Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 6).djvu/198

 hurches, two of which were devoted {28} to the catholic worship; and the population was estimated at ninety thousand souls, of whom ten thousand were French. It is thought that this population has since been augmented (1819) by some thirty thousand souls.

During my sojourn at New York, I lodged in Brooklyn, on Long Island. This island is separated from the city by a sound, or narrow arm of the sea. There is here a pretty village, not far from which is a basin, where some gunboats were hauled up, and a few war vessels were on the stocks. Some barracks had been constructed here, and a guard was maintained.

Before leaving New York, it is well to observe that during our stay in that city, Mr. M'Kay thought it the part of prudence to have an interview with the minister plenipotentiary of his Britannic majesty, Mr. Jackson,[17] to inform him of the object of our voyage, and get his views in regard to the line of conduct we ought to follow in case of war breaking out between the two powers; intimating to him that we were all British {29} subjects, and were about to trade under the American flag. After some moments of reflection Mr. Jackson told him, "that we were going on a very hazardous enterprise; that he saw our object was purely commercial, and that all he could promise us, was, that in case

maiden speech. The Battery fort was demolished in 1790, but rebuilt during the War of 1812-15. During the latter years of the eighteenth, and the first decades of the nineteenth century, the Battery walk was a fashionable promenade. Vauxhall Gardens were originally a place of amusement at the corner of Greenwich and Warren streets. Later, the name was transferred to a resort built by a Frenchman named Delacroix, between Astor Place, Broadway, and the Bowery. They were extensive gardens with theatrical buildings, and were much frequented as a summer resort until 1820, when Lafayette Place was opened through them. The Astor Library now stands near their centre. For a contemporary cut, see Wilson, Memorial History of New York City (New York, 1892), iii, p. 520.—]
 * [Footnote: place the tree of liberty was erected, and here Alexander Hamilton made his