THE CORRECT ARMS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

FIRST PAPER.

By HENRY A. HOMES, LL. D.

[Read before the Albany Institute, Dec. 2, 1879.]

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 medals 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.

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 custom of using each a special symbol, as the state or city arms. By and through this symbol, the State, its presence, its dignity, its property, its authority and the relation of individuals to it for obedience and love, are declared 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 unessentials, as of the drapery 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 genuine device of its State Arms; and in the community generally, those who should be requested to state in an informal way

what are the arms of New York, would be unable 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 Excelsior." 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 information which has been accumulated, from the date of the Centennial year of 1876, makes it now possible to set forth the true Arms of the State in an unquestionable 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 committee 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 thereafter; and of what was done on this subject by the three distinguished members of the committee, Lewis Morris, John Jay and John Sloss Hobart, nothing is recorded in the journals of the Congress or the Convention, because the disturbances of active war on the Hudson river, either prevented protracted meetings or general business previous to the first 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 so far as relates to the Arms and Seals is in these words:

"And whereas arms have been devised for this State, and two several seals have been devised and made, one 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 excellency the present governor):

"Be it therefore further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 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 subsequent 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

*Provincial Congress of N. Y., Journals, vol. I, p. 882.

administering the government to "deliver to the secretary of the State descriptions of the device of the said arms and seals, hereby declared 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.t

Eighteen years afterward, a law of January 26, 1798, provides 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 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 complete, 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 devised new 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. §

A law of March 20, 1801, like the preceding one, regarding the great seal and the privy seal of the State, uses the following language:

Sect. 5. "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 secretary of State to make a special seal for his own office, of such device as the governor

*Laws of the State of N. Y., Greenleaf's ed., vol. I, p. 181. Laws of New York, Greenleaf's ed., vol. I, p. 241.

Laws of New York of 1798, p. 249.

The commission consisted of S. Jones, S. De Witt and J. Ogden Hoffman. Their report, filed January 22, 1799, may be 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 1880, p. 469.

Laws of N. Y., Webster & Skinner's ed., vol. I, p. 205.

should approve; and a 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, Sec. 6, requires "That the descriptions 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 arms and great and privy seal aforesaid, and the seal of office of the secretary, 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, and the seal of office of the secretary of this State."

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 this State, and of the great and privy seals, and of the seal of office of the secretary of State, deposited and recorded in the secretary's office, shall remain as public records; and the said arms shall continue to be the arms of this State, and the said seal of office, to be the seal of office of the secretary of State." I

The declaration that there is somewhere a standard Arms 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.§

This memorandum containing the description of the great seal of 1809, describes a picture, having as a basis the arms of this State,

* Laws of N. Y., 1809, Chap. 141, p. 135. 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.

Laws of N. Y., Van Ness & Woodward's ed., vol. I, p. 458.

Banks' Ed, of Revised Statutes, 1875, vol. I, p. 525.

SN. Y. Geneal. and Biog. Record, vol. III, p. 18.-N. Y. Civil List, ed. of 1857, p. 429.

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 read, and they embrace all the laws relative to the subject 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 present 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 consequence, or even suggest, any change in the State Arms. The Arms of a people, containing symbols and emblems, 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 sitting 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 word "incumbent" or "recumbent," applied to the seal of 1809 in the New York Civil List is used to contradistinguish the modern seal from the pendent 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 annexation of, or of union with a new State.

I must add that no printed description of the Arms of this State, as devised and adopted in 1778, has been found to my knowledge in *Copy of the memorandum of 1809 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 demi globe and an eagle passant regardant all proper. Supporters. The figure of justice on the dexter, and liberty on the sinister

side.

Motto.

Excelsior.

Legend. The great seal of the State of New York.