with a grand banquet at their Great Wigwam in Broad Street, at which were
present, the Governor of the State, the Chief Justice of the United
States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, the Mayor of the
City and Colonel Willett. The richly ornamented Calumet of Peace was
passed around and wine flowed freely. Colonel Willett had delivered his
big talk and partaken of their _black drink_ on his visit to them, and the
Indians were now receiving a return of hospitality. Patriotic songs were
sung by members of the society and the Indians danced. The Indian chief
conferred on the grand sachem of Tammany the title of "Toliva Mico"--Chief
of the White Town. The President of the United States was toasted as "The
Beloved Chieftain of the Thirteen Fires." The President's last visit to
Federal Hall was to sign a treaty with these Indians, which was attended
with great ceremony. Tammany had taken the lead in all this Indian
business and Tammany had made its mark.
[Illustration: TONTINE COFFEE HOUSE]
[Sidenote: The Tontine Coffee House]
In the year 1791 an association of merchants was organized for the purpose
of constructing a more commodious Coffee House than the Merchants' Coffee
House, and to provide a business centre for the mercantile community. The
company was formed on the Tontine principle of benefit to survivors, and
the building they erected was called the Tontine Coffee House. Among the
merchants who were interested in this enterprise were John Broome, John
Watts, Gulian Verplanck, John Delafield and William Laight. On the 31st of
January, 1792, these five merchants, as the first board of directors of
the Tontine Association, purchased from Doctor Charles Arding and
Abigail, his wife, the house and lot on the northwest corner of Wall and
Water Streets, for £1,970. This was the house which had been known as the
Merchants' Coffee House from about 1740, when it was first opened by
Daniel Bloom until 1772, when its business was carried by Mrs. Ferrari
diagonally across the street, where it had since remained. It was sold in
1759, as related in a previous chapter, by Luke Roome, owner and landlord
of the house, to Doctor Charles Arding, who had ever since been its owner.
They had already purchased, December 1, 1791, for £2,510, the adjoining
lot on Wall Street, and shortly after, for £1,000, they purchased the
adjoining lot on Water Street. On the ground of these three lots the
Tontine Coffee House was built. Thus the business originated on this spot
was coming back to its old home.
In January, 1792, "the committee to superintend the business of the
Tontine Coffee House Institution," gave notice that they would pay a
premium of ten guineas to the person who should hand in before the 20th of
February next, the best plan for the proposed building, and a premium of
five guineas for the second best plan. The objects to be considered in the
plans were, "Solidity, Neatness and Useful Accommodation"; the building to
be four stories high and to occupy a space of fifty feet by seventy. The
plans in competition were to be sent to Mr. David Grim. A petition for the
privilege of adding to the Tontine Coffee House a piazza to extend over
the sidewalk, presented by John Watts and others in March, 1792, was
refused, but, on May 11 permission was given for a piazza to extend six
feet over the Wall Street sidewalk. The corner-stone of the building was
laid with considerable ceremony on the 5th of June. The first landlord of
the house, when completed, was John Hyde.
Just a year later, on Wednesday, June 5, 1793, one hundred and twenty
gentlemen sat down to a dinner provided by Mr. Hyde at the Tontine Coffee
House to celebrate the anniversary of the laying of the corner-stone of
that building. After dinner when fifteen toasts had been drunk, the
chairman offered an additional toast, which was: "Success to the Tontine
Coffee House and may it long continue to reflect credit on the
subscribers."
[Sidenote: The Cap of Liberty]
During the French revolution the sympathies of the people of the United
States were greatly excited, but many of those who wished success to
France were filled with disgust and indignation at the behavior of the
French Minister Genet, and of Bompard, the commander of the French ship,
L'Ambuscade, who, after landing Genet at Charleston, South Carolina, made
his way north to Philadelphia, boarding American ships on his way and
seizing British merchantmen near the coast and even in the very bays of
the United States. Bompard and his officers were received at Philadelphia
with great enthusiasm. On the 12th of June, 1793, they arrived in New
York. Instantly there was great excitement. Those friendly to them carried
things to extremes. Opposed to them were the supporters of government and
good order, joined to the strong English faction that had long prevailed.
