NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES
3 3433 06255217 3
^■i -mA
hie
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2008 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/diaryofphiliphonOOhone
THE DIARY
PHILIP HONE
1828-18P
EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BAYARD TUCKERMAN
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1910
Copyright, 1SS9
Bv DODD, MEAD ct COMPANY
All rights reserved
INTRODUCTION
"PHILIP HONE was born on the 25th of October, 1780, in
-^ Dutch street, New York. Four years later his father bought
a wooden house, on the corner of Dutch and John streets, where
Philip passed his boyhood. He received a common-school educa-
tion, and at seventeen years of age began his mercantile career as
clerk to his elder brother John. The business was that of an auc-
tioneer, which, at that time, consisted chiefly in selling the cargoes
brought to the port of New York by the fleet of American merchant-
men. Philip displayed so much ability and fidelity in his work,
that in 1799, when nineteen years of age, his brother took him
into partnership. The firm became extremely prosperous, and
bore an honoured name throughout the United States. On the
ist of October, 1801, in his twenty-second year, Mr. Hone mar-
ried Catherine Dunscomb, by whom he had three sons and three
daughters.
In 1820, Mr. Hone, although only forty years of age, had accu-
mulated a fortune then considered very large. His mature life still
lay before him, and the choice was open as to the manner in which
it should be spent. With no love of money for money's sake, with
a sincere desire to improve himself and to be useful to others, he
retired from business, in the flood- tide of his powers and his pros-
perity, to enter a higher sphere of effort.
In 1821 he sailed for Europe in the "James Monroe," Captain
Rogers, of four hundred tons burden. This journey to foreign
lands made a deep impression, and strengthened his determination
to devote his energies to self-cultivation and to objects of public
IV INTRODUCTION.
interest. Immediately after his return, he purchased the house,
No. 235 Broadway, just below the corner of Park place, for ^25,000.
This house was one of the largest private residences in the city,
and was pointed out to strangers as an object of civic pride. Its
windows looked out upon the City Hall Park, then the principal park
in New York, surrounded by a fence of wooden palings, and consid-
ered up town. When installed in his new house, Mr. Hone began
his career of social and public-spirited activity. The most able
and influential men in New York were his constant guests. Men
from other States, such as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Harrison
Gray Otis, made his house their rendezvous while passing through
the city. Foreigners of note, such as Lord Morpeth, Fanny
Kemble, Captain Marryat, John Gait, Charles Dickens, met with
a hearty welcome. As his children grew up the house became a
resort for the young people ; and it was an ordinary question for the
beaux and belles walking on Broadway : *' Shall we meet to-night at
Mr. Hone's, or at Dr. Hosack's?" — these being the two houses
in town most constantly open.
In 1824 Mr. Hone was elected an assistant alderman, which
office he held until 1826, when he became Mayor. His adminis-
tration of the affairs of the city was characterized by an intelligent
public spirit, untrammelled by party ; and his mayoralty, praise-
worthy as it was for the wise performance of duty, was especially
distinguished in the annals of New York municipal government by
the fact that Mr. Hone represented the city socially as well as po-
litically. He entertained officially ; and visiting strangers during
his term enjoyed a hospitality which reflected credit upon the whole
community.
In 18 16 was established the first bank for savings. This, the
best of all philanthropic institutions, had immediately enlisted Mr.
Hone's cooperation. On its foundation he was appointed a trustee
by the Legislature, and he continued his gratuitous labours on be-
half of the bank for more than thirty years, becoming its president
m 1 84 1. For twenty-one years he served as a governor of the
INTRODUCTION. V
New York Hospital and as a trustee of the Bloomingdale Asylum.
He ceased to occupy these positions only when rendered ineligible
by his appointment by the Governor of the Stale as an inspector
of all public institutions. He was the founder of the Clinton Hall
Association and of the Mercantile Library xA.ssociation, of which he
continued to be the president for many years. Other institutions
and corporations of which IMr. Hone was an officer for considerable
periods are as follows : Trustee of Columbia College, of the New
York Life Insurance and Trust Company, of the Merchants' Ex-
change ; president of the American Exchange Bank, of the Glen-
ham Manufacturing Company ; vice-president of the Institution
for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, of the American
Seamen's Fund Society, of the New York Historical Society, of
the Fuel Savings Society ; a director in the Matteawan Cotton
and Machine Company, the Eagle Fire Insurance Company, the,
National Insurance Company, the Delaware and Hudson Canal
Company ; a member of the Chamber of Commerce, of the Vestry
of Trinity Church ; a manager of the Literary and Philosophical
Society, of the Mechanics and Scientific Association ; president of
the German Society ; a founder and a governor of the Union Club.
By his labours on behalf of the insurance and manufacturing com-
panies, and the Delaware & Hudson Canal, which first connected
the coal-fields of Pennsylvania with tide-water, Mr. Hone kept
abreast of the industrial interests of the country. The positions
held by him in philanthropic institutions were never treated as
honorary titles. In each case he worked with the same assiduity
that a man could apply to his own business. An ordinary day's oc-
cupation for him was to ride out on horseback to the Bloomingdale
Asylum, to return and pass the afternoon at the Bank for Savings,
thence to attend a meeting of the Trinity Vestry, or to preside over
the Mercantile Library Association He was never voluntarily
absent from a meeting where the interests of others demanded his
presence, and many were the good dinners which he lost in conse-
quence.
VI INTRODUCTION.
In 1837, the encroachments of trade upon the buildings in the
vicinity of the City Hall Park made Mr. Hone's house there less
desirable as a place of residence. He sold it, and built the house
at the south-east corner of Broadway and Great Jones street, then
the ui)per limit of the city, where he lived during the remainder of
liis life. The front room on the ground floor, now occupied by
the East River Bank, was liis library, and there the greater part
of his Diary was written.
During the prolonged period of commercial depression, which
began with the attacks of President Jackson upon the Bank of the
United States in i<S36, Mr. Hone met with financial losses, in con-
sequence of assistance extended by him to others, which com-
jielled him to return to active business. He became president
of the American Mutual Insurance Company, which was ruined by
the great fire of July 19, 1845, and the affairs of which he wound
up as receiver. In recognition of the courageous and honourable
manner in which he had met his reverses, a number of leading
merchants placed in the Mercantile Library a marble bust of Mr.
Hone, which Clevenger began and Powers finished. In 1849 he
was appointed Naval Officer of the port of New York by President
Taylor, which office he held during the short remainder of his
life.
In politics, Mr. Hone was first a Federalist, and afterwards a
Whig, ha\ing given its name to the latter party. The Jackson
administration, characterized as it was by unwarrantable assump-
tion of power by the Executive and a cringing party subserviency,
excited his detestation ; and he was an important factor in the
great campaign which ended in the election of General Harrison.
He was an able speaker, and his services were called into rec^uisi-
tion at all times of public commotion. He presided with success
at party conventions, where his fine presence, strong voice, and
dignified language swayed and moderated great assemblages.
He had personal gifts which extended the influence due to his
character. Tall and spare, his bearing was distinguished, his face
INTRODUCTION. vii
handsome and refined ; his manners were courtly, of what is
known as the " old school ; " his tact was great, — he had a faculty
for saying the right thing. In his own house his hospitality was
enhanced by a graceful urbanity and a ready wit. He was fond
of riding on horseback, always had a spirited horse, and for many
years his figure was a familiar sight as he rode up and down
Broadway. His popularity as a diner-out is sufficiently illustrated
in the pages of the Diary, and is well remembered through the
institution of the Hone Club.
Mr. Hone's taste for literature and the arts was self-cultivated.
With few advantages in early life, he owed his education to his
own efforts. He was an assiduous reader of serious books, the
contents of which he impressed on his mind by copying striking
passages in his common- place book, with comments of his own.
He took every opportunity of seeing good pictures, and obtained
an artistic judgment by the same system of self- instruction which
he applied to literature. Authors and painters were frequent
guests at his table, and not a few were assisted by him. He was
much interested in the drama, owned a box at the Park Theatre ;
and when actors like Matthews, Kemble, or the elder Wallack
were playing in New York, they always enjoyed his hospitality.
As a merchant, distinguished for intelligence and integrity ; as an
enlightened philanthropist, as a public- spirited citizen and a social
leader, Mr. Hone took pleasure in recording the events which took
place under his eyes during the first half of the present century.
He saw New York grow from a town of twenty thousand inhabi-
tants into a city of five hundred thousand ; he saw the residence
portion of the city extend up Broadway to Union square, up Fifth
avenue as far as Twentieth street. And in this enormous growth
and all the changes which it involved, he had borne an influential
part. He had been an American who recognized no division of
North and South, and a Knickerbocker who gloried in the progress
of his native city. In 1847 he made a journey into the far West,
the hardships of which brought on an illness from which he never
Viii INTRODUCTION.
fully recovered. In 1850 he lost his wife, and on the 4th of May,
1851, he died, in his seventy-first year.
On the termination of his mayoralty, in 1827, Mr. Hone began
to keep a record of various events, chiefly of a business and per-
sonal description, for convenience of reference, rather than as a
literary occupation. But his interest in the life of his day, com-
bined with a natural gift for expression which demanded gratifi-
cation, caused this record gradually to assume a more elaborate
character. In May, 1828, he found that he had only to go a step
further to convert his common-place book into a diary, and this
step he determined to take. During the rest of his life the Diary
became his favourite exercise and relaxation. He devoted an
hour or more daily to chronicling events of interest, to comments
on politics, literature, art, the drama, or industrial subjects. He
wrote without any view to publication. His thoughts were put
down as they occurred to him, without previous preparation or sub-
sequent correction. Their expression was the pleasurable one of
an active mind which is relieved by giving form to ideas. The
keeping of the Diary became a rooted habit ; so that, when infirmity
had curtailed other occupations, he adhered to this one almost to
the day of his death. The somewhat fragmentary character of a
common-place book is discernible in the beginning of the Diary ;
but the reader will perceive a steady improvement as regards both
style and continuity.
In its original form, the Diary consists of twenty-eight quarto
volumes, closely written on both sides of the page. Not more than
a (piarter of the work is now published. Mr. Hone made ex-
tended comments on new books, with extracts from them; he
made summaries of the foreign news brought by the packet-ships ;
he kept records of political statistics and local political meetings ; he
copied extracts from the speeches of public men and periodical
articles of interest at that time ; he kept a record of the journeys
INTRODUCTION. IX
which he took about the country on business or for pleasure. Such
subjects as the above have been omitted or abridged. The por-
tions of the Diary relating to industrial changes, to political and
social life, to public men and other individuals of note, to the his-
tory of the city of New York, have been retained as far as allowed
by the limits of the two volumes here presented.
Bayard Tuckerman.
PART I
THE DIARY
OF
PHILIP HONE
1828
SUNDAY, May 18. — The tariff bill, having been returned from
the Senate, passed by that body with various amendments,
was finally passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday
last. This bill has been warmly discussed, and has caused great
excitement. It increases the duties on all those descriptions
of manufactured goods imported from foreign countries which
are supposed to come into competition with our manufactures.
The success of this measure will be considered a triumph of
the manufacturing over the mercantile interest. Some of the
Southern States view it as hostile to their prosperity, and I much
fear it will lead to violent measures among some of the political
Hotspurs of that sanguine portion of our fellow-citizens.
Ballston Springs, Saturday, July 26. — Mr. Stevenson told me
the following anecdote of Tecumseh, which was related to him by
General Harrison, and which is descriptive of the Indian's roman-
tic character and sublime sentiments. When General Harrison,
at that time Governor of the Indian Territory, was engaged with
the chief in making the treaty of Vincennes, a misunderstand-
2 THE DIARY OF rillLll' . JIONE. [.Klat.48.
ing occurred, and Tecumseh gave the (jeneral the he. The
General was very in(hgnant, and was with difficulty restrained
from chastising him on tlie spot ; this, liowcvcr, would have
been attended with conseciuences fatal to the pending negoti-
ation, and he was prevailed ui)on to signify to him through the
interpreter that his offence was forgiven, and that he was allowed
the privilege of being seated in the i)resence of the Governor,
his great father. The haughty chief, throwing himself on the
ground, replied with scorn and indignation, " I have no father
but the glorious Sun ; the Earth is my mother, and I will repose
upon her bosom."
Albany, Tuesday, Sept. 2. — After seeing three of my chil-
dren, with the horses and carriage, under way in the safety barge
" Lady Clinton " for New York, we started at ten o'clock in an
extra stage for Boston, by the way of Lebanon, Northampton,
etc. We gave seventy dollars f )r tlie coach to convey the party
of seven persons to Boston.
Thursday, Sept. 4. — Left Lebanon after breakfast. To Pittsfield,
seven miles ; to Hinsdale, nine ; to Peru, four, where we dined ;
to Worthington, a neat, pretty little town, six ; to Chesterfield, six,
where we lodged.
Friday, Sepi. 5 . — Fine westerly wind and clear weather. We
left Chesterfield after breakfast and came to Northampton, thirteen
miles. P^verything looks delightful in this most beautiful town,
which has improved much. We visited in the afternoon the Round
Hill School, and were politely entertained by Mr. Bancroft. In
the evening we went to a pleasant party at Mrs. Henry Gary's, of
New York, who has been passing the summer in this place.
Sunday, Sept. 7. — To Spencer, seven miles; to Leicester, five;
to Worcester, six, to breakfast. Worcester is one of the finest
towns in Massachusetts, and much improved within a few years.
It is the residence of Governor Lincoln. The lilackstone canal
commences at Worcester. To Needham, eight miles ; to Newton,
four; to Boston, by Brighton, nine. We entered the city by the
l828.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 3
Mill Dam road, about six o'clock, of a most beautiful Sunday
afternoon. I shall never forget the delightful impression I received
from this entree. We took lodgings at Mrs. Lekain's, Pearl street.
Boston, Monday, Sept. 8. — After breakfast I commenced my
Boston rambles, and saw most of the lions of this fine city. Mr.
Quincy, the Mayor, took us through the new market- house, which
is his hobby, and well worth seeing. The length of this splendid
receptacle of beef, poultry, and potatoes is five hundred and thirty-
six feet, its width fifty feet, and the improvement of the vicinity
consequent upon its erection renders it an object of admiration.
We visited Faneuil Hall, the armory, the noble art museum, its
exhibition room (where at present is exhibited a collection of
Stuart's portraits, for the benefit of his family), the new hotel
building at the corner of Tremont and School streets, the docks,
etc. After dinner, Mr. H. G. Otis called and took me out to
Quincy to visit the President, but we found that he had departed
suddenly this afternoon for Washington. We had, however, a
pleasant ride, saw the Quincy railroad and quarry of granite, and
returned to town by the way of Roxbury. In the evening I went
for a short time to the theatre in Tremont street ; a handsome
theatre, but not a first-rate company.
Thursday, Sept. i i. — We rode out after dinner with the Mayor
to see Quincy, etc. The railroad and granite quarry are objects
of great curiosity, and are now in fine operation. On our return
from the quarry we stopped to see a handsome edifice in the vil-
lage of Quincy, — a new meeting-house, nearly finished. It is a
beautiful piece of architecture, and its massy columns of granite
are probably the best specimens of that fine material which have
yet been brought into use. They are single shafts, formed each
of an entire block, very perfect, twenty-five feet in height, and
twelve feet eight inches in circumference. We took tea with Mrs.
Quincy, and returned to Boston in the evening.
Friday, Sept. 12. — This morning was employed in a visit with
Mr. Otis to the City Hospital, and to the hospital for lunatics at
4 THE DIARY OF PIIILTP HONE." [/Ktat. 48.
Lechmorc Point. The last-named establishment occupies a large
house, formerly the residence of Mr. Barrell, to which spacious wings
have been added, and several court-yards for the recreation of the
patients. The arrangement of these courts and of the buildings
admits of a classification of the patients, which has been much
wanted in our asylum at IMoomingdale. I dined with an agreeable
party at Mr. Otis's, and in the evening accompanied my daughter
to a party at Mrs. Otis's, and another party at Mrs. Derby's.
Sunday, Sept. 14. — Went to St. Paul's Church in the forenoon,
and heard a sermon from Mr. Alonzo Potter, the pastor of that
church. This gendeman is son-in-law to Dr. Nott, President of
Union College. After dinner we rode out to Colonel Perkins's,
at Brookline, where we took tea ; and in the evening went to
Mr. Otis's. Colonel Perkins has one of the finest places in the
neighbourhood ; his wall fruit and grapery are justly celebrated,
and are now in great perfection.
Tuesday, Sept. 16. — We went on an excursion to Waltham,
accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Tilden and Mr. Payne ; visited the
celebrated seat and ground of Mr. Lyman, and the splendid man-
sion of the late Governor Gore, where we were kindly received and
entertained by Mrs. Gore. This great man has been dead eighteen
months, and his widow has lived in retirement ever since. I dined
at Gen. Theodore Lyman's, who lives in very handsome style, and
has the best library I have seen in Boston. Passed the evening
with a party at Mrs. Cunningham's. This lady, who is lately
married, is the daughter of Rufus Amory.
Friday, Sept. 19. — We started for Providence at twelve
o'clock ; came to Dedham, ten miles, to dinner. A fine morn-
ing, with fair wind, made the latter j^art of our voyage very
pleasant, and we arrived in New York at twelve o'clock noon,
having performed the voyage from Providence in seventeen
hours and a half.
Wednesday, Oct. 15. — The following party dined with us:
Lord Bishop Inglis, of Nova Scotia, his lady, and two daughters ;
i828.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 5
Mr. R. Cochran, Mr. Henry Hone, Mr. H. Brevoort, Mr. D.
Lynch, Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Astor, Mr. C. and Miss Brugiere,
Mr. Eugene Cruger. Declined : Dr. Wainvvright and lady. Bishop
Hobart, Chancellor and Mrs. Kent, Mr. and Mrs. I. S. Hone,
Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Ludlow,
Rev. Mr. Schroeder.
Wednesday, Nov. 5. — Mrs. Montgomery, widow of General
Montgomery, died this day at her residence on the North river,
aged eighty-six years.
Saturday, Nov. 8. — This being the day fixed upon for the
delivery of Dr. Hosack's eulogium on the character of the late
Governor Clinton, which was prepared at the joint request of the
Committee of Citizens and the Literary and Philosophical Society,
I formed one of a large collection of gentlemen who assembled at
the City Hall and walked in procession to the Middle Dutch
Church. The doctor's oration or memoir was extremely interest-
ing, and secured the attention of a highly respectable audience
during the whole of its delivery, which occupied two hours and a
quarter, although he left out one-half of that which he had pre-
pared. This part will be restored in the publication of the work,
and I am of the opinion that Dr. Hosack will add to his literary
reputation by this elaborate and able production.
Friday, Nov. 14. — Visited the Asylum this morning, accom-
panied by Mr. Richards ; dined with Mr. D. S. Jones. On my
return home, the Bishop, who had made an appointment with me
at Mr. Jones's, called at my house and proposed in confidence
the plan of a cathedral to be erected on Washington Square.
The idea of a magnificent diocesan church is a very imposing one,
and strikes my mind favourably, and it is certain that the location
suggested by the Bishop is the best in the city, and can be ob-
tained at a moderate price. Independently of the advantages
which our church would derive from such an establishment, the
erection of such an edifice would improve the property in its
vicinity and render the square the most desirable residence in the
6 THE DIARY OF rillLll' IIOxNE. [/Ktat. 4S.
city. But where is the money, where the public spirit, where
the liberaHty, to carry such a noble plan into execution? Above
all, who will take a lead in it ? I cannot ; I am already engaged
in. more business of this kind than I can do justice to, and it has
been my fate to be so often repulsed by the cold, calculating ob-
jections of that portion of my fellow-citizens who have the ability
to promote objects of public improvement, that I am discouraged
from attempting again to encounter them. I note in this place
the conference above mentioned, as it is possible that this glorious
project may, one of these days, be carried into effect, and I
believe this is the first time it has ever been hinted. Riding home
from Mr. Jones's with Mr. Martin Van Buren, the governor-elect,
I took occasion to interest him in the subject of the Delaware and
Hudson canal, and hope he may be induced to direct, in his in-
augural message, the attention of the Legislature to this object.
Saturday, Dec. 6. — Chancellor Kent delivered an address this
day before the Historical Society, — a most beautiful production,
interesting in its details, affecting and impressive in its style, and
read in a chaste and elegant manner. By the exertions of a few
individuals this society has been resuscitated, its affairs relieved
from embarrassment, the valuable library rescued from the neglect
and confusion in which it has lain for years, the apartments cleaned
and beautified, and the whole rendered entirely worthy of the
patronage and support of the public. These important changes
have been principally effected by the zeal, industry, and good
taste of Mr. John Delafield, who has, for several months past, de-
voted much of his time and attention to that object.
Wp:dnesuay, Dec. to. — I dined with Mr. Goold Hoyt, and in
the evening attended, in the circuit court-room. City Hall, Judge
Betts's introductory lecture to a course of commercial-law lectures
which he has undertaken to deliver at the request of the Mercantile
Library Association. The sloop "Toleration" arrived this day
from Kingston with a cargo of coal, the first-fruits of the Dela-
ware and Hudson canal.
i828.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. *J
Thursday, Dec. i i . — Dined with Mr. Robert Lenox, and in
the evening Anthon, Van Schaick, Isaac S. Hone, and their wives
supped with us.
Monday, Dec. 29. — The new Board of Common Council was
organized this day, and proceeded to elect a Mayor for the en-
suing year. The following was the result of the first ballot :
For Walter Bowne, 25 ; Peter A. Jay, i ; Philip Hone, i. Har-
rison Gray Otis was elected a few days since to the office of
Mayor of Boston.
THE DIARY OF PHILIP II(3NE. [/Ktat. 49.
1829.
"XT 7EDNESDAY, Jan. 14. — Being engaged from eleven
' ^ o'clock this morning until nine in the evening as a juror
on a difficult cause, I was prevented from dining with Mr. James
G. King, as I intended. The officers of the Literary and Philo-
sophical Society assembled at my house and supped, together with
Chancellor Kent, Dr. Matthews, Messrs. Morse, Cole, and Sullivan
as visitors. My detention in court prevented me from being at
home when the company assembled.
Tuesday, Jan. 20. — The long-talked-of fancy ball at Mrs.
Brugiere's took place this evening. We were present, and much
pleased. A large proportion of the company went in character ;
the dresses were generally appropriate, some of them exceedingly
splendid, and many of the characters were supported with much
spirit. The rooms were crowded, but it went off well.
Friday, Feb. 6. — I dined with Isaac S. Hone. In the evening
attended a fancy ball at Mrs. Abraham Schermerhorn's, — a very
splendid and delightful affair.
Wednesday, Feb. i i . — I dined with Mr. Robert Maitland,
and afterward met the officers of the Literary and Philosophi-
cal Society, and supped at the house of the Rev. Dr. Wain-
wright.
Tuesday, Feb. 17. — Died this morning, Simon, the celebrated
cook. He was a respectable man, who has for many years been
the fashionable cook in New York, and his loss will be felt on all
occasions of large dinner and evening parties, unless it should be
found that some suitable shoulders should be ready to receive the
mantle of this distinguished cuisinier.
Wednesday, April i . — A lot of ground on the west side of
Broadway, nearly opposite Bowling Green, and next, I believe, to
1829.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 9
Mr. Brevoort's, was sold at auction this day for ^19,500. Lot
about forty-four feet by one hundred and eighteen.
Monday, April 6. — This is the commencement of the second
volume of my diary, which I began on the first day of last May,
and have continued since, with tolerable regularity. I have occa-
sionally introduced matters of trifling importance, and have
omitted others which were entitled to a place ; but the employment
has afforded me some pleasure, and after its use shall havp become
confirmed by longer practice, I have no doubt it will be more
agreeable and exceedingly useful.
Saturday, April i i . — Weekly attendance at the Bloomingdale
Asylum. Dined with Mr. G. G. Rowland, where I met Mr.
Jonathan Meredith, of Baltimore, the father of the very agreeable
young lady whom we met last summer at the Springs, and subse-
quently at Boston, and for whom it is a little expected that our
host of to-day has conceived a tender penchant.
Monday, April 13. — Went with my wife to Wallack's benefit at
the Park Theatre, — a very great house. The play was "Julius
Caesar : " Brutus, J. Wallack; Cassius, H. Wallack ; Marc Antony,
Hamblin ; Portia, Mrs. Barnes ; but notwithstanding this strong
cast, it went off heavily, as this tragedy (intrinsically excellent as it
is) always does.
Monday, April 20. — I saw this day two celebrated personages,
— the Indian chief, Red -Jacket, and the original of the Harvey
Birch of Cooper's " Spy." The former is a venerable-looking old
man, with gray hair, and less of the Indian in his looks and counte-
nance than I would have expected ; and the latter is a tall old
man, who looks in all respects the character which he has been
made to assume.
Wednesday, April 29. — Charles Kneeland, son of Mr. Henry
Kneeland, was married this evening to Joanna Hone, only child of
my deceased nephew, Philip J. Hone. He is a fine young man
of excellent character, and the union promises to be a happy one.
The wedding was celebrated at my brother John's. A large party
10 THE DIARY OF I'lIILIP HONE. [^tat. 49.
supped, and the evening was passed very pleasantly for a wedding
party.
Tuesday, May 19. — The venerable, the patriotic, the virtuous,
John Jay died on Tuesday last, at his seat, Bedford, Westchester
County, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. The Supreme Court
(which is now in session) adjourned at its hour of oi)ening, as did
the other courts now sitting. This delicate mark of respect was
alike honourable to the feelings of the gentlemen constituting the
several courts, as reverential to tlie memory of the illustrious de-
ceased.
Wednesday, May 27. — Immediately after dinner at home, I
took Miss Helen Kane to the ship-yards to witness the launch of
the ship "Erie," — a fine vessel, intended as one of the Havre line
of packets, — whence I went to Abeel & Dunscomb's foundry to
meet a large party of gentlemen who were assembled by invitation
to see one of the new locomotive engines in operation, which was
recently imported from England for the use of the railroad be-
longing to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company.
Thursday, May 28. — The second locomotive steam-engine
which was imported for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company
was set in operation this afternoon at the works of the Messrs.
Kemble, in presence of a large number of gentlemen, and suc-
ceeded as well as the one I saw yesterday at Abeel & Dunscomb's.
Saturday, June 6. — I accompanied the young Count Ney and
Count Girardin to dine with Mr. Prime at Hurl Gate. The former
gentleman brought me, on his arrival in this country, a letter from
General Lafayette, and more recently, on his return from a visit to
Count Survilliers (Joseph Bonaparte), a letter from my venerable
friend. Count Real. He is the third son of the gallant Marshal
Ney, Prince of Moskowa, whose brilliant career in arms and un-
happy death have rendered him distinguished in the annals of
Europe. The count is twenty-two years of age, and is said to
resemble his father. The Count Girardin was a distinguished
officer in the army of Bonaparte, and has seen much service.
1829.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. II
Tuesday, Aug. 4.^ — The house and lot No. 49 Wall street,
recently occupied by the Pacific Insurance Company, twenty-nine
feet on Wall street, and about one hundred and thirty feet deep,
was sold this day at auction to Joel Post for ^38,100.
Friday, Nov. 27. — The Hon. Bushrod Washington, one of the
judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, died yesterday
at the Mansion House Hotel, Philadelphia, in the seventy-first year
of his age. He had been engaged in holding the Circuit Court in
New Jersey, and was taken ill in Philadelphia on his return.
THE DIARY OF rillLir HONE. [/Ktat. 50.
1830.
T^RII^AY, Feb. 5. — I dined with Mr. Charles McEvers, after
■*- which I attended Professor Renwick's first lecture on the
steam-engine. This lecture was confined to the doctrine and prin-
ciples of heat and its application, and was illustrated by many
beautiful experiments, in which the Professor was assisted by Dr.
Eller. Professor Renwick's clear, familiar, and colloquial manner
of lecturing is peculiarly satisfactory and interesting, and ex-
tremely well calculated to impart instruction to his auditors. The
lecture was attended by a large and respectable auditory of ladies
and gentlemen.
Thursday, March 4. — Died yesterday morning. Col. Richard
Piatt, in his seventy-sixth year. This gentleman was a veteran of
the Revolutionary War. He joined the army in 1775 as lieutenant
in Colonel McDougal's regiment, was in the army which invaded
Canada under General Schuyler, was acting adjutant-general under
General Montgomery in the attack upon Quebec on the 31st of
December, 1775, and was deputy quartermaster-general at the
surrender of the British army under Cornwallis on the 21st of
October, 1781.
Tuesday, March 9. — The following party dined with us : Gen-
eral Lewis, M. Livingston, G. G. Rowland, George Griffin, P. A.
Jay, R. L. Patterson, A. Schermerhorn, President W. A. Duer, Mr.
William B. Astor, P. G. Stuyvesant, Henry Gary, Chancellor Kent,
Henry Hone, Richard C. Derby, Rev. Dr. Wainwright.
Friday, March 12. — I left this morning on an excursion to
Washington at six o'clock precisely. The steamboat "Thistle,"
belonging to the Union Line, started from the Battery, arrived at
Bnmswick before ten, and the passengers started immediately in
nine post-coaches. We found the road verv fine, and took the
1830.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 3
Steamboat " Swan " seven miles below Trenton, on the Pennsyl-
vania side of the Delaware. The Union Line has been running
only nine days. It is exceedingly well conducted, and the accom-
modations by land and water are very good. I arrived in Phila-
delphia at six P.M., and put up at Head's Mansion House.
Baltimore, Sunday, March 14. — The steam-packet was to
have left Philadelphia at six o'clock yesterday morning, but did
not till noon. I then started, and arrived at Newcastle on the
Delaware at half-past four ; from thence in stages to French Town,
where we again took a steamboat, and arrived here at half-past two
this morning. I am very pleasantly lodged at Barnum's Hotel,
Monument square. The Washington monument in Howard Park
is nearly finished, being surmounted by the figure of the father of
his country. It is well proportioned, and the material — a fine
gray granite — is beautiful. The situation, on the slope of a hill,
is well chosen to display the grandeur and simplicity of this noble
specimen of art.
I paid this morning a visit, which I have long been wishing for,
to the venerable Charles Carroll, the only surviving signer of the
Declaration of Independence. He will be ninety-four years of age
next September. His faculties are very little impaired, except his
sight, which within the last few months has failed a little, and de-
prives him of the pleasure of reading at all times, which he has
heretofore enjoyed. He is gay, cheerful, poHte, and talkative.
He described to me his manner of living : he takes a cold bath
every morning in the summer, plunging headlong into it ; rides on
horseback from eight to twelve miles ; drinks water at dinner ; has
never drunk spirituous liquors at any period of his life, but drinks
a glass or two of Madeira wine every day, and sometimes cham-
pagne and claret ; takes as much exercise as possible j goes to bed
at nine o'clock, and rises before day.
Wednesday, March 17. — Continual rain during the day con-
fined me to the house until noon. I then walked out to pay a few
visits, and dined with a very agreeable party at Mr. Robert
14 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [/Etat. 50.
Gilmor's. This gentleman lives in handsome style ; nobody in
America gives better dinners or more exquisite wines. His collec-
tion of pictures is very fine, and his house is filled with specimens
of the fine arts and objects of taste and inrtu.
Thursday, March 18. — The morning being fine, Mr. Brown,
one of the acting directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company, called after breakfast to take me out to see the com-
mencement of this great work, which is the cause of so much pride
and such sanguine expectations to the Baltimoreans. Besides Mr.
Brown and myself, our party consisted of Professor McVickarand his
daughter, of New York ; Mr. DeGraffe, of Schenectady ; Mr. Derby
and two other Bostonians ; and Mr. Meredith. The wind being
strong from the north-west, we were conveyed with great rapidity
a short distance in a car propelled by sails, a very pleasant mode
of travelling.
Washington, Sunday, March 21. — I left Baltimore after break-
fast, arrived here at two o'clock, and put up at Gadsby's. After
dinner, I walked with Mr. C. P. White, member of Congress from
New York, nearly to Georgetown. The weather is remarkably fine,
and I met many of my acquaintances in my walk.
Monday, March 22. — I called upon the Secretary of State this
morning ; also upon the Secretary of the Navy ; Mr. Berrien, Attor-
ney-General ; Mr. Huygens, Minister of the Netherlands ; Mr.
Vaughan, British Minister, etc. The remainder of the day until
dinner was occupied at the Capitol. The Speaker gave me the
entree to the floor of the House of Representatives, and Mr. Web-
ster to the Senate and to the Supreme Court, which adjourned its
session while I was present. I was introduced to the judges, and
had the pleasure of a few minutes' conversation with that great and
good man, John Marshall.
Tuesday, March 23. — I dined with Mr. Vaughan, the British
Minister. He lives in handsome style, and his dinners are more
recherche than those of any other person here. Our party consisted
of the following gentlemen : Messrs. Webster, Tazewell, Archer,
1830.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 5
McTavish, Cambreling ; Colonel Drayton ; Judge Vanderpoel, of
New York ; Professor McVickar ; Baron Stackelberg, charge from
Sweden ; Pedersen, from Denmark ; Neiderstetter, from Prussia ;
Tacon, Minister Resident of Spain ; Mr. Bankhead, British Secre-
tary of Legation ; and Count de Menon, charge of France.
Wednesday, March 24. — I dined with Mr. Webster, where I
met General Harrison ; Governor Tyler, of Virginia ; Mr. Edward
Everett and Mr. Silsbee, of Massachusetts ; Mr. Grundy, of Ten-
nessee ; Count de Menon ; Mr. Vaughan ; Mr. Devereux ) Professor
McVickar, his daughter, etc.
Thursday, March 25. — I called this morning with Mr. Webster
to visit Mr. Adams, late President. His health and spirits are
good, and we paid an agreeable visit.
Friday, March 26. — I passed two or three hours this morning
in returning visits, after which I went to the House. No business
of importance is under consideration, but I have had an opportu-
nity of talking with all the leading members. I infer from what I
hear that the administration is losing ground. The proscriptive
course which has been pursued in relation to removals and appoint-
ments has served to cool their friends and to exasperate their ene-
mies, and the difficulties which exist in the Senate in regard to
several important nominations is considered an indication of public
opinion. If Jackson succeeds for another term, it will be owing to
the difficulty of agreeing upon his successor, rather than to the
popularity of his administration. If DeWitt Clinton had lived,
what a chance New York would now have had for a President ! As
it is, I am inclined to think that Van Buren is the prominent candi-
date. The Virginians say that if he had refused to take office with
his present associates, or exerted himself to procure a better selec-
tion, he would have been their candidate.
Dined with Mr. Stevenson, Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives, where I met The following party : The Vice-President ; Mr.
Tazewell ; Mr. Livingston, of Louisiana ; Drayton ; Poinsett ; Cam-
breling ; General Harrison ; Martin White, of Florida ; C. P. White ;
1 6 THE DIARY OF I'lIILIl' HONE. [.Etat. 50.
and General Wood. In the evening I went to a ladies' party at
Mrs. Silsbee's.
Baltimore, Monday, March 29. — I took my leave of the mag-
nificent Wilderness at nine o'clock, and a very pleasant ride of five
hours and a half brought me to Baltimore. I passed the first part
of the day in walking and visiting, and dined at Mr. Meredith's
with a very pleasant little party, consisting of Messrs. Gilmor,
Fricke, Glenn, John Hoffman, Judge Randall, and Mr. Wirt. This
is the first time during this visit that I have met the latter gentle-
man. He was, as usual, gay, agreeable, and instructive.
New York, Saturday, i\pRiL 10. — Married, on Tuesday evening
last, Byam Kirby Stevens, to Frances, daughter of Albert Gallatin.
Wednesday, April 28. — The following party dined with us:
Mr. and Mrs. Howland, Mr. Meredith, of Baltimore, Commander
Chauncey, F. E. Granger, Mr. Charles Hammond, Thomas L.
Ogden, Mr. Abr'm Ogden, S. S. Howland, Isaac S. Hone, Nath.
Amory, James Stevenson, A. Schermerhorn, Edward R. Jones.
Mr. Robert Gilmor joined us after dinner, immediately on his
arrival from Baltimore. Mr. Bradish, who was expected from
Albany, did not arrive. In the evening we went to a whist party,
and supped at Mrs. Edgar's.
Friday, April 30. — I attended, with my wife and daughters,
the opening of the Spring exhibition of the National Academy of
Design. A large number of ladies and gentlemen were assembled,
and a collation was provided. The exhibition is better than usual,
but the crowd was too great to admit of the pictures being seen to
advantage. There are some fine pictures of Weir's. This artist is
improving astonishingly. There are also some good things by
Inman.
Monday, May 10. — I went this morning with my wife and the
girls to take leave of our friends who have sailed in the fine ship
*' De Rham " for Havre. We went down in the steamboat to the
ship, which lay in the bay between Governor's and Bedlow's
Islands. She has about thirty-six passengers, among whom are Mr.
iSjo.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I7
and Mrs. Depau ; Miss Stephanie and Mr. Louis Depau ; Miss Mary
E. Livingston, daughter of Maturin Livingston ; Capt. John B, NicoL
son, U.S.N. ; Mr. and Mrs. Breese ; Robert Cutting; and a young
son of James G. King.
A match race was run on the Union course between Arietta, a
Southern mare belonging to Colonel Johnson, and Ariel, belonging
to Hamilton Wilkes ; and a race between Slender, a Virginia mare,
and John C. Stevens's mare, Black Maria. Both these races were
easily won by the Southern people, at considerable expense to our
sportsmen.
A singularly ridiculous article appeared under the signature of
Mr. J. W. Webb in the " Courier and Enquirer " of this morning,
of which he is editor, relating an account of a fracas between him
and Duff Green in Washington on Thursday last. Webb went on
to flog Green, and the latter armed himself with a pistol, and was so
unreasonable as to refuse his consent to let the other pull his nose
and slap his face. The public might say, with lago, in relation to
this quarrel, —
" Now whether he kill Cassio,
Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,
Every way makes my gain."
Friday, May 14. — I attended a meeting this evening, by invi-
tation, at Dr. Wainwright's, of the Literary Club, which meet at
stated periods at the houses of each other, consisting of Chancellor
Kent, Mr. Gallatin, the professors of the college, and other gen-
tlemen, with several strangers of eminence and learned acquire-
ments.
Monday, May 31. — I went this evening to see Booth play lago
to Cooper's Othello ; Desdemona, Mrs. Barnes. I do not remem-
ber to have ever seen Booth, and was rather disappointed in his
performance. It was respectable, but wanted spirit, raciness, and
point ; but I do not wonder at it, for Cooper is a perfect wet-
blanket resting upon all around, stale, flat, and unprofitable. Oh,
l8 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [.Etat. 50.
most lame and impotent conclusion ! Is tliis tlic man whom I
remember to have seen in my boyish days at the theatre, then in
Greenwich street? We have both grown older, but I am only a
looker-on in Verona, and am not compelled to ol)trude my infirm-
ities upon the public notice. Taut mieux pour nioi.
Sunday, July 4. — lam wearing the black-silk vest which was
presented to me on the 4th of July, 1827, and which was im-
ported into New York in the year 1776. The condition of its
acceptance was that I should wear it on every 4th of July during
my life, and that it should descend to my oldest son.
Monday, July 5. — I dined with the Corporation pretty much
in the usual way, — a mixture of public characters and of persons
who should not have been invited. A poor dinner poorly served
up and a want of tact and good management characterized this
annual fete of the municipality. The presence of the new French
Minister gave occasion to some speeches and toasts mutually
complimentary to his country and its sovereign, and to the little
sovereigns of our city. In the evening I walked down to Castle
Garden with Lieutenant Cooke of the Fifteenth Regiment, British
Infantry, who has just brought me a letter of introduction from
Captain Hope at Quebec. We found this charming place filled
with respectable, orderly people, and witnessed a good display of
fireworks. The evening was fine, and the beauty of the scene
made amends for some of the disgusting objects which our streets
have exhibited during the day.
Friday, July 16. — The following party dined with us: Mr. C.
Bankhead, Secretary of the British Legation, and his lady ; Baron
Krudener, Baron Stackelberg, Count Ney, Mrs. Cornwall, Mr.
James Bowdoin, Dom. Lynch, James A. Hamilton, Isaac Hone.
Ballston Springs, Wednesday, July 21. — We arrived in Albany
at six o'clock this morning, breakfasted on board the boat, and
started at eight o'clock in my barouche and a post-coach, and
got to Sans-Souci at seven in the evening. Loomis's House has
never been so full so early in the season as this. Among his
1830.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 9
boarders we found Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Brown, Chevalier Huy-
gens and his family, Mrs. Joshua Jones and her daughter, Mr.
Isaac I. Jones and wife, the Misses Mason, the families of Messrs.
Kernochan, Parish, and Suffern, Mrs. Charles Clinton, Miss
Joanna Anthon, the Misses Bridgen, Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Hamilton
and their family. Major Fowler, Mr. Hall, etc., which, with the
addition of my large party, will form a formidable array at the
breakfast table to-morrow morning.
New York, Tuesday, Aug. 3. — Commencement of Columbia
College at St. John's Church this morning. I attended during the
whole time and was much interested in the exercises. The young
gentlemen generally made a very respectable appearance. The
first honours in the senior class were awarded to Franklin Miller,
son of Sylvanus Miller, and in the junior class to Robert Emery,
who is the head of his class. The degree of Bachelor of Arts was
conferred upon James Bowdoin, Hugh T. Dickey, Benjamin F. Fer-
guson, Lewis C. Gusen, Nicholas C. Heyward, George Kneeland,
Jr., Edward Jones, John T. Kneeland, Henry Ledyard, Franklin
Miller, Henry C. Murphy, Henry Nicoll, Charles H. Ogden,
William Steele, Jr., William D. Waddington, and George Wm.
Wright ; also upon William B. Boggs, Robert L. Cutting, and John
Delafield, Jr., members of the senior class who are absent by per-
mission. The degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon John
M. Forbes and Henry J. Morton, the two young gentlemen who
were on Sunday ordained deacons in Trinity Church, and also
upon Hamilton Fish, J. Trumbull Backus, and Grenville Temple
Winthrop. The Latin salutatory was delivered by Franklin Miller,
the English salutatory by Henry Nicoll, and the valedictory by
Edward Jones.
Wednesday, Aug. 4. ^ I left home this morning at seven o'clock
in the "Albany " with my wife, two sons. Miss Louisa Fairhe, and
Miss Harriet Kane, who are to accompany us to the Springs.
Ballston, Saturday, Aug. 14. — A fancy ball was given last
evening at Sans-Souci, which was confined to the boarders in the
20 THE DTARV OF PIIILTP HONE. [/Etat. 50.
house. It was gotten iij) at short notice, l)ut went off remarkably
well. The characters were supported by the following ladies : —
Mrs. James Thomson, a Swiss peasant ; Mrs. Isaac Jones, la
dame blanche ; Mrs. Talmadge, a black nun ; Miss Fairlie, a Bohe-
mian fortune-teller ; Miss Lawrence, brigand's wife ; Miss Dennison,
a Sultana ; Miss French, French peasant ; Miss Mason, character
from La Rossignol ; Miss Sarah Mason, Virginia ; Miss Margaret
Hone, a white nun ; Miss Mary Hone, an Austrian peasant ; Miss
Sarah Livingston, a Scotch lassie ; Miss Matilda Livingston, a
Quakeress ; Miss Harriet Kane, a French pedler ; Miss Morris,
a peasant.
Gentlemen : Mr. P. Hone, Lord Ogilby ; Mr. James Thomson,
Uncle Ben ; Mr. Cooper, Mrs. Lobden and a tiger ; Dr. Greenhow,
Voltaire ; Mr. Van Zandt, a Tryolese hunter ; Mr. Van Schaick,
Peter McGrowler ; Mr. John C. Hamilton, an astrologer ; General
Fleming, a friar ; Judge Morris, a fireman ; Mr. Vail, a French vil-
lage bridegroom ; Messrs. Allston, Schermerhorn, John P. Hone, and
John Kane, four Austrian hussars ; Mr. John Mason, an Albanian ;
Mr. Washington Coster, Scotch lassie ; Robert S. Hone, Bob, the
sailor boy ; Mr. Carter Lee, Paul ; Mr. Whetton, an old gentleman.
New York, Tuesday, Aug. 24. — Died yesterday. Col. Marinus
Willet, aged ninety years and eleven days. His name is advan-
tageously identified with the events of the Revolutionary War, in
which he was a gallant soldier and distinguished officer. He was
buried with the honours of war, and his funeral was attended by the
Mayor and Corporation, the Society of Cincinnati, and by the
members of the Court of Errors, now in session.
Saturday, Aug. 28. — Our fair countrywoman, the Marchioness
of Wellesley, granddaughter of the venerable Charles Carroll, has
been appointed first lady of the bed-chamber to Queen Adelaide,
consort of King William IV.
Wednesday, Sept. i . — I went over to the Park Theatre to
witness the first appearance in America of Charles Kean, the son
of the celebrated tragedian. He appeared in his father's great
1830.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 21
part, Richard III., and brought an overflowing house. But making
every allowance for the disadvantages of a first appearance, I
cannot perceive that he inherits any great proportion of his father's
genius, and is, in my opinion, quite deficient in the requisite
physical qualities of voice, figure, and deportment. Booth is play-
ing tragedy at the Bowery Theatre, and I have no doubt will be
greatly preferred by theatrical amateurs.
Hyde Park, Saturday, Sept. i i . — The weather is delightful,
and we have passed the day in walking and riding over Dr. Hosack's
splendid grounds. Isaac and Eliza Hone came here this morning
from Poughkeepsie, and Mr. Poinsett, accompanied by Don Lorenzo
de Zavalla, Governor of Mexico, came in the steamboat. The
doctor and I went to dine with Judge Pendleton, where we met
Mr. Allen, Judge Johnson, Mr. James Duane Livingston, and Mr.
Guilliard.
Monday, Sept. 13. — After breakfast, I went with my wife and
Miss Eliza Hosack to visit at Governor Lewis's, Judge Pendleton's,
and Mr. James Thomson's ; this latter superb place is in its usual
fine order, and the weather enabled us to enjoy the splendid
prospect to great advantage. Our visits were all very pleasant,
and our friends glad to see us. We returned home to dinner,
and the remainder of the day was spent among the fine walks on
the doctor's place, and in the literary delights of his splendid
library.
Wednesday, Sept. 15. — I attended this evening at the house of
my niece, Mrs. Maria Hone, the wedding of Mr. William Wood,
of Glasgow, who was married to my sweet young friend, Harriet
Kane. May she be as happy as she is good and beautiful ! They
intend to start on Friday on a journey to Niagara, and will probably
sail for Europe about the ist of November.
Thursday, Sept. 16. — The funeral of Bishop Hobart took place
this afternoon, under the direction of the committee of arrange-
ments appointed by the vestry, of which I was one. The proces-
sion, embracing the governor, mayor of the city, Court of Errors,
22 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 50.
judges, vestry of Trinity Church, and the other vestries of Epis-
copal churches, the several religious and literary and benevolent
societies of which he was a member, and the clergy of different
denominations to the number of more than one hundred, moved
from his late residence in Varick street to Trinity Church, where
the funeral service was performed by Bishop Moon, of Virginia,
Mr. Schroeder, and Dr. Lyell, and a sermon was preached by Dr.
Onderdonk. The procession is said to have contained five thousand
persons, an 1 the streets on its route were crowded with spectators.
The church was filled almost to suffocation, but everything was
conducted with great decorum and propriety. The corpse is in-
terred in the chancel, immediately under the communion table, and
the grave is to be walled up and an arch to be thrown over it.
Tuesday, Sept. 28. — The accounts from France, which were
written after the excitement of the Revolution had in some degree
subsided, are filled with interesting details, but no part of them
excites so much admiration as those in which Lafayette is men-
tioned. It seems to be allowed on all sides that to this veteran sol-
dier of liberty the king owes his crown. If he had come out for
a reiniblic, his popularity was so great, and his influence over
public opinion so absolute, that the great mass of the principal
actors in the events of the 27th, 28th, and 29th of July would
have been satisfied with nothing short of it, and, in all probability,
the French people would now have been employed in cutting each
other's throats instead of being settled quietly down under a liberal
form of government and a patriotic king, with as much liberty as
the people of this country enjoy, but under another name. This
great citizen of France has now seen, in his latter days, the predic-
tions of his former life verified, and the glory and good fortune
which accompanied him in the morning and meridian of his event-
ful day have not deserted him at its close.
What a strange, eventful period in the affairs of this world has
been the brief fifty years during which I have been in it, and how
interesting a moment in its history is the present !
1830.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 23
Thursday, Oct. 14. — The fair of the American Institute has
been held yesterday and to-day at Masonic Hall. The exhibition
has embraced an immense variety of manufactures, — furniture of
every description, and every object which the versatility of inven-
tion and the ingenuity of our artisans and manufacturers could
produce. In the evening Mr. Tristram Burgess, the great cham-
pion of the American system, delivered an address before the
members of the institution and a large number of spectators, at
the new court- room in the apartments formerly of the American
Museum. I had the misfortune to be one of the audience, and
was tired out by a heavy, inappropriate jumble of far-fetched
facts and unimaginable imaginings, and left the place before the
oration was concluded. I marvel much that the members of the
institute, with their professed aversion to importation, and their
encouragement of home manufactures, should import nonsense
from Rhode Island when we have so good a stock of the indige-
nous article.
Tuesday, Oct. 19. — Francis Child died at Burlington, Vt.,
a few days since, aged sixty-seven years. He established the New
York " Daily Advertiser," the first daily paper in New York, the
first number of which was published March i, 1785.
Monday, Oct. 25. — This day completes my fiftieth year, and
we had a large family party to celebrate it. The party consisted
of Mr. and Mrs. x\nthon. Miss Caroline Anthon, Mr. and Mrs.
I. S. Hone, Mr. Van Schaick, Mr. and Mrs. William Wood, Miss
Charlotte Kane, Miss Joanna Anthon, Dr. and Mrs. Matthews, Mr.
and Mrs. Henry Hone, Mrs. Maria Hone, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Kneeland, Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Hovvland.
Thursday, Oct. 28. — I rented the shop and cellar of Clinton
Hotel for five years from May next, at $700 for the first two and
$800 for the last three years, to Joshua Leavitt, bookseller for
Mr. Appleton.
Thursday, Nov. 18. — One of the locomotive engines on the
Liverpool and Manchester Railroad traversed the distance between
24 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.-Etar. 50.
the two places, thirty-two miles, in thirty-three minutes, — about
fifty -eight miles an hour !
Monday, Nov. 22. — Master Burke, a precocious Roscius from
the Emerald Isle, who arrived on Thursday from Liverpool,
made his first appearance this evening at the Park Theatre in
" Norval," and Dr. O'Toole, in the "■ Irish Tutor." I saw him
for a short time in the farce, and think him a remarkably clever
boy.
Sunday, Nov. 27. — Yesterday took place the New York cele-
bration of the late revolution in France. The procession, divided
into sixteen divisions, was formed in Canal street, with its right on
the North river and extending up liroadway. At ten o'clock the
line of march was formed and went down Broadway to the Park,
around the Park, up Chatham street and the Bowery to Broome
street, down Broome street to Broadway, up Broadway to Fourth
street, down Fourth street to the Washington parade-ground. At
this place a stage had been erected, on which the following cere-
monies were performed : A prayer by the Rev. Mr. Day ; an
address to the French people, written by Mr. John Duer, was
read ; the oration, by Mr. Samuel L. Gouverneur ; after which the
Marseillaise hymn and an ode prepared for the occasion by Samuel
Woodworth were sung by the choir.
I rode during the day and superintended the whole as chairman
of the committee of arrangements. The procession was so long
that when the right entered Broadway from Broome street, the
military, who formed an unusually splendid array, had not yet left
Canal street, and when we arrived at the parade-ground, the whole
were not yet m motion. The whole route must have been two
miles and a half. The ex- President, Monroe, drove in his
carriage, as did Mr. Gallatin and the orator and reader of the
address. An interesting group occupied a barouche, consisting of
Anthony Glenn, who raised the flag at the fort on the retreat of
the British, 25th of November, 1783; John Van Arsdale, the
sailor who mounted the staff to remove the obstructions : and the
1830.] THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. 2$
identical flag itself, which has been preserved in Scudder's Museum.
This group of octogenarians was completed by David Williams, the
survivor of the three captors of Major Andr^, and Enoch Crosby,
the Harvey Birch of the Revolution. The president, faculty, and
students of Columbia College were conspicuous in the procession,
and the citizens of France, with their splendid banner, made a
proud display. Their banner was formally presented on the
ground to the first division of artillery. Among the trades and
societies the most prominent were the fire department, with their
beautiful engines, badges, and other decorations, to the number of
fifteen hundred persons ; the printers, who were employed at two
places in striking off and distributing among the multitude copies
of the ode, etc. ; the butchers on horseback, to the number of three
hundred, in leg-of-mutton sleeves ; the cartmen on horseback in
white frocks ; a steamboat with her steam up and machinery in
motion ; the famous Whitehall boat, carried by the pilots and water-
men ; and a great many stages, displaying the emblems of different
trades, and on which mechanical operations were carried on during
the march. The procession was closed by the military, who
formed on the grounds north of the square and fired ^ fcu-de-joie
after the civic ceremonies were concluded.
Sunday, Nov. 28. — I made a pleasant visit this morning to
Colonel Monroe, ex- President of the United States, who is residing
with his son-in-law, Mr. S. Gouverneur, in Prince street. Mr.
Monroe is very feeble and appears in worse health than usual, the
effect of a cold ; but his mental faculties are unimpaired, and his
manner and conversation are exceedingly interesting.
Saturday, Dec. 18. — Moore, Giraud, and I went yesterday to
dine at Delmonico's, a French restaurateur^ in William street, which
I had heard was upon the Parisian plan, and very good. We sat-
isfied our curiosity, but not our appetites ; and I think are prepared,
when our opinions are asked, to say with the Irishman who used
lamp-oil with his salad instead of olive-oil, that if it were not for
the name of the thing he had as lief eat butter.
26 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 50.
Friday, Dkc. 24. — Mr. Ball Hughes's model for the statue of
Hamilton, on which he has been employed for a long time past,
being now completed, the committee wlio were named to decide
upon its merits assembled at the a/c/ier of the artist, at twelve
o'clock. Of that committee were present: Mr. ^\'ilkes, Dr.
Hosack, Colonel Trumbull, and myself; and of the Exchange
committee, Messrs. Woolsey, Tibbits, ^Vyckoff, and George Gris-
wold, with Messrs. D. ]]. Ogden and James R. Murray. The
fullest testimony of approbation was unanimously given, and I have
no doubt that if the artist finishes the statue agreeably to the prom-
ise given by the model, it will be the best piece of statuary in the
United States.
1831.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 2/
1831.
OUNDAY, Jan. 2. — A decidedly pleasant day, the first I be-
^^ lieve during the present autumn and winter. I paid a few
visits which were left over from yesterday. The old custom of
visiting on New Year's Day, and the happy greetings which have so
long been given on that occasion, have been well kept up this year.
I am glad of it ; few of those good old customs remain which mark
the overflow of unsophisticated good feeling, and I rejoice when-
ever I can recognize any part of the wreck which the innovations
of fashion have left afloat.
Wednesday, Feb. 2. — The following gentlemen were on
Monday last elected officers of the new university in this city :
Albert Gallatin, president of the council ; Morgan Lewis, vice-
president ; John Delafield, secretary ; Samuel Ward, treasurer ;
James M. Mathews, D.D., chancellor of the university.
On the 8th of December a grand dinner was given
Lafa^etJ ^^ ^^^ Americans in Paris to General Lafayette, the
account of which is very interesting from the circum-
stance of so many Americans of my acquaintance having been
engaged in it. James Fenimore Cooper, of New York, presided,
assisted by Peter Schermerhorn, of New York, and Capt. John
Nicolson, U.wS.N. Among the guests were Mr. Serrurier,
Minister to the United States ; Odillon Barrot, Prefect of the
Seine ; Gen. Matthias Dumas, adjutant-general of the National
Guards ; M. Du Perron, grandson- in-law of Lafayette ; Mons. De
Remusat, deputy, and grandson-in-law of the General ; General
Carbonel ; Mons. Joubert ; Mr. Rives, American Minister ; Charles
de Lameth, deputy of Paris, who fought and was wounded at
Yorktovvn ; George W. Lafayette ; Jules de Lasteyrie, etc.
Tuesday, Feb. 22. — I went this evening with my wife and
28 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 51.
daughters to the Assembly, where I was introduced to Mr. Serru-
rier, the new French Minister, and conversed with him about the
late occurrences in France. He si)eaks in the highest terms of the
conduct of Lafayette in the affair of the ex-ministers of Charles X.
His firmness and courage contributed greatly to preserve the peace
of Paris in that interesting crisis. Mr. Serrurier regrets his resig-
nation of the command of the National Guard, and considers it
somewhat hasty. But the General has desired him to state to his
American friends that it did not arise from any motives of a per-
sonal nature.
Saturday, March 12. — The following gentlemen dined with
us : Judge Spencer, Judge Irving, Mr. John Hone, Dr. Hosack,
Mr. Granger, Governor Coles, Judge Oakley, General Scott,
Chancellor Kent.
And thus endeth the third volume of my diary. It has become
a habit with me to write in it, and affords me pleasure. It is
not like writing letters, which may be done or let alone, and
becomes, therefore, a task, and as such is more or less irksome ;
but this is part of my daily occupation. If I should live some
dozen or twenty years I shall enjoy the retrospection, or my
children, if they revere the memory of their father, will, in turning
over the pages of this book, have something to remind them of
him, — something that will "prate of his whereabouts," and inform
them how he thought and what he did " about these times."
March 15. — Went this morning to see the Siamese
lamese I^qvs, who rctUHied List wcek from Endand. I did
Twins. •' °
not see them when they were exhibited formerly in this
city. This astonishing freak of nature is exceedingly interesting,
and. the sight of it is not disagreeable, as I expected to find it.
They are now nearly twenty years old, kind, good-tempered, and
playful ; their limbs are well proportioned and strong, but their
faces are devoid of intelligence, and have that stupid expression
which is characteristic of the natives of the East. They are united
by a strong ligament of flesh or gristle, without bone, about three
1831.] THE DIARY OF rillLir HONE. 29
inches in breadth and five in length. Their movements are, of
course, simultaneous. They walk, sit down, play, eat and drink,
and perform all the functions of nature in unison ; their disposi-
tions and their very thoughts are alike ; when one is sick the other
partakes of his illness, and the stroke of death will, no doubt, lay
them both in the same grave ; and yet their bodies, heads, and
limbs are all perfect and distinct. They speak English tolerably
well, and appear fond of talking.
Bicheior's Friday, March 1 8. — This splendid affair, so long
Grand Fancy the thcmc of couvcrsatiou and the subject of prepara-
^^ ' tion, took place this evening at the City Hotel, and I
believe no expectations had been formed which were disappointed
by the result. The rooms were handsomely fitted up with mirrors,
curtains, pier tables, and lamps ; the supper tables were splendidly
and most abundantly furnished. The number of guests was very
great, of which about one-third appeared in fancy dress, some of
which were well conceived and supported with wit and address ;
and others failing in those respects were thought by some to make
up in magnificence and lustre. It is not necessary for me to go
into the particulars of a catalogue raisonne, and if it were, " I am
not i' the vein," and I think my time will be better spent in read-
ing Moore's " Byron." My daughter Mary went as " Sweet Anne
Page," and looked sweetly in the costume of Leslie's inimitable
picture. The rest of us went sans caractere, — my wife and I,
because we were too old to join the " Masquers and Mummies ; "
John, because a sprained ankle had prevented him for several days
past from making his preparations ; Robert, because he couldn't ;
and Margaret, because she wouldn't. Our party was graced by the
addition of our fair visitor, Helen Kane, who was said to look well
for an Albanian. Mrs. Hughes, as a flower girl, was very naive
and lively, and distributed to each of her friends an appropriate
flower, with a pretty card describing its attributes, and conveying
her good wishes to those whom she selected as the recipients of
her favours.
30 THE DIARY OF I'll I LIT HONE. [.Etat. 51.
Monday, March 28. — Left home on a fishing excursion to
Long Island with Giraud. The weather was doubtful, but improved
in the course of the day. Dined at Timothy Carman's, and went
to Jackson's, where we lodged. Mr. Morris and Mr. Constant were
here, having overtaken us at dinner-time.
Friday, April i. — A gale from the north-west. We went on
the pond after breakfast, and caught a fine mess of fish to take
home. A deer crossed the creek near the boat while we were fish-
ing. Mr. Giraud and I have taken sixty-five trout. After dinner
we started for home at three o'clock, intending to go no further
than Jackson's ; but our horses were fresh, and we came on to Tim-
othy Carman's, where we lodged. Immense quantities of wild-fowl
have been killed in the bay this week. A man had at Babylon
this evening, on his way to the New York market, six hundred
broad-bills.
Saturday, April 2. — Went to dine at Isaac's with a party,
among whom were Messrs. Sturgis and Cabot, of Boston. I added
a handsome mess of fresh trout to the dinner.
Wednesday, April 6. — Mr. John Mason was elected, on Monday
last, president of the Chemical Bank, in place of Mr. B. P. Melick.
Wednesday, April 20. — While I was shaving this morning at
eight o'clock, I witnessed from the front window an encounter in
the street nearly opposite, between William C. Bryant and William
L. Stone ; the former one of the editors of the " Evening Post," and
the latter editor of the " Commercial Advertiser." The former
commenced the attack by striking Stone over the head with a cow-
skin ; after a few blows the men closed, and the whip was wrested
from Bryant and carried off by Stone. When I saw them first, two
younger persons were engaged, but soon discontinued their fight.
A crowd soon closed in and separated the combatants.
Saturday, April 30. — A public dinner was given on Thursday
last to G. C. Verplanck, Esq., member of Congress from this city,
by the literati, artists, and booksellers, avowedly for his exertions
to procure the passage of the copyright law. Judge Irvdng was
1831] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 3 1
president, and Professor Renwick and Mr. Dunlap, vice-presidents.
Mr. Verplanck made a long speech, which is much praised by those
who were present.
Monday, May 2 . — The following party dined with us : Sir
William Campbell, late Chief Justice of Canada ; James Maury,
late Consul to Liverpool ; Luther Bradish ; James G. King ; Capt.
James Rogers ; Isaac S. Hone ; Charles McEvers ; Isaac Carow ;
Rutsen Maury ; G. G. Rowland ; James Haggerty.
Thursday, May 5. — It is an interesting and gratifying subject of
reflection that our country at large, and particularly this city, is at
this time prosperous beyond all former example, and somewhat
remarkable that different interests, usually considered opposed to
each other, are equally successful. Foreign commerce is in a
thriving condition ; vessels are worth fifty per cent, more than they
were two years since, and freights are nearly double ; real estate,
up and down town, equally high ; houses in great demand, at
advanced rents ; the dealers in imported goods doing a safe and
profitable business ; the farmer selling his wool at seventy-five cents
per pound, which two years ago was worth only thirty -seven and
one-half cents per pound, and availing himself of the increased
price of bread-stuffs, occasioned by the brisk foreign demand ; the
manufacturers, both of woollen and cotton goods, fully employed,
and doing better than at any former period ; and the lawyers doing
nothing. This is cause of great exultation to our citizens, and
should inspire them with gratitude to the Dispenser of all good
things. We are more apt to complain when things go wrong than
to be thankful when they go right.
Monday, May 9. — The city is now undergoing its usual annual
metamorphosis ; many stores and houses are being pulled down,
and others altered, to make every inch of ground productive to its
utmost extent. Pearl street and Broadway in particular are ren-
dered almost impassable by the quantity of rubbish with which
they are obstructed, and by the dust which is blown about by a
keen north-west wind.
32 THE DIARY OF I'll 1 LI 1' HONE. [Etat. 51.
Saturday, May 21. — I went with the girls to Hoboken this
afternoon, and had a deUghtful walk on the high banks nearly to
Weehawken.
I received this day a letter from Samuel F. B. Morse, dated at
Rome, February 15. He informs me that he has shipped for me
at Leghorn a fine portrait by himself of Thorvaldsen, the cele-
brated sculptor, and a cast executed by that artist of the " Triumph
of Alexander the Great," from the original has- relief made for the
Marquis Sommariva.
Tuesday, May 24. — Died on the 17th inst., at Rochester, Col.
Nathaniel Rochester, in the eightieth year of his age. He was an
officer in the Revolutionary War, and removed from his native
State to Steuben County in this State in 1802, soon after which
he removed to the village of Rochester, a great part of which he
owned. It is now a town of considerable magnitude, the wonder
of the western empire of New York.
Thursday, July 5. — In the midst of the festivities of the cele-
bration of independence yesterday, the death of James Monroe
was announced. He died at the house of his son-in-law, Mr.
Samuel L. Gouverneur, in this city. This venerable patriot has
been ill and his life despaired of for some months past, and he
seems to have lingered until this time to add to the number of the
Revolutionary patriots whose deaths have occurred on this memo-
rable anniversary. Of four ex-Presidents who have died, three have
departed on the 4th of July, and of this number two, who were
signers of the august instrument which declared the political birth
of our country, died on the fiftieth anniversary, 4th of July, 1826.
Mr. Monroe has now made the third, and has closed his mortal
career, respected and honoured by his countrymen. Measures will
be adopted by the civil and military authorities to render his
funeral obsequies worthy of his character and the important ser-
vices he has performed and the exalted stations he has filled.
Monday, July i i . — The hard rains have been followed by
bright, cool weather and clear skies. I attended by invitation a
1831.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 33
fete champcfre given by the Messrs. Stevens at the Elysian Fiel Is
above Hoboken. This beautiful spot has been cleaned, the grounds
laid out with great taste, and a handsome pavilion erected, as a
place of public resort connected with the ferry. At three o'clock,
the company, consisting of about two hundred gentlemen, as-
sembled on board the steamboat " Chief Justice Marshall." Among
them were the mayor and corporation, and many other public
characters, and a number of the Stevens's personal friends.
When we arrived on the ground, we were conducted to a spot in
the woods enclosed by flags, and decorated in a tasteful manner,
where tables were spread, and a dinner of turtle soup and every
refreshment furnished to the guests which the taste and liberality
of our entertainers had taught us to expect. Some time after our
arrival, the party was increased by the New York and Jersey City
Boat Clubs, who came in their several boats, dressed in white
jackets and trousers, round chip hats, and checked shirts, the be-
coming costume of the clubs. John Stevens presided at the feast,
with spirits as abundant and sparkling as his champagne ; and the
beautiful grove, under the branches of which we were seated,
echoed the sounds of merriment and good-humour, inspired by the
toasts, the songs, and the laughter, to which each guest seemed dis-
posed to contribute his share.
Monday, Aug. i . — Col. Richard Varick died on
Death of Saturday night at his residence, Jersey City, in
the seventy-ninth year of his age, of cholera morbus.
He complained of lameness in his feet when I last saw him, which
was about a fortnight since, but his general health was good. He
attended, as president of the Society of Cincinnati, the corporation
dinner on the 4th ult., and was a pall-bearer at the funeral of
President Monroe on the 7 th ult. Measures are taking to pay
great respect to his memory. General orders are issued for the
Division of Artillery. The Society of Cincinnati have announced
his death, and the order of the funeral ceremonies under direction
of Gen. Morgan Lewis, vice-president. Both houses of the Com-
34 THE DIARY OF PIIILIP HONE. [.Etat. 51.
mon Council and the Court of Sessions, which were sitting, ad-
journed this morning on the announcement of his death. The
pall-bearers at Colonel Varick's funeral are : Lynde Catlin, Peter
A. Jay, Col. Aaron Ogden, Col. John Trumbull, John Pintard,
William W. Woolsey, Chancellor Kent, Col. Nicholas Fish.
Friday, Aug. 5. — I left Albany this morning at
ara oga eii^ht o'clock, in company with Messrs. Charles Graham,
Springs. o / X ^ 7
Lispenard Stewart, Fehrman, and my son John, and
after an exceedingly pleasant ride came to Congress Hall and
got very good colonial quarters, near the bath-house. We were
delighted this morning with the view of the Cohoes Falls ; the rains
this season have been frequent, and the river rushes in an entire
sheet, covering the whole face of the rock. I have never before seen
the water so high, nor consequently the cataract so fine. The
wreck of a canal-boat is on the edge of the great dam, where she
was wrecked yesterday. Her towing line was broken by the force
of the current while passing below the bridge, and she was carried
down to the place where she now lies. The only man on board
and her cargo of firewood were saved.
Congress Hall is filled with company, amongst whom are many
distinguished men and fine women, and nearly about the usual
proportion of people who are neither distinguished nor fine, but
rich, and that, in their opinion, entitles them to more consideration
than either. Amongst the first description of persons are Mr.
Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, who they say is to sui)i)ly the place of
Mr. Randolph, our extraordinary Minister to Russia ; Meredith ;
Gilmor ; Gibbes ; HofTman ; and Martin, of Maryland ; Jonathan
Mason and George Blake, of Massachusetts ; Mr. and Mrs. How-
land ; the Cuttings ; Carys ; my brother and sister ; Mrs. Abbott ;
Oliver Kane and his daughters ; William Sullivan, of Boston, and
his pretty daughter ; Miss Fulton ; Mrs. Davis ; Mr. and Mrs.
Dickenson ; the Tayloes, etc.
Tuesday, Aug. 9. — A party of us went out to dine yesterday
at Barhuyt's, consisting of General Van Rensselaer, Mr. Meredith,
1831.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 35
Charles E. Davis, Morgan Gibbes, G. G. Howland, Mr. J. Hare
Powel, R. Gilmor, J. D. Dickenson, T. L. Gibbes, D. Lynch,
Crafts, and myself. The old man gave us several dishes of his
little trout fried, two chickens, and that was all ; but he charged us
well. The party, however, was gay and the conversation brilliant,
and Lynch sang for us. The fashionables are leaving Saratoga
in great numbers, and no new-comers supply their places. Some
go to New York, some to Lake George, and others to Lebanon.
HoNESDALE, SuNDAY, AuG. 2 1. — I weut to church this morning,
and after an early dinner left Carbondale in a wagon with Captain
Goodale and Mr. Archbald and came to this place by the way of
Canaan. I never witnessed a more reverential observance of the
Sabbath than in both these villages ; notwithstanding the vast
number of workmen, amongst whom are a large proportion of
Irish and Welsh people, who are employed as miners and other-
wise, all occupation has ceased ; the coal valley which resounded
yesterday with the noise of machinery, the rattling of cars, the
explosion of gunpowder, and the clinking of pickaxes is now as
still as the tomb of the Capulets ; and the miners who were yester-
day begrimed with coal and looked like citizens of the nether world
are seen this morning on their way to church, clean and well
dressed, with long coats and gilt buttons, high shirt-collars, and
brooches in their bosoms. So much for a good example ; the
company suspends its operations of every sort on Sunday.
New York, Thursday, Sept. 8. — A meeting was held at five
o'clock this afternoon at the Merchants' Exchange, of which Pre-
served Fish was chairman and Jonathan Goodhue secretary, at
which delegates were appointed to attend the Free Trade Con-
vention at Philadelphia, on the 30th inst., and resolutions
passed disapproving the tariff laws, and expressing a determina-
tion to take measures to procure a modification of them by the
next Congress ; the following are the names of the delegates :
Albert Gallatin, James Kent, Stephen Allen, Morgan Lewis,
Peter A. Jay, Jacob Lorillard, David B. Ogden, James Boorman,
36 THE DIARY OF I'lIILlF HONE. [/Etat. 51.
Henry J. Wyckoff, Zebedee Ring, Benjamin L. Swan, James G.
King, John A. Stevens, James Heard, Frederick Sheldon, Charles
H. Russell, Stephen Smith, Silas M. Stilwell, Moses H. Grinnell,
Preserved Fish, Isaac Bronson, John Haggerty, Thomas R. Mer-
cein, Isaac Carow, John L. Crary, J. T. Trimble, George Gris-
wold, J. McVicar, H. Kneeland, Jonathan Goodhue.
Wednesday, Seff. 14. — A fatal duel was fought at St. Louis,
Mo., on August 26, between Major Biddle, paymaster of the
United States Army, and Spencer Pettis, Esq. ; the former was
brother to Nicholas Biddle, of Philadelphia, president of the Bank
of the United States, and to Commodore Biddle of the navy, and
the latter was recently elected a member of Congress. They
fought at five feet distance, and were both mortally wounded on
the first discharge. Mr. Pettis died on the same day and Major
Biddle on the following. The quarrel originated in political dif-
ferences and in the publication of an article written by Biddle to
operate against Pettis's election.
Friday, Sept. 2^. — Having received an invitation
Excursion to 7 v^ <_>
Albany and to visit the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, I proposed
West Point. ^^ ^j^^ g|j.|g ^Q ^^^^ them with me, and leave them at
West Point until my return from Albany. I started this afternoon,
at five o'clock, in the steamboat " DeWitt Clinton." The weather
had been bad all day, and was still very doubtful when we left
home, but soon became pleasant. The rest of the party landed at
West Point, and I continued on my way to Albany. I went to the
American Hotel, and after breakfast joined a large party at the
Eagle Tavern. We proceeded in carriages under the orders of Mr.
Cambreling, the superintendent, to the starting-place on the rail-
road, about two miles from the city. The road from this point is
finished, a distance of twelve and a half miles, nearly level. The
inclined planes at each end of the road are finished. The whole
length of the railroad when completed will be fifteen miles and
a half.
Sunday, Sept. 25. — My intention of going to church this mom-
1831.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 37
ing was frustrated by a pressing invitation from Cambreling to take
another ride on the railroad with Bucknor and Edward Prime, who
came up last evening. We started at ten o'clock, under the orders
of Cambreling and Mr. DeGrufif, who has been master of the cere-
monies on this occasion, and we returned with the American loco-
motive twelve and a half miles in thirty- seven minutes, which is at
the rate of twenty miles an hour, — quite fast enough in all con-
science, and exceedingly pleasant.
Monday, Oct. 3. — The anti-tariff, or free-trade,
Anti.tariff convcution assembled in Philadelphia on Thursday last,
Convention.
but the accounts this morning state that they had not
organized by the appointment of officers. What can they want ?
At least, what can the delegates from New York have to complain
of, in thus lending their aid to the excited politicians of the
South to destroy a state of prosperity unexampled in the history of
our country? If the system of protecting duties should be aban-
doned, our great manufacturing interests will be prostrated ; the
wholesome competition with foreign countries which now keeps
down the prices of imported goods will exist no longer. Foreign-
ers will receive the benefit of the reduction of duties, and con-
sumers will be compelled to pay double for everything of foreign
manufacture. The opinion of New York is not expressed in this
convention ; our meeting was gotten up by two or three persons,
not to obtain the sentiments of our citizens on the propriety of
uniting with the nullifiers of the South, for in that they would have
failed, but the friends of the measure only were called, and dele-
gates were appointed, in the number of whom are many of our
most respected citizens ; but the names of several were used with-
out their consent, and although some of them declined as soon as
they saw their names published, on the ground of their opposition
to the proceedings, the managers had not the candour and fairness
to publish their dechnations, but were willing to avail themselves of
the influence which the use of such names would exercise upon
public opinion in other States, where their disapprobation could not
38 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 51.
be known. Chancellor Kent is one of the number of those whose
names, so well known and so much respected, are permitted to
stand on the list of delegates. He was at my house last evening,
and told me that he sent in his resignation immediately, because he
disapproved of the proceeding, and was not opposed to the tariff.
But this artifice has accomplished its object, and James Kent is
quoted as one of the good and great men of New York who sanc-
tion a measure opposed to the true interest of our State and city.
Verily, we are an unthankful people, and one that waxes fat and
kicks.
MoNDAV, Oct. 10. — The convention which has been sitting in
Philadelphia adjourned on Friday evening, sine die. An address
was reported by Judge Berrien, late Attorney-General of the United
States, in which the tariff laws were declared to be unconstitutional.
This occasioned some difficulty. Mr. Gallatin, from this city,
moved to strike out that part, which motion was negatived. Of our
delegates, sixteen had the grace to vote for striking out, and four, —
Fish, Leonard, Bergh, and Kneeland, — against it ; and the address
was carried, one hundred and fifty-eight to twenty-nine. Thus the
Southern nullifiers have accomplished their object, in getting New
York to go with them ; for although the delegates from this city do
not rei)resent this community, and were appointed nobody knows
how, yet they will be claimed by the Southern people, who had ral-
lied all their forces and out-voted our men, and were, in fact, rep-
resentatives of their respective States. This is the way we are
always managed. Such men as Gallatin, Griswold, Carow, and
King should never have meddled in this concern, or should have
protested and seceded from the convention when a proposition so
monstrous as the denying to Congress the constitutional right to
pass these laws was about to be adopted. Those gentlemen thought,
no doubt honestly, that it was inexpedient and oppressive to pass
laws which they considered unequal in their operation ; but they
are too enlightened to believe for a moment that those laws are un-
constitutional. It is but a short time since they took the lead in
1831.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 39
paying a merited compliment to Mr. Webster for his manly and
eloquent defence of the Constitution against the nullifying doctrines
of the South, and now we see them bound hand and foot, and led
forth to grace the triumph of his adroit competitors.
Thursday, Oct. 13. — Mr. Anderson, who came out
°^^^ ^ lately from England, was announced this evening at
the Park Theatre, for his first appearance in America, in
the character of Henry Bertram in the opera of '' Guy Mannering."
The house was filled by persons who had prepared to assist in or
witness the riot which was expected. He is said to have behaved
ill on the passage and abused the Yankees, and a quarrel with the
mate was settled after his arrival by the latter giving him a flogging,
the effects of which has prevented him from appearing until now.
Saturday, Oct. 15. — Mr. Anderson was announced again for
this evening in the part of Henry Bertram. The house was filled
very early to suffocation. When I went in the whole interior was
a solid mass of men. Not a single female present, except two or
three in the upper tier. The first part of the opera was listened to,
and when Mrs. Sharpe appeared she was received with the most
marked approbation, intended, no doubt, as the amende honorable
for the share which she was compelled to receive of the ill-treat-
ment intended for Mr. Anderson on Thursday. At the commence-
ment of the second act, previously to the time when he should
have appeared, Simpson came forward and attempted to read his
apology. This was the signal for the commencement of the riot,
and from that time the disturbance continued during the whole
night. Apples, eggs, and other missiles were showered upon the
stage, and although Barry announced that the unhappy wight was
withdrawn who had committed the unatonable offence which
called down the vengeance of the sovereigns, and that the
play would be changed, they would not be pacified. They went to
the theatre for a row, and they would not be disappointed. The
only interval of order was during the time that little Burke was
brought forward and played on his violin in the overture to " Guy
40 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [/Etat. 51.
Mannering," at the unanimous call of the house. The street in front
of the theatre was filled by the mob, the lamps were broken, and
the interior of the theatre sustained considerable injury, notwith-
standing a strong force of watchmen and constables in attend-
ance.
Monday, Oct. 17. — The disgraceful riots of Thursday and Sat-
urday nights were continued on a more extensive scale last night.
During the whole of yesterday the sanctity of the day was violated
l)v the collection of groups of idlers in front of the theatre, and
soon after dark the numbers had increased in a manner which
caused serious alarm to the neighbourhood. Cries, shouts, and
huzzas marked the commencement of the attack, and about nine
o'clock I was disturbed by the noise of the crash of broken win-
dows and the battering of the front doors. This continued half
an hour withort the interference of the municipal authorities. I
then went out to find tlie Mayor. He was not at home, and could
not be found. I then went around to the scene of action, when I
found that the whole of this outrage was committed by about
twenty boys, who were instigated and encouraged by the mob, and
every crash of broken glass w^as followed by their shouts. At this
time Hays came up with a pretty strong body of watchmen, and
order was for a time restored. Several men and boys were carried
to the watch-house, of whom nearly the whole were discharged in
a short time, and several at my solicitation. The mob in front of
the theatre continued, but no more injury was done to the build-
ing. Indeed, there was not much left to be done, unless the mob
could have forced an entrance, when the scene would have been
dreadful. The American and tricoloured flags were exhibited from
the upper windows to appease the populace, which served to allay
the tumult ; but the noise continued all night, and I doubt if any
person in the neighbourhood of the park had what is called a good
nighf s 7'est.
To-day the front of the theatre is covered with transparencies of
patriotic subjects, — flags and eagles in abundance, — which appears
1831.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 4I
to have propitiated the mob. I went into the house. Burke is
playing, and things go on tolerably quietly. The crowd in front is
tremendously great, but orderly, and there is a large body of
watchmen, with the Mayor in person, so that there is reason to
hope that this foolish affair has come to an end.
Thursday, Oct. 27. — The corner-stone of a hospital for sailors,
on the foundation of charity created by Robert Richard Randall,
was laid yesterday at Staten Island, by Chancellor Walworth. The
property left by Captain Randall has increased greatly in value
within the last year, and must be ample now for the objects of his
munificent bequest.
Friday, Oct. 28. — I attended the tariff convention this morning,
and am much interested in their proceedings. The salt of the land
is there, and a little pepper, too ; but in my opinion the cause must
be triumphant. It is the only true national triumph, and the only
effectual bond of union. I dined with Nathaniel Richards ; Robert
G. Shaw and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Abbot Lawrence, and several
of the Eastern members of the convention formed the party.
Monday, Oct. 31. — I was highly gratified by a cir-
cumstance which occurred in the convention this
Adams.
morning, which proves that good feeling and courtesy
have not yet been voted out of fashion by the American people.
On the appearance of the ex-President, John Quincy Adams, in the
lobby. General Talmadge, one of the vice-presidents, left his seat
and handed him through the body of the house to a seat on the
platform ; as soon as he was recognized, the whole assembly, in-
cluding the spectators in the galleries and lobby, rose from their
seats, and received him with plaudits, which were continued until
he became seated.
Friday, Nov. 4. — The following party dined with us: Hon.
John Quincy Adams, Mr. C. H. Hammond, Charles King, Charles
A. Davis, Peter H. Schenck, Isaac S. Hone, Chancellor Kent,
General Talmadge, John Hone, R. L. Colt, Dr. Wainwright, Miss
Helen Davis, Miss • A. Church.
42 TIIK DIARY OF I'lULIl' HONE. [.Etat. 51.
Wednesday, Nov. 9. — Died on Saturday evening at his seat,
Westchester, Gen. Philip Van Courtlandt, aged eighty-two years.
Friday, Nov. ii. — The packet " New York" arrived yesterday.
Among her passengers are Mr. Jonathan Ogden and his three
daughters, and young John Haggerty, of this city, and my friend,
Mr. J. R. Poinsett.
I do not know when I have been so delighted as I was last
evening in seeing young Kean play Hamlet. It is a chaste,
classical i)erformance.
Monday, Dec. 26. — The East river was closed by ice this
morning, and two or three hundred persons walked across from
Fulton street to Brooklyn. On the turn of the tide the ice went
out, and the steamboats were again plying.
Henry D. Sedgwick, late of this city, died at Stockbridge, Mass.,
on the 23d inst., in the forty- seventh year of his age. He was a
man of talents, of celebrity as a lawyer, but eccentric.
[832.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 43
1832
THE New Year commences propitiously ; the fine weather,
clear sunshine, and lively appearance of the streets, covered
witli snow are emblematical of the happy state of our country and
the prosperity of the city, and I ought also to add, of my own situa-
tion, which calls upon me for a grateful acknowledgment of the
kindness and bounty of Divine Providence. Blessed with good
health, my wife and children virtuous and in the enjoyment of
health and happiness, easy in my circumstances (although not quite
so rich as I have been), and enjoying, as I trust I do, the affections
of my friends and the good opinions of my fellow-citizens, I have
only to pray that I may not by an act of my own forfeit any of the
blessings I enjoy, and that succeeding anniversaries of this day
may, like this, be to me "a happy New Year."
Friday, Jan. 9.— -The following persons have been elected
directors of the Bank of the United States : Nicholas Biddle,
John Bohlen^ Richard Willing, Henry Pratt, Matthew L. Bevan,
John R. Neff, Horace Binney, Edward Coleman, Manuel Eyre,
William Piatt, Ambrose White, J. S. Henry, Thomas Cadwallader,
of Philadelphia ; John Potter, of South Carolina ; Robert Gilmor,
of Maryland ; Isaac Carow, John Rathbone, Jr., of New York ;
Thomas N. Perkins, B. W. Crowninshield, of Massachusetts. The
following government directors were appointed by the President
of the United States : Nicholas Biddle, Joshua Lippincott, and J.
T. Sullivan, of Pennsylvania ; James Campbell, of New York ; and
Hugh McEldery, of Maryland. Nicholas Biddle was unanimously
reelected president.
Wednesday, Jan. ii. — Halsted E. Haight's property sold this
day. The three-story house and lot, 22 Vesey street, formerly
occupied by the late Bishop Hobart, twenty- five feet front and
44 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 52.
rear by about a hundred and two feet in depth, bought by Mr.
Ward for $18,500. The lot of ground next to my residence, cor-
ner of Broadway and Park place, with three tenements, one on
Broadway and two on Park place, the lot twenty- five feet on
Broadway, twenty- four feet eight inches in the rear, in length
on Park place a hundred and twenty- one feet ten inches, and
along my line a hundred and twenty feet six inches, bought by L.
Bronson for $37,000. I bid for this lot ^^36,750, and regret since
the sale that I had not gone further. It is worth more to me than
to any other person.
The house. No. t8 Park place, occupied by Charles McEvers,
was sold at auction on Saturday to James J. Roosevelt, Jr., for
$14,200 ; lot twenty-five feet by seventy-five.
Thursday, Jan. 19. — The following party dined with us: Mr.
and Mrs. Hamilton Wilkes, Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton Hosack,
George Parish, Washington Coster, Mrs. A. E. Hosack, D. Lynch,
P. Church, Mrs. Maria Hone, Captain Nicholson.
A volume of beautiful poetry by William Cullen
ryan s Bryant has just been published by Bliss. It contains
several pieces which have been published in the peri-
odicals before, with some new things. Bryant may be considered
the best of American poets, with the exception of Halleck. A
vein of sadness pervades all his writings, which is occasionally
lighted up by soft and beautiful images. It is sad and melancholy,
but never harsh or gloomy.
Tuesday, Jan. 24. — This distinguished senator made
o one ^ j^^g speech in the Senate on Monday, in reply to Mr.
Clay's great speech in support of the following resolu-
tion offered by him : " That the existing duties upon articles im-
ported from foreign countries, and not coming into competition with
similar articles made or produced within the United States, ought
to be forthwith abolished, except the duties on wines and silks, and
that they ought to be reduced." The publication of Colonel
Hayne's speech is commenced in to-day's papers. He comes out
1832 J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 45
as usual with great force and eloquence against the whole pro-
tective system of duties, depicts in glowing colours the sufferings of
the South, the inequality and injustice of the system in its opera-
tion upon them, and deplores the fancied evils which will result
from it. He is certainly a great man, but has in my judgment
the wrong side of the argument, and will have giants to contend
against in the Senate.
Wednesday, Jan. 25. — I attended a meeting this afternoon at
Mr. Bucknor's office, to confer with Mr. Pugh, one of the canal
commissioners of the State of Illinois, who has been appointed to
visit New York in relation to raising funds to construct a railroad
from the head of navigation on the Illinois river, a distance of
ninety miles, to Chicago, near the southern outlet of Lake Michi-
gan. This project would be of great advantage to the State of
New York, as it would divert the trade of the new Western States
bordering on the lakes from New Orleans to our seaport. The gen-
tlemen present, brokers and practical money-dealers, did not seem
disposed to trust their funds in an enterprise so far from home,
and it is not likely that Mr. Pugh will succeed in his application.
I have been led by the discussions arising out of this con-ference
to reflect upon the great prospects which the settlement of the
new States holds out for this country. The tide of emigration
sets in that direction with a force which has been hitherto un-
known. The country is rich and productive; the settlers are a
hardy, ingenious, and enterprising race of men, dependent upon
their own physical resources, and uncontaminated by the curse
of slavery, the deleterious effects of which are felt so severely in
the Southern States. The chain of States, consisting of New
York, and, stretching westward, embracing Pennsylvania, Ohio, In-
diana, Illinois, Missouri, and the Washington Territory, seem natu-
rally united by their geographical position and similarity of
climate, productions and political policies, and the time may
come when they will form a great empire and control the desti-
nies of the Western world.
46 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 52.
Friday, Jan. 27. — The lot, corner of Wall and Broad streets,
sixteen feet eight inches on Broad street and thirty feet on Wall
street, was sold this day at auction for $17,750.
Thursday, Feb. 16. — I dined with James G. King, where I
met Messrs. De Bourmont and De Tocqueville, the commissioners
sent out by the French government to examine and report upon
the prisons and prison discipline of this country. These gentle-
men have just returned from a tour in the United States, and will
sail for Europe in the packet of the 20th.
Wednesday, Feb. 22. — This has been a jubilee in
as ingons j^^^^ York, the centennial anniversary of the birth of
Birthday. ' ^
Washington, and the day has, no doubt, been observed
in all other parts of the country. Here we had a firing of cannon
and ringing of bells. A procession was formed under direction of a
committee of arrangements of the Common Council. It left the
City Hall, and thence to the new Dutch Church, under a military
escort. I walked as a trustee of the college. The services in the
church were opened and closed with prayers by Dr. Kuypers and
Dr. Milnor. Two odes composed by Woodworth were sung, and
an oration read by Gen. Morgan Lewis, which was written in good
taste and well delivered, and rendered peculiarly interesting from
the advanced age and great respectability of the orator, and
from his being one of the small band remaining of the Revolu-
tionary heroes who contributed to the success of the glorious
struggle for independence in which ^\^lshington was the leader.
Thursday, Feb. 23. — The ceremony of breaking ground for
the Harlem Railroad took place this day at Murray's Hill,
three miles from town. The usual jollifications were observed.
John Mason, vice-president, in the absence of C. P. White,
the president, made a speech. He knows better how to
make money, and that, as the world goes, is a more important
talent.
Saturday, Feb. 25. — The following party dined with us: Mr.
D. Lynch, General Fleming, Gen. J. J. Jones, Mr. Gibbes, J. A.
1832.] THE DIARV OF rHILlP HONE. 47
Hamilton, Robert Ray, Richard Ray, Mr. Charles King, T. W.
Ludlow, S. Swartwout, Bucknor, Henry Hone, N. Low.
Wednesday, Feb. 29. — We went to an evening party at Mrs.
Henry Parish's, Barclay street. The house is new, everything
stylish and elegant, and the company filled every part of the
splendid mansion.
Phil.\delphl\, Tuesday, March 13. — We left New York at six
o'clock, in the steamboat " Swan ; " reached New Brunswick at
half-past ten ; thence we found the roads very bad, and when we
came to Trenton ascertained that the boat was down at Bristol,
having been prevented from ascending farther by a freshet in the
Delaware. The river was swollen to a great height, and rushing
with fearful rapidity past the bridge, bringing down with it branches
of trees and great quantities of drift-wood. AVe took the boat at
Bristol and came to the Mansion House at seven o'clock.
Baltimore, Wednesday, March 14. — Left Philadelphia at six
o'clock this morning in the " Robert Morris," and came to New
Castle at half-past nine, where we were transferred to the railroad ;
a pleasant ride, which brought us in an hour and three-quarters to
Frenchtown. The railroad is just finished, and is an excellent sub-
stitute for the bad roads which travellers had formerly to encounter
in crossing the peninsula. The cars are new, very handsome, and
commodious, and are drawn at present by horses. At Frenchtown
we took the " Independence," and arrived here this evening. The
weather during the day had been extremely cold ; the decks were
covered with ice, and on the passage up the Chesapeake bay the
wind blew so bitterly cold that the stoutest passengers were unable
to remain upon deck.
Washington, Thursday, March 15. — We left Baltimore at eight
o'clock this morning, and came on the stage over a bad and some-
what dangerous road, but without accident, and arrived here at two
o'clock.
I dined with Mr. Pendleton. The party consisted of Mr. For-
syth, of the Senate ; Judge Wayne, of Georgia ; Mr. Cambreling ;
48 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 52.
Colonel Drayton ; J. A. Hamilton ; Daniel Glover ; Mr. Ewing, of
Philadelphia ; James J. Jones ; and Jones Schermerhorn. After
dinner we went to the President's ; the rooms were all filled, and
the company consisted, as usual, of all the varieties of rank and
station, — foreign ministers and shopkeepers, heads of depart-
ments and dressers of heads, senators and office-hunters. The
President was sociable and courteous, and the ladies of his family
performed their parts with great propriety ; on the whole, it was
an affair not to be missed.
Monday, March 19. — Mr. Hamilton and I had an agreeable
visit this afternoon from Mr. Webster, who came in after dinner to
drink a glass of wine with us. He was in a fine talking humour, and
of course we were pleased and instructed. We went this evening
to a ball at Mrs. Bankhead's. It is a delightful house to visit, but
the New Yorkers say we have better evening parties at home.
There were many great folk, some clever folk, and a fair propor-
tion of queer folk,
Wednesday, March 21. — The girls and I dined with Mr. and
Mrs. Bankhead. The party consisted of Tslr. and Mrs. Johnston,
of Louisiana ; Mr. and Mrs. T. L. Smith ; Miss Lewis ; Messrs.
Webster, W. P. Adams ; Pageot of the French, and Khremer of
the Russian, Legation ; Mr. Letcher ; Baron Stackelberg ; and Col-
onel Washington. In the evening we went to a ball given by Mrs.
White, of Florida, at which were all the distinguished men, and a
large proportion of the fine women, of Washington.
Thursday, March 22. — We passed five hours in the Senate to-
day, and I do not think I was ever more interested in a debate.
The subject was Mr. Clay's resolutions, and the whole strength of
the Senate was brought out. Sprague, of Maine, made a beautiful
speech. He is considered a man of fine talents, and is well listened
to. Mr. Clay spoke several times ; so did Mr. Forsyth, who is an
exceedingly eloquent man, Mr. Webster, General Hayne, Gov-
ernor Dickenson, Mr. Wilkins, General Smith, etc. Hayne was
vehement, Forsyth graceful, Clay triumphant, Webster didactic.
1S32.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP PIONE. 49
Sprague argumentative, Wilkins confused, Marcey concerned,
Holmes persevering. In the course of the debate General Hayne
charged Mr. Forsyth with having deserted his cause, going over to
the enemy, and pointing his guns against his friends. Forsyth, in
reply, said he would go as far in opposition to the protective system
as any man, constitutionally and legally, but not one inch farther.
Hayne took fire, and demanded if the gentleman meant to insinu-
ate that he and his friends would go farther. He was violently
agitated. Forsyth replied with dignity and calmness. He did not
allude particularly to the gentleman and his friends, but he did
allude to a party who were disposed to redress their grievances at
the risk of the Union and the Constitution. The girls sat during
the whole debate, and left the Senate only when I was compelled to
go away, at half- past five o'clock, to prepare for dinner. The Sen-
ate adjourned soon after we left the chamber. It was a great exhi-
bition of talents, and we were fortunate in being present.
Baltimore, Saturday, March 24. — We left Washington at nine
o'clock, and came here to dine. A fine day, and the roads much
improved. We had a pleasant ride. We had scarcely dined when
we had a large number of visitors, and after they left us we passed
an hour sociably at Mr. Meredith's. We found here most of the
New Yorkers who left Washington before us, and Parish, who came
from Philadelphia.
Sunday, March 25. — Mr. Meredith called this morning, and we
walked out to see the monument, the cathedral, and the Unitarian
church, with a number of fine houses which have been lately
erected in that improving part of the city. The Unitarian church
is a far more beautiful edifice than the cathedral ; indeed, I think
it, as a single room, the finest in America. We returned to meet
Mrs. Calvert, who was waiting to accompany us to St. Paul's
church. The organ and church singing is very fine. The organist,
a German, is a first-rate performer, and he made his instrument
speak a language finer than I ever heard in one of our churches.
On our return from church the girls had a levee of visitors ; they
50 Till-: DIARY OF I'll I LIP HONE. [.Ktat. 52.
receive the kindest attentions from all the most distinguished
persons, and our time is already appropriated during the whole
week. Mr. and Mrs. Caton having called this morning to invite
us, we passed an hour or two delightfully at their house this
evening. The family were all present. Mr. Carroll was cheerful
and talkative, and enjoyed himself very much until nine o'clock,
when, according to his uniform practice, he took the arm of Mrs.
McTavish, and quietly left the room. I feel while in the presence
of this venerable man as if I were permitted to converse with one
of the patriarchs, revisiting the land which, in days long gone, he
had enriched with his patriotic counsels. He is in his ninety-sixth
year; his hearing is defective, and his memory of recent events
imperfect ; but he presents a beautiful example of the close of a
well-spent life, — serene, cheerful, and happy ; prepared, it would
seem, '^ to take his rest, with all his country's honours blest." It is
very probable I shall never again see him after the present visit,
and this reflection enhanced the value of the delightful hour I have
just passed in his company. I made Mary take a seat by his side,
and she has it to say that she conversed some time with the
last surviving signer of the immortal Declaration of Independence.
Would to God we had such a race of men in high places at this
eventful period of our country's affairs ! But Providence took care
of us in their days, and as the Scottish ballad says, " it aye will
again."
From Mrs. Caton's we went to Mrs. Swan's, where we had been
invited to meet a party of the most agreeable people in Baltimore.
This is pretty well for Sunday, and the Baltimoreans are rather
strict, too ; but these parties were rational, delightful, and void of
offence. It is impossible to be received with a more frank and
hospitable welcome than we have, and if our time does not pass
agreeably the fault will be our own.
Monday, March 26. — It rained all the morning, and I did not
go out until one o'clock, when I called upon Mr. Oliver and Mr.
Gilmor. The girls rode out with John Hoffman to see Chatsworth,
1832.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 5 1
his brother's place. I dined with a pleasant party at Dr. White's,
and in the evening we went to a ball at Mrs. David Hoffman's,
where we met all the agreeable people of the place, and more
agreeable people aie not to be met with anywhere.
Tuesday. — Dined with Mr. Meredith, with a gay and pleasant
party, consisting of Messrs. Gilmor, uncle and nephew, Oliver,
Gibbes, Carroll, Harper, Donnell, two or three Hoffmans, etc. In
the evening went to a beautiful party and supper at Mrs. George
Hoffman's, where we met the whole array of Baltimore beauty and
fashion. The party was given in honour of my girls, and I presume
Mr. Hoffman's splendid house was never more splendidly filled.
Thursday, March 29. — Mr. Oliver sent me a horse this morning,
and at one o'clock we made an equestrian party, consisting of
Messrs. Oliver, Meredith, Charles Carroll, and myself, and rode
around the city, visiting the country-seats of Mr. Oliver and Mr.
Carroll, and seeing what was worthy of notice.
Friday. — In the evening we went to a leave-taking supper-
party at Mr. Meredith's. As this is our last evening in Baltimore,
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gilmor, the ladies of Mrs. William Gilmor's
family, and several young gentlemen were invited to meet us.
Saturday, March 31. — At half-past six this morning we went
on board the steamboat " George Washington." Besides our party
we had Jones Schermerhorn, William Edgar, Hamilton Fish, and
young McEwen, of Philadelphia ; Mr. Meredith and his son, John
Hoffman, and John Donnell politely accompanied us to the boat,
and we started with their kind adieus. Thus ended our visit to
Baltimore, during which we have received the most gratifying at-
tentions and the kindest hospitality. I shall never forget them.
Thursday, April i. — The Historical Society having
IS onc.i lately removed their library to the spacious room in the
third story of the new edifice belonging to Mr. Remsen
at the corner of Broadway and Chambers street, over the one occu-
pied by the Athenaeum, it was opened this day, and an address was
delivered to a respectable assemblage of ladies and gentlemen by
52 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 52.
William Beach Lawrence. It was well written and interesting, but
his delivery is somewhat painful, owing, apparently, to a difficulty
of articulation. I presided as first vice-president in the absence
of Gen. Morgan Lewis, the president. The room is fitted up with
much taste, and the books and curiosities skilfully and scientifically
arranged, for which the society has been as usual indebted to the
exertions of Mr. John Delafield.
^ J May 2. — Ogden Hoffman made the annual address
Ogden ®
Hoffman's beforc the alumni of Columbia College. The high
Address. reputation of this gentleman as a scholar and an orator
caused the college chapel to be filled with ladies and gentlemen,
the fairest and best of our city, and no expectations had been
raised which were not fully realized. I have never heard a
production of more taste, purity, and appropriateness, or one de-
livered with greater grace and eloquence. Its principal subjects
were a brief biography of the members of the faculty in the orator's
time, and a dissertation on the several branches of education
taught in the college. In the latter, Mr. Hoffman took a well-
chosen occasion to enforce the claims of classical learning, when a
host of utilitarians are springing up on all sides preparing the pub-
lic mind for a desertion of those pure springs of knowledge, from
which the great and the good in past ages have drawn their richest
draughts, and who would annihilate for all future ages the glorious
language in which Homer and Virgil sang and Demosthenes and
Cicero declaimed. Columbia College is sufficiently orthodox on
this subject ; but when the floods of innovation threaten to destroy
the foundations of learning, the strongest barriers must be opposed
to their progress. On this subject Hoffinan was clever, forcible, and
touching, and all the power of the purest English was employed to
protect the classical sanctity of the Greek and Latin.
I feel this subject deeply, for I am sensible of my own de-
ficiency, and would give half I possess in the world to enjoy the
advantages of a classical education. Oh that my sons knew how
to appreciate their opportunities of acquiring knowledge, and
1S32.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 53
would profit by their father's experience ! The toils of eighteen
would be then richly rewarded by the delightful experience of
fifty, and the pleasures of prosperity enhanced, and the sorrows
of adversity assuaged, by the stores of intellectual riches laid
up in early life.
Tuesday, May 15. — The annual exhibition has just
Academy of ^^^^ opened at the new rooms in Barclay street.
the Fine Arts. ^
There is the usual display of horrid portraits, like
enough, in all conscience, to the originals, who I wish were hanged
in their places. There are two most beautiful pictures by Carlo
Maratti, belonging to an amateur named Dunderdale. He wants
to sell them. I should like to buy them, but I will not. The
Academy of Design are making great preparations for their exhibi-
tion, which will be opened in two or three days, and will be very
good. They have six of my pictures : Bennett's ** View of Castel-
amare," Heyle's "Landscape," Newton's "Greek Girl," "The
Greek " and " The Toque " of Weir's, and Morse's " Thorwaldsen."
Allston's new picture (I believe the subject is taken from the " Mys-
teries of Udolpho," or some such startling romance) has been ob-
tained from the owner. This picture has made noise, and is cer-
tainly fine. There is also a noble full length of Colonel Varick, by
Henry Inman, a splendid picture. Portraits, portraits enough,
in all conscience !
» . , , Tuesday, May 22. — The packet-ship "Havre"
Arrival of ' *^
Washington arrived last evening, having sailed from Havre on the
^'''''"^* 1 2th of April. Among the passengers is our distin-
guished countryman, and my old friend, Washington Irving, who
visits his native country after an absence of seventeen years. I called
to see him this morning at his brother's, Ebenezer Irving. He has
grown very fat since I saw him in England in 182 1, looks exceed-
ingly well, and is delighted to be once more in his native city. I
passed half an hour with him very pleasantly. He talks a great
deal and is in high spirits, a thing not usual with him, except when
under excitement, as he is at this moment.
54 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 52.
Cholera in
Paris.
This dreadful disease has increased to an awful
degree in Paris, and the citizens are flying in every
direction. Irving hurried away in consequence of it.
Mr. Van Buren went to Holland immediately, and was to return
to England, whence he should embark for America on the ist
of June. Brevoort and his family have gone to reside at Fon-
tainebleau.
Wednesday, May 23. — I have devoted nearly the whole day to
Washington Irving. We were invited by a committee of the cor-
poration to accompany them on a visit to Blackwell's Island and
Bellevue, which has been made up for the purpose of exhibiting the
public institutions to General Santander. Alderman Murray called
for Irving and me at eleven o'clock, and we rode out and joined
the party at the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island. We then re-
turned with them to the almshouse, which, with the workshops,
schools, etc., was exhibited to the company. Besides General
Santander and his suite and ourselves there were Mr. LeRay de
Chaumont and his son. Col. George Gibbs, Don Tomas Gener,
Dr. Bronson, Mr. Hoyt, etc. At three o'clock, when they were
preparing to go to dinner, Irving and I left them and came to
town to meet friends whom I had engaged to dine with me. Our
party at dinner consisted of Mr. Washington Irving, Dr. Wain-
vvright, Mr. Charles King, James G. King, Ogden Hoffman, J. P.
Giraud, Isaac S. Hone, James Paulding, Professor Renwick,
and Captain Nicolson.
Saturday, May 26. — I dined with Dr. Wainwright, and met
Irving and Newton, Mr. Gray, of Boston, and other agreeable
persons. The return of Geoffrey Crayon has made old times
and the associations of early life the leading topics of conver-
sation amongst his friends.
„ , ,. „. Wednesday, May 30. — The dinner took place
Public Dinner } o i
to Washing- to-day at the City Hotel, and went off finely. About
rving. lYiYce hundred gentlemen sat down. It was a regular
Knickerbocker affair. There were old New Yorkers and their
1832.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 55
descendants in goodly numbers, who are seldom seen at such
places, and among the invited guests were many distinguished men ;
viz., the bishops, Dr. Wainwright, General Santander, Baron de
Behr, the new Minister from Belgium, Don Tomas Gener, General
Scott, Commodore Chauncey, the Chancellor and Vice-Chan-
cellor, the Lieutenant-Governor, Edward P. Livingston, Judges
Hoffman, Oakley, and Irving, Mr. Gallatin, Mr. LeRay de Chau-
mont, Mr. James Paulding, Colonel Trumbull, and Mr. Newton.
Saturday, June 9. — A great meeting was held last
" '■ ^'■^ evening of persons avowedly friends to the union of the
States and in favour of such a modification of the tariff
as would serve to produce that effect, together with many violent
free-ti-ade men (as they call themselves), who would destroy the
industry of the country and discourage all improvement to support
their opinions and establish their theories. The meeting was
called to order and organized by that mild, amiable, and reason-
able gendeman, Preserved Fish. James Kent was chosen presi-
dent, Stephen Allen and Gideon Lee, vice-presidents, Cornelius
W. Lawrence and John A. Stevens, secretaries. The meeting
was addressed and the resolutions moved by Peter A. Jay, and
they are quite unexceptionable, as was to be expected from that
gentleman, who is always wise, always honest, but sometimes
a little prejudiced ; but would to God the affairs of our country,
tariff and all, were in the hands of such men ! The meeting was so
large that the room was insufficient, and all the approaches to it
crowded to excess. Great tumult and disorder were occasioned by
some tariff men who had better have stayed away. Party spirit has
unhappily been mingled with the question. The excitement in-
creases every day. Reflecting men who love their country and
would preserve its institutions are full of alarm and serious
forebodings. Both sides are wrong. It is vain to talk of concilia-
tion. Prejudice on one side, interest on the other, and intoler-
ance on both will prevent them from approaching nearer to
each other. Mr. Adams's wisdom might do something if it were
56 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 52.
seconded by General Jackson's decision. Happy would our
country be if those qualifications were united in one person,
and he the chief magistrate !
Friday, June 15. — The Albany steamboat which
10 era in came down this afternoon brought the alarmint^ news
Canada. ^ ^
that the cholera, which has of late been the scourge
of the Eastern ContincMit, has crossed the Atlantic and made its
appearance first in Quebec, and from there has travelled with its
direful velocity to Montreal. It was brought to the former city in
a vessel called the " Carricks," with a cargo of Irish immigrants,
of whom many died on the way. In a few days fifteen cases and
eight deaths were reported, principally in the narrow, dirty streets
of the lower town, and the last report gave seventy cases. This
dreadful disease has not been more mortal in any part of the world
which it has visited. The proportion of deaths to the number of
cases is dreadful. There can be little reasonable ground to hope
for our exemption in New York from this dreadful scourge. It
must come, and we are in a dreadful state to receive it. The city
is in a more filthy state than Quebec and Montreal, and I do not
know a European city which is worse. The alarm is great in
Albany and Troy.
The accounts are confirmed. They have it bad
the ch°oiera ^nough at Qucbcc and Montreal, and there are reports
of a few solitary cases at Plattsburgh, but they do not
appear to be authentic. Mr. Bowne, our mayor, has pubhshed his
proclamation interdicting the approach to the city of steamboats
and other conveyances having passengers ill v.ith the disease.
Bishop Onderdonk has published a very sensible pastoral letter to
the ministers of his diocese, urging them to make a spiritual use
of the apprehended danger, and prescribing a form of prayers to
be used in the service of the Church.
Monday, June 18. — Prayers were offered up yesterday in all
the churches to avert the threatened visit of the cholera, and ser-
mons preached to prepare the minds of the people for the afilic-
1832.] THE DIARY OF' PHILIP HONE. 57
tion, which seems now to be considered inevitable. The weather
is warm, but clear and pleasant ; recent showers have refreshed
the earth, and have been succeeded by pleasant southerly winds
and a bright atmosphere. The reports of the day are that the
disease has increased in Montreal and Quebec. The number of
deaths in the former place is said to be two hundred and fifty,
and great exertions are made to prevent the Canadian emigrants
from being brought by steamboats or canal- boats into our State.
General Scott has received orders from the War
War " '^" Department to proceed forthwith to Fort Dearborn, at
Chicago, on Lake Michigan, to take command of the
army, and fight the Sacs and Fox Indians who have recently com-
mitted outrages upon the inhabitants of Illinois, and murdered
some of the Menominee Indians friendly to the United States.
Fourteen companies of United States troops equipped as infantry
are ordered to rendezvous here and proceed by the North river,
the Erie canal, and the lakes to their destination. The cadets
from West Point who have just now graduated are ordered on this
service. Henry Swartwout, who is one of them, called this after-
noon to see us, and is delighted, as most of his class are, with the
prospect of military distinction which this expedition promises.
I saw the major-general this evening. He will wait for the arrival
of the troops, five companies of whom are to come from Old
Point Comfort, Va., and expects to embark the latter part of this
week. He is ordered to demand the surrender of the murderers
of the friendly Indians, to compel the hostile Indians to observe
the treaty which was made with them by General Gaines last
year, and to take their leader, the Black Hawk, dead or alive.
This celebrated warrior is said to be as formidable as the famous
Tecumseh, and peace cannot be restored to the frontier until he
is captured or destroyed.
Wednesday, July 4. — It is a lovely day, but very different from
all previous anniversaries of independence. The alarm about the
cholera has prevented all the usual jollification under the public
58 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 52.
authority. There are no booths in Broadway, the parade which
was ordered has been countermanded, no corporation dinner, and
no ringing of bells. Some troops are marching about the street,
"upon their own hook," I suppose. Most of the stores are closed,
and there is a pretty smart cannonade of crackers by the boys ; but
it is not a regular Fourth of July. The disease is here in all its
violence, and will increase. God grant that its ravages may be
confined and its visit short !
New York, Monday, July 23. — I left Rockaway after breakfast
this morning, and came up to the city. Miss Lewis accompanied
me. The alarm is very great, but the streets are more lively than
I expected. I went to Wall street and transacted some business ;
there was a considerable number of persons on 'Change, and I
saw but few stores closed in my walk. I hear many dreadful stories
of cholera cases. The end of last week a man was found in the
road at Harlem who had died of cholera. A coroner's inquest was
called, and of twenty persons, jury and witnesses, who were present,
nine are now dead. John Aspinwall told me this story, who had
it from Alderman Murray, of the ninth ward.
July 25. — The Count Survilliers sailed from Philadelphia in the
ship " Alexander" for London. His departure from his residence
at Bordentown, on the Delaware, was marked by the regrets of his
neighbours ; among whom his hospitality and munificence hav^e made
him very popular, and he received on his embarkment at Philadel-
phia the marked attentions of the citizens.
August 8. — Joseph Jefferson, comedian of the Philadelphia
Theatre, died at Harrisburg, Penn., on the 4th inst. This man's
acting of comic parts on the New York stage is connected with the
pleasing recollections of my early years. He was a great favourite
at that time, and has presen-ed a high reputation ever since as a
comic performer.
Sunday, :AuQ. 19. — Margaret has a letter from Helq^,.Kane,
accompanied; by a present of a purse for me, which is the, subject
of the following neat remark : *' Tell your father that, although.
1832.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 59
like my affection for him, my poor little purse as yet knows no
change, I hope it may soon resemble my sad heart when absent
from him, and prove heavy and full to overflowing."
Wednesday, Aug. 29. — We set off to the railroad,
ara oga. ^^^ embarked in one of a train of carriages ; arrived
Springs. ° ■'
at Schenectady, breakfasted, walked a short distance to
the commencement of the Saratoga road, and came in the same way
to Saratoga Springs by the way of Ballston, where we arrived at
eleven o'clock, and I am well accommodated at Congress Hall.
This is a pleasant mode of travelling ; not very rapid but free from
fatigue or inconvenience of any sort. The Mohawk and Hudson
road is travelled by the power of a steam locomotive engine ; the
Saratoga, by a horse-power. The latter road is scarcely in a state
to be travelled, and has been in operation only a few weeks.
The Springs have been almost deserted this summer, but there
are now some clever people here and at Sans-Souci. We have
General Van Rensselaer and his sons, Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins, Oliver
Kane and his wife, with Anna and Lydia, Mrs. Phil. Van Rensselaer,
Mr. and Mrs. Dickenson ; Judge Pendleton, Judge Woodworth, Mr.
Dudley, William Laight, all with their wives ; Mr. Huntington and
his family from Troy, with a few beaux, etc., — in all about sixty
persons. The house is clean, quiet, comfortable, and well attended.
I rode this afternoon with Dr. McLean and Giraud to Riley's, at
Saratoga lake. S. Van Rensselaer, of Albany, and Philip Schuyler,
of Schuylerville, came this evening.
New York, Thursday, Sept. 6. — The city appears as lively
and the streets as full of people as it usually is at this season. If
the cholera is still amongst us, it proceeds quietly, uninterrupted
by municipal regulations, and apparently unheeded by those who
are exposed to it.
The packet-ship "Pacific" arrived on Monday last, having on
board Charles Kemble, the celebrated comedian, and his highly
gifted daughter, Miss Fanny Kemble, who has lately created, by
her fine acting, a great sensation in the theatrical circles of Great
6o THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.-Etat. 52.
Britain. They are engaged by the manager of the Park Theatre ;
and as the fame of the father has long since reached this
country, and the daughter is said to inherit the talents of a family
in which were numbered a Siddons and a John Kemble, there is
no doubt that we shall be furnished with a theatrical treat of
the highest order. VVallack made his first appearance since his
arrival on Monday evening, and was well received. They ought
to do well this season at the Park.
Friday, Seff. 7. — Mr. Kemble called this morn-
,, ^ ^, ms and left me letters of introduction from Mr.
Kembles. °
Vaughan, the British Minister to this country, who is
now in England, and from Mr. Price. I returned his visit and
saw his daughter (her father was not at home). She appeared
deser\nng of all her reputation, — a good figure, easy manners,
sprightly and intelligent, self-possessed, not very handsome, but
with features animated and expressive, and calculated for great
stage effect. Mr. Kemble is to make his first appearance in
"Hamlet," and his accomplished daughter will come out on the
I 7th, most probably in the character of Juliet, in which she made
her successful ^A7^/// at Covent Garden.
Mr. Jones Schermerhorn called to see me yesterday, and I have
sanctioned his engagement with Mary. His mother and other
members of the family called to-day, and are heartily pleased
with the intended alliance. Mr. Schermerhorn is confined to his
country-house with indisposition. My beloved child could not
have made a choice more pleasing to me. Schermerhorn is a
young man of most amiable disposition, good morals, agreeable
deportment, and a gentleman, of a family with whom I shall con-
sider it an honour to be allied. As far as human foresight can
penetrate, it is a union calculated to promote our happiness.
May the Almighty smile upon it and realize our expectations !
Jones Schermerhorn, Mr. Gaston, and Isaac Hone dined with
us. In the evening we went to the theatre and saw Wallack for
the first time. He played the part of Martin Heywood in the
1832.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 6 1
new piece of " Rent Day," — a very effective part, to which he sjives
great interest. He has been well received and is in good spirits,
although his engagement will be somewhat interfered with by the
arrival of the Kembles so soon upon his heels.
Saturday, Sept. 15. — The following party dined with us :
Charles Kemble, Miss Fanny Kemble, Miss De Camp, Mr. and
Mrs. C. A. Davis, Dr. A. E. Hosack and Mrs. Hosack, Mr. and
Mrs. Cornwall, of Nova Scotia, Mr. Charles Bankhead, Mr. Charles
King, General Fleming, Mr. Gaston, D. Lynch, Jones and Aug.
Schermerhorn, Henry Hone, and James A. Hamilton. Miss
Kemble, like all young persons who have become celebrated, has
many and strong admirers. But many dislike her on first acquaint-
ance. Her manners are somewhat singular. Allowance should
be made for the peculiarity of her situation, just arrived among
strangers, with a consciousness that she is viewed as one of the
lions of the day, and as such the object more of curiosity than of
affection. Her behaviour would be attributed naturally to timidity,
were it not that at times she appears to be perfectly self-possessed.
She talks well, but will only talk when, and to whom, she chooses.
She sat at my side at dinner, and I certainly had no reason to
complain of her, for I lost my dinner in listening to her and in
endeavouring to make myself agreeable. She has certainly an air
of indifference and nonchalance not at all calculated to make
her a favourite with the beaux. Indeed, Henry Hone and I think
that she prefers married men. Her fault appears to be an ungra-
cious manner of receiving the advances of those who desire to pay
her attention. This may proceed from the novelty of her situation,
and may be soon removed. But now is her time to make friends
if she wants them. She sang and played for us in the evening.
Her voice is not sweet, but has great force and pathos. I am con-
firmed in my opinion that she has astonishing requisites for the stage.
Her features separately are not good, but combined they make a
face of great and powerful expression. She is said to resemble her
aunt, Mrs. Siddons. I am of opinion that she does not like her
62 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 52.
profession. It is not her favourite theme of conversation ; necessity,
rather than choice, has led her to adopt it. Her father is a gentle-
man of fine manners and dignified deportment, somewhat stiff, —
for he is a Kemble, — but evidently well-bred and accustomed to
good society.
Sunday. — Mr. and Miss Kemble and Miss De Camp were at
Trinity Church, and sat in my pew. They are evidently accustomed
to attend divine service, a practice which is not so frequent with
persons of their profession as might be wished.
Monday, Sefi. 17. — Charles Kemble made his first appearance
this evening at the Park Theatre, in the character of Hamlet, to
a great house. He was well received, and listened to with great
attention. There were not many ladies in the house, but the audi-
ence appeared to be critical and discriminating. It was precisely
such acting as my recollection of Kemble and my opinion of his
powers had led me to expect. The part was deeply studied and
well understood ; his reading is critically correct, his elocution
distinct, and his manner dignified ; but he is too formal, even for
Hamlet. His pauses are too long and too frequent, so much so
as to make the representation fatiguing ; and for myself, I confess
that, although my judgment is perfectly satisfied, his Hamlet falls
far short of the power to interest me and give me pleasure of
Kean's or even Wallack's, and he labours, moreover, under one great
disadvantage, of which he has, unfortunately, no chance of amend-
ment, — he is too old by thirty years for this part, and the expres-
sion of his face will do better for Lord Townly, Sir Edward
Mortimer, King John, and other such parts. He is, on the
whole, a fine actor, a good study for the younger men, and his visit
to this country ought to improve the American stage. Fanny
Kemble is to appear to-morrow evening in " Fazio."
Tuesday, Sept. 18. — Miss Fanny Kemble made her first ap-
pearance this evening in the character of Bianca, in Milman's
tragedy of " Fazio." It is a fine part, well calculated for a display
of the strongest passions of the female heart, — love, hate, and jeal-
1832.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 63
ousy. I predicted before we went that it would be no half-way
affair ; she would make the most decided hit we have ever wit-
nessed, or would fail entirely ; and so it proved. I have never
witnessed an audience so moved, astonished, and delighted. Her
display of the strong feelings which belong to the part was great
beyond description, and the expression of her wonderful face would
have been a rich treat if her tongue had uttered no sound. The
fifth act was such an exhibition of female powers as we have never
before witnessed, and the curtain fell amidst the deafening shouts
and plaudits of an astonished audience. She has some faults : her
low tones are sepulchral and indistinct, — and yet her voice appears
to me capable of anything which her judgment would lead her to
execute, — and she is at times somewhat monotonous, particularly
in the unimpassioned passages ; but this may be the defect of edu-
cation. It was the fault of John Kemble and of Mrs. Siddons, and
is that of her father. It runs in the family. But on the whole I am
quite satisfied that we have never seen her equal on the American
stage, and England has witnessed none since Miss O'Neil.
Died on Monday, at Kinderhook, in the eighty- sixth year of his
age, Peter Van Schaick, LL.D., one of the most distinguished law-
yers and accomplished scholars in the United States. He was a
contemporary and fellow-student of Governor Jay, Chancellor Liv-
ingston, Judge Benson, and other great men of former times. He
has been blind for the last twenty years, but his intellectual faculties
continued unimpaired, and he was considered to the last an oracle
of legal wisdom and literary endowment.
Thursday, Sept. 20. — Charles Kemble and his accomplished
daughter appeared this evening in " Romeo and Juliet." Both
parts were admirably performed. Mr. Kemble is too old for
Romeo, — Mercutio is his part, — but this difficulty was overcome
by his perfect conception of the character, the grace of his elocu-
tion, and the eloquence of his deportment. Juliet was something
beyond my powers of description. I never saw a female performer
at all to compare with her in this part, and I cannot imagine any-
64 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 52.
thing to exceed it. She is destined to fill the place of Mrs. Sid-
dons, and make the finest performer in the world.
The distresses of the lower classes in England and Ire-
uropean \^iiq\ havc caused emigration to America in numbers so
Emigrants. *="
great as to cause serious alarm. Besides the immense
numbers which are daily arriving here and in other parts of the
United States, it is stated that forty-nine thousand five hundred and
sixty-nine emigrants have arrived at Quebec since the opening of
the navigation of the St. Lawrence the present year. Of these, a
large proportion find their way into the United States destitute and
friendless. They have brought the cholera this year, and they will
always bring wretchedness and want. The boast that our country
is the asylum for the oppressed in other parts of the world is very
philanthropic and sentimental, but I fear that we shall, before long,
derive little comfort from being made the almshouse and place of
refuge for the poor of other countries.
Tuesday, Sept. 25. — Died yesterday, at Throg's Neck, George
Lorillard, aged sixty-six. He was an old bachelor, brother of Peter
and Jacob Lorillard, and lost an immense sum of money by dying.
Saturday, Seff. 29. — Miss Kemble drove out this morning with
my daughters and me. The more I see of this wonderful girl the
more I am pleased with her. She has rare talents in conversation,
and in her profession she has already made an impression which
will never be forgotten by the people of New York.
Tuesday, Oct. 16. — I rode out this morning with Mr. Richard
Caton, son-in-law of Mr. Carroll, and father of the Marchioness of
Wellesley and the Countess of Carmarthen, who is here on a visit
from Baltimore. We drove about the suburbs, and it was grati-
fying to me to hear the astonishment expressed at the magnifi-
cence of the city by one who has not visited it for upwards of
twenty years.
Friday, Oct. 19. — I went with the girls this morning to pay
a bride's visit to Mrs. Jared Sparks, late Miss Allen, of Hyde
Park. She is one of the most interesting women I ever saw, —
1832.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 65
not what would be called a perfect beauty, but with a face ex-
pressive as one of Raphael's Madonnas, and a form of Grecian
mould. This lady writes well, paints beautifully, and excels in
music. She is going to Boston, where they know how to appre-
ciate such characters.
Monday, Oct. 22. — Ball Hughes's monument to Bishop Hobart
is ready to be put up in the chancel of Trinity Church, and we
are preparing to alter the pulpit and desk to suit it. Mr. Hughes
is also engaged in making a beautiful altar-table of white Italian
marble, and I think the effect of the whole will be much finer
than anything of the sort we have seen in this country.
Wednesday, Oct. 24. — Miss Fanny Hamilton, daughter of
James A. Hamilton, was married last evening to George Bowdoin.
Thursday, Oct. 25. — My birthday. I am fifty-two years of
age. I am much older in feelings than I was last year at this
time. Two or three attacks of illness during the last summer
have left me weakly and subject to indisposition. If I indulge
in the good things which are constantly tempting me I am sure to
suffer for it, and am compelled to temperance malgre moi.
Friday, Oct. 26. — I dined with Abraham Schermerhorn, where
we had a clerical party, consisting of Bishop Bowen, Bishop
Brownell, Dr. Wainwright, Mr. Creighton, and several laymen of
the convention. This body has been engaged for several days in
the discussion of an important subject; viz., the acceptance of the
resignation of Bishop Chase, of Ohio, and the validity of the ap-
pointment of Mr. Mcllvaine as his successor, the question being
whether a bishop can vacate his see in any case. There has been
a great deal of speaking, and the meetings of the convention
daily at St. John's Chapel have attracted crowds of people to
hear the debate. Mr. Jay, President Duer, and Dr. Wainwright,
of the New York delegation, have each made long and eloquent
speeches.
Wednesday, Nov. 7. — The following gentlemen dined with us :
Mr. Wallack, Charles Kemble, Mr. Truman, Mr. Moore, I. S,
66 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 52.
Hone, J. Howard Payne, Mr. Buckland, Thomas W. Ludlow,
Robert Emmet, and Henry Hone.
Friday, Nov. 9. — This glorious light of literature,
,,r. "o^^"^ which has for some months been flickering in the
Walter Scott. °
socket of existence, is at last extinguished. The pride
of Great Britain, the delight of all who can read the English
language and enjoy its richest treasures, has closed his brilliant
career, and increased the gap which the death of Byron occa-
sioned to an extent so great that it cannot be filled during the
present generation of mankind. Both were splendid luminaries
in the world of letters ; but the former passed over its firmament
like a bright and transient meteor, while the latter, adding to the
influence of his talents that of his excellent moral character and
kind feelings in his intercourse with mankind, shed around his
path the genial warmth of the sun, enlightening and vivifying like
his rival, but not like him scorching and dazzling the eyes of
beholders,
Tuesday, Nov. 13. — Dined with Mr. Charles March. Mr. and
Mrs. Henry Gary, Mrs. Wayne, Dr. A. E. Hosack and his wife,
Mr. Van Buren, Gambreling, Lynch, etc., were of the party.
After dinner I saw part of Fanny Kemble's Juliet, which she
played admirably. I saw her Julia, in the " Hunchback," last even-
ing, — her best part, and better than anything I have ever seen.
The house was full as possible, and hundreds left the doors unable
to get seats. I then went to the party at Mrs. Delafield's, Park
place. The attractions of the evening were the bride. Miss Dela-
field, daughter of John Delafield, who has married a son of
Cornelius Du Bois, ami T/ie Pcdrottij the prima donna of the
Italian opera, wretchedly out of place, with her immense vulgar
figure, staring eyes, and tawdry dress, amongst the lovely,
modest, and graceful women with whom she was associated.
And she refused to sing, too, after Mrs. Parish and Helen
McEvers had kindly set her the example. If she did not sing,
why was she there? And then the elegant amateurs of Italian
1832.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 6/
music pretend to compare this woman to Fanny Kemble ; nay,
pretend to say that, independently of her singing, she plays better
and has more grace ! She is no more comparable to her than I
to the Apollo Belvidere, a sunflower to a violet, a cart-horse to
the Bussorah Arabian, an ale-house sign to a landscape of Claude,
or Jane, our chambermaid, to Mrs. Gardiner Rowland.
Friday, Nov. 16. — The papers are clothed in
./^1> ° ,, mourning : the venerable Charles Carroll, of Carroll-
Mr. Carroll, *^ ^
ton, died at his house in Baltimore on Wednesday
morning, 14th inst., at four o'clock, in the ninety-sixth year of
his age. This aged patriot and most respectable man was born
on the 8th of September, in the year 1737, at Annapolis,
Md. His father died in 1782, aged eighty years. Mr. Carroll
was a patriot in the days which tried men's souls. He was a
member of Congress of respectable talents and great personal
influence ; but his celebrity of late years has arisen principally
from the interesting position in which he has stood before the
American people as the last of that immortal band of patriots
who, in signing the Declaration of Independence, took all the
responsibility of the measure upon themselves, and gave a noble
pledge to work out the political salvation of America. He has
been the sole survivor since Jefferson and the elder Adams died,
on the 4th of July, 1826. Mr. Carroll was ninety-five years old in
September.
His Excellency, William C. Rives, American Minister at the
court of France, and his family arrived this morning in the packet-
ship " Sully," from Havre. Amongst the passengers by this ship
were Samuel F. B. Morse, the artist, and president of the National
Academy of Design.
Dined at the navy yard with Commodore Chauncey. Mr. Van
Buren was of the party. He is all the fashion at present. I
think the pride of human nature must, in the case of this gentle-
man, be fully gratified. The late election is a prodigious triumph
for him, and he must be more or less than man if he can avoid
6S THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 52.
exultation when he assumes the Vice-President's chair, vacated by
the man who gave the casting vote in the Senate which recalled
him from his honourable station abroad.
November 27. — The anti-tariff convention of the State of
Georgia assembled on the 15 th inst., at Milledgeville. A long
string of violent resolutions were reported, breathing the poison of
nullification in every line.
December 3. — The South Carolina convention
°"\. have passed a number of resolutions, worse by far than
Carolina. ^ ' ■'
the friends of union believed it possible for them to go.
It is rank treason, and in my opinion the leaders deserve to be
hanged. It is well, however, that these violent measures have been
adopted before the meeting of Congress, which will take place to-
morrow. It places the nullifiers at once in the wrong, and will
remove the doubts in the minds of many good men in Congress
as to the necessity of energetic measures in the commencement of
this rebellion, for it can be called by no other name.
December 12. — Very much to the surprise of some,
resi ent s ^^^^^ ^^ ^y^^ Satisfaction of all our citizens, we have a
Proclamation.
long proclamation of President Jackson, which was
published in Washington on the 12 th inst., and is in all our papers
this day. It is a document addressed to the nuUifiers of South
CaroUna, occasioned by the late treasonable proceedings of their
convention. The whole subject is discussed in a spirit of concili-
ation, but with firmness and decision, and a determination to put
down the wicked attempt to resist the laws. On the constitution-
ality of the laws which the nuUifiers object to, and their right to
recede from the Union, this able State paper is full and conclusive.
The language of the President is that of a father addressing his
wayward children, but determined to punish with the utmost
severity the first open act of insubordination. As a composition it
is splendid, and will take its place in the archives of our country,
and will dwell in the memory of our citizens alongside of the
farewell address of the " Father of his Country." It is not known
1832.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 69
which of the members of the cabinet is entitled to the honour of
being the author ; it is attributed to Mr. Livingston, the Secretary
of State, and to Governor Cass, the Secretary of War. Nobody,
of course, supposes it was written by him whose name is subscribed
to it. But whoever shall prove to be the author has raised to him-
self an imperishable monument of glory. The sentiments, at least,
are approved by the President, and he should have the credit of it,
as he would the blame if it were bad ; and, possessing those sen-
timents, we have reason to believe that he has firmness enough to
do his duty. I say. Hurrah for Jackson ! and so I am willing to
say at all times when he does his duty. The only difference
between the thorough-going Jackson men and me is, that I will not
"hurrah " for him right or wrong. And I think Jackson's election
may save the Union. If he is sincere in this proclamation he will
put down this rebellion. Mr. Clay, pursuing the same measures,
would not have been equally successful. He is considered the
head of the American System Party, and his political opponents
would have thrown obstacles in his way from party motives ;
whereas Jackson's opponents are generally men of more principle,
and will not withhold their approbation from him when his
measures, as in the present instance, are marked by wisdom and
decision. A majority of the people would have gone with him,
right or wrong ; they all will when he is right. In this able State
paper he addresses the deluded people of South Carolina with
tenderness, but seems to be gathering up his wrath to let it fall
heavily on the heads of the ringleaders.
December 18. — The Camden and Amboy Railroad was opened
on Monday on the whole line, and passengers who left New York in
the steamboat for Amboy at half-past six were in Philadelphia about
two o'clock. This is expected to be the best joint-stock property
in the United States.
December 20. — Gen. Robert Hayne has been
^"""^^ elected Governor of South Carolina, in place of Gov-
Carolinu.
ernor Hamilton, whose term of office had expired
JO THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 52.
One Hotspur in place of another. And John C. Calhoun, the
present Vice-President of the United States, is elected to the
Senate of the United States in place of General Hayne. These ap-
pointments prove the strength of the " Nullification " party. How
I hate the word ! It is a newly invented one, hard to write and
horrid to think of, but the most expressive that can be adopted.
[833-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. yi
1833-
TANUARY 7. — Anew periodical, called the " Knickerbocker,'*
^ made its first appearance on the ist of this month. It is to
be a monthly publication, edited by Charles Hoffman, assistant
editor of the "American," and published by Peabody & Co.
Bryant, Paulding, the late Mr. Sands, and a number of other
eminent literary men were engaged as contributors, and the work
starts with a subscription list of eight hundred names. Public ex-
pectation has consequently been highly raised, and, in my case,
much disapppointed. I do not know what other people may think
about it, but in my judgment these great guns have grievously
missed fire. The introduction by Hoffman is long, laboured, and
dull ; one of Paulding's stories is an unsuccessful attempt at quaint
humour (not an unusual thing, by the by, in the works of that
author), and the poetry a mere makeweight, written apparently just
to fill up such a space on such a page, to which it has been al-
lotted. The ^' New York Mirror," a neat weekly conducted by
Morris, which is a welcome visitor at my house every Saturday, is
worth a dozen of the " Knickerbocker; " but I am unkind in criti-
cising so closely the first number ; succeeding ones will, no doubt,
be better, and I am so partial to the editor, and wish so heartily
success to the concern, that I will not allow myself to doubt it.
Washington, March 2. — I witnessed an interesting scene in
the Senate this morning. Mr. Clay arose, and with great solemnity,
and in that bland, engaging manner which in him is irresistible, ad-
verted to an angry dispute which occurred a few weeks since,
between Mr. Poindexter, of Mississippi, and Mr. Webster, at the
conclusion of which the former said, " He felt the utmost contempt
for the gentleman from Massachusetts." These expressions were
attributed by Mr. Clay to the heat of debate and the excitement
72 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^l^lat. 53.
of opposition at a moment of peculiar interest, and he expressed
the greatest anxiety that at the close of the session, when so much
had been done to conciliate in other quarters, two gentlemen
who had frequently acted together, and between whom the best feel-
ings had heretofore existed, should not be suffered to part in anger.
Mr. Poindexter immediately arose, disclaimed any intention to
offend Mr. Webster, and made a gentlemanly sort of apology, which
was received in the same s})irit and ackncjwledged in a short speech
by Mr. Webster. The parties then approached each other, shook
hands, and the affair was settled.
Monday, March 4. — The inauguration of Andrew Jackson as
President, and Martin Van Buren as Vice-President, of the United
States, took place at noon in the hall of the House of Represent-
atives. I went up at eleven o'clock, and formed one of the
immense crowd who thronged the approach to every door. The
wind was very high, and the severity of the cold unmitigated, so
that the time spent in waiting was not particularly agreeable. The
President and Vice-President and their cortci^e arrived at twelve
o'clock, and soon afterwards the doors were opened, when I was
carried in with the mffianly crowd, but never got farther than the
little vestibule in front of the Chamber. I am told that the Presi-
dent delivered an inaugural address, and the oaths were adminis-
tered by the venerable Chief Justice. The address is published in
handbills. It is well done, not too long, and well adapted to the
state of public affairs.
Friday, March 29. — The following party dined with us : Judge
Wayne, of Georgia, and his lady ; Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Pendleton,
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Schermerhorn, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Wilkes,
Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Howland, Sir Charles R. Vaughan, Mr. Bankhead,
Mr. Thorn, Marquis Torrigiani, Mr. James J. Jones, Washington
Irving, Commodore Chauncey, Mr. Granger, and Mr. D. Lynch.
Saturday, March 30. — I dined with Mr. William B. Astor, and in
the evening went for a short time to a party of distinguished lit-
erary gentlemen and others, at Dr. Alexander Stephens's.
1833.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 73
Monday, April i . — Mr. Audubon, the celebrated ornithologist,
called upon me a day or two since with letters of introduction
from Mr. Quincy, President of Harvard College, and Colonel
Perkins, of Boston. He is about setting out on one of his enter-
prising excursions to the coast of Labrador, in pursuit of informa-
tion to illustrate his favorite science, to which he is devoted with
the ardour of a lover to his mistress. He is an interesting man of
about fifty five years of age, modest in his deportment, possessing
general intelligence, an acute mind, and great enthusiasm. His
work on the birds of North America, on which he is now engaged,
is probably the most splendid book ever published. I have seen
several of the numbers in the library of Congress. It will require
nine years to complete it, and will cost eight hundred dollars ; all
the drawings are executed by himself or under his special superin-
tendence. Wilson's book on the same subject is deservedly cele-
brated, — beautiful, no doubt, but comparing with Audubon's as
the Falls of Trenton to those of Niagara.
Saturday, April 6. — Subscribers to the Marine Pavilion to be
erected at Rockaway. The following persons have each subscribed
five hundred dollars : Nathaniel Prime, Robert Ray, John A.
King, Rufus Prime, Philip Hone, Alfred Seton, John Haggerty,
Isaac S. Hone, Edward Prime, Thaddeus Phelps, John C. Cruger,
Samuel S. Howland, Thomas Suffern, Charles A. Davis, Gerard H.
Coster, Reuben Withers, Isaac Jones, Jr., John G. Coster, James
Boggs, Goold Hoyt, Peter Schermerhorn, Lewis Curtiss, William B.
Crosby, Benjamin L. Swan, Robert White, David S. Jones, John
MacGregor, Jr., Stephen Whitney, Rupert L. Cochran, Isaac
Carow, J. Boorman, Samuel Glover, George Newbold, William
McLeod, James Monroe, John Mason, John Gihon, Henry Parish,
Robert L. Patterson, W. N. Furniss, John Johnston, John W.
Leavitt, William Wright, Herman Thorn, C. H. Russell, Joseph
Walker, Asaph Stone, Samuel Alley, Moses H. Grinnell, Hendrick
Booraem, Amos Palmer, Gideon Pott, Richard Suydam, Timothy
T. Kissam, James Boyd, Jr., Charles A. Heckscher, Brockholst
74 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [/Etat. 53.
Cutting, John F. Delaplaine, Charles Hall, Gideon Lee, Mortimer
Livingston, James Heard, Peter J. Nevins, Henry Laverty, Peter
G. Stuyvesant.
Wednesday, May 15. — The spring exhibition of
Acadeiii ' ^^^ National Academy has just opened. I have paid
it only a flying visit. It is a good exhibition, and if
the smiling faces of sundry '' fat and greasy citizens " and their
self-complacent helpmates were turned to the wall instead of look-
ing down from their canvas habitations to fright the spectators from
" their propriety," it would be worth visiting half a dozen times.
The president, Mr. Morse, and Cole have contributed the pictures
which they painted and brought from Europe. The former are
hard and cold as ever. The warmth of the sunny skies of Italy
does not appear to have had any effect upon the worthy president.
He is an excellent fellow, and is well acquainted with the principles
of his art, but he has no imagination. He makes good portraits,
strong likenesses. My portrait of Chancellor Kent, by Morse, is
very good, and Thorvaldsen is excellent, but he cannot design.
There is no poetry about his painting, and his prose consists of
straight lines, which look as if they had been stretched to their
utmost tension to form clothes-lines. Cole maintains his ground.
His pictures are admirable representations of that description of
scenery which he has studied so well in his native forests. His
landscapes are too solid, massy, and umbrageous to please the eye
of an amateur accustomed to Italian skies and English-park
scenery, but I think every American is bound to prove his love of
country by admiring Cole.
Monday, May 27. — Messrs. Charles L. Livingston,
theFirr^iice ^^^^P^j Giraud, and I left home last Tuesday at one
o'clock on an excursion to Long Island. The next
morning we rose early, and started at five o'clock ; a fine morning,
the country on all sides looking bright and beautiful. We had a
very agreeable ride, breakfasted at Timothy Carman's, and arrived
at Sam Carman's, at the Fire-place, at four o'clock. The following
1833] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 75
day the wind got around again to the north-east, raw, cold, and
rainy, and so it continued the remainder of the week, with occa-
sional intervals, which allowed Giraud and me the opportunity of
fishing every day for an hour or two, and we took trout enough to
supply our table during the whole of our visit. They were very
fine, not very abundant ; but, on the whole, we had good sport, and
we formed within doors a gay, pleasant party, and with the assist-
ance of stores we took with us, we had quite as much to eat and
drink as was good for us. On Sunday morning at eleven o'clock
we left Carman's on our return. The Speaker and I brought with
us a dozen trout which were taken on the morning we came away.
The weather was fine during the whole of yesterday, and we came
to Van Cott's, at Jamaica, where we lodged, and came away this
morning after breakfast. This is the first day of the races, and
there is a great match race between a colt of Walter Livingston's
and a Southern colt of Colonel Johnson's. Livingston and Phelp.s
remained at the race-course to see the race, and Giraud and I came
to Brooklyn, where we arrived at nine. The road was crowded
with vehicles of every description and pedestrians of every age and
complexion. Brooklyn was a scene of bustle and confusion, and the
sporting gentlemen eyed us with looks of compassion that we could
have so little taste as to turn our backs upon so pleasant an affair.
Tuesday, May 28. — My excellent old friend, Com-
Navy Yard. modorc Chaunccy, is ordered to Washington, to fill a
place at the Board of Navy Commissioners, and Cap-
tain Ridgely is appointed to our navy yard. This will be deeply
regretted by many in New York, for Chauncey has a vast number
of devoted friends here. I shall be a heavy loser myself. He
was ever a most welcome guest at my table, and I have j^artaken
" many a time and oft " of his noble hospitality. We had a stand-
ing compact, that each of us was to stand ready to obey the
other's summons at a day's notice, when not otherwise engaged.
And then his fine, old sherry, too ! he will have to give it to those
who have not half so much regard for him.
'^6 THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. [^Etat. 53.
Mr. Webster was at the Eagle Tavern the other day, on liis way
to the western part of the State, and was presented to Judge Buel,
the celebrated agriculturist, by the loquacious landlord, Crittenden,
in the following flowery style : " This is Judge Buel, who cultivates
the finest flowers of the field, and this the Hon. Daniel Webster,
who culls the choicest flowers of rhetoric." Mr. Webster then
happily observed : ^^ Y owr fiowers produce/;-///// mine, I fear, may
prove abortive." To this Judge Buel, with great felicity, replied :
"My flowers, sir, are annual 2^\\A evanescent, while yours promise a
perpetual bloom."
Monday, June 3. — Died on Saturday evening, in this city,
Oliver Wolcott, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. Mr. Wolcott
was Secretary of the Treasury under Washington. His father was
a patriot of the Revolution, and one of the signers of the Declara-
tion of Independence. He was afterward a merchant of this city,
president, successively, of the Merchants' Bank and the Bank of
America, in which latter institution I was associated with him as a
director. He then removed to his native State, Connecticut,
of which he was elected Governor, and in which office he continued
several years. He came recently again to New York, where he
lived in bad health and in perfect retirement from society.
Thursday, June 13. — The President is certainly the
resi en niost ])oi)ular man we have ever known. \\'ashinofton
Jackson. * * °
was not SO much so. His acts were popular, because
all descriptions of men were ready to acknowledge him the Father
of his Country ; but he was superior to the homage of the popu-
lace, — too dignified, too grave for their liking ; and men could not
approach him with f^imiliarity. Here is a man who suits them
exactly. He has a kind expression for each, — the same to all, no
doubt, but each tliinks it intended for himself. His manners are
certainly good, and he makes the most of them. He is a gourma7id
of adulation, and by the assistance of the populace has persuaded
himself that no man ever lived in the country to whom the country
was so much indebted. Talk of him as the second Washington !
1833.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 77
It won't do now. Washington was only the first Jackson. Poor
Adams used to visit New York during his presidency. The papers,
to be sure, announced his arrival ; but he was welcomed by no
shouts, no crowd thronged around his portals, no huzzas rent the
air when he made his appearance, and yet posterity, more just than
ourselves, will acknowledge him to have been, in all the qualifica-
tions which constitute his fitness to fill the office of a ruler of this
great Republic, twenty times superior to Jackson. He wanted tact.
He gave the toast of Ebony and Topaz^ the ungracious offspring
of a mind overloaded with study and unskilful in adaptation. And
the other, in a moment when we were all anxious to save the country
from the mad schemes of visionary theorists whose crude principles
of government seemed to threaten the welfare of our federative
institution, and when we doubted what his course would be, gave
in a happy moment his toast, "The Union — it must be preserved."
It made a difference of five hundred thousand votes. Adams is
the wisest man, the best scholar, the most accomplished statesman ;
but Jackson has most tact. So, huzza for Jackson !
June 15. — The celebrated Indian chief, Black Hawk, and his
companions, the prophet and his son, now occupy the place in the
public curiosity which General Jackson filled during his recent
visit here. They arrived yesterday, and witnessed the ascension
of the balloon from the steamboat in which they arrived. They are
under the charge of Major Garland of the United States Army.
The crowd was so great that they found it impossible to land and
enter the garden, as was expected. They were afterward taken to
their lodgings at the Exchange Hotel, in Broad street, and Black
Hawk is now the order of the day.
Saturday, June 29. — My estimable friend, Colonel Nicholas
Fish, died during my absence, on Tuesday, 20th inst., in the
seventy-fifth year of his age. He was a gallant and distinguished
officer in the War of the Revolution, an accomplished gentleman
of the old school, and in all respects an amiable and excellent
man.
78 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 53.
Col. Thomas H. Perkins, of Boston, made a short
Munificence . . , . i -kt t^ 1 1 t • ■
fjy , time smce a donation to the New Kndand Institution
ol rJoston. o
for the Education of the BHnd of his house and lot of
ground in Pearl street, worth ^30,000, on condition that the further
sum of $50,000 should be raised for the same object by voluntary-
contributions. The Bostonians went to work with their accus-
tomed spirit, and collected in a very short time the sum of
^51,117, of which $11,400 were the proceeds of a ladies' fair.
This result having been announced to the Colonel by a committee
appointed to receive the subscriptions, he made his offer binding by
a conveyance of the splendid mansion which he formerly occu-
pied, and which I should say from my recollection of it is fully
worth the estimated sum.
July i. — Married suddenly, on Saturday evening, Henry N.
Cruger, of Charleston, to Miss Harriet Douglas, the American
Madame de Stael.
Wednesday, July 3. — The celebrated Colonel Burr was mar-
ried on Monday evening to the equally celebrated Mrs. Jumel,
widow of Stephen Jumel. It is benevolent in her to keep the old
man in his latter days. One good turn deserves another.
Thursday, Aug. 22. — A very agreeable wedding took place
this day at Jamaica. Henry Van Rensselaer, son of Gen. Stephen
Van Rensselaer, was married to Miss Elizabeth Ray King, second
daughter of John A. King. I was in company one evening last
winter at a party with Mrs. King, Mrs. Abraham Ogden, and Mrs.
Edward R. Jones, and was boasting of some fine x\rrack more
than sixty years old which I had obtained. I promised each of
these ladies a bottle of it on the occasion of a marriage of a
daughter. This is the first, and I have redeemed my pledge by
sending Mrs. King a bottle on Saturday, with my compliments and
congratulations.
Monday, Aug. 26. — Died at Jamaica, Long Island, on Saturday
evening, Egbert Benson, aged eighty-seven years. This patriarch
has held a conspicuous station in the affairs of this State, — a law-
1833.] THE DIARY O^ PHILIP HONE. 79
yer of eminence in the early part of his Hfe, occupying a high
judicial station at a more advanced period, a patriot and a staunch
Whig during the Revolution. P"e\v men have been more generally
known and esteemed than Judge Benson. He has lived in retire-
ment for many years, and dies at a very advanced age.
Monday, Sept. 16. - — The drawing for boxes at the Italian opera
house took place this morning. My associates, Mr. Schermerhorn
and General Jones, are out of town, and I attended and drew
No. 8, with which I am well satisfied. The other boxes will be
occupied by the following gentlemen : Gerard H. Coster, G. G.
Rowland, Rufus Prime, Mr. Panon, Robert Ray, J. F. Moulton,
James J. Jones, D. Lynch, E. Townsend, John C. Cruger, O.
Mauran, Charles Hall, J. G. Pierson, and S. B. Ruggles.
Monday, Sept. 30. — We went this evening to see Mr. and Miss
Kemble in the " Stranger." Mrs. Haller is thought by many per-
sons to be Fanny Kemble's best part. She certainly played this
evening with the most affecting pathos and tenderness ; and so the
audience appear to think, for I never saw persons more attentive
and more deeply affected. This will probably be her last engage-
ment, if the report is true that she is married already, or about to
be, to Mr. Pierce Butler, of Philadelphia.
Thursday, Oct. 3. — A notice appeared in the papers
ition ^^ yesterday, signed by Joshua Leavitt, William Goodell,
William Green, Jr., John Rankin, and Lewis Tappan,
calling a meeting of " the friends of immediate abolition of slavery
in the United States " at Clinton Hall last evening. I expressed
great dissatisfaction that the hall should be let without my appro-
bation for any purpose not immediately connected with the objects
of the institution, and my decided opposition to its being used for
the agitation of this most mischievous question. A great crowd
of people collected to oppose the object of the meeting, and
hearing that they had become tumultuous, I went over and found
that Mr. Leavitt and Mr. Olmstead, the former of whom had
granted the use of the hall, had been there and countermanded
80 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 53.
the permission, and locked the doors. The assemblage of persons
had adjourned to Tammany Hall, appointed Robert Bogardus
chairman and M. C. Patterson and P. P. Parsells secretaries, and
passed resolutions disapproving the objects of the meeting.
Monday, Oct. 7 . — On the way to Rockaway my daughter and
I stopped at Snedecor's to look at Eclipse. This noble animal,
whose blood flows in the veins of all the finest horses in this
country, was twenty years old last spring. His owner, Walter
Livingston, has lately sold one-half of him for $4,500 to Colonel
Johnson, of Virginia, who (after a year, during which time he is to
remain on Long Island) will take him away to improve the blood
of the South. Eclipse looks as fine as ever. He is under the care
of a groom who has had nothing else to do for the past nine
years but attend to the grand sultan, brush his coat, comb his
mane, make his bed, and provide his meals ; verily, the horse and
his keeper have both an easy life of it.
Friday, Oct. 18. — I regret exceedingly that the visit
. r. ay s ^^ ^^^^ distinguished friend, Mr. Clay, should have been
made during my absence. I knew he was expected,
but hoped to be back before his arrival. He came on Tuesday,
and was received with the most distinguished marks of respect.
Crowds of people received him with enthusiastic cheers on his
landing, and he was escorted by one hundred gentlemen on horse-
back to the lodgings which had been prepared for him at the
American Hotel, the same which " the greatest and best " occu-
pied during his visit. A public dinner was tendered to him, which
he declined, as he had i)reviously done a similar compliment in
Philadelphia.
November 2. — I dined with Mr. Bucknor, and met Commo-
dore Chauncey there. Dr. Wainwright was of the party. He has
determined at last to accept the call which has been strongly
pressed upon him to become rector of St. Paul's, Boston, and will
leave Grace Church and his congregation here — the most eligible
clerical living, I believe, in the United States — from what he con-
1833] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 8 1
siders a sense of duty, it having been represented to him that his
acceptance of the call is the only means of keeping the congregation
of St. Paul's, the most respectable Episcopal church in New Eng-
land, from falling to pieces. But I fear if they are such a set of
nullifiers he will not have much comfort amongst them, and his
departure from New York will occasion a severe loss to his congre-
gation, and be deeply lamented by a large circle of devoted
personal friends.
Tuesday, Nov. 5 . — James Fenimore Cooper and his family
arrived to-day in the ship " Sampson " from London. This gentle-
man has acquired a high literary reputation during his residence in
Europe as the author of several novels, but I doubt \'cry much if
the works which he published before he went away do not form a
foundation for his fame, of which the superstructure he has subse-
quently erected is scarcely worthy. His late work.i hav^e certainly
not added much to his reputation on this side of the water.
0 eninrof MoNDAY, Nov. 1 8. — The long-cxpcctcd opening of
the Opera the opcra house took place this evening, with the
opera, " La Gaza Ladra," — all new performers except
Signora Marozzi, who belonged to the old company. The prima-
donna soprano is Signorina Fanti. The opera, they say, went off
well for a first performance ; but to me it was tiresome, and the au-
dience was not excited to any violent degree of applause. The
performance occupied four hours, — much too long, according to my
notion, to listen to a language which one does not understand ; but
the house is superb, and the decorations of the proprietors' boxes
(which occupy the whole of the second tier) in a style of magnifi-
cence which even the extravagance of Europe has not yet equalled.
1 have one-third of box No. 8 ; Peter Schermerhorn, one-third ;
James J. Jones, one-sixth ; and William Moore, one-sixth. Our
box is fitted up with great taste, with light-blue hangings, gilded
panels and cornice, arm-chairs, and a sofa. Some of the others
have rich silk ornaments, some are painted in fresco, and each
proprietor seems to have tried to outdo the rest in comfort and
$2 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.^tat. 53.
magnificence. The scenery is beautiful. The dome and the fronts
of the boxes are painted in the most superb classical designs, and
the sofa-seats are exceedingly commodious. Will this splendid
and refined amusement be supported in New York? I am
doubtful.
Monday, Nov. 18. — The ill-advised and arbitrary step of the
President in removing the deposits from the Bank of the United
States has, as was predicted, occasioned a collision between the
branches of that institution and the State banks which have been
selected to receive the public money, producing an awful scarcity
of money, with immediate distress and melancholy forebodings to
the merchants and otliers, who require credit to sustain them.
Stocks of every description have fallen, — Delaware and Hudson,
from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fourteen;
Boston and Providence, from one hundred and fifteen to one hun-
dred and three : in both of these I suffer. Money cannot be had
on bond and mortgage at seven per cent., and I am told good
notes will hardly be discounted at nine per cent.
Tuesday, Nov. 19. — Mr. Clay told me this morning that he
wished to visit Chancellor Kent, and 1 called for him and drove him
to the Chancellor's, where we paid a delightful visit of about an
hour, with which they were both highly gratified. It is a fine trib-
ute to the character of my excellent friend that such a man as
Mr. Clay, when he visits New York, is always desirous to see him.
There is a virtuous simplicity about him which adorns the sterling
qualities of his mind, antl leaves us in doubt whether we are most
fascinated by his good heart or his strong intellect.
I dined with Mr. Donaldson, where I met his distinguished
father-in-law, Mr. Gaston, Chancellor Kent, Mr. Everett, Colonel
Trumbull, Mr. Jay, INIr. David B. Ogden, etc. It was, of course, a
pleasant dinner. I have seldom met a man with whom I was so
much pleased as Mr. Gaston. He possesses a refined mind, culti-
vated understanding, and agreeable manners, and would be an
ornament to public life, were it not that he adheres with honourable
1833] THE DIARY OF FHILIP HONE. 83
pertinacity to the unfashionable name and principles of Federalism.
More's the pity for the country !
Wednesday, Nov. 20. — Mr. Edward Everett, the distinguished
member of Congress from Massachusetts, called to see me this
morning, and sat half an hour with me. He is a man of fine tal-
ents, a good writer, and an eloquent orator ; a little pedantic, but
his manners are unaffected, and his conversation instructive and
agreeable. He is to deliver, this evening, the introductory to the
course of lectures of the Mercantile Library Association, at Clinton
Hall. It will, no doubt, be a great treat. I ought to go, and
would like to, but I have engaged company at home to meet Mr.
Clay. The following gentlemen supped with me : Mr. Clay, Mr.
C. L. Livingston, Mr. Lydig, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Moore, Mr. H.
Suydam, Mr. D. S. Jones, Mr. Talman, Mr. Giraud, Mr. L S. Hone,
Mr. Wynkoop, Mr. Bowne, and Dr. McLean. Mr. Clay, as usual,
was exceedingly agreeable, and some of my guests declared they
had never spent a more agreeable evening.
Wednesday, Dec. 4. — The language of the message in relation
to the Bank of the United States is even more violent and intem-
perate than could have been anticipated ; and in an important
State paper, which is read with avidity in all parts of the world
where our country and its institutions excite the least interest, it is
undignified, because marked with strong personal feelings of hostil-
ity, and unjust, because it abounds in charges which cannot be
proved, either by the President or the unworthy advisers who, influ-
enced by paltry motives of pecuniary interest, av^ail themselves of
the weakness of excited feelings and uncompromising obstinacy to
promote their own objects.
Monday, Dec. 9. — The Bank of the United States has pub-
lished an elaborate and able report in vindication of its measures,
as a reply to the charges against it in the report of the Secretary
of the Treasury. It concludes with a recommendation of the
adoption of the following resolution : " That the removal of the
public funds from the Bank of the United States under the circum-
84 THE DIARY OF PI 1 1 1,11' liONE. [/Etat. 53.
Stances and in the manner in which it has been effected, is a viola-
tion of the contract between the Government and the Bank ; and
that the President be instructed to present a memorial to Congress
requesting that redress should be afforded for the wrong which has
been done to the institution."
Friday, Dec. 13. — The session of Congress has commenced in
a stormy manner, and the President and his out-and-out supporters
have been assailed in both Houses. The opposers of the adminis-
tration are bold and determined, and its friends unprepared to
stem the torrent. A resolution offered by Mr. Clay in the Senate
to have the standing committees appointed by ballot instead of
being nominated by the president of the Senate (the Vice-President
not having taken the chair) was carried by a majority of five or six.
This is understood to be an indication of the state of parties. Sev-
eral questions have also come up in the House in relation to the
removal of the deposits, the great question which is to agitate the
country to its very centre, in which the vote has been so strong in
opposition that there must be some awful quakings amongst those
whose business in Washington is to sanction all rescripts from the
seat of power and the source of patronage. Of our four repre-
sentatives, White, Cambreling, and Lawrence have taken the bit
kindly and drive very well ; but Selden shows a strong disposition to
restiveness, and the collar does not set easy upon him.
Saturday, Df.c. 14. — I dined with Mr. Edward R. Jones.
Peter A. Jay talks extremely well when he has a mind, and this day
he was "in the vein." I do not know when I have been so well
pleased, and we sat until ten o'clock.
Friday, Dfx". 27. — The holidays are gloomy ; the weather i.i
bad ; the times are bad ; stocks are falling ; and a panic prevails
which will result in bankruptcies and ruin in many quarters where,
a few short weeks since, the sun of prosperity shone with unusual
brightness. It will be worse before it is better.
Monday, Dec. 30. — The times are dreadfully hard. The super-
erogatory act of tyranny which the President exercised in removing
1833] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 85
the deposits has produced a state of alarm and panic unprece-
dented in our city. The friends of the United States Bank on the
one side, and the whole array of Jackson men, together with the
friends of the Pet Banks, on the other, mutually accuse each other
of being the cause of the pressure ; and so between them both, the
community groans under the distress which these misunderstand-
ings have created. " A plague on both your houses ! " I say. The
truth is, we are smarting under the lash which the vindictive ruler
of our destinies has inflicted upon us as a penalty for the sin which
Nicholas Biddle committed in opposing his election. My share of
punishment amounts to ^20,000, which I have lost by the fall of
stocks in the last sixty days. Delaware and Hudson Canal Com-
pany stock has fallen suddenly from one hundred and twenty-five
per cent, to seventy-five per cent. ; Boston and Providence Rail-
road, from one hundred and fifteen per cent, to eighty-eight per
cent. ; Camden and Amboy, from one hundred and fifty per cent.
to one hundred and twenty-five per cent. Delaware and Hudson
fell twenty per cent, in two days, owing principally to the failure
of Shipman & Corning, brokers, who have been gambling in the
stock, and being caught with heavy contracts when the fall took
place, were unable to fulfil them, and a great amount of hypothet-
icated stock was thrown at once in the market. The removal of
the deposits I believe to be the great cause of the pecuniary dis-
tress, to which may be added the operation of cash duties on wool-
lens, which brings a large amount of payments into the Treasury.
The gambling in stocks which has been carried on by the brokers
to an extent disgraceful to the commercial character of the city is
another cause of the distress. It consists in selling out stocks
ahead, as it is called, where a man buys and sells to the amount of
millions, without owning a dollar of the stock, betting it will fall,
and then taking pains by every kind of lying and chicanery to
injure the reputation of the stock that he may win. This, the
good sense of the merchants, aided by the endeavours of the hon-
ourable part of the brokers, may remedy in time, and the effect of
86 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 53.
double engagements at the Custom- House will soon end, for the
old bonds are nearly run out. But the great cause of the evil, the
opposition of General Jackson to the Bank of the United States,
admits no ray of hope. He has said it. He takes the responsi-
bility. His flatterers, the sycophants who crawl beneath his feet,
impose upon his weakness and flatter his vanity ; they persuade him
that his obstinacy is firmness, and his vengeance Roman dignity.
Tuesday, Dec. 31. — The year 1833 commenced with brilliant
prospects of national prosperity and individual happiness, and
during the greater part of the year those prospects continued
unchanged, and the fair expectations of those who were reasonably
sanguine appeared likely to be realized. The merchants were
doing a good and profitable business, and the bounty of Providence,
which gave plentiful crops to the farmer, and the state of foreign
and domestic commerce, which afforded him a good and certain
market, enriched the country and enabled the merchants in other
States to meet their New York engagements with punctuality.
Real estate increased in value, money was as plenty as it ought to
be, and the improvement of the city kept pace with the enterprise
and resources of the citizens. But the change is melancholy, and
has fallen upon us so suddenly that men feel the blow and know
not whence it comes. Public confidence is shaken, personal
property has no fixed value, and sauve qui pent is the maxim of
the day. Never in any year did the 31st of December fail so com-
pletely to redeem the pledges of the ist of January.
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 8/
1834.
TANUARY I . — The year commences with a beautiful, mild, sun-
^ shiny day. May it prove ominous of a dispersion of the pohti-
cal clouds which hang over the country, and of the cheerfulness
which will result from a restoration of confidence among our
citizens and a return of good times !
Wednesday, Jan. 8. — Anniversary of the battle of New Orleans.
It was a proud day for America, and the chief who then "plucked
up the drowning honour of the nation by the locks," well deserved
the gratitude of the people. But, alas, how has he been overpaid,
and at what a sacrifice have they rewarded his services ! Any arm
which has strength enough to wield a hammer and an axe may
destroy the most beautiful work of a Phidias or a Michael Angelo ;
but where is the artist who can restore its desecrated remains to
their original beauty, and where the power which can bid the deli-
cate machinery of individual credit and public confidence to resume
its harmonious functions when once deranged and put out of tune
by the hands of ignorance and misdirected power?
Tuesday, Jan. 21. — The commercial distress caused by the de-
rangement of the relations between the Government and the Bank
of the United States does not appear to be alleviated. On the
contrary, the sacrifices which are necessary to support individual
credit are becoming more oppressive, and there seems to be no
quarter of the political horizon to which men are to look for a ray
of sunshine. In both Houses of Congress the all-absorbing topic
of the removal of the deposits occupies the time, and the members
on both sides of the question seem determined to have their talk
out. Mr. Webster stands on. ground of his own. He belongs to
none of the political parties, — the friend of his country and the
supporter of the Constitution. . As chairman of the Committee of
88 THE DIARY OF I'llILIP HONE. [/Etat. 54.
Finance, he is preparing to come out with a report from which much
is expected. His chance of success in any measure to settle the
present difficulty is better than that of any other man, from the
nature of his position. It is not impossible that he may enjoy
the triumph of saving his country. Mr. Clay had that trimnph
last season ; the effect of his compromise of the tariff cpiestion is
now aj^parcnt and acknowledged by all. For if that question had
been left unsettled and suffered to mix with those other subjects
which agitate the public mind and fill the hearts of good men with
alarm for the future, it is impossible to say what would have been
the consequences. But Mr. Clay can do nothing now ; the bitter
feeling of animosity which the President entertains toward that
patriot forbids the possibility of his exercising any influence over
the minds of the party which constitutes the majority in the lower
House. Mr. AVebster may succeed better. He does not stand so
much in the way, and they may not be unwilling to adopt with
him some terms of compromise. Of one thing we may be certain,
— that the honour of the country and the security of its institutions
are safe in his hands.
Wednesday, Jan. 22. — The memorial to Congress, adopted at
the meeting on Saturday, has received three thousand signatures,
embracing nearly all the respectable merchants ; and a meeting was
called at the same place, No. 40 William street, but the numbers
were so great that the meeting adjourned to the Exchange. Jona-
than Goodhue was chairman, and John P. Stagg, secretary. The
following gentlemen were appointed delegates to proceed with the
memorial to Washington : James G. King, D. W. C. Olyphant,
James Boorman, George S. Robbins, Pelatiah Perit, John Crumby,
Sam. S. Howland, James W. Otis, Charles H. Russell, Robert C.
Cornell, John A. Stephens, and G. P. Disosway.
Thursday, Jan. 23. — This was the most brilliant
^^^ aff^iir we have seen in a lonsf time. "Mr. Ray at
Party. ^ ^
home, Thursday, 23d inst. Quadrilles at nine
o'clock." The very cards gave promise of quclque chose distiii-
1834.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 89
guee. The fashionable world rushed with excited expectation to
the gay scene, and none were disappointed. Mr. Ray has the
finest house in New York, and if is furnished and fitted up in a
style of the utmost magnificence, — painted ceilings, gilded mould-
ings, rich satin ottomans, curtains in the last Parisian taste, and
splendid mirrors which reflect and multiply all the rays, great and
small.
On this occasion all the science of all the accomplished artistes
was put in requisition ; decorators, cooks, and confectioners vied
with each other, and each in his vocation seemed to have produced
the ne plus ultra ; and, unlike other entertainments of the kind,
the spirit of jealousy and emulation cannot be excited to an incon-
venient degree, for as no person possesses such a house, and very
few the means to show it off in the same style, it will not be con-
sidered incumbent upon others to attempt to rival this splendid
fete, and it will be no disgrace to play second fiddle to such a
leader.
Tuesday, Jan. 28. — The strong expression of public opinion
which the circulation of the memorial to Congress has called forth
occasions great alarm amongst the Jackson men, and orders have
been issued from the " Republican General Committee " at
Tammany Hall for meetings to be held in the several wards
to-morrow evening and a general meeting on Thursday evening,
not of citizens interested in the momentous question which
occupies every mind, but of the JacJzson party, who are to
approve all that has been, or may be, done. The sufferings of
the merchants from present evils, and the fearful apprehensions
of the future, are of no moment compared to the preservation of
party disciphne. Many of the President's political friends regret
the ill-advised and rash step which he took in removing the
deposits, but they dare not advise him to make the only amends
in his power, by retracing it. The pressure increases. Stocks fall
every day; Delaware and Hudson sold today at sixty- eight per
cent. ; Boston and Providence Railroad, eighty-three per cent. ;
90 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat, 54.
Mohawk and Hudson, about the same. It was wortli once, one
hundred and ninety per cent. I beheve Cambrehng sold out at
that, and now he is one of the set who laugh at our misfortunes,
and refuse to take those measures for our relief which are within
their power as representatives of the people.
Wednesday, Jan. 29. — The old line of Liverpool
Packets. packets originally established by Isaac AV'right and
Francis Thompson has been sold out, and Goodhue
& Co. are to be the agents in the future ; the house of Baring
& Co., of London, is said to be concerned in the speculation.
Six fine ships have been purchased for $216,000, or $36,000 each.
The establishment of this line of packets and the punctuality with
which it has been conducted served as a pioneer and pattern to
all other lines which were subsequently established between this
port and London, Liverpool, Havre, and la Vera Cruz, and has
contributed more than any other cause to the commercial pros-
perity of New York, and her unrivalled eminence among her
sister cities. The original proprietors, Wright & Thompson
(both of whom are deceased), were well calculated for such an
undertaking ; bold and enterprising, they were distinguished for
habits of industry and methodical correctness in business, peculiar
to the religious sect (the Quakers) of which they were mem-
bers ; and notwithstanding the pecuniary difficulties which one of
them, Mr. Thompson, had to contend with, and which terminated
in his failure, the line of packets has been kept up in its original in-
tegrity, and its business has been always well conducted until now,
when it has passed into other hands equally competent to its
management, anrl possessing in a high degree the confidence and
good opinion of the public.
Friday, Feb. 7. — Out of forty-six packet-ships plying between
New York and London, Liverpool, and Havre, but two are now
in port, both of which, in the ordinary course of things, ought to
sail to-morrow. Our latest advices from Liverpool are seventy-
one days old, I^ondon sev^enty-two, and Paris seventy five. This
I834-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 9 1
has never before happened since the estabUshment of regular
Unes of American packets, about forty years ago, it is said, when
there were only British packets running between here and Liver-
pool, one leaving each port monthly. It happened on one
occasion that the packets for December, January, and February
all arrived here on the same day.
A public meeting having been called by a notice
^^^^\ signed by many respectable names of " the citizens
who are opposed to the removal of the deposits from
the Bank of the United States, and who are in favour of a sound
currency by means of a national bank," an immense concourse
assembled at twelve o'clock at the place of meeting, — the park.
The number is computed at from twelve to fifteen thousand. I was
waited upon by a committee and requested to officiate as chair-
man. When I came on the ground, precisely at twelve o'clock, I
found an immense crowd already assembled, consisting principally
of the most respectable mechanics and others in the city, — men of
character, respectability, and personal worth, with a few miscreants
who went, perhaps, of their own accord, but were more probably
sent there to excite disturbance and disturb the proceedings. The
rabble had gotten possession of the chair, and it required some
hard thumps to clear the way sufficiently for me to come forward.
I attempted to address the meeting, but the yells of the mob, and
the noise of better -disposed persons in attempting to command
silence, rendered all my efforts unavailing ; so I put the question
upon the resolutions, which were carried by an immense majority,
and then adjourned the meeting ; but the mob did not disperse
for a considerable time afterward. This apparently organized
outrage upon the freedom of the citizens cannot fail to strengthen
our cause, for they will not consent to be muffled, and will con-
vince their rulers that public opinion means something more
than the drilled voices of certain political friends of General
Jackson, who are pledged, body and soul, to support him at all
events.
92 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 54.
Tuesday, Feb. i i . — The delegates who were ap-
" /.^ pointed to carry the merchants' memorial to Washing-
ton having returned, a meeting of the signers was
called this afternoon at the Exchange to receive their report.
Such a meeting never before assembled in New York. When I
reached the spot at the hour of meeting, the great room in the
Exchange with all its avenues, the vestibule, and the porch were
filled, and three or four thousand persons occupied the street in
front, — all firm and enthusiastic, but orderly and decorous in the
extreme. The meeting within doors was organized precisely at
half-past four o'clock by the appointment of Jonathan Goodhue
as chairman, and John P. Stagg, secretary. The report of the
delegates, announcing the unsuccessful result of their mission, was
read by James G. King. On motion of John A. Stevens, the
following resolution was adopted unanimously : " That with a
view to the importance of combining mercantile influence and
opinions for commercial and not for party ends, and by the exer-
cise of this influence to ameliorate present distresses and to avert
future evils, that a Union Committee of twenty- five persons be
now appointed, whose duty it shall be to confer with committees
of the State and national banks, with a view to produce that entire
concert and harmony of action essential to enable them to afford
the greatest possible relief to the community." The following
persons were appointed and constitute the Union Committee :
Albert Gallatin, James G. King, Jonathan Goodhue, G. G. How-
land, John Haggerty, Nathaniel Weed, James Boorman, John W.
Leavitt, James Brown, David Lee, Rufus L. Lord, Fanning C.
Tucker, Isaac Carow, Elbert J. Anderson, John G. Coster,
Francis Olmstead, Thomas Brooks, Charles H. Russell, Herbert
Van Wagenen, E. G. Fale, Joseph Kernochan, Philip Hone,
John A. Stevens, John P. Stagg, and D. W. C. Olyphant. The
meeting then adjourned into the street, and the vast body came
pouring down the principal avenue like a mighty rushing river
to mix with the multitudinous sea beneath. The whole street
i834] Tilt: DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. . 93
from William street to a distance below the Exchange was a com-
pact, solid mass of men. I was called upon from all parts of the
crowd to read the report and resolutions for the benefit of the
out-door part of the concern, and was placed in a conspicuous
situation on one of the pedestals at the end of the steps forming
the great entrance. I was received in the most flattering manner,
and read them with considerable effect, notwithstanding the dis-
advantage I suffered from not having seen the papers or heard
them read previously. I then adjourned the meeting, and the
great, the sublime, the intelligent mass separated and retired with
decorum and dignity. Such an assemblage has never before been
witnessed in New York ; the spectacle from the elevation on
which I stood was extremely imposing, — a solid mass of heads
with faces beaming with intelligence, actuated by one strong
feeling, silent, attentive, decorous ; every sentiment was under-
stood, every patriotic expression in the report and resolution
responded to with feeling and reflection. If this is not a public
opinion, we may look in vain for it.
Washington, Monday, March 3. — Our party, with the Kembles,
left Baltimore at seven o'clock and arrived here at three, and I got
a good room at Gadsby's, which had been previously engaged for me
by Mr. Selden. At five o'clock I went to dine with Baron Behr. He
has the apartments formerly occupied by Bankhead, and the cook
also, an artiste of the highest grade. The Colonel and I went to
the theatre to see the Kembles in " Hamlet ; " but Fanny Kemble in
the Washington Theatre is like a canary-bird in a mouse -trap, and I
soon came away and went to a delightful party at Mrs. Tayloe's.
There I met many distinguished people and all the Washington belles.
March 4. — I called this morning on the Vice-President, Secre-
taries McLane, Cass, and Woodbury, and several others. In the
number was Sir Charles R. Vaughan, who, while I was so engaged,
was at my lodgings, having with his usual kindness laid aside eti-
quette, and called as soon as he heard of my being in town to
engage me for dinner to-morrow.
94 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 54.
The terrible question which agitates the whole country is as far
as ever from a happy termination. The late message of the Gov-
ernor of Pennsylvania, attributing the financial distress of the
country to the Bank of the United States, has thrown all aback, for
better things were expected. The President is more obstinate than
ever, and the Speaker (Stevenson), with whom I had a talk this
morning, is as subservient as the most docile man at Tammany
Hall. How is it possible that a high-minded Virginian like him
should consent to administer to the vanity and prejudice of a weak,
unreasonable old man? But my friend wishes to go to England.
My first visit this morning was to Mr. Clay. He says our only hope
is in the elections in our State and Pennsylvania. Let them go for
us, and a sufficient majority will be found in Congress to set things
right, in spite of the opposition of the greatest and best. Our only
relief is in the ballot-boxes. Is it not worth fighting for?
March 5. — I returned a number of visits, walked up to the
Capitol with Mr. Webster and Mr. Chauncey, spent two or three
hours in the two Houses (the ladies were too wise to go in, but pur-
sued their walk), and afterward went to dine with Sir Charles R.
Vaughan, where we had the Kembles, Commodore and Mrs.
Chauncey, De Behr, Colonel McDougal, etc. Lynch dined with
us, but he is on a pretty severe regimen, and looks poorly.
March 6. — The proceedings in the House have been more in-
teresting to me than heretofore. I was admitted upon the floor, a
favour conferred so charily under the present rules as very much to
enhance its value. This gave me a fine opportunity to converse
with all the leading members. Among others I had a long talk
about the state of affairs with that sagacious man, John Quincy
Adams ; and if I was not instructed, it was my own fault. He
agrees with Mr. Clay that our only hope lies in the elections in
New York and Pennsylvania, particularly our charter election. I
heard Mr. Webster argue a cause in the Supreme Court. I say
with the fair Venetian, " Would that Heaven had made me such a
man ! " Mr. Preston, the new senator from South Carolina, is a
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 95
very interesting man. I had a long conversation with him at Major
Smith's. He is ardent and romantic like his countrymen, and
apparently well educated ; an eloquent speaker (and saving the sin
of nullification), a wise and patriotic statesman.
March 7. — Contrary to my expectation, this has been a great
day in the Senate. Mr. Webster made a glorious speech on the
presentation of a memorial in favour of the bank and of a restora-
tion of the deposits, and Mr. Clay introduced the proceedings on
the same subject of a meeting of mechanics concerned in building
in Philadelphia, in one of the most eloquent appeals to the feelings
of his audience that I have ever heard. It was solemn, energetic,
and impressive, especially in that part in which he addressed the
Vice-President personally, and exhorted him to use the influence he
possesses over the President to persuade him to a better course of
measures. "And if I touch your heart," said he, "and persuade
you to come to the rescue of your suffering country, I shall merit
her gratitude and promote your glory." Touch Mr. Van Buren's
heart, — good ! Mr. Webster beckoned me out of the Senate into
one of the committee- rooms, where we had more than an hour's talk.
He unburdened his mind fully on the state of affairs and future
prospects, explained all that has passed, and fully laid open his
future plans. He will be in New York in a fortnight, for one night,
when he wishes me to convene a few of our political friends to
meet and consult with him. His plans for an extension of the
bank charter will be laid before the Senate on Monday, where it
will lie for a fortnight. He showed it to me, and explained his
views and expectations in relation to it. I was exceedingly flattered
by this mark of Mr. Webster's confidence, and certainly never
heard a man talk so.
March 8. — I dined with the Vice-President, where I met a
large party of officers, diplomats, and members of Congress.
March 9. — I called for Mrs. Webster this morning, and went
with her to the Episcopal church on President's square, where
Rev. Mr. Hawley preached ; after which Commodore Chauncey
96 THE DIARY OF PIIILIl' HONE. [/Etat. 54.
and I drove out to the navy yard, where we made a pleasant visit
to Commodore Hull and the ladies. The Commodore presented
me with a box made from one of the original live-oak timbers of
the frigate "Constitution." I dined with Judge Wayne and Mr.
Cambreling, and passed the remainder of the evening with Mr.
Clay.
New York, March 15. — The President has renominated to
the Senate the Government directors of the Bank of the United
States whom they rejected the other day, with a threat, it is said,
that he will appeal to the people if their nomination is not con-
firmed. It is difficult to tell what this means, but his hostility
against the Senate will lead him into some extravagant acts of rage,
which he relies upon his popularity to bear him out of. Selden
has returned to Washington. He was received by the merchants
at the Exchange with cheers and other marks of their approval of
his conduct. Mr. Biddle returned yesterday to Philadelphia.
Crowds of people followed him in Wall street, to gaze upon the
man who has been made conspicuous by the unrelenting hostility
of President Jackson. The merchants, however, expressed their
approbation of his course by applause similar to that which they
gave to Mr. Selden.
March 18. — Washington Irving acquainted me with a circum-
stance to-day which occasions me the deepest regret. Stuart
Newton, the eminent painter, his friend and mine, was, at the last
accounts from London, a lunatic confined in a mad-house. His
poor wife, the former lovely Miss Sullivan, with her child is in the
greatest possible distress, and has written to her father to come out
and bring her home when death shall have closed her husband's
unhappy calamity. I am told there is a taint of madness in
Newton's family; his uncle, Gilbert Stuart, the great portrait
painter, had the character of a very eccentric man, at least. It is
melancholy to observe how slight is the division line between the
higher order of genius and the loss of intellect. Stupidity is a com-
fortable quality ; men grow rich and fat and easy under it ; they
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 9/:
live out their days, and sleep sound at night, and do not scorch
their brains by soaring into the bright regions of imagination. I saw
Weir afterward, who told me that he has heard that Newton is dead.
March 19. — The Committee of National Republicans ap-
pointed to nominate a mayor met last evening, and nominated for
that office Gulian C. Verplanck. This gentleman was ousted from
his seat in Congress by the Jackson party, because he would not
go all lengths in his opposition to the United States Bank. In that
point of view he is a good candidate, and his success will be a
triumph for the bank party ; but I do not think him a popular man,
or by any means well qualified for the office. He is not a prac-
tical man ; learned he certainly is, and an able writer on subjects
connected with belles-lettres and the fine arts ; but he knows little
of mankind, and his poUtical course has been unsteady as the
wind. Still he must be supported. The Tammany men have sent
a deputation to Albany to obtain Charles L. Livingston's consent
to run as their candidate for the mayoralty. He is more suited for
the office, and if he had not committed himself againt his judg-
ment in the approval of the ruinous course of measures pursued
by the administration in relation to the bank, I would have sup-
ported him with all my heart. As it is, I shall have to make some
sacrifice of feeling in voting for Mr. Verplanck against him. But
it cannot be helped ; the salvation of the country depends in a
great measure upon the defeat of the Jackson party in the struggle
which will come on next month, and personal predilections must
give way to the public good.
March 21. — Mr. Livingston refuses, it is under-
stood, to run as mayor. Mr. Cornelius W. Lawrence
Mayor. ^ •'
has been applied to, and consents to run as the candi-
date of the Jackson or Tammany party. This is a bold measure
on the part of the Jackson men. Mr. Lawrence is now their
congressman, and circumstances have placed him on prominent
ground as an opposer of the bank and supporter of the meas-
ures of the administration (against his conscience, as I believe on
98 THE DIARY OF I'llILU' HONE. [.Etat. 54.
mine). He has been vilified by the delegates of the merchants
for refusing to present their memorial, and his name has been
hissed when it occurred in their report. He is most heartily sick
of his present situation, but he is compelled by his i)arty to accept
the nomination of mayor. This will be a fair trial of the issue,
— Mr. Lawrence, the man who has for the sake of party proved
recreant to the interests of the merchants, of which profession
he is a member, on the one side, and Mr. Verplanck, who lost
his seat in Congress because he would not pursue the same course,
on the other. The personal characters of both these gentlemen
are irreproachable. Verplanck at first declined the nomination,
but it is now understood that he consents to serve.
March 25. — I availed myself of a regular rainy day to stay at
home and prepare books for binding and file my letters. Such a
day once in a while is a jewel beyond price.
April 2. — Politics occupy all my time. Mr. Webster wrote me
from Washington that he would be in New York this afternoon on
his way to Boston, and agreeably to his suggestion when I saw him
in Washington, I invited a number of our political friends to meet
him at my house. James G. King, G. G. Howland, Giraud, and
Isaac dined with us at three o'clock ; at four Mr. Webster arrived,
and found the following gentlemen assembled to receive him :
Jonathan Goodhue, Samuel Ward, James G. King, Charles H.
Russell, David B. Ogden, John A. Stevens, Joseph Hoxie, Jacob P.
Giraud, George F. Talman, Isaac S. Hone, G. G. Howland, David
S. Jones, A. Chandler, Samuel Stevens, Charles King, Hugh Max-
well, John W. Leavitt, Philip W. Engs, and George Zabriskie.
We had a full, free, and interesting conversation, in which the
great Massachusetts senator detailed all his operations during the
session, and confirmed in the most emphatic manner the declara-
tion which he made to me at Washington, that the hopes of our
friends there to bring about a favourable change in the affairs of the
country rely mainly upon the success of the great struggle which
is to take place in New York next week.
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 99
April 3. — Mr. Webster left New York for Boston at five
o'clock this afternoon ; the wharf near the steamboat was crowded
with people, who saluted him with repeated cheers. Thousands
pressed forward for a sight of the defender of the people's rights
and the supporter of the Constitution and laws of the country.
April 4. — Mr. John Jacob Astor arrived yesterday in the
packet-ship " Utica " from Havre. The news of his wife's death
will be the first to meet him. He comes in time to witness the
pulling down of the block of houses next to that on which I live,
— the whole front from Barclay to Vesey street, on Broadway, —
where he is going to erect a New York palais royal, which will
cost him five or six hundred thousand dollars.
Tuesday, April 8. — The election for mayor and charter officers
commenced this day with a degree of spirit and zeal in both par-
ties never before witnessed. This is the first election for mayor
by the people since the new law, and has acquired immense im-
portance, since it is considered a test of the approval or disap-
proval of the people of New York of the arbitrary and unconstitu-
tional measures of the President and his advisers, and as it will
influence the politics of the State in the more important elections
next fall. The number of votes will be very great (probably thirty-
five thousand) ; the Whig party, whose candidate for mayor is Mr.
Verplanck, are active, zealous, and confident of success. A great
meeting was held yesterday at four o'clock, at the Exchange, at
which Benjamin Strong presided, and John W. Leavitt and
Edmund Penfold were secretaries. The meeting was addressed by
John A. Stevens, George W. Bruen, James G. King, Charles H.
Russell, and Chandler Starr, and several resolutions were passed,
one of which recommends to the merchants and traders to omit
their usual attendance at the Hxchange, and to close their stores
and places of business at noon on each of the three days of the
election, in order to devote their undivided attention to the great
business of reform at the polls. This last suggestion has been in
part observed ; many stores are closed to-day, and several have
lOO THE DIARY OF I'liUJl' HONE. [/Etat. 54.
notices on the doors ihal llic innicates are gone to the i)olls to vote
for Verplanck. A very lari^'e meeting was also held last evening of
adopted citizens at Masonic Hall to approve the course of Dr.
MacNeven in joining our party. After the meeting adjourned they
went to his house and cheered him, and he addressed them, wish-
ing the i)arty success. They came also before my door and gave
me some hearty huzzas, but I was unfortunately absent, having
gone to the theatre with my girls and Miss Kane. My wife was
alarmed at the row, as I had a visit of another kind a few evenings
since from a party of the retainers of Tammany Hall, and she was
not able in her fright to distinguish between the shouts of enemies
and the cheers of friends.
Thursday, April 10. — Last day of the election; dreadful riots
between the Irish and the Americans have again disturbed the pub-
lic peace. The Mayor arrived with a strong body of watchmen,
but they were attacked and overcome, and many of the watchmen
are severely wounded. Eight of them were carried to the hospital,
where I went to visit them. The Mayor has ordered out Colonel
Sanford's regiment and a troop of horse, and proper measures have
been taken to preserve order, but we apprehend a dreadful night.
This outrage has been instigated by a few men in the sixth ward,
— George D. Strong, Abraham LeRoy, Dr. Rhinelander, Preserved
Fish, and a few like him. Let them answer for it.
Friday, April i i . — Such an excitement ! So wonderful is the
result of this election that all New York has been kept in a state of
alarm ; immense crowds have been collected at Masonic and Tam-
many Halls, but the greatest concourse was in front of the
Exchange. The street was a dense mass of people. Partial
returns were coming in every few minutes, and so close has been
the vote that the Whigs at the Exchange and the small party for
Jackson in front of the office of the " Standard " opposite shouted
alternately as the news was favourable to one or the other ; and up to
the last moment the result was doubtful, when, at the close of the
canvass, the majority for Mr. Lawrence, the Jackson candidate, out
I834-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 01
of the immense number of votes — thirty-five thousand one hundred
and forty-one — was found to be one hundred and seventy-nine.
There is no doubt, however, that we have elected a majority of
aldermen and assistants. The Common Council is reformed, and
we shall succeed in the great fall election. It is a signal triumph
of good principles over violence, illegal voting, party discipline, and
the influence of office-holders.
April 12. — The foUowing gentlemen dined with us, all Whigs,
and most of them active men in the late contest ; it was a feast
of triumph for the result of the election, and we drank success to
the cause in the best wine I had to give them : Francis Granger,
John Greig, Bryant P. Tilden, of Boston, who has just arrived from
Canton, Sydney Brooks, William H. Aspinwall, Simeon Draper,
Jr., Charles King, Charles H. Hammond, Isaac S. Hone, Charles
H. Russell, and James Monroe.
April 15. — This was the day of the great fete at Castle Gar-
den to celebrate the triumph gained by the Whig party in the late
charter election in this city, and it went off gloriously. Tens of
thousands of freemen, full of zeal and patriotism, filled the area
of the castle ; every inch of ground was occupied. Tables were
spread in a double row within the outer circumference ; three pipes
of wine and forty barrels of beer were placed in the centre under
an awning, and served out during the repast. Many speeches
were made, regular and volunteer toasts were drunk, and the beau-
tiful little frigate " Constitution," which has borne so conspicuous
a station in the late struggle, was placed upon the top of the build-
ing which forms the entrance to the garden, from which she fired
a salute during ih^/efe. All was enthusiasm, and the shouts from
time to time rent the air. But on a signal given the immense
concourse broke up in good order, and no excess or rioting
marred the pleasure of the day. Six or eight thousand men
formed a procession, and marched off the Battery, preceded by a
band of music. Of these, a large number went into Greenwich
street. Having learned that Mr. Webster (who had declined the
102 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 54.
invitation of the committee to unite in the celebration at Castle
Garden) was on a visit to Mrs. Edgar, they formed in a solid body
before the house, and called for him. He made his appearance
at one of the windows, and was received with shouts that rent the
air. I was admitted through the basement, and having passed
through the kitchen, came into the front room as Mr. Webster
began to address the multitude. His address was full of fire, and
was received with rapturous shouts. After he retired, he was
called again, and spoke a few words more, when the mighty mass
moved off as they came, with order and propriety. I walked up
with him as far as my house. He was engaged to sup with Mr.
Samuel Stevens, where I was also invited, but did not go.
