NEW YORK CITY-ITS MISFORTUNES AND ITS LITERATURE. BY EVERT A. DUYCKINCK. by past experience, it caused a general suspension of business and depopulation of the city. The wealthy fled from the contagion; the churches were nearly all closed EVERY great city has its especial record of calamity | particularly in 1798, when, its terror being increased and misfortune; of war, pestilence, civil commotion, and desolation by fire. From none of these has New York been exempt. Her experience in war has been related in her Revolutionary history. Happily, she has been but lightly touched by civil disorder. With the exception of the draft riots of 1863, there has been nothing, in the occasional disturbances of the peace which have arisen, beyond a momentary collision of interests or prejudices, or the exhibition of a less excusable spirit of lawlessness, and these have readily succumbed to the ordinary government of the city. The draft riots were exceptional in their character, and would doubtless have been checked on the instant, had not advantage been taken of the absence, at the seat of war, of the entire militia force. When that was recalled-indeed, before its arrivalorder was re-established. The visitations of pestilence, borne by invisible agencies, are less under control than the violence of man; but here, also, it may be believed that increasing knowledge of the laws of health, with the enforcement of sanitary regulations under improved government, have limited, and will still further prevent, the encroachments of disease. Certain it is that in its earlier history New York appeared doomed periodically to the visitation, in its virulent form, of that fell scourge of the tropics, the yellow fever, which has long since been held under control, or warded off from our shores, by quarantine regulations. The closing decade of the last century was marked by its greatest ravages, in 1791, in 1795, and Trinity and the Methodist Chapel in John Street, however, as in the years of the Revolution, were kept open. At that time the sufficiently remote suburbs of Greenwich and Bloomingdale became the temporary homes of the citizens. From July to November the deaths numbered about two thousand in a population of about fifty thousand, a fearful ratio. At no subsequent time has this disease visited the city with such terrible effect. It has probably seldom in any Summer season been a stranger to the shipping from the West Indies, in the introduction of scattered cases to our hospitals; but, with the exception of the visitation in 1823, it has excited but little alarm in the city. When it then broke out with some virulence, in the rear of Trinity Churchyard, the consternation of 1798 was revived. The business parts of the city, confined to the lower Wards, were again deserted. Wall Street was abandoned, the banks and Custom House being removed to Greenwich Village, long since absorbed in the city's growth, and the infected district was separated by barriers of non-intercourse, erected under the direction of the Board of Health. The precautions taken doubtless controlled the spread of the disease, the number of deaths to the time of its disappearance with the frosts of November being but two hundred and forty. Since that time the yellow fever, as an epidemic, has not been known in New York. The year 1832, however, brought a still more formidable successor in the Asiatic cholera, which, traversing the world on the wings of the wind, by an undiscovered law of development enhancing its terrors to the imagination, defied the efforts of quarantine, though it proved by no means insensible to sanitary regulation. It afterward visited the city in 1834, in 1849, in 1854, and in 1866, but with diminished force. Peculiarly a disease of the East, yet capable of being fomented in other latitudes by neglect of the laws of health, its occasional presence is a constant warning of the necessity of the maintenance in the city of a vigilant sanitary police. The losses by fire in New York have undoubtedly in the aggregate been very great. Indeed, for a time, New York had an ill reputation from the frequency of these conflagrations. Twice, in addition to the two great fires during the possession of the island by the British, has a large portion of its business districts been utterly destroyed in the Winter of 1835, on the night of the 16th of December, and in the Summer of 1845, on the 19th of July, both occurring under extremes of temperature, the severity of the cold being most disastrous in its effect. The area of the first conflagration covered an important portion of the First Ward of the city, then occupied by the chief importers, and stored with the most costly merchandise. Wall Street was burnt on the south side, including the Merchants' Exchange on the site of the present Custom House, from William Street to South Street; South, Front, and Pearl Streets, from Wall Street to Coenties Slip; William Street, from Wall to South; Stone Street, Beaver Street, Exchange Place, with its old Garden Street Church, and