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The American Metropolis from Knickerbocker days to the present time: New York City life in all its various phases ... Illustrated

Frank Moss · 1897 · Scanned text

109,154 words · about 7 h 39 min to read

Period artwork: Interior of the Bodleian Library, 1845
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Licence: PDM · British Library Digitised Books dataset db14 (doi 10.21250/db14) marks the OCR texts CC Public Domain Mark 1.0 (c. 1510-c. 1900 publications); text+metadata JSONL release doi 10.23636/r7w6-zy15 is CC0 1.0. Public Domain Mark is a status label, not a new copyright licence. · Digitised by the British Library (with Microsoft). Text: British Library Digitised Books, CC Public Domain Mark 1.0.

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About this book

Author
Frank Moss
Language
English
Published
1897
Length
109,154 words · about 7 h 39 min
Sections
3 reader sections
Text
Scanned text, read from page scans by OCR; may contain errors
Rights
Public Domain Mark 1.0

 

Contents (3)
  1. Introduction about 3 min
  2. Preface about 2 h 16 min
  3. Appendix about 5 h 19 min

Continue:

Introduction

BY REV. CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D. AN HISTORIGRAPH OF NEW YORK PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED 3n dlhree llolumes— llolnme (Dne LONDON : THE AUTHORS' SYNDICATE TO MY MOTHER A DESCENDANT OF ANNEKE JANS THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED F. M. REV. OHAS. H. PARKHURST, D.D New York. Vol. One. V

INTRODUCTION.

BY CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D., LL.D. We live for the future, but our roots are hid den in the past, and any one who has the genius to make the past more truly real and alive nour ishes those roots and makes that future more bright and prolific. The volume herewith presented is the outcome of a revival of the civic spirit as that revival has come to its experience and ex pression in the thoughts and activities of one par ticular man. This civic revival is, however, something more concrete than any mere quickening along general lines : it is rather the revival of civic devotion in its detailed relations to specific locality. It is a great thing to love one's entire country; but there is such a thing as the concentration of patriotism upon one's own town or city. "We are all too thoroughly American to be disposed to disparage na- VI

INTRODUCTION.

tional loyalty; but what is gained in width is very apt to be sacrificed in intensity, and it is intensity always rather than diffusion that does the world's work. The thing accordingly which the residents of a city — of our own City, for instance — particularly need is to have their civic regards focused upon home ground. The better our City is, the more we can love it; but it is only by loving it more that it can become better, and before we can love it more we need to know it more. Neither a gen erality nor an ambiguity can excite affection. Love loses its way in the dark. It augurs well for our municipal future, there fore, that so many earnest and intelligent efforts are being put forth to make our acquaintance with New York City more thorough and appreciative. "When the time comes that the general mind has been made sensible to present conditions, and the honest consciousness of our day has penetrated to the core of our municipal character and situation, the death knell will have been sounded to much of evil that still mixes with the better ingredients and confuses our prospect.

INTRODUCTION.

But not only will the objects proposed by the present volumes commend themselves to every intel ligent friend of the City, but the scheme of recital which the Author has adopted is itself a marked feature of the work. It will arrest the attention of his adult readers, and will be particularly grateful to the tastes and instincts of the young peo ple, and it is upon them, primarily, that we have to base our hopes for the future. Youths are not fond of disquisitions, but they like to be shown things, which is exactly what Mr. Moss does in these pages. An event taken apart from its local connections is almost as uninteresting a thing as a soul would be with no body for it to be at home in. The author of "The American Metropolis" not only describes what has occurred in the history of our City, but knits those events to the particular spot where they have transpired, thus clothing them with the garments of reality and putting them into local relation with the streets that we are to-day walking.

His idea is a clever one, and can hardly fail of catching the attention and holding the in terest of the reading public, younger and older. For myself, I personally anticipate the pleasure

INTRODUCTION.

of putting myself under his guidance in the matter of acquiring a geographical appreciation of the meaning of the history of my City, and I con gratulate him both on the scheme which he has worked out and on the positive service which I believe his series of itineraries will be able to ren der to those who will travel with him over the past years and the present territory of our beloved City. Charles H. Parkhurst. AUTHOR'S

