fAnniversary discoiirse, before the
New York Historical Society. Dec, 1828.
iJames Kent. -.

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CHANCSiliLiPJEl KENT'S
ANNIVERSARir DISCOURSE.
Decetnbere, 18£S.

AJVSriVERSARY DISCOFRSE,

DELIVERED BEFORE

THE NEW- YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

DECEKBEXt 6, 1828.

BY JAMES KENT,
President of tlie Society.

NEW-YOEK:
PUBLISHED BY G. & C. CARVILL,
BROADWAY. 1829.

S»uthem District of Jfeto- York^ ss.
BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the thirtieth day of December, A- D. 1828, in the eft;r-
CT H\ third year of the Independence of the United States of America, John W- Francis,
^ o-J Charles King, and Jonathan M. Wainwright, for the New- York Hietorical Society,
of die aaid district, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, tho right whereof the
^aid Society claims as Proprietors, inthe words following, to wit :
" An Anniversary Discourse, delivered before the New- York Historical Society, December
6th, 1828. By James Kent, President ofthe Society."
In conformity to tiie Act of Congress of tbe United States, entitled, " An Act for tlie encou
ragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charta, and Books, to the authors and
proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned.** And also to an Act, entitled,
*' An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by
securing the copies of Maps, Charta, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies,
dnring the times therein mentioned, and extending the beaefits thereof to the arts uf designing,
-"'engraving, and etching historical and other Prints*** FRED. J. BETTS,
Clerk ofthe Southern District of New- York.

Clayton & Van Norden, Printers-

Jfe-w-'York Hiiioricai Societ-y,
December 9lh, 1828.
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to the Honourable
James Kent, for his able, appropriate, and highly interesting Discourse,
delivered in the Hall of Columbia College, on the 6th of December instant ;
and that he be requested to furnish a copy of the same for publication.
Resolved, That Doctor John W. Francis, Rev. Doctor Wainwright, and
Charles King, Esq., be a Committee to carry the foregoing resolution into
effect. JOSEPH BLUNT,
Recording Secretary.

DISCOURSE, &c.

GENTLEMEN OP THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
It is a subject of just congratulation, that we now
find this Society in a condition to pursue, with success, the
patriotic design of the founders of the institution. By
means of the bounty of the legislature, and the public
spirit of several of the members, we are relieved from our
embarrassments, and are enabled to display, to great ad
vantage, the valuable collection of books and historical
documents which we possess.
Our collections heretofore lay in such disorder, that few
persons were aware of their intrinsic value. They have
been redeemed from confusion, and made conveniently
accessible to the scholar and the antiquary ; and can now,
with great satisfaction, be presented to the view of our own
citizens, and of intelligent strangers. For this improve
ment, our thanks are especially due to Mr. Delafield, the
Treasurer ; and it is to his industry, taste, and zeal, that
we are indebted for this new and beautiful arrangement of
our historical materials.
When we advert to what has been done in other states,
and particularly in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and
perceive how much they have hitherto surpassed us in the
extent and value of their researches, I trust we shall feel
an additional stimulus to acquit ourselves of our duty, and
throw back upon our own annals some of the light and
lustre which emanate from the spirit of the age.
1

As the object of the Society is to discover, collect, and
|>reserve materials, calculated to illustrate the history of our
country, it has appeared to me to be suitable to the design
of this anniversary meeting, to call your attention to some
reflections, arising upon a view of the domestic history of
this state. If I do not greatly deceive myself, there is no
portion of the history of this country, which is more in
structive, or better calculated to embellish our national cha
racter. The eastern descendants of the pilgrims are justly proud
of their colonial ancestors ; and they are wisely celebrating,
on all proper occasions, the memory and merits of the ori
ginal founders of their republics, in productions of great
genius and of classical taste. Why should we, in this state,
continue any longer comparatively heedless of our own
glory, when we also can point to a body of illustrious an
nals ? Our history will be found, upon examination, to be
as fruitful as the records of any other people, in recitals of
heroic actions, and in images of resplendent virtue. It is
equally well fitted to elevate the pride of ancestry, to awa
ken deep feeling, to strengthen just purpose, and enkindle
generous emulation.
Such historical reviews have a salutary influence upon
the morals and manners of the times ; for they help us to
detect pretended merit, to rebuke selfish ambition, to check
false patriotism, and humble arrogant pretension.
. ^ The discovery of the Hudson, and the settlement of our
' ancestors upon its borders, is a plain and familiar story, on
which I shall not enlarge. Our origin is within the limits
of well-attested history. This at once dissipates the en
chantments of fiction ; and we are not permitted, like the
nations of ancient Europe, to deduce our lineage from
super-human beings, or to clothe the sage and heroic spirits
who laid the foundations of our empre, with the exaggera
tions and lustre of poetical invention. Nor do we stand
in need of the aid of such machinery. It is a sufficient

honour to be able to appeal to the simple aud severe
records of truth. The Dutch discoverers and settlers of
New Netherlands, were grave, temperate, firm, persevering
men, who brought with them the industry, the economy,
the simplicity, the integrity, and the bravery of their Belgic
sires ; and with those virtues they also imported the lights
of the Roman civil law, and the purity of the Protestant
faith. To that period we are to look with chastened awe
and respect, for the beginnings of our city, and the works
of our primitive fathers — our Albani patres, atque altcB
mcenia Roma.
It does great credit to the just and moderate views of
the Dutch during their government in this colony, that
though they selected and settled on some of the best bot
tom lands on the shores of the Hudson and its tributary
waters, they lived upon friendly terms with the powerful
confederacy of the Five Nations of Indians, whose original
dominion extended over all the lands occupied by the
Dutch. They were, at times, involved in hostilities with
restless clans of neighbouring Indians, but the original and
paramount lords of the soil, and generally the Long Island
Indians, gave them no disturbance." The reason was, that
the Indian right to the soil was recognised by the Dutch,
and always regarded by them, as well as by the English,
their successors, with the best faith ; and they claimed no
lands but such as were procured by fair purchase,* The
speech of the Indian called Good Peter tp the commis
sioners at Fort Schuyler, in 1788, is a strong attestation of

a S-mith's History of New-York, vol. i. 23. Trumbull's History
of Connecticut, vol. i. 138 — 140. Collections of the New-York His
torical Society, vol. iii. 324. 357. Wood's Sketch of the First Sel-
tleinent on Long Island, p. 29 — 32.
6 fFood's Sketch, p. 12. 22, 23. gives the names of the several
tribes from whom all the lands on Long Island, whether settled bv
the Dutch or English, were purchased.

this fact. He observed, that when the white men flrst came
into the country, they were few and feeble, and the Five
Nations numerous and powerful. The Indians were
friendly to the white men, and permitted them to settle in
the country, and protected them from their enemies ; and
they had wonderfully increased, and become like a great
tree overshadowing the whole country."
The Dutch colonial annals are of a tame and pacific
character, and generally dry and uninteresting. The civil
officers, as well as the ministers of the Dutch churches,
were well-educated men, who imbibed their religion and
learning in Holland ; and in their long and sharp contro
versies with the New-England Colonies, the governors of
this Colony showed themselves to be no ways inferior in
their discussions to the most sagacious of the Puritans,
either in talent, doctrine, or manners. Their disputes were
concerning territorial jurisdiction, and particularly in re
spect to the country on Connecticut river, and they also had
contentions concerning fugitives from justice, and interfe
rences with the Indian trade. Strength and arrogance of
deportment were evidently on the side of the English.
Governor Keift, in his letter to the commissioners of the
United Colonies of New-England, in 1646, observed, that
their complaints of ill-usage were the complaints of the
wolf against the Iamb.* Governor Stuyvesant also ob
served, in his letter to the Dutch West India Company, in
,1660, that the New-Englanders were in the ratio of ten to
one, and able to deprive the Dutch of their country.' The
Dutch governors charged the English, in direct terms, with
an insatiable desire of possessing their lands ; and what
ever might have been the real merits of the Dutch title to

a Collections of the New-York Historical Society, vol. iii. S26.
b Hist. CoU. New-York Society, vol. i. 196.
* c Smith's Hist, of JVeto-York, vol. i. 21.

