CHRONOLOGY ; INDUSTRY AND EDUCATION ; 1841-18
 

18
 

• N. Y.Herald, Ja i, i86r. Regarding his visit to this country, see
alao Cordova, A Humerous Description aftke Tour ofthe Prince of
Wales through the U. S. A. in i860 (N. Y., r86i).

I         The new theatre tor Mr. James W. Wallack, at the corner of

Broadway and 13th St., has been begun. It will cost about $30,000.
—Leslie's Weekly, X: 341. It was opened on Sept, 25, 1861 (j. 71.).
The Middle Dutch Church (used aa a poat-office since 1845,
q.v.) and the ground on which it stands are sold to the U. S. The
deed was not recorded until Jan. 29, i866.—4o(A Ann. Rep.,
Mutual Life Ins. Co. (1883). The following facts are interesting
in regard to the purchase by the federd government; "The lease
of the Post-office expired in i860, and in that year the Government
began to seek a new site, as this one was valued at $250,000, and
the Post-office Department was liraited to $200,000 tor this pur¬
pose. Many raerchants, banks, and inaurance companiea were un¬
willing to have the Post-office removed, and they therefore sub¬
scribed $50,000 to make up the amount required. The Government
then bought tbe property. . , . After the premises became the
property ot tbe Government, a brick addition was built forming a
sort of ahdl around the old church, raost of which it conceds frora
view."-Eue. Post, O 17, 1882; descrip. ot Pl, 130-a, III: 695-96.
The church continued to be used as a post-office until 1875 (q.V;
Ag 28).

The city conveys to tbe Hebrew Benevolent Society (see i860)
12 lots on the south-weat corner ot 77th St. and Third Ave. On
Oct. 17, 1864, a further grant of 5 lota adjoining was made to this
society, to he used as an orphan asylura.—Man. Com. Coun.
(18701763; L. M.R.K.,UI: 954. The orphan asylura was dedi¬
cated on Nov. 5, 1863 (q.v.).

Abraham  Lincoln   and   Hannibal  Hamlin,  Republicans   are

I dected president and vice-president. The Democrata were divided,
one section nominating Stephen A. Douglas and Herschd V. John¬
son, and the other section John C. Breckinridge and Joseph Lane.—
McKee, Nationd Conventions and Platforms, 106-20; JV. Y. Times,
N 7 et seq; i860.  See N 9.

I         Horace Greeley advocates a peaceable disunion of the United

States it the South wishes to secede. A leading artide In the
Tribune says: "It the cotton States shaU decide that they can do
better out of the Union than in it, we inaiat on letting them go in
peace. The right to accede may he a revolutionary one, but it
exists neverthdess. . . . Whenever a considerable section of our
Union ahdl ddlberately reaolve to go out, we shdl resist dl coercive
measures designed to keep it In. We hope never to live in a republic,
whereof one section is pinned to the residue by bayonets."—N. Y.
Tribune, N 9, i860.  See also ibid., N 16, 19, and 30, i860.

"This view had its greatest popularity in November and in
the first part ot December, i860; it received the countenance of
other Republican newapapers; it prevailed with Henry Ward
Beecher, whoae consummate oratory swayed many audiences;
it won, alao, a certain adherence from the Garrison abolitionists,
who saw in the accoraplishment ot It the realization ot their dream
of many years." Tbis sentiraent of peaceable disunion speedily
dedined in public estimation, however, after the middle of Decem¬
ber, and in January, t86i, Gredey recanted.—Rhodes, ijTi!/. of
U. S; UI:   140-42, and authorities there cited.

Southern medical students attending lectures In New York
hold a meeting at the Democratic headquarters on Broadway
opposite Astor Place to take action in consequence of Lincoln's
election. They decide to return home "as soon as any State
secedes."-A?. Y. Times, N 10, i860.

I         "Within the past fortnight a panic has prevailed in Wall Street,

and stocks ot dl descriptions have declined from 10 to 15 per
cent."—Harper's Weekly, IV: 70S.

I ■ Thos. H. Chambers, L. M. Whitney, E. D. Basstord, and 175
other citizens having petitioned that the rity purcbaae the statue
of Washington, bdonglng to Dr. S. A. Main, and now in front ot
the City HaU, and for placing the sarae in the triangular plot ot
ground opposite Tompkins Market," the board of ddermen, on the
recommendation ot the committee of arts and scleoces, resolves to
purcbaae the statue for $2,000 and to place it "In auch locdity as
may be hereafter designated by the proper authorities."-—Prac,
Bd. ofAld; LXXX: 498-99, 543-44.

