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HISTORY
OF THE
NEW YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
WITH
NOTICES
SOME OF ITS MOST DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS.
AN ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSE,
DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
NOVEMBER 21, 1848.
BY CHARLES KING.NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
FORTY-FOURTH ANNIVERSARY.
At a meeting of the New York Historical Society, held in the Chapel of the
Universty, on Thursday evening, Nov. 21, 1848, to celebrate the Forty-fourth
Anniversary of the Society—
Mr. James B. Murray offered the following Resolution, which was adopted:
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be tendered to Charles Kino,
Esquire, for the entertaining Discourse delivered by him this evening, and that
he be requested to furnish a copy for publication.
Extract from the Minutes.
ANDREW WARNER,
Recording Secretary-DISCOURSE.
Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Historical Society ;
In fulfilling the agreeable charge committed to me of
addressing this Society at its Annual Meeting, I propose to
ask its attention for the brief hour allotted to such occasions,
to a hasty sketch of the Origin, Progress and Present Con-
dition of one of the oldest Associations of our city—one
which, by its connection with many of the stirring events
and prominent men of our past history, seems to have a
natural alliance with this Society, of which one great
object is to perpetuate and elucidate all that pertains to
that history.
The Chamber of Commerce of New York, is my theme.
The date of the Association reaches far back in our young an-
nals, and is older by many years than the Republic, and the
Constitution which makes us one people.
It was instituted by voluntary agreement of the leading
merchants of this city in the year 1768. It is, therefore,
antecedent in its origin to the Revolution which emancipated
the Colonies.
It is a remarkable fact, and one significant of the method
and care which are such essential elements in the commer-
cial character, that from the day of its origin until this day,
the Records of the Chamber of Commerce have been pre-
served unbroken and unmutilated, and it is to the Books of
Minutes of the Chamber, that I am indebted for very much
of whatever may prove attractive in this address.
The period in which this Association was formed, was
one of deep interest. For several preceding years, the feel-
ings of the Colonists had been deeply roused by the preten-384
MR. KING'S DISCOURSE.
sion of the Mother Country to impose taxes upon the Col-
onies—the Stamp Act, which* was enacted early in the year
1765, had excited the spirit of a people habituated to
consider representation as the counterpart of taxation, and
who not being represented in the British Parliament, would
not consent to be taxed by it.
New York took the lead in opposition, and among the
persons prominent in that opposition, were several distin-
guished merchants, whom we shall soon meet with as among
the founders and officers of the Chamber of Commerce.
The Stamp Act was to take effect on Nov. 1, 1765. But
previous to that day, the first Congress of the American
Colonies was assembled in this city, on the 7th October,
44 in opposition,” as the journal of the proceedings has it,44 to
the tyrannical acts of the British Parliament.”
It concerns not a little the honor of New York, and essen-
tially the renown of the Chamber of Commerce, that the
moving spirits who prompted the assembling of this Con-
gress should be identified. It stands as the record of history
that the first Congress of the American Colonies—a Con-
gress not unaptly characterized as the Egg of the Republic,
ovum Republics, was assembled on the recommendation of
the Legislature of Massachusetts, and literally this is true.
But antecedent to this recommendation, which bears date
June, 1765, a Corresponding Committee of the New York
Assembly, appointed in October, 1764, had made the pro-
posal for holding a Congress of Delegates, and upon their
application the project was agitated in different Legisla-
tures. Although, therefore, the final action took place upon
the explicit recommendation of the Massachusetts Legisla-
ture, that recommendation was influenced and hastened, if
not determined, by the New York Committee of Correspon-
dence. Who composed that Committee, and what relation
its members bear to the subject now to be treated, will
appear in the sequel.
The first measure of the Congress of ’65 was a Declaration
of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonies, a paper assert-
ing for the Colonists all the rights and liberties of subjects
born within the kingdom of Great Britain; among which
are the exclusive power to tax themselves, and the privileges
of a trial by jury.
At this time Lieut. Governor Colden exercised the func-
tions of Governor, and made himself exceedingly obnoxious
to the people of New York by his determination to enforce
the Stamp Act. The stamps had arrived in a? merchantMR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
385
ship ; but finding the exasperation so great, they were trans-
ferred from it to one of the ships of war in the harbor, and
subsequently for safe keeping to the Governor’s house with-
in the fort, which was a place of some strength, and under
the guns moreover of the ships of war.
On the 31st October, (Congress then sitting,) the merchants
had a meeting, and resolved not to import goods from Eng-
land. This decisive step—first taken by the New York
merchants—was followed elsewhere, and led to a general
non-intercourse. The next evening a large concourse of
people assembled in the fields, where the Park now is, and
hung the Lieut. Governor in effigy, while another party
broke open the carriage house of the Governor, under the
muzzle of the guns of the fort, drew forth his carriage, and,
tearing up the wooden palings which surrounded the Bow-
ling Green, made a bonfire of them, into which was thrust
the carriage with another effigy of the Lt. Governor seated
in it to be consumed. It is certainly to be taken as a proof
of the unwillingness of Gov. Colden to resort to harsh mea-
sures, that these popular excesses were permitted to be
consummated under the guns of Fort George, where was a
garrison amply sufficient to sweep the rioters from the
streets.
These and other demonstrations, however, were decisive.
The Governor consented to give up the obnoxious stamps,
and on the 5th November, the Common Council, through
their Mayor, John Cruger, received from the Governor all
the packages of stamps sent out from England—and thus
the people triumphed.
Early in the next year, 1766, the Stamp Act was re-
pealed, under the influence of the first Pitt, (afterward Earl
of Chatham,) and the joy diffused in America by that event
caused the people to overlook for a time the declaratory
act accompanying the repeal, which asserted the right and
power of the Imperial Parliament to bind the Colonies in
all cases whatsoever.
The delight of the people of New York with the repeal
of the Stamp Act was excessive. On 23d June, 1766, the
Legislature of the Colony voted that ah Equestrian Statue
be erected in the Bowling Green to George III., to perpet-
uate to the latest posterity the deep sense had of his good-
ness. On the motion of John Cruger, a delegate from the
City, and acting under the instructions of his constituents,
an appropriation was also made for a statue of Chatham,
which was placed in Wall street, at the junction of Wil-386
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
liam street, on 7th September, 1770. On the south side of
the pedestal was this inscription :
“ This statue of the Right Honorable WILLIAM PITT,
Earl of Chatham, was erected as a public testimony of the
grateful sense the Colony of New York retains of the many
eminent services he rendered to America, particularly in
promoting the repeal of the Stamp Act,” A. D. 1770.”
Neither the statues nor the gratitude of those who erected
them, outlived the generation that voted them. The mar-
ble statue of Pitt was tumbled from its pedestal, the head
was broken from the body, and the mutilated trunk had,
until within a few years, been thrown among the rubbish
of the public yard of the Corporation.
The statue of King George, being of lead, served a better
turn. It was broken into pieces during the Revolutionary
war, sent up to Connecticut, where, in the family of the
late Oliver Wolcott, the ladies assisting, the metal was run
into bullets to be used against the troops of the same King
George.
Eighty-one years ago commenced the existence of the
Chamber of Commerce. There are yet living some few—
very few—who were in being with the men that founded
this Association; there survive very many of the relatives
and descendants of those founders, and for all it will be a
natural desire to know who were the merchants of that
distant day, that gave form and vitality to a Corporation
which has exercised at different times no small influence,
not only upon the mercantile character and prosperity of
this City, but upon the political destinies of the nation. In
deference to such feeling, the annexed extract from the
first book of Minutes, is presented, setting forth the names
of the founders, the objects proposed to be accomplished,
and the rules for the government of the Chamber:
“ Whereas, mercantile societies have been found very
useful in trading cities, for promoting and encouraging
Commerce, supporting Industry, adjusting disputes relative
to trade and navigation, and procuring such laws and regu-
lations as may be found necessary for the benefit of trade
in general.”
For which purpose, and to establish such a society in the
City of New York, the following persons convened on the
first Tuesday in, and being the 5th day of, April, 1758:
John Cruger,	Thomas White,
Elias Desbrosses,	Miles Sherbrook,MR- KING’S DISCOURSE,
387
James Jancey,
Jacob Walton,
Robert Murray,
Hugh Wallace,
George Folliot,
Wm. Walton,
Samuel Verplanck,
Theophilact Bache,
Walter Franklin
Rob. Ross Waddle,
Acheson Thompson,
Lawrence Kortright,
Thomas Randel,
Wm. Me Adam,
Isaac Low,
Anthony Van Dam,
who agreed that the said Society of Merchants should con*
sist of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary,
and such merchants as already are, or hereafter may be-
come members thereof, to be called and known by the name
of The New York Chamber of Commerce. The members
present unanimously chose the following officers for this
year, to commence the first Tuesday of May next: John
Cruger, President; Hugh Wallace, Vice President; Elias
Desbrosses, Treasurer; Anthony Yan Dam, Secretary.
The Society then proceeded to adopt their rules, which,
in substance, were:
1.	Society to meet the first Tuesday in every month for
the transaction of business, and to establish such rules for
the order and good government of the Society as they may
think proper and find necessary.
2.	On the first Tuesday of May, August, November and
February, a quarterly meeting to be held, when all accounts
are to be settled and new members be balloted for.
3.	Officers to be chosen annually by ballot on first Tues-
day of May, and to hold one year. Admission fee of mem-
bers five Spanish dollars, and quarterly payment of one
dollar. Members to be bound to comply with the rules and
regulations of the Society, of which entry is to be made in
books kept for the purpose, on pain of being stricken from
the list of members.
4.	Candidates for admission to give their names to the
President on the first day of the month preceding a quarterly
meeting, the decision to be by bollot, three nays exclude.
A person thus excluded cannot be re-nominated during the
term of the President under whom he was excluded, but
may be presented afterward. A person three times rejected
never to be admitted.
5.	Room for meeting to be provided by the Treasurer at
the cost of the members, so that the cost do not. exceed one
shilling for each.
6.	The Treasurer to provide a strong chest wherein to
SECOND SERIES, VOL. II.	35MR* KING’S DISCOURSE.
deposit their cash, books and paper, with three different
good locks, the key of one to be kept by the President, ano-
ther by the Treasurer, and the third by the Secretary; the
chest, for the present, to be kept by the Treasurer.
7.	Twenty-one members to be a quorum, for business, of
whom the President or Vice-President always to be one.
8.	President to appoint place of meeting. Nothing to be
done without him, and he to sign the Treasurers accounts,
and generally superintend the affairs of the Society.
9.	The Vice President, in the absence of the President,
to have all his power, keep his key, &c.
10 and 11 regulate the duties of the Treasurer and Se-
cretary.
12.	Exacts a fine of two shillings for non-attendance at
monthly meetings, and four for non-attendance at the quar-
terly meetings, unless disabled by sickness or absence from
the City at a greater distance than six miles.
13.	Authorises the President to appoint a Doorkeeper.
14.	No new regulations to be made except when pro-
posed at a preceding meeting.
15.	President, or in his absence the Vice President, may,
bn any emergency, call the Chamber together; the hour of
meeting to be always six P. M.
The following gentlemen, members of the Society, not
being present at the meeting, assented to these rules:
John Alsop,	Henry White,
Philip Livingston,	James McEvers.
From this day forward the meetings appear to have been
punctually attended. The minutes are carefully written
up, and they uniformly record, not only the names of the
members present, but those of the absentees, with the cause
of absence; as, for instance, on 3d May, ’68, we find this
entry of absentees:
John Cruger, President, not well.
Wm. Walton, Jr., in Connecticut.
Wm. Me Ad am, in the Gout (so recorded.)
James McEvers, not well.
Phil. Livingston,
It was also resolved on that day that the meetings be
held at Bolton and Sigel’s^-of which spot I have not been
able to find a trace.
At the monthly meeting in June, in order to insure punc-
tuality to the hour of meeting, it was determined that aMR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
369
fine of one shilling be paid by each absentee at the hour of
meeting, 6, and the subsequent minutes record regularly
the names of those thus fined, as well as the names of
absentees.	>
The Chamber already began to occupy itself with subjects
of large bearing and general concern. A depreciated cur-
rency was at that period one of the evils of the times, and
as each Colony issued its own currency, confusion and dis-
credit ensued.
The paper currency of Pennsylvania seems to have been
particularly objectionable, and a resolution for discouraging
its passing in the Colony of New York was only lost by
three votes on the 5th July, and subsequently it was referred
for consideration whether some method should not be fallen
upon “ to establish a paper currency in this city.”
At the same meeting another quite as questionable a pro-
position was submitted for regulating the price of flour and
bread casks. This was, however, so much in harmony with
the interests, as was believed, of consumers, and so entirely,
as seems to have been assumed, within the competency of
the Chamber to control, that at the August meeting “ it
was unanimously agreed, that from and after the 15th inst.
no member of this Society will give more than 255 6d per
ton for flour and bread casks, including nailing.” The mil-
lers and flour dealers having refused compliance with the
terms of this resolution, it was at the October meeting de-
cided by the Chamber to send Mr. Wm. Neilson to Phila-
delphia, there to purchase from 1,500 to 2,000 barrels of
flour to be shipped to New York. Members to be supplied
with what they need, and the balance to be sold.
At the next meeting, in November, it was ordered that
each member pay £50 to Mr. Lewis Pintard, who went to
Philadelphia in lieu of Mr. Neilson, toward the purchase of
flour—the same to be replaced to him out of the sales of
flour, the profit or loss to be rateably shared. This vigor-
ous proceeding brought the flour dealers and bakers to terms;
a deputation from them attended the Chamber, and after
vainly endeavoring to induce that body to reconsider their
resolution, and agree to the prices of 285 instead of 25s 6rf,
the maximum named by the Chamber, the flour dealers gave
in, and agreed to charge no more than 25s 6d.
The cargo of flour from Philadelphia was nevertheless
imported and sold by order of the Chamber, by Mr. Van
Dam, their Secretary, who was allowed 2j per cent, com-
missions.390
MR. KINGS DISCOURSE.
The subject of damages on Protested Bills of Exchange,
received early attention.
On 1st November, a Committee consisting of Hugh Wal-
lace, Samuel Verplanck, Isaac Low, Jacob Walton, and
John Moore, to whom had been referred the question as to
damages on Inland and West India Bills, reported, that for
Inland Bills, 5 per cent., and for Bills on or from the West
Indies, 10 per cent, damages be paid.
The Chamber adopted the Report, and resolved that its
members would be governed thereby, and that the “ full
amount of the bill with the stipulated damages in full
for reexchange, cost of protest, postage, &c. “ is due
and payable immediately on the return of the bill with
protest.”
It was referred to the same committee to enquire and re-
port at the next meeting, as to whether the 20 per cent.
“ now generally paid” on protested bills on Europe, be “ in
full compensation lor damages, cost of protests, postage,”
&c., and whether to be received in money by the holders of
the protested bill at the Exchange, current when it shall be
returned, or in a bill of exchange with the damage added.
At the December meeting, this committee reported that
20 per cent, ought to be paid on European bills, in full
for all damages, reexchanges, cost of protest, postage, &c.,
and that all European bills returned protested, ought to be
paid immediately on return of said bill with proper protest,
together with the 20 per cent, damages, in money, at the
current Exchange in New York, without regard to the Ex-
change at which said bill was bought or sold.
The Chamber unanimously adopted that Report.
The subject of Inspection Laws early attracted the notice
of the Chamber, and at the December meeting a Report
from a Committee was adopted, recommending that appli-
cation be made to the Legislature, for the appointment of a
single Inspector of Flour, and a single Inspector of Ashes,
with power to each to name his own deputies, as much
more likely to attain the object of all inspection laws, a
unilorm and reliable standard, that under the system then
existing, of appointing several Inspectors, between whom,
as was well said in the Report, the competition necessarily
was,44 not who shall inspect the best flour, but who shall
suffer the worst to pass inspection.” As regarded pot and
pearl ashes, it was recommended that they be divided into
three classes, 1st, 2d and 3d quality, and that both flour and
ashes bear on the cask the brand of the manufacturer’s
name, and his county, over and above the Inspector’s brand*MR. KING S DISCOURSE.
891
It is alleged among the reasons for the severer inspection
of flour, that “ the wheat brought to this market from Jersey
and Maryland is as good, and the wheat from the North
River in particular, much better than any carried to Phila-
delphia/’ and therefore, that any inferiority of New’ York to
Philadelphia flour “ must be ascribed to defect in the manu-
facture and the present mode of inspection.”
