10 



ALBANY. 



Stuyvesant near the Hudson river, fifteen miles 

 westward. The western boundary completed 

 the parallelogram by connecting the western 

 extremities of the north and south lines. The 

 population in 1689 was 2,016; but this includ- 

 ed the whole area of Albany county, which 

 extended from Poughkeepsie to Canada, and 

 from Connecticut river to the heart of the Mo- 

 Law k country. 



The first mayor, Peter Schuyler, had suc- 

 cessive administrations that extended from 

 1686 to 1694. In 1709 Peter Schuyler, then a 

 prominent man in the province of New York 

 also, was sent to England with a deputation of 

 four Indian kings, and was received at the 

 English court by Queen Anne. The presence 

 of four kings was so extraordinary an event in 

 London as to attract attention, and the " Tat- 

 tler " and the u Spectator," of Steele and Ad- 

 dison, gave entertaining accounts of their pres- 

 entation at court. At 

 the Queen's request, en- 

 gravings of the four In- 

 dian kings, in national 

 costume, in aqua tinta, 

 were taken, copies of 

 which were purchased 

 for the State Library a 

 few years ago. At the 

 same time, a full-length 

 portrait of Peter Schuy- 

 ler was taken, accord- 

 ing to report, by the 

 great artist Van Dyck, 

 and presented to Schuy- 

 ler by the Queen. The 

 artist, however, is be- 

 lieved to have been Sir 

 Godfrey Kneller. The 

 portrait is of full length 

 and of large dimensions. It represents him in 

 the costume of the day, and is executed in the 

 best style of the times. Whether it be a genu- 

 ine Van Dyck or not, it has genuine artistic 

 value. On his return, Schuyler brought the 

 portrait with him, and ever since it has been 

 in the possession of the Schuyler family. 



Albany has often been called the birth- 

 place of the American Union. Here, in the 

 old Stadt-Huis, was held the great convention 

 of 1764, by the advice and with the sympathy 

 of the English Government. Seven of the 

 colonies sent the twenty-five delegates that 

 were present, Benjamin Franklin, Sir William 

 Johnson, John Penn, and Stephen Hopkins 

 being among the number. New Jersey sym- 

 pathized, but did not send delegates; while 

 Virginia and the Carolinas wished to be count- 

 ed as present, although they had no delegates. 

 The Indians, and especially the Mohawks, un- 

 der their sachem Hendrick, were loaded with 

 presents, and swore so hard to serve the King 

 that the Americans, twenty years later, had 

 reason to regret that part of the performance. 

 After several plans of union had been debated 

 and rejected, Franklin proposed a union of the 



PETER SCH1TYLER. 



colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 

 Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, 

 North Carolina, and South Carolina. The 

 plan was left for the consideration of the sev- 

 eral colonies, and the American Union was the 

 result a few years later. 



During the Revolutionary War the Conti- 

 nental army made its headquarters in Albany. 

 Schuyler, Clinton, Montgomery, and Lafayette 

 had their personal headquarters in the city. 

 The residence of Gen. Schuyler, just outside 

 the stockade, was the scene of an attempted 

 capture by British and Indians in 1781 ; but the 

 general and his family escaped. In this resi- 

 dence a daughter of Gen. Schuyler married 

 Alexander Hamilton in 1780, and a later own- 

 er, known as the widow Mclntosh, here mar- 

 ried ex-President Fillmore in 1858. 



After New York became a State of the 

 American Union, the Legislature was migra- 

 tory for many years, Albany, Poughkeepsie, 

 Kingston, and New York having about an 

 equal division of the honors. Albany was 

 made the permanent capital in 1797, and the 

 old State-house in Broadway was occupied for 

 several years. Then the old Capitol was occu- 

 pied for seventy years, and finally the new 

 Capitol in 1879. When Albany became the 

 political capital, the city and county still held 

 last to the Federalists. 



To group the foregoing, and many other in- 

 teresting incidents of history, and to celebrate 

 them in a worthy manner, was the work of the 

 Citizens' Bi-Centennial Committee of Twenty- 

 five. The celebration opened on Sunday, July 

 18, and closed on Thursday, July 22. On Sun- 

 day representative churches were selected, and 

 in them were held appropriate historical serv- 

 ices. Early on Monday morning the old north 

 gate of the city, at the intersection of Steuben 

 Street and Broadway, and the old south gate, 

 at the intersection of Hudson Avenue and 

 Broadway, were opened with quaint cere- 

 monies by the mayor and city officers, a band 

 of Iroquois from Cauglmawaga chanting one 

 of their songs of welcome. Then followed, 

 through the day and evening, musical and lit- 

 erary exercises by the children of the public 

 schools, canoe races along the river, the un- 

 covering of historical tablets, a parade of 

 manufacturers, builders, and trades organiza- 

 tions, a grand concert by school-children, and 

 a band concert, with fireworks in Washington 

 Park. A valuable feature of the day, and one 

 of permanent interest to Albany, was the un- 

 covering of the historical tablets of bronze. 

 Some of them are worth quoting : " On this 

 ground the Constitution of the United States 

 was ratified in 1788 " ; " Here Gen. Washing- 

 ton was presented with the freedom of the 

 city in 1782-'83"; "Van Rensselaer manor- 

 house, residence of the Patroons, and site of 

 the first manor-house " ; " Upon this site stood 

 the house occupied by, and wherein died, An- 

 neke Jans Bogardus, 1663, the former owner 



