the establishment of the museum which arose under your auspices, and which has already been enriched by your liberality; not only with a choice collection of the curious productions of nature, but likewise with some of the most masterly productions of literature, particularly those treating of the rights of man, which will happily preserve them from oblivion."

On a later occasion an orator named J. B. Johnson also addressed the society on the necessity of preserving a strict union, not only among themselves, but a friendly union between the States. One of his expressions emphasizes strongly the immense growth of the United States since that day; alluding to the great size of the country as an additional reason and necessity for unity, he exclaims: "A land stretching from New Hampshire to Georgia." Not seeing in prophetic vision the immense expansion which was to come, he still proceeded to argue that on account of the great size of the United States, and the large number composing the Union, that the sovereignty of each individual State should be carefully watched over and maintained. Indeed, this address is one of the earliest as well as most outspoken appeals in advocacy of State rights, as against any possible encroachments of the General Government. "How," he asks, "can one eye, however wakeful and piercing, watch the sacred deposit of the people's interests with so much safety as the quick and vivid glance of fifteen (Vermont and Kentucky were then included in the Union) sovereign and United States?" In concluding his address, he thus compliments the fraternal spirit of the Tammany Society: "Suffer me, brothers to offer to you the sentiment of my fraternal affection and regard. Within the walls of your wigwam has my heart often expanded with genuine delight; there, innocent pleasure wanders free and unmolested, and smiles on every guest. There friendship, founded on the purest motives, knits, in the firm knot of Union, the hearts of every true brother; there the flame of patriotism, kindled by the tongue of eloquence, and the sweet voice of freedom, darts from soul to soul, and illuminates your peaceful hall. And there, if I have any love for my country, any ardor in the cause of liberty, any strong desire for the happiness of mankind, there have these virtues been born, being also, by your precept and example, exalted and refined. Brothers, keep in mind that you are the Union in miniature. Many are your fires, but they all burn within the same circle. Many are your links, but they all constitute one bright, strong, and, I trust, enduring chain."

From those early days until the present time, whether the orator of the day used the form of a sermon or a simply patriotic address, the Tammany Society never celebrated the Fourth of July without listening to the reading of the Declaration of Independence, a custom well worthy of imitation by other associations.

In 1813 several societies united with Tammany in celebrating the nationa anniversary, including the George Clinton Association. The orator of the day was Mr. John Rodman. The war with Great Britain was then in progress, and in the course of his address several of the Eastern States came under the scalpel of the speaker. He said: "Sons of Tammany, to keep alive the patriot flame is the object of our association, and the basis of our institution. Under the Tree of Liberty we have for many years smoked the Calumet of Peace, and rejoiced at the prosperity of our country. But now the thunders of war murmur in our ears, and while, in some of the States, those who should be active sit supine, others

seem inclined to encourage the enemy." In justification of such remarks it will be remembered that many of the influential men of New England, the merchants, manufacturers and shippers, were mainly Federalists, and, in a measure, ior party reasons, but still more upon financial considerations, were even then considering the convening of the famous, or, shall we say infamous, "Hartford Convention," which actually took place some five months later. The attitude of the Federalists of New England at this time was naturally regarded by all good Democrats as semi-traitorous, and very fair subjects for a scathing rebuke on the Fourth of July. In addition to his criticism on New England, Mr. Rodman discussed the question of the maritime rights of the United States, not failing to denounce, as the Democrats always had done, "Jay's Treaty," which, it is now universally admitted, surrendered too much to the claims of England. "Our ships," exclaimed the orator, "are a part of our territory, and England's non-expatriation theory can never be admitted."

At a special meeting held on March 31, 1817, to celebrate the twelfth anniversary of the incorporation of the Society of Tammany, or Columbian Order, over which Samuel Berrian, Esq., presided, the animus of the meeting was mainly directed against the attempt of Spain to repress, by force of arms, the rising spirit of liberty which was beginning to show itself in the Spanish colonies of Central and South America. One of the speakers commented severely on those members of Congress who had voted to raise their own pay. “Do you think, or can you imagine," said he, "that any representative will perform his legislative functions with more ability for this increase of salary? Gold may shed a factitious splendor over infamy and crime, but gold never did, and never can, add a single throb to the impulse of integrity."

We have given considerable space to these early orators of Tammany, more, perhaps, than is intrinsically interesting, but there certainly seems no better way to get at the animating spirit of any set of men, politicians or others, than to let them speak for themselves at times, and under circumstances, when there was no motive for suppression or concealment. Tammany shows well under this retrospective light.

CHAPTER XI.

POETS AND LITERATI OF TAMMANY.

O those unacquainted with the early history and social standing of the Tammany Society it may be somewhat of a surprise to learn how large a proportion of the literary men of the period were habitual habitués of the Wigwam.

We have elsewhere called attention to the fact that the Tammany Society was never without a supply of oratorical and poetical talent more than sufficient to embellish with appropriate poems and songs the ceremonies of its anniversaries and other festal occasions; indeed, it may truthfully be said that for the first eighty years of Tammany's existence all the best poetry of New York was Democratic; and nearly all the well-known poets were Tammany men. One of the earliest of these was Philip Freneau, but a name much better known, because later, is that of WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. He is too well known to require any biographical notice here, but, in evidence of his practical sympathy and cordial fraternization with the other Tammany poets of his day, we have only to call attention to his estimation of, and cordial friendship with, the late William Leggett-one of the leaders of the "Loco Foco" party, which temporarily separated from Tammany Hall, but reunited with the old society after the experience of a brief independent career.