In 1769 the Chamber, by permission of the Mayor and
Corporation, began to hold their meetings in the room over
the Exchange, the Chamber to occupy it one year free of
rent, they undertaking to furnish the room, and after that to
pay an annual rent of £20. The Exchange here referred
to was built on arches across the foot of Broad street, in
a line writh Water street. Under these arches itinerant
preachers occasionally held forth. This building was taken
down after the Revolution.*
At the April meeting in ?69, we find the Chamber occupy-
ing itself wuih regulating the tare on butter and lard firkins,
and the quantity that shall constitute a ton of goods. But
the period had arrived when political agitation and political
action were to find scope in the Chamber of Commerce.
The Stamp Act had aroused the spirit of the Colonies,
which resolutely refused to submit to taxation by Parlia-
ment when they had no representatives.
The first Congress of the American Colonies assembled
in New York on 9th October, ’65, as has been already
stated. New Hampshire alone, of all the Colonies, de-
clined sending Deputies to this Congress. None attended
from Virginia or North Carolina, because the Legislatures
of those Colonies were not in session when the circular from
the Massachusetts Legislature was addressed to the other
Colonies. All the others -were represented.
The Delegates to this Congress from the State of New
York were Robert R. Livingston, John Cruger,Phil. Living-
ston, Wm. Bayard and Leonard Lispenard—of whom, all
but R. R. Livingston were at the time, or afterwards became,
members of the Chamber of Commerce.
In proportion, therefore to the influence exercised by this
Congress upon subsequent events, and upon the fortunes
and liberties of America, may honor be claimed for the
Chamber of Commerce, which furnished four out of the
five Delegates from the State of New York, in that Con-
gress.
* Watson’s Annals, p. 72, Ancient Edifices.302
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE,
Of its acts, mention has already been made. In the course
of the year ’69, Parliament passed an act imposing duties
on tea, paper, glass, &c., professedly for revenue, and not
with a view to regulate Commerce.
The Colonies resisted this act as they had resisted the
Stamp Act, and upon the same ground. As the most effec-
tual mode of defeating this new scheme of taxation, associa-
tions were immediately entered into by Boston, New Yorkr
and Philadelphia, for the non-importatiori of goods from
Great Britain; and in the course of this and the ensuing
year, like associations were formed in all the Colonies, and
the popular feeling every where gave effect to the measures.
The Assembly of the Colony of New York partook of and
approved this popular feeling, for we find in the min-
utes of May 2, 1769, the following entry:
“ The President reported that the Honorable the House of
Assembly, had directed him to signify their thanks to the
Merchants of this City and Colony, for their patriotic con-
duct in declining the importation of goods from Great
Britain at this juncture—and until the acts of Parliament,
which the Assembly had declared unconstitutional and sub-
versive of the rights and liberties of the people of this Colo-
ny, should be repealed.”
A committee consisting of Messrs. Desbrosses,. Alsop,
Low, Kortright, McAdam and W. Franklin, was named to
report an answer to the Assembly, which was done at the
same sitting.
it so happened that on this occasion the President of the
Chamber of Commerce, John Cruger, was also Speaker of
the Assembly, and this explains the form in which the
thanks of that body were conveyed to the Chamber.
Mr. Cruger, who was the first President of the Chamber,
and served two years, was conspicuous both as a politician
and a merchant. He was born in this city, in July, 1710—
the son of John Cruger and Maria Cuyler. The father was
Alderman of Dock (now First) Ward for twenty-two years,
and subsequently served five years as Mayor of the city, and
died in that office in 1744. The son, John, of whom we are
treating, followed in the footsteps of his father—served as
Alderman of Dock Ward for two years, and in 1755 became
Mayor of the city, and continued in that office ten years—>
being still Mayor when, in 1765, he was chosen Speaker of
the Assembly, as above stated.
While thus doubly honored as Speaker of the Assembly
of the Colony, and Chief Magistrate of the city of NewMR. KIND’S DISCOURSE.
393
York, he was also constituted, as we have seen, Delegate
to the first Congress; and it is of record that he and Robt.
R. Livingston were the moving spirits of that delegation.
The same individuals had constituted the Committee of
Correspondence appointed by the New York Assembly in
’64, to whose suggestions we have ascribed the determina-
tion of Massachusetts to invite the assembling of the Con-
gress of’64. To the pen of John Cruger, is due the “ De-
claration of Rights and Grievances of the Colonies” put
forth by that Congress; and it is clear, from the circumstance
of his constant reelection as Speaker of the Assembly, that
he enjoyed the highest favor among his countrymen. His
name does not appear on the records of the Chamber after
May, 1775—whence it would seem to follow that he left
the city when it fell into the hands of the British. He died
in 1792, unmarried. His brother, Henry Cruger, was father
of Col. Cruger, of the British service, Henry Cruger the
colleague of Burke in the British Parliament, and Nicholas
Cruger an eminent West India merchant of this city, and
under whose auspices the boy Alexander Hamilton came
hither from Santa Cruz.
To return to the Chamber. At the meeting in May, ’GO,
a resolution was passed, which, if it had been duly carried
out, might have led to a record of commercial cases, and
the decisions thereon by the Arbitration Committee, which
would now constitute a body of commercial law and usages
of great value.
It was decided that “ all committees do report at the next
ensuing sitting of the Chamber such differences between
parties as they may have adjusted, with the names of par-*
ties and the sums awarded, together with the opinions—to
the end that the same be entered on the minutes—always
provided both parties consent thereto.”
Another proposition was adopted at this meeting, that
•the Chamber have an annual public dinner—absentees'
therefrom to pay five shillings each.
Both these usages have fallen into disuse—both might be
advantageously and agreeably revived.
ihe Chamber was occupied with regulating the rates of
commission .for transacting different sorts of business, the'
value of gold and silver coins, &c. &c.
The minutes of 7th Nov. present a reply by David Rit-
tenhouse and John Montresor to a request by Mr. President
Cruger that they would calculate the latitude of the Battery
—which they make out 40a 42' 8".394
mr. king’s Discourse.
On 15th Feb. 1770, the Chamber, through their President,
addressed a memorial to the acting Governor, C. D. Colden,
for an act of incorporation.
At the April meeting, the Charter granted by the Lieu-
tenant Governor, was received, read, and accepted. The
Chamber ordered that 20 guineas be paid to the Attorney-
General “ for his services in perfecting the Charter.”
Under this Charter the first election for officers, held Jon
the first Tuesday (2d) of May, resulted thus:
Hon. Hugh Wallace, President*
Hon. Henry White, Eltas Desbrosses, Vice-Pres.
A. Van Dam, Secretary, Theoph. Bache, Treasurer.
The great trouble of the time was a depreciated and
irregular Paper Currency, and the circulation of various
foreign gold and silver coins, which were clipped, sweated,
and otherwise diminished in value. To meet this in part,
in Aug., ’70, it was, on motion of Mr. Isaac Low, resolved
that the members of this Corporation would henceforth pay
and receive the half-Johannes weighing 9 dwts. at £3 4s.,
and for every grain over-running they would pay three
pence, and for every grain short they would deduct 4
pence.
John Cruger dissented from this resolve as one tending
to impair the value of the currency, and claimed to have
his dissent entered on the minutes, which was done.
A curious and rather inconvenient practice obtained at
this time of entering upon the minutes the reasoning of
members in favor of any proposition made by them. Thus
on the minutes for Nov. ’70, there is a long argument by I
Low, in favor of a plan he suggests for improving the
quality of the New York Flour, ‘‘the grand staple of this
Colony.” He ascribes the superiority of the Philadelphia
flour to its being ground with French burr stones, which
the New York millers did not use, and therefore he desired
that the Chamber should import ten or twenty pair of
French burr stones, to be sold at cost only to New York
millers. It being ascertained soon after that there were
some on the way, on private account, the suggestion was<
not pressed, but the argument stands on the records. Lord
Dunmore having arrived in New York, as Governor,, in
December, ’70, the Chamber of Commerce, through* theiVMR. KING S DISCOURSE.
395
President, made an address of congratulation to him full of
expressions of loyalty to the sovereign, George III.
On the proposal of Wm. Walton, the Chamber voted, in
May,’71, that Lieut. Gov. Colden be asked to sit for his
portrait for the Chamber, to be hung up in its room, in
token of their gratitude for the Charter of incorporation
granted by him.
At the annual dinner this year, as Lord Dunmore, with
all the chiefs of the departments, was to dine with the
Chamber, absent members were required to pay eight shil-
lings apiece toward the cost of the entertainment.
Of Hugh Wallace, the second President of the Chamber,
we have not been able to gather much information. Two
bi others, of Irish origin, Hugh and Alexander, were in part-
nership as merchants—Loth married sisters of Nicholas
Low* of this city, and both embraced the English cause
when the Revolution broke out—remained in the city while
it was in the possession of the British troops, and retired
with them from the country.
The successor of Hugh Wallace in the Presidency was
Elias Desbrosses, in 1771, who served one year. He was
of Huguenot descent—amassed a very large estate—and
died in the city, bequeathing his wealth to his daughters, the
one of whom married John Hunter, of West Chester, and
the other Capt. Overing, of the British Armjr, but who re-
sided until his death in this city.
Mr. Desbrosses was Alderman of the East Ward for ma-
ny years, and one of the founders and liberal benefactors
of the French Episcopal Church of St. Esprit, in this city—
the original edifice standing in Pine street—and a liberal
contributor towards the support of its Charity School. He
was a Vestryman of Trinity Church from 1759 to ’70, arid
Warden from ’70 to 78.
While Mr. Desbrosses was President of the Chamber*
Governor Try on arrived as the successor of Lord Dunmore,
who was transferred to Virginia—-and the most lavish ex-
pressions of loyalty were addressed on the part of the
Chamber to the new Governor.
In May, ’72, Hon. Henry White was chosen President.
This title of Honorable, as applied to members of the Cor-
poration was derived from their being members of the Gov-
ernor’s Council. Capt. Isaac Sears, withdrew from the
Association in August, ’71, because of the resolution adopted
at a previous meeting fixing the rate at which Jersey paper
money should be received and paid by members of the
SECOND SERIES, VOL. ll.	36396
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
Chamber. In October following, thirteen other members
of the Chamber, Roosevelt, Duyckinck, Hoffman, Beekman,
Gouverneur, Lispenard, and others, withdrew from the
Chamber for the same cause.
In 1773, the House of Assembly granted to the Corpora-
tion £200 per annum for five years, in order to the en-
couraging of a better supply of fish to the New York
Markets.
The Chamber accordingly offered a first and second
premium, varying from £40 to £45, for the boat or vessel
that should in a given time supply the market with the
largest quantity of codfish, sheepshead, mackerel, or any
other fish except skate and ray.
In May, ’73, Theophilact Bache was chosen President.
In the following month a most affectionate and eulogistic
address was presented by the Chamber to General Gage,
Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty’s forces in North Ameri-
ca, on occasion of his return to England. The address runs
thus:
“ May it please your Excellency—
“ When we review your conduct as Commander-in-Chief
of His Majesty’s forces, and reflect on the happiness derived
to this Colony from your eminent justice, from the discipline
and good order of the army, and your constant attention to
secure to North America the solid effects of a series of vic-
tories so glorious to the British arms; when to these we
unite your engaging manners and polite and obliging de-
portment, we feel, in common with the rest of our citizens,
the liveliest sentiments of esteem and respect for a charac-
ter so truly valuable.
“We are persuaded, Sir, that as you take with you the
deserved applause of the Colonies, and the cordial affection
of the inhabitants of this city, long honored by your imme-
diate residence, so your zeal and fidelity in the discharge of
a trust the most important, will recommend you to the fa-
vor and approbation of our most gracious Sovereign.”
General Gage replied in terms not less cordial. aI have,”
said he, “ lived long among you, and happily with you and
your fellow-citizens. It is natural I should leave you with
regret and concern, and I beg you to believe that I carry
with me sentiments the most friendly to the Colonies in
general, and the warmest wishes for the prosperity and
happiness of the inhabitants of New York.”
This was in June, 1773, only three years before the De-
claration of Independence; less than two years before, theMR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
397
battle of Lexington, which opened the war of the Revolu-
tion, and only fifteen months before the meeting of the Con-
gress of ’74, which assembled in September of that year in
Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia, in which Hall, in July, ’76,
was signed and proclaimed the Declaration of Indepen-
dence.
These reminiscences derive the more point, in this con-
nection, from the fact that Gen. Gage was, in ’74, sent put
to Massachusetts as Governor of that Colony, after the
withdrawal of the odious Hutchinson, and that it was un-
der his orders that the detachment of troops which brought
on the conflict at Lexington, was sent from Boston to des-
troy certain military stores at Concord.
In January, ’74, the Chamber was obliged to recede from
the ground it had taken on the subject of the paper money
of New Jersey, which must have been the principal circu-
lating medium of the city at that time. In consequence of
the resolution of the Chamber, that its members would nei-
ther receive nor deal in it, at the current rate, the resigna-
tions of members were so numerous, in order to avoid the
obligation of this resolve, and the attendance of others so
negligent, that no quorum could be formed. On motion,
therefore, of R. C. Livingston, it was resolved, “ that the
members of the Chamber be at liberty to receive and pay
Jersey money as it formerly passed,” and then, on motion of
Mr. Charles McEvers, all the members, who had resigned
on account of the question, were invited to present them-
selves anew to be balloted for as members.
In May, ’74, William Walton was chosen President, and
on the same day an address was voted to Governor Tryon,
on his return to England—not less affectionate, eulogistic
or loyal than that to General Gage—and Gov. Tryon’s re-
ply is equally full of professions of interest for the Colony,
with that of general Gage.
Of the three last-named Presidents, let us pause to present
brief sketches.
Hon. W. White was a member of the Governor’s Coun-
cil, an Englishman by birth, and largely engaged in trade.
He was faithful to his allegiance, and sided with the Mo-
ther Country against the Colonies. There are descendants
of his of the third generation now living among us, main-
taining, as he always maintained, an upright and honora-
ble character.
Theophilact Bache, who was chosen President in 1773,
was also of English birth, a native of Lancashire. He398
MR. KING?S DISCOURSE.
came to this country about 1755, being just of age, and soon
after married Miss Barclay. His mercantile pursuits were
chiefly with the West Indies and Newfoundland. He was
also agent of the British packets, which used to ply between
Falmouth and New York. He is remembered as a fine
specimen of a gentleman—courteous, hospitable, with a
touch of the sportsman, loving his gun and his dog, and
everywhere acceptable as a polished and agreeable com^
panion. He died in this city in 1806, after being for a
third of a century one of the Yestry of Trinity Church.
Wm. Walton, who was chosen President of the Chamber
in May, 1774, was a native of this city, as is believed, son
of Jacob Walton and Mary Beekman, his wife. He was
extensively engaged im commerce as a partner in the house
of Wm. Walton & Co., of which his uncle, Wm. Walton,
commonly called Boss Walton, was the head, until his death
in 1768. Wm. Walton, in 1757, married Mary, the daugh-
ter of Jas. Delancey, some time Chief Justice and Lieut,
Governor of the Province, and acting Governor in 1753,
and again from 1757 to 1760. His career as a merchant
was prosperous and honorable, and his social position was
among the most respected in the land. He was, in com-
mon with almost all the leading men of the day, opposed to
the invasion of the Colonial rights by the Government of
the Parent Country, and shared in the measures first adopt-
ed for a peaceful and Constitutional redress, but in common,
too, with a great many of the foremost of his fellow-citi-
zens. he could not approve of the armed resistance to the
royal authority ; and when actual war broke out, he re-
tired from the city to his country residence in New Jersey.
There, however, he was unable to remain, and re-entered
the city, then under British rule, thereby subjecting to con-
fiscation his Jersey estate. He remained within the lines
during the war—and it is recorded of him that, unsoured
by the loss of property confiscated because he could not
side with what he looked upon as rebellion—and only mind-
ful that he was born an American, he exerted himself to
alleviate the horrors to which his countrymen, prisoners to
the British in New York, were subjected. He continued to
reside in New York, though no longer engaged in business,
till his death in 1796—leaving behind him a good name
and many regrets. Among his children was Jacob, who
entered the British Navy, and is well remembered, doubtless,
joy many who hear me, as a resident during the latter pe-?MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
399
Tiod of his life in this city, where he died in 1844—having
attained the rank of Rear Admiral of the Red.