the contiguous streets to the vicinity of Broad Street. More than six hundred buildings were destroyed, and property, it was estimated, to the amount of seventeen millions of dollars, involving the ruin of most of the insurance companies of the city. In the fire of 1845, which ravaged the lower part of Broadway, Exchange Place, Beaver, Marketfield, Mill, Stone, Whitehall, New, and Broad Streets, nearly three hundred and fifty buildings were destroyed, and merchandise valued at about five millions of dollars. The substitution, in 1865, of a paid fire department for the old voluntary system, with the general introduction of steam fire-engines, with the more stringent regulations in regard to the solid construction of buildings, may be expected to render such extensive conflagrations in New York impossible in the future. We have seen the conduct of New York, her sacrifices in the hour of trial in the War of Independence, and her readiness to confront others when the security of her harbor was threatened in the second war with England. A third season of trial came, when the test was the strength of patriotism and the moral courage to rely on the great political principles which supported the commonwealth of the nation. During the opening scenes of the great rebellion of 1861, New York, intent on her interests of trade and commerce, might have been supposed by an indifferent spectator to have been careless of the great results involved in the impending struggle. The mercantile character is conservative, dreads change; its calculations are based upon existing facts, and it will endure much before it enlists itself upon the side of revolution. On the other hand, it is tenacious of right and justice, and when these principles, so essential to its safety, are invaded, it will, at the expense of great immediate sacrifices, rise to assert them. The South, in its rebellion, relied much upon the support, or at least the to the present generation. indifference, of New York; and it must be admitted that, of parents were throbbing with emotions unknown before on the surface there was much to sustain her calculations, just as there was something previous to the Revolution to encourage the presumption of the British authorities. Politically the city may be said to have favored the South. Its Democracy, under the leadership of Mayor Wood, who had been recently re-elected, was favorable to her pretensions. Compromise measures were proposed and advocated, in a spirit of deference and submission, while the enemy was openly purchasing arms in her warehouses, which the mayor insisted, in the face of Northern opposition, upon forwarding to their destination. The conspirators at Montgomery, confident in the sovereignty of King Cotton, overlooked the danger which lay before them at New York, hitherto so pliant in their hands. If they had not been blinded by these arguments of selfishness, always short-sighted, they might have seen that they were attempting to strike at the prosperity of the city a fatal blow which would arouse its energies in opposition, to the uttermost. The fortunes of New York lie in the unity of the nation. Her voice is for free, unfettered trade, and though obliged to submit to many restrictions in her foreign commerce, from the policy of a burdensome tariff, she has, perhaps, on this account learnt better to appreciate the advantages of free trade at home over the vast area of the continent. To submit to a division of the Union would be to consent to the imposition of a thousand fetters in trade; and for this, on the score of selfinterest, New York, when the question was fairly presented, had no liking. Moreover, the chivalrous spirit of an excitable people became aroused, when it was found that their sympathies, their passions, their very life-being, were all in union with the grandeur of the Republic. They would yield anything for harmony within the state; they would sacrifice everything to preserve it in its entirety. So, when the cannon of South Carolina were directed against Fort Sumter, the City of New York threw all indecision to the winds, and was emphatically on the side of the National Government. One of the grandest sights ever witnessed within her limits was the great popular meeting held at Union Square, on the afternoon of the 20th of April, one week after the fall of Sumter. That short space of time had served to merge all oppositions of party in one common cause. It was no longer for the moment Republican or Democrat, but all for the country. The flag of the Union was hoisted, by order of Archbishop Hughes, on the tower of the Cathedral, a prompt surrender of all party political prejudice to the paramount interests of the nation; at various stands, speakers, representatives of all parts of the nation, addressed the vast assembly: Senator Baker, of Oregon, and Prof. Mitchell, of Kentucky, who gave their lives to the country; Walker, of Mississippi, long identified with Southern statesmanship; Dix, the late Secretary of the Treasury, who had made himself a