WILLIAM LEGGETT, one of the sweetest of American poets, was for a considerable time associated with Bryant in the editorial work of the Evening Post, and subsequently in the conduct of the Democratic Review. It was in this latter periodical, after Leggett's death, that Bryant wrote that beautiful poetical tribute to the friend he valued almost above any other, commencing:

"The earth may ring from shore to shore.

With echoes of a glorious name;

But he whose loss our hearts deplore,

Has left behind him more than fame."

Mr. Leggett himself is best known to lovers of poetry by that most tender lyric beginning:

"If yon bright stars which gem the night,

Be each a blissful dwelling sphere."

But to politicians his newspaper work furnishes an inexhaustible mine of elevated Democratic thought and suggestion, which can never be outgrown or become obsolete.

PHILIP FRENEAU was of French Huguenot descent, but came to New York in 1774, when the patriot blood of the colonists was in a ferment over the question of defying British rule and declaring the country independent. He immediately identified himself with the interests of America, and became a zealous patriot. Having mercantile interests in the West Indies, in 1778, he had taken passage for St. Eustasia, but the vessel had scarcely got beyond the Capes of Delaware when

he was overhauled by a British frigate and captured Mr. Freneau, with all on board, being made prisoners, and brought back to the port of New York, this city being then in the hands of the enemy. The young Frenchman was first placed on board of the "prison ship Scorpion," then lying in the North River, where, falling very ill, he was transferred to the so-called "hospital ship," in the Wallabout. What he endured in these wretched abodes he has partly succeeded in telling in a long poem, entitled "The British Prison Ships." It commences thus:

"The various horrors of these hulks to tell,"

and goes on to describe, first, his experience on the Scorpion, which appears bad enough, yet not equal to the misery of the hospital, as to which a victim already there salutes him with the exclamation:

"If that was purgatory, this is hell."

By some means now unknown, perhaps by bribing the guard, Mr. Freneau managed to escape from his captors, and, after peace was proclaimed, he settled down to literary persuits in New York, where he was recognized as the "Patriot Poet." As soon as the Tammany Society was formed he was naturally found fraternizing with the "braves" of the wigwam. He was offered a Government position by President Jefferson, but declined the honor. He was always greatly interested in the fate of the American Indians, and one of his longest poems is called "The Prophecy of King Tammany."

FITZ-GREENE Halleck. A very pleasant name to remember in this connection is that of Halleck-a name known, like Bryant's, to every scholar throughout Christendom, as well as to every school-boy in the United States. Though this genial poet was a native of Connecticut, he was for fifty years a resident of the City of New York. This he considered his home; elsewhere, even' in his native village, he was but a "guest." That he was an habitual visitor, and always welcome in the wigwam, we have his own words for, in some verses of which the following couplet forms part, where, speaking of Tammany Hall, he

says:

"In the time of my youth it was pleasant to call

For a seat and segar 'mid the jovial throng."

It was in his later days that these verses were written, which exhibited the geniality of his nature and his Burns-like conception of good-fellowship. One of Mr. Halleck's first literary friendships was formed with that other charming poet, Joseph Rodman Drake, and it was in memoriam of this gifted friend that he wrote the oft-quoted lines:

Fitz-Greene Halleck's special forte was undoubtedly that of good-humored satire, which was as often applied to his friends as his political opponents, of which Grand Sachem Walter Bowne (who was also Mayor of New York) was once a victim. At that time, 1820, the Mayor, as a prerogative of his office, had been making somewhat of a political sweep of hold-over officials, to the surprise of some of his adherents and the consternation of others. Very shortly after these changes had been affected there appeared in one of the city papers an "Address to W....r B.w.e.," of which we can make room for a few lines only:

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE was another of the brilliant poetic coterie who found genial companionship and political sympathy in the Wigwam. His finest poem, considered as purely literary work, is no doubt "The Culprit Fay," but he is probably more generally remembered as the author of that soul-stirring production:

"When Freedom, from her mountain height,
Unfurled her standard to the air," etc.

WASHINGTON IRVING was one of the famous group of literary friends whose political affiliations were with Tammany Hall, but from the fact that he spent so much of his active life abroad his name figures less constantly in the annals of the society than some of his confrères. The Democratic President, Madison, offered him a Secretaryship in the Navy, which, however, he declined. He accepted the appointment of Minister to Spain from President Tyler, remaining abroad at that time four years. On his return to New York he was welcomed with the greatest enthusiasm, as one who had done much to elevate the literary reputation of his native country abroad. His old friends of the Tammany Society were among the most ardent of his admirers.

At a meeting held in the Wigwam he was named as a candidate for the Mayoralty, which event the late George William Curtis thus described, in the course of a lecture given in New York: "Tammany Hall unanimously and vociferously nominated him for Mayor, an incident which transcends the most. humorous touch in Knickerbocker's history." That Mr. Curtis should see anything jocose in this perfectly serious nomination by Tammany probably arose from the fact that he never realized the intense Americanism of the Tammany Society. It was not as a literary man especially that they desired to honor Mr. Irving, for they had always plenty of literary timber at hand, but partly for old association's sake, and from their natural instinct to honor any man who had brought honor to America.

For several years there was in New York City, dating from the last decade of the last century and coming down to comparatively modern times, a somewhat exclusive but very able and interesting group of literary workers, known as the "Literary Confederacy," nearly all of whom were more or less affiliated with Tammany, of which association Gulian C. Verplanck was the head. They were a genial set, and all men of rare talent and wit, as well as patriotic Democrats. Among them was the poet Robert C. Sands, to whom Appleton gives an