Two of the five American Commissioners who had negociated the Treaty of Peace at Ghent and the Commercial Treaty at London, Messrs. Albert Gallatin and Henry Clay, arrived in New York on September 1, 1815, and on the afternoon of the 5th a complimentary dinner was given them at Tammany Hall. Judge Brockholst Livingston presided. William Bayard, James Fairlie, John Hone, Thomas Farmer and Gilbert Aspinwall were vice-presidents and among the distinguished guests were the Hon. Rufus King, the Hon. A. J. Dallas, the Mayor, General Macomb, General Swift, etc. The Evening Post, a Federal paper, expressed surprise and regret that the dinner, instead of appearing to be given as it ought to have been, by the respectable citizens of New York without distinction of party, should have been “made to wear an invidious complexion by being brought forward in the public papers as having been gotten up by 17 gentlemen, all of whom, with a single exception are considered to be of the Democratic party.”
President Monroe’s Visit
From the time of Washington no President of the United States, while in office, had visited New York city until President James Monroe, in June, 1817, made his tour of inspection. On the morning of June 11th he came up from Staten Island, where he had been the guest of Vice President Tompkins, in the steamboat Richmond, escorted by the sloop of war Saranac, Captain Elton, and the Revenue Cutter, Captain Cahoone. He landed on the Battery about twelve o’clock from Commodore Evans’ elegant barge, accompanied by the Vice President, General Swift and secretary, Captains Evans and Biddle of the United States navy, Major-General Morton and suite, Major-General Mapes and suite and the Committee of the Corporation, who had gone to Staten Island for that purpose, and was welcomed by a salute from a division of General Morton’s artillery, under the command of Brigadier-General Scott, of the United States army.
The President, after reviewing the line of troops, was escorted up Broadway to the City Hall, where, in the audience chamber, the Mayor, in the presence of the Governor and other prominent officials, presented him with an address. The State Society of the Cincinnati, headed by their Vice-President, General Stevens, also presented him a short address. After these ceremonies were concluded the President was escorted by a squadron of cavalry to the quarters provided for him at Gibson’s elegant establishment, the Merchants’ Hotel in Wall Street. After visiting the United States Arsenal, the President returned to the hotel at five o’clock and sat down to a sumptuous dinner prepared for the occasion. Among the guests were the Vice President of the United States, Governor Clinton, Hon. Rufus King, General Swift, General Scott, Mr. Mason, secretary to the President, General Stevens, General Morton, Col. Willett, Col. Platt, Major Fairlie, the President of the United States Bank and the Committee of the Corporation. The Merchants’ Hotel at 41 and 43 Wall Street had been established there some years, and when Solomon D. Gibson, a landlord of experience and reputation, had taken charge of it and it had been selected as a proper place to lodge and entertain the President of the United States, there is hardly a doubt that it was considered second to none in the city. In the evening the City Hall and other public buildings were illuminated.
General Jackson at the Ball
There was a grand military ball at the City Hotel in celebration of Washington’s birthday, on the 22d of February, 1819, and at the same time the opportunity was embraced to honor General Jackson, who was a visitor to the city at that time. “Everything was in great style. Seven hundred persons were present. When the General entered, he was saluted by a discharge of artillery from a miniature fort raised on the orchestra.” The supper room was thrown open at twelve o’clock. Over the table was a transparency with the motto: “In the midst of festivity, forget not the services and sacrifices of those who have enabled you to enjoy it.” After supper there was a flagging in the dancing from exhaustion, when suddenly, to the surprise of all, was displayed a flag with the revivifying motto: “Don’t give up the ship.” “The effect was electric—the band struck up ‘Washington’s March,’ and the ball seemed but beginning! The diffusion of light upon an assemblage, the most brilliant we ever beheld, the taste with which the room was decorated with nearly two hundred flags, including those of almost all the nations of the world, combined with the military glitter of about two hundred gentlemen in uniform, interspersed in the dance with the female beauty and elegance of the city, produced an effect of the most pleasing nature.”
General Jackson’s Toast
Jackson’s visit was the occasion of much merriment by the wits of the town on account of the toast offered by the General, not at the City Hotel, as has been related by some, but at a dinner given in his honor at Tammany Hall, by the Tammany Society or Columbian Order, on the 23d. At this dinner, General Jackson being called on for his toast, his honor the Mayor, who presided, rose, and to the consternation and dismay of Sachem William Mooney and other prominent members, announced the toast: “DeWitt Clinton, the governor of the great and patriotic state of New York,” after which the General left the room, according to one account, “amidst reiterated applause,” but according to another, “there was a dead silence for the space of three minutes at least.” A certain alderman, recovering his astonished senses a little, said, loud enough to be heard by all, that what he had just witnessed put him in mind of what Sir Peter Teazle says: “This is a damn’d wicked world we live in, Sir Oliver, and the fewer we praise the better.” The Republicans, or Democrats as they were afterwards called, were at this time divided into two factions. Jackson was an admirer of Clinton, but the “Bucktails” of Tammany Hall considered him as their bitterest foe. The dinner was a grand affair, the tickets to it being sold at five dollars each.
The Erie Canal