April 16. — Giraud and I started this morning
i^ung on a fishing excursion to Long Island. We dined
Excursion. '-' ^
at Timothy Carman's, where we met John Suydam,
Garrit Storm, Edmund Smith, and Augustus Wynkoop. We went
on to Snedecor's after dinner, where we found the house so
full that if we had not taken the precaution to write in advance for
beds, we might have lain on the floor. There was Hamilton
Wilkes, William E. Laight, Mr. Kortright, Thomas Morris, Clinton
Norton, and several others, some of whom were on their return
from the Fire-place. The weather was fine, with southerly wind —
a good prospect for fishing.
We came to Sam Carman's at eleven o'clock, and took a good
mess of trout. Mr. Suydam and Mr. Storm came to dine with us,
Mr. Smith and Mr. Wynkoop having gone down to the bay brant-
shooting. They returned to Patchogue after dinner ; easterly
wind and cold, but the fish are plenty.
Saturday. — Cloudy weather and rain part of the morning and
a severe thunder-storm in the afternoon. Giraud and I went down
the creek with Joe in the boat to fish, and I took some of the
largest trout I ever saw. One weighed two pounds seven ounces,
and one two pounds. Joe Carman took the largest, weighing two
pounds twelve ounces. They were a beautiful sight. We have
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. IO3
been rather unfortunate in weather, but I have never seen the fish
so fine and so plentiful.
Wednesday, April 23. — What a pile of news-
Atiiome. papers to read and what a bundle of letters to answer,
and how much news to record in this journal ! The
Whigs of Philadelphia had a grand celebration yesterday at
Powelton on the Schuylkill of our late victory. Philadelphia is
not the only city which has celebrated our victory. The Whigs
of Albany fired one hundred guns. Buffalo made a great affair of
it with guns and illuminations. Portsmouth, N.H., received the
news with one hundred guns, had a town-meeting, and made
speeches. There was also a grand affair at Goshen, which
brought all Orange County together. Baltimore is making prep-
arations.
Mr. Leslie, the painter, sailed for England on Wednesday,
having resigned the office of professor of drawing in the Military
Academy at West Point. On the evening before his departure
he met a large party of artists and literary gentlemen, at the rooms
of the Academy of Design. I was invited^ but it was the evening
of the day on which I left town. Weir is an applicant for the
office which Leslie has left. I wrote in his behalf to the Secretary
of War, who replied to me in the most frank manner, that if the
place became vacant Mr. Weir should have the appointment.
May I. — Mr. Astor commenced this morning the demolition
of the valuable buildings on the block fronting Broadway from
Barclay to Vesey street, on which ground his great hotel is to be
erected. The dust and rubbish will be almost intolerable ; but
the establishment will be a great public advantage, and the
edifice an ornament to the city, and for centuries to come will
serve, as it was probably intended, as a monument of its wealthy
proprietor. I am sorry to observe since Mr. Astor's return from
Europe that his health is declining. He appears sickly and
feeble, and I have some doubt if he will live to witness the com-
pletion of his splendid edifice.
104 ^^^^' DTARV OF PIITLTP HONE. [/Etat. 54.
May 12. — Cornelius W. Lawrence, the mayor-elect, made his
triumphal entry on Saturday. The Tammany party determined to
make the most of the little they gained in the late charter
election, mustered all their forces, hired a steamboat, and went
down to Amboy, where they received their mayor, elected by a
majority of one hundred and eighty-one out of thirty-five
thousand votes, with colours flying and loud huzzas ; had a dinner
on board, when Jackson toasts were drunk and Jackson speeches
made ; and on his landing at Castle Garden he was placed in a
barouche with four white horses, and attended by Walter Bowne,
Stephen Allen, Preserved Fish, and two or three hundred of their
followers, paraded through the streets. I pity poor Lawrence
sincerely. He is not suited to such things, and will not be suited
to the office into which they are about to thrust him. He was
uncomfortable in his seat in Congress : there was (as my late
venerable friend Dr. Stanford once told me) a ])in in the cushion ;
but he will find pins and thorns enough in that which he is
to assume to-morrow, and I am mistaken in the man if he will not
consider the shouts of a set of mere party demagogues a poor
compensation for the forfeiture of the good opinion of that
part of his fellow-citizens with whom he has hitherto associated.
May 13. — The following gentlemen dined with us : Lord Pow-
erscourt, Jacob Harvey, Mr. Parnell, George Barclay, Captain
Campbell, John Laurie, Capt. H. Hamilton, Henry Cary. Lord
Powerscourt, who has just arrived in the United States, is a young
Irish lord only nineteen years of age. He appears to be modest
and intelligent. We were much pleased with him at dinner. His
travelling companion, Mr. Parnell, also a young man, is a nephew
of Sir Henry Parnell.
May 15. — The unsightly wooden railings in the park have been
removed and chestnut posts erected in their place, from which iron
chains are to be appended, which will improve the prospect from
my house. Mr. Astor's buildings are nearly all removed ; the dust
from the immense mass of rubbish has been almost intolerable for
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. IO5
the last fortnight, and the crowds who promenade Broadway are
compelled, like many of the politicians of the present day, to
change sides, with this difference^ that the one comes over to my
side and the other leaves it.
May 20. — Something in Major Downing's style. Two or three
of us were talking together yesterday morning on board the steam-
boat and, as is the fashion now-a-days, abusing General Jackson,
and marvelling at the undeserved popularity which he still enjoys
in some parts of our country, when the subject was illustrated by
Colonel Worth in the following story: On the arrival of the stage
in one of the towns in the interior of Pennsylvania, during the
President's fiir- filmed journey to the East, the crowd assembled in
the bar-room of the tavern collected around the driver with the
usual inquiry, " What news? " — " ^^hy, haven't you heard ? " said
the waggish driver. " The General made his grand entry into Phila-
delphia yesterday in a barouche drawn by four gray horses ; and
the crowd pressing around him so as to obstruct his progress, he
just stepped out of the carriage, drew his sword, and run one fellow
clean through the body." — "The darned fool," exclaimed one of
the auditors, " why didn't he stand out of the General's way ! "
May 31. — Having been invited with a number of the stock-
holders of the Boston and Providence Railroad Company to attend
the opening of a part of the road and the meeting for the election
of directors on Wednesday, I availed myself of the occasion to
carry into effect an excursion to New Hampshire, Maine, and the
White Hills. I brought with me my daughter Margaret and
Joanna Anthon, and we embarked on board the fine steamboat
" Boston," the accommodations of which are at least equal to any
on the Hudson river. She has a round-house and pleasant state-
rooms on the upper deck, one of which was occupied by the girls.
Boston, June i. — The position of Newport is superb, and I
was surprised to find it so large a town. The ride to Boston is
beautiful ; we came through Dedham, by Roxbury and the Neck,
and could not avoid being delighted with the view of the fine
I06 THE DIARV OF I'll I Lit' HONE. [/Ktat.54.
country, good roads, magnificent country-seats and neat cottages,
notwithstanding it rained the whole afternoon. We got to Boston
at seven o'clock, and dined at the Tremont House, where excellent
quarters had been provided by the attention of Mr. Belknap, who
called immediately to see us, and my reverend and excellent friend
Dr. Wainwright sat half an hour with us.
June 2. — The storm is over, and this morning we assembled in
our pleasant parlour which overlooks the extensive cemetery of Park-
street church and its ancient elms. We arrived at Sharon, where
we met the railroad party, consisting of Messrs. Woolsey, Towns-
end, and Russell, of New York ; Jackson, Wales, Thomas, and
George Perkins ; Loring, Moran, Riviere, and others from Boston ;
and Ives and Potter from Providence, with the gentlemen of the
engineer department. We sat down to a good dinner provided for
the occasion, with excellent wines, which had been brought from
Boston. We left Sharon, and after viewing several important
points on the railroad, returned to Boston at nine o'clock. I then
went to the Mayor's, General Lyman, who gave a soiree to the civil
and military characters on the occasion of the annual election of
the artillery company, where I met the Governor of the State, Mr.
John Davis, a distinguished man, and Mr. Armstrong, the Lieuten-
ant-Governor, with whom I was much pleased ; and many others
whom it was well to know. Mr. Davis has been recently elected,
and the State lost a most excellent and valuable representative in
Congress when they gained in him a good governor.
June 3. — The railroad party assembled at the depot to make an
excursion on the road ; but there was some deficiency in the loco-
motive engine, and the affair was postponed until to-morrow.
Many of our friends called upon us during the morning, and after
dinner Mr. William Appleton called in his carriage, and we took
one of those beautiful drives with which the environs of Boston
abound. We crossed the bridge to Cambridge, saw the colleges,
and went to Mount Auburn, the great cemetery of Boston, from
which it is distant about five miles. After leavinii Mount Auburn
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 10/
we drove to Bunker's Hill. The monument which was begun with
so much spirit eight or nine years ago on the spot where Warren
fell, and where Great Britain was first taught to respect the energy
and devotion of a people determined to be free, is still unfinished.
It was commenced, as such things usually are in this country, upon
too large a scale ; the funds have run out, and it will require fresh
exertions and a new impulse to finish it upon the original plan.
June 4. — The directors and a number of invited gentlemen met
at the depot of the company at nine o'clock and made the first
trip on the railroad, under the direction of Captain McNeill, the
chief engineer, and his assistants. The train of carriages was
attached to a locomotive, and we went on very well to within a
short distance of Dedham, where a collation was provided, with
champagne, punch, etc. While we were partaking of this, the
engineers indulged the country folk, — men, women, and children,
— by riding them on the road a few miles, after which we returned
at an accelerated speed, and came in town, ten miles, in twenty- five
minutes.
June 6. — The girls and I dined with Mr. Harrison G. Otis and
Mrs. Ritchie, his daughter. They had an exceedingly agreeable
party to meet us, and our dinner was pleasant as possible. We
went from Mrs. Otis's to a party at Mr. William Sullivan's, where
we found pleasant company and good music. Mr. Sullivan got a
bottle of Eclipse wine for my special benefit, of which I had to
drink two or three glasses, notwithstanding the copious libations to
which I had been tempted where I dined. This Eclipse wine was
imported into Boston in 1806, and arrived at the moment of the
great solar eclipse, to which circumstance it owes its name, although
it might claim it upon the ground of its eclipsing almost all other
wines. I think it is perfection.
Dover, N. H., June 9. — We finished our delightful visit at
Boston, and came away in the stage at eight o'clock this morn-
ing. Came to Newburyport, by Salem, thirty-five miles, to dinner.
Then to Portsmouth. The Rockingham House has been lately
I08 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 54.
fitted up. It was formerly the residence of Mr. Woodbury Lang-
don, father of the gentleman who married Miss Astor.
June 14. — The old Yankee character appears to me to be
nearly extinct. I have taken pains to bring out some originals
among the persons I have met since we left Boston ; I have found
them generally civil and obliging and disposed to be communica-
tive, but there are no oddities such as we used to meet in former
days. The march of refinement and the progress of improvement
which has substituted cotton-mills and railroads for mountains and
cataracts has made men ashamed of those broad lines of national
character which became them so well.
New York, June 21. — The mail brought the " Jour-
^ - nal of Commerce " of yesterday, which announces the
Lafayette. ^ ■"
arrival of the packet-ship " Silas Richards," bringing
news from England to the 24th of May. My venerable friend
Lafayette died at his house. Rue d'Anjou, a few minutes before
five o'clock in the morning of the 20th of May, in the seventy-
seventh year of his age.
June 25. — The ceremonies in honour of Lafayette took place
to-day under direction of a joint committee of the Common Coun-
cil. It was the last tribute of New York to the last major-general
of the Continental army, the hero of the American Revolution, the
ardent apostle of liberty, the benevolent, the virtuous Lafayette,
and everything was done as it should have been. An urn, covered
by the wings of the American eagle, well done in bronze plaster,
was drawn by four white horses in the centre of a hollow square
formed by the Lafayette Guards and followed by the pall-bearers
in barouches. These were members of the Cincinnati, associates of
Lafayette in the War of the Revolution, and their selection was
left with delicacy and good taste, by the committee, to the society.
They consisted of the following : Major-General Morgan, Col.
John Trumbull, Col. Simeon DeWitt, Maj. Samuel Cooper, Col.
William North, Maj. William Popham, Col. John Van Dyke, and
Capt. Nathaniel Norton.
1834.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. IO9
July 10. — Our city last evenihg was the scene of disgraceful
riots. The first was at the Bowery Theatre. An actor by the
name of Farren, whose benefit it was, had made himself obnoxious
by some ill-natured reflections upon the country, which called
down the vengeance of the mob, who seemed determined to
deserve the bad name which he had given them. An hour after
the performance commenced the mob broke open the doors, took
possession of every part of the house, committed every species of
outrage, hissed and pelted poor Hamblin, not regarding the talisman
which he relied upon, the American flag, which he waved over his
head. This they disregarded, because the hand which held it was
that of an Englishman, and they would listen to nobody but
" American Forrest." He assured them that the object of their
rage, Mr. Farren, had made a hasty exit, and the mob retired to
enact a more disgraceful scene in another quarter.
There has been of late great excitement in conse-
MeetinT qucncc of the proceedings of a set of fanatics who are
determined to emancipate all the slaves by a coup de
main, and have held meetings in which black men and women
have been introduced. These meetings have been attended with
tumult and violence, especially one which was held on Friday even-
ing at the Chatham -street Chapel. Arthur Tappan and his
brother Lewis have been conspicuous in these proceedings, and the
mob last night, after exhausting their rage at the Bowery Theatre,
went down in a body to the house of the latter gentleman in Rose
street, broke into the house, destroyed the windows, and made a
bonfire of the furniture in the street. The police at length inter-
fered, rather tardily, I should think ; but the diabolical spirit which
prompted this outrage is not quenched, and I apprehend we shall
see more of it.
July 18. — Edmund Charles Genet died on Wednesday last at
his residence at Schodack, Rensselaer County. He was at one
time an important personage. He came as minister of the French
Republic to this country, and acted as became the representative
no THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.^tat. 54.
of the ma(imen who, under the name of Hberty, were destroying
their country and crushing the people. Nothing but the firmness
of Washington prevented (lenet from enhsting the people of this
country in the cause of the French mob, and nothing but the per-
sonal character of the saviour of his country could have availed
to check the madness of the people. Genet was recalled on the
downfall of his party ; but as he had no fancy to risk the separa-
tion of his head from his shoulders, he stayed where he was, mar-
ried a daughter of Governor Clinton (the elder), and became an
American citizen, and, I suspect, from his visionary notions, rather
a troublesome one to the neighbourhood in which he resided.
July 22. — Mr. Frelinghuysen has been received with distin-
guished honours on his return to his own State ; and Mr. Sprague,
of Maine, another of the worthies of the Senate, has made a
triumphant journey through Portsmouth, N.H., and was received
in the most flattering manner at Portland ; and his entry into his
own town, Hallowell, was marked with the ringing of the bells,
firing of cannon, and patriotic addresses ; flags and streamers were
displayed from the houses, and among the mottoes the following
prevailed, " I am no man's man."
August 22. — The spirit of riot and insubordination
„'° ^" to the laws which lately prevailed in New York has
Boston. ■' ^
made its appearance in the orderly city of Philadel-
phia, and appears to have been produced by causes equally insig-
nificant, — hostility to the blacks and an indiscriminate persecution
of all whose skins were darker than those of their enlightened
fellow-citizens. A most disgraceful riot also occurred on the night
of Monday, the nth, at Charlestown, near Boston. The populace
having been deceived by ill- designing persons into an erroneous
belief that a young lady was confined against her will in the Ursu-
line Convent, a highly respectable seminary under the charge of
the Roman Catholics, made an attack upon the convent, a noble
edifice near Charlestown, and the other buildings belonging to the
sisterhood, and burned them to the ground with all the valuable
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP PIONE. I I I
furniture, desecrated the cemetery, and committed every species
of outrage. This act has caused great excitement in Boston. A
meeting was immediately held in Faneuil Hall, at which the most
distinguished citizens of all parties attended. Resolutions were
adopted reprobating in the strongest terms the unworthy conduct
of their neighbours. The Mayor presided, and all the magistrates
assisted in the proceedings. Large rewards were offered for the
apprehension of the persons concerned in the riot. The venerable
Bishop Fenwick of the Catholic Church succeeded in casting the
holy oil of his eloquence upon the furious waves which were about
rising in his excitable congregation, and the consequences were
less serious than at first apprehended. The active and prompt
measures which were adopted led to the apprehension of several
of the ringleaders, who await their trial.
We had on Sunday last a visit from a party of
Rockaway. gentlemen in the new steam-brig belonging to Mr.
Cunard, of Halifax, which lately came out from Eng-
land. She anchored abreast of the Pavilion, and Messrs. Cunard,
Cochran, Charles McEvers, Brooks, and Dennistoun came ashore
in the boat, and landed in the surf.
Hyde Park, Sunday, Sept. 14. — We left Albany at half-past
six this morning in the steamboat " Champlain." There is a
violent opposition between two hnes of boats. The fare to New
York is fifty cents. We were contending with the " Nimrod " all
the way down, and for five or six miles before we reached Hyde
Park landing, the boats were in contact, both pushing furiously at
the top of their speed, and we and our trunks were pitched ashore
like bundles of hay. The people at the landing being all in favour
of the opposition, except Dr. Hosack himself, nobody would take
a line, and we might have drowned without an arm being
reached to save us.
September 16. — We left Hyde Park and came on
At Home. board the " Champion," an opposition boat, at half-
past twelve o'clock. The " Albany " passed the land-
112 THE DIARV OF rillLIl' HONE. [/Etat. 54.
ing a few niiniitcs in advance, but did not stop. Our boat had
three or four hundred passengers, and such a set of ragtag and
bobtail I never saw on board a North- river steamboat — the
effect of the fifty- cent system. If the people do not rise in their
might and put a stop to the racing and opposition, it will be better
to return to the primitive mode of travelling in Albany sloops. I
would rather consume three or four days in the voyage, than be
made to fly in fear and trembling, subject to every sort of discom-
fort, with my life at the mercy of a set of fellows whose only object
is to drive their competitors off the river.
October 3. — Party- spirit runs exceedingly high in every part
of our country. Timid people begin to be afraid of the conse-
quences of the struggle which is soon to take place, by which the
question will be determined whether General Jackson, by the aid
of his interested advisers, can sustain himself in his unconstitu-
tional assumption of power, and perpetuate it in the election of his
favourite, the heir presumptive, Mr. Van Buren, or whether the
people, by a great and simultaneous effort, shall burst their
shackles, rescue the Constitution, and stand once more erect in
their majesty, free and disenthralled.
October 4. — The country is on the eve of a great political
contest. The party in power, consisting of office-holders and their
dependants, supported by the public moneys over which they have
usurped the control, and relying upon the personal popularity of
the President, — impaired certainly, but still exercising an unac-
countable influence over the minds of the people, — will fight
hard and take many hard blows before they surrender their power.
On the other hand, the Whigs are cool, determined, and willing
to go all lawful and reasonable lengths to bring about a state of
things more honourable to the country and advantageous to the
people. This month and the next the elections will take place
by which this important question will be decided. Pennsylvania
elects in a few weeks, and our general election in this State
comes on in November. We have little or no hope of the
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. II3
former, but New York looks well, and the Whigs have good hopes
of success.
Sunday, Oct. 12. — I went this morning with my daughter to
the Church du St. Esprit at the corner of Church and Leonard
streets, the first service since its consecration. The corner-stone
of the old church in Pine street was laid one hundred and thirty
years ago. It was originally a Calvinist church, and continued
so until Mr. Elias Desbrosses, a member of the church, left it a
rich legacy, on condition of its joining, the Protestant Episcopal
communion, since which it has been Episcopal.
October 14. — Matthews made his first appear-
Matthews. auce last evening at the Park, in his entertainment of
the " Comic Annual " and " Mons. Morbleu," and was
well received by one of the greatest houses I have ev-er seen.
There was a design to make a row, and a number of disorderly
fellows collected for that purpose, instigated by placards which
had been placed during the day on the corners of the streets,
denouncing Matthews as a libeller of our country and as having
ridiculed us in one of his pieces performed in England after his
last visit to America. This ridiculous attempt of some enemy of
the Park Theatre to excite the bad feelings of a set of disorderly
young men, who stand ready for any kind of mischief, whether
it be to attack theatres, desecrate churches, assault Whigs, or
murder negroes, was met with a determined spirit of opposition
by a most respectable audience, who received Matthews on his
return to our stage with such a burst of applause, that the in-
stigators of mischief had not a chance to put in a single hiss in
abatement, and the performance went off without interruption.
October 18. — The election in New Jersey has gone against
the Whigs, notwithstanding our shouts on the receipt of the first
returns. x\ll the counties nearest to New York returned large
Whig majorities, and those were of course first heard from ; but the
news has been different from that part of the State bordering on
Pennsylvania, so that the whole result gives something more than
114 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 54.
one thousand majority for the Jackson worshippers. We have
lost the State, it is said, from the opposition of the Hicksites,
one of the contending sects of the Quakers with whom that part
of the State abounds. They have recently been engaged in a law-
suit with the orthodox party for the possession of certain property
belonging to the Society of Friends, in which Mr. Frelinghuysen was
professionally engaged against them. His term in the Senate of the
United States is about to expire, and the Legislature now elected
will have the appointment of a successor. Mr. Frelinghuysen
would have been reappointed if the Whigs had succeeded, and
these Hicksites, in a spirit unworthy of their professions of meek-
ness and disregard of worldly politics, have deprived the State
of the services of one of its most virtuous and enlightened states-
men, and prevented the success of a party who seek only to
restore to the country its just rights and preserve the purity of
our republican institutions. When these people are called upon
to perform the civil duties required of them in common with other
citizens, they are restrained by the rules of their order. When
the country is in danger they cannot fight because their religion
forbids them to carry arms, and yet, forsooth, they may interfere
in elections, and bringing their petty squabbles to the polls,
decide the contest in favour of a party who have no object but to
strengthen the power of a military ruler, and blindly support his
arbitrary measures.
October 23. — The Whig nominating committee agreed last
evening upon their tickets, but the rank and file out-of-doors
object to one or two of the nominees for Congress ; not that they
are not good enough, but too good. The proceedings are to be
reviewed this evening ; the times are critical ; a tremendous
struggle is at hand, and most important consequences will result
from the approaching election, and all personal feelings and predi-
lections must be sacrificed for the success of our party, which we
say involves the public good. We must discard all other consider-
ations, and without committing ourselves to vote for unworthy per-
i834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. II5
sons, run only such as will obtain the most votes. Our folks
are not so well drilled as their opponents; they will think for
themselves, not, like them, go straight forward, right or wrong,
as they are bidden.
, . Monday, Oct. 27. — Both parties have been hurrah-
Jackson ' ^
Triumphs and ing to-day at the top of their voices, — the Whigs for
Merchants' ^^^ victories they have won, and the Jackson men that
Meeting.
they have lost no more. The latter rallied their forces
in the upper wards from Brooklyn and all other places where num-
bers without regard to quality could be obtained, and marched
them down to Castle Garden, where a feast (not of reason) was
prepared, and a flow of whiskey (not of soul) was served out gra-
tuitously to the well-drilled troops of the regency. They fired guns
and exhibited fireworks, and all in the way of rejoicing for victories
no/ won, or rather, " to keep their spirits up by pouring spirits
down." Among other causes of rejoicing, as set forth in the sum-
mons to attend, was the triumph of the administration party in
Ohio ; but, unfortunately, the news of the day seems to leave little
doubt of the AMiigs having gained the election in that great and
patriotic State ; but the guns, nevertheless, were fired, the whiskey
drunk, the congratulatory speeches made, and the hurrahs for Ohio
rent the air, exactly according to the programme prepared at
Tammany Hall.
The merchants had a great meeting at the Exchange, — a great
Whig meeting in numbers, respectability, enthusiasm, and zeal,
equal to any of those which were held in the same place previous
to the Spring election, and which led the way then to such encour-
aging results. There was no falling off there, " my countrymen."
I was unprepared to speak, but was compelled to go forward by a
loud and unanimous call from all parts of the room ; but I did not
regret it, for it was one of the few cases in which I succeeded in
satisfying myself, and judging by the applause I received I was not
alone in my opinion. What a comforting thing it is to have a good
opinion of one's self!
Il6 rUH DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [/Etat. 54.
OcTOiiER 30. — The following gentlemen dined with us : Mr.
Charles Matthews, George Blake, of Boston, F. G. Halleck, Charles
A. Davis, Washington Irving, William H. Maxwell, Thomas W.
Moore, James Monroe, Isaac S. Hone, Henry Hone. Matthews was
exceedingly agreeable. He did not sing or recite, as he was wont
to do at dinner-parties, but he talked a great deal and with great
enthusiasm, and introduced occasionally some good stories and
amusing imitations, particularly of Curran, Shiel, O'Connell, and
other eloquent Irishmen, in order to illustrate the different kinds of
Irish brogue. He is admirable in his Irish and French characters
in such a company as we had this evening. His intonations, so
rich, the versatility of voice to suit his different characters, and the
admirable expression of his countenance, all tell with powerful
effect at my round-table, but are spread over too large a surface in
the theatre, and lost to a large proportion of the audience. He
complains of this himself. The Adelphi Theatre in London, where
he performed, is not more than one-third of the size of the Park,
and he acknowledges the difficulty he has in giving proper effect to
his good sayings in so large a space and before so numerous an
audience.
October 31. — The Whigs are raising liberty-poles in all the
wards. I went to one of those ceremonies yesterday in the tenth
ward, at the corner of the Bowery and Hester street. The pole,
one hundred feet high, with a splendid cap and gilt vane with suita-
ble devices, was escorted by a procession of good men and true on
horseback, and was received at the place of its destination by an
immense collection of good-looking Whigs, each of whom appeared
inspired by patriotic feelings and a fixed determination to do his
duty in the approaching contest. I came away before the affair
was over, finding that it was expected of me to make a speech,
which would have interfered with my engagements at home.
November 3. — First day of the great election in the State of
New York, which is to decide whether the principles of General
Jackson are approved and ratified by the people, and whether Mr.
1834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. II7
Van Buren is to be his successor ; for these important questions are
left to the decision of this State, and the test will be the result of
the election. Both parties here are confident ; but the confidence
of the Whigs has gained strength daily for the last two or three
weeks, and our success in Ohio, which is now certain, has conduced
much to it.
Tuesday, Nov. 4. — The election continues with spirit. The
weather is fine, as it was yesterday, and contrary to the apprehen-
sions of many of our citizens, we have had no riots or serious
disturbance as yet. This is principally owing to the excellent
arrangement of the inspectors, a majority of whom, in each ward,
are Whigs ; to the precautionary measures of the Mayor ; and above
all to the awe with which the mob have been impressed by the
determination of the better sort of people of all parties to prevent,
at all hazards, a repetition of such scenes as disgraced our city in
the Spring, and more recently and to a greater degree, our neigh-
bours in Philadelphia. In the course of the evening an immense
collection of Whigs from Masonic H^U went in a body to Washing-
ton Hall, where Mr. Webster lodges, and saluted him with cheers ;
after some time he came out and made them a short and eloquent
speech.
Wednesday, Nov. 5 . — The election closed this evening. The
Governor's votes were canvassed in all the wards except the sixth,
and by nine o'clock enough was known to satisfy us to our heart's
content that we are beaten, — badly beaten ; worse than the least
sanguine of us anticipated. The majority in our wards (with the
exception of the 15 th) have fallen off grievously, and theirs have
increased in an equal ratio ; the third ward has fallen off two hun-
dred from the Spring election. The Tories will have between two
and three thousand majority.
Thursday, Nov. 6. — The triumph was celebrated last night by
the worshippers of Jackson with the refinement and forbearance
which might have been expected. I had been taken in the morn-
ing with an attack of vertigo and headache, which confined me to
Il8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 54.
the house nearly the whole day, but I made out to walk up in the
evening to IMasonic Hall, where the news I received was not cal-
culated to make me feel better. I returned home much indisposed,
and retired to bed at an early hour, where I was kept awake during
the greater i)art of the night by the unmanly insults of the ruffian
crew from Tammany Hall, who came over to my door every half-
hour and saluted me with groans and hisses. This continued until
past three o'clock, and for what? Because I have exercised the
right which, in common with every American citizen, I enjoy (or
have enjoyed until this time), of expressing my disapprobation of a
course of measures which I conceive to be dangerous to the liber-
ties of the people, and inimical to the free institutions of my native
land. This I have done with truth, zeal, and firmness, but always,
I trust, with decorum and propriety ; and for this I have been
insulted and annoyed. I ha\'e for many years sacrificed my com-
fort, exhausted my time, and abridged my enjoyments by a devo-
tion to the service of my fellow- citizens. A member of all the
public institutions, charitable, public- spirited, or patriotic, where
time was to be lost, labour performed, and no pay to be had ; my
own affairs neglected, and my money frequently poured out like
water ; the friend and patron of the working-men, without regard
to party ; — and now my reward is found in the revilings of a mob
of midnight ruffians, among whom, I have no doubt, were some of
the very men whom I have assisted to support, to the exclusion of
others who are proud to acknowledge themselves my personal and
political friends. I believe I am rightly served.
I dined with Mr. David S. Jones. Mr. Webster was one of the
party, and notwithstanding the sad disappointment which, in com-
mon with his political friends (but in a greater degree), he has just
now experienced, he was in the vein to be exceedingly pleasant, and
I have not in many a day enjoyed a more delightful conversation.
November 10. — I apprehend that Mr. Van Buren and his
friends have no permanent cause of triumph in their victory. They
have succeeded by the means of instruments which may work
1834.] TPIE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I I9
their own destruction ; they have mounted a vicious horse, who,
taking the bit in his mouth, will run away with him. The agrarian
party, who have had things pretty much their own way, will not stop
at Martin Van Buren, — they will dig deeper into the swamps of
political depravity, and the good men of our community, the sup-
porters of the Constitution, and the true friends of civil liberty may
be soon called upon to unite in his favour, against a worse man
and principles more dangerous than his. This battle had been
fought upon the ground of the poor against the rich, and this un-
worthy prejudice, this dangerous delusion, has been encouraged by
the leaders of the triumphant party, and fanned into a flame by
the polluted breath of the hireling press in their employ. In the
saturnalian orgies with which our streets have been disgraced, the
unmannerly epithets which were so liberally bestowed upon myself
and other peaceable citizens for having exercised the privilege of
freemen in opposing a party whose political doctrines we thought
unfavourable to the true interests of the nation, the cry of " Down
with the aristocracy ! " mingled with the shouts of victory, and must
have grated on the ears of some of their own leaders like the
croaking of the evil-boding raven. They have succeeded in raising
this dangerous spirit, and have gladly availed themselves of its sup-
port to accomplish a temporary object ; but can they allay it at
pleasure ? Will their voices be heard when they cry " Thus far
shalt thou go and no farther " ? Eighteen thousand men in New
York have voted for the high-priest of the party whose professed
design is to bring down the property, the talents, the industry, the
steady habits of that class which constituted the real strength of
the Commonwealth, to the common level of the idle, the worth-
less, and the unenlightened. Look to it, ye men of respectability
in the Jackson party, are ye not afraid of the weapons ye have
used in this warfare ? It is idle to plead the necessity of the case,
the force of what you call regular nominations. How came this
power so strong among ye? Where was the influence of the
Aliens and the Bownes, the Bloodgoods and the Alleys, the Phelps
I20 THE DIARY OF ITIILir HONE. [.^tat. 54.
and the Van Schaicks, when the disciples of this man came among
ye, and made the walls of old Tammany resound with his appalling
dictum? The dose was unpalatable, but you swallowed it.
November 12. — I went to the opera, where I saw the second
act of " La Straniera," by BeUini. The house is as pretty as ever,
and the same faces were seen in the boxes as formerly ; but it is not
a popular entertainment, and will not be in our day, I fear. The
opera did not please me. There was too "much recitation, and
I shall never discipline my taste to like common colloquial ex-
pressions of life, "How do you do, madam?" or, "Pretty well,
I thank you, sir," the better for being given with an orchestral
accompaniment.
November 13. — There is some salt left in the land,
— the late general election in Massachusetts has gone
setts. ® °
for the Whigs by unprecedented majorities. Governor
Davis will be reelected by an immense vote. Abbott Lawrence
goes to Congress from Boston.
November 21. — The President, since he came into office in
1829, has had four secretaries of state, two of war, five of the
treasury, three of the navy, and three attorney-generals. Tyrants
are fickle in the choice of servants.
November 22. — Power had his benefit last night. He appeared
in Rover, in " Wild Oats," and a piece called " Botheration." It was
a good house. In the last piece a little row was raised by acci-
dent. Ritchings, speaking of a lady who wore a wig, says wigs are
out of date. This touched a sore place, an(i was received with
applause by one party in the pit and disapprobation by the other,
and the clamour became so long and loud that Ritchings was
under the necessity of coming forward and disclaiming all inten-
tion of alluding to the political party called Whigs, who, although
defeated, are not willing to acknowledge themselves "out of date."
November 24. — The fine old frigate "Constellation" arriv^ed
at Norfolk on Thursday, in thirty-eight days from Gibraltar, after a
cruise of several years in the Mediterranean. She was one of the
i834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 121
three ships built in the year 1797, "Old Ironsides" and the
" U'lited States " being the other two. She is now commanded by
my gallant friend, George C. Read. Commodore Patterson, in the
" Delaware," was on the coast of Syria, and Ballard, in the
" United States," at Smyrna, giving convoy to American vessels.
The " Constellation " has brought over two fine marble statues, by
Louis Persico, emblematical of peace and war, intended to orna-
ment the Capitol of the United States, accompanied by the artist,
who has also a bust of the hero, General Jackson, who can regu-
late both peace and w\ar, and carry the Capitol away in his pocket,
or set fire to it with his pipe, if he chooses. The " Constellation "
is ordered around to Washington with these sculptural trophies. I
would advise the "greatest and best " to have his counterfeit repre-
sentation set up in one of the high places to receive the homage of
his liege subjects, a majority of whom are unhappily more willing
to bow to him or his image than even his own vanity may prompt
him to exact from tliern.
November 29. — The refusal of the French Chamber of Depu-
ties to vote the supplies necessary to carry into effect Mr. Rives's
treaty of indemnity for spoliations committed under the reign of
Napoleon, begins to cause an apprehension that our government
may find it necessary to pursue a course of hostility to coerce
France into the performance of obligations freely entered into by
her, and the stipulations of which on the part of this country have
been carried into effect with good faith. Congress is to meet on
Monday, and the expectation of a hostile tone of the President's
message is so great that the sailing of the Liverpool packet of the
first of December is delayed until the third, to enable her to carry
out that document. Restrictions on the trade between this coun-
try and France would be agreeable news for John Bull. The
American ladies must have silk dresses to exhibit in Broadway and
Chestnut street, and if France should be interdicted from supply-
ing us with the material it would occasion an accelerated motion
of the shuttles of Spitalfields. It is to be hoped, however, that the
122 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 54.
matter may be settled without a serious misunderstanding. Mr.
Rives's five millions are hardly worth going to war about, unless
there should be some point of national honour so deeply involved
as to forbid a calculation of dollars and cents. Louis Philippe does
not seem to have sufficient power over the Chamber of Deputies.
He is only a king ; it would be well for him to take advice from
our President touching the manner of rendering the representatives
of the people, so called, subservient to his wishes.
December 3. — Yesterday at noon the President's message was
communicated to both Houses, and it was in New York at two
o'clock this morning, having been brought on by express, in little
more than twelve hours, two hundred and thirty miles. This is a
great performance, and shows what money can do; but cui bono?
the game is not worth the candle. There is not one reader of the
daily papers out of a hundred who would give sixpence to read
this document four hours earlier than he otherwise might, and the
express in this instance is said to have cost seven hundred dollars.
The message is, as usual, too long ; but the people have become
accustomed to take these annual outpourings of executive wet-
nurses in pretty large doses, and rely more upon the efficacy of a
bottle of Congress water than on the concentrated virtue of a Seid-
litz-powder ; and so Dr. Jackson, who can make his patients swallow
anything, has, by the aid of his regular-bred practitioners in the
study, and the green-apron boys below, managed to give the body
politic enough to insure tolerable regularity until his next regular
visit. This message is interesting principally from the view it
takes of our relations with France, with whom we have a knotty
question which may ultimately lead to something serious, and I
must say that on this subject the message is quite satisfactory; its
explanations are clear, its language dignified, and its sentiment
manly and patriotic. The negotiations of Mr. Rives, for indemni-
fication for the spoliations of France committed during the reign
of Napoleon, resulted in a treaty signed at Paris on the 4th of July,
1 83 1, by which France agreed to liquidate all our claims by the
i834] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 23
payment of twenty-five millions of francs, in six annual payments.
This treaty was duly ratified in Washington on the 2d of February,
1832, and acts were passed by Congress to reduce the duties on
French wines, agreeably to the stipulations on our part, which have
been continued in good faith. In the mean time the Chamber of
Deputies delayed from time to time to make the necessary appro-
priations for carrying the treaty into effect ; the draft of the govern-
ment for the first annual instalment which was negotiated through
the Bank of the United States was returned protested, and finally
the last action of the Chamber of Deputies, in the month of April
last, nearly three years after the signing of the treaty, resulted in
their refusal to make the appropriation. And so the matter stands.
All this is fairly laid down in the message in a manner creditable to
the President and his Cabinet ; but I do not approve the conclusion
he comes to. He asks Congress to give him power to issue letters
of marque and reprisals which cannot fail to be considered by the
French Cxovernment as a menace, and will, I fear, counteract the
good effects of the firm but courteous style in which our claims for
justice are set forth in the message, and weaken our cause with the
lookers-on in other countries. Besides, I am not one of those
who wish to place power in the hands of the President, and I
almost wonder that he should have thought it necessary to ask for
it, after some of his late experiments, which must have satisfied
him that he may take what power he pleases and the people will
bear him out in it. The Constitution and the laws may stand in his
way, to be sure, but those are trifles. Andrew Jackson, depending
upon his popularity with the Jackson party, is superior to the petty
trammels which restrained the Washingtons, the Jeffersons, and the
Madisons of former times. The Jackson party are in the majority.
They will support him right or wrong, and it was very pretty
behaved, but altogether supererogatory to ask the leave of Congress,
to do this or anything else he may think proper. William III. or
Louis Philippe may require legislative sanction ; they are only kings ;
give me the president of a republican people for a bold stroke of
124 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [yEtat. 54.
power. General Jackson's coup iVetat would not endanger his
standing with the people, much less cost him his crown, as it did-
that loving, but less fortunate brother, Charles X. The language
of the message in relation to the Bank of the United States is dis-
graceful to the President and humiliating to every American. It
smells of the kitchen, and resembles no more that in which the for-
eign relations of the country are laid before the people than a
scullion does a gentleman. The language is intemperate, the
charges against the bank false and disingenuous, and the measures
recommended injurious to the public interest.
December 6. — Chancellor and Mrs. Kent and some other friends
took tea with us. They came soon after six o'clock, and we
passed a most delightful evening. The Chancellor was gay,
cheerful, and talkative, and not restless as he is wont to be.
I would "that Heaven had made me such a man." This excel-
lent man is in his seventy-second year, having been born July 31,
1 763, with his mental faculties unimpaired and still improving,
by a constant but not laborious employment of them in pursuits
which constitute his greatest pleasure and recreation. His con-
stitution sound, the ha})py result of good habits and a cheerful
disposition, and the consciousness of purity of heart and uniformly
virtuous intentions. I do not know so perfect a model as Chan-
cellor Kent, or a man so much to be envied. I wonder how he
came in these artificial days to hit upon so sensible a way to
pass an evening.
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 25
1835
'nr^HE new year commences auspiciously so far as the weather
-^ is concerned. There has never been a finer New Year's
Day ; the air is clear and pleasant, and just cool enough to pre-
serve the snow, which gives facility to the visiting part of the
population. I went out in the sleigh at twelve o'clock, and
visited until four, leaving several of my visits unpaid, which
delinquency my wife and I made up in the evening. Broad-
way, from morning until night, and in the night too, was
crowded with pedestrians, and the music of sleigh-bells was heard
without the least intermission. Smiling faces were seen on all
sides, and all the cares and troubles of 1834 appear to have been
forgotten in the joyful anticipations of 1835. The year which
has commenced seems destined to be an eventful one, at home
and abroad. The administration of General Jackson and the
continuance of his popularity will test the strength of our
political institutions. If the people continue to support him in
his most unwarrantable assumption of power, it will be idle to
talk about the republican principles on which the government is
founded. But among other difficulties which he has to encounter
during the coming year is that of the quarrel with France, in
which his unnecessary threats have involved us. The king is
disposed to do us justice ; but the Chamber of Deputies, composed
of men who like bullying themselves, will not submit to the bully-
ing of others, and I fear that our government has been committed
by the President too far to admit of any peaceable compromise.
The wisdom of Congress may save us, and it certainly would, if
party-spirit had not more influence than a regard for the true
interest of the country. But to the Senate we may yet look for
patriotism and public virtue, and there we rest our cause.
126 THE DIARY OF TIIILIP HONE. [.Ktat. 55.
January 5. — Extracts from the commonplace-book
K^""bi ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ (now Mrs. Butler) are published in one
of the Boston papers and copied occasionally into the
" Commercial Advertiser " of this city. How they got there it is
impossible to say. Gary & Lea, of Philadelphia, say in an adver-
tisement that if they are genuine they must have been stolen, for
they are the only legal proprietors of the work in this country. At
any rate, if she has any good feelings, and is at all tenacious of
her good name as a lady or an authoress, it must be " a sorry
sight" to see herself thus served up to the public gaze. There is
all the light gossip, the childish prejudice, the hasty conclusions
from erroneous first impressions, in which the diary of an imagina-
tive youthful traveller in a country in which all things are new and
untried may be supposed to abound ; and the style is sometimes
bad ; and the remarks she makes on the private habits of persons
who received her and her father kindly, and treated them hos-
pitably, are all in bad taste. As a literary production it is unworthy
of the character of Fanny Kemble, and its publication, now that
she has become the wife of an American gentleman and is to
remain among us, injudicious in the extreme. I cannot believe
that she ever intended it should see the light, and should be led to
believe it a fabrication were it not that the facts related are tnie
(many of them within my own knowledge), and of a nature to pre-
clude the possibility of their becoming public without her knowledge
and consent. For instance, she gives the following account of the
dinner I gave to her and her fLither on the 15th of September, 1832,
— the first occasion on which she was introduced into American
society. It was evidently written on the evening of the very day,
and with all the flippancy and want of reflection that one might
expect to find in the commonplace-book of a giddy girl who had
just returned from a dinner-party in which herself was the principal
object of notice and attention, and from which, I can tell her, she
went away leaving no very favourable impressions behind her.
Now, if Mrs. Butler participated in the publication of all this tittle-
1S35] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 12/
tattle she is a greater fool than ever I expected it would fall to my
lot to record her. Well was it said, " Oh, that mine enemy would
write a book ! " Mrs. Butler says :
"Saturday, 15 th. — At five dressed and went to , where
we were to dine. This is one of the first houses here " (thank
you, madam !), "so I conclude that I am to consider what I see as
a tolerable sample of the ways and manners of being, doing, and
suffering of the best society in New York. There were about
twenty people. The women were in a sort of French de mi- toilette,
with bare necks and long sleeves, heads frizzled out after the very
last petit-courier, and thread-net handkerchiefs and capes, the
whole of which, to my English eye, appeared a strange marrying of
incongruities. . . . The younger daughter of our host is beautiful,
— a young and brilliant likeness of Ellen Tree ; with more refine-
ment, and a smile that was, not to say a ray, but a whole focus of
sun-rays, — a perfect blaze of light ; she was much taken up with a
youth, to whom, my neighbour at dinner informed me, she was
engaged."
I can excuse many of her impertinences for this glowing and
just eulogium upon my sweet Mary. The following contrast be-
tween the delicate and interesting appearance of the ladies and the
ruddy looks of English women are, unhappily, not far from the
truth : —
" The women here, like those of most warm climates, ripen
very early and decay proportionately soon. They are, generally
speaking, pretty, with good complexions, and an air of fresh-
ness and brilliancy, but this, I am told, is very evanescent ; and
whereas, in England, a woman is in the bloom of health and
beauty from twenty- five to thirty, here they scarcely reach the first
period without being faded and looking old. They marry very
young, and this is another reason why age comes prematurely
upon them. There was a fair young thing at dinner to-day who
did not look above seventeen, and she is a wife." (Mrs. Alex-
ander Hosack, I presume.) " As for their figures, like those of
128 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [ Etat. 55.
French women, they were too well dressed for one to judge what
they really are like ; they are, for the most part, short and slight,
with remarkably pretty feet and ankles ; but there's too much
pelerine and petticoat and dc quoi of every sort to guess anything
more. The climate of this country is the scape-goat ui)on which
all the ill-looks and ill-health of the ladies is laid ; but while they
are brought up as effeminately as they are, take as little exercise,
live in rooms like ovens during the winter, and marry as early as
they do, it will appear evident that many causes combine with an
extremely variable climate to sallow their complexions and destroy
their constitutions."
Now for the portrait of my friend, Dom. Lynch. " There was a
Mr. , the Magnus Apollo of New York, who is a musical
genius, sings as well as any gentleman need sing, pronounces Ital-
ian well, and accompanies himself without false chords, all of
which renders him the man round whom (as round H. G., Lord
C, and pretty Lord O., in our own country) the women listen and
languish. He sang the * Phantom Bark.' The last time I heard
it was from the lips of Moore, with two of the loveliest faces in all
the world hanging over him, Mrs. N. and Mrs. B. By the bye, the
man who sat next to me at dinner was asking me all manner of
questions about Mrs. N., among others whether she w^as as * pale
as a poetess ought to be.' Oh, how I wish Corinne had heard
that herself! what a deal of funny scorn would have looked
beautiful on her rich brown cheek and brilliant lips. The dinner
was plenteous (that is the word) and tolerably well dressed "
(Peter Van Dyke ought to make her ]ialf 2. bow for that compli-
ment), "but ill- served; there were not half servants enough to do
the work " (John Stokes is not very ornamental, but tolerably
useful, and the others are rather smartish, I think, but I have no
servants in orange-coloured inexpressibles with tinsel epaulettes ;
when she comes again, I will endeavour to procure a bevy of them
from Colonel Berkeley, or some other of her distinguished coun-
trymen), "and we had neither water-glasses " (in this I think she
1835J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 29
is mistaken, we are never without them), "nor, oh, horror! that
absolute indispensable, — finger-glasses. Now, though I don't eat
with my fingers (except peaches), whereat, I think, the abo-
rigines " (oh, for shame. Miss Kemble, to compare Mrs. Davis,
General Fleming, and Dominick Lynch to wild savages !)," who
were pealing theirs like so many potatoes, seemed to me rather
amazed. Yet I do hold a finger-glass, at the conclusion of my din-
ner, a requisite almost to my digestion. However, as it happened,
I digested without it."
With all submission I disagree with my fastidious guest. I
don't eat with my fingers, and therefore do not require finger-
glasses. We have them in the house, but do not frequently use
them. I think it unseemly to see a company at the dinner- table,
particularly the female part, washing their hands, rinsing their
mouths, rubbing their gums with the finger, and squirting the pol-
luted water back into the vessel, as was formerly the fiishion in this
country, a fashion which prevails yet in England in the higher
circles.
" After dinner we had coffee, but no tea, whereat my English
stomach was in high dudgeon. The gentlemen did not sit long,
and when they joined us Mr. , as I said before, uttered
sweet sounds. By the bye, I was not a little amused at Mrs.
" (my wife takes this to herself), "asking me whether I
had heard of his singing, or their musical soirees^ and seeming all
but surprised that I had no revelations of either, across the
Atlantic. Mercy on me ! what fools people are all over the world !
the worst is, they are all fools of the same sort, and there is no
profit whatever in travelling. Mr. B " (Bankhead, the Brit-
ish secretary of legation), "who is an Englishman, happened to ask
me if I knew Captain ■, whereupon we immediately struck
up a conversation, and talked over English folk and doings
together, to my entire satisfaction. The were there ; he is a
brother of that wondrous ruler of the spirits whom I do so dislike
in London, and his lady is a daughter of Lord ." (These
I30 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [.Ktat. 55.
are Mr. and Mrs. Cornwall, and she is welcome to say what she
pleases of them. We had better folk than they in our party that
day.) " I was very glad to come home. I s;ing to them two or
three things, but the piano was pitched too high for my voice ;
by the bye, in that large, lofty, fine room they had a tiny, old-
fashioned, becurtained cabinet piano, stuck right against the wall,
unto which the singer's face was turned, and into which his voice
was absorbed." (I'm afraid she is right about the piano. I wish
she knew that I bought it upon Dr. McLean's recommendation,
who has some conceit of himself in these matters, and that it cost
me seven hundred dollars.) " We had hardly regained our inn,
and uncloaked, when there came a tap at the door, and in walked
Mr. " (Cornwall again), "to ask me if we would not join
them, himself and the , at supper ; he said that, besides five
being a great deal too early to dine, he had not half dinner enough "
(the Turk ! he ate like an ox), " and then began the regular Eng-
lish quizzing of everything and everybody we had left behind. Oh,
dear ! oh, dear ! how tlioughtfully English it was, and how it re-
minded me of H ; of course we did not accept their invitation,
but it furnished me matter of amusement. How we English folk
do cling to our own habits, our own views, our own things, our own
people ; how, in spite of all our wanderings and scatterings over the
whole face of the earth, like so many Jews, we never lose our dis-
tinct and national individuality, nor foil to lay hold of one another's
skirts, to laugh at and depreciate all that differs from that country
which we delight in forsaking for any and all others."
January 6. — Mr. Adams delivered on Wednesday last, at the
Capitol, a eulogy upon the character of Lafayette, to which duty
he was appointed by a vote of Congress at their last session. It
is agreed on all hands and by all parties to have been a masterly
production. It was a subject to call out the fine talents of the
accomplished scholar and orator, and it was precisely the kind of
" labour " which Mr. Adams " would delight in." It would appear,
however, from the following gossip of the "Spy" in Washington
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I3I
that the ^' greatest and best " and " New York's favourite son " do
not consider it good pohcy to bestow unqiiaUfied praise upon
the man whom they have heretofore united to pull down : " After
Mr. Adams had delivered, on Wednesday last, his masterly eulogy
on General Lafayette, a gentleman asked the President (Mr. Van
Buren being present) how he was pleased with the address. The
venerable Christian, pausing a few seconds, coolly replied, ' There
are some good things in it, but Mr. Adams fails very much ; don't
you think he does, Mr. Van Buren?' 'Very much,' repeated
echo."
January 10. — The following gentlemen dined with us : Bishop
Onderdonk, Dr. Hosack, Bishop Smith, of Kentucky ; Mr. Peter
A. Jay, Mr. Harrison G. Otis, Mr. W. Johnson, Chancellor Kent,
Mr. D. S. Jones, President Duer, and Mr. P. Schermerhorn.
January 14. — The rage for speculating in lands on Long Island
is one of the bubbles of the day. Men in moderate circumstances
have become immensely rich, merely by the good fortune of own-
mg farms of a few acres of this chosen land. Abraham Schermer-
horn has sold his farm of one hundred and seventy acres at
Gowannes, three miles from Brooklyn, at ^600 per acre ; four
years ago, having got out of conceit of it as a residence, he
offered it for sale at ^20,000, and would have taken ^18,000 ; to-
day he pockets $102,000, and regrets that he sold it so cheap !
February 12. — Died on Saturday last, in Baltimore, Mr. William
Patterson, in the eighty-third year of his age. He was formerly a
distinguished merchant of that city, the father of Jerome Bona-
parte's wife, who was separated from her husband by order of
Napoleon, who did not think it becoming when he placed a crown
on his brother's head that his throne and royal honours should be
shared by the daughter of an American republican. It is not un-
likely that about these times the ci-devajit king of Westphalia
would have no objection to return to the object of his first love.
There is a son by this marriage, who married a Miss Williams, a
handsome girl with a large fortune. They live in Baltimore, in
132 THE DIARY OF PIIILTP HONE. [/Etat. 55.
very goo I style. I have partaken of the hosi)italily of this, gentle-
man. It is somewhat remarkable that the three men who held the
most distinguished place in the great community of merchants
which im[)arted wealth, splendour, and character to Baltimore have
all died within about a year, leaving good names and large fortunes
to their children. Alexander Brown, Robert Oliver, and William
Patterson might at one time have been considered the royal mer-
chants of America, as the Medici of old were of Italy.
February 14. — Dr. Mott's dinner took place on Tuesday last,
at the City Hotel. Dr. David Hosack presided, and made a good
speech, which was well replied to by the respectable recipient
of the compliment. The vice-presidents were Doctors McLean,
Stearns, MacNeven, A. L. Anderson, S. W. Moore, and Francis.
The toasts, regular and volunteer, were given in small doses, and
as the gentlemen of the faculty had to take them themselves, they
were neither unpalatable nor violent in their operation. They
toasted each other brown, and said many pretty things, all
but Dr. Rhinelander ; this gentleman is not in very good odour
with some of his brethren, from the circumstance of his having
intrigued with his political friends in the board of regents to get
Dr. Augustine Smith removed and himself appointed to a profes-
sor's chair in the College of Physicians. So when his turn came
to give a toast, he did certainly infuse a dash of wormwood into the
draught, which the sons of Esculapius had to swallow. Sheridan
himself would have been gratified at this new application of his
joke, — '' The medical profession, when they all agree, their una-
nimity is wonderful." By Dr. Gilford : " Dr. Mott, by cutting an
acquaintance, he often saves a friend." Not so bad.
I attended this evening a meeting at Washington Hall of a
number of New Yorkers, with a design to form a regular Knicker-
bocker society, as a sort of set-off against St. Patrick's, St. George's,
and more particularly the New England. The meeting was large
and exceedingly respectable ; there were the Irvings, Moores, Mc-
Vickars, Renwicks, Rapelje, Stuyvesant, Laight, Fish, Wilkins, the
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 33
Schermerhorns, Brinckerhoffs, Costers, Golden, etc., — a goodly show
of good fellows who will not disgrace their ancestors. Bloodgood
was chairman and Washington Irving secretary. A committee was
appointed, consisting of Peter Schermerhorn, Judge Irving, Alex-
ander Wyckoff, Hamilton Fish, Dr. Manley, and the president and
secretary, to report a constitution and by-laws to a future meeting.
I suppose we shall have a few annual dinners, which will be pretty
much all that will grow out of this project.
February 17. — The proceedings in the Senate of the United
States have become very interesting within a few days. During the
discussion of a bill brought forward by Mr. Calhoun to restrain ex-
ecutive patronage, which has brought out the most virulent opposition
of the friends of General Jackson, Benton, the fiercest tiger in the
den, insulted Mr. Calhoun by charging him with falsehood. The
accomplished Carolinian was compelled to notice it, and Benton
was called to order. The Vice-President, by some casuistical defi-
nition of parliamentary practice, pronounced the gentleman not out
of order. Mr. Webster appealed from this decision, and his ap-
peal was sustained by a vote of 24 to 20. There is some talk
about Mr. Calhoun challenging Benton ; but it cannot be. I would
as soon think of challenging one of the hyenas in the zoological
institution for snapping at me as I passed his den.
March 14. — The packet-ship "Rhone" arrived yesterday
from Havre, bringing Paris accounts to nth ult. They are highly
favourable to amicable settlement of our affairs with France. Mr.
Clay's able report, with the resolution which accompanied it and
was passed unanimously by the Senate in January last, was received
in Paris on the 7th of February, and had precisely the effect which
I predicted. It healed the wounded pride of the French govern-
ment and people ; it convinced them that the menacing proposal
to grant letters of marque and reprisal was only the act of the
President, and would not be sanctioned by the legislature of the
nation, and there was little doubt that the Chamber of Deputies
would pass the Indemnity Bill. Thus has the patriotic majority in
134 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 55.
the Senate once more interposed to save the country from a
vexatious and unnecessary war, without the sHghtest sacrifice
of national honour, although it is quite likely that Jackson will
get the credit of it.
March 16. — The frigate "Constitution," under
Old Ironsides, commaud of Commodorc Elliot, got under way
yesterday morning, and went to sea. She goes to
France, from which place, if the Indemnity Bill should not have
been passed, she will receive on board the American Minister
and his family and return to the United States, but if the bill
should have become a law she will join the squadron in the
Mediterranean. Commodore Elliot went on Saturday evening
to the Bowery Theatre to receive the homage of his suburban
admirers, and as some opposition was apprehended from those
who were opposed to the worship of the golden calf, or of
him who set it up, he was accompanied by a guard of forty
marines with side-arms ; but it proved unnecessary : not a Whig
was to be seen, and nothing occurred to mar his triumph, or in-
terrupt the shouts of those who went to cry, Huzza for Jackson !
Huzza for Elliot !
I went to the Book Club with Charles King and
Book Club. Davis at nine o'clock. This is a club which meets
every other Thursday evening at Washington Hotel,
where they sup, drink champagne and whiskey punch, talk as well
as they know how, and run each other good-humouredly. I have
been admitted a member after having refused several applications,
for I have already more engagements than I wish ; but this is a
very pleasant set of fellows. They sit pretty late, however, for I
came away at one o'clock and left the party seated at the supper-
table. I don't exactly understand why this is called a Book Club,
for the book of subscription to the .expenses is, I suspect, the only
one in the library. Our party this evening consisted of about
twenty ; viz., Davis, President Duer, Charles King, Wilkins, William
Kent, Harvey, Arthur Barclay, Isaac Hone, Halleck, Ogden
I835-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 35
Hoffman, Patterson, Blunt, Dr. Francis, Baron Behr, Mr. Tre-
lawny, author of the ^' Younger Son," Beverly Robinson, etc.
March 23. — This great work, which is to cost
or an j^-||^Qj^g ^f (Jollars, was undertaken by a company who
Erie Railroad. ' j r j
applied to the present Legislature for a loan of the
credit of the State to the amount of two millions, to aid in the ac-
complishment of their undertaking. This application occasioned a
warm debate ; promises were freely made previous to the late elec-
tion that the bill should pass, whereby the votes of the middle and
southern counties were secured to the dominant party, but after a
severe struggle the question was decided on Friday evening by a
vote of sixty-one to forty-six. The majority may have had good
reasons, for aught I know, but it is understood that the most pre-
vailing one was that James G. King was one of the leading men in
the enterprise, and he is a Whig; liberal he certainly is, and pub-
lic-spirited and enlightened, but he is a Whig, and does not wear
the Jackson collar, and it was exceedingly simple in the projectors
of this great work to ask favours of the present Legislature with such
an encumbrance ; if the State-House was on fire they would not
allow it to be extinguished by a Whig fireman. I wonder the
statesmen at Albany do not pass a law to deprive all but Jackson
men of the privilege of voting at elections, or holding real estate,
and making it treason for the butchers and bakers to sell them
meat and bread.
March 28. — Mr. and Mrs. Webster arrived in town last evening
from Philadelphia. He is going home to Boston on Wednesday,
and she will remain here with her friends for a week or two. Mr.
Webster came this evening and drank tea with us, and delighted us
for an hour with his conversation. He talked about trout- fishing,
Plymouth, Cape Cod, and Nantucket, and his eloquence made
those trifling subjects interesting as those of more serious import,
which it so ably illustrates and adorns. He and I agreed to make
an excursion together in the month of June next, from Boston to
New Bedford and Nantucket, in which I promise myself great
136 THE DIARV OF rillLU' HONE. [/Etat. 55.
pleasure. Mr. Webster's description of that part of the State of
Massachusetts ; the primitive manners of the peoi)le of Nantucket ;
the homogeneous nature of the institutions and social customs, and
the isolated pride of their sea-girt territory, — has awakened in mc a
curiosity which will be gratified in this proposed excursion, and I
shall enjoy in perfection the delightful society of a man who, in
his hours of relaxation, is playful and agreeable as he is great in
the discharge of his public duties.
April 2. — I dined with Mr. Abraham Ogden. We had a very
pleasant dinner. Mr. Webster was there, and Mr. H. G. Otis, and
Meredith. The great senator has been more uniformly cheerful
during his present visit than I have ever seen him, and he is, when
" in the vein," one of the best talkers in the world. Mr. Otis,
when the tyrant of the limbs allows him to dine out, is always a
most delightful companion ; his voice is perfect music, his choice of
words scrupulously nice, and talent gives a charm to his narrative,
which makes his hearers regret that his longest stories should ever
come to an end. He appears to me sometimes a litde pedantic
and too studious of effect, but no man of taste and feeling can
listen to him during the social hours of a dinner-party without im-
provement and delight. My friend Meredith is also an excellent
diner-out, of a more joyous temperament than either of the above-
named persons. He laughs louder, and his flashes, if not brighter,
are sharper. He is a fine scholar, a good dramatic critic, and
Shakesperian to the very letter. He was to have gone with me to
the reading club this evening, but was not very well, and had to
make preparation for his departure to-morrow morning.
April 8. — The political aspect of the country is worse than
ever : "In the lowest depth, a lower still is found." General Jack-
son's star is still in the ascendant, and shines brighter than ever ;
the returns of the election in Connecticut, which was held last
week, prove, as far as they have been received, that his party have
succeeded in that Yankee State. Our charter election comes on
next week, and I presume we shall be beaten. The Jackson people
I835-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 37
have rencminated Mr. Cornelius W. Lawrence as Mayor, and the
Whigs will not oppose him. I am glad of it, for if we do not take
him we shall have a worse man ; indeed, I have been well pleased
with his conduct during the first year of his mayoralty, and he
would have had my cheerful support but for the circumstance of
his having recently vetoed a resolution of the Common Council
which recommended to the Legislature the passage of a law to reg-
ister the votes. This is a measure so obviously proper to secure
the purity of our elections, and so loudly called for, especially in
this city, by all who desire to preserve the peace and good order
which ought to prevail at such times, that nothing but a blind de-
votion to party could have influenced the Mayor in his opposition
to a measure so salutary. I hoped better things from that gentle-
man. Notwithstanding this untoward state of political affairs, the
country generally is in a prosperous state, and the city of New
York peculiarly so. All descriptions of property are higher than I
have ever known them. Money is plenty ; business brisk ; the
staple commodity of the country (cotton) has enriched all through
whose hands it has passed. The merchant, mechanic, and propri-
etor all rejoice in the result of the last year's operations.
April 10. — The weather being fine and spring-like, I walked for
an hour before dinner with my wife on the Battery. Strange as it
is, I do not think that either of us had done such a thing in the
last seven years ; and what a beautiful spot it is ! The grounds are
in fine order ; the noble bay, with the opposite shores of New
Jersey, Staten and Long Islands, vessels of every description,
from the noble, well-appointed Liverpool packet to the little
market craft, and steamers arriving from every point, give life
and animation to a prospect unexcelled by any city view in
the world. It would be worth travelling one hundred miles
out of one's way in a foreign country to get a sight of, and yet
we citizens of New York, who have it all under our noses, seldom
enjoy it. Like all other enjoyments, it loses its value from being
too easily obtained.
138 THE DIARY OF PIIILIP HONE. [/Etat. 55.
I have passed a few hours delightfully in reading
The Crayon Washinsftoii Irviiii^'s " Tour on the Prairies." It is of
Miscellany. ° ^
the very best kind of light reading ; like the violet of
the spring, it exhales a refreshing mental fragrance, which soon
passes away and leaves the mind conscious only that it was some-
thing very sweet. The charm of the book is the easy, graceful
manner of describing the events of a tour of great interest, cer-
tainly to such persons as Ellsworth, Irving, and Latrobe, because
such people seldom undertake expeditions of the kind. Killing
buffaloes, hunting wild horses, sleeping every night on the ground
for a whole month, and depending from day to day for the means
of subsistence on the deer, wild turkeys, and bears which the rifles
of their own party alone can procure, — all events of ordinary occur-
rence to the settlers of the great West, but matters of thrilling
interest to comfortable citizens who read of them in their green
slippers, seated before a shining grate, the neatly printed page
illuminated by a bronze astral lamp ; or to the sensitive young lady
who, drawing up her delicate little feet on the crimson damask sofa,
shudders at the hardships v/hich the adventurous tourist has under-
gone, "and loves him for the dangers he has passed." The intro-
duction to this little bijou affords the author the first opportunity
he has had since his return from Europe to speak of himself, his
success abroad, the doubts which filled his mind as to the un-
changed affection of his countrymen, and to the removal of those
doubts, and the overflowing of his heart by the kind reception
which awaited him on his arrival.
April 23. — Francis B. Cutting and Robert Bayard bought
two or three years ago the country-place, as it then was, of the
late William Bayard, for a sum between $50,000 and $60,000
(a great price at that time), and sold it at auction in lots the day
before yesterday for $225,000. David S. Jones sold yesterday
at auction, in lots, the former country-seat of Mr. Harrison, which
he bought about two years since, and made a profit of $85,000.
Real estate is high, beyond all the calculation of the most san-
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 39
guine speculators. Immense fortunes have been made and real-
ized within the last three months, and everything is dear but
money. There must come a change ; and when it does, woe to
those who are caught ! This distribution of property, however,
by small lots, will divide the losses when the evil day comes, and
they will not be felt in the same degree by any, as the profits are
now by a few.
April 24. — A great foot-race, which has occupied the mind of
the fancy for several months past, took place this day on the
Union Race Course, Long Island. It originated in a large bet
between John C. Stevens and Samuel L. Gouverneur, that the
former would produce by a given time a man who should run ten
miles within an hour, for which he offered a reward of one thou-
sand dollars, and three hundred more if it was performed by one
only. This was the day fixed for the exploit, and without intend-
ing it by any means, when I arose this morning I found myself,
with Robert, in the barouche, enveloped in clouds of dust, and our
faces lacerated by a north-west wind which came loaded, not with
ambrosial sweets, but with a sort of concentration of razor-blades,
on the road to the race-course, jostled by every description of
vehicle, conveying every description of people. The crowd on the
ground was as great, I think, as at the famous Eclipse race, and
immense sums were betted by men who find it difficult to pay their
honest debts, and by hopeful boys, who have to square the amount
of their losses from the reluctant pockets of fathers who, had they
been thriftless and improvident as their progeny, would have
brought them up to qualify them for holding the horses which they
now proudly drive.
At one o'clock nine men started for the prize. They all came
around the first three miles, each within six minutes, and the first
five miles were performed by five of the number within half an
hour. They then began to give in, and three only ran the whole
ten miles. One man alone won the race, performing the ten miles
in fifty-nine minutes forty-eight seconds. His name is Henry
140 THE DTARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 55.
Stannard, a farmer, aged twenty-four years, born in Killingworth,
Conn., tall and thin, weighing one hundred and sixty- five pounds.
He appeared to me exactly of the size and form for such an under-
taking, with much bone and muscle and very little fat. He was not
distressed by his effort, made a speech to the populace, who cheered
him with loud applause, sprang upon a horse and rode around the
course on which he had gained his laurels.
April 25. — A man named Clayton made an ascen-
Baiioonincr. siou a fcw (hiys since from Cincinnati in a style of ad-
venture more splendid than any hitherto attempted.
He gave notice that he meant to remain in the air as long as his
supply of gas continued. He started at five o'clock P.M., went to
sleep at a good regular hour in his car, travelled four hundred
miles, made fast his balloon at two o'clock to the top of a tree on
one of the mountains of Virginia, and then returned leisurely home
to relate his adventures. We run faster, sail smarter, dive deeper,
and fly farther than any other people on the face of the earth.
April 30. — The following gentlemen dined with us: Mr.
Armour, Dom. Lynch, Washington Irving, Robert Ray, Peter
Schermerhorn, Jonathan Goodhue, G. G. Howland, James G.
King, and Isaac Hone.
The return of May brings with it its usual accompaniment of
pulling down and altering houses. The streets are beginning to be
filled with rubbish, and to increase the troubles of our locomotive
citizens a new easterly storm is setting in, in which beds and book-
cases, chairs, carpets, and crockery, will be exposed to damage.
The rise of lots in the upper part of the city goes on without
interruption from any cause, foreign or domestic. Mr. Kane has
sold his large house, corner of St. Mark's place and the Second
avenue, to Charles Graham, for $35,000. He called this morning
to offer it to me for the last time, before he closed the sale ; but I
do not want it, nor indeed would I consent to remove to any other
situation, unless I was compelled to do so, by selling my house in
Broadway. Mr. P>oardman offered me, about two months since, the
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I4I
price I asked for my house, $55,000 ; but I was to take in part pay-
ment seven lots of ground on the Second avenue, below St. Mark's
place, at a valuation of ^35,000. This I declined, for I could not
imagine then, nor can I now, that they are worth so much money.
He has, however, sold them since for $38,000, and the speculators
say they are a bargain.
May 12. — I went this morning to the Exhibition at
\ ^ T"^ Clinton Hall. There is a manifest improvement in the
Academy. '■
works of several of our old favourite artists. Ingham
has some splendid portraits ; Durand has several very good, three in
particular, of President Jackson, Mr. Adams, and Charles A. Davis,
are admirable. Inman has several fine paintings, the best the
"Bride of Lammermoor," which he painted for a Southern gentle-
man ; and Mount has three pictures which would do credil to
Wilkie. Weir has, as usual, some good pictures, but his last does
not please me. It is a picture painted for Mr. Verplanck; the
subject is "The Landing of Hendrick Hudson."
May 18. — Yesterday was a pleasant day, the first, I think, this
spring, and being Sunday the streets presented a gay and cheerful
appearance. The ladies' new French hats and the gentlemen's
white pantaloons were exhibited with impunity from staining shower
or biting blast, and the air was redolent of the tender grass and
opening lilacs. During the day and evening the fire-engines were
exercised by the boys with their accustomed alacrity, and a few
houses here and there in the upper part of the city were burned for
their especial gratification.
May 21. — How beautifully expressive are the Indian
Indian Names, proper namcs ! Comprehensive in meaning, as they are
lofty and musical in sound. I honour the towns, the
rivers, and the mountains to which the good taste and patriotic
feeling have left the names by which the sons of the forest desig-
nated them before the white man became their proprietor, much
more than I do the Baths, the Bristols, the Frankforts, and the
Orleans, for which we are indebted to the exhausted gazetteers of
142 THE DIARY OF rillLTP HONE. [^tat. 55.
Europe ; or even the Homers, the Virgils, the Solons, or the Man-
lius, albeit they have been raked up from the ashes of classical
lore. Our lakes and rivers have been less despoiled of their origi-
nal Indian designations than the towns which they irrigate and
beautify, and they differ as much in name as they do in grandeur
from those of Europe. Wliat can be more expressive than " Alle-
ghany," clear water ; " Ohio," most beautiful of rivers ; " Connect-
icut," long river; " Winnipiseogee," the smile of the Great Spirit;
" Canandaigua," place of rest, etc.! Such words as Ontario,
Onondaga, Tallahassee, and Michigan are full of poetry as of mag-
nificence, and the spirit of the American people should guard them
with as much jealousy from the innovations of European refine-
ment as they would the hardy maxims of their republican insti-
tutions from the insults of courtly forms of government or the
errors of modern philosophy.
May 22. — The Jackson Convention, convened by
a imore grdcrs from Washington to nominate Mr. Van Buren
Convention. '-'
for the presidency, assembled at Baltimore on Wednes-
day, and appointed Andrew Stevenson, late Speaker of the House
of Representatives, and rejected Minister to England, to preside
over them. No other business was done on Wednesday ; there are
some difficulties in the way, such as a double set of delegates from
Pennsylvania, true-blue both, but hating each other nearly as much
as they do honesty and the Whigs, and a little insubordination about
the choice of Vice-President. Mr. Rives and Richard M. Johnson
have each friends in the convention, w^ho will at first make a little
show in support of their respective candidate, but will soon fall into
the ranks of "passive obedience and non-resistance," and ratify
unanimously the edict which has gone forth from Washington and
been countersigned at Albany. So "God help the people " ! This
farce is over, and their deliberations have terminated as was pre-
viously arranged. On Friday the convention proceeded to the
nomination of candidates for the offices of President and Vice-
President of the United States. Martin Van Buren was unanimously
1835J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I43
nominated as President, and Richard M. Johnson was nominated as
Vice-President by the following vote : for Richard M. Johnson,
178 ; for WiUiam C. Rives, 87.
May 26. — The packet-ship '' Napoleon" arrived yes-
French News, terday from Liverpool, bringing news to the 25 th of
April. The Indemnity Bill passed the French Chamber
of Deputies on the i8th by a larger majority than was anticipated.
The whole amount of 25,000,000 francs, with interest from the date
of the treaty, was agreed to be paid. The Ministers assented to
the introduction of a clause in the bill forbidding the payment of
the money until after the French Government shall have received
satisfactory explanations with regard to the President's message of
Dec. 2, 1834.
What will " Old Hickory " say to this? Apologize? He cer-
tainly will not, for his flatterers have told him and told the 'people,
and they all believe it, that his firmness, his vigour, his dare-deviltry
have extorted from the fears of the French that which we should
never have gained from their justice, but /a grande nation will be
satisfied with a few unmeaning words : "Our old allies," "Our faith-
ful friends," "The compatriots of our Lafayette;" they cannot
suppose, not they, that any affront was intended, etc., etc., and so
the matter will be settled : the louis will jingle in our pockets, Jack-
son will get all the credit for the success of a negotiation which his
arrogance had well-nigh defeated, the " Hurrah for Jackson ! " on our
shores will be responded on those of France by "Vive Louis Phi-
lippe ! " saltpetre will be used only for the peaceful purpose of curing
hams, and the star-spangled banner will wave as heretofore over
cargoes of cotton and potashes, or serve to give an impulse to
the Fourth-of-July celebrations of General Morton's division of
artillery.
May 27. — I went last evening to a grand supper at Washington
Hall, given by the members of the Book Club to the Rev. Dr. Wain-
wright, who is considered the founder of the club. The party was
larger than usual, and comprised several of the elite of the city.
144 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Ktat. 55.
There were President Ducr, Dr. Wainwriglit, Dr. Jarvis, Henry
Brevoort, Colonel White, of Florida, General Scott, Joseph Blunt,
Charles King, Ogden Hoffman, John Duer, Jacob Harvey, Arthur
Barclay, James J. Jones, Dr. Francis, Beverly Robinson, Charles A.
Davis, Dr. A. E. Hosack, Isaac S. Hone, P. Hone, Washington
Irving, ]\L C. Patterson, and two or three more whom I do not
recollect.
June i. — All the world (our world) is going to Europe. The
packet-ship " Europe " sailed this morning for Liverpool with
thirty- five passengers; among the number were Professor Ticknor
and family, of Boston, and Lord Powerscourt, who has been travel-
ling in the United States. His friend and companion, Mr. Parnell,
remains behind, having been married yesterday in Grace Church to
Miss Delia Stewart, daughter of Commodore Stewart. He will follow
in a short time, and take his Yankee bride with him to Ireland.
JUxXEiy. — The Boston and Providence Railroad is completed
except a viaduct, and the passengers by the New York steamboats
were carried over for the first time one day last week. The time
was two hours and a half, and the Lexington steamboat goes from
New York to Providence in twelve hours, so that leaving this city
at six in the morning travellers can unstrap their trunks at their
lodgings in Boston by daylight on a summer's day.
June 23. — The U.S. frigate "Constitution" ar-
oid Ironsides, rivcd ycstcrday afternoon, having on board Mr.
Livingston, our late Minister to France, and his
family. Mr. Livingston comes back in a bad humour, and it is
much to be feared that he may infuse some of it into the mind of
the obstinate and weak old man at the head of our government,
and so prevent an amicable arrangement of the difficulty with
France, — a consummation devoutly to be dreaded, if it should lead
to war. The only hope is that Mr. Van Buren's influence will be
stronger in that quarter than that of the Minister, and that his
chance of a succession to the presidency may be promoted by
keeping the peace.
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 45
We saw the noble ship " Constitution " plainly from Rockaway
yesterday afternoon, under a full spread of canvas, on her way up
to the city. She sailed from Havre on the 5 th, and from Plymouth
England, on the i6th ult. I do not think much of her commander,
have little respect for the effigy on her bow or the manner of its
being placed there, and am not exceedingly proud of the country's
representative which she now bears in her bosom ; but I love her
for her name, and honour her for the share she has had in the pres-
ervation of her country's glory. She is still " Old Ironsides."
Wednesday, July i . — On Saturday evening last, during a
severe gale in Baltimore, Mr. Marshall, son of the Chief Justice,
having taken shelter in a building partially destroyed by fire, was
killed by the falling of a chimney. He had just arrived from
Philadelphia, where he had been to visit his venerable father.
There is great reason to apprehend that the shock of this calamity,
added to his bad state of health, will prove too much for this most
excellent of men. I know of no greater misfortune which our
country could sustain at this time than the death of Chief Justice
Marshall. He is the sheet-anchor of the Constitution; pure,
enlightened, and patriotic ; the loss of such a man would be a
national calamity at any time, but it is a fearful thing to think of
his place being filled by a man who is willing to sacrifice everything
we hold sacred to the gratification of his personal feelings and the
aggrandizement of his party.
July 4. — I dined with the honourable the Corporation. These
dinners are never very refined nor very intellectual, but this was even
less so than usual. The constituents of the members, who, like
some of themselves, are rather queer sort of folk, must be invited,
and as the dinner and diners are abundant, they feed enor-
mously, and, in utter disregard of the good temperance rules so
much in fashion, lay in large stores of present hilarity and future
headache, and, as in duty bound, they pay for their share of the
municipal banquet by lauding their liberal entertainers, and shout-
ing, at the top of their excited voices, " Huzza ! " to all their party
146 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^^tat. 55.
sentiments, no matter how violent or unreasonable. The Presi-
dent's health was received with all the fire and vivacity which
brandy or champagne can inspire, but the great burst of feeling
was reser\^ed for New York's favourite son, " the Vice-President."
The 'Uhree times three" which succeeded the announcement of
this toast made the very cupola on the top of the hall tremble
over our heads ; the deep-toned bell which is suspended under the
queer-looking canopy, Hke a toad under some enormous mush-
room, to utter the sounds of fearful vibrations, and the four-and-
twenty pounders of " Old Ironsides," which were at the same
moment keeping 4th of July on the North river, could scarcely be
heard in the patriotic din which spontaneously burst forth to waft
the glorious sentiment to the responsive heavens. There, I am
sure the " Times " cannot make more of the toast than I have
done. I sat at the table on the right hand of the Mayor, between
Commodore F^lliot and Governour Troup. A chair was left in the
place of honour on the immediate right of the Mayor for Mr. Liv-
ingston, who was so ill that he could not attend the dinner ; but the
place was pertinaciously kept by the Commodore, who is a great
glorifier of President Jackson and all that appertains to him, and
when the cloth was removed and the champagne, like a poker, had
begun to stir up the latent flame of patriotism in the bosoms of the
faithful, the name of the Minister was announced, and he was led
up with all due formality to the vacant chair. This was the signal
for three glorification cheers, which he would not have gotten in a
regular way. His health was given ; he made a speech ; all his actions,
past, present, to come, were fully approved, and '^ No explanation,"
" No apology," resounded through the room, and divided the
echoes of the spacious dome with the equally inspiring shouts of
" Hurrah for Jackson ! " and success to the nominee of the Balti-
more Convention. This may all have been accidental, but it
appeared to me exceedingly like management. It was passing
strange that a person should be too ill to go out to dinner at five
o'clock, but able to calculate his recovery with so much nicety that
I8.35-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 47
a chair should be kept for him to occupy at seven. I crossed the
path of the glorification toasts with the following sentiment, out of
place, to be sure, but they dared not express any disapprobation, —
" John Marshall : may his valuable life be spared to his country,
while his mental and physical faculties remain, to elucidate and to
defend the Constitution."
Death of J^^^ ^' — ^^^ calamity which has for some time
Chief Justice past threatened our country has happened at last, and
Mars all. gycry man who admires talents and venerates virtue
mourns over the loss we have sustained. John Marshall, the wise,
the virtuous, the patriotic, died on the afternoon of Monday the
6th inst., at six o'clock, in Philadelphia, in which city he has been
for some time, to avail himself of the best medical advice. Take
the Chief Justice for all in all, he combined in his character more
good and great quaUties than any other man in the United States
during his or any other time, with the exception of his friend and
associate, Washington ; and his death at this time is a greater
national calamity than Washington's was when it occurred, for
reasons which I have stated at a former page of this journal, in
noticing the melancholy death of his son at Baltimore. Would it
had pleased Divine Providence to delay the stroke for a few years !
Less danger would be apprehended if the successor of General
Jackson had had the filling of this most important office, even if
that successor were (as it most probably will be) Mr. Van Buren.
He will be governed less by personal predilections, and if he has
no more virtue than the present incumbent, he has more policy and
less reliance upon his own infallibility. At any rate, I would rather
trust him.
In 1797 Marshall was appointed by President Adams, with
General Pinckney and Elbridge Gerry, to negotiate with the French
Directory. They were not received by the French, and it was in
this embassy that the famous X. Y. Z. correspondence was instituted,
in which the envoys were invited to bribe the Directory as the
means of obtaining justice for this country. It was this infamous
^
8 THE DIAKY OF TIIILIP HONE. [^1^131.35
proposal which gave rise to the celebrated expression so frequently
quoted, " Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute." In 1 799
he was elected and took his seat in Congress. Here his talents
became immediately so conspicuous that in 1800 he was ap-
pointed Secretary of War, and on the 31st of January, 1801,
he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States, wliich distinguished position he continued to fill with
unsullied dignity and preeminent ability until the close of his
mortal career. All newspapers are, as they ought to be, clad in
mourning.
July 10. — Charles King gave me, on board the steamboat, yes-
terday morning the " Evening Post " to read an infamous editorial
notice of the death of Chief Justice Marshall. They say he was a
man of considerable talci:ts ! but an enemy to Democratic princi-
ples, and used his influence in the court over which he presided to
subvert them, and on the whole his removal is a cause of rejoicing.
This is absolutely a species of impiety for which I want words to
express my abhorrence. It is of a piece with Duane's celebrated
article published in the "Aurora" on the death of Washington,
beginning with the scriptural quotation, " Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salva-
tion ; " and the painful recollection of these two great national
bereavements will ever be accompanied in the minds of all good
Americans by their detestation of the sentiments of the two com-
peers in infamy, who have thus acquired a most unenviable notori-
ety. The " Times," another of our Jackson papers, on the other
hand, has noticed the Chief Justice's death in the most feeling man-
ner, and consecrated his memory by eulogiums which none but a
fool would deny, or a knave withhold.
July 18. — The papers contain a report that the President has
appointed Roger B. Taney Chief Justice of the United States in
the place of the lamented John Marshall. Mr. Taney is a lawyer
of high reputation, and except in his slavish devotion to General
Jackson and his party, which led him during his short career as
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I49
Secretary of the Treasury to perform an act of subserviency which
must " damn him to everlasting fame," he was ahvays esteemed
a respectable man. The act alluded to, the acceptance of office
solely to do the President's dirty work of removing the deposits,
was sufficient to entitle him to this or any other office in his gift ;
and as none but a person possessing that sort of qualification would
be appointed, it is fortunate, on the whole, that the ermine has not
fallen upon less worthy shoulders. If this appointment has been
made, and Mr. Van Buren should be elected President (of which I
think there is very little doubt), the remarkable fact will be dis-
closed of the two most exalted offices in the country being held by
individuals whose nominations for other offices of greatly inferior
importance have been rejected by the Senate.
Buffalo, Tuesday, July 21. — We arrived here in the canal-boat
at three o'clock this afternoon. The boat was not crowded, the
weather was cool and pleasant, the accommodations good, the cap-
tain polite, our fellow-passengers well-behaved, and altogether I do
not remember to have ever had so pleasant a nWe on the canal.
My hammock, to be sure, was rather narrow and not very soft, and
my neighbour overhead packed close upon my stomach ; but I slept
sound as a ploughman, and did not wake until tapped on the shoul-
ders by the boy, and told to " clear out."
July 29. — At the moment of my arrival I found
. ara oga ^-^^ ladics drcsscd for a ball at Conpjress Hall and
Springs. '^
just entering the room. At the solicitations of some of
my fair friends, whose solicitations are a matter not to be dis-
regarded, I went down to look at the gay assemblage. There is a
large company at Congress Hall, but not many New Yorkers. The
Patroon and old Mrs. Philip Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Wilkins, Mr.
and Mrs. Henry Phelps, Mr. and Mrs. Davis, Mr. and Mrs. James
W. Otis, Mr. and Mrs. Post, lately married (she was Miss Church) ;
Mrs. Otis's sister, another newly married couple ; Mr. and Mrs.
Rupert Cochran, Mr. and Mrs. DePau, Mr. and Mrs. Washington
Coster, Giraud, McLean, Buckland, McLeod, Laight, Pringle,
150 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 55.
Edward Heckscher, Governor Wolf, of Pennsylvania, and many
others, as Lord Duberly says, " too tedious to enumerate."
August 2. — A terrible system prevails in some of
Lynch's Law. the Southem and Western States of late, which con-
sists in the people taking the law in their own hands
and inflicting summary punishment upon persons who have made
themselves obnoxious to their high mightinesses, beating, tarring and
feathering, and in some cases hanging the unhappy object of their
vengeance, and this is generally called " Lynch's law." At Vicks-
burg, in the State of Mississippi, from the 6th to the loth of July,
scenes were enacted which are calculated to make humanity
shudder, and to bring disgrace upon the country. The same
inflammable spirit in our part of the country has caused excitement
and tumult in a less dangerous degree. Finding more combustible
matter in the South and West, it has kindled a flame which may in
time endanger the safety of our institutions throughout the Union.
There is an awful tendency toward insubordination and contempt
of the laws, and there is reason to apprehend that good order and
morality will ere long be overcome by intemperance and violence,
and " Lynch's law " be made a substitute for written law and the
regular administration of public justice. God forbid that the fair
inheritance of our flithers should be laid prostrate by the lawless
hands of their degenerate sons, in this early stage of its existence !
As for me, I have no desire to be ruled by the maxim of govern-
ment so fashionable in the extreme south and west part of our
country, and I say, give us no more Tennessee presidents.
August 3. — The prices of property in and about
Real Estate, this city and Brooklyn keep up astonishingly ; un-
improved lots on this island are higher than ever-
Several great sales have been made at auction during my absence,
but I think the greatest is the property of the late Mrs. Ann
Rogers, which goes principally, I believe, to her grandchildren, the
children of her daughter, Mrs. Heyward. It consisted of her
proportion of the Rose Hill estate left by her first husband,
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I5I
Nicholas Crnger, and the country-seat at Bloomingdale, about six
miles from the city, on the banks of the Hudson river. The
amount of the sales of these two pieces of property was ^688,310.
Fifteen years ago they would not have brought $40,000. The
money goes into good hands.
August 4. — Charles Matthews, the comedian, died
MTtthews "-^ England, on the 29th of June, of an ossification of
the heart. His health was bad during his last visit to
the United States, and he had a dangerous fit of illness while in
Boston. He dined with me once during that visit, was very agree-
able, but not the man he was when ht-re before. Even while
amusing the public by his ludicrous performances on the stage, he
was moody, fretful, and dissatisfied, and left the country for the last
time in a very bad humour. Few men of the present age have
contributed so much to the amusement of others, but in his best
days he was subject to fits of discontent and lowness of spirits,
and I have seen him at my own table deligliting and surprising the
company with stories, songs, and imitations, himself the only person
whose heart was not light and joyous by the merriment he caused.
The following diotinguished gentlemen have been
MiTshaU ^^^ appointed and have consented to pronounce eulogiums
upon the character and services of the late illustrious
Chief Justice : Judge Story, of the Supreme Court of the United
States ; Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts ; James Kent, of New
York ; Horace Binney, of Philadelphia ; and Walter Jones, of
Washington,
R0CK.A.WAV, Thursday, Aug. 6. — We left home this afternoon
in the Rockaway omnibus, with Miss Lydia Kane. Mr. Nicholson
drove Miss Helen Kane.
The house is not so full as it ought to be, but the company is
exceedingly agreeable. Mr. and Mrs. R. Bayard ; Mrs. Carroll ;
Mr. and Mrs. Jackson (Mrs. Carroll's other daughter) ; two
beautiful Misses Willing, daughters of Richard Willing, of Phila-
delphia ; Dr. and Mrs. McAuley, of Baltimore ; Mrs.- Davis ; Miss
E. Callender ; and an excellent lot of beaux.
152 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^:tat. 55.
August 7. — The weather is dehghtful this morning, and we have
had a day of amusement and pleasure. It was the birthday of Miss
EUzabeth Vv'ilhng, one of the handsomest and lovehest girls I ever
saw. Count Streliski, who is chief manager and the best beau at
the Pavilion, issued a programme of the amusements, which con-
sisted of a trotting matcli, a champagne dinner, birthday ode, ball,
and supper. The trotting match took place at ten o'clock, on the
beach, and the company from all the houses assembled to witness
it. Three one-mile heats were trotted. The race was won by
Robert Goelet, who was regularly invested by the queen of the day
on the ground with the prize, which was a beautiful embroidered
scarf. This part of the day's sport went off well and afforded much
pleasure. At the dinner, toasts and speeches in honour of the occa-
sion went their jocund round. The ball in the evening was
unusually splendid, for there never were a dozen handsomer girls
assembled in one cotillion. A part of the arrangement consisted
in my promising a birthday ode, which was set to music by Kendal
and sung with great effect by the Count. It was well received, for
the good-humour which prevailed rendered the company indulgent
critics. Amongst the other delights of the day I had a most luxu-
rious bath at noon. Why do people go to Saratoga to mix in a
crowd of queer strangers, dragging out a tiresome day of artificial
enjoyment, when they might come here an 1 enjoy pure air, invigo-
rating bathing, and refined society? Chacun a son gout. I prefer
this.
New York, Aug. i i . — My beautiful namesake, the brig " Philip
Hone," arrived on Sunday, from the Pacific ocean, to Rowland
and Aspinwall.
My poor country, what is to be the issue of the
Riots in violence of the people and the disregard of law which
Baltimore. ^ ^ °
prevails in all parts of it ? On Friday night a mob col-
lected in Baltimore, instigated by inflammatory handbills, to take
vengeance upon several persons who had been directors of the Bank
of Maryland, — an institution which stopped payment something
iS35] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 53
more than a year ago, and by which many persons had lost money.
They attacked and broke the windows of the house occupied by
Mr. Reverdy Johnson, which was built by James A. Buchanan, next
door to Mrs. William Gilmor, near to Barnum's Hotel, and within a
short distance of Meredith's house. The Mayor interfered, and the
mob was addressed by several gentlemen, and dispersed without
doing a great, deal of damage, but only to renew the attack with
increased numbers and greater ferocity. The same scenes were
repeated on Saturday night and on Sunday, when the house was
pulled down, as well as that of Mr. Glenn, another of the bank
directors, who lived in North Charles street. All the furniture of
both these houses was thrown into the street, burned, and destroyed.
The troops fired upon the mob, several were killed, and a large
number wounded.
The accounts published in the papers of this afternoon are up to
yesterday morning, at which time the work of destruction was still
going on. The scene is represented as horrible in the extreme, but
the accounts are vague and contradictory. About twenty persons
were killed and one hundred wounded. The house of the Mayor,
who had done his duty well, was destroyed ; the troops had refused
to act any further, and the mob appears to have completely got the
ascendency. This is Lynch's law, or Club law, or Beelzebub's law,
or Jackson's law. It is the state of things which the editor of the
" Evening Post " must have anticipated and wished for when he
congratulated his fellow-ruffians that the sheet-anchor of the law
and the Constitution was lost ; that the wise and the virtuous
Marshall no longer lived to control the bad passions of the people.
Where will it end?
RocKAWAY, Wednesday, Aug. 12. — My feelings are
Dreadful Fire, excitcd and my heart is sick at the scenes I witnessed
this morning ; but I am glad I happened to be in
town, for it was better to see the work of destruction than to hear
it described. At two o'clock a fire broke out in the large new
brick building No, 115 Fulton street, occupied by a number of
154 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 55.
bookbinders, etc. I saw the fire from my bed, and knew, from the
direction and the reflection of the hght on the steeple of the North
Church near, about where it was. I did not arise for some time,
until I concluded, from the progress of the flames, that Clinton Hall
might be in danger. I then went out and witnessed the awful
scene until seven o'clock. It has been the most destructive fire
which has ever occurred in New York, with the exception, perhaps,
of the great fire, thirty or forty years ago, at the Cofi'ee House
Slip ; because in this case most of the buildings were new, five
and six stories high, and of brick. This part of the city w^as
the Paternoster Row of New York, in which two or three thou-
sand persons were employed daily in the various departments
of book making, binding, publishing, etc. Fifteen or twenty
newspapers and other periodicals were published within its pre-
cincts, and the stock of books, most of which was destroyed, was
immense.
The building in which the fire originated, with six others, occu-
pying the whole ground on that side of Fulton street, including
Bliss & Wadsworth's splendid book and stationery store and Abra-
ham Bell & Co.'s counting-house, from the Dutch church minister's
house to the North Church, were entirely destroyed, and nearly all
the houses on the opposite side of Fulton street. The flames
passed through the block to Ann street, and swept away all the new
lofty buildings on both sides of the street, including Holbrook's
store. Fuller's gymnasium, six stories high, and the Catholic church,
which was the extent of the devastation in that direction. From
Ann street it communicated to Nassau street, where ten or twelve
buildings on the east side were destroyed ; two of these, Nos. no
and 112, were large new warehouses filled with books and paper,
all of which was lost. The houses on Nassau street were the last
destroyed, and at this period the immense establishment of the
American Bible Society, Clinton Hall, and my property, Clinton
Hotel, were in considerable danger ; but happily the progress of the
flames was arrested and all tliis valuable property escaped uninjured.
I835-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 55
Five persons are known to have lost their lives : Mr. Blanchard, a
respectable bookbinder, and two printers in the building where
the fire originated. The former jumped out of a window in the
fourth story and died in ten minutes ; the others were burned,
and two more were killed by falling walls. I witnessed the con-
flagration from the upper story of Clinton Hall, and it was astonishing
to see the rapidity with which it progressed.
August 13. — Great excitement prevails in all parts of
tionists" ^" ^^^ country on the subject of the attempts made by the
friends of immediate emancipation to excite the slaves
of the South to resist the authority of their masters ; at least, such
is the alleged tendency of the indiscreet measures of those fanatical
persons who have engaged in that cause. Inflammatory publica-
tions have been circulated in the slaveholding States by means of
the mails, and the people of those States have resorted to violent
measures to counteract their eff"ects ; among others, application was
made to the Postmaster-General to prevent their distribution.
The reply of that important functionary (the notorious Amos
Kendal) contains the following sentiment, which embodies all the
essence of the abominable doctrines on whicli the Vicksburgh and
Baltimore riots were founded ; viz., that the people are to be gov-
erned by the law just so long as it suits them, and constitutes them
the judges of the time when they may release themselves from the
obligation of obedience, and the manner of substituting " Lynch's
law " for the written law of the land. The letter is addressed to
the Postmaster of Charleston, S.C. "We owe an obligation to
the laws, but a higher one to the community in which we live, and
if the former be perverted to destroy the latter, it is patriotism to
disregard them." Every petty postmaster in the country is thus
made the judge of the cases which justify his interposition, and he
may stop the circulation of pamphlets, newspapers, and letters too,
for aught I can see to the contrary. These postmasters are to a
man the subservient tools of Jackson, Kendal, & Co., and may
consider it " patriotism to disregard the laws " by preventing the
156 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat 55.
circulation of all publications opposed to the reigning dynasty and
the legitimate succession.
The abolitionists, Arthur Tappan and his fanatical coadjutors, are
certainly engaged in a most mischievous undertaking, which may
bring destruction upon their own heads and civil war into the
bosom of our hitherto happy country ; but the remedy is worse than
the disease. If they are punished, if their dangerous career is
arrested, it must be done according to law. I do not choose to sur-
render the power of executing justice into the hands of the slave-
owners of South Carolina.
August 14. — That affair is over. The mob have
Mob'"°'^^ dispersed after pulling down five or six fine houses,
burning the furniture, and drinking the old wine. The
number of persons killed was exaggerated in the first accounts. It
does not exceed seven. This was one of Amos Kendal's cases, in
which the people determined that the " laws were perverted, and it
was patriotism to disregard them."
August 19. — The " Constitution " sailed this morning
on a cruise in the Mediterranean, with Jackson's head
Ironsides. ' ''
disgracing her bow, and Commodore Elliot her quar-
ter-deck. The vile sycophancy which caused the former to be
placed where it is, obtained for the latter a distinction which would
not have been awarded to him by any brother officer in the navy.
A meeting has been called in Boston for 2 1 st instant,
^"^|.^''"'''^"" signed by fifteen hundred persons, at the head of whom
is Harrison G. Otis, to express their disapprobation of
the proceedings of the fanatics who are seeking to sow the seeds of
discord among our fellow- citizens of the South, and to excite the
slaves to revolt against their masters. This may be good. It will
serve to convince the slave-owners that the number of those who
seek to do them harm is too inconsiderable to give them uneasi-
ness. I should approve of such a meeting in New York, if it could
be conducted without violence and party-spirit.
At Home, Wednesday, Aug. 26. — The abolition question con-
1S35] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 57
tinues to agitate the public mind, and acquires hourly a most alarm-
ng interest. A great meeting is to be held to-morrow afternoon, in
the Park, of those opposed to the incendiary proceedings of the
abolitionists. The call is signed by several hundred persons, of dif-
ferent poHtical parties, headed by the Mayor. One object of my
coming to town is to attend this meeting, for I am desirous that
persons of character should be present in the greatest possible
numbers, with the twofold object of convincing the people of the
South that the incendiaries constitute an inconsiderable proportion
of our citizens, and to prevent any violence which might possibly
be attempted by turbulent persons ever on the lookout for a row,
for it is certain that in the present state of feeling the least spark
would create a flame in which the lives and property of Arthur
Tappan and his associates would be endangered.
August 27. — The public meeting of citizens opposed to the
abolition society, and the interference of individuals between the
masters and the slaves in the Southern States, was held this after-
noon, at four o'clock, in the Park. The following were the officers,
and if wisdom is found in a multitude of counsellors this must have
been an eminently wise assemblage : President, His Honor the
Mayor. Vice-Presidents, Thomas L. Oakley, William T. McCoun,
David B. Ogden, Henry Parish, Peter Crary, Walter Bowne, John
L. Morgan, Luman Reed, Isaac S. Hone, Campbell P. White,
Prosper M. Wetmore, Philip Hone, Edward Curtis, Thaddeus
Phelps, Joseph Cowdin, Daniel Jackson, Charles A. Davis, George
L. Robbins, Charles L. Livingston, Reuben Withers, John D. Wolf,
Seth Geer, Egbert Benson, John L. Graham, Isaac H. Varian,
Robert Center, William L. Johnson, Joseph D. Beers. Secretaries,
John R. Marshall, George Sharp, Robert Pitts, John L. Bailey,
Isaac Townsend, Morgan L. Smith, R. C. Wetmore, James Lee,
Henry H. Elliott, Seneca Stewart, Thomas C. Doremus, George L.
Easton. The preamble and resolutions were all very temperate
and proper, the proceedings orderly, and the large assembly broke
up without the least indecorum.
158 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [^tat. 55.
At Home, Tuesday, Seff. t . — The marine Pavilion is now
"a banquet-hall deserted." This establishment, gotten up and
supported at so great an expense, has been neglected by the New-
Yorkers, with the exception of my family and connections and a
few others. The house has been encouraged only by Philadel-
phians and other strangers. The fashionable people of our city
have preferred the Virginia Springs, Saratoga, Newport, and a place
they call Sachem's Head, to a house of their own possessing advan-
tages greater than any other.
We had a pretty sight at Rockaway. Shortly before
Packets. ^yg came away, the three outward-bound packets were
all in sight in a line with the beach, about a mile apart ;
viz., the ** Toronto," for London; ''Caledonia," for Liverpool;
and " Utica," for Havre. The wind was light, but fair, and these
noble vessels, under full sail, passed, slowly, steadily, and gracefully
on to their several destinations. May they arrive in safety to " the
havens where they would be " !
Boston, Saturday, Sept. 5 . — We landed the New-
"^ " port passengers, of whom Mrs. Ritchie was one, at five
o'clock. Mrs. James W. Otis came on to Providence.
At eight o'clock we left Providence on the railroad and arrived here
at three-quarters past ten. Dr. Wainwright was our fellow- passen-
ger from New York. We got a tolerably good bed-chamber at the
Tremont House, and were regularly installed into the comforts of
Mr. Belknap's pleasant parlour. I found, among the inmates of the
house, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bayard, Mr. and Mme. Podestad,
Francis March, John C. Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt Blood-
good, Miss Mary Van Schaick, and many other acquaintances.
Speculation in real estate has reached as great a height as in
New York, pulling down and rebuilding in the fashion of the day,
and it seems as if all the world had entered into a combination to
exhaust the quarries of granite in the neighbourhood. A company,
consisting of Patrick T. Jackson, Abbott Lawrence, and William
Appleton, have bought the ancient house and grounds of the late
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 59
Gardiner Greene, on Court street, and the adjoining property of
Deacon Philips, at enormous prices, pulled down the houses, lev-
elled a hill sixty feet in height, and made fifty or sixty building
lots, of which they will make maps and sell the whole at auction,
and, availing themselves of the present rage, will no doubt make a
great deal of money.
September 6. — In the afternoon I visited and had a delightful
talk of two or three hours with Mr. H. G. Otis, where I drank tea,
and went in the evening to Mr. Peter Parker's, Mr. Samuel D.
Parker's, and Mr. Sullivan's, at each of which places I had been
invited to those agreeable Sunday-evening parties for which the
Bostonians are so celebrated, and which I enjoy so much.
Tuesday, Sept. 8. — The Legislature is in session. I went this
morning, first to the Senate and afterward to the House of
Assembly. In the latter chamber, Mr. George Blake, who is a
member, placed me in a most conspicuous seat, near the Speaker,
and close to the clerk's table, in view of the whole House, where I
received the attentions of several of the members with whom I was
acquainted. This is an extra session for revising the laws of the
State. The number of members is too great. The House consists
of upwards of six hundred, of whom four hundred were present
this morning. They are a good-looking, orderly body of men, and
their business is conducted in a decorous, gentlemanly manner.
In the evening I went to a party at Mrs. Augustus Thorndike's.
A prettier party, a more tasteful house, I have never seen.
Madame Podestad and the Count sang delightfully. Mrs. Thorn-
dike's sisters, Mrs. Delprat and Mrs. Calvert, and their father. Dr.
Stuart, of Baltimore, are here on a visit.
September 9. — At eleven o'clock precisely we started on the
railroad for Lowell ; arrived at a quarter-past twelve. Started on
our return at two, and got to Boston at half-past three. The dis-
tance is twenty-five miles. There is a prodigious deal of travelling
on the road. They take seventy-five minutes to perform the dis-
tance, and the punctuality is astonishing. There was not a varia-
l6o THE DIAKV OK PHILIP HONE. r^<:tat. 55.
tion of half a minute in starting and arriving cither way. Our time
was rather short in Lowell, but long enough to see this lion of New-
England ; this ALmchester of America ; this city of enormous brick
factories, of canals and waste-gates, of billies and jennies, of
jacks and spindles.
I dined at Mr. H. G. Otis's, and had, as is always the case in the
house of this agreeable and hospitable gentleman, a most capital
dinner. Mrs. Ritchie (who came with her mother yesterday from
Newport) presided at the dinner, and imparted to it the charm
which always attends her presence. The company, besides myself,
consisted of Mr. and Madame Podestad, Mr. and Mrs. Bayard,
Messrs. Belknap, F. Grey, Sears, Middleton, J. G. Pierson, of New
York, and Allyn Otis.
September 10. — This day has been devoted to a sailing and
fishing party, in the beautiful bay of Boston, on board the
" Dream," — a pleasure schooner belonging to a company of gentle-
men of this place. She was formerly owned in New York by
Hosack, Center, and my son Robert and others. We left Boston
at ten o'clock, the party consisting of Messrs. Brooks, Belknap,
Whitwell, Isaac P. Davis, Colonel Freeman, Philip, and myself.
After we had proceeded twenty miles down the bay, and were en-
gaged in fishing, we were joined by the celebrated sloop (formerly
Mr. Cushing's boat), whose passengers, Messrs. Forbes, Bryant,
and Sturgis, joined our party. We sailed in company during the
remainder of the day, which wis passed in joviality and good-
humour. We caught about three dozen codfish and haddock, ate
our chowder, drank any quantity of punch, champagne, and old
Madeira. The weather was fine as possible, the wind fair both
going and returning, and we got home about eight o'clock.
September ii. — I passed this morning in returning visits. Mr.
Sears called to see me, and took me to his house to see a number
of capital pictures which he has lately brought from Italy. They
are copies from celebrated pictures, and possess great merit. Mr.
Sears's house is certainly the finest in the United States. The
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 161
front, on Beacon street, is one hundred feet. They say it cost
^175,000; and this noble house is filled with treasures of art.
Among the pictures are the "Miriam" and another of Allston's.
Mr. Sears went to Europe for his health, which was much impaired,
and returned quite well in July last.
September 12. — This day must be marked with a
fubik/.'^ white stone. It was one of the most pleasant of my
life. I expected much from it, but my expectation has
been more than realized. At six o'clock Philip and I went, by pre-
vious arrangement and breakfasted with the acting governor, Sam-
uel T. Armstrong. After breakfast we started in his carriage, the
party consisting of the Governor, his military staff, Adjutant Gen-
eral Dearborn, Colonel Winthrop, and ourselves. The morning was
lowering, but it soon cleared, and the weather during the day was
peculiarly favourable. On arriving at Lexington, eleven miles from
Boston, we left the carriage, and visited the celebrated spot behind
the meeting-house where the first blood was shed in the glorious
cause of American independence, on the 19th of April, 1775. A
granite monument has been erected on the spot where the bones
of the first martyrs in that cause were interred. No description
nor drawing of the spot could convey to my mind so full an idea
of the events of that important day in the history of my country
as a view of it, with the detailed account I received from my com-
panions.
We proceeded to Concord, seven miles farther by the same road
which the British took after the skirmish at Lexington, where they
were opposed by the militia, and where the first regular battle took
place. At Concord, therefore, the revolution commenced.
We found the whole population in motion, waiting to receive us ;
proceeded, agreeably to arrangement, to the house of Mr. Hoar,
member of Congress from the district, from whence we \vent to the
hotel, where a grand procession was formed, escorted by a com-
pany of troops. The procession passed through a line of ladies
and children (the latter pupils of the schools), and entered the
l62 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [/Etat. 55.
meeting-house in which the exercises of the clay were to be per-
formed. These exercises were introduced by prayer from the
venerable pastor, Dr. Ripley, a hearty old gentleman eighty-four
years old, as he informed me himself. Several odes were sung, and
an excellent oration spoken by the Rev. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a
young clergyman of distinguished talents and eloquence. It was
full of interesting details relative to the first settlement of Concord,
the first inland town settled in the colony. The grant which was
made to the Rev. Peter Buckley and Major Simon Willard was
dated 2d Sept., 1635, ^^^^ style. The history of the sufferings and
privations of the first settlers and their immediate descendants,
their wars and adventures with the Indians, and many facts illus-
trative of those primitive times carefully collated from the ancient
town records up to the time when this little republic of honest
Yankees was called to act an important part in the revolution
which separated the western world from the dominion of the
mother-country, gave a vivid interest to the oration, the reading of
which occupied two hours. The services all partook of the spirit
of the olden times; amongst them was the " 107th Psalm, tune
St. Martin's," " from the New England version used in the New
England churches in 1640," which was sung by the whole assem-
blage, the deacon giving it out line by line.
The exercises in the meeting-house concluded at two o'clock,
when the procession formed again and marched to a great pavilion
on the green, where tables and a cold collation were spread, and
about four hundred as honest-looking Yankees as ever sat down to
eat cold roast pig were assembled. Never have I seen anything of
the kind so decidedly American ; no foreign mfluence ; no grating
brogue ; every man looked and acted as if the honour of his virtu-
ous ancestors was in his sole keeping. Mr. Keyes, member of the
General Court from Concord, presided with great ability. There
were no regular toasts, but the president gave them, prefaced by
some apt remarks calculated to draw out in succession the distin-
guished guests. We had speeches from Lieutenant-Governor Arm-
i835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 63
Strong, Mr. Everett, Mr. Philips, member of Congress from Salem ;
General Dearborn, and Colonel Winthrop, of the Governor's staff;
Judge Davis, Mr. Bradford, and Mr. Emerson, the orator of the
day. I also was called out by a toast from the Chair, complimen-
tary to myself and the city of New York, and replied in a speech
which must have been pretty good, unless I mistook the expressions
of kindness to a stranger for an approval of his sentiments and his
manner of conveying them to the audience. I closed my address
with the following toast : " Concord and Boston, the birthplace and
cradle of American liberty ; good nursing has made the babe
healthy and vigorous, but she requires watching more now than
ever."
Our party went from the dinner-table to visit the ladies, who had
invited us to drink coffee with them at their banquet. The court-
house was beautifully fitted up with festoons and wreaths of flowers
and evergreens, and tables were spread at which all the ladies of
Concord had dined. There was not a house in the whole town
probably at which dinner had been provided this day, and not one
which contained an inhabitant who was able to leave it, and here I
was, talking to fine Yankee women and blooming Yankee girls until
the Governor's carriage was announced, which carried us unwill-
ingly away, and we arrived in Boston at nine o'clock. I have been
delighted with this affair, for it was precisely one of those which I
have long desired to witness ; and the honour which has been con-
ferred upon me on this occasion I shall remember with gratitude.
I had forgotten to remark that we had amongst us, in the meet-
ing-house and at the dinner, eight or ten old gentlemen who were
soldiers of the battle of Concord on the 19th of April, 1775.
They were eloquently alluded to by the orator of the day, and
verbal laurels were showered upon their hoary heads in abun-
dance by several of the gentlemen who spoke at dinner.
Sunday, Seff. 13. — We went this morning to the King's
Chapel, and heard a good sermon from Dr. Greenwood, the Uni-
tarian pastor of that congregation.
164 THE DIARY OF I'UILIP HONE. [.Etat.55.
One of the pillars intended for the portico of the new court-
house was brought into the city this evening from Quincy. It
weighs between twenty-eight and thirty tons, and was drawn by
forty-lwo yoke of oxen.
Sefiember 14. — We went this morning to see the pictures at
the Athen?eum, principally a head by Allston, " Isaac of York,"
which, notwithstanding the praise so liberally bestowed upon it
by the Bostonians, I do not like. P>ut there are some fine pict-
ures belonging to the Academy which required more time to
examine than I had to bestow, for I had to return to my lodgings
to take a luncheon preparatory to my departure.
SeptEiMBER 15. — The Legislature of Mississippi have passed a
law offering a reward of ^5,000 for the arrest and conviction of
any person " who shall utter, publish, or circulate within the limits
of that State, the ' Liberator,' or any other paper, circular, pam-
phlet, letter, or address of a seditious character."
September 23. — The plan for macadamizing the
aving street before my house not having fully answered
Broadway. •' n j
public expectation, the corporation have been trying
a new experiment in Broadway, in front of the block between
Warren and Chambers streets, copied from a plan of paving in St.
Petersburgh, Russia. The street is excavated to the depth of
about two feet ; a layer of broken stone is placed, such as is used
for macadamizing, on the top of which a regular pavement of
round stones, the whole covered by a compact course of wooden
blocks, sexagonal, one foot in length, and placed vertically. These
are made to fit very nicely, the interstices (which of course are
small) filled with liquid tar, and covered with a thin coat of gravel.
The street was used yesterday for the first time, and the multitudi-
nous train of omnibuses, carriages, carts, and wagons which infest
Broadway appeared to pass over the new Appian way " pretty
tolerably slick." But it remains to be seen whether hemlock
timber is less destructible than Nyack stone, and whether three dis-
tinct layers of road may not peradventure cost more than one.
1835.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 165
September 30. — I took Mr. Brevoort, Mr. Louis McLane, and
Washington Irving out in the carriage to dine with old Mr. Astor,
at Hell-gate. We had a pleasant, easy, sociable dinner, and
returned home at nine o'clock.
Jones Schermerhorn and Mary came in town this morning
to stay with us until they sail. The day of their departure,
alas ! approaches very fast. This day week my dear girls leave
me ; it would be nothing to part with them if Mary's health
were not precarious. If she were the gay, jocund, bright-
eyed, and cherry-cheeked creature she formerly was, her voyage
would be a pleasure to me as to herself; but Heaven will hear
my prayers, unworthy as I am, and return in due time my
beloved child to me, looking and acting and talking as Mary
Hone used to do.
October 5 . — The penny papers and the two-penny people of
our slander-loving city have nuts to crack in a spree which took
place last night, in which the performers were the young noblemen
who are here. The Marquis of Waterford, Lord John Beresford, Lord
Jocelyn, and Colonel Dundas dined yesterday on board the yacht
belonging to the Marquis, got drunk, came on shore, made a row,
had a battle with the watch, were overcome, taken to the watch-
house, and kept in durance vile until this morning, when they were
liberated by the Mayor. The papers, with their usual veracity,
charge upon the Mayor the offence of entertaining these gentle-
men at dinner yesterday and making them drunk; but it is
not true. Some of them dined with him on Tuesday, as I know,
for I was there ; but he is not chargeable with this Sunday's
entertainment.
October 8. — This has been a day of severe trial
m^^DirTters ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ family. My daughters, Mary and
Catharine, with Mary's husband, J. Jones Schermerhorn,
and Gen. James J. Jones, sailed for Havre in the packet-ship
" Poland," Captain Anthony. Everything was propitious. She is
a noble ship, has admirable accommodations, and a first-rate
l66 THE DIARY OF rillLir HONE. [/Etat. 55.
commander. The weather, which has been stormy the first of the
week, cleared up, and a more beautiful morning never broke upon
the eyes of anxious travellers and their friends. The wind, too, was
quite fair, and it would have been a holiday for us had not my dear
Mary's health been so delicate that fears, anxieties, and fore-
bodings dashed the cup of enjoyment from their lips and ours.
All the relations and intimate friends of the fLimily called in the
morning, and the anguish of parting and the excitement caused by
the number of ])ersons present was too much for poor Mary, and
I thought at one time it would have overcome her, but she went
off tolerably well.
October 12. — The friends of General Harrison,
FiTtiv^rr "^ ^^^ Whig candidate, got up a festival and dinner on the
5 th, the anniversary of the battle of the Thames, in
which he was the commanding general. This affair took place
twenty odd years ago, and this is the first time it has been cele-
brated in this part of the country ; but as glorification is the order
of the day, the Harrisonites thought it was better late than never.
But the best of the joke is, that the Van Buren men determined to
have a glorification of the same event, in honour of their candidate
for the Vice-Presidency, Richard M. Johnson, who fought in the
same battle, and, as they say, killed Tecumseh ; but he didn't. So
they had a dinner at Tammany Hall on the same day. The Mayor
presided, as a set-off against General Bogardus, the president of the
other party ; and amongst the regular toasts, and the one hundred
and one volunteers, of which Johnson was the oft-repeated burthen,
not a single man had the grace to mention the name of Harrison.
The play of Hamlet was performed, the part of Hamlet (by
particular desire) left out.
October 13. — Miss Helen Kane was at our house last evening,
and went home attended by Robert. A long time afterward a
messenger came to incjuire about her. Nicholson, her lover, met
them on the way, took the lady from Robert, and one of those
moonlight walks so dear to lovers was the consequence.
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 6/
October 14. — The gambling in stocks in Wall
Gambling. Street has arrived at such a pitch, and the sudden
reverses of fortune are so frequent, that it is a matter
of every-day intelligence that some unlucky rascal has lost other
people's money to a large amount, and run away, or been caught
and consigned to the hands of justice. It is one t.i^:on from the
mass ; there is some swearing among the losers, some regret on the
part of the immediate friends of the defaulter, but the chasm on
the face of society which his detection and removal occasions is
filled up in a day or two. They go to work again to cheat each
other, and the catastrophe of Monday is forgotten by Saturday
night.
The Count Survilliers (Joseph Bonaparte) arrived yesterday at
Philadelphia, in the ship " Monongahela," from Liverpool. His
visit to Europe was said, at the time of his departure from this
country, to be in consequence of certain revolutionary movements
in France, which indicated a chance for the restoration of the
Bonapartes to the throne. If such was his motive he has been
disappointed, and it is likely he will pass the remainder of his life
in the United States.
October 24. — The excitement about abolition
" ! ^°" meetings is increasing, and, as I feared, the remedy
is becoming worse than the disease. The abolition
convention was to have assembled at Utica on Wednesday, and the
Common Council had granted to them the use of the court-room
in which to hold the meeting. This was highly disapproved by a
large proportion of the citizens ; the consent was withdrawn, and
the convention procured one of the churches. An opposition
meeting was held on the same day, which succeeded in preventing
the convention from meeting, and compelled the members to leave
the city, although in their number were reverend divines and sage
judges, and a speech of that ass Lewis Tappan was cut short in the
middle.
October 25. — My birthday. I am fifty-five years of age. My
l68 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^Etat. 55.
health is tolerably good, my faculties unimpaired, my mind capable,
I believe, as ever it was, but less disposed to exertion ; my temper,
I fear, a little more irritable than it should be, and I cannot jump so
high, nor run so fast, as I did twenty years ago ; but, on the whole,
I have not much reason to complain, and am better off in all
respects than I deserve to be.
October 26. — Mr. Van lUiren has been in town about ten
days. I called to see him and invited him to dine, but others had
the start of me, and he was engaged for the whole of his stay in
the city. He leaves town to-mcjrrow. He looks very well, and,
from his ease of manner and imperturbable good temper, it might
be supposed that he had less to occupy and trouble his mind than
any man in New York. His outward appearance is like the
unruffled surface of the majestic river which covers rocks and
whirlpools, but shows no marks of the agitation beneath.
The general meeting took place last evening, at
MtTr*^^^ Tammany Hall, to approve of the nomination of a
member of Congress in place of Campbell P. White,
and the Assembly ticket. Great opposition was expected from the
anti- monopoly agrarian and pledge party, and one of these rows
for which Tammany Hall is famous took place, and great was the
confusion and dire the din which prevailed in the wigwam. The
opposition was directed principally against the nomination of
Gideon Lee for Congress. He is thought to be a little too much
of a gentleman. The regulars, however, having previously made
their arrangements disregarding the opposition, declared the nomi-
nations agreed to, adjourned the meeting, and put out the lights.
The malcontents, however, were not content to grope thus in the
dark, but each producing from his pocket a tallow-candle, ten to
the pound, and a loco-foco to ignite it, soon brought matters to
light again, reorganized the meeting by placing the noted dema-
gogue, Joel G. Seaver, in the chair, passed resolutions condemning
banks and other monopolies and approving the system of Icgislativ^e
pledges, substituted Charles G. Ferris for Congress in place of Mr.
1 835-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 169
Lee, put Job Haskell and three or four others on the Assembly
ticket, and marched up to the Bowery to the music of their own
throats and the light of their own candles.
In the mean time the Native American Association, made up of
different parties, and having no other bond of union than the total
exclusion of foreigners from office, have had a meeting and nomi-
nated an Assembly ticket, of whom I do not know an individual ;
but I like the ostensible object of this association, and am of the
opinion that times may come and cases occur in which its influence
may be favourably exercised.
October 31. — The Native American Association have nominated
James Monroe for Congress. The split among the Tammany folks
is so wide, and their animosity against each other so bitter, that
Monroe may very easily be elected if the Whigs can be interested
sufficiently in the event to induce them to go to the polls.
November i i . — I went this evening to the Chatham-
Oratorios. Street chapcl to hear the oratorio of the " Messiah " per*-
formed by the Sacred Music Society, and was astonished
at the magnificence of the scene ; the audience, of whom a large
proportion were ladies, must have amounted to between two and
three thousand. Mr. and Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Franklin, Brough, and
Pierson were the principal singers. The chorus consisted of upward
of a hundred ; the females, all dressed alike in white and arranged
on the opposite sides of the music gallery, formed a beautiful and
interesting coup d'ml. The ground-floor, which is very capacious,
and two large galleries were so crowded that I could scarcely find
standing-room behind the benches, and I came away before this
rational and delightful entertainment was finished.
How little do the people of such a city as New York know what
is passing around them ! These oratorios have been going on for
a long time, and I have never heard them spoken of; while if I
had attended such an exhibition in a foreign country it would
have been the theme of a glowing and animated description, and
very probably I should have lamented the want of such things in
170 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [TEtat. 55.
my own country. So every night we have four theatres open, and
one at least, the Park, full at every performance, and making
money fast enough, I should say, to satisfy even Mr. Simpson,
the proprietor.
The avidity with which people crowd to hear these oratorios, and
the immense houses which ^\r. and Airs. Wood bring nighdy to the
Park, prove that the New Yorkers are not devoid of musical taste,
notwithstanding that the Italian opera does not succeed, and the
proprietors are about selling their oi)era-house (the neatest and
most beautiful theatre in the United States, and unsurpassed in
Europe) ; but there are two reasons for this, both of which savour
much of the John Bullism which we have inherited from our fore-
fathers. The first is, that we want to understand the language ; we
cannot endure to sit by and see the performers splitting their sides
with laughter, and we not take the joke ; dissolved in " briny tears,"
and we not permitted to sympathize with them ; or running each
other through the body, and we devoid of the means of condemning
or justifying the act. The other is the private boxes, so elegantly
fitted up, which occupy the whole of the second tier. They cost
six thousand dollars each, to be sure, and the use of them is all
that the proprietors get for their money ; but it forms a sort of
aristocratical distinction. Many people do not choose to occupy
seats (more pleasant and commodious than they can find in any
other theatre) while others recline upon satin cushions, and rest
their elbows upon arm-chairs, albeit they are bought with their own
money. These causes have prevented the success of the Italian
opera, and I do not wonder at it. I like this spirit of independence
which refuses its countenance to anything exclusive. " Let the
proprietors," say the sovereigns, " have their private boxes and satin
cushions ; they have paid well for them and are entitled to enjoy
them. We will not furnish the means of supporting the establish-
ment, but go to the Park Theatre, where it is ' first come, first
served ; ' where our dollar will furnish us with ' the best the House
affords,' and where the Woods will provide us with that dollar's
i835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I /I
worth of something we can understand without the aid of a
bungHng translation.
November 13. — This gentleman (who, by the bye,
Booth, the J i^^yQ never seen) has been playing at the Bowery
Tragedian.
Theatre. He is a great actor in high, strongly-marked
tragedy parts, such as Richard, lago. Sir Giles, and Sir Edward
Mortimer. He is also remarkable for his eccentricities, and there
seems to be little doubt that at times his mind is alienated ; he
gave a proof of this on Monday night. He was to play lago.
When all was ready, the play begun, and Othello (Hamblin) waiting
for him, he stalked across the stage, made an irregular exit by a
back door, and was seen no more that night and for two or three
following days. Some of the audience got their money back, and
the play went on with a substitute in the part. Poor Booth now
comes out with a humble apology for the " sad and unconscious
act," the excuse for which he says " is a serious visitation, affecting
and enfeebling my nerves, and a long deprivation of sleep, acting
on a body debilitated by previous illness, and a mind disordered
by domestic affliction, occasioning a partial derangement." He
prays to be permitted to appear again, and says very affectingly,
" If I find by your reception that I have offended beyond forgive-
ness, I will immediately withdraw from that stage where I have ever
been treated, both by the public and the manager, with kindness
and liberality." Mr. Hamblin has by this apology been prevailed
upon to consent to his appearance to-morrow evening in the part
of Sir Giles Overreach, and there is no doubt that public sympathy
will be excited to fill the house and give the poor fellow not only
the forgiveness of the audience, but a kind and generous reception.
A meeting of the friends of General Harrison was
arnson held, ou Thursday evening, at Constitution Hall, to
recommend him as the candidate for the Presidency in
opposition to Mr. Van Buren. I did not attend this meeting, nor
do I intend to commit myself to the support of General Harrison,
Judge White, or any other man, until it is clearly ascertained that
1/2 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 55.
there is no chance for Mr. Webster. A meeting of his friends is
soon to be called in this city. That meeting I w/// attend. Daniel
Webster's claim is incomparably stronger than that of either of the
other candidates. He is entitled to the people's votes, for he is
their true friend, and not the friend of a party or a section. He
merits the support of his country, for his patriotism is not of those
scanty proportions which will cover only a part of his country, and
the Constitution can never be so safe in any other hands as in his
who has proved himself its ablest expounder and firmest supporter.
I go, therefore, for Webster until it is made manifest that he has
no chance of success, and then for the next best man, Harrison or
whoever it may be.
November 26. — The following notice is published
Webster ^j^jg momiug with one thousand one hundred signatures :
Meeting.
" Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and insep-
arable. The citizens of the city and county of New York, friendly
to the election of Daniel Webster to the Presidency, are requested
to assemble at Masonic Hall, on Friday evening, the 4th of
December."
There are now three candidates fliirly in the field in opposition
to Mr. Van Buren, very much to his satisfaction, no doubt ; the
more the merrier, the greater the division amongst his opponents
the more certain his chance ; such things do not happen in the
party which supports him, — they are too well drilled, and, right or
wrong, they "go ahead." Judge White, of Tennessee, General
Harrison, of Ohio, and Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, are the
Whig candidates in opposition to the nominee of the Baltimore
Convention ; the friends of each seem at present indisposed to
abandon their favourite, but I should not be surprised if, in the end,
they should give up their own ground and take to Clay.
November 27. — The good people of New York are
Musical certainly not fairly chargeable with a want of taste in
music, or liberality in rewarding musical talent, not-
withstanding the failure of the Italian opera. That failure arose
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 73
from causes inherent in its own construction, which I have explained
in a former part of this journal ; but the citizens of New York, not
those alone who constitute what is called "good society," but re-
spectable persons in the middle walks of life, who select with care-
ful deliberation the kind of amusement which suits them best, are
fond of music, and patronize it in preference to any other public
or theatrical entertainment. This description of persons consti-
tuted a large proportion of the audience at the performance of
Mr. Horn's oratorio on Wednesday evening, and it is said that the
proceeds amounted to ^1,600. In corroboration of my opin-
ion on this subject, the engagements of those beautiful singers,
Mr. and Mrs. Wood, have been more profitable than any former
one in this country.
Living in New York is exorbitantly dear, and it falls
Dear Living, pretty hard upou pcrsons like me, who live upon their
income, and harder still upon that large and respecta-
ble class consisting of the officers and clerks in public institutions,
whose support is derived from fixed salaries. I can raise my rents,
if the tenants are able and willing to pay ; but the increase of their
pay depends upon others, who in their turn are precluded from the
exercise of liberality by the fact of their being the stewards of
others, who cannot be consulted, and who as individuals may be
liberal enough, but collectively are very apt to verify the adage that
" corporations have no souls." Marketing of all kinds, with the
exception of apples and potatoes, is higher than I ever knew it.
The sweat of the brow of New York all runs into the pockets of the
farmers. I paid to-day $30 a ton for hay, and not an old-fash-
ioned ton of 2,240 lbs., but a new-fangled ton, invented to cheat
the consumer, of 2,000 lbs. This is a cent and a half a pound,
nearly three times the ordinary price. I paid also for my winter
butter, 400 to 500 lbs., $2.14 per pound. In the long course of
thirty-four years' housekeeping I never buttered my bread at so
extravagant a rate. Good butter is almost an indispensable article
in the family ; but there are many persons in New York as good as
1/4 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 55.
myself who must be content to eat dry bread this winter, or at least
to spread the children's slices confoundedly thin.
Governor Mc DECEMBER 2. — The messagc of the Governor of
Duffle's South Carolina to the Legislature is published in the
essage. ^ (^Qfnmercial Advertiser " of to-day. It is altogether
worthy of the redoubtable champion of nullification, it "out-Herods
Herod ; " it is made up of gunpowder bombs, blunderbusses, and
hand-grenades. He has worked himself up into an exterminating
passion, and it is impossible to read his speech without shivering
with apprehension and looking around to see a fiery dragon issuing
from the crater of a volcano ; and all this rage is excited on the
subject of the silly abolitionists, who, from mistaken views of moral
and religious duty, have been meddling in tLings which did not
concern them. See now, infatuated men, what you have done !
Crittenden, of the Eagle Tavern, used to tell a story of a Yankee
miUtia captain, who, in addressing his troops to " screw their cour-
age to the sticking place," depicted in glowing terms the awful
consequences which would result from the success of the enemy.
"They will, gentlemen," said he, "lay your towns in ashes, ravish
your wives, murder your children, and pull down your fences." So
it may be said to the abolition meddlers, only the subject is almost
too serious to joke about, and the application is only to be excused
by Governor McDuffie's rhodomontade : —
" See, you abolitionists, ye Tappans, ye Thompsons, see what you
have done, — you have sown the seeds of discord amongst friends
and brethren of different sections of our hitherto happy land ; you
have sought to break down the solemn compact into which our
fathers entered on the adoption of the Constitution ; you have caused
your countrymen of the South to tremble for their safety and their
lives, and — you have made Governor McUuffie angry."
But in truth the temper of this document is ridiculous, and its ar-
guments absurd. " It is my deliberate opinion," says the Governor,
" that the laws of every community should punish this species of
interference by deaih without benefit of clergy^ regarding the authors
iS35-] THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. "175
of it as enemies of the human race." He demands of the non-
slaveholding States that they shall pass laws to punish, in the most
exemplary manner, this nondescript and non-enumerated crime
against the peace and dignity of South Carolina ; and they had
better be pretty quick about it. Governor Marcy, when he reads
the following sensible passage, will be derelict of duty if he does
not anticipate the meeting of our Legislature, and call them together
to pass laws for the hanging instanter all the vile miscreants who
have offended Governor McDufhe : —
" As between separate and independent nations the refusal of a
State to punish these offensive proceedings against another, by its
citizens or subjects, makes the State so refusing an accomplice in
the outrage, 2.xiA fitrnishes 2, just QdM's& of war." A pretty pickle
we of the North are going to be placed in ! Louis Philippe on one
side, and Governor McDuffie on the other. We shall have to
apologize to both ; the same formulae will do for both, with the
alteration of " the State of New York " for ** the United States."
The course of reasoning in this message is not to prove that
slavery is unavoidable, and cannot be abolished in the Southern
States. Oh, no ! he scouts that idea. He goes the whole hog.
Slavery an evil ? By no means. It is a positive benefit to the com-
munity, sanctified by God and man in all ages ; it promotes religion
and morality, and, what is more wonderful still, it proves incontesta-
bly the existence of liberty in its most fascinating shapes. The Gov-
ernor does certainly work himself up into this absurd conclusion,
and winds up his argument, like the stars which coruscate on the ex-
plosion of a sky-rocket, with the following magnificent paragraph : —
" Domestic slavery, therefore, instead of being a political evil, is
the corner-stone of our republican edifice. No patriot who justly
estimates our privileges will tolerate the idea of emancipation at
any period, however remote, or on any conditions of pecuniary
advantage, however favourable. I would as soon think of opening
a negotiation for selling the liberty of the State at once, as for mak- .
ing any stipulation for the ultimate emancipation of our slaves.
1/6 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 55.
So deep is my conviction on this subject, that if I were doomed to
die immediately after recording these sentiments, I could say, in all
sincerity and under all the sanctions of Christianity and patriotism,
' God forbid that my descendants in the remotest generations should
live in any other than a community having the institution of do-
mestic slavery as it existed among the patriarchs of the primitive
church and in all the free states of antiquity ! ' "
This Hotspur of the South having let off his steam by the safety-
valve of this last flourish, and recovered his breath, turns suddenly
around and vents the residuum of his vial of wrath upon poor Jack-
son. What he says upon the subject, *' though I most powerfully
and potently believe," adds materially to the ludicrous wrath of
this furious message. After telling the Legislature that he has not
much to say on national affairs, and giving them the comfortable
assurance that the corruption of the government will soon become
incurable, he adds : " The chief magistrate of our imperial Re-
public is at this moment more independent of public opinion, and
wields a more despotic power, than either the King of Great Britain
or the King of France, and it remains to be seen whether the peo-
ple of the United States, like the degenerate Romans in the time
of Tiberius, will recognize his right to nominate his successor, by
raising to the throne the imperial, though not very youthful, Caesar,
who has been already clothed in the purple with due solemnity, and
formally presented to the people as the anointed and rightful heir
to the succession."
December 8. — I have seldom been so much shocked
T T °c • , by the sudden announcement of a death, or have real-
judge Smith. -' '
ized so fully the uncertainty of life, as in the case of
Judge Smith, — Nathan Smith, Senator of the United States from
Connecticut. Exactly a week ago I met him at Nevins and Town-
send's office in Wall street, was introduced to and conversed with
him a few minutes. I have always been struck with his appearance
when I saw him in the Senate, and was much pleased to be made
acquainted with him.
1S35] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 7/
When I went home I described him to the family, — a fine, hand-
some, healthy-looking gentleman, aged sixty-six years, of great
personal dignity, and of the old school in his dress ; a remnant of
that race of men, the very form and fashion of whose clothes are a
passport to deference and respect ; his white hair well powdered ; a
handsome blue coat with shining gilt buttons ; drab kerseymere
breeches and top-boots, the clean white tops of which were well
contrasted by the elaborate black polish of the legs. Now that
this worthy man has gone, I know of but one such pair of boots in
American occupancy, and they are at present the admiration of
Europe, on the well-formed legs of my learned and excellent friend,
Dr. Mott, of this city.
I dined to-day with Mr. Charles March ; a very pleasant party,
but its crowning feature was Daniel Webster. I have never seen
him so agreeable ; for five hours he was the life of the company ;
cheerful, gay, full of anecdotes, and entirely free from a sort of
gloomy abstraction in which I have sometimes seen him, as it were,
envelop himself. He amused us with anecdotes of his early life,
stories of down- East and descriptions of down- East men and man-
ners ; talked wisdom enough to let us see that he was wise, but
evidently preferred the light gossip in which he delights to pass the
social hour. On public affairs Mr. Webster avowed his determina-
tion to support the government in its stand against France. He
says the President cannot make any explanation, and the honour of
the country is concerned in his being borne out in his refusal. I
inferred, however, from what he said on this subject (and he was
quite free and communicative), that he does not apprehend any im-
mediate difficulties of a serious nature, and appears to think that
the French will yet do right.
December 10. — Married last evening, December 9,
Weddings. Peter Augustus Schermerhorn, second son of Peter
Schermerhorn, to Adeline Emily, youngest daughter of
the late Henry A. Coster. The wedding took place at Dr. Hosack's.
We were all there ; a large company was assembled. The Scher-
1/8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 55.
merhorns, the Costers, the Hosacks, and the Hones, all the links
of several long chains, form a goodly number when they are col-
lected together on such an occasion. The ceremony was performed
by the Rev. Mr. Sherwood, the respectable pastor of the Episcopal
church at Hyde Park. The wedding supper was sumptuous, but
no part of it so superb as the products of the doctor's greenhouse,
which graced the upper end of the table.
Mrs. Hosack has now married the last of her daughters, and I
am released from the guardianship of the last of my seven wards.
I have had the principal management of their property for the last
fourteen years, and am now preparing my accounts for a settlement
with the last heir. The bride is very young, only seventeen years
old on the i8th of May last.
December i i . — The prevalence of westerly winds during the
present cold weather has deprived us of news from Europe. The
packet from Havre of the 24th of October has not arrived. This
delay, though not unusual at this time of the year, occasions some
anxiety in the present excited state of the public mind with regard
to the dispute with France. It is understood that Mr. Barton has
orders to make a formal demand of the indemnity, and in case of
refusal, to break off the negotiation by returning home, in which
event Mr. Pageot, the French Charge if Affaires at \\'ashington,
will hand in his P.P.C., and both parties will draw off their diplo-
matic forces. Mr. Barton is expected to arrive in one of the first
packets. I have, however, a more interesting reason to note the
non-intercourse with France occasioned by storms and head-winds.
It is sixty-four days since my daughters sailed, and we begin to be
anxious for news from them. The first change of wind will bring it.
December 15. — The practice of duelling has in-
Dueiiing. crcascd to such a degree in the South and West, and is
marked with such savage ferocity and deadly determi-
nation, as to form a stigma upon the national character. It seems
impossible to carry on a political election, which is in any degree
warmly contested, without an excitement of feeling leading to quar-
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1/9
rels amongst the most active partisans, and most frequently be-
tween the candidates themselves, which nothing but blood will
settle. Scarcely a day passes that our newspapers do not contain
accounts of some of those sanguinary semi-barbarous conflicts,
and these Southern and Western men, like the brant shooters of
Long Island, do not like to waste powder and ball for nothing.
The order of combat is such as to preclude the chance of both the
combatants escaping ; it is not children's play ; one at least, and
frequently both, seal their political faith and write their title to
fame in blood which could be better employed in defending their
native soil and supporting the liberties of their country ; and this
practice unhappily prevails amongst the finest fellows in the com-
munity, the choice spirits possessing all those high qualities re-
quired to develop the resources and establish the institutions
of a new country. But the vitiated taste of the people seems to
require that a man in that part of the country should fight his way
up to public notice, and his claim to serve his fellow-citizens is
not so well estabhshed by talents, virtue, and patriotism, as by
having " killed his man." The foregoing remarks have been sug-
gested at this time by the publication in the " National Intelligen-
cer" of a letter from Florida, giving an account of a desperate duel,
fought on the 21st of November, between Captain Everett White,
brother of Colonel White, the delegate to Congress from Florida,
and Colonel A. Bellamy, late president of the legislative council,
arising out of the circumstances of an election in which they were
rival candidates, and White had been elected. The regulations
of this combat were such as to render a fatal result inevitable.
" The parties were to stand sixty feet apart, each with four pistols,
and to advance and fire. Captain White advanced and received
three shots without injury, and then fired at a distance of fifteen
paces. His first shot passed through Colonel Bellamy's arm, the
next through his body, and in the act of advancing with the other
two pistols he received a mortal wound from Colonel Bellamy's
l8o THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [,^tat. 55.
fourth pistol. Colonel Bellamy is not yet dead, but must certainly
die of his wounds."
In this manner have the gentlemen proved themselves men of
honour and courage, and their fellow-citizens sanction the act which
has deprived them of one, at least, of their distinguished men, by
their expressions of sorrow, unmingled with the slightest disappro-
bation of the savage practice which occasioned the catastrophe.
The letter goes on to say : " I yesterday performed the painful
office of following Captain White to the grave. The Court ad-
journed, and the funeral was attended by the Bar and the grand
jury in a body. Every testimony of respect and deep-felt interest
was evinced by the whole population of the place. All the stores
were shut, and I have seldom witnessed a more general and sincere
exhibition of sorrow than was manifested on this solemn occasion."
Unjaraiieied DECEMBER 1 7. — How shall I rccord the cvcnts of
Calamity by jast night, or how attempt to describe the most awful
calamity which has ever visited these United States?
The greatest loss by fire that has ever been known, with the ex-
ception perhaps of the conflagration of Moscow, and that was
an incidental concomitant of war. I am fatigued in body, dis-
turbed in mind, and my fancy filled with images of horror which
my pen is inadequate to describe. Nearly one-half of the first
ward is in ashes, five hundred to seven hundred stores, which
with their contents are valued at $20,000,000 to $40,000,000, are
now lying in an indistinguishable mass of ruins. There is not,
perhaps, in the world the same space of ground covered by so
great an amount of real and personal property as the scene of
this dreadful conflagration. The fire broke out at nine o'clock last
evening. I was writing in the library when the alarm was given,
and went immediately down. The night was intensely cold,
which was one cause of the unprecedented progress of the flames,
for the water froze in the hydrants, and the engines and their hose
could not be worked without great difficulty. The firemen, too,
1835.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 181
had been on duty all last night, and were almost incapable of per-
forming their usual services. The fire originated in the store of
Comstock & Adams, in Merchant street, — a narrow, crooked street,
filled with high stores lately erected and occupied by dry-goods
and hardware merchants, which led from Hanover to Pearl street.
When I arrived at the spot the scene exceeded all description ; the
progress of the flames, like flashes of lightning, communicated in
every direction, and a few minutes sufficed to level the lofty edi-
fices on every side. It crossed the block to Pearl street. I per-
ceived that the store of my son was in danger, and made the best
of my way, by Front street around the old Slip, to the spot. We
succeeded in getting out the stock of valuable dry goods, but they
were put in the square, and in the course of the night our labours
were rendered unavailing, for the fire reached and destroyed them,
with a great part of all which were saved from the neighbouring
stores; this part of Pearl street consisted of dry-goods stores,
with stocks of immense value, of which little or nothing was saved.
At this period the flames were unmanageable, and the crowd, in-
cluding the firemen, appeared to look on with the apathy of de-
spair, and the destruction continued until it reached Coenties Slip,
in that direction, and Wall street down to the river, including all
South street and Water street ; while to the west. Exchange street,
including all Post's stores. Lord's beautiful row, William street,
Beaver and Stone streets, were destroyed. The splendid edifice
erected a few years ago by the liberality of the merchants, known
as the Merchants' Exchange, and one of the ornaments of the city,
took fire in the rear, and is now a heap of ruins. The fagade
and magnificent marble columns fronting on Wall street are all
that remain of this noble building, and resemble the ruins of an
ancient temple rather than the new and beautiful resort of the
merchants. W^hen the dome of this edifice fell in, the sight was
awfully grand ; in its fall it demolished the statue of Hamilton,
executed by Ball Hughes, which was erected in the rotunda only
eight months ago, by the public spirit of the merchants.
l82 THE DIARY OF PIIILir HONE. [/Etat. 55.
It would be an idle task to attempt an enumeration of the
sufferers ; in the number are most of my nearest friends and of my
family ; my son John, my son-in-law Schermerhorn, and my nephew
Isaac S. Hone, and Samuel S. Rowland were all burnt out.
The buildings covered an area of a quarter of a mile square,
closely built up with fine stores of four and five stories in height,
filled with merchandise, all of which lie in a mass of burning, smok-
ing ruins, rendering the streets indistinguishable.
All the property within the following limits is destroyed : south
side of Wall street from William street to East river, including the
Merchants' Exchange, and excepting three or four unfinished build-
ings above Pearl street ; Exchange street, both sides, from Broad
street, crossing William to Merchant street ; Merchant street, both
sides, from Wall street to Hanover square ; Pearl street, both sides,
from Wall street to Coenties Slip, with the whole sweep of Han-
over square. Stone street, and Beaver street, nearly to Broad street ;
Water street, Front street, and South street, with all the intersect-
ing streets and lanes from Wall street to Coenties Slip, including
the south side of Coffee House Slip. A large ])ortion of the valua-
ble estates of the Jones and Schermerhorn fLimilies was within
these limits, and is not now to be found. The fire has been burning
all day in the direction of Coenties Slip, and was not fairly gotten
under until towards evening.
A calculation is made in the " Commercial " this afternoon
that the number of buildings burned is 570, and that the whole
loss is something over $15,000,000. The insurance offices
are all, of course, bankrupt, their collective capitals amount to
$11,750,000 ; but those down-town have a large proportion of the
risks, and will not be able to pay fifty per cent, of the losses. The
unfortunate stockholders lose all. In this way I su.ffer directly,
and in others indirectly, to a large amount.
The Mayor, who has exerted himself greatly in this fearful emer-
gency, called the Common Council together this afternoon for the
purpose cf establishing private patrols for the protection of the
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 83
city ; for if another fire should break out before the firemen have
recovered from the fatigues of the last two nights, and the engines
and hose be repaired from the effects of the frost, it would be
impossible to arrest its progress. Several companies of uniformed
militia and a company of United States marines are under arms, to
protect the property scattered over the lower part of the city.
I have been alarmed by some of the signs of the times which
this calamity has brought forth ; the miserable wretches who
prowled about the ruins and became beastly drunk on the cham-
pagne and other wines and liquors with which the streets and
wharves were lined, seemed to exult in the misfortune, and such
expressions were heard as, " Ah ! they'll make no more five per
cent, dividends," and "This will make the aristocracy haul in their
horns." Poor, deluded wretches ! — little do they know that their
own horns " live, and move, and have their being " in these very
horns of the aristocracy, as their instigators teach them to call it.
This cant is the very text from which their leaders teach their de-
luded followers. It forms part of the warfare of the poor against
the rich, — a warfare which is destined, I fear, to break the hearts
of some of the politicians of Tammany Hall, who have used these
men to answer a temporary purpose, and find now that the dogs
they have taught to bark will bite them as soon as their political
opponents.
These remarks are not so much the result of what I have heard
of the conduct and conversations of the rabble at the fire as of
what I witnessed this afternoon at the Bank for Savings. There
was an immediate run upon the bank by a gang of low Irishmen,
who demanded their money in a peremptory and threatening man-
ner. At this season there is usually a great preponderance of
deposits over the drafts, the first of January being the day on
which the balances are made up of the semi-annual dividend.
All the sums now drawn lose nearly six months' interest, which the
bank gains ; these Irishmen, however, insisted upon having their
money, and when they received it were evidently disappointed
1 84 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 55.
and would fain have put it back again. This class of men are the
most ignorant, and consequently the most obstinate, white men in
the world, and I have seen enough to satisfy me that, with few
exceptions, ignorance and vice go together. These men, rejoicing
in the calamity which has ruined so many institutions and individ-
uals, thought it a fine opportunity to use the power which their
dirty money gave them to add to the general distress, and sought to
embarrass this excellent institution, which had been established for
the sole benefit of the poor ; but they have not the sense to under-
stand, nor hearts to respond to, the benevolent feelings which
prompt the managers of the savings-banks to devote their whole
time and labour for the benefit of others. Now comes the most
painful of all the reflections which arise out of this unnatural state
of society. These Irishmen, strangers among us, without a feeling
of patriotism or affection in common with American citizens, decide
the elections in the city of Neio York. They make presidents and
governors, and they send men to represent us in the councils of
the nation, and, what is worse than all, their importance in these
matters is derived from the use which is made of them by political
demagogues, who despise the tools they work with. Let them
look to it ; the time may not be very distant when the same brogue
which they have instructed to shout " Hurrah for Jackson ! " shall
be used to impart additional horror to the cry of " Down with
the natives ! "
Decemrer 18. — I went out this morning with my
Dr. Hosack. -^yifg to vicw the sccuc of the recent conflagration \ but
we had proceeded only a short distance when we met
Robert Benson, who informed us that Dr. Hosack, the elder, had
been seized a few moments previous with a fit of apoplexy. We of
course returned, and I went immediately around to his house ; and
what a scene was there ! What an awfiil instance of the uncer-
tainty of life and the instability of human happiness ! Here was
the doctor laid upon a sofa, insensible to all around him, his limbs
paralyzed, his faculties suspended, and his large and estimable
1835-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I85
family surrounding his couch, with despair and anguish depicted in
every countenance. Two days before, the very room in which he
Hes was the scene of festivity. The bride (Mrs. Schermerhorn) was
receiving the visits of her friends, and I was there, a joyful witness
of the happiness of both families. Since that time, in a space of
less than forty-eight hours, Mrs. Berryman, the daughter of Mr.
John G. Coster, has died suddenly. The calamity under which the
city now suffers so severely has fallen heavily upon every branch
of the connection. The splendid estate of the bride, which I was
about to transfer to her husband, has been most seriously
encroached upon by the same cause ; and the highly respected
head of her family, from being in the full possession of his bodily
and mental faculties, lies extended on his bed of death, pros-
trated in an instant, in a situation which seems to preclude all
hopes of recovery.
Further DECEMBER 1 9. — I wcnt ycstcrday and to-day to see
Particulars thc ruius. It is an awful sight. The whole area from
of the Fire. ^y^jj ^^^^^^ ^^ Cocnties Slip, bounded by Broad street
to the river, with the exception of Broad street, the Wall-street
front between William and Broad, and the blocks bounded by
Broad street, Pearl street, the south side of Coenties Slip and South
street, are now a mass of smoking ruins.
It is gratifying to witness the spirit and firmness with which the
merchants meet this calamity. There is no despondency ; every
man is determined to go to work to redeem his loss, and all are
ready to assist their more unfortunate neighbours. A meeting of
citizens was held this day, at noon, at the Session Court- room, on
the call of the Mayor. A committee of one hundred and twenty-
five was appointed, which met in the evening at the Mayor's office
and appointed sub-committees on each branch of duty submitted
to them. I am of the committee to make application for relief to
the State government. That committee is to meet to-morrow
evening at my house. The utmost spirit and harmony prevailed at
the meeting, which embraced all the best and most influential men
1 86 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^Etat. 55.
in the city. During the evening intelHgence was brought in of the
proceedings of a great meeting held yesterday in Philadelphia, at
which the Mayor presided. Amongst other things a resolution was
passed calling upon the general government to appropriate the sum
of ^12,000,000 to our relief. This is an important step, for it will
tend to remove the only objection to such a measure, — that of its
being exclusive and partial in its operation. A body of four hun-
dred Philadelphia firemen came on yesterday to relieve our firemen.
They are to be seen about the streets and in the neighbourhood of
the fire, in their peculiar uniform. This is truly a brotherly kind-
ness and charity, and will never be forgotten.
Companies of soldiers are on guard all the time, and patrols of
citizens are formed in each ward, who are on duty during the
night ; the exhausted state of the firemen and the disabled con-
dition of their apparatus render these extraordinary measures
necessary. A fire would be awful at this moment. The in-
surance offices are all bankrupt, and every man is his own under-
writer.
The Merchants' Exchange is held at the Mechanics' Exchange
in Broad street ; the post-office removed to the rotunda in Cham-
bers street. The printing-offices, of which a large number are
burned out, are distributed into different places, and it is amusing
to see the holes and corners into which the merchants have stowed
themselves.
Mr. Biddle, President of the Bank of the United States, came on
to-day to see what that institution could do for us. The first step
must be to turn the bonds and mortgages held by the insurance
companies into cash, to enable them to i)ay as much as they can of
their losses. But the unfortunate stockholders, what is to become
of them?
The following are the sub-committees appointed at the meeting
of the general committee this evening : i. Committee to ascertain
the extent and probable value of property destroyed, and how far
the sufferers are protected by insurance : Nathaniel Weed, Gabriel
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 8/
P. Dissosway, Brittain L. Woolley, George S. Robbins, Walter R.
Jones, Isaac S. Hone.
2. Committee on application to Congress for an extension of
credit on duty bonds, and remission of duties, and on such other
aid as it may be expedient to ask of the general government :
Albert Gallatin, Preserved Fish, George Griswold, John T. Irving,
Louis McLane, James G. King, Reuben Withers, Cornelius W.
Lawrence, Samuel Jones.
3. Committee on application to the State and city government :
Enos T. Throop, John L. Graham, John A. Stevens, Charles H.
Russell, Thomas J. Oakley, Philip Hone, Daniel Jackson, Benjamin
L. Swan.
4. Committee on the origin and cause of the fire : James B.
Murray, George Douglass, James Lee, David Bryson, Marcus Wilbur.
5. Committee on change in the regulation of the streets : Samuel
B. Ruggles, Jonathan Goodhue, David S. Jones, John Haggerty,
John S. Crary.
6. Committee on the erection of buildings and the arrangement
of the fire department : Stephen Allen, Peter G. Stuyvesant, John
Leonard, Benjamin Strong, Charles A. Davis, George D. Strong,
Prosper M. Wetmore, Seth Geer, George Ireland, James J. Roose-
velt, Jr., Dudley Selden, and Stephen Whitney.
7o Committee on relief, with power to receive and distribute
contributions : Samuel Cowdry, Jacob Lorillard, Samuel S. Howland,
Benjamin McVickar, M.D., John J. Boyd, William T. McCoun,
Ogden Hoffman, William L. Stone, Jacob Harvey, Thaddeus Phelps,
John W. Leavitt, James Boorman, Edward Prime.
December 21, — The sub-committee on the subjects of applica-
tions to the State and city governments met last evening at my
house and agreed to a report recommending an application to the
Legislature to issue a State stock, under the guarantee of the cor-
poration, of six millions of dollars, and the appointment of a com-
mittee of five to go to Albany and confer with the Governor on the
facts to be laid before the Legislature. The general committee met
1 88 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^^tat. 55.
this evening ; our report was accepted, but the resolutions amended
so as to call upon the corporation to issue their bonds for ^6,000,000,
to create a fund for the purpose of buying up the bonds and mort-
gages held by the insolvent fire insurance companies, and thereby
enable them to pay their losses as far as they may be able.
December 22. — The weather since the fire has become more
mild. This day is very pleasant. This is a happy circumstance,
for it facilitates the labors of an immense number of workmen who
are employed in removing the rubbish. Goods and property of
every description are found under the ruins in enormous quantities,
but generally so much damaged as to be hardly worth saving.
Cloths, silks, laces, prints of the most valuable kinds, are dug out
partly burned, and nearly all ruined. A mountain of coffee lies at
the corner of old Slip and South street. The entire cargo of teas,
arrived a few days since in the ship " Paris," lies in a state not
worth picking up, and costly indigo and rich drugs add to the mass
of mud which obstructs the streets.
Crowds of spectators (amongst whom are many ladies) have
been perambulating the streets in the neighbourhood, lost in wonder
and absorbed in horror at the awful scene of destruction. Many
curious facts are now coming to light in relation to the fire. A
note of hand of fifty-seven dollars, in favour of the Ocean Insur-
ance Company, was blown, during the fire, from a store in South
street to a garden at Flatbush, Long Island, five miles distant. A
gallant effort was made to save the statue of Hamilton by a young
officer from the Navy- Yard, with a party of. four or five sailors.
They had actually succeeded in removing it from the pedestal,
when the danger of the approaching fall of the dome compelled
them to abandon it. The fire was seen at New Haven and at
Philadelphia ; the firemen turned out, supposing the fire was in the
suburbs of the city.
December 23. — Hopes have been entertained that
Death of j^j. Hosack might survive his attack. There was an
Dr. Hosack.
appearance of consciousness and a slight improvement
1835] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 89
in his symptoms during the whole of yesterday ; but it would have
been better otherwise, for it excited false hopes in his anxious
family, which were doomed to be destroyed, for at eleven o'clock
last night he died. He has never spoken since his attack, and it
is quite doubtful if he has at any time recognized those about him.
Thus has the house of joy been suddenly turned into the house of
mourning.
Dr. Hosack was born on the 31st of August, 1769. He has
passed an active and useful life, and filled a large space in society.
In his profession he was learned, skilful, and bold, and, in my
opinion, the best physician in the city. I remember him from my
earliest years ; the physician of my father's family, and he has
always been mine. His literary acquirements were of a high order,
and although not a man of great genius, his industry and acquire-
ments had rendered him a good writer. His style was correct and
strong, without elegance, and his great experience will render his
works respectable authorities to professional men. He retired a
few years ago from general practice, and resided two-thirds of the
year on his splendid estate at Hyde Park. His wife, the widow of
Henry A. Coster, is my first cousin, by whom he became possessed of
a large estate. She had seven children, of whom I was appointed
guardian on the death of Mr. Coster.
Christmas Day, but not by any means " a merry Christmas."
The recent calamity bears so hard upon the whole community
that it seems unfeeling to be joyful. Philosophy enables many of
us to bear our own misfortunes without repining, and hope spreads
its buoyant wings over the future ; but as all are not equally con-
soled by the former, or encouraged by the latter, respect for
individual loss restrains all the appearance of mirth which belongs
to this otherwise happy season.
I attended, as a relation, the funeral of Dr. Hosack,
Dr. Hosack's ^^ ^^^ o'clock. The service was read in Grace Church
Funeral.
by the Bishop and Dr. Ducachet. It was very impres-
sive ; the large family connection and the great number of friends
I90 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 55,
which attended filled the church. The pall-bearers were, Colonel
Trumbull, Mr. John Watts, Herman LeRoy, Edward W. Laight,
Edward Livingston, Charles McEvers, Chancellor Kent, and Gen.
Morgan Lewis.
[836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I9I
1836.
\ LBANY, Jan. i. — It makes me somewhat melancholy to re-
-^ ^ fleet that this is the first New Year's Day, except one, that I
ever passed from home, and that one was passed at sea, on my
return from Europe. I am here against my will. I would much
rather have spent this day with my family and in the society of my
friends ; but, alas ! it is not a happy day in New York.
The year 1835 i^ passed ; it began well ; the city prospered, and
all went on swimmingly until its close. But now many aching
hearts are in our borders. What blighted prospects, what disap-
pointed hopes ! The calamity of the night of the i6th has re-
duced thousands from comparative independence to cheerless
poverty. Not the poorest class, for if they were burned out, and
exposed to the inclemency of the biting blasts of winter, a good
fire, a warm bed, and plenty to eat and drink, as a temporary relief,
would make them as well off as they were before : " take nothing
from nothing and nothing remains ; " but this loss falls upon those
who were accustomed to enjoy the comforts and little elegances
of life, which must now be given up.
January 4. — I went yesterday morning with Mr. Stevenson to
St. Peter's Church, and was so much pleased with the sermon from
the Rev. Mr. Potter that I was induced to go again in the after-
noon, although the hour, two o'clock, affords but a brief allowance
of time for dinner. The church has been repaired and new
modelled ; has a new organ and pulpit, and the handsomest, most
comfortable, and best-arranged pews I have seen in any of our
churches. There is a large and respectable congregation, and if
their pastor is in the practice of giving them such sermons as I
heard yesterday, they have no reason to be dissatisfied.
January 4. — Whilst I was writing in my room this evening
192 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 56.
there was an alarm of fire. Two or three wooden houses were
burned in the upper part of Market street. It was quite a re-
freshing sight, for it reminded me of home. It was a mark of civ-
ihzation in a strange country, as the traveller said, who saw a man
hanging on a gibbet.
The bills authorizing the city loan of six millions.
Relief Bills, and for enabling the fire-insurance companies to settle
their concerns and to resuscitate their businesses, have
passed the Legislature with great unanimity.
New York, Jan. 16. — I went, this morning, to dine with Mr.
John C. Stevens at his place on Long Island, about eleven miles
from Brooklyn, and three miles from the race-course on the South
road. Charles King, General Fleming, and Cornelius Low went
with me in my sleigh. We arrived at Stevens's about three
o'clock ; had a most capital dinner, fine wine, good fires, and
plenty of laugh, joke, and joviality. We found, on our arrival,
John A. King, Commodore Ridgely, Mr. Botts, and Robert L.
Stevens.
At half-past eight we started to return. It was very dark and
had become excessively cold, and the road, being but little used,
was hard to be distinguished. John soon planted us in a snow-
bank, from which we extricated the sleigh and horses with some
difficulty. King then undertook to drive, and had not proceeded
above a mile when the darkness of the night, the narrowness and
indistinctness of the road, and John Stevens's good wine combined
to bother the skill of our new driver, and over went the sleigh. I
was slightly scratched in the face and bled a little, but the rest of
the party were uninjured. The sleigh was broken a little. We
now held council of war, and concluded to return to the " place
whence we came." This was accomplished without difficulty ; our
friends were still assembled, and a few hickory logs added to the
fire, a renewal of the bottles and glasses, a reproduction of the re-
mains of the dinner to serve as supper, and a cigar afterward,
brought us to the sensible conclusion that it was better to be there
1836.] THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. 1 93
than in a snow-bank. After a few hours passed in pleasant con-
versation John A. King went home to Jamaica, taking with him
General Fleming, Mr. Low, and Mr. Botts ; Charles King, Com-
modore Ridgely, and I were well accommodated with good beds in
the house of our hospitable host.
We had breakfast this morning at eight o'clock, and started for
home. A fine, bright morning, but very cold. Charles King was
sick j the Commodore had an unwelcome visit from an old acquaint-
ance,— the gout, — which prevented him from putting on his boot,
and I, who was the only sick man who went upon this pleasant frolic,
returned the only well one. We left the Commodore at the Navy-
Yard and arrived in town at eleven o'clock.
The following party dined with us : Mr. and Mrs. Boreel, Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Brugiere, Miss Helen Kane, Captain Anthony,
of the " Poland," Mr. Nicolson, Henry Hone, and Edward Scher-
merhorn.
January 20. — I went over to dine with Mr. John A. King, at
Jamaica. Charles and James A. King and General Fleming went
with me, in my sleigh. Besides ourselves, the party consisted of
Robert Ray, Jacob LeRoy, Robert L. and John C. Stevens, and Mr.
Nicholas. The weather was very fine and the sleighing admirable.
On our return we came to Brooklyn ferry at ten o'clock, but found
two steamboats there, blocked in by the ice, which detained us
nearly three hours, and I did not get home until one o'clock.
There is an ill-looking, squinting man called Bennett,
'^^^ formerly connected with Webb in the publication of
"Herald." , ^ . . ^
his paper, who is now editor of the " Herald," one of
the penny papers which are hawked about the streets by a gang
of troublesome, ragged boys, and in which scandal is retailed to all
who delight in it, at that moderate price. This man and Webb are
now bitter enemies, and it was nuts for Bennett to be the organ of
Mr. Lynch's late vituperative attack upon Webb, which Bennett
introduced in his paper with evident marks of savage exultation.
This did not suit Mr. Webb's fiery disposition, so he attacked
194 THE DIARY OF Till 1.11' HONE. [.Etat. 56.
Bennett in Wall street yesterday, beat him, and knocked him down.
In the mean time Webb and Lynch maintain a relative position
something like tliat of France and the United States : they carry clubs,
but do not strike ; and look fierce at each other, l)nt do not speak.
They cannot adjust their pecuniary differences in an lionoiirable
manner, for each considers the other unworthy of his notice.
None but men of acknowledged honour and good character are
entitled to the privilege of having their brains blown out. If
Lynch and W'ebb are both men of truth they are liars, and if
neither is to be believed they are both honourable men.
The Opera House was offered tliis morning for sale
Opera House. ^^ auction, under the direction of Gardiner G. Rowland
and Robert Ray, trustees. It was set up at $100,000;
but there was no bid, and the sale was postponed. The articles
of association designated the Merchants' Exchange as the place of
sale, if ever it should be found necessary to dispose of the prop-
erty. As there is unfortunately no such edifice at present, it was
deemed necessary to have the sale on the porch, which is all that
remains of that edifice. It was a melancholy illustration of the
decay of commerce and taste to witness the auctioneer, mounted
on the ruins of the Merchants' Exchange, endeavouring to sell the
Italian Opera-IIouse to the highest bidder.
: January 21. — I dined with Mr. Henry Gary. We had Irvdng,
Paulding, Brevoort, Gouverneur Kemble, Doctor Stevens, Pro-
fessor Renwick, and such literary and learned men ; and, as is
always the case, it was excessively stupid. There were more
brilliant things said at John Stevens's the other day, when it was a
party of no pretension, than could be elicited from these learned
pundits in the course of a long life, and one of any of the thousand
hearty laughs which we had on that occasion was worth all the
wisdom of such a reunion. AVashington Irving was the only man
who ventured to say a good thing.
January 26. — The " Poland," Captain Anthony, sails to-day for
Havre. In her go Monsieur Pageot, his lady, and their little son
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I95
Andrew Jackson, Mr. Saligny, attache^ and all the odds and ends
of the French Mission. We are no longer on speaking terms with
our dear friend and sister, France, and like two rival dames, who
are desperately affronted without exactly knowing the cause, we
stand pouting, turning up our noses, and tossing our disdainful
heads at each other. The Lord knows who is to speak first now,
and woe betide the one who first treads on the other's corns.
What a ridiculous and unnatural position !
Madame Pageot is an American lady, daughter of Major Lewis,
who is in one of our public departments in Washington. Her
father being one of the kitchen Cabinet and a glorifier of " the
greatest and best," and everything being sweet as sugar-candy
between the two countries at the birth of her boy, it was deter-
mined to fill the measure of his infantile glory by giving him the
august name of "Andrew Jackson." This was honour enough as
long as the parents continued in this country, and affairs went on
smoothly ; but now, when the mighty brow of the warrior states-
man is kindled with rage against our Gallic neighbours, and the
presence of France in the person of her representative's repre-
sentative is about to be removed from amongst us, the name of
this young American Frenchman may not sound so pleasantly in
the ears of his father's compatriots as in the land of his birth, and
Andrew Jackson Pageot will not be the best possible name by which
to be ushered into the regal halls of Louis Philippe d'Orleans.
January 27. — Reports have prevailed for the last
" ^^" two or three days of the massacre of two companies
Massacre. ■' ^
of United States troops in Plorida, by the Seminole
Indians. It was hoped that they might not be true, but the ac-
count is confirmed to-day by intelligence from Mobile. Major
Dade had started with two companies from Tampa Bay, for Camp
King, to join General Church, when on the morning of 28th of De-
cember, at eight o'clock, they were surrounded by a large body of
Indians, supposed to number from eight hundred to one thousand
men, and were cut to pieces ; only three men escaped, and they
196 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 56.
returned, badly wounded, to the station at Tampa Bay, to give the
lamentable history of the fate of their comrades.
It is also rei^orted that General Scott is to be sent immediately
to take command of the forces in Florida ; the result of all this will
be that, after some hard service and destruction of the lives and
property of the whites, the Indians will be exterminated, and the
government saved the expense of transporting them out of our ter-
ritories and providing for their maintenance. Humanity may de-
plore the fate of the ret/ men, and philanthropists talk as they will
about equal rights and the oppression of power, but it is inevitable ;
the Indians cannot live amongst, or in the immediate neighbourhood
of, the whites, and this very battle in which temporary success has
been won by their savage arms will be the ultimate cause of their
destruction; the blood of the gallant men who have fallen in this
sanguinary encounter will not sink unrevenged into the sands of
Florida, and the speculators in Florida lands will be consoled for
this national disaster by the confirmation of their titles in the final
removal of the original owners of their lands.
February i. — The war of etiquette between the
Peace. United States and France is in a fair way now of being
averted, and the trusty sword of " the hero of two wars,"
there is good reason to hope, will be permitted reluctantly to
remain in its scabbard. John Bull, like a good, honest fellow, who
never likes any fighting to go on and he not have a hand in it, has
interposed his good offices and proffered his mediation to settle the
silly dispute. He says there is nothing to quarrel about, and he
does not want his commerce, flourishing as it is at present, to be
knocked about by new belligerents, nor does he wish to have the
trouble and expense attending the preservation of an armed neu-
trality between the two most important maritime powers. So the
King of England, the sailor king, writes a loving letter to his
brother, the soldier king (we call him President), begging him to
think a little better of the affair ; and I suppose that noble old cock,
Sir Charles Vaughan, has added a postscript, telling his Yankee
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILir HONE. 197
friends (of whom he has great store) that they must not make
damned fools of themselves. (I use this expression, not that I think
it looks as pretty on the page of a book as a rose does in a flower-
garden, but to preserve the verisimilitude ; for I should hardly rec-
ognize my excellent friend. Sir Charles, even when drawn by myself,
if he was not ushered in by one of those harmless, but very charac-
teristic, expletives.) So the king and Sir Charles send over a
king's ship in midwinter, " The Pantaloons " (in former times she
ought to have gone to the other side first, the French being then
sans-culottes ; her very name would have made them feel comforta-
ble), and she brings a messenger, who confers with my good friend
Bankhead. He delivers the pacific missives. The " greatest and
best," albeit full of fight, his "ever-pointed" hair brisding defiance
against Louis Philippe and all that belongs to him, cannot find it in
his heart to disgrace such friendly wooing, or in his conscience to
send the messenger " back as he came ; " so he becomes for the first
time in his life amenable to reason, sends back a favourable answer,
without consulting anybody. (Why should he? How can consulta-
tion and advisement enlighten the focus of America's glory?) The
vessel returns forthwith, the business will be settled, France will
pay the twenty- five millions of francs and America pocket it,
without any wear and tear of national honour and dignity on either
side, and England will have the credit of acting like a kind friend
and good neighbour, and keep clear of a contingent scrape in the
bargain.
Nothing certain is known about this business, for our guardian
angel with upright hair holds it derogatory to his dignity to share
" responsibility " with anybody. The people need not know any-
thing about such matters until it suits him to tell them, and he is
sure of their hurrahs in every supposable case ; but public opinion
seems to have settled the question ; men have taken counsel from
their hopes, and cry Peace ! Peace ! God send that it may be so ;
and I cry Hurrah for William the Fourth and Andrew Jackson, the
mediator and the mediatee !
198 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 56.
February 6. — The following gentlemen dined with us, and sat
honestly, like good fellows, until the " noon of night : " Mr. J.
W. Wallack, George Barclay, Samuel Hay, Charles A. Davis,
James G. King, Benjamin E. Bremner, Robert Ray, William L.
Miller, Frederick Norton, Washington Irving, Henry Brevoort, and
Henry Hone.
February 12. — The " Erie " and the " Rhone " arrived to-day
from Havre, the latter bringing letters to the 9th of January. The
President's message had arrived in Paris. It was received with joy
and exultation by the Americans, and is considered by the govern-
ment and the chambers as removing all the obstacles in the way of
carrying into effect the treaty of indemnification. These arrivals
bring us letters from Paris, which we have been without for three
weeks, owing to the horrible weather, which has kept all vessels
from entering the harbour. The Americans in Paris are elated at
the eclat which attended the reception of the message. Mary
writes that she intends to shout " Hurrah for Jackson ! " as long as
she lives. His usual good luck has attended him throughout this
whole affair, wrong as he may have been in the commencement.
The French have managed so badly as to place him on the vantage-
ground in every succeeding step, and circumstances have conspired
to give him the power to trump the last trick and win the game
whenever he pleased, without compromising his own pride or the
national character.
February 13. — By the bye, I think the merchants are wrong
in opposing so strenuously the wishes of the up- town people to have
the Post-Office somewhere in the vicinity of the City Hall park.
The Custom- House and the P^xchange are properly located in Wall
street, for they are exclusively devoted to the merchants, and their
wishes should alone be consulted on the subject ; but it is not so
with the Post-Office. Many persons in the upper wards are in the
habit of receiving letters, — not so many, certainly, as the Howlands
and the Griswolds, but enough to give them a right to a say in the
matter. But the strongest argument is one of policy, and in disre-
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 99
garding it the merchants are short-sighted ; the numerical strength
of the upper wards is so great that they control our elections, and
have on all municipal questions a controlling voice. They have
been foiled in one or two affairs of this kind, and are somewhat
savage at this determination of the "moneyed aristocracy" (for that
is the term which the cant of the demagogues applies to the mer-
chants) to keep the Post-Office to themselves; they would consent
to a compromise which would place this establishment near the
park (the site of the present Bridewell would be a grand place,
and a building similar to the Record Office would make a splen-
did finish), and that location would be permanent; whereas there
is danger that, if Wall street is now agreed upon, the pertinacity of
the people of the first ward would be punished by its removal,
before five years, to the Bowery or Union place.
February 18. — The following fact, proving the unprecedented
severity of the present winter, and (I should say) the folly of the
persons concerned in the exploit, I copy from one of the news-
papers, as worthy of being preserved amongst the records of the
weather in this vicinity : "■ A friend at Cow Neck informs us that
two gentlemen (Thomas and Adam Mott), on the 7th of this
month, crossed Long Island Sound on foot, — a distance of seven
and a half miles, — on the ice, from the mouth of Hempstead
Harbour to Rye Point, in Connecticut, and then returned, mak-
ing a distance of fifteen miles."
February 19. — Mr. Biddle has foiled his impla-
nie a es ^^t^-^^ enemy. General Jackson. The United States
Bank has been incorporated in the State of Pennsyl-
vania. Every effort was made to defeat it and the stale charge
of bribery brought against some of its friends ; but it passed both
Houses, and the Governor, Rittner, having signed it, " the monster"
is on its legs again, and the President must seek his retreat " in
the deserts of Arabia," where he swore he would go whenever
the bank was incorporated. I have no interest in the matter, and
doubt much if the institution of so great a bank in a neighbouring
200 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 56.
State may not prove injurious to New York ; but if it is the cause
of Jackson going to Arabia to stay, I rejoice.
February 23. — Twenty lots in the "burned dis-
SaieofLots. trict," the property of Joel Post, deceased, were sold
at auction this day, by James Bleecker & Son, at most
enormous prices, greater than they would have brouglit before the
fire, when covered with valuable buildings. This, at least, is the
opinion of the best judges of the value of down-town property.
The settlement of the French question has had much to do in
producing this result, aided by the spirit of speculation and the
sanguine hopes of the merchants of a great business this year.
The lots were formed principally out of the property bought by
Mr. Post from the guardians of Mr. Coster's children, for which
he gave $93,000. They fronted on Wall, William, and Merchant
streets, and Exchange place, in the immediate vicinity of the
site of the old Merchants' Exchange, and where a new one is
to be built, on a larger and more magnificent plan. The whole
brought $765,100.
February 24. — The trades-union people have been
Riots. trying for some time past to get up a row, and suc-
ceeded yesterday. The journeymen and labouring
men of different occupations have struck for wages, and their
employers, in most instances, have resisted them with firmness.
The stevedores and other labourers employed along-shore made a
demand for an increase of wages, which the employers consented
to, in consideration of the severity of the weather, the increased
expense of living, and the abundance of work ; but this concession
encouraged further demands, and they would not go to work
without a promise of the new wages for a year in advance. This
was resisted ; an immense body of the malcontents paraded the
wharves all yesterday and attacked the men who refused to join
them. Several vessels were armed to protect the men who were
willing to work. Captain Waite, of the ship " United States,"
loaded a four-pounder with grape and canister shot, determined to
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 201
oppose their boarding the vessel. The Mayor and police magis-
trates repaired to the spot ; some of the officers were attacked by
the rioters, one of whom, named Brink, had his skull fractured, and
his life is despaired of. While this disgraceful scene was acting on
the wharves, a large body of labourers assailed the men who were at
work removing the rubbish from the ruins of the fire, with clubs
and brickbats ; the police were sent for, and succeeded, after a
battle, in capturing four or five of the ringleaders.
The Mayor, who acts with vigour and firmness, ordered out the
troops, who are now on duty with loaded arms, ready for action.
These measures have restored order for the present, but I fear the
elements of disorder are at work ; the bands of Irish and other
foreigners, instigated by the mischievous councils of the trades-
union and other combinations of discontented men, are acquiring
strength and importance which will ere long be difficult to quell.
The subscription for the new Exchange, on the
■^^^ enlarged plan, has been filled with a liberality which
Exchange.
does great honour to our merchants. It will embrace
the whole front on Wall street from Exchange place to William
street, taking in the whole block, and will cost from ^1,000,000 to
$1,200,000. The certainty of the accomplishment of this magnifi-
cent project was one of the causes of the high prices of Mr. Post's
property at the sale yesterday. The location of the Exc^hange in
Wall street has made princely fortunes for the proprietors of lots
in the first ward. If it had been originally placed in the park (as
was strongly urged by many at the time) my house would now
have been worth more money than all the property of Post's,
which has been sold for $765,100; without that I do not think
that it would have brought the odd $65,100.
March 2. — The Fire-king reigns supreme in this devoted city;
what with alterations, pulling down and burning up, the city in the
aggregate is rebuilt, I should think, about once in seven years.
The Hon. John Tyler, member of the Senate from Virginia, a
leading Whig and an influential member of that patriotic party.
202 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 56.
resigned his seat, on Monday last, in a very handsome letter ad-
dressed to the Vice-President. It is understood that this gentle-
man has withdrawn his valuable services from the public at this
important crisis when such men are so much wanted, from
his view (a mistaken one, I humbly conceive) of his duty to
his constituents, who have instructed him and his worthy col-
league, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, to vote for the expunging resolu-
tions (as they are called), in which they are to condemn their own
act when they voted that the President, in certain of his rash
measures, had transcended his powers and violated the constitu-
tion. This, of course, they cannot do, as honourable men, and
Governor Tyler, maintaining the doctrine that the representative
is governed by the instructions of his constituents, has no alterna-
tive but to resign his seat, and, to the gratification of the admin-
istration party, leave it open for one of their own men ; the
Legislature of Virginia having at present (temporarily, perhaps) a
small majority of that sort of folks.
Thus it ever is. The honourable, high-minded men, viewing
personal consistency as of greater importance than party fidelity,
do not hesitate to maintain the one at the expense of the other,
and persons less scrupulous usurp their stations in the government.
Who ever knew a Jackson man to give up his seat one day before
he was forced to, because the body of his constituents, much less
an evanescent Legislature, held political opinions different from his?
This change will, it is to be feared, place the Websters, the Clays,
the Prestons, the Calhouns, and the Leighs in a minority, and the
arm of power will be extended unchecked over this great, but
hardly ridden, country. It is hoped the opinions of Governor
Tyler's colleague do not coincide with his, and that he will not
resign. If my view of his constitutional obligations is correct, he
ought not.
March 7. — The following gentlemen dined with us: Mr. Alex-
ander Duncan of Canandaigua, Mr. George Grisvvold, Samuel Hay,
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 203
S. S. Rowland, J. B. Fleming, Mr. B. L. Swan, I. S. Hone, and
Charles Clinton.
March 8. — I have this day sold my house in which
Uo s"^' ■'' ^^^^' ^^' ^^5 Broadway, to Elijah Boardman, for
$60,000, to be converted into shops below, and the
upper part to form part of the establishment of the American
Hotel, kept by Edward Milford, in which I imagine Mr. Boardman
to be interested. I bought this property on the 8th of March,
182 1, after my return from Europe. I gave Jonathan Smith
$25,000 for it. I make a large profit ; but the rage for speculation
is at present so high that it will prove an excellent purchase. The
house belonging to the Phoenix Insurance Company, two or three
doors above Warren street, was sold this day at auction, for
$40,000. The building is worth little or nothing, and the lot only
twenty-five feet by one hundred and six feet ; mine is thirty-seven
feet by one hundred and twenty feet, and is very cheap compared
with the other.
I am to retain possession until the 15 th of October, unless I
choose to give it up before. I shall leave this delightful house
with feelings of deep regret. The splendid rooms, the fine situa-
tion, my snug library, well-arranged books, handsome pictures,
what will become of them ? I have turned myself out of doors ;
but $60,000 is a great deal of money.
Wednesday, March 9. — After the breaking up of the Board of
the Savings-Bank, Mr. Swan and I walked out to the Second
avenue, St. Mark's place, Tompkins square, and Lafayette place. I
am turned out of doors, and he expects soon to be. Almost every-
body down-town is in the same predicament, for all the dwelling-
houses are to be converted into stores. We are tempted with
prices so exorbitantly high that none can resist, and the old down-
town burgomasters, who have fixed to one spot all their lives, will
be seen, during the next summer, in flocks, marching reluctantly
north to pitch their tents in places which, in their time, were
orchards, corn-fields, or morasses a pretty smart distance from
204 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 56.
town, and a journey to which was, formerly, an affair of some
moment, and required preparation beforehand, but which consti-
tute at this time the most fashionable quarter of New York. We
did not see any lots which appeared to us so desirable as some on
Lafayette place.
March 12. — The winter is not yet over; the wind came out
from the north-west last night; the thermometer is down to 18°
this morning, and the high banks of ice in the streets have the ap-
pearance of solid walls of black marble. I make these remarks so
frequently about the weather, because I imagine the winter of
1835-6 will stand hereafter recorded in our annals as the hat-d
winter of modern days. I saw it mentioned in the papers that the
ice has been sawed through in Connecticut river, opposite Hart-
ford, and found to be forty inches in thickness.
Everything in New York is at an exorbitant price.
High prices. Rents have risen fifty per cent, for the next year. I
have sold my house, it is true, for a large sum ; but
where to go I know not. Lots two miles from the City Hall are
worth $8,000 or $10,000. Even in the eleventh ward, toward the
East river, where they sold two or three years ago for $2,000 or
$3,000, they are held now at $4,000 and $5,000. Everything is in
the same proportion ; the market was higher this morning than I
have ever known it, — beef twenty-five cents per pound, mutton
and veal fifteen to eighteen cents, small turkeys a dollar and a half.
This does very well for persons in business and speculators, who
make, as the saying is, " one hand wash another ; " but it comes
hard upon those retired from business, who live upon fixed in-
comes, particularly public officers, clerks in banks and counting-
houses, whose salaries are never raised in proportion to the in-
creased expense of living.
March 19. — I dined with Mr. Louis McLane. He
Mr. McLane. occupics the housc No. I Greenwich street, formerly
Dominick Lynch's, and more recently Abraham Scher-
merhorn's, who owns it still. Mr. McLane is one of the ablest and
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 20$
most agreeable men I ever knew, and has a delightful family. He
has occupied several of the highest stations in our government;
originally member of the House of Representatives for the State of
Maryland, then in the Senate of the United States ; in both houses
he was one of the most distinguished members. In April, 1829,
he was appointed Minister to Great Britain. On the breaking up
of General Jackson's first cabinet, in April, 1831, he was appointed,
Secretary of the Treasury, and subsequently, on the retirement of
Mr. Livingston, he was made Secretary of State, which office he
held until the old chief made the place too hot for him. He re-
signed, as was pretty well understood at the time, because he dis-
approved of the removal of the deposits ; but he went quietly out
of office, without assigning that as the reason. He was soon after-
ward elected president of the Morris Canal Company, with a salary
of ^6,000, and became a citizen of New York, to the sincere gratifi-
cation of all the New Yorkers who have the pleasure of his
acquaintance.
March 24. — I dined with the members of the Reading Club,
at Washington Hotel. There were about twenty; some bright
spirits : the Duers, Irving, Hoffman, Charles King, Davis, Harvey,
Colonel White of Florida, Fleming, Patterson, Halleck, etc.
I bought this day, from Samuel Ward, for ^15,000, the lot corner
of Broadway and Great Jones street, twenty-nine feet wide and
one hundred and thirty feet deep. It is my intention to build a
house on this lot for my own residence, after I shall be turned out
of the house I now occupy.
March 26. — The Legislature of the State have
Albany granted an act of incorporation to a company to con-
struct a tunnel under the Hudson river, from the city
of Albany to the east side. The directors named in the bill are :
Joel N. Note, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Jr., James Stevenson, James
Vanderpoel, and John Townsend. The charter is in perpetuity,
without a reservation of the power to modify or repeal. The width
of the tunnel is to be twenty-four feet and the height twelve feet,
206 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 56„
the crown of the arch eighteen inches below the bed of the river.
This is, I believe, the first tunnel under water in this country.
New York is ever first in works of improvement and enterprise.
March 29. — The Legislature of Massachusetts on
Mr. Webster in q-j^^j-g^^y j^^sj- [^^ convention, renominated Mr. Webster
Massachusetts. •'
for President, and nominated Mr. Granger for Vice-
President. Their resolutions are patriotic and uncompromising.
They go for principle, not for expediency. A letter from Mr.
Webster was read at this convention worthy of himself. He prefers
to retire from the contest, but will stand by his friends and by the
Constitution, to use his own words, " whether in majorities or
minorities, in prosperous or in adverse fortune."
April 4. — I went this evening to a party given at Mrs. Fred-
erick Sheldon's, Bowling Green. Everything was in admirable
taste, and the pictures and other works of art which were collected
by the host and hostess during their late visit to Europe were
displayed to great advantage.
April 5 . — This celebrated lady is now in New
,,'^^. York. She arrived here last autumn, and has been
Martineau.
travelling in the Southern States. She brought me a
letter from Mr. MacCready. Margaret and I called upon her.
She has been at our house, and this morning I called again to see
her. I was apprehensive, from her high literary reputation, that I
should find her a little too blue to be agreeable. But it is not at
all the case ; she is pleasant and unaffected, has great vivacity,
talks well upon all subjects, and is fond of laughing ; with these
qualifications she is, of course, an engaging companion. The only
difficulty in conversing with her arises from her great deafness,
which is obviated (at least so far as one speaker at a time is con-
cerned) by the use of a trumpet formed of a tube of gum-elastic,
one end of which she places in her right ear, while the mouth of
the person conversing with her is applied to the other.
April 7. — The Reading Club gave a dinner, at Washington
Hotel, to IMr. John Duer, on the occasion of his departure for
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 20/
Europe. My engagement prevented me from going until nine o'clock,
at which time I joined the party, and I have seldom passed so agree-
able an evening. I was too late for a speech from the distinguished
guest, which was agreed on ail hands to have been admirable, but
the whole time until the hour of breaking up (half- past twelve
o'clock) was a scene of joviality, wit, and brilliancy. Many excel-
lent speeches were made, and innumerable good things said, which
literally " set the table in a roar."
Henry S. Hoyt, eldest son of Mr. Goold Hoyt, was married at
the college, this day, at noon, to Frances, eldest daughter of Wm.
A, Duer, LL.D., President of the college.
April 8. — We had a dinner-party to-day consisting of the
following ladies and gentlemen: Mrs. and Miss McLane (Mr.
McLane is absent). President and Mrs. Duer, Mr. and Mrs. Davis,
Mr. and Mrs. Edward R. Jones, Mr. and Mrs. James A. Hamilton,
Mr. Washington Irving, Mr. Chas. McEvers, Jr., Mr. and Mrs.
Peter Schermerhorn, Miss Sarah Duer, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac S. Hone,
Miss Elizabeth Jones, Miss Mary Hamilton, Mr. Hay, Mr. Nicholas
Low, Edward Schermerhorn.
April 22. — I- this day hired the house belonging to Mr.
Bloomer, the upper one of the two marble houses with porticos in
Broadway, opposite Washington place, for $1,600 per annum. It
is a fine house, delightfully situated, and quite convenient to the
place where I intend to build.
May 9. — There is much excitement in relation to
exican .^ rcvolt of the pcoplc of Tcxas against the Govern-
ment of Mexico. These people, fugitives and rene-
gades from the United States, having raised the standard of rebellion
(or revolution, I suppose they call it) against the Government under
which they have chosen to live, and, having been unsuccessful thus
far, now claim the protection of the Government of this country.
They abandoned America as citizens, and General Jackson, having
failed in getting up a French war, seems determined to recognize
this sort of paternity, and have a tilt of some kind before he doffs
208 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 56.
his knightly armor as Grand Master of the Columbian Order. In-
structions have been given to General Gaines to protect the United
States frontier bordering on Texas, at all events. This is very well
as far as it goes, but his orders will warrant him in leading his forces
over the Mexican line, if, in his oi)inion, there should be indications
of a hostile intention ; in other words, giving him authority to com-
mence a war without the sanction of Congress, and I have no doubt
the " old chief" has intimated to him that that course would
" break no squares" at Washington. These facts came out in the
House of Representatives, on Friday last, on a resolution of Mr.
Cambreling to appropriate a million of dollars for the protection
of the Mexican frontier. Colonel White is in town ; he told me
on Saturday that he considers a Mexican war as a very probable
event. The Western speculators will be all in favor of it.
May 14. — This has been a busy week for me. I have done
more work than in any other week since I quitted business. On
Monday morning I commenced the removal of the library; the
bookcases were taken to pieces, carried to the new house, and are
now nearly ready to receive the books,^which are all there lying on
the floor, tied up and labelled with the numbers of the shelves.
Having had two wine- closets and a part of the cellar shelved and
prepared, we began on Thursday morning to remove the wine from
the garret and wine -room of the old house, in which a great part
of it has remained untouched fourteen years. It went away in
fifteen cartloads of baskets. I received it, stowed it away nicely,
and took an inventory of two thousand one hundred and eighty
quarts and two hundred and fifty-four half-gallon bottles of Madeira
and sherry; so that job is done.
May 28. — There has been another disgraceful riot
Th^^ir ^^^ at the Park Theatre. Mr. ^^^ood, notwithstanding he
sings so well, is the cause of this breach of harmony.
Music may have "charms to soothe the savage breast," but not the
breast of the pugnacious Mr. Webb, editor of " The Courier and
Enquirer." This important personage charged Wood with unkind-
1S36.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 209
ness and a want of gallantry towards Mrs. Conduit, a little woman
who sings well and is pretty, and has been associated with the
Woods in some of their operas. This occasioned Mr. Wood to be
hissed ; he came forward and denied the charge. Webb reiterated
it ; Wood challenged him ; the audience on a subsequent evening
again expressed their disapprobation, and were not satisfied with
his explanation. In yesterday morning's " Courier and Enquirer,"
Mr. Webb, in a most reprehensible article, calls upon the populace
to go that evening to the theatre and drive Wood off the stage.
This, of course, had the desired effect ; for when was there a difficulty
in finding ruffians enough not only to break into a theatre when
thus instigated, but to pull down, set fire to, and destroy the city
if they had a chance ? Mr. Webb succeeded ; an immense mob
collected about the theatre, forced an entrance, and compelled Mr.
Simpson to withdraw the Woods and promise that they would not
again appear. This was the last engagement of those charming
singers previous to their return, and I and others must be deprived
of the pleasure of hearing them because Mr. Webb charges Mr.
Wood with impoliteness, and he denies it. As well may this pre-
sumptuous newspaper editor exert the power of the press which he
conducts to the gratification of personal pique or private resent-
ment, and the public, the orderly part of the public, must acquiesce,
and relinquish a rational amusement, or engage in a disgraceful
contest with the loafers and Five-pointers who are ever ready to
respond to such a call as they received on this occasion.
May 30. — I called yesterday to see an old friend. Dr. Peter
Irving, who arrived on Saturday, in the ship " Erie," from Havre.
He has resided in France twenty- seven years, during which time
I have not seen him, for I missed him in 182 1 when I was in
Havre, owing to his absence from home. He expresses some sur-
prise at my gray hairs, but he will find other changes equally
astonishing. How strange must be the feelings of a New Yorker,
absent so long, in witnessing the changes which have taken place ;
for no description can give the same idea of it as actual observation.
2IO THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [Etat. 56.