Preface

We are in the midst of a revival of civic pride. For many years the people of New York seemed to be without interest in the history of the City, in its reputation and in its prospects; New York and Tammany Hall were almost syn onymous terms, and citizenship in this great City was nowhere esteemed to be an honor — unless it was so among the ringsters of other cities, who looked with awe at the kings of corruption that held despotic sway over the Metropolis, laughing at the laws, sneering at their critics, and rolling up thieves' fortunes. At last, indignation, tardily awakened, grew into burning patriotism, and a popular uprising, wisely directed by almost Pro phetic Leadership, made an astonishing change in the government of our City — a change which is apparent in every civic function. There have been similar revolutions before, and conspicuous plunder- X AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

ers of the people have been hurled from positions that seemed impregnable; but, unfortunately, the hot blast of public opinion cooled almost as quickly as it had been heated, and lasting reformation of the public service was not secured. The revolu tions of the past lacked foundations of civic pride and patriotic devotion in the mass of the people. Those who helped to defeat Tammany Hall in 1894 tried to awaken in the hearts of all the peo ple, even those who seemed the least approachable, a deep love for their City and a personal devotion to her interests, which would be potent in their an tagonism to every evil political combination and to all enemies of good government. The evidences of revived patriotism among the common people are more gratifying to those who have longed and labored and sacrificed for her betterment than all the victories that have occurred in elections.

Evi dences of the new life are apparent in the in creased interest of every class in the City's his tory and in its achievements from day to day; in the new sympathy that has sprung up between her different sections, and even between her different races; in the quickness with which the people esti mate the spirit and the purpose of officials; in their quickness to sustain and support clean administration, and to perceive and resent official incompe- AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

fence, carelessness and misconduct; and in the true ring of their voices and the quick kindling of their eyes when they converse about their City and her affairs. The makers of books are beginning to realize the new interest, and the publishers' announcements contain many notices of books on New York. The magazines and the weeklies teem with articles ex ploiting events of the past or revealing relics of olden times, and discussing phases and phenomena of our present marvelous activity. A genuine and sustained revival of pride in our City and of patriotism applied to our own homes will make New York the richest, the best, and the most excellently administered City in the world — a Greater New York indeed. The writing of a book of any sort was far from my mind, and the proposition of a publisher that I should venture into this field was at first rejected.

He said that a book which would show a composite picture of the history of the City and of its present condition was needed, and that I ought to write it. This book is the result of the publisher's approach. It has been written under difficulties, but the work has been so pleasant, and has given me so much more satisfactory an outlook on Metropolitan affairs, that I venture AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

to hope it may be of interest to others and a help to more vital citizenship. There are monumental histories of our City, prodigious in size, deep in research, and exhaustive on "gray matter," as well as on the contents of pocketbooks; but those treasuries of knowledge are not within the reach of the people generally, and they do not plainly trace the development of the City through the channels of her growth. The wonderful civilization in which we live is not the result of any revolution, but it is rather a growth from a germ once planted on a particular spot . on Manhattan Island; and the branchings from the original stem can be definitely traced. It is one thing to be told that two hundred and fifty years ago the "sturdy Dutch," as they are generally called, built a fort on Manhattan Island and were the first settlers; it is a different thing to go to Bowling Green and to look at the very spot where the fort was built; to walk through the very streets in which those first settlers moved, and to stand above their mouldered bones.

When we do this, observing what is now on the spot where civilization first began, we begin instinctively to note the contrast between the olden times and the present, and intelligently to trace the stages of de velopment through which the mighty and complex AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

present has been evolved out of the simple and primitive past. For the purpose of inspiring loyalty to the great principles on which have been founded the noble achievements of New York, it is not nec essary that a ponderous and philosophic tome should be written; if that were necessary some one else would have to write it. Rather should the heart, the sympathies, the tender emotions, be touched; rather shoidd we be brought into fellowship with those who have dwelt here before us, whose labors we enjoy, and who sustained the burdens that have passed from their shoulders on to ours, and out of their hearts into ours. Of this we may be sure, we can in no better way devote ourselves to our Country's good and Mankind's welfare than by ad vancing our own City to her highest possible position, and making her institutions means for the up lifting and the enlightenment of all the people.

