47
to retain the more important particulars. The writer regrets that, while
we were recalling the election scenes of Bristol and the remarks of Mr.
Burke, we did not, at the same time, present a few extracts from the addresses
delivered on the same (occasion by our former fellow-townsman, Mr.
Henry, Cruger, who was three times elected to Parliament, 'and alike dis, tinguished
in and out of that body. His effective exertions in behalf of
American liberty and American interests will not soon be forgotten. It
is worthy of remark, too, that he was the first and, till within a few years,
the only American elect/ed to the British Parliament. Mr. Henry Cruger
(who was Mayor of the city of Bristol at the time of his election as colleague
of Mr. Burke,) was born in this city, in 1739. His iiuher, who,
like his son, had been Mayor of Bristol, was also s native of New-York;
his father, one of the largest and most influential merchants of his day,
having emigrated to America as early as 1660.
Among the sons of this first emigrant of one of our oldest Knickerbocker families, John (uncle of Henry) was three times Mayor of New-York, and Speaker of the House of Assembly, to which office he Wee elected in opposition to Hon. William Livingston, afterward Governor of New-Jersey.* He was also a delegate from t.his city to the first Congress of States held in America in 1765, whence the first protest was sent to the king and Parliament against their unauthorized encroachments upon the rights of the Colonists. Mr. Henry Cruger, the colleague of Burke, removed to Bristol when quite a youth, and was afterwards known as s large merchant: his elder brother, Nicholas, remaining in N ew-York, engaged in extensive commercial transactions, particularly with the West Indies, where, it may not be amias to mention, he had it in his power to patronize the afterward distinguished statesman, General Alexander Hamilton, then an orphan boy in his counting-room, whom he sent in one of his own ships to this country for his education. General Hamilton was always proud to acknowledge and prompt to reciprocate these early kindnesses of Mr. Nicholas Cruger. Meantime, Mr. Henry Cruger, `a gentleman of polished manners, well cultivated mind, and great personal popularity, was elected Mayor of Bristol; and it was through his urgent solicitation that his friend, Mr. Burke, was induced to became a candidate for Parliament, he being then an almost entire stranger to the people of Bristol; and it is believed that mainly through the influence of Mr. Cruger, the election of Burke was secured; since, elevated and enviable as WI-I his subsequent renown, he had at that time obtained but little distinction. In some of the first-published notices of the life of Mr. Burke, s. ridicu° It wudnr-ing thahsst of this pollticsl ctmtest tbst ths fsmous old song was in vogue, which ended with the chorus of `
TheLivingstonssndYmaeys,
4 TheCmger|sndDeI|ncey|~” I
/
