HOMES 
 
 The correct arras of the 
 state of New York 
 
 CR 
 
 203 
 N7H7
 
 TII ]; 
 
 CORRECT ARMS 
 
 STATK OF M-:\Y YORK, 
 AS KSTAIHJSni-l) HV LAW SI.XYK MARCH In, 1778, 
 
 A iiisT<n;ir,\r. U<SAV UKAD BEFORE TFIR ALUAXV IXSTI ITTH, 
 
 DECEMI5ER 2. 
 
 BY 
 
 IIKNItY A. HOMES. I.L.D., 
 
 : \TB UBRABY. 
 
 A T, B A N Y : 
 
 \VFI-:i), PARSONS AND COMPAXV, PRIM 
 
 1880.
 
 LIBHR&T 
 
 TY OPl fcOA- OR M \
 
 
 A 1 < M S OF THE S TATE OF NT: W YORK : . 
 FAC SIMILE 
 
 of the Initial T, engraved on 
 
 W YOUK MIUTAHY COMMISSION 
 
 IVoin (IOV.(T Clinton. 
 of'.Iunc 'u!r),I778
 
 THE 
 
 OP THE 
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK, 
 AS ESTABLISHED BY LAW SINCE MARCH 16, 1778. 
 
 A HISTORICAL ESSAY HEAD BEFORE THE ALBANY INSTITUTE, 
 DECEMBER 2, 1879, 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY A. HOMES, LL.D., 
 
 OF THE STATE LIBRARY. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
 1880.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 LETTER OP T. W. OLCOTT, Esq., TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
 
 ALBANY INSTITUTE v 
 
 PREFATORY NOTE v jj 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON STATE ARMS ... 9 
 
 LAWS OF NEW YORK ON THE ARMS - 11 
 
 CHANGES IN TUB ORIGINAL ARMS ... 16 
 
 THREE SPECIMENS OF THE ARMS BEFORE 1785 18 
 
 I. MILITARY COMMISSION OF 1778 - - - - 19 
 
 II. REVOLUTIONARY FLAG OF 1779 21 
 
 III. PAINTING IN ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL, N. Y. CITY, 1785 24 
 
 POPULAR DESCRIPTION OF THE ARMS 27 
 HERALDIC DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ARMS - - 20, 24, 26 
 
 N. Y. COPPER TOKENS OF 1786 AND 1787 ... 29 
 
 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEW YORK ARMS - - - 31 
 
 EAGLE CREST ON THE ARMS - 82 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF CHANGES IN THE ARMS - - 35 
 
 NEW YORK MILITARY DEPARTMENT FLAGS 39 
 
 THE OVERTURNED ROYAL CROWN - - 40 
 
 THE MEN WHO DEVISED THE ARMS - 42 
 
 THE TIMES WHEN THE ARMS WERE DEVISED - 44 
 
 ARMS OF OTHER STATES OF THE UNION 45 
 
 LEGISLATION TO RE-AFFIRM THE OLD ARMS OF THE STATE - 47
 
 LETTER OF THOMAS W. OLCOTT, ESQ. 
 
 ALBANY, March 1, 1880. 
 ORLANDO MEADS, Esq., 
 
 President of the Albany Institute : 
 
 DEAR SIR: It gives me great pleasure to offer through 
 you, for the acceptance of the Albany Institute, an edi- 
 tion of Mr. H. A. Homes' study of the facts relative to 
 the true Arms of the State of New York, which he read 
 at a late meeting, and of which your association has 
 requested a copy for its Transactions. I regard the sub- 
 ject as one of practical importance, and I believe with 
 the author of the essay, that the expressive symbolism 
 delineated upon our State Arms, is worthy of a scruti- 
 nizing attention, and that no feature of it should be 
 ignored or abandoned, without the most deliberate and 
 public consideration. The theme of which it treats is 
 clearly appropriate to the researches of the Institute, 
 being included in one of its three departments. 
 
 I have hoped that by securing the printing of an edi- 
 tion somewhat larger than the usual one for the series of 
 the Transactions of the Institute, and separate from it, 
 that a wider circulation might be given to the paper ; 
 and especially that as the volumes are only issued at long
 
 vi LETTER OF THOMAS W. OLCOTT, ESQ. 
 
 intervals of time, this early publication might be more 
 useful through the action of the Institute, if it should 
 be disposed to take any. 
 
 Yery respectfully yours, 
 
 THOMAS W. OLCOTT.
 
 PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 The exceedingly well executed drawing which accom- 
 panies this paper, is a perfect fac simile of the Initial 
 Letter of the Military Commission of 1778, engraved 
 by Mr. A. Tolle, of the Lithographic establishment of 
 Messrs. Weed, Parsons & Co. It has been engraved and 
 placed there not as a model for close imitation, or for its 
 positive beauty, but on account of its historical value as 
 a witness in exact form of what was the original device 
 of the State Arms ; so that in attempts to re-establish 
 the original arms complete, with ornamentation con- 
 formed to the most cultivated modern taste, all those 
 engaged in the undertaking, might have constant recourse 
 to it. 
 
 I take pleasure in being able to state that the Rev. 
 John H. Frazer, who is mentioned on page 32, as the 
 possessor of the original of the Military Commission 
 of June 25, 1778, from which the photograph was 
 taken, has considerately and kindly, since that note was 
 written, yielded to my request, and allowed it to be de- 
 posited in the State Library, and to become the property 
 of the State. It is now exhibited there in a frame 
 under glass, where any who are curious to examine it, 
 can satisfy themselves, regarding points in the engraving 
 hitherto unnoticed as belonging to the Arms.
 
 viii PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 If any persons are aware of, or can learn "of the exist- 
 ence of copies of this engraved Military Commission in 
 private hands, information of the fact, will be gratefully 
 received at the State Library ; for it would be a matter 
 of considerable interest to ascertain the latest period 
 when this engraved form of the Arms was in use on 
 Military Commissions. There is considerable difference 
 in the language employed on commissions at the present 
 time and the language on the commission of 1778. 
 
 Mmch 22, 1880.
 
 THE CORRECT ARMS 
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 
 
 The people of the States of the New World, who have 
 become independent of the monarchical governments of 
 Europe, have all adopted certain emblematic devices, by 
 which they are recognized among themselves, and by the 
 rest of the world. These emblems they employ upon 
 their public buildings, their flags, their seals, their med- 
 als and in other ways. They consist of a shield and 
 crest, and other insignia, which they call the Arms of the 
 State, and the symbols are calculated to awaken in friend 
 and foe due sentiments of respect. In devising these 
 Arms or Ensigns, they have imitated their former rulers, 
 whose monarchies from the times of the crusades have 
 employed such signs, most frequently called coats of 
 arms, as badges of honor and discrimination. The usage 
 has been so systematized and developed, as applied to 
 families and States, as to give rise to that special art, 
 called the science of heraldry. 
 2
 
 10 CORRECT A EMS OF THE 
 
 As a people we have no yearnings for heraldry, or for 
 coats of arms, except as a means of symbolizing a State 
 by some sign of a lofty idea or aim, or of its characteristic 
 traits; and in this spirit all the States and Territories 
 within the Union of the United States of America, and 
 also many of the cities and towns, have adopted the cus- 
 tom of using each a special symbol, as the State or city 
 Arms. By and through this symbol, the State, its pres- 
 ence, its dignity, its property, its authority and the rela- 
 tion of individuals to it for obedience and love, are de- 
 clared with most effective emphasis. The devices on 
 the arms of these many States are extensively known and 
 easily remembered by all men interested : because they 
 are perpetuated without any changes ; except in unessen- 
 tials, as of the draper}' of the figures, or the arabesques 
 or scroll work surrounding them. 
 
 When, however, we come to our own State, the great 
 State of New York, we find that for many years past 
 there has existed great uncertainty, even among the best 
 informed in the State, as to what is the exact and genu- 
 ine device of its State Arms; and in the community gen- 
 erally, those who should be requested to state in an infor- 
 mal way what are the arms of New York, would be un- 
 able to answer with tolerable correctness, except that at 
 least all, recalling " that banner with a strange device," 
 could probably say, " I know that the Motto is, Excel- 
 sior." Enquiries are frequently made from other States 
 at the public offices for a correct copy of the Arms, and 
 whatever answer is sent, it is with doubt and hesitation. 
 
 I am glad to be able to say, that I think that the in- 
 formation which has been accumulated, from the date of
 
 STATE OF NKW YOKE. 11 
 
 the Centennial year of 1876, makes it now possible to 
 set forth the true Arms of the State in an unquestion- 
 able form, and in their original beauty and force. 
 
 The first and only device of Arms that was ever made 
 for the State was prepared by a committee, appointed 
 by the New York Provincial Congress in the year 1777. 
 In the Journals of that body, we read the following, 
 under the date of April 15: 
 
 "On motion of Mr. Morris, Resolved: That a com- 
 mittee be appointed to prepare a proper device for a 
 great seal for this State ; and that Mr. Morris, Mr. Jay 
 and Mr. Hobart be a committee for that purpose." * 
 
 The Congress adjourned in less than one month there- 
 after : and of what was done on this subject by the three 
 distinguished members of the Committee, Lewis Morris. 
 John Jay, and John Sloss Ilobart, nothing is recorded 
 in the Journals of the Congress or the Convention, be- 
 cause the disturbances of active war on the Hudson 
 river, either prevented protracted meetings or general 
 business previous to the iftst meeting of the legislature 
 in 1778. The next mention of the State Arms is after 
 the adoption of the constitution of the State of New 
 York of 1777 at this first session. In the first general 
 law, the one for the organization of the government, and 
 passed March 16, 1778, it is said that the device prepared 
 by this Committee was adopted. 
 
