American States and Cities [pp. 256-265]

THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 259
name. In 1673 the Dutch re-conquered it, but ceded it by treaty again to the
English in 1764. In all this time the place was simply a trading settlement, and
in so tar was totally unlike the cities and towns of New England, which were
commenced as asylums for those expelled by oppression from home. The popu lation at the time of the cession was 3,430, 343 dwelling-houses, and owned about
twenty vessels, with some ten or twelve trading ships that belonged to the mother
country. In 1750 the population reached 33,000; trade had considerably increased,
and exports of Connecticut and New Jersey produce had become important;
80,000 bbls. flour, with other farm produce in considerable quantities, were sent
to the West Indies. In 1755, some 15,000 hhds. flaxseed were sent to Ireland.
The inland presented no facilities for manufacturing, and the occupation of its
inhabitants continued purely commercial. In 1800 the population of the city
had grown to 60,489, and the resources of the city, which had begun to assume
the character of a general market for the whole country, were brought into full
operation by the active demand for produce that grew out of the continued war of
Europe.
The war of 1812 seriously affected the prospects of the city, and materially
checked its growth. Its recovery afterward was slow, until the construction of
the Erie Canal in 1827, since when the progress has been rapid, as seen in the
following table of population, trade and capital of moneyed institutions of the city,
taken from official sources:
POPULATION, TRADE, AND MONEYED CAPITAL OF NEW YORK.
1827. 1847. Increase. Decrease.
Population................ 171,220.... 392 000....'220,880.......
Imports...................37,783,147....70,269,79....32,486,645.......
Duties received............11,178,139....17,300,697.... 6,122,558....
Exports...................22,309,36(2.. 37,493,483.... 15,184, 121...
Registered tonnage.........128,702.... 260,896.... 132,194....
Licensed tonnage.......... 132.443.... 311,626.... 179,183....
Banks.....)o.,.6,100,....`24011,760.... 7,911,760....
Insurance companies.......17.450,000.... 15.$t;,700........1,563,300
Other corporations......... 4 800,392.... 18,4(;5,820....13 66f,5;428........
Val. arrivals at Hudson river 4,180,000...51,105 56... 46925 256........
About the year 1827 a great and wild specCLlation in Insurance Companies had
taken place, which resulted in an explosion, implicating J.acob Barker and the
late Henry Eckford, who were persecuted out of the city by men that afterward
became conspicuous in the paper bubbles of 1836-37. The insurance capital of
1847 is therefore less, but there are 17 outstanding clharter- of capital $6,000,000,
not included in the return of 1847. The imports of 184(; weAre not large, but are
nearly double those of'20 years previous. The exports hlave increased 75 percent.
The registered tonnage represents the vessels engaged in foreign trade, and the
licensed those in the coasting trade. The latter has increased in the greatest degree it appears. The value of produce coining down the Hudson has swollen the
coasting tonnage and supplied the market for exports-as has also the increase
of the cotton trade, which has been important. When the Etie Canal was builtit being befbre the era of' railroads-a project was entertained of cutting another
throLugh Massachusetts. that Boston might derive thie belefit of the western tra,le;
and doubtless that would have been done but for the great natural difficultitfs in
the way. Within the last few years the Western railroad has realized that project by a different means. New York will not. however, if proper enterprise is
pisplayed, be seriously injured by any competition, but must continue to grow
until the island at least is settled. From the space now occupied by the p'resent
number of inhabitants, it is probable that the island will hold 1,300t,000, an(t will
reach that number in 1877, besides the great spread of Brooklyn, Jersey City, &c.
The progress of railroads and the incessant means of internal communication,
simultaneously with enhanced liberality in relation to commerce evinced by all
European nations, must give a great stimulus to the only means of the city's prosperity, viz.: commerce. As we have seen from its earliest settlement, it has depended solely upon trade, and its future growth depends upon the spread of its
commerce. If that continues what it has been, within 30 years all the real estate
on Manhattan Island will be covered with dwellings, and, as a consequence,
double in value.
There is no reason why New York should not growas rapidly as London,
which has progressed as follows: