The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. III, Part 13

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 440

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KING, President. I will continue tliese recogni- zances until the next Court of Quarter Sessions, and I will briefly state my reasons for coming to this conclu- sion. The case, upon the evidence, is certainly not without considerable difficulty ;- the contradictory state- ments of the witnesses produce more embarrassment than is ordinarily met with in a matter of this kind. But, upon the whole, from the spirit and temper which is manifested, the ends of public justice will be most effec- tually answered by imposing a salutary restraint, which may tend to check the illegal measures which seem to be in progress. For all parties concerned ought to be convinced that combinations and conspiracies of this character are illegal, and we have seen in numerous instances the dangerous tendency of such conduct. In our country, but more especially abroad, combinations like these have led to consequences the most disastrous. These individuals ought to know that their proper course is to seek redress for their injuries, if they are suffering any, in the courts of justice, which are as open to them as to their employers. Here the law recognizes no difference between the rich and the poor, the em- ployer and the employed-at the bar of our courts they stand upon perfectly equal ground, and the law will as soon punish any unlawful combination of the employ- ers, as of their journeymen. But it will not permit any man or body of men to redress their own injuries, whe- ther imaginary or real, and will promptly repress all acts of violence, whatever may be the pretext of their adop- tion. In the present case, the positive testimony of Kennedy, as to the threats made use of by Triellou, is corroborated by several other witnesses, whose respect- able deportment and consistent statements carry great weight with them, and whom the Court cannot disbe- lieve without imputing intentional falsehood; whereas the evidence on the other side may be so far truc as to his being in town that afternoon, and yet the witnesses may err in point of the time of day when he left there; and every one conversant with the evidence usually giv- en in similar proceedings, is perfectly aware that no more common mistake is made by witnesses than that of fixing from memory the particular hour or minute at which an occurrence has taken place. Great weight is also given by the Court to the evidence of John Niles, as to the violent language and menaces of Treillou in his conversation with him.

Let the recognizances be continued until the next Court of Quarter Sessions.

TAXABLES IN CITY & COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA, 1741.

[JANUARY

CITY & COUNTY TAXABLES IN 1741.

We are indebted to an esteemed Friend for the sub- sequent statement, which was copied by him from the books of his venerable ancestor, who was not only an intelligent and faithful Assessor for many years, but was, during his active life, efficiently engaged in the most benevolent and useful institutions of his time, for pro- moting the comfort and prosperity of his fellow citizens. Poulson.

Statement of the number of Taxable Inhabitants of the City and County of Philadelphia, in the year 1741.

[The City was then divided into ten Wards, and the County then extended to the southern limits of Berks county, and embraced the whole of the county of Mont- gomery.]

Number of Taxables in the City in 1741.

1. Dock Ward 183

Brought over 880

2. Lower Delaware 115

7. Upper Delaware 99

3. Walnut 98

8. High street 151

4. South 105

9. Mulberry

309

5. Middle 236

10. North

182

6. Chestnut 143

City Total

1621

Carried over

880

Number of Taxable Inhabitants in the County in 1741.

['The County then contained 47 Townships. ]

Amity

Brought over,

1838

Abington

Montgomery 54 .

Allamingle

Maiden Creek 75

Byberry

Merion, Upper

Bristol

Merion, Lower

101

Blockley

Menatauny

111

Creesham

Northern Liberties

151

Cheltenham

Norrington

Colebrook Dale

Oxford

Douglass

Ouley

Dublin, Lower

125

Providence

146

Dublin, Upper

Perkiomen and 2 Skipake S

Franconia

Passyunk Moyamensing S

Frankford and ? N. Hanover S

Plymouth

Frederick

Roxborough

Germantown

168

Sulford

174

Gwyned

Springfield

Hanover, Upper

Towamensin

Horsham

Whippan

Kingsess

White Marsh

Limerick

Worcester

Moreland Manor

125

Wayamensing

Carried over

1838

County Total

3422

* The whole of that portion of land, south of the city, now called "The District of Southwark," was included in the Township of Moyamensing, until the year 1762, wlien the Legislature of Pennsylvania passed a law cre- ating it a separate District, to be thereafter known as " The District of Southwark."

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT.

