candidate, John T. Hoffman, was a man of much higher character
than his supporters and associates. He was personally honest,
but his ambition blinded him to the acts of his political
friends. … In 1868 … Hoffman was nominated for governor
and was elected. His election was secured by the grossest and
most extensive frauds ever perpetrated in the city, e. g.
illegal naturalization of foreigners, false registration,
repeating of votes, and unfair counting. The mayoralty, left
vacant by the promotion of Hoffman, was filled by the election
of Hall [A. Oakey Hall], who took his seat on the 1st day of
January 1869. As Samuel J. Tilden said, by this election 'the
Ring became completely organized and matured.' It controlled
the common council of the city and the legislature of the
State, and its nominee sat in the gubernatorial chair. Hall
was mayor; Sweeny [Peter B. Sweeny, 'the great schemer of the
Ring'] was city chamberlain or treasurer of both city and
county; Tweed was practically supreme in the street
department; Connolly [Richard B.] was city comptroller, and
thus had charge of the city finances; the city judiciary was
in sympathy with these men." But great as were the power and
the opportunities of the Ring, it obtained still more of both
through its well-paid creatures in the State legislature, by
amendments of the city charter and by acts which gave Tweed
and his partners free swing in debt-making for the city. In
1871, the last year of the existence of the Ring, it had more
than $48,000,000 of money at its disposal. Its methods of
fraud were varied and numerous. "But all the other enterprises
of the Ring dwindle into insignificance when compared with the
colossal frauds that were committed in the building of the new
court-house for the county. When this undertaking was begun,
it was stipulated that its total cost should not exceed
$250,000; but before the Ring was broken up, upwards of
$8,000,000 had been expended, and the work was not completed.
… Whenever a bill was brought in by one of the contractors,
he was directed to increase largely the total of his charge.
… A warrant was then drawn for the amount of the bill as
raised; the contractor was paid, perhaps the amount of his
original, bill, perhaps a little more; and the difference
between the original and the raised bills was divided between
the members of the Ring. It is said that about 65 per cent. of
the bills actually paid by the county represented fraudulent
addition of this sort." The beginning of the end of the reign
of the Ring came in July, 1871, when copies of some of the
fraudulent accounts, made by a clerk in the auditor's office,
came into the possession of the New York Times and were
published. "The result of these exposures was a meeting of
citizens early in September. … It was followed by the
formation of a sort of peaceable vigilance committee, under
the imposing title of the 'Committee of Seventy.' This
committee, together with Samuel J. Tilden (long a leading
Democratic politician, and afterwards candidate for the
presidency of the United States), went to work at once, and
with great energy, to obtain actual proof of the frauds
described by the 'Times.' It was owing mainly to the tireless
endeavours of Mr. Tilden … that this work was successful,
and that prosecutions were brought against several members of
the Ring." The Tammany leaders attempted to make a scapegoat
of Connolly; but the latter came to terms with Mr. Tilden, and
virtually turned over his office to Mr. Andrew H. Green, of
the Committee of Seventy, appointing him deputy-comptroller,
with full powers. "This move was a tremendous step forward for
the prosecution. The possession of the comptroller's office
gave access to papers which furnished almost all the evidence
afterwards used in the crusade against the Ring." At the
autumn election of 1871 there was a splendid rally of the
better citizens, in the city and throughout the state, and the
political power of the Ring was broken. "None of the leading
actors in the disgraceful drama failed to pay in some measure
the penalty of his deeds. Tweed, after a chequered experience
in eluding the grasp of justice, died in jail. Connolly passed
the remainder of his life in exile. Sweeny left the country
and long remained abroad. … Hall was tried and obtained a
favourable verdict, but he has chosen to live out of America.
Of the judges whose corrupt decisions so greatly aided the
Ring, Barnard and M'Cunn were impeached and removed from the
bench, while Cardozo resigned his position in time to avoid
impeachment. The following figures will give an approximate
idea of the amount the Ring cost the city of New York. In
1860, before Tweed came into power, the debt of the city was
reported as amounting only to $20,000,000 while the tax rate
was about 1.60 per cent. on the assessed valuation of the
property in the city liable to taxation.
{2347}
In the middle of the year 1871, the total debt of the city and
the county—which were coterminous, and for all practical
purposes the same—amounted to $100,955,333.33, and the tax
rate had risen to over 2 per cent. During the last two years
and a half of the government of the Ring the debt increased at
the rate of $28,652,000 a year."
F. J. Goodnow,
The Tweed Ring in New York City
(chapter 88 of Bryce's "American Commonwealth," volume 2).
ALSO IN:
S. J. Tilden,
The New York City "Ring": its Origin, Maturity and Fall.
C. F. Wingate,
An episode in Municipal Government
(N. A. Rev., Oct. 1874, January and July, 1875,
October. 1876).
NEW YORK: A. D. 1867.
The Public Schools made entirely free.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1867.
NEW YORK: A. D. 1867-1882.
Amendments of the Constitution.