Two days after their arrival, the Cap of Liberty was set up in the Tontine
Coffee House, according to one account, by "the friends of Liberty,
Equality, and the Rights of Man, amid the acclamations of their fellow
citizens, in defiance of all despotic tyrants. It was a beautiful crimson
adorned with a white torsel and supported by a staff." The cap, "Sacred to
Liberty," was declared to be under the protection of the old Whigs, and
the aristocrats, as the opposite party was tauntingly called, were defied
to take it down. This defiance brought forth a threat that it would be
done, and, in expectation that its removal would be attempted, for several
days, hundreds of people gathered in front of the house. No attempt, at
that time, seems to have been made to remove the cap, and the excitement
gradually subsided.
The Cap of Liberty remained undisturbed in its place for almost two years.
A newspaper of May 19, 1795, states that "the Liberty Cap having been
removed from the Barr of the Tontine Coffee House by some unknown person,
the ceremony of its re-establishment in the Coffee House took place
yesterday afternoon. A well designed, carved Liberty Cap, suspended on
the point of an American Tomahawk, and the flags of the Republics of
America and France, attached on each side, formed a handsome figure." A
large gathering of people attended "the consecration of the emblem of
Liberty," and the meeting was highly entertained by numerous patriotic
songs. Voluntary detachments from several of the Uniform Companies joined
in the celebration.
On the 22d of May, only four days after being placed in the Coffee House,
the French flag was removed. An attempt was made to recover it and arrest
the person who took it down. A boat was dispatched in pursuit of the
person who was supposed to have taken it, but it returned without success.
Colonel Walter Bicker, in behalf of a number of citizens of New York,
offered a reward of one hundred and fifty dollars for the capture of the
thief who stole the French flag from the Coffee House, with what result is
unknown.
[Sidenote: New York Stock Exchange]
An English traveler, who visited New York in 1794, writes that: "The
Tontine Tavern and Coffee House is a handsome, large brick building; you
ascend six or eight steps under a portico, into a large public room, which
is the Stock Exchange of New York, where all bargains are made. Here are
two books kept, as at Lloyd's, of every ship's arrival and clearing out.
This house was built for the accommodation of the merchants, by Tontine
shares of two hundred pounds each. It is kept by Mr. Hyde, formerly a
woolen draper in London. You can lodge and board there at a common table,
and you pay ten shillings currency a day, whether you dine out or not."
As stated above, the Tontine Coffee House had become the Stock Exchange of
New York. In the first directory of the city, published in 1786, there is
only one stock-broker, Archibald Blair. On January 9, 1786, Archibald
Blair announced that he "has a Broker's Office and Commission Store at 16
Little Queen Street, where he buys and sells all kinds of public and state
securities, also old continental money. He has for sale Jamaica rum, loaf
sugar, bar iron, lumber and dry goods." A few years later several
announcements of such brokers are found in the newspapers, among others
the following which appeared in the Daily Advertiser of December 9, 1790.
"Sworn Stock Broker's Office.
No. 57 King Street.
The Subscriber, having opened an office for negociating the funds of
the United States of America, has been duly qualified before the Mayor
of the City, that he will truly and faithfully execute the duties of a
Stock Broker,
and that he will not directly or indirectly interest himself in any
purchase or sale of the funds of the United States of America, on his
own private account, for the term of six months from the date hereof.
The opinion of many respectable characters has confirmed his own ideas
of the utility of establishing an office in this city upon the
principles of a sworn Broker of Europe. The advantages of negociating
through the medium of an agent no ways interested in purchases or
sales on his own account, is too evident to every person of
discernment to need any comment.
Every business committed to his care shall be executed by the
subscriber with diligence, faithfulness and secrecy, and he trusts
that his conduct will confirm the confidence, and secure the patronage
of his friends and fellow citizens.
John Pintard."