City Taxables

In 1741. 1,621

In 1826. 11,120

Increase. 9,499

County Taxables, to wit, in

Biberry

190

138

Bristol

272

208

Blockley

512

440

Lower Dublin

125

488

363

Germantown

228

881

653

Kingsessing

162

103

Moreland*

125

Northern Liberties

151

7996

7845

Oxford

484

406

Passyunk and

216

Moyamensing,

729

3327

Southwark,

2460 S

Roxborough

448

4101

Totals

1070

14,927

13,893'

* Decrease in Moreland

In that portion of the ]

then County of

2352

7959

5607

forming the county of Montgomery

* The act of the Legislature, creating the county of Montgomery, cut off so large a portion of the original Township of Moreland, (adding it to the county of Montgomery,) as to leave but a small number of the taxable inhabitants within the present limits of that township, which accounts for their number having de- creased from 125 to 89.

RECAPITULATION.

Taxables in the

In 1741: In 1826.

Increase.

City of Philadelphia

1621

11,120

9,499

County of Philadelphia

1010

14,927

13,917

County of Montgomery 2352

7,959

5,607

Totals

4983

34,006

29,023

REMINISCENCES OF PHILADELPHIA.

Philadelphia before the Revolution, was a mere village in its size and style of living, compared with its present opulence, splendour, and extent. Perhaps there were not more than twenty houses so large and elegant, as now are the dwellings of people in very moderate cir- cumstances. I am often amused with the exclamations- of my young friends, when I point to the house of a se- cond or third rate mechanic, and say, "in that house, such and such a distinguished man gave his dinners or his suppers." These small habitations exhibited nothing of the prevailing modern splendour, but were furnished with more attention to convenience than to show; yet, in some things, it must be confessed we were wanting. Carpets, those necessary appendages to comfort, were not the luxury of the common parlour. A rich Turkey carpet, might be found in the state-room, which, if it happened to be on the second floor, was called the din- ing room, although no dinner was ever served in that apartment-for, unsophisticated as we were, we were genteel enough sometimes, to pervert words from their right meaning. We improved, however, as we advanced in years, and the parlour up-stairs, with more propriety, was denominated the "tea room." In nothing have we' departed more widely from "the spirit of '76" than in' our entertainments. Dinners and suppers went the round of every social circle at Christmas, and, except- ing confectionaries, abounded in the excellent meats and pastry that now supply the festive board. An invi- tation to the former always implied the latter; and the whole day, from one to two o'clock, was given to the vi- sit. Afternoon visits were made in the afternoon, not at night; so that a matron might take tea with a friend, and be at home in good time to see her children put to bed'. But, I shall tire you with the garrulity of an old woman, else would I tell you of many a fashion of these simple times. Water, Front, Second and Third, were then the only streets parallel to the river, that were closely built, as far north as Vine, and south to Pine streets; and the cross streets extended but little further west, except a few scattering houses in either direction. A walk to the Hospital or the Bettering House, as the Alms House

Exeter

and 3

13,857

Philadelphia, now

REMINISCENCES-PUBLIC CHARITIES OF PHILADELPHIA.

[829.]

was then called, was the business of an afternoon; to reach the Schuylkill never entered the imagination of the pedestrian, at least of the females. This, however, is not wonderful, when it is considered that neither pave- ment nor avenue invited the rambler. A road leading from Market street must have been open, for there was a road to Lancaster, of which we sometimes heard as a place "far in the wilds remote from public view," which might be reached in a three days journey; nor was this neighbouring town ever spoken of familiarly, until some ofour public bodies, and many of the affright- ed citizens, fled thither, for safety, on the approach of a British army in 1775. The mention of that sad day brings back its terrors with the freshness of yesterday.

