Morris : First Imposing-stone 5 



known our rules of guidance. Those who will expect this paper 

 to support and close up the deformities of any political party, must, 

 at the outset, be undeceived. Those, also, who will image us as 

 either the radical enemy of all social distinctions, or the court 

 journalist of our Anglo-American aristocrats, must also be ap- 

 prised of their error," 



Editor Hagadorn, of the Mirror, was a genuine patriot, and we 

 find him censuring the people of Staten Island for not celebrating 

 the " Glorious Fourth." He boldly calls them " a generation of 

 vipers and hypocrites," because they had refused to honor the 

 memory of Washington and his compeers. He also lectures the 

 supervisors relative to the condition of old Richmond Road. 

 He says : 



" This a matter of some importance, gentlemen, and should be 

 so treated. The old road has become warped into its present state 

 by neglect of ages; like an old, untutored mind, it has followed 

 the inclinations of passion and lawless folly — it has left the sterling 

 paths of probity and truth, and rambled through the mazes of 

 romance and adventure, prompted, it would seem, by nothing but 

 the bent of idle curiosity. So we find it — and all the mild per- 

 suasions and even the examples of the brave old fences, will affect 

 nothing against the prejudices of age; forcible means must be 

 called into action." 



The chief agitation among the people of Staten Island at that 

 time was an attempt to secure the erection of a lighthouse on 

 "Robyn's Rift," and the survey being made for the establish- 

 ment of a navy yard and fort at " the cove " at '* Constable's 

 Hook," opposite New Brighton. The editorial comments are quite 

 unique in the light of modern military events : 



" This undertaking, like everything else new, excites our wonder 

 why its object has lain so long unnoticed. The advantages of bold 

 water and proximity to the ocean, this location adds the important 

 consideration of cheap and easy defense. It is only approachable 

 by large vessels from one passage. Nature, too, shut it off in 

 every other direction by shoals and flats. It is also further pro- 



