The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-03-26
n the resolutions before you possess any binding

force.
Gentlemen, your predecessors, in the fun tide Of
their power, derided all control, threw of all re-
straint, seized upon things sacred as well things
secular and at last, as fitting termination of their
evermemorable labors, like the proud prince OF
Babylon, they seized upon the appurtenances OF
Gods house; and, while revealing in vain boasts Of
their power, an unseen HAND was writing on the
wall with pen bathed in vivid lightning, in charac-
art weighed in the balances and found wanting"
Do you wish to complete their designs ITO fol-
low their example? ! will not add. to share
their fate; for know that consequences to them
selves will not be regarded by members Of this Com
mon Council, and that they will seek only the good
Of their constituents, although they will disregard
alike the public admonitions and the private interests
of busy members Of dictatorial sefconstituted COM
mttees of interference.
Let us, then, approach the consideration Of the
question with no feeling OF embarrassment that we
are called on to repeal law-for no law has yet
been passed. The matter now stands before you as
new proposition. 1t has no prestige of authority
to commend il to your favorable consideration.
What, then, is it which is sought on the one hand
to be done, and which, the other hand, we strenu
ously resist. You are called upon to lend your sane
ton to proposition to exhume the bodies OF some
thirty or forty thousand persons, among whom there
are many officers and soldiers of the Revolution,
whose ashes lie Wondering with their mother earth
A proposition to do an act, the mere mention OF
which is startling demands careful scrutiny into
the rights with which it interferes and the grounds
on which it is urged.
] IL
of solemn grant and compact The ground pro-
posed to be taken was used as common place of
burial for all denominations, for nearly century
before Trinity Church was built. was SET apart
by the Dutch, and by them consecrated as place
sacred to the last rites which separate the dead from
the living. Here, without the walls OF the city, be-
yond the sound OF the active pursuits OF lfe where
no voice of revery was heard our Dutch foreathers
selected sequestered spot in deep valley as the
last resting place for the honored dead. The afec-
tionate mother the honored father were here placed
side by side; the tender loving wife, and the devoted
husband, whose remains were inferred, were deemed
safe from Yanda hands, and their humble graves be-
spoke at the poverty of their origin and their de-
voted regard for the sanctity Of the tomb Andhere
let not forget that these were not members OF the
Episcopal Church. No sir: their associations were
with that glorious band of Hollanders who sought
civil and religious liberty on the newly settled shores
of New Amsterdam. For these, then, ! plead-for
the dead, who cannot speak. Not for Trinity
Church-not for the vestry of that church-but for
those who were alien to its services-nurtured in
the faith of our venerated Reformed Dutch Church.
and whose mortal remains were committed to their
mother earth, consecrated by services performed in
language unknown to the church now called
Trinity-and whose tOmbs were inscribed nearly
century before Trinity Church had an existence.
Now sir, let me remind your honorable committee
that even if Trinity Church were obnoxious to all
the objections which have been urged against it
here, if this abusive pamphlet were true as it
is false it would in no respect invaldate the con-
siderations press upon you: Those who were
buried nearly century before Trinity. Church was
sponsible for is acts Of omissions For the
| protest against the threatened exhumation-in
the name of the tens of thousands who, if you
could call them from their dark charnelhouse,
would appear in their white robes and protest
against this act. And how would such an objection
appear in the face of such an audience? Would an
argument that, century after their interment,
another class of men had arisen who had erected a
temple near the remains of the dead, and that tenn
pn had hon mt hpon in n
garded as an answer to their appeaR No, sir no.
But, less by implication it may be said that admit
the force of the objections urged against Trinity
Church, permit me to say, on the contrary, that
think that church worthy Of all honor; entitled to
unmeasured praise for the firm course it has unfor
merly taken, no matter ut what pecunary loss, to
protect the remains Of the dead and for one, as
member of the Dutch Church, thank them on behalf
of the old Dutch families whose remains they have
guarded with such commendable fidelity. Nor do l
perceive, in the long history of the various proceed
Manhattanese ancestors, that Trinity Church has
pursued any other course than that pointed out by
he pole star of religion
To resume my history Of the ground. After it
had been occupied by the Dutch and their
as city buryng ground, for nearly century, the
ity of New York, in 1903, granted it, under the
bread seal Of the corporation OF New York, to the
orporation of Trinity Church, to be held by the
grantees as perpetual place of seputure for the
| people of the city of New York, of all denomina
ions, and irrespective of the condition or circum
!
o be committed TO that consecrated ground To
provide against the possibility of the rejection Of the
poor, very small sum was prescribed as stated
burial fee, npcn the payment Of which the sexton
was bound to commit earth to earth and dust to
Dust OF the estate of the church in the grounds
would have been forfeited. In consequence of the
the facility for making interments there. and
the low rates to be paid for such inter-
ments, it became the common and most usual
place Of burial, and SO continued down to
1928, when the ordinance of this city was passed
forbidding further burals 1t is generally estimated
that from thirty to forty thousand persons have been
inferred there. know that the estimate is dis
puted by the applicants for this measure; but, SO
long as can vouch for my statement the report of
the committee of the Board of Aldermen, made in
ls47 and the other evidence before your committee,
/ may well assume the accuracy of the statement,
without stopping to prove it, Now let us revert for
moment to the grant. The grant of the city to
shall be held by the church in fee simple forever,
general buryiDg ground. In derogatOn of that
grant, the same city now seeks to seize the property
which it once solemnly granted, and appropriate it
to the aid of private speculation; or, if you
please, for the sake of the argument, for the
purpose of opening an unnecessary street.
In other words it is proposed to this city to repudi
ate the grant SO soemny made, and to treat it as
pledged to the literal fulfment of all the terms of
that grant To illustrate: Suppose, Mr.. Chairman,
gentleman were to convey to you piece of ground
upon trust that you should hold it for the benefit of
the living poor, and apply its proceeds to their sup
port, and afterwards the grantor should himself
! seek to evade the grant. Would not all the world
deem the act dishonorable, and execrate his memo
ryI But that is Just what it is now proposed to the
corporation Of New York to do in this matter; the
only difference being that the corporation created
trust for the benefit Of their dead the trust in the
case supposed being for the benefit of the living.
Shall such an act Of bad faith receive the sanction
of honest men2 TO repudiate bond was thought
to imply peculiar dishonor in the State of Missis-
sippi, and fastened an indelible blot on her fair
escutcheon and shall we be 80 illiberal as to pro-
nounce Mississippi infamous for repudatng her
bonds, whilst we at the same time repudiate our
deeds? Sir, you will not tolerate a dstinc-
ton between Mississippi and New York. The bonds
of Mississippi were issued for contemplated public
improvements, the reputation was placed on
grounds of public policy. Such was the shallow pre-
tence and be assured that no arguments were
wanting to show, in quite as specious language as