lands on Connecticut river, founded on assumed prior dis
covery and prior Indian purchase, it appears, at least from
the diplomatic papers of the time, that their manner of
vindicating their claim, and repelling accusation, and re
monstrating against aggression, was forcible, sagacious,
and temperate.
Peter Stuyvesant administered the Dutch government
fi-om 1647 to the surrender of the Colony to the English,
in 1664, and he held his power in difficult times, and was
surrounded with perils ; but he was a man of military skill,
and of great firmness, judgment, and discretion." He ma
nifested his desire for peace, and showed the magnanimity
of his character, in going, in proper person, in 1650, to
Hartford, to meet and negotiate with the commissioners
of the New-England Colonies. Though i^ianding alone in
the midst of a body of keen and well-instructed oppo
nents, he conducted himself with admirable address and
firmness. The correspondence between him and the com-
missioneirs, is embodied and preserved in the collections of
this Society, and it does credit to his memory.* The com
missioners took offence at the date of his first diplomatic
note, which, though written on the spot, was dated New-
Netherlands. Governor Stuyvesant consented to date it
at Connecticut, leaving out New-Netherlands, provided the
commissioners would date theirs at Hartford, leaving out
New-England, and to this they assented. Both parties
managed the controversy with great discretion and good
sense. When the commissioners complained of the vague
ness and harshness of some parts of his letters, Govjernor
Stuyvesant replied, that he came there from the love of
peace, and not RSr altercation ; and that they all knew he could
not deliver himself so promptly and clearly in the English

a Benson's Historical Memoir, note iv.
6 Collections, vol. i. 189—290., taken from Hazard's Historical
Collections, vol. ii.

10
as in his own native tongue, and no advantage ought to be
taken of any inaccuracy of expression. The meeting ad
journed without any decisive results ; and he afterwards, in
the year 1653, sent an elaborate vindication of his rights to
the New-England commissioners at Boston, which con
tained sound expositions of national law. The English had
.complained of the exaction of duties upon them in their
trade and purchases at New-Amsterdam; and he in his
turn insisted, that every civil government had a right to
make what laws it thought fit, and every person who came
within a foreign jurisdiction, must expect to find, and not
to bring laws with him. He resented, in proper terms of
indignation, the atrocious charge of being concerned in a
conspiracy with the Indians, to plunder his neighbours, and
shed innocent blood ; and he said, that he reposed on the
mens conscia recti, and despised the tongue of calumny.
Though he sought nothing but peace and neighbourly in
tercourse, yet, if he must be driven to extremities, he had
confidence that a just God would smile on and bless a
righteous defence.
With that wise and good man terminated the Dutch
power in this Colony.
The English took possession of the government in 1664,
and administered it in the name, and under the authority
of the Duke of York, who was the patentee. The terms
of surrender of the Dutch power were exceedingly hberal.
The ihhabitants were made secure in their persons, pro
perty, and religion." Their titles to land were previously
free fi"om the appendages and services of feudal bondage.*

a Smith's History of New- York, vo). i. 32.
b This is to be inferred from the conditions which had been offered
by the Burgomasters of Amsterdam, in 1656, to the settlers in New-
Netherlands, one of which was, that every farmer should have a free,
fast, and durable property in bis lands — New-York Hittorical Col
lections, vol. i. 291.

11
The conquest of the Colony proved to be a very fortunate
event to the Dutch. They were relieved from perilous
controversies with their eastern neighbours, and they be
came entitled to the privileges of English subjects. In a
few years they participated in the blessings of a repre
sentative government, and they exchanged their Roman
jurisprudence for the fi^eer spirit, the better security, and
more eflScient energy of the English common law. The
Dutch and English inhabitants became thoroughly united,
and formed but one indivisible people. The Dutch race
in this Colony kept at least equal pace with their English
brethren, in every estimable qualification of good citizens.
Through all the subsequent periods of our eventful story,
down to the present day, they have furnished their full pro
portion of competent men. This they have done in every
variety of situation in which our country was placed, whe
ther in peace or in war ; and whatever was the duty in
which they were engaged, whether in the civil or military,
political or professional departments."
Within twenty years from the conquest of the Colony,'
a free government, upon the plan of the English constitii-
tion, was given to it, consisting of a Governor and Legisla
tive Council, appointed by the Crown, and a House of As
sembly, chosen by the people.* The Assembly was com-

a It is worthy of notice, that the only two regiments of infantry
from this state, in the line of the army of the United States, at the
close of the American war, were commanded by Dutchmen. I al
lude to tbe regiments commanded by Col. Van Cortlandt and Col.
Van Schaick. And I hope I may be permitted to add, without
meaning any invidious comparisons, that we have now living in this
state, in advanced life, three lawyers of Dutch descent, who are not
surpassed any where in acuteness of mind, in sound law learning,
and in moral worth. The reader will readily perceive that I have in
my eye Egbert Benson, Peter Van Schaack, and Abraham Van
Vechten. h Smith's History, vol. i. 43. 58.

12
posed, in the first instance, of seventeen members only,
and it was never enlarged, even down to the period of the
American war, beyond the number of twenty-seven. The
members, during the earlier periods of our colony history,
were elected for an indefinite period ; and new elections
seemed to have been held only upon the dissolution of the
legislature by the act of the governor. After long struggles
for triennial elections, the assembly finally succeeded in
1743, to have the assembly made septennial by law. But
we should be greatly mistaken if we were to conclude
that so small a body of representatives, and chosen for such
indefinite or protracted periods, was unable to withstand
the influence of the executive branch of the government.
The house, almost as soon as it was organized, began to
feel its strength, and to display its independent genius.
Through the whole period of our colonial history, the gene
ral assembly rarely ceased to sustain its rights, and assert
its dignity with becoming spirit, against the whole weight
and influence of the delegated powers of royalty. This
character of the house, was a consequence naturally flow
ing from the healthy and vigorous principle of popular elec
tion, which, like the touch by Antaeus of his mother Earth,
in his struggles with Hercules, always communicated fresh
strength and courage to renew the contest.
The house of assembly, from the very beginning of it,
exercised its discretion as to the grant of supplies for the
support of government, both in respect to the extent and
the duration of the grants. The governors, however, con
stantly complained, and insisted upon a permanent provi
sion for the officers of government, and -they interposed
royal instructions, and sharp remonstrances, for that pur
pose. Governor Fletcher, in 1695, first began the struggle
with the assembly upon that point, and the contest was
continued down to the era of our revolution ; but the as
sembly retained the control of their funds with inflexible
firmness. As the governor and council were appointed by

the crown, and held their offices at its pleasure, and as
the judges were appointed by the governor and held at his
pleasure, the colonial assembly had good reason to be te
nacious of reserving to themselves some check upon the
executive and judicial departments, by means of their sup
port. In 1708 the house of assembly declared that it was the
unquestionable right of every freeman in the colony to havn
a perfect and entire property in his goods and estate ; and
that the imposing and levying of any moneys upon the sub
jects of the colony, under any pretence or colour what
soever, without their consent, in general assembly, was a
grievance, and a violation of right. They further declared
that the king could not erect a court of equity in the colo
ny without the consent ofthe legislature. This last resolu
tion was again and again adopted, between 1702 and t735,
in despite ofthe influence and menaces ofthe royal repre
sentative." In 1749, the claim upon the assembly to pass
a permanent Supply bill, was renewed in the most imperi
ous and offensive manner. The governor told the assem
bly he had the king's instructions for a law rendering the
provision for the support of government permanent ; and
the house calmly rephed, that they would never recede from
the method of an annual support. The governor then went
so far as to deny their authority to act, except by the royal
commissions and instructions, alterable at the king's plea
sure, and subject to his limitations ; and that there was a
power able to punish them, and would punish them, if they
provoked it by their misbehaviour. He proceeded tq such
extremities that the assembly, without swerving in the
least from their determined purpose, declared his conduct
to be arbitrary, illegal, and a violation of their privileges.*
It would be difficult to find in any of the legislative te-

a Colony Journals, vol. i. 223.
b Smith's Hist. ofJVew-York, vol. ii. IDS — 110. Colony Journals,
vol. ii. 244 — 274. o

