The republican court

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IKE CGKYENTTON .37

TTTk YE,VT' '^^ ^'SPEKcE .... .77

I

At lengtli tlie struggle was ended. After eight years of sanguinary and doubtful war, came peace, at last, witli independence, acknowledgecT by tbe cMef masters of tbe world. On tlie nineteentK of AprS, 1775, tLt- first blood- oi' ;Jution reddened

tlie field of Lexirij,^< 'P. : un the nineteentii 1783, proclama-

uoii was made of the treaty signed at Pari«. 'n the second of the following November, the veteran and victorious soldiers were disbanded, by order of Congress, their illustrious Chief having the previous day taken his final leave of them, invoking from their grateful country and the God of battles " ample justice here and the choicest of Heaven's favors both here and hereafter."

Eight years of desolating war, though crowned with a triumph which only the most universal and profound patriotism, guided by wisdom almost superhuman, could have accomplished, had brought m theii' train so much suffering ; to so many housejiolds mourning for fathers, brothers, husbands, sons ; and with their conclusion a poverty so general and hopeless, that there was little of that tm-- ^ bulence of joy which a more sudden and less costly victory wouldng have excited. He who, scarred and poorly clothed, laid aside h^^ ^° arms, and turning toward tlie liaunts of his cliildliood saw fielda wMcli had blossomed as the rose half obscured with a new wilderness, with perhaps a charred and silent ruin in the midst, must have felt keenly what seems now to be so commonly forgotten, the fearful price which had been paid for liberty. But then, liberty was secured, and, thankful for this, nearly every one determined to carry content with his remaining energies into a laborious private life.

On the eighteenth of November the British army retii'ed from New York, and the American troops, still in service, entered from an opposite dii^ection, General Washington and Governor Clinton riding at the head of the procession. These events caused, of course, a general joy in the city, and they were celebrated with the utmost enthusiasm. Governor Clinton gave public dinners", first to Washington and his companions in arms, and soon after to the French ambassador, tne Chevalier de la Luzerne. At the last there were present more than one hundred gentlemen, besides the Commander-in-Chief, with his general officers in the city, and the principal persons connected with the state government; and in the evening followed the most splendid display of fii-eworks, from the Bowling Green, that had ever been seen in America. The next day, the fourth of December, occurred the most sadly impressive scene in Washington's history. At noon the officers of the army assembled, according to his request, for a final parting, at Frauncis's tavern, in Broad street. We have a touching description of the scene, by an eye-witness. The Chief, with his customary punctuality, entered the room where his brave associates for so many years were assembled. His emotions were too strong to be concealed.

Fillino- a glass, he turned to^them ^nd said : " With a heart full of ■"ove and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly, ish t«hat your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and lionorable." Having drank, lie added, " I cannot come to eacli of you to take my leave, but skaU be obliged if each of you will come and take me by tke hand." General Knox, being nearest, turned to Mm. Incapable of utterance, tke Chief embraced kim, witk tears, and in tke same affectionate manner ke bade farewell to eack succeeding officer. In every eye was tke tear of dignified sensibikty, and not a word interrupted tke eloquent silence. Leaving tke room, Tkatcker continues, ke j)assed tkrougk tke corps of Ligkt Infantry, and walked to Wkitekall, wkere a barge awaited to convey kim to Paulus Hook. Tke wkole company followed in mute and solemn procession, tkeir melanckoly countenances displaying emotions wkick cannot be described. Having entered tke barge, ke turned to kis friends, wko stood uncovered upon tke skore, and waving kis kat, bade tkem a silent adieu.* •

