In another room a dinner was served to the corporation and its guests, among whom were Captain Lawrence and all his officers, the commanders of all the ships of war on the New York Station, many of the judges of the courts and Colonel Joseph G. Swift, the commander of the corps of engineers. This room was decorated by many emblematic paintings by Mr. Holland, descriptive of our naval victories; some of them had been used at the great naval dinner given to Decatur, Hull and Jones at the City Hotel in the previous December.
The crew were invited to attend the performance at the theater that evening, the front of the theater being illuminated and the pit set apart for their accommodation. They marched in a body from the dinner table to the theater at six o’clock.
Dinner to General Harrison
A dinner was given to General Harrison in the afternoon of December 1, 1813, at Tammany Hall under the direction of the State Republican (Democratic) general committee of New York. Besides the distinguished guest, there were Governor Tompkins, Major-Generals Dearborn and Hampton, Judge Brockholst Livingston, of the United States Supreme Court, and a great number of officers of the army and navy and of the volunteer corps of the city. The dining hall was handsomely decorated under the direction of Mr. Holland. There were five tables, containing sixty covers each, ornamented by representations of castles, pyramids, etc., provided by Martling and Cozzens, the proprietors, in their usual elegant and liberal manner.
Dinner to Commodore Bainbridge
The Federalists, in their turn, on the 8th of the same month, in the afternoon, gave a splendid dinner to Commodore Bainbridge at Washington Hall, at which John B. Coles presided. Notwithstanding the unpleasant weather there were nearly three hundred persons present. Among the number were Governor Tompkins, Mayor Clinton, Major-Generals Dearborn and Stevens, Judges Brockholst Livingston, Van Ness and Benson and the officers of the navy on the New York Station. The room was handsomely decorated and the dinner was provided by Captain Crocker and served up in a very correct and elegant style.
Dinner to Commodore Perry
The next public dinner during the winter season was given to Commodore Perry on the afternoon of the 11th of January, 1814, at Tammany Hall, at which about three hundred and fifty persons were present. Major James Fairlie presided. There were seven tables; one of these, on an elevated platform, at which the honored guests were seated, crossed the eastern end of the room, the others led from it to the lower end, and all were beautifully embellished with numerous ornaments. The pillars of the hall were surrounded with clusters of American flags, and the decorations of the hall were arranged under the gratuitous direction of Mr. Holland. Five transparent paintings from his pencil adorned the walls. One of these, covering about one hundred and fifty square feet, represented a large eagle bearing in his beak and talons a scroll inscribed in large capitals: “We have Met the Enemy and they are Ours.” In the evening Commodore Perry attended a ball at Washington Hall which followed a concert given at that place.
Patriotic Demonstrations by the Two Parties