14
cords of this country, a clearer sense of right, or a better
spirit to defend it. There were also considerations arising
from the peculiarity of their local condition, which serve
greatly to elevate the character of our colonial ancestors.
Whenever war existed between Great Britain and France,
the province of New- York was the principal theatre of co
lonial contest. It became the Flanders of America, and it
had to sustain, from time to time, the scourge and fiiry of
savage and Canadian devastation. We need only cast an
eye upon our geographical position, and read the aflfecting
details of the formidable expeditions, and the frightful in
cursions which laid waste our northern and western fi-o'n-
tiers, between 1690, and the conquest of Canada, in 1760,
to be deeply impressed with a sense of the diflSculties which
this colony had to encounter, and of the fortitude and per
severance with which they were overcome. The leading
men, who swayed the house of assembly, or directed the
popular voice, never wanted valour and virtue adequate to
the crisis.
But I hasten to cast a rapid glance over the great events
in our domestic history, subsequent to the peace of 1763.
The colony took an early and distinguished stand against
the claims of the British parliament, to raise a revenue from
their American colonies without their consent. If she was
not in advance. New- York was at least equal in point of
time, in point of spirit, and in point of argument, to any of
the colonies, in the use she made of the monitory language
of remonstrance. In March, 1764, the English house of
commons passed a declaratory resolution, that it would be
proper to impose certain stamp duties in the colonies for
the purpose of raising revenue, and other resolutions passed
at the same time, laying new duties upon the trade ofthe
colonies. In October, 1764, the house of assembly of this
colony, addressed the king and each house of parliament
aigainst all such schemes of taxation. They contended that
the power of taxing themselves was interwoven fundamen-

15
tally in their constitution, and was an exclusive and inex
tinguishable right ; and that the people of the colony could
not be rightfully taxed without their consent, given by their
representatives in general assembly. They declared that
they received with the bitterness of grief, the intimation of
a design in the British parliament to infringe that inestima
ble right. They complained also of the extension of the
powers of the Vice-Admiralty courts, which led to a dange
rous diminution of trial by jury. The assembly reasoned
the question of taxation, with the British parliament, in the
most eloquent and masterly manner ; they declared that
the people of the colony nobly disdained to claim exemp
tion from foreign taxation as a privilege ; they challenged
it, and gloried in it as a right. It was a right enjoyed by
their fellow subjects in Great Britain, and was the grand
principle of the independence of the British house of com
mons ; and they very significantly asked, " why such an
odious discrimination ? Why should it be denied to those
who submitted to poverty, barbarian wars, loss of blood, loss
of money, personal fatigues, and ten thousand unutterable
hardships, to enlarge the trade, dominion, and wealth ofthe
nation ?"
In October, 1765, the house of assembly were represent
ed by a select committee, in a congress of the northern
colonies, which met in this city, on the subject of the
grievous claims and laws of the British parliament. The
chairman of that committee was Judge Livingston, the fa
ther of the late Chancellor of that name ; and he reported
to the house the proceedings of the congress, and the house
approved of the conduct and services of the committee.
They then united in fresh remonstrances to the king, and
each house of parliament, against the stamp act and other
statutes imposing taxes upon the colonies without their
consent, and against the unwarrantable jurisdiction of the
Vice- Admiralty courts. They declared that they were not,
and could not, be represented in parliament ; and their ad-

re
dresses were spirited and determined, and they certainly
were urged with weighty and pathetic exhortation.
At the close of the year 1768, the house of assembly
again remonstrated in the most decided style, and in ani
mated addresses to the king and parhament, against the
claims ofthe British government. They specified their es
sential rights, and enuhnerated their grievances. They
complained of the recent statutes imposing duties and
raising revenue from the colonies, without their consent, as
being utterly subversive of their constitutional rights. They
insisted that the authority of the colonial legislatures could
not lawfully be suspended, abridged, or abrogated; and
they considered the suspension of their legislative power,
until they should have made provision for the accommoda
tion of the king's troops, as a most dangerous assumption
of unlawful power. They strongly urged their complaints
of the erection of courts dependent upon the will of a royal
governor ; of Admiralty courts in which they were deprived
of trial by jury, so deservedly celebrated by Englishmen, in
all ages, as essential to their safety ; and ofthe parliamentary
claim of a right to give away their estates, and bind them
in all cases whatsoever. They asserted in the most manly
terms, their claim to a participation in those rights and h-
berties, which had been declared by magna charta, and re
asserted in the petition and bill of rights, and confirmed at
the accession ofthe house of Orange ; and they reminded
the king and parliament of their former loyalty and services,
and how often it had been confessed that their zeal had
carried them to make contributions beyond their propor
tion, and that the excesses had been reimbursed.
These state papers were produced in December, 1768,
and they resemble very much in matter, spirit, and style,
the resolutions and addresses of the first continental con
gress, in 1774, and they rival them in dignity and value.
They were forwarded to the colonial agent at the court of
Great Britain, and that agent was Edmund Burke. And yet

17
for those very proceedings, the assembly was severely re
buked by the governor, Sir Henry Moore, and the legis
lature was dissolved.
As the disputes between the mother countiy and the co
lonies grew more serious, and were evidently approxima
ting to an appeal to arms, the house of assembly began to
pause in its career. The influence of the crown upon the
legislature ofthe colony was sensibly felt, and it tended, in
a considerable degree, to damp their future zeal, and neu
tralize their measures. But the spirit of the people kept
equal pace with the views and wishes of their brethren in
the other colonies ; and the prominent and splendid lumina
ries in the great scenes of the revolution, now began to
ascend above the horizon. The names of Philip Schuyler
and George Clinton, appear on the journals of the colony
assembly, as members of the house during those noble ef
forts in the year 1768 ; and they were constantly maintain
ed in that station, by their constituents of Albany and Ulster
counties, from that year down to the termination ofthe ex
istence of the colony legislature in April, 1775. The Dutch
family of Schuyler stands conspicuous in our colonial an
nals. Colonel Peter Schuyler was mayor of Albany, and
commander of the northern militia in 1690. He was dis
tinguished for his probity, and activity in all the various
duties of civil and military life. No man understood bet
ter the relation of the colony with the Five Nations of In
dians, or had more decided influence with that confedera
cy. He had frequently chastised the Canadian French for
their destructive incursions upon the frontier settlements ;
and his zeal and energy were rewarded by a seat in the
provincial council ; and the house of assembly gav© their
testimony to the British court of his faithful services and
good reputation. It was this same vigilant officer who
gave intelligence to the inhabitants of Deerfield, on Con
necticut river, of the designs of the French and Indians
upon them, some short time before the destruction of that