On Nov. 24, Horace Gredey thus commented on this action:
". . . it was a 'big thing,' the alderraen did when they made a
Uberal appropriation for the purchase ot that remarkable work of
art, the red sandstone 'What Is It,'' that has been standing out in the
 

cold in front of the City Hall tor the past two years. How it ever Nov.
came there, and where it came from, and what it waa intended to 19
represent, are points upon which the learned savants ot the Eth¬
nological Soriety have not ventured to offer any explanation. With
all the mystery, but none ot the gravity ot the Sphynx, the hideous
object has been staring at us with its dismal eyes, a dally detorraity
to the Park, and a puzzle to everybody. , . . While Paris, which
was very weU supplied with objects of the kind, has added to her
public statues nearly a hundred marble effigies of IUustrious French¬
men during the past year, New-York bas but one statue, the bronie
Washington in Union Square, and that was the gift ot a few public-
spirited merchants. Our Aldermen were moved by a noble ambition
to do aoraething for the rity, and to raake use ot a familiar expres¬
sion, they have gone and done it. . . . We have no question that
that most aboralnable object Is, in the eyes otourBooIssandBradys,
quite equd, as a work ot art, to the Farnese Hercules or the Apollo
Bdvidere; . . . As we shdl have nothing to remind us ot Boole
and his companions after thdr term of office has expired, but the
debts they have saddled us with, it wIU not be altogether a bad idea
to have thia statue as a suitable memento ot them; aod let it he set
up in one ot our dirtiest thoroughfares, which might he caUed the
Boole-vard, as ao awful example to our posterity."—N. Y. Daily
Tribune, N 24, i860. On Nov. 26, Alderraan Boole called the atten¬
tion of the hoard to this artide and offered a resolution that the
statue "be, and thesame Is hereby assigned a location in the count¬
ing-room of the Daily Tribune office, pursuant to suggestion con¬
tained in the issue of the aforesaid newspaper, that the filthiest
locality in the city be assigned for tbat purpose." However, he
was given leave to withdraw tbe resolution.—Proc, Bd. of Aid;
LXXX: 570-71. For Gredey's comment on this, aee W.r.DaiVj
Tribune, N 29, i860. On Dec. I, Leslie's Weekly aaid the atatue's
"removal from tbe public gaze is cheaply bought at the price of
two thousand dollars."—Ihld., XI;   19.

The mayor approvea a reaolution of the common council 22
authorising payment tor "dredging the channel of Harlera river
above High Bridge, and removing tberefrora obstructions occa¬
sioned by the old coffer dams in building the High Bridge." The
resolution also authorises an appropriation tor further improve¬
ments.—Proc, App'd by Mayor, XXVIII; 466-67; Proc, Bd. of
Aid; LXXVU:  674.-84; JV. Y. Tribune, Mr 13, i860.

A private gathering of over 100 men of high position and great   Dec.
influence, who in the preceding presidential election bad supported    15
Douglas, BeU, or Breckinridge, meet in New York and adopt reso¬
lutions concUiatory  and friendly  to  the south.—N.  Y. Times,
D 17, i860; Rhodes, Hij/. ofthe U. S., HI:  173-74.

A large raeeting is hdd at Cooper Institute to express sympathy    18
with "Italian Freedora and Nationality."  Reaolutiona In praise
of Garibaldi, and ao addreas to the Italian people pledging aid, are
adopted.—JV, Y. Times, D 19, i860.

Irving HaU, at the south-west corner ot I5tb St. and Irving 19
Place, is opened for tbe firat time.—JV. Y. Times, D 22, i860. See
dso L. M. R. K., UI: 984. It was demoUshed In 1888 (q.V; JI 14).
In the Eno collection is a coloured lithographic view entitled
"Irving Dances—To L. F. Harrison & Co. proprietors ot Irving
HaU," which was pub. by H. B. Dodworth, 6 Aator Place, and bears
copyright date ot "1851" (error for 1861). In the centre is a view
of Irving HaU.—See cbeck-Ust of Eno prints, In Bulletin, N. Y.
P. L., XXIX: 391 (Item No. 278),

South Carolina secedes from the Union, and the Civil War ia   20
precipitated.—Rhodes, His I. ofU. 5., Ill:   192 el seq. Macdonald,
SeleclDocs. Illus. oftheHlst. ofU. S., 1776-1861, 441-42.

Central Park "is mainly complete bdow Seventy-ninth street,   31
and from Seventy-ninth to Eighty-sixth street, on the west side of
the old reservoir, is also wdl advanced. .   .  .

"The pond at Fifty-ninth street is complete, and filled with
water."—4(6 Ann. Rep; Com'rs ot Cent. P'k (1861), 5, 8. See also
views inHarper's Weekly, IV: 652.  See D 18, 1861.

In the year ending on this day, New York City handled 70%    "
of the entire import trade ot the United States, which was worth
$248,000,000.—-Johnson, Hist, of the Domestic and Foreign Trade
afthe U. S; 11: 53. See also Ja 19, 1861.

The aaaeased valuation of New York City property is $577,230,-    "
656;   that of the entire United States is $41,088,417,635.-.im.
Ann. Cyclopaedia (1861), 525.  For details of the city appropriation
and expenditures during this year, see Man. Com. Caun. (1861),