The constitution of 1846 having provided for its own revision
at the end of twenty years, if so willed by the people, the
calling of a constitutional convention was approved by popular
vote in 1866, and the convention of elected delegates
assembled June 4, in the following year. Its final adjournment
was not reached until February 28, 1868. The constitution
proposed by the convention was submitted to the people in
1869, and rejected, with the exception of the judiciary
article, which reorganized the Court of Appeals, and provided
for a temporary Commission of Appeals, to determine the cases
pending in the Court, where business in arrears had
accumulated to a serious extent. The rejection of the
constitution framed in 1867 led, in 1872, to the creation by
the governor and legislature of a Commission for the revision
of the constitution, which met at Albany, December 4, 1872,
and adjourned March 15, 1873. Several amendments proposed by
the Commission were submitted to popular vote in 1874 and
1876, and were adopted. By the more important of these
amendments, colored citizens were admitted to the franchise
without property qualifications; a strong, specific enactment
for the prevention and punishment of bribery and corruption at
elections was embodied in the constitution itself; some
changes were made in the provisions for districting the state,
after each census, and the pay of members of the legislature
was increased to $1,500 per annum; the power of the
legislature to pass private bills was limited; the term of the
governor was extended from two years to three; the governor
was empowered to veto specific items in bills which
appropriate money, approving the remainder; the governor was
allowed thirty days for the consideration of bills left in his
hands at the adjournment of the legislature, which bills
become law only upon his approval within that time; a
superintendent of public works was created to take the place
of the Canal Commissioners previously existing, and a
superintendent of state prisons to take the place of the three
inspectors of state prisons; a selection of judges from the
bench of the Supreme Court of the state to act as Associate
Judges of the Court of Appeals was authorized; the loaning or
granting of the credit or money of the state, or that of any
county, city, town, or village to any association,
corporation, or private undertaking was forbidden; corrupt
conduct in office was declared to be felony. By an amendment
of the constitution submitted by the legislature to the people
in 1882, the canals of the state were made entirely free of
tolls.
NEW YORK: A. D. 1869.
Black Friday.
"During the war gold had swollen in value to 285, when the
promise of the nation to pay a dollar on demand was only worth
thirty-five cents. Thence it had gradually sunk. … All our
purchases from foreign nations, all duties on those purchases,
and all sales of domestic produce to other nations are payable
in gold. There is therefore a large and legitimate business in
the purchase and sale of gold, especially in New York, the
financial centre of the nation. But a much larger business of
a gambling nature had gradually grown up around that which was
legitimate. … These gambling operations were based on the
rise and fall of gold, and these in turn depended on
successful or unsuccessful battles, or on events in foreign
nations that could be neither foreseen nor guarded against.
The transactions were therefore essentially gambling. … So
large was the amount of this speculative business, gathering
up all the gold-betting of the nation in a single room, that
it more than equalled the legitimate purchase and sale of
gold. There were large and wealthy firms who made this their
chief business; and prominent among them was the firm of
Smith, Gould, Martin & Co., four gentlemen under one
partnership name, all wealthy and all accustomed to this
business for years. Their joint wealth and business skill made
them a power in Wall street. The leading mind of the firm,
though not the first named, was Mr. Jay Gould, President of
the Erie Railway, joint owner with Colonel James Fisk Jr., of
two lines of steamboats, and largely interested in a number of
railroads and other valuable properties. Mr. Gould looked upon
gold, railroads, and steamboats as the gilded dice wherewith
to gamble. … During the spring of 1869 he was a buyer of
gold. There was perhaps fifteen millions of that rare currency
in New York outside the Sub-Treasury; and he had bought half
that amount, paying therefor a bonus of a little more than two
millions of dollars. As fast as he had purchased the precious
metal he had loaned it out to those who needed it for the
payment of duties, and who hoped to repurchase it at a lower
rate. And so, though the owner of seven millions, he had none
of it in hand; he merely possessed the written acknowledgment
of certain leading merchants and brokers that they owed him
that amount of specie, which they would repay with interest on
demand. Having this amount obtainable at any moment, Mr. Gould
had the mercantile community at his mercy. But there was some
hundred millions of gold in the Treasury, more or less, and
the President of the United States or the Secretary of the
Treasury might at any time throw it on the market. On this
point it was very desirable to ascertain the opinion of
President Grant; more desirable to have constant access to his
private ear." In various ways, argumentative influences were
brought to bear on President Grant and the Secretary of the
Treasury, Mr. Boutwell, to persuade them that it was desirable
for the country, while the crops were being moved, to hold up
the price of gold. One important channel for such influences
was supplied by the President's brother-in-law, a retired New
York merchant, named Corbin, who was drawn into the
speculation and given a share in Gould's gold purchases.
{2348}
By strenuous exertions, Gould and his associates pushed up the
price till "in May it stood at 144 7/8; but as soon as they
ceased to buy, the price began to recede until in the latter
part of June it again stood at 136. The others were then
frightened and sold out. 'All these other fellows deserted me
like rats from a ship,' said Gould. But for him to sell out
then would involve a heavy loss, and he preferred a gain. He
therefore called upon his friend and partner Fisk to enter the
financial arena. It is but justice to Mr. Fisk to say that for
some time he declined; he clearly saw that the whole tendency
of gold was downward. But when Gould made the proposition more
palatable by suggesting corruption, Fisk immediately swallowed
the bait. … He … entered the market and purchased twelve
millions. There is an old adage that there is honor among
thieves. This appears not to be true on the Gold Exchange. All
Mr. Gould's statements to his own partner were false, except
those relating to Corbin and Butterfield. And Mr. Corbin did
his best. He not only talked and wrote to the President
himself; not only wrote for the New York 'Times,' but when
General Grant visited him in New York, he sent Gould to see
him so often that the President, unaware of the financial trap
set for him, rebuked the door servant for giving Mr. Gould
such ready access. But it is worthy of note that neither
Corbin, Gould, nor Fisk ever spoke to the President of their
personal interest in the matter. They were only patriots
urging a certain course of conduct for the good of the
country. These speculations as to the advantage to the country
of a higher price of gold seem to have had some effect on the
Presidential mind; for early in September he wrote to Mr.