 The language of the Statute of 1778 as far as relates 
 to the Arms and Seals is in those words : 
 
 " And whereas arms have been devised for this State, 
 and two several seals have been devised and made, one 
 
 * Provincial Congress of N.Y., Journals, vol. I, p.. 882.
 
 12 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 of the said seals as and for the great seal, and the other 
 as and for the privy seal of this State, (and which said 
 seals are now in the custody and possession of his excel- 
 lency the present governor): 
 
 " Be it therefore further enacted by the authority afore- 
 said, that the said arms and seals shall severally be and 
 they are hereby respectively declared to be the arms, the 
 great seal and the privy seal of this State." A subse- 
 quent clause in the section declares, that such matters as 
 were issued under the seal at arms of the governor of the 
 colony shall issue under the new seal : and a clause in 
 section five requires the person administering the govern- 
 ment to " deliver to the secretary of the State descrip- 
 tions of the device of the said arms and seals, hereby de- 
 clared to be the arms, the great seal and the privy seal." 
 These several extracts embrace every mention of the 
 word Arms throughout the law. * 
 
 In April, 1786, an act was passed which authorized 
 the issuing by the State of 200,000 in bills of credit ; 
 and it declared : " Upon which bills shall be impressed 
 the Arms of the State of New York ;" and no mention 
 is made of an impress of any seal of the .State upon the 
 said Bills. The Arms are once more mentioned in the 
 law in speaking of the engraver to engrave them.f 
 
 Eighteen years afterward, a law of Jan. 26, 1798, pro- 
 vides for a commission of three public officers to repair 
 or cause to be made a new great seal, after such device 
 as the commission shall judge proper, but it makes no 
 allusion to the Arms of the State. It simply requires 
 
 * Laws of the State of N.Y., Greenleaf's ed., vol. I, p. 18. 
 t Laws of New York, Greenleaf's ed., vol. I, p. 241.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 13 
 
 that a written description of the seal shall be preserved 
 in the secretary of State's office. * This Commission 
 however in making a new seal record the description of 
 it in 1799 in these words : " The arms of the State com- 
 plete, with supporters, crest and motto : around the same, 
 The great seal of the State of New York." They then 
 describe the reverse. They do not pretend to have de- 
 vised anew Arms; and while they have not followed 
 closely the old device, they do not appear by the terms 
 of the law to have had any authority for any changes 
 which were made by the artist, f 
 
 A law of March 20, 1801, like the preceding one, re- 
 garding the great seal and the privy seal of the State, 
 uses the following language : 
 
 Sect. 5. li The description in writing of the arms and 
 of the great and privy seal of this State, recorded and 
 deposited in the office of the secretary of this State shall 
 remain as public records; and the arms and great and 
 privy seal aforesaid, of which descriptions in writing have 
 been deposited and recorded as aforesaid shall be and 
 continue the Arms, the great seal and the privy seal of 
 this State : . . . " \ 
 
 This law makes no further mention of the Arms, but 
 merely continues to speak of the two seals. 
 
 May 27. 1809, a law was enacted authorizing the sec- 
 retary of State to make a special Seal for his own office, 
 of such device as the governor should approve; and a 
 
 Laws of New York of 1798, p. 249. 
 
 tThe Commission consisted of S. Jones, S. De Witt, and J. Ogden Hoff- 
 man. Their report, filed Jan. 22, 1779, may bo found In the first volume of 
 the folio entitled "Official Seals," In MS. in the secretary of State's office. 
 Also, see N. Y. civil list, Ed. of 1860, p. 469. 
 
 * Laws of N. Y., Webster & Skinner's ed., vol. I, p. 206.
 
 14 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 new great seal with a written description, to be preserved 
 in the secretary's office. This law of 1809 makes no 
 mention of the Arms of the State. * 
 
 A law passed Feb. 25, 1813, does not differ from the 
 law of 1801 except that it includes a seal for the office of 
 the secretary of State, under a like requirement for the 
 preservation of a description of the Arms. Chap. XIV, 
 Sect. 6, requires " That the description in writing of the 
 Arms and of the great and privy seal of this State and of 
 the seal of office of the secretary of this State, deposited 
 and recorded in the office of the secretary of this State, 
 shall remain as public records ; and the arras and great 
 and privy seal aforesaid, and the seal of office of the sec- 
 retary, of which descriptions in writing have been depos- 
 ited and recorded as aforesaid, shall be, and continue the 
 arms, the great seal and the privy seal of office of the 
 secretary of this State." f 
 
 The State Arms are not again mentioned in this law, 
 nor in any law of this State since that date, except as 
 they are mentioned in the revised statutes; and the 
 language in the last edition of 1875 relating to the Arms 
 and Seals, is the following : 
 
 "Sect. 20. The description, in writing, of the arms of 
 the State, and of the great and privy seals, and of the 
 seal of office of the secretary of State, deposited and re- 
 corded in the secretary's office, shall remain as public re- 
 cords; and the said arms shall continue to be the arms 
 
 * Laws of N. y . 1809, Chap. HI, p. 1*5. A description of this seal of 1809, 
 signed by Gov. Tompkins, and an impression of it may be found in the 
 volume of Official Seals, Secretary of State's Office. 
 
 t Laws of N. Y., Van Ness & Woodward's ed., vol. I, p. 458.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 15 
 
 of the State, and the said seal of office, to be the seal of 
 office of the secretary of State.* " 
 
 The declaration that there is somewhere a standard 
 Anns of the State, that can be appealed to, is here very 
 emphatic ; and the importance of the declaration will be 
 seen in the sequel. 
 
 Of all the descriptions of the arms and seals alleged to 
 have been deposited and recorded in the "secretary of 
 this State's office", not one can be found, I am assured, 
 except a brief description, without heraldic detail, of the 
 seal of 1809. The search for these descriptions has, I 
 believe, been repeatedly made during the last thirty 
 years; their disappearance, if they ever existed in the 
 office, is not a recent one.f 
 
 This memorandum containing the description of the 
 great seal of 1809, describes a picture, having as a basis 
 the arms of this State, which is drawn up in heraldic 
 language, but is none the less defective if regarded as a 
 complete description of the Arms. I quote it in a note 
 as being of record in the secretary's office. ^ 
 
 From all these extracts from the laws which I have 
 
 * Dunks' Ed. of Revised Statutes, 1875, vol. I, p. 525. 
 
 tN.Y. Gemal. and Blog. Record, vol. Ill, p. 18. N. Y. Civil List, ed. of 
 1857, p. 429. 
 
 t Copy of the memorandum of 180JI In the secretary of State's office : 
 
 "Description of the new great seal of the State of New York, procured In 
 pursuance of the act entitled 'An Act relative to the office of secretary of 
 this State, authorizing the making of a new great seal and to amend the act 
 entitled an act concerning oaths.' " Passed March 27, 1809. 
 
 Argent. A rising sun proper. 
 
 Crest. On a wreath a deml globe and an eaglo passant regardant all 
 proper. 
 
 Supporters. The figure of justice on the dexter, and liberty on the sin- 
 ister side. 
 
 Motto. Excelsior. 
 
 Legend. The great seal of the State of New York.
 
 16 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 read, and they embrace all the laws relative to the sub- 
 ject that I have discovered, it does not appear that the 
 first device of Arms adopted by the State has ever been 
 changed by statute. Nor in the journals of the legislature, 
 from the time of the adoption of the Arms to the pres- 
 ent time, is there any evidence of an attempt to change 
 them by legislation. These laws, authorizing changes in 
 the seals of the public offices, do not entail as a conse- 
 quence, or even suggest, any change in the State Arms. 
 
 The Arms of a people, containing symbols and em- 
 blems, adopted under the influence of and exemplifying 
 the ideas and principles of an especial crisis, are of too 
 serious moment to be subject to be changed in accordance 
 with the peculiar fancies of individuals in each successive 
 decade of years. And if changed at all after some new 
 grand crisis, the change should not be made regardless 
 of the prevalent laws of the science of heraldry. Thus 
 it is almost without example in accordance with its laws, 
 that one or both of the two supporters of the escutcheon 
 should be in a sifting posture, as they may be found on 
 some of the seals of the State, and in pictures alleged or 
 supposed to represent the State Arms. The words " in- 
 cumbent" or "recumbent," applied to the seal of 1809 
 in the New York Civil List is used to contradistinguish 
 the modern seal from the pendant seal of earlier days, 
 and not to the supporters as lying or sitting. The name 
 of supporters, given heraldically to the figures by the 
 sides of a shield, implies that they should be standing. 
 Additions may more appropriately be made to a shield 
 than changes may be made in it : as in the case of annex- 
 ation of, or of union with a new State.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 17 
 
 I must add that no printed description of the Arms of 
 the State, as devised and adopted in 1778, has been found 
 to my knowledge in any early printed document of the 
 State ; nor has there been found a line, in any early 
 document or memorandum printed or written any- 
 where, touching the arms or the seals, authorizing both 
 of the figures of Justice and Liberty, or either of them, 
 to be seated. 
 