18
village, in 1704." In 1720, as president ofthe council, he
became acting governor of the colony for a short time, pre
vious to the accession of Governor Burnet.* His son, Colo
nel Philip Schuyler, was an active and efficient member of
assembly, for the city and county of Albany, in 1743. But
the Philip Schuyler to whom I particularly allude, and who
in a subsequent age shed such signal lustre upon the family
name, was born at Albany in the year 1733, and at an early
age he began to display his active mind, and military spirit.
He was a captain in the New- York levies at Fort Edward,
in 1755, and accompanied the British army in the expedi
tion down lake George, in the summer of 1758. He was
with Lord Howe when he fell by the fire of the enemy, on
landing at the north end of the lake ; and he was appointed
(as he himself informed me) to convey the body of that
young and lamented nobleman to Albany, where he was
buried, with appropriate solemnities, in the episcopal
church. We next find him, under the title of Colonel Schuyler, in
company with his compatriot George Clinton, in the year
1768, on the floor of the house of assembly, taking an
active share in all their vehement discussions. Neither of
them was to be overawed or seduced from a bold and de
termined defence of the constitutional rights of the colo
nies, and of an adherence to the letter and spirit of the
councils of the union. The struggle in the house of as
sembly, between the ministerial and the whig parties, was
brought to a crisis in the months of February and March,
1775 ; and in that memorable contest, Philip Schuyler and
George Chnton, together with Nathaniel Woodhull of
Long Island, acted distinguished parts. On the motions

a Smith's Hist, of New-York, vol. i. 92. 94. 137, 138. Hoyt's
Indian fVars, p. 185. i
b Colony Journals, vol. i. 438.

19
to give the thanks of the house to the delegates from the
colony in the continental congress of September, 1774; and
to thank the merchants and inhabitants of the Qolony, for
their adherence to the non-importation and the association
recommended by congress, those patriots found themselves
in the minority. But their courage and resolution gained
strength firom defeat. On the 3d of March, Colofiel Schuy
ler moved declaratory resolutions that the act of 4 Geo. III.
imposing duties for raising a revenue in America ; and for
extending the jurisdiction of Admiralty courts ; and for de
priving his majesty's subjects in America of trial by jury ;
and for holding up an injurious discrimination between the
subjects of Great Britain and those of the colonies, were
great grievances. The government party seem to have fled
the question, and to have left in the house only the scanty
number of nine members, and the resolutions were carried
by a vote of seven to two. But their opponents imme
diately rallied, and eleven distinct divisions, on different mo
tions, were afterwards taken in the course of that single
day, and entered on the journal ; and they related to all
the momentous points then in controversy, between Great
Britain and the United Colonies. It was a sharp and hard
fought contest for fundamental principles ; and a more so
lemn and eventful debate rarely ever happened on the floor
of a deliberative assembly. The house consisted on that
day of twenty-four members, and the ministerial majority
was exactly in the ratio of two to one ; and the intrepidity,
talent, and services ofthe three members I have named,
and especially of Schuyler and Clinton, were above all
praise, and laid the foundation for those lavish marks of
honour and confidence which their countrymen were after
wards so eager to bestow.
The resistance of the majority of the House was fairly
broken down, and essentially controlled by the efforts of
the minority and the energy of public opinion. A series
of resolutions, declaratory of American grievances, were

20
parsed, and petitions to the king and parliament adopted,
not indeed in all respects such as the leaders of the mino
rity wished, (for all their amendments were voted down,)
but they were nevertheless grounded upon the principles of
the American Revolution. They declared that the claims
of taxation and absolute sovereignty, on the part of the
British parliament, and the extension of admiralty jurisdic
tion, were grievances, and unconstitutional measures ; and
that the act of pa^iament, shutting up the port of Boston,
and altering the charter of that colony, also were griev
ances. Xhese were the last proceedings of the general assembly
of the colony of New- York, which now closed its existence
for ever. More perilous scenes, and new and brighter
paths of glory, were opening upon the vision of those illus
trious patriots.
The delegates from this colony to the first continental
congress in 1774, were not chosen by the general assembly,
but by the suflfrages of the people, manifested in some suf
ficiently authentic shape in the several counties. Among
those delegates, and indeed among the whole list of per
sons in this first memorable convention, which assembled
at Philadelphia with more than Amphictyonic dignity,
there is but the name of a single survivor. He now lives in
an adjoining county, in tranquil retirement, with his facul
ties sound, his health comfortable, cherished by his chil
dren, cheered by his fiiends, and displaying in his conver
sation and manners the wisdom of a sage, and the faith
and resignation of a Christian. John Jay was one of the
committee in that earliest congress, who drew and re
ported the address to the people of Great Britain. I was
assured, in very early life, that he had a special share in its
composition. At any rate, it bears the impression of his
genius, and it is a production that stands without a rival.
The public papers of Ihat congress were all of them, in
every point of view, of a masterly character. Lord Chat-

21
ham declared in his place, in the House of Lords, that those
productions had never been surpassed in any age or nation,
for sbhdity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of
conclusion. The delegates to the second continental congress, which
met in May, 1775, were chosen by a provincial congress,
which the people of the colony had already created, and
which was held in this city, in April of that year, and,had vir
tually assumed the powers of government, ^he names of the
delegates from this colony, to this second* congress, vvere,
John Jay, John Alsop, James Duane, Philip Schuyler,
George Clinton, Lewis Morris, and Robert R. Livingston ;
and the weight of their talents and character may be in
ferred from the fact, that Mr. Jay, Mr. Livingston, Mr.
Duane, and Mr. Schuyler, were early placed upon commit
tees, charged with the most arduous and responsible duties."
We find Washington and Schuyler associated together in
the committee, appointed on the 14th of June, 1775, to pre
pare rules and regulations for the government of the army.
This association of those great men, commenced at such
a critical moment, was the beginning of a mutual confi
dence, respect, ahd admiration, which continued, with un
interrupted and unabated vividness, during the remainder
of their lives. An allusion is made to this friendship in the
memoir of a former president of this society, and the allur
sion is remarkable for its strength and pathos. After men
tioning General Schuyler, he adds, " I have placed thee,
my friend, by the side of him who knew thee ; thy intelli
gence to discern, thy zeal to promote thy country's good,
and knowing thee, prized thee. Let this be thy eulogy.
I add, and with truth, peculiarly thine — content it should
be mine to have expressed it."*

a Journals of Congress, vol. i. 99. 106.
b The Memoir of Judge Benson, from which this is extracted, has
never met with the reception due to its intrinsic merits. This has
3

22
The congress of this colony, during the years 1775 and
1776, had to meet difficulties and dangers almost sufficient
to subdue the firmest resolution. The population of the
colony vvas short of 200,000 souls. It had a vast body of
disaffected inhabitants within its own bosom. It had nu
merous tribes of hostile savages on its extended frontier.
The bonds of society seemed to have been broken up, and
society itself resolved into its primitive elements. There
was no civil govemment but such as had been introduced
by the provincial congress, and county committees, as tem
porary expedients. It had an enemy's province in the
rear, strengthened by large and well-appointed forces. It
had an ispen and exposed seaport, without any adequate
means to defend it. In the summer of 1776, the state
was actually invaded, not only upon our Canadian, but
upon our Atlantic frontier, by a formidable fleet and army,
calculated by the power that sent them, to be sufficient to
annihilate at once all our infant republics.
In the midst of this appalling storm, the virtue of our
people, animated by a host of intrepid patriots, the men
tion of whose names is enough to kindle enthusiasm in the
breasts of the present generation, remained glowing, un
moved, and invincible. It would be difficult to find any
other people who have been put to a severer test, or on
trial gave higher proofs of courage and capacity.
On the 19th of June, 1775, Philip Schuyler was ap
pointed by congress the third Major General in the armies
of the United Colonies ; and such was his singular promp
titude, that in eleven days from his appointment, we find
him in actual service, corresponding with congress from a

probably arisen from the style and manner peculiar to that venerable
man, whose habit has been to treat matters of fact with the dryness,
precision, and severity of a special pleader. But the Memoir is never
theless replete with shrewd remarks, sound principles, just criticism,
keen satire, and ardent patriotism.

