Part 3 (2/2)
The union of lakes--the union of lands-- The union of States none can sever-- The union of hearts--the union of hands-- And the Flag of our Union forever.
_George P. Morris._
=New York Sons of Liberty.=--In 1767, in the eighth year of the reign of George III. there was issued a doc.u.ment in straightforward Saxon, and Sir Henry Moore, Governor-in-Chief over the Province of New York, offered fifty pounds to discover the author or authors. The paper read as follows: ”Whereas, a glorious stand for Liberty did appear in the Resentment shown to a Set of Miscreants under the Name of Stamp Masters, in the year 1765, and it is now feared that a set of Gentry called Commissioners (I do not mean those lately arrived at Boston), whose odious Business is of a similar nature, may soon make their appearance amongst us in order to execute their detestable office: It is therefore hoped that every votary of that celestial G.o.ddess Liberty, will hold themselves in readiness to give them a proper welcome. Rouse, my Countrymen, Rouse! (Signed) _Pro Patria_.”
In December, 1769, a stirring address ”To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and County of New York,” signed by a Son of Liberty, was also published, asking the people to do their duty in matters pending between them and Britain. ”Imitate,” the writer said, ”the n.o.ble examples of the friends of Liberty in England; who, rather than be enslaved, contend for their rights with king, lords and commons; and will you suffer your liberties to be torn from you by your Representatives? tell it not in Boston; publish it not in the streets of Charles-town. You have means yet left to preserve a unanimity with the brave Bostonians and Carolinians; and to prevent the accomplishment of the designs of tyrants.”
Another proclamation, offering a reward of fifty pounds, was published by the ”Honorable Cadwalader Colden, Esquire, His Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New York and the territories depending thereon in America,” with another ”G.o.d Save the King” at the end of it. But the people who commenced to write Liberty with a capital letter and the word ”king” in lower case type were not daunted. Captain Alexander McDougal was arrested as the supposed author. He was imprisoned eighty-one days. He was subsequently a member of the Provincial Convention, in 1775 was appointed Colonel of the first New York Regiment, and in 1777 rose to the rank of Major-General in the U. S. Army. New York City could well afford a monument to the Sons of Liberty. She has a right to emphasize this period of her history, for her citizens pa.s.sed the first resolution to import nothing from the mother country, burned ten boxes of stamps sent from England before any other colony or city had made even a show of resistance, and when the Declaration was read, pulled down the leaden statue of George III. from its pedestal in Bowling Green, and moulded it into Republican bullets.
And not a verdant glade or mountain h.o.a.ry, But treasures up within the glorious story.
_Charles Fenno Hoffman._
In 1699 the population of New York was about 6,000. In 1800, it reached 60,000; and the growth since that date is almost incredible.
It is amusing to hear elderly people speak of the ”outskirts of the city” lying close to the City Hall, and of the drives _in the country_ above Ca.n.a.l Street. In the Doc.u.mentary History of New York, a map of a section of New York appears as it was in 1793, when the Gail, Work House, and Bridewell occupied the site of the City Hall, with two ponds to the north--East Collect Pond and Little Collect Pond,--sixty feet deep and about a quarter of a mile in diameter, the outlet of which crossed Broadway at Ca.n.a.l Street and found its way to the Hudson.
=Greater New York.=--In 1830, the population of Manhattan was 202,000; in 1850, 515,000; in 1860, 805,000; in 1870, 942,000; in 1880, 1,250,000; in 1892, 1,801,739; and is now rapidly approaching three million. Brooklyn, which in 1800 had a population of only 2,000, now contributes, as the ”Borough of Brooklyn,” almost two million. So that Greater New York is the centre of about six million of people within a radius of fifteen miles including her New Jersey suburbs with almost five millions under one munic.i.p.ality.
=Brooklyn.=--In June, 1636, was bought the first land on Long Island; and in 1667 the Ferry Town, opposite New York, was known by the name ”Breuckelen,” signifying ”broken land,” but the name was not generally accepted until after the Revolution. Columbia Heights, Prospect Park, Clinton Avenue, St. Mark's Place and Stuyvesant Heights are among the favored spots for residence.
Behind us lies the teeming town With l.u.s.t of gold grown frantic; Before us glitters o'er the bay The peaceable Atlantic.
_Charles Mackay_
=Jersey City= occupies the ground once known as Paulus Hook, the farm of William Kieft, Director General of the Dutch West India Company.
Its water front, from opposite Bartholdi Statue to Hoboken, is conspicuously marked by Railroad Terminal Piers, Factories, Elevators, etc. Bergen is the oldest settlement in New Jersey. It was founded in 1616 by Dutch Colonists to the New Netherlands, and received its name from Bergen in Norway. Jersey City is practically a part of Greater New York, but state lines make munic.i.p.al union impossible.
=Hudson River Steamboats.=--An accurate history of the growth and development of steam navigation on the Hudson, from the building of the ”Clermont” by Robert Fulton to the building of the superb steamers of the Hudson River Day Line would form a very interesting book. The first six years produced six steamers:
Clermont, built in 1807 160 tons Car of Neptune, built in 1809 295 ”
Hope, built in 1811 280 ”
Perseverance, built in 1811 280 ”
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