the war, and its people had been estranged from each other by differences in political opinions. New York was compelled to begin life anew, as it. were. The tribute which it paid to the cause of human freedom was large, but had been most freely and cheerfully given.

The Whig refugees returned to the city, many of them to find their dwellings in ruins. The old charter was resumed, and municipal government was soon re-established. In February, 1784, James Duane," an

JAMES DUANE.

ardent Whig, was chosen mayor. He had found his dwelling on his farm, near (present) Gramercy Park, in ashes and his fortune wrecked. Although the vitality of the city had been paralyzed, yet men-high-minded men" who "constitute a State," were left, and their influence was soon manifested in the visible aspects of public spirit and the revival of commerce. But not much was done in the way of public improvements before the close of the century.

One hundred years ago thero was only here and there a house above Murray Street on the west side of the city of New York, and above Chatham Square on the east side. Not a bank or insurance company existed in the city. Wall Street was the seat of wealth, elegance, and fashion. Its dwellings were chiefly of wood and roofed with shingles, and the sides of many of them were of the same materials. Between Broadway and the Hudson River above Reade Street might be seen scores of cows belonging to the citizens grazing in the fields. In 1790 the first sidewalks in the city were laid on each side of Broadway,

* James Duane was born in New York City in February, 1733. He inherited a large estate in the lower Mohawk region, and began a settlement there in 1765. Duauesburg was the product. He married a daughter of Colonel Robert Livingston. A member of the first Continental Congress, he was an active patriot all through the war that ensued. He was residing in New York City at the breaking out of the war; left it when the British took possession of it, but returned immediately after the British evacuated it. He was made the first mayor under the new order of things. He was a member of the State Council of Appointment and of the Senate, also of the convention that ratified the National Constitution. He was United States District Judge from 1789 to 1794. Judge Duane died at Duanesburg in February, 1797.

FEDERAL CELEBRATION IN NEW YORK.

351

between Vesey and Murray streets. They were of stone and brick, and so narrow that only two persons might walk abreast.

The city was the seat of the National Government from 1785 until 1790, when it was transferred to Philadelphia. During the session of the State Convention at Poughkeepsie in the summer of 1788 the city was much excited by the discussions of opposing factions. Congress was then in session at New York. On July 8th, eighteen days before the Constitution was ratified, its ardent friends in New York, feeling confident of success, fitted up a little frigate on wheels, and called it

the Federal Ship Hamilton.

It was commanded by Commodore Nicholson and manned by thirty seamen and mariners. Accompanied by a great procession, it was drawn by ten horses from the Bowling Green to Bayard's Farm, near Grand Street and the Bowery, where tables were spread and dinner was provided for four or five thousand people. At a circular table, which was a little elevated, were seated members of Congress, heads of departments, foreign representatives, and other distinguished persons. From this table thirteen other tables diverged, at which sat the multitude.

An Anti-Federal newspaper (Greenleaf's Patriotic Register) lampooned the procession and its promoters. The Federalists were greatly irritated, and when the Constitution was ratified a mob broke into the office of the offending newspaper and destroyed the press and types. They then attacked the house of General Lamb, the Collector of the Port,* in Wall Street. He had been forewarned, and was forearmed. He had barricaded the lower story of his house, and with two or three friends with muskets, in the second story, and his daughter, a young lady from Connecticut, and a colored servant in the attic well supplied with tiles and glass bottles to shower on the heads of the rioters, they so well defended the castle that the assailants were compelled to raise the siege and retire discomfited.

The city of New York was several times scourged by yellow-fever. It appeared there in 17+2, but its most frightful ravages occurred during the closing decade of the last century. It broke out in 1791, but it was so late in the season that frosts soon checked it. In 1795 it slew 772 persons. Its most fearful visit was in 179S, when it raged from July until November, and killed 2100 persons in the city and 300 residents who had fled from it. In 1799 and 1SO0 this plague prevailed, but in a mild form; but in 1803 the disease slew about 600 persons. When it again broke out in 1S05 with much violence, so great was the panic that one third of the population, then numbering 75,000, fled to the country.