* There are some allusions to these scenes ia an interesting letter, addressed to a friend at Albany, by one of the officers -who shared the last march of the revolutionary army. " I suppose," says the writer, " JIi-s. Denison told you the ne^vs, up to the time she left. You know all about our marching in. There has been nothing done since but rejoice, so far as general appearances go, and for my part, considering that we are finally free and independent, why, good God I what should I care for the looks of the old house — perfectly sacked, and in such a condition that if the little paper in my exchequer were turned into specie, I should not be able to give it the complexion it had when we quitted it. After all, since Henry was killed, it 's of no great consequence what we have suffered in property. K he were with me and the girls, why, we could make thing answer, in some way. Do n't suspect I think of placing these private troubles against the public good we have, and which will make up a thousand times to our children all we have lost ana endured. Every body now sees what a great character General Washington is. I have heard a good deal about the leave taking at Black Sam's. Happy as was the occasion, and prayed for as it was by him and all patriots, when he might feel that there was not an enemy in Ajnerica, it brought with it its sorrows, and I could hardly speak when I turned from taking my last look of him. It was extremely affecting. I do not think there ever were so many broken hearts in New York as there were that night. That cursed captain carried off Johnoon's girl, after ^••^ He never would think of such a thing you know. He feels down, down. I am suspicious he , -mil never be the man he was. The Cliief was told the story by General Knox, and he said he sincerely sympathized with Johnson. That is lilce him. He was always touched by every body's misforttmes. I saw him at the French minister's dinner. He looked considerably worn out, but v^ happy, though every now and then he seemed to be thinking what all this had cost, and regretting that one friend or another who had stood the fire had not lived to see the glorious end. As to

On Friday, the seventeentli of December, lie amved at Annapolis. Two years before, on bis way nortbward, be bad been received bere witb every bonor in tbe gift of tbe city, and bad deligbted tbe people by bis amenity, at a public dinner, and at a ball graced by tbe beauty and finest intelligence of tbe state. He was now met several miles from tbe capital, by Generals Gates and Smallwood, and a large concourse of distinguisbed citizens, wbo escorted bim to bis botel, amid discbarges of cannon, tbe display of banners, and every sign of popular respect and admii'ation. On Monday, a dinner was given to bim by tbe members of Congress, at wbicb more tban two bundred persons were present, and in tbe evening be attended a gi'and ball,* in tbe state-bouse, wbicb was brilliantly illuminated. In reply to a speecb by tbe Mayor, just before be retired, be remarked, " If my conduct bas merited tbe confidence of my fellow-citizens, and bas been instrumental in obtaining for my country tbe blessings of p^ace and freedom, I owe it to tbat Supreme Being wbo guides tbe bearts of all, wbo bas so signally interposed bis aid in every stage of tbe contest, and wbo bas graciously been pleased to be-

JohnsoD, he is not alone, by a vast many. These scamps could not conquer the men of this countiy, but every where they have taken the women, almost without a trial, damn them ! But as you say, it 's the girls that ought to be damned, who could not hold out against a spruce uniform, nor remember a brave heart. Well, it's their weakness. But I'm in the wrong if one of tliem who has taken a British husband does not rue it, for which, certainly, I shall not care."

The unhappy influence of " spruce uniforms," so feelingly alluded to, was no mere fancy, and the public interests were not unfrequently made to suffer as deeply as the feelings of individuals. In August, 1779, Governor Livingston wrote to his daughter Catherine, " The complaisance with which we treat the British prisoners, considering how they treat us when in captivity, of which you justly complain, is what the Congress can never answer to their constituents, however palliated with the specious name of humanity. It is thus that we shall be at last humanized out of our liberties. ... I know there are a number of flirts in Philadelphia, equally famed for their want of modesty and their want of patriotism, who will triumph in our over-complaisance to the red coat prisoners lately arrived in that metropolis. I hope none of my connections will imitate them, in the dress of their heads, or in the Tory feelings of their hearts."

* The ball was opened by General Washington and Mrs. James Macubbin, one of the most beantiful women of the time.

stow on me tlie greatest of earthly rewards, tlie approbation and affection of a free people."

