UNITED STATES AND CANADA 69 



and possessed of a ready wit and brilliant conver- 

 sational powers. He came of an ancient lineage, 

 being a descendant of the English Puritan, John 

 Whitney, who was one of the party that accom- 

 panied Sir Richard Salenstall to New England in 

 1635. He graduated at Yale in 1863, and subse- 

 quently in the law school of Harvard. He practised 

 as a lawyer in New York, and soon took a prominent 

 part in politics in the Democratic interest, and was 

 a strong opponent of the Tammany Hall Ring. He 

 became Counsel to the New York Corporation, and 

 codified the laws of that city. He was appointed 

 Secretary of the Navy on Mr. Cleveland's first 

 election to the Presidency, and when the end of his 

 tenure of office came the United States possessed 

 thirteen modern war vessels either contracted for or 

 completed during his Secretaryship, and nine more 

 in course of construction. He retired from politics 

 somewhere about 1896. Mr. Whitney possessed an 

 abnormal amount of real estate. He was the largest 

 private landowner in New York State ; had a large 

 property of 2000 acres and a mansion in South Caro- 

 lina ; another in Long Island, where he had a private 

 training ground for his racehorses, being a keen 

 supporter of the Turf ; 700 acres of land in Massa- 

 chusetts ; extensive game preserves in October 