Boutwell, then at his Massachusetts home, giving his opinion
of the financial condition of the country, and suggesting that
it would not be wise to lower the price of gold by sales from
the Treasury while the crops were moving to the seaboard. Mr.
Boutwell therefore telegraphed to the Assistant Secretary at
Washington only to sell gold sufficient to buy bonds for the
sinking fund. Through Mr. Corbin or in some other way this
letter came to the knowledge of the conspirators; for they at
once began to purchase and the price began to rise. … On the
13th of September, gold, swelling and falling like the tide,
stood at 135½. The clique then commenced their largest
purchases, and within nine days had bought enough to hold
sixty-six millions—nearly every cent of it fictitious, and
only included in promises to pay. On the evening of Wednesday,
September 22, the price was 140½; but it had taken the
purchase of thirty or forty millions to put it up that five
cents. Could it be forced five cents higher, and all sold, the
profits would be over ten millions of dollars! It was a stake
worth playing for. But the whole mercantile community was
opposed to them; bountiful harvests were strong arguments
against them; and more than all else, there stood the
Sub-Treasury of the United States, with its hundred millions
of dollars in its vaults, ready at any time to cast its
plethora of wealth on their unfortunate heads. … Corbin,
while assuring Gould that there was no danger of any
Government sale, and yet himself greatly in trepidation,
addressed a letter to General Grant urging him not to
interfere with the warfare then raging between the bulls and
the bears, nor to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to do
so. … The letter would probably have had some effect, but
unfortunately the ring overdid their business in the way in
which they sent it." The letter was conveyed by a private
messenger. The messenger, "Mr. Chapin, delivered his letter,
asked General Grant if there was any reply, and being told
there was none, started for his home, first telegraphing to
his employer, 'Letter delivered all right.' It was a most
unfortunate telegraphic message he sent back. He swears that
his meaning was that the letter was delivered all right; and
so the despatch reads. But the gold gamblers, blinded by the
greatness of the stake at risk, interpreted the 'all right' of
the message as an answer to the contents of Mr. Corbin's
letter—that the President thought the letter all right; and
on the strength of that reading Fisk rushed into the market
and made numerous purchases of gold. But that very letter,
which was intended to be their governmental safeguard, led to
their ruin. Carried by special messenger for a day and a half,
its urgency that the Administration should sell no gold,
coupled with frequent assertions in the newspapers that Mr.
Corbin was a great bull in gold, excited General Grant's
suspicions. He feared that Corbin was not actuated by
patriotic motives alone in this secret correspondence. At the
President's suggestion, therefore, Mrs. Grant wrote to her
sister, Mrs. Corbin, telling her that rumors had reached them
that Mr. Corbin was connected with speculators in New York,
and that she hoped if this was so he would at once disengage
himself from them; that the President was much distressed at
such rumors. On the receipt of this letter, Mr. Corbin was
greatly excited." Corbin showed the letter to Gould, and got
himself let out of the game, so that he might be able to say
to President Grant that he had no interest in gold; but Fisk
was not told of the President's suspicions. "On the evening of
Wednesday, September 21, it was determined to close the corner
within two days." A desperate attack on the market began next
morning. Gold opened that day at 39½; it closed at 44. The
next day was "Friday, September 24, commonly called Black
Friday, either from the black mark it caused on the characters
of dealers in gold, or, as is more probable, from the ruin it
brought to both sides. The Gold Room was crowded for two hours
before the time of business. … Fisk was there, gloating over
the prospect of great gains from others' ruin. His brokers
were there, noisy and betting on the rapid rise of gold and
the success of the corner. All alike were greatly excited,
palpitating between hope and fear, and not knowing what an
hour might bring forth. … Gold closed on Thursday at 144;
Speyers [principal broker of the conspirators] commenced his
work on Friday by offering 145, one per cent. higher than the
last purchase. Receiving no response, he offered to buy at
146, 147, 148, and 149 respectively, but without takers. Then
150 was offered, and half a million was sold him by Mr. James
Brown, who had quietly organized a band of prominent merchants
who were determined to meet the gold gamblers on their own
ground. … Amid the most tremendous confusion the voices of
the excited brokers could be heard slowly bidding up the value
of their artificial metal.
{2349}
Higher and higher rose the tide of speculation; from 156 to
159 there was no offer whatever; amid deep silence Speyers
called out, 'Any part of five millions for 160.' 'One million
taken at 160,' was the quiet response of James Brown. Further
offers were made by the brokers of the clique all the way from
160 to 163½. But Mr. Brown preferred to grapple the enemy by
the throat, and he sold Speyers five millions more, making
seven millions of gold sold that hour for which Speyers agreed
to pay eleven millions in currency. Such figures almost
stagger one to read of them! But Speyers continued to buy till
before noon he had purchased nearly sixty millions. … As the
price rose cent by cent, men's hearts were moved within them
as the trees are shaken by the swelling of the wind. But when
the first million was taken at 160 a great load was removed,
and when the second million was sold there was such a burst of
gladness, such a roar of multitudinous voices as that room,
tumultuous as it had always been, never heard before.