May 31. — I am a great lover of flowers. They furnish at all
times, and particularly in the spring, enjoyment of the most refined
and delicate nature, — a species of enjoyment which ranks with
reading of poetry, looking at a fine picture, and drinking a glass of
Chateau Margaux, in which the senses are gratified without sen-
suality.
June 2. — There arrived at this port, during the month of May,
15,825 passengers. All Europe is coming across the ocean; all
that part at least who cannot make a living at home ; and what
shall we do with them? They increase our taxes, eat our bread,
and encumber our streets, and not one in twenty is competent to
keep himself.
June 3. — The following gentlemen dined with us: Chancellor
Kent, Luther Bradish, Wm. H. Seward, Samuel B. Ruggles, Charles
King, Charles H. Russell, John Van Buren, Murray, Isaac S. Hone,
Charles A. Davis.
June 6. — In corroboration of the remarks which I
journeyman ]^r^yQ occasiouallv made of kite, on the spirit of faction
Tailors. ' ' -^
and contempt of the laws which pervades the commu-
nity at this time, is the conduct of the journeymen tailors, instigated
by a set of vile foreigners (principally English), who, unable to
endure the restraints of wholesome law, well administered in their
own country, take refuge here, establish trades-unions, and vilify
Yankee judges and juries. Twenty odd of these were convicted at
the Oyer and Terminer of a conspiracy to raise their wages and to
prevent any of the craft from working at prices less than those for
which they struck. Judge Edwards gave notice that he would
proceed to sentence them this day ; but, in consequence of the con-
tinuance of Robinson's trial, the Court postponed the sentence until
Friday.
This, however, being the day on which it was expected, crowds
of people have been collected in the park, ready for any mischief
to which they may have been instigated, and a most diabolical and
inflammatory hand-bill was circulated yesterday, headed by a coffin.
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 211
The Board of Aldermen held an informal meetmg this evening, at
which a resolution was adopted authorizing the Mayor to offer a
reward for the discovery of the author, printer, publisher, or dis-
tributor of this incendiary publication. The following was the
hand-bill : —
" THE RICH AGAINST THE POOR !
"Judge Edwards, the tool of the aristocracy, against the people !
Mechanics and working men ! A deadly blow has been struck at
your liberty ! The prize for which your fathers fought has been
robbed from you ! the freemen of the North are now on a level
with the slaves of the South ! with no other privilege than labouring,
that drones may fatten on your life-blood ! Twenty of your breth-
ren have been found guilty for presuming to resist a reduction of
their wages ! and Judge Edwards has charged an American jury,
and agreeably to that charge, they have established the precedent
that workingmen have no right to regulate the price of labour, or,
in other words, the rich are the only judges of the wants of the
poor man. On Monday, June 6, 1836, at ten o'clock, these
freemen are to receive their sentence, to gratify the hellish appe-
tites of the aristocrats !
" On Monday, the liberty of the workingmen will be interred !
Judge Edwards is to chant the requiem ! Go ! Go ! Go ! every
freeman, every workingman, and hear the hollow and the melan-
choly sound of the earth on the coffin of equality ! Let the court-
room, the City Hall, yea ! the whole park, be filled with mourners ;
but remember, offer no violence to Judge Edwards, bend meekly,
and receive the chain wherewith you are to be bound ! Keep the
peace ! Above all things, keep the peace ! "
June 7. — I had a letter to-day from the accom-
johnGait. plished author of the "Ayrshire Legatees" and
" Annals of the Parish " and " Eleven Strokes and Ag-
gravations of Paralysis." The latter, he says, " Have disabled me
from taking part any longer in the uses of the world " ; but his
212 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE: [.Etat. 56.
mental fliciilties appear to be unimpaired, and he does me the
honour to say, that unless I forbid him he intends to inscribe to
me a "little book," for which he has been arranging materials,
"that I may have an opportunity," he adds, "of stating my own
impressions of the United States, for the topic now begins to be
popular here, and favourable opinions begin to be appreciated."
June 9. — Among the fleet of vessels which sailed
yesterday and to-day were the " Havre," havinsj as pas-
Departures. -^ •' •' .
sengers Mr. and Mrs. Cottenet and children, Mr. and
Mrs. Boreel, and Miss Langdon ; the " Montreal," with Mr. Steven-
son, the new Minister to England, his lady and Miss Coles and
Allyn Otis. The " Sheffield," in which Mr. Wallack went ; she was
ready for sea on the 24th of May, and was prevented from day
to day by the easterly storm. The " Montreal " was the packet of
the first instant. Arrived yesterday, from Liverpool, the " Orpheus."
Temple Bowdoin was one of her passengers.
June 13. — Yesterday morning was clear, bright, and beautiful,
and we enjoyed in our new residence \\\) town all the pleasures of
the country. The air was refreshing, the trees in full verdure,
the birds sang sweetly, and when I walked down to Trinity Church
(where I shall continue to go at least once a day), I met and
overtook crowds . of well-dressed persons on their way to the
several places of divine worship. It looked indeed as the morn-
ing of the Christian Sabbath always should.
June 17. — A new club is about being established,
"'°" at the head of which are a number of our most dis-
Club.
tinguished citizens, to consist of four hundred mem-
bers, and to be similar in its plan and regulations to the great
clubs of London, which give a tone and character to the society
of the British metropolis. A meeting was held this evening, at
the Athenaeum, to organize the club, at which I was earnestly in-
vited to attend, but I could not get away from Mr. Griffin's in
time.
June 20. — In the ship "Samson," arrived yesterday from Lon-
1836.] .THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 213
don, came passengers Charles Parish, N. P. Willis and his new
English wife, and the Right Hon. Edward EUice. Greenough the
sculptor arrived here a few days since, and went to Washington.
I did not see him. His talents are an honour to his country, and
his fellow-citizens should be proud of him. He is engaged in a
great work by order of Congress, a statue of Washington, which
I presume is the object of his visit at this time.
Mr. Naudian having resigned, his place in the Sen-
Senator'^^ atc of the United States has been filled by the appoint-
ment of Richard H. Bayard, by a vote of seventeen
to ten.
This is the gentleman whose society and that of his charming
wife afforded us so much pleasure last summer at Rockaway. He
is a thorough Whig, but the party gains nothing in their number
by his election, his predecessor being equally so. The little State
of Delaware is a precious jewel in the political diadem. She has
always been governed by good principles and represented by
talents.
Excursion ALBANY, JuNE 23. — A party of gentlemen consisting
in the of the managers of the Delaware & Hudson Company,
"Novelty." togctlicr with Matthcw St. Clair Clarke, Colonel
McKinny, Mr.. Bradley of Washington, the Collector, Elisha
Townsend, and others, went on board the " Novelty " this morning
at six o'clock, at the foot of Chambers street in New York, and
came to Albany in twelve hours.
This was the first voyage ever made from New York to Albany
by a steamboat propelled by anthracite coal. Dr. Nott has been
engaged for several years in contriving machinery to accomplish
this important object, and has now succeeded completely. The
great desideratum was to contrive the means of igniting the coal,
and producing a flame sufficient to create the steam. This has
been effected by condensing hot air, which, by injection into the
bottom of the furnaces, accomplishes this object, and forces the
flame into a chamber in which are. a great number of iron tubes
214 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 56.
of the size of gun -barrels, placed vertically. There are four of
these furnaces. The quantity of coal consumed on this trip was
about twenty tons, which at five dollars per ton amounts to one
hundred dollars. The same voyage would have consumed forty
cords of fine wood, the present price of which is six dollars, making
a difference of more than one-half. Dr. Nott, who was on board,
has made experiments the result of which is that the difference of
exi)ense on board the " Novelty " during one season will amount to
^19,000. The " Erie " left New York an hour after us, and arrived
two hours after our arrival, but she made the usual stops, and we
came directly on, so that their speed was probably nearly equal.
The tide was against us all day, and there is a great freshet in the
river. Dr. Nott has succeeded completely in this invention, which
establishes the certainty that coal will supersede wood in all our
steamboats, and the Delaware & Hudson Company will hereafter
be able to sell all the coal they can bring down the canal at an
advanced price.
June 30. — This enlightened statesman and illustrious
^^, ",. citizen. Tames Madison, former President of the United
Mr. Madison. ' •' '
States, died on Tuesday last. He had been gradually
sinking for some time past. It is a pity he had not lingered six
days longer, that his death might have occurred, like those of Jeffer-
son and the elder Adams, on the anniversary of the political birth-
day of the country over which they had severally ruled.
July 2. — Joseph Bonaparte, formerly King of Naples
^*'""*^ and afterward of Spain, now bearing the tide of Count
Survilliers.
Survilliers, after a residence in this country of twenty
years, yesterday took his final leave and sailed for London in the
packet ship " Philadelphia." During his residence in the United
States he has conciliated the f^ivourable opinions of all who knew
him, and has left an exceedingly good name amongst his immediate
neighbours at Bordentovvn, where he has a fine estate, on which he
has lived for a great portion of the time of his residence among us.
July ii. — The discouraging accounts of Mary's health, and the
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 21$
uncertainty we are in respecting the movements of my children,
have determined me to go to Europe on Saturday next, unless we
should receive letters before that day rendering it unnecessary. My
daughter Margaret will be my companion. I went on board the
ship *' England " this morning and engaged our staterooms.
At Sea, July 16. — We went on board the steamboat this morn-
ing at eleven o'clock. Many of our friends attended to take leave
of us, and several accompanied us to the ship, which was lying below
Governor's Island. The party partook of a luncheon on board,
and leaving us off Fort Hamilton, with three cheers of encourage-
ment and kind wishes, we commenced our voyage to Liverpool on
board the good ship " England," commanded by Captain Waite, an
able seaman and a gentlemanly man. The " England " is a noble,
fast-sailing ship of 731 tons' burden.
The weather was bright at the time of sailing, but the wind
northeast, as it has been for so great a portion of the time
during the present summer, and the departure of our friends in the
steamboat seemed to be the signal for its increase, for by two
o'clock it blew a gale from that inauspicious quarter directly on
shore, with a rough sea, and our ship pitching heavily.
July 18. — The wind north-east, blowing hard and cold, with a
heavy cross-sea. The passengers generally sick, but I have recov-
ered, and eaten my allowance. I dined heartily on a fresh salmon,
and drank my usual quantity of wine at dinner. Margaret, the
only lady at the table. She is a famous sailor ; she sits on the bul-
warks, to which lofty station she is assisted by me, or some other of
the gentlemen, and enjoys the wild scene as the gallant ship makes
her way through the mountain billows.
July 19. — We have had one of those incidents to-day which
sometimes break in agreeably upon the monotony of a sea voyage.
A sail ahead was descried early in the morning, which we soon
made out to be a large ship steering the same course. We gained
steadily upon her, until it was ascertained to be the" Charlemagne "
under a great press of sail. How she got ahead so far to wind-
2l6 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 56.
ward I could not make out. She must have gotten a streak of
more favorable wind, but we came fast up with her. Captain Waite
"whipped up," and to his great satisfaction passed her to windward
at four ^'clock and hoisted the " star spangled banner," which was
returned by the "Charlemagne." This is certainly very interesting,
and proves the perfection of the art of navigation. Here were
two ships, starting together from New York, after three days sailing
nearly five hundred miles, in gales of wind, come in sight of each
other so near that every person on board can be distinguished and
almost hear each other's voices. The "Charlemagne " sails fast, but
we have certainly beaten her handsomely. It was a glorious sight,
when we were abreast of her, and saw her swelling canvas — royals,
studding-sails and all — and her bright, high sides, rising from the
waves like a walled city and plunging again into the glittering abyss
of waters.
July 28. — At four o'clock we were called from dinner to see a
large ship which was nearly abreast of us to windward. She proved
to be the shij) " Kensington" from Liverpool bound to New York.
The passengers exchanged cheers, and the captain might as well
have come down to speak to us as not. AVe were as close to the
wind as the ship could possibly steer, and, of course, could not have
gone nearer. This appears to have been excessively cliurlish. It
would have been a great satisfaction to us to hear news, but a much
greater to send our greetings to those dear ones we had left at
home. But the " Lexington " cannot well avoid reporting us on
her arrival, and our friends will know that on this day, twelve days
out, we have made about two-thirds of our voyage.
It was a glorious sight to witness these two splendid ships pas-
sing each other, both close-hauled, on different tacks. The " Ken-
sington " rose and sank on the waves with the majesty of the eagle
and the calmness of the swallow. This is always an interesting in-
cident on a voyage, but there was something more beautiful in this
view than in any of the kind I have ever witnessed.
July 29. — We have two ladies, passengers, who exemplify the
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 21/
two extremes in the American female character. Mrs. May, of
Boston, is a regular Yankee, quick of apprehension, intelligent,
handy, self-confident, a person qualified to take care of herself in
every situation in which circumstances could place her. She is (I
undertake to say) in all respects a helpmate to her husband.
Mrs. Hammond is soft, languishing, and inert, and her listlessness
of manner proclaiming her at once a South Carolinean, with more
feminine loveliness than the lady just described. She appears to
be incapable of the least exertion, and would starve, I verily believe,
if she had nobody to help her to food. She and her husband (who
is a member of Congress from South Carolina) lounge all day on
sofas in the cabin and a mattress on deck, and neither of them
have been at the table during the voyage, except once that the lady
made an effort and dined with the passengers. This may be
accounted for by the bad health of both the husband and wife.
But Mrs. May would require to be a great deal worse than either
before she would consent to give up. There does not seem to be
much congeniality between these two ladies. There is too much
dissimilarity in their habits and dispositions to admit of it. The
one must despise the other for her business-like qualities, and she
in return wonders how a lady can submit to be served by slaves in
matters which she ought herself to attend to. My daughter
Margaret, from having been brought up on neutral ground, is
nearer right in those particulars than either, and I am greatly mis-
taken if all the passengers are not of the same opinion.
July 31. — I arose early and went upon deck. It was a fine
morning ; the ship sailing ten knots an hour ; the sea bright and
blue, with that sort of crispness in the curling of the waves and the
sparkling of the white foam which is usually a concomitant of
westerly wind. We shall make a better run during this twenty-four
hours than any since we left New York. Captain Waite says she
sailed faster during the night than he ever saw her before, and he
thinks her the fastest sailer in the American merchant navy.
Why is it that the Sabbath morning always appears more solemn
2l8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP IIOXE. [/Etat. 56.
to me than any other? There are many things on shore to produce
that effect. The hum of business is hushed ; the streets deserted ;
the world reposes in a sort of conventional quietude, but here on
the ocean there are no such marks to denote the return of the day
of rest ; and yet when I went on deck this morning I felt myself
influenced by the consciousness that this day was set apart from
the others, and that I was enjoined " to keep it holy." It is
indeed a holy institution. No man who acknowledges a depend-
ence upon the Almighty Clovernor of the univ^erse can avoid feel-
ing that upon this day of rest he is more immediately brought in
the presence of his Maker. I hope I do not mistake my own sen-
sations, and attribute to an innate principle of right the conscious-
ness that one cannot help feeling of helplessness and reliance upon
the Almighty when exposed to the dangers of a sea voyage, but I
certainly felt this morning my mind elevated by the knowledge
that this was the Sabbath of the Lord. At the request of the
passengers, I read the morning service of our church, and I trust
the manner was not less acceptable for the reflections of the morn-
ing, the result of which I have given above.
Our accommodations are excellent. The most abundant pro-
vision has been made, and we have every day as good a table as
the most fastidious gastronome could desire. A sheep and a pig
were killed last ev^ening, and plenty of jioultry ; and our larder
presents a most inviting appearance. The passengers are good-
humoured, accomuK^dating, and jovial, and if I were not anxious to
see my children I should not have any great objection to prolong
our voyage a week beyond the time at whicli we may expect to
arrive, if the wind hold on.
August 3. — At noon, however, the wind died away, and it became
perfectly calm and continued so during the remainder of the day. Not
a breath of air was stirring to agitate the sails, and the waters of the
variable Channel were smooth as a mirror. Oh, for a steamboat at
such a time ! Genius of Fulton ! if ever thou art dear to the mem-
ory of thy countrymen it must be when, at the close of a long
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 219
voyage, they become suddenly becalmed within a few hours of the
port of their destination. Wind and sails are nothing now com-
pared to steam and paddles, and we had the mortification of real-
izing this fact this afternoon, by seeing a large steamer (I am in
England now, and must talk as the English talk) puffing and
wheezing and smoking rapidly on her course towards the Irish
shore, while we were flapping and rolling and making no headway.
August 6. — And I once more set my foot upon EngHsh ground.
BooTLE, Sunday, Aug. 7. — Mr. Heyworth took us to town this
morning, where we attended divine service in the chapel of the
Blind Asylum, which is the fashionable church. We sat in Mr.
Brown's pew. Coming out of church Mr. William Rathbone
brought Capt. Basil Hall to shake hands with us. He and his wife
both expressed themselves in the following terms : " We are happy
to see again a gentleman to whose kindness in America we are so
greatly indebted." Pretty well, considering Mr. Rathbone asked
me to meet Captain Hall yesterday at dinner at his house. After
paying a few visits in town, we returned to dine and sleep at
Bootle. I am charmed with all I see here. Our sweet friend,
Charlotte Kane, has gotten a charming fellow for a husband.
Liverpool, Aug. 12. — Having been honoured by an
inner a e jj^yjj-g^^-jQj-^ from the mayor to meet the judges at dinner,
Mr. Rathbone called for me at seven o'clock, and we
went to the Town Hall. The doors of my hotel (The Waterloo)
were beset by a crowd to see the egress of the high sheriff, a splen-
did, fierce-looking fellow, in full dress, with chapeaii bras
and a long black wand. He rode in a superb stage coach-and-
four, with two dashing postilions. This gentleman's name is
Standish of Standish Hall, a person of large fortune and high
standing in the County of Lancashire. When we alighted at the
door of the Council Hall, we were ushered by a train of servants in
livery, by the beautiful staircase and vestibule to the splendid
suite of rooms in which the mayor received his guests, the rich
furniture being uncovered and everything arranged to suit the
220 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 56.
occasion. The coup iToeil was perfectly magnificent. The ball-
room, with the splendid chandeliers, was not in the dining part of
the palace, but I was taken to see it.
My reception by the mayor (Mr. Corrie) was not only flattering
but marked by extreme kindness, and the judges, Mr. Justice Park
and Mr. Justice Coleridge, to whom I was introduced immediately
on their arrival, were particular in their attentions to me during the
whole of the evening. The company consisted of about fifty gentle-
nien, principally members of Parliament, country gentlemen, and
barristers connected with the assizes which are now being held.
A Mr. Alexander seemed to be considered the most eminent
lawyer in the company. The courts, both criminal and civil, are
open at the same time, Justice Park presiding in the former and
Justice Coleridge in the latter.
The dinner-table was richly set out with a splendid plateau the
whole length, and the services of china and glass suited to a
banquet of kings, and as good a dinner, too, as I ever saw. Turtle
soup, turbot, grouse (this is the first day for shooting them), and a
great variety of pine-apples and peaches, were among the varieties,
and the wines were capital. I was seated on the right of the
mayor, next but two. One of the judges sat on each side of him,
next on the right the high sheriff, and then myself. This latter
dignitary and myself were soon good friends, and he pressed me
with great apparent sincerity to visit him in London. These folk
seem much pleased to come in contact with a Yankee.
August 13. — Our first visit was to this princely
chatsworih. mausiou and grounds. I do not know how to describe
it. It surpasses the highest reach of my imagination.
Eton Hall is, I think, a handsome exterior, but the grandeur, the
sublimity, the solid magnificence of Chatsworth, induce me to give
it a preference. It stands rather low, embosomed in an am})hi-
theatre of hills, with the river Derwent passing close to the walls.
The view from every part of the grounds is beautiful. This is one
particular in which it has the advantage of Eton ; then there are
1836.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 221
a number of fountains and cascades, supplied by reservoirs on the
adjacent mountain, all of which were made to play for us. One of
these is a tree, which looks so much like nature that it did not
attract my attention, until all of a sudden, hundreds of jets from
the ends of the branches began a spirited cross-fire which made
us jump with surprise. The Italian Gardens below the terraces
are beautiful. Herds of red and fallow deer are seen sporting
over the grounds, and the conservatories and hot-houses and
stables are all fine.
The next object of curiosity was a visit across the
HaddonHaii. country four or five miles to Haddon Hall, an old
baronial castle belonging to the Duke of Rutland.
The contrast between this and the place we had just left was singu-
larly striking. This was erected before the Conquest, and displays
all the rude, grotesque style of architecture of those days of feudal
power. Towers and turrets, covered with the ivy of ages. The
banqueting hall, kitchens, with fireplaces in which wild boar and
the red deer were roasted whole for the iron-handed baron and his
faithful dependents ; the armory, the dungeons, and the antiquated
bed-chambers hung with tapestry, the figures of which resemble
nothing in the heavens above nor in the earth beneath, — are all
preserved in spite of the ravages of time, to show Englishmen how
their fathers lived a thousand years ago.
We visited this ancient place at a peculiarly favorable time : at
the close of such a day as the poets of England delight to describe,
when the last rays of the setting sun throw the long, deep shadows
of the moss-covered turrets and lofty pines over the bright green
sward, and the beautiful river crept silently along, as if afraid to
disturb the solemn stillness of the scene. It was an incident of
my life never to be forgotten to have seen Chatsworth and Haddon
Hall on the same afternoon.
Le.\mington, Aug. 16. — Warwick is handsome, clean, and dull
as ever, but the castle is even more glorious than my recollections
of it. Its situation, the views up and down the Avon ; ' its ancient
222 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat 56.
towers, lofty hall, superb wainscotted apartments ; the venerable
trees in the park ; and the Warwick vase, the beau ideal of beauty,
are all there in their former state, and some of the apartments
(particularly the great hall of entrance and the dining-hall) have
been recently repaired, and the ornaments retouched with great
taste and delicacy. The part of Warwick Castle which most
exceeded the recollection of my former visit is the pictures, which
ornament the walls in every part ; this arises probably from my
having more taste for pictures now than at that time.
London, Aug. 18. — The forenoon of this day was passed in
visiting some of the most interesting objects in Oxford, the glorious
metropolis of learning and literature. It was delightful for me to
refresh my recollections of this magnificent city. This day's visit
has realized all I have thought and said of it since I was there
before.
At seven o'clock this evening, just as they were lighting the gas
lamps, we were set down at the famous White Horse Cellar, Picca-
dilly; amidst coaches innumerable, lords and chimney sweeps,
ladies and blacklegs. Our luggage was placed in one of those de-
testable vehicles, a hackney coach, in which we came to Mrs.
Friedman's boarding-house. A comfortable establishment. No. 12
Devonshire street, one door west of Portland place.
August 20. — Having been introduced yesterday to
*^* " Lord Palmerston, the minister for foreim affairs, he
Parliament. ' ^ '
politely sent orders to Mr. Duer and me to go into the
House of Lords to witness the prorogation of Parliament by the
King in person, and we were fortunate enough to obtain very good
places. The ceremony was very interesting to me, and the specta-
cle exceedingly magnificent. The attendance of the lords was
greater than I expected. I saw several distinguished noblemen,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Duke of Wellington, Duke of Nor-
folk, Lords Melbourne, Westminster, etc., in all I think nearly a
hundred. A great attendance of foreign ministers and a handsome
display of ladies elegantly dressed. The king arrived at half-past
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 223
two o'clock, attended by a numerous and brilliant cortege, and
ascended the throne. He is much altered in appearance since I saw
him at the coronation of his brother. He was then a stout man
and walked erect ; he is now old and bent, with a tottering gait,
and has all the marks of advanced age. The young Princess
Victoria will not, from his appearance, have long to w^ait for her
exalted inheritance. As soon as the king was seated, the Commons
were summoned, the Speaker (Abercombie) read the address in a
very clear and distinct tone of voice, so that, notwithstanding, from
his situation under the gallery, I could not see him, I did not lose a
word. The king then read his speech, with a little prompting,
which I also heard distinctly. Parliament was then prorogued
until October, and the king retired as he came, amidst a discharge
of artillery and the sound of trumpets. We got out in time to see
the procession leave the House. The stage coaches, with the horse
and foot guards, made a grand appearance, and everything went off
well. I should have regretted exceedingly not to have witnessed
this splendid pageant.
The manner of announcing the king's assent to the several bills
is very singular, and the bows of the clerks in their robes and wigs,
and the formal, quaint '^ /e roi le veuf which accompanies each,
had a ludicrous effect to such of us as had not before witnessed the
ceremony.
We paid a few visits before dinner, which does not take place
until six o'clock, one of which to Mrs. Jameson, the authoress of
" Characteristics of Women," gave me great pleasure. This gifted
lady is to sail for New York next month to meet her husband who
has a legal appointment in Upper Canada.
August 21. — Margaret, Mr. Duer, and I went to pass the even-
ing with Mrs. Jameson, where we met our kind and attentive
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson, and other nice persons, amongst
whom was an old lady seventy-two years of age, Lady George
Murray, and her daughter, distinguished equally for rank and
talents, preceptress and governess of the Princess Charlotte, the
224 THE DIARY OF PIIILir HONE. [.Etat. 56.
lamented " rose and fair expectancy of the state." The young
lady is the bosom friend of Lady Noel Byron, the widow of the
immortal roue poet. I talked much with her on the subject of
their separation. She describes Lady B. as a perfect angel, and
although it may be necessary to make some allowances for the ex-
aggeration of warm female friendship, the high character and intel-
ligence of Miss Murray forbids the possibility of her coming to very
erroneous opinions on a subject so important and so much disputed.
Lady Byron mixes very little in society, but is much engaged in
doing good.
August 23. — I took Margaret this morning to Westminster
Abbey. She was much pleased, and I experienced anew and in a
greater degree the awe and pleasure which the first view of this
sublime and interesting edifice occasioned me.
This has been a busy day. Mr. Duer and I went to breakfast
with Mr. Rogers, the poet, an agreeable, kind-hearted old gentle-
man. He is very rich, although a poet, and lives in handsome
style ; has a fine collection of pictures and other pretty things.
After we left him he sent me a beautiful copy of his poems with
illustrated vignettes.
Dover, Aug. 30. — We left London at eleven o'clock on the top
of the Dover coach. There was a crowd about the door, attracted
by the Duke of Wellington's carriage. He appears to be popular
here at any rate, whatever the London radicals may think of him.
August 31. — Colonel Cockburn introduced me this
BencciLt momincj to Colonel Arnold, commander of engineers
Arnold. ^ °
and of the garrison at Dover. This gentleman is son
of the infamous Benedict Arnold. He appears about my age ; a
short, handy little man, and apparently a gentlemen of good man-
ners. It seems to be hard to apply the severity of the Levitical law
to innocent men in these enlightened times, but I felt, while in his
company, as if my prejudice was busied in " visiting the sins of the
father upon the child."
Paris, Sept. 3. — We started much earlier than yesterday, and
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 225
having less distance to go, arrived in Paris at eight o'clock P.M.,
and came to lodge at the boarding-house of Madame Bonfils,
superbly situated in Rue de Rivoli, opposite the gardens of the
Tuilleries, of which I have a fine view from my chamber windows.
Soon after we came, a storm of thunder and rain announced to the
people of Paris that we had arrived.
Sunday, Sept. i i . — Horse race at the Champs de Mars at one
o'clock, and afterward to the fitc of St. Cloud. I am ashamed to
record it, Sunday as it was ; but what is to be done? If such scenes
are witnessed at all it must be on the day which Christians call
Sabbath. We intended to go to church this morning to hear an
eloquent Protestant clergyman, Mr. Athanese Coquerel, who is
preaching in the churches of our faith at present ; but until one
o'clock it rained very hard, notwithstanding which the races took
place, and the queen and royal family were there, and a tolerable
concourse of people. It stopped raining at one o'clock, and the
men came out ; but the course and all the grounds around were an
ocean of mud. The horses running looked like the wizard horse
of Leonora, only their halo was of a less luminous nature. We
came away after the first two heats, and pursued our way to St.
Cloud. A horse race in Paris is not by any means the same thing
as an English one, nor even one of ours. I do not think it a
favourite amusement of the French. It is the only one which does
not appear to excite them. lis sonf gais a la incsse, et grave a la
coui'se. The principal race to-day was won by a horse of the Due
d'Orleans, beating Lord Seymour, who has been in the constant
habit of carrying away the purses from the natives. One would
have thought there was something exhilarating in this, but there
was no shouting, no triumph amongst the men, or flashing of bright
eyes amongst the women.
The weather by this time had cleared, and the sun came out
bright, so that when we arrived at St. Cloud the immense little
world was congregating fast. Men, women, and children in their
newest finery crowding to the long avenue, in which booths are
226 THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. [/Etat. 56.
erected. Such chattering, such a variety of queer noises, such
singular exhibitions, so many lures to attract customers to buy
their wares, to witness their spectacles, or to eat their pates, were
almost an excuse to break the Sabbath for once to visit the/^/^
de St. Cloud. I shall not probably see another. We i)assed the
first hour in viewing the apartments of the palace ; the state
apartments are open to everybody on Sunday. These we saw, of
course, but were further permitted to pass through all the other
apartments. Nothing can be more magnificent j the pictures are
exceedingly fine, and there are several vases of Sevres porcelain
superb beyond imagination.
I remember that the king's bed, and those of all the family,
even the princesses, are hard mattresses, a few inches thick, with
no paillaisses, and the bedsteads only about a foot from the floor.
The French are certainly Sabbath-breakers, and their religious
habits do not set as close as ours, but one thing I will remark in
their praise : In all this concourse of people to-day, formed prin-
cipally of the lower classes, assembled for pastime and enjoyment,
when eatables of all kinds were exhibited, such as cakes, hot
waffles, pates, etc., I did not see a drop of spirituous liquor, nor do
I believe there was one on the ground. No drink but lemonade,
carried about by old women who carry as much acidity in their
faces as on their backs.
September 12. — Having determined to leave Paris for Geneva
to-morrow, we have been employed in making preparations. Mr.
Chazournes and I went in pursuit of a carriage, and succeeded in
getting a commodious travelling calleche of a Mr. Panhard, Rue
Bergue, for which I am to pay liim two hundred francs. We take
post horses, and go by the Dijon route across the Jura mountain.
George W. Lafayette is in town. I did not know it until yester-
day, when I called and left my card. I received a note from him
this morning stating that he was engaged with lawyers to-day in an
affair of family business, but would be with me to-morrow. This
I interdicted, and requested him to postpone his visit until after
our return.
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 22/
Well, I have seen Taliogni. She danced this evening at the
French Opera, in the ballet of the Sylphide. It was a single per-
formance, and, fortunately, fell upon our last night in Paris. The
immense theatre was crowded in every part. Bradford obtained
excellent places for us in the course of the day. The opera was
the " Siege of Corinth," which, did not interest me ; but the ballet
was certainly the poetry of motion and the sunlight of beauty.
I never saw anything of the kind before which is not routed horse
and foot out of my recollection by the force of this fascinating
spectacle. Not only the calypso of the night, but her attendant
nymphs all danced and moved and floated like beings of another
world. The piece is exactly the same as that gotten up in New
York as an opera when Mrs. Austin was there, under the name of
the " Mountain Sylph " ; but, fortunately, there was no singing or
speaking here. It would have been too much, when one of our
senses was completely absorbed, to have another invaded, and in
danger of being captured ; it might have ended in nonsense. The
whole affair was so nicely managed, the machinery worked so
well, the sylphs flew in the air, as if their little delicate feet had
never touched the ground, and when their lovely sister died, four
of them enveloped her in a net of gold and, each taking a corner,
flew up with her into the air, where, I take it for granted, the
Sylphic Pere la Chaise is situated. Or, perhaps, the beauteous
beings of their race, when defunct, are taken up to exhale in the
regions above, and return to us in the form of dew-drops to
sparkle on the leaves of the newly blown rose, or hide in the vel-
vet recesses of the fragrant violet. Taliogni is small, delicate, and,
I think, pretty, and her dancing excels that of any other woman
as much as Mrs. Wood's singing does Mrs. Sharp's. It is not only
in great agility and dexterity, but it is the perfection of grace and
beauty, and addresses itself to the imagination, as it is, in fact, half
the time something behueen earth and heaven. When this pleas-
ant affair was ended, we went to Tortoni's and took our ices.
This is the most fashionable house in Paris.
228 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 56.
En Route, Sept. 13. — We left Paris this morning in our car-
riage, with a number of Httle comforts, and put ourselves fairly cfi
rouU for Geneva. The weather was bad ; it rained with short
intervals during the day, and the uninteresting country through
which we passed, rendered more gloomy by the dark clouds which
hung over it, and the cheerless, uncomf(jrtable villages, with more
mud and dirt even than usual, gave us frec^uent occasion to laugh at
the absurdity of the application of the term " la belle France " to
such a country. It is worse in every particular than when I was
here before, and we are travelling through the very heart of France,
and its most celebrated provinces. Formerly the cheapness of liv-
ing in the country was more commensurable with its value (I speak
not of Paris) ; but now the extortion, the cheating of all kinds
with v/hich the traveller comes in contact, is greater than in Eng-
land, and you are not so well served. The porter at Madame Bon-
fils made a regular charge of fifteen sous for every trifling errand
he performed for me. At one of the towns, this evening, I sent
a boy for two candles to put in the lamps of the carriage. The
young rascal said they cost him a franc, and I had to pay him ten
sous for his trouble. It is so in everything. There is a gang of
female harpies stationed in the lobbies of all the theatres in Paris
to prey upon strangers. I suffer from being prhna facie a John
Bull, and he is fair game in France. They have a double motive in
swindling him : their cupidity and the dislike they bear to him.
France is fattening upon the food she loathes. These polite, disin-
terested ladies make me pay twenty sous for opening the box door,
and demand the same sum for a little programme which is sold at
the door for three sous.
Geneva, Sepi'. 17. — This place is filled with English and Amer-
icans. Our hotel is the fashionable resort of the latter, of whom
there were thirty- four a few days since. There are now here, be-
sides our party, Abraham Schermerhorn and family, Mr. George
Ticknor and family, of Boston ; Horace Binney, of Philadelphia,
and his daughter, Mrs. Otis ; General Jones, Charles McEvers, Mr.
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 229
and Mrs. Brinkerhoff, Mr. and Mrs. Ashurst, of Philadelphia;
Charles C. King and his brother, James T. Irving, Jr., Mr. Whit-
ney, the Rev. Henry Morton, Mr. and Mrs. Hammond, our fellow-
passengers in the " England," and others, perhaps, whom I have
not met. From my recollection of what Geneva was like when I
was here before, I was surprised, until I came now, that it should
be made a place of so great resort. It was then a dull, confined
place with dirty, narrow streets, and nothing but the beautiful lake
to recommend it. I find it now a splendid, agreeable town ; streets
of handsome houses have been erected on grounds which were for-
merly the marshy shores of the lake, and the course of the clear,
blue, rushing waters is confined in massive stone docks, with a
splendid bridge ; a pretty island has been formed, in which is a
bronze statue of Jean Jacques Rousseau ; spacious public gardens
ornament the part of the town remote from the lake. Immense
hotels have been erected for the accommodation of the hosts of
travellers who pass through on their way to Italy, and the whole
has an air of splendor and gayety which must surprise the rigid,
formal descendants of the reformers of John Calvin's severe days.
I am here with my three daughters and son-in-law, and sur-
rounded by friends and acquaintances, my window overlooking the
brightest blue waters the sun ever shone upon (except, perhaps,
those of Lake George) ; splendid new edifices on the one hand and
the green shore of the lake, with a majestic perspective of snow-
clad mountains, on the other. I think I may say with the patriarch
of old, " It is well to be here." One look out of Mary's bright eyes
(and oh ! how much brighter than I expected to see them), with
her whole heart mixed up with mine, conspire to render the few
days of my sojourn in Geneva among the happiest of my life — but
how to get away !
The English swarm so on the Continent. They are generally
vulgar people, without taste, and with their pockets well filled, and
the French and Swiss do love so dearly to handle their money that
the market is spoiled for us Americans, who can better appreciate
230 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 56.
the value of the articles offered for sale. This place has benefited
more by the intercourse of foreigners than any on the Continent.
It is on the direct road to Italy, and so pleasant that travellers in
transit linger here as long as possible, besides which, many pass their
summer here, and several English flimilies have delightful villas on
the banks of the lake, cultivated so much in the English style that
the country around Geneva has greatly the appearance of England,
which makes it a Paradise compared with the adjacent country
which the traveller must pass to reach it. This all comes from
John Bull ; the substantial stone docks and lofty edifices, the sight
of which from my window affords me so much pleasure, are all
based upon English guineas. I have heard it estimated that four
millions of pounds sterling are annually spent on the Continent, and
Geneva gets a fair share of it ; the Americans, too, are spending a
great deal of money in Europe, and unfortunately there is no reci-
procity in the trade (except as relates to England). How few of
the dollars which we expend in France, Switzerland, or Italy, ever
find their way back again. The people of those countries do go
out to America sometimes, it is true, but for what ? Not to enrich
the country, but themselves ; to carry on business and make their
fortunes, if they can. Latrobe and Pourtalais and a few others are
exceptions to these remarks, but it is the general course of the
business.
SEFrEiMBER 24. — The day of parting arrived at last. It is
amusing to see how shy travellers (the English particularly) are of
each other. They regard fellow-travellers, not as persons thrown
in their way, whose society and conversation may afford pleasure
and instruction, but who may rob them of their breakfast, or antic-
ipate the post-horses. How different in our country, where
travellers meeting on the road ask and answer questions, give and
receive information, compare notes, and often form agreeable asso-
ciations ; and these Europeans have the impudence to curl their
disgusting mustaches and ridicule those amiable traits in the Amer-
ican character. Yankee inquisitiveness forsooth ! that's the way we
come to know so much more than they.
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 23 1
FoNTAiNEBLEAU, Sept. 25. — We wcrc en I'oute at eight o'clock
in the wake of a carriage and four horses with a Count " Quelque
Chose," his wife and child, which the etiquette of the road forbade
our postilion to pass. Whilst we were changing horses at Joigny, I
scraped acquaintance with our antecedent count (addressing him
first, of course), and found him a sociable little man, and his wife
an agreeable person. " Don't, father," said Margaret, but I was
determined to give him a specimen of Yankee freedom of manners,
and quite certain am I that neither of us were losers by the exper-
iment. We travelled in company all day, and are at the same
hotel.
Sunday brings no holiday for France. Everything goes on the
same as on another day ; the labors of the husbandmen are not
suspended ; the hammer rests not on the anvil ; the shops are
open, and carts loaded with wine and other merchandise pursue
their wonted course on the roads where workingmen are employed
in breaking stone. You see no groups of well-dressed people, as
in England and our own blessed land, responding willingly to the
summons of the cheerful village bell. I should like to know how
this suits our reverend gentlemen who .are so fond of visiting the
Continent of late — the Springs and the Wainwrights, the Taylors
and the Mortons. They cannot convert the Frenchmen, that's
certain. I suppose they pray for them.
Paris, October 3. — George W. Lafayette made us a long visit
this morning. He came in town last evening from La Grange. The
family are very desirous that we should go out to see them, but our
time is too short to permit it. He looks very well, talked much
of his father, and gave us a great deal of information about the
Trois Jours, the trial of the Carlist ministry, and other interesting
events in which the general and himself bore conspicuous parts.
Our meeting was quite tender ; the style of greeting was som^ewhat
amusing to Mr. Ludlow and Margaret. We kissed each other on
both cheeks.
Havre, October 7. — It rained with little intermission all the
232. THE DIARY OF I'lllLll' HONE. [.Etat. 56.
morning. The prospect of oiir sailing to-morrow is not encourag-
ing. We went on board the ship, the " Sylvie de Grasse," and a
splendid ship she is. My bosom swells and my heart warms to see
my beloved stars and stripes floating over vessels in this port,
superior to those of any other nation. They are so trim and neat,
so beautiful and yet so majestic ; they hold the same station in the
commercial marine which their nation is destined to hold amongst
the nations of the earth. This is not bravado nor prejudice, every-
thing tends to it, and I do 'Mnost potently believe it."
Havre, October 10. — The storm continues with unabated
violence, and we are still detained in this /ris/c vestibule of "/a
belle France.'' I am punished now for having occasionally used
this term when I wished to ingratiate myself with Frenchmen to
whom I was writing or talking. We have certainly found nothing
^^ belle'' about it, except Paris and two or three of the royal palaces.
We have found very little comfort or enjoyment. French polite-
ness went out of fashion with the Bourbons, and ^^ place ai/x ef7-an-
gers " means nothing more now than a struggle amongst all classes
and professions to cheat the English and Americans out of as much
money as possible. The best thing they have is their noble king,
and his amiable f:imily ; and Louis Philippe can no longer go
abroad amongst his loval subjects in the confidential manner to
which his manly frankness would prompt him, from the constant
apprehension that some vile assassin may be lying in wait to blow
him up or to })lant the ])arricidal steel in his bosom.
I repeat that France is not the country which I formerly knew.
Perhaps I am changed myself. The eyes of fifty- six may not see
things couleur de rose like those of forty ; but it cannot be. I
found England improved, as I fancied, and I know of no reason
for my being prejudiced in my preference. My opinion may be
influenced, too, by the constant bad weather I have experienced
in France. I think there has not been a day since I crossed the
Channel that it has not rained some part of the time, except on
those five delicious ones which I passed with my children in
1836.J THE DIARY OF PIIII.TP HONE. 233
Geneva ; then, indeed, the heavens seemed to smile in unison with
the joyous feeHngs of my heart. The wind here blows an unrelent-
ing hurricane from the westward. Oh, for one of those north-
easters which have so often caused me to fret while at home !
Here they come "with healing in their wings," if ever they do
come, which my experience causes me to doubt.
At Sea, October 12. — I was not so much pleased as might
have been expected, when we were summoned on board the
"Sylvie de Grasse" this morning; for, although we were about
to be released from our tedious detention, the prospect was not
by any means encouraging. The wind had changed a little to the
southward, but the sky was black and stormy in the west, and there
was evidently only a temporary suspension of the terrible storm
which has raged for a long time. We came on board a little
before noon, and the ship was towed out of the narrow harbour by
a steam-boat. By the time the pilot left us, the gale recommenced
with increased fury, and a more miserable set of j^eople were never
congregated together. Every hole and corner of the ship is filled
with passengers. A dozen women and as many children of all
ages, and men of all nations, speaking every language. Sea-sick-
ness in its direst aspects attacked us all and sent us to our state-
rooms before night.
October 20. — We amuse ourselves so well that the time does
not pass heavily. Eating and sleeping, the two great occupations
of a sea life, are carried on with amazing spirit, and I perform my
part of both without the least defalcation. Besides these, I read a
great deal, and confine my reading to French, in which I think I
am greatly improved ; there are a great many good books on
board. Then we play whist, several parties of which are formed.
Mons. Tavout, Mr. Niles, Professor Longfellow, and I make one.
We all play pretty well, and our bet never exceeds a franc a game.
Some of the passengers play on the violin and other instruments,
and on Thursday evening we got up a cotillion on deck — Ainsi va
le temps.
234 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 56.
October 28. — After a night of fine sailing, with the wind at
north-east, which enabled the passengers to make up the arrears of
sleep of which the gale of the i)revious night had deprived them, I
went on deck this morning at sunrise, and never did the sun rise
on a more beautiful morning. We were on the edge of the banks
of Newfoundland, in about 49 degrees of longitude, the thermome-
ter at 50, immense numbers of aquatic birds, including ducks, hov-
ering over our heads or resting on the waves. Amongst the other
wonders of the deep a whale gave us a call and passed off astern.
It soon fell calm, and the boundless ocean presented a smooth
expanse of untroubled waters. The horizon in the west has a sin-
gular appearance. There is a fog which has an astonishing resem-
blance to land. I can almost fancy that the shores of our own
Long Island lie exposed to my longing eyes.
November 3. — At eleven o'clock last night I went upon deck.
The ship was sailing finely, at the rate of ten knots, before the
wind, with studding-sails all standing. At one I was awakened by
the noise and confusion upon deck, occasioned by a dreadful squall,
which commenced at about one o'clock and continued four hours.
Fortunately, the studding-sails had been taken in before the storm
commenced, but it came on so suddenly and with such violence
that the main toi)-gallant-sail and the mizzen-top-sail were torn
away from the masts. I was alarmed, for I supposed the wind had
changed to the south-west, and I knew we were not far south of
George's bank ; but this was not the case, the wind during the
whole time was aft. The night was very dark, and the wind furious
beyond description ; but we have made nearly four degrees in the
last twenty- four hours.
After the gale of last night had subsided tlie wind came out
ahead, which was succeeded by a calm until five o'clock, when it
began to blow again, and there was another violent gale which
lasted all night. The motion of the ship was so disagreeable that
I went to my birth. At ten I went on deck for a short time. The
ocean appeared to be on fire. I have never seen this luminous
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 235
appearance to so great a degree ; not only the spray from the ship's
bow, but every crested wave, as far as the eye could reach, ap-
peared to be formed of myriads of bright stars. The pitching of
the vessel was so great that I could not remain on the deck, but
returned to roll again in my berth. These have been two dreadful
nights in succession, and so near the shore too.
November 6. — The wind is still most obstinately ahead. We
are within half-a-day's sail of our port, with no more chance of
getting in until the wind changes than we had a week ago. We
have fallen more than a degree south of Sandy Hook. It is like
being locked out-of-doors on a stormy night, without a night-key
and all the family asleep.
November 8. — This morning found us in the same position. I
packed up my concerns and made all ready for going ashore. The
pilot came on board at eight o'clock, but it became nearly calm,
and the wind we had was nearly ahead. The news-boat boarded
us, and took off several of our passengers at noon, but they gained
nothing by it, for there was not a breath of wind during the re-
mainder of the day. The spacious bay lay all around us without a
ripple to disturb its bosom. Vessels of every description were to
be seen immovable like our own, and so we continued until the
steam-boat came down with the "Charlemagne " in tow, and after
separating from her was attached to our ship. Another steam-boat
with the "Pennsylvania," the Liverpool packet of this day, took the
"Oxford" (which had come up with us with the fair wind while we
were lying to). It was a splendid illustration of the power of
steam. Our noble ship was lying like a log on the water when the
little steam-boat took her by the arm, and cantered off with her at
the rate of eight miles an hour. We arrived at the dock, foot of
Rector street, at seven o'clock, where we found Charles Brugiere,
who had heard accidentally of our arrival from Mr. Saligny (one
of our renegade passengers), who arrived only an hour before us.
Margaret and I, with Brugiere, took a carriage, and at eight o'clock
I was in my own house. I entered the room in which my wife and
236 THE DIARY OF PIIILIP IIOXE. [/Etat. 56.
son were without their having the least intimation of our arrival;
for the packets of the 24th of September and the ist of October,
in both of which were letters announcing our intention of sailing
in the " Sylvie de Grasse," have not arrived, and if they were, the
case would not have been different, for no intelligence of our ar-
rival had reached the city until an h(jur before we came to the
dock.
The surprise and the joy of this unexpected meeting were
almost too great, but we were soon the happiest little group in New
York. My family and immediate friends are all well ; there is a*
great deal of gossip which must find a place in this journal, but
not now. I am once more at home by my own fire-side, — in my
domestic circle, — doubly dear to me from a four months' absence.
November 18. — The series of five pictures by Cole,
°^^ which he calls the '^Course of Emi)ire," I have seen
Pictures. ^
in their progress, but the pleasure of seeing them fin-
ished was reserved for me until this morning. I went with my
wife to the Gallery of the National Academy, where they are ex-
hibited. My expectation, great as it was from the parts I saw
before, has been more than realized. The conception is sublime
and the execution admirable. Cole has immortalized himself;
he has executed the greatest work, in liis department of the arts,
which our country has produced, and one which would take high
rank in the best collection of Europe.
November 23. — This charming actress arrived to-
^^^^ day in the " Roscoe" from Liverpool. I saw her twice
at the Haymarket in August, and was much pleased
with her acting, and, while I was in London, Mr. Price informed me
that he had engaged her for the United States. She was playing
in a new tragedy by Sergeant Talfourd, which had a great run at
the Haymarket during the summer vacation at Drury Lane and
Covent Garden. I fancied I could perceive in Miss Tree the
resemblance to Mary Schermerhorn which Fanny Kemble notices
so beautifully in her pretty budget of imi)ertinences.
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 23/
December 6. — In the evening I attended the anniversary
meeting and dinner of the St. Nicholas Society. GuHan C. Ver-
planck, the newly elected President, presided, with Washington
Irving and John A. King as Vice-Presidents. There were not
more than sixty who sat down to dinner, and it was rather a forced
concern. I doubt if there will be another anniversary. There
is great difficulty in keeping up the other societies, even with the
advantage they have in forming a rallying-point for their respec-
tive countymen lately arrived, a sort of home abroad, affording
strong claims upon national sensibility ; but in our society there is
no such bond of union, and the zeal with which some of its
founders entered into the undertaking has visibly subsided.
December 7. — I dined with the governing committee of the
Union Club at Windust's. There were twenty-three present.
The committee consists, when full, of thirty-five, to whom all
the concerns of the club are intrusted ; there are two hundred
and fifty members, not a sufficient number to organize properly,
but it was resolved to procure a house and commence immediately.
A sub-committee of seven was appointed to carry the plan into
effect and to admit members. I am on this committee, much
against my will. If this club can be gotten up like the English
clubs, it may succeed ; little short of that will meet the views of
the members.
December 9. — The electoral vote of good old
, ^^^^' Massachusetts has been given, as of right it should be,
chusetts. o 7 o 7
for Daniel Webster, President, and Francis Granger,
Vice-President. These electors have done their duty, and may
carry with them a good conscience. The very thought (wild and
hopeless as it is) of having Daniel Webster President of the United
States should make the heart of every American leap in his bosom
and cause him to dream of the days of George Washington.
The Woods and the Forrests are no longer to be found in this
country, but we have had the Groves for some time, and now a
Tree has been transplanted on our shores, and never did a sweeter
or a lovelier exotic grace our dramatic soil.
238 THE DIARY OF PIIILIP HONE. [/Etat. 56.
But to quit bad punning and descend to sober history, Miss
Ellen Tree made, this evening, her first appearance in America, at
the Park Theatre, in the character of Rosalind in *'As You Like
It," and Pauline in a sort of melo-drama called "The Ransom."
Her Rosalind was a most fascinating performance, full of grace and
refinement and the part well adapted to her style of acting. The
play, admirable as it is, and abounding in Shakespeare's finest pas-
sages and most touching sentiments, is usually tiresome in the per-
formance, and can be best appreciated in the closet ; but on this
occasion sweet Rosalind was so ably supported by all the other
characters that it went off delightfully. The charming debutante
was well received by a prodigiously crowded house, and was saluted
by cheers and waving of hats and handkerchiefs. I was struck
again, as in London, by the great resemblance of Ellen Tree to my
daughter Mary. Her profile is much like hers, and her smile so
like that it almost overpowered my feelings ; they are both pretty
well off for nose, neither being of the kind called "snub" by any
means; "quite to the contrary, I assure you," as Temple Bowdoin
says ; but Mary's eyes are finer and more expressive than Miss
Tree's. Fanny Kemble was right in this matter.
December 14. — This gentleman has written two
Mr. Biddie. letters, addrcsscd to the Hon. John Quincy Adams, on
the subject of the derangement of the currency, in
which he has exposed the fallacious arguments of the President
and his Secretary of the Treasury, and exposed in language most
eloquent, and reasoning the most conclusive, the mischief resulting
from the gratuitous interference of these functionaries in matters
which they evidently do not understand, and with which they had
no concern. These letters are published, and have created a lively
interest with all those who have read and can understand them ;
but, alas ! how small a proportion of those whose voices control
the affairs of the country are of this number.
If any man in the United States has reason to be proud of his
standing in the community it is Nicholas Biddie. Assailed as he has
1836.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 239
been by the malice and ignorance of unworthy men in high stations,
he has performed his course with dignity and forbearance, illumi-
nating his official path as by a sunbeam, and without the exulta-
tion of little minds, overcoming and placing under his feet all his
opponents. If any man but Andrew Jackson had been at the head
of the government, the Bank of the United States would still have
been in existence, and the check which commercial and national
prosperity has received would not have overwhelmed individuals in
its operation, and occasioned the present unexampled embarrass-
ments.
December 16. — The anniversary of the great fire. It is just a year
since the desolating calamity took place, which destroyed property
to the amount of more than twenty millions of dollars. To the
honor of the merchants, and as an evidence of the prosperity of the
city, the whole is rebuilt with more splendor than before. No
pecuniary engagements have been broken in consequence of the
losses attendant upon it, and all this with no actual, effectual relief
from the general or State governments, who, instead of extending
their protecting arms over their worthy children, are at present
occupied in throwing embarrassments in the way of trade, and
checking, as far as they can by impertinent interference, the course
of public improvement and individual enterprise.
December 30. — I went this evening to a party at Mrs. Charles
H. Russell's, given in honor of the bride, Mrs. William H. Russell.
The splendid apartments of this fine house are well adapted to an
evening party, and everything was very handsome on this occasion.
The house is lighted with gas, and the quantity consumed being
greater than common, it gave out suddenly in the midst of a cotil-
lon. This accident occasioned great merriment to the company,
and some embarrassment to the host and hostess, but a fresh
supi^ly of gas was obtained, and in a short time the fair dancers
were again " tripping it on the light fantastic toe." Gas is a hand-
some light, in a large room like Mr. Russell's, on an occasion of this
kind, but liable (I should think) at all times to give the company
the slip, and illy calculated for the ordinary uses of a family.
240 THE DIARY OF rillLir HONE. [.Etat. -;.
iS37.
TANUARY I. — The beginning of another year. That of the
^ last was inauspicious ; the ruins of the great fire were still
smoking, to remind our merchants and other citizens of the twenty
millions of dollars which they had lost, and of which those melan-
choly ruins were the gloomy monument ; but the indomitable spirit
of the merchants soon recovered from the loss, and although they
bent severely under the burden of their affliction, they were too
proud and too honest to break, and if they had been let alone by
General Jackson and the crew who surround him and minister to
his vanity and humour his prejudices, they would have recovered
their losses and been easy in their affairs ; but the close of 1836
has been hard, indeed, to those who owed money, and depended
upon others for the means of meeting their engagements ; money is
very scarce, and the usurers are fattening upon their two and one-half
and three per cent, a month, which they make indirectly by the
medium of bills of exchange. The poor borrowers are forced to
pay for the ingenuity of the lenders in av^oiding the penalties of the
usury laws, and the ])rice of money is talked of as familiarly as
that of bank stock or cotton.
During the last year I, too, have had my troubles ; my property
nominally is worth as much as ever it was, but I am largely in debt,
and cannot convert anything I have into money but at a sacrifice
which I am unwilling to make. So I am compelled, like other
poor devils, to bow to the men who have the money in their
hands. This comes a little hard to me, who am not used to it ;
but I must put my i)ride in my empty pocket and hope for better
times.
I have crossed the broad Atlantic, — an event which I little
dreamed of at the commencement of the year ; saw Old England
1S37.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 241
to great advantage; enjoyed les deliccs de Paris; passed through
France and a small corner of Switzerland ; spent a few happy days
with my dear daughters on the border of the lovely Lake Leman ;
had a short, and tolerably agreeable, voyage back to New York,
escaping thereby many storms and tedious weeks endured by all
those who sailed after us ; and arrived again in the midst of my
friends, confirmed in my opinion that home is the best place for a
man of fifty-six years of age. On the whole, I have great reason
to be thankful for the blessings I enjoy. My health is good, my
family happy, and my position in society respectable. I am not
too old to have a taste for the enjoyments of life, and my circum-
stances admit of a reasonable indulgence in them. I am fond of
literature, have a sort of smattering in the fine arts, and perceive
no failure in those faculties which are required for their enjoyment.
The year 1837 has commenced ; my prayers for better times are, I
trust, sufficiently mingled with thanksgivings for the undeserved
blessings I enjoy.
January 3. — Mr. Lawrence, the Mayor, kept open house yester-
day, according to ancient custom ; but the manners, as well as the
times, have sadly changed. Formerly gentlemen visited the Mayor,
saluted him by an honest shake of the hand, paid him the compliments
of the day, and took their leave ; one out of twenty taking a single
glass of wine or cherry bounce, and a morsel of pound-cake or New
Year's cookies. But that respectable functionary is now considered
the mayor of a party, and the rabble, considering him " hail fellow
well met," use his house as a Five-point tavern. Mr. Lawrence
has been much annoyed on former occasions, but the scene yester-
day defies description. At ten o'clock the doors were beset by a
crowd of importunate sovereigns, some of whom had already laid
the foundation of ;r^W glory and expected to become royally drunk
at the hospitable house of His Honor. The rush was tremendous ;
the tables were taken by storm, the bottles emptied in a moment ;
confusion, noise, and quarrelling ensued, until the Mayor, with the
assistance of his police, cleared the house and locked the doors,
242 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.^tat. 57.
which were not reopened until every eatable and tlrinkable were
removed, and a little decency and order restored.
I called soon after this change had taken place ; the Mayor related
the circumstances to me with strong indignation, and I hope the
evil will be remedied hereafter. But this comes of Mr. Lawrence
being the mayor of a party, and not of the city. Every scamp who
has bawled out " Huzza for Lawrence ! " and " Down with the
Whigs ! " considers himself authorized to use him and his house and
furniture at his pleasure ; to wear his hat in his presence ; to smoke
and spit upon his carpet ; to devour his beef and turkey, and wipe his
greasy fingers upon the curtains ; to get drunk with his liquor, and
discharge the reckoning by riotous shouts of" Huzza for our Mayor ! "
We put him in, and zvc are entitled to the use of him. Mr. Law-
rence (party man as he is) is too much of a gentleman to submit to
this, and sometimes wishes his constituents and his office all to the
devil, if I am not greatly mistaken ; and if he rejects (as he has
now done) their kind tokens of brotherly affection, they will be for
sending him there ere long, and will look out for somebody of their
own class, less troubled than he with these aristocratical notions
of decency, order, and sobriety.
January 7. — The venerable Abraham Van Vechten
'^* /*" died yesterday in Albany, in the seventy-fifth year of
his age. He was one of the descendants of the Dutch
settlers of Albany. A lawyer of the highest class, a statesman of
the glorious old Federal school, honest in his politics and in his
private character as the sun which shone above him, of a mind
strong and vigorous as the winter of his native city, and a heart
soft as the early summer breeze of the South.
January 12. — The arrangement which was so
Disturbed*™'''^ happily effected a few years since by the i)ublic spirit
of Mr. Clay, which was understood by all parties to be
inviolable, and which healed the wounds of Southern feeling with-
out sacrificing the great manufacturing interests of the country, has
now been assailed by the ruthless hand of party, and our little
1837.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 243
representative, Mr. Cambreling, was the chosen instrument to
sharpen the weapon, and give its direction. He has introduced
into the House of Representatives, as Chairman of the Committee
of Ways and Means, a bill to alter the tariff duties upon foreign
manufactures, so that the reduction which, by Mr. Clay's com-
promise, was to be made gradually, is anticipated four years.
Another section of the act takes off immediately the duties upon
salt and coals. If this high-handed measure is sanctioned by the
President-elect (of which there is very little doubt, for Cambreling
is his acknowledged mouth-piece), a flame will be raised which
may in time endanger the union of the States, prostrate the active
industry of the East and North, and render the whole country
dependent upon foreigners. No wonder General Jackson and his
administrators, executors, and assigns are popular in England.
They are an admirable party for the interest of John Bull. Huzza
for Jackson and Van Buren ! Down with the New York Whigs who
opposed the " commercial representative," and were so near
sending an honest man to take his place ! These cries will be
mighty popular in the "old countr}," and have more weight
and unction than even " God save the King ! " or " Down with the
Bishops ! "
January 14. — The ship "Wellington," of 740 tons burden,
was launched this day from Bergh's ship-yards. She is intended
for Grinnell, Minturn, & Co.'s London Une of packets. The grea/
duke (as the Spaniards used to call him) ought to be highly
gratified at this compliment from republican America. How things
are changed ! A supposed predilection for Old England, charged
upon the Federal party thirty years ago, lost them their political
ascendency. At that time men were afraid to wear a red watch-
ribbon, lest it might be taken for a symbol of Toryism and bring
the wearer a broken head ; but now the two old women who govern
England and America are great cronies, and their subjects better
friends than they were before the battle of Concord ; and the name
of the Prince of Conservatives, the greatest aristocrat in Europe,
244 THE DIARY OF rillLlP HONE. [.^tat. 57.
graces the bows of one of the noble ships of which America has
reason to be proud.
February 16. — This terrible old man, whose term
Tacksol" of office (happily for the country) will expire in a little
more than a fortnight, has been committing one of
those acts of violence in which he habitually indulges, toward a
senator whose high character has hitherto preserved him from the
personal insults of black ... of meaner rank than his present
assailant. The " old Cleneral," as he is affectionately called ; the
"greatest and best," as he is foolishly called; or the "second
Washington," as he is profanely called by the band of sycophants
who have made him what he is, — is determined to die game ; or, to
use an expression which was brought into the American vocabulary
about the same time that he assumed the crown and sceptre, he
goes " the whole hog " in insulting the feelings of that part of the
American people who have yet remaining some veneration for
their country's institutions. Mr. Calhoun laid before the Senate
a letter which he had received from the President, calling him
to account for remarks made in debate in regard to that most
mischievous measure, the removing the national deposits from the
late Bank of the United States. The Executive arraigning a
senator who represents a sovereign State, and that the proud State
of South Carolina, and abusing him for the exercise of a constitu-
tional right, — the free expression of opinion on the conduct of
another branch of the government, delivered, it is to be presumed,
in a decorous and orderly manner, or his brother senators would
not have permitted it. William of Orange would never have worn
the crown of England had Parliament and the people been equally
subservient to the dictates of power as are my dear, gullible coun-
trymen. What would the Hancocks, the Adamses, and the Quincys ;
the Jays, the Clintons, and the Hamiltons ; the Henrys, the Ran-
dolphs, and the Madisons, — have said at the bare suggestion of such
a radical defect within the space of fifty or sixty years in the fair
fabric which their patriotic labours contributed to erect, as could by
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 245
possibility permit such a usurpation on the part of the executive
magistrate ? He could not wait until his time was out to vent his
spleen against a political opponent. It was more convenient to
" assume the responsibility " (a hateful Jackson term) before the
fourth of March should have taken from his shoulders the mantle
of official impunity. Or, perhaps, as " the old cocks teach the
young ones to crow," this act was intended to instruct his suc-
cessor and favourite in the art of governing upon patent Jackson
principles, and to give him the exact length and breadth of the
forbearance of the American people ; but, thank God ! Mr. Van
Buren, although a wiser and a better man, does not enjoy the
baneful popularity, at least in any important degree, of the present
chief magistrate, and cannot (even if he were so disposed, which I
am far from believing) ever trifle with the feelings of his country-
men with the same indulgence. Mr. Calhoun, on presenting the
letter to the Senate, repeated the remarks which had occasioned it,
and with great eloquence, dignity, and self-possession appealed to
that body to protect their privileges.
March 4. — This is the end of General Jackson's administration,
— the most disastrous in the annals of the country, and one which
will excite " the special wonder " of posterity. That such a man
should have governed this great country, with a rule more absolute
than that of any hereditary monarch of Europe, and that the peo-
ple should not only have submitted to it, but upheld and supported
him in his encroachments upon their rights, and his disregard of
the Constitution and the laws, will equally occasion the surprise
and indignation of future generations. The people's indifference
will prove that the love of liberty and independence is no longer
an attribute of our people, and that the patriotic labours of the men
of the Revolution have sunk like water in the sands, and that the
vaunted rights of the people are considered by them as a " cun-
ningly devised fable."
This is also the commencement of Mr. Van Buren's reign, the
first New York President. He has said that it was " honour enough
246 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^^tat. 57.
to have served under such a chief," and will no doubt for a time
speak with reverence of the ladder by which he has risen to the
summit of ambitious hopes ; but I do not despair of him. He will
be a party President, but he is too much of a gentleman to be
governed by the rabble who surrounded his predecessor and ad-
ministered to his bad passions. As a man, a gentleman, and a
friend, I have great respect for Mr. Van Buren. I hate the cause,
but esteem the man ; and, although I differ in my expectations from
some of my political friends, I am disposed to give him a fair
chance. What a tide there is in the affairs of men ! The refusal
of a Whig Senate to confirm his a})pointment as Minister to Eng-
land made him President of the United States.
March 6. — The new President was sworn into
Inauguration, office at the Capitol, on Saturday, at noon. The cere-
mony was conducted as usual, in the presence of the
" high dignitaries " of the nation, foreign ministers, etc., and as
many of the " sovereigns" as could gain admittance to the presence
of their " servant." Mr. Van Buren made an inaugural speech,
which I think is very good. The principles on which he promises
to govern are unexceptionable, and if he had not committed himself
unnecessarily, and I think improperly, on the subject of slavery,
by saying that he intends to veto any bill which may be passed by
Congress to regulate that knotty subject in the District of Columbia,
and if he could only have kept himself quiet about the old lion,
who is now about to drag his reluctant steps away from the den,
I should have said, Hurrah for Martin the First ! His glorifi-
cation of the "hero of a considerable number of wars" is too
good to be lost.
March 15. — This has turned out a great affair;
r. c s er s gygj.y^|-)|j-jor ^ygut like clock-work. I arose at six o'clock.
Reception. ' ^
The morning was raw and looked stormy, but soon
became bright, and it proved a pleasant day. At seven o'clock
the committee of arrangements, consisting of myself, Messrs. Draper,
Barstow, Leavitt, Johnson, Smith, and Benson, started in the steam-
1837.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. ^47
boat and arrived at Amboy at half- past nine. On the arrival of
the c^rs from Philadelphia we received Mr. Webster. The flags
which had been prepared were hoisted on his coming on board,
and we started immediately. We arrived at the steamboat wharf
near the Battery at three o'clock ; here the crowd was immense ;
the dock-houses, sheds, and that part of the Battery nearest the
place of landing were covered with people. Mr. Webster was
placed in my barouche, in which also D. B. Ogden, Peter Stagg,
and myself were seated. An escort of horsemen, to the number of
one hundred, preceded the barouche, and the carriages with the
members of the committee followed. Broadway was filled with
people from the Battery to the American Hotel (Mr. Webster's
quarters), and he was cheered by the crowd on his whole progress
with great enthusiasm. On his arrival at the hotel he addressed
them briefly from a front window. The committee escorting Mr.
Webster, with Mr. Granger, Mr. Abbot Lawrence, and a few others,
went, at six o'clock, to Niblo's saloon, where an immense concourse
was assembled by previous notice. The meeting was organized
by the appointment of David B. Ogden, chairman, Robert C. Cor-
nell, Jonathan Goodhue, Nathaniel Weed, and Joseph Tucker, vice-
presidents, and Hiram Ketcham and Joseph Hoxie, secretaries.
The resolutions passed at the first meeting were read, together
with the correspondence. Our committee then ascended the stage
with Mr. Webster, and I introduced him with a brief speech.
The chairman then read an address to Mr. Webster, to which
he replied in a speech of two hours and a half, — one of those
glorious exhibitions of talent for which he stands unrivalled in
America. He gave a clear and forcible history of the administra-
tion for the last eight years ; laid open his views and the course of
his political conduct ; told the Whigs, in glowing and animated
terms, the duty they owed the Republic, even while in a minority ;
and sent home four or five thousand as good-looking men as I ever
saw assembled, delighted and instructed, and unconscious that they
had been standing in one position for nearly four hours. The use
248 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 57.
of the Governor's room in the City Hall has been obtained for
Mr. Webster, where he will receive visitors to-morrow from twelve
until two o'clock.
March 18. — Notwithstanding the hard times and my partici-
pation in their effects, I could not resist the temptation of having
Mr. Webster to dine wilh mc to-day ; so I had a nice litde party,
and an exceedingly pleasant one. "The man whom every true
American delights to honour" (there is no harm in stealing out of
my own pocket) was more at his ease than I ever before saw him
at dinner-table ; he was talkative, cheerful, full of anecdote, and
appeared to enjoy himself as much as he caused others to enjoy
themselves, and we made a very gay termination of an exceedingly
sorrowful sort of a week. Our party consisted of the following :
Mr. Webster, Mr. David B. Ogden, Chancellor Kent, Robert Ray,
Mr. (iranger, Charles King, Mr. James Brown, Simeon Draper, Mr.
George Griswold, President Duer. The troubles in Wall street
kept away James G. King and Morris Robinson. A number of
failures have taken place to-day ; only the forerunners of greater
disasters. The names are not worth recording, for such events
will soon cease to be worthy of remark
March 20. — The prospects in Wall street are getting worse and
worse. The Josejihs do not go on. The accounts from England
are very alarming ; the panic prevails there as bad as here. Cotton
has follen ; the loss on shipments will be very heavy, and American
credits will be withdrawn. The paper of the Southern and Western
merchants is coming back protested. Why should I be in such a
scrape ?
March 28. — The general meeting of the Whigs was held this
evening at Masonic Hall, to receive the nomination of Aaron Clarke
for mayor. I was there for a short time. The great hall was
filled, and great enthusiasm prevailed. I hope it will not evaporate.
A much greater object is to be attained than the mere personal
triumph of Aaron Clarke over John J. Morgan. This will be the
first important election which has been held since Mr. Van Buren
I837-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 249
assumed the reins of government, and it will be well to let him know
whether the people approve of his driving (as he has intimated he
intended to do) according to the Jackson plan.
A meeting of merchants was held this day at the Merchants'
Bank, Wall street, for the purpose of agreeing upon a letter to be
presented to Mr. Biddle, requesting the Bank of the United States,
at Philadelphia, to step forward in this most appalling crisis and
save the commercial community of New York. Mr. Biddle and
the cashier, Mr. Jaudon, have come on purpose to ascertain the
true state of things, and, if possible, to afford relief.
I was invited to attend this meeting ; never was seen such an
assemblage of woe-begone countenances. Despondency had taken
place of that indomitable spirit which usually characterizes the mer-
chants of New York, and Nicholas Biddle, the insulted and pro-
scribed of Andrew Jackson and his myrmidons, is the sun to which
alone they can look to illumine the darkness. Did ever man enjoy
so great a moral triumph ? He is the only man, and the bank over
which he so ably presides the only institution, in the country which
has stood erect before the implacable hostility of Andrew Jackson.
Mr. Biddle, placing himself upon the firm base of honour and in-
tegrity, has retaliated the wrongs which he has received from a
portion of his fellow-citizens, by serving them whenever a suitable
occasion occurred, and now he comes forward in the day of their
adversity to relieve them to the extent of his ability. He can do
so much, and most assuredly will.
March 31. — This was the greatest dinner I was ever
Dinner ^^' ^^^^^ ^^^ exccptiou, pcrhaps, of that given to Wash-
ington Irving on his return from Europe. I had the
honour of being an invited guest. The Association of Booksellers in
the principal cities of the Union have a great annual or semi-annual
feast, at which eminent literary and scientific men are invited to
join the trade. This, I believe, was the first in New York ; it was
given at the City Hotel, and was gotten up, arranged, and conducted
in admirable style. At five o'clock yesterday, the Association, with
250 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [JEtnt. S7.
their guests (I should think to the number of fifty), began to as-
semble, and when the company was seated the large dining-room
was quite full. Mr. Crittenden told me this morning that two hun-
dred and seventy-seven persons sat down to the table. Mr. David
Felt presided in handsome style, assisted by F. Harper, Charles
Carvill, W. Jackson, and James Conner, as vice-presidents, George
Dearborn, master of ceremonies, and John Keese as toast-master.
Among the guests whom I noticed were Rev. Mr. Schroeder,
Rev. Orville Dewey, Professor Follen, President Duer, and Professors
McVickar, Anderson, and Renwick, of Columbia College, Chancellor
Kent, Mr. Gallatin, Colonel Trumbull, Judge Irving, Washington
Irving, Halleck, Bryant, Paulding, Hugh Maxwell, Dr. McMurtrie,
Dr. Gray, Leggett, Herbert, Grenville Mellon, Inman, Weir, Chap-
man, Drs. Ticknor, Gilman, DeKay, and Francis, besides many
gentlemen connected with literature in Philadelphia and Boston.
April 10. — One of the signs of the times is to be seen in the
sales of rich furniture. Men who a year ago thought themselves
rich, and such expenditures justifiable, are now bankrupt.
Markets continue extravagantly high ; meat of all kinds and
poultry are as dear as ever. The farmers (or rather the market
speculators) tell us this is owing to the scarcity of corn ; but the
shad, the chea]:)ness of which in ordinary seasons makes them, as
long as they last, a great resource for the poor, are not to be bought
under seventy-five cents and a dollar. Is this owing to the scarcity
of corn, or are the fish afraid to come into our waters lest they may
be caught in the vortex of Wall street ? Brooms, the price of which,
time out of mind, has been twenty- five cents, are now sold at half a
dollar ; but corn is scarce. Poor New York !
Aprh. 21. — An evidence of the pecuniary distress which pervades
the community is to be found in the reduced price of stocks and
unimproved real estate. All the local bank stocks have fallen below
par. Railroads and canals will not bring in many instances more
than half their value a year ago. The Delaware and Hudson, which
4s now in a more prosperous condition than at any former period, is
1837.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 2$ I
selling at sixty-five per cent., and Mohawk and Hudson Railroad
about the same. As to lots which have been the medium of enor-
mous speculations, the following fact will tell their story : Lots at
Bloomingdale, somewhere about One Hundredth street (for the
whole island was laid out in town lots), which cost last September
$480 a lot, have been sold within a few days at $50. The immense
fortunes which we heard so much about in the days of speculation
have melted away like the snows before an April sun. No man can
calculate to escape ruin but he who owes no money. Happy is he
who has a little, and is free from debt.
April 25. — This volume commences at the most gloomy period
which New York has ever known. The clouds which have been
for six months hovering over us have become darker than ever,
and no eye can perceive a ray of hope through their obscurity. I
participate personally, to a great degree, in the distress and em-
barrassment of the time. The difference in my situation and pros-
pects between the commencement of the last volume of this journal
and the present time is so great that it requires a good share of
philosophy and resignation to keep up under the reflections which
flow from the contrast, and I would throw down this steel pen
(which don't write over and above well) and give up the task of
journalizing on the threshold of this volume, if I had not a
lingering hope that I may yet, one of these days, have cause to
write in a more cheerful strain.
April 26. — A meeting of merchants was held last
rea ee ing g^gj^^^^^^ ^|. Masonic Hall, " to take into consideration
of Merchants. ° '
the present distress, and to devise suitable measures of
relief." I took the chair of the largest and most respectable
assemblage I ever witnessed.
The resolutions are pretty well spiced, and some softening alter-
ations were made at my suggestion ; as they are, they contain
nothing but the truth, and the truth which in such an emergency
ought to be spoken. But I understand some of the Wall-street
gentlemen (particularly the few who owe no money) are opposed
252 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [^tat. 57.
to the meeting, or any other which may express the feeUngs of the
suffering merchants and traders. But those who attended the
meeting must have perceived a spirit there which cannot be
quenched. The following committee was appointed, under one of
the resolutions, " to repair to Washington and remonstrate with the
Executive against the continuance of the specie circular, and in
behalf of this meeting, and in the name of the merchants of New-
York and the people of the United States, to urge its immediate
repeal."
I attended last evening the dinner of the governing committee
of the Union Club, at Windust's. Nineteen present. The Execu-
tive Committee are engaged in preparing the house and laying in
stores and furniture. They expect to be ready in about three
weeks. This club will be well suited to the times. A single gentle-
man will be able to get a good dinner and his wine for half the
price he would have to pay at a hotel.
I attended this evening an extra meeting of the directors of the
Bank for Savings, called in conscvpience of applications from the
Bowery and the Creenwich Savings-Bank to help them in their
present difficulties. The poor and the labouring classes of the
community, who constitute a large proportion of the depositors in
those institutions, urged by their necessities, or by a want of con-
fidence in all money institutions, are withdrawing their funds in a
most alarming manner. The two banks above named will not be
able to keep up, and I fear that even our great bank, with a deposit
account of upward of three millions of dollars, will find it extremely
difficult to meet the run which will be occasioned by the suspension
of the others. Our funds have been safely and judiciously invested
in State stocks bearing five and six per cent, interest, — good, if
anything in America may be so considered in these times ; but the
run has already been dreadful. Up to yesterday the drafts in the
present month amounted to $280,000. We have sold a large
amount of stocks at a very heavy loss, and every exertion is making
by as discreet and able a set of men as ever had the control of a
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 253
public institution ; but there is reason to fear that the State stocks
of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio will not much longer com-
mand money at any price, so entirely has confidence been destroyed
in the community. A panic amongst such people as the bulk of
depositors in savings-banks cannot be restrained ; it goes on to
the destruction of themselves as well as the sources on which they
depend for support. But there is no reasoning with them. Like
the wild and frightened horse, their onward career cannot be
checked by a curb or bridle, and reason might as well be employed
to arrest the stormy waves of ocean.
April 28. — Mr. Webster's great speech, delivered
r. e sers ^^ Niblo's ou the i^th of March, is published in the
Speech. ^ ' '■
Whig newspapers, beside many thousand copies in
pamphlet form. If the people would read this admirable address,
it could not fail to produce the most salutary effects ; but they dare
not put themselves in the way of having their faith in their idols
shaken ; they heed not the charmer, " charm he ever so wisely."
Mr. Webster did not aim at a display of eloquence in this address.
His object, as he avowed it at the time, was to make a plain state-
ment of the measures of the late administration, and a history of
the causes which led to the present unparalleled state of distress
and embarrassment here, and in all parts of this once prosperous
country. Still it contains occasional flashes of eloquence in the
most brilliant style of the accomplished orator.
May 2. — The number of failures is so great daily that I do not
keep a record of them, even in my mind.
May 6. — The committee of merchants met at five o'clock to
receive the report of the sub-committee, who returned this morning
from Washington. Their interview with the President, as was ex-
pected, produced nothing. He insisted upon a written communica-
tion, to which he sent a reply. He will do nothing in regard to
the specie circular, will not call an extra session of Congress, and
will not take into consideration the subject of the government for-
bearance to enforce the payment of bonds. The committee are
254 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 57.
under strong excitement, and I fear the consequences of a meeting
which is to be held on Monday to receive this report. But there
was no resisting it. It is a dangerous time for such a meeting ;
combustibles enough are collected to cause an awful conflagration ;
men's minds are bent upon mischief; ruin and rashness, distress
and despair, generally go together, and a spark may blow us up. I
must preside at this meeting, for it would be dishonourable to desert
these men now. If I have influence, I will exert it to prevent
violence.
May 8. — The Dry Dock Bank stops payment to-day. There
was a meeting yesterday at the Mayor's office of the presidents and
cashiers of the other banks in relation to the subject of helping the
Dry Dock Bank. I saw the Mayor in the afternoon, who told me
that they refused unanimously to come forward, on his representa-
tion that it was out of the question. This bank, with a capital of
$200,000, has discounted to the amount of $1,200,000. It is not a
safety-fund bank, but one of the pets selected by the government
as a safer depository of the public money than the Bank of the
United States, and has a government deposit of $280,000, which
will go in part payment of the cost of the fatal experiment.
But three banks at liuffalo, all safety-fund banks, are under in-
junction and their doors closed. The Legislature immediately
passed an act directing the bank commissioners to assume the pay-
ment of their notes, which will consequently be received and paid
at the Manhattan Bank. This will probably sweep away the famous
safety-fund. The bubble will burst, and the public creditors of
rotten banks will look in vain hereafter to that delusive hope for
protection from loss. Where will it all end? In ruin, revolution,
perhaps civil war.
May 9. — The meeting of merchants took place last
^^^. evening, at Masonic Hall, in pursuance of a resolution
adopted at the meeting of the 25th of April, to receive
the report of the committee appointed to go to Washington. Great
anxiety prevailed throughout the city in relation to this meeting ;
1837.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 255
fears were entertained that in the present excited state of the public
mind, particularly of that part of the community of which the com-
mittee were a part, violent proceedings might take place, and
tumult and disorder destroy all chance of producing good by the
meeting, — proceedings which would be an example and sanction to
the lower orders of the people when bent (as they will soon be)
upon mischief of some sort. I partook largely of these feelings, and
determined to exert all my powers and influence to give a proper
direction to the action of the committee of arrangements for the
great meeting, and a hard time I have had of it. We met at three
o'clock, at Delmonico's. The report of the Washington committee,
which was prepared by Isaac S. Hone, is exceedingly well done. It
was adopted, with some amendment ; resolutions were proposed,
true enough and very good ; but, having been prepared under strong
excitement and a sense of injuries inflicted by the government^
were so strong, in my judgment, as to defeat the object we have in
view, viz., to raise up a party opposed to the men who have brought
us into our present unhappy situation. One in particular charged
the President with statements "unfounded in fact;" to this I
made serious objections, but without avail, until I was compelled
to declare that I would not preside at the meeting unless the lan-
guage I objected to was stricken from the resolution. I prevailed,
and was allowed to alter the resolution, which was then adopted.
The great meeting took place at half-past seven. The same
officers were appointed ; the report and resolutions were read by
Isaac S. Hone, who made an excellent address, explaining and
elucidating some points in the report. Mr. Bryan was loudly called
for, and made a good speech. The report was accepted, the reso-
lutions adopted, the meeting adjourned, and the immense multitude
retired without the slightest act of indecorum, much to the mortifi-
cation of some of the adherents of the party in power, who hoped
that this assemblage of the finest fellows in the State of New York
would, by some act of violence, destroy the influence which the
justness of their cause begins already to produce in the minds of
256 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^'Etat. 57.
men of all parties, and which will undoubtedly rend the State from
Mr. Van Buren at the next election. I am thankful that the situa-
tion in which I was placed enabled me to infuse a spirit of modera-
tion into the proceedings. As they are, they do us credit, and will
have a favourable influence over the minds of men in other parts of
the country.
A constant run was made to-day for specie on all tlic other banks,
which will inevitably drain them all in a week. The banks 7vill he
C077ipelled to suspend tlic payment of specie, and the Legislature must
pass an act, before they adjourn, to suspend, for a given period, the
operation of the law forfeiting the charters of banks refusing to pay
specie. Mr. Van Buren's precious safety-fund cries *' Enough ! " on
receiving the first blow ; the rotten fabric falls like the walls of
Jericho on the first blast of the trumpet.
^, ^ . . May 10. — The experiment has succeeded: the
The Crisis, — ^ ■'
Banks sus- volcano has burst and overwhelmed New York ; the
pended. glory of her merchants is departed. After a day of
unexampled excitement, and a ruthless run upon all the banks,
which drew from their vaults $600,000 in specie yesterday, nearly
as much having been drawn on Monday, the officers held a meeting
last evening and resolved to suspend specie payments.
It was inevitable ; and the banks will be sustained in this meas-
ure by all good citizens. The Legislature must pass an act imme-
diately, suspending the operation of that part of the safety-fund
law which annuls their charters on a refusal to pay specie ; other-
wise we shall be worse off than ever, having no circulating medium
at all. They must also repeal the law which forbids the issuing of
bank-notes under five dollars. I regret the necessity for the latter
measure, having been always in favour of the law. It worked well,
and would have continued to do so but for the accursed Jackson
and Benton experiment (the word makes me sick. I wish it could
be drummed out of the English language).
The savings-bank also sustained a most grievous run yesterday.
They paid three hundred and seventy- five depositors $81,000.
[837-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 257
The press was awful ; the hour for closing the bank is six o'clock,
but they did not get through the paying of those who were in at
that time until nine o'clock. I was there with the other trustees,
and witnessed the madness of the people, — women nearly pressed
to death, and the stoutest men could hardly sustain themselves ; but
they held on as with a death's grasp upon the evidences of their
claims, and, exhausted as they were with the pressure, they had
strength to cry, " Pay ! Pay ! "
While we were in session intelligence was brought that the
banks had suspended specie payments. Great fears were enter-
tained that these measures would produce serious consequences
when they became known, particularly those adopted by the Bank
for Savings, where there are twenty- five thousand depositors, and
those generally of the poorest and most ignorant classes. I went
down this morning ; the notice was hung out at the door of the
bank. A crowd was collected, which continued during the day,
but I do not think there were at any time more than one hundred
persons. Some were a little savage, but they seemed to require
explanation only. It was a sort of recompense for their disap-
pointment, which they were entitled to ; and when I addressed
them, and some of the other trustees who were present made the
explanations they wanted, they were easily pacified, and went away,
by the tens and twenties, tolerably well reconciled to their disap-
pointment, and two hours before sunset the street was cleared.
In the afternoon the trustees met in the Mayor's office. I was
mortified to be there, and expressed myself freely in reprobation of
the pusillanimity which led them to give up the ship of which they
had the command. I do not know by whose order the place of
meeting was changed at this interesting moment ; but it was a
sneaking affair, and most of the trustees thought so.
During the day Wall street was greatly crowded ; but there was
no riot or tumult. On the contrary, men's countenances wore a
more cheerful aspect than for several days past. The suspension
of specie payments will restore confidence, the men of capital will
258 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Ktat. 57.
suffer by the deterioration of the value of the circulating medium,
and John Bull (if he, too, has not been compelled to adopt the
same measure ere this) will scold furiously, and stigmatize the
Yankees as a nation of swindlers ; but honest men who are in debt
and wish to pay, and meclianics who are willing to work, will have
cause to rejoice. As for myself, I am in the first predicament, and
cry, Laus Deo ! The limb is amputated, the symmetry of the body
spoiled, but the life of the patient is saved. The new mayor has
done his duty like a man. The troops were out (hiring the day,
and Major-General Hays, with his regiment of Clubadiers, have
shown themselves at various points in strong force. Thus ends
this most eventful day.
May II. — A dead calm has succeeded the stormy weather of
Wall street and the other places of active business. All is still as
death ; no business is transacted, no bargains made, no negotia-
tions entered into ; men's spirits are better, because the danger of
universal ruin is thought to be less imminent. A slight ray of hope
is to be seen in countenances where despair only dwelt for the last
fortnight, but all is wTapped in uncertainty. Nobody can foretell
the course matters will take. The fever is broken ; but the patient
is in a sort of syncope, exhausted by the violence of the disease
and the severity of the remedies.
May 12. — The banks of Philadelphia suspended specie pay-
ments yesterday, except the Bank of the United States, and that
must follow. It is impossible that that institution, mighty as it is,
and reluctant to enter into the measure, can stand alone.
The Baltimore banks have also suspended. It cannot fail to
become general. The commercial distress and financial embarrass-
ment pervade the whole nation. Posterity may get out of it, but
the sun of the present generation will never again shine out.
Things will grow^ better gradually, from the curtailment of business,
but the glory has departed. Jackson, Van Buren, and Benton
form a triumvirate more fatal to the i)rosperity of America than
Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus were to the liberties of Rome.
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 259
The London packet-ship "Wellington " arrived yes-
EnTanT"" terday, bringing news to the fourteenth of last month.
Everything in England is tending to a commercial crisis
like that in which we are placed. The great American house of
George Wildes & Co. has been sustained by the Bank of England.
They owe the enormous sum of two million pounds. The bank
sustains them, because, if they fall, they must carry all the others
with them. The United States must ruin all the American houses,
and they in their turn will cause such general embarrassments that
even the Bank of England will not be able to stand.
May 19. — A Baltimore paper, after stating the report (which
does not distress me as much as some things which I have heard,
seen, and felt) that General Jackson " has lost by the recent
commercial reverses so large a sum as to render it possible that
his old age may be one of poverty even, instead of ease and opu-
lence," introduces the following beautiful extract, than which
nothing can be imagined more appropriate : —
•' So, the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain,
No more through rolling clouds to soar again.
Views his own feather on the fatal dart
That winged the shaft that quivers in his heart.
Keen are his pangs, but keener far to feel
He nursed the pinion that impelled the steel."
May 20. — The part of Beatrice is, I think, the
Ellen Tree, ^est of her acting. She played it last night, for her
benefit, to a full house. There is a refinement, a grace,
about her which suits the character. Miss Tree has not the force
of Fanny Kemble, but more sweetness. She has less genius, but
more nature. The Beatrice of the former is a virago ; the latter
makes her a spoiled child ripened into a wayward, fascinating co-
quette, but a lady always.
My daughter and I called the other day upon Miss Tree, and
left an invitation to dinner for to-day. She declined, pleading a
promise to play this evening for Hill's benefit. She returned our
260 THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. [^^tat. 57.
visit yesterday. I was not at home. My daughters were exceed-
ingly pleased with her, and enjoyed her visit greatly. All who
know this lady, at home and here, speak of her in warm terms of
commendation. She is intelligent, modest, and agreeable, and
wholly uncontaminated by her profession.
The following party dined with us : Captain Marryat, I. S.
Hone, Bankhead, Dr. McLean, Hay, President Duer, William
Johnson, R. Freeman, Henry Brevoort, and Stevenson.
The lion. Captain Marryat, is no great things of a lion, after all.
In truth, the author of " Peter Simple " and "Jacob Faithful " is a
veryevery-day sort of a man. He carries about him in his manner
and conversation more of the sailor than the author, has nothing stu-
dent-like in his appearance, and savours more of the binnacle lamp
than that of the study. He appears pleased with the little he has
seen of this country, and very desirous to see more ; but the bad
times will deprive him of much of the attention and hospitality to
which his talents and celebrity entitle him.
May 22. — The loss of life by steamboats in this
earn oa country, and especially on the AVestern waters, is shock-
ing in the extreme, and a stigma on our country ; for
these accidents (as they are called) seldom occur in Europe, where
they do not understand the art and mystery of steam devices, or,
indeed, of ship-building, Ijctter than we do. But we have become
the most careless, reckless, headlong people on the face of the
earth. " do ahead " is our maxim and pass-word ; and we do go
ahead with a vengeance, regardless of consequences and indifferent
about the value of human life. What are a few hundred persons,
more or less ? There are plenty in this country, and more coming
every day ; and a few years in the life of a man makes very little
difference in comparison with the disgrace of a steamboat being
beaten in her voyage by a rival craft.
May 25. — The English writers indulge themselves
merican- greatly of latc in quoting out-of-the-way words and
queer sayings peculiar to the people of this country.
'* I reckon," as Brother Jonathan says ; " go the whole hog," to use
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 261
SL Yankee expression ; and other phrases of that kind which occur
frequently in the novels and stories with which the British press
abounds, prove that they begin to take a little notice of us, and we
shall soon become as proud as the happy individual who boasted
that the prince on a certain occasion had honoured him by his
notice, and ordered him to stand out of the way.
May 26. — A deadly calm pervades this lately flourishing city.
No goods are selling, no business stirring, no boxes encumber the
sidewalks of Pearl street ; stocks have fallen again, but not back to
the prices at which they were before the suspension of specie pay-
ments. No remittances come from other States, and even where
debtors are able and willing to pay, there is no means of getting
the funds to New York. The French and English packets are
greatly behindhand, as if to give us all the bad news they will
bring in one grand coup. In the upper part of the city we shiver
under the chilly blasts of a backward spring, and burn more coal
than we can afford to pay for. Very few houses are being built,
except in some cases like mine, where we began before the " evil
day " came, and must go on. Lots which a year ago were like
" rough-edge guineas," and brought any price for fear they might
run away, stand now in the same places, and do not look nearly so
pleasant nor so valuable as they did then. " Gold and silver we
have none," and there is no change either in our prospects or our
currency. No man has anything to comfort him unless it is he
who is out of debt, and has no sympathy for the misfortunes of his
neighbours.
May 27. — I dined with the governing committee of the Union
Club, the first dinner in the club house. No. 343 Broadway.
The house will be open to the subscribers on Thursday next. It is
well fitted up, the furniture neat and handsome ; the servants are
good, and, above all, there is a most recherche chef de cuisine.
Subscribers will get a better dinner and pay less for it than at any
hotel in town. It is a great resource for bachelors and men
*' about town;" but I do not see how we married men can be
262 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^Etat. 57.
induced to leave our comfortable homes and families to dine " en
gargon " at the club, even under the temptation of Monsieur
Julien's bon diners a la Paris.
May 29. — Captain Marryat called to see us this morning. I
like him better than I did at first ; but he has very little refinement
of manner, and his conversation does not partake of the ease and
fluency wliicii characterize his writings.
May 30. — Mr. Webster, accompanied by his wife, is making a
tour of the Western States. He has been received in all the princi-
pal towns with great demonstrations of respect. Public dinners and
barbecues have been tendered to him in great profusion, and
speeches made and answered at every place where there was a town-
house or hotel large enough to hold the people. Even in Nash-
ville, Tenn., General Jackson's own dunghill, a public meeting of
the citizens was held, and a deputation ajjpointed to invite him to
partake of the hospitalities of the town. It would be amusing to
see Mr. Webster at a Tennessee barbecue, with General Jackson
as one of his entertainers, — the man who has done more mischief
to the country than any other, proposing the health of him who has
done the most to avert it.
Mr. Webster is boldly nominated in many of the Whig papers
for the next President after the curse of Jacksonism shall have been
removed from the land. This is premature ; but it may be the
means of keeping out of the field second-rate men, on whom the
party cannot unite. I am clear for using the best materials we
have. Webster or Clay, — nothing short of this. If we cannot
have either, then let the dear jjeople have another dose of Van
Buren.
May 31. — We rode out this afternoon to Mr. Schermerhom's.
The weather is now warm and pleasant and the country beautiful.
The grass will grow, though desolation stalks through the streets
of our city ; the trees will put forth their leaves and blossom, not-
withstanding the suspension of all profitable business ; the flowers
are dressed in all their gaudy and smiling array, as if to mock the
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 263
melancholy faces of the suffering merchants ; and the birds sing
merrily, regardless of the sighs and groans of the lords of creation.
June 2. — My wife and I drove out this afternoon to visit Mr.
and Mrs. Henry Hoyt, who are living very pleasantly at Mr. Post's
place, at Manhattanville, which belonged once to Lord Courtney.
It is one of the finest places on the Island. President and Mrs.
Duer were of our party.
_, . . . Tune 12. — This youthful scion of the Bonaparte
Prince Louis j j sr
Napoleon stock, who was cxilcd for ten years from France for
Bonaparte. ^ g-^j^ attempt at rcvolt made by him at Strasburgh,
after walking Broadway during the last three or four weeks, sailed
to-day in the " George Washington " for Liverpool. The ill-health of
his mother is the alleged cause of his sudden return. He will go
from England to Germany. He had better have stayed where he
was, for he is likely to get into new scrapes where he is going.
His formal attempt was not of a nature to create much alarm, or
Louis Philippe would not have let him slip through his fingers
when he had him.
June 23. — The number of new books coming out
New Books, evcry day from the English press, as well as ours, sets at
defiance the hope of keeping up with those, even, whose
merits, or the circumstance of a personal acquaintance with the
author, or other local or individual interest, render it incumbent
upon one to read. Besides the standard French and English works
which my late visit to Europe leads me to peruse, I am now reading
Buhver's *' Athens," — a new work highly spoken of, — when down
comes the second volume of Lockhart's " Life of Walter Scott," which
(as I have read the first) is irresistible. Then comes the funny
"Pickwick Papers," which, though lighter, shoves aside the others.
Then, Miss Martineau's " Society in America," which some say is very
saucy, and others very good, cannot be neglected if one would be
in the fashion ; and every feeling of good taste and friendship and
patriotism calls upon us to lay everything else aside and read
Washington Irving's " Adventures of Captain Bonneville."
264 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 57.
July 4. — The anniversary of the birth of our country was
marked by most delicious weather. I wrote until noon, then
walked down to see the crowd as far as St. Paul's Church. The
bells were ringing a merry peal in honour of the day. Their sounds
proclaimed the liberty and independence of my country ; but now,
for the first time, there appeared to me mockery in those sounds.
The glory seemed to have departed. \Vc are nominally in the en-
joyment of the liberty which was bequeathed to us by the men of the
Revolution ; we have the glorious Constitution which they framed
for us, but eight years of misrule has left us nothing but the empty
name. Independent, too, we are of foreign control, — and long may
God preserve us so ! — but the tyranny of public opinion, supporting
measures of the most oppressive character, has destroyed that proud
and manly personal independence which was heretofore the charac-
teristic of my countrymen, and men are governed by self-interest,
or bound down by a strong, but invisible, chain of party-spirit, a
badge of slavery like that of Wamba, or the Serf of the North.
August i. — The packets which sailed to-day took out a million
and a half of gold and silver, and no American passengers ; this is
as it should be. We must not buy any more goods or spend any
more money in Europe until we have paid all we owe them. That
is the only way to get out of the j^resent scrape. If remittances
continue in this way, with the aid of one or two cotton crops, and
the realization of the present glorious prospects for the harvest, we
shall not only get right, but the character of our merchants will
stand higher tlian ever among the nations of the earth ; for they will
have evinced a determination to be honest in despite of the exer-
tions of a corrupt government to make them otherwise.
The dial of the clock in the cupola of the City Hall was illumi-
nated last night, and made a splendid appearance through the
foliage of the trees in the park. It was attempted six or seven
years ago, but soon discontinued, for some cause or other. A Whig
corporation has been more successful, in this instance at least, in
enlightening their constituents.
1837-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 26$
August 9. — I was one of a party of twenty- four who dined on
turtle to-day at the Union Club House. The dinner was execrable,
for a French artiste de cuisine knows nothing about turtle ; but we
had good punch and wine, some excellent songs, many good jokes,
laughing in season and out of season, and noise not a little, for we
had John and Charles King, Bibby, John Stevens, Otis, etc., to say
nothing of myself. Chancellor Jones presided, who is as punctual
in filling the seat at the head of the club table as that on the bench
of the Supreme Court.
August 31. — The ocean has, by the accuracy of nautical skill,
been almost converted into a railway or turnpike road. The fol-
lowing circumstance is worthy of note : the packet-ships " South
America," Captain Barstow, and " Garrick," Captain Robinson,
sailed from New York on the ist of July, and entered the Mersey
together after a fine run of eighteen days. The two ships were in
sight of each other for 2,000 out of the 3,000 miles between New
York and Liverpool.
September 4. — Wallack opened the National Theatre
Theltre {^3X0, the Italian Opera House) this evening, with the
comedy of " The Rivals." He has brought with him
from England a very strong company, several of whom appeared
this evening. I never saw a play go off with more spirit. Wallack,
in the dashing part of Captain Absolute, with a handsome scarlet uni-
form coat, and his one beautiful leg (the other being a little crooked
ever since he broke it by being upset in the stage at Brunswick),
made a most captivating entree, was received with great applause, and
made, at the falling of the curtain, one of the best, most graceful, and
eloquent speeches I ever heard on such an occasion. But I fear he
will not succeed. The National is the prettiest theatre in the
United States ; but it is not in Broadway, and the New Yorkers are
the strangest people in the world in their predilection for fashionable
locations. In Paris the theatres are scattered over the whole city,
and the fashionable milliners, jewellers, tailors, and all those who
depend for their support upon the gay, the rich, and the fashion-
266 THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. [^tat.57.
able, are to be found in by-streets, or in the mazes of narrow,
dark alleys ; but our people must have their amusements thrust
under their noses, and a shopkeeper, if he hopes to succeed
in business, must pay a rent of $4,000 or $5,000 in Broad-
way, when he might be equally well accommodated for $600 or
$800 ten doors from it. But there is a greater obstacle to the
success of the new establishment in the great number of theatres
at present open in the city, each one of whom has some " bright
particular star" shining to attract and dazzle the eyes of the
multitude.
It is almost incredible that in these times of distress, when the
study of economy is so great an object, there should be nine of
these money drains in operation : The Park ; the old Drury, of New
York, which has done well during the whole of the hard times ; the
Bowery, with Jim Crow, who is made to repeat nightly, almost ad
iiifinitiim, his balderdash song, which has now acquired the stamp
of London approbation to increase its eclat ; the Franklin, in
Chatham square ; Miss Monier's Theatre, in Broadway, opposite
St. Paul's, — little and weakly, and likely to die ; the Euterpean Hall,
Broadway, below Canal street, — short-lived, also, I suspect; the
Broadway Theatre, next to Tattersall's, which has been handsomely
fitted up, and is to be opened next week ; Mrs. Hamblin's Theatre,
formerly Richmond Hill, where the Italian opera first placed its
unstable foot in New York ; the Circus, in Vauxhall Garden, nearly
in the rear of my house ; and Niblo's Vaudevilles, — the best concern
of the whole at present, with a strong company playing little pieces
a la fran^aise. Concerts, and rope-dancing, and other perform-
ances of the Ravel family, consisting of eight or ten of the most
astonishing performers in their line who have ever appeared in this
city. If Wallack can stand all this, he is immortal.
September 6. — The President's message was sent to
re^i en s Congrcss ou Tuesday. It is a long document, written
with ability, but the most mischievous in its tendency
that has ever been presented to the American people. It is loco-
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 267
foco to the very core. It echoes the opinions on the subject of
finance of General Jackson, Colonel Benton, and Blair, of the
" Globe;" recommends a separation of the fiscal concerns of the
government from all the banks, and the substitution of the Treasury
Department, and the issuing of treasury notes as a national
currency, by which means all power will be concentrated in the
hands of the executive and his myrmidons. It abuses the mer-
chants, coaxes the agriculturists, and tries, as usual, to humbug the
people. If the doctrines of this message are approved and sup-
ported by the representatives of the people, adieu to the present
prosperity and future hopes of i\merica ! If not, Mr. Van Buren's
career is closed forever.
There are many gross misrepresentations in this message. The
President puts forth his veto in advance on a Bank of the United
States, and thereby deprives us of the chance of the only remedy
(in my opinion) for the distresses and embarrassments of our mer-
chants. The following paragraph occurs on this subject : " Again,
to create a national bank as a fiscal agent would be to disregard
the popular will, twice solemnly and unequivocally expressed. On
no question of domestic policy is there stronger evidence that the
sentiments of a large majority are deliberately fixed, and I cannot
concur with those who think they see, in recent events, a proof
that these sentiments are, or a reason that they should be,
changed." Now this is not true, and the falsehood is advanced
with so much boldness only to blind the eyes of the people who do
not, one in ten of them, understand the subject. If the opinions
of the people are to be taken from those of their representatives,
they demand the re-incorporation of the late Bank of the United
States ; but if General Jackson, in the plenitude of his withering
power, was not only the government (as he styled himself), but the
people also, then is Mr. Van Buren's assertion correct, for he
defeated the intentions of Congress by vetoing the act ; and that he
was hostile to the institution, there is, unhappily, the most abundant
evidence.
268 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 57.
September 7. — There never was a nation on the
Des"yitch" ^^^^ of the earth which equalled this in rapid locomo-
tion. The President's message was brought on to this
city, by railroad, steamboats, and horsemen, and carried from
hence to Boston, which place it reached in the inconceivably
short period of twenty-four hours from Washington, a distance
of five hundred miles.
Poor Lynch died in Paris, on the 31st of July. He
DeaUi of Doin- . • i • .1 1 • 1 1 • -i 1 ,
. . , -, , IS said m the pai^ers which announce his death to have
inick Lynch, ^ '■
been fifty years of age ; but I think it must be a mis-
take. I always supposed him to be about my age. How deeply
impressive should be the decease of such a man ! How many
happy hours I have passed in his society ! No man has ever con-
tributed so much to the refined enjoyment of the circle in which
he moved. He sang and played beautifully, was the ornament of
female society, and infused spirit and joviality into the dinner-
parties of his male friends, where he was a constant and favoured
guest. He was for many years a wine-merchant, and we are in-
debted to him for some of the finest we have ever had. He intro-
duced the Chateau Margaux, for which famous vintage he contracted
for several years, and furnished it finer than we ever had it before
or shall have it again. We are indebted to him for the introduction
of the Italian opera, and the inimitable Signorina Garcia, and her
father and family came to New York under his auspices. He also
was the master-spirit who established and conducted the musical
soirees, a few years since, — the most refined entertainment we have
ever had. And now poor Lynch is gone ; his friends will utter an
exclamation of grief when they hear of it, and his family will put on
mourning, but not a glass of wine less will be drunk, nor will one
person, except his immediate relations, deprive himself of a single
amusement. Like a stone thrown into a lake which agitates the
water for an instant, makes a few retiring circles, and leaves no
trace upon its peaceful surface ; so his death will leave no chasm
in the bosom of the society of which he was so great an ornament,
I837-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 269
and will very soon be forgotten in the hurried progress of this
world's events. xA.nd so it will be with me, and with all of us ; and
it is better it should be so. This life is too short to be spent in
unavailing regrets. Happy would it be for the survivors to reflect
upon the insufficiencies of the enjoyments of this life and to prepare
" for another and a better world."
I finished my job of removing the Madeira wine to the garret
room in the new house, where it is nicely arranged, in an excellent
place. The quantity of Madeira and sherry removed is 2,023
quart bottles and 237 gallons.
September 13. — Another of my friends, one of the most delight-
ful of my associates, died last night at Windust's Hotel, corner of
Broadway and Leonard street. William Gaston, of Savannah, is no
more. Mr. Gaston was a merchant of Savannah, of the most
exalted and honourable stamp, upright in his dealings, agreeable in
manner, amiable in disposition, benevolent in feeling, and hospi-
table in his mode of living. His house was the stranger's home,
and Savannah acknowledged him her first citizen. I have passed
many happy hours in his company, but none with so much real
enjoyment as when I visited him at a cottage which he formerly
owned on Long Island, at the Narrows, near Fort Hamilton. Here
he was a host indeed, gay, entertaining, and eloquent ; his little
dinners witnessed " the feast of reason and the flow of soul." In
large parties his powers were not always excited in the same
degree ; and it was necessary to know him intimately in order to
know what was in him, and what might be gotten out of him.
Like all persons of sanguine temperament and enthusiastic disposi-
tion, his spirits were unequal, and this may also have been attributed
in him to another cause, peculiarly applicable to him. In early
life he was engaged to marry a young lady in New Jersey (Morris-
town, I believe) ; he left New York, full of love and anticipations of
happiness, to fulfil his engagement, when he found the object of his
affection dangerously ill, and soon followed her to the grave instead
of the altar. This, to a mind of exquisite refinement and the most
2/0 THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. [^tat. 57.
acute sensibility, was a shock never to be recovered from, and a
loss never to be repaired. He lived and died a bachelor.
September 19. — Forrest made his first appearance since his
return, at the Park Theatre last evening, in the part of Othello.
I was there a short time. The house was crammed in every part,
and his reception warm and enthusiastic. I think him improving ;
his acting is more quiet, and in person, deportment, and voice the
Senate in its most palmy state never had so magnificent a com-
mander, black or white, nor had ever Desdemona so good an
excuse for her misplaced affection.
September 21. — Congress are making very little progress in the
important business for which they were called together; the object
seems to be to develop the views of the men who aspire to lead the
several parties which hope to rise to political power in the turmoil
which attends the disordered state of things. Mr. Rives comes out
as a conservative against the administration, hoping to receive the
aid of the Whigs (a pretty strong party, thank God !) to hoist him
to power ; but the Whigs are not to be had for him. Mr. Calhoun,
theoretical and visionary as he always is, has hitched upon Van
Buren, but will not acknowledge it. He goes South against North,
and would support the devil to lessen the political influence of New
York. He has sagacity enough to discover that the doctrines and
the measures of " New York's favourite son " are most inimical to
New York, and is willing to support his suicidal measures to accom-
plish his object. Webster and Clay, true as steel to the best
interests of the country, pursue a straightforward course. The
people must come to them, or the country is ruined, and it really
looks now as if they were coming to them. Congress will do noth-
ing effectual in the present extra session, but hope is not broken.
September 23. — Everybody complains of the suc-
Libeis. cess whicli attends the publication of libels on private
character ; everybody condemns the depravity of the
times in which, and the community by which, they are encouraged ;
everybody wonders how people can buy and read those receptacles
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 2/ 1
of scandal, the penny papers, and yet everybody does encourage
them ; and every man who blames his neighbour for setting so bad
an example occasionally puts one in his pocket to carry home to
his family for their and his own edification. It is only for amuse-
ment, it will not corrupt his morals. It is bad enough, to be sure,
but the sale of one copy, more or less, will not make any difference
in the circulation.
The foregoing remarks are aptly illustrated in the following re-
marks in an English newspaper, written no doubt by one of the
numerous tribe of " preachers, not doers of the word : " " Charles
Kemble cudgelled Westmacott, editor of a scurrilous paper, called
the ' Age,' for libelling his daughter Fanny in the character of Ju-
liet, shortly previous to their expedition to the United States ; the
editor, however, consoled himself for these dry blows by the pecu-
niary profit he derived from the sale of his scandalous chronicle,
which was reprobated by everybody, but was to be found stowed
under the sofa-cushion in every drawing-room." I wonder who
cudgelled Fanny when she libelled the Yankees?
September 28. — I attended this evening a meeting
Historical ^^ ^j^^ Historical Society, the first held in their new
Society. ■' '
rooms, in the splendid edifice erected by the Stuyvesant
Institute, in Broadway, opposite Bond street. Three rooms have
been given gratuitously to the society for a term of ten years. The
library (which is the most valuable in this country in books and
manuscripts relating to the history of the United States, particu-
larly the State of New York) has been well and tastefully arranged,
and as it is now to be kept open during several hours of each day,
it will no longer be, as heretofore, a sealed book to the members.
October 2. — I went this evening to Vandenhoff's
Mr. Van- benefit, at the National Theatre. The house was
denhoff.
crammed, for this gentleman has gotten into the good
graces of the New York audience, and my friend Wallack, the
proprietor, has found him a good card to play against Forrest at
the Park. Mr. Vandenhoff played Hamlet, and young Wilding in
2/2 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 57.
the "Liar." I did not like him in Hamlet. I consider this charac-
ter the most beautiful creation of the human imagination, and have
some notions about the manner of playing it which few actors can
ever come up to. Cooper did in his best days ; so did Kean, and,
if I recollect aright, Conway did not fall much short of it. Van-
denhofif's Hamlet wanted sensibility and pathos, that part of it at
least which I saw, for I came away in the middle of the second
act ; but Isaac Hone, whom I left behind, says there was a great
improvement as the play proceeded, and that it closed finely.
Young Wilding was capital. Mr. Vandenhoff's reading is excellent,
and he has, by long practice, acquired a perfect knowledge of the
stage.
October 5 . — I dined with Mr. Wallack, at the Astor House.
The dinner was given to Vandenhoff at the close of his engagement
at the National Theatre. It was one of the most pleasant affairs
of the kind I have ever been engaged in. The dinner was capi-
tal. I never saw a table better set out, better provided, or a dinner
better cooked. The party was principally theatrical : Wallack,
Vandenhoff, Rice, Hackett, Russell, of the New Orleans Theatre,
Captain Marryat, Mr. Cramer, Colonel Webb, Dr. Holland, etc.
We had an abundance of singing, reciting, story- telling, and imita-
tions. Rice's negro songs and melodies were exceedingly fine. I
never heard them before under similar advantages, and was per-
fectly astonished at Jim Crow's powers in that department. He is
one of the most entertaining men I ever met in company. Wal-
lack gave us a beautiful recitation. It was a description of a ship-
wreck, with many affecting incidents, as related by two different
persons, a clergyman and a sailor ; they were as different as the
pursuits and professions of the two narrators ; no two expressions
were alike, and yet the same thrilling incidents were described, with
the same touching effect.
There was a fine scene between Wallack and Vandenhoff. The
former addressed the company as Lord Meadowbanks presiding at
the theatrical fund dinner, when he gave the famous toast, " The
1S37.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 273
Author of Waverley," which brought out Sir Walter, and withdrew
the veil from the great "Unknown." Vandenhoff rose as Scott,
and made the acknowledgment in the very words he used on that
interesting occasion. The imitation was no doubt perfect, for there
was a vraisemblance about it which could not be mistaken ; it was
admirable. I sat until nearly twelve o'clock, and the spirits of the
company were then far from being exhausted.
A letter is published in our papers which was addressed, during
the panic in London about American affairs, to the governor and
directors of the Bank of P]ngland, by Lieutenant R. F. Stockton, of
the American Navy. This gentleman went out to negotiate a loan
for the railroad and canal in New Jersey, in which he is a large
proprietor. What authorized him to volunteer as the representa-
tive of the xA-merican merchants I know not ; but he is not one of
the timid sort, and does not often find his modesty crossing the
path of his undertakings. At any rate, there is a great deal of most
excellent sense in his letter, and it is said to have had a salutary
effect upon the decisions of the bank, and done more to enlighten
the public mind in London than anything which has been " said or
sung " on the subject of American affairs. The following paragraph
appears to me to contain in few words the essence of all that can
be said about the connection between the banks and the people,
and places the whole of the specie " humbug " in a proper point of
view : *^ Men of wealth who hoard up gold and silver do not
usually borrow. The banks loan to the industrious and working
classes, and cannot of course receive gold and silver in return.
They loan on personal credit, or on the security of lands and
houses. The money so obtained from the banks is paid to the
labouring classes, and the moment you destroy credit, and declare
that nothing is valuable in a country but gold and silver, the notes
come back to the bank for specie which they did not represent,
whilst the property which they took in exchange for them, and
which they honestly and fairly represented, is made worthless by
evil combinations, and will not be received in payment."
274 THE DIARY OF PITTTJP HONE. [/Etat. 57.
Professor McVickar, in his most elaborate lecture on his favourite
science of political economy, never elucidated more clearly this
knotty subject which is now bothering the brains of all the thinking
people in this country, than this lieutenant of the navy in the short
passage above quoted, and Albert Gallatin and Isaac Bronson
might gather some useful hints on banking and currency from one
whose trade has formerly been to go " down to the sea in ships."
The " big wigs " of the Bank of England must have been aston-
ished at being schooled in such a quarter ; but the writer's maxim,
like that of his country and his j)rofession, is "■ nothing venture,
nothing gain."
October 16. Contrary to my forebodings, and the
Congressional {q^^s of many honcst men, the famous sub-treasury bill,
proceeding's.
the device which was intended to place the foot of the
government upon the necks of the people, was hiid on the table, on
Friday evening, after a long and animated debate, not to be taken
up again during this memorable extra session. Some of the con-
servatives, the balance- of-power men, held out against the force
of party discipline. Congress will adjourn to-day, having done
nothing but pass a bill to extend the payment of bonds for
duties, for which the merchants who are sliort of cash will thank
them.
In the course of Friday evening's debate Cambreling said
something saucy to Hoffman about liis changing sides, and
alluded to his having served in the navy, where he learned to
"tack and veer." This attack brought a reply from Hoffman,
in which the " Commercial Representative " was absolutely anni-
hilated. It is said to have been one of the most scorching
pieces of eloquence ever heard on that floor. Mr. Adams rose
after Hoffman finished, and declared that he had intended to
reply to Cambreling, but, tearing up his notes, said there was
no use in attacking a dead man. Hoffman has immortalized
himself during the present short session, and given earnest of
a brilliant " hereafter."
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 275
October 26. Broadway in the neighbourhood of
Red Brethren, the City Hotcl has been crowded for the last two days
by curious spectators, watching to obtain an occasional
ghmpse of a large party of Indians, who, after having made a
treaty at Washington, by which their "broad lands " are diminished
in quantity by the trifling amount of a million and a quarter of acres,
are now making a tour of the principal cities, receiving presents,
and being stared at for the benefit of theatres, fairs, and lectures.
There are two tribes, amounting in all to seventy individuals ; the
Sauks and Foxes, who constitute the most important part of the
deputation, are at the City Hotel, and the Sioux at the National,
opposite ; for these two tribes are not on a friendly footing, and
their white keepers do not think it expedient to get up a real war-
fight for the edification of the spectators.
I went to see the Sauks and Foxes this morning, and finding
Mr. Daniel Jackson there, who is a sort of agent for the tribes, was
introduced to the principal chiefs. The whole party — warriors,
squaws, and pappooses — were seated or lying on the ground, most
of them employed in opening and dividing some pieces of colored
cord, such as is used for hanging pictures, which had been pre-
sented to them at the fair of the American Institute, and with
v/hich they appeared much pleased. Keokuk, the chief of the
confederated tribes of Sauks and Foxes, and his f:ivourite squaw
were seated on a small carpet separate from the rest. He is a
fine-looking, elderly man, of intelligent countenance and dignified
deportment. I have heard General Scott speak of him ; he thinks
him a great man. In the expedition against the tribes, a few years
since, Keokuk was friendly to the whites and opposed to Black
Hawk, who was then the principal chief. Black Hawk is with the
party at present, but appears to have lost caste. He sits with his
son in one corner of the square, enveloped in a bright scarlet
blanket, silent, surly, and picturesque. The son is a majestic man,
aged about thirty, one of the noblest figures I ever saw, — a perfect
Ajax Telamon.
2/6 THE DfAKV OF I'lIILIT HONE. [/Etat. 57.
I shook hands with these Herculeses and Apollos of the woods.
They are generally very stout and athletic, with immense lower
limbs ; but their arms and hands are delicate and small. Keokuk's
hand feels like the hand of a woman, while that of young Black
Hawk is not so large as mine ; and yet in other respects I am
much inferior in size and strength to either of them. This charac-
teristic may be accounted for from the circumstance that they
perform no manual lal)()r, and the stoutness and great size of their
legs and feet are owing to their constant exercise in the chase and
other field exercises.
At seven o'clock this evening a rap upon the table in
rea ng ^j^^ lar^e room of Masonic Hall tocjk the hats off the
Meeting. '^
heads of three or four thousand of as fine-looking men as
ever constituted the "bone and muscle " of any community. They
were the Whigs of New York ; and another rap, with a glorious
responsive " Aye " from this assemblage, honoured me by placing
me in the chair as the presiding officer. The report of the nomi-
nating committee was read by Daniel Ullman, prefaced by a very
good address.
I put the meeting in a good-humour by addressing them in
something like the following words : " Now, fellow- Whigs, I have
given you your way in all things. I must have mine in one : I am
going to put the final question, — a course which is not usually
adopted, — in a form to please myself. Are you ready for the ques-
tion?"— " Ready ! ready ! question ! question ! " was the cheerful
reply. *' Then, as many of you as are in favour of the ticket, the
whole ticket, and nothing but the ticket, and are determined to
exert yourselves to the utmost to elect it, will signify it by saying
Aye." Such a simultaneous, thundering, whole-hearted Aye was
never before heard. " Those of a contrary opinion will say No ; "
not a voice responded, and the meeting adjourned in good-humour,
in high hopes of success, pleased with their cause, their chairman,
and themselves.
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 2//
November 6. — The election commenced this morn-
The Election, ing. It Is thc most interesting one we have ever had.
Former contests at the polls have been struggles for party
supremacy, and, sometimes, for the indulgence of personal predilec-
tions ; but on this depends the continuance or the ultimate overthrow
of a course of measures which hav^e nearly ruined our noble city,
and prostrated the energies of its enterprising citizens. It may not
be of great importance in its immediate results, for we can hardly
hope for such a change as would give the Whigs a majority in the
Legislature. The mountain of misrule in the State is too mighty to
be overthrown by a single political convulsion ; but the ultimate
effect of a victory now would be certain, and its influence in other
parts of our country, conclusive. The whole United States look to
this election as the star to guide them on to victory, and Mr. Van
Buren, and his cabinet, and his policy must rise or fall by its
result. The Whigs enter the field with high hopes and a steady,
fixed determination to do their duty ; of the respectable part of the
Democratic party, some have come openly over to the Whigs,
others stretch their necks over the fence and drop a few votes on
our side, and none give their party a full and decided support. The
loco-focos, the destructives of the city, have regained possession of
Tammany Hall, and the battle is to be between them and the men
of character, intelligence, industry, and sobriety. Even Preserved
Fish has joined us openly, and Jacob B. Taylor, Daniel Jackson,
George Sharpe, and many others of the same stamp attend the
Whig meetings. The " Sun of Austerlitz " rose bright and
glorious this morning, and I confidently hope will set, on the
evening of the third day, upon a bloodless field of battle, won
triumphantly by the friends of good order and the supporters of
the Constitution.
November 8. — The battle has been fought and won. The
election closed this evening at sundown, and the Whigs have
succeeded in their whole ticket. New York has broken her
chains and stands erect, regenerated. The moral and political
2/8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 57.
effect of this victory will be prodigious. The eyes of the whole
United States were turned to us. The measures of the adminis-
tration stand condemned before the nation, and Mr. Van Buren
must alter his course or sink to rise no more. This contest has
been conducted on the side of the Whigs from its commencement
in a determined spirit, and with high hopes. Our men worked
hard, but quietly, moderately ; there was no bullying, no boasting,
and it is greatly to the credit of the city that, notwithstanding the
unusual excitement in both parties, and the enormous number of
votes polled, — 36,500, — there was no commotion, no riots, and
no call for the interference of the police.
November 16. — -I received a warm letter of congratulation
from Mr. Webster, in reply to one I wrote him the morning after
our election, and a paper containing the result of the Massachu-
setts elections, which commenced on Monday. The victory there
is overwhelming. p]very one of the thirteen senatorial districts will
return Whigs. Governor Everett's majority will be ten times
greater than last year.
November 17. — The terrible abolition question is fated, I fear,
to destroy the union of the States, and to endanger the peace and
happiness of our western world. Both parties are getting more
and more confirmed in their obstinacy, and more intolerant in
their prejudices. A recent disgraceful affliir has occurred in the
town of Alton, State of Illinois, which is calculated to excite the
most painful feelings in all those who respect the laws and desire
the continuance of national peace and union. Alton is situated on
the left bank of the Mississippi, and opposite the slave-holding State
of Missouri. An abolition paper was established there, called the
" Alton Obser\'er," which, becoming obnoxious to the slave-
holders, was assailed and the establishment destroyed, some
time since, by an ungovernable mob ; an attempt was recently
made to reestablish the paper, which caused another most
tlisgraceful outrage, in which two persons were killed and several
wounded.
1837] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 279
November 22. — Such a day of continued excite-
rea ug j^gj^j. J have never experienced: for nearly twelve
Jubilee. X- ^ j
hours every faculty of body and mind has been on the
utmost stretch.
The out-door celebration (except the firing of the cannon) was
prevented by a villanous fog, which hung like a dark mantle over
us at sunrise. Until noon there were occasional symptoms of
better weather, but before sunset it turned into rain, and the fire-
works were " no go." But the in-door operations were all carried
out to the letter, and so brilliant and exciting a scene was never
witnessed. At eleven o'clock I went to Masonic Hall to unite in
the reception of the delegates from other States and cities, who
presented themselves to the number of seven hundred and received
their tickets for the dinner. At one o'clock the Mayor took the chair
and addressed the delegates in an excellent speech ; they were
then called upon by States, and a member selected from each State
addressed the meeting. It was perfectly astonishing that in this
number of speakers, thus called together, and most of them entirely
unprepared, there were no failures. All spoke well, — some of
thern ^yith surpassing eloquence. I have never witnessed such a
display of warm, glowing, impassioned oratory as some exhibited,
nor so much pure, refined, convincing eloquence as fell from
others. Colonel Winthrop's speech was one of the finest I ever
heard, — it would have done credit to Webster or Clay ; but all were
excellent, and Granger's closing speech fixed the attention of an
assemblage, who had remained during five hours in their several
places, and most of them standing, wedged together the whole
time. At five o'clock we all adjourned to Niblo's to partake of
the dinner.
Seven hundred plates were set, and the floor and avenues of the
saloon were crowded with persons who could not get seats. There
were many speeches and volunteer toasts, but I left my seat soon
after the regular toasts were done. Ten or a dozen of us, includ-
ing some of the Baltimoreans, had a little supper at Niblo's; but I'
280 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 57.
left them soon, and came home nearly exhausted by the labours of
the day, and intoxicated, not by strong drink, but by a strong and
unintermitted excitement.
This celebration will have an extensive and most salutary influ-
ence. Never before has there been such an assemblage of Whigs.
A bond of union and good-fellowship has been formed which will
extend far and wide, and the delegates will go home delighted
with their reception, filled with confident hopes of a return of a
national prosperity, and with a determination to restore the gov-
ernment of the Constitution and the laws.
The indications of public feeling during the day,
Henry Clay, which I havc watchcd Carefully, have been in my
opinion decidedly in flivour of Mr. Clay as the Whig
candidate for President. Whenever allusions were made to Mr.
Webster and him they were received with cheers and applause ;
but those for Clay were more animated than the others. The
delegates seemed to say that either of those patriots was good
enough for them, but that " Harry of the West " would be the
most available candidate. The question should not be agitated
now ; our duty is to get Van Buren out, and then — .
November 2^. — I dined with Mr. (iardiner G. Rowland, where
I met Messrs. Meredith, Kennedy, Morris, and Dr. Alexander of
Baltimore, Mr. Granger, and other gentlemen. I have frolicked
too much this week, and require quiet and temperance, which I
fear I shall not get.
November 25. — I had a pleasant dinner-party. It was in-
tended for some of my Baltimore friends who attended the
jubilee of Wednesday; but Mr. Swift, the Mayor of Philadelphia,
forestalled me and took them i/i transitu , all but ^vleredith and
Kennedy, who, like good fellows, stayed to dine with me. Our
party consisted of Jonathan Meredith, John P. Kennedy, the
Mayor, President Duer, Francis Granger, Mr. Graves, M.C., from
Kentucky, James Watson Webb, Charles King, .Abraham Ogden,
and I. S. Hone.
1837.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 281
November 28. — A convention of delegates from Bos-
_^" ton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York convened
Convention. ' ^ .
yesterday at the Mayor's office, City Hall. The object
of this convention is to deliberate on a resumption of specie pay-
ment, at some time to be agreed upon. There is great difference
of opinion on this momentous question. I think they can't do it.
November 29. — The great dinner is over, and I have
^^ ^ a prospect of a day or two's peace and quietness. The
dinner was given at the Astor House ; about two hun-
dred and twenty, including the guests, sat down at half- past seven
o'clock, and stayed all night ! We had speeches upon speeches,
some very good, but most of them too long. The principal speakers
were John Bell of Tennessee, Graves of Kentucky, Mr. Southard and
Governor Pennington of New Jersey, Kennedy of Baltimore, Sturges
of Boston, Granger, etc. Ogden Hoffman presided, with eight vice-
presidents, of which I was the first. The toasts, which were intended
to call out the distinguished guests, were severally given by the
president and the vice-presidents. Mr. Bell spoke an hour and a
half; Mr. Southard made an excellent speech, a little too much
about himself; but the great gun of the evening, that which con-
stituted the chief attraction, and kept the company together to an
hour unprecedented in the annals of New York jollifications, was
Daniel Webster. He rose at two o'clock in the morning, intend-
ing, in consequence of its being, as he said, to-morrow, to be very
brief; but his auditors insisted upon his going on ; they would not
allow him to stop, and he, apparently "nothing loath," kept on in
a strain of unwearied and unwearying eloquence until four o'clock.
One hundred and fifty persons, most of them men of sober, steady
habits, fathers of families, remained immovable in their seats, with
no indications of fatigue or inattention until he finished at an hour
when " night was almost at odds with morning." There is scarcely
another individual in the United States who could thus have fixed
their attention at such an unreasonable hour. I looked around
frequently, and I verily believe not a person left the room while he
282 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 57.
was speaking. What a wonderful gift is this pubUc speaking, and
what gourmands we Americans are when we get hold of a dish of
popular oratory !
Mr. Webster was clear and distinct in his manly and patriotic
surrender of personal claims upon the people, and a determination
to abide in all things by the decision of a majority of the Whig
party. This part of his speech did him great credit, and was re-
ceived with much enthusiastic applause. When he closed, at four
o'clock, I left the company reseating themselves, ready for more
toasts and more speeches, and I doubt if they broke up before
breakfast- time. I was glad to get away, fatigued and worn out,
but too much excited to sleep.
November 30. — Day of general thanksgiving and prayer, recom-
mended by the State and city authorities. There are many causes
of thanksgiving, some of which our present rulers would not be will-
ing to acknowledge as such.
December 5. — A Mr. Price, sub-editor (as I am informed) of a
scurrilous paper published in this city, called the " Herald," has
addressed me a letter as chairman of the committee of arrange-
ments for the Bell dinner, to know whether Charles King was
authorized to forbid him to take notes of the speeches at the din-
ner, on which subject a correspondence has taken place between
him and Mr. King. The gentleman is bicn enrage. He says he
bought his ticket like other people, and had a right like other
people to take notes or anything else he pleased. King, who,
I presume, thought he had no right to take anything but his dinner,
would not allow him to proceed, and, being of the Hotspur breed,
very probably showed him the door, and the man lost his ten dol-
lars and his dinner in the bargain. For this he called King to
account, and, his explanation not being altogether satisfactory, I was
appealed to by the aggrieved i)arty. In my reply I state that " the
practice of reporting in the pubhc prints the doings and the sayings
of our convivial meetings without the consent, and frequently to the
annoyance, of the parties who are thus unwillingly brought before
the public, a practice so entirely repugnant to the feelings of our
I837-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 283
citizens, is happily confined as yet to so inconsiderable a portion of
the press that it did not, I presume, occur to the committee to take
any measures in advance to prevent it ; but that I was of the opinion
that Mr. King was authorized, by the expressed sentiments of the
gentlemen forming the committee, to oppose the introduction of
reporters for that object." This brought a rejoinder, and then the
matter ended between Mr. Price and me ; but the " Herald " will
make two or three columns of the affair to dish up to his customers
who like high-seasoned dishes.
December 6. — Congress met on Monday; the
Aiesl/e ^ President's message was sent on Tuesday. This docu-
ment does little credit to Mr. Van Buren, and I trust that
it seals his political condemnation. All the abominable doctrines
of his September message are reiterated. He recommends the sub-
treasury system, with its hosts of government locusts to eat up the
people's substance, or if that will not go, then something else ;
but the merchants must be deprived of the use of any part of
the money which their enterprise and intelligence have been the
means of furnishing to the support of the government. No
matter what becomes of it, so that they do not get it. Was ever
a commercial people cursed with such rulers ? Better would it be
for poor New York if a volcano were to break out in the midst of
her than that this suicidal policy should be adopted !
In relation to the late elections the President has his usual cant
about the will of the people. He pretends that the late changes
are no expression of their will. It was owing to bank influence,
and the people will go round to him again, and then they will be
right. Faugh ! With his usual sycophancy and want of indepen-
dence, he refers to " his predecessor " eight times in the course of
this message.
December 20. — We had a pleasant dinner-party, consisting of
Samuel S. Howland, George Dorr, James W. Otis, J. G. Pearson,
Robert Ray, John C. Delprat, P. G. Stuyvesant, Charles A.
Heckscher, Peter Schermerhorn, Samuel Welles of Paris, and
William H. Aspinwall.
284 THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. [^tat.58.
1838.
T ANUARY T . — I verily believe there never was so pleasant a
^ New Year's Day. The sun rose this morning through a deli-
cious haze, which looked like impalpable gold-dust, and from which
it emerged gloriously. During the day the air was soft and balmy,
and the temperature warm as June. Visiting commenced earlier
than usual, and was kept up with great spirit until near night.
Broadway was thronged with male pedestrians, and at the open
door of every fashionable house a grinning domestic was seen
ushering in the visitors to the well-furnished saloon in which fair
inmates were ready to receive with smiles their homage and good
wishes. I began my cruise at noon, in the neighbourhood of the
Bowling Green, working my way up, and intending to visit my up-
town friends last. But when I arrived at St. Thomas's Church, it
was five o'clock, and I was compelled to make my visit to Dr.
Hawks (the most excellent pastor of that church) my last for the
day ; but I made some visits in the evening, and came home
fatigued with my pleasant exercise.
Last evening we were all assembled in the dining-room, — myself,
my wife, my six children, and son-in-law, — a goodly family party,
gay, cheerful, and happy, until eighteen hundred and thirty-seven,
with hobbling gait, took his ugly face away, and, turning his ill-
omened back upon us, made way for his smiling, youthful successor.
God grant he may not " follow in the footsteps of his illustrious
predecessor," except as regards the weather, in which particular we
certainly have no reason to complain of the defunct ! for never,
surely, was a year of such fine weather known among men. "We
have not had equal to a month of unpleasant weather during the
year, — a lovely spring, a cool summer, and the autumn and winter,
thus far, delicious as the climate of the plains of Normandy. But
1833.] THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. 285
in other matters it has been a disastrous year. The acts of govern-
ment have thrown the affairs of the country into utter confusion.
The enterprise of the citizens, which, it must be confessed, led
them sometimes too far, was suddenly checked and paralyzed by a
sudden breaking up of all the elements which gave life to the social
compact, and excited the honest industry and enlightened enter-
prise of our people. During this year we have lived upon each
other ; no wholesome business has been carried on ; the sources to
which we have looked for the payment of honest debts have gen-
erally failed ; real estate, which in good times is the best and surest
foundation of credit, has lost its value, and those who have money
will neither invest in it nor lend on it. Confidence is shaken to its
very centre, and the springs of national and commercial prosperity
are dried up. Amidst all this scene of national and individual
calamity, one redeeming ray of sunshine has burst forth, — the
people have risen in their might and reproved the ruinous schemes
of their rulers ; the popular elections have gone generally against
the administration, and nowhere has the voice of reproof been
more loudly uttered than in our own State. If we hold on in the
good cause the same voice will call abler and better men to the
councils of the nation, and better days may dawn, and the Repub-
lic yet be safe.
During the past year I have removed to my new house, corner
of Broadway and Great Jones street, which proves a most delight-
ful and comfortable residence. I would not, if I could, have it
altered in a single particular. God grant that in my prayers for
better times I may be sufficiently thankful for the blessings which I
yet enjoy !
January 5. — The ship "Pennsylvania" sailed from Sandy
Hook at noon, on the 8th of November, and arrived in the Mersey
on the evening of the 23d. I think this is the shortest passage as
yet ; but it is impossible to say what may happen in this " go-
ahead " age. A letter which I received by the " George Wash-
ington," dated in London 15 th of November, from William H.
286 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 58.
Stephenson (he who was here on a visit last summer, and to whom
we all took a liking), states that the new steamer intended for this
port was to sail in about a fortnight. If she succeeds, this fifteen-
day passage of the *' Pennsylvania " may hereafter be considered
quite a dilatory proceeding.
January 6. — The weather continues beautiful beyond all former
experience, — warm as June. If we do not have a change soon, we
shall want ice to cool our champagne next summer. The North
river is open to Hudson. If the weather continues, the navigation
will be unobstructed to Albany, — an event which I think has never
occurred in the month of January during my lifetime.
January 22. — I received to-day from Mr. Webster
u - reasury ^ ^Qpy of the bill of abominatious, now before the
Senate, and have read it attentively. It is worse, even,
than I supposed, from having given it a cursory perusal as it was
published. It should be called General Jackson's rod bequeathed
to his successor, wherewith to scourge the refractory merchants,
and Mr. Van Buren's vial of wrath, to be poured upon his devoted
city of New York more especially, as punishment for political
backslidings. Its leading feature seems to be the total preclusion
of the merchants, whose enterprise supports the government, from
any participation in the use of money collected through their
means on any security whatever. It directs it to be locked up in
gold and silver in the Custom-House and post-offices in all parts of
the country, and creates a host of political locusts worse than those
who of old overran the land of Egypt, devoted soul, body, and
conscience to their masters, to have the custody of the people's
money, and to beg, borrow, or steal it, no matter how, so as the
benefit to accrue from it shall be confined to the faithful. I do
venture to assert that there never has been an instance, in the his-
tory of civilized man, of so much power being vested in the hands
of an executive magistrate, call him as you may, — king, emperor,
dictator, autocrat, or Tartarian khan, — by a legislative enactment,
as this bill gives to the Republican President of a people who do
li^jS.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 28/
actually dream sometimes that they are free. The amiable gentle-
men above enumerated have occasionally indulged in strange
freaks at the expense of their loyal subjects ; they squeeze them
tolerably hard, and if they prove refractory cut off their heads ;
but they have not the assurance to pretend that they have law for
what they do. The suffering people have the consolation to know
that they had no hand in forging their chains, but here representa-
tives of the people (as they falsely style themselves) are about to
twist the lash, to sharpen the sword, and hand them to their rulers,
praying them to use them for the good of their constituents ; and
use them they will, if this ill-omened bill passes the Senate. A
majority of that body are the merest tools of party, and will vote
for it ; but there is some reason to hope that honest men enough
will be found in the House of Representatives to stay the cause.
This gold and silver currency is the prettiest sceptre with which
to rule a people who do not give themselves the trouble to think
much about public affairs, that a tyrant could desire. Mr. Van
Buren is not exactly a tyrant yet ; but wait, my masters, until this
bill passes. The late Dey of Algiers thought so, and he was the
goveriunent. The French found something in his cellars besides
potatoes and cabbages ; the cellars provided in this bill are more
numerous than those which belonged to his turbaned highness, but
the treasures they contain will be equally under the control of the
government, and, although not intended to be applied to the pur-
chase of chibouques and slippers for the personal use of our
revered chief, or laid out in gewgaws for the ladies of the harem,
they will be the means of corrupting the minds of the people,
blinding their eyes to the faults of their rulers, and transforming a
nation of freemen into a herd of time-serving and man-worship-
ping sycophants unworthy the name of Americans.
January 27. — I was favoured by an invitation to
Kent Club. meet the Kent Club this evening at the house of Mr.
William Kent. There were about twenty gentlemen,
among whom were Judges Jones, Edwards, and Tallmadge, Chan-
288 THE DIARY OF PIlILll' HONE. [/Etat. 58.
cellor Kent, President Duer, several eminent lawyers, and a few
laymen, consisting of Charles King, Webb, and myself. There was
also Mr. Mackintosh, son of the celebrated Sir James Mackintosh,
and the author of his well-written biography, a gentleman who
came to this country on a visit during the last autumn. We had
a handsome supper, with oceans of champagne. I was right in
calling it " high jinks," for a more jovial, noisy, roystering set I
never met with. They seemed to contemn all law but that of
passing the bottle, and the counsel on both sides summed up
together without regarding the admonitions of the court.
February 14. — When Mr. Webster was in New York he dined
on the 14th of December at the Astor House with a party of
good Whigs. On this occasion he invited the party to dine with
him in Washington on Washington's birthday, since which, on
renewing the invitation to each of us, he has altered the day to
the 2 1 St inst., in consequence of a ball which is to be given on the
2 2d in honour of the anniversary, and here I am this evening in
Philadelphia, on my way to fulfil the engagement.
I left New York at half-past six this morning. It was very
cold, but the admirable railroad, go-ahead mode of travelling
brought us to Philadelphia by one o'clock, and I got into good
quarters at Head's. Mrs. Davis came on to surprise her hus-
band, who has been here two or three days. I called upon
Mr. Biddle at the bank, and had a nice little talk about
matters and things.
I was shown this afternoon, at the shop of Messrs.
Fletcher & Co., in Chestnut street, the most superb
service of plate I ever saw, to be presented by the
directors of the old Bank of the United States to Mr. Nicholas
Biddle. It is to cost $15,000. The inscription recites all his
valuable serv^ices to the institution and to the country at large, and
among other things his having " created the best currency in the
worlds He deserves all they can do for him, but the world is
a big place. Fletcher & Co. are the artists who made the Clinton
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 289
vases. Nobody in this "world" of ours hereabouts can compete
with them in this kind of work.
The portico of this glorious edifice, a sight of which
The Banking-- ^j^^^y^ Tcpays me for coming to Philadelphia, appeared
more beautiful to me this evening than usual, from the
effect of the gas-light ; each of the massive fluted columns had a jet
of light from the inner side so placed as not to be seen from the
street, but casting a strong light upon the front of the building,
the softness of which, with its flickering from the wind, produced an
effect strikingly beautiful. How strange it is that in all the inven^
tions of modern times architecture alone seems to admit of no
improvement ! — every departure from the classical models of
antiquity in this science is a departure from grace and beauty.
Baltimore, Feb. 15. — I was within half a minute of losing my
chance this morning in the railroad cars. The omnibuses leave
Market street at eight, and had started just as I got there ; but I
saved my distance. They go to Grey's Ferry on the Schuylkill,
from where the cars start on the new Philadelphia and Baltimore
Railroad, which has been in operation about a week, and go by
Wilmington and Elkton, — nearly the old mail-stage route. We got
here at three o'clock, an hour later than usual, in consequence of
the ice and snow on the tracks. But what a contrast is this to the
old winter travelling between the two cities, over a detestable road
and a dangerous ferry, and two days and a night consumed on the
journey. The Susquehanna at Havre-de-Grace is crossed in a
steamboat superior to anything yet produced in America. The
passengers descend by a stairway into this floating palace, where
everything comfortable is provided. The cars are then brought on
a platform overhead level with the road. The immense machine
then starts, breaking the ice, whatever may be its thickness ; the
passengers then ascend on this side by another substantial stair^
case, resume their seats in the cars, and find themselves again in
rapid motion on ter?-a firma, having, as it were by enchantment,
crossed this ferry, which was formerly one of the greatest bugbears
290 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [.^tat. 58.
to travelling in the United States in the winter season. It snowed
when we started this morning, and has been the most unpleasant
day I have experienced during the present winter. But the cars,
which held about seventy persons each, are provided with stoves,
which made them (as Polly Stymets said) a Utile too comfortable.
The fare on this capital road is only four dollars.
Washington, Feb. 19. — Called this morning, by appointment,
upon Mr. Webster, who accompanied me to the Senate at eleven
o'clock, and obtained for me a place on the floor, — an exceedingly
difficult thing under the present orders. The galleries were all
filled two hours before the time of the Senate's meeting. I was
indebted for my good place to some hocus-pocus between Mr.
Webster and the sergeant-at-arms.
Mr. Clay rose to the order of the day (Mr. Wright's
a> s ^.jj^ commonly called the sub-treasury bill) at one
o'clock, and spoke until half- past five. It was a great
speech, as all his speeches are ; but I thought it too long. It would
have borne a curtailment of an hour advantageously. Mr. Clay's
physical force was not so great as usual, and I thought he laboured
under the effects of indisposition ; but the close of his argument
was the best part. He belaboured the last and present adminis-
trations, quoting from Mr. Van Buren's reply to the nomination of
the Baltimore Convention, in which he speaks of himself as " the
honoured instrument to carry out the measures of his illustrious
predecessor." Mr. Clay said that the meaning of the word
instrument given by Webster's Dictionary is " tool,'' and continued
to speak accordingly of the honoured tool oi (ieneral Jackson.
In the course of the speech Mr. Clay bore somewhat hard upon
Mr. Calhoun for his recent apostasy, and replied to his arguments
in favour of the bill, to wliich the latter replied in a few exceed-
ingly harsh and ill-natured remarks. He charged Mr. Clay with
having " misrepresented all his arguments," and threatened " in
his own good time to settle accounts with him," to which Mr. Clay
rejoined that he was " ready to settle with the gentleman from
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 291
South Carolina in any way, and at any time," he chose. Mr.
Calhoun, hke all men whose position is doubtful in their own
fninds, is, no doubt, very sensitive. I thought there was a degree
of acrimony and ill -nature in his reply much greater than the
occasion justified. When I shook hands with this gentleman this
morning I felt grieved that so brilliant a mind and so gallant a
spirit had been cast away by the influence of prejudice and paltry
interested motives.
February 20. — I called upon the President this morning, who
received me with his usual urbanity. He inquired about my
family and other persons of his acquaintance, talked about the
weather, his habits and mode of living, but asked no questions
about the state of things in New York, and, of course, did not
touch upon politics.
February 21. — The long-expected day arrived at
e ester j^^^^ Mr. Webstcr's great dinner to the New Yorkers
Dinner. °
took place to-day at five o'clock. We went in a body
to his house, and were met by an equal number of the most
distinguished Whigs in the United States, and some of the greatest
and best men which our country can boast of. The dinner con-
sisted, as near as I can recollect, of the following party, — I shall
endeavour to put them all down here, for this was an afiair long to
be remembered : The New York party, fourteen in number ; Mr.
Webster, Governor Davis, Governor Lincoln, of Massachusetts ;
Mr. Robbins, Mr. Tillinghast, of Rhode Island ; Messrs. Tallmadge,
Sibley, Hoifman, Curtis, of New York ; Meredith, Wise, of Virginia ;
Bell and Graves, of Tennessee ; Crittenden, of Kentucky ; Bayard,
of Delaware ; Colt and Dr. Alexander, of Baltimore.
Toasts were given and speeches made by almost everybody. Mr.
Wise was eloquent and entertaining ; Mr. Webster very fine. Old Mr.
Robbins delivered a beautiful eulogium upon Washington, in a soft
and tremulous voice, and in language classical and pure. It was a
glorious affair. When I arose at the table (at which I had the
seat of distinction) I was awe-stricken, and for a moment em-
292 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 58.
barrassed, but recovered instantly„ I felt as if in an assembly of
the gods. These were men who can and will save the country. I
told them so, and they responded, Amen ! t
The next thing in order was the dinner which the New York
party gave to tlie AMiig delegation from our State. One senator
(Mr. Tallmadge, a conservative, with us now heart and soul) and
ten of the lower House, besides whom we had Messrs. Clay, Webster,
Crittenden, Wise, Graves, Waddy Thomi)son, etc., — in number about
forty. I presided, and they all say it was the greatest thing I ever
did. But how could it be otherwise? I had Clay on my right and
Webster on my left. I felt inspired myself, and infused inspiration
into all around me. Alluding to my relative position, I made them
all pledge themselves to make one of us three President of the
United States. How we apples swim ! At ten o'clock we broke
up, and most of the party went to the ball in honour of Washing-
ton's birthday, which was a brilliant affair. The President was
there, and the A^ice- President, heads of departments, foreign minis-
ters, etc.
Mr. Pontois, the French IVIinister, has been exceedingly civil to
me. He wants to give me a dinner, and appears greatly dis-
appointed that I cannot accept it. Colonel and Mrs. Howard
have pressed me very hard, as have everybody here ; but we go to
Baltimore on Saturday, where further honours await us. I am
almost tempted to return with Charles King and some others of the
conspirators, but cannot ; and perhaps it is better to break off in
the midst of my enjoyment. I received this evening a letter from
the Baltimore committee, informing me that an extra train of cars
has been provided, to start from here on Saturday at noon. This
is a comfortable and kind arrangement, as we should otherwise
have been compelled to start at six in the morning, and very con-
venient for men who sit every night " carousing until the second
cock."
Baltimore, February 24. — A dreadful affair had happened at
Washington to-day, which only came to my knowledge a few
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 293
minutes before I left Washington this morning. Mr. Webb, the
editor of the " Courier and Enquirer," was attacked with great
violence in the House of Representatives by Mr. Cilley, of Maine,
who took part in the debate on the subject of the charge made by
Mrs. Davis (author of the "Spy in Washington") against Mr.
Ruggles, of the Senate, of corrupt and dishonest conduct in relation
to a patent. Mr. Cilley, in debate, asserted that Davis was em-
ployed by Webb, a scoundrel editor, who had been bribed by the
president of the Bank of the United States, etc. Webb was of our
party to Washington, and soon after his arrival took measures, it
appears, to obtain satisfaction. He applied to Mr. Curtis and Mr.
Draper to bear his challenge, both of whom very properly refused.
He then called upon Mr. Graves, of Kentucky, a very fine fellow,
who has been with us almost constantly, and he unfortunately con-
sented. He called upon Mr. Cilley, who refused to accept the
challenge, on the ground that Webb was not a gentleman, and,
moreover, that he was not bound to account for words spoken in
debate ; upon which Mr. Graves, according to the ridiculous code
of honour which governs those gentlemen, insisted upon his fighting
him, and after some negotiation it was agreed that they should
fight this day. The first suspicion I had of what was going on
arose from my meeting Webb in the passage at Gadsby's, about
eleven o'clock, when I told him I was going to take leave of Mr.
Clay, who lives in the same house with Mr. Graves ; on which he
said that Mr. Clay, not knowing of the extra train of cars at noon,
had gone to Baltimore early in the morning. I went, however, to
their lodgings, inquired for Mr. Graves, and was told by a servant
that he had gone to Baltimore ; but on inquiry found that Mr. Clay
was at home, and went to his room, where I saw and took leave of
him. This circumstance, together with the mysterious appearance
of things at our lodgings, caused me to make inquiry, and I found
that Graves and Cilley had gone out to fight with rifles at eighty
yards' distance, the former with Mr. Wise and the latter with Gen-
eral Jones, of Wisconsin, as seconds ; both adepts in this damnable
294 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 58.
practice, who would carry things to the utmost extremity, and who
are said to have gone armed for the purpose of shooting any
person who might come upon the ground to prevent this most
unnatural combat.
The friends of Graves, who is a gallant and amiable gentleman,
who has his wife here and his children at home, are doing every-
thing to prevent the meeting and bring about a reconciliation ; and
Webb is much distressed at being the cause of his engaging in this
quarrel, which he had nothing to do with, and much reason, I
think, he has. This unhappy affair has caused a gloom among our
friends, and prevented the members of Congress from coming on
to the i)ublic dinner prepared for us in Baltimore. We came,
however (all but Webb), in the extra car, soon after twelve
o'clock, and arrived here at three. The party consisted of King,
Blatchford, Giraud, AVard, Blunt, Hoxie, Patterson, Draper,
Ketcham, and myself. The car on our arrival was surrounded
by the populace, who expected to see Webster and Clay, and were
greatly disappointed when they found none but us unimportant
New Yorkers, although we were the honoured guests and they,
with the other members, the adjuncts of the party. On our arrival
we were waited upon by the committee, who escorted us to the
Eutaw House to the great dinner.
It was gotten up in a most splendid style, and we were received
by two liundred of the most respectable citizens of Baltimore, with
honour and distinction never to be forgotten. Dr. Alexander pre-
sided, with a large nmnber of vice-presidents. I, as chairman of
the New Y^ork party, was seated on the right of the president, and
Colonel Swift, Mayor of Philadelphia, on his left. It was, of
course, my duty to reply to the third toast, wliich was a compli-
ment to New York. I was alarmed beforehand for fear I should
not do well, for I had no time for preparation, and my mind was
engrossed with the duel at Washington ; but the occasion seemed to
inspire me. I spoke three-quarters of an hour, and all my friends
agree that it was an excellent speech. I feel myself that it was
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 295
the best effort I ever made. Speeches were made in the course
of the evening by King, Gerard, and Patterson, of our party ; by
Colonel Swift, Colonel Finlay, Reverdy Johnson, John P. Ken-
nedy, Judge Hanson, Mr. Poe, Mr. Barney, Mr. Ewing, member
of Congress from Indiana. We had a most beautiful speech by a
young lawyer named Wallace, who, if he redeem the promise
given on this occasion, will be a distinguished man. We broke
up at twelve o'clock precisely, the arrival of the Sabbath pre-
venting us from sitting longer ; and thus ended the most agreeable
public dinner I ever witnessed, and the highest compliment I ever
received.
February 25. — I heard early this morning of the fatal termina-
tion of this savage rencontre. Mr. Cilley was killed on the third
fire. It was reported that Webb and Mr. Duncan, of Ohio, were
to fight to-day ; but it is contradicted by a letter which I received
this evening from Charles King, of which the following is an
extract : " The fatal issue of the duel of yesterday has caused a
deep sensation. There will not be, however, in my opinion, any
more fighting. Webb is truly and deeply distressed. He will
remain here till Tuesday, rather so as not to appear to avoid any
consequences, than because there are any consequences to be appre -
hended. Graves is, of course, sobered and saddened, though with
the consciousness that he had done all that he could have done to
avoid fighting. They fought about five o'clock, on the Annapolis
road, and fired three times ; the third shot from Graves passed
into the cavity of Mr. Cilley's stomach. He placed his hand on
the wound, made a convulsive movement to his second, fell, and
died without uttering a word. It is singular that Cilley, who, in
practising the day before, had shot eleven balls in succession into
a space not bigger than your hand, did not hit Graves at all. So
confident were Mr. Cilley's political friends that Graves would be
killed, that in the House, during the day, there was, it is said, man-
ifest exultation at the idea. Some washerwoman or servant told
Mrs. Crittenden, in the hearing of Mrs. Graves, that Mr. Graves had
296 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [/Etat. 58.
gone out to fight, and she had to pass five mortal hours in all the
agony of suspense. Mr. Clay, whom I saw in his bed this morn-
ing, told me he had had an interview with her, so fearful that it
had absolutely kept him awake all niglit, and made him so sick
and nervous this morning, from the mere recollection of it, that
he cannot get up. The event of Mr. Cilley's death will be an-
nounced to-morrow. The funeral will then take place, and of
course both Houses will adjourn. It is not impossible that after
the death is announced some discussion may arise upon the man-
ner of the death, and some attempt be made to censure the prac-
tice generally, and perhaps in this particular case even."
March 6. — A committee of the House of Repre-
,"'^/" sentatives has been appointed to investigate the cir-
VVashington. ^ ^ "^
cumstances attending the late duel between Messrs.
Graves and Cilley, with power to send fur persons and papers. In
the Senate, Mr. Prentiss, of Vermont, has introduced a bill to prevent
duelling in the District of Columbia, making it death for the sur-
vivor, and imposing ten years' imprisonment upon all persons
concerned in sending a challenge.
March 10. — The papers are filled with this painful subject.
Some of the vile supporters of the administration attempt to give
it a political bearing. These men, who have always supported Jack-
son and made him the standard of their religion, morals, and
politics, are now loud in their condemnation of the practice of
duelling, although the wooden god of their idolatry was known as
one of the most notorious duellists in the United States, and even
had a imcontrc of the most savage and sanguinary character with
another of their oracles, Mr. Benton, of the Senate. The Supreme
Court of the United States, consistently with the dignity of its
high station, put the seal of condemnation upon the practice of
duelling, by refusing to attend officially the funeral of Mr. Cilley,
and declaring the determination of the court not to unite here-
after in the funeral obsequies of any person who shall have falleo
in a duel
1S38.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 297
March 15. — The speeches on this all- engrossing
u^- reasury gy|^jg(,|. -j^ ^j^g Senate Still go on. Mr. Calhoun has
replied to Mr. Clay, and Mr. Clay has come in with
a rejoinder. Mr. Bayard has spoken with his usual grace and
urbanity against the bill, and Benton, with his ^^ front de boeuf,'' has
roared in its favour ; and that admirable old man, Asher Robbins, of
Rhode Island, who charmed us at Mr. Webster's dinner with his
eulogy on Washington, has added his testimony against the bill to
that of his illustrious coadjutors, in a short speech, pure, eloquent,
and classical as usual. The giant of Massachusetts, the defender
of the Constitution, came to the rescue on Monday last, on which
day he spoke five hours, and finished on Tuesday in a continuation
of four hours. It is said on all hands to have been the greatest
speech he ever made, greater even than his reply to General
Hayne, on Foote's resolutions.
The Hon. Paine Wingate, of Stratham, New Hamp-
Cockra I Tits ^^^^^' ^^^^ ^^^^ week, at the age of ninety-nine years.
He wasa graduate of Harvard College, and for several
years (since the death of Dr. Holyoke) the oldest graduate of that
institution, a judge of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire from
1798 until 1809. He was emphatically a gentleman of the old
school ; the confidant and adviser of Washington while President.
His gait was erect and his deportment graceful. He wore a cocked
hat, breeches and top-boots, and cambric ruffles at his breast and
wrists. His lady survives him at the age of ninety-five. She is
the sister of the late Thomas Pickering.
March 16. — Died last evening, John Treat Irving,
^\ \° . in the sixtieth year of his aa^e, — one of my oldest
Judge Irving. ■' ^ ' •'
acquaintances ; we were playmates forty-five years ago ;
afterward associated in the literary institutions, to which I now look
back as the sources from which in my youthful days I derived great
enjoyment, and prospective advantages during my future life. We
have ever since been good friends, and the most cordial feelings
have subsisted between us. Of different professions, and disagree-
298 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 58.
ing in politics at onr start in life, the intimacy which commenced so
happily did not continue so close as in our early years, but our
personal friendship and mutual regard was never impaired ; and I
now mourn for his loss, as almost the last of the associates of my
early years.
March 24. — The Committee of Ways and Means of the House
of Assembly have made a report on the finances and internal im-
provements of the State, said to be the production of their chairman,
Mr. Samuel B. Ruggles, member from this city, — one of the ablest
financial and statistical State papers which has ever been produced
in this country. It presents the most glowing picture of the present
resources and future prospects of the State, the result, not of san-
guine and exaggerating fancy, but of plain facts and accurate
calculations. It shows the most perfect ability to carry into effect
all the splendid plans of internal improvement which have been
projected or advised by the liberal-minded politicians of the State,
and refutes most conclusively the arguments of Silas Wright, when
he was comptroller, and his political hangers-on, that the works
then in progress could not be completed without recourse to direct
taxation. On the contrary, all the facts and arguments of the
masterly report tend to support the opinion expressed in the con-
cluding resolution : " That it is not necessary or expedient to levy a
direct tax." This report appears to be the result of deep study and
elaborate investigation. It is extremely well written, remarkable
for close reasoning, and a style, clear, simple, and occasionally
eloquent. It has no hard words, no popular clap-traps, no meta-
physical humbug, but is better to read and easier to understand,
by all sorts of people who can read or understand anything, than
any paper on the same or a similar subject, extending to the length
of eight close columns of a newspaper, that I have ever read.
When Mr. Wright, then comptroller, in order to convince the
people of the State that they were going too far in the works of
internal improvement, and would have to resort to taxation, told
them that the revenue of the canals at that time, 181 7, which
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 299
amounted to ^150,000, was the true basis of a prospective calcula-
tion for the ensuing ten years, and when Mr. Ruggles now shows
them that this revenue amounted during those ten years to more
than ten milHons, they will begin to doubt, one would think, the
infallibility of their wooden oracle. And when they remember how
obstinately the wise plans and enlightened predictions of DeWitt
Clinton, Gouvemeur Morris, and Jonas Piatt were opposed, ridi-
culed, and thwarted by this same Mr. Wright and the men who now
swear by him, until they could no longer hope to deceive the people,
but were compelled to come into those great plans which contributed
so largely to the glory and prosperity of the State, and then un-
gratefully sought to deprive those men of the merit of originating
the plans, — when all these things, I say, are seen and reflected
upon, it would seem impossible that the people should not turn
from their false prophets, no longer rely upon those who have so
often deceived them, nor fail to discover that Samuel B. Ruggles is
more worthy of credit than Silas Wright.
March 26. — This hard-fought and long-debated
u ^- reasury ^.^ p^^ggg^^ ^^iQ Scuatc latc on Saturday night. Every
senator was present ; but before the finishing stroke
was put upon it, it was divested of its most exceptionable features.
It was no longer the monster which Silas Wright introduced, inso-
much that Mr. Calhoun, who has so deeply compromised his fair
fame in its support, was constrained to vote against it on the final
vote. It was not bad enough for him. Its effects would not be
so sudden nor so certain as he wished, to break down the North
and East. It can be considered in no other light than a triumph
for the talents and patriotism of the glorious band of Whig senators.
The first cut of the pruning- knife slew the 23d section, which
made the dues of all kinds to the government payable exclusively
in specie. Mr. Webster moved to fill up the vacancy by inserting
a section providing " that no distinction shall hereafter be made
between the different branches of the revenue, as to the funds or
the medium of payment in which the debts or dues accruing to the
300 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 58.
government shall be paid or discharged." This amendment, which
was carried, 37 to 14, repeals the famous specie circular, the favour-
ite measure of Benton and the other Loco-focos, and is a soHd
triumph of the Webster policy.
March 27. — The administration men, who are en-
Dueiiinir. deavouring to make a political use of the late unfortu-
nate duel at Washington, are reminded by the Portland
"Advertiser" of the opinions of their Grand Lama, General
Jackson, on this subject, by the publication of the following horrid
anecdote relating to the bloody murder of Dickenson by Jackson, in
1806. The account given by Dr. May, the surgeon of Jackson, in
letters dated Nashville, Sept. 16 and 17, 1817, states: "They were
to fire as soon as the word was given. When the word was given
Dickenson fired instantly ; but Jackson, after Dickenson had fired,
deliberately buttoned up his coat, took deliberate aim, and fired.
Dickenson fell on his face, uttered a groan, and expired. In a
letter to a friend soon after, Jackson said : ' I left the damned
rascal weltering in his blood.' " This is one of the good deeds for
which Andrew Jackson has been rewarded by the people with the
highest honours in their gift.
Alp.an\% April 5. — The weather being fine, and a nice little
day-boat called the "Vanderbilt" starting to-day, I came here to
indulge my desire to see our Whig House of Assembly, and my
friend, the admirable Speaker. If the Whigs are not proud of
both the one and the other, they have not so much pride in their
work as they had discrimination in the selection of the materials.
When I arrived in Albany the House was in session ; there never
was so hard-working a set of men in any public body ; they meet at
nine o'clock in the morning, and continue in session until late
in the evening, with an interval of an hour to bolt their dinners
a P Americaine. Never did men earn harder their stinted pay of
three dollars a day, — about two shillings an hour for working-
time ; a ])rice at which I used to find it difficult to hire labourers
to hoist goods for me at the old corner.
1838.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 3OI
The House was in Committee of the Whole when I went in, and.
I had the pleasure of shaking hands with the Speaker, and my
numerous other political friends, who collectively make this House
a credit to the State. I certainly have never seen so good-looking
a legislative body ; it comprises a large proportion of talents and
character, and is marked for decorum, propriety, patriotism, and
zeal in the public service.
April 6. — The House of Assembly has passed a general banking
law, which, it is thought, will afford relief to the city of New York.
It is expected to pass the Senate. Other measures also will be
adopted for the relief of the banks. The time for the lesumption
of specie payments is near at hand, and great alarm exists in New
York from the fact, now ascertained, that the same measure will not
be adopted in the other cities.
Luther Bradish is the very model of a Speaker ; never was a
chair so filled. With a perfect knowledge of the detail of legisla-
tive business, there is a dignity of deportment, a suavity of manner,
promptitude of action, and correctness of decision which has se-
cured for him the affection of his political friends, and the respect
of his opponents, in a greater degree than any of his predecessors
have ever possessed. It is, indeed, "well worth while," as Ruggles
said in a letter which I lately received from him, " to take a trip to
Albany only to see our own Jove seated on his high Olympus."
Mr. Ruggles has gained great renown by his admirable report
on "the finances and internal improvement of the State." It has
worked wonders in the minds of the members, and all parties are
now striving to be foremost in carrying out the principles of that
report. The city of New York has reason to be well satisfied with
its delegation, — the best we have had for many years, — and they
possess an influence in the Legislature, the want of which has been
hitherto severely felt. Silliman, from Kings, and John A. King,
from Queens, are worthy coadjutors of their brother Whigs from
New York. These gentlemen have taken a high stand and are
much respected.
302 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 58.
April 21. — Gold has flowed into our city, during the present
week, in streams more copious than has ever before been known.
The influx of the tide is greater than was its reflux. The fall in
the exchange with England, and the astonishing accumulation of
specie in England, have caused shipments to the enormous amount
of two millions of pounds sterling. The Bank of England sends
out a million of sovereigns, the Rothschilds 250,000, and the rest
by other banking-houses, while at the same time large amounts are
arriving daily from South America and the West Indies. A great
proportion of the shipments from England come to Prime, Ward,
& King. It was to effect this negotiation that James G. King went
to England, and it is presumed that he has pledged American
stocks for the amount he has brought away. This change in the
money affairs of the country will facilitate the resumption of specie
payments by the banks of our State, which must take place in the
middle of May, or their charters will be forfeited, the Legislature
having adjourned without extending the time of suspension beyond
that period. It is also hoped that this golden stream will force
open the doors of the banks in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other
places, which have refused to come into the measure, and will
produce the desirable effect of a simultaneous resumption at the
time our banks have fixed. Without this the domestic exchanges
will continue to be ruinous for the New York merchants ; but, with
a unity of action on this highly interesting subject, there is a
reasonable prospect of better times. All we want is, that honest
men should be enabled to realize the means of paying their debts,
at least as far as those means are adequate to the purpose.
Great Britain hastened the awful crisis in this country by with-
drawing suddenly the support of the bank from the American
houses, and now that she finds herself suffering for the want of our
custom, our merchants being determined to buy no more goods
until they have paid their debts, she pours back upon us of the
superfluity of her metallic treasures, by which she hopes (and with
good reason) to set again in motion the wheels of commerce, and,
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 303
like a kind, relenting mother, to coax back to her arms her sturdy
offspring. Both parties seem to have come to the conclusion that
they cannot do without each other.
I went this evening to a meeting of the Kent Club, at Mr. J.
Prescott Hall's. We had a large party of judges and lawyers, with
Granger and Seward, and other distinguished strangers ; Charles
King and myself the only resident laymen. The last hour of these
very pleasant reunions bears a pretty strong resemblance to the
high jinks which Sir Walter Scott describes so well (and no doubt
from personal knowledge) in "Guy Mannering."
April 23. — The British steamer " Sirius," Lieut,
rnva o t e j^j(.j^^j.(-:[ Robcrts, of the Royal Navy, commander, ar-
" Sinus." ' J J J J
rived here last evening, having sailed from Cork on the
4th. She has performed the voyage without any accident, except
the slight one of grounding at Sandy Hook, from which she will have
been extricated by this time. She has on board forty-six passengers.
The " Sirius " comes out as pioneer to the great steam-packet
which is preparing to come to this country. She was to have
sailed on the 2d inst. from Cork, and has been looked for with
some anxiety the last three or four days ; but the wind has been
westerly during her whole voyage, and her passage has been longer
than it will be hereafter. The arrival of the " Sirius '' is an event
of so great an interest that the corporation of the city appointed a
joint committee to receive and visit her on her arrival. This com-
mittee, of which Alderman Hoxie is chairman, have made arrange-
ments with Mr. Buchanan for that purpose, and they will probably
make a jollification on the occasion. It is stated in the morning
papers that the " Sirius," since her departure from Cork, has used
only fresh water in her boilers, having on board Mr. Hall's con-
densing apparatus.
It was an agreeable coincidence that the great steam-
The " Great , ^ , . , , ^. . ,, ,. . , ,
Western." t)oat of which the " Sinus was, as I said, the pioneer,
should have arrived this morning just in time to have
the event celebrated and the officers entertained at the anniversar)!
304 THE DIARY OF I'lIILIP IIOXE. [.Ktat. 58.
dinner of St. George's Society, the red-cross banner floating from
the windows of the " banquet hall," the Carlton House.
The " Great Western " (for such is the rather awkward name of
this noble steamer) came up from Sandy Hook about two o'clock,
passed around the "Sirius," then lying at anchor off the Battery,
and, proceeding up the East river, hauled into Pike slip. She is
much larger than her avant-courricr, being the largest vessel pro-
pelled by steam which has yet made her appearance in the waters
of Europe. Her registered measurement is 1,604 tons, length
234 feet, breadth from out to out of the paddle-boxes 58 feet,
with her engines and machinery of 450 horse power. She is com-
manded by Lieutenant Hoskin, of the Royal Navy, and owned by
the " Great Western Steam Navigation Company." She sailed
from Bristol on the 8th inst., four days later than the departure of
the '^ Sirius " from Cork, performing thus her voyage, under the
disadvantages of new machinery and a prevalence of head-winds,
in fifteen days.
The city was in a ferment during the day, from the arrival of
these two interesting strangers. The flittery and adjacent streets
were crowded with curious spectators, and the water covered with
boats conveying obtrusive visitors on board. The committee of
arrangements of the Corporation have fixed upon to-morrow, at one
o'clock, for the two Houses, with their guests, to visit the " Sirius,"
where a collation will be prepared for them, on which occasion her
commander, Lieutenant Roberts, is to receive the freedom of the
city.
The passengers on board the two vessels speak in the highest
terms of the convenience, steadiness, and apparent safety of the
new mode of conveyance across the ocean. Everybody is so
enamoured of it, that for a while it will supersede the New York
packets, — the noblest vessels that ever floated in the merchant
service. Our countrymen, " studious of change, and pleased with
novelty," will rush forward to visit the shores of Europe instead of
resorting to Virginia or Saratoga Springs ; and steamers will con
iSjS.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 305
tinue to be the fashion until some more dashing adventurer of the
go-ahead tribe shall demonstrate the practicability of balloon navi-
gation, and gratify their impatience by a voyage over, and not
upon, the blue waters in two days, instead of as many weeks,
thereby escaping the rocks and shoals and headlands which con-
tinue yet to fright the minds of timid passengers and cautious navi-
gators. Then they may soar above the dangers of icebergs, and
look down with contempt upon the Goodwin sands or Hempstead
beach. As for me, I am still skeptical on this subject. It would
be presumptuous in this age of mechanical and scientific miracles
to doubt the success of any startling experiment, or even to hint
the possible difficulty of a contrivance by which a man might bite
off his own nose ; but, after the experience I have had of such
ships as the " England " or the " Sylvie de Grasse," I should hesi-
tate to trust to the powers of the air or the fire-god for my trans-
portation and safe-conduct over this rivulet of blue water of three
thousand miles in width, which separates us from the land of our
fathers.
April 24. — The following gentlemen dined with us : Messrs.
Francis Granger, William H. Seward, John A. King, Charles
King, John Duer, R. M. Blatchford, Samuel Welles, Charles H.
Russell, and M. H. Grinnell.
April 25. — The arrival of the two British steamers,
irs . an ic ^^ ^^ Sirius " and the " Great Western," is the ensjross-
Steainship. ' *^
ing topic of our novelty-loving population ; but whilst
all honour is awarded to the projectors of these voyages, and every
sort of compliment extended to the gallant commanders, Yankee
pride is a little aroused, and the merit of originality in the daring
enterprise of crossing the ocean by steam is successfully wrested
from our brethren on the other side. The first voyage was made
in 181 9, from Savannah, in the steamship " Savannah," built in New
York by Francis Fickett, owned by Daniel Dodd, and commanded
by Capt. Moses Rogers. She went to Liverpool, and thence to
Stockholm and St. Petersburgh, where she was visited by, and the
306 THE DIARY OF rillLlP HONE. [.^itat. 58.
commander received presents from, Bernadotte, Crown Prince of
Sweden, and from the Emperor of Russia. The same vessel went
afterward to Constantinople, where the Sultan conferred on Captain
Rogers similar compliments. This experiment, it would aj)pear,
however, did not succeed entirety ; it is certain that she did not
make short voyages, which circumstance may account for so long
a time having elapsed before the attempt was renewed.
The fact of the Americans being the first inventors of sea
navigation by steam is consolatory to our national pride, but
should not derogate from the credit of the British, who have now
proved so triumphantly its feasibility, any more than the immortal
discovery and construction of the steam-engine by British subjects
should lessen the merit of our own Fulton, who first applied its
power to the most important of its uses, the propelling of vessels.
April 27. — Having received an invitation to accompany the
Mayor and Corporation in their visit to the British steamer
" Great Western," I went to the Mayor's office at one o'clock,
where was assembled, besides the members of the Corporation, a
large company, among whom were the judges, members of the
Legislature, Mr. Webster, Governor Mason of Michigan, Mr.
Bradish, the Speaker, the editors of papers, etc. From the hall
we proceeded to the foot of Beekman street, where the company
was taken on board the barges to the number of about twenty,
each commanded by an officer in full uniform, with a fine set of
bargemen and bearing the American flag in her stern. When
the company was embarked, the barges formed in procession,
a band of music in the first, the whole commanded by Captain
Stringham, of the United States Navy, and proceeded to the
steamer, which was moored a few yards from the dock, off
Pike street. We were received in good style by Captain Hoskin
and his officers, and, after examining the stupendous machinery
of the great vessel, the company were escorted to the saloon,
and seated (all who could get seats) at a plentiful collation,
arranged in excellent taste, with oceans of champagne. Messrs.
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 307
Bradish, Webster, Maxwell, the Mayor, and other gentlemen
made speeches and gave toasts, and the British captains, Hoskin
of the " Great Western," and Roberts of the " Sirius," appeared
to be as happy as they said they were. The lovely Queen of
Britain was toasted with enthusiasm equal to any which warms
the hearts of her own subjects in their own country, and John
Bull and Brother Jonathan were as loving as a young couple in
the honeymoon. Long may these feelings continue ! The
whole affair went off brilliantly. The day was uncommonly fine,
and the scene on the water, with the crowds of spectators on the
whar\^es, was not the least exciting part of the pageant.
The vessel exceeds my expectation. Her steam-engine of
four hundred horse power and the other machinery are upon a
magnificent scale, and the accommodations for passengers in the
best possible taste ; the principal saloon is surrounded by forty-
two state-rooms, sufficiently capacious. The ornaments are of the
quaint, old-fashioned style, and the panels are decorated by ex-
quisite paintings, in the costumes of the reign of Louis XV., which
give to the whole of this beautiful apartment the appearance of
a cabinet of old Dresden china. One of the greatest advantages
which this saloon has over the cabins of the packets consists in
the height of the ceiling, which affords light and air equal to a
well-proportioned dining-room or parlour on shore. All that is
now wanting to confine to the steam-vessels the patronage of all
the passengers going to Europe is the assurance of safety, and
that will be obtained by one or two more passages across the
Atlantic.
May I. — The "Sirius" sailed at one o'clock, passed the
packets in fine style, and, the weather being pleasant and the
sea calm, was soon out of sight ahead. The Battery was filled
with spectators, who gave repeated cheers to the interesting
stranger, and she was saluted from the forts on her progress
down the bay. May she perform her return voyage with as
much safety and expedition as the voyage out, and thereby es-
308 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 58.
tablish full confidence in this admirable mode of communication
between Great liritain and the United States !
The most shocking disaster on board a steamboat
steamboat which has yct been recorded occurred on the 25th
Disaster.
of April, at Cincinnati. The steamboat " Moselle "
started from the wharf on her voyage down the river. She went
up about a mile to take in a family ; and during the time of her
stopping, the steam was held u]), fjr the purpose of showing off
her speed in passing the city, when, at the instant her wheels
made the first revolution, the boilers burst with a noise equal to
the most violent crash of thunder. The vessel was blown into
a thousand pieces, and of two hundred and eighty passengers on
board only ninety were saved. Most of the persons on board
belonged to Cincinnati, and in the number were many of the
most respectable citizens, who were thus destroyed in an instant
by the culpable conduct of the captain and other officers, in
sight of their families and friends, who were assembled on shore
to witness their departure. The captain i)ii(l the penalty of
his crime, he being of the number killed. The papers are filled
with the details of this shocking catastrophe, which cannot be
read without shuddering.
^NIav 4. — The subject of the late unfortunate duel
epor on c |jgj.^^,^gj^ Mcssrs. Gravcs and Cilley, which resulted in
Duel Case. •' '
the death of the latter, was referred in the House of
Representatives to a special committee, of which Mr. Toucey is
chairman. To the disgrace of the administration party, instead of
making this lamentable case the occasion of correcting the popular
code of morals in relation to these per::onal encounters, and
thereby removing as far as practicable this stain of blood-guiltiness
from our land, they seized it with avidity, and endeavoured to turn
it into part of their detestable party capital. The Speaker ap-
pointed on the committee of seven, a chairman and three other
thorough whole-hog men, political enemies of Mr. Graves and his
second in the duel, Mr. Wise, — fellows who would sell their souk
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 309
for their party, and have no more notion of political honesty than
they have of the refined feelings of gentlemen. This committee
has now brought in a report, recommending that Mr. Graves be
expelled and Mr. Wise reprimanded by the House, — the most
outrageous proceeding I have ever known in a legislative body,
— a grand jury trying the accused, convicting them, and awarding
their punishment ; a greater violation (as Mr. Adams told them)
of the privileges of the House than the offence itself, which the
committee were appointed to investigate.
This report has been before the House several days, and occa-
sioned a warm debate. Some high-minded gentlemen of the
administration party cannot be made to swallow it. Mr. Adams
made a great speech, in which he placed the unworthy conduct of
the majority in such a point of view as would have made them
blush, if their instructions had permitted. On Monday last, Mr.
Graves and Mr. Wise both addressed the House, protesting against
this unparliamentary course of proceeding, which would consti-
tute four political adversaries their judges, and condemn them
unheard.
Mr. Graves closed his speech with the following touching re-
marks, which, while they depict his sensibility and distress of
mind for the part which he had to sustain in that unhappy affair,
portray in glowing colours the absurdity of the tyranny which is
exercised by public opinion over the minds and consciences of
the people of this country in all things relating to affairs of honour,
as we most unwisely call them. Who that read them would ven-
ture to decide that the lot of the survivor in this duel is better
than that of the victim? And who that knows as I do, this
amiable and high-minded gentleman, would not desire to pour
the balm of consolation into his afflicted bosom, rather than seek
to make the event which he, in common with all good men, so
deeply deplores, a subject for the display of personal hostility
and a weapon of political warfare? "Sir," said Mr. Graves, "I
was involved in the commencement of this unfortunate affair in-
3IO THE DIARY OF rilTLTP HONE. [^tat. 58.
nocently. I never conceived it possible that such consequences
would have devolved upon me when I consented to become the
bearer of that ill-fated note. Otherwise I should never have
taken upon myself the task. I am not, and never have been, the
advocate of the anti- social and unchristian practice of duelling.
I have never up to this day fired a duelling pistol ; and, until the
day when I went to the field, I never took any weapon in my
hand in view of a duel. Public opinion is practically the para-
mount law of the land ; every other law, both human and divine,
ceases to be observed, yea, withers and perishes, in contact with
it. It was this paramount law of this nation and of this House
that forced me, under the penalty of dishonour, to submit myself
to the code which impelled me unwillingly into this tragical affair.
Upon the heads of this nation and at the doors of this House
rests the blood with which my unfortunate hands have been
stained."
Mav 5 . — Captain Marryat, having given lately at Toronto a
very injudicious toast, complimentary to Captain Drew and his
associates, who destroyed the American steamboat " Caroline,"
the wise people of Lewistown held a solemn town-meeting, at
which they resolved to burn all Captain Marryat's books which
could be found in the village. This most ridiculous resolve
was duly carried into effect. A bonfire was kindled on the
shore directly o])positc Queenstown, and all the " Peter Simples,"
"Jacob Faithfuls," "Japhets," etc., which could be found were
cast in the flames ; the officiating high-priest at the altar of
popular absurdity pronouncing aloud the title of each as it was
immolated.
Captain Marryat, I dare say, made a fool of himself (not a
very difficult task, I should judge, from what I have seen of him) ;
but the Lewistownians have beaten him " all to smash," as the
Kentuckians say. How mortified he must have been to hear that
his books had been burned after they were paid for ; and how
sorry the booksellers, that their praiseworthy labours to enlighten
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 3 II
the American people should be so ungratefully requited, and so
many copies of their publications come to an untimely end !
What a grand " flare up " of American resentment ! What a
glorious ending in smoke of patriotic indignation ! They ought
to have passed a resolution at the meeting to burn all articles of
British production or manufacture, especially coals. The village
newspaper, in its virtuous wrath, announces that " ' Midshipman
Easy ' would not burn, its stupidity rendering it fire-proof."
" Werry sewere," as Sam Weller says.
Demrtureof ^^'^^ 7' — "^^^^ ^^^ bccn a gala-day iu New York,
the «' Great The British steamer "Great Western," Captain Hos-
kin, sailed at two o'clock from Pier No. i, North river.
All the city went to behold the sight. The Battery was a mass of
living witnesses to this event. Castle Garden was filled, and all
the adjacent wharves and houses were thronged with spectators.
When the steamer started she was accompanied by a dozen large
steamboats with crowded decks and ornamented by flags, among
which the loving embraces of St. George's Cross and the Stars and
Stripes were conspicuous in every instance. I went with a party on
board of the " Providence." The day was very fine, and the gal-
lant fleet presented a scene in the bay not unlike that at the great
Canal celebration, when Dr. Mitchell mingled the waters of Lake
Erie with those of the ocean, and I was the fugleman to nine
cheers so loud and astounding that it is doubtful if the highlands
of Neversink have to this day recovered from the trembling which
they occasioned.
Having reached the bay below Staten Island, the " Great West-
ern " stopped, and the " Providence " went alongside and took off
a large party of gentlemen who went down in her, among whom
were Governor Marcy, Mr. Seward, and many other distinguished
persons. We then left her with shouts and good wishes for her
safe and speedy return to the public- spirited company who under-
took this enterprise, and sent her out a successful pioneer. She
pursued her course in fine style, and we returned to the city and
312 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [^tat. 58.
got home to a late dinner. There was a great crowd on board the
" Providence," in which were many ladies, and the excursion was
quite a pleasant one. An interesting incident occurred whilst we
lay alongside of the " Great Western," in the bay. The ship
" Colon," from Havana, came in with a number of passengers, with
all sails set. Sailing beautifully on the wind, she passed through
the fleet of gay steamboats, cheered the " Great Western," went
close under our bows, almost touching the bowsj^rit, and passed
triumphantly rejoicing on her way to the renowned city of
Gotham ; it was a fine offset of sails and rigging against steam
and paddles.
May 8. — Died yesterday, in Philadelphia, Thomas
ypeo Bradford, successor to Dr. Franklin, and the oldest
Longevity. ' '
printer and editor in the United States. He was in the
ninety-fourth year of his age.
„ , . May 12. — The history of the reign of Ferdinand
History of J !d
Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic, by William H. Prescott, an
American, I am proud to say, has been published in
three volumes. I have just been reading it, and I think it is en-
titled to a place alongside of Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon. Great
care has been bestowed upon it, and no modern work displays more
accurate knowledge or laborious investigation. Irving has treated
some of the leading subjects of this history in the " Life of Colum-
bus " and his ''Conquest of Granada," over which he has thrown
the charm of his poetical style ; but here is a book, rich in all the
lore of the Spanish archives, diving deep into authorities with which
the reading world has been heretofore unaccpiainted, and making
clear the dark passages of that interesting period of European
history, the close of the fifteenth and the commencement of the
sixteenth centuries.
May 14. — The Pennsylvania Bank of the United States has
sent on $20,000 to Charleston for the relief of the sufferers by the
fire. This is a monstrous act of munificence, and proves the dan-
ger of such an institution in a free country. Piddle must have
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 313
some horrid design in this, — nothing short of an overthrow of the
Government and destruction of the Hberties of the people.
May 18. — Our neighbouring city of Philadelphia
10 in 1 a- ^y^g (jjggj.g^Qgf^ ycstcrday b}^ a Tlot, which ended in the
destruction of Pennsylvania Hall, a place of meeting
for the discussion of abolition questions. A meeting was held in
the forenoon, and speeches were made which exasperated the mob.
Another meeting was to have taken place in the evening, but it was
prevented by the interference of the Mayor. The mob, still far-
ther instigated, it is said, by the wanton outrage of public opinion
in the exhibition in the public streets of white men and women
walking arm in arm with blacks, assembled in greater numbers in the
evening, broke into the hall, destroyed everything they could find,
and set fire to the building, which was entirely destroyed by ten
o'clock. The excitement was so great that the Mayor and other
civil officers were unable to prevent the outrage, and some of the
number (particularly Mr. Watmouth, the sheriff) were dangerously
wounded. A large proportion of the abolitionists assembled in the
hall were females, of whom several harangued the meeting, and
were foremost in arousing the excited populace. This dreadful
subject gains importance every day, and reflecting men see in il
the seeds of the destruction of our institutions.
May 19. — The following gentlemen dined with us : Governor
Mason of Michigan, Mr. Bullock of Kentucky, Mr. Charles A.
Davis, Mr. James W. Otis, Mr. Delprat, Mr. Abraham Schermer-
horn, Mr. Irving Van Wart, Dr. McLean, General Fleming, and
Charles A. Heckscher.
May 31. — The fine weather this afternoon tempted my wife,
my daughter, and myself to go to Hoboken. We crossed from
Canal street, walked to the Pavilion in " Les Champs Elysees " (a
place better entitled to the name than the more celebrated one near
Paris), and returned home at eight o'clock. It is many years since
I visited this beautiful suburb of New York, which has been greatly
improved. New walks have been laid out, the grounds beautifully
314 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 58.
arranged, the woods cleared, and a fair chance given to Nature to
show off her charms to the greatest advantage.
June i . — A resohition offered by Mr. Webster to
Specie Circular j.gp^^l the spccic circular passed the Senate on the
28th by a strong vote of thirty- four to ten. On the
question of engrossing this resolution for a third reading the ten votes
in the minority were given by the following Senators. It is amusing
to see in what company Mr. Calhoun, the great southern nullifier,
has placed himself. What bedfellows political inconsistency may
bring a man acquainted with ! Nays : Messrs. Allen, Benton,
Brown, Calhoun, Hubbard, Linn, Morris, Niles, Smith of Con-
necticut, Strange. Of these, five may be called Yankee loco-foco
loafers ; viz., two from Connecticut, one from New Hampshire,
and two from Ohio, the latter being virtually a New England
State, although far from its fatherland. Now, these five men do
no more speak the language of their constituents than they do
that of truth, honour, and patriotism, and here is Mr. Calhoun
amongst them ; the proud, tenacious, high-minded Carolinian,
Mr. Calhoun ! Well, as he likes best, so be it ! As he sows so
he shall reap.
This resolution was taken up in the House of Representatives on
Wednesday, and carried through, without debate, in less than no
time. The vote on the question " Shall the joint resolution from the
Senate, repealing the treasury circular, pass ? " was carried by the
astonishing, unexpected vote of one hundred and fifty-four to twenty-
nine, and the resolution sent back to the Senate in half an hour
after the House was called to order. In the virtuous minority, our
two hopeful city representatives, Cambreling and Moore, are to be
found, of course ; but as far as I can judge from running my eye over
the Ayes and Nays in the newspaper, very few other members from
our State were willing to be seen in such bad and unfashionable
company. This great event, together with Mr. Biddle's letter to
Mr. Adams, written in consequence of it, have infused a joyful
spirit of confidence amongst our New York folk. Verily, AV'all
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 315
street rejoiceth ! Stocks have risen and domestic exchanges fallen,
and it would seem that the touch of Webster (as he said on a cer-
tain occasion of that of Alexander Hamilton) has caused the corpse
of public credit to rise on its feet and stand erect.
June 8. — Immediately after the passage of Mr. Webster's reso-
lution rescinding the specie circular, business revived. Confidence
was restored to financial operations, and hopes were entertained of
better times ; but a blight has come upon our bright prospects.
The evil influence of the administration, which seems determined
to oppose the wishes of the people, has again been at work. Mr.
Woodbury has issued a circular, misconstruing the intentions of
Congress, and prohibiting the receiving of the notes of all banks
who have since some day in 1836 issued small bills, thereby "visit-
ing the sins of the fathers upon the children." This ungracious
measure of the administration, together with the tardiness of the
banks of Philadelphia in declaring their intentions to resume specie
payments, has thrown all things back again. Stocks in New York
have fallen more than five per cent., and foreign and domestic ex-
changes have risen. The administration and the party which sup-
ports them seem determined to "die with harness on their backs."
If they go out of office they will leave a ruined and bankrupt
country to their successors.
June 14. — It has been often said that a man must
r^Js^"'^ ^ ^ ^^^^ great luck to get himself hanged in this country.
It is certainly a melancholy proof of the depravity of
our morals, that the most flagrant offences against the laws, and the
most atrocious violations of the peace and good order of society,
go daily " unwhipped of Justice," by the misjudging lenity, if not
the base corruption, of men elected to preserve, as jurors, the
purity of our legal institutions. Two cases have lately occurred,
not by any means calculated to make us proud of the name of
Americans.
Some time last winter a personal dispute occurred, during the
session of the House of Representatives of the State of Arkansas,
3l6 THE DIARY OF rillLir nONE. [/Etat.58.
between a Mr. Wilson, the Speaker then presiding, and Major
Anthony, a member, in the course of which the former came down
from his chair, drew a large knife (a weapon which it appears
these modern barbarians carry about their persons), attacked his
adversary and killed him on the spot. Anthony endeavoured
to defend himself (he had also his knife) ; but the move-
ment of the honourable Speaker was so sudden as to render his
efforts ineffectual, and I suppose it was " out of order " for other
members to interfere in the parliamentary (liscii)line of their
presiding officer.
Wilson has been tried for this flagrant outrage. There is a full
account of the trial in the newspapers, taken from the Arkansas
" Gazette." From the testimony it does not appear that any violent
])rovocation was offered by the deceased, and the facts above-
stated were substantially proved, notwithstanding which the verdict
of the jury was as follows : " Guilty of excusable homicide, and
not guilty in any manner or form as charged in the indictment ; "
and the prisoner was discharged from custody. Further accounts
state that immediately after this mockery of justice, the jurors,
with the sheriffs and witnesses, had a grand drinking frolic at the
expense of the defendant.
The other case has just occurred in our own Court of Sessions.
During the last election for Mayor and Corporation, an affidavit
was distributed at all the polls, made by a rascally Irishman, named
Edmund Burke, in which our respectable Mayor, Mr. Aaron Clark,
was charged with having offered a bribe of a quarter's rent to
Burke, who was his tenant, if he would vote for him and the rest
of the Whig ticket. This fellow was instigated to commit the per-
jury by James Thea and other worthy supporters of the Van Buren
party, who carried him to the magistrate to take his deposition,
paid the expenses, had the hand-bills printed, and let the poison
work its way into the public mind, well knowing that the antidote
would come too late, and knowing also that there was not the
shadow of truth in the charge. Mr. Clark had never seen the
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 317
man in his life, owned no such house, and the whole story turned
out (as might well be supposed) an infamous falsehood. Burke
was tried for the perjury. His worthy friends and coadjutors ad-
vised him to plead insanity and drunkenness, which plea found
favour in the eyes of the jury, and he was acquitted, to be used again,
when occasion shall require him, to blacken the character of some
other virtuous citizen, and promote the success of the party which
Mr. Van Buren calls his own.