The Chamber of Commerce had offered, as we have
stated, a bounty or premiums for bringing fish to the New
York market. This was awarded in July, 1774—Peter
Parks receiving £30, for having brought 800 live Cod to
market for six months from 1st Nov. to 1st May, and Ro-
bert Hartshorne £20, for having brought 456 sheepshead to
market during the year from May, 1773, to May, 1774.
From July, 1774, to May, 1775, no quorum seems to have
been formed; the minutes record the names of the few
who, on the stated monthly day of meeting, appeared—but
no business was transacted until the annual meeting, 3d of
May, 1775, when the officers were to be chosen.
Isaac Low was elected President, and John Alsop and
Wm. McAdam, Vice Presidents; Charles McEvers, Trea-
surer, and A. Van Dam, Secretary; but from that day until
June, 1779, the Chamber was never assembled.
On Monday, 21st June, 1779, the President, Isaac Low,
<at the request of many members, summoned a meeting of
the Chamber, and the following persons appeared :
A. Van Dam, Secretary,	Wm. McAdam, Vice President.
The meeting addressed a letter, signed by all the above,
to the Commandant of the city, Lieut. Governor Daniel
Jones, Esq., thus explaining the objects of their assembling:
“We beg leave to inform your Excellency that the sub-
scribers are members of a society known by the style and
title of the Chamber of Commerce, which before the pre-
sent unnatural rebellion, assembled under certain regula-
tions,” &c. &c.
The immediate motive for re-assembling is in the same
letter stated to be—
“ The increase of Commerce encouraged by the procla-
ISAAC LOW, President.
Wm. Walton,
Isaac Corsa,
Robert Murray,
Jno. Moore.
Wm. Laight,
Thos. Buchanan,
Wm. Seton,
Thomas Miller,
Edward Laight,
Hugh Wallace,
Gabriel H. Ludlow,
William Stepple,
Henry White,
Benj. Booth,
Alexander Wallace,
Robt. R. Waddel,
Richard Yates,
Gerard Walton,
Augustus V an Horne,
Lawrence Kortright.400	MR. king’s DISCOURSE.
mations of H. M. S. Commissioner, together with the suc-
cess of private ships of war.”
The Lieut. Governor approved very highly of the re-as-
sembling of the Chamber, and at a special meeting 12th
July, the Superintendent of the City, at the request of Ma-
jor General Patterson, asked the cooperation of the Cham-
ber in some efficient scheme, for cleansing the city and
keeping it clean, adding that the barracks, military hospi-
tal and other public buildings should be subjected to any
plan agreed upon. The Chamber was also asked to ex-
press its opinion as to the expediency of regulating the
price of butcher’s meat, and the markets generally. The
Chamber, through a Committee, made a very sensible reply.
It may not be without interest even now to hear what
they said.
After complimenting the Commandant on the readiness
evinced by him to cooperate in remedying a state of things
complained of by every one, the Chamber says :—“Although
the business does not come within the proper sphere of the
Chamber of Commerce, as not appertaining to trade, they
very cheerfully accept the task.”
They recommended therefor no new plan of cleaning
the streets, but simply the due execution of that formerly
in practice—under which, they say, “ the city was once as
remarkable for its cleanliness, as it is now for the contrary.”
What the plan was, is not stated, but briefly that the
Corporation ordinances concerning it, only need to be re-
vived and enforced, and made applicable, where, heretofore,
the military authorities had refused—“ to the barracks, mi-
litary hospital, &c.” Very different,” says the report, “ has
been the former practice relative to these public buildings,
for notwithstanding repeated remonstrances, it seemed to
be the opinion that nothing further was necessary than to
throw the straw and dirt into the middle of the street, and
leave it to the inhabitants or scavengers to remove it, in
any way they pleased.”
To a proposition that scavengers be employed, whose
remuneration should be chiefly from an exclusive right to
remove the dirt, &c., from the streets, for their own use
and profit—it is said in the report that objection was made
by some person in power “ that it would interfere writh the
common right of mankind, because every person wTho
pleased had a right to take dirt out of the streets, an hy-
pothesis,” fitly adds the Report, “ in our idea founded nei-
ther in reason nor in fact.”MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
401
As to regulating the price of butcher s meat," experience/’
says the Report, “justifies our apprehension that the reme-
dy may prove worse than the disease.” It is suggested,
however, as likely to induce to good results—that the time
of keeping open markets be limited, and that between the
months of April and October no meats, vegetables or poul-
try be exposed for sale after 10 o’clock, A. M., and not dur-
ing the remainder of the year after 11 o’clock, A. M., (Sa-
turday evenings always excepted.) And further, that no
fresh provisions, (fish excepted,) vegetables or poultry be
put into stores or cellars, on penalty of confiscation for the
benefit of the Alms House. But although the Chamber dis-
couraged any attempt to regulate the price of butcher’s
meat, this same Report suggests that cartmen’s wages are
too high, and should be reduced one-third.
During the whole period of the occupation of the city by
the British, viz.: from 1776 to 1783—the Chamber seems
to have cooperated very zealously with the British authori-
ties, naval and military; and they on their part seem to
have relied very much upon the influence and exertions of
the Chamber to render their rule of the city easy and ac-
ceptable. The Chamber was at that time thoroughly in
the interest of the Mother Country, and in its votes of thanks
to officers, civil, naval and military, it always speaks of
the Americans as rebels, and the war as unnatural.
Very many, however, of the members left the city, and*
were absent during the whole period of its occupation by
the British. Mr. Isaac Low, as above noted, who was
chosen President in May, 1775, called the Chamber together
in 1779; and its sittings under his Presidency, he being an-
nually re-elected, are carefully entered on the minutes.
From 6th May, 1783, however, to 20th January, 1784, no
meeting is recorded.
At the latter date the Chamber met, Gerard Walton* Vice-
President, presiding, the President, Isaac Low, having re-
tired with the British when they evacuated the city on No-
vember 25th, 1783.
Isaac Low, nevertheless, at the commencement of the con-
trcversey between the colonies and England had sided with
the colonial cause—but he desired, like so many others, and'
believed, that the dispute might be amicably adjusted and
without severing the bonds which united the two countries.
Isaac Low wras an American born, as were his forefa-
thers. The first of the family in this country was Cornelius
Low, who was born in Kingston in 1670. His son Gorne-402
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
lius was born on the 31st March, 1700, in this city. In?
1729, he was married to Johanna, daughter of Isaac Gou~
verneur, in whose veins ran the blood of Leisler, the first
victim to arbitrary power in this colony. Isaac Gouver-
neur was a descendant of Abraham Gouverneur, a French
Huguenot, who married the widow of Milbourne ; she was
the daughter of Leisler—Milbourne having been exe-
cuted with his father-in-law on the 16th of May, 1691. In
April, 1731, Isaac Low was born at Raritan Landing, a short
distance above New Brunswick, in New Jersey. He mar-
ried a younger daughter of Cornelius Cuyler, many years
Mayor of Albany, under the Provincial Government. He
is spoken of as an upright, able magistrate—a thorough
loyalist, and was father of the late Sir Cornelius Cuylery
Bart., and Lieutenant-General in the British army.
Of Mr. Isaac Low, we find this mention on occasion
of his marriage, in Mrs. Grant’s “ Memoirs of an American
Lady.”
“ The elder sister had married Augustus Van Cortland of
Cortland’s Manor. The younger sister, equally admired,,
though possessing a different style of beauty, more soft and
debonaire, with the fairest complexion, and most cheerful
simplicity of aspect, was the peculiar favorite of her aunt
Schuyler, (the American lady,) above all she now took
charge of. She, too, was soon after married to the esteem-
ed patriot, Isaac Low, revered through the whole continent
for his sound good sense and genuine public spirit. He
was indeed happily tempered, mild and firm—and wTas
finally the victim of steadfast loyalty.”
As already stated, at the commencement of the disputes
between England and the Colonies, Mr. Low sided with
his native land, and being at once able and popular, he was
chosen one of the Committee of Public Safety, and a Repre-'
sentative from the city to the Congress of 1774. But as
the quarrel became exasperated, and the necessity was
forced upon him to choose between what he conceived to be
duty and loyalty, and the independence of the Colonies, he
decided, like so many other conscientious men—erroneously
as seems to us—but honestly, and to his own great detri-
ment, for the cause and claims of the Mother Country.
Under such influences, he was a most useful and service-
able friend to the British while the city of New York was
in their occupation—and as President of the Chamber of
Commerce, during that whole term, used its authority and
influence to advance the cause of the Mother Country,-MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
403
while mitigating as far as depended on him the calamities
of such a state of things, to his own countrymen, prisoners
in New York.
His younger brother, Nicholas Low, born on the Raritan
in 1739, took the opposite side—espoused warmly the
American cause—was honored as one of its Counsellors by
repeated appointments to public office* and died in this city,
in 1826, at the good old age of 87—honored of man, and at
peace with Heaven. Isaac Low retired with the retiring
British Army from the land of his birth, and resided in Eng-
land till his deafh in 1791, leaving an only son, Isaac Low,
a Commissary General of the British army, now living near
the village of Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, Hants.
At the first meeting of the Chamber, after the evacuation
of the city, many names were proposed for admission of
men who had been absent during the war, and some of them
in the public service of America.
The next meeting was on the 20th April, 1784. This was
called under a law passed by the Legislature of the State
of New York upon the petition of many members, who dis-
sented from the course of the Chamber while the city was
in the occupation of the British, and were advised, that the
charter was by misuser forfeited, and therefore required a
new sanction from the new {State.
This memorial, and the names appended, constitute a his-
torical document of no small interest; therefore it is em-
bodied here :
“ New York, April 20, 1784.
“ The arbitrary and tyrannical conduct of Great Britain
towards the late Colonies, (now States of America,) having
been such as to compel the people of these States to have
recourse to arms for the defence of their liberty and proper-
ty, and the invasion of the State of New York, having
driven the inhabitants of the city to the cruel necessity of
leaving their houses and property and to retire into the
country, the exercise of the rights and privileges of the
chamber were in consequence of the war suspended from
May 3, ’75, to July 6th, ’79, when a number of the members
assumed the exercise of the powers contained in their char-
ter, under the patronage of the British Commanders; and
the influence of the chamber having been manifestly direct*
ed to aid the British in subjugatingthese States,—a number
of the members and oth< r citizens, on their return to this
city, taking into consideration the state of the chamber,
and being advised by counsel that the charter of the said
SECOND SERIES, VOL. II.	37404
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
chamber had been forfeited and lost by reason of the misuser
and nonuser of the same, they thought it most advisable to
petition the Legislature for a confirmation of the said char-
ter—in consequence of which resolution, a petition was pre-
sented by the following persons:
Samuel Broome,	Nath. Hazard,
George Embree,	Jeremiah Platt,
Thomas Hazard,	Gerardus Duyckinck,
Jno. Broome,	Arm. R. Lott,
Cornelius Ray,	Benj. Led yard,
Abm. Uuryee,	Anthony Griffiths,
Thomas Randell,	Wm. Malcolm,
Thomas Tucker,	Robt. Bowne,
Jno. Alsop,	John Berrian,
Daniel Phenix,	Isaac Sears,
Isaac Roosevelt,	Jacob Morris,
James Beekman,	John Franklin,
Eliphalet Brush,	Abm. Lot,
John R. Kipp,	James Jarvis,
Comfort Sands,	Henry H. Kipp,
Jno. Blagg,	Joseph Blackwell,
Arch. Currie,	Winant Van Zandt,
Joshua Sands,	David Currie,
Stephen Sayre,	Lawrence Embree,
Jonathan Lawrence,	Jacobus Van Zandt.”
The Legislature taking the same into consideration,
granted the prayer of the petition, and did on the 13th
April pass a law entitled “ An act to remove doubts con-
cerning the Chamber of Commerce, and to confirm the
rights and privileges thereof,” in consequence of which law
the meeting as above, first was called.
The first care of the meeting was to choose its officers,
who were: John Alsop, President; Isaac Sears, Vice-Presi-
dent; John Broome, Treasurer ; John Blagg, Secretary, but
he being abroad, D. Phoenix, was appointed pro tem.
Col. Malcolm, Comfort Sands and Daniel Phoenix, all of
whom now appear for the first time—for they had been out
during the British occupation—were appointed a committee
to report by-laws for the government of the chamber.
In the above list of members appears the name of Jonathan
Lawrence—and we pause for a moment on this gentleman’s
history, as furnishing an instance of the pecuniary sacrifices
made by the Whigs, who were driven into exile. Though
differing in its details from other cases, it may be present-MR. king’s discourse.	405
ed as a sample of the many. We may almost say, “ ex uno
disce omnes”
At the age of thirty-four years, Jonathan Lawrence re-
tired from this city, to a seat at Hell-gate, on the banks of
the East River, in his native town of Newtown, (L. I.,)
with a competent fortune derived from mercantile pursuits
and from inheritance. Although unambitious of political
distinction, and having everything to hazard on the issue,
he entered earnestly into the agitating public questions
which a few years after became the absorbing topics. He
was a member of the Provincial Congress of 1775-6, as well
as of the Convention of 1776-7, which formed the first
Constitution of this State, and was the only attending mem-
ber from Queens County while that Constitution was in
progress. By an ordinance passed simultaneously with the
constitution, the Convention appointed Lewis Morris,
Pierre Van Cortlandt, John Morin Scott, Jonathan Law-
rence, William Floyd, William Smith, of Suffolk, Isaac
Roosevelt, John Jones and Philip Livingston, to be the Sena-
tors from the Southern District of the State while in posses-
sion of the enemy. Mr. Lawrence filled this post through-
out the war. Besides discharging many other public duties
requiring discretion, firmness and energy, he, in 1778, em-
barked at Black Point, in New Jersey, in the fleet of Count
D’Estaing, as a volunteer, on what proved to be the fruit-
less expedition against Rhode Island.
In 1775, the Provincial Congress appointed him to be
Major of the Brigade commanded by General Woodhull,
and he was connected with the operations, in 1776, of that
gallant martyr. By him he was despatched to the conven-
tion at Harlsem, who in their turn sent him to General
Washington at Brooklyn, for reinforcements which had been
promised, but which it was found could not be spared.
During these transactions, the capture and dastardly butche-
ry of General Woodhull took place, preceded by the battle
which left Long Island at the enemy’s mercy. In this ab-
sence of Mr. Lawrence from home, his house was taken in
possession at night by a marauding party of British soldiers.
Amusing them with refreshments in the kitchen, Mrs. Law-
rence and two female relatives, then on a visit to her, with
the assistance of the female servants, aroused Mr. L.’s five
infant children, (the oldest nine years of age,) from their
beds, and abandoned the house with all its contents, except
such few articles of clothing, plate and valuables as they
could hastily and quietly secure. Being silently and speedi-406
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
ly conveyed by a faithful slave in a boat across the river,
they on the next day reached Mr. Lawrence at Harlaem,
from which place the convention had just adjourned to Fish-
kill. Having encountered during more than seven years of
exile the many difficulties and privations to which his
blighted fortune subjected him, he, on the conclusion of
the peace of 1783, returned to the city of New York, and in
his forty-seventh year, abandoning legislative life, and col-
lecting the very few remaining fragments of his former
property, he began the world again.
The next meeting was on the 4th of May, the day speci-
fied in the charter for the choice of officers, when the same
persons named at the preceding meeting were again chosen.
Henceforth the meetings of the chamber went on in the
usual course, and were occupied with the ordinary cases of
the business of the city. At the August meeting the French
Consul, Mr. St, John, informed the chamber by letter that
his M. C. M. for the encouragement of American commerce
to China, had ordered that the ships and vessels of the
United States should enjoy the privilege of putting into
the Isles of France and Bourbon, where they will find every
protection and liberty they may stand in need of.
The newly established Government of the United States
stood greatly in need of revenue; and the State of New
York, in order to contribute its proportion to the general
fund, and for its own necessary expenditures, passed an im-
port law—which, however, was too frequently violated by
smugglers. The consideration of this matter was brought
before the chamber, on motion of Mr. James Beekman, and
was referred to a committee, consisting of the Vice President
Sears, Jacob Morris and James Beekman, who, at the sub-
sequent meeting in October, 1784, reported the following
Resolution, which was unanimously concurred in, and or-
dered to be published in the newspapers.
Resolved,. That the members of this Corporation do so^
lemnly engage and promise reciprocally to each other that
they will, by every means in their power, be aiding and as-
sisting to prevent the scandalous practice of smuggling, and
will give information of every violation of the laws which
may come to their knowledge, so that the offender may be
publicly known and punished; and they do most earnestly
request and recommend to their fellow-citizens that they
unite with them in this so necessary and laudable engage-
ment.MR. KINO’S DISCOURSE.
