COMMENTARIES, 14JULY 1788

John Henry Livingston to Eilardus Westerlo
New York, 14 July 1788 (excerpt)'
Reverend and dear Brother
... The day on which your Letter was dated proved, we hear, a very
serious and disagreable day to Albany.2 what madness! what strange
infatuation! what will be the end!-surely our prayers are now neces-
sary that the Lord will overule and direct all events to his glory and
for the good of the Land. a few days will perhaps determine the fate
of this State, it is said the Convention will probably finish the Business
by bringing on the great question soon.
if commotions, frays and quarrels multiply, especially if any blood-
shedding should once take place, it is impossible to foresee the end of
the evil or tell where our Troubles will lead or terminate....
1. RC, Westerlo Family Papers, Albany Institute of History and Art Library. Livingston
(1746-1825), a native of Poughkeepsie, graduated from Yale College in 1762 and for two
years he studied law in his native town. A member of the Dutch Reformed Church, he
began to study theology and in 1766 he went to Holland, where he received the degree
of doctor of divinity from the University of Utrecht in 1770. He returned to America and
became pastor of New York City's Collegiate Church. He remained in that position until
1810, except when he left the British-occupied city during the Revolution. In 1784 Liv-
ingston was appointed professor of theology to the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed
Church, a position he held until his death. He was also president of Queen's College
(now Rutgers University) from 1810 until his death. Westerlo (1737-1790), a native of
Holland and a graduate of the University of Groningen in 1760, went to America in that
year as pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany, continuing in that position until
his death. He was a strong supporter of American independence and the Constitution.
Westerlo and Livingston were married to daughters of Philip Livingston, a New York
signer of the Declaration of Independence.
2. Westerlo's letter has not been located but it probably mentioned the Fourth ofJuly
"fracas" in Albany. Westerlo's "Memoirs" for 4July do not describe the "fracas" because
illness prevented him from attending the celebration (Mfm:N.Y). Living in New York
City, Livingston probably read about the "fracas" in the New York Daily Advertiser of 10
July, or in one of the other four New York City newspapers that reprinted the Advertiser's
account by 12 July. (See RCS:N.Y, 1266-67.)
Albany Journal, 14 July 1788
A WHITE GLASS Manufactory has lately been set on foot in New-
Jersey, and the glass pronounced equal to the English white glass.
It is said, that the French ministry are determined to encourage
manufacturing in the United States of America, as they say, the more
trade Great Britain has, the richer she will be, which will make her a
stronger and more powerful enemy to them, when these two countries
are at war with each other; but on the contrary, if they can transfer the
manufacturing business from Great-Britain to America, and can be

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