than Washington. One of his daughters was the wife of the great financier Hamilton, first secretary of the treasury, and another daughter, Margaret, was the wife of Stephen Van Rensselaer, the young patroon from Albany, then a member of the state legislature, holding its sessions in New York city. Van Rensselaer was scarcely twenty-five, a model of masculine beauty and courtly manners. In 1790 he was elected to the state senate, and continuing to reside in the metropolis was in the charmed circle that frequented Mrs. Hamilton's pretty parlors. He is more than once mentioned in Washington's note-book as present at the Presidential dinner-table by special invitation. He was an interesting character from the fact that he belonged in a certain sense to two opposite political systems. He was born a British subject (in 1764), and his direct legacies were the teachings and traditions of a feudal aristocracy that had a legalized and legitimate growth, together with a landed property immense for any country, and yet America did not contain a more conscientious republican than he. His first wife died early leaving one son, Stephen, and he subsequently married for his second wife Cornelia Patterson, only daughter of Governor William Patterson, of New Jersey (afterward justice of the supreme court), who was the New Jersey senator in 1789, conspicuous in connection with the reception of the President-elect, and at the inauguration of Washington in New York. The journey of Washington through New Jersey, in April, 1789, which is about to be commemorated by that state in a superb and fitting manner, was a triumphal procession from first to last. How vividly the illustrious Washington must have recalled the events of 1776-one of the most romantic and remarkable years for its sequence of civil wonders in the history of the world-may be imagined. His depressing retreat through that state, flying before the British in the chilly November days, must have come to his mind in pictures of living colors, his camps dissolving, many of the men having engaged to serve only until December 1st and refusing to re-enlist, the mass of the population of New Jersey in a panic, hiding their blankets and woolen stockings instead of responding to the appeals of congress to furnish them to the freezing soldiers and themselves flying to the dazzling, warmly clad, successful Englishmen for protection; and Pennsylvania so nearly paralyzed by anarchy and profitless disputes that little help could be expected from that quarter. New Jersey did not relish being a parade-ground for the hostile armies. With less of foreign commerce and inland traffic to employ her youth than many of the other provinces, she had always courted government offices and the naval and military service of England. Many of her sons had been educated in Europe, involving associations which often resulted in marriages into foreign families; while similar unions had occurred between the officers of the royal regiments sent to America and the daughters of New Jersey. Thus personal happiness was jeopardized on every hand. Even the governor of that state, the son of Dr. Franklin, espoused the cause of the enemy. In Washington's own immediate family, at this distressing juncture, officers were criticising each other, and making the character and military conduct of their commander-in-chief the subject of disparaging comments. How surprised was New Jersey, as well as the rest of the world, at the new turn in the game of war! What a Christmas night was that of 1776! The weather excessively cold, the wind high, the Delaware river full of ice, and the current rapid. Let us not fail to admire the moral and intellectual power of the chief who, under such circumstances, commanded the movement by which a feeble army started at three o'clock in the afternoon with eighteen field-pieces for Trenton. It was four in the morning of the 26th before the party had accomplished the perilous crossing of the Delaware, and then marched nine miles in a driv ing snow-storm. We all know the result. The whole scheme was ingenious, and it was executed with remarkable vigor. To the startled senses of the British it was as if some energetic apparition had risen from the dead. It was a victory that caused an immediate revolution in public sentiment throughout the suffering state, and turned the wheel of American destiny into a new light. Lord Germain said: “Our hopes were blasted by that unhappy affair at Trenton." When, a few days later, the twin achievement at Princeton excited astonishment everywhere, and it was seen that an army supposed to be on the verge of annihilation had actually, in such an incredibly short time, dislodged the flower of the British soldiery from every position it had taken, save two, in the whole of the state of New Jersey, Washington's sagacity, intrepidity, and generalship were univer sally applauded both by friend and foe. New Jersey gave beautiful expression to her love and gratitude and appreciation one hundred years ago, and nowhere was it of so touching and notable a character as at the bridge of Trenton. The scene has been more than once described, and yet the following, from the "Recollections" of Washington Parke Custis, will be read with interest: "That was indeed classic ground. It was there, on the frozen surface, that, in 1776, was achieved the glorious event which restored the fast-failing