407
It may be said with entire truth, and with proud satisfac-
tion that this honorable testimony of the early merchants
of New York against the scandalous practice of smuggling
has been practically borne out by their successors, even to
this day, and that among no commercial people are the de-
moralizing habits of smuggling less encouraged, or more
universally contemned, than among the merchants of this
metropolis.
At the close of a long and bloody war, the States, strug-
gling against depreciated paper currency at home, found
themselves exposed in their commerce on the high seas,
and especially with Great Britain and her remaining colo-
nies, to vexatious and harassing depredations and regula-
tions.
Accordingly at the meeting in February, 1785, we find a
Committee appointed to memoralize the State that it might
represent to Congress “ the depredations made on the navi-
gation of the United States by the Algerines, and the re-
strictions laid on our trade by the British and other nations,
and the unfavorable state of our commerce at large.”
An address was also made by the chamber to the Con-
tinental Congress, testifying the respect of the chamber for
that body, and their confidence in its wisdom—expressing
regret that “the present condition of the city, which,
through the whole course of the late war, has been devoted
to the rage of British power, in many respects, deprives its
citizens of the means of gratifying their cordial wishes,
which we can assure your honorable body are to render
your residence among them convenient and agreeable.”
Going on to express their conviction that Congress would
take all proper measures for the advancement of commerce,
the address thus emphatically concludes: “ Because, until
our national flag be rendered^ respectable, and our public
credit established, the inhabitants of the United States can
but partially enjoy the great blessings of liberty and peace
for which they have so successfully contended.”
At the annual meeting on the first Tuesday (3d) of May,
1785, John Alsop addressed a letter to the chamber, which
is entered on the minutes, pleading a long and severe attack
of the gout, as an explanation of his absence from the board,
and that and his advancing years, as reasons for declining
to be considered a candidate for re-election.
John Alsop, it will be seen, was chosen the first President
after the restoration of New York to the American forces.
He had been absent from the city during the whole British408
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE,
occupation. He was the first Vice President chosen at the
last May meeting held in 1775, before the British rule in
the city commenced. After that he never met with the
Board till that rule had ended, and until the Legislature of
New York, free and independent, had re-sanctioned the
charter of the chamber.
John Alsop could not, without being false to his blood,
prove false to freedom. Born in this land, he sprang from
a soldier of Cromwell’s—in arms against oppression—Capt.
Richard Alsop, who came to America to take possession of
a considerable estate near Newtown, L. I. left him by an
uncle. He married into one of the Dutch families of Long
Island, and he was the great-grandfather of the John Alsop
of whom we are now speaking. His father, John, was born
on Long Island, 1697,—was a lawyer of repute, and settled
at New Windsor, he subsequently removed with his family
to this city and practiced law until his death in 1761. He
was buried in Trinity church-yard, leaving two sons, John
and Richard, both of whom applied themselves to commerce,
Richard, who was a clerk in the house of Philip Livingston,
removed at an early age to Middletown,Conn., and died there
in 1776. John remained in New York and became a suc-
cessful and opulent merchant. He was a man of large sta-
ture, fine presence, and great intelligence. His early poli-
tical bias, and it never changed, was for his native country;
yet he did not look without dread upon a forcible separation
from the mother country. Submission to her unjust claims
he never dreamed of, but he did hope and strive to bring
about by peaceful means an adjustment of the controversy,
which, while honorable to us, would be beneficial for the
home government. He was high in the confidence of his
fellow-citizens, and on the 25th of July, 1774, he was elected
by them one of the delegates of the Congress to be held in
Philadelphia.
He had illustrious colleagues, Philip Livingston, Isaac
Low, James Duane, and John Jay.
Decisive as this step appeared, yet did not the Congress
throw away the scabbard. The addresses they issued to the
British nation, and yet more expressly that made to the
King, spoke of loyal attachment and of the hope and desire
that all difficulties would be removed. Nor was the Con-
gress or Legislature of the Province at all prepared for se-
paration from the mother country. Opinion then, indeed,
was not as far advanced as at the Philadelphia Congress,
for when the President of the State Provincial Congress,MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
409
the gallant Gen. Woodhull, moved that the thanks of the
House be given to the Representatives of the Province for
their services in the Continental Congress, the motion was
lost, 9 Ayes, 15 Noes.
Mr. Alsop was now fairly launched in the public coun-
cils, and in 1776, he, with his associates in the Congress of
1774, (except Isaac Low,) was again sent to the Continental
Congress, and at the same time they were chosen members
of the Provincial Congress. The Provincial Congress, still
halting between two opinions, had confined the instructions
to their delegates in the Continental Congress to means of
reconciliation with England. Up to this period very few
persons in New York had thought seriously of independence.
A hope still lingered and was cherished that the ties of lan-
guage, laws and lineage would be strong enough to hold
together the two countries, and that redress to America
might be obtained without separation from England. The
Provincial Congress, as we have seen, partook of this feel-
ing, and at any rate did not look upon themselves as au-
thorized to shake off allegiance to Great Britain and change
the form of government without the direct assent of the
people. On the 27th May, 1776, therefore, a proposition
was carried in that body—that in view of the present cir-
cumstances of the country, a convention be chosen by the
people to decide upon, the proper course to be adopted, and
meanwhile that they, the Provincial Congress, would only
exercise such powers as were clearly delegated to them.
While the Provincial Congress was thus hesitating, the
Continental Congress had already broached the subject of
Independence, and on the 28th of June, 1776, the New
York delegates wrote as follows to the Provincial Congress:
“Your delegates have expected that the question of Inde-
pendence will very shortly be agitated in Congress. Some
of us consider ourselves as bound by our instructions not txr
vote on that question, and all wish to have your sentiments
thereon. The matter will admit of no delay. We have,
therefore, sent an express, who will await your orders.”1
This letter was read, as the journals state, with closed doors*
The original instructions to their delegates empowered
them only to consent to and determine on such measures as.
should be “ effectual for the re-establishment and preserva-
tion of American rights and privileges, and the restoration
of harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies.”—With
such power, it is clear they could take no efficient part in
the deliberations for Independence. John Jay and others410
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
of the delegates went home to ascertain the views of the*
i eople and Congress of New York~but still no new in-
structions were given to them, nor sent to the delegates
who remained in Philadelphia.
Yet matters pressed. Sir Wm. Howe arrived at Sandy
Hook on the 25th June, and three days afterward was joined
by all the fleet and forces from Halifax. The Provincial
Congress invested Gen. Washington with full power, and
and on the 30th retired themselves from New York to
White Plains.
A second letter now came from the delegates in the Con-
tinental Congress inclosing a draft of the Declaration of In-
dependence reported on 28th June. On 2d July another
letter was despatched by the delegates, Mr. Livingston and
Mr. Alsop—the other two, Mr. Jay and Mr. Duane, being
in attendance on the Provincial Congress—stating their
great embarrassment for want of instructions. Every other
colony but New York had given their delegates positive in-
structions to vote for independence, or left them free “ to act
according to their own judgment. As for themselves, their
hands were tied; th^y could vote neither one way nor the
other. What shall we do ?—say they—Retire, or remain ?—
and if remaining, shall we vote or not ? Our situation is
singular and delicate. We wait, then, your earliest advices
and instructions, whether we are to consider our Colony
bound by the vote of the majority in favor of Independence*
Once possessed of your instructions we will use our best en-
deavor to follow them.”
No new instructions were given, notwithstanding these
urgent appeals, and of course the old instructions stood, and
Independence was declared without the vote of New York.
Mr Jefferson, in his correspondence referring to this occur-
rence, says: ‘’The delegates from New York declared they
were for it themselves, and were assured their constituents
were, but as they had no authority by their instructions,
they thought themselves not justifiable in voting on either
side, and asked leave to withdraw from the question, which
was granted.”
The President of Congress, John Hancock, in a letter
dated 6th July, communicated to the Provincial Congress of
New York a copy of the Declaration of Independence,,
adopted on the 4th. The House immediately, on the 9th
July, went into consideration of it, and unanimously passed
this resolution:
“ That the reasons assigned by the Continental CongressMR. KING S DISCOURSE.
411
for declaring the United Colonies free and independent, are
cogent and conclusive ; and that while we lament the cruel
necessity which has rendered the measure unavoidable, we
approve the same, and will, at the risk of our lives and for-
tunes, join with the other Colonies in supporting it—and
that the delegates of this State in the Continental Congress
be and they hereby are authorised to consult, and adopt all
such measures as they may deem conducive to the happi-
ness and welfare of the United States.”
The sudden change of feeling indicated by the unani-
mous adoption of this resolution, from a state of hesitation,
doubt and inaction, to such a degree as to leave unanswered
the urgent appeals of their delegates for instructions, may
be explained in part, possibly, by the consideration that the
step was taken irrevocably by the Continental Congress, and
that there was no longer room therefore for deliberation or
dissent.* However that may be, John Alsop felt himselt
slighted by the course of the Provincial Congress, and in a
letter to that body, dated Philadelphia, 16th July, he thus
gives vent to his feelings:
“Gentlemen: Yesterday our President read in Congress
* This seeming inconsistency is explained in the following extract, which
shows that the body which declared New York an independent State was a dif-
ferent one from that which hesitated to give instructions to their delegates in
Congress.
Extract from the Life of General Nathaniel Woodhull, in Knapp's America\
Biography, page 375.
“ On the 28th August, 1775, Gen. Woodhull was elected President of the
Provincial Congress, and held the same office in the body that succeeded it in 1776.
Doubting its powers to conform to the recommendation of the Continental Con-
gress, by erecting a new form of government to the exclusion of all foreign con-
trol, the Provincial Congress, on the 31st May, 1776, recommended to the
electors of the several counties, to vest the necessary powers either in their pre-
sent members, or in others to be chosen in their stead. The British army having,
on the 30th June, appeared off the harbor of New York, the Provincial Con-
gress, on its adjournment that day, directed that the Congress in which the new
powers were vested, and which was to assemble on the 8th July, should meet at
White Plains. They did not in fact assemble until the 9th July, 1776, when
Gen. Woodhull was chosen President.
" The Declaration of Independence, passed on the 4th instant, had not received
the unanimous approbation of the Colonies in the Continental Congress, the dele-
gates from the Colony of New York having declined to vote, because, although
they were personally for the measure, and believed their constituents to be so,
they were fettered by instructions drawn nearly a twelvemonth before, when the
hope of reconciliation was yet cherished. Immediately on their meeting, the new
Provincial Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration, (Gen. Woodhull pre-
siding,) on the part of the People of New York; thus filling the void occasioned
by the want of the necessary powers in their delegates at Philadelphia. On the
next day they assumed the title of ‘ the Convention of the Representatives of the
State of New York/ and subsequently formed the first Constitution of the State.
SECOND SERIES, VOL. II.	38412
MR. KING'S DISCOURSE.
a resolve of your honorable body, of 9th inst., in which you
declare New York a free and independent State. I cannot
help saying I am much surprised to find it coming though
this channel. The usual method hitherto practiced, has
been for the Convention of each Colony to give their dele-
gates instructions to act and to vote upon all and any im-
portant questions. And in the last letter we were favored
with from your body, you told us you were not competent
or authorised to give us instructions on the grand question;
nor have you been pleased to answer our letter of 2d inst.
otherwise than by your resolve transmitted to the President.
I think we were entitled to an answer.”
This is the expression of natural and manly indignation
at an unmerited slight.
Mr. Alsop concluded this letter by declaring that it was
against his judgment and inclination that the door of re-
conciliation with Great Britian should be closed, and there-
fore tendered his resignation as a delegate to the Continen-
tal Congress. This was accepted; and here terminates
Mr. Alsop’s political life.
The city of New York being now in possession of the
British, with whom his country was at open war, Mr. Alsop
hesitated not at all as to his course ; for he was thoroughly
a Whig, although not yet believing in the unavoidable se-
paration of the two countries—but abandoning his property
and large mercantile interests in New York, he withdrew
to Middletown, Ct., where resided his brother Richard, and
remained there till the evacuation of the city in 1783.
He was then chosen President of the Chamber of Com-
merce, as has been already stated, and resumed his mer-
cantile operations, and was a large and fortunate under-
writer, before the era of incorporated insurance companies.
Mr. Alsop lost his wife in 1773—leaving him with an
only child, a daughter, who was married in the year 1787
to Rufus King, then a Delegate from Massachusetts to the
Continental Congress, sitting in New York.
Mr. Alsop survived till 1795, when he died in the full
possession of his faculties, though at a very advanced age,
with a reputation unstained, and amid the general respect.
The following officers were chosen by the Chamber of
Commerce at the May meeting in 1785—after Mr. Alsop’s
declining are-election : John Broome, President; Wm. Con-
stable, 1st Vice President; Paschall A. Smith, 2d Vice Pre-
sident ; Joshua Sands, Treasurer; Adam Gilchrist, Jr., Se-
cretary.MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
413
A special meeting was held on Monday the 16th May, to
consider of a circular letter from Boston of 22d April,
signed by John Hancock and several other merchants,, which
enclosed Resolutions passed by the people of Boston in town
meeting on 16th April. The letter sets forth the alarming
si uation of our commercial intercourse with Great Britain,
“ the necessity of a commercial treaty between the two
countries, as from want of such a treaty, and the foolish
predilection of too many of our citizens for the manufac-
tures of that nation, we are principally subjected to the in-
conveniences we now experience.” The letter farther sets
forth that by reason of the rigorous execution of her navi-
gation acts, by the discouragements of all sorts thrown in
the way of American exports, and of American navigation,
no remittances other than in cash can be made for the mer-
chandise imported, thus producing a general complaint of
the want of a sufficient medium to answer the ordinary pur-
poses of life. The only effectual remedy for this evil state
of things, is in the words of this letter: “the vesting Con-
gress with full power to regulate the internal as well as
external commerce of all the States,” and it therefore calls
upon the chamber for an immediate application “to the
State to vest such power in congress (if they have not al-
ready done so) as shall be competent to the great and in-
teresting purpose of placing the commerce of the United
States upon a footing of perfect equality with every other
nation and farther “ to petition congress (when they shall
be vested with such authority) to make such internal regu-
lations as shall have that happy effect to encourage
attention to our manufactures, and remove the embarrass-
ments under which trade at present labors.” The Cham-
ber of Commerce wisely deeming that this was a subject
too large to be deliberated upon or decided by their single
corporation, resolved to call a public meeting of all the cit-
izens, at the City Hall, on Wednesday, 15th June, and re-
quested the President of the chamber to attend and explain
the objects of the meeting.
No report from the President of the result of this public
meeting, is entered upon the minutes, nor is there any far-
ther allusion to it.
The minutes of 3d January, 1786, present the memorial
of Christopher Collis to the Chamber, asking their aid to an
enterprise he meditated, and which had received encourage-
ment from the Legislature—no less than connecting the City414
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
by artificial navigation with the lakes—the germ of the Erie
Canal! The memorial runs thus:
44 Your memorialist has formed a design of opening an in-
tercourse with the interior parts of the United States, by an
artificial inland navigation, along the Mohawk River and
Wood Creek to the great lakes—a design which must evi-
dently extend the commerce of this city with exceeding ra-
pidity beyond what it can possibly arrive at by any other
means; a design which Providence has manifestly pointed
out, and which, in the hands of a commercial people, must
evidently tend to make them great and powerful; and
which, though indefinite in its advantages, may be effected
for a sum perfectly trifling when compared with the advan-
tages.”
The memorialist adds that he had applied to. and receiv-
ed encouragement from, the legislature—that he had ex-
amined the ground 44 at the Cohoes, the Little Falls, and
Fort Schuyler,” and found that no considerable difficulty
existed; finally, that he had secured 44 a number of respect-
able gentlemen as subscribers,” and asked for the counte-
nance and subscription of the Chamber of Commerce. That
body returned an answer to Mr. Collis that they entertained
the highest ideas of the utility of his scheme, wished it all
success, but that as a corporation they had no funds.
This was in January, 1786, little more than two years
after the evacuation of the city—and indicates, under the
circumstances of prostration and discouragement in which
the commerce, currency and resources of the country were,
at the close of the war, the remarkable spirit of enterprise
and sagacious looking into the future, which forty years
later had its full scope and fruition in the completion of the
Erie Canal.
