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In July, will be Published, in Five Volumes, Price $5. 
 
 THE NOCTES AMBR0SIANJ1; 
 
 "With Portraits of Wilson, Lockhart, Maginn, Hogg, and fao-similes. 
 EDITED, WITH MEMOIRS, NOTES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 BY DR. SHELTON MACKENZIE, 
 
 Editor of Shxil's " Sketches of the Irish Bar." 
 
 The Noctes were commenced in 1822, and closed in 1835. Even in England, the lapse 
 of years has obscured many circumstances which were well known thirty vars ago. 
 
 Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, already favorably known as editor of Shell's "Sketches of 
 the Irish Bar," has undertaken the editorship of The Noctes Ambrosian^e, for which a 
 familiar acquaintance, during the last twenty-five years, with the persons, events, and 
 places therein noticed may be assumed to qualify him. He has been on terms of intimacy 
 with most of the eminent political and literary characters treated of in the " Noctes," 
 and his annotation of the text will include personal recollections of them. 
 
 Besides this, Dr. Mackenzie has written for this edition a " History of the Rise and Pro- 
 gress of Blackwood's Magazine," with original memoirs of the principal accredited authors 
 of the "Noctes," viz: — Professor Wilson, The Ettrick Shepherd, J. G. Lockhart, and 
 Dr. Maginn. 
 
 He will also give the celebrated " Chaldee Manuscript," published in 1817, instantly 
 suppressed, and so scarce that the only copy which the editor has ever seen is that from 
 which he makes the present reprint. There will also be given the three articles, entitled 
 " Christopher in the Tent," (in August and September, 1819), never before printed, in 
 any shape, in this country. The interlocutors in '' The Tent," include the greater number 
 of those afterwards introduced in the " Noctes." 
 
 The " Metricum Symphosium Ambrosianum," — an addendum to No. III. of " The 
 Noctes," (and which notices every living author of note, in the year 1822), will be in- 
 corporated in this edition. This has never before been reprinted here. 
 
 Nearly Ready, in Two Volumes. 
 
 THE ODOHERTY PAPERS, 
 
 forming the first portion of the miscellaneous writings of the late 
 
 DR. MAGINN. 
 
 WITH AN ORIGINAL MEMOIR AND COPIOUS NOTES, BT 
 
 DR. SHELTON MACKENZIE. 
 
 For more than a quarter of a century, the most remarkable magazine writer of his 
 time, was the late William Maginn, LL.D., well-known as the Sir Morgan Odoherty of 
 Blackwootfs Magazine, and as the principal contributor, for many years, to Fraser^s 
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 Modern Rabelais. His magazine articles possess extraordinary merit. He had the 
 art of putting a vast quantity of animal spirits upon paper, but his graver articles — which 
 contain sound and serious principles of criticism — are earnest and well-reasoned. 
 
 The collection now in hand will contain his Facetiae (in a variety of languages), Trans- 
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 his Homeric Ballads. The periodicals in which he wrote have been ransacked, from 
 " Blackwood" to " Punch," and the result will be a series of great interest. 
 
 Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, who has undertaken the editorship of these writings of his 
 distinguished countryman, will spare neither labor nor attention in the work. The 
 first volume will contain an original Memoir of Dr. Maginn, written by Dr. Mackenzie, 
 and a characteristic Portrait, with fac-simile. 
 
 Published by J, S. REDFIELD, 
 110 & 112 Nassau-street. New York. 
 
redfield's new and popular publications. 
 
 SKETCHES OF THE IRISH BAR. 
 
 By the Right Hon. Richard Lalor Sheil, M. P. Edited with 
 a Memoir and Notes, by Dr. Shelton Mackenzie. Fourth 
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 A 
 
 CLASSIC AND HISTORIC PORTRAITS. 
 By James Bruce. 12mo, cloth, $1 00. 
 
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 Being the Autobiography of a Journeyman Printer. By Charles 
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redfield's new and popular publications. 
 
 RUSSO-TURKISH CAMPAIGNS OF 1828 AND 1829. 
 
 With a View of the Present State of Affairs in the East. By 
 Colonel Chesney, R.A., D. C. L., F.R. S., Author of the 
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 commercial value— occupy an interesting portion of the work, which we heartily recom- 
 mend to the attention of our readers."— London Critic. 
 
 " It fills up a vacant niche in the history of the times which seems to be required to 
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 pean war." — Springfield Post. 
 
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 worthy of special attention now, from its relation to the eastern contest." — Albany Argus. 
 
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 Evening Post. 
 
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 With a Voyage down the Volga and a Tour through the Country 
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 was as sharp at seeing as a live Yankee, and he has given us the fruits of his observation* 
 in a very graphic and interesting style." — Boston Traveller. 
 
 il* 
 
 A YEAR WITH THE TURKS; 
 
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 of the Sultan. By Warrington W. Smith, M.A. With a 
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 ness." — London Athenaeum. 
 
 " One of the freshest and best books of travel on the Sultan's dominions."— New York 
 Commercial Advertiser. 
 
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 ple, of the mongrel races, and the present state of the Sultan's dominions. There is a 
 vivid interest in the narrative, and abundance of real information." — Boston Transcript 
 
redfield's new and popular publications. 
 SIMMS' REVOLUTIONARY TALES. 
 
 UNIFORM SERIES. 
 
 New and entirely Revised Edition of William Gilmore Simms' 
 Romances of the Revolution, with Illustrations by Darley. 
 
 Each complete in one vol., 12mo, cloth ; price $1.25. 
 
 I. THE PARTISAN. III. KATHARINE WALTON. (In press.) 
 
 II. MELLICHAMPE. IV. THE SCOUT. (In press.) 
 
 V. WOODCRAFT. (In press.) 
 
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 admirably." — Louisville Journal. 
 
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 Simms." — Mobile Daily Advertiser. 
 
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 in America." — Albany Knickerbocker. 
 
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 literature." — Boston Olive Branch. 
 
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 from history." — Boston Christian Freeman. 
 
 "We take pleasure in noticing another of the series which Redfield is presenting to 
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 continuation of ' The Partisan.' "—Philadelphia American Courier. 
 
 ALSO UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE 
 
 THE YEMASSEE, 
 
 A Romance of South Carolina. By Wm. Gilmore Simms. New 
 and entirely Revised Edition, with Illustrations by Darley. 12mo, 
 cloth; price $1.25. 
 
 " In interest, it is second to but few romances in the language ; in power, it holds a 
 high rank ; in healthfulness of style, it furnishes an example worthy of emulation."— 
 Greene County Whig. 
 
 <* 
 
 SIMMS' POETICAL WORKS. 
 
 Poems : Descriptive, Dramatic, Legendary, and Contemplative. 
 By Wm. Gilmore Simms. With a portrait on steel. 2 vols., 
 12mo, cloth; price $2.50. 
 
 Contents : Norman Maurice ; a Tragedy.— Atalantis ; a Tale of the Sea. — Tales and 
 Traditions of the South.— The City of the Silent— Southern Passages and Pictures. — 
 Historical and Dramatic Sketches. — Scripture Legends. — Francesca da Rimini, etc. 
 
 •• We are glad to see the poems of our best Southern author collected in two hand- 
 some volumes. Here we have embalmed in graphic and melodious verse the scenic 
 wonders and charms of the South ; and this feature of the work alone gives it a per- 
 manent and special value. None can read 'Southern Passages and Pictures' without 
 feeling that therein the poetic aspects, association, and sentiment of Southern life and 
 scenery are vitally enshrined. ' Norman Maurice' is a dramatic poem of peculiar scope 
 and unusual interest; and * Atalantis,' a poem upon which some of the author's finest 
 powers of thought and expression are richly lavished. None of our poets offer so great 
 a variety of style or a more original choice of subjects."— Boston Traveller. 
 
 " His versification is fluent and mellifluous, yet not lacking in point of vigor when an 
 energetic style is requisite to the subject."— N. Y. Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 "Mr. Simms ranks among the first poets of our country, and these well-printed 
 volumes contain poetical productions of rare merit." — Washington (D. C.) Star. 
 
FIFTY YEARS 
 
 BOTH HEMISPHERES 
 
 OE, 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 LIFE OF A FORMER MERCHANT 
 
 BY VINCENT NOLTE 
 
 LATE OP NSW ORLEANS 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 
 
 All mortals do but steer, where sure the port invites, 
 
 But, there are wanderers o'er eternity, 
 
 Whose bark drives on, and anchored — 
 
 Nwer will be! Byron. 
 
 REDFIELD 
 
 110 AND 112 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK 
 
 1854. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and 
 Fifty-four, by J. S. REDFIELD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the 
 United States, for the Southern District of New York. 
 
TO 
 
 THE HIGH, AND WELL-BORN GENTLEMAN, 
 
 ME. ERNEST MERCK, 
 
 IMPERIAL AUSTRIAN MAJESTY'S CONSUL-GENERAL AT HAMBURGH, AND 
 COMMANDER OF THE IMPERIAL AUSTRIAN ORDER OF LEOPOLD, 
 IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HIS MANY 
 EVIDENCES OF FRIENDLY GOOD WILL, 
 
 €jit0 38nnk 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 915414 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 
 
 Leghorn, his birth-place, in 1779 — Journey to Hamburgh, in 1788 — Visit to 
 Leghorn, 1791-1792— Return to Hamburgh, in 1792— Professor C. F. Hipp 
 of Tubinjen, his first and only instructor — Commencement of his mercantile 
 career, in the House of Messrs. Otto Franck and Co. at Leghorn, in 1795 — 
 Entry of the French into Leghorn, under General Bonaparte, 1796 — 
 General Murat — Major Hullin — The popular representatives Garat and 
 Salicetti — Sojourn at Florence — The villa Pandolfini, in 1797 — Return to 
 Hamburgh — French theatre in Hamburgh — The commercial crisis at Ham- 
 burgh, in the year 1799 — Sojourn at Hamburgh — Altered family circum- 
 stances — Detei-mination to leave the place — Departure from Hamburgh 
 in 1804 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PARIS— NANTES— AMSTERDAM. 
 
 The trial of General Moreau at Paris, as I arrived there — State of opinion in 
 that capital — Napoleon's first parade as Emperor, on the Place du Car- 
 rousal — Departure for Nantes — My entry into the house of A. M. Labou- 
 chere and Trotreau — The two head partners — My departure from 
 Amsterdam at the request of P. C. Labouchere, head of the firm of Hope 
 and Co., in that city — Some notice of *the history of that house, and the 
 characteristics of its leading partner — The object of my journey to the 
 United States and farther intentions — Unexampled business projects with 
 the banker, G. J. Ouvrard, in Paris 42 
 
vi CONTENT& 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, G. J. OUVRARD 
 
 His origin and business development — First great speculation — The founding 
 of his establishment at Paris — His private intimacies lead to acquaintance- 
 ship with the Director Baras and Brigadier Chief Bonaparte, before the 
 appointment of the latter to the rank of General — The rapid rise of Ouv- 
 rard, as a government contractor — He becomes the Maecenas of artists — 
 His princely liberality — Nicolo Isouard, the composer — Ouvrard's first 
 connexion with the Spanish Government — Immense transactions with the 
 French Government, with Vanlerberghe and with Duprez — Ouvrard's jour- 
 ney to Madrid — His influence with the Prince of Peace — The business con- 
 tract between King Charles IV. of Spain and Ouvrard — Results of this 
 contract — The commercial treaty that sprang from it — Hope &, Co. in Am- 
 sterdam — The inconsiderate condemnation of Ouvrard, and frivolous pallia- 
 tion of Napoleon's unjust course towards him by Thiers, in the sixth volume 
 of his History of the Consulate 66 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF MESSRS. HOPE & CO. 
 
 The basis of the plan laid down in Amsterdam, and its execution in the Uni- 
 ted States — David Parish of Antwerp intrusted with the chief control of 
 this business, and Mr. A. P. Lestapis, from Hope's counting-house, and I, 
 charged with the two most important branches of the money management ; 
 the former in Vera Cruz, and myself in New Orleans — My departure from 
 Amsterdam for New York — Breaking out of the yellow fever there — 
 Excursion to Boston — Arrival of the exiled General Moreau in New York — 
 Arrival of David Parish in New York — Final consultations there — My arri- 
 val at New Orleans, on the first Easter Sunday, 1806 — Sketch of the state 
 of things in that city — Governor Claiborne — The land speculator John 
 McDonough — The lawyer Edward Livingston — My first appearance in New 
 Orleans, as a business man — The yellow fever, which had spared me in 
 New York, seizes me here — The Conspiracy of the former Vice President 
 of the United States, Aaron Burr — General Wilkinson — The rencontre of 
 the American frigate Chesapeake with the British man-of-war Leopard, in 
 the year 1807 — Its influence upon my business relations — General expecta- 
 tion of war with England 77 
 
CONTENTS. vii 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 DAVID PARISH IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 The measures adopted by him — A retrospective glance at Ouvrard and his 
 affairs — Mismanagement the natural result of the unlimited obligations he 
 had assumed — Complicated relations with the French State Bank, which 
 thereby finds itself obliged to suspend specie payments — Napoleon's return 
 after the peace of Presburg — Despotic measures, and his arbitrary inter- 
 ference with Ouvrard's business relations, by which the whole organization 
 is brought to the ground — Napoleon and the house of Hope & Co. in Am- 
 sterdam, who, with becoming dignity, reject his propositions, and send his 
 agent, afterwards the Baron Louis, home with a flea in his ear — The French 
 Consul, General de Beaujour, in Philadelphia, is obliged to place himself in 
 the hands of Parish, as Mollien, the Minister of Finance, is also compelled to 
 throw himself into the arms of Hope & Co. — False and one-sided judgment 
 of Ouvrard by Thiers, who never did, or never would, comprehend Ouv- 
 rard's position as a merchant 95 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 FORCED ABANDONMENT OF VERY IMPORTANT OPERATIONS. 
 
 My return to Philadelphia — Acquaintance with Robert Fulton at New York 
 — A glance at his history — The trial-trip of the first steamboat Clermont 
 from New York for Albany — Departure for Havana, to call in the govern- 
 ment-exchange of 700,000 piastres — Negotiation with the Intendant-Gene- 
 ral Roubaud — Exchange of these bills for a single one drawn to my order, 
 and a bill for 945,000 dollars on the viceroy of Mexico given me, — the 
 largest in amount I ever indorsed — I take passage from Havana in the 
 schooner " Merchant," bound for Baltimore 110 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 
 
 Shipwreck off the coast of Florida, on the Carysfort Reef — My sojourn in the 
 village of Nassau on the Island of New Providence, one of the Bahama 
 group — Return to the United States — Arrival in Philadelphia 125 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EMBARGO OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE YEAR 1808. 
 
 Rupture of communications with Mexico ; the first and most important cause 
 which influenced the independent position of Parish, and became the source 
 of his first embarrassments — The large purchase of lands on the St. Law- 
 rence river was one of the next — History of this purchase — Gouverneur 
 Morris and Le Ray de Chaumont were the originators of Parish's blindness, 
 and the first to sell property of such diminutive value — Parish obtains per- 
 mission from Gallatin, the Secretary of State, notwithstanding the embargo, 
 to dispatch ships in ballast, and bring silver dollars from Mexico — The use 
 made of this favor by John Jacob Astor, of New York — His history — Ste- 
 phen Girard, in Philadelphia — Girard's history and career — Fracture of my 
 right leg at Wilmington — I employ the retirement, rendered necessary by 
 this accident, to strike off the first balance of our great operation 136 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MY TRIP TO EUROPE IN THE MONTH OF APRIL, 1809. 
 
 Return to Europe in the mouth of April, 1809, for the purpose of taking over 
 the first balance-sheet — Arrival at Falmouth — Stay there, in consequence 
 of the Alien Act — Visit of Mr. John Parish, at Cheltenham — His outward 
 appearance on the Bathers' promenade — My first visit to the House of the 
 Barings — Visit to Mr. Henry Hope, the oldest head of the Amsterdam 
 House — Sir Francis Baring — The London firm, Baring, Brothers and Co. — 
 First meeting with Mr. Alexander Baring — Journey to Holland, by way of 
 Helgoland — Journey to Paris — Meeting there with Mr. P. C. Labouchere, 
 who makes me personally acquainted with Ouvrard — An anecdote of the 
 latter — The pins — New plans of Ouvrard, which are overthrown by the bat- 
 tle of Wagram and its consequences — Return to Amsterdam, by way of 
 Brussels — My sickness in Amsterdam during the winter — Return to Ham- 
 burgh, in the spring of 1810 — Family circumstances 154 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE RETURN TO ENGLAND. 
 
 Return to England, to await the arrival of Parish, for the final liquidation of 
 the great operation — This takes place much later than was expected, and 
 the liquidation is not made until June, 1811 — Parish is accompanied by me 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 to Antwerp, where I await the result — Unusual profit by the operation — 
 Meeting, in Paris, with Labouchere, Parish, and Le Ray Chaumont ; the last 
 busied with new projects for the sale of his lands, never lets Parish out of 
 his sight — Rapid glance at the value of the lands purchased by Parish — Re- 
 doubled propositions to houses in Europe — I refuse them — Resolution to 
 return to New Orleans — Preliminary consultations with Mr. Labouchere, 
 and then with Mr. Alexander Baring, at London, in relation to my future 
 establishment at New Orleans — The selection of a companion and future 
 partner in business — My departure from Liverpool for New York, in Sep- 
 tember, 1811 — Arrival there — Continuation of my journe}' to New Orleans 
 overland, and by means of the western navigation — The flat-boats I build 
 and fit up at Pittsburgh — I follow my companion, who had preceded me, 
 and cross the Alleghany mountains on horseback — My first acquaintance, 
 near the Falls of the Juniata, with Audubon, who afterwards became so 
 celebrated as an ornithologist — My stay at Lexington — Henry Clay — First 
 traces of the earthquake, on the way to Louisville, and then in that city — 
 The earthquake comes on, in the night of February 6, 1812, near New Mad- 
 rid, beside the Mississippi — Description of my situation — Consequences of 
 the earthquake — Arrival in New Orleans, in March, 1812 1*70 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 New Orleans — My first arrangements — Congress declares war against Eng- 
 land June 18th, 1812 — David Parish assumes one of the Government loans 
 on his own responsibility, and thus gives rise to embarrassment in his 
 affairs — The Peace confirmed at Ghent, in December, 1814, happily extri- 
 cates him — Tropical hurricane at New Orleans, in the fall of 1812 — Frac- 
 ture of my right arm, in the year 1814 — Needless suspension of specie pay- 
 ments by the New Orleans banks — Appointed, by the Exchange, a member 
 of the Committee to examine into the condition of things, and report there- 
 upon, as framer of the report — I get into personal difficulty — The origin of 
 my first duel, with an opponent never known to me or seen by me before — 
 A business operation in Pensacola, by way of the two lakes — Borgne 
 and Pontchartrain, adjacent to New Orleans — The fleet of small craft I take 
 across them, laden with cotton — I arrive with them in Mobile bay, there 
 await the result of the first bombardment of the fort, and take advantage of 
 the moment when the English fleet are hauling off, after their repulse, to 
 run into Pensacola during the night — I am saddled with fresh difficulties 
 bv the Clique of the Bank Cashier, Saul in New Orleans ; for instance, in 
 an affair with the Marine Paymaster, Shields — Interruption of my quarrel, 
 by the arrival of the English fleet in the Gulf of Florida 184 
 
x CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 JACKSON'S DEFENCE OF THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 His arrival there on the 1st of December, 1814 — Simultaneous arrival of the 
 English fleet in the waters of Florida — Capture of our gunboats by the 
 English, on the 14th of December — March of our militia battalions to the 
 Bayou St. John, on Lac Borgne — On the 23d of December, the first intelli- 
 gence is received that the British had landed on the plantation of General 
 Villere — "We are ordered to the spot with all the troops under Jackson's 
 command — The night engagement of December 23d — The burning of our cut- 
 ter, the Carolina, by an English battery, on Christmas day — The heavy 
 cannonade on New- Year's day, 1815 — The complete discomfiture of the Bri- 
 tish force, under General Packenham, on the occasion of its attack on our 
 first line, January 8th, 1815 — Immensely disproportionate loss of the Eng- 
 lish — Completion of the British retreat, on January 16th 202 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RETURN OF OUR SMALL ARMY INTO THE CITY. 
 
 The first news of the peace concluded at Ghent, December 24th, 1814 — Mar- 
 tial law in New Orleans — Jackson's violent measures — The arbitrary course 
 pursued by him toward myself — Characteristic traits — Source of his hatred 
 to the National Bank — The peace rejoicings in the city — Present to Mrs. 
 Jackson — Fitting out of the ship Horatio — Renewal of my quarrel with 
 Mr. Shields — Effect of my publication of the correspondence between him 
 and myself— Another and unfortunate duel with the son of Mr. Saul — Ar- 
 rival of intelligence from Paris, announcing Napoleon's entry into that cap- 
 ital—Prudential arrangements in relation to the cargo of the ship Horatio, 
 on board of which I finally embark 218 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 JOURNEY TO FRANCE— WATERLOO— PARIS IN THE HANDS 
 OF THE ALLIES IN 1815. 
 
 Voyage to France— Waterloo— Paris in the hands of the Allies in 1815—1 
 am obliged to run into Havana, on my way to Nantes— First news of the 
 battle of Waterloo, at sea— Consternation and rage of my French shipmates 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 — Confirmation of the news by the pilot of the Belle-Isle — Arrival at Paim- 
 bceuf — The white flag of the Bourbons floating over the forts — a second 
 corroboration of Napoleon's fall — Visit to my old counting-room at Nantes. 
 — The Venus Callypyges still in its former place — Journey to Paris — Prus- 
 sian outposts at Blois — Major Keller, into whose hands Napoleon's chapeau 
 and sword had fallen at Charleroi — The bridge at Tours, and the Grena- 
 diers of the Old Guard on the left bank — Paris — Description of the position 
 of affairs — Anecdote of the Duke of Wellington — The death of Marshal 
 Ney — Review of the Russian Guard, on the Boulevards, from the Barrier 
 du Trone to the Barrier de l'Etoile — The returned English officers from 
 Orleans at Paris — English and French cooking — The American General 
 Scott at Paris — Object of my trip to Europe — Ouvrard again Napoleon's 
 Commissary-General during the Hundred Days — His description of the 
 battle of Waterloo— Second return of the Bourbons— State of financial 
 affairs — The remodelling of the Hope establishment at Amsterdam in 
 1814, and the entry of Mr. Jerome Sillem into it — Financial embarrass- 
 ments of the Bourbons — Ouvrard's success in the negotiation of the first 
 loan through the Barings in London, and the Hopes in Amsterdam — Pow- 
 erful aid of the Duke of Wellington — Ouvrard, the creator of this mine of 
 wealth for all concerned, comes off empty-handed himself 238 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE BATTLE-FIELD OF WATERLOO.— THE COTTON-MARKET.— 
 FRANCIS BARING.— REMODELLING OF THE BARINGS' ESTAB 
 LISHMENT. 
 
 Departure from Paris — Brussels — Visit to the Field of Waterloo — Coste, 
 Napoleon's Guide, becomes mine — A short visit to Hamburgh and England, 
 on my way back to the United States — Embarkation at Liverpool — Pit- 
 cairn, the former American Consul at Hamburgh, with his newly-married 
 Daughter and Son-in-Law, are my travelling Companions — The first Heart 
 outpouring of the fond wedded pair, upon our arrival at New York — Jour- 
 ney overland to New Orleans — The Scotch Houses in New Orleans — Their 
 policy on the Cotton Market, and mine — Trip to Europe in the Summer 
 of 1819 — The Congress at Aix, in 1818 — Crisis in the Money Market — 
 Berenbrook, the Dutch Speculator in Funds — Alexander Baring rescues the 
 Paris Money Market from the consequences of the Crisis — Enormous Busi- 
 ness of my House in New Orleans — Its preponderance in the Cotton-Mar- 
 ket — Arrival of Mr. Francis Baring, then the Junior, now the Senior Partner 
 of the London House at New Orleans — Sketch of some of that gentleman's 
 peculiar Traits of Character — Death of Mr. S. C. Holland — Remodelling 
 of the Baring House — Entry of Mr. Joshua Bates into it 260 
 
x ii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE FRENCH FIVE PER CENT. RENTES. 
 
 My reception in Havre in the summer of 1822 — James Lafitte, the Paris 
 banker — A Sunday at his countiw-seat — " Maison sur Seine," a former plea- 
 sure palace of Louis XIV — The Marquis of Lansdowne — Exorbitant price 
 of cotton — The general improper conduct of speculators at Havre and 
 Rouen — The only exception — A merchant's morality — Breach of trust of 
 one of the first houses in Havre, to the injury of Mr. P. C. Labouchere, its 
 great patron — The combination of Messrs. Cropper, Benson & Co., and Rath- 
 bone, Hodgson & Co., to bring about a fresh rise in the prices of cotton, which 
 had gone down — An offer made, inviting me to join in this project, which, as 
 I had foreseen, proved impracticable — A visit to Hamburgh, in the winter 
 of 1823-24 — Return to Paris — Project of the French Minister of Finance, 
 the Marquis de Villele, for the conversion of the whole national debt into 
 five per cent Rentes — Rivalry of the Vicomte de Chateaubriand, who suc- 
 ceeds in defeating the scheme, but without being able to unseat the Mar- 
 quis — By this he loses his own place in the ministry — First acquaintance 
 with General Lafayette ; his desire, after an interval of forty years, to re- 
 visit the United States — His embarrassed pecuniary situation — Successful 
 attempt, on my part, to procure the sum of 100,000 francs for him — He is 
 thereby enabled to undertake the desired journey, and starts upon it — Miss 
 Wright, his protegee — The Paris Bourse, after the failure of Villele's 
 scheme — Well-meant but enigmatically-worded advice of Mr. Francis Bar- 
 ing, in regard to the five per cent. Rente — He fails in his object to save me 
 from an important loss 281 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE BUSINESS CRISIS OF 1825-6.— LAFAYETTE IN NEW 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 The Liverpool Cotton Market at the close of the year 1824 — Sudden rise of 
 prices, in January, 1825 — Manoeuvres of the Liverpool houses to keep up 
 the prices — Well calculated course of the Scotch house of J. <fc A. Denis- 
 toun & Co. — The speculation mania in New Orleans — Arrival of General 
 Lafayette in New Orleans — His reception — Anecdotes of him — I accom- 
 pany him, in the name of the city, as one of its deputies, to Natchez — 
 State of the Cotton Market when I arrived in Natchez 306 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CONSEQUENCES OF THE CRISIS OF 1825-26. 
 
 Extensive purchase of cotton for the house of Crowder, Clough & Co., in Liv- 
 erpool — Failure of that house, and the establishments connected with it in 
 New York and Charleston — Influence of the failure on the position of my 
 house — Unavoidable suspension of payments — The creditors unanimously 
 appoint me Syndic of the Mass — Transferral of my power of attorney to 
 my junior partners — My voyage to England — Reception at Barings' — The 
 true position of affairs, in respect to the Crowder assets — First success in 
 the suit brought against the administrators of the Crowder assets — Ren- 
 contre in the Birmingham post-coach, on my way back to London — A letter 
 from Mr. Alexander Baring — Consequences of the rencontre in the post- 
 coach — Favorable issue of my heavy suit in the Court of Chancery — Lord 
 Eldon ; the last decision but one rendered by him before leaving the Min 
 istry 317 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, the two candidates — Jackson's lack 
 of qualifications for the office — Edward Livingston the first projector and 
 leader of Jackson's election — Intrigues in his favor — Unworthy means to 
 ensure his success — Jackson revisits New Orleans, in 182*7, as a candidate — 
 Electioneering manoeuvres — The article in The American, a New York paper 
 — I am set upon, in my dwelling-house, by a couple of his followers — Final 
 departure from New Orleans — Havre — Paris — Fruitless attempts to found 
 a concern at Havre — Acquaintance with an English banking-house, Daly <fe 
 Co., in Paris — It leads to the establishment of a concern at Marseilles, as 
 branch of the house ; Pierre Maillet & Co., at Martinique, together with 
 Maillet, Cage & Co., at Havre, and Daly & Co., at Paris, as sleeping part- 
 ners — Before the opening of my new establishment, I visit England and 
 Hamburgh, the latter place only for five days — Return by way of England 
 and Paris — Arrival in the French capital, on the morning of July 27th, 
 1830 — The July Revolution — Departure for Marseilles — The failure of 
 Daly & Co. follows close at my heels, and obliges me to return in haste to 
 Paris — Journey to Havre, in behalf of Daly's creditors — The holding back 
 of the Havre house, and the consequent impossibility of ferreting out the true 
 state of affairs — The sudden crippling of the machinery and uprooting of 
 the foundation of the new house in Marseilles renders its entire dissolution 
 necessary — A fresh jouruev in search of subsistence stares me in the face. 335 
 
 1 
 
x iv CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE SUPPLYING OF ARMS. 
 
 Visit to General Lafayette, "who had been appointed commander-in-chief of all 
 the National Guard of the realm — The arming of that force — A couple of 
 lines from the General procures me admission to General Gerard, the Min- 
 ister of War — First contract for 50,000 old French muskets from the Prus- 
 sian fortresses — Appointment of Marshal Soult as minister of war — The 
 rival authority of Lafayette, as head of the National Guard, is in the way 
 of M. Casimir Perrier, the new president of Louis Philippe's Council — The 
 general commandancy of the National Guard is abolished by a vote of the 
 Chambers — Lafayette drops the honorary title, and altogether retires — The 
 extension of my contract for arms with the war ministry — Daly's bequest — 
 I make the acquaintance of two blacklegs and cheats, G. and 0. — 5000 stand 
 of the arms purchased at Hamburgh arrive in Havre, and are rejected at 
 the arsenal, as unfit for use — The same fate befals 5000 more at Strasbourg 
 — I succeed, however, in extricating myself from the bad bargain, not only 
 without loss, but even with advantage — Delivery of sabres for the army — 
 Colonel Lefrancois, director of the arsenal at Havre — Contrast between 
 him and another officer of rank — Remarks upon the contractor business in 
 general « 349 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF THE RUE DES PROUVAIRES— 
 
 My contracts and deliveries of arms lead to its discovery — The sub-contractor 
 and intermediary, Darmenon — Disclosure of the plot to the Police Prefect, 
 Gisquet — Arrest of the conspirators in the Rue des Prouvaires, in the eve- 
 ning of Feb. 2d, by Carlier, the last Prefect of the Police under the Repub- 
 lic—The trial in the assizes for the department of the Seine — My testimony 
 — Opposition of the Prefect — The decision — Ambiguous conduct of the Pre- 
 fect — The disclosure of his venality leads to his dismissal 361 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF THE ARTIST WORLD OF PARIS— PAUL 
 DELAROCHE— 
 
 His complete establishment in his profession, by his picture, " The Beheading 
 of Lady Jane Grey" — Universal impression produced by the picture — The 
 cholera in Paris in the summer of 1832 — Delaroche's contract with M. 
 Thiers, then Minister of the Interior, for the decoration of the walls of the 
 
CONTENTS. xv 
 
 Madeleine — He goes to Rome, to complete the preparatory studies — Thiers 
 breaks his word, and thus occasions the abandonment of the contract and 
 Delaroche's return to Paris — His enviers and deprecators, and his demeanor 
 towards them — The painter Charlet — An anecdote concerning him — A piece 
 of experience and information from the monde galant of Paris enables me 
 to give him a hint that I had got a peep at his cards, and had made out his 
 game — Some sketchy remarks concerning the Coryphsei of the Paris school, 
 such as Horace Vernet, Ingres, Delacroix, Decamps, Ary Scheffer, and 
 others 368 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 CLOSING SCENES AN"D RESULTS OF MY DELIVERY OF ARMS. 
 
 A secret canker at work — The undermining of my prosperity by the puer- 
 ilities of those engaged with me in the business — Loss of an important suit 
 in the Tribunal of Commerce at Paris — I grasp at a straw — The scheme 
 for the conversion of the Roman 5 per cent. Rentes takes me to Rome — 
 My visit to Italy, after an absence of 38 years — Florence — Rome — The 
 aged Duchess Torlonia — Chiaveri, her son by her first marriage — The 
 Tyrolese Stolz, Secretary of the Papal Treasurer, Monsignor Tosti — My 
 chance-meeting with Ouvrard, in the Villa Borghese — My return to France. 
 by way of Leghorn, my birthplace — Another meeting, of an unusual kind, 
 with an old friend — The beauty of the Villa Pandolfini — Disconsolate cir- 
 cumstances and prospects — Lack of profitable busiuess in Paris 380 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE INVENTION OF N. COLLAS AND ITS APPLICATION- 
 
 The Company of the " Tresor de Numismatique et de Glyptique" — Its first 
 success at Paris — Effort to extend it in England — Journey to London — Visit 
 to the Cabinet of Medals, in the British Museum — Mr. E. Hawkins, tin- 
 warden— Combination of his project for a numismatic history of Great 
 Britain with my scheme — Attempted conclusion of an arrangement with tin- 
 Trustees of the museum, in consequence of an understanding with the book 
 seller Tilt — His petition to the House of Commons, praying parliamentary 
 aid in support of our project — The subject transferred to the Common;-' 
 Committee on the British Museum — Hearing of witnesses by the committev 
 — Sir Francis Chantrey, the sculptor — Characteristic anecdotes of thai 
 artist — Unworthy opposition to my plan by the painter Brockedon, h. 
 combination with W. Wyon, the coin engraver, and others, in favor of th< 
 mathematical instrument-maker, Bates — The committee arrive at no definite 
 conclusion, and allow the examination of witnesses to dr;i<r on — Uuinter 
 
XY i CONTENTS. 
 
 rupted efforts on my part with the Trustees of the museum to gain my 
 point — The nature of my propositions meets with a very satisfactory recep- 
 tion on their part, and they carry the cost of executing my plan into their 
 budget — A deficit of 2,000,000 pouuds sterling, in the general national Bud- 
 get, compels the Royal High Chancellor to put his veto on this new appro- 
 priation 392 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA— THE QUEEN'S BENCH-PRISON— THE 
 QUEEN'S CORONATION. 
 
 Plan to strike off a portrait-medal of the queen — Sir John Conroy, grand 
 equerry of the Duchess of Kent — His resignation — The Baroness Lehzen, 
 lady-secretary to the queen, who procures admission for myself and the 
 sculptor "Weeks to Her Majesty's presence — The result of this audience 
 — My arrest and confinement in the Queen's Bench-prison, in consequence of 
 legal proceedings on the part of the litigious and runaway Duke Charles of 
 Brunswick — My liberation, after 3-J- months' imprisonment — Unexpected 
 arrival of my wife — The queen's Coronation-day — The simultaneous ascent 
 of seven air-balloons from Hyde Park — Return of my wife to Paris — My 
 determination to revisit the United States — Announcement of the second 
 trip of the steamship Great Western across the Atlantic Ocean — Old Admi- 
 ral Coffin, whom I meet at Leamington, tries to dissuade me from availing 
 myself of this opportunity to sail for New York, and to prove the insecu- 
 rity of ocean steam-navigation, upon nautical grounds — Still, I sail by the 
 steamer — Arrival at New York, after an uncommonly stormy passage of 
 eighteen days 40*7 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 NICHOLAS BIDDLE AND THE UNITED STATES BANK. 
 
 Wilder, the agent of the house of Messrs. Hottinguer & Co., in Paris and 
 Havre — His intimacy with Nicholas Biddle, the President of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Bank of the United States — Biddle's project to restore the balance of 
 trade, between England and the United States, to an equilibrium — A colos- 
 sal operation in cotton, the means for which are obtained by the strength of 
 my own credit — The pitcher goes too often to the well, and is broken at 
 last — Violent conclusion to the enterprise — Imprisonment in New Orleans — 
 Return to the north, overland — Cincinnati — Philadelphia — The adventuress 
 from Floreuce, my travelling companion to New York — Embarkation for 
 England, on board of the Steamer Great Western — Race between this ves- 
 
CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 sel and its competitor, The British Queen — Classification of the company on 
 board of the two steamers, by Gordon (James Gordon Bennett ? — Trans.), 
 editor of the New York paper, " Morning Herald" — The Great Western 
 wins the race, reaching England three days earlier than the British Queen. 
 
 418 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 LAST VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Return to America by way of England — Attempt there to grasp at and seize 
 a shadow — The intended rejection by the house of Hottinguer <fe Co., at. 
 Paris, of the bills of the United States Bank, is communicated to me before- 
 hand, when taking leave, by Mr. Hottinguer himself — An interesting 
 acquaintanceship formed on the way to Boulogne — I embark at Liverpool 
 on board of the steamer Liverpool Packet, which brings over the first 
 protest of the drafts on the Hottinguer firm — Arrival in New York — Gen- 
 eral effect of Hottinguer's measures — The United States Bank suspends 
 specie payments, and so gives the signal for other banks to do the same — 
 Dissolution of the project which had been rejected by General Hamilton — 
 I resolve to bid the West a final farewell, and to try my fortune, in the to 
 me, as yet, unknown East — I return to Europe in the packet-ship England 
 — Remarkable career of Captain Williams — London and Paris — The 
 establishment of a commercial company in Venice draws me to that city 
 on an express invitation from the parties coneerned — A sad year in my 
 life — My acquaintanceship with the painter Nerly is my best consolation — 
 I visit Trieste in hope of better fortune 480 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 MY JOURNEY TO THE BLACK SEA. 
 
 Propositions of the house of Grant, Brothers & Co. to secure their claims 
 against the house of James and John Cortazzi, at Odessa — The puerility of 
 these gentlemen — I set out, and travel to Galatz, by way of Vienna and the 
 Danube, descending the latter river — The baths of Mehadia — Galatz — Con- 
 tinuation of my journey to Odessa by land, in company with one of the 
 many Princes Galitzin — Jassy — The Russian Consul General at that place 
 — Son of the tragic writer, Kotzebue — The Quarantine of Skulieni — Kits- 
 chenew — Potemkin's grave — Odessa — James Cortazzi — The President of 
 the Tribunal of Commerce — A Cossack named Gamaley, Cortazzi's friend 
 and debtor, serves me, at last, as a means for the liquidation of the debt to 
 the house of Grant & Co. — The passport system in the southern Russian 
 ports — Prince Woronzow — The travelling Yankee, Codman ; the first only 
 half-witted American I ever met with in my life 438 
 
xviii CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE RETURN TO TRIESTE— 
 
 Departure from Odessa — The Bosphorus — Constantinople and the Golden 
 Horn — The Turkish fleet — Smyrna — Three weeks' quarantine at Malta — 
 Sicily — Naples — Comparison of the impression produced by the Bay of 
 Naples with that I felt at my first sight of New York Bay — Continuation 
 of my return-journey to Trieste, by way of Leghorn, Genoa, and Venice — 
 Trieste — The house of J. C. Ritter & Co. — My position in it — The district- 
 governor, Count Stadion — Some characteristic sketches of him 448 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 TRIESTE. 
 
 Visit of the Emperor Ferdinand, in the company of his wife and minister — 
 The Baron Von Kuebec — His invitation to persevere in the examination of 
 Peel's Bank Bill, of 1844, which I first bring to his notice — He permits me 
 to dedicate my " Condition and Prospects of the World's Commerce in the 
 early months of the year 1845," to him — Count Stadion's great egg, the 
 Austrian East India Company — Mission of Mr. P. Erichsen — The article of 
 the Augsburgh " Algemeine Zeiiung" of August 9th, 1845, in relation to the 
 population of Trieste, <fcc. — A reference to Mr. Von Bruck, the true lucky 
 star that has risen over Trieste — Closer acquaintanceship with him — The 
 blind traveller, Lieutenant Holman — The Scotchman, Keith, with his collec- 
 tion of daguerreotypes — Completion of a work on freedom of Trieste as a 
 commercial port — Count Stadion lays his veto upon it — A project touch- 
 ing me, devised by Mr. Von Bruck, takes me to Vienna, and thence to 
 Paris 456 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 PARIS, HAMBURGH— VAIN HOPE IN PARIS. 
 
 Remarks upon the condition of public affairs there in the years 1847 and 1848 — 
 False policy of Louis Philippe — Guizot — Negotiations with the publishing 
 house of Messrs. Perthes, Besser, aud Mauke in Hamburgh, in relation to a re- 
 vision of William Benecke's work on the " System of Insurance and Bottomry" 
 — Another visit to Hamburgh in 1848 — The February Revolution at Paris 
 — Its consequences in Germany — Feverish state of things at Hamburgh — 
 The Hamburgh free-trade paper called the " Deutseher Freihafen " — After 
 
CONTENTS. xix 
 
 the withdrawal of its first leading editor, the management of the concern 
 falls into my hands — The sheet christened the "Deutsche Handel's Zei- 
 tuug" (German Commercial Journal) in the beginning of 1849 — Dictatorial 
 conduct of the directing committee of shareholders — Exhaustion of the 
 small capital set apart for the support of free-trade principles — The paper 
 dies — The committee set their faces against all explanation of the causes of 
 the paper's decease, and step in violently — My farewell words to the 
 readers at the close of tho paper are despotically suppressed and taken out 
 of the compositor's hands — The revision of W. Benecke's work on " Insu- 
 rance," and the completion of it in the month of April, 1852 468 
 
PREFATORY. 
 
 The following pages present the autobiography of one of the most extraor- 
 dinary men that ever lived ; a man who, in the course of his mere commercial 
 life, has had more and stranger adventures than are given to most professed 
 travellers, and who relates them with a vividness and reality that deserve to 
 give him rank among writers. 
 
 His book professes to give the history of fifty years, but the reader will find 
 that it embraces seventy, and makes him acquainted with half the people in 
 the world. In Europe and America, let him wander where he would, he 
 never, in his late years, failed to find an old acquaintance. Men recognized 
 him through the dust-clouds of Odessa, as in the bar-rooms of Natchez under 
 the Hill . Napoleon, at the age of 24, examined him. Victoria has given him 
 private audiences. He watched the rise and fall of Louis Philippe, after wit- 
 nessing the accomplishment of the catastrophe of the Restoration. He has 
 doffed his hat to Ferdinand of Austria, in Trieste, and shaken hands with the 
 savage kings west of the Mississippi 
 
 He was a German citizen of the United States, born in Italy, and lived all 
 over. He built flat-boats at Pittsburgh, for the navigation of the Ohio, and 
 shouted among the crowd who cheered Robert Fulton's steamboat, as she first 
 started from the wharf at New York He has been wrecked off the coast of 
 Florida, and imprisoned in the Queen's Bench, at Londoa He was suspected 
 of having the plague at Malta, and had the yellow fever in New Orleans. He 
 peeped into the crater of Etna, and was shaken by the earthquake at Louis- 
 ville. Napoleon's whole career and Aaron Burr's conspiracy are made a 
 couple of items in his extraordinary existence. 
 
 This Yankee cotton speculator arranged the conversion of a loan for Lis holi- 
 ness the Pope. This confidential adviser of the Austrian premier Von Kue- 
 beck was a soldier of General Jackson, at the battle of New Orleans. This 
 commissary of Louis Philippe and Duke Charles of Brunswick, was the inti- 
 mate friend of the republican Lafayette. This lover of Livornese opera girls 
 was mingled in the plans of Nicholas Biddle. This handler and possessor of 
 untold thousands, of millions of money, lived on bread and cheese in Venice ; 
 and to get even that much, translated some English title-deeds for the monks 
 of San Lorenzo. 
 
 1* 
 
xxii PREFATORY. 
 
 The very names in this volume are wonderful. Kings, Emperors, Presidents 
 and Popes jostle each other through its pages. Poets and painters are criti- 
 cised and gossipped about — Chantrey and Nollekens, Delaroche and Delacroix 
 jSerly and Landseer. Now you have a story of Gothe, and again an anecdote 
 of Chateaubriand. Byron and Lamartine, Kotzebue and Cooper come quite 
 familiarly to the tip of his pen, and when tired of telling what he knows about 
 these, he writes verses himself — verses of great mediocrity. 
 
 One of the richest of modern merchants, and most daring of speculators, he 
 yet never neglected his love for art nor his talent with the crayon. When his 
 commercial greatness had culminated and waned, he became everything by 
 turns — commissary for arms and provisions ; agent for a machine to engrave 
 circular lines ; editor of the little free port newspaper of Hamburgh ; political 
 squib writer in the United States ; clerk in a third-class house of business ; 
 translator of manuscript for Italian friars. 
 
 Vain, amusing, garrulous, scandalous old fellow ; with the dryest common 
 sense, that is not to be tricked ; with the keenest eye for a defect, either in per- 
 son or character, and a bitter or comic humor to help him in describing it, Mr. 
 Vincent Nolte presents to our eyes one of the most curious life-panoramas that 
 it is possible to see. 
 
 You must take his personalities, especially about people here, cum grano 
 salis. He seldom looks at the bright' side of a character, and dearly loves — he 
 confesses it — a bit of scandal. But he paints well, describes well, seizes charac- 
 teristics which make clear to the reader the nature of the man whom they 
 illustrate. 
 
 The amount of really useful information, historical, commercial, artistic, and 
 personal, in this work, is immense ; and it is so interspersed with anecdote and 
 adventure, with variety and scandal " of a pleasant tartness," that all heaviness 
 is destroyed, and the book is as delightful as a novel. 
 
 "We expect, of course, from the reading world, even more than a usual 
 warmth of welcome for this entertaining work. 
 
 THE TRANSLATOR 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Kind Eeader ! whatever the chance that has given me 
 the right to address you, and has placed this book in your 
 hands, I must, of necessity, look for you in one of the three 
 following categories : 
 
 Either you belong to that very large number of indivi- 
 duals who, up to the present time, have neither known, 
 heard, nor read any thing about me : 
 
 Or, to the smaller number who have, only here and there, 
 cast a glance at the proofs of my literary activity ; but are, 
 still, altogether unacquainted with me and the events of 
 my life : 
 
 Or, finally ; to those who, under the inevitable condition 
 of incomplete or untrue representations, have become more 
 or less acquainted with me, have heard all sorts of things 
 about me, or have learned, at least, my name. 
 
 From each and every member of these three classes I 
 may expect the question : What are you going to offer us, 
 when, in the title of your book, you speak of the Reminis- 
 cences of a Former Merchant, extracted from the History of 
 a Life which has embraced the first half of the present cen- 
 tury? Do you merely intend to narrate the mercantile 
 observation and experience of a man wholly given up to 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 commercial pursuits ; or have we to deal with one whom 
 his business-occupations have not prevented from looking 
 carefully at> things a-rounB ii^m]. and noting the great events 
 of his time, nor. from obtaining personal information and 
 availing 'xiiinsklf' b£' dp£ortu*iaitiss to observe distinguished 
 characters, both in and out of his own calling, one who has 
 been able to form and retain unprejudiced views, and has, 
 during his own career, experienced the ups and downs of 
 fortune, the vicissitudes of human existence and the conse- 
 quences of human error? Should your inquiries, dear 
 reader, embody the last words I have used, you have, 
 indeed, hit the nail on the head, — since they convey pre- 
 cisely the tenor of much the greater portion of the histor- 
 ical and biographical sketches you will find in this work. 
 Truth, and not poetry, composes the contents of the book 
 you now hold in your hand. 
 
 Neither the private individual nor the business-man who 
 gives extracts from his biography over to publicity, can often 
 escape the suspicion of inordinate vanity and a blind over- 
 estimate of his own merit or of the part he has played in 
 society. As feelings of that kind have not exerted any in- 
 fluence, in the present case, it is my duty to say a word 
 regarding the motive in which these pages have had their 
 real origin. 
 
 If, out of the panoramic whirl of my varying fortunes 
 and experiences, no other recollections remained to me than 
 such as have reference to the life of a merchant, solely, you 
 might well conclude, dear reader, after what I have said 
 above, that I should never have so far yielded to the nume- 
 rous and repeated solicitations of many friends and acquaint- 
 ances on both sides of the Ocean, who have long been 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 urging me to this step, as to let the resolve ripen within me 
 to depict in a continuous narrative the most remarkable 
 epochs of that important period of the world's history 
 through which I have lived ; and, so far as I have, in a 
 greater or less degree, participated in them or witnessed 
 them, to set forth the stirring events of the last half century 
 in a recital which, apart from all personal connection with 
 the author, might possess some attraction for the public at 
 large. However, very early in life and, indeed, at an age 
 when one is usually regarded as unripe for the proper con- 
 sideration of important interests, chance, going hand-in- 
 hand with the remarkable development of the world's his- 
 tory that has taken place since I entered upon my allotted 
 sphere of activity, has brought remarkable events, remark- 
 able men, and extraordinary business- combinations directly 
 under my eyes, has kept my mental faculties in constant 
 exercise and has made me acquainted, nay, has frequently 
 placed me in close contact with a succession of distin- 
 guished personages. Under these circumstances, I have 
 indulged the belief that what I have to communicate to my 
 readers in these pages, might awaken not merely a certain 
 curiosity, but probably something more than a simply 
 transient interest, and not only excite their attention, but 
 possibly keep it alive to the end, so that, in a general point 
 of view, they will reap some gratification, or, at all events, 
 some profit from the faithful reflection of certain truths 
 which, I flatter myself, I have learned during the lapse of 
 a not unimportant portion of the history of our time. At 
 any rate, they may discover in this work much that is use- 
 ful, much that is new, and, taking it altogether, find it not 
 entirely worthless entertainment for a leisure-hour. The 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 history of my experience in practical life, — at least such 
 has been my own impression, — should lead all thoughtful 
 minds, as well as every reflecting reader occupied with the 
 advancement of his own mental culture and moral perfec- 
 tion, to the conviction that, at the opening of each new 
 epoch in our lives, as we progress from stadium to stadium 
 along the toilsome way, we commence and must pass 
 through a fresh novitiate which brings with it tests and 
 trials more or less severe. Hence, the necessity of contin- 
 ual self-examination and an untiring watch over our present 
 as well as prospective relations, in so far at least as the latter 
 can be calculated ; and in this, perhaps, lies the instruction 
 that these volumes may contain. For 1 confess, without 
 hesitation, that I have not always, in the course of my 
 career, been able to keep this rule before my eyes. 
 
 Permit me to make one or two further remarks. That 
 mercantile experiences, observations and views occupy, in 
 one place or another, a not unimportant space in these pages, 
 is the natural consequence of the relations and circum- 
 stances in which I have lived ; but, however dry reminis- 
 cences and reflections of this kind may be to the general 
 reader, I hope, at least, that I have clothed them in language 
 so comprehensive that even the reader least familiar with 
 commercial affairs, will not deny them a certain degree of 
 interest, especially since they refer back to periods of which 
 we could at the present day form but an imperfect idea, 
 without some proper land-mark, and which cannot be alto- 
 gether useless to the young merchant. 
 
 Whoever, in memoirs of this kind, strays from the strict- 
 est path of truth, diminishes their value and invades the 
 regions of romance. The measure of respect which I feel 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 for the truth will be found by you, dear reader, in the 
 frankness with which I have spoken in relation to myself 
 and the vicissitudes of my own life. I have suppressed 
 nothing, misrepresented nothing, but have laid myself open 
 to the eyes of all ; thoroughly disclosing what I am, and 
 where and how the influence of circumstances which so 
 very often deceive the highest powers of foresight possessed 
 by men, has not unfrequently controlled my position and 
 actions. I bring you without hesitation what is not in the 
 power of every one to bring, — the offering of thorough 
 rectitude of intention, convinced that you will not with- 
 hold from me the consideration and allowance to which I 
 believe I may lay rightful claim, without putting your 
 good will to too severe a proof. 
 
 To my contemporaries whose names appear in these 
 pages, I am at all times, as in duty bound, ready to render 
 full account. In reviewing the past, no one is brought 
 before the public who would have been entitled to remain 
 in the background without occasioning an injurious void 
 in the connection of my memoirs and reminiscences, and 
 without leaving very perceptible gaps in my descriptive 
 sketches. Placing them upon the same platform with my- 
 self, before the reader's judgment, I share whatever fate 
 befalls them, since I voluntarily resign the right of making 
 any reply in self-defence, notwithstanding the fact that the 
 changes of human life have placed it in my power and 
 taken it away from them. No one could ask for more. 
 The old motto : de mortuis nil nisi bene, under the sanction 
 of which so much falsehood has been served up to a credu- 
 lous posterity, has been regarded by me only in those cases 
 where unblemished reputations have made praise a duty, 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 or, I might say, almost unavoidable ; but, where historical 
 Truth, in order to assert her rights without regard to any- 
 minor or unworthy considerations, demands the voice of 
 censure, I- have not, indeed, entirely abandoned the accents 
 of palliating moderation, but have still given full scope to 
 the safer motto : de mortuis nil nisi vere ! and allowed a 
 sportive but yet kindly humor of my own to have its way. 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 
 
 Leghorn, his birth-place, in 17*79 — Journey to Hamburgh, in 1*788 — Visit to 
 Leghorn, 1791-1792 — Return to Hamburgh, in 1792 — Professor C. F. Hipp 
 of Tiibinjen, his first and only instructor — Commencement of his mercantile 
 career, in the House of Messrs. Otto Franck and Co. at Leghorn, in 1795 — 
 Entry of the French into Leghorn, under General Bonaparte, 1796 — 
 General Murat — Major Hullin — The popular representatives Garat and 
 Salicetti — Sojourn at Florence — The villa Pandolfini, in 1797 — Return to 
 Hamburgh — French theatre in Hamburgh — The commercial crisis at Ham- 
 burgh, in the year 1799 — Sojourn at Hamburgh — Altered family circum- 
 stances — Determination to leave the place — Departure from Hamburgh 
 in 1804. 
 
 If it be true, as Louis the Fourteenth was the first to say, and 
 as Louis the Eighteenth repeated, that " punctuality is the polite- 
 ness of kings" — " V exactitude est la politesse des rois" — it is still 
 more true, that, to a merchant, punctuality is the first source of 
 his credit, and that in it lies one of the vital conditions of his suc- 
 cess. My good father, who destined me to mercantile pursuits, 
 and who, even in my earliest years, sought to impress upon my 
 mind the precepts of social and mercantile rectitude, did not fail 
 to offer, in his own person, the most striking example of his 
 respect for that excellent quality. He married on February 22d, 
 1779, at the age of forty, and was, thenceforward, assisted in his 
 cultivation of the virtue he so much admired, by my mother who, 
 by-the-by, was punctual in all she undertook, for she brought me 
 into the world on November 21st, or, precisely at the termination 
 of the nine regular months prescribed by the laws of nature. 
 
 Tuscany is the land of my birth, and the city in which ifc 
 
IS REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 occurred is Leghorn, where my father John Henry Nolte a native 
 of Hamburgh, had acted as apprentice and shop-boy, at first, in 
 the house' oF his uncle 'Otto -F?ranck, but during the last fifteen 
 years preceding his marriage, had officiated as a partner in the 
 concern* j .(Efts pttofe'^d teen brought up in England, and was 
 married to an English lady. He had taken my father, when only 
 nine years of age, from Hamburgh, and sent him to college at 
 Exeter, in England, where the boy was raised and educated at 
 his expense, until he called him away, in his sixteenth year, to 
 Leghorn. 
 
 My father was unable to make good, from the barbarous style 
 of mercantile correspondence in use at that period, what he had 
 lost of his mother tongue during his seven years' sojourn in Eng- 
 land ; but in its stead, he had learned the English language in 
 uncommon perfection, and continued to speak it for the remainder 
 of his life with especial preference. But still, his uninterrupted 
 residence, of more than thirty years in Italy, always made him 
 look upon that country as his real home ; and thus the two lan- 
 guages, English and Italian, became a sort of second nature to 
 him, while the German, as was to have been expected, remained 
 a merely secondary convenience. He had probably never 
 received correct tuition in it, so incorrectly and ungrammatically 
 was he accustomed to write it. 
 
 At the college, in Exeter, there sprang up between him and a 
 school-mate named Francis Baring, the son of a cloth manufac- 
 turer, an intimate friendship, which continued to subsist until 
 1811, when Baring, who had in after years become remarkable 
 as the originator and founder of the great London firm of the 
 same name, died. There is yet extant, in the hands of his chil- 
 dren, a collection of Biblical sayings and book extracts, written by 
 my father at Exeter, in the year 1754, and also containing the 
 autograph of his friend Baring. When my father visited Eng- 
 land in 1772 this old friendship was renewed, during a business 
 and pleasure trip, undertaken by Baring and himself, through 
 England and Scotland, and led to a closer business connection 
 between the then London firm of John and Francis Baring and 
 my father's house in Leghorn, Otto Franck and Company. The 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 19 
 
 necessities of the Messrs. Baring, who had to import dye-stuffs 
 and like materials from Italy for the cloth manufactory, established 
 and afterwards enlarged by them, in Exeter, as well as for other 
 similar establishments, had laid the foundation of this business 
 connection. I shall, in the course of my present work, have occa- 
 sion, in relating my own very considerable intercourse with the 
 successors of the respected London firm, to return to the family. 
 My readers, probably, feel as little anxiety as I do myself, to 
 learn what was the real origin of my family, which I, God only 
 knows why, have always taken to be Italian. I recollect having 
 heard my father say that his grandfather had owned large mills 
 in the vicinity of Carlshamm, in Sweden. How, in the name of 
 sense, this circumstance could ever have put it into my head that 
 my family was of Italian descent, I cannot imagine. But when, 
 after a residence of several years, at a later period of my life, in 
 Trieste, I was about to leave that city, chance threw a kind of key 
 to the mystery in my way- — although, as I have already remarked, 
 I never gave myself much trouble about the matter. There then 
 lived, and if I am not greatly mistaken, still live at Trieste, three 
 merchants by the name of Vogel, one of whom, owing to his 
 extensive dealings in coffee, was nicknamed the Coffee Vogel ; 
 the other, on account of his business as agent for several commer- 
 cial houses, was called the Wandering Vogel ; and the third, who 
 had obtained from the Austrian government the exclusive privi- 
 lege of selling what amount of poisonous drugs were required for 
 consumption and exportation, was universally known as the 
 Poison Vogel* It was the latter who, a few days before my 
 departure from Trieste, took it into his head to give me a gleam 
 of light concerning my ancestors ; and told me, with great gravity, 
 that he had accidentally been reading the chronicles of an old 
 Austrian general of the Thirty Years' War, and had learned from 
 them that two commanders of Lombard regiments belonging to 
 his corps (Parmee, had taken French leave, and gone over to the 
 camp of Gustavus Adolphus. One of these two, he added, was 
 
 * These three German words mean, respectively, the coffee-bird, bird of 
 passage, and poison-bird. Hence, the spirit of the joke is greatly impaired by 
 translation. 
 
20 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 called Nolte : this, he seemed to consider, explained the riddle 
 of my Swedish and yet Italian origin, beyond a doubt ; for, that 
 the Swedish miller Nolte, in Carlshamm, was descended from the 
 Lombard deserter of the Austrian army, appeared to him a nat- 
 ural consequence and a matter of course. 
 
 I had just, a short time previously, entered my ninth year, 
 when my father formed the resolution of leaving Leghorn and 
 removing, with his whole family, which then consisted of my 
 mother and myself, one brother and two sisters, to Hamburgh, for 
 the purpose of securing to his children all the advantages which 
 would have been inaccessible to them had they remained longer 
 in Italy. Upon our arrival in Hamburgh, we first went to the 
 Senator Matsen, my grandfather on the mother's side, who was, 
 just at that time, amtmann in Ritzebuttel. Soon after our return 
 from that place, I was placed under the charge of a half-English, 
 half-French tutor by the name of Geris, a native of Jersey, who 
 was then carrying on an educational institute for boys in the neigh- 
 boring village of Oppendorf, where my father had purchased a 
 country-seat and garden. He was an indolent, ignorant man, who 
 surrendered the whole task of instructing' his pupils to all kinds 
 of under-tutors, and gave over the conduct of his household to a 
 menagere who was inclined to accept his not altogether Platonic 
 blandishments, and to pack off the dunces who amused themselves, 
 from time to time, by disturbing the bacchanalian exercises which 
 usually preceded those endearments. Some recollections of this 
 brief period, during which I learned nothing but to steal fruit from 
 the orchard, long remained fresh in my memory. My most inti- 
 mate crony, in those days, Siegmund Rucker, who. stood for so 
 many years at the head of the first sugar-broker business of the 
 London Exchange, died suddenly last summer, in his 74th year, 
 in consequence of the sudden suspension of payments by his firm. 
 My friendship with him, renewed in subsequent years at Leghorn, 
 lasted until his death. 
 
 After I had fooled away more than eighteen months in this par- 
 ody of an educational establishment, my father was obliged to 
 visit Leghorn on business, and took me with him, without any 
 other object in view, so far as I was concerned, than to have me 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 21 
 
 with him. We arrived in that city shortly before the commence- 
 ment of the carnival. A daily visit to the Opera House was freely 
 accorded me as I was only 1 1 years of age, and known, moreover, 
 as the son of one of the heaviest shareholders in the "Teatro 
 degl' avvalorati" ; hence, the progress of my education became 
 limited to the dancing hours of the, then, primo ballerino Gianfal- 
 doni, and the fencing rehearsals of his brother who, as leader of 
 the so-called Grotesque Quadrille, without which no ballet was con- 
 sidered possible at that time, also belonged to the corps. During 
 the performance of the opera, well-known masks are received into 
 all the boxes, in Italy, during the carnival season. So I, too, was 
 seized with a fancy to try my skill in the sport ; but, then, where 
 was I to get my dress ? who would give me the money, which was 
 sure to be refused me by my father 1 However, I managed to 
 overcome all these difficulties. When I was setting out from 
 Hamburgh they had given me, among other things, a gala-jacket 
 of wonderfully beautiful red cloth, and a pair of white cassimere 
 breeches, and as I had remarked that my uncle, who had succeeded 
 my father not only in the management of the Otto Franck estab- 
 lishment, but also in the Hamburgh Consulate as well as in the 
 use of the identical red consular coat left behind him by his 
 brother, used to cut a very ridiculous figure in that garment, I hit 
 upon the idea, and quickly determined to have my red jacket trans- 
 formed into a miniature consular uniform, and to appear in the 
 theatre as the " Signor Consolino di Amburgo," and to mimic my 
 uncle's laughable airs. The little consul created a perfect furor. 
 This impudent piece of roguish invention pleased my father 
 amazingly, but the one who never forgave me was, as I might have 
 expected, my good aunt, who was not at any time much inclined 
 to be amiable. 
 
 In the following spring my father took me back to Hamburgh, 
 and looked about him in search of a private tutor for myself and 
 my younger brother Henry. A truly lucky chance for me — I 
 have always regarded it as such, at least — brought to his notice a 
 Suabian graduate who pleased him at first sight, and was imme- 
 diately installed in our house as tutor. This person, a native of 
 Tubingen, who afterwards distinguished himself as one of the 
 
22 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 most valuable teachers in Hamburgh, and who has fashioned and 
 stored so many strong intellects and left the impression as well as 
 the traces of his rare talents as a precious legacy to his scholars, 
 was the future Gymnasium Professor Carl F. Hipp, whose name 
 has never ceased to live in the grateful recollection of his former 
 pupils, but has remained more especially stamped indelibly upon 
 my memory. More than forty-eight years have rolled away since 
 I was withdrawn from his charge, to return to Italy, where I was 
 to enter my father's establishment as an apprentice and begin my 
 mercantile career, yet I still look back with emotions of pleasure 
 to the time when I enjoyed the instruction of that excellent man. 
 
 He had always known how to gratify my restless love of 
 knowledge, in the fullest measure, give it a wholesome direction, 
 and managed to stimulate my natural diligence in such a degree 
 that I never failed to experience especial pleasure in accomplish- 
 ing the manifold tasks he put upon me to be learned between 
 afternoon and the next morning, and then again between Saturday 
 and Monday, and I felt quite proud when he, one day, wrote in a 
 report of my general behavior and proficiency, word to the effect 
 that with my many perfect recitations, I had regularly crushed 
 him to the ground. I arrived at Leghorn with this burning need 
 of activity and a no less eager zeal for progress in everything. 
 I there found my friend Riicker, who had also just been placed 
 as an apprentice, or to use our term, a volunteer, in the counting- 
 room of Messrs. Hoist. Conducted the very next morning to 
 the office of Franck, I was set at work, of course, upon the A B 
 C's of the mercantile craft, viz. : the copy-books, which were laid 
 before me in both the English and German languages, with the 
 intimation that making correct transcripts of the letters they 
 contained, in either tongue, would be my first employment. 
 The gentlemen letter-writers were of the usual kind, and their 
 wretched style and language wearied me to the utmost limits 
 of endurance, and their news touching oil and soap, brimstone 
 and Spanish liquorice had but little attraction for one like me, 
 whom my honored preceptor had inspired with a refined taste 
 for the firstlings of Schiller's Muse. Thus I toiled, most unwil- 
 lingly, without any zest for the work before me, and, conse- 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 23 
 
 quently, executed it badly. As already intimated, the guidance 
 of the house had remained in the hands of my uncle, a very weak 
 man, whose facility in transacting business was the only merit he 
 could count, to say that he had one. He possessed no knowl- 
 edge whatever of the world or of men, and gave ready heed to 
 the suggestions of inordinate vanity. The counting-room of 
 the house of Otto Franck and Co. was in the basement of the 
 still surviving house of Franchetti, adjoining the Mayoralty, — 
 the Piazza della Communita — on the corner of the Piazza 
 d'Arme. To come strutting out of the office entirely bareheaded, 
 with no cravat, his morning gown fluttering about him, his linen 
 open at the bosom and neck, and his feet decorated with a pair of 
 red Turkish slippers, and parade up and down half the length 
 of the square, attended by a train of gopds-and-money-brokers, 
 he gesticulating (an accomplishment sometimes, as every one 
 knows, often more readily learned in Italy than the language,) so 
 as to attract the notice of strangers to the Capo dela casa, Otto 
 Franco, as he was generally styled, gave him rare pleasure, 
 which nothing but bad weather could compel him to forego, and 
 even then the sacrifice was a sore one. It was out of the question 
 for me to expect any valuable instruction or correct mercantile 
 ideas from such a man. It never entered his head to inspect the 
 progress I was making or to cheer me forward and sustain me 
 in an amiable and instructive manner, by providing certain books 
 which the knowledge I gradually acquired of the business of the 
 house from its correspondence, and the trade transactions I saw 
 going around me, made me consider necessary. On the contrary ! 
 One day he took the notion to inspect one of the note books 
 upon which I had been busied. Mistakes and omissions were 
 instantly discovered, as my companions, directly afterwards, 
 informed me, — I had been looking for some slight correction or 
 information, but not a trace of either was vouchsafed. But, 
 there was a large dinner party at the house that same day. It 
 included strangers from all the commercial cities of Europe and 
 some notabilities of Leghorn, among others the influential and 
 popular advocate Baldasseroni. Of course I could not then 
 have dreamed that fifty years later I should be so familiar with 
 
24 REMINISCENCES OE THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 that man's great work on the Insurance System, written long 
 after the period of which I speak. I was sitting at the lower 
 corner of the table. Suddenly, in a pause of conversation, the 
 voice of my uncle, who was sitting at the upper end, rang out 
 with the following words, to make the punishment he wished to 
 administer the more impressive and severe : " Vincent ! I take 
 this opportunity of saying to you that it is long since I saw such 
 careless blundering work as your order-book exhibits !" The 
 effect produced by this abrupt attack upon an ambitious youth 
 of fifteen may be readily conceived. There I sat under the gaze 
 of the whole company as though I had been struck by lightning 
 and utterly annihilated, but at length managed to collect my 
 senses sufficiently to reply : " My own father, had he been here, 
 would not have taken advantage of such an occasion as this to 
 heap reproaches upon me," — then to spring up from my seat, and 
 making for the door, draw it to after me with great violence. 
 
 Such scenes as this, for the entertainment of his necessarily 
 invited guests, were not at all uncommon with my uncle. I need 
 not say to my readers that they inspired me with no respect for 
 him, and were not at all calculated to increase my attachment to 
 a mercantile life ; which, from the first, had been forced upon me, 
 instead of having been voluntarily selected. My mind had 
 acquired an artistic turn, and my predilection for painting made 
 me wish to become a painter. I wrote to that effect to my father, 
 but much as he respected art, and although he was himself an 
 amateur, and by no means a bad judge of pictures, he still curbed 
 my wishes, by upsetting me with the remark, that unless I felt an 
 inward conviction — that unless I could elevate myself into a 
 painter of the highest order, I should often, during my life, have 
 to feed on crusts. In saying this, my good father overlooked two 
 essential qualities which I possessed, and which might well have 
 led a young painter to his aim. One of these was a powerful 
 imagination, which, as early as my eighth year, enabled me, with- 
 out having enjoyed any instruction in drawing, to make a sketch 
 with charcoal, on a white garden wall, of Marlborough's funeral, 
 according to the French popular air, " Malbrouck s'en va-t-en 
 guerre." The second quality, which has never abandoned me 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. £5 
 
 throughout my whole life, is diligence and iron perseverance. I 
 still fancy that I should have made no mean painter, had free rein 
 been given to my own earnest wishes. 
 
 Neglect of my office duties was a natural consequence. I went 
 after all sorts of amusements, drew caricatures on my letter- 
 stand in the counting-room, frolicked for hours together with my 
 friend, the young and universally beloved painter Terreni, who 
 was a great fop, and had the mania of aping the dress and man- 
 ners of the Englishmen who from time to time made their 
 appearance in Leghorn. This disease, thanks to his illustrious 
 example, took root in my breast too ; and whenever, during the 
 course of the week, I could see a newly arrived visitor among the 
 English, who at that time were so constantly noticed at Leghorn, 
 but more especially at Florence, and could on the ensuing Sun- 
 day exhibit myself on the Corso attired in a similar costume, I 
 was supremely happy. The tailor had received no order forbid- 
 ding him to let me have clothes, and his account at the end of the 
 year presented the not inconsiderable sum total of twelve coats, 
 of all colors, and twenty-two pair of hose and pantaloons, which 
 were just then coming into fashion. By the way, this was a hered- 
 itary propensity. So long as he lived in Italy, my father had 
 paid great attention to his toilet, and when he left Leghorn, he 
 took with him to Hamburgh a whole wardrobe of embroidered 
 and laced coats of all colors, from his bottle-green gold-laced 
 wedding coat, lined with poppy-colored satin, and worn with hose 
 to match, to a simple coffee-colored frock — all of French cut and 
 make. After a time, he sold the collection to Schroder, then the- 
 atrical manager at Hamburgh. The wardrobe in question had 
 become very familiar to us all, from the regular quarterly brush- 
 ings and dustings it got — and I have a very lively recollection of 
 what occurred some time subsequent to the sale, in the theatre — 
 whither we had gone, to see Schroder himself in the part of 
 Count Klingsberg, in his comedy " Die Ungluckliehe Ehe au;- 
 Delicatessen" — ("Too much refinement makes unhappy matches.") 
 When Schroder appeared, my eldest sister, since Madame Berke- 
 meyer, recognized the familiar garment he wore, and shouted out., 
 2 
 
26 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 " That's papa's coat ! That's papa's coat !" or, to use the Hair 
 burgh phraseology, " That's papa, his coat !" 
 
 My uncle was altogether dissatisfied with me. I cannot con- 
 jecture what ideas he formed as to the causes of my frequent ab- 
 sence from the counting-room, although he knew that I often re- 
 paired to the stable and went off on horseback. But the vicinity 
 of the aforesaid stable was a dangerous one, — for, in the opposite 
 house there lived all sorts of sirens, in the persons of two or three 
 right pretty ballet-girls. He hit upon the lucky thought of com- 
 ing to an arrangement with the Barigello, the captain of the sbirri 
 or policemen, to have him watch my movements and make a daily 
 report to him. One of the Swiss porters, usually styled facchini, 
 belonging to our house, who had taken a liking to me, noticed the 
 spy's hang-dog countenance in the vicinity of our office every day, 
 and soon perceived the sort of surveillance to which I was sub- 
 jected. Greatly astonished at my uncle's course, he informed me 
 of it, and pointed out the policeman who was watching me and 
 my movements. On the next day, the instant I observed, to use 
 Schiller's expression in Fiesco, the confiscated face of this fellow, 
 I pounced upon him with : cosa volete, birbante ? [what do you 
 want, you scoundrel ?] and afterwards repeated the agreeable in- 
 quiry every time I saw him. The well laid plan, thus being dis- 
 covered, had to be given up, partly because it must have been 
 evident that I was on the look-out, and partly in consequence of 
 the fact that the report amounted to the same thing every day, 
 not forgetting either the ballet-girls, or my excursions on 
 horseback. 
 
 But, a remarkable historical epoch was just then opening, — an 
 epoch destined to exert the greatest influence on the face of 
 Europe both territorially and politically. It affected my career 
 in the obscure condition of an apprenticed clerk in one of the first 
 mercantile houses of Leghorn, where, like a young colt taken from 
 its parent, I spurned the authority placed over me, in the person 
 of my ridiculous uncle, and rebelled at every measure taken to 
 subdue me. This tvas the invasion of Italy by the French Revo- 
 lutionary army under Bonaparte, and the" first victorious cam- 
 paign of that leader in Lombardy, whence he advanced in person 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 27 
 
 with a considerable division of his force into Tuscany. The Eng- 
 lish consul at Florence had managed to ascertain the direction and 
 route to be pursued by this column, and as he could have no 
 doubt in relation to its final destination and object, he, at once, 
 dispatched an express to Mr. Udney, the English consul, then re- 
 siding at Leghorn. The courier arrived on the last Saturday of 
 June, 1796, and his appearance was followed by an immediate 
 assembling of all the English merchants in Leghorn, at the con- 
 sulate. The consul advised these gentlemen to have all their 
 goods and merchandise conveyed, as soon as possible, on board of 
 the English ships, then lying in the harbor, and to put themselves 
 under the protection of a British squadron which was cruising off 
 the roads. This squadron was small in numbers, but commanded 
 by the already distinguished Commodore Nelson. During the 
 whole of Sunday until late at night, and, then again, early on 
 Monday morning, unusual activity reigned in every part of the 
 minor port of the Darsena so called, and also in the outside harbor 
 of the " molo." On Monday, about noon, the last ships stood out 
 of the harbor with a favoring breeze.* It was scarcely two 
 o'clock when word was suddenly spread through the city that a 
 column of French troops were advancing, with cavalry at their 
 head, on Leghorn, along the great highway leading from Pisa. 
 As the mounted force reached the Porta Pisa, a detachment of 
 them galloped directly, outside of the fortifications, to the harbor- 
 gate, the Porta Colonella, and rode straight to the CasteW Vecchio 
 or fort, over which the Tuscan flag was waving. All at once we 
 saw the flag disappear and the French tricolor, hitherto unknown 
 to us, run up in its stead. At the same moment, a few cannon- 
 
 * Thiers states that Bonaparte broke up the English factory at Leghorn, 
 and that he did not succeed in capturing all the English ships. The truth 
 is, that all the ships escaped, and that no English factory existed at Leghorn. 
 There were many independent English houses there established, like the houses 
 of other nations, but no such thing as an exclusive English company existed. 
 This act of violence was committed at a time of profound" peace with France, 
 so far as we were concerned, without the least excuse. Governor Spanocchi 
 was reproached with having extended a friendly reception to emigres and foes 
 of the Republic. 
 
28 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 shots were discharged at the English vessels which were tacking 
 out of the harbor, but had not yet reached the roads. 
 
 Nelson knew what he was about. I could no longer restrain my 
 curiosity, but ran out into the large street, the Strada Ferdinanda, 
 which runs in a direct line from the Porta Pisa to the Porto 
 Colonella, and saw at the head of the cavalry a magnificent rider, 
 far surpassing* I thought, anything of the kind I had ever pre- 
 viously beheld, who galloped in and alighted at the door of th« 
 Genoese banker, Dutremoul. I soon learned that it was the 
 famous General Murat. This was between two and three o'clock 
 in the afternoon. About six, it was reported that General 
 Bonaparte had reached the Porta Pisa. No sooner did he learn 
 that the English residing at Leghorn, had found time to escape 
 with their property, than he burst into a violent rage. Just at 
 this moment, Count Spanocchi, the governor of the city, attired 
 in his customary uniform, a blue coat, red waistcoat, and white 
 breeches (the gala uniform consisted of a white coat with red vest 
 and breeches), and surrounded by his officers and the first 
 authorities of the city, approached Bonaparte, where he sat 
 holding in his horse, and was about to offer him some words of 
 welcome. But the general left him no time, for he cut short all 
 the fine things he was going to say with the following lecture : — 
 " How do you presume to appear thus in my presence 9 Do 
 you not know your business better % You are a shameless fellow, 
 — a traitor to the country ! You have allowed the English to 
 escape, and shall give strict account of it. A court-martial shall 
 be instantly set over you, — you are my prisoner, — surrender 
 your, sword!" And with the conclusion of this Spanocchi 
 vanished. Bonaparte's words were repeated to me the same 
 evening in our counting-room, by my fellow-clerk, Giacomini, 
 who had squeezed with the crowd out of the Porta Pisa, and had 
 heard all that passed. We learned next day, that the late com- 
 mandant of the city had been placed under arrest during the same 
 night, and that the French GTeneral Vaubois would now act in his 
 place. Scarcely had Bonaparte entered the city with his staff, 
 and ridden to the grand ducal palace, when the police entered 
 every house and ordered the windows to be illuminated, under 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. * 29 
 
 threat of severe penalty, in case of disobedience. The single 
 paper then issued at Leghorn, appeared next morning with a 
 flaming account, describing the arrival of the victor of Lodi and 
 Areola, with an additional paragraph stating that the city had at 
 once been voluntarily illuminated. Thus I got a very fair idea 
 of a voluntary illumination, and never erred in after life as to the 
 meaning of this expression. 
 
 About eleven o'clock on the ensuing day all the foreign consuls 
 waited upon Bonaparte, who was dismissing them very abruptly, 
 when his glance happened to fall suddenly upon my uncle in his 
 red consular uniform. He instantly accosted my worthy relative 
 thus : — " What's that 1 An English uniform ]" My uncle, over- 
 whelmed with confusion, had just presence of mind enough left to 
 stammer out : " No, Padrone''' (this word was probably borrowed 
 from the street corners). " No, questa e Vuniforma di Amburgo /" 
 " No, master (or boss), this is the uniform of Hamburgh !" 
 Having thus delivered himself, he tried to get away ; but Bona- 
 parte went on with a fierce diatribe against everything that even 
 looked English, thought English ideas, or could have any inter- 
 course whatever with England. " These Englishmen," said he, 
 according to the recital of my uncle when returned to the house, 
 " These Englishmen shall get such a lesson as they never heard 
 of before ! I march now on Vienna, and then farther northwards, 
 where I will destroy their hiding places at Hamburgh and other 
 places of resort, and then ferret them out in their own piratical 
 nest !" My uncle told me that upon this outbreak, he could not 
 keep himself from exclaiming aloud, Birbante ! (villain !) before 
 the whole company present, but that the sound of it was lost in the 
 general buzz of the throng. 
 
 However, any one acquainted with my uncle, is well aware that 
 with him the deed was often far behind the thought, and such was, 
 no doubt, the case in the instance just mentioned. 
 
 On the Piazza d'arme, where the French cavalry checked public 
 circulation with especial vigilance, the concourse of people was so 
 great that it was almost impossible to make one's way through 
 the crowd. As to the younger employes in our counting-room, 
 of whom I was the very youngest, our porters had received the 
 
30 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 strictest directions not to let any of them pass out. But I wanted 
 to see the young hero, the man of the day, who, although not yet 
 twenty-eight years of age, had made such havoc among the gray- 
 beard commanders of the Austrian army, and could not make up 
 my mind to stay nailed to my desk, copying news concerning oil, 
 soap and Spanish liquorice, while this human phenomenon was to 
 be seen in the near vicinity ; for I have already stated that the 
 grand ducal palace in which be quartered, was separated from our 
 establishment only by the mayoralty, the Palazzo della commit- 
 nita. So, I managed to slip out of the house by stealth, and to 
 advance a few steps to the corner of the street whose entrance is 
 formed by the two palaces. Here a coach was in attendance for 
 the French commander, and I stood by, waiting until he should 
 come out. At length he appeared, surrounded by a number of 
 officers. I saw before me a diminutive, youthful-looking man, in 
 simple uniform ; his complexion was pallid and of almost yellow- 
 ish hue, and long, sleek, jet-black hair, like that of the Talapouche 
 Indians of Florida, hung down over both ears. This was the 
 victor of Areola ! While he was taking his place on the right hand 
 seat in the carriage and waiting for his adjutant, I had a moment's 
 opportunity to examine him with attention : — around his mouth 
 played a constant smile with which the rest of mankind had, evi- 
 dently, nothing to do ; for the cold, un sympathizing glance that 
 looked out of his eyes, showed that the mind was busied else- 
 where. Never did I see such a look ! It was the dull gaze of a 
 mummy, only that a certain ray of intelligence revealed the 
 inner soul, yet gave but a feeble reflection of its light. Macbeth's 
 words to the ghost of Banquo would almost have applied here : 
 " there is no speculation in those eyes," had not what was already 
 recorded and what afterwards transpired, unmistakably shown the 
 soul that burned behind that dull gaze. At last the coach was 
 driven off — and an interval of seven years elapsed ere I again saw 
 this remarkable man. He left Leghorn the next day. I must not 
 omit mentioning that an officer of colossal but symmetrical pro- 
 portions stood at the carriage-steps in an attitude of profound 
 respect. This was the newly-appointed city-major, afterwards 
 General Hullin, the very grenadier who, seven years previously 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 81 
 
 to the period of which I am speaking, on July 14th, 1789, at the 
 storming of the Bastille, was the first man to scale its walls, and 
 who subsequently attained the sad eminence of being made presi- 
 dent of the military commission who were ordered to try, or 
 rather to execute the unfortunate Due d'Enghien, at Vincennes. 
 He was also, after the battle of Jena, made Governor-general of 
 Berlin. When the coach was gone, the by-standers related that 
 Bonaparte had thrown a small purse, full of gold, to Hullin, 
 with wopds to the effect that he must make a good use of his posi- 
 tion, and no longer be such a simpleton as he had been hereto- 
 fore. Relata repeto — for I neither heard nor saw any thing of 
 this, near as I was to the carriage. 
 
 The demeanor of the French army in Leghorn was unendurable 
 to the inhabitants of that city. A portion of their most valuable 
 trade was taken away from them, viz. : their commerce with Eng- 
 land. Immense masses of troops were, from time to time, 
 marched through the city, and frequent contributions of money, 
 equipments, &c, were levied. The troops who came in, ragged 
 and often unshod, left the place as soon as they had been comfort- 
 ably clothed, and provided with shoes to their feet. The very 
 sight of the French national cockade had become hateful to the 
 eyes of all the inhabitants. The common people called it " il 
 pasticcino," the patty-pie, and gave vent to their inward dissatis- 
 faction in all sorts of street-ballads, one of which I still vividly 
 remember. The last lines of it, hitting at the frequent change of 
 troops who came to Leghorn only to be re-clad and get a new out- 
 fit, were in the popular dialect, as follows : 
 
 " Io cledevo di veder fla pochino, 
 Che se n'andasser via questi blicconi : 
 
 Dia Saglata ! ne vien ogni tautino 
 Quasi, quasi dilei, Dio mi peldoni 1 
 
 che anche Clisto polta il palticcino, 
 O che i Soplani son tanti minchioni !"* 
 
 (In English : I thought that we should have seen these rascals 
 
 * The real word used here, and beginning with C, was of a much lower 
 
 character 
 
32 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 leave the place in a short time — Good God ! more of them flock 
 in, every moment ! A man might almost say — God forgive me ! 
 — that either Christ himself has stuck on the patty -pie, or that our 
 princes are only so many chuckle-heads !) 
 
 Leghorn was like a camp. In the Piazza d'arme they had put 
 up the statues of Liberty on a broad altar, and there the popular 
 representatives Garat and Salicetti made long speeches to the sol- 
 diers at every daily parade. Business was at a stand-still, in all 
 the counting-houses, our own not excepted. I sauntered about, 
 made sketches of the French soldiery and the street-groups, in- 
 vented all kinds of follies to pass away the time, and spent con- 
 siderable sums of money. Antonio Antoni, the old cashier of 
 our establishment, had too much respect for the son of his former 
 master and the nephew of his present one, to deny me any thing ; 
 — so he gave me all I asked, and that he had a good reason for so 
 doing and for keeping me in a good humor, was afterwards made 
 manifest by the circumstance that, through my uncle's negligence 
 in looking after the books and asking for a yearly balance-sheet, 
 the said books remained four years in arrear. 
 
 When, at length, by the advice of one of our two book-keepers, 
 an Englishman, named Henry Betts, an attempt was made to 
 regulate our accounts, a gradual peculation of about sixty thou- 
 sand pezza in the four years was discovered. The other book- 
 keeper was a brother of the unfaithful cashier, and the embezzle- 
 ment was thus easily explained. Only think into what hands I 
 had fallen, to practice and acquire the elements of commercial 
 knowledge ! 
 
 No one can give what he does not himself possess ; and if my 
 uncle had no clear conception of a merchant's true value, or of his 
 own duties to himself and others, it was of course impossible for 
 him to impart correct ideas to me. Yet, all that I should have 
 needed was here and there a hint or two from the lips of an expe- 
 rienced and cautious man, and such instruction would soon have 
 brought me back to the right path. But I had to do without all 
 this, and learned to feel their necessity only in after years. For- 
 tunately, my good sense remained unimpaired. There was no 
 one to store my mind with those indispensable requisites which, 
 
 4K * 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 33 
 
 as my predecessor Benecke says, in his Memoirs published by 
 his family, were according to the judgment of such men as Brisch, 
 Brodhagen, Ebeling, and others, absolutely necessary at that time, 
 to any one who desired to attain even a degree of perfect acquaint- 
 ance with mercantile science. These requisites were — 
 
 1. An intimate theoretical knowledge of the whole commercial 
 system. 
 
 2. A knowledge of all commercial regulations, agreements, and 
 the laws of trade and exchange. 
 
 3. The possession of several foreign languages ; for instance, 
 French, English, Spanish, Italian, etc., etc. 
 
 4. Facility in calculation (Arithmetic). 
 
 5. A knowledge of Chemistry. 
 
 6. Technology. 
 
 7. The different classes and qualities of manufactured and other 
 goods, and their materials. 
 
 8. Geometry and Mechanics (Mathematics). 
 
 9. Physics. 
 
 10. Commercial Geography. 
 
 11. The history of Trade. 
 
 12. Natural History in all its branches ; so as to have a knowl- 
 edge of the first origin of various products. And, finally, when 
 all this had been learned, the next point was — 
 
 13. Good and ready penmanship ! ! ! 
 
 Benecke states, with perfect frankness, that he diligently ap- 
 plied himself to the acquisition of all these things, so as to be 
 competent to accept a place in some counting-house. What 
 would a pupil of the present day be likely to say to any one who, 
 as he first presented himself in the counting-room, should ask him 
 if he had gone through a regular mercantile education in the pre- 
 paratory branches detailed above 1 ? Why, most assuredly he 
 would make his escape without delay — and so should I have done. 
 
 Early in the beginning of the year 1797 my uncle determined 
 to send his family into the country, in the neighborhood of Flor 
 ence, and for that purpose rented the Villa Pandolfini, close by 
 the Grand Ducal pleasure palace called the Poggio Imperiale, in 
 the loveliest part of the little village of San Leonardo, and sent 
 
 2* 
 
34 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 me thither to keep my aunt company, but without appointing me 
 any other employment. The summer slipped away in daily 
 morning promenades to the picture gallery, and evening strolls 
 on the Ponte della Trinita, where the fashionable society of Flor- 
 ence used to assemble, the gentlemen nearly always bareheaded, 
 but provided with parasols and fans. There they would walk to 
 and fro ; and thither, every evening, among the throng came the 
 fair one who had riveted my attention. Just opposite to the 
 Villa Pandolfini lived a banker. I shall not now mention his 
 name, but he was a widower, owned the villa he inhabited, and 
 was often visited there by an only daughter. This banker was 
 the person through whom my aunt received her funds, and hence 
 our acquaintanceship was soon formed. The two young people, 
 that is to say, Mademoiselle and I, were mutually pleased with 
 each other. I had begun this flirtation as a mere pastime, but my 
 young beauty took it all the more to heart. We appointed secret 
 meetings at her villa, and sometimes even in Florence. My 
 aunt's vigilance was aroused by these proceedings, and she forth- 
 with wrote to her husband in Leghorn, that I would inevitably 
 put myself in for it, as we used to say at Hamburgh. My uncle 
 went still farther, and wrote to Mr. Nolte, sen., in Hamburgh, 
 that I, already half ruined, in both body and soul, was now in a 
 sure way to go headlong to the devil, unless he at once sent for 
 me to come home. 
 
 My father's orders to pack me off to him were not long in 
 reaching me, and in, the month of October, my uncle Matsen, on 
 the mother's side (afterwards Consul for Hamburgh at Naples), 
 conducted me back to my parents. A few days of bitter re- 
 proaches, on account of prodigality and recklessness, were soon 
 past, and my father set me to work in his own counting-house, 
 where I fell to with such persevering zeal and diligence, that he 
 was pleased with me beyond measure, and in the very next 
 twelvemonth intrusted me with his bank-book — a mark of confi- 
 dence seldom bestowed upon so young a man. My. father saw 
 that if I had received no proper guidance, employment, and en- 
 couragement to progress in my calling, it must have been his 
 brother's fault. The ready ease with which I could oversee and 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 35 
 
 manage my father's business, which was quite simple, left me 
 plenty of leisure time. I had acquired great fondness for the 
 theatre, and visited it as often as I could. Comedies, dramas and 
 tragedies were collected and studied with eagerness, and the 
 French stage, which was put in operation at Hamburgh just about 
 that time, facilitated the enjoyment of my extreme preference for 
 everything connected with the theatrical world, which occupied 
 me to the exclusion of other side-pursuits, and exercised all the 
 faculties of my mind. 
 
 The arrival of a most excellent company of players, who had 
 been driven out of Brussels, or had left it for lack of sufficient 
 support, and among whom were several performers of considera 
 b'le talent — for instance, the dramatic actors Mees and Bergamin, 
 and the baritone singer Deriibelle — occasioned the establishment 
 of this theatre, which in a short time became the theatre of the 
 Hamburgh fashionables. The large number of French emigrants 
 of rank, at that time residing in Hamburgh, and also the attend- 
 ance of the notabilities of Hamburgh society, secured the managers 
 great success. The contract for printing the play -bills had fallen 
 into the hands of a highly-noble and highly-wise city council 
 printer, named George F. Schniebes, who looked up to Benjamin 
 Franklin as the patron saint of his order, and did his best to imi 
 tate him, at least in dress. For he too wore a kind of fur cap on 
 his head, mounted a pair of spectacles on his nose, and appeared 
 in a kind of morning-gown. There was no trouble in translating 
 the play-bill, so long as the Lexicon afforded the means of Ger- 
 manizing the French titles — for instance, " La Caravane du Caire," 
 or, " Felix ou l'Enfant trouve." But whenever the dictionary 
 was at fault, in regard to certain words, he gave them the nearest 
 translation possible, " to the best of his knowledge and belief," as 
 he has often confessed to me. The first of these, that made me 
 roar, was : " L'Amant Statue," translated by Schniebes, The Stiff 
 Lover. The next was " (Edipe a Colonne" CEdipus at Cologne. 
 Aid can be given this man, I said to myself, maliciously, with 
 Schiller's Robber Moor, at the end of his great play, and so offered 
 my treacherous assistance to the city council printer in translating 
 his theatre bills. After that the street-corners were decorated 
 
3f, REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 with the following attractive placards : — " Le Marechal ferrant" 
 — Marshal Ferrant. " Les precieuses ridicules" — The ridiculous 
 treasures. " Nicaise Peintre" — Painter Nick. " La Dinde aux 
 louis" — Louis' Turkey. " La veillee et la matinee villageoise" — 
 The old woman and a country morning. "Les amants prothees" 
 — The lovers of tea. The whole town laughed at these absurd 
 translations, yet it greatly displeased Mr. Schniebes when any 
 one tried to convince him that folks were laughing at his expense, 
 in coming to his aid with such translations. His invariable 
 answer was, that he perfectly understood the French language him- 
 self, and moreover had an assistant, upon whose knowledge of 
 languages he placed full reliance. 
 
 Yet a play-bill, received from Mayence, put me to shame, and 
 far surpassed anything I could do in that line. It ran thus : — 
 " L'Abbe de l'Epee, Instituteur des Sourds muets" — The Abbot 
 of the Sword, Instigator of Doves and dumb people. 
 
 But the year 1799, a disastrous one for Hamburgh, was now 
 upon us. Circumstances, which I have elsewhere described, occa- 
 sioned, within the space of six weeks, some 136 failures, amount- 
 ing to no less a total than 36,902,000 Marks banco, and crippled 
 or prostrated every branch of business and business connection. 
 The largest of these failures was that of Messrs. de Dobbeler & 
 Hesse, for the sum of 3,100,000 Ms. banco ; the next, that of 
 J. D. Rodde, for 2,200,000 Ms. banco. Of all the rest, only the 
 Messrs. Nootnagel, Schwartz & Roques, who failed for 1,540,800 
 Ms. banco, Bernhard Roosen Salomon, Son,' for 1,037,000 Ms., 
 and Axen & Hinsch, for 360,000 Ms. banco, were enabled to 
 resume payment in a short time, and fully satisfy their creditors. 
 Many considerable houses managed to settle up their affairs by 
 quiet private agreement. 
 
 During this convulsive state of the Hamburgh Bourse, the Lon- 
 don Exchange bestirred itself, since merchandise and bills of ex- 
 change could afford no immediate relief, at a time when discount 
 had risen to fourteen per cent., and merchandise, even sugar, had 
 fallen thirty-five per cent, in price, to render aid by cash remit- 
 tances, and procured from Government the use of the frigate 
 Lutine, which took on board over a million pounds sterling worth 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 37 
 
 of silver, and sailed for the Texel. I need not describe the anxiety 
 with which the arrival of this ship was looked forward to ; it can be 
 readily comprehended, as well as the disappointment that followed, 
 when the mournful news reached us that the frigate ha<J been 
 wrecked on the Dutch coast, near the Texel, and lost, with all on 
 board, excepting the third steersman, who alone succeeded in 
 saving his life, and brought the disastrous intelligence. 
 
 However, one cheerful recollection remains to me from that 
 gloomy time. It relates to the honorable and highly esteemed 
 house of the Brothers Kaufmann, who were compelled, by the 
 pressure of circumstances, to suspend payment, but began again a 
 short time afterwards, and completely re-established themselves. 
 One of these gentlemen, who had just married, had presented his 
 wife with a ticket *in the Hamburgh City Lottery. The highest 
 prize was 100,000 Marks banco. About the same time the tick- 
 ets of a lottery, to be drawn for a farm worth 50,000 Prussian 
 thalers, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburgh, were put in circu- 
 lation, and the winning number was to be the same that should 
 draw the prize in the Hamburgh lottery. Mr. Kaufmann's bride 
 had taken it into her head to purchase the same number as the 
 one on her Hamburgh ticket in the farm lottery, and make a 
 present of it to her husband. Fortune favored them both, 
 for they were the winners. I was relating this anecdote two 
 years ago at a small dinner party, when, as I concluded, a gen- 
 tleman sitting opposite to me remarked, " The incident you have 
 been narrating, Mr. Nolte, is accurately true, for the parties you 
 mentioned were my father and mother." This gentleman was 
 the present Syndic Kaufmann. 
 
 The crisis had been too severely felt at Hamburgh, and had 
 affected commercial connexions of every kind too thoroughly, not 
 to bear heavily upon my father's business, and even threaten to 
 tear it from its hitherto quiet and steady current. This business 
 consisted, almost exclusively, in the collection of orders and con- 
 signments for the Leghorn house, and was compelled, in view of 
 the retrogression of all enterprising spirt on the Hamburgh 
 Bourse, which was the result of necessity, to contract its opera- 
 tions in proportion as the English and French war placed more 
 
38 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 and more obstacles, in the way of everything like commerce, to 
 and from the Mediterranean. Neither was the occupation of 
 Hamburgh, in the spring of 1801, by the Danish troops, under 
 Prince Charles of Hesse, exactly calculated to enliven the custom- 
 ary enterprising spirit of our Bourse. 
 
 The very feeble interest awakened in me by my father's busi- 
 ness, and, to tell the truth, by anything that related to commerce, 
 allowed me to look, with a certain degree of unconcern, upon a 
 state of things generally critical to merchants whose capital was 
 only moderate, and I had never taken the trouble to find out the 
 condition of my father's pecuniary affairs. He had never mani- 
 fested any trace of anxiety about himself. So I satisfied myself with 
 a conscientious discharge of my counting-room duties, and then 
 employed my abundant leisure time with a variety of other 
 things. A turn for writing had taken hold of me. A paper, then 
 conducted by Court Councillor Spazier, at Leipsic, and entitled a 
 " Gazette for the World of Fashion," gave me an opening to 
 write some sketches of social matters in our own city, which 
 were penned with a certain smack of humor, accepted by the 
 editor, and very favorably read in his paper. This thing pleased 
 me amazingly. I worked at night, and not a soul in Hamburgh 
 ever suspected that I was the author of these sketches. 
 
 The older and extensive houses of Hamburgh suffered com- 
 paratively little in the crisis I have described. Hamburgh, 
 whither a large portion of the French emigration had directed 
 their steps, and which served as a place of refuge to a part of the 
 French nobility of the highest rank, and had received and shel- 
 tered them with its means and its hospitality, had become an ex- 
 tremely gay and sociable place of residence. In front of the 
 Dammthor, in the direction of the Grind-el-Allee, had lived for 
 some time Madame de Genlis, Generals Dumouriez and Valence ; 
 even the Due de Penthievre (afterward King Louis Philippe), 
 Prince Talleyrand, and other notabilities. Several of them were 
 to be met with in the various social circles, and at the soirees of 
 Mr. Peter Godeffroy, which took place every Wednesday even- 
 ing, might, among others, have been seen the Baron de Breteuil, 
 who at one time played an important part at the Court of Louis 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 39 
 
 XVI., had been styled by Chamfort " a relic of the olden time," 
 and, notwithstanding the simplicity of his life, was regarded with 
 great respect and consideration. He attracted my attention in a 
 very particular degree by his imposing presence and his non- 
 committal eye. These soirees, too, had their picture drawn in 
 the " Gazette," but, as I have just said, no suspicion alighted on 
 me. The theatre continued to be my favorite study and pursuit. 
 I never rested until I had completely inoculated my friend, Peter 
 Godeffroy, jr., with my mania for the play ; through him his father 
 caught the complaint, and it spread to the whole family ; so that 
 at length the French architect Ramee, the same who had built 
 our first Borsenhalle (Exchange), was directed to put up a stage, 
 etc., in the large establishment of Mr. Godeffroy, and there, in the 
 course of the winter, we all made our debut. Our company con- 
 sisted of fourteen persons, and among them four ladies, belonging 
 to the first families in Hamburgh. Of these, Mr. Godeffroy's two 
 daughters, Madame R. Parish, in Niensteden, and Mrs. General 
 Ponsett, in the Crimea, are yet living. Of the male performers, 
 I am now the only survivor. Senator Ferdinand Schwartz, who 
 died some years ago, displayed much talent in the comic line, 
 when the part happened to suit his peculiar humor. 
 
 During the two succeeding years the palmy days of Ham- 
 burgh's prosperity were fast drawing to a close. The business 
 circumstances of my father, who had several years before with- 
 drawn from the Leghorn house, but sank a considerable sum in 
 its failure, which occurred about this time, were greatly impaired ; 
 in short, he came back, and, without making the slightest attempt 
 to sustain himself, at once came to the resolution of compounding 
 with his creditors for eighty-five per cent., and thus swamped 
 nearly everything he possessed in the world. 
 
 One of his numerous friends directly afterwards placed in his 
 hands an accumulated capital of 120,000 marks to which his old 
 ally Sir Francis Baring, Bart., also contributed 20,000 marks by re 
 linquishing all rates for interest, and this sum enabled my father to 
 recommence business. He was then sixty-three years of age, and 
 had with his advancing age not been able, after settling in Ham- 
 burgh, to expand* or uplift his mercantile ideas and combinations 
 
40 REMINISCENCES OF THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 beyond the limits of an experience gradually acquired during a 
 long career at Leghorn. Every thing on the European continent 
 belonging to the mercantile profession, and which the iron hand of 
 Napoleon, that deadly foe of all commerce, had not yet seized, 
 had soon to feel its weight in a greater or less degree ; the usual 
 avenues of legitimate profit were gradually narrowed, and at last 
 entirely closed, and my father utterly lacked each and every qual- 
 ity requisite to the invention of new channels and sources of re- 
 lief, not to say that he had neither the courage nor the capital to 
 have brought to bear upon them. I could, therefore, render him 
 no assistance, — that we both fully understood. He rejected every 
 word of advice I ventured to offer him, as the idle talk of a pre 
 sumptuous and imprudent boy ; seriously thought that I cared for 
 nothing but amusement, never took into account the inward 
 strength and capacity I possessed, and which only required proper 
 guidance to achieve something useful, yet was fully open to my 
 mother's, counsel, and at length approved of my proposition to 
 separate from him and go in search of fortune to other parts of 
 the world. I desired and made application for a place in some; 
 other country : many such openings were held out to me by 
 numerous family-friends, who judged of me more favorably than 
 my own father did : one of these was in the house of Lobotker 
 and Company in Copenhagen, the other in the house of Dobree, 
 and the third with Messrs. A. M. Labouchere and Trotreau,— the 
 latter two at Nantes. The last of these places was proposed to 
 me by Messrs. Matthiesen and Sillem, who were especially friendly 
 to me, with the idea of my conducting the German and English 
 correspondence of the house they named. The position of this 
 latter establishment was more important than that of the other, 
 but their offer was unconnected with any view of my future part- 
 nership in the house itself, such as was presented to me by the 
 Copenhagen establishment ; but after mature deliberation touch- 
 ing my knowledge and capacity, I decided that I could make no 
 just claim to the position offered me in Copenhagen, and there- 
 upon concluded an agreement with the concern at Nantes for the 
 term of three years. My friend Peter Godeffroy took my exten- 
 sive library of plays off my hands, and the price they were worth 
 
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 41 
 
 was applied to meet the expenses of my journey to Nantes, includ- 
 ing a brief stay at Paris. I parted from my friends and parents 
 with a heavy heart indeed, but without any concern in relation 
 to myself and my future. 
 
 My route lay through Bremen, where I accidentally fell in with 
 three very agreeable travelling companions, — the Count von Hax- 
 thausen, of the Royal Danish Life-guards from Copenhagen, Major 
 Holstein of the Queen's Jagers on the Island of Amager, and a 
 young man of fine education called Joly, from Antwerp, who left 
 us at Brussels. At length we arrived in Paris on the eleventh 
 day after my departure from Hamburgh. My two Danish friends 
 went to one of the best hotels ; but I, for the purpose of living 
 economically, went, on the recommendation of our conductor, to 
 the small Hotel St. Pierre in the dirty little street St. Pierre de 
 Montmartre, close by the Messageries. 
 
 It was in this place that experience first taught me how erro- 
 neous it is to suppose that any real saving can be effected in what 
 are styled the cheap hotels, where food and lodging are vastly 
 inferior to those found in better class-houses, and in a place like 
 Paris, where, in those days much more than at present, they 
 were dependent upon profits made upon strangers, the unavoida- 
 ble roguery was much more repulsive and unblushing. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 PARIS— NANTES— AMSTERDAM. 
 
 rhe trial of General Moreau at Paris, when I arrived there — State of opinion in 
 that capital — Napoleon's first parade as Emperor, on the Place du Car- 
 rousal — Departure for Nantes — My entry into the house of A. M. Labou- 
 chere and Trotreau — The two head partners — My departure from 
 Amsterdam at the request of P. C. Labouchere, head of the firm of Hope 
 and Co., in that city — Some notice of the history of that house, and the 
 characteristics of its leading partner — The object of my journey to the 
 United States and farther intentions — Unexampled business projects with 
 the banker, G. J. Ouvrard, in Paris. 
 
 The moment of my arrival in Paris was just at that period 
 when the First Consul was proclaimed Emperor by the Senatus 
 Consultum of the 18th of May, 1804, and General Moreau had 
 been arrested, and was confined in prison as an accomplice in a 
 plot against the government and the life of the First Consul. A 
 piece of good luck befell me in Paris which I might heartily wish 
 should be allotted to every one who visits that city for the first 
 time, viz : that I was enabled to secure the intimacy of a friend 
 who had long been thoroughly acquainted with the city, and who 
 was, nevertheless, not in the least unwilling to represent the 
 part of a regular cicerone in escorting the new-comer to every 
 place of interest, but who had, moreover, acquired a knowledge 
 of Paris life, in all its phases, and was thus enabled to obtain 
 admission for strangers into many places not always easily 
 accessible to them, and when there, could point out many things 
 worthy of remark which might have escaped the notice of an 
 inexperienced eye. Thus, for instance, access to Frascati's, at 
 that time the favorite resort of the elegant Parisian world, was 
 free to every one who had paid his entrance fee ; but what good 
 
PARIS. 43 
 
 would it have done me to walk alone through its magnificent 
 saloons and splendidly illuminated gardens '? But to learn, on such 
 an evening, that the beautiful woman who, just at that moment, 
 stood before me was Madame Recamier ; that the elegant 
 young man, leaning against the pedestal of a statue, was the cele- 
 brated dancer Trenis, and that the person near him, with a note- 
 book of music in his hand, the renowned vocalist Garat, was 
 something which rendered the presence of a well-informed and 
 agreeable companion absolutely necessary. Such a friend it was 
 my lot to find, and in this way I, in a few weeks, was enabled to 
 know and understand Paris as perfectly as though I had passed 
 a long time there. Nothing, however, of all the novelties that I 
 had an opportunity of seeing and hearing made a deeper impres- 
 sion upon me than the lively and universal interest which every 
 one around me seemed to take in the fate of the imprisoned 
 General Moreau. His name was seldom pronounced, by the 
 middle and lower classes, unless coupled with an expression of 
 the greatest love and respect, and without a malediction upon 
 both his implacable persecutors, — the First Consul and the gover- 
 nor of Paris, General Murat, who had in his later proclamations 
 placarded the name of General Moreau, in large letters, on all 
 the street corners, accompanied by the word " traitre a la Repub- 
 lique" No one either could or would yield any belief to the 
 publicly proclaimed guilt of this distinguished general, and the 
 wit of Paris did not, by any means, commit default on this occa- 
 sion, for you might everywhere hear the pasquinade il 7i > y a que 
 deux partis, en France les moraux (Moreau) et les immoraux. 
 Moreau, as the result has shown, was not actually a participator 
 in the plot of George Cadoudal, Pichegru, the two Polignacs, 
 and others ; but he had committed, what to a man in his station 
 and position was an unpardonable error — he had manifested a 
 want of decision, in seeing George Cadoudal and Polignac, and 
 listening to them. As it has since appeared from the whole 
 prosecution, it was not the plot itself from which he receded, but 
 the object it had in view, viz : the restoration of the Bourbons, 
 and it is beyond a doubt that Moreau, most probably, would not 
 have refused his participation, in the same affair, under other 
 
44 PARIS. 
 
 conditions. As it was, the result was inevitable. He did 
 not deserve the sentence of death as Napoleon desired — in order 
 that he might pardon him, and so be enabled to lower him in 
 public estimation, — but he could not escape the banishment to 
 which he was sentenced as a punishment for the great political 
 crime he had committed. Moreau soon left for Cadiz, where, as 
 it was then said, he was to embark for the United States. I 
 never dreamed, at that time, that I should have an opportunity 
 in later years, of knowing this man. 
 
 The first review which the new Emperor was to hold was ap- 
 pointed to take place at the Place du Carrousel, and my curiosity 
 to get one more sight of this man, as Emperor, whom I, seven 
 years previously, had seen in Leghorn as a victorious general, was 
 indescribable. I not merely wished to see him, but to get close 
 to his person, and have a good chance to study him. My travel- 
 ling companions, Count Haxthausen and Major Holstein, who 
 had obtained an audience at Court, were so good as to procure for 
 me, through the Danish Minister, a special card of admission to 
 the Gallery of the Louvre — a favor accorded to scarcely twenty 
 persons, and I was enabled to gratify my wish. I several times 
 saw the great man of the day surrounded by a brilliant staff, and 
 uniforms of every description, riding up and down through the 
 ranks, then galloping swiftly by outside of the inner court-yard, 
 in front of the ranks of cavalry ranged along there, amid the shout 
 of Vive VJEmpereur, until his horse suddenly stumbled and fell, 
 and he rolled on the earth, holding the reins of the bridle fast in 
 his hand, but leaped to his feet in a moment, before even a part 
 of his general staff, who came dashing up at full speed, could yield 
 him any assistance. The newspapers observed profound silence 
 in regard to this occurrence ; but I must confess that, as I wit- 
 nessed it, a thought of its ominous character impressed me at 
 once. I have often recollected it in the course of my life, but the 
 remembrance struck me with greater force than ever, when I first 
 heard Talleyrand's famous words, in relation to the unfortunate 
 result of the expedition into Russia : " Cest le commencement de 
 la Jin." How correct Talleyrand's insight was into the future, 
 is shown by an expression which he let fall from his sick bed, 
 
PARIS. 45 
 
 after the battle of Marengo, to Ouvrard, who was paying him a 
 visit : " I well know what the First Consul ought now to do — what 
 his own interests, what the peace of France and the tranquillity of 
 Europe demand of him. Two ways stand open before him : the 
 first leads to the Federative system, which permits every Prince, 
 after victory, to remain master in his own country, but, under 
 conditions which are favorable to the victor. To-day the First 
 Consul might replace the King of Sardinia, the Grand Duke of 
 Tuscany, &c, on their thrones ; but, should he seize upon every- 
 thing, annex everything, then he flings himself into a path which 
 is interminable." 
 
 In Paris, I once more met with some old friends : — not living 
 ones, however, but the four bronze horses of Saint Mark which I 
 had seen before the Church at Venice, in my earlier years. They 
 were now placed upon the triumphal Arch of the Place du Car- 
 rousel : then in the Museum I saw the Venus De Medicis, from 
 the Tribune of the Florentine Gallery ; the best pictures of that 
 Gallery, such as the Fornarina, by Raphael, which I have visited, 
 daily, in Florence, without ever being able to sate myself with its 
 beauties, and the Madonna della Sedia, by Raphael, and Christ 
 on the Mount of Olives, by Carlo Dolci, from the Grand Ducal 
 Pitti Palace. The sight of these awakened singular, but more 
 especially painful sensations in my bosom, when I thought of the 
 difference between my present condition and prospects, and the 
 times gone by when these enjoyments were first accessible to me. 
 