Everybody instantly began to sell, desiring to get rid of all
their gold before it had tumbled too deep. And just as the
precious metal was beginning to flow over the precipice, the
news was flashed into the room that Government had telegraphed
to sell four millions. Instantly the end was reached; gold
fell to 140, and then down, down, down, to 133. There were no
purchasers at any price. … The gold ring had that day bought
sixty millions of gold, paying or rather agreeing to pay
therefor ninety-six millions of dollars in currency!" But
Gould, Fisk & Co., who owned several venal New York judges,
placed injunctions and other legal obstacles in the way of a
settlement of claims against themselves. "Of course these
judicious and judicial orders put an end to all business
except that which was favorable to Fisk and Gould. They
continued to settle with all parties who owed them money; they
were judicially enjoined from settling with those to whom, if
their own brokers may be believed, they were indebted, and
they have not yet settled with them. … As the settlements
between the brokers employed by the ring and their victims
were all made in private, there is no means of knowing the
total result. But it is the opinion of Mr. James B. Hodskin,
Chairman of the Arbitration Committee of the Exchange, and
therefore better acquainted with its business than anyone
else, that the two days' profits of the clique from the
operations they acknowledged and settled for were not less
than twelve millions of dollars; and that the losses on those
transactions which they refused to acknowledge were not less
than twenty millions. The New York 'Tribune' a day or two
afterward put the gains of the clique at eleven million
dollars. Some months after 'Black Friday' had passed away,
Congress ordered an investigation into its causes. … For two
or three days the whole business of New York stood still
awaiting the result of the corner. … In good-will with all
the world, with grand harvests, with full markets on both
sides the Atlantic, came a panic that affected all business.
Foreign trade came to a stand-still. The East would not send
to Europe: the West could not ship to New York. Young men saw
millions of dollars made in a few days by dishonesty; they
beheld larger profits result from fraud than from long lives
of honesty. Old men saw their best-laid plans frustrated by
the operations of gamblers. Our national credit was affected
by it. Europe was told that our principal places of business
were nests of gamblers, and that it was possible for a small
clique, aided by our banking institutions, to get possession
of all the gold there was in the land; and that when one firm
had gone through business transactions to the amount of over
one hundred millions of dollars, the courts of the United
States would compel the completion of those bargains which
resulted in a profit, while those that ended in a loss were
forbidden. For two or three months the sale of bonds in Europe
was affected by the transactions of that day; and not until
the present generation of business men has passed away will
the evil influence of Black Friday be entirely lost."
W. R. Hooper,
Black Friday
(The Galaxy, December, 1871).
NEW YORK: A. D. 1875-1881.
Stalwarts and Half-breeds.
See STALWARTS.
NEW YORK: A. D. 1881.
Adoption of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1848-1883.
NEW YORK: A. D. 1892.
Restored Tammany government in the City.
The Tammany organization was greatly discredited and crippled
for a time by the exposure and overthrow of Tweed and his
"ring," in 1871; but after a few years, under the
chieftainship of John Kelly and Richard Croker, successive
"grand sachems," it recovered its control of the city
government so completely that, in 1892, Dr. Albert Shaw was
justified in describing the latter as follows: "There is in
New York no official body that corresponds with the London
Council. The New York Board of Aldermen, plus the Mayor, plus
the Commissioners who are the appointive heads of a number of
the working departments such as the Excise, Park, Health and
Police departments, plus the District Attorney, the Sheriff,
the Coroners, and other officials pertaining to the county of
New York as distinct from the city of New York, plus a few of
the head Tammany bosses and the local Tammany bosses of the
twenty-four Assembly Districts—all these men and a few other
officials and bosses, taken together, would make up a body of
men of about the same numerical strength as the London
Council; and these are the men who now dominate the official
life of the great community of nearly eighteen hundred
thousand souls. In London the 137 councillors fight out every
municipal question in perfectly open session upon its actual
merits before the eyes of all London, and of the whole British
empire. In New York, the governing group discusses nothing
openly. The Board of Aldermen is an obscure body of
twenty-five members, with limited power except for mischief,
its members being almost to a man high Tammany politicians who
are either engaged directly in the liquor business or are in
one way or another connected with that interest. So far as
there is any meeting in which the rulers of New York discuss
the public affairs of the community, such meetings are held in
the Tammany wigwam in Fourteenth Street. But Tammany is not an
organization which really concerns itself with any aspects of
public questions, either local or general, excepting the
'spoils' aspect. It is organized upon what is a military
rather than a political basis, and its machinery extends
through all the assembly districts and voting precincts of New
York, controlling enough votes to hold and wield the balance
of power, and thus to keep Tammany in the possession of the
offices.
{2350}
Its local hold is maintained by the dispensing of a vast
amount of patronage. The laborers on public works, the members
of the police force and the fire brigades, the employees of
the Sanitary Department, of the Excise Department, of the
Street Cleaning and Repair Department and of the Water and
Dock and Park Departments, the teachers in the public schools
and the nurses in the public hospitals, all are made to feel
that their livelihood depends on the favor of the Tammany
bosses; and they must not only be faithful to Tammany
themselves, but all their friends and relatives to the
remotest collateral degree must also be kept subservient to
the Tammany domination. The following characterization of
Tammany leadership and method is from the New York Evening
Post. … 'None of the members occupy themselves with any
legislation, except such as creates salaried offices and
contracts in this city, to be got hold of either by capture at
the polls or "deals" with the Republican politicians here or
in Albany. When such legislation has been successful, the only
thing in connection with it which Tammany leaders consider is
how the salaries shall be divided and what "assessments" the
places or contracts can stand. If any decent outsider could
make his way into the inner conferences at which these
questions are settled, he would hear not the grave discussion
of the public interests, how to keep streets clean, or how to
repave them, or how to light them or police them, or how to
supply the city with water, but stories of drunken or amorous
adventure, larded freely with curious and original oaths,
ridicule of reformers and "silk-stockinged" people generally,
abuse of "kickers," and examination of the claims of gamblers,
liquor-dealers, and pugilists to more money out of the public
treasury. In fact, as we have had of late frequent occasion to
observe, the society is simply an organization of clever
adventurers, most of them in some degree criminal, for the
control of the ignorant and vicious vote of the city in an
attack on the property of the tax-payers. There is not a
particle of politics in the concern any more than in any
combination of Western brigands to "hold up" a railroad train
and get at the express packages. Its sole object is plunder in
any form which will not attract the immediate notice of the
police.'"