The first evidence of an approach to anything like organization was an
announcement made in the early part of March, 1792, that "The Stock
Exchange Office" would be open at No. 22 Wall Street for the accommodation
of dealers in stocks, in which public sales would be daily held at noon,
as usual, in rotation. Soon after this, on Wednesday, March 21st, a
meeting of merchants and dealers in stocks was held at Corre's Hotel, when
they came to a resolution that after the 21st of April next, they would
not attend any sales of stocks at public auction. They appointed a
committee "to provide a proper room for them to assemble in, and to
report such regulations relative to the mode of transacting business as in
their opinion may be proper." This resulted in the first agreement of the
dealers in securities, the oldest record in the archives of the New York
Stock Exchange, dated May 17, 1792, fixing the rate of brokerage. It was
signed by twenty-four brokers for the sale of public stocks. For some time
the brokers do not appear to have had a settled place of meeting. Their
favorite place was in the open air in the shadow of a large buttonwood
tree, which stood on the north side of Wall Street, opposite the division
line of Nos. 68 and 70. Here they met and transacted business something
like our curb brokers of to-day, but in a much more leisurely way. When
the Tontine Coffee House was completed in 1793, it became the Stock
Exchange of New York and remained so for a great many years.
[Sidenote: The Roger Morris House]
A stage coach line was opened to Boston in 1784 and to Albany the next
year, when the Roger Morris House on the Kingsbridge road was opened by
Talmadge Hall as a tavern for the accommodation of the stage coach
passengers, and was probably the first stopping place going out. It
continued to be kept as a tavern for many years after this and is said to
have been a favorite place of resort for pleasure parties from the city.
It became known as Calumet Hall. Its landlord in 1789 was Captain William
Marriner. In October, 1789, President Washington visited, by appointment,
the fruit gardens of Mr. Prince at Flushing, Long Island. He was taken
over in his barge, accompanied by the Vice-President, the Governor of the
State, Mr. Izard, Colonel Smith and Major Jackson. On their way back they
visited the seat of Gouverneur Morris at Morrisania, and then went to
Harlem, where they met Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Smith,
daughter of the Vice-President, dined at Marriner's and came home in the
evening. In July following a large party was formed to visit Fort
Washington. Washington, in his diary, does not state that Mrs. Washington
was of the party, but it is to be presumed that she was; the others,
beside himself, were "the Vice-President, his Lady, Son and Mrs. Smith;
the Secretaries of State, Treasury and War and the ladies of the two
latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs. Lear, and the two
children." This was a notable party. They dined at Marriner's, who, no
doubt, felt the importance of the occasion and exerted himself
accordingly.
[Illustration: OLD SLEIGH]
Marriner's Tavern, the Roger Morris house, was situated at such a distance
from the city, on the only road of any length on the island, as to make it
a good objective point for pleasure parties. An English traveler who
visited New York in 1796, writes: "The amusement of which they seem most
passionately fond is that of riding on the snow in what _you_ would call a
sledge, drawn by two horses. It is astonishing to see how anxiously
persons of all ages and both sexes look out for a good fall of snow, that
they may enjoy their favorite amusement; and when the happy time comes, to
see how eager they are to engage every sleigh that is to be had. Parties
of twenty or thirty will sometimes go out of town in these vehicles
towards evening, about six or eight miles, when, having sent for a
fiddler, and danced till they are tired, they will return home again by
moonlight or perhaps more often by daylight. Whilst the snow is on the
ground no other carriages are made use of, either for pleasure or
service." Marriner's house was well suited for just such parties of
pleasure and we can easily imagine that the large octagonal room was about
this time, of crisp winter nights, the scene of many a merry dance. The
English traveler is supported in what he says by the announcement of
Christopher Colles in a New York newspaper in January, 1789, that so long
as the sleighing lasted he would continue his electrical experiments and
exhibition of curiosities, at Halsey's celebrated tavern in Harlem. It
would seem from this that his lectures needed the incentive of a sleigh
ride to make them more popular.
Captain Marriner was still keeping the house in the summer of 1794 when it
was visited by an Englishman who thus writes about his visit to the place:
"Whoever has a vacant day and fine weather, while at New York, let him go
to Haarlem, eleven miles distant. There is _a pleasant tavern_ on an
eminence near the church; a branch of the sea, or Eastern River, runs
close beneath you, where you may have excellent fishing. On the opposite
side are two pleasant houses, belonging to Colonel Morris, and a Captain
Lambert, an English gentleman, who retired hither after the war. Mr.
