by the Legislature in 1799. Many of the members who voted for the bill never so much as read it, and those who did examine it carefully saw nothing of special note in the paragraph providing that "the surplus capital might be employed in any way not inconsistent with the laws and Constitution of the United States, or of the State of New York." While the charter was pending in the Senate, some one proposed to strike out the clause quoted above. Burr promptly explained that it was only intended to give the directors a chance to found an East India Company, or a bank, on anything else that would pay, as the furnishing a little city of fifty thousand inhabitants with water could not possibly be very remunerative. The sarcastic reference to the East India Company or the bank was regarded as a visionary expression and little notice was taken of it. Even the grave Council of Revision, of whom was John Jay, Governor of the State, and other notables, had no suspicion of a bank hidden between the lines. The bill passed, and Burr was jubilant. In a few days, however, when it became actually known that a bank had been unwittingly chartered to rival the great Federal financial institution, the feeling against Burr was so bitter that he lost his election to the Assembly, and his whole ticket was beaten. The bank was duly organized, and has had an honorable record ever since in the financial history of Wall Street. Its first board of directors were, Daniel Ludlow, John Watts, John B. Church, Brockholst Livingston, William Edgar, William Laight, Paschal N. Smith, Samuel Osgood, John Stevens, John Broome, John B. Coles, and Aaron Burr. Its presidents, and the dates of their election, are as follows: Daniel Ludlow, 1799; Henry Remsen, 1808; John G. Coster, 1825; Maltby Gelston, 1829; Jonathan Thompson, 1840; Caleb O. Halstead, 1847; James M. Morrison, 1860; John S. Harberger, 1879, and William Henry Smith, 1880. Among its original stockholders were such men as Nicholas Fish, John Delafield, John Jacob Astor, Richard Varick, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Rev. John Rodgers, Joshua Sands, Peter Stuyvesant, Governor George Clinton, Israel Disosway, John Slidell, Henry Rutgers, and Daniel Phoenix.
The Merchants' National Bank was chartered in 1803, in the face of a violent opposition from both the Bank of New York and the four-year-old Manhattan Company. It was started purely in the interests of commerce, and Oliver Wolcott became its first President. Its Directors were chiefly merchants, with the exception of Peter J. Munroe, the celebrated lawyer. Its original capital was one million two hundred thousand dollars. Joshua Sands was its second President, in 1804; Richard Varick became its President in 1808; Lynde Catlin in 1820; John J. Palmer in 1833; Augustus E. Silliman in 1857; Jacob D. Vermilye in 1868. Among its original stock-