 It might be conjectured by some persons that the 
 changes which were from time to time made in the seals, 
 implied a change in the Arms, on the assumption that 
 the word arms was merely a name for the central por- 
 tion of the seal. This assumption is without founda- 
 tion, because that, when in 1778 the great and privy 
 seals were decreed, the Arms were also decreed as a sepa- 
 rate thing. The proot of this is given in the specimens 
 of the seals of 1778 annually reprinted in the New York 
 Civil List, where we see that the devices of the seals 
 differ greatly from the device for the Arms. The first 
 great seal had on the obverse side solely a rising sun, 
 with the motto, Excelsior, and the legend, " The great 
 seal of the State of New York." On the reverse, was 
 a rock amid the ocean with the legend, Frustra. 1777. 
 At the same time, the Arms were made having among 
 other emblems Liberty and Justice as supporters of the 
 shield. 
 
 It will not have escaped notice that the resolution of 
 the N. Y. Provincial Congress of 1777 called for a seal 
 only ; while the law of 1778 declares the existence of and 
 adopts, both Arms arid Seals. We may be allowed to 
 suppose that the Committee having provided a seal with 
 3
 
 18 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 a portion of what is now the Arms, with an obverse and 
 reverse, as for the pendant seals which have a seal on 
 both sides, judged it necessary to set forth an Arms com- 
 plete as a substitute for the colonial Arms formerly in 
 use with the Royal escutcheon, looking forward to the 
 time when they would be also upon the Seal. The sec- 
 tion in the law of 1778 providing for Anns speaks of the 
 Governor's " Seal at Arms." A.nd so twenty years hav- 
 ing elapsed before the subject was again reached by the 
 legislature, the Commission under the law of 1798, speak 
 in 1799 of the new great seal, as having the " arms com- 
 plete," as if they had completed a work which had been 
 intended for the great seal from the beginning.* Em 
 barrassment had been felt on account of the contrast 
 between the Seal and the Arms, and therefore the new 
 seal was made to embrace the original Arms of 1778, 
 with modifications, which there was authority to make, 
 as regards devising a seal ; but as the law of 1798 makes 
 no allusion to the Arms, consequently it gave the com- 
 mission no authority to make changes in them. 
 
 The whole interest of this essay turns upon the fact, 
 that having, as I hope, produced a strong conviction in 
 your minds, that the Anns of the State have never been 
 changed by statute or legal authority, and then shown 
 that the written description of them has apparently been 
 lost, I am now able to adduce the strongest evidence of 
 what was the original device, evidence which in most 
 respects is of more value than a description would be. 
 The evidence consists in three specimens of the State 
 Arms which have been preserved as they were engraved 
 
 N. Y. Civil List, ed. of 1857, p. 427.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 19 
 
 or painted before the year 1785, a date which is within 
 eight years of the first passage of the law for a State 
 Arms ; and each one of the three is impressed with a 
 measure of official authority. 
 
 T\IQ first of these early specimens is a copy of the Arms 
 as they are engraved upon a military commission signed 
 by Gov. George Clinton, June 25, 17T8, the commission 
 itself being dated within about three months after the 
 passage of the law of March 16, 1778. Mr. Edward F. 
 De Lancey, President of the Westchester Historical 
 Society, a master of the mysteries of heraldry, who first 
 brought this specimen to my notice, gave a photographed 
 copy of it to the State Library. He thus speaks of it 
 in a letter to me dated July 8, 1878 : 
 
 " The whole form of the commission is en- 
 graved upon a copper plate elegantly executed, about 
 eight by ten inches in size, the arms being in the upper 
 
 right hand corner I never saw or heard of it 
 
 till this week. . . . It is as fine a piece of copper plate 
 engraving as I know of executed in America. I have 
 had the elegant initial letter T in which the arms are 
 used as an interior ornament, photographed. The en- 
 graver's name is Dawkins, and he is I believe the same 
 man who made the first seal of the State. . . . He 
 lived at Poughkeepaie. The date of the commission is 
 June 25, 1778. . . . The photograph of the T is 
 only a trifle larger than the original. . . . This com- 
 mission is a general militia commission, and could be 
 used for any rank of field or company officers, blanks 
 being left to be filled as required." 
 
 The commission was for Daniel Mortine, as second
 
 20 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 lieutenant of Capt. Samuel Haight's company of West- 
 chester county, in Col. Samuel Drake's regiment. The 
 initial letter T was for the first word of the commission, 
 The. The first clause of the sentence reads, " The people 
 of the State of New York." 
 
 In this specimen the shield is much broader at the base 
 than in the two following specimens, for a reason which 
 will afterwards be explained. The scales of Justice are 
 held clear of her body, and the sword is not held firmly 
 erect. The drapery of the figures though not classic is 
 more agreeable than in the third specimen. As this 
 specimen is the first in order of time and employed upon 
 a military commission signed by the Governor, it neces- 
 sarily takes precedence over the others as having more 
 direct official authority. 
 
 Mr. G. R. Howell of the State Library has kindly 
 furnished a blazon of the Arms on this commission, that 
 should have technical exactness as far as possible, regard 
 being had to the failure of the engraver to indicate colors 
 by the usual mode of dots and lines, and to the modern 
 costume of the figures. * 
 
 * Blazon of the Arms of New York as engraved on the Military Commission 
 of 1778, by Mr. George R. Howell. 
 
 Arms. Azure, in fess, the sun rising in splendor, or, behind a range 
 of three mountains, vert and half irradiated, at their base forming 
 a grassy shore ; in base a ship and sloop under sail, passing and about 
 to meet, on a river (or strait) irradiated, bordered by a grassy shore 
 fringed with Hhrubg, all proper. 
 
 Crest. On a wreath argent and vert, an eagle proper rising to the 
 dexter, from a two thirds of a globe, showing parallels of latitude, 
 and the Atlantic ocean with adjoining outlines of the equatorial por- 
 tions of the two continents. 
 
 Supporters on a quasi compartment formed by the extension of 
 the scroll. 
 
 Dexter, liberty, her face, neck, arms, and hands proper, the feet 
 in socks ; vested in a short tunic, uncinctured, fringed at bottom, 
 demi-sleeved, over a gown reaching to the feet. Over all, a broad 
 sash vert, festoony, depending from under her sinister, shoulder to
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 21 
 
 The Second Specimen of the Arms is one which was 
 painted upon the flag of the Third New York Regi- 
 ment commanded by Col. Peter Gansevoort Jr., during 
 the revolutionary war. The regiment had been raised 
 and recruited by him in 1777, and its first active service 
 was in defence of Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk river, 
 where it made a successful sortie against the forces under 
 Gen. St. Leger. The colonels of the three New York 
 regiments had petitioned the Committee of Safety to be 
 furnished with colors as early as Nov. 30, 1776. But 
 this regiment was still unprovided with a flag. The 
 knowledge that the flag, which they had improvised dur- 
 ing the investment, had been made with portions of the 
 garments of some of those within the fort, induced the 
 preparation in the year 177S or 1779, of the beautiful 
 stand of colors for the regiment, which is still rever- 
 ently preserved in the family, although much tattered. 
 With the kind consent of its present possessor, Mrs. 
 Abraham Lansing of Albany, it was nnfurled with great 
 
 her dexter hip, and thence from a fastening nearly to the ankles, 
 lit the dexter hand a staff eiisigned with a Phrygian cap, the sinister 
 iirin embowed, the hand and fore arm behind and supporting the 
 shield ; the sinister foot resting on a royal crown dejected. 
 
 Sinister. Justice, her face, neck, arms, and hands proper, her feet 
 in socks; vested in a short tunic uncinctured, fringed at bottom, 
 deml-sleeved, over a gown reaching to the feet ; over all a broad sash 
 gules, crossing bendwise from the sinister shoulder to the dexter hip ; 
 bound about the eyes with a fillet vert(?) ; in the dexter hand a two 
 edged sword, cross-hilted, erect, the middle point resting against her 
 dexter shoulder; the sinister arm embowed, the hand holding out 
 from the person her scales proper. 
 
 Motto. On a scroll argent, in sable, Kxcelsior. 
 
 Observations. A slight amount of scroll work is employed for orna- 
 ment above the shield. No indication of color by dots or lines is 
 given on this engraving, except in the cases of the wreath, the sash 
 of Liberty, and the sash and fillet of Justice, where the lines repre- 
 sent the colors above given, but may have been intended only as an 
 artist's shading.
 
 22 CORRECT ABMS OF THE 
 
 ceremony at the centennial celebration at Oriskany in 
 1877. exciting a thrill of admiration in the fifty thousand 
 people assembled there. 
 