^distance, on business that required and received immediate
attention. In July, 1775, he was placed at the head of a
Board of Commissioners for the northern department, and
empowered to employ all the troops in that department at
his discretion, subject to the future orders of the Com
mander-in-chief. He was authorized, if he should find it
practicable and expedient, to take possession of St. Johns
and Montreal, and pursue any other measures in Canada
having a tendency, in his judgment, to promote the peace
and security of the United Colonies.
In September, 1775, General Schuyler was acting under
positive instructions to enter Canada, and he proceeded,
with Generals Montgomery and Wooster under his com
mand, to the Isle au Noix. He had at that time become
extremely ill, and he was obliged to leave the command of
the expedition to devolve upon General Montgomery. The
latter, under his orders, captured the garrisons of Chambly
and St. Johns, and pressed forward to Montreal and Que
bec. Montreal was entered on the_12th of. November,
1775, by the troops under the immediate orders of Mont
gomery, and in the same month a committee from congress
was appointed to confer with General Schuyler, relative to
raising troops in Canada for the possession and security of
that province. His activity, skill, and zeal, shone conspicu
ously throughout that arduous northern campaign; and
his unremitting correspondence with congress received the
most prompt and marked consideration.
While the expeditionjinder Montgomery was employed
in Canada, General Schuyler was called to exercise his in
fluence and power in another quarter of his military district.
On the 30th of December, 1775,. he was ordered to disarm
the disaffected inhabitants of Tryon County, then under
the influence of Su: John Johnson ; and on the 18th of
January following, he made a treaty with the disaffected
portion of the people, in that western part of the state.
The continental congress were so highly satisfied with his

24
conduct in that delicate and meritorious service, as to de
clare, by a special resolution, that he had executed his trust
with fidelity, prudence, and despatch ; and they ordered a
publication of the narrative of his march in the depth of
winter, into the regions bordering on the middle and upper
Mohawk. The duties imposed upon that officer were so
various, multiplied, and incessant, as to require rapid move
ments sufficient to distract and confound an ordinary mind.
Thus, on the SOth of December, 1775, he was ordered to
disarm the tories in Tryon county. On the Sth of January,
1776, he was ordered to have the river St. Lawrence,
above and below Quebec, well explored. On the 25th of
January, he was ordered to have the fortress of Ticonde
roga repaired and made defensible ; and on the 17th of
February, he was directed to take the command of the
forces, and conduct the military operations at the city of
New- York. All these cumulative and conflicting orders
from congress, were made upon him in the course of six
weeks, and they were occasioned by the embarrassments
and distresses of the times."
In Maich, 1776, congress changed their plan of opera
tion, and directed General Schuyler to establish his head
quarters at Albany, and superintend the army destined for
Canada. He was instructed to take such orders as he
should deem expedient, respecting the very perplexing and
all-important subject of the supplies for the troops in
Canada ; and those orders as to the supplies were repeated
in April, and again in May, 1776. The duty of procuring
supplies, though less splendid in its effects, is often more
effectual to the safety and success of an army than prowess
in the field. General Schuyler, by his thorough business
habits, his precise attention to details, and by his skill and
science in every duty connected with the equipment of an
army, was admirably fitted to be at the head of the commis-
n Journals of Congress, vols. i. and ii.

sariate ; and he gave life and vigour to eveiy branch of the
service. His versatile talents, equally adapted to investiga
tion and action, rendered his merits as an officer of trans
cendent value.
On the 14th of June, 1776, he was ordered by congress
to hold a treaty with the six nations, and engage them in
the interest of the colonies, and to treat with them on the
principles, and in the decisive manner, which he had sug
gested. His preparations for taking immediate possession
of Fort Stanwix, and erecting a fortification there, received
the approbation of congress, and their records afford the
most satisfactory evidence that his comprehensive and ac
curate mind had anticipated and suggested the most essen
tial measures, which he afterwards diligently executed
throughout the whole northern department. But within
three days after the order for the treaty, congress directed
his operations to a different quarter of his command. He
was ordered, on the 17th of June, to clear Wood Creek, and
construct a lock upon the creek at Skeensborough, (now
Whitehall,) and to take the level of the waters falling into
the Hudson at Fort Edward, and into Wood Creek. There
can be no doubt that those orders were all founded upon
his previous suggestions, and they afford demonstrative
proof of the views entertained by him, at that early day, of
the practicability and importance of canal navigation. He
was likewise directed to cause armed vessels to be built, so
as to secure the mastery of the waters of the northern lakes.
He was to judge ofthe expediency of a temporary fortifica
tion or intrenched camp on the heights opposite Ticonde
roga. Captain Graydon visited General Schuyler early in
the summer of 1776, at his head quarters on Lake George ;
and he speaks of him, in the very interesting Memoirs of his
own Life, as an officer thoroughly devoted to business, and
being, at the same time, a gentleman of polished and cour
teous manners. On the 1st of August following, he was on
the upper Mohawk, providing for its defence and security,

26
and again in October we find him on the upper Hudson,
and calling upon the Eastern States for their militia.
There can be no doubt that the northern frontier, in the
campaign of 1776, was indebted for its extraordinary quiet
and security, to the ceaseless activity of General Schuyler.
At the close of that year he was further instructed to build
a floating battery on the lake, and a fort on Mount Inde
pendence, and also to strengthen the Works at Fort
Stanwix. In the midst of such conflicting and harassing services,
he had excited much popular jealousy and ill will, arising
from the energy of his character, and the dignity of
his deportment. He was likewise disgusted, at what he
deemed injustice, in the irregularity of appointing other
and junior officers in separate and independent com
mands within what was considered to be his military dis
trict. He accordingly, in October, 1776, tendered to con
gress the resignation of his commission. But when con
gress came to investigate his services, they found them,
says the historian of Washington," far to exceed in value
any estimate which had been made of them. They de
clared that they could not dispense with his services during
the then situation of affairs ; and they directed the president
of congress to request him to continue in his command, and
they declared their high sense of his services, and their un
abated confidence in his attachment to the cause of
freedom. On the Oth of July, 1776, the provincial congress of the
colony ratified the Declaration of Independence, and they
immediately assumed the title ofthe Convention ofthis state.
On motion of Gouverneur Morris, seconded by William
Duer, a committee was appointed, on the 1st of August, to
prepare and report the form of a constitution ; but it was not
reported and finally adopted until the 20th of April, 1777.
o Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. iii. 231.