fortunes of liberty, and gave to her drooping eagles a renewed and bolder flight. . The President-elect alighted from his carriage, and approached the bridge uncovered. Upon it the ladies had caused to be erected an arch, which WASHINGTON AT THE BRIDGE OF TRENTON IN APRIL, 1789, ON HIS WAY TO NEW YORK. [Fac-simile of a quaint old print, characteristic of the condition of art at the time it was made.] they adorned with laurel leaves and flowers from the forests and their hothouses, and the first spring contributions from their gardens. Upon the crown of the arch, in large letters, formed of leaves and flowers, were the words 'December 26, 1776,' and on the sweep beneath was the sentence, also formed of flowers, The Defender of the Mothers will be the Protector of the Daughters.' As Washington passed under the triumphal arch, a cherub, in the form of a young girl, perched amid the foliage that covered it, crowned him with laurel which will never fade, while the sweetest minstrelsy from human lips filled the air as the hero trod on the way of flowers. Washington then shed tears-tears of the deepest emotion. The merit of these appropriate and classical decorations is due to the late Mrs. Stockton, of Princeton, a lady of superior literary acquirements and refined taste. She was familiarly called the duchess, from her elegance and dignity of manners.” It is further stated in these "Recollections" that on one side of the way were stationed a troop of little girls, dressed in white, each bearing a basket of flowers, and on the other side a row of young ladies similarly attired and equipped, and behind them the married ladies. As Washington approached, the little girls began to strew flowers in the road, and the whole company united in singing the ode written for the occasion by Governor Howell: "Welcome, mighty chief, once more, Welcome to this grateful shore. Now no mercenary foe Aims at thee the fatal blow. Virgins fair and matrons grave, It is to the everlasting credit of those most nearly concerned that a portion of the triumphal arch erected a century ago has been preserved, and is to form the basis of a similar tribute of honor to our first President on the 29th of April next. President Harrison is expected to pass under it on his way to New York. George Clinton, who had been governor of New York since 1777, was one of the most conspicuous figures among the great men of 1789. He was fifty years old, a specimen of strong individuality, iron will, and great boldness as well as decision of character. He presided over the convention to ratify the Constitution, the adoption of which he opposed, not deeming it sufficiently clear in favor of state sovereignty. He thought, in the language of Patrick Henry, "It has an awful squinting; it squints towards monarchy; your President may easily become king." Nor was he convinced by such arguments as those of Fisher Ames, who said: "The state government is a beautiful structure. It is situated, however, on the naked beach. The union is the dyke to fence out the flood." But he was too sagacious to countenance the secession of New York, and was believed to have at the last privately advised one of the opponents to vote with the Federalists, which decided the burning question. He was Vice-President of the United States from 1804 to 1812. He was warmly attached to Washington, and in official affairs they were in almost daily conference while the seat of government remained in New York. James Duane, the first mayor of the city after the revolution, from 1784-1789, was of the same age as Governor Clinton. The incumbent of the office of mayor was then a much more important individual than at the present time; in every assemblage he was accorded an honorable place, and treated with distinguished consideration. Duane was a genuine statesman, of great elegance of manners, had been a delegate to the continental congress, and, as a jurist of high reputation, the mayor's court under his administration acquired a business and an authority scarcely contemplated by the statutes creating it. It became the favorite and really the most important forum, when litigation was more brisk than any other department of industry, through the disturbance which the war had caused in every man's affairs. Losses through the suspension of rents, damages by the loyalist tenantry, the destruction and removal of records and consequent indistinctness of titles, the processes of confiscation of estates, the swift mutation in the relative value of money, property of all kinds, and securities, produced the most intricate and troublesome of legal questions. Richard Varick was the city recorder during the same eventful period, and by virtue of his office the mayor's judicial colleague. Varick, who had been a member of Washington's military family, and enjoyed the perfect confidence of our first President, succeeded Duane as mayor of the city in the autumn of 1789, and held the office twelve years. The wife of Mayor Duane was the daughter of Robert Livingston, third proprietor of Livingston manor, and had spent the greater part of the seven years' war at the old manor-house of her father. She was an accomplished woman, the first cousin of Mrs. John Jay, and also of Lady Kitty Duer and Lady Mary Watts. She was one of the social stars of the Washingtonian era, and present at the great Washington ball of May 7, 1789, and also at |