Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-03-10
WASHINGTON, d. c.
vEsPAsIAN ELLIS, Editor.
New York Politics.
SATURDAY. MARCH 10, 1855.


A few weeks before the Presidential election
Of 1926 which resulted in the elevation Of
John Quincy Adams to the Presidency, sew
eral gentlemen of Boston drove out to Quincy
to pay their respects to John Adams, the elder,
then in his Goth year. Conversation turned
upon the election then pending in the House
of Representatives, and a gentleman remarked
that /" all depended on New York" The old
President, who reclined upon q sofa, buried in
flannel, and, from extreme age and its conse-
quent infirmity, hardly able to give utterance
to his words, heard the remark, and replied:
"All depends upon New York; Ali that
looks badly. have been familiar, gentlemen,
with the politics and tho public men Of New
York for seventy years; but the motives which
actuated them, or the principles on which their
movements were based, have always regarded
as among the devils incomprchensibiliti +
Thus spoke the sage Of Quincy, whose recol-
lection ran back to period a century remote
from our own day. The difficulty he expert
enced in compromising the politics of New
York, in his time, is shared by his successors
Of the present generation. On all hands, out
of that State, we daily hear the remark from
experienced politicians: ~ do not pretend to
understand New York politics"
The reason why New York politics are so
incomprehensible to the mass of the American
people we shall endeavor to explain in the pre-
sent article.
Previous to the Revolution, the largest por-
ton of the then inhabited counties of New
York had been bestowed by the governments
Of Holland or Great Britain in large domains
on certain individuals, generally designated
among the Dutch inhabitants as PATRONS, or
lords of the manor. Thus, there was the pat
room or lord Of the manor of Rensselaerwyck,
whose name was Van Rensselaer,, and whose
manor, Of forty-eight miles in width by
twenty in length, occupied the present coun-
ties Of Albany and Rensselaer,. The manor
Of Livingston, in the present county Of Column
bia, was twenty -four miles wide, and of equal
length with that Of Rensselaerwyck. This was
the possession Of the great family Of the Liv-
ingstons whose founder was Robert Living
ston, originally Scotch Presbyterian minister,
but who became, after his emigration to New
York, distinguished politician, and the most
influential parsonage in the colony, but not
until, after long struggle, he had succeeded
in prostrating his numerous and powerful OPP
ponents. From him descended that great man,
Colonel Robert Livingston, who fourished
more than a century ago; and, in later days.
Governor William Livingston Of New York,
Chancellor Livingston, Edward Livingston,
Secretary of State under General jackson,
Brockholst Livingston, and other distinguished
and influential members Of the same family.
Lower down the Hudson, were the ma
nors Of Phillipse and Van Cortlandt both Of
which were confscated in the Revolution-in
Westchester, the Morrisses, the Delannceys and
the Pells, held large baronial estates-in Or
ange the Clintons bore sway, and in Tryon
county lived and reignsd that most illustrious
Of frontiersmen, Sir William Johnston, Of
Johnston Hall
All these manos were inhabited by race OF
tenants on perpetual or other leases, and these
tenants constituted the people Of New York,
with the exception Of the inhabitants Of Long
Island, the then small population Of the cities
Of New York and Albany, and Of the few vii
lagos which had sprung into existence along
the banks Of the Hudson.
These tenants were, for the most part, rude
and uneducated men. On the manor Of Rensse-
laerwyck, they were chiefly the descendants
Of the Dutch Doors, imported by Killian Van
Rensselaer, In the early part Of the seventeenth
century. On the manor Of Livingston, lea
ven Of Scotch shrewdness was slightly visible;
while those Of Morris and Delaney, in West
chester, were occasionally enlightened here and
there by n few stray glimmeiings from the
lamps Of the Yankees In the adjacent Province
Of Connecticut or by the kindly radiance
which emanated from the French Hugucnots at
New Rochelle. A squad Of lusty Irishmen
had settled upon the Mohawk, to be within
hailing distance Of their fellow countryman and
fellow-roysterer Of Johnston Hall and the en-
terprise Of Gen. Schuyler had attracted to the
present county Of Saratoga few Of the natives
Of Massachusetts,.
Here, then, was a state Of things unparal-
eled in any other Of the thirteen Colonies.
Some ten or twelve great proprictors lorded il
over the whole Province; monopolized for them
selves or their relatives, all the Offices Of trust
profit; and, in connection with the Royal
Governors, directed the civil and military
affairs Of the Colony, to tho exclusion Of the
great masses Of the people Thus was natu-
rally engendered an aristocratic and dictatorial
spirit on the part Of the proprietors; and a
feeling Of inferiority and dependence on that of
tho people Patronage, like property, was in
the hands Of the few To obtain oven the
smallest office, influence at Court was requisite
Merit alone could effect nothing, unless backed
up by the endorsement Of a PATRON. Conse-
quently, it happened that nearly all the great
proprietors who were frequently at strife with
each other, had their troops Of followers or de-
pendents, taken from the ranks Of the poorer
classes, whom they rewarded with seats in the
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