Martha Joanna Lamb

“ In passing thus briefly and rapidly over the years since Wall Street was the dividing line between the bears of the forest and the bulls of intruding civilization, neither its picturesque beginnings, its bewildering charms as the seat of fashion and of the national Government, nor its modern riches and financial renown, must lead us to forget that it is closely associated with historic events in every part of the Western hemisphere. ”

“ The final resting-place of the statesman was chosen under the sycamore shades of the sacred inclosure at the head of Wall Street, but a step from where his achievements had been concentrated, and an amount of difficult and laborious service compressed into a short, busy life, affecting all the future of this great monetary center—such service as few men ever rendered to any nation in the longest term of human existence. ”

“ A space of some one hundred feet parallel to the wall on the city side was set apart for the evolution of troops—within which limits no buildings were to be permitted. During the month of April following, the city was in one perpetual fever of intense excitement and consternation. The scene along the site of Wall Street as the work went briskly forward was like an elongated bee-hive. The danger was imminent; and war not only threatened, but a scarcity of food through the interruption of trade in every direction. ”

“ When night came the gas-lights from hundreds of windows in the vicinity of Broad Street, corner of Wall, burned until the dawn of a new day. Men bent over their books without relief. On Saturday the Gold Board met only to adjourn, as the Clearing-house was crippled. Failures followed failures. The Stock Exchange was suspected of weakness for a time, and throngs crowded its corridors, and overhung the stairway for a glimpse of the commotion, but could hear only the roar of the biddings. ”

“ Lamb was one of the most powerful leaders of the opposition, and the two parties kept New York agitated from center to circumference with abuse and acrimonious disputation. One morning Hamilton and Lamb, emerging from their homes in Wall Street at the same moment, held an animated discourse in the street, the one slight of figure, youthful, with fair face flushed with intelligent energy, the other a grave, robust, determined looking man, of nearly twice his years. ”

“ In all these early attempts at self-government we note judicious, uniform, and systematic management. At the same time there were elements that could not be controlled. So fierce was the bitterness between friend and foe that neutrality became intolerable. Men were compelled to show their colors. Loyalists were pursued with merciless rancor. More than one instance is recorded of men being carried through Wall Street on rails. It was unsafe at this juncture to breathe a syllable against the American cause. ”

“ Jay's invitation list on one occasion is a memento worth reproducing and preserving, since it introduces us to the circle who met at her table, and also to the charmed throng enlivening Wall Street daily—unquestionably among the most effective groupings of brilliant and remarkable people that history affords. [1] But we must not linger at the dinner table, however much the movements in polite and every-day life illustrate the character of an age. From Wall Street were emanating ideas that were to affect all coming generations. ”

“ He could endure, it is said, more unremitted and intense labor than any other man in the country. When the crisis came he was able to interpret essential needs by illustration, and with a boldness without precedent, an electricity of eloquence unsurpassed, and powers of argument evincing the most remarkable maturity of thought, he took his place in the foremost rank of artists in government-making. His influence in the Convention that framed the Constitution is familiarly known. When he returned home he found New York all askew—and he was accused of having perpetrated the worst mischiefs. ”

“ The most prosaic and practical American will find it difficult to repress some slight throb of enthusiasm, in recalling the historic incidents which had their background in Wall Street, while New York was under kingly rule. Here sat that provocative little miniature Parliament of New York, which for upward of three fourths of a century presumed to criticise the acts of its great English prototype, and to curtail the power of the royal governors, not infrequently withholding money necessary for the support of the government. ”

“ John Jay had just been appointed to the dignified and important office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs. No man, except Washington, at this moment stood higher in the affections of his countrymen. Upon his return from his successful European mission in July, the whole city was brilliant with festivities in his honor. Wall Street was alive with an enthusiastic multitude as he was conducted to the City Hall and greeted with an address of welcome from the Mayor, and presented with the freedom of the city in a gold box. ”

“ The government was administered for some years by Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancey, a native New Yorker, whose genius and culture, whose boldness and sagacity, and whose tact and statesmanship, won for the community one of the greatest of triumphs. The ministry yielded the long contested point in the spring of 1756, and agreed to annual support bills for the future. "No other colony," writes Bancroft, "was tinctured with such fearlessness of monarchical power as New York—at this time the central point of political interest in English North America." ”

“ Noell then called another meeting in the City Hall to swear in the new aldermen. Such as the movement would displace marched along the streets, and entered the hall with the others. They took their seats side by side, with anger in their faces. When Noell attempted to swear in those who had been legally chosen, shouts of protestation were heard from every part of the hall. The clerk administered the oaths amid a deafening roar of voices, and when the mayor attempted the transaction of business, all took part with audacious effrontery. ”

“ And singularly enough, upon the very site of the edifice where the foundations were laid of our whole governmental scheme the marble structure has since been placed which guards the golden treasures of the Union, and Wall Street has been converted into the vital business center of the country, with its financial and commercial roots stretched to the remotest quarters of the globe. ”

“ The Indians might be incited to desperate deeds; a revolt on Long Island was reasonably apprehended; Connecticut was known to be in the humor to march at any moment upon the little Dutch capital; and Boston was furious over the captured instructions of the West India Company to Stuyvesant, suggesting that he employ the Indians as allies in case of colonial war-trouble. Such was the atmosphere of insecurity and dismay on Manhattan Island that the ninth day of April was observed (throughout the province) in fasting and prayer. ”

