The times., 1899-07-09
Some Colonial History.


and of Manhattan presented in the Sec
ond series OF Half Moon Papers, under the
title Historic New York" relate main
ly TO its colonial history, though there are
some chapters dealing with comparatively
modern times. But the object of the volume
is evidently TO show how New York came
to be what II is. and in this the authors
and editors of the various papers have sue
ceeded admirably. The book deals with
slavery in New York. with the history of
Tammany Hall, with old prisons and pun
ishments. the New York press and its
representatives of the eighteenth century.
medicine as practiced in Old New York,
old tayerns, the early schools and school,
masters Of the island. the history of
'Breuckelen," as it was called in the old
days, and many other things. There are
numerous illustrations, many of them from
old prints and engravings, some of them
from portraits, and all adding to the
graphic power OF the text
One OF the most remarkable of the es-
says is that on Tammany Hall. The his
tory of this organization is recorded from
its beginning, and there is q mastery
analysis OF the elements which have com
posed II from time TO time, and the causes
OF its immense power in municipal poll
tics There are people who have argued
that the abuse of government by the peo-
pie which has at times taken Place in New
York ana other cities of similar condition
is proof of the essential weakness of
republic. but Talcott Williams, the author
OF this essay. takes the view that these
abuses arc the result of a good sys. EN- ap-
piled TO abnormal conditions, not o. struc-
tural weakness in the system.
Tammany is about one hundred and t=n
years old. having been organized b. Wi l.
lam Mooney. an upholsterer in 1892. Its
origin and the Incorporation of certain In
dian customs and names into its ritual
and symbol, are described as follows:
In 17s9 government was still in the hands of the
few. The Inauguration Of Washington was a
turning-point in more than Federal affairs and
the Tammsny Society represented more than one
of its events As the Indian was driven back
from the coe-i. and his character and habits be-
came Legendary, there sprang up an innoceni
admiration for qualities which Cooper was soon
10 make part of fiction, and which were never
part of fact. The Middle States in particular,
has been brought into close contact with In
dians of tribe and type less savage and more
peaceful than any along the coast. Among the
Lenni Lenape Indians. Tamanend. whose grave
is stil cherished, and whose memory long
reTered, was chief who signed one Of Penns
treaties, purchasing part OF Philadelphia He
became, during the Revolution, the pseudo pa
troa saint OF the younger officers and men of the
line His day, May L. replaced that of St
George. There was also in this aboriginal wor-
ship and admiration, relic, and reflection of
Rousseaus spotheosis Of primitive and the
dawn OF a protest against English supremacy,
always strongest in an American community in
was drawn. In organizing the new society in
New York, but one Of many, the ritual and or
ganization Of an lroquois lodge was initiated
and the ''long room" at Martling's had its name
i iut hef.g IL st-1s fha
term, still familiar. applied by the Indian his
tribal assembly room.
The author then goes on TO tell of the
original political action of the society,"
which formed the medium OF interstate
political action in the first forty years af-
ter the Revolution. The way in which it
has grown from a national organization,
as powerful in one State, in proportion 10
the population, as in another, to its pres
ent huge influence in the city Of New
York, is explained as follows:
The largest city Of the Western World Is stu.
ated on an island whose shape size, and sur
roundings deprived it of an homogeneous civic
population, while its own growth was part and
the most conspicuous part, of that great stream
OF emigration which has transferred 1900. 900
persons. or half the present population of the
United Kingdom, during the last seventy years
from one side of the Atlantic TO the other our
daily and practical morality is in lzrge measure
science Of the community of which We are a part
Every man who travels IS aware, always by OBJ
sefSation, and but too often by experience. uf
the sudden shattering of moral observance which
befalls those Of training, character, and wears,
when they suddenly find themselves strangers in
strange city, free from the observation Of those
who do or may know them. not dissimilar
moral deliqueseence is the inevitable result 3i
immigration. IL il has furnished more than its
proportionate and numerical share of crime. cor
Tuption, and imprisonment, the wonder is that It
has not done more
While in London but small percentage Of the
population is Of foreign birth, while the rapid
growth OF foreign cities. whose swift increase
during the present century is often cited hy the
unfrendly critics Of municipal Affairs as
proof that our urban problems offer no peculiar
difficulties. has, with negligible exceptions. drawn
its seeretion nom 4 surrounding population Of
the same race, language. and institutions. New
York city has been vast sand-dune, without in
tegrzl relations. swept across the Atlantic and de-
posted on the most convenient coign OF van
tage on the coast Of North America. Deprived
Ot all the myriad stay and support to sound po-
ltical action which comes from coherent and
uninterrupted mutual personal acquaintance and
tradition, these unrelated units represented for
the most part, that precise stratum Of society
where generations OF relentless toll had ingrained
the impression that all social institutions worked
together for the benefit Of the few II is ineyi-
tably, those wlso most bitterly feel this disad-
vantage in the Old World who seek the New
This great mass, in its diverse language, and with
very varied traditions. but alike in past train
ing of profound distrust for both the honesty and
good faith OF those who enjoy privileges of edu-
cation, wealth. and refinement, Of direction in
business, OF supremacy in affairs, of influence
through ability, certain TO find its natural
and necessary leaders in the members Of that
class OF the community which, by supplying his
first wants, comes into direct personal, and more
or less selfish unsefsh contact with the stran-
ger laboring with his hands to seek fortunes
In a new home
The class TO which he turned for direction
could not be the employer for he represented
the restraint and the bourgeois opportunity from
which the immigrant fed and which he hated
In his old home and new. il could not be in re-
ligion he would find leaders. for through all its
early stage the great mass Of immigrants were
of faith deemed alien by the organized churches
Of the community to which he came The small
grocer and the liquor seller, the mechanic fore
man or superintendent, and the contractor risen
from the ranks Of lsborers. and for whom he
was able TO furnish the employment the new
conner first seeks. constituted the directing force
Of society brought most directly in contact with
the immigrant and his offspring, new landed or
long resident Coming as strangers and morgan
lied. the immigrant population fell under the i'm
mediate direction of that stratum OF society
which lay nearest. and which had none of the
Objectionable features Of other strata whose rule
was resented. and whose privileges elsewhere
were remembered with bitterness. The precise
classes which have been described constituted,
and still constitute, the backbone Of Tammany
Hall
It may be added that the conditions
which have prevailed in New York have
also existed in somewhat less degree in
many other Eastern cities, and although
these places have not had their Tammany
Hall they have often been subject to the
evils Of that organization without its sood
qualities.
The rank and file OF Tammany Hall.
then, has been drawn from class inimlcal
10 education, refinement and any tradi-
tons but It's own while. its notions of