 I had already passed a month in Paris, and it was now time for 
 me to pay some attention to my new calling. I therefore set out 
 for Nantes and, on the day of my arrival there, visited the count- 
 ing-room which was destined to receive me. The firm of Messrs. 
 A. M. Labouchere & Trotreau, in pursuance of the wish of Mr. 
 P. C. Labouchere, one of the leading partners of the house of 
 Hope, in Amsterdam (of whom I will, hereafter, have further oc- 
 casion to speak), was to replace the formerly important house of 
 Widow Babut & Labouchere, which existed before the Revolu- 
 tion. The present head of the firm was the youngest brother of 
 the P. C. Labouchere referred to, and had commenced his mer- 
 cantile career in Copenhagen. The next partner in the firm was 
 
46 PARIS. 
 
 Mr. H. Trotreau, a man well advanced in years, and one of the 
 most respectable persons in the whole city, who possessed a large 
 fortune, and had, at the request of his young friend in Amster- 
 dam, lent his name to the firm so as at once to procure sufficient 
 credit in the place. The junior head of the House was absent 
 when I arrived. He had gone to Copenhagen to marry a young 
 Norwegian lady — a Miss Knudson, from Drontheim. Mr. 
 Trotreau was managing the House, but understood neither Ger- 
 man nor English, and it so happened that the chief correspondence 
 of the establishment, which was to be conducted by me, was in 
 these two languages. I was, at once, intrusted by Mr. Trotreau 
 with, the task of translating all letters sent to us, in those lan- 
 guages, into French, and was also intrusted by him with a key to 
 the replies that it would be necessary to make to them. I had 
 pleased him, and won his confidence, for my replies were, without 
 further examination, signed by him. I had never received any 
 instruction in the French language, but had been my own teacher, 
 and yet, as it appeared, my translations were both comprehensible 
 and agreeable to Mr. Trotreau. When he desired to give me 
 some information regarding the peculiar expressions and turns of 
 phrase, my desire to arrive at a complete and thorough familiarity 
 with them increased every day ; and whenever I had finished my 
 replies, I used to make it a point, without having been asked, to 
 translate these also into French, and hand them to Mr. Trotreau, 
 not only to be received, but also to be corrected by him. I made 
 myself so perfectly familiar with the French mercantile expres- 
 sions, that Mr. Trotreau declared to me that I needed no further 
 instruction, and might, if I saw fit, also undertake the French cor- 
 respondence of the House. It may readily be conceived what 
 inward gratification this offer afforded me. The French clerk, 
 from whose hands it was transferred, bitterly complained of this 
 preference ; but Mr. Trotreau replied, " What would you have, 
 my friend 1 I read Mr. Nolte's letters with much more pleasure 
 than yours, and I think that our correspondents will do the same." 
 At length the absent head of the House, Mr. A. M. Labouchere, 
 returned with his young Danish wife. He was desirous of 
 extending the business of the House, which frequently, through 
 
PARIS. 47 
 
 the interference of the House of Baring, in London, received some 
 consignments from the United States, and thought that more fre- 
 quent and more accurate commercial reports not only would con- 
 tribute to the popularity of his House in the United States, but 
 would place him in the condition to outstrip in rank other Houses 
 in Nantes. 
 
 With this, the duty was imposed upon me of making out fre- 
 quent market circulars, and sending them to the United States. 
 This was most laborious and irksome work. Mr. Labouchere 
 had learned the addresses of many American firms, frequently 
 from the lips of American ship-captains, with whom he came in 
 contact, and then when I was out would deposit the long list of 
 new names on my desk, for me to make out a corresponding num- 
 ber of circulars, and dispatch the same to them; and whether the 
 firms were in Portland or Savannah, every fluctuation of the mar 
 ket down to the most trifling, had to be set forth. Three clerks 
 would have been necessary to execute this mechanical labor — for 
 nothing was known at that time of lithographic circulars, and I 
 was too conscientious to abridge them, or to seek recreation from 
 my severe toil by imitating the brilliant stroke of art achieved by 
 my friend Paul Delessert, in the house of Messrs. Matthiesen and 
 Sill em, at Hamburgh. After the letters had been signed by old 
 Mr. Sillem, the father of Mr. Jerome Sillem, they were laid 
 before the eyes of my young friend, for him to work in a compen- 
 dious market circular. This sort of work fatigued him, so one 
 day he took it into his head to insert the following words under 
 every letter : Omelets are rising, owing to the extreme scarcity of 
 eggs. Before the mails went off, the Chef wished to take a last 
 look at the letters, and of course instantly saw the obnoxious 
 words of all other things. It was to be expected that no head of 
 a commercial house would take such a master-stroke quietly, and 
 my friend Paul had to leave the office in a hurry. But I was not 
 the only one who found this constant transmission of circulars 
 extremely burthensome. The houses to whom they were sent, 
 particularly the American firms, had every reason to be sick of 
 them ; for they were frequently dispatched in vessels sailing to 
 some port in Maine, to be sent thence as far very often as Savan- 
 
48 NANTES. 
 
 nah, and had to go overland, subject to the, at that time, enormous 
 American postage. One day Mr. Labouchere came in, from the 
 post-office, with a letter bearing an enormous Paimbceuf stamp 
 (Paimbceuf is, properly speaking, the port of Nantes), — and hold- 
 ing it up before me, remarked, as he broke the seal; "There, 
 Mr. Nolte ! — a consignment, no doubt, from America !" But, 
 when he had got it out of the envelope, the contents of the packet 
 were discovered to be some thirty of our circulars, nearly all in 
 my handwriting, which the recipients had amused themselves by 
 re-enclosing to our address. 
 
 Another packet of the same kind arrived by post at Paimbceuf 
 a few weeks later. Upon this occasion Mr. Labouchere seemed 
 quite certain that all was right. He tore open the envelope with 
 incredible' eagerness, and discovered a Dutch Price-current of 
 stuffed birds, dried fish, frogs and tortoises, butterflies, beetles, 
 and shells of every description — all things for which Mr. Labou- 
 chere had an especial preference, and of which he kept a small col- 
 lection himself. The price-current was from a man in Rotterdam, 
 to whom he had made himself known, and sent a card. 
 
 This canvassing for consignments from the United States, and 
 the kind of uneasiness which Mr. Labouchere betrayed, whenever 
 his neighbors, Messrs. Hottinguers & Co., a branch of the Paris 
 banking house, received important consignments from the United 
 States — frequently whole fleets at a time — were to me inexpli- 
 cable — so I asked my chief what the real cause of this anxiety 
 could be. -His reply invariably was: " Large advances, proba- 
 bly !" My next question was : "And who makes these advances? 
 how are they made V His answer : "lam ignorant of that !" 
 or " I do not know." At length, however, I learned from one of 
 the Hottinguer clerks, with whom I had struck up a friendship, 
 that the house of Messrs. Baring accepted bills drawn as an 
 advance, in the United States, took out the insurance, and after 
 sale took charge of the remittances for the merchandise. From 
 this information, I for the first time got a key to this whole sys- 
 tem, so universally understood at the present day, but of which I 
 had never received the least hint at my father's house in Leghorn, 
 nor under his own eye in Hamburgh ; nor, as the reader may 
 
NANTES. 4\ 
 
 have observed, even in Nantes, up to that time. Upon making 
 this original and important discovery, I immediately went to Mr. 
 Labouchere. The firm of Messrs. Hope, in Amsterdam, and the 
 house of Messrs. Baring, in London, had been mentioned in the 
 circulars of the Nantes house as its especial friends ; and indeed, 
 with the additional remark that Mr. P. C. Labouchere, in Amster- 
 dam, the brother of my chief, was the associated partner of one, 
 and the son-in-law of the " Chevalier" Francis Baring, (Sir Fran- 
 cis Baring, Bart.) one of the leading partners of the other. " I 
 cannot understand," said I to Mr. Labouchere, " how you can let 
 such important advantages as are within your reach remain unim- 
 proved, and to a certain degree wholly neglected. All that the 
 Messrs. Hottinguer get, you also might have. You must of 
 necessity send some one to the United States, and if you can find 
 no better agent, I am at your disposal — I am ready to go 
 thither !" A couple of weeks after that, he asked me to reduce 
 to writing my ideas concerning the United States, and the advan- 
 tages of a visit to that country, and send them to his brother in 
 Amsterdam, who must have discovered from my correspondence 
 with the house of Hope & Co., what I could do, and who had asked 
 him to make the present request of me. It was Saturday when I 
 received the above intimation. I shut myself up all day on Sun- 
 day, threw my ideas in relation to the desired plan on paper, 
 wrote it over three or four times in the very best French I could 
 muster, and the next morning took my work to Mr. Labouchere, 
 to have him examine it, and transmit it to his brother, if 
 it pleased him. Mr. Labouchere read it over, and instantly 
 exclaimed : " Why, that is excellent ! It is perfect ! It would be 
 impossible to speak more to the point ! Whom have you been 
 consulting V I replied with truth : "Nobody ! Whom should I 
 consult 1" I now understood what I had already for some time 
 been fancying to myself — that my chef either did not know how 
 to estimate his own position, or that something lay in the back- 
 ground which they either wished or were obliged to conceal from 
 me. My communication was sent. Some nine or ten days had 
 to elapse, before I could get a reply from Amsterdam. I got 
 none, but about ten days later, Mr. Labouchere called me into hi? 
 
50 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 private office, and told me that his brother had commissioned him 
 to send me directly to Amsterdam, and to release me from my 
 three years' contract. This was done. My curiosity excited to 
 the highest degree, I bade farewell to my friends in Nantes, and 
 set out on my journey. My anxiety to reach Amsterdam as soon 
 as possible did not, to my great regret, allow me to remain more 
 than a few days in Paris ; but my haste was not so much use to 
 me after all, for I had scarcely reached Brussels when I was 
 attacked with fever-and-ague, and only arrived in Amsterdam 
 after a fortnight's delay. 
 
 The next morning I repaired to the counting-house of Messrs. 
 Hope, but as it was almost time to go on 'change, found no one 
 there but a brother of Mr. Labouchere. 
 
 The house of Hope and Co. in Amsterdam consisted at that 
 time of the head partner of the whole concern, Mr. Henry Hope, 
 who, as the son of a Scottish loyalist settled in Boston, had been 
 born in the United States, and had emigrated to England after the 
 first invasion of Holland by the French republican army under 
 Pichegru ; then of several members of the Hope family, Adrian, 
 Thomas L. Hope, (the well known " Furniture Hope," who had 
 written a work on antique furniture,) and Henry Philip Hope, 
 who resided sometimes at the Hague, sometimes in England, had 
 capital and interests in the Amsterdam firm, but, as sleeping 
 partners of the concern, were never known nor mentioned in it by 
 name. The management of the house was in the hands of Mr 
 John Williams, an Englishman, who had married the niece of 
 Mr. Henry Hope, and afterwards assumed the name of John 
 Williams Hope, but in the latter years of his life called himself 
 John Hope, under the authority of a royal patent signed by 
 George IV. as Prince Regent. Beside this gentleman stood, as 
 the most active member of the house, the very soul in fact of the 
 concern, Mr. P. C. Labouchere, whom I have already named. 
 This distinguished man, born at the Hague, was the son of a 
 French dry-goods merchant residing there, — a native of Orthes in 
 Beam, who had sent the young man to his brother, of whom we 
 have already spoken, established in Nantes, there to commence 
 the mercantile career marked out for him. There, young Labo* 
 
AMSTERDAM. 51 
 
 chere exhibited so many evidences of intelligence and industry, 
 that his uncle felt desirous of opening before him a broader field 
 than he could pretend to offer in his own establishment, and as it 
 just so chanced about the time in question that his friend Mr. 
 Hope had commissioned him to send him an active and capable clerk 
 to take charge of his Trench correspondence, he proposed his 
 nephew to that gentleman, who accepted the youth's services and 
 engaged him provisionally on an agreement for three years with a 
 fair salary. Shortly before the close of this term, young Labou- 
 chere gave his principal a hint that a moderate increase of salary 
 was desirable. An answer was promised for the next morning. 
 When he went at the appointed time to receive the anticipated 
 reply, old Mr. Hope laid before him for his signature a contract 
 already drawn up, in which he named him as his partner, with a 
 suitable share in the profits, and intrusted him with the signature 
 of the house. Mr. Labouchere was at that time but twenty-two, 
 yet ere long assumed the highly respectable position of head of 
 the firm, the first in the world, and studied the manners of a 
 French courtier previous to the Revolution : these he soon made 
 so thoroughly his own, that they seemed to be a part of his own 
 nature. He made a point of distinguishing himself in every thing 
 he undertook by a certain perfection, and carried this feeling so far, 
 that, on account of the untractable lack of elasticity in his body 
 and a want of ear for music which nature had denied him, he for 
 eighteen years deemed it necessary to take dancing-lessons, because 
 he saw that others surpassed him in the graceful accomplishment. 
 It was almost painful to see him dance. The old school required, 
 in the French quadrilles, some entrechats and one or two pirou- 
 ettes, and the delay they occasioned him always threw him out of 
 time. I have often seen the old gentleman, already more than 
 fifty, return from a quadrille covered with perspiration. Pro 
 perly speaking, he had no refined education, understood but very 
 little of the fine arts, and, notwithstanding his shrewdness and 
 quickness of perception, possessed no natural powers of wit, and 
 consequently was all the more eager to steal the humor of other 
 people. He once repeated to myself as a witty remark of his own 
 to one of his clerks, the celebrated answer of De Sartines, a former 
 
52 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 chief of the French police, to one of his subordinates who asked 
 for an increase of pay in the following words : " You do not give 
 me enough — still I must live !" The reply he got was : " I do 
 not perceive the necessity of that!" Now, so hard-hearted a 
 response was altogether foreign to Mr. Labouchere's disposition, 
 as he was a man of most excellent and generous feeling. He had, 
 assuredly without intention, fallen into the singular habit of 
 speaking his mother-tongue — the French — with an almost English 
 intonation, and English with a strong French accent. But he was 
 most of all remarkable for the chivalric idea of honor in mercan- 
 tile transactions, which he constantly evinced, and which I never, 
 during my whole life, met with elsewhere, in the same degree, 
 however numerous may have been the high-minded and honorable 
 merchants with whom I have been thrown in contact. He fully 
 possessed what the French call " des idees chevalaresques." 
 
 I had seen this remarkable man, (who, by the way, was mar- 
 ried to the second daughter of Sir Francis Baring in London.) at 
 Hamburgh, when the failure in that city of the former very exten- 
 sive house of Martin Dorner who, as banker for the Russian 
 loan, was a correspondent of Hope and Co., had called him thither. 
 He took that occasion to present himself to my father with a 
 letter of recommendation from his old London friend ; but I 
 merely saw him, as I was too young and too inexperienced to form 
 any but a partial opinion of him, even when he passed a day with 
 us at Eppcndorf; only his elegant manners had attracted and 
 pleased me, and long remained in my memory. They had 
 inspired me with a species of awe. When, summoned by himself, 
 I again saw him at Amsterdam, it was on 'change. I had not, as 
 already intimated, found him in his office, and was conducted to 
 him by his younger brother, Samuel P. Labouchere, the still sur- 
 viving partner of Hope and Co. We found him at the Bourse, 
 leaning with his back against a pillar and surrounded by a swarm 
 of jobbers and runners, acting entirely on the defensive, that he 
 might get breath. Twenty-five years later, I saw, leaning against 
 that very identical pillar, his successor in the house of Hope and 
 Co., Mr. Jerome Sillem from Hamburgh, not, either, without 
 remarking the singular contrast between the manners of these two 
 
AMSTERDAM. 53 
 
 distinguished merchants. Mr. Labouchere, who had the highest 
 respect for his friend Sillem, on account of his truly practical 
 good sense in all things, and his unusually penetrating sagacity, 
 and was in the habit of calling him " a rough diamond," would 
 put aside the runners who beset him, with great seriousness but 
 also with much dignity, while Sillem, on the other hand, would 
 snarl very fiercely at them, and frequently pushed them violently 
 out of his way with both hands, and as much rudeness of manner 
 as possible. After 'change hours, if he again chanced to meet 
 these gentry, he would lift his hat with a very subservient air, 
 indeed. " Here," he would say to me, " they are not trouble- 
 some, — but on 'change I have to be rude in order to get rid of 
 them." Yet, be it here remarked, to do this required no espe- 
 cially severe effort. The outward conventional forms of polite- 
 ness, particularly those of French device, were not in. accordance 
 with his nature, and hung about him like an ill-fitting garment. 
 He understood politeness where he considered it appropriate, 
 rather in the English sense — he substituted for it a certain hearti- 
 ness and readiness to serve those with whom he had intercourse. 
 
 After the close of the Bourse, Mr. Labouchere placed my arm 
 confidentially in his, and said, " Let us take a walk ; we will be 
 able to converse undisturbed, and to better purpose, than in the 
 counting-room. I have very often been pressed, by my brother, 
 to give him permission to send an agent to the United States, but 
 never would listen to his request, until he made mention of you 
 and your wishes. I think that I have a perfect knowledge of you, 
 and understand you, from your correspondence, and that you may 
 be useful to him, to yourself, and to us all." 
 
 The " us all" sounded very pleasantly in my ears, for under the 
 word us was given to understand a mission for the important 
 house of Messrs. Hope itself. I instantly said, " How is that ? 
 Us all !" 
 
 " I will tell you," he continued. " To make your first appear 
 ance as agent for the house of my brother is a very good prelim, 
 inary introduction to the United States, and you can, according to 
 the directions and hints I will give you, carefully look about you 
 there a couple of months, until we shall have some further addi- 
 
54 AMSTERDAM. 
 
 tional need of your services. Even were you not to make one 
 single bargain, I should still be well enough satisfied ; but I have 
 something better in store for you. You will be intrusted with a 
 mission that will make you catch your breath to hear of. You 
 will feel the ground heaving under your feet," &c, &c. 
 
 And here he began to sketch for me the outline of a really col- 
 lossal undertaking he was then planning in his own mind, and 
 with which the reader shall presently be made better acquainted. 
 
 He then pointed out the position he had in view, and the heavy 
 responsibility that would rest upon my shoulders. He was right. 
 I did catch my breath at the magnificence of his project. Ere I 
 had put a hand to it, I at once declared to Mr. Labouchere that I 
 was too young and inexperienced to assume such a responsibility, 
 and that I should only in a moderate degree equal his expecta- 
 tions. His answer was — 
 
 " That is my business, and not yours. I have but one thing to 
 recommend to you : never commit any action which may one day 
 cause you to blush before me, or in the presence of your own 
 conscience !" 
 
 I was now placed upon the right ground. He had correctly 
 judged me, and I had understood him perfectly. At length we 
 touched upon the question, how much salary I was to receive for 
 all this. He replied — 
 
 " Nothing ! Your expenses will be liberally paid ! that is all. 
 If you cannot foresee what a position such a part may secure for 
 you in the commercial world, and the facilities which it cannot 
 fail to open for you in the future, you had better stay at home." 
 
 My reply was that his extreme confidence honored me, and 
 that I would unconditionally agree to all that he saw fit to point 
 out to me. 
 
 " In order to progress," he added, " you must renounce all im- 
 patience to succeed." 
 
 The leaven of impatience which he had perhaps discovered in 
 me did not, however, belong to personal account. A glance at 
 the circumstances and prospects of my family, whom I had left in 
 Hamburgh — my father, as I have already remarked, was in his 
 sixtieth year when I parted from him — was the stimulus which 
 
AMSTERDAM. 55 
 
 kept alive within me this burning desire for rapid progress and 
 early success. 
 
 The business, of which Mr. Labouchere had communicated only 
 to me a rough outline, and which I got to understand and form an 
 opinion of, in its whole extent, only several months later in the 
 autumn of 1805, originated in one of the many conceptions and 
 combinations of Mr. G. J. Ouvrard, formerly a celebrated banker, 
 afterwards transformed into the munitionaire general, who pub- 
 lished his own memoirs in three volumes, during the year 1826. 
 
 What he has communicated in those volumes, concerning his 
 relations with the house of Hope & Co., consists in detached, 
 imperfect, and disconnected fragments. The following will unfold 
 the whole plan to my readers, and I hope render it perfectly com- 
 prehensible. However, before I enter upon the narrative, I con- 
 sider it necessary to say many things about this remarkable man 
 which deserve to be rescued from oblivion, and greatly contribute 
 to a true and faithful sketch of him. He was in reality a remark 
 able phenomenon, and the times in which he lived were well 
 adapted to make one of a man so strangely framed, and yet pos- 
 sessing such lofty intelligence. He can scarcely be reproached 
 for not having been able, in drawing his own portrait, to avoid 
 the favorite habit of most autobiographers, who generally, in this 
 or that characteristic, paint a much more flattering picture of 
 themselves than the nature of the object would justify ; for the 
 extraordinary facility with which he schemed and executed the 
 most incredible business combinations might well excuse an over- 
 plus of vanity. Nor should we fail to observe, that in the whole 
 tenor of his self-written memoirs, there is nowhere anything pre- 
 tentious, nothing boastful of what he has done, but only a certain 
 desire for celebrity. And if I have spent a little more time, in 
 referring to these characteristics of Ouvrard, than the influence of 
 his business combinations upon my own fortune would seem to 
 render necessary, it has been done with the view to bring for- 
 ward some characteristic traits of one of the most remarkable 
 episodes in the history of Napoleon's empire, which the majority 
 of that great man's biographers either did not, know, or have not 
 felt disposed to communicate. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, G. J. OUVRARD. 
 
 His origin and business development — First great speculation — The founding 
 of his establishment at Paris — His private intimaeies lead to acquaintance- 
 ship with the Director Barras and Brigadier Chief Bonaparte, before the 
 appointment of the latter to the rank of General — The rapid rise of Ouv- 
 rard, as a government contractor — He becomes the Maecenas of artists — 
 His princely liberality — Nicolo Isouard, the composer — Ouvrard's first 
 connexion with the Spanish Government — Immense transactions with the 
 French Government, with Vanlerberghe and with Duprez — Ouvrard's jour- 
 ney to Madrid — His influence with the Prince of Peace — The business con- 
 tract between King Charles IV. of Spain and Ouvrard — Results of this 
 contract — The commercial treaty that spraug from it — Hope & Co. in Am- 
 sterdam — The inconsiderate condemnation of Ouvrard, and frivolous pallia- 
 tion of Napoleon's unjust course towards him by Thiers, in the sixth volume 
 of his History of the Consulate. 
 
 J. G. Ouvrard was the son of the owner of a considerable 
 paper manufactory, in the French province of Bretagne ; first saw 
 the light in the year 1770, on an estate in the near neighborhood 
 of Clisson, and had been educated in the college of that place. 
 Introduced, as early as the age of seventeen, into a large colonial 
 produce establishment at Nantes, he there, ere he had yet reached 
 hie twentieth year, set up a similar business for himself, under the 
 firm-name of Guertin & Ouvrard, in 1788, shortly before the 
 outbreak of the Revolution. He himself relates how he got his 
 first ideas of the powerful levers of credit, from seeing Mr. Gras- 
 lin, the builder of the new town of Nantes, in order to pay the 
 hands he had employed in this work, put in circulation a kind of 
 paper money, which was made payable at sight, but only h* cop- 
 per coin. These notes, which had attained extensive circuktion, 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 57 
 
 but had fallen into momentary discredit without any plausible 
 reason, through the malice of some ill-disposed persons, were sud- 
 denly presented all at the same time, and the same means which 
 had once worked so well with the English Bank* likewise an- 
 swered the purpose in this case, since the time required by the 
 daily and continuous payment of the notes in copper coin was suf- 
 ficient to give Mr. Graslin elbow-room to clear his way and gather 
 in his scattered resources. At length, as people saw this liquida- 
 tion going forward, for whole days together, the panic gradually 
 subsided with daily increasing rapidity, until finally the holders 
 of the notes altogether ceased presenting them. This example 
 was by no means thrown away upon young Ouvrard. Soon after, 
 the taking of the Bastille, on the 14th July, 1789, stamped upon 
 the Revolution, which had just begun, the seal of a completed fact, 
 and left free course to public speech, and to entire liberty of the 
 press. Young Ouvrard hereupon conceived the idea that there 
 would be a great deal of w r riting and printing, and that conse- 
 quently paper would become scarce. Sustained by some business 
 connexions he had formed, and by the credit of his father, he had 
 concluded with all the paper manufactories in the neighboring 
 districts of Poitou and Angoumois, a contract for every sheet of 
 paper that they could deliver during the next two years. Ouvrard 
 had made a correct calculation ; paper began to be scarce every- 
 where, and to rise in price ; and he finally succeeded, soon after 
 that, in disposing of his contract to the heavy booksellers, Dufrat 
 Brothers, in Tours, and several other publishers in Nantes, for a 
 bonus of 300,000 francs. This operation, a very considerable 
 operation for a beginner of scarcely twenty, stimulated his taste 
 for speculation. He began to reckon up the unavoidable effect of 
 
 * Before the Pretender Stuart had lost the battle of Culloden, in the year 
 1745, and his army had advanced as far as Derby, there was a kind of panic 
 on the Bank of England, and everybody rushed in to get their notes exchanged 
 for coin. The directors, in order to save themselves, hit upon the plan of swell- 
 ing the throng by a host of their own emissaries, who were paid off in silver 
 sixpences, and then passing out at one door, and returning into the Bank 
 through another, and brought back the sixpences. In this way time was 
 gained, and the panic gradually subsided. 
 
 3* 
 
THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, 
 
 ic Revolution on the French colonies, and, foreseeing the certain 
 decrease of importation thence, united with the heavy house of 
 Baour & Co.;, in Bordeaux, still existing at the present day, in very 
 large speculations in sugar and coffee, and thereby, while still quite 
 young, in a short time became a millionaire. But in Nantes, the 
 consequences of the Revolution, and the bloody rule of the monster 
 Carrier, had deprived innumerable families of their head, spread 
 mourning and woe through others, and in all directions produced 
 deep and unusual despondency. Ouvrard's customary business 
 having ceased, he turned soldier, rose to the rank of Chief of Ba- 
 tallion, and as such was sent, by General Canclaux, to Paris, to 
 carry to the Convention a number of standards, taken in the 
 fight of Torfou. Upon this occasion he became well acquainted 
 with Paris, and speedily discovered it to be the oral theatre, where 
 he would have the best chance of developing his love of specula- 
 tion, and putting his projects into execution. Hereupon he deter- 
 mined to remain in Paris, and there found an extensive mercantile 
 house. This he proceeded to do, pushing forward his ventures in 
 colonial produce in combination with several capitalists in Bor- 
 deaux with so much success, that but a short time had elapsed ere 
 he had made enormous sums, and found himself at the head of 
 several millions of money, a capital which no one there could 
 boast of at that time, and which, so soon as the social relations 
 of Paris had been restored, gave him extraordinary preponderance 
 in that city. 
 
 He had become acquainted with Madame Tallien, so celebrated 
 for her beauty and wit ; was her lover ; through her got to know 
 the Director Barras, and saw at her house no less a person than 
 Bonaparte, who was at that time a mere Chief of Brigade in the 
 artillery, and in such needy circumstances, that he found himself 
 obliged to take advantage of a decree of the Committee of Public 
 Safety, which entitled all officers placed in active service to a do- 
 nation of as much cloth as was required to make a military coat, 
 vest, and pantaloons. Bonaparte's application was rejected, be 
 cause he was not just at that time in active service. A couple of 
 words from Ouvrard to Madame Tallien were, however, sufficient 
 to obtain from that lady a letter of recommendation for young 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 59 
 
 Bonaparte to Lefeuve, the Commissary of the 17th military divi- 
 sion ; and the result of this recommendation was, that Bonaparte 
 got what he desired — cloth enough for his new uniform. In after 
 years, when Bonaparte was every day attaining higher distinc- 
 tion and importance, and early began to show symptoms of dis- 
 like to Ouvrard, this otherwise keen and skilful man could seldom 
 refrain from narrating the anecdote, with a sarcastic smile ; while, 
 on the contrary, the player Talma, who had become intimate with 
 Bonaparte, and had often replenished his empty purse, grew more 
 and more reserved, in his communications and his demeanor, the 
 higher his friend ascended the ladder of fortune. 
 
 The DirectorBarras,to whom all that remained of good French 
 society, after the Reign of Terror, looked in those days, and who 
 was thoroughly competent to form a correct estimate of Ouvrard's 
 financial talents, made use of his influence with Pleville Peley, 
 then Minister of the Marine, to sustain Ouvrard's efforts to 
 replace the Commissariat of the four Regisseurs by private con- 
 tracts and deliveries, and thus this gentleman was at length 
 appointed Munitionnaire General of the Marine, and intrusted 
 with the charge of providing all that might be needed for it. 
 These deliveries ran up to no less a sum than 63,973,494 francs, 
 which Ouvrard furnished. Pleville Peley's successor in the 
 Ministry of the Marine was the well known Admiral Bruix. 
 When, the latter had been ordered by the Directory to proceed 
 from Brest to Cadiz, with a fleet of twenty-five ships, to bring 
 away the Spanish fleet lying in that port, under Admiral Massa- 
 redo, and escort them to Brest, and succeeded in accomplish- 
 ing this perilous task, notwithstanding the watchfulness of the 
 combined British squadrons, Ouvrard also undertook the provi- 
 sioning of the Spanish fleet at Brest, and carried on this business 
 for some years after their return to Cadiz so skilfully, that at the 
 conclusion of his contracts he had put in his pocket a clear gain of 
 fifteen millions of francs. Ouvrard had become so omnipotent as 
 a financier, that every one that wanted to borrow came to him ; 
 and even the Directory, which had at the time when the expedi- 
 tion to Egypt was crowned with the greatest success, still found 
 itself in extraordinary embarrassment, occasioned by the simulta- 
 
00 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, 
 
 neous defeats of the republican armies in Germany, Switzerland, 
 and Italy, borrowed from him the sum of ten millions of francs, 
 which he advanced to it with the greatest readiness and facility. 
 After Bonaparte's return from Egypt and the fall of the Direc- 
 tory, the First Consul desired Ouvrard to let him have the sum 
 of twelve millions. The latter was not disposed to accede to this 
 request, so application was made to the other bankers of Paris, 
 and the will, perhaps the means, was also found wanting in them. 
 The First Consul, who would not listen to a refusal, w r as exaspe- 
 rated to the last degree, and became still more so, when Ouvrard 
 took it into his head to make some inquiry concerning the ten 
 millions he had lent to the Directory. A couple of days after- 
 wards this sum was paid back by his order to Ouvrard, but 
 in a way that amounted to drawing the pen across the whole 
 debt — that is to say, in drafts on the already expended reve- 
 nues of the bygone year. At the same time Ouvrard was put 
 under strict arrest, under the pretence that he had treated the 
 government badly, and made exorbitant charges against it, in the 
 execution of his contracts for the navy. His papers were sealed 
 up, and a commission of six State Councillors appointed to exam- 
 into the state of his affairs. It turned out that Ouvrard had con- 
 tracted no debts, and that in landed property and money and in 
 French rents, which at that time were worth only fifteen francs, 
 he possessed a capital of twenty-seven millions. Upon this occa- 
 sion a discovery was made which deeply wounded the French 
 Consul, namely, that during Bonaparte's absence in Egypt, Ouv- 
 rard had supplied the pecuniary necessities of Josephine, who had 
 remained behind at Malmaison; and that she had thus become to 
 a considerable degree his debtor. This circumstance, taken 
 together with the banker's refusal to lend him the twelve mil- 
 lions, awakened in the bosom of the First Consul the most violent 
 antipathy to Ouvrard, whose arrest revolted all Paris, more par- 
 ticularly the financial men, and called forth loud complaints. 
 Collot, a subsequent Director of the Mint, who was among the 
 most intimate advisers of Bonaparte, did not hesitate to remark 
 to the First Consul that it was a bad beginning to give any one 
 the right to be disturbed by such arbitrary measures, " A man," 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 61 
 
 responded Bonaparte, " who possesses thirty millions, and thinks 
 nothing of it, is much tjo dangerous for my position." Through 
 the interposition of Josephine and some of the first notabilities of 
 the city, the intended step of arraigning Ouvrard at Marseilles 
 before a military commission was not carried out, and he was 
 released. As a set off for this clemency, he was placed under the 
 especial watch of some gensdarmes. This however did not pre- 
 vent him from pursuing his usual course of life, nor from making 
 Castle Raincy (which in after years fell to the Duchess of Berry), 
 a rendezvous for the best society of the capital and all foreigners 
 of note. There he used to receive and entertain them with 
 princely hospitality, which he was able to do, soon after the peace 
 of Amiens with the celebrated Mr. Fox and Lord Erskine. He 
 also became the Maecenas of artists, whom he was accustomed to 
 recompense with munificent liberality. The reader will perhaps 
 allow me, ere I return to him and his connection with the Messrs. 
 Hope, in Amsterdam, to relate an anecdote of him which was 
 confided to me, and which is but little known. 
 
 The Hotel de Salm, which, in the latter days of the Consulate 
 and the beginning of the Empire, had become one of the most 
 magnificent resorts where the elite of French society were accus- 
 tomed to sojourn, had called together, an extraordinary assembly 
 to hear several selections from a new opera, written by a young 
 and promising composer. Both artists and amateurs, were in an 
 equal degree enchanted with this quite original and most charm- 
 ing music. Among these was Ouvrard, who was indefatigable in 
 testifying his admiration to the young composer. It w r as quite 
 late at night when Ouvrard returned. As he was passing through 
 the court of the hotel to his carriage he saw, lying on the ground, 
 a paper, the form of which, and the stamp it bore, at once in- 
 formed him that it must be the official notification of a sheriff's offi- 
 cer (un exploit cPHuissier). To pick 'it up quickly, spring into his 
 carriage, and drive off to his own hotel, was the work of a mo- 
 ment. Scarcely had he reached his residence ere he examined the 
 paper, and discovered that it was one of the customary protests 
 which leave the person to whom it is sent no other alternative, 
 than either to pay the required debt upon the spot, or to be shut 
 
62 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, 
 
 up in the Hotel de Clichy, the common prison for insolvent debt- 
 ors. Ouvrard read further on, and, to his great surprise, found 
 on the paper the name of the young composer whose music had 
 so enchanted him. The trouble was about a sum amounting to 
 three thousand francs ; and for such a trifling sum as this, a young 
 man of genuine talent was to be compelled to sacrifice a brilliant 
 future. Ouvrard felt the force of this, and instantly formed his 
 resolution ; so on the next day the young artist received the fol- 
 lowing letter : — 
 
 " Be at your ease, Sir ! What you lost yesterday evening at 
 the Hotel Salm has fallen into safe hands. The finder considers 
 himself fortunate in having made a discovery which places it in 
 his power to become useful to a man whose talent and worth he 
 can thoroughly appreciate. In the meanwhile comfort yourself 
 with the intelligence, that at this moment your creditor has no 
 further claim on you. The finder of your document begs you to 
 pardon the feeling of curiosity which impelled him to read a paper 
 belonging to you without your permission. As he takes a lively 
 interest in your future, and knows perfectly well how material 
 obstacles bear down with leaden weight the most splendid capaci- 
 ties, he begs you to accept the enclosed ten notes of one thousand 
 francs each. No thanks, dear Sir, for what is merely a trifling 
 advance upon the future success of your exertions ! What your 
 friend expects of you, however, is only perseverance in the right 
 path you have chosen, and a continued effort, on your part, to de- 
 serve the fame that awaits you ; and the gratification this will 
 bring him will assuredly far, far exceed the little service he now 
 seeks to render you." 
 
 The man to whom this letter was sent was Nicolo Isouard, the 
 afterwards celebrated composer, whom we have to thank for the 
 splendid French operas, "Le Rossignol," " Cendrillon," and 
 " Jeannot et Colin," which for so many years constantly filled the 
 house of the "Opera Comique." 
 
 Neither at that time, or for very many years afterwards, did 
 there exist in Paris such a fortune as had now fallen to the lot of 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 63 
 
 one single man, who, like Ouvrard, had passed a life of such un- 
 exampled liberality, and sometimes to the last degree of lavish 
 expenditure. He had in Paris three houses, the firms Girardot 
 & Co., Cinot, Charlemagne & Co., and Charles Rougemont & Co., 
 under his control, and had established three in Brest, Bordeaux, 
 and Orleans, so that his influence had become almost omnipotent. 
 Immense as his more than princely expenditure had become, it 
 still did not amount, as he frequently affirmed, to more than one- 
 third part of his income. 
 
 Napoleon's subsequent Arch-Chancellor, Cambaceres, was the 
 man who had placed Ouvrard at the head of his financial organi- 
 zation (Comptabilite). It was of course to be expected, under 
 these circumstances, that he would have more envious rivals than 
 friends. But it was not envy, but the supremacy of an impatient 
 ambition, which could endure no other greatness beside his own, 
 unless it had its origin in him which made the remarkable man 
 who then held the destinies of France in his grasp, Ouvrard's 
 sworn enemy. 
 
 Among the causes already mentioned of Napoleon's secret dis- 
 like to Ouvrard, were others, which, in the eyes of so excitable and 
 ambitious a temperament as that of Bonaparte, were looked upon 
 as crimes. All Paris had already known, for a long time, that 
 not only was Napoleon by no means insensible to the almost fab- 
 ulous beauty of the celebrated actress Mademoiselle Georges, but 
 that he also had openly become the first and most favored of her 
 admirers, and figured as a victor where other aspirants had met 
 with signal defeat. This liaison was not secret to any one, not 
 even to Josephine the empress. Moreover, she was in no posi- 
 tion to restore the often wavering fidelity of the Emperor, since 
 she herself had much to be forgiven, notwithstanding all that was 
 daily said in the official columns of the " Moniteur" concerning 
 the undeviating wedded faith of Josephine. 
 
 Napoleon, who, up to that time as a mere General, had found 
 no special occasion to plume himself upon any great success with 
 the fairer half of creation, was more fortunate as Emperor, and 
 was readily listened to by the rival beauties of the day. In Mad- 
 emoiselle Georges, the loveliest woman of her time, he flattered 
 
64 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, 
 
 himself that he really had made a complete conquest, looked upon 
 her as his exclusive property, became enamored and jealous. 
 Among the intelligence which he received from Paris, on the day 
 after the battle of Austerlitz, was a message from his Minister of 
 Police, informing him that Mademoiselle Georges had passed 
 several days at Ouvrard's pleasure palace of Raincy, and had 
 there performed one of her very best parts. General Berthier, 
 who had hastened onward four-and-twenty hours in advance of the 
 Emperor, on his return from Vienna, instantly sent for Ouvrard, 
 and intimated to him that this circumstance had in no light de- 
 gree contributed to exasperate the Emperor, and accelerate his 
 hasty return to Paris. 
 
 I had seen and admired Mademoiselle Georges the preceding 
 year, during the short period I spent in Paris, on my journey to 
 Amsterdam ; and limited as my sojourn in that capital had been, 
 I still had found an opportunity to get a peep at life behind the 
 scenes of the new imperial regime. The literary circles of the 
 capital were just at that moment taken up with a new tragedy, 
 which the celebrated play writer and poet Renouard was then pre- 
 paring to bring out in the Theatre Francais, under the title of 
 " Les Templiers" (The Templars). The part of Ignaz de Molay, 
 the Grand Master of the Templars, was in the hands of Talma ; 
 the parts of the King and the Queen were given to Lafond and 
 Mademoiselle Georges. The rehearsals had been finished. The 
 time for the first performance fixed upon, and the intended pre- 
 sence of the Emperor and Empress everywhere announced. 
 
 Paris at that time was in a buzz with all kinds of anecdotes 
 about the remarkably splendid set of diamonds which had been 
 offered to the Empress by the court jeweller Fossin, and which 
 consisted of a diadem, necklace, and pendants for the ears. The 
 price which had been asked for this superb ornament was half a 
 million of francs ; and, unless my memory fails me, I recollect to 
 have heard at that time of another smaller sum, that is to say, 
 about three hundred thousand francs. Josephine, whose purse 
 was always empty, in consequence of her propensity for extrava- 
 gance, had expressed a desire to obtain possession of these dia- 
 monds, but the Emperor would not hear of either of these sums. 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 65 
 
 Paris had a great deal to say concerning the scenes that passed 
 between Josephine and Napoleon in consequence of this affair ; 
 they were the ever-recurring topic of conversation among the 
 ladies generally, to whose curiosity the jeweller was indebted for 
 very frequent visits. People wanted to see what it was that an 
 Emperor could deny to his Empress. 
 
 On the appointed day, placards announcing the first representa- 
 tion of " The Templars" were visible at all the street corners. 
 
 I had been so fortunate as to procure a parquet ticket for a seat 
 on the second row of benches, from which I could get a good view 
 of the imperial pair. I saw them enter their box, on the left of 
 the house, and take their seats, Napoleon foremost and Josephine 
 close beside him. In the beginning of the second act, their majes- 
 ties the king and queen appeared upon the stage. Mademoiselle 
 Georges, in the full splendor of her incomparable charms and her 
 splendid figure, heightened the imposing scene by a dazzling dia- 
 dem, ear-drops, and necklace, all glittering with the most superb 
 diamonds. As she approached the imperial box, Josephine, who 
 was leaning forward on the front rail, betrayed a hasty movement 
 of surprise, and then suddenly, as if struck by lightning, sank 
 back into her seat — for in the magnificent adornment of the 
 actress she had recognized the jewels she was so anxious to pos- 
 sess. During this little episode in the imperial box, Napoleon 
 remained, as might have been expected, entirely unmoved. For 
 the Parisian world such an incident as this was a regular mine of 
 fresh anecdotes concerning the scenes which they opined must 
 have taken place in the private chambers of the TuiUeries, after 
 their majesties returned from the theatre. 
 
 I merely repeat what I saw and heard. Moreover, Napoleon, 
 although in his earlier days as a general, had not always been 
 fortunate in his advances to the fair sex, was never at any time 
 an indifferent observer of female beauty on the stage. When he 
 marched into Milan, the capital of Lombardy, as victor, after the 
 battles of Lodi and Areola, Grassini, the greatest dramatic canta- 
 trice, and also the greatest beauty of her time, was singing at the 
 Teatro delta Scala. The victorious General, who never dreamed 
 of a successful resistance, nevertheless encountered it in the per- 
 
QQ THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, 
 
 son of this lovely prima donna, the aunt of Julia Grisi, who after- 
 wards became so celebrated. She wouli not listen to him. Now 
 it so happened that Madame Grassini was once more the prima 
 donna of the Delia Scala Theatre when Napoleon again returned 
 to Milan, to place the iron crown of the Italian kingdom on his 
 head. The motto it bore, " Gare a qui me touche !" was one 
 which Madame Grassini had not thought of adopting for herself. 
 Old love does not burn, says the proverb, and that was also 
 Napoleon's sensation as he met Madame Grassini for the second 
 time. The acquaintanceship between the everywhere victorious 
 leader and the equally successful cantatrice, had now no longer 
 any obstacle in its way. Napoleon — and I am indebted for this 
 story to Madame Grassini herself, whom I again saw some years 
 after in a Paris salon — once ventured to ask her, in one of those 
 moments when even a twice-crowned head will lay aside its dig- 
 nity, why she had in former years so disdainfully rejected his 
 addresses, and now gave them so ready a hearing — surrendered 
 to him in fact all that she had to yield. " Ah, Sire !" was her 
 reply, " you were then but a little whiffet of a general — now you 
 are an emperowr (such was her Italian accent) — that is quoite a 
 different thing !" Napoleon, she told me, laughed very heartily 
 at this, and said, " You are right ! That makes it doux" (or 
 deux, as she would call it).* 
 
 But let us return to Ouvrard himself About four millions of 
 piastres remained in his hands, from the proceeds of his contracts 
 for the Spanish navy, in royal drafts on the Mexican treasury. 
 He revolved in his own mind the idea of going in person to New 
 Spain to realize this capital, with the intention of then applying 
 it as the basis of some gigantic business-combinations he thought 
 of bringing to bear in the East Indies. He was, however, com- 
 pelled to abandon this scheme, in consequence of the First Consul 
 denying him permission to leave the country. Bonaparte, who 
 was just then busied with the campaign that terminated on the 
 field of Marengo, needed money — and he had learned to feel that, 
 
 * The humor of this play on words is lost, in translation. Where the Em- 
 peror intimates that his exalted rank gives a zest to their liaison, Madame 
 Grassini's imperfect accent creates quite a different meaning. — Trana. 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 67 
 
 in Ouvrard he possessed the only man who could procure it for 
 him, and, for the time being, suppressed his secret dislike to so 
 useful an ally. He caused General Berthier to summon Ouvrard 
 into his presence, and addressed him in the following words: 
 " Now, Mr. Ouvrard, will you give me twelve millions of francs ] 
 we shall then understand each other ! You know already what I 
 think of your transactions with the Marine Department !" The 
 reply to this was : " General ! I have four to ask of you." After 
 a good deal of argument pro and con, says Ouvrard, " I received 
 an order for the four millions. This appearance of integrity 
 seduced me," he goes on to say ; " but more than all, the manifold 
 promises the First Consul made me; and yet still, the very most 
 of all," — this is his own confession, — " my innate taste for great 
 operations was what induced me to accept the part offered me by 
 Napoleon, of contractor-general to the government." 
 
 Under these circumstances Ouvrard was obliged to give up his 
 projected visit to Mexico. But he procured from the Spanish 
 government the passports requisite for a trip into that country, for 
 his brother, who was established at Philadelphia, under the firm 
 of Ouvrard, De Chailles and Co. The brother was very well re- 
 ceived, taken by the Royal Treasurer to his own residence, and 
 thence admitted into the Treasury itself, where, owing to the inter- 
 ruption of trade with the mother country, occasioned by the war, 
 some seventy-one millions of dollars were accumulated. There- 
 upon, the treasurer pointed out to him a number of marked chests 
 containing four millions of piastres which had been put apart as a 
 separate deposit for the liquidation of the six bills of exchange in 
 Ouvrard's hands. 
 
 A written acknowledgment of this deposit from the treasurer 
 was, several years later, of great assistance in the transactions 
 that afterwards took place between Ouvrard and the house of 
 Hope and Co. 
 
 The fearful rise in the price of bread that occurred at Paris, in 
 the year 1802, had compelled the First Consul to assemble the 
 eight leading bankers of the capital : Perregaux, Recamier, Ful- 
 chiron and others, to consult with in regard to the measures that 
 were to be adopted for public relief. However, these gentlemen 
 
6S THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, 
 
 did not feel sufficient confidence, and they would not make any 
 orders for foreign breadstuffs without the ready cash in hand. 
 Much annoyed at his ill success in this affair, Napoleon summoned 
 Ouvrard to him at Malmaison, whither the latter at once repaired, 
 accompanied by Vanlerberghe, the usual participant in his enter- 
 prises, and finally offered, for the simple commission of 2 per cent., 
 to undertake a contract to supply all the wheat required by the 
 capital, and ship it to Havre. The sums expended, which had to 
 be repaid progressively, accordingly as the bills drawn in England, 
 Holland and Hamburgh, for the necessary purchases, fell due, ran 
 up to the total of twenty-six millions of francs. On the presenta- 
 tion of the very first bill, the Minister of the Public Treasury, 
 Barbe Marbois, declared that he had no money, and it was only 
 after the lapse of eighteen months, and when an understanding 
 had been come to for striking off the whole commission, amount- 
 ing to half a million by itself, that the two operators succeeded, 
 after the greatest trouble, in getting back the capital they had ad- 
 vanced. Notwithstanding this want of good faith and punctuality, 
 Bonaparte did not hesitate to ask Ouvrard to take in hand, under 
 certain conditions, the immensely increased necessities of his naval 
 service, occasioned by the projected descent upon England. Ouv. 
 rard, whom experience had, indeed, made wiser, but who, as he 
 himself states, did not dare to say, no ! lest he should increase the 
 difficulties attending a reimbursement of the large claims in arrear 
 he already had on the government, gave his consent, in June, 1803, 
 for the term of six years and three months ! The contractors 
 were, as early as the spring of 1804, in an unsecured advance of 
 no less a sum than 68,845,000 francs. 
 
 The extraordinary and increasing necessities of the different 
 ministries which kept pace with Napoleon's gigantic plans, and 
 which Ouvrard had pledged himself to supply, and the nearly 
 absolute impossibility of procuring the enormous sums they ret 
 quired, without great sacrifice, owing to the then existing condi- 
 tion of public credit in France, often subtracted on the one side 
 far more than they could hope to gain upon the other. They, 
 just at this very time, occasioned Ouvrard and his partner Van- 
 lerberghe, large losses, and the unheard of cash payment of 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 69 
 
 43,000,296 francs, which, had the government possessed the 
 means of discharging its obligations to its contractors punctually 
 and regularly, they would have been certain to escape. Napo- 
 leon, who never had a correct idea of w r hat credit means, and 
 never considered it worth while to make any regulations applica- 
 ble to it, but looked upon bankers, merchants, and, most espe- 
 cially, public purveyors, as so many birds of prey, found it con- 
 venient, by squeezing the mercantile classes, to take from them 
 what they fancied they had rightfully earned, and yet openly ap- 
 plauded and professed the principle that war should pay itself, 
 and be supported at the expense of the enemy. He would not 
 tolerate nor listen to any intimation that in this way public welfare 
 would be undermined, but without even enriching the State. From 
 his character, and from the sway he yielded to his passions, it 
 may be readily conceived that this system had become to him a 
 second nature. Yet, to any one w r ho has never experienced the 
 charm that accompanies a vast, extended commerce, reacting far 
 beyond the usual limits, or learned, from experience, how its un- 
 foreseen consequences often render it impossible to recede from 
 it, at will, the w r onderful organization of a man like Ouvrard must 
 remain incomprehensible, plunging continually deeper and deeper 
 as he did into the whirlpool of business, notwithstanding his cor- 
 rect estimate of the tendencies and prejudices that ruled Napo- 
 leon, and notwithstanding the constantly recurring instances of 
 his want of good faith. Ouvrard could not have extricated him- 
 self from the vortex into which he had plunged, even had he 
 wished to do so. This is evident, from the whole history of his 
 life and actions. " It was ever a clamorous necessity that drove 
 me into these affairs," he says : but the key to this linked laby- 
 rinth of necessities lay, usually, in the monstrous proportions of 
 the first undertaking, which was far beyond even his strength. 
 . In the Ministry of Public Finance it seemed to have been 
 adopted, as a rule, always to connect, with partial payments of 
 old debts, a series of new demands ; and Barbe-Marbois, the head 
 of that department, finally got so far, that he prevailed upon Ouv- 
 rard to assume a fresh contract, to supply all the requirements 
 and wants of the Treasury for the year 1804 (An XIII), an 
 
70 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, 
 
 amount likely to reach the sum of 400,000,000 francs. The in- 
 ducement held out to Ouvrard consisted in granting him the 
 license of using the bare receipts given him, on the two Ministries 
 of War and the Marine for advances made, as cash payments on 
 account of the new advances ; so that, definitively, the State re- 
 mained his sole debtor for all the enormous advances he had 
 directly or indirectly made. 
 
 Spain had, in a treaty of alliance with France, made herself 
 available for a yearly subsidy of 72,000,000 francs, of which 
 32,000,000 had already fallen due, without one single franc having 
 been accessible, through either the mediation of the Spanish banker 
 Hervas, or the French Ambassador at Madrid. Ouvrard was, 
 once more, the man on whom Napoleon laid his hand to bring 
 about the payment of this sum ; and the Minister Barbe-Marbois 
 was willing, so far as the Treasury was concerned, to hold Mr. 
 Desprez, and, for the requirements of the Navy, Mr. Vanler- 
 berghe responsible, in Ouvrard's place, whereby, as Ouvrard 
 affirms, it was understood that the latter should be entirely re- 
 leased from all the obligations transferred to the shoulders of the 
 other two contractors, but under the condition that he should 
 again make an advance of the whole amount, viz., 32,000,000 due 
 from Spain. In this way they thought Ouvrard could step for- 
 ward as the personal creditor of the Spanish Crown, and other 
 advantages might be gained from his agency on this occasion. At 
 length Ouvrard went on to Madrid, after having made the de- 
 sired advance ; but upon his arrival in the Spanish capital found the 
 public Treasury so empty, that it could not even raise the half mil- 
 lion of francs needed to defray the expenses of the King's trip to 
 his pleasure palaces. Ouvrard opened his mission by instantly 
 furnishing that amount, the moment he heard of the pinched po- 
 sition of the Royal purse, and, with great skill brought to bear 
 two methods of obtaining admission to the (at that time) all- 
 powerful Prince of Peace (Principe de la Paz), and prepare a 
 favorable reception for the proposals he had to make. One of 
 these methods consisted in drawing a vivid picture of the effect 
 of anger on a man of such indomitable will as Napoleon pos 
 sessed ; the other was in making adroit reference to the Kingdom 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 71 
 
 of Portugal, which, as every one knew, had a large portion of 
 Godoy's most secret wishes. Ouvrard did not forget to assure 
 him that he was among the very men of whom Napoleon liked to 
 form kings. Both these means worked well ; so much so, indeed, 
 that at length it seemed as if there would be something done in 
 earnest. Don Miguel Cay. Soler, the Minister of Finance, de- 
 declared, at an interview in the Prince's presence, that, with the 
 best will in the world, the coffers of the Treasury did not contain 
 a dollar ; with the additional remark that the most pressing thing 
 now was to provide for the general dearth of food ; money was 
 needed for that, and it had to be procured. Other things could 
 be attended to afterwards. When Soler had retired the Prince, 
 turning to Ouvrard, said, " Now, Sir, you have heard all — more I 
 cannot tell you — give Don Miguel your advice, and I will support 
 your claims with his Majesty. I feel greatly concerned not to see 
 your mission fail. Come to see me every day." The most natural 
 plan surely would now have been to raise a heavy loan to pay the 
 subsidies due to France, besides providing for the future necessities 
 of the Treasury, and remedying the scarcity of food as soon as pos- 
 sible. But the difficulties that lay in the way of these measures 
 were of no common order. These were: first, to acquire the 
 confidence of the foreign bankers, especially those of Holland, 
 who were to furnish the funds, and could depend upon the security 
 offered. The treasures which were lying at the command of the 
 Spanish government in Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere, but which 
 could not be reached, on account of the war then going on, were 
 the only resources Spain had to extricate her from the embarrass- 
 ments that surrounded her ; for all other fountains of relief had 
 run completely dry. To make them available as security for re- 
 payment was the task now undertaken by Ouvrard, who, as a 
 preliminary condition to his exertions, demanded, firstly, the ex- 
 clusive monopoly of the commerce with the Spanish-American 
 colonies; secondly, the free exportation of all the gold and silver 
 stored up there belonging to the government ; and, thirdly, full 
 power to make loans even in America, under the guarantee of the 
 Financial Bureaux existing in Spanish America, and their promises 
 to reimburse. This latter condition, however, betrayed a very 
 
72 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, 
 
 imperfect knowledge of American affairs. At the moment when 
 Ouvrard was making these propositions, he was continually 
 pressed by the French Financial Minister, Barbe-Marbois, to send 
 on to Paris, as soon as possible, the gold and silver he had re- 
 ceived. The proverbial slowness and caution of the Spaniard did 
 not belie itself in this instance, and the Prince of Peace, who had 
 constantly fretted at the payment of the subsidies to France, 
 finally hesitated to adopt the only means which Ouvrard had pro- 
 posed. The latter found himself at length obliged to remind the 
 Prince of the letter which the Emperor had written with his own 
 hand to the King of Spain, the moment he was made aware of 
 Godoy's former hesitation concerning the subsidies, and had sent 
 to the Ambassador, Beurnonville, that he might transmit it to the 
 king in person. The letter referred to contained threats, very 
 direct hints at the intimate relations subsisting between the Royal 
 Consort and Godoy, and a peremptory request to expel the latter 
 from the country. 
 
 The Prince had managed to weather this storm, but it would 
 not be advisable to expose himself to such danger a second time, 
 as he was given to understand by Ouvrard, who breakfasted with 
 him every day. A fresh letter for the minister, Barbe Marbois, 
 teeming with renewed threats by the emperor, in consequence of 
 the delay and hesitation at Madrid, took Ouvrard in haste once 
 more to the Prince of Peace. There he suddenly found himself 
 in the presence of Queen Caroline. Our skillful financier could 
 not pass by so favorable an opportunity of expressing to her his 
 apprehensions of the danger that menaced the position of her 
 acknowledged favorite, and the immediate consequence was, that 
 Ouvrard received an invitation to occupy apartments in Godoy's 
 palace. When Madrid was made acquainted with this unusual 
 mark of favor, all the barriers with which the haciendas and other 
 authorities had surrounded themselves up to that time, were at 
 once thrown down. Ancient prejudices and long familiar customs 
 were laid aside, and the negotiations had in a few days reached a 
 point to which they had not attained in months before. Ouvrard 
 now hit upon immediate means of at once remedying that most 
 distressing of all evils, scarcity of food, and on the 26th of No- 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. To 
 
 vember, 1804, concluded a contract, endorsed by the government, 
 with the " Junta d'Anona" of Madrid, to supply two million cent- 
 ners of corn from the French ports, at 26 francs per centner. 
 Then on the same day he signed agreements with the Ministries 
 of War and the Marine to supply all they might require during 
 several years, and finally gave his signature to a trade-contract, 
 of which the world had hitherto seen no example. This was a 
 contract for the establishment of a common and mutual commer- 
 cial partnership, under' the firm Ouvrard and Co., between him 
 and Charles IV. king of Spain himself, for the whole duration of 
 the war. The main conditions of this partnership were : Firstly, 
 full power to import on partnership-account into all the harbors 
 of Spanish America, every description of goods and products 
 needed for colonial consumption, during the whole continuance of 
 the war with Great Britain, and at the same time complete author- 
 ity tb export thence, duty free, all their productions, but more 
 especially their gold and silver ; secondly, the stipulation that all 
 profits resulting from the transactions of this partnership, should 
 be divided in equal halves between his Catholic Majesty and Mr. 
 Ouvrard. Napoleon approved of Ouvrard's contract for the 
 exportation of two million centners of corn from the French 
 ports, under the condition that he should pay an export-duty of 
 four francs per centner, or about eight million francs, which were 
 handed over in cash at Paris. Ouvrard also received from the 
 English government the passes requisite for the transportation of 
 the grain for which he had contracted. His agreement with the 
 "Junta d'Anona," the permission to export already received from 
 Napoleon, and that of the English government to effect the trans- 
 portation, were published by Ouvrard in all the Spanish news- 
 papers, and produced a magical effect. Wheat fell to such an 
 extent that the Spanish government offered Mr. Ouvrard a million 
 of dollars as a reimbursement, if he would give up his contract ; 
 he, however, declined this offer, and contented himself with 
 reducing it to the ships which had already sailed from the French 
 ports. ' Directly after the conclusion of his commercial agree- 
 ment with king Charles IV. of Spain, Ouvrard was placed in pos- 
 session of five hundred royal licenses for the introduction, duty 
 
 4 
 
74 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR, 
 
 free, of every description of goods into the colonies. These 
 licenses, provided with the signature of Don Miguel Cayetano 
 Soler, left the name of the ship and its captain, the amount of his 
 tonnage, its flag and the nature of its cargo, in blank. Then, upon 
 the 18th of December, 1804, Ouvrard received, in behalf of the 
 proposed commercial partnership, 752 drafts, or livranzas, of the 
 Madrid Chamber of Finance, and the Court Bankers, Garochi, 
 Nephew and Co., for the sum of 52,500,000 piastres. Ouvrard 
 now hastened back to Paris;, revived in" the management of his 
 business-transactions with the Ministries of War, the Marine, and 
 the Interior, that activity which had been wanting in them during 
 his absence, and then repaired in April, 1805, to Amsterdam to 
 explain his agreements and plans to Messrs. Hope and Co. I 
 have often heard from Mr. Labouchere's own lips the confirmation 
 of what Ouvrard related concerning his first interview with the 
 two heads of the latter house, Mr. John Williams Hope and 
 himself: namely, that as he unfolded before them his combina- 
 tions, plans, and stupendous views, those two gentlemen gave each 
 other a mutual look of amazement, and might have even betrayed 
 a serious doubt whether he was in the full possession of his under- 
 standing. So they asked for a couple of days that they might 
 think his propositions over. When the circumspect Labouchere, 
 who had not been able to form any very clear idea either of Ouv- 
 rard's capital, or of his circumstances and present available means 
 from that gentleman's own statements, regarding his connections 
 with the French and Spanish governments, and their War and 
 Marine Departments, nor exactly to unravel the tangled thread 
 of his surprising narratives which made light of millions upon 
 millions, declared to him that the basis of an arrangement with the 
 house of Hope and Co. could be nothing less than an unlimited 
 confidence in himself, and that if their participation in his business 
 was worth any thing to him, he must bind himself to them on all 
 sides, and surrender himself completely to their discretion, refrain 
 from all interference in the manner and way they might see fit to 
 adopt in carrying out his plan, agree to them before hand, acknow- 
 ledge the correctness of their accounts before hand, and with this 
 intent place twelve blank letters with his signature in their posses- 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 75 
 
 sion. How they intended to operate, was communicated to him 
 only in outline, and he was given to understand that, for the 
 present, they would confine themselves to the practical part 
 already within reach, to the royal bills of exchange on Mexico, 
 Havana, &c, and to the use of the licenses accordingly as they had 
 to be handed in. Ouvrard consented to every thing, and so, on 
 May 6th, 1805, a very simple agreement was concluded between 
 their house and him. Messrs. Hope and Co. bound themselves to 
 assume the use of the licenses on his account, and for a stipulated 
 commission of 5 per cent, upon all transactions arising from the 
 same, bearing the cost of agencies themselves, and then to pay 
 over to Ouvrard or his properly authorized representative, the net 
 results of the same as soon as they themselves should have 
 received them. They likewise engaged to make good the equiva- 
 lent of all the bills drawn on them with 3 francs 75 centimes on 
 the piastre, as soon as they should be handed in and have left the 
 ports of the Spanish colonies, duty free. Hereupon, Ouvrard 
 relinquished into the keeping of Messrs. Hope and Co., who were, 
 moreover, commissioned to negotiate a loan for the Spanish crown, 
 the greater part of the documents and bills remaining in his hands, 
 and returned to Paris and Madrid. There I shall leave him, and 
 refer to his embarrassments and fate, only when the develop- 
 ment of my own history leads me naturally back to him, and 
 the duty thence arising of clearing up his memory, may require it. 
 For he was, incontestably, the man who first made the elements 
 of credit distinctly visible to his nation, and greatly served the 
 latter by even his wildest operations^ at a time when the interior 
 household-management of a state was scarcely understood, much 
 less seriously laid hold of, by Napoleon. The acts of injustice 
 done to him by Napoleon, and pursued with a degree of obstinacy, 
 were of the most crying kind ; but they have been unfortunately 
 palliated in a truly frivolous manner, in the 20th chapter, 6th 
 volume of Thiers' History of the Consulate and Empire ; although 
 the historian who, by the way, was scarcely out of bibs and tuck- 
 ers at the time when they occurred, has tried hard to show that he 
 has drawn his narrative from authentic sources. These sources 
 
76 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR. 
 
 were Napoleon's ordered compilations of events under his do- 
 minion ! 
 
 In the business undertaken by the Messrs. Hope, the London 
 house of Baring Brothers and Co. took part ; yet this fact was 
 kept secret, on account of the state of relations existing during 
 the war. I, at that time, had no knowledge of the circumstance, 
 and only heard it upon my first return from America, when Mr. 
 Henry Hope communicated it to me. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF MESSRS. HOPE & CO. 
 
 The basis of the plan laid down in Amsterdam, and its execution in the Uni- 
 ted States — David Parish of Antwerp intrusted with the chief control of 
 this business, and Mr. A. P. Lestapsis, from Hope's counting-house, and I, 
 charged with the two most important branches of the money management ; 
 the former in Vera Cruz, and myself in New Orleans — My departure from 
 Amsterdam for New York — Breaking out of the yellow fever there — 
 Excursion to Boston — Arrival of the exiled General Moreau in New York — 
 Arrival of David Parish in New York — Final consultations there — My arri- 
 val at New Orleans, on the first Easter Sunday, 1806 — Sketch of the state 
 of things in that city— Governor Claiborne — The land speculator John 
 McDonough — The lawyer Edward Livingston — My first appearance in New 
 Orleans, as a business man — The yellow fever, which had spared me in 
 New York, seizes me here — The Conspiracy of the former Vice President 
 of the United States, Aaron Burr — General Wilkinson — The rencontre of 
 the American frigate Chesapeake with the British man-of-war Leopard, in 
 the year 1807 — Its influence upon my business relations — General expecta- 
 tion of war with England. 
 
 Two different methods were devised to lift the immense hoard- 
 ings of silver on deposit in Mexico, and transport it thence. One 
 of these was to procure from the British government, notwith- 
 standing the war with Spain, permission to transport the silver 
 piastres from Vera Cruz to England. At that time great scarcity 
 of coin prevailed in England, especially of silver change, and in 
 this respect the British East India Company was much inconve- 
 nienced, as it required large supplies to pay its hands and keep 
 its various establishments throughout India agoing. The first 
 attempt to obtain such permission failed. Pitt, the British Prime 
 Minister, refused it, because it was evidently contributing to 
 
78 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF 
 
 strengthen the enemy's hands, and open sources of aid and 
 comfort which the war had closed against him. But the wisdom 
 and correct feeling of the statesman soon were re-awakened in 
 him, when he perceived and weighed the advantages this supply 
 of silver, once in the hands of the East India Company and the 
 London Exchange, would yield to British trade. To heighten the 
 prosperity of British commerce was to increase the general wel- 
 fare. Napoleon openly expressed very different opinions ; for, 
 when a deputation of commercial men came out from Antwerp to 
 welcome him on his approach to that city, he met them with the 
 words: "I don't like merchants! A merchant is a man who 
 would sell his country for a shilling !" Je n'aime pas les nego- 
 tiants? Un negotiant est un homme qui vendrait sa pa trie pour 
 un petit ecu ! He despised the walks of trade, and in one of his 
 consultations with Ouvrard, uttered the reproach that he had 
 degraded royalty to the level of trade. " Vous avez abaisse la 
 royaute au niveau du commerce /" 
 
 In short, Pitt finally gave his consent to dispatch four frigates, 
 who, in the very midst of the war with Spain, very quietly 
 appeared, one after the other, in the roads of Vera Cruz, and with- 
 out any interruption took on board about fourteen millions of 
 piastres from the treasury of Mexico, and brought the treasure 
 back to England. Yet, fourteen millions were not more than one 
 quarter of the whole amount which it was desirable to transfer 
 from Mexico to Europe. By far the greater part was not to be 
 transmitted in hard cash, but through the natural channels of trade, 
 by dispatching consignments of goods from America, especially 
 from the United States, to the ports of Europe. The United 
 States, which were at that time wholly in possession of the 
 carrying trade, presented the most extensive field for the pur- 
 chase of all kinds of colonial produce — not merely their own, 
 such as cotton and tobacco, but also of each and every other 
 kind, such as coffee, sugar, pepper, &c, &c. — since the latter were 
 regularly shipped thither, without the least difficulty, on Ameri- 
 can account, and under the protection of their neutral flag. But 
 the war between England and the Continent, which obeyed the 
 orders of Napoleon, as well as the watchfulness of the English 
 
MESSRS. HOPE & CO. 79 
 
 fleets and cruisers, made the transport of such purchases, for the 
 account of even the Messrs. Hope, almost impossible. Measures 
 had therefore to be taken to give them the character of neutral 
 property, not in appearance merely, but in reality ; and this could 
 be done only by stimulating the enterprising spirit of the Ameri- 
 can merchants to send shipments on their own account into Conti- 
 nental Europe, taking out their insurance in England, making 
 advances, and for their amount accepting bills on the drawer, 
 which the Messrs. Hope themselves looked about for and indorsed, 
 as being of a kind that had their full and entire confidence. In 
 this manner the home-returning capital accumulated interest and 
 increased, even through the enormously heavy commissions which 
 remained to be raised on these consignments. The whole combi- 
 nation was a most excellent one, but could be easily and naturally 
 carried into execution only in such a country as the' United States, 
 where the enterprising spirit knows no bounds, but where the 
 capital of the venturer is limited. * 
 
 Two great difficulties still lay in the way of an entire realiza- 
 tion of the whole plan. The first and most important of these 
 was to effect the realization of the values payable in coin in Mexico, 
 and their transport to the United States. The moneys would 
 have to be exported under the American flag and on American 
 account. But such immense capitals as these could only be made 
 neutral by paying a heavy commission, and respectable houses 
 would in no case have lent themselves to it. People had not yet 
 forgotten that a single house in the North of Europe had, at the 
 beginning of the English and French war, covered such a multi- 
 tude of ships and cargoes and made them neutral, that the Eng- 
 lish cruisers, put on their guard by the frequent re-appearance of 
 the same names in the consignment papers and bills of lading, 
 availed themselves of this suspicious circumstance, to call them 
 up and obtain their condemnation as good and lawful prizes. The 
 latter was pronounced because it seemed impossible that any one 
 house could cover the seas with such a huge amount of capital as 
 was here seen afloat at one time. The means of overcoming the 
 first difficulty was to be looked for in the United States them- 
 selves. From this arose the second, namely, the selection of a 
 
80 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF 
 
 man who should unite sufficient mercantile experience with large 
 intelligence and knowledge of men ; and moreover, should possess 
 the capacity for making combinations, so as to devise ways and 
 means of successful exit where they would, otherwise, remain hid- 
 den from the eyes of the common observer. The Barings wished 
 to give the management of this business over to the hands of Mr. 
 Samuel P. Labouchere, already named, who was then conducting 
 the French correspondence of their house ; but his elder brother, 
 who, as head of the Hope establishment, had concluded the con- 
 tract with Ouvrard, pointed, out David Parish (who, after the 
 peace of Amiens, had founded a mercantile concern at Antwerp), 
 as the man who, all the circumstances considered, would be the 
 most suitable — Mr. Samuel P. Labouchere not appearing to be a 
 person thoroughly fitted for the post. Mr. P. C. Labouchere had 
 got to know the man of whom I speak — the third son of a John 
 Parish, a Scotch merchant established at Hamburgh, shortly 
 after the opening of his Antwerp house in Paris, and had very 
 quickly discovered his keenness of perception, his skill, and his 
 remarkable, nay, almost instinctive knowledge of human nature. 
 Besides possessing all these valuable qualities, he was a pleasant 
 companion without being a very well read man, had agreeable 
 manners, and was a most excellent whist-player. It was generally 
 hinted, although I could never positively verify the story, nor 
 even credit it, that he was indebted to his large winning at play 
 in Hamburgh for a considerable portion of the capital with which 
 he had commenced his establishment. Ojie thing, however, is 
 quite certain, and Mr. Labouchere was well acquainted with the 
 fact, that within a very short time after opening his concern, Par- 
 ish had managed to more than treble the amount invested, and 
 this in a very simple way. During his sojourn in Hamburgh, 
 and before his trip to the United States, the Archbishop Talley- 
 rand had been very kindly received and entertained by the Parish 
 family, and had even been provided with funds by them. When 
 Napoleon visited Belgium for the first time, and stopped for some 
 days in Antwerp, Mr. David Parish entertained Prince Talley- 
 rand in his magnificently furnished dwelling ; and this renewed 
 acquaintance with a son of the family who had received him with 
 
MESSRS. HOPE A CO. 81 
 
 such kindness on a former occasion, led to an intimacy which, 
 under the agreeable influences of the best table in Antwerp, and 
 frequent matches at cards for high stakes— two things the Prince 
 especially liked, and could appreciate as perfectly as his host him- 
 self — became daily stronger, and finally produced a confidential 
 interchange of sentiment. The Prince, as everybody knows, was 
 not at all regardless of the advantages opened to him by his posi- 
 tion. We all have heard to what excellent account he turned the 
 first intelligence of the victory at Marengo, and thereby enriched 
 himself. A no less certain opportunity to make another similar 
 speculation was now thrown in his way. Talleyrand, as Napo- 
 leon's Minister of Foreign Affairs, possessed the key of what 
 passed in the emperor's mind concerning political and interna- 
 tional matters, and was well aware that the speedy outbreak of a 
 war with Great Britain was inevitable. The certain rise of prices 
 for every species of colonial produce, in such a case, was evi- 
 dent. The Prince, ere he left Antwerp, came to an understanding 
 with his young friend, and the latter made use of the hint he got, 
 to employ all the capital and credit he could command in large 
 purchases of colonial goods at Antwerp and elsewhere. Soon 
 after Napoleon's return to Paris, the memorable scene in the 
 Tuilleries with Lord Whitworth occurred ; and a declaration of 
 war and an important rise in the price of all colonial products fol- 
 lowed. The first very striking result had given Mr. David Parish 
 considerable weight in the eyes of Mr. Labouchere ; and the fact 
 of his having, young as he was, managed to ingratiate himself 
 into the confidence of such a man as» Talleyrand, was regarded as 
 a proof of undeniable merit, and his capacity for the management 
 of the greatest interests. Of course it was not difficult for Mr. 
 Labouchere to prevail upon Parish to intrust the interests of his 
 Antwerp house entirely in the hands of his partner, G. Agie, and 
 accept the agency of his projected business in America. The 
 business itself held out great inducements, and the conditions 
 under which the agency was arranged were no less favorable. 
 These conditions were : Firstly, that Mr. David Parish should 
 enjoy one full fourth of the business advantages and profits arising 
 from these transactions ; secondly, that Parish was not to under- 
 
 4* 
 
82 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF 
 
 take any separate business that did not go to the common account 
 of both the partners interested, namely, Hope & Co., and David 
 Parish ; thirdly, all the travelling and other necessary expenses 
 were to be charged. 
 
 Two head agents were still necessary : one for Mexico, to pre- 
 sent the bills of exchange and get them cashed, to ship the coin 
 at Vera Cruz, and oversee the sale of the ships' cargoes coming in 
 under license ; the other at New Orleans, to receive the coin as it 
 arrived, to dispatch the cargoes of German, English and French 
 manufactured goods coming in from Europe to Vera Cruz under 
 accompanying licenses, and to make over to the merchants in the 
 latter city as many licenses a? the opportunity would admit. For 
 my own part, there was no necessity for any longer delay in Eu- 
 rope during the financial preparation of the instructions which Mr. 
 Parish was to bring over to me. I consequently embarked dur- 
 ing the first days of July, 1805, in the American ship Flora, com- 
 manded by Captain Daniel' Sterling, for New York. I arrived 
 after a voyage of 42 days, which was looked upon at that time as 
 a very rapid one. The astonished consignee of the ship, who had 
 not even heard of its arrival in Amsterdam, was standing on the 
 quay to welcome me, its only passenger, and his friend the cap- 
 tain. The world into which I found myself now transported, was 
 entirely new to me. I had, owing to the at that time extreme 
 rarity of authentic works concerning the United- States, read so 
 little about them, that I had possessed a very imperfect idea about 
 the country, and had conceived it to be, in consequence of the 
 thoroughly savage condition in which the land had been discovered 
 and gradually peopled, much further behindhand in civilization 
 than I found it. . 
 
 I distinctly remember a circumstance which will give my 
 readers an excellent conception of the singular ideas I entertained 
 in regard to the state of things in America, as compared with the 
 notions of our captain concerning the perfection of his native 
 country. It simply happened one day that an excellent umbrella 
 was broken on deck during a violent storm, and I asked the cap- 
 tain, if he thought I could replace it with as good a one in New 
 York ; when he replied quite sharply : " God bless me ! ask me 
 
MESSRS. HOPE & CO. 83 
 
 whether the sun shines in New York." It must be remembered 
 that this occurred forty-seven years ago, and at that time in Ger- 
 many, America was generally looked upon as a sort of penal col- 
 ony or rendezvous for all kinds of scamps and worthless fellows. 
 When I first informed my parents that I was "going thither, my 
 mother at once exclaimed : " It cannot be possible that you have 
 taken into your head this unfortunate idea of going to America 1 
 Who knows what advantage they may take of your inexperience !" 
 A few days after my arrival in New York, the yellow fever 
 broke out in that city. When I was about starting from Amster- 
 dam, Mr. Labouchere had asked me if I was afraid of the yellow 
 fever ; " for" — he added — " if you do feel afraid of it, you must 
 not go to America, as you will be certain to die there !" I had 
 said that I felt no apprehension, and as I really did not feel at all 
 timid about it, I was determined to push boldly on for New York. 
 But the houses to which I was recommended gave me to under- 
 stand that, as business was generally very quiet in the months of 
 July, August and September, and the city was deserted by every 
 one who could get away, it would be imprudent for me to stay 
 there. I followed their advice and went to Boston ; but after a 
 six weeks' sojourn there and in Philadelphia, returned to New 
 York. A few days after my arrival in the latter city, a rumor 
 was circulated that a ship from Cadiz had entered the bay with the 
 exiled General Moreau on board. It was not long before all the 
 militia drums were heard in every part of the city, and their com- 
 mander-in-chief, a lawyer by the name of Morton, went galloping 
 about in all directions, on horseback, in the uniform of a general, 
 followed by his adjutants, principally young law-students, as if he 
 imagined that Moreau had also begun his career in the legal pro- 
 fession. At any rate, he dashed about, commanding and counter- 
 manding, and urging the greatest haste in the preparations every 
 body was making for a grand display in the long main street of 
 the city, called Broadway, which extends to the public promenade 
 designated as the Battery. It was at the latter point that the dis- 
 tinguished stranger was to land. His debarkation took place 
 about an hour later. The general, clad in citizen's style, with a 
 blue coat and pantaloons, mounted a horse prepared for him, amid 
 
rf4 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF 
 
 music and the acclamations of the crowd, and rode up, surrounded 
 by his staff of parti-colored militia, along the main street to the 
 City Hall. Each separate company of each and every battalion, 
 wore their own peculiar and frequently extremely singular uni- 
 form, and it was impossible to look at the ensemble of this mili- 
 tary assemblage in any other light than as a harlequin parade ; 
 but the officers of this remarkable body were in no slight degree 
 proud of it, and when General Moreau had reached the City Hall, 
 he was very gravely asked by General Morton what he really 
 thought of the American troops ? The general is said to have re- 
 plied that he had never seen such soldiers in the whole course of 
 his life ! which somewhat ambiguous compliment was several 
 times repeated to me, at the same time with the greatest serious- 
 ness, as something highly honorable to the American military.* 
 
 Some American amateurs had got up a great concert on the 
 same evening in the long saloon of the " City Hotel," at that time 
 the largest public house in the place. General Moreau was in- 
 vited to be present, and promised to comply. The street-corners 
 were at once covered with large hand-bills, announcing in immense 
 capitals that he would attend the concert. I could not deny my- 
 self the pleasure of getting a near view of this distinguished man, 
 and so went to the musical entertainment. There was a great 
 crowd present, but the most striking personage in the throng was 
 by no means General Moreau, of whom every body remarked 
 that he did not look at all like a French general, because he sim- 
 ply wore a blue coat ; but General Morton in his Washington uni- 
 form, with a blue coat and yellow facings, &c. The latter intro- 
 duced to the general every one who wanted to take a good stare 
 at him, and the shaking of hands with ladies and gentlemen went on 
 as if it never would end. At length I managed to force my way 
 close up to these two great leaders, Morton the lawyer and militia 
 hero, and the hero of Hohenlinden. Just as I got there, a quaker 
 
 * When Marshal Bertrand was, some years ago, visiting the north-western 
 portion of the United States, and had arrived at Buffalo, in the State of New 
 York, a review of the citizen militia was held there in his honor; and the 
 newspapers, on that occasion, revived the old anecdote of thirty years before, 
 and put in his mouth the words I have just attributed to Moreau. 
 
MESSRS. HOPE <fe CO. 85 
 
 had himself introduced to the latter, and shaking him heartily by 
 the hand, uttered the following words : " Glad to see you safe in 
 America ! — Pray, General — say, do you remember what was the 
 price of cochineal when you left Cadiz !" The victor of Hohen- 
 linden shrugged his shoulders and was unable to reply. 
 
 Some days after this military festival, my friend Lestapis 
 arrived from Amsterdam with a portion of the documents required 
 to carry on our business. We passed our time for several weeks 
 very pleasantly. The well-known hospitality shown to every 
 stranger, possessing the least cultivation, who arrives in the United 
 States, made it easy for us to enjoy ourselves. At length, in the 
 beginning of November, David Parish arrived. The news of 
 some very large commercial enterprise had already preceded him, 
 and, although the nature of the undertaking had not become, 
 known, the greatest curiosity followed every step he took. Ii\ 
 New York, the whole combination of the enterprise which had 
 been fully discussed at Amsterdam, was unfolded and analyzed, 
 and my friend Lestapis and myself set out, each for his post ; he 
 to Vera Cruz and I to New Orleans, where a whole cargo of Ger- 
 man linens had arrived, and was awaiting me. The fast-sailing 
 schooner Aspasia had brought it to its destination. I went over- 
 land to Charleston, and as (contrary to all expectation) there was 
 no suitable craft there on which I could take passage for New 
 Orleans, I purchased the schooner Regulator, and went in it to the 
 latter port. 
 
 It was on Easter Sunday, 1806, that I first set foot on the soil 
 of Louisiana, where I, five years later, was invested .with the 
 rights of citizenship, and I reached the city of New Orleans before 
 nightfall. 
 
 Louisiana, originally a French colony, then Spanish, and then 
 again French, had, as every one knows, been sold, shortly before 
 the time of which I speak, to the United States by the French gov- 
 ernment, for fifteen millions of Spanish dollars, and had been soon 
 afterwards organized as a territory. It possessed an elective legis- 
 lature, chosen by the people, but the Governor received his ap- 
 pointment from the President of the Confederation, which high 
 post was at that moment occupied by Thomas Jefferson. The 
 
86 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF 
 
 political rival of this celebrated man, in the struggle for the Pres- 
 idency, had been Aaron Burr, and it was said that the vote of a 
 representative from Kentucky, named William Cole Claiborne, 
 had turned the scale at the election, and secured Jefferson's suc- 
 cess. Such a service as this had been rewarded by the President 
 elect with no less a mark of favor than Claiborne's appointment to 
 the governorship of Louisiana. To make way for him, the French 
 prefect, Laussat, a man of education and refinement, possessing 
 all the manners of a French courtier, was removed. Claiborne 
 was exactly the reverse ; of fine personal appearance, but, in all 
 other respects, a coarse, rude man, and, at the same time, very 
 sharp and knowing, as most Americans are. The greater part of 
 the then existing population was of French origin. In the city 
 itself the French number at least three-fifths of the inhabitants ; 
 one other fifth was of Spanish race, and another Americans, 
 among whom were some Germans. The city numbered about 
 16,000 souls, of whom one-third were people of color and slaves. 
 The mercantile class was made up of four or five French estab- 
 lishments, springing from the neighborhood of the Garonne, and 
 founded during the continuance of the French rule ; three Scotch 
 counting-houses, one German concern, and eight or ten commission- 
 houses, lately opened by young American merchants from New 
 York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The traces of this class, who 
 carried on the early business of New Orleans under the new 
 regime, are now limited to the sugar-planter Shepherd, who is 
 still living, and now very wealthy, and to the still more opulent 
 Mr. W. M. Montgomery, formerly wholesale grocer,, and now the 
 owner of a large portion of the northwestern section of the State, 
 who lives partly at New York and "partly at Paris. Shepherd, 
 whom I have just named, who was but two-and-twenty when he 
 came from Baltimore to New Orleans, was accompanied thither 
 by a young American from the same place, who could not have 
 been more than a few years older than himself. The latter 
 brought some six or eight thousand dollars with him, and after, 
 for a considerable time, exploring all sorts of uncultivated lands 
 lying along the Mississippi, made a choice and purchased. This 
 young man was John McDonough, who made such constant parade 
 
MESSRS. HOPE & CO. 87 
 
 of the lands he had bought, so well understood the game of making 
 fictitious sales to his friend Shepherd, at very high rates, and 
 through him to others at still higher prices, and pursued this sys- 
 tem, observing, at the same time, great frugality at home, so long 
 and so skilfully, that at length real purchasers fell into his net, and 
 made themselves part and parcel of it. McDonough talked very 
 little, and seldom mixed in general conversation, especially with 
 ladies, whose society he avoided as much as possible. When he 
 did open his lips, all that fell from them was praise of certain 
 lands he had just purchased, and this theme was inexhaustible. 
 It was not in Louisiana alone that he carried on this system, but 
 also in neighboring States, and he continued it for more than forty 
 years. He passed his spare time in looking after the education of 
 some children in the neighborhood of his homely residence on an 
 estate, or, as they call it in the South, a plantation, belonging to 
 him. He also occupied himself with the amateur study of medi- 
 cine. McDonough died in October, 1851, and, upon the opening 
 of his will, it was discovered, that at the time of his death he 
 owned four-fifths of all the uncultivated lands in the State of Louis- 
 iana, and many tracts of territory in other States, to the very 
 considerable amount of fifteen millions of dollars. During the 
 lapse of some thirty-four years I saw him very frequently, the 
 last time in 1839, and knew but one relation of his, a brother who 
 was a pilot, and died early, if I am not mistaken, of the yellow 
 fever. McDonough himself died without heirs, either direct or 
 collateral, and has made over his whole property to the govern- 
 ment of the United States, that it shall expend the same in the 
 establishment of public schools. Beside this general direction, 
 there are a number of small bequests and codicils of very curious 
 nature appended to his will. One of the oddest of these is the 
 bequest made to Leon Gozlan, in Paris. This well-known writer 
 some years ago published a romance called the " Medecin du 
 Pecq," which, in every point of view, but especially by some very 
 peculiar and profound psychological studies, attracted the greatest 
 notice throughout France. The editor of the " Courrier des Etats 
 Unis" republished it in the feuilleton of that widely circulated 
 paper, and it thus fell into the hands of Mr. McDonough, who 
 
88 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF 
 
 read it at home in his solitary hours, and was so charmed with 
 some of the author's observations on the world and men, that he 
 made him his heir to the amount of ten thousand dollars. This 
 sum was lately handed over to Mr. Gozlan by Mr. Rives, the 
 late American Ambassador at Paris, in a check on the house of 
 Albrecht & Co., in Havre. 
 
 I now return from this episode to the many-colored scenes of 
 my own changeful life. What notions were entertained, in the 
 northern part of the Union, of such a community as made up the 
 population of New Orleans, is clearly conveyed by an anecdote 
 of my friend, Mr. M. Amory, of Boston, whose newly-established 
 house, under the firm of Amory & Cullender, had received the 
 cargo of Schleswig linens sent from Europe, and then held it in 
 charge for me. Just as he was on the point of starting from 
 Boston for New Orleans he had seen in the newspapers an adver- 
 tisement of a ship about to sail direct to the latter port, and then 
 looking for passengers and freight. Amory called upon the 
 owner to recommend to him his young house as consignee. The 
 owner told him in confidence that he had not at all intended to send 
 his ship to New Orleans, but that he had published the advertise- 
 ment only for the purpose of discovering among the passengers 
 who would apply for berths, a rascal who had swindled his bro- 
 ther of a considerable sum of money. " For," added the owner, 
 " I consider it probable that he will try to leave for New Orleans, 
 which, as everybody knows, is a regular rendezvous for all sorts 
 of rogues and rabble." 
 
 Among these people, thus generally looked upon as the offscour- 
 ings of the northern States, I found a man of remarkable intel- 
 lectual powers and real talent. This man was the celebrated 
 Edward* Livingston, originally from the State of New York. He 
 had been a lawyer in the city of New York, and had there, as a 
 member of the Municipal Council, performed the functions of 
 Recorder. In that respect he had played a highly important part, 
 and had once represented the State itself in the Senate at Wash- 
 ington. At length there was suddenly discovered, in the manage- 
 ment of the municipal income of the city, then in the hands of the 
 Recorder, an inexplicable deficit of $60,000. Under these cir- 
 
MESSRS. HOPE <fc CO. 89 
 
 cum stances, it was impossible for Livingston to remain any longer 
 in the place.* He then emigrated to New Orleans, and there 
 began his career anew with the most remarkable success. He 
 there married the young and fascinating widow of a legitimist and 
 legist by the name of Moreau, from St. Domingo. The lady's 
 maiden name had been Davezac, and, after the destruction of the 
 colony, she had fled with her mother, sister, and one brother, first 
 to Jamaica, and then to Louisiana. I shall hereafter find further 
 occasion to speak of Livingston's brother-in-law, Auguste Dave- 
 zac. He was the same person who, some years after, was ap- 
 pointed, by President Jackson, to the post of American Ambas- 
 sador, and was from there summoned to Naples to draw the 
 indemnity moneys, but was soon afterward obliged to give up his 
 place at the Hague, on account of what we will call — to use a mild 
 term — irregularities in the arrangement of his accounts.* Dave- 
 zac was of French origin, but had attained great readiness in the 
 English language, and was employed at the time of my own arri- 
 val as a sworn interpreter in the Courts, and he was afterwards in 
 the Legislative Assembly of Louisiana. He had at length be- 
 come Livingston's factotum, and had made himself almost indis- 
 pensable to that gentleman, in hunting up the evidence among the 
 family papers of the French planters, and in procuring witnesses 
 who were ready at all times to swear to anything that might be 
 required of them. I recollect particularly a remarkable criminal 
 suit against a certain Beleurgey, the editor of one of the first 
 American papers, " Le Telegraphe" by name, which was published 
 at New Orleans, in the French and English languages, during 
 1806-'07. The accused had forged the signature of a wealthy 
 planter for the purpose of raising money, and when he was de- 
 tected had confessed his guilt to the planter in writing and 
 urgently besought him not to appear as prosecutor. The planter 
 felt disposed to accede to this request, but the letter was already 
 in the hands of justice. How, then, did Livingston manage, as the 
 attorney and advocate of Beleurgey, to secure the discharge of 
 the accused, notwithstanding this confession, this damning evidence 
 of his guilt 1 Davezac got together witnesses, who swore before 
 the Court, that they had long known Beleurgey to be the greatest 
 * See Appendix. 
 
90 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF 
 
 of liars, from whose lips there never fell a word of truth. " Look 
 at this !" said Livingston to his French jury ; " the man could not 
 tell the truth ; the very acknowledgment of his guilt is a lie, for 
 only a fool would be his own accuser. So then Beleurgey has 
 either lied, or he has not the control of his own understanding, and 
 in either case has not been conscious of what he was doing, and 
 cannot be found guilty !" So the jury brought in a verdict by 
 which he was discharged ! 
 
 When I first arrived in New Orleans, there was not a single 
 house there possessed of any capital worth mentioning, and an hon- 
 orable character seemed to me quite as great a rarity. I believed 
 just as much as I pleased of the representations made by the 
 merchants just established there ; and with all their boasting, and 
 great parade of clearness, it was quite remarkable that my expe- 
 rience was not enriched at the beginning, by the knowledge of 
 some unhandsome trick in trade, like those with which every 
 other man seemed to have been proud of having duped his neigh- 
 bor. The individual who succeeds, with a certain degree of skill, in 
 accomplishing some sharp manoeuvre, is too often rewarded in the 
 United States with the epithet of clever fellow. 
 
 In Messrs. Amory & Callender I discovered unswerving integ- 
 rity, combined with a certain distrust of all undertakings which 
 involved the least risk ; and it was precisely in consequence of 
 these two qualities, which are rather rare in American business 
 circles, that I made up my mind to employ their house in the exe- 
 cution of my plans. I had not yet passed a fortnight in New Or- 
 leans, and had given no one occasion to conjecture what my object 
 was in coming to the place, when the news was all at once buzzed 
 about that a schooner, under the American flag, six days from 
 Veracruz, had arrived in the Mississippi, with 150,000 Spanish 
 dollars on board for Vincent Nolte. 
 
 " Hullo ! who can that be V every one began to ask ; " What, 
 that young man V They had, however, scarcely ceased *to ex- 
 press their wonder, when another schooner from Vera Cruz came 
 in with $200,000 on board, and finally, ten days later, a third one 
 appeared, which, like the first, brought $150,000, and all for the 
 same young man ! The French planters had already treated me 
 
MESSRS. HOPE & CO. 91 
 
 with some distinction, merely from the fact that I was a stranger. 
 I spoke French, but now, motif de plus ! their preference knew no 
 bounds. Not a ball or soiree took place at their houses to which 
 I was not invited. 
 
 I had already passed more than three months in the city, when, 
 in the beginning of August, I was seized with a terrible attack of 
 yellow fever. A burning headache, as if my brain was on fire, 
 and violent pains in the back, were the first symptoms. The 
 acquaintances by whom I was surrounded, and among them a 
 Spaniard, by the name of Sere, who had become extremely inte- 
 resting to me through his connection with Vera Cruz, at once 
 called in their favorite physician, a Frenchman by the name of 
 Raoul ; and this man, who, in all other respects but intimate 
 knowledge of yellow fever, was a perfect quack, succeeded in 
 saving my life ; with the very correct idea that the yellow fever is 
 nothing but a violent inflammation of the gall, he instantly gave 
 me a powerful emetic. Then, on the second day, another one, 
 and on the third a strong purgative. My consciousness gradually 
 returned, and at length I was out of danger, although desperately 
 weakened and unnerved. In the forenoon of the third day the 
 Cashier of the Louisiana Bank, a very honorable man, by the 
 name of Zacharie, came to me, and asked me, with great earnest- 
 ness, if I had made my will. I replied, " No, why V " Now," he 
 responded, " I need not tell you that you have the yellow fever, and 
 it is more than probable that you will die to-morrow." I raised 
 my head to listen. " For the fourth day is the critical one, 
 through which the patient seldom survives. You have treasure ; 
 large sums lying in the bank to an amount never yet seen here ; 
 and were you to die, this capital would fall into extremely unsafe 
 hands. The administrators of the property of foreigners dying 
 here intestate, appointed by the State, are people who not only 
 merit no confidence, but, to tell you the honest truth, are a set of 
 shameless rascals." My reply was that I did not at all feel like 
 dying, and that I would not die. I concluded with the words, 
 " As I am not going to leave the world yet awhile, I don't want to 
 bother my head with making a will." Mr. Zacharie gave me a 
 searching look, and then said, " Well, indeed, my dear Mr. Nolte, 
 
92 AARON BURR'S CONSPIRACY. 
 
 with the disposition that you manifest, I do feel quite sure that you 
 are not going to die." 
 
 In the autumn of 1806* there circulated, throughout the 
 United States, all kinds of rumors concerning an intended or 
 already organized conspiracy, whose object was to separate the 
 Southern from the Northern States, and to organize a second 
 American Republic. At the head of this conspiracy, and of this 
 projected duplicate republic, stood the American general, Burr ; 
 the same who had been the rival candidate of Jefferson for the 
 Presidency, and had killed Washington's celebrated Secretary, 
 Alexander Hamilton, in a duel. This man of evil reputation, of 
 whom, as was generally known, Jefferson was, personally, afraid, 
 had secretly been travelling through the West, and had there won 
 over many partisans. It was even said that General Wilkinson, 
 the commander of the small military force then maintained by the 
 United States, and a militia general, by the name of Adair, from 
 the State of Kentucky, belonged to this conspiracy. In New 
 Orleans, the local militia was organized by the direction of the 
 United States Government, and put in a condition to bear arms. 
 The Frenchmen residing in that city formed two companies, the 
 Irish a third, and the Germans a fourth. The latter, without 
 knowing much about me, appointed me their Captain, probably 
 because they every day heard of my money deposits in the bank. 
 Military capacity I did not possess, and my sub-officers, consisting 
 of store-clerks, grocers and trades-apprentices, learned no more 
 of the service than I had picked up the day before. 
 
 Suddenly there appeared in New Orleans, as commander of the 
 garrison, the very general above referred to, who had fallen under 
 suspicion. He -at once mustered the local militia, and had them 
 sworn in, so that he might exercise full authority over us all, as 
 though we were regular troops of the line. He then had two 
 young Americans, named Samuel Swartwout and P. V. Ogden, 
 suddenly arrested, put on board a small goyernment vessel, and 
 sent to Washington as accomplices of Burr. A few days later 
 General Adair, of Kentucky, arrived by way of the Mississippi, 
 and he also was arrested and dispatched to the capital. At last 
 I was privately informed that I was looked upon with great suspi- 
 
GENERAL WILKINSON. 03 
 
 cion by the commanding general, since he had ascertained that 
 the house of Baring, at London, had placed itself in readiness to 
 furnish the funds necessary to secure the success of Burr's con- 
 spiracy, and I was well known to be the agent of that firm. 
 When I learned that Wilkinson had secretly sent for a ser- 
 geant and corporal from my company, and questioned them con- 
 cerning me, it seemed perfectly plain to me that the general was 
 playing with false cards, and I resolved, without further delay, to 
 go right to him, and ask him what was running in his head about 
 me. He received me with a certain degree of solemnity, took 
 me to one side, raised his eyes to heaven, and talked a great deal 
 about his responsibility, and his duties to God and the country, 
 which required that he should exercise the greatest vigilance in 
 all directions. Finally he showed me an intercepted letter, writ- 
 ten by one of Burr's accomplices, in which the following words 
 occurred : " B. has undertaken to supply all the funds needed to 
 carry out the whole plan." He then asked me what I thought of 
 that, and what I had to say. My reply was, briefly, to the pur- 
 port, that he must look to better authority than myself to find out 
 what was meant by those words, and that the letter B. most prob- 
 ably indicated his friend Burr : that I was no agent of the Barings, 
 and that if he would do me the honor to examine them, my books 
 were open for his inspection : above all, I wished to know whether 
 he was satisfied with this voluntary declaration, and would leave 
 me undisturbed. Hereupon he seized my hand with the same 
 solemnity that had characterized his first reception of me, once 
 more rolled up his eyes, and said, " You have above a friend and 
 protector ; you are an honorable man, Mr. Nolte ; return to your 
 home in peace." And thus the affair terminated. I had carefully 
 watched the man, and had come to the conclusion that he was an 
 impostor, and most likely deeply implicated himself in Burr's 
 plot. The result has proven that my conjectures were correct. 
 From the lawsuits that afterwards arose at Washington, out of 
 the arbitrary arrest of General Adair, and Messrs. Swartwout and 
 Ogden, it was made evident that he had promised his aid to Burr 
 in the scheme, but had withdrawn from it in good season. In his 
 defence he constantly made a great show of the pompous words, 
 
94 THE LEOPARD AND CHESAPEAKE. 
 
 *' I have lopped off a limb to save the body of the Constitution !" 
 and it was only Jefferson's preference and protection that saved 
 him from the consequences of his irregular behavior. He had, 
 however, forfeited the good opinion of his countrymen, and at 
 length went away to Mexico, where he died a few years after- 
 wards. 
 
 I had yet another trial to encounter during the management of 
 the interest intrusted to my care. This was the rencontre be- 
 tween the English man-of-war Leopard and the American frigate 
 Chesapeake, off the entrance of the bay of the latter name, in the 
 summer of 1807. The English commander had received very ac- 
 curate and explicit information regarding the enlistment of several 
 deserters from his vessel 6n board of the American frigate, and 
 when the latter showed herself on the open sea, the Leopard bore 
 right down to her, and summoned her captain to surrender the 
 deserting sailors. This the American, very naturally, refused to 
 do. The frigate was poorly manned, and, in all other respects, 
 unfit for action. The first shots from the British vessel were only a 
 few times answered, and then the Chesapeake struck her flag. Here- 
 upon the English officers came on board, mustered the crew, se- 
 lected their five deserters from the throng, and took them back to 
 the Leopard. This occurrence aroused the most fearful excite- 
 ment in the United States; every one spoke with the greatest bitter- 
 ness in favor of immediate war with England. There was no lack 
 of rash counsellors, who endeavored to persuade me that I ought at 
 once to set out for England or the North with my silver deposits. 
 But I was too well aware that, on the part of England, there could 
 be no good and sufficient cause for war, and that, so far as the 
 United States were concerned, war could only be declared by 
 Congress, which would first have to be called together by the 
 President, and thus several months must elapse before the country 
 could be in a position to commence hostilities, even supposing — a 
 case still doubtful — that Congress should deem it necessary and 
 wise to adopt violent measures. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DAVID PARISH IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 The measures adopted by him — A retrospective glance at Ouvrard and hia 
 affairs — Mismanagement the natural result of the unlimited obligations he 
 had assumed — Complicated relations with the French State Bank, which 
 thereby finds itself obliged to suspend specie payments — Napoleon's return 
 after the peace of Presburg — Despotic measures, and his arbitrary inter 
 ference with Ouvrard's business relations, by which the whole organization 
 is brought to the ground — Napoleon and the house of Hope & Co. in Am- 
 sterdam, who, with becoming dignity, reject his propositions, and send his 
 agent, afterwards the Baron Louis, home with a flea in his ear — The French 
 Consul, General de Beaujour, in Philadelphia, is obliged to place himself in 
 the hands of Parish, as Mollien, the Minister of Finance, is also compelled to 
 throw himself into the arms of Hope & Co — False and one-sided judgment 
 of Ouvrard by Thiers, who never did, or never would, comprehend Ouv 
 rard's position as a merchant. 
 
 From the considerations given at the end. of the last chapter, 1 
 remained where I was. A retrospective glance now carries me 
 back to the central point of the important business, whose chief 
 control was intrusted to the guidance of Mr. David Parish. The 
 latter had selected Philadelphia for his head-quarters, as an inter 
 mediate point between New York and Baltimore ; from which 
 two points the cargoes of goods were to be sent out under 
 licenses, and where the most considerable returns in Spanish dol- 
 lars were to be received. After consultation with some of the 
 first houses, particularly in Baltimore, where the best fast-sailing 
 clippers are built, it was made evident that insurances upon such 
 shipments were not to be thought of, since no less than twenty 
 per cent, premium was required. In order to cover a capital of 
 $60,000, at such a premium, one would have to insure $75,000 ; 
 
06 DAVID PARISH IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 so that in shipping and insuring four cargoes, each of the value of 
 $60,000, you would have to lay out a total of $60,000 in pre- 
 miums ; and thus, even should those cargoes reach their destina- 
 tion in safety, you would have diminished your capital to the 
 extent of the last-mentioned sum — that is to say, out of $240,000 
 you would have only $180,000 left. Hence it may be perceived, 
 that our four uninsured cargoes, should one be cast away and 
 lost, or be taken by belligerents, and the other three arrive in 
 safety, it would amount to the same thing ; and that as a loss of 
 one in four would be a very rare one, even in time of war, in case 
 fast sailing ships, under vigilant, active and skilful captains, to 
 whom a reasonable recompense had been promised, should they 
 bring their voyage to a successful issue, were used. We adopted 
 the plan of building immediately and at the same time, six fast- 
 sailing vessels, of equal value and equal tonnage, lading them with 
 cargoes worth the same amount, and sending the,m, on the account 
 of the parties assuming the risk, to Vera Cruz, under these Span- 
 ish licenses. 
 
 In this consisted the first measure to be adopted. The second 
 consideration was, what premium, or what amount of profit was 
 proportioned to the licenses, and introduction of the hitherto ex- 
 cluded goods into Mexico. The third was, who should bear the 
 expense of building the ships and procuring their cargoes. With 
 regard to these two points, it was deemed most advisable to make 
 them both one interest ; that is to say, to have the whole outlay 
 for ships and cargoes provided for by one and the same house, 
 and to require of that house one-third of its net profit as a pre- 
 mium for the use of the license. Should one cargo be lost or 
 captured, of course there would be no premium to pay on the 
 license. 
 
 It was the house of Messrs. Robert and John Oliver, two hon- 
 orable Irish gentlemen, who had settled in Baltimore, and already 
 possessed considerable capital there, who, jointly with their 
 brother-in-law, James Craig, of Philadelphia, first undertook this 
 enterprise. It was also stipulated, that should these vessels be 
 used for the transportation of silver coin, not representing the 
 results of the cargoes sent out, the shipper should be entitled to a 
 
OUVRARD AND CHARLES IV. 97 
 
 freight of five per cent, on the amount embarked. The whole 
 combination was excellent; but before the house in Baltimore had 
 concluded a definite contract with Mr. David Parish, there was yet 
 another matter of anxiety to be decided ; this was, to accurately 
 know to what we would be bound on either side, in case that, 
 notwithstanding the assured exemption of the cargoes from the 
 generally heavy duties in Mexico, unexpected demands should 
 suddenly be made upon us by that Government, and ail at once 
 lifted from the two or three cargoes which might then be lying in 
 the port of Vera Cruz. The Messrs. Oliver desired the guaranty 
 of Mr. David Parish against the consequences of such an event- 
 uality. 
 
 It had been fully understood between Ouvrard and his partner, 
 Charles IV., or rather the latter's Ministry, that there should be 
 no duties to pay in Mexico. But the Messrs. Oliver, like prudent 
 merchants, desired to have an accurate knowledge of the length 
 and breadth of their obligations, and thus Mr. Parish had to de- 
 vise some means of giving them this guaranty, before the scheme 
 could be set in motion. He undertook it for a consideration of 
 twenty per cent., which was to be deducted from the calculation 
 made in Philadelphia, of the rough profits on the cargoes sold 
 in Vera Cruz, and was then to be paid over or made good to 
 Parish. 
 
 Soon after his arrival in the United States he had explained the 
 nature of his mission to the oldest and best correspondents of the 
 two firms of Hope & Baring, such men, namely, as Willing & 
 Francis, in Philadelphia, Robert Gilmore & Sons, in Baltimore. 
 James & Thomas H. Perkins, in Boston, and had expressed a 
 desire for their participation in the business. Partly through his 
 not understanding it, and partly because he had not the sufficient 
 disposable means, he was unable to carry on so vast an under- 
 taking alone. After the extraordinary success of Messrs. Oliver 
 had been witnessed in Baltimore, for some eight or ten months, 
 there was no longer any lack of parties, either, to take out the 
 licenses ; and Parish was thus placed in a situation to conclude 
 similar arrangements with Isaac McKimm, James Tenant, and 
 John O'Donnell, in Baltimore, and also to transfer a couple of 
 
 5 
 
98 DAVID PARISH IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 the licenses in the house of Archibald Gracie & Sons, in New 
 York, who had less means than the others, but possessed excellent 
 credit. The agent in Vera Cruz, my friend A. P. Lestapis, had 
 started there under the name of Jose Gabriel de Villanueva. He 
 had formerly served in the counting-house of Mr. Juan Plante, in 
 Santander, and at the death of his colleague, a Spaniard, named 
 Villanueva, who was of the same age, and resembled him both in 
 face and figure, the latter's certificate of birth and other papers 
 had fallen into his hands. 
 
 Mr. Labouchere, in Amsterdam, who thoroughly understood 
 and feared the evil consequences, or at least great difficulties, that 
 would attend the appearance of a Frenchman in Mexico, as a com- 
 mercial agent, and thought that all these would be avoided by the 
 employment of a Spaniard in the Spanish interest, and that by this 
 means one might go on, and even empty the Mexican Treasury, 
 without being disturbed, occasioned this change of name, and 
 directed my friend's appearance under the borrowed title. The 
 secret of this change was intrusted to only one person, a lady in 
 Vera Cruz. Lestapis fell in love with an extremely charming 
 young girl, a Miss Manuelita de Garay, and married her under 
 the name of Villanueva, at the same time promising that he would 
 repeat the ceremony, somewhere outside of Mexico, under the 
 name of Lestapis. This promise was redeemed two years after- 
 wards in Philadelphia. 
 
 Villanueva had intrusted two houses in Vera Cruz with the sale 
 of the cargoes sent to him, three-fourths of them to the most re- 
 spectable and wealthiest of these firms, Pedro Miguel de Echever- 
 ria, and the remaining fourth to the less considerable establish- 
 ment of Francisco Luis de Septien, under an agreement to make 
 good the half of the commission calculated thereupon at five per 
 cent. The best guage, by which to estimate the whole profits of 
 the cargoes sent to Vera Cruz, is afforded by the sum representing 
 the half of this commission, which amounted to $280,000. The 
 whole of it ran up to the 560,000 piastres, and the net value of 
 the imported cargoes was consequently $11,200,000 ; as there was 
 neither freightage nor duties, all that remained to be deducted from 
 them was embraced in the commission, and some trifling local 
 
OUVRARD IN SPAIN. . 09 
 
 expenses. In addition to the proceeds of the goods sold, the clip- 
 pers, on their return from Vera Cruz, each time brought with 
 them from $100,000 to $200,000, on account of the Bills of Ex- 
 change or Libranzas there presented, which, including the moneys 
 received by me in New Orleans, amounted to about 15,000,000 
 Spanish dollars. 
 
 I must now return once more to Ouvrard, from whom the 
 reader parted when he made his last journey to Madrid. One 
 would have supposed that Ouvrard's appetite for colossal under- 
 takings would have been gratified, by this time, to satiety. But 
 such was by no means the case. Directly after his return to 
 Madrid he received, through his friend and patron Godoy, a con- 
 tract for ten years, by which the products of all the lead and 
 quicksilver mines of Spain were transferred to him, at the average 
 prices of the last ten years ; and to this was added the privilege 
 of supplying the government with all the tobacco it required. 
 
 In regular proportion to the successive and rapid arrivals of 
 Spanish dollars in the ports of the United States, Ouvrard re- 
 ceived their equivalent through the house of Hope & Co., in Am- 
 sterdam, at the stipulated rates, and this enabled him, not only to 
 render the Spanish monarchy the service of making the immense 
 resources it possessed beyond the seas available, but also to put 
 it in a position to discharge with facility the yearly subsidy it owed 
 to France. It does not require any extraordinary talent for cal- 
 culation to perceive, that this likewise placed the keys of the 
 Spanish Treasury in Napoleon's hands, and that he could retain 
 them in his possession so long as he saw fit. He thus had indirect 
 control of the means which his war with England, and the watch- 
 fulness of her fleets, had hitherto made inaccessible to him. This, 
 as I have already remarked, is plain enough to the most limited 
 intelligence, and the eyes of the French Minister in Madrid were 
 at length opened to the fact by Ouvrard's representations. His re- 
 ports had produced their effect upon the Minister Public of Finance, 
 who had persuaded himself that Ouvrard was the most influential 
 man in Spain ; and the truth came flowing in from every reliable 
 quarter so incontestably clear, that any misapprehension of it was 
 almost impossible. And yet, can it be credited, that the greatest 
 
100 . DAVID PARISH IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 intellect, the mightiest genius of the age, was guilty of precisely 
 this misconception ! Yet so it happened. I have already alluded 
 to his dislike of everything mercantile, or belonging to mercantile 
 pursuits, or carried on in a mercantile way ; and this it was which, 
 united to a blind personal hatred to Ouvrard and his altered pol- 
 icy in relation to Spain, sufficed to overthrow the most magnifi- 
 cent structure that ever the spirit of mercantile enterprise had 
 begun to erect for the benefit of both kingdoms, and, at the same 
 time, deprive the Emperor himself of the richest- sources of Span- 
 ish opulence, by closing against him the influx of silver from New 
 Spain. 
 
