Of that noble and extensive charity, the New-York Hospital, Mr. Clinton ever proved a uniform and effectual supporter. It is well known that the foundation of this association was formed by the enterprise and zeal of the late Dr. Samuel Bard, under the colonial administration of Lt. Governor Sir Henry Moore. The provisions for the support of this institution, independently of state grants at divers times, not being deemed adequate for carrying into effect by the governors, the benevolent views which they had early formed for the organization of a State Asylum for those who laboured under mental alienation, the late Thomas Eddy and Governor Clinton, aided by a few active philanthropists, obtained the passage of an act of the legislature, by which was founded the Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane.

Mr. Eddy was for a long time attentive to the subject of insanity; he read almost every thing that appeared concerning it. His correspondence with medical men engaged in the treatment of it, and with those who held a principal direction in the affairs of Lunatic Asylums, more especially with his old friend Mr. Tuke, of the Retreat at York, his intimate acquaintance with the results of different methods of treatment, adopted in the various establishments in Great Britain, as well as in those of the Bicetre and other hospitals in France, all these matters so wholly engrossed his mind for a considerable period, that we can readily assign a cause for his unwearied application in behalf of the amelioration of this class of our fellow-beings, and the hopes he so ardently cherished, of being able to do good by the appropriation of his talents and labour. In Mr. Clinton he found a kindred spirit and powerful coadjutor.

This institution is deservedly the pride of the state; and it is no disparagement of the services of others to affirm, that without the conjoined efforts of Clinton and Eddy, the magnificent appropriations of 1816 would not have been effected. To distant readers the following notice of this establishment may prove interesting. It was drawn up by Dr. John W. Francis, and published shortly after the Governors had commenced their undertaking.

"Nothing has so greatly contributed to give New-York that elevated standing which she may fairly claim among her sister states, as the splendid patronage which she has uniformly bestowed upon public institutions. Under her royal government, she was not indifferent to the value of knowledge; and the provision for the endowment of Columbia College was, we believe, on a scale of magnitude superior to that of any of the other colonial seminaries. In adverting to the records of our legislature since our republican confederacy, we find her solicitude for intellectual improvement manifested in frequent liberal donations. Nor does she appear to be wearied in well doing. Her recent provisions for science and humanity, are no less evidence of her increased wealth and resources, than of the deep conviction which her rulers entertain of the blessings thence to be derived to her people. The wisdom of her councils have been answered by correspondent effects; and the present flourishing condition of her Medical Schools, the New-York Hospital and Penitentiary, are proofs of the salutary results of her legislative acts.

"We have been led to these remarks in consequence of observing the new asylum for the insane, now erecting in the vicinity of this city. Most of the institutions of a similar kind established in Great Britain and on the continent, so far as we are acquainted with them, we are convinced are inferior to the present undertaking, in the magnificence of the design, and the public spirited benevolence of its projectors. It is with American feelings that we anticipate the completion of this great work. In nothing can the power of the state be more nobly exerted that in such ample provision for a portion of its population, who are equally unconscious of the blessings they receive, and of the hand which confers them.

"In the year 1807, the enlightened governors of New-York Hospital erected an institution for the management of the insane, on a portion of the grounds in this city attached to that excellent charity. The institution then built was calculated to contain between seventy-five and eighty patients, and has answered most happily the purposes intended. But though excellent in its plan, this limited building having been found utterly inadequate to accommodate the increased number of insane patients, the legislature in 1816, determined on the erection of a new building, commensurate with the resources of the state, and equal to the largest demands that may be made from all parts of the union on its benevolence. The site of this truly national edifice was judiciously fixed about seven miles from the city of New-York, near the banks of the Hudson River, and commands one of the most extensive and interesting views in the United States. The plan of the building is the design of Thomas C. Taylor, Esq. The front view is four hundred and fifteen feet by one hundred and eighty, which includes the wings; the whole is three stories high, exclusive of the basement story, and is intended to contain two hundred and fifty rooms. The central part, which is now in a great state of forwardness, is two hundred and eleven feet in front by sixty feet in depth, and is built of brown hewn stone of excellent appearance and of the most durable kind. The foundation-stone was laid by the governors of our City Hospital, on the 9^th of May last.

"In considering the nature and extent of this great undertaking, surpassing any thing of a like nature either in this country or in Europe, it would be injustice not to mention with emphatic approbation, the wisdom and benevolence of those who first urged its claims on the public attention, and of the legislature which established it. To that enlightened philanthropist, Thomas Eddy, whose disinterested feelings for the calamities of his species, have been evinced by an active course of exertion in so many ways for more than thirty years, the state of New-York is in an especial manner indebted for this new instance of his benevolence. The liberal views of the board of governors of the New-York Hospital, have been long known and admitted, by those who, either in the capacity of patient or of pupil, have partaken of the benefits of which they are the dispensers; and the same wisdom, which in 1769, founded the institution under the venerable Dr. Bard, and has directed that excellent charity so many years, will, in the continued efforts of Matthew Clarkson, Thomas Franklin, John Murray, jun. Peter A. Jay, G. Aspinwall, Hugh Williamson, and others of that benevolent association, be attended with equally happy results in its new and enlarged sphere of action. It may be confidently hoped that this new retreat will prove a place of refuge, and the means of restoration to a numerous class of our fellow-men: and when it is considered to whom is committed the superintendence of the erection of this asylum, we are satisfied that it will be no less honourable to the talents of Thomas C. Taylor as an architect, than to this benevolence as a man, his services being a free-will offering, and not admitting of pecuniary reward."

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Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 5/22/99.