FOUR DAYS AT ALBANY.
Started from Nassau at eleven o'clock, still following the Boston and
Albany Turnpike, and soon reached the Old Barringer Homestead. It was
with this family that I spent my first night in Rensselaer County
sixteen years before, when a lad of seventeen, I was looking for a
school commissioner and a school to teach. Brockway's was another
well-known landmark which I could not pass without stopping, for it was
here that I boarded the first week after opening my school at Schodack
Centre in the autumn of 1859. At the school, too, I dismounted, and
found that the teacher was one of my old scholars. The Lewis family, at
the hotel just beyond, were waiting my approach with wide-open door; for
Oscar Lewis had gone to Albany and had said before he left: "Keep a
sharp lookout for Captain Glazier, as he will surely pass this way." It
was very pleasant to be met so cordially, although the sight of
well-known faces and landmarks brought back the past and made me feel
like another Rip Van Winkle.
[Illustration: THE ROAD TO ALBANY.]
In crossing the river between Greenbush and Albany, _Paul_ seemed
disinclined to stay on board, so the bars had to be put up and every
precaution taken. It may have been that the shades of the ferrymen who
had run the little craft for the last two hundred years came back to vex
us. Perhaps the particular ghost of Hendrick Albertsen, who, two hundred
and eight years ago bargained with Killian Van Rensselaer for the
privilege of running his boat; but whatever the cause of the disturbance
we reached _terra firma_ without accident, and were soon in the familiar
streets of the old Dutch town; the day's journey agreeably ended with
our trip across the Hudson by the oldest ferry in the United States.
From the river the view of Albany is picturesque in the extreme, where
the eye catches the first glimpse of the city, rising from the water's
edge, and surmounted then by its brown-domed Capitol. It was a sight
that had always had a singular charm for me, for many of the pleasantest
hours of my early life were spent here, where my sisters and I were
educated. Here I left school to enlist at the opening of the Civil War,
and here I published my first book, "Capture, Prison-Pen and Escape."
But even if the city had no claim other than its own peculiar
attractiveness it would hold an enviable place among its sister cities.
The irregularity of its older streets, the tone of its architecture, the
lack of the usual push and bustle of an American town, give it an
old-world air that makes it interesting. There is a Common in the centre
of the city, shaded by old elms, and around this stand the public
buildings--the State Hall for state offices and the City Hall for city
offices--both of marble and fronting on the Common. The Albany Academy,
where Joseph Henry, one of its professors from 1826 to 1832, first
demonstrated his theory of the magnetic telegraph. A few squares west of
the Common was the stretch of green that has since been set apart for a
public park, where the good people of Albany may find an agreeable
change of scene and an hour's pleasant recreation.
[Illustration: STATE STREET AND CAPITOL, ALBANY, NEW YORK.]
The New Capitol, on the site of the Old Capitol, is a magnificent
edifice in the renaissance style, built of New England granite, at a
cost to the State of many millions. On passing quaint bits of
architecture or the suggestive aspect of some out-of-the way corner, one
turns naturally to the days of wigs and kneebreeches, before the capital
of the Empire State was thought of, and when the forests of fair
Columbia were overrun by the bronzed warriors who still held undisputed
sway. It was back in these days that Henry Hudson, sent from Holland by
the Dutch East India Company, in sailing up the "Grande" River in search
of a passage to India and China, found that he could not send his ship
beyond the point where the city of Hudson now stands. This was
discouraging, but sure that the desired passage was found, he and a few
of his men pushed farther on in a small craft, landing, it is believed,
on the present site of Albany. Later, Hudson and his men returned,
assured that the noble river could not take them where they had hoped it
might. After them came Dutch traders, led by an enterprising Hollander
who had been with Hudson on his first voyage, and who saw a promising
field in the red man's country. They established a trading-post where
the "Half Moon" had been moored before, and from here carried on their
barter with the Indians, exchanging attractive trifles for furs. Other
traders followed these, and then came the colonists; a brave little
band full of hope and eager to try their fortune in the New World. Their
leader was none other than Killian Van Rensselaer, the wealthy pearl
merchant of Amsterdam, and one of the directors of the West India
Company, who had received a grant from the Prince of Orange for a large
tract of land about the Upper Hudson, including the present site of
Albany. Here he established his "patroonship," guarding the affairs of
the colony, and providing his tenants with comfortable houses and ample
barns. And more than this, their spiritual welfare was promoted through
the services of the Reverend Doctor Joanes Megapolensis. From his
personal accounts we read that the good Dominie found his life among the
'wilden' as full of peril and unceasing labor as that of his flock; for
he undertook not only the guidance of his own people, but the
enlightenment and conversion of the Indians. To this end he threw
himself into the task of mastering their language with true missionary
zeal; a task which in those days meant not only difficulty but danger.