June 15. — A great curiosity is to be seen on the
stuyvesant's ^j^.^^ avcnuc, at the corner of 13th street. A fine.
Pear-tree. ' ^ '
healthy, patriarchal pear-tree, which annually bears
leaves and blossoms, and would produce fruit if boys would let it.
This tree, which, by the regulation of the avenue and streets, is
now at the corner close to the curb-stone, and has been recently
protected by a substantial wooden railing, was formerly one of the
trees in the orchard of Governor Stuyvesant, a great distance from
New York, but now in the midst of a large city population. Tradi-
tion has been ransacked for its history, which forms a part of our
city statistics. Grave essays have been written upon its longevity,
and poetry has sung its praises. This tree was the subject of con-
versation at Mr. Stuyvesant's table to-day. There is no doubt of
the fact, I believe, which I now record, that it was brought out
from Holland by Governor Stuyvesant, and planted with his own
hands on the spot where it now stands. Governor Stuyvesant came
to New York in the month of May, 1647 ; the pear-tree is, there-
fore, one hundred and ninety- one years old.
June 21. — The heart sickens, and the pen falters, in
steamboat recording the dreadful disasters which occur almost
Disasters.
daily in the steamboat navigation of the United States.
I fear it will soon become doubtful whether Fulton's great invention
will not prove a curse, rather than a blessing, to mankind. It cer-
tainly will, or the use of steam in navigation be discontinued,
unless measures are adopted to punish negligence and temerity,
and to insure safety by using necessary precautions.
3l8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.ii:tat. 58.
June 22. — The unworthy representative of New
Sub-Treasury york in Congress, Mr. Cambreling, brought forward
the sub -treasury bill on Tuesday last, in the House of
Representatives, where it has been debated ever since, many con-
jectures having been formed about its fate, and calculations made
of the state of the vote on the passage of this obnoxious bill. It
will be exceedingly close ; not more than two or three majority
either way. I confess I have great fears of the result. The Gov-
ernment is reckless of consequences ; determined to support them-
selves by the power which this measure will give them, they put all
the screws upon their political partisans, and hold out every sort
of corrupt inducement to those who may have had occasional
qualms of honesty or patriotism. My fears are excited in propor-
tion to the extent of the evil which I apprehended from the passage
of the bill, and my want of faith in the ability of some half-way
Whigs or Conservatives to resist the bribes which a corrupt admin-
istration will not hesitate to offer. If these things continue, and
the people do not arise in their might to rebuke them, the republic
is at an end.
June 27. — This odious measure of a corrupt administration was
rejected on Monday last by a majority oi fourteen. Every new
attempt to increase the President's power, and to counteract the
will of the people, is frustrated by their representatives with in-
creased majorities. The administration is on its back. May it
never rise again !
July 12. — The members of Congress from East and North have
arrived in town, glad to be released from the servitude of public
duty in this scorching weather. They have been in session ten
months, with the exception only of the few weeks intervening
between the close of the extra session and the opening of the reg-
ular one. I called upon Mr. Webster this morning. He appears
much fagged with hard work, and pants for relaxation and sea-air
at one of his favorite resorts on the shore of his own State ; and
well is he entitled to that or any other comfort, for well has he
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 319
wrought in the cause of the people, as one of the leaders of that
noble band, who, although wanting in the power to do much good,
have succeeded in preventing much evil. I saw, also, our worthy
representative, Edward Curtis, who shows the marks of a long and
distressing illness, with which he was afflicted at Washington, during
which he, also, suffering as he was with the pains of inflammatory
rheumatism, was compelled to keep his seat in the House when the
vote of every honest man was indispensable to counteract the mis-
chievous designs of the administration party. Honour and praise
to the noble Whigs and Conservatives ! They have saved the
country,
RocKAWAY, Aug. 10. — We had a very pleasant ball
^^. ^""^ this evening. I had an interesting conversation with
Mrs. Butler, late Miss Fanny Kemble, who is here with
her husband and two little daughters. This lady, whom I greatly
admired when she arrived in this country with her distinguished
father, Charles Kemble, has seldom visited New York since the
publication of her journal, in which she took some foolish liberties
with me and my family and others of whose hospitality she had
partaken. I was never seriously offended at what she said in this
book, but viewed it " more in sorrow than in anger ; " for I thought
it a pity that a woman so brilliant, who was capable of better things,
should have compromised her literary reputation by giving to the
world her inconsiderate, girlish remarks upon the daily events
which amused her lively and excitable imagination, when I knew
her talents were worthy of better employment. This, then, was the
first time we had met, and she felt doubtful of what I might con-
sider our relative positions. As soon as she entered the room I
seated myself at her side, told her I was happy to renew an ac-
quaintance, the recollection of which had always given me great
pleasure, and danced with her. In the course of our conversation
she said to me, with great earnestness and solemnity, and much agi-
tated, " Mr. Hone, I cannot express to you how happy you have made
me by the notice you have taken of me on this occasion. Believe
320 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 58.
me, I am extremely grateful." I, of course, turned ifoff as well as I
could, observing that she had no reason to be grateful ; my motive
was selfish, as I sought my own gratification in renewing an acquaint-
ance so congenial to my feelings, etc. During this conversation the
tear which stood in her flashing, expressive eye convinced me that
this highly gifted woman, with all the waywardness of thought and
independence of action wliich the circumstances of her early intro-
duction into life had ingrafted upon her natural disposition, possesses
that warmth of heart which I thought I had formerly the sagacity to
discover, and for which I have never failed to give her credit.
Septkmkek 4. — (Iranger is in town. I called to see him this
morning, at the Astor House. I told him that I thought the
selection made at the Broadway House, on Friday evening, of
delegates to the Convention unfavourable to his chance of being
nominated Governor, for I consider them Seward men. He seems
to think, notwithstanding, that he has more strength at the West
than Seward. This question must not be suffered to create a
schism in the Whig party. We have higher principles of action
than any personal preferences between the friends of Mr. Granger
and Mr. Seward.
SEFfEMBER lo. — The two curscs of our country, or rather two of
the curses, — for General Jackson's administration of the Govern-
ment entailed enough of them upon us, — are the fanaticism of the
abolitionists of the North, and the violence of the nullifiers of the
South. A late transaction which has taken place in this city
inculpates some of the former gentry most fearfully, and I should
not wonder if they are sent to carry out their doctrines of emanci-
pation within the walls of the Penitentiary.
The facts are these : A negro boy, the slave of a Mr. Darg, a
Southern gentleman, who was here on a visit, robbed his master
of ^7,000 and absconded ; was harboured by a fellow called Ruggles
and others, his philanthropic associates, into whose hands the
money got by some means ; and a Mr. Barney Corse, a man of
some standing, one of the Society of Friends, was employed as
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 521
plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace with the master, the condi-
tions of which were, that on the payment of $1,000, which he
had offered as reward, and the manumission of the slave, with a
pledge not to prosecute him for the robbery, the remainder of the
money should be restored. This he agreed to, and received the
principal part of the money. But the police, having received infor-
mation of the transaction, interfered with the high contracting par-
ties, and annulled the treaty. Mr. Corse and Ruggles were arrested,
and I cannot very well see how they are to avoid the penalty of a
pretty serious crime into which their officious interference has
involved them. It is not pretended that Mr. Corse, at any rate,
was concerned as instigator or party to the robbery ; but their
subsequent conduct will bring them in as accessories after the fact,
and the excitement of the pubhc mind on the subject of abolition
and everything that relates to the blacks is so great, that these
men will have little chance to escape the penalty of the law.'
September 14. — The Whig Convention assembled at Utica, on
Wednesday, in the court-house. William H. Seward was nomi-
nated Governor, and Luther Bradish Lieutenant-Governor. These
are excellent nominations, and will be supported with unanimity by
the Whig party. Mr. Seward is a man of superior talents, unwav-
ering principles, and popular manners. Consulting my personal
predilections I might, perhaps, have preferred my old friend, Mr.
Granger, who, having stood the brunt when there was little hope
of success, seems to have had the strongest claim upon the party
now, when the chance of success is so much better. But the
canvass shows the undiminished confidence of his friends. He
wanted but three votes on the third ballot of being the nominee,
and on that ballot there were five scattering votes. As for Luther
Bradish, no man in the State of New York is better qualified for
any office to which the people may call him.
September 21. — Died this day, Mr. Jacob Lorillard, in the
sixty-fifth year of his age, — a benevolent man and a good
citizen; intelligent and active in all the social relations of life,
322 THE DIARY OF I'lULlP HONE [/Etat. 58,
and scrupulously just in all his concerns. He retired from his
business (that of tanner and currier) a few years since, having
amassed a very large fortune, of which he made a good use.
Mr. Lorillard and I were associated together in the German
Society, in the Presidency of wliich he was my immediate suc-
cessor, and no person in the city i)ossessed more influence with
the German population. I deeply lament the death of this
excellent man.
September 29. — The ex-king Joseph Bonaparte,
josep arrived here with a numerous suite on Saturday, in
Bonaparte. ■' '
the packet-ship *' Philadelphia," from London. He
left the United States four or five years since, as was supposed,
to take advantage of some political movements which seemed
to indicate the chance of a restoration of the House of Bonaparte ;
but he has returned, and, I trust, to spend the remainder of his
days quietly in this best of all Yankee republics. He is a gentle-
manly, orderly man, and has contrived to save out of the two
crowns which he has worn jewels enough to make himself
comfortable and to benefit his neighbors. As for his chance to
reign in France, it is '' no go." If the French get rid of their
excellent monarch, and overthrow the present order of things,
they will have something better or worse than the " House of
Bonaparte " to rule them. The whole sap of the family tree ran
into one branch ; the rest has not fire enough to kindle a new
conflagration, or strength enough to put it out if it should be
kindled by others.
October 3. — The elections in the several States
Elections. which are to settle the important question between
the present administration and the people are now
commencing. The interest taken in these elections is unprece-
dented, as well for their own importance as for the influence
which their results will have upon the great crowning contest,
which we are to have in November.
October 13. — The Whigs, ever sanguine, bad politicians
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 323
certainly, discouraged by unfavourable reports, and elated by the
news of success, made up hastily from unreliable estimates,
have experienced several severe disappointments of late. Penn-
sylvania has gone against us. Porter, the loco-foco candidate
for Governor, has beaten Rittner by five thousand majority at
least ; Ohio, which we thought our own, is, I fear, all wrong ;
but the strangest thing of all is our next-door neighbour. New
Jersey. The election was held on Tuesday and Wednesday last.
We had it all : six members of Congress by general ticket, and
the Legislature by great majorities ; but yesterday the tables
began to change, our majorities were reduced and those of the
Van Burenites increased. Our air-built castles began to totter ;
every fresh account was less favourable. The Whig majorities,
like Paddy's candle placed before the fire to dry, became smaller
and smaller; the Tories began to bet, and now our hopes are
reduced so low that the most we claim is fifty to one hundred
on the canvass of the whole State, and it seems .probable that we
may not get more than one or two Congressmen out of the
whole ticket. Nothing is left for the good cause but a great
victory in the State of New York, and already the despondency
which succeeds disappointment has taken hold of our friends ;
we must fight.
Here the issue is to be tried. I cannot think that the great
work which was so auspiciously commenced last fall is now to be
overthrown. The cause of the constitution and the laws, the
preservation of our precious institutions, are in the hands of the
Whigs of New York, and there appears to be zeal and spirit in
our ranks worthy of such a cause, and of a motive of action so
exciting.
October 15. — The Van Buren men have agreed
upon a ticket for Congress. Loco-foco to the hub :
Congressmen. ^ ^
Cambreling, Eli Moore, John McKeon, and Edwin
Forrest. The latter is the celebrated tragedian, with no claim,
that I have ever heard of, to the honour of representing the people
324 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 58.
of New York in Congress, but that of exciting, by dint of loud
words and furious stamps, the pit of the Bowery Theatre to
raise their shirt-sleeves high in the air and shout Hurrah for
Forrest ! He may be a leader of the Pitt party, but no statesman.
True it is that these men may '' steal a horse when we cannot
look over the hedge." I remember well how I was berated by
some of my political friends, when, as Mayor, I assisted in the
ceremony of laying the corner-stone of the Bowery Theatre,
and made a speech on the occasion. No act of my public life
lost me so many friends, and here we have a regular-built actor
presented to the people for their suffrages ; and he will probably
(if he should consent to serve) receive the greatest number of
votes on their ticket. The Pittites will, of course, shout most
obstreperously for him, but the better sort of men, the gentlemen
(the few that belong to the party), the moral men, as well as the
Five-point politicians and disciples of Fanny Wright, will vote
for Forrest and Eli Moore, without the slightest com])unction ;
and why? Because they are spell-bound, and conscience-shack-
led by those powerful cabalistic words, regular nominee.
October iS. — I attended this evening a meeting
''^ ^ o^ leading, influential gentlemen of the Whig party, at
the Astor House. There were sixty or eighty present.
I was appointed chairman, and R. M. Blatchford, secretary. The
object of this meeting was to confer with several of our friends
from different parts of the State on the prospects for the important
approaching election. Thurlow Weed and Mr. Benedict, of Albany,
were with us, and our candidate for (Governor, Mr. Seward. The
accounts were cheering, and a noble spirit pervaded the meeting,
undismayed by recent disasters in other States. It was represented
that a sum of about ;$5,ooo was retpiired, to be distributed in five
or six of the counties. Subscriptions were taken on the spot, and
$3,400 subscribed down, and about the same sum in addition, con-
ditioned upon the success of the Whigs in the city elections ; in ad-
dition to which a committee of seven, including the chairman and
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 325
secretary, were appointed to raise further contributions. This is an
irksome duty for me to perform, but, situated as I was, I could not
shrink from it. The committee consists of David B. Ogden, J. P.
Phoenix, Simeon Draper, Jr., Thomas Tileston, Jonathan Amory,
Blatchford, and myself.
October 19. — The Committee on Collections met this morning,
and divided into separate committees of two. David B. Ogden
and I sallied out in a pelting rain, in which we paddled about for
upwards of three hours. We called upon several of our rich citi-
zens, some of whom gave liberally, and others, having no regard
for their own characters, or sympathy for our ducked condition, re-
fused to give ; but we have done our duty, disagreeable as it was.
We shall get $5,000, but there is more required for the expenses of
the city election.
October 20. — The following gentlemen (a pleasant, jovial set)
dined with us : Colonel Hunter, Mr. John Henry, and Mr. Moly-
neux of Savannah, Mr. Power, Mr. Nicholson, Governor Mason
of Michigan, Mr. Charles Heckscher, Mr. Edward Heckscher, Mr.
Thomas Moore, and J. D. P. Ogden.
October 22. — Ten gentlemen met and dined to-day
the Hone Club ^^ ^^^' J^^^ Ward's, Bond street, being the first meeting
of a club which was there organized to dine at each
other's houses every Monday, at five o'clock punctually. The pre-
sent members are, Simeon Draper, John Ward, Moses H. Grinnell,
William G. Ward, John Crumby, Roswell L. Colt, Edward R. Biddle,
Jonathan Prescott Hall, R. M. Blatchford, and Philip Hone.
It was agreed to extend the number to twelve by the admission
of Charles H. Russell and James W. Otis, to which number the
club is limited. A sumptuary law was enacted, confining the dinner
to soup, fish, oysters, and four dishes of meat, with a dessert of
fruit, ice cream, and jelly. The host is allowed to invite four gen-
tlemen, not members of the club. The members did me the
honour to name the club " The Hone Club," and I was appointed
the President.
326 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 58.
October 26. — This new enemy to the peace of
Abolition. mankind, which I fear is destined to overthrow the in-
stitutions of our country, has of late raised its head
proudly in this State. The candidates nominated for office at the
approaching election, from Governor downward, have been ad-
dressed in circular letters by committees of the abolitionists, pro-
posing in rather a peremptory style certain questions regarding
slavery and the political disqualifications of the free blacks. Such
of these missives as were addressed to the candidates for Governor
and Lieutenant-Governor are signed by William Jay and Garrett
Smith. Messrs. Seward and Bradish have replied at length. Their
letters are published. That of the former is exceedingly well
written, somewhat evasive, and not by any means satisfactory to
his inquisitors. Mr. Bradish is much more conclusive. He comes
out boldly and answers all the questions in the affirmative. This
does not by any means prove him to be an abolitionist, but will be
so construed by that party, and will do him great injury with the
Whigs in this part of the State. I regret it exceedingly, because I
think this gratuitous committal was unnecessary ; nor do I allow the
right of a set of men, standing upon their own ground, and having
views and motives abstracted from the great leading principles of
political faith, to propound questions of this nature to the persons
set up for the suffrages of the people, and make their favourable
response the condition of their support. Such a course of inquisi-
torial scrutiny into men's consciences, if persevered in, will have
the effect to destroy that lofty independence and integrity of mind
which should characterize the representatives of the people, palsy
the executive arm, and sully the purity of the judiciary. Already
have I heard the most opprobrious epithets applied to my excellent
friend Bradish. I know not whether the votes he loses here may
not be overbalanced in the West, where the great strength of the
abolitionists lies ; but I regret that a man so upright and intelligent
should expose himself to the reproaches of any portion of his politi-
cal friends, by a supererogatory declaration of opinions which I
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 327
maintain no set of men had a right to call for. The same system
is in operation here. On the announcement of my name as a can-
didate for the Assembly the following letter was sent to me. I
copy it at length, because I consider it to be the root of a noxious
plant, which in its growth will overshadow the land, corrupt the soil
of republican America, and produce the fruits of anarchy and dis-
union : —
New York, Oct. 26, 1838.
Philip Hone, Esq. : —
Sir, — We notice that you are nominated to represent this county in the
Assembly of this State. As citizens and legal voters of this city, the un-
dersigned, in behalf of themselves and others, beg leave to propound the
following questions : —
Are vou in favour of the immediate repeal of such laws of this State as
permit slaveholders to introduce slaves, and hold them here as such.?
Are you in favour of enacting a law which shall secure a trial by jury to
every person claimed in this State as a slave.'* Are you in favour of so
amending the constitution of this State that civil rights shall not be
granted or withheld according to complexion.? Are you in favour of the
passage (by the Legislature) of resolutions declaring the power and duty
of Congress immediately to abolish slavery and the slave-trade in the
District of Columbia, and to prohibit immediately the inter-state slave-
trade; and, also, resolutions protesting against the annexation of Texas,
or the admission to the Union of any State whose constitution tolerates
slavery.? An early answer to the foregoing questions is respectfully
requested, and should you neglect to reply it will be considered equiva-
lent to a negative answer.
Respectfully, your obedient servants,
A. LiBOLT, Chairman. L. W. Gilbert,
Anthony Lane, S. W. Benedict,
E. A. Lambert, J. H. Colton,
Thomas Ritter, Lewis Tappan,
A. O. WiLLCox, Thomas F. Field,
W. S. Dorr, Hiram Tupper,
M. R. Berry, John Jay,
Thomas O. Buckmaster, P. B. Smith,
C. S. Delavan, Addison A. Jayne,
Adratus Doolittle, John W. Hill.
Asa Parker,
328 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.-Etat. 58.
To this letter I returned the following brief reply. I wish with
all my heart that the answers of Seward and Bradish had been
equally brief. " The least said," particularly in black and white ^
'^ the soonest mended."
October 26, 1S38.
Gentlemen: — I have received your letter of this day, propounding
several questions to me as a candidate to represent this city in the
Assembly of the State. I am relieved from the obligation of answering
these questions (if such obligation exists on the part of a candidate
toward a portion of his fellow-citizens), by the circumstance of my not
having accepted the nomination with which I was honoured by my
political friends. I am, etc., P. H.
Messrs. A. Libolt, etc., etc.
October 29. — The meeting was held this evening
,, '^ at Masonic Hall to receive the report of the nominat-
Meeting. '■
ing committee. The house was full as usual, up- stairs
and down-stairs and round about. That excellent old-fashioned
federal Whig, David B. Ogden, presided, with twenty vice-presi-
dents and four secretaries. It is refreshing once in a while to see
a relic of honest political principles, like David B. Ogden, allowed
to take a prominent place in public affairs. It is almost the only
thing of the kind I have seen in relation to the coming election.
I cannot recognize the name on either ticket of a leading
Federalist or National Republican, — they are permitted to work
and pay money ; they must bake the loaves and catch the fishes,
but they get precious few of them for themselves. Every man on
the Congress ticket was in full communion at Tammany Hall five
years ago. They are generally good men. A better fellow is not
to be found, nor a more efficient Whig, than Moses H. Grinnell ;
yet some of us wlio have borne " the heat and burden of the day "
are entitled at least, one would think, to as good " a penny " as
the eleventh-hour man. The tickets for Congress and Assembly
went down admirably ; the meeting swallowed Monroe and all
without a wry face. This is all right; this unanimity 'Ogives
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 329
token of a goodly day to-morrow." We must gain the victory
now, and afterward try to get some of these little matters, which'
are out of joint at present, adjusted to the satisfaction of all
good men and true.
October 31. — "Who reads an American book?"
American , . . . r t-. i- i ■,
Literature ^^^^ UTipertment qucstion of an P.nglish coxcomb.
Somebody must have read Prescott's excellent " His-
tory of Ferdinand and Isabella," with delight equal to my own,
and also Stone's " Life of Brant," which I intend to read with
equal pleasure one of these days. For of both these popular
works three editions have been published, and the last edition of
the latter was sold at an advance from that of the first of a
dollar and a half, the original price of three dollars and a half
having been found insufficient to leave a profit to the pubHsher.
This is honourable to the taste of our reading public. They are
not mere works of amusement, but standard histories, recording
the events of days and of countries widely separated.
November i. — My journal partakes unavoidably in
^J^^Y a large degree of the subject which occupies and
absorbs the minds of nine-tenths of all the folks one
meets about these times. Election, Monroe ; abolition, Bradish ;
nullification, Calhoun, — all other topics run into and are swal-
lowed up by this troubled reservoir of party spirit and infuriated
patriotism. What a happy country to be so well looked after
by its citizens ! A man is almost considered tainted with treason
toward the sovereign people who pretends to attend to his own
business.
November 2. — A great meeting of Whig merchants was held
this day in Wall street, opposite the new Exchange. Benjamin
Strong presided, with a number of vice-presidents. Spirited reso-
lutions were adopted, condemning the measures of the Government,
and inciting the merchants to union and exertion in the approach-
ing election. But it was not required ; the spirit of the Whigs is
raised to the highest pitch. The merchants have given freely, the
330 THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. [.^tat. 58.
workingmen are prepared for action, and the whole party well
organized. Our hopes are high, and every man in the Whig ranks
says to his neighbour, in the words of one of Oliver Cromwell's offi-
cers, "Trust in the Lord, but keep your powder dry."
I was appointed by the committee to open the meeting and read
the resolutions. I spoke for about twenty minutes, and then read
the resolutions with all the voice I could command. But my posi-
tion in the open air, with the large openings and broken masses
behind me, made the task somewhat painful ; but I believe nobody
could have been better heard, for my voice is strong, and I think I
read very distinctly.
The scene, from the elevation on which I was placed, was exceed-
ingly picturesque. The immense mass of heads on the level street,
the groups on blocks of granite and the irregular eminences of the
unfinished edifice, the heads projecting from the windows, and the
crowds on the stoops of the opposite side of Wall street, with the
brightness of the weather, and the animated expression of every
honest Whig face that beamed upon me while speaking, presented
2i coup d' ml such, as no other occasion could have produced. After
I finished, Mr. Perit addressed the meeting, when the question
was put on adjournment, and the feelings of the people were
so strongly and so agreeably excited that it was fairly voted
down. They called for Hoffman : he was not there ; for Chandler
Starr : he was out of town ; for me again : I had spoken ; for
"Anybody, then!" shouted half-a-dozen voices. At length a
popular orator, Mr. Reynolds, came forward, made a long speech,
which nineteen out of twenty did not hear, and the meeting then
adjourned.
November 6. — The Whig cause continues bright as ever. The
greatest procession of Whigs that ever assembled paraded the
streets last evening, after the returns from the wards had been re-
ceived at head-quarters. They honoured me with a visit, and their
fine band played several martial airs before the house. I regretted
much that I was not at home to address them.
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 33 1
November 7. — The election closed this day at sun-
„ '^ set, after the severest contest we have ever known.
Success. '
The whole Whig ticket is elected. The official returns
are, of course, not complete ; but enough was known by eleven
o'clock to make it certain that the Whig majority for the Congress
ticket is about fifteen hundred, and the Assembly will not vary
materially from that result.
The greatest excitement prevailed during the evening. Masonic
Hall was crammed full, and the street from Pearl to Duane street a
solid mass of Whigs, anxious at first and exulting afterward, but
orderly during the whole time. This election probably determines
the question in this State, and Mr. Van Buren's chance of reelection
may now be considered desperate. The good news of the election
comes in from the North and West ; the river counties have turned
out better than we calculated. Dutchess and Ulster have given the
Whigs thundering majorities. We have, without doubt, secured a
majority of members of Congress, and Seward and Bradish are
elected by large majorities over Marcy and Tracy. There is one
alloy to this triumph, however. Benjamin Silliman, in Kings
county, and John A. King, in Queens, two of the best members in
the last House of Assembly, have lost their elections, the former by
one or two votes, and the latter by thirty-two. The notes of vic-
tory were again sounded this evening before my house by the
Whigs. I opened the window of the library, congratulated and
thanked them, and they "went on their way rejoicing,"
November 13. — The dark clouds which covered the political
and mercantile horizon at the commencement of the last volume
of my journal, and overshadowed the future prospect of individ-
uals, though not entirely dispelled, have been broken, insomuch
that some bright rays of sunshine do occasionally burst forth, and
men are encouraged to hope for clearer skies and better days to
come.
Business has revived. Debts from afar begin to come in with-
out the sacrifice occasioned by ruinous exchanges. The English
332 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 58.
and French creditors have succeeded in collecting their American
debts much better than they expected. Mechanics find good em-
ployment ; the suspended improvements of our city in private and
public buildings have been in many cases resumed, and to all this
may be added the glorious victory of the Whigs in the election
which has just terminated in this State. The returns of the elec-
tion are all in but one or two small counties, which will not mate-
rially vary the result. We have lost two or three members of
Congress and Assembly by very trifling majorities, so that we do
not stand quite so well as was at first reported ; but we have Con-
gress 21 to 19 and Assembly 80 to 48. Seward and Bradish are
elected by ten thousand to eleven thousand majority.
The only improvement in my private affairs is the increased
flicility I have found in borrowing money at a fair rate of interest
on mortgage of my real estate, by which I have been enabled to
pay a large proportion of the debts I assumed for my sons. But
the collections come in very slowly, and I have no reasonable hope
that the ultimate amount of my losses will be less than I calculated
at first ; still I have great reason to be thankful. My health and
spirits are good ; my family are all under my roof, in the enjoy-
ment of health and happiness. My daughters are with us. Mary's
health is improving daily. I stand as high, I hope, in the estima-
tion of my fellow-citizens as I ever did, and with a firm trust in
God all will yet be well.
The city has been agitated to-day by reports of a
l.^ ^ '^' defalcation in the accounts of the late collector of the
cation.
port, Samuel Swartwout, to the amount of a million
and a quarter of dollars. He has taken the public money and
engaged with it in wild speculations of Texas lands, gold mines,
and other humbugs, which have caused ruin for several years past
to men of more means and greater judgment than Mr. Swartwout.
A large proportion of this abstraction of the public funds took
place during the first two years of his collectorship, and the amount
has been increasing ever since. How it was possible that so enor-
183S.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 333
raous a deficiency should never have been discovered until now Is-
perfectly inconceivable ! It is a dreadful commentary upon the
manner of conducting business at Washington, and it would appear
impossible that there should not have been connivance on the part
of some of the coordinate branches of the department, either there
or here. This is a pretty illustration of Mr. Van Buren's hopeful
sub-treasury scheme, by which the collectors are made the deposi-
taries of the public money. Banks are not to be trusted. The
money must not be lent, upon the best securities in the world, to
the merchants whose enterprise has earned, and whose integrity
has paid it to the Government ; but such men as Mr. Swartwout may
take it to speculate in land in the moon, or elsewhere not much
nearer home, or in imaginary treasures which the teeming earth is
supposed to hold withhi its womb, and as yet has refused to render
up even to such skilful midwives as our late collector.
President Jackson, on his accession to office, made a great fuss
about public defaulters, prosecuted several petty offenders, whom
he got imprisoned, and swore in his usual amiable manner that they
should never be released, and at the same time appointed his per-
sonal friends, who were notoriously irresponsible, to offices of the
highest trust, whose claims consisted only in their unscrupulous
devotion to him and his party ; and when a committee of Congress
was raised to investigate the affairs of the treasury department,
which investigation would have naturally led to the discovery of
this and other similar frauds, he interposed between his servants
and the representatives of the people, would not allow them to
answer questions, and took upon himself the responsibility.
The Hone Club dined yesterday with Moses H. Grinnell. We
had Hoffman, Curtis, Wetmore, and other Whigs. There were
more guests and more dinner than the law allows ; but I suppose it
must be overlooked, in consideration of this being the first dinner
which our friend has given since his election to Congress.
I went this evening with the Schermerhorns to the farewell
benefit of Mr. Charles Matthews, at the Park Theatre. It was a full
334 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 58.
house ; but he and his wife have not received the encouragement
which foreign stars usually receive in this country, nor do I think
as much as they deserved. They came out upon a long engage-
ment, which their want of success has suddenly terminated, and
they return disappointed, and ready (as in the case of Matthews's
father) to abuse us for the want of a proper appreciation of
their talents.
November 15. — - Mr. Webster, having invited
Messrs. Draper, Duer, Blatchford, and myself to dine
with him in Boston, we prepared to go this day ; but the
weather proving unfavorable 1 gave up all thought of going until
I received a note from Draper ordering me on board the steam-
boat at half-past four o'clock ; so I took an early dinner, and met
Draper on board the " Narragansett " at that hour. Messrs. Duer
and Blatchford being prevented from going, the party was reduced
to Draper and myself*
November 16, — Mr. Draper and I left New York in a north-
east storm, arrived at Stonington at two In the morning, and came
to Boston, by the railroad, at nine o'clock this morning. This is
a most expeditious mode of travelling ; leaving New York at the
close of one day and being in Boston, two hundred and forty miles
away, at the commencement of the next.
Mr. Webster called at the Tremont House as soon as we arrived
and invited us to dine. He and I walked out. In the course
of our walk we called upon Mr. H. G Otis and Colonel Perkins ;
both these worthy old sons are laid up with the gout. We did
not see the Colonel, and I afterward received a kind note from him,
urging me to repeat my visit. Mr. Otis wants me to dine with
him to-morrow, and in the evening he repeated his invitation in a
note. Several other friends called and invited me , but the weather
promises to be fine to-morrow, Mr. Draper must be at home on
Sunday, so I shall not extend the flying visit to Boston beyond its
original limits.
We met a pleasant party at dinner at Mr. Webster's : Governor
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 335
Everett ; Mr. Winthrop, the Speaker ; Governor Lincoln ; Mr.
Ticknor, who has lately returned from Europe ; Mr. Fletcher
Webster, of Illinois, and his pretty wife, who are on a visit to their
father ; Messrs. Davis, Sturges, etc. We sat until eleven o'clock.
November 17. — I received the usual kind calls this morning,
and pressing invitations to dinner, and availed myself of a fine cold
day to walk out and see the Boston lions and make some visits ;
among the rest to Colonel Perkins, who lives en prince, and has a
fine collection of pictures^ to which he made many valuable addi-
tions during his last visit to Europe.
, . , ^ New York, Nov. iq. — On Thursday last arrived
Arrival of ' -' ■'
the "Great the succcssful steam-paj::ket ''Great Western." She
AVestern." ^^^^^ ^^^^^ Bristol on the 28th of October; has had
very hard weather and heavy winds. She has many passengers ;
in the number are Mr. and Mrs. William H. Aspinwall, Mr. Will-
iam Heyward and his family. Rev. Dr. Schroeder and his family,
and my old acquaintance, Vincent Nolte.
November 21. — In the ship "President," which
Captain sailed yesterday for London, went passenger Captain
Marryat, not any better pleased with the Americans
than they with him. It would have been better for both parties if
the sailor author had been known on this side of the Atlantic only
by his writings. When he arrived in New York he brought me a
letter of introduction. I called upon him, and he dined with us ;
but neither I nor my family, nor the friends whom I invited to
meet him, could discover in his conversation any of the talents
which his works had taught us to expect, or in his deportment the
ease and knowledge of the world which is frequently to be met in
its pages.
He is a good seaman without doubt, and has, somehow or other,
the materials for writing good stories, and a style well calculated
to give them popularity ; but he has evidently never enjoyed the
benefits of refined society, or intercourse with people of literary
talents. He is a sort of Basil Hall, without his impudence.
336 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 58.
The house at the corner of Wall and Hanover
et
St]
Property.
\v all-street st-j-ggts has been sold to the North American Trust and
Banking Company, by Thomas E. Davis, for the enor-
mous sum of $223,000; higher than anything which has yet been
heard of. This building is somewhat notorious from its having been
erected upon the site of one built by J. L. and S. Joseph, which,
about the time it was completed, fell to the ground one night with
a crash which shook all Wall street ; and its fall was the precursor
of a much more tremendous crash in that celebrated street, com-
mencing with the failure of the firm that erected it, and ending
with the suspension of specie payments, and the bankruptcy of one-
half of the merchants and traders of New York.
November 22. — This gentleman has just been pub-
Fenimore Hshing two ncw works, "Homeward Bound" and
Cooper.
"Home as Found," which are reviewed, and the
author most unmercifully scourged, in an able leading article of the
"Courier and Enquirer" of this morning; a more severe, and,
I add, a better written, castigation was never inflicted upon an arro-
gant, acrimonious writer than this. j\Ir. Cooper, spoiled at first by
the kindness of his countrymen, and inflated by the praise of
Europeans, who read his books without coming into personal con-
tact with the writer, has returned to his own country full of
malicious spleen against his countrymen, because, as I verily
believe, he could not bully them into approving his dogmatical
opinions, and liking his swaggering airs as well as the patriotic
principles and unpretending deportment of his distinguished rival,
Washington Irving.
The works now published, of which copious extracts are made
in the " Courier and Enquirer," represent everything in this
country in the most disparaging light ; the misrepresentations are
as gross, and the uncharitable temper as disgusting, as anything to
be found in Basil Hall's, or Captain Hamilton's, or Mrs. TroUope's
lying histories, and (what is more wonderful coming from such a
quarter) the style of the works is puerile and the incidents ridicu-
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 337
lous ; more worthy of the talents of a silly girl than of the matured
genius of the author of "The Spy " and "The Pioneers."
November 23. — In the packet-ship "Siddons," which arrived
yesterday, came passengers, Mr. William Brown and his lady, of
Liverpool. Mr. Brown is the senior partner in the great house of
William and James Brown & Co., of that place. They have, I pre-
sume, come out to attend the wedding of their only son, who is to
marry his cousin, the daughter of Mr. James Brown, of this city.
December 5. — Congress met on Monday. The
ee ing o Housc is SO nearly divided that it is not probable that
Congress. -^ '-
the sub-treasury scheme, or any other of the Govern-
ment abominations, can be carried through. The President's
message was sent to Congress on Tuesday, at twelve o'clock, and,
by an arrangement made by the post-office with the railroad,
reached the city of Jersey, two hundred and forty-five miles, at
half-past ten o'clock last evening, and was delivered at our post-
office. If this is not quick work, the deuce is in it, — twenty- three
miles an hour, the whole distance, one-half of it after dark.
The message is long enough, six newspaper columns closely
printed. There is the usual quantity of humbug about the power
of the sovereign people, although all the world knows that the
writer and " his illustrious predecessor " have done more to crib
this power from the dear people than any who went before them ;
a plentiful use of such pretty, set phrases as "The anti- republican
tendencies of associated wealth," " Vortex of reckless speculation,"
" Banks perverting the operations of the Government to their own
purposes," and such unmeaning twaddle, whilst he knows in his
heart and soul that he and his party in his own State have created
all the banks here to subserve their political objects ever since
they have had the ascendency, and now rail against them when
their subserviency begins to fail. He does not say a word this
time about the elections, nor does he seek to propitiate the
*•' sober, second thoughts of the people," having found that to be
338 THE DIARV OF I'llILIP HONE. [.^tat. 58.
December 6. — The anniversary dinner of the St.
St. Nicholas ;^j(,j^q|^^s Societv was held to-day, at the American
Dinner.
Hotel. Mr. Cozzens gave as good a dinner as I ever
sat down to ; all excellent, hot and well served, and the wines
capital. There was the usual quantity of toasting and speaking.
The President (Mr. Verplanck) made a long address, in the form
of an annual report of the state of the society, in his (piaint, amus-
ing style. Dr. Francis, as physician-general, was very hap])y. I
made a short address when called upon, and concluded with the
following toast : New Yorkers, " at home " to all the world ; let
them not forget that they are masters of the house.
William M. Price, the United States Attorney for
Another ■^. (^[^^^[f^^ another of General Jackson's pets, and
Defaulter. ' J l y
one of Mr. Van Buren's depositaries of the public
money, "in spite" (as IMr. Cambreling said) "of the lamen-
tations of the people," took himself off this morning " without
beat of drum." His flight was not known until an hour or two
after the departure of the British steamer " Liverpool," when Wall
street was in an uproar on the receipt of the intelligence that this
faithful steward of the Government was a passenger.
These are the men who, for political services formerly rendered
(and in the case of Price continued unblushingly to the last), were
appointed to the two most responsible offices in the gift of the
general Government, at a time when neither of them could have got
the credit upon his personal responsibility for a hundred dollars.
Here are some of the fruits of the corrui)t, demoralizing system
which originated with his country's curse, Andrew Jackson, and has
been unscrupulously carried out by the puppet who thought it
"honour enough to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious prede-
cessor." Price was formerly a violent, brawling Federalist, and
when he found he could get nothing by that he became a Demo-
crat and Tammany man, more violent and brawling louder even
than he did on the other side, but with better success. He became
the Marat, the Danton of the party, the Anacharsis Clootz, the
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 339
orator, not of the human race, but of the profligate race whose vigils
were held at Tammany Hall and the several subordinate pandemo-
niums of the respective wards ; supporting through thick and thin
the pernicious measures of his master, and denouncing all honest
men who dared to doubt their infallibility. A demagogue of the
first rank, he was precisely the man they wanted. They knew
their Price, and he knew his, and the unsuccessful Jacobin of the
Federal party became the pampered minion of the Loco-focos.
The city is in an uproar ; every hour brings fresh reports. This
glorious election ! Well are we rewarded for time and money
spent and services rendered in the good cause. The light of truth is
now penetrating into the dark recesses of corruption. The spoilers
will be condemned to disgorge the spoils which they have themselves
"told us belong to the victors," and, if it be not too late, honest
men may come to their rights and the Republic be saved.
December 7. — The breaking up of the Loco-foco
^^ ^ forces in different parts of the country produces every
Violence. ^ -^ ^ ^
day some new development of party atrocity ; a state
of things exists in Pennsylvania extremely alarming ; little short,
indeed, of civil war. The return of the judges of the election
for the county of Philadelphia being in favor of the Whig candi-
dates, they, as well as those on the other side, appeared at
Harrisburg on Tuesday last, at the organization of the Legis-
lature, and claimed their seats as members of the House of
Representatives. The Whigs, having the returns of a majority
of the judges, were entitled to their seats until the house was
organized to receive the protest of their opponents ; but this legal
course of proceeding was opposed by the Van Buren men, and a
scene occurred more outrageous than ever before witnessed in a
country professing to be governed by written law and established
rules. Both parties elected their own Speaker, and both proceeded
to business in the same hall. Confusion and disorder reigned for a
time, until brutal violence was resorted to and the hall was left in
possession of the Loco-focos, supported by a mob of ruffians in
340 IHE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 58.
the galleries. The whole was a scene hitherto paralleled only by
the sittings of the National Assembly of France, or the Jacobin
Club of Paris in the horrid days of anarchy and bloodshed which
ushered in the Revolution and led to the destruction of everything
''good and lovely and of good report" in that devoted country.
God grant that the same causes here may not produce the same
results ! Virtuous men here begin to fear the worst. Now is the
critical moment of our country's fate. If the Whigs continue to
grow in numbers and remain firm in the good cause they may suc-
ceed in subjecting the rabl)le of Loco-foco Jacobins to the power
of the laws ; but if not, the time is close, very close, at hand, when
this nol^le country of ours will be subject to all the horrors of civil
war ; our republican institutions, theoretically so beautiful, but re-
lying unfortunately too much upon the virtue and intelligence of
the people, will be broken into pieces, and a suffering and abused
nation will be compelled to submit to the degrading alternative of
Jacobin misrule or the tyranny of a Caesar, a Cromwell, or a Bona-
parte. To return to Harrisburg : the mob having possession of the
Representatives' hall next attacked the Senate, where the Whig ma-
jority is so large that no dispute could possibly arise. That House
attempted to meet in the afternoon, but the same scene was re-
enacted there ; riot and confusion prevailed throughout. The presi-
dent's chair was usurped by a demagogue named John McCahen,
who addressed the ruffians around him, instigating them to violence.
The senators were assailed, beaten, dragged out, and driven from
their seats. The accounts do not as yet inform us that any lives
were lost. The Governor has issued his proclamation, calling out
the troops, and general orders are published in the Pennsylvania
papers for troops to assemble and march from other parts of the
State to Harrisburg, the seat of war.
The times are out of joint. The United States are surrounded
by difficulties and dangers requiring a strong arm and a better
head and purer political morality than are ever to be found in a
mere party manager and popular demagogue. The dishonest
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 34I
servants of a corrupt administration running away with the
people's money ; the halls of Legislature invaded in a neighbour-
ing state by a ruthless faction, and the laws of the Commonwealth
openly set at defiance ; abolitionism fomented by fanaticism on
one side, and restricted by pride on the other; our misguided
citizens meddling with other people's concerns on the northern
frontier, and running their foolish heads into Canadian halters,
and sympathizing on the southern with a band of reckless buc-
caneers whose brotherhood would lead to endless strife and ulti-
mate disunion ; the treasure and blood of the republic expended
and spilt in an Indian warfare in tenfold quantities, to remedy
the bad management of our rulers ; character, talents, and moral
worth rendered of no account in competition with the claims of
political services, — from the effect of all these evils '' Good Lord,
deliver us ! "
December 8. — The Legislature of the State of
Election of jy^iggo^j-i (\[(\ thcmsclves the distinguished honour, on the
Benton.
2 1 St of last month, to elect that prince of humbugs
and enlightener of the Loco-focos, Mr. T. H. Benton, senator of
the United States for six mortal years more.
The Baptist meeting-house at Reading, Conn., was
Anti-abolition ^^^^^^^ . gunpowdcr on the night of the 28th
Violence. i ./ o x ^
of last month. A man named Colver, an abolition
lecturer, had been holding forth in the church, and was to lecture
again, when a fanatic on the other side of the question placed
a keg of powder under the pulpit, and blew the whole "sky
high."
We had to dine with us to-day Mr. Christopher
AnUnex- Hughcs, American charge at Stockholm, Col. Webb,
pected Visitor. °
Mr. William B. Astor, and Dr. Francis. Whilst we
were at dinner there was a ring at the street door-bell. The
boy Daniel went out, • and found nobody there ; but there was
a basket on the sill of the door, which he brought into the
dining-room, and it was found to contain a lovely infant, ap-
342 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 58.
parently about a week old, stowed away nicely in soft cotton.
It had on a clean worked muslin frock, lace cap, its under-clothes
new and perfectly clean, a locket on the neck which opened with
a spring and contained a lock of dark hair; the whole covered
nicely with a piece of new flannel, and a label was pinned on the
breast on whicli was written, in a female hand, Alfred G. Douglas.
It was one of the sweetest babies I ever saw ; apparently healthy.
It did not cry during the time we had it, but laid in a placid,
dozing state, and occasionally, on the approach of the light,
opened its little, sparkling eyes, and seemed satisfied with the
company into which it had been so strangely introduced. Poor
little innocent, — abandoned by its natural protector, and thrown
at its entrance into life upon the sympathy of a selfish world, to be
exposed, if it should live, to the sneers and taunts of uncharitable
legitimacy ! How often in his future life may the bitter wish
swell in his heart and rise to his lips, that those eyes which now
opened so mildly upon me whilst I was gazing upon his innocent
face had been forever closed. My feelings were strongly inter-
ested, and I felt inclined at first to take in and cherish the little
stranger ; but this was strongly opposed by the company, who
urged, very properly, tliat in that case I would have twenty more
such outlets to my benevolence. 'I reflected, moreover, that if
the little urchin should turn out bad, he would prove a trouble-
some inmate ; and if intelligent and good, by the time he became
an object of my affection the rightful owners might come and
take him away. So John Stotes was summoned, and sent off
with the little wanderer to the almshouse.
The group in the kitchen which surrounded the basket, before
John took it away, would have furnished a capital subject for a
painter. There was the elegant diplomat, the inquisitive doctor,
the bluff editor, and the calculating millionnaire ; my wife and
daughters, standing like the daughters of Pharoah over the
infant Moses in the bulrushes, — all interested, but differently
affected, the maids shoving forward to get a last peep ; little
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP PIONE. 343
Emily, the black cook, ever and anon showing her white teeth ;
James and Dannie in the background, wondering that so great a
fuss should be made about so small a matter ; and John, wrapped
up in his characteristically neat overcoat, waiting, with all the
dignified composure which marks his demeanor, to receive his
interesting charge and convey it to its destination.
Dp:cember 12. — The troops from Philadelphia,
enns> vania ^^j^^^j. ^j-^g command of General Patterson, having
Rebellion. ' °
arrived at Harrisburg, something like order has been
restored, and the two houses of the Legislature have met daily, not
in their usual place of meeting, nor for the despatch of business, but
for the purpose of adjourning legally. Commodore Elliott has also
arrived, with other officers, under the authority of the general Gov-
ernment, to command the United States forces at Carlisle. These
measures may keep the insurrection under whilst the troops are
present ; but the flame appears to be only smothered, to break out
whenever they are withdrawn. Charles J. Ingersoll, the author of all
the mischief, and other leaders must be hanged to restore order.
December 14. — Hospital in the morning, Savings-bank in
the afternoon, and, afterward, dinner at Mr. Abraham Schermer-
horn's. I did not, of course, arrive at my last post of duty
until an hour after the time I was invited for dinner, but quite
in time for all beneficial purposes. I noticed a fact at the
dinner table to-day, which proves the increased intercourse
between the people of the United States and Europe. Of a
party of twenty seated at the table every person has been to
Europe, although of the number only two, Mr. Schmidt and
Mr. Maitland, were foreigners. When I first dined out frequently,
that distinguished class oi learned pundits who had been "abroad,"
as the term then was, was so small, that if we had one native who
had enjoyed that high privilege in a dinner-party he was looked
up to with profound respect and deference ; " a rare bird, and
somewhat hke a black swan." Now the streams of accumulated
knowledge may be obtained at innumerable fountains : the families
344 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 58.
of Abraham vSchermerhorn, of James J. Jones, of T. L. Gibbes, of
Nathaniel Prime do pour forth streams of intellectuahty (I wish I
had the wheelbarrow which Dr. Francis alluded to at the St.
Nicholas Dinner, to carry this long word) sufficient to assuage the
thirst of the most ardent and untravelled seeker of knowledge.
December 15. — A Loco-foco member of Congress,
ongressiona ^^.^^^ Maine, named Atherton, broucjht into the House
Proceeding's. ' / o
of Representatives, on Tuesday last, certain resolutions
on the subject of slavery, declaring that the subject was not to be
touched, that no petitions should be received, and that Congress
had no right to meddle with slavery in the District of Columbia.
This political tool was instigated to this measure by his brother
Locos of the South, who were, no doubt, pledged to uphold him
in his subsequent course. The resolutions may or may not have
been proper ; that is not the question ; but the outrageous impu-
dence of the fellow, and the profligate support which it received
from his unprincipled party, were evinced in his speaking for
nearly an hour in support of his resolutions, and concluding by
moving the previous . (question, thereby precluding all reply, and
forcing the dose down the reluctant throats of men of all political
parties. And to the disgrace of the House, and the mortification
of all honourable men, the motion was carried and the resolutions
adopted without a word of comment (even to the phraseology,
which John P. Kennedy said was so ungramniatical that his
stomach, which had been to school, could not swallow it), except
those which the mover had used in their fovor, which it is pre-
sumed he thought unanswerable, and therefore determined should
remain unanswered.
I do not recollect that this precise case has ever occurred before.
Its unblushing impudence is absolutely amusing. But I would ask
the southern gentleman from ]\Iaine, whether some of his sagacious
constituents doivn east may not consider it a sort of acknowledg-
ment of weakness, and dread of consequences a little similar to
that of the school-boy, who, coming behind his companion, hits
1838.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 345
him a punk on the back, and then takes to his heels for fear of
the counter-punk.
December 17. — Mrs. Brevoort opened her splendid
^^\, 1 . house on Saturday evening^ to a larsre party. I went
voort's Party. ■' ° & i J
with my daughter. It was a grand affair; there is not
a house in the city so well calculated to entertain such an assem-
blage ; five large rooms open on one floor, and a spacious hall
besides, with a noble staircase. This is the first time all this has
been shown to the hon-ton, and the capriciousness of the master and
mistress is so great that it may remain a sealed book for half a
dozen years, unless the present freak should continue.
The " Utica " brings the intelligence of the death of Mrs. Eliza
Rumpff, wife of Vincent Rumpff, minister resident at Paris from the
Hanse towns, and daughter of Mr. John Jacob Astor. She died at her
residence in Switzerland, near Geneva. This lady leaves no children.
There are, therefore, but three children to inherit the largest fortune
in the State, — William B. Astor, Mrs. Langdon, and a son who is
not likely to interfere with the claims of the others. If William lives
to old age he will probably be richer than his father now is.
December 25. — The club dined yesterday at Mr. Crumby 's.
Bond street. Of the members, Messrs. Grinnell and Duer were
absent ; a good dinner, good singing, and plenty of wine. The
following ode, which I wrote for the club, having been set to
music by Mr. C. E. Horn, was sung, for the first time, by Major
Tucker : —
ODE FOR THE HONE CLUB.
Our club, like a jury impanelled, we view,
Composed of twelve freemen, all good men and true;
We have hearts for our country, religion, and laws,
And we find a true verdict in her holy cause.
Answer, then, Mr. Foreman, are you all agreed?
President : Agreed.
Chorus : Agreed, agreed; we are all of one mind.
•Fxic our country and freedom, our verdict we find.
346 THE DIARY OP^ PHILIP HONE. [.Etat.58.
Will you stand l)y her commerce, unfettered and free?
Shall the Star Spangled Banner still float on each sea?
Shall mercantile faith a just recompense claim,
Protection at home, and abroad a good name?
How answer you then? Are you all agreed?
President : Agreed.
Chorus : Agreed, agreed; we are all of one mind,
To stand by the merchants, our verdict we find.
3-
In the cause now before you, the plaintiffs appear.
Good order, and Reason, and Union are here;
'Gainst corruption and power they plead their own cause,
Relying on Truth, Constitution, and Laws;
Shall the good cause prevail? Are you all agreed?
President : Agreed.
Chorus : Agreed, agreed; we are all of one mind,
In support of the good cause, our verdict we find.
4-
Shall Truth, Love, and Friendship our club still unite.
And the cares of the day ne'er extend to the night?
Shall innocent mirth and good-humour abound.
And our bosom beat high as each Monday comes 'round?
Gentlemen of the jury, are you all agreed?
President : Agreed.
Chorus . Agreed, agreed; we are all of one mind,
P"or Truth, Love, and Friendship, our verdict we find.
5-
Shall our bumpers be quaffed as the wine sparkles bright,
And the talesmen join who are with us to-night?
Our hearts warmed bj friendship, the toast shall it pass,
*' May temperance fill, and joy empty, the glass " ?
In this honest toast you are surely agreed?
President : Agreed.
Chorus : Agreed, agreed; we are all of one mind,
For temperate enjoyment, our verdict we find.
i839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 347
1839.
TANUARY I. — The year 1839 commences under more favour-
^ able auspices. The commerce of the country is much im-
proved ; such of the merchants as have been only sadly bent are
considerably straightened ; the broken ones remain broken ; for
myself, although not a merchant, I have been a severe sufferer
as surety for others. There is an awful change in my circum-
stances, which can never be repaired. I have lost two-thirds of
my fortune, and I have only to call to my aid philosophy and resig-
nation, and to be thankful for the blessings I still enjoy. It is a
consolation that as yet I have met all my obligations honourably,
and have no reason to fear my ability to continue to do so. My
children shall inherit a good name from their father ; they must
make the most of it, for I greatly fear it will be their only inher-
itance.
In a political view matters have improved during the last year.
The elections, in the aggregate, have been favourable to the Whig
cause. Parties in the present House of Representatives are
equally balanced. The next will have a majority of Whigs, without
any reasonable doubt. In the State of New York we have a Whig
Governor, and a majority of about forty in the House of Assembly ;
but, unfortunately, we are in a minority in the Senate : that, too,
we shall correct in the fall election. The city for the first time in
many years will be represented in the next Congress by four
Whigs, and the Mayor and a majority in both branches of the
Common Council are on the same side. On the whole, we may
sing
" A requiem for thirty-eight,
And a health to thirty-nine."
January 7. — The club dined at Mr. Russell's, Messrs. Duer and
Colt absent. We had, among the supernumeraries, Mr. Webster,
343 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 59.
who is here on his way to Washington. He was in exuberant
spirits, and more agreeable than I have seen him on any former
occasion. We sat until eleven o'clock, and broke up after a grand
chorus of " Auld Lang Syne."
Jaiwary 28. — I heard a capital sermon yesterday
ro essor morniuiz in Trinity Church, from Professor McVickar,
McVickar. o y 7 7
of Columbia College. He does not often treat us ; but
when he does, it is a treat indeed. He comes with a sermon well
prepared, logical, learned, of the purest luiglish, and a style sur-
])assingly beautiful. His voice is bad, and it causes a little pain to
listen so closely as is necessary for one who, like myself, has not
the sharpest ears in the world, in order that no part should be lost
of that which is so well worth hearing.
Take this gentleman for " all in all," he is the loveli-
ance or ^^^ ^^_^^^^ j ^^^^^ ]<;new, and I consider the ixitimacy which
exists between us one of the greatest privileges and
highest honours I enjoy. He has '' droj)! in " frequently of late to
see us ; last evening he sat about an hour, cheerful, playful, and
instructive ; such a mixture of learning and simphcity ; a head so
sound and a heart so light ; a conscience free from reproach, and
an imagination poetical as that of a youthful lover ! And this
man is seventy-five years of age. So much for good habits, early
assumed and never departed from ; industry, sobriety, a course of
life void of offence before God and man ; an enthusiastic love of
literature and an habitual aversion to debt, that fell disturber of
the happiness of professional men. Such is James Kent, May he
live as long as this world and those "which it inherit " shall con-
tinue pleasant to him ! As for myself, " I wish that Heaven had
made me such a man."
This excellent man, the contemporary and friend of
Stephen Van j^j^g Kcut, I uow mention on this l^age, not to record
Rensselaer. -" ' 1 & J
his living virtues, but to mourn his decease. He died
on Saturday last, at his home in Albany, suddenly, whilst seated at
the dinner-table. General Van Rensselaer has been better known
1839.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 349
by the familiar and affectionate title of " The Patroon," — a Dutch
word to express "The lord of the manor," from his extensive patri-
monial estates. He has held many important civil and military
offices. He was a Federalist of " the old school," and the candi-
date of that party on more than one occasion for the office of gov-
ernor. Few men were more extensively known and beloved. Of
gentlemanly manners, one of " the Lord's noblemen," of an amiable
disposition, great benevolence, and active public spirit. His ability
to do good, which from his great wealth was greater than that of
most of his fellow-citizens, was never sparingly exerted for the ben-
efit of his fellow- men, nor for the promotion of the public works
of the State. He was closely identified with the great Canal Sys-
tem, and an early and active coadjutor of DeWitt Clinton in the
great work which immortalized him.
January 29. — My wife and I dined with Mr. and Mrs. T. W.
Ludlow ; the party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Ogden,
Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Schermerhorn, Mr. and Mrs. Archibald
Gracie, General and Miss Tallmadge, Mr. Gabriel Shaw, Mr.
William H. Harrison, and ourselves.
March 18. — We had an uncommonly pleasant
Hone Club. dinner of the club at Blatchford's, — gay, jovial, and
somewhat noisy. This was caused by the presence of
several distinguished and agreeable guests : Mr. Webster, Mr.
Southard, Mr. Meredith, Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Curtis, Mr. John A.
King, and Mr. Young. We sat until to-morrow was near at hand.
March 22. — The rumors of war on the north-
Hard Times, eastcm boundary, — burn the pine logs which have set
it a-going, — together with the bank difficulties in the
Southern and Western States, occasioned by a premature resump-
tion of specie payments, have caused another panic in New York.
The blossoms of hope which had sprung up in the brief sunshine
of confidence are again blighted by the frost of suspicion. The
pockets of rich men which had opened a little are now closely
buttoned up, and " No trust " is once more the chilling maxim of
350 THE DIARY OF PIIILir HONE. [/Etat. 59.
commercial dealings. Stocks have fallen suddenly ; trade is at a
standstill. New York cannot collect her debts, and the banks are
looking to their own safety. In the mean time the markets are
higher than ever. Beef and mutton sell at eighteen to twenty-five
cents a pound, and how the poor man manages to get a dinner
for his family passes my comprehension. Suppose we succeed
in turning out Van Buren and his scurvy pack, shall we be any
better off ? Doubtful, very doubtful !
March 29. — I went, as usual, to church this morn-
Good Friday, ing, and afterward into Wall street, where the din of
business drowns the sound of the bell's invitation to
worship, and the gravity of devotion is put out of countenance by
the restless, anxious looks of speculative men of '' this world."
Good Friday was formerly kept with a considerable degree of
solemnity. The banks and most of the shops were kept closed,
and Episcopalians, especially, made it a point to abstain from
business as strictly on that day as on the Sabbath ; but it is now
scarcely observed at all. A few '* church people " attend worship
in the morning of the day, and usually hear an excellent sermon ;
for if there be anything in the preacher, the sanctity of the
occasion, and the touching service of the church for the day can-
not fail to bring it ^z/// but as for the suspension of business, the
high rents in Broadway and the dearness of the markets will not
allow the shopkeepers to lose a day.
March 30. — The monster no longer keeps guard
at the mouth of his den. The spectre which for so
Resignation.
long a time frighted old Jackson " from his propriety,"
and subsequently disturbed the slumbers of his successor, is " laid
in the Red Sea ; " or, to speak more to the point, the undaunted
opponent of arbitrary power, and the skilful regulator of currency
and credit, has retired from the field of his triumph and his labours.
The resignation of Mr. Biddle as a director and the president of the
Bank of the United States is announced in the papers of this day.
This event, unexpected here, and known only to a few friends in
1839J THE DIARY OF PHILII' HONE. 35 I
Philadelphia, took place yesterday, in an address to the directors.
He puts his resignation upon the ground of a desire for retirement,
the necessity for which is indicated by a delicate state of health,
which may be attributed to most laborious exertions for twenty
years past in the service of the bank. This is, no doubt, the true
reason, although rumor has given out others, among which is the
preposterous one of his being called by Mr. Van Buren to the head
of the Treasury Department. A better appointment, certainly, could
not be made ; but the President is not in the habit of doing magnani-
mous deeds, and, besides, it would not work well for his political
objects. His own party would find it somewhat difficult to justify the
appointment of a man whom they have been taught by their mas-
ters for the last eight years to decry and vilify at Tammany Hall,
and all the outposts of the Loco-foco army of stipendiaries. Nor
would he get credit with his political adversaries for honest inten
tions, or a desire to promote the public good. The public good !
Fudge ! What does it mean? The term is often used for purposes
of humbug, but its meaning is obsolete.
The truth is, that Mr. Biddle is a good writer, and rather prone
to trifle in the flower} paths of poetry ; and now that he has had
glory enough as a financier, it is not unnatural that he should seek
for literary distinction. Besides, he possesses a beautiful seat on the
banks of the Delaware, where there is a miniature fac- simile of the
monster's marble den in Chestnut street ; and he raises fine grapes,
and gets a good price for them in the Philadelphia market, and has
as good a right to enjoy otium cum dignitate as anybody I know.
April 5. — Died on Tuesday last, at Wilmington, Delaware,
Hezekiah Niles, the conductor of " Niles' Register " (the best
statistical publication and record of national events in this coun-
try), and the father of the "American System." His name stood
high on the tariff of private worth and public service.
April 8. — Attended the monthly meeting of the vestry of
Trinity Church. An application from a committee of the Histori-
cal Society for the use of St. Paul's Church, in which to celebrate
352 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 59.
the fiftieth anniversary of the Inauguration of Washington, was
refused (improperly, I think). Preparations are making by the
society to have a grand affeir on this occasion, on the 30th. Mr.
John Quincy Adams has consented to dehver the oration.
April 15. — The arrival of this packet has been
Arrival of
the "Great lookcd for With great anxiety. She sailed on March
Western," 23, and arrived at twelve o'clock last night, having
encountered on her voyage an unchanging series of head-winds
and severe gales. This is the longest voyage the "Great Western "
has ever made ; but it proves, more than any other, the advantage
of steam navigation. Captain Hoskin says that a sailing-vessel
would not (with the wind and weather he has had) have been now
more than three days on her way out.
The Hone Club dined at Mr. Amory's. All the members were
present except Mr. Duer, — gone to Europe. In the number of
guests was Mr. Webster, jovial and agreeable as usual. I think it
not by any means improbable that if a special minister should be
appointed by the President, under the act of Congress, to go to
England about the boundary question, Mr. Webster may be the
man. He told me that the Governor of Maine, the members of
Congress, and the Legislature of that State had united without
regard to party in an application to that effect, and I am tolerably
sure that he expects it.
April 20. — Died last evening, at Jersey City, Colonel Aaron
Ogden, aged eighty- three years. He was one of the noble band
of revolutionary soldiers, which is now nearly extinct. A fine old
American gentleman ; but, like many of his class, his latter years
were sparingly cheered by the smiles of fortune, and he was com-
pelled to rely upon the scanty emoluments of the office of collector
of the i)ort, without commerce, of the City of Jersey.
April 23. — The frigate "Constitution," the fine old
sides ""^ " bull-dog whose bark was heard first in the late war, is
now in our harbour, waiting to sail on a cruise, under
command of Captain Claxton. She lies at anchor in the North
1839] . THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 353
river, off the Battery, in the tranquillity of strength. The " Mas-
sachusetts " steamer, on her return yesterday from the excur-
sion to Sandy Hook, passed up the river close to her, and gave
us an opportunity to see this noble arm of the naval power of
the United States.
I went this evening to the Artists' Supper of the
National Academy, to which I was invited as an
Supper.
honorary member. This entertainment was given pre-
paratory to the opening to-morrow of the spring exhibition. The
number at table was about fifty, with the estimable president, Mr.
Morse, at the head, who returned from Europe in the " Great
Western," and myself in the post of honour, at his right hand. Our
table was placed in the middle of the great exhibition-room,
brilliantly lighted, and we were surrounded by the beautiful collec-
tion of pictures, fresh from the easels of the accomplished artists,
who were partaking of the double enjoyment of the banquet before
them and the well-earned reputation derived from the successful
result of their interesting labours. How insignificant, in comparison
to these, would have been the most gorgeous array of costly mirrors,
luxurious hangings, rich carpets, and golden ornaments ! These
are, indeed, the precious products of an art the tendency of which
is to refine the mind, enrich the imagination, and soften the heart
of man.
This will be one of the best exhibitions of the x\cademy. It is
delightful to witness the improvement from year to year of the
young artists, the result of study and practice under the instruction
and from the fine classical models of the Academy ; and the older
members grow richer and more mellow as their talents ripen into
maturity.
The school of Mount, the American Wilkie, appears to have
attracted many aspirants after the honours of that class of subjects
in which he excels, and they have produced several capital things.
Foremost in the number stands two pictures by Mr. Edmonds, an
amateur painter, — one representing the reading of a penny paper j
354 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 59.
the other, "Commodore IVumiion " and "Tom Pipes," from
" Roderick Random," both admirable ; indeed, I prefer the latter
to a new picture of Mount's, "The Rabbit Trappers," which he
has painted for Mr. Charles A. Davis.
I am puzzled to know how Mr. Ivlmonds finds time, in the midst
of his laborious occupation as cashier of the Leather Manufacturers'
Bank, to devote himself to an art so foreign to his ordinary pur-
suits, and how, under so great a disadvantage, he should have
arrived at such proficiency.
Death of Gen ApRiL 24. — Mr. Christopher Hughes has just heard
erai Smith, of the death of his father-indaw. General Samuel
of Baltimore, g^^^j^j^^ ^^ Baltimore, who died on ^londay last, in the
eighty- seventh year of his age. His death was remarkable, and
such as every old man should desire. He had returned from riding,
lay upon the sofa to refresh himself, and was found dead by a ser-
vant who entered the room.
General Smith was another of the old re\'olutionary officers, to
whom the country owes so much, and pays so little. Happily, in
his case no pecuniary aid was requisite ; he was a rich man. He
signalized^ himself on several occasions during the war of the Revo-
lution, and has been almost constantly since in public life ; for
many years a representative of the State of ALaryland in the Senate
of the United States, frequently in the Legislature of that State, and
at the time of his death ALiyor of Baltimore, to which latter office
he was elected (although an administration man, unopposed by the
Whigs) for his gallant conduct on a recent occasion when the
peace of the city was disturl^ed by one of those mobs to which
Baltimore has unhappily been rather frequently exposed.
April 25. — In the packet-ship " Siddons," which sailed to-day
for Liverpool, went passengers, Mr. William Brown and wife, of
Liverpool ; their son, Mr. Alexander Brown, and his wife, the daugh-
ter of James Brown, of this city. These are all partners or ad-
juncts of the great mercantile houses of William and James Brown
& Co., of Liverpool, and Brown Brothers & Co., of New York.
1839.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 355
The visit of William Brown and his wife has been very pleasant.
They have married their only son to his cousin, and thereby keep
the cash from going out of the family. They have travelled a
great deal in the United States, visiting last winter the Falls of
Niagara, passed considerable time with their friends here and in
Baltimore, and now return in a fine ship, at the most favourable
season of the year ; and in twenty days probably the senior will
again be engaged in making money, the junior in devising plans to
spend it, and the ladies in telling their friends and neighbours " all
about it."
April 26. — General Scott has returned from his last excursion
to the northern frontier, where he was sent to set matters to rights
between the loafer royalists of Canada and the loafer patriots of
the United States. I do not know how he has succeeded, for I
was not at home when he did us the honour to call this morning.
The girls saw him, and say he looks very well, considering the labour
he has performed within the last two or three months, during which
time he has been constantly employed in the public service, adding
to his military renown the blessings which await the " peace-
maker." In the course of this severe tour of duty he has travelled
(by land principally) forty-seven hundred miles. He is now
" the observed of all observers ; " and who knows what he may
be hereafter?
^ , , . , April ^o. — The semi-centennial celebration of the
Celebration ot '-'
the Historical Inauguration of Washington, which took place in this
Society. ^•j.y ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^l" April, 1 789, was held this day, and
went off triumphantly. I was one of the committee of arrange-
ments, and, as the day approached, became extremely anxious and
nervous, from an apprehension that sufficient interest had not been
excited, and that the distinguished guests of the society from other
States might witness a failure. But my fears were groundless. It
could not have been better.
The members of the society and invited guests assembled at the
City Hotel, and walked in procession to the New Dutch Church, in
356 THE DIARY OP^ PHILir HONE. [/Etat. 59.
Nassau street. The church was filled on our arrival, and hundreds
could not obtain admission, seats having been reserved for the per-
sons forming the procession. On the stage erected in front of the
pulpit were seats for the orator ; for Mr. Stuyvesant, the president ;
for myself, vice-president of the society ; and for Judge Davis, of
Massachusetts ; Judges Tliompson and Betts ; Rev. Drs. DeWitt,
Knox, and Wainwright ; Governor Pennington, of New Jersey; Mr.
Southard and General Scott. The ceremony commenced with a
prayer from Dr. Knox, one of the pastors of the church. Long,
dull, and inappropriate, to which succeeded an ode, written for
the occasion by Mr, Bryant, and sung by the choir of the church
to the sublime tune of Old Hundred Psalm. The ode, in my
judgment, is very so-so, considering it is the production of the
crack poet of New York.
Then came the oration, by the venerable ex- President of the
United States, John Quincy Adams. It was in truth "well to be
there." It does not often fall to the lot of any man to hear or
read so masterly a production, eloquent in language, powerful in
argument, refined in taste, glowing with patriotism, and fraught
with instruction. The history of the formation of the gov^ernment,
of the desolate state of public affairs in the dreary interval between
the termination of the war and the Declaration of Independence ;
the violent and pertinacious opposition of the Anti-Federalists
to the new Constitution ; and, finally, the glorious consummation
of the principles of the Revolution and the establishment of
liberty and peace by the adoption of the Constitution, the seal to
which was affixed by the event we were celebrating. All this,
together with some touching and interesting details of events
attending the triumphal journey of Washington, his reception in
this city, and the administering of the oath in front of the City
Hall, — this day fifty years ago, — were given in a voice and man-
ner eloquent and animated, but tremulous and feeble. The orator
occupied a little more than two hours in reading it, and skipped
over many leaves. I am much mistaken if, when it comes to be
1839.]" THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 357
read, it does not prove to be one of the most able political papers
known in this country. Broad, old-fashioned, federal doctrine,
strongly laid down and stoutly supported, and proven to have been
that on which alone the Government could be successfully formed
and happily maintained.
The ceremonies in the church were concluded by a truly apos-
tolic benediction from the Rev. Dr. Wainvvright, delivered with all
that fervour and devotional solemnity which characterizes my rever-
end and estimable friend.
Then came the tug-of-war. At five o'clock the sub-
The Dinner, scribcrs to the diuucr and the invited guests began to
assemble at the City Hotel, and a few minutes before
six the company were seated at the table. I had been dragged
into this affair somewhat unwillingly, for I doubted if there was
patriotic feeling enough in this busy, money-seeking, interested
community to get up and carry through a thing of this sort, upon
abstract principles of patriotism, without political excitement or
present popular impulse. There was no danger about the cere-
monies of the church. Admission cost nothing, and there would
be naturally more or less curiosity to hear a gentleman whose
talents all acknowledged, and whose public career has been marked,
of late, with considerable eccentricity. There was no ground for
apprehension on that subject. But the dinner — the dinner — there
was the rub ; and after inviting some twenty distinguished guests, to
have failed there and presented a beggarly account of empty seats
would have been mortifying indeed. Impressed with these feel-
ings I worked tolerably hard, toward the last, to avert the conse-
quence I apprehended ; but my mind was never at ease until the
hour of assembling, when I found that all was right. There was an
assemblage of first-rate men, large as the saloon of the City Hotel
could conveniently accommodate. There were three tables down
the length of the room, each containing sixty-two places, all filled,
besides the cross- table at the top, at which were seated the guests
to the number of about eighteen. Mr. Stuyvesant, the president,
358 THE DIARY OF rHILIP HONE. [^tat. 59.
presided. I was the first vice-president, and Judge Betts and
Charles King the others.
The guests consisted of Mr. Adams; Mr. Southard, United States
senator from New Jersey ; Governor Pennington, of Massachusetts ;
Rev. Mr. Day, of Connecticut ; the delegate of the Historical
Society of Maine ; Judge Thompson, Supreme Court ; General
Scott ; Commodore Claxton, commanding the frigate "Constitution,"
now in port ; Gen. Morgan Lewis ; Col. John Trumbull ; Rev. Dr.
Wainwright, of the Episcopal Church ; Rev. Dr. DeWitt and Dr.
Knox, of the Dutch Reformed Church ; Mr. Grenville Mellen ;
Count Roenne, Prussian charge d'affaires; President Duer, of
C^olumbia College ; besides which there were present, as subscribers,
all the city judges, many eminent lawyers, and distinguished lit-
erary men. A strong choir, consisting of Mr. Charles E. Horn, his
son, Mr. Sinclair, and Mr. Kyle, sang fine old glees, and occa-
sionally a solo ; and performed Non tiobis^ Domine^ with great
solemnity, immediately after Dr. Wainwright's eloquent benedic-
tion. An ode was also recited by Mr. Mellen, which was written
by him for the occasion. The hall was decorated by Stuart's fine
portraits of the first five presidents, the property of Col. George
Gibbs, and in front of the orchestra was suspended Pyne's original
portrait of A\'ashington, belonging to Mr. Brevoort. A transparent
painting was placed behind the president's chair, representing the
old Federal Hall, formerly at the head of Broad street, with the
ceremony of the inauguration as it was then performed. This was
covered with a curtain, and was exposed to view when, in the
course of the proceedings, the first allusion was made to it.
Mr. Adams replied to the third toast in a touching and eloquent
speech. Commodore Claxton acknowledged the compliment to
the Navy. Governor Pennington, Mr. Southard, Judge Davis, and
several other gentlemen addressed the company. The address of
Mr. Southard was particularly fine; its subject, the "Judiciary," to
which important branch of the government the orator paid a
deserved tribute of homage.
1839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 359
After the regular toasts the president called upon me for a
volunteer. I made a speech in allusion to the great events which
occurred on the day we were celebrating within the gallery of
the old Federal Hall, the view of which was directly in front of
me, and read some extracts from an account of the proceedings,
and from the speech which was then pronounced by Washington, all
of which I had previously obtained from the " New York Gazette "
of May I, 1789. I also took occasion to pass a compliment upon
the veteran Governor Lewis, now present, who then, as Colonel
Lewis, commanded the troops who escorted the President from
his lodgings to the hall. I concluded my speech by the following
toast, which was well received : " The old Federal Hall : it wit-
nessed the greatest contract ever made in Wall street. It is our
precious inheritance ; let us ever remember that we, also, have a
covenant to perform." Thus ended brilliantly the day which I
had anticipated with painful misgivings.
May I . — May day is fine, pleasant weather, much to the com-
fort of jaded wives and fretting husbands. There is a great deal
of moving in the streets out of Broadway, in the upper part of the
city, but less, I think, than usual amongst the tenants of good
houses. But the pulling down of houses and stores in the lower
parts is awful. Brickbats, rafters and slates are showering down
in every direction. There is no safety on the sidewalks, and the
head must be saved at the expense of soiling the boots. In Wall
street, besides the great Exchange, which occupies with huge
blocks of granite a few acres of the highway of merchants, there is
the beautiful new Bank of the United States opposite, still obstruct-
ing the walk. Besides which, four banks — the City, Manhat-
tan, Merchants', and Union — are in progress of destruction ; it
looks like the ruins occasioned by an earthquake. The house on
the corner of Broadway is undergoing alteration, which usurps the
sidewalk. My poor, dear house, 235 Broadway, is coming down
forthwith, and in a few weeks the home of my happy days will be
incontinently swept from the earth. Farther up, at the comer of
360 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 59.
Chambers street, a row of low buildings has been removed to make
way for one of those mighty edifices called hotels, — eating, drink-
ing, and lodging above and gay shops below ; and so all the way
up ; the spirit of pulling down and building up is abroad. The
whole of New York is rebuilt about once in ten years.
May 3. — Dined with Mr. William H. Aspinwall, when I met
the army and the navy, embodied in Cxeneral Scott and Com-
mander Claxton, myself observing a sort of amphibious neutrality
between the two.
May 6. — I went on Saturday evening to a meeting
Kent Club. of the Kent Club, at David B. Ogden's.
These have been pleasant reunions throughout the
winter. The club consists of judges and lawyers, who meet and
sup at each others' houses on Saturday evenings in succession;
distinguished strangers are invited, and a few laymen, in which last
number it has been my good fortune to be frequently included. I
have not always been able to attend when invited, but when I have,
the conversation of these learned " luminaries of the law " has
greatly instructed and delighted me. The evening is usually
divided equally between wisdom and joviality. Until ten o'clock
they talk law and science and philosoi)hy, and then the scene
changes to the supper-table, where lilackstone gives place to Heid-
sick, reports of champagne bottles are preferred to law reports,
and the merits of oyster pafcs and cliarlotk-russe are alone
summed up.
^, ^, , A si^ilendid church edifice has been erected in
New Church ^
of the Broadway, opposite Waverly place, for the congrega-
^^"''^''- tion under the care of the Rev. Mr. Dewey, — Unita-
rians, who worshipped formerly in the church corner of Prince and
Mercer streets, which was burnt down. The new church was
dedicated on Thursday last, and there was service in it yesterday
morning and evening. The congregation is very large, which, with
a large number of persons of other denominations, attracted by
the popularity of the pre:u:her and the beauty of the edifice, occa-
1839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 36 1
sioned a crowd sufficient to fill the church and all the approaches
to it. The building is of stone, with a noble square tower, which is
conspicuous the whole length of Broadway. The interior is very
fine, and the arrangement of the pews, the pulpit, and the choir
novel and commodious. The walls are painted in fresco, giving a
solemn religious aspect to this splendid temple, equalled by no
other in the city. But, in fact, the architecture of the upper part
of the city, both in private and public buildings, is so greatly im-
proved, that the two extremes present an appearance as dissimilar
as that of the old and the new towns of Edinburgh.
May 14. — During my absence Governor Seward
Sc\v7^d.^ has been in town for two days, Thursday and Fri-
day. He came to attend the anniversary meeting of
the American Bible Society, where he made a speech. He did me
the honour to call upon me. Blatchford says that, in speaking of
me, he said I was one of the few men in New York to whom he
was desirous to make the first visit. I was invited to meet him at
dinner on Thursday, at Mr. Amory's. Neither the sport on Long
Island nor the pleasure of my recent excursion was sufficient to
compensate me for the loss I sustained in not meeting my good
friend, the excellent Whig governor.
May 15. — Loco-focoism triumphed yesterday in
ew ommon ^^^^ result of their late unrio;hteous success. The new
Council. '^
mayor, Isaac L. Varian, was sworn into office by his
" illustrious predecessor," Aaron Clark, who appears to have per-
formed the ceremony with an exceeding good grace. Whether
the new functionary w^ill " follow in his footsteps " is exceedingly
doubtful. This, however, is not so bad, except so far as it indi-
cates the downfall of good principles in the city government
generally, for I think Mr. Varian the best man of his party. He
is an illiterate man, but honest and of a strong mind, and will
discharge his duties well, if his party will let him. But he will
be ashamed sometimes of the shoulders upon which he has
ridden into office, and the disorderly proceedings of the mob in
362 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^.tat. 59.
the common-council chamber, on the occasion of his inaugura-
tion, must have given him an unpleasant foretaste of the charac-
ters of his supporters. It was a shameful exhibition of riot and
blackguardism. They rushed into the area of the chamber,
usurped the places of the members, interrupted the proceedings,
knocked down the officers, and even in the sacred presence of
"old Hays" himself didn't ''care a damn for Uncle Barnacle."
The work of destruction and the distribution of the spoils is
not ready, but the knife will be sharpened, and the rewards of
faithful electioneering services prepared against the next meeting.
May 20. — The Church of the Messiah is all the
The C'hurcli of -. , . ^m i i • i i • r^ i
the Messiih l^shiou. 1 hc crowds which attend it on Sunday
morning make our neighbourhood exceedingly gay.
The ladies, in particular, pass by in great numbers, attracted by a
handsome new church, and doctrines somewhat out of the regular
track of Orthodoxy. Dr. Channing, the great apostle of Unitari-
anism, preached in the morning. I promised my friend Grinnell,
last evening at Hall's, to go and hear him ; but the church was
filled at an early hour, to the exclusion of thousands. I went,
however, to the evening service, and heard the regular pastor of
the congregation. Dr. Dewey, who preaches very pretty moral
sermons.
May 30. — One hundred and sixty-one lots, being
Sale of Lots, part of Henry Eckford's property on Seventh and
Eighth avenues, and 2 2d, 23d, and 24th streets,
were sold to-day at auction, at very high prices. The sale
amounted to $224,045, being an average of more than $1,500
a lot, and a large part of the property remains unsold.
Among the maritime exploits with which these
Iron steamer, advciiturous timcs abouud, the arrival, on Wednesday
last, of a little steam schooner, called the " Robert L.
Stockton," from England, is one of the most remarkable. She
sailed from Gravesend on the 13th of Ai)ril. She is only ten
feet wide and seventy feet long, and her burthen is thirty tons.
1839-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 363
She is built entirely of wrought sheet-iron, and intended as a
towing vessel on the New Jersey canal. The commander is Cap-
tain Crane. She performed her voyage in forty-six days, with no
serious disaster except the loss of one seaman, who was washed
off this little cockle-shell by one of the seas which were con-
stantly sweeping her decks. Never, I presume, was the western
ocean crossed in so small a craft. There was not room enough
to lie straight nor to stand erect. This little vessel lies near the
Battery, and is visited by hundreds of curious persons, anxious to
realize the possible truth of the nursery story about the " three
men of Gotham" who " went to sea in a bowl."
^ . , ^ Tune i . — This most fortunate of all steamers ar-
Arrival ot -'
the " Great rivcd here last night. She sailed from Bristol on her
Western. rcgular day, the i8th of May, making her passage in
thirteen days, — the shortest western passage ever yet accomplished.
Captain Hoskin, whom I saw in Wall street this morning, says
their voyage was delightful. One of our North-river steamboats
could have made it in the same time, and as pleasantly.
This seems to be incredible. I turn back a few leaves of this
journal, and find there, that on the 2 2d day of April, just thirty- nine
days ago, we accompanied the " Great Western " to sea. Four
days previously Mr. Pontois dined with us, and this morning I
shake hands with the captain, and have the account of the minis-
ter's arrival. On my way to market this morning I met Wallack.
It is exactly six weeks since I saw him act at his farewell benefit,
since which he has been to England, engaged performers, made
all his arrangements for a theatrical campaign at the National
Theatre, spent several days with his family, and here he is again,
kissing the ends of his fingers to me in Broadway before nine
o'clock. I knew he was a passenger on board the " Great
Western," recognized him through the disguise of a new pair of
moustaches, but in the realization of the whole thing I was in-
clined to doubt the evidence of my senses. The steamer is full
of passengers, — about one hundred and ten, — and in the number
364 THE DIARY OF nilLlP HONE. [/Etat. 59.
are several of our friends and acquaintances : Mr. and Mrs. E. H.
Pendleton, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Cruger, Mr. Thorn and his son
Herman, John Van Buren, and George Parish.
June 6. — The following gentlemen dined with us: Mr. Rob-
ert Gilmor, Jonathan Meredith, Herman Thorn, Robert Ray,
Henry Brevoort, and William H. Aspinwall.
June 18. — I went out yesterday with my wife and daughter to
dine with my old friends, the Lydigs, at West Farms, and had truly
a delightful day. The beautiful grounds on the Bronx river are
in fine order ; such a profusion of roses and other flowers I have
scarcely ever seen. We had an excellent dinner : Lydig's fine old
wine and abundance of delicious strawberries, with a welcome
hearty as the one, and unstinted as the other. Mr. and Mrs.
Suydam, with some of their family, were of the party. I-ydig and
Suydam are both in indifferent health, and the latter dreadfully
hipped, and prone to water-drinking. But our gossipings about old
times, the good cheer and lovely scenery, set the old gentlemen on
their legs for the time being, and both, I am j^ersuaded, went to
bed better than they have been for a twelvemonth. So much for the
innocent enjoyments which this world, bad as we think it, affords.
June 24. — The state of the markets in Europe for
the two great products of the South and West, as re-
ported by the arrival of the '' Great Western," has pro-
duced a state of things in our commercial world of Wall street and
elsewhere, disastrous and gloomy almost as that of the great crisis
three years ago. Plour has fallen three dollars a barrel, and cotton
has become a drug in the hands of the holders. The quantity on
hand of both these great articles is unusually large, owing to the
rapacity of the producers and the speculators, who, not satisfied
with regular business and moderate profits, must try to get rich in
a single year. Now many of the millers and cotton-planters are
mined, and their factors here have suffered severely. The natural
consequence of all this is a recurrence of dreadfully hard times.
The jobber cannot collect his debts nor sell his goods ; the capital-
i839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 365
ist gripes his money with the hand of death ; confidence is again at
an end. Stocks are low, and ordinary beef is selling from eighteen
to twenty-one cents per pound.
June 30. — Feeling a little in want of exercise, I crossed the
Christopher-street ferry to Hoboken, this afternoon, walked on the
beautiful bank to the Elysiaii Fields, and found a shady spot to
smoke a cigar and read " Childe Harold."
July 3. — Mr. Van Buren, agreeably to previous ar-
rriva o raugement, arrived in New York on Tuesday. The party
the President. o / j v j
have made the most they could of this event. There was
a great military parade. His arrival was anticipated by commit-
tees who met him on the way. The Loco-foco corporation, united
to the faithful of Tammany Hall, received him at Castle Garden.
Mr. Edmonds, formerly of the Senate, an office-holder under the
government, addressed him j and his reply, confirming all the prin-
ciples of the abominable sub-treasury project, was received with
shouts by his partisans. The military parade was very imposing ;
but, besides that, it does not appear that there was much to gratify
his feelings, if he estimates at their true value the unbought atten-
tions of gentlemen and honest men.
July 9. — I called yesterday morning and paid my respects to
the President, at his quarters in Washington Hall. He left this
morning to visit Mr. Hunter at Westchester, Washington Irving and
Governor Kemble on the North river, and after these and other visits
to his friends, and an affectionate recognition of Kinderhook, the
town that claims the honour of being his birthplace, he intends to
pass a few weeks at Saratoga, where the faithful will, no doubt, be
summoned to meet and render homage to him. During the Presi-
dent's stay in New York he has visited most of the public places
in the constant custody of a set of men who are not (unless he has
greatly changed) the sort of folks he would have chosen for his
associates ; but party politics, like poverty, bring men " acquainted
with strange bedfellows." Moxie told me that he saw him the
other evening at the Bowery Theatre, with Mr. and Mrs. Ming, a
366 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 59.
fellow called Riall, and a young lawyer who had been discharged
from the office of Davis for dishonesty. The old Republicans either
choose to stand aloof, or are not allowed by the Loco-foco rabble,
who have gotten possession of his person, to approach too near,
lest they might do something to lessen their own influence. As
President of the United States he was entitled to, and would have
received, the attentions of men of all parties ; but as he has avowed
that his visit was intended for his own political friends, and has
consigned himself to the care of the worst part of that clique, it is
well to let them retain possession of him. " As he has baked, so
let him brew."
July 10. — My wife, my daughter, and I passed a delightful day
at Gardiner G. Rowland's, at Flushing. Rowland's noble farm is
in superb order. The teeming earth groans under the weight of
the golden harvest, and the whole face of Nature smiles with the
prospect of abundance which she is about dispensing tj mankind.
Oh, if the farmer would be satisfied with his crops, the merchant
with regular gains, the fruit of moderate enterprise, and the profes-
sional man with the exercise of his legitimate talents, and all of
them keep clear of extravagant speculation, how much more happy
and independent we should be !
July 16. — We are here located (as we Yankees
s^rL"s* ^^.VQ it) at the United States Hotel, and no watering-
place in this or any other country can boast of a pleas-
anter establishment, or one better conducted. We have a suite of
two parlours and four bedrooms, in the delightful south wing. Sev-
eral additional buildings have been erected since the last season,
and the ground laid out in a well-mowed and well-rolled lawn, and
clean gravel walks. A large club-house and two cottages, in an ex-
ceedingly pretty style of architecture, add to the beauty of the
grounds and the comfort of the visitors. On the whole, there has
never been accommodation so good at Saratoga.
The house is nearly full, but as yet not many of my intimate
acquaintances have made their appearance. My excellent friend,.
1839.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 367
Mr. Bradish, the lieutenant-governor, left Saratoga this morning
much to my regret. Governor Seward will, however, be here in a
few days, and Mr. Clay is expected on his return from Quebec.
With such auxiliaries the Whigs will hold up their heads " sky
high, sky high, Mr. Speaker." The President was expected at the
United States ; but it is said that he will go, on his arrival, to the
Pavilion. We are not Loco-foco enough for him, or perhaps not
genteel enough ; for it has been proved lately that he mingles with
none but choice spirits, and holds communion only with Riall gen-
tlemen. Apropos of puns : approaching a little knot in the drawing-
room this evening, I overheard Mr. Mead saying, " If a man had
five hundred wives, so and so." "What do you think," said St.
Clair Clarke, " of a man with five hundred wives, Mr. Hone ? "
"Why, I think," I replied, " he must be a hajrm-scarem fellow."
July 17. — -The papers give a gloomy account of commercial
aifairs in New York, which is confirmed by the reports of our New
York visitors. Business is dull, stocks low, and money scarce.
All are looking with anxiety for the arrival of the great new
steamer, the " British Queen," while none expect favourable news
by her. As a set-off against all these evil influences, the accounts
of the crops in every part of the country are extremely cheering ;
people from all parts of the Union are here, and all agree that the
prospects of great crops have in no former season been exceeded.
The State of Michigan, which, two or three years ago, bought all the
flour she used, will have this year a surplus for sale of a million and
a half bushels of wheat. I do not know what political economists
may say to this, but it does appear to me that good must come
of it.
July 19. — A ball this evening, but I do not think it was as
pleasant as the hop on Wednesday evening. I officiated as mana-
ger, with Colonel McAllister, Messrs. Wilson, Stockton, Tevis, etc.
The balls are understood to require more dressing, and a greater
degree of etiquette prevails, so that the young ladies do not engage
in them with so great avidity as in the hops ; but, on the other
368 THE DIARY OF I'lIlLlP HONE. [/Etat. 59.
hand, there are champagne, and ice-cream, and blancmange, whose
agreeable presence is confined to the most dignified of these
amusements.
An extract from a St. Louis newspaper states that
Buffaloes. the huutcrs had come in with twenty-four thousand
buffalo-robes and a quantity of beaver, worth altogether
$100,000. Twenty- four thousand buffaloes ! what a sublime idea
for any man who has ever seen a buffalo or a drawing of one,
or heard him described ; only imagine a drove of twenty-four
thousand oxen — but the imagination cannot keep pace with the
magnificent scale on which the works of nature are represented in
the regions of the great West. I suppose that immense number
of huge living animals would look on the prairies like a flock of
sheep on Hempstead Plains.
July 23. — The " Great Western " arrived at New York yester-
day, having sailed from Bristol on the 6th. The movements of
this fine vessel have gotten to be as regular as the rising and setting
of the sun, or the flux and reflux of the tide. She brings intelli-
gence quite as bad f )r the commercial world as was anticipated.
Cotton has fallen, American stocks a drug, and the rate of bank
interest five and a half per cent., and about to be raised to six.
The United States of America, by the grace of Ood, free and inde-
pendent as they vaunt themselves, have, by a course of extravagant
speculations, aided by bad management of the government, and the
indulgence of personal spite of " the Greatest and Best," brought
themselves into a state of thraldom to their old masters nearly as
great as that which existed previous to the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. All we undertake to do is predicated on the chance of
borrowing money from John Bull. We try to borrow so much, that
the credit even of the State stocks is impaired. Cotton, the only
thing we have to pay with, is placed at the mercy of the creditors,
and the Bank of England becomes the arbiter of the fate of the
American merchant. All this comes from the rage for speculation
here ; the desire to grow rich in a short time, which incites the
1S39.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 369
growers of cotton and flour, instead of selling at a fair price the
bounties of God's providence, to hoard them up. By and by
comes " a frost, a killing frost," and then the planter loses the
product of many years of regular cultivation, his factor is ruined
by liberal advances, and every department of business suffers from
the shock.
July 24. — Every house is well filled. It is com-
Saratoga. puted that there are two thousand visitors at the place
at the present time. At Congress Hall and this house
there are many distinguished men and fine women ; antiquated
belles of a by-gone generation, enjoying with gayety and cheerful-
ness the scenes of their former triumphs ; fine married women and
lovely girls, the ornaments of the present and the hopes of the
future ; and men uniting as in one brilliant focus the talent, intelli-
gence, and civic virtues of the various parts of the country.
July 29. — The long-expected steam-packet, the
.ri lb ^^ British Queen," arrived in New York, on her first
Qj.jeen.'* ^7 7
voyage from Portsmouth, yesterday morning. One of
her passengers came here this morning in the first train of cars.
This is certainly doing business in great style. This gentleman left
England only three days before we left home for this place, and
what have I done in that time ? Events now pass like the shadows
of a magic lantern. The "British Queen " sailed on the 12th.
She is commanded by Captain Roberts, formerly of the " Sirius,"
the Columbus of steam, who first of British steam-men reached our
shores. She is the largest steamer ever built, being of the follow-
ing dimensions: Length from figure-head to taffrail, 275 feet;
length of upper deck, 245 feet ; breadth within the paddle-boxes,
40 feet 7 inches ; breadth including the boxes, 64 feet ; her engine
is of 500-horse power; burthen, 2,016 tons. The "British
Queen" arrived in New York on the 28th. Her log is published.
She had head-winds all the way. Her greatest distance in one day
was two hundred and forty miles ; the least, one hundred and thirty
miles.
370 THE DIARV OF rillLll' II(3NE. [/Etat. 59.
July 30. — Webb, of the "Courier ami En-
Mr. Webster, quirer," came passenger in the " British Queen." He
went out in the " Great Western " on the 13th of June,
and has been absent only forty-five days. Colonel Webb says that
Mr. Webster is the greatest lion they have had in England, with
the exception of Marshal Soult, since the visit of the allied sover-
eigns. He has not breakfasted or dined at his lodgings since his
arrival in London. A great public dinner is preparing for him in
I>iverpool, as the friend of commerce throughout the world. At
this banquet, which is to be attended by great numbers of the
nobility and gentry, it was expected that " the defender of the
Constitution " would come out with his heaviest guns.
July 31. — My daughter and I visited Her Majesty
this afternoon, where she is lying in state at the foot of
Queen," ' ^ ^
Clinton street ; but God forbid that either she or her
royal godmother should be defunct ; far from it, for such a scene of
life, bustle, and animation in and about her is not often witnessed.
This is only the third working day since her arrival, and she is
preparing and will sail to-morrow in company with the " Great
Western," which lies quietly alongside of her. It will be a trial of
speed, and prodigious interest is excited in the result. The friends
of both are sanguine of success, and the death-like dulness of Wall
street is somewhat relieved by the betting on the race.
We were admitted on board, although the wharf was filled with
persons who were excluded, and we saw every part of this levia-
than of steam. Her cabin is superbly fitted uj), and the staterooms
adjoining it are convenient and pleasant as possible ; but the sleep-
ing apartments below are dark and confined, and I doubt whether
the whole amount of good sleeping accommodations is equal to
that of the " Great Western." The scene on deck was a " perfect
show : " discharging m one place and receiving and stowing cargo
in another ; boxes and barrels of stores ; cart-loads of fresh meat ;
great lumps of ice, and George Haws, with his pleasant, red face,
reeking with perspiration, employed in stowing it away ; mountains
1839J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 37 1
of coal sinking into the crater of the lower hold ; live cows and
poultry wondering what part of the pandemonium is intended for
them ; sentinels employed in the unthankful office of keeping back
disappointed visitors ; and officers more agreeably engaged in
doing the genteel thing by our more favoured selves.
When the committee of glorification were making
° ^^j arrangements to receive the President as the chief of
their party, a note was addressed to Governor Seward at
Albany, to come to New York and join the procession. This he
declined in a letter, which the Loco-focos stigmatized as insulting
and disrespectful, but which they refused to publish, although
urged by the Whigs to do so. Their taunts all proving unavailing,
the Young Men's General Committee applied formally to the Gov-
ernor for a copy of the correspondence, which he furnished, and
which is now published. The letter is long, and my time is insuffi-
cient to copy it, as I would wish ; but it is admirable. The Whigs
have reason to be proud of their man. I never read anything
more "germane to the matter." Soft as silk, but cutting as a
razor ; manly in sentiment, but courteous in manner, — it is no
wonder they refused to let it see the light. I am proud of the
noble little Whig governor, and feel honoured in being allowed
to call him friend.
August i. — The " Great Western " and the " Brit-
Sailing- of the ■ y^ r\ n ^ 1. ^.i • • 11 ^i
ish Queen went to sea this mornmg, as well as the
Steamships. ^ *='■'
packets for London, Liverpool, and Havre, all filled
with passengers. The crowds which lined the wharves and the
Battery were greater than on any former similar occasion. I went
to Castle Garden to see the two noble steamships ; but as I could
not see through my countrymen, and more particularly country-
women, I had an imperfect view. The " Great Western "
preceded the " British Queen " about an hour. The weather was
very fine, and the water as well as the shores presented a lively and
animated scene. Giving the " Queen " sixteen days' passage, she
will have made her voyage out and home to Portsmouth in thirty-
372 THE DIARY OF PIllLll' liONE. [.i:tat.59.
six days, bringing out nearly two hundred passengers and returning
with one hundred, discharging one cargo and taking on board
another. Go ahead ! is the impulse which now governs the
world.
August 2. — The times are worse than ever. Wall street is in
a state of consternation ; money uncome-at-able and confidence at
an end. A national bank is the only remedy (if, indeed, things
have not gone too far). That, with a change of the administration,
are the only straws we have to catch at. Let us try them, unless
the people are determined to complete the ruin which hangs over
them. If they are, so be it !
Saratoga. — In the number of arrivals during my
The President, abscucc is the President of the United States, and Mr.
Secretary Forsyth, with Mr. Edward ?. Livingston and
a few others of the faithful. The President was met some distance
from the village by a cavalcade, and followed to his quarters in the
United States Hotel by a motley group. The Whigs say it was a
slim concern, and the Locos say otherwise. But here he is, con-
ducting himself with his usual politeness, and making the best of
everything, as he is wont to do. I called upon him yesterday,
immediately after my arrival, and was most graciously received.
He hoped I would pass an occasional spare half-hour in his
apartment. He has been civil to my wife, and sends his bottle to
her and me to drink with him at dinner. I have studied to treat
him with all the respect due to his high station, and the regard I
feel for an old friend, and I acknowledge the kindness with which
my advances have been received. This conduct has been pursued
by most of the gentlemen, political opponents as well as political
adherents; but there has been one exception, on the part of a-
lady, which, in my judgment, was equally at variance with good
taste and proper feeling.
August 6. — The President takes the head of one of the tables,
and the modest Mr. Bennett, of the " Herald," the other. The
President cannot help this, to be sure, and the juxtaposition is
1839J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 373
somewhat awkward. Bennett will make a great thing of this with
those who are not aware that any person may take this seat who
has impudence enough, and that it would require a pretty smart
rifle to carry a ball from one end of the table to another. I wish
the President would leave his seat, and give the " Herald " man
all the honours of the table.
August 7. — The village is alive with preparations
Mr. Clay. for Mr. Clay's reception. I received a letter from
him, dated Montreal, 4th inst., and another by a
messenger who was sent hence to confer with him, dated on his
voyage to Burlington, 6th inst. He is to lodge at Lake George
to-morrow night, and will come to Saratoga on Friday afternoon,
where apartments are provided for him at the United States Hotel.
A programme of his reception is published, signed by a committee
of more than one hundred Whigs. We wished to repress this
public demonstration, but it could not be. The movement is
spontaneous, and the people seem to be determined to out-glorify
the other party.
The Whig visitors at Congress Hall have been in a ferment
about the impropriety of bringing Mr. Clay in contact with his
great rival at the United States Hotel. Conferences have been
had and disputes held on the subject ; but the difficulty is removed
by the President's determination to leave Saratoga on Friday. He
is to dine with the young Loco-focos at Ballston, and go to Troy, to
be received there by his friends on the same evening, and will not
return until the first of next week. This may be accidental ; but it
is a happy coincidence for us, and I am mistaken if we do not
model something handsome out of this Clay.
August 9. — The day was ushered in by clouds and
Arriva^^ ^ ^^^^' thundci and lightning ; but all passed away, and
the glorious sun shone out by eight o'clock and dis-
persed the vapours from the natural, as we trust the man who comes
among us will those from the political, horizon.
Secretary Forsyth took away his discontented countenance last
374 THE DTARV OF rilTLTr HONE. [^tat.59.
evening, and Secretary Poinsett went this morning to Cattaraugus
on business relating to the Indian Treaty. The President also
went back to ]]allston, and thence to Troy.
Arrangements having been made for a number of the visitors to
meet Mr. Clay on his approach to Saratoga, a large number, on
horseback and in carriages, left the village at eleven o'clock, and
went to P^merson's Tavern, nine miles on the Glenn's Falls road.
In less than half an hour he arrived, accompanied by committees
from Caldwell and Clenn's Falls ; and after our salutations we sat
down to a collation, prepared under direction of Colonel Westcott,
and served up in rather homely, but hearty style. Provisions had
been sent out in the morning from Saratoga, and champagne was
taken by the gentlemen. The company, which consisted of seventy
or eighty, comprised many bright spirits and distinguished men. I
had the honour of presiding at the feast, and it is certain that we
made the most of the time allowed us.
At three o'clock we left Emerson's, and came to a place two
miles in advance of the Springs, where the carriages, wagons,
horsemen, and pedestrians who were to form the procession were
collected to receive us. Mr. Clay was placed m a new barouche,
drawn by Gerald Coster's four gray horses ; the other seats occu-
pied by Judge Walton and two other gentlemen of the Saratoga
committee on arrangements. The line of march was then taken
up, preceded by Frank Johnson's band of music ; and such a cav-
alcade was never seen before in the county of Saratoga. It formed
a compact line a mile and a half long. I rode in a barouche with
Dr. Duncan, of Mississippi, Mr. Green, of Louisiana, and Reverdy
Johnson, of Baltimore. Our approach was announced by the dis-
charge of artillery from the hills, and the line of march preserved
until we came to the United States Hotel, where quarters were pre-
pared for " the man whom the people delight to honour." Here
the avenues to the hotel were blocked up with the expecting
crowds, who made the village ring with shouts of welcome. The
large piazza in front of the hotel was filled with ladies, for whose
i839.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 375
exclusive use it had been reserved. It had been arranged that the
address should be made, and the reply received, from the steps of
the hotel ; but this was rendered impracticable by the crowd, and
the horses were taken out and the barouche dragged around in
front. Here Mr. Clay was addressed by Mr. John W. Taylor, for-
merly Speaker of the House of Representatives, and replied in a
speech to the assembled multitude of more than an hour ; too
long, I thought, for the occasion, and entering too much into polit-
ical detail ; but I suppose it was unavoidable. The towns-people
had the regulation of this part of the ceremony, and they were not
disposed to let the opportunity be lost to the people of hearing an
account of the misdeeds of their rulers from the lips of the oracle of
the day. After the address Mr. Clay was conducted, amidst the shouts
of the men and the waving of the women's handkerchiefs, to his
apartments, fatigued with travel and exhausted with excitement.
But the affair did not end here ; the great dining-room of the
United States Hotel had been fitted up during the day with bou-
quets of flowers and festoons of evergreens, and in the evening the
most splendid ball was given that was ever witnessed here; eight
hundred persons were present, comprising a greater number of
distinguished men and fine women than have probably ever been
collected in this country.
I was the senior manager, and by previous arrangement, after
the first set of cotillons, Mr. Clay and his son were led into the
room by me and Mr. Meredith, the band playing " Hail Columbia,"
and the company opening to the right and left to afford us a pas-
sage to the upper end of the room. It has been a day of prodigious
excitement, and everything went ofT well.
AuGUSi 10. — The New York papers contain everyday an ac-
count of increased commercial distress, affording a striking contrast
to the gayety and extravagance of this place. More money has
been spent here than in any former season, some of which, I have
no doubt, belongs more justly to the pockets of creditors at home
than of the hotel-keepers here.
376 THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. [.-Etat. 59.
August 12. — This is the meridian of the Saratoga season. All
the world is here : politicians and dandies ; cabinet ministers and
ministers of the gospel ; office-holders and office-seekers ; hum-
buggers and humbugged ; fortune-hunters and hunters of wood-
cock j anxious mothers and lovely daughters ; the ruddy cheek
mantling with saucy health, and the flickering lamp almost extin-
guished beneath the rude breath of dissipation. In a few days this
brilliant com])any will be scattered over the face of the land, and
who can tell for how many of them this will be the last season ?
A little circle was formed this evening in the grand saloon, which
occasioned much curious speculation. It consisted of the three
prominent candidates for the next presidency : Mr. Van Buren,
who returned this morning ; Mr. Clay ; and the gallant General
Scott, whose star is rising fast. Each had fair ladies receiving their
attentions, and man}' good-natured jokes were passed between them.
New York, Aug. 21. — Our dinner to-day was interrupted by the
great procession for the reception of Mr. Clay, which passed the house
a little before five o'clock. Mr. Clay came down from Newburgh in
the steamboat "James Madison," and by previous arrangement of
the Whig committee was landed at the foot of Hammond street,
whence he was escorted to Union place, and thence down Broad-
way to the Astor House, by the greatest cavalcade I ever witnessed
on such an occasion. All Broadway was filled with spectators ;
from the windows handkerchiefs were waved, and shouts ascended
from the crowds collected at the corners. ^YQ all left the dinner-
table and went to the balcon}- in front of the house, whence we
had a fine view. A\'e received the salutations of Mr. Clay in
passing, and I was further honoured by a salute from the band. In
the barouche with Mr. Clay sat General Lynch, Dudley Selden, and
General Van Courtlandt. On the arrival of the procession at the
Park, and before Mr. Clay was taken to his lodgings, he was carried
to the front of the City Hall, where he was addressed by Mr. Selden,
and re2:)lied in a good speech of less than half an hour. In the
evening he went to the Bowery Theatre, where he was received with
1839.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. ^'J'J
new honour from other thousands. I went down after dinner with
Gihnore and Meredith to the Astor House, which was filled like 2
market-place with people waiting for the return of the honoured
guest from the theatre.
Viewing this afiliir as a spontaneous expression of public opinion,
accomplished with no expense and very little preparation, and un-
accompanied by military parade, it exceeded anything of the kind
we have ever witnessed, excepting the reception of Lafayette. It
would seem to indicate that the patriotic senator must be the
favourite candidate for the presidency of the Whigs hereabouts ; and
I have no doubt that he is, and would stand a good chance of suc-
cess, and the country be thereby saved from the further progress
of ruin, were we not the most untractable, unreliable party which
ever stood up against corruption and bad government.
August 24. — Mr. Clay received visitors on Thurs-
r. ays ^ .^^ ^j_^^ Governor's room, City Hall. After an in-
effectual attempt to see him there (for the room was
so crowded that not one in twenty who went could get admission)
I called upon him at the Astor House, where I saw and conversed
with him for a few minutes. The civilities of the New Yorkers
have nearly annihilated him. He is hoarse and fatigued ; but he
went, nevertheless, to the Park Theatre in the evening, where he was
received, as usual, with great applause.
August 26. — We are vagrants now on Sundays.
Church Poor old Trinity being nearly razed to the ground,
and a new church to be erecteei on the same spot,
which will require two or three years to complete, we shall be
compelled during that time to hire a pew in one of the up-town
churches, or quarter upon our friends.
When the committee of the vestry of Trinity Church began
with the edifice, it was intended to repair and remodel the interior
only, leaving the venerable exterior and the noble, dark-looking
spire in their original integrity ; but in the progress of the work
the buildinij was found to be in such a state of decav as to be
3/8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 59.
rendered irreparable, and the time-honoured temple of the Lord,
the parish church of New York, the nucleus of Episcopacy, was
doomed to destruction. I found, on my return to the city, a
shapeless heap of ruins on the spot where my imperfect devotions
have been performed for the last thirty -seven years. It occasions
melancholy reflections to see the dark mass of ruins still overlook-
ing the magnificent temples of mammon in Wall street, and to
think of the changes which have occurred there during the time
the venerable spire which is now removed has thrown its shadow
over the place '' where merchants most do congregate."
May I not also see in this dilapidation a type of my own decay
and speedily approaching removal ? AVHien I first went to Trinity
Church I was young, ardent and full of hopes, capable and indus-
trious, and I should now be ungrateful not to acknowledge that in
most cases my hopes were realized and my industry rewarded ;
but the storms within the last three years have beaten upon me,
the timbers are decayed, the spire no longer " like a tall bully lifts
its head," and the vestry has no funds to rebuild me.
August 31. — There has been great interest excited
Capture of a
Slaver. ^^^ scveral days past about a mysterious " low, black-
looking schooner," which was seen and spoken several
times off Long Island, filled with pirates, as was said. This " flying
Dutchman" was captured on Monday last, between Gardner's
Island and Montauk Point, by Captain Gedney, in the United
States surveying brig " Washington." She proves to be very much
as reported. The schooner " Amistead," a Spanish vessel. She
sailed from Havana bound to Guanaja, another port in Cuba,
with fifty-four slaves belonging to Jose Ruiz, a passenger on board,
who had bought them at Havana from a slaver just arrived from
the coast of Africa, and was conveying them to his plantation.
Pedro Montes, another passenger, had also four slaves. Four
days after leaving Havana, the blacks rose upon the crew, mur-
dered and threw overboard the captain and a mulatto cook, and
compelled Montes (who had formerly commanded a vessel) to take
1839J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 379
the helm and steer easterly for their own country, under threats
of being also murdered. This he did during the day, but at night
altered his course, and kept upon the American coast, until on
Monday last, whilst at anchor near Montauk, the blacks having
gone ashore for water and provisions, the schooner was descried by
the " Washington," boarded and taken possession of, the whites re-
leased from their dreadful state of bondage, and the slaves captured.
The vessel was taken into New London, and an examination held
on board by Judge Judson, of the United States District Court.
The schooner, with the remains of her cargo, which consisted of
dry goods and other articles calculated for the use of a plantation,
were taken possession of, and the slaves ordered for a trial at Hart-
ford, on the I 7th of September.
The ringleader in this revolt is a Congo negro, named Joseph
Cinques, about twenty-six years of age, a fine, intelligent fellow,
who would be exalted into a hero instead of a pirate and murderer
if his colour was right, and he had been taken under other circum-
stances.
I am afraid this affair will be attended with unpleasant conse-
quences at this time, when the minds of men in this country are
influenced by the question of abolition. These poor wretches were
stolen from their homes, carried to a strange country, and sold to
servitude, from which they sought to escape on the first occasion
which offered. They committed murder, it is true ; but their situa-
tion may have rendered it inevitable. They spared their owner,
which would seem to prove that human blood was not their object.
If these men are tried in Connecticut, and some condemned to
death, Joseph particularly will be justified by one party, and his
case will excite great sympathy. If, on the other hand, the revolt
should be considered only as a measure of self-preser\'ation, and
the culprits escape punishment, it will be considered by the slave-
holding fanatics as a new proof of the enmity of the abohtionist
fanatics ; so that either way it makes trouble. I wish they could all
be sent back to Havana, and perhaps it may take that course.
386 THE DIARY OF niiLir hone. [yf:tat.59.
Sefi'EMBer 7. — The following gentlemen dined with us; it was
a very pleasant party, as might be expected from such material :
Charles Kean, Lieutenant-Governor Bradish, Hon. Richard Bayard,
United States Senate, Hon. Edward Curtis, Hon. Ogden Hoffman,
J. Prescott Hall, R. M. Blatchford, Dr. H. McLean, G. H. Carter,
Dr. Arnoult, and Robert Greenhow.
Times are certainly hard. Money is scarce and pro-
imes yjc^jQj-^g dear. Goods won't sell, and customers don't
and Theatres.
pay. The banks won't discount ; stocks are down to
nothing, and real estate unavailable. And yet, with all this, the rage
for amusetnent is unabated. Indeed, men seem to reason that, as
they cannot last long, a dollar more or less will make very little dif-
ference either to themselves or their creditors, as the case may be.
But we are a great, overgrown city, full of strangers at this season,
who bring money to pay old debts, perhaps, and furnish credit for
new ones.
September 13. — I went last evening to the National Theatre,
and saw Charles Kean in " Lear." He is so hoarse from a cold
that it was difficult at times to hear him. He is his father all over
again in this part ; but I did not perceive many of those thrilling
passages which left an impression upon my mind never to be
effaced. This may be my fault, not his ; my sensibility is not so
acute as in the days of the elder Kean. The son looked Lear
admirably, — never was there a more perfect little old man.
Sefitimher 17. — The vestry of Trinity Church has adopted plans
for the new church, 'llie old one is removed, and Wall street has
an unobstructed view of the bright blue western sky, — the only
bright prospect left for the thousands who daily visit that street.
September 18. — My wife and I left home this morning on a
gossiping jaunt up the North river, to Samuel S. Howland's.
September 19. — The morning was delicious. After breakfast
we drove out to visit some of the neighbours. Mr. Howland's
house is only about two miles from Dobb's ferry, in the midst of
the pleasant neighbourhood around about Tarrytown. Our first
1839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 38 1
visit was to Mr. Sheldon's. He has just finished a lovely Gothic
cottage, which is furnished in excellent taste, ornamented the
grounds, and among other improvements converted a tumbling,
noisy brook into a series of cascades, and made a succession of
shady walks and rural seats, enough to turn the brain of a
romantic seeker after the beauties of nature.
We next visited Washington Irving, who lives with his sister
and nieces on the banks of the river. Our friend Geoffrey
Crayon's cottage appeared rather to a disadvantage after leaving
its tasteful and elegant neighbour a mile or two farther up. It is
a quaint, Dutch-looking cabin, with small rooms, inconvenient,
and only one story high ; but the admirers of the gentle Geoffrey
think, no doubt, that one story of his is worth more than half a
dozen of other people's.
Mr. James A. Hamilton next was honoured, when we found him
and his family (as in the other houses we had visited) very glad
to see us. His house is large and the rooms handsome, but no
part of the work appears very substantial. The view from the
front is splendid, and the want of trees is not so apparent as
when seen from the river.
We returned to dine at Howland's, and went by invitation to
drink tea at Mrs. Constant's. This is a noble place, formerly
owned by Mr. Edgar, about a mile below Dobb's ferry. The
fine old trees which line the roads and surround the house give
an air of magnificence to the spot.
October 3. — I was invited to dine yesterday at
inner a Nowlau's Tavcm, with the president and directors of
Harlem. ' ^
the Harlem Railroad Company, on the occasion of the
completion of a double track the whole distance from City Hall.
A company of about one hundred, including the Chancellor, the
Court of Errors, Judges and members of the Corporation, partook
of an excellent dinner, and there were toasts and speeches in
abundance, as usual. The best speeches were made by Ogden
Hoffman and Mr. Brooks of the " Express." My toast was " The
382 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 59.
locomotive — the only good motive for riding a man on a rail.''
The weather during the day and evening was delicious.
October 9. — Wall street, the commercial and polit-
arm in a .^^^j barometer, was grievously disturbed to-day. A
great crash has taken place, which, now that it has
happened, appears to have not been unexpected. The Bank of
the United States in Philadelphia has suspended specie payments,
and the other banks of that city will have to follow its example.
Those in Baltimore must pursue the same course, and the thousand
rotten banks of the South will be but too happy to follow suit.
Our banks carry a bold front and will not suspend, they say. In
order to place themselves in a situation to hold this lofty language,
they have been compelled for a long time past to squeeze the poor
merchants to death. They are placed under the ''nether mill-
stone," where struggling is in vain. I hope, for the honour of New
York, that all their sacrifices will not be in vain ; but it is hard to
stand alone against the shock of universal bankruptcy.
How that old Jackson will rejoice in his unsanctified re-
treat at Nashville, at this catastrophe ! It would have been worth
a play ticket to witness his triumph on the receipt of the news.
"I told you so ! " he must have said, as he dashed his pipe to the
ground with savage joy. "Where is Nick Biddle now? — down!
down ! where I have tried to get him for so long a time. Shout,
my liege subjects, for your master's victory ! Throw up your caps,
my faithful Loco-foco supporters, and renew the yell so grateful to
my ears : Hurrah for Jackson, and down with the merchants ! "
True, indeed, he did tell them so ; and we Whigs also told them so.
This and all the other miseries we are suffering are to be attributed
to the measures of hostility inflicted by this vindictive man upon
the Bank of the United States.
October 10. — The Senatorial Convention of the
Whisfs of this district was held this day at the Broad-
Convention. *-' •'
way House, at noon. The members proceeded to can-
vass informally and inconclusively for a nominee to the Senate.
1839.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 383
Observing my name to be high on the hst, I stated to my col-
leagues the difficulty of my position in being present during the
discussion which would naturally arise. I certainly did not desire
the nomination, and would support most heartily any other candi-
date who might be selected ; nor would I decline it. I was pre-
cluded from the latter course by implied pledges made to my
political friends last year as the condition of their consent to the
withdrawal of my name from the Assembly ticket, that I would
agree to serve them this year if they should continue of the same
mind. In order to be relieved from the awkwardness of my situa-
tion I requested and obtained leave to retire during the discussion.
After an hour's absence I was sent for and the balloting com-
menced. On the first ballot I had eight votes, Daniel Lord, Jr.,
seven, and Mr. Jay one (my vote). Finding my name still before
the convention, I declined voting again, and on the third or fourth
ballot I received eleven votes and Mr. Lord four. On this the
question was taken by ayes and nays, and I had every vote. So I
am in nomination as the Whig candidate for the Senate of the State
at the ensuing election. I hope it will come to good for the cause,
and that I may be elected now that I am up ; but, in truth, it would be
very inconvenient for me to pass my winters in Albany. My oppo-
nent in the convention, Mr. Lord, was supported by the lawyers,
who deem it important to have gentlemen of their profession in the
Court of Errors ; but everything that occurred was highly compli-
mentary to me, and it is no small gratification to have had as my
principal competitor such a man as Daniel Lord, Jr., who, besides
standing at the very top of the New York bar, is, in every respect,
one of the most estimable men in the city.
The fearful apprehensions of yesterday were realized. The banks
of Philadelphia have suspended specie payments. New York stands
yet — but how long ?
October 14. — My nomination for the Senate excites great in-
terest with all parties. It is somewhat amusing to read the com-
ments upon my character in the newspapers. The Whigs, of
384 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Ktat. 59.
course, express their approbaiion, some of them (the "Commercial
Advertiser" and "The Daily Whig") in terms of exaggerated
encomium, whilst the other party are not sparing abuse. The
" Herald " (Bennett's paper) says I am the most unpopular candi-
date that could have been put up. This must all go for as much as
it is worth. I shall preserve these precious documents, and some
of these days copy them here, to show hereafter the discrepancies
of party opinions on plain matters.
It annoys me a little to be told that some of the Loco-focos of
my own party (for we have such amongst us) are opposed to the
nomination. "I am a gentleman," they say, — very much obliged
to them ! — " and no gentleman can succeed." These are the men
that ruin a good cause. If they are right in what they say, the
party is not worth sustaining ; better would it be that everything
should go back to the dunghill of Democracy, and let us see if
something better may not spring from it. As a set-off against the
annoyance which their reports have given me, I have been gratified
by the visits of several influential Whigs in the upper wards, who
assure me that I shall run a better chance than any other person
could have done. I have strong doubts of the success of our
ticket ; but I should hate confoundedly to find that I had been an
injury to it.
October 17. — Three of my young female friends have em-
braced the willing chains of matrimony, besides Miss Julia Coster,
whose wedding I noticed yesterday. Miss Sarah Ogden made
Robert Goelet happy, and to-day Miss Mary Tallmadge, loveliest
among the lovely, weds Philip L. Van Rensselaer, son of the late
excellent Stephen Van Rensselaer. This last niarriage is celebrated
at General Tallmadge's country-seat in Dutchess County, and is,
I presume, a very satisfactory union to all parties concerned ;
pride of birth (all that we Republicans are allowed to have of
it) will be gratified. Great wealth comes in to make things
comfortable, and good character gives a reasonable chance for
future happiness.
1839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 385
October 22. — There is great excitement in relation to the
arrest of the two Spaniards, Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montez, the
owners of the revolted slaves who were taken on board the " Ami-
stead," and are now in prison in Connecticut. This outrageous
proceeding is the work of the abolitionists, who, in their officious
zeal, have obtained affidavits from the wretched Africans, who,
ignorant of our language, probably knew not what they were swear-
ing about. These affidavits, charging their owners with assault and
battery, were made the grounds of this arrest, and the Spaniards are
in prison. Writs of habeas corpus have been issued, and the
subject is now submitted to the judges, who, it is hoped, will see
reason to discharge the men who escaped so narrowly from the
conspiracy in which the lives of other white men were sacrificed.
The fanatics are working day and night to make this bad matter
worse ; under the specious cloak of an abstract opposition to
slavery, they are blowing up a flame which may destroy the Union,
and light up a civil war between men who have no interest so
strong as to belong to a brotherhood of patriots.
October 23. — jMy old friend, Benjamin L. Swan, marries his
daughter Mary, this evening, to Mr. Charles N. Fearing. My son
Robert is one of the groomsmen, and Miss Eliza Russell a brides-
maid.
October 26. — I am fairly in for it; every evening I am toted
somewhere to show myself to the voters, to make a speech and
solicit their ^^ sweet voices," not for myself, — oh no, by all
means ! — but for the cause of which I am the deputed representa-
tive and organ. This is a distinction which requires some address
to make, but the people seem satisfied with it. A committee
called upon me yesterday to invite me to a great Whig meeting, at
the Military Hall, Bowery. I went, was received with the most
enthusiastic greetings, made a tolerably good speech, which was
received with shouts and hurrahs, and on the whole made an
excellent hit.
October 31. — I went, by invitation of Mr. Grinnell, this morn-
386 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 59.
ing, and partook of a collation on board the splendid new ship
" Patrick Henry," intended for Grinnell and Minturn's line of
packets. She is the ne plus ultra, or will be until another ship of
her class shall be built.
November 4. — My vanity has been tickled again
MTetin ''"^ ^y ^ ^^^^ signed by a large number of merchants*
clerks, for a meeting to be held on Saturday evening,
at the Shakespeare Hotel, of " the young men of the city
of New York friendly to the election of Philip Hone to the
Senate." This meeting, so flattering to me, was held on Satur-
day, at the appointed place, and was (I am told) a great and
enthusiastic assemblage.
November 6. — The Sun of Austerlitz succeeded
Dedded ^^^^ morning the violent storm of last night. The
Whigs hailed it as a harbinger of victory, but the
canvass this evening of the senatorial votes shows that we have
suffered a Waterloo defeat. I am beaten by a majority of eighteen
hundred, and the Assembly ticket has no doubt fared equally badly.
This result is unexpected to me, and somewhat mortifying. I feel
a selfish joy in having escaped the excessive labour and the numer-
ous discomforts and deprivations which would have been the
consequences of my election to the Senate ; but I deplore deeply
the failure of so good a cause as ours, and this triumph of princi-
ples so broadly and openly avowed by the successful party, which,
in the sincerity of my heart, I conceive are calculated to destroy
the only hopes of a recovery from the deplorable state in which
the country is placed. Our hopes of the State have been sanguine,
and it may yet save the cause ; but they were equally so of the city.
I fear the worst. God's will ^be done. Party-spirit and personal
ambition and desire of power rule the country, and must rule ; and
their instruments are the worthless part of the population, which,
unhappily, is the most numerous.
November 9. — I had a dinner-party of Whigs, principally mem-
bers of the " Hone Club," invited " for congratulation or for con-
1839.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 387
dolence as the case might be," which turned out to be the latter,
— no mistake about it, — so far as the host was concerned in this
rascally city. But congratulation came in for a good share of the
business of the day. By the time my guests assembled it was
pretty clearly ascertained that the Whigs had triumphed again in
the State, and secured a majority in both Houses of the Legislature.
My appetite was not injured, nor was my wine less bright, from my
knowledge that I was to be left at home to enjoy them and other
greater comforts, instead of devoting time and labour, perhaps with-
out thanks, to the service of the State for four years to come. It is
a reprieve for which I ought to be thankful. We had a pleasant
dinner. The party consisted of Moses H. Grinnell, Ogden Hoff-
man, Edward Curtis, James Monroe, R. M. Blatchford, John Ward,
Simeon Draper, Jonathan Amory, W. T. Brigham, S. B. Ruggles,
and Dr. Francis.
Gov Seward NOVEMBER 2 1. — The Govcmor camc in town to
and Office- attend a public dinner given to him by the line officers
seekers. ^^ ^^^ militia, and returned home yesterday. He feels
now the weight of his office. The result of the late election, by
securing a majority of his political friends in the Senate, and there-
by giving validity to his nominations for office, has opened the
flood-gates of application, — enough to sweep him away in the
current ; but he seems to stand it very well. His spirits are good,
his tact admirable, and he has a good word for each of the crowd
of importunate solicitors for executive favour who beset him without
intermission or relaxation. I have my troubles, too, in a subordi-
nate capacity. Having been a candidate for office, and supposed
to be somewhat in His Excellency's good graces, I am beset all day
long by office-seekers to sign their petitions, to speak to the Gov-
ernor, or to write him letters in their behalf. We Whigs are cer-
tainly the most disinterested patriots in the world. We have no
interested motives, — not we ! The country, and the cause, and the
good of the people were our only motives in working at the elec-
tions ; and now that the loaves and fishes are to be distributed,
388 THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. [.Etat. 59.
there are not more than about fifty baskets held out for each, each
appHcant having convinced himself that he is the only one qualified
for the office, and ready to curse the Governor and desert the ])arty
if he should not be successful. I have had them every hour in the
day for the last two or three weeks. I do not know of late the
pleasure of eating an uninterrupted meal. I dread the sight of
a square folded paper taken from a whited-brown envelope. Men
are affronted if I refiise to certify that they are in all things quali-
fied, when in truth I know nothing about them, and go off in an
unappeasable huff if I hesitate to ascribe to them qualities which
I do know they do not possess. Persons apply to be made water
commissioners, who do not know a culvert from a bridge ; measurers
and inspectors of grain and flour, who can scarcely tell the differ-
ence between wheat and rye ; and inspectors of pot and pearl ashes,
who would have to consult an encyclopaedia (if, perchance, they can
read) to ascertain if the article on which they are to pass judgment
be a mineral or a vegetable production. The poor Governor has
not now a refractory Senate opposed to him, as he had last session,
on whom he could lay the blame of the failure of the Whigs' appli-
cation. He must stand the brunt of the affair, and get over as well
as he can the consequences of making one cool friend and forty-
nine enemies amongst his political partisans in the case of every
appointment.
November 22. — Poor Wallack cannot succeed with
Theatre ^^^ company at Niblo's (his place of refuge after the
burning of his theatre). His stock company was good,
and his milky way was not deficient in stars. He has had Vanden-
hoff and his charming daughter, Charles Kean, Forrest, and the best
opera corps in the country ; but all would not do. The theatre
was closed the first of the present week. The stock actors are
standing stock still, and the planets move no longer in their accus-
tomed orbits. The Park lingers on, but it is doing a bad business.
There are but few strangers in town, and the pockets of our citi-
zens, for the most part, are too low to stand the united demands
1839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 389
of Fulton market and the theatres. Economy begins to follow
reluctantly in the dirty footsteps of necessity.
November 27. — Mr. Samuel Ward, senior partner
M^^w^'^d ^^ ^^^ great banking-house of Prime, Ward, King, &
Co., died this day at noon. There are few citizens in
New York whose death would have caused so great a void in the
circles of active business and social intercourse as Mr. Ward's,
the moving spirit of a great financial concern, whose ramifications
extended not only over all parts of this country, but were known and
felt throughout Europe. Liberal and munificent in a degree greater
perhaps than that of any other person, he employed a large por-
tion of his wealth in works of benevolence and public spirit. Pos-
sessed of a good heart and a sound head, he was, nevertheless, too
much the slave of systems, which he applied indiscriminately to all
dispositions and characters, and measured all men by the same
rules ; even his own habits were subjected to a system of govern-
ment too rigid for his constitution. He became all of a sudden; a
total-abstinence man, at a time of life when the experiment was
dangerous, and drank nothing but water, when, in my judgment, a
moderate use of the good wine which he had in his cellar would
have been more congenial to his health. Mr. Ward was about fifty-
five years old. He went to live with Mr. Nathaniel Prime at the
age of fourteen, became in the course of time his partner, and con-
tinued an active member of the house, and the senior since Mr.
Prime's retirement. Mr. Ward lived in a noble house, which he
built a few years ago, on the corner "of Broadway and Bond street,
— the corner below my house, — where he had a picture-gallery
and one of the finest libraries in the city. He was a rich man, and
made a good use of his money; and such men are not easily
spared at this time.
November 28. — This was the day of general
Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, appointed by the Governor of the State
ahrftKe' city authorities, and was very generally ob-
served. Never had a" people more reason to be thankful for the
390 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 59.
blessings of Divine Providence. The year has been especially
marked by genial weather, abundant harvests, and exemption
from war, pestilence, and famine, and all the minor evils with
which it is the pleasure of the x\lmighty to visit at times his
unthankful children. There are troubles enough, certainly ; but
they are *' the work of man's hands," and show how wayward
and weak he is when left to his own " inventions." Our constant
prayer should be that he may not be thus left.
I was forcibly struck this morning in examining a
Coal. table of the quantity of coals produced from the
mines of Pennsylvania during the last nineteen years.
In the year 1820 the whole quantity sent to market was three
hundred and sixty-five tons from Lehigh ; in the present year
more than a million of tons will have been sent. Nine years ago
the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company made their first ship-
ments, amounting to seven thousand tons ; this year they have
shipi)ed to Rondout on the North river one hundred and twenty-
two thousand tons, — the greatest quantity sent in any one year.
What an argument is this in fiivour of internal improvements,
and what a reproof to the miserable tools of party faction, who,
to secure their election to the State Legislature, have bound
themselves by unholy pledges to break down these noble enter-
prises, and to check an experiment so eminently successful ! Here
is an increase of an article indispensable for the use of all classes
of our citizens, whether for manufactures, steam navigation, or
domestic fuel, to the amount of six or «even millions of dollars,
and making a reduction in price to the consumers of as much
more ; an article which, although known to exist in an inexhausti-
ble extent in the mountains of a neighbouring State, was as
worthless as the soil which covered it, until the means were
adopted by the construction of roads and canals to bring it to
market ; and all these glorious benefits, the fruits of public spirit
and private enterprise, were to have been abandoned to secure the
influence of a set of miserable politicians, who would sacrifice all
i839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 39I
the great interests of the country to promote the designs and
perpetuate the power of their leaders. But, thank God ! the
pestilential breath of party-spirit engendered in this rotten political
atmosphere has not infected the State at large, and for one year
at least its councils will not be polluted by its deleterious influence.
December 4. — I went this morning, by invitation
The Daguerro- ^^ Monsieur Fraucois Gouraud, to see a collection of
type.
the views made by the wonderful process lately discov-
ered in France by Monsieur Daguerre, which is called by his name.
Mr. Gouraud is the pupil and friend of the inventor, and comes to
this country to make known the process. The pictures he has
are extremely beautiful, — they consist of views in Paris, and ex-
quisite collections of the objects of still Hfe. The manner of
producing them constitutes one of the wonders of modern times,
and, like other miracles, one may almost be excused for dis-
believing it without seeing the very process by which it is created.
It appears to me a confusion of the very elements of nature. It
is nothing less than the palpable effect of light occasioning a re-
production of sensible objects. The reflection of surrounding
images created by a camera, obscured upon a plate of copper,
plated with silver, and prepared with some chemical substances,
is not only distinctly delineated, but left upon the plate so pre-
pared, and there remains forever. Every object, however minute,
is a perfect transcript of the thing itself; the hair of the human
head, the gravel on the roadside, the texture of a silk curtain,
or the shadow of the smaller leaf reflected upon the wall, are all
imprinted as carefully as nature or art has created them in the
objects transferred ; and those things which are invisible to the
naked eye are rendered apparent by the help of a magnifying
glass. It appears to me not less wonderful that light should be
made an active operating power in this manner, and that some
such effect should be produced by sound ; and who knows
whether, in this age of invention and discoveries, we may not be
called upon to m.irvel at the exhibition of a tree, a horse, or a
392 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 59.
ship produced by the human voice muttering over a metal plate,
prepared in the same or some other manner, the words " tree,"
" horse," and " ship." How gready ashamed of their ignorance
the by-gone generations of mankind ought to be !
December 5. — My old friend, Henry J. Wyckofif,
vv^ k °ff ^' ^^^^^^ ^^^^ evening, in the seventy-second year of his age.
Mr. Wyckoff was a good man, actively and efficiently
engaged in public institutions of benevolence and charity. He was
formerly a merchant of highly respectable standing, of the firm of
Suydam & Wyckoff, and, I presume, died rich. We were formerly
intimate companions, members of the same club, and meeting at
dinner-parties two or three times a week. Thus another tie is
broken, and another warning given.
A most outrageous revolt has broken out among the
tenants of the late patroon, General Van Rensselaer,
lenants. ^ ' '
in the neighbourhood of Albany, of a piece with the
vile disorganizing spirit which overspreads the land like a cloud,
and daily increases in darkness. The tenants of the manor of
Rensselaer, which is in extent from twenty to forty miles, having
waited for the decease of their respected proprietor, the late
patroon, have now risen en masse, and refuse to pay their rent to
his son Stephen, to whom that portion of the estate of his father
has been bequeathed, except upon their own terms, and at their
own good ])leasure. They have enjoyed their leases for so many
years, upon terms so easy, and have been treated with so much len-
ity, that they have brought themselves to believe that the lands be-
longed to them. Since the death of General Van Rensselaer they
have had meetings, and resolved that in a land of liberty there is
no liberty for landlords ; that no man has a right to own more land
than his neighbour, and that they have paid so little rent heretofore
that it is not worth while to pay any hereafter ; and that master
Stephen, with as good a title by inheritance as any known to the
laws of the State, shall neither have his land nor the income of it.
This outrageous proceeding of the Rensselaerwickers has occa-
1839.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE> 393
sioned great consternation in Albany. The sheriff resorted to the
ancient process of summoning the posse comitatus ; the citizens
were ordered out to march against the rioters ; several hundred
went, and met the enemy in the disputed territory. The sheriff,
with seventy followers, went forward in advance ; but finding them
armed and mounted to the number of several thousands, deter-
mined to resist, and swearing by Dunder and Plixsen that they
would pay no more, nor surrender their farms to the rightful owner,
he returned, to the main body of his forces, faced to the right
about, and marched back to Albany.
This is alarming, certainly, but nothing more than a. carrying- out
of the Loco-foco principles of the people of the State, — those
principles which prevailed in this city at the late election, — to
the support of which the members- elect of the Legislature are
pledged, and from which the councils of the State have been lately
saved by the greater virtue of the country, but which must, in a
short time (perhaps the very next year), sweep away all the wise
restraints of law and justice, and cause the destruction of individ-
ual rights. Let it come, if come it must ; the evil will be remedied
some time or other ; but this fair dream of Republicanism will be
dissipated by its cure.
December 9. — The Harrisburg Convention on
ig omi- g^|-yj.j^y completed their business, and adjourned..
The nomination is made, and nothing remains but to
support it with unanimity and zeal. William Henry Harrison, of
Ohio, for President, and John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice-Presi-
dent, are the true, regular candidates of the Whig party of the
United States. My preference was for Mr. Clay. His services
have been greater than those of any other person ; and his devo-
tion to genuine Whig principles merited, and, in my opinion, should
have received, from the party the highest proof of its approbation
and gratitude ; but this tribute which a great majority of the Whigs
have ever been ready to pay him has been now withheld, from an
apprehension that the opposition of the abolitionists in the Western.
394 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 59.
States, and in a large portion of the State of New York, would
destroy his chance of success, and that General Harrison, being
the favourite of the Whigs of the " free States," would run better.
This is not the last mischief to be apprehended from this quarter.
The accursed question is destined to mix up with all national ques-
tions, and in the end to alter the essential features of our govern-
ment, if not to cause a separation of the States and a dissolution
of the Union. The opposition to Mr. Clay from this quarter is so
strong, that even if nominated he could not (in the opinion of a
majority of the convention) have been elected, and it was perhaps
good policy to take Harrison, who may succeed if the friends of
Mr. Clay exercise that magnanimity which it appears they could not
calculate upon from a portion, at least, of the friends of his riv^als.
But the matter is now settled, and I, for my part, am determined
to forget that any other candidate than General Harrison has ev^er
been thought of, or named to the people. The informal vote on
Friday is understood to have been, for Winfield Scott, 1 6 ; Henry
Clay, 90; William H. Harrison, 14S.
December 10. — In removing the foundation of the
Curious Relic, towcr of Trinity Church a vaulted grave was opened,
which contained the coffin and bones of Lady Corn-
bury, wife of the governor of the colony, who died in this city in
the year i 706, and was buried under the original church, which
was burned in the time of the Revolutionary war. A large plate
and fragments of the coffin were found, which are now seen in the
office of the architect ; the former is perfectly legible, and nearly
uninjured by its inhumation of one hundred and thirty-three years.
The arms of this noble lady, who was sister of the Earl of Rich-
mond, and a viscountess in her own right, are engraven on the
plate, with her pedigree, age, and time of her death, etc., distinctly,
but very rudely, written below. She died at the age of thirty-four.
This relic is interesting and valuable, as it marks the period of
Lord Cornbury's government, one of the early English governors,
whose name is affixed to the charter of Trinity Church. How
1839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 395
many generations of men have passed away, and what changes have
occurred, since this plate of silver, emblazoned by the hands of an
unskilful artist with the pompous display of heraldic pride and
the unerring record of death's doings, was placed in its dark, cold
repository, to be brought forth again to the light of day to undergo
the scrutiny of a generation of men who were not thought of in
those days, and who care no more about the remains of this branch
of the Richmond family than those of the poor Indian chief who
was driven from the spot before her husband came to it as the
representative of the Majesty of England !
The place where these remains were interred was, at the time,
the northern boundary of the city of New York. The charter of
Trinity Church (a copy of which I have in my possession) provides
for the erection of a church in that spot, near to the city of New
York. It has now become in fact the southern boundary. The
solitary tomb of this young and noble lady has echoed for more
than a century the footsteps of busy men, ardently engaged in the
cares of business and the pursuit of wealth ; for it was close to
Broadway, opposite Wall street. I proposed last evening, in the
vestry, that these relics should be presented to the Historical
Society ; but it was not granted. They determined to have a new
tomb provided, in which they are to be re-interred.
The De Ruyters, the Von Tromps, and the Stuyve-
ew u c g^j^|.g q£ ^^ manor of Rensselaer, remain still in an
War. ' '
attitude of open rebellion to the laws of the land.
Equally opposed to good order as to good manors, they won't pay
their rent to him whom they style the pretended proprietor, oppose
every attempt of the constituted authorities to enforce the demands
of justice, and treat with indignity everything in the shape of legal
process. This outrageous proceeding has become so serious that
the Governor has ordered a body of fifteen hundred of the infantry
of this city to hold themselves in readiness to repair to Albany at
a moment's warning, and has provided two steamboats to transport
them to the seat of war. Division and brigade orders fill a column
396 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 59.
in the morning papers, and names of major-generals, A.D.C.'s,
and brigade -majors are blazoned in staring capitals. Young men
with muskets, unconscious yet of murderous lead, parade the streets,
" panting for the fray," and anxious to flesh their maiden swords
in Dutchmen's blood ; and many a one whose nose looks red and
bright on frosty mornings may find it turn blue when he comes to
poke into the hostile camp of the belligerent Rensselaerwickers.
But in truth and soberness this is a serious business. Conduct so
disorganizing must be resisted, and the laws be maintained at all
events. The affair is in good hands. Our excellent little Gover-
nor understands what he is about, and if the last attempts of the
sheriff in Albany county should be unsuccessful, the arm of execu-
tive power will not be raised in vain.
A correspondence between the malcontents and Mr. Van
Rensselaer is published, in which it appears to me they are all
wrong, and he all right. The letter of Mr. V. R. contains the
description of the boundaries and extent of the Van Rensselaer
patent. It is enormous, and such a territory in the hands of an
individual certainly does not conduce to tlie public advantage.
At the time of the grant it consisted of little better than wild land,
inhabited by Indians, and unproductive as the prairies of Arkansas
or the Rocky mountains ; whereas it is now the heart of the State,
near the capital, and capal)]e of indefinite improvements if the oc-
cupants held it in fee. But these men do not go the right way to
work ; they have no more right to refuse the payment of the tri-
fling rent than the tenants of houses in New York have to say
they will pay but one-half of their stipulated rent, or none at all.
Decembkk 12. — The disturbances in the Rensse-
Dutch War. lacr mauor are in a fair way of settlement without
calling in the aid of the troops from New York. This
effect has been mainly produced by the firm and discreet course
of Governor Seward, who issued a very judicious proclamation to
the revolted tribes of the Helderberg, giving them little to hope
from the hostile attitude in which they had placed themselves, and
1839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 397
much from a suitable obedience to the laws and reliance upon the
justice of the Legislature.
An attempt was made during the course of this affair, by the
profligate politicians who are in the ascendant in this devoted city,
to get up a meeting at Tammany Hall to express their horror at
the thought of troops being employed to shed the blood of their
fellow- citizens, and to raise party capital by condemning the
measures adopted by the Governor ; but this cankered sore of Jac-
obinical corruption did not come to a head ; their hearts were
black enough, and their heads sufficiently willing to carry out such
a design, but it was thought rather too radical. The time has not
quite come, — it is not far distant.
December 13. — Great anxiety has prevailed for some time past
about the French packet "Ville de Lyons," Captain Stoddart,
which has been out about seventy days from Havre, with two hun-
dred passengers. Mrs. Cutting, the elder Miss Cutting, and the
wife and children of Francis B. Cutting, with a number of others
in whose fate great interest was felt, were known to be on board,
and this day apprehensions were relieved by accounts being re-
ceived that the ship had just put into Bermuda, dismasted and
otherwise greatly disabled by severe weather. The perils and dan-
gers of the voyage will be likely to induce passengers to prefer
the steam-packets in making a western passage during the winter
months.
December 14. — Mr. Robert Lenox, who has been ill for several
weeks, died yesterday, in the eightieth year of his age. He was
formerly a merchant and magistrate of this city, and died one of its
richest citizens.
December 19. — Anthony L Bleecker has been appointed mar-
shal of this district, in the place of W. C. H. Waddell. In this
appointment the President, it is said, has given mortal offence to
the butt-enders and indomitables who form the elite of his party in
New York. These gentry had made up their minds to the ap-
pointment of a Major Hopkins to this office, and sent a deputation
398 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.^tat.59.
of their respectable order to Washington to that effect, demanding
that their rescript should be obeyed, and their favourite receive his
share of the spoils of the victory which their prowess had gained.
This demand, it would appear, was urged with a degree of insolence
which the President could not brook. He smiled, however, upon
his tools, rough as was their deportment, gave them soft words in
return for rude enforcements, bowed the unshaven dignitaries of the
Loco-foco body-guards out of his palace, and forthwith appointed
this Mr. Bleecker to the office, who is a gentleman, — sufficient, one
would think, at this time to disqualify him. This contumelious
treatment has given mortal offence to the sovereigns, and some of
their ultra papers have gone the length of abusing the President in
good set terms. One or two more such acts of rebellion against
the expressed will of the party will get Mr. Van Buren out of their
good books. He has occasionally evinced a disposition to act like
a gentleman, which will be his ruin if he does not take care.
December 20. — The nomination of General Harri-
Mr. Clay. son works like a charm among the Whigs. They said
that the choice of the Harrisburg Convention should be
the signal of union, and that all personal predilections should
be offered up on the altar of patriotism, and nobly have they
redeemed their pledge. All have forgotten their first choice, and
every man's banner is inscribed with the name of Harrison. In
this honourable course the friends of Henry Clay have been the
foremost ; and the man of their choice, he who has done his coun-
try better service than any man alive, and better deserves its highest
recompense, was the first to set the glorious example. Mr. Clay
will never be President; but why should he wish it? He has
reached a higher eminence. He has sacrificed personal interest to
the public good. Is he ambitious? What is there in the title, or
troublesome duty, or empty distinction of being President of the
United States for four years (for that is to be the ultimatum here-
after) to fill the measure of a reasonable ambition equal to that of
his present position ? He has drawn off his troops at a moment-
i839] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 399
when they were ready to fight for him to the death. He has sub-
mitted even to the force of prejudices, and acknowledged that
popularity with the people did not follow from his best public acts.
He has sacrificed the reward of a long life of public and private
devotion to his country to the noble sentiment of the patriotic Vir-
ginian, " Union for the sake of the Union," and relinquished the
doubtful chance of the enjoyment for four years of the glitter of
office, with the vapid, dull, and useless remainder after the expira-
tion of his term, for the proud certainty of being enthroned in the
hearts of the honest, high-minded portion of his countrymen as
the disinterested patriot who has always served them well, and
stands ready to serve them well hereafter.
After the adjournment of the Harrisburg Convention many of the
members went to Washington, where it was found that there were
one or more delegates from eighteen out of the twenty -two States
which had been represented in that patriotic and enlightened body.
They called in a body upon Mr. Clay, to do homage to the high
moral principle which had influenced his conduct. The friends of
Harrison and Scott, with those who originally enlisted for Webster,
were as ready to acknowledge the high claims of Clay to the proud
distinction of their nomination as he and his friends had been to
surrender those claims in favour of a candidate who was thought to
be more available. The particulars of this touching ceremony,
together with those of the great Whig dinner given on the same
day, are detailed admirably in the " National Intelligencer."
December 26. — The message was not delivered
President's ^^iH Tuesday. It is well written, delusive, and calcu-
Message.
lated to strengthen the President with his party, —
thoroughly Loco-foco. Two- thirds of the enormous mass of words
are used to minister to the bad feelings of the anti-bankites. The
President recommends, in the boldest and most undisguised terms,
the sub-treasury system, — an exclusive circulation for government
purposes. State banks are condemned without mercy, and the
plan of a national bank is declared not only unconstitutional, but
400 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat.59.
altogether inexpedient. The government is to be banker, broker,
and money-dealer for the whole country. These doctrines will
probably be carried out in their fullest extent, and in a few months
the whole policy of the country will be changed, and the general
government (or rather the President and his myrmidons) become
the masters of the people, and the regulators of their private as well
as public affairs. Good -by, then, to all the sound influence of
wholesome credit and national faith.
December 30. — I called yesterday to see Mr. Webster. He is
in good health and spirits, and greatly pleased (as he could not
foil to be) with his visit. His splendid talents and high standing
in his own country have been suitably appreciated where he has
been, and he has met with a flattering reception and kind treat-
ment. I had half an hour's agreeable conversation with him. . He
does not appear anxious to go to Washington immediately, for he
sees no chance of doing any good there. His mind is full of
gloomy forebodings of the unhappy result of measures which it is
too certain will now be carried. The accession of Mr. Calhoun
and his little squad of anti- federal nullifiers to the grasping, reck-
less policy of the administration, which sanctions any coalition,
however corrupt, and consents to any violation of the Constitution,
however flagrant, which may serve to secure the permanency of
their power, gives the death-blow to the patriotic efforts of the
Whigs of the North and the East. One hundred and ten good
men and true in the House of Representatives are to be ruled by
eight or ten who are neither good nor true, and if anything is to be
gained by an occasional assistance from that quarter it must be by
a sacrifice greater than the object is worth. Mr. Calhoun's party
are the worst politicians in the country, — enemies of the Constitu-
tion, more dangerous than Benton and Wright, Frank Thomas^ or
Aaron VanderpoeL
PART II
THE DIARY
OF
PHILIP HONE
1840
TANUARY I . — Another year has passed, and it would be well
^ if the black lines of Benton, the great expunger, could be
drawn around 1839 in the calendar. It has been marked by indi-
vidual and national distress in an unprecedented degree, the effect
of improvidence and a want of sound moral and political princi-
ples on the part of the mass of the people, and bad government
and a crushing down of everything good and great to subserve
party objects on the part of the rulers.
The New Year comes in bright and clear. It is by for the cold-
est day this winter ; the ground is partially covered with snow ;
the ice which covers the walks in some places is hard as adamant,
and the north-west wind blows up the cross-streets keen and sharp,
as if it had been whetted upon the everlasting ice of the north
pole. Notwithstanding all this, the gayety of the season has not
been diminished. There has been as much visiting as usual.
Broadway was lively as ever, bright eyes and warm receptions in-
doors, and blue noses and cold fingers without. I took my " auld
cloak about me," and trudged about for nearly five hours, paying
2 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Ktat. 60.
a large number of pleasant visits, and leaving many more equally-
pleasant unpaid. The extent of the visiting circle in New York
has become too great for the operations of one day.
January 7. — The Cuttings, who were passengers in
le 1 e ( e ^j^^ uiifortunate packet '' Ville de Lyon," from Havre,
Lyon." ^ -' ' '
which put into Bermuda disabled, after a long and dis-
astrous voyage, have had additional troubles by another long and
uncomfortable voyage of twenty-six days from the latter place to
Savannah, in the British ship "Alexander Grant," which vessel
they chartered to bring them out, at an expense of five hundred
pounds sterling, and found themselves. By the last accounts they
were all safe upon a plantation in South Carolina, where they will
remain for the winter. They will not be tempted to tempt the sea
again very soon, I am inclined to think. We have had some pretty
severe gales and cold weather, but there have been no shipwrecks
near to New York.
January 8. — I was reminded this morning, by see-
Ode'L"^^'"''' ing the flags displayed upon the City Hall and Tam-
many Hall, that it is the anniv^ersary of the battle of
New Orleans, an event glorious in the history of our country, and
consolatory to the pride of every true American, but one which
in its effects has proved most injurious to the present prosperity
and future prospects of the land, "and all which it inherit." For
the laurels gained by General Jackson on that occasion and the
popularity which is certain to follow a successful military chieftain,
paved the way for his elevation to the Presidency, made him the
idol of the people, turned his head, and gave him the power io
indulge his personal prejudices and antipathies at the expense of
the Constitution and the laws, trample upon the rights of the peo-
ple who were huzzaing for him, and sacrifice every interest to pro-
mote his own objects and those of his party. With a full share of
the exultation which all should feel in the event of a battle gained,
and with no desire to detract from the well-earned fame of the
commanding generals, I do not hesitate to say that, in my opin-
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 3
ion, tne evils resulting from that event, in its consequences as
described above, outweigh the benefits of fifty such battles ; and so
posterity will say, to the third and fourth generation.
Baltimore, Jan. 21. — I left Philadelphia at eight o'clock, by
the railroad, and got here at three o'clock P.M. On my arrival 1
found an affectionate note from Mr. Gilmor, who in a few minutes
came in person to tell me that he had a party engaged to meet me
at dinner, soon after which Mr. Meredith came and invited me for
to-morrow; and Mr. McLane, Mr. Birkhead, and Dr. Alexander
all called, and there is a seat for me at every man's table, and ap-
parently a place in his heart, and I am received, as I always have
been in Baltimore, with the most hearty welcome and overflowing
hospitality. We had at dinner at Mr. Gilmor's, besides the host
and hostess, Meredith, Dr. Alexander, Mr. Birkhead, John P. Ken-
nedy, David Hoffman, Mr. Pennington, and myself. A most capi-
tal dinner, and such wine as scarcely another man can show at
present in the United States. There was one bottle which I was
told had been kept exclusively for me. I wish I could think my-
self worthy of the compliment as the wine was of the generosity of
the donor. I certainly never drank any better in my life. The
pleasure of our party was enhanced by the addition of that excel-
lent townsman of mine, David B. Ogden, who arrived from Wash-
ington during the evening on his way to New York. He is a great
favourite here, as he is amongst all who know how to appreciate
superior talents and honesty.
January 23. — In the evening I went to a musical party at
General Harper's, where I found a great number of very agreeable
people. I certainly think there are more handsome young married
women and girls in Baltimore than in any circle of society of the same
size I have ever known ; but you never see them except at a party
of this kind ; for they are not seen much in the streets, nor have they
a Broadway to walk in. I had the pleasure to meet Mrs. Caton
and her sister, Mrs. Harper, from whom I received a most friendly
recognition. I called upon her yesterday, and received a very
4 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Kiat. 60.
particular message, that she was lying down, but that I must cer-
tainly call again. She is old, not ugly ; infirm, but exceedingly
gracious in her manners ; and nearly blind, but lively and quick
of apprehension. She was unquestionably (as I told her) the
belie of the evening. Every gentleman, on entering, made her a
bow, which she returned with much grace, after inquiring his
name (for she finds it difficult to recognize her most intimate friends
except by the voice), and every lady took her hand in parting.
How much of this arises from the circumstance of her being the
mother of a duchess, a marchioness, and a countess, it might be
somewhat difficult to ascertain ; but I am quite sure, that if she were
haughty and disagreeable as she is affible and ladylike, this homage
would not be paid with that willing cheerfulness which I witnessed
and admired this evening. " Vou ouglit to be happy, madam," said
I, " to find yourself so much beloved." — " Indeed, I am, sir," she
replied ; " you can have no idea how happy it makes me." We
had fine music ; several of the ladies sang. If we had such parties
in New York I would attend more frequently.
Washington, Jan. 24. — I left Baltimore in the four-o'clock
cars. On my arrival here, about seven o'clock, I found everything
handsomely provided for me at Gadsby's, by my good friend Mr.
Granger, with whom, and his daughter Miss Adele, I am to mess.
After tea I had retired to my room, and in night-gown and slippers
was prepared for an hour's reading and an early bedding, when in
" came one in hot haste with missives from the king," informing
me that a i)arty was assembled to sup at Boulanger's, nearly oppo-
site my lodgings, and that I must report myself forthwith. I went
and found Mr. Clay, Mr. Crittenden, General Scott, Colonel Daw-
son of Virginia, Lee of Maryland, Gen. Waddy Thompson, Mr.
Botts of Virginia, and one or two more. We supped in Boulanger's
best style, played whist, and talked politics. Mr. Clay looks re-
markably well. He is almost worshipped by the Whigs since his
late magnanimous conduct in regard to the nomination of General
Harrison, and yet occasionally " this eagle towering in his pride of
1840.] THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. ^
place " is " by an owl hawked at and pecked." A man from
Mississippi, who is known in common parlance and recognized by
the laws as a senator of the United States, by the name of Walker,
abused him yesterday grossly in debate, the cause of which was
that Mr. Clay refused to reply to some of his remarks, but would
reply to Mr. Buchanan, or some other gentleman of that party.
But in truth an attack upon Mr. Clay from such a quarter is about
as ridiculous as Noah Brown firing a musket-ball at the British
frigate cruising off Rockaway Beach.
I intended to visit, and succeeded only in going to inquire about.
Commodore Chauncey. My excellent old friend is past hope. I
saw his son, who gave me the melancholy intelligence that this will
in all probability be the last day of the earthly cruise of the noble
old sailor. I fervently pray that he may find a safe harbour in a
better world. Here is another of my ties of early friendship about
to be sundered. There are few men to whom I have been longer
or more tenderly attached. His son told me that within a day or
two he has spoken of me affectionately as one of his oldest and
best friends.
Whilst in that part of the city I called upon Baron Marechal,
the Austrian Minister. I am in the mess of Mr. Granger and
Abbott Lawrence. They invited three or four members to meet
me at dinner. I could not have better quarters.
January 28. — Celeste commenced an engagement at the theatre
last evening, and I am told had not fifty people in the house. I
wonder why they come here. Everybody has some better engage-
ment, and you seldom hear the theatre mentioned. I dined with
Mr. Monroe ; an exceedingly nice dinner and a gay party, con-
sisting of Mr. and Mrs. Grinnell, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis, Mr. Hoff-
man, Mr. and Miss Granger, Mr. and Mrs. Stoughton from New
York, Mr. Saltonstall, Mr. Bard from New York, and myself.
After which I went to sup at Boulanger's, with Mr. Clay, Mr.
Crittenden, Governor Barbour, Mr. Fox, the British Minister, Gen-
eral Scott, General Thompson, and Mr. Lee. This high living, or
6 THE DIAUV OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etal. Co.
the climate, has given me the last two nights tlie most excruciating
cramps, and I have a very interesting touch of lumbago.
William Cost Johnson, of Maryland, has been speaking two days
on the never-ending, still-enduring, and ever-exciting subject of
abolition petitions. He is a fine fellow and a true Whig, but an
out-and-out anti-abolitionist from ])rinciple, — not as IJynum and
other such fellows are, to turn it to i)arty ])uri)oses and make it a
vehicle of personal abuse against their ])olitical o])ponents ; and so
he told them in tlie plainest, straightforward manner, and rebutted
in his person, and by flat contradiction, that the Whigs, as a body,
are inimical to the interests of the South. A resolution offered by
Mr. Johnson as a standing rule was adopted after an animated con-
test by a majority of six in a full house. It goes farther than any
former action upon this vexatious subject. It forbids the reception
of any petition against slavery in the District of Columbia or else-
where, or the entertaining of anything by the House which relates
to slavery. It strikes me as an unfortunate measure. It is the
very thing to please the abolitionists ; the cry of persecution
strengthens their cause. It is unjust, and I am inclined to think
unconstitutional, and this apparent triumph of obstinacy over
fanaticism will redound, I fear, to the benefit of the latter.
I spent a few minutes this morning in the Supreme Court. What
a contrast between the gravity and decorum of that hallowed sanct-
uary of the laws, and the levity and disorder of the House of
Representatives ! — the quiet, subdued tone of the former, and the
noisy declamation of the latter ; and the reverend black-silk gowns
of the judges, and the piebald costume of the people's representa-
tives,
January 29. — I dined with Mr. Crinnell, who lives in handsome
style, has his family here, and his carriage, and gives capital
dinners. Our party to-day was a delightful one, consisting of the
e/i'/e of the Whigs, and a more jovial set is not often to be met with.
It consisted of Mr. Webster and Mr. Preston, of the Senate, Mr.
Btll, Mr. Graves, Colonel Dawson, Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Curtis,
1840.] THE DTARV OF riTTLir HONE. /
Mr. Rice, Mr. Garland, Mr. Granger, the host, and myself. Mr.
Webster was in the midst of his friends, and delighted us with an
account of his travels, of the places he saw, the visits he made, the
attention he received, and the result of his deep searches into the
characters of the eminent men of England. Preston is one of
the most captivating men I ever saw. His voice is like music,
and there is a natural eloquence about him, and a vein of jocund
good-humour quite irresistible. Hoffman was in high spirits ; Bell,
declamatory ; Dawson, gentlemanly ; and when I came away
(which, in consequence of an attack of lumbago I have had for a
day or two, and which, once in a while, brings drops of sweat upon
my forehead, was earlier than I wished), the elements of good
fellowship were admirably mixed up in this little party.
, January ^o. — At eleven o'clock I went to the
Commodore •' ^
chauncey's funcral. At the request of Mrs. Chauncey, I followed
as a mourner in the carriage with her three sons, and
am now wearing the badge of mourning on my hat. She sent for
me to her room, took my hand on my entrance, exclaimed, " Here
is my husband's old friend ! " and sobbed aloud in the bitterness
of grief. I was completely overcome, and left the room without
saying a word. Commander Morris, who had charge of the funeral
arrangements, told me that Mrs. Chauncey made a point of having
Mr. Webster and me pall-bearers until she found it was to be
a military funeral. The bearers were General Scott, General
Macomb, Commander Morris, Commander Wadsworth, Com-
mander Ridgely, Colonel Henderson, Commander of Marines, and
the former and present Secretaries of the Navy, Messrs. Woodbury
and Paulding. The President and heads of departments attended,
with a splendid array of naval and military officers in uniform, and
there was a handsome escort of marines and volunteers ; but they
had a hard time of it, the ground being covered with ice, snow,
and water, and the rain falling at intervals during the tedious
march of about three miles to the Congregational burying ground,
•where the remains of the noble old sailor were interred.
8 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 60.
I had a high gratification in the Senate, where my
oquencein (yQQ(^^j_fQi-{^m-jg carried me, and I was kept enchained
the Senate. * ' '-
imtU the hour of their adjournment. The whole Whig
strength was brought out in opposition to the report of a special
committee, of which Mr. Grundy, the late attorney-general, is
chairman, — a report suicidal in its tendency, as are all the measures
of the party of which Mr. Grundy may be considered the leader in
the Senate ; the object of which is to show to the world the amount
of indebtedness of the several States, exaggerated in its statements
and uncandid in its conclusions, charging the States with improvi-
dence and extravagance, telling the creditor, foreign or at home,
that he has trusted too much, and it is doubtful if he will be paid ;
and, like a cruel step- mother, the government seeking to discredit
her own children and discourage their future exertions. But what
a burst of eloquence was poured from ^ur side of the Senate upon
the heads of these unworthy forgers of lies ; these tinkers of govern-
ment jobs ; these false lights of a misguided people ! Speeches
were made by Crittenden, Southard, AVebster, and Preston. What
a host ! There never was a time in the British Parliament when
four such men made speeches upon one subject. They were all
great, but I was most pleased with Mr. Preston. It was the first
time I had ever heard the eloquent South Carolinian. He is a tall
man, of a strongly marked expression of countenance and not very
graceful manner ; but he pours forth a flood of eloquence like a
mountain cataract, — broad and impetuous at one time, and clear
and sweet and beautiful at another ; flowing deep and solemn now,
and again breaking into myriads of shining particles, illuminated by
the sunlight of a poetical imagination, and reflecting the varied hues
of classical imagery ; solemn and playful, argumentative and satiri-
cal, by turns. His voice is powerful, with occasional touches of
surpassing sweetness ; and then, in private intercourse, he is so play-
ful, his conversation so varied, and his spirits so buoyant, that I am
of the opinion at this moment that T have never met a more lov-
able man. I sat near Mr. Preston on the floor of the Senate whilst
1840 I THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 9
he was speaking. He came to me after he had concluded.
" There ! " said he ; "I made that speech on purpose for you. I
had no idea that you should go home without showing you what
I could do."
I am curious to know what the colleague of this noble gentle -
m.an, — what Mr. Calhoun thought of his position during the deliv-
ery of this and the other speeches on the same side. This is true,
honest, legitimate State-rights doctrine ; no nullification, no hint-
ing at separation, but an honest, independent standing-up for the
rights of the States ; an indignant resistance to the arbitrary inter-
ference of an unnatural parent with the welfare and prosperity of
her children. My eye glanced from the towering height from
which one of these men launched the thunder of his eloquence upon
the unworthy associates of the other, to the opposite place, where
I saw the dark, scowling aspect of disappointed ambition and
fallen greatness.
January 31. — I dined with the President. The
inner a ^ e p^j.^.^ consisted of about fivc and twenty gentlemen; a
splendid affair, and I think in good taste. The Presi-
dent does the honours with dignity and graciousness. There is no
fuss in the business, and every guest has his full share of the atten-
tions of his host. I thought myself particularly favoured, and so I
presume others did. The President sat on one side of the table,
with Mr. Southard on his right and Mr. Sturgeon, the new senator
from Pennsylvania, on his left. Immediately opposite to him was
Mr. Forsyth, Secretary of State, with General Scott on his right
and me on his left, — an arrangement which the Secretary informed
me before dinner was made by the President's order. The Presi-
dent's first glass of wine was drunk with General Scott, and the
second with me.
February i . — My son Robert writes me that an awful state
of consternation exists in the city ; business is at a stand ; all
description of stocks fallen still lower, and the fire-insurance com-
panies refuse to insure any more. I should not be surprised if the
lO THE DIARY OF PHILIP IKWE. [/Ktat. 60.
companies should break again, and if they do they will never be
resuscitated. Poor New York ! a garden sowed with sand running
fast into desolation.
I dined with Mr. Barnard ; a nice little party, consisting of Gen-
eral Scott, Mr. Granger, Mr. Grrinnell, the host, and myself. I got
along very well, notwithstanding the pain and stiffness of my back ;
but, wisely I think, declined going to Mons. Bodisco's, who ex-
pected me to pass the evening.
New York, Feb. 20. — The fashionable folk are
vorrt'sBaii remarkably well off just now in the possession of
an inexhaustibk topic of conversation in Mrs. Bre-
voort's bill costume, costume a la rigueur, which is to come offn^xt
Thursday evening. Nothing else is talked about ; the ladies' heads
are turned nearly off their shoulders ; the whiskers of the dandies
assume a more ferocious curl in anticipation of the effect they are
to produce ; and even my peaceable domicile is turned topsy-turvy
by the "note of preparation" which is heard. My daughters are
all going in character, and I am preparing to play the harlequin,
in my old days. If Cardinal Wolsey don't astonish the folk with
his magnificence, then have I spent in vain my money in the pur-
chase of scarlet merino and other trappings to decorate the burly
person of the haughty churchman.
February 24. — This venerable and amiable old
x^^^xt" gentleman died last eveninnj in the ninety-fifth year of
Mr. Maury. ^ a^ J J
his age. He was a native of Virginia. His ninety-
fourth birthday occurred about ten days since. Mr. Maury was
the first American Consul at Liverpool, appointed by Washington,
a distinction of which he was always proud. This office he held
for nearly half a century, and was removed by General Jackson (the
second Washington, as he was sacrilegiously called by some of his
flatterers). On his return a great public dinner was given to him
in New York, by the merchants and others, of which I was a vice-
presivlent. He settled here with his sons and daughters, where
he has resided ever since, in i)eace and domestic enjoyment.
1S40.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. II
His daughter seemed to live for him alone, — a pattern of filial
affection and devotedness, — and he has now, full of age, and en-
joying the respect and veneration of his friends, sunk calmly and
without suffering into the grave which seemed to have had a natural
claim to him many years ago.
February 25. — There is little dependence upon newspapers in
a record of facts, any more than in their political dogmas or con-
fessions of faith. If they do not lie from dishonest motives, their
avidity to have something new and in advance of others leads
them to take up everything that comes to hand without proper
examination, adopting frequently the slightly grounded impressions
of their informers for grave truths, setting upon them the stamp
of authenticity, and sending them upon the wings of the wind to fill
the ears and eyes of the extensive American family of the gullibles.
The great affair which has occupied the minds of
e ancy ^^ peoplc of all statious, ranks, and employments, from
the fashionable belle who prepared for conquest, to the
humble artiste who made honestly a few welcome dollars in pro-
viding the weapons ; from the liberal-minded gentleman who could
discover no crime in an innocent and refined amusement of this
kind, to the newspaper reformer, striving to sow the seeds of dis-
contentment in an unruly population, — this long-anticipated affair
came off last evening, and I believe the expectations of all were
realized. The mansion of our entertainers, Mr. and Mrs. Brevoort,
is better calculated for such a display than any other in the city, and
everything which host and hostess could do in preparing and
arranging, in receiving their guests, and making them feel a full
warrant and assurance of welcome, was done to the topmost round
of elegant hospitality. Mrs. B., in particular, by her kind and cour-
teous deportment, threw a charm over the splendid pageant which
would have been incomplete without it.
My family contributed a large number of actors in the gay scene.
I went as Cardinal Wolsey, in a grand robe of new scarlet merino,
with an exceedingly well-contrived cap of the same material;, a
12 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 6a
cape of real ermine, which I borrowed from Mrs. Thomas W. Lua-
low, gold chain and cross, scarlet stockings, etc. ; Mary and Cathe-
rine, as Night and Day ; Margaret, Anncjt Lyle in the " Legend of
Montrose ; " John, as Washington Irving's royal poet ; Schermerhorn,
as Gessler, the Austrian governor who helped to make William
Tell immortal; Robert, a Highlander; and our sweet neighbour,
Eliza Russell, as Lalla Rookh.
We had a great preparatory gathering of friends to see our
dresses and those of several others, who took us " in their way up."
I am not quite sure whether the pleasantest part of such an affair
does not consist in 'Uhe note of preparation," the contriving and fix-
ing, exulting and doubting, boasting and fretting, and fussing and
scolding, which are played off in advance of the great occasion ;
and perhaps, after all is over, the greatest doubt is " si le jeu vaut la
chandelky And if ever that question is tested, it must be by this
experiment, for never before has New York witnessed a fancy ball so
splendidly gotten up, in better taste, or more successfully carried
through. We went at ten o'clock, at which time the numerous
apartments, brilliantly lighted, were tolerably well filled with char-
acters. The notice on the cards of invitation, " Costiujie a la
7'igueur,'" had virtually closed the door to all others, and with the
exception of some eight or ten gentlemen who, in plain dress, with
a red ribbon at the button- hole, officiated as managers, every one
appeared as some one else ; the dresses being generally new, some
of them superbly ornamented with gold, silver, and jewelry; others
marked by classical elegance, or appropriately designating distin-
guished characters of ancient and modern history and the drama ;
and others again most familiarly grotesque and ridiculous. The
coup d'ceit dazzled the eyes and bewildered the imagination.
Soon after our party arrived the five rooms on the first floor
(including the library) were completely filled. I should think
there were about five hundred ladies and gentlemen ; many a beau-
tiful " point device," which had cost the fair or gallant wearer
infinite pains in the selection and adaptation, was doomed to pass
1840.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 3
unnoticed in the crowd ; and many who went there hoping each
to be the star of the evening, found themselves echpsed by some
superior luminary, or at best forming a unit in the milky way.
Some surprise was expressed at seeing in the crowd a man
in the habit of a knight in armour, — a Mr. Attree, reporter and
one of the editors of an infamous penny paper called the " Her-
ald." Bennett, the principal editor, called upon Mr. Brevoort to
obtain permission for this person to be present to report in his
paper an account of the ball. He consented, as I beheve I should
have done under the same circumstances, as by doing so a sort of
obligation was imposed upon him to refrain from abusing the house,
the people of the house, and their guests, which would have been
done in case of a denial. But this is a hard alternative ; to submit
to this kind of surveillance is getting to be intolerable, and nothing
but the force of public opinion will correct the insolence, which, it
is to be feared, will never be applied as long as Mr. Charles A.
Davis and other gentlemen make this Mr. Attree " hail fellow, well
met," as they did on this occasion. Whether the notice they took
of him, and that which they extend to Bennett when he shows his
ugly face in Wall street, may be considered approbatory of the
daily slanders and unblushing impudence of the paper they conduct,
or is intended to purchase their forbearance toward themselves,
the effect is equally mischievous. It affords them countenance and
encouragement, and they find that the more personalities they
have in their papers, the more papers they sell.
February 29. — As this brilliant affair is not soon to be forgotten,
I have gotten my girls to make out from recollection a list of the
characters ; it is correct as far as it goes, and contains a pretty
good portion of all who were present : Mr. and Mrs. Anderson,
Turk and Spanish lady ; Mr. Austin, Highlander ; Mrs. Brevoort,
Joanna of Naples ; Miss Brevoort, La Juive ; and the children,
pages and a brigand ; Mr. and Mrs. Bryan, Don Juan of Austria
and Spanish lady ; Miss Boggs, Clemence d'Isaure ; Mrs. Brancher,
lady of the old regime ; Mrs. Burns, Madame du Bourg ; Mr. and Mrs.
14 THE J)IARV OK IMIILII' IIOXE. [.Ktat.6o.
George Barclay, fox-hunter and peasant woman ; Miss Barclay, fine
old lady; Miss M. Barclay, Lalla Rookh ; Miss Bradbury, of Bos-
ton, Diana; Mr. Berry, I'lncroyable ; Mr, Belmont, German postil-
ion ; INIr. Bowdoin, peasant ; Mr. Bell, German miner ; Mr. and
Mrs. Gerard Coster, pirate and Clotilda ; Mr. and Mrs. Washing-
ton Coster, Arab boy and Leila ; the Misses Cruger, Quakeresses ;
Miss Callender, Dutch girl ; Messrs. Gore and Stanhope Callender,
Spanish muleteer and Highlander ; Mr. and Mrs. Constant, fox-
hunter and Corinna ; Mr. Coolidge, Chinese ; Mr. C. Davis, Quaker ;
]\Irs. Charles A. Davis, Norman paysanne ; Mrs. Dutilh, Miss De-
Rham, and Mr. DeRham, Jr., Greeks ; Mr. Delprat, Don Basilio ;
Mr. F. Dorr, Don John ; Mr. Delaunay, Due d 'Orleans ; Mr. and
Mrs. Emmet, the former a school-girl, and the latter her brother ;
Mr. Thomas Emmet, Dutch woman ; Mr. Robert Emmet, Dr.
O'Toole ; Miss Ehvell, Greek ; Miss Fleming, Jeffriece ; Mr. Flem-
ing, Highlander ; Messrs. Asa and William Fitch, Mantilini and
Arab ; Mr. Frederick Foster, gentleman of the old school ; Mr.
and Mrs. Edward Graves, peasant and Lady Grand ison ; Mrs.
Robert and Mrs. William Gracie, Portia and La Dame Blanche ;
Mr. and Mrs. James A. Hamilton, watchman and Quakeress ;
Misses Mary and Angelica Hamilton, Fenella and old lady ; Mr.
Alex. Hamilton, domino; Mrs. Haight, two characters, Jemima
Jenkins and Lady of the Knight of the Polar Star ; Mr. Haight,
Turk ; Mr. E. Howland, mufti ; Mr. and Mrs. Hills, monk and old
lady of quality ; Miss M. and Miss E. Hills, Ann Page and Persian;
Mr. C. Hoffman, friar ; Mr. Harmony, Spanish muleteer ; Miss
Mary Jones, Diana ; Miss Kearney, Queen Esther ; Mr. P. Hone,
Cardinal Wolsey ; Messrs. John and Robert Hone, royal poet and
Highlander; Miss M. Hone and Miss C. Hone, Annot Lyle and
Day ; Mr. and Mrs. Jones Schermerhorn, Gessler and Night ; Miss
Lydia and Mr. Delancey Kane, sorceress and goldfinch ; Miss
Margaret and Mr. Harrison Lynch, Night and Arab ; Mr. D.
Lawrence, sportsman ; Mr. G. Livingston, Greek ; Mr. and Mrs.
Mortimer Livingston, each half Quaker and half ancient marquis ;
iC^o.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 5
Mr. and Mrs. T. ^V. Ludlow, Court dresses; Miss LeRoy, Greek;
Miss Meredith, Fair Star ; Mr. Edward Laight, Roland Graeme ;
Mr. La Forest, consular uniform ; Mr. Laurie, Crusader ; Mrs.
Anson Livingston, Virgin of the Sun ; Misses Langdc^n, French pay-
sannes ; Miss Helen McEvers, Swiss paysanne ; Mr. Charles
McEvers, Spaniard ; Mr. Bache McEvers, William Penn, and
afterward Cupid ; Miss McVickar and Mr. Messinger, Greeks ;
Mr. Robert Mason, old gentleman ; Mr. McCarty, French mar-
quis ; Mr. McKeon and Mr. Major, Indians ; Mr. and Mrs. ALaron-
celli, Dante and Beatrice ; Miss Major, nun ; Mrs. Norrie, old lady
of quality; Misses O'Donnell, of Baltimore, Greeks; Mr. and Mrs.
J. W. Otis, old gentleman and Night ; Mrs. Jonathan Ogden,
Queen Catharine of Arragon ; Miss Oakley, Priestess of the Sun ;
Mrs. Rufus Prime, Esmeralda ; Miss Palmer, Italian peasant ; Mr.
and Mrs. Pendleton, courtier and Spanish lady ; Mr. and Mrs.
Pearson, uniform and Scotch lady ; Mrs. Panon, Folly ; Miss
Phelps, Spanish lady ; Mr. William Robinson, old gentleman ;
Messrs. Schuyler, peasants ; Mr. N. Schermerhorn, Dutch girl ;
Messrs. John and James Schermerhorn, postilions ; Mr. and Miss
Russell, Mameluke and Lalla Rookh ; Mr. Steiner, Figaro ; Mrs.
Sheldon, Spanish lady ; Mr. H. Sheldon, Paul Pry ; Miss Seton,
Greek ; ]Miss Watson, Greek ; Mr. S. Williams, old gentleman ; Mr.
Wright, Spaniard ; Mr. and Mrs. H. Wilkes, courtier and peasant ;
Mr. John White, Russian soldier.
The " Herald " of this morning contains a long account of the
ball, with a diagram and description of Mr. Brevoort's house ; but,
as it was an implied condition of the reporter's admission that it
should be decent, it was tame, flat, and tasteless.
March 7. — The ancient mansion of the late Mrs.
Real Estate. E. White, No. II Broadway, opposite the Bowling
Green, was sold at auction one day this week, by order
of her executors, and brought only $15,000. The lot is thirty-
nine feet front on Broadway, twenty-seven feet wide in the rear,
and extends through to Greenwich street nearly two hundred
10 THE DIARY OF I'lIII.Il' HONE. [.Etat. 60.
feet. This is the saddest prouf of the fall in real estate in this
devoted city that has been realized as yet. There has been no
time within my recollection that this lot would not have brought
more money, and before General Jackson's accursed experiments
it would have been worth double the price it brought.
^ . , ,. At noon to-day this fortunate steam-packet made
the "Great her appcarancc, after a voyage of sixteen days, having
^^*^''*'^'^"" sailed on the 20th of February. None of her com-
petitors have made their trips with equal despatch and regularity.
Owing to an unprecedented delay in the arrival of the regular
packets, we have been without accounts from England for forty-
one days, which gap has now been filled up by the arrival of the
*' Great Western." There does not appear to have been much
doing the other side of the water during this long period. The
most important event was the marriage of the Queen.
March i i . — My daughter Margaret received, as a present
from London, a piece of the Queen's wedding-cake, enclosed in
a letter from Mrs. Stevenson, lady of the American Minister, and
brought in the "Great Western" by Mr. Cracroft, who was intro-
duced by the same letter. This is all very well, but nothing to
the present which I am told was received by the same conveyance
by Miss Rush, daughter of the former Minister from the United
States. Hers came from the Queen herself, — a piece of the cake,
with a letter enclosed in a beautiful satin-wood box, on which the
letter V is emblazoned in diamonds. This young lady was proba-
bly a companion of Victoria's in their youthful days, when, per-
haps, her childish dreams dared not to soar to the height of her
present greatness, and the " Sea of Glory " on which she now
" swims " had no j^lace on the map of her imagination.
March 12. — The Marquis of Waterford says that the New
York watch-house is the most shocking one he was ever in.
March 19. — The following is in the "Commercial
'^'^^ .. „ Advertiser : " " Among the deaths mentioned in the
and 'Cecilia.' *^
English papers we notice that of Madame D'Arblay,
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. IJ
better known as Miss Burney, author of ' Evelina ' and ' Cecilia,'
two excellent novels that were once extremely popular. She died
in London, on the 6th of January, in the eighty-eighth year of
her age. Her husband was General Piochard, Count D'Arblay."
What a rush of the recollections of old times is here ! Miss
Burney, " Evelina," "Cecilia; " their palmy days were also mine.
When I was a lad, the " young idea " first beginning to put on
its percussion-caps, — fond of reading all things, but especially
doting on novels, — with what avidity did I banquet upon " Eve-
lina," " Cecilia," and the host of novels, all of that class, with
which the British press teemed ! They are dear to my recollec-
tion as identified with, and forming part of, the enjoyment of
that period of my life when the curtain of futurity was rudely
drawn aside by my impatient hands, and I saw a bright and
beautiful world before me ; but its brightness dazzled the eyes so
that the dark places were not distinguished, and beauty was more
pleasant to look upon than deformity.
This class of writings has completely passed away. The plum-
cake school of novels, in which love was the raisins and sentiment
the citron, has given place to Scottish oat-cake, English ship-
biscuit, and French rolls. Walter Scott'« glorious prose stories, in
which the substantial dish composed of traditional history was
charmingly garnished by familiar dialogue and well- known locali-
ties ; and more recently the multitudinous offspring of the prolific
imaginations of DTsraeli, James, Bulwer, Marryat, and the incom-
parable Dickens, have created a new and a better taste ; and
although at this time of day we may go back to Smollett and
Fielding with some remains of our first love, the works of Miss
Burney, Mrs. Radcliffe, and Miss Porter afford no more enjoy-
ment than do the marbles and tops of boyhood to the middle-
aged man engrossed by the cares of this life.
March 20. — My wife and I dined yesterday at Mr. Peter
Schermerhorn's. The party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Constant,
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Parish, Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton, Mr. and
1 3 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 60.
Mrs. Heckscher, Mrs. Brevoort, General Jcnes, Mr. Khremer,
Jones and Mary Schermerhorn, Mr. Maturin Livingston, and
ourselves.
Congress March 37. — The present session of Congress dis-
and the graces the annals of the country. It is a constant scene
Legislature. ^^ tumult and disordcr ; an unscrupulous majority rides
rough -shod over the Constitution and laws, regardless alike of the
rules of parliamentary proceedings and of good manners. The
decent Loco-focos (if there are any) resign the reins of party gov-
ernment to the greatest blackguards in their number, and silently
record their votes in favour of measures which they are ashamed
to justify by reasoning.
Dr. Duncan, of Ohio, and Dr. Petriken, of Pennsylvania, are the
acknowledged leaders of the administration party in the House of
Representatives ; and surely never was poor patient subjected to the
treatment of two such political quacks. Yet there are some decent
men, high-minded Southerners, too (as we have been wont to call
them), who submit to the degradation of mixing the pills, cleaning
the gallipots, and administering the glysters of this precious brace
of political empirics. Another of those disgraceful scenes which
have followed each other in such rapid succession during the whole
of the session occurred on Tuesday. The Treasury -note bill was to
have been forced through without allowing the minority to be hear 1,
and a scene of disorder, vulgarity, and personal abuse continued
without intermission for twenty nine hours. The House met at
twelve o'clock on Tuesday, and continued in session until five
o'clock on Wednesday evening, when they adjourned without taking
the question. These daily recurring scenes of violence and dis-
order and the protracted sessions render the situation of the gen-
tlemen of good habits and respectable characters anything but
agreeable, and one consequence of the irregularities is the inroad
which it begins to make in the health of some of them. That
excellent man, Abbott Lawrence, who is beloved by his friends,
and respected even by his adversaries, has been at the point of
I840.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I9
death. He is an amiable man, and a wise man, and a gentleman,
and therefore unsuited for the society of the Robespierres, and the
Marats, and the Couthons, who constitute the present majority of
our modern Jacobin Club at Washington ; and of such men as
Abbott Lawrence the Whig party in that House is mainly consti-
tuted. Never was seen a contrast so great in aU the qualities that
go to make up a man as is to be seen there ; but the gentlemen
cannot maintain much longer the contest with the blackguards.
The Duncans and the Petrikens — God help us ! — must prevail.
Must things grow worse before they get better? I fear it greatly.
If so it is to be, so be it !
Whilst these scenes are passing in Congress, the Legislature at
Albany is in a state nearly as bad. The registry law has passed the
Senate, and is now in the House, unless it passed there yesterday.
James J. Roosevelt, the leader of the blackguards, in whose person,
as its representative, our poor city is disgraced, takes the lead in
opposition to the law, and resorts to every species of vile, disgrace-
ful conduct and language, in which he is supported by the whole
pack. Order, decency, and subordination are openly condemned,
and they are supported and encouraged by meetings in Tammany
Hall, in which such men as Benjamin F. Butler, district attorney,
and John W. Edmonds, — intruders among us, — blow up the coals
of sedition ; and their Loco-foco followers swear that if the law is
passed they will not observe it, but vote as heretofore, and send
their own men to the Legislature in spite of it, and carry by per-
sonal violence their men and their measures against the laws, if the
laws do not happen to suit them.
A member of the New York delegation named Lasak, a German,
who cannot write, nor even speak English correctly, but who, it
appears, is a litde more honest than his colleagues, had the inde-
pendence the other day, in a speech he made, to differ from his
party on some question of national policy, — something relating to
the currency. He slipped his neck for a brief moment out of the
collar, when immediately he was ordered down to Tammany Hall
20 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 60.
to give an account of himself; his answers were not satisfactory to
his masters, and since his return a committee has been sent up to
demand his resignation. What my countryman will do I know not,
but it is tolerably certain he will not do for his party.
March 28. — There was a great meeting last even-
^^ '"7' ing at Masonic Hall, called by the Whigs to approve
the registry law. It was made the occasion of one of
those scenes of ri(jt and disorder of which we shall have many
more unless such a law is passed, A party of Loco-focos, insti
gated by the Butlers and Edmondses of Tammany Hall, and by the
accursed newspapers supported by them, got possession of one
corner of the room, and on the first movement being made to
organize the meeting they commenced a riotous opposition by
hissing, shouting, and every kind of violence. In the midst of this
tumult Alderman Benson was placed in the chair, with a large
number of vice-presidents and secretaries. The address and reso-
lutions were read and passed unheard, and everything done in
" most admired confusion." Finally this could be no longer borne.
The Whigs, who behaved with great firmness, put the whole rascally
gang of banditti out of the room, and order was so for restored that
Prescott Hall was suffered to go on with an unanswerable argument
in favour of the law, and David (iraham, being called for, addressed
the meeting. At this stage of the proceedings, the room being
exceedingly hot, I came away. On leaving the hall I found my-
self in the midst of a crowd of several thousands, who filled Broad-
way from the Hospital to Duane street, and one of the friends and
disciples of Benjamin F. Butler addressing them from a temporary
elevation, and scattering firebrands in this mass of human com-
bustibles. When the meeting in the hall was about to adjourn, the
banditti returned with a strong reinforcement, broke the furniture
of the room, and the heads of some of our people, and had theirs
broken in return ; and so ended the first scene of a frightfiil drama
which is to be enacted in this devoted city. As for myself, " I like
this rockinu^ of the battlements." I consider it an evidence of the
1840] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 21
conscious weakness of the enemy. As long as they felt strong in
the power of numbers they did not marshal their forces to inter-
rupt the meetings of the Whigs, and their leaders professed them-
selves in fivour of this most righteous law until they found it was
likely to be passed. We have gone too far to retreat ; the word
must be onward now, or we must " ever after hold our peace."
March 30. — Our friends have been alarmed by a
TheRe-istry j-gp^^^-j.^ which was brought down from Albany yester-
day, that Governor Seward hesitates in signing the bill.
It passed the Legislature on Thursday, and was not returned on
Saturday. This hesitation gives new courage to the opposition,
and fresh ferocity to the bloodhounds who are instigated to hunt
down the Whigs. The very delay is appalling to our friends in
the city ; but if the Governor refuses his assent, he and his political
friends are ruined, the State lost, and the glorious sun which " gave
promise of a goodly day to-morrow " will set in the darkness of
T^oco-foco misrule and party despotism.
John Duer and Amory went up this afternoon. At their request
I wrote a letter to the Governor, in strong and urgent terms, but, I
trust, a respectful one. This is an alarming crisis. Seward has
proved himself an able man ; but he has in some things evinced an
unworthy courting of popularity, an affectation of independence
fraught with danger to his party, and I fear he is somewhat obsti-
nate. He has probably some doubts about the power of the
Legislature to pass a law so local in its application ; but Duer has
gone armed with legal ciuthorities to remove all constitutional
scruples. I wish His Excellency had heard Prescott Hall on this
branch of the subject, on Friday evening. They tell me that I
have some influence with him ; if it be so, my letter will do no
harm. The news by to-night's boat will be anxiously looked for.
Governor Seward has the destiny of the country in his hands. God
grant he may make a proper use of his power !
April i. — To our surprise, this morning's boat brought the news
of the Governor having signed the bill as it passed the Legislature.
22 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. Co.
April io. — The Whigs are more ardent and active,
Election. and, they say, better organized than usual, for the char-
ter election, which is to be held on Tuesday. Im-
mense meetings take place every night at the general and ward
places of rendezvous. Processions parade the streets at night with
music, torches, and banners ; the prevailing device for the latter is
the Ioq-cabi)i ; and we had hard cider, which has become the foun-
tain (:>{ Whig inspiration. In an evil hour the Loco-focos taunted
the Harrison men with having selected a candidate who lived in
a log-cabin and drank hard cider, which the Whigs, with more
adroitness than they usually display, appropriated to their own use,
and now on all their banners and transparencies the temple of
Liberty is transformed into a hovel of unhewn logs ; the military
garb of the general, into the frock and the shirt-sleeves of a labour-
ing farmer. The American eagle has taken his flight, which is
supplied by a cider-barrel, and the long-established emblem of the
ship has given place to the plough. Hurrah for Tippecanoe ! is
heard more frequently than Hurrah for the. Constitution ! " Behold
old things are i^assed away, and all things have become new."'
Thus is it that our opponents have, by their silly, disparaging epi-
thets applied to the Whig candidate, furnished us with weapons
the use of which is understood by every man in our ranks ; and,
whatever may be the result of this election, the hurrah is heard
and felt in every part of the Unitetl States.
Albany, April 19. — I went to the Oovernor's this morning, and
accompanied Mrs. Seward and him to St. Paul's Churcli, — a beau-
tiful edifice in South Pearl street, which was formerly the theatre.
The rector is the Rev. Mr. Kip, son of Leonard Kip of this city,
and son-in-law of Isaac Lawrence. He gave us a good sermon,
and appears to be a favourite of a very respectable congregation.
The temple of Thespis is greatly improved since it has been dedi-
cated to the worship of the Most High, and sanctified by the name
of the great apostle of the Gentiles. There is no theatre at
pr jsent in Albany ; and it is somewhat remarkable that in this large
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 23
city, the resort of persons from all parts of the State, the seat of
the Legislature and of the Supreme Court, during a large portion
of the year the theatre has never been successful.