 The Regiment remained at Fort Stanwix (Schuyler,) 
 till June, 1779, when it marched to take part in the Sul- 
 livan campaign of that year. During 1780 it was with 
 the main army under Gen. Washington in New Jersey. 
 In Jan., 1781, the 3d, 4th and 5th N. Y. regiments were 
 consolidated with the 1st and 2d. Col. Gansevoort, Oct. 
 15, 1781, being at Albany, was sent by Gov. Clinton as 
 General of brigade to maintain the authority of the 
 State in the direction of Vermont.* Gen. P. Ganse- 
 voort in 1864 wrote with his own hand a declaration that 
 that flag was also "borne at the surrender of Yorktown 
 in 1781, "f having been carried probably to the 2d regi- 
 ment, and allowed to be used on account of its history 
 and beauty, and for the sake of the battalion from the 3d 
 Regiment which had joined it. It was afterwards re- 
 turned to Gen. Gansevoort at Albany. Whether the 
 flag was present on that occasion or not, its value is en- 
 hanced as a specimen of the true Arms of New York in 
 proportion as the date when it was painted, approaches 
 the year 1778, when the law establishing the Arms was 
 
 1 have entered into more details regarding this flag 
 than would have been necessary, if it had not been that 
 a State appropriation in 1879 was made to secure a copy 
 
 * Some of the preceding statements respecting the history of this regi- 
 ment have been condensed by me from a much longer sketch In MS., for 
 which I am much Indebted to Prof. A. B Gardner, LL. D., Judge Advo- 
 cate, U.S. A., now In New York city. 
 
 t Albany Army Relief Bazar : Catalogue of Relics. Albany: 1864. 8vo.
 
 STATE OF NKW YORK. 23 
 
 of the Arms " taken from a flag borne at Yorktown in 
 1781," which was expressed in these terms: "For the 
 secretary of State, for the purchase of a colored picture 
 of the arms of the State, taken from a flag borne at York- 
 town by the American army in 1781, to be deposited in 
 the State Library, the sum of fifty dollars."* 
 
 The doubt thrown by the researches of Maj. Gardner, 
 on the truth of the alleged fact, led to conclusions as 
 stated above, which made the flag still more valuable 
 as a witness to what are the correct Arms, than on the 
 assumption made in the law appropriating money for the 
 painting. 
 
 The Arms are carefully and finely painted upon both 
 sides of the flag, which is of dark blue silk, and about 
 seven feet square. The Arms complete cover upon the 
 flag a space of about four feet four inches wide by three 
 feet five inches high ; the two figures are each two feet 
 two and a half inches high. 
 
 Acting again in the same kind spirit as I before men- 
 tioned, Mrs. Lansing has afforded the utmost facility for 
 securing an exact copy of this venerable flag for the pur- 
 pose of the law. It has been beautifully and perfectly 
 painted on canvas in oil colors by Miss Annie Wrightson, 
 of Albany. The copy is one half of the size of the paint- 
 ing on the flag. 
 
 This second specimen presents some striking depart- 
 ures from the first, chiefly such as were introduced 
 by the fancy or carelessness of the painter. It has the 
 great value of being the first specimen which we have 
 in colors ; and the colors of the drapery differ consider. 
 
 * Laws of 1879, May 13, Chap. 272.
 
 24- CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 ably from those employed in the third specimen. The 
 expression of the features of the head of Liberty is pecu- 
 liarly winning. Of the Arms on the flag I am able to 
 subjoin a more technical description, as before, through 
 the kindness of Mr. Howell.* 
 
 The third of these specimens of the State Arms is a 
 painting on canvas, which was first hung up in St. Paul's 
 Chapel, New York city, on the south wall, in 1785. It 
 was suspended over the large square and canopied pew 
 occupied by Gov. George Clinton, and opposite to a similar 
 pew on the north occupied by Gen. Washington, one of 
 them having been the pew k of the ^Provincial governor 
 during the British possession of New York, and after 
 
 * Heraldic description of the Arms on the N. Y. Regiment Flag of 1779. 
 
 Arms. Azure, in less the sun rising in splendor, or, behind a range 
 of three mountains, proper ; in base the sea wavy. 
 
 Crest. On a wreath argent and gules, an eagle proper, langued of 
 the last, rising to the dexter from a two thirds of a globe showing the 
 Atlantic ocean, and a part of the Eastern and "Western continents in 
 outline. 
 
 Supporters. Supporters on a quasi compartment formed by the 
 extension of the scroll. Dexter. Liberty, her hair brown, her face, 
 neck, arms, hand and feet proper, the last sandalled and stringed 
 gules ; vested in a close fitting waist, demi-sleeved, having lapels fall- 
 ing over a gown reaching to the feet, both cloth of gold ; a mantle 
 gules depending from the shoulders behind to the feet ; a ribbon 
 azure passing from the sinister shoulder bendwise under the dexter 
 breast ; in the dexter hand a staff, eiisigned with a Phrygian cap, or, 
 the sinister arm embowed, the hand supporting the shield ; the sin- 
 ister foot resting on a royal crown dejected. 
 
 Sinister. Justice her hair brown, her face, neck, arms, hands and 
 feet proper, the last sandalled and stringed gules ; vested in a close 
 fitting waist, demi-sleeved, having lapels falling over a gown reach- 
 ing to the feet, both of cloth of gold ; a mantle gules, depending 
 from the shoulders behind to the feet ; a ribbon azure passing from 
 the dexter shoulder bendwise under the sinister breast ; bound about 
 the eyes with a fillet proper ; in the dexter hand a sword erect rest- 
 ing between the forte and middle parts on her dexter shoulder, the 
 sinister arm embowed, the hand holding out from her person her 
 scales proper. 
 
 Motto. On a scroll argent, in sable, Excelsior. 
 
 Obs. One branch of scroll work is used for ornament over each 
 supporter, terminating at the wreath, finer scroll work borders the 
 outer edge of the shield.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 25 
 
 the burning ot Trinity Church in 1776. At " some 
 dreary day of modernizing"* the painting was locked 
 up along with the painting of the Arms of the United 
 States. After a few years, they were suspended in the 
 porch : but both were restored to their original places 
 about the year 1857. The dimensions of this picture of 
 the New York Arms are 67 by 45 inches. 
 
 In 1875, the authorities in Philadelphia, preparing for 
 the Centennial celebration of 1876, were desirous of 
 securing paintings of the arms of the original thirteen 
 States for suspension in Independence Hall, and they 
 applied to Mr. DeLancey, whose name I have already 
 mentioned, for a copy of the New York Arms. Mr. 
 DeLancey regarding this painting justly, as the most cor- 
 rect and ancient picture of the Arms then known, by 
 his personal exertions obtained an appropriation in the 
 supply bill of 1875 of six hundred dollars for the pur- 
 pose of having copies of it made. It reads : " For the 
 governor, for the purpose of procuring two paintings on 
 panel-wood or metal, of the arms or heraldic device of 
 the State of New York, one to be placed in the State 
 library, and the other to be placed at the disposal of the 
 committee on the restoration of Independence Hall, 
 Philadelphia, six hundred dollars, or so much thereof as 
 may be necessary."! The object of the deposit in the 
 State Library was to diffuse and perpetuate a knowledge 
 of the genuine State Arms. The first two specimens 
 which we have just mentioned, having since been dis- 
 
 * History of St. Paul's Chapel, N. Y., by Rev. Morgan Dix, D. D., 1867, Rev. 
 Mr. Betts, in the N. Y. Qeneal. Record, vol. HI, p. 116, on the Heraldry of St. 
 Paul's Chapel. 
 
 t Chap. 634, Laws of 1875. 
 
 4
 
 26 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 covered, had not come into public notice. We give in 
 a note a description of this painting of the Arms in 
 heraldic language, made and published by the Rev. B. 
 R. Betts, of N. Y. City, in place of the description of 
 the copy which was made for the State Library in 1 875, 
 and which differs from the original painting in some 
 respects.* 
 
 Besides these two copies, a third was made for the cen- 
 tennial exhibition in Philadelphia for the Hall devoted 
 to the Women's Pavilion for the Works of Women. 
 This copy was embroidered by Tiffany & Co. on a light 
 colored silk, and was in size about fifteen by twelve 
 feet. The expense was paid by collections made for 
 the purpose from the women of the State of New York, 
 under the auspices of Mrs. Howard Townsend. By 
 means of a second appropriation of the Legislature 
 in 1878, obtained upon the request of the same lady, 
 another copy, the fourth of the same painting, was made 
 
 * Blazon of the Arms of New York from the St. Paul's Chapel painting of 
 1785, by Rev. B. R. Betts. 
 
 Arms. Per fess, the sky in chief and the sea in base, the upper half of the 
 Sun rising out of the latter, all proper. 
 
 Crest. On a wreath vert and argent the northern half of the terrestrial 
 globe, of the second, the meridians sable, a spike projecting from the pale 
 of the last; above it, but not touching, an eagle rising proper, to the sinis- 
 ter, his head reflexed below his breast, grasping in his beak his dexter 
 talon. 
 
