Trotter was reëlected Mayor, and was succeeded by Jeremiah Johnson, a man whose contemporaries revered him, and whose name occupies, and must always occupy, a high place in the annals of the city. General Johnson was reëlected, and was succeeded by Cyrus P. Smith, who was elected by vote of the people, and who also was reëlected.
The fluster in the real-estate market was paralleled by the financial excitement, which resulted in the suspension of specie payments by the three banks of the city. The year of General Johnson's reëlection was one of general business depression, but the community rallied quickly from the blow inflicted by disordered markets.
In 1841 the Democrats of the county received representation in a new newspaper, the "Brooklyn Eagle and Kings County Democrat." The movement for the establishment of the "Eagle" was led by Henry C. Murphy, with whom Richard Adams Locke was associated in the editorship. The first number appeared in October, and the Democrats were not loth to give the lusty young journal full credit for the success of the campaign, in which its voice gave no uncertain sound.
Directing the helm of the "Eagle" enterprise was the clear-sighted, practical genius of Isaac Van Anden, who soon came into complete control of the paper, and remained sole proprietor until the year 1872. The "Eagle" had its days of adversity; but it had a field, and it had vitality, and its growth was sure and steady. Following Murphy in its early editorship were William B. Marsh, Walt Whitman,[24] S. G. Arnold (under whose editorial leadership the name of the paper was abbreviated to "Brooklyn Daily Eagle"), and Henry McCloskey. In 1861 McCloskey was succeeded by Thomas Kinsella, who gave force and distinction to the editorial page of the flourishing paper. Kinsella died in 1884, after having made himself a power in the community. He was succeeded by his first lieutenant on the "Eagle" staff, that graceful writer and orator, Andrew McLean, who afterward took the editorship of the Brooklyn "Citizen." That the "Eagle" was destined to be lucky with its editors, received further indication in the appearance of St. Clair McKelway at the post of command. Mr. McKelway's brilliant gifts as a speaker and as a writer have given to him peculiar prominence in the social, artistic, and political life of the city and the State.
The policy of the "Eagle" has been independently Democratic from the outset, a policy which has fostered, as it has been favored by, a singularly representative constituency. The paper is now controlled by the Eagle Association, of which Colonel William Hester is the president, William Van Anden Hester is secretary, and Harry S. Kingsley is treasurer. Its business management, like its editorial management,—if these may consistently be separated,—has been aggressive and liberal, and goes far toward explaining the present national reputation of the paper.
FACSIMILE (same size) OF LETTER BY WALT WHITMAN IN POSSESSION OF CHARLES M. SKINNER, ESQ., BROOKLYN
(Transcriber's note: Text of letter is in [Footnote 24].)
Henry C. Murphy, who had, as we have seen, taken so important a part in the starting of the "Eagle," was a young Democrat of prominence in the county. Born in the village of Brooklyn, Murphy had been educated at Columbia College, where he distinguished himself as a writer as well as in general scholarship, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. During his student years, he had taken part in debates in the Young Men's Literary Association, which afterward became the Hamilton Literary Association, with Murphy as president. To this association belongs the honor of popularizing the lyceum lecture system, which afterward became so potent a factor in American civilization, and which in this city represented the beginning of the Brooklyn Lyceum and the Brooklyn Institute. In 1834 he was appointed assistant corporation counsel of the city, and in the following year he formed a legal partnership with the leading lawyer of the city, John A. Lott. This firm, which Judge Vanderbilt afterward joined, won great influence in the city, with whose early politics it was so closely connected.
In 1842 Murphy was chosen Mayor of Brooklyn. He was then but thirty years of age. His administration was forcible throughout, and consistently resulted in his election to Congress, of which he was one of the youngest members. He was a candidate for reëlection, but was defeated by Henry L. Seaman. In the State Constitutional Convention of 1846, he was a delegate from Kings County, with Tunis G. Bergen and Conrad Schwackhammer, and in the autumn of the same year he was again elected to Congress by a large vote.