name by his order respecting the revenue service-"If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot"; Coddington, of New York, the energy of whose nature found vent in words prophetic of battles; Senator Dickinson; the German, Frederick Kapp; and not least that day, the mayor of the city, Fernando Wood, whose fiery speech savored little of the recent apologetic message with which he had met the bravado of Toombs, of Georgia. The flag of Sumter, brought to the spot, enveloped the statue of Washington, and Major Anderson and his staff were present at the meeting. The occasion might well be one to provoke feeling, for New York was already sending forth her sons to the war, and the hearts On the previous afternoon the Seventh Regiment had left the city, more than one thousand strong, accompanied to the wharf by a concourse of their friends and relatives, on their way to Baltimore, hastening to avenge the attack by the mob upon the troops from Massachusetts. The next day, Sunday, was to witness the departure for the seat of war of three city regiments, to be followed immediately by five others. New York was promptly answering the call of the President. There was serious work in all this, for the city felt the responsi bility, and proved herself superior to pleasure-loving ease on the one hand and idle vanity or bravado on the other. There was a noble patriotic duty for her to perform, and henceforth, in spite of all opposition and discouragements, we find her undivided energies at the service of the state. Upon her rested not only the furnishing large quotas of men, but the chief supply of the pecuniary means of carrying on the war. Nor were her humanitarian exertions less conspicuous in remedying the inevitable sufferings of the soldiers in the field. Simultaneously with the first departure of troops from the city, an organization was formed by a number of ladies for the relief of the sick and wounded, the Women's Central Association, out of which grew the United States Sanitary Commission, an institution unprecedented in the extent and efficiency of its beneficent work, supported and maintained by private effort, while it acted with the sanction and in co-operation with the military authorities. It was formally authorized by Congress early in June; the Rev. Dr. Bellows, of New York, was placed at its head as president, and under his personal exertions, in journeying from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in which his generous nature and inspiring eloquence everywhere found willing hearts, this noble association expanded in vast undertakings of charity commensurate with the gigantic war. It was truly a national work, deriving its support from all parts of the country in allegiance to the Government. Subscriptions flowed into its treasury from all sides. Fairs which assumed extraordinary proportions were held in the leading cities. That held in the City of New York, in a special building erected for the purpose, covering the northern area of Union Square, brought in a return, after the payment of all expenses, of over a million dollars. By the side of this was developed the United States Christian Commission, supported by the Young Men's Christian Association and the United States Union Commission, both of which were organized in the City of New York. Mr. Vincent Colyer, an artist of New York, since honorably distinguished by his employment under the Government in Indian affairs in the West, was the head of the Christian Commission. It may be said to have grown out of his disinterested personal exertions. The local institutions confined to the city, for aid and comfort to the soldiers, were also numerous. The aggregate of these free-will offerings throughout the nation was estimated by Horace Greeley at five hundred millions of dollars. With the militia which left New York for the defense of the capital at the beginning of the war was a volunteer regiment, the first in the field, recruited from the firemen of the city by Colonel Ellsworth. In the first occupation of Alexandria, on the morning of May 24th, while leading his men, the colonel's attention was attracted by the Confederate flag flying from the summit of a hotel. In a few moments, accompanied by several friends, ha *The receipts were $1,351,275; the net income, $1,181,506. was on the roof of the building; the flag was cut down | Colored Half-orphan Asylum, on Fifth Avenue at Fortyon the instant, and as Ellsworth was descending an upper stairs, bearing it with him, he was met by the keeper of the house, who discharged a double-barreled gun at his breast. The colonel was killed on the instant, and, as he fell, Private Brownell, of the regiment, promptly avenged his death in a fatal shot at the assassin. The remains of Ellsworth, after funeral services at the President's mansion at Washington, were brought to New York, and carried in an imposing procession through the city on the way to the birthplace of the deceased (Mechanicsville) in the State. This was the first funeral procession of the