 Supporters on a quasi compartment formed by the extension of the scroll 
 or. Dexter. Liberty, hair brown, decorated with pearls, proper, face, neck, 
 arms, hands and feet also proper; sandalled gules, vested vert ; depending 
 from and behind her shoulders a brown mantle, in her dexter hand a pole 
 sable, spiked at the foot or, thereon a Phrygian cap argent, the sinister hand 
 resting on the shield. Sinister. Justice, her face neck arms hands and feet 
 proper, sandalled gules, her hair brown and flowing, decorated with pearls, 
 vested in a brownish gray, cinctured about the waist azure, the cincture 
 fringed or, bound about the eyes with a fillet sable, depending from and be- 
 hind her shoulders a mantle as the cincture, holding in her dexter hand a 
 sword erect argent pomelled and hilted gold ; in her left depending by a 
 ribbon gules, her scales, the beam uable, the strings as the ribbon, the scales, 
 round, or. From N. Y. Geneal. and Biog. Record, 1872, vol. in, p. 119.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 27 
 
 for the Mount Vernon Association, to be hung up with 
 the arms of the other States in the mansion at Mt. 
 Vernon. 
 
 Having now given a history of these three earliest known 
 specimens of the Arms, and accompanied each one with 
 a scientific description, it seems necessary and unavoid- 
 able that I should describe particularly the earliest 
 specimen in language which shall be clear and suffi- 
 ciently exact, avoiding as much as may be possible tech- 
 nical terms, and that I should at the same time indicate 
 the points wherein the second and third differ from the 
 first. 
 
 AKMS. Shield. At the base of the shield of the 
 first specimen, a shore of land is seen fringed with 
 shrubbery, beyond there is an expanse of water smooth 
 and calm. In the two later specimens the water com- 
 mences at the very base of the shield, in the second 
 it is in commotion, and in the third it is calm. Upon 
 the water a ship and a sloop are seen advancing to- 
 wards each other. Upon the second and third there are 
 no vessels. Beyond the water appear in the two first 
 three mountains, the central one being the most ele- 
 vated. In the Library copy of the third there are 
 mountains, but on the painting in St. Paul's chapel 
 it is clear that the sun rises directly from the water 
 without mountains. In the first and second two thirds 
 of a sun, with a great effulgence of rays, appears be- 
 yond the mountains. 
 
 Crest. An eagle, with its head and front of its body 
 directed to the right of the shield and its wings spread, 
 stands upon a two thirds of a globe, with parallels of lat-
 
 28 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 itude ; it shows outlines of a portion of the east coast of 
 the New World and of the west coast of the old 
 world. The eagle of the second specimen very nearly 
 resembles that of the first. Neither of them should 
 be supposed to have been drawn to represent what 
 we call an American eagle, but only the traditional 
 heraldic eagle. The eagle of the third specimen con- 
 forms more nearly to our usual notion of the eagle, but 
 it has the peculiarity that its head is turned to the left, 
 while its feet do not touch the globe, but it hovers over 
 it in flight. The word " America " is painted upon the 
 globe, and there are drawn meridian lines in addition to 
 the parallels of latitude. 
 
 Supporters. The figure of Liberty is on the right of 
 the shield, and is completely dressed in a robe, with a 
 mantle falling from one shoulder, and passing in front 
 below the waist. In the second and third the mantle re- 
 sembles an imperial cloak, spreading out behind on both 
 sides of the robe, and somewhat shorter. The robe reaches 
 to the feet, which have socks upon them, while in the sec- 
 ond and third they have sandals. There is no belt at 
 the waist in the first or second, but there is in the third. 
 Besides the face and neck, the hands and fore-arm only 
 are nude. The same is true of the other two. Her left 
 foot rests upon a crown, which is overturned. In her 
 right hand she holds an upright staff with a liberty cap 
 npon it, and her left supports the shield with vigilance 
 and firmness. In the second specimen also the foot rests 
 upon a similar crown ; in the third specimen the crown 
 lies at the foot of Liberty. In the St. Paul's Chapel pic- 
 ture in New York, in addition to the crown overturned,
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 29 
 
 there is lying under the crown cross-wise a sword and 
 a sceptre. 
 
 On the left of the shield the figure of Justice stands, 
 with a robe similar to that of Liberty, with a long waist, 
 having lapels but no belt. The mantle passes from be- 
 hind over her left shoulder down in front across under 
 the right fore-arm. The same style of cloak is worn in 
 the second and third as by Liberty. In her left hand she 
 holds an even balance; in the two earliest specimens, 
 it hangs away from her body, and in the St. Paul's 
 chapel specimen directly in front of her body. In her 
 right hand she holds a sword with the point upward, but 
 her arms down in the two early specimens, the elbow touch- 
 ing the shield. The sword is raised higher, with her 
 hand touching the left point of the shield, in the 
 Chapel specimen. Her eyes are blindfolded in all three 
 of them, but she seems anxiously and intently listen- 
 ing to reach the truth. The face, neck, hands and fore- 
 arms only are exposed. It is so also with the second. In 
 the third nearly the whole arm is bared. 
 
 Her feet are covered with socks in the first two, and 
 sandalled in the last specimen. The first two have no 
 belt at the waist, in the last one Justice is belted. 
 
 Motto. The word Excelsior, painted upon a scroll, 
 upon the ends of which stand the supporters, alike in 
 all three of the specimens. There is a mantling of scroll- 
 work over all the three specimens. 
 
 The next representations of the Arms, the nearest in 
 time to the Chapel painting, were on the New York 
 copper tokens of 1786 and 1787. There were issued 
 four varieties of copper coins in those years known by
 
 30 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 that name, and even a gold piece of the same size. They 
 were struck at Birmingham, England, as a means of 
 profit for speculators in New York city, and all bore 
 upon them some portion of the Arms of the State.* One 
 of them, having on the obverse the figure of an armed 
 Indian chief, had on the reverse, a rudely cut but lively 
 picture of the complete Arms, the supporters markedly 
 holding up the shield, although each one is on the wrong 
 side of it, and the head of the eagle is turned to the left. 
 None of these can be appealed to for official evidence of 
 the original device of Arms, as they were issued without 
 authority of law, the legislature declining to recognize 
 the undertaking. 
 
 A lithographic picture of the Arms, obtained from a 
 study of the three specimens first described, and con- 
 formed largely to the one from the military commission 
 specimen, has been prepared by Mr. S. C. Hutchins and 
 will be published as a vignette on the title page of the 
 edition of the New York Civil List for 1880. The vol- 
 ume will contain from his pen many of the facts which 
 I have mentioned.f In the year 18T5, a copy of the St. 
 Paul's chapel painting of the Arms was cut on wood 
 with the legend, Saint Nicholas Club. 1875, as a design 
 for the seal of that institution, and it may yet be adopted 
 as such. 
 
 * flickcox'a Americai) coinage, pp. 78, Y9. Historical Magazine, 1869, p. 117. 
 + Mr. Quayle, an engraver in Albany, In the preceding month has also made 
 a miniature engraving of the Arms, intended for use for letter-heads for the 
 public offices, he having availed himself of all three of these representa- 
 tions of the Arms to perfect his design.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 31 
 
 No peculiar significance or meaning has been attached 
 hitherto to some of the emblems constituting the original 
 Arms of the State : yet it is well worthy of our inquiry 
 whether they had not a very distinct and positive mean 
 ing in the minds of the original proposers of them. If 
 the interpretation of them which I shall venture to give 
 shall be received as correct, I am confident it will en- 
 hance our respect and -attachment for them. This signifi- 
 cance disappears from most of the modern representa- 
 tions of the Arms ; nor does any one of the three ex- 
 press all the meanings with equal force. 
 
 I think the device upon the shield is emblematic of 
 New York itself, by means of its most characteristic 
 feature, the passage of the Hudson river through the 
 mountains to the ocean ; the tranquil and calm water 
 represents not the sea but the Hudson river ; there is 
 land at the base of the shield, with shrubs upon it, which 
 is the west bank of the river. The reason why the shield 
 was made so broad at the bottom as compared with the 
 very pointed base of the third specimen, was probably 
 to give an opportunity to make the land on the west 
 bank to be more obvious to the eye. The mountains rep- 
 resent those of the Highlands on the east bank. The 
 water is not in commotion, dashing up against the base of 
 the mountains, as drawn upon the great seal of 1777; 
 for the mountains do not spring directly out of the water, 
 but have a shore of foot hills of very slight elevation be- 
 tween them and the water. The existence of this low 
 land on one and both sides of the water has never before 
 been recognized on the shield in any of the later draw-
 
 32 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 ings until this moment.* Upon this river is to be seen, 
 with a ship, the once so familiar North river sloop, pass- 
 ing through this wonderful chasm in the great Appa- 
 lachian chain of mountains, which tells of the path for 
 an empire assured thereby to New York, in the facility 
 that this tidal communication, of one hundred and eighty 
 miles from the ocean by the river towards the great 
 lakes, and to the heart of the continent was to offer for 
 carrying on the commerce of the new United States, f 
 
 The eagle as the crest of New York has this historical 
 prominence, that it is extremely probable that New York 
 was the first of the States to make use of it. It now forms 
 the crest of only Maryland and Pennsylvania of the orig- 
 inal thirteen States. It was adopted by New York pre- 
 vious to its being adopted by Pennsylvania.;}: It was not 
 on the colonial arms of Maryland, and in what year after 
 the revolution it was first put upon the great seal of the 
 State by the Council the evidence is not yet clear. The 
 eagle was not adopted as a portion of the Arms of the 
 United States till June 20, 1782, more than four years 
 after its adoption by the State of New York, as its 
 