Having no other day to give to my excellent friend, the Lieu-
tenant-Governor, I dined with him to-day at his lodgings, at Mrs.
Lockwood's, in Pearl street, and a most delightful dinner it was.
Our party, besides the hj.it and hostess, consisted of the Governor,
who came in soon after dinner, Sibley, Ruggles, John A. King, E.
Townsen(i, of New York, and myself. We sat until nine o'clock ;
talked wisdom and nonsense, law and poetry, puns and politics ;
drank deep of delicious wine, the venerable resident for thirty
years of the Lieutenant-Governor's wine-room in Pearl street, near
our Battery, and broke up a protracted sitting, each with the
conviction that "it was well to have been there."
At Home, April 20. — I left Albany at seven o'clock, in the
" North America." She is a fine new vessel, and burns Lackawanna
coal, which answers exceedingly well, and only costs half as much
as wood. The use of coal for steam navigation must inevitably
become general ; all the boats built hereafter will be adapted to its
use. Travelling on the North river is cheaper than anything I
know of, except American shirtings at five cents a yard. Passen-
gers are conveyed one hundred and fifty miles in a vessel with
every convenience and luxury, and get a good breakfast and
dinner, all for two dollars. I wonder people do not live on
board instead of going to the Astor House. We arrived in New
York at half-past five o'clock.
April 23. — One of those scenes occurred in the
Congress. Housc of Representatives on Tuesday, the almost daily
occurrence of which has, of late, called up the blush of
shame upon the cheek of every American who retains the least re-
gird for the honour of the country. That superlatively dirty dog,
Jesse A. Bynum, whilst Mr. Salstonstall was speaking, left his seat,
went near to that of Mr. Garland, of Louisiana, whom he designated
by therour/t'(?us appellation of a " damn'd liar," whereupon Gar-
24 THE DIARY OF PIIIIJP IIOI^^E. [^tat. 60.
land seized Bynum by the collar and struck him. The latter seized
a knife, which he was prevented frum using by the interference of
the members. This new outrage upon the small remains of dignity
in the })eople's own representatives was submitted to a special
committee, consisting of Underwood, Cooper of Georgia, Briggs,
Butler of Kentucky, and CHfford, with power to send for persons
and papers, light up a little fire whilst tlie indignation lasts, and
then smother it in ])arty smoke.
April 24. — My daughter and I went last evening to a party at
Mrs. Van Rensselaer's, the lovely Mary Tallmadge of other times.
They reside with the (General, in Waverly Place. The party was
very })leasant, and I found many agreeable people there. My
going to a party has become quite a notable event.
Mav 3. — The '' Great Western" arrived this morning, in eighteen
days from Bristol, with a great number of passengers, among whom
are the celebrated opera-dancer, Fanny Ellsler, and her sister, who
are engaged for the Park Theatre. She has been anxiously looked
for, and will create a sensation like that which marked the advent
of George Frederick Cooke. She is second only in P2uroi)e to the
immortal occupant of mid-air, the Taglioni. Madame la Comtesse
de Merlin, the biographer of Malibran, is also a i)assenger, and Mr.
and Mrs. C. F. Moulton, Mr. Cunard of Halifax, and the widow of
Stephen Price.
The news by the "Great Western" is unfavourable. Cotton is
dog-cheaj) ; and American securities, owing, I suppose, to the
rascally conduct of the Pennsylvania Legislature in refusing to
provide for the payment of the interest on their loans, are in bad
odour in England. It must be an embarrassing thing to a true-
hearted American (if there is such a one in P^urope) to know
how to act when he hears his countrymen designated as a nation
of swindlers, to which he must be hourly exposed.
" ' lis true, 'tis pity — and jMty 'tis, 'tis true."
May II, 1S40. — On my return from Long Lsland I found two
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 25
letters, which were brought by Fanny Ellsler, she who has set New
York agog for marvellous saltatory exhibitions, and whose heels are
to turn all our heads. They are from Christopher Hughes, at
Stockholm, and Samuel Welles, at Paris. Hughes asks me to give
" to this really excellent and kind-hearted stranger the benefit and
the honour of your kindness and protection," and adds, " I can
assure you that Miss Fanny is as good as she is graceful." Welles's
letter is as warm as Hughes's, making the proper allowance for the
difference in the temperament of the two writers. I could not, there-
fore, do less than call and pay my respects to the fair danseuse as
early this morning, after my return, as possible. I went to the
American Hotel at twelve o'clock, sent my card, and was told the
lady was not dressed, but would be charmed to see monsieur at four
o'clock ; now I think, four o'clock being his dinner-hour, " monsieur"
will not find it quite convenient to visit mademoiselle at that hour.
, The papers are filled with accounts of the great Whig
^ '^ . Convention held in Baltimore on Monday last. The
Convention. ■'
number of delegates was prodigious, — thirty thousand,
it is said. There was a grand procession, with banners, log-
cabins, cider-barrels, balls in motion, and every device which the
fancy could suggest. All the States were represented, and each
endeavoured to outvie the others in the loud, exulting shout of
" Hurrah for Harrison ! " Several distinguished members of Con-
gress came on from Washington to attend this affair, which is
represented, in one of the accounts from Baltimore, as " the most
remarkable assemblage, in point of numbers, character, harmony,
and zeal, ever gathered together in these United States." Messrs.
Webster, Clay, Graves, Hoffman, Cost Johnson, and Salstonstall
were of the number, and made speeches in Monument square and
at the Assembly Rooms, where the meetings were held. It could
hardly be supposed that the Loco-focos, goaded to madness by
such an overwhelming foreshadowing of defeat, could be restrained
from acts of violence. The procession was assaulted by some
wretches with stones and brickbats, and a respectable carpenter
;26 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.i:tat.6o.
of Baltimore, a delegate to the convention, named McLaughlin,
was killed by one of those missiles, and the body of another, with a
Harrison badge, was found, with marks of violence, in the basin.
Amongst the other proceedings of the convention a resolution was
adopted to raise a subscription fur the relief of McLaughlin's
family, to which none were allowed to contribute more than a
dollar; and with this restriction an amount of between $7,000 and
$8,000 was raised, of which the Massachusetts delegation con-
tributed $1,000.
A Van Buren Convention was organized in Balti-
an uren ^Qre, ou Tucsday, at which (ieneral Carroll presided.
Convention. i j i x
It appears to have been a sickly concern, a creeping
plant, withering under the shade of the mighty Harrison tree,
which overshadows the land, and keeps the sun of popular favour
from shining upon its " unwholesome neighbour." At this meeting,
on the motion of Mr. Buchanan, it was resolved to dispense with a
ballot for President, no opposition having been raised to Mr. Van
Buren; but not so with the Vice -Presidency. On this subject the
demon of discord had already lighted his torches. The Tecumseh
killer, the present incumbent, has not by any means so clear a title,
and the claims of Mr. Forsyth of Georgia, and Mr. Polk of
Tennessee, presented obstacles so formidable to the necessary
appearance of union, that further drilling was thought necessary,
and it was voted inexpedient to nominate a candidate for the second
office in the government. This result was so unpalatable to the
Southern pride of Mr. Forsyth, the Secretary of State, that he has
since come out with an address to his party, under his proper sig-
nature, in which he retires from the contest with a very bad grace,
snarling and showing his teeth, and retreating tail foremost, like a
disappointed cur who has been driven from the bone for which his
mouth watered.
May 12. — I called yesterday upon Miss Fanny
Fanny Eiisier. Kllslcr. She is an exceedingly fascinating person, not
verv handsome. Her face has lost its bright bloom,
1840.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 2/
and her complexion appears to be somewhat flided, — the result,
probably, of the violent muscular exertions which are required in
the profession ; but her manners are ladylike. She is gay and
lively, and altogether the most perfectly graceful lady I have ever
seen ; further the deponent saith not. She is to make her first
appearance at the Park Theatre, on Thursday evening, in the ballet
of " La Tarantule," which all the world will witness, who can gain
admission to the theatre. Fashion and taste and curiosity are all
on tiptoe to see her on tiptoe, and the pocket of many a sober pa
will be drained to furnish the means to his wife and daughters to
witness her /as.
May 14. — K dejeuner a la fourchette ys, something
b/ kfaT *^^ ^ of ^ novelty in this country, and the last imitation of
European refinement. This series of breakfasts given
by Mr. William Douglass, at' his fine mansion, corner of Park place
and Church street, can hardly be called an imitation ; for in taste,
elegance, and good management it goes beyond most things of the
kind in Europe, and seems to be placed as a bright object in the
overwhelming flood of vulgarity which is sweeping over our land.
The first of these breakfasts was given last Thursday, and they are
to be repeated weekly until further notice. My daughters went
then, and their favourable account induced me to join the throng
of beauty and fashion this day. The company assembles at about
one o'clock, and remains until four. Breakfast is served at two
o'clock, and consists of coffee and chocolate, light dishes of meat,'
ice-cream and confectionery, with lemonade and French and 'Ger-
man wines. The first two floors, elegantly furnished, of this spa-
cious house are thrown open; the dining-room opens into a beau-
tiful conservatory, in which, amongst other pleasant objects, is an
aviary of singing- birds, the delicate notes of the canary mingling
sweetly with the shrill pipe of the foreign bullfinch, and the whole
concert regulated and stimulated by the great leader of the feath-
ered orchestra, our own native mocking-bird. A band, also, of a
more material nature, plays at the head of the stairs during the
28 THE DIARY OF PIIILir HONE. [.Etat. 60.
whole time of the entertainment, and after the young folk have
partaken of their breakfast-dinner, cotillons and waltzes are danced
until the hour of reluctant departure. The honours of the house are
performed in good taste by the bachelor host, assisted by his sisters,
Mrs. Douglass Crugcr and Mrs. Monroe, and his cousin, Mrs. Kane.
Many and many a night has passed since the walls
of the Park have witnessed such a scene. Fanny
Debut. ^
Ellsler, the bright star whose rising in our firmament
has been anxiously looked for by the fashionable astronomers since
its transit across the ocean was announced, shone forth in all its
brilliancy this evening. Her reception was the warmest and most
enthusiastic I ever witnessed. On her first appearance, in a pas
seul called la Cracoviennc, which was admirably adapted to set off
her fine figure to advantage, the pit rose in a mass, and the waves
of the great animated ocean were capped by hundreds of white
pocket-handkerchiefs. The dance was succeeded by a farce, and
then came the ballet " La Tarantule," in which the Ellsler estab-
lished her claim to be considered by far the best dancer we have
ever seen in this country. At the falling of the curtain she was
called out; the pit rose in a body and cheered her, and a shower
of wreaths and bouquets from the boxes proclaimed her success
complete. She appeared greatly overcome by her reception, and
coming to the front of the stage, pronounced, in a tremulous voice,
in broken English, the words '* A thousand thanks," the naivcic of
which seemed to rivet the hold she had gained on the affections
of the audience.
All the boxes were taken several days since, and in half an hour
after the time proclaimed for the sale of pit tickets the house
was full, so that when we arrived, which was a full hour bcfjre
the time of commencing the performance, placards were exhibited
with the words " Pit full," " Boxes all taken." This wise arrange-
ment prevented confusion. The house, although full in every
part, was not crowded, and a more respectable audience never
greeted the fair danseusc in any country she has charmed.
1840.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 29
May 29. — This splendid estate on the North
Hyde Park. river, fjrni'^rly the property of the late Dr. Hosack,
has been sold by his heirs to Mr. Langdon, Mr.
Astor's son-in-law, for ;>45,ooo. The ground sold with it is all
on the west side of the Post road, and extends to the grounds
attached to the cottage which belongs to Mrs. Hosack. The
creek an 1 water-power are reserv^ed by the heirs. This is the
finest place on the North river ; indeed, I never saw one any-
where which possessed natural advantages so great.
June 2. — The career of the infamous editor of the " Herald "
seems at last to have met with a check, which his unblushing
impudence will find some difficulty in recovering from. Some
of his late remarks have been so profane and scandalous as to
have drawn out the other editors from the contemptuous silence
which they have hitherto observed toward the scoundrel. In one
of his late attacks upon the editors of the " Evening Signal " and
another paper, in alluding to some personal deformity in each of
them, he uses the shocking expression that they are " cursed by
the Almighty." The evil has reached a pitch of enormity which
renders further forbearance criminal, and a simultaneous attack
is made upon the libellous paper, its editor, and those who, from
fear or a fellow-feeling, support it. The "Evening Star" has
several excellent articles on this loathsome subject. Bennett is
absolutely excoriateei in the " Signal ; " and all the other papers,
without regard to party, have joined the righteous crusade. This
is the only thing to be done ; the punishment of the law adds to
the fellow's notoriety, and personal chastisement is pollution to him
who undertakes it. Write him down, make respectable people
withdraw their support from the vile sheet, so that it shall be con-
sidered disgraceful to read it, and the serpent will be rendered
harmless ; and this effect is likely to be produced by the united
efforts of the respectable part of the public press.
June 5. — The steamer "Unicorn," the first of Mr. Cunard's
line, which is to run from Liverpool to Halifax and thence to
30 THE DIAKV OF I'UILIP HONE. [.Etat. 60.
Boston, arrived at Halifax on Monday, the ist instant, and
departed thence the same evening for Boston, where she ar-
rived on We(hies(lay evening. She left Liverpool on the i6th
of May. This is an important event for Boston. The new-
comer was received there with firing of guns and other rejoicings.
The establishment of this line will take from New York a con-
siderable part of the great passenger business, which she has
heretofore exclusively enjoyed. The British officers can go all
the way to Quebec in these steamers, and the people of the
British North American colonies, naturally preferring an enterprise
of their own, and finding it less expensive, as they avoid transship-
ments and land travelling, will no longer spend their money in
New York hotels or help support the New York packets. Boston,
too, will come in for a share of this lucrative business, and with
the assistance of their great railroad, which is nearly complete to
Albany, will soon crow as loud as we do ; but it is to be hoped
there is enough for all.
June ii. — The sixteenth volume of this journal is placed
upon the shelf, and I now open up the window which looks upon
a long vista of pages yet unsullied to constitute the seventeenth.
Shall I live to fill them ; or, if alive, will the ability and the inclina-
tion remain? If the first be granted, I fervently pray the latter
may not be withheld. Life without the power of indulging in a
habit so pleasing, which, while it gratifies me, injures no one,
would scarcely be worth enjoying. Before this volume is filled I
shall have completed my sixtieth year, and with some cause for re-
pining at my altered circumstances, I have much to be thankful
for. My health is good, except some occasional twitches of lum-.
bago, which causes me to grunt a little and make wry faces when I
arise from my chair. I live pleasantly with all my family around me,
but it grieves me to see three grown-up sons out of employment.
The hard times (of which I participate largely) still continue
with unabated severity. Business of all kinds is completely at a
stand j the productions of the country at the lowest ebb ; flour
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 3 1
four dollars a barrel ; cotton a drug in foreign markets ; American
securities, by the bad management of some of the State govern-
ments, are in the worst possible repute in those countries where
formerly they were relied upon with full confidence ; party- spirit
prevailing over the land and obstructing the course of justice and
wholesome legislation ; and the whole body politic sick and infirm,
and calling aloud for a remedy.
The only comfort in this dismal state of affairs is, that a remedy
does seem to be at hand in the daily increasing confidence that the
administration, whose bad measures lie at the root of all evil, is
about to be put down. The Whigs are sanguine in their hopes of
electing General Harrison to the Presidency, which happy event,
by restoring public confidence, will go far to bring about a better
state of things, and individual enterprise will naturally grow up
alongside of national prosperity. If I live, the volume I now com-
mence will record this "consummation devoutly to be wished,"
or its pages will bear the melancholy intelligence of hope de-
stroyed forever.
June 12. — Strange inconsistency ! It is hard reason-
Fanny Eiisier. ing against facts ; every word I have said in the pre-
ceding pages about hard times and pecuniary difficulties
is strictly true, and yet the fascinating creature whose name heads
this article finished last evening her engagement at the Park
Theatre, having danced fifteen nights, and brought to the house
something like $24,000, at the ordinary prices, of which sum she
puts $9,000 or $10,000 in her own pocket. The seats have all been
taken every night, and it appears to me if the theatre had been
twice as large it would have been equally full. She took her leave
last evening in the ballet of " La Sylphide," and two of her
favourite dances, smothered under a shower of wreaths and bou-
quets of flowers. Amidst the waving of handkerchiefs and three
full, thundering rounds of hurrahs, she came and, in a short speech
of sweet, broken English, expressed her gratitude, the regret with
which she left New York, and her determination soon to return.
32 THE DIARY OF PI 1 1 LI I' HONE. [/Etat. 60.
She is to dance in Philadelphia on Monday evening, where she has
made an engagement at the moderate price of $500 a night ; her re-
ceipts here being predicated on the amount in the house each night,
and that amount being greater than ever was received for the same
number of consecutive nights, has produced more than what she has
stipulated for in Philadelphia. Her success has been increased by
the certainty of her stay being short. She is determined to visit
Niagara and other places after her engagement is completed, and
must sail on the first of October, as she is engaged in Paris the
middle of that month. It is well for us that it is so. If she were
to continue long enough in this country, and the popular fever
remain at its present height, she would carry back ta France all
the indemnity money which Brother Jonathan squeezed out of his
*' ancient ally."
There was a sort of informal revival of the club
Hone Club. yesterday at John Ward's, who succeeds his brother
Samuel, at the corner of Bond street, The old club,
with four or five supernumeraries, dined together in our ancient
pleasant style. Of the members, eight were present : viz., John
Ward, William G. Ward, Simeon Draper, Charles H. Russell, Ros-
well L. Colt, J. Prescott Hall, S. H. Blatchford, Jonathan Amory, and
myself. We agreed to dine with Mr. Colt at Paterson next Friday.
June 16. — Another link is broken in the chain of
M^ * L d' '^y social relations, another warning given of the pass-
ing away of my generation. My old and valued friend,
David Lydig, died this morning, at six o'clock. He has been in bad
health the last two years, but had rallied of late, and appeared to
be gaining strength until his last illness. He died in the seventy-
sixth year of his age, much older than I, but an intimate friend and
associate for nearly forty years. He was one of a set who, although
my seniors, were my in*imate companions about the time of my
entrance into society, and with whom I continued in pleasant asso-
ciation until they dropped away one by one, and now I am almost
the only one left. How many good dinners I have eaten at poor
iS40.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE.
:)j
Lydig's expense, and how many hours have I passed in his society !
He was a just man, prudent and careful in the management of his
affairs, unexceptionable in his deportment, with some old-fashioned
aristocratic notions, an exceeding good liver, fond of fine wine,
which, however, he drank in moderation, but less prudent in the
enjoyment of the other pleasures of the table. He was, in short,
a gentleman of the old school, — a race which is nearly extinct ; for
as the old oaks decay and die off, their places are supplied by an
undergrowth less hardy, majestic, and graceful.
The great log-cabin in Broadway, near Prince street,
og-ca in ^^^^^ dedicated this eveninsr to Harrison and Reform.
Meeting. '-^
It is a large edifice, constructed of unhewn logs, in the
most primitive style, with a large pavilion connected with it. The
whole occupies the entire area of ground, fifty feet by one hundred,
and will hold an immense number of persons ; its capacity was
tried on this occasion ; every part of the spacious cabin was full.
The meeting was organized by the appointment of General
Bogardus as president, with seventeen vice-presidents and three
secretaries. There were capital speeches from gentlemen of Ohio,
Indiana, and Kentucky, amongst whom Mr. Ewing, the former
distinguished United States senator from Ohio, whose hand was
warm from the recent pressure of General Harrison's, was exceed-
ingly interesting. Joshua Spencer, of Utica, was one of the speak-
ers. Blunt, also, made a speech, and Hoxie. The whole affair
was cheering and enthusiastic. Never did the friends of Mr. Van
Buren make so great a mistake as when by their sneers they fur-
nished the Whigs those powerful weapons, "log-cabin " and "hard
cider; " they work as the hickory-poles did for Jackson. It makes
a personal hurrah for Harrison, which cannot in any way be gotten
up for Van Buren, and which will, from present appearance, carry
him into the Presidency.
June i8. — It is strange that this term, by which was
Federalism, designated in former times the purest, the wisest, and
the most patriotic political party which ever existed.
34 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.€tat. 60.
should continue to be a term of reproach, and the means of excit-
ing the bad feelings and prejudices of the people, even now, when
it has ceased to be a bond of union or badge of party, and when
all but those who use it for sinister purposes are more ignorant of
its meaning than they are of the Talmud. The fact is, that the
Federal party, as it was originally constituted, embraced nearly all
the great and glorious spirits of the Revolution, and all the real
friends of the people. It numbered its Washington and Greene in
the field of battle, its Ames and Morris in the halls of Legislature,
its Jays and Ellsworths on the bench, and its Hamilton and Mar-
shall at the forum. But this great party is extinct ; the disin-
terested and patriotic part of its members stand upon their original
ground as the advocates of national liberty and sound principles,
and are opposed to the present corrupt administration, which sacri-
fices the rights of the people to the maintenance of the party's
supremacy; whilst the men whose ultra-tory principles brought
into disrepute the name Federalist are odious in the eyes of the
people. Both parties apply the word as a term of reproach to
their adversaries ; the poor term, which abstractedly means every-
thing good and gracious in America, and in its application sought
only the good of the people and the preservation of Republican
principles, is bandied about like a shuttlecock by the pubUc press
on both sides, and by partisan declaimers from the Senate chamber
down to the log- cabins, where the sovereigns assemble to prove
their patriotism by abusing their political opponents.
Even General Harrison, in whose support all the good men of
the country are banded together under the name of Whigs (a
name, by the bye, to which I stand godfother, having been the
first to use it at a political meeting, of which I was president, at
Washington Hall), and on whose success the permanency of Repub-
lican institutions mainly depends, deems it necessary, in order to
gain the favour of the people, to repudiate, as the greatest calumny
with which he has been assailed, the charge of having formerly
been a Federalist. In his speech at the recent great Whig cele-
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 35
bration on the battle-ground of Fort Meigs, where thirty thousand
persons are said to have been assembled, his renunciation of the
charge of having belonged to a party of which Washington was
the leader, was thus indignandy made, and thus responded to by
the assembled multitude : " I have been called a Federalist (here
was a loud cry of ' The charge is a lie, — a base lie ; you are no Fed-
eralist ! ' ) Well, what is a Federalist? I recollect what the word
formerly signified, and there are many others present who recollect
its former signification also. They know that the Federal party was
accused of a design to strengthen the hand of the general govern-
ment at the expense of the separate States. That accusation could
not, nor cannot, apply to me. I was brought up after the manner
of Virginian anti-Federalism. St. Paul himself was not a greater
devotee to the doctrines of the Pharisees than I was, by inclina-
tion and a father's precepts and example, to anti-Federalism."
June 24. — Dined at R. B. Minturn's, where we had a famous
party of Whigs, with a great deal of joviality, for we had good wine
and good company; much speaking, for we were composed of
congressmen, senators, and lawyers principally ; and entire unanim-
ity, inasmuch as we were all of one mind on the only subject which
divides men now-a-days, and excites personal asperity. We had
Grinnell and two fine Georgians, members of the House of Repre-
sentatives, Dawson and King, Verplanck and Sibley of the State
Senate, and a fine, fat fellow, Swain of New Bedford, who goes
amongst his friends by the title of " Governor," famous for hospi-
tality and kind feelings, and all sorts of qualities for endearing him-
self to them, and with a most authentic certificate in his broad,
good-natured face of the possession of all the good qualities im-
puted to him.
July 3. — There is an admirable letter published of
r. e sers a j-j^g defender of the Constitution," in reply to an
Letter. ' ^ •'
invitation from the Whigs of New Hampshire to at-
tend their convention, which he declines. Nothing more able
than this letter has ever issued from Mr. Webster's pen ; it is the
36 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 60.
best, the clearest, and the most condensed exposition of the meas-
ures of the administration, and their effects upon the present pros-
perity and future prospects of the country, I have seen from any
quarter, and must produce conviction, even in poor, misguided
New Hampshire. Mr. Webster speaks in terms of the greatest
confidence of General Harrison's election.
Albany, July 17. — In the morning I went to see the two glo-
rious pictures, which are nearly finished, of the series my friend
Cole is painting for Mr. Samuel Ward's femily (they having been
ordered before his death ) . These pictures are glorious. The series,
when completed, will form an allegory of the four stages of life.
July 22. — The United States Hotel, large as it is,
. ara oga ^^^| ^.^p^^^^jg ^f accommodatiug so many, is now quite
full. A large proportion, however, are persons whom I
have never seen before ; a few are agreeable, but much the largest
proportion consists of awkward women and stupid men. A little
yeast, however, has been infused to-day into this mass of unintel-
lectual dough by the arrival of several of our clever New York
lawyers, who have come up to make niofions, — not such motions as
people generally make who come here, but motions in the Chan-
cellor's little house up the road. There is William Kent, Dudley
Selden, Prescott Hall, Charles O'Connor, Samuel A. Foot, and
General Sanford. The first two have brought their agreeable wives
with them. They are quite a pleasant accession to the circle in
the ladies' drawing-room.
July 23. — I passed a couple of hours this morning
anc. or s .^_^ ^^^ Chauccllor's Court, and was much pleased ; it
Court. ' '■ ^
is held in a small office in a wing in his dwelling-
house, which serves as a law library, very extensive, and I should
judge well selected. His Honour sits at his desk, on a platform
raised about a foot, his habiliments not remarkably neat, panta-
loons drawn half-way up to his knees, drinking most intem-
perately of water (his only drink, as he is president of the tee-
totallers), talking famiharly with the lawyers on points as they
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 37
arise in the case, and frequently interrupting the speaker, in what
appeared to me rather an abrupt manner, which I think must be a
stumbUng-block in the way of young counsellors ; but I liked it
very much. There were about twenty lawyers, seated without order,
some at a green table, but the greater number on chairs with
their backs against the wall, and their legs cocked up ; everything
was easy and unconstrained, but quiet and decorous. The
Chancellor does a great deal of the talking himself, but is
treated with great respect. It looked very like a schoolmaster
and his pupils, only the boys were a little too big to answer the
description of the latter.
The cause before the court whilst I was there was a motion for
an injunction to prevent a man named Lance from selling a famous
nostrum called '^ Brandreth's Pills," or, rather, from using a coun-
terfeit label, with a signature and device of the " real Simon Pure."
Mr. Muloch argued the cause for the defendant, and the motion
was sustained in an able speech by Mr. O'Connor, a distinguished
member of the New York bar, and a very clever fellow. The na-
ture of the cause gave occasion to some mirth, in which even the
grave Chancellor was compelled sometimes to join. In one of his
interruptions he asked Muloch some question about the pills.
"We'll take the pills directly," said the counsellor, quite inno-
cently. — " Not I," said His Honour ; " I shall not take any of
your pills." — " If he does," said General Sanford (who was
employed for the complainant), "I trust they will be the genuine
ones."
In the course of the argument a printed paper was produced,
which caused some amusement. It was one of those stupendous
puffs of Dr. Brandreth, in which was enumerated all the diseases,
fifty-two in number, which were cured by the pills, and which leads
me to wonder why mankind should stupidly refuse to render them-
selves immortal at so trifling an expense. To these modest cre-
dentials was affixed the signature of B. Brandreth, M.D., with the
additional letters in capitals, M.E.V.P.L.V.S. This gave room
38 THE DIARY OF I'llILlP HONE. [.Etat. 60.
for sundry learned and philological inquiries into the meaning of
these cabalistical letters, which unfortunately for the cause of sci-
ence led to no successful results. Whilst this was going on, I wrote
with my pencil and liandcd to Mr. (3'Connor the following solution,
which was handed amongst the lawyers, and was very near getting
up to the schoolmaster's desk, — in which event my impertinence
might peradventure have been rewarded with the ferule, — Most
Excellent, Veritable Pills, Laxative, Vomitive, Sudorific.
On the whole, I was favourably impressed with the colloquial
manner of transacting business in this great court of little form, the
objects of wliich seem to be, to elicit truth and administer justice.
Ji'LY 27. — The friends of Van Buren and arbitrary
Sub-Treasury ^^^^^ j_^_^^^^ j^^^j ^ crreat iollification this afternoon, in
Jubilee. ^ •* '
Castle Garden, to celebrate the passage of the sub-
treasury bill. And so they would, if Mr. Van Buren, like the Aus-
trian Governor Gessler, had succeeded in placing his cap upon a
pole, to receive the homage of his Swiss followers. John Targee
presided at the meeting, and Aaron Vanderpoel and a celebrated
Van Buren serf, Rantoul of Boston, addressed them ; and a hundred
guns were fired, and caps were thrown up, and shouts rent the air
at the prospect of the people of these United States, by the grace
of God, free and independent as the formula prescribes, having
been brought under subjection.
The good people of Boston are so delighted at the
T^"hT'^ l)rospect of rivalling New York, that they are in per-
fect ecstasies at the arrival of the steamship " Bri-
tannia," and have made a glorification of my little friend Cunard,
the enterprising proprietor of the line, of the most magnificent
proportions. He was feted and feasted, and toted and toasted, to
his heart's content. A grand pavilion was erected at South Bos-
ton, where the line of packets have their wharves. Two thousand
persons partook of the good cheer ; Mr. Webster and Mr. Grattan
and other eloquent men made speeches ; and Mr. Cunard did not
make a speech, because (as he said) he didn't know how. The
1840 J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 39
bright eyes of hundreds of the fair daughters of Boston enlight-
ened the brilHant scene, and the roar of cannon might have been
heard, had the wind been easterly, by the unwilling ears of the chop-
fallen New Yorkers. Among the toasts was the following, " not
so bad either," as Fanny Kemble said of my poetry : " Mr. Cu-
nard, the only man who has dared to heat the ' British Queen ! ' "
September i. — Power made his first appearance
Power. last evening, at the Park Theatre. I went this evening
to see him in a new farce, " Last Legs," and enjoyed
it most heartily. He is the very life and soul of genuine, unadul-
terated humour, and if laughing be wholesome his acting is a pana-
cea of more value than the far-famed pills of " B. Brandreth, M.D.,
M.E.V.P.L.V.S." It is a great evidence of Power's powers in the
art of drawing that he brings good houses now in this dull season,
and when the playgoing people have been so heavily dragged by
Fanny EUsler. But the fact is, the roast beef and plum-pudding
of Power does not relish the worse for our having feasted on
^'volatile au supreme'^ and " ailes de pigeon.'" His " Last Legs"
pleased me quite as much as the last legs I saw of the divine
danseuse, and his Irish brogue is quite effective, if not so fascinat-
ing, as her "tousand tanks."
Boston, Sept. 9. — Here I am, to join the Whig
^ '^ . Convention to be held to-morrow on Bunker Hill, and
Convention. '
from appearances it will be the grandest spectacle I
ever witnessed. I left Newport in the steamer "Massachusetts,"
and arrived at Providence at half- past eight, having two hours and
a half on my hands before the time of starting of the cars for
Boston. I employed the time in walking through the town with
Mr. Ruggles, a gentleman of Newport, and viewing the fine houses
and noble establishments of the nabobs of that wealthy and pros-
perous place.
On my arrival in Boston everything was in commotion ; the
Whig delegations were pouring in from every quarter ; the streets
were crowded, and happy was the man who had a permit to sleep
40 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^^Itat. 60.
in the market. I soon found that my good star was in the ascend-
ant. I had notes and messages from several friends to say that
they had lodgings provided for me ; amongst others, Mr. Otis
brought me an invitation from Mr. Cabot. Mr. Sargent was the
most pressing ; he had provided beds for Ogden Hoffman and
me. Hoffman accepted ; but Mr. Belknap having vacated his
room for me in the kindest manner, I took possession of it, and
remained at the Tremont House, where I was lodged like a prince.
One of the most remarkable things about this great Whig festival,
and which proves most clearly the spirit with which it is entered
into, is the noble hospitality with which the first people in the city
have opened their doors, spread their tables, and vacated their
bedchambers for the accommodation of the delegates. Mr. Otis
is to have a table spread for all comers. The committee of ar-
rangements are constantly receiving notices from the most respecta-
ble of the citizens : " I have so many beds ; " "I shall have a
luncheon ; " " Send me so many strangers to take care of! " It is
so like Boston.
September 10. — The great day is over, and how shall I attempt
to describe it? The weather, which was doubtful last night, was
bright this morning, and the delegates from other States and from
the different towns in Massachusetts began to assemble on the
Common at nine o'clock, with tlieir standards, badges, and other
paraphernalia. The scene began very soon to be of the most
exciting character. Crowds were pressing toward the spot from
every quarter. The windows of the fine houses which surround
the Common were filled with well-dressed ladies. Horsemen were
galloping to and fro, and old men of the Revolution tottering
toward the places allotted to them. The marquee of the chief
marshal, Franklin Dexter, was placed in the centre of the Com-
mon, whence issued troops of handsome young men on horseback
and on foot, with their badges of ofiice, conveying his orders
to distant points and completing the general arrangements. I was
directed to join the other invited guests at the State House, where
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 41
I met Webster, the president of the day, and many other distin-
guished men. The procession did not begin to move until twelve
o'clock. It was headed by an escort of men on horseback to the
number of more than two thousand ; then followed forty or fifty car-
riages, containing the Revolutionary soldiers and some others who
were too aged to walk ; after which the chief marshal and commit-
tee of arrangements, the president of the day, members of Congress
and invited guests, and then the different delegations, with flags
and banners "floating the skies," devices of all kinds, and mottoes,
some excellent, others so-so, and others displaying more party
zeal than either wit or good sense. Of those I saw I was most
pleased with a whale-boat from New Bedford, with all the appara-
tus for taking the whale and extracting the oil, manned by six old
masters of whale-ships, and drawn on a car by six gray horses ;
and with a colossal shoe from Lynn, in which were seated a num-
ber of sturdy shoemakers from that celebrated town of Massachu-
setts, in which shoemaking is the sole occupation. The procession
moved up Beacon street and down the other side of the Common ;
thence through several of the principal streets in that part of the
city, by Faneuil Hall, around which it made a complete circuit,
and so by the wharves and streets occupied by working-people, to
Charlestown Bridge, which it crossed, proceeded through Charles-
town, and arrived at Bunker Hill after a march of two hours and
a half.
The president and invited guests occupied a stage, and the dele-
gations were marshalled in their allotted places as they severally
came on the ground, — a work which occupied a long time, and
before they all got to it the ceremonies commenced by a short
address from Mr. Webster. The Bunker Hifl declaration (copies
of which had been printed and distributed on the route) was then
read by Mr. Winthrop, after which several of the distinguished
visitors were introduced to the audience, and each, in turn, made
a short speech much to the purpose. This honour was conferred
upon me. Mr. Webster presented me as his friend, and informed
:ij2 THE DIARY OF PIIlLlP HONE. [/Rtat. 6o.
the people that I was the person who first distinguished the party
by the appellation of Whigs. I spoke a few minutes, and concluded
by saying that it appeared to me that all the men in the United
States were present, and that they had better cut the matter short
by going into the election at once. " As many of you, therefore," I
said, at the top of my voice, " as are willing to have William Henry
Harrison for your President will please to say Aye." This was
responded to by a shout that rent the skies, and I came off with
flying colours.
The skies, which had been threatening for some time, waited until
the ceremonies were over, and then burst into a shower which set
the mighty mass scampering. I went with Mr. Webster and a few
other gentlemen to the house of a Mr. Pratt, near the place of
assemblage, where we had a cold collation, and plenty of cool,
refreshing drink ; and, to crown the whole, were waited upon by the
ladies of the family, which, I understand, has been the fashion of
the day.
The most remarkable part of this most splendid spectacle was the
appearance of the streets through which the procession passed, and
the enthusiastic participation of the people in the triumph. It
was, after all, only a party affair, not one of general or national
import, in which the current of public opinion may have compelled
some reluctantly to join. We took nothing by compulsion ; nobody
was compelled to shout, and yet the whole line of march was
enlivened by the cheers of the men and the smiles of the women.
The balconies and windows were filled with women, well dressed,
with bright eyes and bounding bosoms, waving handkerchiefs,
exhibiting flags and garlands, and casting bouquets of flowers
upon us ; and this, too, was not confined to any particular part of
the city, or any class of inhabitants ; young children were exhib-
ited in rows, with flags in their little hands, and, whenever their
greetings were returned, mothers and daughters, old women and
beautiful young ones, seemed delighted that their share in the
jubilee was recognized.
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 43
The stores and shops were all closed ; flags were suspended
over the streets ; arches were erected, with suitable devices and
inscriptions, at the entrances into the several wards, and " Welcome,
Whigs ! " met us at the corners of the principal streets. When
we had crossed the bridge and entered Charlestown, the same
cheering spectacles were presented, and an arch of triumph and
welcome, with an extract from one of Mr. Webster's speeches,
received the procession. It was Whig all over ; there are cer-
tainly Loco-focos in Boston, but I am puzzled to know what
became of them on this occasion.
I returned to town with Mr. Webster in a carriage, and went
at a late hour, with Ogden Hoffman and Prescott Hall, to dine
with Mr. Sargent. In pursuance of the directions of the com-
mittee of arrangements I went, at seven o'clock, to Mr. Webster's
lodgings, at the United States Hotel, where I found a number of
gentlemen, and we accompanied him to Faneuil Hall, where he
was to preside. When we came to the hall it was crowded to
suffocation, and it was extremely difficult for him or the speakers
to get to their places. Mr. Webster opened the meeting with
some remarks, and Mr. Leigh, Governor Pennington, Governor
Ellsworth, and others spoke. It was allotted to me to speak ; but
I was overcome with fatigue and the crowd and the heat of the
room, and I made my escape before I was called.
September it. — I found Gardiner and Samuel Howland and
their wives, Samuel's daughter, and Lydia Van Schaick, yesterday,
at Mr. Robert G. Shaw's. They are on their way home from an ex-
cursion to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I was invited
to dine to-day with Mr. Benjamin Welles, in Boston ; but my com-
ing away prevented me. Judge Warren and Joseph Grinnell of
this place having made arrangements for Ogden Hoffman and me
to visit New Bedford, we left Boston at half-past four o'clock.
Judge Warren remained in Boston, and Mr. Grinnell and his wife
came on with us. We came on the railroad, with an enormous
train of cars, having the Whig delegates from this town and Nan-
44 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 60.
tucket, and a large number of those from New York returning.
There was shouting and hurrahing all the way.
To counteract the effects of the overwhelming Whig
meetinoj all over the countrv, a meeting of merchants,
Meeting. ^ . ' to i
supporters of the administration and friendly to the
sub- treasury, was held yesterday, at two o'clock, in Wall street, in
front of the new Exchange. The call for the meeting was signed
by some dozen respectable merchants, and filled up by names never
heard of on 'Change. A Mr. George Douglass presided. The meet-
ing was addressed by Silas Wright, senator, and Benjamin F.
Butler, maid-of-all-work in the administration kitchen, who essayed
to convince the merchants that the times are very good ; that all
government has been doing is good for us, and that the banking
business will operate very nicely when it is all in the hands of Mr.
Van Buren ; that gold and silver is more portable and handy than
bank rags, and that the safety of the country depends upon a con-
tinuance in power of the present dynasty.
September 28. — The great meeting of Whig mer-
rea . ee ing ^j^^j^^.^ ioo\i place to-day, at two o'clock, in Wall street,
of Merchants. ^ ■' ' ' '
at the Williams-Street corner of the Exchange. I got
a place in a third- story window of the new building occupied by
the city bank. I could not hear ; but the appearance of the mass
of people below was perfectly sublime. It was a field of heads,
occupying a space about six times as large as the area of Washing-
ton hallj from which I calculated the number at fifteen thousand ;
all respectable and orderly merchants and traders, intent on hear-
ing the words of wisdom and patriotism from the lips of " the
defender of the Constitution," capable of understanding their
meaning, and determined to follow where they led.
Jonathan Goodhue was president, wilh twenty- six vice-presidents
and five secretaries. The resolutions were read by Moses H. Grin-
nell, and at twenty minutes past two o'clock Mr. Webster rose to
address the most numerous and attentive audience I ever saw as-
sembled. It was agreed by all who heard him (which was, indeed,
I040.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 45
a small proportion of the number) to have been one of his very
best speeches. I have reason to know that he was better prepared
than usual, for I lost the pleasure of his company at dinner on Fri-
day, from his keeping close to his task on that day. He spoke
until five o'clock.
As a set-off against the merchants' meeting, the ad-
oco oco ministration leaders ordered a muster of their forces at
Meeting
the same hour, in the park. A large number assembled ;
not one-third, however, as many as the opposition party, and as in-
ferior in quality as in quantity ; but they greatly outnumbered the
Wall-streeters in orators. Their principal speaker was a Mr. Hunt
from somewhere ; but his harangue was too dull to suit the fiery
tempers of his auditory, many of whom went away whilst they
were yet awake, and the rest broke up into squads to listen to
more animated appeals from a Colonel Hepburn, — a noisy, frothy
demagogue from Savannah, — Colonel King, of the Custom- House,
and that exemplary sprig of Loco-focoism, John T. Munford,
each of whom got up his own little " line of battle," and all blazed
away at the same time ; by this means there were four sets of
lungs playing at once, and of course four times as much wisdom
went simultaneously into the ears of the sovereigns than at the
gathering in Wall street.
October i6. — The chairman of the Bunker Hill
,, " " Monument Association acknowleds^es the receipt of
nincence. ^ x-
a donation of ten thousand dollars from Amos Law-
rence, towards finishing the work, which, together with the money
collected at the fair, will amount to about $40,000, including
Fanny Ellsler's contribution. The Bostonians do these things bet-
ter than any others in America, and this family of Lawrences are
noble fellows, and deserve, from their business habits, liberality,
and patriotism, to be styled the Medici of Boston.
Great Loco OcTOBER 23. — A guupowdcr plot has bccu brought
toco Discov to light, of which the horrid Whigs were the conspira-
^^' tors. The administration papers are filled with awful
46 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 60,
details of this nefarious conspiracy against the rights of the people
and the majesty of the laws. It appears that, previous to the fall
election of 1838, some of the leading Whigs employed a fellow-
named Glentworth to go to Philadelphia, and procure men to come
to New York and assist in detecting illegal voters, who, it was un-
derstood, had been brought to vote here. This Glentworth had
been appointed by Governor Seward, with the consent of a Loco-
foco Senate, to the office of tobacco inspector (the only appoint-
ment of his of any consequence which was confirmed by that
Senate), with an understanding, as appears now, that he should
divide the spoil with a man named Steverson, a devoted Loco-
foco who had held the office. How Seward should make such an
appointment is not easily to be understood ; but when Glentworth
lost it he communicated to his partner the fact of his having been
to Philadelphia, and falsely charged the Whigs with having sent
him to procure men to vote at our election, for which they were
paid $30 each. As soon as these facts came out, a conclave,
consisting of Benjamin F. Butler, attorney-general, Jesse Hoyt,
collector, and John W. Edwards, a man formerly in the Senate,
who has been imported into New York to do the dirty work of
the administration, was held at Hoyt's house, where they got Ste-
venson and Glentworth, and got from them affidavits charging the
crime of procuring illegal votes upon Moses H. Grinnell, Simeon
Draper, Robert C. \\'etmore, Richard M. Blatchford, and James
Bowen. The Loco-foco papers of this morning are full of the
horrible plot, with the addition that Governor Seward is arrested,
and Grinnell and Wetmore absconded. The Recorder, R. H.
Morris, Attorney-General Butler, and Justice Marshall held a sort
of Star-Chamber inquisition, in which the affidavits are taken and
Glentworth sent to prison. In the mean time the Whigs charged
make their affidavits denying any participation in the frauds, and
produce a copy of a letter written by them to Glentworth, ordering
him to desist from doing anything and to come home, as soon as
they were led to suspect that he was exceeding his orders and get-
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 47
ting men to vote, instead of watching voters. There is a great
deal of excitement in the city. The Whigs were great fools to em-
ploy a lying coxcomb like Glentworth in any business requiring
secrecy and good faith, and especially in anything which might be
liable to misconstruction ; but it does not appear that they were
guilty of the crime imputed to them, and the conduct of Butler in
attempting to implicate the Governor and other honourable men in
a disgraceful transaction, upon the testimony of two scoundrels, is
infamous ; and so everybody except his infamous associates seem
to think. The affair is an unpleasant one, but the Whigs will gain
more than they will lose by it. It discloses a disgusting scene of
villany in the conduct of our elections, and proves that universal
suffrage will not do for great cities. It proves also the necessity
for a registry law, which is a Whig measure, and has been violently
opposed by the very men who are now so sensitive on the subject
of illegal voting, when it works against them.
October 24. — Grinnell, as I have stated before, dechned a re-
nomination for Congress with Hoffman and Curtis, and a new
ticket was nominated last evening, when the charges were brought
against him which his affidavit so successfully repelled. Tallmadge,
who has consented to run, withdrew from the ticket. The com-
mittee nominated Grinnell by acclamation, and went down in a
body insisting upon his consent, which, urged by these circum-
stances, he gave, and is now before the public for condemnation or
approval. It was an excellent move, which cannot fail to benefit
the party.
Butler has been addressing his followers this morning in the park,
with his characteristic, hypocritical cant. He talked to them about
the interposition of Divine Providence in making him the instru-
ment to bring to light this wicked plot. They laughed at the im-
pious assumption, but threw up their caps and hurrahed for Butler,
and damned the Whigs, according to orders.
October 25. — My birthday; I am sixty years old. It is no
cause of rejoicing. I feel old, and have certain pains which indicate
48 THE DIARY OF rHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 60.
that threescore is a pretty heavy score against a man ; but as to
health and strength, and preservation of my faculties, I have great
reason to be thankful. If my circumstances were such as they were
four years ago, I should be a tolerably happy elderly gentleman ;
but I am doomed to vexations and trouble arising from pecuniary
embarrassments for the remainder of my life. God grant I may
have firmness of mind and strength of body to meet it all !
October 26. — There is a remark in one of the Philadelphia
papers about a prisoner in the State prison, condemned to the
utmost punishment of the law for fraud, — if he wished to escape
punishment, he should have committed murder. There is much
good sense and truth in this severe remark. Any offence against
men's pockets is sure to be punished, because every juror has been
cheated at some time, and rejoices in an opportunity to revenge
himself upon his fellow-men. But none has ever been murdered ; and
then there is always some provocation, some palliation, — insanity,
drunkenness, or something of the kind, — as if a man must be proved
free from vice, a stranger to habits, and not influenced by malevo-
lent passions, to entitle him to the i)rivilege of being hanged. The
truth is, human life is not held in as high estimation as money, and
he v/ho takes the first has a better chance of escaping than he who
makes free with the other.
November 3. — The greatest excitement prevails ; men's minds
are wrought up to a pitch of frenzy, and, like tinder, a spark of
opposition sets them on fire. The vote for presidential electors
in Pennsylvania is so close, that out of two hundred and eighty
thousand votes it is probable that neither will have five hundred
majority. Both parties here claim the victory, and every hour
the wheel turns each uppermost. Betting is going on at an
enormous extent. Riot and violence stalk unchecked through
the streets, and lying is no longer considered a crime. A gang
of several thousand Loco-foco ruffians paraded the streets last
night with clubs, and assaulted and drove off several of the Whig
processions. The police seem to be afraid to oppose the majesty
1840.] THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. 49
of Democracy ; and the Mayor, with oracular wisdom, says, " If the
people will be peaceable, there is no danger." Right, Mr. Sands !
There was a great meeting of the merchants, at two
ee ing in o'clock, in Wall street, in front of the Exchanore, to ex-
^\all street. ' ^ '
press their opinion in favour of Moses H. Grinnell, the
commercial representative to Congress, who has been so shamefully
traduced by the district attorney and his associates in the Titus
Oates plot. James G. King was president, with a number of vice-
presidents, of whom I was one. The resolutions were presented
and read, partly by Mr. Perit and partly by myself. I introduced
them with a speech, as he did also. An excellent speech was made
by Daniel Lord, Jr., and Mr. John R. Hurd made a short address.
Mr. Lord's was in the nature of a law argument against the abom-
inable proceeding of the recorder and his Star-Chamber, in seizing
the papers of Glentworth and exposing them to the public, — a most
tyranical and illegal attack upon the rights of the people, which
ought to subject him and his coadjutor, the Mayor, to the indict-
ment of a grand jury, and the former to impeachment by the
Legislature. When the chairman put the question for adjournment
it was clearly lost ; the meeting would not break up, but insisted
upon more speaking. I was called upon and made a second speech,
short and to the point, which was well received, and they went
away well pleased.
November 4. — The fire is out, the powder ex-
city Election, pcndcd, and the smoke is passing away. The election
throughout the State ended when the sun went down.
Ours was held only to-day, and, thanks to the registry law, forty-
three thousand men went to the polls, voted, and came away with-
out confusion, and generally without riot or opposition. In some
of the Loco-foco districts crowds of violent men assembled, but
not to the extent formerly experienced. This beneficial change
has been produced by dividing the wards into election districts, so
that not more than about six hundred are taken in one place, and all
in one day. Instead of seventeen polls, as it used to be, there are
50 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 60.
now eighty odd, and the elements of riot and disorder are weak-
ened by being divided. The polls are opened at sunrise and
closed at sunset, and by ten o'clock two-thirds of all the votes in
the city were in. The number of votes registered in the second
district of the fifteenth ward, in which I reside, is six hundred and
seventy, of which six hundred and sixty-four voted.
I was selected by the general committee to act as chairman this
evening, at Masonic Hall, where the mighty mass of Whigs assem-
bled to hear the reports. It is hard duty, and I am hoarse and
sore, and jaded as a horse in an omnibus. I took the chair at
seven o'clock. The interval of time before the reports came in
was filled by speaking and singing Whig songs. By and by mes-
sengers began to arrive with reports from the several wards, which
soon satisfied us that we had lost the battle. Many of our people
had been sanguine enough to calculate upon our gaining the city,
and it was most desirable that we should have sent again to Con-
gress a Whig delegation, particularly Grinnell, whose election would
have so severely rebuked the men who assailed him on the eve of
the election, and the State senator and members of Assembly would
have been a prodigious gain ; but, although many of us hoped for
such a result, none acquainted with the state of the parties calcu-
lated upon it, and the result is, in fact, a cause of triumph. The
administration majority is not over twelve hundred ; they reckoned
upon three thousand. We were beaten a year ago by about
eighteen hundred ; that was the majority against me for the Senate.
The State will go for Harrison, I think, without a doubt ; but his
majority will not be so great as was expected. The contest has
been violent ; every effort which a party, unscrupulous at all times,
but desperate now, could make to sustain themselves in power, has
been resorted to ; but it will not do. The sceptre has departed
from Mr. Van Buren.
Scenes of violence, disorder, and riot have taught us in this city
that universal suffrage will not do fjr large communities. It works
better in the country, where a large proportion of the voters are
1840.] THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. 5 1
Americans, born and brought up on the spot, and where, if a black
sheep comes into the flock, he is marked immediately. But in the
heterogeneous mass of vile humanity in our population of three
hundred and ten thousand souls the men who decide the elections
are unknown ; they hav-e no local habitation or name ; they left their
own country for ours, to better their condition, by opposing every-
thing good, honest, lawful, and of good report, and to effect this
they have banded themselves into associations to put down, at all
hazards, the party in favour of order and good government. A
mighty army of these banditti paraded the streets last night under
the orders of the masters, who, no doubt, secretly directed their
movements, attacking every place where the Whigs met. National
Hall, in Canal street, the conservative headquarters, was besieged
by this army of Jack Jades, and its appearance this morning is a
melancholy sample of the effects of unrestrained power in the
hands of a mob of political desperadoes. All the windows of this
large building are broken ; bushels of brickbats cover the floors,
and the doors show where the ruffians endeavoured to gain admis-
sion by setting fire to the house. This evening, thus far, has been
quiet in my part of the city. I came home from Masonic Hall as
soon as the result was known, and did not witness any disturbance.
Having beaten us in one way, they don't think it worth while to
do it in another.
November 5 . — The same subject day after day ; but
Elections. this wcck Settles all. At present it swallows up every-
thing else. No business is done ; the hammer is sus-
pended on the anvil ; the merchant neglects his counting-house,
and the lawyer his office. Nobody invites a friend to dine, and no
topic of conversation is permitted but election.
November 10. — The election returns come in from all quarters
in favour of Harrison and the Whig cause. It is thought that Mr.
Van Buren cannot get more than fifty votes out of two hundred and
ninety-four. In our own State, though the city went against us by
a greatly reduced majority, and the first accounts from the river
52 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.^tat. 60.
counties were somewhat discouraging, all has been redeemed by
the North and South. The Harrison electoral ticket is elected by
twelve tliousand majority. Seward and Bradish are reelected, and
the Vrliigs have majorities in both branches of the Legislature.
Seward runs behind the other tickets several thousand, owing to
his having recommended the free bill, which has disturbed the
political consciences of the lawyers through their pockets, and
more especially by the ill-judged favour which he has shown the
Catholics, by which he has lost many of his friends, and not gained
the votes of those whom he sought to propitiate. His motives
were, I believe, correct ; but his policy in this latter affair is justly
condemned.
November 16. — There is a chasm of three days in this journal,
and, gracious heaven, how has the time been filled ! My strength
fails me when I attempt to account for it, and yet I feel that it will
afford me a sort of melancholy consolation. My heart sinks within
me whenever my thoughts are concentrated upon the greatest grief
which has ever oppressed it. May the indulgent Father of mercies
sustain me and my bereaved family in our great affliction, and
teach us with resignation to exclaim, " Father, thy will be done ! "
My dear, beloved Mary left this world of trouble and affliction,
and, as I firmly and confidently believe, joined her sister angels in
heaven, on Friday morning.
December 2. — This is the day which decides the
resi en ici ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^.^^ Burcu and his administration. The
Election.
electors of President and Vice-President meet simulta-
neously in each of the States of the Union, and will quietly, and in
discharge of the constitutional rights of the people, deposit two
hundred and thirty-four votes for William Henry Harrison for
President, and John Tyler for Vice-President, and sixty votes for
Martin Van Buren for President, and Richard M. Johnson, or some
other person, for Vice-President. And thus the dynasty is changed.
The party which has been in power forty years yields the sceptre to
its adversary, and the policy under which the country has hereto-
1840.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 53
fore been governed will be abandoned for one more consonant to
the opinions and wishes of the present majority. This is a beauti-
ful illustration of the operation of a popular government. If Mons.
De Tocqueville should publish a new edition of his excellent work
on the Democracy of America, he will have in this event a striking
confirmation of his principles, and our institutions will be the sub-
ject of a new and merited eulogium from his able pen. The late
election, and its consequences, afford a field for deep reflection.
There is not probably a country in the world where a change of
such prodigious magnitude could have been effected in the same
time, with so little apparent machinery, and in so orderly and de-
corous a manner. It does, indeed, afford encouragement and hope
to those patriotic Americans who are Republicans in feehng and
judgment, but may, at times, have doubted of the continued practi-
cability of the operation of self-government in a country of so great
an extent as the United States.
Levi Woodbury, at present Secretary of the Treas-
Loco-foco , , , • 1 1 1 1
Movements ^^^^'' '^^ ^ good place provided when he receives
notice to quit, which will be as soon after the fourth of
March as may be. The State of New Hampshire, immovable as
her granite hills in bad political principles, has elected liira a Sena-
tor in Congress, and thereby given him a chance to vote on the
question of his own ejectment from of^ce. If he makes as indif-
ferent a senator as he did a secretary, he will be a suitable repre-
sentative of the party which sends him to Congress.
The Legislature of South Carolina (the only State in the Union
in which the people are not immediate electors of the presidential
electors) have given the vote of the State to Martin Van Buren and
Richard M. Johnson ; and this they did, not from any predilection
for the great rejected, but to be in opposition to the Northern and
Eastern States. The high-minded Carolinians (as we have been in
the habit of coaxingly calling them) are the most clannish, selfish
people in America ; they have no affection for anything except
South Carolina; their patriotism is centred in themselves, and
54 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 60.
Union means nothing more than their own sticking together. Their
apostle, John C. Calhoun, would coalesce with the Devil (as he
has with one for whom he has not much greater affection) if he
saw in such a course the smallest chance of bringing down New
York to the level of Charleston, and would rejoice in a revolution
of nature which should cause the Atlantic to recede from our
shores, and leave her ships rotting in the mud of her harbours.
December 5. — A monument has been erected at
The Rocka- Rockawav ovcr the remains of the unhappy sufferers on
way Muse. •'
board the ships " Bristol" and *' Mexico," wrecked on
the Long Island shore in the winter of 1836-7. The Hempstead
people have done well to evince their sympathy in this manner ; but
it was too bad, after the cruel suffering and miserable deaths of
these poor strangers, that their memory should be handed down to
posterity m such wretched poetry as the following inscription, which
graces one side of the monumental stone : —
" In this grave from the wide ocean doth sleep
The bodies of those that had crossed the deep,
And instead of being landed safe on the shore,
On a cold frosty night they all were no more."
December 23. — Mr Clay came in town on Satur-
day, to visit (as he gave out) his grandsons, who are at
school in Jamaica, Long Island, and returned on Tues-
day to Washington. I passed half an hour very pleasantly with him
on Monday morning. He told me some of the arrangements of
the next Cabinet. Mr. Webster is to be Secretary of State, and Mr.
Crittenden, of Kentucky, Attorney-General. A glorious beginning !
The United States do not contain two better men for those respec-
tive stations. The other heads of departments are not yet designated.
Mr. Clay was offered by General Harrison, for himself, a carte
blanche ; but he declines office, proposing to retain his place in the
Senate, where he thinks he can most effectually serve the new
administration, and to be ready to enter the field four years hence,
to which I say, Amen, and success attend him !
Visit of Mr
Clay.
1S41.] THE DIARV OF PIIILIP HOXE. 55
I 841
TANUARY I . — I cannot find a spot on the page of history
^ marked in the margin 1840 on which to place a "white
stone." My debts have increased, and my property is reduced in
value, while those who owe me cannot or will not pay, and there is
but little hope that they ever will ; for the most sanguine anticipa-
tions of a return of prosperity, the result of the late political revolu-
tion, seem to be founded upon the calculation of a sponge being
applied to all foregone engagements and a free course to enter
again upon the race of commercial speculation.
Great as has been the bereavement we have sustained in the
death of our beloved Mary, and melancholy the void it has occa-
sioned in my domestic circle, I am not without many sources of
happiness, and have great cause for thankfulness in the present
condition of my family. My health is good, although I have occa-
sional attacks of gout, rheumatism, or lumbago, as the case may be,
and my limbs have had to submit to many hard rubs. I wish they
were the only ones I have to submit to. But welcome, 1841 ! Let
not the storm which marks thy advent prove prophetic of thy
course.
January 16. — Yesterday was an important day in the money
annals of the country. The banks of Philadelphia were compelled,
under a law of the State, to resume the payment of specie. Some
apprehensions were entertained that the Bank of the United States,
from the crippled state of her affairs, might find a difficulty in com-
plying with the law, from which cause alone the other banks would
be embarrassed ; but that institution, having effected a loan in Eng-
land of 500,000 pounds sterling, by negotiating their bills, were
enabled to meet their demands, and all things went on well, so far.
Further south they hold out yet ; the B.dtimore banks say that they
56 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat.6i.
can pay, but will not, unless those of Virginia come into the
measure of resumption.
January^ 20. — I dined yesterday with Mr. \Villiam G. Ward, —
a sort of revival of the '' Hone Club," with all its pleasant rules and
social observance. Dinner at five to the instant, the stragglers
coming in within five minutes after the time, and ere the soup was
gone, each, with watch in hand, disputing the edict which, like the
laws of the Medes and Persians, never changes : a strict observance
to the limitation of four dishes, so strict that by gastronomic soph-
istry it extends to a dozen ; brant being transformed into fish,
oysters coming under the denomination of vegetables, and veal
sweet-breads being pronounced of the genus confectionery. The
" Ode " was sung by Major Tucker, with a full chorus ; and other
songs and pleasant converse and good fellowship made us forget
the bad times which have caused a suspension of our meetings.
January 30. — There was a brilliant ball last evening
City Ball. at the City Hall, — a sort of revival of the old city as-
semblies, which were formerly held in that time-honoured
saloon. It was gotten u]) by the young men. Heads of families
were not allowed to subscribe, but were invited, with their wives and
daughters. The whole affair was conducted in a genteel manner ;
the ball was well attended by the most respectable of our citizens,
and gave great satisfaction. Another is to be given, probably on
Washington's birthday. The managers are Abraham Schermerhorn,
Edmund H. Pendleton, James W. Otis, William Douglass, Henry
Delafield, Henry W. Hicks, Jno. Swift Livingston, Jacob R. Le Roy,
Thomas W. Ludlow, Charles McEvers, Jr., William S. Miller,
Charles C. King.
P'ep.ruarv 4. — There is a panic to-day in the money
"., ' market. The great bank in Philadelphia, falsely called
the " United States Bank," after having resumed specie
payments with the other banks in that city, a few days since, finds
itself compelled to suspend again, and has refused payments of
drafts from this city. The effect of this, it is apprehended, will be
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 57
to compel the other banks to suspend again. Baltunore, Charles-
ton, and other Southern cities will have to follow suit ; and all
the horrors of a disturbed currency and ruinous exchanges, of
which we thought we were relieved, will be returned upon us for
a period of time for which no one can form any opinion of the
duration.
February 5 . — The suspension of the United States Bank is
confirmed to-day. The stock of that institution fell nearly ten per
cent. Large quantities were sold at from forty to forty-two per
cent. ; and, from the opinions of persons better informed than
myself, I am induced to believe that it is as much as it is worth.
Indeed, it was sold " ahead," as the brokers call it ; that is, to be
delivered within a certain time, at the option of the seller, as low as
thirty- four. Taking the cash price to-day, there is a loss to the
stockholders from the par value of $60, of $21,000,000, — equal
to that occasioned by the great fire, to say nothing of all that
was bought at 120 or 125 before the charter expired, and was
transferred into the State institution. This enormous loss falls
heavily upon the European holders, who will not in the future
be disposed to trust us ; but there is a great deal held by
widows and children, public institutions, and trustees. When
Jackson, the old despoiler, crushed the national institution under
the iron heel of vindictive power, the plague-spot upon commercial
prosperity first made its appearance ; but the disease was not
incurable until the bank attained, at an unwarrantable expense, a
charter from the State of Pennsylvania to do mischief to the nation,
without the ability or the obligation to do good in any but a local
sense. At that time, if the concern had been wound up and rested
peaceably in the tomb to which party rage and personal malignity
had consigned it, the loss to the stockholders would have been
comparatively small, and an obstacle in the way of the establish-
ment of a sound national bank would have been removed : a bank
solid and uncrippled, whose benignant sphere of action would
have been coextensive with true bonds of union ; whose duty, as
58 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat.6i.
well as its interest, would have been directed to the preservation of
a sound currency and the accommodation and support of honest
commercial enterprise ; and such a one we must have. The neces-
sity becomes more apparent every day. The prejudices created by
the violent measures of the Attila of Tennessee and his furious par-
tisans begins to give way before the light of reason, and if the
downfall of the Pennsylvania bank should be necessary to give
place to such an institution, it had better be brought at once to that
issue. The present vessel is rotten and unseaworthy, and must be
broken up as soon as may be, and a new one, the property of the
whole, and not a part of the partners in our great national concern,
be set upon the stocks without delay, launched, rigged, and set
upon her voyage with none but a nafi'ona/ ensign at her mast-head ;
and if John Bull will not ship on board her, we must endeavour to
make the voyage on our own hook.
Februarys. — There has been a dreadful panic to-day among
the brokers and " money-changers " in Wall street. The suspen-
sion of the Bank of the United States has been followed by that
of the other banks of Philadelphia. Some of them continue to
pay specie for their notes of $5 ; but it is only the faint flicker-
ing of the expiring candle. Baltimore, also, has suspended again.
This imhai)|)y state of things has caused a foil in prices of every
descri})tion of stock in New York. Delaware and Hudson Canal
stock, which has nothing to do with Philadelphia financial opera-
tions, fell from ninety-five to eighty-eight per cent, A panic in
money matters is like one in an army during a battle : when a part
runs away, others follow and prick onward with their bayonets
those who may be disposed to stand firm, until a general rout is the
consequence. United States Bank sold to-day at twenty-five per
cent. Here is wholesale ruin. Here is a loss from the par value
of $26,250,000, to be borne by all classes of our citizens, and an
utter destruction of American credit in Europe. How happy would
it have been for all parties if, when the national institution was
killed, it had stayed killed !
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 59
February 9. — General Harrison made a sort of tri-
umphal entry into Baltimore on Saturday, where he was
received by crowds of citizens, who formed a proces-
sion to conduct him to his lodgings ; and he made a speech which,
in my judgment, he might better have let alone. Preparations are
making to receive him to-morrow with similar honours at Washing-
ton, where he is to remain two or three days. He then goes to
Virginia to visit his friends, returns to Washington toward the close
of the month, will be inaugurated on the 4th of March, and then
his troubles (not few nor small) will begin.
" I vow 'tis better to be lowly born,
And range with humlile livers in content,
Than to be perked up in a glittering grief,
And wear a golden sorrow."
Saturday, Feb. 13. — The day after General Harri-
^ ^^^ son's arrival in Washington he visited President Van
Courtesy. *^
Buren, who received him with the greatest politeness.
They passed half an hour in agreeable conversation, and the next
day the President, accompanied by the heads of departments, re-
turned the visit at the apartments of the President-elect, at
Gadsby's Hotel. This compliment was the more marked as the
etiquette is for the President not to return visits. General Harri-
son was also to dine with the President to-day, and the dinner will,
no doubt, be a very pleasant one, for nobody knows better than
Mr. Van Buren how to do such things. His tact is admirable, and,
whatever may be his feelings in regard to the success of his distin-
guished rival, he will never afford his poUtical opponents the tri-
umph of letting them be known. Calm and unruffled as the bosom
of a lake under the tranquil influence of a summer's sun, there is
nothing to indicate the storm which may have passed over it. This
is in far better taste than the petulant conduct of the eider Adams,
who left Washington in the night to avoid the mortification of wit-
6o THE DIARY OF PHI LI I' HONE. [.Etat.6i.
nessing the accession of Mr. Jefferson ] or of General Jackson, when
the people in an evil hour wrested the sceptre from John Q.
Adams to place it in his ruffian hands. General Harrison visited
also the ex- President, Adams.
Washincton, Feb. i8. — Left Baltimore in the nine-
Tournev to . i • i i i i
wisiniK'ton o clock traui, and arrived here about the openmg of the
houses of Congress ; got a tolerable room at Gadsby's,
that carav^ansary of long, cold galleries, never-ceasing ringing of
bells, negligent servants, small pillows, and scanty supply of water.
I am better off, even in these particulars, than three-fourths of the
people in the house ; but, if a man wishes to appreciate the comforts
of home, let him come to Washington. As for the eating part, I
am fortunately situated. I am regularly entered of Mr. Granger's
mess, with his daughter and Meredith, which promises well, if I
should have any chance to enjoy their society.
I found an invitation to dine with the Russian Minister, which he
had politely sent in anticipation of my coming, and accordingly
rode over to his residence at Georgetown, where I met a large
party of distinguished gentlemen, embracing most of the leading
Whigs. The dinner was a magnificent affair, a ponderous set out;
it was like dining in a gold mine ; immense, lofty, and massy gilt
candelabras on the table, in which I counted eighty wax candles
l)urning, besides others in different parts of the room ; rich orna-
ments of every description ; a great variety of wines, some of which
were good, but the cuisine not comparable with an every-day dinner
at my own house. Servants below stairs with gilt-laced cocked
hats, and surrounding the table with tarnished liveries, which, from
their variety, would seem intended to represent all the provinces of
Russia ; but the host did the honours with great propriety, and
treated me with marked attention. The number was about four and
twenty, of which I remember the following : Mons. Bacour, French
Minister; Mr. Fox, British Minister; Mr. Stockel, Russian Secre-
tary ; Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Tallmadge, Mr.
Rives, Mr. Merrick, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Bayard, Mr. Southard, Mr.
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 6 1
Dawson, Mr. Gushing, Mr. Meredith, Mr. Reverdy Johnson, Mr.
Austen of Massachusetts, Richard Peters, Mr. Mangum, Mr. Sar-
gent, and Colonel Stuart. There was whist after dinner. I got at
a table with Messrs. Bodisco, Fox, and Clay, and sat until we were
the survivors of the large party.
February 19. — ^.I called this morning upon President Van
Buren. He received me alone in his study, in the kindest and
most gracious manner ; talked a little about the late political con-
test, professed an undiminished friendship for me, notwithstanding
my opposition, which he said he had been gratified to learn had
been unaccompanied by the use of any expression of personal dis-
respect. He is fat and jolly, with the same self-satisfied smile upon
his countenance. A stranger would be greatly at a loss to discover
anything to indicate that he was a defeated candidate for the high
office which he is about to vacate.
The Supreme Court was for two hours the point of
Mr. Webster, supcrior attraction. Mr. Webster was engaged in one
of those great arguments on a constitutional question
in which he stands unrivalled, the interest of which was enhanced
from its being one of the last in which he will be engaged. He has
resigned his seat in the Senate, of which he will take leave on Mon-
day, and on the 4th of March he commences a new sphere of
action as Secretary of State in General Harrison's Cabinet. The
Supreme Court presented a sublime and beautiful spectacle during
Mr. Webster's argument. The solemn temple of justice was filled
with an admiring auditory, consisting of a large proportion of well-
dressed ladies, who occupied the seats within the bar; the nine
judges, in their magisterial robes, attentive and thoughtful ; and all
minds and bodies bent upon one great object, and that object a
single man, of commanding presence and intellectual aspect, not
remarkably correct in his costume nor graceful in his action, but
commanding, by the force of his giant intellect, an irresistible con-
trol over the minds of all who heard him, and enchaining all their
faculties to one point of observation and attention. It was, in
62 THE IHARV OF THILIP HONE. [.Etat.6i.
truth, a noble illustration of the power of mind over the material
faculties of humanity.
February 20. — I dined with Grinnell and Hoffman. We had
a good dinner, fine wine, and a very pleasant party, consisting of
Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Grinnell, Mr. Southard, Mr. Habershaw, Mr.
Bayard, Mr. Holmes of South Carolina, Mr. Graham of North
Carolina, Mr. Sargeant, Mr. ^Vinthrop, Mr. Lincoln, the Speaker,
Mr. Tallmadge, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Lowe of New York, and P. H.
February 22. — I have been all day in the Senate,
/ ^ ^ '° and greatly interested. The principal business was an
Uie Senate. n j i i
animated debate on a motion made by Mr. Crittenden
to bring a bill, formerly presented by him, to prev^ent the interfer-
ence of office-holders in elections. This motion was supported in
an eloquent speech by the mover and the leading \Vhigs, and
opposed by Messrs. Buchanan, Calhoun, Wright, etc., and defeated
by a strict party vote. They could not stand the implied odium
which the passage of such an act would cast upon the party going out
of power, nor acknowledge the magnanimity of their successors in
binding themselves in advance not to use the same means to secure
a continuance of their own, which have heretofore been employed
against them. Mr. Preston's speech in support of this measure
gave rise to an incident of considerable excitement. He closed his
speech with an eulogium upon Mr. Crittenden, on the occasion of
his quitting the Senate to assume the office of Attorney-General in
General Harrison's administration. Never did human voice utter
anything more beautiful than this well-merited panegyric. It was
warm and glowing, tender and touching, by turns. The Senate
was full, and the galleries crowded to the utmost. I was seated on
the floor, behind the eloquent Carolinian. The audience seemed
to be rapt in mute attention until the close, when the effect was
irresistible, and there was a pretty general applause in the galleries.
This unwonted outbreak gave great offence to the Loco-focos. Sev-
eral arose at once, and with loud screams and violent gesticulation
demanded the clearing of the galleries. ''Turn them out!" said
1S41.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 6^
Clay of Alabama, Sevier Cuthbert, and even Calhoun. " Turn out
the blackguards ! " exclaimed the refined Mr. Benton, striking the
desk with great vehemence ; and the Vice-President, with evident
reluctance, proceeded to give the harsh order. Mr. Clay, with his
wonted suavity, interposed to save the ladies. He was " sure they
could not have joined in the offence, and ought not to be included in
the punishment ; " and the Vice-President, nothing loath, saved them
and the men in their gallery from being turned away to gratify the
spleen of half- a-dozen demagogues who are forever talking about the
dear people, and let no opportunity escape of affronting them. There
was an easier way for them to clear out the galleries : let either of
them arise to make a speech, and the object is accomplished with-
out a resort to violence. But what a glorious triumph of eloquence !
I would have given the world at that moment to have been Preston ;
but I would have given such worlds to be Crittenden ! The latter
was greatly moved ; those that were near him say that he wept vis-
ibly. He is beloved by all parties. Mr. Buchanan, a political
opponent, but the most gentlemanly senator on that side, paid him
a handsome personal compliment in a speech in which he opposed
his motion. This exhibition of vulgar rage gave occasion to the
following y<f// if esprit, which was handed to me the next morning
by a senator : —
" ' Turn out the blackguards ! ' If they do.
Friend Benton, what becomes of you? "
As soon as this affair was ended, a new excitement was created,
which continued until the adjournment. Mr. Webster having
retired from his place, a letter addressed to the Vice-President
was read, in which he resigns his seat, and took leave of the Senate ;
immediately upon which a firebrand from Georgia, Mr. Cuthbert,
arose and attacked him. He regretted that the senator from Mas-
sachusetts had not made a verbal valedictory, as he had intended
to put certain interrogatories to him touching his doctrines on the
subject of the transmission of slaves from one State to another, — -
64 THE DIAKV OF I'HlLir HONE. [.i:tat.6i.
doctrines which Georgia's senator denounced as " damnable here-
sies." He evidently desired to get up a quarrel. I lis manner and
his language were etjually insulting, and there was something so dis-
courteous, so unkind, in liis taking that moment to vent his spleen
against the absent senator, when the tide of generous feeling was
flowing so strongly in his favour, that there was not an individual of
Cuthbert's party who, 1)\- word, look, or action, seemed disposed either
to countenance or support him. Mr. Clay rebuked the ruffian in a
manly and eloquent speech, in which the character and principles
of his friend were ably defended, and ^Mr. Rives and Mr. Preston
followed in the same strain. The former gentleman came in for an
undue share of the wrath of the Hotspur of Georgia ; his manner
toward him was provoking and insulting, and met with haughty
scorn and defiance. Mr. Rives, at the commencement of his
speech, happened to apply to Cutlibert the |)arliamentary term,
" My honourable friend." — "No, sir; no friend," was the uncivil
reply. — " So be it," retorted Mr. Rives ; and it is not likely the term
will be repeated very soon. Mr. Rives defended 'Mr. Webster with
great ability, api)roving, though a Southern man, his opinions on
the exciting subject of slavery.
February 26. — Rufus Choate is elected a senator
ew ena. {^q^w Massachusetts, to fill Mr. A\'ebster's place : and
tors. ' ^ ^
Mr. Morehead, after several ballots, was elected, by
the relinquishment of two of his Whig opponents, to fill that of
Mr. Crittenden, as senator from Kentucky. It is a fearfiil ven-
ture for those gentlemen to undertake to supply the void occa-
sioned by the setting of those two ''bright particular stars" of
the Senate.
I dined with Mr. Darnard ; a small and very pleasant party,
and an excellent dinner of French cookery and good wine. The
party consisted of Mr. John Quincy Adams, Mr. Richard Bayard,
Gouverneur Wilkins, Abbott Lawrence, Mr. Jackson of Philadel-
phia, and myself. Mr. Adams was, as usual, the fiddle of the
party. He talked a great deal ; was gay, witty, instructive, and
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 65
entertaining. It is a privilege, and an era in one's life, to see
him as he was on this occasion. A man must be stupid, indeed,
who can listen to this wonderful man for three or four hours,
as I have done to-day, without being edified and delighted.
We had an account before 1 left home of some
The Presi.
dent's Dinner amiable passagcs of courtesy between the outgoing and
to General ^hc incoming Presidents, in which the former had great
credit for courtesy extended to the latter, particularly
in inviting him to dine. I have heard since I came here some par-
ticulars about this dinner, which have satisfied me that it was not
the kind of compliment which we gave him credit for. Instead
of inviting to meet the General his personal and political friends,
such as Webster, Clay, Crittenden, Southard, etc., the party con-
sisted, besides General Harrison and Colonel Chambers and Mr.
Todd, his personal suite, of the following : the cabinet ministers,
Mr. Gouverneur Kemble, Silas Wright, and Aaron Vanderpoel, — all
Loco-focos of the bitterest stamp, and his most decided political
opponents. He was in the camp of the Philistines ; it seemed
as if they were there to take advantage of the old man's kind,
benevolent openness of disposition, and treasure up for future use
anything which may have fallen from him in an unguarded moment.
They write me from home that times are hard in
ews rom js^g^y York, dcspondcncy prevails among men of busi-
ness, and melancholy forebodings of worse times to
come. The State of Illinois will not pay the interest of her
debt, and doubts are entertained of the great State of Pennsyl-
vania. Stocks have fallen very much ; Delaware and Hudson
down to eighty per cent.
March i. — I went yesterday to St. John's Church, where I
caused some remarks to be made by my sitting in the President's
pew, for which I had afterwards to stand some shots from the
Whigs, who have not the taste to understand how a man may
continue on good terms with a gentleman whose election he has
worked hard to defeat. The truth is, the President passed me in
66 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat.Ci.
his carriage on his way to church, and when I arrived I found
his son Smith waiting for me at the door, to take me to his
father's pew, — a civiHty which I accepted most willingly, and did
not find my devotions interfered with, nor my political i)rinciples
contaminated, by the company I had the honour to be placed in.
March 2. — Broadway on a fine Sunday, when the churches
are emptied, does not present a more animated spectacle than
Pennsylvania avenue on this bright and beautiful morning ; there
are men here from every State in the Union. Our good city of
New York has its full proportion. I have remarked, and heard it
remarked by others, that there is not a country in the world
where in such a crowd, so gotten together, there could be found
so large a proportion of gooddooking and well-behaved persons.
I was talking about it with Mr. Bell yesterday, and he remarked
that he was here at the time of General Jackson's inauguration,
when the same objects and motions brought together a greater
crowd, and the difference in appearance and deportment of the
people is most striking ; but now they are Whigs and gentlemen,
then Loco-focos and
I was forcibly stricken this morning by a characteristic circum-
stance, of which an American may well be proud. Passing
through the crowd of which I was just speaking was to be seen
an elderly gentleman dressed in black, and not remarkably well
dressed, with a mild, benignant countenance, a military air, but
stooping a little, bowing to one, shaking hands with another, and
cracking a joke with a third ; and this man was William H. Harri-
son, the President-elect of this great empire, whose elevation has
been produced by a severe throe which has been felt in the most
remote corners of the land, which has destroyed and elevated the
hopes of hundreds of thousands, and which is destined to effect
a change of principles and policy to which the whole world looks
with interest ; and there he was, unattended, and unconscious of
the dignity of his position, — fhe man among men, the sun of
the political firmament. People may say what they will about
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 6/
the naked simplicity of Republican institutions ; it was a sublime
moral spectacle.
March 3. — This city is an immense mass of animated Whig
matter ; every hole and corner are filled ; thousands have arrived to-
day, and happy is the man who finds " where to lay his head." A
large building has been erected in the court at Gadsby's, in which
four hundred breakfast, dine, and sup; and the dining-room is a
vast camp-bed. This has been a day of confusion ; everybody run-
ning against his neighbour, all full of business, and nobody accom-
plishing any.
I witnessed the last moments of the 26th Congress. At twelve
o'clock the refractory old lady terminated the career which she so
naughtily began. The Speaker sang a requiem to her departing
moments in a very respectable speech, somewhat too long and a
little too school-boyish. He is an amiable man, and has acted with
impartiality, but no more fit to be Speaker than I to dance on the
tight rope. On the whole, the scene was imposing, and more orderly
and decorous than I had anticipated. The aforesaid old lady be-
haved with propriety, " and, like immortal Ccesar, died with dignity."
March 4. — The affair is consummated. General
naugu- Harrison has taken the oaths, and is President of the
ration.
United States. The day was fine. A great procession,
consisting of several militia companies in uniform, Tippecanoe
clubs, and citizens from different States, under the orders of
marshals on horseback, with sashes and batons, escorted the Presi-
dent to the Capitol. He was mounted, and passed through the
streets amidst the shouts and hurrahs of fifty thousand men, and
almost as many women waving their handkerchiefs, whilst he, like
the haughty Bolingbroke, —
" Mounted upon a hot and fiety steed, •
Which his aspiring rider seemed to know,
With slow but stately pace kept on his course,
While all tongues cried, * God save thee, Bolingbroke!'
You would have thought the very windows spoke."
68 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat.6i.
As for Van Buren, " No man cried, God save him ! " He was snug
at the house of the Attorney-General, McGilpin.
I attended the great inauguration ball last evening, at
naug-ur.i ion ^j^^ National Theatre. The crowd was very great ; all
the great men of the nation were there ; an exceedingly
brilliant collection of ladies, of whom Mrs. Reverdy Johnson, of
Baltimore, a mother of nine children, was preeminent. The Presi-
dent came in about half- past ten o'clock, with a numerous escort,
and was marched through files of ladies up and down the room.
This ceremony, with his previous visits to two other public balls,
added to the severe labours of the day, has tried the old soldier's
stamina ; but he appears to stand it very well. If the opponents of
the administration expect to make capital out of his imbecility of
either body or mind, they make a woful mistake. He'll do his
duty well and foithfully. The gentlemen had a supper in the lower
regions of the theatre, from which in former times ghosts and hob-
goblins and infernal spirits made their " exits and their entrances."
I was escorted by the managers to this subterranean banquet-hall,
where I found senators, cabinet ministers, military officers, and
common men like myself, eating, drinking, laughing, and joking in
a strain somewhat uproarious.
The nominations of the new cabinet have, it is said, been con-
firmed, all but that of Mr. Granger, against whom charges of that
crying sin, abolitionism, having been brought by the opposition, his
friends consented to let it lie over until to-morrow. This is a base
and ungentlemanly proceeding ; but it will have no other effect than
that of misrepresenting his principles, for he will certainly be con-
firmed to-morrow.
New York, March 23. — Dined with Mr. Blatchford. The
dinner was given to Mr. Edward Curtis, the new collector, who was
there, ifnd his brother, George Curtis ; Mr. Tallmadge, the new
recorder ; Grinnell, Minturn, Prescott Hall, Charles King, Ruggles,
John Ward, Bowen, etc. There was talk about the appointments
and other political matters. I am pestered to death to sign recom-
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 69
mendations and write letters to the collector, in behalf of applicants
for office in the Custom-House. It is distressing to see how many
worthy people are compelled to be suppliants for little, contemptible
situations, the emoluments of which are hardly sufficient to keep
life and soul together.
March 24. — The friends of the people , the real
Mr. Van
Buren's Loco-focos, had a grand triumphal entry of their
chieftain, the ex- President, yesterday, on the arrival
of the cars from Philadelphia. The man of the people, whom the
people have rejected by an electoral vote of two hundred and
thirty- four to sixty, was received by the people on foot, on horse-
back, and on carts. The conquering hero, who was elected by sixty
votes, the other two hundred and thirty-four having been thrown
away upon one ^Villiam H. Harrison, was escorted up Broadway to
Bleecker street, and down the Bowery to Tammany Hall, where he
was addressed by the people in the person of ex- Recorder Morris,
that immaculate Republican who, under the sanctum of official sta-
tion, enters men's houses at night and steals their private papers,
to which address of the people the aforesaid people's President
(who was elected as aforesaid by the unanimous voices of the
people, not counting those votes which were improperly cast for his
opponent) read a feeling and suitable reply, after which he and
Mr. Forsyth, his Secretary of State (whose place has been recently
usurped by one Daniel Webster, an obscure individual from the
rebellious State of Massachusetts, against the will of the people,
expressed as aforesaid), were escorted, amidst the shouts and
huzzas of the people, to the quarters provided for them at the
Carleton House, named in honour of the Prince Regent of England ;
and in the evening the people were gratified with a view of the
men of their choice, and permitted to cheer them again at the
Bowery Theatre. The worst of this affair was, that it rained " cats
and dogs " during the progress of the procession ; but this was as it
should be. His reign being over in Washington, New York's
favourite sou was entitled to rain, here : and he stood it, as if, like his
•JO THE DIARY OF PIIILII> IIOXE. [/Etat. 6f.
friend Benton, he had been born a wcteran. His followers, too, en-
joyed the joke, albeit not a^;jone ; their begrimed skins expanded
and were softened by the unwonted ablution, whilst the spirits
wifhin happily remained undiluted by the water without.
March 27. — I dined with Mr. G. G. Rowland, where I met Air.
and Mrs. Abbott Lawrence, after which Mr. Lawrence and I went
to Moses H. Grinnell's, where we had also been invited to dine.
Here we met a large party of good Whigs, " full on mirth and full
on glee," as Billy Taylor says, and sat until midnight. There were
Mr. Crittenden ; Mr. Berrien, the new senator from Georgia ;
Messrs. Barnard, Hoffman, Ruggles, Blatchford, Bowen, Minturn,
Griswold, John Ward, Davis, Prescott Hall, Aspinwall, etc.
March 30. — Mr. W^ebster came in town this morning, with his
wife, to see Mr. Herman Le Roy, her father, whose long and
virtuous life is drawing to a close. He is compelled to return to
Washington to-morrow morning. I saw him a few minutes this
evening, by his appointment. The object of the interview was to
acquaint me that a certain affair in which I am deeply concerned
might be considered settled, and to my satisfaction.
April 2. — There is a pretty good hit in one of the
The Curtii. Southcm papcrs upon the rather redundant introduc-
tion of classical illustrations in the President's inaugural
address ; f )r, if there is a fault in it, it consists of a little too much
interlacing of Greece and Rome with its sound principles and
honest professions. The writer says that General Harrison was
prevailed upon to consent to the appointment of Edward Curtis as
Collector of New York, by being told that he was a lineal descend-
ant of the Curtius of Rome.
April 3. — There was a rumour yesterday of the ill-
ness o e ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ worthy President, General Harrison, which
President. -^ ' '
has assumed to-day a shape somewhat alarming. He
has a severe attack of pleurisy, or inflammation of the lungs.
The report to-day speaks of danger, which, until now, was not
apprehended, but adds that he is better. God grant that
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 7 1
he may recover ! His death just now would be, indeed, a severe
national calamity.
April 5 . — With a mournful heart and trembling
President '^ hands I record the sad and unexpected (unexpected, at
least, until yesterday morning) event which will fill this
country with sincere grief and melancholy forebodings. The noble
and virtuous old man whose recent elevation to the chief magistracy
so lately established the triumph of our popular institutions, and
lighted up the hope of a dispirited people ; the honest patriot, whose
acts during the brief period in which he held the reins of govern-
ment gave the fullest evidence of his intention to pursue that
policy which was best calculated to redound to his country's glory
and secure the happiness of her citizens, — has, by an inscrutable
decree of Providence, to which we are bound to bow with cheerful-
ness and resignation, been called away from the exalted station
which he has occupied during the space of one little month. On
the 3d of March I took his hand in Mr. Granger's parlour, at
Gadsby's, in Washington, and congratulated him, but more especially
his country, on the auspicious event of his election ; and on the fol-
lowing day I witnessed, at the capitol of the nation, the consumma-
tion of the people's will, in his solemn pledge before the Almighty
to devote all his faculties to the just government of the Republic.
And I heard the accents in which "the old man eloquent " poured
forth the asjiirations of his honest heart for the prosperity of that
people, and the preservation of the free institutions of that RepubHc ;
and in one short month — one month of unremitted labour and cease-
less anxiety, in which he was taught the painful truth that " uneasy
lies the head that wears the crown " — that heart has ceased to beat,
the account so auspiciously opened has been suddenly closed, and
his virtuous intentions now sleep with him in the silent grave.
General Harrison is the first President who has died in office,
and Mr. Tyler will be the first Vice-President who has ever exer-
cised the executive functions. He will be President, if he lives,
during the long period of three years and eleven months. If he
72 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Ktat. 6i.
carries out the government on the principles avowed by his illus-
trious chief, and to which his able cabinet stands virtually
pledged, all will go well, for Governor Tyler is an able man and
true patriot ; but there is some danger that his opinions in the
leading measures, which we in this part of the country consider
important to the restoration of i)ublic confidence, such as the
establishment of a national bank, and the annulling of the sub-
treasury system, do not coincide with theirs. He is a Virginian,
and we think their policy on these subjects fraught with danger.
If this, unfortunately, be the case, the cabinet must, of course, be
dissolved, and all our bright hopes, in their virtuous and patriotic
administration of the government, be overthrown. May we not
trust in the goodness and mercy of Heaven, that the blow we
have experienced may not be rendered more afflictive by the
occurrence of so disastrous an event.
General Harrison, in his last moments, expressed much solicitude
on this subject, and his last words expressed a confidence in the
wisdom of his successor. Governor Tyler was absent at the time of
this melancholy event, and an express was immediately sent to him.
There seems to be very little doubt that the President's illness
was brought on, and its severity increased, by the constant labour
and deprivation of comfort brought upon him by his new duties.
He told his friends that his time was so much occupied that he
had been prevented from performing the necessary functions of
nature. The sudden change from the quiet occupations of his
life for several years past to the turmoil of public business, and
the sacrifice of his personal convenience and comfort to the im-
practicable task of attending to every man's business, had been
too much for the debilitated frame of a man nearly seventy years
of age ; the strength of the mortal covering of clay was not
commensurate with the ardour of the immortal spirit within,
April 6. — On the receipt of the news here yesterday morn-
ing a spontaneous exhibition of the badges of woe was seen
throughout the city ; the flags on all public places, as well as on
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 73
the shipping in the harbour (not excepting Tammany Hall), were
exhibited half-mast, and some of them shrouded in black. The
courts in session immediately adjourned. The newspapers were
clothed in mourning, all but the " Evening Post," whose malig-
nant, black-hearted editor, Bryant, says he regrets the death of
General Harrison only because he did not live long enough to
prove his incapacity for the office of President. Most of the
places of amusement were closed in the evening. The last words
uttered by the President, as heard by Dr. Worthington, were
these : " Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the
government ; I wish them carried out, nothing more."
April 7. — This volume of my journal commences at a moment
when great grief overspreads the American nation, and doubt
and uncertainty, mingled with some degree of solicitude, has
taken possession of the public mind in regard to the political
prospects of the country, and the bearing they must inevitably
have upon individual interests. The patriotic ruler of this great
country, called from the bosom of retirement to carry out the
great measure which a large majority of the people deem essential
to their welfare, has just been called from his elevated station to
render an account of his stewardship while upon the earth, the
most important part of which was comprised in the little month
immediately preceding his lamented decease, and which, accord-
ing to my imperfect judgment, was calculated not only to secure
the approbation of all good men, but to give a bright presage
for a better condition of things.
The mantle of rule falls suddenly and unexpectedly upon the
shoulders of the Vice-President for a period, if he should live so
long, nearly equal to a full presidential term, — for good, or for
evil. We may be permitted to hope for the former, of which the
honourable character of Governor Tyler would seem to be a guaran-
tee ; but the times are so ticklish, that the effects of this change are
looked to with deep anxiety. Never was there a time when politi-
cal measures were brought so closely home to men's bosoms, and
74 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 6i.
men are compelled to be politicians in despite of their -natural dis-
inclination.
The news of the break-down of the Bank of the United States
and of the confinement and indictment of McLeod caused great
excitement in London, and poor Brother Jonathan gets all he
deserves, and something more, from his brother, Mr. Bull. The
greatest dissatisfaction was caused by the violent and ill-judged
report of Mr. Pickens, in the House of Representatives, and its
having been adopted by a strong majority ; but, if they would only
suppress their rage and wait a while, they would see the gentleman
who was foremost in the opposition to that report placed in the
cabinet as Postmaster- General under the new administration, which
might be considered an evidence that the principles of that ill-
judged report were not to be adopted by the present ruling party.
But the English papers say that an absolute demand has been made
on our government to surrender the mischief-making loafer, and in
case of refusal that Mr. Cox is to demand his passport. It is also
reported that a squadron is ordered off our coast to carry their
hostile measures into effect. If this be so, the difficulties in the
case may be greatly increased ; but it is likely that the love of mar-
vellous and startling subjects, which are sought for with equal avidity
by British and American readers, is gratified there, as here, by the
unscrupulous writers for lying newspapers.
This is the day set apart in Washington for the funeral
unera ^^ ^j^^ j^^^ President. It has been observed here with
Ceremonies.
great solemnity, and a sort of gloom has overspread not
only the appearance of the city, but the countenances of the citizens.
In accordance with the programme published by the joint special
committee of the common council, all business was simultaneously
suspended at noon. The banks and insurance offices, with the
stores generally, throughout the city were closed. The flags were
suspended from the public places, theatres, and hotels, half-mast,
and some tastefully enshrouded in black. The vessels in the har-
bour bore a similar badge of grief until two o'clock.
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 75
April 9. — I am invited by the committee of arrangements of
the corporation to assist in the funeral ceremonies of to-morrow as
pall-bearer at this great affair. The following are the names of the
pall-bearers ; the number, twenty-six, was made to correspond with
the number of States in the Union : Gen. Morgan Lewis, John W.
Hardenbrook, Major William Popham, Peter R. Livingston, Stephen
Allen, Isaac Lawrence, Aaron Clark, John Rathbone, Cornelius W.
Lawrence, Edward Taylor, Walter Bowne, Philip Hone, Chancellor
Kent, George Griffin, Richard Riker, John L. Morgan, John Tar-
gee, Sylvanus Miller, Peter A. Jay, Leffert Lefferts, John Wyckoff,
Jeremiah Johnson, Daniel Winship, William Furman, Peter Bonnet,
Robert Bach.
April 10. — This was the day designated by the joint special
committee of the common council of New York and Brooklyn for
the grand funeral solemnities to commemorate the death of Gen.
William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, who,
after having responded to the call of his fellow-citizens, and wor-
thily fulfilled the high functions of the exalted station to which their
suffrages have called him, during the brief period of a little month,
was called by the sudden mandate of divine power to lay down his
earthly honours, and seek in another and a better world, it may be
hoped, a brighter reward of his virtuous actions.
The corporation of the city, a large majority of whom were
political opponents of General Harrison and his party, have done
themselves great credit by the zeal and spirit with which this great
affair was planned and carried into execution. The arrangements
of the committee were made upon the grandest scale, and the citi-
zens of all ranks, professions, and parties entered into their meas-
ures with a full and spontaneous expression of the most profound
grief. Business of every description was suspended ; all the public
places, markets, hotels, the shops, and many private houses on the
route of the procession, were covered with festoons and hangings
of black, and other mournful devices. Minute-guns were fired, and
the bells tolled during the four hours' progress of the melancholy
j6 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat.6i.
parade. Flags were suspended intertwined with black crape across
the streets, and the whole city was clothed in the habiliments of
woe. Ours is a remarkable population in such matters ; once satisfy
their judgment that the call made upon them either to mourn or
to rejoice is a proper one, and their spontaneous expression of feel-
ing bursts forth without bonds or limitation. On this occasion, as
in the reception of Lafayette, the populace seemed to take the
affair into their own hands. The committee of arrangements pub-
lished in advance an admirable programme, and the people, one
and all, became the actors in the great drama. All was order and
regularity in the tremendous mass of humanity which formed the
greatest civil and military procession ever witnessed in the city, for
spectators occupied every window, and the house-tops, or covered
the entire streets, leaving only a sj^ace sufficient for the passage of
the procession.
April 17. — Mr. Biddle, late president of the Bank
TT^" ° *^ of the United States, he who so lately was incumbered
United States. ' -'
with the load of his greatness, to whom men's knees
were bent, and the beavers came off of their own accord, and who
is now so feUen that there are '' none so poor to do him reverence,"
— this financial Lucifer has published three letters on the subject of
his connection with the bank, in which he seeks to prove (and, it
would appear, with tolerable success) that the ruin of the institu-
tion is not attributable to him, but to the jealousy, cupidity, and
negligence of the directors ; that when he said^ on leaving the
office of president, that its affliirs were prosperous, they were so in
foct, and that the loss of its immense capital was all brought about
in the short space of time subsequent to his abdication. If this be
so, these gentlemen cannot be charged with a want of industry,
for certainly the road to ruin, smooth and easy as it is, was never
before travelled with half the speed. Railroad progression is a
snail's pace to this. These letters are admirably written, like every-
thing that comes from the pen of the last president of the bank, and
are calculated to make warm blood in Philadelphia, and to cause
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 7/
astonishment elsewhere. One precious disclosure is made which
must brand with infamy the whole concern. Mr. Biddle asserts
distinctly that certain money operations planned and executed
sometime since by the committee of directors, but since he relin-
quished the presidency, were intended to compel the New York
banks to suspend specie payments at the time when those of
Philadelphia were compelled to adopt that measure, or rather, to
use Mr. Biddle's more emphatic language, " to ruin the New York
banks."
This neighbourly operation was to be effected by drawing bills on
the house of Hottinguer & Co., in Paris, without funds and without
advice, and with a knowledge that they would not be accepted for
any amount beyond the funds in hand. These bills were sold in
New York for any price they would bring for New York funds, the
specie drawn from the banks to be remitted to meet the bills ; and
thus the New York banks were to be broken, and brought down
from their high and honourable position to a level with themselves.
But the attempt was signally frustrated ; demands were suddenly
and unexpectedly made in one day for $1,200,000 in specie, and
notaries were ready to protest the drafts if (as was supposed) they
could not be promptly met ; but they were promptly met ; those
drafts and all others were paid without a moment's demur, and
our friendly neighbours were left to mourn over their unsuccessful
attempt to equalize the currency, and to make good the loss upon
this hopeful speculation.
May 27. — Yesterday the great Conservative dinner
inner o r. ^^^^ oriyen to Nathaniel P. Tallmad2:e, United States
Tallmadge. * ° '
senator, at the saloon, Tivoli Gardens. Five or six
hundred persons, Whigs and Conservatives, were present. George
W. Bruen presided ; the intended president, John L. Lawrence,
being detained in Albany. A great many toasts were drunk,
speeches and letters of excuse from great men read, and the
affair appears to have gone off with enthusiasm and good feel-
ing.
78 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [.Etat.6i.
June 2. — There is much difference of opinion
The Message, amongst the wiseacres of the Whig party about the
message ; some say it is not sufficiently expHcit on
the leachng measures to be adopted by those who rule the roost in
Congress. I think otherwise ; it is a plain, sensible speech. The
President says there must be a new fiscal agent, a sort of Jupiter to
help the State wagon out of the mud. Pet banks, sub-treasury
and treasury notes have been repudiated by the people, and now
he leaves the matter with their representatives, and whatever they
agree upon shall have his sanction, provided he does not deem it
unconstitutional. If this does not mean a national bank, it is diffi-
cult to say what it does mean. Mr. Tyler is a good, old-fashioned
Republican, and with his able cabinet will do all that can be done
to get things right.
I find, on referring to my journal, that on the i2th
Great Storm, day of March I dined with a party at Mr. Robert B.
Minturn's, and remember well the dreadful walk I had
from his house, pretty late that night. It snowed and rained very
hard, and the wind blew with such violence that I found it almost
impossible to navigate up Broadway; and to carry an umbrella was
out of the question. In referring to that walk, I have always said
it was the most tempestuous night to which I was ever exposed.
June io. — The same party which dined on Tuesday at Mr.
Russell's (excepting ]\Ir. Kernochan) dined to-day at James G.
King's, at Highwood, in addition to which we had Mr. Daniel
Lord, Jr., and Dr. Wilkes. Everything about this magnificent
place is in the finest order ; our dinner was capital, the weather
superlatively fine, and the entertainment in all respects worthy of
the host and hostess.
June 14. — Fanny EUsler appeared this evening at the Park
Theatre, after her long tour of triumph and profit to Havana, New
Orleans, etc. She performed in the ballet of " Nathalie," and danced
the Cachuca. The house was so full that it could hold no more.
She was well received and much applauded, and on being called
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 79
out after the performance made a very neat little speech in broken
English, which every one in the audience thought was worth his
dollar. I went with our lovely neighbour, Eliza Russell. Some
of the newspapers — the '^ Commercial Advertiser," "Evening
Signal," and "Tribune" — have, with a degree of insufferable ar-
rogance, undertaken to write down this amusement, and abuse
those who go to see it, calling them fools and idiots, and lying
abominably about the proofs of admiration bestowed upon this
graceful danseuse. This sort of interference between men and
their consciences, and dictation as to matters of taste, has become
very common of late, and people seem determined not to submit
to it. I have no doubt that many, like myself, went to the theatre
to evince their disapprobation of this kind of impertinence.
June 15. — The House of Representatives is all in
Congress. coufusion. Mr. Adams has thrown a firebrand among
the combustibles of the South, and Mr. Wise, the
most inflammable among them, blazes away, to the utter destruction
of all that is orderly and dignified in legislation. The vote by which
the twenty-first rule was rescinded, which rejected without reading
all petitions on the subject of slavery (which vote was carried
through by the pertinacity of Mr. Adams), has been rescinded, and
another vote carried, which annuls the resolution adopting the rules
of the last session ; so that, after being in session a fortnight, and
the most violent proceedings having taken place, the House is
precisely in the same situation it was at the commencement of the
session, with no organization and no rules to govern their proceed-
ings. The Whigs neglect the urgent business which occasioned
the meeting of Congress at this unusual season, and iinlulge in
violence and recrimination against each other, and the Loco-focos
take every occasion to " fan the embers." The South is arrayed
against the North. Mr. Adams brings forward " in season and out
of season " his anti- slavery opposition ; and Mr. Wise drives over
friend and foe, calling the best men of the party, with which he
pretends to act, nullifiers. He spoke yesterday six hours on this
8o THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. [.Etat.6i.
exciting subject, to the bitter annoyance of all the members, who
wish to get through the important business of the extra session.
He is either crazy, or has not so good an excuse for his conduct.
He apes John Randolph, without a scintillation of the genius which
gave to that talented and eccentric man so great a i)opularity. He
pretends to think for himself, and act as he pleases, regardless of
the opinion of his friends and of tlie bonds which should unite
together gentlemen who are honestly engaged in a patriotic cause,
and virtually pledged to honest measures. It would be happy for
the country, and I doubt not agreeable to their colleagues, if the
fox of Massachusetts and the wild-cat of Virginia were both tied
up in some menagerie ior tiie remainder of the session.
July 5. — This has been celebrated as the sixty-fifth anniversary
of American Independence : the usual military parade ; booths at
the park ; ringing of bells ; firing of guns in a regular way, and
"Independence file firing" (as we used to call it in the artillery)
of muskets, pistols, and crackers from the juvenile lazzaroni of the
city, to the bitter annoyance of all persons of quiet habits and sen-
sitive nerves. Added to all these, and the divers amusements at
theatres, gardens, and other public places, there was a great pro-
cession of temperance societies, with banners, water-carts, and
other diluting emblems and devices, with Benjamin F. Butler in
the midst, who was the orator of tlie day, and enforced, no doubt,
by his own precept and example, sound doctrines of temperance, in
all things but politics, and honesty, too, when it is not crossed by
party discipline. Another gentleman, a Mr. Brownson, delivered
an oration to another section of the teetotallers. This is all very
well, and may be made productive of good, if it be not perverted
by designing men to improper ends, or led by mistaken zealots out
of the paths of cool reason, in which case reaction may be produced
highly injurious to morality, temperance, and good order. Gov-
ernor Seward came in town to review the troops, which ceremony
I witnessed in front of the Astor House. His Excellency did us
the honour of a visit yesterday, and I called upon him just in time
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 81
to " see the review " (as Caleb Quotem says) from the window of
his room. I dined at Blanchard's Globe Hotel, with the State
Society of the Cincinnati. The dinner was capital, but the interest
of the occasion was lessened by the absence of the little band (only
five or six in number) of original members. Their venerable limbs
have no longer the strength to bear them to the festive hall, and
the independence they fought for must in future be celebrated
without their presence.
Webb, after sundry mutterings of distant thunder
En uirer '' foretelling a storm, and suppressing with considerable
difficulty an occasional outbreak of his mortification at
not being appointed postmaster of New York, has at length broken
ground in his papers of yesterday and to-day in the regular attack
upon President Tyler, his cabinet, and several of the leading Whigs
and Conservatives. There is certainly some reason to complain
of timidity and something like a time-serving policy on the part
of the cabinet who enlisted under General Harrison, and do not
find it so entirely conformable to their principles to adopt the half-
and-half Virginia policy of his successor. But it is ungenerous to
charge them with sacrificing their principles in order to retain
office. God knows they sacrifice enough in remaining where they
are, and deserve the people's gratitude for their patriotism. What
would be the situation of the Whig party, and what would become
of the reforms, which their elevation to office gave the country a
right to hope for, if they were to resign at such a time as this ?
Every day brings us fresh cause to lament the untimely decease of
the "good President." It was, to be sure, the signal for all the
discordant materials of the Whig party to ferment and boil over, or,
rather, the Conservatives, for the true Whigs are all true men yet ;
but the agitation is about to subside, the scum and froth will soon
settle down, and the political pot boil once more heartily and
quietly, notwithstanding the Loco-foco fire which, without the
slightest regard to the people's welfare and the nation's health, is
treacherously supplied to keep it in uneasy motion. In the mean
82 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.i:tat.6i.
time here comes this Colonel Webb, a soi-(iisant leader of the AVliig
daily press, a self-created fugleman of the party, who has not been
long enough in the ranks to entitle him to command, with lan-
guage such as this to feed the flame of discord, and cause (so far
as he has influence to effect it) the pot to boil over.
July 12. — I was elected yesterday president of the
Savin r Bank for Savings, in the place of Mr. Pintard, whose
resignation was accepted at the last monthly meeting
of the trustees. I cannot but feel gratified at having been elevated
by the unanimous vote of my associates to the honourable station
of president of the greatest associated institution in the United
States, — greatest in the influence which it exerts over the commu-
nity ; greatest in the amount of business which it transacts, and
by which it is drawn into intimate contact with the people ; and
greatest (I think I may from experience assert) in the good which
it has already done and all it may hereafter (with a continuance
of the blessings of Almighty God) be the means of doing.
July 19. — On Saturday, Mr. and Mrs. Rowland, my wife and
I, went on a visit to Mr. Thomas W. Ludlow's, below Yonkers, —
a drive of eight or nine miles, principally along the valley of the
Saw-Mill river; a more beautiful drive is not to be found any-
where. The trees are glorious, the lands diversified by hills and
valleys, and the whole in the highest state of cultivation. Mr,
Ludlow has lately taken possession of his new house on the bank
of the Hudson, — a cottage in the true Gothic style of architecture,
replete with every convenience and elegance, and the situation
splendid. We were kindly entertained by old Mr. Robert Morris
and his wife until Mr. and Mrs. Ludlow returned home from a
drive. We had a pleasant visit, and returned to dinner, after
which the same party, with the addition of Mr. and Mrs. William
H. Aspinwall (who were visitors, like ourselves) and the young
folks, went on another pleasant excursion up the valley to Tarry-
town and around by the river. In the course of our dri\'e we
went to see I\Ir. Paulding's magnificent house, yet unfinished, on
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 83
the bank below Tarrytovvn. It is an immense edifice of white or
gray marble, resembling a baronial castle, or rather a Gothic mon-
astery, with towers, turrets, and trellises ; minarets, mosaics, and
mouse-holes; archways, armories, and air-holes ; peaked windows
and pinnacled roofs, and many other fantastics too tedious to
enumerate, the whole constituting an edifice of gigantic size, with
no room in it ; great cost and little comfort, which, if I mistake
not, will one of these days be designated as " Paulding's folly." But
the situation, the prospect, and the form of the grounds are all
admirable ; with good taste and a great deal of money it may be
made to equal Hyde Park. As for the splendid marble house, I
would not exchange Rowland's plain, respectable, airy mansion,
embosomed in one of the most charming groves I ever saw, for a
dozen of it.
On Sunday morning we all went to the Episcopal Church, near
the landing, where the service was performed by the respectable
pastor, my old acquaintance. Dr. Creighton, who officiates alter-
nately, morning and afternoon, there and at Tarrytown. We found
a great number of our friends, residents in the neighbourhood, who
form the congregation of this pleasant little temple of the Lord,
whose kind greetings and pressing invitations gave us abundant
reason to believe that our visit in these parts might be very agree-
ably and advantageously prolonged. After a hasty dinner of cold
meats, the usual Sunday fare at Rowland's, we attended the after-
noon service in the Presbyterian Church, situated near to that in
which our morning's devotions were performed, but less to my sat-
isfaction. Returned home to the well-regulated, cheerful, happy
place of our sojournment, ate a good supper, united in the religious
services of the family, which are performed in a devout, unostenta-
tious manner every morning and evening, and retired to rest.
"And thus did pass away, brightly as it began,
A rural Sabbath day."
AfLer an early breakfast this morning, Mr. and Mrs. Aspinwall,
84 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 6i.
my wife an I I, drove to Dobbs's P'erry, took the " Kosciusko " at
half-past eight o'clock, and in two hours we were at home. Our
visit has been exceedingly pleasant ; everything at my friend How-
land's wears the aspect of comfort, hap})iness, and elegant hospi-
tality. God grant that the estimable inmates may live long to enjoy
the blessings of which they are so well deserving !
JuiA' 30. — The long agony is over. The man who
Bank Veto. was clccted by the Whigs to the second office in the
government, and has by the death of the good Presi-
dent been unfortunately elevated to the first, has put his veto upon
the most important measure of Whig policy. The bank bill having
been in liis possession ten days was returned to the Senate yester-
day, with the President's objections, in a message, which, in my
humble judgment, is one of the weakest and most puerile State
pa])ers we have ever had from the Executive Department. It is
all his own ; for every member of the cabinet is opposed to its prin-
ciples, and not one of them (if it were not so) would be desirous
to claim any part of the paternity of this confused, egotistical, in-
conclusive argument. It wants more talent than Mr. Tyler has
evinced in this document to '' make the worse appear the better
cause." " He has always been opposed to a bank," and therefore
to sanction one would 'Mje to commit a crime which he would not
willingly commit to gain any earthly reward, and which would justly
subject him to the ridicule and scorn of all virtuous men." If this
is not the quintessence of " twaddle," I know not what is. Why
did he accept the nomination for Vice-President, involving the
dreadful contingency which has occurred, opposed, as he says he
was, to a national bank in any form, — one ofihe cardinal points to
which was directed the ultimate success of the pnrty which nomi-
nated him. Governor Tyler has, however, succeeded in making
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. Tammany Hall was in
ecstasies on the receipt of the news. Mr. Walker, of Mississippi,
when that jackass Benton was making a fuss about some fellow in
the gallery of the Senate who hissed on the reading of the veto
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 85
message, begged his friend to withdraw his motion. " His heart
was so full of joy and gratitude to the acting President " for his
course in this business, that he could not bear to have those feel-
ings interrupted by anything of a less pleasant nature. Poor Tip-
pecanoe ! it was an evil hour that "Tyler too " was added to make
out the line. There was rhyme, but no reason, in it.
August 19. — Washington Irving is very ill with a bilious fever,
at his cottage at Tarrytown. I regret exceedingly to hear that his
case is considered dangerous. A newspaper, giving an account of
his illness, attributed it to his excursion with me to the coal-mines
and Honesdale. It may be so ; but he certainly was never better
in health and spirits than during the whole time of our pleasant
trip, and he and I separated on our arrival here, delighted with all
things we had done and seen, and with no indication that either of
us was the worse in health, spirits, or experience. As the boys say
in such cases, he will die after it, but I should say, not, by any
means, of it.
August 26. — Died, on Saturday last, at the great age of ninety-
four, Mr. Henry Brevoort. He lived all his life upon his farm, now
in Broadway, a short distance above my house, which cost him a
few hundred dollars, and is now worth to his heirs a half million.
^ , , „ August ^o. — One nomination has not been acted
Edward Ever- ^
ett's Nomina- upon by the Senate, and rumour says that it will be
rejected, — that of Edward Everett, of Massachusetts,
as Minister to England. The result of this, in my judgment, is of
more consequence than President's Tyler's veto of the bank, the
rejection of all the great Whig measures, the dissolution of the
cabinet, and all the other mischievous consequences realized and
anticipated as the fruits of Whig inconsistency and Southern im-
practicability. If Mr. Everett's nomination is not confirmed it will
be upon the ground that he is a Northern man, and, by the infer-
ence, an Abolitionist. And some general observation on the sub-
ject of slavery in the abstract, which was used by the gentleman
whilst Governor of Massachusetts, is now brought up to strengthen
86 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat.6i.
the unholy cabal. This rejection cannot be accomplished except
by the votes of two or three soi-disant Whigs or Conservatives from
the slaveholding States, united with the unflinching profligate pha-
lanx of the opposition, who would reject the great apostle of the
Gentiles if he came before them (and no doubt he would) covered
with the mantle of Whig principles.
This dreadful question comes now broadly and clearly before
the American people ; all extraneous matter is cast away from it,
and Edward Everett stands forth the embodiment of a principle
upon which is to be made an issue of the deepest solemnity, one
on which the union of the States and the prosperity of the country
depend. Governor Everett is acknowledged on all hands to be
perfecdy qualified in every respect for the dignified appointment
to which he has been nominated. No mere party objections can
be brought to bear against him, for the opposition cannot hope or
expect by defeating him to get a man of their own ; nor is it pos-
sible that any predilections in favour of Mr. Stevenson, the present
Minister, if such existed strong enough to overcome party prefer-
ence, could have any influence in this case, for that gentleman has
solicited his recall, and is waiting in London for the arrival of his
successor. The case, therefore, stands in its naked beauty or
deformity. If the nomination is rejected it will be by the union
of pseudo- Whigs with exterminating Loco-focos, to punish a
patriot and a statesman because he is in favour of the right of
petition, which it would be treason in a public man to deny, and
because he refused to exclaim with Mr. McDuffie and the other
hotspurs of the South, that slavery is a positive blessing to the land.
Perhaps it is well that this star of baleful influence should appear
now when the political horizon is enveloped in darkness, and " the
planets shoot madly from the spheres." Let us setUe all the hash at
once. If Everett's nomination is rejected upon the grounds above
stated, and the people of the East and the North and the North-
west submit to it, they deserve to change places with Mr. Mc-
Duffie's troops in South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama.
x84i.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 8/
September 6. — On my arrival in Albany I found
Second Veto, bad ncws from Washington. President Tyler sent in
to the House of Representatives, where the bill origi-
nated, his veto message of the act to create a fiscal corporation, a
national bank, framed, as was thought, to make it acceptable to
the fastidious palate of the accidental executive. The message is
weak and devoid of argument as the former one. He was always
opposed to a national bank, and therefore his oath and conscience
forbids him to sanction one. A very good sort of Jacksonian
argument, which, being the only one, we are bound to abide by.
Congress has done all they can, and will adjourn on Monday,
unless the measures necessary to be adopted in relation to a dis-
graceful occurrence, which I am about to have the mortification of
recording here, should render a longer session necessary.
Thursday is distinguished by another black mark in
Fracas in Con- ^j^^ cougressioual procccdiugs of the President's veto.
gress.
On that day a fracas occurred between two of the
hotspurs of the South, which caps the climax of vulgarity and
violence, so common of late, and which have rendered the Ameri-
can Congress little better than the National Assembly of France
during the reign of terror, when poissardes and sans- culottes con-
trolled their proceedings, and the guillotine carried their bloody
edicts into execution. In the course of a debate on the bill
making appropriations for diplomatic services, a motion being
before the House to dispense with the charge at Naples, Wise, of
Virginia, whose conduct of late has been that of an infuriated
madman, charged Stanley, of North Carolina, who is nearly as rash
and hot-headed as himself, with inconsistency, and applied to him
the gentlemanly and parliamentajy epithets '^ little and contempti-
ble ; " to which Stanley, of course, replied in language equally mild
and conciliating ; soon after which Wise left his seat, crossed over
to Stanley, and renewed the dispute in vituperative terms. Warm
words passed. Wise invited Stanley to follow him into the lobby,
which he declined. Wise told him he was *' beneath his contempt."
88 THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. [/Etat.6i.
Stanley called him a liar. Wise struck him ; the blow was re-
turned, and the hall of the House of Representatives was defiled
by a thumping match between two men who call themselves gen-
tlemen, and rei)resent the chivalry of the South. The House
became a scene of confusion ; the Speaker in vain attempted to
restore order. Whilst the main battle was raging, several agreeable
little codicil fights were gotten up between the friends and cham-
pions of the combatants, the principal one of which was enacted
by Colonel Butler, of Kentucky, and Mr. Arnold, of Tennessee. I
blush to acknowledge that all four of these ruffians call themselves
Whigs. Such a weight is sufficient to break down any party.
After tlie fight was over, Mr. Wise apologized to the House for
his conduct, which he attributed to his having received the lie
from Stanley (a pretty hard word to swallow), and offered to make
any atonement. Mr. Stanley said he had no apology to make ;
they might do with him as they pleased, or he would resign, but he
gloried in having punished his assailant, and regretted that inter-
ruption prevented him from giving him all he merited. A com-
mittee was appointed to investigate the circumstances and report.
Many members were in favour of expelling Wise sur Ic champ,
which, in my judgment, would have been the best course, but not
that perhaps which comported best with the dignity (if any may
be left) of the House.
Mr. Wise's conduct and deportment, during the whole of the
last and present sessions, has been unruly, arrogant, and ungentle-
manly, and if he is not crazy he has no excuse ; his expulsion
would give equal satisfaction to all parties. He calls himself a
Whig, but he has done the Whig party more injury than any half-
dozen of their most violent political opponents. These men may
escape punishment, from the anxiety of the members to adjourn
and return to their flimilies, after this painfid and vexatious session ;
but if I were one, I would never consent to rise until this com-
mittee reports, and the House shall have taken suitable steps to
vindicate their own characters and that of the country.
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 89
September 14. — The prediction of Mr. Webster is
Cabinet Resia^- • i i
nations. ^ Verified. The cabinet, with the exception of Mr.
Webster and Mr. Granger, sent in their resignations on
Saturday, which were accepted by President Tyler, and their suc-
cessors nominated to the Senate.
The select committee, of which that prince of demagogues, In-
gersoll, of Philadelphia, was chairman, reported on Saturday on
the case of Wise and Stanley, and Colonel Dawson announced to
the House that the business had been amicably settled between the
parties. The House accepted the report, which slurred over the
matter in the most approved manner ; the dignity of the people's
representatives remains insulted, and in future every well-behaved
man, whose abilities and patriotism may entitle him to take a part
in the deliberations of the House, and is ambitious of serving his
country and justifying the choice of his constituents, must do it at
the risk of being bullied, brow- beaten, and perhaps otherwise
beaten, by Mr. Wise and other Southern hotspurs.
Sepi^ember 15. — Edward Everett's nomination as Minister to
England has been confirmed by the Senate by a vote of twenty-
three to nineteen ; so that dark and portentous cloud is happily
removed from our distracted political horizon. There is enough to
excite angry feelings, and disturb the tranquillity of the country,
without leaving that firebrand unquenched.
September 20. — The " New York Herald " is now
merican undcrstood to bc the champion of President Tyler ; and,
if report speaks true, its correspondent in Washington
(a person named Parmely) is his confidential adviser, enjoys in
the most enlarged degree the run of the presidential kitchen, and
is favoured with copies of his messages and other public acts be-
fore they have been submitted to his cabinet ministers. For these
high privileges and distinguished favours he, of course, evinces his
gratitude, and does his share of the dirty jobs about the palace, by
abusing in the most gross and vulgar language the members of the
late cabinet ; and Mr. Ewing, the late Secretary of the Treasury,
90 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat.6i.
having been the most prominent among the abdicators, comes in
for the largest share of this reptile's venom. A long article is pub-
lished in the " Herald," filled with the grossest vituperation against
this gentleman, against whom the tongue of slander has never until
now been raised.
September 2. — The ex- Postmaster General came
Mr. Granger, to see me ou Monday evening, when I was not at
home ; and I called upon him yesterday, and had a long
and interesting talk with him about the unhappy state of things
which had lately existed at Washington, and the difficulties and
mortifications to which he has been subjected in the discharge of
his official duties by the faithless and wayward conduct of Mr. ac-
cidental President Tyler. To the embarrassment which this con-
duct has caused him, more than to the famous veto of the bank
bill, the resignation of the Postmaster General is to be attributed.
The most active and violent opposers of the Whig administration
have been retained in important post-offices against his most urgent
remonstrances, to serve the ulterior views of the President and to
create personal partisans out of political adversaries ; by which
temporizing policy our friends have been disgusted, and their ac-
customed exertions in the "good cause " been paralyzed and ren-
dered ineffectual, and for the sins of omission the head of the
department has received all the blame. Mr. Granger mentioned
several cases of this kind of the most flagrant nature. His repre-
sentations have been disregarded. Assurances have been given
from time to time and promises made, which have been violated
and broken with a want of good faith and the comity supposed to
exist between official characters standing in so intimate relations
with each other, for which no excuse can be found but in the utter
inability of the present Executive for the discharge of his high and
responsible duties. Among other matters, of which I have now been
for the first time made acquainted, is one in which I was concerned,
and which satisfies me that Mr. Granger has been true to me ; he
informed me that on one occasion he succeeded so far in obtaining
iS4i.]- THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 91
Mr. Tyler's consent to the removal of Mr. Coddington, and my
appointment, that he was about to leave him, with directions to
send up my name, when he was called back and told that more
time was wanted to determine upon the propriety of removing an
active and violent political opponent from the important office of
postmaster of New York, and putting in his place a true and
undoubted Whig. This vacillating and time-serving policy
has broken up the party, and my friend Granger could not
remain in a place where he was exposed to contumely and de-
prived of power.
September 23. — Having received from the Presi-
dent and Directors of the New York and Erie Railroad
Excursion.
Company an invitation to attend the ceremony of the
opening of the first section of the road from Piermont, on the
North river, through the county of Rockland, to Goshen, Orange
county, I was one of four hundred and fifty guests who assembled
yesterday morning on board the steamboat" Utica," and started on
our excursion at eight o'clock. Such a crowd of important and
distinguished men, official and unofficial, I have seldom or never
seen collected. An accident like that of the " Lexington " on the
Sound, or the " Erie " on Lake Erie, would have vacated more
offices, broken up more establishments, and broken more hearts
than a seven-years war or a general conflagration of the city. We
had the Governor, judges of all grades, the bishop of the diocese
and other clergymen, the Mayor, Recorder and members of the
Common Council, ex-mayors, merchants, bankers, generals, dis-
tinguished men from other States, Whigs and Loco-focos, pipe-
layers and editors of newspapers ; and thus huddled together, with
scarcely standing-room on the deck of the steamer, we arrived at
the company's pier at Piermont, twenty- five miles from New York,
were stowed away as close as Loco-foco matches in a box (but hap-
pily not rendered equally combustible by attraction) into the cars
prepared for the occasion, some of which were temporary plat-
forms with seats of rough plank, calculated for one hundred persons
92 THE DIARY OF PHILIP IIOXE. [.Ktat. 6i.
each, and exposed to a constant shower of sparks and cinders Hke
those which accompany a visit to Vesuvius or Ailmi, only not half
so romantic and worthy to be talked and written about. Thus
placed, and /^/<^v/ by two whizzing, snorting, fire-and-smoke-vomiting
locomotives, we set off under the discharge of cannon, the hurrahs
in English and Irish of the men, and the occasional waving of
handkerchiefs (when they had them) of the women, by w^hich we
were also saluted on the whole line of the road. We went on
rather slowly, to be sure, but fast enough, perhaps, for so great a
weight on a new and untried road, and arrived at Goshen, forty-six
miles, at two o'clock. Here the cannon were firing, bells ringing,
and such a collection of peoi)le from the adjacent country as were
probably never before assembled in the " land of Goshen."
September 29. — The noble steam-frigate which was
ai ingo e |^^jj|{. jj^ Ncw York, on the ])lans and under the direc-
• Kamscnatka. ' ^
tion of Robert and George L. Schuyler, sailed (I must
write sailed until some other word is invented ; but how can it be
called sailing when no sails are used?) this morning. I was one
of a large party of gentlemen invited to go down in her. We as-
sembled on board a steamboat at the foot of Liberty street, at
eleven o'clock, whence we were taken to the " Kamschatka," lying in
the stream, and by noon the anchor was weighed and the tremen-
dous mass of timber and iron put in motion down the bay. It had
been raining in the morning, but the sun came out about this time,
and her voyage down to the Hook was very pleasant.
Seffemher 30. — Mr. Stanley, Wise's competitor in
ongressiona ^^^^ dis^raceful fracas which lately occurred in the
Lyrics. '^ •'
House of Representatives, although a clever man and a
good fellow, is fiery as a Loco-foco match, and as easily ignited by
hard rubbing ; and so small and boyish in his appearance that
Pickens once contemptuously called him Cock-Robin, and he in
return let out a broadside of cannon-balls, bomb- shells, and chain
shot, each apparently larger than the calibre of the gim itself. It
must have been funny to hear this little man with a big heart
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 93
boast of the fisticuffs he inflicted upon Mr. Wise, and what he
would have done if they had not been separated. These remarks
are suggested by reading the following nursery lines, taken from a
Western paper, as a sort of heading to an account of the congres-
sional battle : —
" Stanley, you should never let
Your angry passions rise;
Your little hands were never made
To pummel Mr. Wise."
Columbia
College.
October 5. — The Commencement of Columbia
College took place to-day, in St. George's Church,
Beekman street. I walked in procession from the
college, and remained in the church until nearly four o'clock.
The medals were presented, the degrees conferred, and most of
the other ceremonies performed by President Duer, whose feeble
health and sickly appearance created a strong sensation of sympathy
and apprehension among his friends that he was risking too far his
impaired powers ; but he got through it, and boasted that he was not
fatigued ; but I am afraid there was more pride than sincerity in the
declaration. The speaking was generally very good ; the valedic-
tory, especially, was a fine composition, well delivered, but too long,
and the music, a double dose. Thirty-one of the senior class
graduated, of whom the following delivered exercises : James
Emott, Jr., George W. Collord, Oliver Wolcott Gibbs, James H.
M. Knox, H. T. E. Foster, John J. Townsend, John Rankin,
Robert Le Roy, Jr., T. B. Dibblee, and Robert D. Van Voorhis.
October 16. — The following gentlemen dined with
Picnic Dinner, mc I Francis March, J. T. Brigham, Charles H. Rus-
sell, M. H. Grinnell, J. de Peyster Ogden, James W.
Otis, Charles A. Davis, Charles A. Heckscher, John A. King, Robert
Tyler, son of the President. This was a picnic for wine ; each gen-
tleman sent his bottle of Madeira. I decanted and numbered
them in such a way that nobody could recognize his wine but by
94 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat.6i.
its taste. There was a great display ; it is not extravagant to say that
such another could not be made out of an equal number of other
wines. After tasting around, a vote was taken, and a bottle furnished
by Mr. Grinnell bore off the palm by all the votes except two ; this
was wine formerly belonging to Mr. John B. Coles. Besides this,
our board was graced by Kirby wine, March and Benson, 1 809 ;
Butler, Helicon, etc.
Ogden Hoffman, Butler King, of Georgia, Prescott Hall, and Judge
Kent were kept away by sickness or business. The latter gentle-
man is working like a slave in his new vocation, to clear away the
accumulation of business in his court, caused by his predecessor
being less active and industrious than himself; but I fear it will be
the labour of Sisyphus, — the more work he does the more he will
make to do, for there is always burden enough for the back of the
willing horse. Judge Kent was employed in the morning in sen-
tencing one wretch to the gallows, and another to the State prison,
and I should have thought that was grave work enough for one
day ; but he proceeded in the afternoon to try civil causes, and so
lost his dinner, but sent his bottle to represent him. Mr. Grinnell
brought Mr. Robert Tyler, who, by his request, I had previously in-
vited ; he is the young man who married Miss Penelope Cooper,
remarkable for nothing, that I coukl discover, but a very strong
resemblance to his father.
Governor Marcy said once, in the Senate of the
Spoils. United States, " To the victors belong the spoils." This
is a maxim acted upon by the political parties in our
country, but not usually avowed so openly as in this instance. But
the Romans, in the plenitude of the power of the mighty republic,
when she was mistress of the world, when monarchs bowed at her
footstool and no nation existed except by her sufferance, had the
prettiest notion of spoils ; not such as our American senator had in
his eye, which are extorted from one portion of the citizens to be
bestowed upon the other, but those acquired from foreign nations
as the fruits of victory, the price of peace, and wages of corruption.
1 841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 95
This was the time of Rome's greatest power, but not of her great-
est glory ; that had departed with her Catos, her Ciceros, and her
Fabii. Honour and patriotism had been succeeded by rapine and
corruption, and the Roman name, though still feared, was no
longer honoured. The only consolation humanity derives from the
lesson is, that the very spoils which she wrung with their liberties
from tributary nations was the cause of her downfall.
October 25. — My birthday, — I am sixty-one years old ; and it
does not require a record in " black and white " to remind me of
it. It appears to me that I am more than a year older than I was
last year on this day. How much faster we go down than up hill,
and how much less time there is to stop and gather flowers by the
way ! There are not so many flowers, either, or perhaps we cannot
see them, or want the taste to enjoy them. Stones and ruts and jolts
there are enough, and sorely do our bones feel the effects of them ;
but on we go ! The downward impetus cannot be resisted, and our
best hope is that we may find a quiet, comfortable spot at the foot.
October 28. — The new church recently erected at
^^ "'^'^ ' " . the corner of Tenth street and the Fifth avenue for
the Ascension,
the congregation of the Rev. Dr. Eastburn, who were
burned out in Canal street, is a noble Gothic building, upon the
same plan, but of smaller proportions and less elaborate workman-
ship than the new Trinity Church, or rather cathedral, which is
slowly raising its massive walls, its beautiful arches, and graceful
turrets, at the head of Wall street. The exterior of the Church of
the Ascension is of hammered stone. Trinity is of polished stone,
and the material more beautiful ; but the proportions of the former
are faultless, and the interior is finished in a style of appropriate
solemnity and excellent taste. The church is so nearly finished
that notice is given of the consecration, to take place on Friday
of next week.
Mr. Franklin and I went out to the reservoir on
Croton Murray Hill, — a short drive from the city, — which I
Water-Works .
have not seen for more than a year. I fortunately found
g6 THE DIARY OF PHILIP IIOXE. [.Etat.6i.
on the spot. Mr. Thompson Price, the contractor, who showed and
explained to us everything about the gigantic work, which is nearly-
completed ; and the whole work is in such a state of forwardness that
the fourth of July next is already fixed upon for the ceremony of
letting in the water. The principal reservoir, which will contain a
surface equal to tliirty acres of water, is near Yorkville, about four
miles farther from the city, from which the water is conveyed by
double rows of enormous iron pipes to this, which is called the dis-
tributing reservoir ; of less extent, but of more costly workmanship.
This is divided into two equal compartments, which, together, will
contain nineteen millions of gallons. The walls are of granite, of
prodigious thickness, finely wrought on the exterior, and affording
a pleasant promeuuade on the top, from whence to view these two
Mediterranean seas, so well calculated to carry out the object of the
temperance teetotallers. Some idea may be formed of the whole
expense of this great work, from the fact that the contract for this
one item amounts to half a million of dollars. The Philadelphians
may boast of their Fairmount works ; they are no more to be
compared to this than the Schuylkill to the Hudson. I doubt
whether there is a similar work in Europe of equal extent and
magnificence with the Croton aqueduct, — its dams, bridges, tun-
nels, and reservoirs.
October 30. — The excitement in relation to the
,f ^"'*^ school fund, and its distribution for the exclusive
Alovement.
benefit of the Catholics, />er se (as President Tyler
would say), is increased to fever heat by the proceedings of a
meeting of citizens of that religious faith held last evening at Car-
roll Hall, at which the Catholic Bishop Hughes was the prime
mover and generalissimo, and at which he made an inflammatory
speech, urging his flock to come out at the election " upon their
own hook," repudiating the candidates on both sides who were
opposed to the alteration of the school system as at present con-
ducted, and presenting a new ticket, composed of those who were
supposed to be in favour of such a law as they desire. The senators
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 9/
on both sides came under the ban of the Right Reverend regu-
lator, and Charles O'Connor and a Mr. Gotzberger are nominated
in their places ; and a ticket for Assembly, containing the names of
ten of the Loco-focos, whom the Bishop says are favourable to his
views, and three new ones in place of that number of impracticable
heretics. This is certainly a most impudent interference with the
rights and privileges of native Americans ; an unblushing attempt
to mix up religion with politics, — an unpalatable dish in this coun-
try,— but it maybe the means of assuring the success of the Whigs,
particularly the Senate ticket. Good may come of evil ; but evil
it undeniably is.
November 5 . — The people will be amused ; they
Lectures. must havc somc way of passing their evenings besides
poking the fire and playing with the children. The
theatre does not seem exactly the right thing ; when it revives a
little and raises its head, the legitimate drama — good, honest trag-
edy, comedy, and opera — has to encounter a host of competitors
ready to administer to a vitiated public taste. The good is mixed up
with the bad ; Shakespeare and Jim Crow come in equally for their
share of condemnation, and the stage is indiscriminately voted im-
moral, irreligious, and, what is much worse, unfashionable. But the
good folks, as well as the bad, must be amused, and at the present
time lectures are all the vogue. Regular courses have commenced
at the Mercantile Library Association, the Mechanics' Institute, the
Lyceum, and the Historical Society, at all of which some of the
ablest and most distinguished men of this and other States have
agreed to contribute their learning and eloquence. Jared Sparks,
for the Historical Society, is engaged in a course of eight lectures
on the " Events of the American Revolution," to which crowds so
numerous are attracted that the chapel of the New University can-
not hold them, and they have had to adjourn to the Tabernacle,
the omnium gathemm and hold-all of the city. Concerts, vocal
and instrumental, are also well attended. Mr. Knoop fiddles and
Braham sings to large audiences, whose $400 or $500 a night is
98 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat.6i.
made as easily as a broker's commissions ; and ladies' recitations
come in for a good share of public patronage. This is all right ; it
is more rational than the expensive parties for which New York
was formerly celebrated, where friendly intercourse was stifled in
a crowd of oyster- eating parasites, modest merit put to the blush
by reckless extravagance, and good fellowship voted vulgar by
parvenu pretension ; but I cannot help thinking that the theatre,
well conducted, should come in for a better share of support : its
morals will always be regulated by the countenance it receives from
the respectable part of the community. Vice naturally shrinks from
the contact with virtue. If good plays are encouraged and decent
theatres frequented by respectable people, none but such will be
presented to the public.
November 17. — The rotunda of the Merchants'
ere an s Exchangc in Wall street, the magnificent room in which
the merchants of New York are to " congregate," was
opened this day for their use. The fagade wants three columns to
be complete, and the offices are all occupied by brokers, banks,
money-changers, and those who deal in pigeons, if not " those who
sell doves." The following memoranda are taken from an account
in one of the morning papers of this superb edifice, which will be
an ornament to the city, but a very bad concern for the stock-
holders, of which number I am one to the amount of ^2,500. I
may say as Gomerts, the Philadelphia Jew, said to me, when I con-
gratulated him on the news of peace, " Thank you, thank you, Mr.
Hone ; but I wish I had not bought them calicoes." The ground
on which the building stands cost $750,000. The cost of the
building will be about $1,100,000, so that the whole expense will
not be much short of $2,000,000 ; and it is doubted whether the
revenue of all kinds, with all the advantages of situation and con-
tiguity to the great centre of business, will be more than sufificient
to pay the interest on the foreign debt contracted over and above
the amount of subscriptions raised from such simpletons as myself
for the erection of this costly temple of mercantile pride.
1841.] TFIE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 99
November 23. — This nobleman came in town on
Lord Morpeth. Thursday. I called this morning, with Mr. Buchanan,
to see him, at the Astor House, and invited him to dine
with us on Saturday next. He is a plain man, ill-dressed, rather
undersized, with gray hair, which makes him look older than his
age (something under forty), with fine teeth and good eyes. In
his manner he is, like most of his countrymen, fidgety and ill at
ease, a forced vivacity, a desperate determination to do " the
agreeable," come what may; all of which would seem to indicate a
want of polish which intercourse with good society alone can im-
part, did we not know that in this case no such question can arise.
No individual in England can claim higher breeding from ancestral
blood, high connections, finished education, and dignified employ-
ment. He is evidently what is called in his country " a clever
man." He talks much and well, forms no ridiculous pretensions
upon his rank, and is delighted with everything he has as yet met
with in this country.
November 25. — I was at a dinner given by Mr. Buchanan, the
British Consul, to Lord Morpeth. The party consisted of the host
and his two sons, Lord Morpeth, Chancellor Kent, Mr. Morris, the
Mayor; Mr. Fanshaw, Dr. Wainwright, Mr. Thomas W. Moore,
Mr. Jephson, Col. Nelson, a West Indian ; Judge Oakley, Judge
Betts, Mr. Curtis, the Collector, and myself. It was a pleasant,
cheerful dinner. His lordship improves upon acquaintance.
Chancellor Kent was very agreeable, and the judges gave good
opinions. I advised his lordship to accept an invitation he has
received from the corporation to the Joinville dinner on Saturday,
and agreed to postpone mine until Wednesday of next week.
The following statement is copied from an article
Recor o .^ ^^^ '< American," the object of which is to prove
Ruin. ' •'
that the ruinous depreciation of personal property is
mainly to be attributed to the party warfare which terminated in
the destruction of the Bank of the United States. This frightful
exhibit relates only to the fall in the value of certain stocks here
100
THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE.
[^tat. 6i.
in New York ; it is even worse in some of the other States, in which
banks are broken, the solemn obhgations of the State repudiated,
and the mass of the people standing ready to avail themselves of
the new bankrupt law as soon as it goes into operation. And yet
the prostituted press of the party which is about to resume its
ascendency has the impudence to tell the people that the country
IS as prosperous as ever.
To convey some idea of the immense
amount of money sunk in stocks within the last three years, we
give below a list of the prices that a small portion only of those
bought and sold at our stock-board alone, within that period, have
ruled at, and their prices at the present day. The difference, in
many instances, seems incredible ; but unfortunately it is true."
United States Bank .
Vicksburg Bank
Kentucky Bank
North American Trust
Farmers' Trust
American Trust
Illinois State Bank .
Morris Canal Bank .
Mohawk Railroad .
Paterson Railroad .
Harlem Railroad
Stonington Railroad
Canton Company
Loncf Island Railroad
Prices within
Present
three years past
prices.
122^
4
. . 89
3
92
56
95
3
. 113
30
120
nothing
80
35
75
nothing
. 76
^3
75
53
74
18
70
23
54
23
60
52
November 27. — The great affair given in honour of
the French Prince de Joinville, by Dr. and Mrs. Mott,
at their elegant house in Bleecker street, formerly the
residence of Washington Coster, came off last evening, in a style
of magnificence which we have not witnessed for a long time. Cut-
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. lOI
ting of limbs has been a better business of late than trade, and the
doctor, having been absent in Europe during the dark days of New-
York, has had no temptation to invest his money in stocks which
have become worthless ; ^'- taut mieux pour liiir I rejoice in the
worthy doctor's ability to honour his royal guest, and do credit to
our city in a manner equally worthy of himself and the occasion.
My wife and daughters and myself were invited, but I alone repre-
sented the family. I called and took Mr. Hughes to this " Doc-
tor's mob," for such, in fact, it was. The house is curiously
constructed, with a great number of small rooms, but none large
enough to accommodate such a great crowd ; and the fine women
and lovely girls, dressed in a style of taste and splendour for which
they are remarkable, w^ere squeezed in corners by fat men in black,
and boys with long beards which the bloodthirsty Venetian Jew
might have envied in his day. And as f jr dancing, one cotillon
was all that could find room, and that only the one in which the
Prince and his happy partner w^ere exhibited from time to time to
the admiring multitude who gazed upon him, the tall ones over
the heads of the short ones, and the short ones under the arms of
the long ones. I came away before supper, which I am told
was in equal splendour with the rest of the entertainment. It was
a superb, hot-pressed edition of New York's ''good society," ele-
gantly bound, with gilt edges and rich illustrations. Lord Morpeth
divided the notice of the company with the distinguished guest
of the evening. His society and conversation were much courted.
The Corporation of New York gave a grand dinner
ivic eas o ^j^.^ ^ ^^ ^^^ Prince de Toinville, at the Astor
the Prince. -' •' '
House. The company, for so large a one, w^as very
select, including none of the vulgar hangers-on of the corporation,
who are apt to creep in and ungentlemanize the company on
these occasions. The company, about two hundred in number,
consisted, besides " their honours," of the prince and officers of
the Belle-Poule and Cassarde ; the French committee ; officers
of the Army and Navy of the United States ; militia officers of the
I02 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [^Etat. 6i.
rank of general ; members and ex-members of Congress ; chan-
cellors and judges ; ex-mayors, which dignified corps was confined
to C. W. Lawrence, Aaron Clarke, and myself; Lord Morpeth ;
Colonel Clive and Colonel Percival ; Mr. Bacoiirt, French minister ;
Christopher Hughes, charge d' affaires at Stockholm ; Francis
Granger, postmaster-general, out of place ; Bishop Onderdonk ;
Dr. Knox and Rev. Mr. Verrin ; and a fair representation of the
respectable gentlemen of the city, Whigs as well as Loco-focos.
The Mayor, of course, presided, with Aldermen Bennett and
Shaler as vice-presidents ; there was good material in the company,
but the president had not the tact to bring it out, until after the
French guests retired, which was soon after the regular toasts were
done, when affairs took a livelier turn, and the usual amount of
speech-making and toastifying came into play. The Mayor, in his
toast, the first after the regular ones, paid a handsome compliment
to Lord Morpeth ; to which he replied in a short speech, in excel-
lent taste and fine language, evidently prepared, however, and
committed to memory, and delivered in the strained, awkward,
sing-song style of elocution which characterizes most of the par-
liamentary orators. The handsome dining-room of the Astor
House was tastefully decorated with the flags of France and the
LTnited States, and devices and inscriptions appropriate to the
two nations ; and the dinner, which cost the good peo])le of
Gotham $2,000, was gotten up in Stetson's best style.
December i. — We had a very pleasant dinner-party, consisting
'of the following gentlemen : Lord Morpeth, Henry Brevoort, Mr.
Charles H. Russell, Peter Schermerhorn, Washington Irving, E. H.
Pendleton, John Duer, Dr. Wainwright, I )r. Francis, Ogden Hoff-
man, James G. King.
His lordship has been so fe/ed an;l lionized at large public
dinners, and has been so thrust forward to make speeches and be
stared at, that he declared himself delighted with the ease and
sociability and repose of this little party of talented and agreeable
men. He left at ten o'clock to attend an evening party at Mr.
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. IO3
Isaac Jones's ; but some of my guests remained until half-past
eleven. Lord Morpeth grows upon us amazingly ; his fine talents,
improved by education of the highest sort, and the frank urbanity
of his social intercourse, makes us overlook his awkwardness of
manner, and a half-hour's conversation almost persuades us that
he is a handsome man.
Launch of DECEMBER 6. — This being the anniversary of the
the " St. tutelar saint of the New Netherlands, the new ship
Nic oias. 1^^^.^^ ^^^ ^ Havre packet, which bears his name, was
launched, at three o'clock, from the ship-yard at the head of Cherry
street. The ceremony was delayed a fortnight to grace the anni-
versary, and she was launched into her destined element, with all
her masts standing, — a beautiful specimen of naval architecture.
At the appointed time, in fine style. Alderman Benson, the presi-
dent of the St. Nicholas Society, in full Dutch costume, with
a cocked hat and orange ribbon, performed the ceremony
of the christening, by pouring the mystical libation of Holland
schnapps over her bows. The owners of this noble vessel provided
an appropriate banquet for the members of the society, in a ware-
house from which an excellent view of the launch was obtained.
We were treated with coffee, spiced rum (known in the Dutch
nomenclature as hot stuff), nice bread and butter, Dutch cheese,
herrings, doughnuts. New Year's cookies, crullers, mince pies, and
waffles. The ship bears on her bow a full-length figure of the
patron saint, in full canonicals, and her stern is ornamented with
a representation of the same worthy in his better- remembered
capacity of the friend and benefactor of our early days. He is
represented here entering a chimney loaded with his annual gifts
for " good children," which he is supposed to have brought from
Holland, via his aerial railroad, in less time than is required in
these boasted times of rapid locomotion to get up the steam of the
" Great Western ; " and in another portion of the same carving we
see the kind-hearted saint filling the stockings with his far-fetched
treasures, the thoughts of which are preventing the slumbers or
104 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 6i.
employing the dreams of their expectant recipients. The latter
scene is copied from Weir's admirable picture on this subject.
The marble statue of Washington, executed in Italy,
»reenoug s , ^j^^ American artist Greenouc;h, was placed in the
statue. -^ & > 1
rotunda of the Capitol at Washington on the first
instant. It is pretty severely criticised by some of the newspaper
correspondents, one of whom goes so far as to condemn it as
another of the caricatures which disgrace that spacious apartment ;
but these folks are so much in the habit of furnishing lies to their
employers about living subjects, that they cannot tell the truth
when marble is to be treated of.
December 14. — Bills of indictment have been found
Mr. Biddie. by a grand jury of Philadelphia against " Nicholas
Biddle, Samuel Jaudon, John Andrews, and others to the
jury unknown," for robbery, cheating, swindling, and all the other
crimes, true and technical, known to the criminal law, and described
in its exuberant phraseology. '' How are the mighty fallen ! " The
great financier, the golden calf of Chestnut and Wall streets, at
whose approach the well-brushed hat of the cosey millionnaire, or
the businessdike cap of the money-broker, instinctively came down
from its empty eminence, and the pliant knee could with difficulty
restrain its idolatrous genuflection, the ''monster" of General Jack-
son's imagination, and the very " Old Nick " in the path of Loco-
foco politicians, — " fallen, fallen, from his high estate," now " none
so poor to do him reverence." Indicted for high crimes and vul-
gar misdemeanors by a secret conclave of greasy householders,
who, a few short months ago, reflected back the complacent smile
from his good-natured visage as he ascended the marble steps of
the classical temple of Mammon, of which himself was the high-
priest, and, marking the animated step and comfortable rotundity,
wondered and exclaimed with the jealous Cassius : —
** Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat does this our Caesar feed.
That he has grown so great? "
1841.] THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. 105
But these worthy men, influenced, no doubt, by a zeal for
justice and a regard for the public morals, had each of them a
sharper prompter to those holy impulses stowed away in his little
morocco pocket-book in the shape of an unredeemed five-dollar
note, or had been compelled to write off in his stock account a re-
luctant line on the dark side of the profit and loss account, where
first his jocund pen had caused a ray of light to play around the
consolatory word dividend.
December 15. — I attended the sale of Commodore Chauncey's
wine, at the City Hotel, to-day. The fine old sherry of 1786 and
I 789 brought four to four and a half dollars per bottle, much less
than I expected ; but I doubt if it is the wine which we used to
extol so highly. He had several kinds, all good ; but the great wine,
probably, is all gone the way of all wine. I felt melancholy when
reminded, by seeing this wine under the auctioneer's hammer, of
the delightful days when this liquor was an adjunct of the hospi-
tality and good cheer of which I have so often partaken at the
table of the noble old commodore. Peace to his ashes, and
revered be his memory ! The race is dwindling away ; when will
my turn come?
December 20. — President Tyler's plan of a ma-
Fiscai Agent, chinc to go without whccls, a mill without water, a
steam-engine without fuel, a sort of bank and no bank,
has been received and referred in the Senate to the standing com-
mittee of ways and means, of which Evans is chairman ; and in the
House of Representatives to the special committee, of which Cush-
ing is chairman. The Whigs, who have yet respectable majorities
in both Houses, seem disposed, now that their own schemes to
regulate the currency and provide the means to carry on the
government have been defeated by the President, to give those
he offers a fair chance, and will do nothing under the influence of
party- spirit to obstruct the administration of public affairs. At
present, things at Washington are calm and quiet.
December 21. — I came out last evening in a character which I
I06 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat.6i.
had laid aside for a long time : I went to two parties ; first, to
one at Mrs. Hammersley's, in the handsome new house, her share
of the Mason row, above us in Broadway, where everything was
in the finest style of elegance and good taste ; and afterward to
Mrs. Charles Heckscher's, where the party was given in honour of
the bride, Mrs. Washington Coster, late Miss Elizabeth Oakey,
where I found many agreeable peojjle, a capital supper, and fine
wine. I was very well pleased at both i)laces ; in these cases c''est
le premier pas qui coute ; the difficulty is in saying, " I will go,"
and going upstairs into a cold room to dress at an hour when you
ought to undress to go to bed. I went to Mrs. Hammersley's at
ten o'clock, and found half-a-dozen ladies collected in the receiv-
ing-room ; and at eleven, when I came away, it was difficult to
make my way through the crowd.
December 23. — This society celebrated their anni-
n<r an ^,gj.g^j.y yesterday, by an oration at the Tabernacle,
from Professor Hadduck, of Dartmouth College, and
afterward a dinner at the Astor House. The last was remarkable
for two circumstances, — Yankee inventions, — one wise and in
good taste, the other exceedingly doubtful in both those character-
istics. The tables were graced by the presence of ladies, but
chilled by the exclusion of all beverages but water, — the " pure
element," as they call it. The water, it is true, was brought from
the neighbourhood of Plymouth ; but the spirit of the Pilgrims
has evaporated long since, and I suspect that those on whom the
duty devolved of making speeches and singing songs would have
gotten on better if a substitute had been provided in the shape of a
glass of Stetson's good Madeira, or the spur to intellect which is
found in a sparkhng tumbler of champagne. The Pilgrims could
not boast of many such stimulants, and were compelled to drink
"water from the rock; " but I shrewdly suspect that if from the
rock streams of champagne had issued, instead of water, it would not
have been suffered to run to waste or sink untasted into the earth.
There is a scandalous report prevailing, that after the dinner was
1841.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. IO7
ended, and the company had dispersed, the bar-rooms and oyster-
cellars in the neighbourhood of the Astor House had an unusual
run of custom, and soon gave evidence that this grand temperance
jubilee was to them at least an empty boast.
I dined to-day with Prescott Hall. The party consisted of
Messrs. Curtis, Grinnell, Minturn, De Wolf, Draper, Gerard Coster,
Brigham, Dr. Sparks, etc. Several of these gentlemen were leading
men yesterday at the New England dinner. They made ample
amends to-day for their unwonted abstinence on that occasion ;
their libations gave evidence of a " foregone conclusion " destruc-
tive to the capital wine furnished by our hospitable entertainer.
This descendant of the Pilgrims has no particular predilection for
the '^ pure element."
I08 THE DIARY OF I'lIILlP liONE. [.-Etat. 62.
1842,
TANUARY I. — If the moral, social, and political year which has
^ now commenced shall take its features from the earth, the
air, and the heavens this day, it will be all bright sunshine, balmy
air, and cloudless skies. Never was there a more beautiful New
Year's Day, and never did people seem disposed to make more of
it. Broadway, from ten o'clock until the shades of evening, was
animated by pedestrians of all ranks, sexes, and ages, and by every
description of vehicle that ever was contrived as a substitute for legs.
I entered upon the spirit of the game, was fairly on the go from
noon until five o'clock, and paid many agreeable visits.
The year comes in under gloomy auspices and discouraging fore-
bodings. We are, as a community, much worse off than we were
at the commencement of the year which has just passed off forever.
And the aggregate of individual loss, embarrassment, and disappoint-
ment is most fearfully increased. Real and personal property is
diminished greatly in value, and the confidence which promotes
success in the dealings of men seems to hav^e fled.
Here, in the city of New York, trade is stagnant. Local stocks
are lower than ever. Real estate is unsalable at any price ; rents
have fallen and are not punctually paid, and taxes have increased
most ruinously. The general government has, by a course of bad
management and corrupt measures in the last administration, and a
want of harmony and concert in the present one, been reduced to
bankruptcy ; there is not enough money in the treasury to pay the
members of Congress, nor patriotism and honesty enough in the
rulers to agree upon any feasible plan to make matters better. And,
to add to this babel of enormities, several of the States are holding
meetings, to deliberate ui)on the propriety of repudiating State
debts. Elections have gone in favour of this damnable principle,
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. IO9
and we shall stand before a jury of nations, a nation of swindlers,
not entitled to the ordinary courtesies of the civilized world, and a
by-word and a reproacli ; all of which. New York, Massachusetts, and
Ohio must suffer for the rascality of Mississippi, Michigan, and, I
greatly fear, Pennsylvania.
January 17. — Died in Philadelphia, on Saturday, in
ea o ju g^ ^Y\Q seventy-third year of his age, Francis L. Hopkinson,
Judge of the U. S. Circuit Court for the State of Pennsyl-
vania. Few men in this country have enjoyed, during a long life, so
good a name, or deserved it more ; he was a man of taste, learning,
and pubhc spirit, an agreeable companion, and a gentleman, as
such things were formerly understood in this country, before it was
Jacksonized. Judge Hopkinson has been more celebrated as the
author of the national song " Hail Columbia," than for many more
important services rendered to the people, and higher evidences of
talents.
January 22. — We had a pleasant dinner-party of young folk,
viz., Mr. and Mrs. Delancey Kane, Miss Eliza Russell, Miss Emma
Meredith, Mr. Charles Brugiere, Genevieve Anthon, Edward Laight,
Emily Hone, Frederick Foster, Caroline Howland, and William
Schermerhorn.
. . , r January 24. — The steamer " Britannia " arrived in
Arrival ot •' '
Charles Bostou ou Saturday evening, having left Liverpool on
Dickens. ^^^ ^^-^ .^^^^ g^^ brings news thirty days later than
we had before. Among the passengers in the " Britannia " are Mr.
Charles Dickens and his wife. This gentleman is the celebrated
" Boz," whose name " rings through the world with loud applause,"
— the fascinating writer whose fertile imagination and ready pen
conceived and sketched the immortal Pickwick, his prince of
valets, and his body-guard of choice cronies ; who has made us
laugh with "Mantilini," and cry with poor "Httle Nell ; " caused us
to shrink with horror from the effects of lynch law, as administered
by the misguided Lord George Gordon, and to listen with unmiti-
gated delight to the ticking of " Master Humphrey's Clock." The
no THE DIARY OF I'll I LIP HONE. [.Etat.62.
visit of this i)opular writer has been heralded in advance. He was
expected by this packet, and I signed, three or four days ago, with
a number of other persons, a letter to be presented t(j him on his
arrival in this city, giving him a hearty welcome and inviting him
to a public dinner, which, from the spirit which appears to prevail
on the subject, will be no common affair.
The news by this arrival is of a more sunny nature than we have
been accustomed to of late. The language of the quotations from
the public papers is more conciliatory, and there seems to be a
greater disposition to shake hands than to crack crowns. Every
favourable symptom on this side of the water is made the most of.
The temperate tone of President Tyler's message has contributed
to produce this effect, and Lord Morpeth's reception, and the
attentions he has received in this and other cities of the United
States, have not been without their influence upon public opinion.
But the best evidence of a return of good feelings, and a sincere
desire on the part of the British government to adjust the un-
pleasant difficulties between the two countries, is the appointment
of Lord Ashburton on a special mission to the United States
(which appointment he has accepted) to settle, if possible, the
points in dispute. This is an unusual piece of condescension on
the part of our haughty elder sister. It will make Brother Jona-
than feel his importance, and the devil is in it if it does not put
him in a good humour. Besides the gracious nature of the act
itself, the choice of the messenger of peace may be considered
highly complimentary. Lord Ashburton is better known as Mr.
Alexander Baring, head of the great mercantile house of Baring
Brothers & Co., closely identified with American commerce, and
long known as the bankers of the American government ; and it
would be strange if he had not some predilections in favour of a
country whose blood runs in the veins of his children. Lady Ash-
burton being an American lady, the daughter of Mr. Bingham, of
Philadelphia.
Happy will it prove for us that Mr. Webster has remained in
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. Ill
the office of Secretary of State when this special Minister shall
have arrived, and great will be the triumph over those who abuse
him for remaining at his post when his colleagues resigned, if he
shall prove to be the happy instrument in settling the painful diffi-
culties between the two countries in an honourable manner, and
averting a war so little desired by either. Let these two men get
fairly together at Washington, and, if the sores are not speedily
healed, they may be pronounced incurable.
January 25. — Isaac Iselin, formerly of the house of Le Roy,
Bayard, & Co., and more recently connected with that of De Rham
& Moore, died on the loth of December, at his residence in Basle,
Switzerland, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. I visited Mr.
Iselin, at Basle, in the year 1821. He was a banker, deal-
ing largely through Paris in exchange and stocks, and lived in
the dull, aristocratic style of the dullest and most aristocratic
city of Europe.
The House of Representatives presents every day a
Congress. scenc of violence, personal abuse, and vulgar crimina-
tion, almost as bad as those which disgraced the
National Assembly of France in the early stages of the " Reign of
Terror." Mr. Adams, with the most provoking pertinacity, con-
tinues to present petitions intended to irritate the Southern mem-
bers, and by language and manner equally calculated to disgust his
friends and exasperate his enemies, and does something every day
to alienate the respect which all are disposed to render to his con-
summate learning and admirable talents. To those outbreaks of
ill- temper Wise replies in language which the veriest demagogue
of a porter house would blush to use to his vulgar associates.
Among other insane movements of the ex- President, he has pre-
sented a petition praying for a repeal of the Union, because the
petitioners are deprived of the privilege of agitating the terrible
question of slavery ; and their right to bring forward a proposition
so monstrous, and his to be their organ of communication with the
Congress of the nation, is enforced with the indomitable obstinacy
112 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 62.
which marks all his conduct of late. Wise calls him " black-
hearted traitor; " and Adams, in return, pours out the vials of his
wrath upon the fractious Virginian. Happy would it be for the
country if these two firebrands were expelled from the House !
Indeed, a motion has been made to expel Mr. Adams for subordi-
nation of trc;is;)n in the presentation of the obnoxious petition
above mentioned ; and in the present temper of the members, it
will require all the reverence which is felt for his age, his talents,
and the exalted office which he formerly bore, to save him from
that or some other signal mark of disgrace. In the course of this
unprofitable debate Mr. Gilmor made a happy application of a
well-known couplet to Mr. Adams, who expressed his regret at
seeing that gentleman play the second fiddle to Mr. Wise. Mr.
Gilmor said he played second fiddle to no man ; all he wished to
do was to stop the music of a man
" Who, in the space of one revolving moon,
Was statesman, fiddler, poet, and buffoon."
While scenes are represented in one part of the great chamber
in which " the collected wisdom of the nation " is presumed to be
assembled, in another, one of this kind is enacted : " Mr. Dawson,
of Louisiana (who, by the bye, always goes armed), deliberately
took his seat by Mr. Arnold, and, after applying to him a number
of most violent and abusive epithets, told him that if he rose from
his seat he would cut his throat, at the same time significantly
pointing to the bowie-knife he carried in his bosom." How long
will it be before the people of this abused country will begin to
look with favour on the sad alternative of a master? If we had
a Julius Caesar at the head of his victorious legions, now would be
the time for him to march to the Capitol. . . . We are a
factious people and a conceited people ; but we are also a calcu-
lating people, and have sense enough to know that in such a dan-
gerous experiment the chances are fearfully against us.
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. II3
January 27. — In addition to the dinner which it
ecep ion o .^ intended to give Mr. Dickens on his arrival at New
" Boz."
York, a grand ball is to be gotten up for him and his
lady, at the Park, where it is proposed to have tableaux vivants
and other devices illustrating some of the prominent scenes in his
admirable stories. For this object a meeting was held last even-
ing at the Astor House, which was attended by fifty or sixty very
respectable gentlemen.
The Mayor presided, and a letter, of which I was selected to be
the author, was agreed upon, signed by all present, and intrusted
to David C. Golden to be delivered by him in person to Mr. Dick-
ens, in Boston, inviting him to the fete^ and requesting him to
name the day on which it shall take place. This is all well, but
there is danger of overdoing the matter and making our well-
meant hospitaUties oppressive to the recipient. We are a people
of impulse ; when we get fairly mounted upon the back of a lion,
we are apt to drive with might and mane^ until the " royal beast "
is fain to escape from the menagerie.
Jaistuary 31. — Another sign has been exhibited
igns o t e .^ ^^ House of Representatives : another movement
Times. ^
toward the accomplishment of my recent melan-
choly prediction. That indomitable, pugnacious, wonderful man
of knowledge, without tact, John Quincy iVdams, has presented a
petition from some people in Haverhill, Mass., praying for a
separation of the Union, as the only means of obtaining the right
of petition, the maintenance of which they consider of more im-
portance than the union of the States. A monstrous doctrine, the
very whispering of which has a sound as of thunder, more awful
than that of foreign war ! But, after all, it is precisely the same
threat, founded on better ground, as that made by the Southern
anti-tariff nullifiers ; but now that the brat is born of Northern
parents, these patriotic hotspurs are horrified beyond all example ;
their indignation knows no bounds. "Treason!" "Expulsion!"
"The guillotine ' " resound from the whole slaveholding part of the
114 THE J)1ARV OF I'lIlLir HONK. [.Htat.62.
House, both Whig and Tory. \\'isc vomits fire Hke the Dragon of
Wantley. Gihiior and Marshall seem ready, like Curtius, to spring
into the gulf to save the Constitution, when such parts of it as
hapi)en to suit them are thought to be in danger; and all the little
dogs — Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart — join in the cry, and snap at
the heels of the sturdy mastiff of Massachusetts, who growls on and
guards with pertinacious obstinacy all approaches to his kennel.
A motion to censure the ex- President is now before the House,
with amendments more or less violent, which he combats inch by
inch, and which probably, after consuming the time of the House
(which the people pay for) a week or so, and increasing the flames
of discord, which may be seen issuing from every crevice in the
political volcano, will end in smoke and the foreboding sound of
internal thunders.
February i . — I went to two Boz meetings last evening ; one
at the Carlton House, of the dinnerites, at which Chief Justice
Jones presided. A committee of arrangements was appointed and
the officers of the dinner selected. They consist of Washington
Irving, John Duer, John A. King, Judge Betts, and myself, and we
are to determine on the presiding officer and the names of the vice-
presidents. The other was a meeting of the ballites, at the xA.stor
House, the Mayor in the chair. A long report from the com-
mittee was adopted. This affair is in a forward state, and promises
to eclipse the Lafayette ball at Castle Garden.
February 3. — Dined with Mr. George Curtis, Washington place :
a pleasant party, good dinner, and fine wines ; after which I joined
the girls at a party at Mrs. Archibald Grade's, Waverly place.
February 9. — After I came from the committee
'^^ "^ last evening, I went to Mrs. Ray's fancy ball, by
special favour, as nobody. It was a beautiful affliir.
The house and furniture and everything thereunto appertaining
is new and splendid, — the greatest thing, by common consent,
in the city. The party consisted of about ninety, all (with two
or three exceptions) in fancy characters, some of which were mag-
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. II5
nificent and others highly characteristic. The scene was ex-
tremely brilliant.
The vote of censure in the House of Representatives,
Mr. Adams _ ^ *
Acquitted. which has caused so great an excitement, was laid on
the table on Monday, by a vote of one hundred and six
to ninety-three. This is a triumph for the pertinacious ex-Presi-
dent, who, it is to be feared, will be encouraged by it to keep the
floor, to the exclusion of all other business but the presenting peti-
tions, for the remainder of the session. The Southern men are so
exasperated at their failure in the attempt to punish Mr. Adams for
presenting a petition praying for a dissolution of the Union (a
proposition, horrible though it may be, yet one which these South-
ern men have regarded with no small share of favour themselves),
that some of them are unwilling to work in the same team with
him. Messrs. Gilmor, Hunter, Rhett, Proffit, and W. Cost John-
son, members of the important committee on foreign affairs, have
been excused from serving on that committee, because, as they say,
they " are unwilling to work with a chairman who has shown him-
self an unsafe repositary of the public trust, and who has not the
confidence of the members of the committee." All this the old
hero takes very coolly, and moves for the appointment by the
Speaker of members to fill the vacancies.
Washington Irving is nominated Minister to Spain,
^"'^ ^^ and will be, or has been by this, confirmed by the
to Spain. ' ■' ' •'
Senate. In many respects this is a good appointment.
Mr. Irving has spent some time in Spain, and some of his best
works were written in that country, from materials collected on the
spot. The appointment, he says, was altogether unexpected by
him ; but I have no doubt, from his manner of speaking of it, that
he is pleased, and will accept it. The place has been vacant since
the return of Major Eaton.
February 14. — This impudent disturber of the
SentT t^ public peace, whose infamous paper, the '' Herald,"
is more scurrilous, and of course more generally read,
Il6 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 62.
than any other, has been tried in the Court of Oyer and Terminer,
and convicted on two indictments for a Hbel on the Judges Noah
and Lynch, of the Court of Sessions ; he was sentenced this morn-
ing to pay a fine of '^2^0 on one, and $100 on the other. This will
do him more good than harm ; he will make money by it ; the viti-
ated appetite for slander which pervades the mass of the people
will be whetted by the notoriety which this trial will give him, for
dearly do people love the scandal of which themselves are not the
subject ! The court consisted of Hon. William Kent, president,
and two Loco-foco aldermen, Purdy and Lee ; the two latter " birds
of a feather" overruled the judge in making up the sentence, of
which he took care to inform Bennett in the address which he
made to him in announcing it, telling him plainly that if he had had
his way he would have sent him to the penitentiary, and intimating
that whenever he gets a chance he may expect it at his hands, on
the commxission of another such offence.
Old Mr. Barhyte died, one day last week, at his farm
mT Ba"rh 'te ^*^^^ Saratoga Springs, where he lived so long that " the
memory of man runneth not to che contrary." He
was closely identified in my memory with many pleasant trout din-
ners and card-parties at his plain Dutch house, situated on the
brow of a hill, at the foot of which was his fish-pond, surrounded
by a beautiful forest of dark-green pine-trees, whose tall, spiral tops
seemed to bow into the clouds. This was formerly a favourite resort
of Governor Clinton, whose moments of ease and hilarity I have
often shared. Many a joke of his have I enjoyed, when he laid
aside his state to be a boy once more, and many a good dinner
have I helped him to eat in the old Dutchman's house. Here, too,
have I enjoyed pleasant intercourse with Mr. Otis, Mr. Van Buren,
Colonel Drayton, Louis McLane, Governor Lewis, and many other
distinguished men ; listened to the charming notes of poor Dom
Lynch, and enjoyed the enjoyment of my brother John. Old Bar-
hyte would permit us to use his house and eat his trout as a special
favour, and charge us double price for everything, with a fair under-
1842.] TilE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. II7
standing, fairly expressed by him, that if we did not Hke it we need
not come again. His civility was extended rather sparingly, and
only to those to whom he had a liking, of which number I was
always one. Presidents and governors, judges and generals, all
fared alike. He sold his trout, his cool drink, and his pleasant seat
on the piazza, only to those who found favour in his eyes, and as for
the rest, " they might go whistle."
February 15. — "The agony is over; " the "Boz"
g Jj "^ ball, the greatest affair in modern times, the tallest com-
pliment ever paid to a little man, the fullest libation ever
poured upon the altar of the muses, came off last evening in fine
style ; everything answered the public expectation, and no untoward
circumstances occurred to make anybody sorry he went.
The theatre was prepared for the occasion with great splendour
and taste. The whole area of the stage and pit was floored over,
and formed an immense saloon. The decorations and ornaments
were all " Pickwickian." Shields with scenes painted from several
stories of Dickens, the titles of his works on others surrounded with
wreaths, the dome formed of flags, and the side walls in fresco,
representing the panels of an ancient oaken hall. A small stage was
erected at the extreme end, opposite the main entrance, before
which a curtain was suspended, exhibiting the portly proportions
of the immortal Pickwick, his prince of valets, and his body-guard
of choice cronies. This curtain was raised in the intervals between
the cotillons and waltzes, to disclose a stage on which were ex-
hibited a series of tableaux vivants, forming groups of the characters
in the most striking incidents of " Pickwick," " Nicholas Nickleby,"
"Oliver Twist," "The Old Curiosity Shop," " Barnaby Rudge,"
etc. The company began to assemble at half- past seven o'clock,
and at nine, when the committee introduced Mr. and Mrs. Dickens,
the crowd was immense ; a little upward of two thousand tickets were
handed in at the door, and, with the members of the committees and
their parties who came in by back ways, the assembled multitude
numbered about two thousand five hundred. Everybody was there,
Il8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 62.
and every lady was dressed well and in good taste, and decorum and
good order were preserved during the whole evening. Refreshments
were provided in the saloons on the several floors, and in the green
room, which was kept for the members of the committees and their
families. This branch of the business was farmed out to Downing,
the great man of oysters, who received $2,200. On the arrival of
the " observed of all observers " a lane was opened through the
crowd, through which he and his lady were marched to the upper
end, where the committee of reception were stationed. Here I, as
chairman of tliat committee, received him, and made a short speech,
after which they joined in the dancing.
The author of the " Pickwick Papers " is a small, bright-eyed,
intelligent-looking young fellow, thirty years of age, somewhat of a
dandy in his dress, with "rings and things and fine array," brisk in
his manner, and of a lively conversation. If he does not get his
little head turned by all this, I shall wonder at it. Mrs. Dickens is
a little, flit, English-looking woman, of an agreeable countenance,
and, I should think, " a nice person."
February 16. — Charles Aug. Davis invited a number of us yes-
terday to meet Dickens at dinner ; but, lo and behold ! an apology
was received from him, stating that he was confined to his room by
a sore throat, and was inhibited by the doctor from going out. Two
very good-humoured notes were received from him, and so we had to
perform the tragedy of " Hamlet," the part of Hamlet omitted ; but
we made a good thing of it, notwithstanding the hiatus in our ranks.
The major and his charming wife were agreeable, as usual, and if any
party could get along without missing Mr. Boz it would be one formed
of such materials as the following : Mr. John Duer, Judge William
Kent, Samuel B. Ruggles, F. G. Halleck, Dr. De Kay, J. Prescott Hali,
William B. Astor, Washington Irving, John A. King, Gulian C. Ver-
planck. Judge PJetts, David S. Kennedy, Henry Pirevoort, P. Hone.
February 19. — The great dinner to Dickens was
Dinner to . , i ^-c- tx i i rr • y
Dickens givcn ycstcrday, at the City Hotel, and came off with
flying colours. Two hundred and tliirty persons sat
i^?..l THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. II 9
down to dinner at seven o'clock. The large room was ornamented
with two illuminated scenes from the works of " Boz," busts of cele-
brated persons and classical devices, all in good taste ; and the
eating and drinking part of the affair was excellent. The president
was Washington Irving (I beg pardon, " His Excellency "). " Non
Nobis " was sung by Mr. Horn and his little band of vocalists, who
gave several glees during the evening. After the unintellectual
operation of eating and drinking was concluded, the president rose
and began a prepared speech, in which he broke down flat (as he
promised us beforehand he would), and concluded with this toast :
"Charles Dickens, the literary guest of the nation." To this th^
guest made his acknowledgment in an excellent speech, delivered
with great animation, and characterized by good taste and warm
feeling.
An unusual feature in this festivity was the presence of a coterie
of charming women, who were at first stowed away in a small room
adioining the upper part of the hall, and who, with a laudable and
irrepressible curiosity to hear me, and others equally instructive
and agreeable, at the lower end, edged by degrees into the room,
and finally got possession of the stage, behind the president, to the
discomfiture of certain pleasant old bachelors and ungallant digni-
taries, but to the great delight of us who profess to have better taste
in such matters. This flying squadron of infantry consisted of Mrs.
Davis, Mrs. Golden and Miss Wilkes, Mrs. Dickens, Miss Sedgwick,
Miss Wadsworth, the Misses Ward, Mrs. Burns, Mrs. Parish, Miss
Anna Bridgen, Mrs. McCrackan, Mrs. Brevoort, and others, all 01
whom were greatly pleased, and some of whom seemed to regret
they could not take a more active part in the business of the even-
ing. This dinner, with the ball on Monday night, is a tribute tr
literary talents greater than any I remember ; and, if the English
people do not repay it in some shape to our eminent men, they are
no great things.
Washington, March 15. — Dickens and his wife are here. There
has not been much fuss made about him. They laugh at us in
I20 Tin-: DIARY OF PTIIUr HONE. [/F.tat. 62.
New York for doing too much, and have gone upon the other ex-
treme. He has been invited to dine by several gentlemen to whom
he brought letters. Amongst the rest Mr. Adams invited him and
his wife to dinner on Sunday, at half- past two o'clock. (This early
hour was fixed, I suppose, to keep up the i)rimitive beauty of New
England Republican habits.) Some clever people were invited to
meet them. They came, he in a frock-coat, and she in her bonnet.
They sat at table until four o'clock, when he said, " Dear, it is
time for us to go home and dress for dinner." They were engaged
to dine with Robert Greenhow at the fashionable hour of half-past
five ! A most particularly funny idea to leave the table of John
Quincy Adams to dress for a dinner at Robert Greenhow's ! He is
to be here on Tuesday or Wednesday, and Kennedy has written to
Mr. Gilmor to take charge of him and keep him out of bad hands;
as I also have urged him to do, but I don't think he will. He
detests humbug. Washington Irving, Ogden Hoffman, and Moses
H. Grinnell came here last evening ; the former to receive his in-
structions previous to his departure for Spain, and to read up, as he
expressed himself to me, to the political state of affairs, and to the
nature of his official duties. He is a charming good fellow, a
feather in the Hterary cap of his country.
Mr. Granger gave us a grand dinner to-day at Gadsby's. I did
not think it possible to get up anything so genteel in this house.
The service was beautiful, the dinner excellent, the attendance un-
exceptionable, and the guests of the highest grade. The party
consisted of Mr. and Miss Granger, Mr. Webster, Washington
Irving ; Legar^, Attorney-General ; Martini, Dutch Charge ; Rives ;
Bodisco, Russian Minister ; Mr. and two Misses Hone, Fletcher
Webster ; Lerruys, Belgian Charge ; Barnard, Van Rensselaer, Grin-
nell, Cxouverneur Wilkins, and Nordin, Swedish Charge.
Mr. Webster was in his happiest mood ; I had a nice talk with
him. He is seriously impressed with the melancholy situation of
the domestic affairs of the country ; not entirely free from solicitude
about his own position, but full of hope regarding the issue of the
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 121
vexed questions between us and Great Britain. They will be settled
before September, he said to me, with a solemnity of manner and
emphasis of expression, with the volcanic fire flashing from out of
the caverns of his dark eyelashes, which struck to my soul and
which I never can forget. " They will be settled if they will give
me a fair chance ! " And I believe it ! All I fear is that the people
do not deserve such a man as Daniel Webster, and that Justice
rather than Mercy will be awarded to us.
We went this morning to Mrs. Webster's drawing-room, Tuesday
being her day for receiving company. It is a good arrangement ;
it makes one of those pleasant places of resort for ladies and gen-
tlemen which serves to take off the rough edge of party violence
and Republican vulgarity. From Mrs. Webster's we went to call
upon Mrs. Madison, who was not at home. She is 2. yoting lady
of fourscore years and upward, goes to parties and receives com-
pany like the " Queen of this new world."
This has been a day of great business. After our
President's diuucr-party broke up, we went to the President's
Levee.
levee, — the last of the season, and the crowd was great.
The east room, which is one of the most splendid I ever saw, was
a complete jam ; but, considering the facility of access, the sort of
people who do the honours and those who receive them, the com^
pany was highly respectable ; the first people in the land were
there, and the women were well dressed. I witnessed no gauch-
eries, no vulgarity, and I doubt if any society in any country so
organized could have turned out so decorous and respectable an
assemblage. As for the host and his immediate satellites, they
seemed to be in the situation of- King George's apple in the dump-
ling, — wondering how the devil they got there. It struck me that
a majority of all the men over the age of thirty were more fit to be
President than Mr. Tyler. He walked from one magnificent
apartment to another, holding a little child by each hand, to show,
I suppose, how amiable he was, how simple in his habits, how
affectionate in his feelings. Shades of Washington, Adams, Madi-
122 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 62.
son, Monroe, do turn aside your heads from such an exhibition !
Even the hickory face of Jackson would smile, and the courtly
nose of Van Buren turn up, at such an absence of dignity.
Dickens was at the levee, and Washington Irving, and, as far as
I could judge, Irving out-bozzed " Boz." He collected a crowd
around him ; the men pressed on to shake his hand, and the
women to touch the hem of his garment. Somebody told me that
they saw a woman put on his hat, in order, as she told her com-
panions, that she might have it to say that she had worn Washing-
ton Irving's hat. All this was " fun to them," as the frogs said,
but "death" to poor Irving, who has no relish for this sort of
glorification, and has less tact than any man living to get along
with it decently. I was, however, rejoiced to see it ; it showed
that the refreshing dew of popular favour could be shed upon the
indigenous, as well as the exotic, plants of litt.Tary talents.
March 24. — I passed the morning in walking through the
streets of Philadelphia. Notwithstanding the dreadful times they
have experienced, many new buildings are going U}) ; the shops
exhibit their accustomed display of costly merchandise. The
markets are well supplied with provisions, and there seems to be
no lack of customers. The marble fronts of the houses in the
fashionable streets are kept bright and clean, as usual, and the
noble portico of the Bank of the United States looks down proudly
as ever upon the ruin which the institution has occasioned. Such
of the banks as are not hopelessly crippled have resumed the pay-
ment of specie, and the Philadelphians clap their wings and crow
at the triumph of exchange on New York being a quarter per
cent, below par. But the merchants are suffering. There is no
business, and the Western exchanges are worse than ever.
At Home, March 25. — We left Philadelphia at nine o'clock
this morning, and got home at three. Washington Irving joined
us on starting, and made a very pleasant addition to our little
party. He is more gay and cheerful than he is wont to be, and
talks a great deal, enlivening his conversation with stories of old
1S42.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 23
times, literary reminiscences, and pretty fair jokes. He is evidently
much gratified with his unexpected elevation to diplomatic dignity,
and is making his preparations to sail for England on his way to
Spain, in the packet of the 7th of April.
/^PRiL 4. — The anniversary of the death of William Henry
Harrison, the good President. The flags are suspended at half-
mast from the Whig public-houses and some other conspicuous
places ; and well may they be ! The bells should be tolled, and if
the people were to put on sackcloth and ashes such manifestations
of grief would not transcend the cause. The decease of the good
old man, much to be lamented by his personal and political friends,
was to him of small importance. He had arrived at the summit
of a man's ambition in this country, and could not have died at a
better time for himself; but how little did the American people
comprehend the extent of their bereavement ! One year of the rule
of imbecility, arrogance, and prejudice has taught them the folly
of selecting for Vice-President a man of whose fitness for the office
of President they had no reasonable assurance. The " New York
Herald," which is said to be high in favour with Mr. Tyler, and
considered a sort of semi-official, says that he is about to resign.
God grant it may be true ! but if he does, he will gain no credit for
it. He would undoubtedly serve his country more effectually by
such a step than by all the actions of his previous life, and would
for once be entitled to the gratitude of his fellow-citizens ; but he
would not receive it. No credit would be given to him for a motive
so patriotic ; it would rather be attributed to that sort of patriotism
which caused Hull to desert his post and surrender Detroit when
he spied out in the cloud which darkened the horizon a hostile
force approaching. But the report can have no foundation. It is
only raised to keep Bennett's hand in, who lives by lying. John
Tyler resign ! Why, he is just weak enough to believe himself the
strongest man in the United States ! He has all the self-conceit of
him who announced in the plenitude of his arrogance that '' he
would administer the laws as he " (not the Supreme Court) '' under-
124 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 62.
stood them ; " while at the same time he does not possess a tithe of
his force of mind and strength of intellect.
April 5. — The British ship of war, '^ Warspite," with
LordAshbur- ^^^^^^ Ashburton, the special Minister on board, arrived
ton's Arrival.
at Annapolis on Saturday, and his lordship was to de-
part immediately for Washington ; so that by this time it is probable
he and Mr. Webster have gotten /<?e to foe, and put their heads
together, by which means it is to be hoped they may reestablish
matters on a friendly footiivj^, and preserve their respective coun-
tries from cracked crowns and bloody noses. The sending out on
this mission so distinguished a man, nay, the sending a special
Minister at all, ought to be considered a strong proof of the desire
on the part of the British government to preserve friendly relations,
if possible, with this country. So it is distinctly understood by Mr.
Webster, with whom the negotiations will of course be conducted,
and who assured me the other day that he had the fullest con-
fidence in being able to settle all the differences with England
before the first of September. If these two men cannot effect this
important object, none can, and then the Lord have mercy upon
John Tyler and Queen Victoria, and all their men !
April 21. — A terrible hubbub has been going on in
Rhode Island, the rcdoubtable little State of Rhode Island for some
time past ; a party of disorganizing, radical dema-
gogues, unable to accomplish their object of changing the politics
of this steady State and bringing themselves into ofiice, by fair
means, have set about defeating the will of the people (of which,
when it suits them, they pretend to be the champions and sup-
porters), and, having made a constitution of their own, have elected
a governor (one Mr. Dorr) and State officers ; whilst the sober part
of the community, proceeding according to law and the Constitu-
tion, have reelected the present governor (King) and the State
officers as at present constituted ; so the smallest State in the
Union is the only one which can boast of two governors, and the
sword of civil commotion is likely to be drawn in a quarter hitherto
1S42.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 25
distinguished for good order and obedience to the laws. The in-
cendiaries, headed by Dutee J. Pierce, and other such warriors,
many of whom are auxiharies from other States, impelled solely by
a love of liberty and reverence for other men's rights, swear that
the State belongs to them, and that they will govern it ; whilst the
other party swear that it does not, and that they shall not, and so
they are preparing to go to blows about the matter. President
Tyler, on being applied to by the regulars, has written a letter, which
is published, in which he avows his intention, in a manly, frank
manner, to carry out the duty prescribed to him in the Constitution
of the United States, by supporting the Constitution of the State
and standing by the right, and, if more gentle means are unavail-
able, United States troops will be sent to settle the hash. What
acts of tyranny are committed now-a-days under the name of
liberty^ and how the people's will is defeated by those who profess
to be their best friends. The Rhode Island rebels, as well as the
New York Loco-focos, have no notion of heeding the vox populi^
when that z'<5'.r fails to raise the one to power in the State, or to
secure to the other the patronage and emoluments of municipal
supremacy.
April 25. — This patriotic song, which, like the
Hail Columbia! " Soiig of the Rhine," in Germany, and "The Mar-
seillaise Hymn," in France, has been adopted as the
national anthem, and still continues a sort of "smoke -pipe" for
overheated patriotism, was written by the late distinguished Judge
Hopkinson, who died in Philadelphia on the 15 th of January last.
It was first sung at the theatre at the benefit of a young actor,
whom the author was desirous of serving. This was in the summer
of 179S, during John Adams's administration, when a war with
France was supposed to be inevitable, and party- spirit raged with
great violence, the American people being divided into an English
and a French party. The object of the author was (as he him-
self expresses it in a letter to the Rev. Rufus W. Griswold, now
published) " to get up an American spirit, which should be
126 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 62.
independent of and above the interests, passions, and policy of
both belHgerents, and look and feel exclusively for our own honour
and rights." These were the famous black-cockade times, when the
wisdom and patriotism of Washington were insufficient to control
the " madness of the people," who, in espousing the quarrels of the
Europeans, had almost ceased to be Am.ericans. Judge Hopkinson
was then, and continued always to be, one of that noble " band
of brothers joined," a true American Federalist; not of that
section of the band who have since been Jackson Federalists, or
Harrison Conservatives, but a true American Whig Federalist,
born of the Revolution, educated in the school of Washington,
Jay, and Hamilton, and acknowledging no party but his country.
April 26. — When I returned home I found that Dr. Wain-
wright had called in the course of the morning to invite me to a
family dinner, to meet Mr. William H. Prescott, of Boston, — the
accomplished author of the *' History of the Reign of Ferdinand
and Isabella," — who had just arrived in town on a very short
visit. I joined the pleasant little party after they had dined, and
enjoyed a highly intellectual treat. The party consisted of the
doctor, Mr. Prescott, Henry Brevoort, George Griffin, John C.
Hamilton, Henry Gary, and myself. Mr. Prescott is rather a
handsome man of about six and forty, of intellectual appearance,
good manners, agreeable conversation, and much vivacity. Mr.
Prescott reminded me that we had met before, at dinner at
General Lyman's in Boston.
April 28. — Our city was disgraced by a meeting,
ncen lary ^^^^ evening, at Tammany Hall, called by Alderman
Meeting. ^' J } J
Purdy, Messrs. Slamm, Vanderpoel and such persons
to approve the proceedings of the insurrectionists in Rhode Island,
who are in arms against the constitution and laws ot the State, and
to encourage them in their factious opposition to the constituted
authorities, and their contempt for the expressed opinion of
the general government. Aaron Vanderpoel (the Kinderhook
roarer, as he is familiarlv called by those who have listened to
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 12/
the dulcet tones of his voice in the House of Representatives),
was most appropriately chosen chairman of the meeting, and
addresses were made by Mr. Parmenter, a Rhode Island Jacobin,
and Mr. Davezac, Mr. Edmunds, and other New York patriots,
and resolutions were passed suited to the occasion. What would
these fellows have said if the people of Providence had held a
meeting to denounce the law of the last Legislature of New York,
repealing the late salutary registry act, or that which destroyed the
beneficial influence of the public schools to propitiate the Irish
Catholics and secure their votes at the expense of the rights of
native Americans? That would have been stigmatized as an im-
pertinent interference in other people's affairs, whilst their meeting
last night was a generous ebullition of patriotic sympathy in favour
of the oppressed victims of official tyranny.
This powerful agent, which regulates just now the
steam. affairs of the world ; this new element, which, like the
other four, is all-potent for good and for evil, — has
not only almost annihilated distance, and overcome the obstacles
which nature seems to have interposed to locomotion, and reduced
the value of most of the articles in use for which we formerly
depended upon the labour of men's hands, but it has become a
substitute for war, in the philosophical plan of keeping down the
superabundance of the human race, and thinning off the ex-
cessive population of which political economists have from time to
time expressed so much dread. Scarcely a day passes that we do
not hear of some steamboat being blown up, and hundreds of
human beings suddenly summoned to give an account of the
" deeds done in the body," and hurried off, " unanointed, un-
annealed," to another world, for which most of them are unpre-
pared ; or of a locomotive running off the railroad, and thus
bringing many to an unexpected termination of their journey.
These are some of the wholesale operations of steam ; the retail
business is of comparatively no importance, and we only hear of
those cases which occur in our immediate neighbourhood; but they
128 THE DIARY OF TIIILIP HONE. [.Etat. 62.
are most (Ici)lorably frequent. One day last week a young man
jumped from the car on the Harlem railroad, to recover his hat,
which had blown off, fell on the rails, and was killed in a shocking
manner ; and yesterday a fine lad, eleven years of age, son of Mr.
John Steward, Jr., an old ac(iuaintance of mine, was killed, near
P^lizabethtown, New Jersey, by a similar act of carelessness, and in
the same manner.
May 2. — The following gentlemen dined with us : ]\Ir. William
H. Prescott, Dr. Wainwright, Mr. Brevoort, I. S. Hone, W. B.
Astor, D. C. Golden, Lieutenant-Governor Bradish, James G. King,
and Charles A. Davis. Mr. Prescott is exceedingly pleased with
the attentions he has received in New York, and in truth he de-
serves them all. He is agreeable in manners, and bright in con-
versation, free from pedantry, and modest, as we always wish to
find a man of such talents. He is engaged at present in writing a
history of Mexico, wliich requires about a year to be finished. His
" Ferdinand and Isabella " has been eminently successful, it hav-
ing passed through eight editions since it came out in 1S38, and is
still a very salable book.
May 3. — To-morrow is the day appointed by the
Rhode Island. Rhodc IsLind insurgcnts for the organization of their
pretended government under the officers illegally
elected by what is called the '•' free suffrage party." In expecta-
tion of the violence which it is feared will attend these insurrec-
tionary proceedings. United States troops have been sent on to
Providence from the different stations ; two companies went from
Governor's Islanrl a day or two since, and yesterday a detachment
from Norfolk passed through this city. General Wood is on the
spot prepared for />i/sincss, and it is hoped that the prompt inter-
ference of the general government to " keep the peace " will pre-
vent bloodshed for the present ; but finally it will result, as it always
does, in the " fierce democracy " getting the better of law and
good ortler. Downward, downward, is the tendency of all politi-
cal affairs in this country ! If old King George the Third, who so
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 29
reluctantly released us from colonial bondage, could raise his obsti-
nate head, and take a look at us, how would he rejoice to contem-
plate the probable failure of our experiment of self-government.