war in the city, to be followed by many others, among them two (Winthrop and O'Brien) who had gone forth with the favorite Seventh Regiment, allied in literary achievement, in youthful enthusiasm, as in a common death upon the field. Meanwhile, the city freely continued its offerings of men and treasure. More than eighty thousand volunteers, says the message of the patriotic Mayor Opdyke, who had succeeded Wood, were sent by her to the war during the first two years, and money contributions in various ways made to the Government of not less than three hundred millions of dollars. fourth Street, occupied by several hundred destitute children, was attacked in the afternoon, and being without defense, the inmates were driven in terror from the building, which was pillaged and burnt. Everywhere negroes began to be hunted and persecuted; they were driven from their occupations, their houses were assailed in the night, many in their terror fled from the city, and others found shelter in the homes of courageous citizens; twelve, it is stated, were brutally murdered. In one instance a poor victim was hung to a tree and a fire kindled beneath him. The mob also set fire to the office of the draft at the corner of Broadway and Twenty-ninth Street. It was burned with the contiguous stores, which were plundered of their contents. During the two following days the mob was in the ascendant, perpetrating many deeds of personal violence, plundering and exacting contributions in various parts of the city, from house to house. The railways were broken up, stores were closed, and labor generally suspended. All this while the police, to the full extent of its ability, was effectively employed, and active measures were taken by the Mayor, Governor, and military authorities. The militia were recalled from Pennsylvania. General Wool, in command of the Department, and under him General Harvey Brown, directed the movements of the Federal troops at hand. There were various contests with the mob, which resulted in their overthrow and dispersion, the rioters suffering fearfully from the fire of the troops. This was the last serious disturbance in the city during the war, if we except the fruitless effort made by a small band of rebel agents, in November, 1864, to fire the chief hotels and public buildings. Lodgings were taken by these rooms, and also to a portion of Barnum's Musum, but the fires were put out before any considerable damage was done. Robert Kennedy, one of the conspirators, was arrested, and suffered death as the penalty of his crime. In the latter part of the war the citizens were occupied in efforts largely directed by the Union League Club, founded early in 1863, in forwarding volunteers and generally alleviating the hardships of the conflict. The tragic death of President Lincoln, following closely upon the surrender of Lee, in April, 1865, produced a profound impression in New York. On the arrival of the intelligence, instantly, as if by a concerted signal, the stores were clothed in mourning, and everywhere the deepest feeling was exhibited. The day was also signally honored which saw his remains borne through the city, on their way to their last resting-place at his home in Illinois. As the war went on, it developed the inevitable issue of the abolition of slavery, formally registered by the Emancipation Proclamation, taking effect on the 1st of January, 1863. This was at the critical period of the war, when its burdens were most oppressive and the enemy in greatest force. The City of New York, in common with other parts of the country, felt the pressure. Party opposition, which had been silenced, shrinking abashed before the sacrifices of the nation, now asserted itself, and assumed its boldest front in the night of dark-conspirators, who applied inflammables in their several ness, happily preceding the dawn of victory. The struggle came in New York in the Summer of 1863. In the month of June of that year its militia regiments, numbering about eight thousand men, were sent to Pennsylvania to resist the advance of Lee, on the eve of the turning-point of the war, the decisive victory of Gettysburg. Simultaneously with this movement was set on foot, as an absolute necessity of the Government for its preservation, the draft enrollment, authorized by Congress in the last hours of its closing session in March. The enrollment had been made in New York, and the draft, deferred to the last moment, was ordered for the 11th of July. It was commenced in the city at the appointed time, in one of the districts, at a building on the corner of Third Avenue and Forty-sixth Street, and continued without interruption during the day, though not without symptoms of opposition on the part of the laboring classes, upon whom the burden fell with the greatest force. The next day being Sunday, pause was given for co-operation, and early on Monday an organized effort to resist the draft was apparent. Workmen at factories and buildings were compelled by moving bands to leave their work, and a large