27
The deliberations of the conventjon were conducted under
the excitement of great public anxiety and constant alarm ;
and that venerable instrument, which was destined to be
our guardian and pride, and to command the confidence
and attachment of the people for upwards of forty years,
was produced amidst the hurry and tumult of arms. The
convention was constantly changing its place of residence
to meet the exigencies of the day. Ftom this city it re
moved successively to Harlem, to the White Plains, to
Fishkill, to Poughkeepsie, and to Kingston. The mem
bers were harassed by variety of avocation and duty.
Some were with the troops in the field ; others were mem
bers of the continental congress ; others wete absorbed in
attention to local concerns, and the wants of their exiled
families. General Woodhull, who acted a noble part in
the colonial assembly, and was president of the New-York
Convention when it ratified the Declaration of Indepen
dence, commanded the Lorig Island militia, and was
slain by the enemy on Long-Island, at the close of
the battle, in August, 1776. The draft of the ccttistitu-
tion was in the hand-writing of Mr. Jay, and it was re
ported by Mr. Duane. Those individuals, together with
Gouverneur Morris and Robert R. Livingston, were proba
bly among the most efficient professional members ofthe
convention in the production of the instrument ; though
the names of other members stand in bold relief upon th6
records of our revolutionary contest, for their wisdom in
council, and their energy in action.
When the constitution was promulgated, and the con
vention were about to dissolve, they created a Council of
Safety ; and by their resolution of the 8th of May, 1777,
they invested that council with all the powers requisite for
the safety and preservation of the state, until a governor
and legislature should be duly chosen, and in a condition
to act under the provisions of the constitution. The coun
cil, thus clothed for a season with absolute power, consisted

28
of only fifteen men ; but they were not sunshine patriots.
Their souls were formed of nobler materials. They had
every claim to public confidence, and they did not abuse it.,
Their names, in the order in which they stand in the resell^-,
tion of the convention, were, John Morrin Scott, Robert R.
Livingston, Christopher Tappen, Abraham Yates, junior,
Gouverneur Morris, Zephaniah Piatt, John Jay, Charles
De Witt, Robert Harper, Jacob Cuyler, Thomas Tred-
well, Pierre Van Cortlandt, Matthew Cantine, John Sloss
Hobart, and Jonathan D. Tompkins.
A governor and legislature were chosen in the summer
of 1777, and in that trying season, there was not a county
in this state, as it then existed, which escaped a visit fi-om
the arms of the enemy. To add to the embarrassment of
our councils in the extremity of their distress, the inhabit
ants of the northeast part of the state, (now Vermont,)
which had been represented in the convention, and just
then ingrafted into the constitution, under the names of the
counties of Cumberland and Gloucester, renounced their
allegiance, and set up for an independent state. On the
30th of June, in that year, they were knocking at the door
of congress for a recognition of their independence, and
an admission into the Union.
The memorable campaign of 1777 was opened by an
expedition of the enemy from New- York to Danbury in
Connecticut, and the destruction of large quantities of pro
visions and military means collected and deposited in that
town. In the northern quarter. General Burgoyne ad
vanced from Canada through the lakes, with a well-ap
pointed army of 10,000 men, and for a time he dissipated
all opposition, and swept every obstacle before him.
General Schuyler was still in the command of the whole
northern department, and he made every exertion to check
the progress of the enemy. He visited in person the dif
ferent forts, and used the utmost activity in obtaining sup
plies to enable them to sustain a siege. While at Albany,

29
(whichwas his head-quarters as previously fixed by congress,)
busy in accelerating the equipment and march of troops,
Ticonderoga being assailed, was suddenly evacuated by
General St. Clair. General Schuyler met on the upper Hud
son the news ofthe retreat, and he displayed, says the candid
and accurate historian of Washington," the utmost diligence
and judgment in that gloomy state of things. He effectu
ally impeded the navigation of Wood Creek. He rendered
the roads impassable. He removed every kind of provi
sion and stores beyond the reach of the enemy. He sum
moned the militia of New- York and New-England to his
assistance ; and he answered the proclamation of Burgoyne
by a counter proclamation, equally addressed to the hopes
and fears of the country. Congress, by their resolution of
the 17th of Julyj 1777, approved of all the acts of General
Schuyler, in reference to the army at Ticonderoga. But
the evacuation of that fortress excited great discontent in
the United States, and General Schuyler did not escape his
share ofthe popular clamour, and he was made a victim to
appease it. It was deemed expedient to recall the general
officers in the northern army, and in the month of August
he was superseded in the command of that department by
the arrival of General Gates. The laurels which he was
in preparation to win by his judicious and distinguished ef
forts, and which he would very shortly have attained, were
by that removal intercepted from his brow.
But the advance of General Burgoyne's army was not
the only evil that awaited us. Colonel St. Leger, with a
large force of regulars and Indians, pressed upon our west
ern border, and invested Fort Schuyler, at the head of^,the
Mohawk. The whole southern district of the state was at
the same time in secure possession of the enemy. There
was never, perhaps, in the history of a free people strug-

a Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. iii. 247.
4

30
gliug for their liberties, a move portentous cri.sis. We were
driven in on every side. The extremities of the state were
destroyed. There was no pulsation but at the heart.
Every thing seemed to be lost but hope, virtue, and trust
in the providence of God. In that gloomy season, the
country rose, met and repelled the danger, with an ardour
and vigour that can scarcely be conceived." Brigadier Ge
neral Herkimer commanded the militia on the Mohawk,
and in his efforts to relieve Fort Schuyler, he was attacked
in the Oriskany woods by a detachment of the enemy un
der Sir John Johnson, and after a sanguinary and disas
trous conflict, he fell fighting gallantly in defence of his
country. His memory was honoured with the deep re
grets of his countrymen, and the Congress of the United
States voted a monument to his fame. Foft Schuyler, un
der the command of Colonel Gansevoort, was defended
with great bravery, perseverance, and success. Colonel
Marinus Willet distinguished himself likewise, by his zeal
and daring enterprise during the operations of the siege,
and the enemy were compelled to retire with loss and dis
grace. Those distinguished officers received a warm eulogy
from congress, and strong public expressions of gratitude
from their own state.
George Clinton, who had recently been elected governor,
met the legislature, for the first time, at Kingston, on the

a The convention of this state, at the close of the year 1776, had
prepared the minds ofthe people for the trials of the ensuing cam
paign, by the admirable address to their constituents, which they pub
lished at Fishkill, on the 23d of December of that year. It was un
derstood at the time to have been drafted by Mr. Jay. The object
was to cheer the country in its season of distress, and to rouse it to
vigorous exertion. The address was plain, sententious, and solemn,
fitting the object and the crisis ; but it carried its appeal with irresisti
ble force to the noblest aifections of the human breast, and the strong
est principles of action.

31
10th of September. It was then and there that the con
stitution of this independent state first received the princi
ple of life. But so rapid and so violent were the vicissi
tudes of events, that, about a month from that time, the
village in which they were assembled was burnt by the
enemy. The members of the legislature were dispersed in
a few days after the session was opened, and the governor
ffew to the defence of the posts in the Highlands, to the
command of which he had been assigned by congress in
the spring preceding. They were assailed by a very supe
rior land and naval force under Sir Henry Clinton, and
when a summons for surrender was sent to Fort Mont
gomery, the governor peremptorily refused. He defied an
assault, and made a gallant resistance." It is well known
that the fort was taken at the point of the bayonet, and in
the midst ofthe confusion of the evening, the governor and
a considerable part of the garrison secured their retreat.
This was the first time that this eminent man fairly dis
closed to his countrymen his military spirit. I knew him in
the midst ofthe American war. He had a boldness and
inflexibility of purpose, and decision and simplicity of cha
racter, which resembled the hardy sons of antiquity in the
best days of Roman freedom, when her sages and heroes
displayed the majestic port and stern defiance of " the lords
of human kind."*

a The enemy sustained a severe loss, at least in the fall of Count
Grabouski, a Polish nobleman, and aid to the British commander,
and in the still greater loss of Lieutenant Colonel Campbell and Ma
jor Ale3(ander Grant. The latter was an accomplished officer, and in
the war of 1756, was a lieutenant in the 42d Highland regiment.
b In the full-length portrait ofthe elder Clinton, painted by Colo
nel Trumbull, perhaps forty years ago, and in which Fort Mont
gomery, and the wild scenery around it, appear on the back ground,
the painter, with very great skill and felicity, has thrown into the
countenance and air of the hero, touches of the character, which I
have here attempted to pourtray, from my own vivid recollections.

