he
evacuation, and the removal to Nova Scotia, or elsewhere. They were
irritating topics, and gave rise to endless and hot discussions, in
which tory vexed tory. While one maintained that Nova Scotia was a very
Paradise, another denounced it as unfit for human beings to inhabit.
Disappointed and chagrined at the issue of the war, they would curse the
powers to whom they owed allegiance; as rebellious as those they called
rebels. In other cases, the turn the war had taken had a magic effect
upon their principles; once avowed loyalists, they suddenly became
zealous patriots! It was a witty reply given by a tailor,--the tailor,
in the olden time, we must premise, was often applied to, to rip up and
turn a coat, when threadbare or faded. "How does business go on?" asked
a friend. "Not very well," said he, "my customers have all learned to
turn their own coats!" The shrewd whigs were not to be deceived by
these sudden conversions. They drew the line nicely at a meeting held on
Nov. 18th, at Cape's Tavern, in Broadway, (site of the Boreel Building),
to arrange plans for evacuation day. Before touching their business,
they "_Resolved._ That every person, whatever his political character
may be, who hath remained in this City during the late contest, be
requested to leave the room forthwith."

Society could not be very secure, when, as is stated, scarcely a night
passed without a robbery; scarcely a morning came, but corpses were
found upon the streets, the work of the assassin or midnight revel.
Indeed at this juncture, there was much underlying apprehension in the
minds of good citizens; the situation was unprecedented, men's passions
had been wrought up to a fearful pitch, and who could foresee the
outcome! Sensible of the danger, and with the approval of the
commandant, a large number of citizens lately returned from exile,
organized as a guard and patrolled the streets, on the night preceding
evacuation day. The vigilance of these returned patriots, and the
protection it afforded, added greatly to the public security at this
threatening crisis.

A word as to the aspect of the City; sanitary rules being suspended, the
public streets were in a most filthy condition. All the churches, except
the Episcopal, the Methodist, and the Lutheran (spared to please the
Hessians), had been converted into hospitals, prisons, barracks,
riding-schools, or storehouses; the pews, and in some the galleries,
torn out, the window-lights broke