body of men were thus disengaged from their usual occupation, and ready to swell the crowds which thronged to the buildings where the draft was going on. It had scarcely been resumed at Third Avenue and Forty-sixth Street when the house was invaded by the mob, who destroyed the furniture and drove the officers with violence from the premises. The building was then set on fire, and the whole block consumed, the insurgents forbidding any efforts of the Fire Department for its preservation. A violent prejudice, which had been fomented by the partisan newspaper attacks upon the Emancipation Proclamation, was now directed against the negro population. The The topic of literature would appear to be too comprehensive to be drawn within the limits of this sketch. Indeed, we find that it has been generally omitted by those who have attempted the history of New York. Yet it is far too distinctive to be overlooked, though we cannot here do more than glance at a few prominent characteristics. The period of the colonization by the Dutch may well be supposed to have been too busy for authorship, yet it had its men of learning. Van der Donck, who published the "Representation from New Netherland," describing the products and inhabitants of the country; Megapolensis, who has left us a tract on the Indians; the writer of the satirical "Broad Advice to the United Netherland Provinces "; while poetry, even, was represented by Jacob Steendam and Henricus Selyns, whose verses were brought to light and translated for English readers, by the antiquarian zeal and affection of the late Hon. Henry C. Murphy. The former of these two versifiers, an adventurer who came | 1774, written with a strong infusion of the manner of from Holland about the middle of the seventeenth century, sent home to the mother country in 1659 a poem, "The Complaint of New Netherland," a personification of the colony, with a glance at its condition, and a lamentation over the encroachments of the English, which was followed two years after by a longer composition, "The Praise of New Netherland," a pamphlet in verse, a rather appetizing eulogy of the soil, climate and productions of the country. Domine Selyns, a notable character in the old religious history of the Province, left a volume in manuscript of quaint occasional verses, the most noticeable of which is an epithalamium on the marriage at Christmas of the Rev. Egidius Luyck, the Latin schoolmaster of Manhattan, to the fair Judith Van Isen doorn; & wound of Cupid which the poet ingeniously connects with the recent murders committed by the Indians at Esopus. There was also Narcissus de Sille, a councilor in the administration of Governor Stuyvesant, who left a fragment or two of moral and religious verse. With the English rule, and mainly toward its close, after Bradford and his successors had established the L Pope by Gulian Verplanck, grand-uncle of the late DOCTOR JOHN W. FRANCIS. press in the city, grew up a body of writers of the legal profession whose essays and political lucubrations formed the solid, staple editorials of the newspapers of the period. Among these stands prominently forth as a diligent controversialist William Livingston, whose Independent Reflector has already been mentioned in relation to the attacks in its columns on Columbia College, and who was also a contributor to Hugh Gaine's Mercury and Holt's Weekly Post Boy; while his "Philosophic Solitude," published in 1747, gives him a place, the earliest, among the poets of New York. The learned and philosophic Lieutenant-governor Colden has a prior claim in prose for his "History of the Five Indian Nations," which appeared in 1727. The only other anteRevolutionary poetical production, we believe, which can be claimed for New York, is "Vice; A Satire," dated heavily at first, and, as was to be expected, with a strong imitative propensity. A volume of poems of a plaintive domestic character was published in 1793. Samuel Low, of some talent in description; Richard Bingham Davis, whose early death was much lamented; John Blair Linn, author of The Powers of Genius"; and Harwood, the actor, are remembered for their volumes of verse published in the early years of the century. Dunlap, of whose various writings-dramatic, biographic and historical -we have already had occasion to speak, though painting was his profession, was among the first in the city to exhibit much activity in authorship. He was in his youth associated with a club of intellectual companions, among whom were the brothers, Dr. Samuel and Edward Miller; James Kent, subsequently author of the Commentaries on American Law"; and Charles Brockden Brown, then a resident of the city, whose first novels, "Wieland" and " Ormond," were published in New York in 1798 and the following year. Dr. Mitchill should not be forgotten among the pioneers of the liter 66 *The reader will find several pages of this production in the collection of specimens of fifty or more city poets in Charles Fenno Hoffman's "New York Book of Poetry," published in 1837. |
