After our return to the city, our time was principally occupied in the examination of the public works and forts, which protect the port and bay of New York. The most remarkable among them is fort Lafayette, situated at the narrows, near the point of Long Island; its fire readily crosses with that from the opposite fort on Staten Island. The garrison officers belonging to a detachment of the regular army of the United States, gave the general a very cordial reception, and pointed out all the interesting particulars of the fort, which has the advantage of being bomb proof, without being exposed to the inconvenience of the cannon smoke, which finds free exit by open galleries into the interior of the yard. The rain which fell abundantly prevented us from examining the other forts with much attention.
Of all the public schools we visited, that which inspired the most lively interest was the Free School for young Africans, founded and directed by the Abolition Society. The general was accompanied in this school as he had been in all the others by a great number of ladies, who all pay assiduous attention to establishments of this sort. He was there informed he had been unanimously elected member of the society, at the same time with Granville Sharpe, and Thomas Clarkson. This election agreed well with his character and declared opinions relative to negro slavery, and appeared to excite in him considerable feeling. Immediately afterwards a black child advanced and said with vivacity, “You see, General, these hundreds of poor African children before you; they participate with the white children in the blessings of education: like them they learn to cherish the recollection of the services you have rendered to America, and moreover they revere in you an ardent friend to the emancipation of our race, and a worthy member of the society to which we owe so much gratitude.”
It would be tedious and difficult for me to give exact details concerning all the benevolent establishments we visited in the city of New York. They are very numerous and as each of them has been erected by an association or voluntary union of individuals, it would require a particular history of each to make them properly known. In general we may say that all these establishments are under the protection, and not under the influence of the law. The majority of the active offices are discharged by persons who receive neither perquisites nor salaries, but regard their appointments as honorable testimonials of public esteem, and they discharge their duties with a zeal and probity which justifies it. Only the inferior officers, whose time is altogether employed, commonly receive salaries. Most of these establishments are founded by societies or by legacies; and supported either by public subscriptions or by appropriations of the government. Thus for example, in examining the books of the Orphan Asylum, founded in 1806, we discovered that this establishment in the course of the year 1822, received from the legislature of the state five hundred dollars; two hundred and eighty-seven dollars as a part of the funds allowed to the public schools by the state; fourteen hundred and thirty dollars from private subscriptions; five thousand dollars, a legacy from Jacob Sherred; twenty-five dollars, the interest of a legacy from Mrs. Mary Williams; 390 dollars from anonymous donors; 17,000 dollars from the Magdalen Society; nineteen dollars for work done by the children, &c. &c. and a host of private donations, such as books, shoes, cloth, buttons, &c. &c. Whatever may be the nature and value of the donations, they are received and scrupulously registered along with the names of the donors. By the aid of these supplies judiciously directed, this house has received from 1806 to 1822, and educated 440 children, of which 243 are already established advantageously in society.
In the alms-house there are more than 1000 individuals of both sexes and all ages.
The great hospital of New York may contain nearly two thousand patients. The insane, although under the same superintendence, are kept in a separate building.
In all these institutions, we were struck with the neatness of the chambers, the whiteness of the linen, the good quality of the food, and especially with the mild and kind treatment of the superintendents towards the persons under their charge. It was easy to perceive that the directors are encouraged by something more precious than emoluments, public esteem.
The persons who accompanied us, and appeared to be well informed, assured us that there were more than forty charitable and philanthropic societies in New York, whose continued zeal contributed much to the support of all the establishments we had visited, as well as to the relief of private misfortunes.
After visiting the Academy of Arts, where among a great quantity of casts, engravings and paintings, there is nothing very remarkable except a collection of paintings by Trumbull, and a collection of engravings presented to the Academy by the emperor Napoleon, we went to the public library. It contains more than 20,000 volumes, well selected and in good order. The library is open every day except Sunday; none but stockholders can take out the books; the number of stockholders is about five hundred.
During our stay at New York we several times visited the two theatres, of which it would be difficult for me to give any opinion, because every time that Lafayette appeared there, he became so much the object of public attention, and the tumult caused by the expression of the pleasure of the spectators was so great that it was impossible for the actors to continue their parts; they were only allowed to sing some verses in honour of the Companion of Washington, the Captive of Olmutz, or the Guest of the Nation. Some persons of taste that I questioned informed me that the stock pieces of these theatres were from England, and generally but poorly selected, and that their companies of actors were usually feeble. These two houses are evidently too small for so numerous a population, and their construction does not correspond either to the beauty or wealth of the city of New York.[[12]] The rational answer of the citizen to this, is, that before thinking of luxury and pleasure, it is necessary to take care for useful things, and that they should be very much humiliated if strangers were not more struck with the commodiousness and beauty of their works of public utility than with the elegance of their theatres.
On the 9th we attended a concert of sacred music given in St. Paul’s Church, where the general was received with the Marseilles’ Hymn. The number and elegance of the ladies was very remarkable. The different pieces we heard were executed with an effect which we had not previously heard from any of the choirs or orchestras in the United States; for it must be allowed that music is still in its infancy in this country. The causes are sufficiently obvious; on the one hand the English language is but slightly musical, on the other the Americans have not yet time to devote to the merely pleasing arts.—They have no school of music;[[13]] there are some European artists, who endeavour to diffuse a taste for the science, but these generally find access solely to the very rich families, which are almost as rare as the artists themselves.