420                            mr. king's discourse.
A somewhat curious story attaches to this seal. Some years after the Revolution, a gentleman interested in the? affairs of this country, in looking through a sort of curiosity shop in London, where a miscellaneous collection of personal effects was displayed to catch the eye of a purchaser, fortunately discovered this signet of the Chamber of Commerce of New York. He immediately secured the valuable estray, and with commendable patriotism restored it to-the proper custody. I regret that I am unable to give you his name. If access could be had to the papers of the late^ John Pintard, for many years Secretary of the Chamber—a thorough antiquarian in feeling and practice, many authentic and interesting details relating to this and other incidents belonging to your subject, would doubtless be found. It was the habitual occupation of Mr. Pintard to record everything of this nature, and his diary must be rich in historical details.
If I mistake not, Anthony Van Dam, who was the first secretary of the chamber, and continued to hold the officer until the close of the revolution, went to England among the royalists expatriated at that period. He became, I believe, an agent of the underwriters at Lloyd's. Is it not fair to suppose that through some inadvertency of his, as he was the legal custodier of the article, our seal found its way to London, and after his death, into the hands of the dealer in second-band wares ? There was a tablet to the memory of Van Dam erected in one of our city churches, (St., Paul's, I think,) by Mr. Pintard.
In my search for objects of interest connected with the past history of the chamber, my attention was naturally directed to the original charter, granted by Lieut. Gov. Col-den in the name of His Majesty George III., and which I knew had been in existence some few years previously. Every effort in my power was made at the time, and has been continued since, but as yet without success, for the recovery of this interesting link in our historical chain.
There is a bit of history, also, connected with this old charter. Some five-and-twenty years ago, Admiral Walton, of the British Navy, succeeded by inheritance to the property of his family in this city; and on taking possession, among a vast accumulation of miscellaneous lumber, boxes, baskets and chartsi—articles of domestic economy, dragoon saddles and Hessian muskets, in the spacious attic of " Walton House," in Pearl street, was found the original charter of the Chamber of Commerce.   It wa& very large,