasure. This is a day of reminiscence-a day that marks an epoch in the life of the municipality and freshens the history of a most eventful period. To many agencies does Rochester owe its population and prosperity, but to mm other one is it more indebted than to its press. Rochester was but a funlet in the wilderness when, in 1816, following the or- ganization of the first church with sixteen members, and the first school with a like number of pupils, came from Utica Augus- tine G. Dauby, son of one of the French he- roes who fought in the revolution under La- fayette, with a Raimage press and the type and furniture of a small printing office, from which he issued Rochester's first news- paper, a weekly journal called the Gazette. The publication of the first daily, not only of Rochester but of the United States west of Albany, the Advertiser. was commenced ten years later, on the 25th of October, 1826, when the population of the village was but 7,660. And it is a notable fact that that Advertiser, which has swallowed up so many rivals, still lives and flourishos as the Union und Advertiser, while its weekly issue, the Republican, is the original Gocette estab- Ilshed by Mr. Dauby in 1816. I shall not attempt to enumerate the many journals, daily, weekly, and monthly, nearly one hun- dred in number, that have como and most of Which have gone,
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