San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-06-26
TIE Daily tiq6t
SATURDAY, JUNE %, 1897.
THE SEAL OF NEW YORK.
Two Hundred Years Old and 1t May
De Laid Away Forever.


he Laid Away Forever.
In September, 1885, Thomas Dongan,
governor of the province of New York,
wrote to England that "a new seal of
this province was very much wanted,
and We people extraordinary DESTROYS to
have We kings seal to their patents and
other papers that concern them" Not
withstanding this recommendation, no
seal was provided for the province Of
New York until August IA, 1857, two
years later, when a warrant was issued
for it by King James III. The seal in
this warrant was described as ''engTayen
on the one side with our royal effigies,
on horseback, in arms, over landskip
of land and sea, with a rising sun and
scrole" On the other side were the
royal arms with the garter, crown, sup
porters and motto with this inscription
on the circumference: 'Siglum Now
Eboraci." Such was the seal of the city
of New York during the period of the
English supremacy, but prior TO that
time the original and now restored seal
was used-the Dutch seal of Dutch New
York. 1t had its origin in Dutch times
when the chief commercial activity of
the townsmen of old New York was dis
played in the purchase of furs from the
Indians and nothing was so potent in
bringing about trade as gunpowder,
whisky, or beads. The contracting par
ties were sailors and Indians. Hence
there are on the seal sailor and an In
dian, representing the traders, and two
beavers and two barrels, representing
articles traded in. The windmills of
Holland, celebrated in the seventeenth
as well as in the nineteenth century,
also are represented, and the four arms
serve for the quarterings. An eagle sur
mounts the shield.
The first seal for New Amsterdam
was granted in 1854, the city having
been incorporated the preceding year.
For this the seal of the duke of York
was substituted under Gov. Nicolls, in
1869, and it was continued in use until
1856, when the first acknowledgment of
the Dongan letter was made from Lon
don, the warrant authorizing the seal
following the year after. When Thomas
Dongan resigned his office he turned
over the seal of the city to Sir Edmund
Andres, who afterward filed with the
colonial secretary of state in London an
extract from the published direction of
James II. Though antiquarians do not
observe it, grammarians will remark
that the spelling of this letter of in
struction is somewhat primitive, par
ticularly as regards the word 1--WE"
sand, whereas, since our accession to
the crown, wee have appointed new
seal for our colonies of New England,
as also another seal for our province
of New York, which being now united
under one government, Wee do hereby
direct and require that the seal APP
pointed for the said colony of New Eng
land, be henceforth made use for all
that our territory and dominion in it's
largest extent and boundaries afore-
mentioned, ard that the seal for our
province of New York be forthwith
broken and defaced in your presence"
Such was the ignoble end of what was
known as the English seal of New York
and later on the Dutch seal was restored,
but it is now a question whether, for the
Greater New York, it will not be neces-
sary to establish new seal for the new
city. Though Brooklyn was originally
settled by Hollanders, as New York was,
Brooklyn makes no claim to the Knick-
erbocker descent and there has recently
been some talk of the establishment of
Greater New York seal designed to
have representation upon it of the two
large cities in the new municipality and
perhaps some representation for Queens
and Richmond counties.-N. Y. Sun.