A. Shaw,
Municipal Problems of New York and London
(Review of Reviews, April 1892).
NEW YORK: A. D. 1894.
Constitutional Convention.
A bill passed by the legislature of 1892, calling a convention
to revise the constitution of the State, provided for the
election of 128 delegates by Assembly districts, and 32 at
large, but added 9 more whom the Governor should appoint, 3 to
represent labor interests, 3 woman-suffrage claims, and 3 the
advocates of prohibition. By the legislature of 1893 this act
was set aside and a new enactment adopted, making the total
number of delegates to the Constitutional Convention 165, all
elective, and apportioning five to each senatorial district.
The convention assembled at Albany, May 9, 1894. Its labors
are unfinished at the time this volume goes to press.
Questions of reform in municipal government have claimed the
greatest attention.
----------NEW YORK: End----------
NEW YORK SOCIETY LIBRARY.
See LIBRARIES, MODERN: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
----------NEW ZEALAND: Start--------
NEW ZEALAND:
The aborigines.
"The traditions of these people [the Maoris] lead to the
conclusion that they first came to New Zealand about 600 years
ago, from some of the islands between Samoa and Tahiti; but
some ethnologists put the migration as far back as 3,000
years. Their language is a dialect of the Polynesian, most
resembling that of Rarotonga, but their physical characters
vary greatly. Some are fair, with straight hair, and with the
best type of Polynesian features; others are dusky brown, with
curly or almost frizzly hair, and with the' long and broad
arched nose of the Papuan; while others have the coarse thick
features of the lower Melanesian races. Now these variations
of type cannot be explained unless we suppose the Maoris to
have found in the islands an indigenous Melanesian people, of
whom they exterminated the men, but took the better-looking of
the women for wives; and as their traditions decidedly state
that they did find such a race when they first arrived at New
Zealand, there seems no reason whatever for rejecting these
traditions, which accord with actual physical facts, just as
the tradition of a migration from 'Hawaiki,' a Polynesian
island, accords with linguistic facts."
Hellwald-Wallace,
Australasia
(Stanford's Compendium, new issue, 1893),
chapter 14, section 9 (volume 1).
ALSO IN:
E. Shortland,
Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders.
J. S. Polack,
Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders.
Lady Martin,
Our Maoris.
W. D. Hay,
Brighter Britain,
volume 2, chapters 3-5.
See, also, MALAYAN RACE.
NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1642-1856.
Discovery.
Colonization.
Early dealings with Natives.
Constitutional organization.
"The honour of the actual discovery of New Zealand must be
accorded to the Dutch Navigator, Tasman, who visited it in
1642, discovering Van Dieman's Land during the same voyage.
As, however, he does not appear to have landed, the knowledge
of the country derived by Europeans from his account of it
must have been of very limited extent. … It was our own
countryman, Captain Cook, to whom we are so largely indebted
for what we now know of the geography of the Pacific, who made
us acquainted with the nature of the country and the character
of its inhabitants. The aborigines were evidently of a much
higher type than those of the Australian continent. They are a
branch of the Polynesian race, and according to their own
traditions came about 600 years ago from 'Hawaiki,' which
ethnologists interpret to mean either Hawaii (the Sandwich
Islands), or Savaii in the Samoa group. They are divided into
some twenty clans, analogous to those of the Scottish
Highlands. Cook's first visit was paid in 1769, but he touched
at the islands on several occasions during his subsequent
voyages, and succeeded in making, before his final departure,
a more or less complete exploration of its coasts. The
aborigines were divided into numerous tribes, which were
engaged in almost constant wars one with another. … As has
been the case in so many distant lands, the first true
pioneers of civilization were the missionaries.
{2351}
In 1814, thirty-seven years after Captain Cook's last visit to
New Zealand, a few representatives of the English Church
Missionary Society landed in the North Island, less with the
intention of colonising than with the hope of converting the
natives to Christianity. The first practical steps in the
direction of settlement were taken by the New Zealand Land
Company, composed of a very strong and influential body of
gentlemen headed by Lord Durham, and having much the same
ideas as those which actuated the South Australian
Colonisation Society. The proposal to found a new Colony was
at first bitterly opposed by the Government of the day, but in
consequence of the energetic action of the Company, who sent
out agents with large funds to purchase land of the natives,
the Government ultimately gave way, and despatched as Consul
Captain Hobson, who arrived in January 1840. One of his first
steps on assuming office was to call a meeting of the natives
and explain to them the object of his mission, with the view
of entering into a treaty for placing the sovereignty of their
island in Her Majesty the Queen. He was not at first
successful, the natives fearing that if they acceded to the
proposal, their land would be taken from them; but being
reassured on this point, the majority of the chiefs ultimately
signed the treaty in February of the same year. By the terms
of this treaty, called the Treaty of Waitangi, the chiefs, in
return for their acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Queen
of England, were guaranteed for themselves and their people
the exclusive possession of their lands so long as they wished
to retain them, and they, on their side, accorded to the Crown
the exclusive right of pre-emption over such lands as might,
from time to time, come into the market. It will thus be seen
that the acquisition of land in New Zealand by European
settlers was effected in a manner entirely different from that
which obtained in other colonies; for, although the right of
pre-emption by the Crown was subsequently waived, no land
could be obtained from natives unless they were perfectly
willing to part with it. It is true that lands have in some
instances been confiscated as a punishment for native
insurrections, but, with this exception, all lands have passed
from natives to Europeans by the ordinary processes of bargain
and sale. Captain Hobson's next action was to place himself in
communication with the New Zealand Company's agents, and
ascertain what they were doing in the way of colonisation. He
found that besides acquiring various blocks of land in the
North and South Islands, they had formed a permanent
settlement at Wellington, at which they were organising a
system of government incompatible with the Queen's authority,
which he therefore promptly suppressed. … In June of 1840
the settlement was made a colony by Charter under the Great
Seal, Captain Hobson naturally becoming the first Governor.