 There is but one thing that offers an excuse for Napoleon's mis- 
 take in this matter ; it consists in the confusion of French financial 
 affairs at that time, the enormous requirements of his vast armies, 
 and the unavoidable operations thence arising. He did, indeed, 
 succeed for a while in raising the necessary sums from the taxa- 
 tion and unlimited contributions of the regions he conquered, and 
 in living, to use the proper phrase, at the expense of others ; but 
 in the long run these levies finally overstepped all bounds, pro- 
 duced a diseased condition of financial affairs, and at the same 
 time revolted the countries subjected to them. Then, again, the 
 colossal nature of Ouvrard's already undertaken and projected 
 enterprises required a spirit of order, method, and extreme watch- 
 fulness, as well as a number of faithful and capable agents, &c, 
 such as Ouvrard neither had at his command, nor could find in 
 sufficient number. Accustomed to deal lightly with millions, he 
 was, undoubtedly, often in a condition to make his calculations 
 general, and to arrange means of carrying out his plans as a 
 whole, which were by no means deficient in quick and ready effi- 
 ciency : but the moment his schemes were about to become living 
 realities, the gift of clearly comprehending the requisite measures 
 to be taken, prudence in making the final step, and perseverance 
 in conducting his efforts to a decisive issue, were lacking. Thus 
 the door stood open to all kinds of mismanagement, embezzle- 
 ment, and roguery, which did not tarry in making themselves ap- 
 parent first by an unusual crisis of the Bank at Paris. The 
 banker Duprez, who, it will be remembered, had taken Ouvrard's 
 
BANK OF FRANCE. 101 
 
 place in his engagements with the public^ Treasury^ an# held the 
 obligations of the public Recei vers-General,. which. fejl £ue period- 
 ically, had, through the circulars <fptt $£ th;em Jby the 7ylji/ifeier of 
 Finance, requested them to forward him all moneys at their dis- 
 position, for an interest equivalent of at least <^gfit per cent. In 
 this way vast capital flowed into his hands, of which, as currently 
 reported, he lent, chiefly through vanity, something like fifty mil- 
 lions to needy commercial houses, and soon afterwards involved him- 
 self in embarrassment thereby. To help himself out of trouble he 
 had transferred the bonds of the Receivers-General to the Bank 
 of France, and received advances upon them. Thus, when, shortly 
 afterwards, the Bank was disquieted by a sudden demand for the 
 redemption of a large part of its notes, and turned itself for relief 
 to the Beceveurs, with a request that they would come to its aid, 
 and make payments on account, it transpired that Duprez had 
 already received the larger part of the moneys arising upon them, 
 and nothing remained but a direct application to him for the dis- 
 charge of his obligations at the Bank. Duprez, who was not so 
 situated that he could compromise this piece of deception, found 
 himself compelled to lay the whole condition of his pecuniary 
 affairs before the eyes of the Bank Directors. In consequence of 
 this business, which soon became known, and the ill-concealed 
 anxiety of the Directors themselves, the Bank suddenly fell into 
 discredit ; everybody wanted his notes cashed, and, to the uni- 
 versal alarm of the community, the Bank had to suspend its specie 
 payments. 
 
 It was on the day after the battle of Austerlitz that this intel- 
 gence reached Napoleon. In something less than a fortnight after 
 this occurrence the Minister Barbe-Marbois had endeavored to 
 remedy the first embarrassment of the State Treasury, by dis- 
 patching a courier to Madrid, with a request for Ouvrard to im- 
 mediately send him the half of the first payment of bills for 
 twenty millions made by the Spanish Government, that is to say, 
 the sum of ten millions, and give him the full and free disposal of 
 the same. Ouvrard had so much confidence in the uprightness 
 of the Minister, that he at once sent him the bills for ten millions 
 of piastres, without deduction. Directly afterwards there appeared 
 
102 DAVID PARISH IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 in Madrid an ugent of the Minister, called Wante, with a ministe- 
 rial order addressed to, Ouvrard, in which the latter was required 
 to sumsi&er ec^h i^vl ewry st-e^ies of Spanish values into the hands 
 of the bearer, and thereupon to return without further delay to 
 Paris. A few days later Ouvrard received complete information 
 concerning the Paris Bank crisis above-mentioned. Wante had 
 expressed a wish to be presented to the Prince of Peace, and Ouv- 
 rard had instantly satisfied his desire. Soler, the Minister of 
 Finance, who happened to be present, turned to Wante with the 
 words, " Monsieur, if anything has remained undone, you must 
 look to Mr. Ouvrard for it ; he has not asked it, since I have re- 
 ceived full orders to grant him everything." Wante comprehended 
 in a moment the credit Ouvrard enjoyed, and saw that the French 
 Ministry might and should repose implicit confidence in him : so, 
 after regularly informing himself in relation to Ouvrard's general 
 position, he deemed it incumbent upon him to return to Paris, 
 after having first congratulated Ouvrard upon the influence he had 
 gained. 
 
 On the day after his departure Godoy learned, through his pri- 
 vate correspondence, that he would, most probably, within a few 
 days, be desired to arrest Ouvrard without further ceremony, and 
 forward him to Paris. Filled with sympathy, the Prince exhibited 
 this letter to his friend Ouvrard, and advised him to depart at 
 once to America, and there await the upshot of these erroneous 
 views entertained by the French government ; a frigate was at 
 his disposal for this purpose. But Ouvrard responded that he 
 needed no frigate to take him to America, but only a sufficient 
 escort to Bayonne, whence he would pursue the most direct route 
 to Paris. 
 
 Napoleon, who had won the reward of his victorious campaign 
 against Austria at the peace of Presburg, and had reached Paris 
 on his return by the 26th of January, 1806, the next evening 
 summoned into his presence Messrs. Ouvrard, Vanlerberghe, and 
 Desprez (whom Thiers, in the sixth volume of his History of the 
 Empire, styles, on his own authority, the " assembled merchants 
 les negocians reunis"). Ouvrard, however, did not get the mes- 
 sage sent to him, and consequently only the other two were 
 
NAPOLEON AND OUVRARD. 103 
 
 present. They were so overwhelmed by the first outburst of the 
 Emperor's wrath, that Thiers feels himself called upon to say 
 that they shed hot tears. Napoleon had required the Arch-Chan- 
 cellor Cambaceres to acquaint him with the whole nature of the 
 entanglement that had arisen between the three named gentlemen, 
 the public Treasury and the Bank of France. But who was pre- 
 pared to evolve light from such a chaos, unless it were Ouvrard 
 himself? Napoleon, who could not even hear that name without 
 an ebullition of the most intense anger, was at first disposed to 
 have all three incarcerated at Vincennes, but finally listened to 
 Cambaceres, who advised him to save as much as possible from 
 this unintentional wreck, and, with that intent, to take possession 
 of all their papers, money, and effects. His resolution was 
 already fixed, when he summoned the State Council together to 
 consult in relation to the form, and Barbe Marbois had begun to 
 read a complete report concerning the affair, when his very first 
 words were interrupted by Napoleon's declaration, that he knew 
 perfectly well what he had to do. " If," said the Emperor, " these 
 men do not give up to me everything they own, and Spain does 
 not pay me all she owes, I will send them to Vincennes, and an 
 army to Madrid." However, Napoleon decided to hear what Ouv- 
 rard had to say, and to that end again summoned him on February 
 6th. Scarcely had the latter uttered a couple of words, after 
 making his appearance in the room of audience, when the Em- 
 peror called his State Secretary to him, and said, " Mr. Maret, 
 read my decree to this gentleman !" By the decree referred to, 
 the three partners were declared to be indebted to the State in 
 the sum of 87,000,000 francs, and bound in obligations of various 
 kinds, which were then, on Ouvrard's account, partly in the hands 
 of Messrs. Hope & Co., and partly in the State Treasury, to pay 
 the total sum of 69,000,000,. and give their own notes for the re- 
 maining 18,000,000. When this decree had been read aloud, the 
 Emperor broke out upon Ouvrard, and asked what security he 
 could give for the payment of this sum. The reply was that the 
 whole amount should be paid, if the management of his own affairs 
 were left in. his (Ouvrard's) hands. " Now, then," said Napoleon, 
 " I count upon that. I will substitute another decree for this one-, 
 
104 NAPOLEON AND OUVRARD. 
 
 by which all that you have in the hands of Hope & Co. shall re- 
 main under my direction." Ouvrard replied that no other result 
 could be expected from these measures, than that England would 
 put a stop to the exportation of silver dollars from Mexico, and 
 that Spain herself would withdraw from her agreements. This 
 second decree, published February 18th, directed that each and 
 every bill drawn by Ouvrard on the Cashier of the Consolidation 
 Fund, Don Manuel Sirto Espinosa, at Madrid, and accepted by 
 the latter, as detailed in the provisional agreement, made and con- 
 cluded in the interim, on the 18th of November, 1805, should be 
 withdrawn from the hands of the holders, and transferred to the 
 French State Treasury, viz., the amount of 7,260,849 piastres, 
 which Messrs. Leguin and Michael Jeune, in Paris, sub-contractors 
 of Ouvrard and his associates, then held as guaranties. This, it 
 furthermore intimated, must be delivered back within the space 
 of twenty-four hours. 
 
 A courier, who was dispatched to Madrid the very next morn- 
 ing, took the Spanish Government word that this decree had been 
 made public, and that Spain was released from her engagement 
 with Ouvrard. The latter was thus shut out from all activity, and 
 learned, a short time afterwards, through an official announcement 
 in the Moniteur, that not 87,000,000 but 141,000,000 was the 
 amount for which he and his associates had to figure as debtors to 
 the State. Ouvrard and Vanlerberghe succeeded in liquidating 
 this enormous liability ; but a host of other creditors were press- 
 ing their claims, and so embarrassed the further arrangement of 
 their business, that on the 31st of December, 1807, they were 
 obliged at length to hand in their declaration of insolvency to the 
 Tribunal of Commerce, at Paris. 
 
 In regard to the moneys, bills, and other values in the hands of 
 Messrs. Hope & Co., Napoleon had reckoned without his host. 
 This powerful House, which then stood at the head of the mercantile 
 order throughout the world, and, in Holland not only felt itself perfect- 
 ly independent, but considered itself equal in financial matters to any 
 potentate on earth, and entitled to occupy a similar footing with 
 them, could not recognize that it was in any manner bound by the 
 imperial decree. Yet Napoleon was weak enough to think differ 
 
MESSRS. HOPE & CO. 105 
 
 ently. He had dictated a letter, addressed to Messrs. Hope & 
 Co., in the hand-writing of Mollien, the successor of Barbe Mar- 
 bois, who had been removed. This missive, couched in the lan- 
 guage of a master to his servant, contained the following words : 
 " You have made enough money in the Louisiana business to 
 leave me no room to doubt that you will, without reservation, 
 comply with any order I may see fit to make." He then sent 
 this letter, without Ouvrard's consent, by an Inspector of Finance, 
 to Amsterdam. However, the Finance Inspector was very coolly 
 received, and had to come back without accomplishing anything. 
 Soon afterwards Napoleon thought it advisable to send the Baron 
 Louis — afterwards Louis Philippe's first Minister of Finance — to 
 Holland to explore the ground, and discover what resources Ouv- 
 rard might have there. Baron Louis presented himself to the 
 Messrs. Hope, and disclosed the object of his visit. Mr. Labou- 
 chere, who received him, at once replied : " Whether we have 
 money in our hands for Mr. Ouvrard, or not, Baron, is not a mat- 
 ter for which we are obliged to render any account to you ; and 
 the inappropriateness of your present visit must have been appa 
 rent to yourself!" 
 
 This anecdote, related by Ouvrard himself, I can offer as simple 
 truth, for I have likewise heard it repeated frequently by Mr. La- 
 bouchere also, who could not suppress a feeling of inward pride, 
 whenever he got an opportunity, to illustrate his entire indepen- 
 dence of the man, at whose feet all Europe bent the knee. He 
 considered Napoleon the greatest tyrant the world had ever seen, 
 but was ever ready to defend him against any charge of blood- 
 thirstiness, an accusation which, like many others in that time, and 
 amid the general exasperation of the fiercest passions, was con- 
 stantly repeated. " A taste for blood," he used often to say, 
 " was not a trait of Napoleon ; but, as a means to an end, he was 
 as ready to lay his hands upon it as upon any other that chanced 
 to be within reach." 
 
 The miscalculation made by Napoleon, in imagining that the 
 Spanish bills on Mexico would be just as good values in his hands 
 as in those of Messrs. Hope & Co., was not long in making itself 
 evident. In the first place, there were, nowhere on the continent, 
 
 5* 
 
106 DAVID PARISH IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 capitalists to be found, whose means were so immense as the re- 
 sources controlled by Messrs. Hope, who were able to invest a 
 portion of their vast funds in the purchase of such State paper, for 
 the eventual payment of the same had to take -place in another 
 quarter of the globe. They were, moreover, of a doubtful na- 
 ture, and, finally, the definitive realization of the proceeds was, in 
 any event, remote, and could not be transformed into anything 
 directly accessible. Secondly, Messrs. Hope, through their close 
 relations with the Barings — Mr. Labouchere himself the son-in- 
 law of the eldest head of that house, Sir Francis Baring, and the 
 latter, again, the intimate friend of the then Marquis of Lansdowne, 
 formerly Viscount Shelbourne, and of the Marquis of Wellesley — 
 was perhaps the only firm in a position to convince the Pitt min- 
 istry, that the importation of piastres from Mexico was a whole- 
 some transaction for British commerce, and for the East India 
 Company, and to persuade them that in their eyes alone could 
 these values have a nominal worth, and that they alone could im- 
 part it to them. Count Mollien, the French Minister of Finance 
 to whom the bills and papers wrested from Ouvrard had been 
 transferred, was not long in making this discovery. Perfectly 
 understanding, as he may have done readily enough, what course 
 the Messrs. Hope took with their drafts and notes of the same 
 kind, he probably conceived that he had nothing more to do than 
 to send them to Mr. Felix de Beaujour, the Consul-General a: 
 Philadelphia, for negotiation. 
 
 When the latter received these bills he was thrown into great 
 perplexity. He had felt the pulse of some of the more important 
 French houses in Philadelphia, such as that of Stephen Girard, 
 L. Clapier, and others. No one would have anything to do with 
 the doubtful bills, and there was no means at hand of presenting 
 them in Mexico. Some small sums might have been got to- 
 gether, but when the object consisted of millions, to what pur- 
 pose were such negotiations? Hence, De Beaujour was com- 
 pelled to make application to Parish for his advice. It was to 
 have been foreseen, that from this a negotiation, and finally a con- 
 tract, must arise between these two men. The nature of the 
 transaction has ever remained a secret between them. For when, 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 107 
 
 in the winter of 1808-'09, I was busied with the first provisional 
 winding up of our heavy operations, I could not find the slightest 
 trace of the business in the correspondence, nor the copy-books, 
 nor in the current account-book of Mr. Parish — the only books 
 that I saw. There was neither any stipulation of conditions, nor 
 sums to be paid. The piastres arrived from time to time in the 
 usual schooners, and were at once delivered to M. de Beaujour. 
 One thing, however, I had an opportunity of certainly knowing, 
 namely, that the sum total of the bills drawn by the French Con- 
 sul did not exceed 2,000,000 piastres. Some of the bills violently 
 taken from Ouvrard, again found their way into the hands of 
 Messrs. Hope. 
 
 Upon the occasion of Ouvrard's subsequently making over, of 
 his own accord, all his assets, in Spain as well as in the hands of 
 Messrs. Hope, to the Public Treasury, (Tre&or Public) the latter 
 saw itself unavoidably compelled to come to an understanding 
 with that firm. Count Mollien was too shrewd a business-man 
 not to perceive the necessity and, at the same time, the advantage, 
 of an amicable arrangement with the Hopes, especially as the 
 power of Napoleon was held at bay by the moral independence 
 of the great mercantile house ; and as there was a possibility of 
 procuring from the latter what M. de Beaujour had neither the 
 means nor the influence to obtain — that is to say, advances on 
 account, Had not Napoleon's violent and arbitrary dissolution 
 of the close relations existing between Ouvrard and the Spanish 
 Court cut off the first productive moneyed resources of the Spanish 
 Crown, the silver mines of Mexico would, after the unavoidable 
 delay of a few months, perhaps of a single year, required to com- 
 plete the necessary preparation, have long been made tributary 
 to the treasury of France. What afterwards occurred, in conse- 
 quence of the forced abdication of Charles IV. and his next heir to 
 the throne, at Bayonne, the separation of the colonies from the 
 mother country would have brought about. The military supre- 
 macy of Napoleon had found its natural limits in America, and 
 the commands of the new monarch imposed upon Spain were 
 totally disregarded. It is impossible to read the exposition of 
 Quvrard's relations and entanglements, given by Thiers in the 
 
108 G. J. OUVRARD. 
 
 22d and 24th chapters of his Sixth Volume, without being con- 
 vinced that the author's aim has constantly been to make his hero 
 appear as blameless as possible in that whole affair ; for by the 
 exercise of the least degree of unprejudiced judgment, in regard 
 to the entire course pursued, from the time of Napoleon's return 
 after the Peace of Presburg, he must have perceived that if, as 
 he affirms, the colossal schemes and combinations of Ouvrard had 
 brought great embarrassment jipon the French Treasury, and 
 especially on the Bank, that circumstance was chiefly ascribable 
 to the insufficiency of the united revenues of the French and Span- 
 ish governments to supply their own State necessities and the 
 enormous expenses of Napoleon's military operations. Both 
 countries were forbidden all commerce by sea, and as export trade 
 was thus rendered impossible, their ready money had to go 
 abroad, to pay the indispensable demands for colonial and other 
 goods. Spain had been compelled to declare war against Eng- 
 land, and then to assume an obligation to pay during the continu- 
 ance of that war an annual subsidy of 72,000,000 of francs, and 
 that exactly at a time when the existing hostilities had cut off the 
 usual supplies of ready money flowing in to her from her Ameri- 
 can Colonies. Ouvrard was useful, nay, almost indispensable to 
 Napoleon, as an inventive head who could instantly find millions 
 to satisfy the Emperor's necessities and whims — farther than this 
 he either would not, or did not see. As it was part of his policy 
 to retake from the so called pilferers of the public income — he 
 looked on Ouvrard as such — what they might have succeeded in 
 getting by dishonest management in spite of him, it was a matter 
 of no concern what means Ouvrard might employ in procuring 
 the money he so constantly required. Yet no very great insight 
 or talent for computation was needed to arrive at the result, that 
 if the directly available means of France were insufficient to meet 
 the usual State expenses and Bonaparte's inordinate demands, and 
 that if Spain was despoiled of the only resource by which she 
 could pretend to discharge her debt, and loans furthermore ren- 
 dered impossible, through the want of confidence felt by all foreign 
 capitalists, neither an Ouvrard nor any one else could stop the 
 leakage daily and incessantly made by Napoleon, It was, then, 
 necessary to bear upon the natural revenues of State beforehand, 
 
G. J. OUVRARD. 109 
 
 by turning into money, a long time previously to their falling 
 due, the notes of the Receivers General, which the Bank continued 
 to discount. So long as the public was willing to receive the 
 bank-notes emitted instead of money, this foolish system might be 
 protracted, but the first rumor of discredit must inevitably over- 
 throw the frail structure, notwithstanding all Ouvrard's combina- 
 tions. This fact could not escape the eye of any well-informed 
 person, and hence Thiers himself, in spite of his efforts to make 
 Napoleon appear as free from blame as possible, finally makes 
 the following confession, with evident unwillingness : " It must, 
 however, for the sake of justice be admitted, that to the Emperor 
 himself a great portion" — (I would say the greatest portion) — "of 
 the blame must be ascribed which this circumstance deserves; 
 since he, with great obstinacy and for much too long a time, allowed 
 the weight of these enormous burdens to rest upon the feeble 
 exertions of M. de Marbois, without troubling himself about pro- 
 viding for the extraordinary means these circumstances demanded." 
 The removal of M. de Marbois, the arbitrary measures employed 
 with Ouvrard and his associates, the anathema he fulminated 
 against them, will not serve him before the eyes of posterity to 
 cloak the want of those qualities, which as a ruler he should have 
 possessed, and which were indispensable in controlling the general 
 interests of state. These qualities consisted in a sound apprecia- 
 tion of his financial relations, and unswerving, constant watchful- 
 ness in regard to the changes arising in the circumstances that 
 surrounded them. It was the balance of his finances that Napo- 
 leon usually neglected, in his calculations. 
 
 I have been necessarily obliged to make this, perhaps, too 
 lengthy digression — which also lies far from the aim of these 
 memoirs — because Ouvrard, as the real originator of national cre- 
 dit in France, as the result will show, rendered great and incon- 
 testible service to his country ; and yet, instead of being rated as 
 a man of genius, he is usually regarded as an adventurer. It is 
 beyond a doubt, that the circumstances under which he was 
 destined to develop this genius and the activity of his mind, 
 were among the most extraordinary which the world has yet 
 seen, and that the possibility of their return could now scarcely 
 be admitted, 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FORCED ABANDONMENT OF VERY IMPORTANT OPERATIONS. 
 
 My return to Philadelphia — Acquaintance with Robert Fulton at New York 
 — A glance at his history — The trial-trip of the first steamboat Clermont 
 from New York for Albany — Departure for Havana, to call in the govern- 
 ment-exchange of *700,000 piastres — Negotiation with the Intendant-Gene- 
 ral Roubaud — Exchange of these bills for a single one drawn to my order, 
 and a bill for 945,000 dollars on the viceroy of Mexico given me, — the 
 largest in amount I ever indorsed — I take passage from Havana in the 
 schooner " Merchant," bound for Baltimore. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1807 when we, Lestapis in Mexico 
 and I in New Orleans, received the first intimation from Parish in 
 Philadelphia, that the existing condition of things would bring us 
 rapidly nearer the termination of our agencies, which had at first 
 been counted upon for years. So far as I in particular was con- 
 cerned, there was no necessity for my remaining in New Orleans 
 longer than the settlement of my affairs in that city required, that 
 is to say, about one month. The arrangements made by Parish 
 with Oliver and Brothers, led to natural alteration of the original 
 plan, according to which assorted cargoes were to come from Eu- 
 rope to New Orleans, and thence be forwarded to Vera Cruz, and; 
 the proceeds and other remittances of money were also to be re- 
 ceived at New Orleans, on their way to Europe. Yet, there 
 were great difficulties in the way of forwarding the proceeds, and 
 transferring the licenses ; since good bills of exchange on the 
 North and on England were very scarce, and could be had only 
 in small quantities; and for shipments to Europe there were 
 hardly two houses to which I could have made advances with any 
 
ROBERT FULTON. Ill 
 
 thing like security. In August, 1807, I had completed my final 
 arrangements, intrusted the presentation of several bills that yet 
 had some time to run, and amounting in all to about 40,000 dol- 
 lars, to Messrs. Amory and Callender, and returned to the North, 
 where my services were soon needed in a new business at 
 Havana. 
 
 It was exactly at this time that I, then staying at one of the 
 most celebrated boarding-houses in the city of New York, the 
 Widow Gallop's, on Broadway, while engaged in making my pre- 
 parations for departure, by mere chance, at breakfast, made 
 the acquaintance of a gentleman who was just about to give the 
 world the first example of steam-navigation. The reader will 
 readily guess that I am now referring to Robert Fulton, and his 
 newly-built steamer " Clermont," constructed by him at his own 
 expense. It was then a topic in the mouth of every body, as the 
 attempt he proposed in a short time to make, to carry his plan 
 into execution, was the object of universal curiosity. My new 
 acquaintance wanted me to be present, and witness the departure 
 of his steamboat, which was to take place from the bank of the 
 Hudson river, at 12 o'clock ; and, indeed, it did not require much 
 persuasion to induce me to accede to this request. So I saw this 
 curious and wonderful structure — 130 feet in length, 16£ feet 
 broad, 7 feet depth of hold, rating 160 tons, as it had been 
 described, and containing about 450 passengers — leave the wharf 
 as the clock struck twelve, make right for the middle of the 
 stream, and describe a circle three times in succession. Then, 
 defying the force of the winds and waves alike, it dashed gallantly 
 along its way to Albany, as though the most favorable breeze 
 were filling its sails. A vociferous cheer arose from the thousands 
 assembled on both banks of the Hudson to witness, with their 
 own eyes, the reality of this truly grand experiment, and its bril- 
 liant success. 
 
 It is the lot of all remarkable and generally useful inventions 
 to be the object of dispute, claimed by the ambition of various 
 nations, and in contending for it, the suum cuique is neither made 
 a habit, nor regarded as a duty. Even the purely accidental 
 and by no means splendid invention of gunpowder is denied to 
 
112 ROBERT FULTON. 
 
 the German monk who discovered it — the Chinese, they say, had 
 used it long before. The art of printing, too, had been lying hid- 
 den in some nook or corner of Lombardy, long ere Guttenberg 
 and Faust touched it. It is, therefore, nothing strange, that the 
 priority in discovering the applicability of steam navigation should 
 have been contested with Fulton by the Scotch, and even the 
 French. We may let these various claims rest on their own in- 
 trinsic merit ; but one thing can never be brought into question, 
 viz., the unusual perseverance with which Fulton followed up his 
 plans, after the depth of his conviction made him recognize, only 
 in one point of view, the difficulty of realizing it, and the con- 
 stancy and devoted earnestness that did not hesitate to make 
 any sacrifice, so soon as this difficulty was removed or overcome. 
 
 The reader will be enabled to make up his own mind, in rela- 
 tion to all this, to Fulton's right to act as the father of steam nav- 
 igation, to his unexampled energy under the crushing pressure of 
 so many blows and caprices of fortune, his courage m doing what 
 would be called, in mercantile language, risking his all upon a sin- 
 gle card, whenever a lucky turn of affairs suddenly opened to him 
 a way to the execution of his plans. 
 
 Fulton was born somewhere between the years 1768 and 1770, 
 in the State of Pennsylvania, and began his career as apprentice 
 to a goldsmith, in Philadelphia. He soon gave evidence of great 
 and manifold talents, among which — when a moneyed friend fur- 
 nished him with the means of visiting London — a special capacity 
 for mechanics, and a fondness for the study of the steam engine 
 and its possible uses, speedily developed themselves. 
 
 In the English capital he made the acquaintance of a fellow- 
 countryman, called James Rumsey, and from him probably gath- 
 ered the idea of applying steam to navigation ; for Rumsey had 
 dealt with a certain John Fitch a long time in Philadelphia, and 
 had, as early as the year 1788, been an applicant, in common 
 with him, for a patent guarantying the exclusive navigation by 
 steam of all the waters of Pennsylvania. They had failed in this 
 effort, because their petition set forth no express method of the 
 application to ships and boats ; and the Legislature of Pennsylva- 
 nia very properly hesitated to grant a patent for the undefined 
 
ROBERT FULTON. 113 
 
 special application for a mere idea, of which several might be in 
 the possession at the same time, and, as it has since appeared, 
 really were. In England, Rumsey was more fortunate, and pro- 
 cured a patent on the 24th of March, 1790. 
 
 The drawing of the steamship planned by Fitch is to be found 
 in the first volume of Brewster's Encyclopedia. The vessel was 
 to be propelled by means of stern-wheels ; and the scheme differs 
 but little from that of Rumsey, who was fortunate enough, in Lon- 
 don, to find an American capitalist, and to interest him in the 
 affair. Just as the construction of the vessel had been commenced, 
 the latter died. The parties interested tried to go on with it, 
 but did not succeed. ± 
 
 At the same time several Englishmen and Scotchmen came 
 forward with similar projects, particularly an engineer called Sy 
 mington, who, after he had, as early as 1788 and 1789, become 
 more or less acquainted with the plans of the American, at length, 
 some twelve years later, succeeded in completing a steam vessel, 
 which he named the Charlotte Dundas, and set it in motion, with 
 quite a favorable result, on the Eorth-and-Clyde Canal. He there- 
 upon received orders to build several similar boats for the naviga- 
 tion of the same canal, with the prospect of constructing many 
 more for the Bridgewater Canal. But the Board of Directors of 
 the Forth-and-Clyde Canal opposed the execution of this plan. 
 The Duke of Bridgewater died, and Symington, who had spent a 
 considerable portion of Iris fortune in experiments of all kinds, 
 drew back, and occupied himself with various improvements of 
 his plan, for which he received patents from time to time. 
 
 Yet, of all the projects relating to the introduction of steam 
 navigation, none were carried into complete execution, until, 
 finally, after the peace concluded at Ghent, in 1814, between Eng- 
 land and the United States, English travellers, convinced, proba- 
 bly, by the success of Fulton's experiment in America, spread 
 the knowledge of it in their own country, incited others to fol- 
 low Fulton's example, and ere long awakened a general desire to 
 make the history of navigation by steam a subject of pursuit, and 
 to disseminate the assertion, that the American was not its inven- 
 tor, but that its origin was in the first instance British, and that 
 
114 ROBERT FULTON. 
 
 Fulton could claim only the merit of having transplanted it to 
 American soil. 
 
 In the meanwhile Fulton had not been idle, but, with all the 
 peculiar energy of the American enterprising character, had been 
 straining every nerve to procure the introduction of navigation 
 by steam into his country. However, he found but little vantage- 
 ground, and secured but little faith and no assistance in his under- 
 taking even from his family, the Livingstons, of New York State, 
 most of whom were wealthy, some of them having already been 
 engaged in every description of steamboat and steamship project. 
 This drove him again to Europe, and from England to Paris, 
 where Chancellor Livingston, a relative, was then residing as Am- 
 bassador for the United States, and could make him acquainted 
 with scientific men of all classes. He likewise fell in with another 
 relative, Robert Livingston, who had, previously to that time, 
 made experiments in steam navigation, in connection with his 
 countryman Stevens. Fulton and Robert Livingston hereupon 
 had a steam-vessel built at their joint expense. At the moment 
 when it was to perform its first evolutions on the Seine, before 
 the eyes of the authorities and distinguished personages invited 
 thither to witness it, it broke in two, and went to pieces, with the 
 weight of its unwieldy machinery, which had unavoidably been 
 constructed in England. 
 
 Fulton, not at all disheartened by this, bethought himself of 
 other projects, and at length perfected plans of certain machines, 
 which he offered to the Government, and which were adapted to 
 the destruction, by sub-marine means, of the English squadron 
 then blockading and annoying Cherbourg. These machines were 
 to be sunken in the water, through which they would make their 
 way, propelled by steam, to the keels of the hostile ships, and, 
 there attaching themselves, explode and destroy the enemy. The 
 plan was, according to custom, referred to a Committee of the 
 War Ministry and the Engineer Corps, but regarded by them as 
 scarcely worth the trouble of an investigation. The jealousy 
 with which the French engineers have ever looked upon strangers 
 is notorious. Besides this, the unsuccessful trial on the Seine 
 worked greatly to Fulton's disadvantage. Gradually his impa- 
 
ROBERT FULTON. 115 
 
 tience reached a point where it no longer knew any bounds. He 
 stormed the Ministry, the Committee, never received any satisfac- 
 tory answer, and at length, backed by the Ambassador Living- 
 ston's influence, repeatedly made his way to the presence of Na- 
 poleon. The latter was taken up with quite other things, and 
 finally, at a court ball, expressed his displeasure at Fulton's head- 
 long zeal in the following words to Livingston : "Debarrassez-moi 
 de cefou o?' Americain /" — " Rid me of this fool of an American!" 
 Fulton felt that there was no longer any field open for him in 
 Paris. So he returned to England, assumed the name of Major 
 Francis, and found means to bring his project before the Board of 
 Admiralty, at whose head stood the well-known minister Dundas, 
 afterwards Lord Melville. The idea was then conceived of blowing 
 up the French ligne cC embassage, and the flotillas of Bologne and 
 Cherbourg, by means of these inventions, which Fulton called tor- 
 pedoes and catamarans. The Navy Committee and Fulton agreed 
 upon the price of £40,000 sterling, for which the latter was to 
 make over his invention to the British Government, and receive 
 the pay when a first successful trial had been accomplished. The 
 English Admiralty had the machines prepared by their workmen, 
 and intrusted their application to the mighty hands of Lord Nel- 
 son, who at that time commanded the English fleet off Bologne. 
 The experiment, however, was unsuccessful ; the machines ex- 
 ploded out of the water before they reached the French squadron. 
 Of course there was no further thought of paying Fulton ; yet the 
 latter was so unremitting and obstinate in laying the whole blame 
 of failure on the unskilful construction of the machines, that the 
 Admiralty at last agreed to appoint a special committee, in whose 
 presence the inventor should, with a machine prepared under his 
 own personal inspection, prove the practicability of the plan at 
 his own expense and risk ; that is to say, on a vessel belonging to 
 himself. On the day fixed Fulton repaired with the Committee, 
 Dundas at its head, to Deal, where a small vessel under the Amer- 
 ican flag, and purchased by him, lay at anchor in the Roads. 
 Fulton, holding the apparatus in his hand, requested the Commit- 
 tee-men present to glance at their watches. It was just twelve 
 o'clock when he let his torpedo fall into the water, with these words, 
 
110 ROBERT FULTON. 
 
 " In precisely five-and-twenty minutes, gentlemen, you will see 
 my ship yonder fly into the air !" It happened as he said. The 
 experiment was completely successful, and Fulton of course stood 
 to the stipulated price. 
 
 On the Continent, in the meanwhile, the tables had been 
 turned. Napoleon's eye was bent upon another object than the 
 invasion of England. His attention was absorbed in the war with 
 Russia and Austria, and hence the danger that threatened the 
 English shores was no longer so pressing. Consequently an ar- 
 rangement was come to with Major Francis, who finally accepted 
 one half the amount that had been promised to him, and returned 
 with the money to New York, under his own proper name of 
 Fulton. 
 
 Now, when he no longer was dependent upon outside help, his 
 favorite idea revived in him again, with fresh and increased vigor. 
 He built, at his own expense, the large steam vessel previously 
 described, and named it after Clermont, the country-seat of his 
 friend, the Chancellor Livingston. It reached Clermont, at a dis- 
 tance of 110 miles, within twenty-four hours, left that point again 
 at nine o'clock, on the next morning, and arrived at Albany, some 
 forty-seven miles farther, in about eight hours. It had thus made 
 nearly five miles per hour against wind and current. 
 
 This steamboat was the first that its owner began to employ to 
 a practical purpose and valuable result. I have, elsewhere, relat- 
 ed the further history of Fulton, who lived only eight years after 
 the epoch of his success.* 
 
 Among the Bills taken from Ouvrard's portfolio by Napoleon, 
 were some 105 drafts, to the amount of 700,000 piastres, drawn 
 by the Spanish Minister of Finance, Don Miguel Cayetano Soler 
 on the " Caxa de Consolidacion," or Consolidation Fund, in Havana. 
 Count Mollien had sent them to Messrs. Hope & Co., from whose 
 hands they came to mine. The letter of advices from the before- 
 mentioned drawer Soler to the Don Raphael Gomez Roubaud, 
 the Director of the Consolidation Fund, in Havana, said expressly 
 that these bills were to be paid only in silver, and in no other kind 
 
 * See my article entitled " Robert Fulton and steam Navigation," in No. 20, 
 of the " Deutschen Handelzeitunjj:" issue of Mav 20, 1849. 
 
DEPARTURE FOR HAVANA. 117 
 
 of -coin, and, in the two letters of introduction accompanying the 
 advices, for the benefit of the agent intrusted with the presentation 
 of the bills, whose name was left in blank, the same explicit direc- 
 tion was repeated. The blanks referred to, were now filled with 
 my name. One of these letters of recommendation was for the 
 Intendant-General Roubaud, the other for the Governor-General 
 of the Island of Cuba, the Marquis de Someruelos. Both of them 
 contained an especial request to treat the bearer with marked po~ 
 liteness : the reason why I here mention this circumstance, will 
 appear farther on in my narrative. 
 
 We had already learned in Philadelphia that, since the break- 
 ing off of communications with Mexico, there were no more silver 
 dollars to be found in all Cuba, and that the only current values 
 and tenders there consisted in doubloons which were accepted in 
 the United States, at 15-J- piastres, but were worth from 17 £ to 
 18 in Havana and the Island of Cuba generally, where they then 
 circulated, at that price. There was no doubt whatever that the 
 bills must be paid at Havana, and, as the Spanish Government 
 had itself directed, in silver, and, since the absolute impossibility 
 of making such payment existed, the idea naturally arose of pro- 
 posing to the Government of the Island an exchange for bills on 
 Mexico, with a small gratification of, say 5 per cent., for premium 
 difference. I had agreed with Parish, that even at par value such 
 an exchange, in case the Cuban Government consented to it, 
 would be a suitable arrangement. In order to facilitate the nego- 
 tiations at Havana, I had provided myself with an attest of the 
 then Marquis de Castel-Urujo, Spanish Minister at Washington 
 City, who happened to be in Philadelphia. This certificate 
 testified that the premium of insurance on moneys sent from Vera 
 Cruz to the United States, was then from 20 to 25 per cent. I, 
 hereupon, embarked in one of the clippers, a schooner named 
 " Collector," for Havana, and dispatched the same vessel imme- 
 diately on my arrival, to Vera Cruz, to ship piastres for Philadel- 
 phia, with a request to Parish to send the same craft again to me 
 for the purpose of taking further advices to Vera Cruz. 
 
 On the next morning, I paid my visit to the Marquis de Some- 
 ruelos, the Captain General, and then waited upon the Intendant 
 
118 HAVANA. 
 
 Don Raphael Gomez Roubaud, to whom the former had referred 
 me, and for whom, as I have already intimated, I held a letter. 
 Both these gentlemen received me with extraordinary politeness, 
 but also, with the plain confession that they must employ the few 
 resources that present circumstances left at their disposal, for 
 their own purposes ; that they had no money, above all, silver 
 dollars, and that I should unavoidably have to retire without the 
 funds. " In the mean time," remarked the Intendant, " we are 
 not now treating of a final answer, and will let the matter rest a 
 while longer under consideration." I earnestly requested a speedy 
 interview, and it was appointed for the third day. Upon this oc- 
 casion, the Intendant declared that he was ready to cash the bills, 
 if I would consent to take doubloons in payment, at 18 piastres 
 a piece. I pointed to the phraseology of the bills, and the parti- 
 cular directions of Soler, the Financial Minister at Madrid, and 
 said that I could accept nothing but silver. " We have not got 
 it," he replied, " and cannot give it to you, if you were to squeeze 
 us. If you will not take doubloons, you will get nothing at all !" 
 I expostulated with him, and pointed out that by his arrangement 
 I would lose three piastres on every doubloon. If, I added, any 
 such plan was to be adopted, it could only base itself upon 
 counting me the doubloons at 15 instead of 18 piastres. He, at 
 length, got angry, and said to me in a stern and loud voice : — 
 " Mr. Nolte, we are not accustomed to being told by strangers 
 what we shall do, and when strangers come to us with such pre- 
 tensions, we send them there." So saying, he pointed with his 
 forefinger to the lofty Moro Castle, which commands the entrance 
 of the harbor, and was right before us where we stood. 
 
 "Indeed !" was my response. " Now, I should very much like 
 to see the interior of a fortress to which strangers are scrupulously 
 denied admission." He looked at me with some surprise, but 
 very gravely, and then continued : " Can we not come to an un- 
 derstanding 1 I can so arrange it, that you may get the whole 
 amount in sugar — will you take it V My answer was, that I had 
 not come to buy sugar, what else could it be ! " But what will 
 you do, then, when no other kind of payment is possible ?" " I 
 will enter my protest," said I, " and go very quietly back with 
 
A PROPOSITION. 119 
 
 my bills." " A protest V he almost shouted, " you cannot find in 
 the whole colony, one single notary who would dare to protest the 
 bills of the government." " I have provided against that," was 
 my rejoinder, " for, before my departure from Philadelphia, 1 had 
 myself legally made a Notary, my signature will be certified as 
 good in law by the Marquis de Castel Urujo, and so everything is 
 in regular form and order — nous sommes en regie," were my last 
 words, for we conversed in the French language. I had learned 
 from good authority, in the city, that Don Raphael had been Secre- 
 tary to the Spanish Legation at Paris, and that he had received the 
 appointment of Intendant General and Director of the Tobacco- 
 Factory — a royal manufactory of cigars — through the influence 
 of Prince Talleyrand, who was fond of him. I availed myself of 
 this circumstance to express to the Intendant my regret that my 
 very simple mission had to contend with so many obstacles, and 
 that I feared all this would produce a bad impression at Paris, 
 especially upon one person whom we both respected. He at 
 once responded in his bad French, and with a certain degree of 
 vivacity, " Personne que Monsu Talleyrand!" He then looked 
 very grave, and at length said : " Have you nothing to propose to 
 me V He was now at the point where I wished to have him. 
 My reply was riot long in coming, and I endeavored to make him 
 understand, that as we had a regular establishment in Mexico for 
 the presentation of our numerous bills, it would perhaps be the 
 best and shortest plan to give me a bill on the Viceroy of Mexico, 
 merely adding, that getting my money there was not the same as 
 receiving it in Havana, and hence he would, of course, perceive 
 that this exchange could not be made without a certain premium ! 
 He finally said, " Give me your ideas in writing, and we shall 
 then see how we can come to an arrangement with each other !" 
 The mention of Talleyrand's name had already worked in some 
 degree, but how deep an impression it was yet destined to pro- 
 duce will be apparent to my readers from what is to follow. I 
 drew up my letter to the Intendant, declared to him the conditions 
 under which I would consent to an exchange of the bills ; and on 
 the principle' that much must be demanded, in order to receive 
 something, asked for a premium of thirty-five per cent., basing 
 
120 ADVENTURE AT THE CATHEDRAL. 
 
 this demand upon the fact, that the premium of insurance from 
 Vera Cruz to Philadelphia was at twenty-five per cent. I then 
 dispatched my letter, which was written in the French language, 
 to the official personages. The foreign idiom I had employed 
 rendered necessary a translation into Spanish, communication of 
 the translated document to the Captain-General, and gave rise to 
 a correspondence, to which, from the interminable questions pro- 
 pounded, I could see no end. I waited several days, in no very 
 pleasant mood, for a reply. Christmas was approaching, and, 
 upon the evening before that universal holiday, I went, like every- 
 body else, quite alone to the Cathedral. In one of the obscurely- 
 illuminated passages of that edifice I all at once heard my name 
 pronounced, in a subdued voice, at my shoulder. " Mr. Nolte ! 
 Mr. Nolte !" I glanced round and saw, close behind me, a man 
 not yet forty, to judge by his appearance, but to whom a certain 
 bureaucratic air seemed to have become a second nature. " You 
 are," he continued, "a German, if I am not mistaken V "Yes," 
 I replied, " of German descent at least." " Well," he added, " I 
 am employed in the offices of the Consolidation Fund. I know 
 for what purpose you are here, have read all your letters, and 
 can, perhaps, render you a service as a fellow-countryman. You 
 write extremely well, and your arguments are irresistible ; but 
 you will not bring the business through after that fashion in this 
 country. You must try another plan" — here he made a motion 
 with his thumb and forefinger, as though he were counting money 
 — " our Intendant is very greedy for gold. The only argument 
 that touches him is this" — and here he repeated his finger-play. 
 
 I thanked him for his information, inquired his name, and then 
 asked him who was the person most confidentially favored by the 
 Intendant. He named to me a Mr. Santa Maria, former associate 
 partner of the house of Cuesta & Santa Maria, who lived in a cer- 
 tain degree of retirement, but still magnificently, in the suburb 
 called the Salii. After the holiday I hastened to pave my way to 
 this individual. My correspondent, Don Salvador de Martiartu, 
 who subsequently became so rich, and who had not been able to 
 give me one single word of useful advice, or any useful indication 
 of the plan I ought to pursue, was evidently excited when I made 
 
ARITHMETICAL CALCULATION. 121 
 
 inquiries concerning Senor Santa Maria, said that the latter was a 
 sly dog, and not to be trusted, but a man greatly respected, and 
 one who kept the best table, after the Spanish style, in Havana. 
 He did not, however, belong to his acquaintance. 
 
 I then applied to Mr. James Drake, an Englishman, married to 
 a Spanish lady, and who was well known in the mercantile world. 
 He told me he would make me acquainted with Santa Maria ; 
 that he was a skilful manager, and I must be on my guard, for he 
 was not to be trusted beyond a finger's breadth. Thus I suc- 
 ceeded in meeting Santa Maria, who gave me to understand, at 
 our very first interview, that he knew my whole business, the In- 
 tendant had told him everything, and he had intended to seek me 
 out the very next day, for the purpose of offering me his services. 
 I concluded from this, in my own mind, that the Intendant had 
 instructed him to approach me, and find out what could be made 
 of me. " You require," he said, with a laugh, " thirty-five per 
 cent, to get your dollars from Mexico. Do you think it will be 
 possible to procure as much as that V "Ay ! why not f was my 
 answer ; " when one has the right on his side, and knows how to 
 talk !" While I was uttering these words, I too used the peculiar 
 motion of the fingers employed by the German clerk of the Caxo 
 de Consolidation. " I see," continued Santa Maria, " that we shall 
 readily understand each other. Now, furnish me with any plau- 
 sible calculation whatever, that it would be better for this govern- 
 ment to give you a bill of exchange on Mexico for the 700,000 
 silver piastres, with the addition of thirty-five per cent., than to 
 let you take 46,666§ doubloons out of the country — for our treas- 
 ury is empty — and I will guarantee the rest. Hold your purse 
 ready." Upon this we separated, and after some use of arithme- 
 tic, backwards and forwards, I next day brought him the following 
 brief calculation : — 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 "Were I to accept doubloons at 18 piasters apiece, which I could dispose oi 
 and turn into current money only at 16, in the United States, a loss would 
 thence arise for me, of 16£ per cent. Now, in order to make up this loss 
 which I, being entitled to be paid silver, am not bound to suffer, I should havt' 
 
 6 
 
122 THE JINGLING ARGUMENT. 
 
 to receive 840,000 piastres in gold, -whereby the government would be obliged 
 to pay out a surplusage of 140,000 piastres more than if they gave me silver. 
 
 $840,000 
 Less 16£ per cent, - - - - 140,000 
 
 $700,000. 
 Again, the sum paid out must be replaced by importation from Mexico, and to 
 cover this capital of $840,000 with insurance, - - $988,235 
 must be insured. From Vera Cruz to Philadelphia, 
 the premium is 25 per cent, but from Vera Cruz to 
 Havana, I count only some 15 per cent. 148 235 
 
 The amount covered, 840,000 
 
 The Government's loss, 140,000 
 
 Outlay for premium, 148,235 
 
 Total outlay, $288,235 
 
 The premium of 35 per cent, asked by me, for 700,000 pias- 
 tres, amounts to 245,000 
 
 Consequently, the Government of Cuba would save by my 
 
 proposed operation, $43,235 
 
 When I took this memorandum to Santa Maria his eyes danced 
 again. " Why," he shouted, " that's clear enough to stun a man! 
 Not another word is needed !" A couple of days later he let me 
 know that the Intendant had agreed, and the only thing to be 
 arranged now was, what amount I was going to give him and the 
 Intendant together. I finally settled with him on two per cent, 
 of the $700,000, whenever the new bill of exchange was handed 
 over, that is, $14,000. 
 
 The Intendant could not officiate in government matters with- 
 out the concurrence of the Captain-General, and it was therefore 
 necessary to get his assent to the exchange of bills. The Marquis 
 de Someruelos, a thoroughly honorable man, said that he would 
 not have a word to say in the matter, if the Consulate approved 
 of the calculation. This Consulate was composed of three of the 
 first Spanish merchants in Havana, one of whom had the reputa- 
 tion of being an incorruptible man ; but the others were accus- 
 tomed to listen only to jingling arguments. The next step, 
 now, was to procure the desired adoption of my plan by thest> 
 
SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION. 123 
 
 men. After Santa Maria had felt the pulse of both the easy- 
 conscienced gentlemen, he told me that three thousand dollars 
 would be enough "pour terminer V affaire" — to wind up the affair ! 
 I handed over the money, and a week afterwards received, in two 
 remittances, a single bill on the Viceroy of Mexico, for the total 
 sum of $945,000. The heaviest indorsement I ever gave was 
 this, of course, when I dispatched it to Villanueva. The Intendant 
 and I had agreed that my hundred and five bills were to be de- 
 livered only when the intelligence came from Mexico that his 
 draft had been honored ; but they should remain, until that time, 
 in a packet, stamped with both our seals, in the safe of the Caxa 
 de Consolidation. 
 
 After the ultimate conclusion of our business negotiation, the 
 Intendant gave me a splendid dinner in the Palace of the Intend- 
 ancy, and, according to the custom at that time prevailing in Ha- 
 vana, I was placed alone at the head of the table. On my right sat 
 the Intendant, and the whole company, excepting Mr. James Drake, 
 who sat on my left in plain citizen's dress, were attired in bestarred 
 and beribboned uniforms. When the party was breaking up in 
 the evening, the Intendant took me aside, and quietly said, " When 
 you write to Paris do not forget to assure Prince Talleyrand of 
 my devotion, and to tell him what reception you had at my 
 hands." 1 merely answered, " Je ferai mo7i devoir" — I'll do my 
 duty — for I could not give him a promise of the kind. 
 
 The schooner Collector appeared, a few days later, off the har- 
 bor, and then left with my dispatches for Vera Cruz, whence I, in 
 a very short time, received the satisfactory intelligence, that 
 the Viceroy had paid the heavy bill. I then took my seal from 
 the packet in the Consolidation Bureau, and gave the German an 
 appropriate douceur. Forty-four years have rolled away since 
 then, but I have never been fortunate enough to remember the 
 name of that friendly man. He was a Rhinelander, however. 
 
 Since the Messrs. Hope, in accordance with the arrangements 
 made between them and Ouvrard, which, as the reader will re- 
 member, were transferred to the French treasury, had to pay 
 three francs and seventy-five centimes for every dollar received 
 and demanded, the $700,000 payable at Havana were estimated 
 
124 THE PROFITS. 
 
 at 2,625,000 francs. Through my arrangements, another payment 
 in Vera Cruz was now substituted for this one, and, at the rate 
 just given, a clear profit of 918,750 francs was secured. I was 
 really gratified at being the means of putting so much money into 
 the pockets of my patrons at Amsterdam. How this business 
 finally resulted, remains for my readers to learn in the further 
 course of this narrative. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 
 
 Shipwreck off the coast of Florida, on the Carysfort Reef — My sojourn in the 
 village of Nassau on the Island of New Providence, one of the Bahama 
 group — Return to the United States — Arrival in Philadelphia. 
 
 There existed no necessity of an immediate return to Philadel- 
 phia, as the embargo laid upon all shipping by the American 
 Government had reduced commerce, particularly the export trade 
 of the United States, to a stand-still. I might have awaited a 
 better season of the year for my voyage back to the States, yet, 
 however much my sojourn in Havana pleased me, I still felt an 
 inward anxiety for more agreeable circumstances than those which 
 there surrounded me. Yankee supercargoes and ship-captains 
 did not satisfy my need of daily conversation, and my heart too 
 was not altogether an uninterested party to the desire I felt for 
 an early return to Philadelphia. One vessel bound for Charles- 
 ton, and two for Baltimore, offered me the chance of passage 
 home. One of the latter was the schooner Independence, a real 
 " clipper," and the other was a strong-built schooner called the 
 ^Merchant.'''' I bespoke my passage in the latter, with a young 
 Englishman called Creighton, an agent for the New York 
 house of Murray & Sons. We were to sail on the 18th of Janu- 
 ary, 1808, and our baggage was on board, but we were detained, 
 by contrary winds, until January 25th, on which day several good 
 ships, that had arrived in the meanwhile, and had already taken 
 in cargo, put to sea with us. We should not believe in omens ; 
 and to allow ourselves to be governed by them I have ever re- 
 garded as great folly; yet, that at certain moments of our lives 
 
126 THE SHIPWRECK. 
 
 a dark foreshadowing of some misfortune, or some great annoy- 
 ance that is impending, rises within us, I experienced twice in the 
 same year. At the moment when I went on board of the clipper 
 Merchant an inner-voice spoke to me, as if to say that I had done 
 wrong in not selecting the schooner Independence. 
 
 It was noon when we made sail. Violent northeast winds had 
 hindered our departure. Even upon the occurrence of these 
 northern storms, when the sea breaks over the lofty Moro Castle, 
 perched as it is upon rocks, the waters inside of the fortress in the 
 bay that forms the harbor of Havana are but slightly agitated. 
 The sudden change from the latter to the towering billows of the 
 Gulf Stream often upsets even seamen, as frequently happens 
 likewise in the British Channel when sailing out of Dover. My 
 travelling companions and I were attacked with violent sea- 
 sickness, and driven to our beds, when we had hardly turned our 
 backs upon the fort. On the next day, it blew a gale from the 
 south-east, which tossed us to and fro : our sea-sickness was past, 
 but partly for want of appetite or any desire to move, and partly 
 through sheer indolence, we lay dozing on our mattresses. That 
 night, about eleven o'clock, I was awakened by a dreadfully severe 
 concussion, and almost thrown out of my berth. The sudden 
 cessation of the ship's motion and a still more violent jolt left me 
 no further doubt that we had struck. I shouted to my travelling 
 comrade, Creighton, and my faithful negro, Celestin, to come on 
 deck. Now followed three concussions, so violent that I could 
 scarcely keep my feet, and at the same moment, the ship lay over 
 on her beam ends. " Where is the captain T* I asked of the man 
 at the helm. " He is asleep !" was the answer. I shouted into 
 the cabin which was already filling with water : " Captain Mur- 
 phy ! Captain Murphy !" No reply ! " Where is the mate, then V 
 was my next question. " Up there by the forecastle !" was the 
 reply. I now felt an arm, which I seized. It was the captain, 
 who stumbled out of his cabin, yawning, and as I afterwards 
 learned, had been drinking all the evening with the mate. I had 
 scarcely made the captain understand the full extent of our dan- 
 ger, when, still laboring under the effects of his carouse and sud- 
 den alarm, he began, as if totally deprived of his senses, to bellow 
 
THE SHIPWRECK. 12? 
 
 forth an incoherent jumble of commands. We had been five 
 minutes in this situation, before a single sail was taken in. The 
 schooner was careening over more and more, and was already 
 half under water. A couple of sailors had been lucky enough, 
 in this general confusion, to find the axe, and we hoped, that by 
 cutting away the masts, we should be able to right the ship again; 
 but the axe proved useless, and the wind extinguished our only 
 lantern. 
 
 It was time to take to the boat, and, after great exertions, 
 we managed to get it loose from the tackle that secured it to the 
 deck, and launch it. The constant cracking of our craft made us 
 fear that it was going to pieces. How we succeeded in getting 
 a keg of ship's biscuit, the compass and the Captain's quadrant 
 into the long boat, is now incomprehensible to me. Four sailors 
 leaped into the boat and went to work bailing out the water that 
 dashed in furiously over the breakers. My colored man had, with 
 great effort, worked his way into the cabin which was half under 
 water, and, heaven only knows how, seized my wearing apparel, 
 (for I was in little more than my shirt,) my watch and my writ- 
 ing-desk, in which, as he well knew, I kept papers of great value 
 and importance. I could not open this secretary, for where was 
 the key 1 So I threw it into the long-boat where my travelling- 
 friend had managed to put his also, and then laid hold of a rope 
 to swing himself down after it, when suddenly the tackle that held 
 the boat to our vessel parted, and the little craft, with the four 
 sailors in it, was swept away from us. A couple of minutes 
 afterwards, we heard the words : " We are aground ! we shall 
 perish !" and then the howling of the tempest and the roar of the 
 sea was the only sound in our ears. The jolly-boat was still left 
 hanging from the stern davits, over the rudder. That might save 
 us! It took us but an instant to lower it; but it had hardly 
 touched the water before the waves had dashed it to pieces 
 against the stern. We had now but one hope of escape left — the 
 construction of a serviceable raft. Desperate as the attempt 
 seemed, we still managed to get together a couple of spare spars 
 and oars, and tackle to fasten them, when suddenly the foremast 
 went crashing over the side, carrying away our half-completed 
 
128 THE SHIPWRECK. 
 
 work with it in its fall. The ship now sank deeper than before, 
 and in such a position that the starboard side was perpendicularly 
 above the larboard. Little more than the iron railings of the 
 quarter deck and the mainmast was still visible above the raging 
 breakers. In this helpless condition, all we could do was to lash 
 ourselves fast on the iron railings to which we had been clinging, 
 and there await the worst with resignation. It is easy to com- 
 prehend that we looked forward to nothing but a watery grave. 
 To think of rescue was but folly. And yet, how plainly the con- 
 soling voice of hope spoke within me ! The feeling to which I 
 allude, surpasses all attempt at description ! It lasted scarcely 
 for seconds — yet what seconds ! My travelling companions, the 
 drunken sot Murphy, and even most of the sailors, seemed to be 
 completely prostrated under the burthen of our hard fate. I too, 
 was, after all, not in much better plight ; yet, when I put every 
 thing together, I can ascribe my greater fortitude only to the idea 
 which would not leave me, that we should be saved. The billows 
 broke continuously over us ; and we were expecting, from minute 
 to minute, that we should be torn from our hold and hurled into 
 the raging sea. We had already been clinging to the railings 
 for four mortal hours, when the storm began to subside a little, 
 and we suddenly heard the voice of one of our sailors who had 
 been carried off in the long-boat. An instant afterwards, we 
 heard the voices of the other two. A ray of hope now revived 
 our half lifeless frames. Nothing could seem more certain to us 
 than that the four seamen were returning to rescue us from our 
 dreadful situation ; but this, alas ! was not the case. The long- 
 boat had not held out but a little while against the fury of the 
 breakers. It had sunk, carrying down with it one of the sailors, 
 a negro, who could not swim. The others had saved themselves, 
 partly by swimming and partly by clinging to some protruding 
 ledges of the rocks, until they, at length, succeeded in getting 
 hold of the foremast, and by means of it and the broken cordage, 
 had finally reached a last desperate shelter on our wreck. Eleven 
 men were now clinging to one frail railing, buried under the rush- 
 ing onset of the billows, and looking forward, from moment to 
 moment, to their doom. At this time there was, indeed, but 
 
OUR RAFT. 
 
 129 
 
 little further room for hope, and the few minutes we could com- 
 mand from our stunned and breathless condition, were given up 
 to gloomy reflections. Now and then a star gleamed, for an 
 instant, through the masses of black clouds, and how gladly we 
 hailed in it the harbinger of morning. 
 
 At length, about seven o'clock, after we had been hanging for 
 almost eight hours to the railings, the storm-clouds parted and 
 we could descry, away at the distance of some nine miles, a nar- 
 row black streak on the horizon ; this we instantly knew to be 
 land. A nameless feeling of delight ran through every vien, but 
 immediately the thought, how impossible it was to reach the shore, 
 made us again despond. The fierce billows still beat over us, and 
 although the wind moderated, the sea continued in the most vio 
 lent agitation. It may have been about eight o'clock in the morn 
 ing, when we, all at once, detected a sail in the Gulf Stream. It 
 seemed to be approaching us, until we at length recognized it to 
 
 be the brig which had left Havana in company with our own ves- 
 sel. Our sensations, as it came nearer and nearer, then suddenly 
 tacked, and completely withdrew from our sight, may be imagined. 
 
 6* 
 
130 OUR RAFT. 
 
 That our schooner had not gone to pieces long ere this, and that 
 the feeble railing still withstood the weight of twelve human 
 beings, was a wonder upon whose prolongation we could not count 
 for any great while to come, so we resolved to renew our attempt 
 to make a raft, and actually succeeded in constructing one in about 
 an hour and a-half. It was composed of nine pieces, viz: the 
 fore-gaff, two spars, and six larger and smaller oars, as represent- 
 ed in the drawing : 
 
 Nos. 1, 2, 3, represent the chicken-coop, to which the captain, 
 Mr. Creighton, and I, were lashed. 
 
 No. 4, the place where my colored man had fastened himself. 
 
 No. 5, the place where the sailor, Jack, stood with his legs 
 stretched apart, for foothold. 
 
 Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, the places where the sailors fixed 
 themselves, most of them in a standing posture. 
 
 This, as is plainly to be seen, was a miserably frail concern, to 
 bear the weight of twelve men, but we could get no more wooden 
 material, and the beating of the sea prevented us from perfecting 
 even this weak raft. It was loosely put together, and when we 
 got on it, sank instantly, some two feet or more. Most of us 
 fastened ourselves firmly to our seats, for the rocking motion and 
 the violence of the billows that tossed us rudely to and fro, as 
 they rose and fell, would assuredly have thrown us off. It was 
 ten o'clock, when we finally left the wreck upon this raft. The 
 wind, fortunately, blew towards the land, or all hope of reaching 
 the latter would have abandoned us. Our raft did not keep in 
 its horizontal position one single moment. It sank sometimes to 
 the right, sometimes to the left ; the mounting sea frequently 
 covered us entirely, and we often enough prepared ourselves with 
 a murmured — " Now ! now !" for our last moment. We could 
 not steer the raft, at all, but went as wind and wave drove us. 
 The sailor who stood at the point No. 5, was the only one who 
 could do anything for us. He had taken a blanket and spread it 
 out between his extended arms, in such a way as to catch the 
 wind, with a remark that made me smile at the time. 
 
 " This," said he, " is the first sail that would need no reef!" 
 
 The aid this rendered us was scarcely perceptible, and the 
 
LAND IN PROSPECT. 131 
 
 reader may judge how slow our progress was, when he learns that 
 at four o'clock in the afternoon, we were only half way between 
 the shore and our wreck, which still held together. About five 
 o'clock we saw three small sail coming towards us from the 
 extreme point of the land. The distance at which they were 
 from us rendered it impossible for us to attract their attention, 
 and, if we shouted to them, it was more from despair than for 
 any reason. It was with the greatest risk that we loosened the 
 oar No. 8, attached the red neckcloth of a sailor to it, and held it 
 aloft ; but all this was of no more use than our shouting. We 
 were neither heard nor seen. By this time, our raft was nearly 
 three feet under water. Meanwhile the sea had become less 
 agitated, and, although we were up to our breasts in water, our 
 heads were not so often washed by the billows. By sundown, 
 that is to say about six o'clock, we reckoned that we were yet 
 some three miles and a half from the land. We supposed the 
 latter to be the coast of East Florida, off which lies a small 
 island. The ebb tide was now altogether against us, and the 
 wind, too, suddenly shifted and blew directly from the land. We 
 all expected to be driven out again to sea ; and, with heavy hearts 
 took our last look at the setting sun. The small sails which we 
 had seen about five o'clock, seemed to have approached near to 
 our abandoned wreck, then just visible to us by the mast sticking 
 out of the water, and to have cast anchor in its close neighbor- 
 hood. It was, at this moment, difficult indeed to hold fast to the 
 doctrine of " all is for the best !" 
 
 The heavy swell which again began to rise made every attempt 
 to steer our raft with the loosened oar utterly useless, and the 
 outspread blanket was of no farther use to us as the wind was 
 blowing off the land. Night came on ; some of our company had 
 cramps in their limbs, and others were completely exhausted by 
 the exertions their perilous position on the raft required. It is 
 truly impossible to form a correct idea of our situation. An hour 
 later, we were about three musket shots distant from the little 
 island, which, as we afterwards learned, was called Tavernier Key, 
 Here, we saw through the twilight, a wreck, and, as we thought, 
 a brigantine and a large sloop both at anchor, but without a 
 
132 WE REACH LAND. 
 
 human being on board. The island appeared to be uninhabited. 
 We made several attempts to reach it, but they were all fruitless, 
 for the swell continually drove us back, and at length forced us down 
 along the land, which we had at first taken for the coast of Florida, 
 but which proved to be another island called Large Key. Fortu- 
 nately, the western point of this larger island turned, the nearer we 
 came to it, almost like a half moon, southward, and received the 
 flood of the sea in a sort of bay, so that about ten o'clock in the 
 evening, we were pretty near to the land. We measured with 
 our steering oar, and found the depth of water not over four feet. 
 Upon this, the sailor Jack, who had stood at No. 5, left his place 
 and leaped into the sea ; another, a German by birth, followed 
 him, and these two men, the strongest, and consequently, the 
 least exhausted among us, drew our shattered raft to the shore, 
 which we, God be thanked ! at length reached in safety, a little 
 after eleven o'clock. Some of the sailors, and my faithful negro 
 Celestin, were so exhausted that they could not leave the raft, and 
 had to be carried ashore, one after the other. The mate and a 
 couple of sailors scarcely reached it, ere they fell almost lifeless 
 on the beach. My colored man seized my hand, and had just 
 breath enough left to stammer out, as he kissed it : " Oh, master, 
 if I had lost you !" when he dropped to the ground, stiff with cold. 
 I took him up in my arms and strove to warm him, for I had 
 already learned from experience, that the colored race are unfitted 
 to encounter the severities of cold. A sailor had tinder in his 
 pocket, but it had got completely wet, and what we, at this mo- 
 ment, would have preferred to all the splendors of the world, a 
 real good fire, we could not procure. The shore was sandy or 
 rocky, here and there covered with some dry thistles, and formed 
 but a hard, uninviting bed. Yet it was land — firm land — upon 
 which we stood. This thought overcame every other in the minds 
 of both Creighton and myself, and unable to resist the weight of our 
 fatigue and desire to sleep, we sank down, utterly worn out. We 
 all lay in a heap together, and tried to warm each other. I had 
 kept hold of my faithful negro, and succeeded in restoring him to 
 consciousness within a couple of hours, During the night, we 
 were refreshed in another way. Some heavy rain clouds burst 
 
HELP DESCRIED! 133 
 
 above us, and would have dispensed a most delightful coolness to 
 our prostrate frames, had we needed it. The sun had scarcely 
 risen, when, to our inexpressible delight, we saw three small 
 wrecker boats at anchor between Large Key and Tavernier Key. 
 The distance was great, yet these craft by no means seemed to be 
 beyond our reach. There was yet another trial before us. We 
 were just rising from the beach to try whether we could not get 
 nearer to these boats, when they suddenly weighed anchor and 
 put to sea. Two of them returned about an hour afterwards, and 
 ranged up near the sloop which we had seen on the previous 
 evening. We now resolved to lose no time, but push on until 
 we could get opposite to these boats, at a point from which we 
 thought we could hail them. We commenced our journey, but 
 were so completely exhausted by hunger, but more especially 
 thirst, and the many fatigues we had undergone, that we had to 
 rest every five minutes. Some of us had our legs swollen, and 
 I, like most of the party, was barefooted. We found ourselves 
 without any nourishment, as we had saved only two bottles of 
 wine, as a restorative for eleven persons, and there was not a dry 
 stitch on one of us. Mr. Creighton and I were worse off than the 
 rest, for it was the fourth day since we had taken any food, and 
 our tramp of three miles, along the shore, contributed no little to 
 our greater exhaustion. We had, at length, reached a point 
 opposite to the wrecker-boats. On the strand lay a ten foot pole. 
 To this we fastened a red flannel sailor's shirt, and hoisted it, in 
 the hope that the people on board of the boats would see us and 
 hasten to our relief. We could distinguish them plainly — even 
 see the smoke on their decks ! — they, surely, must notice us or 
 hear our shouts ! and yet they did not appear to get a glimpse 
 of us nor to pay the least attention to our repeated hallooing. 
 Three of our companions in misfortune had traversed the island 
 in all directions, in search of fresh water and bananas. They 
 found neither one nor the other, and came back utterly dispirited. 
 Hunger was gnawing our vitals, and the fear of dying by starva- 
 tion increased in proportion as our appetites grew keener ; for 
 our complete exhaustion had deadened every other feeling within 
 
134 THE WRECKERS. 
 
 us. We all felt that it would be a physical impossibility for us 
 to survive another day in our present condition. 
 
 It might have been about two o'clock in the afternoon, when 
 Mr. Creighton and I offered a sailor fifty dollars and a new outfit, 
 if he would swim to one or the other of the two boats, and inform 
 their people of our situation. Jack, the same man, who had on 
 the previous day, held the blanket for ten hours on his out- 
 stretched arms, undertook the desperate task. The distance was 
 not full three sea-miles. I need hardly describe the longing anx- 
 iety with which our gaze followed him. We despaired more and 
 more of his success, the farther he got from us, for we observed 
 that the swell incessantly beat him back, and that he seemed to 
 be tired out. His head was scarcely any longer visible above 
 the water — only now and then we could just see a little speck on 
 the surface of the billows, for an instant at a time. At length, 
 this too suddenly disappeared. " Poor Jack !" thought we, " he 
 is gone !" But no ! — look ! — There was Jack on board of the 
 sloop, shouting to the people of the boats. We next saw a couple 
 of men going to him, and taking him on board of their craft 
 in a small skiff. They then rowed towards the spot where we 
 were. What we all felt could not be described by the most 
 experienced pen, and only they could realize it who have been 
 placed in a similar situation. The skiff, small as it was, took us 
 all and conveyed us to one of the two vessels — a craft of about 
 eighteen tons. We there got some nourishment, and learned that 
 we were on board of a wrecker-boat belonging to New Providence, 
 one of the English Bahama Islands, that it was manned by four 
 seamen and was lying off the Florida coast, in this direction to 
 catch sea turtle. They partly lived on this and partly on 
 provisions found in the vessels that stranded there from time to 
 time. These were English West-India mariners. The skipper 
 who owned the craft confessed that he had seen us on shore quite 
 distinctly, the whole morning, but had pretended that he did not, 
 and under the persuasion that we were shipwrecked Spaniards, 
 who, after having been rescued, would lay violent hands on his 
 craft and carry her away to Cuba, as had occurred not long before 
 to some of their comrades, would assuredly have turned a deaf 
 
SAIL FOR CHARLESTON-. 135 
 
 ear to our cries, had not Jack's arrival given him a different idea 
 of what we were. The rocks on which our vessel had been cast 
 away, formed the Carysfort Beef, on which the English frigate 
 Carysfort was totally lost w r ith all on board, in the year 1774. 
 
 The remainder of this narrative is soon told. We distributed 
 ourselves on three small craft, and after we had (owing to con- 
 trary winds which detained us) cruised in and out along the Flor- 
 ida coast, and among the islands, catching turtles occasionally, we 
 made for Nassau, the seaport of New Providence, where we ar- 
 rived on the 6th of February, the eleventh day after our ship- 
 wreck. I landed barefooted, and attired in a pair of pantaloons 
 manufactured out of sail-cloth for me by our deliverers. The 
 Solicitor-General, a Mr. Armstrong, who recollected my name 
 from the circumstance, that a ship, bound from New Orleans to 
 Liverpool, on board of which were 30,000 piastres, sent by me to 
 England, had stopped and been examined at New Providence, 
 and who had, moreover, known Creighton's family in England at an 
 earlier period, provided us with money. We had to wait a fort- 
 night for an opportunity to embark for the United States, since the 
 embargo in American ports had broken off the usual frequency 
 of communications with the West Indies. At length, on the 22d 
 of February, we got on board a vessel for Charleston, whither a 
 favorable wind brought us in four days. We took Jack along 
 with us, after giving him the new outfit and the fifty dollars we 
 had promised him. Before we left the Florida coast we had em- 
 ployed the delay occasioned us by contrary winds to look about 
 among the rocks for some of our lost effects, and had found the 
 long boat that was swept away ; it still contained the body of the 
 drowned sailor, who, fastened to his seat, had there found his 
 death, and breathed out his last on a sack containing about six 
 hundred dollars. We also got some twenty casks of coffee, forty 
 boxes of sugar, and $1,600 in silver coin, from the wreck of the 
 schooner; my trunk was there too, but everything had been 
 w r ashed out of it excepting a few shirts and my copying-book. 
 My writing-desk, with $2,000 in silver, and all my papers, were 
 irrevocably lost. From Charleston, my companions and I went 
 overland to Philadelphia, where we arrived on the 11th of March. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EMBARGO OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE YEAR 1808. 
 
 Rupture of communications with Mexico ; the first and most important cause 
 which influenced the independent position of Parish, and became the source 
 of his first embarrassments — The large purchase of lands on the St. Law- 
 rence river was one of the next — History of this purchase — Gouverneur 
 Morris and Le Ray de Chaumout were the originators of Parish's blindness, 
 and the first to sell property of such diminutive value — Parish obtains per- 
 mission from Gallatin, the Secretary of State, notwithstanding the embargo, 
 to dispatch ships in ballast, and bring silver dollars from Mexico — The use 
 made of this favor by John Jacob Astor, of New York — His history — Ste- 
 phen Girard, in Philadelphia — Girard's history and career — Fracture of my 
 right leg at Wilmington — I employ the retirement, rendered necessary by 
 this accident, to strike off the first balance of our great operation. 
 
 Upon my arrival I found David Parish in great tribulation. 
 The embargo suddenly imposed, in the beginning of the year, by 
 the Congress of the United States, a measure intended to suspend 
 all intercourse with Great Britain for the time being, until an un- 
 derstanding had been come to with the latter power in relation to 
 many disputed questions, such as the Right of Search, and the 
 taking away of English sailors out of American ships, &c, &c, 
 was exactly calculated to produce considerable embarrassment in 
 the conduct of our business. Very important sums were still 
 lying in Vera Cruz and Mexico, and the departure of the clippers 
 for their transportation to the United States was rendered abso- 
 lutely impossible by the embargo. Again, large stocks of goods 
 intended to be shipped to Europe, and on which Parish had made 
 very heavy advances, were locked up in New York, Philadelphia, 
 and Baltimore. The whole machine was brought to a stand still. 
 Its regular progress was consequently interrupted, and, on the 
 
GOUVERNEUR MORRTS. 137 
 
 part of Messrs. Hope & Co., some signs of impatience were be- 
 ginning to grow visible, on account of certain delayed remittances. 
 This delay had been partly, if not altogether, occasioned by some 
 circumstances which can only be attributed to the deviations Par- 
 ish had seen fit to make from the regular course of the business 
 intrusted to him, and which led to a cash outlay of more than 
 three quarters of a million dollars. I may perhaps be permitted 
 to mention only one of these circumstances, which had not been 
 foreseen or counted upon in Europe, as it will give my readers a 
 knowledge of the origin of a colossal landed estate, now become 
 the property of the Parish family, and situated on the northwest- 
 ern frontiers of the State of New York, and watered by the river 
 St. Lawrence. 
 
 Among the old friends of the Parish family in the beginning of 
 this century was counted Mr. Gouverneur Morris, so celebrated as 
 the American Ambassador at the Court of Versailles. He was a 
 clear-headed and talented man; he had visited Hamburgh, and 
 spent some time there with Mr. John Parish, then Consul for the 
 United States in that city. He had returned to his own country, 
 and was living on his estate, called Morrisania, on the East river, 
 fifteen miles from New York. From there he visited David 
 Parish, on the latter's invitation, in Philadelphia, during the spring 
 of 1807, and spent a couple of weeks with him. Upon this occa- 
 sion he succeeded in getting from his host some $30,000 on bond 
 and mortgage on his possessions lying along the St. Lawrence river. 
 Some months later, after his return to Morrisania, Mr. Gouverneur 
 Morris wrote a pamphlet on the present value of landed property 
 on the north-western frontiers of New York, and the gradual pros- 
 pective increase of the same, and dedicated this effusion of his pen 
 to his friend David Parish. At the same time the latter received 
 an invitation to go on a visit with Mr. Morris to these valuable 
 tracts of land in the autumn of the same year. This was also done. 
 Soon afterwards, Gouverneur Morris again visited his friend Parish 
 in Philadelphia, where the former lifted his mortgage by the sale 
 of the whole property, at the rate of two dollars an acre, Parish 
 paying down an additional sum of $20,000. 
 
 In the fall of 1808 Parish once more visited the shores of the 
 
138 PARISH'S LOSSES. 
 
 St. Lawrence, and bought about 100,000 acres, at the average 
 price of two dollars an acre, from a Frenchman named Le Ray de 
 Chaumont, who had been settled there for many years, and from 
 one of the branches of the Ogden family, and their representative 
 David B. Ogden, one of the first lawyers in New York, the whole 
 borough of Ogdensburgh, now the seat of Mr. George Parish, the 
 second son of the Mr. Richard Parish at present residing in Nien- 
 steden, for about $9,000. The new owner thereupon commenced 
 operations, by going to work to import three thousand merino 
 sheep from Spain, so as to make use of a large part of the locality, 
 which was pretty well known to consist of soil in the highest de- 
 gree unproductive, and chiefly covered with stones or rocks, but, 
 as Le Ray de Chaumont and consorts explained to Parish, was an 
 exact repetition of the Spanish district where the merino sheep 
 yield the most perfect wool. Parish was so possessed with this 
 idea, that upon a little excursion we made together, on the way 
 to Baltimore, to purchase a pair of horses, as we passed by a 
 stretch of stony land, and saw some merino sheep skipping about 
 over it, he exclaimed to me, in great glee, " Look ! look there, 
 Nolte ! how they jump about ! they yield splendid wool !" 
 
 I am writing down this narrative chiefly as extracted from my 
 memory, after the lapse of forty-four years, and consequently 
 cannot, so far as the accuracy of numbers is concerned, set down 
 all with the closest precision ; but what I can affirm is, that the 
 whole amount expended by Parish for this purpose, up to the 
 spring of 1809, was close upon $363,000. The reader will find 
 the assurance of this in the subsequent pages. 
 
 Of the two other causes of Parish's sudden deficiency of funds, 
 in the very middle of the superabundance justly represented by 
 him previously, to the firm in Amsterdam, I shall, in a few words, 
 touch upon that one only which resulted from the failing condition 
 of the house of Guest & Banker, importers, in Philadelphia. Parish 
 had discounted their acceptances to the amount of $70,000, and 
 en-portefeuille : and since the combination that was made, in order 
 to save this capital, would not essentially contribute to the better 
 understanding of the then existing state of affairs, I suppress it in 
 this place, not however without taking occasion to remark, that it 
 
THE EMBARGO. 130 
 
 only yields a proof the more of the elastic nature of mercantile 
 consciences in general, and of the resources possessed by a deeply 
 calculating mind, fruitful in expedients, but that before the tribu 
 nal of strict morality, it could hardly receive an unconditional ab- 
 solution. 
 
 Messrs. Hope & Co. were counting upon important remit- 
 tances, when, all at once, they received drafts from David Parish 
 for a very considerable sum, which had been raised by him for his 
 relief when his own cash box had become exhausted. The protest 
 designated the cause of the refused acceptance in the words, " On 
 account of not having been notified" : the bills, however, were 
 paid. 
 
 When, fifteen months later, I was conversing about this circum- 
 stance with Mr. P. C. Labouchere, and remarked, with regret, that 
 it had been calculated to damage Parish's position, he replied, " I 
 only wanted to remind Parish that he is not the unconditional 
 master to make use of our funds just as he may see fit, but nothing 
 more than a mere partner, in a certain business, under well un- 
 derstood conditions. We intended to pay the bills any how." 
 
 The embargo made itself doubly felt, not only through the im- 
 possibility of shipping off the enormous stocks of goods upon 
 which Parish had made advances, and which he held under lock 
 and key, but also through the no less absolute impossibility of 
 dispatching the fast sailing schooners to Vera Cruz, to bring away 
 the ready coin deposited there. Parish, however, understood the 
 means of remedying this evil. He repaired to Washington, had 
 an interview with Albert Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury 
 — a man distinguished for his intelligence and experience — and 
 convinced him, that even if the policy of the government required 
 that the exportation of American products should be prevented 
 by an embargo, it still could not possibly be a wise course to 
 take from the United States the means of bringing home, from 
 foreign countries, the sums due to them in silver, and that with 
 this latter view, and for this purpose, it would be an excellent 
 measure to permit the departure of vessels in ballast. The Secre- 
 tary Df the Treasury saw the force of this reasoning, and at once, 
 upon his own responsibility, gave the collectors of the different 
 
140 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 
 
 Atlantic ports full authority to allow the departure of such vessels 
 In this way the outstanding sums expected from Mexico at length 
 arrived, and towards the close of the same summer Villanueva, 
 who had also accomplished his mission, left his late residence at 
 Vera Cruz, and came, under his real name, Lestapis, to the States, 
 where he took up his temporary abode, at Germantown, five 
 miles from Philadelphia. 
 
 The argument which Parish had made use of with Mr. Gallatin, 
 for the purpose of procuring permission to send out ships in bal- 
 last, to bring back sums of money from abroad that were due in 
 the United States, had found favor in the eyes of a man who had 
 distinguished himself from the mass of German immigrants by 
 his important successes, his speculative spirit, and his great 
 wealth, and had won a certain celebrity. This man was John 
 Jacob Astor, the founder of the American colony of Astoria, on 
 the northern coast of the Pacific ocean, which has been so graph- 
 ically and picturesquely described by the pen of Washington 
 Irving. Astor was born at Heidelberg, where the original name 
 of his family is said to have been Aschthor, and had come to New 
 York as a furrier's apprentice. His first savings, that is to say, 
 the wages he got in the peltry warehouse, for beating out and 
 preparing bear, doe, and other skins, he invested in the purchase 
 of all kinds of peltry, bear, mink, and rabbit skins, which he got 
 from the Indians, who at that time wandered about the streets of 
 New York ; and so soon as he had collected a certain quantity, he 
 sent them to Europe, particularly to the Leipsic fair. There he 
 traded them off for Nuremburg wares, cheap knives, glass beads, 
 and other articles adapted to traffic with the Indians on the Cana- 
 dian frontiers, and took them himself to the latter points, where 
 he again exchanged them for furs of various kinds. As he has 
 often told me, with his own lips, he carried on this traffic untir- 
 ingly for twelve long years, going in person, alternately, to the 
 Canadian frontiers, and then to the Leipsic fair, and lived all the 
 while, as he had ever been accustomed to do, humbly and spar- 
 ingly. At length he had managed to bring together a considera- 
 cle capital, and gradually became a freighter of ships, and fitted 
 out expeditions to the Northwest Coast, to trade with the Indians 
 
JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 141 
 
 of Nootka Sound for furs. Another circumstance contributed to 
 the increase of his means. At the peace concluded in 1783, be- 
 tween England and her revolted provinces, the thirteen United 
 States, many acres of land in the State of New York, some even 
 in the neighborhood of New York city, were voted by Congress to 
 the German soldiers who had fought in the American army. The 
 latter were chiefly Hessians and Darmstadters. Most of them died 
 in the course of the year, without having succeeded in converting 
 this property into money ; but the relatives and heirs they left be- 
 hind them in Germany did not forget these little inheritances. Upon 
 the occasion of a visit made by Astor to Heidelberg, in later 
 years, most of the parties last referred to, as inheriting the allot- 
 ments of the deceased German soldiers, and residing in Heidel- 
 berg, united and made our friend their legally authorized attorney, 
 In order to realize something, if possible, from their hitherto use- 
 less acres. But the hoped for increase of the value of this prop- 
 erty was, on the whole, rather slow in coming, and the heirs 
 wanted money, money, quick and ready money. Astor having 
 been applied to on this score, told them that, in order to get 
 ready money, they must reckon up the real present value of the 
 cash itself, and not any imagined value of the land, and that only 
 through pretty considerable sacrifice could they get cash for the 
 same. Thereupon the parties advised with each other, and finally 
 Astor received peremptory orders to sell, without further delay. 
 Unknown speculators were found ; the proceeds were small, but the 
 heirs got what they wanted — money. At the present day, many 
 of these pieces of ground are among the most valuable and most 
 important in the city, and have gradually passed through Astor 
 into other hands : the unknown speculators, however, have faded 
 from the memory of everybody. 
 
 Astor, at the moment of the embargo, was in the possession 
 of several millions, so that he was able to give his son, William B. 
 Astor, who was educated at Gottingen, the magnificent hotel on 
 Broadway called the "Astor House," which cost the sum of 
 $800,000. 
 
 The permission (procured by Parish) to send out ships in bal 
 last, to bring home silver, had given Astor the idea that the same 
 
142 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 
 
 privilege might be extended to vessels dispatched for the purpose 
 of bringing home the amount of debts due abroad, in goods. 
 With this view he went to Washington, and there, under the pre- 
 tence that he had an important depot of teas at Canton, obtained 
 the desired permission to send a vessel thither in ballast. This 
 step, however, was only the forerunner of another one. Astor, in 
 reality, owned no depot of teas at Canton, and hence it simply 
 came to this, that he would, according to the usual custom, send 
 money thither to purchase the article. 
 
 The exceptional favor of sending schooners in ballast to Vera 
 Cruz, which Parish had up to this time enjoyed, but which was 
 now gradually extended to other vessels, whose destination was 
 not to bring back gold and silver values, but goods on American 
 account, sufficiently showed that, under certain circumstances, 
 there was no indisposition to grant free exit to ships in ballast for a 
 particular object. And now arose another point, namely, whether 
 empty vessels, which, however, had silver on board, could be re- 
 garded as in ballast. The precious metals are, in most countries, 
 not looked upon as wares, although in some they are so classified. 
 It was not exactly advisable to bring on a discussion of the ques- 
 tion, whether the exportation of silver in otherwise unladen vessels 
 should depend upon it or not. The query was, whether a foreign 
 creditor, who had come to collect the moneys owed him by Ameri- 
 can merchants, would be permitted to take the funds really thus 
 received back with him. In Washington, there appeared to be 
 every disposition to allow this. Now it was well known, in the 
 northern ports of the United States, that the leading native mer- 
 chants of Canton had never hesitated to accord their regular cor- 
 respondents, returning year out and year in, from the United 
 States, certain credits which amounted to considerable sums. 
 Upon this Astor based his plan. He hunted up, among the Chi- 
 nese sailors, or Lascars, on the ships lately arriving from China, 
 a fellow suited to his purpose, dressed him as a Mandarin, and took 
 him with him to Washington, where he had to play the 
 part of the Chinese creditor, under the name of Hong-Qua, or 
 Kina-Holu. No one dreamed of suspecting the Mandarin's iden- 
 tity, and Astor pushed his scheme safely through. The $200,000 
 
JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 143 
 
 he sent to Canton were expended there in tea and other Chinese 
 articles, and within a year afterwards returned in that shape to 
 Astor's hands, and were used by him to excellent account. A 
 stroke of skill had been achieved, whose morality no one in the 
 United States doubted for a moment. 
 
 Astor has left a fortune of about $12,000,000, chiefly to his 
 only son. His mind was incessantly busied with the increase of 
 his resources, and had no other direction. He was compelled, by 
 a physical infirmity, to repair to Paris, where he could avail him- 
 self of the skilful assistance of Baron Dupuytren. The latter 
 thoroughly restored him, and advised him to ride out every day. 
 He frequently took occasion himself to accompany his patient on 
 these rides. One day — and this anecdote I have from the Baron's 
 own mouth — when riding, he appeared by no means disposed to 
 converse ; not a word could be got out of him : and at length 
 Dupuytren declared, that he must be suffering from some secret 
 pain or trouble, when he would not speak. He pressed him, 
 and worried him, until finally Astor loosed his tongue — " Look 
 ye ! Baron !" he said ; " How frightful this is ! I have here, in 
 the hands of my banker, at Paris, about 2,000,000 francs, and 
 cannot manage, without great effort, to get more than 2J per 
 cent, per annum on it. Now, this very day I have received a 
 letter from my son in New York, informing me that there the 
 best acceptances are at from 1| to 2 per cent, per month. Is it 
 not enough to enrage a man?" 
 
 I cannot let this opportunity slip by without saying something 
 about another mercantile celebrity of the United States, viz. : 
 Stephen Girard. This man was born in a village near the banks 
 of the Garonne. He was the son of a peasant, and had left his 
 own country as a common sailor. Having gradually risen to the 
 post of second mate, he came as such to Philadelphia, where he 
 remained, and opened a tavern on the banks of the Delaware for 
 such of his countrymen as were engaged in the West India trade, 
 particularly that with St. Domingo. The revolution in St. Do- 
 mingo caused an emigration which continually brought him fresh 
 customers, and, having built some small vessels to bring his 
 fugitive countrymen away in safety from the island, he bartered 
 
144 STEPHEN GIRARD. 
 
 flour and meal for coffee, until his capital, which had been scarcely 
 worth mentioning at first, gradually increased, and enabled him 
 to build larger vessels, and extend his spirit of enterprise in all 
 directions. His frugality bordered on avarice. Sailors' fare was 
 to him the best, and the freighting of vessels his favorite pursuit. 
 The success which attended his exertions at length became unex- 
 ampled ; for he never had his ships insured, but always chose 
 skilful and experienced Captains, thus saving himself the heavy 
 expense of taking out insurance policies, and continued acting on 
 this principle, gradually increasing his capital, more and more, 
 until it had finally swelled to an enormous amount. Illiterate, 
 as a French common sailor must needs be, and scarcely able to 
 write his own name, he called all his ships after the great authors 
 of his native country, and thus enjoyed the sensation of beholding 
 the American flag waving above a Montesquieu, a Voltaire, a 
 Helvetius, and a Jean Jacques Rousseau. His ships, which he 
 was in the habit of sending successively to the island of Mauritius, 
 at that time the Isle de France, to Calcutta, and Canton, and each 
 of which cost from forty to sixty thousand dollars, brought back 
 cargoes worth from one to two hundred thousand dollars to 
 Philadelphia, and thence to Europe, particularly to Messrs. Hope 
 & Co., at Amsterdam, and were never insured. Remarkable 
 good fortune attended all these enterprises. Until the year 1815, 
 not one of his ships was ever lost or captured. It will be easy to 
 form an idea of the amount of capital accumulated by this saving 
 of insurance premiums, when one reflects that the latter went as 
 high as from ten to fifteen, and even twenty per cent. 
 
 Girard's right hand was a countryman of his, named Roberjeot, 
 who, however, had received his mercantile education entirely at 
 Hamburgh, under the tutelage of Professor Busch. This Rober- 
 jeot was the only man whom he now and then, but no oftener 
 than now and then, took into his especial confidence, and he had 
 worked in the house of Girard, for a respectable, yet very mode- 
 rate salary, during the lapse of twenty years ; frequently some- 
 thing was said about increasing it, but nothing of the sort was 
 ever done. Roberjeot, who had some desire to be taken care of 
 in his old age, resolved to let his patron know that if he desired 
 
STEPHEN GIRARD. 14. 
 
 to keep him any longer, he must take that matter into serious 
 consideration, and give him a handsome sum, that he might put 
 aside and turn to good account. Girard, a little nettled by this, 
 replied that he would give him ten thousand dollars, but Rober- 
 jeot demanded sixty. He was told to wait until the next day, 
 when, without hearing another word in relation to the matter, he 
 received what he had asked for — Sixty Thousand Dollars. 
 
 Magnanimous as Girard could be in many things, he was, on 
 the other hand, equally petty in many others. Of his numerous 
 relatives in France, who were all poor peasant folks, he would 
 never hear a syllable mentioned. When some of them, upon one 
 occasion, ventured to cross the ocean, and visit him in Philadel 
 phia, he immediately sent them away again, with a trifling present. 
 In one particular instance, he exhibited unusual hard-heartedness. 
 His captains had received the strictest orders not to bring either 
 strange goods, passengers or letters back with them. One of his 
 ships was returning from Bordeaux, and through another, which 
 had hurried on before it, he learned that it was conveying him 
 some relations of his as passengers ; he instantly sent to New- 
 castle, on the Delaware, where the ships coming in from sea 
 usually touch, an order to the Captain, forbidding him to land any 
 passengers, but to remain at that point until another had been 
 procured to take them back to Bordeaux, when he might come 
 up to Philadelphia with his cargo. The Captain was then re- 
 placed by another person. He, however, made an exception in 
 favor of two nieces, the orphaned daughters of a brother who had 
 died in poverty. He allowed these girls to come to him, and 
 gave one of them permission, along with some twenty thousand 
 dollars, to marry the brother of General Lallemant, who had 
 emigrated to America upon the restoration of the Bourbons, after 
 the battle of Waterloo. In his will, he bequeathed to the other 
 an equal sum. 
 
 He learned a sharp lesson from his favorite correspondents in 
 Europe, Messrs. Hope & Co., of Amsterdam, who possessed ftis 
 entire confidence. Notwithstanding the reliance he placed in 
 them, he had sent a Quaker, by the name of Hutchinson, to Am- 
 sterdam, with explicit instructions to watch those gentlemen 
 
 7 
 
146 STEPHEN GIRARD: 
 
 closely, and see that they accounted for the real prices received 
 by them for his consignments, &c, &c. It was a rule, in the 
 house of Messrs. Hope, to compute one-eighth per cent, more 
 than the daily noted rate of exchange, when sending the regular 
 receipts to bank, and this was done to cover a variety of minute 
 office expenses, which could not be brought into a stated account. 
 Thus, for instance : Mr. Hutchinson was informed that they had 
 sold a thousand bags of coffee, from the cargo of the ship Voltaire, 
 at so and so much per cent. Hereupon, that gentleman came, 
 next day, to the counting-room, and interrupted Mr. Labouchere 
 in his meditations, and, running his finger along the printed price- 
 current he held in his hand, pointed out to him that the rate must 
 be put at one-eighth per cent. less. The oft-repeated hints Mr. 
 Labouchere had given the young Quaker, who invariably came in 
 with his hat on his head, and, without permission, marched directly 
 up to the door, and pushed on into the private counting-room — 
 the sanctum sanctorum of Dutch merchants — had all proved of 
 no avail : at last they got to let him stand there, without paying 
 any attention to what he had to say. He then wrote to Philadel- 
 phia to his principal, who dictated, for his benefit, the most offen- 
 sive letters to Messrs. Hope, which finally decided the latter to let 
 him know at once, that there existed so wide a difference between 
 their ways of doing business and his, and all attempts to teach him 
 better had so signally failed, that, for the sake of their own com- 
 fort and tranquillity, they should be compelled to decline any 
 further transactions with him. There then came a kind of apol- 
 ogy, a promise to manage differently in future, &c., &c. But the 
 house in Amsterdam remained firm in the resolution they had 
 taken, offering, however, to do him the favor of recommending to 
 him, as his future correspondents, Messrs. Daniel Crommelin & 
 Sons, their neighbors. The astonishment of these latter gentle- 
 men themselves, when the first important consignments began to 
 reach them from Girard, and the surprise of the whole Bourse of 
 Amsterdam, that any one could reject such business as his, re- 
 quiring no advances, may be readily conceived. 
 
 The Messrs. Hope had, after the annexation of Holland to the 
 Empire, withdrawn, or rather had in a measure been compelled 
 
HIS RUPTURE WITH HOPE & CO. 147 
 
 to withdraw, from all trade in goods and wares, since the famous 
 Berlin and Milan decrees of Napoleon had thrown great difficulties 
 in the way of trade, and much impaired the security of commer- 
 cial intercourse. However, when, after the fall of Napoleon, in 
 1814, Holland again obtained her independence, and the house of 
 Messrs. Hope, having been established on a new basis, resumed 
 its former rank, Girard was anxious to renew the connexion which 
 had been interrupted for several years. Upon this occasion the 
 assurance was once more given, that the style of correspondence 
 to be carried on between the two houses should be altogether 
 changed. But Mr. Labouchere was not accustomed to alter his 
 tone. He took the pen in his own hand, and replied to the desire 
 expressed by Mr. Girard, with the regret that he could not con- 
 sent, feeling convinced that the latter gentleman might indeed 
 reform his language, but not his principles, and that hence the 
 best course would be to regard the acquaintance as having termi- 
 nated. 
 
 Mr. Jerome Sillem, who had just entered the firm of Messrs. 
 Hope, objected, that this was going too far ; he had, personally, 
 nothing against Girard, and so lucrative a business as his was not 
 to be wantonly thrown away. Mr. Labouchere, unhesitatingly re- 
 plied, that even if he (Mr. Sillem) had nothing to say against 
 Girard, the house of Hope was not, on that account, bound to 
 change its views, or relinquish anything of its dignity, and that he 
 (Sillem) enjoyed the advantage of an admission into the firm only 
 under the condition that he would sustain its well-known princi- 
 ples. In a private conversation that soon afterwards occurred, 
 between Mr. Labouchere and myself, I could not avoid remark 
 ing, that I was inclined to agree with Mr. Sillem, since Girard 
 had, to some extent, apologized, &c, &c. I now give his reply, so 
 as to leave no gap in my characteristic sketch of this remarkable 
 man. He said to me, "You may rest assured, Mr. Nolte, that 
 this refusal will do the house of Hope more honor, and, by its 
 result, eventually, more good, than all it could have gained from 
 these fine transactions with Mr. Girard." Hereupon I turned the 
 subject, and kept my own opinion to myself, with the conviction 
 that the honorable part of this refusal could not be anywhere 
 
148 GIRARD AND BARING. 
 
 denied ; but that, in regard to its effects upon the trading commu- 
 nity in the United States, Mr. Labouchere was indulging an illu- 
 sion, if he were really expressing his true opinion, which, by the 
 way, I had no reason to doubt. 
 
 Girard also belonged to the list of the best American corres- 
 pondents of the Barings, in London ; and when one of the head 
 partners of that house, Francis Baring, the second son of Lord 
 Ashburton, visited Philadelphia, his birthplace, in the year 
 1818, he called at the counting-room of Mr. Girard, whom he, 
 however, did not find there at the time. Mr. Roberjeot, the 
 already-mentioned oldest clerk in that establishment, told him, 
 that if he wanted to see Mr. Girard himself, he must visit him 
 early in the morning, at his large farm, in the neighborhood of the 
 city. Baring went to the place indicated, asked for Mr. Girard, 
 and received the reply, " Yonder he stands !" They pointed out 
 to him a small, low-set man, of about sixty, with gray hair, bare- 
 headed, without coat or jacket, and in his shirt-sleeves, rolled up 
 above the elbows, who stood with a hay-fork in his hand, helping 
 to load hay on a farm-wagon. He said, " Is that Mr. Girard V 
 " Yes," they answered ; whereupon he stepped up to him, and 
 gave his name. " So, so !" remarked Girard ; " then you are the 
 son of the man that got married here % Well, now, I am very 
 glad to see you, but I have no time to talk with you at present ; 
 it is harvest-time, and I have a great deal to do. There, walk 
 around yonder a little, look at my cows, and get some of the folks 
 to give you a glass of milk, for you can't get such milk in all Lon- 
 don !" Mr. Girard was perfectly right. The London milk is notori- 
 ously the vilest beverage in the world that bears the name. Baring 
 complied with this blunt invitation ; and as he himself was an ec 
 centric, and, consequently, liked eccentrics, he was wonderfully 
 tickled with the thought of what a curious reception this was, for 
 one of the heads of the first house in London to meet with, at the 
 hands of one who stood at the head of the first house in America. 
 
 I will now return, after making a leap of some ten years, to 
 the summer of 1808, that is to say, to the time when Parish was 
 waiting for his merino sheep, and hoped to gather in the first-fruits 
 of his newly purchased lands. 
 
A BREAKDOWN AND A BROKEN LEG. 140 
 
 I had left him in Baltimore, and had returned, by way of Havre 
 de Grace, on the banks of the Susquehanna river, through Wil- 
 mington, to Philadelphia. I had there seen a horse excellently 
 suited to drive in tandem with the one that drew my gig. The 
 next day I inspected him, and concluded what I considered a 
 lucky bargain, in purchasing him. The result, however, proved 
 anything but fortunate for me. I had driven to the top of Bran- 
 dywine Hill, when my new horse took fright, and dashed off at a 
 gallop, the second one following him down the hill, rearing and 
 plunging with his fore and hind legs, until, near the bridge that 
 crosses the Delaware, his head-gearings gave way, and he stum- 
 bled and fell. At this moment I leaped from the gig and broke 
 my right leg, so that my foot hung to it only by the skin. In 
 this condition I remained prostrate on the road, where my colored 
 man, whom I had caused to alight to bring the leader back into 
 the right road, when he first became unruly, at length ran up to 
 my assistance, and called some people around us. They then 
 made me a litter, and carried me to the nearest public house in 
 Wilmington. The good people of the tavern, in their first alarm, 
 hastily summoned the two best surgeons in the place, namely, a 
 doctor Smith and a doctor James Tilton,* a couple of very un- 
 skilful and inexperienced persons, notwithstanding their great 
 reputation. These two men stood at the head of the political par- 
 ties of their village ; Dr. Smith as a thorough-going Federalist, 
 and Dr. Tilton as a great admirer of Jefferson, and consequently 
 a democrat. They had not for a long time exchanged a word with 
 each other, but had mutually cherished a most hearty hatred, and 
 were now, by chance, brought together at the foot of my bed, in 
 a little room of a very miserable tavern. These two men, who 
 had for a long series of years lived in hostility with each other, 
 and had never been able to agree, in regard to matters of civil 
 and local government, were, upon this occasion, of the same mind, 
 in relation to one point, which had particular reference to myself, 
 
 * Four years afterwards, when the war with England began, this man was 
 appointed head surgeon of all the field hospitals, but betrayed such incapacity 
 that he had to be dismissed. The American government-organ of that period 
 referred to this dismissal, and gave the reasons for it 
 
150 DOCTOR PHYSIC. 
 
 and which, consequently, interested me to the last degree. After 
 they had turned my leg over and over, and examined it, they con- 
 cluded that, as the dog-days were drawing on, and the extreme 
 heat would, in their opinion, produce lockjaw, and place my life 
 in danger, my leg must be amputated. When they informed me 
 of this decision, and immediately began to prepare for the opera- 
 tion, I declared to them that I would not submit to it in any case, 
 and that they must run the risk of resetting my limb, come of it 
 what would. This latter course was adopted as I requested, but 
 the operation was conducted in very unskilful style, and according 
 to the old fashion, with the use of splints and bandages. On the 
 second day after the bandaging, my pain was so excessive, that I 
 looked about me earnestly for some means of procuring allevia- 
 tion and assistance. All at once a well-known face appeared in 
 my chamber ; it was a Hamburgher, the son of a French teacher 
 of languages, called Virchaux, whom I recollected to have often 
 seen in Hamburgh. On his way to Baltimore, where he was en- 
 gaged to be married to a Miss Proctor, he had stopped at the inn 
 for refreshment, and was told what had happened, by the people 
 in the house. His curiosity, excited by the remark that the gen- 
 tleman was from Europe, had induced him to make a personal 
 visit to the bedside of the sufferer. He at once declared himself 
 ready to hasten back to Philadelphia, and apply, on my behalf, to 
 Messrs. Willing & Francis, for a few lines from them to Dr. 
 Physic, the most celebrated surgeon in the United States, re- 
 questing him to come at once to my aid. But the time of this 
 distinguished man was so constantly occupied that he could not 
 comply. However, he sent me, instead, his experienced and skil- 
 ful nephew, Dr. Dorsey, whom I saw the same evening. As I 
 had expected, he at once discovered the folly of the two Wilming- 
 ton surgeons, freed me from my bandages, and went over the 
 operation of setting my limb a second time. My suffering was 
 great. When he had finished the painful task, he said to me, " I 
 promise you the preservation of your limb, and can also warrant 
 that it will be pretty straight and serviceable; but since the in- 
 flammation has been so extreme, that it would be out of the ques- 
 tion to expect the bones to reunite, I cannot promise you that you 
 
ESTIMATE OF GENERAL MORE AIL 151 
 
 will be altogether free from a limp." He visited me frequently ; 
 according to the usual rate of fees, every visit beyond the limits 
 of the city entitled the physicians and surgeons of Philadelphia to 
 one dollar per mile ; and. as Wilmington is twenty-eight miles 
 from Philadelphia, every mile cost me that many dollars. I lay 
 upon my solitary bed at Wilmington no less than forty-two days. 
 On the sixth Mr. Parish visited me, as he was returning from 
 Baltimore to Philadelphia. He soon again left the latter city, on 
 a trip to his property near the St. Lawrence, after having made 
 every arrangement for my reception, so soon as I had got through 
 the probationary period at Wilmington, and could be transferred 
 from that place. On the forty-third day, about six o'clock in the 
 morning, I was removed, and carried on my bed to the deck of 
 the so-styled Newcastle packet, on board of which I reached Phil- 
 adelphia about ten the same evening, and half an hour later was 
 installed in the rooms prepared for me at the boarding-house of a 
 Mr. White, the first establishment of the kind in that city. 
 There I was cheered by the visits of many friends, and by the best 
 society, native and foreign, that Philadelphia could boast. Little 
 by little I became able to move about on crutches, and at length 
 felt completely re-established. 
 
 In October Parish returned, accompanied by General Moreau, 
 whom he entertained at his house, and whom I, upon this occa- 
 sion, had an opportunity of knowing. I found him a mild and 
 affable, but, mentally, taking him all in all, a very ordinary and 
 quite uninteresting man. His manners were simple, and pos- 
 sessed a naturalness which was attractive ; but the attention of 
 his hearers was not enchained or fixed by his conversation, or 
 rather his monologue, for it very rarely came to a dialogue of 
 any length, and you could listen to him with interest only when 
 he discoursed about his really very remarkable and distinguished 
 military adventures; you could then listen to him with great 
 pleasure. Napoleon he almost invariably called u Le tyran" — the 
 tyrant. 
 
 Parish himself was not in the most agreeable mood ; without 
 being exactly bound to do so, he had usually shown me his cor- 
 respondence with the Amsterdam house, that is to say, the letters 
 
152 PROPOSITION TO REVISIT EUROPE. 
 
 received from it, but, now he was much more reserved in that 
 respect. Lestapis, who, as I have already stated, lived in German- 
 town, came but seldom to the city to hear whatever news might 
 be afloat ; but, as I resided in the immediate neighborhood of 
 Parish, I visited him and his counting-room almost daily. One 
 morning he called me into his room and said, " The gentlemen in 
 Amsterdam appear to be getting somewhat impatient ; they would 
 like to see an exhibit of the whole, and to make out one is no easy 
 affair, although the materials are all at hand. Will you look over 
 the papers and tell me what you think of them ]" I very willing- 
 ly complied, and after I had formed a pretty good idea of the 
 work, I offered my services in making out the provisional balance 
 sheet required. The total amount of the whole transaction ran 
 up to no less than thirty-three millions of Spanish dollars. I at 
 once went to work, took all the books and papers that could be 
 spared home with me, and labored from the middle of October, 
 1808, until the beginning of March, in the following year. The 
 person whom I procured to copy the manifold accounts, and the 
 papers of my general exhibit was my young friend, Virchaux, 
 who had visited me in Wilmington, and who did not find himself 
 comfortably situated in the clerkship he then held in a quaker 
 house. I advised him not to give up his place then, but to devote 
 to me all the time he could spare. When Parish had carefully 
 examined the exhibit, he found it sufficient and quite satisfactory 
 to his wishes. Directly afterwards he made the proposition to 
 me, to take it myself to Europe, and hand it over to Messrs. 
 Baring and Mr. J. Williams Hope, in London, and then hasten to 
 Amsterdam to Mr. Labouchere, who, he said, appeared to be 
 waiting for me with great impatience. This impatience had 
 partly been occasioned by the business I had concluded at 
 Havana. Owing to my shipwreck, the embargo, and certain 
 delays on the part of Parish, no direct information regarding this 
 business had reached the Messrs. Hope, but they had heard of it 
 indirectly, through a channel of which no one would have dreamed. 
 The reader will remember that at the time of my taking leave of 
 the Intendant at Havana, the latter had especially requested me 
 to let Talleyrand, his protector and friend, hear of the excellent 
 
PARISH'S ANXIETY. 153 
 
 reception that had been extended to me by him. This could not 
 have been sufficient to set his mind at ease, for he had taken 
 advantage of a Spanish vessel bound for St. Sebastian, to pay 
 his compliments to the Prince, and to write to him what he had 
 done to further the business that had brought him thither, and how 
 it had been concluded ; all this, he added, out of a special regard 
 for the interest of the Prince. At a time when the whole coast of 
 Cuba was closely watched by the numerous English cruisers, and 
 the Spanish coasts along the Bay of Biscay, still more sharply 
 observed, the successful departure of a Spanish ship from the 
 harbor of Havana, and its safe arrival in the ports of St. Sebastian 
 or Bilboa, was something bordering almost on impossibility ; but 
 in the case of the vessel which bore the letter of the Intend ant to 
 Prince Talleyrand, every thing went smoothly, and the Prince 
 received the missive. Mr. Labouchere, who happened to be in 
 Paris, just at the time of its arrival, was questioned in regard to 
 it, but knew nothing more about it than that I had taken the bill 
 for 700,000 dollars to Havana to get it cashed. The Prince found 
 himself, under the altered state of things, obliged to communicate 
 the whole history of the affair to Count Mollien, the Minister of 
 the Public Treasury, and the latter could compute the amount 
 that Messrs. Hope & Co. must gain by the exchange of bills, as 
 well as I could. He thereupon laid claim to a portion of this 
 profit, and Mr. Labouchere remained on the defensive until he 
 should have further intelligence from me. Upon my departure 
 from Philadelphia, Parish gave me very particular directions not 
 to lose sight of his desire to keep the lands he had purchased, on 
 his account, and should the opportunity occur during the ex- 
 amination of my statements, to play my cards so well, that no 
 difficulty should occur in this respect. From the disposition he 
 manifested, frequently to make various pretences, I inferred that 
 he began to rue his purchase, and that he was desirous of once 
 more getting rid of the greater part of it. In the sequel it will 
 appear that I was mistaken, and that Parish returned from 
 Europe with the most far-reaching projects in regard to his new 
 possessions. 
 
 7* 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MY TRIP TO EUROPE IN THE MONTH OF APRIL, 1809. 
 
 Return to Europe in the mouth of April, 1809, for the purpose of takiug over 
 the first balaDee-sheet — Arrival at Falmouth — Stay there, in consequence 
 of the Alien Act — Visit of Mr. John Parish, at Chelteuham — His outward 
 appearance on the Bathers' promenade — My first visit to the House of the 
 Barings — Visit to Mr. Henry Hope, the oldest head of the Amsterdam 
 House — Sir Francis Baring — The London firm, Baring, Brothers and Co. — 
 First meeting with Mr. Alexander Baring — Journey to Holland, by way of 
 Helgoland — Journey to Paris — Meeting there with Mr. P. C. Labouchere, 
 who makes me personally acquainted with Ouvrard — An anecdote of the 
 latter — The pins — New plans of Ouvrard, which are overthrown by the bat- 
 tle of Wagram and its consequences — Return to Amsterdam, by way of 
 Brussels — My sickness in Amsterdam during the winter — Return to Ham- 
 burgh, in the spring of 1810 — Family circumstances. 
 
 On the 5th of April, 1809, I went from New York, in the Eng- 
 lish packet ship " Prince Adolphus," bound first to Halifax, in 
 Nova Scotia, and thence to Falmouth. On this return to Europe 
 I could not quote Schiller's words, "And homeward beats the 
 gentle marching time of peace !" for war was then raging, serious 
 and bitter war. We had strong evidence of this, as we were ap- 
 proaching the English coasts. Once, in the night-time, and once, 
 just as we had seated ourselves at table, we heard the captain's 
 voice above us ring out the thrilling order, "All hands on deck!" 
 Upon both occasions it was supposed that we were in the imme- 
 diate neighborhood of a small French sloop-of-war, and resistance 
 to the last extreme was Captain Boulderson's determination ; but 
 fortunately these had been false alarms, and no danger was en- 
 countered. The voyage from Halifax to the offings of Falmouth 
 
MR. JOHN PARISH. 155 
 
 was accomplished in nine days ; but just in sight of the harbor a 
 contrary wind arose, and we were compelled, to our great annoy- 
 ance, to beat about nine days longer. At length, on the nine- 
 teenth day after our departure from Halifax, we disembarked, in 
 excellent health and spirits, notwithstanding the tears of a senti- 
 mental American lady, who began to repeat, and kept repeating, 
 the words, "Oh, the land of my forefathers !" 
 