One more scene, among the most sublime in human history, and not less impressive than that of his separation from his companions in arms, awaited him before his retii'ement to private life. On the twenty-thii'd of December, according to a previous order, he was admitted to a public audience by the Congress, and soon after he was seated, the President, General Mifflin, informed him that that body was prepared to receive his communications. In a brief and appropriate speech he offered his congratulations on the termination of the war, and having alluded to his object in appearing thus in that presence — that he might resign into the hands of Congress the trust committed to him, and claim the indulgence of retiring from the public service — ^he concluded : " I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them to his holy keeping. Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the theatre of action, and bidding an affectionate farewell t6 this august hody, under whose orders I have so loi*g acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of pubhc life." He then advanced and dehvered into the hands of the President his commission, with a copy of his address, and when he had resumed his place. General Mifflin replied, re^dewing in a few words the great career thus brought to a close, and saying in conclusion, " The glory of your virtues will not terminate with your military command : it will continue to animate the remotest ages. . . .

We join' with you in commending the interests of om' country to Almighty God, heseeching Him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and respectable nation. And for you, we addi'ess to Him our warmest prayers, tliat a life so beloved may be fostered with all Ms care, tliat your days may be as happy as they have been illustrious, and that he will finally give you that reward which this world cannot bestow." The editor of the Maryland Gazette, a journal which in this period was printed at Annapolis, remarks, after describing these affecting scenes : " Few tragedies ever drew so many tears, from so many beautiful eyes, as the moving manner in which his Excellency took his final leave of Congress. The next morning he set out for Virginia, accompanied, as far as South River, by Governor Paca, with the warmest wishes of the city for his repose, health, and happiness. Long may he live to enjoy them ! " He arrived at his home the same evening, having been absent more than eight years and a half, during which time he had never been at his own house, except incidentally while on his way with Count Rochambeau to Yorktown, and in returning from that expedition. Here, for a while, we leave him, surrounded by his family, receiving every day some new homage from his grateful countrymen and from the noblest men of other nations, and occupied with those rural pursuits for which he had longed so many years, that we may take a brief survey of the social condition of our principal cities after the termination of the revolution.

II

TuRiSTNG from the most credulous study of the half fabulous annals of ancient nations, to the history of our own country, for the period which is embraced in the memories of many who are still living, our reason falters iit astonishment; we instinctively regard with doubt and disbehef the unparalleled advance in population, wealth, power, and all the elements of gi'eatness, of those feeble and exhausted colonies, which in 1*783 were acknowledged to be independent states, and wliicli now constitute one of tlie first of the leading sovereignties of tlie world. Since Washington resigned his sword, at Annapolis, onr three millions of people have increased to thirty millions, and New York, with its suburbs, which since some of her present citizens arrived at the age of manhood had but thirty thousand inhabitants, is now the third city in Christendom, likely at the next decennial census to have rank nearest to London, and at no distant period to take from even that great capital her long enjoyed supremacy, in numbers, riches, and magnificence. Boston contained at the close of the war about thirteen thousand inhabitants, in IT 8 6 fourteen thousand and two hundred, and in 1789 eighteen thousand ; the population of New York had increased, when the federal government was inaugm'ated, to thirty-three thousand, of whom two thousand and three hundred were slaves ; and that of Philadelphia to forty-two thousand, of whom less than three hundred were slaves, and these probably for the most part owned by temporary residents.

In each of these three cities, and indeed throughout the colonies, there was at the commencement of the war as much refinement of manners, with as generous a culture of the heart and the understanding, as could be found perhaps in any foreign society. Many of the young men who were then coming forward had been educated at Eton, Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh ; and om' own colleges of Harvard, Yale, Nassau Hall, and "William and Mary, and King's College in New York, were far more respectable for the character and learning of their professors, the judicious thoroughness of their courses of instruction, and the gentlemanly discipline maintained in them, than is commonly supposed. Schools for young women also were very numerous, and some of them were widely known and most hberaUy supported. The most celebrated of these was the Moravian establishment at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania, where, in nun-like seclusion, were educated a large proportion of the belles who gave the fashionable circles of New York and Philadelphia their inspiration duiing the last twenty years of the century.*

In Boston there was undoubtedly more real respectability than in any other town of its population in the British empire. It was the home of the families of Winthrop, variously illustrious from the foundation of the colony, and of Gushing, Quincy, Bowdoin, Dana, Prescott, and others of hereditary distinction ; and here lived the " silver tongued orator " Samuel Cooper, and Samuel Adams, John Adams, Joseph Warren, James Otis, John Hancock, John Singleton Copley, and a great number besides who became honorably conspicuous in history. Except in letters, in which the names of Dana and Prescott have reappeared with additional splendors, Boston has never since, notwithstanding her growth in numbers, magnificence, and means and displays of refinement, presented a more remarkable array of dignified character and eminent abilities.