Let us be students and lovers of our City. The plan of our work is simple. In its phi losophy we trust it may be correct, but it is not a philosophy. Historically, we trust it is true, but it is not a history. It is a reminiscent, observant, reflectivejourney on historical lines. We have adopted the course which we should pursue were we showing the City to a friend. We start at the beginning point of its life, making that spot the AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

center of interest, and returning to it again and again. The first chapter is devoted to the Fort. In the second chapter we proceed from the Fort, along the favorite road of Dutch times, Pearl Street; and make our way back to the beginning point through the Swamp, Printing House Square, Nassau and William Streets, stopping at the sec ond great development point — the site of the Sub treasury building at the corner of Nassau and Wall Streets. The Fort at Bowling Green was the cen ter of the old Colonial life; this second point was the focus of the new national life. We return to the Fort by way of Broad Street, and then start out again along the line of English advance, Broadway, and devote a chapter to what may be remembered and observed along that highway, in cluding Trinity and St. Paul's churches and their burying grounds, and ending at the City Hall Park, beyond which Broadway did not extend until after the Revolution.

A chapter is then devoted to the City Hall Park, which was the Commons of older days, and which was the third great development point in the life of the City. At this spot popular government had its rise. It was the gathering place and the forum of the common people. We pass on into the districts east and northeast of the Commons, including Five Points, Cherry Hill AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

and New Israel, which together make a very dark background for the picture of heroism, growth and grandeur. Then we make our way to the East River, and return along its front to the Fort. From the Fort we start out again through Green wich Street, going as far as the ancient Indian village of Sapokanikan, later Greenwich Village, now the Ninth Ward, returning to the Fort by the North River front. The territory thus traversed is small, but it is sufficient to show the rise and growth of the City, and is more than enough for the limits of this work. It has been my design, whenever possible, to locate important and interesting events at the places where they happened, so that one, considering an incident which, the historians tell us, indefinitely, occurred somewhere in New York City, can go to the very place where the actors in the drama stood and spoke, and there say: "This is the spot!"

In this way our interest is fastened firmly to a locality or place, and through a succession of events at that place we may see the development of principles and the increase of attainments. The three development points which I have indicated are walked over daily by multitudes, to whom the heroic history of the City is a sealed book. They would become eager investigators, if they knew what AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

other feet had trod those walks before them, and what great events had occurred on those oft-traveled paths. It may be that some will disagree with state ments, arguments and deductions of the book; let that be as it may, we will be one in interest, and one in devotion to our beloved City. Frank Moss.

CONTENTS VOLUME ONE CHAPTER ONE A SMALL BEGINNING— THE OLD FORT Tolerance, the leading Characteristic of Life in New York — It grew out of the Dutch Commercial Spirit which Captured the English, and still sways New York — Dutch Trading — Dutch-English Amalgamation — The old Fort: the Germ of New York's Greatness — Dutch Streets — Dutch Religion — The first Governor — The first Dominie — The tussle between Kieft and Bogardus — The Fort, the Government House, the Dominie, the Governor, all in the Bowling Green Block together — The first Schoolmaster, his Failing and his Flogging — First sale of a Lot — First Tavern — First City Hall — Dutch Activity — Burgomasters and Schepens — Coen and Antye — The Canal Habit — The Original First Citizens — First Slave Labor — First Hanging — Indian War — White Treachery — The Twelve Men and the Eight Men — First Representatives of the People — Stuyvesant the Great — More Indian War — Treaty of Peace — First City Government — The Great Citizens — First Thoughts of Home Rule — Captured by the English — The English Flag at Bowling Green — The English and the Dutch Worship together — The Dutch again — Ousted once more— First Native Mayor — Civil War — Execution of Governor Leisler — Corruption, Pirates, Kidd — City Hall moved to Broad Street— Wedding — Fire— Suicide — CONTENTS New Governor-Stamps— Dawn of Liberty— Uprising of the People— Non-importation Agreement— Tryon and Washington— Declaration of Independence— Americans seize the old Fort -Captured by the English— Evacuated —Peace— The old Fort torn down— Famous Residents — Battery Park— Castle Garden and its Noble Sur roundings 1 CHAPTER TWO CONTRASTS— THROUGH PEARL STREET TO THE SWAMP — PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE AND PARK ROW Pearl Street— Processions— Elevated Railroad— The Nations- Humors of Travel— Italians — A backward Glance— Number 19 Pearl Street: a Relic — Stuyvesanfs White Hall— The Weigh House — The Royal Exchange — Old Streets — Fire of 1835— Fly Market— The United States, the first large Hotel — Hanover Square — Wingate and the Twilight Club — Hunter — Franklin Square — Walton House and its Ghost — The Harpers and their Magazine — Fires — Washington's Residence, with Reminiscences — Inauguration Parade — Cherry Street— Old Residents — The Fight at Fayal — The Flag — The Swamp — Tanners and Shoemakers — The Carleton House and its Mystery — Printing House Square —The old Road— "Sun" Building— "Tribune".