Marriner, the landlord, is a very intelligent, well educated man; I fished
with him for an hour and received a great deal of pleasure from his
conversation." * * * "He pressed me very much to stay at his house for a
week, and I should pay what I pleased. On our return Mr. L---- and myself
drank tea and coffee at Brannon's Tea Garden. Here was a good greenhouse,
with orange and lemon trees, a great quantity of geraniums, aloes and
other curious shrubs and plants. Iced creams and iced liquors are much
drank here during the hot weather by parties from New York." Brannon's Tea
Garden was on the road leading to the village of Greenwich at the present
junction of Hudson and Spring Streets, and had been there since previous
to the Revolution.
Captain Marriner is said to have been eccentric, but whether this be so or
not, he was undoubtedly a brave man and was engaged during the war in
several daring adventures. He presented a picturesque character in the
history of that period.
[Sidenote: Capt. Marriner's Raid]
When Captain Marriner was held as a prisoner in the early part of the war,
on his parole, quartered with Rem Van Pelt, of New Utrecht, Long Island,
one day at Dr. Van Buren's Tavern in Flatbush, his sarcastic wit brought
on him abusive language from Major Sherbrook of the British army. When
Marriner was exchanged, he determined to capture the Major and some
others. For this purpose he repaired to New Jersey and procured a
whale-boat, which he manned with a crew of twenty-two well armed
volunteers, with whom he proceeded to New Utrecht, landing on the beach
about half-past nine o'clock in the evening. Leaving two men in charge of
the boat, with the rest he marched unmolested to Flatbush Church, where he
divided his men into four squads, assigning a house to each party, who,
provided with a heavy post, were to break in the door when they should
hear Marriner strike. General Jeremiah Johnson, in his account of the
affair states that Marriner captured the Major, whom he found hidden
behind a large chimney in the garret, but the New York newspapers state
that he carried back with him to New Jersey Major Montcrieffe and Mr.
Theophylact Bache. On another visit to Long Island, Captain Marriner
carried off Simon Cortelyou, of New Utrecht, in return for his uncivil
conduct to the American prisoners. On a large rock in the North River, not
far from the shore, stood a bath house surmounted by a flagstaff. Noting
this, Marriner determined to give the English fresh cause for chagrin. He
accordingly procured the new American flag which had just been adopted,
and taking with him a few men, boldly rowed into the river one night and
nailed it to the pole, where it was discovered early next morning.
Sailors, sent to remove it, were obliged to cut away the pole, amid the
jeers and protests of the boys gathered on the beach.
Marriner was keeping a tavern in New York City before the war. An
important meeting was held at Marriner's Tavern at the time of the
election of delegates to the first Continental Congress, in 1774. After
the war he returned to the same business, and in 1786 was the landlord of
a house on the corner of John and Nassau Streets, where he offered to
serve his customers "in the neatest and most elegant manner," with
oysters, cooked in a variety of ways, beef steaks, etc., with the very
best of liquors. He, at one time kept the Ferry House at Harlem, and ran
the ferry to Morrisania. In the early part of the nineteenth century
Captain Benson built a large tavern at the junction of the Kingsbridge
road with the road from Harlem, which was for some years conducted by
Captain Marriner, who gained great celebrity for the excellent table he
set, and for the stories of whale-boat exploits during the war, which he
was never tired of relating.
When the St. Andrew's Society celebrated their anniversary on November 30,
1790, at the City Tavern, they had as guests at their dinner, Governor
Clinton, the Mayor of the City, General Horatio Gates and the principal
officers of the other humane national societies of the city. In an account
given of the dinner, it is stated that, "A few hours passed happily away,
divided between the animating tale, the cheerful glass and the heart
enlivening song."
