Class, r ^^^ Book '- G3pyrightE^_ 99 V COPYRIGHT DEJPGSHi \ THIS COPY IS ONE OF AN EDITION OF TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN COPIES PRINTED DURING THE MONTH OF MAY NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FOUR VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK WITH ILLUSTRATIVE SKETCHES PREPARED FOR THE NEW YORK CHAPTER OF THE COLONIAL ORDER OF THE ACORN NEW YORK PRIVATELY PRINTED MCMIV ^ A L!8RA«Y of CONG«eSS Two CocxM Received JUN 17 1904 copyright Entry CLASS ^XXo. No. Copyright, 1904, by The New York Chapter of the Colonial Order of the Acorn CONTENTS PAGE New York in 1650 . Fordham Morris . . . 11 DutchlnfluenceinNew ) ,,„„. ^ o r»w ^^ , > Wtlham Cary Sanger . . 27 York . . . . ) Oranje Boven . . . William Gordon VerplancJc 51 New York in 1733 . William Loring Andrews . 89 New York before the )-... ^^ttti' ^ti 1 • TXT f Henry Axtell Prince . .111 Revolutionary War ) New York in 1801 . William Gilbert Davies , 133 INTRODUCTORY NOTE HE annual banquets of the Colonial Order for six years from 1896 to 1901 were ren- dered notable by the presenta- tion to the members and their guests of the series of views of old New York which are included in the present vol- ume. These views were selected with care, and graphically represent the gradual growth of the city from the little Dutch trading-post, situated at the Battery, to the more important city de- picted in Rollinson's view of 1801. The committee having this work in charge was fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Edwin Davis French, who has faithfully reproduced on copper all of the features of the original prints, and it is confidently believed that in no other [7] INTRODUCTORY NOTE single volume can so many representative views of the city be obtained. At a meeting of the Colonial Order, held about two years ago, action was taken to appoint a committee under whose care articles should be prepared, descriptive of the city at the periods represented by these views, to be issued with the prints in a volume which should be a permanent witness to one of the objects for which the Colo- nial Order was founded. After the usual delay, that in such matters seems inevitable, the articles have been finished, and the present volume is the result. It is hoped that the careful researches made by the writers will throw new light on the social and political conditions of the city in its early stages of development, and that those interested in early New York will be glad to welcome a new volume on their favorite topic. It only re- mains to thank the gentlemen who have so care- fully undertaken the by no means easy task of preparing these articles, and to bespeak for them the kindly indulgence of the courteous reader. New York, April, 1904. VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK NEW YORK IN 1650 HE simple little picture before us originally appeared in a book of travels concerning America (author unknown), printed at Cologne in 1648. A copy of the book is in the New York Historical Society Hbrary, bound up with various other Holland pamphlets. The next and better-known issue is at the foot of a folded map in Adriaen Vanderdonck's " De- scription or Prospectus of New Netherland," printed in Amsterdam in 1650. Our engraver, Mr. French, has faithfully re- produced the original. To be consistent, the let- terpress should be dated 1648 ; but the date on the [11] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK letterpress adopted by our society was, in view of all the circumstances, a safe one to insert. The unknown artist is supposed to be sitting on the deck of a vessel in the Hudson River or on Elhs Island, with his back to the New Jersey shore, while he sketches the south end of Manhat- tan Island and Brooklyn Heights. The writer of this notice is limited in his duty. He confines his description to this print of 1648- 1650; others will take up the thread of the narra- tive where the picture ceases to recall events per- tinent to or after its date ; and we therefore invoke a part of the motto of our order and " Look Back- ward " upon events which made it possible for a city to be located where the artist has sketched it. The picture represents in the center a headland with a fort. The flag over the fort is supposed to be in three colors. Five Indian canoes, three European ships, a pinnace, a yawl, and some scattered houses near the fort tell of European and aboriginal inhabitants. The map on which we found the sketch reproduced tells us that the headland is part of an island called Manhattes, which forms a portion of a newly discovered coun- try in the Western Hemisphere called New Ne- therlands. It was first seen by Europeans in September, 1609, from the deck of a Dutch ship called the Half Moon, commanded by an Eng- [12] NEW YORK IN 1650 lishman, one Henry Hudson. The voyage was made for the purpose of discovering a shorter passage to the far East, so that Hollanders might find an " open door " to China, in spite of the Pope's bull, which gave to the Portuguese the monopoly of the route by the Cape of Good Hope. Let us enlarge upon the picture before us and imagine ourselves standing alongside the good skipper Henry Hudson on the deck of the Half 3Ioon as she sailed up our beautiful bay on that fine autumnal morning. The hills of Manhattan and New Jersey over the bow, Staten Island to port, Long Island to starboard, are clothed with the "forest primeval"; the maples are just be- ginning to turn, showing bright tints of i-ed and yellow; the somber browns of oak, chestnut, and elm, and the dark green of cedar and pine, bring out the brighter hues of the maple foliage, while the almost Indian simimer atmosphere (there was a slight mist that morning) half obscures and then again reveals the towering Palisades, as the white American sunlight bums through the haze. No wonder the gallant captain is enthusiastic over his landfall, and tells us " it is as fair a land as ever was trodden by the foot of man." ^ * Henry Hudson: Hakluyt Society Collection. So-called Hudson's Journal. [13] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK The discovery of the site of a city which after- ward becomes famous is an event inspiring great interest. Tradition, mythology, religion itself, recall and celebrate those Early Foundings ; every language tells the story about them ; but no more eventful period had ever existed in the world's history than when our city's site was found. A few weeks before the Half Moon sailed from Old Amsterdam, Philip III of Spain, grandson of Emperor Charles V, had recognized the United Provinces of the Old Netherlands as free and independent states. A truce for twelve years had been agreed upon between Spain and the Low Countries. In this same year a site was found for the New Amsterdam in the New Ne- therlands. The United States to-day is the New World power, just as little Holland in 1609 be- gan its career as an Old World power. Bancroft says: " America owes her origin not to dynasties, but to the genius of commerce and corporations." The Dutch East India Company, intelligent private adventurers, and the Dutch West India Company discovered, established, and for thirty- five years maintained this little " acorn " of a city, which has developed into a mighty oak.^ Slight assistance was given it by the Holland * The crest of the Colonial Order is an acorn. [14] NEW YORK IN 1650 government, mostly by parchment and sealing- wax in the shape of licenses and charters. Not until 1623 did their High Mightinesses of Hol- land give anything so formal as a charter, and before that time only licenses to trade, perhaps a few soldiers and cannon, were furnished, the set- tlers and private capital paying most of the ex- penses.^ We have some written evidence of these small Dutch beginnings. In those early records, and by the light of contemporaneous European his- tory, we also read between the lines that the set- tlement at Manhattan was becoming an object of envy to other nationalities; personal and com- mercial rivalry existed between the various capi- talists in Holland who furnished the money for the ships, and a very evident disinclination to assume responsibility prevailed on the part of the Dutch government ; for Holland's foreign policy had suddenly become very important : Barneveldt, the Grand Pensionary, and others of the conserva- tive party, feared that the truce with Spain might be violated by irresponsible ship-masters : perhaps the eager searchers after furs might not be too particular about boundaiy lines between other settlements in the Western World, over which the good friends of Holland, Henry of Navarre and * N. Y. Colonial Documents, I, pages 2 to 10 et supra. [15] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK James I of England, claimed jurisdiction. It is therefore very plain that to the hardy, brave ad- venturers themselves, worthy descendants of the "Sea Beggars " who had succeeded in winning liberty from the Spanish yoke, belongs the credit and glory of founding New York,— not to their High Mightinesses of Holland. The beginning, with such scant governmental aid, was unsystematic, irresponsible. For nearly fourteen years after the discovery there was no general system of law; it was a " place of call " for the cargoes of furs which were brought down from the upper Hudson or upon the various sounds and estuaries by the Indians in their ca- noes, just as we see them in the picture before us ; rival adventurers, not always from Holland,^ visited the harbor and rivers, and made friends with the aborigines, and but little information was given by those who returned home to their neigh- bors in Holland concerning the boundaries, re- sources, or routes of travel in the newly discovered territory. Mariners who had visited the place pe- titioned the home government to enjoin printers from publishing their charts, and, unlike the emi- grants to New England, the persons resorting to the place made no "solemn league and covenant " ^ See the case of the Willxam of London. N. Y. Colonial Documents, I. [16] NEW YORK IN 1650 among themselves for their government, as they were but sojourners under licenses which expired after four voyages, with no assurance of renewals. Neither in those early days was any encourage- ment given to the development of agriculture, and it may with truth be said that there was nothing but the traffic in furs which bound the people to the soil; probably ship's discipline was the only law known to any of the parties who resorted here. The secrets of the good land-locked harbor, its many contributing rivers, estuaries, and sounds, its wealth in furs, could not long remain to the few; other Netherlanders coveted the gains of the first adventurers, the licenses covering land and sea between several degrees of latitude (40° to 45°) afforded grand opportunities for Hol- landers to prey upon the rich argosies of Spain, their perpetual enemy, and the record shows the strange spectacle of the Hollanders petitioning their government not to make a lasting peace, for the game of wai* on Spanish galleons would be spoiled. So the um-egulated but rather profitable voyages continued; in 1621 the truce with Spain was over, the war began again, and the value of the fur-trading station was enlianced by the op- portunities it afforded for fitting out expedi- tions against the Spanish galleons and the West [17] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK Indies. In 1623 the home government had granted the charter of the Dutch West India Company. Some permanent settlement had com- menced before that date, and the inhabitants were then, as now, cosmopolitan. Dutch from various provinces in Holland; one Swede we know of, Jonas Bronx, whose name is perpetuated in the northern borough of Greater New York; Wal- loons—the first child born in the neighborhood came of parents of that nationality, bearing in this new land the appropriate name of De For- est; refugee French, Protestant Germans, and here and there an interloping Scotchman or Englishman; in fact, the English who had set- tled at Leyden, in Holland, and afterward founded the Plymouth Colony, had feasted their longing eyes on the Figurative Chart of New Netherlands, which was made about 1616,^ and asked the Holland authorities for permission to use it; and one of the earliest accounts of the settlement of the Manhattoes has been pre- served in Governor Bradford's letter from Ply- mouth, dated about 1625. A fair chronicle of voyages to Manhattan could be made up from the ancient records. The Half Moon made another trip in 1610-11. In 1612 Christiansen cruised off ' Constructed probably from notes of Christiansen and Blok. See infra. [18] NEW YORK IN 1650 Sandy Hook on a return voyage from the West Indies to Holland, taking on board two savages, whom he called Valentine and Orson, and exhibit- ing them to the people of Holland. A few months later we find him asking for permission to trade here, and soon after he, in the Fortune, and Adriaen Blok, in the Tiger, must have sailed across the waters we see in the picture. The For- tune sailed up the Hudson and started the fur- trade on a fii'mer basis at Albany; there the fort called Nassau was built; Blok's ship, the Tiger, remained at the JManliattoes and was burned, probably at her anchorage off the point of the island shown in the sketch. The shipwrecked skipper and his crew spent the winter on the isl- and, and erected the fii'st white man's habita- tion, supposed to be where Broadway now runs near Exchange Place. There the small sloop Onrust, or Restless, was built, forty-four and one half feet long, eleven and one half feet beam, and of sixteen tons' measurement,— just large enough, were she now in existence, to be admitted into the smallest class of vessels which fly the burgee of the New York Yacht Club.