Building- Tammany Hall; its Ancient and Honorable Origin, its Splendid Past, its Corruption: a Contrast — St. Tammany and the Tiger — Pictures of Ancient and Modern Tammany Leaders — Park Pickpockets, formerly protected, now run out— The Stool-pigeon Plan— Newspapers— The Modern breed of Editors — Extracts from Newspapers of early and of recent Times — Exciting Times in the Square — Recol- CONTENTS lections of Greeley — The Richardson Murder— A Modern Slave Hunt — Brick Church — St. George's Park Theater — St. Paul Building — Barnum's Museum 122 CHAPTER THREE DEVELOPMENT: FROM THE POST-OFFICE TO THE OLD CITY HALL VIA ANN STREET, HORSE AND CART STREET.

AND THE PYE WOMAN'S STREET Old Boston Road and New Broadway, and their Gibraltar — Ann Street — Horse and Cart Street — Roisterers, Churchgoers, Gamblers, Pickpockets, Poolsellers and Peddlers — Fire Laddies — A Police Mystery with a flavor of Richard Croker — A few of the Results of Reform — Restaurants various and innumerable — Mouquin's — Delmonico's Rival and its odd Characters — Theater Alley — Dolan's "Sinkers" and Hitchcock's "Beef an' " — Dennett's Busy Bees, and the Business Men's Quick Lunch, etc., etc. — Oysters — Garibaldi's — The Nassau Canyon — Memory of Mary Rogers, the beautiful Cigar Seller— Christ Church in Ann Street — Shoemaker's Pasture — Spring Garden — Bennett Building the first large Office Building— Jokers of other Days — Grandfather's Clock — Extracts from the first number of the "Herald" — Comparison With the "Herald" of To-day — Fair Street — Partition Street — North Dutch Church — Firemen's Hall — Moravian Church — Shakespeare Tavern — Seventh Regiment — The old Theaters — First Methodist Church — Mr. Reid's Testimony — Battle of Golden Hill — First Blood of the Revolution — Papodopolo — Washington Irving's Mischievous Boyhood — Work for XX CONTENTS Women— Old Memories— More old Churches— The Middle Dutch Church— A Prison for Patriots— The Graveyard— The old Bell— Aaron Burr— The Treasury— Federal Hall— The Pillory and Stocks again — Inauguration of Washing ton — Congress — Wall Street — De Peyster Garden— Trinity Church at one end, a Slave Market at the other — The first Bank — Immense Business Interests — Riots of 1834 — The great Meeting after the Assassination of Lincoln — Gar field's Inspiration— Centennial of Washington's Inaugu ration LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME ONE Frank Moss, LL.D.— Frontispiece Rev.

