JUSTIN MORGAN 85 



ble, together covering three blocks, as now laid out. On the farm 

 behind the grounds was a small half-mile training course for his 

 own horses. Lewis Morris, Jr., has been named as the winner of 

 prizes ; his horses took many a cup in well contested fields. Later 

 he won higher fame as one of the delegates to the Continental Con- 

 gress, and his name goes down to history as one of the signers of the 

 Declaration of Independence. The broad manor of this family is 

 now known as the village of Morrisania. For years these two pow- 

 erful families had struggled for the mastery of the colony. The 

 Morris connection was all whig; the DeLanceys all held to the 

 crown ; in the subsequent struggle both had the courage of their 

 opinions. The DeLancey estates were confiscated at the peace ; the 

 Morris family received positions of honor and trust, the just reward of 

 their patriotism. The British government did not forget the gallant 

 DeLanceys, who had served them so faithfully and so long. Of the 

 other gentlemen of note in the racing field were Colonel Anthony 

 Rutgers of New York; Michael Kearney of New Jersey, an Irish- 

 man by birth, who came to the colonies early in the eighteenth 

 century, and, marrying a daughter of Louis Morris, the first governor 

 of New Jersey, founded the family of the name rendered illustrious in 

 the annals of our own time by the gallant Phil. There is no use in 

 denying it, blood will tell in men as in horses. As the great modern 

 observer, Taine, forcibly puts it: 'Man is an animal by nature and 

 by structure, and neither nature nor structure ever loses a single fold'. 

 Another of the great racing characters was Dr. Hamilton of New 

 Jersey. He is found among the owners of the best and most success- 

 ful stock. In the Middle and Southern States, the same passion pre- 

 vailed, and the New York gentlemen were not loth to meet the sports- 

 men of Maryland and Virginia on their own ground, and brought 

 home many a rich prize. The years 1 767, 1 768 and 1 769, were famous ; 

 then a year or two followed of comparative quiet, owing to the dis- 

 turbed state of the colonies, and the general depression caused by 

 the renewal of the non-importation agreements. In October, 1769., 

 James DeLancey's famous horse, Lath, brought home the one hundred 

 pound purse, beating with ease, in three straight heats, the Irish 

 horse, Northumberland, belonging to Dr. Tidmarsh, and Mr. Mc- 

 Gill's bay horse, Nonpareil. This race was run over the old Centre 

 course, at Philadelphia. In May, I773> Captain DeLancey's bay 

 mare, Sultana, carried off the Whim purse of fifty pounds, run for at 

 Philadelphia, beating Colonel Lloyd's bay horse, Slow-and-Easy, and 

 Mr. Patterson's Gimcrack ; and the day following his mare Slamerkin 

 took off the city purse of fifty pounds from horses of the same sta- 