^ ^ N. Y. Colonial Documents, I, 50, 53, 59, and see the Figurative map bound in with these documents. It faces page 13, Vol. I, N. Y. Colonial Documents, and accompanied a petition dated 1616. In the writer's opinion it is not an unreasonable conjecture that this chart was the one the English refugees at Leyden asked for when [19] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK Christiansen not appearing, the shipwrecked captain and crew sailed away in their cockleshell of a sloop through Hell Gate, passed the Step- ping Stones, saw from the Middle Ground the red Iiills we now call New Haven, skirted " Long Island's sandy shore," and, finally, hove in sight of the high bluffs of the island which has ever since been called after the brave Captain Blok. Luckily for these fh'st cruisers on Long Island Sound, the Fortune appeared, the vessels changed skippers, Blok took the Fortune to Holland, probably mth the notes on board for the Figura- tive map or chart, and Chi'istiansen returned to the Manhattoes in the good little sloop which was afterward to navigate the Delaware on an- other voyage of discovery. Surely our print is worth looking at, when we see before us the scene of the first ship-building enterprise in New York, recalling also the discovery of Long Island Sound and Delaware River. But other nations watched the growing com- merce at the confluence of Hudson River and Long Island Sound. The recital of one instance, though there were several, must suffice in the space allotted to this article. It was a notable they were planning their emigration which resulted in the May- flower settlement at Plymouth in 1620. For this cruise of the Restless see also Brodhead, Vol. I. [20] NEW YORK IN 1650 visit by the English in 1614-15, commanded by Captain Samuel Argall, a character familiar in the history of Virginia. Argall was returning from his memorable cruise to INIount Desert, where he had broken up the Jesuit settlement at North East Harbor. He put in at Hudson River. He found there " four houses and a pre- tended Dutch governor/' and at once demanded that the Hollanders should submit themselves to the King of England and the government of Virginia. Placing Argall's ship on the waters shown in our picture, and taking Parkman's description of her as she appeared elsewhere, this visit presents a most thrilling scene. His ship, with all sails set, drums beating, trumpets blow- ing, the red flag of England flying, sails close to the settlement. We can imagine the haughty cavalier from the high poop of his caravel com- manding Christiansen and his handful of sailors, standing on shore, to come aboard and give an account of themselves. Down goes the Dutch flag, and upon the stafl* is hoisted the ensign of England, for his JMajesty King James I had de- clared that this land was in the limits of Virginia, and Argall was nephew of the president of the Virginia Company. The wary Christiansen wisely complied, and, thanks to his prudence and Argall's "impetuosity," the English went no fur- [21] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK ther and sailed away. A f ourteen-gun ship fully equipped might easily have gone further up the river, conquering all before it, and discovered re- sources which were far better than the " Virginia lowlands " or Maine's rocky shores; thus was the permanent occupation by the British postponed for several years. Historians differ as to this episode, but it seems to the ^vriter that such an event did occur. Argall, the abductor of Poca- hontas, the despoiler of a French ship duiing a time of peace between France and England, re- lated to the president of the Virginia Company, always audacious and afterward knighted by the sovereign of England, would not have hesitated to commit another breach of international law against an himible Dutch captain and his few companions, who then had no cannon, no fort, and only four houses on the island.^ But the records go on to show that Argall and his ship were hardly beyond the Nan-ows when Christiansen lowered the British flag, and the orange, white, and blue of the United Provinces again flew from the mast.^ He then set to work to build the fort * Compare Fiske's "Old Virginia and her Neighbors," Vol. I, page 171. Argall's Journal, in Purchas, IV, 1763. Brodhead, Vol. I, page 154. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., I, 334; II, 3^6. "Pioneers of France " hy Parkman, page 308. 2 Colors of the house of Orange, which the " Beggars of the Sea " adopted as the flag of the provinces in rebellion against Spain, in- [22] NEW YORK IN 1650 we see in the picture. Its date is probably 1615 or 1616. It was an earthwork, for we learn that after Stuyvesant's arrival a fence w^as built about it so as to prevent the cattle from grazing on its slopes and destroying the ramparts.^ Christiansen, whom we may by courtesy call the first governor, seems to have returned to Hol- land, and as the Grand Pensioner Barneveldt, who during his lifetime seemed to hinder the granting of any charter, had for political reasons been executed, this was no longer opposed. The charter of the West India Company, with its privileges and exemptions, took effect in 1623. It did not give the desired relief. It was the erection of a licensed monopoly which in its turn, except on the island before us, had power to grant to favored persons large tracts of land, creating a " landed oligarchy " in the interior, the inevit- able result of which was continued disputes stead of the Burgundian colors, and so continued until, by request of the Dutch Republic, Henry of Navarre conferred the colors of France, red, white, and blue, since then the colors of Holland. " The Flag of the United States and other Flags," Preble, page 98. The red, white, and blue was adopted in 1650 (see Brodhead, " His- tory of New York," Vol. I, page 19), but at the time of the build- ing of the fort, and even at Stuyvesant's accession, the colors were orange, white, and blue, orange on top— orarije boven. * Documents relating to New Amsterdam: Ordinances. Brodhead, Vol. I, page 48. [23] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK between the patroons and the company, for the director-general had authority, but very Httle power in men and money to enforce it. English vessels also came to trade and were driven away; in turn, Dutch vessels laden with cargoes from New Amsterdam en route to Holland were seized by the English government for trading in Eng- lish territory without a license: even in one in- stance, the ship Eendracht, with an ex-director- general on board, was seized in an English port.^ Yet some good came of the charter. It encour- aged agriculture, and settlers came, planted their farms, and raised children. The company, to be just to the Indians, forbade the taking of lands from the Indians without paying for them, and set the example by buying the island of Man- hattan for sixty guilders, or twenty-four dollars. But controversies were long and weary. Van- derdonck, after much trouble, even imprisonment for a short time in Holland, succeeded in getting the concession of a sort of representative govern- ment, which some call the first charter of the city of New York; but, judging from the colonial Dutch records, we fear that the old halls in the Binnenliof at The Hague echoed with the com- plaints of the tyranny of the directors-general. Goverimient by company and company's ser- * N. Y. Colonial Documents, I, pages 45, 46, 47 et supra. [24] NEW YORK IN 1650 vants has never, in any country, been successful, and we are all familiar with the chapter of griev- ances written by Vanderdonck, the only lawyer who was permitted iii the settlement. One pe- tition in 1638 gives a sad picture which is not pleasant to recite, yet truth should be told: it said the population " does not increase as it ought," — it was decreasing, and the West India Company was neglecting the settlement; the in- habitants of other colonies belonging to foreign princes and potentates were endeavoring to in- corporate New Netherlands into their jurisdic- tions, and if the people and the government in the old country did not see that it was " reasonably at- tended to " it would be at once entirely overrun. Such was the condition of the settlement in 1647 when Stuyvesant, a strong-willed, well- meaning, ill-supported, loyal and brave director- general, was sent by the company to take charge of affairs. He found the orange, white, and blue flag still flying over the ill-kempt fort, the In- dians not in very good subjection, considerable dissatisfaction among the inhabitants, and strangers encroaching on the borders; a dark cloud rested on the settlement ; however, it had a silver Hning. We leave the future to be described by other pictures and other pens. In leaving our little town to its fate, with its [25] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK fort and ships and Indians, we invoke, however, the other part of the motto of our Colonial Order. In " Looking Backward " we are " Looking For- ward," the events of the past we refer to were not all mistakes, and from those events we draw an experience which enables us to prophesy that this little town we see in the picture is the beginning of a great free city, surpassing in magnitude and importance old Amsterdam; here wealth, com- merce, art, literature, charity, good will to all comers from every clime, will have its sway ; ships from every nation may with impunity fly their ensigns in its harbors ; its river, where we see the canoes with Indians, will have mingled with its waters those of the great inland lakes; the rail- ways will begin here and end on the far Pacific; the true Northwest Passage which old Henry Hudson was searching for has been found; the city's rivers are to be spanned by aerial bridges under which ships with topmasts higher than those of the Half Moon can sail without any draw- openings, and underneath the beds of their deep channels tunnels will be built through which thou- sands of people and argosies of freight will be moved to the waiting fleets of the world ; and yet the old tale of Holland is not forgotten, for the way of our citj'^ "is in the sea, and her paths are in many waters." [26] / DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK Utanding in the Parliament Square, London, and looking at Westminster Abbey, the past of the kingdom seems to speak from the building which embodies so many associations and traditions of the kingly rulers and peoples who have builded the British Empire of to-day. The dust of kings and queens rests within its walls; sol- diers, statesmen, writers, representatives of all the classes which have contributed to England's greatness, have their monuments here ; and, since the time of Edward I, every sovereign of Eng- land has been crowned within its w^alls. And then, as one turns to the Houses of Parliament, [27] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK the stately building seems to typify the power of the empire resting upon the combination of representative and hereditary strength which has given this constitutional monarchjr its influence on the destinies of the world. Just in front of the Houses of Parliament and facing Westminster Abbey is the statue of a man who, with others, killed a king, overthrew the monarchy, abolished the House of Lords, and, disregarding traditions, precedents, and laws, governed England by the power of his individual greatness and the strength of his army, and made the might of England dreaded by all her foes, and respected everywhere. If, at first thought, tliis statue of Cromwell seems incongruous, and the action of the House of Lords in protesting against its erection appears natural, it comes over one that Lord Rosebery saw more clearly than his associates in the Upper House when, at the unveiling of the statue, he said: "We are all, I imagine, glad, not to say proud, to be here to-night " ; for Cromwell led a great movement, which, notwithstanding its excesses, meant much in the development of modern England, and meant more in the found- ing and upbuilding of our own nation. Strangely enough, this ultra-Protestant ruler waged war against the only powerful Protestant [28] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK people in Europe, and Dutch and English fought for the supremacy of the sea. Hume, in his " History of England," sets forth the reasons, as he understood them, for the war between the Commonwealth and Holland, and they seem of sufficient interest to warrant the following quotation: The movements of great states are often directed by as slender springs as those of individuals. Though war with so considerable a naval power as the Dutch, who were in peace with all their own neighbors, might seem dangerous to the yet unsettled commonwealth, there were several motives which, at this time, induced the English parliament to embrace hostile measures. Many of the members thought that a foreign war would serve as a pretence for continuing the same parhament, and delaying the new model of a representative with which the nation had so long been flattered. Others hoped that the war would furnish a reason for maintaining, some time longer, that numerous standing army which was so much complained of. On the other hand, some who dreaded the increasing power of Cromwell expected that the great expense of naval armaments would prove a motive for diminishing the military establishment. To divert the attention of the public from domestic quarrels toward foreign transactions seemed, in the present disposition of men's minds, to be good policy. The superior power of the English commonwealth, to- gether with its advantages of situation, promised sue- [29] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK cess ; and the parliamentary leaders hoped to gain many rich prizes from the Dutch, to distress and sink their flourishing commerce, and, by their victories, to throw a lustre on their own establishment, which was so new and unpopular. All these views, enforced by the violent spirit of St. John, who had great influence over Crom- well, determined the parliament to change the purposed alliance into a furious war against the United Provinces. Cromwell was not content with fighting the Dutch in the Old World ; he decided to carry the war into the New World. He notified the colonial governors in New England that he would send a fleet to America, " and he called upon them to give their utmost assistance for gaining the Man- hattans and other places under the power of the Dutch." Four armed vessels were despatched across the Atlantic to New England, where their commanders were to confer with the New Eng- land governors regarding the attack upon the Dutch. The instructions given by Secretary Thurlow were as follows : Being come to the Manhattoes, you shall, by surprise, open force, or otherwise, endeavor to take the place. You have power to give them quarter in case it be ren- dered upon summons without opposition. If the Lord give his blessing you shall not use cruelty to the in- habitants, but encourage those who are willing to remain [30] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK under the English flag, and give Hberty to others to transport themselves to Europe. When Governor Stuyvesant was informed of the proposed attack, with his usual energy he be- gan his preparations for defense. Seventy men were enlisted and the supplies necessary for a