maintain the principles of public justice, which accord with public morals and the best interests of the country. One great truth should be engraven on all hearts-treason is a crime, and traitors should be duly punished. I can only assure you, gentlemen, and the intelligent and patriotic body you represent, that my administration will be based on the Constitution and the laws; and, as events arise, I shall endeavor to meet them to the utmost of my ability, trusting in the assistance of that Providence which has hitherto guarded and preserved our republican institutions."

While this committee was in Washington it addressed a copy of the Chamber's resolutions to Secretary Seward, and several weeks later the following letter was received from him, marked "unofficial":

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 1865. Having become so far convalescent as to be permitted to inform myself of incidents which occurred during the early stages of my illness, I have today for the first time come to the knowledge of the resolutions which you had the kindness to address to me on the 19th of April in the name and behalf of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York.

There are no words in which I could adequately express the sense I entertain of the kindness which has been shown to me by my fellow-citizens generally during that illness. You will, therefore, I am sure, be content with this hasty and simple, but grateful acknowledgment of the especial kindness which is manifested in your communication, and you will be pleased to convey the acknowledgment to the Chamber of Commerce.

With grateful and affectionate regard

Your obedient servant

(Signed) WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

From the moment that the war was ended the Chamber devoted its influence unceasingly to the restoration of friendly relations between the two sections of the country. In May, 1865, a series of resolutions was adopted, pledging renewed support to the government; expressing the hope that in the restoration of complete national authority, magnanimity and

clemency would be shown and no act committed which could be condemned as needlessly harsh or revengeful by the cool judgment of the humane and liberty-loving in any part of the civilized world, and declaring that the Chamber hailed with peculiar satisfaction the recent order of the President to "relieve the loyal citizens and well-disposed persons residing in the insurrectionary states, from unnecessary commercial restriction and to encourage them to return to peaceful pursuits," because, in its opinion, an unrestricted commercial intercourse would prove to be the most powerful agency which could henceforth be employed for restoring peace and prosperity to all portions of our common country.

The one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Chamber was observed by a public meeting held in Irving Hall on April 6, 1868. That hall, which passed out of existence many years ago, stood at the southeast corner of Fifteenth Street and Irving Place. It was decorated for the occasion with the American and British colors and the flags of the city and State of New York. Portraits of Royal Governor Colden, of John Cruger, first President of the Chamber, and of several of his successors, were displayed at the back of the platform. A large audience and many distinguished guests, including the Governor and LieutenantGovernor of the State, the Mayor of the city, officials of the National Government, and consuls of foreign governments, attended the exercises. Addresses were made by William E. Dodge, President of the Chamber, who presided, A. A. Low, and James De Peyster Ogden, former Presidents, George Opdyke, first Vice-President, Jonathan Sturges, and S. B. Chittenden. An interesting historical sketch of the century's history of the Chamber was read by John Austin Stevens, Jr., who was for six years the Secretary of the Chamber, and the historian of its colonial period. A full report of the celebration, with the addresses in full, was published in the Annual Report of the Chamber for 1867-1868.

CHAPTER XIX

EFFORTS FOR HONEST GOVERNMENT

COMMITTEE OF SEVENTY AND TWEED RING DEFEAT-SUPPORT OF POLICE INVESTIGATION CHOLERA SCARE

1871-1894

No one can read the proceedings of the Chamber as they are recorded in the annual reports without being deeply impressed with the untiring zeal and keen intelligence with which its members sought month by month and year by year to aid and advance the interests of trade and commerce by securing improvements in the harbor; better wharves and docks; better lighting of the channels and approaches; desirable amendments in the revenue, quarantine, warehouse, customhouse and similar laws; additional safeguards in ocean travel; better life-saving devices; improvement and enlargement of railway and canal transportation; in short, whatever was needed to enhance the welfare and strengthen the fame of the city as the first commercial metropolis of the world. Although not always immediately successful in these efforts, the records show that perseverance and determination almost invariably won in the end, with the general effect not only of widening the field of activity but placing the commercial interests of the city and nation on a sounder and more creditable basis.

From the earliest times the Chamber steadily maintained its character as a non-political body, but while doing so it was ever quick to recognize the advent of a situation in the conduct of municipal affairs in which the issue rose above partisanship and became one of good citizenship without distinction of party. An issue of this kind arose in 1871 when the righteous indignation of the city was aroused by the ex

posure of the Tweed Ring frauds made by the New York Times. When the incriminating figures were published, Mayor Oakey Hall wrote an adroit letter to the Chamber, requesting it to appoint a committee to conduct an examination of the public accounts of the city government and the condition of the city debt and make a report which should be a refutation of the exposures by the Times. The Chamber indignantly declined the proposal and immediately called a special meeting which resulted in the organization of the Committee of Seventy, composed largely of members, through whose guidance the municipal campaign of that year was conducted and the overthrow of the Tweed-Tammany Ring was secured.

In like manner, when in 1894 the city was humiliated and alarmed by the misconduct of city affairs, especially in the Police Department, the Chamber took the lead in the demand for an investigation by the Legislature. At a meeting in January, it appointed a special committee to represent it before the Legislature and the Constitutional Convention "with regard to any laws which may affect the good government of this city and the commercial prosperity of the State," and to advocate the "separation of municipal and State elections from State and national elections," and a single head for the Police Department. At the same time it declared that, "in the opinion of this Chamber, there should be a thorough legislative investigation of the Police Department.'

In response to this declaration, the Legislature appointed an investigating committee. When that committee began to uncover gross abuses, political influences at Albany combined to put an end to the inquiry, and they induced the Governor to veto an appropriation providing the funds necessary to carry it on. The Chamber came at once to the rescue and raised a fund of seventeen thousand five hundred dollars to be used in defraying expenses and paying counsel fees. The inquiry was continued and such startling revelations were made that the city rose in wrath at the following election,

overthrew the Tammany government and substituted for it a reform, non-partisan administration with William L. Strong as Mayor. Out of this victory came the selection of Colonel Waring as Street Cleaning Commissioner and the inauguration of a new era in that branch of city administration which has continued till this day.

Another and no less beneficent reform was accomplished at this time through the leadership of the Chamber. The revelations of the investigating committee had shown that many of the police justices were shamefully incompetent and corrupt. The Chamber based on these revelations a demand for the abolition of the police-court system and started a popular agitation which resulted in the abolition of those courts and the substitution of City Magistrate Courts in their placea reform which has been shown in many years of practical operation to have been one of the most salutary ever achieved in the city's history. When the question was brought before the Chamber for action, Charles Stewart Smith, who was for many years its President, stated the attitude of the Chamber in matters pertaining to municipal affairs with clearness and force as follows:

We are here in the interests of justice and righteousness; we are here in the interest of the poor, the despised and the neglected, asking that they should all have an equal chance before the law. Some of us may be politicians, some of us may be partisans, but after quite a long membership in this Chamber, and having been a regular attendant upon its sessions, I wish to record my conviction that the politicians and partisans in this Chamber leave politics and partisanship outside the door when they enter here.

When Governor Tilden began his exposure of Canal Ring frauds in 1875, the Chamber came at once to his support, adopting, on April 1, a series of resolutions in which it was declared that the Governor, "true to his honorable record against the fraudulent ring officials of this city, has now