 *The Rev. J. H. Frazer of Franklin, Delaware county, who has In hl8 pos- 
 session the original engraved military commission of 1778 has at my request 
 made an attentive scrutiny of it, and he informs me that there is unquestion- 
 ably engraved upon the Arms, land on both sides of the water, such as I 
 have described it. 
 
 tit is not a conclusion that I have adopted; but I have thought that 
 when the original blazon of the Arms comes to be discovered, if it ever 
 happen. It may be we shall flud that the sun -was designed to represent a 
 "westering" sun, and notarising sun; in which case the mountains depicted 
 upon the shield would be those upon the west bank of the Hudson, and 
 stand for the Catskills which they fairly resemble, while they are more than 
 twice as elevated as the mountains lower down the river. 
 *Penna. Legis. Docts., vol. Ill, 1876, No. 21. 
 6 Maryland, Laws of 1854.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 33 
 
 crest.* It had not been upon any arms or seals pre- 
 viously used in the State, f There is reasonable ground 
 for the conviction that the crest of New York, an eagle 
 facing to the west, with wings spread, was the device of 
 those who were familiar with the idea of western de- 
 velopment, rendered popular by the prophetic verses of 
 Bishop George Berkeley, (of whom Pope said he had 
 " every virtue under heaven "), at the time of his enthu- 
 siasm for education in America. They were written by 
 him just half a century before the Revolution, and were 
 entitled " The prospect of planting the Arts and Learn- 
 ing in America." He afterwards passed more than two 
 years (1729-1731), at Newport, in Rhode Island. The 
 device was intended to shadow forth, as in a picture, 
 the concluding lines of those verses : 
 
 "Westward the course of Empire takes its way; 
 
 The four first acts already past, 
 A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; 
 
 Time's noblest offspring is the last." 
 
 The eagle's head and front, and its flight are in the 
 direction of the dexter of the shield, from east to west, 
 from the old world to the new. . The succeeding artist 
 who painted the canvas for St. Paul's Chapel, aware we 
 may suppose of the original intention of the design, and 
 thinking that the emblem was not sufficiently under- 
 stood, endeavors to make it more clear, by boldly paint- 
 ing upon the western continent of the demi-globe the 
 word America, and draws the eagle, instead of standing 
 upon the globe, as hovering over it in actual flight to the 
 west. 
 
 * Preble, History of the Flag, Albany, 1874, p. 479. 
 tLossing in Harper's Monthly, v. 13, p. 178. 
 
 5
 
 34 COBKECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 Massachusetts in the midst of the revolution, in 1775, 
 adopted the motto of her Arms from a couplet of Alger- 
 non Sydney. It would not be surprising that New York 
 should have been inspired in a similar manner by such 
 memorable verses from Bishop Berkeley. We know 
 not what further revelations are yet in store for us from 
 other sources regarding the early history of this ensign 
 of our commonwealth. We know however that in 1776, 
 Gov. Pownall had published in London his folio volume 
 on the geography of the Colonies.* In this work he 
 gives the greatest prominence to the position of New 
 York, as constituting the line of division between all 
 the other colonies, owing to the marvelous " chasm " as 
 he calls it of the Hudson river, by means of which com- 
 merce easily reaches the lakes. And in the same year 
 Adam Smith, discussing the possible future of the Brit- 
 ish empire, had applied by anticipation to the colonies 
 the phrase " the seat of the empire. "f With the writ- 
 ings of both these men, Washington must have been 
 well acquainted ; and hence when in 1784 in responding 
 in New York city to an address of the Common Council, 
 he applied to New York the phrase " your State (at pres- 
 ent the Seat of the Empire)," he was adopting language 
 expressive of a thought, already current in America for 
 many years; a thought suggested first to the inventors 
 of the Arms from the marvelous facts of nature, then 
 from the writings of these English authors, and finally 
 by them set forth to all men on the Arms themselves.^: 
 
 * Pownall, T. A topographical description . . . of the middle Colo- 
 nies of America. Lond. 1776. fo. 
 
 t Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chap. 7, p 59. 
 
 1 t New York City: Addresses to Washington and his Answers. N. Y. 
 1876, 80.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 35 
 
 The choice of Liberty and Justice as supporters of the 
 shield, may have been suggested to our committee, from 
 their remembering that in the Congress of 1776, on the 
 tenth of August these emblematic figures had been sug- 
 gested as the supporters by the first committee appointed 
 to devise Arms for the United States, a committee of 
 the most distinguished character possible, John Adams, 
 Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, and only 
 abandoned on account of the whole device as proposed 
 for a seal with obverse and reverse, being too complicated. 
 In brief, on the shield of our Arms is expressed not 
 merely a sun rising upon the earth, but a sun rising upon 
 the Hudson river, the great geographical feature of the 
 State : while the crest is not merely a portion of a globe 
 but represents America, and the eagle's flight expresses 
 the hope of other poets and authors than Berkeley, the 
 belief of tens of thousands of that day of the coining 
 glories of the New World.* 
 
 The Arms such as we have now described them con- 
 tinued to be set forth on seals and vignettes of books 
 published by authority, without essential change, for a 
 period of forty years. Engravings or wood-cuts of them, 
 appeared on the title pages of the successive editions of 
 the laws of the State, which were published by Green- 
 leaf in 1798, by Webster and Skinner in 1801, by South- 
 wick in 1813, and in the annual volumes of the session 
 laws from 1815 to 1819; they all give us a passable 
 
 * Rev. A. Burnaby In his Travels In North America published In Lond., 
 1775, writes : "An Idea, strange as It Is visionary, has entered Into the minds 
 of the generality of mankind, that empire Is travelling westward, and every 
 one Is looking forward with eager and Impatient expectation to that des- 
 tined moment when America is to give law to the rest of the world." p. 155.
 
 36 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 idea of what was the original device. Gradually after 
 that date changes came on ; at first one only of the fig- 
 ures or supporters appears seated ; but after a while both 
 of the figures were drawn seated, or one of them dis- 
 appears entirely ; besides many other changes perhaps as 
 serious, and without any apparent authority of law. To 
 these changes we shall soon refer more particularly. 
 
 These changes originated in the substitution in these 
 vignettes of the title pages of the session laws and of 
 other publications of the State, of the pictures found 
 upon the seals of the State in place of the pictures of the 
 Arms of the State. The new dies for the seals formed a 
 sufficiently graceful picture for a vignette. When the 
 casts or blocks used in printing were worn out by use, 
 these pictures on the dies of the new seals were allowed 
 to take the place of the Arms. From time to time, as 
 new cuts in wood or in type metal were needed, the 
 varying tastes of artists and engravers facilitated farther 
 changes, and occasioned still wider departures from the 
 original Arms. The genuine Arms having once com- 
 menced to be disregarded as the unvarying symbol of 
 the dignity and sovereign authority of the State, and 
 not being in request except for occasional decoration and 
 ornament, the pictures upon the seals were supposed to 
 answer equally as well, and soon the time came when 
 they were all that could be appealed to when any one 
 was curious to see or asked to obtain a representation of 
 the State Arms. 
 
 Thenceforward seals, vignettes and pictures of all 
 kinds, made of every sort of pattern for the public offices, 
 have passed in the common estimation as tokens of the
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 37 
 
 State Arms : they have been of every degree of com- 
 pleteness and exactness as regards the shield, crest and 
 supporters. The only thing which is uniformly repeated 
 upon every seal that I have observed except one, is the 
 word Excelsior, which word with the ideal aspirations 
 that it suggests, is certainly well retained, as conveying 
 a double meaning of material and moral elevation.* 
 
 In the changes in these representations, whether re- 
 garded as Arms or seals, there are some which are especi- 
 ally worthy of notice, though we shall be obliged to omit 
 all reference to many of them. In one of the devices, 
 instead of the three mountains, the shield has the colors 
 and stripes of the United States; another divides the 
 shield between the emblems of New York and of the 
 United States. In one there is the anachronism of in- 
 troducing the canal as an emblem of New York ; and in 
 another a more violent anachronism, a steamboat and a 
 railroad with a locomotive in the ornamentation outside 
 the shield for Arms devised in 1778. The motto Ex- 
 celsior is sometimes thrust within the shield. One of 
 the latest devices for a seal for one of the public offices, 
 has a picture of a castellated and barred entrance to a 
 prison, and the only trace of the Arms of the State upon 
 the seal is the inscription as if upon the doorstep, with a 
 certain grim humor, of the motto, Excelsior! In many 
 of the current pictures, each of the two supporters is on 
 the opposite side of the shield to the one for which they 
 were originally designed. Justice is seated upon some 
 of them, and both Liberty and Justice are seated upon 
 others. Liberty upon one has the cap of Liberty upon 
 
 * N. Y. Geneal. & Biog. Record, 1874, p. 55.
 
 38 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 her head with the word " Liberty " upon the cap ; upon 
 another the cap has disappeared, both from the staff 
 and from the head. Upon another Liberty is seated in 
 a postnre as if she were overcome with other spirit than 
 the spirit of liberty. Upon a letter-head used in the 
 Executive department as late as 1859 and perhaps later, 
 there is the shield, the eagle and the motto, but the globe 
 and the supporters have disappeared ; and the legitimate 
 symbols of Liberty and Justice have their places sup- 
 plied by two figures symbolizing Science and Industry. 
 The engraved letter-head in use in the office of the 
 Trustees of the State Library has no unauthorized addi- 
 tions to the Arms, but rejects the crest and both of the 
 supporters. 
 