The Legislature, at its session in the beginning of the
year 1786, having under discussion a scheme for issuing
Paper Money, and making it a legal tender, the chamber, on
the 28th February, adopted a memorial setting forth the evils
and immorality of such an issue, and caused copies thereof
to be circulated for signatures all through the city. It is a
most able memorial, setting forth, in the clearest light, the
evils of such a course. A single extract is quoted to show
the vigor of thought and of style in which the paper is
written.
44 Without attempting a discussion of the subject at large,
your memorialists respectfully beg leave to submit a few
remarks which to them appear unanswerable.MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
415
“ 1st—If the paper emitted should stand on such a basis
ns to render it in the public estimation equal to gold and
silver, the intervention of legislative authority to enforce its
reception must be unnecessary. If it should not stand on
such a basis, that intervention would be unjust and inde-
fensible on any principle of morality or public utility.
“ It would be by law to enable the debtor to defraud his
creditor.
“ It would be by law to give the property of one set of
men to another.
“ It would be by law to involve creditors in ruin, in order
to save debtors from distress.
“ It would be by law to undermine all the principles of
private credit, private faith, and private honesty.
“ If it were to be admitted in its fullest extent that many
debtors will be ruined, what interest has the State in
substituting one set of ruined men to another set of ruin-
ed men ?”
The whole memorial is couched in like terse and forcible
language, and seems to have excited quite a commotion in
the legislature, for they refused to print it—and when it
was up next day, and was read as part of the minutes,
that portion of the minutes was ordered to be obliterated.
The truth was too reproachful to be permitted to stand.
As it may possibly interest some readers to know the exact
course which this matter took in the legislature, I have
thrown into a note, explanatory extracts from the journals
of the legislature, kindly looked up for me by the Assistant
Librarian of the Hist. Society, Mr. Geo. H. Moore.*
At the Annual Meeting of May, ’86, John Broome was
reelected President.
* In the Assembly, Jan. 21,1786. Mr. Paine moved for a Committee of one
from each county to devise the best method for emitting a paper currency, and
for considering and reporting means and measures for discharging the public
debts.
Carried—and Committee app. (12.) Journal, p. 15.
Committee reported on Feb. 4. Bill ordered, &c. &c.,for emitting j£200,000
in bills of credit of this State. Same Com. with the addition of two new
members.
Bill reported and read Feb. 6.
Feb. 7. Referred to Com. of the Whole House.
Progress reported Feb. 10. Feb. 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22. (Pe-
titions rec’d and referred to the Com.) 23.—(Harper's amendment making the
bills a legal tender in payment of all debts and contracts, &c., rejected) 25.
(Same amendment reconsidered and negatived, and Mr. Schoonmaker moved
the clause in the act No. LX, (see below,) which was adopted,) 28, March 1.
March 2d. A Memorial of the Chamber of Commerce was read. Reference41'6
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
As exemplifying manners at this early day, it may be
'mentioned that in the minutes of 30th June is this entry :
*	The President produced a letter from Chas. Thomson,
Secretary of Congress, informing the Chamber that there
would be a public levee at the house of the President of
Congress, from 12 to 2 o’clock on the 4th July.”
The matter was referred to a Committee, and they re-
ported, and the Board resolved that the Chamber of Com-
merce should meet and proceed as a distinct organization to
the levee.
On 13th February, ’87, it was resolved that
*	Such merchants being citizens of this State as were
members of this corporation, antecedent to the confirmation
moved to the Committee above and negatived. Motion to enter it on the Jour-
nal. voted down.
March 3d. Memorial being read as a part of the Minutes, ordered to be oblit-
erated.
Memorial referred to a Committee of Five, Messrs. Boyd, Troup, Livingston,
Havens and Pell.
March 3d. Committee on the Bill having informed the House of their readi-
ness to report, Mr. Gardner moved a postponement of consideration of the Bill
till the Committee on the Memorial should report, which motion did not prevail.
Mr. Gordon then moved to strike out the Section LX. (See below)—negatived.
Mr. Troup then moved that the Bill be rejected—negatived.
Bill ordered to be engrossed.
March 4th. Mr. Gordon moved a resolution to order the Printer to the State
to print in his paper the Memorial, &c.—not allowed.
March 6th. Engrossed Bill read a third time and passed. Sent to Senate, &c.
Senate.—March 7th. Bill received from Assembly and ordered to a second
reading.
March 8th. Committed to Committee of the Whole, and with it the Memorial
and Petition of the Chamber of Commerce, and a Petition of 600 inhabitants of
the city of N. Y., &c. &c.
Progress reported March 10,13,14. (Memorial of Merchants, &c.) 15, 16,23,
28, 29, (question whether the money emitted should be a tender, decided in the
negative,) and Section LX. amended, &c. &c. Sent to the Assembly for con-
currence in amendments.
April 1st. Bill returned from Assembly—various amendments not concurred
in, and the Senate receded from all but two, and on
April 6th. They came to an agreement, &c.
Session Laws, 9th Session.—1786.
An Act for emitting the sum of Two Hundred Thousand Pounds in bills of
credit, for the purposes therein mentioned. Passed the 18th of April, 1786.
Sect. LVII. [Gold and silver and the bills emitted by this Act only to be re-
ceived for duties by the Collector.]
Sect. LX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the bills
of credit to be emitted by virtue of this Act, shall be a legal tender in all cases
when any suit is or shall be brought or commenced for any debt or damages, and
the cost of suit, in any stage of the proceedings thereof—provided always, that
nothing in this Act shall extend to contravene any treaty between the U. S. of
America and any Foreign State or Power.MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
417
of the charter by a law of the State of New York, passed
10th April, ’84, shall be and hereby are admitted and de-
clared to be members thereof—provided that they respec-
tively attend the chamber at a stated meeting and signify
their consent to be considered members on or before the
first Tuesday in June next.”
This was a peace-offering to those who, having remain^
ed in the city during the British occupation, had, after the
close of the war, been looked upon with averted eyes.
At the meeting in June, of this year, it was resolved that
the members of the chamber would dine together, on the
4th July, at Bradford’s Coffee House—and that such other
citizens as might choose, be invited to unite in the dinner..
<4 Fifteen shillings for each,” says the report recommending
this patriotic dinner, “ would, with economy, probably be
adequate to the expense of the entertainment.” Prices as*
well as times and men have changed very considerably
since then, and 40s. or $5, is now about the lowest mark;
for like festivals.
At the September meeting a revision of the By-Laws was
discussed and adopted. Also regulations respecting damages
on Bills of Exchange, commissions on Business, quality*
and weight of Goods, &c. Among the By-Laws then adopt-
ed was one to the effect that any member of the corpora-
tion refusing to submit to the Arbitration Committee, or
other members of the chamber, any matters of account
which they may be concerned in, be expelled the chamber-
A motion to reconsider this resolution was made by Gen.
Malcolm, at the December meeting, and lost.
The chamber occupied itself with all the subjects of in-
terest to commerce, and occasionally went farther, as at the*
September meeting, 1788, they resolved,
* That the President, in behalf of the chamber, wait upon*
his Worship the Mayor, to request that the corporation
would be pleased to fit up and repair the City Hall in such
a manner as to make it convenient as possible for the re-
ception of Congress, which is to meet in this city in March,
next.”
At the next meeting in October an additional resolution^
was passed, which, after setting forth the great advantage
to the city and state, that Congress should meet in New
York, required the chamber to make efforts with the legis-
lature for the passing of a law that the expenses incurred’
in providing for the accommodation of Congress be a charge*
against the State*418
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
It has been noticed in a preceding part of this memo'iiv
that in grateful remembrance of Lieut. Governor Colden’s
ready compliance with the request of the founders of the
Association that he would grant to it an act of incorpora-
tion, a picture of the Lieut. Governor was painted for, and
at the expense of, the chamber.
On the 1st February, 1790, Vice President Murray noti-
fied the chamber that this picture, in good preservation;
was in hands which were willing to restore it to its owners ;
whereupon the president was requested to write to the pei^
son indicated, and ask for its restoration. It was, accord-
ingly, restored to the chamber in May, 1793, by Cadwalla-
der D. Golden, Esq., son of the Lieut. Governor, and or-
dered to be framed.
The Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. P. M.
Wetmore, whose zeal and intelligence in all he undertakesr
are not less prized by this Society, of which he is an hon-
ored and most useful member, than by the Chamber of Com-'
merce—at my request furnished the curious information
concerning this picture, and other objects valuable to the*
chamber, embraced in the annexed letter:
New York, November 20, 1848.
My Dear Sir : In reply to your note asking for any in-
formation of interest relating to the Chamber of Commerce, I
will state as briefly as possible one or two incidents which
may be deemed worthy of notice in your proposed discourse.
When I entered upon the discharge of my duties as Seer
retary of the chamber in 1843,1 received a single volume
of minutes of its proceedings, and could not learn on inqui-
ry of my predecessors that any previous volumes were ex-
tant. Possessing something of an antiquarian disposition,
I was not content to believe that the history of so ancient
an incorporation could be imperfect. After diligent inquiry,
and tracing the affairs back through a number of years, I
was so fortunate as to find in a lumber box at a store in
Front street the two volumes of early records now in your
possession. They form a complete series from the organi-
zation of the institution, in 1768, to the present time^ A
short hiatus occurs at the close of the Revolution,, and it is
probable that no sessions of the chamber were held during
that period.
While occupied in my search for the missing records, I
accidently learned that in the garret of a store in CoffeeMR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
419
House slip—(I am quite sure that you will sanction the use
of that old, familiar designation, rather than the more mo-
dern one of Wall street,) wrere to be found two large frames
supposed to be the property of the chamber. Upon re-
moving the canvass covering and the coat of mildew
and dust within, 1 had the great satisfaction of discovering
two fine historical portraits. The injuries resulting from
long exposure and a few accidents were soon repaired, and
these fine pictures now occupy prominent positions in the
gallery of the Historical Society, where they were depo-
sited for safe custody by authority of the chamber.
The portrait of Lieut. Governor Cadwallader Colden,the
Executive officer of the Colony of New York at the period
of the incorporation of the chamber, is by an artist of the
name of Pine, whose history is unknown to me. The other
is unquestionably the best full length portrait extant of
Alexander Hamil ton. It is a production of great merit, and
bears evidence of being from the hand of Trumbull, and yet
no mention is made of it in Dunlap’s work. If it be Trum-
bull’s, it is certainly one of his best portraits. I have not
been able to find any allusion to it in the minutes.
These pictures are remembered as having been conspi-
cuous ornaments of the room occupied by the chamber in
the old Merchants’ Exchange, and were saved from the
flames when that building was destroyed, in the great con-
flagration, on the morning of December 16th, 1835. When-
ever the merchants of New York shall evince enough of
public spirit to provide a suitable building for the accom-
modation of the chamber, and thus secure a local habita-
tion for so ancient and honorable an association, the custo-
dy of these fine paintings will doubtless be resumed. They
should be regarded as the beginning, only, of a gallery of
portraits illustrating our history as a commercial people.
The seal of the chamber, which I send to you with this,
is an interesting memorial of past times. It is of massive
silver, about three inches in diameter, and was made in
London. It bears date 1770, the year of the Society’s in-
corporation. The purity of the latin motto—Non Nobis
Nati Solum—has been questioned by graduates of the later
schools. Whether justly so or not, you can determine bet-
ter than I.*
* The latinity of this motto could only seem questionable to those who mis-
took the word Solum for a substantive, instead of an adverb/—as it is here—
“ Not born for ourselves alone,” is a very fitting motto, in very good latin—‘for
an incorporation of merchants.
SECOND SERIES, VOL. II.	39420
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
A somewhat curious story attaches to this seal. Some
years after the Revolution, a gentleman interested in the
affairs of this country, in looking through a sort of curiosi-
ty shop in London, where a miscellaneous collection of per-
sonal effects was displayed to catch the eye of a purchaser,,
fortunately discovered this signet of the Chamber of Com-
merce of New York. He immediately secured the valua-
ble estray, and with commendable patriotism restored it to
the proper custody. I regret that I am unable to give you
his name. If access could be had to the papers of the late
John Pintard, for many years Secretary of the Chamber—a
thorough antiquarian in feeling and practice, many authen-
tic and interesting details relating to this and other inci-
dents belonging to your subject, would doubtless be found.
It was the habitual occupation of Mr. Pintard to record
everything of this nature, and his diary must be rich in his-
torical details.
III mistake not, Anthony Van Dam, who was the first
secretary of the chamber, and continued to hold the office
until the close of the revolution, went to England among*
the royalists expatriated at that period. He became, I
believe, an agent of the underwriters at Lloyd’s. Is it not
fair to suppose that through some inadvertency of his, as he
was the legal custodier ol the article, our seal found its way
to London, and after his death, into the hands of the dealer
in second-hand wares ? There was a tablet to the memo-
ry of Van Dam erected in one of our city churches, (St.
Paul’s, I think,) by Mr. Pintard.
In my search for objects of interest connected with the
past history of the chamber, my attention was naturally di-
rected to the original charter, granted by Lieut. Gov. Col-
den in the name of His Majesty George III., and which I
knew had been in existence some few years previously.
Every effort in my power was made at the time, and has
been continued since, but as yet without success, for the re-
covery of this interesting link in our historical chain.
There is a bit of history, also, connected with this old
charter. Some five-and-twenty years ago, Admiral Wal-
ton, of the British Navy, succeeded by inheritance to the
property of his family in this city; and on taking posses-
sion, among a vast accumulation of miscellaneous lumber,
boxes, baskets and charts—articles of domestic economy,
dragoon saddles and Hessian muskets, in the spacious attic
of “ Walton House,” in Pearl street, was found the original
charter of the Chamber of Commerce. It was very large,MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
421
about three feet in width, with the massive waxen seal of
the crown, six inches in diameter, attached, and the whole
carefully encased in tin and enclosed in mahogany. The
Admiral immediately made known the discovery to Mr.
Pintard, who took possession of the document.
Secretary Yan Dam was known to have been an inti-
mate friend, probably a relative, of the Walton family,
William Walton had once been president of the cham-
ber. These facts may account for the situation in which
the charter had been found, and we must therefore believe
that this instrument had lain undisturbed in the recesses of
Walton House for the period of nearly half a century.
On the night of the great fire, the mahogany case con-
taining the charter was seen in the room occupied by the
chamber, at the Exchange. As everything portable was
supposed to have been removed from the building before its
destruction, I indulged for some time a confident hope of
being able to recover the old charter. In this, I regret to
say, I have been disappointed. If it was saved from the fire,
it has ever since been so carefully guarded that the most di-
ligent research has not been successful in tracing its where-
about. Like the old seal, it may yet turn up in some un-
expected manner, and then our memorials of an existence
of fourscore years will be complete.
I am persuaded that you have found the subject in your
hands one of deep interest, and I rejoice that the rise and
progress of the commerce, the intelligence, enterprise, in-
tegrity and patriotism of those who have given name and
character to our community, are hereafter to be matters of
history, and not merely of tradition.
I wish you may be able to infuse into the great body of
our merchants something of that true esprit de corps which
had so often given power, and influence, and honor to com-
mercial communities in other countries.
Why should not measures be taken for an annual com-
memoration of the founding of our institution, and thus as-
surance be given to those who come after us, that civil con-
quests, won by the zeal and enterprise of former genera-
tions, have not been unnoticed or forgotten ?
I am, dear Sir,
With true respect and regard, yours,
PROSPER M. WETMORE.
Charles King, Esq., &c. &c., New York.
The Pilots of New York seem, at this early day, to have422
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
given trouble and dissatisfaction, for at the meeting in De-
cember, 1791, a committee was appointed to inquire into
the present regulations and conduct of the pilots belonging
to this port. At the next meeting this committee reported,
and the chamber, accepting their report, resolved that “ the
president be requested to forward it to the members of
Congress who represent this State, soliciting their influence
to have the spirit thereof introduced into any law which
may be brought forward for the general regulation of pilots.”
This is interesting at this time as bearing upon a question
now agitated with apparent seriousness—as to the consti-
tutional right of Congress to regulate pilotage.
Here is a contemporaneous exposition of that right, with-
in two years after the adoption of the constitution, and an
appeal to it from New York, in order to remedy the evils of
pilots under the State.
In May, 1793, the hour of meeting of the chamber was
changed from 6 to 7 P. M., on the first Tuesday of each
month, and the fines for non-attendance were abolished.
