Tea at Trianon: Thoughts on Trenton

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Thoughts on Trenton

I lived in Trenton as a toddler and have fuzzy memories, all good. It seems it has changed a lot since then. So sad. From Laura Crockett at The History Desk:

Fifteen years ago, I bought a house in Trenton, NJ, which we can say is much like the Chinatown of Los Angeles 85 years ago. Trenton is owned and operated by corrupt politicians. Of course slavery isn’t a thing in 2023, but lowering standards is. To be fair, there are those in Trenton that attempt to bring the city up to speed in the modern world, however, as a city inspector once said to me, Those who are financially stable, with good credit, do not choose to live in Trenton.
Well, that speaks volumes. Therefore, what was I doing in Trenton? I wanted an old house I could afford. So I bought the Dutch Girl, built in 1910, for a third of what I would have paid for her if she were an Angeleno girl. That was my perspective back then in 2005. Since then, most of New Jersey has caught up with Los Angeles in the price of homes. Whilst the average home in New Jersey sells for about the same price as they do in Los Angeles, which is about $800,000, in Trenton, the average is more like $300,000. In Trenton, you can buy a mansion for $500k. Which makes it a good buy. You can also find a dusty old fixer for $89,000. Also a good buy.
Why don’t more people buy in Trenton? They are afraid of living in a city with so much violence.
Fear is a nasty business. And then, there’s the impossible job of trying to keep a population that is full of n’er do wells, under control. How did that happen? That Trenton, the capital city, should have more than its share of folks who are violent?
We have to look back, to mayor Palmer, who was at the helm for 20 years. His claim to fame is that he invited these lost souls to live in Trenton. The story that was told to me is this: that he relieved a rich city of its poor and downtrodden, so that Trenton could get money, and population. Princeton, the rich city in this story, could be rid of its welfare class.
I believe that is what is referred to as hypocrisy, when the rich liberals decide it is better to relieve themselves of the poor instead of giving them a leg up?
Trenton needed the middle class to come back to the city. Not folks on Section 8.
In 2005, when I lived in New Jersey, I became acquainted with a group of people in Trenton who wanted to improve the city. It was a heady time, with new faces and great ambitions. I decided to involve myself in this effort to improve Trenton. After all, as a historian, I was well aware of the history of the city. This is the place where Washington turned the efforts of the War for Independence, from failure to victory. There should not be a citizen, who is born or naturalized, who does not know of the crossing of the Delaware on Christmas night, 1776. There was a blizzard blowing when Washington led his troops across that icy river. The snow kept falling all that night, which, it turns out, was a God send, because the Hessian troops, who occupied Trenton, could barely see through the snow. This inclement weather allowed the Americans to surprise the Hessians in Trenton. No one thought anyone in their right mind would try an attack on such a day. (Read more.)