We have some ghmpses of the social life of Boston at the close of the war, in the entertaining memoirs of the Marquis de Chastellux, who went the round of fashionable gayeties here in 1782. He noticed the prevalence in society of a certain "ton of ease and freedom," but thought the gentlemen awkward dancers, particularly in the minuet. The women were well-dressed, but with less elegance than those of Philadelphia. The assembly room was superb, in a good style of architecture, well decorated and well lighted — much superior to that of the Philadelj^hia City Tavern. He di*auk tea

* " I have seen a remarkable institution for the education of young ladies, at Bethlehem. About one hundred and twenty of them live together under the same roof; they sleep all together, in the same garret ; I saw one hundred and twenty beds, in two long rows, in the same room ; the beds and bedclothes were all of excellent quality, and extremely neat. How should you like to live in such a nunnery?" — John Adams, to his daughter, March 17, 1777.

at Mr. Bowdoin's and was tliere witli a supper party of twenty of tlie select people of tlie city * Tlje next day, with the Marquis de Vaudreuil, lie dined at Mr. Breck's, where, among some thirty persons, he encountered Mi's. Tudor, who knew French perfectly, and was possessed of understanding, grace, and delicacy, and Mrs. Morton, who, besides speaking French, was a poetess of no mean celebrity. Soon after he attended the Tuesday evening Club, which is still in existence, at the end of more than a century from its commencement ; and calling again at Mr. Bowdoin's, his admiration was kindled at the sight of that gentleman's beautiful grand-daughter, the eldest child of Lady Temple, " an angel in the disguise of

* Francis Jean, Marquis de Cliastellux, Ktterateur, philosopher, and soldier, was born of a noble family in Paris in 1734. He was elected in 1776 one of the forty members of the French Academy, and in 1780 came to America, with the rank of Major General, xmder the Count de Rochambeau, and remained here between two and three years. He published Be la Felicite Publique, 1772; Voyage dans rAmerique Septentrionale, dans Ics annes 1780-81-82, in two volumes, which were severely criticised by Brissot de Warville ; JEssai sur V Union de la Poesie et de la Musique ; Discours sur Ics AvantagesctDesavantagcs qui resultant pour V Europe de la Decouvcrte de rAmerique ; Discours en Vers addresses aux officiers et soldats des differenfes Armecs Americaincs, traduit de 1' Anglais de David Humphreys, and some other works, besides articles in the Encyclopedie, &c. He died in 1788. It was but a short time before his death that the Marquis was married, and he wrote to Washington advising him of the happy event. The Chief answered in one of the fe\7 examples of written pleasantry we have from him. "I was," he says, "not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain American words, ' my wife.' A wife I well, my dear Marquis, I can scarcely refrain from smiling to find you caught at last. I saw by the eulogium you often made on the happiness of domestic life in America that you had swallowed the bait, and that you would as surely be taken, one day or another, as that you were a philosopher and a soldier. So your day has at length come. I am glad of it, with all my heart. It is quite good enough for you. Now you are well served for coming to fight in favor of the American rebels, all the way across the Atlantic ocean, by catching that terrible contagion, domestic felicity, which, like the small pox or the plague, a man can have only once in his life, becaiase it commonly lasts him, (at least with us in America : I know not how you manage these matters in France,) for his whole lifetime. And yet, after all, the worst wish which I can find it in my heart to make against Madame de ChasteUux and yourself is, that you may neither of you ever get the better of this same domestic felicity, during the entire course of your mortal existence. If so wonderful an event should have occasioned me, my dear Marquis, to write in a strange style, you will understand me as clearly as if I had said, what in plain English is the simple truth, ' Do me the justice to believe that I take a heartfelt interest in whatever concerns your happiness.' And, in this view, I sincerely congratulate you on your auspicious matrimom'al connection."

a young girl." "'^ M. de Chastellux discovered tliat the Americans had the bad habit of eating too frequently, and they made him play at whist, with English cards, much handsomer and dearer than were used in Paris, and marked their points -with, lo^ds d^ors. The stakes however were easy to settle, notwithstanding the addiction of the people of this country to gambling, for the company was still faithful to that voluntary law established in society which prohibited playing for money during the war.