32
But the successive defeats and final capture of Burgoyne
and his army at Saratoga, dissipated the angry elements
which menaced our destruction. The independence of
the United States was from that time forward, regarded by
us, and by the friendly nations of Europe, as immoveably
established. The history of the campaign of 1777, and
especially the condition of this stafe at the lowest point of
its depression, the energy with which it rose, the eflforts of
our heroes, and the spirit of our people, would together form
one of the noblest subjects for the graphic pen of the his
torian. I can speak of the events of that year with some
of the impressions of a cotemporary witness. I heard the
noise and fury of the assault upon the fortresses on the
Hudson ;" and I perfectly recollect the general distress,
terror, and bitterness of grief, that were visible in the earlier
parts of the campaign, as well as the tones of joy, admira
tion; and gratitude, at our final and triumphant deliverance.
Having brought this rapid review of prominent events in
our domestic history, down to within time of memory, the
hmits of this discourse will not permit me to continue it.
My desire has been to place in fresh remembrance before
you, the merits of your ancestors ; and to rescue some of
their names, though it should be but for a moment, from the
dust and " dumb forgetfulness" ofthe record. The distin
guished men of the last age have nearly all passed away,
and a new generation have occupied their places, and are
enjoying the rich inheritance of public freedom and pros
perity, bequeathed to them by the fathers ofthe revolution.
Amidst such a bright constellation of worthies, it is difficult
to discriminate. General Montgomery, General Woodhull,

o'l then resided almost in the neighbourhood of those scenes, for I
was born and nm'tured in one of the beautiful and picturesque valleys
ofthe Highlands. Its "humble happiness," and portions of its sacred
soil, have never since been seen or remembered by me without the
deepest interest.

33
and General Herkimer, sealed their devotion to their coun
try with their blood. Major General Alexander M'Dougall
caused his early zeal and patriotism to be recorded, even on
the colonial journals ; and after the war had commenced,
he rose rapidly in the military service of the United States,
and congress declared, by a special resolution, their sense
of his zeal and magnanimity." John Jay, Robert R. Li
vingston, and Gouverneur Morris, not only received marks
of the highest trust and confidence in the service of this, and
of the United States, but at subsequent periods they dis
played their skill and fidelity as representatives of the na
tion at foreign courts. Egbert Benson rendered eminent
service to this state throughout the whole period of the
American war. He was zealous, firm, active, and exten
sively usefiil, from the very beginning of the contest. In
1777 he wes appointed Attorney-General, and in that of
fice, in the legislature, and in congress, his devotion to the
public interest was unremitted. The value of his services
as a member of the legislature throughout the war, was
beyond all price ; and in the able, constant, accurate, and
faithful discharge of the duties of that station, he has
scarcely had an equal in the legislative annals of this state.
Of the members of the provincial congress in 1776, in
addition to those who have already been mentioned, the
names of John Morrin Scott, Philip Livingston, Abraham
Ten Broeck, Leonard Gansevoort, Robert Yates, Pierre
Van Cortlandt, John Sloss Hobart, Zephaniah Piatt, Ezra
L'Hommedieu, Isaac Roosevelt, Thomas Tredwell, Robert
Van Rensselaer, John Taylor, David Gelston, and John
Broome, may be specially noticed, as receiving, in subse
quent periods of our history, prominent and continued
marks of public confidence and esteem. There may be

a Journals of Congress, vol. vii. 63.

34
others of equal merit whose names I may have uninten
tionally omitted, and I am obliged to confine myself to the
mention of those leading political and military chaiacters
whom I have found, by my own imperfect researches, to
have left on record some striking memorial of public honour
and confidence, as early as the year 1777. There were
many other individuals of this state, then in comparatively
subordinate stations in the civil and military service, who
afterwards rose to distinguished and deserved eminence.
If I depart from the limit which I have prescribed to my
self, and select any one of them, my apology is to be found
in the illustrious name of Alexander Hamilton. He was,
even at that early day the confidential aid of Washington ;
but it was not until the latter part of the American war,
that he began to attract general attention, and to display
to the admiration of his countrymen, the matchless resour
ces of his mighty mind. He was chosen a member of con
gress in July, 1782, and he took his seat for the first time
in November following. His efforts to reanimate the lan
guid powers of the confederation, and to clothe congress
with some ^essential credit and resources, were great,
splendid, but unavaiUng. From that period his time and
talents were almost exclusively consecrated to the service
of the United States ; and it would have gratified me ex
ceedingly, if the plan of this discourse would have per
mitted, to have attempted to render some tribute of grati
tude to his memory, by a recital of his unrivalled exertions
to give a constitution, and financial credit, and security
and prosperity, to the Union. His transcendant services
to the nation are sufficient to render his name immortal.
John Jay, Egbert Benson, John Taylor, Thomas Tred
well, and Marinus Willet, are the only persons, among
those revolutionary characters whom I have hitherto men
tioned, that are now living; and I perceive that one of
them has this very week been selected to execute a high

6.)

public trust." All these venerable remnants of the last age,
may be considered as now hving, in comparative seclusion,
on the very verge of human life, waiting, with a Christian's
hope, for their •" bright reversion in the skies." But their
fame accompanies thein, and "enlightens even the obscu
rity of their retreat!"
Suffer me to allude again to the history of General
Schuyler. He was too pre-eminent a character, to allow
any portion of his valuable life -to be left unnoticed.
General Schuyler felt acutely the discredit of being re
called in the most critical and interesting period of the
campaign of 1777; and when the labour and activity of
making preparations to repair the disasters of it had
been expended by him ; and when an opportunity was
opening, as he observed, for that resistance and retaliation
which might bring glory upon our arms. If error be attri
butable to the evacuation of Ticonderoga, says the histo
rian of Washington,* no portion of it was committed by

a John Taylor was chosen an elector of the President of the United
States, by the electoral college at Albany, on the 2d of December,
1828. He was formerly first judge ofthe city and county of Albany,
and continued in that office until he was obliged to retire from it,
about twenty-six years ago, in consequence of being disqualified to
hold the office any longer by arriving at sixty years of age. He was
for many years afterwards Lieut. Governor, and in that character he
was ex officio President ofthe Senate, and President of the Court of
Errors and Appeals, and he continued to occupy the office until he
was upwards of eighty years of age. His case showed the striking
inconsistency of the constitution, which would allow a person to pre
side over the Court of Errors at the age of 80, and yet held him dis
qualified by age atsixty to preside over a county court. TViomas Tred
well, also an Octogenarian, was for many years Judge of the Court of
Probates, and he at present fills the office of Surrogate of Clinton
county. He was always distinguished for singular simplicity of cha
racter, and I received satisfactory evidence, even as far back as the
American war, that he had well founded pretensions to scholarship
and classical taste.
6 S Marshall, 274.