The British had penetrated into New Jersey as far as Princeton; and massacre and starvation chilled the blood in every vein! Where shall we go; how shall we get out of town? was the universal cry. Carriages of every description were few, and all were anxiously sought. No blessed steamboats to waft their thousands from "In- dies to the Pole!" No friendly hacks to drag us from the scene of dismay; wealthy merchants kept a one horse chair, but what was this to the conveyance of a whole household? A coach was here and there kept by the higher order, but these were not in requisition; these belonged chiefly to the officers of the royal go- vernment, who fearing no violence from their brethren, had determined to abide the visit. But great was the scramble among this scanty state of means. Happy was he, who could press a market wagon; or a milk cart, to bear off his little ones! My family, together with that of a friend, who had been obliged to abscond with the city council, were stowed, women, children and servants, counting in number more than a score, into a small river craft, called a wood-flat, whose smokey cabin did not permit the ladies, with infants in their arms, to sit quite upright. The smoke, however, was intolerable, and we girls, whose young hearts shrunk from no inconve- nience or danger, made our beds with blankets upon the deck; from this then enviable station we were driven, by a heavy fall of snow, into the hold of the boat, and there we slept soundly on the few tables and chairs, which our hurry had enabled us to carry with us. Innumerable were the hardships, and much would you wonder, could I tell you, what the scattered Philadel- phians endured at that trying season; thankful, if they could find a hut or a barn, in any region of security! Sometimes those who had never spoken together in the city would meet in their wanderings, and then all dis- tinctions of rank were forgotten, and they were a band of brothers. Some who had made a lodgement be- tween the Delaware and the Chesapeake, were driven in the following summer, from their temporary asylums, on the march of the enemy from the latter direction; and when we afterwards met at our homes, marvellous and amusing were the adventures recounted at our hap- py fire sides. "Sir," said a gentleman, whose name was eminent among the patriots of that period, "these stories will be told by our children when we are dead and gone."

I thought of nothing more, when I took up my pen, than correcting the error of the "Old Philadelphian." He says " Mrs. Manly kept the first large retail shoe store in Market street." Many years before that period, and probably before the knowledge of my junior labor- er, a store of that description was kept in 2d near Market st. by Mr. Wallace. His shoes were of worsted, which was the only material then used by the ladies, excepting satin or brocade for full dress. You see how the fascina- tions of my youth have irresistibly drawn me on! I will trouble you no longer.

H. T. [.Aurora & Penn. Gaz.

At a meeting of Councils on Thursday evening, Tho- mas Phipps was elected Treasurer of the city, in the place of John Bacon.

VOL. III. 6

PUBLIC CHARITIES.

Extracts from Essays on the Public Charities of Philadel- phia .- Respectfully uddressed to the serious considera- tion of the benevolent, who have "hearts to feel and hands to bestow .- Dcc. 29, 1828.

No. I.

I wish to call the attention of the public to the state of some of our institutions, which owe their origin to benevolent motives. Of these there are three species, Beneficial-Religious- and those intended wholly for Charitable purposes, apart from all considerations of religion.

The first, merely private, confine their aid and com- fort wholly to the individual members. With them the public at large have no right to interfere. For the se- cond, the spirit of the times makes ample provision; I shall therefore for the present pass them over-and con- fine the discussion to some of the third description .- These are of three sorts-those for the promotion of education-those intended for reformation-and those intended to relieve physical wants.

They are very numerous, and have reflected great credit on the city, and tended to confirm its claim to the honourable designation bestowed on it by its illustrious founder. There is reason to believe, however, that no small degree of error prevails on this subject, as regards the extent of the support they receive, and their resour- ces, which has a pernicious operation, and ought to be corrected. If the error were harmless, it might be al- lowed to pass without notice: but unfortunately this is by no means the case.

It is assumed by many persons that those institutions are very burdensome to our citizens-that the stated contributions for their support are enormously and un- necessarily great-that they encourage idleness and dis- sipation, and a reliance on charity instead of industry,- and hence we every day hear loud complaints on the subject, and in consequence many benevolent, worthy, and wealthy citizens are discouraged from affordling that patronage which they would otherwise cheerfully give, and which these institutions may fairly claim. Thus the current of public charity is arrested in its course, to the manifest injury of the suffering poor, for whose relief they were instituted.

The complaints to which I have alluded, cannot apply to donations or bequests, which, being entirely sponta- neous, create no murmuring. They refer wholly to the annual subscriptions, to which, therefore, my observa- tions shall be chiefly confined-and I hope to make it appear that no general clamour or complaint, was ever much more unfounded. Let me observe, en passant, that those who are the largest contributors, make the fewest complaints. Indeed, I believe I might say, they never complain.

Before I proceed to the details to which the subject necessarily leads, I beg leave to notice a collateral er- ror, producing similar consequences.

