Van Rensselaers. In the councils of State his faith rested upon a newlydevised government that should be strong enough to resist decay by the political elements that might war against it, and his strict Federalism had its influence upon the maturing mind of Alexander Hamilton. And when the citizens of Albany celebrated the ratification of the Constitution of the

Sh. Schuyles

United States with a great procession, we learn that General Schuyler, on horseback, bore aloft "the Constitution neatly engrossed on parchment, and suspended on a decorated staff," quite as proudly as he wore his sidearms during the shock of battle.

There are three Schuyler houses, or mansions, known to history, and they are all in existence today. The oldest, and on many accounts the most interesting, is the house at "the flats," on the west bank of the Hudson four miles north of Albany.

This estate was cleared by Arent Van

Corlear for Richard Van Rensselaer, a son of the original Patroon. More than 200 years ago it was sold to Philip Pietersen Schuyler, whose descendants-through Peter, the first mayor of Albany-occupy it still. Across the lane is the private burial-ground, where rest the remains of the earlier members of the family. Here is the grave of Philip Schuyler, who married "the American lady" of social and historic fame, and whose grave is said to be close at hand. Here, also, are the remains of Johannes,

the father of General Philip Schuyler. The house itself was originally of stone, and steep-roofed in the Dutch style. It was large and roomy, and hither came many of the British officers, as to a home, during the long

wars with France. The hospitality withir its walls gave tone to society in the city of Albany when "Aunt" Schuyler, or "the Madame," as she was sometimes called, was the presiding genius of the house. But the closing days of French power beheld Lord Howe's corpse in the mansion which he had often visited as a guest; and the barns turned into hospitals for the defeated forces of Abercrombie. Then, in more peaceful times, the house was burned, and afterward restored to something like its original proportions just before the war of the Revolution.

The second Schuyler house is the one at Sch known as General Schuyler's country place at Sar house belonged to an uncle of the General's, who was by the French and Indians under Marin. This uncle to General Schuyler, who also came into possession other estates in that locality. A new house was ere the one that was burned, and the water-power was u tion of saw and grist mills. When Burgoyne swept d

of the other two, yet its memories of the Revolution entitle it to the prominence that it has received, and make it worthy to be sketched by both the pencil and the pen. The Albany of the Revolution was still a stockaded city. To the northward were "the flats," to the southward were "the pastures," where the city herdsman cared for the cattle and drove them home at night. At a distance of half a mile from the stockade, and just beyond the pastures, stood the mansion of General Schuyler. It was

of honest brick throughout, and not, like most of the city houses, a wooden structure with a veneered front of bricks "brought from Holland." To-day the walls and the oaken window-sills show no reason why they might not last for centuries to come, unless the onward march of business shall demand the destruction of the relic. So long as it lasts the Schuyler mansion stands as a link between the past and the present. At the time it was built, just before the Revolution, there were still standing, and since destroyed: the Wendell house on the south side of State Street, near Pearl,

modest Pruyn homestead, close by; the Gansevoort h where Stanwix Hall now stands; the mansion of Dav hand; and the house of Teunis Van Vechten, nearly these, and many more, have been destroyed, or have b modern fronts. Even "the Whitehall" mansion, whic Revolution made their headquarters, has lately fallen by

* Only sister of Gen. Philip Schuyler, whose early life was closely identified