May 13. — The Union Club is now pretty well
Union Club, settled in its new quarters, — Mr. William B. Astor's
large house, in Broadway, higher up the street, and on
the opposite side from the former situation. The house is ex-
ceedingly well calculated for the club, or will be, after a new build-
ing is finished in the rear, intended for the public dining-room, and
kitchen below. It has been newly furnished and put in hand-
some order at an expense (including the new building) of ^7,000,
— an excellent lounging place for old and young beaux, each of
whom would fain wish to be thought what the other is ; where
horse-racing and politics are discussed by those who know little
about either of those abstruse sciences ; where the *' young idea "
is taught to shoot billiard-balls, and study the mystery of whist ;
and where I frequent, notwithstanding the satirical tone of the
present remarks. Such is the inconsistency of man's desires !
Happy at home, I seek amusement abroad ; and, preferring my
library to all other places, I join the society of men who know
nothing of books but " the history of the four kings."
May 19. — The face of affairs has changed in Rhode
Rhode Island. Island. Govcmor Dorr, the supernumerary governor
of that redoubtable little State, who came to New York
a lamb, and was sent on to Providence a lion, by the Tammany sym-
pathizers, drew his sword, planted his cannon, fortified his castle,
issued his proclamation, and doomed to death, without " benefit
of clergy," every man opposed to him. But finding that his
friends fell from him, and his enemies gathered strength and cour-
age, he sheathed his Durandina, withdrew his bloody sentence, as
he did his own person, and, his cannon refusing to ^'•6' off, went off
himself in the middle of the night ; and when Governor King,
accompanied by the sheriff, went to arrest him yesterday morning,
he had "absquatulated," "mizzled," " made tracks" (either of
I30 THE DTARV OF niTLir HONE. [/Etat. 62.
whirli terms may be used, each being considered equally classical
in the slang nomenclature of the day, and particularly appropriate
and expressive in the present case), —
*' And Governor Dorr
Was seen no more,"
The first accounts from Trovidence led us to suppose that, with
the retreat of the leader, the opposition to the laws and the con-
stituted authorities had ceased ; but it appears that a body of his
followers still retained possession of the cannon, and had thrown
up a sort of redoubt for their defence ; but this was probably in-
tended as a means of securing a favourable capitulation, and the
steamboat to-morrow will, it is hoped, bring us the agreeable tidings
that the civil war is at an end.
Now, what a pretty figure do the men cut who encouraged the
Rhode Island rebels, and denounced the general government for
the interference to which it was enjoined by the Constitution !
Some of them begin already to back out. Stephen Allen has pub-
lished a sort of half-way disavowal. He only meant " to advise
the President, not to interfere." "He did not mean to take sides
with the insurgents," — not he, good, easy man ! " He was engaged,
and did not attend the meeting." Most virtuous citizen ! But he
did allow his name to be used by a set of fellows of whose compan-
ionship he was ashamed, for a purpose which he knew could come
to no good ; and so he will again, whenever his tools say he must,
and so will Walter Bowne, and John J. Morgan, and Churchill C.
Cambreling, and Campbell P. White ; but they have done a deed,
the bad odour of which they will never be able to shake from their
garments. If, hereafter, any of them shall go to Newport or Provi-
dence, the finger of scorn will be pointed at them, as incendiaries
who threw from a distance a brand to light the flames of civil discord
in a sister State, and put weapons in the hands of misguided men
to shed the blood of their brethren and neighbours. I record with
pleasure the fact that some of the leading men of the Loco-foco
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 131
party refused to be made parties to this nefarious proceeding. My
old acquaintance, John Targee (whose orthodoxy nobody can
doubt), told ms to-day that he refused to sign the call for the
meeting, as an affair which he did not understand, and an interfer-
ence which he could not justify ; and, furthermore, if they used his
name he would come out publicly and disavow it.
May 30. — Robert C. Winthrop has resigned his seat in Con-
gress, as representative from Boston, in consequence of the illness
of his wife. This is a great loss at such a time as the present, but
one which can be repaired, as it is understood that Abbott Law-
rence, whose health is restored, will consent to resume his place
if he should be elected, of which, for the credit of Boston, there
is no doubt.
May 31. — Ex- President Van Buren, who is on an
Rivlir^*" excursion to the South and West, accompanied by Mr-
Paulding, late Secretary of the Treasury, after having
paid his respects, as in duty bound, to his " illustrious predecessor"
of the Hermitage, went to Lexington, Kentucky, where, as the
account states, " he was immediately called upon by Mr. Clay, with
an invitation to go to Ashland (Mr. Clay's residence). On the
next day, in company with Mr. Paulding, he went to Ashland, in
compliance with Mr. Clay's invitation, where he remained for a day
or two." I wonder if they talked about Tyler.
Departure of JuNE 8. — Ycstcrday was quite a day of jubilee with
the " George me. On comiug down to breakfast I found a kind note
ing on, fj.Qj^ y^j. ^^LYnes G. King, to attend, with one of my lady
folk, a parting breakfast, given at Highwood, to Mr. and Mrs.
Dickens. Margaret and I went over at ten o'clock, where we found
the Boz and Bozess, Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Gracie, Miss Wilkes
and the Doctor, Mr. and Mrs. Colden, Miss Ward, and the charm-
ing family of our host and hostess. We had a breakfast worthy of
the entertainers and the entertained ; and such strawberries and
cream ! The house, and the grounds, and the view, and the libra-
ries, and the conservatory were all more beautiful than I have ever
132 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 62.
seen them. Having been favoured with an invitation from Grinnell,
Minturn, & Co., the owners of the ship " George Washington," to
accompany Mr. and Mrs. Dickens to Sandy Hook, I left Margaret to
take Mrs. Golden and Miss Wilkes in the barouche to town, and
was driven down to Jersey Gity, where, by previous arrangements, a
steamboat was sent to take us on board, and we embarked with a
" hurrali " from the people assembled on the dock. We found on
board the steamboat a large party of gentlemen, among whom were
the owners. Rev. Dr. Wainwright, Drs. Francis, Gornell, and Wilkes ;
Mr. Chapmm, Mayor of Boston ; Judge Warren, of New Bedford ;
Mr. Crit::en len, the distinguished Kentucky senator ; Gharles King,
D. G. Gollcn, Simeon Draper, James Bowen, Henry Gary, J. Pres-
cott Hall, R. M. Blatchford, and his son, and other gentlemen, —
a right pleasant merry company. We went delightfully down to
Sandy Hook, where the ship lay at anchor. Soon after we came
on board a cold collation was spread, to which and to an infinite
number of bottles of champagne wine the utmost justice was done.
Speeches and toasts and bright sayings went around, of all which
Dickens was the most fruitful theme. I gave his health in the fol-
lowing toast : " Gharles Dickens : the welcome acquired by literary
reputation has been confirmed and justified by personal inter-
course." At the conclusion of this jolly repast we took leave of
the passengers with many hearty shakings of the hands and good
wishes, returned to the steamer, towed the ship to the point off
Sandy Hook, an 1 having cast her off and given three cheers, which
were returned in proper style, she went " on her way rejoicing,"
and was soon out of sight, and the party returned to the city about
six o'clock.
I was invited to dine at Mr. Charles A. Davis's ; but my attendance
at the Bank for Savings prevented my being there at the commence-
ment of the dinner, and I thereby escaped the dull part, that is, the
eating part, of such entertainments. The dinner was given to the
great financial giants who arrived in the " Great Western," — Messrs.
Horsley Palmer and Sampson Ricardo ; besides whom we had Mr.
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 33
Labouchere, and a gentleman whose hard German name I cannot
recollect, who represents the great house of Hope.
I was placed by Mr. Davis in the lady's seat after she retired,
where I had an opportunity of talking a great deal with Messrs.
Palmer and Ricardo. The former gentleman is the governing spirit
of the Bank of England, which governs England ; England governs
Europe, and Europe governs the world, etc.
This world was made for Horsley Palmer; his solid, portly
presence, and the bright, shining face of Mr. Ricardo, seem to be
the suitable representative and embodiment of the bank-notes and
the gold and silver of Great Britain. It is their first visit to this
country, of which they appear to have favourable predilections, not-
withstanding they have pretty considerable quantities of unpaid
coupons for interest on State loans. The rest of our party consisted
of Judge Oakley, the Collector, William B. Astor, Moses H. Grinnell,
Blatchford, Parish, John I. Palmer, Jr.mes G. King, Cornelius W.
Lawrence.
June 14. — I went from court yesterday to dine with Mr. Robert
B. Minturn. It was a most delightful dinner. We had Mr. Crit-
tenden, Mr. Horsley Palmer, Messrs. Griffin, Grinnell, George
Curtis, John C. Hamilton, Russell, Gary, Depeyster, Ogden, etc.
At nine o'clock Dr. Wainwright (who had also a dinner-party, to
which I was invited) joined us, with several of his guests ; \az.,
Ogden Hoffman, Daniel Lord, Jr., Mr. Curtis, of Boston, and Judge
Warren, of New Bedford. The whole party sat and drank fine wine,
and had conversation of the most brilliant kind, until the " noon of
night."
Fire-place, June 24. — The weather being fine this morning I
determined to make a visit to my old friend Sam Carman. I got
Mr. Crandell to send me alone, in a nice little wagon, with a man to
drive a pair of horses ; alone, for I could not get a single com-
panion, the rest of the party having planned another excursion to
the bay. Won't the blue-fish be glad when they are gone ! I got
here at one o'clock, tried for trout in the pond before dinner, and
134 ^'^ll' l^IARY OF I'lIILIl' IIOXIC. [.Etat. 62.
again all the afLcrnoon, and took only two ; the water is full of grass,
it is too late in the season, and, if the truth was known, I do not
believe there are as many trout in the pond as there used to be ; at
any rate, I will console myself with the reason that unsuccessful
fishermen generally give for bad luck. I had, however, a good
dinner and supper, and after an hour's gossip with Carman and his
son Joe, I retired to a comfortable bed in the little back room in
which I have so often in the olden times courted " Nature's soft
nurse," This will be a short visit, mayhap the last. It is about
forty- five years since the first.
June 27. — Affliirs in Rhode Island between Gov-
Rhode Island, emor King and the friends of law and good order,
and the spurious Governor Dorr and the insurgents,
with the aid of their auxiliaries from this State and Connecti-
cut, on the other side, have drawn to a crisis. The rebellion,
after being apparently smothered for a while, has broken out
afresh. Governor Dorr, as he is styled, is regularly encamped at a
place called Chessacket, between Providence and the Connecticut
line, and about six miles from the latter, with a force of about eight
hundred ragamuffins, of which a large proportion are volunteers,
sympathizers from New York and Connecticut, instigated by such
men as Walter Bowne, John J. Morgan, and Stephen Allen, none
of whom are understood as yet to have gone to the wars. Perhaps
they will, when the first heroes shall have been killed in battle, or
hanged, as they certainly will be if '' the King " (I mean Governor
King) "comes to his right." The insurgents have twenty pieces
of cannon, principally ships' guns, planted on a hill which commands
the Providence road, and the barns, cattle-sheds, and hen-roosts of
the farmers are laid under contribution to keep out " the foul
fiend " from the stomachs of this heterogeneous mass of rebellion
and rapine.
In the mean time Governor King and the regularly constituted
authorities of the State are adopting the most energetic measures,
which are nobly supported by the citizens. A proclamation was
1S42.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP- HONE. 135
issued on Saturday by the Governor, declaring the State under
martial law ; banks are closed by the same authority ; the students
of Brown College are dispersed, and the college turned into bar-
racks. No person is allowed to cross the river after eight o'clock,
to enter or leave Providence without a permit, and all shops and
houses must be closed before ten o'clock. The citizens are armed
and doing military duty ; troops come in hourly from other parts of
the State ; a force of three thousand men is organized, under the
command of Major-General William Gibbs McNeill, an old ac-
quaintance of mine (and a sort of cousin, his wife being Mrs.
Charles Cammann's daughter), who has assumed the command,
with a strong staff of the most respectable men in the State ; and
the city of Providence, one of the most pleasant, and hitherto most
orderly, cities in the United States is suddenly transformed into a
garrison, and the noise of drums and trumpets and the " pride
and circumstance of glorious war " have succeeded the hum of
business and the tranquillity of elegant retirement for which this
capital of ^' the Providence Plantations " has always been cele-
brated.
June 28. — Yesterday the ceremony took place of letting in the
waters of the Croton river into the upper reservoir at Yorkville,
from which the city is to be supplied with " pure and wholesome
water," at an enormous expense, which is felt by the present, and
will be by all future, generations of our posterity.
June 30. — The civil war in " the Providence Plan-
Rhode Island, tations " seems to be suddenly brought to a conclusion.
The friends of law and good order, full of fight and
good spirit, as they certainly were, marched out from Providence
to the enemy's entrenchments at Chessacket, but could not get a
fight, because "they found no enemy to fight withal," and Major-
General McNeill has gathered laurels none the less bright for being
guiltless of blood. On the arrival of the troops at Governor Dorr's
" headquarters," the hero had again run away, and left his adher-
ents to shift for themselves and make the best terms they could
136 '11 IF. 1)1 A RV OF I'll 1 1. II' ilOXF. [/Flat. 62.
with the conquerors. There was some little skirmishing between
a portion of the insurgents and the regular tr(X)ps, in which one
man was killed and two wounded ; but the camp was taken quiet
possession of, with the arms and ammunition, i)owder and pump-
kins, guns and geese, pikes and pcjtatoes, and by this time the good
peoi)le of Providence have returned to their peaceful pursuits, for
which happy deliverance they are mainly indebted to their own
gallant conduct, and the wisdom and determination of their rulers.
Dorr escaped, nobody knows where. It is said that he has been
seen here in New York, — not very unlikely, for he makes this his
"City of Refuge." Here are friends to sympathize in his misfor-
tunes, and stimulate him to future ''deeds of daring." Tammany
Hall infuses in his manly bosom a certain quantity of valour with
which, from time to time, he marches to the field of battle, but
which, like a Yankee clock, is only warranted to go for a certain
short period, and, like a bottle of champagne manufactured for a
specific market, is sure to evaporate as soon as the cork is started
at his '' Headquarters, Gloucester, R.I."
The friends of law and order are indebted for this liappy and
bloodless result of the dangers with which they were threatened,
to their own manly spirit and uncompromising devotion to the true
interests of their gallant little State ; they marched out to fight the
insurgents with courage and promptness worthy of their sires, and
besides the actual citizens of the State, many of her native sons
resident in other States rallied around her in the " hour of her
need." I saw young Blatchford, who was sent by Governor Seward
to ascertain if any of the arms or munitions belonging to the State
of New York had been surreptitiously conveyed to Rhode Island,
or any of our citizens taken in arms among the insurgents. He told
me he saw my neighbour, Charles H. Russell, with his sw^ord at his
side and spurs on his heels, serving as aidc-dc-canip to General
McNeill, with whom he rode out to the camp of the insurgents
when a battle was expected, and returned the same night after the
enemy had fled. Insurrection and rebellion have no terrors when
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 3/
met thus, and boldly confronted by patriotism and loyalty, and the
spirit now manifested will be the best security from future attempts
against the peace of the State.
July 12. — My wife and I drove out this afternoon
Croton Works, to sce the two reservoirs in which the Croton water
was introduced a few days since. This great work ij
thus completed, with the exception of the magnificent aqueduct by
which it is intended to convey the water across the Harlem river,
where pipes are now temporarily laid down from one bank to the
other on a level with the water. We visited first the receiving
reservoir near Yorkville, consisting of two basins which cover about
thirty acres, a solid fabric, erected on a height sufficient to convey
the water to the tops of the houses in the city. The outer walls
are of handsome wrought stone, the basins lined with a dry slope
wall, one twenty and the other thirty feet in depth. They are at
present about half full, and the clear, sweet, soft water (clear it is,
and sweet, and soft ; for to be in the fashion I drank a tumbler of
it, and found it all these) is flowing in copiously, and has already
formed two pretty, limpid, placid, Mediterranean seas, of whole-
some temperance beverage, well calculated to cool the palates and
quench the thirst of the New Yorkers, and to diminish the losses
of the fire-insurance companies. There were a great number of
visitors at this place, — pedestrians, horsemen, railroad travellers, and
those who, like myself, came in their own carriages (which, if they
had no more right than me to do, was very reprehensible), — for it
has become a fashionable place of resort ; and well it may, for it is
well worth seeing.
We then came down and stopped at the lower, or distributing,
reservoir, at Murray's Hill, about two miles above my house, which
I had not seen since the arrival of the waters. The two basins here
have about one-third of their quantity of water, and the distributing
pipes are filled and the waters being supplied to such places in
town as are prepared for it. This great enterprise will cost
;^ 1 0,000,000, and it is somewhat remarkable, and an evidence of its
138 THE DIARV OF I'lIILlP HONE. [/Etat. 62.
acknowledged utility, that with the certainty of a tremendous in-
crease of taxation consequent upon it, to the present generation
and its posterity, and in party times, too, when men are so hard to
please, not a voice has been raised against it, and all parties hail
the advent of the " pure and wholesome water," after its journey
on the earth, and under the earth, and across the watercourses
of miles, as a proud event for our city, and one which enables
the Knickerbockers to hold their heads high among the nations
of the earth.
July 13. — The splendid edifice fronting on Wall,
ew or "William, and Pine streets is now entirely completed,
Custom-House. ' J l 7
and has been occupied as the New York Custom-
House, in all its manifold and complicated departments, since the
first of May. It is intended to collect the import revenue upon the
commerce of the nation ; but how if it should prove that, the com-
merce being annihilated, there will be no revenue to collect? A
splendid reservoir has been prepared, with fountains whose streams
are to irrigate the land in all quarters ; but how melancholy would
it be to discover that, after all these preparations, the springs are to
be dried up and the waters have ceased to flow. It looks awfully
like it just now. The natural earth is sufficiendy soaked, in all
reason ; but the exchequer is dry, — dry as powder. The waters are
stagnant, but the government runs in debt alone. The building of
the Custom-House was commenced in May, 1834, and the edifice
finished, with its furniture complete, in May, 1842 ; cost, $985,000.
The- statement of the cost of this magnificent winding sheet of
departed commerce is taken from an elaborate and well written
description published in the " Commercial Advertiser," of this after-
noon. A stranger walking from Broadway down Wall street would
laugh heartily at these lugubrious expressions of mine, and be apt to
remark, " If these are the grave-clothes of commerce, of what ma-
terials were her bridal garments composed?" With his back to
" New Trinity," the most beautiful structure of stone in America
(and I know of none more beautiful anywhere), he passes the
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 39
Custom-House, which cost a million ; eight or ten banks, each a
palace for the worship of mammon ; and the New Exchange, with a
portico of granite columns such as Sir Christopher Wren had no
notion of; worthy, indeed, of Palladio or Michael Angelo, — an edi-
fice the cost of which sunk all the money of myself and other fools
who subscribed for it, besides contracting a debt of which nothing
but the interest will ever be paid out of the income. These, with
brokers' offices and the " seats of money-changers " (there are none
who " sell doves," that I know of, though there may be many
pigeons'), some of which have cost extravagant sums, would convey
to the mind of the wayfaring man an image wholly different from
that of commercial distress and pecuniary embarrassment ; and yet
that these do exist at this moment, in a degree altogether unprece-
dented, there can be no doubt. Verily, the good people of New-
York, and especially the merchants, like the apothecary in the
" Honey Moon," have " new-gilded their pestle and mortar in the
jaws of bankruptcy." The cage is splendid, but the bird has fled.
The setting is costly enough, but the jewel is lost, or has been
pawned or gambled away. There must be a recuperative principle
in this great country to restore things some time or another, but I
shall not live to see it.
July 27. — I was grieved to see, in a New York paper, that my
old friend, Goold Hoyt, died at Sharon Springs, on Friday, 2 2d
instant. He was in the seventy-third year of his age.
August 2. — Mr. Webster's emphatic declaration.
Negotiations
with which he made to me in March, that all the negotia-
Engiand, tious between us and Great Britain would be settled
before September, seems to be in a fair progress of accomplish-
ment. The ugliest knot is now said to be disentangled. Nothing
official has been published ; but it is generally understood at Wash-
ington that the basis of a treaty in relation to the Maine boundary
has been settled between Lord x\shburton and the Secretary of
State, with the concurrence of the commissioners who represent the
States of Massachusetts and Maine.
I40 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 62.
The terms, no doubt, are mutually honourable and advantageous,
notwithstanding some of the demagogues in Congress who would
consent to see the ship of state a wreck, rather than that she should
be saved by a Whig pilot, are making a clamour about the terms of
the settlement agreed upon before they know what it is, and con-
demning measures which they could not understand, to minister to
the morbid appetite of party-spirit. It is reported and believed
that the terms agreed upon are a cession by the United States of a
portion of the disputed territory sufficient to give Great Britain a
transit from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Canada, for which
a portion of land, I believe, in the vicinity of Lake Champlain is
ceded to us. For this relinquishment Great Britain is to pay ^400,-
000 or $500,000, which will probably go to quiet the two States
which claim the territory, and there is very little doubt that they will
sell their worthless swamps and barren hemlock lands at a good
round price ; and, what is of more consequence, a joint participa-
tion in the navigation of the St. John's river is secured to the
United States, which, by giving an outlet to the lumber, will increase
the value of the remaining lands.
In confirmation of the report that this difficult question is in a
certain train of amicable adjustment, Mr. Webster gave a dinner
the other day to Lord Ashburton, at which were present the Presi-
dent, the cabinet ministers, and the commissioners of Massachusetts
and Maine, at which much mutual good- will was exhibited, and lov-
ing toasts and tender speeches were made by the reconciled lovers.
Lord Ashburton gave "The President," with a complimentary senti-
ment to "Brother Jonathan;" to which the Secretary responded,
coaxing "John Bull" through his lovely queen; and the President
gave "The Commissioners," with "Blessed are the peace-makers;"
from which latter circumstance it may be inferred that no danger is
to be apprehended in that wayward and unreliable quarter.
August 17. — A letter has been published in some
"Boz." of our newspapers, signed "Charles Dickens," dated
July 15, and addressed from " Devonshire Terrace,
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I41
Parkgate," "To the Editor of the ' Morning Chronicle,' " which con-
tains some sentiments so derogatory to our country, in which the
writer has been so recently honoured to the full extent of his deserv-
ing, that nothing is left for Mr. IJickensbut to deny its authenticity,
to save himself from the merited charges of wilful misrepresenta-
tions and gross ingratitude. I have wTitten him a letter, calling for
his avowal or denial of this unworthy piece of splendid impudence,
which is copied in my letter-book ; and he must stand or fall, in my
estimation, by his answer, if he chooses to make one. If the fol-
lowing sentiments are, indeed, Mr. Dickens's, he has proved himself
a slanderer more vile than any of his predecessors, in the disreputa-
ble trade of misrepresenting the United States and their people : —
*' Though in my travels from city to city I, of course, found
much to be pleased with and astonished at, yet the total difference
between our good old English customs and the awkwardness, the
uncouth manners, and the unmitigated selfishness which you meet
everywhere in America, made my journey one of a good deal of
annoyance. I do not think the Americans, as a people, have much
good taste. To a person brought up among them, and in their
own way, of course the glaring faults that strike a stranger do not
appear ; but to any well-bred man from abroad, the effect of the
prevalent features of the American character is by no means
agreeable." The following is a part of this letter, so arrogant and
so ungrateful that I am led to hope the whole may be a forgery :
*' It may be said that I, of all persons, ought to be blind to the
dark spots of x\merican character, treated as I have been by the
American people. I do not agree with this view of the case. I
did not seek their attentions, their dinners, and their balls. On
the contrary, these things were forced upon me ; many times to the
serious inconvenience of myself and my party. The kindness
of a friend, if it is troublesome and officious, often annoys as
much as the injuries of an enemy. The Americans have most of
the faults both of the English and French, with very few of their
virtues. I never thought that I was petted, merely for myself ; but
142 THE DIARY OF Til I LIT HONE. [.Etat. 62.
as a kind of monster, to look at, and imbue my keepers with
somewhat of the notoriety that enveloped myself. I can freely and
confidently say that this was the case, almost without exception."
August 23. — This day should be marked with a
T-'^rif/ ^" white stone. Two gleams of sunshine have broken
through the dark clouds which obscure the political
horizon, and men look round upon each other, as who should say,
" May not these things lead to better times?" This day we have
two pieces of agreeable intelligence : the treaty with England is
ratified by the Senate and promulgated, and the tariff bill has
passed the House of Representatives.
His mission of peace having been accomplished,
Lord Ash- t^jg distinguished nobleman, who has " bought golden
burton. . . ,, i • i • • • iir i •
opmions durmg his sojourn m Uashmgton, came
this way on a short excursion, previous to his sailing for England
in the "Warspite " frigate, which has been lying in our harbour to
await his departure. His lordship came to New York on Monday,
where the "Governor's Room," in the City Hall, has been hand-
somely appropriated by the common council to his use ; but which,
from his short stay, he did not avail himself of. He dined yester-
day with a party of gentlemen at James G. King's splendid seat at
Highwood, Weehawken. Mr. King took much pains to find me, to
partake of this handsome feast and to pass the night at Highwood,
where I should probably have gone if I had known of it ; in which
case I should have avoided Francis's dose, and perhaps not have
been so well as I am to-day.
August 26. — "The deed is done:" the revenue
Tariff Bill. bill, or the tariff bill, or whatever it is called by men
of different opinions, passed the Senate on Saturday
evening, with some trifling amendments, which will probably be in-
stantly adopted by the House ; and Monsieur Veto, it is thought,
will not exercise his oft-used and abused privilege by refusing his
assent. Laus Deo, however, I rejoice that this great question is
likely to be settled. This and the Webster and Ashburton treaty
1S42.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 43
will make matters easier in this poor country, unless the patient
has been brought so low that no remedies can save her. The
circulation ! the circulation is stopped !
^. ^ September 2. — The dinner to Lord Ashburton was
Dinner to
Lord Ash- given last evening, at the Astor House. Mr. Peter A.
burton. j^^ presided, with James D. P. Ogden and Moses H.
Grinnell as vice-presidents. Among the guests besides his lord-
ship were the following : Messrs. Mildmay and Bruce, of the Le-
gation ; Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Grattan, British consuls at New
York and Boston ; Lord John Hay and the officers of the " War-
spite ; " Mr. Horsley Palmer and Mr. Speddings ; Rev. Dr. Wain-
wright and Rev. Dr. Potts ; the Mayor ; Hon. George Evans,
senator for Maine ; Colonel Bankhead, U.S. Army ; and Commo-
dore Perry, of the Navy.
The dinner was exceedingly good, and the decorations of the
room in admirable taste ; and everything went off successfully,
although some of the papers find fault with the committee of
arrangements for some alleged neglect to that tenacious body of
gentlemen, the reporters, who went off in a huff after the fourth
toast ; for this, and because the toast to the President was not
cheered, some of them (especially the abusive " Herald ") are
pouring out the vials of their wrath upon the devoted heads of the
committee of arrangements as if it was their business to indicate
to the company the amount of approbation with which the toasts
they had prepared should be received by the company, and to
regulate the amount of their enthusiasm. It is true that a dead
silence was spread over the room on the drinking of that toast, and
it is equally true that the next one, '^The Queen," was differently re-
ceived ; and I could have wished it otherwise. Mr. Tyler certainly
had no claims upon the affection or respect of the individuals
present ; but I am quite sure that a sentiment of respect for the
exalted office he holds would have prompted all present to receive
the toast with the accustomed honours if the Chair had set the
example, whose duty I think it was ; and as there was none of
144 '^^^^^ DIARY OV rillLlP HONE. [.Etat. 62.
that spontaneous feeling in favour of the individual, which some-
times sets a com])any in the humour to cheer and applaud, the
toast passed off witli the ominous silence which has been com-
plained of; but it certainly was not the fault of the committee.
The following are the names of the gentlemen composing the
committee of arrangements, — and things ha\-e come to a pretty
pass in our heterogeneous city, if such men, most of whom have
devoted their lives to the gratuitous service of their fellow-citizens,
should be thus abused by a foreign blackguard, who gains a liveli-
hood by administering to the bad taste and worse morals of an
ungrateful public : James D. P. Ogden, Prosper ]\I. Wetmore,
James Lee, Benjamin L. Swan, George Griswold, James G. King,
Robert B. Minturn, Stephen Whitney, William B. Astor, Cornelius
AV. Lawrence, and Theodore Sedgwick.
September 14. — The amusement of prize-fighting,
Boxing. the disgrace of which was formerly confined to England,
to the grief and mortification of the moral and respect-
able part of her subjects, and the disgust of travellers from other
countries, has become one of the fashionable abominations of our
loafer-ridden city. Several matches have been made lately ; the
parties, their backers, betters, and abettors, with thousands and tens
of thousands of degraded amateurs of this noble science, conveyed
by steamboats chartered for the purpose, have been following the
champions to Staten Island, Westchester, and up the North river,
out of tlie jurisdiction (as was supposed) of the authorities of New
York ; and the horrid details, with all their disgusting technicalities
and vulgar slang, have been regularly presented in the " New York
Herald," to gratify the vitiated palates of its readers, whilst the
orderly citizens have wept for the shame which they could not
prevent.
One of those infamous meetings took place yesterday on the
bank of the North river in Westchester, the particulars of which
are given at length in that precious sheet and others of a similar
character. Two men, named Lilly and McCoy, thumped and bat-
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I45
tered each other for the gratification of a brutal gang of spectators,
until the latter, after one hundred and nineteen rounds, fell dead in
the ring, and the other ruffian was smuggled away and made his
escape from the hands of insulted justice.
September 17. — The people seem at last to be a
Executive \[\_^\q arouscd at Mr. Tyler's tyrannical and proscriptive
Proscription.
administration of the government. His last act is in-
tolerable, and if there was any spirit in the people it would be
visited with impeachment. He has removed from the office of Col-
lector of Philadelphia a fine old American gentleman, — Jonathan
Roberts, a man of his own appointment, who has acted in all things
upon the very principles in relation to political matters in the dis-
charge of his official duties which our inconsistent President laid
down on his entrance into the office which he so unworthily fills.
Mr. Tyler orders the collector to turn out of office thirty inferior
officers, tide-waiters, measurers and weighers, for the alleged crime
of being friendly to Mr. Clay, and to appoint in their places others
whom he designates, — Tyler men. This mandate is given in a
tone worthy of the Grand Sultan, — " for reasons satisfactory to
myself." When Mr. Roberts attempted to remonstrate with the
President, saying that the present incumbents are capable and
honest, and that they are men of family, and come up to the Presi-
dent's standard of non-interference in politics, the savage order is
further enforced by the sapient son and secretary of the unfeeling
despot, who closes his official rescript in the following language,
worthy of that amiable autocrat, Paul of Russia, " He, therefore [his
honoured papa], has ordered me to say to you that he desires the
requisition he has made on you in the matter to be at once and to
the letter complied with."
This is /e roi le vent with a vengeance. But Mr. Roberts is not
pliant and subservient enough for the times and for Mr. Tyler. He
goes on to Washington, and, after much contumelious treatment from
the satrap of the palace, is admitted to an audience by Kouli Khan,
who cuts him dead, as the saying is, and tells him plainly, "■ Turn
146 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 62.
these men out, or I shall turn you out." The old veteran does not
understand this language. He refuses to obey the order, saying, in
his honest heart, " I'll see you d — d first." He returns to Phila-
delphia, where he has hardly arrived when a supersedeas is handed
to him by a Mr. Smith, who is appointed in his place, and stands
ready, no doubt, to do this or any other dirty work to which he may
be ordered. In the mean time Mr. Roberts is applauded for his
firmness and honoured for his independence. Meetings are held in
Philadelphia to condemn the President and to exalt his victim, of
whom it will be said in his retirement : —
" Great Cincinnatus, at his plough.
With brighter lustre shone,
Than guilty Ceesar e'er could show
When seated on a throne."
Phelps in
Limbo.
September 30. — My old friend, Thaddeus Phelps,
having been cited to appear before the grand jury to
testify in the examination of the facts in the duel case
between Webb and Marshall, appeared, but refused to give evi-
dence, on the ground that information was derived from another
person in confidence, and that he was in honour bound not to betray
him. He stated, however, that his informant was not Colonel
Webb, nor any other person concerned in the duel. This, I think,
should have been satisfactory to the grand jury ; but they thought
otherwise, and Phelps was taken before the court, where he per-
sisted in his refusal, but disclaimed any intentional disrespect, and
was ready to " bow to their mandate ; " on which he was sent to
prison for ten days. But his confinement is only a technical
sort of affliir, for I find his wooden leg is still stumping its way in
Wall street ; in custody, I presume.
October i. — Great interest has been excited in the
e s er s pQ^jj-j^,^] circles, by a promised speech to be made by
Mr. Webster to his friends in Boston. He had declined
the offer of a public dinner, expressing his preference for a meeting
1842.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 47
of the Whigs, before whom he might define his position in relation
to Mr. Tyler's cabinet. This meeting took place, and the great
speech was made yesterday in Faneuil Hall, the cradle of liberty,
and the theatre of many of the proudest triumphs of the accom-
plished orator and patriotic statesman who now appeared before
the assembled multitude of Whigs. The speech is published in
several of our newspapers, reporters having been sent from this
city, who appear to have done justice to the important subject.
It is a great speech ; on such an occasion, and from such a source,
it could not be otherwise, but it wdll throw the whole Whig party
into confusion. Mr. Webster defends his continuance in the cab-
inet, and gives good and sufficient reasons for it, in the labour he
has performed and the success he has achieved in the negotiation
of the British treaty ; and in this all the good men of his party, and
all candid men in the nation, would now willingly bear him out ;
but, unfortunately, he goes further. He intimates pretty clearly that
he means to remain, and justifies in many particulars, to which his
friends will not consent, the course of Mr. Tyler's administration.
For these causes moderate Whigs are sorry, and violent ones
abusive ; and the latter description of politicians are for hauling
neck and heels out of the party the man who has heretofore been
its ornament and pride, — the theme of their extravagant panegyric,
as he is now of their violent denunciation. How uncertain is the
favour of the people ! How unsatisfactory the calling of politics !
Such a man as Daniel Webster may be in an instant blown down
by the same breath which set him up. There is no breathing-
spell in the popular voice between the last vibrating shout of " Hal-
lelujah " and the first appalling cry of " Crucify him ! "
Mr. Webster's recent movement will, no doubt, be prejudicial to
the prospects of the Whig party ; but for himself personally there is
much palliation. The flood which has set in with a force so irre-
sistible for Mr. Clay as the next candidate for the Presidency can
never convey Mr. Webster on its bosom to personal honour or
political distinction. These two eminent men are undeniably
I4cS THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 62.
rivals ; their talents, public services, and exalted rank in the great
Whig army of the Union have raised for each a personal party, and,
their pretensions being equal, the elevation of one forbids that of
the other ; the sun of popular favour shining on one must inevitably
throw the other into the shade ; and, whatever simulated expressions
of good-will may pass between them, it is impossible they should be
friends. It is, perhaps, unfortunate for tlie party that it has two
such men in its ranks ; their political opponents are not so troubled.
Mr. Webster is not a party to his unceremonious ejectment from
the cause, nor from among the men with whom he has been so
nobly identified during his whole brilliant career of political ser-
vice. He only differs on the best means of serving them ; he
deprecates the measures of the administration in some particulars,
av^ows his steady opposition to the fatal exercise of the veto power,
but submits to his hearers whether the cause they support and the
principles they advocate cannot be better served by him as a mem-
ber of the cabinet, than by some other person who may be ap-
pointed his successor, less acquainted with their interests, and less
capable of promoting them. In short, shall he, a tried friend,
leave his place at the risk of seeing it filled by an enemy? Plaus-
ible, certainly, if not convincing ; but, whatever may be his deter-
mination on the subject of his own course in relation to his
continuance in the cabinet, which constitutes the mam ground of
difference between him and the other friends of Mr. Clay, he thus
expresses himself proudly and emi)hatically as to his undeviating
adherence to what he considers Whig principles. And if Daniel
Webster does not understand the meaning of the term, where shall
we look for its exposition? " I am a Whig, ' he says ; " I always
have been one, and I always shall be one ; and if anybody under-
takes to turn me out of the pale of that communion, let him see to
it who gets out first ! I am a Massachusetts Whig, — a Faneuil-
Hall Whig, — breathing her air now for twenty-five years, and mean-
ing to breathe it on the spot so long as God shall please to give me
life." On tlie whole, this speech is one of the most important in-
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 49
ciJents that ever occurred in the poHtical history of the country,
and as such will be referred to in all future times of the Republic.
Daniel Webster stands alone in the Whig party.
October 4. — The annual commencement of Co-
eg-e oin. |^j-^-^|^j.^ Colles^e was held this day, in the middle Dutch
inencement. '--' ■' '
Church, — an Episcopal literary institution, endowed
by the church and established upon its principles, compelled to re-
sort to the liberality of the seceders for a place to hold its anniver-
sary exercises, because an intolerant bishop and a subservient
rector (both of whom are trustees of the college) have made the
mighty discovery that such exercises are a desecration of the holy
temple of God, the main support of which depends upon a suc-
cessful system of moral and religious education, such as is imparted
by Columbia College to the youth of our country. The attendance
was greater than usual. Many distinguished persons were present
(among whom was the Governor of the State) ; and the inauguration
of the new president, Dr. Nathaniel F. Moore, with the address
made to him by the president of the board of trustees, Peter A.
Jay, Esq., and his own in reply, formed an interesting feature in
the exercises of the day.
Thirty members of the graduating class received the degree of
Bachelor of Arts, of whom fourteen delivered orations, in the follow-
ing order : iVbram Stevens Hewitt, William L. Kernochan, Robert
Jaffray, Jr., William Henry Ebbetts, William Pinckney Stewart,
Robert M. Olyphant, John Lyon, Wheelock H. Parmly, David R.
Stanford, Silas Weir Roosevelt, Oliver Everett Roberts, W. Rodman,
Zebedee Ring, Jr., Edward E. Potter.
October 7. — I found, on my return last evening, the following
letter from Mr. Dickens, in reply to one I wrote him on the 19th
August. It turns out as I supposed. The scurrilous remarks on the
United States, to which his name is subscribed, and which were so
promptly taken up by the rascally penny papers and published
through the country, were a base forgery, gotten up probably by
one of the craft on this side of the water.
I50 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.^tat. 62.
Broadstairs, Kent, England,
i6th September, 1842.
My dear Sir : — I am very much obliged to jou for your friendly let-
ter, which I have received with real pleasure. It reached me last night,
being forwarded from London to this sea-side fishing town, where we
are enjoying ourselves quietly until the end of the month. I answer it
without an hour's delay, though I fear my reply may lie at the post-office
some days before it finds a steam-packet to convey it across the ocean.
The letter to which you refer is, from beginning to end, in every word
and syllable, tlic cross of every / and the dot of every /, a most wicked
and nefarious forgery. I have never published one word or line in ref-
erence to America, in any quarter whatever, except the copyright circular,
and the unhung scoundrel who invented that astounding lie knew this as
well as I do. It has caused me more pain, and more of a vague desire to
take somebody by the throat, than such an event should perhaps have
awakened in any honourable man. But I have not contradicted it pub-
licly, deeming that it would not become niy character or elevate me in
my own self-respect to do so. I sball hope to send for your acceptance
next month my " American Notes." Meanwhile, and always, and with
cordial remembrance to all friends,
I am, my dear sir, faithfully yours,
Charles Dickens.
Dinner-
party.
October 8. — Dr. Doane, the health-officer, sent me
a fine little turtle the other day, which he has had fat-
tening for me at the quarantine, and I invited the
following party to assist us in disposing of the delicious soup : Mr.
D. S. Kennedy, Mr. J. P. Giraud, Mr. F. C. Tucker, Mr. Charles
A. Davis, Mr. J. D. P. Ogden, Mr. Moses H. Grinnell, Mr. R. M.
Blatchford, Mr. Samuel B. Ruggles, Mr. W. G. Ward.
OcTOUKR 12. — Nothing is talked of or thought of
^°"" in New York but Croton water ; fountains, aqueducts,
hydrants, and hose attract our attention and impede
our progress through the streets. Political spouting has given
place to water- spouts, and the free current of water has diverted
the attention of the people from the vexed questions of the con-
fused state of the national currency. It is astonishing hjw popular
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 5^
the introduction of water is among all classes of our citizens, and
how cheerfully they acquiesce in the enormous expense which will
burden them and their posterity with taxes to the latest generation.
Water ! Water ! is the universal note which is sounded through
every part of the city, and infuses joy and exultation into the
masses, even though they are out of spirits.
October 14. — The fine weather, which has continued without
interruption twenty- four days, held out one day longer, to smile
upon the great pageant. The other elements, with becoming
politeness, united to do honour to the triumph of water, and
nothing occurred in "the heaven above, nor the earth below," to
mar the splendid scene ; as for "the waters under the earth," they
were all brought to the surface on this occasion, and made a great
spouting about their emancipation. I was invited, as " ex-Mayor, "
to take a place in the procession, for which purpose I went to the
City Hall at nine o'clock. At this time the whole population of
the city, and as many more from other places, were in motion. At
ten the procession began to move. I was placed in a barouche
with Aaron Clark, another ex-Mayor ; Mr. Hart, ex-Mayor of Troy ;
and Mr. Murphy, Mayor of Brooklyn. This detachment consisted
of about a dozen barouches, in one of which was Governor Seward ;
his staff was under the orders of Mr. Morris, the Mayor of the city.
We went down to the Battery, where we were placed in the line
immediately after a splendid military escort, and proceeded up
Broadway to Union place, where the Governor reviewed the troops.
Thence the procession continued down the Bowery to Grand street,
through Grand street to its junction with West Broadway, and
down the latter street to the Park, where the whole was reviewed, in
front of the City Hall, by the Mayor and Common Council.
The whole hne of the procession extended about five miles ; it
embraced, besides the different regiments of troops, the firemen, of
whom there were fifty-two companies, including several from Phila-
delphia, Brooklyn, Newark, and Poughkeepsie. This part of the
procession was a mile and a half in length, and beautiful it was, with
it
152 THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. [^tat. 62.
the machines, banners, and other devices ; and a finer-looking set of
men, nor a more orderly one, I never saw. Then there were the
butchers on horseback, the temperance societies, the different
scientific and civic institutions, mechanic associations, among whom
were the printers, with a car on which was placed the identical press
at which Dr. Franklin once worked. This was employed during
the transit of the procession in printing and distributing an ode
written in honour of the occasion by (ieorge P. Morris, which
was sung in front of the Hall by a choir of two hundred male and
female performers, who were placed on a stage erected for the
purpose.
The whole of this great " turn-out," which embraced everything
and everybody, did not finish its round until five o'clock, when an
address was made by Mr. Samuel Stevens, president of the old
board of water commissioners, and a reply made by Mr. John L.
Lawrence, president of the new board. Such of the dignitaries and
guests as had tickets, and could get in, were then taken to the large
court-room, where a collation had been provided, not by any means
the best feature of the day's festivities. Here the Mayor made a
speech and toasted the Governor, who made a very good speech in
reply. By this time it was night, and the public gardens, theatres,
and fountains completed the great celebration of the triumph of
Croton water.
It was certainly a great affair ; but nothing struck me with more
pleasure and surprise than the perfect order and propriety which
prevailed among the immense masses of male and female spectators
on the route of the procession ; not a drunken person was to be
seen. The moral as well as the physical influence of water per-
vaded everything. Ardent liquors were not proof against its predom-
inating power ; there was no quarrelling, no resistance to authority,
no unruly behaviour ; the people stood and looked on delighted and
unfatigued during the three hours occupied in the passage of the
pageant. It was a day for a New Yorker to be proud of.
October 25. — This is my birthday, — I am sixty-two years old.
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 153
Sixty-two years of active life, not always, I may hope, uselessly em-
ployed, prosperous during the greater part of this long period, and
always in the enjoyment of more of the blessings of this life than I
was thankful for. Sunshine Ims illumined my path for many of the
years that are gone by, and my journey has not been impeded by
more obstructions than are usually met with ; and even now, when
I have my share of the darkness which overspreads the land, I can
enjoy some rays of light which are denied to others who are not
less deserving than myself.
October 31. — Now that this gentleman is about
overnoi retiriup^ from office, the people of the State seem willing
Seward. o ^ j. i o
to give him credit for the talent which he certainly pos-
sesses in an eminent degree, and some of his own party cease to
cavil at some of his public acts, and pass complimentary resolutions
at their political meetings. It has been said (and I think not
without reason) that he has courted popularity a little too much,
especially in some injudicious concessions to the Roman Catholics ;
but I believe he was always influenced in those measures by good
motives, by a sincere desire to serve the cause which is supported
by his political friends, and which we Whigs at least must uphold as
the people's cause. There can be no doubt, however, of Governor
Seward's talents, especially as a writer of pure English. His style
is perspicuous and nervous, free from the tawdry and unmeaning
embellishments of our modern public documents, and equally fitted
for the good taste of the scholar and the comprehension of the
plain man of sense.
November 2. — Mr. Hamilton Fish, the Whig can-
ami on (iidate for Congress in the Sixth District, gave a supper
last evening to the nominating committee and other
Whigs. I was one of the invited, but other engagements prevented
me from going. It will require sundry good suppers and something
stronger than his father's fine old wine to make my friend Fish swim
into Congress ; and, if he should, I hope he will not be out of his
depth. These good things, moreover, would have a more effica-
154 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.^.tat. 62.
cioiis influence if administered to the other party. " Who cares
for our friends? — we are sure of them." That is the true poUtical
morahty, of which the Whigs are not unmindful. But it requires a
new miracle of loaves 3.ndjis/ies to feed such a multitude.
NovEMP.KK 3. — A noble shi}) of one thousand one
Launch. huudrcd tous, built for Grinnell, Minturn, cv Co.'s line
of packets, was launched yesterday morning with the
good taste and patriotic feeling of those fine fellows. They have
called her the "Asnburton/' — a handsome name, and a suitable
compliment to the British negotiator of the treaty with England.
November 4. — This has been a great day for the
Mr. Webster. Secretary of State. He has recovered much of the
ground he lost by his late speech at Faneuil Hall, and
his continuance, against the wishes of his Whig friends (such at
least as go for Mr. Clay), in the cabinet of Mr. Tyler. The
common council having assigned to Mr. Webster the use of the
Governor's room in the City Hall for that purpose, he received
the visits of the citizens from eleven until two o'clock. An im-
mense crowd waited upon him, the number of which was probably
enhanced by the announcement that the Chamber of Commerce
were to attend his levee in a body, agreeably to a resolution which
had been previously adopted. At one o'clock the members were
received by the Secretary on the platform in front of the hall, when
an address was made by the president, Mr. James D. P. Ogden, on
presenting the resolution of the chamber. It was a pleasing coin-
cidence, that during this interesting ceremony one hundred guns
were being fired in the Park on account of the news, which had
just been received, of the ratification of the treaty by Great
Britain, which were answered by an equal number from several
other places in the vicinity of the city. This was, no doubt, a kind
of interruption, not less agreeable to the orator than the ap-
plause of the thousands of spectators who listened to the address.
Whatever may be the opinion of Mr. Webster's AMiig friends as to
his political position, they cannot deny him the credit of being the
1S42.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 155
main instrument in effecting this important measure, the value of
which posterity will appreciate.
This gentleman having declined the invitation to a
inner o r. p^j^j-^ dluncr, whlch was signed by seventy of our
most respectable citizens, a select knot of four-and-
twenty Whigs had him all to themselves yesterday at the Astor
House. I was one of the fortunate number, and " it was well to
be there." This dinner was an event not soon to be forgotten.
The party consisted of the following : Mr. Webster, Moses H.
Grinnell, Charles A. Davis, Simeon Draper, Ogden Hoffman, Ed-
ward Curtis, Russell H. Nevins, Mr. Wetmore, M. C. Patterson,
Robert B. Minturn, R. M. Blatchford, John I. Palmer, Samuel G.
Raymond, George Curtis, Mr. Lyman, Mr. Stone, Hiram Ketcham
and his brother, James W. Gerard, John Ward and myself, and two
or three others whom I do not recollect. By previous arrange-
ment, Messrs. Grinnell and Davis were placed at the head and foot
of the table, and Mr. Webster in the centre, with Mr. Palmer on
his left hand and I on his right. The dinner was capital ; Stet-
son's heart was in the matter. The honoured guest appeared to be
delighted, and was in turn delightful, full of anecdote and pleasant
gossip ; his expressive eyes shone with unusual lustre from under
the dark canopy of his overhanging brows, and the infection of
his brilliancy pervaded the whole table, and made the occasion a
feast of reason and a flow of soul.
After the cloth was removed there was a temporary pause in the
conversation, and I was requested by two or three to say something
which would bring out the lion of the day. This I did. After this
Mr. Gerard made a short speech in his usual good taste, with a
sentiment complimentary to the Ashburton treaty and to the
American negotiator. Then the dark brow at the head of the table
became contracted ; the noble intellect began to arrange itself and
the bright eye to gather up its lightnings, piercing but benignant
as those which irradiate the darkness of a summer evening.
Mr. Webster, after having gained the attention of the company,
156 THE DIARY OF VllUAV HONE. [/Etat. 62.
began a /a//^, not a speech, without rising from his seat, with no
declamation, no oratorical nor rhetorical ornaments ; without gesture,
in a plain, business-like, colloquial strain ; but in language pure as
the dew of heaven, and full of such instruction as might proceed
from such a mind as his to the minds of men to whom he paid the
high com])liment of considering his equals. He gave a full history,
in all its stages, of the negotiation which resulted in the treaty,
from his first interview with Lord Ashburton at Washington. He
took up each point separately : the P^astern boundary, the case of the
"Carolina," that of the "Creole," the subject of impressment, the
right of search, the sui)pression of the slave-trade, and other inci-
dental questions ; stated the difficulties which had occurred, the
mutual concessions arising out of a sincere and earnest desire on
both sides to consult the interests and honour of both nations in a
spirit of good feeling and honest intention, rather than to resort to
the exploded arts of diplomacy or to insist upon advantages merely
technical. It was agreed, said the eloquent speaker, that such arts
were unworthy of two such nations as Great Britain and the United
States. They had met in a spirit of unity to settle important ques-
tions, and went to their work like men of business. This exposition
lasted an hour, and left every auditor as well acquainted, in his own
mind, with the treaty, and all that appertained to it, as he who
made it. This branch of his subject being finished, Mr. Webster
turned to me, and, meeting my bow by a graceful one of his own,
he said, " And now as to niy friend ]\Ir. Hone, and in reply to his
allusion ; if I mistake not, that gentleman gave its name to the
Whig party. I was christened at his font, and have continued firm
in his faith. I am too old to change my politics or my religion."
He then went on in a strain similar to that which had charac-
terized his former remarks. He attributed the unhappy divisions
which exist at present in the Whig party in relation to the course
of the Executive, to the unfortunate alteration of the Constitution
wliich made it necessary to designate in the presidential election
the candidates for President and Vice-President. Previously to this
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. I 57
change, which, Uke all others, has been productive of great mischief,
the candidates were selected with reference to the fitness of both
for the highest o.'itice, to which either was equally liable to be
elected ; and since that change, the second officer was usually
selected with a view to personal predilections, sectional interests, or
party preferences, to fill an office of no political importance (except
in such a melancholy contingency as has now occurred) and devoid
of personal responsibility. He then defined his position in relation
to Mr. Tyler's administration. In his judgment it was better for
the people and for the Whigs to make the best of existing circum-
stances during the remainder of the present term of the President ;
to secure the appointment of wise and patriotic Whigs in the foreign
diplomatic department, rather than, by opposition, to throw the
Executive bodily into the arms of our opponents.
The whole of this exposition of his sentiments was given in a
frank and confiding manner ; the interest excited was intense, and
a stillness prevailed in the room during its delivery such that you
might literally " hear a pin drop ; " not a word was lost, not a glance
passed unnoticed. A sketch of the speaker and his audience at
the moment when the former said, " An 1 now one word for Mr.
Hone," would have been a sublime moral study, a noble illustration
of the omnipotent power of intellect. When he had finished, I
bowed low and said, " Mr. Webster, as one of this delighted and
instructed company, I thank you for the history you have given of
your important negotiation ; and, for myself, I feel honoured over-
much by the notice you have taken of my remarks and the expla-
nations they have been the means of eliciting." The company
continued in delightful session until midnight.
November 7. — The "Great Western" brings out
ic ens s ^1^^ much-talked-of " Notes on America, for General
New W ork. '
Circulation," by the celebrated author of the " Pickwick
Papers." I am much afraid that the desire of the illiberal and
malevolent penny-paperists and other fault-finders, who confidently
expected to find " offence in it," will be disappointed. I have not
158 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Elat. 62.
read the book ; but one of the extracts, which is much abused in
the " Herald," and held up as its greatest montrosity, viz., a most
glowing picture of the mischief affected by just such papers as this
" Herald," and the national disgrace attending their wide circula-
tion, is precisely to my taste ; it is true, every word of it ; and if
there is nothing worse in the book, I say, with all my heart, " ditto
to Mr. Burke."
November 12. — Mr. John Delmonico, the respectable proprie-
tor of the great hotel and restaurant in William street, died on
Thursday morning, in a strange and awful manner. He was with
a party, deer-hunting at Snedecors, Islip, L.I. He was placed on a
stand up the creek, and a deer coming, he fired. The deer, badly
wounded, took to the water, and was killed by one of the number
on another stand. After some time his companions, going to join
him, found him lying on his face in the same spot where he had
fired, quite dead, of apoplexy, probably produced by the excite-
ment which the sport of deer-hunting always occasions with per-
sons unaccustomed to it. Mr. Delmonico was an amiable man,
very obliging in his house, and will not fail to be remembered as
long as good dinners dwell pleasantly upon the recollection.
"American NOVEMBER 14. — This is the somewhat singular title
°,^. "'^, "' of Dickens's new book, which has jiist been received
tion." here. Its advent was expected with a vast deal of
curiosity, and no /lo/t^s have ever had a more prompt or rapid
circulation, nor, in my opinion, has any writer been more unfairly
treated by my countrymen. Lies were circulated in advance ; sen-
timents were attributed to him which he never uttered. His name
was forged to papers which he never saw ; his distinct and indig-
nant disavowal was refused the publicity which was accorded with
satisfaction to the slanders regarding the unworthy character of the
present work. These slanders have been refuted by the appear-
ance of the book itself. Because a few hospitable people here and
in Boston made a little too much fuss about him on the occasion
of his late visit to the United States, but more especially because
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 59
Mr. Dickens saw with an unprejudiced eye the horrible licentious-
ness of the daily press in this country, and uttered in the language
of truth his denunciation of the stupendous evil, and would fain
assist in wiping out the foul blot from our national escutcheon (for
all which I humbly conceive we ought to be greatly obliged to
him), this lively writer, whose works have been hitherto so popular
in this country, is now vilified and misrepresented. And so will
any man be who has the moral courage to make battle against this
frightful monster, who stalks unrebuked through the land, blasting
with its pestiferous breath everything bright and lovely which is
too sensitive to resist its influence, and receiving the daily homage
of those who, like the men who cater for their depraved appetites,
have no sympathy for virtues and accomplishments which they
themselves do not possess, and whose insignificance affords them
an immunity from the attacks which they enjoy so much in the
persons of their superiors.
The truth is, that, contrary to the predictions of the conductors
of the vile penny press, and greatly to their disappointment, Mr.
Dickens has written a very fair and impartial book about this
country ; not very creditable, I think, to its author as a literary pro-
duction, and not by any means so amusing as might have been
expected from a writer who, in his previous works, has afforded us
so much and such highly wrought and varied amusement. It is
written carelessly ; his sketches are drawn from hasty observation,
and it is evident that his volatile wing has not rested long enough
in one place to enable him to understand its peculiarities, nor to
discourse wisely upon its characteristics. But the public institu-
tions of the country, its manufacturing establishments, hospitals,
prisons, courts, and colleges are praised and censured with equal
justice and impartiality, and not unfrequently most favourably con-
trasted with similar institutions in his own country.
" Business is business," as some man says, in some
play. The following notice, which was published the
vertisements. o 7 1
day after the funeral of poor Delmonico, is very
l6o THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 62.
much in the style of the inscription on a tombstone in Pere-la-
Chaise, which runs somewhat in this form : " Here lies the body of
Pierre Quelquechose, who died so and so. This monument is
erected to his memory by his widow, who takes this occasion to
inform her friends and customers that the pastry-cook estabhsh-
ment is continued at such a number Rue Saint Honor^, where she
will be happy to receive their orders."
This is the counterpart : —
" A card. — The widow, brother, and nephew Lorenzo, of the
late much respected John Delmonico, tender their heartfelt thanks
to the friends, benevolent societies, and Northern Liberty Fire
Engine Company, who accompanied his remains to his last home.
The establishment will be reopened to-day, under the same firm
of Delmonico Brothers, and no pains of the bereft family will be
spared to give general satisfaction. Restaurant, bar-room, and
private dinners No. 2 South William street ; furnished rooms No.
76 Broad street, as usual."
T^ .u r^^- AVilliam Kllerv Channinsf, D.D., the srreat apostle of
DeathofWin. ■" o? ^ o i
EiieryChan- the Unitarian faith, the eloquent divine, the philan-
ning, D.D. thropist, and the champion of religious and political
freedom, died at Bennington, Vermont, on the 2d of October,
aged sixty-three years. A funeral ceremony was performed on the
13th ult., in the church of the Messiah in this city, on which occa-
sion a eulogy on the character, writings, and Christian labours of
the deceased was pronounced by the Rev. Henry W. Bellows, of
which I received a copy to-day. It was warm, glowing, eloquent,
and metaphorical, as I am inclined to think all the productions of
that gentleman are, and which I suspect are the characteristics
of most of the eloquent divines of the Unitarian church.
November 26. — James Watson Webb was brought
^ ' ^ up in the Court of Sessions this dav, and sentenced by
Sentence. ^ ' ' ^
the Recorder on his plea of guilty of tlie charge of
leaving the State to fight a duel, and fighting a duel with Thomas
Marshall. The sentence was two years imprisonment in the State
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 161
prison, — the shortest term prescribed by the statute. There is very
kittle doubt that this sentence will be followed immediately by an
unconditional pardon from Governor Seward, to whom petitions to
that effect have been forwarded, signed by fourteen thousand citizens
of New York. In this large number are included most of the
leading men of the party in politics opposed to Colonel Webb,
fourteen of the seventeen members of the grand jury who found
the bill, every alderman and assistant of the city except one, a
great many of the clergy, judges of the several courts, and members
of the bar. The roll was upward of four hundred feet in length.
This is all very flattering to the delinquent who has fallen into the
law's danger ; but there is good reason to believe that Governor
Seward did not require this strong appeal to incline him to exercise
the most agreeable prerogative of executive power. The pardon
is, no doubt, prepared already, and all reasonable men will justify it
on the present occasion.
November 28. — The trial in Westchester before
FiTters J^^dg^ Ruggles, of SuUivau, McCluster, and Kensett,
seconds in the battle fought at Hastings by Lilly and
McCoy, which resulted in the death of the latter, closed on Satur-
day. The jury brought a verdict of " guilty of manslaughter in the
fourth degree," which will probably subject the accused to two
years imprisonment in the State prison. It remains to be seen
whether executive clemency will find the same extenuating circum-
stances in this case as in that of Webb. We are deplorably in
want of an example to break down the ruffianism which has been
growing up amongst us ; but it will puzzle His Excellency to draw a
distinction in favour of a pistol, which in most cases is intended to
produce death, and the fist, from which it may incidentally occur.
Webb, to be sure, stands acquitted, by the letters which he wrote
before the duel, from the murderous intent which characterizes such
meetings on ordinary occasions ; and an ounce of lead is an argu-
ment so much more genteel than a handful of knuckles. But, after
all, the " quo animo " is not so bad in the latter case as in the former.
l62 THE DIARY OF PHTLTP HONE. [/Etat. 62.
I was wrong, the other day, in stating that Lilly, the principal in
the fight, was on trial at White Plains. That worthy " absquatu-
lated " immediately after the " Olympic games " were over at
Hastings, and the paper this day announces his arrival in Liverpool
by the '' George Washington," on the 30th of October. He will
be all the foshion in that refined country, whose sensitive tourists
faint at the recollection of the tobacco chewing and spitting Yan-
kees, and lose their delicate appetites at our vulgar substitution of
the knife for the fork. The man who killed his man here will, by
that heroic exploit, have un-Yankeeized himself there. He will
become an associate of the magnates of the land. His name will
be enrolled in the court calendar, with the Belchers and the
Springs, the Cribs and the Dutch Sams, and his portrait will adorn
a page of the elegant literature of British science ; the Yankee
Lilly alongsi;le the black champion in a hot-pressed volume, in
superb binding, — one of a set which sells at a guinea and a half a
volume, such as I saw last evening at Prescott Hall's, and which
occu])y a place in the boudoirs of the British fair alongside of
''Flowers of Fancy " and "Mills's Chivalry."
December 13. — The late Minister to France is all
General Cass, the fashion in Ncw York. He receives company in
presidential and gubernatorial style at the City Hall.
He has defined his political sentiments in a letter to Governor
Dickinson, of New Jersey, which is published with a flourish of
tnimpets for the benefit of all good Republicans who may have been
troubled with doubts and misgivings on that important subject.
He professes to be a Democrat of the Jefi'erson school, and opposed
to a national bank. The return of General Cass at this time, his
reception, and the declaration drawn from him in the above-men-
tioned letter seem to indicate pretty clearly that he is to add one
to the number of candidates fjr the Presidency. He will be a
thorn in the side of Mr. Van Buren, whose chances will be more
afl"ected by this new aspirant than by that of the Southern candidate.
Whether all will work together for the benefit of the single Whig
1842.] THE DIARY OF FHILIP HONE. 1 63
candidate remains to be seen. Il is pretty difficult for me to find
out the claims of General Cass. But in that respect he stands
about on a par with General Harrison at the time of his nomina-
tion. If Mr. Clay cannot be elected, I do not know that I shall
not be prepared to hurrah for Cass. Anybody but Calhoun, even
Van Buren. I am a Northern man, and a New Yorker. As such
I can never consent to be ruled by one whose paramount principle
is one of opposition to the interests and prosperity of this part of
the Union. Mr. Calhoun has talents of a superior order. So much
the worse ; for his enmity is the more effective. The canker of
envy, hatred, and malice against the Northern and Eastern States
lies deep in his heart. He would prefer that the cotton of Caro-
lina should go to Europe in British vessels rather than in those of
New York, Boston, or Philadelphia.
December 17. — On our return to-day we found the
^ ase o e ^.^^ excited by the development of a dreadful story, of
which there were some rumours when we went away.
The United States brig " Somers," Captain Alexander Slidell McKen-
zie, arrived in this port on Wednesday night from a cruise on the
African coast, and last from St. Thomas, from which latter port she
had only eight days passage. During the whole of Thursday there
was a strange mystery about this vessel. She lay in the bay ;
nobody, not even the near relations of the officers, was permitted
to visit her ; the brother of Lieutenant Gansevoort was forbidden to
approach. The cause of all this is now explained. A dreadful
mutiny had been formed when the brig left the coast of Africa,
which was discovered soon after she sailed from St. Thomas. Of
this conspiracy, Philip Spencer, a young man of twenty years of
age, son of the Hon. John C. Spencer, Secretary of War, was the
ringleader. The plan was to murder the captain and lieutenant,
convert the brig into a pirate, and come to the American coast for
the purpose of intercepting and robbing the packets, which were
supposed to have large quantities of specie on board. The crew
of the vessel consisted of about seventy- five young men from the
1 64 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 62.
naval schools, who had been sent out to complete their education.
The muthiy was disclosed by one of the conspirators, when
measures were immediately taken for its suppression. Two-thirds
of the crew were engaged in the plot ; but Captain McKenzie
appears to have acted with the utmost decision and bravery. The
mutineers were confined under hatches, a court-martial was held,
and young Spencer, with two of his confederates, were hungaf ^/le
yaj'd-arm ; the rest of the mutineers put in irons, in which situation
they were brought home, and have been transferred to the " North
Carolina."
A messenger was sent to Washington, and nothing was allowed
to transpire until the return of the mail from that place. The im-
minent danger of the captain and lieutenant, with so large a propor-
tion of the crew in a state of insubordination, no doubt rendered this
dreadful and summary exercise of power unavoidable, as an example
and measure of safety. If it should so appear (as there seems to
be no doubt), public opinion will support, and the government will
approve, the conduct of Captain McKenzie. But if it should
prove otherwise, he will have assumed an awful responsibility, and
his reckoning with the distinguished individual, the father of the
principal sufferer, will be fearful, indeed.
Captain Slidell McKenzie is a brav^e, gallant young officer, son of
my old friend Mr. John Slidell, of this city, brother of John and
Thomas Slidell, of New Orleans, the latter of whom is husband to
Fanny Callender. Young Spencer was a worthless fellow, who
would have been cashiered for some misdemeanour on a former
cruise but from feelings of delicacy for the respectable character
and high station of his father, whose severe affliction is entitled to
the deepest sympathy.
December 19. — Further particulars of the mutiny and execution
on board the brig " Somers " are published this morning, not differing
importantly from yesterday's statement. The plot was disclosed to
Captain McKenzie by Wales, the purser's steward, on the 29th of
November, and the three ringleaders executed on the ist of
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 65
December. The conduct of Wales is highly commended by the
captain and lieutenant. He pretended to give into the plot until
he obtained all the plans of the conspirators, when, at a risk of his
life, he made the disclosure. The two men who shared the misera-
ble fate of Spencer w6re Samuel Cromwell, boatswain's mate, and
Elisha Small, seaman. Twelve men and boys are now confined in
irons on board the " North Carolina," awaiting the action of the navy
department. The public, with the exception of the editor of the
" Herald," appear to approve the captain's conduct.
December 21. — A statement is published in the
The Mutiny. " Washington Madisonian," signed S., which will occasion
some revulsion in the public mind in relation to the
melancholy tragedy on board the brig "Somers." This statement,
which the author asserts is " not made to excite prejudice, but to
repel the attempt to create it, and to enable the American people
to see what mighty principles are involved in this unheard-of pro-
ceeding," is evidently written by Mr. Spencer, the Secretary of
War. It is one of those strong, forcible documents for which he is
celebrated ; fierce in style, rigid in argument, and certainly presents
the subject of his son's execution in a light somewhat different from
that in which it was received at first. If there exists any reasona-
ble doubt of the absolute necessity for this awful exercise of power,
Captain McKenzie may wish sincerely that he never had been born
to meet such a responsibility. A more dangerous opponent than
John C. Spencer could not be found in the United States ; stern,
uncompromising, obstinate in temper, determined and energetic in
action, and with talents equal to any effort which his feelings may
prompt, or his duty may call him to execute. It is officially
announced that the navy department is not in possession of infor-
mation sufficient to form a statement for the public eye. This
would appear unfavourable to Captain JNIcKenzie. If his of^cial
report were not so clear as to leave " no hook on which to hang a
doubt," the doubt, the hesitation alone would be fatal to him. If
the cabinet should take part with the bereaved parent, who is one
1 66 THE DIARY OF riilLlP HONE. [/Etat.62.
of its prominent members, in denying the existence of the necessity
for the execution of the ringleaders of the mutiny, and if the laws
should not support the measure, Captain McKenzie is ruined past
redemption.
December 24. — The following party, most of whom were mem-
bers of the Hone Club, dined with me to-day, and passed a merry
Christmas eve ; we sat honestly until twelve o'clock, and ate and
drank, and laughed and talked, as if the times were as good as
ever : R. M. Blatchford, Moses H. Grinnell, John Ward, William G.
Ward, Simeon Draper, Jr., Samuel Jaudon, J. W. Webb, Edward
Curtis, James fjowen. Dr. J. W. Francis, Robert B. Minturn.
December 28. — I dined at Judge Pendleton's. The party
consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Schermerhorn, Mr. and Mrs. Ham-
mersley, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Jones, Mr. and Mrs. James J.
Jones, Mr. Ray, Mr. Boreel, Maturin Livingston, James Thom-
son, and 1\ H.
December 29. — Great interest is excited by the
,^^^-J proceedings of the court of inquiry, now sitting at the
navy yard, on the affair of the " Somers." The first testi-
mony was the production of the report sent on to the navy depart-
ment by Captain McKenzie, immediately after his arrival in New
York ; and well would it have been for him if it had never seen the
light. " Oh that mine enemy should write a book ! " was the vin-
dictive exclamation of some such person as the Secretary of War.
I have learned by experience and observation, that nine-tenths of all
the scrapes men get into are occasioned by writing or saying /oo
much. Here is a document ten times longer than was necessary,
written without consultation with any judicious fiiend, who, from
not being immediately interested in the event, would have been
better able to look at the consequences, full of public details of
trifling circumstances and irrelevant conversation, and interspersed
with sage reflections with which the public and the navy department
had no more to do than with the cogitation of the Emperor of
China on the invasion of the ''outside barbarians," or the specula-
1842.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 167
tions of London stockbrokers on the fall of American securities. He
has aimed to be very impartial, and has conceded so much that the
confidence of his friends and the public, who would fain be on his
side, is shaken in the belief of the imperative necessity of the dread-
ful example which he felt himself called upon to make.
Not only the character of Captain McKenzie, but that of the
flag under which he sails and of the nation which he serves, is
deeply concerned in his making out a complete justification. There
is no middle ground in this business ; it was altogether right, or
altogether wrong. And here, instead of a concise, manly statement
of his proceeding on the discovery of the mutiny, the necessity
which, in his judgment, existed for his summary exercise of povver,
and his regret that he had been called upon to adopt measures so
painful to his feelings, we have a long rigmarole story about private
letters discovered on the person of young Spencer, orders to blow
out the brains of " refractory men," religious ceremonies, cheers for
the American flag, and conversations with the accused, in one of
which he said to Spencer that ^' he hung him, because if he took him
to the United States he would escape punishment, for everybody
got clear who had money and friends," — a national reproach, which,
even allowing it to be true, came with a bad grace from an officer
of the American navy.
He makes an apology, it is true, for this indiscreet expression.
But, in the name of all that is wonderful, why should he stigmatize
himself by relating such a conversation in a document which will be
carried on the wings of the wind to the most distant part of the
earth? The truth is, there is much to be seen, in this statement, of
the pride of authorship. Captain McKenzie, when he was Alexan-
der Slidell, wrote a clever book called " A Year in Spain," which
gave him some reputation as an author, and he disdained to take
advice in regard either to the matter or the manner of the narrative.
Even in this particular it is a failure ; it will add nothing to his
literary renown.
The oral testimony of his officers thus far is greatly in his favour,
l68 THE DIARY OK PHILIP HONE. f^Etat. 62.
and I trust he will stand justified before God and his country, not-
withstanding his ill-judged report ; but, as the Unitarian divine said
of St. Thomas's exclamation, '^ My Lord and my God," I wish he
had not said it. There is abundant testimony of the utter depravity
of young Spencer ; but doubts are freely expressed by many reflect-
ing people of the guilt of Cromwell and Small, and of the sufficiency
of the evidence on which they were condemned.
1843] THE DIAIIY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 69
1843.
JANUARY 2. — Yesterday was the regular New Year's Day ; but
being Sunday, it was only observed by the moral and relig-
ious sentiments which this occasion never fails to inspire, and
which were inculcated by the Christian zeal and forcible eloquence
of our clergymen. My excellent pastor, Dr. Wainwright, gave us
on this occasion, as he did on Christmas Day, an exceedingly
interesting sermon, which it is to be hoped some two or three of
his congregation may remember to their own edification and the
honour of the reverend orator, during the year 1843.
The festivities of the New Year were reser\'ed for to-day, and
there appeared to be no falling off from the time-honoured observ-
ances of our city. There were two snow-storms in the course of
the morning, neither of which continued long enough to prevent the
visiting, and, as the sleighing was excellent, all but the horses en-
joyed it exceedingly. I started in a sleigh at twelve o'clock, and
made forty odd visits, which occupied me until five. The ladies
smiled and looked beautiful, the fires sparkled and looked warm,
the furniture shone and looked comfortable, the whiskey-toddy
smoked and looked strong, and everything was gay as it used to be
in good times. The heads of the people were /// to-day, however
certain it may be that many of them will be bowed down by mis-
fortune, and some laid low, before another year calls them to similar
festivities.
The old year was marked by public calamity and individual
misfortune, the former relieved only by the successful termination
of the negotiations with England, and the latter by abundant har-
vests and the consequent low prices of provisions ; but business is
unprofitable, confidence impaired, stocks and other personal prop-
erty of little value, taxes nearly doubled, rents reduced, tenants
I/O THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 63.
running away, debts wiped out by the bankrupt law, and Loco-
focoism triumphant. So ends the year 1842, and so begins the
year 1843. In all these particulars the latter will not only
" tread in the steps of its predecessor," but tread so much harder
on the " road to ruin " as to leave no remembrance of its foot-
steps; or I am a false prophet, that's all. Amongst the other
calamities which mark the adv'cnt of the New Year, Governor
Seward retires from office, and leaves Governor Bouck to fill his
place — if he can.
January 3. — The survivors of the Hone Club had a pleasant
dinner to-day, at Moses H. Grinnell's. The party consisted of the
following old members : Grinnell, Blatchford, John Ward, William
G. Ward, Draper, Prescott Hall, and myself ; besides whom there
were Robert B. Minturn, Edward Curtis, James Thomson, James
W. Otis, Ogden Hammond, James W. Webb, M. Brigham, and
James Bowen.
January 5. — I went over this morning to the navy
Court of In- i in ••^•/-^ i t-> i-
yard, and after visitmg Commodore Berry, and inspect-
ing, greatly to my satisfaction, the library and museum
of the navy lyceum, I attended for two or three hours the court
of inquiry on board of the " North Carolina." The cabin was
filled with spectators and newspaper reporters, for the examination
is conducted by the greatest publicity. I was received with flatter-
ing respect by the president and members of the court, who in-
vited me to a seat at their table. The i3roceedings are character-
ized by the utmost dignity and decorum. The witnesses examined
to-day were Mr. Leycock, the surgeon, and Mr. Rodgers, senior
midshipman ; the latter a fine, sturdy fellow, a sailor out and out.
I was amused by his seamanlike reply of " Aye, aye, sir," on
two occasions when requested by the judge advocate and com-
modore to raise his voice. The witnesses are made to give a nar-
rative, in their own words, of the events attending the mutiny and
execution on board the '-'Somers," after which questions are put to
them in writing by Commander McKenzie, and orally by the judge
1843J THE DLVRV OF PHILIP HONE. 17I
advocate. Their answers are prompt and manly. The evidence
looks well for the commander. He looks careworn and anxious, as
well he may. God send him a safe deliverance !
January 24. — I was greatly surprised and pleased
«' Kent s Com. ^^ jeam from the gifted and amiable ex-chancellor of
mentancs." *-"
the continued sales and large profits afforded by this
highly popular work. Ten thousand copies have been printed in
four editions, which are sold by him at $9 a copy. His profits ever
since the work came out have been $5,000 a year, — double the
amount of the chancellor's salary, — and from the undiminished
demand for the work from all parts of the United States, as well
as from England, where it is established as a text-book, the learned
author does not apprehend any diminution of the profits of the sale
for twenty years to come. I doubt if any American book has ever
produced so much money. It gives the author a noble and most
honourable independence for life ; and that God may grant that life
to be extended to its utmost term of usefulness, and to the full
measure of his family's desire, is my most sincere and fervent
prayer. I venerate him as a father, while I love him as a brother ;
and the reverence I feel for him as an instructor is sanctified by
my affection for him as a friend. The hour I pass in the twilight
of every Sunday evening with Chancellor Kent and his amiable
family (including the "wise young judge" from next door, and his
wife) afford me the highest gratification, and I come away delighted
with my visit as a young lover from the society and the smiles
of his mistress.
January 27. — The English papers do abuse us
. ationa shamefully for swindling, repudiation, cheating, and
other trifling departures from rectitude, which abuse is
all the harder to be borne from the difficulty we have in many of
the cases of contradicting the truth of the charges. A man may
know his wife to be a , but if he has the spirit of a man he will
not allow others to call her so. We are not the less disposed to
resent an injurious epithet from the consciousness of meriting it ;
\'J2 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 63.
but, on the contrary, our revenge is stimulated in proportion as we
are deprived of the proud satisfaction of condemning a charge which
we know to be false. John Bull, smarting under the loss of his
money, charges the whole of ns, indiscriminately, as a nation of
swindlers ; and such of us as are honest, besides defending our own
characters, are bound, by a sort of family pride, to a much more
difficult task, that of palliating the rascality of our brethren. Penn-
sylvania, Mississippi, Ohio, Indiana, and IlHnois hav^e more to
answer for at home than abroad. It is as much as we in New York
and hereabouts can do to keep on our legs, without having the
burden to carry of the disgrace of the dishonest part of the family.
February i. — This is the quarter-day of the ruin of landlords.
Rents are fifty per cent, lower and taxes fifty per cent, higher ;
nearly the whole burthen of taxes falls upon real estate, for it is the
only tangible property. The pressure is severe enough upon the
owners of houses and stores who are out of debt ; but if the prop-
erty is mortgaged, and the seven per cent, interest must be regu-
larly paid, the Lord help the owners ! Several of my tenants are
unable to pay the rent of last year ; all the good ones are going
away, and the reduction of rent in the few cases where they remain
is ruinous. Clinton Hotel, the lease of which to Mr. Hodges, at
$4,500 per annum, expires on the first of May, is rented to the
same person for another year at $2,500 ; but this year must deter-
mine the fate of New York ; the patient is in extremity, and must
die or be relieved before another comes round.
Fehruaky 14. — The noble old Commodore Isaac
e.i to oin- Y{xi\\ the Hull of the Constifntion, died yesterday
niodore Hull. ' . "^ J J J
morning, in Philadelphia, where he has resided since
his return from the cruise in the " Ohio." He was the oldest officer
in the navy, with the exception of Barron and Stewart. lie it was
that ''plucked up drowning honour by the locks" on the ocean at
the same moment that his namesake on the land was shoving it
under. Hull's capture at Detroit, and Hull's capture of the
"Guerriere," stood side by side in the chronicles of the day, and
1843] THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. 1/3
the exultations of John Bull and Brother Jonathan were equally
restrained by the one and the other.
February 21. — I am grieved to record the decease
ea o r. ^^ Peter Augustus Jay. Few more learned and accom-
Jay. ^ •' ^
plished men, and none more upright and honourable,
are to be found in this city than Mr. Jay, the son of the illustrious
John Jay, the purest of patriots and the wisest of statesmen. Mr.
Jay inherited a large share of those noble qualities which distin-
guished his sire. He was a gentleman of the old school ; he
adorned society by the example of his deportment and manners ;
by his strict integrity he rebuked the corruption of the times, and
by his religious principles he set an example to his professional
brethren. I was associated with Mr. Jay at the board of trustees
of Columbia College, of which he was president, and as a vestry-
man of Trinity, of which he recently became a member. The
deceased was sixty- seven years of age.
February 23. — There is an absolute plethora of
Specie. specie in this country ; no more certain indication of
the prostration of commerce and disordered state
of trade. The banks in New York have two dollars in gold and
silver for every dollar in circulation, lying like an ingot in the vaults,
producing nothing and unable to get into circulation. What must
be said by the croakers about an occasional scarcity of specie
(which shows that something good is doing), when they read the
following list of consignees by the steamer "Acadia" ! She brings
out 200,000 pounds sterling, and the "Great Western" will have
300,000 pounds, — two millions and a half of dollars ; I wonder if
Mr. Benton has a purse large enough to contain all this humbug
personification of national prosperity; 850 pounds to Charles Hill;
1,700 pounds to George Pratt; 300 pounds to Joseph Shaw; 413
pounds to Heard & Welsh; 10,000 pounds to Sands, Fox, & Co. ;
1,250 pounds to T. W. Ward; 20,000 pounds to J. E. Thayer &
Bro. ; 7,000 pounds to J. Dixon & Son; 3,000 pounds to Gossler
& Co.; 20,000 pounds to order; 2,200 pounds to J. Shillaber;
1/4 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 63.
2,000 pounds t:) J. & H. Thayer & Co. ; 5,280 pounds to Boor-
man, Johnston, & Co.; 100,000 pounds to Bro\v.n Bros. & Co.;
300 ])ounds to De Rham & Moore ; 1,000 pounds to C. H. Upham
& Co. ; 20,000 dollars to T. Patten ; and several smaller sums.
Fep.ruary 25. — The court-martial at Brooklyn, on the
^c en/.it s ^^ Somers " case, drags along its tedious length so slowly,
and there is such an everlasting sameness in the exam-
ination, that the public here appears to have lost all interest in the
matter, and you scarcely hear an inquiry made as to its progress,
or the probability of its termination. Not so with our kind, officious
brethren in the "mother country." One universal burst of vitu-
peration comes from the pack of hireling papers published in Lon-
don; not only is Commander McKenzie saluted with the epithets
of " murderer," *' coward," '' fool," "bully," and all others which
may be supposed to be most offensive to a gentleman and an offi-
cer, but the navy is vilified, the civil institutions of the country
derided, and the country itself insulted by the blackguards of the
British press, and their coadjutors and supporters here. The edi-
tor of the infamous " Herald " blazons these offensive articles in the
public view with evident satisfaction, and makes their publication
the ground of insulting remarks to the court. When the court's
actions were subject to the supervision of the American people only,
it was not of much consequence how the proceedings were con-
ducted ; but now that they come under the notice of the " British
press ; " that the Bennetts of St. Paul's churchyard have honoured
the country by their animadversions, and established a tribunal in
the slums of St. Giles for the trial of the triers, — it behooves them
to be circumspect. They must blacken the character of McKenzie
if they wish to preserve their own, and hang him if they would es-
cape the gibbet themselves. So says Mr. Bennett. The vile bribe,
which there is good reason to believe has set him in motion, shines
through every line he now writes on this melancholy subject. The
interest of the protracted affair has given place in the public mind
to new subjects, and the character of an honoured American officer
1S43] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 75
is left to be worried and mangled by as filthy a cur as ever barked
in foreign accents at the bidding of a corrupt employer.
I am not as clear as I could wish to be in my opinion of the
absolute necessity of the dreadful act of discipline resorted to by
McKenzie, and for his sake, as well as for the sake of national
justice, I sometimes think I should like to have evidence of some
clearly overt act of mutiny ; but I do most entirely believe that he
proceeded in his extremity with good motives, in a full conviction
of the existence of the mutiny, and a persuasion that the execution
was necessary for the safety of his vessel and the preservation of
his men. Be this, however, as it may, I am indignant that this
"scum of Britons" should avail themselves of this distressing
occurrence to cast the contents of their "stink pots" upon my
country, and that a wretch should be found among us base enough
to ladle them out to the last loathsome drop. But, abov^e all, am I
humiliated that my fellow-citizens should give to this infamous
journal a circulation greater (if the mendacious sheet may in
any sort be believed) than that of any other daily newspaper
in the country.
March 6. — The House of Representatives and the
journmen ggj-^^j-g adjoumcd on Saturday : so there is an end of the
ot Congress. -' •' '
Congress which floated into power on the great Har-
rison wave of 1840, — the people's Congress, from which so much
was expected, but which, by untoward circumstances, by treason,
misplaced confidence, and unchastened ambition has been thwarted
and checkmated at every move ; which has done little to redeem
its pledges, and of that little has undone much. Like a goodly
vessel, the pilot lost overboard, the rudder broken, and several of
the crew in a state of mutiny, but with timbers sound, chart accurate,
and a voyage planned which could not fail to prove profitable to
the owners, she was soon cast adrift, made no headway, and has at
last returned into port to refit, and, if possible, to recommence her
voyage under better officers and crew. Much of this, however,
will depend upon the owners, and they are not much to be relied
176 THE DIARY OF I'lllLIP HONE, [/Etat. 63.
upon. The closing scene in the House of Representatives was
marked by less asperity of feeling than might have been expected,
from the previous squabbles of the members. They seemed to be
afraid to trust themselves, and so, like wise men, they opened the
galleries and laid themselves under petticoat government.
March 9. — I dined with Mr. William B. Astor, in his noble
mansion in Lafayette place, one of the finest houses in the city.
The party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Schermerhorn, Mr. and
Mrs. Philip Van Rensselaer, General Tallmadge, Captain and Mrs.
Bolton (Mary Lynch formerly), ISIr. and Miss Ward, Mr. Havers,
Dutch charge ; Messrs. A\'est, Blunt, Brevoort, etc.
March 10. — I witnessed yesterday the launch of
auneio ,c ^^^ " Livcrpool," a noble ship of one thousand one
" Liverpool. ' ^ '■
hundred and fifty tons, built for the new Liverpool line
of WoodhuU & Minturn. She was built by Bell & Brown, and
launched from their extensive dock-yard, foot of Houston street.
East river. It was a beautiful exhibition. She is the largest packet-
ship yet built ; her figure-head is a fine fuUdength figure of Jenkin-
son, late Earl of Liverpool, in his peer's robes, taken from an
accurate likeness of that distinguished British minister. What must
John Bull think of these superb specimens of Yankee skill and
enterprise, arriving in his ports one after the other, and each more
admirable than all that went before it? If we run in debt in some
States of the Union more than we can pay, we have something to
show for it by sea and by land, and, like Dickens's raven, we say,
" Never die yet."
March 14. — Died last evening, John Rathbone, aged ninety-
two years. His son died a few weeks since. The deceased was
father-indaw of Robert Chesebrough and Samuel B. Ruggles.
The " Madisonian," the organ of President Tyler in
Mr. Webster. Washington, which speaks his language, supports his
doctrine, and registers his edicts, has the following semi-
official notice on Saturday: *OIr. Webster has expressed a wish,
because of certain considerations, well understood between the
iS43-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 7/
President and himself, and which did not in the least affect their
public or private relations, to retire from the cabinet. The Presi-
dent has been pleased to grant him permission to i-etiiw This fact
was publicly stated in the Senate ; and it was declared by a senator
authorized to do so, that Mr. Webster would retire in thirty days
after IMr, Cushing's confirmation."
0 Gog and Magog ! John Tyler pleased to grant Daniel
Webster permission to retire from office ! Daniel W^ebster, the
personification of pure Whig principles, consorting with treachery
and corruption, — a giant shrinking before a dwarf, — Daniel Web-
ster standing, cap in hand, before John Tyler, like a hard-pressed
school-boy, asking from the pedagogue permission to go out!
But it may be that necessity, which, we are told, knows no laws,
and which bows the neck of pride to the footstool of imbecile
power, may have something to do with this humiliation of intel-
lectual greatness.
March 21. — General Harrison was sung into the
Clay Ball. Presidency, and, if Mr. Clay should succeed, it will be
effected in some degree by dancing. The voices of
the people in advance were clearly in favour of the former, and the
latter has established a favourable footing with them. Clay balls
are quite in vogue. They answer a good purpose ; for while they
assist by a little surplus of funds to furnish the ways and means for
electioneering, they enlist the women on our side, and wives and
tlaughters are famous auxiliaries in a righteous cause, and good
supporters of a tottering conscience.
1 went last evening, by invitation, to one of those political jollifi-
cations given by the Clay Club of the third ward, at Washington
Hall. The large ball-room was handsomely decorated and well
filled. There was a fair collection of ladies, some of whom were
fair, dressed generally without much pretension, and of modest
deportment ; but the male division of the dancing part of the com-
pany would hardly have passed muster in former days at the Bath
assemblies, when Beau Nash was the a7'biter elegantiarum, or at
178 THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. [/Etat. 63.
present in the courtly saloons of Almack's. Colored handkerchiefs
and uni)oHshc(l hoots declared the determination of their wearers
not to be laid neck and heels by the mandates of fashion ; and, O
Terpsichore I how they did dance ! Their independent ears
scorned to be controlled by the arbitrary measures of the music,
and their pliant legs described every letter in the alphabet from
A to Z. But it went off very well. 'J'he elderly ladies were pleased
witli their children, the young ones with their beaux, and the beaux
with themselves. The Whig common councilmen and other poli-
ticians gave their august countenance with solemn jocularity to the
affliir, as a piece of political machinery, and the third ward gets
$250 towards the charter election.
March 22. — This interesting trial, which has dragged
Court-marticd. out a tcdious cxistcncc of six wecks, has at last come to
a conclusion. As long as hopes were entertained that
Commander McKenzie might be brought within the power of a
civil court and jury, and the court-martial be thereby nullified,
every artifice was resorted to by Mr. Norris, the judge advocate,
to procrastinate the proceedings, exhaust the patience of the court,
and worry out the accused and his counsel ; but now that the
learned and virtuous decision of Judge Betts has frustrated all hope
of revenge from that quarter, the judge advocate consented to let
the affair come to a close, and forego any longer his emoluments of
ten dollars a day and ten dollars for engrossing every fifteen pages
of his notes of evidence, which have extended, I am told, to five
hundred and fifty pages, nine-tenths of which consist of the merest
repetitions and the dullest technicalities that ever helped to swell
a bill of costs. The examination closed yesterday, and as this was
the day assigned for the reading of McKenzie's defence, the chapel
in the navy yard, where the court has been held, was filled at an
early hour by anxious spectators, including a large number of
ladies. My daughters went over with Mrs. Depeyster, Mrs. John
Hone, and Emily. I also formed one of the delighted audience ;
prejudiced, I acknowledge, in favour of the accused, and anxiously
iS43] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 79
desirous that a clear case of justification might be made out, but
never until now so fully and thoroughly satisfied that his inno-
cence has been established and the character of the navy re-
deemed.
The defence, which had been prepared by Mr. George Griffin,
was read by that gentleman ; the reading occupied about an hour
and a half. Never was an audience more attentive, and, from all
the indications I observed, never was there one better prepared for
a verdict of complete and honourable acquittal, — a result of which
I think there cannot be a shadow of doubt. Mr. Griffin has done
himself immortal honour in this able document. Many new and
striking points were presented, circumstances hitherto doubtful
were elucidated, the most convincing and appropriate authorities
produced ; and occasionally scope was found for a display of the
most thrilling eloquence, while throughout the whole defence the
utmost taste and soundest discretion prevailed. There were no vin-
dictive charges against the prosecution, no angry recrimination, no
seeking after technical or legal advantages, but a straightforward
appeal to the judgment and patriotism of the court, worthy of it.i
dignity, the character of the accused, and the professional reputa-
tion of the learned advocate.
I cannot refrain from recording here the following thrilling and
graphic picture, drawn toward the close of the address, of the case
as it might now have stood if a different line of conduct had been
pursued under the awful circumstances in which Captain McKenzie
found himself placed. " To enable the court the better to judge
of the necessity of the execution, permit me to bring the case to
another test. I suppose that the execution had not taken place ;
that the unconfined malcontents had risen and released the prison-
ers ; that the mutiny had triumphed, and the brig been turned into
a piratical cruiser ; that the faithful officers and members of the
crew had been all massacred, except the commander alone ; that,
from a refinement in cruelty, the pirates had spared his wretched
life, and sent him on shore that he might be forced to wend home
l8o ^lllE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Ktat. 63.
his solitary way, and become himself the disgraced narrator of
what would then have been, indeed, ' the tragedy of the " Somers." '
With what a burst of indignation would the country have received
his narrative ! How would the American press, with its thousand
tongues, have overwhelmed him with exclamations and interroga-
tions like these: 'You were seasonably urged, by the unanimous
voice of your trusty officers, to save their lives, the lives of your
faithful seamen, and the honour of your country, by the timely exe-
cution of these malefactors, who deserved to (be, and whose imme-
diate death was imperiously demanded by the exigencies of the
case. Why did you not heed the counsel, the earnest counsel of
your associates in authority, your constitutional advisers, with whose
opinion your own, too, concurred? You did not, because you dared
not. You faltered in the path of known and acknowledged duty,
because you wanted moral courage to tread it. On you, in the
judgment of conscience, devolves the responsibility of those mur-
ders, which you might and ought to have prevented ; on you re-
coils the disgrace of that flag which never sustained a blot until it
was committed to your charge.' To finish the picture, permit me
to fill up another part of the canvas. I suppose that the
' Somers,' now turned pirate, while cruising off our coast had
been permitted by Heaven, in an evil hour, to capture some vessel
plying between this port and Europe, freighted with the talent and
beauty of the land. The men are all murdered, and the females,
including perhaps the new-made wife, and maidens just blooming
into womanhood, are forced to become the brides of pirates. A
universal shriek of agony bursts from the American people through-
out their vast domains, and the wailing is echoed back from the
whole civilized world ; antl where then could the commander of
the * Somers ' have hidden his head, branded as it would have
been by a mark of infamy as indelible as that stamped on the fore-
head of Cain? "
The court-martial will require two or three days to read the min-
utes of evi lence, and close up their work. Their decision will
I843-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. l8l
then be sent to Washington, until which time the anxious public
must remain in ignorance of these interesting proceedings.
March 30. — The finest pair of capons I ever saw formed the
ostensible motive for a very agreeable dinner to-day at Prescott
Hall's. The guests were Robert B. Minturn, Henry Grinnell, R.
M. Blatchford, James Thomson, Gerard Coster, Mr. Dutilh, Mr.
Post, and myself.
March 31. — A similar call to that of yesterday, in the form of
a fine mess of trout, brought together Moses H. Grinnell, R. M.
Blatchford, Ogden Hoffman, Prescott Hall, Simeon Draper, and
myself, at a cosey dinner at Robert B. Minturn's.
April 10. — The agitation of the public mind in
ava our - j.g|^|.|Qj-^ |.q ^|-^g ^^.[^1 ^f Commauder McKenzie is put to
martial. ^
rest by tlie promulgation of the decision of the court-
martial. The character of the navy is sustained and the majesty
of the laws vindicated by the full and honourable acquittal of the
accused from all the charges brought against him. This verdict is
approved and confirmed by the President of the United States, and
the gallant officer who has been the subject of those investigations
is relieved from the anxiety which his unpleasant situation has
caused him, except the painful reflection arising from the necessary
act of severe discipline which he was called upon to perform by
the circumstances in which he was unfortunately placed. It re-
mains now to be seen whether the vindictive feelings of his
enemies can find further means of annoyance and persecution.
April 12. — Tout perdu, saiif riionneiir. Francis
The Election, the First, whcii beaten by the imperial Loco-focos at
Pavia, and a prisoner in the power of his inexorable
enemy, the Emperor, Charles the Fifth, had a right to console him-
self by the saving clause in this celebrated and often-quoted pas-
sage in his letters to his mother. But the New York Whigs, who
have /(^v?/// everything, have not, I fear, equal reason to claim the
merit of having sauve even their honour. Certain it is that in the
election yesterday, though deficient in odd tricks, they have revoked
l82 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 63.
shamefully, and lost the game, — double, single, and the rubber.
Morris is elected mayor by six thousand majority, and the Loco-
focos have carried twelve aldermen and fourteen assistants out of
seventeen in each board. The first ward gives Mr. Smith only
one hundred and forty majority, and has elected a Loco-foco assist-
ant by a division among the Whigs. The majority even in the
great fifteenth (my ward) is reduced to six hundred. This was
occasioned by a si)lit on the collector ; but my man, R. C. Worten-
dyke, got in by a very small majority. The eleventh gives Morris
the unheard-of majority of thirteen hundred. There has never
been an election in which frauds have been so openly and shame-
fully practised. Under the present system no restraint nor check
upon illegal voting can ever be rendered available. I am thor-
oughly convinced that it is impossible for the country to sustain
itself against the desolating effect of universal suffrage. Public
virtue is the only foundation of a republican form of government,
and that is utterly swejU away. The edifice must fall ; what comes
next? And through what scenes of blood and violence are we
to pass before we settle down into the death-like paralysis of des-
potic power? The old-fashioned honest men of both parties (for
there are honest men in both) have nothing to say in the matter.
The power is in the hands of a rabble, vile and savage as the
canaille of the Faubourg St. Antoine at the commencement of
the French Revolution ; and in the number of red-flannel-shirt
and turned- up-trousers men are thousands ready to cry " A la
lantcnie ' '' and Marats, Robespierres, and T.e Gendres ready at
hand to lead them on to works of blood and violence when the
time shall come.
April 25. — I landed from Long Island just in time
s niron ^^^^^^ engagement to dine with Moses H. Grin-
Dinner. * o
nell and Robert B. Minturn on board their splendid
ship the "Ashburton." Our party consisted of Messrs. (rriimell,
Minturn, Golden, Ogden Hoffman, James Thomson, Gaptain
Rogers, (iibbes, Draper, Bowdoin, Mr. Barnard of Albany, John
1S43] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 83
Stevens^ James W. Otis, James W. Webb, Charles King, Nicholas
Low, Charles L. Livingston, Captain Huddleston, and myself.
May II. — A letter is published, signed by three hun-
omman tr ^^^^^^ merchants and others of our most respectable citi-
zens, addressed to Commander Alexander S. McKenzie,
expressing their approval of his conduct in the unhappy affair of
the mutiny on board the " Somers," and their congratulations on
his honourable acquittal by the court of inquiry and court-martial.
His answer to this high compliment is much better written, and in
better taste, than his unfortunate statement made to the govern-
ment on his arrival. If he had said no more then, and said it as
well, his case would have stood better before his fellow-citizens ;
particularly that portion of his friends who lament the necessity,
while they justify the motives, of the dreadful act of discipline
which he was called upon to perform. The merchants have raised
a sum of money by subscription to pay the lawyers' fees and other
charges attending the trials ; but this foct is delicately kept out of
view in the correspondence.
May 23. — Died this morning, at his seat in Westchester
County, iMr. Peter Lorillard, in the eightieth year of his age. He
was last of the three brothers of that name, himself the eldest, —
Peter, George, and Jacob, — all rich men ; he the richest. He
was a tobacconist, and his memory will be preserved in the annals
of New York by the celebrity of " Lorillard's Snuff and Tobacco."
He led people by the nose for the best part of a century, and
made his enormous fortune by giving them that to chew which they
could not swallow.
May 24. — Mr. \Vebster, accompanied by some of
Mr Webster, the Lc Roys, wcut down on Long Island fishing yes-
terday. His object, I suppose, is to get away from
the crowd who press upon him here, and to prepare his thoughts
in retirement and quiet for the address which he i^ to deliver next
month on the occasion of the celebration of the completion of the
Bunker Hill Monument, on which occasion President Tyler, the
1 84 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 63.
heads of departments, and many other distinguished characters are
expected to be present. Mr. Tyler's office-holders must hold
themselves in readiness to receive him with all due reverence on
his transit through New York, for woe be to him whose stubborn
knee and ungrateful neck refuse to do proper homage to the mas-
ter whose livery they wear !
Mav 30. — Died on Sunday evening, at his residence,
We^bsJr ""^^ -^^^^ Haven, Conn., Noah Webster, LL.D., in the
eighty-fifth year of his age. He was lawyer, school-
master, grammarian, and lexicographer ; a man of great learning,
deep research, and laborious investigation ; a patriot of the Revo-
lution, in which he took part as a volunteer while yet a junior
student in Yale College ; a stiff Federalist and Washingtonian, a
cause which he supported by his writings with great ability in his
younger days, and in which good, old-fashioned faith he was con-
tent to die. As an author, he was best known by his works on
elementary education, and his fame will rest principally on " Web-
ster's Spelling-Book " and " Webster's Dictionary."
June 8. — In the packet " George Washington," which sailed
yesterday for Liverpool, went passengers Thurlow Weed and Mr.
Schoolcraft, of Albany. The former is the able and influential
editor of the '' Albany Evening Journal," a firm supporter of the
Whig cause ; somewhat of a radical, however, and in AVhig times
Governor Seward's conscience-keeper.
June 12. — The accidental President, attended by
'^/"Z" . the Secretary of the Treasury, the Postmaster-General,
and young Mr. Tyler, made a triumphal entry into the
good city of New York this 12th day of June, on his way to Boston,
where he is to be present at the great Bunker Hill jubilee and the
delivery of Mr. Webster's oration, on the 1 7th. Great preparations
were made for this auspicious occasion by the civil and military
authorities. I was honoured by an invitation from the joint com-
mittee of the corporation.
But " my arrangements would not permit." I did ;io/ go, be-
1843-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 85
cause I did not choose to pay homage to the man who has deceived
his friends, and betrayed those who spent time and money, and
comfort and hmgs, to place him where he is. Now, when old
Jackson visited New York, I cheerfully helped to swell the loud
hurrahs in honour of the President of the United States. We
were opposed in politics, and had a right to be. I tried to keep
him out, and had no right to expect any favour from him ; and,
moreover, with all his tyrannical notions of government, and refer-
ence of public matters to private considerations, there was a man-
liness of character about the old warrior which commanded respect.
But this man has played false to his friends, and is of no use to
any but his enemies ; and well may Mayor Morris, and Alderman
Purdy, and the rest of the crew, fire the guns, and ring the bells,
and make speeches to him, and tender him the tenderest welcome,
for in truth he is the best friend their party ever had.
June 19. — The papers are filled with accounts
un e. 1 ^^ ^j^^ great Bunker Hill celebration, on Saturday.
Celebration. ° ' -^
The heavens, and the earth, and the works of man all
conspired to render the affair equal in all respects to the anticipa-
tions of those who planned and executed it. The storm of the
preceding day (that on which the President of the United States
made his entree into Boston) cleared away during the preced-
ing night ; the sun rose bright on Saturday, and the lofty summit
of the monument erected on the sacred spot (the completion of
which was the object of the jubilee) pierced the unclouded canopy
of a New England sky.
The procession was formed on Boston Common. The military
display consisted of troops from all parts of New England, and a
beautiful corps of National Guards from New York, who went on
as an escort to a body of two or three hundred Yankees, residents
of this city, who made (as they say themselves) a splendid appear-
ance ; and, if anybody should be disposed to gainsay it, I will refer
him to Moses H. Grinnell. Then there was the President of the
United States, John Tyler, and Robert Tyler. There was enough
l86 THE DIARY OF rillTJP HONE. [.Tltat. 63.
of " Tyler too," but iinh;i})i)ily no " Tippecanoe ; " Mr. Ui)ohur,
Secretary of the Navy ; Mr. Spencer, Secretary of the Treasury ;
Mr. Porter, Secretary of War ; Mr. Legart^, Attorney-General ; and
Mr. Wicklifife, Postmaster-General ; and then there was Mr. Brim-
?ncr, Mayor of Boston, oi'crfloiuing with patriotism ; and Mr.
Q/nncv, whose throat was sore with huzzaing on the great occasion ;
and Mr. Gushing, whose diplomatic fame is about to be emblaz-
oned in china. And there was the immortal Dan, the orator of
the day, who added the brightest and the greenest leaf to the
chai)let which adorns his brow, by the oration in which he invested
with the /o;;^a virihs the monument, the offsj^ring of New England
patriotism, in strains of elotiuence bright and impressive as those
in which he announced its birth. And there were one hundred
and seven soldiers of the Revolution, of whom thirteen fought in
the batde of Bunker Hill on the 17th of June, 1775 ; and three,
namely, A. Bigelow, L. Harrington, and P. Johnson, were pres-
ent and mingled in the fight when the first blood of the Revolu-
tion was shed at Lexington in the month of April preceding, when,
in the inrspi ration of prophetic patriotism, Samuel Adams exclaimed
to his brother patriot, John Hancock, " Oh, what a glorious morn-
ing is this ! " x\ll accounts agree that this jubilee was a great
affair, even for Boston, where they certainly do excel in such
matters ; and as for Webster's speech, no praise can do it justice,
no extract can be fiiirly made, no passage can be selected as
unequalled, while all are unsurpassed by others in the same
great oration.
Junk 22. — Such an Irish howl as we had in New
. ^'^.^'\' *'*' " York the other day was gotten up in Boston in honour
iiig in Kostoii. JO X
of their "distinguished visitors," and Mr. Robert Tyler,
son of the President, heir apparent of his office as he thinks, heir
presumptive of his vanity, and heir de facto of his talents, made a
violent inflammatory speech, in which England and her throne,
her government and her constitution, were attacked with all the
fury of big words, sharp epithets, and senseless declamation. The
1843] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 87
son of the Executive of the United States, under the eye of his
father, and ars is understood with his sanction, uniting with rebels
and disorganizers in opposition to their government, and exciting
civil war in a country with whom we are on terms of amity and
friendship, is in the worst possible taste, to say the least of it ; but
there is reason to fear it is something worse than that. I wish
with all my heart that the people of England knew what fools
these men are, — fother and son; it might be the way to turn their
anger into contempt.
June 23. — Died this day. Christian Bergh, aged eighty-one
years, the oldest ship-carpenter in the city, the father of that great
system of naval architecture which has rendered the city of New
York famous throughout the world. He was the first to send on
the great waters the models of packet-ships which have borne the
palm from all other commercial nations ; others have followed in
his career, and of late some may have exceeded him, but Chris-
tian Bergh was the first to raise the character of Yankee packet-
ships to a height which as yet has been unapproached by any
foreign nation.
July 4. — I spent a delightful Fourth of July at Mr. Grinnell's,
at Throgs-neck ; the old club set had been duly warned, and at ten
o'clock Prescott Hall and Gerard Coster called to take me out. On
arriving at Mr. Grinnell's we found our party engaged in pitching
quoits under the noble trees, with a flowing bowl of champagne
punch to prepare them for the labours of the day. The party
consisted of Moses H. Grinnell, Simeon Draper, Jr., Edward
Curtis, George Curtis, J. Prescott Hall, Gerard Coster, R. M.
Blatchford and his son Bloodgood, Ogden Hoffman, John Ward,
and myself. Our dinner was, of course, excellent, and the drink
capital, and we left the quantity of the latter considerably dimin-
ished on coming away.
July 12. — This distinguished artist died at his
AUston^ "" residence, in Cambridge, near Boston, on Saturday
evening last, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He
l88 THE ])IARV OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 63.
was a native of Charleston, South CaroHna ; was educated at Har-
vard University, went early in life to England, where he became a
pupil of BtMijamin West, and an - associate of Reynolds, Fuseli,
and the other eminent painters of the day. He spent several
years in Europe, and returned to this country one of the most
distinguished painters among us. It may not be too high praise
to say the most distinguished. The last twenty- five years of his
life were spent in Cambridge, where he has been employed in his
profession, painting not much, but well. For many years he has
had in hand a great work, " Belshazzar's Feast," which was gotten
up by the liberal subscriptions of some of the rich men of Boston.
Great expectations were formed of this painting, which was
intended as a national specimen of American art ; but the unac-
countable dilatoriness of the artist has left the subscribers nothing
but *' hope deferred " to repay them their advances, and many of
them have died without seeing the picture, as it is feared the artist
has, without finishing it. Money spent does not excite to exertion
so much as money expected. Mr. Allston was equally successful in
his literary as in his artistical labours. His writings are marked
with the same stamp of excellence as his paintings. He published,
many years since, a volume of poetry, which has been well spoken
of, and a novel of great merit, entitled " Monaldi."
Saratoga, July 21. — My first glass of Congress water was
drunk this morning, at six o'clock precisely, bright as the sun
gilding the hill-tops of Vermont, and restorative as Brandreth's
pills. The effect of my morning draught has been found in a
hearty breakfast and good spirits. I am in a mess with James
DePeyster Ogden and Daniel Giraud, — a pleasant arrangement.
The former contributes to my intellectual^ as the latter does to my
mate?'ialy wants ; the superabundance of words at Mr. Ogden's
command makes up for Mr. Giraud's taciturnity ; and as for ideas,
I flatter myself that, without drawing largely upon the last-named
gentleman, the average is tolerable.
Several of my acquaintances are here : Bowne, Haggerty and
1843] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 89
his wife, Carow, James Thomson, a large lot of Le Roys, William
Edgar, John Cox Morris, D. L. Haight and family, Mr. and Mrs.
Richard Haight (by the bye, I have taken a liking to this lady;
she is conceited, but in truth she has much cause for it). The
Haights have with them a young lady who is to accompany them
to Europe, a daughter of Dr. Jarvis, about twenty-one years old,
an uncommonly lovely girl, bright, beautiful, and intelligent.
Then there are Mr. Wetmore, the tall man, Mr. George Griffin,
the taller, and Mr. Sterling, the tallest. The latter is an old Ball-
ston acquaintance ; he might regulate the town clocks without
going up into the belfry. There are also Mr. and Mrs. Arnold of
Rhode Island, — a charming woman she, and a clever fellow he ; and
Mrs. Vandenheuvel and Miss Morris, Mrs. McGregor, Mrs. Hart,
Mrs. Ingersoll of Philadelphia, daughter of Jacob Ridgeway, the
millionnaire who died the other day. Last, but not by any means
least in anything but size, Daniel Lord, Jr., and his wife and daughter.
At Home, July 29. — Mr. Ogden, Mr. Daniel Giraud, and
I, after dining yesterday at the Springs, arrived here early this
morning ; the rapidity of travelling astonishing us who remember
how it worked before the use of steam and the invention of rail-
roads, when a week was consumed in the voyage to Albany, and
it was a day's journey (and a hard one, too) from thence to Sara-
toga. Now we dine at Saratoga, and arrive in New York before
people are stirring.
Another great change has taken place, one which I do not like
as well. The superior enterprise and public spirit of the Trojans
have drawn away travel from Albany. Here have I been up the
river and returned, stopping for a few minutes at the wharf in
Albany, but not even landing, and continuing my voyage to Troy
in going up, and embarking there in returning, turning " a cold
shoulder " upon the good old city of the Van.
Dickens has just published, as one of the chapters
Martin
it."
his hero in New York, and what he saw, and heard.
. of "Martin Chuzzlewit," an account of the arrival of
Chuzzlewit."
I90 Till': DIARV OF rillLIP HONE. [.Ktat. 63.
and <li 1, and suffered, in tliis land of pagans, brutes, and infidels.
I am sorry to see it. Tliinking that Mr. Dickens has been ungen-
erously treated by my countrymen, I have taken his part on most
occasions ; but he has now written an exceedingly foolish libel
upon lis, from whicli he will not ()l)tain credit as an author, nor as
a man of wit, any more than as a man of good taste, good nature,
or good manners. It is difficult to believe that such unmitigated
trash should have (\o\yA from the same pen that drew the portrait
of the immortal Pickwick and his expressive gaiters, the honest
locksmith and his i)retty Dolly of Clerkenwell, and })oor little Nell,
who has caused so many tears to How. Shame, Mr. Dickens ! Con-
sidering all that we did for you, if, as some folks say, I and others
made fools of ourselves to make much of you, you shcjuld not
afford them the triumph of saying, " There ! we told you so ! "
"It serves you right!" and other such consolatory phrases. If
we were fools, you were the cause of it, and should have stood by
us. '' Et til, Bill ic f'
July 31. — This glorious old man, the type of the
"'" """^ Revolution, the apostle of pure, exalted, genuine Re-
publicanism, has been making a tour, for the first time,
to the Falls of Niagara an I Canada ; and to the honour of our
people, and all the people with whom he has come in contact, he
has been received wherever he went with demonstrations of respect.
Committees have waited upon him to usher him into the bosom of
their respective communities ; honours, unbought and spontaneous,
have been tendered, and the eloquent, wise, and patriotic old man
has been petted and caressed by men of all parties, and women
with their hearts in their hands. Not like John Tyler, who has
offices to bestow. He had nothing to return for the homage of
the heart and the incense of sentiment, but the recollection of a
long life spent in the servdce of the country and devoted to the
best interests of the people. There is a redeeming grace about all
these demonstrations, which puts one in good- humour with the
popular impulse. His career of triumph began at Saratoga, con-
1S43] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 19I
tinned across the lines, and has followed his footsteps on his return ;
he cannot be otherwise than gratified ; it is the only reward which
such a man can be ambitious of receiving from his countrymen.
Tribute to AuGUST 4. — Proud am I to record the proceedings
Chancellor of the Ncw Yorlc bar in relation to my venerated
^^^^' friend, Chancellor Kent. Here is another octogena-
rian receiving the spontaneous tributes of his fellow-citizens with-
out distinction of party ; the honours are not so general as those
lately bestowed upon Mr. Adams, but more complimentary even,
as coming from the members of the profession of which he is the
acknowledged ornament, — that class of citizens who are best able
to appreciate his talents and his virtues. The members of the bar
of the State of New York, being " desirous of once more meeting
the venerable and honoured patriarch of the profession, and of
testifying their respect, gratitude, and affection for his profound
learning, eminent services, and private virtues," have tendered to
Chancellor Kent a public dinner. The letter of the committee to
the Chancellor is published, and is signed by the following New
York lawyers : David B. Ogden, John Duer, George Wood, Daniel
Lord, Jr., George Griffin, Beverly Robinson, Benjamin F. Butler,
Charles O'Connor, J. Prescott Hall, Samuel B. Ruggles, F. B.
Cutting, James W. Gerard, B. D. Silliman, George W. Strong,
Thomas L. Ogden, David S. Jones, Samuel A. Foote, Ogden Hoff-
man, James R. Whiting, James T. Brady, David Graham, Jr., A. L.
Robertson, Theodore Sedgwick, John Anthon, Murray Hoffman,
A. Crist, John W. Edmonds, Edward Sanford, J. S. Bosworth, A. L.
Jordan. It is a beautiful letter ; written, I believe, by John Duer.
August 30. — Coming from market yesterday I saw
Licentiousness r . t ^ i • i i , ,
^ ^ „ on one of the corners a placard m lareje letters :
of the Press. ^ ^
" Crim.-con. Reporter, for sale at No. 98 Nassau street.
Newsboys supplied at four dollars per hundred." This is only a
samjDle of the literary food supplied daily to the reading public of
this great city, — something worse, to be sure, than the run of it ;
but the same character prevails in all the transient publications j
192 THE 1)1 ARV Ol' rill LIP HONE. [/Etat.63.
licentiousness, no matter hf)\v disgusting, lies however glaring,
personal abuse without a shadow of foundation, must l)e served
up to gratify the taste of the people, or the pai)ers will not sell.
And this is the case, too, in a church-going community, which
boasts of its Sunday-schools and temperance societies. The moral
sense of a majority of our people is opposed to this enormous
evil ; but none have the courage to come out and assist in putting
it down. An association for this ol)ject, fearless of the attacks of
profligate editors and the ridicule of their supporters, would do
more good at this time than all the societies for sending mission-
aries among the Tartars and Scythians, or the total- abstinence men,
who are working so hard in their vocation.
Septemp.er 2. — Bennett, the editor of the " Her-
ejece o ald,"is ou a tour throusrh Crreat Britain, whence he
O'Connell. ' ° '
furnishes lies and scandal for the infamous paper which
has contributed so much to corrupt the morals and degrade the
taste of the people of New York. If the following article, wdiich
is published to-day in the " Courier and Enquirer," be correct
(and it is too circumstantial to admit of its being doubted), it
will require all his impudence to get over the effects of it. Such a
rebuff, from such a quarter, must have been unexpected as it
was mortifying. "The rejected of O'Connell" is not an envia-
ble title. The occurrence took place at a great repeal meeting
held at Dublin, on the 7th of August, at which the "great re-
pealer" was, of course, the most prominent actor. The statement
relating to Mr. Bennett is as follows : " A gentleman, who had for
some time been sitting beside Mr. O'Connell, here addressed Mr.
Steele, and, handing him his card, requested an introduction to
Mr. O'Connell. Mr. Steele accordingly presented the card, and
intimated that Mr. James Gordon Bennett, of New York, was pres-
ent. Mr. O'Connell replied, ' He is a person with whom I can
have nothing to do. He is the editor of the " New York Herald,"
one of the most infamous gazettes ever printed, and I shall have
nothing to say to him.' This was a reception that Mr. Bennett
I843-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 93
did not count upon, and he forthwith proceeded to take his de-
parture. The room being very full, his movement was much
retarded ; but, by the aid of the chairman, he struggled out amid
the groans of the meeting."
SeptEiMBER 9. — I went with my wife and daughter
"h \v^" " ^^^^ morning to visit the last new packet, " The Queen
of the West," lately launched from Brown & Bell's
yard, for Woodhull & Minturn. She is taking in cargo, and will
sail for Liverpool on Saturday next. The improvement in this class
of vessels is so uniform that each one is perfect until the next is
built, when perfection itself becomes a convertible term. Certain
it is that "The Queen of the West" exceeds all others in strength,
beauty, and convenience, as she does in size. Her burden is
thirteen hundred and fifty tons, and her length, one hundred and
ninety- eight feet. The length of the gentlemen's cabin is sixty feet,
and that of the ladies eighteen feet. The staterooms are double
the size and better arranged than any I have seen. But her supe-
riority is not confined to the cabin accommodations ; those in
other parts of the ship are equally good ; the steerage and fore-
castle, the kitchens, cooking apparatus, and ice-house are admira-
ble. When I went to Liverpool, in 182 1, with my friend Captain
Rogers, in the " James Monroe," we thought our ship a splendid
affair. She was four hundred tons burden, not one- third as large
as " The Queen."
September 16. — The fine new packet-ship, " Queen
Commerce ^^ ^^^^ Wcst," Sailed ou her first voyage this morning.
If John Bull is not "knocked in half" by this speci-
men of Yankee naval magnificence and extravagance he has no
sensibility. He will begin to think by and by that there may be
some truth in the prediction of Monsieur De Tocqueville that
" the Americans were born to rule the seas as the Romans were to
conquer the world."
A state of things exists in the commerce of this country unpre-
cedented, and worthy to be noted down among the notable occur-
194 THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. [.Etat. 63.
rences of the day. This ship has taken out to England a cargo
consisting of articles all (with the exception of the naval stores)
of Northern ]:)roduction, and the " Ashburton," which sailed a day
or two since, has not a Southern article on board. Not a single
bale of cotton in both cargoes. The " Stephen Whitney " has only
one hundred and nineteen bales of cotton. This fact, which may
be the forerunner of important commercial change, is so extraor-
dinary that a list of these three cargoes may prove an interesting
subject of reference. The large shipments of provisions may be
accounted for by Sir Robert Peel's new tariff. Cotton is higher
here than in f^ngland, and rising.
The cargo of the "Ashburton" is 3,650 barrels flour, 249 boxes
cheese, 62 bales hemp, 345 casks oil, 19 packages hams, 176
firkins butter, 97 barrels ashes, 8 boxes machinery, 480 barrels
lard, 39 packages beeswax, 50 barrels beef, 96 packages tallow.
Of the "Stephen Whitney : " 3,200 barrels flour, 1,234 packages
lard, 4 packages beeswax, 1,900 barrels turpentine, 1,137 pack-
ages cheese, 119 bales cotton.
Of the "Queen of the West:" 4,173 barrels flour, 274 barrels
lard, 81 hogsheads and 30 cases merchandise, 2,400 barrels naval
stores, 19 tierces beeswax, 212 tierces rice, 360 boxes cheese.
September 16. — I dined at Mr. Jaudon's with the following
party : Mr. Horsley Palmer, Mr. Webster, George Griswold, Sam-
uel Nicholson, Charles A. Davis, Mr. Stebbins, Mr. Morgan, Mr.
Blatchford, Mr. Edward Curtis, and P. H.
Mr. Webster came in town yesterday, on his way to Washington.
He goes up on Monday to attend the cattle -show at Rochester,
when another great speech will be expected, — agricultural, statistical,
and perhaps a little political. It is announced that ex- President
Van Buren will be there, and Governor Bouck ; but the great Dan
will be the lion of the day, and of the thousands who go to hear
him none wiU be disappointed.
September 21. — An Irish repeal meeting was held at the Tab-
ernacle yesterday : a convention from the different States, to play
1843.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 95
into the hands of O'Connell, and encourage a portion of the sub-
jects of a foreign country with whom we have relations of amity
and good-fellowship to rebel against their government. The whole
number of delegates was something over two hundred. Robert
Tyler came on from Philadelphia at the head of forty delegates,
and was appointed president of the convention. If the disgrace
of this miserable affair rested upon the head of this silly young
man, and his equally silly father, it would be of little consequence.
But every citizen of the United States is concerned in it, and must
participate in the shame brought upon the country by this imperti-
nent interference of the Chief Magistrate and his hopeful son, whom
he is understood to encourage.
Boston, Sept. 30. — They are preparing to make a railroad from
Hartford to Springfield, which is a cheap and easy route. It will
be finished next year, and this twenty- seven miles will make a
continuous road from New Haven to Boston, by which means
travellers will come from New York to Boston by daylight ; and
then good-by to Stonington, Newport, and Providence, and good-
by to my stock.
Boston, Oct. 3. — The steamer from England ar-
" Ar^^d" ''^ rived here early yesterday morning. It is a fact worthy
of being recorded here as one of the miracles of steam
navigation, that Mr. Dorr, of New York, who sailed from here on
the first day of September, arrived in Boston yesterday morning,
having been absent thirty-two days, of which he spent seven in
England. What next?
Boston, Oct. 5 . — Mr. Otis called in his carriage to take us out
to Brookline to see Colonel Perkins. I was highly gratified. The
house and grounds are in the highest taste, the gardens beautiful,
and the grapes and other fruits unequalled. It was a pleasant sight
to witness the meeting of these two gouty old gentlemen, — fine
old gentlemen of the old school ; and a capital school it was. Mr,
Otis will be seventy-eight years old on Sunday next. We drank
his health yesterday in anticipation of his birthday. Colonel Per-
196 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 63.
kins is a year older. We drove around the beautiful country of
Brookline, and called to see a new house of General Lyman's. I
dined with Mr, Truman, who is flimous for giving the prettiest
bachelor's dinners in Boston, and has the most exquisite claret.
The party consisted of the host. Bishop Eastburn, Mr. Codman,
Isaac P. Davis, Commander Nicholson, and myself. In the evening
my wife and 1 went to a party at Mrs. H. G. Otis's, — a travelled
lady, a virtuoso, and a lion-hunter.
New York, Oct. ir. — There was a handsome affair to-day at
Highwood, the si)lendid seat of Mr. James G. King, near Hoboken.
I went over at one o'clock, vv'ith my daughter, my son, and Miss
Callender. But my duty at the Bank for Savings compelled me to
leave the gay scene before the company was fairly engaged in the
festivities. Everything was arranged with the good taste and ele-
gance which is to be expected from the host and hostess. The
day was fine as possible, the house and grounds in perfect order,
the company large and of the very best quality, and everything
went off so well that I was loath to go off myself.
October 12. — Speaking of the United States, Mr.
,' '^'^Z" . ,, Dickens says in the story which he is spinning out in
Chuzzlewit." ^ •' 10
one of the London periodicals, " That republic, but
yesterday let loose upon her noble course, and but to-day so
maimed and lame, so full of sores and ulcers, foul to the eye, and
almost hopeless to the sense, that her best friends turn from the
loathsome creature with disgust." If the scamp had no regard for
his own character, he ought to have had for ours, who made fools
of ourselves to do him honour.
October 14. — I dined at Jamaica with Mr. James DePeyster
Ogden. The party, besides the host, consisted of Mr. Horsley
Palmer, David S. Jones, James Brown, Henry Brevoort, John H.
Hicks, Gen. James J. Jones, and myself. Mr. Ogden, who always
does such things in the proper style, had an extra car provided for
his company on the railroad, which was in attendance to bring us
home at our own time.
1843J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 197
I went last evening with my daughter to the Park
Macready. Theatre to sec Macready for the first time. He played
Claude Melnotte in the pretty play of " The Lady of
Lyons ; " but I did not like him as well as I expected. The part
does not suit him ; he is too old for it. His reading is good, but
his love wants tenderness, and his sorrow is too obstreperous. The
last time I saw this play Charles Kean pleased me more in the
part of Claude, and I should like Wallack still better in it. Lear,
Macbeth, Richard, and Hamlet are better suited to Mr. Macready.
When the age is in, love ought to be out.
October 25. — My birthday, — I am sixty- three years of age, a
great part of which have been prosperous and happy years ; but
pecuniary troubles and embarrassments have embittered the few
last, and rendered the recurrence of this anniversary anything
but a joyous occasion. With the perversity of human feelings I
am sometimes tempted to forget the former blessings of my life in
my present deprivations, and to overlook those which are still left
to me ; but I struggle against this rebellion of my nature, and pray
that I may be taught to say, in heart and in judgment, " Thy
will be done." It is a consolation to me that my wife is better. I
think that she will be well again. For this I ought to be thankful.
My children walk in the paths of honour and integrity. This de-
mands my gratitude. As far as I know, I am respected by my
fellow-citizens and possess the affections of my friends. Why,
then, should I despond?
October 26. — The members of the club dined to-day
Hone Club. at Mr. Draper's. We had a pleasant, jovial dinner, in
true club style. Seven of the old members were present,
with a number of other gentlemen. The club was reorganized by
the election of the following members ; the meetings are to take
place once a fortnight under the old regulations, and each member
drew for the day on which he was to give the dinner : Philip
Hone, Moses H. Grinnell, Simeon Draper, Jr., John Ward, William
(>. Ward, J. Prescott Hall, R. ^L Blatchford, Roswell L. Colt,
198 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [.Etat.63.
George Curtis, Edward Curtis, Jaudon, Gerard, H. Coster, Thomas
Tileston, Spofford, and James Bowen. Dr. J. W. Francis is physi-
cian to the chib. Daniel Webster was elected an honorary member.
OcroiJKR 27. — This fme old veteran of the army
General ^^ Napoleou, who foui^ht in many battles at the side
Bertnind. ^ ' ° \
of his master and followed him into exile ; true to
him in adversity as in prosperity, and never forsaking his fortunes
until death rendered his services no longer necessary, — this steady
follower of the great captain is now in New York. He came here
from the West Indies by the way of New Orleans, on his return to
Europe. He is a lion of great magnitude in our wonder-loving
city. Civil and military honours are showered upon him ; the
Corporation, Mayor, and all, wait upon him. He receives com-
pany in the Governor's room in the City Hall. Troops escort him
from place to place. He visits all the public institutions; is
received with military honours at the naval and military stations.
The theatres are filled by the announcement of his name ; the fair
of the American Institute exhibits him among their rare produc-
tions, and General Morris and General Sanford are in most exalted
feather on the occasion. He sent me a letter of introduction from
Dr. Niles at Paris, and I called upon him this morning ; but did
not see him, he having gone out under the charge of the com-
mittee. He is described to me as a gooddooking old Frenchman,
seventy-one years of age, plain in his appearance, with a benevo-
lent and intelligent expression of countenance, l)ut nothing hero-
like in his deportment or manner; just such a man as one would
wish him to be.
October 30. — I had a long and interesting visit yesterday
afternoon from the friend and flivourite of Napoleon. He came
to see me, accompanied by Mr. Louis Peugnet. There is much
of the affability and bonJioniic about this veteran soldier which
characterized Eafliyette, and no more of the warrior in his looks
or manner than was seen in him. He likes to talk about his resi-
dence at St. Helena, and told me so much of the wonderful man,
1843.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 1 99
to whose fortunes in adversity as in prosperity, in death as in life,
his devotion was unwavering and unceasing, that I could have
listened to him all day long. It seemed to me as if we had been
acquainted half our lives. This fine old Frenchman is an inter-
esting link in the chain of recollections of modern events, and
revives in his person the image of his great commander.
November i . — The public dinner given by the
renc French residents to General Bertrand came off yester-
Dinner. -^ -'
day at the Astor House. It was the crowning affair
of his highly complimentary reception in New York, and was in all
respects worthy of the occasion. The best speech of the evening
was made by Charles King, in pure, correct, and beautiful French.
November 3. — Died this morning, in this city, Edward P. Liv-
ingston, of Clermont, Columbia county, in the sixty-fourth year of
his age, formerly a senator in the State Legislature, and Lieuten-
ant-Governor of the State. A gentleman in manner and deport-
ment, but a regular, well-trained Democrat, with abilities not above
the average of the Livingstons.
November 4. — This demagogue, who has reigned
^f"^^ ,, so lons^ over his discontented countrymen, and has
O'Coiinell. ^ -' '
made himself the rallying-point of sedition in Ireland,
has been stopped in his career by an arrest for treasonable prac-
tices with several of his associates, on the eve of a great meeting
which was to be held in Dublin. In the mean time O'Connell has
left his favourite theme of repeal, and amuses his countrymen by
abusing the United States. He opens his battery upon our most
vulnerable point, slavery, and advises his disciples here to come
out from among us. I wish they would take his advice. There is
nothing " we would more willingly part withal." But what say
Mr. Robert Tyler and his ridiculous father ; Richard M. Johnson,
who harangues the repealers in a red jacket which he ostenta-
tiously wears as a trophy of his victory in the pretended killing
of Tecumseh ; and John McKeon and other patriots, who have
lauded this O'Connell at the expense of all honest American
200 THE DIARV OF I'lIILIl' HONE. [/Etat. 63.
feeling? Let them hurrah in the Park and harangue in the Taber-
nacle for Ireland and O'Connell. But they should, to be consist-
ent, renounce their allegiance to this country of slaveholders and
tyrants, and stand ready, if needs be, to join O'Connell, if he
should come over to mend our manners. This Mr. Tyler hopes
to be reelected President, and Colonel Johnson is also an aspirant
for the same office.
November 10. — This eminent statesman, who, with
Mr. Aci:uns. all his siuiplc habits and unostentatious manners, is as
fond of distinction as other people, was so much
pleased with the honours which were showered upon him wherever
he went last summer, that he is now on a similar tour to Cincinnati,
with the avowed object of assisting in the foundation of a public
work for the promotion of scientific objects. The same glorifica-
tion attends him wherever he goes ; every city and town at which
he arrives sends out its multitudes to welcome *' the old man elo-
quent." Guns are fired, bells are rung, branches strewed in his
path, speeches made and answers returned ; and if eating and
drinking may be taken as the criterion of glory, the first Adam,
who was the sole possessor of all the good things in the world,
made a poor figure in comparison with the Adams of these latter
days. The rise of the bright sun of American patriotism was
obscure, and its meridian splendour dim, compared with the efful-
gence of its setting beams. He is a noble specimen of straight-
forward American Republicanism, firm as a rock in his principles,
as sharp in his angles and as unyielding in his materials, and de-
serves from the American people all the honours they are so fond
of bestowing and he of receiving.
DeiUiof November 13. — Col. John Trumbull died in this
Colonel city, ou Friday last, aged eighty-seven years. He has
rum u . 'been a distinguished man during the whole of his long
life, a patriot of the Revolution, a chevalier " sans pcur cf sans
rrprochf,'" a gallant soldier, one of the aides of Washington, a
statesman and diplomatist intrusted with important concerns in
1843] THE DIAIIV OF PHILIP HONE. 20I
Great Britain at the close of the Revolutionary war. As a painter,
his pencil has chronicled some of the great events of the fearful
struggle, the issue of which was the liberty and independence of
a great nation.
November 17. — One of the great articles of expor-
Sending Coals ^r^^^^^-^ |-q Qj-gat Britain at the present time is cheese.
to Newcastle.
Every packet takes out immense quantities of this
article. Who would ever have thought of John Bull eating Yan-
kee cheese ? It sells in England at forty to fifty cents per hundred
pounds, which pays freight and charges, and leaves Brother Jona-
than a pretty good profit. This is a strange turn in commercial
operations, but does not illustrate so forcibly the saying at the head
of this article as a circumstance of which I am informed. The
" Prince Albert," Grinnell, Minturn, & Co.'s splendid new ship,
which sails on her first voyage on the first day of next month, takes
out as freight a quantity of anthracite coal ! x\merica shipping coal
to England ! Who knows how soon we may fit out Chinamen with
outward cargoes of tea consigned to the successors of our old
acquaintances, Hougua, Chinqua, & Co. !
November 25. — Mr. Wallack and Charles Clinton dined with
us. Wallack delighted us with recitations and dramatic readings.
He was exceedingly agreeable, more so perhaps than he would have
been in a larger party.
November 27. — I went with Grinnell on board his splendid
new packet-ship " Prince Albert," which is loading, to sail on her
first voyage to London on Friday next. She is equal to the
noblest, the best and most beautiful of her unrivalled class. This
vessel is taking in one of those anomalous cargoes which we send
now-a-days to John Bull, consisting of provisions, oil, lard, oil-
cakes, cheese, coals, and Yankee clocks. This last is one of the
triumphs of Yankee skill and ingenuity. Five hundred thousand
clocks are made annually in Connecticut. I saw one of these
clocks the other day in a merchant's counting-house. It was en-
closed in a handsome mahogany case, with a looking-glass plate in
202 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 63.
front, as fair a face as many of its betters can boast, keeps good
time and goes well, of which it gives striking proofs ; and all this
costs one dollar and seventy-five cents. John Bull thought when
he first traded in this article at seven or eight dollars that Brother
Jonathan had stolen them. They seized some of them at the Cus-
tom-House in Liverpool, as undercharged. But Jonathan told them
he would supply them with as many as they wanted at half the price.
" An eagle towering in his pride of place." A circumstance
occurred on Saturday, which among the ancient Rom.ans would
have been considered an omen of high importance. Augurs and
soothsayers would have drawn from it presages of victory and tri-
umph, and legions would have marched with confidence under its
auspices. A large eagle, after sailing in the air of this busy city,
so unlike his usual haunts, until his gyrations had attracted the
notice of a large number of spectators, perched upon the truck of
the foremast of the " Prince Albert," now preparing for her first
voyage, at the wharf in South street, near Fulton market. He sat
there for some time, looking down in solemn dignity upon the busy
scenes beneath him, and wondering, I suppose, how the " unfeath-
ered bipeds " could make such fools of themselves. After resting
himself sufficiently he spread his wings and took to flight again ;
not, however, without receiving a shot from some fellow below
(privileged to kill game, I presume), which made the feathers fly a
little, but did not impede the progress of the "bird of Jove."
The ravishment of the musical dilettanti had reached
oie Bull. its highest ])itch by the power of Monsieur Artot's vio-
lin, when here comes another performer on the same
instrument, with the unmusical name at the head of this article, — a
Norwegian Bull, who drives monsieur out of the arena, and roars
so much louder that his performance is all "fiddle-de-dee." The
last man appeared at the Park Theatre, on Saturday evening, and
all agreed that his performance is admirable. I presume he is the
best violinist (how much prettier that word is than fiddler) now
living. ^Vallack says he plays better than Paganini did.
I843-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 203
December i i . — Dined at Mr. Robert B. Minturn's, with Gov-
ernor Seward, R. M. Blatchford, two Curtii, M. H. Grinnell, P.
Hall, etc., — fragmentary parts of the great Hone Club, which is the
best thing extant. They are a set of capital fellows ; talk well, eat
well, sit well, drink well ; and Rob. B. M. is a good fellow, though
not a member.
December 23. — The anniversary of the landing of
New ng an ^^^ pilgrims was Celebrated in greater style than usual,
and the ec/af of the occasion was enhanced by the
presence of Messrs. Webster and Choate, of Massachusetts, and
Evans, of Maine. The oration was delivered in the Broadway
Tabernacle, by Mr. Choate. The subject, of course, was the land-
ing of the Pilgrims, and never has this fruitful and exciting theme
given scope to anything more thrilling, eloquent, and affecting than
this splendid address. The other performances, consisting of sev-
eral original hymns and choruses, were in good taste. The Taber-
nacle was full, notwithstanding the rain, which was hard and inces-
sant. Having joined in the exercises of the former part of the day,
I finished at the great dinner, which was given at the Astor House,
and by one o'clock this morning, at which time I came away, was
as good a Yankee as ever ate pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day.
There was, of course, a great deal of speaking ; some very good.
Mr. Choate was short, but brilliant and effective ; Mr. Evans, not
as good as I expected ; Dr. Wainwright, happy ; and Mr. Henry W.
Bellows, the Unitarian clergyman, one of the very best of the day.
Being called upon, I gave as a toast : " New England, and New
England clocks ; their striking qualities enhanced by the modesty
which prompts them to place their hands before their faces. They
look well, perform well, and speak well, and are less expensive than
any others equally valuable of their species."
204 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [.Etat. 64.
1844.
^ I ^HE new year has set in propitiously so far as the weather is
-■- concerned. It has been pleasant during the day ; cold
enough to make excellent walking, with bright skies, and no cut-
ting winds, and the population of our good city of Gotham have
availed themselves of these favourable circumstances to an unusual
degree. New York seemed to enjoy a general carnival. Broad-
way, from one end to the other, was alive with private carriages,
omnibuses, cabs, and curricles, and lines of pedestrians fringed the
carriage-ways. There must have been more visiting than on any
former New Year's Day. I was out more than five hours, and my
girls tell me they received one hundred and sixty-nine visits.
This fine old custom, almost peculiar to New York, does not
lose favour in the eyes of our citizens, and foreigners are delighted
with it. There is so much of life and spirit and heartiness in it,
that it is to be hoped no new freak of fashion will ever interpose
to prevent its observance.
The year which has just closed was one of trouble and difficulty.
Lessons of economy have been more taught than practised ; but
people have, on the whole, been wiser than formerly ; they have
spent less money than heretofore, for the plain reason that they
had not so much to spend. It is for this reason that my family
expenses are reduced one- half from what they were seven years
ago. The new year commences, however, with brighter prospects
than the last. Trade is returning into its oil channels, commerce
reviving, and confidence gaining strength ; and if all these encour-
aging appearances shall be realized, speculation, extravagance, and
rashness, there is reason to fear, will follow in their train. The
stream, in this busy, trading community of ours, may run dry for a
while, but it never returns without a freshet.
I844-J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE;. 205
January 16. — A very good letter of the Hon. W.
' r. iveb s ^^ Rives to oiie of his constituents is pubHshed in
Letter. ^
the Whig papers, in which he declares his determina-
tion to support Mr. Clay for President in preference to Mr. Van
Buren, and comes down rather savagely upon the latter gentle-
man. This and other circumstances indicate that the Southern
Democrats, and among them Mr. Calhoun, intend to refuse implicit
allegiance to the dictation of the packed convention which is to
9 be held at Baltimore. Such a course would be unfavourable to
the ex-President.
January 18. — The new ship ''Yorkshire " sailed to-day on her
first voyage to Liverpool. Among her passengers was the interest-
ing dwarf, who has delighted the citizens of New York, under the
name and title of " General Tom Thumb." The greatest /i'///e
man I ever saw, handsome, well- formed, and intelligent, eleven or
twelve years old, and not taller than my knee.
February 28. — Nicholas Biddle died yesterday
^^ ° ' ^- mornins;, at Andalusia, his countrv-seat, on the banks
Biddle. ^^ ' " '
of the Delaware, eighteen miles below Philadelphia.
Mr. Biddle was born in 1786. His father was a worthy of the
Revolution, and the family have ever been known as staunch
Whigs, of the right sort. In the year 1804 he went out to France
with General Armstrong, studied law on his return, was subse-
quently member of the Assembly and of the Senate of Pennsyl-
vania. In 1 8 19 he was appointed a government director of the
Bank of the United States, and in 1823, on the resignation of
Langdon Cheves, was elected president of that institution.
The result of this last responsible trust is a matter of history,
and a sad page it is in the history of this country : the record of
ruin and distress to thousands here and in Europe, moistened with
the tears of widows and orphans, and sullied with reproaches and
vituperations which unhappily attach to the national character, and
of which every American citizen is compelled to take his share.
How much of all this is to be charged to the ungavernable passion
206 THE DTARV OF PTIILIP HONE. [/Ktat. 64.
of General Jackson, and how much to the uncompromising perti-
nacity of Mr. Biddle, is a question in which personal prejudice
and party predilection are so much mixed up that the present
generation can never come to a just decision. Posterity, not being
so immediately interested, will come to better conclusions on the
subject ; one thing is certain : that between them they caused a
shock to be given to commercial credit, a stab to national charac-
ter, and ruin to innumerable families, which the grave cannot hide,
nor party-spirit palliate.
The great financier is no more. He whose appearance in Wall
street at a certain period broke like a ray of sunshine through the
clouds of financial difficulty ; he whose word established and over-
threw banks, whose fiat governed the rate of exchange and regu-
lated the price of cotton, is now laid low. " x\nd none so poor to
do him reverence." He left, amongst a host of enemies, a few
firm friends, who lament the misfortunes which attended his man-
agement, but are unwilling to attribute them to his incapacity or
imprudence, and entertain no doubts of his honesty.
Bryant, the editor of the " Evening Post," in an article of this
day, virulent and malignant as are usually the streams which flow
from that polluted source, says that Mr. Biddle " died at his coun-
try-seat, where he passed the last of his days in elegant retirement,
which, if justice had taken place, would have been spent in the
penitentiary." This is the first instance I have known of the vam-
pire of party- spirit seizing the lifeless body of its victim before
its interment, and exhibiting its bloody claws to the view of mourn-
ing relatives and sympathizing friends. How such a black-hearted
misanthrope as Bryant should possess an imagination teeming with
beautiful poetical images astonishes me ; one would as soon expect
to extract drops of honey from the fangs of the rattlesnake.
February 29. — Horrible! most horrible ! An ex-
^^„ T^.""^^' press arrived at two o'clock, bringing an account of an
ton" Disaster. ^ J o o
awful catastrophe which occurred yesterday, about four
o'clock P.M., on board Captain Stockton's steam-frigate " Prince-
1S44-] THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. 20/
ton," — the vessel which was here a few weeks ago, fitted up with
Ericsson's propellers, and carrying an enormous wrought- iron gun,
which threw, by the force of forty-five pounds of powder, a ball of
proportionate size three miles at each discharge. This murderous
projectile was called the " Peace-maker ; " and most deplorably has
it earned its name, by making, in an instant, the peace of several of
the most distinguished men of the country, and sending them
'' where the wicked cease from troubling." As far as the accounts
have reached us, it is certain that in discharging this gun with a
ball, near to Alexandria, on the Potomac, it exploded at a time
when there was a party on board of five hundred ladies and gen-
tlemen, including the President and heads of departments (all
except Mr. Spencer), with their families, naval and military officers,
senators and members of the House of Representatives, and all
the distinguished persons resident and visiting at Washington. The
effect of this tremendous explosion was the immediate death, under
the most shocking circumstances, of Mr. Upshur, Secretary of State ;
Governor Gilmor, Secretary of the Navy ; Virgil Maxcy, late chai-ge
d''affai7'es at Belgium ; Mr. David Gardiner, late State senator of
New York, from Long Island ; Commander Beverly Kennon,
United States Navy ; and some others whose names are not yet
given. Several persons are wounded ; in the number. Captain
Stockton dangerously, Colonel Benton slightly, etc.
There were two hundred ladies on board ; but, fortunately, they
were all below, dining and drinking toasts. The noise of mirth
and joviality below mingled with the groans of the dying on deck.
By this circumstance they were saved. Not one of the ladies
was injured. But oh the anguish of wives and daughters on
the sight of the mangled remains of their husbands and fathers !
Nothing so dreadful has ever happened in this country, except the
shipwreck of the " Rose-in-Bloom " and the conflagration of the
Richmond theatre. The wife of Governor Gilmor was on board.
The story of her woe is melancholy and touching in the extreme.
Her lamented husband entered upon the office of Secretary of
208 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 64.
the Navy a few days since, and the estimation in which he was
held is proved by his nomination having been unanimously con-
firmed without debate by the Senate. Mr. Gardiner's two
daughters were also witnesses of their father's death. To-morrow
will bring us more particulars of this scene of woe.
President Tyler gave a new instance of folly and
Bad Taste. bad taste in a toast which he gave at the entertain-
ment which terminated so tragically on board the
'' Princeton." It was : " Oregon, the ' peace-maker,' and Captain
Stockton." Oregon is the bone of contention at this time between
Great Britain and ourselves, to settle which difficulty a new Minister
has just landed on our shores. It is a subject which requires to be
handled with the greatest delicacy. The '^ peace-maker " is the
great gun which was to hurl defiance at Great Britain, or any other
nation which might stand between the wind and Colonel Benton's
popularity ; Captain Stockton is the firebrand which was to ignite
the whole ; and in the excited state of the puljlic mind on this
subject the President gives this mischievous sentiment. The
" peace-maker " at the same moment broke the peace in the
manner which has been described, and amidst the melancholy
reflections arising from this fatal day's excursion will be mingled
a feeling of contempt for this act of folly.
March 6. — Having on my hands a quarter of an
ppearance o j^^^^j. bcforc cjoing to Mr. David S. Kennedy's to dine,
the Bay. 00 j ■>
I walked on the Battery, — a luxury which the distance
of my residence from the spot does not permit me frequently to
enjoy ; and a more delightful scene can nowhere be found. The
setting sun threw a bright glow over the tiny waves ; there was just
wind enough to give motion to hundreds of vessels of all sizes ;
a golden haze was spread over the Jersey shore and Staten Island ;
every now and then a steamboat came puffing and blowing with
the speed of a race-horse across the Bay, or a barge skimmed
rapidly around the corner of the Battery, and vanished under one
of the openings of the bridge ; groups of children were sporting
1844] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 209
under the still leafless trees, and the air was so mild that one might
well doubt the authority of the almanac, which points to the 6th
of March.
March 18. — I attended the funeral of Mr. John S. Schermer-
horn as a pall -bearer; the service was performed in Grace Church.
The following were the pall -bearers : Abraham Ogden, Edward
W. Laight, Henry Beekman, Benjamin W. Rogers, John Oothout,
Jacob R. LeRoy, Edmund H. Pendleton, and P. H.
March 19. — The annexation of Texas to the United
Texas. States — a measure which many of our best and wisest
citizens have looked at with most anxious apprehension
— seems now likely to take place. The Executive incubus of the
country, to gain Southern capital for his personal and political
objects, has been for some time past flirting with the Texan gov-
ernment, the result of which is said to be a treaty of annexation,
signed, and ready to be submitted to the Senate. The belief in
this report, and the dread that a majority of the Senate will ratify
this alarming act of Executive power, caused a panic in Wall street.
Stocks fell ; United States six-per-cents fell four per cent. ; men
looked alarmed, and shook their heads in fearful doubt. A war
with Mexico would be the immediate consequence of this measure,
and privateers would be fitted out in the Mexican ports of the Gulf
of Mexico, to prey upon the immense commerce of the United
States, having themselves little or nothing to risk in return. The
Mexican flag would be made to cover a predatory marine fifty
times larger than belongs to them, and I fear much that many of
my virtuous countrymen are already rejoicing in the chance of expa-
triating themselves, to appropriate to their use the treasure and
merchandise of their fellow-citizens. There are nice pickings in
that quarter.
March 22. — I dined yesterday at Mr. Simeon
"The Man." Draper's with a pleasant party (principally clubists),
gotten up for Mr. Webster, who came in town Thurs-
day. The great negotiator was in one of his happiest moods. He
210 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 64.
talked like a book, and was pleasant as the morning twilight ; his
dark eyes looked like stars in their deep caverns. He has none of
those moody fits of abstraction which were wont to come over him
at times when his great mind was overtasked with public or pro-
fessional business. On the contrary, he was the fiddle of the party,
full of anecdote and amusing gossip ; by turns instructive and
amusing, he found his auditors willing to indulge a very natural
desire he has to be well listened to ; nor did he withhold his fair
quota of hearty laughter at the wild, enthusiastic extravagances of
our learned and jolly Dr. Francis. Like the school-boy relieved
from his dail\' task, the great Yankee statesman seems to enjoy, " to
the top of his bent," his temporary release from the cares and
responsibilities of public life.
April 8. — The venerable Mai or- General Moreran
Deatli of Gen- _ ^ °
erai Lewis. Lcwis died ycstcrday, in the ninetieth year of his age.
He was born in this city on the i6th of October,
1754. He was a son of Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence (a glorious ancestral trophy), and was
educated at Princeton College, where he graduated in 1773. He
joined the army of the Revolution in June, 1775, as a volunteer,
and assumed the command of a company at Boston. In Nov^em-
ber he was appointed first major of the Second Regiment, of which
John Jay was colonel. John Jay, a soldier, sounds strangely. I
never heard of this title of the great statesman and jurist of the
Revolution. Mr. Jay did not, however, take the command, and
Major Lewis succeeded to it. He went to Canada with Gates, and
was at Ticonderoga until its evacuation in July, 1777 ; he was pres-
ent at the capture of Burgoyne, and was the officer who received
the surrender of the British troops. He served with honour in the
valley of the Mohawk, and accompanied Governor George Clinton
to Crown Point. After the war he resumed the practice of the
law ; was soon after appointed Attorney-General, Judge and Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of this State, and was elected Gov-
ernor, and afterwards a senator. In the last war he also served
1844.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 211
with distinction ; was appointed quartermaster-general of the army
of the United States, and saw good service on the Niagara frontier.
April 10. — I am "spreading pretty considerable
canvas " just now, as Captain Salters said of his son
party. •' ' ^
Nick. I dined yesterday with Mr. David S. Jones, at
his house in Fifteenth street. It was a large, old-fashioned party,
of seventeen guests, consisting of a variety somewhat incongmous,
and affording some striking contrasts. There was Dr. Wainwright,
all mildness and grace, and Mr. Samuel Niell, presuming and blus-
tering ; Vice-Chancellor McCoun, portly and plain in appearance,
and the exquisite Mr. Westerlo Van Rensselaer; James Gerard,
brisk as a bee and loquacious as a whip-poor-will, and Thomas E.
Davis, with head full of lands and hereditaments ; James G. King
and young Mr. Newbold ; William B. Astor, who thinks twice be-
fore he speaks once, and James Watson Webb, who speaks a great
deal and does not think at all ; Edmund Pendleton and Charles
King, who laugh obstreperously at their own smart sayings, and
Charles Clinton and young Mr. Edgar, whose position as family
appendages seemed to forbid their making smart sayings them-
selves, or helping to carry off those of others. But the dinner went
off very well. We drank the Judge's old wine, humoured his
punctilios, and rejoiced sincerely in the favourable turn of his
affairs, of which this dinner was one of the evidences. He is an
honourable, high-minded gentleman, and his conduct in tempo-
rary adversity has been such as to render him worthy of per-
manent prosperity.
After leaving the dinner-party, some half a dozen of
"pper- yg came down on the Harlem Railroad. The streets
party.
in the upper part of the city were alive with masses of
people shouting at the success of the Native American party in the
charter election held this day. The returns were not all in this
evening ; but it is certain that Harper is elected Mayor, and the
Whigs and Loco-focos, bundled up together, are thrown overboard.
I am very well pleased with the result ; but it is the first time I
212 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 64.
ever rejoiced in the success of candidates for whom I did not
vote.
Charles King, Webb, and I, being engaged to sup at Grinnell's,
we went there at the time we ought to have gone to bed, and found
a pleasant party of Curtises and Hoffmans, Bo wens, Drapers,
Blatchfords, etc., with plenty of all sorts of good things, provisions
enough to sustain a besieged city, and rivers of cool wines to tempt
palates already placed by previous indulgence beyond the reach
of temptation. Grinnell is an out-and-out Native American party
man, and this supper was given to celebrate a victory which he
anticipated with great accuracy, as the event proved.
April i i . — I attended, yesterday, the funeral of
unci a o General Lewis, as a pall-bearer. The deceased was
General Lewis. ^
Grand Master of Masons and President of the
Society of the Cincinnati, which caused a great display at his
funeral. The Masons, in all their ancient paraphernalia, attended ;
and the Cincinnati, with military officers and martial music, made
a grand and solemn procession. The streets were full of people
on the whole line of march, from the General's house, on Leonard
street, to St. Paul's Church, where the obsequies were performed.
The ceremonies in church were very impressive. After the relig-
ious service, which was performed by Dr. Taylor, the whole body
of Masons, with their insignia, marched in single file up the
aisle, and, in passing, each member laid a sprig of myrtle on
the coffin ; after which some silent ceremonies were performed,
and they left the church. The following were the pall-bearers :
Chancellor Kent, Chief Justice Jones, Mr. William Bard, Thomas
Morris, Walter Bowne, Jonathan Goodhue, E. H. Pendleton, and
myself.
The most interesting spectacle on this occasion was the vener-
able Major Popham, the vice-president of the Cincinnati and the
only survivor of the original members of that time-honoured institu-
tion, who is ninety-two years of age. He sat in church near the
coffin, hale and hearty, deeply impressed with the solemnity of the
1844] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 21 3
occasion, but apparently prepared to follow his venerable friend
when the brief remnant of his days shall be spent.
April 13. — A most nefarious instance of the cor-
^^ 7 ru])t and tyrannical course of the administration of the
removed. ^ ■'
man whom accident has placed at the head of affairs
(doubtless for the sins of the people) has just been perpetrated.
Edward Curtis has been removed from the office of collector, and
Charles G. Ferris, formerly Loco-foco member of Congress, nomi-
nated in his place. But it is impossible that the present Senate
should ever sanction so gross an outrage upon public feelings as to
confirm the nomination. Posterity will not believe that the Amer-
ican people would have, in this enlightened period, submitted to
be so insulted. Mr. Tyler's son came on to New York, with two of
his toad-eaters, bearing the mandate. Charles A. Clinton was
called upon, and the office tendered to him, on condition that he
should turn out every man in the Custom- House who would not
pledge himself to support the pretensions of his papa to the
Presidency. This, Clinton promptly and indignantly refused.
(He ought to have kicked the puppy.) Ferris, being more con-
formable, was placed in the gap ; and there let him stick. Shame !
shame ! x\s an American, I blush.
April 17. — I dined to-day with a pleasant party at Mr. M. H.
Grinnell's. The hospitalities of the famous back dining-room
were, as usual, freely extended, and the tables abundantly spread
with everything good to eat and drink, to honour especially John
M. Botts, the great Whig member of Congress, who does not like
Mr. Tyler as well as he formerly did. Our party consisted of
Messrs. Botts and Taylor of Virginia, Granger, Edward Minturn,
R. B. Minturn, David Graham, J. Prescott Hall, Charles King,
Edward Curtis, Ogden Hoffman, James Monroe, Simeon Draper,
R. M. Blatchford, J. D. P. Ogden, and myself.
In the evening Judge Jones, King, Hall, and I went to Dr.
Wamwright's, to a large party of gentlemen, assembled to meet
Mr. Prescott, the popular historian, to whom we and the reading
214 '^^lE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 64.
world are indebted for "Fenlinaiid and Isabella" and "The Con-
quest of Mexico." We had all the clergy, — Episcopalian, Presby-
terian, and Unitarian, high church and low church, Puseyite and
liberal ; but there were no Roman Catholics on the one side, nor
do I believe that the tolerant principles of my reverend friend
went so far as to invite, on the other, his bitter and uncourteous
antagonist, the self-sufficient Dr. Potts. It was a pleasant reunion;
all the literary men of the city were there, all the distinguished
men ; the learned and the wise, by their own estimate or that of
their compeers, were assembled to honour the man who has raised
so proud a monument of the literary glory of his native country.
April 25. — I attended, last evening, a great meeting at the
Tabernacle, convened to protest against a favourite measure of the
administration, — the annexation of Texas to the Union. This is
one of Mr. Tyler's electioneering schemes, fraught with injustice to
others and danger to ourselves. If this measure is adopted, and if
the treaty which is now before the Senate should be approved, it
will lead us into external difficulties and endanger the Union of the
States.
The venerable Albert Gallatin presided, with the usual array of
vice-presidents. Good speeches were made and strong resolutions
passed, and all things would have gone well had not a gang of ruf-
fians, headed by one Mike Walsh, and formed of prize-fighters and
pardoned felons, got possession of one corner of the room and in-
terrupted the speakers by groans and hisses and exclamations of
Hurrah for Texas ! for Calhoun ! and vituperative epithets of British
gold, Wall-street brokers, etc.; but their number was too small to
make head against the immense multitude of respectable persons
who were there to condemn the measure which these " minions of
the moon " are concerned in supporting.
The spirit of the " fierce democracy," a sample of
Con ress '" which is rccordcd in the preceding article, blazed forth
with more lustre on Tuesday, in the House of Repre-
sentatives at Washington, which is now the " Five Points " of
1844] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 21 5
America. Mr. White, in defending the character of Mr. Clay from
the ribaldry of several of the blackguards who represent a portion
of the people of this happy land, was insulted by a Mr. Rathbone,
and blows passed between these "grave and reverend" senators.
A general melee took place ; a man named Moore (not a member)
mixed in the fight and discharged a pistol, the ball of which passed
through the door and lodged in the thigh of Mr. Wirt, one of the
House police. How long will it be before this liberty of ours
becomes so licentious that we shall be compelled to take refuge in
the arms of despotism ?
Philadelphia, April 26. — In pursuance of my design to attend,
as a looker-on and supernumerary, the great Whig Convention to
be held at Baltimore on Wednesday next, I left home this morning
at nine o'clock, and came by the railroad to Bordentown and
thence by steamboat to this city, where I arrived at three o'clock.
Washington, April 27. — The discomforts of my journey were
fully compensated, on my arrival in Washington, by the excellent
quarters provided for me, by the care of my good friends Joseph
and Moses H. Grinnell, at Mrs. Whitwell's, on the hill near the
Capitol. I have never been so pleasantly accommodated in this
place. I find myself in a mess consisting of Mr. and Mrs. J. Grin-
nell, Mr. Evans of Maine, Mr. Winthrop, Mr. and Mrs. Cabot, Mr.
Bates, the two senators from New Jersey, Messrs. Miller and
Dayton, and some other gentlemen whose names I have not yet
learned. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy went up to Baltimore this after-
noon. The loss of their company is not, however, without some
consolation, as it gives me possession of their apartment, and I have
the prospect before me of an excellent bed, with which I hope in
five minutes to be better acquainted.
April 29. — I made a delightful visit yesterday, in the afternoon,
to Mr. Adams, who talked as no man ever talked before.
Poor General Scott is in distress. I walked with him from
church, and am to see him this morning. I cannot imagine a more
severe trial, for a heart susceptible as his, than that which he is
2l6 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^Etat. 64.
about to undergo. His daughter, a lovely young woman, twenty-
two years of age, has determined to take the veil in the convent at
Georgetown, and shut herself out from the world forever. No
entreaties of her parents have the least effect to divert her from her
rash resolution, and their tears are unavailing to save her from self-
immolation. I know what it is to resign a beloved daughter to the
hands of Plim to whose bounty I was indebted for the precious
gift ; but the bereavement had its accompanying consolation : she
died in the faith of her sorrowing parents, her Heavenly Father
received her back from the arms of her earthly one, and her dying
words were not breathed into strangers' ears.
Greenough's colossal statue of Washington has been
j.g,-[^Qyg(^ fj-Qj-j^ ^Y^Q rotunda and placed in an octagonal
\V ashington, ^ *="
building erected temporarily in the beautiful grounds
in the rear of the Capitol. I do not like it as well as I did when
I first saw it. It does not give a correct idea of the " Father of his
Country ; " there is too great an exposure of the naked body. It
looks like a great, herculean, warrior-like F^v///-f of tJie batJi ; a grand
martial Magog, undressed, with a huge napkin lying in his lap and
covering his lower extremities, and he, preparing to perform his
ablutions, is in the act of consigning his sword to the care of the
attendant until he shall come out of the bath.
It strikes me that the sculptor has failed in representing the
character by its adjuncts. The Roman toga would have done
better, — that grand resort for artists in search of the picturesque ;
a suit of ancient armour even, obsolete though it may be, or the
ungraceful Continental uniform ; either would have been more
appropriate than a body naked from the waist upward. Washing-
ton was too prudent and careful of his health to expose himself
thus in a climate so uncertain as ours, to say nothing of the inde-
cency of such an exposure, — a subject on which he was known to
be exceedingly flistidious.
Baltimore, Aprh. 30. — Mr. Grinnell and I left Washington at
six o'clock this morning, and came to this city. We found our
I844-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 217
kind host, Mr. Morris, waiting for us at the depot, who took us to
our dehghtful quarters, at his house in Mulberry street, opposite the
Cathedral. We had an excellent breakfast, and found ourselves in
the midst of every comfort which our hearts could desire.
May I . — This has been a day of excitement, of
Conv^ntLr"^ jostling and crowding, in the good city of Baltimore
beyond anything I have witnessed elsewhere ; and it is
not difficult to account for it in the fact that the number of males
within a certain space is double, nay, within these precincts, quad-
ruple, that which is usual. At ten o'clock the masses began to
move toward the church in which the convention was to assemble,
and by the time I reached the spot every avenue to the church
seemed to be filled, and I did not entertain a hope that I should
be admitted ; but by good fortune, or some other cause more
flattering to my vanity, I found myself carried forward by two
members of the delegation and placed in the midst of that august
body of patriotic Whigs, in one of the best seats in the middle
aisle.
After the formal proceedings, Mr. Benjamin Watkins Leigh, of
Virginia, arose, and with a few remarks presented the following
resolution: "That this convention unanimously nominate and
recommend to the people of the United States Henry Clay, of
Kentucky, as President of these United States."
The question on this resolution was put at ten minutes past
twelve o'clock, and in the language of the reporters of the cere-
monies, " A thousand voices sounded Anicn and A>?ien, accom-
panied by such cheers and clappings of hands as the v/orld never
heard before. The cheers were prolonged for many minutes, and
with such deafening shouts as made the church quake."
This was certainly one of the most sublime moral spectacles ever
exhibited : the twenty-six States of the American Union, by their
representatives, consisting of the best talents, virtue, and patriotism
of that portion of the several communities which constitute the
great Whig party, voted by acclamation to present to the people,
2i8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 64.
as the choice of the party for the highest office in the Republic, a
citizen who stood so prominent in their ranks as to preclude all the
forms usually adopted on such occasions, and without a doubt or
the shadow of dissent to place him before the people as their first
and only choice ; " and the people said Amen." It was all done in
less time than I have taken to record it.
Now came the nominations for Vice-President, and Theodore
Frelinghuysen was then declared by an unanimous vote the candi-
date of the convention, and the delegates from the States who had
preferred other candidates gave their most hearty concurrence in
the choice. Thus, in the most perfect harmony, ended this sub-
lime and exciting ceremony, the remembrance of which will never
be effaced from my mind. I shall always rejoice that I was
present.
I left the convention before the speaking was over, to prepare
for dinner, and went to Mr. Meredith's, where I joined the follow-
ing agreeable party : Mr. Ewing, Crittenden, Granger, ex-cabinet
ministers ; Grinnell and Saltonstall, ex-members of Congress ; Mr.
Chapman and myself, ex- mayors, the former of Boston ; a large
proportion of ex's, with Mr. Grattan, an ex-o\\c of rare fragrance ;
Mr. Kennedy, of North Carolina ; Mr. Quincy, of Boston ; and Mr.
Robert Gilmor. Meredith's house is so near the scene of action,
Monument square, in which the concourse of people was prodigious
and the speeches and shouting without intermission, that we were
scarcely allowed to cat our crust in quiet.
May 2. — I went to bed last night before my com-
ppari- p^j^jon, Mr. Grinnell, came in, and was fast asleep, when
suddenly, about half-past one o'clock, I was awakened
by his entrance, accompanied by a man, who stood erect and silent
at my bedside. There I was, stuck up in bed like that " wicked
Captain Smith " quailing before the ghost of "poor Miss Bailey,"
unpacified by " the one-pound note." Is this a constable? thought
I, with my companion in custody for some nocturnal irregularity
committed in this Saturnalia, and shall I be his bail, if required ?
1844-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 219
"I certainly will," continued I to myself, " for he would do the same
for me." But my doubts were soon removed, when, with one more
rub of my eyes, I perceived the dark brows of Daniel Webster
hanging over me. " I have no hat on," said I ; " but off goes my
night-cap ; " and I sat uncovered in the presence of the great man
of the East.
The solution of this spectral visitation is, that Mr. Grinnell
waited for the arrival of the cars from Philadelphia in which Mr.
Webster was expected, and escorted him to Mr. Birckhead's, where
he was to be lodged ; but at this late hour access could not be ob-
tained, and he brought him to Mr. Morris's to put him to bed in
my room, and there he remained, enjoying a good sleep, until six
o'clock this morning. Mr. Webster comes to Baltimore at the so-
licitation of his Whig friends, to give in his adhesion to the nomi-
nations. And right glad does he seem to be to have an opportunity
to define his position in relation to Mr. Clay and his friends, and to
assume the lofty rank among Whigs, from which some have thought
he was inclined to swerve. But he told them all about it to-day.
His appearance here and the part he has played is one of the most
interesting incidents in the great drama.
Yesterday was the solemn formula enacted by the
ai ca ion whicrg of the United States in the selection of candi-
Convention. *-"
dates for President and Vice-President of the United
States ; but this has been the day of jubilee. Ten thousand men
of the other States came to Baltimore to ratify the choice. This
great mass of noble, fine-looking fellows, from the granite hills of
New Hampshire to the green prairies of the great West, formed in
procession this morning ; and each State under its proper banner,
and each individual swelling out its numbers, with flags and patriotic
devices, badges and the weapons of peace, passing under triumphal
arches, cheered on by the bright eyes of the prettiest young women
in the world, for whose use every window-sash on the route of the
procession was taken out, and with handkerchiefs waving over-
head and wreaths and bouquets thrown at their feet, did this
220 THE DIARY OF riilLIP HONE. [.Etat. 64.
mighty army march out to the Canton race-course. Being in
the procession myself, in the New York ranks, I cannot judge
what appearance it made ; but the street, the whole of Baltimore
street, presented a pageant more bright and brilliant than any I
ever beheld. The field to which we marched is about three miles
from that part of the city with which I am acquainted. The
weather was doubtful and the sun did not shine ; the dust was the
only annoyance. But everything went off well, and the rain which
threatened during the morning had the politeness to keep away
until nothing was left undone but a few speeches, which are a
commodity so plentiful just now that the people could afford to
wait. Of this great meeting John M. Clayton, of Delaware, was
appointed president. Mr. Webster was called out by unanimous
acclamation, and addressed the people in an excellent speech, ap-
proving the nominations without the least reservation, and pledging
himself and receiving the pledges of all in his hearing to an un-
wavering, united, and zealous support of the people's candidate.
At six o'clock I joined a large party at dinner at
inner a r. ^^^^ Reverdv Tohnson's, whose noble mansion, on this
Johnson's. J j i i
occasion, has been the seat of elegant and profuse
hospitality. We had at dinner, and afterward at supper, all
the gr-^at genii of the Whig party ; and such an array was
never before presented to my view : Benjamin Watkins Leigh,
Judge Berrien, Mr. Webster, Governor Morehead, Judge Spencer,
Governor Metcalf, Governor Sprigg of this State, Mr. Morgan,
Mr. Crittenden, Butler King, Stanley, General Dawson, Governor
Johnron of Louisiana, Mr. Ewing, Mr. Granger, Mr. Kennedy,
etc. I was never concerned in a more jovial affair, and never
heard more small shot fired from big guns. I was eight hours
on my legs in the morning of this great day, and eight hours seated
at the table, and shall now get eight hours' sleep, if I can.
May 4. — John C. Spencer has resigned his place
of th """^^^ *'^^ "^ ^^^ cabinet, and a pretty business he has made of
Treasury. it. Discarded by all parties, and spurned by the hand
1844] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 221
which he basely condescended to hck, he will have nothing but
his own bad feelings to feed upon. As his stern old father said
the other day, " He has dug his own grave, and must lie in it."
John Tyler could never tolerate the man whose father was the
president of a Clay convention.
Dined with Mr. Robert Gilmor. Our party consisted of Messrs.
Kennedy, Birckhead, Byron of somewhere South, Abbott Lawrence,
David Hoffman, Robert Gilmor, Jr., Granger, Grattan, Thomas
Oliver, Meredith, and myself. The city has assumed its usual ap-
pearance ; Barnum's is approachable and traversable, Reverdy John-
son's shut up, the rostrum in front of the Court-House taken down,
Loco-focos beginning to peep out of their holes, and friendship and
hospitality assuming their usual quiet habits of entertainment.
New York, May 14. — The annexation of Texas
Texas. to the United States is now the question which regu-
lates all our politics, the pivot on which party-spirit
moves, and the stepping-stone from which presidential candidates
rise, or on which they stumble, to rise no more. The discussion
of the treaty lately entered into by President Tyler and his cabi-
net with Texas has laid open a scene of executive usurpation
which ought to subject the chief to impeachment, and such of
his advisers as remain (some of them were blown up in the
"Princeton"), to disgraceful dismissal from their offices. Mr.
Tyler has, in this instance, usurped the power of Congress to make
war, by ordering naval and military forces to carry out his treaty
before its ratification by the Senate, against the anticipated oppo-
sition of Mexico, — a nation with whom we have the most friendly
relations, whilst we are plotting to steal a valuable part of her
dominions.
Here is the great question of severance between the North and
the South, which is one day to shake this overgrown Republic to
its centre. The Southern States desire the annexation of Texas
to the Union, to strengthen their position geographically and
politically by the prospective addition of four or five slaveholding
222 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat 64.
States. We of the North and East say we have already more
territory than we know what to do with, and more slavery within
our borders than we choose to be answerable for before God and
man. So this Texas question is brought up by the man whom
accident has placed at the head of affairs, and used by designing
demagogues to promote their personal objects at the risk of a
separation of the Union, and the downf;ill of liberty in the
Western world. The several aspirants to the Presidency have
been called upon to declare their opinions on this distracting
question. Mr. Clay, with his characteristic frankness, condemns
the project as dangerous to the tranquillity of the country, unjust
to Mexico, and dishonourable in the eyes of the world. Mr. Van
Buren, in language less explicit, avows the same sentiments.
These opinions have left a door open for other would-be candi-
dates, who would struggle upward by means of the most unscrupu-
lous conduct. In this number is General Cass, who, after having
made himself ridiculous by interfering in affairs with which he had
no concern, comes out now in favour of the measure in all its
length and breadth, declaring war against Mexico, threatening
Great Britain, and scoffing at all the old-fashioned notions in
favour of union and harmony. This is the horse on which this
demagogue would ride into power. Clay must beat them all, for
the country cannot stand a fourth administration like the present
and its two predecessors.
Mav 24. — Seeing in the newspaper this morning a
Old Times. Statement that in pulling down an old house on the
corner of John and Dutch streets some pieces of cannon
were dug up from the cellar, it occurred to me that this must be
my father's house. So I went that way to the office, and, sure
enough, the old house in which my youthful days were passed was
no more to be seen, and a shapeless mass of ruins marked the spot.
I was born in Dutch street, near by. My father bought the house
at the corner something like sixty years ago, and carried on his
business there, and thence spring all my early recollections. How
1844] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE, 223
the old house stood so long (for it was a slight building) I know
not, but whilst I stood gazing at the ruins I mourned over the
departure of an old acquaintance.
But how came the cannon there ? There are three pieces, which,
from the fixtures attached to them, belonged probably to a vessel
(a rebel privateer, perhaps), and were secreted in the cellar of this
house at the commencement of the Revolutionary war, before my
father bought the property. I saw two of these pieces in a black-
smith's shop near by (the other had been taken away), and tried to
get one, as a relic of old times ; and I may yet, if the purchaser
consents to part with it. They have been so long in a state of con-
finement that, like the old man who was released on the destruction
of the Bastille, it will be difficult to make them go off.
One of those incidents occurred this morning so
K^^t^*^ "'^ characteristic of our dear Chancellor. He mystified
me completely. Coming suddenly into the insurance
office, with a book under his arm, he took a chair beside mine, and
the following dialogue took place : '^ Do you write marine risks? "
— " Certainly, sir, it is our business."— " I want some insurance."
— " You," asked I ; " what can you possibly have to do with marine
insurance? " — "I have an interest in a vessel which I wish insured
for nine months." — " Very well, sir, what vessel is it? " — "I sup-
pose that I must disclose everything ? " — '' Certainly." — " Well, she
is as good a vessel as ever floated, staunch and sound ; but I have
no confidence in the captain, and am afraid of barratry, which I
would insure against." — "Well, sir, what is her name? " — "The
good ship Constitution; John Tyler, master; will you write her?"
Acknowledging myself completely taken in, I replied, " Change the
captain, stop up the leaks with clay, and we will write her upon
the most favourable terms." And off went the bright and amiable
octogenarian as suddenly as he entered.
May 28. — The "Monumental City" is again the
Baltimore ^ .... , . , , ,.„
Convention scenc of a great political gathering ; but how different
from that I lately witnessed there ! Then all was
224 THE DTARY OF rillLTP HONE. [.Etat. 64.
union, harmony, confidence, and enthusiasm. Now the Loco-focos
have possession of the ground ; and discord, suspicion, doubt, and
apprehension prevail in their ranks. The convention met yester-
day. Mr. Hendricks, of Pennsylvania, was elected president, with
a vice-president from each State.
The party does not seem pleased with either of their numerous
candidates. Mr. Van Buren, heretofore the standing candidate, has
gotten into bad smell, as the (^ount Lowendahl once said to me,
when he attempted to do maiivaise odcur into English. Dick
Johnson says he won't ride to immortality in the same cart with the
New York candidate ; and, disgraceful as it would be to the
country, there are serious thoughts of that demi- savage being
brought forward for the first office. I would prefer that Mr. Van
Buren should be the man, for in the present state of parties he
would be most easily beaten ; and, in the unlikely event of Mr.
Clay's defeat, I would rather have him than any other candidate on
that side.
]\Iay 30. — Van Buren is killed (politically), and Cass is no
better. The Loco-foco Convention yesterday threw them both
overboard, and nominated James K. Polk, of Tennessee, for Presi-
dent, and Silas Wright, of New York, for Vice -President. How it was
brought about belongs to the Loco-foco chronicles of the times ;
but Polk and A\'right ! Alas for poor Van Buren ! He is the best
of the bunch by great odtls, and to be so repudiated by his political
friends who have so long been accustomed to swear by him ! Et
tu, Brute! And then, the idea of running Silas Wright subordi-
nate to General Jackson's chief cook and bottle-washer. Colonel
Polk ! Some Northern Loco-foco, speaking of the nomination,
says very smartly, " The ticket is like a kangaroo, — it goes
upon its hind legs."
The United States frigate " Constitution " (dear old
Mr. Wise. " Irousides ") sailed yesterday for Rio de Janeiro,
having on board His Excellency Henry A. Wise, Min-
ister to the Court of Brazil, and his family, and Mr. Sargeant, his
iS44-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 225
secretary. Success attend the new Minister ! If he is half as
troublesome there as he was here, they will wish to have my old
acquaintance, Mr. Hunter, back. Some of his colleagues in Con-
gress would send him on a mission to the antipodes or elsewhere,
and keep him there, if they thought there was any chance of his
being reelected to Congress on his return.
May 31. — Among the recorded deaths we some-
evo u lonan ^^^^^^ g^^ ^■j^^ namcs of mcu whose services in the Rev-
Men.
olutionary army must endear them to the present, and
their memory to all future, generations. Two are recorded in the
papers of this day ; namely, at Schenectady, on the 23d May, John
Jacobus Van Voorst, aged one hundred and three years, four
months, and four days ; at Fouda, Montgomery county, on the 1 1 th
of May, Jacob Van Allstyne, in the ninety-sixth year of his age.
He was an adjutant and quartermaster in the Continental army,
and was in the service at the taking of General Burgoyne.
May 31. — The Polk- Van Buren-Cass Convention,
The Loco-foco t-, , . ^ ^ ^ ■ • • 1 1
Convention. ^^ Baltuiiore, closcd their patriotic labours yesterday.
Silas Wright, the nominee for the Vice-Presidency,
not liking the position in which he was placed, subordinate to one
so inferior to himself, and indignant, no doubt, at the ill-treatment
which his friend, Mr. Van Buren, had received at the hands of his
party, peremptorily declined the nomination, notwithstanding a
committee (of which Benjamin F. Butler, the exponent of New
York Loco-focoism, was one) went to Washington to urge his
acceptance. Mr. Wright has done himself great credit by refusing
to lend his name to prop a sinking cause and give currency to
political heresy. In this new dilemma, the convention, after
floundering about in a troubled sea of uncertainty, hoisted a new
signal of distress, and nominated as Vice-President George M.
Dallas, of Pennsylvania, a man who, at the first meeting of this
august assembly, was no more dreamed of than John Tyler. But it
is so ; and now the faithful must change their shout from Van Buren
to Polk, and from Wright to Dallas. In the midst of these polit-
226 THE DIARY OF TIIILIP HONE. [/Etat. 64.
ical squabbles at Baltimore, the ridiculous force has been i:)layed of
the nomination of the present incubus upon the country. A Tyler
Convention (as they called themselves), consisting of a few office-
holders and political adventurers, held a meeting simultaneously
with the Polkites, and agreed to make Mr, Tyler President, if they
can get votes enough. He accepts the nomination in one of those
asinine manifestos in which the father's wisdom is so beautifully
adorned by the son's erudition.
June i . — A white stone to mark the closing hours of
Picnic Dinner, this wcck ! Ncvcr was there a lovelier day, a brighter
sun, and never was nature more daintily decked out
to receive their embraces and profit by their influences. Never
was there a nicer picnic dinner than that provided by John R.
Snedecor, near the Long Island race-course, and never a pleas-
anter party than the 7iine (not the Muses, but votaries and wor-
shippers of their ladyships) who assembled to partake of it. Our
party consisted of Dr. Wainwright, Prescott Hall, David C. Colden,
Mr. Macready, M. C. Patterson, Samuel B. Ruggles, Francis
Griffin, Henry Brevoort, and myself. We left town at half-past
two o'clock, sat down to dinner (i)reviously engaged and the par-
ticulars arranged by Mr. Hall) at half-past four, and started for
home at ten o'clock, just as the full moon arose from the ocean to
light us on our way, and unlike the lamps of us dull mortals, has
grown brighter as the oil consumed.
Mr. Macready, for whom this pleasant affair was gotten up,
delighted us with his conversation, which was occasionally diversi-
fied with his admirable recitations and dramatic readings. The
reverend doctor enjoyed the feast, and added to its charm the
tribute of his intellectual remarks. Brevoort opened wider than
usual the lid of his knowledge-box, and each member of the party
was ready and willing to contribute his stock to the entertainment
and instruction of his companions.
June 10. — Died on Friday last, at his residence, Geneseo,
Mr. James S. Wadsworth, aged seventy-seven years. Mr. Wads-
1844] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 22/
worth was a native of Connecticut, one of the pioneers in the
settlement of the western part of the State of New York, to which
he removed many years ago. His farm on the Genesee river,
above Rochester, is said to be the finest in the State. I liave been
at his house, — a noble mansion, beautifully situated in the heart of
a country rich and fertile as any the sun shines upon, — a country
which not only filled his garners with grain and fattened his cattle
on a thousand hills, but filled his purse to overflowing with the
treasure which buys all things but life, health, and contentment.
June ii. — Mr. Tyler's infamous treaty, by which
reayot j^^^ hopcd to rob Mcxico of her province of Texas,
Annexation. ^ ^ '
against the consent of the people of the United States,
to promote his political ends with the Southern States, at the risk
of plunging the country into an unjust and discreditable war, and
to force the country to assume thereby the enormous debts of a
set of vagabond adventurers, has received its quietus in the Senate,
where it was discussed in secret session several days, and finally
rejected on Saturday.
June 14. — One of those astounding Wall-street stock revolu-
tions has occurred, which are occasionally gotten up by gamblers,
and by which the turn of a day makes nabobs and beggars, and
unsettles the minds of men who watch the brokers' books with
anxiety equal to that which of old attended the developments of
the sibylline leaves. Within the last week many descriptions of
what are csiWed /a/icy stocks were inflated, by the progress of bubble-
blowing, to prices double and quadruple those of the previous
week. Many who had " sold ahead," as it is called in Wall street,
were ruined by the change, and fortunes were made by men who
had not sense nor judgment to make a living in an honest calling.
This inflated state of things lasted three days, and then came the
reverse, which always follows these high-pressure operations. All
of a sudden, stocks fell back nearly to the place where the specula-
tion found them ; the sellers became buyers, pocketed their gains,
and laughed at their dupes. Such is the course of stock-jobbing.
^28 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.ttat. 64.
— a most profligate and ruinous system of gambling, infinitely worse
than any of which the laws take cognizance.
At Home, June 25. — Much has transpired during my short
absence. Congress has adjourned in " most admired confusion,"
after a session (I mean of the House of Representatives) more
disgraceful to the country, and humiliating to all who continue to
love it, than any in tlie annals of our National Legislature. The
Whig majority in the Senate is the salt which has preserved the
body politic. God knows how long that conservative principle
may be suffered to remain ! President Tyler, in the madness of
his misrule, has made many removals and appointments at the
close of the session, some of which were confirmed, but more
rejected. What a patient ass is the American people, and how
well he who rides seems to know them !
July 2. — Mr. Tyler's broom sweeps clean; there is hardly one
important appointment made by General Harrison which has not
fiillen within the scope of its destroying influence. He seems des-
titute of the ordinary feelings of respect for the memory of the
man under whose mantle he was smuggled into office.
July 27. — The road being completed from Brook-
Long: Island 1 . /^-i ■ . • 1 r. 1
lyn to Greenport, — its terminus on the Sound, — a
distance of ninety-two miles, the first trip was made
to-day, with the usual jollifications customary on such occasions. A
large number of invited guests were taken down on the cars,
partook of an entertainment, and returned early in the evening.
Wonderful stories are told of the speed of the steam-team on this
occasion. They went to Greenport in four hours ; but if they had
kept up the speed with which they started, — fourteen minutes to
Jamaica, — the distance might have been accomplished in two.
July 29. — There is a gay, saucy-looking squadron
bT'-'^ of schooner- yachts lying off the Battery, which excites
considerable admiration. About a dozen of these
handsome little vessels, owned by gentlemen of fortune and enter-
l)rise, are preparing for a voyage to Newport, under the command
1844.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 229
of that excellent fellow, John C. Stevens, as commodore, who
hoists his broad pennant and makes his signals in the most ap-
proved man-of-war style. Crowds of people, especially of the
fairer sort, go down to witness this mimic display of maritime
glory ; and some of the most favoured of our belles and nice
young men about town are invited to pleasant parties by the Jack-
tars. The arrival of the squadron at Newport will, of course,
occasion a sensation among the company there, and serve to re-
lieve the monotony of a tolerably dull place of sojournment.
RocKAWAY, August 9. — I grieve to record the death
Coster'' ' ^' ^^ ^^y venerable friend, John G. Coster. He died at
ten o'clock, last evening, in the eighty-second year of
his age. Mr. Coster has done me many kind services ; and I never
asked a favour of him which was not cheerfully, willingly, and dis-
interestedly granted. I was grateful to him living, and honour his
memory now that he is removed from those who loved and
respected him.
August 12. — Mr. Coster's funeral took place yesterday, at five
o'clock. There was a great concourse of people ; for the deceased
was extensively known and greatly esteemed. The ceremonies
were performed by Dr. Wainwright, in St. Mark's Church, in the
cemetery of which the body was interred in the family vault. The
following were the pall- bearers : Major Popham, Chancellor Jones,
James McBride, Maltby Gelston, John Adams, David S. Kennedy,
Edward W. Laight, and myself.
The " Commercial Advertiser " comes this afternoon
, ^^ l"^ ^ ' " in mourning, for the death of its editor, William Leet
ham L, Stone. *^' '
Stone, who died at the residence of his father-in-law,
the Rev. Mr. Way land, at Saratoga Springs, yesterday morning,
aged fifty- two years. Mr. Stone has been editor-in-chief of the
" Commercial Advertiser" since April, 1820. I have long thought
it one of the best papers in the State. Its principles were of the
sound Whig kind, its editorial writings sensible, discreet, and moral,
and its matter generally entertaining, without any pampering to a
230 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [A-Aat. 64.
depraved popular taste. Mr. Stone has written several good books,
principally on subjects connected with the early history of the State,
manners, customs, and annals of the Indian tribes, and of the pub-
lic institutions in which he took an interest, and in which he did
not shrink from his share of the work.
August 22. — I had a nice little party at dinner, consisting of
John V. Kennedy, R. M. Blatchford (who brought us a basket of
delicious fruit), William Wood, Dr. Stevens, our St. Croix friend
Delprat, and M. H. Grinnell. They came at three o'clock, and we
broke up soon after six.
August 30. — I have read the speeches of Mr. Web-
^ ^^, ster and Tudsre Berrien. Both are excellent. I am
Speeches. •' ^
much mistaken if that of the Massachusetts man is not
the best he ever made on such an occasion. It is a clear, sound,
uncontrovertible argument in favour of the Whig doctrines of the
present day. On the subject of protection of American industry
it is glorious. It carries even me beyond the highest point of con-
viction to which I had ever reached. It proves that this principle
lies at the root of the federal compact ; that it was the broad, deep-
laid foundation of the fabric which could never have been erected
upon any other, and he- was provided with facts taken from im-
perishable records and statements derived from the most authentic
sources to prove every word he said.
September ii. — We hear of nothing but great
Electioneering, miss-mectings (as they are called) in all parts of the
country. The Whigs hav^e collected immense gather-
ings at Taunton and at Lynn, in Massachusetts, where Daniel
Web.iter, Rufus Choate, Robert C. Wintlirop, John M. Berrien,
Fr.incis Granger, John P. Kennedy, and a host of the brightest
spirits in the land have been instructing the people in the prin-
ciples for which we are contending, and of which Clay and Freling-
huysen are the index and exemplars. In New Jersey, where the
first State election will take place, similar efforts are being made ;
and if the sovereigns do not get enough of tariff and Texas, they
1844] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 2^1
are the most insatiable gormandizers in the world. We have beaten
the Loco-focos handsomely in Vermont ; but, on the other hand,
their majority in Maine has increased fearfully. It is not so hollow
a thing as it appeared a few weeks since ; party discipline works
well for our opponents, and the prospect of spoils in advance are
mighty encouraging for both parties.
September 19. — A slap at Brother Jonathan. One of the Eng-
lish papers says that the I(?7c>a American Indians, now exhibiting in
London, must not be confounded with the tribe of I.O.C/.'s, who
are natives of Pennsylvania, and intimates that the former are much
the more respectable of the two.
September 20. — The go-ahead principle prevails in
s onis ling ^j^.^ country to such a degree that it must be difficult
to prove an a/i/n' in any case in which locomotion is
concerned ; for it ought not to excite much wonder that a man
should be in two places at once. The " Commercial ildvertiser,"
v/hich I read this day at two o'clock, contains a report, in three or
four columns, of a speech made by Mr. Webster yesterday afternoon
at a great Whig meeting on Boston Common.
Septeaiber 30. — I found yesterday, in overhauling old papers in
a chest of my father's which had not seen the light for a quarter of
a century, many curious records of the days of my infancy and
youth, and some of a still more remote period. In this ancient
cabinet of literary relics I found the certificate of my father's
rights as a freeman of the city of New York, — an important and
honourable privilege. This document is dated 1765, and signed
by John Cruger.
October 9. — I went yesterday to dine at Mr.
inner an Blatchford's, at Hell-Gatc. The party at dinner con-
Reftections. -' ^ -^
sisted of old Mr. J. J. Astor and his train-bearer and
prime minister, Mr. Coggeswell ; Mr. Jaudon ; Ole Bull, the cele-
brated Norwegian violinist (we used to call it fiddler) ; and myself.
In the evening the party was increased by the addition of Mr.
Webster, his brother-in-law, Mr. Page, and Mr. and Mrs. Curtis.
232 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 64.
Ole Bull had his two viohns, and astonished and pleased us by his
wonderful performance. Every note was sounded, from the roar-
ing of a lion to the whisper of a summer's evening breeze ; every
instrument of music seemed to send forth its peculiar tones.
After an hour or two passed in the billiard- room I retired to
bed. When I arose this morning at Mr. Blatchford's, I contem-
plated the delightful scene : the clumps of fine old trees clothed in
the gorgeous foliage of autumn, the lawn still bright and green, the
mild, refreshing breeze, the rapid waters of Hell- Gate covered with
sailing-vessels and steamboats, — all combined to present a picture
of consummate beauty. In this place, so rich in the beauties of art
and nature, in the enjoyment of pecuniary independence and happy
in his family relations, did the former proprietor commit suicide !
Mr. Astor, one of our dinner companions yesterday, presented a
painful example of the insufficiency of wealth to prolong the life
of man. This old gentleman, with his fifteen millions of dollars,
would give it all to have my strength and physical ability ; and yet,
with this example and that recorded above, I, with a good con-
science, and in possession of my bodily faculties, sometimes repine
at my lot. He would pay all my debts if I could insure nira one
year of my health and strength.
October 14. — A Whig meeting was held this evening, of about
thirty gentlemen, at the Astor House. Great and encouraging were
the results. Can a cause fail which is founded upon such prin-
ciples as ours, and supported by such men ? May success be their
reward, and their country know how to appreciate their Hberality !
The first ten men who took pen in hand subscribed $8,100. Of
these, six gave $1,000 each, and they have all been giving to the
same object every day for months past. I cannot resist the satis-
faction of recording their names : George Griswold ; Prime, Ward,
& King ; Grinnell, Minturn, & Co. ; John C. Greene ; Howland &
Aspinwall ; Spofford & Tileston. Benjamin L. Swan gave $600,
three others $500 each, and many ;?25o ; altogether something over
$10,000.
I844-] THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. 233
October 29. — The approaching presidential elec-
The Election, tion engrosses all interest and occupies the minds of
all our citizens. We Whigs believe that the principles
involved in this contest are of the most vital importance. These
principles are well known and openly avowed, whilst our adversa-
ries acknowledge no motive of action but the most malignant and
virulent opposition to our candidates. These are both so strong
in the affections of their political friends, both so distinguished for
talents and public services, and both so clearly and openly iden-
tified with the principles of their party, that every description of
rancorous vituperation is resorted to, to influence the minds and
gain the votes of the ignorant and prejudiced.
October 30. — The great demonstration of the
ig emon. -^y|-,-gg^ which has been in preparation for some time,
came off to-day. It beggars all description. Nothing
so great, so magnificent, so enthusiastic, was ever before wit-
nessed in New York. The several wards marched in rotation,
with all the mechanical crafts on stages superbly ornamented and
employed in their different occupations, with banners and flags, and
every device which ingenuity and zeal could suggest. I cannot
attempt a description. It will be sufficient for this record of the
event, to say that the procession was more than five miles in
length, and composed of the most respectable men of every profes-
sion, trade, and occupation in the city.