The annual election of officers of the Society of the Cincinnati was held
on the 4th of July each year, after which there was a dinner, followed by
toasts. For several year its meeting place was at Corré's Hotel in
Broadway. Joseph Corré, at one time landlord of the City Tavern, opened,
in 1790, a house at No. 24 Broadway, which was for some years one of the
best and most popular taverns or hotels in the city. Meetings of
societies, concerts, balls and political meetings were held here.
[Sidenote: Dinners on Evacuation Day]
On Monday, November 25, 1793, the tenth anniversary of the evacuation of
New York by the British troops, was celebrated in the city with great
enthusiasm. At sunrise a salute was fired from the Battery followed
immediately by the ringing of all the bells in the city. This was repeated
at noon, when the corporation, the officers of the militia, the French
officers in town and many citizens waited on the Governor to congratulate
him on the occasion. The militia officers then waited on the mayor of the
city, the chief justice of the United States and the minister of the
French Republic. The Ambuscade Frigate was elegantly decorated and at one
o'clock fired a salute of twenty-one guns. The militia officers, honored
with the company of the Governor, General Gates and a number of French
officers, sat down to an elegant dinner prepared for them at the City
Tavern, "where they spent the remainder of the day in great spirits and
good fellowship." Toasts were drunk under the discharge of artillery. The
gentlemen of the corporation celebrated the day at the Tontine Coffee
House, where an elegant dinner was served up by Mr. Hyde and patriotic
toasts were drunk. The Society of Tammany also celebrated the day. At the
tavern of Robert Hunter, in Wall Street, a dinner was served up to a
number of citizens in celebration of the day, and the same was done in
several other of the principal taverns of the city. The dinner on
Evacuation Day at Bardin's was one of the last notable dinners given in
the old City Tavern. Preparations were being made to take it down and
build on its site a fine hotel.
In 1793 the City Tavern was still owned by John Peter De Lancey, son of
Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancey, who sold it to the Tontine
Association, who, taking down the old house, built upon its site the City
Hotel. In the deed of transfer, dated March 3, 1793, John Peter De Lancey
and Elizabeth, his wife, for the consideration of six thousand pounds
(£6,000), lawful money of the State of New York, convey the property to
Philip Livingston, John Watts, Thomas Buchanan, Gulian Verplanck, James
Watson, Moses Rogers, James Farquhar, Richard Harrison and Daniel Ludlow,
all of the city and state of New York, in trust for all the subscribers to
the New York Tontine Hotel and Assembly Room and their heirs, upon such
terms, conditions and restrictions, and with such right of survivorship as
may be hereafter agreed upon and settled by the majority of the said
subscribers or their representatives.
In November, 1793, Nicholas Cruger, chairman of the committee having the
business in charge, gave notice that they would pay a premium of twenty
guineas for the best plan of the building about to be erected, to be
handed in before the first day of January next, requesting that the plans
may not be signed, but designated by a private mark, accompanied by a
letter to the chairman, with the same mark on the outside.
[Sidenote: The City Hotel]
The new house which was erected in the early part of the year 1794 was
called the Tontine Hotel, but it soon came to be more generally spoken of
as the City Hotel. Robert Hunter, who had been keeping a tavern in Wall
Street, became its first landlord. He was in possession of it and meetings
were being held there in the early part of June, 1794. It was considered
the largest and finest hotel then in the United States. It became the
meeting place of societies and associations and of the City Assembly which
continued to flourish as it had done for many years. On Friday, October 7,
1796, there was great rejoicing in the city over the French victories,
news of which had just been received. The church bells were rung from
twelve to one o'clock, "and in the evening, as it were by patriotic
sympathy, a hall full of old Whigs and friends to the liberty of Man,
assembled at Hunter's Hotel, where a number of patriotic songs were sung,
a cold collation was served up and sixteen toasts were given apropos of
the news of the day." The nineteenth anniversary of the signing of the
treaty of alliance between France and the United States was celebrated on
Monday, February 6, 1797, at Hunter's Hotel by a numerous assembly of
patriotic citizens. Hunter remained landlord of the City Hotel until 1799,
when he was succeeded by John Lovett, under whose management the house
became quite popular.
[Illustration: THE CITY HOTEL]