 At the time of my arrival in England the "Alien Act" was in 
 full force, and no stranger was permitted to pass into the interior 
 of the country, unless he could obtain a permit from the Alien 
 Office ; and at that period nine days were required for the receipt 
 of the reply to an application for such a permit from London, and 
 the application itself had to be made by a responsible house- 
 holder. So soon as I had received my passport I set out for 
 London, by way of Bath, in order to fulfil the promise I had made 
 to my friend David, that I would, immediately after my arrival, 
 call upon his father, and give him the latest verbal intelligence of 
 his son. I, however, did not find Mr, John Parish in Bath ; he 
 had gone to Cheltenham, whither I immediately followed him, 
 and there met him on the Bathers' promenade. I immediately 
 recognized him ; for his habit of attracting the attention of every 
 one around him, by something or other singular, had not been 
 laid aside in England, and hence his appearance at once marked 
 him out amid the throng. He wore a little velvet cap, trimmed 
 with fur, cocked over one ear, a velvet coat, in Polish style, with 
 long wide sleeves and gold-worked braid, and a long Turkish pipe 
 in his right hand ; and in his left a silken leash, in which he held 
 two little skittish poodle dogs, completed the costume of this old 
 Scotchman, who had for several years been a resident of Ham- 
 burgh. After I had satisfied his curiosity in regard to his son, 
 and had replied to his questions, I hastened away to London, with 
 the promise of speedily repeating my visit, and, on the morning 
 after my arrival in the great city, I repaired to the Messrs. 
 Barings', whose firm was at that time styled Sir Francis Baring, 
 Bart. & Co. I found in their counting-room only the eldest son-in- 
 law of the chief, a Mr. Charles Wall, the brother-in-law of Mr. P. 
 C. Labouchere, and there temporarily deposited my papers, ac- 
 
156 MR. HENRY HOPE. 
 
 counts, and documents. My second visit was to the two Messrs. 
 Hope, namely, to the eldest, the already named chief of the Am- 
 sterdam firm, Mr. Henry Hope, and the husband of his niece, 
 John Williams Hope, who both lived together in Cavendish 
 Square. I finally called upon my father's early friend, Sir Fran- 
 cis Baring, who received me with great cordiality, was prepared 
 for my arrival, and asked me a host of questions, in regard to my 
 operations in Mexico. Having already been applied to on the 
 subject by the Messrs. Hope, he told me that I might hold my 
 papers at the disposition of his son Alexander, and then, after 
 careful consultation and examination of the same, they would 
 decide what further was to be done, and keep me advised of the 
 result. 
 
 I will take this opportunity of saying something about the 
 Baring family, particularly its most distinguished members, Sir 
 Francis, and his second son, Alexander, as well as the honorable 
 chief of the Amsterdam house, Mr. Henry Hope, whom I have 
 already named. The last of these, when I first made his acquaint- 
 ance, had reached his seventieth year, and was somewhat deaf. 
 He had never been married. It was he who opened the way for 
 the autocratic power of Russia, under the Empress Catharine II., 
 to the confidence of the then wealthiest capitalists in Europe, the 
 Dutch, and thereby laid the foundation of Russian credit. Always 
 treated by the Empress with great distinction, he had been hon- 
 ored with the gift, from her own hand, of her portrait, the full 
 size of life. This picture occupied the place of honor in the superb 
 gallery of paintings fitted up by him in his palace " t' Huys ten 
 Bosch" (now a royal pleasure-palace), which he had built in the 
 wood of Harlem. Upon his emigration to England, he had taken 
 this splendid gallery, entirely composed of cabinet-pieces, with 
 him, and I had the pleasure of seeing it frequently, at his resi- 
 dence in Cavendish Square. To the' tone of a refined gentleman 
 and man of the world he united a certain amiable affability which 
 spoke to and won every heart. The whole-souled cordiality with 
 which he always met me, when I came to his dwelling in the 
 city, or to his country-seat, East Sheen, in the neighborhood of 
 Richmond, has always remained fresh in my memory. Yet a 
 
THE BARING FAMILY. 157 
 
 secret trouble seemed to be weighing on his mind. This annoy- 
 ance arose from the notorious relations of his niece, Madam Wil- 
 liams Hope, with a Dutch officer of dragoons, by the name of 
 Dopff. I had attracted his confidence, and he one day seized me 
 suddenly by the hand, led me to the window, and could not re- 
 strain his tears, as he told me that he must close the door of his 
 house against her, if she ventured to bring this man with her to 
 England. The larger part of his considerable fortune, which he 
 had bequeathed to Henry, the eldest son of this niece, and who 
 died unmarried, passed, at the decease of the latter, to Adrian, the 
 second son, who left no male heirs, but from whom it descended to 
 Francis, the third son, born several years afterwards. This third 
 inheritor is the rich and well known Mr. Hope, now settled in 
 Paris, and the only surviving member of that branch of the whole 
 family. 
 
 * A close examination into the origin of the Baring family traces 
 it back to a certain Peter Baring, who lived in the years from 
 1660 to 1670, at Groningen, in the Dutch province of Overyssel. 
 One of his ancestors, under the name of Francis Baring, was pas- 
 tor of the Lutheran church at Bremen, and in that capacity was 
 called to London, where, among others, he had a son named John. 
 The latter, well acquainted with cloth-making, settled at Lark- 
 beer, in Devonshire, and there put up an establishment for the 
 manufacture of that article. He had five children — four sons, 
 John, Thomas, Francis, Charles, and a daughter, called Elizabeth. 
 Two of these sons, John and Francis, established themselves, under 
 the firm of John & Francis Baring, at London, originally with a 
 view of facilitating their father's trade in disposing of his goods, 
 and so as to be in a position to import the raw material to be re- 
 quired, such as wool, dye-stuffs, &c, themselves directly from 
 abroad. Thus was established the house which — after the with- 
 
 * I have communicated a portion of the following particulars, in an article 
 entitled "Alexander Baring, the first Lord Ashburton, and the Baring House," 
 in the "Deutschen Freihafen," of the year 1848, in No. 24, issued June 11th. 
 In a number of the Hamburgh " Freischiitzen," which came out a few days 
 later, the editor of that sheet did not hesitate to make use of the greater part 
 of that article, without crediting the paper in which it was originally pub 
 lished. 
 
158 THE BARING FAMILY. 
 
 drawal of the elder brother John, who retired to Exeter — gradu- 
 ally, under the firm-name of Francis Baring & Co., and eventually, 
 under the firm-name of Baring, Brothers & Co., rose to the high- 
 est rank of mercantile eminence in the commerce of the world. 
 
 Sir Francis, who, under the Ministry of the Lord Shelburne, father 
 of the present Marquis of Lansdowne, had become his intimate 
 friend and adviser in financial matters, having, in the year 1793, 
 received the title of Baronet, was already styled by the latter 
 the Prince of Merchants. He had become somewhat feeble, and 
 very deaf, when I first got personally acquainted with him. On the 
 occasion of one of my visits to him, he told me that he had kept 
 at his business for thirty years before he considered himself enti- 
 tled to keep an equipage. Upon another occasion, when I spoke 
 to him of my project in establishing myself in New Orleans, after 
 the termination of my mission, he remarked, "Usually, my 
 young friend, that commission business is the best in which the 
 commissions take this direction" — here he made a motion with 
 his hands, as if throwing something towards him — "but where the 
 business goes thus!" — motioning as if he was throwing something 
 from him — " it wants a sharp eye." This amounted to saying, in 
 other words, that receiving consignments was a better business 
 than executing commissions. 
 
 Three of his sons, Thomas, Alexander, and Henry, entered the 
 London establishment ; but the first, who was intended to have 
 carried on the father's name, after the death of the latter, on the 
 12th of September, 1810, assumed the name of Sir Thomas, and 
 withdrew from the house, as the third also found occasion to do at 
 a later period. The latter was passionately fond of play, and in- 
 dulged in it with so much success, that he several times broke 
 " L'entreprise Generate Des Jeux," of Paris. But the sight of one 
 of the heads of such a house, one night after another, in the great 
 gambling establishments, produced a bad effect ; and even if it 
 did not impair his credit, it in no slight degree damaged his respect- 
 ability. This was felt at head-quarters, and an understanding was 
 come to for his withdrawal from the firm. 
 
 Alexander Baring, the second son of Sir Francis, had received 
 a portion of his education in Hanau, had then completed it in Eng 
 land, and commenced his mercantile career in the house of Messrs. 
 
THE BARING FAMILY. 159 
 
 Hope, where a friendship sprung up between him and Mr. P. C. 
 Labouchere, which led to the latter's marriage, at a later period, 
 with his sister, Maria Baring. When the Messrs. Hope retired 
 to England, in consequence of the occupation of Holland by the 
 revolutionary French army, under Pichegrue, and after Alexander 
 Baring had left the House, he determined to visit the United 
 States of North America. At his departure, his father confined 
 his advice to two especial recommendations, one of which was to 
 purchase no uncultivated land, and the other not to marry a wife 
 there: "Because," said he, "uncultivated lands can be more read- 
 ily bought than sold again ; and a wife is best suited to the home 
 in which she was raised, and cannot be formed or trained a second 
 time." However, Alexander had not passed one year in the 
 United States before he forgot both branches of his father's advice. 
 Not only did he purchase large tracts of land, in the western part 
 of the State of Pennsylvania, and lay out a not inconsiderable 
 capital ($100,000 at least) in the then District and now State of 
 Maine, and that too under the annexed condition of bringing a 
 number of settlers thither within a certain term of years, but also, 
 in 1798, when just twenty-four years of age, he married Anna, the 
 eldest daughter of Mr. William Bingham, in Philadelphia, who 
 was at that time considered the richest man in the United States, 
 and was then a member of the Senate. The inheritance he had 
 to thank her for, at the death of her father, amounted to $900,000. 
 She bore him nine children, of which seven are still living. The 
 eldest of these, called William Bingham, after his grandfather, is 
 the present Lord Ashburton, and has reached the age of fifty-three. 
 His wife is a Lady Sandwich, and their marriage has remained 
 childless. After his death, his title, along with the greater part 
 of his fortune, will pass to the second son, Francis, who is married 
 to a daughter of the Duke Bassano, a former State Secretary of 
 Napoleon. This gentleman usually resides at Paris, and is the 
 eldest head of the London house, in the management of whose 
 business, however, he seldom takes any active part. He has two 
 sons. The favorite from the first, of his father and mother, both 
 title and fortune will pass entirely, according to their wishes, into 
 the hands of him who in their eyes deserved the preference. 
 
100 MR. ALEXANDER BARING. 
 
 About a week after I had handed in my papers, at the Barings' 
 counting-house, I received a very friendly invitation from Mr. 
 Alexander Baring, to meet him at a certain hour, on an appointed 
 day, in his office in Bishopsgate-street. There it was that I for 
 the first time saw this merchant, who had already become so distin- 
 guished, and where I had the good fortune to completely win 
 his confidence, in a few brief interviews. The repeated proofs 
 which he has given me, since this commencement of our acquaint- 
 ance, during a long lifetime, the hearty cordiality with which he 
 has always received me, and his special preference, with which he 
 clung to me, belong to the most agreeable recollections of my 
 career, and in my days of trial I have never looked back upon 
 them without a sense of supreme gratification, that refreshed and 
 steeled my courage for new struggles. The first hour and a half 
 of our conversation was devoted to a verbal review and analysis 
 of the whole Mexican business, of whose details Messrs. Baring 
 knew just as little as did the Messrs. Hope, and of whose results 
 those gentlemen, collectively and undeniably, could judge only by 
 the sums returned and accounted for to them. After I had served 
 as his pioneer through this labyrinth of calculations, he folded up 
 the papers together, for the purpose of studying them over, and 
 promised that within a few days he would again have an interview 
 with me concerning them, and undertake an examination of the 
 present posture of the affair. In the course of our conversation 
 he suddenly asked, "What do you think of David Parish V 
 This made me stammer, and I hesitated in my reply. He then 
 said, " You may speak out without hesitation ; whatever you may 
 think fit to say shall go no farther, but I want to have your 
 opinion." I replied, " My opinion is of little value, but since you 
 wish me to speak, I shall say that Mr. Parish shows more ability 
 in getting out of scrapes than in avoiding them." " Ah !" said he, 
 " I see ; you allude to the affair of Guest & Bancker. Let me tell 
 you that I did not like it at all ; and, to tell the truth, it has had a 
 most unfavorable and painful effect upon my mind. Here let the 
 matter rest !" 
 
 Upon our next interview, after he had made himself fully ac- 
 quainted with the subject, I brought forward the question of the 
 
SIR FRANCIS BARING. 161 
 
 laud purchases made by Parish. The moneys paid out for them, 
 up to the middle of March, amounted, according to the calcula- 
 tions I had brought along, to the sum of $363,000. "Why," he 
 remarked, " Parish must have been very sanguine about the mat- 
 ter, to have laid out so much money upon an experiment." My 
 reply was, that Parish considered it such a splendid operation, 
 that he did not wish to give up any of it, but desired to keep it 
 all on his own account. " He is welcome to it !" he rejoined ; 
 " he may keep them all ! As to ourselves, we have more lands 
 than we know what to do with ; and I do not think Labouchere 
 would wish to meddle with them; it is not in his way." It was 
 upon this occasion that he related to me the anecdote of his father's 
 advice, at the time of his departure for the United States. Thus 
 all that Parish had desired was as good as accomplished. 
 
 From the hands of Alexander Baring my papers passed into 
 the hands of his father, Sir Francis Baring, who also invited me to 
 see him, for the purpose of explaining to him some points which 
 he had not fully understood at first. These related to the capital 
 arising from the assumption, by Parish, of the guaranty respect- 
 ing the duties at twenty per cent. This amounted to more than 
 $2,000,000, and, in the settlement of accounts between him and 
 Oliver and other houses, was always deducted and retained by 
 him. A short explanation sufficed to render this quite clear, and 
 thereupon he sent the papers to Mr. Williams Hope, with the 
 declaration, that thus far all had been plain enough to him to let 
 him " see land," as he expressed it. Mr. Williams Hope, whose 
 head could not stand any further strain, took — as he should have 
 done, at any rate — Sir Francis at his word, and expressed the 
 wish that I would hasten to Mr. Labouchere with all due speed. 
 As the Messrs. Baring kept up a communication with Amsterdam, 
 through Vliessingen, by means of fishing boats, in order to arrive 
 there sooner, I was going to take one of these ; but Mr. Williams 
 Hope thought that all kinds of difficulties might spring up in my 
 path when I landed in Holland, and that, owing to the fact of my 
 not being familiar with the Dutch language, they would be more 
 than I could manage, my papers would be taken away from me, 
 &c, &c, so I must go to Helgoland, at that time the centre of 
 
iG2 AMSTERDAM— PARTS. 
 
 the contraband trade with the north of Germany. He was of the 
 opinion that I should be able to make through, and reach Amster- 
 dam more easily, in that direction. " It matters little," he would 
 very coolly remark, " about your personal safety ; the papers are 
 the thing, they must be safe. The rest is not worth one min- 
 ute's consideration !" He was not altogether wrong in the main, 
 but I cannot say that I felt greatly flattered at the egotistic care- 
 lessness with which he very unhesitatingly spoke of my person. 
 He had a repulsive exterior, and pure egotism was visible in 
 every line and feature of his countenance. 
 
 At last, upon these recommendations, I set out, by way of Har- 
 wich, for Helgoland, where I met with a number of Hamburgh- 
 ers of my former acquaintance ; for instance, Mr. Charles Parish, 
 David's younger brother, who there, in the rendezvous of all the 
 smugglers to the main land, exhibited his especial fitness for the 
 part of a mercantile matado, among his companions and partici- 
 pants in this not very reputable trade — a real hors tfceuvre for a 
 regular merchant — and displayed his inborn tendency, "a trancher 
 du grand Seigneur," by carrying on even this commerce on the 
 most extensive scale. I also met Nicholas, the fugitive English 
 Consul from Hamburgh, in Helgoland, where he went about as 
 he had done at Hamburgh, with his oblique, that is to say, strongly 
 squinting glance, treading on everybody's toes, and then excusing 
 himself with the words, "No offence!" Yet not alone from Ham- 
 burgh, but from every part of the surrounding coasts, and from 
 the banks of the Elbe and Weser, smugglers had assembled on 
 the island. 
 
 A bark laden with coffee, conveyed me to the Weser, and 
 landed me there before daybreak, close to a little village situated 
 near the shore. I there procured a horse and wagon, and pro- 
 ceeded on my way to Amsterdam. I reached the latter city on 
 the fourth day after my disembarkation, but found no manager in 
 the counting-house, excepting an elderly Englishman named 
 Dixon, who informed me that Mr. Labouehere was waiting for me 
 in Paris, and that I must at once repair thither to him. On the 
 same day I received my regular passport, and leaving Amsterdam 
 at ten on that same evening, reached Paris on the fourth day, 
 
SARMIENTO— DAVID PARISH. 163 
 
 almost in a dream, for I had been kept away for seven nights with- 
 out lying down upon a bed. Mr. Labouchere was still at Nantes, 
 but they were expecting him within three days, at the Hotel de 
 1 'Empire, where I also alighted. This establishment, at that time 
 the best house of the kind in Paris, stood at the corner of the Rue 
 Cerutti and the Rue de Provence, and was the very same build- 
 ing which Mr. James Laffitte purchased and lived in a few years 
 later. Three days afterwards, Mr. Labouchere arrived, was 
 heartily glad to see me, and was by no means sparing in his 
 praise. But he could not conceal a great deal of irritation against 
 Parish. The affair that seemed to affect him the most unpleas- 
 antly was, the lawsuit Parish had carried on in Philadelphia, with 
 a certain Sarmiento, a Teneriffe man by birth, who had settled 
 there, and who, through intrigues at Madrid, had found the means 
 of coming out against Parish, with an appearance of right, in the 
 name of the Spanish Government, and undertaking to make him 
 responsible for duties withheld on the sale of cargoes sent to Vera 
 Cruz. When Sarmiento came forward with this demand, the sole 
 and most natural defence of Parish was, that he, as the agent of 
 Messrs. Hope & Co. in Amsterdam, could not be held personally 
 responsible ; and that, in case Sarmiento or the Spanish Govern- 
 ment really were entitled to ask for anything, they had only to 
 look to Messrs. Hope, and not to any one who was conducting 
 business merely in their name. That Parish was but an agent, 
 and had acted under instructions, was evident from his contract; 
 and not the American, but the Dutch courts were the forum in 
 which the question could be discussed. But the inborn vanity of 
 Parish would not allow him to confine himself to this simple 
 course. At the head of so many millions, throwing money about 
 in all directions, wherever he was applied to to relieve a mercan- 
 tile necessity, he seemed to have become a much more important 
 personage in the United States than the President himself. He 
 was gratified at feeling himself the omnipotent Jupiter of the 
 American money-market, and it would have gone hard with him 
 to relinquish even a grade of this position. This it undoubtedly 
 was that caused him to adopt the wrong course, and go through 
 with a suit, which led to public scandal, and the farcical procedure 
 
1G4 MY AMERICAN MISSION CONCLUDED. 
 
 of citing King Charles IV. to appear as a witness against David 
 Parish. 
 
 The question of the lands promised to terminate without any 
 difficulty. Mr. Labouchere, upon his part, also regarded this co- 
 lossal purchase as a thing apart, which did not at all helong to the 
 range of business undertaken by the firm, and which bore upon 
 its face the character of a private speculation of Mr. Parish. 
 
 After Mr. Labouchere had propounded several questions, touch- 
 ing the negotiation conducted at Havana, he informed me that 
 he had to bring the business to a conclusion with Count Mollien, 
 and would introduce me to the latter. This he did. The Count, 
 who wore spectacles, eyed me over them while Mr. Labouchere 
 was talking to him, and at length addressed me with some flatter- 
 ing words upon my success. A few days later, Mr. Labouchere 
 informed me that he had concluded the affair with the Minister. 
 " I have been obliged to make a bungling job of it," were his 
 words, "and share the profits; but you have not been forgotten, 
 you shall get your portion." Sure enough, I some weeks after- 
 wards received a notification from the Minister, that, in accord- 
 ance with the Imperial order, the sum of 45,817 francs was at my 
 disposal, as an acknowledgment of the service I had rendered the 
 Public Treasury. 
 
 My American mission could now be regarded as at an end ; at 
 least so long as Parish had not returned from the United States. 
 I wanted to visit my parents and relatives in Hamburgh, but Mr. 
 Labouchere held me back. He had some fresh business for me, 
 he said, and I should hear all about it in a few days. As we were 
 lodging at the same hotel, we met daily, usually in the morning, 
 but also often in the evening, after his return from parties, or 
 from the opera, or theatres. 
 
 One morning Mr. Labouchere sent for me to come to him, and 
 when I appeared, presented me to Mr. Ouvrard, whose personal 
 acquaintance I had long wished to form, as he very well knew. 
 The refined tone, the affability and winning manners of this gen- 
 tleman, pleased me extremely. He expressed himself with rare 
 fluency, and in the choicest language, upon every subject that was 
 brought forward, and at the same time exhibited the clearness of 
 
OUVRARD— WHAT HE DID W PRISON. 165 
 
 his views in striking sentences, and words full of meaning, when 
 the topic called for them. He never remained at fault for an 
 answer, and, where the truth denied him the elements of a direct 
 reply, his inventive mind always opened for him a middle road 
 between fiction and reality. He gave me a convincing proof of 
 his especial capacity for treading this middle road, when I met 
 him, a few days later, at a dinner-party given by Mr. Labouchere. 
 In the spring of 1809, in one of Napoleon's fits of ill humor, he 
 had been shut up for several weeks at Vincennes, and denied the 
 use of pen, paper and ink, and even of books, during the whole of 
 that time. At the dinner-table, upon the occasion I am now allu- 
 ding to, Mr. Labouchere asked him how, with such a restless dis- 
 position as his, he had managed to pass the time, under such cir- 
 cumstances. Without stopping to think long about his reply, he 
 answered, that what had really puzzled him was to find something 
 to occupy his mind, and, at the same time, some exercise for his 
 body, between four bare walls. " At length I hit upon the right 
 plan," said he ; " happening to thrust my hand into one of my 
 coat pockets, I there found a packet of pins. I at once took them 
 out, and, counting them carefully, discovered, like Leporello, in 
 Don Juan, the number to be 1,003. I thereupon took the whole 
 quantity in my hand, and, flinging them around, scattered them 
 into all quarters of the room. I then began the task of picking 
 them up again, until I could produce exactly the same number I 
 held at first. Each time, three, four, five, or even more were 
 missing. These I searched for untiringly until they were found ; 
 and many a time have I spent a whole hour in conjecturing where 
 they could have fallen ; and then I would pry into every cranny, 
 chink, and hole in the walls, or on the paved floor, and in this way 
 I procured a healthful and uninterrupted course of bodily and 
 mental exercise." 
 
 Ouvrard, tired of his long protracted inactivity, and once more 
 in the full possession of his liberty, had, in company with his 
 friend the Duke of Otranto, the Minister of Police, and with the 
 participation of Murat, the King of Naples, struck off a plan which 
 was extremely advantageous to the latter The negotiation that 
 was opened could proceed only very slowly, since Murat was with 
 
166 MR. LABOUCHERE. 
 
 the army, which had an opportunity of resting a little during the 
 armistice intervening between the battle of Essling and the battle 
 of Wagram. The plan was, to procure Murat's signature of a 
 hundred permits, which, drawn up after the model of the Spanish 
 ones, from Don Miguel Cayetano Soler, mentioned neither the 
 tonnage nor the cargo of vessels that were to sail with them from 
 Malta to Naples and Palermo, and there barter for all kinds of 
 Neapolitan commodities, which they were to bring back with 
 them. Mr. Labouchere w r anted to send me to Malta with these 
 permits, so soon as the conditions had been complied with which 
 he had laid down for the prosecution of this enterprise. These 
 conditions embraced the deposit of 2,000,000 Neapolitan ducats 
 in the hands of Hope & Co., as guaranty and security for the 
 cargoes of English manufactured goods and other articles that 
 were to be sold, or traded off, in the ports of Naples, for the pro- 
 ducts of that kingdom. The Duke of Otranto had undertaken to 
 get this sum together. After I had devoted the whole day to 
 amusement, or any occupation that pleased me the most, I was 
 not unfrequently called, at midnight, to Mr. Labouchere, to aid 
 him in all kinds of work relating to the projected enterprise, the 
 Spanish loan, &c. 
 
 Meanwhile the battle of Wagram was fought. Napoleon's 
 speedy return was at hand. Murat hesitated to sign the permits, 
 and the Duke of Otranto, of whom, it was well known, that he 
 had ceased to take any important part in the Emperor's confi- 
 dence, had to recede from his offer to raise the money that was to 
 have guarantied the action of Mr. Labouchere. The latter here- 
 upon made preparations for his return to Amsterdam, and re- 
 quested me to follow him thither within a few weeks. I complied 
 with his wishes, and arrived in Amsterdam at the time when the 
 King of Holland had begun to entertain the lively hope, that, 
 through the secret negotiations which had for some time been car- 
 ried on, the basis of a general peace with England would be laid. 
 He had learned to know and appreciate Mr. Labouchere, and had 
 applied to him to open the negotiations. Mr. Labouchere at 
 once informed me of his intended visit to England, without saying 
 a word about its purpose, and gave me a couple of lines to the 
 
ILLNESS AT AMSTERDAM. 16? 
 
 Minister of Marine, to be handed him whenever he should summon 
 me to an interview, and communicate his wishes. These lines 
 contained nothing further than that he could place full reliance on 
 me, in every respect, and that I was at the Minister's disposal. 
 A fortnight passed by ; Mr. Labouchere returned suddenly from 
 London, and I then learned, for the first time, that his peace mis- 
 sion had failed. The whole business had been a project, got up 
 by the Duke of Otranto, in order to restore himself in the declin- 
 ing favor of Napoleon, by a striking and unexpected success in 
 England. But when Napoleon, who was just then visiting Ant- 
 werp with the young Empress Marie Louise, heard the posture 
 of the negotiation, from his brother Louis, the two names of Ouv- 
 rard and Fouche, the first already hateful to his ears, and the lat- 
 ter rapidly becoming so, again brought up before him, he dis- 
 missed the latter, and gave the Duke of Rovigo, his successor in 
 the Ministry of Police, directions to have the former arrested, and 
 confined at Vincennes. It was long after this imprisonment that 
 \)uvrard related to me the anecdote I have given above. 
 
 About this^time a violent catarrhal fever seized me at Amster- 
 dam, and confined me during several weeks to my bed, compelling 
 me to keep my room until the middle of March, 1810. I ex- 
 changed frequent letters with my family, who were very impatient 
 to see me again. One letter from my father informed me, that 
 the hard times had greatly impaired his business, and that much 
 money was lying out in goods he was expecting from the Medi- 
 terranean Sea, and that the supplies were, to use a mercantile 
 phrase, somewhat tight. He closed with the request, that as he 
 had heard of my great good fortune in America, to send him 
 about 15,000 marks. I replied that I could not, positively, say 
 how large a profit I had made in America, as that would depend 
 upon the yet unconcluded general winding-up of the whole busi- 
 ness, to which I had only partially contributed ; but that he could 
 have the 15,000 marks without difficulty, and might look for them 
 within eight or ten days. A month had scarcely passed, after he 
 had received this sum from me, ere I was asked afresh for a sec- 
 ond loan of 12,500 marks, and that was likewise sent. At length, 
 having entirely recovered, I received permission from Labouchere 
 
168 VISIT TO MY PARENTS. 
 
 to visit my family at Hamburgh, and was speedily in their midst. 
 My good mother had lost all her vivacity, and my father was a 
 good deal bent, and evidently enfeebled. He was, at that time, 
 something more than sixty-nine years of age. After a short time 
 had elapsed, I inquired into the circumstances of the family, and 
 my father, in a tete-a-tete, congratulated me on my great success. 
 After he had almost looked upon me as lost, when I left Ham- 
 burgh, I had been skilful enough to make so considerable a capi- 
 tal, in a few years, that the American Consul, Forbes, had assured 
 him my accumulation must be at least 600,000 marks. " And 
 could you believe it, father V I asked him ; " Really, could you 
 give yourself up to such an idea, and not reflect that you would 
 have received earlier proofs of my wealth, had it been true that I 
 possessed so much V To this he could make no reply. I had 
 already remarked that there was a considerable admixture of cre- 
 dulity in his character, but that it could go so far, as it did in this 
 instance, I had never supposed. Having returned to my mother, 
 she too spoke of the wealth I had amassed ; and just at the same 
 moment a mirror betrayed a certain motion of the head, expres- 
 sive of denial, which my father, who stood behind me, was making 
 to her, yet she ended her days in the same delusion. 
 
 I may here spare my readers the recapitulation of further 
 details, and confine myself to the consequences resulting from this 
 visit to Hamburgh. It was not without some trouble that I made 
 my father comprehend, that he could not live by a failing busi- 
 ness, and that such was the only kind he could, in those times, 
 hope to have within reach. When he, however, at length, under- 
 stood this, he finally made up his mind to retire. I advanced the 
 amount of capital that was lacking, for the complete settlement 
 of his business, so as to extinguish all claims. When I had ascer- 
 tained how much would be required to support a family like his 
 comfortably, in some cheaper place, in Schwerin, or Ratzeburg, 
 for instance, I prevailed upon my father to give up his expensive 
 residence in Hamburgh, and to choose one of these places for his 
 future abode, binding myself, if he would do so, to pay in a regu- 
 lar stipend of 6,000 marks. This plan was carried into execution, 
 and my parents went to Schwerin, and then to Ratzeburg, where I 
 
THEIR DEATH. 169 
 
 had the pleasure of embracing them both, upon two occasions, 
 once in 1816, and again in 1822, and where they died before for- 
 tune had begun to turn her back on me. Heaven be thanked ! 
 they never knew of my reverses, or of the long period of suffering 
 through which I had to struggle ! 
 
 8 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE RETURN TO ENGLAND. 
 
 Return to England, to await the arrival of Parish, for the final liquidation ot 
 the great operation — This takes place much later than was expected, and 
 the liquidation is not made until June, 1811 — Parish is accompanied by me 
 to Antwerp, where I await the result — Unusual profit by the operation — 
 Meetiug, in Paris, with Labouchere, Parish, and Le Ray Chaumont ; the last 
 busied with new projects for the sale of his lands, never lets Parish out of 
 his sight — Rapid glance at the value of the lands purchased by Parish — Re- 
 doubled propositions to houses in Europe — I refuse them — Resolution to 
 return to New Orleans — Preliminary consultations with Mr. Labouchere, 
 and then with Mr. Alexander Baring, at London, in relation to my future 
 establishment at New Orleans — The selection of a companion and future 
 partner in business — My departure from Liverpool for New York, in Sep- 
 tember, 1811 — Arrival there — Continuation of my journe} 7 to New Orleans 
 overland, and by means of the western navigation — The flat-boats I build 
 and fit up at Pittsburgh — I follow my companion, who had preceded me, 
 and cross the Alleghany mountains on horseback — My first acquaintance, 
 near the Falls of the Juniata, with Audubon, who afterwards became so 
 celebrated as an ornithologist — My stay at Lexington — Henry Clay — First 
 traces of the earthquake, on the way to Louisville, and then in that city — 
 The earthquake comes on, in the night of February 6, 1812, near New Mad- 
 rid, beside the Mississippi — Description of my situation — Consequences of 
 the earthquake — Arrival in New Orleans, in March, 1812. 
 
 Soon afterwards I returned to England, there to await the arri- 
 val of Parish, for the liquidation and settlement of the whole busi- 
 ness. Lestapis had already left the United States, a year pre- 
 viously, and had gone with his family to Bordeaux. Parish 
 returned to Europe a good deal later ; landed, like myself, at 
 Falmouth, and at once repaired to his father in Cheltenham. 
 Before lie set out for London, he invited me to visit him at that 
 place. He wished for information regarding the whole state of 
 
NEW PROPOSITIONS. 171 
 
 things, and especially with reference to the feeling of Messrs. Hope 
 and Baring. I had already let him know, while he was yet in the 
 United States, that in regard to his lands he would encounter no 
 difficulty. In August, he made up his mind to go, by way of Os- 
 tend and Antwerp, to Amsterdam, to wind up affairs with his 
 principals. He expressed the desire that I should accompany 
 him, at least to Antwerp, and there await his return from Am- 
 sterdam. I agreed to do this, the more readily as I too wished to 
 bring my plans for the future into some clear light, and place 
 them on a secure basis. Mr. Labouchere had proposed to me to 
 enter the houserof his brother at Nantes, in the place of Mr. Tro- 
 treau, and to marry the only daughter of that wealthy and upright 
 man, since her father, as he told me, would be content with that 
 arrangement, and had meanwhile promised to give her a dower of 
 150,000 francs, if I were inclined to agree. But Mademoiselle was 
 exactly the reverse of a pretty and agreeable young French lady ; 
 vivacity, grace, and cultivation were lacking in an equal degree ; 
 and if she would not precisely pass for a simpleton, still one thing 
 was certain, namely, that sensible persons must be very different 
 indeed. I consequently declined the offer. David Parish, who 
 was anxious to return to the United States, now desired to place 
 me at the head of an establishment, that was to be opened in Liv- 
 erpool, with a capital of £20,000 sterling, and in company with his 
 brother-in-law, Hamilton, from Glasgow, who had married his 
 sister, the widow Charnock. This capital was to be contributed 
 by him, his brothers in Hamburgh, the Messrs. Baring, and my- 
 self, in equal sums of £5,000 sterling. 
 
 I was desirous of first becoming familiarly acquainted with Mr. 
 Hamilton, before agreeing and pledging myself to this arrange- 
 ment. After I had learned to know that gentleman, T quickly 
 made up my mind to decline the proposed partnership. The good 
 man possessed no mercantile experience whatever. He had sim- 
 ply been the agent of a London Fire Insurance Company, at Glas- 
 gow, had married a widow eight years older than himself, but for 
 all that very attractive and agreeable, and seemed to be a man of 
 weak and undecided character, quite happy and contented under 
 the petticoat government to which he was subjected. Moreover, 
 
172 SETTLEMENT WITH PARISH. 
 
 I learned, from Mr. Alexander Baring, that he had only promised 
 his participation in the whole plan, because he had been led into 
 the belief, that I had been fully consulted in regard to it, and had 
 approved of the matter. Hence I made my excuses, and declined, 
 so soon as I had learned, from Mr. Baring, that he was quite wil- 
 ling to aid me in the execution of my own project, namely, the 
 establishment of a concern at New Orleans. I had, he thought, 
 made an excellent selection, and such a house, in possession of the 
 confidence of good European houses, must be successful. My re- 
 fusal displeased Parish, as much as my preceding one had annoyed 
 Mr. Labouchere ; but I felt myself sufficiently \pell sustained in 
 Mr. Alexander Baring's approbation of my project to return to 
 the United States ; for he was also of the opinion, that, in either of 
 the cases referred to, it- would have been rather a hazardous under- 
 taking to unite with a partner in whom I could feel no confidence. 
 Parish returned, within fourteen days, from the settlement of 
 his business in Amsterdam. Of the details, I have learned more 
 from him than I knew from personal observation. The lands re- 
 mained, as he had desired, on his own account. Mr. Labouchere 
 declined his proposal, to divide the half commission, guarantied 
 by Echeverria and Septien, which, as the reader may remember, 
 amounted to $260,000, between my friend Lestapis and myself, 
 as he thought it dangerous to place young men in possession of 
 so much capital all at once, and because Ouvrard, whom Napo- 
 leon's measures had prostrated, had been the originator of the 
 whole business, to which they were indebted for such advantages, 
 and that he had now reappeared on the scene, and consequently 
 was the best entitled to the money. Hereupon the whole sum 
 was presented to him. After the sum of £83,500 had been put 
 aside, with a view to meeting the lawsuit carried on by Sarmiento, 
 and other similar eventualities, the amount of profit remaining in 
 this business was not less than the heavy sum of £778,750 ster- 
 ling. Mr. Henry Hope, of London, to whom the settlement that 
 had taken place in Amsterdam was communicated, was of the 
 opinion, that the above £83,500 sterling might also be divided, as 
 it was not probable that, particularly after such enormous profits, 
 they should ever, by an unlucky chance, be left without the means 
 
M THE PROFITS. 178 
 
 of replacing this sum. The opinion of Mr. Hope met with gene- 
 ral approbation, and the whole profit to be divided was set down 
 at £862,250 sterling. In connection with this business there ex- 
 isted, in the hands of Messrs. Hope, a separate book account, 
 which the uninitiated of the office had never been permitted to 
 see. In computing this profit, no reference is made to the gain 
 which flowed in to the Messrs. Hope and Baring alone, without 
 the participation of Parish upon the millions of Spanish dollars 
 which were shipped at Vera Cruz, in English frigates, and brought 
 by them direct to London. Nor must we leave out of sight the 
 great advantages secured by commissions on the sale of the nume- 
 rous cargoes sent on American account to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, 
 Antwerp, and Hamburgh (later Toenningen). According to the 
 instructions given to Parish, the cargoes destined for Hamburgh 
 were to have been sent to the Messrs. Matthieson & Sillem, Hope's 
 own correspondent, but he dispatched them to the house of his bro- 
 ther. Mr. Le Ray de Chaumont, who had sold Parish the greater 
 portion of his newly-acquired lands, and who had been brooding 
 for years over the unproductive portion of them, was now, ac- 
 cording to the French proverb, " L' Appetit vient en mangeant" — 
 keenly urged by a desire to make further sales. He had followed 
 close at the heels of Parish, and when the latter repaired to Paris, 
 after completing his business at Amsterdam, he also hastened to 
 that capitol. Mr. Labouchere and I were also there at the time. 
 Business had brought the former gentlemen thither, but I had 
 come for no other purpose, than to bid a brief farewell to this my 
 favorite place of sojourn. Soon afterwards Le Ray arrived, to 
 present himself once more with his maps, calculations, and plans. 
 Parish had appointed a dinner, at the then celebrated restaurant 
 of Robert, at which the American land speculator, Mr. Labou- 
 chere, his friend Moritz Von Bethmann, from Frankfort, and I. 
 were present. Mr. Le Ray de Chaumont expatiated to such a 
 degree, in relation to the immense prospective advantages con- 
 nected with these lands, that Mr. Labouchere, who could not fail 
 to see through the whole business, suddenly turned to Parish, and 
 remarked, that he would sooner or later have to rue his heavy 
 purchases of lands. " I think, on the contrary," replied Parish, 
 
174 ONCE MORE TO Lv NDON. 
 
 " that it will be yourself who will, at least, inevitably regret that 
 you did not sdso purchase a portion of them." Labouchere was 
 always ready for a repartee, so replied, " I will never regret your 
 success ; and the greatest pleasure you would occasion me would 
 be, to prove one day that I have been mistaken. But I am afraid, 
 for your sake, that I will have to adjourn that gratification for 
 some time to come." Mr. Le Ray at once comprehended that 
 his fine projects did not take in this direction, and became silent. 
 When taking my coffee, after dinner, I remarked to Mr. Labou- 
 chere, that the whole tenor of his conversation had not been of a 
 nature calculated to gratify or encourage Parish. Has reply was, 
 that he always wished to cut short the talk of Mr. Le Ray, and 
 other similar speculators, and to keep his house clear of foolish 
 projects ; and, as far as Parish was concerned, he added, " he will 
 only too soon find out that he has committed a piece of folly." 
 
 Some people in Europe, particularly in Hamburgh, are inclined 
 to ascribe very great value to these lands, on which such enor- 
 mous sums of money had been expended, and to regard them as 
 mines of wealth. But if any one will only reckon up the capital 
 laid out, and that too at a very moderate estimate — say $700,000, 
 and the real sum was much more— and then add three per cent, 
 interest, remembering all the while that, during a space of thirty- 
 five years, the property has returned no interest whatever, and 
 scarcely even covered the expenses of keeping it, they will dis- 
 cover that these lands must now be worth, at the least, $2,000,000. 
 Since the discovery of some veins of iron ore it has, under good 
 management, at least returned some interest ; whether the latter 
 amounts to the nett sum of $60,000, can be known only to the 
 Parish family, into whose hands it fell after David's death ; but I 
 cannot suppress the doubt, that it does not reach that sum. 
 
 Having at length come to an understanding with Mr. Labou- 
 chere, in regard to what his house was disposed to do for me, and 
 in common with the Barings, in case I carried out my design of 
 opening an establishment at New Orleans, I once more went to 
 London. My first visit, of course, was to Mr. Alexander Baring, 
 who, having been already informed by Mr. Labouchere, invited 
 me to visit him in the country, on the ensuing Saturday. He 
 
NEW ARRANGEMENTS. 175 
 
 had a very pleasant villa at Carshalton, where he received me at 
 the appointed time, and where I remained until the next Monday. 
 The hours passed there were spent in a very pleasant manner, but 
 not a moment could be found for an interview respecting the 
 object of my visit — for even in his solitude he was overwhelmed 
 with a thousand matters of importance. At length, before break- 
 fast, on Monday morning, he told me that he would drive into 
 the city in his curricle ; and we had scarcely started before he 
 began, in the carriage, and without any opening of the conversa- 
 tion on my part, to express a clear and well-arranged proposition, 
 in relation to the intended support of my plans. This consisted 
 in a capital of £6,000 sterling, advanced for five years, at five per 
 cent., and a blank credit in favor of my business for £10,000 more. 
 It was, at the same time, to be understood, that the two houses 
 of Hope and Baring should be named in my circular, as leading 
 friends and references. In examining an extract from my account 
 with the London house, I found, in addition to the considerable 
 sums due to me on my agency, a round balance of £1,000 ster- 
 ling, whose source I could not conjecture, placed to my credit. 
 Upon inquiry I learned, that when the final settlement was made 
 in Amsterdam, it had been determined to allow me this bonus, on 
 account of the numerous items of outlay which I might have had 
 in the course of my agency, without making any note of the same. 
 In fact, they had discovered a marked difference between the 
 statement I had made out, of my travelling and sundry expenses, 
 and those of the other gentlemen, which were, one and all, charged 
 against the general enterprise. 
 
 I looked about me in London for a capable and active young 
 man, calculated to inspire and retain confidence, and found such a 
 one in a young Livonian, named Edward Hollander, from Riga. 
 My good friend, Frederick W. Brederlow, from the formerly 
 well-known house of Messrs. Joachim Ebel Schmidt & Co., of 
 that city, had specially recommended him to me. In Liverpool 
 I found the same Captain Stirling who had brought me, in the 
 month of July, 1805, in the good ship Flora, from Amsterdam to 
 New York, for the first time. Of course I willingly gave him and 
 his new vessel, which he called the Aristomenes, the preference 
 
176 SAIL FOR AMERICA. 
 
 over all the rest then lading for New York, and embarked with 
 my travelling companion, in September, 1811. It was exactly the 
 season of the equinoctial storms, and also the famous year of the 
 great comet, which remained visible for such a length of time, and 
 whose influence, as was afterwards affirmed, beneficially affected 
 the vintage on the Rhine, and the banks of the Garonne. We 
 lost but two masts on that perilous voyage, but safely reached 
 New York after a passage of forty-eight days. I was anxious to 
 acquire some knowledge of the far western regions, whose rich 
 and manifold productions, of all kinds, were carried down the 
 Ohio and Mississippi rivers, destined to be the sources of the 
 prosperity of New Orleans, although their banks were then but 
 thinly populated, and were almost entirely wild and unreclaimed. 
 In pursuance of this desire, I resolved to cross the Alleghany 
 mountains to Pittsburgh, in the State of Pennsylvania, and there 
 purchase a couple of flat-boats, in which I and my companion 
 would quietly float down the rapid stream to New Orleans, about 
 2,000 miles. The only other means usual at that time, for passage 
 or transportation on the two rivers, was by keel-boats, as they are 
 called. These were long narrow barks, which would contain at 
 the farthest about two hundred barrels of flour, and which could 
 complete the journey, by the use of oars, in from thirty to thirty- 
 five days ; while the flat-boats, which were only steered, consumed 
 forty or fifty days in making the same distance. The latter, how- 
 ever, were more convenient for the transportation of passengers, 
 since there was space enough on them to put up quite a snug 
 sleeping-room, with beds, &c., and a convenient kitchen and dining- 
 room. I sent my friend Hollander a fortnight in advance of me, 
 to Pittsburgh, to purchase two such flat-boats, one for our own 
 use, and the other to accommodate my horse with a stall. More- 
 over, we could thus take along with us some four hundred bar- 
 rels of flour, which could always be disposed of to advantage at 
 New Orleans, and would suffice to pay the expenses of our jour- 
 ney. I managed to procure an excellent horse in Philadelphia, 
 and, with my saddle-bags strapped to his back, I started in De- 
 cember alone, on my way to Pittsburgh. It was very cold. I 
 rode, early one morning, entirely alone, over the loftiest summit 
 
AUDUBON 177 
 
 of the Alleghany ridge, called Laurel Hill, and about ten o'clock 
 arrived at a small inn, close by the Falls of the Juniata river. 
 Here I ordered a substantial breakfast. The landlady showed me 
 into a room, and said, I perhaps would not object to taking my 
 meal at the same table with a strange gentleman, who was already 
 there. As I entered I found the latter personage, who at once 
 struck me as being, what, in common parlance, is called an odd fish. 
 He was sitting at a table, before the fire, with a Madras hand- 
 kerchief wound around his head, exactly in the style of the French 
 mariners, or laborers, in a seaport town. I stepped up to him, 
 and accosted him politely, with the words, " I hope I don't incom- 
 mode you, by coming to take my breakfast with you." " Oh no, 
 sir," he replied, with a strong French accent, that made it sound 
 like "No, sare." "Ah," I continued, " you are a Frenchman, sir 1 ?" 
 " No, sare," he answered, " hi emm an Heenglishman." " Why," 
 I asked, in return, " how do you make that out? You look like 
 a Frenchman, and you speak like one." " Hi emm an Eenglish- 
 man, becas hi got a Heenglish wife," he answered. Without in- 
 vestigating the matter further, we made up our minds, at break- 
 fast, to remain in company, and to ride together to Pittsburgh. 
 He showed himself to be an original throughout, but at last ad- 
 mitted that he was a Frenchman by birth, and a native of La Ro- 
 chelle. However, he had come in his early youth to Louisiana, 
 had grown up in the sea-service, and had gradually become a tho- 
 rough American. " Now," I asked, " ho# does that accord with 
 your quality of Englishman V Upon this he found it convenient 
 to reply, in the French language, " When all is said and done, I 
 am somewhat cosmopolitan ; I belong to every country." This 
 man, who afterwards won for himself so great a name in natural 
 history, particularly in ornithology, was Audubon, who, however, 
 was by no means thinking, at that time, of occupying himself with 
 the study of natural history.* 
 
 * In a third volume of Audubon's great, costly, and now very rare work on 
 " American Ornithology," there is a circumstantial account of our meeting 
 near the Falls of Juniata, and a flattering acknowledgment of the little service 
 I was so fortunate as to have the opportunity of rendering my companion at 
 that time, and afterwards upon the oocasioK of his journey to England. 
 
178 AUDUBON 
 
 He wanted to be a merchant, and had married the daughter of 
 an Englishman, named Bakewell, formerly of Philadelphia, but 
 then residing and owning mills at Shippingport, at the Falls of 
 the Ohio, and in the neighborhood of Louisville. It was also his 
 intention to travel down the Ohio into Kentucky. At Pittsburgh, 
 he found no other opportunity of doing so than the one offered by 
 my flat-boats, and, as he was a good companionable man, and, 
 moreover, an accomplished sketcher, I invited him to take a birth 
 in our cabin gratis. He thankfully accepted the invitation, and 
 we left Pittsburgh, in very cold weather, with the Monongahela 
 and Ohio rivers full of drifting ice, in the beginning of January, 
 1812. I learned nothing further of his travelling plans until we 
 reached Limestone, a little place at the northwestern corner of 
 the State of Ohio. There we had both our horses taken ashore, 
 and I resolved to go with him overland, at first to visit the capi- 
 tal, Lexington, and from there to Louisville, where he expected to 
 find his wife and his parents-in-law. My two boats, which I had 
 left under the charge of Hollander, were to meet me at the same 
 place. We had scarcely finished our breakfast, at Limestone, 
 when Audubon, all at once, sprang to his feet, and exclaimed, in 
 French, " Now I am going to lay the foundation of my establish- 
 ment." So saying, he took a small packet of address cards and 
 a hammer from his coat pocket, some nails from his vest, and 
 began to nail up one of the cards to the door of the tavern, where 
 we were taking our meal. The address ran as follows : "Audu- 
 bon & Bakewell, Commission Merchants (Pork, Lard, and Flour), 
 New Orleans" Oh, oh ! thought I, there you have competition 
 before you have got to the place yourself. Yet, as this com- 
 mission house could not refer to the influential name of the 
 Messrs. Hope, or of Messrs. Baring, and as pork and lard, more- 
 over, were not articles which had any very great attraction for me, 
 in the way of trade, I consoled myself with the thought, that com- 
 petition of this nature could not amount to much. 
 
 From Limestone, Audubon and I rode on together as far as 
 Lexington, the capital of Kentucky. It was then a flourishing 
 little town, where I heard a great deal of talk about a highly-gifted 
 lawyer, who during the elections for members of Congress, had 
 
"GOUGING.* 179 
 
 distinguished himself in the taverns and streets, by all sorts of 
 brawls and fisticuff battles. This man was no other than Henry 
 Clay, whose reputation soon after began to rise so rapidly. He 
 was then a member of Congress ; but his external appearance was 
 by no means calculated to convey any very high idea of his in- 
 tellectual capacity, although he had, as early as the period of 
 which I speak, already acquired great celebrity as an orator. 
 
 A frightfully cruel practice prevailed at that time among the 
 greater part of the rude inhabitants of the western states. It con- 
 sisted in allowing the finger-nails to grow so long, that, by cutting 
 them, you could give them the form of a small sickle, and this 
 strange weapon was used, in the broils that constantly occurred, to 
 cut out the eyes of the hostile party. This barbarous action was 
 called gouging. Upon this excursion through Kentucky I saw 
 several persons who lacked an eye, and others, both of whose 
 eyes were disfigured. The exasperation then reigning throughout 
 the United States, in relation to the difficulties with England, was 
 much greater in the western provinces than along the sea coast, 
 and the feeling was very intense. As I passed through Frankfort, 
 on my way from Lexington to Louisville, I was told that the 
 legislature of Kentucky was just then in session. I resolved to 
 go thither, so that I might compare that body with the sessions of 
 the territorial legislature of Louisiana, which I had had the oppor- 
 tunity of observing in New Orleans, and which was made up of 
 the most singular mixture of native born Americans, and men of 
 "French and Spanish extraction. I had scarcely entered the legis- 
 lative hall, when I heard a very enthusiastic orator dealing forth 
 a violent diatribe against England, with the following words : 
 " We must have war with Great Britain — war will ruin her com- 
 merce — commerce is the apple in Britain's eye — there we must 
 gouge her !" This flower of oratory was received with great ap- 
 plause ; and, it must be confessed, that for such a population as 
 most of the inhabitants of Kentucky formed at that period, it was 
 extremely well timed, and betrayed a certain poetic sweep of 
 thought. The North Americans in general possess often an un 
 mistakable keenness of perception, which quickly enables them 
 to catch a certain similarity between two altogether different 
 
180 AN EARTHQUAKE, 
 
 things. Among them one frequently hears comparisons of the 
 most striking description, from the lips of the most uneducated 
 men. To the happiest of these, which have reached us from the 
 other side of the ocean, perhaps belongs one that was made by 
 the American poet Barlow, the author of the Columbiad. Every 
 one who, during his time, understood and spoke the English lan- 
 guage, was full of the splendid phraseology of the English orator 
 Burke, who, in his enthusiasm, so often rose to an almost im- 
 measurable height. Barlow, who had heard him, and who had 
 either been unable to follow him in his logical conclusions, or had, 
 as he thought, found no sound argument in what he said, broke 
 out into the exclamation, " He rises like a rocket, spreads a glar- 
 ing light, and comes down like a stick !" 
 
 I was riding alone through the vast forest which separates Frank- 
 fort from Louisville, when, all at once, my horse, as if struck by 
 lightning, suddenly stood still — the trees around us had for some 
 seconds exhibited a strange heaving and waving motion. The 
 animal I bestrode obeyed the spur, when I attempted to force him 
 onward, with a sort of terror, again stood suddenly still for an 
 instant, and then finally advanced in a tremor. It was some time 
 before he fell into his usual pace. Upon my arrival in Louisville 
 I was at once surrounded at the tavern door, and pertinaciously 
 asked if I had noticed anything of the earthquake, and I felt au- 
 thorized to say that I had. The Ohio had been frozen over for sev- 
 eral days, and for more than a week past no boat had descended the 
 stream ; hence my boats and my friend Hollander were frozen up 
 on the way between Limestone and Louisville. Three days after- 
 wards, just as we had all sat down to dinner, the whole house was 
 violently shaken ; glasses, plates, and bottles jingled, and fell from 
 the board ; most of the guests leaped to their feet, exclaiming, 
 " There's the earthquake, by jingo ! there is no humbug about it!" 
 as they rushed into the street. But all was still again, and every 
 one gradually returned to his house. Early the next morning I 
 learned that the earthquake had loosened the ice from the Ohio, 
 and had again opened the current of the stream, and that several 
 boats, among others two flats, fastened together, had been carried 
 down over the Falls lying between Louisville and the little town 
 
CARICATURE OF MADISON. 181 
 
 of Shippingport, situated at the distance of a few miles from the 
 former place. I at once rode over to Shippingport, and there 
 found my boats and my companion in safety. So soon as we had 
 replenished and increased our stock of provisions I returned to my 
 boats, and, having recommenced our journey, we in a few days left 
 the dear transparent waters of the Ohio, and passed by its junction 
 with the mighty Mississippi into the thick and turbid flood of the lat- 
 ter stream. We floated on quietly for several days, arresting our 
 course, as was usual, at night, and securing our boats in any way 
 we could to the river bank. In flat-boat journeys like ours it is a 
 rule never to trust your craft in the night to the force of the cur- 
 rent, for the surface of the water is so frequently broken by trees 
 (which have been swept away from the shore, and then become 
 fast imbedded in the bottom of the river, where they remain im- 
 movable, and are designated by the name of planters, as well as 
 by those which are, likewise, fast imbedded, but have a constant 
 up and down motion, whence they are known by the title of 
 sawyers), that it is almost an impossibility to avoid them at night, 
 and, in fact, to do so is difficult in broad daylight. In this way 
 we reached the small town of New Madrid, on the 6th of Feb* u- 
 ary. Some twenty boats, which had left Shippingport at the 
 same time with us, kept us company. It was a clear moonlight 
 night: my friend Hollander had retired to rest, and I was sitting, 
 about twelve o'clock, at a little table, sketching a caricature of 
 Madison,* then President of the United States, and of whom it 
 was said, that he was under petticoat government. Madison had 
 shortly before issued a proclamation, in which he called upon the 
 American people "to put on armor, and assume a warlike atti- 
 tude." My caricature represented him in a general's uniform, in 
 an attitude as if he were calling out troops ; his wife stood beside 
 him, with a military chapeau on her head, a musket on her shoul- 
 der, and arrayed in the red breeches which her predecessor JefFer- 
 
 * I sent this caricature to David Parish, who hung ituj. for years in his bed- 
 chamber, at Ogdensburgh. From his hands it passed into the possession of 
 Dennis A. Smith, the well known Cashier of the Mechanics' Bank, in Balti- 
 more, and thence, several years later, it came back to me, after tljat bank 
 broke. 
 
182 ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE : 
 
 son was known to have brought from France, after the revolu 
 tionary period, when he resided at Paris as Ambassador, and was 
 generally asserted to have worn. I had just given the last touches 
 to the somewhat dilapidated red hose, when there came a frightful 
 crash, like a sudden explosion of artillery, and instantly followed 
 by countless flashes of lightning ; the Mississippi foamed up like 
 the water in a boiling cauldron, and the stream flowed rushing 
 back, while the forest trees, near which we lay, came cracking and 
 thundering down. This fearful spectacle lasted for several min- 
 utes ; and the fierce flashes of lightning, the rush of the receding 
 waters, and the crash of the falling trees, seemed as if they would 
 never end. Hollander, starting half-way up from his bed, hur- 
 riedly exclaimed, " What is that, Nolte 1" What other answer 
 could I give him but that I myself did not know, yet supposed it 
 to be the effect of an earthquake. I clambered up to the roof of 
 our boat. What a spectacle ! Our flats were indeed still float- 
 ing, but far away from the shore where we had moored them at 
 nightfall. The agitated water all around us, full of trees and 
 branches, which the stream, now flowing in its proper current, 
 was rapidly sweeping away, and a light only here and there visible 
 from the town — in short, a real chaos. The feeble crew, which I had 
 brought along with me from Pittsburgh, to man my flat-boats, con- 
 sisted of three sailors, whom want of employment at the seaports, 
 while the embargo lasted, had driven to that inland city, and a 
 river pilot, acquainted with those streams. They told me that the 
 boats around us had let go the tackle which secured them to the 
 shore, and were now floating down the stream, and asking whether 
 we had not better do the same thing. I at once reflected that if, 
 under the usual circumstances, it was dangerous, and therefore by 
 no means advisable, to trust to the stream in the night, it must 
 now be much more so, when the danger was greatly increased by 
 the trees which the earthquake had loosened and driven away, 
 and that consequently it would be a better plan to remain where 
 we were until daylight had returned, and we could see our way. 
 At sunrise the whole terrible scene was disclosed to our gaze, and 
 the little town of New Madrid, sunken, destroyed, and overflowed 
 to three-fourths of its extent, lay more than five hundred paces 
 
ITS DISASTROUS RESULTS. 183 
 
 from us, with some of its scattered inhabitants here and there vis- 
 ible among the ruins. Our boats were fixed in the middle of an 
 island formed by fallen trees, and several hours passed before the 
 crew could cut a passage for them, and get them out. At length 
 we were again floating on the stream, and continued our course, 
 by day's journeys, until we arrived, on the thirty-second day 
 after our departure from Pittsburgh, in Natchez, in the State 
 of Mississippi. Here, where we heard all kinds of details 
 concerning the earthquake, as it had been noticed in that place, 
 we remained a week, during which time not a single one of the 
 boats arrived that had surrounded us on the evening of the 6th of 
 February. When we reached New Orleans, we learned that the 
 earthquake had not been any farther perceptible there, than that 
 the chandeliers in the ball-room had all at once been observed to 
 rock from side to side, and that a number of ladies had felt quite 
 ill, while others instantly fainted. This remarkable earthquake, 
 which was so disastrous in its consequences, commenced in the 
 northwestern part of the State of Missouri, shook the whole extent 
 of Louisiana more or less, and stretched throughout the whole 
 region lying around the Gulf of Mexico as far as Caraccas, where 
 it finally raged with terrible fury, almost entirely destroying that 
 town itself, and reducing to poverty, or swallowing up, 40,000 in- 
 habitants there, and in several other places in the neighborhood. 
 Of the boats which surrounded us on the evening of February 6th 
 nothing was ever afterwards heard, and we should probably have 
 shared the same fate, had it not been for the plan we adopted of 
 remaining by the shore. 
 
 I have always regarded it as a great gift of heaven, that amid 
 the many serious dangers in which I have been frequently ex- 
 posed during the course of my life, I was ever able to retain a 
 certain tranquillity, and iry entire presence of mind. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS 
 
 New Orleans — My first arrangements — Congress declares war agiainst Eng- 
 land June 18th, 1812 — David Parish assumes one of the Government loans 
 on his own responsibility, and thus gives rise to embarrassment in his 
 affairs — The Peace confirmed at Ghent, in December, 1814, happily extri- 
 cates him — Tropical hurricane at New Orleans, in the fall of 1812 — Frac- 
 ture of my right arm, in the year 1814 — Needless suspension of specie pay- 
 ments by the New Orleans banks — Appointed, by the Exchange, a member 
 of the Committee to examine into the condition of things, and report there- 
 upon, as framer of the report — I get into personal difficulty — The origin of 
 my first duel, with an opponent never known to me or seen by me before — 
 A business operation in Pensacola, by way of the two lakes — Borgne 
 and Pontchartrain, adjacent to New Orleans — The fleet of small craft I take 
 across them, laden with cotton — I arrive with them in Mobile bay, there 
 await the result of the first bombardment of the fort, and take advantage of 
 the moment when the English fleet are hauling off, after their repulse, to 
 run into Pensacola during the night — I am saddled with fresh difficulties 
 bv the Clique of the Bank Cashier, Saul in New Orleans ; for iustance, in 
 an affair with the Marine Paymaster, Shields — Interruption of my quarrel, 
 by the arrival of the English fleet in the Gulf of Florida. 
 
 New Orleans, which I had left more than four and a half years 
 previously, had in that time made no inconsiderable progress — 
 there had been a great deal of new building, and it was much im- 
 proved. The character of its population, however, had gained 
 nothing. Its old original inhabitants, of French and Spani h ori 
 gin, had always shown a certain openness, good faith and sir cerity, 
 in their mercantile intercourse ; but the lawyers who came thither 
 from the northern states, and whose interest it was to stir up liti- 
 gation to keep themselves from starving, had, by a certain ac- 
 quaintance with the technicalities of American jurisprudence, and 
 by a spirit of low cunning and adroitness which they introduced, 
 
WAR DECLARED. 185 
 
 and even managed to communicate to some of the old inhabitants, 
 been the real cause of this moral retrogression. Governor Clai- 
 borne it was who brought election intrigue into fashion, and 
 thereby succeeded in undermining the honorable and amiable cha- 
 racter of the original Creoles. Social life had rather been im- 
 paired than improved in its relations. 
 
 I had just procured a dwelling-house, and furnished it, when the 
 news reached us, from Washington, that war had been declared 
 against England on the 18th of June. This brought all the pro- 
 jects which I had been erecting upon my business relations with 
 Europe to the ground, and all the advantages 1 was entitled to 
 expect from them vanished out of my hands. Let any one, who 
 can, form an idea of the situation in which I suddenly found my- 
 self placed. 
 
 David Parish, as I have already stated, had returned from Eu- 
 rope, during the fall of 1811, with great schemes in his head. It 
 had been his intention to withdraw altogether from European 
 business, and to give up his interest in the Antwerp house. But 
 his partner, Mr. G. Agie. one of the most upright and shrewd 
 merchants I ever knew, would not spare his name from the firm, 
 and the latter accordingly remained David Parish, Agie & Co. 
 However, Parish had left no money in the concern. The h^avy 
 consignments it had received, by means of the advances made by 
 him with the capital gathered from Mexico, and which it still 
 continued to receive, were, as a matter of course, favorable like- 
 wise to Agie, and had indeed helped him to acquire a much larger 
 fortune than he had ever expected to make. Upon his return to 
 the United States, Parish had brought along with him the French 
 architect Ramee, who was the builder of the first Borsenkalle or 
 Bourse of Hamburgh, which he put up for Mr. Von Hostrup : in 
 addition to this individual he also brought, either through charity 
 or as a companion, a French painter of miniatures, a man already 
 far advanced in years — a bon enfant, bon mangeur, bon faiseur, de 
 calembourgs — in short, a farceur, who, like Shakespeare's FalstafF, 
 was not only witty himself, but furnished ample material for the 
 wit of others : this party of useful people in a household was com- 
 pleted by an excellent French cook. Ramee was to put up for 
 
186 PARISH IN DIFFICULTY: 
 
 him, at Ogdensburgh, a suitable residence, a church, and other 
 buildings, and to carry out several more or less considerable 
 structures in a smaller place, to which Parish had already given 
 the name of Parishville. Ouvrard mentions the origin of this 
 still embryo town in his memoirs, as follows : " I had seen Mr. 
 David Parish at Antwerp, whither he hacflust established a house, 
 which was then of too little importance to let slip the opportunity 
 of forming some connexion with- my business. Summoned for 
 the purpose by the Messrs. Hope, he consented to take up his 
 abode in the United States, where, although but the simple agent 
 of an operation scarcely yet alive, his own fortune soon ascended 
 to the level of the first houses existing, and even permitted him to 
 give his name to a town in America." 
 
 The war with England necessarily involved an immense outlay 
 of funds, and gave rise to great financial embarrassment on the 
 part of the United States government, which kept offering loans 
 at constantly increasing rates of interest, but found few who were 
 willing to lend the money. Parish, without any preliminary con- 
 sultation with the European capitalists, least of all with the Bar- 
 ings, as will presently be seen, and without any particular under- 
 standing with the capitalists of the United States with whom he 
 had formed connexions, or the banks, assumed one of these loans 
 at high rates of interest, purchasing on a low quotation in the 
 money market ; but he soon found that he was out of his calcula- 
 tion, as the loan found few takers, and they only for small sums ; 
 it consequently fell below the stipulated rate of exchange, and 
 left most of the obligations incurred resting upon his shoulders. 
 His own active capital was speedily absorbed, and Parish thought 
 there could be no easier way of extricating himself from this em- 
 bai rassment, than to send the greater portion of the stock certifi- 
 cates to the Messrs. Barings in London, and in return place large 
 sums to his own account. The result of this bold measure is 
 easily foreseen. The London house sent back his certificates, and 
 refused his drafts — England was at open war with the United 
 States ! Parish seemed to have forgotten, that at a lord mayor's 
 dinger, given in London, in 1808, the old Sir Francis Baring had, 
 amid the frowns of the company, to defend himself from the re- 
 
PEACE CONCLUDED— SAVES HIM. 187 
 
 proach that his house, by the use of its capital and the sale of 
 American state paper, was furthering the views of the hostile 
 American government. 
 
 In New Orleans I was too remote from the scene of these diffi- 
 culties, in which Parish had become involved, to have a fair and 
 thorough knowledge of them ; but the simple fact that he attempted 
 to have his paper discounted in all the banks, with unimportant 
 names for indorsers, was enough to show that he no longer re- 
 tained that elevated place he had asserted in the American money 
 market only two years before ; and his friends, with deep regret, 
 saw financial difficulty surrounding the man who had so long been 
 accustomed to relieving others from it. Parish was naturally good- 
 hearted, and it had become a proverb that he could not say nay 
 to any applicant. Let the reader now imagine this man, who had 
 never made others feel unpleasantly the importance and weight 
 of his position, placed in such a situation as compelled hirn to de- 
 pend upon the good will of those around him. The Olivers', Craig, 
 and others, who had to thank him for the origin of their wealth, 
 did not feel inclined to risk, once more, the money they had accu- 
 mulated ; and the shyness with which they met his combinations 
 at this time may be conceived. Parish's position had become 
 extremely critical, when the peace, concluded at Ghent, on De- 
 cember 24th, 1814, between the United States and Great Britain, 
 at once restored American paper to its full value, and raised it to 
 quotations in the market which were profitable instead of disas- 
 trous. Parish was saved. 
 
 Now, to return to my own situation when, within a few months 
 after the foundation of my establishment, I was suddenly cut off 
 from all resources. The absence of business thence resulting, 
 the difficulty bordering almost upon impossibility, of tracing out 
 under these circumstances, any business combinations at all cor- 
 responding to the enterprising mercantile spirit, and yet not 
 calculated to place one's reputation for commercial foresight in 
 jeopardy, made life wearisome among a population such as New 
 Orleans at that time contained. It could, indeed, be borne, but 
 it made the joyless void of existence, when the object of that 
 existence has departed, most keenly felt. It was like a dead calm 
 
188 THE AUTHOR BREAKS HIS ARM. 
 
 to the mariner, but with this difference, that the latter continues 
 only for days or weeks, while the termination of my stagnant 
 inactivity could not be calculated, but might extend for years. 
 
 The Mississippi was blockaded and narrowly watched by two 
 English vessels of war. After this sad beginning of the war, the 
 whole city and district of country was so additionally unfortunate 
 as to be devastated by a hurricane of the kind which so fre- 
 quently occurs in tropical climates, at the time of the solstice. 
 Eighteen of the vessels lying in the harbor were thrown on the 
 left bank of the Mississippi, where they remained completely 
 wrecked; many houses, and half-finished buildings were blown 
 down, and most of the roofs in the city were torn away to the 
 last shingle. Such were the reminiscences of the first year of the 
 war! 
 
 Its second year, 1813, brought me fresh proofs of the frail 
 tenure by which human life and comfort are held. In the month of 
 May, as I was taking a pleasure ride on horseback, with a friend, 
 he remarked that some one had told him what a fine racer my 
 horse was, and that he would like to see him running. I assented 
 to the proposed test, adding that he would have to rein up his 
 horse, since so long as mine could hear another galloping close by 
 him, it was impossible to hold him back. This he agreed to do, 
 but did not keep his word, for the moment I had put spurs to my 
 animal, he whipped his horse into full speed, and shouted after 
 me : — " Hallo ! I think I can beat you !" The affair turned out 
 just as I had told him ; I could no longer check my horse, and 
 away he went like the wind, until a sudden stumble precipitated 
 him to the ground, and I was thrown on my side on the highway, 
 where I lay for some time quite lifeless, at the distance of two 
 miles from the city. My head was severely wounded, and my 
 arm was broken at the elbow, in such a way that it has remained 
 crooked and bent ever since, so that I cannoc extend it to its full 
 length. 
 
 Party spirit was embittered by the languishing state of things 
 in the city, and day by day increased to such an extent as to 
 cause the greatest division and irreconcilable enmities where 
 social intercourse had just begun. People would gather at the 
 
THE PIRATES OF BARATARIA. 189 
 
 corners of the streets, to hear or circulate all sorts of private scandal. 
 Ready money became scarce. The whole adjacent coast was dis- 
 quieted and kept in terror by pirates ; among the latter, the most 
 conspicuous were the brothers Laffitte, from Bayonne, Sauvelet, 
 Beluche, Dominique, Gamba and others, who were time and 
 again, seen walking about, publicly, in the streets of New Orleans. 
 They had their friends and acquaintances, their depots of goods, 
 &c., in the city, and sold, almost openly, the wares they had 
 obtained by piracy, particularly English manufactured goods. 
 The slave trade, too, was especially flourishing under their 
 auspices. These pirates captured Spanish and other slave ships 
 on the high seas, and established their main depot and rendezvous 
 on the little island of Barataria, lying near the coast adjacent to 
 New Orleans. This place was visited by the sugar planters, 
 chiefly of French origin, who bought up the stolen slaves at from 
 150 to 200 dollars per head, when they could not have procured 
 as good stock in the city for less than 600 or 700 dollars. These 
 were then conveyed to the different plantations, through the 
 innumerable creeks called bayous, that communicate by manifold 
 little branches, with each other. This clandestine traffic was one 
 of the causes to which the scarcity of ready money was to be 
 attributed. The planters, instead of taking bank notes with them, 
 invariably provided themselves with coin to pay for their pur- 
 chases. This money, however, did not leave the country, but was 
 hoarded away in the private coffers of those who performed the 
 part of secret agents for the pirates, and was thus withdrawn from 
 general circulation. The French and Catalonian population of the 
 city had never been able tq persuade themselves that bank-notes 
 are just as good as cash in representing value when based upon the 
 security of a well-managed banking capital, and just when the pre- 
 judice against them was passing away, the jealous manoeuvring 
 of two cashiers, one T, L. Harman, in the Planter's Bank, the 
 other Joseph Saul, in the Bank of Orleans, both Englishmen by 
 birth, again revived it. The latter cashier aimed at destroying 
 the credit of the Planter's Bank, and attracting its customers to 
 his own, as they were mostly planters who allowed their deposits 
 to lie longer than the merchants were accustomed to do. The 
 
190 SUSPENSION OF THE N. O. BANKS. 
 
 m 
 cashier, who could wind the whole Board of Directors belonging 
 to the Bank, around his little finger, had contracted its discount- 
 ing operations, and thus brought about a much smaller issue of 
 paper than the Planter's Bank had made ; he then, carefully, col- 
 lected the notes of the rival bank as they were coming in, and 
 after getting unfavorable reports into circulation concerning the 
 Planter's Bank, he suddenly presented the accumulated mass of 
 notes, requiring payment of the same in silver, on a day when he 
 knew that his neighbor's supply of that metal was very much 
 reduced. The amount demanded by the notes went far beyond 
 the quantity of silver in the possession of the Planter's Bank, 
 and the clerk of the Bank of Orleans who presented them, 
 instantly returned with word that they would have further con- 
 sultation on the subject. This was enough. The whole popula- 
 tion was thrown into excitement ; there was an immediate run 
 upon the Planter's Bank ; but there was no distinction drawn by 
 the excited public, between it and the Bank of Orleans, which like 
 its rival and anticipated victim, was likewise brought to a stand 
 still, in the payment of its notes. The inhabitants hurried to the 
 exchange, and named a committee of five members, viz : Messrs. 
 Nott, H. Landreaux, and P. F. Dubourg, merchants, Mr. 
 Mazureau a lawyer, and myself, for the purpose of examining into 
 the actual condition of the banks, and reporting thereupon. My 
 colleague, Nott, was the only one of these who possessed any 
 insight into the matter, while the other two merchants had but 
 little knowledge of the subject, and the lawyer, Mazureau, was 
 totally destitute of an idea respecting the system of money- 
 circulation, yet ipso motu, held himself solely authorized to draw 
 up the report which had been intrusted to Mr. Nott and myself, 
 as well as to him. The very first charge of Mr. Mazureau, full 
 of hollow words and declamation, at once convinced me that he 
 had formed no correct conception of the real state of things ; and 
 therefore, did not know what he was talking about. I asked leave 
 to present another statement ; and when I had communicated it to 
 the other members, when the latter came to decide between mine 
 and the one handed in by the attorney, they accepted mine with 
 four votes, while Mr. Mazure&u's had only his own voice in its 
 
THE CONSEQUENCES. 191 
 
 favor. The report drawn up by me, after setting forth the actual 
 position of the Banks, as we found them, and expressing assur- 
 ances in relation to their solvency, that were calculated to quiet 
 all apprehension in every quarter, went on to regret that such an 
 unnecessary excitement should have been produced by the petty 
 jealousies ofrtwo cashiers, whose manoeuvres had created a general 
 business distrust, which should not, and could not have arisen had 
 they really taken the interests of the city to heart. The cashier 
 of the Planter's Bank, who was my personal friend, viewed this in 
 the proper light ; but the cashier of the Orleans Bank, a very 
 irritable and petulant man, was thrown into a perfect fury, and 
 vented his rage, at every public resort, in the most contemptuous 
 and injurious language. He soon learned from our colleague 
 Mazureau, that I had penned the obnoxious document, with the 
 addition, however, that it was an affair arranged between Mr. 
 Nott and Mr. Nolte ; and that the other two members of the 
 committee had merely surrendered their judgment, at discretion. 
 It was now reported, throughout the city, that Mr. Saul had 
 threatened to punish us both, and not to rest until he had taken 
 ample satisfaction out of us. His first attack was directed against 
 my friend Mr. Nott, who happened to be one of the directors of the 
 Bank of Orleans, of which Saul was the cashier. He managed at 
 once, but very quietly, to collect the Bank powers-of-attorney of 
 most of the stockholders, so as to be enabled to cast votes in their 
 name, at the approaching yearly election of new bank directors ; 
 he then had several shares bought up by his creatures, and in this 
 way managed to get the majority of votes into his hands, deter- 
 mined to use them for the purpose of defeating the re-election of 
 the directors who were disagreeable to him : these were six in 
 number, with Nott at their head. Young and inexperienced mer- 
 chants of no weight or importance were elected in their stead. 
 Inflated by this success, he daily went about boasting, on both 
 Bourses — there were then two in New Orleans, the American and 
 French — and threatening that, sooner or later, he would richly 
 chastise us both, for what we had done. I was unwilling to take 
 any notice of this contemptible proceeding, but Nott desired to 
 put Saul's courage to the test, and requested me to hand that per. 
 
192 PERSONAL ATTACK FROM SAUL— 
 
 son a note, in his name, requesting him either to declare the story 
 respecting the threatened chastisement untrue, or to hold himself 
 in readiness to give him personal satisfaction. We both looked 
 upon this as offering him a chance of withdrawing from his boasts, 
 by a couple of friendly words addressed to me. So I took Nott's 
 letter to the dwelling of Mr. Saul, but not finding him at home, 
 looked for him in the street, and met him coming back from the 
 cricket ground. I proceeded to hand him the little note with all 
 due politeness. He read it through apparently without any agi- 
 tation, and replied in a defiant, arrogant tone that he would send 
 a reply. " Through whom, Mr. Saul 1 I ask, in order that I may 
 have an interview with your friend." " That is none of your busi- 
 ness !" he answered with persistent insolence. " Well, then," I 
 rejoined, " give me a line to show that my friend's letter has 
 reached your hands, and my mission is then completed !" Saul's 
 response to this demand was a furious blow of his fist in my right 
 eye — he had always boasted of his skill and practice as a boxer — 
 and I, whom the fracture of my arm, a couple of months before, 
 had rendered utterly unable to make any resistance, broke away 
 from him and hurried across the street ; however, he followed 
 me, and seizing me by the' collar, jerked me backwards to the 
 ground. While I was in this position he beat my head against 
 the edge of the curb-stone with such violence that I lay there sense- 
 less and bleeding. A couple of acquaintances, who found me in 
 this condition, brought me, not without some trouble, to my home, 
 and I was there confined to bed by my wounds and bruises 
 during a whole fortnight. 
 
 Nott called to see me at once, and remarked that he knew what 
 was reserved for him to do, and that he hoped, in the course of 
 the next morning, to bring me some gratifying news of my assas- 
 sin, as he called him. About 10 o'clock on the ensuing day he 
 came into my room, with the words : " Your assassin, Mr. Nolte, 
 is weltering in his blood !" " What !" I exclaimed, " dead V 
 " No !" he answered, " not dead, but shot through the body !" 
 And here he went on to tell me, that the moment he heard of the 
 treatment I had received, he sent Saul a challenge to meet him 
 the next morning, with pistols, and at the same time declaring 
 
I PROCLAIM HIM A COWARD. 193 
 
 that the whole business must be done within twelve hours. Saul 
 had agreed to meet him at 8 o'clock, and I now knew the result. 
 It appeared, upon examination, that Saul's wound would have 
 been mortal had he not, contrary to all the rules of the duello, 
 wrapped a silk bandage around his body ; Nott's bullet had struck 
 him, but its force was broken by the band of silk, which was ten 
 yards in length, and wrapped several times about Saul's person, 
 and glanced aside, lodging beneath one of his right ribs. A fort- 
 night afterwards I was well, and did not delay 24 hours in demand- 
 ing personal satisfaction from Mr. Saul, for the mal-treatment he 
 had inflicted on me. His reply was that " he had already given 
 Mr. Nott personal satisfaction for what had occurred between him 
 and me, and that he was not bound to render account to any one 
 else." The reader will at once perceive that this was a reply not 
 calculated to meet my wishes. I again wrote to Saul, that I 
 would not accept such a reply ; that Mr. Nott had looked upon 
 the treatment I had received as a personal insult to himself, bu 
 that I was not accustomed to settle my accounts at the cost ot 
 other people, and that what I expected from him was instant sat 
 isfaction. I waited three days for a reply, but in vain. I then 
 resolved to have my two letters and his reply printed, with the 
 words beneath them : " I do, therefore, hereby declare Joseph 
 Saul to be a worthless rascal and a coward!" This card, 
 signed by me, was then posted on all the public places and street 
 corners, and by seven o'clock the following morning they were 
 everywhere visible. The excitement in the city was very great ; 
 public opinion — that is to say, all those who were not afraid of 
 having the discounting of their notes refused, for it was generallv 
 believed that their acceptance or rejection depended upon the dis- 
 position of the cashier — spoke loudly in my favor. I, however, 
 felt unhappy to the last degree, so long as I had not got satisfac- 
 tion from the aggressor, and for some time knew scarcely what to 
 do, as my crippled arm deprived me of the possibility of encoun- 
 tering him in any other way than with the pistol ; and, conse- 
 quently, I could not venture to lay the cowhide over his shoul- 
 ders. At length I bethought me of a plan which I considered 
 infallible, for the attainment of my object. It was as follows s — 
 
 9 
 
194 A FORGED LETTER. 
 
 Among the generals on the American side who had been sent to the 
 Canadian frontiers, not merely for the purpose of defending them, 
 but also to carry on offensive operations against the English army 
 then extended along the lines, was one named William Hull, 
 who, upon the first approach of the English corps, although it was 
 inferior to his own, retreated, and at last surrendered, without 
 striking a blow. He was soon afterwards exchanged, and imme- 
 diately upon his return brought before a court-martial, which sen- 
 tenced him to be degraded from the service, and, by public procla- 
 mation, declared him to be a poltroon and coward. I had a letter 
 published in the " Ami des Lois," purporting to be from the con- 
 demned general to one of his friends in New Orleans, in which he 
 bitterly complained of his hard lot, but more particularly of the 
 wretched position in which he was placed by his sentence ; since, 
 from the moment when he was proclaimed a coward, no one 
 would have anything to do with him, much less extend a hand to 
 grasp his. He could, therefore, continued the letter, no longer 
 remain in Boston, and was longing to find some other place where 
 people did not think so much of such affairs ; and, if it were true, 
 as he had learned, that Joseph Saul, cashier of the Orleans Bank, 
 was about to resign his place and retire, he would be glad to fill 
 the vacancy, as he had been told that, in spite of the disgraceful 
 reputation of being a cowardly knave, a man could carry on busi- 
 ness with the greatest boldness ; and that there were even some 
 folks there who, on discounting day, would hold out a friendly 
 hand ; and that, as he was not a whit better or worse than this 
 Saul, he deserved to be placed upon as good a level. In common 
 with every honorable man in New Orleans, I had a right to expect 
 that this letter, the authorship of which the newspaper editor was 
 empowered to reveal, would bring the individual on whom it 
 bore into the field, but I counted without my host. 
 
 Mr. Saul, and the clique that counselled him did not look upon 
 matters in that light. They were, indeed, anxious to wipe out the 
 dishonor put upon him, but without danger to him, and at all 
 events, not at their own expense. They imagined that I would 
 not be so rash as to fight, notwithstanding my crippled arm, and 
 that it was only recessary to provide some vent for my ill 
 
ARRANGEMENTS FOR A DUEL. 195 
 
 humor. So they hit upon the plan of hunting up some one 
 whom they could, without great difficulty, persuade to send me a 
 challenge, not for any reasonable cause, so that I, as they pre- 
 sumed would happen, should decline it, and yield them all the 
 pleasure of posting me at the corners of the streets, as I had done 
 to their friend Saul. With this intention, they looked about 
 them for some time without success ; but after the lapse of a fort- 
 night, chance favored their sinister project. A nephew of General 
 Hull, named Allen, who was then at Mobile, in the capacity of 
 under Paymaster to a regiment of United States troops, quar- 
 tered there, came on to New Orleans to attend to some regimental 
 business. They found him out, and the endeavor to work up 
 sufficiently, terminated as they wished. At the same time I re- 
 ceived warning that family friends of General Hull were preparing 
 to wreak vengeance on me. The editor of the " Ami des Lois," 
 let me know that there had'been some one inquiring of him who 
 it was that had written the offensive letter, and that the person 
 wishing to know was called Allen. On the next day, while at 
 table, I received a visit from Captain Perry, who handed me an 
 open letter, signed by Mr. Allen ; and informed me that the 
 latter on his own behalf, and in the name of his family, demanded 
 personal satisfaction of me for having disrespectfully used the 
 name of their unfortunate relative, General Hull. I replied, that 
 I was ready to grant it, and that if he would be at the French 
 Exchange by 8 o'clock, I would send him my friend Nott, to 
 make the necessary preparations for the meeting. Nott at once 
 expressed his willingness to act as my second in the affair, and 
 met Captain Perry that evening at the Exchange. They arranged 
 that the duel should take place at 7 o'clock the next morning, on 
 the road to the Bayou* St. John; that pistols should be the 
 weapons used, the distance ten paces, and that we should both 
 fire at the same moment, upon the given word. Nott returned to 
 the Exchange while I remained at home to write some letters, and 
 make some needful preparations. An hour later, Nott came 
 back to me and said : — " They appear to rue the step they have 
 
 * Bayou is the local name for a small river or creek. 
 
196 DUEL STILL IN PROSPECT. 
 
 taken." "How is that?" I asked. "Well," replied Nott, "I 
 have just net Captain Perry, at the Exchange, and he came 
 right up to me, with a very friendly air, expressing his regret 
 that things had gone so far. He confessed that he had been led 
 into error by people representing that you were an insolent 
 European, who imagined that he could say or do anything to 
 Americans ; he then went on to say that the only thing required 
 was a slight correction of language, rather than anything serious, 
 and that you would assuredly decline the challenge." (I should 
 then have had the pleasure of beholding my name figuring on all 
 the street corners !) " Instead of finding a disagreeable person, 
 he continued, he was received by you in the politest manner 
 possible ; and, after promptly accepting the challenge, you had 
 offered a glass of d — d good Madeira ; it would be a pity to see 
 two clever men, who had no real cause of animosity against each 
 other, fighting for a mere piece of s^ort, which had been mis- 
 understood ! Is there no way, he said, in conclusion, of settling the 
 matter peaceably 1 I replied," continued Nott, " that I could see 
 no possibility of such an arrangement, now that the challenge had 
 been sent in and accepted. He then rejoined, that if the chal- 
 lenge were returned with a simple declaration that there had beeii 
 no intention of offending the Hull family, he would take it upon 
 himself to have the thing set right. And now, it depends upon 
 you ; will you return the challenge V 
 
 " Not at all," I answered, adding that I would have accepted 
 this offer without hesitation, if they had acted in some other 
 fashion; but that now, since the challenge had been given and 
 taken up, no retraction was to be thought of; I, at the same time, 
 remarked to Nott, that I had already perceived how it was in 
 New Orleans, where so many adventurers and worthless men 
 from distant regions, flocked in, and endeavored, although rogues, 
 to pass for honest men ; no other way w r as open for them than to 
 attack the personal courage of a man, so that because they w r ere 
 always ready to fight, they might put forward higher claims to 
 consideration than the good and prudent citizen who was unwil- 
 ling to jeopard his life, and the fortunes of his family at any 
 and every moment for nothing For that reason, said I to Nott, 
 
IT COMES OFF. 197 
 
 I have resolved to let slip no opportunity of making such a 
 sacrifice, in duty to myself and my own peace of mind, — the first 
 course I had taken was the best, and I would not recede from it." 
 Nott admitted that I was perfectly right ; he confessed that in 
 view of the usages and customs prevailing where a man is living, 
 no other means of securing his tranquillity is open to him than 
 to bow sometimes before necessity, even should he do it, with a 
 protest in his heart, and without respect for the system he was 
 thus compelled to obey. 
 
 The next morning, I met my antagonist, whom I had never 
 before seen, at the appointed rendezvous. He was accompanied 
 by Captain Perry and Dr. Hermann, a German, employed as a 
 surgeon in the American army. My medical attendant was a 
 Frenchman named Gros, now a resident at Tarbes, among the 
 Pyrenees. At the first fire, the barrel of my adversary's pistol 
 was struck by my ball, and fell broken to the ground. Before 
 the second, I was asked by Captain Perry if I had anything to 
 say : I, of course, replied in the negative, adding that I should 
 remain in my present attitude until parties declared themselves 
 satisfied. The bullets crossed without effect. At the third fire, 
 when my ball grazed my adversary's right sh^hlder, and glanced 
 past the back of his skull, he exclaimed : — " By God ! that seems 
 enough!" Our seconds then had a brief consultation together, 
 and at length announced to me that Mr. Allen would approach 
 me unarmed, and with outstretched hand, and that if I would then 
 step forward to meet him in the same way, and declare that in the 
 letter I had got the Ami des Lois to publish, I had not meant to 
 insult the family of General Hull, the affair would be at an end. 
 I consented to this, and the next day my disclaimer to this effect, 
 appeared in the Ami des Lois with the addition, that the real 
 object of that letter had been no other than to lash Mr. Joseph Saul 
 with the scourge of ridicule, for his pitiful cowardice. 
 
 About three days after the duel, I met Mr. Allen. He 
 approached me, with tears in his eyes, and taking my hand in a 
 friendly way, confessed that he had acted in a hostile spirit 
 towards me, but that he had been set on to do it, and become the 
 blind instrument of persons whose secret purpose he bad not at 
 
198 SOCIETY IN NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 first divined. I begged him to tell me the names of these 
 honorable people, and learned just as I had all along taken for 
 granted, that they were no other than Mr. Saul, and his clique. 
 
 I have narrated the story of these personal difficulties, which 
 can have no very great interest for my readers, with a certain 
 degree of minuteness, so as to present a fair view of the social 
 condition of things in New Orleans, at that period. It was not 
 only a nest of pirates, but a place of resort for every description 
 of schemers and scamps, against whom nearly every other com- 
 munity was closed. Nott, an American by birth, who had lived 
 for some time in France, and could boast a degree of culture, and 
 I, held ourselves aloof as much as possible from such a popula- 
 tion, and visited only some of the older and most respectable 
 families, never going near any of the drinking establishments, 
 gambling saloons, &a, &c. For this very reason, we were hated 
 and persecuted by the mass of the population, and looked upon 
 with suspicion. " Inimical to the best interests of the country," 
 was the usual phrase applied to us, although the existence of such 
 an idea long remained unknown to us. 
 
 Just about this time there was a rumor afloat of a large expe- 
 dition fitting ou^in England, against the southern coasts of 
 the United States, especially the seaboard of Louisiana. A 
 freebooter gang, under an English major named Nicholas, had 
 placed itself in communication with the pirates of Barataria, and 
 English cruisers were from time to time seen in the Gulf of Mex- 
 ico, and off the mouths of the Mississippi. Navigation on the 
 two lakes, Borgne and Pontchartrain, back of New Orleans, had 
 never been disturbed, and to the entrance of Mobile Bay or Mobile 
 Point, as it is called, to the harbor of Pensacola, which remained 
 opened to the English and their flag, was about six hours sail. At 
 Pensacola, Louisiana cotton could not be procured by the English 
 for less than from 22 to 24 cents per pound, while in New Orleans 
 it cost only half that rate. Intercourse was then carried on be- 
 tween the country bordering the lakes, and even between New 
 Orleans and Pensacola, by means of small craft, counting from 
 ten to fifteen tons, which conveyed flour, wine, spirituous liquors, 
 etc., etc., to and j. The whole flotilla amounted to about 
 
TRADING OPERATIONS. 199 
 
 twenty-five sail. One morning I chartered the larger .£ these, 
 loaded them with cotton, to the extent of about 250 bales in all, 
 and dispatched them to Mobile Bay, there to await my arrival. 
 A day or two afterwards I reached the place, in a small empty 
 schooner, and lay close to Fort Mobile, before which a small 
 English squadron was cruising, and at length began to make pre- 
 parations for bombarding the fort. The attack came at last, and 
 continued, right before my eyes, from one o'clock in the afternoon 
 until seven in the evening. The little fort withstood the cannon- 
 ade of five war vessels most bravely, and responded to it with 
 such effect as evidently to occasion them very great damage. I 
 now brought the whole of my little flotilla from the middle of the 
 bay close to the fort, and waited in my little clipper for the re- 
 treat of the British squadron. When this occurred, at sundown, 
 I sailed along close at its heels, yet at a certain distance, and saw 
 that it bore direct for Pensacola, where, thought I, they would be 
 more likely to occupy themselves with repairing their damage 
 than in capturing small craft like mine. So I returned to the bay, 
 hauled out my flotilla, and, favored during the night by a cloudless 
 moon and fair wind, brought it by sunrise safe into the harbor of 
 Pensacola. Here I sold my cotton, on the spot, at twenty-two cents 
 per pound, and in return purchased three packs woollen blankets 
 at five and a half to six dollars. With these I went through Mo- 
 bile Bay and the small lakes back to New Orleans, where the blan- 
 kets were worth from ten to eleven dollars. The proper period 
 for the sale of that article is in December, at the beginning of the 
 sugar crop. Everybody thought this little venture of mine a 
 pretty thing, and greeted me on 'Change with, "Ah, you have 
 been to visit your friends the English ?" 
 
 Saul and his set, who never rested in their hostility to me, had 
 fished up another dupe, in the person of a certain purser Shields, 
 of the navy, whose head they had filled with stories of the in- 
 trigues and treasonable plots, in which they represented Nott and 
 myself to be engaged. This half-crazy fellow had repeatedly gone 
 so far, in conversation with Dr. Morris — a surgeon in the navy, 
 who freqi ently visited us — as to say that he had testimony in his 
 possession which would convince him (Dr. Morris) that we were 
 
200 MOHB DIFFICULTY WITH SAUL, 
 
 regular traitors, hostilely disposed towards the American govern- 
 ment, and unfair in our dealings. Peremptorily called upon to 
 come forward with this testimony, he retracted, so for as Nott 
 was concerned ; " Since," said he, " Nott was a native, and not, 
 like me, an adopted American, and consequently must love his own 
 country more than any other ; but what he had asserted respect- 
 ing me he would maintain. The real motive that impelled him 
 to draw this distinction between Nott and myself lay in the fact 
 that Nott was one of the best marksmen in the city, while, in my 
 case, owing to my crippled arm, there was not so much risk to be 
 incurred. A polite letter which I wrote to him, requesting him 
 to name a place and hour, where he would unfold to a friend, 
 whom I would dispatch to him for that purpose, the proofs of my 
 " hostile intentions" and my " unfairness," remained during seve- 
 ral days unanswered — he was compelled to visit Mobile on busi- 
 ness, and would have to postpone the desired information until 
 his return. Having, at length, got back from Mobile, a fortnight 
 elapsed before he took any step, and he then employed the pen of 
 an attorney to write me a letter, full of the most pitiful subter- 
 fuge, and declaring that he had not made himself responsible for 
 the production of those proofs before any one but Dr. Morris. A 
 second letter from me, of a less mild but rather very positive 
 character, also remained for some time unanswered. At this 
 moment our civil and military authorities received information, 
 from the government at Washington, that an English fleet, with a 
 considerable body of troops on board, and bound for Louisiana, 
 had not only sailed from England, but had even left Jamaica, and 
 that we had to expect its speedy appearance in our waters, and 
 must be prepared for it. Now came some lines from Mr. Shields, 
 informing me that at this conjuncture he must devote all his at- 
 tention to the country's service, and therefore let our differences 
 rest until the critical moment had passed. The whole affair was, in 
 Itself of so contemptible a description, the individual with whom 
 1 had to deal such a silly jackanapes, and my disgust for the busi- 
 ness so profound, that I determined to throw no difficulty in the 
 way of his doing what he mentioned in his letter, but to wait with 
 * hope that he would, in the meanwhile, come to the use of his 
 
AND PURSER SHIELDS. 201 
 
 senses, and make some reparation. The presence of any narrative 
 touching this contemptible affair, in the place where the reader 
 finds it, is due to nothing but the influence it exercised upon my 
 second duel. Moreover, it completes the picture of the then ex- 
 isting social relations at New Orleans — a state of things which 
 seems scarcely credible at the present day. 
 
CHAPITER XII. 
 JACKSON'S DEFENCE OF THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 His arrival there on the 1st of December, 1814 — Simultaneous arrival of the 
 English fleet in the waters of Florida — Capture of our gunboats by the 
 English, on the 14th of December — March of our militia battalions to the 
 Bayou St. John, on Lac Borgne — On the 23d of December, the first intelli- 
 gence is received that the British had landed on the plantation of General 
 Villere" — We are ordered to the spot with all the troops under Jackson's 
 command — The night engagement of December 23d — The burning of our cut- 
 ter, the Carolina, by an English battery, on Christmas day — The heavy 
 cannonade on New- Year's day, 1815 — The complete discomfiture of the Bri- 
 tish force, under General Pakenham, on the occasion of its attack on our 
 first line, January 8th, 1815 — Immensely disproportionate loss of the Eng- 
 lish — Completion of the British retreat, on January 16th. 
 
 The crisis was indeed a serious one. The President of the 
 United States had commissioned General Jackson, who com- 
 „ manded the militia of the State of Tennessee, to defend the south- 
 ern coasts against the anticipated invasion of the British. This 
 personage had never enjoyed the least opportunity of obtaining 
 any regular military instruction. He had passed a great portion 
 of his earlier years in the political contests and broils of the 
 regions in which he lived ; and had even been accustomed to carry 
 and use his pistols in the very courts where he had sat as judge ; 
 while of the art of war he knew nothing but its fortitude and per- 
 severance, although well acquainted with the barbarity of combats 
 with the Indian tribes, and the cold-blooded massacre ard extirpa- 
 tion meted out to the savage race. 
 
 It was on the 1st of December, 1814, that Jackson made his 
 appearance in the neighborhood of New Orleans with somewhat 
 less than 1500 men. This feeble force embarked on flats and 
 
GENERAL JACKSON. 203 
 
 keel-boats at Nashville, in the State of Tennessee, had floated out 
 of the Cumberland river, and thence descended the Mississippi to 
 its destination. It was made up partly of volunteers and partly of 
 drafted militia, drawn by lot from among the male inhabitants of 
 Tennessee and Kentucky. Among the volunteers was a body of 
 about five hundied men, who had taken part with Jackson in the 
 Indian wars. They were commanded by General Coffee, and 
 formed what was called Coffee's Brigade. They were the best 
 and most practised men of the 1500, and were subdivided into 
 companies of riflemen, which were under the command of cap- 
 tains, lieutenants, and sergeants, elected by themselves ; a system 
 that applied to the whole mass. These men carried nothing but 
 their pieces, their cartouch-boxes and powder-horns — their bullets 
 were usually in their pantaloons pockets — they had no idea what- 
 ever of military organization and discipline : they paid attention 
 only to the more important part of their calling, which, according 
 to their notions, was quietly to pick out their man, fix him in 
 their aim, and " bring him down." 
 
 General Jackson had a Captain Haines and a Major Reed, of 
 the militia, for military adjutants, and a Colonel Butler, of an 
 American regiment of the line for quarter-master. Not one of 
 these gentlemen, Jackson himself included, understood one word 
 of French, which was the language then generally spoken in Lou- 
 isiana, much less were they in the slightest degree acquainted 
 with the way of thinking, ideas, manners, and customs of the 
 population, which was chiefly of French origin. Upon this occa- 
 sion, the lawyer, Edward Livingston, whom J have already men- 
 tioned, and who was then residing at New Orleans, renewed his 
 acquaintanceship with Jackson ; who at once saw of what invaluable 
 service this skilful and experienced man, who had for more than 
 ten years lived in close contact with the mixed population of Lou- 
 isiana, might then be, and afterwards become, to him. Again, the 
 General knew much better how to handle the sword than the pen, 
 and although he had been both a lawyer and a judge, wrote his 
 native tongue in a very imperfect and unorthographic style: how, 
 then, could he have hit upon a better hand to prepare his dispatches 
 for the government, than the author of the Criminal Code in Lou- 
 
204 JACKSON'S Aim. 
 
 isiana, his friend, the renowned writer and orator, Edward Living- 
 ston 1 This was sufficient reason for a joyful acceptance of his 
 offer to act as Jackson's volunteer aid and private secretary ! 
 Livingston had himself dubbed colonel, and, in addition to his ser- 
 vices, those of his brother-in-law Davezac, elsewhere mentioned, 
 and of two other lawyers, A. L. Duncan and John R. Grymes, 
 by name, along with Duplessis, the district marshal, or five per- 
 sons in all, were accepted in the capacity of volunteer adjutants ; 
 the two lawyers, with the title of colonel, and the district marshal 
 and Livingston's brother-in-law, as majors. Among this quintuple 
 staff of adjutants, Livingston himself was the most distinguished 
 and really useful man, while Grymes was the intrepid one of their 
 number ; the other three were of very little, if any service, as the 
 sequel will show, and were entirely out of their element, when it 
 came to confronting the hostile fire. Livingston had until then 
 lain under the suspicion of poltroonery, and if the celebrated 
 French academician and historian Mignet, speaks, in his obituary 
 of Edward Livingston, published in the Journal des Debats, of the 
 daring courage which distinguished that gentleman amid the perils 
 of battle, he had no other authority for the narrative than Living- 
 ston himself. As Jackson once said, " Fighting, not writing, is 
 my business !" Livingston might have exclaimed in the inverse 
 sense, " Writing, not fighting, is my business !" Again, as to this 
 matter, the reader will learn, in the course of the present history, 
 with what zeal the volunteer adjutants, of whom only one showed 
 any real bravery, applied themselves to the work of informing 
 their contemporaries and posterity after them of their personal 
 prowess. The excellent proclamations addressed by Jackson to 
 the country, to the inhabitants of the city, and to the citizen mili- 
 tia ; all the dispatches sent to the President, at Washington, in 
 relation to the events and operations transpiring until the invading 
 British force had withdrawn, were from Livingston's pen. The 
 dispatch at the close of the brief campaign is from the hand of 
 Mr. Grymes. 
 
 On December 14th, 1814, intelligence was received at New 
 Orleans that the English squadron, under the command of 
 Cochrane and Malcolm, with a considerable body of troops on 
 
SHALL I VOLUNTEER? 205 
 
 board, had appeared in the waters of the Florida Gulf. At once 
 all was bustle at New Orleans — Jackson was untiringly active. 
 A mile and a half in the rear of the city flows the Bayou St. John 
 into the small Lac Borgne, of which I have already spoken. From 
 this lake the Gulf of Florida is reached by a narrow pass, called 
 " Les rigoletsP At the mouth of this bayou stands a small fort, 
 and another is placed half way up the pass, but both together do 
 not count more than ten cannon. The entrance to this pass was 
 guarded by five small gunboats, of which each one carried a 24 
 pounder and two small carronades, and was commanded by officers 
 of the United States navy. 
 
 On the 14th of December these gunboats were attacked by the 
 English, in boats filled with seamen and marines, and after a brief 
 struggle overpowered. The English had not one single piece of 
 cannon in their small craft, but sustained the fire of the gunboats 
 with great coolness as they approached, and took them by board- 
 ing. It was on the morning of the 16th, or two days after this 
 occurred, that Jackson learned the capture of his flotilla. 
 
 The only perfectly armed, well equipped, and really disciplined 
 corps of the citizen militia under the general's command, was the 
 little first battalion of the first regiment, consisting of about 550 
 men, and counting, among its officers some who had fought beneath 
 the eye of Napoleon in Egypt ; as, for example, Mr. P. Roche, at 
 that time a French bookseller at New Orleans. My situation 
 had become a critical one. I was entitled to complete exemp- 
 tion from military duty, owing to the fact of having been disa- 
 bled by my fall of the preceding year. I could have folded my 
 arms with a good conscience ; and, not as many of the young in- 
 habitants of New Orleans would have liked to do with flimsy 
 pretexts, have remained inside of the city : but, as the suspicion 
 of entertaining a secret preference for the English and English 
 interests rested on me, I could not have done so without incurring 
 malicious remarks, and, very probably, persecution. Apart from 
 this inferior motive for action, I could not coolly have listened to 
 the near roll of musketry and the thunder of cannon without excite- 
 ment. For this reason, then, I determined to join the small corps 
 referred te. as a member of the so-called Carabineer company. 
 
20(> THE VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 The little battalion was sent, on that very same day (December 
 lGth) by Jackson, to Bayou St. John, and placed under the com- 
 mand of Major J. B. Planche, a native of Louisiana, who had 
 hitherto commanded the Carabineers. A second company, the 
 Chasseurs, was put under the order of St. Romes, an emigrant 
 from St. Domingo, and at that time one of the editors of the 
 Courrier de la Louisiane, instead of their captain, Daquin, who 
 had commanded them up to that moment ; a third was intrusted 
 to St. Geme, another French emigrant, who had been for some 
 time in the English service at Jamaica ; a fourth, consisting en- 
 tirely of Irishmen, had one of their countrymen, called Maunsel 
 White, at their head ; and the remainder of the battalion, was com- 
 posed of volunteer mulattoes and negroes, who had selected Daquin, 
 formerly a baker at St. Domingo, for their commander. Jack- 
 son's whole force consisted of these two half battalions, a brace of 
 companies belonging to the second regiment of United States regu- 
 lars, one company of artillerists, also from the regular army, and 
 under the command of Captain Humphries, a company of marines 
 led by Major Carmick, and the 1,500 riflemen from Tennessee 
 and Kentucky, who were stationed above the city. At that mo- 
 ment, too, there was formed a company of volunteer riflemen, 
 under the command of a Mr. Beale, a man of advanced years, a 
 native of Virginia, and then residing in New Orleans, where he 
 had some reputation as a fine marksman. This company was 
 principally made up of Americans from the northern states, and 
 people of some instruction : it numbered among its ranks Mr. B. 
 Lewis, Judge of the first District Court in Louisiana, B. Chew, 
 Director of the Custom House, Messrs. Montgomery & Touro, 
 still living, and known as wealthy and respectable merchants, the 
 deceased merchants, Story, Kenner, and Henderson, the lawyer Pou- 
 ter de Peystee, and many others. The carabineers, under the or- 
 ders of Roche, also contained many of the elite of the population, 
 among them Messrs. Millaudon, Musson, McCall and Shepherd, the 
 former three still living. Jackson's perseverance and energy, in 
 availing himself of every resource at his command, were indefatiga- 
 ble ; and all the more necessary too, that the government, owing to 
 the lack of pecuniary resources, had left Louisiana almost unprovi 
 
BARATARIAN PIRATES. 207 
 
 ded ; but again, more especially, in its arrangements, for the land 
 troops and marines had displayed a most astonishing ignorance and 
 carelessness. Thus, they had sent molasses from Boston by land 
 and down the western rivers to New Orleans, apparently entirely 
 forgetting that Boston and the northeastern States procured that 
 very article by sea from New Orleans ! What I am about to 
 relate in the next paragraph will convey an idea of the use Jack- 
 son managed to make of his scattered and merely adventitious re- 
 sources, as well as the skill Livingston displayed in turning them 
 to account. 
 
 I have already referred to the colony of pirates, which infested 
 the little islands that are dotted along the southern shores of Lou- 
 isiana, and had their main resort at Barataria during the earlier 
 years of the American occupancy of that province. At the head 
 of these marauding bands were the two brothers Lafitte, from Ba- 
 yonne, the elder of whom called himself the emperor of Barataria, 
 and often published parodies of the Napoleonic proclamations in 
 the paper of his friend Leclerc. I have also intimated that La- 
 fitte, his brother Beluche, and others, celebrated pirates, frequently 
 showed themselves in the streets of New Orleans, which they 
 usually paraded arm in arm with Livingston's brother-in-law, 
 Davezac, and with Leclerc, both of whom they regarded as bosom- 
 friends. Several times caught, as they were, Livingston and his 
 brother-in-law always managed to get them released. The native- 
 born citizens of French origin, or Creoles, as they are called, and 
 the French and Spaniards who had settled there, could not appre- 
 ciate the superiority of a jury, but fourd it a rather burdensome 
 arrangement. It is better, said they, to have salaried judges : and 
 when a case arose, where pirates were to be liberated, the success 
 was almost a certainty. Ces gens la, said most of the French, 
 font leurs affaires, pour qu oi g frier leur metier I — those people have 
 their own pursuit, why interfere with it % Their accomplice and 
 • business agent in New Orleans was called Sauvinet (I have named 
 him before), and also hailed from Bayonne. He had a counting- 
 room in the suburb of Marigny, where he employed a bookkeeper, 
 named Laporte, who worked for me in the years 1806 and 1807. 
 When the pirate settlement in the island of Barataria had been 
 
208 EDWARD LIVINGSTON. 
 
 driven out by the American navy, Beluche, who afterwards en- 
 tered the service of the young Venezuelan republic as a commo- 
 dore, and a certain Dominique, took the piratical business into 
 their own hands as an inheritance, by default of other heirs. The 
 latter, a remarkably bold man, had been captured by the Ameri- 
 can revenue cutters, and when the English fleet, under Admirals 
 Cochrane and Malcolm, appeared in the waters of Florida, was 
 confined in the jail at New Orleans. Countless proofs of his pira- 
 cies, even against American shipping, and of the cooperation of 
 Beluche, who had escaped in time, were in the hands of the Ame- 
 rican government, and the gallows seemed unavoidable. Investi- 
 gation had led to the discovery that Major St. Geme (referred to 
 above), of our battalion, was Dominique's partner and go-between. 
 This man was, like Sauvinet, in good circumstances, and owned 
 several houses in the city. Dominique, in jail, and Sauvinet, out- 
 side of it, applied to Livingston, and made him their legal adviser 
 and attorney. The sum offered to him, if he should succeed in 
 procuring their liberation, of course could never be exactly ascer- 
 tained. Common report throughout the city put it as high as 
 15,000 Spanish dollars. The overwhelming evidence against Do- 
 minique rendered his judicial release impossible ; but his libera- 
 tion, and the quashing of all further proceedings against him, St. 
 Geme, Beluche, and all the rest who were suspected of being 
 pirates, was brought about by Livingston, who resorted to the 
 very simple means of getting Dominique and Beluche to offer 
 their services to Jackson against the English, in the name of their 
 bands, under condition that he would apply to the President of 
 the United States for their pardon. Jackson was too keen not to 
 see through Livingston's object at once ; he had found in him a 
 man who was not troubled by any scruples of conscience, and to 
 whom, as to himself, all means were good that led to the accom 
 plishment of an object. Moreover, good fighting men were wanted, 
 and Livingston represented the advantages that were to be antici- 
 pated from the cooperation of these men, from their influence 
 with the lower classes of the French population, from their intre- 
 pidity, and their skill in handling the heavier description of artil- 
 lery, ir such glowing colors, that the general at length gave his 
 
JACKSON'S DETERMINATE N. 200 
 
 consent, all the more readily that he was aware of the negotiations 
 that the English adventurer, Edward Nicholas, had ere this been 
 carrying on with them. The prison-door was thrown open to 
 Dominique, Beluche presented himself, and in a few days the two 
 received the command of a battery, which was afterwards called 
 No. 3, and with which I was brought into close contact. 
 
 In the forenoon of December 23d, Jackson received the first 
 intelligence of the landing of the British. The news was sent to 
 him by the militia general Villere, a sugar planter. Five or six 
 hundred of the invading troops had landed on his estate, which 
 they had reached by the small canal Villere, flowing into Lac 
 Borgne. A picket guard of young planters had been intrusted 
 with the charge of watching the entrance to this small canal, 
 although no one had thought it likely that the enemy would 
 attempt to land there. These young gentlemen, persuaded that 
 there was nothing to apprehend, meanwhile amused themselves in 
 hunting through the neighboring woods, so that, during their 
 absence, the English boats were enabled to pass unperceived up 
 the channel, and land their troops. General Villere discovered 
 them, one morning when he went out to examine his sugar fields. 
 The English had thus been on shore for three days before the fact 
 was known in New Orleans. But Jackson's resolution was now 
 taken. " We will," said he ; " now give them a little taste of 
 what they may expect ! They shall find out whom they have to 
 deal with !" When he heard the women and children crying for 
 terror, in the streets, he ordered Livingston to tell them that 
 " he was there, and that the British should never get into the city, 
 so long as he held the command !" 
 