The fifteenth ward did me the honour to place me in their cor-
tege in an'open barouche, with Dr. J. W. Francis, Judge Hammond,
and Mr. Nevins. We left Constitution Hall soon after ten o'clock,
and were detained in Canal street and thereabouts until two, when
we took our place in the line. We then followed on down Green-
wich street, around the Bowling Green, up Broadway to Union
place, and down the Bowery, etc. I broke away at Broome street,
on the downward route. After four o'clock, the weather, which
was pleasant in the morning, became raw and uncomfortable, with
gusts of rain and hail ; and I was not very well.
234 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.-Etat. 64.
This was the greatest affair I was ever concerned in. The
houses on the route were decorated with flags, Clay busts,
wreaths and festoons of flowers and evergreens ; and such a wav-
ing of handkerchiefs, and showering of bouquets, and flashing of
bright eyes from tens of thousands of animated female counte-
nances, inspired the hearts of all Whigs, sixty- four years old and
under, — and all above, for aught I know to the contrary. I came
in for a large part of the honours of the day, being cheered and
saluted by name, by many of the groups of the assembled multi-
tude of spectators. My house, also, I was informed, was frequently
cheered in a manner personally gratifying. We were decorated
with flags and evergreens, and had a very handsome display of
lady friends to set us off.
November i. — Our opponents made their appear-
ance this evenmg m a great night procession, as long
as ours on Wednesday, but widely different in the
character of its members. Their appearance was low and vulgar,
and their banners avowed no political principles. '' Destruction
to Clay!" 'M)own with the Coons!" "Polk and Texas!"
"No $50,000,000 Bank!" "Americans shan't rule us!'" (this
is a feet), and such-like inscriptions were emblazoned on their
standards, and brought into light by the torches which sup-
plied the want of the daylight, in whicli the Whigs were not
ashamed to be seen.
November 8. — Yesterday's news from the West and
All Gone. North has settled the question. The State of New
York has gone for Polk and Dallas by a majority of
five or six thousand. This result, which makes them President and
Vice-President of the United States, has been brought about by
foreign votes, made for the purpose. Mr. Clay is again defeated ;
the people have rejected their best friend, and repudiated the
principles by whicli alone national prosperity and individual happi-
ness might have been secured. So let it be ! We must submit, and
have only to pray that the Almighty will avert from the country the
1844] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 235
evils which, from present appearances, the people have brought upon
themselves, and that the administration may turn out better than
some of us now anticipate.
There is a Whig loss in the State since the election of General
Harrison in 1840 of about twenty thousand. The slaveholders of
the South and the abolitionists of the North have gone equally
against us. Free trade and protection have voted for Polk and
Dallas. Mr. Clay's talents, public services, and sound principles
are too much for this perverse levelling generation. The beauty
of his character forms too strong a contrast to their deformity.
The Whigs, at this election, deserted their own candidates almost
in a body. Phoenix, of the first congressional district of the city,
withdrew publicly, and Hamilton Fish virtually ; by which means the
Native Americans carried three out of the four congressmen, — Mil-
ler, Woodruff, and Campbell (the first and the last, by the bye, as
good Whigs as those they succeed) . Mr. Folsom (Native American),
whom nobody knows, and who has never contributed in any way to
the good cause, is elected to the State Senate ; that sound Whig
and practical American, Hiram Ketcham, was also induced to with-
draw. The whole Assembly ticket is elected, and all by the com-
plete cooperation of the Whigs, in the hope that a corresponding
support would be given by their opponents to the Clay electoral
ticket. It was so, to a certain extent ; but the foregoing statement
shows that we gave more than we received.
November 13. — I am sick, sick of election returns ;
ashamed of my countrymen : but I have one brisjht paofe
Massachusetts. J J :> & 1 to
for my journal. There is one star in the deep obscurity
of our political midnight. Glorious old Massachusetts, the cradle
of American liberty, the last refuge of good principles, the faithful
among the faithless, has proved herself worthy of her immortal
sires. Her election was held on Monday ; she gives Clay and
Frelinghuysen twenty-five thousand majority ; more than the aggre-
gate majorities for Polk and Dallas in New York, Pennsylvania, and
Virginia. Governor Briggs is reelected by an immense majority.
236 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.^tat. 64.
All her congressmen are Whigs with the exception of two or three
districts, where the pertinacious abolitionists have prevented a
choice. The indomitable old veteran, John Quincy Adams, is re-
elected, by an increased majority, against the combination of slave-
holders and abolitionists, who stand in awe of his power, and shrink
before the light of truth. The Legislature is Whig three or four
times over. Mr. Webster's eloquence has not been lost upon his
own people, however it may have been contemned in other States,
where envy, hatred, and uncharitableness have sought to keep him
down.
" Light of the pilgrims, seen afar,
Midst cloucls and darkness shining yet !
Now, as of old, fair freedom's star,
The first to rise, the last to set."
November 15. — The majority in the State of New
Election y^^^ ^^^ p^j^ ^^^ Dallas, out of nearly half a million
Returns. ' ^
of votes, is five thousand and twenty-six. Fourteen or
fifteen thousand abolitionists voted for a Mr. Binney, — a man of
straw of their own, — and many voted for the successful candidates ;
few or none for Clay. If those mischievous men had gone with us,
Mr. Clay would have been President. Now the Southern Loco-focos
claim a triumph over us as abolitionists ; this is very provoking,
but " suffering is the badge of all our tribe." Mr. Clay is defeated
by these Northern Ishmaelites, and by naturalized- voters, made
expressly for the purpose.
^ .. , ^., NovEMP.ER 20. — The Historical Society celebrated
Festival of the •'
Historical to-day their fortieth anniversary. The members and
Society. ^j^^^.^ guests assembled at five o'clock, at their rooms in
the University, whence they walked in procession to the Church of
the Messiah, where an address was delivered by Mr. Brodhead, the
gentleman who was sent out by the State to collect, from the archives
of Europe, annals and records and documents relating to the history
of the United States, and especially such as concerned the settle-
ment and early history of New York.
1844] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 237
At eight o'clock the company, to the number of three hundred
gentlemen, sat down to dinner. Among the guests were the vener-
able ex-President, John Quincy Adams ; Mr. Frelinghuysen ; Mr.
Saltonstall, of Massachusetts ; Mr. Reed, of Philadelphia ; President
Day ; President Moore, of Columbia College ; delegates from all the
historical and literary societies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
Pennsylvania ; several distinguished clergymen of this and other
States ; judges, etc., in learned profusion in this array of distin-
guished men. There was a preponderance, of course, of New
England men. A better convocation of learning and talents has sel-
dom been seen in New York, nor was there ever more or better
speaking. The whole affair went off famously, and the company
broke up reluctantly at one o'clock in the morning.
Mr. Gallatin presided during the first hour or two, with Mr.
Adams on his right, and General Almonte, the Mexican Minister,
on his left. It was a glorious sight to see the two octogenarians,
Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Adams, side by side, with heads white as
snow and full of knowledge ; these two stars who shone together
formerly in the fiery heat of opposing politics, shooting hostile
flames at each other, now mingling their waning lights to illumine
the path of science, and gilding with their declining rays the hours
of rational festivity. The vice-presidents, at the head of the table,
were Chief Justice Jones and myself; at the lower end, Messrs.
Lawrence, Bradish, and Benjamin F. Butler. The stewards (and
most attentive ones they were) were P. M. Wetmore, Col. George
Gibbs, B. R. Winthrop, John Jay, J. R. Bartlett, T. Harris, H.
G. Stebbins, A. H. Bradford, A. M. Cozzens, E. C. Benedict.
November 28. — Flying is dangerous. I never open
t^^T^. a newspaper that does not contain some account of dis-
Accidents. ^ ^
asters and loss of life on railroads. They do a retail
business in human slaughter, whilst the wholesale trade is carried on
(especially on the Western waters) by the steamboats.
December 5 . — I went last evening to a party at Mrs. Charles
A. Davis'Sj where I met many of my travelled countrywomen for
238 THE DIARV OF rillLIP HONE. [/Etat. 64.
the first time since their return. Most of them seem to have es-
caped the foppery of foreign manners an 1 the bad taste of anti-
Americanism. There were the lovely Mrs. Sydney Brooks, Mrs.
Robert Ray, Mrs. Crawford, her sister Miss AVard, Miss Pheli)s,
Mrs. Panon, Mrs. and Miss Barclay, — all American foreigners for
a short period. Take them together, I do not think New York has
any reason to be ashamed of her fair representatives.
December ii. — Died in Boston, on Sunday last,
Deathofjudge^^ ^^^ about fourscore, William Prescott. He was a
Prescolt. °
graduate of Harvard, of the class of 1783. Honoured
be his memory, for he was of a race nearly extinct, and which is
now seldom reproduced, — a gentleman of the old school. He was
thrice illustrious : in his ancestry, for his father was Colonel Pres-
cott, who commanded at Bunker Hill ; in himself, for he was dis-
tinguished by virtue, talents, and patriotism ; and in his posterity, for
his son is the accomplished author of " Ferdinand and Isabella."
There is a terrible flare-up between the States of
South Carolina Massachusetts and South Carolina. The former sent
in the Field.
to Charleston Mr. Hoar, one of their aged and respect-
able citizens, to make a friendly issue in the courts of the United
States in relation to the tyrannical and uncourtecDus laws of the lat-
ter, by which they arrested and confined in prison free black men,
citizens of Massachusetts, employed in their vessels, on their arrival
in Charleston. This proceeding gave great umbrage to the doughty
sons of the Palmetto State. Governor Hammond charged a big
gun, in the form of a message, to the Legislature ; and they discharged
a volley of imprecations, vituperations, and denunciations against
the universal Yankee nation in general, and Mr. Commissioner Hoar
in particular, — which missiles, if their power had been equal to the
noise they made, would have been sufficient to frighten all the cod-
fish and haddock out of Boston bay. This catastrophe, however,
was happily averted. But they sent the ambassador packing. He
wisely preferred a sudden retreat to the tender mercy of a furious
mob, who were preparing to attack him, and made his exit in his
IS44-J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 239
own suit of broadcloth, rather than assume one of tar and feathers,
which was in readiness for his equipment. The tempest begins to
growl terribly in Mr. Calhoun's teapot.
December 14. — Honoured be the State which
\' '^^ knows how to do honour to her worthiest citizen !
at Home.
The presidential electors of Kentucky assembled at
Frankfort, according to law, and deposited their votes for Henry
Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen. Their consciences are clear
of the sin of a participation in the national ingratitude which now
soils the escutcheon of America. The high and solemn duty being
performed, and the ceremonials properly attended to, the patriotic
band of electors proceeded in a body, by the railroad, to Lexing-
ton, and thence went on foot in procession, attended by Governor
Owsley, ex- Governors Metcalf and Letcher, and all the honest men
of the place, escorted by a company of volunteer troops, to Ashland,
the residence of the man of whom Kentucky is proud.
Mr. Clay being apprised of their visit, received them on the
lawn in front of his house, and from the steps of his door replied
to their affectionate address, in terms eloquent and impressive, full
of devoted obedience to the voice of the people and prayers for
the happiness of a country which has just evinced a melancholy
w^ant of appreciation of his eminent abilities and patriotic services.
The scene is described by those w^ho witnessed it as one of surpass-
ing interest. America, like other republics, has proved herself un-
grateful ; but Kentucky takes no share of the disgrace. I would
rather be Mr. Clay, with such a vote and such an expression of
the favour of my own State, than the President-elect, with the
hurrahs of a misguided, mercenary mob, the support of the
old incendiary of the Hermitage, and the fruits of successful
fraud and corruption.
December 20. — Mr. Thomas Ludlow Ogden died
T^L 'o den °^"^ Monday evening, aged seventy-one years ; a highly
respected citizen, and a lawyer of considerable emi-
nence. He has been an associate of mine in the vestry of Trinity
240 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 64.
Church ever since I have been there, and long before that period
he was a member, and clerk of the corporation, which office he
held, together with that of warden, at the time of his death.
Abraham Ogden, Charles Ogden, of New Orleans, and j\Irs. Wad-
dington are brothers and sister of the deceased. I attended the
funeral this day, at three o'clock, in St. Paul's Church. The pall-
bearers were Chief Justice Jones, David S. Kennedy, David S.
Jones, A. Tredwell, A\'illiam Bard, Edward ^V. Laight, P. G. Stuy-
vesant, Beverly Robinson.
December 27. — The Reverend Mr. Torrey, one of the philan-
thropic gentlemen who go about meddling with other people's
concerns, and creating bad blood between the different sections
of the Union, has been tried in Baltimore, and, after an able
defence by Reverdy Johnson, convicted and sentenced to an im-
prisonment in the penitentiary for the term of seven years and
three months for the crime of enticing slaves from their master.
This is a tolerably hard sentence ; but slaves are property, and
stealing is stealing, and the law gives it in black and white.
I845-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 24I
1845
'T^HE new year made its appearance clothed in smiles ; the
-^ weather was fine, and the sun shone brightly during the
whole day, and, notwithstanding the muddy condition of the streets,
Broadway and the adjacent thoroughfares were thronged with ani-
mated pedestrians, whilst vehicles of all descriptions were in active
employment. It was summer weather, and . I visited for six hours
without requiring a cloak or an overcoat. God be thanked for all
his mercies ! I have witnessed the close of another year, and find
myself a year older, certainly, but in no respect worse off or less
happy than at its commencement. My faculties are not materially
impaired, my health is good, and my affairs in no respect less
favourable. I am employed pleasantly and profitably as President
of the American Mutual Insurance Company, whose first year's
business closes this day. My family are in good health, with the
exception of my wife, and she has gained strength of late ; so, with
a firm trust in Providence, and a determination to make a good and
honourable use of the blessings I enjoy, here goes for a new year.
January 16. — The old new Dutch Church, on Nas-
^^ ^^ ' sau. Liberty, and Cedar streets, has not been turned
into " a den of thieves," exactly ; but its holy uses have
departed from it. The government has leased it, and it is con-
verted into the post-office ; and a splendid one it is. The exterior
is not much changed. The clock, once famous as Time's criterion,
the rule for courts and schools, churches and banks, by pleading
which, in justification, jurors escaped fines, and school-boys flagella-
tion ; by whose undisputed authority the bells ceased ringing on
Sundays, and protests were legalized, — this ancient chronicle of
Time, old as his hour-glass, still performs its hourly and minutely
duty, its naked hands unchilled by storm or cold, and strikes as
242 THE DIARY 0¥ PI 1 1 LI I' HONE. [.^tat. 65.
hard, but with less malevolent intent, than the practised pugilist.
The gallant cock which surmounts the spire still turns his face to
the enemy, and warns the mariner, the ship-owner, and the under-
writer from which quarter of the compass his danger comes. The
exterior of the building preserves much of its respectable, church-
like appearance ; but the interior has no more resemblance to what
it was when Dr. Livingston's voluminous white wig filled the minds
of the worshipping burgomasters with a holy awe, when the
eloquence of Linn warmed for a brief space their torpid imagina-
tions into momentary activity, or the mild, persuasive voice of
Abeel "almost persuaded them to be Christians," — no more
resemblance, I say, than Gardiner's shop, down Broadway, has to
the Quaker meeting-house.
January 27. — Dined with Mr. George Curtis. The party was,
Mr. Webster, M. H. Grinnell, Austin Stevens, Charles King, J.
Prescott Hall, R. I\L Blatchford, T. Tileston, John Ward, Edward
Curtis, and myself. This is the first time I have met the g/ra/
senator during his present visit. I was invited to dine with him at
Blatchford's on Friday, and at Draper's on Saturday, but had to
decline both invitations.
February i. — This beautiful ship sailed for Canton
bow " ^'" ^^^^ morning loaded with American manufactures, — a
strange revolution in trade. The same articles which
we formerly imported from China, and for which nothing but dol-
lars would pay, are now manufactured here at one-third of the cost,
and sent out to pay for teas. The difficulty now is to find sufficient
returns for the x\merican cargoes. We do not send them specie, —
not a dollar. It would be much more likely to come from there.
I went yesterday with Samuel S. Rowland on board the " Rain-
bow," — the finest ship in model, symmetry, and finish that
ever left this port. She appeared to me like a pilot-boat or a
race- horse ; she was so long and slim, and everything about her
so clean and taper. If she does not sail fast there are no fish
in the sea.
1^45] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 243
February 25. — Ah, well-a-day ! The race is ahnost
Patriot" ^ extinct, and modern vocabularies preserve the term
only among the obsolete words, of which the present
generation have almost forgotten the meaning ; but old Ashiir
Robbins was one. This venerable man, who has been for the last
half-century one of the most prominent public men of Rhode Island,
died on Sunday last, at his residence in Newport, aged eighty-eight
years. He represented the State for fourteen years in the Senate
of the United States ; was a Whig of the truest principles, and one
of the best scholars in the United States. He was appointed
postmaster of Newport during the brief administration of General
Harrison, and held the office at the time of his death. If Tyler
had known how good a man he was, and some one of his satellites
had wanted the office, the venerable patriot would not have been
left in possession of this small boon of a grateful party.
February 27. — I dined with Mr. Henry A. Coit. The party,
besides the host and hostess, consisted of Mr. Horsley Palmer, D.
C. Golden, George M. Woolsey, William H. Aspinwall, John Hicks,
Theodore de Hon, J. D. P. Ogden, Gharles H. Russell, William S.
Miller, George Barclay, William S. Wetmore, and myself.
March i . — The great question of the annexation of
„"^ ^"^ Texas, which has kept the public mind in an unprece-
Sister Texas. ' l i. i
dented state of excitement, and the result of which was
doubtful until the last moment, was carried in the Senate, by means
the most unconstitutional, on Thursday evening. The party who
elected Mr. Polk was determined to carry it through at all hazards,
and the foundations of the Republic have been broken up to
accomplish the object. The end of all these things is at hand.
The Constitution is a dead-letter, the ark of safety is wrecked, the
wall of separation which has hitherto restrained the violence of
popular rage is broken down, the Goths are in possession of the
Capitol, and if the Union can stand the shock it will only be
another evidence that Divine Providence takes better care of us
than we deserve.
244 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 65.
Miss Delia Webster, who was convicted in Kentucky,
o 1 ion in ^^^^1 sentenced to four years' confinement in the peni-
Kcntucky. ■' ^
tentiary for the crime of abducting slaves, has been
pardoned by Governor Owsley, and sent home to her mamma in
Vermont, who probably did not '' know she was out." She will
now, it is to be hoped, profit by the lesson she has had to abstain
from meddling in other people's concerns. The sentence was, no
doubt, just ; and, the law being satisfied, it was probably as well that
the executive clemency should be extended to the lady. But her
accomplice, a man named Fairbanks, who was sentenced to fifteen
years' imprisonment, will probably not get off so well. He will be
indulged, a few years at least, in reflecting between four walls
upon the danger of too much zeal in the cause of abolition.
March 4. — St. Polk's day. On this day the new President of
the United States is inaugurated at Washington, and Whittington
was not more astonished when the famous prediction of Bow
Bells, " Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London ! " was
realized by his investiture with the magisterial ermine, than Mr.
Polk must be in finding himself " King of the Yankee Doodles," as
Cooke, the tragedian, designated our President. Office- hunters,
demagogues, and political trumpeters are now shouting at the top
of their '' sweet voices " for a triumi)h to which each of them claims
the merit of having mainly contributed, and of whom many of
the number will be sadly disappointed when they come to find
that the public swill-pail, capacious as it is, has not room for all
their snouts. As for the Whigs, we have more cause to rejoice
at the retirement of Mr. Tyler than to mourn over the acces-
sion of Mr. Polk.
March 5. — The address of the new President,
Inaugural i • i ...
Address. which was made yesterday at noon, \\\ the ram, on the
steps of the great eastern portico of the Capitol, at
his inauguration, was here last night, at eleven o'clock, and is pub-
lished this morning. It is a plain, sensible document, not very
elegantly written, but ajiparently honest, and creditable, on the
1845.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 245
whole, to its author. He professes as much as Mr. Tyler did
when he swore to defend the Constitution and administer the
government with justice and impartiality. God grant that he
may redeem his pledges with truth and sincerity,' as the latter
certainly did not !
March 6. — I dined yesterday with a party at Mr. David S.
Kennedy's ; the guests were : Mr. Horsley Palmer^ Daniel Lord, Jr.,
William H. Aspinwall, J. D. P. Ogden, John Gihon, Mr. James,
William B. Astor, Thomas Dixon, John J. Palmer, Thomas W.
Ludlow, and myself.
April 7. — The site of Washington Hall, in Broad-
Relics of
Old Tunes. '^^'^Y? bctweeu Chambers and Reade streets, was
lately sold by the heirs of Mr. John G. Coster to
A. T. Stewart, who is preparing to erect on the ground a dry-
goods store, spacious and magnificent beyond anything of the
kind in the New World, or the Old either, as far as I know. In
removing the rubbish which remained after the hall was burned,
the corner-stone was brought to light and exhumed this morning,
with some formalities, resembling in a degree those of its original
deposition. Well do I remember the ceremony of laying this
corner-stone on the 4th of July, 1809, when the Federalists
were on their high horse, and when I subscribed ^250, — which I
wish I had now, — and walked in procession to the North Church,
where Gulian C. Verplanck (who happened just then to be a
Federalist) delivered the oration, and Robert Morris, Jr., father of
Robert H. Morris, the late mayor, now an ultra- Democrat, then
an out-and-out Federalist, was one of the vice-presidents of the
Washington Benevolent Society. These firebrands of that fine
old party are now shining lights in the Loco-foco camp, and abuse
their old associates who continue to fight under their original col-
ours. How do the very stones rise up in judgment against them !
In excavating the cellar of the house to be erected
o
Another. by Johu C. Stcvcus ou part of the ground which he has
leased from the college, at the corner of Murray
246 HIE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [Etat. 65.
Street and College place, two pieces of cannon were found in per-
fect preser\^ation. They are supposed to be of the number of
those which were captured on the 23d of August, 1775, from the
king's troops, by '^ the liberty boys," led by young Alexander
Hamilton, with his collegians. The pieces were buried in the
college grounds, and are now brought to light, as two others were,
a short time since, in the cellar of my fiither's house in John street.
Overturn, overturn, overturn ! is the maxim of New York. The
very bones of our ancestors are not permitted to lie quiet a
quarter of a century, and one generation of men seem studious to
remove all relics of those which preceded them. Pitt's statue no
longer graces Wall street, the old Presbyterian Church has given
place to the stalls of the money-changers, and the Croton river
has washed away all traces of the tea-water pump.
April ii. — The club dined with me yesterday, and
Club Dinner, ^j^^ ^-j^y should bc marked with a " white stone," for
it was one of great enjoyment. Mr. A\'ebster was with
us, and we all agreed tliat we had never seen him so agreeable
and entertaining. He was rich in anecdote and story, and his own
early history, and that of his ancestors formed his most delightful
theme. Our dinner and wine were unimpeachable. The following
members of the club were present : Crinnell, lUatchford, George
Curtis, Spofford, Edward Curtis, John Wartl, Colt, Hall, Jaudon,
Draper, and Philip Hone ; and, in addition, we had Mr. Webster,
James Monroe, and Charles King.
April 15. — I am sorry that Nathaniel P. Tallmadge has been
removed from the office of Governor of Wisconsin, to which he
was lately appointed by Mr. Tyler, and in which he had hardly
settled himself. The system of proscription is carried to a more
shameful extent now than ever. Some f^iint hoi)es were enter-
tained that this new man of ours, having the power to act inde-
pendently, would not follow the infernal ])olicy of indiscriminate
remov^als from office. But whether the devil puts it into his heart,
and he enjoys this exercise of abused power, or the wolves, who
1845] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 247
bay for more carcasses than he can supply, have driven hnn mad,
he turns out all Whigs, Conservatives, and Tyler men, and bestows
his favours upon the most profligate of his followers. All the
principal actors in the disgraceful rebellion in Rhode Island have
been supplied with government places. The Collector of Provi-
dence, the United States Marshal, and the District Attorney have
been removed from office to make places for leading Dorrites,
who would accept a public office now when they may enjoy the
privilege of sawing wood or mining coal.
May 3. — This splendid packet, the largest mer-
up cnry ^.j^^^j^j-j^^j^ j^j ^j^g United States, is now fitted up and
Clay." ' '■
nearly ready for sea. Her accommodations and the
magnificence of her cabins exceed anything we have yet seen.
Her berths are nearly all taken, and on Wednesday next she is to
sail for England. May she prove worthy of her name, and reach
''the haven where she would be " with more certainty of success
than her illustrious namesake did the haven where he ought to be !
I was one of a highly pleased and exceedingly jolly party who
dined yesterday on board this noble ship, on the invitation of her
enterprising owners, Grinnell, Minturn, & Co. We poured a full
libation to her success, and if complimentary toasts and speeches,
hearty cheers and good wishes, will do the ship, her owners, build-
ers, commander, and crew any good, they had them all in honest
doses, not measured by homoeopathic practitioners. The party
consisted of M. H. Grinnell, Henry Grinnell, Robert B. Minturn,
Captain Nye, George Curtis, Mr. Delprat, J. W. Webb, Charles
King, M. C. Patterson, James A. Hamilton, his son Alexander,
Ogden Hoffman, Mr. Vermilyea, Mr. Neil of Ohio, Captain Rogers,
George W. Blunt, Mr. Kinney of New Jersey, and myself.
May 20. — Richard Caton died yesterday, in Balti-
Faliir""^ more, aged eighty-three years. He came to this coun-
try when twenty- one years of age, and married one of
the daughters of Mr. Charles Carroll. Mr. Caton was father of the
Marchioness of Wellesley, the Duchess of Leeds, and Lady Stafford ;
248 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 65.
and his granddaughter, Miss McTavish, is now engaged to the
Hon. Henry Howard, son of the Earl of CarHsle, and brother of
the Duchess of Sutherland and Lord Morpeth.
The ladies of this family (natives though they be of Yankee-
doodle-dom) seem to possess, in a high degree, the power of
capturing the aristocracy of England ; and it is said that royalty
itself was not insensible to the charms of some of them.
May 22. — " In the midst of life, we are in death." There have
been two sad and melancholy monitors of the truth of this passage
of Scripture. At four o'clock I attended the funeral of Robert C.
Cornell, and at six that of Benjamin E. Bremner. Here were two
men, with whom I have been during a large portion of my life in
habits of almost daily intercourse, both swept off, as it were, in an
instant ; the smooth, deceitful stream of human life is suddenly
disturbed, as if by the casting of a stone, which sinks into the
depths of forgetfulness, the waters close over it, and the stream
rolls on as before. Poor Bremner ! I saw him every day at the
office, or in the evening at the Union Ckib ; he was a gentleman
amiable in disposition and correct in deportment.
The other case is that of Robert C. Cornell, one of the best men
in our city, who has been engaged during his whole life in acts of
benevolence, who has been employed in season and out of season
in all the prominent charitable institutions of our city, and, unlike
most men, never blew the trumpet of his own fame. I have been
associated with this good Samaritan more than twenty years in the
Bank for Savings, of which he was secretary at its commencement.
He never foiled to perform his duties with alacrity and fidelity.
Since I have been president, his place on my left hand, at the board
of trustees, has never been vacant. How lie will be missed ! I
was seated in the office, talking with Mr. George Griswold, on Tues-
day, at three o'clock, when we saw Mr. Cornell brought from the
office of the Farmer's Loan and Trust Company opposite, of which
he was president, and put into a carriage. I ran over and spoke to
him ; but he replied not, and " word spake he never more." He
1845] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 249
had been stricken with apoplexy, and died a few minutes after.
He was a man of deeds, and not of words; the noblest work of
God, — an honest man.
May 23. — The city of New York is so overgrown
Garden ^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^ Upper rcgious do not know much more
about what is passing in the lower, nor the things which
are to be seen there, than the inhabitants of Mexico or Grand Cairo.
I wad informed, by a notice which I saw accidentally in a news-
paper, that the Italian Opera Company was to perform on Friday
evening, at Castle Garden, scenes from " La Semiramide " and " Le
Barbier de Seville." This was the last night of that suburban place
of amusement ; and, lo and behold ! when I entered, I found myself
on the floor of the most splendid and largest theatre I ever saw, —
a place capable of seating comfortably six or eight thousand persons.
The pit or area of the pavilion is provided with some hundred
small white tables and movable chairs, by which people are enabled
to congregate into little squads, and take their ices between the
acts. In front of the stage is a beautiful fountain, which plays when
the performers do not. The whole of this large area is surmounted
by circular benches above and below, from every point of which the
view is enchanting. Here, too, is an excellent company of Italians,
among whom are Signoras Pico and Majocchi, and Signors
x\ntonigni, Valtotina, and Sanguirico, performing the finest operas of
Rossini ; and all this, with plenty of fresh air if the weather should be
ever warm enough to require it, for the moderate price of fifty cents.
May 24. — The Rev. Alonzo Potter, of Union College, Schenec-
tady, was elected yesterday Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania,
in place of the Rev. Henry W. Onderdonk. Dr. Potter is an emi-
nent man, son-in-law of President Mott, a Presbyterian divine. He
is, no doubt, a very suitable man for the bishopric ; but he must be
as much surprised at his sudden elevation in the church as Colonel
Polk was at his in the State ; but I beheve the church has made the
best bargain. Dr. Tyng has accepted a call from St. George's
Church, in this city, to supply Dr. Milnor's place.
250 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 65.
May 26. — Prescott Hall drove me out in his carriage to dine
with Mr. Blatchford, at Hell-Gate. Our pleasant little party con-
sisted of Mr. Hall; his brother-in-law, Mr. DeWolf; Mr. Jaudon,
that fine old English gentleman ; Mr. Horsley Palmer ; and myself,
besides the family. The day was pleasant, the salmon good, and
we had a cosey time.
May 28. — Gracie King, son of Mr. James G. King,
Highwood. lately married Elizabeth Duer, President Duer's nice
daughter. She is seeing company, as a bride, at High-
wood, her father-in-law's lovely place in Jersey. My daughter is
one of a party of young ladies who are attending the bride, and
pass the week at Highwood. I went over with my wife, Emily
Foster, and Mrs. Oliver Kane, in Maria DePeyster's carriage, to
pay a bridal visit.
June 4. — The ship " Muskingum," a vessel of three
Enter^Tise hundred and fifty tons, arrived at Liverpool on the 15th
of April, from Cincinnati, Ohio, with a cargo of pro-
visions. This is one of the wonders of '' Young America." The
place where this ship was built was unknown fifty years ago. She
had one thousand seven hundred miles to go before she started
on her voyage.
„ ,, ^ Tune 17. — The universal American nation is in
Death of -' '
General moumiug. Stripcs, black as those which border certain
jac son. resolutions in the archives of the Senate, darken the
columns of the newspapers. The flags on vessels' masts, liberty-
poles, and public houses are hoisted at half-mast ; the conscript
fathers of the city, overwhelmed with grief, suspend their labours, and
retire, sorrowing, to their respective domiciles ; the standard of the
Empire Club is shrouded in crape, and the newspaper boys blow
their horns and proclaim the news of General Jackson's death.
Now, to my thinking, the country had greater cause to mourn on
the day of his birth than on that of his decease. This iron-willed
man has done more mischief than any man alive. Indomitable in
action, he carried the fury of the warrior into the administration of
1845] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 25 I
civil affairs, referring all things to personal motives ; his iron heel
trampled upon the necks of all who stood opposed to his political
measures, or dared to gainsay his dogmatical opinions. The un-
disputed head of a violent, proscriptive party, himself constituting
its central power, he did more to break down the republican
principles of the government and enslave the minds of the people
than all the rulers who went before him ; and yet no man ever
enjoyed so large a share of that pernicious popular homage called
popularity. " Old Hickory," " The hero of New Orleans," " The
second Washington," "The old General," are the endearing epi-
thets which old women have taught the "lips of infancy to lisp,"
and sturdy men have gloried in proclaiming at the top of their
voices.
Our Mayor, in announcing this event to the Common Council,
does not hesitate to call the deceased ex-President " the greatest
and best man in the country." Great he was in the unbending
exercise of his stubborn will, and good it may be humbly hoped he
has proven himself in the awful Court of Inquiry where his actions
are to be judged ; but it was somewhat bold in Mr. Havemeyer to
use expressions so unqualified. General Jackson is gone, and all
good people should pray to be delivered hereafter from the effects
of popularity such as followed him.
General Jackson died at his residence, in Nashville, Tennessee,
on Sunday, the 8th, at six o'clock P.M., aged seventy-eight years
and nearly three months. He was born in the Waxhaw settlement,
South Carolina, on the i6th of March, 1767.
June 18. — In the evening I went to a gentlemen's party and
supper at Mr. James W. Gerard's fine new mansion in Twentieth
street. The party was large. It consisted of the members of the
Court of Errors, the Chancellor, Judges of the Supreme Court and
of the United States, the Recorder, all the eminent members of the
bar, and some of the Hone Club. The host at one end of the
table, and Dr. Francis at the other, with sundry bottles of cham-
pagne, made considerable noise.
252 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat.65.
There has been a new organization of the police, by
Attempt at ^yhich a general superintendent was to be appointed :
Independence.
a sort of Fouche, with powers less extensive. For this
office, the Mayor, Loco-foco as he is, nominated Justice Taylor, a
Whig, for the old, obsolete, and very insufficient reason that he,
being the best qualified man in the city, ought to have the office
without regard to politics. So, also, thought the Aldermen, for a
majority of them voted to confirm the nomination. But this spark
of reason was soon extinguished by the patriotic Board of Assist-
ants, who repudiated the new-born liberality of their brethren,
and turned the nominee honestly out of doors. They non-con-
curred, and yesterday His Honor nominated Justice Matsell,
who suited them better. He was confirmed, and the new system
goes into operation.
Grace Church, at the corner of Broadway and
Grace Church. Rcctor Street, has been sold for $65,000. It is to be
converted into stores below, and the upper part into a
splendid museum of Chinese curiosities, which is likely to prove a
good speculation. Dr. Taylor, the rector, preached the last ser-
mon on Sunday last, in the old edifice. The congregation will
occupy a temporary place of worship until their splendid new
church, at the upper end of Broadway, is finished. It will be sec-
ond only to the magnificent Trinity, and will probably be finished
about the same time.
June 26. — Yesterday, at twelve o'clock, a party of ladies and
gendemen, to the number of three or four hundred, assembled on
board the steamer " New York," which was chartered by Mr. T.
W. Ludlow to transport the transported party to one of the most
pleasant and well-conducted entertainments I have ever witnessed,
at his delightfiil villa on the banks of the Hudson, near Yonkers,
or Philipsburgh. It was a regular New York affair ; all the finest
married women and the prettiest girls of the city were there, with
judges, lawyers, merchants, and a numerous representation of West-
chesterites, — all like the celebrated Billy Taylor, " full on mirth and
1845] THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. 253
full on glee." Tables were spread in marquees under the trees,
where every delicacy was provided to eat and drink ; a fine band
of music played during the day, and on board the boat during her
return to the city. Cotillons, waltzes, and polkas were danced in
the house, on the lawn, and on the promenade-deck of the steamer.
Several private yachts enlivened the scene on the water ; and at
half-past seven we reembarked and got safely home without acci-
dent, and all highly pleased with our entertainment and the hospi-
talities of our host and hostess.
Boston, July 7. — I started this morning from
Excursion to -p, , , . , , . > i i
M hfi 1 1 Brooklyn, at a quarter to nme o clock, on my excur-
sion to Massachusetts, and in exacdy three hours and
three minutes was at Greenport, — ninety-five miles ; fast enough,
in all conscience. Greenport is a pretty place in Poconock bay,
on the Sound, and must in time, I should think, be a desirable
retreat for New Yorkers.
After all this straining of the limbs and nerves of the iron horse
we had to stop here for an hour, waiting the arrival of the steam-
boat to carry us across the Sound. The boat came to New Lon-
don, and thence up the Thames to Allen's Point, where the Norwich
& V/orcester Railroad commences ; so we came on to Boston at
ten o'clock, having lost another hour waiting for a train at Oxford.
It has been a hard day's travel, as all railroad cantering is, and I
find I have had enough of the Long Island route. But the mis-
fortune I have met with in starting has not tended to put me in
the best possible humour. I found on arriving here that I had
lost my trunk and dressing-case. I saw them j^ut in the baggage-
crate in New York. My only hope is that they were left at Green-
port, in which case I have taken measures to have them sent on.
Marshfield (on the broad waters of Cape Cod bay), July 8.
— Boston was hotter last night — that is, the little room in the Tre-
mont House in which I was baked — than Chabert's parlour in the
iron stove where he used to take his recreation at boiling heat. I
was glad when nine o'clock came ; and, having borrowed a shirt
254 'fHE DIARY OF FHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 65.
from Mr. Belknap, Judge Warren, Mr. Draper (who came on this
morning), and I embarked in the pretty steamboat with a pretty
name (the " Mayflower "), and came to Hingham, — a pleasant
watering-place, with a large hotel, on the bay. We found Mr.
Webster's carriage waiting for us, and soon started for Marshfield,
sixteen miles, where we arrived in time to dress for dinner. But,
alas ! my garments were all borrowed.
Our recei)tion by the noble master of the mansion and his
amiable, kind, and ladylike wife was everything that heart could
wish. In addition to all his other great qualities, Mr. Webster is
the very perfection of a host. At one moment instructive and
eloquent, he delights his guests with the charms of his conversa-
tion ; then, full of life and glee as a boy escaped from school, he
sings snatches of songs, tells entertaining stories, and makes bad
puns, in which his guests are not behind him.
The house has been lately enlarged and beautified, and is fitted
up with great taste. The library, in a splendid new wing, is such
a one as might be expected to appertain to Daniel Webster. As
for my chamber, which is on the first floor, adjoining the library,
to which it gives me access, it is the perfection of sleeping. The
table is capital ; everything is given at the top of the heart j and
while there is no cmprcsscmciit^ every wish is anticipated. He ap-
pears to like his guests ; and, for myself, I am bound to him by
hoops of iron.
July 9. — The journal of this day is as follows : After breakfast
Mr. Webster drove Draper and me over his extensive grounds
down to the beach, where his boats were ready for a fishing excur-
sion, which is one of his greatest enjoyments. Here was this won-
derful man, on whose lips unsurpassed eloquence has so often hung,
whose pen has directed the most important negotiations, and
whose influence has governed Senates, in a loose coat and trousers,
with a most picturesque slouched hat, which a Mexican bandit
might have coveted, directing his people, — whose obedience grows
out of affection, and who are governed by the force of kindness, —
1845] THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. 255
regulating the apparatus, examining the bait, and helping to hoist
the sails and " hold on to the main sheet." So off we went to sea
in the good sloop " Comet ; " and a tidier, more obedient, smarter
little craft is not to be found in Massachusetts bay. We had toler-
ably good sport for a couple of hours ; but the sea was rough, and
the vessel uneasy, the effect of which was that I became very sick ;
but it was some consolation to me that the Lord High Admiral was
in the same condition. " I don't wish it made too public, sir," said
I ; " nor would I have it put in the newspapers ; but I am sick !
sick ! " — " My case exactly," said he ; " and I have tried to keep
this miusual circumstance a secret ; but it won't do, and we must
go ashore." So we returned, and our health and cheerfulness
returned with us also.
We dined at half-past four, and here was this hero of the
slouched hat dressed for dinner, presiding at his table (and a
sumptuous meal it was) with the grace and elegance of high
breeding, enlivening by his cheerfulness and vivacity the solid
hospitality of the feast, and mingling lessons of wisdom with
unconsidered effusions of good- humour. Fletcher Webster and Mr.
Greenough came down from Boston and joined our party, and two
Messrs. Hedge, of Plymouth, were guests at dinner. We had a
pleasant game of harmless whist in the evening, and retired at ten
o'clock.
July 10. — This day was devoted to a journey to Plymouth,
under the charge of Judge Warren. The distance by land is about
twenty miles ; the drive was pleasant, the country of the " old
colony " interesting, and Plymouth, with the Pilgrim Rock and all
the relics of the forefathers, a fruitful theme, agreeable to them in
the recital and to us in the hearing. The two Messrs. Hedge,
brothers-in-law of our friend Warren, and his aged mother, one of
those bright, intelligent. New England women who are difficult to
match, were our entertainers at Plymouth. The venerable lady
showed us many interesting remains of Pilgrim days : the chair
which was occupied by Lady Otis, as she was called, her grand-
256 THE DIARY OV Till 1.11' IKJNE. [/Etat. 65.
mother of many generations, when a Pilgrim passenger on board
the "Mayflower," in 1620; (lovernor Winslovv's chair; plates
brought by the Otis family from Holland ; together with most
interesting letters from (ieneral and Mrs. AVashington to Colonel
Warren, her husband, and my friend's father; and especially one
from John Adams, written the day after the destruction of the tea
in Boston haibor, beginning ''The die is cast," full of patriotic
exultation, fearless of consequences, and confident of success. It
was " all for liberty or a world well lost."
Our drive back through Duxbury, Scituate, and other pretty
places and towns of the " old colony," with fine weather, agreeable
company, and the " squire's " capital horses, are things to be re-
membered. We returned to Marshfield to dine, after which Farmer
Webster showed us his capacious barns, in which many a ton of
good Puritan hay is just now being condemned to the rac/c ; fields
of oats supporting their heavy heads upon slender, but healthy,
limbs ; cattle combining the advantages of foreign and domestic
blood ; cows whose sleek sides bear the comfortable signs of milk,
butter, and cheese ; every vegetable, from the diminutive bean up
to the unwieldy pumpkin ; while the broad sea lay before him,
containing a certain harvest of piscatory enjoyments.
I am no longer dependent upon the wardrol)es of my friends ;
my trunk and writing-case came down to Marshfield this evening.
I have not learned where they "slipped out of the slings," nor do
I care ; I have them, to my great satisfaction.
July ii. — A day to mark with a white stone. The High
Admiral ordered us out immediately after breakfast. We repaired
to the beach, embarked in the " Comet," and put to sea, — Mr.
Webster, Draper, and 1, with Dr. Perkins, who came here yesterday
on a visit with Mrs. Perkins. The wind was fivouraljle, the weather
fine, and all things propitious. Casting anchor five or six miles
from land, we went to work, and the result of our labour was the
capture of twenty-six cod and twenty-two haddock, weighing more
than three hundred pounds. I never had such sjjort and never
1845] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 257
saw such " spoils," and the sail home in our beautiful yacht was
delightful. We returned to a late dinner, of which our fish formed
an important part, and the cool wine, taken under the shade of
the noble lime-trees in front of the house, to which the agreeable
conversation of our noble host gave a zest of the richest character,
closed a day to which there was no alloy but the recollection that
it was the last we had to spend at Marshfield.
New Bedford, July 12. — Mr. Draper, Judge Warren, and I
left Marshfield, at seven o'clock this morning, in Mr. Webster's
carriage, and came to Hingham, where we embarked in the " May-
flower," and got to Boston at twelve o'clock, the hottest day of the
summer. The good people of Boston, who go beyond their
neighbours in all they undertake, have gotten the thermometer up
to 100, and are gasping with heat. I determined at once to go to
Nahant this evening to sleep, and to remain to- morrow ; but my
plan was suddenly changed. Mr. Joseph Grinnell came in pur-
suit of me, and insisted on my going home with him to New
Bedford. As this was part of my original plan, 1 did not require
much persuasion ; and so, having called and made my excuses
to Mr. Otis, whose kind invitation to dinner for to-day was sent
and accepted soon after my arrival, and having taken a hasty
dinner at the Tremont, I parted from my fellow-traveller, and
came away with Grinnell, on the railroad, at four o'clock, and
entered my agreeable quarters at his house before tea-time, —
only fifty-seven miles.
July 19. — It is not quite ten years since the city
Great Fire. of Ncw York was visitcd with the dreadful conflagra-
tion which laid the most valuable part of the business
portion of the city in ruins, anei destroyed property to the amount
of $20,000,000. This day wiU also be marked with lines on
the city's calendar not so extensive, but equally black. A fire
has occurred, the loss of which is probably $5,000,000; severa?
of the insurance offices are ruined, and all crippled. My office
I fear, is in the former category. We have lost between three
258 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 65.
and four hundred thousand dollars, which is more than we can
pay. This is a hard stroke for me. I was pleasantly situated,
with a moderate support for my declining years, and now
" Othello's occupation's gone." It is very hard ; and a large
share of philosophy is required to support it. But the Lord's will
be done ! I have still much to thank Him for, and trust that He
will endue me with resignation to bear up against this and the
other misfortunes with which my latter years have been visited.
This fire is not only extensive and destructive, but is marked
with circumstances of an extraordinary nature. The great fire
of 1835 occurred in the month of December, when the weather
was so cold that the firemen could not work, and the water from
the engines froze before it reached its destination. This hap-
pened about the break of day, in warm, mild weather, with no
wind and a plentiful supply of water. The firemen have done
their duty nobly, and the civil and military police merit all praise
for their exertions. The fire broke out in a repository of salt-
petre in New street, — a narrow street, with high houses. There
was apparently no danger of its spreading, and the firemen had
gotten it under when a dreadful explosion took place. A gas-
ometer, as it is supposed, burst ; some say gunpowder, and others
a thousand bags of saltpetre ; but there are strong doubts whether
the latter article can explode with such dreadful effects. Be it
as it may, here was the cause of this awful calamity. The stores
in Broad street, some of the finest in the city, on one of the
broadest streets, were instantly overthrown ; the flames were com-
municated in every direction. Several lives were lost at this
moment, of firemen and others, and scarcely a house in Wall
street, Broadway, Greenwich street, and the other adjacent
streets escaped injury by the breaking of the windows. The
people on Staten and Long Islands were roused by what was
thought to be an earthquake. Destruction followed in this rich
and populous district. All Broad street, with the exception of
five or six tenements on each side nearest Wall street, and ex-
1845] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 259
tending nearly down to the East river, is a heap of undistinguish-
able ruins ; all Beaver street, from William street to the Bowling
Green, is destroyed ; nearly the whole of New street, Exchange
place, and South William street, with their immense quantities
of merchandise. Like the fire of 1835, the progress of the flames
was so rapid, and its approach so unexpected, that scarcely any-
thing was saved. All, all lies smouldering in ruins. The flames
ran up Exchange place to the Waverley House, which is a mag-
nificent ruin ; thence all the fine buildings down Broadway to
Marketfield street, including Abraham Schermerhorn's hotel, at
the corner of Beaver street, are gone. Here it crossed the
widest part of Broadway and burned all the houses from Morris
street, including Robert Ray's great granite edifice, Brevoort's
house, Gardiner Howland's three houses, and all down to Edward
Prime's, which is saved.
The number of buildings burned is estimated at nearly three hun-
dred, a large proportion of which were of the most valuable class.
They, as well as the goods in the stores, are no doubt insured ; but
it remains to be seen how far the offices can pay. We are all in
confusion at the American. I was at the office until a late hour
this evening, cancelling fire and marine policies ; for I have very
little doubt that the office is bankrupt, and I have advised the
insured to cancel ours, and open new policies elsewhere. There
is nothing left for me but truth and honesty. There shall be no
concealment. My prospects are all blasted in the destruction of
this company, but I have nothing for which to condemn myself.
The fire insurance was especially my department ; there has been
no want of diligence or . discretion ; there never was a list of
better policies, taking into view the nature of the risks and the
character of the insured. Fortune is against me. I must submit.
The Lord's will be done !
July 31. — I have received an exceedingly kind letter of con-
dolence, in my misfortunes, from John P. Kennedy, the estimable
member of Congress from Baltimore, who is at present at Sharon
26o THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 65.
Springs, and this morning received a present of grapes, for my
wife, from Roswell L. Colt, of Paterson, accompanied by a note
full of the kindest and most complimentary expressions. There
is balm in this.
RocKAWAY. — I came down in the five-o'clock evening train to
enjoy a couple of days of relief from the care and trouble of my
broken Wall-street concern. The glorious ocean rolls its multi-
tudinous waves upon the monotonous beach as it has for by-gone
ages, regardless of the ruined masses of Broad street and Ex-
change place, and recedes to its unlimited caverns just as it did
before the American Mutual Insurance Company was left high
and dry on the shores of bankruptcy.
. . , r August i i . — The sjreat iron steamer " Great Britain,"
Arrival 01^3 7
the "Great the Icviathan of Steam, the monster of the ocean, and
^^ ^'"" unquestionably the largest and most magnificent speci-
men of naval architecture that ever floated, arrived here yester-
day, at three o'clock, in fifteen days from Liverpool, under the
command of that fine fellow and successful navigator. Captain
Hosken, who has made the " Great Western " proverbial for
safety and despatch, and the ocean a macadamized road for her
travelling. The '' Great Britain " has been looked for with some
anxiety. A deep interest, accompanied with some doubt, awaited
her arrival, arising from her prodigious size, the novelty of her
construction (she being propelled by the Archimedean screw,
instead of paddles), and the material of which she is con-
structed, — solid iron i)lates. The boast of Archimedes, that his
screw might overturn the globe, if he had a place to stand it,
does not seem so hyperbolical, after all ; and iron is likely to form
a better floating capital than gold and silver, or even bank-
notes.
The dimensions of this vessel are as follows : Her total length
on deck, 322 feet; her breadth, 50 feet; capacity, 3,000 tons;
draught of water, 16 feet; her engines are of 1,000 horse-power.
She is, indeed, one of the wonders of this inventive, enterprising,
iS45.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 26 1
scientific age. What would our grandsires have thought of
crossing the ocean on plates of iron, and shoving vessels ahead
by screws !
In no city of the globe does the recuperative prin-
Enter rile ^^^^^ ^^^^^ i^^ SO great a degree as in our good city of
Gotham. Throw down our merchants ever so flat,
they roll over once, and spring to their feet again. Knock the
stairs from under them, and they will make a ladder of the frag-
ments, and remount. It is just twenty-four days since the great
fire ; the masses of ruins are smoking yet in many places, and
flames may be seen escaping from underneath the heaps of incom-
bustible matter, and in the heart of this region of desolation
fine stores are being built. I saw one this morning in South
AVilliam street, which had reached the eaves ; it is built on the
site of one destroyed in the fire, the materials of which are too
hot to be removed by the naked hands of the workmen. So in
Beaver street, several phoenixes are rising from the ashes, whilst
the masons pursue their labour in the midst of the smoke of the
buildings which so lately occupied the ground.
September i. — The " Great Britain " went to sea on Saturday,
with fifty-four passengers ; her departure was quite a gala occasion.
She was escorted down the bay by a fleet of fine steam-vessels,
bedecked with colours ; and the weather being fine, the Battery and
all the piers on her route were filled with spectators, who cheered
the "iron monster," and gave her good wishes in abundance.
Died on Tuesday, 26th of August, at the Catholic convent,
Georgetown, of which she was an inmate, Virginia, daughter of
Major- General Winfield Scott, in the twenty-fourth year of her age,
— one of the most accomplished young women of our country.
A willing sacrifice to superstition and priestcraft, she became a
Roman Catholic, and shut herself up, from her family and friends,
in a convent, where she ended her days. I had a long conference
on this painful subject with the General when I was last in Wash-
ington. He was sorely distressed ; but the matter was inevitable,
262 THE DIARV Ul' I'lULlP HONE. [.Etat. 65.
and he was compelled to acquiesce in this most unnatural act of
self-will and obstinacy. Her death, in my judgment, should be no
cause of mourning to her afflicted friends. It is better she should
be in her grave than a living example of self-immolation.
September 5. — The country has experienced an-
justice story. Other scverc loss. Judge Story, the pride and ornament
of the Supreme Court bench, the pupil and follower of
the great Chief Justice Marshall, has resigned his seat in that
august tribunal. This step, so deeply to be deplored, is caused by
the ill-health of the accomplished judge, and it is painful to record,
the fact of his indisposition being so serious that there are appre-
hensions that he will not survive.
This creates a vacancy to be filled by an administration which
will look for no other qualification in the successor whom they
shall have to choose than the most unscrupulous devotion to party
dictation, undiscriminating approval of all the mischievous meas-
ures of the government, and undeniable evidence of having voted
and electioneered, and written and spoken, in favour of a President
whom nobody thought of four and twenty hours before he was
nominated at Baltimore.
The Supreme Court, pure, immaculate, and wise, as it once was,
has been falling off ever since the evil day in which Andrew Jackson
was installed into the office of President, and now "the sceptre has
departed from Israel, and a lawgiver from beneath her feet."
Such a man as Webster, or Everett, or Kent, might supply Story's
place ; but they are not Mr. Polk's kind of men. He has Wood-
burys, and Walkers, and Duncans, who will suit him better.
SEprEMDER 12. — The light of the law is extin-
II is Death. guishcd ; the worthy disciple and follower of Marshall
has, like his great exemplar, descended into the tomb,
and has made still wider the chasm which that great man occa-
sioned in the highest tribunal of law and justice in the land. Judge
Story died on the evening of Wednesday, September 10, at his
residence in Cambridge. He was born in 1 780 ; was appointed
i845-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 263
an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, by
President ^Madison, in 181 1, and was at the time of his death the
Dane professor of law in Harvard University. With such an intel-
lect and so great learning, his loss is a national calamity, and he
died in the prime and maturity of both ; for he was the junior by
seventeen years of his friend and brother in the law. Chancellor
Kent, whose precious life may God preserve as one of the orna-
ments of humanity !
September 30. — WiUiam C. Schermerhorn, son of Mr. Peter
Schermerhorn, was married on Wednesday, the 24th, to Anne,
daughter of Francis Cottenet, and granddaughter of General
Laight.
October 18. — The great iron steamer, the "Great Britain,"
amongst other misadventures on her late voyage, came in contact
with some substance, — a rock, perhaps, or sandbank on Nantucket
shoals, or, peradventure, a whale. By this accident her propelling
apparatus was injured, several of the flanges being carried away.
For the purpose of repairing this damage, the immense mass of
iron — the burden of the vessel being three thousand tons, and her
weight almost equal to that of the Rock of Gibraltar — has been
raised by machinery, in the sectional dock at the foot of Pike
street, some twenty feet out of the water, and there she Hes in per-
fect safety, with men at work under her bottom. What will John
Bull say to Yankee ingenuity and mechanical skill ? I am told that
the operation could not have been performed in our dear mother-
country.
October 21. — I heard a pretty good anecdote to-day, which
smacks mightily of its Marshfield origin : Mr. George Wood is an
eminent counsellor-at-law of this city, at the tip-top of the bar. He
is, moreover, of rather a grave deportment, and has a habit of
closing his eyes when deep in thought, like the owl. A person
called the other day upon Mr. Webster, to engage his services in
an important cause, which he agreed to undertake. In the course
of his investigations he inquired what counsel was to be opposed to
264 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Elat. 65.
him. "Why," said the litigant, " he is a New York lawyer, with a
common-place, every-day name, which I forget." — ''What sort of
a person is he?" — "Rather a sleepy-looking man." — "Is his
name George Wood?" — "That /s his name." — "Then don't
wake him up."
October 23. — A leaden pipe was successfully laid on the bed
of the East river, to cross the Fulton Ferry, from New York to
Brooklyn, for the conveyance of the wires of the magnetic tele-
graph. The pi})e weighs one thousand pounds, all in one piece,
without a joint. This is a pretty specimen of mechanical skill, and
I see no doubt of its perfect ada})tation to the object, except that
which arises from the apprehension of danger to the pipe from the
anchors of vessels riding in the stream.
October 28. — My apprehensions in regard to the submarine
pipe in the P^ast river have been realized. The ship " Charles,"
of Liverpool, in weighing her anchor on Saturday evening, dragged
it up, broke the pipe, and of course destroyed the connection.
Some other plan must be resorted to.
Boston, Nov. 12. — Mr. Blatchford, Mr. Curtis, and
Excursion j ^^^^ ^^^^ York yesterday, at four o'clock P.M., in the
to Boston.
Steamer " Massachusetts ; " were awakened from a
short sleep at Stonington, at midnight ; came from thence on the
Stonington and Boston & Providence railroad, and arrived in Boston
at five this morning ; two hundred and forty miles in thirteen hours,
— a journey which once occupied almost as many days ! This is
expeditious enough, in all conscience ; but a good night's sleep would
have been worth more to me than all that is gained by this anni-
hilation of time and space. We have seen Mr. Healy, the artist,
and have conferred with him about the portrait of Mr. Webster.
He has made a sketch of the Squire of Marshfield, with his
"slouched hat and fisherman's coat," under the famous " Marsh -
field tree." He is pleased with the job, and Mr. Webster not dis-
pleased with being made its subject.
Mr. Blatchford and I made two pleasant visits this morning;
1845-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 265
the first to Mr. Otis, who is in good health and spirits, and has in-
vited our Uttle party to dine with him to-morrow ; the second, to
Mr. Prescott, the amiable and accomplished historian of " Ferdi-
nand and Isabella " and " The Conquest of Mexico." Mr. Pres-
cott is engaged in fitting up a fine house in Beacon street, which he
bought lately from Augustus Thorndike. He showed us his new-
library and study, which will be in admirable taste, and a number
of curious manuscripts, autographs, and pictures illustrative of his
two great works, and collected with that object. I have been busily
employed all the morning walking about the city. Boston is im-
proved prodigiously, especially the southern part, where the great
railroad depots are situated.
Blatchford, Curtis, and I dined at Mr. Paige's, with all the Web-
sters ; Mr. and Mrs. Webster's sister-in-law ; Mr. and Mrs. Appleton,
his daughter, a nice, little woman ; Fletcher Webster, whose wife is
Mrs. Paige's sister ; Mrs. Joy, another sister ; and Mr. Healy, the
painter, who is up to the eyes in business, painting portraits. He
has just finished Mr. Webster for Lord Ashburton, Mrs. Webster,
and Mrs. Paige. I am afraid that he is so much in vogue that the
time and price required for our picture may be beyond our patience
and money.
We had a merry, pleasant dinner, to which " the Squire " con-
tributed a full quota of anecdote and joke. He was in his boyish
mood, which is always agreeable. The folly of a fool is disgusting ;
that of a wise man, delightful. After dinner we played several
games of scientific, solemn, two-shilling whist.
November 13. — We dined with my venerable friend Mr. H. G.
Otis, the most perfect gentleman of my acquaintance. Besides our
party, and the flimily of the host, there were Mrs. Harry Otis and
her son, a handsome young fellow of about twenty years of age ;
Mr. Belknap, Mr.' Nathan Appleton, and Mr. Truman. Mr. Web-
ster was engaged in a cause in the United States District Court.
The dinner and wines, as usual, were excellent, and Mrs. Ritchie
charming. I called this morning with Mrs. Webster upon Mr. and
266 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 65.
Mrs. Everett, the Paiges, Mrs. Fletcher Webster, and Mrs. Abbott
Lawrence.
December 8. — John Cotton Smith, the venerable president of
the American Bible Society, died at his residence in Sharon, Litch-
field County, State of Connecticut, on the 7th of December, in
the eighty-first year of his age. He was a member of Congress in
1800, since which he has been Governor of Connecticut, member
of the State Legislature, and Judge of the Supreme Court.
December 12. — The faint hopes of the lovers of
regon peacc that the danger of a serious collision with Great
Question. ^ °
Britain about the miserable Oregon question, arising
out of the President's intemperate message, might be averted by
the patriotism and discretion of the Senate, are greatly diminished
by the announcement of the standing committees which have been
elected, as they formerly were, by a vote of the Senate. There is a
small majority of Loco-focos in that body ; but some reliance was
placed upon the moderation of a portion of their number. But,
alas ! party discipline is stronger than judgment, and Mr. Polk
must carry his object. Already had Charles J. Ingersoll, of Penn-
sylvania, been placed at the head of the committee of foreign
relations in the House of Representatives, a committee which in
the present crisis has the destiny of the nation in its hands, and
now Mr. Allen, of Ohio, is elected to the same responsible situation
in the Senate. Two more rabid, uncompromising demagogues are
not to be found between Nova Scotia and California, — men who
will not hesitate to plunge the country into a disastrous war to pro-
mote their personal and political views, who would see every ware-
house and manufactory levelled with the ground rather than Henry
Clay should be President, and every ship sunk at the wharves if
thereby their chance of being great men witii the populace might
be secured.
Our sister city of the Bay State has been without a chief magis-
trate for some time past, owing to a triangular state of parties,
Whigs, Native Americans, and Loco-focos, by which no candidate
1845.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 267
could get the requisite majority of all the votes. They have come
together at last, the Natives having discovered that they and the
Whigs were of the same family ; and they have now elected Josiah
Quincy, Jr., son of the late president of Harvard University, him-
self formerly the efficient and able mayor. The new mayor glories
in the blood of the Revolution which runs in his veins, and the
Whig party glories in him as one of its ablest disciples and firmest
supporters.
268 THE DIARY OF I'lIILIP HONE. [.Etat. 66.
1846.
^T~^HE new year commences under circumstances of greater
-^ general prosperity than the last; the great fire of the 19th
of July was the only serious disaster which occurred in its prog-
ress ; in other respects the blessings of a beneficent Providence
have, as heretofore, been extended in a measure more abundant
than our merits. We, of New York, have come in for a full share.
The bright star of hope, too, would shine on the future if the mad-
ness of the people did not interpose this pestiferous cloud of war
to intercept its rays. Jealousy of rival interests and impatience of
the prosperity arising from commercial enterprise have prompted
the men of the West to pursue a course ruinous to us of the sea-
board. They have gotten Texas, through the instrumentality of
their accidentally picked-up President ; and now they must have
Oregon, — the whole, they won't abate a rood, — and California too,
and Cuba and Mexico ; and, finally, the whole North American con-
tinent ; and, moreover, they must have war with Great Britain, with
or without a cause. If she troubles the water above or below us, it
is all the same thing; she must not drink out of the same stream.
January 7. — I dined yesterday with Mr. Peter G. Stuyvesant,
in his splendid new house in the Second avenue, near St. Mark's
Church. Our party consisted, besides the host and hostess, of
David B. Ogden, John A. Stevens, Herman Thorn, Hamilton Fish,
Henry Barclay, John T. Brigham, George Laurie, John C. Hamil-
ton, Mr. Kean, and myself.
Saturday, Jan. 31. — We had a pleasant dinner-party, con-
sisting of Mr. Herman Thorn, Augustus Thorndike, James Thom-
son, William B. Astor, J. D. P. Ogden, Sidney Brooks, P. G.
Stuyvesant, J. C. Delprat, Philip S. Van Rensselaer, George Curtis,
and Charles H. Russell.
1S46.] THE DIARY OP^ PHILIP HONE. 269
February 5. — The new church at the head of
Grace Church. Broadway is nearly finished and ready for consecration.
The pews were sold last week, and brought extrava-
gant prices, some $1,200 to $1,400, with a pew-rent on the esti-
mated value of eight per cent. ; so that the word of God, as it came
down to us from fishermen and mechanics, will cost the quality who
worship in this splendid temple about three dollars every Sunday.
This may have a good effect ; for many of them, though rich, know
how to calculate, and if they do not go regularly to church they
will not get the worth of their money.
This is to be the fashionable church, and already its aisles are
filled (especially on Sundays after the morning services in other
churches) with gay parties of ladies in feathers and mousseliue-de-
laine dresses, and dandies with moustaches and high-heeled boots ;
the lofty arches resound with astute criticisms upon Gothic archi-
tecture from fair ladies who have had the advantage of foreign
travel, and scientific remarks upon acoustics from elderly million-
aires who do not hear quite as well as formerly.
February 14. — I dined with Mr. William B. Astor, in his
magnificent house, Lafayette place. The party consisted, besides
Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Astor, of the following guests : David S.
Kennedy, James D. P. Ogden, Herman Thorn, John W. Schmidt,
Robert B. Minturn, Thomas W. Ludlow, Thomas Oliver, Gardiner
G. Rowland, Samuel S. Rowland, John C. Ramilton, Gabriel
Mead, and Philip Rone.
February 16. — Mr. Southard declines to accept the
Trinity ^^jj ^^ assistaut minister of Trinitv Church. I regret
Church. . ' °
it, but did not hope for a different result. Ris accept-
ance would have had a twofold favourable operation. We should
have had an excellent young minister, good now, and of an age and
disposition for improvement. We should also have escaped another,
who will (in case of his being chosen by party management, for
that is to be found even in the holy places of religion) give great
dissatisfaction to the moderate Episcopalians, who prefer the word
270 THE DIARY OF PIIILH' HONE. [/Etat. 66.
of God preached in the spirit of peace and good-will, to the estab-
lishment of an unessential dogma, and who wish the Scriptures
taught in the spirit in which they were written. The rejection of
this offer is a great sacrifice on the part of Mr. Southard, which
cannot fail- to endear him to his congregation. The place he refuses
is in present value one of the most lucrative and honourable of the
church in the United States ; and for such a man as he, so young,
so elo(pient, and so accomplislied in his holy profession, an almost
certain reversion (if he lives) of the dignity of bishop of the
diocese. All this he resigns to continue the charge of his little,
cottagedike Calvary Church, and some $1,500 or $1,600 a year.
If he had their hearts before, he must have them now, body, soul,
and all.
February 17. — I dined to-day with Mr. and Mrs. William H.
Aspinwall, in their new house, University place, one of the palaces
which have been lately erected in this part of the city. A more
beautiful and commodious mansion, or in better taste in every
particular, I have never seen. This gentleman is one of the " mer-
chant princes " of New York ; long may he enjoy his prosperity !
He deserves it. He is an upright and honourable merchant, a
liberal and public- spirited citizen, and a hospitable and right-
minded gentleman. Our party consisted, besides the host and
hostess, of the following : Mr. and Mrs. James Brown, Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas W. Ludlow, Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Davis, Mr. Henry
Cary, Mr. and Mrs. Constant, Mr. and Mrs. William B. Astor,
Mrs. Henry Coit, G. G. Howland, and myself.
February 20. — The arriv^al of the steamer " Cam-
Engiish News, bria " has been looked for with great anxiety, from
the important bearing of the news she brings upon
the great question of peace or war. Expresses were sent on by the
newspaper establishments to anticipate the news at Halifax and
bring it on before her arrival in Boston. She arrived at Halifax on
Tuesday morning. The express started immediately, and would
have accomplished its enterprising object had it not encountered
1S46.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 2/1
the great snow-storm. As it was, we had the news here in New
York yesterday at noon ; a rival express of the " Herald " being an
hour or two ahead of the Nova Scotia racers. The distance from
Boston, two hundred and forty miles, was travelled by railroad and
steamboat in the astonishingly short time of seven hours and five
minutes. What a change from the times when the mail stage left
New York for Boston once a fortnight^ and consumed a week in
going to Philadelphia !
The news by the ^^ Cambria " is, indeed, very important, and
things wear a more smiling aspect. Our cousin, John Bull, is par-
ticularly amiable. Parliament convened on the 2 2d of January,
the Queen's speech (which the little lady delivered in person) con-
taining no bitterness toward this country in relation to the Oregon
question. I am afraid Mr. Polk will be affronted at the fact of her
not being angry at his threats. On the contrary, she makes light
of the whole matter. Sir Robert Peel is not apprehensive of a war,
but seems disposed to keep on good terms with us, if possible.
February 24. — The Racket Court was opened to-day at noon
by a dejeuner a la fourchette, — a grand entertainment of music,
dancing, eating, and drinking, at which were present the members
of the club, with those belonging to the Union and other kindred
associations, each gentleman being provided with four ladies'
tickets. Soon after twelve o'clock every part of this beautiful edi-
fice — the dining saloon, reception, reading, and billiard rooms —
was crowded with the most genteel people in town. The immense
Racket Court appeared, from the upper galleries, like a garden of
moving flowers, and a band of thirty musicians left no room to
doubt that the place was a Racket Court.
February 25. — I begin to think that there is no
Old Age. such thing as old age ; that the ability to perform the
tasks and duties of the intellect is as perfect at four-
score as fifty ; something unquestionably depends upon good health
and physical strength, but much more upon the habits contracted
in early life. Industry, application, and perseverance, whilst they
272 THE DIAKV OF PIIILII" HONE. [.Etat. 66.
train up the mind to the performance of nature's miracles, serve
also to establish the strength, vigour, and activity of the body, which
are such important adjuncts in the exercise of the powers of the
mind ; but as for old ai^'r, it is a term convertible anil indefinite.
Some men are older at fifty than others at fourscore ; not in wisdom
or learning, but in the failure of the scanty stock of those commodi-
ties with which tliey began the business of life.
There is Chancellor Kent, for instance, an octogenarian, prepar-
ing a new edition of his Commentaries, — a work without a knowledge
of which no law education is complete, — reading with ardour, and
criticising with taste, all the new books of celebrity and merit, his
mind being deeply laid with a substratum of classical knowledge
and the literature of the former ages, active and ardent in body and
mind as he was twenty years ago, when the ermine of judicial
equity fell from his shoulders, and an absurd law of the State pro-
nounced this ripe scholar and accomplished lawyer superannuated !
And Albert Gallatin, too, who is several years older than Mr.
Kent, in the full possession of his mental faculties, has been writing
a pamphlet on tlie Oregon question ; the best, the cleanest, and the
soundest which has been presented to the American people on this
exciting subject. Pure and vigorous in style, it betrays no marks
of age ; sound and convincing in argument, the experience of a long
life is brought in aid of inherent talents and literary accomi^lish-
ments. This book is as well written (and pr(jbably in better tem-
per) than Mr. Gallatin would have written it at forty years of age.
March 3. — We drive the aborigines of our country
Civilization, away from the places of their birth, from the altars of
their '' great spirit," and the tombs of their ancestors,
to make room for civilization (another name for land jnracy) ; and
the records of every day present the disgusting accounts of personal
conflicts among civilized "pale-faces," which might cause a Pawnee
or a Comanche to blush. One of these pleasant encounters, so
characteristic of " Southern chivalry," occurred on the morning of
last Wednesday, at Richmond, Virginia, between John Hampden
1846.] THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. 2/3
Pleasants, late editor of the " Richmond Whig," and more recently
of the "Richmond Star," a man fifty-five years of age, with a wife
and children, and Thomas Ritchie, Jr., a twenty-five-year-old sprig
of the " chivalry," son of the celebrated Loco-foco oracle of Virginia,
and one of the editors of the " Enquirer." These white savages had
been exercising the " liberty of the press" and edifying their readers
by abusing each other, when one of them (probably finding the
truth come rather hard) resorted to the gentlemanly mode in vogue
at the South to justify himself and put his adversary in the wrong
by cutting his throat (an effectual method, certainly). A challenge
was given, and the duel took place as above mentioned. The plan
of warfare was arranged by seconds, — honourable men, no doubt,
members of a Christian community who wear pantaloons instead of
breech-clouts, and carry walking-canes, not tomahawks. Disgrace-
ful and shocking as it may appear, the combatants were permitted
to go into the combat with all kinds of weapons, — pistols, rifles,
broadswords and broadaxes, tomahawks and bowie-knives. They
were placed at thirty paces apart, and at it they went, blazing away
first with fire-arms, and then rushing at each other, hacking and
slashing in slaughter-house fashion. The account relates, pleasantly
enough, how at such a cut one lost three fingers, at the next the
other had his mouth extended to the ear ; how the abdomen of this
civilized cavalier was laid open, and how the thigh of that received
a deep incision. Finally the dispute was settled in favour of Mr.
Ritchie. The truth was made manifest and the argument decided
by the removal of Mr. Pleasants from the field of battle "with
twenty trenched gashes on his head, the least a death to nature,"
and his subsequent death. Who dares dispute the chivalry of the
paladins of Virginia, or the efficacy of the " code of honour " ?
March 10. — The corner-stone of the new Calvary Church, at
the corner of 21st street, was laid yesterday afternoon with appro-
priate religious ceremonies. The Bishop laid the stone. The
edifice is erected by the congregation under the charge of the
talented and popular young divine, Mr. Southard.
2/4 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat.66.
March 25. — Another melancholy and destructive
ipwrec marine disaster is to be added to the list. The beau-
again.
tiful packet-ship " Henry Clay," belonging to Grinnell,
Minturn, & Co., lies a wreck on the fatal Squan beach, about a mile
from the spot where the "John Minturn" was lost. She went
ashore in a violent gale, last night, at twelve o'clock. This will
make Wall street groan. The ship was one of the largest and most
costly class, and at this season of the year it is probable her cargo
is very valuable. The particulars have not come up from the
beach ; but from the accounts of the mate, who took the railroad at
New Brunswick and arrived here this evening, there is strong hope
that of the passengers and crew, consisting of three hundred per-
sons, a large proportion will have been saved by means of a haw-
ser which was carried to the shore. A boat, however, was known
to have been swamped in the surf, and six persons drowned. This
noble ship (with a great, but unlucky, name) sailed on her first
voyage last May. I dined on board on the 3d of that month, with
a large jovial party, the particulars of which are given in this journal ;
and now all the splendid decorations of her cabin, so much admired
at that time, and all the perfect examples of naval architecture then
exhibited, are left to rot in the sands of Squan beach. Why is it
that so many vessels are lost thereabouts? W^hen will the ship-
masters learn that there is land there? And why is not the
lead more frequently used ? Captain Nye is an experienced sea-
man. But the only way to remedy the evil in these cases is to say
to every one of them, without discrimination, " Never more be
officer of mine."
April 9. — Man is the only animal that man hates.
chTvuI" Other species may excite terror, fear, disdain ; but this
darkest and deadliest passion of the human mind is only
brought into action against such as, like himself, are made in the
image of his Creator. The trial of Thomas Ritchie, Jr., for killing
John M. Pleasants, in that savage, barbarous duel, has resulted in
his acquittal, without a moment's hesitation, by the jury. The
1846.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 275
account of the verdict closes with the very compHmentary and con-
solatory remark that " he has borne himself under the whole trial,
down to the last scene of the eventful, yet painful, drama, with the
equanimity which became a man."
April 14. — The "Henry Clay" came up to the
ip ^^ enry ^.^^ yesterday from her uncomfortable berth on Squan
beach. The result of this disaster is a proud testimony
to the strength and construction of the New York commercial
marine. This noble vessel has been lying for the last twenty days,
broadside to the shore, on a stormy beach, the destroyer of many a
tall merchantman, and the grave of many a hardy seaman. Every-
thing which has been stranded there during the late gales has gone
to pieces except this fine ship, which, like him from whom she is
named, strong and sound in materials, honestly and skilfully put
together, though beaten, is not broken, and will soon be ready for
a new voyage.
April 16. — I went last evening to a pleasant party at Mr. Har-
vey's, given to show off certain Boston lions ; and fine animals they
are : Messrs. 'George Ticknor, William H. Prescott, and Charles
Sumner. The amiable and accomplished historian of " Ferdinand
and Isabella " is here to consult an ocuUst about his eyes, which
trouble him again. I fear he will not live to add many more
leaves to the undying wreaths of his literary fame.
April 16. — This is the commencement of the twenty-fourth
volume of this diary. The last is a record of one year of my life.
It has been a year of trouble, and the care and anxiety attending
the discharge of my several duties have interfered with the regular
diurnal posting up of my journal ; nay, the same causes have occa-
sionally made me hesitate about going on with this task, heretofore
so pleasant. But I do persevere, and the beginning of this new
volume is an earnest that my determination at this moment is not
to abandon it. It will probably be less interesting ; but I must
have a safety-valve for my imagination. I must write, even if I do
not write well.
276 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 66.
April 17. — The ship "Rainbow," belonging to Hovvland &
Aspinwall, arrived to-day, in seventy-five days from Canton. This
beautiful vessel, a perfect model of marine architecture, brilliant
and bright as the bow of Hope, the name of which she bears, has
made two complete voyages to and from Canton in the space of
fourteen months, just about the time formerly consumed in one
voyage. Everything goes fast now-a-days ; the winds, even, begin
to improve upon the speed which they have hitherto maintained ;
everything goes ahead but good manners and sound principles, and
they are in a fair way to be driven from the track.
April 25. — Healy's picture of Mr. Webster came
e s ers ^^^ yesterday from Washington, where it .vas painted for
the Hone Club. This " counterfeit presentment " of
our honorary member, the distinguished Massachusetts senator, is a
great picture, — the best by far that has been done of him. It will
cost, including the frame, $550, to be paid for by the fifteen mem-
bers of the club. The picture is to remain in my possession until
a new president is appointed, and is to go at my decease to the
oldest surviving member. Mr. Healy is an artist sent out to the
United States by the King of France to take the portraits, for his
gallery, of some of our eminent statesmen. He has been very suc-
cessful ; but in none more than in this, which does not go into
royal hands, but into the hands of a set of royal fellows, and when
Louis Philippe comes to New York, Philip Hone will show him as
good a picture as any in his American gallery. The great original
and Mrs. W^ebster arrived here last evening. He is on his route
eastward. He is in excellent si)irits, pleased with the state of
things at Washington, and not a bit the worse for his contaminating
collision with the Pennsylvania calumniator.
Mav 7. — Affairs in this quarter wear an alarming
Mexico, aspect. If the government intended by its measures
to bring disaster and defeat upon the insufficient forces
sent into that unhappy country, and thereby make popular the war
which it is preparing to wage against Mexico, it is likely that it
1846.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 2//
may succeed ; but the people will have an awful account to settle
with it. A war simultaneously with England and Mexico for
Oregon and Texas, — neither of which is worth the blood of a single
American soldier, — and without a force adequate to carry out the
least of those enterprises, would be pushing the forbearance of the
people to a dangerous length. But we have reason to know that
the tyranny of party discipline is more absolute in this country
than the mandate of the Czar of Moscow, or the will of the Khan
of Tartary.
General Ampudia has cut off the force of two thousand men
under our General Taylor, who had gotten where he ought not to
be, and some of our fine fellows have been captured and killed.
In the number of the former is Colonel Cross ; and Lieutenant
Porter (a son of the late gallant commodore) and three men were
killed, while on a foraging party, by a body of Mexican ranchers.
In the mean time General Worth comes away with many of his
brother officers, glad, no doubt, to escape from the disgrace which
is likely to attend upon ill- concerted measures.
May 9. — Worth is ordered back to Mexico. It is
Mexico again, difficult to judgc of thcsc matters, but it seems to me
he ought not to have come away just at this time.
Mr. Polk and his party have accomplished their object : the war
with Mexico is fairly commenced. The President (in violation of
the Constitution, which gives to Congress the exclusive power to
declare war) announces formally that a state of war exists, calls for
volunteers and money, which Congress unhesitatingly grants ; and if
any old-fashioned legislator presumes to doubt the authority of
Pope Polk, or questions the infallibility of his bull, he is stigma-
tized by some of the ruffians of the West as an enemy to his
country, in league with the Mexicans. These charges he must
submit to, or, by making a suitable retort, expose himself to the
necessity of fighting himself out of his difficulty, or leaving a vacant
seat to be filled by some more subse>rvient representative of the
magnanimous American people.
2/8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.€tat. 66.
This war has commenced most disastrously, as might have been
expected from the scanty force sent into the disputed territory.
My suggestion of Thursday appears uncharitable ; but it really looks
as if this result was anticipated, and the American blood shed was
to excite American feelings, and to make the war popular. It was
so in the last war. The disgraceful defeat and capture of Hull at
Detroit was the cement which bound together friends of war and
friends of peace into a united band of friends of national honour.
But it looks now as if this experiment were to cost too much.
Extras were published to-day, by all the papers, giving further
particulars received from New Orleans of the dangerous position
of General Taylor's little army on the Rio Grande. He is cut off
by Arista from his resources at Point Isabel, at the mouth of the
river, and, although within cannon-shot of Metamoras, on the oppo-
site side of the river, he cannot send men to attack it. These
disasters will raise the blood of the American people to the war
point, and cause them to cease inquiring, What is this war about?
What compensation is to be had for the blood shed and the treas-
ures squandered? and. How will the national character be re-
deemed which we have staked on this dreadful issue ? They will
thus be compelled to support a cause which their conscience con-
demns and their judgment disapproves.
May 12. — The President's message, announcing
Mr. Polk's ^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^.^j^ Mexico, was sent to Congress
War.
yesterday, who forthwith granted him power to call
out fifty thousand volunteers, and appropriated ten millions of
dollars as a small outfit for his military operations. This is a
horrible state of things. But a little philosophy can extract
grains of comfort even from this. The tariff cannot be touched
whilst such expenditures are incurred, nor will the sub- treasury
and specie scheme be carried into effect with such a war
impending.
May 19. — We are all agog with the news of a great victory
gained over the Mexicans on the great river. General Taylor,
1846.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 279
having left his camp with a force of twelve or fifteen hundred men,
to open communication with his supplies at Point Isabel, at tlie
mouth of the river, the Americans, under command of Major
Ringgold, were attacked. This brought on a general engagement,
and resulted in the defeat of the enemy, with a loss, it is said, of
seven hundred men, our loss being inconsiderable. This account is
probably exaggerated, for vain-boasting is unfortunately the vice of
our country ; every officer is a hero, every raw recruit equal in
prowess to an ancient Roman legionary, and in discipline to one
of the old guard of Napoleon, and every skirmish is a battle of
Waterloo. But there has been a fight, and probably a victory, and
we are bound to rejoice.
May 21. — This day being the Feast of the Ascen-
Trrnh^^hu'rch ^^^^^ agreeably to the notice given and the arrange-
ments made, the new Trinity Church, the pride of
Episcopalians and the glory of our city, was consecrated to the
service of Almighty God. I was one of the committee of arrange-
ments, and have been for the last two or three weeks most sedu-
lously employed every day in the discharge of the duties of this
office. The clergy, the rectors, wardens, and vestrymen of the
several Episcopalian churches, the members of the Theological
Seminary, the present and former mayors, the scholars of Trinity
School, and invited guests, assembled at ten o'clock, at Mr.
Bunker's, in Broadway, and marched in procession to the church.
At eleven o'clock the grand and solemn assemblage, preceded by
Right Rev. Bishop McCoskry, who officiated as bishop of the
diocese during the suspension of Bishop Onderdonk, entered dur-
ing the impressive chanting of one hundred and fifty clergymen, in
white surplices and scarfs, followed by a most dignified and
respectable body of laymen. The consecration service was per-
formed by the Bishop, assisted by a number of prominent ministers ;
and the splendid vaultings of the solemn temple resounded with the
notes of the grand organ and with the sounds of praise and
adoration from the voices of the devout assemblage.
28o THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 66.
May 23. — The club dined with me to-day, on the
Club Dinner, occasion of the inauguration of Healy's fine portrait of
Mr. Webster, belonging to the club, which has been
hung (the picture, I mean) in the dining-room. Several gentle-
men brought each a bottle of his best wine, and such a drink
would throw the nectar of the gods into the shade. Hebe would
have emptied the contents of her goblet (as Mrs. Delavan did her
medicine) into the gutter, and Ijacchus would have turned water-
drinker rather than stand the comparison.
I made a speech about the picture, the illustrious original, the
great Harrison cabinet, and the glorious Congress of 1842, which
I closed by reading the concluding remarks of Mr. Webster in his
speech made in the Senate on the 6th and 7th of April last. We
drank his health with three times three. The members of the club
present were M. H. Grinnell, George Curtis, Simeon Draper, R. M.
Blatchford, John Ward, T. Tileston, Prescott Hall, Dr. Francis,
P. Spofford, and J. W. Webb. Absent were Bowen, Edward Curtis,
Colt, and Jaudon, whose places were filled in part by Messrs. Rus-
sell, Blatchford, Jr., and my old acquaintance, Mr. Van Wart.
June 15. — The Oregon treaty was signed this day, at
The Treaty, three o'clock, for approval and confirmation to-morrow,
where it will, of course, pass by the same vote at least
as that which advised its ratification. It was a pleasant circum-
stance, and it makes an interesting item in my journal, that I should
have dined with the British Minister on the day on which this joy-
ful event occurred, — an event which restores the prosperity of
the nation, sets commerce again upon its legs, makes the hus-
bandman's corn grow higher and his grass more green, and would
equally rejoice the manufacturers, if they would let this unhappy
tariff alone. Mr. Pakenham's dinner was a beautiful affair ; the
party consisted of only seven, — he and Mr. Ponsonby, his secre-
tary, Messrs. Webster, Curtis, Ashman, Colt, and myself. The
service, all but the plates, was of silver which he brought from
Mexico. The dinner was excellent ; I never partook of a better ;
1846.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 28 1
good wine, good taste, and good manners. We went at seven, and
came away at ten o'clock.
June 24. — I dined yesterday as the guest of Pres-
Yachtciub. cott Hall, with the Yacht Club, at Hoboken. They
have a club-house, — a handsome Gothic cottage, —
erected for the use of the club in a pleasant grove in the Elysian
Fields, by that prince of good fellows, John C. Stevens, who makes
the punch, superintends the cooking, and presides at the table,
under the appropriate title of "Commodore." A choice company
of forty- three gentlemen sat down to an excellent dinner of turtle
and other good things, with capital punch and plenty of good wine.
The Commodore, after some remarks personally complimentary,
proposed me as a member of the club, and, the probationary term
being dispensed with, I was admitted by acclamation. In acknowl-
edgment of this compliment I gave the following toast, which
was received with the most marked approbation : " The Yacht
Club : river gods who ride upon the waves, and sip their nectar in
the Elysian Fields."
July 6. — The iniquity is consummated. The bill
^^ ^" to break down the tariff of 1842 passed the House of
Representatives on Friday afternoon. The indepen-
dence of the nation is now an idle boast. American industry is
sacrificed to party power, and honest labour doomed to lose its
just reward. This nefarious act was consummated by a vote of
114 to 95, and there seems to be little doubt that it will pass the
Senate by a similar party vote.
July 17. — The regatta of the Yacht Club came
Regatta. off yesterday. It was a grand display, for which great
preparations had been made, and great expectations
raised. Twelve schooners and two sloops were entered for the
race, viz.: Schooners, "Lancet" (Mr. Rollins), " Gimcrack "
(Mr. Stevens), " Coquille " (Mr. Jay), "Minna" (Mr. Coles),
"Brenda" (Mr. Sears), "Spray" (Mr. Wilkes), "Sibyl" (Mr.
Miller), " Cygnet " (Mr. Suydam), " Pet " (Mr. Parsons),
282 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 66.
''Northern Light" (Mr. Winchester), "Siren" (Mr. Miller),
"Coquette" (Mr. Perkins). Sloops, " Newburgh " (Mr. Robin-
son) and " Mist " (Mr. Depau).
The prize, a superb silver goblet, was won by the sloop " Mist,"
belonging to Mr. Lewis Depau. The steamer " New York " was
provided for the members of the club and their guests, of whom
a large party went down the bay, and returned with the yachts.
Springfield, July 30. — "Polk, Dallas, and the tariff of 1842,"
— such was the inscription on the banners used in Pennsylvania to
effect the election of Mr. Polk ; such was the subterfuge by which
alone the vote of that State could have been secured for this
faithless, corrupt administration; and now the tariff of 1842 is
destroyed, the industry of the country laid at the feet of foreign
competition, and national prosperity sacrificed to party discipline.
This nefarious act was consummated on Tuesday, the 28th of
July (let the day stand accursed in the calendar !), recommended
and enforced by this same James K. Polk, and carried by the
casting vote in the Senate of this same George AL Dallas. Long
may their names be recorded on the same page with those
scourges of mankind, war, pestilence, and famine, and the meas-
ure they have accomplished be included in the category of
cholera, small- pox, and yellow fever !
Monday, August 3. — The President signed the
xecu IV e tariff bill on Friday, and on Saturday sent in his veto
Execution. •' ' ■'
upon the bill making appropriation for the improve-
ment of rivers and harbours. Thus is the country equally cursed
by what this man does, and what he refuses to do. Next comes
direct taxation, to carry on the Mexican war. This is worse than
Egyptian bondage : they take from us the straw, and then scourge
us for not making bricks.
August 5. — I went out yesterday to dine with Mr. Thomas W.
Ludlow, at his beautiful cottage on the banks of the Hudson river,
below Yonkers. Our party at dinner consisted of Mr. and Mrs.
James A. Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. George Schuyler, Mr. and Mrs.
1846.] THE DIARY OP^ PHILIP HONE. 283
Moses H. Grinnell, Mrs. Boggs, Mrs. Storrow, Mr. Bowdoin, Mr.
Alexander Hamilton, Mr. Lewis Morris, Mr. Stewart Brown.
August 12. — Congress adjourned on Monday night,
journmen ^fj-gj. ^ session of nearly eis^ht months ; the most cor-
of Congress. -' ^ '
rupt, profligate, and disastrous the United States have
ever known. Pliant and subservient to a wicked administration,
the Constitution has been violated, the industry and enterprise of
the people have been sacrificed to foreign influences, the currency
disturbed, commerce deprived of its customary facilities, the coun-
try plunged into an unjust, unnecessary, and expensive war, and
national honour, honesty, and good faith made the sport of party
dictation and executive power.
The pestilence is stayed for a brief period ; but its victims lie
unburied in the sight of the survivors, or linger on paralyzed and
mutilated. The storm is abated ; but its ravages will long be seen
in the shattered ruins of domestic industry. The dark clouds
which have overshadowed the land, late so happy and prosper-
ous, are dispersed ; but no star of hope is left to cheer the pros-
pects of the future.
In the midst of this moral and political desolation Providence
has not abandoned us to the extremity of fate which we have so
well deserved. The glorious Whig phalanx in the Senate, erect as
the cedars of Libanus, true as the tables of stone, and firm as the
sacred mountain on which their holy precepts were promulgated,
have succeeded, by the aid of a portion of their political opponents
whose immediate sectional interests, happily for the cause of
humanity and religion, were on this occasion identical with theirs,
in averting one of the calamities which threatened the country.
We are at peace with England, — thanks to Webster and Calhoun,
Evans and Benton, Crittenden and Heywood, and the noble host
who united to save their country from a war, " the cost of which,"
to both countries, as Sir Robert Peel says, " every day, every hour,
would have been more than the whole value of the subject in con-
troversy."
284 THE DIARY OP^ PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 66.
August 13. — I passed a short time yesterday at
A Tall Trio, the Astor House, with three pretty considerable men :
Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts ; John J. Crittenden,
of Kentucky ; and George Evans, of Maine. If three others equal
to them can be collected together in this country, then we are
richer than I thought. Three more such men would save our
political Sodom and Gomorrah, — great, not only here ; I doubt if
any political combination could be made in Europe superior to it.
Webster, Crittenden, Evans; Polk, Dallas, Walker, — imagine
these men to have changed positions during the year. I dare not
think of it. Peace, happiness, prosperity, on one side ; war, em-
barrassment, despair, on the other. God help us !
SEFrEMBP:R 10. — Mr. Stewart's splendid edifice
Extravagance, erected on the site of Washington Hall, in Broadway,
between Chambers and Reade streets, is nearly fin-
ished, and his stock of dry goods will be exhibited on the
shelves in a few days. There is nothing in Paris or London
to compare with this dry-goods palace. My attention was at-
tracted, in passing this morning, to a most extraordinary, and I
think useless, piece of extravagance. Several of the windows on
the first floor, nearly level with the street, are formed of plate-
glass, six feet by eleven, which must have cost four or five
hundred dollars each, and may be shivered by a boy's marble
or a snow-ball as effectually as by a four-pound shot ; and I
am greatly mistaken if there are not persons (one is enough)
in this heterogeneous mass of population influenced by jealousy,
malice, or other instigation of the devil, bad enough to do such
a deed of mischief.
Seffember 19. — Died on Thursday last, Mr. James Swords,
aged eighty- two years, the surviving partner of Thomas and James
Swords, the oldest booksellers, publishers, and stationers in New
York. They published the first monthly magazine. The first
article of my writing which came up in the dignity of types
astonished the world in the pages of this periodical.
1846.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 285
September 26. — Strange and wonderful discovery,
agne ic ^vhich has made the "swift-winced li^htnin"^ " man's
Telegraph. o o o
messenger, annihilated all space, and tied the two ends
of a continent in a knot ! The whole extent of this newly dis-
covered phenomenon was never made so apparent to me as on
the day of the meeting of the convention ; during the hour of ad-
journment to dinner a message was sent by the telegraph to Mr.
Fillmore, at Buffalo. The answer came immediately, that " Mr.
Fillmore was not in his ofifice, and could not be found." Soon
after, another communication was received, authorizing the with-
drawal of his name, and expressing his satisfaction at Mr. Young's
nomination. This was handed to me on my taking the chair, and
had travelled four hundred and seventy miles during our short
recess of an hour.
October 19. — I heard to-day, for the first time.
Compliment, of SL compHmcnt which has been made to me, which
touched my feelings very sensibly, and for which I
cannot be sufficiently grateful. Twenty gentlemen of New York
sent out ^500 to Italy to procure my bust, which was begun
by Clevenger," and finished, I believe, by Powers. It has arrived,
and has been presented to the Clinton Hall ^Association, where
it is intended to be placed in the lecture-room. This most
acceptable manifestation of the regard of my fellow-citizens is
rendered more grateful to my feelings by its location in the hall
of an institution with which it has been my pride to have been
identified since its creation, and of which I have been for so
many years the presiding officer. I do not pretend that I am
not susceptible to flattery, perhaps vain ; but there was a delicacy
about this matter, in the keeping of it so profound a secret, and
in the kind expressions of personal regard which accompanied the
act, that I shall not very soon forget.
October 26. — My old friend, Mr. Abraham Ogden, president
of the Orient Insurance Company, has sunk at last under the
effects of a long and painful indisposition. He died on Saturday,
286 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 66.
in his seventy- second year. He was a gentleman of the old
school ; honest, intelligent, and amiable ; an affectionate husband
and father, an upright merchant, a true friend, and a valuable
citizen. These are the qualities which ornament human nature
during a man's lifetime, and after death endear his memory to his
friends ; but, unfortunately, they do not always lead to wealth nor
personal popularity.
October 27. — I witnessed this morning, from the
^ ^ ^""^ steps of Clinton Hall, a scene which is calculated to
Case. '■ '
cause alarm as to future collisions between the citizens
of this country, — a trifling incident in the appalling drama which
we shall be called to witness, and perhaps bear a part in, during
the course of not many years. A negro boy, named George Kirk,
a slave from Georgia, secreted himself in a vessel commanded by
Captain Buckley, and was brought to New York. Here he was ar-
rested and confined, at the instance of the captain, who is subjected
to severe penalties for the abduction of the slave. The claim of
the master to have the fugitive sent back to Georgia was tried
before Judge Edwards ; N. B. Blunt appearing for the captain, and
Mr. John Jay and J. L. White for the slave.
The judge's decision set the boy free, for want of evidence
to prove his identity ; and such a mob, of all colours, from dirty
white to shining black, came rushing down Nassau and into
Beekman street as made peaceable people shrink into places of
security. Such shouting and jostling, such peals of negro
triumph, such uncovering of woolly heads in raising the greasy
hats to give effect to the loud huzzas of the sons of Africa,
seemed almost to " fright the neighbourhood from its propriety."
A carriage was brought to convey the hero of the day from his
place of concealment, but it went away without him. This is
all very pretty ; but how will it end ? How long will the North
and the South remain a united people? Different interests
must provoke unkind feelings, and charity, patriotism, and mutual
forbearance on the part of reasonable men on both sides will
1846.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 287
prove ere long insufficient to preserve the bonds of national
brotherhood.
Since writing the above, I am informed that a process has been
issued by the Mayor, on the application of an agent of the master,
and the boy, found secreted in a box in which he was being con-
veyed by his friends from the place of his concealment, was taken
back by the officers and reincarcerated in his old quarters in the
Tombs ; so the whole business, with its attendant excitement, must
be gone over again.
November ii. — Died in Washington, yesterday. Commodore
John B. Nicholson, of the United States navy, in the sixty-third
year of his age. Captain Jack, as his friends called him, with
whom he was always a favourite, entered the navy as a midshipman,
in 1805, on board the brig " Hornet," then under the command of
my old friend, the late Captain Chauncey. He fought as lieutenant
at the capture of the " Macedonian," and was first lieutenant of
the " Peacock " in her brilliant engagement with " L'Epervier,"
which vessel he brought into port a prize. He has held important
and honourable appointments. He was commander of the Medi-
terranean squadron, and more recently has been stationed at the
navy yard at Charlestown, near Boston, where he exercised a liberal
hospitality, alike creditable to the service and himself, of which
I have been the recipient. Adieu, thou good fellow and honest
sailor ! How often have thy legs and mine been placed under
the same mahogany !
November 24. — The honourable John Quincy Adams
Ad'^ "^^ ^^^^ stricken by paralysis on Thursday last, whilst walk-
ing from his son's house in Boston. The last accounts
state that he had partially recovered, his consciousness having re-
turned and his speech being restored. Hopes are even expressed
that he may be able to go on to his family, who are in Washington,
and resume his seat in the House of Representatives. This is " a
consummation devoutly to be wished." The country cannot afford
to lose such a man. With all his eccentricities, prejudices, and want
288 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 66.
of tact, we have not his equal in this country for the most
minute information on all subjects, technical, statistical, ar-
tistical, historical, and (lii)lomatical. No man knows so much,
nor so accurately. He has probed deeply into the arcana of
all the sciences, understands and can exjjlain all subjects, from
the solar system down to the construction of a tooth- pick.
He has the Holy Scriptures at his fingers' ends, knows every
line of Shakespeare, can recite Homer in the original Greek ;
could name, if he had a mind to do it, the author of "Junius,"
and knows all about Jack the Giant Killer. He speaks on all
subjects, overthrows his opponents, and bothers his friends ; and,
in short, does more work than any day-labourer, and this, too,
under some physical disabilities. He is so nervous that his
pen has to be tied to his fingers. This prodigious amount
of labour is accomplished by early rising, exact method, and
the most untiring industry.
But Mr. Adams cannot last forever. He is eighty years of age,
and it is greatly to be feared that the warning voice has come to
him in this recent visitation. AVhat a pity it is that on his decease
he cannot leave his knowledge behind him ; it would, indeed, be a
rich inheritance.
November 25. — Accounts from Washington, received last night
by telegraph, state that General Scott left the city yesterday to take
the command of the army in Mexico, and to conduct a meditated
attack upon Tampico. If he has a chance, he will sustain his high
character for personal bravery and military talents, and his " hasty
plate of soup " may possibly be overlooked, by the severe critics
who constitute the '' American people," in the glory of a successful
Mexican campaign. Worth has completely recovered from the
effect of one bad step ; and I trust that Winfield Scott will
prove that he is not the man to be laid aside, and all his
former services forgotten, for one or two ill-judged expressions
in the course of a correspondence in which he displayed more
truth than tact.
1846.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 289
November 26. — This is a day set apart by the
an -sg-iving authorities of the State, and the rea^iilations of the
Day. °
Episcopal Church, to be observed as a day of thanks-
giving to Ahiiighty God for the blessings we enjoy as a community,
and as individuals for our share of the bounties of Divine Provi-
dence. It is an interesting occasion. The incense of adoration,
praise, and thanksgiving ascend from the altars of sixteen of the
States forming this Union ; a simultaneous abstinence from their
usual occupations is observed, with more or less of the sincerity of
devotion, by millions of rational and responsible creatures ; the
Author of all good is acknowledged, at least in form, in every place
of worship, from the solemn, magnificent cathedral, down to the
modest, unassuming village church, whose devotion swells not into
notes so loud and sonorous, but proceeds from hearts equally
sincere.
I went with my family to St. John's, where our good Doctor
Wainwright gave us an excellent Thanksgiving sermon. He enu-
merated the great national blessings we enjoy, of civil and religious
liberty, the abundance of all things necessary for the subsistence
and comfort of man, our exemption from internal commotions, and
our preservation from pestilence and other evils. He also depre-
cated the war in which we are engaged, and the consequent shed-
ding of the blood of the brave men who are engaged in it, and
urged that our prayers, as patriots, for the success of our arms
should be accompanied by supplications for a return of peace.
This is all very well ; the reverend gentleman could say no more.
But it occurred to me that, next to the favour of the God of peace,
to avert this calamity, the exertions of all good men and sincere
Christians should be employed to remove from office the men who
have brought upon us this unjust and unrighteous war, — this war of
usurpation and aggression, unsanctioned by the Constitution and at
variance with the moral sense of the people.
November 30. — My venerable friend. Chancellor Kent, who has
for a long time declined dinner invitations, honoured us by becom-
290 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 66.
ing one of our guests on Saturday, and another equally venerable
octogenarian, Judge Spencer, graced my board. It was a bright
day of joyous hilarity and intellectual enjoyment, as it could not
fail to be with the following party : Judge Spencer, Chancellor
Kent, David B. Ogden, George Curtis, Luther Bradish, Rev. Dr.
Wainwright, Henry Brevoort, J. Prescott Hall, R. M. Blatchford,
Charles H. Russell. The Chancellor was very agreeable until news
was brought of his son's arrival, when he started off with his usual
rapidity, and was seen no more.
December 15. — The better soi't have been regaled,
fvkies"^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^' ^y ^ grand wedding. Mr. John J. Astor, son
of Mr. William B. Astor, and grandson of Mr. John
Jacob Astor, married Miss Augusta Gibbes, daughter of Mr. Thomas
L. Gibbes.
The wedding was attended, at the house of her father, by all the
fashionable people of the city. Last evening my daughter and son
went to a grand party at Mr. Astor's, and I also was tempted to
mix once more in the splendid crowd of charming women, pretty
girls, and well-dressed beaux. The spacious mansion in Lafayette
place was open from cellar to garret, blazing with a thousand lights.
The crowd was excessive ; the ladies (such part of their exquisite
forms as could be distinguished in the melee) elegantly and taste-
fully attired, with a display of rich jewelry enough to pay one day's
expense of the ^Mexican war.
1847.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 29 1
1847,
TANUARY I. — The old year 1846 is gone, despatched and not
^ to be recalled. The good we have left undone, which we
might have done, is carried to the debit side of our account, ar-
ranged in broad standing characters alongside of the lines of com-
mission which are fairly chargeable to the account of delinquency.
The last year was a wretched one in regard to the political con-
dition of the country. If, instead of this most lame and impotent
administration, Mr. Clay had been elected President instead of Mr.
Polk (which was certainly the voice of the American people), we
should have been, as a nation, prosperous beyond all former ex-
ample, with no annexation of strangers' land to promote party
views, no wars to drain the best blood of the country for an issue
which can never redound to our honour, nor pay in any proportion
for the loss of blood, treasure, and reputation which it will have
cost. The enterprise of the people checked, honest industry par-
alyzed, and national pride humiliated ; James K. Polk President of
the United States, — can such things be ?
January 2. — New Year's presents have abounded
The Bust. this year. This is the Parisian mode of celebrating le
jour de Van, and we are getting into it very fast. Some
of the houses where I visited yesterday presented the appearance
of bazaars, where rich presents were displayed, from the costly
cashmere shawls and silver tankard to the toy watch and child's
rattle. I, too, have received marks of kindness ; but that which
forms the subject of the following letter is the most acceptable of
all : —
New York, 31st December, 1846.
Philip Hone, Esq. : —
My dear Sir, — To your inquiry asking who sent 3'our bust, by Clev-
enger, to be placed in the rooms of the Mercantile Library Association, I
292 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 67.
reply by attaching hereto the names of the persons : James Brown, Wal-
ter R. Jones, Samuel Jaudon, John Ward, G. G. Howland, Jonathan
Goodhue, M. H. Grinnell, Samuel S. Ilowland, John A. Stevens, Robert
B. Minturn, William H. Aspinwall, Henry Grinnell, Edward Prime,
Robert Ray, George Curtis, Charles H. Russell, Spofford & Tileston,
John Haggerty, R. M. Blatchford, Thomas W. Ludlow, J. Prescott Hall,
William B. Astor, James G. King.
High and constant as are the respect and attachment of all these
friends to you personally, they had a higher and more abiding motive in
this act. They knew that your long career of uprightness as a member
of the mercantile community had been crowned in the decline of life by
your having voluntarily, and from the highest considerations of honour
and good faith, assumed obligations in behalf of some relatives, and by
your having been obliged to sacrifice a large portion of your property, by
sales in adverse times, to meet those obligations with your wonted
punctuality. To mark this signal instance of self-denial and integrity
some of your fellow-merchants and friends felt that an appropriate tes-
timonial was due, and that no more fitting opportunity could have
occurred than the accidental meeting with this bust by so distinguished
an American artist as Clevenger, and that no more suitable place for
depositing it could have been selected than that where the well-known
features of their old friend and president will derive an additional value
in the eyes of the commercial clerks, from the example which you have
set to them, the future merchants of Nezv York, and from this acknowl-
edgment of it, which we have thus endeavoured to render perpetual.
I remain, etc.,
JAMES G. KING.
January 20. — Peter R. Livingston died yesterday, at his resi-
dence, Rhinebeck, aged eighty-one years. He was originally a
Democrat of great powers, and played an important part in
wresting the political administration of the State from the hands
of the Federalists ; an eloquent declaimer at public meetings ; a
demagogue of the highest class. Few could oppose him with
success. As in religion, so it is in politics : the first-fruits of men's
lives are given to the propagation and support of disorganizing
principles, and when they become old they turn to better prin-
ciples, and exert themselves to eradicate the seed which they
assisted in sowing. Mr. Livingston, at the close of his life, was a
1847-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 293
leading Whig, and even when broken down by physical infirmity,
the bright Hght of early eloquence broke occasionally through the
shadows of superannuated debility. In early life he went out
with his relative, Chancellor Livingston, as Secretary of the Lega-
tion, to France, where the excesses of that capital left him a
trembling martyr to dissipation for the remainder of his life. Thus,
with bodily powers broken down, but unimpaired powers of mind,
he lingered out his life to fourscore years. He has held many im-
portant offices under Democratic administrations, — State senator
and member of the Council of Appointment, elector of Presi-
dent, member of Congress, etc. I have played many a game of
whist with him, and whilst his tremulous hand was incapable of
dealing the cards, he never failed to make the most of them.
January 28. — My children called to take Mr. Rus-
^^ "^ sell and me from Mr. vSpofford's dinner to a party at
Mrs. Robert Ray's, away up at the corner of 28th
street and the Ninth avenue. The house is one of those palaces
which have lately sprung up in places where a few years since
cattle grazed, and orchards dropped their ripened fruits. This
magnificent abode of costly luxury, now the /own residence of my
good friend Mr. Ray, stands on the very spot where his father's
garden, away <?/// 0/ town, flourished long since my hair turned
gray. This was the party of the season. Every luxury was sup-
plied in abundance, and with good taste, to all the elegant women
and fashionable gentlemen about town ; every room was filled,
and even I (somewhat antiquated, and not much given of late to
party-going) partook largely of the general enjoyment of Mr. and
Mrs. Ray's first party in their new house in Fitz-i'ay place.
January 29. — Our good city of New York has
^, ^"^ ° already arrived at the state of society to be found in
Society. ■' ■'
the large cities of Europe ; overburdened with popu-
lation, and where the two extremes of costly luxury in living,
expensive establishments, and improvident waste are presented in
daily and hourly contrast with squalid misery and liopeless des-
294 THE DIARY OF rillLlP HONE. [/Etat. 67.
titution. This state of things has been hastened in our case by
the constant stream of ICuropean paupers arriving upon the shores
of this land of promise. Alas ! how often does it prove to the
deluded emigrant a- land of broken promise and blasted hope !
If we had none but our own poor to take care of, we should get
along tolerably well ; we could find employment for them, and
individual charity, aiding the public institutions, m'ght save us
from the sights of woe with wliich we are assailed in the streets,
and the pressing applications which beset us in the retirement of
our own houses. Nineteen out of twenty of these mendicants
are foreigners cast upon our shores, indigent and helpless, having
expended the last shilling in paying their passage- money, deceived
by the misrepresentations of unscrupulous agents, and left to
star\^e amongst strangers, who, finding it impossible to extend
relief to all, are deterred from assisting any. These reflections
upon the extremes of lavish expenditure and absolute destitution
are forced upon me by my own recent experience, I partook
yesterday of a most expensive dinner, where every article of
costly food which the market affords was spread before the guests,
and fine wines drunk in abundance, some of which might command
eight or ten dollars a bottle ; and from this scene of expensive
hospitality I was conveyed to another more splendid and
expensive entertainment, where the sparkling of diamonds, the
reflection of splendid mirrors, the lustre of silks and satins, and
the rich gilding of tasteful furniture were flashed, by the aid of
innumerable lights, upon the dazzled eyes of a thousand guests.
Now this is all right enough ; in both these cases our entertainers
could well afford the expense which attended the display of
their hospitality, nor is it within the scope of the most remote
probability that the money of any others than themselves can be
involved in the outlay of their entertainments.
It may be painful to reflect how far the cost of a single bottle of
Mr. Spofford's wine or one of ?^Ir. Ray's pates de foie gras might
contribute to alleviate the distress of those miserable objects who
i847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 295
stretch out the attenuated arms of wasted poverty, or display the
haggard countenance of infantile deprivation, or the tattered habili-
ments incapable of resisting the inclemency of the winter's cold.
These gentlemen are liberal and charitable, and no doubt do their
part in almsgiving ; but they have other duties to perform. The
city demands that their riches shall contribute to maintain its
character for hospitality, and they can no more avert the evils
which are inevitable in such a state of society as exists in our city
than they can arrest the pestilence, present a barrier to the ravages
of the flood, or extinguish the destroying flame. The accounts of
the sufferings of the poor wretches who were brought up from the
ship "Garrick" make me feel almost guilty in my participation in
the luxuries of yesterday's entertainment ; we are told that twelve
of the number died on the passage, and several since the vessel
went ashore^ and those who were landed here are perfectly destitute,
— no clothes, no friends, no object in view. They fled from star-
vation at home to starve here, or be relieved by public or indi-
vidual charity. I may philosophize on this subject forever, and
feel a little bad about it sometimes ; but, after all, I am incHned
to think that- whenever Mr. Spofford or Mr. Ray invites me
again I shall go.
This nutritious grain, food for man and fodder for
Indian Corn, evcry edible animal, is the great social momentum of
the present day. The quantity raised in this country
is so great as to be with difficulty expressed by figures ; and now
that famine presents its horrid features to the distressed poor of
Europe, we supply them with excellent food, after having taught
them how to eat it and to like it as we do.
I witnessed on Thursday one of the triumphs of this great Amer-
ican staple production. A procession of twenty or thirty carts, the
forward one being drawn by six white horses and decorated with
flags, proceeded up Broadway to the grunting of martial music,
each cart loaded with four or five enormous dead hogs ; the whole
number was 106 hogs, weighing 40,262 pounds, an average of 380
296 THE DIARY OF THILIP HONE. [.Etat.67.
pounds. These overgrowTi animals were raised by five farmers of
Burlington county, New Jersey, and sold to a pork-dealer here.
They were nearly uniform in size, with short duck legs, like Grant
Thorburn's ; little, twinkling eyes peeping out between two moun-
tains of fat, like pins upon a pin- cushion ; and hams as round as a
full moon and luscious as a turtle's calipash. There was Indian
corn written in legible characters upon their jolly features, and
shining on their swelling sides ; dead though they were, they had,
out of benevolence to mankind, laid down their characters as
swine to assume that of pork ; every spare- rib and every link of
sausage, as well as the more important parts of these children of
Ham, will sing the praises of Indian corn.
February 3. — Dr. Johnson says somewhere, "Who
A Dangerous
Auxiliary. ^'"^^^ ^^'^^ ''^^'^^ succour from Bacchus was able to pre-
serve himself from being enslaved by his auxiliary?"
I am reminded of a case in point, but not attended with the bad
consequences imagined by the great moral essayist. Dining many
years ago with my lamented friend. Commodore Chauncey, at the
navy yard, I remarked to the distinguished statesman, Mr. Webster,
who graced our party, " My dear sir, I observe that you are not
altogether indifferent to the virtues of a glass of good wine." — " By
no means," he replied, "and I will tell you how it came about.
When I began to practise law in Massachusetts I was honoured
by the notice and friendship of Christopher Gore, who frequently
invited me to his house. On one occasion, seeing me look pale
and feeble, from the effects of study and hard work, he kindly
inquired how I lived. I told him I fored rather poorly at my
humble lodgings, in the house of Mrs. So and So ; that I ate corned
beef and cabbage and drank water. ' That will not do,' said Mr.
Gore ; ' you must drink a glass of good wine occasionally, and eat an
apple after dinner to promote digestion.' — ' But,' said I, ^ I cannot
afford to drink wine.' — ' I will take care of that,' said my liberal
friend ; and from that time I received occasional presents of fine
old wine from his well-supplied garret. Well, sir, it did me great
1847.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 297
good. I recovered my health, and was enabled to pursue my
studies and perform my task with renewed ardour. But, alas ! like
a beleaguered city which is compelled to call in the aid of aux-
iliary forces, I repulsed the enemy; but, the auxiliaries having
established themselves in the citadel, I have never been able to
dispossess them."
February 8. — Died yesterday, Mr. James Roosevelt, in the
eighty-eighth year of his age ; a highly respectable gentleman of
the old school, son of Isaac Roosevelt, the first president of the
first bank in New York, at a time when the president and directors
of a bank were other sort of people from those of the present day.
Proud and aristocratical, they were the only nobility we had (now
we have none) ; powerful in the controlling influence they possessed
over the commercial operations of the city, men could not stand
straight in their presence ; and woe to them who bowed not down
to the representatives of a few bags of gold and silver, the potential
dispensers of bank favours. Chancellor Kent told me last evening
that he and Mr. Roosevelt were in college together, and both
studied law in Judge Benson's office.
February 12. — There is a great movement in be-
theidsh ^^^^^ °^ ^^^ suffering people of Ireland. A meeting
preliminary to more important movements was held this
day in Prime's building, in Wall street, which was well attended
by the right sort of folks. Mr. Van Schaick presided ; nine thou -
sand dollars were subscribed by those present, and measures were
taken to collect the fund required to freight a vessel with a cargo
of bread-stuffs and other provisions and send her to Cork or some
other port in Ireland. A call was made on the clergy to receive
contributions in the several churches, and notice given of a general
meeting to be held on Monday evening at the Tabernacle. This is
a good feeling and prompt action on this interesting subject.
In connection with the above remarks I must record a circum-
stance which occurred yesterday at the club dinner at Ward's, hon-
ourable to the parties concerned. Mr. Wetmore stated that he had
298 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 67.
lost to Mr. Grinnell a bet of two dinners for the company ; that the
illness of his wife prevented him from giving these dinners at his
own house, and proposed, instead thereof (if Grinnell and the com-
pany approved), to commute the claim by handing over to me the
sum of three hundred and sixty dollars, which was estimated to
cover the expense of two such entertainments, with fine wines ; this
sum to be appropriated, in such a way as I might judge best, for
the relief of the suffering Irish. This liberal offer was, of course,
agreed to, and I received this morning Mr. Wetmore's check for
the amount, which I handed to the relief committee. Hereby we
dispense with two sumptuous dinners (for which it is doubtful if
any of us would have been the better), and the means are furnished
to add fifty barrels of wheat flour, or the value in other provisions,
to the contributions of our citizens for saving hundreds of our suf-
fering brethren in Ireland from starvation. I must add that the
generous donor of this gift stipulated that this should be independent
of any donation he might think proper to make otherwise for the
same object, and on my calling this morning at the office of the
committee I found his name as a subscriber for five hundred dol-
lars. Mr. Wetmore is a very rich man, and liberal in proportion to
his means. May the God of mercy and goodness prosper his
riches, and continue his ability and inclination to make a good
use of them !
February 16. — There was a great meeting last evening at the
Tabernacle, for the relief of the famished Irish, called by the com-
mittee. Myndert Van Schaick presided, with a host of vice-presi-
dents, of which I was one. Speeches were made by the Rev. Dr.
Wainwright, Rev. Mr. Adams, George Griffin, Charles King, and
Barnabas Bates. The large building was filled with a respectable
male audience, and an exceedingly good feeling was evinced.
In the House of Representatives, yesterday, the
mpor. question was taken on the lonaj-contested amendment
taut Vote. ^ ^
introduced by Mr. Wilmot to the bill granting three
millions of dollars to our warlike President for the purpose of car-
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 299
rying on the war in a snug way. This amendment, which prohibited
the introduction of slavery into the newly acquired Territories, was
carried by a vote of one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and
five. It is an important measure, which may alter the whole organ-
ization of political parties in the country, and defeat the great
objects of the annexation of Texas and its consequence, the un-
righteous war with Mexico.
An interesting occurrence took place on Saturday in
Jo in quincy ^•^^ Housc of Representatives ; the venerable member
from Massachusetts, ex-President Adams, made his first
appearance in the House since his dangerous attack of paralysis,
and resumed his accustomed seat, which was courteously surren-
dered to him by its temporary occupant, Mr. Johnson. On his
welcome advent the members all arose. He was addressed by the
Speaker, and replied with deep sensibility. At the moment of his
entrance, the member who was addressing the House, Mr. Kent,
suspended his remarks, and, on resuming, alluded to the interest-
ing event which had caused their interruption. This was a proud
homage to exalted talents, devoted patriotism, and long and faithful
public services. He has, in the course of his legislative career,
crossed the path of many of those who now joined in this honour-
able demonstration, — a circumstance most honourable, equally
creditable to the donors and grateful to the recipient, and which
is well calculated to soften the rays of the intellectual sun which
there is reason to fear is about setting.
February 22. — This is the anniversary of the birth
as ingons ^^ ^.^^^^ wliose name is indissolubly connected with the
glory of our republic. " First in war, first in peace,
and first in the hearts of his countrymen," his name will grace the
brightest page of history as an example of disinterested patriotism,
unstained honour, and wise conduct.
A small detachment of citizen soldiers, calling themselves
veterans, are at this moment passing my window, clad in the old,
quaint uniform of the Continentals, — long blue coats, faced and
300 THE DTARV OF PIIILTP HONE. [.Ktat.67.
turned up with buff, with three-cornered cocked hats and long
boots ; not by any means a graceful costume, but interesting, as it
brings to recollection the days of the man honoured by his coun-
trymen and chosen by his INIaker as the leader of the people.
What would this man have said, were he still among us, at the
degradation of his countrymen in permitting a chief ruler, the acci-
dental choice of a reckless faction, to exercise a power equally
arbitrary and unconstitutional ; and by usurping the people's rights,
and the sovereignty of the States delegated to their representatives
in Congress, to involve the nation in an unjust and inglorious war
of aggression upon a neighbouring republic, which, if it had
strength equal to its sense of wrong, would send back our forces
dishonoured and discomfited. The blood of many a brave and
gallant American will be shed in this contest ; consecrated, it is true,
by personal bravery, but unhallowed by the consolation of lamenting
friends and fellow-citizens, that the cause in which they fell was just.
Shade of the great and good Washington, look down upon thy
beloved country, and warn us of the bad effects of corrupt and
unrighteous councils !
February 25. — Immense shipments of bread-stuffs are made
from every port in the United States ; freights are enormously high,
— eight to nine shillings for a barrel of flour. The Liverpool packets,
which have been lately built of increased tonnage, as if in anticipa-
tion of the present demand, are making unprecedented profits.
The new packet-ship "Constitution," belonging to Woodhull &
Minturn's line, sailed yesterday for Liverpool, with the following
enormous cargo of bread-stuffs : Ten thousand bushels of wheat,
twenty-five thousand bushels of Indian corn, two thousand seven
hundred barrels of corn- meal, one hundred and sixty boxes of soda
biscuit, four thousand barrels of flour ; besides which she has six
hundred and sixty-one bales of cotton, forty- two boxes of clocks,
and nineteen barrels of beeswax. The bread-stuffs are equal to
sixty-eight thousand bushels ; these will stop the croaking of many
an empty stomach.
I847-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 30 1
March i. — The subscriptions for the rehef of the
Irish are kept up with undiminished spirit. The ReUef
Committee have received upwards of $50,000. Col-
lections were made yesterday in several of the churches : the
amount given in St. John's Church was $556; Grace Church col-
lected the previous Sunday ^1,800. The Catholic churches have
given nobly, and every denomination of Christians has assisted lib-
erally in the good work : Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists,
Baptists, and Romanists are all united as one congregation in the
brotherhood of charity.
March 4. — The twenty-ninth Congress ceased to
ongress exist last uiffht. It should be a cause of rejoicing ;
Adjourned. '^ J G ^
for never was a nation cursed with such a body of rep-
resentatives. " Their works will follow them," bad as they were.
But how do we know that, in the present downward tendency of
public affairs, the next Congress may not be equally bad? The
House of Representatives had still their Winthrop, Adams, Ashmun,
Mosely, Grinnell, etc., some of whom are reelected to the next
Congress. But the great falling off will be in the Senate. Evans,
Archer, Berrien, and several others of the staunchest Whigs and
ablest senators, close their labours in that body with the close of the
session ; some have been reelected, but a large proportion must
make way for such as their Loco-foco legislatures may think proper
to send. The House may possibly be Whig, but the Senate is
irrevocably Loco-foco.
The three-million bill passed, without Wilmot's proviso prohibit-
ing the introduction of slavery in newly acquired Territories. This
proviso prevailed at first in the House of Representatives ; but, by
the force of party drill, a majority was found against it at the last
moment, and this large appropriation is given to Mr. Polk with
which to do what he pleases. Charles J. IngersoU would have Mr.
Webster impeached for some paltry sum of $1,000, unaccounted
for or misapplied, if that great man had not possessed proofs of the
utter falsity of the base insinuation. Now this tool of party votes
302 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 67.
to cast three millions into the pool of executive corruption. And
now let us see the compensation for this foul act. Polk nominated
this man on the last day of the session as Minister to France.
The nomination was rejected by the Senate, althougli a majority of
that body are the political associates of the nominee ; immediately
after which the name of Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, was sent in
and confirmed. Mr. Rush was Minister to England when I was
first there, in 182 1, and I have always been grateful for his kind
attentions during my stay in London. He is not a man of much
force, but much better than we usually get in these times of national
degradation. The escape of the country from the disgrace of
Ingersoll's appointment might reconcile us to a less respectable
Minister than Mr. Rush.
March 9. — Dined with Judge David S. Jones. The
'"°^'^" party consisted of the followinsr gentlemen, and the
parties. ^ -^ o & j
dinner was pleasant : Moses H. Grinnell, Henry Par-
ish, Charles A. Clinton, John A. King, Paul Spofford, William B.
Astor, William Douglass, Henry Brevoort, Clement C. Moore, Mr.
Finlay, Robert Ray, Thomas Tileston, J. Prescott Hall, and P. H.
March 12. — I dined at Mr. Astor's, with the following party,
besides the host and hostess : Mr. and Mrs. Gibbes, Mr. and Mrs.
John J. Astor, Mr. and Mrs. Bristed. The two last-named ladies
were Miss Augusta Gibbes and Miss Laura Brevoort ; their husbands
are grandchildren of old Mr. Astor, as are Miss Astor and Mr.
Walter Langdon, who were also at the dinner. Besides these, there
were Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Ludlow, Mr. Charles E. Davis, Mr.
Truman, Mr. K. Armstrong, Judge David S. Jones, Mr. Cogs-
well, and myself.
March 31. — The news from Mexico, which has
Mexico. been anxiously expected for the last two or three days,
was brought to-day by express from Washington. The
rumours of a great battle in Mexico between General Taylor and
Santa Anna have taken the form of authenticity. The conflict
which was foreshadowed was realized, and a bloody battle fought
IS47-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 303
by the Mexicans and their invaders on the 2 2d and 23d of Febru-
ary, at a place called Buena Vista, six miles west of Saltillo, the
result of which extricates the American forces under General Taylor
from a position of great danger. Five thousand of our troops
were surrounded by fifteen thousand Mexicans, and with this dis-
parity of force Taylor gave battle. The action was desperate.
The Americans, as usual, fought with the utmost bravery, and the
contest was well sustained by the enemy. The carnage was tre-
mendous : four thousand Mexicans are killed and wounded, by our
accounts ; but it is painful to relate that the blood of seven hundred
to a thousand Americans was offered up to the Moloch of war and
unjust aggressive hostility, of whom sixty-three were officers, — ■
gallant, noble fellows who fought for their country, reckless of life
and regardless of the merits of the controversy. As old Caspar
says, "But 'twas a glorious victory." Who shall comfort the
afflicted parents, wives, children, and friends of the brave men who
have thus "sacrificed their lives to honour"? Who shall be the
first to convey the melancholy tidings of his son's death to Mr.
Clay, whose whole life has been employed in the service of an
ungrateful people? They are willing he should work for them,
negotiate for them, and sacrifice his time, talents, and property in
their sendee, and send his sons to fight their battles and die in their
cause ; but most ungratefully refuse his just reward, and bestow
their favour upon one who went to bed one night a man no bigger
than a million of other men in the country, and rose the next day
President of the United States. One must be struck with the dis-
parity of loss, in all the actions of the present war, between the
officers and privates. In the wars of Europe, where war is brought
to a system and practised as a science, and where the men are
formed into machines to carry on the trade, their officers have only
to set them in motion and keep them to their work ; and only in
extreme cases is it necessary for the commanders of divisions,
brigades, and regiments to put their lives in jeopardy. The loss of
one general or colonel has a greater influence upon the fate of a
304 'illK DIARY OF rillLir HONE. [.Etat. 67.
battle than that of a hundred men. Napoleon risked his life at the
bridge of Lodi because the emergency of the occasion required the
example ; but he knew the value of his life, and refrained from
exposing the property of France. We have a different kind of
warfare to wage. The troops now engaged in Mexico are princi-
pally raw recruits, undisciplined and unpractised, — brave enough
in battle, but governed by impulse ; they recpiire constantly the
example of their officers to lead them on, and this example is never
withheld. The officers are a set of the most chivalrous, daring
fellows in the world. Most of them of good famihes, they fight for
glory, and, knowing the risk attendant upon its accpiirement, never
hesitate to encounter it.
We had a pleasant dinner-party to-day, given in
1 lam . j-j^j-jQ^j- Qf ^i-)g accomplished author of " Ferdinand
Prescott. ^
and Isabella " and the " Conquest of Peru." My round
table was graced by the presence of the following guests : William
H. Prescott, Rev. Dr. Wainwright, Jonathan Meredith, Governor
Seward, Francis Granger, Henry Brevoort, Clement C. Moore, J.
Prescott Hall, James W. Webb, and Ogden Hoffman. I gave this
toast in compliment to the principal guest : " Mexico and Peru :
we have conquered the one, and intend soon to turn over a 7iew
leaf \\\\\\ the other."
The first edition of the " Conquest of Peru," consisting of seven
thousand five hundred copies, has been purchased, at one dollar a
set, by the Harpers. Mr. Prescott reserves the copyright, and will,
of course, receive all the profits of future editions. He told me
that his works have thus far produced him $8,000. He finds book-
making a good trade ; but few such books as his are made.
April 17. — There is a pleasant account in the papers of a fish-
ing party of the tallest kind, which '^ came off" on Tuesday last,
at Southampton, Long Island ; a school of whales made their
appearance in the bay on Monday afternoon, which proved to be a
most unfortunate visit (for the whales, I mean). As soon as they
were descried, several boats, manned by the hardy and intrepid
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 305
whalemen who inhabit that sea-girt region, went in pursuit, and, in
full view of the delighted and excited non-combatants on shore,
attacked, conquered, and landed four whales of the largest kind,
from which they will obtain from thirty to sixty barrels of oil
each.
April 27. — Mr. Webster has left Washington, and gone to the
South, where he seems to be gaining "golden opinions." We
already hear of his arrival at Richmond, and his being received by
crowds prepared to escort him to his lodgings ; of a public dinner
being provided for him, and every demonstration of respect during
his brief sojourn in the capital of Virginia. Similar greetings are
prepared on the line of his route. They have heard of Mr. Web-
ster, but have not seen him ; and if he relaxes his iron brow, and
condescends to open out himself to their inspection, and show
them that his proud name was not misapplied, the Southerners
may be made to acknowledge that even the East may produce
great men. It looks as if the Massachusetts senator was looking
out for votes. I wish he may get enough to make him President ;
but I fear he will find the Taylor's measures more to the people's
hking than the more experienced culture of the Marshfield farmer.
May I . — The great day of domestic locomotion is, happily for
the sufferers, bright and clear. Spring carts are in great request ;
straw beds are cast into the streets ; pots, pans, and kettles are
seeking a new sphere of usefulness ; women scold, children cry,
and the head of the family begins to find that his notions of
personal importance are of little consideration in the turmoil
of May day.
May 3. — The Tallahassee " Sentinel " of 20th of
Prince Murat. ,^pj.Q anuounccs in the following terms the death of a
scion of the Bonaparte stock, who has resided in this
country, a naturalized American, for many years : " Prince Charles
Napoleon Achille Murat expired at his residence in Jefferson
County, Florida, on Thursday last, the 15 th inst. He was the son
of Joachim and Caroline Bonaparte Murat, King and Queen of
3o6 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONK. [.Etat.67.
Naples ; the former the celebrated marshal of Napoleon, the mirror
of chivalry and valour ; the other, a sister of the immortal emperor.
After the expulsion of his family from Italy, Prince Murat resided
in Austria until 182 1, when he removed to this country. He has
spent most of his days in Florida, in all the quiet and retirement of
a country gentleman." He was borne to the grave in this city, on
Saturday, attended by his Masonic brethren of Jackson Lodge, and
by a concourse of citizens. Minute-guns were fired during the
moving of the procession, and he was interred with all the solemn
ceremonies of the Masonic order.
May 7. — This was a day of rejoicing ordered by the
tjoicing an ^. ^^,^j|-|^Qj.[j-^gg |-q celebrate the victories of our armies
Illumination. •'
in Mexico. There was a grand military display, sal-
vos of one hundred guns, a general display of flags from all the
vessels in the harbour, and from every public edifice in the city
which had the bunting to show. In the evening occurred an illu-
mination of all conspicuous houses ; the City Hall and other public
buildings, hotels, and club-houses were lighted up, and transpar-
encies exhibited, in which Scott and Taylor, Worth and Wool, were
blazoned forth by " inch of candle ; " and Palo Alto, Resaca de los
Palmos, Monterey, Buena Vista, and la Vera Cruz were as familiar
to the tongues of old age and infancy, male and female, gentlefolk
and common folk, as the places where they were born.
I went with my daughters and Mr. William Hoppin to see the
show. The crowd in the streets was great beyond description.
Broadway, for its whole length, was a solid mass, and in the Park
it looked as if humanity was piled three or four deep. We went
along with the tide (for returning was impracticable) as far as
St. Paul's Church, and thence up Chatham street and the Bowery,
home, where we arrived tired and bruised, but gratified with what
we had seen ; and not much the worse for wear, for, although the
crowd was so great, it was a good-natured crowd, — a little scream-
ing, some swearing, but more laughing, and no accidents that I
have heard of.
[847-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 307
Another
Victory.
May 10. — Scarcely had the last inch of candle shed
its rays, and the last charge of powder sounded the
harmless blast of rejoicing for battles fought and gained
by the x\mericans in Mexico ; scarcely had the bells ceased to toll
and the drooping flags been hauled down from the mast, which
have been the sounds and symbols of mourning for American
blood shed in acquiring these victories, — than we are called upon
to record another triumph of the invading army.
General Scott achieved a decisive victory over the Mexican
forces under Santa Anna, on the i8th of April. It was a hard-
fought battle ; the loss of the Mexicans was immense. They fight
bravely and die hard ; they are beaten again and again, and will not
stay beaten. This battle was fought in the mountains and amongst
the chaparrals. The rout was complete ; besides the dreadful
loss in killed, our army took six thousand prisoners, including two
generals, with ten or twelve other officers of high importance, who
were all sent to report themselves to our commandant at la Vera
Cruz, and thence, by their own choice, are to come to the United
States. The commander-in-chief. General Santa Anna, had a
narrow escape. By cutting loose one of the mules from his
travelling-carriage and mounting her, he got clear into the moun-
tains, leaving his equipage in the hands of the victor (to whom, as
we have it from high authority, " belong the spoils "), with his rich
service of plate for General Scott's use, and his wooden leg, which
I pray the latter may never have occasion to use.
But now comes the dark side of the picture. More precious
blood has been shed. General Shields, one of the bravest of the
brave, was desperately, probably mortally, wounded. The names
of the killed and wounded are not given, nor is there as yet any
official account. If matters continue at this rate the Mexicans will
be exterminated, our own precious blood will be shed in the
achievement, and the nation will gain nothing by the conquest.
While these victories are gained on the land, the seaports in the
bay are falling one after another into the hands of the navy, from
3o8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 67.
whom the army has received the most efficient help and harmoni-
ous cooperation since the fall of la Vera Cruz and its formidable
defences. Alvarado has been captured, and this morning we have
accounts of the Port of Tuspan, sixty or seventy miles north from
la Vera Cruz, having been taken by the squadron under command
of Commodore Perry. Among the names mentioned of the
wounded, incidentally, in the vague accounts of this battle, I per-
ceive that of Lieutenant McLane, whom I take to be the son of my
friend, Louis McLane, of Baltimore, late Minister to England. It
will turn out, I think, that this has been the most disastrous battle
for the Mexicans. Poor creatures ! they are paying severely for
the unpardonable sin of rejecting the modest, unassuming pleni-
potentiary, Mr. John Slidell. I rejoice that my friend Scott has
brought himself up so finely ; this battle adds a broad leaf to the
laurel wreath which he gained at la Vera Cruz.
Mr. and Mrs. Webster were at Charleston, S. C, on
'"^ the 29th ult., on which day he partook of a public
dinner, the invitation to which was signed by sixty- two
names, comprising all the chivalry of Carolina. The affair was
gotten up in good taste, and marked with the best sort of feeling,
in the preparatory meeting and the Mayor of Charleston pre-
sided. The resolutions were proposed, and a highly complimentary
speech made, l)y Colonel Hayne, in the struggle with whom Mr.
Webster, in the celebrated debate in the Senate on Foote's reso-
lutions, acquired his brightest laurels, and gained a proud victory
over an opponent of his prowess
May 13. — The Hone Club dined with J. Prescott
Club Dinner, Hall. The attendance, owing to absence from town,
sickness, and death in Himilies, was unusually small, con-
sisting of the following members : Hall, John Ward, Grinnell, George
Curtis, Paul Spofford, Draper, Bowen, and myself; in addition
to whom were Judge Nelson, of the Supreme Court of the United
States ; Judge Betts, United States District Court ; Judges Beardsley
and Jewett, Supreme Court of the State ; and Mr. Charles King,
i847-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 309
May 14. — We had a pleasant party at supper, consisting of Mr.
and Mrs. DePeyster, Mr. and Mrs. Foster, Mr. and Mrs. John
Hone, Mr. and Mrs. Van Schaick, Mrs. Oddie and AHda, Mr. and
Mrs. Isaac Hone, Dr. Matthews, his two daughters and son ; Mr.
Anthon, his daughters ; WilUam and Hamilton Hoppin, Mr. Wil-
liam Wood and Miss Wood, William Ashurst, Mr. Muller, and
Mr. Francis Dorr.
May 26. — I received yesterday a circular letter
iicago ^^^^_^ ^j^^ Hon. William A. Mosely, chairman of the cor-
Convention. •' '
responding committee of Buffalo, an estimable W^hig
member of Congress, inviting me to attend a great convention to
be held at Chicago, Illinois, on the 5th of July, The object of this
convention is to put forward the claims upon the government of
the enterprising citizens of the great western lake country, and
consequently to rebuke the contumelious treatment they have
received from the person who has, accidentally, obtained the power
to defeat the wise and constitutional measures adoped by the peo-
ple's representatives. I have replied to Mr. Mosely's letter, accept-
ing the invitation of the committee, and promising to be at Chicago
on the 5th of July, my health permitting. This fits in well. I have
been making arrangements to go early next month to Lake Michi-
gan, Green Bay, and Chicago ; and here is an additional induce-
ment.
May 31. — Among the liberal donations for the relief of the
famished Irish which have passed through the hands of the com-
mittee was one received last week, of $5,000, from Messrs. Corcoran
and Riggs, of Washington. These gentlemen have made a princely
fortune by taking the whole of the last government six-per-cent.
loan, and have thus, with becoming liberality, contributed of their
abundance to this good object. The capture of la Vera Cruz and
the battle of Buena Vista furnished the means of sending a thousand
barrels of corn to Ireland ; and Scott and Taylor, whilst employed
in knocking out the brains of Mexicans, were unconsciously the
instruments of saving the lives of Irishmen.
310 THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. [/Etat.67.
June i. — The glorious harbour of New York pre-
' ^^^' "^ seated to-day an animated picture. Vessels of every
description, from the largest-class frigate to the little,
fairy skiff, with magnificent steamers, carrying out, to its utmost
extent, the American go-ahead principle, and noble merchantmen
loaded down with the staff of life for hungry Europe, waiting for a
wind to hoist sail and away. Several causes operated to increase
the usual animation of this great aquatic theatre. The new steamer
"Washington," the first government mail vessel intended for P^ng-
land and the continent, went to sea. She takes out Mr. Hobbie, an
agent of the general post- office department, who goes to establish
an international system of postage with the pAiropean governments.
A great steamboat race came off between the " Cornelius Vander-
bilt," which bears the name of her enterprising proprietor, and the
" Oregon," Captain Law. They went to Croton Point and returned,
seventy-five miles, in three hours and fifteen minutes, — a rate of
speed which would carry a vessel to Liverpool in five or six days.
The " Oregon " gained the race, and Captain Vanderbilt was beaten
for once. The annual regatta of the Yacht Club was to have taken
place, but there was not wind enough to start the boats. I intended
to have gone down with my daughter in the steamer " Eureka,"
which was provided by the club to accompany the yachts, with the
members. The affair was postponed until to-morrow. Among the
other incidents of the day interesting to the spectators on the Bat-
tery was the arrival of the "Southerner" from Charleston, with
Mr. Webster and other distinguished ])assengers.
Harrisrurg, June 10. — We left Philadelphia at
journey o ic g^^^j^ o'clock, and camc to this place, one hundred and
West. ' * '
six miles by railroad, at three o'clock. The weather is
warm, but a fine breeze made the ride delightful. The road passes
through one of the most fertile and best-cultivated districts in the
United States ; but there is not a pretty town on the route, and
none of any note but Lancaster; nor is Harrisburg, though dignified
by the name of the capital of the great State of Pennsylvania, any-
I847-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 31 I
thing more than a miserable collection of lawyers' offices and
barber-shops. There is not a handsome edifice in the place, that
we could find, with the exception of the State-House and public
offices, which are in good style, but constructed of the everlasting
red brick and white marble. The town is beautifully situated on
an eminence overlooking the Susquehanna, which is here a fine
stream, and deserves something better than this loaferdooking city
to grace its banks. We have determined, as a choice of evils, to go
to-morrow to Pittsburg by the canal, although we shall be three
nights on the voyage, in preference to one hundred and fifty
miles of stage travelling by Chambersburg, on dusty roads in this
warm weather.
June ii. — At three o'clock we embarked in the
ennsy vania (,.^^^.^j.^q.^|. a Delaware," Captain Kellar, on a canal
Canul. ' '■ '
voyage of more than two hundred miles. The weather
is pleasant, and we have an agreeable set of passengers ; not too
many. The day does very well, but the sleeping is tolerably un-
comfortable (there is not much of f/ia/, however): The delay on
this, the first day of our long voyage, is rather discouraging ; there
has been a breach in the canal, which has caused an accumulation
of loaded boats ; but the scenery is splendid. Just at the sun-set-
ting (a more glorious one I never saw) we came to the junction of
the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, fifteen miles from Harrisburg,
where the boat crosses the dam, the tow-path being conveyed
across on a long bridge of light and delicate construction, on piers
of massive and solid masonry. At the mouth of the Juniata is a
handsome mansion and fine estate of four hundred acres, called
Duncan's Island, belonging to a lady of that name, whose character
seems to be worthy of such a position. Here we leave the Susque-
hanna, and follow the course of the Juniata, — a beautiful stream,
abounding in romantic and picturesque scenery.
En Route, June 12. — The breach in the canal caused us to
stop several hours during the night, and this morning, at sunrise, the
'^ Commet," a huge coal-boat, had the bad manners to get stuck
312 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 67.
across the canal (what better could be expected from a fellow who
spells Comet with two m's?). Here I witnessed a gallant exploit
of our captain, — the raising a smc/l, which is thus performed : he
puts six horses on the tow-lines, backs the boat, and then, dashing
on with the fury of the horses in the hippodrome, raises a swell
like the waves at Rockaway. The first onset removed the " Co?n-
vief' a little from her orbit, and the second carried us triumphantly
through the obstacle. The sight of this spirited display of canal
tactics compensated for the delay. We sat down to breakfast and
went on our way rejoicing.
Canal, June 13. — This canal-travelling is pleasant enough in
the daytime, but the sleeping is awful. There are two cabins, in
which the men-folk and the women-folk are separated by a red
curtain. In the former apartment the sleepers are packed away on
narrow shelves, fastened to the sides of the boat, like dead pigs in
a Cincinnati pork warehouse. We go to bed at nine o'clock, and
rise when we are told in the morning ; for the bedsteads are formed
of the seats and the tables. " A couch by night, a chest of drawers
by day ! " If I should ever be so happy as to sleep in my own
bed again, my comfort will be enhanced by the remembrance of
my present limited, hard, sheetless dormitory.
June 14. — An extra car brought us from Holidaysburg, at six
o'clock this morning, to take the Portage railroad across the Alle-
ghany mountains to Johnstown, — thirty-six miles, — which is effected
by ten inclined planes, five ascending and five descending, similar
to those on the Delaware and Hudson railroad. It is somewhat
exciting, but nothing when we get used to it. The scenery of
these mountains is astonishingly grand, wild beyond description ;
and would have been gratifying but for the hard rain and extreme
cold, which compelled us to keep the windows closed. The delay
of the early part of th's tedious voyage still follows us. Being an
extra train, nothing was ready ; locomotives were to be sent for,
and horses not to be had. We have lost already three days since
we left Philadelphia, and while writing, the new boat, the '' Louis-
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 313
iana," lies at the dock at Johnstown, waiting for the passengers who
were a day behind us. Six o'clock. The cars are in ; an influx
of passengers, of not so good a description as the original set, have
come on board, with a fair quantity of crying children and vulgar
mothers, and we are off once more.
June 15. — Our canal voyage has been pleasant, on the v/hole
though tedious, and longer than it should have been by a day
and a night at least, owing to delays on the first night, which we
could not recover during the voyage. But we arrived at " the
Birmingham of America " at eleven o'clock this evening. I re-
gretted the necessity of entering the city at night ; but its appear-
ance was quite a novelty : bright flames issuing from foundries,
glass and gas works, and rolling-mills, steam-engines puffing like
broken- winded horses, and heavy clouds of smoke making the
night's darkness darker, gave us a grand ejitree to Pittsburg, where
we are sumptuously lodged at the Monongahela House.
June 16. — This is one of the most active, business-
At Pittsburg-, like places I have ever seen, with every appearance
of present prosperity and future greatness ; manufac-
tures of iron, glass, and machinery are carried on extensively and
under great advantages ; iron abounds in every valley, and bitumi-
nous coal of the best quality comes cantering down from the
surrounding mountains, and is delivered by contract at four and
a half cents per bushel, or about ^1.20 the long ton. A place so
situated, with such natural advantages, must rise to greatness. I
have seen nothing like it in Pennsylvania.
June 20. — The voyage down the Ohio — four hun-
At Cincin- i i i •
^^^. dred and nmety-six miles — has been exceedingly pleas-
ant. We had a fine boat, excellent fare, comfortable
staterooms, and good company, and arrived here this morning in
time to dress and attend divine worship at Christ Church, — an
Episcopal congregation. Cincinnati is a noble city, as I expected,
of seventy- five thousand inhabitants, with splendid private dwellings
and every appearance of prosperity.
314 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 67.
June 24. — Mr. Clay sent us last evening a note,
At Lex
.^ ^^^^ ' inviting us to breakfast. Mr. Crittenden, Margaret,
and I went out this morning to Ashland. A more
delightful visit cannot be imagined ; I shall ever remember it as
one of the bright spots in my life. Our illustrious host received us
with the utmost kindness. He looks well, and talks, as usual, " like
a book." Recent events have cast a shade of melancholy over
his expressive countenance, without diminishing the warmth of
his friendly feelings, but rather adding an interest to their ex-
pression. He talked much to me about his son. He was bap-
tized on Sunday, preparatory to his joining the Episcopal Church.
After breakfast (such a breakfast as could only be found in such
a mansion and such a country) he took us around his grounds.
I never saw so fine a farm ; his crops of wheat, Indian corn, and
hemp are in the highest degree of i)erfection, his trees (nearly
all of which were planted by himself) magnificent, and the stock
do credit to the pastures on which they are reared. Why should
such a man, so situated, desire to succeed in public office a man
like James K. Polk?
After spending three or four hours in this pleasant
Mr. Clay. manner, Mr. Clay brought us to town, and drove me
in his carriage about the environs, to see the public
edifices, private dwellings, and beautiful adjacent country. We
then parted (never perhaps to meet again). Long life and
honour to Henry Clay ! I am as deeply impressed with his hos-
pitality in private as I ever have been with his talents and
patriotism in public life. How have I been gratified with this
fortunate visit, which brought my daughter and me in friendly
communion with two such men as Henry Clay and John J.
Crittenden, not forgetting that prince of good fellows. Gov-
ernor Letcher.
June 25. — We came from Frankfort — fifty-four
At Louisville, miles — by the stage. The day has been very hot, and
we had a heavy load of passengers, among whom was
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 315
General Shelby, son of the celebrated governor of that name,
whose acquaintance I made at Lexington. We stopped to dine at
Shelbyville, — a pretty town twenty-two miles from Frankfort. The
road is good, and the country through which it passes, like the
whole of western Kentucky, beautiful ; fine farms, highly cultivated
with heavy crops of Indian corn, hemp, and wheat ; rich valleys,
"standing so thick with corn that they do laugh and sing; " and
forests in which the handiwork of nature has left nothing for the
improvement of art. These are the bright pictures of this fine
country ; I have seen nothing to mar them either in the State or
its inhabitants. We are lodged in the Gait House, under the
charge of its gentlemanly proprietor. Major Throckmorton, the
acknowledged prince of landlords.
At the last lock, the new passengers all went ashore to see Porter,
the Kentucky giant. He keeps a large hotel, and makes a good
living out of the curiosity of travellers who stop to drink with him.
The captain introduced me to the great vian. He said he had
heard of me in New York, talked with me (the only one of fifty men
present), and wished me a pleasant voyage and safe return. This
mighty piece of humanity is seven feet eight inches in height,
thirty- five years of age. I stood at his side ; he stretched out his
arm at right angles with his body, and it was six inches above my
head. He is not so fine a looking man as when I saw him in New
York, and complains of bad health. I fear that this last of the race
of giants will have run his earthly race ere long. These people
persist in calling me Colonel, notwithstanding I tell them that I
am plain Mister. Well, I would rather have the people's com-
mission than that of President Polk, or Governor Young.
June 29. — I was called out of my berth by my re-
."! ^. '^' quest to the clerk, at two o'clock this morning, to wit-
ness the union of the " Queen of the West " with " The
Father of Rivers." This interesting ceremony takes place at a
settlement called Cairo, on the extreme southerly point of the
State of Illinois. The moon being obscured, and my sight, from
3l6 THE DIARY OF rillLll' HONE. [.Etat. 67.
being suddenly called up, not very clear, I ccjuld only judge of the
situation of, the place, but saw enough of it to satisfy me that it
was not Gt'cind Cairo. We have now followed the course of the
Ohio from its commencement at Pittsburg, where the confluence
of the Alleghany and Monongahela forms its origin, one hundred
miles, to the spot where it becomes lost in the Mississippi. The
river is rising, there is plenty of turbid yellow water, and no more
danger of getting aground.
June 30. — We came to this great city (for such it
Atst. Louis, truly is) at six o'clock in the evening of this lovely
30th of June, three weeks since our departure from
New York, and put up at the Planters' House, — one of those great
hotels which astonish us in the great West. After tea, according to
my practice, I started to perambulate the busy haunts of this
Western Babylon. I walked the whole extent of the front on the
river, called (as is usual in the Western cities) the levee, and my
astonishment at the scene there represented is greater than I can
describe. Fifty large steamboats, at least, lie head on, taking in
and discharging their cargoes ; some constantly arriving from New
Orleans and other ports on the Mississippi ; Cincinnati, Louisville,
etc., on the Ohio ; from the great Missouri and its tributaries ; the
lUinois river, where we are bound, and the whole Western and
Southern waters, which make this place their mart ; whilst others
are departing, full of passengers, and deeply laden with the multifari-
ous products of this remarkable region. The whole of the levee
is covered, as far as the eye can see, with merchandise landed or
to be shipped ; thousands of barrels of flour and bags of corn,
hogsheads of tobacco, and immense piles ot lead (one of the
great staples), whilst foreign merchandise and the products of the
lower country are carried away to be lodged in the stores which
form the front of the city. My walk led me through the Corlears'
hook and ship yards of St. Louis ; among boatmen, draymen, and
labourers, white and black ; French, Irish, and Cxerman, drinking,
singing, and loungin£c on benches. This was an excursion which
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 317
few travellers would undertake, especially after dark ; but I like
it, and, as the man said who went to be married, when asked by
the priest, "Wilt thou take this woman to be thy wedded wife?" I
answer, "Sartainly; I came for that."
July i . — We left St. Louis with infinite regret, at five o'clock
this afternoon, on board the steamer " Domain," for Peoria and
Peru, on the way to Chicago. I have more to say about St. Louis
than I can find time for. We have met with here (as we have in
our whole progress) the most distinguished attentions. Many gen-
tlemen have called upon me with offers of services which our short
sojourn prevents us from accepting. Colonel Benton, the Missouri
senator, the great gun of the great West, called with his niece, Miss
Brant (the daughter of Colonel Brant, who has one of the finest
establishments in the city), and took us in his carriage to see every-
thing worthy of note in the city and its environs, — the churches
(which are very numerous), the convents, the college, and arsenal,
and market-places, and a number of beautiful country-seats.
July 4. — Chicago is truly the wonder of the West-
At Chicago, em world. It was ceded to the Americans by the
Winnebagoes after General Scott's treaty in February,
1 83 1, and now it is a large town, beautifully situated at the head
of Lake Michigan, a transcend ently beautiful Mediterranean sea,
with streets laid out at right angles, streets of stores, and fleets of
vessels ; cottages for people of taste, brick houses for people of
wealth, hotels for travelling people, and churches for good people.
July 8. — We arrived soon after daylight at Mil-
At
Milwaukee, waukcc, whcre we remained until ten o'clock. Here is
another wonder of the Western world, — an xA.laddin's
palace on a large scale, raised in a night, but likely to be of longer
duration. The town is well situated, in the State of Wisconsin,
ninety-five miles below Chicago, with a fine harbour; streets of
business filled with wagons, some conveying the merchandise of
New York into the interior of the State, and others bringing in neio
country produce, and taking out old country immigrants ; churches,
3l8 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 67.
printing-offices, markets, and milliners, — and all these in a place
where twelve years ago there were just three log-shanties.
July 10. — My business at Sheybogan being accom-
j^.^^ "" ' "' plished, Margaret and I started this morning, at seven
o'clock, in an open wagon, with a good pair of horses
and a handy boy to drive, on this journey of forty-four miles.
But such a journey I never suffered ; the road until the last seven
or eight miles lies through a dense forest, generally beech and
maple, with now and then a clearance, with the trees still burning ;
a log-cabin, with swarms of children ; pigs ; a cow, perhaps ; and a
pot boiling upcMi the cross-sticks. Every mile we meet a family of
German emigrants, with their goods and chattels stowed away in a
huge ox-wagon, with legs of all sizes projecting, from those of the
mother, of the size and form of a horse-block, to the pipe-stems of
the latest pledge of connubial industry. The road, with the exception
of the first six miles to the new and thriving settlement at the falls
of the beautiful Sheybogan river, and the last six on the prairies of
Fond-du-Lac, is abominable; stumps and roots alternate with
stones so thickly sown that there is no room for the wheels to pass
between them ; and occasionally, that art should come in to dispute
with nature the credit of the construction of this via infcrnale^ a
bridge formed of rough logs, of all sizes and forms, is thrown over
a deep swamp of black mud. Tlius we came plunging into holes,
and brought up by stumps, at the rate of two miles an hour, in the
hottest day there has been this summer. Besides all this, we have
the delightful prospect of returning by this road on Monday.
Governor Tallmadge, who, with his daughter, has been a fellow-
sufferer in another wagon, kindly insisted upon our becoming his
guests at his log- cabin three miles from Fond-du-Lac, and here we
hope (if the mosquitoes will let us) to sleep away the fatigue and
soreness of our hard day's journey.
July 17. — Our misfortunes are not yet ended.
On Lake -yy^ ^^^^^.^ (_iinii-ig at the St. Marie's Hotel, when news
Huron.
was brought that the steamboat, with all our baggage
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 319
on board, had started fifteen minutes before her time. We rushed
down to the wharf and made signals to her. To our great joy
she laid by ; we put off in a small boat, were nearly run down,
were hauled on board at the risk of our lives, and thus ends the
adventures of Sault Ste. Marie. We are now on Lake Huron,
steaming down to Detroit, almost home, — only about twelve hun-
dred miles to go.
July 19. — Detroit is a busy, active city of twelve or fifteen
thousand inhabitants, with wide streets, handsome shops, and
plenty of fine churches.
July 20. — A fine day, but very hot. x^t five
" ^ ^ o'clock this morning we came to Cleveland, in the
State of Ohio, about half-way between Detroit and
Buffalo. This is a pretty town, with a good show of busi-
ness, many fine private buildings, displaying a great deal of
taste and neatness.
July 21. — I find it exceedingly difficult to call to
At Buffalo. my recollection the city of Buffalo as I formerly knew
it. Rows of warehouses occupy ground which was
then vacant, and corn-fields and gardens have made way for
streets of brick houses. The basin and harbour are so obstructed
with steamboats and lake crafts that hours are consumed in the
ingress and egress.
July 23. — I went to bed at the Falls last night at
Niagara. an early hour, fatigued with my day's exercise, and
labouring under an indisposition of several days' stand-
ing, which made me less able to stand the fatigue. After a rest-
less night I arose this morning very early, and while sitting at my
window, from which I had a fine view of the rapids on the Ameri-
can side, the morning sun arose clear, bright, and glorious, lighting
up the agitated waters, which, foaming and tossing about in fan-
tastic forms, rushed with the speed and fury of a wild horse on
the prairies to the awful brink of its grand descent into the whirl-
pool below. It seemed like a sea of melted silver casting out
320 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.E:tat. 67.
myriads of sparkling jewels to meet the sunbeams' early embraces ;
languid and faint, I gazed with awe and admiration, and felt how
insignificant an object I was in this glorious pageant of Divine
power.
July 25. — On my arrival at Buffalo I found a
anan- letter froui my friend Mr. Ciranger, of Canandai^ua,
daigua. ■' ^ ' o 7
inviting us, in the kindest and most pressing manner,
to pass a day or two at his noble mansion. This chimed in so
well with our arrangements, and the promise it held out of an
agreeable resting-place, induced us to accept the invitation without
hesitation, and I wrote to that effect previous to our hasty visit to
Niagara.
Canandaigua is widely different from the youthful towns of the
West, where the people do not find time to live as they might ;
taste is troublesome, and comfort costs time ; eating dinner inter-
feres with some go-ahead operations, and shutting the door re-
quires the use of hinges and locks. Here, from the princely
residence of Mr. Grieg to the house of the industrious mechanic,
many of those items are seen which collectively, according to their
several conditions, make up the enjoyments of life. We had Mr.
Mark H. Sibley at dinner yesterday, and Mr. and Mrs. Grieg on
their return from Rochester passed the evening with us, and Mr.
Wood, the antiquarian and philanthropist, came after dinner. I
am very sick. My friend Granger's hospitality is thrown away.
July 12. — We have been from home seven weeks,
At Home. travelled, according to my account, three thousand
nine hundred and sixty-seven miles; seen everything for
the first time, met with many distinguished persons, and received
everywhere marks of kindness and respect, ever to be gratefully
remembered. We have accomplished everything we undertook, by
the plan laid down, and all has gone well, excepting my indisposi-
tion, under which I have laboured for the last three or four weeks.
I have not permitted it to interrupt my travelling, but I return not
half the man I went forth.
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 32 1
July 31. — Accidents, disastrous and generally fatal, are of almost
daily occurrence in this country of rapid progress and reckless
management. There may be a hope that these evils may be reme-
died in part by greater prudence, resulting from more experience
in the use of that dreadful agent, steam, and the machinery used in
its operations ; but the accidents occasioned by racing call for the
remedies of strong laws, rigidly enforced, and public opinion unde-
viatingly directed.
August 4. — I found on my table, on my return from
of Peru^ ^^^ West, a copy of Mr. Prescott's new work, " The
Conquest of Peru," — a presentation copy from the
accomplished and amiable author. I anticipate a treat in reading
it. *' I roll it like a sweet morsel under my tongue," and shall
reserve the gratification until I get to Rockaway, where, from
the preparations going on around me, we are destined to be
very soon. Prescott has established his claim to rank as the histo-
rian of the United States ; and good taste and discriminating criti-
cism, now and in all future time, will not hesitate to assign him an
exalted place among the most distinguished historians of Europe of
former or contemporaneous times.
Rockaway, iVuG. 6. — Sick and sorrowful, I am trying a new ex-
periment. Rockaway air and bathing may do that for me which
the Franciscan treatment has failed to accomplish. It may enable
my stomach to retain some food, and restore in some degree my
exhausted strength. Rockaway has not failed hitherto. I will
grapple with the enemy ; but, alas ! I have no stomach for the
contest.
August 18. — The papers brought down from the
ea 1 o r. . ^^qj-^j-^jj^ |-}-^g intelligence, received by the maj^netic
Stuyvesant. ^ & ? / &
telegraph, of the death of Mr. Peter G. Stuyvesant,
which occurred on Monday last at Niagara. Mr. Stu)^esant was a
grandson of Governor Stuyvesant, and inherited a large share of his
immense estate. He has no children. The particulars of his will
are as follows : To Hamilton Fish, Gerard Stuyvesant, and the son
322 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 67.
of Mr. Rutherford, who married his ward, Miss Chanler, half a
milUon each, the boy to take the testator's name. To his widow,
$12,000 a year, with the house and furniture; the residue of the
estate to be divided among his other nephews and nieces, which
is estimated to produce $100,000 each. How much this gentle-
man's son lost by never having been born !
SEFrEMBER 1 3. — A bcautiful piece of statuary, the
work of Hiram Powers, the celebrated American
Slave.
sculptor at Rome, is now being exhibited at the
National Academy, and attracts crowds of visitors from morning
to night. And so it ought, for it is admirable. I have no rule by
which to estimate the merit, or appreciate the faultless beauty, of
this statue which could guide me in placing it below the Venus de
Medici. I have no personal acquaintance with Powers, nor had I
with Praxiteles ; but I am not willing to undervalue my countryman
because he was not born so soon as the other gentleman of the
chisel. I certainly never saw anything more lovely.
September 14. — The anxiety which has prevailed
J* .^J for several days past to learn the progress of this
glorious, but dreadful, war is at length gratified, if
gratification it can be called to read accounts of the fiercest battles
and shedding of blood which have ever occurred on this continent.
General Scott has gained a great victory under the walls of
Mexico. The modern Cortez wades through Mexican blood to
conquer again the ancient city and subjugate anew the unhappy
descendants of the Montezumas. He has gained a great victory,
but with the loss of a thousand of his own army, poorly compensated
for by that of five thousand of the enemy. He attacked the
Mexicans under Santa Anna, who were strongly entrenched and
well provided with artillery and ammunition, and whose numbers
are stated at from twenty to thirty-two thousand, with a force of
seven thousand, and drove them in with horrid slaughter. This
battle was fought on the 19th and 20th of August, during an uninter-
rupted and drenching rain. The details are sickening. Scott and
i5?47] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 323
Worth have added new, but blood-stained, laurels to their already
over-burdened brows. Their brothers in arms have well sustained
their former reputation, and the men fought like tigers ; but of their
number enough have been killed and wounded to satisfy the most
unreasonable admirers of this unrighteous war. The names of the
officers whose blood now stains the approaches to the city, the
object of our cupidity and rapacity, are published in detail, and I
distinguish many whose fate will cause silent tears to fall from the
eyes of loving mothers and loud curses from philanthropists and
patriots.
September 25. — The venerable, amiable old man
M^-or Po ham ^^^^^ "°^ makc out his century. The pale light of the
lamp went out, the worn-out machinery ceased to
move, the attenuated cord no longer retained its hold, and the old
man of ninety- five years left this day the generation of men, amongst
whom age had made him a stranger. A man in the prime of life
at the Declaration of Independence, he fought the battles of his
country, and exchanging, at the termination of the glorious struggle,
his continental uniform for the habiliments of a Hfe of peace, wit-
nessed the rise and progress of New York from a handful to an
armful ; from a little clump of ill-built tenements of which Wall and
Broad streets were the limits, to the magnificent capital of the
Empire State ; from twenty thousand to four hundred thousand
inhabitants.
September 28. — It is to be hoped that the senseless
West Point, clamour of ignorant fools in Congress, who have been
placed by constituents as ignorant as themselves in a
situation where folly becomes dangerous, and ignorance is supported
by power, will now cease to be employed against the noble insti-
tution, the miUtary academy of West Point. The utility of this
establishment has been proved to the full extent of the favourable
predictions of its friends, and the utter overthrow of the disparag-
ing prognostications of its enemies. The students of West Point
have been foremost in the career of glory in the Mexican war, in
324 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [/Etat.67.
the front of the battle, reckless of danger, adding to the most
chivalric bravery the benefit of military science acquired at this
excellent national school. These lads, in gathering a rich harvest
of renown for themselves, have effectually succeeded in rescuing
the fountain, from which their science and practice were derived,
from the poisonous effusion of the malice and prejudice of the
Aliens and others, worthy representatives in Congress of an igno-
rant and prejudiced constituency. Among our New York boys?
whom West Point has sent out as samples to the wars, are Hamilton
(John C. Hamilton's son), Graham (son of J. Lorimer Graham),
Herman Thorn's son, all of whom were wounded in the battles of
Mexico ; Chandler, son of General Chandler, and Clay, whose
testimony was sealed with their life's blood ; all have done their
duty, and the nation may be proud of the seminary in which they
were taught.
October 8. — How the cavernous eyes of Webster must have
looked out from under the heavy archway of his expansive brows,
when, in his late speech at Springfield, in which he laid open with a
bold hand the secret springs and corrupt motives which produced
the Mexican war, he used, with satirical bitterness, the following
expression. Speaking of the mysterious policy of Mr. Polk, in fur-
nishing to Santa Anna a safe-conduct from Cuba, his place of exile,
to his Government of Mexico, the Massachusetts senator remarked,
" That the President must be gratified to know that in the subsequent
battles, which have cost so much blood and treasure, the command-
ing general on both sides was of his own choosing."
OcTor.KR 18. — The meeting of the convention has
ven'tT"/' *^'"^"fil^'-'^^ the city with Episcopal clergymen, and our pul-
pits with able preachers, very much, I dare say, to the
relief of the regular officiators, whose new sermons (if they have
any) may be laid aside for future use. I heard, with great pleas-
ure, two bishops yesterday, — Bishop McCoskry, of Michigan,
preached, in the morning, in Trinity, and Bishop Jones, in the even-
ing, in the Church of the Ascension, to crowded congregations.
1847.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 325
One may know these reverend visitors in the streets by their good-
looking, complacent, self-satisfied countenances, well-brushed black
coats and white neck-cloths, and gentlemanly, dignified deport-
ment. Some of them may be seen with neat little wives hanging
on their arms, well dressed, each with a little satin bonnet, a little
inclining to be gay ; and many a wistful glance is cast at Beck's,
and Seaman & Muir's, and Rogers' windows, and at Stewart's palace
of haberdashery, with a suppressed sigh of regret that the doctor's
stipend is so small. It may be a subject of doubt whether this
autumnal visit to New York will make these worthy folk feel better
during the winter.
Oci'OBER 2 2. — I dined yesterday with Mr. Bradish, the first
dinner-party at which I have been since my return from the West.
The temptation was too great to be resisted, and I went. Weak as
I am, I enjoyed myself exceedingly. Our party consisted of Mr.
and Mrs. Bradish and Miss Hart ; Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania ;
Rev. Dr. Taylor, Grace Church ; Professor Agassiz, lately of France,
who has been appointed Professor of Natural History on the Law-
rence foundation of Harvard College ; Mr. Joseph R. Ingersoll,
Philadelphia ; Colonel Memminger, Charleston, S.C. ; Mr. Hamil-
ton Fish, John A. King, Samuel B. Ruggles, H. Van Rensselaer,
John C. Hamilton, and myself.
October 25. — I am sixty- seven years of age. My
My Birthday, mind, thauks to my Heavenly Father, is unimpaired, as
I am still encouraged to hope ; but I am weak in body,
and labouring still under the effects of the protracted illness which
I brought home with me last summer from the West. My flesh
has departed, but my spirit remains ; my knees tremble, but my
heart is stout ; as I said, the other day, in a letter to Mr. Wood, of
Canandaigua, who inquired kindly about my health, " I am weak
as the argument of an unfeed lawyer, thin as the fourth day's soup
of a shin of beef, and cross as a disappointed barnburner." I
think, however, I shall get up again ; but, if it shall be otherwise
ordered by my Divine Master, I trust I shall have resignation, faith,
526 THE DIARY OF rillLlP HONE. [^tat. 67.
and hope to enable me to say, in sincerity of heart and fulness of
conviction, "Thy will be done."
General Scott entered Mexico on the 14th of Sep-
ap ure o tcmbcr, after a series of battles, in which the greatest
Mexico. ' ' o
gallantry was displayed by the Americans, and in which
the commander and his officers covered themselves with glory ; but
the conquest was obtained at an awful expense of American blood.
These victories and the occupations of the city cost three thousand
men, killed and wounded, leaving six or seven thousand men to
sustain themselves in a conquered city of two hundred thousand
exasperated, desperate Mexicans.
The particulars of the bloody engagements which preceded the
capture of Mexico, the resignation of General Santa Anna, the as-
tonishing achievements of Scott, Worth, Quitman, Persifor Smith,
Pillow, Twiggs, and the whole band of heroes, are all recorded in a
paper of Saturday, which I have preserved. Scott's march to
Mexico with his handful of men, through an unknown country filled
with infuriated bands of armed guerillas, and the occupation of the
city by the American forces, is an event equal to the most brilliant
recorded in history. But, alas ! how dearly has this glory been
purchased ! The list of killed and wounded is also contained in
this i)aper. The best blood in the country has been shed. Worth
lost eighteen hundred men. Thorn's gallant son has been
wounded again ; severely this time. Thomas Morris's young son
was killed ; Major Twiggs fell gallantly fighting ; but the melancholy
record would occupy too much space in my journal. National
glory is attained at the expense of individual distress ; the tears of
the survivors may not blot out the record, but it will be sadly
defaced. Colonel Mcintosh and Col. Martin Scott, two of Worth's
brigade, were killed in the sanguinary charge of the 8th ; the
former died of his wounds on the 24th. Bravest among the brave,
the loss of such men cannot be compensated by the conquest of the
whole country we are fighting for. Cannot Polk, and Buchanan,
1847.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 327
and Marcy be prevailed upon to go and take a hand in the beautiful
game they are making others play ?
October 29. — In the hst of noble young fellows
BoyI ""^ whose gallant conduct, indomitable bravery, and mili-
tary accomplishments in the Mexican war redound to
the glory of West Point, their military alma-mater, there are sev-
eral New York boys, sons of our friends and associates, who, if they
ever get back, will come to their homes covered with glory, jewels
in our city's treasury, the pride of their parents and the children of
the Republic. These are the fruits of a West Point education.
Shame on the malignant demagogues who have laboured to over-
throw such an institution ! The following are foremost in the list
of young heroes, whom we claim as our own : —
Schuyler Hamilton, son of John C. Hamilton, grandson of
General Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton, is an aide of General
Scott. With such blood in his veins, and such a name, he could
not fail to acquit himself with honour. Nobly has he sustained
them. He was badly wounded in a dangerous reconnaissance,
and was rescued by Lieutenant Graham, son of Mr. S. Lorimer
Graham, another of our boys who has signalized himself.
Lieutenant Thorn, son of Col. Herman Thorn, brave as the
bravest, is aide to Colonel Garland. Twice he has been wounded,
and was always found in the thickest of the fight.
Lieutenant Alfred Gibbs, of the Rifles, was wounded in the des-
perate affair of the 8th of September, at the storming of Molino-
del-Rey. Ordered to the hospital, he refused to go, but was
carried on the back of a soldier, and entered the city in the midst
of the conquering army. This officer, son of Col. George Gibbs
and grandson of Oliver Wolcott, is the author of several very inter-
esting letters which have been published on the subject of the
Mexican war.
Lieutenant Morris, the gallant son of Thomas Morris, and
grandson of Robert Morris, the great financier of the Revolution,
and friend of Washington, equally brave, was less fortunate than his
328 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 67.
young associates in arms. He, too, was wounded in the attack on
" Kings-Mill," on the 8th of September. He was shot in the leg,
from which wound a hemorrhage ensued, and he died on the 13th,
without entering " the halls of Montezuma." Alas ! will his gallant
deeds and death of glory assuage the grief of his parents, or dry
the tears of his sisters ? These are the trophies of West Point!
Shall it not be supported?
November 4. — Henry Wheaton, formerly of this city, who has
been American minister in foreign courts for the last twenty years,
has, since his recent return, been appointed lecturer on Civil Law
and the Law of Nations in Harvard University.
I dined on Tuesday with Mr. Stebbins, one of the nabobs of the
Fifth avenue. He is a partner of Mr. Jaudon, lives in an elegant
house, and gives good dinners. The following was the party,
besides the host, the hostess, and Miss Stebbins : Moses H. Grin-
nell, Simeon Draper, Francis Griffin, Mr. Anderson, Mr. De
Launay, John Schermerhorn, Moses B. Taylor, Mr. Jaudon, Mr.
Brigham, R. AL Blatchford, George Curtis, and myself.
November 8. — I have refrained of late from keeping a record
of railroad and steamboat accidents. I never take up a paper that
does not contain accounts of loss of life, dreadful mutilation of
limbs, and destruction of property, with which these reckless,
dangerous, murderous modes of locomotion are attended. The
detail of loss of hfe by boilerd)ursting, collisions, and snakesheads
is as regular a concomitant of the breakf^ist -table as black tea and
smoked beef.
November 13. — Grinnell, Minturn, & Co. are
The "Win c |^^-yjj^„ ^ f-jj-jg packet of one thousand two hundred
Scott." b 1
tons, to go on their Liverpool line. I am delighted to
learn that she is to bear the honoured name of " Winfield Scott,"
— a compliment creditable to her respected owner as it is well-
merited by the commander-in-chief of the American army.
This noble ship will bear on her bows the name and image of
a man whom the history of our country will place on its highest
1847.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 329
and brightest page ; a merited distinction, of which party spirit,
ignorance, and jealousy have in vain conspired to deprive him. A
soldier accomplished in the art, and chivalric in the practice of
war, the echoes of our country have rung with the name of Zachary
Taylor. He well deserves his laurels ; but I say that Winfield
Scott is "a better " as well as "an older soldier." The laurels
that budded upon the warrior's youthful brow at Chippewa have
preserved their freshness at all times and under every climate.
Untarnished by the chilling blasts of the northern lakes, or the
scorching rays of southern suns, they assimilate with equal grace
and appropriateness with the gray hairs of mature age. At all
times, " in season and out of season," in the negotiations of peace
as in the strife of war, in the closet as in the field. General Scott
has stood ready to serve his country, to do all that was required
of him, and to do it well, — a man of letters and a gentleman in
the best sense of the term ; prone to vanity there is no denying, but
having much to be vain of. He does not write as well as he
fights ; but he seems to value the triumphs of the pen more than
those of the sword, and thus, in seeking to gain advantage by the
former weapon, he has on some occasions committed himself to
opponents less able, but more artful, than himself, and the fox has
seen with satisfaction the lion encompass himself in the toils which
he could not have cast over him ; so it was in his late correspond-
ence with the war department. He was right in principle, just in
feeling, correct in judgment ; but, unfortunately, deficient in taste.
He aimed to out- write his adversaries, and made his pen so sharp
that it bespattered the ink back on himself. But all is right now.
The people have had their laugh at the " hasty plate of soup ;" but
the masterly capture of la Vera Cruz, the triumphal march, with
forces greatly inferior to those of his enemy, over a hostile and till
then unknown country of three hundred miles, and the gallant
achievements which resulted in the conquest of the Mexican
capital by the modern Cortez, will entitle him to the proud appel-
lation of " Marshal Turenne," when the cause of Christopher
330 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 67.
Hughes's invidious application of the term shall have been forgot-
ten, or perhaps remembered with regret only by its witty author.
November 15. — " No more study for me," said this
Kent"^ "^ great and good man the other day ; and I fear the
bright light of his intellect is very soon to be removed
from the sphere which it has irradiated. I was so unwell yester-
day that I remained at home until evening, when I went to pay my
accustomed visit to Union place. The accounts are unfavourable,
the lamp burns dimly, the sun is nearly set.
November 25. — On this day the incense of prayer
Thanksgiving, and thanksgiving ascends from the altars of twenty-one
of these United States, and the District of Columbia in
addition, to the Almighty Giver of all good things, for the blessings,
national and individual, which we enjoy. This simultaneous action
of so many States presents an interesting spectacle to the minds of
reflecting men, — a nation on its knees, confessing its obligations and
acknowledging its dependence upon Divine goodness and mercy.
No matter what proportion of the mass may be insincere, or what
may have been the motives of a part of the rulers who appointed
this religious festival ; it is a good and wise measure, beautiful and
interesting, and derives efficacy from the sanction of the civil
authority. The people are placed in the right track ; it is their own
fault, and they are answerable, if they do not walk in it. No nation
ever had more causes for thanksgiving. Besides the innumerable
positive blessings of our position, our exception from two of the
great calamities of human life, pestilence and famine, is a promi-
nent cause of gratitude ; if the third, the sword, cannot be added,
we have ourselves alone to thank for it.
December 7. — The Thirtieth Congress met yesterday,
ee ing o rpj^^ state of parties is so close that the members them-
Congress. *■
selves were ignorant of their own strength, so that the wish
to be in time was unexampled. The whole Western world, from Lake
Superior to the Rio Grande (Mr. Polk says that is the boundary) ;
from the turbid waters of the upper Missouri (nay, from the mouth
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 33 1
of the Columbia) to the engulfment of the St. Johns, sent their
three hundred representatives to the common centre. Hotels and
boarding-houses were filled as by a mighty rushing stream, and
black waiters grinned at the prospect of undeserved quarter-dollars.
Two hundred and twenty members of the House of Representa-
tives answered to their names on the call of the roll at twelve o'clock,
and were sworn in by Mr. French, clerk of the last Congress.
Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, a fine fellow and a true
Whig, was elected Speaker, on the third ballot, by a majority of one
vote. The rival candidates for the clerkship (which seems to be
a more exciting bone of contention even than Speaker) are French,
the old clerk of the Loco-focos, and Campbell, Whig. The House
adjourned without filling this office. The President's message was
not sent in.
December 13. — The bright light which illumined
-^^ °^ , the paths of science and literature, cleared away the
James Kent. -^ ' •'
intricacies of legal jurisprudence and shed a benign
lustre upon the relations of social life, was extinguished at half-
past eight o'clock in the evening of Sunday, the i2lh of
December, 1847.
Chancellor Kent is no more ; his useful and brilliant career,
which was extended in blessing to mankind to the protracted
term of fourscore and four years, has come to a tranquil and
peaceful termination. Dr. Francis called, about five o'clock, to
inform me of his approaching dissolution. I went immediately to
his residence, and formed one of the mourning group which sur-
rounded the couch of the great and good man, and watched with
painful solicitude the heaving of his last breath. I did not wit-
ness the closing scene, having returned home a short time before
it took place. His death was such as every one must have
desired who loved him (and all who knew him did, and none
more than myself) . He lay on the sofa in the library, the apart-
ment where he laboured, studied, and wrote, and where he most
enjoyed the pleasure of social intercourse with his family and
332 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 67.
friends. How different was the scene from that which I have
been accustomed to witness in this place ! The hand which
formerly grasped mine laid cold and nerveless at his side ; the
lips, from which lessons of wisdcjm, interspersed with remarks of
childlike simplicity, were wont to proceed, uttered no sounds ; the
eyes closed upon all surrounding objects, the beloved octogenarian
breathing fainter and fainter, surrendered his pure spirit, uncon-
scious of its departure.
Chancellor Kent was born on the 31st of July, 1763. I never
knew a man whom I loved and venerated more entirely. Whilst
I sat at his side I was led to reflect on the transition which I had
witnessed in the course of a few minutes ; the two extremes of
human life were present to me. When Dr. Francis called it
rained very hard, and I sent for a carriage ; before it came I went
over to Mr. Russell's, to see my grandchildren, and there they
were, in my arms, full of life and spirits, unconscious of anything
but present enjoyment : two sparkling dew-drops, glittering in the
morning sunbeams ; two blossoms just expanding from the buds,
and beginning to emit their early fragrance. In a brief space of
time I was called to witness the extinguishment of a lamp v/hich
had enlightened mankind for nearly a century, and to mark the
withered fruit falling from the sapless bough. " So passes man's
life away, and he is gone." Happy should we be, if at the close
of such a life we might have a reasonable assurance of such a
death !
December 15. — The remains of James Kent, the man whom
all men delighted to honour, were interred this afternoon, in the
cemetery on the Second avenue. The funeral procession, which
embraced the members of the Bar in a body, the Common Council,
with their staves of office, and countless hundreds of the most
respectable citizens, proceeded to Calvary Church, where a part
of the funeral service was read by the reverend pastor, Mr.
Southard. Thence the sacred ashes were conveyed to the
vault of the deceased, and the final ceremonies performed. The
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 333
pall bearers were : Chief Justice Jones, Mr. John Duer, David
S. Jones, Sylvaniis Miller, George Griffin, Thomas Morris, Judge
Oakley, and myself.
Every demonstration of public respect has been paid to the
memory of this excellent man. The Common Council met on
the call of the Mayor, and passed suitable resolutions, among which
was one to procure his portrait. The city standard and flags on
public edifices and shipping were displayed at half-mast, the
courts were all suspended, and all the obituary notices in the
newspapers are highly eulogistic. The proceedings of a meeting
of the New York Bar held yesterday, at which Chief Justice Jones
presided, were exceedingly impressive. It seems to have been
an expression of the most fervent feeling, an offering of personal
affection rather than a public demonstration ; and this sentiment
prevailed throughout the whole proceedings. Speeches were
made by Ogden Hoffman, Benjamin F. Butler, Daniel Lord, and
Hugh Maxwell ; eloquent, of course, proceeding from such lips,
but rendered peculiarly interesting by the prevalence of the
sentiment above alluded to. I have preser\'ed the public report
of these speeches as among the most beautiful specimens of
funeral eloquence I have ever met with.
December 17. — Another old friend is gone. Peter
ea 10 1 1. ^ Mesier died suddenlv, on AVednesdav ni^rht, in the
Mesier. ^ ' - o ?
seventy-fifth year of his age. I attended the funeral
as a pall- bearer this afternoon, from his house. No. 51 Dey street,
next door to the one in which I was married, more than forty- six
years ago. The funeral ceremony was performed in Trinity
Church. The following were the pall-bearers : Gen. Edward W.
Laight, Jonathan Goodhue, James Lee, Gen. Augustus Fleming,
L. C. Hamersley, Garrit Storm, Joseph Tucker, and myself.
December 22. — The New England Society cele-
New England ^^j-^^.^^^ |.|^gjj. anniversary yesterday, by a gathering at
Anniversary. ^ •' j ? j o cj
the Tabernacle, at two o'clock, and the usual dinner at
a later hour. I attended the first, and not the second, having no
334 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat.67.
regular call nor complimentary invitation ; and well it was for me,
for the confinement to one position for nearly three hours in the
Tabernacle was almost insupportable in my feeble state, and I was
placed in so conspicuous a situation, directly in the eye of my friend,
the orator, with Mrs. Webster, Mrs. Hall, and Mrs. Cutting directly
behind, and in gossiping communion with me, that I could not
make my escape. Had it been otherwise, and I had been wise
enough to secure a retreat, the oration, beautiful as it was, could
not have detained me. Prescott Hall was the orator. His ad-
dress, bating its being a little too statistical and too long by half
an hour (two hours and ten minutes), contained some splendid
passages, especially a glowing and most eloquent peroration, and
was read with the grace which was to be expected from J. Prescott
Hall.
What strange changes have of late come over the spirit of the
times ! One of the standing toasts at the New England dinner
was " Pius IX., Pope of Rome ; " and Bishop Hughes, an invited
guest, occupied the seat of honour on the right of the President,
and made a speech, in which he could not avoid expressing his
astonishment at finding himself in such companionship ; and well
might he be astonished. The sons of the Pilgrims toasting the
old lady, whom their fathers complimented with the titles of
" whore of Babylon," " red harlot," and such-like tender and
loving appellatives ! What would the Carvers and the Brad fords,
the Winslows and the Winthrops, say, if they could rise from their
ancient places in the " old colony," and witness their descendants
toasting the Pope, for whom no better place could formerly be
found in their celebration of the " Gunpowder Plot" than as one
of the respectable trio of Pope, Pretender, and Devil ! All Hail,
a return of the days of bulls, dispensations, indulgences, and ex-
communications ! New England toasts the Pope.
December 28. — The line of English mail steamers is to be
divided, and one-half are to come to this port alternately with the
Boston line. For this purpose the " Hibernia " arrived here from
1847] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 335
Boston this morning, to take her place, and sail hence on Saturday.
A meeting of merchants was held to-day at the Exchange, at
which Mr. George Griswold presided, with James Brown, Anson
G. Phelps, Jonathan Goodhue, Robert B. Minturn, and William
Whitlock as vice-presidents, for the purpose of giving a welcome
to Captain Ryrie, the commander of the " Hibernia."
33^ THE DIARV OF rilll.ir hone. [/Etat.68.
1848.
/^^N the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and
^-^ forty- eight, with the opening of a new year, I am permitted
to open a new vohune of my humble annals. I pray that the
gloomy aspect of things out of doors, the thick, foggy air over-
head, and the muddy ways underfoot, may not be prophetic of
national or individual calamity ; but that bright skies and genial
sunshine may soon dispel the clouds of the moral, as it soon will
those of the natural, atmosphere.
The year which has just passed away, and is laid by on the shelf
of time, like a cast-off garment to feed the moth of tradition, has
been productive of events of startling moment and fearful import-
ance, here and elsewhere. Our country is engaged in a most
unrighteous war, waged from motives corrupt and sinister, with a
neighbouring Republic, — a war in which the gallant achievements
of our officers and men have shone conspicuously, but in which
the blood of our countrymen has enriched the fields of Mexico,
and in which untold millions of the nation's treasure has been ex-
pended, and is yet to be expended, in fighting the battles of a bas-
tard branch which in an evil hour was admitted into the American
family. Individual prosperity has increased in this part of the
Union ; men have grown rich in supplying the wants of the starv-
ing population of Ireland ; palaces have been erected out of the
freights of nine shillings sterling for flour ; and the extravagance
and love of show, to which our people are prone, has had ample
scope in the successful mercantile operations of the year. These
bright days, however, have in a measure passed away, and there is
some danger that some among us may wish during the year 1848
that they had not spent so much money in 1847.
In Europe the leading events have been the dreadful state of
1848.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 337
famine and destitution, crime and discontent, in Ireland ; a civil
war in the cantons of Switzerland, waged against Jesuitical influ-
ence ; a new Pope, who is trying very hard to introduce salutary
reforms in the government of the Papal See, and striving to make
his subjects happy. In our own country a change has taken place
in the state of parties. The Whigs have recovered their ascend-
ency in the public councils ; there is a Whig Speaker and a small
majority of Whigs in the House of Representatives ; the Governor,
and other State officers, with a large majority of both Houses of
the Legislature, are Whigs, as are also the Mayor and both branches
of the Common Council of the city ; so, if things go wrong, we
must take the blame.
As for myself, for the last six months I have been struggling
against the effects of indisposition contracted during my Western
tour, which has taken away my strength, and reduced my flesh by
the amount of forty pounds. Of this disease I am not relieved,
but am better. I have borne up well under the affliction, and have
hopes that, with the blessing of God, I may yet overcome it. But,
let the event be what it may, I hope to be willing to leave the issue
in the hands of the Almighty Author of my existence, and to say,
with hope and confidence, and with a grateful acknowledgment of
the blessings heretofore derived from that beneficent source, " Thy
will be done." My affairs, to say the best of them, are not im-
proved since last year, nor are they worse. I am deeply in debt ;
but I have the means to pay all, and have thus flir met every
engagement with undeviating punctuality. Let those who are bet-
ter off say as much.
January 12. — I am feeble, and scarcely able to go abroad ; but
I am not permitted to stay at home. The warm fire of my domes-
tic hearth burns not for me. I attended yesterday, at five o'clock,
a meeting of the Trustees of Columbia College, and in the even-
ing presided at the annual meeting of the Mercantile Library.
This duty, always gratifying to me, was peculiarly so on this occa-
sion, from the kind expression of feeling with which I was greeted.
338 THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. [.'Etat. 68.
General
Scott.
January 13. — It appears to be a '* fixed fact " that
the great captain, (ieneral Scott, has been recalled
from his command in Mexico. The ostensible object
of this disastrous measure is probably to give the general an op-
portunity to make good the charges on which the arrest of Gener-
als Worth and Pillow and Colonel Duncan was ordered (as I think
in an evil hour). These officers are also ordered home, to meet
the court-martial which must be called to investigate the charges.
But it is more likely that the administration is glad of an excuse
for preventing a further accumulation of laurels on the brow of the
able and gallant commander-in-chief, for his glory forms a contrast
rather unfavourable to their claims upon the people's favour. They
hate him, and are glad to get rid of him. What a pity that he
should, by his own hasty act, have furnished them the means of
carrying out their hostility !
General Scott has a claim ten times stronger upon the gratitude
and favour of the American people for services rendered to the
country than General Taylor ; and yet the latter chieftain, by the
exercise of more discretion, and manners more popular, would beat
the hero of Chippewa, of Vera Cruz and Mexico, ten to one, in a
contest for the Presidency. Thus it is in this " land of freedom ; "
and such things prove the truth of the maxim that " republics are
ungrateful." The Duke of Wellington, with no better claims upon
his country's liberality than our Scott, bends under the weight of
merited rewards ; jewelled stars and heraldic orders cover his
breast ; accumulating titles are emblazoned upon his escutcheon, and
domains and other substantial endowments attest a sense of the
value of his services ; whilst our ripe and accomplished soldier (of
whom I am informed that the "great Duke" has lately said, the
campaign which commenced with the taking of Vera Cruz and ter-
minated with the military occupation of the Mexican capital, was
one of the most splendid achievements of modern warfare) is re-
called to be laid upon the shelf, and obtain his diurnal " plate of
soup " from the inadequate pittance of a government bureau.
1848.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 339
February 8. — I dined to-day with Mr. Blatchford, at the Astor
House, where his family is boarding during the winter season.
The dinner (as is ahvays the case at that house) was excellent.
The controversy on the Clay and Taylor question waxes somewhat
warm. In that company I was almost alone for Clay, and had to
contend with Webb, Hall, and Grinnell, with occasionally a side-
cut from George Curtis ; but they know no more about public
opinion in New York than they do of the secrets of the Grand
Seignior's seraglio. In reply to Colonel Webb, I read the letter
which I had just written to Charles King ; and, on the whole, sus-
tained myself tolerably well against the professed friends, but secret
enemies, of Henry Clay. Our party consisted of R. M. Blatch-
ford, J. P. Hall, John Ward, Paul Spofford, T. Tileston, M. H.
Grinnell, Daniel Fearing, J. W. Webb, R. L. Colt, George Curtis,
C. H. Russell, M. Morgan, Stebbins, and myself; and that noble
Whig and fine fellow, George Evans, of Maine, whose loss in the
Senate all good men deplore.
February 15. — Died on Saturday, the 12th, at his
^, ^ , residence, Kattskill, Thomas Cole. The death of this
Thomas Cole. ' '
eminent artist, in the prime of life and the meridian of
his fame as a landscape painter, is a loss to the arts and a severe
affliction to his friends, for both suffer equally from the melancholy
deprivation. I knew poor Cole from the first day he came here
from Philadelphia, — a fine young fellow, full of undying ardour in
the pursuit of knowledge, a lover of nature, with a conscious ability
for the portraiture of her features. Modest and unassuming, he
was unacquainted with the artistical quality of humbug, and, alas !
he was not then the fashion. If genius did not sometimes over-
come discouragement, here was a case in which it might have de-
spaired. When Cole came to New York he brought with him two
pictures, original views of the Kaaiers Kill or Kattskill mountains,
and the Still- Lake which forms its head- waters, with all the beauti-
ful scenery of that romantic region, taken on the spot. Days were
devoted to rambling, sketching, and the results successfully trans-
340 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Etat. 68.
ferred to the canvas : the glowing impressions of a warm imagi-
nation, the rich fruits of an artist's study, the children of proHfic
genius ; and these pictures, the labour of many weary days, taken
faithfully and with talent from one of the most beautiful reposito-
ries of nature's riches, the artist offered for sale repeatedly, in
Philadelphia, for ten dollars each, without finding a purchaser ; for
he was not then the fashion. These pictures are now mine ; they
adorn the wall of my back parlour.
