[119] In all of the official communications of Trinity Church up to 1867 this lease is referred to as the "Burr or Astor Lease."--"The Communication of the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church in the city of New York in reply to a resolution of the House, passed March 4, 1854"; Document No. 130, Assembly Docs. 1854. Also Document No. 45, Senate Docs. 1856. Upon returning from exile Burr tried to break his lease to Astor, but the lease was so astutely drawn that the courts decided in Astor's favor. [120] In his descriptive work on New York City of a half century ago, Matthew Hale Smith, in "Sunshine and Shadow in New York" (pp. 121-122), tells this story: "The Morley [Mortier] lease was to run until 1867. Persons who took the leases supposed that they took them for the full term of the Trinity lease. [John Jacob] Astor was too far-sighted and too shrewd for that. Every lease expired in 1864, leaving him [William B. Astor, the founder's heir] the reversion for three years, putting him in possession of all the buildings, and all of the improvements made on the lots, and giving him the right of renewal." Smith's account is faulty. Most of the leases expired in 1866. The value of the reversions was very large. [121] Docs. No. 130 [New York] Assembly Docs., 1854:22-23. [122] Journal of the [New York] Senate, Forty-second Session, 1819:67-70. [123] Doc. No. 108, [New York] Senate Documents, 1834, Vol. ii. The committee stated that banks in the State outside of New York City, after paying all expenses, divided 11 per cent. among the stockholders in 1833 and had on hand as surplus capital 16 per cent. on their capital. New York City banks paid larger dividends. [124] People of the State of New York vs. Manhattan Co.--Doc. No. 62, Documents of the Board of Assistant Aldermen, 1832-33, Vol. ii. [125] Doc. No. 68 [New York] Senate Docs., 1838, Vol. ii. [126] Abridgement of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, xiii:426-427. [127] In the course of this work, the word Government is frequently used to signify not merely the functions of the National Government, but those of the totality of Government, State and municipal, not less than National. [128] Doc. No. 49 [New York] Senate Docs., 1838, Vol. ii. [129] "On the Penitentiary System in the United States," etc., by G. De Beaumont and A. De Tocqueville, Appendix 17, Statistical Notes: 244-245. [130] A complete error. Walling, for more than thirty years Superintendent of Police of New York City, says in his "Memoirs" that he never knew an instance of a rich murderer who was hanged or otherwise executed. And have we all not noted likewise? [131] "On the Penitentiary System," etc., 184-185.