 In some accounts of that epoch, it is affirmed that the general, 
 at once, arrested and imprisoned suspicious citizens ; but such a 
 thing was not thought of, as there was neither time nor occasion 
 for the adoption of any such measure. The general was burning 
 with impatience to come to close quarters with the red coats, as 
 he called them. He wanted to fight. There was no computation 
 of relative force, and not much idea of tactics, or plan. Jackson 
 had bent all the strength of his will on one single point, and that 
 was to meet, and drive off the red coats. " I will smash them," 
 
210 FORWARD, MARCH. 
 
 he would exclaim, " so help me God !" Two field-pieces, with 
 the few companies of regulars, were at once ordered, under 
 Captain Humphries, to pass down the only military road, which 
 runs along the left bank of the Mississippi river, from and to the 
 city. They were to proceed as far as Villere's plantation, and 
 were followed by the companies of sharp-shooters, under Beale, 
 whose directions were to throw themselves into the thickets and 
 low- woods, cyprieres, as they are termed ; next to these came the 
 1200 riflemen from Tennessee, who had been provided with horses 
 from all the neighboring plantations. These men joined Beale's 
 command, and extended themselves through the woods, called 
 cyprieres, which border all the plantations, until the mulatto-corps, 
 which marched up after them, and formed their right wing, 
 reached the extremity of their long line, and joined them. About 
 3 o'clock in the afternoon, both the battalions stationed at Bayoi. 
 St. John, received orders to come to the city, with all possible 
 speed. They arrived about 4 o'clock, were immediately inspected 
 before the Fort St. Charles, between the city and the suburb of 
 Marygny, fully provided with powder and ball, and directed at 
 once to follow the mounted Tennessee riflemen. It took these 
 men more than an hour to file past, two by two, with their rifles 
 in their hands and resting on their knee, each following the 
 other step by step. Our Major, Planche, was very much agitated. 
 He turned round to me and said, in almost piteous tone, " Alas ! 
 I scarcely feel that I have courage enough to lead fathers of 
 families to battle !" But our Captain, Roche, who was " made 
 of sterner stuff," and might be called a practiced soldier, rejoined : 
 " Don't talk in that way, Major ! Come now ! that's not the kind 
 of tone to use, at this time !" With these words, he wheeled 
 about to us, and shouted : — " Come, lads ! forward ! Do your 
 duty like brave fellows !" The Villere plantation was about eight 
 or nine miles from the city. We hurried towards it with a zeal, 
 which, for inexperienced militia who had not yet smelt powder, 
 might have been called almost heroic, had not Jackson's own 
 example spurred us on, or had not many remained in careless 
 ignorance of what awaited them. With our silent band of 
 musicians in front, almost at a running pace, we reached Villere's 
 
A BATTLE. 211 
 
 plantation within about two hours, just as twilight was drawing 
 on, and in profound silence ; in advance of us, on the road, stood 
 the two companies of regulars, headed by Captain Humphries, 
 with his two field-pieces, and matches lit. The regulars were to 
 have this small battery on their right wing, the battalion of New 
 Orleans volunteers, i. e. the one to which I belonged, joining them, 
 the mulatto corps, under Major Daquin, next to us, — the move- 
 ment was to be made by echelons, thus forming a connected line 
 with the Tennessee sharp-shooters, who had inarched off to one 
 side ; the firing was not to commence until the battery had opened, 
 and the regulars had set the example. At this moment, Captain 
 Roche stepped in front and commanded " Sergeant Roche !" 
 this was his brother. The latter advanced and was met by the 
 Captain, who said, " Let us embrace, brother ! It may be for 
 the last time !" The request was complied with. Then came a 
 second word of command, " Sergeant Roche ! — to your post !" 
 We had only completed our echelon march, and taken our posi 
 tions for a few minutes, when the cannon roared ; the return fire 
 rapidly followed, and it was by the flash of the muskets that w r e, 
 for the first time, got a sight of the red coats of the English, who 
 were posted on a small acclivity in front of us, about a gun-shot 
 distant. I noted this circumstance, and at the same moment 
 observed the peculiar method of firing adopted by the English, 
 who still kept up the old custom of three deep : one row of men 
 half-kneeling, and two other ranks firing over their shoulders. 
 This style of firing, along with the darkness of the evening, 
 explained to me the reason why the enemy's balls, w T hich we 
 heard whistling by, mostly flew over our heads, and only seven 
 men were wounded, five of them belonging to our own company. 
 After the lapse of about twenty minutes, the word w r as passed to 
 cease firing. On the English side only a few r retreating dis- 
 charges were dropped in, from time to time. We saw about 
 sixty English captured by the Tennessee riflemen, and led off 
 towards the road, and at the same time, learned that about one 
 half of our own sharp-shooters, from the city, had fallen into the 
 hands of the English. Their Captain, Beale, a great braggart, 
 who was the ally and friend of my miserable enemy, Saul, had 
 
212 A RETREAT. 
 
 completely disappeared, so that he was supposed to be dead ; for 
 that he would hide, and leave his little command in the lurch, as 
 was afterwards ascertained, no one at that moment believed ; but 
 not one of these volunteers was really shot, excepting Parmlee, a 
 merchant. 
 
 The night was very cold. Wearied by our long march, and 
 standing in the open field, we all wanted to make a fire, and at 
 length, at the special request of our major, permission to kindle 
 one was obtained. Within twenty minutes we saw innumerable 
 watchfires blazing up in a line extending, like a crescent, from the 
 shores of the Mississippi to the woods, and stretching far away 
 behind the plantations of Villere, Lacoste, and others, occupied by 
 the English, on whose minds, as well as on our own, the impres- 
 sion must have been produced, that Jackson had many more 
 troops under his command and near the spot than any one had 
 supposed. Shortly before daybreak an order came for a general 
 retreat, which our battalion was to cover, and which was to be 
 made in the same order as we observed in assuming our position 
 on the field — Humphries' field-pieces in front, then the regulars ; 
 behind them the mulatto corps, followed by the mounted riflemen, 
 and our battalion bringing up the rear. About three o'clock in 
 the morning we halted, and, as the sun rose, we found ourselves 
 about a mile and a half distant from the little battle-field, and on 
 the plantation of Mr. E. Macarty, where we took up position in 
 the same order as on the previous evening behind the small canal 
 that leads from the military road to the woods or cyprieres which 
 border the shores of Lac Borgne. General Jackson occupied the 
 planter's house as his head-quarters. Our company was stationed 
 at a distance of about 180 steps from it, on the canal. Measures 
 were immediately taken to form intrenchments ; i. e., the ground 
 along the canal was thrown up in a sort of parapet or breastwork, 
 to cover the little army. I now, for the first time, learned from 
 my friends, who surrounded the general's person, what had occur- 
 red during the night. It had been Jackson's anxious desire to 
 renew at daybreak the conflict, which night had interrupted, and 
 to attack the British vigorously. But he learned, from scouts, 
 that the English Major-< - sneral Keane, who commanded the 1200 
 
JACKSON'S SELF-COMMAND. 213 
 
 men first disembarked, head received a reinforcement of 3500 
 men. Jackson was, nevertheless, as much as ever disposed to 
 assail the English, with his small force of inexperienced militia, 
 but his aide, Livingston, very prudently advised him to consult 
 Major St. Geme. The latter had gone about a good deal with 
 Moreau, when the latter visited New Orleans a few years before, 
 and had examined its situation with the critical eye of a tactician ; 
 had studied its capabilities for defence in case of a hostile attack, 
 and, hence, was peculiarly fitted to give Jackson some excellent 
 advice. This he did, and had the great merit of making Jackson 
 comprehend that Keane, with his 6,000 men, would, in the open 
 field, surround, defeat, and capture him and his small force of raw 
 levies, who had not much more of the soldier about them than the 
 mere name ; he then pointed out the Macarty canal or channel, 
 so called, behind which we had assumed position, as the very spot 
 that Moreau himself had indicated as the best one adapted to a 
 defence of the city, particularly by unpractised troops. Jackson 
 listened to this advice, and, highly as we may prize the merit of 
 his unwearied energy, perseverance, and intrepidity, his self-com- 
 mand upon this occasion is worthy of still loftier praise, as it was 
 a quality which he did not always exhibit during the course of 
 his life ; nor must we forget the keen-sightedness that ever distin- 
 guished, him, when, as in this case, his own inclinations and pas- 
 sions had to yield to the dictates of calm, calculating reason. He 
 felt that his reputation was at stake — a reputation which he had 
 still to establish, and, consequently, could not trifle with, except- 
 ing at the risk of meeting with a fate similar in some respects to 
 that of the unfortunate General Hull, at the beginning of the war; 
 a vicissitude which Jackson's haughty and impatient spirit could 
 scarcely have endured. What obligations, however, the whole 
 country, the State of Louisiana, and particularly the inhabitants 
 of the city, owe to Edward Livingston, the author of its criminal 
 Code, for this sage advice, my readers will be able to judge for 
 themselves, and posterity cannot, without injustice, ignore. I 
 have elsewhere remarked that this accomplished statesman and 
 jurist did not possess the quality of valor, and it consequently 
 awakened the astonishment of every one, when he, on the evening 
 
214 JACKSON AND THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 of the 23d, and through the ensuing night, appeared on horseback, 
 among the whizzing bullets of the British, and seemed by no 
 means an inactive combatant. This was the first, but also the 
 last time he exposed himself, in a similar manner. 
 
 On Christmas Day, December 25th, 1814, about 7 o'clock in 
 the morning, we perceived that a small battery of 24-pounders 
 had been put up by the English, on the road skirting the shore and 
 opposite to the little revenue schooner Carolina, which they had 
 been firing into on the preceding evening. This, as we afterwards 
 learned from the British dispatches, had been done under the 
 direction of Admiral Malcolm, the second officer in command of 
 the fleet. He was at the battery in person, and, without loss of 
 time, directed so hot and well-aimed a cannonade at the schooner, 
 that we saw it blow up, in about twenty minutes. While this 
 was transpiring, the English made a very feeble demonstration on 
 the high road, but again fell back. On board of the schooner was 
 the commander of the whole station, my intimate friend, Captain 
 Daniel T. Patterson, now dead ; he had left the doomed craft a 
 few moments before the flames reached her magazine, and at once 
 repaired on board of the Louisiana, a small corvette, with an 
 armament of about 16 guns. This vessel had grounded in a shal- 
 low, but could sweep the road with her fire, as the Mississippi is 
 scarcely half a mile wide, at that point. 
 
 The Legislature was, just at this time, holding its sessions in 
 the city. Jackson had openly declared that he would imitate the 
 example of the Russians at Moscow, and consign the whole city 
 to the flames, should he not be able to defend it, for he was deter 
 mined the English should reap no profit from their success. 
 Several members of the Assembly had talked together about this 
 menace, in the antechamber of the State House, and had consulted 
 together whether it would not be better, should the British prove 
 too strong, to surrender the city, than to have it destroyed in the 
 way proposed; but, no formal .leliberation had taken place. 
 However, Jackson, who had heard what was going on, authorized 
 Governor William C. Claiborne to arrest any of the members 
 who should be heard advocating such a course, in case the delibe- 
 ration were h«\d. The Governor was no friend of Jackson's : he 
 
COTTON-BALE REDOUBTS. 215 
 
 feared his superiority, and followed his orders, only, because 
 resistance was impossible. Jackson, who would not tolerate any 
 evasion, dictatorially ordered the Governor, who was a weak, 
 intriguing, spiritless man, more concerned about his personal 
 popularity than for anything else, to make no exception, but to 
 disperse the Assembly, and Claiborne obeyed with visible reluc- 
 tance, as if he would say : " You see, gentlemen, it is not my 
 fault," and closed the doors of the Legislative Hall. 
 
 A general order was now issued, requiring every one who had 
 superfluous arms in his possession, to bring them to the arsenal, 
 and all ab'e-bodied men, between the ages of eighteen and fifty to 
 hold themselves in readiness for military service. No distinction 
 whatever was made between regular inhabitants of the city and 
 strangers who had just come down the river and lodged in the 
 various taverns. These were armed and enrolled in the second 
 regiment Louisiana militia; but were not disciplined. Among 
 them was a Scotch merchant, Andrew Milne by name, of the 
 house of H. Munro and Co., and resident of New Orleans, where 
 he had remained in the quality of a British subject ; this man now 
 saw himself compelled to bear arms against his own countrymen, 
 and subjects of the same government. 
 
 On the morning after our retreat from the plantation of Villere, 
 where we had attacked the British on the preceding evening, 
 attempts, as I have already stated, were made to throw up a 
 oreast-work along the Macarty canal. The whole soil, in that 
 neighborhood, consists of soft marshy ground, and when you have 
 dug to the depth of three feet, you find nothing but mud and 
 water. Hence, when the effort was made to make an intrench- 
 ment around the camp, and to erect the five or six redoubts which 
 were to have been raised along the Macarty canal, the miriness 
 of the soil rendered all exertions utterly fruitless. A French 
 engineer then suggested to Jackson the idea of filling up the hol- 
 lowed redoubts with cotton-bales, laid, to the depth of three or 
 four, one above the other : the wooden platforms which were to 
 sustain the heavy cannon which had been dragged from the arse- 
 nal, could then be placed upon the cotton-bales, and there secured, 
 while the crenellated openings on both sides of the redoubt could 
 
216 DEFEND YOUR OWN COTTON. 
 
 be constructed with six or eight bales fastened to the main-body 
 of the redoubt by iron rings, and covered with adhesive earth. 
 After the retreat of the English, we heard that they had thought 
 of a similar device ; but, as they could find no cotton, they had 
 used, the sugar in casks which they had picked up on the various 
 plantations. Jackson, who at once adopted the plan, was anxious 
 to lose no time. It was intimated to him, that, in the city, he 
 could procure plenty of cotton, at from seven to eight cents per 
 pound ; but, that it would cost a whole day to bring it to the spot : 
 he was then told that not far from the camp, and in the rear of 
 his position, there lay a bark in the stream laden with cotton, for 
 Havana : the name of this vessel was the Pallas, unless my mem- 
 ory, after the lapse of thirty-eight years, deceives me, and she was 
 to have sailed before the arrival of the British force. Her cargo 
 consisted of 245 bales, which I had shipped previously to the inva- 
 sion, and the remainder, about sixty bales, belonged to the Spa- 
 niard, named Fernando Alzar, resident at New Orleans. It was 
 only when the cotton had been brought to the camp, and they 
 were proceeding- to lay the first bales in the redoubt, that the 
 marks struck my attention, and I recognized my own property. 
 Adjutant Livingston, who had been my usual legal counsel at New 
 Orleans, that same evening inspected Battery No. 3, where the 
 men were arranging some bales. I was somewhat vexed at the 
 idea of their taking cotton of the best sort, and worth from ten to 
 eleven cents, out of a ship already loaded and on the point of 
 sailing, instead of procuring the cheaper kind, which was to be 
 had in plenty throughout the suburbs of the city, at seven or 
 eight cents, and said as much to Livingston, He, who was never 
 at a loss for a reply, at once answered : " Well, Mr. Nolte, if this 
 is your cotton, "you, at least, will not think it any hardship to 
 defend it." This anecdote, which was first related by myself, gave 
 rise to the story that Jackson, when a merchant was complaining 
 of the loss of his cotton, had ordered a sergeant to hand the gen- 
 tleman a rifle, with the remark : " No one can defend these cotton- 
 bales better than their owners can, and I hope that you will not 
 leave the spot !" 
 
 The line of redoubts, running from the shore to the Cyprieres, 
 
JACKSON'S HEAD-QUARTERS. 217 
 
 which extended forwards from our left wing to the rear of the Eng- 
 lish camp, gave shelter to about 1500 men. The whole left wing, 
 by the Cyprieres, was covered with the picked men of Jackson's 
 Tennessee rifle corps. These marksmen had thrown themselves in, 
 among the thickest of the Cyprieres, and had cut narrow openings 
 in every direction, so as to get fair sight, and in these openings 
 they quietly rested their rifles in such a way that they could, to 
 use their own expression, bring down every " redcoat who showed 
 himself within range of their unerring weapons." There could 
 be no pleasanter or more useful way of passing the time, these 
 sharpshooters thought, than in practising their skill upon the 
 enemy's sentinels and outposts, at sunset, and by the first dawn 
 of morning. Even in the night-time, the English post had to be 
 resupplied. How often at sunrise did the invaders find as many 
 corpses stretched on the ground as they had sentinels stationed 
 there, the preceding night ! 
 
 Some attempts were made to establish a second line of re- 
 doubts to the rear of Jackson's first position : but these did not 
 succeed.. At this point were placed the unarmed Kentucky 
 volunteers, who had come down the river, and, as already inti 
 mated, the undisciplined second regiment of Louisiana militia. 
 Communication was by no means cut off between the two lines, 
 no matter how many stories may be told about the second line 
 remaining in complete ignorance of what the first was doing. On 
 the contrary, it was easy to obtain permission from the com- 
 manding officers, at any time to visit an acquaintance in the second 
 line, or even in the city. It could not long remain unknown to 
 the English that Jackson had his headquarters in Macarty's 
 house, but the shots they directed against it did very little 
 damage. The house was still standing in the year 1838, when I 
 visited it, and saw the cannon-balls still embedded in its walls, 
 where the owners had, in their enthusiasm, caused them to be gilt, 
 in the year 1822. 
 
 At sunrise, on New Year's Day, 1815, both camps were cov- 
 ered by a heavy fog. Through the night we heard a deadened 
 hammering from the English quarters, and when about 8 o'clock 
 the mist began to dissipate, a fearful cannonade commenced upon 
 
 10 
 
218 NEW YEAR'S DAY 1815. 
 
 us. They had brought heavy guns from the fleet, and had erected 
 large batteries of twenty -four and twenty-six pounders. The largest 
 British battery had directed its fire against the battery of the pirates 
 Dominique and Beluche, who had divided our company into two 
 parts, and were supplied with ammunition by it. Once, as Do- 
 minique was examining the enemy through a glass, a cannon shot 
 wounded his arm ; he caused it to be bound up, saying, " I will 
 pay them for that !" and resumed his glass. He then directed a 
 twenty -four pounder, gave the order to fire, and the ball knocked 
 an English gun-carriage to pieces, and killed six or seven men. 
 Our company lost that day but one man, our least, a French 
 hatter, called Laborde. For predestinarians I would mention that 
 the young notary, Philippe Peddesclaux, was standing exactly in 
 front of Laborde, and the latter would not have been hit had he 
 not been bending forward at the moment to light his cigar 
 by my neighbor, St. Avit's. When the latter turned he saw La- 
 borde's scattered brains and prostrate body. The flash of a gun 
 reaches the eye long before the report gets to the ear, and thus 
 the ball can sometimes be avoided. I have watched both the 
 flash and the report, and I have seen the best tried soldiers, both 
 officers and men, even the utterly fearless Jackson himself, getting 
 out of the way of the Congreve rockets, which were sent in great 
 quantities from the British camp, and which were particularly 
 abundant on the morning of the eighth of January. Others, 
 again, either actuated by a different principle, or less prudently 
 observant of danger and less anxious to avoid it, like my friend St. 
 Avit for instance, remained, confident in their fate, in the same 
 position, and stood quietly, as if all the roar of the cannon and the 
 hissing of missiles about their ears, was entirely without interest 
 for them. 
 
 On this day, which saw our whole line, except the batteries, 
 exposed to the fire from 8 o'clock A. M. to 3 o'clock P. M., my 
 worthy friend, Major Carmick, who commanded the volunteer 
 battalion, and was near the pirates' battery, was struck by a Con- 
 greve rocket on the forehead, knocked off his horse, and both his 
 arms injured. I asked leave to accompany him to the guard- 
 house, and as we reached the low garden-wall behind Jackson's 
 
EIGHTH OF JANUARY. 219 
 
 headquarters, I saw to my great amazement two of the General's 
 volunteer adjutants, Duncan the lawyer, and District Marshal 
 Duplessis, lying flat on the ground to escape the British balls. 
 Livingston was invisible — writing and reading of proclamations 
 kept him out of sight. The General, during this five hours 
 cannonade, was constantly riding from one wing to the other, ac- 
 companied by his usual military aids, Reed and Butler, and the 
 two advocates, Grymes and Davezac. Only four of the Ten- 
 nessee riflemen were left in the wood. 
 
 The first week of the new year was occupied in strengthening 
 our defences, and it was particularly ordered to have plenty of 
 ammunition in readiness. The munitions were in charge of Gov. 
 Claiborne, who was so frightened that he could scarcely speak. 
 On the first of January ammunition was wanting at batteries Nos. 
 1 and 2. Jackson sent in a fury for Claiborne, who was with the 
 second division, and said to him, " By the Almighty God, if you 
 do not send me balls and powder instantly, I shall chop off your 
 head, and have it rammed into one of those field-pieces." 
 
 On the 8th of January the battle took place which compelled the 
 English to resign all hope of attacking the city, and to retire. 
 The reader will remember that on the evening of the 23d of Decem- 
 ber half of the volunteer corps, thirty in number, had been taken 
 prisoners; among them were Story and Robert Montgomery, 
 merchants, and Porter, the lawyer. The same evening they were 
 questioned by Major General Keane, about the strength of Jack- 
 son's forces, and then taken to the fleet before Dolphin Isl- 
 and, and to the admiral's ship ; where the Commander-in-Chief, 
 Pakenham, a brother-in-law of Wellington, and for some time head 
 of his staff, in the Spanish Peninsular, examined them anew in 
 presence of Admiral Cochrane. They would give but one answer 
 — that Jackson had under him about 30,000 men — 12,000 in 
 Mobile and the rest in the neighborhood of the city : for he had 
 said, before the arrival of the British, with one or more oaths, 
 " I'll flog them, so help me God." The prisoners were examined 
 separately, but all gave the same answer. It was no wonder, 
 then, that the semi-circle of watch-fires in the rear of the English 
 camp appeared to General Keane to confirm these statements. 
 
220 PLANS OF THE BRITISH. 
 
 He could not suppose but that all these watch/trers were sur- 
 rounded by troops. Thus, a mere carelessness became of great 
 advantage ; and the English believed that they were opposed to 
 at least 15,000, although in truth there were not more than half 
 that number. They knew, from deserters from our line, that 
 what regulars Jackson had were in the right wing, and that the 
 left was composed of militia. As the report of Major Gen. Lam- 
 bert afterwards proved, Pakenham determined to attack with 
 three columns ; of which the smallest, of 800 men, was commanded 
 by Major Rennie, and was to make a demonstration only 
 against the redoubt facing the British left wing. The centre 
 column, under General Gibbs, numbered 4000 men, and the right 
 wing 6000 — which ought easily to have overthrown the undrilled 
 militia, and attacked Jackson in the rear. At the same time, 1000 
 men, under Colonel Thompson, were to cross the river, drive the 
 Americans from their defences on the right bank, and so fall upon 
 the rear of the American left. Two rockets from the camp were to 
 give the signal for the march of the columns, and the attacks were to 
 be simultaneous, so soon as the signal should be answered by Col. 
 Thompson, from the right bank of the river. This plan was arranged 
 on the 6th of January, at Pakenham's head-quarters, in Mr.Vil- 
 lere's house, and on that day, Epiphany, the three generals dined 
 together. One of the guests was the American planter, Dela- 
 ronde, Major-General of the militia of his parish, who had visited 
 the English, on their landing. They supposed him to be inimical 
 to the American government, and therefore spoke freely before 
 him, and drank to the toast of " Booty and Beauty," as they had 
 heard of the great beauty of the fair Louisianians. Delaronde 
 returned at night to his plantation, and at daybreak crossed the 
 river in a canoe, and travelled, most of the way on foot, to the 
 American defences ; he reached Jackson's camp about 1 o'clock, 
 P. M., and told the whole plan to the general. Jackson instantly 
 took energetic measures for stubborn resistance. The position of 
 the second division was a few hundred steps behind the first. Only 
 a few of these men were armed.. My friend, Commodore Patter- 
 son, who had been attending Jackson's council of war, but who had 
 returned on board the frigate Louisiana, came to me about four 
 
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. 221 
 
 in the afternoon, called me from my post, and shaking hands with 
 me, said, " I expect you will see some fun between this and 
 to-morrow." 
 
 After the cannonade, January 1, night service in the defences 
 was trusted to half companies by turns. But this evening Jackson 
 ordered the entire troops to lie upon their arms. A little before 
 sunset he visited the whole line, looking occasionally at a musket 
 to see if it were loaded. " Don't fire till you see the whites of 
 their eyes, and if you want to sleep, sleep upon your arms.' 1 
 Only a few were prepared for the morrow's tragedy, among whom 
 was myself, thanks to Commodore Patterson's information. A little 
 before daybreak two rockets were sent up from the British camp, 
 the meaning of which not many understood. Then as the mist 
 arose we saw the British host marching slowly towards us in three 
 columns. The first company of the middle column carried storm- 
 ing ladders and fascines, with muskets slung at their backs. The 
 redoubt upon the highway on the right shore was first reached 
 by the little division commanded by Major Rennie, who was the 
 first to mount it, sword in hand, and as he shouted " Come, my 
 boys, the day is ours !" he was pierced by three bullets, and met 
 the death of a brave gentleman. It was about half-past 8, A. M. 
 Our whole line kept up a heavy uninterrupted fire, and as there 
 was a dead calm in the atmosphere the smoke soon formed itself 
 into thick clouds, and we scarcely saw the British mounting the 
 redoubt at the right. On the left wing Jackson had posted the 
 best of the Kentucky riflemen, lately arrived, under General 
 Adair, the same who had been arrested in 1807 as a fellow con- 
 spirator of Aaron Burr's. They stood in five close lines, kneel- 
 ing to load and rising to fire ; their rifles being loaded with two 
 or three buckshot besides the ball. The heaviest firing was of 
 course here. The Cyprieres were filled with riflemen, who were 
 protected by the thick bushes, and dealt death from behind them 
 to the British platoons, whose officers were falling fast but who saw 
 no enemy. The whole right of the British column was mowed 
 down by these invisible riflemen, and their front was exposed 
 to the fire of both our batteries. Now and then, as the smoke 
 rose we could see them flying, throwing away musket and fascine, 
 
222 DEFEAT OF THE BRITISH. 
 
 while a staff-officer, mounted on a black-charger, strove to drive 
 them back with the chapeau which he held in his hand. At last, 
 riddled by bullets, he fell backwards from his horse and a soldier 
 caught him and bore him away. We learned in the evening that 
 it was General Pakenham in person. An Irish regiment, the 
 44th, fled with its colonel, M. Mullins, at the head; and he was 
 afterwards tried by court-martial in Havana, and cashiered 
 for cowardice. Upon the left wing, as 1 have already re- 
 marked at the commencement of this description, Major Ren- 
 nie and no less than eighty of his men had lost their lives, in 
 a gallant although ineffectual attempt to mount the redoubt. 
 After an hour at least had elapsed, the firing ceased — the field of 
 slaughter was covered with the bodies of British soldiers, lying 
 either dead or wounded. I called it the field of slaughter ; for it 
 really was slaughter, and not battle as on an open plain where foe 
 meets foe ; for here the British troops were perfectly exposed to 
 the deadly and accurate bullets of our riflemen ; and the latter 
 were entirely invisible, being not only protected but absolutely 
 hidden from view, either by the thickets of undergrowth and 
 bushes or by the parapets and breastwork of the entrenchments. 
 In the distance we could see the retreating English troops, con- 
 cealing themselves behind the shrubbery, or throwing themselves 
 into the ditches and gullies. In some of the latter indeed they 
 lay so thickly that they were only distinguishable in the distance 
 by the white shoulder belts, which formed a line along the top of 
 their hiding place. 
 
 About two o'clock they sent a flag of truce demanding time to 
 bury the dead belonging to both armies. Jackson sent naval lieu- 
 tenant Crawley with the proud words that he had no dead to bury, 
 but that the British might have truce until the next forenoon. 
 On his return Mr. Crawley reported that Generals Pakenham and 
 Gibbs had fallen; that General Keane was dangerously wounded, 
 and General Lambert was now Commander-in-chief. The British 
 left 700 dead upon the field, and had as many wounded, of whom 
 we took some eighty prisoners ; six hundred more had thrown 
 away their arms and fled. I was present for a while when 
 they were trying to recognize the bodies, and when they found 
 
A TROPHY. 223 
 
 that of Major Whittaker the soldiers burst mto tears, saying, 
 " Ah, poor Major Whittaker! he is gone, the worthy fellow." The 
 American loss was but 9 killed and 19 wounded, a scarcely credi- 
 ble number, were it not for so many eyewitnesses, and for the 
 fact that the Americans were all hidden behind bushes or para- 
 pets. 
 
 The Americans in war are peculiar. In Napoleon's day, the 
 French fought for the " glory of the great Nation." Now, per- 
 haps, they fight for " the glory of our arms." The British fight 
 for "king and country," or " God and country ;" but the Ameri- 
 cans " for the good of my country." After the peace, an officer 
 in this war, the Marquis of Tweeddale, who was taken prisoner 
 on the Canadian frontier and brought to New York, said to me : 
 " I hope it will never fall to my lot again to fight Americans ; 
 every one of them always fights his own individual battle, and 
 is a most dangerous enemy." 
 
 On the right bank matters went otherwise. Col. Thompson 
 had been delayed with his boats by the sudden falling of the 
 river in the night, owing to the cold weather, and he did not 
 reach the shore until the fight on the left wing was over. Before 
 the half finished defences lay about one thousand unarmed Ken- 
 tuckians, and some hundreds of undisciplined militia of the first 
 regiment of New Orleans, under their Colonel, a grocer named 
 Dejean, who had brought the flag with him, and had it in his 
 tent. As Thompson appeared, the Kentuckians ran ; the militia 
 followed, and forgot their flag, which now hangs among the 
 trophies taken by Wellington in the Peninsular war, in the Chapel 
 of Whitehall, with this inscription : " Taken at the Battle of New 
 Orleans, 8th January, 1815." Thompson, who saw what was 
 going on in the left wing, returned to the camp. Jackson, 
 Grymes and Davezac remained near the left wing. Durino- 
 the fight the others were invisible. 
 
 After the military council of the 7th, Livingston had retired to the 
 city on pretence of a violent colic, I, myself, who was sergeant, com- 
 manding the piquette, had the honor of opening the barrier for 
 him. There he remained until next day, in his dressing-goAvn, 
 upon the balcony of his house, until he heard of Jackson's sue- 
 
224 RETREAT OF THE BRITISH. 
 
 cess, when the colic left him and he re-appeared in the camp. 
 His comrade, Duncan, who quit the camp at daybreak on the 8th, 
 to look for reinforcements, rode about the streets at a gallop as 
 long as the fight lasted, crying out, " Up ! up ! the foe is upon 
 us. To the field ! To the field !" All active people were in the 
 field. A corps of veterans, many of whom had not yet seen 
 thirty years, guarded the Bank and Arsenal. My heroic antago- 
 nist, Mr. Cashier Saul, already frequently named in these vol- 
 umes, had, as the story goes, for the truth of which I do not how- 
 ever vouch, the greatest possible difficulty in restraining his war- 
 like ardor. Indeed an order, obtained by his friend Duncan from 
 General Jackson, was found absolutely necessary to keep him in 
 town, where his presence was essential to the safety of the Bank. 
 
 I would not have spoken of these casual instances of cowardice, 
 were it not for the fact, that in the report of this battle, contained 
 in the dispatches of General Jackson to the President of the Uni- 
 ted States, and which were drawn up by Livingston himself, the 
 General thanks his staff and his military and volunteer adjutants, 
 for their cool and deliberate bravery. When 1 first saw this para- 
 graph, it was impossible for me to suppress the thought of what 
 a queer look Duncan and Livingston must have exchanged, when 
 they read it together — those two birds of a feather — those two 
 scoundrels who played so well into each other's hands. 
 
 For eight days we heard no more of the British army. A 
 scouting party, under Adjutant Grymes, brought word that they 
 were erecting redoubts, and that the sugar-fields were full of 
 riflemen. 
 
 Jackson wanted another fight, but he had prudence enough to 
 follow Livingston's patriotic counsel. " What do you want 
 more," said he ; " your object is gained — the city is saved — the 
 British have retired. For the pleasure of a blow or two, will 
 you risk against those fearless troops your handful of men, com- 
 posed of the best and worthiest citizens, and rob so many fami- 
 lies of their heads !" The General was guided by this remon- 
 strance. On the 16th General Lambert sent a messenger to say 
 that the British army was about to re-embark and to beg kind 
 treatment for eighty-four wounded left behind. One of these, an 
 
RESULTS OF A BATTLE. 225 
 
 Irishman, who had lost both legs, rejoiced over ; t. He could not 
 live, he said, on the pension granted for the loss of one 
 limb, but having fortunately lost both, "I shall live now," 
 he said, " like a prince." Eighty of these suffered amputation 
 in our City Hospital, and not one died ; while of eighty- 
 one British prisoners, who suffered the same operation, not one 
 survived. A Mr. Lawson, brother-in-law of District Judge 
 Lewis, and belonging to our corps, lost his right arm and died. 
 When this was announced to the American field-surgeon Camp- 
 bell, he said : " Bad luck ! I took more than ordinary pains with 
 him. With those British prisoners, you know it was a case of 
 plain sailing, a right to cut off." 
 
 It is true that no comparison is fair between the British sur- 
 geons, educated under Wellington, in many a long and varied 
 campaign, and the improvised American surgeons, who were 
 picked up wherever they could be found, and the most of whom 
 had had no further experience than that which they had obtained 
 in an apothecary's shoD. 
 
 10* 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RETURN OF OUR SMALL ARMY INTO THE CITY. 
 
 The first news of the peace concluded at Ghent, December 24th, 1814 — Mar- 
 tial law in New Orleans — Jackson's violent measures — The arbitrary course 
 pursued by him toward myself — Characteristic traits — Source of his hatred 
 to the National Bank — The peace rejoicings in the city — -Present to Mrs. 
 Jackson — Fitting out of the ship Horatio — Renewal of my quarrel with 
 Mr. Shields — Effect of my publication of the correspondence between him 
 and myself — Another and unfortunate duel with the son of Mr. Saul — Ar- 
 rival of intelligence from Paris, announcing Napoleon's entry into that cap- 
 ital — Prudential arrangements in relation to the cargo of the ship Horatio, 
 on board of which I finally embark. 
 
 ' On January 19, Jackson brought back our little army to the city. 
 A Te Deum was sung in the cathedral, at the doors of which the 
 most prominent of the Catholic clergy received the general, and 
 Madame Livingston, with studied enthusiasm, did herself the plea- 
 sure of setting a laurel crown upon his head, which, however, the 
 destroyer of Indians, unused to similar marks of honor, somewhat 
 unwillingly put away. The retreat of the English had drawn away 
 many negroes from the sugar plantations of C. Macarty , Villere, 
 Delaronde, Lacoste, and others, and they were now on board the 
 fleet. Jackson sent his adjutant, Livingston, and a merchant, by 
 the name of R. D. Shepherd, to Admiral Cochrane, to demand 
 the slaves. These two ambassadors returned from the fleet early 
 in the morning of January 21, and brought to General Jackson 
 the official news of the treaty which had been concluded on the 
 24th December, 1814, at Ghent, between the American and Eng- 
 lish ministers. The English commanders, Cochrane and Paken- 
 ham, received this news by a swift frigate in twenty-three days, 
 with orders to cease all hostilities, and to return. This news was, 
 
NEWS OF PEACE. 22? 
 
 as one may see, official, on the English side, but Jackson refused 
 to acknowledge it as such until instructed by his own government in 
 Washington. He dared not, however, doubt much about it, inas- 
 much as Cochrane, who had informed Livingston of his instruc- 
 tions, was a good friend of the adjutant. They had been ac- 
 quaintances in New York, and Cochrane had taken a wife from the 
 very numerous Livingston family. But the arbitrary and now 
 utterly unnecessary martial law, which had never for one moment 
 been needed since the English came to Louisiana, pleased Jackson 
 eo much that he could not willingly abrogate it. 
 
 Livingston and Shepherd had brought from the fleet, and given 
 to Cotten, editor of the Louisiana Gazette, Lord Bathurst's (then 
 Secretary for Foreign Affairs) official announcement to the Lord 
 Mayor of London, which contained a copy of the preliminary ar- 
 ticles settled at Ghent. Cotten at once printed, and put into cir- 
 culation, handbills containing the following : — 
 
 " A truce-boat from Admiral Cochrane, commander of the Eng- 
 lish fleet, has just brought to General Jackson, official news of a 
 treaty concluded at Ghent, between the United States and Great 
 Britain, and the request for a cessation of hostilities." 
 
 The next day the editor received the following order from 
 head-quarters : — 
 
 " Sir : — It is expected that you will give immediate publicity 
 to the enclosed, by printing it in handbills, as you have printed 
 that which this is meant to counteract, and also by inserting it in 
 your next paper. JOHN KEEP, Aid-de-Camp. 
 
 " Mr. Cotten, Editor Louisiana Gazette" 
 
 " Head- Quarters Kth Military District, ) 
 New Orleans, February 21, 1815. j 
 " Sir : — As the commander-in-chief has been informed of the 
 announcement which has appeared in your paper, as follows — 
 * A truce-boat from Admiral Cochrane, commander of the Eng- 
 lish fleet, has just brought to General Jackson, official news of a 
 
228 MARTIAL LAW IN NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 treaty concluded at Ghent, between the United States and Great 
 Britain, and the request for a cessation of hostilities' — he requests 
 that you will hasten to destroy every copy of so unauthorized and 
 improper a notice. No direct or practical request for a truce has 
 been received from the commanders of the British land and sea 
 forces. 
 
 " The letter from Bathurst to the Lord Mayor, which contains 
 the only official news as yet received, by no means declares that 
 such truce is to take place, until the treaty be signed by the Com- 
 missioners, and ratified by the Prince Regent and the President 
 of the United States. 
 
 [Here the letter adduces some common arguments, and closes 
 as follows] : — 
 
 " It is expected, that in future no kind of publication, which re- 
 sembles the foregoing and blamable one, will be made, until the 
 editor shall be convinced of its correctness, and shall be permitted, 
 by the proper authority, to publish it in his sheet. 
 
 "JOHN REED, Aid-de-Camp. 
 
 *' Mr. Cotten, Editor Louisiana Gazette" 
 
 When this letter was given to the editor he was officially in 
 formed, that New Orleans existed only as a battle-field, and that 
 the word of the commander-in-chief was the only law. It is clear 
 that the even momentary resignation of his command, of which 
 some ignorant chroniclers have spoken, was not even thought of 
 by the general. On the contrary, it was at this time that Jackson 
 ordered, that the city of New Orleans and all its environs, from 
 the frontier line, two miles up, to the encampment, seven miles 
 below, upon the river, should be considered as his camp, and that 
 none might claim authority within its limits — he being the only 
 commander. The late William C. Claiborne, who alone would 
 have opposed this, was so frightened, that he did not dare raise 
 his voice, nor do his duty ; but, in the most fainthearted way, left 
 the civil authority to take care of itself. 
 
 When Jackson brought back our little army into the city, he 
 
ARREST 'OF JUDGE HALL 229 
 
 left a few men behind him in the intrenchments. He had chosen 
 them out of those militia whom he had forcibly taken out of the 
 taverns, where they were staying as travelling strangers, in order 
 to punish them, he said, for having spoken so fiercely against the 
 military service. Among them were many Frenchmen, who 
 were not even citizens, and who were torn from their daily busi- 
 ness, their wives, and their families. An appeal was made in 
 writing to the French Consul, Toussard, who waited upon General 
 Jackson, and notified him that he had received orders, from the 
 Minister at Washington, to extend his protection over the French 
 subjects. The consul also asked, whether he might communicate 
 with the Frenchmen then in the intrenchments, and free them 
 from this military service. The general said yes, and Colonel 
 Toussard immediately had his requisition printed. There were 
 forty men in all. Then Jackson arrested Colonel Toussard, with 
 the forty Frenchmen ; and, forty days after the news of peace had 
 been received, on the fifth of March, sent them, not only out of 
 the limits of the camp, but off to the interior plantations, not 
 nearer than Baton Rouge. 
 
 The deputy, Louaillier, a native Frenchman, but naturalized in 
 America, and member of the Legislative Assembly, published 
 a letter in the Journals, in which he remarked upon this high- 
 handed measure of General Jackson's, that the permission and 
 safe-guard given to Col. Toussard was in direct opposition to this 
 arbitrary step : " For," " said he, " if the general were not con- 
 tent to allow the Frenchmen to be released, why did he empower 
 the French consul to make a requisition for his countrymen, or 
 even to visit them ; or with what motive did he himself, sign the 
 certificate of release." This argument did not trouble the general ; 
 he simply arrested Louaillier and confined him in the barracks, 
 to be tried for exciting mutiny in the camp, by a court-martial. 
 Mr. A. Hall, Judge of the U. S. District Court, a fearless man, 
 immediately issued a writ of habeas corpus to liberate the person 
 of M. Louaillier. This was his duty as highest judicial officer in 
 the State. The general at once arrested Judge Hall, and sent 
 him outside of the camp lines, into the country, with the notifica- 
 tion that his authority was at an end. All this, as has been 
 
230 ARREST OF HOLLANDER. 
 
 already said, occurred six weeks after reception of the news of 
 the treaty at Ghent, which no one in the city for an instant 
 doubted to be true, simply to gratify a lust for despotic power, 
 and without one word of remonstrance from the mouth of the 
 man who knew the Codex of the United States better than any 
 other person, — Edward Livingston. 
 
 At the end of Jackson's proclamation of March 5, 1815, were 
 these words : — " All and every officer and soldier is hereby 
 strictly commanded to give the earliest possible information 
 about all mutinies, or contemplated mutinies, all inducements to 
 desert, or attempts to desert or to mutiny ; and to arrest all 
 persons implicated therein, that they may be brought to court- 
 martial." 
 
 This command concerned only the officers and soldiers. But I 
 must tell at least one anecdote in proof of the entire submission 
 of the general's satellites to his will. My partner, Mr. Hollander, 
 was at the door of the Bank Coffee-House, conversing about 
 Louaillier's letter, and praising it, and its writer's courage. 
 " Why," said he, " did General Jackson allow Col. Toussard to 
 print his requisition in the Journals, when he had no intention 
 to free the Frenchmen from military service ?" " Ah," replied a 
 bystander, " his only idea was to find out all who were disposed 
 to side with the consul, in order that he might punish them." 
 " It was a dirty trick," said Hollander. This answer was carried 
 to the general, who immediately » rdered the arrest and trial of 
 Hollander, because, " he excited insubordination and mutiny in 
 the camp, and talked disrespectfully of his superior officer." Just 
 as Hollander and I were dining together on the next day, my 
 house was surrounded by a hundred men, and Major Davezac, — 
 so often mentioned, — with squinting eye and golden epaulettes, 
 stalked in to arrest and carry off Hollander. I went at once to 
 Adjutant Livingston, to procure the liberation of my friend, and 
 he persuaded the general to accept my bail for $2,000, for 
 the future appearance of Hollander, before the court-martial. 
 Livingston himself drew up the bond, and no man in the United 
 States knew how to do it better, so that the sum mentioned never 
 could be demanded by law from the bailer. A couple of days 
 
JACKSON'S FINE. 231 
 
 later a council of war was called. Hollander was present, and 
 Davezac, as representative of the general, was accuser ; but the 
 next day, March 13, the ratification of the treaty of Ghent 
 arrived, and put an end to the farce. Jackson issued a proclama- 
 tion, pardoned Judge Hall, Louaillier, Hollander, and all others 
 who had interfered with his authority, and so laid down his 
 power. But he ruled with arbitrary and despotic power for fifty 
 days after there was the slightest use or necessity for martial 
 law at all. 
 
 This was scarcely ended when sixty of the citizens united to 
 form a cavalcade, which should escort Judge Hall publicly, from 
 his place of exile to the court-house. Of all the lawyers in the 
 city, Livingston, Duncan, Hennius, and others, only one, Mr. 
 Grymes, joined this manifestation, and he marched at the head of 
 the troop, although he too, had been an adjutant of the general, 
 and although Hall had determined on the re-opening of his court 
 to cite Jackson to appear and answer the charges of interference 
 with civil authority, and contempt of court and the writ of habeas 
 corpus. This happened immediately. Jackson appeared and 
 was fined $1,000, which he paid in one bank note ; then bowed to 
 the Judge, and left the court. He found at the threshold 
 Davezac with his friends, Dominique, Beluche, and the whole 
 band of liberated pirates, fifty in number. They lifted the 
 general upon their shoulders and bore him triumphantly to the 
 Exchange Coffee-House. American citizens blushed to see this 
 procession, and the general himself seemed to dislike it, and to 
 find himself as uncomfortable as Madame Livingston's laurel 
 crown had made him at the church door. By the suggestion of 
 lawyer Duncan, his nephew, Nicholson, an understrapper in Hall's 
 court, carried a subscription list about the town the next day to 
 make up the amount of the general's fine ; and in order to make 
 the subscription appear to be the unanimous voice of the citizens, 
 in condemnation of the fine, it was resolved that no man should 
 subscribe more than one dollar. The collector started, and out 
 of the necessary $1,000, he succeeded in accumulating $160. 
 My captain, Roche, who commanded the battalion of New 
 Orleans Carabineers, to whom I belonged, was visited by young 
 
232 JACKSON'S DIOTATORIALNESS. 
 
 Nicholson. " If the general," replied the gentleman , " is in need 
 of money I will lend him willingly, to the best of my ability, but I 
 will not give a sixpence for such a farce as this." Nicholson 
 assured him that it was not his dollar but his signature that was 
 wanted. 
 
 There was a certain peculiar might of will in Jackson's charac- 
 ter and dictatorialness that had become a second nature in him, 
 and to convince him of the injustice of any act contemplated or 
 performed by him, was impossible. The two examples following 
 will prove this :- — 
 
 Marched out from the city on December 16, I had quitted the 
 camp but once. On this occasion I learned from my housekeeper 
 that during my absence, a military command had come to my 
 house, where the officer peremptorily demanded the key of the 
 warehouses. Hereupon, they seized all the woollen goods that I 
 had brought from Pensacola, and carried them off, leaving me a 
 receipt therefor. This receipt was signed by a name that I had 
 never heard of, belonging to the Tennessee sharp-shooters. It 
 was for the clothing of these sharp-shooters that they had taken 
 the woollen goods. Immediately after the retreat of the English, 
 Jackson had named a commission, consisting of his quarter- 
 masters and two merchants, who were looked to for the provision 
 of the army, and to whom all who had had any property taken 
 away, were to complain. My claim was a double one, first, for 
 750 woollen coverings, taken out of my warerooms ; second, for 
 250 bales of cotton taken from the brigantine Pallas. For the first 
 I received the price that was current on the day that the landing of 
 the English was announced, $11 per pair. All settlements required 
 the general's ratification and signature. On this occasion he gave 
 both, but with the remark that, as my goods had been taken to 
 cover the Tennessee troops, I should be paid in Tennessee bank 
 notes, upon which there was a discount of nearly 10 per cent. 
 I was silent. With regard to the claim for the 250 bales which 
 had been used for fortifications, I produced my books. Two years 
 before they had been purchased from the richest cotton planter, 
 Poydras, at 1 cents. The price meanwhile, had never been less 
 than 10 to 11 cents, and the day before we received the news of 
 
INSTANCES IN MY CASE. 233 
 
 their seizure, I had bought two small lots at 11 J and 12 cents. 
 Interest for two years at 5 per cent, and storage had been added 
 to my claim. On the day of our march from the city, just as I 
 had put on my uniform and taken my musket, a broker ran after 
 me to offer me a lot which must be sold that day, because the 
 owner feared that they would fall into the hands of the English. 
 " Offer something, Mr. Nolte," said the broker. I had not the 
 heart to offer 50 per cent, lower than the price, and therefore, 
 offered 7 cents, more with the view of getting rid of the broker 
 than of speculating. In a few moments he came back, notes in 
 hand, and said, " Mr. Nolte, the cotton is yours." There was 
 no time to deliver it, however, for we were obliged to march. 
 This little affair was spoken of at Jackson's head-quarters, as a 
 proof of my trust in a fortunate result of the hostilities. When 
 the commission laid my claim before the general, he said that the 
 price was too high ; that I must be paid at the price on the day 
 of the march from the city. I made a Written protest but the 
 general would not notice it Then I determined to call on him 
 in the hopes of awakening a sense of justice in him. He heard 
 me but that was all. " Are you not lucky," he asked, " to have 
 saved the rest of your cotton by my defence 1 ?" "Certainly, 
 general," I said, " as lucky as any body else in the city whose 
 cotton has been thus saved. But the difference between me and 
 the rest is, that all the others have nothing to pay and that I have 
 to bear all the loss." " Loss," said the general, getting excited, 
 " why, you have saved all." I saw that argument was useless 
 with so stiff-necked a man, and remarked to him that I only 
 wanted compensation for my cotton, and that the best compensa- 
 tion would be to give me precisely the quantity that had been 
 taken from me, and of the same quality ; that he might name 
 one merchant and I another, who should buy and deliver to me 
 the cotton ; and that he should pay the bill. " No, no, sir," he 
 answered, " I like straight-forward business, and this is too com- 
 plicated. You must take 6 cents for your cotton. I have 
 nothing more to say." As I again endeavored to explain, he said, 
 " Come sir, come, take a glass of whisky and water, you must 
 be d — d dry after all your arguing." For me there remained 
 
234 MILITARY CERTIFICATE. 
 
 nothing but to say : " Well general, I did not expect such injustice 
 at your hands. Good morning, sir," and so to go away. Three 
 days after, came the news of the treaty of Ghent, and cotton rose 
 at once to 16 cents, at which price I bought several lots. The 
 commission for the regulation of claims for loss and damages 
 were rather embarrassed now to offer me 6 cents. Finally, I 
 was asked by a member of the commission, Mr. W. W. Mont- 
 gomery, whether I would be content if they would pay me my 
 claim, as presented. I consented, because I would have been 
 obliged to complain to Congress, at Washington ; and the affair 
 might have dragged on for years. 
 
 The time had now arrived when I could quit my battalion. I 
 got permission to do so, and received the following certificate 
 from my commanding officer. 
 
 Battalion of Uniform Companies of the N. 0. Militia, | 
 Company of Grenadiers. ) 
 The undersigned Captain, commanding the above named 
 Grenadiers, certifies that Mr. Vincent Nolte, grenadier of the 
 said company, made as such the campaign against the English ; 
 that he performed all the duties of his service without omission 
 from Dec. 16, 1814, until this day : that he took part in the 
 affairs of 23d and 28th Dec, 1814, of the 1st and 8th January, 
 1815, and that he conducted himself as a brave and loyal soldier, 
 and to the contentment of his superiors and his comrades. This 
 I have signed with my own hand to be used as he shall find it 
 necessary. 
 
 New Orleans, April kih, 1815. 
 
 [Signed,] ±>ETER ROCHE. 
 
 The undersigned, commander of the Uniformed Battalion of 
 
 New Orleans Militia, certifies to the authenticity of the signature 
 
 of Captain Roche, while he adds that the excellence with which the 
 
 said Vincent Nolte performed his duty is personally known by him. 
 
 New Orleans, April 4lh, 1815. 
 
 [Signed,] J. B. PLANCHE, Major. 
 
 Approved, ANDREW JACKSON, 
 
 Major General and Comma nder-in Chief. 
 
THE TWO ENGLISHMEN. 235 
 
 I may be allowed a few further remarks on Jackson's character, 
 that man so much more fortunate than naturally distinguished, 
 because I had so many opportunities of observing him nearly, so 
 that in my early observations I easily found the key to many 
 actions of his public life, especially while he was President. 
 That great student of men, Chamfort, who ordinarily far surpasses 
 the philosophic de la Rochefoucault in his remarks, says, " In 
 great matters men show themselves, as they wish to be seen, in 
 small matters, as they are." Correct as is the maxim in general, 
 Jackson's manner of dealing is an exception to the rule, and only 
 in one instance can it be applied to him. It is true, that I refer to 
 what was in his eyes a great matter, his elevation to the Presidency. 
 On this occasion it was his object to play the part of a quiet, 
 peaceful, unpretending man ; a part which required the greatest 
 self-control, and power of will. While the necessity lasted he 
 ruled himself with remarkable power ; but so soon as it was over, 
 his character of unbridled despotism resumed its freedom, and 
 never bowed again. In this work will be seen many an instance 
 of his self-restraint and self-control : it was not a courageous will, 
 but fierce despotic power which he exhibited when the foe had 
 retreated from New Orleans ; which, after the news of the treaty 
 of Ghent had arrived, still made him refuse all constitutional 
 rights to the citizens without necessity, without benefit to the 
 city ; imprisoning some, exiling others, putting the whole city 
 under strict and causeless martial-law. He saw the citizens only 
 through the colored glasses of his partisans, who, like Livingston, 
 could not let slip this opportunity of taking vengeance on their 
 enemies — and therefore, in this he may be excused. But his 
 barbarous course in the destructive Seminole war, towards those 
 independent Indians, who were not rebels, and towards the two 
 Englishmen, Arbuthnot and Armbrister, of Nassau, Bahama Is- 
 lands — because they carried on, without unfriendly feelings towards 
 Americans, a harmless trade with the Indians, in all sorts of goods, 
 among which were powder, lead, fowling-pieces, and rifles — proved 
 how much he thought himself above the law on all occasions. In 
 time of peace with England, he had these two men tried, with orders 
 to hang them The commission appointed, asserted their incom- 
 
236 THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 petency, and refused. Jackson then named another commission, 
 and as commanding general, ordered them to do their duty and 
 hang those seditious men. They obeyed, but recommended both 
 to the mercy of the general, who must have been convinced of 
 their innocence, — they were dealers in old clothes, or slop-shop 
 keepers. Above all, it was desired to refer the matter to the 
 President of the United States, as this was a duty belonging 
 to higher authority than theirs, and as such reference was 
 usual. But Jackson would not hear of it ; they must die in- 
 stantly, and without further loss of time, one was hanged, and 
 the other shot. 
 
 The destruction of the National Bank, — not the Pennsylvanian 
 United States' Bank, but the first that was so-called, — and the 
 withdrawal of the government deposits from it, belonged to the 
 most absolute, and fury-dictated of Jackson's measures, and 
 opened the way for the ruin of the whole bank and finance system 
 in the United States. There have been people who have found 
 plausible excuses, both by word and pen, for this bit of despotism. 
 The pretence was to destroy the power of money in elections, and 
 put an end to foreign influence, which depended upon such power. 
 But the true cause, the original source of the persecution against 
 the Bank of the United States, was the personal hatred of Jackson 
 for its president, Nicholas Biddle, who afterwards won so un- 
 fortunate a celebrity, and of whom we will speak on another 
 occasion. All that followed was but the result of Jackson's first 
 and fast resolve to crush the bank and Biddle's influence at any 
 price ; and the following simple occurrence gave free course to this 
 obstinate determination, which was so terrible in its consequences. 
 The Globe, a Washington paper, stood in the first rank of those 
 who were in the general's interests, who defended his politics, and 
 knew how to put a good face on his blunders. None could so 
 pleasantly flatter Jackson and his cabinet as the editor of this 
 journal. He blew the general's trumpet much as Granier de 
 Cassagnac blows Louis Napoleon's now. Not having made 
 much by this for some years, he determined to remove to New 
 York, and publish his journal there. He soon turned his coat, 
 and began to abuse and blame the general as much as he had 
 
JACKSON'S VETOES. 237 
 
 praised him. Thoroughly acquainted with Jackson's views and 
 sentiments, it was the delight of the editor to stir up the general's 
 gall by a light, short article, which presented no points for an 
 answer. Jackson raged in quiet until an opportunity for ven- 
 geance upon the turn-coat came. The Bank of the United States, 
 at Philadelphia, was then a government bank, not like Biddle's 
 bank later, the private Bank of Pennsylvania. A quarter of the 
 capital belonged to the government, and one fourth of the 
 directors were appointed by it, the others being elected by the 
 directors. Besides the government directors, a commission was 
 occasionally sent from the treasury department to overlook the 
 accounts. This commission discovered that among the discounted 
 paper, there was a note of the editor of the Globe for $20,000, 
 bearing Biddle's indorsement, and by his influence renewed from 
 time to time. As the aforesaid editor's credit was by no means 
 in a condition to explain this, it was evident that the whole favor 
 was a consequence of Biddle's indorsement. This was a ray of 
 light to Jackson. From that moment he resolved the destruc- 
 tion of the bank, and did all in his power to prevent a renewal of 
 its Act of Incorporation. Twice it received the assent of Con- 
 gress, and twice did Jackson Veto it. To carry the measure, a 
 two-third vote was necessary. But as Jackson's influence was on 
 the increase, this necessary majority could not be obtained. The 
 bank fell, and with it the dam which divided the good from the 
 bad paper in circulation, through the United States. Biddle's 
 views were not then evident, and his motive for not allowing the 
 destruction of the Globe man, had an object which was not 
 against the interest of the state, and which should not have called 
 down the unlimited wrath of the general, which produced the 
 common shipwreck of the whole money system, and of the credit 
 of the country. 
 
 The spectacle which the city of New Orleans offered when no 
 further doubt remained of the treaty of Ghent, was a remarkable 
 one. At the head of the party then forming, with a view to make 
 Jackson president, stood naturally, Edward Livingston. He had 
 expressed a wish to see the general in the chair, and in fulfilment 
 of the wish, he built his hope of restoration of his own broken 
 
238 THE GREAT BALL AT NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 credit and fortune. He was joined by A. L. Duncan, a lawyer, 
 learned and eloquent, but who was the soul and representative of 
 all American popular intrigues. Then followed all those who 
 hoped sooner or later for a good fat office under the Jacksonian 
 administration, — as for instance, District Marshal, Duplessis, 
 who wanted the Collectorship, and P. K. Wagner, editor of the 
 N. O. Gazette, who wished to be Naval Officer. A few Creoles 
 closed the list. The influence which Governor Claiborne once 
 had over these latter, was evidently decreasing ; he hated Jack- 
 son as he hated every rival, but on this occasion he did not show 
 his ill-will, but was first in all the demonstrations of welcome and 
 honor that greeted the victorious general. The most prominent 
 citizens united to give the general a grand ball in the French Ex- 
 change, which would have to remain closed for three days, in 
 order to give opportunity for the necessary preparations. Al- 
 ready were men intriguing for the honor of a place in the ball 
 committee : the treasurer Saul, for instance. Some held that 
 none but natives should be chosen ; finally, however, the two 
 first chosen, Major D. Carmick and Commodore Patterson, both 
 great friends of mine, declared that they could not get along 
 without me, and to this circumstance, in connection with the fact 
 that I had seen more great festivities than any other man in New 
 Orleans, was I indebted for my nomination on the ball committee. 
 The upper part of the Exchange was arranged for dancing, and 
 the under part for supper, with flowers, colored lamps, and 
 transparencies with inscriptions. Before supper, Jackson desired 
 to look at the arrangements unaccompanied, and I was appointed 
 to conduct him. One of the transparencies between the arcades 
 bore the inscription, " Jackson and Victory : they are but one." 
 The general looked at it, and turned about to me in a hail-fellow 
 sort of way, saying, " Why did you not write ' Hickory and 
 Victory : they are but one.' " After supper we were treated to a 
 most delicious pas de deux by the conqueror and his spouse, an 
 emigrant of the lower classes, whom he had from a Georgian 
 planter, and who explained by her enormous corpulence that 
 French saying, " She shows how far the skin can be stretched." 
 To see these two figures, the general a long, haggard man, with 
 
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE FRENCHMEN. 239 
 
 limbs like a skeleton, and Madame la Generale, a short, fat 
 dumpling, bobbing opposite each other like half-drunken Indians, 
 to the wild melody of Possum up de Gum Tree, and endeavoring 
 to make a spring into the air, was very remarkable, and far more 
 edifying a spectacle than any European ballet could possibly have 
 furnished. 
 
 Certain ladies of the city, unrecognized by either the American 
 or French population, had determined to present Mrs. Jackson 
 with jewels to the value of $4,000, which sum was to be made up 
 by private subscriptions. 
 
 First, came the wife of Benjamin Morgan, President of the 
 Bank of New Orleans. This lady headed the subscription list 
 with $500. Some others followed, but scarce $1,600 had been 
 raised when the jewels were purchased and presented. It was, 
 however, found to be exceedingly difficult to accumulate the 
 other $2,400, a difficulty, however, which they managed to 
 conceal. 
 
 Some of the French settlers in New Orleans had long 
 waited for the moment, to return with what fortune they had 
 gained to France. The breaking out of the war had hindered 
 this. 
 
 Among others, a Provencal, by the name of Fournier, who 
 had once served in Egypt under Napoleon, and who had been a 
 porcelain Fayence and glass-ware dealer in New Orleans, had 
 gained large sums. He had sold his warehouses, had sent his 
 capital to France, and was about to follow them when the English 
 appeared. Then he at once entered our company, saying to me, 
 " Ah, je serai Men aise de leur tirer encore une fois mon coup de 
 fusil — ces matins d" Anglais." He wore his French cockade, not 
 on, but in his bearskin shako. 
 
 Two other Frenchmen, the first a dentist, named Robelot, 
 and the second a little pitiful lawyer, called Paillette, who 
 had gained something, not by their practice, but by long 
 years of usury, disappeared during the English invasion, but 
 turned up again immediately on the cessation of hostilities, 
 ready to go to France with the product of their industry 
 
240 RENEWAL OF PERSONAL HOSTILITIES. 
 
 Their capital, as no exchanges were to be had, was invested in cot- 
 ton, which had cost some twelve cents a pound. During the war 
 there were no ships in port ; and although it was to be expected 
 that merchant ships would now come in such numbers as to make 
 freights very low, yet the two men were in such extreme haste, 
 that they freighted two old unseaworthy ships for Havre, at the 
 rate of seven and a half to eight cents on the pound of cotton. 
 The ship Oliver Ellsworth carried out 800 bales of cotton, which 
 had cost $38,000, and the freight amounted to $26,880, about 
 three times the entire value of the vessel. 
 
 In the second year of the war, the 900 tons burthen, new, cop- 
 per-bottomed, English West India ship, Lord Nelson, was taken 
 by the American privateer Saratoga, and brought into New Or 
 leans. This vessel, which must have cost from £16,000 to £18,000, 
 was sold at public auction, and was purchased by me, in partner- 
 ship with a New York firm, for $18,000, was immediately equip- 
 ped, and got ready, and sent to Nantes with a cargo of cotton and 
 deer hides. The stern of the ship bore the name of Lord Nelson, 
 which we could not allow to remain under the American flag, and 
 so we called her Horatio, which was Lord Nelson's baptismal 
 name. The vessel's draft was twenty feet ; and as there was only 
 eighteen feet at the mouth of the Mississippi, I sent her round to 
 the other side of the Balize, the guard-house at the mouth of the 
 river, had her anchors cast there, and sent the most of her lading 
 out to her. 
 
 I must recall to the reader, that during the preparations to re- 
 ceive the invaders, just at the moment of their appearance in our 
 neighborhood, I had received a note from Mr. Shields, requesting 
 a truce until the danger that threatened Louisiana and New Or- 
 leans should have passed over. This note, of December 14, was 
 intended as an answer to my letter of November 26, which he 
 had thus kept eighteen days, and in which I had informed him, 
 that his whole conduct towards me had been so contemptible, that 
 I considered him unworthy the notice of a gentleman. It was 
 handed to my friend Nott by J. K. Smith, the marine paymaster, 
 under his guaranty, that so soon as either party should desire to 
 renew the difficulties, the matter should be notified to the other, 
 
MR. THOMAS SHIELDS. 241 
 
 and the whole .affair brought to an honorable end. On this occa- 
 sion Mr. Smith remarked, that nothing was more foolish than to 
 mix into the quarrels of others, and to fight about matters that 
 do not concern us, 
 
 I was busy with my preparations for a visit to Europe, as 1 
 published in the journals, with the notification, that during my 
 absence my partner Hollander would conduct the business. On 
 the 12th of April, the day on which this publication appeared, I 
 received a letter from Mr. Shields, declaring that his patience had 
 come to an end, and that he now officially notified me of his inten- 
 tion to exact corporal satisfaction from me, cane in hand. My 
 reply was that I would publish the whole correspondence, and let 
 the public judge between us : and as he sent my letter back un- 
 opened, I put it in the papers. Before this, however, Mr. Shields 
 had everywhere declared that nobody would take such a course 
 but a liar and a cowardly scoundrel. My answer took the same 
 course, and was in these words : — 
 
 " As Mr. Thomas Shields has seen fit to mention publicly my 
 name, coupled with epithets which rather describe his own charac- 
 ter, I hereby inform all who believe him a man of courage and 
 honor that they are in error ; and I request those who hear both 
 sides, before judging, to wait a few days for the publication of the 
 correspondence between us. VINCENT NOLTE." 
 
 "New Orleans, April 15, 1815." 
 
 A friend, who had read the threatening letter of Mr. Shields, 
 had, on his own responsibility, notified the Justice of the Peace. 
 Freval, and he had held Shields to bail, in the sum of $4,000, to 
 keep the peace in general, and towards me in particular. 
 
 This correspondence made a great sensation in the city. The 
 unworthy intrigues of Mr. Saul and his companions, to satisfi 
 their own base lust of vengeance, their method of preparing poi- 
 soned arrows privately to shoot at me, and their system of em 
 ploying worthless men, like all my antagonists, or half madmen, 
 like Shields, to work underhandedly, and of setting them on me. 
 like so many mad dogs — all this showed the entire respectable and 
 
 11 
 
242 "A SHOT IN THE REAR." 
 
 honorable population of the city, in the clearest and most con- 
 vincing manner how small and absurd was the position of this 
 pitiful boaster, who, in the Exchange, and on the street corners, 
 was endeavoring to pass as a judge of manners, and an authority 
 in transactions of this kind. Shields, half cracked before, now 
 went entirely mad, and went about asking everybody how he 
 could answer my publication. It was in vain to tell him that he 
 had already branded me as a liar, that nobody would believe me, 
 that his honor was yet unsullied, etc. He still had sense enough 
 to recognize that for honest men he was branded. The lawyer 
 Grymes, a man thoroughly at home in ingenious financial matters, 
 and always in want of money, said to him, " Now, Shields, if you 
 will give me a thousand dollars, I will answer Nolte's pamphlet 
 in your name." " Done !" was Shields' answer ; " it is a bar- 
 gain.? Fourteen days later appeared a little book, of one sheet, 
 which proved only the impossibility of getting a result from the 
 preposterous instructions of an idiot. 
 
 My pamphlet had, however, smitten Saul & Co. harder even 
 than Shields. This man found himself so thoroughly unmasked ; 
 his rhodomontades, his manner of speech, proverbial among those 
 who knew him, had been so literally sketched ; his want of mod- 
 esty, as well as of sound logic ; the unworthiness of his cabals and 
 private schemes were set so naked in the daylight, that he could 
 hardly contain his rage. It was his only thought by day, it was 
 his nightmare. One day I learned that he was teaching the use 
 of the pistol every afternoon to his oldest son, a stupid and yet 
 conceited booby. " No one knows of what use this may be," was 
 his common expression ; and the beloved son was taught that he 
 should one day be his father's avenger. One evening I was on 
 the Levee, with a couple of acquaintances, when suddenly I felt 
 some one spit upon my back. I turned round quickly, and said, 
 " What is that V I saw rapidly retiring the spiritless, corpse-pale 
 face of Saul's eldest son. " You could not prove yourself the 
 true son of your father but by attacking me from behind." I 
 called after him. I was excessively excited, and knew not what 
 to do. The young man was evidently crazy. But how was I to 
 get at the right person, and demand satisfaction from him who 
 
HIS RETIREMENT. 243 
 
 had already refused it. Something must be done ; and I saw no 
 other means than to seek the young man who had so grossly 
 insulted me, the next morning ; and as I knew that he was deter- 
 mined in one way or another to get me out of the way, I deter- 
 mined to sell my life as dearly as possible. The inflexibility of 
 my right arm, because of the elbow having been broken, gave too 
 great an advantage to my opponent in a long distance. I wished, 
 therefore, to fight at five paces, and so to settle one or the other. 
 My two friends, Major McCormick, of the Marines, and Mr. St. 
 Avit, were my seconds, and arranged the distance agreeably to my 
 desires. The challenge was accepted, but the distance was protested 
 against, and ten paces insisted on. Finally, after much debate, 
 seven paces was agreed upon. The first toss for choice of posi- 
 tion was won by my adversary's second, Beale. The next was 
 equally against me, and gave him the word, which was to be one, 
 two, three. My two seconds — more particularly my not-to-be- 
 forgotten friend, Major McCormick, one of the noblest men whom 
 1 have ever known — were so annoyed at the position in which 
 they saw me, just come from a three years' war, and on the point 
 of going to Europe to see my friends, and to procure for my firm 
 the position for which I had labored for four years and six months 
 — a position that exposed me to a young man of fiery mood be- 
 tween life and death — that they could scarcely attend to the neces- 
 sary circumstances of a duel. As we took our places, I asked 
 Major McCormick whether the pistol worked well. " I do not 
 know," he answered, tearfully. " Let me hear," said I ; " cock 
 it." He did so, and I heard that all was right, and took the pistol. 
 I have said that my elbow had been broken. This prevented me 
 from holding my arm straight. My adversary's second declared 
 that all the advantage was on my side ; beside, I could not help 
 holding the mouth of the pistol a little elevated, and he insisted 
 that his principal should do the same. Accordingly he placed his 
 arm in that position, the word was given, we fired, and he shot 
 me in the left leg. I lost my shot, and, from loss of blood, fell. 
 I was carried home, and confined to bed for fourteen days. The 
 bail could not be found. Wherever it went, it remains to this day. 
 In the meanwhile the ship Horatio had been loaded. Then we 
 
244 OUTSIDE THE BALIZE. 
 
 were told that Napoleon had landed at Cannes, but we had no de- 
 tails. The jubilee of the city was incomprehensible. The French 
 consul, Colonel Toussard, who, a year before, had worn a white 
 cockade, at the news of the restoration of the Bourbons, and who 
 had been hooted by the whole mob, therefore concluded to put on 
 the tri-color again. Once more I was in a condition to be trans- 
 ported. I was put into a hammock. My captain procured me a 
 surgeon, who visited me on board the Horatio, whither I went by 
 moonlight, about twelve o'clock. The ship was ready ; the pas- 
 sengers were the well-known American Consul-Gen eral in Paris, 
 Fulwar Skipwith, with his two daughters ; Captain Roche, whom 
 I have frequently named ; an old French schoolmaster, called 
 Habure, and a Bernese who had married, and was now leaving, a 
 rich planter's widow. The next morning a vessel arrived, after 
 an unusually short passage, and brought us Havre news of March 
 24. We learned Napoleon's triumphal march through France, 
 the flight of the Bourbons, and his entry into Paris. The papers 
 brought by the vessel gave me the preceding history of Napo- 
 leon's acts. I observed that military influence was the cause of 
 this return, and determined to send Captain Bailey back to the 
 city, with the following letter to my partner : — 
 
 " Outside the Balize, on board the Horatio, ) 
 "April 22, 1815. \ 
 " Dear Hollander : — The journals that Captain Bailey brings 
 you will inform you of what is newest in Paris. Napoleon will 
 have again, God knows how long, the Tuileries, if not France. I 
 doubt that he will stay long. His whole power, as I think, is 
 with the soldiery. One thing is certain, he will find himself in 
 great need of money on his return. We know, by experience, 
 that he is very unscrupulous ; and I deem it not only possible, but 
 highly probable, that he will lay hands upon all property coming 
 from abroad, under the pretence that it is British. Therefore I 
 send Captain Bailey to get from you ' certificates of origin' for the 
 whole cargo. You know what I mean by certificates of origin ; 
 papers to testify that the wares are American products, and the 
 owners American citizens. These certificates must be sent from 
 
WHAT BECAME OF MY ENEMIES. 245 
 
 our house, and the others interested, to the French consul, who 
 must testify to their genuineness. Send Bailey back quickly, so 
 that we may take advantage of this wind, and get out to sea. I 
 think I can prophesy, that by the time we arrive on the French 
 coast the whole comedy will have been played out ; for my belief 
 grows stronger every day, that Napoleon will not be able to main- 
 tain himself. The glory that surrounded him is gone, and cannot 
 be recalled. God be with you. VINCENT NOLTE." 
 
 On the fourth day Captain Bailey came back with the certifi- 
 cates, and, wafted by a favorable wind, we sailed from the yellow 
 waters of the Mississippi, out upon the blue bosom of the Gulf of 
 Mexico. 
 
 To give a correct idea of manners in New Orleans, is my reason 
 for having given the history of a duel, in itself so uninteresting. 
 I yield it now to oblivion, as one of my saddest and most fruitless 
 experiences, although I cannot avoid mentioning that my first an- 
 tagonist, paymaster Allen, eighteen months after the duel, became 
 a government defaulter for $4,000 ; that young Saul, who was un- 
 derteller in his father's bank, had the same misfortune, only for 
 double the amount ; and that the crack-brained Shields, after find- 
 ing that his marine cash-box was wanting in heavy sums, which 
 had been expended in costly entertainments, went mad altogetb /r, 
 and ended his life in a lunatic asylum. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 JOURNEY TO FRANCE— WATERLOO— PARIS IN THE HANDS 
 OF THE ALLIES IN 1815. 
 
 Voyage to France — Waterloo — Paris in the hands of the Allies in 1815 — I 
 am obliged to run into Havana, on my way to Nantes — First news of the 
 battle of Waterloo, at sea — Consternation and rage of my French shipmates 
 — Confirmation of the news by the pilot of the Belle-Isle — Arrival at Paim- 
 bceuf — The white flag of the Bourbons floating over the forts — a second 
 corroboration of Napoleon's fall — Visit to my old counting- room at Nantes 
 — The Venus Callypyges still in its former place — Journey to Paris — Prus- 
 sian outposts at Blois — Major Keller, into whose hands Napoleon's chapeau 
 and sword had fallen at Charleroi — The bridge at Tours, and the Grena- 
 diers of the Old Guard on the left bank — Paris — Description of the position 
 of affairs — Anecdote of the Duke of Wellington — The death of Marshal 
 Ney — Review of the Russian Guard, on the Boulevards, from the Barrier 
 du Trone to the Barrier de l'Etoile — The returned Euglish officers from 
 Orleans at Paris — Euglish and French cooking — The American General 
 Scott at Paris— Object of my trip to Europe — Ouvrard again Napoleon's 
 Commissary-General during the Hundred Days — His description of the 
 battle of Waterloo— Second return of the Bourbms — State of financial 
 affairs — The remodelling of the Hope establishment at Amsterdam in 
 1814, and the entry of Mr. Jerome Sillem into it — Financial embarrass- 
 ments of the Bourbons — Ouvrard's success in the negotiation of the first 
 loan through the Barings in Londou, and the Hopes in Amsterdam — Pow- 
 erful aid of the Duke of Wellington — Ouvrard, the creator of this mine of 
 wealth for all concerned, comes off empty-handed himself. 
 
 The favorable wind, which had wafted us out of the Mississippi 
 into the Gulf of Mexico, still held good," and yet we were, for sev- 
 eral hours, surrounded by the muddy water, which, rolling down 
 with much force, sharply cuts the blue crystal waters of the gulf, 
 making a line of division that is distinctly perceptible for some 
 thirty miles from the river's mouth. This phenomenon may like- 
 wise be observed at the mouth of the Rio de Janeiro, and, in even 
 
IMPORTANT NEWS. 247 
 
 broader and farther-reaching extent, at the embouchure of the Plata 
 river. The depth of the Mississippi at this line of separation was 
 measured in 1845, and found to be 7,800 feet. 
 
 Soon after our departure, the unusual heaving and pitching of 
 our ship, which, having a cargo of 2,000 bales of cotton, had not 
 sufficient ballast, Captain Bailey wisely determined to run into 
 Havana to procure more. A return to the mouth of the Missis- 
 sippi would have occasioned incalculable loss of time, great ex- 
 pense, and possibly the breaking off of a bargain. On the fourth 
 day of our voyage we reached the magnificent fortress El Moro, 
 which commands the entrance of the harbor of Havana, and from 
 which I had parted five years before. Our inquiry for ballast 
 was soon satisfied. The Cuban government had exposed to public 
 sale a quantity of old and useless iron cannon balls ; and, by remov- 
 ing one hundred and fifty bales of cotton from the ship's main- 
 hold, and bringing them on deck, we left a larger space open to 
 receive this very convenient ballast, which could be brought on 
 board so easily and quickly. A sufficient quantity of it was pur- 
 chased, and in a few days the Horatio was once more ready for 
 sea. The wind still continued favorable, as we stood out upon the 
 open ocean, and brought us, within twenty-eight days, to the vicin- 
 ity of the English coasts, not far from the Scilly Islands. At this 
 point we saw a large vessel in the distance, which came towards 
 us with half-filled sails, and was soon recognized by Captain Bai- 
 ley, who belonged to New York, as the monthly packet from 
 London to that city. The captain readily complied with my re- 
 quest, that he would speak her if possible. The two ships came 
 closer together, and we distinctly heard, through the speaking 
 trumpet of the packet captain, these words : " How do you do, Cap- 
 tain Bailey]" the commander of the London vessel proving to be an 
 acquaintance. By means of backing and filling the sails, and using 
 the speaking trumpets, they managed to carry on the conversa- 
 tion for some minutes ; and after mutual replies to some seafaring 
 questions, a passenger, who had taken the speaking trumpet from 
 the captain's hands, suddenly addressed me with, " How do you 
 do, Mr. Nolte V These words, as I discovered, came from the 
 English Consul, Barclay, who was returning to New York, after the 
 
248 A SLIGHT MISTAKE. 
 
 end of the war, and who had recognized me on the quarter deck. I 
 now got Captain Bailey to ask, " What news from France V The 
 answer was, " The Duke of Wellington, with the British army, 
 are in Paris." Hereupon followed the question, " Where is Bo- 
 naparte V and the last reply we could catch brought the words, 
 " He has fled, nobody knows whither." At length the two ships 
 separated, each one steering its course. My readers should have 
 seen the countenances of my two French friends ! Incredulity, 
 fury and exasperation were visible, by turns, in the expression of 
 their features. I remarked that I had prophesied correctly, that 
 the whole comedy, as I had said when we started, would probably 
 be played out by the time we reached the shores of France. 
 My former captain, Roche, asked me, with a compassionate shrug 
 jf the shoulders, "So you believe all that, do you % It is nothing 
 but confounded English news, manufactured at London for fools ; 
 never mind, you will see !" And hereupon the two Frenchmen 
 fell to demonstrating, for each other's satisfaction, that this intel- 
 ligence could not be true. 
 
 As I afterwards learned, they went still farther in New Orleans, 
 Adhere they had always been fond of calling the Duke of Welling- 
 ton Vilain-ton, when the news of the battle of June 18th was 
 made known there, without any further particulars. Mr. Thierry, 
 the talented but extremely Bonapartist editor of the French paper, 
 Courrier de la Louisiane, undertook to analyze this news, and to 
 prove, by a series of logical conclusions, that it masked a disastrous 
 defeat of the British army, and that Napoleon had undoubtedly 
 achieved a brilliant triumph, which every good Frenchman was 
 consequently bound to celebrate, without loss of time. Prepara- 
 tions were instantly made to comply with this suggestion, and that 
 same evening busts of Napoleon, crowned with wreaths of laurel, 
 were borne about in procession, surrounded by hundreds of torches, 
 and several bands of music were engaged to play and sing na- 
 tional French airs and hymns. Indescribable was the feeling of 
 these enthusiasts when, as I was afterwards told, they heard the 
 real state of the case ; yet my two French travelling companions 
 gave me a very fair idea of this feeling when we, on the next day, 
 neared the roads of Belle Isle, and took on board a French pilot 
 
THE STATUE OF VENUS. 249 
 
 from Loire. He was instantly laid hold of by these gentlemen, 
 and overwhelmed with inquiries, if it were possible that the stupid 
 nonsense from England about Napoleon's downfall could be true. 
 The poor fellow had to make the sad reply, "Ah ! it is only too 
 true ! his great courage has betrayed him !" " But where is he 
 then f. was the next question. " Nobody can tell ; they say that 
 he has fled to Rochefort, with the intention of escaping to Amer- 
 ica." This was the beginning of a very animated conversation 
 between the pilot and our friends, who had scarcely been in time 
 to order the necessary ship manoeuvres, until an oath or two, such 
 as " damn these Frenchmen," from Captain Bailey, released him 
 from their hands. On the banks of the Loire we everywhere saw 
 the white flag of the Bourbons, and at length came to anchor, not 
 far from Painbceuf. 
 
 My first visit in Nantes was, of course, to my former employ- 
 ers, who received me all the more cordially, that I placed in their 
 hands, for sale, a large part of the cargo that I had brought with 
 me. It was not without a certain feeling of interest and curiosity 
 that I again visited the counting-room, where I, ten years before, 
 had consumed both time and pen in learning how to write com- 
 mercial advices. Mr. Labouchere had not yet lost his taste for 
 butterflies, shells, dried fish, and lizards, for a quantity of these 
 were seen in several cases ranged against the wall. But I was 
 particularly delighted with my old favorite, the plaster-paris 
 statue of Venus — Callipyges-Venus aux belles /esses — as the 
 French call her, which was still standing in its old place on a 
 desk. It was plainly to be seen that Mr. Labouchere prized this 
 not less highly than I had done, but his taste for art yielded to a 
 certain feeling of delicacy, which induced him to leave the artistic 
 beauties of the statue more to the force of conjecture, than to let 
 them be openly exposed to the gaze of the uninitiated ; and hence he 
 was in the habit of turning the rear side, namely, that where Venus 
 spreads out the large cloth towards the front. When, ten years 
 before this, I had been accustomed to enter the office in the morn- 
 ing, I never failed to turn the statue around, so that no one might 
 be deprived of the sight of those beauties to which the statue 
 owed its name. However, if, in the course of the day, this change 
 
 11* 
 
250 THE GREAT BATTLE OF BELLE ALLIANCE. 
 
 happened to be noticed, the old direction was once more carefully 
 given it, and this very thing proved to me, also now as formerly, 
 that love of art and delicacy of feeling had not relinquished a tittle 
 of their mutual rights, nor undergone any diminution. The head 
 of Venus was still looking as it used to do, over her shoulder at a 
 case of butterflies, which hung behind her. At so interesting and 
 important a period of the world's history, I could not linger at 
 Nantes any longer than my business absolutely required. I was 
 burning with eagerness to reach Paris, where the fate of European 
 nations was about to be decided for the second time, and I was 
 therefore soon upon my way to that city. In Blois, where I 
 arrived the same evening about 10 o'clock, I for the first time saw 
 a portion of the Prussian army, intoxicated with victory, whose 
 advanced posts extended to that place. The inn, where I only 
 thought of taking my evening meal, was crowded to overflowing 
 with Prussian officers, who so frequently repeated the w r ord Belle- 
 Alliance that mj curiosity to get some coherent and authentic 
 details of that great battle soon rose to the highest pitch. When 
 I questioned some of the officers, their reply invariably was — 
 " Good heavens, do you not know all about it already V I told 
 them that I lived in America, and had just arrived from there." 
 "Ah ! indeed," they said ; "well, that's a good reason; we will take 
 you to our major," they added, " he will tell you all about it. It 
 was himself that took Napoleon's chapeau and sword from his car- 
 riage at Charleroi, and gave it to General Blucher. He is a 
 clever, pleasant man, is Major Keller, and will receive you well. 
 Come on ! he lodges here in the inn." I accompanied them very 
 willingly. The officers led me to their major, and introduced me 
 with the words, "Here, major, is a man who comes from the 
 woods of America, and does not know one syllable about the 
 great battle of Belle Alliance, of which every one else is talking ! 
 Be so kind as to tell him how we drove Napoleon out." The major 
 was really very polite. He asked me to be seated, and I at once 
 requested permission to call for a bottle of champagne, in order that 
 we might empty a few glasses to his health and that of the Prus- 
 sian army. In this way his tongue was loosened, and in one short 
 hour I had learned as much about the battle as he himself knew. 
 
PARIS, AFTER THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 251 
 
 I then took ray leave of him, and proceeded on my way to Paris. 
 On the next morning I reached the bridge at Tours, where I saw 
 the entrance of the Prussian grenadiers upon the hither side, but 
 saw the opposite bank held by the remnants of the old French 
 guard, with their bear-skin caps. This was the corps which Mar- 
 shal Davoust had led to that spot, in consequence of the capitula- 
 tion of July 3d, 1815, and had encamped along the left bank of 
 the Loire. In Paris, whose governor was the Prussian General 
 Muffling, I alighted, as I had always done before, at the Hotel de 
 l'Empire, on the corner of the Rue d'Artois and the Rue de Pro- 
 vence, which afterwards became the property of the banker, Lafitte. 
 The Russian Embassy, the so called Hotel Phellusson, lay to the 
 left of it, and was just at that time occupied by the General Pozzo 
 di Borgo, who, as a member of the general staff of the Duke of 
 Wellington, had been present at the battle of Waterloo, and was 
 there wounded. Paris at that time contained the Emperor Alex- 
 ander, the Emperor Francis II., of Austria, King Frederick William 
 III., of Prussia, the Duke of Wellington, Prince Blucher, the Gene- 
 ral Field Marshal Prince Von Schwarzenberg, Platoff, the hetman 
 of the Cossacks, innumerable Russian, German and other princes, 
 and the most distinguished English, Russian, Austrian, and Prus- 
 sian generals and diplomats. The result of the battle at Water- 
 loo had brought these leading celebrities of all nations to Paris, 
 and had made that capital the great centre of universal interest. 
 It swarmed with troops and uniforms of all kinds to such a degree 
 that one could neither look nor turn, in any direction, without his 
 gaze being arrested at once by them. Among these masses of 
 military men, here and there stalked the officers of the disbanded 
 French army, alone, like ghosts, in long blue mantles, buttoned 
 close up to their chins, and booted and spurred, but with their 
 chapeaus pressed low down over their foreheads, and dark, rigid 
 countenances. Even the ribbon of the Legion of Honor had dis- 
 appeared from their button-holes ; but so soon as a red [English] 
 uniform approached, you would know it at once in the flashing eyes 
 and excited features of these melancholy pedestrians ; and when 
 any of these accidental and rtfdeed almost unavoidable jostlings of 
 the elbows, or little collisions of the feet, which happened in the 
 
252 THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. 
 
 midst of a moving crowd, occurred, the angry " Je suis Francais, 
 monsieur!" or "Je suis officier Francais!" broke forth with great 
 bitterness ; and if the customary " Pardon, monsieur !" was then 
 omitted, a quarrel, more or less serious, was sure to follow. The 
 French police had the difficult office to discharge to keep these 
 remnants of French valor, upon whom victory had so lately 
 heaped her choicest laurels, away from Paris as much as possi- 
 ble, and they succeeded but indifferently. Notwithstanding this 
 extremely irritated state of feeling on the part of the French mili- 
 tary, kept down too as it was by force alone, there was no one in 
 all Paris that rode about more fearlessly than the Duke of Welling- 
 ton: he showed himself every where, and usually in a simple blue 
 overcoat, with the red English sash around his waist, and the 
 usual military chapeau on his head, decorated with a white and red 
 plume. He was generally followed by a single orderly-sergeant on 
 horseback. I saw him ride thus one morning into the court-yard 
 of the Hotel de l'Empire, whither he had come to inquire for the 
 celebrated London banker Angerstein, who had also put up there. 
 There was no lack of anecdotes concerning the notorious sang- 
 froid of this hero of the day, who, at the battle of Waterloo, had 
 several times rode himself into the midst of his squares, when the 
 French cuirassiers charged in upon them. The Russian Count, 
 Pozzo di Borgo, used to relate that the Duke, when he wanted, in 
 the very beginning of the action, to make an attack upon the 
 French line, with a couple of regiments of Nassau cavalry, sud- 
 denly found himself abandoned by them, at the very first cannon 
 shot that was fired, and was left alone with his staff, in the middle 
 of the field. He simply turned to the count, and smilingly said, 
 " What do you think of that % Yet it is with such poltroons that 
 I am expected to gain a battle !" My authority for this anec- 
 dote is Mr. Alexander Baring, who heard it himself from the 
 lips of Pozzo di Borgo. 
 
 The deepest interest was felt by every one in Paris, at that 
 time, in the trial of Marshal Ney, then pending before the Cham- 
 ber of Peers ; and the sympathy for that renowned soldier was 
 universal. I was sitting at the window of the Cafe Hardy, on the 
 corner of the Rue d'Artois and the Boulevard des Italiens, taking 
 
EXECUTION OF NEY! 253 
 
 my breakfast, when a strong detachment of French gendarmes rode 
 past, and an acquaintance of mine, a Swiss, by the name of Sala- 
 din, burst in, greatly agitated, and exclaimed : " There are the gen- 
 darmes returning ! All is over ! I saw it !" This conveyed to 
 me the first information that Ney had been shot, as my friend had 
 witnessed the execution less than an hour before. It was nothing 
 new to me, nor would it be to any one who had learned to know 
 and estimate Ney's character, that, as Saladin told me, the great- 
 est tranquillity was visible in his countenance at the final moment; 
 but a comparison, used by my informant, struck me with much 
 force: "He was as calm," said my friend, "as though he had 
 just swallowed a glass of water !" Five balls penetrated the 
 marshal's heart and three buried themselves in his brain ; and he 
 fell without a tremor. I arose, agitated, from my breakfast, and 
 was a long time before I could get over my anger, at this barba- 
 rous execution, which the returned Bourbon government had 
 deemed necessary. All Paris afterwards learned, that at the 
 moment when the marshal's wife, the Princess de la Moskowa, 
 was kneeling at the feet of Louis XVIII., and piteously imploring 
 him to spare the life of her husband, an adjutant entered the room 
 with the words, "The marshal has ceased to live;" and thus ter- 
 minated the interview, and the embarrassment of the king, who 
 would not hear of granting any pardon. From the manifold 
 spectacle, certainly never witnessed before, which Paris at this 
 moment offered to the eye, no one assuredly can form a correct 
 idea but him who saw it. Let any one summon up before him, 
 if he can, the most populous city in the European continent, the 
 very centre of its elegance and fashion, in the hands of two distin- 
 guished foreign armies, the French and Prussian, intoxicated 
 with success, and surrounded by the numerous hosts of the Rus- 
 sian autocrat and of the German emperor — Austrians and Cos- 
 sacks, Baschkiers and Englishmen, Prussians and Honveds, in 
 variegated combination; the public promenades and places of 
 public amusement, the restaurants and theatres, filled, to over- 
 flowing, with the elite of these sons of Mars, and in among them 
 the ever elegant, but more or less respectable female classes of 
 Paris, from the so-called Lionnes to the Lorettes — two names, 
 
254 PARISIAN RESTAURATEURS. 
 
 which, at tha.t time, had not yet become fashionable, although the 
 ladies who bear them have always existed in these gay creatures, 
 crossing and re-crossing the many-colored scene we have described, 
 with all their own peculiar grace and lightness — the Parisian 
 populace and its " gamins" mingling in harmonious brotherhood 
 with the foreign troopers — these " Alexanders at four sous 
 a head," as Voltaire used to term the common soldiery — let the 
 reader, I say, picture all this to himself, and he will, perhaps, be 
 able to form an idea of the reality. The varied spectacle con- 
 tinued day and night, without intermission — for the brief nights 
 of July sped swiftly away, in the gratification of the curiosity 
 awakened in, and inspired by the stranger guests ; then, too, there 
 was not only every species of enjoyment at hand, but also ample 
 means for its indulgence; full purses and the life of Paris are 
 easily reconciled ! The four and twenty hours were passed in an 
 uninterrupted dream ; and those who were surrounded by this 
 excitement, re-awoke, after brief slumber, to begin another dream, 
 that bore them along with open eyes. 
 
 It was curious to observe the selection made by the diplomats 
 and officers who had to dine in the restaurants of the capital. 
 Thus, for instance, the diplomatists and all who belonged to the 
 embassies, the Russian officers of the higher rank preferred the 
 elegant saloons of the restaurateur Beauvilliers, while the cele- 
 brated name of Very, drew to his establishment all the English and 
 Prussian gourmets, and you could not travel his long lowersaloon, 
 where, on one side, the English, and on the other, the Prussian 
 officers used to sit, without having to skip over the trailing cavalry 
 sabres that stuck out behind the seats of the company, and 
 crossed each other in a series of figures like the letter X. The 
 uniform usually announced the choice of dishes, before the 
 customer had time to speak, and the garcons were seldom mis- 
 taken ; when, as they saw a red uniform, denoting its wearer to be 
 English, enter the room they got their mouths ready to say, 
 Bifsteck aux pommes de terre ? or, as a Prussian came in, at once 
 suggested some kind of a potage. The English officers were 
 somewhat dull of comprehension when the waiters made inquiry 
 respecting the portions they were to order, as for example, where 
 
MILITARY NOTABILITIES. 255 
 
 a simple portion of beef and a double supply of green peas was 
 required. The Englishmen would then ask for a " boeuf pour un, 
 un petit pois pour deux," and seldom comprehended that both 
 could be had without ringing in the additional particle un. 
 
 An opportunity to see assembled, at one point, all that Paris 
 contained of military and diplomatic notabilities and royal per- 
 sonages was presented to me, one day, by a review of the 
 Russian Guards, on the Boulevards, which were occupied, along 
 their whole extent, from the Barriere du Trone to the Barriere 
 de l'Etoile. I had stationed myself on the Boulevard des Italiens, 
 close by a Russian colonel who stood there at the head of his 
 regiment, and had engaged in conversation with him. All at 
 once a number of patrolling sentinels spread themselves along 
 behind the front line, and caused the spectators to recede a few 
 steps. I expressed to the colonel my regret at this arrangement, 
 as it would, most probably, deprive me of the chance of seeing 
 the three monarchs of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, who were 
 expected at every moment, to ride past accompanied by their 
 respective staffs. The colonel who was a very good natured man, 
 had a small hump on his back, such as I had not seen before on any 
 military person, politely said : — " Very well, Monsieur, remain 
 where you are, at my side, and no one will meddle with you !" 
 I did so, and was not molested. Suddenly, the three monarchs 
 came riding rapidly along the lines ; the Emperor Alexander in 
 the middle, his eyes directed at the ladies in the windows and 
 balconies ; on his right the Emperor Francis II. of Austria, with 
 his grave face, looking straight before him ; and on his left, King 
 Frederic William III., who seemed to be rather examining the 
 caps among the people, than the ladies on the balconies. The 
 staff consisted, as my clever friend, the colonel, reckoned it, of 
 more than a thousand military personages from all countries, and 
 dressed in every variety of uniform. A lucky chance ordained 
 that their Majesties and the whole procession should halt directly 
 in front of the regiment on my right, and I then partly recognized 
 of my own knowledge, and partly had pointed out to me, by my 
 obliging protector, the following dignitaries : — The Russian Grand 
 Dukes Constantine, Nicholas, and Michael, the Austrian Arch- 
 
250 OLD ACQUAINTANCES. 
 
 dukes Charles and John, several Prussian Princes, the Duke of 
 Wellington, the Austrian Field-Marshal, Prince Von Schwarzen- 
 berg, Field-Marshal Blucher, General Gneisenau, General M lifting, 
 the Cossack Hetman Platoff, a throng of English, Prussian, and 
 Austrian generals, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Stuart, Prince Met- 
 ternich and others, whose names and physiognomies have escaped 
 me. As I was returning to my lodgings, after the review, I ran 
 against my former Captain and travelling companion Roche, 
 almost in tears. " Ah, mon Dieu !" he exclaimed, " I never 
 imagined that they were such splendid troops, — these so-called 
 barbarians and Cossacks ; — how our bulletins lied about them ! 
 And yet what they said, we took for gospel !" 
 
 The division of the English Major-General Lambert, which we 
 had fought in New Orleans, had returned to Europe, in time 
 enough to participate in the Battle of Waterloo, and occupation 
 of Paris. Suddenly, one day, I found myself surrounded by 
 several English officers, who greeted me with a cheery " How do 
 you do, Mr. Nolte !" My newly found acquaintances were Major 
 Mitchell, Lieutenant Dobree, and others, who had fallen into our 
 hands, as prisoners, at New Orleans, and who felt very grateful 
 for the friendly treatment they had experienced there, in my 
 house, during the brief period that elapsed after their capture, 
 until the ratification of peace, at Ghent. These gentlemen, in 
 order to give some expression of their kind feeling in return, 
 invited me to a dinner, which they ordered at Very's, with precise 
 instructions to observe in everything, the English style — a by no 
 means agreeable novelty to one of the " fins cuisiniers de Paris," 
 who was thus deprived of all freedom of invention. This rage 
 for looking upon English habits and customs as the rule and 
 criterion of the excellent, in everything which prevails on the 
 Continent as well as in England itself, is seldom got rid of by 
 a native of the latter country. If there be any nation which can 
 lay claim to such privilege, it is indeed, the English ; but this 
 remark has its limits, and cannot apply to every case. The 
 dinner of my hospitable friends passed off as well as was possible 
 under the circumstances ; but of course, they did not find the fish 
 so fresh, nor the roast beef so tender and savory as in England, 
 
GENERAL SCOTT. 257 
 
 and consequently, could not pass it over without their usual 
 " d — n all French cookery !" I felt constrained for the honor of 
 the French cuisine to return the dinner, and that, too, in the house 
 of the same restaurateur, Very, whose condemnation they had 
 pronounced. When I was ordering the dinner at Madame Very's, 
 formerly the mistress of Lucien Bonaparte, and dividing my 
 attention between a pair of superb melons that lay upon her 
 marble table, under a slight covering of gauze, and the heaving 
 bosom of the hostess, half-screened with the same delicate tissue, 
 where she sat behind the luscious fruit, I took care to intimate that 
 the repast in question, was intended to show my English friends 
 that there was such a thing as good eating to be had at Paris. That 
 was enough ! My guests slighted none of the numerous and varied 
 dishes set before them, drank copiously, and with evident pleasure, 
 and found themselves lighter and gayer after a hearty meal than 
 if they had been devouring two or three pounds of roast-beef, and 
 had emptied bottle after bottle of port wine. They finally con 
 fessed, that " a French dinner was a very good thing, after all." 
 
 Among the countless numbers that Paris had attracted, at the 
 time of which I am writing, was the American General Scott, the 
 same who was lately a candidate for the Presidency of the United 
 States. He had, during the three years' war with England, distin- 
 guished himself in various operations on the Canadian frontiers, 
 such as storming a couple of forts, etc., and was looked upon by 
 his countryman as a military star of the highest order. He was 
 indebted to this circumstance for his mission to Europe, whither 
 the government had sent him to enlarge the sphere of his military 
 knowledge, and thoroughly study the art of war. He came to 
 Paris with the idea, that the greetings of the great military lead- 
 ers of the Continent, and the testimonials of their admiration, 
 would be everywhere extended to him. In this, however, to his 
 visible chagrin, he had been greatly misled.* In the vast collec- 
 tion of military celebrities then assembled at Paris, where, in one 
 single circle, could be found the Duke of Wellington, Marshal 
 Prince Blucher, and Schwarzenberg, the Russian Field-Marshal 
 Kutusoff, the Generals Woronzow, Rostopchin, Tchitchagoff, and 
 
 all these remarbable personages, covered with military decora*- 
 * See Appendix. 
 
258 MY OWN AFFAIRS. 
 
 tions, stars, and orders, the long, thin American, in his simple blue 
 coat, without embroidery of any kind, and distinguished only by 
 a modest pair of epaulettes, could not expect to awaken any very 
 great attention. But Scott could not dissemble the contrast be- 
 tween the part he had played in his own country, wherever he 
 showed himself, and his present position, and frequently gave way 
 to vehement, and sometimes even laughable exhibitions of tem- 
 per. But one thing is certain, viz., that he felt and understood 
 what he was worth ; for in later days he displayed his not incon- 
 siderable military and strategic capacity, on another theatre than 
 the Canadian frontiers, that is to say, during the war with Mex- 
 ico, in 1846 and 1847, when he attracted and fixed general atten- 
 tion. 
 
 I have already spoken of my return to Europe. It originated, 
 chiefly, in the wish I felt to renew some former business relations 
 which had been broken off since 1812, by the unexpected war 
 with England, and to open a trade upon a secure basis with some 
 of the European places whose commerce was the most important 
 for New Orleans. In the French ports, people had not yet be- 
 come sufficiently restored to consciousness ; after so long a sup- 
 pression of everything like the spirit of enterprise, they were still 
 groping about in the dark. None but the shippers had begun to 
 move. After a short visit, paid to my London friends, the Bar- 
 ings — upon which occasion a few lines from Mr. Alexander Baring, 
 then at Geneva, informed me that I should most probably meet 
 him in Paris — I returned to the latter city, and determined, in the 
 meanwhile, to visit the south of France, particularly Marseilles, 
 afterwards repairing to Bayonne and Bordeaux, and thence re- 
 turning to Paris — From Marseilles I dispatched, to New Orleans, 
 the first cargo of export articles that had left that port since the 
 peace. I took my return trip through Nismes, Montpelier, Nar- 
 bonne, and the Pyrenees, visited my friend A. P. Lestapis and 
 his family at Pau, went thence to Bayonne and Bordeaux, and 
 finally, in the month of March, met my patron and friend, Mr. 
 Alexander Baring, at Paris. The consequences that followed the 
 renewed interviews we had together were, that the blank credit 
 for £10,000 opened in favor of my house, was confirmed, and, in 
 
OUVRARD AND NAPOLEON. 250 
 
 addition thereto, full power conceded to interest the London firm 
 to double that amount in any safe local business. 
 
 It was just at this time, when the exhaustion of the French 
 treasury, and the daily increasing necessities of the government, 
 coupled with its utter inability to procure credit, was occasioning 
 it the greatest embarrassments, to such an extent, indeed, that, to 
 use a very common expression, "it could not help itself," — that 
 Ouvrard had an opportunity of again raising his head, and finding 
 an appropriate field for the full exercise of his undeniably com- 
 manding financial talent. He had already carried on a corres- 
 pondence, respecting the financial position of France, with the two 
 heads of the Hope and Baring firms, with whom he was on terms 
 of friendship. During the brief interregnum of the Bourbons, be- 
 tween the months of April, 1814, and March, 1815, when Napo- 
 leon threw France and all Europe into astonishment by his sudden 
 return from Elba, he had used all the influence he still retained 
 with Messrs. Hope & Co. to procure for Auguste Doumerc, the 
 new Commissary-General, the funds he needed to carry on his 
 business and fulfil his obligations ; but the Emperor's return 
 brought about, as may readily have been foreseen, a complication 
 in the business, which was conducted under the name of Doumerc, 
 but in reality appertained to Ouvrard. Under these circumstances 
 he could not extricate himself, either from the liquidation of his 
 former liabilities, nor from those arising out of the business he 
 had just been carrying on under another person's name : hence he 
 was obliged to remain in Paris, subject to the imperious and arbi- 
 trary will of his old enemy, Napoleon. In the meanwhile the lat- 
 ter had found time for reflection at Elba ; and if he had not be- 
 come convinced of the injustice he had done to a man whom he 
 had treated so inconsiderately and unmercifully, he had at least 
 recognized the value of that man's financial capacity. Twenty-four 
 hours in the Tuilleries had scarcely rolled by when Napoleon, 
 although he found fifty millions of francs in the treasury, deemed 
 it expedient to summon Ouvrard to an interview. The pretext 
 put forward to account for this step was a proposition from the 
 Emperor to send Ouvrard as his plenipotentiary to the Congress 
 at Vienna, there to bring about a favorable change of opinion, in 
 
2G0 OUVRARD AND NAPOLEON. 
 
 the minds of Talleyrand and Metternich, respecting the resolu 
 tions that were to be adopted by the Congress in relation to him- 
 self. Ouvrard declined this mission, and the real object of the 
 interview w.as then brought upon the tapis, viz., the desperate 
 want of funds felt at that moment. " Can you give me any 
 money V! was Napoleon's question. " How much does your im- 
 perial majesty require ?" was the answer. " To begin with," said 
 the emperor, "fifty millions of francs." " I could get that amount 
 within twenty days, in return for five millions of Rente (of which 
 the price was then fifty-three francs), to be given me at fifty francs, 
 and under the condition that the treasury shall pay Doumerc, 
 whose creditor I am, the fifteen millions it owes him." The 
 agreement was at once concluded, and the terms drawn up on the 
 spot, by a secretary of the emperor, the latter dictating every 
 word, and signing the paper with his own hand ; for Ouvrard 
 was unwilling to let it pass through the hands of the ministers," 
 who had, on other occasions, signed so many of the emperor's 
 decrees to his loss and overthrow. Napoleon — who had made 
 himself fully acquainted with the condition of the public credit on 
 the Paris Bourse — himself doubted the success of this proposition ; 
 but when Ouvrard continued, for seventeen days, to pay in two 
 millions of francs daily to the treasury, he could scarcely master 
 his astonishment. This was perhaps the first time that he, who 
 had never known any other way of filling the treasury, than 
 by contributions from the countries he overran, and the taxation 
 of his own subjects, formed a correct idea of the power of credit, 
 and learned, by experience, that a state debt, even in a precarious 
 condition of public credit, is still the very source from which to 
 supply the deficiencies of public income. 
 
 Ouvrard was obliged to accept, under certain conditions, Napo- 
 leon's proposal to make him, once again, Commissary-General of 
 the army. He followed the emperor when he set out with his 
 army to the Belgian frontier ; and, at Waterloo, was among his 
 staff, and in his immediate neighborhood. Some time afterwards, 
 when I had an opportunity of talking to him about the battle, he 
 remarked : " I was there as a spectator of the finest drama I ever 
 witnessed. The connection and succession of scenes moved on- 
 
OUVRARD'S OPERATIONS. 2G1 
 
 ward of themselves; the interest was fixed at the beginning, 
 and sustained throughout to the very end— a deplorable one, if you 
 will," he added, " for no one could see it more clearly." Ouv- 
 rard was then, and always remained, what the French call " un 
 aimable causeur" — a pleasant talker, and the gift of riveting 
 the attention of his hearers remained with him to his latest 
 years. I met with him again in 1835 ; and. when I last saw him 
 in Paris, eleven years afterwards, he had reached the good old age 
 of seventy-six. His appointment to the post of Munitionnaire- 
 General of the French army, during the Hundred Days, he owed 
 to the conviction Napoleon had acquired at Elba, that in him he 
 would select the best, the proper, the only man who could make 
 the equipment and victualling of an army embracing one hundred 
 thousand men, possible, without immediate funds, and in this 
 appointment, unwillingly made, as it was, beyond a doubt, for 
 the force of circumstances alone had brought it about, lay the 
 strongest acknowledgment of his merit, and the only satisfaction 
 at that time possible for the injustice and ill treatment to which 
 he had been subjected. But Ouvrard had still another recognition 
 of his claim to deference and respect, when Napoleon, in the midst 
 of his preparations for departure to another hemisphere, offered 
 him 1,400,000 francs of Rente for bills on the United States, to 
 the amount of fourteen millions, the Rente to be taken at fifty 
 francs. But, Ouvrard foresaw that, after Napoleon's flight, the 
 Rente would be disputed, and consequently declined the propo 
 sition. 
 
 The restored government of Louis XVIII. had to contend with 
 unusual difficulties, in raising the funds that were absolutely ne- 
 cessary for not only the royal coffers, but for the payment of 
 subsidies and the support of the foreign armies. The extremely 
 impolitic measure of a forced loan, to the amount of one hundred 
 millions, resorted to, could have no other consequences than to 
 close the door upon all return of confidence. Ouvrard, who, as I 
 have elsewhere stated, had busied himself as early as the year 
 1814, with all kinds of projects, in order to meet the wants of the 
 government by foreign loans, now came forward with fresh pro- 
 positions, and found means for executing the plan he conceived 
 
262 THE HOUSE OF HOPE & CO. 
 
 of first acquiring the confidence of the Baring house, and then, as 
 a natural consequence, that of Messrs. Hope & Co., in Amster- 
 dam. The latter had, in a measure, become a branch of the 
 Baring concern. The downfall of Napoleon's empire in 1814, 
 had presented to this celebrated house, which, for five years past, 
 had been subsisting only for the liquidation of the various state 
 loans undertaken by it, an opportunity of at once resuming all its 
 former importance; but the partners, who were then living in 
 England, manifested but little disposition to do so : Mr. A. Baring, 
 who fully comprehended the magic influence of so illustrious a 
 mercantile name, and had learned from past experience to appre- 
 ciate the scope and extent of its activity and effectiveness, re- 
 solved to buy it out, under the condition that the old, original 
 firm should be maintained. He overcame the reluctance of his 
 brother-in-law, Mr. P. C. Labouchere, who had been intrusted 
 with the business management of the concern, to undertake it 
 again, and the latter finally consented, expressly stipulating that 
 he should be allowed to select an assistant : the desired aid was 
 found in his friend, Mr. Jerome Sillem, who had formerly lived 
 in Hamburgh, and just at the period in question, was on his re- 
 turn from St. Petersburgh, where, during Napoleon's Russian 
 Campaign, he had found an opportunity to reestablish his fortune 
 which the times had greatly impaired. Mr. Baring reserved for 
 himself a third part in the new house of Hope & Co., and the 
 other two thirds were divided between the brothers P. C. and 
 S. P. Labouchere, Mr. Jerome Sillem, Mr. Van der Hoop of the 
 former house of Krusen, at Amsterdam, and Mr. P. F. Lestapis, 
 a younger brother of the Mr. A. P. Lestapis, whom I have so 
 frequently mentioned ; this young man had been reared to mer- 
 cantile pursuits by Mr. Labouchere in Holland. Mr. Thomas 
 Baring, one of the present heads of the Baring house at London, 
 also took part in the management of the Hope concern, as did 
 John, the younger son of Mr. P. C. Labouchere. Ouvrard, who 
 was, unweariedly, following out his plan, had, as I have already 
 stated, been carrying on a lively correspondence with Mr. Alex- 
 ander Baring to the effect that the French government would 
 certainly, sooner or later, be driven to the necessity of making 
 
FINANCIAL. 2(»3 
 
 heavy loans, in order to meet the enormous burthens laid upon it 
 daily for the maintenance of the foreign garrison, and annually, 
 by the contributions it was compelled to pay to the allies, for the 
 space of five years. The main point on which the success of 
 Ouvrard's project depended, was the confidence of the English 
 capitalists and no one possessed a surer key to this than the house 
 of the Barings. Its proverbial honor and foresight alone could 
 have given due weight and influence to the example it set of con- 
 fidence in the financial position of France, and open the way to 
 the London money market. Mr. Alexander Baring, who per- 
 fectly understood this, determined to travel through France, in 
 all directions, particularly the southern part of that country, in 
 order to learn by personal observation the feeling of the people, 
 their tax-bearing capacity, the regularity with which the taxes 
 were paid in. It was just after his return from this tour, that we 
 met again at Paris. 
 
 I might here take the liberty of conducting my readers back to 
 the thread of my own wanderings and adventures, did I not 
 preserve a lively recollection of the promise made to them in my 
 preface that I would lay before them some hitherto unrecorded 
 traits and anecdotes from the lives of some of the remarkable 
 characters of my time, with whom, I had an opportunity of 
 personal acquaintanceship, and likewise to analyze for them some 
 of those curious events which I had a better chance and means 
 of observing than most of my contemporaries. A peep behind 
 the curtain was not, at that time, granted to every one, and I 
 have survived the majority of those to whom it was conceded. 
 For this very reason I consider it a duty to leave no omissions in 
 my narrative. 
 