This eminent public servant died at his post in September
1842, being succeeded by Captain R. Fitzroy, who, however, did
not reach the Colony till a year afterwards. In the interval
occurred that lamentable incident, the massacre of white
settlers by the natives at Wairu, in the South Island. Shortly
after this the Company made strenuous efforts to obtain a
share in the Executive Government, but this was twice
disallowed by the Home authorities. Captain Fitzroy's term of
office was in all respects a stormy one, the native chiefs
rising in rebellion, open and covert, against the terms of the
Waitangi treaty. With only 150 soldiers, and destitute of any
military facilities, this governor deemed it prudent to come
to a compromise with the rebels, fearing the effect upon the
minds of the natives generally of the certain defeat which he
must sustain in active warfare. Receiving, however,
reinforcements from Sidney, Captain Fitzroy took the field,
sustaining in his first expedition a decided defeat. Two other
expeditions followed this, and at length the success of the
British arms was assured, Captain Fitzroy suffering from the
irony of fate, since, having been neglected in his peril, he
was recalled in the moment of victory. Captain (afterwards Sir
George) Grey succeeded to the Governorship in November 1845;
having the good fortune to be surrounded by ministers of
exceptional ability, and arriving in the Colony at a fortunate
turn in its affairs, he takes his place among the successful
Governors of New Zealand. Colonel Gore Browne—after an
interregnum of nearly two years—succeeded to power, and
during his viceroyalty in 1853, responsible government, which,
however, did not provide for ministerial responsibility, was
inaugurated. … The Home Government shortly afterwards (May
1856) … established responsible government in its fullest
form, but unfortunately without any special provisions for the
representation of the native races. … Up to 1847 New Zealand
remained a Crown Colony, the Government being administered by
a Governor appointed by the Crown, an Executive Council, and a
Legislative Council. Under this system, the Governor had very
large powers, since the only control over him was that
exercised by the Home Government. The Executive Council
consisted of the Governor and three official members, while
the Legislative Council was made up of the Executive Council
and three non-official members nominated by the Governor. At
that time Auckland was the seat of Government, which has since
been moved to Wellington. In 1852, before the expiration of
the period over which the provisional charter granted in 1847
was to extend, the Imperial Parliament granted a new
constitution to New Zealand (15 & 16 Vic. cap. 72), and in the
following year it came into force and is still [1886]
operative. The Legislature, under this Constitution, consists
of a Governor, a Legislative Council, composed of life members
nominated by the Crown, and a House of Representatives elected
by the people, under a franchise which practically amounts to
household suffrage."
Her Majesty's Colonies
(Colonial and Ind. Exhibition, 1886),
pages 245-248.
ALSO IN:
G. W. Rusden,
History of New Zealand,
volume 1.
G. Tregarthen,
Story of Australasia.
NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1853-1883.
Land questions with the Natives.
The King movement.
The Maori War.
"In the course of years, as it was evident to the natives that
the Europeans were the coming power in the land, suspicion and
distrust were excited, and at last the tocsin sounded. … It
was considered that a head was needed to initiate a form of
Government among the tribes to resist the encroachments daily
made by the Europeans, and which seemed to threaten the
national extinction of the native race. The first to endeavour
to bring about a new order of things was a native chief named
Matene Te Whiwi, of Otaki.
{2352}
In 1853 he marched to Taupo and Rotorua, accompanied by a
number of followers, to obtain the consent of the different
tribes to the election of a king over the central parts of the
island, which were still exclusively Maori territory, and to
organize a form of government to protect the interests of the
native race. Matene … met with little success. … The
agitation, however, did not stop, the fire once kindled
rapidly spread, ardent followers of the new idea sprang up,
and their numbers soon increased, until finally, in 1854, a
tribal gathering was convened at Manawapou. … After many
points had been discussed, a resolution was come to among the
assembled tribes that no more land should be sold to
Europeans. A solemn league was entered into by an present for
the preservation of the native territory, and a tomahawk was
passed round as a pledge that all would agree to put the
individual to death who should break it. In 1854 another bold
stand was made, and Te Heuheu, who exercised a powerful sway
over the tribes of the interior, summoned a native council at
Taupo, when the King movement began in earnest. It was there
decided that the sacred mountain of Tongariro should be the
centre of a district in which no land was to be sold to the
government, and that the districts of Hauraki, Waikato,
Kawhia, Mokau, Taranaki, Whanganui, Rangitikei, and Titiokura,
should form the outlying portions of the boundary; that no
roads should be made by the Europeans within the area, and
that a king should be elected to reign over the Maoris. In
1857 Kingite meetings were held, … at which it was agreed
that Potatau Te Wherowhero, the most powerful chief of
Waikato, should be elected king, under the title of Potatau
the First, and finally, in June, 1858, his flag was formally
hoisted at Ngaruawahia. Potatau, who was far advanced in life
when raised to this high office, soon departed from the scene,
and was succeeded by his son Matutaera Te Wherowhero, under
the title of Potatau the Second. The events of the New Zealand
war need not here be recited, but it may be easily imagined
that during the continuance of the fighting the extensive area
of country ruled over by the Maori monarch was kept clear of
Europeans. But in 1863 and 1864 General Cameron, at the head
of about 20,000 troops, composed of Imperial and Colonial
forces, invaded the Waikato district, and drove the natives
southward and westward, till his advanced corps were at
Alexandra and Cambridge. Then followed the Waikato
confiscation of Maori lands and the military settlements. The
King territory was further broken into by the confiscations at
Taranaki and the East Coast. … Since the termination of the
lamentable war between the two races, the King natives have,
on all occasions, jealously preserved their hostile spirit to
Europeans. … The New Zealand war concluded, or rather died
out, in 1865, when the confiscated line was drawn, the
military settlements formed, and the King natives isolated
themselves from the Europeans. For ten years it may be said
that no attempt was mane to negotiate with them. They were not
in a humour to be dealt with. About 1874 and 1875, however, it
became evident that something would have to be done. The
colony had greatly advanced in population, and a system of
public works had been inaugurated, which made it intolerable
that large centres of population should be cut off from each
other by vast spaces of country which Europeans were not
allowed even to traverse." Then began a series of
negotiations, which, up to 1883, had borne no fruit.
