An investigating committee was ordered, before which all the facts were brought out. The charges were fully sustained, whereupon Kemble resigned. The senate then passed a resolution declaring Bishop guilty of moral and official misconduct, but not to the degree to warrant his expulsion. Thereupon Senators Young and Van Schaick resigned their seats as senators, refusing to sit in a body which had not the moral courage to expel a senator adjudged guilty of gross immorality and official misconduct. Subsequently Bishop resigned, saying that he had been "enticed" into doing what he had done. The position taken by Colonel Young and Mr. Van Schaick was the correct one. Kemble and Bishop having been. declared guilty of moral and official delinquencies, they should have been expelled without ceremony. The case made a great deal of talk in the newspapers, and is cited as showing that bad men got into the legislature fifty years ago as they do yet, and being there, the body to which they belonged had not virtue enough to rid itself of them. It is very well to say that legislative bodies and political organizations should reform themselves, but when were they known to do it?

This was an era when great numbers of people proposed to get rich without labor, by sheer speculation. Paper money was exceedingly plenty, and stupendous fortunes were made in buying and selling city lots. For some reason the idea seemed to prevail that every little harbor on the chain of lakes from Sackets to Green Bay, Wisconsin, was destined to be a place of great commercial importance, and those who had money to spare invested in corner lots. Fabulous sums of money were made-upon paper. There are several ports where cities. were laid out, city governments organized, and where newspapers were published, which have no place today even upon a map. There was a harbor on Lake Erie, a few miles above Dunkirk, called Van Buren, which at

one time could boast of having the biggest hotel in Chautauqua county, which had a good-sized newspaper and numerous stores and other places of business, that has no existence today. The hotel was taken down, and the material saved and converted to other uses. There was

the city of Manhattan, a few miles from Toledo, Ohio, at which was published the Manhattan Advertiser, a wideawake sheet, by one B. F. Smead, formerly of Steuben county, N. Y., which ceased to exist thirty years ago. As incredible as it may seem, the village of Port Ontario, in Oswego county, three miles from Pulaski, had at one time a city government, and proposed to rival Oswego. And these are but samples.

Milwaukee was then in its infancy, but had enormous expectations. Large amounts of money were invested there, and-sunk. The same is true, to some extent, as to Kenosha and Racine. Chicago was too inconsequential at that time to attract the attention of speculators. They may not have been suited with the "lay of the land," which in a large measure was under water. As is generally known, it was an immense morass; so it was avoided. As a matter of fact, there was little money invested and lost there. The mania struck Michigan City and other ports on the east side of Lake Michigan. Several towns which have become considerable cities were all but used up. This is true of Toledo, Erie and Dunkirk. Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo suffered severely, but, possessing many natural advantages, they recuperated at an early day, took a new lease of life, and have become important cities. Oswego suffered fearfully. Her business men were buried in a common ruin. There were two banks in the place, supposed to be good in any emergency, that went by the board. Among the operators there was a Mr. De Zeng, who owned a considerable tract in the western part of the then village. He had it laid out into lots, with streets and avenues appro

priately named, and had the whole lithographed in the highest style of the art. Exhibiting his lithograph one day in Wall street, a gentleman took the liberty to inquire, "Mr. De Zeng, what kind of buildings cover this property?" "Buildings!" responded the owner, "Why, my dear sir, this property is too valuable to be built on!" And probably he spoke as he felt. Men were infatuated, insane. And the disease was all-pervading. It possessed the small boy even.

For example, a gentleman from the east found himself in Milwaukee, and thought he would look at some of the property he had purchased a few days previously. He rode into town (there was not much of a town there in 1836) on horseback. Noticing a boy within call, he asked him to hold his horse a few minutes while he examined his lots. The boy did not object to the job. When the owner of the horse returned he handed the youth half a dollar for his services. The latter quickly tossed it back, with the remark, "Fifty cents will not buy anything in Milwaukee!" However, the time shortly arrived when those who remained in that embryo city were very glad to get fifty-cent pieces.

A gentleman said to me, "My father at that date, considering himself independently rich, gave me $10,000 in cash to go west and invest according to my best judgment. I acted on his advice, made as good an investment as I was able, and lost every dollar!" His father lost all his property, and was obliged to depend upon his children for the necessaries of life.

The crash came early in 1837, and a terrific one it was. Though less general than the revulsion in 1873, it was even more calamitous in certain localities. There were towns of considerable importance and much promise in which the entire population found itself in a state of insolvency. Everybody was bankrupt. In May all the banks suspended, and there was a general panic. The

currency, consisting entirely of paper, was of an uncertain value. No one receiving a $5 note could say what he could get for it. It might bring its face, or it might be worthless. A bill quoted at par today might be valueless tomorrow. As a matter of fact, a large share of the bank notes in circulation were badly depreciated, and many were worth nothing. The late Mr. Greeley, lecturing somewhere west about this period, being paid in the currency of that section, wished to know if he could not be furnished "counterfeit notes on some good eastern bank." It was a ticklish time, one of great difficulty for men engaged in business. The banks in which the funds of the general government were kept, suspended with the rest, so the federal treasury was in the same condition as the people-it could pay its debts only in depreciated bank notes.

In this emergency President Van Buren issued a proclamation for an extra session of congress, which convened the first of September, to take into consideration the state of the country. James K. Polk was chosen speaker of the house, but Blair & Rives were defeated as public printers, and Thomas Allen chosen. The president, in his message, recommended a divorce of the government from the banking institutions. This proposition encountered strong and very bitter opposition, not only in the whig party, but in the democratic as well. It was, however, ultimately adopted, and both parties are now satisfied with the plan.

CHAPTER VI.

Distrust of the People-Nearly All Officers Appointed by Governor and Council of Appointment Previous to 1821-The Albany Regency. For some reason there was immense distrust of the people among the men who organized our state government. It is almost literally true that the people had no rights whatever. They elected the governor and legislature that is to say, those of them did who possessed a freehold worth £40-but almost every other officer was appointed. As late as 1821, 8,287 military and 6,663 civil officers held commissions from the council of appointment. Even justices of peace were not chosen by the people until 1826.

The legislature was almost omnipotent. It incorporated cities and villages; it authorized manufacturing, insurance, banking. canal, railroad and other corporations; in fact, no corporation could exist except under a charter granted by legislative enactment, and great care was exercised that no charter should be obtained clandestinely. If the people of Watertown wanted a bank, or a manufactory, or an amendment of their charter, they must give notice of the fact through the columns of some local newspaper, and continue the advertisement for six successive weeks; also in the state paper for the same length of time-a good thing for the latter concern-and then go to the legislature for permission to establish a bank or an insurance company. It was assumed that the people did not understand their own interests and wants; that the men chosen to represent them in the legislature did; so the matter was left