 The financial embarrassment of France, at that time, may very 
 probably have arisen from the fact that the stipulated yearly 
 contributions demanded a sum of 140 millions of francs, and the 
 yearly expense of maintaining the foreign army of occupation 
 reached 160 millions. For such an extraordinary burthen as this, 
 which France had heaped upon her shoulders, all means were 
 lacking. An interruption, if not stoppage of payment, was 
 unavoidable, and as will be afterwards seen, it did not fail to 
 
264 SCHEME OF OUVRARD 
 
 come. The man who possessed the unconditional confidence of 
 all crowned heads was the Duke of Wellington, and the first 
 deficiency of the required funds awakened his dissatisfaction ; or, 
 rather, his very deepest anxiety. All applications for loans, 
 which it was deemed necessary to make in a measure corres- 
 ponding with the extent of actual necessities, were fruitless. 
 Curvetto, the minister of Finance, reaped the bitter experience that 
 he could get nothing from the Paris Bourse, that is to say, from 
 the financiers of that city, for no one offered or was willing to 
 take the new emission of State paper. After Ouvrard had 
 secured the consent and co-operation of Messrs. Baring and 
 Labouchere, he succeeded in persuading the Duke of Wellington 
 that all difficulty in procuring means to support the foreign troops 
 must cease, whenever the Allied Powers would come to an 
 understanding to accept French State paper in payment for the 
 expenditure occasioned them, and then sell the same paper 
 through their own confidential agents, — a position for which he 
 proposed his friends Messrs. Baring & Hope. That these houses* 
 possessed the means of making advances, on account of this State 
 paper, until the favorable moment should arrive for selling it 
 again, could not be doubted, and that their appearing in the 
 matter would awaken and gradually bring back the confidence of 
 capitalists, both in and out of England, could be predicted with 
 considerable certainty, and that the maintenance of the prices of 
 the State property, the power to sell and the choice of the moment 
 when to do so should be intrusted to one hand alone, was per- 
 fectly clear. The combined strength of these three foundation 
 pillars of the whole measure did not escape the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, who, up to that time, had doubted the possibility of selling 
 such a mass of French State paper, under the guaranty of an 
 English house. After twenty-four hours delay for reflection, one 
 point was gained ; the Duke, fully convinced that the whole pro- 
 ject was feasible, assured Ouvrard that he had no doubt whatever 
 the other Powers would follow his example. The Duke had 
 conjectured rightly. After a brief trip to London, he lodged in 
 military fashion, on his return, at Ouvrard's own house, in the 
 
TO RELIEVE THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT 205 
 
 Champs Elysees, and the latter in compliance with his request, on 
 January 8th, 1817, gave him a note developing and unfolding the 
 whole plan. It was received on the same day by the ambassadors 
 of all the Powers, and communicated to the latter by express 
 couriers. Messrs. Baring & Labouchere had, in one of their last 
 communications, declared that they were afraid of obstructing the 
 course of the affair by their interference, and would therefore, 
 keep aloof from it until they should be summoned by all the 
 interested parties, — the French Ministry and the Allied Powers, — 
 to repair to Paris. Ouvrard had, in his letters, affirmed that the 
 Due de Richelieu and Corvetto, the Minister of Finance had, 
 after accepting his propositions, jointly requested him to invite 
 Messrs. Baring & Labouchere to Paris. The result, however, 
 proved the incorrectness of this declaration, as would in fact, 
 appear from the very face of it, since Ouvrard was in no need of 
 any request of the kind, being too much interested in the affair to 
 have delayed such an invitation. It is certain that he sent his 
 open letter, to this effect, under cover to the French Ambassador 
 in London, the Marquis d'Osmond, and that the latter thus found 
 himself compelled to take up his pen and confirm the invitation 
 of the Due de Richelieu to the two gentlemen. As they could 
 not now have any further doubt, they informed Ouvrard on 
 January 14th, 1817, that they would be in Paris within a week. 
 When they did arrive, they at once waited upon the Due de 
 Richelieu, without letting Ouvrard know. The Due was taken 
 by surprise, and did not hesitate to declare that nothing had yet 
 been definitively settled upon, and that he had, in no manner 
 whatever, authorized Ouvrard to give the invitation in his name. 
 Ouvrard was now summoned, and they began to reproach him. 
 He confessed that the Due was right ; " But," he added, " as I 
 knew that there was no other way of getting you to come here, 1 
 resorted to this method ; however, now that you are once here, in 
 Paris, I will pledge myself, that you succeed !" I am indebted 
 to Mr. Labouchere himself for this anecdote; that gentleman 
 used to tell it over with evident pleasure, whenever the occasion 
 to do so offered. Moreover, Ouvrard kept his word. A few 
 
 12 
 
266 OF ITS EMBARRASSMENTS. 
 
 days afterwards, when Messrs. Baring and Labouchere expressed 
 the wish to purchase the French Rentes themselves, rather than 
 to act as salesmen for the Allies, a contract was made directly 
 with them for six millions of Rentes, or 120 millions capital, at 
 53 francs 85 centimes, whereby the government was enabled to 
 handle the sum of 64,620,000 francs towards meeting the expenses 
 of the foreign troops. Soon afterwards, a further contract for 
 30 millions of Rentes, at 57 francs 51 centimes, or 545,035,000 
 francs capital, took place between the government and these 
 gentlemen. This made the Rentes rise at once, to 64, then to 
 68, and at last to 72 francs, and by taking 68 for the average 
 price, the speculators won nearly 8 millions of francs by their 
 operation. 
 
 The reader will learn with regret, that Ouvrard, himself, to 
 whom the whole combination was owing, and who had been the 
 real originator of this immense scheme, as well as the agent by 
 whom it was carried into operation, to the relief of the indescrib- 
 able embarrassments that overwhelmed the French Treasury, by 
 re-awakening the confidence of English financiers, and attracting 
 their capital, — that this man, I say, came empty-handed out of an 
 affair that created such advantages for others. When the first 
 contract was concluded with Messrs. Baring & Hope, a good 
 amount of Rentes was made over to him at the same price of 53 
 francs, as a quittance for all the deliveries made, or to be made 
 by him to the Allied Army of Occupation, and those gentlemen 
 had in consequence of this, reserved him no place on the list of 
 their subscribers. But the French Minister of War, the Due de 
 Feltre, availed himself of the arrest of M. Doumerc, — in whose 
 name the whole business of supplies, &c, had been carried on, — 
 as a pretext for refusing to sign this arrangement ; the govern- 
 ment, he said was defrauded by the sudden rise of the Rentes, 
 and all that Ouvrard could do, or say, to change his resolution, 
 was of no avail. It really seems as though fate had decreed that 
 this extraordinary man should be left dangling to the long chain 
 of his financial entanglements, and yet, he invariably rose to the 
 surface again, as the indispensable person wh:> had to extend a 
 
PROFITLESS TO HIMSELF. 267 
 
 helping hand to every government from the commencement of 
 the Empire, up to the termination of the Bourbon regime. He 
 was, in his career, a living example of the words which Lessing 
 puts into the mouth of the Countess Orsina, in his Emilia Galotti : 
 " Let the Evil One get hold on you, but by a hair, and you are 
 hh, forever !" 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE BATTLEFIELD OF WATERLOO.— THE COTTON-MARKET.— 
 FRANCIS BARING.— REMODELLING OF THE BARINGS' ESTAB- 
 LISHMENT. 
 
 Departure from Paris — Brussels — Visit to the Field of Waterloo — Costa, 
 Napoleon's Guide, becomes mine — A short visit to Hamburgh and England, 
 on my way back to the United States — Embarkation at Liverpool — Pit- 
 cairn, the former American Consul at Hamburgh, with his newly-married 
 Daughter and Son-in-Law, are my travelling Companions — The first Heart 
 outpouring of the fond wedded pair, upon our arrival at New York — Jour- 
 ney overland to New Orleans — The Scotch Houses in New Orleans — Their 
 policy on the Cotton Market, and mine — Trip to Europe in the Summer 
 of 1819 — The Congress at Aix, in 1818 — Crisis in the Money Market — 
 Berenbrook, the Dutch Speculator in Funds — Alexander Baring rescues the 
 Paris Money Market from the consequences of the Crisis — Enormous Busi- 
 ness of my House in New Orleans — Its preponderance in the Cotton-Mar- 
 ket — Arrival of Mr. Francis Baring, then the Junior, now the Senior Partner 
 of the London House at New Orleans — Sketch of some of that gentleman's 
 peculiar Traits of Character — Death of Mr. S. C. Holland — Remodelling 
 of the Baring House — Entry of Mr. Joshua Bates into it. 
 
 I now return from this digression to my own history, the 
 thread of which left me at Paris with Mr. Alexander Baring. 
 Busied with my preparations for a speedy return to America, I 
 took my leave of this remarkable man, and departed to pay my 
 friends at Hamburgh, and my parents at Ratzeburg a short visit, 
 before leaving the continent of Europe. My road lay, as usual, 
 through Brussels, which, only a few months previously, had been 
 the very centre around which thundered all the martial tumult, 
 where the political fate of the continent was fought for and decided. 
 Nine months had now elapsed since the battle of Waterloo had 
 
THE FIELD OF WATERLOO. 269 
 
 settled this great question. On the very day after my arrival 
 at Brussels, I had a chance to visit the field of battle. A fortu- 
 nate chance brought me for a cicerone, the same peasant, Costa, 
 whom Napoleon found at Charleroi, on the evening before the 
 battle, and took with him to his head-quarters as a guide. All 
 the different narratives of the battle which I had collected and 
 read, the plans and maps I had carefully studied, and a panoramic 
 view of the field I had procured in London, had stamped them- 
 selves so vividly on my memory, that I had scarcely reached the 
 scene, and alighted from my vehicle, ere I found myself quite at 
 home. Not a hillock, not an unevenness of the ground, not a 
 clump of trees, not a hamlet in the neighborhood, or far away, 
 that I had not named at the first glance. Costa, who had to keep 
 the description he had learned by heart, to himself, at length 
 remarked that 1 did not require his services, if, as he was led to 
 suppose, I had myself been present at the battle. I acquainted 
 him with the truth, and greatly enjoyed his contradictory an- 
 swers, when I questioned him in regard to certain points of detail. 
 Thus, for instance, I found myself much more at home than he 
 was, in the Castle of Hougoumont and its garden, where the marks 
 of destruction were still so distinctly visible, for he had been 
 beside the emperor all day, until the hero of the age was, for the 
 second time, compelled to seek safety in flight. When Costa — 
 this was his own story — having been placed among Napoleon's 
 staff, rode with him into the first fire of the English batteries, he 
 laid himself with his whole body lengthwise and as close to the 
 animal as he could cling, upon his horse's back, so that the ene- 
 my's balls might not hit him. When Napoleon saw this, he 
 called to him with a smile. " Get up, you silly fellow ! you can- 
 not avoid the ball that is destined to strike you, no matter how 
 you try to do so!" "And he was right!" added Costa, "for 
 here I am, you see." From the causeway of La Haye Sainte, 
 we rode along a hollow, sheltered on either side by hills. I here 
 asked my guide, if this were not the spot from which Napoleon 
 observed the last onset of his guards and cuirassiers, under Ney. 
 " You are on the very ground !" he said, " it was precisely here!" 
 I then asked, "What did he say 1 ? what did he do?" "Not 
 
270 VOYAGE TO NEW YORK. 
 
 much !" rejoined Costa, " he looked once more through his field- 
 glass, then he said : ' They are in confusion — all is over — let us 
 go !' " We then took the track right across the field to Charleroi, 
 dashing along as fast as our beasts could go, and when we reached 
 the place, an aide-de-camp flung me a double Napoleon, with the 
 words : 'To the d— 1 with you !' or something worse." 
 
 In Hamburgh I found all my early friends, with few exceptions, 
 and at Ratzeburg my parents met me in good health, contented 
 and happy. After opening the way to some business connections, 
 I again set out for England, where some consultations in regard 
 to a definite understanding respecting the foundation of future 
 business combinations, rendered a brief delay necessary, for the 
 time had at length arrived, when I could step forward as an inde- 
 pendent merchant, in the true sense of the word, and take my 
 place on the stage of the commercial world, whose central point 
 was, at that time, more than ever before, in the English money- 
 market. In consequence of the war between the United States 
 and England, more than four years of my life were sacrificed, ex- 
 actly at the time when my activity should have developed itself, 
 and the gradual return to that extended commerce from which 
 the European continent was shut out for so many years, and of 
 which the mercantile classes had already availed themselves for 
 about eleven months, namely, from April 1814 up to March 1815, 
 remained, during that time, a sealed book to the American mer- 
 chant. Hence, there was created a gap in the experience of the 
 latter, which could not be filled by ordinary minds, and much 
 striking in the dark was, consequently, unavoidable. The first 
 idea of a regular line of packets, to run between New York and 
 Liverpool, once every month — a passage now made by vessels 
 sailing every five days — had not yet been put in execution, and I 
 was compelled to embark on a merchant craft, the Minerva Smith, 
 for New York. The voyage lasted for the unusually long period 
 of fifty-seven days. Among the passengers was the former Ame- 
 rican Consul at Hamburgh, a Mr. Pitcairn, who was accompany- 
 ing his newly-married daughter* and her husband to America. 
 
 * The mother of this young lady was the celebrated Pamela, the second 
 foster-daughter of Madame de Genlis, who had married the Irish rebel, Lord 
 
A SEA-SIOK HONEYMOON. 271 
 
 A doub'e application of the words " newly-married," may be 
 allowed me here, since the young couple had been joined in wed- 
 lock, on Saturday, at Edinburg, and, immediately after the repast 
 usual there on such occasions — every one knows what a Scotch 
 breakfast is — had started with post-horses for Glasgow, and hav- 
 ing there learned that the ship on which they intended to embark, 
 would sail on Monday, continued their journey to Liverpool with- 
 out stopping even over night, and had gone immediately on board 
 on Monday afternoon. About two o'clock,we put out to sea. The 
 young couple at once attacked with sea-sickness, retired to their 
 stateroom, and the overflow of their affection was lost in the nausea 
 of the sea, for during the whole long voyage they did not show 
 themselves again. It was only when we had arrived off the coast 
 of New Jersey, and took on board a pilot, and were leaving the 
 Sandy Hook lighthouse, at the entrance of New York harbor, 
 behind us, that they once more appeared on deck. The young 
 bride, intoxicated with delight, sat down near the cabin stairs, her 
 husband followed her, and when he got near enough she flung her 
 arms about his neck and exclaimed, with an expression of deep 
 
 longing : " Ah, dear S , (I omit the name purposely), how 
 
 happy it would make me now, if I only had a slice of fine Ham- 
 burgh bread, with fresh May butter, and a morsel of Brunswick 
 sausage !" That the joys of the honeymoon, passed at sea, could 
 concentrate themselves in such a wish, occasioned me some little 
 surprise, which my readers may share, when I assure them that 
 in this instance, as in all others, my narrative is but the mirror 
 of historical truth, and not the channel of fiction. When Goethe 
 wrote the words : " A spectacle for gods, to see two loving ones !" 
 he, most assuredly, did not embrace either the beginning or the 
 end of the sea-voyage these two " loving ones " made, in his keen 
 poetic view. 
 
 I did not remain long in New York and Philadelphia upon this 
 occasion. 1 determined to travel through Virginia in every direc- 
 tion, so as to form a correct idea of the extent of the tobacco 
 crops there, and traversed the so-called Kentucky wilderness to 
 
 Edward Fitzgerald, and, after his death in prison, at Dublin, had fled to 
 Hamburgh, where she became acquainted with Pitcairn. 
 
£?2 SCOTCH HOUSES IN NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 Nashville, in the state of Tennessee, from that place to Huntsville, 
 and thence back again to Nashville and Kentucky, embarking, at 
 Louisville, on board of a newly-constructed steamboat for New 
 Orleans, where I once more found my partner, enjoying good 
 health, after an absence, on my part, of nearly two years. During 
 this interval several Scotch houses had been established in that 
 city, having opened there w T ith large assortments of manufactured 
 goods, whose proceeds they had expended in the purchase of cot- 
 ton. This trade continued. One of the most respectable of those 
 who had previously lived in the city, himself of Scottish origin, 
 but born at New Orleans, and formerly a ship-captain, Thomas 
 Urquhart by name, who had visited the land of his parents, and 
 long resided at Glasgow, gradually opened the way for these es- 
 tablishments to extensive credit, by his exaggerated account of 
 their boundless means, and in this way they found themselves 
 enabled to employ their bills on England, and proceed with their 
 purchases of cotton. These representatives of the Scotch houses 
 transacted business on a systematic plan, arising more out of an in- 
 stinctive feeling of their common interest than from any regular 
 arrangement entered into between them, and endeavored to bring 
 down the price of cotton, and keep purchasers aloof, by circulating 
 unfavorable news concerning the posture of the factories at Man- 
 chester and Glasgow, and the lack of demand for spun yarn. 
 When orders, at fixed or unlimited prices, fell into the hands of 
 the few commission houses then established at New Orleans, they 
 had to be filled at all events, and these manoeuvres were of little 
 avail ; but in every other case, where a suddenly awakened spirit 
 of enterprise raised its head, or where returns were to be made to 
 Europe for goods, they managed to work upon the market, and 
 in many instances to frighten off intended buyers. Excepting 
 these branches of Scotch houses, no one in New Orleans was ac- 
 quainted with the English cotton market as it really was, and the 
 Havre market, which subsequently became so important, was 
 then in its cradle. But the credit which these branches procured 
 abroad, at New Orleans, Charleston, Savannah, and other ports 
 of the United States, was not always well deserved. Their capi- 
 tal was usually borrowed, on three or four signatures, from the 
 
MY PARTNER, HOLLANDER. 273 
 
 banks, through the influence of the central capitalists in Glasgow. 
 The nine and twelve months notes given in return were, every 
 time they fell due, renewed, for a moderate payment of interest, 
 and thus, by means of fictitious capital, a competition was kept up 
 for years in the foreign markets, whose origin was owing, not to 
 any natural relation between production and consumption, but to 
 mere speculation alone. The young men, who were sent out 
 from Scotland to carry on this business, were, generally, men 
 without means, but intelligent, to whom a share of the profits was 
 allowed, as a reward for their exertions, under the condition that 
 they should bear the pro rata of interest accruing on their quota 
 of the money made. This figured as theirs* article on the debit 
 side of their account current books, while on the credit side they 
 were at liberty to note the profit ^ot yet realized. In case the busi 
 ness lost, in the course of the year, instead of gaining, the debtor 
 liability of the original interests embarked was increased by the 
 respective shares of the computed loss, and the agents, thus hav 
 ing to look to the principal of the house, were obliged to remain 
 satisfied with the honor of seeing their names in the firm, and yet 
 usually remained indebted to the central house. I have, in the 
 course of my life, known several meritorious young men, from 
 Scotland, who were destined to remain for long years the victims 
 of this cheap and convenient method of securing effective and 
 faithful agent-clerks. 
 
 My partner Hollander had no experience in these things, usually 
 paid very little attention to what was passing around him, and 
 was prone to the error of taking every man to be honest until he 
 had proof to the contrary — a very costly system to go upon in a 
 region such as Louisiana was at that time. This sort of proof, 
 too, is seldom obtained without having first been paid for, that is 
 to say, by one's own experience. Hence, in America, as well as 
 in Paris, the best and least expensive rule is to prefer proven 
 honesty to a mere reputation for the possession of that virtue. 
 My companion, a most honorable man, who never allowed an un- 
 worthy thought to arise in his own mind, could not presume the 
 existence of base motives in others, whom he looked upon as 
 friends ; and hence it was, that in the discretionary orders for cot 
 
 12* 
 
274 OPERATIONS IN COTTON. 
 
 ton my house received, he made his own judgment subordinate to 
 the expressed opinions of the Scotch agents who surrounded him, 
 and whose society he liked. I had left England but a few months 
 previously, and having foreseen an inevitable rise in the price of 
 cotton, wrote from New York, as I soon afterwards repeated from 
 Louisiana, that it would be advisable to lay out some money for 
 cotton on our account, in anticipation of this rise. My letter con- 
 tained the sentence, " Perhaps later advices than this letter con- 
 tains may have arrived direct from Liverpool, and they must not 
 be neglected by any means." The contingency thus hinted had 
 really occurred ; the later advices — later by a few days — had rep- 
 resented the Liverpool market as flat, but prices had not receded. 
 Hollander conferred with his Scotch friends, and they, probably 
 instructed by their leading houses in Scotland, repeated the usual 
 song, and declared that cotton yarn was without demand, and that 
 he ought not to think of buying. This was enough for Hollander, 
 and he folded his arms. When I arrived my first inquiry was, 
 " Have we been buying V " No !" was the reply ; " cotton is down 
 in the English manufacturing towns, and the English houses here 
 are not moving." It was only when T remarked that a local rise ot 
 price was unavoidable, if we waited „o hear better news from Liv- 
 erpool before touching the article, that my associate perceived how 
 he had sacrificed his own judgment. The first squad of cotton 
 brokers called upon me on the morning after my arrival. Al- 
 ready acquainted with the nominal prices, I asked what was in the 
 market. " We can offer you," said the brokers Dubuys & Longer, 
 " two boat-loads of the best planters' marks, from the Opelousas 
 district, at sixteen cents, each load consisting of about 400 bales." 
 I examined the samples they had brought, the quality was good, 
 and said that I would take both loads. At that time such a pur- 
 chase was sufficient to excite remark, and the so-called English, 
 but, properly speaking, Scotch houses, were full of curiosity to 
 know the man who could venture, against their notions, to make 
 so heavy a stride into the market. Two days afterwards these 
 gentlemen began, quietly, to make certain bargains of their own, 
 notwithstanding the discouraging news they had received from 
 "our folks," as they called the leading houses at home, and reg 
 
VISIT EUROPE AGAIN. 275 
 
 ularly continued their purchases from time to time. The ice was 
 broken, and my Scottish neighbors were speedily convinced that 
 every attempt to make me dance to their music would signally 
 fail. My position in the cotton market now became, step by step, 
 more influential ; whether I would buy, and when, or how, was, 
 for many years afterwards, a matter of calculation which my com- 
 petitors could not leave out of sight, and which often led them 
 into false conclusions. 
 
 In the year 1818, my house was the first that sent out printed 
 advices in relation to the eventualities of the cotton market and 
 the crops. The meteorological weather tables had given me the 
 idea of getting up one similar to them, which should exhibit the 
 course and fluctuations of prices, from week to week, during the 
 shipping period of three successive years, and designate the differ- 
 ence of exchange, each time, by black, red, and blue lines. These 
 new tables were very successful, particularly among the French 
 speculators in cotton, .and led to many commissions from Havre, 
 Rouen, and Switzerland. 
 
 In the summer of 1819, I again visited Europe. It was for 
 both the commercial and political relations of that continent, an 
 epoch of the greatest interest, when business had just begun to 
 recover from the consequences of the crisis that had arisen during 
 the preceding year. France, at least, had, through the loan of 
 27,238,938 francs, 5 per cent, rente decided upon by the congress 
 of crowned heads at Aix, and taken by the Barings at 67 francs, 
 freed herself from the burthen of the sanitary cordon, which the 
 leaders of the holy alliance, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, had 
 in I : ended to maintain, for five years, along the northern and north- 
 eastern frontiers of France, with an army of 50,000 men, each. 
 But the Paris Bourse received some severe blows, by the fall of 
 the State paper from 67 to 58, and was indebted for its rescue 
 only to the coolness of Mr. Alexander Baring, as I have elsewhere 
 related.* 
 
 Besides the fall of 30 per cent, in the price of goods, and the 
 sudden reduction that succeeded it of four millions of pounds ster- 
 
 * In No. 24, of the " Deutschen Freihafen," for 1848. See my article on 
 " Lord Ashhurton nnd the Baring house at London." 
 
278 FINANCIAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 ling, in the English paper circulation, on the part of the London 
 Dank, it was the mad enterprises of sundry speculators in the 
 funds in London, and particularly at Paris, that opened the way 
 to the crisis of that time. For an example, I need refer only to 
 the Hollander Berenbrock, from Amsterdam, who possessed a 
 capital of perhaps half a million of francs, and had purchased five 
 millions 5 per cent, rentes, or one hundred millions of capital on 
 credit, then, as a millionaire, had procured an advance of one hun- 
 dred and fifty or two hundred thousand francs each, from seven 
 or eight bankers, and in this way paid up his interest for several 
 months in succession, calculating that a rise in the rentes of 1 per 
 cent, would make him a million better ; of 2 per cent, two mil- 
 lions, and so on ; — but the funds fell more than 8 per cent., and 
 Berenbrock remained nearly eight millions in debt to the Paris 
 bankers and " agents de change." The Bourse was full of similar 
 speculators, even if all of them did not give their enterprises the 
 same extension : and it may readily be imagined what an effect 
 large sales of rentes, following each other in rapid succession, 
 must necessarily exercise upon its currency on change. The loan 
 taken by Messrs. Baring & Co. was concluded in two portions — 
 one of 14,925,500 francs, at 66 francs 50 centimes, and the other 
 of 12,313,438 francs, at 67. The rente fell to 58 francs before 
 the contracting parties had the last portion in their hands. The 
 whole Paris Bourse was violently agitated — the contractors saw 
 that, under such circumstances, the strength was lacking to sus- 
 tain so heavy an emission of State paper, and that there would be 
 any number of failures in case a further sum of two hundred and 
 forty-six millions were put in circulation. Thus, pretty nearly 
 every one lost all presence of mind; but Mr. Alexander Baring 
 retained his. He persuaded the Duke de Richelieu to annul the 
 contract for the last half of the loan, and likewise prevailed upon 
 the bankers associated with him to relinquish it, on their part. 
 Yet, it was not merely his powers of persuasion that brought 
 about this result. The majority of the ministers of the allied 
 powers, present at Aix — Mettemich, Nesselrode, Hardenberg, 
 and others — had desired to participate in the loan, and there had 
 been an understanding to that effect. When the rente fell, Mr. 
 
SAIL FOR NEW ORLEANS. 277 
 
 Baring desired that they should make their payments them- 
 selves, but they lacked the means — they had counted upon the 
 profits and not upon the risks of the venture. A hint was then 
 thrown out that they should be released from their obligations, if 
 they could prevail upon the Due de Richelieu to accede to the 
 measure I have mentioned. The Congress of Plenipotentiaries 
 bade and Richelieu obeyed. 
 
 The sudden reduction by the London Bank of four millions 
 of pounds sterling, in the English paper circulation, had given the 
 first blow to the prices of goods in the commercial market. The 
 rapid and progressive extension of trade, upon the re-opening of 
 its channels after the year 1815, had given rise to a certain dis- 
 proportion between the general consumption and the requisite 
 supplies : the origin of this disproportion lay chiefly in the want 
 of accurate knowledge respecting the nature and extent of these 
 two elements of commerce. The rapidly returning and daily 
 increasing prosperity of trade had manifested a continually upward 
 tendency for two years and a half— and thus the turning point had 
 been nearly approached, where that inevitable reaction must 
 begin, which human affairs cannot always escape ; but people had 
 not yet discovered the method of establishing a balance between 
 consumption and the eventualities of production and supply. 
 
 This was the posture of the European market, when, after pass- 
 ing the winter of 1819-20 at Paris, I again embarked in March, of 
 the latter year, at Bordeaux, on board of the French vessel " La 
 J eune Corinne," direct for New Orleans. 
 
 The business of my house had very importantly increased. In 
 opposition to the six, seven, or eight thousand bales of cotton, 
 which most of the houses in that city, styling themselves first class, 
 used to purchase, my quota was seldom less than sixteen or 
 eighteen thousand bales, which occasioned the transfer from hand 
 to hand of at least a million and a half of dollars within a few 
 weeks. The season of 1820-21 was a particularly successful one 
 for my house. The most important commissions from France 
 were, through the activity of our agents, concentrated in our 
 hands, while the orders coming in from England, in addition to 
 the business intrusted to us from the northern states of the Ameri- 
 
278 THE COTTON MARKET. 
 
 can Union, had very considerably increased our purchases. As I 
 was in a situation to calculate the general posture of things with 
 considerable accuracy, and had, especially, noticed that the Eng- 
 lish consumers would not give up their idea, of the imposing in- 
 fluence of Liverpool prices on the American cotton market, and 
 would not hear of the independence and self-reliance of the French, 
 or rather Havre market, which several of the houses in the latter 
 port were, in their fancied importance striving to make a marche 
 regulateur ; and that the cypher of English commissions, given 
 under the anticipation of a heavy demand, might unavoidably re- 
 main far behind the prices they were inclined to pay in France, 
 my course appeared to be plainly enough marked out, not only 
 to open our market with a firm hand, but likewise to control it, 
 so long as the mass of my commissions might authorize such a 
 position. The policy of this initiative was, as may be seen, forced 
 upon me by circumstances, unless I was willing to yield the pre- 
 cedence to the coalition of Scottish houses, and then follow in their 
 wake, as an imitator and dependent. My requirements were 
 altogether too important and continual to permit my appearing in 
 the market simultaneously with them, and performing the part of 
 a usual competitor, which would, moreover, have been impossible, 
 without occasioning a ri&v*. in prices, and would so have restricted 
 my sphere of operations. The state of uncertainty in which my 
 Scotch neighbors remained, touching my means for buying, also 
 assisted me. They had been accustomed to collect and prepare 
 their resources for making purchases about the close of summer, 
 and during the autumn months, and were aided in their opera- 
 tions by remittances of silver from the neighboring branches of 
 their head firms, established at Jamaica and in Mexico. Thus it 
 was prettily accurately known in the bank that they had money 
 ready, in sufficient amount at least to pay for the first important 
 purchases, and in this way they had acquired a certain preponderance 
 in the cotton market. It will not be forgotten that I am here 
 speaking of a period when the American cotton crops were very 
 far behind the immense development they have since attained — 
 amounting, in 1823, to 700,000 bales, and, in 1851, to 3,100,000 
 — and that the chief demand for the article was intrusted to but 
 
THE COTTON MARKET. 279 
 
 it-T hands, the most of foreign, even of English nouses, concen- 
 trating their orders in ray establishment. The Scotch houses, 
 four in number, were rather speculators for the account of their 
 principals, than the agents of English manufactories, or other cor- 
 respondents. As I have already remarked, the resources of these 
 houses could be in some measure calculated, but of mine no one 
 could form any correct estimate. My competitors indulged in 
 the delusion that these means must be limited, and would soon be 
 exhausted, as they had not been able to see or hear of any prepa- 
 ration beforehand. They thought they could impose upon all 
 parties by assuming a commanding attitude, and so depress the 
 market at pleasure, by merely abstaining from making their pur- 
 chases. I was contented with being forgotten, and consequently 
 kept my bank credit a secret. 
 
 The earliest batches of the new crop, from the neighboring dis- 
 tricts of Pointe Coupee, Fausse Riviere, Lafourche, and Baton 
 Rouge, regularly came into the hands of four different cotton 
 brokers, whom I will designate only by the letters A, B, C, and 
 D, and who watched each other with the greatest jealousy. The 
 closing price of the last crop had been eighteen cents, and it was 
 not deemed proper to take less. However, the planters were 
 anxious to receive their money soon, but the regular houses were 
 shy, and held back. The brokers thereupon came repeatedly to 
 me. I spoke of fifteen, and at the farthest sixteen cents for the 
 best quality. Finally, A offered his quantum at sixteen cents, if 
 B would accede to the same terms. So, whenever B learned from 
 me that A was ready to sell at that price, then he declared that 
 he would not hesitate to do the same thing. I thereupon made 
 an appointment to meet both these gentlemen the next morn- 
 ing, at the well-known cotton-press of Rillieux, and even pre- 
 vailed upon C and D to come. These four gentlemen were true 
 to the rendezvous, and I desired A and B to fulfil their promise. 
 They did so ; and, owing to the anxiety of the owners to realize 
 the price of their cotton, it was not difficult to coax C and D to 
 the same terms. Thus the whole quantity, viz., 2,000 bales, then 
 in the market, fell into my hands, and the market was instantly 
 cleared. Fresh supplies were hurried in with greater speed than 
 
280 OPERATIONS IN COTTON. 
 
 ever, for the planters at once found out who the purchaser was, 
 and learned from experience, that they could get the highest 
 prices from me that circumstances seemed to warrant. They 
 therefore hastened to avail themselves of a price which went so 
 far beyond the cost of production, and gave them such considera- 
 ble profit. I also was enabled to continue my purchases, and the 
 pick and choice of the new supplies fell without interruption into 
 my hands. If I frequently held back from purchasing, and had no- 
 ticed a decline of prices, I still followed them, and in their fluctua- 
 tions, between fifteen and sixteen cents, always maintained a po- 
 sition where I was ready to buy at any moment. In short, dur- 
 ing the most active shipping season, namely, from December 
 until the end of March, there were but few purchasers who could 
 call themselves masters of any considerable quantity, from time 
 to time, when they felt disposed. I had already concluded my 
 purchases, which ran up to no less a quantity than 40,000 bales, 
 as early as the first days in April, when, at length, a serious com- 
 petition broke forth, which called for sixteen and a half cents. The 
 shipments of my house were by this time completed, had nearly 
 all arrived, and been advantageously sold, while my neighbors 
 were still operating in New Orleans. The result of this anticipa- 
 tion of the market was very beneficial, and established our influ- 
 ence with planters, as well as with our neighbors and competitors. 
 From this I was enabled to deduce a wholesome lesson, to the 
 effect that neither combinations nor coalitions, to violently raise 
 or lower the price of any imported article, such as cotton, can 
 possibly succeed, since it is not given to human foresight to an- 
 ticipate and count up every circumstance which may unex- 
 pectedly overthrow all such combinations. How much I would 
 buy, and how much I was to pay for it, were matters that must 
 escape all the foresight of my competitors ; and it was precisely 
 because they had tried to form their own conclusions in this re- 
 spect, and had cast their conjectures in so wrong a direction, that 
 it was so easy for me " to take the wind out of their sails," as nau- 
 tical Englishmen would say. In the course of my life this item 
 of experience has frequently been presented to me, without any 
 participation, on my ov i part, as my readers will have occasion 
 
Mil. FRANCIS BARING. 281 
 
 to perceive hereafter, until at last, against my own convictions, 
 and without either my will or my knowledge, I found myself in- 
 volved in a combination of the kind, and became its innocent 
 victim. 
 
 Just at this very time the present head of the Barings' house, 
 Mr. Francis Baring, second son of the deceased Lord Ashburton, 
 had arrived in New Orleans from Havana, and taken his quarters 
 with me in my newly-built residence. We had nine large ves- 
 sels receiving cargo at that moment, and he was evidently grati- 
 fied when he took his first walk along the so-called Levee — the 
 quay on the left bank of the Mississippi, in front of the town, 
 where vessels load and unload their freight — and saw it strown, 
 from the upper to the lower suburb, with cotton bales, on which 
 were stamped the marks of my firm. Nothing could have given 
 him a better idea of our activity, and he seemed to be pleased 
 that he could take back with him to Europe a proof of it, like this 
 one, from his own experience. 
 
 Since there can be but little that relates to this establishment, 
 which occupies and has occupied so lofty a position, that is devoid 
 of all interest to the mercantile reader, I may venture to say a few 
 words concerning Mr. Baring, who was quite a young man when 
 he visited New Orleans. I do so with the greater reason, that he 
 yields a proof the more of the fact, how rarely the combination 
 of qualities belonging to a distinguished father descends to his 
 sons. Bountiful nature had endowed this man, destined at so 
 early a period of life to become the head and manager of the Lon- 
 don house, with so lavish a hand, that it might almost be termed 
 spendthrift profusion, in summing up the list of capacities and 
 talents he possessed. To his mental wealth belonged most unusual 
 intellectual superiority, rare keenness of perception, and an almost 
 instinctive penetration of the opposite and diverse characters with 
 which he was brought in contact ; to these was added a remarka- 
 ble memory, which did not lose the minutest circumstance; an 
 iron strength of will, whenever he had made up his mind to per- 
 form any act ; a perseverance in carrying out his enterprises, not- 
 withstanding every obstacle ; and, finally, the facility of expressing 
 his ideas and convictions in a few words, and the knack of con- 
 
282 ANECDOTE OF FRANCIS BARING. 
 
 veying the whole force and point of a close analysis, or criticism, 
 in a happily selected phrase or two, which might be called " hit- 
 ting the nail on the head." This latter talent, which is by no 
 means an indispensable one, in the list of perfections desirable for 
 a man of talent, nevertheless has ite value in dialectic debates, 
 particularly on the parliamentary floor, where young Baring 
 hoped to stand before any great length of time, and in all in- 
 stances of common life where brief and rapid explanations are 
 desirable. An example will suffice to illustrate this remark. 
 Young Baring was travelling through the western part of Vir- 
 ginia, which was at that time peopled by the roughest class of 
 Americans, and the vehicle he used was a very handsome and 
 newly-varnished travelling carriage. In accordance with the 
 favorite custom of these wild fellows, who usually carried a pen- 
 knife or a nail in their pockets, one of the idlers, who stood and 
 leaned about the door of the tavern, where he had alighted for 
 refreshment, amused himself by scratching, with a nail, all sorts 
 of ridiculous figures on the varnish of the carriage doors. Baring, 
 who came out of the inn, and caught our friend engaged in this 
 agreeable and polite occupation, the instant he saw what was 
 going on, very sharply expressed his disapprobation. The loiterer 
 responded, " Look here, Sir, don't be saucy ; we make no cere- 
 mony. T 'other day we had a European fellow here, like your- 
 self, who was mighty saucy, so I pulled out my pistol and shot 
 him dead, right on the spot. There he lies !" Baring rejoined, 
 in the coolest manner imaginable, by asking, " And did you scalp 
 him, too V* The American was so struck with this, and felt this 
 reproach upon his savage rudeness so keenly, that, after gazing 
 at Baring suddenly and earnestly for a moment in silence, he ex- 
 claimed, " By God ! Sir, you must be a clever fellow ! let's shake 
 hands !" It would not have been easy to give a sharper lesson. 
 
 After entering the house of his father and grandfather, where 
 he had the keen-sighted S. C. Holland, now deceased, at his elbow, 
 the creation of the new London " Alliance Marine Insurance Com- 
 pany," formed his debut. He came to an understanding on that 
 subject with the Rothschilds, and a most successful business was 
 the result. He then visited Mexico, where he fancied he had 
 
HIS SPECULATIONS IN MEXICO. 283 
 
 found a magic wand, one wave of which would bring him in a 
 gain of two millions or more. The city of Mexico lies in the 
 midst of a small lake wiiose shores furnish it with fruit, vegetables, 
 milk, game, and other articles required for its consumption. It 
 had become usual to assign an immense value to these lands along 
 the lake shore, basing the estimate upon the idea of their being 
 indispensable. Young Baring, already a member of the London 
 House, had managed to quietly ascertain the price that most of 
 the owners would accept for this important property and had 
 bought it all up together. The exact sum has been differently 
 represented, but it went over £200,000, of which the fifth part 
 had to be paid in cash. Baring drew a single bill on his House 
 for £40,000, at three days' sight. The draft quickly reached 
 London, before the firm had the least knowledge of the purpose 
 for which it had been drawn ; yet, it was the true hand-writing 
 of an associate of the House, drawn upon it by him ; thus much 
 was evident at first sight, and the House was bound to pay. 
 Notwithstanding this, Mr. Holland, the gentleman already named 
 as a member of the establishment, alarmed at the sudden appear- 
 ance of a bill for such a sum, rejected it, but wrote concerning it 
 to the father of Mr. Alexander Baring, who, fortunately, was in 
 England at " La Grange," his country-seat, about sixty-five Eng- 
 lish miles from London. He at once declared himself personally 
 responsible for all obligations entered into by his son, as a mem- 
 ber of the firm, and the draft was paid. The whole business was 
 disapproved of, as it naturally had to be, for no House in the 
 world could find it convenient to bury so large a capital, all at 
 once, and on uncertain time, in a distant part of the globe. And 
 now the question arose how they were to extricate themselves 
 from this involvement. They, at length, managed to get a law 
 passed by the Mexican Congress, prohibiting any one, who was 
 not a Mexican by birth, and did not reside in the City of Mexico, 
 from owning landed property within a certain given distance of 
 the capital. In this way, the whole purchase was made null and 
 void ; they made up their minds in London to let the £40,000 go 
 and forget all about it, as they could not expect to procure any 
 reimbursement from those who had sold the lands. 
 
284 SUGAR SPECULATIONS. 
 
 After his return from Mexico, Francis Baring visited Paris, 
 where he came in contact with the head partner of the firm of 
 Reid, Irving & Co., which, at that time, although very undeserv- 
 edly, as the sequel has shown, stood in great repute. This was Mr. 
 John Irving, who had one of the most narrow business minds I 
 have ever known ; he was among the personal friends and sup- 
 porters of another Scotch house at Havre, the Messrs. Firebrace, 
 Davidson & Co. ; to whom, through the influence of the London 
 firm, important consignments of raw sugar were sent from Gua- 
 daloupe and Martinique. By the Vienna Treaty of 1815, these 
 colonies, as every one knows, were restored by the English to 
 France, but, as they had been in English possession for several 
 years, and during that time had been permitted to enjoy equal 
 privileges with the Colonies originally belonging to Great Britain, 
 many of the plantations had fallen into the hands of English specu- 
 lators, who determined to remain where they had settled. The 
 consumption of sugar in France is almost exclusively based upon 
 the production of these two islands ; it has, of course, increased 
 with the growth of population in France, and the fact, gradually, 
 became evident, that the production of the French West Indies, 
 at least with average crops, was no longer sufficient to satisfy the 
 consumption, however confidently the legislators of France may 
 have cherished the idea that the stimulus of an exclusive admis- 
 sion of French Colonial sugars, for home consumption, would 
 contribute to a great increase of that production. It had been 
 calculated that the 8,000 or 10,000 casks lying in the French 
 ports, such as Havre, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Marseilles, might 
 be simultaneously bought up and collected in one single hand, 
 while, by means of orders sent off, before this general pur- 
 chase, to the West Indian islands, the stock then disposable at 
 Martinique and Guadaloupe might also be got hold of in the same 
 way. Such a scheme was planned by Messrs. Firebrace, David- 
 son & Co. at Havre, and backed by a >series of calculations, which 
 made it palatable to Mr. John Irving ; Mr. Francis Baring was 
 readily allured by this, and when it was communicated, at last, to 
 Mr. James Rothschild, the latter declared his willingness to join 
 in the plan of buying up all the sugar in France. The project 
 
FAILURE OF THE OPERATIONS. 285 
 
 was accordingly carried into execution ; but, when they came to 
 sell again, unforeseen difficulties arose. The French sugar refiners 
 would not purchase at the advanced prices any more than was 
 absolutely necessary to keep their establishments in motion, and 
 during the delay thus occasioned, it came out that the colonies of 
 Martinique and Guadaloupe could send much more sugar into the 
 market than they could have anticipated, notwithstanding the cal- 
 culations they had drawn up with so much accuracy and care. 
 What had, up to that time, been known but by few, and had 
 always been kept a secret, was now made plain to everybody. 
 As the markets in the French Colonies began to rise, the mer- 
 chants in the neighboring English Colonies of Barbadoes, Anti- 
 gua, etc., had managed to send a part of their supply to their 
 French neighbors by a very simple and easy system of smug- 
 gling; and this additional quantity was shipped and carried 
 to France, as the product of the country. Thus, more sugar 
 came in than was required, and the prices could not be main- 
 tained. Messrs. Firebrace, Davidson & Co., who had made 
 the first purchases on account of Messrs. Baring, Rothschild, and 
 Reid, Irving & Co., had been allured into speculating largely on 
 their own account, and, consequently, bought in all the sugar that 
 was to be had, at Bordeaux. When the sudden cessation and 
 decline of prices began, and they found it impossible to sell, they 
 were obliged to suspend payment, and made over the 8,000 or 
 9,000 casks of sugar they had bought for the London coalition to 
 the house of Messrs. Hottinguer & Co. What then took place 1 
 Nothing but what, according to the ideas of the Havre Bourse, at 
 that time, deserved to be called a perfectly legitimate transaction. 
 The commission houses of the French sugar refineries, at Havre, 
 secretly concluded upon a combined purchase, in which the sellers 
 were quietly to retain a portion for themselves, and Mr. Bourlet, 
 the head of the Hottinguer house, who had a particular fondness 
 for purchases "en blocq," transferred the whole quantity to a sin- 
 gle purchaser, who gave his name. This was the last transaction 
 that Mr. Francis- Baring went into on his own authority. 
 
 The death of Mr. S. C. Holland, the so-called managing partner, 
 brought about in 1825, a change in the organization of the Baring 
 
286 ENTIRE RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 house. At first, some embarrassment was experienced in filling 
 his place properly. Mr. J oshua Bates of Boston, formerly the 
 London agent for the important house of Mr. William Gray, in 
 Boston and Salem, had, a couple of years before the decease of 
 Mr. Holland, set up a commission house in company with John, 
 the third son of Sir Thomas Baring, Bart., under the firm of 
 Bates & Baring. Bates, who had long been known and respected 
 by his fellow-citizens in Boston and in Salem, was in the posses- 
 sion of a London business which required greater cash and credit 
 means than the young house could control. It was about £20,000 
 that John Baring had brought into the firm, and it was said that 
 Bates had not the command of a larger sum. The character and 
 peculiar mode of transacting the business of Mr. Holland had 
 frightened away many of the best American mercantile connec- 
 tions from the Baring house. He had only one measure for all 
 the American houses, without distinction, and applied the same 
 rule to each and every one of them. Houses like that of James 
 and Thomas H. Perkins, in Boston, or John Jacob Astor at 
 New York, whose wealth and credit were undoubted, and who, 
 through mere motives of convenience, since they were paying 
 only five per cent, at London, while money was worth seven, 
 eight, and ten per cent, in New York, used to leave large debits 
 in the account-current standing for some time, at the close of the 
 year, without making immediate remittances for the same, were 
 reminded of their arrearage on the book in postscripts written by 
 Mr. Holland, himself, and usually couched in very sharp lan- 
 guage. Thus, the Messrs. Barings had lost among many others, 
 Astor as a correspondent, and similar important connections, and 
 by this means were frequently compelled to let superfluous 
 capital lie idle, which might otherwise have been well employed. 
 Hence, it was wise policy on the part of this house, to follow the 
 counsel of Mr. P. C. Labouchere, and allow the house of Messrs. 
 Bates & Baring to dissolve, and then receive it under the general 
 name of its own firm. Mr. Thomas Baring, who had found in the 
 house of Hope, at Amsterdam, no occupation suited to his talents 
 and his business spirit, also entered the London house, which now, 
 besides Mr. Alexander Baring himself, consisted of his son Francis, 
 
OF THE HOUSE OF BARINGS. 287 
 
 his two nephews John and Francis Baring, and Mr. Bates. In the 
 year 1828, Mr. Alexander Baring, who was then anticipating his 
 elevation to the Chamber of Peers, resolved to retire from the 
 house he had hitherto conducted, and let his son-in-law Mr. 
 Humphrey St. John Mildmay, enter it. The latter gentleman 
 was a brother of Sir Harry Mildmay, Bart., (who won so wide a 
 reputation in the English gay world), and until his admission into 
 this partnership had been a Brevet-Captain in the Royal Life 
 Guards. There then remained five associates, Mr. Francis Baring, 
 Mr. H. St. John Mildmay, Mr. Joshua Bates, and the two 
 brothers, Thomas and John Baring. The principle was then laid 
 down for the management of the house, that henceforth no busi- 
 ness should be entered into without the assent of three partners, 
 and that since it might be foreseen, that the two associates most 
 nearly related to Mr. Alexander Baring, namely, his son Francis, 
 and his son-in-law, Mildmay, would generally be apt to vote on 
 one side, and the two nephews, Thomas and John, on the other, 
 thus leaving to Mr. Bates the casting vote ; an arrangement was 
 made, by which Francis and John were removed from all partici- 
 pation in any new business, and were to be called upon for their 
 votes only when the active managers, Messrs. Thomas Baring, 
 Mildmay, and Bates could not agree. Since that time, Mr. 
 Francis Baring has occupied himself but little with the general 
 transaction of business for the house, but after marrying the 
 daughter of Napoleon's former Secretary of State, Maret, Duke 
 of Bassano, at Paris, settled permanently in the latter city, where 
 he bought one of the most magnificent palatial residences on the 
 Place Vendome, at no less an expense than 1,600,000 francs. 
 
 From this it will be perceived, that although destined to have 
 had such a career, it was not given him to follow in his father's 
 footsteps as a mercantile and financial authority of the highest 
 order. In the Lower House of Parliament, where he was a 
 member for Thetford, and had hoped to shine, he likewise com- 
 pletely failed in his attempts to reach political importance. He 
 had inherited from his father, a stuttering, hesitating delivery, 
 which was pardoned in the latter, because he had become one of 
 the most distinguished of England's remarkable men, and because 
 
288 THE' SUCCESSION OF THE TITLE, Ac. 
 
 his opinion always deserved and commanded respect. But these 
 advantages did not reside in the son, and he wearied his hearers. 
 Upon one occasion, when he had obtained permission to bring 
 forward a Bill in relation to New Zealand, and was about to 
 speak, the members, as is customary in the Lower House, when 
 they do not wish to listen, one after another withdrew, and he 
 was soon reduced to silence for want of a proper quorum which 
 required the presence of forty members. Fate seemed to deny 
 Mr. Francis Baring success, in everything he undertook, where 
 his natural, and assuredly not reprehensible ambition, made the 
 object desirable — an observation which I have not made without 
 some regret, for the friendship he has ever shown me, and his 
 independent, manly character have endeared him to me. I have 
 elsewhere remarked, that after the death of his elder brother, the 
 present Lord Ashburton, who lives in childless celibacy, both title 
 and property will pass to Francis Baring ; or, in case of his pre- 
 vious decease, to his eldest son. Before the birth of this son, a 
 doubt arose in the family, whether he, being born in France, could 
 be the rightful heir, according to the English law, since his father 
 had first seen the light at Philadelphia and his mother at Paris, 
 while the child's grandmother had, likewise, been born at Phila- 
 delphia. The legal advisers of the British crown and other coun- 
 sel were consulted, and their decision was affirmative, on the 
 ground that a British subject retains his rights to the third gene- 
 tiou, and can neither lose them nor divest himself of them. Had 
 the decision been of an opposite character, the offer made by Lord 
 Grenville, the English ambassador at Paris, would have been 
 accepted, and the accouchement would have taken place within the 
 walls of the British Legation. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE FRENCH FIVE PER CENT. RENTES. 
 
 My reception in Havre in the summer of 1822 — James Lafitte, the Paris 
 banker — A Sunday at his country-seat — " Maison sur Seine," a former plea- 
 sure palace of Louis XIV — The Marquis of Lansdowne — Exorbitant price 
 of cotton — The general improper conduct of speculators at Havre and 
 Rouen — The only exception — A merchant's morality — Breach of trust of 
 one of the first houses in Havre, to the injury of Mr. P. C. Labouchere, its 
 great patron — The combination of Messrs. Cropper, Benson & Co., and Rath- 
 bone, Hodgson & Co., to bring about a fresh rise in the prices of cotton, which 
 had gone down — An offer made, inviting me to join in this project, which, as 
 I had foreseen, proved impracticable — A visit to Hamburgh, in the winter 
 of 1823-24 — Return to Paris — Project of the French Minister of Finance, 
 the Marquis de Villele, for the conversion of the whole national debt into, 
 five per cent Rentes — Rivalry of the Vicomte de Chateaubriand, who suc- 
 ceeds in defeating the scheme, but without being able to unseat the Mar- 
 quis — By this he loses his own place in the ministry — First acquaintance 
 with General Lafayette ; his desire, after an interval of forty years, to re- 
 visit the United States — His embarrassed pecuniary situation — Successful 
 attempt, on my part, to procure the sum of 100,000 francs for him — He is 
 thereby enabled to undertake the desired journey, and starts upon it — Miss 
 Wright, his protegee — The Paris Bourse, after the failure of Vill&e's 
 scheme — Well-meant but enigmatically-worded advice of Mr. Francis Bar- 
 ing, in regard to the five per cent. Rente — He fails in his object to save me 
 from an important loss. 
 
 I again resume the thread of my own history, which I dropped 
 in the spring of 1820, after my return to New Orleans, in the 
 month of May. Shortly after my return I was enabled to gratify 
 a long-deferred wish. The wish was for a good wife, whose good- 
 ness of heart and disposition might insure me the homely happi- 
 ness which men seek for in the married life. Of bachelorhood I 
 was heartily weary. The daughter of a former naval officer in 
 
 13 
 
2\)0 MY RECEPTION AT HAVRE. 
 
 the French service, Feve by name, who, in the year of the emi- 
 gration to Charleston, had come over and died there, appeared to 
 me to possess all necessary qualifications. Her mother, after her 
 widowhood, removed to New Orleans, and there I learned to 
 know my Lisida, even in her childhood. Her captivating and 
 agreeable manners soon won me ; and, as Louisiana was poorly 
 furnished with instructors, prompted me to complete her education, 
 giving to it all the attention which my predilection for her caused 
 in me. During my absence of nearly a year and a half from New 
 Orleans she had become a blooming maiden, who won all hearts, 
 but made a deeper impression upon none more than mine. At 
 my return she greeted me with a true childlike affection, and a 
 few months afterward she became mine. In the matrimonial lot- 
 tery I have had the good luck to draw a prize. My wife, who is 
 remarkable, not only for rare beauty, but for good tact — that sub- 
 stitute for a powerful mind which good Nature grants to women — 
 won, not only in New Orleans, but later, in the great society of a 
 city like Paris, the title, belle et bonne, and has been to me a faith- 
 ful, loving, steadfast, well-tried, and courageous companion through 
 life, as the reader will more fully learn in the ensuing pages. 
 She has borne me five children, two boys and three girls, the 
 youngest of whom died soon after its birth. I have also had the 
 misfortune to lose both my sons just as they had attained man- 
 hood, and were full of good promise. My eldest daughter is the 
 wife of Mr. Buhrer, chief of division in the ministry of state, and 
 in the department de la Maison de VEmpereur. 
 
 Late in the summer of 1822 the affairs of my house required a 
 visit , to Europe, and I departed. I landed at Havre. Here I 
 was received by the whole Exchange, not merely with distinction, 
 but with a sort of jubilee. In connection with all the first houses, 
 I had executed all their commissions, sent cotton to all, and put 
 money into the purses of all. My appearance at the Exchange 
 was the signal of the gathering of a little court about me, and for 
 the offering of numberless dejeuners dinatoires and dinners. Had 
 it been possible to deceive myself, as to the source of this recep- 
 tion and this impressement, I had but to cast a glance at the shore 
 of the sea, in the immediate neighborhood of the port. There I 
 
JACQUES LAFITTE. 291 
 
 saw the great Chateaubriand, then in the zenith of his glory, com- 
 panionless, wandering lonely and forsaken on the shore, pursuing 
 his own dreams or inspirations. He merited this visible neglect 
 as little as I my distinguished welcome ; that I felt in my heart. 
 His merits rested upon a pedestal that, with progressing time, 
 would lift him ever higher ; mine consisted in a well calculated 
 lucky operation in the cotton market, offered by opportunity, and 
 the consequences of which lost their importance, even in the 
 very next year, as will be seen in the sequel. 
 
 I had more or less extensive connections with*all the great bank- 
 ers of Paris, except Jacques Lafitte, who, as a native Frenchman 
 — he came from Bayonne — kept himself at the head of the others, 
 who were mostly Swiss. A very pressing letter of introduction, 
 from Alexander Baring himself, made me at length acquainted 
 with him. He was then owner of the former Hotel de l'Empire, 
 and had his various offices on the ground floor. His own count- 
 ing-room was in a great hall, where, upon a very broad dais of 
 mahogany, four steps high, stood his huge writing desk. Before 
 him, at the foot of the dais, were some twenty arm-chairs, in half 
 circle ; behind him, right and left, a dozen speaking tubes in the 
 hall served as means of communication with the heads of the va 
 rious departments which composed his establishment. The ar- 
 rangements were princely. As I entered I found most of the 
 arm-chairs filled by exchange brokers. I mounted the four steps, 
 and presented to the chief of this gathering my letter of introduc- 
 tion, which, after a glance at its contents, he laid behind him, and 
 graciously waved me to one of the empty chairs. After some 
 minutes a word was whispered into one of the speaking tubes, 
 and a clerk appeared from within, to whom Mr. Lafitte gave my 
 letter, and then beckoned to me. With all due reverence I drew 
 near his mercantile majesty, and received from his own mouth a 
 polite invitation to visit him on next Sunday, at the Maison sur 
 Seine, a country-seat which he had just purchased from government 
 and which Louis XIV. had built. " Come early," he said, " and 
 we will talk at our ease, while promenading in the park." I made 
 my appearance on Sunday, about three o'clock, was received by 
 the steward, and shown into the reception rooms, library, billiard 
 
292 DINNER AT LAFITTE'S. 
 
 room, saloon, etc., after which I was told that I would find M. La- 
 fitte walking in the park. Thereupon I took for my companion 
 an elderly Englishman, who appeared to be boring himself in the 
 library. We soon met the master of the house, in company with 
 two very simply-dressed, well-mannered Englishmen, one of whom 
 wore something then unusual in French society — a summer cos- 
 tume, white drilling trowsers, fine cotton stockings and shoes. 
 Both spoke French well. The perfection of English cotton man- 
 ufactures appeared to be the topic of conversation ; and when we 
 returned to the house I had decided that the two gentlemen were 
 great Manchester spinners. M. Lafitte, as usual, led the conver- 
 sation, as the French say, " il tenait la come ;" that is, he spoke 
 out whatsoever came into his head, interrupting others, and start- 
 ing countless topics that had nothing to do with the matter in 
 hand. On reaching the drawing-rooms we found Madame La- 
 fitte, with her only daughter, now the Princess de la Moskowa, 
 and several gentlemen, most of them opposition deputies in the 
 chamber, among them M. Cassimir Perrier and M. Grammont, to 
 whom M. Lafitte introduced me personally. At table one of the 
 Englishmen was placed at Madame Lafitte's right hand, the other 
 at her husband's. I concluded, by this distribution of the places 
 of honor, that they must be, probably, owners of several great 
 cotton factories, with enormous credits at Lafitte's, which regu- 
 lated the proportion of his great politeness to them. M. Lafitte, 
 whose talkativeness had as yet found no obstacle, rattled away. 
 He told a great deal about the "hundred days," and said he had 
 never admired Napoleon ; and that during the time when he was 
 daily sent for, and consulted by the emperor, he had learned to 
 know him well, and had discovered that he possessed the art of 
 making himself popular in the highest degree. " He was quite 
 confidential with me," said Lafitte, " spoke without any retinence, 
 and once made to me a notable remark about our nation. ' The 
 French,' he said, ' are a people whom one must know how to 
 govern with arms of iron, but with velvet gloves.' " My readers 
 may have heard this ; but a remark which fell from the lips of 
 Madame Lafitte's right hand neighbor is newer. " Right," said he, 
 " it is so — but he very often forgot to put his gloves on." This was 
 
HIGH PRICE OF COTTON. 293 
 
 so true, and so apropos, that all who heard it burst out laughing. I 
 asked my next neighbor who the witty gentleman was, and learned, 
 to my surprise, that he was no less a person than the celebrated 
 Marquis of Lansdowne ; his companion was Lord Bristol. 
 
 After dinner M. Lafitte continued his discoursing, and dis- 
 played great power of retaining the attention of his guests : he 
 always had a little circle round him which I joined the more wil- 
 lingly because it gave me an opportunity to observe the remark- 
 able superiority of an English parliamentary speaker, like Lord 
 Lansdowne, over a French faiseur de discours, and phrase-hunter. 
 Lafitte, in his attempts to develop and render comprehensible the 
 use and method of the French Chamber of Deputies, met with 
 constant difficulties in the answers and remarks of his English 
 listener. " Faire preuve de capacite" said he, " Jest le premier de- 
 voir d'un depute quand il s'agit de porler" The simple answer 
 of the Marquis was, " ckez nous on ne prend la parole que pour 
 j'O'isser a la roue et avancer les affaires — to do the business of the 
 nation — comme nous disons en Anglais." 
 
 The fortunate issue of the important operation in cotton, to 
 which my concurrence in the winter of 1820-21, had so materially 
 contributed, created in my French correspondents a veritable 
 greediness to renew and extend their operations in the next 
 winter season. Important commissions, many of them without 
 restriction or limitation as to price, as well as considerable sums 
 of money poured into my house, and as there was a prospect of 
 an immense English demand for the raw material, the factors of 
 the planters understood the position of things as well as the usual 
 great purchasers did, and being enabled to count upon a demand 
 upon the production market, kept the prices very high. Instead 
 of sixteen cents, with which a year before I had opened the 
 market, twenty and twenty-one cents were offered, a price which 
 surpassed the cost of the shipments of the past year by 30 per 
 cent, and over. The European markets held back until the first 
 arrival of new goods should come into market. Then, however, 
 prices began to fall as rapidly as they had risen, and an average 
 loss of 20 to 25 per cent, on the purchases made, became 
 unavoidable. My house had kept itself to the letter of its 
 
294 MERCANTILE HONOR. 
 
 commissions, and all those who had paid money kept the cotton 
 which they had ordered, because they could not get out of the 
 scrape. But all the paper given by my house was allowed 
 to be protested upon the slightest pretext. The house of Hot- 
 tinguer & Co., in Paris, received the returned purchase and took 
 our paper as far as they could get possession of it. There resulted 
 from this, no less than five law-suits, which were settled by 
 arbitration, and one fierce process that endured for three years. 
 All these cases were decided in our favor ; but the want of truth 
 and of ordinary commercial honesty of many of our correspon- 
 dents who had so caressed and courted me the year before, was 
 without example. Every means was made use of by these 
 men to avoid the necessity of keeping the losing purchases for 
 their own account. One M. Morel Fatio, who had played an 
 important part as Coullssier in the Paris stock exchange, and 
 afterwards did a heavy business in cotton, at Rouen in 1822, 
 threw back upon us 200 bales of cotton, before he had even seen 
 them, under the pretext that he had ordered "prime quality" 
 (without limitation of price), that all the New Orleans houses 
 advertised " prime quality" at nineteen cents, and that as our 
 factor only asked seventeen and a half cents it could not, possibly, 
 be " prime quality." 
 
 One exception to this scandalous course which seemed to have 
 become the rule, must not be left unrecorded : I refer to the firm 
 of Victor Elie Lefevre & Sons, Rouen. This firm had sent us 
 the reimbursement of our paper in a draft upon the London house 
 of Barandon & Co. "When our drafts were presented and 
 accepted, this house had received the money from Rouen to pay 
 them, but failed before the acceptances fell due, and Lefevre lost 
 the amount. He did not, however, delay one moment, but im- 
 mediately instructed another house in London to take measures 
 for the payment of our paper. Besides the loss of this capital, 
 Lefevre had also to bear the loss of the cotton bought on his 
 account, and accepted by him, and for which he was thus obliged 
 to pay twice. I have considered it so much the more my duty to 
 set down the honorable act of a Rouen house, not so much 
 bo3ause of the strict fulfilment of mercantile obligations under the 
 
MERCANTILE MORALS. 295 
 
 circumstances, as because of the rarity of the occurrence in that 
 part of the world ; for the natives of Normandy, and the houses of 
 Rouen and Havre, do not enjoy the best reputation, and in the 
 art of overreaching, and the practice of cheating, are usually con- 
 sidered as masters. From this quarter, as already remarked, I 
 derived my bitterest and most abundant experience. 
 
 One word about the morality of a merchant. He who does not 
 positively despair of the possibility of an exact and strict observa- 
 tion of the laws of trade and commerce, must at least confess that 
 he has fatten upon the exceptions far oftener than upon common 
 instances. It is often said and believed of politics, that that science 
 cannot be bound by the customary laws of morality, or in other 
 words, that the common acceptation of the words Right and 
 Wrong, must undergo a considerable modification when those 
 words are politically employed — then judiciousness decides, — and 
 whatever is judicious must be right. One may say about the 
 same of commerce ; if we allow that all that is " on the books," 
 as merchants say, is right, because it is judicious, which means no 
 more than that it brings the money in. According to the ideas 
 of the day, wealth has taken the place of worth, which was the 
 object once of the merchant's ambition. Whether the practice of 
 this principle violate the conscience of the honest man or not, if 
 he adopt any measure simply because it is judicious, he cannot in 
 trade, justify himself by saying " the end sanctifies the means." 
 In politics, the recognition of this principle meets with but few 
 difficulties, and fifty years' experience has taught me, that in 
 commerce also, it is oftener followed than neglected. Out of 
 many such experiences let me record one incident : during a con- 
 fidential reading of this chapter to Mr. Alexander Baring, he gave 
 to the conduct of the merchants in Havre, the name of "felony." 
 
 In the autumn of 1824, as I have already remarked, the Liver- 
 pool cotton market showed the greatest probability of a rise 
 in prices. The house of Hottinguer & Co., in Havre, at the 
 head of which was M. Bourlet, a practical, experienced man of 
 business, was several times urged by the house of Cropper, in 
 Liverpool — in whose house young Hottinguer, now head of the 
 Havre house, was a clerk — to go into an operation in cotton; M. 
 
296 ANOTHER OOTVON OPERATION 
 
 Bourlet, however, gave evasive answers, and the matter fell 
 through. At the same time Mr. Daniel Willink, of Amsterdam, 
 established in Liverpool, had greatly befriended Mr. P. C. Labou- 
 chere, and kept up a regular correspondence with him, from his 
 estate Hylands, in the neighborhood of Chelmsford, in Essex 
 County. He entered heartily into Cropper's ideas, and offered 
 to trust him with a certain amount of capital for the operation, 
 which appeared to promise great gain ; only conditioning that the 
 purchase should not be delayed. M. Labouchere determined 
 quickly, and at once sent express to Havre, and commissioned 
 Messrs. Hottinguer to purchase for him 3,000 bales of cotton. 
 The express reached Havre late in the evening of Saturday. The 
 entire disposable quantity of cotton in Havre was 10,000 bales, 
 nearly all of which was in the hands of Hottinguer & Co., and 
 Thuret & Co. On Sunday morning the merchants assembled as 
 usual at the Bourse du Canon, to wait for the arrival of the Paris 
 mail. A decided possession of the market was not only possible 
 but certain ; but to succeed, it must be executed by the broker 
 Lefevre, because he possessed the entire confidence both of buy- 
 ers and sellers. He was the man usually employed by the most 
 extensive purchasers, the house of Guerard, Dupasseur & Co., and 
 their interests lay naturally near his heart. M. Bourlet, as soon 
 as he saw a person like M. Labouchere entering earnestly into a 
 cotton speculation, changed suddenly his own views, and recog- 
 nized the operation as an unfailing one. Thereupon he sent for 
 the broker Lefevre, and in order to avoid the peril of a betrayal, 
 which might throw the whole affair into other hands, he invited 
 the Messrs. Guerard, Dupasseur & Co. to a consultation. A 
 share in the purchase of the whole quantity, 10,000 bales, was also 
 offered to M. Delaunay, at that time head of the firm of Thuret & 
 Co., in Havre; and the two houses agreed to the entire purchase, 
 the house of Guerard alone appearing as buyers. It was also 
 determined that Hottinguer and Thuret should offer all their cot- 
 ton for sale, and that the broker Lefevre should try to get posses- 
 sion of all smaller quantities. My house then possessed 500 
 bales, stored with Messrs. Hottinguer, and 300 with Thuret. Our 
 agent, M. Emanuel Bernoulli, was by accident in Havre. It i* 
 
CHARACTERIZED BY MR. A. BARING AS " FELONY." 297 
 
 not necessary to say here in what manner he became acquainted 
 with the foregoing circumstances, but he lost no time in going to 
 M. Bourlet, and telling him, resolutely, " Whatsoever occurs in 
 the cotton market, all further sale of Nolte's cotton must be stop- 
 ped. You must not sell a single bale without directions from me." 
 Then he went to M. Delaunay, and made the same remark to 
 him ; but he was answered with the completest sangfroid, " Vous 
 arrivez trop tard, mon ami. Vos cotons sont dejd vendus. The 
 300 bales had thus fallen into the hands of this worthy specu- 
 lator. At once it was rumored about the exchange, that the 
 entire stock in Havre had fallen into the hands of Messrs. Gue- 
 rard, Dupasseur & Co. On Monday morning the post brought 
 news of a rise of prices in the Liverpool market, the instant con- 
 sequence of which was a rise of three francs a hundred weighty 
 which went still higher soon after. M. Labouchere was written 
 to, that the Havre purchasers had gotten the start of him, and had 
 thwarted the fulfilment of his commission ; it was thought, how- 
 ever, that a similar outlay of capital in cotton-yarn at Rouen 
 would be judicious, inasmuch as the prices of this had not been 
 affected by the news. Bourlet knew with whom he had to do, 
 when he reckoned upon the cheapening of this improper acquisi- 
 tion ; instead of a regular rise in the first months of the year 1825, 
 it gave a very meagre result. M. Labouchere had learned nothing 
 about the foregoing circumstances, nor the head of the Paris 
 house, the elder M. Hottinguer, whose straightforward, honest spirit 
 would have severely condemned the action of his associates. I 
 have already remarked, that in the United States, overreaching 
 goes for cleverness, and there this act would probably be called 
 " a capital combination." How very few merchants, indeed, are 
 there out of England who, like Mr. Alexander Baring, would give 
 it a very different appellation ! 
 
 The commerce of New Orleans, destined to so mighty a future, 
 and which had begun its increase the second year after the treaty 
 of Ghent, in 1814, was obliged in the city itself to contend with 
 the greatest difficulties, because of the miserable condition of the 
 streets, the highways, and the dykes of the river, which threw a 
 thousand hindrances in the way of trade's advancement. The 
 
 13* 
 
298 NEW OllLEANS IN 1821. 
 
 legislation about city interests was in the hands of the mayor and 
 a council, almost entirely composed of native, i. e., ignorant Cre- 
 oles, who, during the first years of peace, thought of nothing, and 
 used their influence for nothing but the protection of their own 
 personal interests ; and troubled themselves exceedingly little 
 about the common-weal. The mayor himself, Rouffignac by 
 name, was a native of France, formerly a cavalry officer in the 
 Spanish service, had the best will in the world, was an honest, 
 practical person, but yet so perfectly uninstructed that he feared 
 to trust himself or any other man. So it happened that nearly 
 'six years went by, before they took the slightest action towards 
 the improvement of the streets. In 1821 New Orleans did not 
 possess one single paved street. Through the city ran four feet 
 wide side-walks, which were called banquettes, and which ran along 
 close to the houses. They were made of brick set loosely in the 
 sand, and in wet weather became almost utterly useless, since 
 nearly every step of the pedestrian produced a spirt of liquid mud 
 from between the loose bricks. The streets themselves were 
 nothing but mud holes, with occasional projecting bits of dried clod. 
 In 1822 the city council recognized the necessity of some improve- 
 ment, and it was determined that the principal street, called Rue 
 Roy ale, should be paved. The cost of this pavement was calcu- 
 lated at $300,000, while the revenue of the city amounted only to 
 $60,000 or $70,000 per annum. Leases of tenements and lands 
 belonging to the city, and the yearly sale of part of them, the 
 results of public sales, etc., made up this sum. Finally, they 
 determined to make an effort to borrow the money ; a committee 
 of the city council was appointed, and this committee imme- 
 diately waited upon me, requesting the loan at an interest of 7 
 per cent, payable half yearly ; the money to be retained so long 
 as they might require it. I could find no means of rendering 
 comprehensible to these gentlemen the fact that no capitalist could 
 be discovered who would lend upon such terms; particularly 
 none in Europe, whither they appeared to be looking : that they 
 must borrow the money for a certain specified time, etc. At 
 length I succeeded in proposing an acceptable project for a loan. 
 That the city should receive a cash payment of $150,000, to be 
 
NEW COTTON COMBINATIONS. o<k, 
 
 followed* the next year by a similar sum, giving its obligation to 
 repay the sum in ten years, with interest at the rate of 98 per 
 cent, for that time. I also naturally arranged to have certificate s 
 of stock, all bearing the same date of emission, to be held as com- 
 pensation for the yearly interest on the second half of the loan, 
 while I paid in the sum in solid, well secured planter's note., 
 which had one year to run. These notes were in the money - 
 market, at a discount of from 15 to 18 per cent., and the differ- 
 ence of interest, which amounted to about $13,000, and which the 
 council could have gained had they chosen ; but by their neglect 
 of it, it fell to me. The Messrs. Barings sold me these notes with 
 a bonus of 17 per cent., and the whole operation brought me in a 
 net profit of $65,000. This was the forerunner of a later advance 
 made by the Barings to the city of New Orleans and the state of 
 Louisiana, and which somewhat surpassed a couple of millions. 
 This business was conducted, some years after the ruin of my 
 house, by Mr. Alexander Baring, who visited New Orleans for 
 the purpose. 
 
 The stock of cotton which the stimulus already spoken of, had 
 gathered and left unsaleable in many European markets, particu- 
 larly Liverpool, of course caused great anxiety about the new 
 American crop, in the minds of all who had made advances, and 
 to whom shipments would not guaranty a return. The great 
 quaker house of Cropper, Benson & Co., were at the head of the 
 firms who found themselves in this position. Whether it were a 
 proper comprehension of the real position, and look of the whole 
 European cotton market, in reference to the stock on hand, and 
 tee supply to be imported, or only an experiment to awaken the 
 spirit of speculation, and to cause a rise in prices ; in brief, this 
 house exhibited a general manifest, in which by a variety of cal- 
 culations it strove to show by logical conclusions and reckonings, 
 that the production of cotton had its limit, and that in consequence 
 of the abolition of the slave trade, and the annual decrease of the 
 colored population,* as well as by the natural restrictions which 
 
 * This argument was precisely one of the most feeble in the logic of the 
 Croppers. Five years before, the colored census was 1.538.060 ; and in 18-30, 
 thirty years later, 3.176.380, a yearly increase of 54.609 souls. 
 
300 ELEMENTS OF CALCULATIONS. 
 
 northern latitudes place upon cotton growing, that the ncesswy 
 and approaching consequence must be, that the importation would 
 become daily less, and obtainable only at very high prices, and 
 that from this would result — so at least they believed — that the 
 consumption would far exceed the production, and make the cost 
 of cotton immensely high. This manifest was disseminated with 
 a certain pomp over all the cotton manufacturing cities of Eng- 
 land and the United States. People read it with interest, but it 
 failed of its object, and had very slight effect upon the cotton 
 market. The thoughtful houses of Havre and Rouen, called it 
 " echauffaudage pour /aire monter les prix" and in Liverpool 
 and Manchester they were distrustful, and appeared to remember 
 the calculation, by means of which the firm of Cropper had 
 prophesied a poor crop of wheat, and high prices only a few years 
 before. They went so far as to send their agents into every part 
 of England to calculate the general yield of ears in the wheat 
 fields of the various districts, and the average number of grains in 
 the ears, in order to strike a parallel with the yield of grains in 
 fruitful and abundant crops, and so to support their prophecy 
 with reference to prices. All the calculations failed ; the crop 
 was a good general crop, and speculators, among whom were the 
 Messrs. Cropper themselves, lost very heavily. Their very 
 important share in the speculations which followed these calcula- 
 tions, proved in this instance, the uprightness of their conviction ; 
 but in respect of the cotton manifest that appeared later, I had no 
 opportunity to divine the concealed objects. I had visited 
 Liverpool in the course of the summer of 1823, and found that 
 the general voice of the exchange there was not prophetic of a 
 rise in the price of cotton. In the house of Cropper a hint was 
 given me that other views might possibly be correct. Thereupon, 
 I betook myself to Manchester, to look around me among my 
 friends there. This occurred about the time of the Doncaster 
 races, where Mr. William Garnet (of the then important house of 
 Messrs. Robert & William Garnet), had determined to go in his 
 own carriage, and invited me to accompany. I had scarcely 
 accepted, and so written to my friend Adam Hodgson, then 
 partner in the house of Rathbone, Hodgson & Co., that I at once 
 
ANOTHER COTTON COMBINATION. 30 1 
 
 received in answer, a most urgent letter, urging me, instead of 
 thinking of the Doncaster races, to weigh carefully an event which 
 must infallibly occur in the cotton market ; that my co-operation 
 was necessary to him, and therefore, he begged me to return at 
 once to Liverpool. I obeyed the call, and betook myself directly 
 to Liverpool. On my arrival, he pointed out to me, that he must 
 take me at once to the Messrs. Cropper, and there it would be 
 shown to me in the strictest secrecy, that an entirely new view 
 of the condition of things was to be taken. When we reached the 
 place, the elder Mr. James Cropper, head of the firm, was in his 
 sanctum sanctorum, a homely sort of chamber, which touched the 
 great hall of the general counting-room, and possessed a double 
 iron door. Into this chamber we were mysteriously introduced 
 by one of the partners, Mr. David Hodgson, and after our 
 entrance, the head of the greatest cotton broker firm, Mr. Cooke, 
 of the firm of Cooke & Cowen, was sent for; meanwhile, the 
 already mentioned, ever ready manifesto, was exhibited. Mr. 
 Cooke was sent for to prove to me that a demand for the 
 exportation of 10,000 bales of cotton to Havre, where the market 
 appeared to have been neglected, must infallibly shake the 
 ordinary buyers and spinners in Manchester and Glasgow ; and 
 already a rise in the prices was evident, as would soon be visible 
 to all. In the expectation that I would not refuse my assent and 
 co-operation to a plan formed by him, and that I would associate 
 myself with their representatives, David and Adam Hodgson ; 
 Messrs. Cropper had resolved to send both of these gentlemen to 
 Havre, in order to unite in one house commissions for the pur- 
 chase, in Liverpool, of 10,000 bales for Havre ; as it was clear 
 that the speculation would be a good one for both places, as it 
 would prove the result of the manifesto, so soon as it came to 
 general knowledge. My society, I said, was very much at the 
 service of those gentlemen, but their project must positively fail, 
 particularly if they were to go directly to Havre. On the first 
 knowledge of the object of such a voyage taken by the heads of 
 two important Liverpool houses, the idea would suggest itself to 
 people that there must be an under design — to wit : if the specula- 
 tion was so sure and infallible, as they appeared to think, folks 
 
303 THE FRENCH STATE DEBT. 
 
 would be certain to ask what the established house, iu union with 
 their mmerous friends could gain by sending 10,000 bales of 
 cotton on their own account to Havre. My advice was, not to 
 go by Southampton to Havre, but by Dieppe to Rouen, where I 
 would make them acquainted with a leading merchant who 
 thoroughly understood the French cotton market, and who would 
 place them at once in the exact position to judge of the whole 
 matter. My advice was taken. We went by London direct to 
 Rouen, and here I presented my companions to M. Edward 
 Quesnel l'Aine. A conversation took place. On his correction 
 of their ideas as to the nature of a Havre merchant, they saw so 
 clearly the impossibility of continuing their project, that they 
 themselves, proposed to accompany me to Paris, and so by Hol- 
 land back to England. On this occasion I could not help recalling 
 that expression of Lafontaine's, '-'•Jean s'en alia comme il etait 
 venu" 
 
 From Holland, whither I had accompanied my friends, I went 
 to Hamburg. Here memories of my early youth were still vivid 
 in the hearts of most of my acquaintances, and I found my boy- 
 hood's friends, with one exception, in good health and circum- 
 stances. I found also that both my parents were well, although 
 my father had already for some years been afflicted with total 
 blindness. Early in January, 1824, I went to Paris again, and 
 there learned that the speedy arrival of Mr. Alexander Baring 
 and his family was expected. 
 
 The project of the minister-president, Marquis de Villele, to 
 convert the state debt from five per cents to three per cents 
 gave rise to this visit. It was proposed to pay off with a round 
 sum those who were disinclined to exchange their claims which 
 bore five per cent, interest for new three per cent, claims, and to 
 take seventy-five francs for every hundred. The whole state debt 
 amounted to 3,066,783,560 francs ; and as it was shown that only 
 about one-third of the state creditors would consent to the con- 
 version, a payment in cash of 1,055,556,720 francs became neces- 
 sary. In order to collect this important capital, the whole finan- 
 cial power of England, Holland and France must be called into 
 exercise. Invitations in all directions assembled the leaders of 
 
THE FRENCH STATE DEBT. . 30o 
 
 the Paris and London Exchanges — Messrs. Baring Brothers & 
 Co., of London, Brothers Rothschild and J. Lafitte & Co., of 
 Paris — to no very difficult task, namely, to arrange in three lists 
 the capitalists of various lands with whom they were connected, 
 especially those of London, Amsterdam, and Paris, at the head of 
 each list being one of themselves. Thereupon, under the presi- 
 dency of Mr. Alexander Baring, a committee was appointed, com- 
 posed of Baron James Rothschild and Mr. Jacques Lafitte, to 
 treat of the conversion with the Marquis of Villele in exchange, 
 and to procure ready money for the payment of the old state debt. 
 This committee sat daily in the house of the Brothers Rothschild, 
 and sat the longer because of the inexhaustible eloquence of M. 
 Lafitte, about the advantages to accrue from the conversion and 
 all matters connected with it — an eloquence which claimed all the 
 attention of his colleagues, and, as I learned from Mr. Baring, 
 with whom, conformably to his desires, I breakfasted nearly every 
 day, drove them frequently into positive impatience. The secret 
 plan of the holders of the 3 per cent, debt was to raise it to 80, 
 and then to sell it, and so get rid of it. This price would give to 
 buyers an interest of 3^ per cent. ; and- if the portion of the debt 
 to be paid off could not be raised, excepting by new 3 per cent, 
 purchasers at 80, the consequence would be, that the 5 per cent, 
 before the conversion would be worth the relative price of 106 
 francs 66%, in order to get rid of the corresponding interest. This 
 governed the operations of the London, Frankfort, Amsterdam, 
 and Paris Exchanges. The capital destined for the conversion, 
 and collected at the common cost of the representatives of the 
 three lists, was estimated at 1,000 millions. Speculators had 
 conceived so favorable an idea of the 3 per cent funds to-be cre- 
 ated — an idea based on the belief that the undertakers would not 
 bring it into circulation under 80 — that buyers were found in Am- 
 sterdam and Frankfort at 81*82, and even 83J. At the same 
 time important sales were made of French 5 per cent, state paper, 
 at the relative price of from 106 francs 67 to 110. Nothing more 
 was to be had. The project of M. de Villele needed, in order to 
 become a legal operation, the sanction of the two chambers, and 
 caused important debates. Opinions about the judiciousness, 
 
304 THE VICOMTE DE CHATEAUBRIAND. 
 
 and even about the legality of the conversion, were widely 
 different. Meanwhile the ministry possessed, in the chamber of 
 deputies, an immense majority of three hundred and more, whom 
 the wits were accustomed to speak of as " M. de Villeie's three 
 hundred Spartans ;" so that while a doubt of the success of the 
 project was scarcely possible, it was yet a critical matter to open 
 a debate with the small holders of the Rent, to whom countless 
 deputies belonged — it was aiming at their purses. The funny men 
 of Paris did not let the occasion slip. The Rue d'Artois (now 
 Rue Lafitte), in which lived Mr. Alexander Baring, on the corner 
 of the Boulevard, in the Hotel d'Artois, Baron James Rothschild, 
 in the hotel formerly belonging to the queen of Holland, and Mr. 
 Lafitte, in his own hotel, corner of Rue de Provence, was called 
 " la Rue de la Reduction ;" and the keepers of cafes in the neigh- 
 borhood, who had formerly given five lumps of sugar to a cup of 
 coffee now gave but three, "on account of the reduction," as they 
 said. When the project of the conversion came to a hearing in 
 the chamber of deputies, it passed by a majority of sixty-eight. 
 This, in ordinary circumstances, would have been considered a 
 large majority ; but, contrasted with the usual majority of M. de 
 Villele, it was looked on as very small, and served as a certain 
 proof the project of the finance minister found many opponents, 
 even among his well-disciplined hangers on. 
 
 In the Chamber of Peers people were more independent of min- 
 isterial influence, and the conversion found an important opponent 
 in the person of the minister for foreign affairs, M. le Vicomte de 
 Chateaubriand. He had a personal rancor, nourished in silence, 
 against the M. de Villele. The question of the conversion, sup- 
 posed, to be a national one, became, in the chamber of peers, a 
 personal one. It came to the point, whether the influence of the 
 Marquis de Villele, or that of the Vicomte de Chateaubriand, 
 would prove the more powerful : and, as to the judiciousness of 
 the conversion, people, as often happens in France, snapped their 
 fingers. The marquis, as I learned from Mr. Baring, had included 
 in his calculations every single voice in the chamber of peers ; he 
 knew well both the pro and con, and reckoned confidentially on a 
 majority of eighteen votes for his project. The voting at length 
 
HIS RETIREMENT. j>05 
 
 took place, and Villele was defeated by a majority of twelve 
 voices. For a while Chateaubriand was victorious. This took 
 place on a Friday. The day before the 5 per cent. Rents had 
 been quoted at 106 francs ; but at the close of the Exchange, on 
 Saturday evening, they had fallen to 98. The agitation among 
 Parisians, especially in the business world, was immeasurable. 
 Villele and Chateaubriand had spoken to each other at the royal 
 mass on Sunday, at the Tuilleries, on which occasion the former 
 very politely informed the latter that he would find a very im- 
 portant dispatch awaiting him at home. On this Sunday the 
 vicomte had invited the most important ministers and diplomatists 
 in Paris to dinner. So soon as he reached home he opened the 
 dispatch ; it contained the command to send in his portfolio, as he 
 had been replaced. When his guests had arrived, and taken their 
 places at the dinner-table, the vicomte informed them that this 
 was the last occasion on which he could have the honor to receive 
 them in this way, as in the morning, he said, laughingly, his min- 
 isterial course would be run — he had been " remplace." The 
 news was spread far and wide the same evening, in the usual 
 haunt of the notabilities, the foyer de V Opera, and the next day, 
 Monday, at the opening of the Exchange, 104 francs were freely 
 given for 5 per cents. It was of course a natural opinion, that 
 the retirement of Chateaubriand would not militate against the 
 permanence of de Villele's ministry, and the opinion was a correct 
 one. But for the business world the consequence was immense 
 losses for all the direct part-takers in the conversion, and for all 
 the first speculators, among whom I, unfortunately, was one, and 
 that for no small amount. The 5 per cents ran down to 98 francs, 
 and remained fixed at that price for a long time. As people had 
 freely purchased in behalf of the conversion, it became necessary 
 to turn the purchases made on time into money again. Of the 
 three chiefs of the coalition, Messrs. Baring and Lafitte suffered 
 most, because of the immense expense caused by the collection of 
 the thousand millions. But the Rothschilds were splendidly com- 
 pensated by the sales of the 3 per cents, at 81 and 82, and by the 
 sale, at the same time, of a great quantity of 5 per cents, at 104, 
 105, and 106. As the 3 per cents had just been called into ex- 
 
306 GENERAL LAFAYETTE. 
 
 istence they had nothing to furnish, and they could replace the 5 
 per cents sold at 98 francs. This plan of M. Rothschild was not 
 imparted to the other two who were interested in the conversion, 
 as is always required by the common understanding of a common 
 participation in loss and gain — the two had been outflanked. The 
 unconquerable aversion which the chief of the Hope house had 
 long felt, to all business connexion with the Rothschilds, was 
 the cause of the Amsterdam firms having no part in the projected 
 conversion, and consequently none in the losses. In the same 
 way the house of Hottinguer & Co., by advice of M. Labouchere, 
 had refused any participation in the matter. 
 
 In the course of the summer of 1824, I received several visits 
 from General La Fayette, whom I had slightly known some years 
 before. His possession of certain lands in the state of Louisiana, 
 in the district known as Pointe Coupee, had given rise to this 
 acquaintance. At his liberation from his long imprisonment at 
 Olmutz, the general's circumstances were so narrow, that old Sir 
 Francis Baring (father, as already said, of Alexander Baring) had, 
 of his own free will and out of personal esteem for the nobleman, 
 sent him the important sum of £5,000. The repayment of this 
 was hindered for several years, and finally (after the death of Sir 
 Francis) it was agreed that the Barings should take, as equivalent 
 for this not unimportant sum, some of the Louisiana lands, at the 
 disproportionately high, purely imaginary price of eleven dollars 
 per acre. The supervision of this purchase and the payment of 
 the yearly land tax upon it, were committed to me by Messrs. 
 Baring, at the time of the establishment of my house in New 
 Orleans. Soon after this arrangement — which was made purely 
 for the convenience of one party — General Lafayette found oppor- 
 tunity to sell at the same enormous price, as speculation price, 
 another large tract of these lands, to the English baronet Sir 
 Jos. Coghill, and to realize the money. The affair was closed in 
 the most perfectly good faith by the general, who really believed 
 that he was only getting the worth of his lands ; and that it was 
 no bad trade, but a genuinely good speculation, to buy them at 
 the same price that so eminent and far-seeing a firm as the Barings 
 had been willing to pay. On closer examination, instituted by 
 
HIS FINANCIAL AFFAIRS. 307 
 
 Sir Joshua, it was shown under how great an error he had lain. 
 He complained to the Barings, in London, although he had nothing 
 to do with them. He complained to the general, in Paris, and 
 the latter considered it important to get more correct infor- 
 mation about these lands from me. Naturally enough, I could 
 give him as little information as comfort for the honest patience 
 with which he bore this unfortunate state of things. The general 
 was in every sense of the word an honorable man. But a second 
 difficulty lay heavy upon his heart, during the frequent visits that 
 he made to me. So many invitations had come to him from the 
 United States, once more to visit that land, which had to thank 
 his youthful arms for part of its freedom. Congress had 
 instructed the president to notify him officially, their readiness to 
 receive, as well as their power would admit, and to keep a frigate 
 in readiness for him ; he had received from all sides proofs of 
 esteem and affection in such numbers, that he had finally deter- 
 mined, in spite of his advanced age, to undertake the voyage. 
 One difficulty, however, must first be removed. He had no 
 money. " I have here in Paris," said the general to me, " debts 
 to the amount of 100,000 francs, which must be paid before I dare 
 go to another quarter of the world. I could procure the money 
 here if I would give a mortgage upon my estate, Lagrange, but it 
 is the heritage of my children — it belonged to my wife, and now 
 is theirs ; and although they are all willing to resign, to help me 
 in my embarrassments, I cannot accept it — I will not disturb it." 
 The general then asked me to sound Mr. Baring, as to whether he 
 would follow the example of his father, and advance an hundred 
 thousand francs. I promised to do so, but at the same time told 
 La Fayette that I doubted the result. The old advance was stuck 
 into useless lands, and I feared that a second experiment would 
 not be to the taste of the sons. Such was literally the case. "No, 
 no," said Alexander Baring ; " we are not quite clear of an old 
 scrape, and cannot plump into a fresh one." The general appeared 
 so sad when I told him of this, and he interested me so much, as 
 he did every one who knew him well, that I bade him be of good 
 courage ; and promised to visit and inquire among such Ameri- 
 cans as ^ere living in independent circumstances in Paris, at the 
 
308 MISS FANNY WRIGHT. 
 
 time, and see what could be done with them. And first I went to 
 our ambassador, James Brown, a worthy man, with whom I had 
 become acquainted in Louisiana, and whose esteem and good will 
 I dared flatter myself to possess. Cool and serious as this gentle- 
 man was in all his dealings, yet he took hold of this affair right 
 heartily, and with a fire which much encouraged me. He pro- 
 mised to go to work, and pledged himself to furnish one quarter 
 of the sum, and to induce others to follow his example. In fact, 
 two persons at once joined him, naturalized Americans, who had 
 returned from the United States, with abundant means, and now 
 lived in Paris — a Hollander by the name of Jacob Gerhard Kock, 
 from Amsterdam, and a Savoyard (lately deceased), M. Jean 
 Francois Girod. In what manner the required sum was finally 
 made up I have never learned, but the general himself informed 
 me in a friendly note that the goal of his desires was attained. 
 His note inclosed the request to visit him in the course of the 
 week, that he might introduce me to a couple of English ladies, 
 living in the house with him and under his protection, who expected 
 to visit the United States, and desired to confer with me about 
 some pecuniary difficulties. These two ladies were the authoress, 
 Miss Fanny Wright, afterwards so well known for her eccentrici- 
 ties, and her sister. They desired to make over to me the sum 
 of 120,000 francs, then in the hands of the banker Lafitte, that I 
 might invest this capital in Louisiana, without losing the interest 
 in the meantime ; and with power to use the same in the mean- 
 while, if circumstances should render it necessary. This little 
 negotiation was soon arranged, and when the ladies visited Louis- 
 iana, eighteen months later, they received their money back. The 
 general spoke and wrote English perfectly well, yet in speaking 
 he had a very broad accent. In writing, nothing betrayed him 
 but the form of the letters and the hand. As a proof of this, you 
 have here literally a letter which he wrote me on Miss Wright's 
 affairs. 
 
 Friday Evening. 
 My Dear Sir — 
 
 I have, received a note from Mr. Barnes, Consul of the U. S., 
 informing me that he has to-morrow, at one o'clock, a Committee 
 
LAFAYETTE EMBARKS FOR AMERICA. $09 
 
 from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which takes up the 
 greater part of his time, and that Monday he will be ready to 
 receive Mr. Nolte and myself. As I had not asked a positive 
 appointment for us, but only announced my visit for this morn- 
 ing or the day after, I suppose it alludes to some application from 
 you. 
 
 My young friends have left Paris, with a deep feeling of grati- 
 tude for your kind attentions in their behalf. I very heartily join 
 in the sentiment, and am charged by them to make an inquiry, to 
 which you will be pleased to give an answer, not losing sight of 
 our inexperience in those matters, and the possibility of our 
 making, very innocently, an improper demand. 
 
 You have been so kind as to give them the benefit of your 
 arrangement with Mr. Hottinguer, so far as respects the money 
 destined to the Louisiana State Bank. Could the same interest 
 be extended to about twenty thousand francs remaining in the 
 hands of Mr. Lafitte, if transferred to Mr. Hottinguer. Miss 
 Wright left with me a letter to that purpose, in case I was encour- 
 aged to propose the arrangement. I waited upon you, after I had 
 paid a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Baring ; you was not at home ; 
 to-day I have been detained by cold and hoarseness, and hope the 
 pleasure to find you to-morrow at an early hour ; but as I have 
 an opportunity to write to my friend, I thought I might antici- 
 pate the query at the same time that I gave the answer of the 
 Consul. 
 
 Receive, dear sir, my best thanks, and most sincere regard. 
 
 LAFAYETTE. 
 
 Two weeks later the general, accompanied by his son, George 
 Washington Lafayette, and his secretary, M. Levasseur, went to 
 Havre, where he embarked on the 13th of July, in the regular 
 packet Cadmus, for New York. Here he happily arrived after a 
 short voyage, on the 16th of August. The somewhat imper- 
 fectly edited memoirs of the general, which appeared after his 
 death, and other cotemporaneous writings, describe in detail the 
 extraordinary reception that awaited him there. The enthusiasm 
 which welcomed him, found an echo throughout the entire land. 
 
31Q ADVICE OF FRANCIS BARING. 
 
 In every State of the Union, (the original thirteen which com- 
 posed it, after the war of Independence, as well as those 
 which had been afterwards admitted,) gathered young and old 
 together to greet and honor worthily the man who, sprung from 
 the old French noblesse, in the bloom of youth, the darling of the 
 court, had carried over the mighty ocean his strength, his ability, 
 and a great part of his fortune to fight for the young Repub- 
 lic; had been Washington's comrade, friend, and first aid-de- 
 camp, and was now the only living warrior of that time. A 
 period of more than forty years had rolled away since the general 
 had left the land for which he fought ; the new generation which 
 did not know him, regarded him in the light of a saint, and the old 
 who remained, were so scattered that only here and there came one 
 who could take the stranger by the hand and bid him welcome. 
 
 The chronologic sequence of my narrative now obliges me here 
 to break off until I can again refer to the man whom I knew well, 
 and whose friendship I had won. I return now to my two 
 athletes, Villele and Chateaubriand ; the latter of whom I left as 
 victor in the Chamber of Peers, but as a sorely wounded member 
 of the Ministry, the doors of which were closed against him. He 
 was dismissed on Sunday. I have shown how the next day, 
 Monday, the whole exchange knew of the dismissal of the Minister 
 for Foreign Affairs, and saw there a proof of the unshaken power 
 of the Marquis de Villele, and the price of the stocks rose to 102 
 and 102J. Shortly before exchange hours I received a visit from 
 my friend Francis Baring, to whom I had made no secret of my 
 great losses in the 5 per cents. He came to advise me to let my 
 stock go the next day. He had resolved, he said, to let it and 
 his own — that is, what he had bought for his own account — go, if 
 he could only do it without harm. " Mine," I said, " would only 
 cost me the brokerage." " Ei," he said ; " that I could not offer," 
 and then he continued, " that it only came now to the difference 
 of brokerage." " Ah," thought I to myself, " there is no danger 
 here of any great fall ;" and so I took the affair tolerably cool and 
 instructed my exchange agent, D. Maurency, to sell mine "at a 
 certain price which would not be strictly kept to, however. Tie 
 stock which at the opening of the exchange became saleable at 
 
ONE OF MY LOSSES. 31 1 
 
 102J and 102, went the same day back to 98, and so remained for 
 some weeks. I now suffered a very important loss. M. 
 Maurency had considered himself authorized to throw away my 
 stock for the low price of 98 without any commission from me, 
 without any preceding advice, because I had no provision for the 
 stock bought on time. It is well known that in stocks, all pur- 
 chasers on time are unlawful and cannot be sued on. So that I 
 had no help, and was obliged to acknowledge to myself that I had 
 neglected the means of remedying my evident loss. For I should 
 have taken the object of Baring's visit for what it was, namely, to 
 spare me a small loss, as it must have been a great loss which he 
 feared. But then, why make the remark that he could not spare 
 the brokerage. He wished in the first place, to give me a proof 
 of his good will towards me ; but at the same time he would have 
 engaged me to concur in the sale of his own stock, which might 
 have pressed the current of prices and so have brought down the 
 stock. From the knowledge which I possessed of his custom of 
 wishing to unite the most heterogeneous points, even when such 
 union must be excessively difficult, I ought not to have over- 
 looked this, but I could scarcely harbor such a suspicion against a 
 friend. The offered advice was in open contradiction to itself. I 
 had, as already remarked, treated the affair with levity ; but m 
 all matters of business, a merchant should never neglect to study 
 and examine diligently all circumstances connected nearly, or 
 distantly with the subject. Human foresight reaches seldom far 
 enough to embrace all the circumstances of a case, and is unable to 
 dispense with the greatest watchfulness ; and I failed in this case, 
 because I had neglected to be vigilant. 
 
 To this extended and ready vigilance, over all possible results 
 connected with, or growing out of his projects and undertakings, 
 belong the most important exigencies of the speculative merchant, 
 by which term, I do not understand the ordinary speculator, but 
 the man who feels himself obliged to stand out in the broad day- 
 light, and amid his fellow-citizens, and in the sight of the whole 
 world, to win for himself the rank that insures to him the reward 
 of his struggles. What is usually understood by the word mer- 
 chant, is simply the factor of sales and purchases. This man, no 
 
.312 THE CHARACTER OF THE TRUE MERCHANT. 
 
 matter how extended his trade, remains, what in the mercantile 
 categories of South Germany, particularly in Austria, is called a 
 wholesale tradesman — he is but a tradesman, and not a merchant 
 in the true spirit of that word. It is the speculative spirit alone 
 which marks the real merchant. And the use of this spirit, when 
 kept subordinate to his actual clearly known means, and requires 
 from him a prevision and observation of all possible results that 
 may occur, is what procures for him a character for prudence. 
 And yet how often does accident, by an unusual, hidden and 
 suddenly self-created train of circumstances change the results of 
 the wisest combination. Stock on hand, importations, supply, — 
 these are usually the main points of most speculations in trade to 
 which miscalculations have often given rise in corn and cotton, 
 which latter occupied me daily and almost hourly. The reader 
 will see something about it in most of the following pages, but I 
 must be allowed to record one example here. In one of the 
 years when British consumption of cotton appeared to be on the 
 progressive decline, it yet on one occasion appeared to revive and 
 exhibit fresh vigor. People remarked important consignments of 
 raw material to the consumers, the spinners, and judged there- 
 from that they had not only exhausted their regular supply, but 
 that they would infallibly come into the market again as pur- 
 chasers. The expression " delivered to the trade," although it 
 announced no positive sales, still suggested the momentarily 
 existing and pressing need of the material. And what did I 
 discover in the course of the same year. The head of the great 
 spinning and manufacturing establishment of Messrs. Strutt, in 
 Derbyshire, who never required less annually than 10,000 bales 
 of cotton, had convinced themselves that the pressure on the raw 
 material had reached the lowest degree, and that the prices would 
 not probably, for many a year, be so low as at present. They 
 therefore, commanded all that they would need for three years at 
 once, 30,000 bales, which they purchased quietly, by means of 
 their brokers, who did not fail in their weekly circulars to set 
 this quantity down as " delivered to the trade." The reader will 
 easily understand that the purchase by a single house of such a 
 quantity of cotton did not exhibit the true amount of a year's 
 
SPECULATION. 313 
 
 necessities ; for it might have represented ten houses, of which, 
 each had purchased 3,000 bales. Nevertheless, this single 
 example had its influence. A regular demand was produced, 
 which also, was not caused by a real present need of material, but 
 was a mere delusion, of which, even many of the speculators were 
 victims. The restoration of the whole mass of material owed its 
 existence to a delusion. The same errors never have such 
 powerful and stirring influence as in attempts to monopolize a 
 branch of commerce. Thus in the whole course of my mercantile 
 struggles, no single example of a successful speculation of this 
 kind, that is, where a great permanent revolution of the market 
 was aimed at, exists. A wholesale monopolizing purchase of an 
 article is often destroyed by an attempt to sell it at paying prices. 
 The difference between the supply and the actual regular con- 
 sumption, can in these peaceful times, be easily discovered ; and 
 therefore, one ordinarily resists, until forced by necessity, to pay 
 a compulsory speculation price. A man seldom forgives himself 
 for a lack of foresight which another has made use of, and still 
 less does he like to pay away money that such foresight might 
 have saved him. Sales on delivery at unusually high prices 
 seldom fail, if the speculator only choose his time right, and take 
 his measures accordingly. 
 
 14 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE BUSINESS CRISIS OF 1825-6.— LAFAYETTE IN NEW 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 The Liverpool Cottou Market at the close of the year 1824 — Sudden rise of 
 prices, in January, 1825 — Manoeuvres of the Liverpool houses to keep up 
 the prices — Well calculated course of the Scotch house of J. &, A. Denis- 
 toun & Co. — The speculation mania in New Orleans — Arrival of General 
 Lafayette in New Orleans — His reception — Anecdotes of him — I accom- 
 pany him, in the name of the city, as one of its deputies, to Natchez- 
 State of the Cotton Market when I arrived in Natchez. 
 
 At my arrival in Liverpool, where I went on my return to the 
 United States, I found, as is usual in the beginning of autumn, 
 that the whole Exchange was engrossed in calculations as to the 
 probable position of the cotton market at the end of the year. 
 Men would not listen to the news that all the supply in the Atlan- 
 tic ports was exhausted, but calculated that the shipments of what 
 remained of the old crop, and the abundant produce of the new, 
 from October 1, to the end of the year, would reach 250,000 bales. 
 From that came the calculation, that the stock of American cot- 
 ton in England, proportioned to the then consumption, would be 
 about 200,000 bales. My simple question, " What will be the 
 consequence if the supply do not transcend 100,000 bales," was 
 met by the reply, that a sudden rise of a penny a pound, or fifteen 
 to twenty per cent., was the universal conviction. 
 
 I reached New York about the middle of November. With the 
 foregoing information about the Southern harbors, and a list of all 
 exportations which had taken place meantime, I perceived that, in- 
 stead of an export of 150,000 bales of the old crop, scarce 30,000 had 
 been sent off in the months of October and November, and that 
 the month of December could not and would not furnish 20,000 
 
GREAT RISE IN COTTON 315 
 
 bales. I hastened to New Orleans. Here I foujd two ships in 
 the hands of my house, which we were to load for the account of 
 a Quaker firm in New York. This was done at the prices, 11, 
 11£, and 12 cents. We also sent off a cargo of 900 bales on our 
 own account. The prices had no direct tendency towards a rise, 
 but the expectation of such a rise was evident, by the willingness 
 with which the prices demanded were paid. I therefore determi- 
 ned to buy 1000 bales more on my own account, and to keep it 
 ready. The prices raised but little, and we sent off another cargo 
 on our own account. 
 
 I supposed that about the middle of February we would receive 
 information about the stock of American cotton on hand in Liver- 
 pool, at the close of the year, if the regular packets between 
 Liverpool and New York should make short passages ; and I pos- 
 sessed, in advance, the certainty which could not be had in Liver- 
 pool, that it could not possibly surpass 100,000 bales. Already, 
 on the 12th of February, my fears were aroused, lest the news of 
 the scanty condition of the Liverpool market, at the close of the 
 year, should find us careless and unprepared. Driven, then, by 
 my own impatience, I sent our clerk, Ferriday, who was accus- 
 tomed to make all our purchases with zealous diligence, to the 
 suburbs, where the cotton market is always held, and instructed 
 him not to return with empty hands, nor without having purchased 
 at least 1500 bales for our house, at the current prices. My last 
 words were, " Do not stand upon trifles, but buy." He fulfilled 
 the commission, and bought 2000 bales. 
 
 Two days later, on February 14th, at noon, a neat, fast sailing 
 schooner brought me, from the two Quaker houses, Francis 
 Thompson & Nephews, and Jeremiah Thompson, in New York, 
 the news of the close of the Liverpool market, on December 21, 
 1824. and the commission to purchase 10,000 bales for them and 
 for Cropper, Benson & Co., of Liverpool, at the current prices. 
 The stock of American cotton in Liverpool was exactly as I had 
 anticipated — there were but 100,000 bales there — and the conse- 
 quence of so unusually small a supply was precisely the fulfilment 
 of the knowing people's prophecies. There was a sudden rise of 
 a penny. The first re-action on our market at New Orleans was 
 
316 IN 1826, 
 
 a rise of throe cents. Whosoever was engaged in the coLton trade 
 and was a cotemporary of that remarkable year, 1825, will 
 remember the frenzy that seized all speculators, first in England, 
 and then, by infallible consequence, in the United States. In spite 
 of the disposition of my adopted countrymen to take fire easily, 
 the rise in American shipment prices did not move so rapidly as 
 the spirit of speculation in England, for there the prices rose 110 
 per cent, but in the United States not more than 85. We turned 
 most of our own local stock into money, gaining thereby $60,000 ; 
 and from the first cargo sent to Liverpool, in the brig Ocean, Cap- 
 tain Bond, 950 bales, we received a return from the house of 
 Cropper, with the unexampled gain of £11,460. Besides a share 
 in the cargoes shipped in union with the Messrs. Cropper and 
 Thompson, we had two others, which arrived in Liverpool about 
 ten days after the 950 bales, but costing about ten per cent, more, 
 on which the Croppers could have gained quite as much, had they 
 chosen. They, however, thought it judicious to throw away the 
 enormous profit of eighty per cent., because they would not, by 
 " ill-timed sales," interfere with their own pre-conceived views of 
 the future of the cotton market, nor stop the revolution; but the con 
 sumers, the spinners, would force them to withdraw their extortion 
 ate claims. With very few exceptions, all the cotton traders became 
 quiet participants in this coalition. The higher the article rose, 
 so rose also the resolution of the spinners not to pay the unheard 
 of price which was demanded — they scarcely bought at all. But 
 the leaders of the countless troop of speculators, Messrs. Cropper, 
 Benson & Co., with their fellow-quakers, Rathbone, Hodgson & 
 Co., in union with the brokers, Cooke & Comer, were enabled to 
 avoid, what under usual circumstances would have been the 
 inevitable result of this opposition, to wit, a fall of prices, by 
 always permitting underhand sales, or by supporting new buyers, 
 who found means to come into the market, who in the end only 
 gave out their own names. The Manchester spinners, though 
 pressed by necessity to accept the high prices, had as yet bought 
 as little as possible, and finally came to the resolution not to buy 
 at all. The whole month of May passed over without one single 
 important sale having taken place. 
 
AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 317 
 
 The letters of the Quaker firms to their correspondents contained 
 the words, " Nothing can equal the firmness of our holders." The 
 words should have been, " Nothing can equal the firmness of our 
 holders but the unbending obstinacy of the consumers, to econo- 
 mize their stock as much as possible, and to buy no more than 
 positive necessity demands." The ground upon which the super- 
 structure of this mighty speculation rested was hollow, and must 
 inevitably give way, and carry the whole fabric with it to destruc- 
 tion. The expectation that the spinners, at the sight of the rising 
 prices, must necessarily provide themselves with the raw material 
 at any cost, was the groundwork, and the belief in the insufficiency 
 of the expected importations was the foundation, of the whole 
 speculation. Both of these calculations were ill made. The spin- 
 ners knew too well that they could find no buyers for their fabrics 
 at prices commensurate with those of the raw material, and that, 
 consequently, they could only manufacture at great loss to them 
 selves ; and the importers, allured from all the markets and cor- 
 ners of the earth, surpassed all and every calculation that had 
 been made. From Brazil, of which the exportable cotton crop 
 for five years had been reckoned at 175,000 bales, came suddenly 
 just twice that quantity, 350,000 bales. Stiff-necked, well-to-do 
 planters had annually kept back a portion of their crops when the 
 prices did not suit them. This no one knew > and it may serve 
 as a universal proof of the assertion that, in wholesale specula- 
 tions, particularly in those which take their rise in a view to 
 monopoly, that human foresight is never sufficiently great to cal- 
 culate upon all the circumstances which may belong to, or result 
 from its actions. 
 
 The month of May, with its enforced activity in the cotton- 
 market, was scarcely gone, when the Scottish house of James and 
 Alexander Denistoun & Co., of Glasgow, received in Liverpool 
 5000 bales, from New Orleans ; and under the direction of the 
 clever head of the firm, Mr. James Denistoun, then president of 
 the bank of Scotland, in Glasgow, determined to offer the whole 
 importation for sale. The Quaker confederation implored them 
 to keep up the price, which was for Georgia cotton, 15 J to 16 
 pence, but in vain. The 5000 bales were sold at from 2\ to 2} 
 
518 LAFAYETTE ARRIVES IN WASHINGTON: 
 
 below the standing price ; and when it is recollected that a fall o 
 one farthing, under the ordinary price of cotton, will prevent an} 
 one in Liverpool from buying, it will easily be understood that a 
 sale at from 15 to 16 per cent, under current prices offered a cleai 
 proof that all the calculations were shown to be false, that the 
 elasticity of the market had been unnaturally tried, and that spin- 
 ners had perfectly understood the whole combination. The deter- 
 mination of the Scottish firm arose from the simple observation 
 of the fact that the extraordinary importations allured by the high 
 prices had already, in the beginning of June, collected more cotton 
 in Great Britain than the greatest possible consumption of the 
 whole year could demand ; and hence, that every pound of the 
 raw material, which might arrive from that time forth, must be 
 seen by every clear-sighted importer to be simply superfluous, and 
 to add to an already unnecessary stock. In another five months 
 the new American crop would be ready, and it was promising to 
 be very abundant. 
 
