The Merchant Princes Of New York

Ft om the New Yurk rij. Five yeara ago, the ora ;s q " sooest,ion falsely piodioted that tbe tboi Highfares aud bighwajp of New York vvould bo sown with salt, and that grass would oovor the pavoments of our noiaiest marta; tbat decay and ruin would overspread the great business nteresls of tne North, uoless tbo commercial and nianufucturiug classes vielded to thuir reiterated demanda for separa tion and independonce. The streeta of tbe metropolis weru no more to resound with tbe creaking and discordant sounda of the heavy-ladeu dray, and her bundred wharves aud docks, iu whose tjides reposed in quiet anticiparon thu véasela of evory lime on earth, woro no more to re-echo to the confused and buny hum of the toiliug t.housands wlto labored dischargiug aud reloadiug lbo preoious freighta and o&Tgoam Wo spoke tbc extremiats of Üie Soutü, and tho rad.cals on tho other side Uiought the same if they did not expresa iheir feelinga aa opeuly. Half a deuade has pasaed iuto the abyss oí' tima. Thu power of tho coufuderacy, almost a nution, han boe:i crushed into powder beneath tbe feet of u dozen armies; her generáis exiled aud bauitihed prisoners of state ; her naval conimunders forocd to follow ia the patbs of Morgan aud Kyd ; her desolate ports, where the prow oí a ship Baldona disturbs by a ripple the stillnesa and solitude of' the frave, onee tho haltiüg placea pL treasure, trafKc aud commoroe. And how bus Now York withstood tbo stormt Tho great city stands to-duy inoro etvct and powerful tlian boforc, regenerated and invigoruted, if not chasteued by tbe mourritul ledsoü taught by four years' experienca of civil aud interneciuc war. Tho snowy sails of' her commercial navies cover evei'y sea. and the anohors of a thousand vtissuls built and owuod on Manhattan Island, grato and drag over tbo slim_y or roaky beds of all tbe harburs of the kuowu world. Tbe merchant princos of New Yurk are e!ad u purple and üue linen, dweliiug iu gorceous iriaasions of marble and brown stone, ciining off gold aud silver services, drinkiug riehesl and rarest vintages out of crystal aud Venetian goblets, aud sporting the fastest blooded borses and the most curious and complicated equipages, on thu tinest drives in the finest pleausaoce in tho world - tbe Central Park. The wive aud daugbters of tbe tuerchaut millionaires of Now York are to be seeu daily erowding tbo fashionable promenade of liroadvvay, robed in the fiohest fabrica of India aud Cashmere ; their Bwanlike and snowy uecks encirclod by tho laborious products of Lyons and Valenciennes, or on tbe drive soated n Ciudrellaliketurnouts, haudiingiairy v, or agaiu eoated in tho saddio uauteriug ovor the comeuted couerote, with a graceful a,-a aad dignitj uuknowa ia the priaiitive days, whc:i the Central Park was a waste of shaüc; aad huts inhabitod by Low Dutch ira and pestiferoua porkors. And biitj ,, ín tha ufter-diüuer honra, siestas at tno opera, whero the bosos are filled with tho highbred damos, redolent of uausk p.nd sweet perfumes, eha:t;ug pretty nonseose, aud listeniug lo tbc epebauting strains of prima donnas and tenors, gathered from tha consorvutories of the old word, araid tho glitter of dia'noads aud costly geois ; the rustling of sil ka anti satiu3, tbo tbunders of the orebeetra and tbo nervous sbakiug of faas wnich a poor clerk's yearly salury could not purchase ; the 3üfteued munnurn of apphiuse, and all tbo other biandishments and plc?.aurablo intosioations of fashi. aable „2. Never was saeu suuh an era ii' commureial prosperity and wealth ; riahes come to the lucky recipients like t;je golden shovver of Dauae, till Husperides are propitious, and the aurii'oroua stream rolla uranterriiptedly iuto the caps ef the wai-chors for fortui., and power. The " men who went dnvn to the ea iu ships" from the Phoenican citios of Tyre, Sidou, aud Carthagw, or tbe haughty Mucudonians of Alosandria, once the greatodt miritime depot of the oarth, never equailed, iu their na'miest days, the luxuiy aud luaguidc-'uoe of the enterprisiug deseandants oí the staid old -Kmokerbookor burghors of New Amsterdam. New York may well be proud and rejoice at the triumpbant success of her morchaut prinees ; her xVstors, Siewarts, Claflins, Lords, Brouke-, Arih'iu . Hagerlies, Appletons, liarpers, and a tbouáand others, whose uamea are mui lied like bousehold words on tbe commerce of' nations. Not alone aro thoy kuovvu in the bouudaries of the republic, but also ia tho erowdüd marts of tho older civilization, thoir word, like thoir boud, obtaius credeiice and honorable trust.