siege were collected. The New England col- onies responded favorably to the appeal for as- sistance against the Dutch, and Connecticut promised two hundred men, and Plymouth or- dered fifty men into the service, giving the com- mand to Captain Miles Standish and Captain Thomas Willett. JNIassachusetts consented to the enrolment of five hundred volunteers. Plymouth qualified its action by the statement that " we concur in hostile measures against our ancient Dutch enemies, only in reference unto the na- tional quarrel." Before the fleet sailed from Boston news was received that peace had been concluded between England and Holland, and further hostilities were in consequence abandoned. It was natural and right that this war should terminate, and, in 1654, peace was signed by Cromwell, who had then been invested with the dignity of Protector, and a defensive league was made between the two republics. [31] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK Cromwell died, and with him perished the fab- ric of his personal rule; for, like Frederick the Great and Napoleon, he had builded, not on broad principles, but on personal force and ability, which he could not leave in their might and power to any successor; so, after his son's short negative rule, the Stuarts came back in 1660. In 1664 the Commons passed a vote that the wrongs, disasters, and indignities offered to the Eng- lish by the subjects of the United Provinces were the greatest obstruction to all foreign trade, and they prom- ised to assist the King with their lives and fortunes in asserting the rights of his Crown against all opposi- tion whatever. Hume, in speaking of this action, continues as follows : This was the first open step towards the Dutch war. We must explain the cause and motives of this measure. That close union and confederacy which, during a course of near seventy years, has subsisted, almost with- out interruption or jealousy, between England and Holland, is not so much founded on the natural, unal- terable interests of these states, as on their terror of the growing power of the French monarch, who, without their combination, it is apprehended, would soon extend his dominion over Europe. In the first years of Charles' reign, when the ambitious genius of Lewis had not, as [32] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK yet, displayed itself, and when the great force of the people was in some measure unknown, even to themselves, the rivalship of commerce, not checked by any other jealousy or apprehension, had, in England, begotten a violent enmity against the neighboring republic. Trade was beginning among the English to be a mat- ter of general concern ; but, notwithstanding all their efforts and advantages, their commerce seemed hitherto to stand upon a footing which was somewhat precarious. The Dutch, who, by industry and frugality, were able to undersell them in every market, retained possession of the most lucrative branches of commerce; and the Eng- lish merchants had the mortification to find that all attempts to extend their trade were still turned, by the vigilance of their rivals, to their loss and dishonor. Their indignation increased when they considered the superior naval power of England; the bravery of her officers and seamen, her favorable situation, which en- abled her to intercept the whole Dutch commerce. By the prospect of these advantages, they were strongly prompted, from motives less just than political, to make war upon the States ; and at once to ravish from them by force what they could not obtain, or could ob- tain but slowly, by superior skill and industry. Notwithstanding the fact that the two coun- tries were still at peace, Charles II, in 1664, granted to the Duke of York all the territories between the Connecticut River and Delaware Bay, being practically a grant of New Nether- [33] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK lands; in April of the same year four vessels, under the command of Robert Nicolls, with three hundred and fifty soldiers, sailed for New Eng- land, and in the month of August the fl.eet entered the Narrows. In deference to the entreaties of the people, Stuyvesant, who personally was dis- posed to fight, surrendered to Nicolls. For this act Stuyvesant was severely criticized, and was called to The Hague to explain his conduct; but his action has been deemed by the most careful students of that time to have been a practical ne- cessity in view of the certain defeat of the Dutch had hostilities been commenced. In 1673 the Dutch recaptured the city, but by the treaty of Westminster, signed in 1674, it was agreed that England and Holland should return to each other the conquests made during hostilities, and in ac- cordance with this provision New Netherlands was again transferred to English rule, its name was changed, and since that time it has been known to the world as New York. The Dutch generally accepted Colonel Nic- oUs's rule. Two militia companies were organized, the officers of which were among the distinguished Dutch citizens who accepted their commissions from Colonel Nicolls. Nicolls undoubtedly com- manded the respect of the Dutch, and after four years' service as governor was succeeded by Colo- [34] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK nel Francis Lovelace, who for five years, until 1683, held the position with benefit to all con- cerned. Peace and quiet marked these years. In the year 1671, Charles II had for eleven years been King of England, and the austere life of the Puritan rulers had given way to the laxity of the Stuart court. The King, affable and witty and indolent, tried in secret to undermine the power of Parliament. Apparently caring no- thing for business, his time given up to pleasure, he was steadily striving to make himself inde- pendent of Parliament. He treated the most serious subjects with levity; when the Duke of York told him of plots against his life, he laugh- ingly replied: " They will never kill me to make you king " ; and on his death-bed he apologized to those around for being such an unconscionable time in dying; but beneath his frivolity ran the strong undercurrent of the wish for the power of an absolute monarch. " A king," he thought, " who might be checked, and have his ministers called to an account, was but a king in name " ; and bribe and flattery were freely used where they could be made effective. Louise la Querouaille had been created Duchess of Portsmouth, and the influence of the French court, though secret, was powerful in England. Louis XIV was, as Green says, the avowed " champion of Catholi- [35] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK cism and despotism against civil and religious liberty throughout the world " ; and Charles was willing to make almost any terms with Louis if he could secure in return the money which would make him independent. In 1670, he and his sis- ter, Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, made a secret treaty at Dover, as the result of the King's offer to declare himself a Catholic and join France in an attack on Holland, if Louis would " grant him a subsidy equal to a million a year." The secret treaty, among other things, provided that, if necessary, Charles should have a French army sent over to him. The picture of the life at court, with its decep- tions, its falseness, its lack of honor, presents the strongest possible contrast with the simple lives and earnest work of the men who had founded and were developing the colonies in North Amer- ica. Occasionally some one in America, like Governor Berkeley of Virginia, tried to block progress, as when he said: "There are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have, these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both! " But in the main the schools were laying the broad foundations of public intelli- [36] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK gence ; while churches were simply and faithfully helping men to be strong and good. The spirit which actuated the Puritans, a spirit sometimes narrow but always earnest, a spirit which pro- tested, perhaps sometimes too forcefully, against the pleasures of the world, but with indomitable energy against its excesses and extravagances, permeated the men and women of New England; while in New Amsterdam, notwithstanding the mingling of races which then, as now, was one of its marked characteristics, the stui'dy, honest spirit of the Dutch, the spirit of the men who prefen-ed death by the sword or starvation or drowning to acceptance of the Spanish rule, helped powerfully to form the character of the people. The early days of the settlement on the island of JManhattan were not its golden age. In 1654 pirates and robbers infested the shores of Long- Island, treating with great cruelty the unprotected inliabitants. The rule of Governor Kieft was in- tensely unsatisfactory, and there were many mis- understandings between the burghers and Kieft's successor, the brave, honest, and impetuous Stuy- vesant. One of the most extraordinary traits in Stuyvesant's character was his intolerance in re- ligious matters and his bitterness toward the Quakers. His treatment of the Quaker Hodg- [37] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK son was inexplicably severe; beside being fined and imprisoned, Hodgson was chained to a wheel- barrow and whipped by a negro, and, later, he was hung up by his hands and again whipped. Stuyvesant felt that he was the source of all power and authority, and when Jacob Corlear opened a school without Stuy\^esant's permission, it was promptly closed. His treatment of the Indians was not above criticism. In one of the unfortunate wars some of the Indian captives were sent as slaves to the island of Cm'a9ao. In England and on the Continent there was a desire to know more about the new lands beyond the seas, and in the year 1671 there was published at Amsterdam a description of America by Jacob van Meurs, plate-cutter and book-binder. The book was published in Dutch, and the title-page bears the following description of the work : The new and unknown World, or Description of America and the South Land; containing the origin of the Americans and the Southlandcrs ; remarkable travels thither, situation of the continental coasts, islands, towns, fortified places, villages, temples, mountains, fountains, streams, houses, the sort of animals, trees, plants and strange herbs, rehgion and manners, re- markable events, ancient and modern wars, ornamented with figures taken from life in America, and described by Arnoldus Montanus. [38] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK Below this there is a figure of a woman with two faces, one looking to the right and one to the left, suggesting the Respice Prospice of the Colonial Order. In her right hand she holds a mirror and in her left five snakes, and her foot rests upon a prostrate figure. Beneath the pic- ture are the words Invidice Prudentia VictrLv. Then follow the words, " At Amsterdam by Ja- cob JNIeurs, book-binder and plate-cutter." In the same year there was published in Lon- don a book in which the illustrations were made from the same plates as were used in the book by Montanus just referred to. The title-page of this English book is as follows: America: Being the Latest, and most Accurate De- scription of the New Workl, containing the Original of the Inhabitants and the Remarkable Voyages thither. The conquest of the vast Empires of Mexico and Peru, and other large Provinces and Territories, with the sev- eral European Plantations in those parts. Also their Cities, Fortresses, Towns, Temples, Mountains and Rivers. Their Habits, Customs, Manners and Rehgions. Their Plants, Beasts, Birds and Serpents. With an Appendix, containing, besides several other considerable additions, a brief Survey of what hath been discover'd of the Unknown South-Land and the Arctick Region. Collected from most Authentick Authors, Augmented with later Observations and adorned with Maps and [39] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK Sculptures by John Ogilby, Esq; His Majesty's Printer and Master of the Revels, of Ireland. London. Printed by the Author and are to be had at his House in White Fryers, M.DC.LXXI. It appears to be impossible to detemiine with absolute certainty what relation these two publica- tions bore to each other. Mr. William Loring Andrews, in his interesting book " New Amster- dam, New Orange, New York," says that the English publication " is a plagiarism (probably authorized) of the work of Montanus," and he speaks of it as " Ogilby's clumsy folio volume." The experts in the Congressional Library, how- ever, state that it is a matter of surmise as to what were the relations between the publishers of the two books or the terms upon which the use of the plates was secured. They also state that it has not yet been proved whether the plates were originally made b}^ Meurs and afterward secured by Ogilby, or the reverse ; but the inference is per- haps a safe one that JMeurs was the engraver by whom the plates were executed, although there is no evidence establishing conclusively the fact that he engraved the illustrations for this work. Comparatively little is known about him. He was born at Amsterdam. The date of his birth is uncertain, but his work was done between the [40] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK years 1648 and 1671. He was a painter, drafts- man, engraver, and publisher. He engraved frontispieces and other decorative work for i)ub- lishers, and title-pages and illustrations. He also engraved portraits; in a list furnished by the chief of the print division of the Congressional Library, the following eleven portraits are at- tributed to him: 1. Nicholaus Copernicus, astronomer. 2. Charles II, King of Great Britain (after Van Dyck). 3. Sibrandus Franciscus Eydelschemius (after S. Faber). 4. Georgius Calixtus. 5. Heinrich von Diest. 6. Sibylla van Griethuysen. 7. Andreas Rivetus, 1650. 8. Carolus D. G. Anglie, Scotiae et Hlbcrnije, Rex. 9. Samuel Meresius Picardus, SS. 10. Rombout Hogerbeets, 1648. 11. Tycho Brahe. This list does not include the portraits in the Montanus and Ogilby folios, and in the German translation. The only portrait which bears his name is that of Tycho Brahe. In the year 1673 there was published at Am- [41] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK sterdam a German translation of the work by Montanus. The title-page bears the name of Jacob van JNIeurs, and this would indicate that the German publication was made in accordance with an arrangement effected with Meurs, who pub- lished the Montanus work; the same plates were used for the German publication. The plate which is the subject of this article appears on page 124 of the book by JMontanus referred to above. In the Ogilby folio the following description of New York accompanies this plate : Now begins New Netherland to lose the Name, for His Majesty having conferr'd by Patent upon His Royal Highness the Duke of York and Albany, all the acqui- sitions made upon Foreigners, together with Long- Island, the West end whereof was early settled and peopled by Dutch-men ; His Roj'al Highness impowered, by Commission as his Deputy-Governor, Colonel Nicols, Groom of his Bed-chamber, to take the Charge and Di- rection of Reducing and Governing all those Territories ; it was by him thought fit, to change some principal de- nominations of Places, viz.. New Netherland into York- shire; New Amsterdam into New York; Fort Amscel into Fort James ; Fort Orange into Fort Albany ; and withal, to change Burgomasters, Schepen, and Schout, into Mayor, Aldermen and Sheriff, with Justices of the Peace ; so that all the Civil Policy is conformable to the [42] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK Methods and Practice of England, whereas New Eng- land retains only the name of Constable in their whole Rolls of Civil Officers. It is placed upon the neck of the Island Manhatans, looking towards the Sea; encompass'd with Hudson's River which is Six Miles broad; the town is compact and oval, with very fair streets and several good Houses ; the rest are built much after the manner of Holland, to the number of about four hundred Houses, which in those parts are held considerable: Upon one side of the Town is James-Fort, capable to lodge three hundred Souldiers and officers; it hath four Bastions; forty Pieces of Cannon mounted; the walls of Stone, lin'd with a thick Rampart of Earth; well accommodated with a Spring of fresh Water, always furnished with Arms and Ammunition, against Accidents : Distant from the Sea seven Leagues, it affords a safe entrance, even to unskilful Pilots; under the Town side. Ships of any Burthen may Ride secure against any Storms, the Cur- rent of the River being broken by the interposition of a small Island, which lies a Mile distant from the Town. About ten Miles from New York is a Place call'd Hell- Gate, which being a narrow Passage, there runneth a violent Stream both upon Flood and Ebb; and in the middle lie some Rocky Islands which the Current sets so violently upon that it threatens present Shipwrack; and upon the Flood is a large Whirlwind, which contin- ually sends forth a hideous roaring, enough to affright any Stranger from passing farther, and to wait for some Charon to conduct him through; yet to those who are [43] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK well acquainted, little or no danger: It is a place of great Defence against any Enemy coming in that way, which a small Fortification would absolutely prevent, and necessitate them to come in at the West end of Long Island by Sandy Hook, where Nutten Island forces them within the Command of the Fort at New York, which is one of the best pieces of Defence in the North parts of America. It is built most of brick and Stone, and coverr'd with red and black Tyle, and the Land being high, it gives at a distance a pleasing prospect to the Spectators. The Inhabitants consist most of Eng- lish and Dutch, and have a considerable trade with In- dians for Beaver, Otter and Rackoon-Skins, with other Furrs: as also for Bear, Deer and Elke-Skins; and are supply'd with Venison and Fowl in the Winter, and Fish in the Summer by the Indians, which they buy at an easie Rate ; and having the countrey round about them, they are continually furnish'd with all such Provisions as are needful for the life of Man not only by the English and Dutch within their own but likewise by the adjacent Colonies, The church which appears in the picture was begun under somewhat interesting circumstances. The energetic De Vries told Governor Kieft that a church should be built, and he contributed one hundred guilders for the purpose. Kieft prom- ised one thousand guilders in behalf of the West India Company, and at the wedding-feast of a daughter of Domine Bogardus, " after the [44] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK fourth or fifth round of drinking," a subscription list was produced and generous amounts were promptly placed upon it by the guests. In the front wall of the church there was a stone with the inscription: "Anno Domini 1642, William Kieft, Director-General, Hath the Commonalty built this Temple." Worship was carried on here until 1693, after which the building was used for military purposes until it was destroyed by fire in 1741. In 1790 the stone upon which the in- scription had been cut was found by workmen who were digging at the southern end of Bowling Green. The stone was put inside the Garden Street Church, but was destroj^ed when that building was burned in 1835. The gallows in the picture in question remind us that even in those early days there were male- factors, and that the people of 1671 had to deal with criminals. The higher gallows has the rep- resentation of a man suspended from it. This was a punishment for malefactors introduced by Governor Kieft. The convicted man had a belt fastened around his waist and was then suspended in the air. In the print, the representation of a number of people gathered about the gallows in- dicates that there was public interest in watching the operation of this method of punishment. Governor Kief t's inile was in many ways most un- [45] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK fortunate, and while the records do not tell when this method of punishment was abandoned, it may be assumed that public sentiment finally con- demned it. Perhaps not the least interesting feature of the book is its maps, which show a remarkable accu- racy in their general delineation of the outlines of the Western Hemisphere. The Atlantic Coast, the Gulf of ^Mexico, the West Indies, and South America are in their general outlines reproduced with surprising accuracy. California is, however, represented as an island, and no attempt is made to complete the map of the northwestern part of North America. The island of Magellan — called on the map INIaggelanica — is placed south of the continent of South America, with Cape Horn as its southern point. The volume contains many engravings, repre- senting the various phases of the lives of the peo- ple described, their religious ceremonies, includ- ing human sacrifices, and the chase, as well as pictures of cities and villages. A striking contrast is presented between the plate which accompanies the description of New York and that which pictures the city of Havana. At the entrance of the harbor of Havana there are stone piers and fortresses and a stone tower ; two tall spires rise above churches of considerable size, [46] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK and there are many more houses, and they are of larger size and more substantial appearance, than those which appear in the picture of New York. Although the plate which is reproduced here from the work of Montanus bears the date 1671, it represents the city at an earlier time. The pic- ture is generally considered to be a reproduction, with slight changes, of the plate w^hich is an inset in the map of N. J. Visscher, entitled " Novi Belgii novffique Anglise nee non Partis Virginise Tabula, multis in locis emendata a Nicolas Joan- nis Visscher, 1656," and it is believed by some, although this is not established with certainty, that the picture of Visscher's map was taken from a sketch or drawing made by Augustine Her- mans in the year 1656. The following account of him is given in Jasper Dankers' and I^eter Sluyter's " Journal of a Voyage to New York and a Tour in several of the American Colonies in 1679-80," translated from the original manu- script and edited by Henry C. Murphy, Brook- lyn, 1867 (Long Island Historical Society Memoirs, Vol. I, page 230, foot-note) : Augustine Hermans or Heermans, called also Har- man, was a Bohemian by birth but came from Hol- land to New Amsterdam in or before 1647, in which year he was appointed by the Director and Council of New [47] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK Netherland one of the Nine Men, a body of citizens selected to assist the Government by their counsel and advice. He came over to this country as a clerk to John and Charles Gabry of Amsterdam. He was sent in company with Resolved Waldron by the Dutch Governor to the Governor of Maryland to confer in relation to the claim of title of the proprietor of Maryland to the South River. This no doubt led to his subsequent set- tlement on Bohemia river, so named by him, in that province. He seems to have been a surveyor and draughtsman. In addition to the map of Maryland, stated by our journal to have been made by him, which seems to have been the consideration for the grant of Bohemia manor, he made a sketch of the city of New Amsterdam, which was engraved on Nicolas Jan Viss- cher's map Novi Belgii Novreque Angliae nee non partis Virginifp, published in 1650-6, and also on a reduced scale from Visscher's map on the map prefixed to the second edition of Vanderdonk's Description of New Netherland. The influence of the Dutch upon the city of New York has been lasting. Some of the names which are to-day honored in the great metropolis of the Western world are found in the records of the early years of the little settlement ; and al- though the throng of newcomers which has poured into the city from every corner of the world has taken from it its distinctively Dutch [48] DUTCH INFLUENCE IN NEW YORK characteristics, yet it must be recognized that the honesty and worth of men like Stuyvesant and his contemporaries have contributed in no small measure to the maintenance of the best traditions of the city. [49] ORANJE BOVEN N June 29, 1672, the partisans of the young Prince of Or- ange, welcomed him at Dor- drecht with the old national song, " Wilhelmus Van Nas- sauwen," and by hoisting an orange flag above a white flag, the upper one bearing an in- scription in Dutch : Oranje Boven! de Witten ander, Die 't Anders Meend die Slaat den Donder. (Orange above, the whites under, Who thinks not so be struck by thunder.)^ The use of the word " de Witten " in the above couplet was a pun upon the name de Witt. " De Witten," meaning white, referred to the grand 1 Brodhead, History N. Y., Vol. II, page 203. [51] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK pensionary John de Witt and his brother Cor- neHiis, against whom the Dutch, at that time, had a strong feeling of resentment, and both of whom were afterward murdered by the populace on August 20, 1672, as Cornelius de Witt was being released from prison. According to the historian of the Holland So- ciety of New York, which has done so much to perpetuate the memory of the Dutch founders of our city, the origin of the cry " Oranje Boven! " is as follows: When the "Sea Beggars" first flung aloft the colors of William the Silent, orange, white, and blue in horizontal bars, there was some uncertainty as to which of the colors should be uppermost. To obviate the danger of mistake, it grew to be the custom of the skipper, in giving the command to raise the flag, to shout "Oranje Boven!" so that the Prince's colors should float nearest heaven.^ This old cry, which had been revived in the Fatherland, was soon to become as popular in that distant colony of the Netherlands across the sea. On August 12, 1673, the Dutch in America came again into their own. When the Dutch admirals Evertsen and Bencks, after having cap- tured the fort on Manhattan Island without a shot fired in its defense, ordered the Prince's 1 HoUand Society Year Book 1901, page 108. [52] ORANJE BOVEN colors to be flung to the breeze from its flagstaff, the old erj^ of " Oranje Boven! " must have rung out from the sturdy burghers as they welcomed their own countrymen marching down Broadway into the fort. In honor of this victorious young prince, then only twenty-two, the city of New Amsterdam, which for nine years had been called " New York," was now rechristened " New Orange," and Fort Amsterdam, which under English rule had been known as " Fort James," received the new name of " Fort William Hen- drick." To the conqueror as well as to the conquered, this event, which transferred the province from the possession of the English to the States-Gen- eral of Holland, was entirely unexpected. The recapture of New York was not due to any well-formed design, but was brought about by one of those lucky fortunes of war of which the Dutch took advantage. The Dutch fleet just prior to this time was cruising ofl" the coast of Virginia and had captured a sloop of which a Yankee, Samuel Davis, was master. The admirals ques- tioned Davis as to the forces at New York. Davis replied with Yankee bluff* that in two hours' time Governor Lovelace could raise five thousand men in defense of the fort, and that there were one hundred and fifty pieces of ordnance mounted, [53] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK fit for service, upon its walls. After receiving this information the Dutch admirals, it is said, felt no desire to go to New York. But on the sloop which they had captured was another New Englander, a INIr. Samuel Hopkins, who is re- ferred to as a " professor," and who had been liv- ing for some years at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. The admirals next inquired of him as to the de- fenses of New York, and received the reply that there might possibly be between sixty and eighty men at the fort; that in three or four days' time it might be possible to raise three or four hundred men; that there were only thirty to thirty-six pieces of ordnance on the walls of the fort, and that a shot or two would shake them out of their carriages.^ It was this information that started the Dutch fleet for New York, and it was due to Hopkins's veracity and the Dutch ability to get at the real facts that the English lost con- trol of the Province of New York from August, 1673, to November, 1674. Honesty seems to have been the best policy for the professor, for subse- quent events, as proved by the records, show that on September 1, 1673, Hopkins was appointed, by the Dutch Council, secretary for the six New ^ Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of N. Y., Vol. Ill, page 200. [54] ORANJE BOVEN Jersey towns, viz., Elizabethtown, Newark, Woodbridge, Piseataway, Middletown, and Shrewsbury.