M. Jean Pierre Brissot de Warville followed in a few years, and was not less pleased than the Marquis de Chastellux with the amiable, affable, hospitable people of Boston. Were he to paint all the estimable characters he met in that charming town, he tells us, his portraits would never be finished. The Bostonians were even then somewhat too philosophical in their religion, but they united simplicity of morals with that French politeness and delicacy of manners which rendered virtue most agreeable. They were true friends, tender husbands, almost idolatrous parents, and kind masters. The grim young republican heard in some houses the j^iano forte, and ff exclaimed, " God grant that the Boston women may never, like those j) J of Paris, acquire la maladie of perfection in the art of music, which y is not to be attained but at the expense of the domestic vii-tues ! " The " demoiselles here had the liberty enjoyed in Geneva, when morals were there, in the time of the republic ; and they did not abuse it. Their frank and tender hearts had nothmg to fear from the perfidy of men: the vows of love were believed;" and wives, to sum up all, were " occupied in rendering theii* husbands happy."

* Miss Temple, afterward Mrs. Winthrop, and the mother of the present Mr. Robert C. Winthrop, Avas brought up in Governor Bowdoin's family, and adopted by him as a daughter. With him she lived during the -whole period of the revolution, meeting at his house Franklin and Lafayette, and all the French and American officers of distinction who visited the city. Lafayette was a great admirer of hers, and called often to see her during his last visit to America. She was long the reigning belle of Boston.

III

Philadelphia, it will be perceived, was stiU the largest town in tlie country. By general consent it had been regarded as the metropolis, except while occupied by the enemy, duiing the war. The Chevalier de Beaujour, who described it a few years later, denies its claim to be considered the most beautiful city in the world, but admits that it was the most remarkable for the regularity of its streets, and the cleanHness of its houses. " It is cut," he says, " like a chess-board, at right angles. AU the streets and houses resemble each other, and nothing is so gloomy as this uniformity, unless it be the sadness of the inhabitants, the greater part of whom are of Quaker or Pmitan descent."

Society here, in the middle of the last century, was divided into two classes of families, recognized as of family rank, though family rank of very different kinds. One comprised the Logans, Shippens, Pembertons, Morrises, Wains, Lloyds (of the ancient house of Dolobran), Hills, "Wynnes, Moores, Benezets, JSTorrises, Peningtons, and a few others of Quaker antiquity, highly esteemed even beyond the circle of their sect for substantial quahties and comfortable regard for domestic ease, but bound, of course, by the essence of their faith, to an abnegation of nearly every thing that belonged to the spirit of the cavalier, and of every thing which illustrates itself in the tastes or shows of life. This was the elder part of the provincial aristocracy. Some of them or theu' ancestors had come on " The Welcome," along with William Penn himself, and whatever had been their rank at home — in many cases it was of unquestionable respectabiUty — they formed in Pennsylvania sort of " Battle Abbey EoU," and some time before the death of renn had obtained a peaceable possession from which the advent of a class more hberal, educated, and accomplished, has never dispossessed their names.