At a special meeting on the 24th July, 1793, a committee
was appointed to procure subscriptions in aid of the fugi-
tives from St. Domingo, who, flying from that Island in conse-
quence of the disasters and horrors of the servile war, had
arrived and were arriving in the United States. At the
August meeting resolutions were adopted by the chamber
and ordered to be published, in favor of the duty of preserv-
ing neutrality in the war then going on.
At the May meeting in ’94, the annual election coming
on, there was a tie vote for president, 17 each, for John
Broome, who had been annually reelected from 1785, and
Gulian Verplanck. On a second ballot Mr. Verplanck was
elected. He shortly afterward appeared in the chamber,
and, thanking his associates for the honor, declined the of-
fice. Mr. Broome in like manner acknowledging the obliga-
tions conferred upon him by previous repeated elections,
declined being a candidate again, and then Mr. Comfort
Sands, 1st Vice-President, wras elected. A unanimous vote
of thanks to Mr. Broome was passed “ for his peculiar and
unremitted attention to the business of the chamber during
his long administration as president.”
It may be surmised that the bitterness of party strife,
which at the period in question was running very high, and
when the French revolutionary tunes of Ca ira and the
Carmagnole were the occasions of almost as much passion
and prejudice in our streets,'and houses, and homes, as inMR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
423
France—led to the contest between Messrs. Broome and
Verplanck, or rather between the friends of these gentle-
men, for each of them evinced perfect self-respect and self-
denial on the occasion.
John Broome, the seventh president of the chamber, and
who was annually reelected from ?85 to ’94—was of Eng-
lish parentage but American birth. His mother was of the
old Huguenot family of Latourette.
He studied law with Gov. Livingston of New Jersey, but
was induced by an elder brother, Samuel Broome, to re-
nounce the Bar for Commerce, and accordingly he went
into partnership with that brother as an English Importer,
before the revolution. After a time, however, he carried
on business on his own account, and acquired both wealth
and reputation as a merchant.
Before the commencement of the war, Mr. Broome mar-
ried a Lloyd, of Lloyd’s Neck. He was a zealous whig
during the Revolution, and stood manfully by his country
through all the trying scenes of that trying wrar. In 1775,
he was a member of the Committee of Safety, and in ’76
was a member of the Provincial Congress, which was
forced to remove from the city by the inroads of the British
forces.
He abandoned, as did so many other whig merchants,
their business and residence in New York, while it remain-
ed in the British occupation, and removing to Connecticut,
devoted his means and energy to fitting out privateers
against British commerce.
With the return of peace, he resumed his residence in
New York, and it is a proud tribute to his honored name to
state, that he was among those citizens who, after the
close of hostilities, paid in full, principal and interest, the
debts he contracted in England before the war, and which
too many considered abrogated or outlawed by that war.
Mr. Broome was for several years an Alderman of the
city; in 1784 he was appointed City Treasurer ; and in the
same year he became president of the Chamber of Com-
merce. He was also president of the New York Insurance
Company, the first institution of the kind incorporated by
the State. Mr. Broome espoused the anti-federal side in
politics, and was chosen in 1800 a Member of the Assem-
bly from this city, and with his colleagues, General Gates,
Henry Rutgers and George Clinton, contributed to the
election to the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. In 1801
he was appointed one of the Commissioners of Bankruptcy424
MR. KINGS DISCOURSE.
under the Act of 1798—and in 1804 he was elected Lieu-
tenant Governor—Morgan Lewis being the Governor. Mr.
Broome was re-chosen successively for six years, but died
before the expiration of his term, in August, 1810, in the
72d year of his age.
Mr. Broome’s life, career and character are among those
which the Chamber of Commerce may refer to with pride,
as of one belonging for many years to their honored asso-
ciation.
Comfort Sands, who succeeded Mr. Broome in the presi-
dency, and held that station for four years, from ’94 to ’98,
was a native of Long Island, and born at Cow Neck, in
February, 1748. He entered early into a counting house,
and as soon as of age, commenced business for himself—
just one year after the first institution of the chamber. He
had already acquired considerable fortune when the war of
the revolution broke out. He was a sterling whig, and
embraced the cause of his native land with zeal and courage.
He renounced his residence in New York, was a member
of the Provincial Congress in ’75 and ’76, and in the latter
year was one of the Committee of Safety.
While the Congress were at White Plains in ’76, Mr.
Sands was, after the Declaration of Independence, appoint-
ed on the 24th July, Auditor General of the State of New
York, and he continued in that office until 1781, when other
avocations induced him to resign it. Mr. Sands then became
a contractor for the supply of provisions for the American
Army, and in 1783, at the peace, entered into business with
his brother Joshua, and for several years pursued his busi-
ness as a leading merchant. He was repeatedly sent to
the Assembly from the city—was a Director of the Bank of
New York—and was everywhere regarded as an intelli-
gent and opulent merchant.
Reverses, such as the most prudent cannot always escape,
overtook him—and the remainder of his life was passed in
retirement. He breathed his last at Hoboken, in Septem-
ber, 1834, at the good old age of nearly 87 years.
On the 9th of May, ’94—with the laudable solicitude for
peace, of which enlightened commercial men are always
the advocates—of peace with honor—the chamber unani-
mously adopted resolutions on occasion of the appointment
by Washington of John Jay, as Minister to England. We
quote only one:
“ Resolved, That if nevertheless this Embassy should fail
to preserve to us the blessings of Peace, yet we persuadeMR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
425
ourselves it cannot fail to convince all nations of our jus-
tice and moderation, to unite our own sentiments and ef-
forts, and render an appeal to arms more honorable to us
and more formidable to our enemies.”
This is the language of genuine patriotism and wise
statesmanship—and must, when published, as it was order-
ed to be, have produced a great impression.
The political preference of the chamber, however, was
plainly indicated by the resolution adopted on the 2d of
January, ’95, that the chamber will pay for the gunpowder
expended in celebrating the election of John Jay as Gov-
ernor of the State, to which high office he was chosen by
the people, while on his voyage home from his successful
embassy to Great Britain.
A special meeting of the chamber on the 21st of July, ’95,
was convened to consider the subject “ which particularly
agitated the public mind, the Treaty of Amity, Commerce
and Navigation, between the United States and Great Bri-
tain.” The Minutes say, “ this meeting was the most re-
spectable ever held in the Chamber of Commerce, (upwards
of seventy members being present.) After the Treaty was
read, resolutions approving thereof were adopted with only
ten dissenting voices.” Neither the Resolutions, however,
nor the Yeas and Nays are given.
The next entry is a sad one.
No business was transacted except the appointment of
monthly committees, in August, September, October and
November, owing to the prevalence of the dangerous fever.
About 700 persons, mostly foreigners, died during that pe-
riod.
At a special meeting in April, ’96, a bill for the protec-
tion of American Seamen, then before the Senate of the
United States, referred for the opinion of the chamber—
drawn by Rufus King, one of the Senators in Congress from
New York—was unanimously approved, and directed to be
returned, with that vote, to Mr. King.
A proposal for an accurate general survey of the sea-
coasts of the United States, was at the same meeting trans-
mitted to Edward Livingston, a Representative in Congress
from New York, in order to be laid before the House of
Representatives.
In March, ’98, the chamber petitioned Congress to fortify
the Harbor, in view of the critical state of our foreign af-
fairs, and they deputed Col. Ebenezer Stevens, a member of
the chamber, to proceed to Philadelphia for the purpose of426
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
giving the necessary information to Congress respecting the
fortifications of the city and port. A Memorial to a like ef-
fect was also addressed to the Legislature.
Col. Stevens, at the next meeting, reported in writing the
result of his mission, which had so far succeeded as to in-
duce a committee of Congress to recommend an appropria-
tion of #117,000 for fortifying the harbor; but Col. Stevens
expressed doubts whether Congress would act upon this
recommendation.
The difficulties between the United States and the French
Republic, were becoming daily more and more menacing,
and accordingly the chamber unanimously adopted, in Au-
gust, ’98, the report of a committee approving the neutral
policy adopted by Washington, at the commencement of
hostilities in Europe, and the repeated overtures made by
the then president, John Adams, for an amicable adjust-
ment of our misunderstanding with France. That report
concluded with this resolution.
“ But, estimating our rights as an independent nation,
far above any considerations of inconvenience which may
attend the means of maintaining and preserving them,
“ Resolved, That we will zealously support such measures ~
as the wisdom of the Government may dictate, and demon-
strate by our unanimity that all efforts to divide us will
be vain.”
About forty members were present at this meeting. The
resolutions were forwarded to the President of the United
States, who returned an immediate answer, a copy of which*
is spread on the minutes, expressing his satisfaction with
this proceeding of the chamber.
At the annual meeting in May, ’98, John Murray was
chosen president.
From the month of August until the month of December,,
no meeting of the chamber was held, by reason of the pre-
valence of the yellow fever, which made its appearance-
about the 28th of August. The transactions of the chamber
for the next year were few and unimportant; the meetings
frequently failing for want of a quorum. In 1799 the yel-
low fever again prevailed, and from July to December there
was no meeting of the chamber.
A special meeting of the chamber was convened on the
26th of December, ’99, to consider of some appropriate mode
of testifying regret for the irreparable loss sustained by the'
nation in the death of George Washington; and Archibald.*MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
427
Gracie, Wm. Bayard and Jonathan H. Lawrence, were
named as a committee on behalf of the chamber, to confer
with other committees appointed by citizens, and with full
power to make all necessary arrangements.
The year 1800 was a very blank year, according to these
Records—few meetings were held, and little done at them,
and during five months, from June to October, both inclu-
sive, no meeting at all was held.
The February meeting, 1801, records long complaints
about various schemes for amending the Inspection Laws,
especially of Pot and Pearl Ashes. There was also renew-
ed complaint about the pilots, and a committee was ap-
pointed to enquire what alterations were requisite in the
regulations for the pilot service.
The year 1801 was hardly less barren than its precursor,
no quorum having been formed after June until Feb., 1802,
when a memorial was unanimously adopted by the cham-
ber against the repeal of the Judiciary Act, (the act known
in the partizan jargon of the day as the act creating Mid-
night Judges.) The memorial was ordered to be sent to
the President, and a copy, through Dr. Mitchell, represen-
tative in Congress from the city to the House of Represen-
tatives. No meeting was again had till May, when the
officers were to be chosen. John Murray was reelected for
the fifth time in succession.
The pilots were again complained of for neglect of duty,
and a formal report against them was made at the June
meeting, and, by order of the chamber, handed to the war-
dens of the port, with a request that they would remedy
the evils.
No meeting again till December, when a committee was
again appointed to devise a more punctual attendance of
the members.
At the commencement of 1803, Congress had under discus-
sion a bill for repealing all discriminating duties on foreign
ships, and on merchandise imported therein. The cham-
ber took the alarm, appointed a committee to prepare a
remonstrance against a measure so fraught with evil to our
rising navigation, and adopted, unanimously, the memorial,
which sets forth, in facts and logic irresistible, the impolicy
and mischief of the proposed repeal. During the residue of
this year there were few or no meetings. Indeed it seemed
the established custom, since the fever of ’98, to intermit
all meetings of the chamber during the summer months.
On the 7th of February, 1804, a quorum was formed,
SECOND SERIES, VOL. II.	40428
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
and measures were taken to act in concert with the city
Corporation and Health Officer, to devise a Quarantine
system, to be submitted for the sanction of the Legisla-
ture.
A whole year elapsed without another meeting of the
chamber. On the 29th of February, 1805, a special meet-
ing was had, of which the pilots again furnished one of the
motives; and a committee was appointed to devise mea-
sures for remedying the complaints. It was also resolved to
give a public dinner to Capt. Preble, just then returned
from his gallant exploits before Tripoli, for which he re-
ceived a gold medal and the thanks of Congress.
A meeting in May, 1806, was held for the choice of offi-
cers, when on the declining of Mr. Murray, Cornelius Ray
was chosen president. Mr. John Murray was a native of
Pennsylvania, of Scotch descent. Early in life, (in the year
1758,) he became a citizen of the State of New York, and
so continued until his death. His pursuits were exclusive-
ly commercial, and successively he conducted the concerns
of Mr. John Murray, Murray, Sanson & Co., Murray & San-
son, and John Murray, through a period of nearly fifty years,
and with good success, in an extensive importing and com-
mission business. He was remarked for prudence and dis-
cretion, as far as possible removed from hazardous specu-
lation, though possessed of ample means. He claimed and
supported a character unimpeached and unimpeachable,
and enjoyed the confidence and consideration of the mer-
c cantile community. He was well experienced in the cus-
toms of merchants, and though without a professional
education, he was so wrell versed in the law of Marine In-
surance, as connected with the customs of merchants, that
his opinions were highly appreciated, as was manifested by
public confidence in his decision as arbitrator on Insurance
cases, which occupied a considerable portion of his time. He
had no ambition for political advancement, wffiich he might
have attained if he had yielded to the solicitations of his
friends. He served as Governor and Treasurer of the New
York Hospital, almost from the first foundation of that In-
stitution. He was Director in the Branch of the United
States Bank in this city. He was a worthy member of the
Presbyterian Church, and died in 1808, leaving a reputation
without reproach.
The Chamber of Commerce now became virtually ex-
tinct for a period of eleven years. A growing indifference,
for several years previous to the year 1806, had beenmani-MR. KING’S DISCOURSE,
429
fested by the members of the chamber, to the dignity and
usefulness of the association—so that its ceasing to live, as it
were, for a term of years, is less inexplicable than otherwise
it might be deemed.
On Tuesday, 4th of March, 1817, under a summons from
Cornelius Ray, the President elected in 1806, issued at the
request of several members, the chamber was again or-
ganized—appointed a committee to revise its by-laws, and
renewed signs of vitality were exhibited by the proposal of
thirty-six new names, mostly of young merchants, come
upon the scene since the last preceding meeting, as members
of the chamber.
The meetings were reduced to six per year, and were at-
tended with some regularity. At the meeting in April, the
portraits of Lt. Gov. Golden and of Alexander Hamilton,
taken for and belonging to the chamber, were, at the re-
quest of the Academy of Fine Arts, deposited with them,
subject to the order of the chamber.
At a special meeting in February, 1819, a memorial was
adopted, to both Houses of Congress, against the proposed
repeal of the charter of the Bank of the United States.
This memorial argues the question wholly on large gene-
ral grounds—and it says expresslyYour memorialists
are not induced to this respectful expression of their senti-
ments by apprehension of loss to the citizens of New York
from a reduced value of the stock, for very little of it is
held by them ; nor by pride of opinion, for they have had
no control over, neither do they approve the general ad-
ministration of the affairs of that Institution.” The com-
mittee who prepared and reported this memorial were Wra.
Neilson, Geo. Griswold and J. J. Palmer.
Cornelius Ray having declined a reelection, William
Bayard, first vice president, was chosen president. The
thanks of the corporation were returned to Mr. Ray for his
long and faithful services.
’ Cornelius Ray was of an old New York family, of which
the founder, John Ray, came to this country before 1700,
from Exeter, in the county of Devonshire, England. His
son, Richard Ray, in 1705, was married to Elsey Saunders,
and their son Richard, the father of Cornelius, was born in
New York on the 12th of June, 1717, and on the 24th of
April, 1748, he married Sarah, the daughter of Cornelius
Bogert.
From this marriage sprang Cornelius Ray, who was born
in New York on the 25th of April, 1755. He married in430
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
Albany in July, 1784, Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Edward
Elmendorff, of Kingston, Ulster county.
Previously thereto, however, Mr. Ray had made a visit
to Europe.
Mr. Ray was an active merchant of New York, but during
the Revolutionary war he retired to Albany. When
peace had restored the city of New York to its own people,
Mr. Ray returned to his accustomed place and pursuits. Alter
the establishment of the United States Bank Mr. Ray was
chosen president of the branch in this city, and so continued
until the expiration of its charter in 1810. He was also, as
has been seen, the President of the Chamber of Commerce
from 1806 to 1819, when he declined farther service. Mr.
Ray was long connected with several of the charitable in-
stitution of his native city. In his personal character and
intercourse he was kiiid and gentle, of high and well set-
tled principles. He wras the companion and friend of ma-
ny of the distinguished men of the day. In politics he was
a constant and sturdy supporter of the federal party. He
was an honest man, a kind father, warm friend, and a sin-
cere Christian, and he left behind him at his death, which
occurred in 1820, an unblemished name, which his children
honorably prize.
At a subsequent meeting in September, Delegates
were appointed, on the suggestion of the Chamber of Com-
merce of Philadelphia, to meet in that city with Delegates
from all the commercial cities, to take measures to defeat
the proposed Tariff Bill.