^ Hopkins's information upon the subject proved quite correct, for, according to Captain Planning, there were only seventy or eighty men in the fort and forty guns mounted on its walls. The third of the series of views issued by the New York Chapter of the Colonial Order at their annual banquet, November 30, 1898, shows our city at this very interesting period in its history. Like the other five views of the city issued by the order, it is a line engra^^ng by E. D. French, and it is entitled " New York in 1673 "; but, unlike some of the other views, the date which the title ascribes to it is approximately correct. Mr. French has faithfully reproduced this view of the city as it appears on the border of a map of the Dutch possessions in America, made by JNIatthew Seutter, Mr. William Loring Andrews having kindly loaned the order this map from his collec- tion. This view of the city of New York was pub- lished toward the close of the seventeenth cen- tury and in the beginning of the eighteenth century, on several maps and in various collec- ^ Documents Rel. Colonial History, Vol. II, page 595. [55] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK tions of views. The following is a list of the publications, arranged as nearly as possible in the chronological order of their appearance : 1. Map of Hugo Allard. 2. The first map of Carolus Allard. 3. The second map of Carolus Allard. 4. Carolus Allard's " Orbis Habitabilis Oppida et Vestitutus." 5. Peter Schenk's " Hecatompolis." 6. Peter Mortier's engraving of New Amsterdam. 7. Maps of Matthew Seutter. 8. Map of Tobias Cornelius Lotter. 9. Map of Joaclm Ottens. 10. Map of Reinler and Joshua Ottens. 1. MAP OF HUGO ALLARD:— This map of a part of America, showing the New Nether- lands, was published toward the end of the seven- teenth century by Hugo Allard. It has the fol- lowing title: 'tOTIUS NEOBELGII NOVA ET ACCURATISSIMA TABULAR and this view of New York City appears on its border with the folloAving title: " Nieuw- Amsterdam on- langs Nieuw Jork genoemt en nu liernomen by de Nederlanders den 24 aug. 1673" ^ The map bears this inscription: "Hugo Allardt, eoccut." A reproduction of this view, as it appears on ^ Asher's Bibliography of New Netherlands. [56] ORANJE BOVEN Hugo Allard's map, may be seen in Asher's " List of the Maps and Charts of New Netherlands and of the Views of New Amsterdam." As there is in this city no original of this map with which a comparison can be made, it cannot be stated whe- ther the view has been accurately reproduced in all its details. There are evidences that it proba- bly has not been faithfully reproduced. Hugo (or Huyck) Allard was a Dutch portrait en- graver,^ his principal portrait being that of Adrian Pau.^ He is said to have flourished about the middle of the seventeenth century, but no bi- ography of him gives either the date of his birth or death. There is a landscape by him dated " 1696." It is the opinion of Asher that the ori- ginal engraving for the view on Hugo Allard's map was made by the celebrated artist, Romeyn de Hooge, who was born at The Hague in 1646 and died in 1708.^^ Strutt says that Romeyn de Hooge was a designer of considerable note,* and that, " as to his etchings, no man ever handled the point with more facility than he." Most of his important engravings were dedicated to his pa- * Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Vol. I, page 21. Kramm, Vols. I-II, page 12. Nagler, Vol. I, page 60. 'Spooner's Biographical History of the Fine Arts, page 18. 'Bryan's Dictionary Painters and Engravers, Vol. I, page 370. Spooner, page 410. Kramm, Vols. III-IV, page 736. * Strutt, Biographical Dictionary Engravers, Vol. II, page 30. [57] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK tron, the Prince of Orange, but in no account of his works is this engraving mentioned. 2 and 3. THE MAPS OF CAROLUS AL- LARD: — Carolus Allard pubhshed two maps of the New Netherlands. The first of these bore the same title as Hugo Allard's map, except that it had the signature '' Carolus Allardt, excut.f' in the place of "Hugo Allardt, eoocut" His first map is said to have been the same as Hugo Al- lard's map, and the view of New York on its bor- der is the same as Hugo Allard's view. When he issued his second map, he is said to have made changes in the map and to have made additions both to the title of the view and to the signature of the map.^ The title of the view on his second map has the following words added : " eindelijk aan de Engelse Weder afgestaan ^^ (meaning "fi- nally again surrendered to the English") .^ The signature to the map was changed so that it reads as follows: " Typis Caroli Allard Amstelodami cum privilegio." Windsor, in his " Narrative and Critical History of America," reproduces this view of New York, and states that it is from Caro- lus Allard's second map, and gives a key showing the various buildings in the city by initial letters. ' Asher's Bibliography of New Netherlands. * Wilson's Memorial History N. Y., page 347. [58] ORANJE BOVEN This key, as given by Windsor, corresponds ex- actly with the key accompanying the view on Ot- ten's map, which will be referred to later. Caro- lus AUard, sometimes called Karl Allard, was a copperplate engraver at Amsterdam who flour- ished toward the close of the seventeenth century and in the beginning of the eighteenth century/ He was also a print-seller. He published at Am- sterdam in 1695 and again in 1705 a book called " Niewe Hollandse Scheeps-Bouw," etc., being a treatise on the architecture of ships, and contain- ing engravings of English, Dutch, and French admirals' ships, also engravings of the flags of all nations. He also published engravings of por- traits of various distinguished persons, including the Lady Cleverland, Nell Gwyn, Louise, Duch- ess of Portsmouth, and others.^ A. C AEOLUS ALLARD'S " ORBIS HA- BITABILIS OPPIDA ET VESTITU- TUS":—Thh was a book published at Amster- dam (no date) by Carolus Allard, containing one hundred colored views of various cities, two of which are of New York, both being our view ; but in one a greater part of the city is obscured by al- * Bryan's Dictionary Painters and Engravers, Vol. I, page 21. Nagler, Vol. I, page 60. Spooner, page 18. 'Kramm, Vols. I-II, page 11. Strutt's Biographical Dictionary of Engravers, Vol. I, page 13. Spooner, page 18. [59] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK legorical figures in the foreground. A reproduc- tion of these two views may be seen in Mr. Wil- liam Loring Andrews's book, " New Amsterdam, New Orange and New York." A copy of this book may be found at the Lenox Branch of the New York Public Library in this city. A care- ful comparison of this view with those produced on the above-mentioned maps will show several noticeable variations. In this view, as well as in the two succeeding views that will be mentioned, the weigh-house is situated between the dock at the foot of Whitehall Street and the pier next north, extending in the East River, while on all the map views the weigh-house is situated to the north of the long dock. The direction of the wind, as shown by the flags in this view, appears to be northeast, while in the views on the maps it always appears to be from the southwest. 5. PETER SCHENK'S '' HECATOM- POLIS ";— In the year 1702 Peter Schenk pub- lished at Amsterdam a book with the following title : " Hecatompolis sive Totius Orhis Terra- rum Oppida Nohiliora Centum exquisite Col- lecta atque eleganter depicta" This work con- tains one hundred views in black and white of various cities of the world, and our view is given on plate 92 with the following title: [60] ORANJE BOVEN Nieu Amsterdam een ste- Amstelodamum recens, deken in Noord Amerikaes postea Anglis illud possi- I Nieu Hollant, op het dentibus ] dictum Eboar- eilant Mankattan : namaels cum novum, Hollandiae Nieu-jork genaemt, | toen novae, id est Americae ] het geraekte in H gebiet Mexicanae sive Septentri- der Engelschen. onalis oppidulum. A copy of this book may be seen in the Lenox Branch of the New York Pubhc Library, and there is another copy in ^Ir. William Loring An- drews's library. The two copies seem to differ only in the fact that in Mr. Andrews's copy the plates are all numbered, whereas in the Lenox copy they have no numbers. Peter Schenk was an engraver, publisher, and art collector. He was born at Elberfeld in Germany in 1645. He mar- ried the daughter of Gerard Valck, a celebrated portrait-painter, who was born about 1626 and died 1720. Peter Schenk went into partnership some time after 1672 with his father-in-law Valck, and together they bought out the stock of J. Jansen at Amsterdam, who had been a pub- lisher of maps, and who was then deceased. Schenk and Valck published a multitude of prints engraved both by themselves and others. In 1683 Schenk and Valck published in two vol- umes their large Dutch Atlas. Schenk was named by Augustus II, King of Poland, as [61] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK " Hofgraveur." Peter Schenk died in 1715. Nagler gives a list of 179 of his engravings.^ Gerard Valck is said to have engraved one of the finest prints we have. It is that of the Duchess of Mazarin, done in 1678. Valck was at work in England in 1672, where he engraved a portrait of James II, and also of Nell Gwyn.^ 6. PETER MORTIER'S ENGRAVING OF NEW AMSTERDAM:— Thh engraving is supposed to have been published about the year 1690. It is on a plate 7i inches by 9f inches, and was probably originally published in a col- lection of views. A copy of this engraving by itself may be seen at the INIetropolitan INIuseum of Art in New York City, in the Huntington Collection. Its title is as follows: " N. Amster- dam ou N. Jork 171 Ameriq." Information as to Peter Mortier, his birth and death and other cir- cumstances of his life, is very meager. It is known, however, that he was an art collector at Amsterdam, and a publisher, and that his name appears on the pages of a work by Luyken.^ He ' Bryan's Dictionary Painters and Engravers, Vol. II, page 465. Kramm, Vols. V-VI, page 1473. Nagler, Vol. XV, page 185. Spooner, page 859. AUgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Vol. XXXI, page 5Q. ^ Bryan's Dictionary Painters and Engravers, Vol. II, page 603. Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, Vol. Ill, page 940. Nagler, Vol. XIX, page 304. Spooner, page 1009. Kramm, Vols. V-VI, page 1669. ^ Nagler, Vol. IX, page 510. [62] ORANJE BOVEN published at Amsterdam, in the year 1700, a folio entitled: "Atlas Nouveau, Contenant Toutes Les Parties Du Monde. Par Sanson. Preseiite au Dauphin par Jaillot." He also published " Atlas Maior " of Frederick de Wit at Amster- dam, which on its colored frontispiece has the no- tice, "Sold by Christopher Browne at ye Globe at the West End of St. Paul's Church." ^ This was probably published about the year 1690. A close comparison of this view as shown in the three prints made by Carolus Allard, Peter Schenk, and Peter Mortier, would lead to the conclusion that though different plates were used, yet the three are copies of each other ; but as to who was the originator and who were the followers it is difficult to determine. 7. MAPS OF MATTHEW SEUTTER: — Matthew Seutter was a German map manu- facturer and publisher and engraver on copper. He was born at Augsburg, Germany, in 1678, and when young was apprenticed at Nuremberg to Johann Baptist Homann, who at that time was one of the most noted map-manufacturers, and upon whom the Emperor Charles VI in 1715 conferred the title of " Imperial Geographer." Homann was born in 1663 and died in 1724.^ * See Atlas in Lenox Library. ^ AUgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Vol. XIII, page 35. [63] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK After serving an apprenticeship with Homann, Seutter commenced the work of publishing maps in 1707 at Augsburg, and in 1730, Homann be- ing then dead, he received the title of " Imperial Geographer." He continued the publication of maps at Augsburg until his death in 1757, when his business was continued by his son-in-law Lotter.^ Seutter published maps of all countries, and on many of them he engraved plans and views of cities. ]\Iany of his maps may be seen in the libraries of the various societies in this city. His map from which Mr. French copied the view at the head of this article bore the following title : RECENS EDITA | TOTIUS | NOVI BELGII | IN I AMERICA SEPTENTRIONALI | SITI, | DELIN- EATIO I CURA ET SUMTIBUS, | MATTHAEI SEUTTERI, I SAC. CAES. MAJ. GEOGRAPHI | AUGUST VIND. Cum Gratia et Privil. S. R. I. Vicariat \ vn parti Rheni, Sveviae, et Juris | Franconicis. The view has the simple title, " Neu Jorck sive Neu Amsterdam." Below the view on this map appears a key in the Latin language, showing by initial letters the various public buildings and places of interest. It will be seen from the title of this map, which is in Mr. Andrews's collection, ^ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographic, Vol, XXXIV, page 70. [64] ORANJE BOVEN that it was published after the year 1730, as Seutter has inscribed himself " Sac. Caes. Maj. Geographi " (Imperial Geographer) "August Vind." (Augsburg or Augusta Vindelicorum) . There is in the New York Historical Society li- brary another map published by Seutter with the same title and view, except that he has added after his own name the simple designation " Chalcogra- phi Augustani," " Chart-maker of Augsburg," omitting his title of " Imperial Geographer," which would indicate that the Historical Society map was published before he received that royal favor, and therefore at an earlier date than Mr. Andrews's copy. The Seutter map at the His- torical Society is bound in a very interesting col- lection of old maps, some eighteen or twenty of which are Seutter's work, and a few of the maps showing various parts of North America. This volume of maps is entitled: '"Atlas of 185 Maps \ collected in Holland \ about the year 1760 \ by I Dirk Van Der Weyde, A. M., \ bound in the City of Old Amsterdam \ 1763; \ presented to the I Historical Society \ in the City of New Am- sterda7n \ by his grandson \ Pieter Hendrik Van Der Weyde, M.D., \ 1863/" Seutter's work on these maps, when compared with that of the other publishers, appears much inferior, the lines be- ing heavy and the work clumsily done. [65] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK 8. MAP OF TOBIAS CORNELIUS LOTTER: — Asher states that Lotter published a map of New Netherlands with a title identical with that of Seutter's, except that in place of the words " Matthaei Seutteri," appear the words " Tob. Conr. Lotteri." As Tobias Lotter was Seutter's son-in-law and succeeded to his business in 1757, and also to his title of Imperial Geog- rapher, the date of the publication of Lotter's map may be placed certainly as late as 1757. No original of this map has been accessible for ref- erence in this city, but Asher states that it con- tains our view of the city on its border. Lotter was born in 1717 and died in 1777. 