 In the beginning of April, precisely when the wildest spirit of 
 speculation was at work in New Orleans, and was occupying our 
 almost entire attention, came General Lafayette, an arrival which 
 alone could have created a diversion. Although in the whole pop- 
 ulation of the city and its environs not one comrade in the war of 
 independence, nor even one personal acquaintance, except myself, 
 was there to greet him, still the enthusiasm with which he had 
 been received everywhere was intense in Louisiana, from the fact 
 of most of the inhabitants being of French extraction ; and men 
 were more anxious to venerate the historic importance of the actor 
 in the French revolution, than of the then young but now gray~ 
 haired hero of the American. The general had arrived, before the 
 opening of the Congress of December 8, 1824, in Washington, and 
 had employed the intervening time in visiting the states of New 
 York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. He passed 
 through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, on 
 his way to Washington, and it was there that the then speaker of 
 the House, the late Henry Clay, introduced him, on the 10th De- 
 cember, into the Hall of Representatives, and presented him to 
 both houses therein assembled. Tho roomy and richly-decorated 
 
IS WELCOMED BY HENRY CLAY. 319 
 
 hall held on this occasion 2,000 persons, with all the foreign min 
 isters, except the French ambassador of the Bourbons. The Mar 
 quis afterwards told me, that although he had witnessed very 
 many assemblies in his own country, never had he received such 
 an impression as from this one ; and that he had never been so 
 thoroughly moved by the eloquence of any man, not even by that 
 of Mirabeau, as by the clear and spirited ring of the voice of 
 Henry Clay. " It was," he said, " the voice of a nation, making 
 itself heard by the mouth of a great man." The whole house, as 
 if stricken by the wand of an enchanter, had risen to their feet as 
 Clay entered, leading Lafayette by the hand. They sat down at 
 the conclusion of the welcoming speech, but arose again at the 
 first signs of a reply. They expected him to take his spectacles 
 and a written answer from his pocket; but after a moment's 
 pause he spoke, extemporaneously, and in English. To Clay's re- 
 mark, that he was the witness of his own future, he replied, that 
 when he there found, in the sons of his former and now departed 
 friends, the same spirit for the general weal, as well as tjti.e same 
 personal friendship for him, no future spread itself before him. 
 The Congress, as is well known, voted to the general, as a testi- 
 monial of the national gratitude, $200,000, and 200,000 acres of 
 land, which the general chose in the newly-received state of 
 Florida, which had just been purchased from Spain, it having been 
 allowed him, as a condition of the present, to choose from any 
 unoccupied public lands in the United States. After this present, 
 the general resolved to visit all the States, if only for a couple of 
 days, which, in the session of Congress, had voted for the present. 
 Therefore he left Washington, and passed through Virginia, North 
 and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, to Mobile, where he 
 found a deputation from * New Orleans, headed by the governor, 
 who had come to welcome him, and conduct him to their city. As 
 I learned from the governor, his first question about New Orleans 
 was whether I were there, and he seemed pleased at receiving an 
 affirmative answer. The legislature of the state had arranged his 
 reception with the common council of the city. The residence of 
 the common council, the Mayory, was entirely refitted, admirably 
 adorned, and newly and luxuriously furnished. A table, with 
 
320 VISITS NEW ORLEANS AND NATCHEZ. 
 
 thirty covers, was set every day during the general's stay, in 
 order that he might become acquainted with the principal inhabit- 
 ants and planters. I will not speak of other festivities — balls, the- 
 atres, &c. Finally, one of the best steamers was procured, and 
 kept ready for a visit to Natchez and the state of Mississippi, 
 with a deputation, consisting of the governor, a member of thf 
 legislature, a member of the common council, and a delegate from 
 all the most important classes in the country — planters, lawyers, 
 merchants, &c. — chosen by the general himself. When he looked 
 over the list, and came to the names of the merchants, he desig- 
 nated me as the person who, as an old acquaintance, would be 
 most agreeable to him. By his wish I visited him every morn- 
 ing after breakfast, on which occasions he questioned me freely 
 about men and things in Louisiana. One morning he acknowl- 
 edged to me that his purse was but meagrely furnished. " Cer- 
 tainly," he said, " Congress has granted me money enough, but I 
 have not as yet received one cent of the $200,000, because the 
 treasury was not at the moment prepared to pay it ; therefore, I 
 am in need of money ; can you give it me ?" My answer may 
 be divined. I placed my cash-box at his disposal ; but he only 
 wanted $1200, which I brought him the same day. I asked for 
 no receipt, but begged him merely, when he should return to the 
 North, and visit Boston, at his convenience to give the sum to 
 my friend there, Mr. John Richards. The general insisted on 
 giving a receipt, and put one into my hand the next morning, which 
 I have retained, although the debt has been paid. 
 
 The voyage to Natchez gave me better opportunities of seeing 
 the general, and of enjoying his conversation, than would other- 
 wise have been possible. The whole of the great cabin of the 
 steamboat was for the general's convenience. Above this, on the 
 deck, was erected a large convenient saloon, wherein the eating 
 was carried on, and where people passed the time as well as they 
 could. In it were sofas, play-tables, cards, and books. The gov- 
 ernor of Louisiana, by name Johnson — a most ordinary kind of 
 man, ill-instructed, and of most unpolished manners, in many re- 
 spects a true child of nature — sat on the general's right hand. 
 The seat at the left hand was reserved for me ; and at breakfast 
 
VOYAGE UP THE MISSISSIPPI. 321 
 
 the general was wont to say, " If you have anything to talk about, 
 let us go down to my room and talk." Such invitations w r ere the 
 more welcome because I could not accept them as often as I 
 wished, and I had avoided them, as far as the resting-points of the 
 trip were concerned. As the dwellers on the banks of the Mis- 
 sissippi had expected the arrival and voyage of the general, 
 wherever the steamer that carried the nation's guest was recog- 
 nized, by the numerous decorative flags, they hastened, so soon as 
 it was seen in the distance, to assemble in some house, and to 
 make the welkin ring with their shouts of welcome. Where the 
 houses were numerous, or in the immediate neighborhood of a 
 village — like Baton Rouge, for instance — the boat would stop, and 
 the general would receive the deputations that came on board to 
 greet him, or the single personages who desired to be presented 
 to him. The deputations usually came with their speaker at the 
 head. Of course, in most instances, the speaker was more occu- 
 pied in exhibiting his cleverness and oratorical talent, than with 
 the object of his mission, or a desire to give pleasure to the 
 hearer. And the good general had no remedy for this evil, but 
 was compelled to listen attentively to the longest, stupidest, 
 wordiest discourses possible. I never saw a mark of impatience 
 upon his countenance. So soon as the infliction was brought to 
 an end, he always had ready a few suitable and flattering words. 
 The ease with which he performed this task greatly astonished 
 me. I could not refrain one day from asking him how he man- 
 aged always to reply to the most silly and idealess speeches, 
 " My friend," he answered, " it is not hard. I listen with great 
 attention until the speaker drops something that pleases me, or 
 that gives opportunity for a repartee, and then I think about my 
 reply, and arrange it ; but of all the rest I do not hear a syllable 
 — it all blows over me." 
 
 But on other less important occasions his readiness and power 
 in answering was really remarkable. At Baton Rouge, two 
 young men were presented to him. The inevitable hand-shaking 
 was the usual prelude to a short dialogue ; but the young men stood 
 mute before the general and gazed at him silently. At length he 
 
 asked one of them, " Are you married f ' " Yes. sir," was the 
 
 14 * 
 
REMINISCENCES OF FRANCE. 
 
 answer. "Happy man," quoth the general. He then put the 
 same question to the other, " and you, sir, are you married V 9 
 " No, sir,"' was the answer ; " I am a bachelor." " Lucky dog !" 
 said the general. In these words which fell from the general, and 
 which I cannot render happily into German, both received, 
 married man and bachelor, a witty compliment on his social 
 position. 
 
 On my first visit to the general's room, I begged permission to 
 be allowed to address any questions that might come into my 
 head, to him who had a world-full of experience. The occur- 
 rences which took place in the first days of the French Revolu- 
 tion, the scenes at Versailles, the leading out of the unfortunate 
 queen, Marie Antoinette, upon the balcony of the palace, where 
 he had kissed her hand, as a proof of peace and good understand- 
 ing between them, before the thousands who were gathered in 
 the palace court and in the Avenue de Versailles, and many of 
 whom had come there with ill-intent ; the joy that followed his 
 assurance to the people that the royal family would go to Paris. 
 To hear all these circumstances described by his own lips, and 
 with the greatest modesty and simpleness, was a genuine treat to 
 me. Great as was his modesty, however, he could not conceal 
 the pleasure caused by these recollections of his earlier popularity 
 and influence. Popularity was the god that ruled him, and to 
 which on no occasion of his life had he ever refused his service. 
 I had already seen this during his stay in New Orleans, and on 
 our trip up the Mississippi, and some years later during the July 
 revolution in Paris, these convictions increased. To be the idol 
 of the people was the deepest desire of his heart, and the fulfill- 
 ment of this desire he could only attain to in a republic. That 
 he knew — but I would do him injustice were I to ascribe his 
 republicanism to this source alone. He was a republican by 
 conviction, and from the centre of his soul out. The lessons that 
 he had received at the side of Washington, and under the victorious 
 banners of the Union, he faithfully followed throughout his life, 
 and the idea that this form of government and none other could 
 make his country happy was guarded in his breast as a holy thing. 
 In this he found the only panacea for the cure of the many evils 
 
MY RETURN TO NEW ORLEANS. 323 
 
 under which France was suffering. On one of our morning con- 
 versations he spoke about the Bourbons, on whose political and 
 moral unimportance he looked with pity, and from whom he 
 wished that France were freed so soon as possible. The well- 
 known remark of Talleyrand, that they had forgotten nothing, 
 and learned nothing, he thought described them better than all 
 that other men had said about them. " France," said Lafayette, 
 " cannot be happy under the Bourbons, and we must send them 
 adrift. It would have been done ere now but for Lafitte." 
 " Indeed," I said ; " how so V " It is not too long ago," said the 
 general, "for you to remember that two regiments of guards, 
 ( ordered to Spain, under the Due d'Angouleme, stopped at 
 ' Toulouse, and began to show symptoms of revolt. The matter 
 was quieted however, and kept as still as possible. But all was 
 ready, as I know by my private correspondence with some of the 
 officers — all that was wanting to make a revolution succeed was 
 money. I went to Lafitte ; but he was full of doubts, and dilly- 
 dallied with the matter. Then I offered to do it without his help ; 
 said I, ' On the first interview that you and I have without wit- 
 nesses, just put a million of francs in bank notes on the mantel- 
 piece, which I will pocket, unseen by you. Then leave the rest 
 with me.' Lafitte still fought shy of it, deliberated, hesitated, and 
 at last declared that he would have nothing at all to do with it." 
 
 I could not conceal my surprise, and said, " Had I heard this 
 story from any lips but yours, general, I could not have believed 
 a word of it." Lafayette merely answered, " Cetait pourtant 
 ainsi" This may serve as a testimony how hotly the revolu- 
 tionary fire still burned in the old man, in spite of all his exterior 
 coolness and repose. 
 
 After our arrival at Natchez, where we took part in the general 
 festivities held for a couple of days in honor of Lafayette, we 
 took our leave of him, and returned to New Orleans. There I 
 found the speculation fever still raging. I had instructed my two 
 partners not to buy during my absence one single pound of 
 cotton, and had received their promise to that effect. I was 
 therefore, the more indignant that my good but feeble friend 
 Hollander, had allowed himself to be talked over by my youngest 
 
324 MY RETURN TO NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 partner, an Englishman, named Parker, into buying at seventeen 
 cents, 800 bales, the pick of the crop, which was all in the hands 
 of Reynolds, Byrne & Co. The vertigo of speculation still 
 endured, and had attacked no man more fiercely than the seller, 
 Byrne. He mourned that he had sold so much, and especially 
 bewailed their sale to us. News from Liverpool gave still a 
 greater rise in prices, — and in New Orleans, they mounted to 
 twenty-one and twenty-two cents. I met my hot-headed Byrne 
 in the street, who again began to lament over his 600 bales ; that 
 they were all of the best sort of which there was, and promised 
 to be very little. " You can have them back again for twenty- 
 two cents," said I. "Done," cried Byrne, hastily. The trade* 
 was regularly closed, and the sum of $16,000 gained by the 
 operation. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CONSEQUENCES OF THE CRISIS OF 1825-26. 
 
 Extensive purchase of cotton for the house of Crowder, Clough & Co., in Liv- 
 erpool — Failure of that house, and the establishments connected with it in 
 New York and Charleston — Influence of the failure on the position of my 
 house — Unavoidable suspension of payments — The creditors unanimously 
 appoint me Syndic of the Mass — Transferral of my power of attorney to 
 my junior partners — My voyage to England — Reception at Barings' — The 
 true position of affairs, in respect to the Crowder assets — First success in 
 the suit brought against the administrators of the Crowder assets — Ren- 
 contre in the Birmingham post-coach, on my way back to London — A letter 
 from Mr. Alexander Baring — Consequences of the rencontre in the post- 
 coach — Favorable issue of my heavy suit in the Court of Chancery — Lord 
 Eldon ; the last decision but one rendered by him before leaving the Miu 
 istry. 
 
 I fancied now that I might calmly wait for the next cotton 
 crop, and leave trade for awhile alone ; but as the reader will soon 
 see, Heaven willed it otherwise. I wished to send to Europe my 
 eldest partner, Mr. Parker, who did not know my correspondents, 
 in order to give him a chance of seeing matters on the other side ; 
 above all, that he might turn into money any stock of cotton oe- 
 longing to us there and still unsold. He arrived" happily, and in 
 the idle month of May, found the cotton market unfluctuating, and 
 the views of our friends unchanged. It was not easy to take the 
 step which the Denistouns had taken soon after his arrival. For 
 in the first place, the question was not simply about the stock be- 
 longing to us in Liverpool, but of the rest which we owned in 
 connection with the house of Cropper, and with Thompson, who 
 rendered a sale impossible, for they had the upper hand, and their 
 politics, that is, their views of the future of the cotton market, as 
 also of the judiciousness of the measures which were to aid the 
 
326 MORE ORDERS FOR COTTON. 
 
 accomplishment of those views, were directly opposed to a forced 
 sale of our share — so then nothing happened. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the state of affairs in New Orleans had taken 
 another aspect. A certain Mr. Lazarus came in a schooner, dis- 
 patched from Charleston to New Orleans ; he had made purchases 
 there for the Croppers, Thompsons, and others, and he brought 
 me the newest and most important news from Liverpool, as well 
 as a letter from Mr. Clough, partner of the Liverpool house of 
 Crowder, Clough & Co. This house, which I knew very well, was 
 not of the first class, but was at the head of the second class, and 
 possessed very good credit. Mr. Lazarus proved to me that this 
 firm had deserved well in the course of the current year, by the 
 compared lists of shipments made from Charleston for their own 
 account, and of the sales which had taken place, and which had 
 more or less to do with the results of our shipment by the brig 
 Ocean. The object of Mr. Clough, and, with the house of Wey- 
 man, of Charleston, and in New York, connected with him, was to 
 lay hands firmly and early upon a large amount of cotton, in ex- 
 pectation of an endurance of the high prices, in order to turn it 
 into money again, and win a large profit by the operation, so as 
 to ship the purchase to Liverpool, if matters there should remain 
 as they then were. This information was accompanied by a let- 
 ter of credit upon us for $50,000, from Leroy, Bayard & Co., of 
 New York, whose credit stood very high with us, and another for 
 the same sum from the Weymans. The first of these letters of 
 credit was positive ; the other was not to be regarded as unquali- 
 fied, but was to be governed by the particular circumstances of 
 the cotton market, and also by the condition that all purchases 
 should remain in our hands, and be under our direction ; and that, 
 until all the liabilities of the Liverpool house should be settled, a 
 positive value could not be given to it. I turned the affair over, 
 and found that a purchase of 6,000 bales, at the current price of 
 21 cents, would need a capital of half a million dollars ; and that 
 a commission of 5 per cent., according to the New Orleans tariff, 
 would bring in $25,000. This, with the two credits, each of 
 $50,000, gave $125,000: so that a quarter of the whole commis- 
 sions on the cotton to be purchased, and also 25 per cent, of the 
 
HEAVY PURCHASE OF COTTON. S27 
 
 total purchases to remain in our possession, might be lost, before 
 a single dollar of our own capital should be risked. A fluctuation 
 in prices must take place before the enormous rise could take any 
 definite character, and before the real state of things could be de- 
 termined ; but a sudden fall of prices was not to be expected, and, 
 least of all, could the possibility of a fall of 25 per cent, enter the 
 mind of any man. After these considerations had been well 
 weighed, the importance of the capital to be laid out must be next 
 thought of. Half the commission would be at once paid by the 
 wholesale purchase on our part ; and for the other half, and ac- 
 cording to circumstances, their acceptances would be given for 
 two and three months from date. These acceptances were punc- 
 tually redeemed as they fell due, and the bank was never re- 
 quested to renew them, as was usual in all other houses established 
 in New Orleans, which in this way procure credit from the bank, 
 from the beginning to the end of the year, and thus make their 
 own credit permanent. Never had one of our acceptances been 
 refused at the bank ; the directors knew too well the source from 
 which they came, and that our motive was to gain time for our 
 not always negotiable paper, and not the concealment of a weak- 
 ness, nor a want of capital. I said above, that a quarter of the 
 commissions would be paid by the above-named purchase, and that 
 as for the other three-quarters, time must be given for the negoti- 
 ation of our paper. The commission was quite too important for 
 me to trust to hazard. I therefore felt the pulse of the directors 
 of the three principal banks, and came to an understanding with 
 them, that they should furnish the money, and discount our ac- 
 ceptances in the cotton market at the usual rate, and besides 
 that they might be taken up when they fell due, by the payers, 
 with new acceptances at two months. All this was arranged in 
 one day. And now, if the purchases were to be made, no time 
 was to be lost. Lazarus, who was introduced to me by the Crop- 
 pers as an exceedingly honest, worthy man, had assured me that 
 the next report from Charleston would infallibly bring me, from 
 Clough and Weyman, further remittances or credits to lessen our 
 outlay. So, perfectly satisfied, I went to work, and in the course of 
 one morning purchased 6,000 bales of cotton. Lazarus swam in a 
 
323 THE CRASH. 
 
 sea of delight until the first mail arrived from Charleston, without 
 bringing us our promised remittances or letters. The second, the 
 third, the fourth came in, all without letters. Then I began to 
 feel a misgiving that I had fallen into a trap, and that Lazarus had 
 calculated beforehand how he might best lead me, and get into my 
 confidence. He stood before me utterly helpless, and seemed 
 very much at a loss what to do with his unpromising speculation. 
 A well-considered regular plan did not appear to have been set- 
 tled upon between him and his confederates. At last I deter- 
 mined to send him to New York. " There is nothing left for you," 
 I said, " but to reach New York as soon as possible, and thence 
 to help us with remittances." 
 
 I did not now delay to send the whole quantity of cotton pur- 
 chased to Liverpool, to Baring, Brothers & Co., who had attended 
 to the insurance with our drafts on the Liverpool house of Clough, 
 Crowder & Co., with the instructions, that so soon as these drafts 
 were accepted and paid, or if the assurance, which the acceptation 
 offered, were satisfactory to them, to deliver the bills of lading. 
 The greater part of the amount of the drafts were taken again 
 from the Barings, and negotiated at the Branch Bank of the United 
 States. 
 
 Soon after, my good friend Hill, head of the Denistoun firm in 
 New Orleans, received the news of the sale of the six thousand 
 bales of which I have spoken. He showed me the original letter 
 of his chief, old Mr. Denistoun, of Glasgow, which brought me to 
 the conclusion that this time the Liverpool spirit of speculation 
 was at an end, and that the article itself was on a slope, down 
 which it must roll, like an avalanche, until it met with an obsta- 
 cle that could arrest it. After the sale of Messrs. Denistoun, the 
 price fell in July to 11, towards the end of the month to 9£ pence. 
 In the beginning of August, the house of Crowder, Clough & Co., 
 of Liverpool, declared itself insolvent ; the Weymans, in New 
 York and Charleston, followed, and towards the end of Septem- 
 ber the news of these sad events reached me, and caused me to 
 foresee how, by the blow of an inexorable fate, the irremediable 
 fall of my own house — for fourteen years so successfully conducted, 
 that it was regarded as the first, not only in New Orleans but in 
 
MY INSOLVENCY. 329 
 
 all the Southern States. It was a heartrending destruction of all 
 that had made my life happy and gratified my ambition. I will 
 not allow myself to say more than these few words about it. For 
 those who feel in head and heart like me these lines will be enough ; 
 for the superficial reader, they are already too much. 
 
 To comprehend the results of this state of affairs, and to 
 arrange our payments, was my next resolve ; yet I held it my 
 duty to notify those who had negotiated my acceptances, in con- 
 sequence of my understanding with the bank, and those whose 
 names were upon such as were negotiated with the Bank of the 
 United States. These various houses would soon be informed by 
 the bank that they must at once replace our now worthless signa- 
 ture by another ; and they were so entirely unprepared, that they 
 could find no other means than taking up the paper with ready 
 money. They were thus placed in the mournful necessity to sus- 
 pend their own payments, although perfectly solvent. They took 
 counsel with each other, however, and determined very wisely to 
 induce me to renew, from time to time, our acceptances, under the 
 agreement I had made with the bank, until they should be in a con- 
 dition to take up their notes and pay their liabilities. It was my 
 duty to my hard-pressed friends and neighbors to give my assent 
 to this plan, although these renewals would cost something like 
 $4000 for interest every sixty days; so I made the condition, that 
 this money, which the mass could not use, but which for the pre- 
 sent must injure their effects, must come from themselves and not 
 from the mass. So, then, I remained from the end of August, for 
 four and a half months, in the sad position of a man playing before 
 the world the part of the man who has but hope to enable him to 
 strive with the difficulties which besiege him, while in heart I had 
 the conviction that all must be in vain. At last, in the middle of 
 January, of the following year, 1826, my friends announced to me 
 that they had completed their preparations, and had paid in their 
 own paper to the bank. I then delayed no longer our declaration 
 of insolvency, and handed our balance-sheet into court. This was 
 done January 18, 1826. At the head of our foreign creditors 
 were Cropper, Benson & Co., Liverpool, and Hottinguer & Co., 
 in Paris. I had already informed them in October of the proba- 
 
330 DEPARTURE FOR HAVRE. 
 
 bly inevitable failure of our house. Both firms wrote comforting 
 and trusting letters to me, saying that they desired me to man- 
 age their affairs, and sending me their full powers as creditors. 
 All the creditors in New Orleans also, with the exception of one 
 merciful lawyer, to whom a small sum was owed, named me syn- 
 dic of the mass, who claimed $1,200,000, with the right to asso- 
 ciate both my partners with me, should the circumstances of the 
 liquidation require it. This was naturally soon the case. The 
 buyers of cotton, the endorsers of our paper, and finally Le Roy, 
 Bayard & Co., had sent full powers to their English correspond- 
 ents to seize the cotton sent to the Barings ; and the misunder- 
 standings which arose out of this had thrown the matter into the 
 court of chancery — of which it was proverbially said, that if a 
 man had a cause there, he must expect it to remain there at least 
 half his life. The Messrs. Barings, who, by Mr. Holland's advice, 
 kept themselves perfectly passive in the matter, would take no 
 step without a positive order of the court, and to obtain this a 
 perfect mass of points had first to be clearly settled, among par- 
 ties who did not appear able to come to an understanding. It 
 was a perfect labyrinth of difficulties, of which the clue, according 
 to all appearance, would never be found. The issue of the affair 
 depended entirely upon the result of the suit in chancery. It was 
 not only a matter of the greatest importance, but even of positive 
 necessity, to get a decision, which, according to English law, 
 should give to every man his rights. The local liquidation of the 
 debts was quite a simple affair. I came to the resolution of going 
 to Europe, in order to bring my wits to bear upon the solution 
 cf the Gordian knot, into which the various embarrassments had 
 tied themselves. My two partners were to take my place in 
 New Orleans, and after having explained matters to them, I has- 
 tened to Europe. Above all, I instructed my partners not to 
 sell, even for the most impatient creditors, our houses, stores, 
 cotton-presses, etc., hastily, since they composed a very important 
 portion of our effects. They were all situated in the finest part 
 of the suburbs, and offered the apparent certainty, that, so soon as 
 the approaching end of this crisis, which occupied all attention 
 and made money very scarce, should arrive, their value, now a 
 
* ARRIVAL IN LONDON. 33 j 
 
 mere nominal one, would be greatly increased. The absolute 
 outlay for the grounds and buildings was over $155,000, and 
 figured for this amount on the balance-sheet. Their prospective 
 value could not be calculated at the moment, but was indubitably 
 greater than the sum named. The first and most important mat- 
 ter that I had at heart was, in all my directions to my partners, 
 the interest of my creditors; and here I indulged a hope that Mr. 
 Alexander Baring might be induced to come in among the buyers, 
 and purchase this costly establishment at a fair price, in order to 
 give me the management of it ; and so secure to himself an im- 
 portant property, and to me a sufficiency for the rest of my life. 
 
 So soon as I had reached London, by the way of Havre, I 
 called on the Barings, and was there received by Mr. Holland, an 
 honest right-spirited man, but somewhat brusque and unpolished. 
 " Mr. Nolte," said he ; " your business is in chancery, and there 
 it will stick. I'll give you ten years time to get it out of it." 
 Dull comfort, that. They sent me then to their solicitor, Mr. 
 Edward Lawford, who was also solicitor to the Havre East India 
 Company, and one of the first in London, and he dismissed me to 
 Mr. Low, the first chancery solicitor, for the Court of Chancery, — 
 then under the Presidency of Lord Eldon, — furnishing a peculiar 
 study of London legal science and customs. From neither of 
 these gentlemen could I get any light. Under these circumstances 
 I thought it advisable to go to Liverpool, there to learn, if possible, 
 from the lips of the solicitor of the Crowder creditors, for what 
 reasons, and on what grounds he had come to the absurd resolu- 
 tion to refuse the whole claim of my house, which was for no less 
 a sum than £123,000, and to assert that it was a mere private 
 claim upon Mr. Clough, whom we could bring to a reckoning, but 
 that the firm had nothing to do with it. On my arrival in Liver- 
 pool, I made my intentions known to my friends there. They 
 laughed, and told me that the solicitor would neither receive me 
 nor hold any conversation with me. " Ah ! why not VI I cried. 
 " Because," was the answer ; " legal etiquette forbids it. It is the 
 custom here for an advocate never to see the opposer of his client, 
 and to have nothing to do with any one but the latter." Now 
 this was precisely against me. I wanted to hear with my ow r n 
 
332 A CHANCERY LAWYER. 
 
 ears and see with my own eyes, and not take the second-hand 
 impressions of my solicitor. He, I said to my friends, would 
 advance his views, while I wished to have my own, and to act for 
 myself. At last I asked the name of the Crowder solicitor, and 
 what manner of man he was. I learned that his name was Lace, 
 that he was a very learned, well-informed man, and besides that, 
 lawyer of my best friends in Liverpool, Thomas and Wm. Earle 
 & Co., who had known me from childhood ; of Cropper, Benson & 
 Co., of Rathbone, Hodgson & Co., and others. Then, I begged 
 these gentlemen, w r ho knew me and my character so well, to pay 
 a formal visit to Mr. Lace, and to give him the assurance of my 
 name, that I would not misuse any information that he might 
 deign to give me, and that I had no idea of sneaking into his 
 confidence, in order so to undermine the position he had taken. 
 Mr. Benson in particular, and Mr. Leathorne from the Earle house, 
 were good enough to visit Mr. Lace for me, and procured for me 
 permission to call on him. The interview took place. Lace was, 
 as all my friends had said, a clever man ; but his nature was 
 certainly irritable and peevish. So, at least, I found him. After 
 half an hour's debate, he declared to me that his views oh the 
 whole matter were settled, and not to be changed. I then pro- 
 posed to him, to shorten the long course of the chancery process, 
 to give the affair into the hands of three merchants, who should 
 settle it by arbitration ; and to show how thoroughly convinced I 
 was of the excellence of our claim, I proposed to him to name all 
 three. Only, I said, they must all be merchants of the first rank, 
 and of the greatest respectability, — and from London, because in 
 Liverpool everybody had more or less interest in the matter. 
 "Mr. Nolte," answered Mr. Lace, "if it come to an arbitration 
 by merchants, there is not one in England who would not accept 
 your views, and give the decision in your favor." " And in spite 
 of this conviction," said I ; " how can you justify your determina- 
 tion to let this drag on in chancery, and thus endeavor to take 
 from me what every honest merchant in England would, according 
 to your own conviction, give me." " If you desire to know my 
 grounds," answered Mr. Lace ; " I will tell you. I am the repre- 
 sentative and counsellor of all the English creditors of the house. 
 
FROM LIVERPOOL TO LONDON. 333 
 
 Your claim alone, amounts to as much as those of all the others put 
 together, and they will get a double dividend if I succeed in send- 
 ing you back upon Clough, and getting your claim upon the house 
 denied. That claim I never can admit unless compelled to do so 
 by a decree from the Court of Chancery." " Mr. Lace," I said, 
 " if these are your grounds you cannot be helped by delay, still 
 less can delay be your object. Give me your word then, to bring 
 the matter as soon as possible to an end, you and your London 
 solicitor." He did as I requested, and ga\e me a line to his 
 solicitors in London, Messrs. Roscoe, instructing them to aid me 
 in all things that I desired, for the rapid progress of the affair, 
 and which would not interfere with their own good rights. With 
 this I went back to London. 
 
 I must not here omit a circumstance which was the source of 
 some unpleasantness to me. 
 
 I took a place at 5 o'clock in the morning, in the Birmingham 
 coach, the best conveyance then between Liverpool and London. 
 It was a troubled, misty, unpleasant morning. In the corner of 
 the coach opposite me, wrapped in his cloak, sat a gloomy looking 
 person, besides myself, the only passenger. More than two 
 hours elapsed before the spirit moved us to any conversation. 
 At length my companion roused himself and brought forward the 
 subject which always opens a conversation in England, — the 
 weather, — " We have a very nasty disagreeable day before us, I 
 fear," he remarked. Whereupon I asked him if he were going 
 all the way to London. " No, no," he answered, " I will get out 
 at a pottery near Wolverhampton, where I have to buy some 
 hundred baskets of crockery for my ship, the Peter Ellis." " In 
 order to send it to New Orleans, I suppose," said I. " Cer- 
 tainly," he said ; " but I beg your pardon, how did you know 
 that I" " I did not know it," I replied ; " I only guessed it. I 
 have seen the ship several times in New Orleans. She was con- 
 signed to my friends, Denistoun, Hill & Co." " Oh, ho," said 
 he, " so you have been in New Orleans." " Very often," said I. 
 " How is the credit of the firm," was his next question. " Admira- 
 ble," said I ; " Mr. Hill is a man much esteemed and beloved.' 
 "So I have always thought," said he. "Those gentleman," I 
 
334 STAGE-COACH ENCOUNTER. 
 
 continued, " very often have ships to their address : for instance, 
 the Liverpool brig 'The Brothers,' the ship 'Mary Wood,' and 
 others. The Liverpool ship ' Ottowa' was in other hands (namely, 
 in ours), as well as many others." " You appear to know our 
 vessels well," said he, " and also most of the English houses in 
 New Orleans." " Oh, yes," I said ; " I know nearly all the 
 houses of any position there pretty well. " I am glad to hear it," 
 said my companion, and then our dialogue continued. " Do you 
 know Munro, Milne & Co V " Very well. They are the 
 'established correspondents of James Finlay & Co., of Glasgow." 
 " Do you know P. L. & Co. 1 How do they stand I* " So, so, 
 no general credit." " Do you know G. F. & Co. ?" " G. is a 
 clever business man and F. is a windbag, who, however, has 
 thrown into the firm a large capital, inherited from his aunt." 
 " The devil," quoth my interlocutor ; u you appear to know them 
 all. You must have lived some years in New Orleans." " Yes, 
 several." " Do you know Vincent Nolte V " As well as he 
 knows himself." " What sort of a man is he V ' " Well," said I ; 
 " he has many friends, and perhaps, quite as many foes : take 
 him all in all, however, I believe he is a good sort of a fellow, and 
 with whom folks like to deal." " Yes," he said, " our captains 
 like him very much. He was prompt and expeditious, and when 
 he had freighted a vessel, the goods came down as fast as they 
 could be received on board." " I believe," said I, " that this 
 praise is not undeserved. It was always his custom to do quickly, 
 whatever he undertook." Thereupon our conversation ended ; 
 and in half an hour the coach stopped before a large pottery 
 belonging to Baker, Bourne & Baker. As he got out my com- 
 panion gave me his card, " John McNeil, Liverpool," saying, " I 
 have found so much pleasure in your conversation that you must 
 promise to pay me a visit when you return to Liverpool. I will 
 present you to my two daughters, and we will all receive you 
 with pleasure." I of course was obliged to give him. my card in 
 exchange. He glanced at it twice, and in a doubtful sort of way 
 read it over, " Vincent Noble !" " No, sir," I said ; " Vincent 
 Nolte, the very gentleman you were inquiring about." " Ah ! so, 
 so," he said. " Well sir, glad to have had a sight of you. Do 
 
LETTER FROM MR. BARING. 335 
 
 not fail to call when you come to Liverpool again. Farewell, 
 sir !" And so the coach rolled on. 
 
 So soon as I arrived in London I went to my chancery solicitor, 
 Mr. Low, showed him the letter that Mr. Lace had given me to 
 Mr. Roscoe,,and said to him, "Now, Mr. Low, if there is any 
 delay, I will know where to look for the cause of it : let us gain 
 time." 
 
 I had not failed to inform Mr. Baring, then at his country-seat, 
 " the Grange," of my arrival, and somewhat of my projects ; espe- 
 cially I spoke of his purchasing our property at New Orleans. 
 After a delay of two weeks the mail brought me the following 
 answer : — 
 
 "The Grange, Sept. 11, 1826. 
 
 " My Dear Sir : — I had heard of your arrival, and at the 
 same time of your having gone to Liverpool, and partly indolence, 
 but more uncertainty where my letter would find you, prevented 
 my writing to you. I shall be in town this day week for a few 
 days, when I may perhaps catch you. My house here is just now 
 full of friends, who take up most of my time, or I would propose 
 to you to come and talk over your affairs here. ] shall be happy to 
 see you get on your legs fairly again, my dear Sir, and with cour- 
 age and care I have no doubt of it ; and although I am every day 
 more and more retiring from active life, I shall be ready to give 
 what support circumstances will permit. The Havre scheme 
 seems by no means bad, if there should be any opening to attach 
 yourself to any existing house in good business, but, generally 
 speaking, you will find European places desperately shaken by 
 the late storms that wrecked so cruelly all your hopes. 
 
 " I am not disposed, nor would it be convenient to me, to ad- 
 vance on or purchase the New Orleans property — it strikes me, 
 that by such a move you rather fix yourself again in the same 
 spot, a measure that may be doubtful. Your creditors have acted 
 most wisely in giving you their full power. No other plan could 
 possibly save thern from the endless intricacies of law and equity. 
 You must take care that the hostile creditor, who refused his 
 assent, does not lay his hands on you. When I see you I will 
 talk over the business c f your liquidation with you. The settle 
 
336 MY ARREST IN LONDON. 
 
 ment with Crowder's assignees is most judicious. Of the various 
 scrapes I have seen you in, that which at last brought you down 
 was certainly the one in which you had the least of blame to lay 
 to your charge, and I see with pleasure that resolution does not 
 fail you. It should fail no man whose mind is independent and 
 well regulated. I believe I once before told you, that in my 
 opinion you stand adversity better than prosperity, and this is 
 the case with most people. Keep up your courage, my dear Sir, 
 and I dare say all will do well again. Nobody will see this real- 
 ized with more pleasure than Yours, sincerely, 
 
 A. BARING." 
 
 A few days after my return from Liverpool, one Saturday, 
 about exchange hours, I was honored w T ith an unexpected visit. 
 It was a sheriff officer, with a writ against me, at the suit of Baker, 
 Bourne & Baker, for the sum of £1,000. Now I remembered, 
 that among the exchange paper used by our house was a draft for 
 £1,000, payable to this firm, and accepted by the Denistouns, and 
 that this was one of the first notes which the Barings had allowed 
 to be protested. The reader will remember that my compagnon 
 du voyage, Mr. McNiel, had left the coach to call upon this firm. 
 Our odd rencontre would naturally be the first topic of conversa- 
 tion, and the Messrs. Baker & Bourne had taken advantage of Mr. 
 McNiel's information to lay hands upon me. My arrest took place 
 on Saturday, at exchange hours, and my London friends were 
 early in shutting their counting-rooms on Saturday, that they 
 might go into the country. This was the case with the Barings, 
 Sillem, Rucker, and others, to whom I could have gone. So I 
 had to let myself be carried off to one of the so-called " sponging 
 houses" in Chancery lane. The London Sundays are never too 
 agreeable ; and to look at one through the grated window of a 
 house in Chancery lane was anything but delightful. On Sunday 
 I wrote to Baring, and to my friend Mr. Sillem, and sent the let- 
 ters early on Monday morning. Surety was required that I 
 would not leave the country until the question of the debt should 
 be settled. Mr. Sillem gave the required bonds, and drew me 
 out of my prison about two o'clock ; a vile hole it was, w T here 
 
APPEAR IN CHANCERY. 337 
 
 even a bed or a dinner could only be procured at a most exorbi 
 tant price. The Messrs. Baring undertook to settle with Baker, 
 Bourne & Baker, and bought the draft, on behalf of ray creditors, 
 for £333. 
 
 My process went on its regular course. It was my only 
 occupation — and no wonder — to see that nothing delayed. The 
 first decision, that of the Vice-Chancellor, went against us. 
 The judgment was superfluously pronounced, and without proper 
 motives. I at once appealed to the upper court, and to the 
 Lord Chancellor, a$.d chose, as barrister, the celebrated Basil 
 Montagu, and, by his advice, the not less renowned Mr. 
 Heald,«as special pleader. After many postponements and plead- 
 ings, which I never missed, the matter was finally decided. One 
 half the delay was caused by the special pleader employed by my 
 antagonists. This, one of the most learned advocates in Eng- 
 land, was then called Sir Edward Sugden, and was, by the last 
 Derby ministry, made Lord High-Chancellor of England, under 
 the title of Lord St. Leonards. When the day, previously ap- 
 pointed by Lord Eldon, arrived to hear the argument, on some 
 point or other of the matter debated between plaintiff and defend- 
 ant, it was Sir Edward's usual remark, that he had not yet had 
 time to examine the thing carefully, and must therefore beg for a 
 further postponement. The second cause of the delay was a cir 
 cumstance that it took me some time to understand. During my 
 regular, uninterrupted visits to the Court of Chancery, where he 
 saw me take a seat among the advocates, instead of behind Basil 
 Montagu, Lord Eldon became so familiarized with my face that 
 he knew very well who I was, and what brought me there. Sev- 
 eral times, when I urged Mr. Montagu to get a day positively 
 appointed on which my case should be heard, he would say, point- 
 ing at me, " On Saturday I'll hear the case of that American gen- 
 tleman there." Then turning towards the clerk, he would say, 
 " Let it be the first." That meant, that among the many peti- 
 tions which were placed before him on that day, the papers rela- 
 ting to me should be on top. Saturday is the day oh which all 
 proceedings connected with bankruptcy are brought up and dis- 
 cussed. The list of the order in which they are to come up is 
 
 15 
 
338 DELAYS IN CHANCERY. 
 
 printed, and stuck up on the door of the court-room. Every 
 morning, as I made my way there, I found at the head of this list 
 " Nolte vs. the Assignees of Crowder, Clough & Co." As an 
 entire day was frequently occupied in the discussion of a single 
 point, I fancied my cause secure. The list remained unaltered the 
 whole week until Friday. Then, and on the following day, Satur- 
 day, I remarked that the words above quoted were no longer on 
 the upper part, but on the fourth line ; so that my cause was not 
 to be heard until all the preceding ones had been dealt with. This 
 was incomprehensible to me. I asked a variety of subaltern func- 
 tionaries the meaning of it, but could get no other answer than 
 "We do not know, sir," or " By direction of his lordship." This 
 was all the information that I could get. Several times had Lord 
 Eldon noted me and my petition, and yet there it remained fixed, 
 at its old place, during four days of the week at the head, on Fri- 
 day and Saturday third or fourth. Finally, I inquired about the 
 individual who prepared the list, and I learned that that excellent 
 man had an agreeable custom of altering the order of cases upon 
 the roll, when urged to do so, by a bribe from one of the solicit- 
 ors in chancery. The case for which a solicitor required delay 
 very seldom came to a hearing. Delay, endless delay, was the 
 watchword in the Court of Chancery. The solicitors, whose deal- 
 ings with their clients were usually in writing, in my time, charged 
 3s. 4d. for every letter that they received and had to read ; then 
 Gs. 8d. for every consultation that grew out of the correspondence, 
 and finally, 13s. 6d. for every written instruction that they gave 
 to a barrister. Thus every conference in the course of a suit cost 
 .£1 2s. The longer they could carry on this amusement the better 
 ">f course for their pockets. Herein lay one of the manifold causes 
 of the year-long delays of suits in the Court of Chancery. The 
 discovery was important, and there was no way to end the mat- 
 ter but by bringing it to the notice of the Lord Chancellor. That 
 however could not be done by writing. The Lord Chancellor, 
 president of the Cabinet, and speaker of the House of Lords, has 
 entirely too much upon his shoulders to remember his directions 
 to an unknown clerk. I must, then, speak to him, but how, was 
 the hard point. One portion of the great hall of the Court of 
 
"THE GOLDEN KEY." 339 
 
 Chancery was separated from the rest by a single balustrade. At 
 the right hand of the Lord Chancellor's seat was a small door, 
 leading into his own room, in which he robed and unrobed, and 
 the custody of which was confided to a door-keeper. I went to 
 him, and told him that I must at once speak to the Chancellor, on 
 business of great importance. The answer was, " You can't see 
 him. His lordship is robing himself." I, however, pressed my 
 desire very hard, and supported it by slipping a sovereign into the 
 hand of the official. Then he said, " I'll let you speak to his sec- 
 retary," and so opened the door. I reiterated my request to the 
 secretary, and showed him, with the greatest politeness, that I 
 could only enlighten his lordship upon the object of my visit ; 
 that I had information of very great importance to give him, 
 which would convince him at once of the pressing nature of the 
 whole affair. " Well sir," he answered, " on your own responsi- 
 bility." He then opened the door of the Chancellor's private cham- 
 ber. Lord Eldon, all ready rigged and robed, was sitting by a 
 small writing-table. I stepped forward, and said, " My lord." 
 He look up, gazed at me earnestly, but as though he knew me, 
 and asked " What do you want, sir ?" I related as rapidly as 
 possible the object of my visit. " Shameful ! shameful !" he said. 
 " I'll see to it." Whereupon I made my bow, and left the room ; 
 saying only, " I thank you, my lord." The evil condition of the 
 matter which had amazed me so much was then ameliorated, and 
 an important gain of time made possible for the future. Lord 
 Eldon, as I have before remarked, seldom found my opponent, 
 Sir Edward Sugden, ready to give an answer to any part of the 
 pleading. " I am not just now prepared to answer that question, 
 my lord ; but I shall be so at the next meeting," were the words 
 which the lawyer usually returned for answer. I had remarked 
 that, from time to time, Lord Eldon took his pencil, and made 
 notes upon the margin of the petition. "These," Mr. Montagu, 
 my lawyer, said, " are notes for questions which my lord pro- 
 poses to bring forward at the next hearing of the case." On my 
 further question, as to whether it was possible to get a sight of 
 these notes, Mr. Montague replied that it was impossible; but he 
 added, laughingly, that they would be of the utmost value to any 
 
340 THE DECISION. 
 
 pleader who could get possession of them. Now I gave myself 
 up to the procuring of an abstract of these notes for our pleader, 
 Mr. Heald. I succeeded, by using the golden key; which, 
 as Wieland says, in his Oberon, will open every lock. Scarcely 
 could he trust his eyes, when he saw this proof of my cleverness 
 in his hands. By these he gained important knowledge, so as 
 always to be ready to answer any of these questions, for which 
 Sir E. Swgden required time and postponement. I remember one 
 time in particular where a new " hearing of the case" was ap- 
 pointed by the Lord Chancellor for the next Saturday, and my 
 antagonist begged for a postponement. Lord Eldon, however, 
 answered with visible decision, " No, no ! Sir Edward, that will 
 not do. I will hear the case on Saturday." 
 
 At last the day of decision so important to me and to my cre- 
 ditors drew nigh. During the pleadings, Mr. Montagu had said 
 to me at every question of the Chancellor's, " His lordship goes 
 all the way with us," and prophecied a positive success. I had 
 employed a stenographer especially for the purpose, and was 
 therefore in condition to send a copy of the very words of the 
 Lord Chancellor to New Orleans. It went entirely in our favor, 
 upset the decision of the Vice-Chancellor, and established as law, 
 what had never before been so settled in England, that the whole 
 firm must answer for the act of a single partner doing foreign 
 business on account of the house, and that such act could not be 
 construed to bind only the partner who acted, as had been 
 attempted in this case. This was the more important, that, in 
 the contrary case, the dividend on our whole advance would 
 hardly have surpassed three per cent. I cannot quit the subject 
 of this decision without recording my astonishment at the quiet, 
 self-possessed manner and clearness of explanation with which 
 it was given. Among the hundreds and hundreds of cases await- 
 ing decision ; among the thousand upon thousand of affairs which 
 Lord Eldon had to occupy his attention, yet the whole mass of 
 circumstances, complications, and queries were so systematically 
 arranged in his brain, and their connection was so logical, that he 
 was able to give his decision in so clear and distinct a manner, 
 that you would have thought he was reading it, word for word 
 
CONSULTATION WITH MR. BARING. 34] 
 
 And yet this case had been surrounded with questions enough to 
 make it drag along for two years. 
 
 The next step to be taken was to submit myself to an exami 
 nation by the commissioners of the creditors in Liverpool, and to 
 determine for what amount I, as creditor, should be inscribed 
 So clear a decision had not been expected. It was the last that 
 Lord Eldon gave before quitting the ministry — for he held his 
 place from a tory ministry, and was now obliged to give it up to 
 the new Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst. Mr. Lace spoke of a " re- 
 hearing of the case," which would have kept me, probably, a 
 whole year longer in England. At last I understood what was 
 the obstacle to my admission as creditor. All protested paper 
 returned from abroad is, according to American law, subject to a 
 loss of 20 per cent. ; and as we were in the position to exact this 
 from the Crowder creditors, and as that would have increased 
 our claim £25,000, it is no wonder that Mr. Lace did all he 
 could to oppose us. By the arrangement of our endorsers in 
 New Orleans with the bank, our creditors were plainly informed, 
 that although bound, by the letter of the law, yet they' would not 
 be obliged to pay. There remained to me, then, the choice be- 
 tween a new, wearisome process, the result of which could not be 
 foretold, or an immediate paying into bank the first dividend, 
 which of course all our creditors must desire. Finally, I deter- 
 mined upon the latter course. 
 
 When I returned to London, and informed the Barings of my 
 determination to go at once to New Orleans, Mr. Holland told 
 me that Mr. A. Baring would be in town the next week, and 
 wished to ask me some questions about the suit I had just won 
 — he himself had a suit which had been in chancery for fourteen 
 years, and neither knew nor could guess to what end it would 
 come ; while mine, for a sum eight times as large, had been ter- 
 minated in ten months. I waited for the arrival of my old, es- 
 teemed friend, and told him all that the reader knows already. 
 Then I advised him to get one of his intelligent clerks, and to give 
 him, as chief employment, attendance upon the case, with instruc- 
 tions to be vigilant until the decision. When, eighteen months 
 afterwards, I saw Mr. Baring, I had the consolation of hearing that 
 
342 DISASTROUS SALE OF MY PROPERTY. 
 
 he had followed my advice, and had gotten a decision four months 
 before. 
 
 Then I started for New Orleans, by New York, and reached 
 my former home in December, 1827. Then, for the first time, I 
 learned what had been done with our property in New Orleans. 
 Soon after my departure in May, 1826, my partner Hollander 
 became very ill, and had left the place for the sugar plantation of 
 his wife's parents. The liquidation remained, therefore, in the 
 hands of Mr. Parker, who, at first a clerk with William Nott & 
 Co., had been by their recommendation taken by us as a partner. 
 At present he had found means to ingratiate himself again with 
 this firm — no difficult matter, as Mr. Nott was always ill, and 
 Parker very plausible. After getting a promise that he would 
 be taken into this firm, he brought about a coalition of the two 
 largest local creditors of my house, W. and J. Montgomery, and 
 Mr. Millaudon, with the firm of Nott & Co., in consequence of 
 which he, as syndic, resolved, without any further notice in the 
 papers than one which appeared that morning, to sell the entire 
 property of my firm in a single lot, for ready money, at the put- 
 ting up price of $50,000, and bidding not to be waited for. This 
 was done in September, a period of the year when half the white 
 population was absent. Of course the purchasers were the three 
 abovenamed firms. When I visited New Orleans, in 1838, this 
 property had been sold shortly before for the sum of $800,000, 
 and since that it has greatly increased in value. This careless 
 measure, so injurious to the great mass of our creditors, could not 
 be helped. The whole of the next year I was employed in the 
 further liquidation o * our debts. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 John Quiucy Adams and Andrew Jackson, the two candidates — Jackson's lack 
 of qualifications for the office — Edward Livingston the first projector and 
 leader of Jackson's election — Intrigues in his favor — Unworthy means to 
 ensure his success — Jackson revisits New Orleans, in 182*7, as a candidate — ■ 
 Electioneering manoeuvres — The article in The American, a New York paper 
 — I am set upon, in my dwelling-house, by a couple of his followers — Final 
 departure from New Orleans — Havre — Paris — Fruitless attempts to found 
 a concern at Havre — Acquaintance with an English banking-house, Daly & 
 Co., in Paris — It leads to the establishment of a concern at Marseilles, as 
 branch of the house ; Pierre Maillet & Co., at Martinique, together with 
 Maillet, Cage & Co., at Havre, and Daly & Co., at Paris, as sleeping part- 
 ners — Before the opening of my new establishment, I visit England and 
 Hamburgh, the latter place only for five days — Return by way of England 
 and Paris — Arrival in the French capital, on the morning of July 27th, 
 1830 — The July Revolution — Departure for Marseilles — The failure of 
 Daly & Co. follows close at my heels, and obliges me to return in haste to 
 Paris — Journey to Havre, in behalf of Daly's creditors — The holding back 
 of the Havre house, and the consequent impossibility of ferreting out the true 
 state of affairs — The sudden crippling of the machinery and uprooting of 
 the foundation of the new house in Marseilles renders its entire dissolution 
 necessary — A fresh journey in search of subsistence stares me in the face. 
 
 The time for choosing a new president was at hand. The elec- 
 tion was to take place in a year, and General Jackson was the 
 favorite candidate. Probably throughout the whole Union there 
 was no man who had more thoroughly disregarded the Constitu- 
 tion than this man; and all who had lived in his immediate neigh- 
 borhood, who had known and observed him, could not repress the 
 positive conviction, that of all the candidates he was the least fitted 
 for president ; since his greatest gifts were only physical courage, 
 
344 SWARTWOUT AND PRICE. 
 
 intense fieryness, and indomitable will. Respect for law, or the 
 ideas of others, or command over his inborn passionateness of 
 character, had he never felt. He was the first candidate for the 
 presidency who was brought forward and elected by bribery, 
 under the advice of the most corrupt man in the United States, a 
 man already mentioned in these memoirs, Edward Livingston. 
 It was an easy matter for the creatures who obeyed his nod to 
 find out the most popular democrats of the various States, who 
 were not always sought for among the most respectable inhabit- 
 ants ; to win them, and to keep them by promises of certain fat 
 and honorable offices; to open their zeal, and, in a word, to 
 make them satellites, prepared to strain every nerve, to silence 
 every suggestion of conscience that stood in their way, and in the 
 way of electing their candidate. A couple of examples will be 
 enough. A certain militia colonel by the name of Swartwout — ■ 
 the same who, as the reader will remember, was attached by Gen. 
 Wilkinson for high treason — who, in all his life, had never 
 attempted anything great, nor been of the slightest use to his 
 country ; but who was always ready to talk politics Tn every 
 rum-hole and pot-house, until he grew to be quite an orator, or at 
 least to be taken for one ; this man lorded it in New Jersey, to 
 which state he belonged, as a beloved and popular man, and had 
 it in his power to muster a very heavy collection of presidential 
 votes. He was promised, if he would procure a majority for 
 Jackson in his State, the most remunerative office in the United 
 States ; to wit, the collectorship of the port of New York. New 
 Jersey gave her vote for Jackson, and Swartwout got his price. 
 One day, a couple of years after this, he disappeared. He had 
 gone to France, and now lives in Paris ; but in going he left a 
 slight deficit in his treasury of $600,000. Part of this money 
 was laid out in Texas lands ; the rest he took with him in cash. 
 
 I will mention two other examples. The marshal of the United 
 States for the District of New York, William Price, who had 
 been able to procure for Jackson a majority in New York, had 
 received his office and other things as rew r ards. At the defalca- 
 tion of Swartwout he appeared very active in his preparations t:. 
 go in pursuit of that gentleman. Accordingly, in about fourteen 
 
LETTER TO THE NEW YORK AMERICAN. 345 
 
 days he also disappeared, leaving a deficit of $200,000, and he is 
 now with his friend in Paris. 
 
 The third example of this bribery system is the former printer 
 and publisher of the New Orleans Gazette, the notorious drunkard 
 Peter K. Wagner, from Baltimore, appointed by Jackson " naval 
 officer" at New Orleans, where immense sums, the tonnage tax 
 of foreign vessels, passed into his hands. This one did not run 
 away, but was obliged to give up his place, in consequence of a 
 deficit in his cash-box of $70,000. 
 
 On his candi Jate voyage Jackson had visited several of the 
 Western States j his own, in which he dwelt as cotton planter, 
 included ; and he determined to go to the cradle of his renown, 
 New Orleans, but as simple citizen, sending there also his cotton 
 crop, about eighty bales. The same steamboat that brought the 
 cotton bore also the American hero. A Frenchman would have 
 called that steamboat " the bark that carried Caesar and his for- 
 tunes." He was received with joy ; a mob of the more youthful 
 niggers, carefully drilled by Sheriff Morgan, stood at the corners 
 of the streets, and cried " Hurrah for Jackson ;" and the general, 
 in simple citizen's guise, surrounded by the electoral committee, 
 stepped on shore. On every occasion, he endeavored to give 
 proof of amiability of character, of esteem for the laws, etc. ; 
 hiding carefully from all military display. 
 
 To me, who during the defence of the city, had had the general 
 daily and immediately under my eye, and whom no shade of his 
 character could or did escape, all this comedy seemed so mean, 
 and at the same time so absurd, that I, who had little to do, could 
 not withstand the desire to send to my friend Charles King, editor 
 of the New York American, a droll description of the visit, which 
 showed a perfect acquaintance with the city. Mr. King published 
 it. It delighted ordinary readers, but Jackson's partisans in New 
 Orleans, particularly the members of his election committee, were 
 rendered furious. The publisher of the American was written to, 
 and the name of the author demanded — he refused to give it.' 
 For the first few weeks no one thought of me, who had so recently 
 returned from Europe ; but after a while it was concluded that 
 nobody but I could have written it ; and Mr. Slide.ll, secretary of 
 
 15* 
 
346 LETTER TO EDWARD LIVINGSTON. 
 
 the committee, was sent to demand a formal explanation. The 
 reader can guess that this had no result, as I only expressed won- 
 der at the presumption, and expressed it mockingly ; which I 
 ventured to do, because I lived on the friendliest footing with Mr. 
 Slidell, and at one time, before he sought to still his conscience 
 for this political role, had received him as a most intimate friend at 
 my house. So -won, however, as I observed, that he was allow- 
 ing himself to be used as the tool of a political faction, all inti- 
 macy, and finally all intercourse, ceased. I had seen too many 
 examples of the extremities to which American party spirit will 
 go, not to keep myself clear of any mingling in politics — not to 
 choose my companions with prudence. Also, I felt no interest in 
 the success of this or that party ; yet, although I felt no particu- 
 lar esteem for the other candidate, John Quincy Adams, I would 
 very unwillingly have seen him defeated by the filthy intrigues 
 of a most unprincipled man — I mean, of General Jackson. My 
 good friend Counsellor Custis, now Chief Justice of the supreme 
 court in New Orleans, was at the head of Jackson's opponents, 
 and was one of the most important members of the Adams elec- 
 tion committee. We had many a confidential talk about men 
 and things, and mourned over the part which a man of such unde- 
 niably extraordinary talents as Edward Livingston, was forced to 
 play, in order to keep himself on the surface merely of society. 
 The whole combination to make Jackson president was his work. 
 From this only could he expect the restoration of his crushed 
 financial position — from this alone could he draw a possibility of 
 regaining the esteem of his countrymen. The consequences 
 proved that he had reckoned rightly, so far at least as he was per- 
 sonally concerned ; but a pure patriot Jackson was not, and could 
 not be, and the results showed that a far better man might have 
 been chosen. The parallel between Jackson and others, who 
 were better fitted for the lofty position at which he was aiming, 
 had taken such possession of me, by reason of my opportunities 
 for observation, and the great attention I had given to it, that I 
 determined, as much for my own pleasure as from any other mo- 
 tive, to write a letter to him, wherein the whole position of affairs 
 at the time was set forth, and Jackson's merits and demerits, as 
 
PERSONAL ATTACK ON THE AUTHOR. 34 1 
 
 well as his own, were contrasted. My friend Custis and others 
 urged me to print this letter, and I did not refuse. It was cer- 
 tainly the best I had ever written in English. But few copies 
 were circulated in New Orleans, but many were sent to the elec- 
 tion committees in the north. From the printers the name of the 
 author was discovered, and I need not say that what I had written 
 purely for my own amusement procured for me many enemies, 
 and the deadly hate of most of Jackson's followers. In New 
 Orleans I was a fallen, but not dishonored man. People won- 
 dered that I did not follow the American custom of comforting 
 myself in the bar-rooms, and seeking for consolation in brandy, 
 but that I still attended to business, and still held my head high. 
 Most of them could not understand why the loss of my lofty mer- 
 cantile position did not induce me to descend the social ladder 
 also, and that my self-respect was not in the slightest degree les- 
 sened. I was blameless. This steeled me during that last mourn- 
 ful year in New Orleans, while I was bringing about the liquidation 
 there. The year was one of the most painful in my life. Of my 
 two most intimate friends, one, William Hill, of the Denistoun 
 firm, had died of yellow fever ; the other, William B. Milligan, 
 had lost by a frightful accident his newly married wife, and 
 remained at the North. 
 
 Early the next year, 1829, my long-desired return to Europe 
 was rendered possible ; I could embark for Havre — but not until 
 one more trial had been passed through. The partisans of Jack- 
 son could not let me go without first revenging themselves upon 
 me. One of the most ferocious, F. B. Ogden, to whom Jackson 
 had promised, for his election services, the Liverpool consulate, 
 had determined to attack me in my own house. He had brought 
 a witness with him, in order to lay his misdeed before the public. 
 The twain entered my room lightly, while I was seated at my 
 dinner with my back to the door ; but so soon as I caught a 
 glimpse of them, I made one spring behind my writing-desk, on 
 which lay two loaded pistols, which I seized. It was comical to 
 beholl how the two good-for-nothings retired, cursing in disappoint- 
 ment The whole city was informed of the affair by a placard 
 
348 DEPARTURE FOR HAVRE. 
 
 that same evening, and the larger portion of the citizens, to theii 
 honor be it said, were exceedingly incensed. 
 
 Day and hour were appointed for my departure. All my 
 former clerks and several friends had assembled to accompany me 
 on board ; for the news had gone through the city, that the Jack- 
 sonians would make one more attack before my embarkation. I 
 rescinded my resolution to go on board either early in the morn- 
 ing or late at night ; and chose to go through the high street, by 
 the clear sunshine of 3 o'clock p. m. The Levee was thronged 
 with a cheering crowd as I went on board and the vessel moved 
 out to sea. 
 
 Thus, then, two-and-twenty years after my first visit, and six- 
 teen since the establishment of my firm, I bade farewell to the 
 city wherein I had hoped to gain the reward of so many struggles, 
 peace and independence for my old age. But, tossed by a hurri- 
 cane — for the crisis which I have described was more than an 
 ordinary storm — I had nothing now left but my full physical and 
 mental strength ; health and elasticity of spirits that promised me 
 happier days in the future. 
 
 Mr. Alexander Baring had cared for my immediate support in 
 Paris, whither I went from Havre, by a more than sufficient re- 
 mittance. I saw myself in a new sphere, where I could hope from 
 my ability and services for a connection with some already estab- 
 lished house. But the only two chances for this in Havre 
 remained unattainable by me. Both of these were houses of 
 some years' standing, which had risen gradually to a certain emi- 
 nence, and had attained influential positions. They both seemed 
 inclined to accept my proposals, made to them through a business 
 friend ; but, after some days' consideration, they declined them. 
 That they were frightened by the knowledge of the readiness with 
 which I undertook and carried out the most extensive schemes, 
 and that I might compromise the safety of their young establish- 
 ments, I could not conceal from myself. Neither could I consider 
 them quite in the wrong. My business tendencies were for large 
 speculations, and could be none other, if the rare and extraordi- 
 nary sphere in which I had commenced be regarded. I had been 
 early intrusted with the management of very large sums, and had 
 
HAVRE. 349 
 
 been accustomed to form, carry forward, and conclude great com- 
 binations. To descend from this to the elementary rules of our 
 mercantile fathers, to accumulate and keep together small gains, 
 and to form this habit, was almost impossible for me. Not that 
 the progress was too slow, but that small gains closed the door 
 upon all great combinations ; not that I wanted " to make a for- 
 tune as one gains a battle,"* but because the pygmy advance of 
 a daily small trade furnished no employment for my spirit of 
 business. Great affairs exercised a magic power over me, and 
 therein lay their charms for me, even while their object, the 
 material gain, was greatly less interesting to me. Such an organ- 
 ization is not good for a merchant, but, on the contrary, is likely 
 to produce sad results, as my own experience has taught me. 
 Mercantile necessity is usually opposed to most intellectual designs. 
 It yields no part, but requires a man's whole moral strength, 
 and monopolizes it for the use of its great object, which is gain, 
 gain of all kinds, gain at every hour. Gain is the soul of the 
 mercantile strife, the goal of its desires. In fixed, unremitting 
 attention to his means consists the first and greatest virtue of the 
 merchant — all others take rank after this. That such an absorp- 
 tion of all the energies usually leaves the head empty and dry, 
 and prevents any play of the imagination, is easily conceivable , 
 and for this reason I could not but despise the tricks of the trade, 
 and be unwilling to confine myself to those close calculations 
 which a merchant dares not neglect, if he remain true to his prin- 
 ciple, and wishes to ensure and keep fast the results. 
 
 1 could not easily remove the obstacles which kept me out of 
 the above-mentioned Havre establishments. I foresaw this, and 
 so stood up upon my watch-towers, and looked towards the east. 
 Accident was against me. The Irish banking-house of Daly & 
 Co., in Paris, wherein nearly all the Irish Catholics in that city 
 had credit, and in many instances their whole capital invested, 
 possessed a generally good reputation. They had a good deal of 
 interest in French colonial sugars, through Maillet, Cage & Co., a 
 house established in Havre, but originally of Martinique. As the 
 
 * Napoleon's words at Antwerp, when, with Maria Louise, he received the 
 deputation o? merchants there. 
 
350 A NEW PARTNERSHIP. 
 
 most of this sugar was subject to great variability in Havre, and 
 to a very slight one in Marseilles, the house of Daly & Co. 
 resolved to establish a partner in Marseilles, to look after Marti- 
 nique cargoes. It came to my ears that they were looking for a 
 good man of business. Daly, who was very much beloved by 
 the Irish and by the principal legitimist nobles residing in Paris, 
 was treasurer of the Union Club, to which most of the notable 
 aristocrats, as well as the financial great folks, Rothschild, Hottin- 
 guer, Mallet, and others, belonged. Mr. Francis Baring was a 
 visitor at this club, and did me the honor to introduce me to Mr. 
 Daly. I expected to see a man of business — he was nothing of the 
 kind — but I withheld my scruples because of his popularity. I 
 pleased him. Mr. Cage was called from Havre to Paris ; and after 
 many discussions, it was determined to found a branch at Havre, 
 under the name of Nolte, Kenney & Co., with a nominal capital of 
 500,000 francs, of which Daly was to furnish for himself and Mr. 
 Kenney 150,000, besides 100,000 for another friend; Maillet, 
 Cage & Co., 125,000, and the remaining 125,000 by me, who had 
 a prospect of getting it chiefly by the aid of Messrs. Barings. Mr. 
 Kenney was a protege of Mr. Daly's, employed in the counting- 
 room, and not yet of age. For this reason he could not be 
 intrusted with the firm. Messrs. Baring came voluntarily to my 
 help ; and I got 20,000 francs also from Mr. Jerome Sillem. 
 Thus then the house was established. Circulars were printed, and 
 I ran over to England, to see Mr. Alexander Baring and my 
 other friends in London and Liverpool. I was heartily received 
 everywhere. Then I spent five days in Hamburg. Thence, 
 through Holland, I returned to England, with a view to go by 
 Southampton and Havre back to Paris. The steamer was to 
 sail from Southampton at 8 P. M. on the 24th, and in the fore- 
 noon I started in one of the best post-coaches for Southampton. 
 We had made about twenty miles, when a new axletree took fire 
 from the rapid friction. This produced a delay of two hours and 
 a half, and we did not arrive until 10 P. M. The steamer had 
 been gone for two hours, and there would be none other until 
 Monday, 26th, at 8 o'clock. It was a beautiful clear night ; the 
 wind light and fair. In company with another passenger, I deter- 
 
ARRIVAL IN PARIS. 351 
 
 mined to cross in an open boat, whose master promised, for £10, 
 to land us in Havre by Sunday morning. The matter appeared 
 so certain, that, without thinking even of provision, we started at 
 11 o'clock. We had only made about four leagues when it fell 
 calm, and we lay still in the middle of the channel until 6 P. M. 
 on Sunday. Our impatience can be better understood when it is 
 remembered that we had nothing to eat. A few small potatoes 
 and a bit of ship-biscuit, which the crew shared with us, was all 
 we could get. At last we saw floating near us the still bleeding 
 head of a codfish, which a shark may just have bitten off, and we 
 were fortunate enough to get hold of it. Never to me or to my 
 companion had fish tasted so deliciously. The light wind that 
 arose at sunset blew fair all night, and carried us into Havre on 
 the morning of the 26th, where the notorious ordinances of that 
 date had not yet been learned. I got a post-chaise and started 
 instantly for Paris. At Rouen there were symptoms of disquie 
 tude. The regiment of guards there had been got into marching 
 order, but the reason and the object were unknown. After a late 
 dinner, I started, and rode all night. I was very anxious, 
 although without knowing why. As, early in the morning, we 
 drove from the post station at Courbevoie into the main street, 
 we saw a whole regiment drawn up before the barracks of the 
 royal body-guard. The postmaster at Courbevoie told me first 
 of the ordinances, and intimated that a revolution was expected 
 in Paris. On the great avenue of the Champs Elysee near the 
 Arch of Triumph, a crowd surrounded my vehicle, tore out the 
 white cockade from the postilion's head, and dismissed him with 
 
 " Vas ie /aire f ." To the question of some officers at the 
 
 barriere, as to where I was going, I answered, " To my house, 
 Rue Chantereine, by Rue Royale and the Boulevards." I was told 
 that I could not go that way, for that the Tuileries was sur- 
 rounded, and the Rue Royale and Boulevards filled with the royal 
 troops. I turned, therefore, to the left, and by Rue de la Pepin- 
 iere and St. Lazare reached home. Before every house in the 
 Rue de la Pepiniere, particularly before the great hotels and fac- 
 tories, were crowds of citizens and laborers, who seemed to be 
 waiting for the result of all this. The guard barracks were closed. 
 
352 THE REVOLUTION OF JULY. 
 
 and a strong guard set over the doors. Scarce had I reached 
 home, when a pair of friends, who were waiting my return, came 
 in, and informed me of Polignac's ordinances, of the first insurrec- 
 tion of the people, of the barricades, and of the probable strife 
 about to break out in the streets of Paris. In about two hours it 
 did break out. I soon learned that early in the morning General 
 Lafayette had come to the city, from his country-seat, Lagrange. 
 I hastened to the Boulevards des Italiens ; circulation was already 
 partially stopped ; barricades everywhere begun, but an earnest 
 opposition not yet visible. Detachments of the royal guards rode 
 about. After a two hours' walk I went home. In the evening 
 and through the night an occasional distant platoon fire reached 
 my ears. On the morning of July 29, I learned that the people 
 had attacked the Hotel de Ville, and after seven repulses, and 
 fighting all night, had succeeded in taking it. Again I sought the 
 Boulevards. Before I reached the Rue d' Artois, now called 
 Lafitte, I met a crowd of officers streaming into the residence of 
 Lafitte. The whole court was filled, and matters began to be 
 comprehensible. The Bourbons had had the folly to garrison 
 Paris with the regiments composed of natives of the city, enfans 
 de Paris ; two of the colonels were Lafitte's countrymen, from 
 Bayonne. He had written to them, and as soon as they found 
 that their regiments would on no account fire upon their brothers, 
 they had gone to Lafitte's, and swore allegiance to the provisional 
 government. When I reached the end of the Rue d'Artois, near 
 the Cafe Hardy, now the Maison Doree, I saw some detachments 
 of the Swiss guards marching up the Rue Grammont, and an 
 occasional shot was fired on the Boulevards. The trees on both 
 sides of the Boulevards were felled. The first important barri- 
 cade that I saw was in the Rue Grange Bateluze, from whence it 
 extended across the Boulevards to the Rue Richelieu. I went on, 
 and with some trouble reached the Porte St. Martin, but went no 
 further : indeed, progress was impossible, because of the number- 
 less barricades and the masses of people. Single royal artillery- 
 men riding along the Boulevards were followed with shots from 
 the windows and cellars. I saw several officers fall dead from 
 theiv horses. During my walk, which had no other object tha> 
 
FENNIMORE COOPER. 353 
 
 the satisfaction of my curiosity, a barricade was thrown up at the 
 corner of the Rue d'Artois, where Lafitte lived, as if by magic, 
 and I had to clamber over it to get home. 
 
 I do not feel called upon to say any more about the "three da\s 
 of July," except that the behavior of the people, principally ouv 
 riers, in their fighting with the royal guards, amazed me. It is 
 well known that when the Tuileries was stormed, a casket con- 
 taining 2000 pieces of gold was found by a day-laborer in the 
 rooms of the Duchesse de Berry, and was given up to the govern- 
 ment. But what must have been seen to be believed, was the 
 quiet and order with which hundreds and hundreds of ouvriers, in 
 single processions, betook themselves from the field of conflict 
 back to their work, as if nothing out of the way had occurred. 
 Repose was soon restored to all Paris, not slowly but all of a 
 sudden ; and but for the felled trees upon the Boulevards, and 
 the barricades still standing in every quarter, particularly in the 
 quartiers St. Denis and St. Martin, there would scarcely a trace 
 have been recognized of a revolution which had dethroned a 
 king and set another ruler in his place. 
 
 So soon as I learned of General Lafayette's arrival in Paris, I 
 proposed to Commodore Nicholson and other American friends, 
 to form a body-guard for the old general, and to accompany him 
 everywhere. The idea pleased him. An assemblage of Ameri- 
 can citizens convened at the Restaurant Lointier ; and here the 
 well-known Fenimore Cooper opposed my idea, and suggested in 
 the place of it a dinner. This trivial notion had no object but to 
 place Mr. Cooper at the head of the affair, and to give him an 
 opportunity of making a speech, which would be printed in Galig- 
 nani's Messenger, and show to the American people his participa- 
 tion in the revolution of July. However, his proposal was 
 accepted, and the general was obliged to content himself with this 
 honor. So began and ended my acquaintance with Mr. Cooper, 
 who, in his whole demeanor, in his speech, and his demand for 
 public esteem, possessed none of the amiable modesty of Wash- 
 ington Irving, and never could conceal his pretentious claims. 
 
 One more reminiscence of those days. It is of the Prince Tal- 
 leyrand, and is not, I btlieve, generally known. After the altera- 
 
354 ANOTHER FAILURE. 
 
 tion of the Charte, he sought the Chamber of Deputies, to swear 
 to the new constitution. As he got out of his carriage he caught 
 the eye of a friend, who asked him confidentially the object of his 
 visit. Talleyrand replied, to swear to the new constitution. 
 " But, Monseigneur," said the friend, " you have done the same 
 thing to fourteen others." " My friend," said Talleyrand, " let 
 us hope that this will be the last." The prince knew the value 
 of an oath in his country, and the history of our days, since the 
 revolution of February, 1848, has proved the perfect correctness 
 of his judgment. 
 
 The news that two vessels laden with sugar were on their way 
 from Martinique to Marseilles, made a journey thither necessary. 
 When I went to the Messrs. Daly for their quota of the capital 
 for the new house in Marseilles, I could only get a quarter of it, 
 but was told that I might draw on them from that city for the 
 rest. This did not please me, but the "possibility of their being 
 embarrassed did not enter my head. They enjoyed universal 
 esteem, and, as far as could be judged, a well-deserved credit. 
 Thereupon I went to Marseilles, made my domestic arrangements, 
 and received both cargoes of sugar. The market was empty, and 
 a sale, with good profit, consequently easy. The profit was 
 scarcely in my hands when drafts for their share came from 
 Messrs. Daly & Co., with the request to send them back accepted. 
 I did so, although I began to distrust, and proposed to ask at the 
 banking house of Luke Callaghan, in Paris, and only to send my 
 letter if I found the credit of the Daly's unshaken. A few days 
 after I heard that they had suspended payment, and that Maillet, 
 Cage & Co. had followed their example. The object of the Mar- 
 seilles firm and the prospect of a regular and productive business 
 vanished. An immediate prospect of support for a costly trade, 
 with this lessened capital, and the difficulties resulting from the 
 July revolution, was of course out of the question. It was my 
 duty to look out for my future, and, to do so, I must return to 
 Paris. 
 
 On my ai rival I was told a bit of city news, that the house of 
 J. Lafitte & Co. was in the greatest embarrassment. They, as 
 well as Daly & Co., had been shaken by the same causes. Both 
 
LAFITTE & CO. 355 
 
 had committed the same fault, with the difference, that Lafitte 
 had a large capital of his own, while Daly's book showed how 
 very poor and unreliable was the basis of his business. The an- 
 cient and close connection between Lafitte and Coutts & Co., of 
 London, who were intrusted with the wealth of the highest and 
 richest nobles in England, had brought into their hands an im- 
 mense capital, belonging to English travellers in France and Italy. 
 Many of these travellers had settled in those countries, leaving 
 their money in Lafitte's hands. It was the common calculation, 
 that 50,000 Englishmen were living in France ; and that if each 
 were to spend but ten francs a day, 15,000,000 francs a month, 
 and 180,000,000 a year of English gold would be spent in France. 
 It is evident, that if one-third of these people, or even fewer, were 
 to leave their funds in Lafitte's hands, it would make up a capital 
 far beyond the need of his banking business, and so his own capi 
 tal might be untouched. But, in order to make it lucrative, La- 
 fitte had loaned it on mortgages of every sort, had invested it in 
 factories, had bought real estate, forests, etc., so that it was no 
 longer of use in his business, but the foreign capital served for his 
 operations. The July revolution alarmed most of the English in 
 France ; they departed, and drew their money from the banker. 
 This emigration became stronger every day, and emptied the 
 portfolios and the chests of the house. For the first time, the 
 credit of this mightiest French banking-house was shaken, and 
 their embarrassment was notorious. Then the new king, Louis 
 Philippe, came to the help of his friend Lafitte, who had greatly 
 contributed to his elevation, and bought of him the part of the 
 forest of St. Germain which he owned, for the sum of 9,000,000 
 francs. Even this help, however, was not needed, and the storm 
 blew over. 
 
 What Lafitte had felt so heavily Daly also in his measure suf- 
 fered. The original capital of this firm was scarcely worth 
 naming, but the money of the Irish Catholics, and the capital left 
 in Daly's hands, by the just fallen London house of Wright & Co., 
 was important; Daly himself, a former paymaster in the army, was 
 a nullity. His only business-man, the bookkeeper, was a Creole, 
 from Martinique. By him he was connected with Maillet, Cage 
 
356 MARSEILLES BUSINESS CLOSED UP. 
 
 & Co., moie closely than anybody knew. But it was decided, in 
 the end, by a lawsuit, that Maillet, Cage & Co. were recognized 
 as partners in Daly's house, and that their creditors might come 
 upon the effects of Daly, and so get more than they expected, 
 when they expected only to be paid from the effects of the Mar 
 tinique firm. » 
 
 Precisely on my return to Paris, there took place a meeting ol 
 Daly's creditors, to which I was invited. Most of them were 
 utterly ignorant of business — they were gentlemen. It was of 
 the utmost importance to understand the relationship between 
 Daly and Maillet, Cage & Co. Daly himself had vanished, and 
 his remaining partner, Plowden, not in condition, or not inclined 
 to throw any light upon the subject. On motion of Mr. Luke Cal- 
 laghan, who possessed the confidence of all the Irish creditors, 
 I was invited to go- to Havre, and examine into the whole affair. 
 Here I soon discovered, what I had already surmised, that as 
 Daly had used the capital of his friends in his transactions with 
 Maillet, Cage & Co., so had these latter used the money that they 
 procured so easily for their house in Martinique ; that they had 
 given enormous acceptances ; and that, as guaranty for all this, 
 they had only the prospective sugar crop, upon which they had 
 made great advances. M. Cage did not think it necessary to in- 
 form me of their partnership with Daly. Deceived in like mea- 
 sure by Daly and the Havre house, and in no way bound by their 
 relation with each other, I resolved to take no further steps in the 
 matter. The basis of my establishment in Marseilles was shaken. 
 The promised credit with Daly's house was rendered impractica- 
 ble by his failure, and the originally contemplated capital had 
 never been made up. All these circumstances compelled me 
 quietly to close the just opened establishment in Marseil]es, to 
 return to Paris, and to look about me for something else to do. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE SUPPLYING OF ARMS. 
 
 Visit to General Lafayette, who had been appointed comniander-in-chief of all 
 the National Guard of the realm — The arming of that force — A couple of 
 lines from the General procures me admission to General Gerard, the Min- 
 ister of War — First contract for 50,000 old French muskets from the Prus- 
 sian fortresses — Appointment of Marshal Soult as minister of. war — The 
 rival authority of Lafayette, as head of the National Guard, is in the way 
 of M. Casimir Perier, the new president of Louis Philippe's Council — The 
 general commandancy of the National Guard is abolished by a vote of the 
 Chambers — Lafayette drops the honorary title, and altogether retires — The 
 extension of my contract for arms with the war ministry — Daly's bequest — 
 I make the acquaintance of two blacklegs and cheats, G. and O. — 5000 stand 
 of the arms purchased at Hamburgh arrive in Havre, and are rejected at 
 the arsenal, as unfit for use — The same fate befals 5000 more at Strasbourg 
 — I succeed, however, in extricating myself from the bad bargain, not only 
 without loss, but even with advantage — Delivery of sabres for the army — 
 Colonel Lefrancois, director of the arsenal at Havre — Contrast between 
 him and another officer of rank — Remarks upon the contractor business in 
 general. 
 
 The provision of arms for the National Guard, at the desire of 
 Louis Philippe's minister of war, General Gerard, gave me the 
 first opportunity here of exhibiting my cleverness, Math profit to 
 myself. I knew of the friendship between the generals Lafayette 
 and Gerard. Lafayette, who had been named commandant gene- 
 ral of all the National Guard in the department of the Seine, soon 
 received the command of the whole National Guard throughout 
 France. He had his head-quarters in the former palace of Count 
 Perigaux, in the Rue de la Chausse d'Antin. Here he received 
 numberless deputations from every portion of the kingdom. 
 From morning till evening the house was besieged by National 
 Guards, and on appointed reception days it was impossible to see 
 
358 GENERAL LAFAYETTE. 
 
 the general without obtaining a written ticket of admission. I did 
 not know this when I presented myself in the crowded rooms. 
 There I saw the aides-de-camp excessively busy in going hither 
 and thither, introducing people, among whom were several ladies, 
 to the general. I went to the first who came near me, and learned 
 that a ticket was necessary. There was no time to lose ; so 1 
 gave the aide-de-camp my card, with a request that he would 
 show it to the general, and tell him that 1 was waiting for him in 
 the reception chamber. In a moment he returned, with a poftfce 
 request from the general that I would wait for a few moments ; 
 there were some ladies with him at the moment, of whom he 
 would rid himself as soon as possible, and then I should be at once 
 introduced. In a moment the aide-de-camp came to tell me that 
 the general was ready, and to open for me the door of his private 
 room. The moment he saw me he rose, came towards me with 
 open arms, embraced me very kindly, and instructed the adjutant, 
 who took me for an Englishman, to let no one in until he should 
 ring. 
 
 Alone with the general, I wished him joy of the altered state of 
 affairs in his country, of the apparently general recognition of 
 those principles to which he was devoted, of the post which he 
 now held as guardian of the public peace, and of the new step 
 taken by his nation towards freedom. He took it all as I intended 
 it, and thanked me by a hearty pressure of the hand. Yet it did 
 not escape me that he was 'ar from being satisfied, and my idea 
 that the course of affairs did not please, became certainty, as he 
 said, " We have not yet gone so far as the Americans, but the day 
 will perhaps come." What he wanted was to imitate Washing- 
 ton in France. As commandant-general of all the National 
 Guards he was next in dignity to the king, but in the public 
 opinion he was higher ; for the Bourbons had never been loved, 
 and the Duke of Orleans was placed upon the throne, not because 
 he was a Bourbon, but in spite of it. Lafayette's friend, Lafitte, 
 when premier, found this improper, and his successor, M. Cassi- 
 mir Perier, still more so. It is well known how the powerful 
 will and inflexible character of this gentleman governed even 
 Louis Philippe himself. On the 20th February Perier sue- 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE MINISTER OF WAR. 359 
 
 ceeded his friend Lafitte, and one month afterwards he got passed 
 through the Chamber of Deputies an act to destroy the office of 
 Commandant-General of the National Guards, as being useless, 
 since the restoration of public tranquillity. The honorary title 
 was offered to Lafayette, but he refused this gilding of a bitter 
 pill. So soon as he heard of it on December 24, he resigned all 
 his commands, even that of the department of the Seine, and stated 
 as reason for refusing the title, that simply honorary titles were 
 unrepublican. The whole affair wounded him deeply. He saw, 
 however painful it might be, that once withdrawn from the 
 eyes of the people and the National Guard, he must take leave 
 of that popularity so dear to him, and descend to a lower position 
 in the world. This I particularly saw in his features, at the great 
 ball given for the benefit of the poor, in the opera house, on the 
 8th of January, 1831. Although the whole royal family was pre- 
 sent, he came in, clad as a simple citizen, leaning upon the arm of 
 his friend Odillon Barrot, noticing nothing, and not even glancing 
 at the balcony, where the king sate, surrounded by his family and 
 ministers. His face had lost its natural, happy expression. 
 
 As our first interview was drawing to a close, an adjutant 
 entered, and informed him that General Pernetti and the artillery 
 officers of the National Guard were assembled in the ante-room, 
 and desired to wait on him. I rose to leave, but the general took 
 my arm, with the words "You must go with me," and then asked 
 what he could do for me. I asked him for an introduction to the 
 Minister of War, General Gerard. He said he would send it to 
 me ; but on my remark, that one stroke of his pen would suffice, 
 and that I feared to take up his invaluable time, he observed, " it 
 is true, my friend, two words will suffice, and I will give them to 
 you immediately." He then sate down, and wrote an exceed- 
 ingly kind letter, which contained the remark, that if Gerard had 
 any business to employ me in, he would find me not only capable 
 but an honest man, whom he might trust. This over, we passed 
 into the room where the officers were waiting, drawn up in a semi- 
 circle, and some ninety in number. After a short speech, Per- 
 netti proposed to 'present each officer in turn, but Lafayette 
 declared that he would make the round, and that General Per 
 
360 GOVERNMENT CONTRACT. 
 
 netti could follow him, and mention to what corps each officer 
 belonged. He accordingly did so, shaking hands with each officer 
 in the American way. When this was over, Lafayette asked me, 
 " What do you say to that, my friend V I said, that I thought it 
 no small labor to shake hands with ninety men ; and that, in his 
 place, I should have deputed one or more of my adjutants to 
 help me, or contented myself simply with making an address. 
 " No, no," said the general, " this matter is too serious. A touch 
 of the hand is often more effectual than a discourse," He thus 
 made use of an American custom, which he had learned forty 
 years before, an'd proved that a simple shake of the hand was worth 
 all the flourishes of eloquence. This is very visible among the 
 negro slaves, who catch hold of each other's hands, hold on for a 
 quarter of an hour, give a rapid shake occasionally, and burst out 
 into great peals of laughter, without uttering a syllable. This is 
 certainly heartiness in the fullest sense of the word. 
 
 My desire for an introduction to General Gerard had its origin 
 in the report of an intention to make a provision of arms for the 
 whole National Guard. I learned by the papers, and by private 
 advices, that the Prussian government was about to sell at public 
 auction a quantity of old or unneeded muskets, which had been 
 thrown away by the French, in the retreat of 1813, and left upon 
 the field ; or which had been abandoned in the various depots, and 
 which were now in Magdeburg and some of the Silesian fortresses. 
 I wrote to the Hamburgh house of Sillem, Brothers & Co., and 
 received assurances of the contemplated sale, and of their readi- 
 ness to purchase on my account. I thereupon contracted with 
 General Gerard for 50,000 old muskets, in good condition, in the 
 French form, and for the price of 28 francs a piece. In this con- 
 tract the government was bound for one year ; I, not at all. A 
 couple of specimens accompanied this contract, of which I sent 
 one to Messrs. Sillem, who at once busied themselves in the pur- 
 chase of a certain quantity of muskets, at the price of 12 marks 8 
 schillings to 13 marks. I issued other contracts of trie same kind 
 and on the same terms, to certain places upon the Rhine. The 
 arms purchased in Hamburgh were shipped to Havre; those from 
 the Rhine were sent to Strasbourg; and both we^g deposited 
 
A BRACE OF ROGUES «;G1 
 
 in the royal Arsenals. The Strasbourg arrival was the first. 
 Thither I sent a man, who had been recommended to me as clever 
 
 and honorable, whom I shall only mention as M , and to 
 
 whom I shall refer by-and-by. 
 
 There were no difficulties about the liquidation, so soon as the 
 closing of my new establishment in Marseilles had been resolved 
 upon. I had sent a couple of cargoes of wine to New Orleans, 
 which were to be returned in cotton. Had the capital promised 
 by Daly Co. and Maillet, Cage & Co. been paid in, a lucrative 
 business would at once have been founded. The preparations, 
 however, had been too extensive. Clerks had been engaged at 
 large salaries, some by me, in view of the guarantied important 
 sugar- trade, and some by Daly— among whom a Parisian book- 
 keeper at a salary of 6000 francs, whom I could have hired in 
 Paris for 2000. A compromise must be made with these clerks, 
 with my young partner, and with Daly's creditors. I must bring 
 back my little family from Marseilles, give up my house there, 
 throw up my leases, etc. Besides this burden, Daly had intro 
 duced to me two men, for the business of arming the French 
 troops who were destined for Algiers, and sent from Marseilles. 
 As these men are both dead, and are expiating probably the guilt 
 of their influence upon my fate, in another world, I will speak of 
 
 them as " O " and " Gldstr — ." The former was represented 
 
 as a clever and honest man, perfectly trustworthy ; the other as 
 being proper to " do all sorts of dirty work," something insepara- 
 ble from supply contracts. The sphere to which these men 
 belonged was quite unknown to me ; and to learn it by experience 
 was impossible for me, who had belonged for so many years to 
 the first mercantile circle of the capital, haute finance, and had 
 therefore never become acquainted with inferior matters. Such 
 
 at least was the report of Daly and his book-keeper, B .. But, 
 
 before it was too late, I discovered that O was no better than 
 
 G ; that they were closely bound together, and prompt for 
 
 any roguery, and long since agreed to share the profits of their 
 
 tricks. O was a native of Marseilles ; G , a Polish Jew. 
 
 at one time a commissaire in the Prussian army, under the Duke 
 of Brunswick, ani who had gone over to the French host after 
 
 16 
 
362 THE MUSKETS CONDEMNED. 
 
 the battle of Jena; and was the same person who, in Napoleon's 
 bulletin from Melodertschino, after the retreat from Moscow, is 
 designated as the man who had caused the loss of 20,000 horses 
 in a few weeks, which he asserted to have been lost in a single 
 night. After this retreat, he fell into the hands of the Prus- 
 sians, was sentenced to death, but commuted to perpetual impri- 
 sonment in Spandau; after a few years, he escaped to Paris, 
 where he finally settled, and adopted the profession of money- 
 lender. In a provision-contract for the French troops stationed 
 in the Morea, under Marshal Maison, which had been procured 
 for these two scoundrels, by Daly, money was wanting ; which 
 was the only reason for making me acquainted with these worth- 
 loss fellows, in the belief that they could get employment in the 
 contract for the troops in Algiers, and so make profit out of me. 
 The ground of their connection with Daly was at first incompre- 
 hensible to me ; but I had afterwards reason to surmise that 
 Daly's profits existed only in figures on the books; that these two 
 men were de facto his debtors for a very important sum, and that 
 he had hoped that they would bring him new business out of this 
 new organization in Marseilles. 
 
 Meanwhile the first provision of muskets arrived from Ham- 
 burg in Havre, and were received on my account by Delaroche 
 A. Delessert & Co. My agent in Strasbourg informed me, that 
 ,the inspector of artillery there, after opening the boxes and exam- 
 ining the muskets, had declared that, out of twenty opened boxes, 
 scarcely one fit musket could be found, and those few of irregu- 
 lar model. A few days later, I heard the same news of the 
 1000 muskets in the arsenal at Havre. The receivers wisely 
 determined to close the chests again, and to wait for instruc- 
 tions from me. My Strasbourg agent, M , who thoroughly 
 
 understood the art of carousing with the under officers and con- 
 trollers, without advancing one step beyond this, had convinced 
 himself that nothing could be done with the arms but to send 
 them back — as they were not what I had ordered, and were 
 unsaleable in France. Judge of the effect upon me, of the disco- 
 very that I had put a capital of 200,000 francs in useless muskets. 
 To get at the. bottom of the affair, I went to Havre, where the 
 
A LITERARY COLONEL. 353 
 
 arsenal was in charge of a meritorious and clever officer, of the 
 Napoleon school, colonel of artillery, Lefrancois. He was called 
 a stern, unamiable man, but he received my visit politely, and 
 returned it the nex£ day. He noticed on my table a " Keepsake," 
 fresh from London. He took it up, turned over the leaves, and 
 by his remarks upon the plates, showed me that he was not defi- 
 cient in education or artistic cleverness. He also spoke of the 
 German language, and said that he preferred Schiller, as a dra- 
 matist, to his great countrymen, Corneille, Eacine, and Voltaire ; 
 to all, indeed, but Shakespeare. He seemed astonished to find an 
 ordinary commissary utter his views on art and belles lettres, and 
 would have talked I know not how long, if I had not recalled him 
 to the muskets, with a revenons a nos moutons. We agreed next 
 morning to go with the controller and examine 10 cases, contain- 
 ing 500 muskets. A friendly line preceded me to the arsenal, 
 requesting the director to accept the Keepsake that had so much 
 pleased him. When the muskets were unpacked before four 
 controllers, I saw that not one was of the proper model. Indeed, 
 seldom were six or seven successively like each other. All that 
 was French about them was the barrels ; the stocks were Ger- 
 man. My Hamburgh correspondents knew as much about mus- 
 kets as I did, namely, nothing at all. And as I had trusted that 
 they would purchase after the model that I sent them, so had they 
 
 trusted to an armorer named R , whose conscience w r as of 
 
 gutta-percha. At each musket came the question, "How can 
 it be V the only answer being " because of total disregard to the 
 models." Then, for the first time, I learned, that according to the 
 rules of the French artillery department, every musket must con- 
 sist of 34 distinct parts, every one of which must be perfect and 
 conformable to the model, before it could be approved of. The 
 nature of my contract protected me from loss for non-fulfilment, 
 but what was I to do with the muskets. My contract was for old 
 but yet useful muskets on the French model, and it was frightful 
 to see one after another set aside by the controllers, with the 
 words ''''fusil de rebut" I asked and learned the cause of this 
 rebut for every musket. I then inquired whether refused muskets 
 could not be altered so as to conform to the model, and when told 
 
364 THE MUSKET SPECULATION IMPROVES. 
 
 yes, asked the cost. I was informed that each would cost 2 
 francs 50. Then I inquired if the government would not take 
 them as they were, on my abating so much from my contract 
 price, 28 francs. The director said he would take the matter in 
 hand, and asked me to visit him often, and listen to his translation 
 of Schiller's Wallenstein. I listened and wondered. After some 
 days, he was informed by the Minister of War, Marshal Soult, 
 who had succeeded General Gerard, that the muskets would all be 
 taken at 25 50, and could be soon made to serve for the arming 
 of the National Guard. He gave me this information that I 
 might state it to the Minister. Chief of Division in the Artillery 
 Department, Colonel T. de L , who possessed the full confi- 
 dence of the marshal, and who had his reasons for being partial to 
 me, took the affair in hand, and as it had the marshal's approval, 
 1 got rid of the muskets, and made a very fair profit. This whole 
 procedure showed me how to deal with the others, and enabled 
 me to send those at Strasbourg to the arsenal at Metz. The ship- 
 ment of the muskets from Hamburgh now went forward regularly. 
 Importation of arms from Belgium was still forbidden, but I 
 learned that the ministry was about to lift the prohibition. Mus- 
 kets made in Luttich are perfectly like the best French ; and as I 
 could buy a certain quantity for 28 francs, while the war ministry 
 in Paris were willing to pay 32, I ordered 100,000 muskets, and 
 doubled the order so soon as importation from Belgium Avas per- 
 mitted. For the last half of this large contract I succeeded in 
 putting my provision of arms upon a very sure basis, and was 
 enabled to offer the Luttich manufacturers 281 r 29 francs, if 
 they would take the risk of delivering the muskets at the arsenals 
 of Lille, Metz, and Charleville, and be content to wait for pay- 
 ment until they had been received. Finally, by the interest I 
 had obtained with the war ministry, I got a contract for 150,000 
 sabres, at 6 francs 50 cents. Contracts made by me with some 
 German manufacturers on the Rhine, and even in Paris, at 5 fr. 
 50 to 5 75, would have made a brilliant affair of this, had not all 
 my swords, as they arrived by the 10,000 or 15,000, been, by the 
 influence of the war controller in the Rue Luxembourg, refused, 
 because the back of the hilt was a quarter of a line narrower than 
 
HOW TO BRIBE. 365 
 
 the regimental regulations. All my arguments on the absurdity 
 of such strictness were of no avail, and as the controller was too 
 strictly watched by the officers about him, for me to attempt any 
 other means of convincing him, I took my swords and went to 
 Havre. Colonel Lefrancois acknowledged the absurdity, and the 
 first 20,000 were at once taken. I, of course, sent no more to the 
 depot at Havre, but imported all by the way of Havre. The 
 English Keepsake remained unforgotten. The Colonel, who fre- 
 quently came to Paris, to visit his sick wife, became a constant 
 visitor at my house, although he could not always get me to lis- 
 ten to his translations of Schiller. He had made the Russian 
 campaign, as one of the Imperial Artillery Guard ; had lived a 
 good while in Berlin and Konigsberg, where he had learned Ger- 
 man, and had for Napoleon (the first and only) a veneration that 
 was almost adoration ; and, spite of his feeble body, and countless 
 and still painful wounds, he would have outbursts of enthusiasm 
 rare in any but hot-blooded youth. With the exception of this 
 constantly outbreaking exaltation, he was an amiable and agree- 
 able man. It is well known that most of the chiefs in the impe- 
 rial army had not objected to a present, in reward for service 
 rendered or to be rendered. This was particularly the case in 
 supplies of arms. It cost me a struggle to persuade myself that 
 Colonel Lefrancois belonged to the same category as his comrades 
 of like rank, because his assistance to me had been not a matter 
 of business, in influencing the controllers, but a pure matter of the 
 heart ; still I thought that my recognition of his services ought to 
 be of use to him. The purchase of 150,000 swords demanded a 
 capital of some 800,000 francs, and brought a profit of more than 
 20 per cent. I put some bank notes of 1000 francs in an envel- 
 ope, addressed to him, and laid it upon my chimney-piece, or 
 where he could see it. He saw it, observed its contents, and put 
 it back, saying, " My dear sir, I cannot accept that." For a while 
 I took his reply as final ; but half an hour after, my servant took 
 the same sum, in a new envelope, to his old, trusty servant, from 
 whom it found its way into the colonel's hand. The end of it 
 was, that two years later, during my absence from Paris, he heard 
 that my wife was in some embarrassment for money. He called 
 
366 MORALS OF ARMS-PROVIDING. 
 
 upon her, and said, " My dear Madame Nolle, I have received a 
 great deal of money from vour husband, and have spent most of 
 it as lightly as I came by it. What is left, however, I have 
 brought back to you. Be good enough to take it. Your husband 
 and your family will never be forgotten by me." Eighteen months 
 afterwards, this worthy gentleman died. 
 
 Let me tell a story on the other side, of a person high in place 
 in the military department. He had not the slightest objection to 
 receive a present, if delicately offered ; and I puzzled myself in 
 vain to find a proper means, until my wife, who was acquainted 
 with the whole matter, suggested a snuff-box. I bought a tasteful 
 box, laid a 1000 franc note in it, folded with the cypher displayed, 
 and at the proper time attracted his attention. " Ah, that is 
 really a box in exquisite taste," he said. " General," I replied, 
 " if it please you, accept it from me as a souvenir." He said, 
 "Thank you," took the box, and opened it immediately. I 
 waited with impatience, but not long. " Aha !" said he ; " but 
 you might as well understand that I am a great snuffer ; another 
 pinch would do no harm, my dear sir." He put the box in his 
 pocket, and I, on reaching home, put my card and 1000 francs in 
 a simple envelope, and sent it him. 
 
 This arms providing has its good and bad sides. The good is 
 that one can, with proper prudence, be assured of profit on them. 
 The bad is the uncertainty of their reception by the contractors. 
 They must be literally conformable to contract, and precisely like 
 the model, or the place-holders will take advantage of their posi- 
 tion, to refuse them. There is but one way of dealing with these 
 men, namely, to bribe them. Ever since my childhood, an 
 epigram has run in my head, written upon an army contractor, who 
 had gone to Carlsbad. - " Stax, by command of his doctor, is now 
 taking a bath ; confound him, he's always taking something." 
 The thought of becoming a contractor was always unpleasant to 
 me. For the idea of procuring the acceptance of imperfect arms, 
 simply by bribery, was repulsive to me, as to every honest man ; 
 and I could make no moral distinction between the briber and 
 the bribed The morality of the great world, however, is much 
 easier. Horace Walpole's remark, that every man had his 
 
MARSHAL SOULT. 367 
 
 price, is too often true. General Jackson's partition of places, in 
 case of his election for president — what was that but bribery ! 
 
 My providing now went on well — furnishing the old muskets 
 at 25 francs, and the new ones at 32 — and when Belgian imports 
 were permitted, it was still better. The provision was so easily 
 and regularly managed, that it aroused the attention of the other 
 furnishers — as for instance, Cassimir Perier's own iron factory, 
 which had a contract for 100,000 muskets, at 32 francs. These 
 gentlemen did me the honor, and Marshal Soult the injustice, to 
 suppose that we two had a private understanding. But never did 
 one word pass between the marshal and myself about the price, 
 etc. Our entire conversation consisted of a short interrogatory, 
 as to the possibility of procuring a certain quantity of muskets, 
 and delivering them in a certain place, on an appointed day — as 
 15,000 muskets for the arsenal at Metz. If I said yes, I received 
 a regular order. The marshal knew that he could trust me, and 
 he showed his confidence in a matter that occurred after the close 
 of our contract, and which was altogether uncalculated upon. 
 
 The whole cost of the arms brought into France by me, in the 
 course of two or three years, was about 8,000,000 francs, to which 
 the capital saved from the wreck of the Marseilles house, 200,000 
 francs, would not suffice. I, however, had had the good fortune 
 to meet the bankers Andre and Cottier, to please them, to obtain 
 their confidence, and their support, in my operations. The 
 first venture succeeded so well that their confidence was much 
 increased, and they placed very large sums at my disposal. 
 These ventures were often 200,000 to 300,000 francs, for which 
 they had no other security than my word and Marshal Soult's 
 order. I remember once bringing M. Cottier an order for 
 500,000 francs. He looked at it, and cried out in astonishment, 
 " My God, where do you get all this money V Marshal Soult, it 
 will be remembered, was much disliked in the Chamber of Depu- 
 ties, a feeling which could not be satisfied except by his retire- 
 ment from the ministry, and the recalling of General Gerard. 
 My whole machinery, especially the organized method of payment 
 for the supplies, was for a moment upset, and I could not get the 
 orders as regularly as before ; whereby I bad to allow the weight 
 
368 M. COTTIER. 
 
 of my important advances to fall upon Messrs. Andre and Cot- 
 tier. I needed, to get matters straight again, 400,000 francs. As 
 soon as I laid the whole matter before M. Cottier, and showed 
 the receipts for arms at various arsenals, he replied that the sum 
 was at my disposal. I was very much flattered at the trust dis- 
 played by this excellent man, who was esteemed by the whole 
 Paris Exchange in a very different way from Fould or the Roths- 
 childs. Sometimes, in going away, he would cry over the coun- 
 ter, " Don't speak of it. In spite of our reputation for great 
 prudence, it might injure us, if it were known that we had made 
 such large advances to a man whose fortune is not yet made." 
 Or again, " The fact is, all goes on well, and to our satisfaction, 
 when you are there. But if anything should happen to you, 
 where would we be ! Everybody can't stand in your shoes." I 
 trust to be pardoned for this exhibition of vanity. Had I not the 
 intimate conviction that, despite many errors and faults, I have 
 never had cause to blush for myself, and that I have never be- 
 trayed a trust, my present existence would be a heavy burden to 
 me. So that retrospection still brings me some consolation. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF THE RUE DES PROUVAIRES— 
 
 My contracts and deliveries of arms lead to its discovery — The sub-contractor 
 and intermediary, Darmenon — Disclosure of the plot to the Police Prefect, 
 Gisquet — Arrest of the conspirators in the Rue des Prouvaires, in the eve- 
 ning of Feb. 2d, by Carlier, the last Prefect of the Police under the Repub- 
 lic — The trial in the assizes for the department of the Seine — My testimony 
 — Opposition of the Prefect — The decision — Ambiguous conduct of the Pre 
 feet — The disclosure of his venality leads to his dismissal. 
 
 The traffic in old worn-out muskets, that had found their way 
 into the ware-rooms and shop-shelves of the Parisian frippery 
 dealers, rendered it necessary to get spies, from the worthless fre- 
 quenters of such places, in order to get possession of the arms. 
 The under functionaries of the artillery department had certain 
 proteges whom I could use for this purpose. In December, 1831, 
 I was accosted on the first staircase of the artillery dep6t, Rue 
 Luxembourg, by a man, whose evasive manner and unsteady eye 
 did not prepossess me in his favor, and who offered me his ser- 
 vices in the purchase of arms. I merely answered, that if he 
 could point out the spot where any old arms were to be found, he 
 might tell me of it. I would send some one to see them, and if 
 they were good for anything, we could soon strike a bargain. 
 This took place, and the purchase of several small lots of muskets 
 brought me to frequent speech with the man, whose name was 
 Darmenon. His unsteady manner had convinced me that he must 
 have done something which would not bear daylight. I inquired' 
 at the police, and learned that he was an ex-galley slave, who, for 
 the last four years since the expiration of his term, had been living 
 honestly. In his youth he had been in a counting-house, in Lyons, 
 
 16* 
 
370 DARMENOH* 
 
 where he had forged a draft, for which he was sent, under the 
 Code Napoleon to the galleys. It is generally known that these 
 slaves are cut off from all communication with the world ; and 
 that they live chained together in couples ; a man, not very evil 
 may thus be forcibly joined for years to the greatest scoundrel on 
 earth ; so that the usual result is, that a fellow comes out of the 
 galleys much worse than when he went in. Even when one comes 
 out with some honesty left in him, it is difficult, or even impossi- 
 ble, to find, after so long absence from the world, an honest way 
 of making a living or even a lodging. For what host is willing 
 to receive as guest a man whose passport bears the words " freed 
 galley-slave," which will oblige him to notify the police ? Or who 
 will sit at table with a " freed galley-slave V As I have always 
 felt an involuntary pity for these outcasts, and knew how hard it 
 was for them to get employment, I could not but feel for Darme- 
 non's wretchedness, nor could I close my door upon him. He 
 had made himself useful to me, also, and kept me informed of all 
 that was said politically in those troublous times, in the shops of 
 the faubourg St. Antoine. From him and other spies I learned what 
 old arms had passed the various barriers at daybreak — whither 
 they had been carried, etc. The quantity seldom surpassed 100 
 to 150 muskets at a time. One morning, however, Darmenon 
 informed me that 2600 muskets had passed the barriere St. 
 Denis, and were taken to the faubourg of the same name, where 
 so much illegal business goes on. I went immediately to the 
 
 chief of division, T. de L , and he procured an order from the 
 
 marshal to purchase the muskets at any price. I bought them, 
 but not without rivalry, nor was I without a suspicion that this 
 was no mere second-hand dealer's affair. I inquired, and found 
 that my rivals were the agents of the legitimists, who were then 
 very. busy in the faubourg St. Denis. During other small pur- 
 chases in this way, I heard that the legitimists were in the field, 
 and that scmething unusual was going on. That these gentlemen 
 really had a hope, of overthrowing the government appeared to 
 me impossible. However, I did not trust to appearances, but 
 instructed Darmenon to keep his eyes open, and to bring me all 
 the news he could collect. Everything remained in this condition 
 
THE CONSPIRATORS. 371 
 
 all the month of January, 1832. I kept my own counsel — for 
 looking upon the scheme as absurd, I saw no use in talking about 
 it. On the first of February, however, Darmenon came to tell 
 me that several legitimists were gathered in the faubourg St. 
 Antoine, in expectation of a mass of workmen, about 12 o'clock, 
 to plant the standard of Henri V., and that the plot w r as to be 
 organized at 1 o'clock, in a house in the Rue de Saussayes. He 
 further told me that conspirators would leave the house, 18 Rue 
 de Prouvaires at 10 P. M., with a view to go to the Tuileries, 
 where a ball was to take place, and there suddenly to surround 
 and carry off Louis Philippe, trusting that the confusion caused by 
 their entrance would render the exploit an easy one. I was 
 amazed, and asked Darmenon how he had learned so much in so 
 short a time. He said that he had been dealing with these gen- 
 tlemen for some time, but had not told me, because I would have 
 taken it as a hoax. Now, however, that the matter was earnest, 
 he had thought it his duty to inform me. I asked him for the 
 leaders' names. He read, from his pocket-book, Poncelot, Gech- 
 ter, Montholon, and others. Finally, he said that he had been 
 offered 6000 francs for 200 muskets, and that this would be a 
 good opportunity for me to get rid of some worthless and unsale- 
 able arms in my possession. I sent him away, with directions to 
 return so soon as he had touched the 6000 francs. I lived then at 
 48 Rue Basse des Ramparts, and as soon as he had gone, I went 
 to Rue de Saussayes, and examined from the other side of the 
 street the house No. 23. The window-shutters were all closed. 
 From time to time, four or five suspicious looking fellows would 
 appear, and slip into the house, amounting to about 20, in the 
 course of half an hour. I now saw that Darmenon's representa- 
 tions were correct, and went home. He soon came in, with 2000 
 francs, as earnest money. I now determined to lay the whole 
 matter before the prefect of police, Gisquet, whom I knew person- 
 ally, and with whose former firm, Gisquet and Brunet, in Havre, 
 I had once been closely connected. I took Darmenon with me. 
 On my way, as it was exchange hour, I determined to cross 
 Exchange Place, to learn what influence the various reports had 
 upon State paper. I heard of a sudden fall of 1 franc 50 cts., in 
 
372 THE ARREST. 
 
 the 3 per cents, which was attributed to the heavy sales made by 
 the legitimists, particularly those of the faubourg St. Germain. 
 I found M. Gisquet, and told him all. He listened carelessly, and 
 said that he had heard exactly such information two or three 
 times, and yet there had been no result — he believed, then, there 
 would be none this time. I then asked whether the 2000 francs 
 in Darmenon's pocket-book went for nothing. He said yes, but 
 not for much. When I mentioned the sudden fall in State stock, 
 he laughed, and said he knew the cause of the fall — that Ouvrard, 
 from La Hague, was attempting to dupe the people again. I rose 
 to go, when he called back Darmenon, took down the numbers of 
 the two houses, and the names of eighteen conspirators. He then 
 left us, after politely thanking me for what he called my perfectly 
 useless information. 
 
 About 7 o'clock, P. M., Darmenon came to my counting-room, 
 and showed me 6000 francs, in notes of 1000 each, asking if I 
 would give him 200 muskets for that sum, and deliver them about 
 10 o'clock. I promised him an answer at 9 o'clock. I sent him 
 off, and went at once to the prefect, to whom I said that Darme- 
 non had now the 6000 francs, and I asked whether I should deliver 
 the arms, if they were called for at 10 o'clock, P. M. The answer 
 was "Deliver, but in small quantities — I will have them fol- 
 lowed." I went to the house No. 32 Rue Basse des Ramparts, 
 where I had a small warehouse for the reception of the daily arri- 
 ving muskets, and instructed the guardian to deliver to Darme- 
 non, on my written order, 30 or 40 muskets, in small lots. He 
 told me the next morning that Darmenon had carried off 17 mus- 
 kets, and had been arrested on his return for more. The morning 
 papers, Feb. 2, contained the news that M. Carlier, chief of muni- 
 cipal police, had, about 11 o'clock, surrounded the house No. 18 
 Rue de Provaires, and had succeeded in capturing the whole 
 band, after a strong resistance, in which he had been wounded in 
 the head, and a municipal guard killed. 
 