Many citizens entertain an idea that in the present state of society in this city, every person able and will- ing to work, may procure employment; that all those who are thus employed, may earn a decent and comfort- able support; and that if not the whole, at least the chief part of the distress of the poor, arises from idle- ness, dissipation and worthlessness. Alas, nothing can be much farther from the truth, and nothing can have a greater tendency to harden the hearts of those who have the means to afford relief to the distressed, rendering them indifferent to the sufferings of their fellow mor- tals. There cannot be a doubt that it has produced this indifference to a great extent, and paralized the hands of charity and beneficence. It is an error, therefore, which loudly calls for refutation.

In the most prosperous times there are always some trades and occupations that are depressed, in which there is a deficiency of employment, and consequently

PORT OF LANCASTER.

[JANUARY

where the earnings of former days, laid up by the fru- gal and industrious, are consumed, and pinching distress is the result. There is almost always a superabundance in this city in some occupations, particularly clerks and shopkeepers. At some trades, employers take too many apprentices, and dismiss them as soon as their appren- ticeships expire, when they frequently find it difficult to procure employment. General depression, moreover, occasionally takes place, in which there is a redundance of hands at almost all occupations. These facts, which are of public notoriety, ought to silence the unmeaning cry, so often reiterated-that "nobody need be idle, who is willing to work."

That among the poor, there are dissipated, idle, and profligate persons, [are there not among the rich?] can- not be denied. But the proportion is small-much smaller than might be reasonably supposed, from the various disadvantages and discouragements under which that class labours. The worthless and profligate meet the public eye in our streets, on the wharves, and, oc- casionally, stretched in a state of intoxication on the pavements-and are brought before the mayor's court, where their profligacy is made conspicuous. The num- bers are magnified tenfold by the imaginations of the spectators. Whereas the thousands and tens of thou- sands, who are industriously employed, early and late, to make a sorry subsistence, at a miserable pittance, pass wholly unnoticed. Who can think without sympa- thy for the sufferers, and regret for such a state of so- ciety, when lie is informed of the appalling fact, that there are thousands of seamstresses in this city, who, by the utmost industry and skill, cannot earn above a dollar and a quarter or a dollar and a half per week! Com- petition has reduced the price of making soldiers', and s lop shop shirts and pantaloons to twelve and a half cts. each! At this paltry price, whenever they are to be given out, the applications are too numerous to be sup- plied, and the work is sought after with as much avidi- ty as if it afforded a liberal support: At certain seasons even this sort of work is very scarce, and numbers of the poor women are wholly unemployed!

At the first establishment of the Provident Society, the applications for work so far exceeded the quantity to be given out, that the Society could not afford full employment to most of the applicants, who, of course, could not earn more than seventy-five cents or a dollar per week. And numbers went through snow and rain for eight and ten squares for it, and were thankful to re- ceive it !!

A very skilful woman unburdened with a family, can scarcely make two shirts per day -- with a family, which many of them have, the greatest number will be eight or'ten per week! When we take into view, rent, occa- sional want of employment, sickness, and the support of children, we shall have some slight idea of the dis- fress of the numerous widows, who are devoted to this most miserable of employments. May I not ask, who, duly weighing these things, will have the hardness of heart, to involve in one general, sweeping denunciation, the distressed poor, as if their sufferings were the pe- nalties of their idleness and dissipation?

Although I know how extremely difficult it is to era- dicate inveterate prejudices, such as many of our citi- zens entertain on this subject, yet I fondly hope those prejudices will lose much of their weight and influence, when the following facts are calmly and dispassionately considered.

to work. Hundreds are swept off annually, many of thiem leaving numerous and helpless families. Not- withstanding their wretched fate, their places are quick- ly supplied by others, although death stares them in the face. Hundreds are most laboriously employed on' turnpikes, working from morning till night at from half .a dollar to three quarters per day, exposed to the broil- ing sun in summer, and all the inclemency of our severe' winters. There is always a redundance of wood pilers in our cities, whose wages are so low, that their utmost efforts do not enable them to earn more than from 35 to 50 cents per day-and finally there is no employment whatever, how disagreeable, or loathsome, or danger- ous, or deleterious soever it may be, or however reduced the wages, that fails to find persons willing to follow it, rather than beg or steal. With respect to females, we know, as I have stated, and shall dilate on more at length in the sequel, that there are thousands of them who ea- gerly seek after and gladly and thankfully accept em- ployment, at which their utmost industry and skill. can- not possibly enable them to earn more than from a dol- lar to a dollar and a half per week, making no allow- ance for sickness. Surely these facts are overwhelm- ing, and ought to rescue the character of the labouring classes from the mass of obloquy too often thrown upon them.