“ No man living had ever before seen New York Bay frozen over from the city to Staten Island; but now more than two hundred heavily laden two-horse sleighs crossed on the ice in a body at one time, escorted by two hundred horsemen. The British men-of-war in the harbor were hopelessly ice-bound and could not move. ”

“ Then came one of the most orderly elections ever known in any country, the election for our first President, without the aid of a nominating convention or any electioneering process whatever. Every voice and vote was for Washington. It is an isolated instance in the history of nations for one man to possess to such a degree the confidence and affection of a great people.
Thirty-two thousand dollars were speedily contributed by prominent citizens for the enlargement and adornment of the City Hall, which, when completed, had an imposing and stately appearance. ”

“ Hamilton urged the absurdity of Lamb's fears concerning " the abuse of power," as Washington would certainly be the first President, but Lamb declared that not even a name so illustrious could shake his opposition to the dangerous Constitution. We all know the incidents of the momentous decision, when New York adopted the Constitution by a majority of three, and thus turned the pivot in the history of the English-speaking race. Also how the victory of Hamilton was celebrated, and the wonder of the public mind at its own obstinacy, as the prospect brightened. ”

“ The controversy in relation to the removal of the deposits from the United States Bank, which raged for years with many phases in its symptoms and violence, was as its height while the Custom House was becoming a fixed fact. The great fire of 1835 swept away the Merchants' Exchange, that was supposed fire-proof, and called fresh attention to the new edifice. Just as his second term of office was drawing to a close, President Jackson issued the famous "specie circular" which turned the financial world upside down. The gold and silver of the country was drawn into the treasury of the Government. ”

“ Nicolls called a meeting of the citizens to consult about fortifying New York on the river side; and, presiding in person, his opening address was a marvel of oratory. He said, with much emphasis, that he should constrain no one to fight against his own nation, at the same time he asked important and much-needed aid. In reply, the Dutch magnates said the town was strong enough already; and other and various excuses were offered, which rendered it obvious to Nicolls that he should be able to command very little assistance from a community eager to welcome the restoration of Dutch authority. ”

“ The richest men were poverty-stricken in a day. So many poor people were in a starving condition that food was distributed by the city government as well as by charitable associations; one cold December day ten thousand persons were fed in one district alone by public and private charity. Aid could not reach all, and many perished. Crowds assembled and seized bakers' wagons and other vehicles on the street, and threatened loudly unless hunger was appeased. Serious danger was apprehended. The Custom House and the Sub-treasury were protected by a strong force of United States troops. ”

“ We turn backward but two and one half centuries to find its site a picturesque tangle of underbrush, wild grape-vine and tree, animated with untrained bears of a shining pitch-black color, hungry wolves, noisy wild-cats, and sly raccoons. It will be remembered that while the little settlement—the germ of the present city of New York—on the extreme southern point of Manhattan Island was yet in its helpless infancy, a bloody Indian war nearly desolated the whole surrounding country. The savages were respectfully afraid of the fort ”

“ The run upon banks in the street, the assaults of angry brokers, the threats of violence against those who were suspected of treachery, and wild outbreaks of despair from such as had been ruined, will never be obliterated from the memory of those who witnessed the scenes.
There are many points connected with the Stock Exchange of great public interest, and which are far too imperfectly understood. ”

“ The gold brokers came into prominence when the banks refused to honor their own bills by payment in coin for the full face value. The Gold Exchange was established in 1864, after gold had taken its succession of immense leaps, and reached the pinnacle of 285. More than half its original members were also members of the Stock Exchange, but the two organizations were entirely distinct, and at one time almost hostile. While the war lasted the gold market was the barometer of success and failure. In 1866 the Gold Exchange Bank was established, which became a clearing-house for the Exchange. ”

“ While there is much of what may be deemed pure speculation (some of it reckless and unprincipled enough) carried on through the medium of the Stock Exchange, it should be remembered that there is no business, however legitimate or conservative in its character or pretensions, that has not its speculative side, and does not present ample opportunities for reckless or inexperienced men to ruin themselves if they choose. ”

“ We all know how the question of the repeal of the Stamp Act agitated the kingdom, as it was argued and re-argued by the statesmen of the realm during the winter following, and of the victory achieved in the end. The news reached New York, May 20, 1766, and the whole city ran riot with gladness. Such was the gratitude and good feeling, that in June the city petitioned the Assembly, in the City Hall, to honor with a statue the great champion of the repeal, William Pitt. ”

“ It is a fact, moreover, not generally known perhaps, that most of the men whose names are associated in the popular mind with gigantic speculations, and who are credited with deep-laid schemes for taking in the innocent and unsophisticated lamb, are not members of the Stock Exchange, but carry on their operations through members who are generally ignorant and innocent of the designs of the parties from whom the orders come to buy or sell, these orders often passing through several hands before reaching the broker who executes them. ”

“ The New York Stock Exchange is really the most important business organization in the United States, and probably combines in its membership more quick and ready intelligence, more personal honor in respect to the keeping of engagements, at whatever pecuniary sacrifice, without reference to legal liability or compulsion, and more liberality and generosity in business dealings than can be found among any equal number of men engaged in the pursuit of gain in any other business relation whatever. ”

“ Presently the whole country was exasperated over the martyrdom of Boston. It was among the men who daily passed up and down Wall Street that the wise plan of a Continental Congress had its inception. Boston thought only of bringing England to terms through the suspension of trade.
JOHN ALSOP.
New York said, "The cause is general, and concerns a whole continent equally interested with you and us." ”