Cole came here, poor, friendless, and, worse than all, modest.
He was fortunate enough, however, to attract the notice of Colonel
Trumbull and William Dunlap, two artists, now both deceased,
whose favourable opinion was of great value, and was freely bestowed.
They bought, each of them, one of the pictures in question for $25.
I was so much pleased with them that I succeeded in getting the
two for $125, and now that my friend, whose recent death is so
deeply deplored, has emerged from the clouds of neglect and shone
out in all the brightness of fashionable popularity, it is not an ex-
travagant surmise that some of the Philadelphia dilettanti, who could
not formerly discover $10 worth of merit in these early productions
of the artist, would now be glad to buy, at a cost of $600 or $800,
two of the works of his pencil, of no greater merit than mine. The
late Mr. Samuel Ward gave him $2,500 for a series of four beautiful
pictures, called " The Guardian Angel," and the late Mr. Luman
Reed, a price nearly equal for another series of four, which he styled
the " March of Empire." Poor Cole ! He struggled against every
discouragement to reach the top of the hill, but was not long per-
mitted to enjoy his elevated station.
February 24. — Poor Mr. Webster ! My heart bleeds
Mr. Webster, for him. A few weeks ago his only daughter, Mrs.
Appleton, died of consumption, suddenly contracted
and fatally hasty in its progress ; and now, himself in feeble health,
he has just received the news of his son Edward's death in Mexico,
where he commanded a company in a regiment of Massachusetts
Volunteers. He died of one of those diseases of the climate which
1848.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 34I
there is reason to fear will be the passport to a stranger's grave for
many a young American. I passed a few happy days, the summer
before last, at Marshfield, with these two young persons, whose
premature deaths will wring their parents' hearts, and bring a sym-
pathizing tear into the eye of many a friend. Edward Webster had
a strong desire for military distinction, and would probably have
made a distinguished officer. He was taken ill last summer, obtained
leave of absence, and came home ; whence he returned to Mexico,
restored to health, as he believed, but only to add another victim to
a destroying climate.
John Quincy Adams is no more. Full of age and
^/^ .^ ? honours, the termination of his even*tful career accorded
Mr. Adams. '
with the character of its progress. He died, as he must
have wished to die, breathing his last in the capitol, stricken
down by the angel of death on the field of his civil glory, — em-
ployed in the service of the people, in the people's Senate house,
standing by the Constitution at the side of its altar, and adminis-
tering in the temple of liberty the rites which he had assisted in
establishing.
At twenty minutes past one o'clock, on Monday, the 21st, Mr.
Adams, being in his seat in the House of Representatives (from
which he was never absent during its session), attempted to rise (as
was supposed, to speak), but sank back upon his seat and fell upon
his side. Those nearest caught him in their arms. Mr. Grinnell
bathed his temples with ice-water, when he rallied for an instant.
The House immediately adjourned, in the utmost consternation, as
did the Senate, when informed of the melancholy event. His last
words were characterized by that concise eloquence for which he was
remarkable : " Tliis is tlie last of eartJi ; I am coufciity Dr. Fries
of Ohio, a member, raised him in his arms and bore him to the
Speaker's room, where he lay, with occasional indications of con-
sciousness, until last evening, a few minutes before seven o'clock,
when he breathed his last. The intelligence of his death came to
Albany by the telegraph.
342 THE DIARY OF rilTTJP HONE. [/litat. 68.
Thus has " a great man fallen in Israel," — in many respects the
most wonderful man of the age ; certainly the greatest in the United
States, — perfect in knowledge, but deficient in practical results.
As a statesman, he was pure and incorruptible, but too irascible to
lead men's judgment. They admired him, and all voices were
hushed when he arose to speak, because they were sure of being
instructed by the words he was about to utter ; but he made no
converts to his opinions, and when President his desire to avoid
party influence lost him all the favour of all parties. In matters of
history, tradition, statistics, authorities, and practice he was the
oracle of the House, of which he was at the time of his decease a
member. With an unfailing memory, rendered stronger by cultiva-
tion, he was never mistaken ; none disputed his authority. Every
circumstance of his long life was '' penned down " at the moment
of its occurrence ; every written communication, even to the minute
of a dinner invitation, was carefully preserved, and nothing pilssed
uncopied from his pen. He *' talked like a book " on all subjects.
Equal to the highest, the planetary system was not above his grasp.
Familiar with the lowest, he could explain the mysteries of a mouse-
trap.
I Hstened once, at my own table, with a delight which I shall
never forget, to his dissertation on the writings of Shakespeare, and
an analysis of the character of Hamlet, — the most beautiful creation
(he called it) of the human imagination. At my request he
afterward sent me a synopsis of the latter part of this delightful
conversation ; a paper which has always been a treasure to me, and
which will be more precious now that its illustrious author is no
more. I listened once, with Mr. Webster, for an hour, at Mr.
Adams's breakfast- table in Washington, to a disquisition on the sub-
ject of dancing girls ; from those who danced before the ark and
the daughter of Jairus, whose premature appearance caused so
melancholy a termination to her graceful movements in the dance,
through the fascinating exhibition of the odalisques of the harem
down to the present times of Fanny Ellsler and Taliogni, He was
1848.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 343
ignorant on no subject, and could enlighten and instruct on all ; he
loved to talk, and was pleased with good listeners. Vain, no
doubt, and not entirely free from prejudices, but preserving his
mental faculties to the last. His sudden death, even at the
advanced age of eighty years, to which he arrived in July last, will
be acutely felt and deeply deplored by those who have habitually
enjoyed the refreshing streams which flowed from the copious
fountains of his diversified knowledge.
Mr. Adams's name will be recorded on the brightest page of
American history, as statesman, diplomatist, philosopher, orator,
author, and, above all. Christian. The events of his life may be
thus briefly enumerated: John Quincy Adams was born in 1767.
In 1 781 he was private secretary to Francis Dana, minister to
Russia. In 1794 he was appointed, by Washington, Minister to
the Netherlands. In 1803 he was senator in Congress from Mas-
sachusetts. He resigned in 1 808, and the next year was sent by
Madison as Minister to Russia, where he remained, until, with
Henry Clay, James A. Bayard, and Albert Gaflatin, he negotiated
the treaty of Ghent in 18 14, and was sent as Minister to England.
He was recalled in 181 7 to take the place of Secretary of State
under Mr. Monroe. He succeeded Mr. Monroe as President of
the United States in 1825. In 1829, having completed his term,
he retired, for the first time in thirty- six years, to private life. In
1 83 1 he was returned to Congress from his native district, which
he continued to represent uninterruptedly to the day of his death.
February 29. — The subscribers, members of the
Racket-Court, gave a ball and supper this evening to
the ladies, and there has been nothing more recherche,
nothing better arranged, and nothing attended with more complete
success, since the last leap-year. I attended during the whole
evening, first with Mrs. Fearing, my wife, and daughter, to see the
preparations, and afterward in attendance upon Miss Sarah Duer
and my wife. There were about three hundred subscribers, at $10
each, and the whole money was expended. The Racket Court,
344 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 68.
one him(ired and twenty feet by forty, was converted into a danc-
ing-saloon, fitted up and ornamented in the most perfect taste, in
the form of a tent, with three thousand six hundred yards of
mushn, divided into diamonds by strips of gold galloon, and inter-
spersed with artificial flowers. The orchestra, with thirty-five per-
formers, was placed on the north side ; the supper-table was laid
out in tlie bowling-alley, where the most am])le provision was made
for the epicures and lookers-on. Pretty girls, with pink dresses,
were attended by beaux with black mustaches and white vests.
All the other rooms in this spacious edifice were decorated and
laid open for the pleased and happy company ; the gallery, which
looked down upon the dancers, was filled with charming girls and
agreeable cavaliers, forming, on this occasion at least, from their
relative situation, the upper crust of society. The affair went off
splendidly, and hundreds of worthy people, employed in the
getting-up, have been made to rejoice in what is called, by some
fastidious persons, the extravagance of fashionable life. There was
a large committee of arrangements, and i\-\^fcte was sanctioned by
a committee of ladies, styled lady- patronesses, of which my wife
was one. This dignified body, who did little to earn their honours,
consisted of the following : Mrs. Philip Hone, Mrs. D. C. Golden,
Mrs. George Barclay, jMrs. A. le Barbier, Mrs. Robert Emmet,
Mrs. H. C. de Rham, Mrs. John A. Stevens, Mrs. J. W. Schmidt,
Mrs. Henry Parish, Mrs. J. Prescott Hall.
March 7. — This was the day appointed for the
eccp ion (. ^j-j-jy.^i Qf yi^ Clay from Philadelphia, on a visit to
Mr. Clay. ^ ^ '
New York, as the guest of the Mayor and the Corpo-
ration. The new steamer, " Cornelius Vanderbilt," which was
gratuitously furnished by her owner and namesake, left town at
nine o'clock, with the committee and members of the Common
Council and a large company of invited guests, which latter honour
I was compelled to decline. Pint I accompanied the Mayor to
Castle Garden, which was filled on our arrival with a mass of men,
equal in numbers and general good appearance to the multitude
1848.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 345
which assembled in the same place, on the recent occasion of the
great Clay Whig meeting. The boat arrived precisely at the
appointed time, and Mr. Clay and his cortege mounted the stage
at two o'clock. Alderman Franklin, chairman of the joint com-
mittee of arrangements, then surrendered the illustrious visitor to
the Mayor, who gave him a warm reception and hearty welcome,
to which Mr. Clay replied, in one of the most touching and best-
imagined little speeches I ever heard him make.
At the close of his speech he adverted to the painful and im-
pressive contrast presented by the rejoicing, the shouting, the
excitement of which he was the honoured object, and the mournful
obsequies of the next day, in which our citizens were preparing to
do honour to the remains of the truly great man who had just fin-
ished a long life of public services in highly honourable stations.
Here now were assembled, in one place, the three principal nego-
tiators of the treaty of Ghent (the other two, Messrs. Bayard and
Russell being no longer living). Of these three the venerable
Albert Gallatin is one of our fellow-citizens, honoured in old age.
Henry Clay was addressing us, and the mortal remains of the third
we were to speed, the next day, on its mournful transit to the tomb
of his fathers.
March 8. — The day of joyful gratulation and loud
Obsequies of gj^^^^-jj^or is passcd I the recipient of the people's honours
Mr. Adams. 01/ j.
is left to undergo the pains of oppressive hospitality ;
and, instead of songs of triumph for a great man living, our city has
sent up the mournful dirge for a great man departed. The body
of John Quincy Adams arrived at the Battery, from Philadelphia, at
three o'clock, where it was received by a splendid military escort,
and accompanied by a civil procession, consisting of eighteen pall-
bearers, of which number I was one. The Mayor and Corpora-
tion, the committee of the House of Representatives appointed to
accompany the body, the members of the Massachusetts delega-
tion, the precious relics of the Cincinnati, — everybody was in the
procession who ought to have been there, and everything was
346 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 68.
done which the occasion required. The streets on the line of
march were filled to the edge of the sidewalks with the greatest
body of men and women ever assembled in the city. Unlike the
heterogeneous mass of excited spectators which covered the same
ground yesterday, these were well-behaved, well dressed people,
of grave deportment and orderly behaviour ; the streets were
relieved from the annoyance of omnibuses and other vehicles ; the
police succeeded in preserving order, with the exception of an
occasional outbreak in the immediate vicinity of the carriages in
which Mr. Clay and General Gaines rode. The pall-bearers were
nearly as follows : Luther Bradish, David S. Jones, Samuel Gil-
ford, Stephen Allen, William B. Crosby, Stephen Whitney, Egbert
Benson, Edward Laight, Richard S. Williams, Gulian C. Verplanck,
A. Van Nest, Gideon Ostrander, Clement C. Moore, J. M. Brad-
hurst, George Tappan, Anthony Lamb, Samuel B. Warner, Philip
Hone.
March ii. — Mr. Clay survives ; but such a time no man ever
had. This was the day set apart for his reception of the ladies.
Tens of thousands of females, with a careful exclusion of the grosser
sex, were presented, for each of whom he had a word of gallantry.
They all pressed his hands ; many kissed him ; and one hand,
" more lucky than the rest," prompted by a spirit of Amazonian
hardiness and armed with " the glittering forfex," which, like the
adventurous baron who despoiled the lovely Belinda of her cher-
ished tresses, she had brought for the nefarious purpose, did
actually commit a new " Rape of the Lock."
March 13. — Mr. Clay went yesterday, with the Mayor, to St.
Bartholomew's Church. Here, again, was one of those scenes which
mark the movements of this popular man. A long time before his
arrival at the church, the vestibule and the walks in front were
filled with an expectant mass of people, who received him uncov-
ered, and on his entering the church, the aisles and every part of
which were crowded, the congregation arose. If their worship of
God was ardent and sincere as that of man, some good may result
184S.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 347
from this Sunday manifestation. On his leaving the church, with
Mrs. Brady on his arm, and when the carriage drove off, these
marks of homage were repeated.
The treaty negotiated by an unauthorized agent,
with an unacknowledged government, submitted by an
accidental President to a dissatisfied Senate, has, not-
withstanding these objections in form, been confirmed in substance
by the decided vote of thirty-nine to thirteen, and will be forwarded
immediately to Mexico, approved by President Polk. Parties have
not divided on this question by political boundaries, as on others.
Cass and Crittenden voted for, and Benton and Webster against, it.
The war, originated in the vilest cabal that ever was set on foot by
corrupt demagogues, has been conducted, so far as the government
was concerned, with the most reckless extravagance, and owes now
a reluctant confirmation to the strong desire of a majority of the
Senate to get rid of a present evil, and avoid the future disastrous
consequences of a protracted war. For these laudable objects the
Whigs voted for the confirmation of the rickety treaty, and the
administration party to save their rickety cabinet from further dis-
grace. Mr. Trist, a clerk in one of the departments at Washington,
after his recall from a special job committed to his care, makes a
treaty " upon his own hook." Mr. Polk, elected President nobody
knows how, submits it to the Senate to get himself out of a scrape,
aud they agree to it for fear of something worse.
March 24. — Dined with Mr. Tileston ; a sort of a club dinner,
as in former times, ten members being present. The party con-
sisted of George Curtis, John Ward, J. Prescott Hall, Paul Spofford,
Simeon Draper, James W.Webb, Moses H. Grinnell, Samuel Jaudon,
Thomas Tileston, and myself, of the club ; invited guests : Henry A.
Coit, S. Knapp, D. S. Jones, Charles H. Russell, Daniel Fearing,
Mr. DeWolf, Henry Cary.
March 29. — John Jacob x\stor died this morning.
Death of Mr. ^^ ^^^^ o'clock, in the eighty-fifth year of his age:
Astor.
sensible to the last, but the material of life exhausted,
348 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 68.
the machinery worn out, the lamp extinguished for want of oil.
Bowed down with bodily infirmity for a long time, he has gone at
last, and left reluctantly his unbounded wealth. His property is
estimated at ;$20, 000,000, some judicious persons say $30,000,000 ;
but, at any rate, he was the richest man in the United States in pro-
ductive and available property ; and this immense, gigantic fortune
was the fruit of his own labor, unerring sagacity, and far-seeing
penetration. He came to this country at twenty years of age ;
penniless, friendless, without inheritance, without education, and
having no example before him of the art of money- making, but
with a determination to be rich, and ability to carry it into effect.
His capital consisted of a few trifling musical instruments, which he
got from his brother, George Astor, in London, a dealer in music.
He sold his flutes, and set up a small retail shop of German toys,
but soon emerged from obscurity, and became a great and success-
ful merchant. The fur trade was the philosopher's stone of this
modern Croesus ; beaver-skins and musk-rats furnished the oil for
the supply of Aladdin's lamp. His traffic was the shipment of furs
to China, where they brought immense prices, for he monopolized
the business ; and the return cargoes of teas, silks, and rich pro-
ductions of China brought further large profits ; for here, too, he
had very little competition at the time of which I am speaking.
My brother and I found in ]\Ir. Astor a valuable customer. We
sold many of his cargoes, and had no reason to complain of a want
of liberality or confidence. All he touched turned to gold, and it
seemed as if fortune delighted in erecting him a monument of her
unerring potency.
April i. — The funeral took place this afternoon, from the house
of Mr. William B. Astor, in Lafayette place. The following were
the pall-bearers, ten in number : David B. Ogden, Judge Oakley,
Washington Irving, Ramsay Crookes, Isaac Bell, Sylvanus Miller,
James G. King, James Gallatin, Jacob B. Taylor, and myself.
Saturday, April 15. — The " Milwaukee Sentinel " con-
tains the following article, — a most wonderful illustration of the
1848.] THE DIARV OF PHILIP HONE. 349
magical performance of the lightning post, the last miracle of the
scientific triumphs of the present age : "At nine o'clock yesterday
morning we had, by telegraph, the news and markets from New
York, distant ^ova^ fourteen hundred miles, up to three o'clock of
the preceding afternoon ! This is, indeed, a startling fact, and may
well make us pause and wonder at the agency which has brought
it about." I was once nine days on my voyage from New York to
Albany.
May I . — I have seldom witnessed a more inter-
"^^' estinsr sisfht than that of the old pear-tree on Third
sant Pear-tree. 00 i
avenue, now in the full exuberance of its spring garb of
blossoms. It is now two hundred and one years old, having been
l)lanted by Governor Stuyvesant in his garden, which embraced
all this populous part of the city, on his arrival from Holland. In
laying out the streets and avenues, this relic of antiquity came at
the corner of two wide thoroughfares, where it is protected ; its
wide, dark trunk standing strong and stout, and its branches
spreading out in fantastic forms, and new blossoms vouching, on
the return of spring, for the vitality of the ancient child of the
former garden, of which it is the sole memorial. It is now in full
blossom. Having expressed my admiration of the time-honoured
tree, at IVIr. Fish's dinner, among the Stuyvesants, the Fishes, and
the Winthrops, they very politely had some of the blossoms gathered
and sent to me, which I intend to preserve as a specimen of long-
lived vegetation, and a floral reminiscence of the Stuyvesant dynasty.
May 25. — I have been glorifying all day, and
Hail to the returned fatigued and hungry. General Scott's recep-
tion has been splendid and enthusiastic. The arrange-
ments of the Corporation were excellent, and everything well
conducted ; the people seemed willing to carry their hero upon
their shoulders, notwithstanding his pretty considerable bulk, and
the additional weight of his laurels. The sword had erased the
errors of the pen, and the "hasty plate of soup " was forgotten in
the shouts of " battles won," and conquests secured.
350 THE ]:)TARY OF PIITLIP HONE. [/Etat. 68.
May 26. — I (lined with a large party at Moses H. Grinnell's,
in his magnificent mansion in I*V)urteenth street. It was a dinner
given to the directors of the Phcjenix liank, the result of a wager
lost to Mr. Fearing. All tlie delicacies of the present prolific sea-
son,— turtle, salmon, peas, asparagus, terrapins, strawberries, — all
that could temj^t the epicure or satisfy the gourmand, were spread
before the guests, and wine such as Hebe ne'er poured out for the
gods made every man wish " his neck was a mile long." The
party consisted of James W. Otis, Daniel B. Fearing, Mr. Corse,
Paul Spofford, Garrit Storm, P. Hone, Thomas Tileston, Henry
Gary, Mr. Henry, N. G. Ogden, William E. Laight, Charles H.
Marshall, Washington Irving, I). Mills, and Mr. Stebbins.
June 7. — The Whig Convention met this morning,
igconvcn- ^^ ^j^^ Chinese Hall, Philadelphia. Great excitement
prevails. The friends of General Taylor and of Mr. Clay
are equally raised to " fever heat." The former hav^e nominated,
out of doors, their candidate to run with or without the sanction of
a nomination, and many of the latter have expressed a determina-
tion to support no other but theirs. As for myself, I am as much
of a Clay man as the best of them ; but if General Taylor gets the
nomination (of which there seems to be a strong probability), I
will support him to the best of my power. Mr. Clay deserves the
nomination ; but there is a question beyond his success and the
gratification of our predilections. Shall General Cass be the Presi-
dent? Never, if I can prevent it. His principles are more dan-
gerous than those of any other man who has been named by his
party as their candidate. He is an embodiment of political hum-
bug and demagogism, administering to the worst part of the com-
munity. He made a fool of himself, when minister to France, by
writing a book of gossip about the king and court, and since his
return has courted the populace by declaring war pretty much
against all " princes, potentates, and powers." The annexation of
Texas and the war of Mexico received his hearty support, and he
now threatens to subjugate the whole of the American continent.
184S.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 35 I
Whether he would as chief magistrate carry out these threats may
be doubtful ; but, demagogue or destroyer, Oliver Cromwell or
Charles of Sweden, I want none of him. " I intend," said a good,
stiff Loco- foco, "to give General Cass my unqualified support." —
" And if he succeeds," replied his Whig interlocutor, " you will
have an unqualified President."
June 10. — The Whig Convention, in Philadelphia,
. '^ onven- (.Q^p^g^-gd their important business yesterday, by the
nomination of Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for Presi-
dent, and Millard Fillmore for Vice-President. I am disappointed,
but I am satisfied. The Clay Whigs generally are not so easily
satisfied ; they are exasperated, and swear all sorts of opposition
to the nomination. They will go for the Barnburners ; they will
get up an opposition candidate ; they will support Cass, — an
ebullition of rage which will lead them farther than they wish to go.
Hereafter I am for Taylor and Fillmore. The last was a judicious
selection. New York is the great Clay State, and Mr. Fillmore
being a Clay man, it will serve to reconcile the party in a good
measure. Some will undoubtedly remain refractory ; but we shall
gain as many from the Loco-focos. Hurrah, therefore, for Taylor
and Fillmore !
September 29. — The Clay Whigs are faUing into
oming ^^ Taylor ranks, reluctantly in some instances, and
with a bad grace. Mr. Greeley, editor of the "Trib-
une," who sets himself up as the oracle of the party, has concluded
at last, after deep deliberation, and at the expense of many wry
faces, to swallow the dose, and hoists, in his paper of this day, the '
Taylor and Fillmore flag, but thinks proper to make an apology
for his course. He only prefers Taylor to Cass, and damns the
former with faint praise. This is in abominably bad taste, as well
as impolitic in the last degree. But the object is clear enough ; if
General Taylor is elected, and makes a good Whig President (of
which I have the fullest confidence), Mr. Greeley can say, " I sup-
ported him ; look at my paper, where his name appears in large
352 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [.Etat.68.
capitals ; " but if lie is defeated, or, like John Tyler, proves a traitor
to the party which elects him, the same adroit editor will refer to
the same paper to prov^e that he was not his choice.
OcTOiiKR 28. — The telegraph brings the melancholy,
?^^^ ° but not unexpected, intelligence of the death of Har-
Mr. Otis. ^ ^
rison (iray Otis, of ?)Oston. The brilliant and useful
career of this most estimable man was brought to a close this
morning, at two o'clock. He completed his eighty-third year
about three weeks since, and has gone to the grave full of years,
loaded with honours, and rich in the affections of his friends and
fellow- citizens. Mr. Otis was one of a class almost extinct, — a
gentleman, in the full extent of the term ; of shining talents and
the most polished manners. He has held many important ])ublic
stations ; as a senator from Massachusetts in the Senate of the
United States, his eloquence shone with a lustre the rays of which
have been transmitted to his illustrious successors. As the Mayor
of Boston, his legal knowledge, sound judgment, and dignified de-
portment imparted strength and grace to the magistracy. De-
scended from a family and inheriting a name sacred in the annals
of the Revolution, he was a Federalist in the best days of that glo-
rious and abused party ; a Whig then, and a Whig ever since. His
intellect was unimpaired to the last hour of his life, and it is re-
markable that a few weeks since, whilst suffering under the pains
of a hopeless disease, and sinking beneath the w^eight of fourscore
and three years, he wrote and published a long letter urging his fel-
low-citizens of Massachusetts to the support of the Whig nominees
for the offices of President and Vice-President. This paper is
marked by all the strength of argument and brilliancy of style
which characterized the productions of his middle age. I have
again to lament, in the decease of Mr. Otis, the loss of another
dearly-valued friend, whose uniform kindness and hospitality
always constituted one of the greatest enjoyments of my visits to
Boston.
1848.] THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. .353
November 7. — This is the day of the great election
^■^""'^ to decide not only whether General Cass or General
D'Austerlitz. ^
Taylor is to be President for the four ensuing years, but
whether the policy and principles of the government, as established
by the great fathers of the Republic and confirmed by the Revolu-
tion, and the adoption of the Federal Constitution, shall be restored
to their first purity; or those of the present administration, which
we Whigs hold to be subversive of the prosperity of the country
and the happiness of the people, shall be continued with renewed
energy and less scrupulously, under the man who has " played
most foully" for the prize he seeks to obtain.
The glorious sun rose this morning in a clear sky and sharp
atmosphere, as if to give the light of heaven to the simultaneous
action of a whole population. It is a grand and interesting subject
of reflection, that millions of men in this widely extended country
are resorting on the same day to their respective polls, to decide
by casting in, each of them, a little slip of paper, the choice of
their rulers to control the action of the government for the weal or
the woe of the people. The sun which rose this morning will, at its
setting, see the momentous question settled, and that which rises
to-morrow will scarcely find a vestige of the great struggle. Men
will resume their accustomed pursuits, labours, occupations, pleas-
ures, and strivings ; and women will buy new bonnets, and walk in
Broadway with them, as if nothing had happened. The hurrahs
will have subsided, the guns will be silenced, the flags lowered from
their staffs, a few broken heads plastered up, and many of us will
think we had better have minded our business. The elections
being held on the same day throughout the Union is a wise pre-
caution to prevent intrigue, corrupt management, and improper in-
terference with the people's prerogative. Here in New York " the
work goes bravely on."
November 8. — The sun of Buena Vista set last
The Battle. night upon the most decided victory ever achieved
in this city by the Whig forces, — a perfect rout ;
354 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 68.
everything is gained. The Taylor electoral ticket has a plurality
over Cass of 9,805, and a majority over Cass and Van Buren
united of 4,706. Hamilton Fish is Governor of New York.
December 16. — Now that the election is over, and
Gold :itul . ,
Cholera. (icncral Taylor President past peradventure, Cali-
fornia gold and the cholera are the exciting topics
of the day. These two diseases are equally infectious ; both
interfere with the honest pursuits of industry, and, though the
former does not so immediately affect the health and endanger
the lives of its subjects, its injurious effects may be of longer
continuance.
Our newly acquired territory of California, having passed from
the hands of Spaniards and Indians into those of the- enterprising
Yankees, who run faster, fly higher, and dig deeper than any
people under the sun, has now developed its riches. The region
of country watered by the river Sacramento is found to abound
in pure gold ; the shining tempter of mankind is found in the land
and crevices of the rocks, and all the world have become diggers
and delvers. The towns are deserted by all but the women ;
business is neglected ; houses stand empty ; vessels are laid up
for want of hands ; the necessaries of life cannot be obtained, and
the people are starving, with their pockets full of gold. The most
extravagant stories are told of the prices of the ordinary articles
in use in this new business ; pick-axes, spades, and hammers are
literally ^' worth their weight in gold," which latter commodity
has fallen in value from $18 to $10 per ounce, whilst the products
of the neglected earth are producing a " golden harvest."
Some of the gold has reached our part of the world, and has
been assayed at the mint ; and it is found, in fact, that " it is all
gold that glitters." The papers are filled with advertisements
and enticements to adventurers, and California takes up all the
commerce of the seaport.
[849] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 355
1849,
TANUARY 20. — I was at a very delightful little dinner-party
^ at Mr. Frederic DePeyster's, which I enjoyed exceedingly. I
am not so old nor time-worn as not to be able to appreciate and
enjoy the refined pleasures of female society, as I found it to-day.
The party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. DePeyster, Mr. and Mrs.
Philip Van Rensselaer (the lovely and beautiful Mary Tallmadge
of other times), Mr. and Mrs. Vail, Isaac and Eliza Hone, Miss
Sedgwick, and myself, to say nothing of the men (who were not
by any means deficient in good sense and agreeable qualities). I
take it to be a very difficult task to select from the female society
of New York five finer women than those who graced the table
on this pleasant occasion.
January 26. — The California fever is increasing in
Gold! Gold! violence; thousands are going, among whom are many
young men of our best families ; the papers are filled
with advertisements of vessels for Chagres and San Francisco.
Tailors, hatters, grocers, provision merchants, hardware men, and
others are employed night and day in fitting out the adventurers.
John Bull, too, is getting as crazy as Brother Jonathan on this
exciting subject.
February 3. — I was a guest at a splendid dinner to-day in Mr.
John C. Stevens's palace. College place. The house is, indeed, a
palace. The Palais Bourbon in Paris, Buckingham Palace in
London, and Sans-Souci at Berlin, are little grander than this resi-
dence of a simple citizen of our republican city, a steamboat
builder and proprietor ; but a mighty good fellow, and most hos-
pitable host, as all who know him will testify. Twenty ladies and
gentlemen, besides the host and hostess, were seated, a few
minutes before seven o'clock, around a round table of sufficient
356 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 69.
capacity to accommodate them pleasantly and conveniently ; the
ornaments of the table were magnificent, and in excellent taste.
The dinner consisted of all the delicacies of a French cuisine ;
the honours of the feast were performed with the utmost good-
breeding and unobtrusive hospitality; and the company, judging by
the constantly spirited conversation which prevailed, exceedingly
well pleased with their entertainment. The party consisted of
Mr. and Mrs. James G. King, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. and Mrs. William
S. Miller, Mrs. Ledyard, Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Livingston, Mrs.
Douglass Cruger, Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Coit, Mr. John A. King,
Mr. and Mrs. James B. Murray, Mr. Anson Livingston, President
Moore, Mr. Edwin Stevens, Mr. and Mrs. William Kemble, and
myself.
February 5. — The tone of writing and speaking in Europe on
the subject of the United States is greatly altered of late. Even in
England the public press, as well as the popular orators, not only
speak of us with a certain degree of respect, but hold us up as an
example to their government and people. They may occasionally
abuse us as an arrogant people, grasping at extended territory, dis-
regarding the rights of our neighbours, invading peaceful countries,
fighting like lions, and negotiating like foxes. But the language
of contempt is heard no more ; the little foibles of Brother Jonathan
are forgotten in the contemplation of his indomitable courage, his
never-dying perseverance. The thought of manhood begins to be
blended with the ardour and activity of youth. He is growing to
be a " big boy," and must be treated with a little more respect.
The "hasty plate of soup " may do to laugh at, but the conquering
sword of the hero of La Vera Cruz and Mexico, who penned the
unfortunate expression, has effciced its recollection. The Yankees
ncay be ignorant of the most approved method of using the knife
and fork ; but it cannot be denied that they are competent to make
a good use of the sword and musket. They eat fast, but they go
ahead wonderfully ; they use some queer expressions, but in defence
of their rights are apt to talk much to the purpose.
[849-] THE DIARV^ OF PHILIP HONE. 35/
Mrs. Butler's
Readings.
March 13. — The fashionable world is agog again
upon a new impulse. Mrs. Butler, the veritable " Fanny
Kemble," has taken the city by storm. She reads
Shakespeare's plays three evenings in the week, and at noon on
Mondays, at the Stuyvesant Institution, in Broadway, a room which
will hold six or seven hundred persons, and which is filled when
she reads by the elite of the world of fashion : delicate women,
grave gentlemen, belles, beaux, and critics, flock to the doors of
entrance, and rush into such places as they can find, two or three
hours before the time of the lady's appearance. They are com-
pensated for this tedious sitting on hard seats, squeezed by the
crowd, by an hour's reading — very fine, certainly, for Fanny
Kemble knows how to do it — of the favourite plays of the im-
mortal bard. She makes $2,000 or $3,000 a week, and never was
money so easily earned. There is no expense except the room
and the lights, and the performance is a " labour of love." Shake-
speare was never paid for writing his plays as Mrs. Butler is
for reading them.
March 16. — This gendeman's influence with the
Mr. Webster, ncw administration seems to be gaining strength. He
has not been thought very friendly to the present ruling
powers ; but he likes them better than he does the Clay men, and
Mr. Clayton, the Secretary of State, knowing his importance in the
Senate, would like, no doubt, to have him on his side. The evi-
dence of this revival of the influence of the great Massachusetts
senator is indicated by the appointment of his son, Fletcher Web-
ster, as district attorney for Massachusetts, and that of his brother-
indaw, William Le Roy, as navy agent in New York. This last
appointment sends adrift the brothers Wetmore, whose politics have
been made subservient to the very natural desire of retaining in the
family the emoluments of this lucrative office. One of these
gentlemen is a Whig, and the other a Loco-foco ; so that, like
the buckets in the well, when one went down, the other came
up.
358 THE DIARY OF I'll I LIP HONE. [.Elat. 69.
March 17. — This accomplished soldier and gal-
General , , . ^
y^.^,^j_ lant commander made his first appearance since his
return from Mexico, on Wednesday, in Washington,
when he paid his respects to tlie President. And I rejoice to
hear that the meeting between those " dogs of war " was
friendly and affectionate, especially as there have been some
"foregone conclusions" which made me doubt, knowing Scott's
disposition, whether this desirable result could be attained. I
went to see General Scott the evening before his departure, and
had a long talk with him on tliis subject. I begged him to let
"by-gones be by-gones," and to remember that General Taylor is
President of the United States, and his superior officer. He
gave me a long account of his grievances, making himself, as
usual, the hero of his tale ; but he knows my attachment to him,
and that I love him, even with his little faults, and I should not
be surprised to learn that his good heart and sound judgment
approved my advice.
April 17. — My new office, that of naval officer,
Naviioffi'r ^^^^^§^ ™^ carc, troublc, and vexation, especially in
relation to applications for office, which have showered
down upon me in torrents. It is distressing to see how many
worthy persons look to these small offices for the support of
large families, and to me it is a source of pain that so many are
doomed to disappointment. The official patronage of the naval
officer is confined to the clerks who are em|)loyed about his per-
son ; the collector makes all the appointments of officers who are
engaged in the collection of the revenue ; my office is advisory
and adjunct to the collector. But, to counterbalance these draw-
backs, I am pleased with the office ; and the warm congratula-
tions I receive, from all quarters, all conditions of men, and all
sorts of politicians, leave me no room to doubt the popularity
of my appointment. Friends rise up all around me ; I am in-
finitely richer than I ever supposed in these precious treasures
of the heart. If I open one of the numerous letters I receive,
1849] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 359
petitioning for office which I cannot bestow, I am consoled by
finding alongside of it another filled with the kindest expressions
of personal regard.
April 20. — Mr. Charles H. Russell gave a dinner to-day in
compliment to me on my appointment. The party consisted of
the following gentlemen, principally members of the Hone Club,
and all my devoted friends, who rejoice greatly : Francis Granger,
M. H. Grinnell, George Curtis, Edward Curtis, Simeon Draper,
Daniel B. Fearing, J. Watson Webb, J. Prescott Hall, R. M.
Blatchford, R. L. Colt, Thomas Tileston, Hugh Maxwell, D. S.
Kennedy.
April 23. — Yesterday's mail brought my com-
MyCom- mission as "Naval Officer for the District of New
mission.
York," with the broad seal of the Treasury Depart-
ment, signed by Zachary Taylor, President, and countersigned by
William M. Meredith, Secretary of the Treasury ; with an order
to Mr. Bogardus to march out of the office, and another to me
to march in, both of which will be accomplished this morning,
on or about the hour of ten o'clock. I hope, by the blessing of
God, to be enabled to perform my duty with fidelity, ability, and
integrity.
April 25. — The painful part of the duties of my office, the
removal of the officers and clerks, has commenced. I have
removed the three deputies, Messrs. Spinner, Sandford, and
Lee, and appointed my nephew, Isaac S. Hone, my son Robert,
and Mr. Franklin ; and the worst is yet to come.
May 8. — Mr. McCready commenced an engage-
j^.^^' ' ment last evening at the Opera- House, Astor place,
and was to have performed the part of " Macbeth,"
whilst his rival, Mr. Forrest, appeared in the same part at the
Broadway theatre. A violent animosity has existed on the part
of the latter theatrical hero against his rival, growing out of
some differences in England ; but with no cause, that I can
discover, except that one is a gentleman, and the other is a vul-
36o THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 69.
gar, arrogant loafer, with a pack of kindred rowdies at his heels.
Of these retainers a regularly organized force was employed
to raise a riot at the Opera- House and drive Mr. McCready off
the stage, in which, to the disgrace of the city, the ruffians suc-
ceeded. On the appearance of the " Thane of Cawdor," he
was saluted with a shower of missiles, rotten Qg'^:^, and other
unsavoury objects, with shouts and yells of the most abusive
epithets. In the midst of this disgraceful riot the performance
was suspended, the respectable jDart of the audience dispersed,
and the vile band of Forresters were left in possession of the
house. This cannot end here ; the respectable part of our
citizens will never consent to be put down by a mob raised to
serve the purpose of such a fellow as Forrest. Recriminations
will be resorted to, and a series of riots will have possession of
the theatres of the opposing parties.
May 10. — The riot at the Opera-House on Monday
The Riots. night was children's play compared with the disgraceful
scenes which were enacted in our part of this devoted
city this evening, and the melancholy loss of life to which the out-
rageous proceedings of the mob naturally led.
An appeal to Mr. McCready had been made by many highly
respectable citizens, and published in the papers, inviting him to
finish his engagement at the Opera-House, with an implied pledge
that they would stand by him against the ferocious mob of Mr.
Forrest's friends, who had determined that McCready should not
be allowed to play, whilst at the same time their oracle was strut-
ting, unmolested, his " hour upon the stage " of the Broadway
theatre. This announcement served as a firebrand in the mass of
combustibles left smouldering from the riot of the former occasion.
The Forresters perceived that their previous triumph was incom-
plete, and a new conspiracy was formed to accomplish effectually
their nefarious designs. Inflammatory notices were posted in the
upper ward, meetings were regularly organized, and bands of
ruffians, gratuitously supi)lied with tickets by richer rascals, were
iS49-] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 361
sent to take possession of the theatre. The police, however, were
beforehand with them, and a large body of their force was posted
in different parts of the house.
When Mr. McCready appeared he was assailed in the same
manner as on the former occasion ; but he continued on the stage
and performed his part with firmness, amidst the yells and hisses
of the mob. The strength of the police, and their good conduct,
as well as that of the Mayor, Recorder, and other public functionaries,
succeeded in preventing any serious injury to the property within
doors, and many arrests were made ; but the war raged with frightful
violence in the adjacent streets. The mob — a dreadful one in
numbers and ferocity — assailed the extension of the building, broke
in the windows, and demolished some of the doors. I walked up
to the corner of x\stor place, but was glad to make my escape. On
my way down, opposite the New York Hotel, I met a detachment
of troops, consisting of about sixty cavalry and three hundred infan-
try, finedooking fellows, well armed, who marched steadily to the
field of action. Another detachment went by the way of Lafayette
place. On their arrival they were assailed by the mob, pelted
with stones and brickbats, and several were carried off severely
wounded.
Under this provocation, with the sanction of the civil authorities,
orders were given to fire. Three or four volleys were discharged ;
about twenty persons were killed and a large number wounded. It
is to be lamented that in the number were several innocent persons,
as is always the case in such affairs. A large proportion of the
mob being lookers-on, who, putting no faith in the declaration of
the magistrates that the fatal order was about to be given, refused
to retire, and shared the fate of the rioters. What is to be the
issue of this unhappy affair cannot be surmised ; the end is not yet.
May II. — I walked up this morning to the field of
g^^J ^ battle, in Astor place. The Opera- House presents a
shocking spectacle, and the adjacent buildings are
smashed with bullet-holes. Mrs. Langdon's house looks as if it
362 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 69.
had withstood a siege. Groups of people were standing around,
some justifying the interference of the military, but a large propor-
tion were savage as tigers with the smell of blood.
I was one of a large party who dined to-day with Mr.
inner at y,^., ^^ j^-^ splendid mansion, Fifth avenue. The
Mr. Villi's. ' ^
dinner was sumptuous, the table superb, the guests
numerous, and we dined at seven o'clock. The party consisted
of General Scott, Mr. Fearing, Robert Ray ; Mr. Vail, of Troy ;
Washington Irving, Daniel Fearing, James J. Jones, Charles H.
Russell, Colonel Thorn, Mr. Bates, General Tallmadge ; Stephens,
the traveller; West, the artist; Hulseman, Austrian cJiarge ; John
Van Buren, Mr. Mildmay ; Mr. Corcoran, of Washington ; James G.
King, Charles A. Davis, Lispenard Stewart, and myself.
May 12. — Last night passed off tolerably quietly, owing to the
measures taken by the magistrates and police. But it is consolatory
to know that law and order have thus far prevailed. The city
authorities have acted nobly. The whole military force was under
arms all night, and a detachment of United States troops was also
held in reserve. All the approaches to the Opera- House were
strictly guarded, and no transit permitted. The police force, with
the addition of a thousand special constables, were employed in
every post of danger ; and although the lesson has been dearly
bought, it is of great value, inasmuch as the fact has been estab-
lished that law and .order can be maintained under a Republican
form of government.
June i . — The cholera increases, the weather is
The Cholera, foggy, murky, and damp, — just such weather as pro-
duces and propagates this dreadful disease. A panic is
created ; vegetables and fish, oysters and clams, generous wine and
nourishing porter, are repudiated ; foolish people run from one
extreme to another ; let them live well and temperately, wear
flannel, and think less of cholera, and defy the foul fiend.
June 30. — Died this morning, Cornelius Low, aged fifty-four
years. Dr. Francis says it was a regular case of ''blue cholera."
i849-] THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. 363
This dreadful disease increases fearfully ; there are eighty-eight
new cases to- day, and twenty-six deaths. Our visitation is severe,
but thus far it falls much short of other places. St. Louis, on the
Mississippi, is likely to be depopulated, and Cincinnati, on the Ohio,
is awfully scourged. These two flourishing cities are the resort of
emigrants from Europe ; Irish and Germans coming by Canada,
New York, and New Orleans, filthy, intemperate, unused to the
comforts of life and regardless of its proprieties. They flock to the
populous towns of the great West, with disease contracted on ship-
board, and increased by bad habits on shore. They inoculate the
inhabitants of those beautiful cities, and every paper we open is
only a record of premature mortality. The air seems to be cor-
rupted, and indulgence in things heretofore innocent is frequently
fatal now in these " cholera times."
August 13. — This man of many generations, this
iT- politician of many parties, this philosopher of many
theories, has finished his long and eventful career. He
died yesterday, at the house of his son-in-law, Mr. Stevens, at
Astoria, aged eighty-eight years.
Mr. Gallatin was a native of Geneva, in Switzerland. He came to
this country, and landed at Boston, on the 14th of July, 1780. He
served as a volunteer, under Col. John Allen, at Machias and else-
where. In 1782 he was Professor of French in Harvard. He
went to Virginia in 17S4, and thence to Pennsylvania, where he
settled on a farm on the banks of the Monongahela. He was a
member of the convention to amend the Constitution, in 1789. In
1790 he was a member of the Legislature, and in 1793 a sena-
tor in Congress for that State. The latter office he did not
enjoy, being ineligible from not having been long enough in the
country to entitle him to a seat. At this period Mr. Gallatin was
a violent Democrat, and affixed a stain to his political character by
participating in the whiskey insurrection of Pennsylvania, in oppo-
sition to General Washington. I have no doubt that the latter
half of his life gave him frequent occasion to wish that the page in
364 THE DIARY OF I'lIILlP HONE. [.'Etat. 69.
the record of the former part, on which this event was inscribed,
could be expunged. In Congress he was the great leader of the
Jeffersonian Democratic party ; on the accession of i\Ir. Jefferson
he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, and sent to Russia on
a diplomatic mission. Thence he joined the illustrious board of
commissioners who negotiated tlie treaty of Ohent.
He has written a great deal, and his works will form a valuable
legacy to the nation. Industrious, ardent, persevering, he must
have collected, like his contemporary, John Q. Adams, a mass
of interesting and instructive matter connected with the history
of his adopted country. Amongst his other stations of useful-
ness he was the venerated president of the Historical Society,
the duties of which his age and infirmities compelled him to
relinquish to ]\Ir. Luther Bradish, the able and accomplished
vice-president. Mrs. Gallatin was the daughter of Commodore
Nicholson. She died a few months since, at about the same
age as her husband.
-p^,^^^^^ SepteiMBER 19. — Another of my friends and contem-
christopher porarics gone. Poor Christopher Hughes died yester-
"^ ^^' day, in Baltimore, aged sixty- four years.
One by one these companions of my former pleasant days are
dropping off, and I begin to feel like the solitary, leafless, weather-
beaten tree, on the sandy beach of Rockaway, which, for half a
century, has "bided the pelting of the pitiless storm," stretch-
ing out its sapless arms to the ocean blast ; its age, infirmities,
and insignificance forming its best claim to the forbearance of
the elements.
September 22. — I wrote, the other day, to Mr. R.
_, ' " L. Colt, at Paterson, that, knowinf^ the value he set
Paterson. ' ^ ^ o
upon his baskets, I would not trust the one we had
(which he had kindly sent to us filled with delicious grapes) to a
hireling hand, but be myself the bearer of the important envelope
of the grapes, and should expect a good dinner for my pains. So
he sent more grapes, and bade me to a dinner on Thursday,
I849.1 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 365
Friday, or Saturday, with an injunction that I should bring with me
two or three good fellows. On this provocation, Blatchford, Fear-
ing, John Ward, and I went to Paterson yesterday, in the train, at
half-past twelve o'clock, and arrived in less than an hour. We ad-
mired the swans, wild-geese, and muscovy-ducks ; envied the pigs,
measured the pumpkins, munched the grapes, gathered the flowers ;
had a capital dinner, fine wine, and a farmer's tea ; and at twenty-
two minutes past seven o'clock (the precise time prescribed in the
railroad programme) came away from this delightful place, every
man with a basket of grapes, the return of which may form an
excuse for future dinners. Colt's hospitality is of the right sort.
October i . — Mr. Alexander Duncan, who arrived
Mr. Duncan, this momiug from Liverpool, is one of the most extraor-
dinary instances of good fortune, so far as money is
concerned, that has occurred in this country. In the winter of
1821-22 he was a fellow-passenger of mine on a voyage from Liv-
erpool, in the ship " Amity," Captain ^Laxwell. He was then seven-
teen years of age ; a rough, awkward, shaggy-headed Scotch boy, on
a voyage to see his relation, the respected John Grieg, of Canan-
daigua, and to try his fortune in the new " land of cakes."
There were only three of us in the cabin, Mrs. Pritchard, an
English lady, being the third. We had a long, stormy passage, and
I, of course, became intimate with the young Scotchman ; and, un-
polished as he was, I took a great liking to him. He was bright,
intelligent, and of good principles, and a friendship was formed
which continues until the present time.
Young Duncan, after a few weeks with his uncle at Canandaigua,
went to Providence, Rhode Island, to finish his education ; entered
as a sophomore in the college, and improved his time so well, that
by the time he graduated he had engaged the affections of a young
lady, whom he married, relinquishing one baccalaureate as he
assumed another. IMrs. Duncan had two rich uncles, named But-
ler, immensely rich, and increasing in wealth every day ; for they
laid up prodigiously and spent nothing, — a method which, they
T)66 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [.Ktat.69.
say, accumulates amazingly. One of these worthies died a few years
after the niece's marriage, and made her heiress to all his property.
This induced Duncan and his wife to remove to Providence, where
they have resided ever since. My fellow-passenger in the " Amity "
bids fair to become one of the richest men in tangible productive
l)ro])erty in the United States. And the best of all is, that he is a
liberal, generous man, who will make a good use of his money ; un-
less, like many others, his immense riches shall make him penurious,
as was the case with the person from whom he inherits this moun-
tain of wealth.
November 23. — Mr. Clay remains in town, though
Mr. Clay. people will not indulge him in his desire to enjoy quiet
and seclusion at the house of his friend Benson. They
pester him to death, haunt him by day, serenade him at night,
follow him in his walks, shouting, hurrahing, Harry Claying
him wherever he goes. Denying him the liberty he has contrib-
uted in so great a degree to secure for them, they insist upon a
speech in return for every hurrah which proceeds from their vul-
gar throats, and compel him to return the unmerciful squeeze of
every dirty hand.
December 3. — The good, orderly town of Boston is
ur ero .^ ^ ^^^^^ ^^ fermentation : the people look asjhast and
Dr. Park man. ^ i i &
wonder-Stricken at one of the most horrid murders ever
heard of or read about. Thistlewood's case in England, and
Colt's here, do not equal it in atrocity ; indeed, it resembles the latter
in some shocking particulars. Dr. Parkman, a respectable physi-
cian, son of old Samuel Parkman, and brother of Mrs. Robert G.
Shaw, left his house on Friday, 23(1 ult., and has not been heard of
since. His strange disappearance, of course, occasioned alarm and
consternation. The police were sent in all directions ; rivers were
dragged, and woods searched. Mrs. Shaw offered a reward of
$5,000 for information to lead to a conviction of the assassins,
if murder had been committed, and $1,000 for the recovery of the
body. All these measures were unsuccessful until the last of the
1849] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 367
week, when circumstances were brought to Hght so awful as to be
thought incredible ; but sufficient, in my judgment, to prove un-
questionably the guilt of the accused.
The horrible facts which have come to light have fastened sus-
picion, amounting almost to certainty, upon Dr. John W. Webster,
Professor of Chemistry for the last twenty years in the Medical
College connected with Harvard University, — a person connected
with some of the best families in Boston, who has a wife and sev-
eral children ; himself a man of talents, amiable, urbane, and
hospitable in his intercourse with society. This frightful case is
similar, as I before remarked, but even more atrocious, than that of
Colt in this city. Dr. Webster was indebted to Dr. Parkman
$480, secured by a mortgage. The latter was very rich, a j^enu-
rious man, and a hard creditor; and his debtor in this case
extravagant (as scientific persons frequently are), and a bad man-
ager of pecuniary matters, consequently embarrassed in his finan-
ces. Urged by his creditor, he called at his house on the morning
of Friday, the 23d, and left word that if Dr. Parkman would
call upon him at one o'clock he would pay his demand. Dr.
Parkman called, was seen to enter, and was never seen afterward.
Things went on without any discoveries until Friday last, when
suspicions were aroused that Dr. Webster was the murderer. A
search was made in his apartments, and there the mutilated remains
were found, partly consumed by fire, and disclosing a scene too
horrible for description, but proving, strong as circumstances ever
can prove, that murder had been perpetrated ; and, to my mind,
equally conclusive that this Dr. Webster, so clear in all his former
relations to society, was the perpetrator of the dreadful crime. He
is in prison on the charge, whilst further investigations are going
on. The effects of this wonderful catastrophe are dreadful. Two
estimable families, with " troops of friends," are plunged into un-
mitigated grief; the whole community is in a state of the greatest
excitement, and men stand aghast at this new development of the
infirmity of human nature. Poor, erring, human nature, — the vie-
368 TIIK DIARY OK I'lIlLIP HONE. [/Etat. 69.
tim of violent passions and uncontrollable propensities by nature,
and selfish desires and unreasonable prejudices by education ! To
religion alone, and its benign innucncc ujxjn human actions, can
we look for that wholesome restraint which is competent to estab-
lish " peace on earth and good- will to men."
1850.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 369
1850.
TANUARY I . — With the commencement of the new year is
^ that of the twenty- eighth vokuiie of my journal. The records
of the last are marked with public and private manifestations of the
goodness and tender mercy of the Maker and Ruler of the Uni-
verse, and the Father and Friend of his people. It has been a
year of national prosperity, under the wise counsels of an honest
and enlightened administration, which, with all its claims upon the
gratitude of the people, has failed to receive their support ; and the
force of prejudice and the perversity of faction have produced in
the general and State legislatures majorities opposed to the Execu-
tive and his cabinet. The Senate of the United States is decidedly
in the opposition ; and the new Speaker of the House of Represen-
tatives, who was elected by a plurality of one vote, has evinced his
determination to carry out the views of his party by rejecting all
the leading Whigs from the important committees, and by not
appointing a single chairman from among their number. This
man owes his election to the Speaker's chair to the magnanimity
of the Whigs, who might have prevented it, if they had preferred
party to peace and union.
With the exception of a dreadful visitation, during the summer
and part of the autumn, of the cholera, that fell destroyer of the
human race, general health has prevailed in a good degree, com-
merce has flourished, peace prevailed, and plenty abounded ; and if
the people will vote wrong — why, let them. They are the masters,
and have the right to do wrong.
As to myself and my concerns, I have much to be thankful for.
My health has improved ; the disease which for so long a time
subdued my strength and wasted my flesh is greatly mitigated. I
am stronger, but my flesh and good looks have not returned.
370 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 70.
However, I eat my allowance, drink as much as is good for me, and
sleep with a good conscience ; and so the Lord be thanked.
January 7. — The spirit of party faction and disor-
Congress. ganization prevails in the House of Representatives.
Their constituents sent them to Washington on public
business, for which they were to receive eight dollars a day.
They have received it without as yet having done anything to
earn it. The same difficulty which for so long a time prevented
the election of ^Speaker now exists in relation to the clerk. The
Loco-focos and the Whigs proper are so nearly divided, that the
Free-Soilers — the Ishmaelites whose hand is against everybody, the
fire-brands who are ready to tear down the edifice of government to
erect altars for the worship of their own idols — have the power to
prevent a choice of clerk, and thus obstruct the people's legisla-
tion, — a power which they exert with a recklessness without par-
allel. Whilst this disgraceful state of affairs continues, national
legislation stands still.
January 21. — The noble mansion on the Fifth avenue and
Ninth street, belonging to the family of the late Henry Brevoort,
with ninety-two feet of ground on the avenue and one hundred
and twenty-six feet in depth, has been purchased by Mr. Henry
C. de Rham, for $57,000.
January 22. — We had a pleasant dinner-party. The following
were the guests : General Scott, Dr. Wainwright, Mr. George Ban-
croft, Mr. August Belmont, Mr. R. M. Blatchford, Mr. C. H.
Russell, Commander Perry, Mr. Luther Bradish, Mr. Vail, Mr.
Pendleton, Mr. Fearing, Mr. George Curtis.
January 24. — By the polite invitation of the
unicipa Mayor, I attended this day the presentation of a
gold box and the freedom of the city to Captain
Cook, commander of the barque " Sarah," of Yarmouth, Nova
Scotia, — the noble fellow who saved the lives of three hundred
and ninety-nine passengers and crew of the packet-ship " Caleb
Grimshaw," Captain Hoxie, burned at sea in November last. This
1850.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 37 1
was a well-deserved compliment ; the glorious achievement was
performed at a fearful risk of life and property. Eight days were
spent in this " labour of love ; " during a greater part of the time
in a severe gale, which made the communication with the burning
ship a severe and dangerous service ; but, by the unequalled good
conduct of Captain Cook, all were saved, with the exception of
those who lost their lives by their reckless insubordination and
self-abandonment in the moments of despair.
January 25. — Died yesterday, in the seventy-first year of his
age, Nicholas Saltus, another of my contemporaries, — a queer,
priggish-looking little fellow, a very Dr. Syntax in appearance,
with more imagination than knowledge, and a dealer in fancy more
than in fact.
January 26. — My daughter and I went to a dinner-party
given by Mr. and Mrs. Vail, at their superb mansion at the corner
of Fifth avenue and Fifteenth street. The party was given
in honour of Mrs. Scott, late Miss Cornelia Scott, daughter of my
friend, the gallant General ; she was recently married to the Gen-
eral's aide. It consisted of the following (and for fine women, and
lovely women, and handsome women I should like to find any
dinner-party in this city presumptuous enough to enter into com-
parison with Mrs. Vail's) : Mrs. Clinton, Bishop Hughes, Colonel
and Mrs. Scott {la belle inariee')^ Mr. and Mrs. Philip Van Rens-
selaer, Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Brooks, Mr. and Mrs. Boreel, Mr. and
Mrs. Frederick de Peyster, Mr. and Mrs. Lispenard Stewart, Mr.
Robert Ray and his daughter Cornelia, and Captain Hamilton, her
fiance, Miss Dehon, Mr. and Mrs. Hone.
January 28. — I witnessed this morning, at nine
^' o'clock, a novel, exciting, and glorious exhibition^
Three steam-vessels, of the aggregate cost of more
than ^1,000,000, were launched in succession from the ship-
yard of William H. Brown, at the foot of Twelfth street. East
river. I walked over at an early hour, and saw the several
launches in the following order : The " New World," intended
372 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 70.
for the navigation of the rivers of Cahfornia. Her dimensions
are as follows: length, 216 feet; breadth of beam, 27 feet;
depth of hold, loj feet; burden, 650 tons. The interest of the
transit of this vessel from the land to her destined element con-
sisted in her being launched with all her machinery on board,
which, as soon as she touched the water, was set in motion ;
the wheels revolving, the smoke ascending, and the steam
whizzing with its usual vivacity, she went to see the launch on
the other side of the Point. A rush now took place of the
countless multitude to the yard of the Novelty Works, where
anxious faces were seen from every dock, vessel, storehouse,
and roof, looking towards the great object of attraction. I was
so fortunate as to get a place on board the "Atlantic," where a
large company of the best sort of men and women to be found
in New York was assembled, by invitation, and admitted by
ticket, issued by Mr. Collins, the representative of the enterprising
owners of the new line. I had not these credentials, but my
reception was cordial and complimentary.
Whilst we were waiting for the crowning glory of the occasion,
a noble steamer, of eight hundred tons, called the " Boston,"
took her departure from the land alongside of the leviathan of
the ocean. She is intended to run between Boston and Bangor;
and, in addition to her fine model and tasteful decorations, she
has the strength required for that service, frequently so tempest-
uous and dangerous.
Soon after the "Boston" left her ways, the "Arctic" began
to move slowly and gracefully, heralded by the shouts of the
immense multitude, who had been anxiously looking for this
event. The first movement of the largest vessel ever built in
the United States, several hundred tons larger than a first-rate
man-of-war, she sat so easily that her bows did not displace
four feet of water. This great specimen of American enterprise
and skill in naval architecture and mechanical science belongs
to CoUins's line of New York and Liverpool, which carries the
1S50.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 373
mail between the two ports. She is to be connected with
the "Atlantic," "Pacific," "Antarctic" and "Adriatic." They
cost nearly $600,000 each. There is nothing like it in the
world. The dimensions of the "Arctic," are as follows : Length
on deck, 295 feet ; width of beam, 46 feet ; depth of hold,
32 feet; burden, 3,500 tons. She has 95-inch cylinders, with
9-feet stroke; wheels, 35 feet diameter; 12-feet buckets, four
decks, excellent sleeping accommodations, and cabins dec-
orated with all the splendour and extravagance for which our
Yankee marine palaces are famous the world over.
After the launch I squeezed myself into the cabin of the
" Atlantic," to witness, with hundreds of ladies and gentlemen,
the manner in which more than half a million can be ex-
pended. If John Bull can beat this, let him ; but, if not,
" Britannia " must no longer pretend to " rule the seas." The
vessels of Collins's line are so constructed as to be convertible
into vessels of war.
February 13. — When we read the accounts of the loss of
human life by steam and its machinery, boilers bursting, flues
collapsing, running into each other at sea, and running off the
track on the land, besides the dreadful shipwrecks, the accounts
of which occupy the principal column of every newspaper, there
would seem to be some reason to apprehend a diminution of
the human family. But in a walk up the Bowery, in the slums
of Corlear's Hook, or through the classic region of the Five-
Points, the swarms of ragged, barefooted, unbreeched little
tatterdemalions, free-born Americans (free enough, in all con-
science), will afford abundant proof that suitable means are
taken to keep up the supply.
February 18. — The dreadful question of slavery,
The Union, which has cast an inextinguishable brand of discord
between the North and the South of this hitherto happy
land, has taken a tangible and definite shape on the question of the
admission of the new State of California into the Union with the
374 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 70.
Constitution of her own framing and adoption. The flame is no
longer smothered ; the flinatics of the North and the disunionists
of the South have made a gulf so deep that no friendly foot can
pass it ; enmity so fierce that reason cannot allay it ; unconquer-
able, sectional jealousy, and the most bitter personal hostility. A
dissolution of the Union, wliich until now it was treason to think of,
much more to utter, is the subject of the daily harangues of the
factionists in both Houses of Congress. Compromise is at an end.
Mr. Clay, the great mediator in time of trouble, has been making a
conciliatory speech, which is applauded by all parties, and flying in
pamphlet form the length and breadth of the land. But in vain :
the charm of his eloquence is dissolved, the fever of party-spirit is
beyond the reach of palliatives, the flame of faction has arisen to a
height beyond the control of the stream of reason. Passion rules
the deliberations of the people's representatives to a degree which,
from present appearances, will prevent the despatch of public busi-
ness of any kind. When will all this end? I see no remedy ! If
California is admitted with the prohibition of slavery which them-
selves have adopted, or if the national district is freed by the action
of Congress from the traffic in human flesh, the South stands ready
to retire from the Union, and bloody wars will be the fiital conse-
quence. White men will cut each other's throats, and servile insur-
rections will render the fertile fields of the South a deserted
monument of the madness of man. On the other hand, the
abolitionists of the North will listen to no terms of compromise.
Equally regardless of the blessings of union, they profess to hold
it of no value unless the power is conceded to them of restraining
the extension of the great moral evil which overshadows the land.
February 22. — The birthday of Washington was
as ling on b QJjggj^gj ^yith somc demonstration of respect, — a mili-
Birtnday. ^ '
tary parade and a procession of the Odd Fellows.
What would the " Father of his Country " say, if he were still
amongst us, a witness of the factions which prevail in the councils
of the nation, of the dangers which threaten the existence of that
1850.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 375
Union for the preservation of which his prayers were directed to
heaven to the very close of his illustrious life ! Have this people
forgotten so soon the precious injunctions of their warrior, states-
man, oracle, father? They give large sums for his paternal legacy,
but they disregard the solemn truths which it inculcates.
February 26. — There was a great meeting last
"'"" ^ evening, at Castle Garden, of men of all political par-
ties, to express a determination to stand by the " Union,
the whole Union, and nothing but the Union," at all hazards, and
to support the principles of Mr. Clay's compromise resolutions.
General Scott was there. His appearance on the stage was hailed
with the most rapturous applause, and every allusion to him brought
forth similar manifestations of delight and admiration.
March 5. — The South Carolina senator, the leader
r. a loun s ^^ ^j_^^ Southcm disuuiouists, the slave-holders' oracle,
Speech. ' '
the daring repudiator, has made his speech. The
gaping gossipers have " supped deep " on oratorical horrors ; the
quidnuncs have something to chew upon. Mr. Calhoun has been
ill during the whole session, so ill as not to be able to deliver his
speech, a written copy of which was read, at his request, by Mr.
Mason. This is probably his last kick ; and, if he is to be judged by
the sentiments of this effort, the sooner he is done kicking the
better. If this manifesto is to be taken as the text-book of the
South, all attempts at conciliation will be fruitless. It is a calm,
dispassionate avowal that nothing short of absolute submission to
the slave-holding States will be accepted ; there is no compromise
proposed, no conciliation offered. The prosperity of the North —
the natural fruit of industry, perseverance and skill — is a mortal
offence to South Carolina. New York is more populous than
Charleston. Boston notions sell better than Southern productions,
and New Bedford oil and candles shine brighter than slavery
manifestoes.
Mr. Webster is to speak on Thursday. His position is extremely
delicate and embarrassing, even to a man like him, of iron nerves.
3/6 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [^tat. 70.
I apprehend some disappointment amongst the anti-slavery spirits
of the North and his own State of Massachusetts. Union is his
paramount motive, the Constitution the star by which he steers ; to
preserve these lie will probably concede more to the South than the
fiery politicians (Whigs even) of the North may think expedient.
Much, however, may be effected by a conciliating temper and dis-
creet measures. Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, — these three ''old
men eloquent," — how they labour with " harness on their back " !
and Bissell, too, who made an admirable speech ; and fiery Stanley,
and steady Winthrop, and a host of worthies, — all praise to the
defenders of the Union !
IMarch 6. — There was a great Union meeting on Monday, in
Baltimore, similar to ours at Castle Garden. The Mayor, Mr.
Stansbury, presided, with a long string of vices, among whom I
recognize the names of Meredith, Kennedy, Carroll, Barney,
McLane, Frick, Morris, Birkhead, Monroe, and Stewart. If his
Worship has no more vices than these, he has less to answer for than
most men. The resolutions are very good ; the orators required
to be warmed by their subject, as the meeting was held in Monu-
ment square, — the coldest, bleakest spot in America, except the
corner of Broadway and Wall street, in our own city of New York.
„ March 12. — Governor Seward made his great
Governor *-•
Seward's spccch ycstcrday, in the Senate, on the California
^^^'^ * question. It was able, of course, but wild on the sub-
ject which agitates the country; opposed to Calhoun, dissenting
from A\'ebster, making battle against the South ; uncompromising,
right in some things, wrong in more, eloquent rather than argu-
mentative ; honey to the Northern abolitionists, wormwood to
the Southern factionists ; and so we go. I go with Webster.
March 14. — Mr. Webster's late speech seems to be
Mr. Webster's . . . ,, ^ ... ,
Speech. " buyuig goldcn opmions. Some opposition is made
by the violent anti- slavery men in his own section of the
country (the very men who brought this trouble upon us, by voting
for the annexation of Texas), on the ground of his having conceded
1850.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 37/
too much to the South ; but a large proportion (and there is
reason to hope a majority) of the discreet, reflecting men of all
parts of the Union approve the principles and sentiments of this
great speech, are willing to make it their text, and augur the most
auspicious results from its dissemination far and wide. The exor-
dium of this speech is in every man's mouth ; the effect must have
been prodigious. The position which the speaker occupied in the
discussion of the momentous question, and the appearance of the
man (I can imagine how he looked), were things to be remem-
bered, with a sort of awful admiration, by the closely packed
audience who had the good luck to hear him. He began thus :
" I rise to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, not as a
Northern man ; but as an American, and a member of the Senate
of the United States."
March 22. — This Senator T^*-?*?/*? seems to be trip-
Benton and . 111 • i • xt •
pmg up everybody who comes m his way. He is a
pestiferous demagogue, bent upon kicking up a dust
whenever he gets a chance. This is the same man who had a
fight in the street, the other day, with Borland, a brother Loco-
foco ; and now a most disgraceful scene has been enacted on the
floor of the Senate between this loafer and Benton, the " Father of
the Senate," in which epithets were applied to each other in the
most approved style of Five-Points eloquence. The most vulgar
language was made the vehicle of personal vituperation ; the capa-
cious stern of the Missouri senator was a spot in which the bellig-
erent Foot might have been placed to some advantage ; but it did
not get so far. How can such men as Webster, Clay, Calhoun,
Berrien, Davis, etc., sit and listen to such ribaldry !
March 23. — An English newspaper has the follow-
ewspaper .^ astouudincj and veracious article of intelligence :
Accuracy. o o o
" The Honourable Daniel Webster, the great American
statesman, is to be tried for his life for the murder oi Dr. Parker^
This is worthy of the "New York Herald" or "Washington
Union."
378 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [yEtat. 70.
April 2, — I'he great South Carolina senator died
Death of Mr. -^^ Washington, 0.1 Sunday morning, March 31, of a
Calhoun.
disease of the heart. Overworked, terribly excited,
the frail body was insufficient to sustain the burning, restless,
ardent mind. One of the great lights of the Western world is ex-
tinguished ; the compeer of Webster and Clay is removed from the
brilliant trio ; the South has lost her champion ; slavery, its de-
fender ; and nullification and (we are compelled to say) disunion,
their apologists.
Possessing talents of the highest order, irreproachable integrity,
and amiable deportment, he wanted the expanded patriotism, the
disinterested political morality, of his great rival, — Webster. The
latter goes for the country, the whole country, first, and Massachu-
setts after ; the Union, the Constitution, the principles of the
Revolution, are the stars by which he steers his political course.
The other great man would sacrifice all these for the interest, the
aggrandizement, of South Carolina. The first is a statesman in the
broadest sense ; the last was the man of a State.
What effect his lamented decease will have upon the questions
which agitate, in so fearful a degree, the minds of men and the
councils of the nation, it is difficult to foresee. Will the withdrawal
of the leader have the effect of disbanding the forces of Southern
opposition ? Or will they rally under some leader equally ardent
and uncompromising, but of motives less pure and action more
unscrupulous? God save the Republic ! should be the prayer of
all good Americans in this crisis, pronounced at one extremity of
the Union and echoed at the other.
April 8. — I dined on Saturday with Mr. August Belmont, the
agent of the great house of Rothschilds, at his splendid mansion in
the Fifth avenue. The guests were Washington Irving, Commodore
Perry, Edward Jones, Rev. Dr. Wainwright, Daniel B. Fearing,
Bache McEvers, William Kemble, and myself.
April 13. — I went, last evening, to the opening of the exhibition
of the National Academy of Design, at their new rooms in Broad-
1850.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 379
way, opposite Bond street. There was a collation, with a large
party of artists, literati, men of science, and men of taste to partake
of it. The Academy has made an admirable arrangement ; the
stables of Brown have been converted into a temple of the Muses.
The Academy has now a local habitation and a name. They have
five rooms filled, for the approaching exhibition, with an unusually
fine collection of pictures. The Academicians have made a suc-
cessful effort to do some work worthy of their good name, and to
give eclat to their new quarters.
April 18. — A personal conflict, disgraceful to the
Fracas"'^ parties, and humiliating to every good American who
has been taught to revere the exalted body in which it
occurred, was enacted yesterday on the floor of the Senate, by
Colonel Benton, who likes to be called the flither of the Senate, —
but, as it appears in this matter, does not always act up to the dig-
nity and decorum of the character, — and that pestiferous fellow,
Foote, who disgraces himself, his State, and the body of which he
is an unworthy member. Benton appears to have been the aggres-
sor; for it requires more patience than the Missouri senator is
thought to possess, to bear the attack of so filthy an animal. The
other drew a pistol, which, if it had not been for the interference
of the gentlemen near by, would probably have left Missouri un-
represented, and the Senate, fatherless. Pistols in the Senate !
This Foote should be amputated from the body, of which it is a
disgraced member.
April 19. — I dined with my friend Giraud on Wednesday, on
capital clam soup, and a fore-quarter of lamb and mint sauce.
Nobody understands the science of good living, the whole arcana
of gastronomy, better than my old bachelor friend Giraud.
April 22. — My wife and I came from home this
J^^ . ,° morning to make a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Alexander
Providence. '-'
Duncan, and to bring with us my daughter and Miss
Adele Granger. We left New York at eight o'clock, on the New
Haven railroad, came by Hartford, Springfield, and Worcester,
38o -THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [/Etat. 70.
and arrived at Providence at six o'clock P.M., — a ride of two hun-
dred and forty miles in ten hours. Mr. Duncan and the girls came
out to meet us at Blackstone, and brought us to our pleasant quar-
ters, the honoured guests of our hospitable and kind friends, where
every comfort was prepared for us, and a good night's rest followed
the fatigue of our railroad journey.
April 23. — The unpretending elegance, good taste, and admira-
ble house-keeping of Mrs. Duncan's establishment leave us nothing
to wish for. Mr. Duncan's immense wealth is judiciously used for
the enjoyment of his family, the gratification of his friends, and the
good of the community, of which he is an active and beneficent
member. After walking with my host, and visiting the interesting
objects of this pleasant town, I went to a dinner given to me by
Samuel G. Arnold, The party consisted of Mr. Moses B. Ives, Mr.
Whi])ple, Dr. Parsons and his son, Mr. Charles Potter, Mr. Birkhead,
Mr. Duncan, Mr. Robeson, Colonel Halsey, Dr. Mauran, and myself.
April 24. — Went with Mr. Duncan to return the Governor's
call j visited the College Library, which has been richly endowed
by Mr. Brown, the Athenaeum, etc. Mr. Duncan has contributed
largely to the support of these and other similar scientific and
benevolent institutions, and his literary taste has been evinced by a
tasteful and well -arranged private library. Mr. Duncan gave us a
handsome dinner ; the guests, besides our party, consisting of Gov-
ernor Anthony, Mr. Zachariah Allen, Mr. Philip Allen, Moses B. Ives,
Dr. Mauran, Professor Gammell, Mr. Birkhead, and Mr. Brown.
April 25. — After another day spent pleasantly at home and
abroad, and a sociable, comfortable dinner, we terminated our
agreeable visit, and left Providence at six o'clock P.M., on the
Stonington railroad, to return by the steamer on the Sound. Mrs.
Daniel B. Fearing joined our party, with her children.
There is a new carpet on the library floor, and my
At home. books havc undergone a dusting, under Margaret's
judicious superintendence.
I dined with Mr. Tileston, on an invitation received before I left
1850.] THE DIARY OF nilLIP HONE. 38 1
home ; it was pretty much of a club dinner. We had Blatchford,
George Curtis, Spofford, Prescott Hall, Jaudon, Governor Fish,
Matthew Morgan, Henry A. Colt, two Messrs. Brice, sons-in-law of
Mr. Tileston.
April 27. — The great steamer "Atlantic" went to sea to-day.
She went off in fine style ; but the fog compelled her to stop three
or four hours at Staten Island. She will create a sensation in Eng-
land. If John Bull does not open his eyes in wonder, and scratch
his head in jealousy, he will have lost his usual characteristics. Let
him beat her if he can ; if he does, we will try again.
April 29. — Died on the 19th, at his residence. New Bedford,
Cornelius Grinnell, father of Moses, Joseph, and Henry. He was
in the ninety-third year of his age, a hale, hearty, cheerful old
gentleman, — a fine example of green old age. I was at his house
when at New Bedford. His son Moses arrived in New Bedford a
few minutes before he expired. On the morning of the day on
which his long account with this world was closed, he told his
family that Moses was expected on that day, and ordered some
champagne to be iced for him, on his arrival. Mr. Roach, another
native of New Bedford, of about the same age as Mr. Grinnell, died
within a few hours of his decease.
April 30. — I saw Mr. Webster on Sunday. He is on a short
visit to his favourite Marshfield. He went to Boston yesterday,
where he was received by his friends with distinguished honours, and
replied, — in front of his hotel, the Revere House, — in his usual
style of eloquence, to the complimentary speeches which were made
to him. If he does not "buy golden opinions " now, it must
prove that the article is scarce in the market. He is no longer at
a loss to find his position, and seems determined to maintain it.
May 2. — Another, and another, and another. The
Disasters. Steamer " Belle of the West " w^as blown up a few days
since on the Ohio, below Cincinnati, and many lives
lost. These are melancholy events ; but "it's of no consequence,"
as Foote says ; " there were more born on that day to supply their
T,S2 THE DIARY OF TIIILIP HONE. [.Etat. 70.
places." Steam has come into the world to do the work of war,
— equally certain, and, in the aggregate, equally extensive in its
operations ; but it wants the prestige of present glory and future
renown ; boilers burst, and so do bomb-shells. Men are blown up
as well by steam as gunpowder. Death's doings, all.
May 4. — Congress has passed the bill, and the
nnne President's signature has made it a law, to receive the
Expedition. ° '
two vessels to be fitted out by Henry Grinnell to pro-
ceed to the North pole in search of Sir John Franklin. The little
squadron about to be engaged in this work of beneficence is
placed under the rules and regulations of the United States Navy,
which is also to furnish the officers and men for the expedition.
Success attend them ; but I have no faith in the enterprise.
Captain Franklin and his companions will never, I fear, be seen
again. They lie " five fathoms deep " in their icy shrouds. It is
to be hoped that those who go out on this " labour of love " may
not meet with any fate worse than frozen toes and red noses, and
return in good time to relate their adventures in the great ice-
house of the universe.
May 23. — I continue very ill and suffer excruciat-
iiincss. ing pains from the sores in several jxirts of my body,
the effects of the severe treatment for the dangerous
disease with which I have been afflicted. The erysipelas is removed,
but I am exceedingly weak and emaciated, and require all the
unwearied care and tender nursing which are bestowed upon me.
]>ut I have sorrow, deep and alarming, beyond the apprehensions
of my own case. My beloved wife lies in her chamber above me, in
what I consider a hopeless case. Nature is sinking ; her strength
has departed, and a cough, with which she has been long afflicted,
seems to be insurmountable. Which of us will be first called I dare
not presume to imagine. The Lord's will be done !
May 24. — My worst apprehensions are realized.
^ ° The crowning blessing of my long life, the enjoyment of
which the Lord has permitted to me for a period of
1850.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 383
nearly half a century of uninterrupted love, affection, and confi-
dence, He has seen fit to resume. The most excellent partner of
my fondest associations, the best of wives, the mother of my
children, my comforter in affliction, the participant of my joys, the
promoter of my happiness, my friend and example, died this
morning at fifteen minutes past four o'clock, — died as angels
live, — peaceful, serene, sensible to the last moment, free from
pain, and perfectly resigned to the will of God. And there
she lies, with a benignant expression which seems to impart sweet-
ness to the flowers with which her beloved frame is decorated.
Teach me, blessed Lord, to receive this chastisement with suitable
resignation and submission to Thy will. Thou hast permitted me
to enjoy for a long period the blessing of which Thou hast now
deprived me, and I have no right to complain. Thy will be done
in this as in all other dispensations of Thy Providence !
May 27. — The last act of our melancholy tragedy was per-
formed yesterday afternoon. The mortal remains of my dearly
beloved wife were consigned to the vault in the cemetery of Saint
Mark's Church. The following were the pall -bearers : President
William A. Duer, President Charles King, General Scott, Luther
Bradish, Gardiner G. Howland, Richard M. Blatchford, Benjamin
L. Swan, Jacob P. Giraud.
May 30. — This was the first day of my leaving the
The Old , ^, , . I 1 * 1 1
Hull afloat. housc. The weather is very bad. A long, easterly
storm, the end of which we have not seen, has retarded
my recovery. I am better, but my sufferings are extremely dis-
tressing. I went to the Naval office, where I found my faithful
troops rejoiced to see me. I signed some papers, and remained
about an hour.
If they do not pull down the houses in the annual
Broadway. rcnovation of Broadway, they fall of their own accord.
The large, three-story house, corner of Broadway and
Fourth street, occupied for several years by Mrs. Seton as a board-
ing-house, fell to-day at two o'clock, with a crash so astounding that
384 THE DIARY OF rillLTP HONE. [^tat. 70.
the girls, with wliom I was sitting in the library, imagined for a
moment that it was caused by an earthquake. Fortunately, the
workmen had notice to make their escape. No lives were los<", and
no personal injury was sustained. The mania for converting Broad-
way into a street of shops is greater than ever. There is scarcely a
block in the whole extent of this fine street of which some part is
not in a state of transmutation. The City Hotel has given place to
a row of splendid stores; Stewart is extending his stores to take in
the whole front from Chambers to Reade street ; this is already the
most magnificent dry-goods establishment in the world. I certainly
do not remember anything to equal it in London or Paris ; with the
addition now in progress this edifice will be one of the "wonders " of
the Western world. Three or four good brick houses on the corner
of Broadway and Spring street have been levelled, I know not for
what purpose, — shops, no doubt. The houses — fine, costly edi-
fices, opposite to me, extending from Driggs's corner down to a
point opposite to Bond street — are to make way for a grand con-
cert and exhibition establishment. All this is very well ; men have
a right to improve their property as they please ; but it really would
be well if more precautions were used in pulling down and under-
propping. Lives enough have been sacrificed ; but the inquisitive
people require something to gratify their curiosity, and some went
away from the ruins to-day a little disapi)ointed that no lives were
lost. It was nothing to the accident in Hague street.
June i. — This has been a week of festivity among the members
of the old club ; it arose out of a reciprocation of the hospitality of
some of the Baltimore gentlemen, who were the hosts on the occa-
sion of the canvas-back party last fall at Maxwell's Point. Invita-
tions were given and accepted, and a round of dinners was the
consequence. George Curtis, Prescott Hall, Moses H. (Irinnell,
and Samuel Jaudon saturated these Baltimore sponges with the
finest old wine in the country ; and how it went ! I was not at
Maxwell's Point, and, of course, not at the result here. I have no
interest in such matters. These things will never again delight me.
1850.J THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 385
But there is one circumstance about these pleasant reunions which
gives me a gratification far above the festivities which my friends
enjoyed, — a banquet of the heart, an overflow of grateful acknowl-
edgment, a tribute, never to be forgotten, of love and affection, and
this is it : Jonathan Meredith refused to come on with the party,
out of tenderness and consideration for my affliction and that
of my family, and I have reason to believe that John P. Ken-
nedy was restrained by the same generous feelings. The Lord
reward them for this manifestation of friendship, and teach me not
to forget it !
June 14. — I received an invitation from the citizens of Burling-
ton, Vermont, to attend the grand railroad jubilee intended to cele-
brate, with appropriate festivities, the establishment of railroad
communication between the State of Vermont and the Atlantic sea-
board. I declined this invitation. Broken down in health, and
sorely afflicted in mind, I am no longer the man for such enjoy-
ments. There was a time when I should have responded cheer-
fully to such a summons.
June 17. — As a proof of my convalescence, I record the fact
that I went yesterday forenoon to Trinity Church ; not walking all
the distance (I availed myself of the Bowery railroad), but I could
have accomplished even that feat. I am weak, very, and thin as a
pair of tongs ; but my sufferings have subsided. Who knows that I
may not be a man again?
June 28. — There seems to be no hope of a settle-
Cong-ress. mcnt of the exciting questions which agitate the minds
of men at Washington. Faction, violence, intemper-
ance, and ungentlemanly deportment prevail in both Houses of
Congress. They have been in session six months, and no public
business has been accomplished. Parties are so divided, that
either may prevent the action of all the rest. Good men begin to
despair of the Republic. The excellent Chief Magistrate, striving
as he does to get things to rights, is assailed by a gang of despera-
does, who hate him as the infernal spirits do the angels of light,
386 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [^tat. 70.
for the virtue and purity of his character, the contrast of which
renders apparent their own deformity.
July 10. — The American people are suddenly
Death of Gen. ^^^j^^^ ^^ ^^ moum the loss of another Chief Magis-
eral Taylor. '■ ^ ^
trate of the Union. The face of the land is clad in the
habiliments of woe ; the hand of death has stricken down the good
old man, the brave soldier, the able and successful commander, the
patriotic citizen, the wise and discreet ruler, whom the people, by
their unsolicited choice, placed in the highest office in their gift.
July ii. — Mr. Fillmore, Vice-President, having resigned the
presidency of the Senate, was sworn into the office of President of
the United States, yesterday, at twelve o'clock, in the Chamber of
the House of Representatives, in the presence of both Houses.
Ze roi est mort^ — Vive Fillmore ! The speeches of Messrs.
Berrien, Downs, and Webster in the Senate, after the inauguration,
were marked by ability, eloquence, and the most touching sensi-
bility of the nation's loss in the sudden death of the excellent
man who has so admirably succeeded in his " endeavours " (to use
his own words) *' to do his duty."
July 22. — The steamer *^ Atlantic," the great favourite of the
Knickerbockers, in whose successful competition with the navigation
of the whole globe our citizens of all parties and professions take so
lively an interest, arrived yesterday at her berth, in this her native
city, making her voyage in ten days and fifteen hours, thereby jus-
tifying the predictions of her constructors and owners in making
the quickest passage yet known.
July 24. — The funeral obsequies, ordered by the
city authorities in honour of the lamented President,
took place yesterday, commencing at three o'clock.
The grandest and most numerous military and civil procession
ever witnessed in this city took place. It was five miles in length,
and was three hours passing my house. The concourse of people
on the whole route was prodigious ; 250,000 men, women, and chil-
dren witnessed the solemnities; orderly, decorous, no resistance
Funeral
Obsequies.
i8so.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 387
to authority exercised gently, no drunkenness. All seemed to be
impressed with the solemnity of the melancholy event which was the
object of this display.
August 5. — Good old Commodore Jacob Jones died in Phila-
delphia, on Saturday morning, in the eighty- third year of his age, —
the eldest captain in the navy, with the exception of Barron and
Stewart. The sting of his " JVasp," in one of the first naval
engagements with the maritime forces of Great Britain, stung their
^^ Frolic^' past recovery, and obtained for the gallant commander
the command of the "Macedonian."
August 6. — Mr. Clay arrived yesterday in Philadelphia on his
way to Newport, where he wishes to enjoy peace and quietness,
which, notwithstanding his earnest remonstrances, are denied him.
In this he is perfectly sincere ; he hates humbug, the prevailing evil
of the day, and is satiated with popular applause. But the Phila-
delphians shouted him, hurrahed him, and made him address the
multitude, sorely against his inclination. Mr. Clay will be here
to-morrow, to the gratification of the pohticians and sight-loving
mob, who, like the famous giant in " Jack and the Bean-stalk," vow
that, " dead or alive, they will have some."
Two new houses in the process of erection fell down yester-
day, — one in Mercer street, and the other in Spruce street, near
Gold street. Both these disasters have been attended with loss
of life, and dreadful mutilations of the workmen. The shameful
manner of constructing houses intended for renting demands a
remedy. Laws should be passed, and inspectors of buildings
appointed with arbitrary power, to prevent the erection of these
man- traps. I have noticed, especially in the eastern section of
the city, blocks of new buildings so slightly built that they could
not stand alone, and, like drunken men, require the support of each
other to keep them from falling.
August 8. — The value of my friend Scott's sendees
General Scott, begin to be appreciated at home and abroad, now
the veil is removed with which jealousy, cabal, and
388 THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. [^tat. 70.
intrigue sought to cover his well-earned fame. He now conducts
the affairs of the War Department until the arrival of the new
Secretary. " Now, General," said President Fillmore, on the Gen-
eral's arrival in Washington, taking his hand, " your persecutions
are at an end." A motion has been made in the House of Repre-
sentatives to confer upon him the brevet rank of Lieutenant- Genr
eral, which has never been held by any but Washington.
August 15. — North Carolina, a Whig State, has
Political gQj^g Loco-foco by reason of the slavery question ; and
Changes.
Missouri, — Loco-foco, — Whig, in consequence of an
unappeasable difference between the supporters and opponents of
Colonel Benton. Old party lines are broken up. In this State the
Democrats are all at swords' points ; the Old- Hunkers say, Whigs
ratlier than Ijarnburners, and the Barnburners profess to prefer
Whigs to Old- Hunkers. So it is at present. We shall see if the
never- failing cement of party drill does not unite these discordant
political materials before the fall elections. In the mean time the
Whigs are in no better condition. Between the friends of Seward
and Nullification in the western counties, and the hatred of the
people in this part of the State to the man and his principles, it is
impossible to say what is trumps, or how the game is to be played.
August 30. — The bill from the Senate to admit New Mexico
and settle the boundaries of Texas has been set afloat in the
troubled sea of congressional violence and opposing currents in the
House of Representatives, where it is assailed by the furious
tempests of party malignity, driven upon the rocks of sectional
jealousy, and made the prey of a set of political wreckers, who
care not for vessel, cargo, or crew, if their own unrighteous objects
can be attained. Hopes have been entertained of late that this
dreadful controversy would be settled by the passage of the bill ;
that there would be found, among the friends of Union in Congress,
strength enough to rescue the ark of the Constitution from the
hands of the despoilers, and preserve the sacred tables of the law
from pollution and desecration. But prospects are more gloomy
1850.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 389
within the last day or two ; the two extremes of reckless opposition
have met together in numbers sufficient to prevent (it is feared)
the passage of any measures to restore harmony and union upon
the basis of compromise and concession. These men have been
employed more than eight months, like noisome excrescences ob-
structing the current of wholesome legislation. The best thing
they can do is to break up their unprofitable session and go home
to their constituents for fresh instructions, and if the people approve
these doings, in God's name, be it so !
"The people's wayward voice
Must be the Nation's choice."
Seffember 3. — "Sing a song of sixpence," at the
Jenny Lind. rate of a thousand dollars a night. Our good city is in
a new excitement. So much has been said, and the
trumpet of fame has sounded so loud, in honour of this new importa-
tion from the shores of Europe, that nothing else is heard in our
streets, nothing seen in the papers, but the advent of the " Swedish
Nightingale." Jenny Lind arrived on Sunday, in the " Atlantic."
This noble steamer was a most fitting fiddle-case, a suitable cage
for such a bird. The wharf was thronged with anxious expectants
of her landing.
SEFrEMBER 5. — The committee appointed by Mr. Barnum to
award the prize of $200 for the best song to be sung by Jenny Lind,
at her first concert here, have adjudged it to Bayard Taylor, for
his song entitled " Welcome to America." The committee state,
in their report, that the number of competitors for this prize
amounted to seven hundred ; a large proportion of the produc-
tions were " not fit to feed the pigs." The committee to make
the selection were George Ripley, Jules Benedict, L. Gaylord
Clark, J. S. Redfield, George P. Putnam.
September 9. — There is rejoicing over the land;
^,'^^*""!"^" the bone of contention is removed : disunion, flmaticism,
the End. ' ' '
violence, insurrection, are defeated. These horrible
390 THE DIARY OF I'llILIP HONE. [/Etat. 70.
slavery questions, which have suspended the pubUc business for
more than eight months, are settled ; but how ? The lovers of
peace, the friends of the Union, good men, conservatives, have
sacrificed sectional prejudices, given up personal predilections,
given up everything, for Union and peace ; and for this sacrifice
the Lord be good to them ! r>ut, although all good men rejoice
tliat tlie affair is settled, none are satisfied. It all comes of that
crowning curse of national legislation, the annexation of Texas ;
and did not Daniel Webster warn the I>oco-focos of all this? Did
not Henry Clay sound his admonishing trumpet? Did not every
Whig orator previous to General Harrison's election prophesy what
would be the effects of this unnatural connection ? and did not I,
even I, in my harangues, portray the evils to result from this idle
assumption of gratuitous trouble and vexation?
But the question is settled : we have made war upon Mexico,
gaining glory by the gallantry of our warriors ; conquered them all,
and then, as in the case of Dr. Franklin's Frenchman, agreed to
pay for heating the poker. But all is well. The House of Repre-
sentatives on Saturday got rid of all the vexation in a bunch. The
Texas boundary bill was passed, California was admitted as a State,
Utah and New Mexico came in as Territories ; all obstructions
were removed, all amendments rejected. They came into the
House, determined to cast all political differences, all sectional
jealousy, all party violence, upon the altar of Union, harmony, and
the Constitution ; and I presume the rest of the nation's business
will be hurried through head over heels, and the people's repre-
sentatives will go forthwith to their wives and children, their farms
and merchandise.
September 12. — The Jenny Find excitement in
Jenny Linti. Ncw York sccms to havc increased to fever heat. Her
second rehearsal was given with renewed spirit and
effect, and received with new enthusiasm. Tickets have been sold
to the amount of $55,000. The good people of New York are
1850.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 391
anxious to part with their mon&y for a song, and the "nightingale "
will make a profitable exchange of her nofes for specie.
September 17. -^Another of those dreadful railroad disasters
which every mail brings us, and the news-packets transmit on their
paper wings to every corner of the country, occurred one day last
week on the Western railroad between Albany and Boston. The
train ran off the track, the cars were demolished, several persons
were injured, and three passengers killed, of whom one was a young
lady, daughter of the proprietor of the Delavan House, Albany ;
another. Col. S. Jones Mumford, of this city. So much for railroad
travelling. Give me the post-coach and seven miles to an hour. I
enjoyed it lately, and travelled for once again like a gentleman and
man of sense.
Jenny Lind's second concert took place on Tuesday,
crail '^ '" '^^^^ ^^^^ attended as numerously and enthusiastically as
the first ; crowds follow her wherever she goes. She
has been compelled to leave the Irving House, in my neighbourhood,
to escape from the persecution. This Siren, the tenth Muse ; the
Angel, as Barnum calls her ; the nightingale, by which she is desig-
nated by the would-be dilettanti, — has secured the affection as well
as the admiration of the mass of the people by an act of munifi-
cence, as well as good policy. Her contract with Mr. Barnum has
been changed. Instead of $1,000 a night, she gets one-half of the
net profits ; her share of which for the first night, after deducting
the large expenses of a first performance, amounting to the enor-
mous sum of $12,600, all of which, with unprecedented liberality,
she distributed among the charitable and benevolent institutions of
the city. The list is headed by the fire department fund, to which
she gives $3,00©, to the musical fund $2,000, and the balance is
divided in sums of $500 each to all the other charities. The noble
gratuity to the firemen is a great stroke of policy. It binds to her
the support and affection of the red-shirt gentlemen, who will go
to hear her sing as long as they can raise the money to pay for a
ticket, and will worship the nightingale and fight for her to the
392 THE DIARY OF PIIILTP HONE. [/Etat. 70.
death, if occasion should require. New York is conquered ; a
hostile army or fleet could not effect a conquest so complete.
September 20. — The Union Club has removed to the large
house belonging to Mr. Kernochan, opposite to me. The club
has never before been so well and pleasantly accommodated ;
it will be convenient for me, also ; perhaps too much so, — it may
cause me to visit it too frequently.
September 24. — The Knickerbockers are crowing like the
lusty chanticleer at the great voyage of the " Pacific," one of
the famous steamers of Collins's line. She has beaten the Cunard-
ers this voyage, which has been made in ten days and four hours
from dock to dock, — the shortest yet ; she went to and returned
from England in less than thirty days. What wondrous changes
hav^e occurred in our day and generation ! The summer after I
married I was nine days going in a sloop from New Y^ork to
Albany, — this voyage which is now made in as many hours ;
then it occupied one day less than is now required to make a
European passage. We fly through the air, glide over the bosom
of the ocean, and dive beneath its waters with the speed of
lightning ; speed is the ruling principle of mankind ; the wind
is a laggard, and the shooting-star comparatively slow in its
movements.
September 27. — The Niagara steamer arrived
1 idm . ^j^.^ morning from Liverpool. In her came pas-
senger William H. Prescott, our eminent historian,
and excellent good fellow. I had a visit from him this morning
at my office. He returns in good health and excellent spirits,
after an absence of five months, during which time the greatest
respect and attention were paid to him by the distinguished people
of England, from the Queen down ; as an evidence of which he
told me (but without any vainglorious boasting) that he had,
during his sojourn in London, twelve dinner invitations for one
day. These highly merited compliments reflect equal honour
on both parties.
1S50.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 393
October 16. — The Loco-focos have nominated Fernando
Wood for mayor. There was a time when it was thought of
some consequence that the incumbent of this office should be at
least an honest man. Fernando Wood ! Let the books of the
Mechanic's Bank tell his story. There is no amount of degrada-
tion too great for the party who expects to " rule the roost," and
probably will. Fernando Wood, instead of occupying the mayor's
seat, ought to be on the rolls of the State Prison. But our
blessed universal suffrage wnll raise a flame with this IVood to
drive away Whigism, Conservatism, and good, honest Democracy
as we formerly knew it. Fernando Wood, Mayor ! !
October 19. — I was at a pleasant dinner to-day at Mr. Daniel
B. Fearing's. The party consisted of Francis Granger, William
S. Miller, Mr. Haight, Thomas Tileston, Charles H. Russell,
James W. Otis, George Dorr, and myself.
October 25. — My birthday, — I am seventy years old ; a mere
wreck of what I was. I have lost my bodily strength, and dwindled
away into the "lean and slippered pantaloon." But, thanks to
the God of Mercy, the Physician of soul and body, to whom I
should bow with submission and resignation, I am still in the en-
joyment of many blessings j my heart is good and my mind sound,
and my home is the abode of happiness and tranquillity.
October 26. — The Whigs have nearly completed their nomina-
tions. Ambrose C. Kingsland is nominated for mayor by a strong
vote, and greatly to his satisfaction.
October 31. — I left the Bank for Savings at six o'clock, putting
my friend Conover at the desk as my locum tenefis, and went to
make one of a pleasant dinner-party at Mr. Fearing's. The party
consisted of Mr. George Bancroft, T. Butler King, John P. Ken-
nedy, John C. Hamilton, Mr. Vail, Mr. Henry Gary, Mr. S. S.
Howland, and myself.
Castle Garden was filled last night with thousands, as
Meeting. ^^ ^^^ whcn Jcuuy Liud commenced there her round
of enchantments. But this occasion was widely differ-
394 THE DTARV OF nilLIP HONE. [/Etat. 70.
ent ; no nightingale warbled to steal away the hearts and bewilder
the senses of the admiring multitudes ; but stalwart men, commer-
cial magnates, comfortable millionaires, Whigs and Loco-focos,
assembled to stand by the Union and to support the Constitu-
tion ; to applaud Clay and Cass, Webster and Dickinson, and to
condemn Seward and Weed, Greeley and H\mt, by a tempest of vitu-
peration, and all the Whigs by a side-wind of innuendo. George
Wood was the president, with forty vices ; enough, one would
think, to screw the multitude up to the proper pitch. Speeches
were made by the president, sensible enough, doubtless, but didac-
tic and forensic, savouring of the bar, and redolent of the Court of
Errors, and long and dull, like the galleries of " Lord Hoppergollop's
country house." Other addresses were made by Nicholas Dean,
Robert C. Wetmore, James W. Gerard, Charles O'Conner, William
M. Evarts, Edward Sanford, and Ogden Hoffman ; and it is reported
about town that there was not so large an assembly at the close as
at the commencement of this great demonstration.
November 4. — There never was such a set of silly politicians as
the Whigs of this city. Some of them, who call themselves Whigs, —
men of wealth and character, merchants who have prospered in the
general prosperity, in which they have participated without having
contributed to it (I have met some of such lately), — declare that
they will not vote for Washington Hunt. " Who, then, will you
support, — his Loco-foco opponent ? " — " Yes." — " Why ? " —
"Because Hunt is an Abolitionist and an Anti-Renter." — "That
may be a reason sufficient ; but where is the evidence of it ? There
is nothing in his public life, in his actions, speeches, or writings, to
justify such a suspicion." — "But he suffers the Abolitionists to
vote for him." And this is the "head and front of his offending."
If the Devil, or Bennett of the " Herald," were to vote for me, if I
were a candidate, I would thank them ; the vote of either of
those worthies is just as good as that of the best man in the
land ; but the truth is, — it has ever been so, — these wise politicians
take their cue from the infamous " Herald," which abuses the can-
1850.] THE DIARY OF rillLIP HONE. 395
didate for Governor, because, I presume, the other party has paid
him for his support. These men have grown fat upon the general
prosperity, and make a show of independence by opposing the
party to which they owe their modicum of consequence.
November 5. — This is the general election. Parties
The Election, are SO broken up, mixed up, and scattered, that
nobody knows what the result may be. The dregs
have risen to the top of the pot. The Loco-focos support Fer-
nando Wood — a fellow who stands branded as a swindler — for
mayor, and Captain Rhynders — a notorious bandit — for the
Legislature ; and both will probably be elected. The want of union
among the Whigs will deprive them of the success which they might
have achieved. James Bowen, in the third congressional district, runs
against the Whig candidate ; by which means Emanuel B. Hart, the
Loco-foco, will be elected. In our district, George W. Blunt, from
personal motives, in the plenitude of vanity which belongs to his
family, sets himself up against Brooks, the present member, who
has done his duty well in Congress, and is the regularly nominated
candidate. I voted, of course, the whole regular Whig ticket,
wherever I could find it.
November 6. — The election throughout the State was held yes-
terday. The result in the city has been highly favourable to the
Whigs, who have succeeded in all their tickets except where they
have been defeated by their own perverseness and suicidal policy.
We have elected thirteen out of the sixteen members of Assembly,
by which means there is very little doubt that we shall have majori-
ties in both Houses, and thereby secure the election of a Whig
senator in Congress in the place of Mr. Dickinson, unless the
devil and the slavery question should put it into the heads of our
men to split upon this choice. Ambrose C. Kingsland, Whig, is
elected mayor.
November ii. — Bennett, the editor of the " Herald," was at-
tacked and cow-skinned on Saturday, in Broadway, by a Mr.
Graham, the unsuccessful Loco-foco candidate for district attorney,
396 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat. 70.
against Nathaniel B. Blunt. I should be well pleased to hear of
this fellow being punished in this way, and once a week for the
remainder of his life, so that new wounds might be inflicted before
the old ones were healed, or until lie left off lying ; but I fear the
editorial miscreant in this case will be more benefited than injured
by this attack. The public sympathy will be on Bennett's side ;
the provocation was not sufficient, the motive was a bad one, and
the character of the assailant not much better than that of the
defendant.
November 13. — The steamer "Atlantic" arrived yesterday in
twelve days and twenty-two hours from Liverpool. Among her
passengers, of persons known and distinguished, are Mrs. DeWitt
Clinton ; A. G. Stout, wife and daughter ; Mr. John Kane, A. Bow-
den and wife, Rev. Dr. Bethune, and a young son of my friend
Daniel B. Fearing.
November 14. — Margaret and I went this morning
„ gg,^j^ „ to visit the new steamer, the " Baltic," of the Collins
line, at the wharf, foot of Canal street, where are to be
seen at this time the three finest vessels in the world. The word
world is in great use with us Americans, when v/e would assert our
superiority and discourage competition. The best in the world,
the handsomest in the world, the fastest in the world, unmatchable ;
there is no use in the world, for the world to try to equal us.
November 20. — Mr. AVebster is here on his way to Washington.
He was last evening at Jenny Lind's concert, where he was cheered
with great enthusiasm ; and the ladies joined by waving of handker-
chiefs with the huzzas of the men, in honour of the advocate of
the Union and supporter of the Constitution. Washington Hunt,
Governor-elect of the State, by the closest squeeze ever known, is
also in town.
November 26. — N. P. Willis gives an account of
Mr. Webster. Mr. Webstcr's appearance and deportment at one of
Jenny Lind's concerts, at which he was present with his
wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Hunt, the Governor-elect and his wife. It
1850.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 397
is very flowery and Willis-like, but graphic and amusing. He
described the Secretary's appearance in the following inflated
terms : " We raised our opera-glass, with no very definite expecta-
tion, and with the eye thus brought nearer to the object, lo ! the
dome over the temple of Webster, the forehead of the great
Daniel, with the two lambent stars set in the dark shadow of its
architrave." At this concert Mr. Webster was accidentally heard
to say, "Why doesn't she sing one of her beautiful national airs?"
This wish was immediately conveyed to the charming songstress,
who substituted a Swedish melody for the air set down in the pro-
gramme ; and her acknowledgment of the applause of the audience
finished by a graceful courtesy to the recipient of the compliment,
who arose and received it with a bow of recognition.
December 12. — The annual time-honoured Thanks-
Thanksgiving, giving -day throughout the State. No nation, ancient
or modern, ever had more causes for thanksgiving, and
reasons to praise the Author of all good, than the people of the
United States. Yet there are many, at the present time, ignorant
and unworthy of the blessings they enjoy, who would throw all
things into confusion, break up the blessed union which binds the
States, and should bind the individuals forming their population ;
who would destroy the harmony, and condemn the obligations, of
Constitution and law. Factionists, traitors, madmen, — the Lord
preserve us from the unholy influence of such principles !
December 31. — The last day of this eventful year, — a year in
which the bad passions of men have been employed to counteract
the beneficent designs of Providence ; when the prosperity of the
country and the happiness of the people have been in danger of
sinking beneath the violence of sectional jealousy and the rude
attacks of factious demagogues, who would rend asunder the bonds
of union which have hitherto raised us to an unprecedented state
of prosperity, and set at naught the Constitution and laws on which
our fathers laid the foundations of the Republic.
398 THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Etat.;]
1851.
\ NOTHER year is passed, and its successor is ushered in
-^^^ pleasantly, and with every inducement (so far as the
weather is concerned) for pedestrians and those who " ride in
chaises " to please themselves and gratify their friends, by paying
in person the cheerful compliments of a " Happy New Year." In
the midst of these festivities and the friendly greetings of the
season my house is closed, for the first time in many years. It is
still " the house of mourning ; " " the light of other days " has been
withdrawn ; but we have still a happy family, united in the bonds
of domestic affection, with much reason to thank the Lord for the
blessings they enjoy. I have reason, in an especial degree, to ex-
press my thankfulness ; though it has been a year of bodily infirm-
ity, and the extreme illness which I suffered in the spring has left
me weak in my limbs and wasted in flesh, it would be sinful in-
gratitude to fail in grateful acknowledgment of the goodness of
God in preserving my faculties, and enabling me to rejoice in their
exercise. My health has improved ; I am weak in body, but I
sleep well, eat well, and drink well, — for all which blessings the
Lord be praised !
January 3. — I broke into my stay-at-home-temperance-
system to-day by dining with Mr. Blatchford, at his elegant new
house, in Fourteenth street. It was a handsome dinner, and an
agreeable, but somewhat mixed, company ; and the best of it is, that
I feel well after this indulgence. The party consisted of Mr.
George Bancroft, Mr. Wetmore, Benjamin F. Butler, R. L. Colt,
John J. Palmer, Stephen Whitney, William S. Miller, Robert B.
Minturn, George Curtis, William B. Astor, M. Morgan, George
Schuyler, Dr. Stevens, and myself.
1S51.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 399
January 28. — My old friend, Benjamin Strong,
Another gone, died last night, in the eighty-first year of his age. He
was a most worthy, upright gentleman of the old school,
devoted to works of benevolence and usefulness, and the promotion
of public prosperity and individual happiness.
February 17. — A negro riot took place on Saturday in Boston ;
a fugitive slave was rescued by the mob, and conveyed away by a
seditious process in black and white. All the better. It will
bring matters to a head, in the headquarters of abolitionists.
February 19. — In consequence of the late riotous
Prociamltion Proceedings of a mob in Boston, composed principally
of blacks, in which the marshal and other officers of
the law were assaulted, and a negro fugitive rescued and carried
away. President Fillmore issued yesterday his proclamation, call-
ing upon the authorities of Boston to execute the laws against the
offenders, and declares his determination, and that of the other
officers of the general government, to apply the power of the ad-
ministration to punish the offenders, and protect the local author-
ities in the discharge of their duties.
This measure accords with the character of our firm, energetic
Chief Magistrate ; he knows his duty, and will not shrink from its
performance. How different is the course of this successor of a
deceased President from that of the man who was placed by a
similar dispensation of Providence in the executive chair ! Millard
Fillmore and John Tyler, — how different will be the pages of Amer-
ican history in which the actions of those two men shall be written !
February 21. — I was at a pleasant little dinner-party at Mr.
Daniel B. Fearing's, which I enjoyed much. The guests were Dr.
Wainwright, Mr. Bancroft, James W. Otis, Frederick Prime, J. G.
Pierson, James Brown, and his brother, John A. Brown, of Philadel-
phia, and myself.
March i . — I have been reading a book, in one vol-
ik Marvel. umc, Called " Rcvcries of a Bachelor," by a very clever,
ingenious writer, under the assumed name of Ik Mar-
400 THE DIARY OF PIIILTP HONE. [.Etat. 71.
vel. I am much ])leased with it. It represents imaginary scenes
in hfe ; written in an easy, unpretending style, of deep pathos,
causing tears to flow, and alternately bright with the radiant sun-
shine of life. Mr. Ik Marvel (they say his true name is Mitchell)
has furnished three hundred pages of as pretty amusement as can
be found in any of the numerous publications of the present over-
flow of the press.
March 17. — I perceive with pleasure, in the account of the
Queen's drawing-room, the presentation, by Mr. Abbott Lawrence,
our Minister, of two very nice Yankee boys, — William Butler
Duncan, son of my friend, Alexander Duncan, of Providence,
and young Gerard, son of another friend, James W. Gerard,
of New York.
March 19. — The exciting subject of the election by
Senator Fish. OUT Legislature of a senator in Congress was settled in
joint ballot this morning at two, by the choice of Ham-
ilton Fish, the Whig candidate, to fill the place of D. S. Dickinson,
for six years from the fourth of the present month, by every Whig
vote, with the exception of Mr. Beekman, who voted with the
Loco-focos, and whose opposition to the Whig nominee has suc-
ceeded, during the session, in preventing the joint ballot.
Governor Fish was opposed by Mr. Beekman and two or three
other Whigs, because he would not declare his sentiments in oppo-
sition to Governor Seward and the Free-Soilers ; but I have no ap-
prehension that he will fail in his support of the administration.
He is a safe man, a true ^^'hig, comes of good blood, the son of a
patriot of the Revolution, who was himself every inch a gentleman,
and (what ought, in these times, to have influence) a man of inde-
pendent fortune.
April 10. — Dr. Francis will not let me go to the office, and my
migrations are confined to the sofa and the large easy-chair. My
appetite has failed me. I eat no breakfast and very little dinner,
which is forced down against my inclination, — a state of things which
the best medical authorities inform us is not the best plan to pro-
1851.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 40I
mote a restoration of strength. The doctor pHes me with brandy-
toddy, milk-punch, and other buttresses to my feeble frame-work.
April i i . — No better ; I am constrained to neglect my office
business, and pass another day in the library. Francis is unremit-
ting in his attentions, and my nurses — my daughters — watch me
with the utmost fidelity and anticipate all my desires.
April 19. — A week of distress and misery. I crept down to
the office for a short time, but the weather is very bad ; my feeble-
ness continues. I have not eaten a morsel of nourishing food dur-
ing the week, and am incapable of labour, physical or mental.
Several circumstances have occurred during the week entitled to a
place in this journal, and for which I have prepared suitable reflec-
tions. All I can do is to bring them in edgeways.
The Corporation of Boston refuses the use of Faneuil
r. e s er y^^-^^ ^q ^ Company of gentlemen of different political
parties for the purpose of doing honour to Mr. Webster,
and having an address from him on the state of affairs. The " cradle
of the Revolution " refused to its favourite child ! " Where am I to
go ? " asked the Secretary, on a recent occasion. His townsmen have
told him where he shall no/ go. Webster ostracized in Boston !
April 30. — This volume of my journal, which has only four
vacant leaves to be completed, has been suspended during nearly
the whole month by continued unmitigated illness and incapacity to
perform any act of mental or physical ability. Feeble beyond
description, utterly destitute of appetite, with no strength in my
limbs, and no flesh upon my bones, shall this journal be resumed?
During this illness I have gone occasionally to my office for a short
time, and performed a little pro forma business ; but it could have
been performed by deputy. To-morrow will be the first of May.
Volume 29 lies ready on my desk. Shall it go on?
A few years ago, during a visit I made with my dear
Epitaph. wife to the Greenwood Cemetery, I was so struck with
the beauty and simplicity of the inscription on one of
the monuments, — " There is rest in Heaven," — that I was induced
402 HIE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. [/Ktat. 71.
on my return home to extend the idea, in order, perhaps, that it
might be appropriated to my own use. It was copied in the journal
at the time.
Has the time come?
PRAYER.
Prayer is the soul's supreme desire,
Uttered or unexpressed,
The motion of a hidden fire,
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech
The infant lips can try ;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach
The Majesty on high.
Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,
His passport at the gates of death — •
He enters heaven with prayer.
Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice
Returning from his ways;
Whilst angels in their songs rejoice,
And cry, " Behold he prays ! "
Prayer is the burden of a sigh.
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but Heaven is near.
By prayer on earth the saints are one,
They're one in form and mind;
Whilst with the Father and the Son
Sweet fellowship they find.
O Thou, by whom we come to God, —
The Truth, the Light, the Way;
The paths of prayer Thyself hast trodj
Lord, teach us how to pray !
1851.] THE DIARY OF PHILIP HONE. 403
As o'er the past my memory strays,
"Why heaves the rising sigh?
'Tis that I mourn departed days,
Still unprepared to die.
This world and worldly things beloved
My anxious thoughts employed,
And time unhallowed, unimproved,
Presents a fearful void.
But, Heavenly Father, wild despair
Chase from my labouring breast;
Thy grace it is that prompts the prayer,
That grace can do the rest.
This life's brief remnant all is Thine;
And when Thy firm decree
Bids me this fleeting breath resign,
Lord, speed my soul to Thee !
*The first seven stanzas are from James Montgomery's hymn, "What is Prayer'"'
The hist four were added by Mr. Hone.
NDEX
Abeel & Dunscomb, I. lo.
Abolition of slavery, I. 79, 109, 155,
156, 157, 167, 174, 175, 278, 326,
341; II. 6,85, 86.
Academy of Design, I. 16,74, 14T ; II.
378' 37^-
Adams, John, II. 256.
Adams, John Quincy, I. 15, 41, 48, 77,
' 94, I30» 356; 11- 64, III, 113,
115, 190, 200, 237, 287, 299, 341,
34^, 345-
Agassiz, Louis, II. 325.
Allen, Philip, II. 380.
Allen, Stephen, I. 35, 55, 104, 1S7; II.
75, 130, 346.
Allen, Zachariah, II. 3S0.
Alley, Samuel, I. 73.
AUston, Mr., I. 20.
Allston, Washington, II. 188.
Almonte, General, II. 237.
Amory, Jonathan, I. 387; II. 21.
Amory, Nathaniel, I. 16.
Amory, Rufus, I. 4.
Ampudia, General, 1 1. 277.
Anderson, Mr., an actor, I. 39.
Anderson, Dr. A. L., I. 132.
Anderson, Elbert J., I. 92.
Anderson, Henry James, I. 250.
Anderson, Mr. and Mrs., II. 13.
Anthon, Miss Caroline, I. 23.
Anthon, Charles, I. 7, 23.
Anthon, Miss Genevieve, II. 109.
Anthon, Miss Joanna, I. 19, 23, 105.
Anthon, John, II. 191.
Anthony, Captain, I. 165.
Anthracite coal, first used on steam-
boats, I. 213.
Appleton, Daniel, I. 23.
Appleton, Nathan, II. 265.
Appleton, William, I. 106, 158,
Archer, William S., I. 14.
" Armistead," slaver, I. 378, 379, 385.
Armour, Mr., I. 140.
Armstrong, K., II. 302.
Armstrong, Samuel T., I. 161.
Arnold, Colonel James Robertson, I.
224.
Arnold, Samuel G., II. 380.
Arnoult, Dr., I. 380.
Artists' supper, I. 353.
Ascension Church, II. 95.
Ashburton dinner, II. 143.
Ashburton, Lord, II. no, 124, 139, 140,
142, 143, 154.
Ashurst, Mr. and Mrs., I. 229.
Ashurst, William, II. 309.
Aspinwall, John, I. 58.
Aspinwall, William H., I. lOi, 283, 325,
360; II. 82, 243, 245, 270.
Astor, John Jacob, I. 99, 103; II. 231,
347, 348.
.\stor, John J., II. 290, 302.
Astor, William B., I. 5, 12, 72, 341 ;
II. 118, 137, 144, 176, 245, 268,
269, 290, 302.
Audubon, John James, I. 73.
Austen, Mr., II. 61.
.\ustin, Mr., II. 13.
Bach, Robert, II. 75.
Backus, J. Trumbull, I. 19.
Bacour, French Minister, 11. 60, 102.
Bailey, John L., I. 157.
(405)
4o6
INDEX.
Balloons, I. 140,
Balls, Bachelors', I. 29; II. 56; Mrs.
Henry Brevoort's, II. 10, 11, 12,
13; at Mrs. Ilamniersley's, II. 106;
at Mrs. Mott's, II. 100; at the
Racket Court, II. 343; at Sara-
toga, I. 20; at Mrs. Robert Ray's,
II. 114, 293.
Baltimore & Ohio R.R., I. 13.
Bancroft, George, I. 2; II. 370, 39S.
Bank for Savings, I. 252.
Bank of the United Staltes, I. 43, 82,
83, 85, 87, 91, 92, 94, 96, 199, 258,
312; II. 57, 58, 76.
Bankhead, Charles, I. 15, 18, 48, 61, 72,
129.
Bankhead, Colonel James, 11. 143.
Barbour, James, II. 5.
Barclay, Arthur, I. 134, 144.
Barclay, George, I. 104, 19S; II. 14,
243, 344-
Barclay, Henry, II. 268.
Barclay, Miss, II. 14, 238.
Barclay, Mrs., II. 238, 344.
Bard, William, II. 5, 212, 240.
Barhyte, I. 34, 116.
Barnard, Daniel Dewey, II. 10, 120.
Barnes, INIrs., an actress, I. 9, 17.
Barnum's Hotel, I. 13.
Barrot, Odillon, I. 27.
Bartlett, J. R., II. 237.
Bates, Barnabas, II. 298.
Battery, The, I. 137; II. 208.
Bayard, James Asheton, II. 345.
Bayard, Richard Henry, I. 158, 160,
213; H. 60.
Bayard, Robert, I. 138, 151.
Bayard, William, I. 138.
Beardsley, Judge, II. 308.
Beers, Joseph D., I. 157.
Behr, Baron de, I. 55, 93.
Bell, Isaac, H. 14,348.
Bell, John, I. 248; II. 6.
Bellamy, Colonel A., I. 179.
I Bellows, Rev. Henry "W., II. 203.
I Belmont, August, II. 14, 370, 378.
I Benedict, E. C, II. 237,
Bennett, James Gordon, I. 193, 372;
II. 13, 29, 115, 192, 395.
Benson, Egbert, I. 157; II. 346.
Benson, Judge Egbert, I. 63, 78; II.
297.
Benson, l\ol)ert, I. 184.
Benton, Thomas II., I. 133, 341; II.
63.317-
Beresford, Lord John, I. 165.
Bergh, Christian, II. 187.
Berrien, John MacPherson, I. 14, 38;
II. 220, 230.
Berry, Mr., II. 14.
Berryman, Mrs., I. 185.
Bertrand, General, II. 198.
Bethune, Rev. Dr., II., 396.
Betts, Samuel Rossiter, 1,6; II. 1 14,
118.
Bevan, Matthew L., I. 43.
Biddle, Edward R., I. 325.
Biddle, Horace, I. 43, 151.
Biddle, James, I. 36.
Biddle, Nicholas, I. 36, 43, 96, 186,
199, 238, 239, 249, 288, 350; II.
76, 104, 205.
Biddle, Thomas, I. 36.
Binney, Horace, I. 228.
Rirkhead, Mr., II. 3.
Black Hawk, I. 77.
Blake, George, I. 34, 116, 159.
Blatchford, R. M., I. 305, 325; II. 132,
133. 155. 250, 328, 339, 3^3, 398-
Bleecker, Anthony, I. 397.
Bloodgood, De Witt, I. 158.
Bloomer, Mr., I. 207.
Blunt, Joseph, I. 144.
Boardman, Elijah, I. 203.
Bogardus, Robert, I. 80.
Boggs, James, I. 73.
Boggs, Miss, II. 13.
Boggs, Mrs., 11.283.
INDEX.
407
Boggs, William B., I. 19.
Bohlen, John, I. 43.
Bulton, Captain and Mrs., II. 176.
Bonnet, Peter, II. 75.
Book club, I. 134, 143.
Booksellers' dinner, I. 249.
Booraem, Hendrick, I. 73.
Boorman, James, I. 35, 73, 88, 92, 187.
Booth, Junius Brutus, I. 17, 21, 171.
Boreel, Mr. and Mrs., I. 193, 212, 371.
Boston, visit to, II. 264, 265.
Boston & Providence R.R., I. 105, 106,
107, 144.
Bosworth, J. S., II. 191.
Botts, John Minor, II. 4.
Bourmont, M. de, I. 46.
Bowden, A., II. 396.
Bowdoin, George, I. 65.
Bowdoin, James, I. 18, 19.
Bowdoin, Temple, I. 212; II. 14, 283.
Bowen, James, II. 46, 132, 308.
Bowen, Nathaniel, I. 65.
Bowne, Walter, I. 7, 56, 83, 104, 157;
n. 75, 130.
Boyd, James, Jr., I. 73.
Boyd, John J., I. 187.
Bradbury, Miss, II. 14.
Bradford, A. H., II. 237.
Bradford, Thomas, I. 312.
Bradhurst, J. M., II. 346.
Bradish, Luther, I. 16, 31, 210, 301,
331; 11.23,325,346,383.
Brady, James T., 11. 191.
Brancher, Mrs., II. 13.
Breese, Mr. and Mrs., I. 17.
Bremner, Benjamin E., I. 198; II. 248.
Brevoort, Henry, I. 5, 54, 144, 165,
198; 11.85,118,226,302,370.
Brevoort, Mrs. Henry, I. 345; II. 10,
II, 18, 119.
Brevoort, Miss Laura, II. 13, 302.
Bridgen, Miss Anna, II. 119.
Bridgen, The Misses, I. 19.
Brigham, J. T., II. 93, 268.
Brigham, W. T., I. 387.
Brinkerhoff, Mr. and Mrs., I. 229.
Bristed, Charles Astor, II. 302.
Broadway, Changes in, II. 383, 384;
paving of, I. 164.
Bronson, Isaac, I. 36, 54, 274.
Brooks, Sydney, I. loi; II. 268, 371;
Mrs. Sydney, II. 238.
Brooks, Thomas, I. 92.
Brown, Alexander, I. 132, 354.
Brown, James, I. 19, 92, 337; 11, 270,
335-
Brown, John A., II. 399.
Brown, Stewart, II. 283.
Brown, Wilham, I. 337.
Bruce, Mr., II. 143.
Bruen, George W., I. 99; II. 77.
Brugiere, Charles, I. 5, 8, 109, 193,
235-
Bryan, Mr, and Mrs., II. 13.
Bryant, William CuUen, I. 30, 44, 71,
250, 356; II. 206.
Bryson, David, I. 187.
Buchanan, James, I. 34.
Buchanan, James A., I. 152.
Buchanan, British Consul, II. 99, 143.
Buckland, Mr., I. 66, 149.
Buckley, Rev. Peter, I. 162,
Bucknor, Mr., I. 2,1, 45. 47> 80.
Buel, Judge, I. 76.
Buffalo, II. 319.
Buffaloes, I. 368.
Bullock, Mr., I. 313,
Bunker Hill Celebration, II, 186.
Burgess, Tristram, I. 23,
Burke, Master, I. 24, 39,
Burns, Mrs., II. 13, 119,
Burr, Aaron, I. 78.
Butler, Benjamin F., II. 19, 20, 44, 46,
Butler, Pierce, I. 79.
Butler, Mrs. Pierce. See Kemble, Fanny.
Bynum, Jesse A., II. 23.
Byron, Lady Noel, I. 224.
4o8
INDEX.
Cabot, Mr., I. 30.
Cadwallader, Thomas, I. 43.
Calhoun, John C, I. 70, 133, 245, 270,
299; II. 9, 54, 375, 378.
California, 354.
Callender, Gore, IT. 14.
Callender, Miss, I. 151; II. 14.
Callender, Stanhope, II. 14.
Calvary Church, II. 270, 273.
Calvert, Mrs., I. 49.
Camhreling, C. C, I. 15, 47, 243, 274;
II. 130.
Camden & Amboy R.R., I. 69.
Campbell, Captain, I. 104.
Campbell, James, I. 43.
Campbell, Sir William, I. 31.
Canal travelling, I. 149; II. 311, 312.
Canandaigua, II. 320.
Carbondale, I. 35.
Carbonel, General, I. 27.
Carman, Samuel, I. 74, 133.
Carman, Timothy, I. 30, 74, 102.
Carmarthen, Countess of, I. 64.
Carow, Isaac, I. 31, 36, 38, 43, 73, 92.
Carroll, Charles, I. 13, 20, 50, 51, 67,
151; II. 247.
Carter, G. H., I. 380.
Carvill, Charles, I. 250.
Cary, Henry, I. 2, 12, 34, 66, 104, 194;
II. 126, 132, 133, 270, 347, 350, 393.
Cass, Lewis, I. 69; II. 162, 350, 353.
Castle Garden, II. 249.
Cathedral, Protestant, I'irst proposal to
build, I. 5.
Catholic school troubles, II. 96.
Catlin, Lynde, I. 34.
Caton, Richard, I. 50, 64; II. 247;
Mrs. Richard, II. 3, 4.
Center, Robert, I. 157, 160.
Cliancellor's Court, II. 36, 37.
('handler, A., I. 98.
Chandler, Lieutenant, II. 324.
Channing, William LUery, I. 362; II.
160.
Chapman, Mayor, II. 132.
Chase, Carlton, I. 65.
Chatsworth, I. 220.
Chaumont, Le Ray de, I. 54, 55.
Chauncey, Isaac, I. 55, 67, 72, 75, 80,
95; II. 7, 105, 296.
Child, Francis, I. 23.
Choate, Rufus, II. 64, 203, 230.
Cholera, I. 54, 56; 11. 362.
Church, General, I. 195.
Church, Miss A., I. 41.
Church, P., I. 44.
Cilley, Jonathan, I. 293, 295.
Cincinnati, II. 313.
Clarke, Aaron, I. 248; II. 75.
Claxton, Alexander, I. 352, 358.
Clay, Henry, I. 44, 48, 69, 71, 290, 373,
374, 376, 377, 394, 398; II. 4, 54,
60, 80, 82,83,88,94,95,131,133,
177, 217, 222, 234, 239, 242, 270,
291, 314, 339, 344, 346, 350, 366,
387, 390.
Clayton, John M., II. 220.
Clinton, Charles, I. 203; II. 201, 302;
Mrs. Charles, I. 19; II. 356.
Clinton, De Witt, I. 5, 15, 299; II. 116.
Clive, Colonel, II. 102.
Coal, Use of, I. 390.
Cochran, Rupert, I. 5, 73, 149.
Cogswell, Joseph Green, II. 231.
Coit, Henry A., II. 243, 270, 347, 356.
Golden, David C, II. 113, 119, 131,
226, 344.
Cole, Thomas, I. 8, 36, 74, 236; II. 339.
Coleman, Edward, I. 43.
Coleridge, Justice, I. 220.
Coles, Edward, I. 28.
Coles, John B., II. 94.
CoUord, George W., II. 93.
Colt, Roswell L., I. 41, 325; II. 260,
339, 364-
Columbia College, I. 19, 93, 149.
Commerce, American, II. 193, 194,
201, 242, 300.
INDEX.
409
Concord Jubilee, I. 161.
Congress, Disorders in, II. 18, 23, 87,
92, III, 113, 214, 379.
Congress, State of, II. 79, 370, 385.
Conner, James, I. 250.
Constant, Mr. and Mrs., II. 14, 17,
270.
"Constitution," frigate, I. 352.
Convention at Baltimore, I. 142.
Convention Episcopal, II. 324.
Cook, Capt. of barque " Sarah," II. 370.
Cooke, Lieutenant, I. 18.
Cooke, George Frederick, II. 24.
Coolidge, Mr., II. 14.
Cooper, J. Fenimore, I. 27, 81, 336.
Cooper, Mr., I. 20.
Cooper, Samuel, I. 108.
Coquerel, Athanese, I. 225.
Corcoran, William W., II. 362.
Corcoran & Riggs, II. 309.
Corn, Indian, II. 295.
Cornbury, Lady, Tomb of, I. 394.
Cornell, Dr., IL 132,
Cornell, Robert C, I. 88, 247; IL 248.
Cornwall, Mr. and Mrs., I. 18, 61, 130.
Corporation dinner, I. 145,
Corrie, Mayor, I. 220.
Corse, Mr., IL 350.
Coster, Gerard IL, I. 73, 79, 374; II.
14.
Coster, Henry A., I. 177.
Coster, John G., I. 73, 92, 185; II. 229.
Coster, Washington, I. 20, 44, 149; II.
14, 106.
Cottenet, Miss Anne, IL 263.
Cottenet, Francis, II. 263.
Cottenet, Mr. and Mrs., I. 212.
Cowdin, Joseph, I. 157.
Cowdry, Samuel, I. 187.
Cozzens, A. M., IL 237.
Crary, John L., I. 36, 187.
Crary, Peter, I., 157.
Crawford, Mrs., IL 238.
Crist, A., II. 191.
Crittenden, John J., II. 4, 8, 60, 62,
132, 218,220,314.
Crookes, Ramsay, IL 348.
Crosby, Enoch, I. 25.
Crosby, William B., I. 73, 346.
Croton Water Works, II. 96, 135, 137,
150, 151-
Crowninshield, B. W., I. 43.
Cruger, Eugene, I. 5.
Cruger, Douglass, IL 28.
Cruger, John, IL 231.
Cruger, John C, I. 73, 79.
Cruger, Henry N., I. 78.
Cruger, Misses, IL 14.
Cruger, Nicholas, I. 151.
Crumby, John, I. 88, 325,
Cunard, Sir Samuel, II. 24, 29, 30, 38,
III.
Cunningham, Mrs., I. 4.
Curtis, Edward, I. 157; II. 68, 70, 155,
213.
Curtis, George, II. 5, 155, 242, 268,
328, 339, 347, 384.
Curtiss, Lewis, I. 73.
Gushing, Caleb, IL 61.
Custom House, New, II. 138.
Cutting, Francis Brockholst, I. 74, 138,
397; IL 2, 191.
Cutting, Robert L., I. 17, 19, 34.
Dade, Francis L., I. 195.
Daguerreotype, The, I. 391.
Dallas, Geo. xM., IL 225.
DWrblay, Madame, II. 16.
Davis, Charles A., I. 41, 61, 73, 116,
134, 144, 149, 157, 187, 198, 207,
210, 313; H. 13, 14, 70, 93, 118,
^33^ ^55' -37^ 270; Mrs. Charles
A., I. 129; II. 119.
Davis, Isaac P., I. 160.
Davis, Miss Helen, I. 41.
Davis, John, I. 106, 163, 291.
Davis, Thomas E., I. 336.
Dawson, Colonel, II. 4, 6.
410
INDEX.
Dawson, General, II. 220.
Day, Rev. Mr., I. 24,
Dear living, I. 174.
Dearborn, George, I. 250.
Dearborn, Henry A. S., I. 161.
De Camp, Miss, I. 61, 62.
De Graffe, Mr., 1. 14.
De Gruff, I. 37.
De Hon, Miss, II. 371.
De Hon, Theodore, II. 243.
De Kay, James Ellsworth, 11. 118.
Delafield, Henry, II. 56.
Delafield, John, I. 6, 27, 52, 66.
Delafield, John, Jr., I. 19.
Delaplaine, John F., I. 74.
De Launay, Mr., II. 14, 328.
Delaware & Hudson Canal, I. 6, 10.
Delmonico's, I. 25.
Delmonico, John, II. 158, 160.
Delprat, John C, I. 283; II. 14, 230,
268.
Dennison, Miss, I. 20.
Dennistoun, Mr., I. iii.
Depau, Louis, I. 17; H. 282.
Depau, Mr. and Mrs., I. 17, 149.
Depau, Miss Stephanie, I. 17.
De Peyster, Frederic, II. 355.
De Peyster, Mr. and Mrs., II. 309.
Derby, Richard C, I. 12.
De Rham, Henry C, II. 14, 370.
De Rham, Mrs. Henry C, II. 344.
De Rham, Miss, II. 14.
De Rham and Moore, II. iii.
Desbrosses, Elias, I. 113.
Dewey, Orville, I. 250, 360, 362.
De Witt, Simeon, I. 108.
De Witt, Thomas, I. 358.
De Wolf, Mr., II. 347.
Dexter, Franklin, 11. 40.
Dickens, Charles, II. 109, 113, 119, 120
131, 140, 141, 149, 157, 158, 189
190, 196.
Dickens, Dinner to, II. 118.
Dickens's ball, II. 117.
Dickenson, Governor, I. 48, 59.
Dickenson, J. D., I. 34, 35.
Dickey, Hugh T., I. 19.
Dinner parties, I. 4, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16,
18, 23, 28, 31, 41, 44, 46, 47, 48,
54, 55, 61, 65, 66, 72, 83, 104, 116,
131, 140, 144, 160, 192, 193, 194,
198, 202, 205, 207, 210, 248, 260,
280, 313, 325, 349, 380, 387; II.
5, 9, 17, 62, 64, 68, 70, 78, 93,
99, 102, 107, 118, 120, 126, 128,
133, 150, 166, 176, 181, 182, 187,
194, 196, 211, 213, 220, 221, 226,
230, 242, 243, 245, 268, 269, 280,
282, 290, 302, 304, 309, 325, 347,
35o> 355» 356, 362, 31^, Zlh 2>1^.
380, 381, 393.
Disosway, Gabriel P., I. 88, 187.
Dixon, Thomas, II. 245.
Doane, Augustus S., II. 150.
Dodd, Daniel, I. 305.
Donnell, John, I. 51.
Doremus, Thomas C, I. 157.
Dorr, Francis, II. 14, 309.
Dorr, George, I. 283.
Dorr, Thomas W^, II. 124, 129, 134.
Douglas, Miss Harriet, I. 78.
Douglass, George, I. 187.
Douglass, William, II. 27, 56, 302.
Draper, Simeon, I. 325; II. 132, 155,
209, 254, 328, 347.
Draper, Simeon, Jr., I. loi.
Drayton, William, I. 15, 48; II. 1 16.
Du Bois, Cornelius, I. 66.
Ducachet, Henry William, I. 189.
Duels, I. 36, 178. 179, 293, 295, 296,
300, 308; II. 272, 274.
Duer, Miss Elizabeth, II. 250.
Duer, John, I. 21, 24, 144, 206, 222,
305; II. 118, 191,333-
Duer, Miss Sarah, I. 207; II. 343.
Duer, William A., I. 12, 65, 131, 134,
144, 207, 250; II. 383.
Dumas, Gen. Matthias, I. 27.
INDEX.
411
Duncan, Alexander, I. 202; II. 338,
365. 379, 380.
Duncan, Dr., II. 18.
Duncan, William Butler, II. 400.
Dundas, Colonel, I. 165.
Dunlap, William, II. 340.
Du Perron, M., I. 27.
Durand, Asher Brown, I, 141.
Dutch Church, II. 241.
Dutilh, Mrs., II. 14.
Eastburn, Manton, II. 95.
Easton, George L., I. 157.
Eclipse, stallion, I. 80.
Eclipse wine, I. 107.
Edgar, Mrs., I. 16.
Edgar, William, I. 41.
Edmonds, John W., I. 354; II. 191.
Edwards, Judge, I. 210.
EUice, Hon. Edward, I. 213.
Elliott, Henry H., I. 157.
Elliott, Jesse Duncan, I. 134.
EUsler, Fanny, II. 24, 25, 26, 28, 31,
78.
ElKvell, Miss, II. 14.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, I. 162, 163.
Emery, Robert, I. 19.
Emigration, I. 64.
Emmet, Robert, I. 66; II. 14, 344.
Emmet, Thomas, II. 14.
Emott, James, Jr., II. 93.
Engs, Phillip W., I. 98.
ErieR.R., I. 135; II. 91.
European travel, I. 343.
Evans, George, II. 143, 339.
Everett, Edward, I. 15, 83, 85.
Ewing, Thomas, I. 48; II. 33, 220.
Exchange, The New, I. 201.
Eyre, Manuel, I. 43.
Fairhe, Miss Louisa, I. 19, 20.
Fale, E. G., I. 92.
P"aneuil Hall, I. 3.
Fearing, Charles N,, I. 385.
Fearing, Daniel B., II. 339, 347, 350,
393-
Federalism, II. 33, 34.
Felt, David, I. 250.
Ferguson, Benjamin F., I. 19.
Ferris, Charles G., I. 168.
Fickett, Francis, I. 305.
Fillmore, Millard, II. 351, 386, 399.
Fine Arts Exhibition, I. 53.
Finlay, Colonel, I. 295.
Finlay, Mr., II. 302.
Fire of August 12, 1835, I. 153, 154.
Fire of December 17, 1835, I. 180, 185,
188.
Fire of July 19, 1845, II. 257, 261.
Fire Place, I. 74.
Fish, Hamilton, I. 19, 51, 133; II. 153,
268, 321, 325, 349, 354, 381, 400.
Fish, Nicholas, I. 34, 77.
Fish, Preserved, I. 35, 36, 55, 100, 104,
187.
Fitch, Asa, II. 14.
Fitch, William, II. 14.
Fleming, Augustus, I. 20, 46, 61, 129,
192, 193; 11. 333.
Fleming, J. B., I. 203.
Fleming, Miss and Mr., II. 14.
Follen, Charles T. C, I. 250.
Fonddu Lac, XL 318.
Foote, Samuel A., II. 36, 191.
Forbes, John M., I. 19, 160.
Forrest, Edwin, I. 270, 323; II. 360.
Forsyth, John, I. 47, 48, 49; II. 9,
26.
Foster, Miss Emily, II. 250.
Foster, Frederic, II. 14, 109, 309.
Foundling, The, I. 341.
P'owler, Major, I. 10.
Fox, Henry Stephen, II. 60.
Francis, Dr. J. W., 1. 132, 135, 144, 250,
341; 11. 132, 210, 233, 251, 332,
400.
Free Trade, I. 35.
Freeman, William Grigsby, I. 160.
412
INDEX.
Frelinghuysen, Theodore, I, lio, 114;
II. 2i'8, 237.
French, Miss, I. 20.
French claims, I. 121, 122, 123, 133,
143. 17S, 19^-
Fricke, Mr ,1. 16.
Fulton, Miss, I. 34.
Furman, William, II. 75,
Furniss, W. N., I. 73.
Gaines, Edmund Pendleton, I. 58; II,
346.
Gallatin, All)ert, I. 16, 17,24, 27, 35,
38, 55,92, 187; II. 214, 237, 272,
348, 2>^3-
Gait, John, I. 21 1.
Gardmer, David, II. 207.
Garland, John, I. 77; II. 327.
Gaston, William, I. 60, 61, 82, 269.
Geer, Seth, I. 157, 187.
Gelston, Maltby, II. 229.
Gener, Thomas, I. 54, 55.
Genet, Edmund Charles, I. 109.
Gerard, James \V., 11. 155, 191,251,400.
Gerry, Elbridge, I. 147.
Gibbes, Miss Augusta, II. 290.
Gibbes, Morgan, I. 35.
Gibbes, Thomas L., I. 34, 35, 46, 51;
XL 290, 302.
Gibbs, Lieutenant Alfred, II. 327.
Gibbs, Colonel George, I. 54, 358; II.
237. 327-
Gibbs, Wolcott, II. 93.
(jihon, John, I. 73; II. 245.
Gilford, Dr., I. 132.
Gilford, Samuel, II. 346.
Gilmor, Robert, I. 13, 16, 34, 43, 50,
51 ; II. 3, 112, 218, 221.
Gilmor, William, I. 51, 152.
Girardin, Count, I. 10.
Giraud, Jacob P., I. 25, 30, 54, 59, 74,
83, ';8, 102, 149; II. 150, 383.
Glenn, Anthony, I. 16, 24.
Glover, Daniel, I. 48.
Glover, Samuel, I. 73.
Goelet, Robert, I. 152, 384.
Gold, discovery of, II. 354, 355,
Good Fiiday, Observance of, I. 350.
Goodell, William, I. 79,
Goodhue, Jonathan, I. 35, 36, 88, 92,
98, 140, 187,247; 11.333, 335-
Gore, Christopher, I. 4.
Gouverneur, Samuel L., I. 24, 25, 32,
I 139-
Grace Church, II. 252, 269.
Gracie, Archibald, I. 349; II. 114, 131.
j Gracie, Mrs. Robert, II. 14.
Gracie, Mrs. William, II. 14.
Graeme, Roland, II. 14.
Graham, Charles, I. 34.
Graham, David, II. 20, 191, 213.
Graham, John L., I. 157, 187.
Graham, Eieutenant, II. 324, 327.
Graham, J. Lorimer, II. 327,
Granger, Francis, I. 16, 28, 72, loi,
206, 237, 247, 303, 305, 320, 321;
II. 10, 90, 218, 220, 230, 320, 359.
Grattan, Thomas C, II. 143.
(jraves, Edward, II. 14.
Graves, William J., 1. 280, 293, 295,
309-
Gray, Francis C, I. 54.
"Great Western," steamc-r, I. 303.
(jreen, Duff, I. 17.
Green, William, Jr., T. 79.
(jreene, John C, II. 232.
Greenhow, Robert, I. 20, 380; II. 120.
Greenough, Horatio, II. 104, 216.
Greenwood, Francis W. P., I. 163.
Greig, John, I. loi ; II. 320.
Grey, F., I. 160.
Griffin, Francis, II. 226, 328.
Griffin, George, I. 12; H. 75, 126, 179,
Grinnell, Cornelius, II. 381.
Grinnell expedition, II. 382.
Grinnell, Joseph, II. 43, 215, 218.
Grinnell, Minturn, & Co., II. 232.
INDEX.
413
Grinnell, Moses II., I. 36, 73, 325; II.
5,46,47' 61, 133, 143, 155. 213,
230, 283, 298, 302, 328, 339, 347,
350-
Griswold, George, I. 26, 36, ;^8, 187,
202; II. 144, 232,248, 335.
Griswokl, Rufus W., II. 125.
Grundy, Felix, I. 15; II. 8.
Guillard, Mr., I. 21.
Gusen, Lewis C, I. 19.
Ilaggerty, James, I. 31.
Haggerty, John, I. 36, 42, 73, 92, 187.
Haight, D. L., ir. 189.
Ilaight, Ilalsted E., I. 43.
Haight, Mrs., II. 14.
Hall, Basil, I. 219.
Hall, Charles, I. 74, 79.
Hall, J. Prescott, I. 325; H. 20, 36,
43, 70, 118, 132, 191, 226, 250,
2S0, 281, 302, 339, 347, 384;
Mrs. J. Prescott, II. 344.
Halleck, Fitz-Greene, I. 44, 116, 134;
II. 118.
Ilamblin, Thomas S., I. 9, 171.
Hamilton, Alexander, II. 14, 246, 247,
283.
Hamilton, Miss Angelica, II. 14.
Hamilton, Capt. H., I. 104.
Hamilton, James, I. 69.
Hamilton, James A., I. 5, 18, 47, 48,
61, 65, 207; II. 14, 282.
Hamilton, John C, I. 19, 20, 158, 268,
269, 325.
Hamilton, Miss Mary, I. 207; H. 14.
Hamilton, Schuyler, II, 324, 327, 371.
Hamersley, L. C., II. ;^;^^.
Hammond, Charles II., I. 16, loi,
Hammond, Judge, II. 233.
Hard times, I. 82, 84, 85, 86, 89, 92,
240, 248, 250, 255, 261, 285, 349,
368, 372, 380, 382.
Hardenbrook, John W., II. 75,
Harlem R.R., I. 46.
Harmony, Mr., II. 14.
Harper, F"., I. 250.
Harper, General, I. 51; 11. 3.
Harris, T., 11. 237.
Harrison, William H., I. i, 15, 166,
171. 349, 393; II. 34, 42, 59, 65,
66, 70, 71, 75; his campaign, 41,
48, 50, 52; his inauguration, II.
67.
Hart, Miss, II. 325.
Harvey, Jacob, I. 104, 134, 144, 187.
Hay, Lord John, 11. 143.
Hay, Samuel, I. 202, 207.
Hayne, Robert II., 1. 44, 48, 69; II.
308.
Healy, George P. A., II. 264; his por-
trait of Webster, 276.
Heard, James, I. 74.
Heard, John, I. 36.
Heckscher, Charles A., I. 73, 283; II.
93, 106.
Heckscher, Edward, I. 150.
Henderson, Colonel, II. 7.
Henry, John, I. 325.
Henry, J. S., 1. 43.
" Herald," The, I. 282.
Hewitt, Abram S., 11. 149.
Heyward, Nicholas C, I. 19.
Heyward, William, I. 335.
Hicks, John, II. 243
Hicks, Henry W., II. 56.
Historical Society, I. 6, 51, 271; 11.
236.
Hobart, John Henry, I. 5, 21, 65.
Iloboken, L 313, 365.
Hoffman, Charles, 1. 71; II. 14.
Hoffman, David, I. 51; IL 3.
Hoffman, George, L 51.
Hoffman, John, I. 16, 50.
Hoffman, Ogden, I. 34, 52, 54, 55, 135,
144, 187, 274; IL 43, 61, 155,
191, 333-
Hoffman, Murray, IL 191.
Holland, Dr., 1. 272.
414
INDEX.
Holmes, John, I. 49.
Hone, Miss Catherine, H. 14.
Hone Club, I. 325, 333, 345, 347, 349,
352; H. 32, 56, 170, 197, 246, 280,
308,359; ode for, I. 345.
Hone, Miss Emily, H. 109.
Hone, Henry, I. 5, 12, 23, 47, 61, 66,
116, 198.
Hone, Isaac S., I. 5, 7, 8, 21, 23, 31,
41, 54, 66, 73, 83, loi, 140, 144,
187, 207,255; II. 309.
Hone, Miss Joanna, I. 9.
Hone, John, I. 28, 41 ; H. 12, 309.
Hone, Miss Margaret, I. 14, 16, 20; U.
314.
Hone, Miss Mary, I. 20.
Hone, Philip, sells his house, I. 203;
goes abroad, 217; moves into new
house, 285 ; journeys to Washing-
ton, 288, 290; II. 3, 5, 60, 310;
nominated for Slate Senate, I. 383;
president Bank for Savings, II. 82;
journey to the West, II. 310; naval
officer, II. 358; bust of, II. 285,
291.
Hone, Mrs. Philip, II. 344, 3S2.
Hone, Philip J , I. 9.
Hone, Robert S., I. 20, 29, 385; II. 9,
12.
Hope, Captain, I. 18.
Hopkinson, Joseph, H. 109, 125.
Hoppin, Hamilton, II. 309,
Hoppin, William, II. 306, 309.
Horn, C. E., I. 345.
Horse races, I. 17.
Ilosack, Alexander E., I. 44, 61, 56,
144; Mrs. A. E., I. 127.
Hosack, David, I. 5, 21, 26, 28, 131,
132, 184, 188, 189; Mrs. David, I.
178.
Hosack estate on Hudson, II. 29.
Hosack, Pendleton, I. 44.
Hosken, Captain, I. 352.
Howard, Hon. Henry, II. 248.
Howard, Colonel, T. 292.
Ilowland and Aspinwall, II. 232.
Ilowland, Miss Caroline, II. 109.
Ilowland, E., II. 14.
Ilowland, Clardiiicr C , I. 9, 12, 16, 31,
34. 35' 79. 92, 9S, 140, 366; H.
43, 70, 269, 383; Mrs. G. G., I.
67.
Ilowland, Samuel S., I. 16, 23, 72, 73,
88, 187,203,283,380,381; 11.43,
242, 269, 393.
Hoxie, Joseph, I. 98, 247.
Hoyt, Goold, I. 6, 73; II. 139.
Hoyt, Henry S., T. 207, 263.
Iloyt, Jesse, II. 46.
Huddleston, Captain, II. 183.
Hughes, Ball, I. 26, 65.
Hughes, Christopher, I. 341; 11. 364.
Hull, Lsaac, I. 96; II. 172.
Hunt, Washington, II. 394, 396.
Hunter, Colonel, I. 325.
Huntington, Mr., I. 59.
Iluygens, Chevalier, I. 14.
Immigration, I 210.
Indian names, I. 141.
Indians, I. 275.
Ingersoll, Joseph R., II. 325.
Ingham, Charles C, I. 141.
Inglis, John, I. 4.
Inman, Henry, I. 16, 53, 141.
Ireland, George, I. 127.
Irving, Ebenezer, I. 53.
Irving, James T., I. 229.
Irving, John T., I. 28, 30, 55, 133,
187, 297.
Irving, Peter, I. 209.
Irving, Washington, I, 53, 54, 72, 96,
"6, 133, 138, 140, 144, 165, 194,
198, 207, 237, 365, 381; II. 115,
118, 122, 348,350, 362.
Iselin, Isaac, II. 11 1.
Ives, Moses B., 11. 380.
Ives, Thomas P., I. 106.
INDEX.
415
Jackson, Andrew, I. 15, 68, 72, 76, 85,
86, 89, 105, 112, 119, 121, 122,
123, 125, 131, 133, 136, 143, 146,
207, 243, 245, 259, 300, 333, 382;
II. 2, 250.
Jackson, Daniel, I. 157, 187,
Jackson, Patrick T., I. 158.
Jackson, W., I. 250.
Jaffray, Robert, Jr., II. 149.
Jameson, Mrs., I. 223.
Jarvis, Dr., I. 144.
Jaudon, Samuel, I. 249; II. 104, 194,
231, 347-
Jay, John, I. 10, 327; II. 237.
Jay, Peter A., I. 7, 12, 34, 35, 55, 82,
84, 131; 11. 75, 143, 149, 173.
Jay, William, I. 326.
Jefferson, Joseph, I. 58.
Jewett, Judge, II. 308.
Johnson, Colonel, I. 17, 75, 80.
Johnson, Jeremiah, II. 75.
Johnson, Reverdy, I. 153, 295, 374; II.
61, 220.
Johnson, Richard M., I. 142, 166; II.
199.
Johnson, W., I. 131.
Johnson, William Cost, II. 6,
Johnson, William L., I. 157.
Johnston, John, I. 73.
Joinville, Prince de, II. loi.
Jones, David S., I. 5, 73, 83, 98, 118,
131, 138, 187; 11. 191, 211, 302,
333^ 346, 347-
Jones, Edward R., I. 16, 19, 207; Mrs.
E. R., I. 78, 84.
Jones, Miss Elizabeth, I. 207.
Jones, Isaac, I. 19, 73.
Jones, Jacob, II. 387.
Jones, James J., I. 46, 48, 72, 79, 144,
165, 228.
Jones, Joshua, I. 19.
Jones, Miss Mary, II. 14.
Jones, Samuel, I. 187; II. 237, ^^^.
Jones, Walter R., I. 151, 187.
Jordan, A. L., II. 191.
Joseph, J. L. & S., I. 248, 336.
Joubert, M., I. 27.
Jumel, Mrs. Stephen, I. 78,
Jury trials. Abuses of, I. 315; II. 48.
Kane, Miss Anna, I. 59,
Kane, Miss Charlotte, I. 23.
Kane, De Lancey, II. 14, 109.
Kane, Miss Harriet, I. 19, 20, 21.
Kane, Miss Helen, I. 10, 29, 58, 151,
166.
Kane, John, I. 20; II. 396.
Kane, Miss Lydia, I. 59, 15 1; II. 14.
Kane, Oliver, I. 34, 59; II. 250.
Kean, Charles, I. 20, 42, 380.
Kean, John, II. 268.
Kearney, Miss, II. 14.
Keese, John, I. 250.
Kemble, Charles, I. 59, 60, 62, 65.
Kemble, Fanny, I. 59, 60, 61, 62, 63,
64, 66, 79, 93, 94, 319; her Jour^
nal, I. 126, 128, 130; II. 357,
Kemble, Gouverneur, I. 194; 11. 63.
Kemble, William, II. 356, 378.
Kennedy, David S., II. 118, 208, 245,
269.
Kennedy, John P., I. 344; II. 3, 220,
230, 259, 385.
Kennon, Beverley, II. 207.
Kent Club, I. 287, 303.
Kent's Commentaries, II. 171.
Kent, James, I. 5, 6, 8, 12, 17, 28, 34,
35> 38,41, 55» 82, 124, 131, 151,
190, 210, 348; 11.75,99, 191, 223,
272, 330, 331, 332.
Kent, William, I. 134; II. 36, 1 1 8.
Kernochan, Joseph, I. 19, 92.
Kernochan, William L., II. 149.
Ketcham, Hiram, I. 247; II. 155.
Khremer, Mr., I. 48.
King, Charles, I. 41, 47, 54, 61, 98, loi,
134, 144, 148, 192, 210, 303, 305;
II. 132, 199,298,308, 383.
4i6
INDEX.
King, Charles C, T. 229; II. 56.
King, Miss Elizabeth Ray, I. 78.
King, Gracie, II. 250.
King, James G., I. 8, 31, 36, 38, 54, 88,
92, 98, 99, 135, 140, 187, 198,302;
II. 131, 142, 144, 348, 356.
King, John A., 1. 73, 78, 192, 193, 237,
30i»305'33i; 11.23,93. 118,302,
325-
King, Thomas Butler, II. 94, 220, 393.
Kip, Rev, Mr., II. 22.
Kip, Leonard, II. 22.
Kissam, Timothy T., I. 73.
Knapp, S., II. 347.
Kneeland, Charles, I. 9, 23.
Kneeland, George, Jr., I. 19.
Kneeland, Henry, I. 9, 36.
Kneeland, John T., I. 19.
" Knickerbocker," The, I. 71.
Knox, James H. M., II. 93.
Kortwright, Mr., I. 102.
Krudener, Baron, I. 18.
Kuypers, Dr., I. 46.
Lafayette, General, I. 10, 22, 27, 108,
130.
Lafayette, George W., I. 27, 226, 231.
Laight, Edward W., I. 190; II. 14, 109,
240, 333, 346.
Laight, WiUiam E., I. 59, 102 • II.
350.
Lamb, Anthony, II. 346.
Lameth, Charles de, I. 27.
Langdon, Miss, I. 212; II. 15.
Langdon, Walter, II. 302.
Langdon, Woodbury, I. 108.
Lasteyrie, Jules de, I. 27.
Laurie, George, II. 14, 268.
Laurie, John, I. 104.
Laverty, Henry, I. 74,
Law, Captain, II. 310.
Lawrence, Abbott, I. 41, 120, 158, 247;
II. 18, 70.
Lawrence, Amos, II. 45.
Lawrence, Cornelius W., I. 55, 104, 187,
241; II. 75, 144.
Lawrence, I)., II. 14.
Lawrence, Isaac, II. 22, 75.
Lawrence, Miss, I. 20.
Lawrence, William Beach, I. 52.
Leavitt, John W., I. 73, 92, 98, 99, 187.
Leavitt, Josluia, I. 23, 79.
Le Barbier, Mrs. A., II. 344.
Lectures, II. 97.
Lee, Carter, I. 20.
Lee, David, I. 92.
Lee, Gideon, I. 55, 74, 168.
Lee, James, I. 157, 187; II. 144, 333.
Leeds, Duchess of, II. 247.
Ledyard, Henry, I. 19.
Lefferts, Leffert, II. 75.
Leggett, Dr., I. 250.
Leigh, Benjamin Watkins, II. 217.
Lenox, Robert, I. 7, 397.
Leonard, John, I. 187,
LeRoy, Abraham, I. 100.
LeRoy, Herman, I. 190; II. 70.
LeRoy, Jacob R., I. 193; II. 56.
LeRoy, Miss, II. 15.
LeRoy, Robert, Jr., II. 93.
LeRoy, William, II. 357.
Leslie, Charles R., I. 103.
Lewis, Miss, I. 58.
Lewis, Morgan, I. 12, 27, 3^, 35,46,
52, 190, 358; II. 75, 210, 212.
Lexington, II. 314.
"Liberator," The, I. 164.
Lincoln, Levi, I. 2, 291.
Lind, Jenny, II. 389, 390.
Lippincott, Joshua, I. 43.
Literary and Philosophical Society, I. 8.
Livingston, Anson, II. 15.
Livingston, Charles L., I. 74, 83, 97,
157-
Livingston, Edward, I. 15, 69, 144,
146, 190.
Livingston, Edward P., I. 55, 372.
Livingston, James Duane, I. 21.
INDEX.
417
Livingston, Jonathan S., II. 56.
Livingston, Miss Mary E., I. 17.
Livingston, Miss Matilda, I. 20.
Livingston, Maturin, I. 12; II. 18,
Livingston, Mortimer, I. 74; II. 14,
356.
Livingston, Peter R., II. 75, 292.
Livingston, Miss Sarah, I. 20.
Livingston, Walter, I 75, 80.
Loco- Foco, Origin of, I. 168; disorders,
I. 339; meetings, 11. 44, 45, 69,
223, 225; procession, 11. 234.
Locomotive engine, The first, I. 10.
Lord, Daniel, Jr., II. 49, 191, 245, 3^3,
383-
Lord, Rufus L., I. 92.
Long Island R.R., II. 228.
Longfellow, Henry W.. I. 233.
Lorillard, George, I. 64.
Lorillard, Jacob, I. 35, 64, 187, 321.
Lorillard, Peter, I. 64; II. 183.
Low. Cornelius, I. 192; II. 362.
Low, Nicholas, L 47, 207; II. 183.
Ludlow, Thomas W., I. 5, 47, 66, 349;
II. 15, 56, 82, 245, 252, 269, 282.
Lydig, David, I. S3, 364; II. 32.
Lyell, Dr., I. 22.
Lyman, Mr., 11. 15s.
Lyman, Theodore, I. 4, 106.
Lynch, Dominick, I. 5, 18, 35, 44, 46,
61, 66, 72, 79, 128, 140, 204, 268;
11. 116.
Lynch, General, I. 346, 376.
Lynch, Harrison, II. 14.
Lynch law, I. 150.
Lynch, Miss Margaret, IL 14.
Lyon, John, II. 149.
Madison, James, I. 214.
Madison, Mrs. James, II. 121.
Macomb, Alexander, II. 7.
Maitland, Robert, I. 8.
Major, Mr. and Miss, H. 15.
Manley, Dr., I. 133.
Maratti, Carlo, I. 53.
March, Charles, I. 66, 177.
March, Francis. I. 158.
Marcy William L., I. 49, 311.
Marechal, Baron, II. 5.
Marine pavilion, I. 73, 152.
MaronceUi, Mr., IL 15.
Marryat, Captain, I. 260, 310, 335.
Marshall, Charles H., II. 350.
Marshall, John, I. 145, 147.
Marshall, John R., I. 157.
Marshfield, Visit to, II. 253.
Martin, Robert Nichols, I. 34.
Martineau, Miss, I. 206.
Mason, John, I. 20, 30, 46, 73.
Mason, Jonathan, I. 34.
Mason, Miss, I. 19, 20.
Mason, Robert, II. 15.
Mason, Stevens T., I. 313.
Matthews, Charles, I. 113, 116, 151.
Matthews, James M., I. 8, 23; II. 309.
Mauran, O., I. 79.
Maury, James, I. 31.
Maury, Rutsen, I. 31.
Marvel, Ik, II. 399.
Maxwell, Hugh, I. 98, 250; II. 333.
Maxwell, William H., I. 116.
May, Mrs., I. 217,
May the first, I. 359.
McAuley, Dr., I. 151.
McCoskry, Bishop, II. 279, 324.
McCoun, William T., I. 157, 187.
McCrackan, Mrs., II. 119.
McCready, William C, II. 226, 360.
McDougal, Alexander, I. 12.
McDuffie, Governor, I. 174.
McEldery, Hugh, I. 43.
McEvers, Bache, II. 378.
McEvers, Charles, I. 12, 31, 44, ill,
190, 228.
McEvers, Charles, Jr., I. 207; II. 56.
McEvers, Miss Helen, I. 66; II. 15.
McGregor, John, Jr., I. 73.
Mcintosh. Colonel, II. 326.
4i8
INDEX.
McKenzie, Alex. Slidell, II. 163, 165,
166, 174, 181, 183.
McLane, Louis, I. 93, 165, 187, 204;
II. 368.
McLean, Dr. S., I. 59, 83, 130, 132,
149.
McLeod, Wm., I. 73.
McNeill, Wm. G., II. 135.
McNeven, Dr., I. 132.
McTavish, Mr., L 15; Miss, II. 248;
Mrs., I. 50.
McVickar, Benjamin, I. 187.
McVickar, John, I. 14, 15, 36, 250,274,
348.
McVickar, Miss, II. 15.
Mead, GaV^riel, II. 269.
Melick, B. P., I. 30.
Mellen, Grenville, I. 250, 358.
Memminger, Colonel, II. 325.
Menon, Count de, I. 15.
Mercein, Thomas R., I. 36.
Merchants' Exchange, II. 98.
IMeredith, Jonathan, I. 9, 14, 16, 34,
49,51,136; IL 3, 61, 385.
Meredith, Miss, II. 14. 109.
Meredith, Wm. M., II. 359.
Mesier, Peter A., II. 333.
Messiah, Church of, I. 360, 362.
Metcalf, Ralph, II. 220.
Mexican war, II. 276, 278, 300, 302,
303, 306, 307, 322, 326, 347.
Mildmay, Mr., II. 143.
Miller, Franklin, I. 19.
Miller, Sylvanus, I. 19; IL 75, 333,
348.
Miller, William L., I. 198.
Miller, William S., II. 56, 243, 356.
Mills, D., IL 350.
Milnor, Dr., I. 46.
Milwaukee, IL 317.
Minturn, Edward, IL 213.
Minturn, Robert B,, II. 35, 133, 144,
155, 203, 269, 335.
Mitchell, Donald G., II. 399.
Mitchell, Dr., I. 311.
Mohawk & Hudson R.R., I. 36, 59.
Molyneux, Mr., I. 325.
Monroe, James, 1. 24, 25, 32, 73, loi,
116.
Montes, Pedro, L 378.
Montgomery, Richard, I. 5, 12.
Moon, Bishop, I. 22.
Moore, Clement C, II. 302, 346.
Moore, Nathaniel ¥., II. 149.
Moore, Dr. S. W., I. 132.
Moore, Thomas W., I. 116; IL 99.
Moore, William, I. 81, 83.
Morehead, John M., II. 220.
Morgan. J. J., II. 130.
Morgan, John L., I. 157; IL 75.
Morgan, M., II. 339, 398.
Morpeth. Lord, II. 99, 248.
Morris, Charles, II. 7.
Morris, George P., I. 71.
Morris, Judge, I. 20.
Morris, Lewis, IL 283.
Morris, Lieutenant, IL 326.
Morris, Robert, IL 82.
Morris, Robert H., II. 46, 245.
Morris, Thomas, I. loi, 327, ^^^.
Morse, Samuel F. B., I. 8, 32, 67, 74.
Morton, Henry, I. 229.
Morton, Henry J., I. 19.
Mosely, William A., II. 309.
Mott, Valentine, I. 132, 177; II. 100.
Moulton, C. F., II. 24.
Moulton, J. F., I. 79.
Mount, William S., I. 141, 353.
Murat, Prince C. N. A., IL 305.
Murphy, Henry C, I. 19.
Murray, James B., I. 187; II. 356.
Murray, James R., L 26.
Murray, Lady George, I. 223.
Music in New York, I. 169, 172.
Naudian, Senator, I. 213.
Neff, John R., I. 43.
Nevins, Peter J., I. 74.
INDEX.
419
Nevins, Russell H., II. 155, 233. I
Newbold, George, I. 73,
New England Society, II. 106, 203, ;^^2'
Newspapers, II. ii.
Newton, Stuart, I. 54, 55, 96.
New York harbor, II. 310.
"New York Mirror," I. 71.
Ney, Count, I. 10, 18.
Ney, Marshal, I. 10.
Niagara, II. 319.
Nicholas, Mr., I. 193.
Nicholson, John B., I. 17, 27, 44, 54;
II. 287.
Nicholson, Mr., I. 151, 166.
Nicholson, Samuel, II. 194.
NicoU, Henry, I. 19.
Niles, Hezekiah, I. 351.
Nolte, Vincent, I. 335.
Norrie, Mrs., II. 15.
North, William, I. 108.
Norton, Clinton, I. 102.
Norton, Frederic, I. 198.
Norton, Nathaniel, I. 108.
Note, Joel N., I. 205.
Nott, Eliphalet, I. 4.
Nott, Dr., I. 213, 214.
Novels, Old, II. 17.
Nullification, I. 68, 70.
Oakey, Miss Elizabeth, II. 106.
Oakley, Miss, II. 15.
Oakley, Thomas J., I. 28, 55, 187; II.
133, 333, 348.
O'Connell, Daniel, II. 192, 199.
O'Connor, Charles, II. 36, 191.
Oddie, Mrs., II. 309.
O'Donnell, Miss, II. 15.
Office-seekers, I. 387.
Ogden, Aaron, I. 34, 352.
Ogden, Abraham, I. 16, 78, 136; II.
285.
Ogden, Charles H., I. 19.
Ogden, David B., I. 26, 35, 82, 98,
247, 328, 360; II. 191, 268, 348.
Ogden, James De Peyster, II. 93, 143,
196, 243, 245, 268.
Ogden, Jonathan, I. 42; II. 15.
Ogden, N. G., II. 350.
Ogden. Thomas L., I. 16; II. 191, 239.
Oliver, Robert, I. 50, 51, 132.
Oliver, Thomas, II. 269.
Olmstead, Francis, I. 92,
01yphant,D W. C, I. 88, 92.
Olyphant, Robert M., II. 149.
Onderdonk, Benjamin T., I. 22, 56,
131; II. 279.
Oothout, John, II. 209.
Opera, Italian, I. 79, 81, 120, 194.
Oregon question, II. 266, 280.
Ostrander, Gideon, II. 346.
Otis, Allyn, I. 160, 212.
Otis, Harrison Gray, I. 3, 4, 7, 107,
131, 136, 156,159; II. 40, 195, 265,
352.
Otis, James W., I. 88, 149, 158, 283,
325; II. 15,56,93,350-
Otis, Lady, II. 255.
Packet ships, I. 90, 216, 243, 265, 285;
II. 103, 176, 193, 201, 242, 247,
250, 274, 275, 276, 328.
Pageot, Mr., I. 48, 178, 194, 195.
Pakenham, Mr,, II. 280.
Palmer, Amos, I. 73.
Palmer, Horsley, II. 132, 143, 243,245.
Palmer, John J., II. 133, 155, 245.
Palmer, Miss, II. 15.
Panic, Financial, II. 56, 58, 100, 254,
255, 256, 257, 302.
Panon, Mr. and Mrs., I. 79; II, 15,
238.
Parish, Charles, I. 213,
Parish, George, I. 44.
Parish, Henry, I. 19, 47, 49, 66, 73,
157; II. 17, 133, 302; Mrs, Henry,
II. 119,344-
Park, Justice, I. 220.
Park Theatre, I, 39.
420
INDEX.
Parker, Asa, I, 327.
Parker, Peter, I, 159.
Parker, Samuel D., I. 159.
Parkman, George, II. 366.
Parmly, Wheelock II., II. 149.
Parnell, Mr., I. 104, 144.
Parsells, P. P., I. 80.
Patroon, The, I. 149, 349.
Patterson, M. C, I. 80, 144; II. 155,
226.
Patterson, Robert L., I. 12, 73.
Patterson, William, I. 131.
Paulding, James K., I. 54, 55, 71, 194,
250; II. 7.
Paulding, William, II. 82.
Payne, J. Howard, I. 66.
Pearson, Mr. and Mrs., II. 15.
Pendleton, Edward H., I. 72; II. 56.
Pendleton, Judge, I. 21, 59.
Pendleton, Mr. and Mrs., II. 15.
Penfold, Edmund, I. 99.
Pennington, Dr., II. 3.
Pennington, William, I. 281, 358.
Pennsylvania rebellion, I. 340, 343.
Percival, Colonel, II. 102.
Perit, Pelatiah, I. 88.
Perkins, Thomas H., I, 4, 43, 73, 335 ;
II. 195.
Perry, Commodore, II. 143.
Persicoj Louis, I. 121.
Peters, Richard, II. 61.
Petriken, Dr., II. 18.
Pettis, Spencer, I. 36.
Phelps, Anson C,., II. 335.
Phelps, Henry, I. 149.
Phelps, Miss, II. 15, 238,
Phelps, Thaddeus, I. 73, 157, 187; II.
146.
Pickering, Thomas, I. 297.
Pierson, J. G., I. 79, 160; II. 399.
Pillow, Gideon J., II. 326, 338.
Pinckney, General, 1. 147.
Pintard, John, I. 34; II. 82.
Pitts, Robert, I. 157.
Pittsburg, II. 313.
Pius IX., II. 334.
Piatt, Richard, I. 12.
Piatt, William, I. 43.
Pleasants, John H., II. 273.
Podestad, Mr., I. 158, 159, 160.
Poindexter, George, I. 71.
Poinsett, Joel R., I. 15, 21, 42.
Political changes, II. 388.
Polk, James K., II. 26, 224, 243, 277,
282, 291.
Popham, William, I. 108; II, 75, 212,
323-
Post, Joel, I. 200,
Post, Mr. and Mrs., I. 149,
Post-office, New, I, 198.
Pott, Gideon, I. 73.
Potter, Alonzo, I. 4, 191 ; 11. 249, 325.
Potter, Charles, II. 380.
Potter, Edward E., II. 149.
Potter, John, I. 43.
Powel, J. Hare, I. 35.
Power, Tyrone, I. 120; II. 39.
Powers, Hiram, II. 322.
Powerscourt, Lord, I. 104, 144.
Pratt, Henry, I. 43.
Prescott, William, II. 238.
Prescott, William IL, I. 312, 329; 11.
126, 128, 213, 275, 304, 392.
Preston, William C, I. 94; II. 6, 7, 8,
63, 64.
Price, William M., I. 338.
Prime, Edward, I. 36, 73, 187.
Prime, Frederick, II. 399.
Prime, Nathaniel, I. 10, 73.
Prime, Rufus, I. 73, 79; II, 15.
Prime, Ward, <^ King, I. 302; II. 232.
Princeton disaster, 1 1. 206,
Prize-fighting, II. 144, 1 61.
Putnam, George P., II. 389.
Quincy, Josiah, I. 3, 73.
Quincy, Josiah, Jr., II. 218, 267.
Quitman, John A., II. 326.
INDEX.
421
Races, I. 139.
Racket court, II. 271.
Railroad in Illinois, I. 45.
Randall, Robert R., I. 16, 41.
Randolph, John, I. 34.
Rankin, John, I. 79; II. 93.
Rathbone, John, I. 43; II. 75, 176,
Rathbone, William, I. 219.
Ray, Miss Cornelia, II. 371.
Ray, Robert, I. 47, 73, 79, 88, 140, 193,
198, 283; II. 302, 371; Mrs. Rob-
ert, II. 114, 238, 293.
Raymond, Samuel G., II. 155.
Read, George C, I. 121.
Reading Club, I. 205, 206.
Real, Count, I. 10.
Real estate, I. 8, 11, 44, 46, 138, 140,
150, 200, 203, 204, 205, 336, 362;
II. 15, 108, 172, 370.
Red Jacket, I. 9.
Reed, Luman, I. 157; II. 340.
Registry Law, II. 21.
Remusat, M. de, I, 27.
Renwick, James, I. 12, 31, 54, 194, 250.
Repeal meetings, II. 186, 194.
Revolution of 1830, celebration in New
York, I. 24.
Rhinelander, Dr., I. 100, 132.
Rhode Island rebellion, II. 124, 126,
128, 134.
Ricardo, Sampson, II. 132.
Richards, Nathaniel, I. 41.
Ridgely, Daniel E., I. 75, 192; II. 7.
Riker, Richard, II. 75.
Ring, Zebedee, I. 36; II. 149.
Riots, I. 100, no, 152, 156, 313; at
theatres, I. 39, 40, 109, 208; II.
359, 360.
Ripley, Dr., I. 162.
Ripley, George, II. 389.
Ritchie, Mrs., I. 107, 158; II. 265.
Ritchie, Thomas, Jr., II. 273, 274.
Rives, William C, I. 27, 67, 121, 122,
142; II. 64, 205.
Robbins, Ashur, I. 297.
Robbins, George S., I. 88, 157, 187.
Roberts, Oliver E., II. 149.
Robertson, A. L., II. 191.
Robinson, Beverly, I. 135, 144; II.
191, 240.
Robinson, Morris, I. 248.
Robinson, William, II. 15.
Rochester, Nathaniel, I. 32.
Rockaway muse, II. 54.
Rodman, W., II. 149.
Rogers, James, I. 31.
Rogers, Moses, I. 305.
Rogers, Samuel, I. 224.
Roosevelt, James, II. 297.
Roosevelt, James J., Jr., I. 44, 187 ; II.
19.
Roosevelt, Silas W., II. 149.
Ruggles, Samuel B., I. 79, 187, 210,
298,301; 11.23, 118, 191, 226,
325-
Ruiz, Jose, I. 378.
Rumpff, Vincent, I. 345.
Rush, Miss, II. 16.
Rush, Richard, II, 302,
Russell, Charles II., I. 36, 73, 88, 92,
98, 99, loi, 187, 210, 239,325;
II. 15,93,243,268,339,347.
Russell, Miss Eliza, II. 15, 109.
Rutherford, Lewis Morris, II. 322.
Sailors' Snug Harbor, I. 41.
Saint Esprit, Church of, I. 113.
St. Louis, II. 316.
St. Nicholas Society, I. 132, 237, 338.
Saltonstall, Leverett, II, 23, 218, 237.
Sanford, Edward, II. 191.
Sanford, General, II. 36.
Sans Souci, I. 18, 19.
Santander, General, I. 54.
Saratoga, I. 366, 367; II. 36, 149, 188.
Schenck, Peter II., I. 41.
Schermerhorn, Abraham, I. 8, 12, 16,
65, 131, 204, 228; II. 56.
422
INDEX.
Schei-merhorn, Augustus, I. 6i.
Schermerhorn, Edward, I. 193, 207.
Schermerhorn, James, II. 15.
Schermerhorn, John, II. 15, 328.
Schermerhorn, Jones, I. 48, 51, 60, 61;
II. 12; Mrs. Jones, I. 165, 229;
II. 14, 18, 52.
Schermerhorn, N., II. 15.
Schermerhorn, Peter A., I. 27, 72, 73,
81, 131, 133, 140, 177.207; 11.17,
176.
Schermerhorn, William C, II. 109, 263.
Schmidt, John W., II. 269, 344.
Schoolcraft, Henry R., II. 184.
Schroeder, John, I. 5, 22, 250.
Schuyler, George L., II. 92, 282, 398.
Schuyler, Messrs., II. 15.
Schuyler, Philip, I. 12, 59.
Schuyler, Robert, II. 92.
Scott, Miss Cornelia, II. 371.
Scott, Henry Lee, II. 371.
Scott, Martin, II. 326.
Scott, Sir W., I. 66.
Scott, Miss Virginia, II. 261.
Scott, Winfield, I. 28, 55, 57, 144, 196,
355» 356, 394; 11. 4. 7. 9, 215,
216, 288, 307, 322, 326, 328, 329,
338, 349, 358, 370, 3^3-
Sears, Mr., I. 160.
Sedgwick, Catherine M., II. 1 19, 355.
Sedgwick, Henry D., I. 42.
Sedgwick, Theodore, II. 144, 191.
Selden, Dudley, I. 93, 96, 187, 376.
Seminole Indians, I. 195.
Senate, Scenes in, I. 48, 71, 95, 133;
II. 8, 62.
Seton, Alfred, I. 73.
Seton, Miss, II. 15.
Seward, Wilham H., I. 210, 305, 320,
213,324, 331,361,371; II- 21,22,
46, 153, 376.
Sharpe, George, I. 157.
Sharpe, Mrs,, I. 39.
Shaw^ Gabriel, 1. 349.
Shaw, Robert G., I. 41; II. 43.
Sheldon, Frederick, I. 36, 206.
Sheldon, II., II. 14.
Shields, James, II. 307.
Siamese twins, I. 29.
Sibley, Mark H., II. 320.
Silliman, B. D., I. 301, 331; II. 191.
Silsbee, Nathaniel, I. 15, 16.
Simon, cook, I. 8.
" Sirius," steamer, I. 303.
Slavery question, I. 321; 11. 238, 286,
374, 399-
Smith, Augustine, I. 132.
Smith, Bishop, I. 131.
Smith, Edmund, I. 102.
Smith, Garrett, I. 326.
Smith, John Cotton, II. 266.
Smith, Jonathan, I. 203.
Smith, Morgan L., I. 157.
Smith, Nathan, I. 176.
Smith, Persifor, 11. 326.
Smith, Samuel, I. 354.
Smith, Stephen, I. 36.
Smith, T. L., I. 48.
" Somers " mutiny, II. 163, 165,166,
170, 174, 178, 180, 181.
Southard, Rev. Mr., II. 269.
Southard, Samuel L., I. 356, 358; II.
8, 9, 60.
Sparks, Jared, I. 64; II. 107.
Specie, circular, I. 314; consignments
of, II. 173; payments, I. 382; II.
55,57-
Speddings, Mr., II. 143.
Spencer, John C, I. 28; II. 165, 220.
Spencer, Joshua, II. ^3-
Spencer, Philip, II. 163.
Spofford, I'aul, II. 302, 339, 347.
Spoils system, II. 94.
Sprague, Peleg, I. 48, no.
Sprigg, Governor, II. 220.
Stackelberg, Baron, I. 15, 18, 48.
Stafford, Lady, IL 247.
Stagg, John P., I. 88, 92.
INDEX.
423
Stagg, Peter, I. 247.
Stanford, David R., II. 149.
Stanley, Edward, II. 88, 220,
Starr, Chandler, I. 99.
Steam, Disasters by, II. 127, 321, 381.
Steamboat disasters, I, 260, 308, 317.
Steamboat racing, I. iii.
Steamers, Ocean, I. 304, 305, 306, 311,
335' 352, 362, 3^3, 369, 370. 37^ ;
II. 16, 30, 92, 195, 260, 261, 263,
334. 371. 392.
Stearns, Dr., I. 132.
Stebbins, H. G., 11. 237, 328, 350.
Steele, William, Jr., I. 19.
Stevens, Byam Kirby, I. 16,
Stevens, Dr., II. 230.
Stevens, Edwin, II. 356.
Stevens, John A., I. 33, 36, 55, 92, 98,
99, 187; 11. 268, 344.
Stevens, John C, I. 17, 139, 192, 193;
II. 229, 245, 355.
Stevens, Robert L., I. 192, 193.
Stevens, Samuel, I. 98.
Stevenson, Andrew, I. 15, 94, 142, 212.
Stevenson, James, I. 16, 205.
Steward, John, Jr., 11. 128.
Stewart, A. T., II. 245, 284.
Stewart, Charles, I. 144.
Stewart, Lispenard, I. 34; II. 362, 371.
Stewart, Seneca, I. 157.
Stewart, William Pinckney, II. 149.
Stilwell, Silas M., I. 36.
Stock Exchange, gambling, I. 167,
227; quotations, II. 100.
Stockton, Lieut. R. F., I. 273.
Stockton, Captain, II. 208.
Stone, Asaph, I. 73.
Stone, William L., I, 30, 187; II. 155,
229.
Storm, Garrit, I. 102; II. 333, 350.
Storm of March 12, 1841, II. 78.
Storrow, Mrs., II. 283.
Story, Justice, I. 151 ; II. 262.
Stoughton, Mr., II. 5.
Stout, A. G., II. 396.
Streliski, Count, I. 152.
Strikes, I. 200, 210, 211.
Strong, Benjamin, I, 99, 187; II. 399.
Strong, George D., I. 100, 187.
Strong, George W., 11. 191.
Stuart, Colonel, II. 61.
Sturgis, Mr,, I. 30, 160.
Stuyvesant, Gerard, II. 321.
Stuyvesant pear-tree, I. 317; II. 349.
Stuyvesant, Peter G., I. 12, 74, 187; II.
240, 268, 321.
Suffern, Thomas, I. 19, 73.
Sullivan, J. T., I. 43.
Sullivan, William, I., 34, 107.
Sumner, Charles, II. 275.
Survilliers, Count, I. 10, 58, 167, 214,
322.
Suydam, H., I. S3.
Suydam, John, I. 102.
Suydam, Richard, I. 73.
Swain, Mr., II. 35.
Swan, Benjamin L., I. 36, 73, 187, 385;
II. 143, 232, 3S3.
Swartwout, Henry, I. 57.
Swartwout, Samuel, I. 47, 332.
Swift, Colonel, I. 295.
Swords, James, II. 284.
Taliogni, I. 227.
Tallmadge, James, I. 41, 349, 384; II.
176,
Tallmadge, Miss Mary, II. 335.
Tallmadge, Nathaniel P., 11. 60, 77, 246.
Talman, George F., I. 83.
Taney, Roger B., I. 148.
Tappan, Arthur, I. 109.
Tappan, George, II. 346.
Tappan, Lewis, I. 79, 109.
Targee, John, 11. 38, 75.
Tariff, The, I. i, 35, 37, 38, 41, 44, 45,
55, 68, 242, 243; n. 142, 281.
Tayloe, Mr., I. 34.
Taylor, Edward, II. 75.
424
INDEX.
Taylor, Jacob B., II. 348.
Taylor, John W., I. 375.
Taylor, Moses B., II. 328.
Taylor, Rev. Dr., 11. 212, 252, 325.
Taylor, Zachariah, II. 303, 329, 33S,
350, 35^ 353, 386.
Tazewell, L. \V., I. 14, 15.
Tecumseh, I. 1.
Telegraph, The, II. 285, 349.
Texas, I. 207; II. 214, 221, 227, 243.
Theatres in New York, I. 266.
Thompson, Francis, I. 90.
Thompson, James, I. 20; II. 268.
Thompson, Waddy, II. 4.
Thorn, Herman, I. 72, 73; II. 268.
Thorn, Lieutenant, II. 324, 326, 327.
Thorndike, Augustus, I. 159; II. 265;
268.
Throop, EnosT., I. 187.
Ticknor, George, I. 144, 228; II. 275.
Tileslon, Thomas, II. 302, 339, 347.
Tilden, Bryant P., I. loi.
Tocqueville, A. de, I. 46.
Torrigiani, Marquis, I. 72.
Townsend, Elisha, I. 79, 213; II. 23.
Townsend, Isaac, I. 157.
Townsend, John J., II. 93.
Treasury bill, 1. 286, 297, 299, 318; II. 38.
Tredwell, A., II. 240.
Tree, Ellen, I. 236, 238, 259.
Trimble, J. T., I. 36,
Trinity church, I. 377, 378; II. 279.
Trumbull, John, I. 26, 34, 55, 82, 108,
190; II. 200, 340.
Tucker, Fanning C, I. 92.
Tucker, Joseph, I. 247, 333.
Tucker, Major, I. 345; II. 56.
Tunnel at Albany, I. 205.
Twiggs, Major, II. 326.
Tyler, John, I. 15, 201, 393; II. 73, 78,
84, 87, 90, 105, 121, 123, 131, 143,
145, 147, 177, 184, 199, 208, 213,
227, 228.
Tyng, Stephen H., II. 249.
Union Club, I. 212, 252, 261, 265; II.
129, 392.
Union, The, II. 373, 390.
Union meetings, II. 375, 376, 393,394-
Vail, Mr., I. 20, 355, 362, 371.
Van Allstyne, Jacob, II. 225.
Van Arsdale, John, I. 24.
Van Buren, John, I. 210.
Van Buren, Martin, I. 6, 66, 67, 72, 95,
119, 131, 142, 146, 168, 243, 245,
246, 267, 283, 286, 337, 365, 372,
398, 399; II- 9, 26, 59, 61, 65, 69,
131-
Van Courtlandt, PhiHp, I. 42, 376.
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, I. 271 ; II. 310,
344.
Vanderpoel, Aaron, I. 15, 400; II. 38,
126.
Vanderpoel, James, I. 205.
Van Dyke, John, I. 108.
Van Nest, A., II. 346.
Van Rensselaer, Henry, I. 78; II, 325.
Van Rensselaer, Philip, I. 59, 149, 384;
II. 176,268,355.
Van Rensselaer, Stephen, I. 34, 59, 78,
205, 348.
Van Rensselaer, Westerlo, II. 211.
Van Rensselaer rebellion, I. 392, 395,
396.
Van Schaick, Miss Lydia, II. 43.
Van Schaick, Miss Mary, I. 158.
Van Schaick, Mindert, II. 298, 309.
Van Schaick, Peter, I. 7, 20, 23; II. 63.
Van Vechten, Abraham, I. 242.
Van Voorst, Jacobus, II. 225,
Van Wagenen, Herbert, I. 92.
Van Wart, Irving, I. 313.
Van Zanlt, Mr., I. 20.
Varian, Isaac H., I. 157.
Varick, Richard, I. ;^^.
Vaughan, Sir Charles R., 1.14,72,93, 196.
Verplanck, Gulian C, I. 30, 97,99, 237;
II. 102, 118, 245, 346.
INDEX.
425
Waddington, William D., T. 19.
Wadsworth, Alexander S., II. 7.
Wadsworth, James S., II. 226.
Wadsworth, Miss, II. 119.
Wainwright, Jonathan M., I. 5, 8, 12,
17. 41, 54, 55, 65, 80, 144, 145,
356; II. 126, 132, 143, 226.
Waite, Captain, I. 200, 217.
Walker, Joseph, I. 73.
Wall Street, II. 138.
Wallack, H., I. 9.
Wallack, James W., I. 9, 65, 198, 265,
272.
Walworth, Reuben II., I. 41.
Ward, John, I. 325; II. 155, 242, 339,
347-
Ward, Miss, II. 119, 238.
Ward, Samuel, I. 27, 98, 295, 389; II.
340.
Ward, William G., I. 325 ; II. 56.
Warner, Samuel B., II. 346.
Warren, Judge, II. 43, 132, 255.
Washington, Bushrod, I. 11.
Washington, Colonel, I. 48.
Washington, George, centennial anni-
versary of his birth, I. 46; fiftieth
anniversary of his inauguration, I.
352, 355, 356.
Washington Hall, II. 245.
Waterford, Marquis of, I. 165; II. 16.
Watson, Miss, II. 15.
Watts, John, I. 190.
Wayne, Judge, I. 47, 72.
Wayne, Mrs., I. 66, 72.
Webb, J. Watson, I. 17, 193, 208, 209,
293, 295, 341; II. 81, 160, 280,
339, 347-
W^ebster, Daniel, I. 14, 15, 39, 48, 71,
76, 88, 94, 95, 98, 99, loi, 102,
117, 118, 133, 135, 151, 172, 177,
206, 237, 246, 253, 262, 270, 281,
315, 318, 370,400; II. 6, 7, 8, 35,
41, 44, 60, 64, no, 120, 121, 139,
J46, 148, 154, 155, 156, 176, 183,
209, 210, 21S, 219, 220, 230, 254,
263, 264, 283, 296, 305, 308, 324,
340, 357, 375, 376, 390, 396, 401.
Webster, dinner, in New York, II.
155; in Washington, I. 291.
Webster, Edward, II. 340.
Webster, Fletcher, I. 335.
Webster, John W., II. 367.
Webster, Noah, II. 184.
Weed, Nathaniel, I. 92, 186, 247.
Weed, Thurlow, I. 324; II. 184.
Weir, Robert W., I. 16, 103, 141.
Welles, Benjamin, II. 43.
Welles, Samuel, I. 283, 305.
Wellesley, Marchioness of, I. 20, 64;
II. 247.
West Point, II. ^2^.
Wetmore, Prosper M., I. 157, 1S7; II.
144, 155, 237.
Wetmore, Robert C, I. 157; II. 46.
Wetmore, William S., II. 243,
Wheaton, Henry, II. 328.
Whig conventions, II. 25, 39, 40, 215,
217, 350, 351; julnlee, I. 279;
meetings, I. 329, 330; II. 20, 27,
33, 44, 230, 232.
White, Ambrose, I. 43.
White, Campbell P., I. 14, 46, 157,
168; II. 130.
White, Dr., I. 51.
White, Everett, I. 179, 180.
White, John, II. 15.
White, Judge, I. 172.
White, Martin, I. 15.
White, Robert, I. 73.
Whiting, James R., II. 191.
Whitlock, William, II. 335.
Whitney, Stephen, I. 73, 187; II. 144,
346.
Wilbur, Marcus, I. 187.
Wildes, George, & Co., I. 259.
AVilkes, Dr., II. 131.
Wilkes, Hamilton, I. 17, 26, 44, 72,
102; II. 15.
426
INDEX.
Wilkes, Miss, II. 119, 131.
Wilkins, William, I. 48, 59.
Willard, Simon, I, 162.
Willet, Marinus, I. 20,
Williams, David, I. 25.
Williams, Richard S., II. 346.
Williams, S., II. 15.
Willing, Richard, I. 43, 151.
Willis, Nathaniel P., I. 213; II. 396.
Wilmot's proviso, 11. 298.
Wine, Mr. Hone's, I. 208, 269.
Wingate, Paine, I. 297.
Winship, Daniel, II. 75.
Winthrop, B. R., II. 237.
Winthrop, Grenville T., I. 19.
Winthrop, Robert C, I. 161, 163, 279;
II. 41, 131, 215, 230, 331.
Wirt, William, I. 16.
Wise, Henry A., I. 291, 293; II. 88,
93, III, 224.
Withers, Reuben, I. 73, 157, 187.
Wolcott, Oliver, I. 76, 327.
Wolf, George, I. 150.
Wolf, John D., I. 157.
Wood, General, I. 16; II. 128.
Wood, Fernando, II. 393.
Wood, George, II. 191, 263.
Wood, Miss, II. 309.
Wood, William, I. 21, 23; II. 230, 309.
Woodbury, Levi, II. 7, 53.
Woodworth, John, I. 59.
Woodvvorth, vSamuel, I. 24, 46.
Woolley, Brittain L., I. 187.
Woolsey, George M., II. 243.
Woolsey, W^illiam W., I. 26.
Worth, William J., I. 105; II. 277, 323,
326, 338.
Worthington, Dr., II. 73.
Wright, George W., I. 19.
Wright, Isaac, I. 90.
Wright, Silas, II. 44.
Wright, William, I. 73.
Wyckoff, Alexander, I. 133.
Wyckoff, Henry J., I. 26, 36, 392.
Wyckoff, John, II. 75.
Wynkoop, Augustus, I. 102.
Yachting, 11. 228, 229, 281.
Zavalla, Lorenzo, I. 21.
Zabriskie, George, I. 98.
/