New York | Page 7

and tastes of a capital; but none such, with a single
exception, existed at the time of which we are writing.
{seventeen years since = Cooper had returned to New York in
November 1833, after a seven year sojourn in Europe}
In these facts are to be found the explanation of the want of ancient
edifices in America. Two centuries and a half are no very remote
antiquity, but we should regard buildings of that, or even of a much less
age, with greater interest, did the country possess them. But nothing
was constructed a century since that was worth preserving on account

of its intrinsic merits; and, before time can throw its interest around
them, edifice after edifice comes down, to make way for a successor
better suited to the wants and tastes of the age. In this respect New
York is even worse off than the other ancient places of the
country--ancient as things can be regarded in America--its great growth
and commercial spirit demanding sacrifices that Philadelphia and
Boston have as yet escaped. It is quite within the scope of probable
things, that, in a very few years, there should not be standing in the old
town a single structure of any sort, that was there previously to the
Revolution. As for the new towns, Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, etc., they
had no existence worth alluding to anterior to the commencement of
the present century. If any dwelling is to be found within the limits of
either, that can claim a more remote origin, it is some farmhouse that
has been swallowed up by the modern improvements.
That which is true of the towns, in this respect, is equally true of the
whole country. A dwelling that has stood half a century is regarded as a
sort of specimen of antiquity, and one that has seen twice that number
of years, of which a few are to be found, especially among the
descendants of the Dutch, is looked upon with some such reverence as
is felt by the modern traveller in gazing at the tomb of Cecilia Metella,
or the amphitheatre of Verona.
{tomb of Cecilia Metella = the most famous monument on the Appian
Way outside Rome, commemorating the wife of Crassus (d. 53 BC),
who as member of the First Triumvirate, joined with Caesar and
Pompey to end the Roman Republic; amphitheatre of Verona = built by
the Emperor Diocletian about 290 A.D. to stage gladiator combats, it is
one of the largest surviving Roman amphitheaters}
The world has had a striking example of the potency of commerce as
opposed to that of even the sword, in the abortive policy of Napoleon to
exclude England from the trade of the Continent. At the very moment
that this potentate of unequalled means and iron rule was doing all he
could to achieve his object, the goods of Manchester found their way
into half of his dependent provinces, and the Thames was crowded with
shipping which belonged to states that the emperor supposed to be

under his control.
{abortive policy = in the early years of the 19th century the French
Emperor Napoleon had sought, largely unsuccessfully, to blockade
England from trade with Europe}
As to the notion of there arising any rival ports, south, to compete with
New York, it strikes us as a chimera. New Orleans will always
maintain a qualified competition with every place not washed by the
waters of the great valley; but New Orleans is nothing but a local port,
after all--of great wealth and importance, beyond a doubt, but not the
mart of America.
New York is essentially national in interests, position, and pursuits. No
one thinks of the place as belonging to a particular State, but to the
United States. The revenue paid into the treasury, at this point, comes
in reality, from the pockets of the whole country, and belongs to the
whole country. The same is true of her sales and their proceeds. Indeed,
there is very little political sympathy between the places at the mouth
of the Hudson, and the interior--the vulgar prejudice of envy, and the
jealousy of the power of collected capital, causing the country to
distrust the town.
We are aware that the governing motive of commerce, all over the
world, is the love of gain. It differs from the love of gain in its lower
aspects, merely in its greater importance and its greater activity. These
cause it to be more engrossing among merchants than among the tillers
of the soil: still, facts prove that this state of things has many relieving
shades. The man who is accustomed to deal in large sums is usually
raised above the more sordid vices of covetousness and avarice in detail.
There are rich misers, certainly, but they are exceptions. We