36
General Schuyler. But his removal, though unjust and se
vere as respected himself, was rendered expedient, accord
ing to Chief Justice Marshall, as a sacrifice to the prejudi
ces of New-England. *
He was present at the capture of Burgoyne, but without
any personal command ; and the urbanity of his manners,
and the chivalric magnanimity of his character, smarting as
he was under the extent and severity of his pecuniary losses,
are attested by General Burgoyne himself, in his speech
in 1778, in the British House of Commons. He there de
clared that, by his orders, " a very good dwelhng-house,
exceeding large store-houses, great saw-mills, and other
out-buildings, to the value altogether perhaps of £10,000
sterling," belonging to General Schuyler, at Saratoga, were
destroyed by fire a few days before the surrender. He said
further that one of the first persons he saw, after the con
vention was signed, was General Schuyler, and when ex
pressing to him his regret at the event which had happened
to his property. General Schuyler desired him " to think no
more of it, and that the occasion justified it, according to
the principles and rules of war. He did more," said Bur
goyne, " he sent an aid-de-camp" to conduct me to Albany,
in order, as he expressed it, to procure better quarters than
a stranger might be able to find. That gentleman con
ducted me to a very elegant house, and, to my great sur
prise, presented me to Mrs. Schuyler and her family. In
that house I remained during my whole stay in Albany,
with a table of more than twenty covers for me and my
friends, , and every other possible demonstration of hospi-
tahty,"* I have several times had the same relation in substance

a The person alluded to by General Burgoyne was Col. Richard
Varick, then the military secretary to General Schuyler, and now
President of the American Bible Society.
b Parliamentary History, vol. xix. p. 1182.

from General Schuyler himself, and he said that he re
mained behind at Saratoga under the pretext of taking
care of the remains of his property, but in reality to avoid
giving fresh occasion for calumny and jealousies, by ap
pearing in person with Burgoyne at his own house. It was
not until the autumn of 1778, that the conduct of General
Schuyler, in the campaign of 1777, was submitted to the
investigation of a court-martial. He was acquitted of
every charge with the highest honour, and the sentence
was confirmed by congress. He shortly afterwards, upon
his earnest and repeated solicitation, had leave to retire
from the army, and he devoted the remainder of his life to
the service of his country in its political councils.
If the military life of General Schuyler was inferior in
brilHancy to that of some others of his countrymen, none of
them ever surpassed him in fidelity, activity, and devotedness
to the service. The characteristic of all his measures was
utility. They bore the stamp and unerring precision of
practical science. There was nothing complicated in his
character. It was chaste and severe simplicity ; and take
him for all in all, he was one of the wisest and most effi
cient men, both in military and civil life, that the state or
the nation has produced. '
He had been elected to congress in 1777, and he was
re-elected in each of the three following years. On his re
turn to congress after the termination of his military^ life,
his talents, experience, and energy, were put in immediate
requisition ; and in November, 1 779, he was appointed to
confer with General Washington, on the state of the south
ern department. In 1781, he was in the senate of this
state ; and wherever he was placed, and whatever might
be the business before him, he gave the utmost activity to
measures, and left upon them the impression of his pru
dence and sagacity. In 1789, he was elected to a seat in
the first senate of the United States, and when his term of
service expired in congress, he was replaced in the senate

38
of .this state. In 1792, he was very active in digesting and
bringing to maturity that early and great measure of state
policy, the establishment of companies for inland lock navi
gation. The whole suggestion was the product of his fer
tile and calculating mind, ever busy in schemes for the
public welfare. He was placed at the head of the direc
tion of both of the navigation companies, and his mind was
ardently directed for years towards the execution of those
liberal plans of internal improvement." In 1796, he urged
in his place in the senate, and afterwards pubhshed in a
pamphlet form,* his plan for the improvement ofthe reve
nue ofthis state, and in 1797, his plan was almost literally
adopted, and to that we owe the institution of the office of
comptroller. In 1797, he was unanimously elected, bythe
two houses of our legislature, a senator in congress ; and
he took leave of the senate of this state in a liberal and
affecting'address, which was inserted at large upon their
journals. '^
But the life of this great man was now drawing to a
close. I had formed and cultivated a personal acquaint
ance with General Schuyler, "Ivhile a member of the legis
lature in 1792, and again in 1796 ; and from 1799 to his
death in the autumn of 1804, 1 was in habits of constant

a The act ofthe legislature ofthis state ofthe 9th of March, 1793,
ch. 49, displayed unbounded confidence in General Schuyler. It
amended the law. relative to lock navigation, after reciting that " the
President of the Board of Directors of the Western and Northern
Jnland Lock Navigation Cofopaiiies, in their behalf, had signified to
Kike legislature, that, in his opinion, the alterations therein specified,
might be -made without material injury."
6 The pamphlet was entitled, " Remarks on the Revenue of the
Stateof New-York, by Philip Schuyler, a member of the Senate of
that State. Albany, 1796." The pamphlet was founded on a series
of arithmetical calculations, and General Schuyler was profoundly
versed in mathematical science. He had no superior in aptitude for
such investigations.

39
and friendly intimacy with him, and was honoured with the
kindest and most grateful attentions. His spirits were
cheerful, his conversation most eminently instructive, his
manners gentle and courteous, and his whole deportment
tempered with grace and dignity. His faculties seemed to
retain their unimpaired vigour and untiring activity ; though
he had evidently lost some of his constitutional ardour of
temperament and vehemence of feeling. He was sobered
by age, chastened by affliction, broken by disease ; and yet
nothing could surpass the interest excited by the mild ra
diance of the evening of his days.
It was observed at the beginning of this discourse, that
we had in this state illustrious annals to appeal to, and I
humbly hope that I have made good the assertion. The
noble monument erecting on Bunker's Hill to the memrafy
of her early patriots, does honour to the pride and zeal of
the sons of New-England ; but the records^ of this state, in
the hands of some future historian, are capable of elevating
a loftier- monument, and one of less* perishable materials,
on which, not the rays of the setting sun, but the rays of
a nation's glory, as long as letters shall endure, will con
tinue " to play and linger on its summit." I do not wish,
however, to cherish or, ii};culcate that patriotism which is
purely local or exclusive. My object is more ^jsinterested and
liberal. It is to enkindle that generous zeal and ardent public
virtue, with which Scipio, and other citizens of Rome, are
said to have been inspired, as often as they beheld the do
mestic images of their ancestors. The glory of each state
is the common property of the nation, and our freedom-
was established by the united will, and consolidated efforts,
of every part of the Union. Our responsibility for the wise
and temperate use of civil liberty, is of general obligation ;
and it is our example as a nation that has sensibly affected
the civilized world.. The image of personal freedom, of
order, of security, of happiness, and of national prosperity,
which our country presents, has had its inffuence wherever

40
learning and commerce hAve penetrated. When our revo
lution began, despotism prevailed every where, except in
Great Britain and her colonies ; or if civil liberty existed at
all on the continent of Europe, it dwelt in timid retirement,
in the romantic valleys of Switzerland, within the shade of
the loftiest Alps. But we have lived to witness a visible
improvement in the institutions and policy of nations, after
the tempest ofthe French revolution had subsided, and its
j-avages were repaired. It left the nations upon which it
"^had spent its fury, in a better and healthier condition than
it found them. This was some compensation for the in
justice and the miseries which it had produced. Limited
monarchies, resting on a recognition of popular rights, and
constitutional restrictions upon power, and invigorated by
the admission of the principle of representation, are now
established in the kingdoms of France and the Nether
lands. The energy of the press and of popular instruction,
and the free and liberal spirit of the age, control or mitigate
the evils of a bad adniinisti'ation, or chastise its abuses in
every department of government, and they carry their influ
ence to the highest ranks and summits of society. Those
.mighty causes will gradually enlarge the sphere of their ac
tion, and produce freer institutions, and a better administra
tion of justice, in every part of Europe. At any rate, we
are assured that in our own hemisphere, from the head of
the gulf of Mexico, through all the good and bad forms of
government in Spanish and Portuguese America, down to
" the farthest verge of the green earth," the force of our
great example is strongly felt, and the eye is turned, with
respect and reverence, to the character of our power, and
the splendour of our rising greatness.

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