CORNELIUS W. LAWRENCE.
in London a serious defalcation in the Custom House became known. He at once surrendered to the Government every dollar of his large property, including the Newark lands; he bore all the odium of the dishonor, although the wrong-doing was chargeable strictly to those under him. For years afterward every New York man who was caught in embezzling funds was styled a "Swartwouter." Jesse Hoyt was his successor, and while engaged with the celebrated Poindexter Committee in examining into the affairs of the Custom House, Swartwout returned from abroad and was received with kindness and invited to meet with the Committee. The Government never regarded him as a criminal. The great political commotion connected with the election of William Henry Harrison to the presidency, and his death one month from the day of his inauguration, led to the successive appointments in the Wall Street Custom House of John P. Morgan, Charles G. Ferris, Edward Curtis, and C. P. Van Ness. Edward Curtis occupied the office three years. He was one of the most polished gentlemen of his time, and a great friend of Daniel Webster; he also for a considerable period represented New York City in Congress. Cornelius W. Lawrence was appointed Collector by President Polk. He had been mayor of the city, and a member of Congress, as well as in many other places of public trust; he was also twenty years president of the Bank of the State of New York. From 1849 to 1853 Hugh Maxwell was Collector of the Port. He was then about sixty years of age, one of the finest-appearing men in the city—tall, of fine figure, dignified and graceful—and such were his gifts for public speaking that he was greatly in demand on special occasions. He was a classical scholar, having been graduated from Columbia College in the early part of the century. In the war of 1812 he was successively lieutenant, captain, colonel, and judge-advocate. He afterward distinguished himself as a lawyer, particularly in the great "conspiracy trials" of 1823. From 1819 to 1829 he was district-attorney for New York City and County, and upon his retirement from that responsible office the merchants of the city presented him with an elegant and costly silver vase, said to have been worth $3,000, now in possession of the Law Institute.
With the election of Franklin Pierce to the presidency came another group of notable appointments within a twelvemonth: Daniel S. Dickinson, the renowned lawyer and Democratic leader, who had figured in the