One word more. There are from 15 to 20,000 ope- ratives and labourers in this city, of whom probably not more than 4 or 500 are' dissipated -- to which many of them are driven by distress and misery, and desperate circumstances.

Nov. 7, 1828. .

HAMILTON.

PORT OF LANCASTER.

LANCASTER, Dec. 23.

Since our last, the ark George Louis Mayer, captain Ohmet, laden with 35 hogsheads of whiskey, a quantity of flour, tallow, lard, &c. cleared for Baltimore.

Arrived, Ark Susquehanna, Mullison, with coal from Wilkesbarre, will load for Baltimore as soon as the wea- ther will permit.

Below, An ark laden with North Branch coal, will as- cend the first thaw.

Thirty arks of coal would not supply the immediate demand; and applications have already been made by a number of distillers offering all their whiskey, as soon as vessels can be ready, to convey it to Baltimore.

From the above, our friends on the Susquehanna, and in Baltimore, will perceive that the spirit of enterprise which led a few citizens of Lancaster to attempt render- ing the river Conestoga navigable has been crowned with success. The navigation is now perfect from Rei- gart's landing, within the bounds of the city, to Safe Harbour, on the Susquehanna, a distance of eighteen miles, and was effected by a succession of dams and locks, nine in number, the ponds or dams varying in length from one to three miles, and preserving a breadth of from 250 to 350 feet, with a depth in the channel of never less than four feet, presenting a beautiful sheet of water. The towing path is on the left bank of the ri- ver. The locks are 100 feet by 22 in the chamber, suffi- ciently large for arks or boats of ninety feet in length, and for platforms of boards or timber of like dimensions. The lifts vary from seven to nine feet. The whole cost about $4000 per mile, leaving at the disposal of the company at each dam a water power, which it is believ- ed will prove a source of considerable profit, and at the same time be valuable to the surrounding country.

Thousands of our labouring people travel hundreds of miles in quest of employment on canals, at 623, 75, and 873 cents per day, paying a dollar and a half or two dol- The time occupied by an ark in ascending from Safe Harbour to the South Bridge, is found to be from six to eight hours. The ark George Louis Mayer passed lock No. 3 in 63 minutes. One horse only has been employed in towing. lars per week for board, and leaving families behind, de- pending on them for support. They labour frequently in marshy grounds, where they inhale pestiferous mias- mata, which destroy their health, often irrecoverably. They return to their poor families, broken hearted, and The completion of this work is to us a source of great satisfaction; for independent of its importance to the with ruined constitutions, with a sorry pittance, so labo- riously earned, and take to their beds, sick, and unable | country generally, and its being the most perfect and

PENNSYLVANIA INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB.

1829.].

beautiful specimen of inland navigation in the United States, effected at a trifling expense, it has relieved its friends from a load of anxiety for its success, and from the jeers and prophecies of the herd of worldly-wise lookers-on, who believe every thing impossible which they cannot comprehend, and every man a fool or a madman, who embarked in a project of which their grandfathers had left no memorial; and many of the rich who made all they are worth among us, hugged their dollars in fancied security, and laughed and scoffed at those who ventured a little for the general good-shook their heads when some trifling accident occurred, and gravely said, "I told you so-I was'nt going to be taken in-I was'nt such a fool."

The completion of this work assures a prosperity to the city of Lancaster, which without it she never could have reached. She must become the depot for the whiskey, flour, bacon, butter, lard, &c. &c. of the sur- rounding country, and at the same time will be enabled to supply lumber, coal, salt, and the produce of the West Indies and the Susquehanna trade. It also as- sures the further improvement of the Susquehanna; so that there shall be no interruption to an ascending as well as descending trade with the bay, by locks, on a scale not inferior to those on the Conestoga, so that locked boats of from 60 to 100 tons, drawing three feet water, built for river and bay trade, may load. at Lancas- ter and navigate the Chesapeake with as much security as any other vessels.

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The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. III, Part 13

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870 Publication date: 1828 Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ; Number of Pages: 440

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 440