Such a convention did accordingly assemble in Philadel-
phia, on the 1st of November, and a report of the doings
thereof was made by the New York delegates to the cham-
ber, at a special meeting in January, 1821. This report,
which is spread at large on the minutes, embodies the
names of all the members of that*convention, and a journal
of its proceedings, and the resolutions which were adopted
by it. These resolutions, fourteen in number, are as tho-
roughly anti-tariff as even South Carolina could desire; yet
no state south of Maryland was represented—the conven-
tion consisting wholly of delegates from Maine, New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylva-
nia and Maryland. Wm. Bayard, president of the New
York Chamber of Commerce, and one of its delegates, was
chosen president of the convention. Revenue, it was in-
sisted by these resolutions, is the legitimate purpose of le-
gislation on the subject of duties; and the abolition ofMR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
431
drawbacks and the imposition of cash duties were alike re-
sisted as injurious to commerce, Manufactures and agricul-
ture.
The first step toward building a Merchants’ Exchange
was taken at the May meeting of this year, when a com-
mittee was appointed to consider of the expediency of such
an enterprise. At a subsequent meeting, the committee re-
ported that they had petitioned the legislature for an act of
incorporation, with a capital of half a, million dollars, to
build an exchange.
This act was granted, and under it subscriptions were
obtained for building the exchange, which was destroyed
in the great fire of 1835.
The chamber, in December, at a special meeting con-
vened for the purpose of considering a circular letter from
the merchants and citizens of Boston, asking the simulta-
neous cooperation of the commercial towns and cities, in an
application to Congress to pass a Bankrupt law, resolved
so to cooperate, and appointed a committee to draft a fitting
memorial, w’hich was reported to a subsequent meeting and
adopted.
In January, 1822, the chamber discussed and adopted re-
solutions, which were ordered to be sent to Congress, against
the repeal of the laws prohibiting trade in British vessels
from the colonies while the colonial system of Great Britain
was maintained against our navigation. This wras a noted
subject of dispute in its day, and the ground here taken by
the chamber was clearly that called for by a just sense of
American rights—although that ground was, at a subse-
quent day, abandoned by the government of the United
States.
In the summer of this year (1822) the yellow fever again
visited New York, and no meetings of the chamber were
held from the 2d of July to the 3d of December.
Early in the ensuing year the subject of the quarantine
laws, the revision of the tariff of 1818, and the Mercantile
Library Association, the inspection of flour, and other in-
spection laws were under the consideration of the chamber.
At the February meeting an elaborate report was ac-
cepted, setting forth the merits of the Mercantile Library
Association, commending it to the special regard and pro-
tection of the chamber, and recommending an appropriation
of $250 to its library. This was granted, and a standing
committee of five members of the chamber was to be an-
nually appointed, to visit the library from time to time, and432	MR. king’s discourse.
to report its condition and that of the association to the
chamber.
Alarm was created in this city at this juncture, by a pro-
position before the Legislature for confining the sittings
of the Supreme Court altogether to Albany, and consequent-
ly depriving this city of the term usually held here, at which,
cases involving nice points of mercantile law, were pleaded
by men, whose residence and business here necessarily
made them conversant with the laws and the usages of
merchants. A strong memorial against this innovation was
adopted, and the measure fell through.
An able memorial was also adopted, 17th February, 1823,
against a proposal of the Common Council, to assess taxes
on all property either owrned in the city or brought into it
for sale—a project which, in the language of the memorial,
“ contemplated nothing less than that every firkin of butter,
every basket of eggs, all meats, poultries, fish, vegetables,
all articles of fuel, of clothing, of amusement, of luxury, of
necessity, the fruits of the soil and the produce of the seas,
brought from our confederate states, equally with the man-
ufactures and productions of foreign countries, shall each
and all pay toll to the corporation of New York, for the
privilege of being introduced into the city for the consump-
tion, use and benefit of its inhabitants.”
A very strong memorial to the Legislature was adopted
at the February meeting, i 823, against the law for inspect-
ing tobacco, as wholly injurious and of questionable consti-
tutionality.
In the minutes of December, 1823, is a long report as to
the law of factors and consignees, and their right to pledge
goods, &c., together with the opinion of Chancellor Kent,
on the points applicable to this subject, which were submit-
ted to him.
Again did the chamber petition Congress for a bankrupt
law, which the commercial disasters of 1823 rendered so
necessary, but still petitioned in vain.
The quarantine law and the pilots were still sources of
discontent, trouble and remonstrance.
During the summer of this year, 1826, the chamber hard-
ly met at all, but at the meeting in November, Robert
Lenox, first vice president, informed the chamber that their
president, Wm. Bayard, who had been annually reelected
from 1820, had died on the 8th September preceding. A
committee was immediately named to report suitable reso-
lutions expressive of the respect and affection of the mem-MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
433
bers for the deceased, and being reported, these resolutions
were unanimously passed ; and at the next meeting—held
for the purpose of filling the vacancy—Robert Lenox, first
vice president, was chosen unanimously.
William Bayard decended from a Huguenot family of
honorable antecedents and honorable conduct, was the son
of Col. Bayard, who, trusted by the crown at the commence-
ment of our revolutionary struggle, returned that trust with
unhesitating loyalty—and taking boldly the part of the
crown, subjected his large estates to confiscation. But he
was not thereby exasperated against his countrymen—on
the contrary, while this city was in possession of the British,
he was active and liberal in relieving American prisoners,
and obtained the release of many from that scene of tor-
ture and of death, the Jersey, prison ship.
Col. Bayard accompanied the retiring army to England,
leaving behind his son William, the subject of this notice—
who soon, by his activity, his industry and his good conduct,
made for himself a name and a career, as an honorable
and successful merchant. Forming a partnership, first with
Herman LeRoy, and then with James Me Evers, the house
of LeRoy, Bayard McEvers became, and for long years re-
mained, one of the most honored and prosperous of American
commercial establishments—they enjoyed, especially, the
confidence of the wary and cautious but opulent Dutch
houses, which, in the hour of this nation’s greatest need, after
the revolutionary struggle, and before yet a settled federal
government had consolidated the great resources of the coun-
try and obtained the control of them—had made large loans
to the young republic. The credit of the house of LeRoy,
Bayard & McEvers was world wide—and it is believed that
their bills of exchange drawn on England, were first used
from this city, as a remittance to the East Indies instead of
coin, for the purchase of India goods.
Their opulence and credit were at the highest when the
project of the Erie Canal first took something like definite
shape, and it is to be recorded to the credit of Mr. Bayard’s
sagacity, that he saw with the eyes and large soul of his
early friend De Witt Clinton, the inestimable benefits of the
enterprize, and pledged himself to Mr. Clinton, to procure
from his Dutch friends the capital necessary for the under-
taking, upon the stock of the State of New York.
A record lies before us, written by one who then was in
the employment of the firm, and now a respected merchant
in this city, which relates the particulars of an interview434
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
between Mr. Bayard and Mr. Clinton on this subject, at the
counting-house of the former, and testifies both to the
earnestness of Mr. Bayard’s zeal in behalf of the great pro-
jects and to the delicacy of its real, unfaltering, undismayed
and undiscouraged author and accomplishes De Witt Clin-
ton. He objected to any arrangement which, because of
the known intimacy and friendship between himself and
Mr. Bayard, might lead to the possible imputation that they
wTere co-operating in such a work for purposes of personal
speculation. The overture was therefore declined—but it
is not to be doubted that the confidence expressed by a
man so conversant with the state of credit and the money
market as Mr. Bayard, that capital adequate to the occa-
sion could be had on the bonds of the State, had a most
encouraging influence upon the mind of Mr. Clinton, and
led him to persevere unto final and most triumphant suc-
cess.
In this success no one more heartily rejoiced—than Mr.
Bayard.
In all public works and institutions of benevolence Mr.
Bayard was ever ready. His private bounties were nu-
merous, magnificent, and silent. His personal demeanor
was most courteous—his manners winning, his temper gen-
tle and sweet. He had no enemies and hosts of friends—
and when finally summoned from among the living, he was
mourned as those only are mourned who have learned and
practised the great but rare lesson in life, of so using pros-
perous fortunes as to disarm malice and silence envy.
At the March meeting in 1827, a remonstrance was
adopted against a bill before the Legislature, proposing to
change the rate of damages on protested bills on Europe,
from 20 per cent., the established rate, to 7 per cent. As a
matter of fact, it may be stated that the bill finally passed,
fixing the damages at 10 per cent.
On the 1st of May, 1827, the new Exchange, in Wall
Street, being opened for business, the Chamber of Commerce,
on that day, took possession of the apartment assigned for
their use by the trustees of the building.
On the 3d of July, 1827, the chamber, on the suggestion
of, and co-operating with, the Philadelphia Chamber of
Commerce, adopted a memorial to the President, John
Q. Adams, in favor of a line of communication between
the United States and the Pacific Ocean, through the Gulf
of Mexico, and across the Isthmus of Darien.
Thus, twenty-one years ago, was suggested the routeMR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
435
which within the last few weeks—days, it may almost be
said—has been carried into actual operation, for communi-
cating with the Pacific Ocean. At that time no vision of
American States on that great sea—of a continuous people
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, stretching across the whole
continent, of the same language, lineage and laws—had
Pawned on the popular mind. The communication then
sought was simply for commercial convenience ; but now
it is of high social and political necessity that we should
have the most rapid means of communicating with our own
countrymen in California and in Oregon; and hence the
lines of steamers from New York to Chagres—of which the
first will take her departure next w eek—and of a connect-
ing line on the Pacific, of which the first, the California,
went hence about a month ago.
The plan suggested to the government by the chamber, in
1827, was for a line of small national vessels to sail once a
month to Chagres, with a number of like vessels in the
Pacific to meet their mails at Panama, and convey them to
Valparaiso, touching at intermediate ports.
In September, 1827, was adopted a memorial to the Com-
mon Council, urging their co-operation with a plan propos-
ed by the gentlemen of the bar, for constituting a new
court in the city, to be known as the Superior Court, in
order to remedy the great delay in the law now so per-
nicious, arising from the excess of cases, and the insufficient
provision of courts to determine them.
In January, 1828, another very earnest and forcible re-
monstrance to Congress against the farther increase pro-
posed of duties on woollens, wTas adopted, and in the next
month commendation is officially bestowed on a report by
a committee of the citizens of Boston, as to the farther
increase of the tariff, and thanks were voted to such
newspapers as had reproduced extracts from that report.
A special meeting was convened by the president on the
I8th of February, in order to consider of the proper means
of testifying respect for the memory of De Witt Clinton,
who died at Albany on the 11th of February, in the 59th
year of his age. Appropriate resolutions were reported by
W. W. Woolsey, and unanimously adopted. The chief one
is here quoted, as comprehending in a brief summary the
outline of an illustrious life:
“ His devotion to the cause of science and literature, and
to the benevolent institutions which distinguish the present
day—his successful efforts to promote schools among the
SECOND SERIES, VOL. II.	41436
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
great body of our citizens, whereby nearly half a million of
our youth receive the benefit of education—his genius in
projecting, and his untiring zeal and energy in carrying into
effect, the great scheme of internal navigation, which has
already united the Hudson with the inland seas of the north,
and wrill soon lead to a similar union with the immense
waters of the west, and lay open to the commerce of this
city fertile countries, whose shores are not inferior in extent
to the shores of Europe—all show the superiority of his
mind—that it was directed to the most patriotic objects, and
that its efforts have been crowned with the most spldndid
success.”
The public man of whom these things could be justly
said, as in the case of De Witt Clinton they most unques-
tionably were, needs, can indeed have, no higher eulogy—
no more glorious epitaph ; but where is the monument
which such a benefactor should receive from the hands of
a grateful people, and more especially from the hands of a
city, of which the enterprise he carried through to such un-
paralleled success has more than doubled, and is yet con-
stantly adding to, the wealth and prosperity?—Where is
the monument of grateful New York to its benefactor, De
Witt Clinton? May the day not be distant w7hen he who
shall repeat this question will be referred to some lofty and
fitting memorial which shall attest, to all eyes and all ages,
that he whose canal has poured wealth prodigally into our
streets—whose provident mind, in contributing firmly to
establish and widely to spread popular instruction—has
poured streams, yet more priceless, of knowledge and mo-
rality into the hearts of millions, who yet knowr not his
name from any public record—that he, the benefactor of
his own age and generation, and of generations yet unborn
—did not serve an ungrateful people.
At the same meeting, W. Trimble, from the committee
appointed to procure amendments to the acts for appoint-
ing and regulating pilots, reported that they had not been
able to accomplish anything, and that their attempts had
altogether failed.
In April, a committee from the Philadelphia Chamber of
Commerce asked from the New York chamber their co-
operation in inducing Congress to construct a breakwater
in the Delaware, which request, after being referred to a
committee and favorably reported upon, was complied
with.
Another proposition from the Philadelphia chamber metMR. ICING’S DISCOURSE.
437
with less success ; that for the substitution of a system of
compulsory warehousing and cash duties, for the present
system of duties on credit. A long and able report adverse
to this proposition, was made to the chamber of New York
and accepted bjr it, and a counter memorial to that from
Philadelphia was directed to be prepared and sent to Con-
gress.
Jn February, 1829, a memorial was presented by the
chamber to Congress, dwelling upon “ the calamitous re-
sults of the tariff of 1828,” and asking for a reduction of
duties.
On the 30th of April, a special meeting was called to consi-
der of the proper mode of testifying respect for the memory
of Archibald Gracie, then lately deceased. A committee was
appointed to report at the next stated meeting, in May,
when accordingly it was ordered that the date of his decease
be entered on the minutes as a renewed expression of the
high sense entertained of the services of the deceased while
an officer of this Board, and of the grateful remembrance
which it cherishes of the courtesy of his manners, his
intelligence and benevolence, and of his uniform and tried
integrity.
This was a high, well merited, most unusual, and there-
fore more precious tribute to the memory of a good man,
who no longer, at the period of his death, and for several
years before, had considered himself as belonging to the
society.
It was well merited. Adversity such as falls at times
upon the most cautious merchant, had fallen upon
Archibald Gracie, and he who for more than the third of a
century had pursued with signal industry, intelligence, lib-
erality and success, the high and honorable calling of a
merchant, saw himself stricken down in his advanced years,
by a succession of disasters which no prudence could avert,
nor sagacity foresee.
Mr. Gracie was a native of Scotland, and left his birth-
place, Dumfries, about the same time with Wm. Ewart
and John Reid, youths of his own age, and alike bent on
seeking their fortunes in the commercial world. Mr. Ewart
directed his steps to Liverpool, and became there the head
of the house, well known to American merchants, of Ewart,
Rutson & Co. Mr. Reid found his theatre in London, and
there became the head of another well known house, Reid,
Irving & Co. Mr. Gracie crossed the sea, after the close of
the war, established himself in Petersburg, Virginia, and438
MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
soon made for himself a position and a name there. Called
by his business occasionally to New York, he here met
with the wife who constituted the happiness of his after
life, Miss Rogers ; and this circumstance,, combining with
the better field which New York presented to a man of Mr.
Grade’s reach of mind for the prosecution of business, de-
termined him to remove to this city about 1791; and here
he labored honorably, diligently, and for long years, most
successfully. His habits as a man of business were those
of great self-reliance, great promptness and great decision.
Wealth flowed in upon him, but lie valued it only as it en-
abled him to indulge the generous feelings of a nature that
never harbored a selfish thought—the noble impulses of a
heart which found its delight in conferring benefits, reliev-
ing distress, promoting every good aim and aspiration. His
family, his domestic hearth, was the home of happiness—
of hospitality—of all the Christian graces and virtues. Of
a cheerful temper and most winning and gentle manners
himself, the sunshine of his ample brow and bright, quick,
but smiling eyes, diffused itself over all around—his footstep
as it entered the sanctuary of home from the labor of the
counting-house, fell upon every ear as the most welcome
sound, for he was beloved as such a man only can be
beloved.
In his public walk as in his private life he was without
blemish or reproach. His views of human nature were
hopeful. Distrust was foreign to him wholly—honest, con-
fiding, unsuspecting himself—he would not soil his mind,
nor sour his own hopeful temper, by suspecting the motives
or the integrity of others. He carried his heart in his hand,
and a nobler one does not beat on earth.