J. H. Kerry-Nicholls,
The King Country, introduction.
ALSO IN:
G. W. Rusden,
History of New Zealand.
Colonel Sir J. E. Alexander,
Incidents of the Maori War.
NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1887-1893.
Maori representation.
Women Suffrage.
An act passed in 1887 created four districts in each of which
the Maoris elect a member of the House of Representatives.
Every adult Maori has a vote in this election. By an act
passed in 1893 the elective franchise was extended to women.
----------NEW ZEALAND: End----------
NEWAB-WUZEER,
OR NAWAB-VIZIER, of Oude.
See OUDE; also NABOB.
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY:
The founding of the city by migration
from New Haven (1666-1667).
See NEW JERSEY: A. D. 1664-1667.
NEWBERN, North Carolina: Capture by the national forces.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862
(JANUARY-APRIL: NORTH CAROLINA).
NEWBURGH, Washington's headquarters at.
"At the close of 1780, the army was cantoned at three points:
at Morristown and at Pompton, in New Jersey, and at
Phillipstown, in the Hudson Highlands. Washington established
his head-quarters at New Windsor in December, 1780, where he
remained until June, 1781, when the French, who had quartered
during the winter at Newport and Lebanon, formed a junction
with the Americans on the Hudson. In April, 1782, he
established his head-quarters at Newburgh, two miles above the
village of New Windsor, where he continued most of the time
until November, 1783, when the Continental army was
disbanded."
B. J. Lossing,
Field-book of the Revolution,
volume 1, page 671.
NEWBURGH ADDRESSES, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1782-1783.
NEWBURN, Battles of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1640.
NEWBURY, First Battles of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1643 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).
NEWBURY, Second Battle.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1644 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, Origin of.
See PONS ÆLII.
NEWCOMEN, and the invention of the steam engine.
See STEAM ENGINE: THE BEGINNINGS.
----------NEWFOUNDLAND: Start--------
NEWFOUNDLAND:
Aboriginal inhabitants.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: BEOTHUKAN FAMILY.
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1000.
Supposed identity with the Helluland of Norse Sagas.
See AMERICA: 10-11TH CENTURIES.
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1498.
Discovery by Sebastian Cabot.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1498.
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1500.
Visited by Cortereal, the Portuguese explorer.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1500.
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1501-1578.
The Portuguese, Norman, Breton and Basque fisheries.
"It is a very curious circumstance, that the country in which
the Cabots started their idea for a navigation to the
north-west, and in which they at first proclaimed their
discovery of the rich fishing-banks near their
New-found-Isles, did not at once profit by it so much as their
neighbors, the French and the Portuguese. …
{2353}
During the first half of the 16th century we hear little of
English fishing and commercial expeditions to the great banks;
although they had a branch of commerce and fishery with
Iceland. … 'It was not until the year 1548 that the English
government passed the first act for the encouragement of the
fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland, after which they
became active competitors in this profitable occupation.'" In
Portugal, Cortereal's discovery had revealed "the wealth to be
derived from the fish, particularly cod-fish, which abounded
on that coast. The fishermen of Portugal and of the Western
Islands, when this news was spread among them, made
preparations for profiting by it, and soon extended their
fishing excursions to the other side of the ocean. According
to the statement of a Portuguese author, very soon after the
discoveries by the Cortereals, a Portuguese Fishing Company
was formed in the harbors of Vianna, Aveiro and Terceira, for
the purpose of colonizing Newfoundland and making
establishments upon it. Nay, already, in 1506, three years
after the return of the last searching expedition for the
Cortereals, Emanuel gave order, 'that the fishermen of
Portugal, at their return from Newfoundland, should pay a
tenth part of their profits at his custom-houses.' It is
certain, therefore, that the Portuguese fishermen must,
previous to that time, have been engaged in a profitable
business. And this is confirmed by the circumstance that they
originated the name of 'tierra de Bacalhas' [or Bacalhao] (the
Stockfish-country) and gave currency to it; though the word,
like the cod-fishery itself, appears to be of Germanic origin.