The deatli of tlie founder of Pennsylvania in IT 18, the increasing wealth and civilization of the colony, and the return of the proprietory descendants to the estahlished church, brought from England at a later date, and generally about the middle of the last century, a class of entirely different families. For the most part they were in some connection with the proprietary offices, now grown important. They were with few exceptions of the Church of England, and of liberal education — merchants trained in the honorable principles of a large commerce, lawyers who had pursued their studies at the Temple — and it may be suj^posed were recognized at home as people of liberal culture, of social refinement, and " of orthodox principles, both in church and state." Such doubtless were the Aliens, Ashetons (though this family came earlier), Lawrences, Chews, Tilghmans, Plumsteds, Hamiltons, Hackleys, lughses, Simses, Francises, Masters, Bonds, Peterses, Conynghams of Conyngham, Chancellors, and Maddoxes. These last two, of which the second is extinct in the male line, came in the beginning of the century. Certain of the Shippens, likewise, originally of Quaker affinities, had now in the third generation been so educated in England as to belong more to this class than to the former one, and several families from Scotland, who had arrived in Philadelphia about 1Y40 to 1745, are also to be reckoned in it. These all constituted a secondary formation in the colonial stratification. At a later date the men of the revolution, Bradford, McKean, Biddle, Mifflm, and many, of rank, from other states, such as Major Pierce Butler, Mr. Boudiuot, Mr. Heed, and some others, whom public affairs brought permanently to Philadelphia, were a third class, which comprised a few and only ^few of both the former classes : the Quakers having been geneimly excluded as averse to war of any kind, and many of the provincial gentry as averse to a war with Great Britain. The small number of the older classes, principally of

PEACE.

the second, wlio supported tlie war, attracted to tlieir new character more tlian the natural influence of thek former colonial standing *

IV

EiEQSTEisrT among the Enghsh families of this second class were the Willings, who for strong social connections and great weight

* Tlie following document, never before published in a form likely to be preserved, is curious and interesting. It is a copy of the original subscription list to the first city dancing assembly, held in Philadelphia in the year 1Y48. It contains a record of most of the persons then in Philadelphia belonging to the second class of which I have spoken. Some of the names, such as those of Kidd, Mackimen, Sober, Wiseheart, Polyceen, Boyle, Godons, Cottenham, Maland, and Cozzens, are, I believe, hardly now known even to antiquaries in that city. They were probably strangers or temporary residents. A few, like those of Bond, Stedmian, Franks, Inglis, and Levy, are now represented in female lines. But notwithstanding the change often made upon the structure and chances of our society by our transatlantic brethren, it will be obvious that now, at the distance of one hundred and twenty-five years from its date — a^evolution having occurred in the meantime, and a republican commonwealth having taken the place of a proprietary and royal province — many of the remaining names still subsist and are well known in the identical form on which they appear on the original subscription list, made twenty-eight years before the Deolaration of Independence.

A list of suhseribers for an AssemMy, under the direction of John Inglis, Lynford Lardnor, JohnWallace, and John Swift: Each subscription forty shillings, to he paid to any of the directors on suhscribing.

Alexander Hamilton, T. Lawrence, jr., Johtt Wallace, Phineas Bond, Charles Willing, Josopli Sbippen, Samuel McCall, jr., George McCall, Edward Jones, Samuel McCall, sen., E. Conyingham, Joseph Sims,

T. Lawrence, sen., David Mcllvaine, John Wilcocks, Charles Stesdman, John Kidd, William Bingham, Bnckridge Sims, John Swift, John Kearsley, jr., William Plumsted, Andrew Elliot, James Burd,

James Ilamilton, Eobert Mackimen, William Allen, Archibald McCall, Joseph Turner, Thomas Ilopkinson, Eichard Peters, Adam Thomson, Alexander Steadman, Patrick Baird, John Sober, David Franks,

John Inglis, E. Wiseheart, Abram Taylor, James Trotter, Samson Levy, Lynford Lardnor, Eichard Hill, jr., Benjamin Price, John Francis, William Mcllvaine, William Humphreys, William Peters,

James Polyceen, William Franklin, Henry Harrison, John Hewson, Daniel Boyle, Thomas White, John Lawrence, Thomas Godons, John Cottenham, John Maland, William Cozzens,

The above list is older than the one given by Mr. Watson, in his " Annals." That careful antiquary furnishes the following catalogue of fashioiiable " belles and dames" for the ball of the City Assembly in 1757 :