222                    THE   OLD  MERCHAJVTS
 

CHAPTER XXV.

There are many merchants in the olden time who
belonged to ' St. Tammany's Society, or Columhian Or¬
der." I shall have occasion to allude to many of them
before I finish this chapter.

Among the list who have been not only " sons of,"
but Sachems of St. Tammany^'s Society, are Ebenezer
Stevens, Martin Hoffman, Anthony Post, Melancthon
Smith, John Swartwout, John Pintard, Gabriel P'ur-
man, Courtlandt Van Beuren, Jonathan Little, John
Hone, Philip Hone, and hundreds besides.

Tammany has not been as powerful as she was seven¬
ty-five years ago, because she has not respected herself
and her great past. In the old years, but primary years
of her existence, her sons clung to her as to a proud
chieftain. She ruled the States. There was no Albany
clique or regency to dictate to Tammany, or to permit
the old society to drag along through mire and dirt after
the Albany politicians. No; St. Tammany led off, and
I am glad to see that she is going to do it again. The
recent address of the General Committee of Tammany
Hall to the Democrats in this State, where it gave the
modern history, and thus alluded to an earlier period,
will command deep attention :