Under the shelter of the handsome churches that grace the streets of the
Albany of to-day, we see a striking contrast in the primitive house
where this pioneer clergyman preached; and from the security of
long-established peace, we look back upon those sturdy people of
Rensselaerwyck who sowed and reaped and went to church under the
protection of the Patroon's guns.
But there came a day when English ships sailed up to the harbor at
Manhatoes, and demanded the surrender of the Dutch colonies in the name
of the Duke of York and Albany. The terrified people at sight of the
guns refused to withstand an attack, and the English quietly came into
possession. Van Rensselaer sent down his papers, and Fort Orange
surrendered on the twenty-fourth of September, 1664, soon after
receiving its new name in honor of the Duke's second title. Twenty-two
years later, Albany had the satisfaction of sending two of her
representatives, Peter Schuyler and Robert Livingston, to New York to
claim her charter as a city; which, upon their return, was received,
according to the old chronicler, "with all ye joy and acclamation
imaginable."
Through the strength of their new dignity and influence we can trace the
spirit of independence which was beginning to rise in opposition to the
unjust English rule; and it was here in 1754 that the first General
Congress was held to discuss arrangements for the national defence, when
Franklin and his compatriots "signed the first plan for American Union
and proclaimed to the colonies that they were one people, fit to govern
and able to protect themselves." Later, when the storm of the Revolution
broke, this place, where the first threatenings were heard, was the most
impoverished by the contest and the most persevering in the fight; but
she came out triumphant, with a record well meriting the honors received
in 1797, when she was made the capital of the Empire State. After peace
was again established and the routine of business taken up, Albany
became the centre of the entire trade of Western New York.
[Illustration: RIVER STREET, TROY, NEW YORK.]
Fulton's steamboats began to run between Albany and New York as early as
1809, and this commercial activity and contact with the world gave an
impulse to the city which has made itself felt all along the Hudson.
Since then it has grown rapidly, and has in its steady advancement an
influential future to which its citizens may look forward with
pardonable pride.
My arrival in Albany and lecture at Tweddle Hall on the evening of the
eighteenth were to me among the notable events of my journey. Colonel J.
M. Finley, who accompanied me from Boston, a veteran of the late war and
manager of my lecture course from Boston to Buffalo, introduced me.
Called at the Capitol on the nineteenth to see the adjutant-general in
relation to my lecturing in the interest of the fund for the erection of
a Soldiers' Home which at that time interested persons had proposed to
build at Bath, New York. I was presented to General Townsend by Colonel
Taylor, assistant adjutant-general, whom I had known for several years.
Found that General Townsend was not, as I had been informed, the
treasurer of the fund. Colonel Taylor then went with me up Washington
avenue in search of Captain John Palmer, Past Department Commander, G.
A. R., whom I was advised to consult on the subject.
These matters attended to, I went in pursuit of Captain William Blasie
and Lieutenant Arthur Richardson--acquaintances of many years and both
of whom had been the companions of my captivity in Southern prisons
during the War of the Rebellion.
My stay in Albany was prolonged by preparation for lectures at Troy and
Schenectady, and by needed information concerning the early history and
development of the former city. The second Sunday of my journey found me
here and I went in the morning to the Presbyterian Church at the corner
of Hudson and Philip streets.
[Illustration: VIEW IN SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK.]