The city was almost entirely exempted from this dreadful scourge from 1S03 until 1819, when yellow-fever raged there to a considerable extent. It again appeared in 1S22 and 1823, but in a comparatively mild form. Since the latter year only sporadic cases have been known. It has never appeared in the form of an epidemic. This disease never originates or scarcely ever exists north of the latitude of the city of New York, unless the seeds of the malady shall be carried by fugitives from the plague in lower latitudes.

A part of Lamb's residence was used for the Custom House, the business of the port of New York not then being extensive enough to need the space or warrant the expense of a separate building.

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CHAPTER XXV.

George Clinton, the Republican governor, was re-elected in the spring of 1792, with Pierre van Cortland as lieutenant-governor. The opposing candidates were John Jay and Stephen van Rensselaer, the latter a son-in-law of General Schuyler and the last of the patroons. In the autumn of the same year presidential electors were chosen, and Washington was re-elected by the unanimous vote of the Electoral College.

The dividing line between the two great political parties --Federalists and Republicans - -was now more distinctly drawn than ever, owing to the influence of the French Revolution. When that great movement began, and until it had progressed some time, there was only one feeling among Americans in regard to it, and that was earnest sympathy for their old ally. But when the movement fell under the control of violent demagogues, and conservative men like Lafayette were driven from their country; when the civilized world was shocked by the terrible excesses of the Jacobins, many of the leaders of opinion in America paused. Apprehending that the intrigues of the French and the generous sympathy of tho Americans might involve the young Republic in a European war, they not only withdrew their sympathies, but soon went so far as to denounce the original revolution. These were chiefly Federalists.

Tho Republicans, on the other hand, advocated the French Revolution with great warmth, hailing its authors and promoters as friends and brothers. They wrongly charged the Federalists with hostility to the principles of the French Revolution, with friendship for their late enemy, Great Britain, and even with anti-republican and monarchical tendencies. This antagonism of opinion grew more and more intense when, in the spring of 1793, E. C. Genet—" Citizen" Genet, as he was styled—arrived in this country as the representative of the French Republic.

Mr. Jefferson, a member of Washington's Cabinet as Secretary of State, was in France when the revolution there broke out, and he had come home filled with admiration and love for the cause, which had not then been stained by the outrages of the Jacobins. He expected to find equal enthusiasm among his countrymen; but when he reached New York he was chilled by the frigidity which he encountered. He was

cordially received by the wealthier and more refined classes of society at New York, but these were composed largely of members of the old Tory families, whose opinions, frankly spoken, often shocked him. He became painfully sensitive, and he soon regarded the conservatism of Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and other conspicuous Federalists as evidence of their unfaithfulness to the cause for which they had so zeal

ously contended. Toward Ham

ilton he indulged positive dislike, and considered him a dangerous citizen.

By common consent Mr. Jefferson became the leader of the rapidly growing Republican Party, which hailed with enthusiasm the tidings of the death of the French King, the proclamation of the Republic with all its horrors, the virtual declaration of war by France against all monarchical Europe, and its actual conquest of a part of the Netherlands, a friend. of the United States. Perceiving the danger with which such blind enthusiasm menaced the Republic, Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality in the spring of 1793. It was bitterly denounced by the French Party, as the Republicans were now called.

EDMUND C. GENET.

It was in the midst of this excitement in the public mind that Citizen Genet arrived at Charleston, S. C., and in defiance of the proclamation, proceeded to fit out privateers (which were manned chiefly by American citizens) to prey upon British commerce in our waters. One

Edmund Charles Genet was born at Versailles, France, in January, 1763, and died at Greenbush, opposite Albany, N. Y., in July, 1834. He was a precocious lad, who early developed a taste and talent for literature, like his notable sister, Madame Campau. He was attached to foreign embassies in his youth, and had been trained in the arts of diplomacy before he came to America. As will be observed in the text, his conduct as representative of the French revolutionists became very obnoxious to our Government. Such changes took place in France that Genet dared not return. He remained in New York, and married the daughter of Governor George Clinton, and became one of the best citizens of the commonwealth. He was twice married, his second wife being the daughter of Mr. Osgood, the first Postmaster General under the National Constitution. Fond of agriculture, he took great interest in its pursuit. His last illness was occasioned by attendance at a meeting of an agricultural society of which he was president.