 When by a movement of some one who has a fair 
 knowledge of what are the Arms of the State, a picture 
 of them, most of it correct, has been made, all that has 
 been gained may be lost in the next picture drawn. 
 Thus in 1849, the State struck a gold medal in honor of 
 Lt.-Col. Bliss for gallantry in the Mexican war. The 
 picture of the Arms on the reverse side was not only 
 most attractive and graceful but in almost all respects 
 was conformed to the original device. And yet five 
 years later, on a gold medal struck by the State in honor 
 of Lt. Hartstene's services in the Arctic regions, the de- 
 sign for the State Arms falls back upon all sorts of 
 liberties and eccentricities, of which, recalling what I 
 have said on the usual presence of it, the absence of 
 the motto Excelsior is perhaps as noteworthy as any of 
 them. 
 
 There is a change, much to be regretted, which has
 
 STATE OF NEW YOEK. 39 
 
 been introduced, upon quite a number of the semblances 
 for the State Arms, that the eyes of Justice are not 
 blindfolded, the scales of justice, and the sword have 
 been withdrawn from her hands, and in place of a sword 
 is a roll of parchment. All these emblems belonged to 
 the original picture of the Justice of 1T78, and constitute 
 a part of the mythological emblems to signify that jus- 
 tice is an avenger of evil acting with impartiality. In 
 another case, the avenging sword remains, but without 
 the balance or covering to the eyes. And yet the 
 statue of mere carved wood on the top of the cupola of 
 the old capitol from 1806 till a very late period, had been 
 declaring, by the presence of the balance evenly sus- 
 pended, and of the sword, what were the requisite 
 symbols of her presence. 
 
 Although it is now more than three years since under 
 the law of 1875. the copy of the painting of the St. Paul's 
 chapel specimen of the Arms has been suspended in the 
 State Library, yet the knowledge of the fact was not so 
 widely diffused, but that the drawings which served for 
 the State Arms as sculptured in stone over the fire-places 
 in the Assembly Chamber, of the New Capitol, have both 
 of the supporters seated; the eyes of Justice are not 
 blindfolded, the figures of Liberty and Justice are each 
 on the wrong side of the shield ; their feet are not clad 
 with sandals ; and the two ships and the crown are not 
 there. There are other departures from the original, 
 and yet the picture is much more complete than has been 
 frequently given out for the correct Arms. 
 
 In respect of maintaining correctly the Arms of New 
 York, the military department of the State has made
 
 40 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 more progress than the civil departments. The paint- 
 ing of the State Arras for the centennial of 1876 has ap- 
 parently led to a change of the picture of the Arms of 
 the State as displayed in the centre of the regimental 
 flag of the N. T. National Guard. In 1871 the State 
 arms were painted on blue silk on regimental flags of 
 twelve feet by ten, with the evident intention to have a 
 complete arms, but both of the supporters were drawn 
 sitting, and respectively on the wrong side of the 
 shield. But in 1878 upon the new flag of white 
 bunting, both of the supporters are drawn standing 
 as is proper, and justice is blindfolded, with the bal- 
 ance and sword, as is also proper, though the point of 
 the sword is turned downward and touches the ground. 
 Upon the dexter or right half of the shield are to be 
 found as on the original Arms, water (though without 
 ships), mountains (four instead of three) and a rising sun. 
 Upon the left half of the shield are quartered emblems 
 of the United States ; a measure doubtless justified on the 
 ground that since the adoption of the State arms in 
 1778 the independent State of New York had formed a 
 new Union with the United States of America; and is 
 conformed in that respect to the usages of heraldry, 
 (when done with authority). As the embroidery is 
 worked through and through, the supporters appear on 
 the reverse to be on the proper side of the shield. 
 
 1 do not pretend to indicate or enlarge upon all the 
 variations, between the original Arms and modern pic- 
 tures of them ; but there is one symbol which has disap- 
 peared from every representation of the State Arms that 
 I have seen of the last ninety years. It is the over-
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 41 
 
 turned royal crown under the left foot of liberty. I am not 
 aware that the existence of this most significant emblem 
 has ever before been pointed out or recognized as abso- 
 lutely belonging to the State Arms.* It has disappeared 
 from all the pictures of the State arms, and from all the 
 seals of the State, if it was ever upon any of the latter. 
 And yet this crown is distinctly shown upon all the three 
 early specimens of which we have been speaking. Now, 
 while the arms of many of the States symbolise inde- 
 pendence and liberty, our own State stands alone in de- 
 claring by this position of a crown at the foot of liberty, 
 a distinct abandonment of royal and monarchical govern- 
 ment, and the substitution instead thereof, of govern- 
 ment by the people and for the people. 
 
 By some accident in making the copy of the St. Paul's 
 chapel painting for the State Library, the crown has not 
 been observed or preserved in the copy ; nor was the 
 sword and sceptre under the crown observed and copied. 
 Or if observed, they may have been omitted on the 
 ground that they were not an essential part of the Arms, 
 according to canons of heraldry. 
 
 Without referring to the many arguments, which will 
 naturally occur to your minds, against distorting and 
 altering the emblems on the State Arms, I must instead 
 beg yon to dwell with me for a single moment on the 
 argument against such changes which offers itself from 
 a consideration of the remarkable character of the three 
 eminent men who proposed the device for the Arms in 
 1778. They were men who, we know from their history, 
 
 Rev. Mr. Belts speaks as If It was introduced solely by a fancy of the 
 artist who painted the St. Paul's Chapel specimen. X. T. Geneal. Record. 
 Ill, p. 18. 
 
 6
 
 42 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 had. deliberately considered all the consequences that 
 were involved for themselves and the people, in choosing 
 the emblems which they set forth as a device of State 
 Arms. Lewis Morris, John Jay and John Sloss Ho- 
 bart : the first a descendant of a commander under 
 Cromwell and during the Commonwealth, and a signer 
 of the declaration of Independence ; the second, a de- 
 scendant of a French family seeking refuge here from 
 monarchical persecution, the first chief justice of the 
 United States, and six years a governor of the State ; 
 the third, a Son of Liberty of 1765, a judge of the Su- 
 preme Court of New York, a circuit Judge of the United 
 States, and a United States Senator. All three of them, 
 prime leaders among their fellow citizens, at this very 
 time were suffering from the devastation and wasting of 
 their estates by the British, and were refugees from their 
 homes.* The enemy was at their doors. They were 
 familiar with the old seal of the province which down to 
 the Revolution had upon the obverse side the Royal 
 arms of Great Britain, and on the reverse the queen or 
 the king of the successive reigns, standing and receiving 
 the homage of two crouching Indians, a chief and a 
 woman, offering gifts, f The Arms of the colony, from 
 the year 1686 had retained over the shield and sup- 
 porters the sole symbol of the royal British crown as a 
 crest. The laws of the colony in volumes printed in 
 England or New York down to 1752 bore on the title 
 page a vignette of the complete arms of Great Britain. 
 
 * Jones's Hist, of N. Y., 1879, vol. H, p. 48. 
 
 + The Arms previous to 1664 are described In the MS. folio volume An- 
 nallum Thesaurus, Secretary of State's office. They had no supporters. An 
 Impression of the seal having them may be found In Letters MS. 1647-1663.
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 43 
 
 But in 1752 and in 1762 the folio volume editions of 
 these laws had as their sole vignette the arms of the 
 colony. The same seal only was on the colonial money of 
 1771. In thus superseding the complete British arms by 
 the arms of the province, they were following on in har- 
 mony with those same popular impulses which had led 
 the people to rush out from the King's Arms tavern, 
 to overthrow the King's Statue on Bowling Green, and 
 to cause its lead to be melted into bullets. No New 
 York Arms had as yet replaced them in the Province. 
 The sole change made in the old arms was to place the 
 eagle over the shield instead of the British crown for a 
 crest. They were required to provide a complete ap- 
 propriate substitute, to make all things new. So these 
 three men, rejecting with calmness all tokens of subjec- 
 tion, and standing upon the manhood of common citi- 
 zenship, with no spirit of .vengeance that with spear in 
 hand exclaims, sic semper tyrannis, devise an emblem- 
 atic State Arms, which announce with simplicity and 
 directness a state to be maintained under popular sov- 
 ereignty, and supported by liberty and justice without 
 the aid of kingly power. The people of to-day, with a 
 knowledge of the facts, will certainly not be indifferent 
 when they reflect that a device of arms, originated and 
 cherished by these leaders through such a crisis of our 
 history, is liable to be either abandoned or disfigured, and 
 no one can give a " reason why." 
 
 If it should be said in reference to one feature of the 
 Anns, the overturned crown under the foot of liberty, 
 that according to heraldic rules it can be disregarded 
 as not an essential feature, yet, remembering that it was
 
 44 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 placed there by men so honorable and honored in our 
 history, should we not be jealous to retain it? We 
 recall also that George Clinton, of whom Hammond 
 says " He was in grain and principle a republican," in 
 the same church where a preceding colonial governor had 
 sat in his pew under a painting of the British Arms, 
 had for many years, as Governor of the new independent 
 State, sat under these new republican Arms, with the 
 approval of all the people ; and can we with easy and 
 careless indifference allow ourselves to erase or efface so 
 expressive a portion of this grand and beautiful memorial 
 of the birth of the State ? 
 