9. MAP OF JOACIM OTTENS .—Asher states that Joacim Ottens published a map of New Netherlands which was exactly the same as Carolus Allard's second map, the only change being that the words " Joacim Ottens " appear in the signature in place of the words " Carolus Allard," and that it contains this same view of the city.^ 10. MAP OF REINIER AND JOSHUA OTTENS : — A very fine copy of this map may be seen in the Lenox Branch of the New York *Asher's Bibliography of New Netherlands. [66] ORANJE BOVEN Public Library, bound in an extra illustrated copy of Mary L. Booth's " History of the City of New York." The title of the map is identical with that of the title of Carolus AUard's second map, and the signature is the same as Joacim Ottens's map, except that the words " Typis Joa- cim " have been replaced by the words " apud Reinier <| Joshua/' The title of the view on this map is as follows: '' Nieuw Amsterdam onlangs Nieuw Jorch genacmt, ende hernomen bj de Ne- derlanders op den 2Jt- aug. 1673, eindelyh aan de Engelse weder afgestaan." This title corre- sponds exactly with the title of the view on Caro- lus Allard's second map, as quoted by Windsor. This map was reproduced in 1897 by the historian of the State of New York in the Historical Se- ries, Volume II. Below the view on this map ap- pears the key in the Dutch language, showing by initial letters the various public buildings, etc. Asher states that this map was struck off from the same plate as that used by Carolus Allard for his second map. If Ottens did not change the plate, there are indications on the map itself which would go to prove that the view on Carolus Allard's second map was intended to represent the recapture of New York by the Dutch. On the south side of Long Island, on this Ottens map, just off the shore there appear several ships, and [67] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK below them appears this inscription: " Fleet van Corn. Evertsen" This Ottens map was prob- ably published about the middle of the eighteenth century. About the year 1738 Reinier and Joshua Ottens published at Amsterdam an Atlas entitled: "Atlas van Zeevaert en Koophandel," etc., giving maps of the various countries in the world, but which does not contain this map, al- though it contains a map of the extreme north- ern part of America. Joseph W. Moulton published in 1825 this view of New York, stating that it represented the recapture of New York by the Dutch in 1673. Moulton also states that this view is a reproduc- tion of a manuscript copy of the view on Ottens's map, made by Du Simitier in 1679. In a later pamphlet, entitled " New York 170 years ago," published by Moulton in 1843 with this view, he repeats his statement as to its being a copy of Du Simitier's manuscript, but does not state the source from which Du Simitier made his copy. Moulton's print is much more distinct than the view on Ottens's map, and varies from it in sev- eral respects; and it is possible that he later con- cluded that he was mistaken in the statement as to its being a copy of Ottens. In one or two points, such as the direction of the wind and the location of the gate-house at Wall Street, it re- [68] ORANJE BOVEN sembles the view on the prints pubhshed by Schenk and by Mortier, while in all other respects it bears a very close resemblance to the Ottens view. The key designating the various public places, as it appears in Dutch on the Allard and Ottens maps, and in Latin on the Seutter map, is given on page 70 with a translation into English. [69] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK t»> »-t M .' -M . IT] is "2 C S V ^ b • -3 C '-' »S bC^ 5 < ^ c ^ ^ ^ eg-2 I & "^^IS gsiss'^ ^.S^g- ?S|° fe cfl fe --J tf O Ph Ph H H kJ H H H H ^ JJHC^H ^ 3 S^ 1^^^M-3 C ?fc c >»u! >^-? pa O Q W fo O K '-' W hJ g :z; O Oh Qf* p- 1X1 H > T3 rt cS S lis I ^i -Tii S«"5^'-'. S5c5g « =8 S-^ c«4^o Iglllllll III liill iill^ ■ Is il^o so I ^1 sli § ^^ is^oa ^ ^-5 3-=S5« = = .-2'^i:^T3rt O Oh Ph P H O O H O O H Oh li, P^ >• g Oh O EJH J B k N 1778, during "the present unliappy contest between Great Britain and her colo- nies," to use the words on its title-page, William Russell's " History of America " was published in London in two volumes, with illustrations. In the first volume there appears at page 270 an unsigned plate with the title " South West View of Fort George with the City of New York." It is this that Mr. French has reproduced in his line engraving forming the subject of this paper, the size having been considerably reduced, for the Russell plate measures 8f inches by 5f inches. Russell's History must have been partly writ- [111] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK ten many years before its publication, for the author refers to " the late peace " in speaking of that of 1763, and the illustrations, by no means always recent, as we shall see in this case, had probably been gathered long before 1778. In- deed, it is probable that the revolt of the colonies merely hastened the publication of a work that had been begun soon after British supremacy was acknowledged throughout that region of ex- traordinary interest which had been the scene of such stirring events as those of Louisburg, Ti- conderoga, Duquesne, and Quebec. The view shown on this plate is known as Car- witham's because of its close correspondence with and undoubted derivation from a larger print, measuring about 16i inches by 10^ inches, signed by J. Carwitham, an English engraver. The Carwitham plate was used with different titles by successive publishers, and both colored and uncolored prints exist. An excellent copy of the earliest form of the print, colored, and with the imprint " A View of Fort George with the City of New York from the S. W., Printed for Carington Bowles, Map and Print Seller, at No. 69 in St. Paul's Churchyard, London," is in the collection of Mr. Richard T. H. Halsey. A spe- cimen of a later issue, colored, and called " A Southwest View of the City of New York in [112] BEFORE THE REVOLUTION North America," and printed for Bowles & Car- ver, No. 69 St. Paul's Churchyard, is in the pos- session of Mr. William Loring Andrews. A copy of this issue, also colored, owned by Mr. Edwin B. Holden, is of special interest because the flags displayed on the fort and ships, while engraved with the crosses of the Union Jack, have been colored over with the Stars and Stripes. On the Carwitham plate the spires and cupolas are numbered from left to right, but unfortu- nately the key to which the numbers refer is not known to exist. Carwitham also did a view of Boston, of which at least two issues are in existence. The earlier, called " South East View of the Great Town of Boston in North America," was printed for Carington Bowles; and the later, called " South East View of the City of Boston in North America," was printed for Bowles & Carver. As evidence that the copperplates of these old views were put to hard service, it may be said that the later issues of the Carwitham prints, referred to above as printed for Bowles & Carver, must have been published after 1793, for in that year, according to the London city directories, Bowles & Carver succeeded Carington Bowles at No. 69 St. Paul's Churchyard. The date of the publication of the first of the [113] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK Carwitham views of New York is uncertain. Carwitham himself, according to Joseph Strutt's " Biographical Dictionary of Engravers," flour- ished about 1730, executing a considerable num- ber of book-plates, prints, and other work, some bearing date as early as 1723, and some as late as 1741. These facts alone would be sufficient to justify us in assigning to this view of New York a much earlier date than has been heretofore given it, owing to its publication in Russell's his- tory in 1778; but in addition to this there is in- ternal evidence that is quite sufficient to lead us independently to the conclusion that the view it- self represents the city of New York as it was about 1740. In the " Memorial History of Boston," Vol- ume II, page 531, is a discussion of the date of the original of the Carwitham views of Boston, leading to the conclusion, based on a study of the architecture and a comparison with other prints, that it must have been prior to 1743. In like manner internal evidence of the early date of the New York picture is afforded by the buildings shown, most of which can be definitely identified by their architecture. The view, it will be remembered, is from the southwest. On the left is Trinity Church, with its spire one hundred and seventy-five feet in height, facing the river, [114] BEFORE THE REVOLUTION being the structure built in 1696, and enlarged in 1737, which stood until destroyed by the great fire of 1776. The small spire to the right should be more detached, as in the Carwitham print, being that of the Lutheran Church that stood on a plot of ground at the south corner of Broadway and Rector Street. Next on the right is the Mid- dle Dutch Church, which stood on the east side of Nassau Street, between Cedar and Liberty streets, and faced the north. The ground it oc- cupied is now covered by the building of the Mu- tual Life Insurance Company. Then the French Church is shown, which stood on the north side of Pine Street east of Nassau Street. The cupola of the City Hall is shown next on the right. This building stood at the head of Broad Street where the front of the Sub-Treasury building now is, and extended nearly to the center of Wall Street. Still further to the right is the Dutch Church in Garden Street, occupying a plot of ground on Exchange Place just east of Broad Street, now part of the site of the IVIills Building. At the corner of the fort is seen the secretary's office, and adjoining it are the barracks. The tower on the right has been identified as that of the chapel in the fort, through its close resemblance to the structure shown in the view engraved on the mar- gin of Popple's map, published in 1733, and [115] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK there designated " The Chai^pel," and also by reason of its position at the exact spot in the fort which, on the Bradford map of the city of New York (1731), is indicated by a reference letter and key as the site of "King's Chapel built 1694." No such structure is shown in the Kitchin view on the margin of the Ratzer map (1766), and this accords with what we would expect, for William Smith, the historian, writing in 1757 of the fort, says: "At the South end there was formerly a chapel but this was burnt down in the negro con- spiracy of the Spring 1741." The identification of the buildings enables us to fix very closely the date of the view, for the Middle Dutch Church and the chapel in the fort are both shown, and the former was not built until 1731, and the latter was destroyed in 1741. Be- tween these dates, therefore, the view must have been drawn. Other indications are not wanting. The Bradford map (1731) shows a general size of the city and a condition of surroundings and shore-line near the fort and Trinity Church cor- responding very nearly with this view, while the Montresor map (1765) shows the land filled in and streets laid out between Trinity Church and the river, and dock improvements just above the church. Again, in this view between Trinity Church and the City Hall there is no spire promi- [116] BEFORE THE REVOLUTION nent enough to be the spire, one hundred and forty-five feet high, of the Presbyterian Church built in 1748 on the north side of Wall Street be- tween Broadway and Nassau Street. One fur- ther indication leads us to fix the date still more closely, as the spire of Trinity Church promi- nently shown in the view is probably that of the remodeled structure of 1737. Hence the date of the view must be accepted as between 1737 and^ 1741. When the original sketch of this view was made the artist was probably on the deck of a ship lying in the North River ahuost due west from the pres- ent Aquarium and not more than five hundred feet from the present sea wall. It is to be remem- bered that almost the whole of Battery Park is an encroachment on the original river-bed, and that the old shore-line is now closely followed by Greenwich and State streets. The small dock shown in the picture stood almost exactly where the Battery Place station of the elevated railroad now is. That this was the point of view may be con- fii-med, if upon an accurate map of the lower part of the city and the bay a mark be made at the spot above indicated and radial lines be drawn through the several sites of the various buildings above named. These structm-es will then be [117] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK found to arrange themselves in the order shown in the picture, and the angles between the lines will correspond exactly to the spaces between the buildings in the view itself. The identification of the buildings is confirmed by this test and further by the present street lev- els. Broadway at Trinity Church is thirty-four feet above datum. Nassau Street at the IVIutual Life Building is thirty-four feet three inches above datum, while Wall Street at the Sub- Treasury is twelve feet lower, and State Street, near the site of the fort, is but eleven feet above datum. These elevations correspond closely to the relative prominence of the several buildings. Compared with this Russell print the Car- witham is much the better picture, though in bal- ance and proportion the two are closely alike. The latter gives far more detail and shows many more buildings both north and east of the fort. The spire identified above as that of the Lutheran Church is clearly shown as detached and remote from Trinity Church. The impossible back- ground of hills in the Russell view is not shown in Carwitham's, and must have been arbitrarily added by the artist to relieve the bareness of the derived print and make up somewhat for the ab- sence of much of the detail of the original picture. The city of New York in 1740 extended north [118] BEFORE THE REVOLUTION about as far as Reade Street and east to Cath- erine Street, though the upper portions were, of course, much less closely settled than the lower, even then. Carwitham has drawn it as an attrac- tive, peaceful