Chas. H. Parkhurst, D.D Map of New York in 1673 and Sky-Line of New York from Brooklyn at the Present Day 1 Ship and Woman 4 Picture of New York as seen from the Harbor in 1776, before the Burning of Trinity Church 5 Old Dutch Merchant and Modern Merchant 6 William H. Wood 7 Map of the Battery, showing Changes since 1783 14 The Gracht 16 Old Dutch Life 18 The Old Fort 22 Plan of Fort George 23 Whipping of the Schoolmaster 24 Dutchman Eating Clams 37 Theodore Roosevelt 40 Coen and Antye Embracing 44 Old Bridge and Dock at the Whitehall Slip... 53 Wooden Statue of Governor Stuy vesant on Broadway 66 Lord Cornbury 86 Government House on Site of Old Fort 100 Stone Lions on Stoop of No. 17 Broadway 104 The Battery in 1869 107 Burning of the Crystal Palace 109 New York, in the Beginning 116 View of the Lower End of Manhattan Island from the Brooklyn Shore.. 117 Old Doorway of No. 8 Pearl Street 132 Ruins of the Merchants' Exchange after the Destructive Fire of December 16 and 17, 1835 137 New York Cotton Exchange, Beaver and William Streets 141 United States Hotel, Fulton and Pearl Streets 160 Old Houses, 163 and 306 Pearl Street 163 Sitting-room of Walton House, in Pearl Street, 1840 164 Carriage Costume, and Coiffure LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Sugar Boiling 169 Deplorable Ignorance • 170 An American Methuselah 171 Comic 172 How to Insure against Railway Accidents 173 Comic 174 Washington's Residence, Franklin House 176 Present Usage, State, and Environment of the Coach of General Washington 183 Samuel C.Reid 187 The Attack on the American Privateer "General Armstrong" in the Harbor of Fayal, Azores, September 26, 1814 189 Engine Co. No. 25,1809, Tryon Row, City Hall Square 197 Sheridan shook the Foundation of the Tower of Strength of the Republican Party .-.-. •. 199 City Hall in 1822 200 First Tammany Hall 201 Second Tammany Hall 202 The Founders of Tammany 204 Present Heads of Tammany Hall 205 Tammany Kings 206 Tiger Carried on "Americus" 207 New Tammany 212 St. George's Chapel, Beekman Street 249 The St. Paul Building 253 Burning of Barnum's American Museum 257 The New York Federal Table as seen from Bunker's Hill 290 Map of New York in 1729 295 Plan of the City of New York from an Actual Survey in 1755 297 Engine No. 5, "Honey Bee" 299 Early Type of Steam Engine 301 William M. Tweed 302 An Old Time Race 303 Fire Engine Competition at Ridley's Pole 303 Old North Dutch Church 343 Shakespeare Inn, Fulton and Nassau Streets 346 First Methodist Episcopal Church, 120 William Street 351 Old Houses in William Street, between Fulton and John Streets, in 1861 . . 361 French Church, Pine Street 376 First Presbyterian Church 381 First Post-Office, 29 William Street 382 Second Post-Offlce, Garden Street (Exchange Place) 383 Fraunces1 Tavern WE The Dutch Map — " Nieuw Amsterdam onlang Nieuw Jorck genamt endi (New Amsterdam, lately called New York, ai EX.PLjA 1.

The Capsey— dividing the two rivers. The ship is the " Surri nam," 44 guns, commanded by Capt. Colve. D. Ge van gen buys. Prison house in the fort, built by Gov. Kieft. E. Gereformeede Kerck. Reformed Dutch Church, built in the fort by Gov. Kieft. 164-3. F. Governeur's House. At the northeast bastion, which was al most exactly at the corner of Bowling Green and Whitehall Street, the first post-rider started out in 167i, to go once a montn to Bos ton, Hartford, " and other places aumg the road." G. Stuyvesanfs buys. Built four years before he surrendered to the English. It stood on the west side of Whitehall Street, opposite Water Street. 2. 3. Public wharf and harbor at foot of Broad Street, built by the Burgomasters, 1658. The privi for a compensation to the Citj H. De Waigh. The weigh h. G. Te llagazyn.

Public sU Whitehall to Broad Streets. I. Heeren Gracht. Gentlemi called the Moat in Gov. Kiel when it was cleaned and tt filled up in 1676. K. Stadt huys. City Hall. Stadt herberg. City Ta' 1C42. R. 1. Rondeel. Redoubt, ne SKYLINE OF NEW YORK FROU U I0l3.r,^.c.., hernomen by de Nederlanders op den 24 Auk.. 1673." Published in Holland. i retaken by the Dutch on tho 24th August, 1673.) STA.TIOJNTS. ege os harbor and sheUter was given use. -e houses, near Stone Street, from n's CanaU, now Broad Street. It was ;'s time, and the Great Dyke in 1672. s adjoining streets paved. It was •rn, near 73 Pearl Street. Built in r Coenties Slip. L Luthersche Kerck. Lutheran Church, now Exchange PUace. 7. Smet Street. Lower end of William Street. R. 2. Rondeel. Now Oid Slip. M. Water-poort. The water gate. 111.

The Ciugle. WalU Street. O. Land-poort. The land gate. 11. Maagde-paetje. Maiden Lane. N Smidts' Vly smith's Valley. Foot of Maiden Lane and site of Fly Market. , rj. . . Q. Wintmolen. Windmill, near Broadway, between Liberty and Cortlandt streets. Y Weg no't versche water. The way to the fresh water— the way to Collect p.md: the site of the Tomh«. BROOKLYN AT THE PRESENT DAY. IN ALL ITS VARIOUS PHASES CHAPTER ONE A SMALL BEGINNING— THE OLD FORT Tolerance, the leading Characteristic of Life in New York — It grew out of the Dutch Commercial Spirit w-hich Captured the English, and still sways New York — Dutch Trading — Dutch-English Amalgamation — The old Fort: the Germ of New York's Greatness — Dutch Streets — Dutch Religion — The first Governor — The first Dominie — The tussle between Kieft and Bogardus — The Fort, the Government House, the Dominie, the Governor, all in the Bowling Green Block together — The first Schoolmaster, his Failing and his Flogging — First sale of a Lot — First Tavern — First City Hall — Dutch Activity — Burgomasters and Schepens — Coen and Antye — The Canal Habit — The Original First Citizens — First Slave Labor — First Hanging — Indian War — White Treachery — The Twelve Men and the Eight Men — First Representatives of the People — Stuyvesant the Great — More Indian War — Treaty of Peace — First City Government — The Great .