 These Arms were conceived during the battle-year of 
 1777 : they were formed at the crisis of the revolution. 
 With these Arms on her flag, New York went through 
 the war ; they were displayed at the great surrender of 
 Cornwallis at Yorktown. It cannot be possible that any 
 of the emblems upon them, of such historical significance, 
 will be allowed to disappear without any one knowing 
 how it occurred and without any approving voice of the 
 people. How can we speak of having no blot on our 
 escutcheon, if we are indifferent as to what that escutcheon 
 really is, and if we do not cherish the symbol of the em- 
 pire State with reverence, when we find it restored to 
 our sight ? 
 
 When we consider the lofty and noble significance of 
 the symbols devised by these founders of the State, how 
 paltry and trifling are mere female figures, witli the em- 
 blems of their character, the cap of liberty, the scales, 
 the blindfold and the sword removed; figures seated 
 and inactive, supporting nothing and apathetic, while
 
 STATK OF NEW YORK. 45 
 
 onr shield witli its rising sun, and our .notto, Excelsior, 
 speaks of aspirations for all that is best, to be sustained 
 by Liberty and Justice ! 
 
 The badges and ensigns by which to designate and 
 identify a people are a species of object teaching, the use 
 of which comes down from the remotest antiquity. The 
 twelve tribes of Israel were each shadowed forth by a 
 specific emblem. Each one of the six nations of the 
 Iroquois was known by one. Our soldiers know what 
 it is to follow or stand by the national flag in battle : 
 and each army corps of our civil war had its unchange- 
 able and easily recognizable badge. 
 
 In a comparative study of the arms and seals of the 
 States of the whole Union, I find that at least sixteen of 
 them have arms and seals which are nearly identical with 
 each other, with the exception that each seal has the 
 addition of an inscription or legend, bearing the name of 
 the particular department using the arms as a seal. And 
 in Massachusetts, as in New York, on parade or in service, 
 the State flag having upon it the Arms of the State is 
 borne along in company with the national colors. But 
 the arms of several of the States appear to have been 
 subjected to various fanciful changes like our own, as if 
 hi the view of those who make fresh copies, there was 
 no significance or authority in the original picture or 
 device. The arms on the seal of the State of Connecticut 
 were changed before the revolution from fifteen vines to 
 three with no apparent authority. The constitution of 
 1818 declares that the seal shall not be altered, but 
 neither in that instrument nor in any law is the seal ascer- 
 tained or described. In 1840, the secretary of State
 
 4:6 CORRKOT ARMS OF THE 
 
 was required to report " whether any legislative enact- 
 ment is required for a proper description of the seal : 
 which he neglected to report upon.* In Wisconsin the 
 State has no arms, eo nomine, established by law, except 
 the device upon the great seal, which was devised by the 
 Governor and Chief Justice in 1851 to replace the two 
 former seals, and " B\>rward" adopted as the motto, as 
 a free translation of the Excelsior of New York. And 
 each department uses this as a coat of arms with such 
 variations as the fancy of the engravers suggests, f In 
 Pennsylvania, the knowledge of the correct arms and 
 seal was found in 1874 to be lost, and a Commission 
 including the Governor was appointed " to correct the 
 arms of the commonwealth and to have the same recorded 
 in the archives." This commission made a report in 1875 
 recommending a return to the earliest known copy of the 
 Arms of the year 1779. In one of the documents accom- 
 panying the report it is recommended "that a stringent 
 statute be adopted requiring adherence to the arms and 
 prohibiting any tampering with them or so called aesthetic 
 improvement. . . ."J 
 
 Whatever are the merits of the arms which have been 
 adopted by any of the States, there are none of them 
 which declare by so significant symbols, that the State 
 has entered upon the maintenance of a republican and 
 democratic form of government, as the Arms of the State 
 of New York. The military commissions of the State 
 begin, " The people of the State of New York . . . 
 
 *0onn. Hist. Soc. Collections, vol. I, Art. by 0. J. Hoadly. 
 
 t Wisconsin State Journal, Dec. 1870. 
 
 $ Penna. Legislative Documents, 1875, No. 21. vol. TIT, p 1113.
 
 STATE OF NEW YOBK. 47 
 
 reposing special trust in you . . . do appoint you" 
 that is, in the name of the people, instead of the language 
 of a colonial commission, which was in tho name of the 
 governor, and founded on his trust in the person to be 
 appointed. 
 
 If this position which I have maintained, that this 
 State has a definite and unchanged coat of arms for more 
 than a century past is verified, as on examination I think 
 it will be, then it would seem that there cannot be a 
 doubt what the decision will be, when the history and 
 character of the arms are appreciated. 
 
 A common sentiment will be stimulated to secure the 
 necessary action which shall prevent the arms of the 
 State from being confounded with the seals of the State : 
 and measures will be adopted so that it shall no longer 
 be true that any man in the State who is a voter may 
 not easily know and be familiar with the symbols by 
 which the State of New York a hundred years since 
 decreed to make herself known to the world. 
 
 It is obvious that the topic which we have been consider- 
 ing is deeply interesting to thousands in this State, and in 
 other States also, from the enumeration which I have 
 made of three recent calls for a public exhibition of our 
 State Arms, two at Philadelphia and one at Mount Ver- 
 non ; and from the fact that three times successively, in 
 the years 1875, 1878 and 1879, the legislature has made 
 appropriations of sums of money for correct drawings of 
 the Arms, its members thus recognizing the importance 
 of the subject. It is evident that the time has now 
 come to give effect to these efforts, and that to prevent 
 all whimsical or negligent treatment of the Arms in
 
 48 CORRECT ARMS OF THE 
 
 drawings by artists or others, which might either destroy 
 or disfigure their significance, the legislature might 
 wisely adopt measures to reestablish by some declaration 
 the character of the old arms of a century past, as not 
 having been ever changed, if not as being unchangeable. 
 
 Among the measures necessary to be adopted one 
 would be, to secure that a correct blazon or heraldic 
 description of the Arms should be filed in the Secretary 
 of State's office, and embodied in a special act, which 
 should recite that the blazon which Gov. Clinton was 
 directed to file cannot now be found as the reason ; and 
 another that a steel plate should be ordered to be en- 
 graved and preserved in the Secretary of State's office or 
 in the State library conformed to this blazon.* And far- 
 ther to secure familiarity with the device, a painting of 
 it on canvas should be suspended in the executive cham- 
 ber, and copies of engravings made from the plate should 
 be suspended in all the public offices of the capitol, and 
 sent for like publicity to all the county clerks Copies 
 should be furnished on application to cities and towns 
 when applied for; and they might be accompanied with 
 a prin ted certificate from the Secretary that the engrav- 
 ing shows the true Arms of the State as preserved in his 
 office. 
 
 It would be worthy of discussion also, whether it be 
 not possible that the seals of the public offices, at least 
 the great seal, as was originally intended, should ulti- 
 mately bear these true Arms, each seal having its legend 
 
 * I am Indebted to Mr. DeLancey for this last suggestion, made to me in 
 writing since I read the paper to the Institute. He will also soon publish a 
 paper containing his own more scientific statements on this subject.
 
 STATE OF NKW YORK. 49 
 
 around the border, of the particular office or department 
 using it. Questions relating to title to property may be 
 made to depend upon the impression upon a document 
 of a genuine, well known and incontestable seal. Before 
 the revolution, the royal arms were impressed upon the 
 pendant seal used in patents and grants.* 
 
 The result of such measures and discussions would be to 
 restore the Arms to the position which belongs to them. It 
 in 1806, the Arms of the State had been carved and placed 
 solely in the tympanum of the portico of the then new 
 Capitol, as it was intended to have been done at the time 
 when it was built, we would have been spared much of the 
 confusion of the last seventy years. The Arms, besides 
 being placed upon seals, flags, military commissions, and 
 medals of honor, might be placed upon all the public 
 buildings, carved in stone or painted, not only on those 
 of the State, but of counties, cities and towns ; they 
 should wave on a standard jointly with the flag of the 
 United States over the Capitol during sessions of the 
 legislature, and wherever it was natural and desirable to 
 impress a sense of the presence of the sovereignty of 
 the State and of its eminent jurisdiction. Every citizen 
 and beholder would be inspired thereby with sentiments 
 of respect and of patriotic pride in the Empire State. 
 
 Addlson on Contracts, Art. Seals, Am. Ed. 
 
 7
 
 NOTE. 
 
 On page 42 the Arms, usually called the Arms of the city of New York, 
 are referred to as the Arms of the Colony or Province. The same Arms are 
 indeed those which are stamped both upon the paper currency of the Colony 
 and upon the editions of the laws of the Colony for more than a score of 
 years previous to the Revolution. But the change of name from " city " to 
 " colony " was made in the text while the essay was passing through the 
 press without comparing it with the context. It would be, however, an 
 investigation of much interest if some gentleman would find time to make 
 it, to discover and trace the history of the origin and varied uses of the 
 Arms of the Civitas of New York from their first introduction to the present 
 time.
 

 
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