village. But we should err in ima- gining the New York of that day as a sleepy place. William Smith, an almost contemporaiy historian already quoted, has enabled us to see what a veritable bee-hive of industry, as he himself calls it, the place was. Its population was almost twelve thousand. JNIost of the free inhabitants of the city were merchants, shop-keepers, or trades- men, active and industrious, and making the most of the city's natural advantages. In lieu of a har- bor the present East River aiForded a " safe and commodious road," facing which were docks for the shipping, that to the number of two hundred and fifty or three hundred sail in each year cleared for the various ports of Europe and America. The export trade to the West Indies, embracing cereals, fruits, lumber, furs, live stock, dairy products, and meats, was large. Of flour alone, over eighty thousand barrels per annum were ex- ported. So important was this branch of indus- try that to preserve its credit there were appointed officers to inspect and brand every cask before exportation. While perhaps coals were not car- ried to Newcastle, certainly flax-seed in quanti- [119] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK ties was sent to Ireland in exchange for linens. Felt hats were sent in large number to the West Indies until British manufacturers in- duced Parliament to prohibit the exportation. With other places than Great Britain the balance of trade was in favor of New York, but the an- nual importation of dry-goods from England, amounting to over one hundred thousand pounds, obliged the colonists " to betake themselves to all possible arts to make remittances to the British merchants." The social life of the city took the form of even- ing clubs for men, and concerts and assemblies for the ladies. Of the latter, Smith says: " They are comely and dress well, and scarce any of them have distorted shapes. Tinctured with Dutch education, they manage their families with be- coming parsimony, good providence, and singular neatness." But he unkindly adds, " There is nothing they so generally neglect as reading, and indeed all arts for the improvement of the mind." Indeed, education generally seems not to have been of a high grade. The schools were not good, for the instructors were incompetent. Speech was corrupt, and, in public and private, there were abundant evidences of a low standard of taste in thought and language. Slavery flour- [120] BEFORE THE REVOLUTION ished, quite one sixth of the population being blacks. In religion the Episcopalians, Dutch Re- formed, and English Presbyterians formed a ma- jority. The place of worship of the first-named was, of course. Trinity Church. It then faced the river, as shown in our view, and is described as having " a large cemetery on each side enclosed in the front by a painted paled fence. Before it a long walk is railed oiF from the Broadway, the pleasantest street of any in the whole town." The church was burned in the great fire of 1776. The Episcopalians, though but one fifteenth of the population, were of considerable influence, but their claim of the establishment of the church here as in England was stoutly denied by the " dissen- ters," and occasioned many serious arguments and misunderstandings. The rector of Trinity Church at this time was Rev. William Vesey, a graduate of Harvard College, who had been or- dained in England and instituted rector of the parish on Christmas day in 1697. His induction and the services of the parish for some time there- after were held, by the favor of the Dutch Re- formed Church, in their Garden Street edifice pending the completion of the English church. The rector was by reason of his personality a man of great prominence in the life of the city and [121] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK colony, and held the appointment of Commissary of the Bishop of London in the Province of New York. He died July 11, 1746, having been at the head of the parish for nearly half a century. The Dutch Reformed congregation at this time had two churches in use, both shown in our view —the old Garden Street Church and the newer Middle Church. The former had been built in 1693, and up to 1807 was in continuous use as a church, except during the Revolution, when it was used as a hospital by the British. The Middle Church, completed in 1731, was, during the Rev- olution, prostituted by the British to the base uses of a prison at first, and then quarters for cavalry. In 1790 it was restored, and thereafter used as a church continuously to 1844, when it was leased to the United States government for the post- office. The government purchased it in 1861, continuing its use as a post-office up to 1875. The building was thereafter given over to business purposes until 1882, when the ^lutual Life In- surance Company bought it and demolished it. Its bell, brought from Holland in 1731, was hid- den during the Revolution and replaced after 1783, and is now in the church at Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street. The ministers in charge of the congregation of the Dutch churches were two, the colleagues giv- [ 122 ] BEFORE THE REVOLUTION ing the name since used to the Collegiate Church. Domine Gualterus Du Bois had come in 1699 as colleague to Domine Selyns, and when the latter died, in 1701, had continued alone mitil the arrival of Rev. Henricus Boel in 1713. Thereafter these two worked together for many years, the former dying in 1751, and the latter in 1754. They al- ternated in charge of the two church huildings, as the congregation was considered but one church. Services were conducted in the Dutch language up to 1764, when, after much serious opposition, English was substituted. In character these two ministers admirably supplemented each other, Domine Du Bois being described as wise and amiable, and his colleague as vigorous and some- what uncompromising. They were of great power and usefulness. The City Hall had been erected at the head of Broad Street in 1699. It was an oblong, two- story structure somewhat like the letter H, with peaked roof and dormer windows, and a cupola. It contained the common-council room, a court- room, jury-room, debtors' prison, fire-engine room, and a dungeon for criminals. In the street before it were pillory and stocks. In 1740 it was the official residence of JNIayor John Cruger. This is the building that later, in altered form, witnessed the inauguration of the first President [ 123 ] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK of the United States, and became the seat of gov- ernment. In after yeai's it gave place to the present Sub-Treasury building. The Lutheran Church stood on the west side of Broadway, just south of Rector Street. The congregation had had an earlier edifice " without the gate," but prior to 1684 had been compelled to remove it and had erected this one within. This appears from the statements made in that year in their petition for a confirmation of their patent. The building was rebuilt in 1702, but the spire must have been added later, for the Bur- gis view of 1717 does not show the spire, while Thomas BakewelFs edition, in 1746, of the Bur- gis view with alterations shows it plainly. The structure stood until the fire of 1776. The French Church stood on the north side of Pine Street, east of Nassau Street, on a lot sev- enty-five feet in width, extending through to Cedar Street. The building was erected in 1704, and had a stone tower surmounted by a cupola with bell. It is clearly shown in the Burgis view of 1717. The congregation was founded by the Huguenots and included many of the most influ- ential families in the province at this time. Fort George (and this, of nine successive names, is the last it was destined to bear) stood be- low the Bowling Green on the land now to be used [ 124] BEFORE THE REVOLUTION for the new Custom-Hoiise. There is said to have been a paHsade work there as early as 1615. In " Wassenaers Historie van Europa," pubHshed in Amsterdam from 1621 to 1632, are papers de- scriptive of New Netherlands, and in one the statement is made that the colony was planted in 1625 on the Manhates, " where a fort was staked out by Master Kryn Frederycke, an engineer." Later it is said, " When the fort staked out at the Manliates will be completed, it is to be named Amsterdam." A further note, in 1628, refers to the fort " having four points and faced outside entirely with stone, as the walls of sand fall down, and are now more compact." In 1642-43 the Rev. Isaac Jogues, who had been a Jesuit missionary to Canada, was a refu- gee in New Amsterdam, having eluded his Mo- hawk captors. His observations during his stay were embodied in a sketch written in 1646, wherein he describes Fort Amsterdam, at the point of the island, as having " four regular bas- tions mounted with several pieces of artillery. All these bastions and the curtains were in 1643 but ramparts of earth, most of which had crum- bled away, so that the fort could be entered on all sides. There were no ditches. There were sixty soldiers to garrison the said fort and another which they had built still further up against the [125] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK incursions of the savages, their enemies. They were beginning to face the gates and bastions with stone. Within this fort stood a pretty large church built of stone, the house of the Governor, whom they called Director General, quite neatly built of brick, the store house and barracks." Fa- ther Jogues notes that " Some mechanics who ply their trades are ranged under the fort; all the others were exposed to the incursions of the na- tives." This peril led the settlers later to range their dwellings close to the southern and eastern walls of the fort, even overtopping them, and thus later affording to Stuyvesant one means of explaining his surrender of the fort to the Eng- lish, because of the ready base the houses afforded for scaling-ladders. In 1678 Governor Andros, replying to inqui- ries about New York, described, among others, " James ff ort seated upon a point of New Yorke Towne between Hudsons river and ye Sound, its a square with stone walls, foure bastions almost regular, and in it 46 gunnes mounted and stores for service accordingly." In 1687 Governor Dongan, in his report to the Committee of Trade in the Province of New York, states that " At New York there is a forti- fication of four bastions built formerly against the Indians, of dry stone and earth with sods as [126] BEFORE THE REVOLUTION a breastwork, well and pleasantly situated for the defense of the harbor. . . . One Flanker, the face of the north bastion, and three points of Bas- tions and a Courlin has been done and are re- built by me with lime and mortar and all the rest of the Fort pinnd and rough-cast with lime since my coming here." Most of the guns he found dismounted and the breastwork upon the wall so moldered away as to need repair. Lieutenant-Governor Clarke in 1738 wrote to the Board of Trade, describing the fort in its then condition, as follows: " In the town of New York is an old fort of very little defense, cannon we have, but the carriages are good for little, we have ball but no powder, nor will the board of ordi- nance send any on pretense that a large quantity was sent in 1711 for the Canada expedition which is 27 year agoe, much of it has for many years been trodden under foot in the magazine, the bar- rells having been rotten." From these descriptions it will be seen that the various governors were either unable or not anxious to preserve the public works in their charge. Indeed, Montresor, describing the fort and battery in 1765, states that the latter " was constructed at an enormous expense and seems to have been intended for profit and form and then for defense." The fort continued to be the place [127] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK of residence of the governors up to December 29, 1773, when Gk)vernor Tryon's house was burned. Thereafter Tryon resided in a house outside of the fort, and the fort ceased to be the headquarters of the government. At the time of which we are writing the fort also contained the secretary's office, barracks, and chapel. All were burned in the fire started during the negro riots in 1741. The barracks were rebuilt, but a new secretary's office was constructed outside the fort on the present corner of Bowling Green and Whitehall Street. Fort George was removed, pursuant to an act of the Legislature passed in 1790, and then consisted of a green bank which was sloping and about fourteen feet high, on which were erected the walls in about twenty feet additional height. In its front, toward the Bowl- ing Green, were two apple trees and an old linden tree, which were about the same height as the walls. The executive at the head of the government of the colony in 1740 was Lieutenant-Governor George Clarke, who had been the secretarj^ of the province under Governor Cosby at the time of the latter's death in 1736, and had then been desig- nated to act as governor pending the appoint- ment of a successor to Cosby. Clarke continued in office until the arrival of Governor George [128]' BEFORE THE REVOLUTION Clinton in 1743, and during his incumbency many occurrences showed that even then there smol- dered in the minds of the colonists that idea of in- dependence that later was fanned into flame. The form of government then embraced, besides the crown governor, a Council of twelve, also hold- ing commissions from the king, and the Assembly of twenty-seven representatives chosen by the colonists. In 1741 the lieutenant-governor in a speech to the popular branch said " that he now hoped the House was returning to a sense of duty to His Majesty and would make Parliament a model of its proceedings ; that this conduct alone would remove the jealousy prevailing in Great Britain that the colony wished to be emancipated from the Crown, and would enable His Majesty to pay his own officers and servants, whereby they will be re-claimed to their proper dependence." And this becavise the shrewd representatives kept a tight hold on the purse-strings, knowing that therein lay their only restraint on royal ap- pointees. It was during Clarke's administration that the most determined effort was made by the people to secure the enactment of a law providing for more frequent elections of representatives. It had been the contention of pre\aous governors that while the election of representatives was by [129] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK the people, the dissolution of the Assembly was a royal prerogative. The