When the storm came, which after long and vigorous
struggling overthrew him, he lamented less his own priva-
tions, his own altered condition, than that of those most
dear to him; the loss of fortune, as carrying with it the loss
of the means of self-indulgence, or of ostentation, or display,
touched him not at all; but it did touch him nearly that
the hand which had never turned away the suffering or the
destitute, was now powerless for acts of benevolence.
He died in this city in his 74th year, mourned and hon-
ored most by those who most nearly lived with and knew
him.
During the remainder of the year 1830, and the beginning
of 1831, little business of moment was transacted.
The president, Robert Lenox, summoned an extra meet-MR. KING'S DISCOURSE.
430
ing of the chamber on the 6th of July, to consider of the pro-
per mode of testifying respect for the late James Monroe,
ex-President of the United States, who died in the city on
the preceding 4th inst.
The chamber adopted resolutions of regret and respect,
and determined to attend in a body the funeral ceremonies.
The Hellgate and East river pilots now came in for their
share of animadversion, and at the February meeting in
1832,	a petition was voted to the Legislature of this State
praying that coasting vessels trading from Troy, Albany
and New York to eastern ports, through the Sound, may be
exempted from pilotage fees, which they are now by law
obliged to pay, when they neither need nor employ pilots,
the masters thereof being, themselves, at least as skilful as
the branch pilots.
In April, 1832, another memorial was voted to Congress
for a new custom-house.
No quorum seems to have been formed from November,
1833,	to May, 1834. At this meeting a series of resolutions
were adopted against a project then mooted, of causing the
city hall to be sold to the General Government for a cus-
tom-house and post office, and upon these resolutions was
founded a strong memorial to the Secretary of the Treasu-
ry, dissuading him from any such arrangement, as extreme-
ly inconvenient to the commerce of the city. A committee
of the chamber was directed to proceed to Washington with
this memorial and the resolutions upon which it was found-
ed, in order to confer with the President and Secretary of
the Treasury, and represent to them the evils of such a
scheme.
In consequence of this earnest interposition of the cham-
ber, the President, as was announced to the committee by
the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Me Lane, determined to
carry out the original plan of building the custom house in
Wall street, where it now stands, an ornament to the city,
and convenient for the merchants.
On the 3d of December, ’33, a report in favor of laying
the foundations of a Commercial Library was adopted, and
resolutions were passed, appropriating $500 as a commence-
ment, and appointing a committee of five to carry into ef-
fect these resolutions. The library was to be placed in the
room in the Exchange where the chamber met. It does
not appear that any effect was given to these resolutions,
nor that any steps towards carrying them into execution
were ever taken.440
MR. KiNG S discourse.
A project for a ship canal round the falls of Niagara,
and of a railroad from Lake Erie to the Hudson, was laid
before the chamber in September, 1833, and called forth
a very favorable expression of opinion, and a committee
was appointed to publish the plan of the proposed canal,
and a pamphlet explanatory thereof, for general distribu-
tion—the cost, not exceeding two hundred dollars, to be paid
by the chamber.
During the year 1835, the minutes of the chamber are
unusually barren. The following entry, under date of 5th
of January, 1836, opens the third volume of the minutes of
the chamber.
“ There wras no meeting of the Chamber of Commerce
this day, in consequence of the total destruction of the
Merchants’ Exchange, and the confusion created in all bu-
siness arrangements by the dreadful and most disastrous-
lire on the night of the 16th of December, which has laid
waste the greater part of the business section of the First
Ward. The books and pictures, and the corporate seal of
the chamber, fortunately were saved from the flames.”
It cannot be misplaced in reference to the grevious ca-
lamity recorded in the entry just read to say, that the unde-
pressed spirit and unfaltering energy displayed by the body
of merchants and traders of the city, under such losses and
disappointments as that fire occasioned, will long be re-
membered with admiration, and must be regarded as hav-
ing essentially contributed to the prompt renovation, in even
more than its original value and substance, of the large
district over which the flames swept,
In several cases foundations were commenced of new
and more costly edifices, amid the glow of the expiring em-
bers of the buildings destroyed, and it is pleasant and
grateful to believe that such energy was not without its
reward, and that they who would not be ruined by adding
despondency to disaster, have reaped the fruits of their wise-
ly directed and rare energy, in ultimate and not long-waited-
for success.
At the February meeting of the chamber, a memorial to
Congress was adopted, praying for the passage of the bill
then pending, for extending the term of bonds for duties in
New York. The propriety of sending a memorial to the
Legislature of the State, for the repeal of all laws prohibit-
ing the establishment of foreign insurance companies
among us, was discussed, but the chamber declined to in-
terfere.MR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
441
The pilots again came up, and a memorial to the Legis-
lature for an increase of the number was adopted.
A bill being before Congress for compelling merchant
ships to carry apprentices, with a view to secure an ade-
quate supply of experienced seamen, Mr. Goldsborough, a
senator from Maryland, and chairman of the Senate’s com-
mittee, to whom the bill was referred, sent a, copy of it to
the chamber, with the expression of a wish for its opinion
in relation thereto.
The subject was referred to a committee, and on the 18th
of May a report was made by that committee, approving
the general principle of the bill, but dissenting from some
of its details.
In February, ’37, the chamber memorialized Congress for
a law to authorize the employment of some of the vessels
of the navy to cruise off the coast during the winter sea-
son, as relief vessels. The chamber also passed strong
resolutions in favor of the completion of the Erie railroad,
and calling upon citizens of all classes to subscribe to its
stock.
The pilots again troubled the chamber, and a committee
was sent to Albany to see what could be done in the pre-
mises. Happily, Congress had now passed a bill throwing
the business of piloting open to competition, and Kew Jer-
sey had established a system for the appointment and regu-
lation of pilots, for contributing to the success of which, by
attending at Trenton, Capt. Hackstaff received the spe-
cial thanks of the chamber.
A strong remonstrance against the usury laws, was sent
by a committee to the State Legislature, a printed copy of
which is annexed to the minutes of 2d of May.
During the summer of ’37, no meeting of the chamber
was held. It w^as at this period that our city was thrown
into a sudden consternation by a well accredited rumor
that a pirate vessel had been met with in the track of our
European packet ships, and had actually captured a Phila-
delphia ship—a rumor which called forth a spontaneous,
prompt and gratifying expedition, organized with the ut-
most despatch, by the navy officers on this station, in order
to seek out and capture the dangerous foe. Happily, the
rumor proved unfounded; but its existence had the good
effect of displaying the zeal of the navy, and of turning at-
tention to the necessity, with so rich a commerce and so
defenceless a coast as ours, of always having at hand,
and in readiness, a certain amount of naval force.442
MR. KING*S DISCOURSE.
At the first meeting of the chamber after this occurrence,
(7th of November,) its thanks were especially tendered to
Com. Ridgely, Capts. Perry and Stringham, and Lieut. Sands,
for the zeal and alacrity evinced by them in getting to sea
with such force as they could collect on the spur of the oc-
casion—and a committee was appointed to address to the
President of the United States, a representation of the ex-
pediency of a permanent home squadron—as well for the
relief of vessels on our coast in distress, as for the protec-
tion of our commerce—and this was the origin of the policy
ever since pursued—though not always with adequate
or appropriate force,—of keeping afloat, off the coast or
in the harbor, ready for sea, some well equipped vessels
of war.
The commercial and financial disasters which this year
overspread the country, and resulted in a general suspen-
sion of specie payments, led to a correspondence between
the chamber and the Secretary of the Treasury, urging on
the part of the merchants a prolongation of the credit on
all bonds falling due before the 1st of January next—of two
years—the Secretary of the Treasury signified his purpose
of submitting this suggestion to Congress.
The chamber reiterated to the Legislature its interest in
the completion of the Erie railroad, and its hope that all
reasonable aid might be extended to it by the Legislature.
And upon Congress it again pressed the expediency of a
well-regulated apprentice system for the commercial ma-
rine.
A warehousing system was again agitated in Congress, and
the Chamber of Commerce in February, 1838, adopted a
strong memorial in favor of such a system, with the provi-
so, however, that the existing system of credits upon duties
be not altered. Ten years before the chamber had not on-
ly refused to cooperate with the Philadelphia Chamber of
Commerce in support of a warehousing system, but had me-
morialized Congress in opposition to it. Then, however, the
scheme was accompanied vrith what seems its natural
counterpart, cash duties. Now the chamber adhering to its
opposition to cash duties, yet favored a general warehousing
system.
Both Mr. Senator Wright and Mr. Cambreleng, repre-
sentative in Congress, having informed the chamber that
Congress would not probably consent to a warehousing sys-
tem and credits upon duties, the whole subject was recon-
sidered by the chamber, and it was anew decided that bothMR. KING S DISCOURSE.
443
should be asked for, and if both could not be combined, that
the preservation of the credit system of duties was to be pre-
ferred to the establishment of a general warehousing sys-
tem.
A movement was made in the chamber in March, 1839,
which, however, upon being referred to and examined by a
committee, was deemed inexpedient—the proposition was
to ask such increased power from the Legislature as would
enable the chamber to establish a tribunal, or Court of
Commerce, with powers to determine all litigation between
merchants—the trials to be by juries taken solely from the
classes of merchants and traders—the juries to determine
by bare majorities, and proof to be given in writing—final-
ly the juries to be judges both of the law and the facts.
This seems prima facie a reasonable proposition, well
Calculated to facilitate intelligent and prompt decisions of
mercantile disputes. The committee of the chamber ne-
vertheless deemed it inexpedient, and so reported, without
any reasoning—directly to the chamber—which acquiesced
in the report.
The Legislature of the State having before them at the
pending session in April, 1839, a bill abolishing imprison-
ment in the case of non-resident debtors, the chamber for-
warded a brief but forcible memorial in opposition to the
bill, as likely to prove injurious to the city of New York, al-
ways a creditor city.
The President of the United States being on a visit to
New York, the chamber at the same meeting resolved to
pay their respects to him.
A special meeting was summoned on the 14th of Decem-
ber, 1839, by the first vice president, Isaac Carow, who an-
nounced as its object the consideration of the proper marks
of respect to be shown to the memory of Robert Lenox, late
president. Appropriate resolutions were unanimously
passed and ordered to be communicated to the family of
the deceased, and to be entered on the minutes of the
chamber.
Mr. Lenox is commemorated in these resolutions as “ for
many years a zealous, impartial and efficient officer, al-
ways interested in the well-being and success of the cham-
ber ; as an eminent merchant who for a period beyond the
ordinary course of human life had been distinguished for
great prudence, a clear and sound judgment, and unble-
mished reputation.”
Robert Lenox was a native of the town of Kirkcudbright
SECOND SERIES, VOL. II.	42444
ME. KING’S DISCOURSE.
in Scotland, whence he was sent at an early age to an un*
cle residing in Philadelphia, then a commissary-general of
prisoners in the British service. He went to school for a
time at Burlington, New Jersey, and afterward entered his
uncle’s office as an assistant, where he continued till the
close of the Revolutionary war. He married in this city in
1783, immediately after which he made a short visit to his
native country, and on his return settled here as a mer-
chant, where he remained permanently till his death, which
occurred in December, 1839, in the 81st year of his age.
Mr. Lenox commenced business on a scale commensu-
rate with his means, then slender in the extreme ; but he
gradually and steadily enlarged his transactions till he
eventually became one of the most extensive as well as suc-
cessful merchants in the United States, and such was his
prudence and sagacity that it is believed there was not a
year during the whole period of his actual mercantile life in
which he did not find his property greater at the close than
it had been at the commencement. This will be deemed
the more surprising when it is considered that a fierce war
raged in Europe during the whole time, and that the com-
merce of this count ry was continually subjected to the most
flagrant injuries at the hands of the principal belligerents.
It may also be mentioned as an evidence of his industry,
which was a prominent feature in his character, that even
when most extensively engaged in business, and having no
partner to assist him, he invariably posted his own books.
After the war of 1812 he gradually relinquished mercan-
tile pursuits, occupying himself with the care of his own es-
tate, which had then become large, and which afforded him
amusement for a few hours daily till within a very short
period of his death.
Mr. Isaac Carow was the elected successor of Mr. Lenox,
and as it does not fall within the design of this sketch to in-
clude any notices of the living, we close our extracts from,
and references to, the proceedings of the chamber.
A few words more, and I will no longer abuse the pa-
tience with which this somewhat disjointed paper has
been so kindly received.
My hope and aim in thus reviving the past and placing
before the present day some of the memorials of the mer-
chants of our early beginning, our colonial and Revolution-
ary days, have been that those who now fill a place made
vacant by them—may from such antecedents derive addi-MR. king’s discourse.	445
tional motives for a like exercise of civic virtues, of un-
flinching patriotism, and of intelligent enterprise.
I have, I confess, another motive, that of contributing, if
it may be, to revive interest in, and the energy and impor-
tance of, the Chamber of Commerce. We have seen that
from its origin up to the commencement of this century,
and occasionally to a more recent date, the chamber was
called upon alike by the authorities of the city, and of the
State, and of the nation, for its advice and opinions on ques-
tions supposed to be specially within its cognizance—ques-
tions of quarantine, and public health and cleanliness—the
laws of trade, of currency, the effect of inspection laws, of
high and low duties, of bankrupt laws, &c., and the records
from which I have so largely quoted show, that the mer-
chants composing the chamber could always bring to the
consideration of these questions not only much practical
knowledge, but the ability to state their views with great
perspicuity and force. The memorials and reports embo-
died in the minutes of the chamber are many of them mo-
dels of style and of cogent reasoning. In later years the
chamber has been less attractive to the commercial body ;
the meetings have been negligently attended, and hastily
despatched, and as a consequence the influence of the cham-
ber has declined.
This should not be, and would not be, if the part that it
and its members have played in the brief but illustrious an-
nals of our country, were more familiarly known. If what
has been said this evening shall tend in any manner to re-
vive interest in the Chamber of Commerce, I shall derive
the highest gratification from being, in some humble de-
gree, associated with such a revival, for I, too, was bred a
merchant, and never cease to feel proud of being associated
with a profession which is the civilizer, the refiner and the
liberator of the world. The genius of commerce is indeed
well symbolized on the seal of this corporation, by the god
Mercury with his winged cap and his soul-compelling cadu-
ceus. The old Greek Mythology, full as it is of hidden wis-
dom, and typical of higher things, has in some of the attri-
butes ascribed to Mercury, well foreshadowed the nature
and conquests of commerce; for it, too, as is fabled of the
youthful Hermes, robs Neptune of his trident, Yenus of her
girdle, Mars of his sword, Yulcan of his forges, and even
Jupiter of his sceptre. It is commerce which covers with
its ships the subject sea, which sweeps over the globe for
materials to adorn beauty, which seals in its scabbard the446
JMR. KING’S DISCOURSE.
red sword of war, and cultivates peace and the arts of
peace ; which lights the fires of the mechanic arts, and, last
and greatest of all, teaches man no longer to bow down
before idols of his own creation on earth or in the skies,
but, looking erect to heaven, to walk among his fellow-men
as an equal, while walking humbly and devoutly before
the true and no longer conjectural or unknown God.
It was the distinguishing feature of the merchants who
formed this association and of their immediate successors,
that they filled that most interesting portion of our history,
when commerce was rising from its cradle and taking the
first steps in that grand progress, which is already the mar-
vel of the world—and which is yet advancing.
At such an epoch every movement was important. Events
at other seasons the most trivial were now momentous,
casting forward shadows of dark and solemn import. Nor
were the men of that day limited in their reward to that
which the eye of faith alone could discern—for many were
the instances where the individual pioneers lived to enjoy
in real fruition the harvests earned by their industry and
forecast.
A young German was found among the number, pursuing,
within the solitude and depths of the primeval forests of
New York, the trapping of the beaver upon its remote and
then almost inaccessible waters.
That individual lived to be pushed before the advancing
wave of civilization inward and inward, and yet farther in-
ward, through the great range of inland seas to the utmost
extremity of Lake Superior, and thence onward to the
Rocky Mountains, and still borne on by the wave, surmount-
ing them, till he was checked only in his progress by the
shores of the Pacific.
This humble German boy, thus urged on from ocean to
ocean, stands (and his memory will long endure) as a type
of American progress. The field of his earlier achieve-
ments—the Seneca Lake—then a solitude and a waste, is
now gemmed with gardens, and temples of science and re-
ligion ; and in this city, his final abode, and resting place,
and sepulchre, are provided the means, through the munifi-
cence of that young trapper, of building, furnishing and
maintaining, a public library, on a magnificent scale, free
to all, and which will bear to all time the n|me of John
Jacob Astor.