58 Ten Years of my Life, 



ing foe. To interfere would- have been useless and dangerous, 

 as was proved by the sad fate ?)f Colonel O'Brien, though his 

 name was one of note amongst the Irish. Seeing that I could 

 do nothing, and not wishing to see any more, I was glad when 

 I was home again. 



Though Governor Seymour opposed it, the General Govern- 

 ment remained firm, and the draft was enforced, and strict 

 measures taken to prevent the return of such disorders. New 

 York soon resumed its usual aspect. 



During my stay in New York I received much attention 

 from many families. I cannot mention all whom I remember 

 with heartfelt gratitude. I must not pass over that family who 

 contributed most to making my rather troublesome sojourn in 

 New York agreeable ; it was the family of Mr. James Gordon 

 Bennett, the late well-known proprietor of the Neiv York 

 Hey-ald. I w^as a frequent guest at his magnificent country- 

 seat at Port Washington, and at his palatial mansion on 

 Fifth Avenue. 



Mrs. Bennett was a very distinguished and extremely kind 

 lady, who, having lived abroad, had adopted and acquired the 

 tastes and manners of the European ladies. In possession of 

 a very ample fortune, she knew how to employ it in the most 

 appropriate and generous manner. Her husband, on marrying 

 her, presented her with one or two advertising columns of the 

 Herald^ of which the revenue grew with that paper, and 

 amounted then to annually thirty thousand dollars. 



Mr. James Gordon Bennett was a tall, thin, square-built 

 Scotch gentlemen, of great energy and talent, which was re- 

 warded by the almost unheard-of success of the New York 

 Herald^ the most enterprising paper in the world. At his 

 recent death all papers published his biography, and I may 

 presume that he is generally known. The last expedition in 

 search of Dr. Livingstone, in which the Herald v\Qd uniformly 

 with even the English Government, is only one of the many 

 samples of the enterprising spirit in which that great cosmo- 

 politan institution, the Nezu York Herald, was conducted by 

 its creator. He was besides a very good man, and extremely 

 kind to us. His memory will always remain sacred to me. 



His son and heir to the many millions he left is James 

 Bennett, who was then a nice dashing young man. Young 

 Bennett was, and probably is still, an eminent sportsman, who 