Legislature that was dis- solved in 1737, after Governor Cosby 's death, had existed for nine years, and generally the life of the House was measured by its subserviency to the executive. The new Assembly passed a bill for triennial elections, which received the sanction of the lieutenant-governor and was forwarded to England strongly recommended to royal favor. But the committee of the Privy Council advised a veto and the measure failed. Subsequently, in 1743, an act limiting the life of the Assembly to seven years was finally passed. Yet while these and kindred questions kept up a mild excitement, the general tone of the life was quiet, frugal, and simple. Smith says the New Yorkers of those days were " not so gay a people as their neighbors at Boston and several of the Southern Colonies," nor was there any great inequality in wealth, " as is common in Bos- ton." How great tlie change now, not only rel- atively to the Hub, but actually, as well! We are now gay even to the extent of making jests about our serious New England neighbors, and inequality of wealth now exists such as is impos- sible until the right-hand colimin contains nine figures. It is difficult to realize that out of the simplicity [130] BEFORE THE REVOLUTION of those days has grown the rushing, complicated life of to-day. It is almost impossible to believe that the city that then had annual revenues of £750 has produced Tammany Hall. The aspect of Carwitham's New York suggests no such sky- line as to-day's, made up of towering office-build- ings that dwarf to insignificance even the ambi- tious business structures of fifty years ago and overtop the spire of Trinity itself. Not growth but transformation has produced the twentieth- century New York. Carwitham drew for us only the chrysalis. [isi] NEW YORK IN 1801 HE picture presented to us shows little with which we are familiar on either side of the river. The fishermen on the Long Island shore would now find small opportunity to pur- sue their vocation in front of the warehouses, amid the puf- fing tugs and steamers, and beneath the lofty bridge which occupy the then vacant space, while their vision would be surprised by the equally im- pressive towering buildings and massive wharves which have replaced the old structures of New York. Even the few church spires which then formed such prominent features of the landscape, and still remain in the lower part of the city, are so dwarfed by their surroundings as to be barely discernible. But at that time these were so con- [133] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK spicuous as to be the first objects to attract our attention. First, and most obvious to the sight, is Trinity Church at the head of Wall Street, its tall steeple dominating all the others, being on the building erected in 1788 to replace the one de- stroyed by fire during the Revolution, to be, in its turn, taken down to make room for the present stately edifice consecrated in May, 1846. The spire next on the right I imagine to belong to the Presbyterian Church in Wall Street, near Broadway, which was built in 1719, and enlarged in 1748. Rebuilt on a greater scale in 1810, it was destroyed by fire in 1834, restored the follow- ing year, and occupied until 1844, when it was taken down, the congregation having acquired a new site on Fifth Avenue, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets, which it still occupies. Imme- diately to the north of the Wall Street Presby- terian Church stood the Scotch Covenanters Church, on the south side of Cedar Street, and its steeple is probably the northerly one of the three clustered together, but the latter may be that of the Middle Dutch Church on Nassau and Cedar streets, on the ground now occupied by the building of The :Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany of New York. Next, to the right, appears the spire of the North Dutch Church, completed and opened for public worship on May 25, 1769, [ 134] NEW YORK IN 1801 a fine stone building measuring one hundred by seventy feet, on the corner of William and Fulton streets. Almost up to this time the services in the Dutch Reformed churches had been held in the mother tongue, but the increasing use of the Eng- lish language had become so marked, especially among the younger people, that it became neces- sary to make a change, and in 1764 English was used in the JNliddle Church, to the great wrath of the elderly conservatives. Dutch, however, con- tinued the language in the South or Garden Street Church until 1803. Passing on to the right, the next tall spire is that of St. Paul's Church, erected in 1766, where, during the days of the English occupation of the city, Major Andre, Lord Howe, and Sir Guy Carleton attended the services, and with them the English midshipman who afterward became Wil- liam IV. Immediately after his inauguration as first President of the United States, Washington, together with all the civil and military dignitaries who had graced the occasion, repaired thither for public w^orship, and during his residence in the city he retained a pew there, and constantly attended the sendees. It has frequently since been the scene of stately ceremonies, not the least imposing of which were the funeral services held under the auspices of the Sons of the Revolution in honor [135] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK of the late President McKinley, on the 18th of September, 1901. The eye next rests upon the Brick Church then standing at the corner of Beekman and Nassau streets, upon ground which is now partly occu- pied by the building of the New York Times, and which was built in 1768 in the fields, and quite out of town. During the Revolution it was used as a hospital, but restored to ecclesiastical purposes thereafter, and continued as a place of worship until 1854, when the congregation removed to their present building at the corner of Fifth Ave- nue and Thirty-seventh Street. It remained for years a branch of the Presbyterian Church in Wall Street, and the formal separation and its erection to the dignity of an independent church did not occur until 1809. Last on our list towers the spire of St. George's Church on the Chapel Hill, at the corner of Beekman and Chff streets, built in 1748 as a chapel of Trinity Church, and made an indepen- dent organization in 1809. In 1846, Mr. Peter G. Stuyvesant gave the church some lots of ground on Rutherford Place and Sixteenth Street, sufficient for a new church and rectory, and the parish erected buildings on that site which it still occupies. This brief review of the church steeples shown [136] NEW YORK IN 1801 in our picture makes it clear that our fathers did not lack opportunities for religious instruction and worship, and justifies the remark of Mr. Felix Oldboy when he terms the New York of that day " the paradise of churches." Having considered the ecclesiastical buildings with sufficient fullness, we may properly turn our attention to the more worldly features of the landscape, but I cannot attempt with any confi- dence to identify the other buildings shown. I am inclined to think that the high roof, to the right of Trinity and the two other steeples, covers the new City, afterward Federal, Hall, which stood on the north side of Wall Street, opposite Broad Street extending across what is now Nas- sau Street, but I do not venture to speak with certainty. Fraunce's Tavern, the City Hotel, the Tontine Building, the Golden Hill Inn, and many other landmarks of the old city, are, doubtless, there, but cannot be recognized. South Street had not then been reclaimed from the river, and Water Street was the city's front on the east side — along it was extended the shipping of the port, as the North River with its width and direct continuation of the bay was thought to afford only an unsafe and hazardous anchorage. Along the shore, from the Battery to Peck Slip, the ships lay at the wharves, or at anchor in the river, and [137] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK above were the shipyards— then scenes of busy- industry. Here and there were receiving docks, as at Coenties Shp, Wall Street, and Maiden Lane, which were afterward filled up to make the broad spaces which are now found at the foot of those streets. The Fly Market, so called, a corruption from V'lei or Valley, from a stream which ran through ^laiden Lane, the favorite location for the laundry work of our mothers, consisted of three market houses on that street extending from Pearl Street to the river, and from the slip connected with it a ferry ran to Brooklyn. Before passing to the consideration of the gen- eral condition of the city at that time, our en- graver deserves a moment's attention. " Engrav- ing," says General James Grant Wilson in his " I^Iemorial History of the City of New York " (Vol. IV, p. 357) , " did not antedate sculpture in its artistic and technical development, although a number of engravers, most of them foreigners, began to practise their calhng in this city in the last decade of the Eighteenth Century," and among the names he mentions as prominent in the art at that time is that of William RoUinson, by whom the engraving before us was made. The artist who prepared the drawing, John Wood, has not handed down his fame to posterity in any f 138 1 NEW YORK IN 1801 other work than this, so far as I can ascertain. The plate is most accurately and artistically en- graved, and will bear the closest examination under the most powerful glasses. The city of our homes and our love arose from the destruction of the Revolutionary period like a phenix from its ashes. With her population scattered, her commerce destroyed, most of her buildings burned, ruin and desolation on every hand, she went to work with undaunted courage, unrivaled energy, and far-seeing sagacity, imme- diately upon the withdrawal of the British troops in 1783, to rebuild the JNIetropolis of the West. The fact that she became the seat of the new gov- ernment was unquestionably a strong factor in her favor, and in 1801 she had already acquired a population of between fifty and sixty thousand. An estimate of the funds required for the sup- port of the city's institutions for the year 1800, which has been preserved by General Wilson, gives us a good idea of the responsibilities the city authorities of those daj^s had to bear, and forms a marvelous contrast to the budget of the present city. For the almshouse the simi of thirtj^ thou- sand dollars was needed, an amount which seems disproportionately large, and which may have been in some degree attributable to the losses in- curred in the Revolution by those who were too old [ 139] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK or too helpless to restore their fortunes. For the bridewell, or workhouse, five thousand dollars was required, and for the support of the prisoners three thousand dollars was appropriated. In view of the cost of our present police system, the maintenance of the watch for twenty-five thou- sand dollars seems idyllic, as does an appropria- tion of five thousand dollars for streets. To this last must be added other items which seem prop- erly to belong to the same subject, such as lamps to cost fifteen thousand dollars for being kept in order and lighted on nights when there was no " light moon," and wells and pumps, for fire and domestic purposes, for which twenty-five thou- sand dollars were needed. The Manhattan Com- pany, which had been chartered the year before, had already gone into the banking business under its charter, but had done very little in the fine of its ostensible purpose of supplying the city with pure water. For roads about the city seventy- five hundred dollars were appropriated. But even in those days, which so many people who know little about them consider purer and better than these so far as politics and politicians are concerned, our predecessors showed their appre- ciation of the advantages to be derived from the useful application of money by making appro- priations for " contingencies " of twenty-nine [ 140 ] NEW YORK IN 1801 thousand four hundred and fifty dollars, and for " city contingencies " of seventy-five hundred dollars, moneys doubtless intended to be applied where they would do the most good, as the con- tingencies might arise. The city then occupied only the lower end of the island. The Battery was the favorite prome- nade. Many of the prominent merchants lived along State Street, and in Pearl Street, over their stores. The banks and financial institutions were in Wall Street, where also resided many of our ancestors, and their wives went shopping in Wil- liam Street. The only theater was the one on Park Row, between Ann and Beekman streets, called the Park Theater, which was opened in 1798, and there appear to have been no other public amvise- ments. There was much social life, but consid- ering the proportion of the number of churches to the population, these must have afforded the principal opportunities for social gatherings. I have enumerated those conspicuous by their steeples, but there were many others, such as the Garden Street (or Exchange Place) Church, Grace Church on the corner of Rector Street and Broadway, where the Empire Buikhng now tow- ers, the French Church in Pine Street, Christ Church in Ann Street, and St. Peter's in Bar- [l4l] VIEWS OF EARLY NEW YORK clay Street, built in 1786, the home of the oldest Roman Catholic congregation in the city. I can find no words to conclude this brief sketch better or more appropriate than those used by the President of the United States in his " New York," pp. 166, 167- Says Mr. Roosevelt, speak- ing of this period very characteristically: " The divisions between the upper, lower, and middle classes were sharply marked. The old families formed a rather exclusive circle, and among the large land-owners still claimed the lead, though the rich merchants, who were of similar ancestry, much outnumbered them, and stood practically on the same j)lane. But the days of this social and political aristocracy were numbered. They lost their political power first. . . . The fall of this class, as a class, was not to be regretted, for its individual members did not share the general fate, unless they themselves deserved to fall. The descendant of any old family who was worth his salt still had as fair a chance as any one else to make his way in the world of politics, of business, or of literature ; and, according to our code and standard, the man who asks more is a craven." 142 JUN 17 1904 tiOPYDELTOCAT.OlV. JUN. IT 1904 ^UAI 20 /S04 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS I mil 014 108 745 9 ^