Citizens — First Thoughts of Home Rule — Captured by the English — The English Flag at Bowling Green — The English and the Dutch Worship together — The Dutch again — Ousted once more— First Native Mayor — Civil War — Execution of Governor Leisler — Corruption. Pirates, Kidd — City Hall moved to Broad Street — Wedding — Fire — Suicide — New Governor — Stamps — Dawn of Liberty — Uprising of the People — Non-importation Agreement — Tryon and Washington — Declaration of Independence — Americans seize the old Fort —Captured by the English — Evacuated — Peace — The old Fort torn down — Famous Residents — Battery Park — Castle Garden and its Noble Surroundings The swirling currents that lave the shores of Manhattan Island, flowing in every direction, are re produced in the human currents that eddy and rush through the streets of New York.

The diversities of wind and weather that bless and afflict the peopie of the Metropolis are faint illustrations of the di verse elements in the life of the City and of their contrary movements. There is a mysterious and startling lack of harmony between the constituents of the City's life. The people do not know their next-door neighbors, and are not concerned with what happens on the block next to theirs; and they bustle about their business without seeing or know ing vast sections of the City that are directly affect ing their social affairs, and indirectly touching all of their interests. The City bounds forward under a general impulse of growth, leaping along the path way of material progress with incredible speed; and yet its citizens, in large part, are indifferent to the concerns of their neighbors, and are oblivious to the advantage of mutual civic interest and popular com binations of civic effort.

Political organizers alone powerfully use the ad vantages of cooperation and coordination of popular forces for public purposes. Those who are unself ishly interested in the advancement of virtue and true prosperity have not yet learned to combine their large numbers and to pull together. Is there a single trait, characteristic of the entire City, continuous through its history and fundamen tally connected with its development? There is great philanthropy— in streaks; there is corruption — in places; there is old-time Americanism — in sections; there is Continental liberality— in spots all over; there is Pu ritanism—to match the Liberality; but the Spirit of Tolerance is New York's peculiar characteristic. This spirit operates in all affairs — business, social, religious, political — and proceeds from an unconscious but all-controlhng realization of the duty of minding our own business and letting other people mind theirs.

Tolerance was essential to the development of the commerce for which New York has always been pre eminent. It was the natural outgrowth of the com mercial spirit. Even in the strained relations arising from the "excise question," when one class of citizens parades tableaux of Liberty, in tears, surrounded by the Muses weeping because they cannot have free beer on Sunday, and another class demands that the liquor business shall be entirely extirpated — between these two extremes stands the conservative mass of citizens, who manage to see some claims on each side, to tolerate both sections of extremists, and to provide a middle course between them. This spirit of tolerance causes religious factions that have been making holy attempts to cut each other's throats on other continents, to live together, holding their religious services separately, but buying and selling, as sociating in political and other ways, and crossing the bloody line with intermarriages.

This spirit is at the bottom of the glory and the shame of New York; behind it the thieves, who have disgraced official positions, have hidden and have escaped punishment — on the plea of party necessity sometimes — and in it the great and almost unmatched benevolent enter prises of the City have reached a magnificent growth, and are stretching their heads to heights unmeasured. This trait has distinguished the City from the beginning. New York was not founded by refugees from religious persecution, nor by convicts or paupers de ported from their homes, nor by great and good men intent on securing their own form of worship and pre venting all other forms. The thrifty, trading, perti nacious Dutchmen were the first to open up the pos sibilities of Manhattan Island, and though they have long since disappeared, at least in any bodily sem blance, and with them the sugar-loaf hats, the mul tiplied petticoats and breeches, and the other para phernalia so sweetly described by "Washington Irving, yet it is true that those Dutchmen, little knowing what they did, laid the foundations of New York's prosperity, and connected themselves with all that is to come.

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