…. The nations who followed them in the fishing business
imitated their example, and adopted the name 'country of the
Bacalhas' (or, in the Spanish form, Baccallaos), though
sometimes interchanging it with names of their own invention,
as the 'Newfoundland: 'Terre neuve,' etc. … They [the
Portuguese] continued their expeditions to Newfoundland and
its neighborhood for a long time. They were often seen there
by later English and other visitors during the course of the
16th century; for instance, according to Herrera, in 1519;
again by the English in 1527; and again by Sir Humphrey
Gilbert in 1583. … The Portuguese engaged in this fishery as
early as 1501, according to good authorities, and perhaps
under the charter of Henry VII. In 1578, they had 50 ships
employed in that trade, and England as many more, and France
150. … The inhabitants of the little harbors of Normandy and
Brittany, the great peninsulas of France, … were also among
the first who profited by the discoveries of the Cabots and
Cortereals, and who followed in the wake of the Portuguese
fishermen toward the north-west cod-fish country. … The
first voyages of the Bretons of St. Malo and the Normans of
Dieppe to Newfoundland, are said to have occurred as early as
1504. … They probably visited places of which the Portuguese
had not taken possession; and we therefore find them at the
south of Newfoundland, and especially at the island of Cape
Breton, to which they gave the name, still retained,—the
oldest French name on the American north-east coast. … The
Spaniards, and more particularly the mariners and fishermen of
Biscay, have pretended, like those of Brittany and Normandy,
that they and their ancestors, from time immemorial, had
sailed to Newfoundland; and, even before Columbus, had
established their fisheries there. But the Spanish historian
Navarette, in more modern times, does not sustain this
pretension of his countrymen. … We may come to the
conclusion that, if the fisheries of the Spanish Basques on
the Banks of Newfoundland and in the vicinity, did not begin
with the voyage of Gomez [in 1525], they received from it a
new impulse. … From this time, for more than a century, they
[the Basques] appeared in these waters every year with a large
fleet, and took their place upon the banks as equals by the
side of the Bretons, Normans, and Basques of France, until the
middle of the 17th century, when rival nations dispossessed
them of their privileges."
J. G. Kohl,
History of the Discovery of Maine
(Maine Historical Society Collections, series 2, volume 1),
chapters 6 and 8, with foot-note.
ALSO IN:
R. Brown,
History of Cape Breton,
chapters 1-2.
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1534.
Visited by Jacques Cartier.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1534-1535.
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1583.
Formal possession taken for England by Sir Humphrey Gilbert.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1583.
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1610-1655.
Early English attempts at colonization.
The grants to Lord Baltimore and Sir David Kirke.
"For 27 years after the failure of the Gilbert expedition no
fresh attempt was made to establish a colony in the island.
During this interval fishermen of various nationalities
continued to frequent its shores. … The French were actively
engaged in the prosecution of the fisheries in the neighboring
seas. Their success in this direction strengthened their
desire to gain possession of Newfoundland. Hence it is that in
the history of the country France has always been an important
factor. Having from time to time held possession of various
points of the land, England's persistent rival in these
latitudes has given names to many towns, villages, creeks, and
harbors. To this day Newfoundland has not completely shaken
off French influence. … In 1610 another attempt was made to
plant a colony of Englishmen in Newfoundland. John Guy, a
merchant, and afterwards mayor of Bristol, published in 1609 a
pamphlet on the advantages which would result to England from
the establishment of a colony in the island. This publication
made such a deep impression on the public mind that a company
was formed to carry out the enterprise it suggested. The most
illustrious name on the roll was that of Lord Bacon. … The
importance of Newfoundland as a site for an English colony did
not escape the wide-ranging eye of Bacon. He pronounced its
fisheries 'more valuable than all the mines of Peru,' a
judgment which time has amply verified. … To this company
James I., by letters patent dated April, 1610, made a grant of
all the part of Newfoundland which lies between Cape Bonavista
in the north and Cape St. Mary. Mr. Guy was appointed
governor, and with a number of colonists he landed at Mosquito
Harbor, on the north side of Conception Bay, where he
proceeded to erect huts. … We have no authentic account of
the progress of this settlement, begun under such favourable
auspices, but it proved unsuccessful from some unexplained
cause. Guy and a number of the settlers returned to England,
the rest remaining to settle elsewhere in the New World.
{2354}
Five years afterwards, in 1615, Captain Richard Whitbourne,
mariner, of Exmouth, Devonshire, received a commission from
the Admiralty of England to proceed to Newfoundland for the
purpose of establishing order among the fishing population and
remedying certain abuses which had grown up. … It was shown
that there were upwards of 250 English vessels, having a
tonnage of 1,500 tons, engaged in the fisheries along the
coast. Fixed habitations extended at intervals along the shore
from St. John's to Cape Race. … Having done what he could
during the active part of his life to promote its interests,
on his return to England, in his advanced years, he
[Whitbourne] wrote an account of the country, entitled 'A
Discourse and Discovery of Newfoundland.' … His book made a
great impression at the time. … So highly did King James
think of the volume that he ordered a copy to be sent to every
parish in the kingdom. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York
issued a letter recommending it, with the view of encouraging
emigration to Newfoundland. … A year after the departure of
Whitbourne, in 1623, by far the most skilfully-organized
effort to carry out the settlement of Newfoundland was made,
under the guidance of Sir George Calvert, afterwards Lord
Baltimore. … When Secretary of State he obtained a patent
conveying to him the lordship of the whole southern peninsula
of Newfoundland, together with all the islands lying within
ten leagues of the eastern shores, as well as the right of
fishing in the surrounding waters, all English subjects
having, as before, free liberty of fishing. Being a Roman
Catholic, Lord Baltimore had in view to provide an asylum for
his co-religionists who were sufferers from the intolerant
spirit of the times. The immense tract thus granted to him
extended from Trinity Bay to Placentia, and was named by him
Avalon, from the ancient name of Glastonbury, where, it is