 The affair came before the first section of the Assize Court of 
 the Seine, by which I was subpoenaed, together with a motley col- 
 lection of 329 others. On this occasion the true character of two 
 persons came to light, Darmenon and Gisquet himself. Both lied 
 
EXAMINATION 0P THE PREFECT. 373 
 
 hard, and both suffered by it. That Darmenon appeared as a 
 common intriguer of the lowest class of Paris is not wonderful, 
 but the Prefect Gisquet, soon after lost all credit at court and in 
 the city, was stricken from the list of State Councillors, and expel- 
 led from his prefecture. The democrats alleged that he himself 
 had arranged the whole matter, and had provoked the conspiracy 
 by his agents, simply in order to win for himself credit for great 
 vigilance ; and he had great difficulty in disproving the charge. 
 The prosecutor laid great weight upon the circumstance that the 
 prefect had allowed me to deliver some muskets. The advocate 
 of the accused questioned me about it, and I said what is already 
 told above. Whereupon the Prefect was sent for, and appeared 
 in full uniform, and was requested to take a seat. The Chief Jus- 
 tice then said that the Prefect had already appeared as witness for 
 M. Poncelot, but that he must now again submit to examination, 
 and must tell the truth, although an oath would not be exacted 
 from him. The Prefect expressed great respect for the Court, 
 but he must beg his lordship to remark, that he was not establish- 
 ing, by his obedience, a precedent by which prosecutor or accused 
 might annoy and derange the Prefect of Police at their pleasure. 
 This impertinent answer caused a long murmur among the advo- 
 cates. The Prefect had fancied himself powerful enough to insult 
 the whole Parisian bar. After his general testimony came what 
 had passed between us, and he denied that he had authorized the 
 delivery of arms. "I swear," he said, stretching out his hand — 
 " I swear by my honor, that I gave no such permission." This 
 was so exactly in opposition to my sworn testimony, that the 
 Judge called me back for re-examination. I confessed that I 
 might have misunderstood the Prefect, but that, to the best of my 
 knowledge and recollection, my testimony was precisely true. I 
 could do nothing further, and so went home, convinced that Gis- 
 quet, who had given his honor to a lie, was like most other 
 Frenchmen, and held the word of honor very lightly. How hard 
 it was for the Prefect to clear himself of suspicion the end will 
 show. Only a portion of the accused were tried here ; the rest 
 were sent before the Court of the Seine and Oise, then sitting at 
 Versailles, to be judged where they were born. I was subpce- 
 
3t4 THE CONSPIRATORS SENTENCED. 
 
 naed there, but before the court opened, Carlier — the same who 
 had arrested the men in the Hue defi Prouvaires, and who was 
 Prefect of Police for a while under Louis Napoleon — Carlier came 
 to me, and begged me to free the Prefect, who liked me very 
 much, from his " embarrassment," by saying nothing about the 
 permission to deliver the arms. As I had modified my state- 
 ment as much as my conscience would permit me; I said to 
 M. Carlier that I would say nothing if I were not asked ; but 
 that, if questioned, I could conceal nothing. Fortunately for M. 
 le Prefect the question was not asked. 
 
 The whole number of accused amounted to 66, of whom only 
 56 were arrested. These were accused of a complot to overthrow 
 the government, and of arming the citizens and exciting them to 
 civil war. The court sate daily from the 4th to the 12th of July, 
 and charged the jury to give their attention to two points ; first, 
 to the plot itself, and second to the part taken in it by each of 
 the accused. The jury acquitted 28, and found 28 more or less 
 guilty. The sentenced were as follows : 
 
 6, among whom was Poncelet, transportation for life. 
 
 13, five years imprisonment, and to be watched by the police 
 for life. 
 
 4, two years imprisonment, and to be watched for two years. 
 
 5, one year in prison, one year under eye of police. 
 
 The plot was conceived by the advocate Gechter, and led by a 
 ranger of Marshal Bourmont. These two received the second 
 punishment. 
 
 After the process was over, M. Gisquet thanked me for my 
 retention, and declared that, in fact, he had thought lightly of the 
 matter, until I had taken Darmenon to him, at 8 o'clock, P. M. 
 Later he said, after he had given me permission to deliver the 
 arms, he was in great doubt what course to take. His words 
 were, " To arrest those men will be to make all to-morrow's 
 newspapers cry out." Carlier put an end to his indecision, by 
 saying, " They are armed, but we are superior in numbers — we 
 must enter the house and kill." In an hour this was done, and 
 Carlier, as before said, wounded. 
 
 The miristry of the interior was then in the hands of M. Thiers, 
 
MERIT REWARDED! 315 
 
 Marshal Soult being president of the cabinet. These two were 
 jealous of, and unfriendly towards each other ; the marshal often 
 declared that he hated all quill-drivers ; and Thiers had never 
 renounced the pleasure of saying in society something about the 
 marshal's orthography. As Minister of the Interior, it fell to him, 
 on the discovery of this complot, to exercise a peculiar vigilance 
 over the person of the king ; and when Marshal Soult learned 
 that one of his providers had discovered the plot, he was dis- 
 pleased that I had not come to him instead of going to the Prefect. 
 
 I learned this the next day from T. de L , who said to me, 
 
 " You will see that the entire merit of the discovery will be for 
 M. Gisquet." In fact, Gisquet soon after received the cross of 
 officer, and Carlier the cross of member of the Legion of Honoi . 
 
 Two years after losing his prefecture, Gisquet published his 
 memoirs, in which he gives the history of the plot, describes his 
 own vigilance and its happy results, and does me the honor not to 
 say a word about me. The object of these memoirs was to apolo- 
 gize for his administration as prefect ; but the true cause of his 
 fall was his gross venality, and a scandalous intrigue with the 
 wife of an intimate friend, by name of Foucault. Gisquet's corres- 
 pondence with the lady fell into the hands of the husband, who 
 bravely published it in Le Messager. This step of Foucault 
 brought less dishonor upon Gisquet than upon himself, through 
 his publication of his wife's shame. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OP THE ARTIST WORLD OF PARIS.— PAUL 
 DELAROCHE— 
 
 His complete establishment in his profession, by his picture, " The Beheading 
 of Lady Jane Grey" — Universal impression produced by the picture — The 
 cholera in Paris in the summer of 1832 — Delaroche's contract with M. 
 Thiers, then Minister of the Interior, for the decoration of the walls of the 
 Madeleine — He goes to Rome, to complete the preparatory studies — Thiers 
 breaks his word, and thus occasions the abandonment of the contract and 
 Delaroche's return to Paris — His enviers and deprecators, and his demeanor 
 towards them — The painter Charlet — An anecdote concerning him — A piece 
 of experience and information *rom the monde galant of Paris enables me 
 to give him a hint that I had got a peep at his cards, and had made out his 
 game — Some sketchy remarks concerning the Coryphaei of the Paris school, 
 such as Horace Vernet, Ingres, Delacroix, Decamps, Ary SchefFer, and 
 others. 
 
 The regular course of my business in 1832, and most of 1833, 
 gave me leisure to cultivate the acquaintance of some of the best 
 artists. First of all was Paul Delaroche, who has won for him- 
 self the title of the greatest historical painter of the age. His 
 real Christian name is Jean Baptiste, but his school-fellows used 
 to call him, from his size, " little Paul," and he took the name, 
 and gave it to his first pictures. I visited him often, talked with 
 him for hours, and envied his quiet, self-contained life, when I con- 
 trasted it with my troublous existence, and looked back to the 
 time when my own taste called me to become a painter, and pro- 
 mised me greater plenty of happiness and usefulness than my 
 pen-strifes and accountings had ever won. Born in the second 
 fatherland of art, accustomed from childhood to the works of the 
 noblest masters, I seldom erred in my appreciation of a picture, 
 
PAUL DELAROCHE. §77 
 
 and Delaroche listened to my remarks with pleasure. To please 
 me, he had made a water-color drawing of his celebrated " Sons 
 of Edward," in the Luxembourg gallery, and had presented me 
 with a picture called " The beheading of Lady Jane Grey." It 
 was a sketch, but so moving, that all who saw it at my house 
 experienced the same feeling. I wanted Delaroche to paint it in 
 life size, and at last he consented. Madame de Montaut was one 
 of the usual visitors at his studio. She was born Duchesse de la 
 Rochefoucauld, and was the intimate friend of the Prince Paul 
 Demidoff, who afterwards married the Princesse Mathilde Bona- 
 parte, daughter of the King of Westphalia. * She possessed influ- 
 ence enough with this gentleman to induce him to buy the picture 
 for 8000 francs, which was 2000 more than Horace Vernet had 
 received for his greatest pictures, even for " The Pope carried to 
 St. Peter's by the Swiss Guard," and "The Pope, Michael 
 Angelo, and Raphael, on the porch of the Vatican." As the pic- 
 ture drew near its completion, the wild enthusiasm of all who saw 
 it awakened a sort of sorrow in Delaroche, that he had sold it for 
 8000 francs ; but the bargain was made. Madame de Montaut 
 undertook to influence Demidoff, who was prudent in his extrav- 
 agance, to a higher offer ; and it was determined that I should get 
 from the art dealers, Rittner & Goupil, Rue Montmartre, a letter, 
 as if from an English capitalist, offering 15,000 francs, and request- 
 ing me to lay the offer before my friend. The letter came to my 
 hands, from which it passed through Delaroche's, to those of 
 Madame de Moutant, and thus to DemidofFs, who at once sent to 
 Delaroche 12,000 francs, because the picture so much surpassed 
 his expectation ; and in this way it was paid for, at 50 per cent, 
 above the original price. 
 
 From this moment Delaroche's pictures rose in price. Lord 
 Francis Egerton, now Earl of Ellesmere, brother of the Duke of 
 Sutherland, declared himself ready to pay Delaroche 35,000 
 francs for a picture of the arrest of Charles I. by the soldiery of 
 Cromwell, which is now in the Bridgewater gallery. In 1832, 
 while the cholera was raging so awfully in Paris, that for weeks 
 the daily li^t of deaths was 900, and on one day 1000, everybody 
 who could, left the capital ; and Delaroche's elder brother, who 
 
318 PRINCE PAUL DEMIDOFF. 
 
 was a director of the Mont de Piete, wrote to me that he was in 
 the greatest danger ; all his art friends had quitted Paris, and he 
 needed 8000 francs to get him out of the greatest embarrassment. 
 I was repaid at the end of the year : again, as in Lafayette's case, 
 without requiring a receipt. Why did I need it. Had he died, 
 his acknowledgment would have done me no good ; if he lived, it 
 was useless. Say the French, " An honest man's word is better 
 than a scoundrel's money." I was glad to be able to help not 
 only my friend Delaroche, but other artists, with whom I lived on 
 intimate terms. Only one, to whom I had advanced the sum of 
 200 francs for a water-color picture, failed in his engagement. He 
 sold the picture, and four years after paid back the 200 francs. 
 
 Paul Delaroche is a noble man, who perfectly understands his 
 worth as an artist, and keeps his word as a man ; and never at any 
 time, or for any reason, would he trifle with his promise. The 
 raising of the price of his " Lady Jane Grey," through Madame 
 de Montaut, cannot be cited here against him, for he had nothing 
 to do with it ; and although he knew the manner in which it was 
 done, he did not help, but only tolerate. Who could blame him, 
 especially with a man like Demidoff, who never knew shame, who 
 was ready for the foulest tricks, and who never listened to the 
 voice of justice. What a frightful picture of moral depravity 
 would the secret history of this favorite of fortune exhibit. His 
 veins were full of Cossack blood ; and he respected even the sex 
 of women so little, as to have used the knout, both to Madame de 
 Montaut and to his wife the princess Mathilde. Madame de 
 Montaut knew him thoroughly, and was sure that his purse-pride 
 was almost beyond hearing any reason. The following will 
 show Delaroche in his true light. M. Thiers, Minister of the 
 Interior, determined to have the church of la Madeleine com- 
 pleted, and the side walls covered by six grand pictures, repre- 
 senting scenes in the life of St. Mary Magdalen. He wisely 
 sought Delaroche, stipulated to pay him 25,000 francs for each 
 picture, and 25,000 francs more for a voyage to Italy, there to 
 make studies, and procure models, which were not to be found 
 amid the Savoyard physiognomies, or the forms of the Parisians. 
 In this agreement one point remained unsettled, the finishing of 
 
DELAROCHE AND M. THEIRS. 379 
 
 the Hemicycle which should connect the two walls, and about 
 which the minister could not decide, whether it should be painted 
 or sculptured in wood. Delaroche very properly held, that if 
 painted it must be by the same hand that should paint the side walls, 
 since another artist would have quite another idea of the Magdalen. 
 On the minister asking, what would be the price of this last pic- 
 ture, he replied, " Nothing." He had nothing further in view 
 than to get the preference as painter, and he left the price to the 
 minister's own sense of propriety. M. Thiers agreed. Dela- 
 roche received the first 25,000 francs, and went to Rome, where I 
 saw him again early in 1835. During a visit to his studio, where 
 I saw rows of exquisite sketches, studies, and drawings for the 
 painting of the Madeleine, he received a letter from a protectress 
 and friend of his, Madame Dosne, mother-in-law of M. Thiers, 
 informing him that the minister had determined to have the hemi- 
 cycle painted, and to give it to the painter Flandin. She had 
 done what she could against this, but in vain. Delaroche at once 
 wrote to Thiers, that he would return the 25,000 francs received 
 as soon as he arrived in Paris, whither he determined to go at 
 once, and that their contract was at an end. The Marquis of 
 Montemart, who was present, another friend, and myself endea- 
 vored to dissuade him from this course, but in vain. He left us 
 for a quarter of an hour, and then brought in his answer, worded 
 with all the bitterness of a wounded artist spirit. Nor would he 
 change or soften one expression. " M. Thiers," said he, " must 
 learn with whom he is dealing ; that I am a man of honor, and not 
 a mountebank like himself." 
 
 The envy of his brother artists rose to its height during the 
 exhibition of his " Beheading of Lady Jane Grey." Delacroix, the 
 two Boulangers, Champmartin, and others, formed a clique, who 
 devoted themselves to his overthrow from the height which he 
 had won so lightly. These gentlemen, who had themselves 
 praised the picture to Delaroche, usually met at the Sunday re- 
 ceptions of Madame de Mirbel, the celebrated miniature painter 
 of the faubourg St. Germain, where the bitterest criticism was 
 allowed, and where gall flowed freely. Madame de Mirbel's rule 
 was to be on friendly terms with all the notable historic painters, 
 
380 MADAME DE MIRBEL. 
 
 that these might suggest her name to all their friends who might 
 be in want of miniatures. She had invited Delaroche, but he had 
 hitherto neglected the invitation. One morning I told him of the 
 gossip which went on about him in the drawing-rooms of this 
 lady, and told him he should go there himself, and see and hear 
 what was going on with reference to himself. " Not bad advice," 
 he said, " I think I will go next Sunday." Accordingly, to the 
 great astonishment of all, he made his appearance. Madame de 
 Mirbel almost fell upon her knees, and seemed utterly confounded 
 at the honor. After half an hour's stay he took leave of the lady, 
 who, surrounded by her satellites, accompanied him to the door, 
 saying, "Ah ! M. Delaroche, why go so soon ?'? His answer was, 
 " Pardon me, Madame, I have accomplished a double object in 
 coming here this evening. First, I came to pay my respects to 
 you ; then, as I am busied with a picture, in which Hypocrisy 
 and Dissimulation are to appear, I needed some studies of heads, 
 and — (looking round upon the painters) — I have succeeded per- 
 fectly ; I have found them : Madame, I have the honor to wish 
 you good night !" 
 
 Super-eminent talent is, unfortunately, hated and envied. De- 
 laroche was almost isolated in the world of art. He had but two 
 friends among the painters, his old master, the celebrated Ingres, 
 and Eugene Lami, painter of horses, battle-pieces, and hunts. I 
 had taken his red and black crayon sketches of the murder of the 
 Due de Guise, with me to Rome, where I showed them to several 
 illustrious artists, who almost unanimously attributed their origin 
 to the days of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and others. No one 
 in France approaches the correctness of his drawings, not even 
 Ingres. A peculiarity of my friend is his extraordinary resem- 
 blance, in head and features, to Napoleon — of course I mean Na- 
 poleon I. Since the early death of his wife, only daughter of the 
 world-famous Horace Vernet, he has lived much retired, and only 
 for his two children. The great painting in the Paris Academy 
 of Fine Arts, in which he has brought together all known schools, 
 is the most perfect work of his pencil, or of our time. 
 
 Of the other painters of the capital whom I saw about me, I 
 liked the genial Charlet best, although I had little taste for his 
 
THE PAINTER CHARLET. 381 
 
 associations and habits. He had no manners at all, and painted 
 almost exclusively scenes from the pot-houses and barracks, in 
 which he spent his time. He knew very well how to catch the 
 spirit, and embody in his aquarelles the humor, of the lower 
 classes, ouvriers, invalides, and other frequenters of the wine-shops 
 at the Barriers. He had seen Napoleon several times in his 
 youth, and the image of the Emperor was so strongly impressed 
 upon his mind, that he could draw him with his eyes closed. He 
 has frequently done this for me, once asking where he should 
 begin. "At the heel of the right boot," I said. He did so, and 
 drew the whole figure perfectly well. 
 
 Charlet was always determined to get the highest prioe for his 
 productions, and adopted the method that we had taken to elevate 
 the price of the " Lady Jane Grey ;" only in Delaroche's case it 
 was the exception, while it was Charlet's rule. One day, at the 
 door of a court in the rue Vaugirad, in the Faubourg St. Ger- 
 main, where Charlet's studio was, one of his young scholars saw 
 me getting out of my cabriolet, and, guessing that I was come to 
 see about an aquarelle, ran in before me to announce my arrival. 
 I found Charlet just in the act of finishing a drawing, and near him, 
 on a green-baize-covered desk, was a 500 francs bank-note, stuck 
 fast with a pin. " What are you doing there T* said I, as I came 
 in. " You see," said Charlet, " and you see what Durand (an art 
 dealer) has offered me for it." " And you did not accept it !" 
 " No ; I perceive that my designs are the rage just now, and I ex- 
 pect to get more for it." " Well," I said, " I think it well paid 
 for at 500 francs." Our conversation ended here, and Charlet's 
 face fell somewhat. I went from his studio to Durand's place, 
 rue neuve des Petits Champs. " What is the news V was my first 
 question. " Nothing." " Have you seen Charlet lately f " No, 
 not for a week." I then told him that I had seen a drawing at 
 Charlet's, which I had made no offer for, as the artist held it rather 
 too high. " But," said I, " if you can get it for 200 or 250 francs, 
 you may get it for me." About two hours afterwards he brought 
 me the aquarelle. " What did you pay for it ?" I asked. " 200 
 francs," he answered, " but its price to you is 250." I was an- 
 noyed at this ; for I had done Charlet certain services, and had no 
 
382 A TENDER CONFESSION. 
 
 idea that he would attempt such a trick on me. I thought of 
 some little punishment for him, and found the way in my reminis- 
 cences of 1819-20. Here I must interrupt the chronological course 
 of my narrative, and take the reader back some thirteen years. 
 
 In the winter of 1819-20, that part of the Parisian female 
 world, then known as "femmes galantes" and now as Lorettes, had 
 reached its zenith. After the example of the Duke de Berry, all 
 the notabilities, foreign and native, formed liaisons with these 
 ladies. The example spread, and I was not exempt from its 
 influence. Very lofty intellectuality was not expected from these 
 ladies, but they possessed a very agreeable society intelligence, 
 and good enough manners acquired from their association with 
 people of haut-ton ; they conversed well, and had plenty of 
 frivolous amiability, and offered to the stranger a sort of society 
 which was agreeable when one had nothing better. At this time 
 the great opera dancer, Coulon, was giving his Sunday evening 
 soriees dansantes. tickets to which had to be earnestly begged for, 
 besides costing 40 francs. The men of these soirees consisted of 
 the foreign and domestic diplomats, the great financiers, as Baron 
 James Rothschild, and illustrious strangers of all sorts. The 
 ladies had all the greatest dancers of the opera, Fanny Bias, 
 Bigottini, Noblet, La Gallois and others, in elegant but very 
 simple toilette, and the better class of femmes galantes, who 
 usually came in domino to intrigue the better. The opera dancers 
 commenced a quadrille, in which they exhibited all the pro- 
 priety of ladies du grand monde ; then followed occasional other 
 quadrilles ; waltzes and hop- waltzes were scarcely thought of, and 
 polkas did not exist. 
 
 At one of the soirees, a tender mask took my arm, and walked 
 about the room with me, chattering gaily with French frivolity. 
 She would not allow me to lift her mask, but promised to do so, 
 if I would visit her the next day at 2 o'clock, at her own apartments, 
 of which she gave me the address. Of course I went, and was al 
 lowed to wait for sometime in an elegant ante-chamber, but was at 
 length introduced by a pert, freely dressed waiting maid into the 
 boudoir of the lady. She rose from the sofa, and addressing me 
 as an old acquaintance, offered her hand. I recognized her as a 
 
PARISIAN FIDELITY. 383 
 
 Parisian beauty whom I had often seen in an elegant equipage, 
 and who was known for her remarkable beauty as the Perle de 
 Paris. She told me that her liaison with the Russian Prince 
 
 R , was broken by his recall, and that she was now free as 
 
 air. Of course I offered to play the Prince's part in the comedy, 
 and we lived very amicably, although at considerable expense, for 
 three months together. One day the queen of my heart came to 
 me and begged for five hundred francs, or as she phrased it, " a 
 little billet." " There is some contrast, said I, " between the little 
 billet and the great want that you express. It is a good deal of 
 
 money for " I stopped, and she continued. " For a fidelity 
 
 like mine, eh ! It is not enough, sir." " Oh," I replied, " I know 
 the song in the Caliph of Bagdad, 
 
 1 Jc vous serais fidele comme on Test a Paris.' 
 
 Parisian fidelity ! we all know what that is worth a yard." 
 Meantime, Madame got the bank note, and the same evening we 
 went to the opera. Two ranges from us, I observed a large, well- 
 formed man of ripe age, fixing his opera-glass steadily on my 
 companion. " It is the Due de Vauguyon," (a court favorite), 
 said she to me. " He has been madly in love with me for two 
 years, but I will have nothing to do with him." After the opera 
 we went home. The next moment, shortly after reaching my 
 lodgings, the waiting-maid brought me the following note, 
 
 Mon Cher Ami : — Last night you seemed to doubt my fidelity. 
 I am now going to prove it by asking you to read the enclosed 
 note. I trust that it will convince you, for I intend to send it and 
 its enclosure back to the Duke. Meanwhile, I embrace you, as I 
 love you, NINA. 
 
 The enclosed letter was from the Duke, and told her that she 
 had appeared so deliciously handsome at the opera, that he begged 
 leave to offer two notes of 500 francs each, for a single night 
 with her. In one of these notes I recognized the one I had given 
 her the day before. My ideas upon this discovery can be guessed 
 at. Of course I was convinced of the value of Parisian fidelity. 
 
S84 HORACE VERNET. 
 
 I now return to my starting point, the picture of Charlet, 
 which Durand had bought me. Some days after, I went back to 
 Charlet's, but did not ask about the picture that he had shown 
 me. We talked of things in general. After I had gradually 
 turned the conversation upon the monde galant, I told him the 
 above written anecdote. During its close he became suddenly 
 serious, and looked at me with a look that I can never forget ; 
 tnere was a sort of malicious, cat-like repentance in it ; he saw 
 that he had been discovered, and that I was telling him a case 
 parallel with his own. 
 
 All this was twenty years ago. The position and progress of 
 the French schools of Art were very little known in Germany. 
 Here and there people had heard generally of Horace Vernet, but 
 he was first remarked and esteemed by the German world of art 
 when he became Director of the French Academy, in Rome, 
 where the young German art students first became acquainted 
 with him, and with the vividness and grandeur of his varied 
 creations. The most amazing peculiarity of this rare genius was 
 the fidelity to nature, and the extraordinary truth of whatsoever 
 came from his pencil. In all his works, even in the most unim- 
 portant, one is convinced that the subject is perfectly reproduced ; 
 even the least details seizable by the eye of the common observer, 
 are faithfully re-given. This is the case with all his pictures, but 
 his pure creative powers are not so frequently displayed. Only 
 one of his works now in the Luxembourg Gallery would belong 
 to this last category, were it not that we know its source. I 
 mean Judith beheading Holofernes. Both heads are portraits. 
 Judith was a Jewess, named Pelissier, then Vernet's mistress, and 
 who served him long as a model ; she then became Rossini's 
 mistress, in Bologna, and after Madame Colbran's death, his wife. 
 The drunken head of Holofernes, sunk amid the pillows, is a 
 portrait of Colonel La Boulaye, Vernet's table friend, and a 
 terrible drinker. Vernet, it is said, placed him in the position 
 given in the picture ; also placed his mistress with an Asiatic 
 sabre in her hand, in her relative position, and so sketched them. 
 The picture was placed in the following exposition, and La 
 Boulaye was universally recognized. The artist and the Colonel 
 
ANECDOTE OF VERNET. 385 
 
 had been great friends, but this severed them. I, who had become 
 acquainted with la Boulaye, as with many others, at the Cercle 
 Franfais, on the Boulevard Montmartre, never saw him in the 
 neighborhood of the picture without noticing his furious look, and 
 I agreed with others who thought that which had been intended 
 as a painter's license was in reality falsehood towards a friend, 
 and too serious for a jest. The vulgarest brutality of a drunken 
 bandit is the expression of this open-mouthed Holofernes. 
 
 Horace Vernet, introduced by the Bourbons, advanced by 
 Louis Philippe and his princes, especially loved and immensely 
 paid by Charles Albert of Sardinia, the emperor Nicholas, and 
 other potentates, was a very eccentric fellow. I saw him in 
 Rome in 1835. And it was thought odd, that he, no longer a 
 young man, and director of so serious a school of art as the 
 Trench Academy at Rome, should so far forget his age and posi- 
 tion as to dance mazurkas at the balls of the English gentry then 
 in the Eternal City. This was more remarked because his pre- 
 decessor Ingres had erred a little on the side of pedantry, and had 
 a certain still solemnity of manner, on which very account, per- 
 haps, he was esteemed a greater artist than him whom the Eng- 
 lish called " a capering Frenchman." 
 
 An anecdote of Vernet may illustrate his eccentricity. He was 
 in Marshal Bugeaud's camp just before the battle of Isly, the 
 picture of which won him so much reputation, and here his pre- 
 sence was generally known among the common soldiers. One 
 of these warriors wanted to send his portrait to his mother, and 
 asked Vernet if he would undertake the job, and at what price. 
 Vernet accepted, but declared his inability to paint it for less than 
 twenty francs. The soldier thought it rather high, but accepted 
 on condition that the resemblance should be perfect. When 
 finished, it was exposed to the man's comrades, and as their ap- 
 proval was unanimous, he paid the price, which Vernet pocketed, 
 saying, " the artist must live by his pay." A couple of days 
 afterward, on leaving the camp, he sent twenty Napoleons to the 
 captain of the company, to be given to the soldier and his com- 
 rades. 
 
 Immediately next to Vernet, or, as many think, far above him 
 
 17 
 
386 INGRES. 
 
 comes Ingres, who first rose into fame by painting a ceiling in the 
 Louvre, " the gods of Olympus." His reputation was based upon 
 the remarkable correctness of his drawing, in which he was only 
 surpassed by Delaroche. His coloring is without life : the per- 
 fection of his painting, the labor of five years is his Stratonice, 
 purchased by the last duke of Orleans for 12,000 francs, and re- 
 cently sold for 52,000. The Odalisque, in the collection of M. de 
 Pourtales, is perhaps his best work, but his St. Symphosien, 
 although it received nearly as much praise as the " Beheading of 
 Lady Jane Grey," in the exhibition of 1832, is a failure. In this 
 uninteresting scene from the life of a saint, Ingres has been 
 mainly occupied in exhibiting his power of foreshortening, and 
 has painted a Roman proconsul on horseback, at the moment 
 when he is pointing his finger at the spectator ; so that the finger 
 is foreshortened from its point back. In this lies its " main at- 
 traction," as the work caused by the drawing of this, prevents 
 critical attention to the rest of the picture. 
 
 Color is the weak point of Ingres ; it has no warmth. Like our 
 German Overbeck, he believes that Raphael's second manner is 
 the best and only school for the painter, but in coloring he re- 
 mains far, far behind his master. Delaroche learned this peculi- 
 arity from his master, and then began to choose from various 
 tints, preferring for his portraits a violet, as in Sontag's portrait, 
 as Donna Anna in Don Juan, and at last nearing the perfections 
 of Raphael's third and last manner, the manner in which the For 
 narina, Pope Julius II., and the Transfiguration are painted. 
 
 As draughtsmen, all other noted artists of the French school 
 come behind Vernet, Delaroche and Ingres ; but, as colorists, come 
 three names, Eugene Delacroix, Decamps and Roqueplan, and 
 throw all others into the shade. The first, by a delicious blending 
 of color, and by the wildness of his fancy, won the hearts of many 
 writers on art; for instance, that critic so full of gall and mockery, 
 Theophile Gautier, who, with some others, had formed an art 
 coterie for the purpose of destroying Delaroche and deifying 
 Delacroix. Delacroix has produced some superb works, as for 
 instance, " the Women of Algiers," but he would soon be recog- 
 
FRENCH ARTISTS. 387 
 
 nized at his true value, were it not for the flourish of trumpets 
 kept up by the art-clique above mentioned. 
 
 Shut out from this confederation, living still and alone in his 
 fourth story, where the unfortunate duke of Orleans frequently 
 visited him, almost without an idea of what correct drawing is, 
 Decamps has produced the rarest and most various works of art, 
 and has entirely surpassed all his companions in coloring. His 
 "Coming Home from School in Cairo:" his "Battle of the Cimbri:" 
 his " Dog and Ape pieces," on the Boulevard du Temple, are 
 perfect master-pieces — in all lies a power, a vitality, a reality 
 which completely captivates the spectator. The commonest man 
 stands before his pictures in the window of a shop whether they 
 represent a Savoyard with his organ, or a spring in an Egyptian 
 wood. All the productions of his pencil have a magical, inex- 
 plicable attraction. 
 
 Camille Eoqueplan is far from the greatest of these artists, but 
 as colorist and tasteful painter of pleasant, though unimportant, 
 life pieces — as Rousseau, the two ladies crossing a brook on their 
 asses, and such scenes, he has won a deserved reputation. 
 
 Eugene Isabey, Bellanger, Gudin and other great men of 
 the French school, need no mention here : they are known and 
 prized in Germany : but I must record one name of German origin 
 in proof of the creative art of the Germans, and because he is full 
 of poetry — this name is Ary Sheffer; Goethe's Margaret return- 
 ing from the well, and countless pictures of like nature have in- 
 sured him a great and well merited celebrity. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 CLOSING SCENES AND RESULTS OF MY DELIVERY OF ARMS. 
 
 A secret canker at work — The undermining of my prosperity by the puer- 
 ilities of those engaged with me in the business — Loss of an important suit 
 in the Tribunal of Commerce at Paris — I grasp at a straw — The scheme 
 for the conversion of the Roman 5 per cent. Rentes takes me to Rome — 
 My visit to Italy, after an absence of 38 years — Florence — Rome — The 
 aged Duchess Torlonia — Chiaveri, her son by her first marriage — The 
 Tyrolese Stolz, Secretary of the Papal Treasurer, Monsignor Tosti— My 
 chance-meeting with Ouvrard, in the Villa Borghese — My return to France, 
 by way of Leghorn, my birthplace — Another meeting, of an unusual kind, 
 with an old friend — The beauty of the Villa Pandolfini — Disconsolate cir- 
 cumstances and prospects — Lack of profitable business in Paris. 
 
 1 had been ordered by the government to procure 400,000 
 stand of arms, viz., 50,000 old at 28 francs, and 350,000 new at 
 32 francs. Early in 1833, 1 saw that it was impossible to supply 
 all, and I thought myself lucky when one of my assistants 
 obtained from St. Quentin & Co., Paris, a contract to furnish 
 100,000 muskets, for 50,000 francs. There was no difficulty in 
 substituting these gentlemen, at least from the war ministry ; but 
 the sharper who had arranged the affair, and who had gotten pos- 
 session of the certificate of substitution, managed by some means 
 to get and appropriate to himself 30,000 francs out of the stipu- 
 lated sum. The worthless fellow kept clear of me for some time. 
 At the ministry of war I learned that they had given him the cer- 
 tificate, and from St. Quentin, that on this certificate they had 
 paid him 30,000 francs on account ; that he had not demanded the 
 other 20,000, which were now at my disposal. When I asked 
 with wonder how they could pay him such a sum without author- 
 ity, I was told that he was my partner in the business. I might 
 have answered St. Quentin — what would have led to a lawsuit and 
 
MORE TROUBLE. 339 
 
 been published all over Paris — that my associate was an infernal 
 scoundrel. The consequences of such publicity would be the end 
 of my business, as any contractor, whose affairs get into court, is 
 at once shut out from all futher contracts, and if he have one at 
 the time, it is considered as ended. I had already learned that, in 
 France, any associate in such a contract is free to sell a share of 
 it without consulting the original contractor, and the purchaser, 
 entering into all the rights of his predecessor, can institute an ex- 
 amination of the state of affairs at any moment. I had never 
 thought of the possible introduction of third and fourth parties 
 into a business which required so much secrecy. I found myself 
 surrounded by rogues, who used me at their will, sucking at my 
 purse like leeches, and threatening me with legal procedures, and 
 who brought me at last to the resolve to shrink from nothing that 
 would rid me of them at once and forever. The weight of all this 
 can scarcely be made comprehensible to the reader ; he will 
 remember, however, that I had a contract for sabres. Induced by 
 Daly's recommendation, I had given the superintendence of the 
 
 fabrication of sabres to O , already named. He showed me 
 
 contracts, which I could not guess, as I afterwards discovered, 
 were made with men who had failed, who had neither material, 
 tools, workmen, nor so much as an empty workshop. I made 
 advances upon these contracts, and before I went to Marseilles to 
 close the concern there and bring my family back to Paris, those 
 advances had amounted to 63,000 francs. Immediately on my 
 
 return, I asked for O 's accounts, and received empty words. 
 
 Not a sabre could he show me, but he was abundant in excuses 
 for the delay. At last, though too late, in order to get at the 
 bottom of this swindle, I went to the workshop, Faubourg du 
 Temple, found the porter, had it opened, and saw an empty room, 
 in which no man had either lived or worked for at least a year. 
 
 At the same time I heard that O was to be found about the 
 
 restaurants, on the Boulevard des Italiens, where he spared no 
 expense in giving superb dinners and suppers. Originally of good 
 family in Marseilles, his tendency to dishonesty drove him early 
 to Paris, where he soon became an accomplished member of the 
 society of swindlers there. He had nothing ; had had nothing 
 
390 LOSS OF A LAW-SUIT. 
 
 for years. I only succeeded in annulling our agreement by giv- 
 ing him a receipt for the 63,000 francs, and promising not to 
 expose him. 
 
 It will do no good to draw the reader through the labyrinth of 
 
 embarrassments created for me by this man's comrade G . 
 
 It is useless to recall the torture of my troublous days; the 
 anguish of my sleepless nights. Suffice it to say that those days 
 in Paris, which seemed so calm and bright, but really full of secret 
 cancers, were the most unfortunate of my existence. Up to April, 
 1834, I had no hope of getting over my difficulties, as I had so 
 often done before — but every lapsing minute seemed bringing me 
 nearer to beggary. The only chance I had lay in a draft for 
 150,000 francs, drawn by the Carlist Junta in Paris upon the 
 bishop of Oviedo, head of the Carlist ministry in London, and 
 
 accepted by him. This draft had been given to G by the 
 
 Junta in payment of several supplies, and had at last been gotten 
 
 hold of by my clerk P , who, thoroughly instructed about 
 
 G 's rogueries and cheatings, followed him with jealous vigi- 
 lance, and at last recovered thus much of my fortune. The draft 
 I delivered to Andre and Cottier. The Junta soon saw what a 
 sharper they had in G , whom they had appointed Com- 
 missary-General, and thoroughly trusted. They demanded the 
 
 draft! G could not of course return it. A suit, commenced 
 
 against me as holder, in the Paris Chamber of Commerce, was 
 decided in favor of the President of the Junta, not only on the 
 
 ground — that I had given no value, and that G had received 
 
 it on account and must remain my debtor for it — but also that 
 G , in all this business of supply, was notoriously my part- 
 ner, and that the transfer of the draft from one partner to the 
 credit of another was certainly illegal. This decision overlooks 
 two important points : The one, — that I had dearly purchased a 
 
 complete separation from G , years before ; and second, — that 
 
 the draft came into my possession not directly through G 's 
 
 endorsement, bnt through a third person. A letter from G 
 
 confessing his swindling, and saying that he would be unhappy for 
 life if he should not be able to pay most of his debt to me, did 
 not help me. The court had decided, and I lost the suit. 
 
COMBINATION OF BANKERS. 391 
 
 While still in doubt which way to turn, a straw presented itself 
 to me, and like a drowning man I clutched it, vainly hoping that 
 *t might save me. An old legitimist, apparently highly honora- 
 ble, the Count V , who had spent most of his life in Rome, was 
 
 now in Paris, for the purpose of inducing the bankers to make a 
 common operation, with a view of changing the debt of the Papal 
 States from 5 into 3 per cents, which appeared easy enough, 
 because of the high price of the 5 per cents, viz., 102 to 104 francs. 
 This was the measure of Monsignor, now Cardinal Tosti, Papal 
 
 Treasurer. Count V , had heard of me in Paris, as a man of 
 
 business, where my arm contracts had gained me some reputation, 
 and came to see me. After setting before me the whole condi- 
 tion of affairs in Rome, showing me his papers and correspond- 
 ence, and removing all doubt as to Monsignor Tosti's concern in 
 the matter, he came to the feasibility of the projected conversion, 
 and induced me to lay the matter before Andre & Cottier. The 
 Parisian bankers were, at this time, in peculiar relationship 
 with the Rothschilds. The enormous power possessed by these 
 bankers, not only with the French government but with foreign 
 States, had caused much annoyance to the other great financiers, 
 and six of them determined to unite, and attempt a rivalry with 
 the Rothschilds. These were Jon. Hagerman, Andre & Cottier, 
 B. A. Fould & Openheim, J. A. Blanc, Colin & Co., Gabriel 
 Odier & Co., and Wells & Co. In the loan asked by the Sardi- 
 nian^ government, on the plan of the Paris city lottery, these six 
 had gotten the affair out of the hands of the Rothschilds. Hager- 
 man had been very influential in this matter, from the fact of hav- 
 ing established the greatest banking house in Genoa ; besides 
 being very intimate with Caccia, the Sardinian minister, and his 
 brother the banker, in Paris. The latter lacked means and influ- 
 ence to carry out his brother's measure, and thus it got into the 
 hands of Hagerman. The Rothschilds, who had forgotten how to 
 suffer rivalry, found this blow strong enough to arouse their ven- ' 
 geance, and they resolved to make it as costly as possible. They 
 procured a fall upon Parisian government paper, which brought 
 down the Sardinian lower than the price contracted for. This 
 shook the confederation of six ; but Andre & Cottier saw so clear 
 
392 ftETURN TO FLORENCE. 
 
 an advantage in the proposed Papal oonversion, that after mature 
 deliberation of the league, they resolved to send me to negotiate 
 with the Roman Treasury, and to promise the conversion at 70. 
 I had no written instructions, and, if I came to no result, must 
 pay my own travelling expenses. These terms were rather hard, 
 "but as I had no choice, I determined to go. Without full power 
 to treat for these six firms, I was yet obliged to make something 
 of a figure among people who knew nothing of me. Two things 
 helped me. My good friend Lestapis, who had quitted the Hope 
 firm, and lived in Paris, would give me a letter of credit for an 
 important sum on Torlonia & Co. — a sum not to be used, how- 
 ever — and the old Duchess Torlonia, who had had a notorious 
 penchant for my father, still lived in Rome. This was all that 
 was necessary for a respectable position in Rome. It was towards 
 the end of November that I set out for the land of my birth, 
 which I had last seen in 1797. Seven and thirty years had gone 
 since I had looked on the world with sanguine feelings, hopes, and 
 expectations ; a term of years that had been over-filled with man- 
 hood's bitterest experiences. Retrospection was not without its 
 clouds ; and, looking forward into the future, all was gloomy. 
 
 I went by Geneva and the Simplon to Milan ; thence, b\ 
 Bologna, to Florence. I could not repress my emotions, when, 
 from the heights of the Appenines to Pietramala, the Val d'Arno 
 was seen, with Florence in its bosom. Scarcely arrived, I has- 
 tened from the Porta Imperiale out towards the grand ducal sum- 
 mer-palace Poggio Imperiale ; then, to the left hand, through the 
 vineyards, towards the village of San Leonardo and the villa Pan- 
 dolfini. Alone I went, skirting the vineyards, to the door of the 
 villa, which was opened to me by an old peasant woman. I did 
 not know her, but she expressed her willingness to show me the 
 house, and was not a little surprised to find me quite at home 
 throughout it. Tables and chairs were those of thirty-seven 
 years ago ; no trace of change was there, but also, no trace of 
 those who once had dwelt there. Then I asked for the inhabitants 
 
 of the next villa, S , where my young beauty had resided. 
 
 All gone, or dead — only the old gardener-m alive. I went to see 
 her: and after a while, hearing me speak of everybody, she 
 
ANECDOTE OF M. CHIAVERL 393 
 
 remembered me. " And your young lady, la Signora Caterina, 
 
 dove si trova, where is she V " Married, and living in Leghorn." 
 
 I returned to the city. Early next morning the post brought 
 
 me letters ; one from Rome, in an unknown hand. It was from 
 
 the factotum of Count V , who had preceded me to Rome, and 
 
 had announced to Cardinal Tosti the approach of an ambassador 
 from the bankers of Paris. The letter said, that soon after his 
 return from Paris, the Count died, but that his death would make 
 no difference in this matter : that the way was open for me, and 
 that I would find it easy to bring matters at once to a close. I 
 immediately left Florence, and on my arrival at Rome went at 
 once to the house of Torlonia & Co., and presented my letter of 
 credit to a gentleman named Chiaveri, who was pointed out to 
 me as one of the firm. This was one of the old Duchess Torlo- 
 nia's sons by her first marriage. He read my letter of credit and 
 introduction attentively, and asked me if I were from Leghorn, 
 and of the family of the former head of the Otto-Frank house, 
 Signor Enrico Nolte. I said yes, I was his son. He then said, 
 that his mother, now eighty years of age, remembered my father 
 very affectionately, and would receive me with much pleasure ; 
 he would himself ask permission to introduce me. M. Chiaveri 
 had a terrific squint. The rays of light crossed the point of his 
 nose so exactly that a fly could not have sate thereon. The Eng- 
 lish in Rome, most of whom had credits with Torlonia, told this 
 anecdote of him. They used to complain of his customary charge 
 of a scudo for postage on every letter, large or small, which they 
 were obliged to use in these credits ; but they paid it in order to 
 get invited to the splendid balls and parties of the Torlonias. 
 An Englishman, not to be found there, was looked upon as 
 nobody. The unfortunate Queen Caroline, of England, when 
 there, had ordered her secretary and treasurer, Sir William Gell, 
 to draw some money. He wrote the draft in English, and in the 
 
 usual form — " Pay to or bearer." For want of a better 
 
 word, he used the meaningless one, " Squintum" and sent the draft 
 by a Yorkshire servitor to be cashed. When Chiaveri had read 
 the draft, he looked at the man, as if to identify him, and asked, 
 '' Are you Squintum V The poor fellow, amazed at the cross-fire 
 
 17* 
 
394 ST. PETER'S CHURCH. 
 
 of those most crooked eyes, replied " No, sir, 'tis more likely you 
 should be the man." 
 
 From Torlonia's I went to look up the bosom friend of Count 
 V , and soon succeeded in finding him. He was a French legit- 
 imist, long resident in Rome : his name I have forgotten ; but one 
 of the first things he said was, that it was well that it had pleased 
 Heaven to take away the count, who was a great talker, but 
 worth little in action ; that he knew nothing of business, and yet 
 would have expected a share in this. I soon discovered that the 
 speaker was quite as ignorant of finance as the count could have 
 been. He desired, meanwhile, to introduce me to Mr. Stolz, a 
 Tyrolean, and private secretary to Monsignor Tosti. As this 
 visit would not take place until the next day, I had time to visit 
 Rome's greatest wonder — one of the greatest on earth — St. Peter's 
 church. I was, like most other travellers, at first deceived, almost 
 disappointed — my ideas of its size were so much vaster than it 
 now appeared. At first, as I have said, it is impossible to grasp 
 the true grandeur of this masterpiece of architecture. It is only 
 when you reach one of the semicircular colonnades, that enclose 
 the space before the church, and see the willows sixty feet in 
 height, and begin to compare heights, that you at all comprehend 
 the immensity of the pile, wherein, for many centuries, artists and 
 laics have met from many lands to wonder, and countless troops 
 of pilgrims come to pray. 
 
 In Napoleon's Museum, at Paris, thirty years ago, I had be- 
 come acquainted with other chefs-d'oeuvre of art. Laocoon, Apollo 
 Belvidere, the Gladiator, Raphael's transfiguration, and many 
 others. And yet, to use Meinan's words (in Kotzebue's Men- 
 schenhass und Meue, when he bewails his days of misfortune), 
 " Welcome, old friends, 'tis long since we have met." Four and 
 twenty years had elapsed since I last saw them, and now, what 
 gave me greatest pleasure was, to see them standing there, on the 
 old classic ground, beneath the blue Roman sky, and not afar as 
 trophies of the conqueror. 
 
 I found in M. Stolz a very intelligent, well-educated young 
 man, who promised the fixing of an hour for the business that had 
 called me to Rome. I here set before him all the calculations and 
 
MENTAL ANXIETT. 395 
 
 combinations which I had made in Paris for the conversion, all of 
 which he quickly comprehended. Then came the question, what 
 guaranty would the Holy See have for the fulfilment of a treaty 
 made with me 1 I could only say, " The names of the United 
 Paris bankers." And as I was not yet at liberty to mention 
 those names, I added, "These names will no longer remain a 
 secret after the settlement of the contract ; and if you are not con- 
 tent, I will be the first to strike a pen through it." I let fall a 
 word about being known at Torlonia's, and M. Stolz was quieted. 
 The reader will understand my position. I had no mission or 
 commission to come to Rome ; it was simply a visit at my own 
 risk and cost, and from it might possibly result my being rees- 
 tablished in Paris, in that position which I had held so long, and 
 from which I had been ousted by my involuntary and perilous 
 relation with a brace of scoundrels. The bankers of Paris would 
 be quite ready to pick up the fallen fruit, if I should make my 
 voyage successful ; and it is also clear, that I could have taken no 
 part in a treaty with the Papal treasury without their definitive 
 sanction. M. Cottier's word for this sanction was, however, 
 enough to induce me to do all I could. 
 
 Some days elapsed before M. Stolz was sufficiently instructed 
 about the basis of the conversion, and the means of payment, to 
 lay it before his superior, Monsignor Tosti. At last he succeeded, 
 and told me that the prelate would soon appoint a day to hear 
 me, and give me his decision. I should have enjoyed my leisure 
 in gratifying my love for art, had I been able to forget my own 
 situation, and the uncertainty of my future. But this thought 
 overpowered my tastes, and all I could do was to keep it to my- 
 self, /aire bonne mine a mauvais jeu. 
 
 In one of my morning walks through the lordly villa Borghese, 
 1 fell suddenly upon M. Ouvrard, whom I had last seen five years 
 before (1830) in great prosperity in Paris. The source of this 
 prosperity was, that he knew of the Polignac Ordinances eight 
 days before they were published. As soon as he felt sure of it 
 he made an arrangement with some Paris bankers and exchange 
 agents, and hastened to London. Here he sold so much French 
 state paper, at constantly falling prices, that the house of Roths- 
 
396 OUVRARD IN ROME. 
 
 child, astonished, sought its cause from the first merchants, and for 
 the same purpose sent a courier to Paris. All in vain. Baron 
 James Rothschild, who, a few months before, had negotiated the 
 last governmental loan, by the emission of a 4 per cent, stock, at 
 102 frances 7 cents, betook himself, on Saturday evening, to Prince 
 Polignac, and asked for light. The possibility of the Ordinance 
 was an exchange rumor, but very uncertain ; and when the Baron 
 James left the prince, he did not conceal that the latter had given 
 him his word of honor, that the measure was a mere project, never 
 seriously contemplated, and still but a chimera. But the next 
 day (Sunday, 25th) Charles X. signed the Ordinances, and they 
 were published in the Moniteur on Monday. The whole loan of 
 francs, 78,373,750, lay in the hands of the Rothschilds. Ouvrard 
 had, at another time, won a large sum, variously estimated, but 
 which his exchange agent, Arnet, who was also mine, set down at 
 2,000,000 francs. As soon as he heard of this fortunate combina- 
 tion he returned to London, and leased a whole floor behind the 
 Exchange, near the Hotel de Tours, and furnished it with the 
 utmost luxury. Here exchange agents were left in the ante- 
 chamber, and directions given to chosen ones, in his private room, 
 for the daily operation in the Exchange. His operations were 
 always & baisse; and as the stock, even after Cassimir Perrier's 
 entry into office, fell to 52, and even, in February, 1831, to 48 
 francs, his extraordinary gains may be imagined — that is, partially, 
 for no one could exactly measure the extraordinary extent of his 
 operations. Since that time I lost sight of him, and heard that 
 his enormous gains had gone to his step-son, Blanchard ; and now 
 I met him in the villa Borghese, dressed neatly, but somewhat 
 poorly, and, as I afterwards learned, in great embarrassment. He 
 told me that the affairs of his friend, the wife of Godoy, once 
 Prince of Peace, had drawn him to Rome. He had probably 
 been offered a home by this lady. My feelings may be guessed, 
 as I thought, that I too might be obliged, by my cross fate, to 
 seek a home with somebody ; for I saw this man, who at one 
 time, by his mighty and well-practised talent, had more influence 
 in Spanish finance than Godoy himself, who had had 100 tons of 
 
RESULT OF THE NEGOTIATION. 397 
 
 gold at his disposal, a poor old man, but still, in appearance, 
 unbent. 
 
 After I had seen and spoken to M. Tosti, my negotiation 
 appeared drawing to a close. Unbroken silence was promised on 
 both sides, but discretion is a rare virtue with papal officers. 
 Something had gotten out about the object of my voyage to Rome, 
 and something was known through the agents whom the Roths- 
 childs kept in their pay in most courts. It was not strange, then, 
 that their house in Naples should get wind of it and send one of 
 their younger partners to Rome. As soon as he learned what 
 had occurred, and the real position of affairs, he produced the 
 original contract of a loan made by his house with Torlonia's at 
 5 per cent., which contained a, till then, secret clause, binding the 
 Pontifical government to close with no other house without in- 
 forming the Rothschilds, and then to give them the preference. 
 This earlier loan was made before Monsignor Tosti was in the 
 Finance Department and he was quite ignorant of it. This disco- 
 very placed me in the position of one who after ploughing and 
 sowing a field, and seeing the harvest almost ripened, beholds 
 another come and reap the crop. It was then determined to 
 arrange the Conversion, and leave it with the Rothschilds and my 
 confederation in Paris. It was evident that if the affair were a 
 good one, all of these gentlemen could see it, and that the con- 
 federates would not be willing to have it taken from them. They 
 notified the Rothschilds that their opposition would throw difficul- 
 ties in the way of future transactions, from which resulted that 
 nothing better could be done than to have a friendly understand- 
 ing and participation in all future loans. The result w r as a mutual 
 understanding. 
 
 This ended my sojourn in Rome. I then went by Civita Cas- 
 tellana, Spoletto, Perugia, and Florence, to my birth-place, Leg- 
 horn, which I had not seen for eight-and-thirty years, but where I 
 met my brother Henry, who lived in the pleasantest relations 
 with Webb ; a book-keeper of the former house of Otto Frank, 
 now ninety years old ; the Englishman, Betts, and finally, my 
 beauty of the villa, Pandolfini, now married the second time, and 
 Wearing false hair and teeth. Betts, who had for some time been 
 
398 DEATH OF THE DUKE OF ORLEANS. 
 
 blind, recognized my voice and called me by name : but the lady, 
 nearly sixty, had studied certain attitudes so as to introduce more 
 effect into her meeting with her youthful adorer ; who now, fifty- 
 five years old, was somewhat embarrassed at the sight of the 
 change produced in her by a lapse of forty years. However, 
 both did pretty well, and she showed me a locket containing two 
 braids of hair of different colors. " Guess," she said, with as 
 loving a look as sixty years can give, " where this hair comes 
 from. One braid is my first husband's hair : the other, you must 
 know, is yours." " And did you wear this locket on your neck 
 on your wedding-day '?" I asked, with amazement. " Certainly," 
 was the answer. " My first marriage was notoriously a marriage 
 de convenances At this moment, a young man of some five-and- 
 twenty came forward. " But this second," said I, " is, I suppose, 
 a love match." She pressed his hand and said, " Undoubtedly." 
 The lady was a rich widow, the husband a Swiss, with strong 
 calves to his legs, and little money in his purse. How far the 
 " love " of this match was reciprocal, I did not inquire. Probably 
 both saw good reasons for the marriage, and were satisfied. 
 
 After a three weeks' visit at Leghorn, I went to Genoa. On 
 the steamer were the former King of Westphalia ; the present 
 Prince Jerome, and his niece, Countess Camerata, from Bologna, 
 daughter of Princess Eliza Bacciocchi, Napoleon's sister. The 
 Countess was a great lump of flesh, with her uncle's face, only 
 stupefied. Jerome appeared to me exactly as the history of 1814 
 has described him, a man whose personal insignificance rendered 
 the dignity he desired naturally impossible. In Genoa, I learned 
 from the popular Galignani's Messenger, the sudden death, sad to 
 every philanthropist, of the most promising prince of his time, 
 the Duke of Orleans. I cannot describe my feelings of sorrow, 
 for I knew, as though I had been a Frenchman, what France had 
 lost, as a man, what mankind had lost, and what the future peace 
 of Europe would suffer by this death. I felt in the same way, 
 when in the hall of the Travellers' Club, Pall-Mall, London, I 
 received the news of Canning's death, while expecting to hear that 
 he was better. Every one felt that mankind had lost a friend, 
 and every face was saddened by the news. Four lines from the 
 
" GLOOMY CIRCUMSTANCES." 399 
 
 "Morning Chronicle" show the public esteem for the extraordi- 
 nary man who had preceded Sir Robert Peel in his politics, by 
 twenty years. The lines are these : 
 
 " What could we hope in other years, 
 If the longest life had crowned him? 
 But thus to die, with a nation's tears, 
 And a world's applause around him." 
 
 From Genoa I passed through Milan, Geneva, and Lyons, to 
 Fontainbleau, whither my wife and children had come to meet 
 me, and where, two days after our meeting, the sudden death of 
 my youngest son filled up the measure of my sorrows. In Lyons 
 I had heard of the reunion of the Rothschilds with the six bankers, 
 and I now set out for Paris, almost penniless, without employ- 
 ment, without any views for the future. With the dead body of 
 our son, we rode through the night to Paris. The funeral over, 
 I took rooms for a few weeks in the country, till my wife could 
 make arrangements to quit our present house, lease cheaper apart- 
 ments, and narrow her ideas of housekeeping. In these gloomy 
 circumstances, it was no little comfort to find some immediate 
 employment. If old business relations had given a right to 
 friendship, yet my army contract business had separated me 
 from my old acquaintances, and I had, literally, no one to whom 
 I could turn. In this necessity, my friend Delaroche came to see 
 me, and mentioned the transactions of the business of the " Nu 
 mismatic Treasury," as a probable means of gaining my bread. 
 
 Of this, the next chapter will enlighten the reader. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE INVENTION OF N. COLLAS AND ITS APPLICATION— 
 
 The Company of the " Trevor de Numismatique et de Glyptique" — Its first 
 success at Paris — Effort to extend it in England — Journey to London — Visit 
 to the Cabinet of Medals, in the British Museum — Mr. E. Hawkins, the 
 ■warden — Combination of his project for a numismatic history of Great 
 Britain with my scheme — Attempted conclusion of an arrangement with the 
 Trustees of the museum, in consequence of an understanding with the book- 
 seller Tilt — His petition to the House of Commons, praying parliamentary 
 aid in support of our project — The subject transferred to the Commons' 
 Committee on the British Museum — Hearing of witnesses by the committee 
 — Sir Francis Chantrey, the sculptor — Characteristic anecdotes of that 
 artist — Unworthy opposition to my plan by the painter Brockedon, in 
 combination with W. Wyon, the coin engraver, and others, in favor of the 
 mathematical instrument-maker, Bates — The committee arrive at no definite 
 conclusion, and allow the examination of witnesses to drag on — Uninter- 
 rupted efforts on my part with the Trustees of the museum to gain my 
 point — The nature of my propositions meets with a very satisfactory recep- 
 tion on their part, and they carry the cost of executing my plan into their 
 budget — A deficit of 2,000,000 pounds sterling, in the general national Bud- 
 get, compels the B>oyal High Chancellor to put his veto on this new appro- 
 priation. 
 
 A mechanic of great inventive talent, by name Nicholas Collas, 
 of Paris, was ordered, just after the Revolution of 1830, by a 
 copper-plate engraver, in Ghent, to make a machine, already 
 known in England and America, for ruling or stippling straight or 
 curved lines on steel and copper plates. This, together with a 
 recollection of Collard's machine for stippling dial-plates, watch- 
 cases, snuff-boxes, &c., called " tour a guillocher," a full drawing 
 of whicfc will be found in Bergeron's Manuel des Tourneurs, 1816, 
 put it into his head to invent a process by which medals, bas-re- 
 liefs, intaglios, etc., might be engraved, for printing on steel or 
 
A NEW INVENTION. 401 
 
 copper. After five tedious months, Collas produced his first 
 engraving in 1831. This product only proved the possibility 
 of the project. The rest of the year and part of the next passed 
 in studying to perfect the machine. At last, in autumn, 1832, he 
 produced some copper-plate engravings, which amazed every one 
 by their correctness and their almost palpable relief. It amazed 
 Delaroche and myself. We had to touch the paper and look at 
 the back of it to convince ourselves that it was not embossed. 
 When the machine was perfected and its results evident, it struck 
 Delaroche and myself that it might be used for artistic and scien- 
 tific purposes, to give to the public some knowledge of certain 
 private treasures, as cabinets of medals, which are usually hidden 
 in colleges, and which might be thus cheaply exhibited to the 
 world. At last, in connection with M. Lachevardiere — a clever 
 man of artistic spirit and knowledge, who had first made the 
 French acquainted with the Penny Magazine by his Magasin 
 Pittoresque — we organized a society of shareholders, to whom 
 Mr. Collas not only sold his patents, but took the oversight 
 and direction of the machines. A share of the Magasin Pitto- 
 resque, at first but 500 francs, rose the second year to 1500 
 francs. Our society was called " Tresor de Numismatique et de 
 Glyptique ;" its capital, 50,000 francs, was divided into fifty 
 shares, of 1000 each, whereof I took fifty, Delaroche, Lachevar- 
 diere, and their friends, taking the rest. A year passed in copy- 
 ing the rarest medals, bas-reliefs, intaglios, etc. Toward the close 
 of 1833 appeared some numbers of the publication, at the low 
 price of 5 francs for five folio sheets, with texts from the most 
 learned in France in numismatic and glyptic matters. The gov- 
 ernment was asked for support, and, on the report of a person 
 named to investigate the matter, such support was promised. The 
 Minister of the Interior subscribed for 100 copies. His Majesty, 
 Louis Philippe, always a friend and patron of art ; the dukes of 
 Orleans and Nemours; all the princesses ; the Minister of Public 
 Instruction ; the Chamber of Peers ; the Royal Cabinet of medals 
 and antiques ; the Directors of the mint ; indeed, all who were 
 known as patrons of art, not only in France but in Germany and 
 Holland, were down upon th* list of subscribers. In England 
 
402 VISIT TO LONDON. 
 
 only was it received with indifference and but little known. The 
 newness of the copper-plate had excited attention, but the actual 
 service of the work seemed to the British Art-world only a proof 
 of the progress of the graver. It is not to be gainsayed that, for 
 correctness and cheapness, this work would have been of the 
 greatest use, and would have been very popular too, if numisma- 
 tic or glyptic studies were more common among the practical 
 people of Great Britain. But only by the clear art-spirit of a 
 capital like Paris, the home of intelligence and feeling for art, and 
 by the artistic knowledge of Germany, her only central point and 
 home of unity, could this invention take its proper rank among 
 useful arts. Nothing would put back a discovery like the electric 
 telegraph, which appeals to all ; but a true artist-spirit and appre- 
 ciation of a discovery connected with art alone, exist only in 
 France and Germany. I have seen the truth of this remark 
 proved in later years ; but it now appeared to us that the luke- 
 warmness of the British public toward our work, could only be 
 attributed to the want of knowledge of its existence, and to the 
 laziness of the French booksellers in London. I told Delaroche 
 that an agent to bring it before the upper classes in England 
 could not fail. Lord Francis Egerton, now Earl of Ellesmere, 
 had seen the first number at Delaroche's, had been greatly struck 
 with it, and had not only subscribed, but had promised it his 
 patronage. This appeared to me to be an English port wherein 
 our bark could find good anchorage, and our work be widely scat- 
 tered through the country. I, therefore, determined, as my mite 
 toward the undertaking, to go to England ; for, look where I 
 would, I found nothing else that offered me the means of liveli- 
 hood. I took a letter of introduction from Delaroche to Lord 
 Egerton, and left Paris with twenty pounds in my pocket. 
 
 One of my first visits in London was to the coin and medal- 
 cabinet of the British Museum, which contains some 90,000 speci- 
 mens. Then I learned there was a perfect collection of all medals 
 struck in honor of the men, or in illustration of the history, of 
 the country, and that the dies were broken. The idea struck 
 me to get up a medallion history of England, and to make use of 
 the 3000 specimens in the miseum therefor* The proper person 
 
LORD ABERDEEN. 403 
 
 to be addressed was Mr. Edward Hawkins, overseer of the Cabi 
 net of Medals, a man whose reputation for uprightness was no less 
 than for talent and learning, in which he took first rank, and who for 
 many years had been engaged upon a work of this kind. I was in- 
 troduced to him, and was lucky enough to gain his good will. He 
 had examined with visible pleasure the proofs of our machine, and 
 now hoped for the first time that his work might be finished, so 
 long delayed by the enormous cost of engraving the medals upon 
 copper or steel. 
 
 After the groundwork of the work was settled upon, the next 
 thing needed was a publisher. But the London booksellers whom 
 I knew — Murray, Byron's publisher : Longman, Rees, Brown & 
 Co. ; Pickering and others, would not listen to me. The difficulty 
 of the project was the first objection ; the indifference of the British 
 public to works of this nature, the second. I now presented my 
 letter of introduction to Lord Egerton ; he took it and promised 
 his help to my undertaking, towards which he gave me a particu- 
 lar letter of recommendation to his friend, the Earl of Aberdeen, 
 an important member of British Museum Committee on Antiques. 
 The cabinet of medals was in this department. 
 
 I had heard much of Lord Aberdeen. One of my friends who 
 had often met him, described him as the haughtiest and most re- 
 served of all tories, from whom I might scarcely expect a polite 
 word. I determined to send my letter to his residence, Argyle 
 House, with a request that he would name a day and hour to 
 receive me. A polite note gave the information, and I called upon 
 him. I found a cold, serious, but yet gentle man, who gave 
 me a chair in a very courtly way, and inquired in what he could 
 serve me. I stated my project as briskly and clearly as possible, 
 the only way with the practical business-like Englishman, and 
 found it received even with a sort of warmth. He promised a 
 couple of letters to other members of the Museum Committee, 
 and said that he would give me all possible aid. When I received 
 these letters, I found a couple of lines from Lord Aberdeen, very 
 pressing lines, to Lord Ashburton, who was an important member 
 of the Committee. On the visit which I paid to this old friend 
 and patron, I did not send up my name, but told the servant to 
 
404 SIR FRANCIS CHANTREY. 
 
 announce a gentleman who brought a letter of introduction from 
 Lord Aberdeen. At my entrance he was doubly astonished, 
 first to see me, and then to learn my business, so widely different 
 from that in which we had been engaged together. He heard the 
 story of my last five years, and promised to do what he could 
 for my project when it should come before the committee. Once 
 assured of the help of the Museum Committee, it became an 
 easier matter to find a publisher for a Medal History of England 
 I found Charles Tilt already well known for the beauty of his art 
 publications. The plan was laid before the Trustees, who through 
 pure ignorance of what it all meant, laid it for the time aside. 
 Fortunately for me, there was a daily committee of the House 
 of Commons busied with an examination into the affairs of the 
 Museum, and when the Trustees' decision was made known, 
 it was hinted to me that I would do far better with the Parlia- 
 mentary Committee. This could only be done by petition to the 
 House, and Mr. Tilt willingly sent in such petition, craving an 
 examination into the whole thing. As luck would have it, I had 
 many acquaintances among the members, and I spared no trouble 
 in seeking them out, and trying to interest them in my scheme. 
 At last my desires were fulfilled, but a rew difficulty arose. 
 Many of the members of the Committee heU that they had no 
 right to do anything with the petition. Even Mr. Hawkins 
 thought it probable that they would not touch it. But several 
 of them interested themselves for me; as B. Hawes, W. B. 
 Baring (now Lord Ashburton) Thomas Thorn ely, and Lord 
 Stanley, now Earl of Derby, to whom I was presented by my 
 friend Adam Hodgson of Liverpool, who had married one of his 
 cousins. I labored with these gentlemen, until we obtained a 
 resolution to examine this new method of engraving. Mr. Haw- 
 kins could scarcely believe his eyes when he received a request 
 to present himself before the committee on June 14, 1836. Sir 
 Erancis Chantrey, to whom Lord Egerton had introduced me, 
 came also and warmly promoted my cause. 
 
 It is well known, that since the Greeks and Romans, none have 
 reached such excellence in portrait sculpture, busts, as Chantrey, 
 and, since his death, no one has taken his place. He knew his 
 
HIS BUST OF TOOKE. 405 
 
 countrymen well, and that in painting and sculpture they parti- 
 cularly encouraged the portrait. " 'T is the most money-making 
 part of my business," he said to me once, as I wondered that 
 the sculptor of the Children in Litchfield Cathedral, could stick to 
 bust-making, which required no inspiration. He said he could 
 not live by his chisel without it. He was a farmer's son, and 
 had studied painting in his youth, but with no great success. At 
 a family feast, where his mother wished to regale her guests with 
 a pasty, he conceived the idea of moulding a hen in dough, and 
 putting it on the top of the pasty. This hen was his golden egg- 
 laying goose, for it commenced that fortune which grew before 
 his death to £15,000 per annum. The fowl was so exquisitely 
 natural, that the. fame of it spread far and wide, and Chantrey, 
 after several other attempts, recognized his proper vocation to be 
 that of a sculptor, and went to London. Here he earned a poor 
 livelihood by portrait painting, and at last saved enough to pro- 
 cure a little sculptor's studio. He then went to the celebrated 
 Home Tooke, who had broken a stout lance with Junius, and had 
 been prosecuted by Pitt as a demagogue and public disturber, and 
 obtained from him several sittings. When the bust was finished, 
 Chantrey had not money enough to cast it in plaster ; but he got 
 it at last, and took the bust to the sculptor Nollekens, at time 
 at the head of the art world in London. He was too late, how 
 ever, for the exhibition. Though a man of cool phlegmatic tem- 
 perament, Chantrey was " cruelly disappointed." " Let us see 
 what you have here," said Nollekens, and Chantrey uncovered 
 the bust. At the first glance, Nollekens started with amazement. 
 " What !" he cried, " is that your first work V Scarcely had 
 Chantrey said yes, when he added, " Well, it is too perfect to be 
 kept from the public," and though the exhibition was full, Nolle- 
 kens took back one of his own works, and placed the ticket upon 
 Tooke's bust and the best in the exhibition. The consequences 
 were unexampled, but well merited. I have seen it fifty times, 
 and always with fresh pleasure ; for it bore the unmistakable stamp 
 of Truth, and to all who had seen Tooke or not, it appeared like a 
 living being, who would answer if addressed. Before the forty days 
 of exhibition were over, Chantrey told me he had received orders 
 
406 HIS EMINENT SUCCESS. 
 
 for £5,000 worth of busts. His reputation and his fortune were 
 made. The plaster gallery of his busts, in his own studio, can 
 not be looked upon without astonishment. The life-likeness 
 which was the great merit of Tooke's bust, is found in all, and all 
 exhibit the character as well as the physical appearance of the 
 originals. Chantrey surpassed the great Sir Joshua, as well as 
 Lawrence, and all other English portrait takers, in presenting the 
 exact likeness of the sitter, and his peculiar method of modelling 
 a head was the best proof of his cleverness as artist. He did not 
 keep his sitter in one position ; but after a short study of his head, 
 features, and manner, he allowed him to move about and converse 
 naturally. One day in his gallery of busts, he asked me if I 
 would like to see his two finest heads, and to my affirmative reply, 
 he said, " Here they are !" pointing to George IV., and the Mar- 
 quis of Westminster. " I have bothered myself but little," he 
 said, " about Gall and Spurzheim, although there is much truth 
 in their observations. In these two heads the organ of pride is 
 the same, and cannot fail to be recognized." Another day I asked 
 him whether his long practice had not shown him that the eyes 
 of very reflective people were deeply sunk, while those of persons 
 whose thoughts were more open and public, were prominent. I 
 gave this as the result of my own observation, without any refer- 
 ence to the fact that his own eyes were deep sunk. " Will my 
 decision," said he, " confirm your own observation V " No," I said, 
 " but the resemblance of our views would please me, who have 
 seen and looked sharply at so many clever great men." " Well," 
 he said, " there is much truth in your observation ; but, as a rule, 
 it is full of exceptions : for instance, look at me. What do I look 
 like 1 Why, like an honest, dull-headed, perhaps stupid, English- 
 man, but I am not a fool for all that." This way of speaking, 
 gave his conversation much liveliness, and I was very fond of his 
 society. The son of a small farmer, his education had not been 
 remarkable. Now, however, his rapid rise had made necessary 
 correspondence with great and highly educated men, as well as 
 official communications to the government. To avoid error, he 
 had taken the well-instructed Scottish poet Allan Cunningham for 
 secretary, and, at a good salary, committed to him his correspond- 
 
HIS INFLUENCE. 40 f 
 
 enoe and his books. I was induced to believe that Chantrey had 
 not only learned good grammar from his amanuensis, but also a 
 better hand-writing, for I possess the hand-writing of both, and 
 the resemblance between them is striking. 
 
 Chantrey was supreme authority in all governmental sculpture. 
 Nothing could be done without him. As the bronze equestrian 
 statue of Charles II. had been observed to shake, on stormy days, 
 upon its pedestal, Sir Francis was requested to examine it, and 
 report. The English are as fond of reports as the Austrians. 
 The statue had been fastened with iron nails, which the rust had 
 turned to dust, so that its weight alone kept it steady. " Any 
 blockhead might have told them," said Chantrey, " that brass fas- 
 tenings were the only things that would do for the future — there 
 was no need to bother me about the matter." In his verbal 
 reports, however, some of which I heard, to government commit- 
 tees, Sir Francis never failed to make the best of the matter ; 
 dwelling with great gravity on the points in which he had moved. 
 He liked his authority as Sir Oracle, and when I would laugh, he 
 would look grave until the committee had gone, and then say, 
 with a smile, " It will not do to trifle with these gentlemen." 
 
 I saw his influence, and wanted his testimony before a commit- 
 tee of the House. He did not at first seem very willing, but I 
 pressed the matter, speaking of the pleasure it would give Lord 
 Francis Egerton, to see his taste for foreign art aided, and at last 
 got from him his promise to come and testify. 
 
 When he came into the room, every one rose respectfully, and 
 shook hands with him. All over London, particularly in the 
 world of art, much had been said about the copper-plates of our 
 Tresor de Numismatique et de Glyptique, particularly the word 
 "distortion" had been freely used, and that the figures were 
 untrue. The director of the Cabinet of Medals, Mr. Hawkins, was 
 examined after Sir Francis. To the question, whether these engrav- 
 ings by the machine of M. Collas were wanting in correctness, and 
 whether the eye of an artist could perceive the distortion, even if 
 invisible to ordinary eyes, Sir Francis answered as follows : — 
 
 No. 5653. — Q. " You believe that this lack of correctness does 
 not injure this as a work of art ?" A. " I r;ever noticed this slight 
 
408 NEW COMPETITORS. 
 
 incorrectness until it was pointed out to me, and then it seemed 
 of very little importance." (Remember that the first sculptor in 
 England is speaking.) " And these representations of medals are 
 the best I have hitherto seen ; better than the ordinary copper- 
 plates after drawings." 
 
 No. 5658. — Q. " Do these plates please you as works of art ?" 
 A. " Perfectly. They answer every purpose of art." 
 
 No. 5660. — Q. " This incorrectness, then, is not so great as to 
 amount to distortion or any other visible defect V A. " It pro- 
 duced no unpleasant effect upon me ; nor did I remark it until it 
 was pointed out to me." 
 
 No. 5799. — Q. "Would you, being in possession of one of 
 these representations, consider yourself in possession of a copy, or 
 its equivalent, of the medal $ M A. " That would be my feeling, 
 as artist." 
 
 Nos. 5801, 5802.— " Here," said Sir Francis, "the word dis- 
 tortion is improper. Distortion is too strong and signifies a great 
 want of truthfulness, not the case with these plates." 
 
 Mr. Hawkins spoke in the same way ; and the testimony of 
 these two gentlemen had so much influence with the committee, 
 that they promised me to speak well of the undertaking, and even 
 more. But this hope vanished all too soon. Two days after the 
 examination, I heard that Wm. Wyon, seal and die maker to the 
 royal mint, and Wm. Brockeden, an unfortunate historical painter, 
 had determined to inquire into the matter closely ; because they 
 desired to give all their influence to a Mr. John Bates, a machinist, 
 in London, who four years ago had obtained patents for various 
 improvements in line engraving, but whose indolence had kept 
 him slumbering all this time. I had heard little of him before, 
 except from everybody, even Mr. Wyon himself, that his laziness 
 would prevent his ever completing his invention. At last the 
 committee determined to hear Messrs. Wyon and Brockeden, on the 
 24th of June, when they appeared, with Mr. John Henning, sen., 
 an old Scottish sculptor, and Mr. Doubleday, a voluntary aid in 
 the British Museum. The tendency of this examination was evi- 
 dent — the failure of the project for which I had so striven, the 
 object of this unworthy combination, at the head of which was 
 
THEIR OPPOSITION. 409 
 
 Mr. Brockeden, an old and interested intriguer. I have already 
 said that Brockeden commenced in the world of art as historical 
 painter. At his first exhibition he was greeted with universal 
 reprobation, from which he never recovered, because criticism 
 could not correct nor lessen his self-conceit. His want of success 
 induced him to make and describe an Alpine journey, and in 
 union with Finden, Heath, and others, to publish the Keepsake, 
 which had so long and indescribable success. It was the golden 
 age of mediocre productions, and Brockeden gained abundantly 
 thereby. As compensation for his failure as historical painter, he 
 had found a place as Mecaenas of art and patron of invention. His 
 universal genius was equally at home in the perfection of litho- 
 graphy, and in the invention of India-rubber corks ; and he under- 
 took everything that seemed likely to pay — which, indeed, was 
 the cause of his interference now. For the reader will understand 
 that neither Brockeden nor Wyon had been invited by the com- 
 mittee, but that they had insisted on being heard. The whole 
 cause of the opposition was Brockeden's private interest ; he hav- 
 ing listened to a conversation between Mr. Wyon and myself, on 
 occasion of a visit paid by me to the mint. Without having any 
 previous acquaintance with me, he broke into the conversation, by 
 asking, " What will your copper-plates cost 1 ?" Mr. Wyon saw 
 the impoliteness, and after he had introduced his friend, I observed 
 to the latter, that he had nothing to do with our conversation. 
 This interview had no positive evident result. Mr. Wyon asked 
 time for reflection ; said that he would in no wise oppose me, but 
 that, perhaps, I had better not call on him to testify about the 
 lack of correctness in the drawings. I then said, that I preferred 
 to have his name. He replied, that he would advise with only 
 one person in the matter, namely, Mr. Hawkins, who was daily 
 expected from Paris ; and that he would determine so soon as he 
 had spoken to that gentleman. Soon after, Mr. Hawkins told me 
 that the interview had taken place, but without result, as neither 
 could convert the other to his views. Then I determined to leave 
 Mr. Wyon in peace. He had voluntarily promised not to oppose 
 me ; but at his first examination, I saw the worthlessness of his 
 promise. On the second day after, I heard that Wyon and 
 
 18 
 
410 CLOUDS ARE GATHERING. 
 
 Brockeden had obtained great interest, for the destruction of my 
 project, and were likely to reap where I had sowed. The ground 
 of the opposition was the imperfectness of our machine ; and 
 although these gentlemen had never seen one, they still held 
 themselves clever enough to decide, that the productions of such 
 a thing must be distorted. Here was the great difficulty in my 
 way, and in the way of Collas's machine. For if the committee 
 were convinced that it could not produce correct engravings, the 
 scheme was ruined. I begged permission to produce other wit- 
 nesses ; which was at once granted, with a kindness not to be for- 
 gotten by a stranger, whose plans were thus about to be destroyed. 
 On the 12th of July appeared before the committee the eminent 
 medalist of the Royal Mint, M. Benedetto Pistrucci, and the great 
 cameo cutter, Wilson. The former said, that so far from distort- 
 ing, the machine w.ould give a better idea than even a medal or 
 cameo ; as it would furnish, not a vertical but an oblique view, 
 rendering the light clearer and the shadow deeper. The mathe- 
 matical correctness given by the vertical view of a medal, proves 
 by the measure, from the centre to the rim, that the effect is given 
 by the engraving as perfectly as by the medal itself. "The 
 engravings," he said, "were of no value to the medalist. He 
 wanted nothing but correctness of contour; but for the public, for 
 all others, these were far more useful and valuable." 
 
 Under these circumstances, the committee could come to no 
 resolution. They called no more testimony, and allowed their 
 report to remain unreported. My opponents had not won, but 
 they kept me out of the reward of my services. Fate had dealt 
 hardly with me, but yet kept a crueller trick in store. I had now 
 to reflect on the end of my mercantile career in the United States, 
 in 1826 ; on the end of my contractorship in 1834 ; and now, on 
 the destruction of a reasonable hope, and an almost executed 
 plan. The motto of my book was always present to me — 
 
 " There are wanderers o'er eternity, 
 Whose bark floats on, and anchored 
 Never shall be." 
 
 yet I did not let my courage fail. The German proverb says, 
 
JAMES BOGARDUS. 4.11 
 
 " Will is power." Napoleon says, "The word impossible is not in 
 my dictionary." This, thank God, has always upheld me. This 
 time a lucky accident helped me. 
 
 Mr. Brockeden had, in his determination to ruin me, and 
 advance the cause of Mr. Bates, written an article in the Literary 
 Gazette. Fancying himself a linguist, and wishing to speak of 
 the "procede de Collas" (Collas's process), he always wrote "pro- 
 ces de Collas, (Collas's lawsuit.) He knew me to be an Ameri- 
 can citizen, as I had been for thirty years, and his wit described 
 me as the American owner of a French invention ; while he con- 
 sidered me as very wicked, in desiring to rob a celebrated Eng- 
 lish engineer of his invention. This article fell into the hands of a 
 native American, resident in London, and awakened his patriotism 
 in my behalf. It was the then well-known, and since renowned 
 civil engineer, James Bogardus, of New York. Inventor of the 
 gas-metre, he had employed another American to come to Eng- 
 land, and sell the patent. This unworthy villain sold everything 
 to a speculator, for £1000, who sold it to all the gas companies 
 for £10,000, and when Bogardus came on, he gained £800 only. 
 Bogardus, who had made ruling machines for the great paper 
 manufacturers in New York, and knew of the medal machine, 
 knew also the power of Bates' machine. Saxton, the bank-note 
 engraver, in Philadelphia, and others, had already found out 
 Bates' machine, although they could not prevent his getting a 
 patent. Mr. Saxton, in a letter of May 6, 1836, gave me all the 
 particulars of this. Bogardus offered his help to make me a per- 
 fect machine in a few weeks. He did so, and our work was so 
 perfect, in effect of light and shade, as to give all that was want- 
 ing to the production of Collas's invention. 
 
 As my readers cannot be interested in this systematic and 
 methodic persecution of my opponents, I will content myself with 
 setting down one anecdote. 
 
 Mr. Bates sent copperplates to all the officers of the Museum, 
 with circulars, stating that these had no distortions like the 
 French machine. In every window you saw the head of the Ari- 
 adne from the cameo, labelled, "By Mr. Bates' Machine;" and 
 an abominable distortion, labelled, " By the French Machine." 
 
412 HENRY HOPE, ESQ. 
 
 Finally, Mr. Bates introduced the engraver, Frcebairn, to the 
 bookseller, Herring, four years after his machine had ceased to be 
 known by anybody. I had the Canterbury Pilgrimage, by Her- 
 ring, engraved by our machine in Paris, for Herring, and fifteen 
 hundred copies were sold in one week. I w T as still in treaty with 
 Mr. Herring, when Mr. Freebairn was endeavoring to convince 
 him that all the productions of the French machine were dis- 
 tortions. 
 
 All was ready to go on with our arrangement, and to make the 
 productions of the Collas machine as popular as possible. The 
 London Literary Gazette, which had thoroughly taken sides with 
 Mr. Bates, published Feb. 11, 1847, an article by Mr. Brockeden, 
 containing a letter from Mr. Bates, in which he excuses himself 
 for mingling in my plans. " For more than four years," said he, 
 " at the time that I discovered the correct machine, I had the 
 Museum medals in view. I had made my application to the 
 Trustees, but they paid no attention to it. I was perhaps too 
 modest, and did not possess the advantage of being a foreigner." 
 Every one knew that nothing more would have been heard of Bates, 
 had Brockeden not discovered that his machine might be made 
 valuable. This interference with me was perfectly voluntary ; 
 Mr. Wyon's opposition was a breach of promise, and the means 
 adopted were unworthy of honorable men. I was fortunate 
 enough, with the approbation of the first men and friends of art 
 in England, to expose these unworthy intrigues, in my " Memo- 
 rial of Facts connected with the History of Medallic Engraving, 
 and the process of A. Collas," in Charles Tilt's superb work, 
 " The Authors of England." The present possessor of the mag- 
 nificent seat " Deepdene," Henry Hope, Esq., whose collection 
 of jewels in the London Crystal Palace excited so much attention, 
 and who is the son of the late H. T. Hope, named in the second 
 chapter, after reading this memorial, wrote to me as follows : — ■ 
 " I never until now studied the details of your struggle; but, after 
 a careful analysis of your exposition, I must say that you excel, 
 not only by the favorable artistic testimony, and the clear logic 
 of your argumentation, but by the rare beauty of your copper- 
 plates." 
 
LORD ABERDEEN. 413 
 
 Before I returned to Paris, I sent a small collection of engra- 
 vings, by Bogardus's machine, to the Earl of Aberdeen, who had 
 so helped me in my project. The answer of this gentleman — 
 never properly estimated during his long life — ought not to be 
 uninteresting to the reader, now that he has probably succeeded 
 in closing forevei the Temple of Janus, between the warring 
 Whigs and Tories, and perfected the union of the parties. It is 
 as follows : 
 
 " Argyle House, Aug. 2, 1833. 
 Sir — I beg to express my acknowledgments for the very beau- 
 tiful specimens of engraving, by your machine, which you have 
 had the goodness to send me. It would appear that the art had 
 now arrived at a degree of perfection which is not likely to be 
 surpassed. 
 
 I have the honor to be, sir, 
 
 Your very ob't. humble servant, 
 
 ABERDEEN. 
 Mr. V. Nolte. 
 I inclose the order for the House of Lords." 
 
 I must confess my vanity, and frankly declare that my recep- 
 tion by this high Tory is one of the most pleasing recollections of 
 my life. What I had to say to him about the Museum business 
 was soon over ; but when I took my hat to go, he begged me to 
 remain, and answer a few other questions, about matters gene- 
 rally in France. This was particularly the case when I returned 
 from Paris in 1837. 
 
 The whole course of the Brockeden clique had made a bad 
 impression upon all right-minded Englishmen, especially of the 
 higher classes. Honorable feeling induced them to examine my 
 project, and after conviction of its usefulness, to support it ; yet 
 there still existed a fear of showing to the masses a support for a 
 foreign combination, which they might be refusing to their own 
 equally deserving countrymen. Even if cheapness, rapidity, and 
 the excellence of the engraving could be shown to be on our side, 
 yet the success of the strangers would be placed in its worst pos- 
 sible light by the other party. This feeling existed also among 
 
4H FAILURE OF THE PROJECT. 
 
 the trustees of the Museum, and it was essential to show to the 
 public, that the debate was not between native and foreigner, but 
 about the relative merits of the two machines. To bring this 
 about, I placed before the trustees, through the medium of Mr. 
 Hawkins, some twelve or eighteen engravings, from the most dif- 
 ficult medals, proper for the illustration of the medallic history 
 written by Mr. H. ; and they were shown by him to be the 
 cheapest, best, and most rapidly produced possible illustrations for 
 his work. The trustees were pleased, and, to my no small joy, 
 recommended a grant from the treasury of £8000, towards 
 the furtherance of the plan arranged by Mr. Tilt and myself. 
 This was to be laid before the treasurer by Mr. Spring Rice, now 
 Lord Monteagle. The customary budget of the trustees had for 
 many years never surpassed £20,000 ; this year it rose to £28,000, 
 and the warmest recommendations of me, by the trustees, accom- 
 panied it to the treasury. The then secretary of the treasury was 
 Mr. Francis Thornhill Baring, eldest son of Sir Thomas Baring, 
 Bart., who had been first lord of the admiralty, under Lord John 
 Russell's administration, and who succeeded to his father's title. 
 It was one of the Barings whom I did not personally know ; but 
 his brother Thomas, now as then one of the heads of the London 
 firm, had given me a letter to him. On my second visit, he said 
 that the recommendation of the trustees would cause him to lay 
 the matter before the Chancellor, with whom the final power of 
 decision rested. " Here," he said, taking a bundle of papers, 
 " here is my report, and here are the recommendations of the 
 trustees. Now all is ready for the decision : what that will be I 
 cannot guess ; it depends upon the money to spare." 
 
 These last were not hopeful words, and a couple of weeks later 
 the State Budget showed a deficit of £2,000,000. I saw that the 
 matter was settled. No treasurer could consent to increase that 
 deficit by a grant of £8,000 even though that were only to be 
 paid in the course of four years. 
 
 Mr. Rice informed the trustees that many other things were 
 pressing upon the treasury of far more importance than a " Me- 
 dallic History of England" could possibly be. All was over. I 
 bowed before the bitter fate that, after two and a half years' labor, 
 thus again overwhelmed me. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA— THE QUEEN'S BENCH-PRISON— THE 
 QUEEN'S CORONATION. 
 
 Plan to strike off a portrait-medal of the queen — Sir John Conroy, grand 
 equerry of the Duchess of Kent — His resignation — The Baroness Lehzen, 
 lady-secretary to the queen, who procures admission for myself and the 
 sculptor Weeks to Her Majesty's presence — The result of this audience 
 — My arrest and confinement in the Queen's Bench-prison, in consequence of 
 legal proceedings on the part of the litigious and runaway Duke Charles of 
 Brunswick — My liberation, after 3£ months' imprisonment — Unexpected 
 arrival of my wife — The queen's Coronation-day — The simultaneous ascent 
 of seven air-balloons from Hyde Park — Return of my wife to Paris — My 
 determination to revisit the United States — Announcement of the second 
 trip of the steamship Great Western across the Atlantic Ocean — Old Admi- 
 ral Coffin, whom I meet at Leamington, tries to dissuade me from availing 
 myself of this opportunity to sail for New York, and to prove the insecu- 
 rity of ocean steam-navigntion, upon nautical grounds — Still, I sail by the 
 steamer — Arrival at New York, after an uncommonly stormy passage of 
 eighteen days. 
 
 I had occupied myself about a medallion-portrait of Victoria, 
 before her coming to the throne. Mr. Henry Weeks, a very 
 worthy young artist, pupil and right-hand man of Sir Francis 
 Chantrey, and who for a couple of years had made most of the 
 busts and statues which passed for Chantrey's, wanted to make a 
 bust of her future majesty, an honor which I resolved to procure 
 for him. As he had also determined to make her medallion-like- 
 ness for me, I determined to address Sir John Conroy, Master of 
 Horse and Gentleman of Honor to the Duchess of Kent, with 
 whom he had great influence. Lord Francis Egerton, with his 
 usual kindness, gave me a note of introduction. Sir John received 
 me politely, but with a reserve that showed how important a 
 member of the household he esteemed himself, and assured me 
 
416 QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
 graciously that he would represent my desires to her Highness, 
 and, if possible, obtain her consent that her daughter should sit to 
 Weeks for a bust. He soon informed me that the princess was 
 ready, and that Mr. Weeks would be received upon a certain day. 
 He obtained one sitting ; but then King William became seriously 
 ill, and the surgeons pronounced his case dangerous. Further sit- 
 tings were postponed. I bewailed this to Sir John, observing that, 
 once upon the throne, the princess would perhaps be unable to 
 give any more sittings. He promised to speak to the duchess, 
 and in a few days wrote to me as follows : — 
 
 Kensington Palace, June 17, 1837. 
 Sir John Conroy has been commanded by Her Royal Highness, 
 the Duchess of Kent, that, although the Princess Victoria cannot 
 now sit to Mr. Weeks, he may be assured of future sittings from 
 Her Royal Highness. 
 
 King William IV. died on June 20, 1837, and the Princess 
 Victoria mounted the throne. Not long after the Royal Gazette 
 contained the news that Sir John Conroy no longer occupied 
 the post of Master of Horse to the Duchess, nor any other 
 post at Court. All London was amazed. Sir John had been a 
 great favorite with the Duke of Kent, and with his widow, the 
 Duchess. His daughter, who was born about the same time with 
 the queen, received the name of Victoria, and the two girls had 
 not only grown up together, but were intimate friends. The 
 cause of this sudden separation and of Sir John's fall remained 
 unknown. From what I had seen of Sir John's manner, I judged 
 that Victoria had, perhaps, had too much of his authority, as prin- 
 cess, and had now determined to get rid of him, and not to allow 
 him any longer to remain in her mother's household. It is well 
 known that the young queen took no trouble to hide her impa- 
 tience of control, as, on the retirement of the Melbourne ministry, 
 when she determined to keep all the court ladies in their places, 
 among others, the Duchess of Sutherland. This was an innova- 
 that Lord Melbourne's successor, Sir Robert Peel, could not allow; 
 but the queen was firm, until Lord Melbourne, the British states- 
 
WEEKS' BUST OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 417 
 
 man best instructed in constitutional forms and uses, undertook 
 to ameliorate matters, and, if possible, to bring her royal majesty 
 to reason. It only gave another proof that the rulers of this 
 world are not always compos mentis. 
 
 I went to Sir Henry Wheatley, the new private secretary, and 
 showing him Sir John Conroy's last letter, asked his advice. He 
 spoke of the Baroness Lehzen as the most proper person to pro- 
 cure a continuation of the sittings. I went to Windsor, where 
 the baroness was with the queen, was announced, politely received, 
 and obtained a promise that all should go well. The next week a 
 day was appointed for Mr. Weeks to renew his labors. Weeks 
 told me that when he began, the queen observed that most por- 
 trait painters drew her with her mouth open, which was not very 
 becoming, and would he be so good as to shut it a little. Her 
 majesty possesses what is called a " rabbit's mouth ;" that is, the 
 two front teeth project over the under lip. The queen was as posi- 
 tive in her wishes as a large mouthed French lady, who once sate 
 to Jarvis, and puzzled him by requesting him " to put a little 
 mouse in her face." 
 
 She gave him three sittings, and this bust, the first of the Queen, 
 was a real masterpiece, and obtained a great deal of attention at 
 the Exposition of 1838. I had suggested to Weeks to fasten up 
 the great quantity of back hair which the Queen wore on the back 
 of her head, and to replace the comb by a small crown. The 
 suggestion was successful, and pleased everybody, particularly 
 her Majesty, when she first saw the bust. The medallion portrait 
 was also successful, and the plate taken from it by Bogardus' 
 " self-acting tracer," was the finest specimen of art that had yet 
 appeared. Neither Collas' machine, nor the stiffly moving one of 
 Bates, had the soft well formed lines of Bogardus' invention which 
 imitated the best productions of Raphael Morghen. 
 
 The Baroness Lehzen had procured permission for me to present 
 some twenty copies of this to her Majesty, and Weeks and my 
 self were requested to come to Buckingham Palace. On former 
 visits to Windsor, I had become acquainted with Mr. Fozard, the 
 Queen's riding-master. We spoke once of the Queen's person, 
 and I asked if she were pretty as commonly reported. " Oh !" 
 
 IS* 
 
418 INTERVIEW WITH THji QUEEN. 
 
 he said, " she is most beautiful — you never saw the like." On 
 my arrival at Windsor, I was sent into a room, where the baron- 
 ess soon came in her riding-dress, with'the skirt thrown over her 
 arm. " Ah !" she said, " you are there. I will tell her Majesty. 
 You will not have to wait long." She had just returned from 
 accompanying the Queen in a ride. In a little while I heard a 
 rustle, and said to myself, " In a moment, the Majesty of England 
 will stand before thine eyes." The door opened, and a young 
 lady, with a couple of heavy locks fallen about her face, entered 
 hastily, followed by the baroness and two ladies of honor. Yet 
 it was not a hasty step, but rather a waddle, like that — I say it 
 with reverence — of a duck. At the first glance, the uplifted dress 
 permitted me to remark that her instep was not like that of the 
 Venus de Medicis, but on the contrary, that her Majesty was flat-" 
 footed. The Queen went directly to the bust which was placed 
 on rather too lofty a pedestal, and repeated two or three times, 
 " It is very fine." Then she came to me, who had opened a hand- 
 some portfolio, containing the engravings. She was astonished at 
 the relief; lifted one of them and turned it to see if it were not 
 embossed. I had prepared answers to expected questions on the 
 nature of the machine, but in a moment, she gave me one nod, 
 and Weeks another, and with one more glance at her bust,- wad- 
 dled away, followed by a lady of honor. The other lady, Lady 
 Caroline Cavendish and the Baroness remained, and were far more 
 curious than her Majesty, and asked me a great many questions. 
 Then the Baroness inquired if it were my intention to get the 
 portraits of other European sovereigns. I answered yes ; and 
 mentioned the King of the Belgians as the next, because I knew 
 that he was her friend and patron, and had procured her her post 
 near the Queen. 
 
 As I came back from the Castle, I saw Mr. Fozard before me. 
 " Well, sir," said he, " how did you find her Majesty ?" " Why, 
 Mr. Fozard," I said, " I am far from being surprised at her 
 beauty. She has enough of it for a queen, but she is not a hand- 
 some woman." " For God's sake, don't say so," he said, " here- 
 abouts we don't hear many remarks of that sort. Her Majesty 
 is certainly beautiful, very beautiful, and she rides well, extremely 
 
MY ARREST. 410 
 
 well. 1 have been her teacher, and when she .a going to take 
 exercise on horseback, it is me who enjoys the honor of placing 
 
 her royal b ; here he clapped his hand to his mouth — her 
 
 royal person, I was going to say — upon the saddle, and of putting 
 her royal foot into the stirrup." 
 
 I then bid farewell to Mr. Fozard, the riding-master, and 
 returned with my friend Weeks to London. 
 
 In the Court News appeared a short notice of the honor het 
 majesty had done me ; and I saw no result, save a good one, from 
 it all. Nevertheless, two days afterwards I was arrested in my 
 house, in Edgeware Road, at the suit of Duke Charles of Bruns- 
 wick. I had taken a contract from his companion, Baron Andlau, 
 for sabretaches, sword and bayonet sheaths, and knapsacks ; for 
 which the Duke had paid 50,000 francs on account, and had pro- 
 mised to pay all within two months. This contract was not ful- 
 filled, and the belligerent duke instantly commenced a suit, with- 
 out a word of advice to me. The question was, simply, w T hether 
 I was bound by the whole contract before the duke had fulfilled 
 his part ; but he was fond of lawsuits, as his numerous cases in 
 England proved. I had hitherto lived unsued, and this one only 
 served to complete my distress. So soon as Baron Andlau heard 
 of this suit, he brought me 8000 francs, out of 10,000 which had 
 not been paid in the above-named sum of 50,000, and said that 
 the agent in the transaction would be accountable for the other 
 2000. The baron had served the duke as long as the unworthy 
 nature of the latter would permit, but there w r ere other grounds 
 Tor their separation, which took place soon after. He now 
 brought me back the money, for fear of certain possible exposi- 
 tions, which would have lost him the duke's confidence. The 
 case was decided against me, and I was condemned to pay back 
 the whole sum, without regard to the fact that I had expended 
 30,000 francs in the contract. There should have been an appeal, 
 but my clerk, whom I left in Paris, on my journey to Rome, see- 
 ing how difficulties were thronging about me, lost his head, and 
 did nothing, except sell all the sheaths and knapsacks that had 
 been bought for about half their cost. I was utterly helpless on 
 my return from Rome, and was nearly penniless when I went to 
 
420 THE " QUEEN'S BENCH." 
 
 England. Of course I could do nothing without money. The 
 duke had sworn in London to my indebtedness, and that sufficed 
 to put me in prison. He knew my circumstances perfectly well ; 
 and although assured that my imprisonment would not procure 
 restitution of his advances, yet his evil nature forbade him to be 
 kind to any one whom he had in his power. I learned, too, that 
 he was angry because the queen had received me, while he was 
 forbidden the court forever. I could have gotten bail, but was 
 unable to pay a lawyer, and so I determined to bear my fate as it 
 came. I had two reasons for this. First, that the House of Com- 
 mons was then occupied with the question of imprisonment for 
 debt, and everybody was waiting for the result of their delibera- 
 tions ; and second, that my honest friend Emanuel Bernoulli, 
 then resident in London, was in hopes of arranging matters with 
 the duke's solicitor. My old friend Siegmond Rucker discovered 
 my whereabouts by accident. He came to see me, and promised 
 to get me the " liberties," namely, four square miles about the 
 prison of " Queen's Bench," by going bail for me. But week after 
 week passed, without my hearing further from him. I supposed 
 him to be ill, but afterwards learned that he had followed the 
 advice of a mutual acquaintance, to have nothing to do with a 
 matter which must cost him trouble, and might cost money. I 
 was again the plaything of a ruthless fate, and only got out of one 
 scrape that I might fall into another. I heard no more of friend 
 Rucker, and remained a member of the large and varied society 
 of the Queen's Bench ; among which I found one old acquaint- 
 ance, an Englishman, named Swain e, with whom I had become 
 acquainted thirty years before in New iTork ; whom I had fre- 
 quently seen during my visits to London, and whom, from his 
 neatness of dress, I had supposed to be wealthy, although a hard 
 drinker. 
 
 There ought to be interest enough among my readers to accept 
 here a description of the Queen's Bench prison, of which I was an 
 inmate for three months and a half. After passing through three 
 well-watched gates, you enter a large oblong court, girt by a wall 
 50 or 55 feet high. To the right, in a corner, is a well-built three- 
 »torjr house, which is let at a high rent to noble prisoners. One 
 
PRISON SOCIETY. 421 
 
 gentleman had inhabited one story for fourteen years ; another, 
 the great William Cobbett's son, had been eight years in the 
 prison. From the left corner to the outer wall of the place 
 stretched a double row of houses, the furthest of which could be 
 hired, furnished, by such as were able to pay ; the others were 
 for those who lived on the allowance of their creditors. At the 
 end of these houses is a small covered market, where one can buy 
 at eight o'clock, A. M., fresh fish, flesh, vegetables, eggs, butter, 
 etc. You either buy for yourself or trust servants, who are not 
 always very conscientious. From the market you take your pur- 
 chases to one of the cookshops in the neighborhood, and get it 
 prepared for your table. You get your breakfast from female 
 attendants, who are here in plenty, and who are the wives of poor 
 debtors. The large oblong place between the furthest row of 
 houses and the wall is a ball-ground and promenade, where, when 
 the weather permits, you can breathe the air, and, if you choose, 
 imagine yourself at liberty. The space between the other row 
 and the wall is much narrower. As soon as the doors are 
 opened in the morning, in pours a torrent of outsiders, shop- 
 keepers, visitors, newsmen, etc. To an Englishman, the news- 
 paper is the first necessity ; the breakfast comes afterwards ; 
 with poor prisoners as long after as possible. " Time is money," 
 is not true in prison ; there time is a burden, which grows day by 
 day heavier, and must yet be borne with patience. A postman helps 
 you to communicate with your friends, and a circulating library 
 within the prison-bounds furnishes you with intellectual pastime. 
 The society of the Queen's Bench is an epitome of the world. 
 Here is the indebted peer, the ruined speculator, the unfortunate 
 merchant, the impoverished artisan, the rich and poor burgess 
 and noble together. There is an especial abundance of those who 
 have spent all upon horses, or women, or cards. I had several 
 pointed out to me, but shunned a nearer acquaintance. My cice- 
 rone was a reverend vicar, singularly unlike the Vicar of Wake- 
 field, who had preferred the race-course to the parsonage, and had 
 expended at Newmarket what should have paid the butcher and 
 baker. This man lived in the same house with me, and had 
 scraped acquaintance on the door-step; and I allowed him to visit 
 
422 VISIT FROM MY WIFE. 
 
 me because his good-humored, child-like narratives amused me. 
 He knew every face in the prison, and had something to tell 
 about each, to which I listened ; for, I confess it, if I love any- 
 thing, it is a little bit of scandal. 
 
 The slow progress of the bill for the modification of imprison- 
 ment made me very impatient. My old friend, Thomas Thorne- 
 ly, of Liverpool, member of Parliament for Wolverhampton, 
 was good enough to give me a hope that the debates would soon 
 terminate ; but three and a half months' loneliness, with no com- 
 fort but this hope, had destroyed my patience. Now approached 
 the coronation of a queen, adored since childhood, and the only 
 monarch in Europe who could follow the standard of Freedom 
 hand in hand with the happy people. I was much occupied with 
 the thought of the crowds of strangers now pouring into London. 
 I desired freedom, if only for the day ; not for love of festivity, 
 but to share with a full heart in the jubilant feeling of the people. 
 One day, the upper gaoler told me I was free. Bernouilli had 
 come to an understanding with the duke's solicitor. I left the 
 place at 1 P. M., called a hack, and drove home to Edgeware 
 Road. Then I went to Bernouilli, to inquire by what means he 
 had procured my liberation. He had agreed that I should pay 
 the whole sum with interest, at so much a year, beginning from 
 July 1, 1844. It might well be doubted whether I would reach 
 the 66th year of my life to pay ; but I did, and eleven years later, 
 at the age of seventy, I began to prepare my " System of Assu- 
 rance and Bottomry," which employed me during two years and 
 a half. Now in freedom, I could remark the masses of people, 
 from every land, now streaming through the streets of London. 
 I abstain here from describing the various groups that thronged 
 the streets and squares, particularly Leicester Square and the 
 neighborhood of Hay market Theatre, because I have already 
 done much the same thing, with reference to the great exhibition 
 some years before. But the effect of such crowds upon a just 
 released prisoner was extraordinary. 
 
 A day or two afterwards there was a knock at my door ; it 
 opened, and I saw my wife. For this pleasure I had to thank my 
 old, unchanging friend, Jacques de Berckholtz, who had long lived 
 
THE CORONATION. 423 
 
 in Paris, and now gave the lie to Rousseau's assertion, that Paris 
 is " la ville ou Vamitie ne resiste ni a Vadveraite ni a Vabsence." 
 A little group of friends had determined to come to London for 
 the coronation, and my wife had taken this opportunity. She 
 thus was enabled to bring me consolation, and to see a rare 
 festival. She loved sight-seeing ; and, indeed, what woman does 
 not, if it be not too costly ! 
 
 Early on the morning of her arrival she went to the Queen's 
 Bench, and there learned my release, and came to Edgeware 
 Road. 
 
 The coronation took place the next day, and our friends had 
 accepted the offer of a window in St. James-street. The proces- 
 sion was to pass through St. James-street, Pall Mall, Charing 
 Cross, and Westminster, to the Cathedral. I saw the procession 
 from a window in Charing Cross, with Weeks, the sculptor, and 
 his amiable wife. A hearty cheer greeted the French Ambassa- 
 dor, Marshal Soult, as he sate in his own Parisian, and unusually 
 elegant carriage. Sir Robert Peel led the cheer from a window 
 of the Carlton Club, swinging his hat and commencing a hurrah, 
 that was echoed down the line to the very Cathedral. He him- 
 self was not in the church, but remained in the club. 
 
 One of the finest sights of the day was the ascension of the 
 great Nassau Balloon surrounded by seven others, from St. James's 
 Park at the close of the coronation. The day was unusually fine, 
 and the sky quite cloudless. If the crowds of people were unable 
 all to see their young queen, at least they saw the full glory of 
 the sun, a very rare occurrence in London, " where," say the Nea- 
 politans, " he is not worth the moon in Naples." 
 
 After showing my wife whatever was remarkable in London, 
 which she found not so amusing as the Boulevards, I accompanied 
 her to Southampton, whence she set out with her friends for Paris. 
 She quit with but little regret the ancient mass of stone, West- 
 minster Abbey, and the rusty relics in the Tower, without any 
 wish to see them again. Her strongest desires were to get back 
 to her daughter, and to breathe again the air of Paris. I had as 
 yet no clear views for future employment ; but my habit of con- 
 sidering the United States the land of hope, and a great desire to 
 
424 THE "GREAT WESTERN. 
 
 revisit it, reigned within me. I had lived and labored there so 
 long, had made so many acquaintances, had so advanced its com- 
 merce, especially in cotton, that it appeared impossible that I 
 should be forgotten there, or that I would not be able here and 
 there to find some traces of former trust and good will. To get 
 such thoughts out of my head, as soon as the packet in which my 
 wife had sailed came back, I went down to Bristol to take a look 
 at the marine wonder, the Great Western, just returned from her 
 first voyage to New York. I also remembered an old London 
 acquaintance, now in the firm of Guppy. On my return through 
 Cheltenham, which I had not seen for twenty-nine years, I visited 
 Leamington, where I found an old acquaintance whom I had sup- 
 posed to be dead. This was Admiral Coffin, with whom I had 
 become acquainted thirty-three years before in his birthplace, 
 Boston, and who was now watching for his last hour in peace, con- 
 vinced that he had done his duty both as man and mariner. He, 
 like the old book-keeper at Leghorn, knew me by my voice. I 
 told him of my idea of making a voyage to America in the Great 
 Western. " Ah !" said he, taking my hand kindly, " if you 
 esteem your life, give up that thought. The Great Western has 
 had the good fortune to make one summer transatlantic voyage, 
 but in autumn and early winter it is a risk of human life to sail in 
 her. She may succeed once or twice, but that is all. In the 
 heavy winter storms no steamer can scud; be sure of that." 
 Somewhat shaken in my resolution by the old sailor's counsel, I 
 returned to London and told my friend Bogardus the foregoing. 
 He allowed that an old sailor was a good authority upon a vessel 
 entirely dependent upon the humor of the winds ; but a steamer 
 sets the weather at defiance, if well built and if sailors and engi- 
 neers understood their duty. He then explained the power of 
 steam in a storm so clearly that I gave up my old sea-hero, and 
 was convinced of the perfect security of the steamer. Dr. Dio- 
 nysius Lardner, who wrote a book in 1837 to demonstrate the 
 impossibility of ocean-steamers, in 1839 made a passage in one 
 from New York. I took my passage, and in the end of October 
 we put to sea. The next day a heavy westerly storm set in, the 
 rudder was unshipped, a wheel was broken ; the bowsprit was 
 
ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK. 425 
 
 shivered, and part of the bulwarks carried away. The storm lasted 
 nine days, and as we saw no sun, no one could tell our where- 
 abouts. Yet I had never felt more assured. In seaman's phrase, 
 the vessel swam like a duck. One day, in the cabin, a lady said 
 to me, " Good God, Mr. Nolte, you sit there as quietly as if this 
 were all play." " I am really quiet, madam," I replied, " because 
 I feel safe." " God bless your confidence, sir," were her words, 
 as she lay down. The next morning the storm lulled, the neces- 
 sary repairs were made, and the lady said to me, smiling, " Well, 
 sir, it seems you were quite right, after all." Nine days after, we 
 reached New York. This is the longest recorded passage of a 
 steamer ; but then 18 days seemed little to me, compared with 
 my 58 days' voyage in the Minerva Smyth in 1816. 
 
 In New York I saw again a friend whom I had not met for 
 eleven years — De Rham, head of the first French house there. 
 We had worked together in Nantes in 1804, and had gone together 
 to the United States in 1805. He belonged to the few who have 
 passed forty eight years of mercantile life in New York with un- 
 shaken credit, although not from need but from propriety he 
 stopped payment for five days, in the crisis of 1836. He did so, 
 simply, to assure himself of the impossibility of failure, which 
 greatly amazed New York. He had not one creditor who had 
 sold his paper even at one per cent, discount ; and, save the five 
 days' suspension, he showed no sign of weakness. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 NICHOLAS BIDDLE AND THE UNITED STATES BANK. 
 
 Wilder, the agent of the house of Messrs. Hottinguer <fe Co., in Paris and 
 Havre — His intimacy with Nicholas Biddle, the President of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Bank of the United States — Biddle's project to restore the balance of 
 trade, between England and the United States, to an equilibrium — A colos- 
 sal operation in cotton, the means for which are obtained by the strength of 
 my own credit — The pitcher goes too often to the well, aud is broken at 
 last — Violent conclusion to the enterprise — Imprisonment in New Orleans — 
 Return to the north, overland — Cincinnati— Philadelphia — The adventuress 
 from Florence, my travelling companion to New York — Embarkation for 
 England, on board of the Steamer Great Western — Race between this ves- 
 sel and its competitor, The British Queen — Classification of the compauy on 
 board of the two steamers, by Gordon (James Gordon Bennett ? — Trans.), 
 editor of the New York paper, " Morning Herald" — The Great Western 
 wins the race, reaching England three days earlier than the British Queen. 
 
 I wanted very much to go to New Orleans, but was detained 
 in New York longer than I expected, by the attorneys of Hottin- 
 guer & Co. of Havre. Mr. Wilder had lived long in Paris, as 
 partner in a New York silk house, in connection with the Lyons 
 silk factories, and we had known each other there. He had a 
 good deal to do with Hottinguer & Co., and had won their confi- 
 dence by his punctual fulfilment of engagements. He knew me 
 just when I was of the utmost importance as cotton-merchant, not 
 only in America, but in Liverpool and Havre. He had, from 
 what he had seen of me, even after my failure in 1826, conceived 
 a high opinion of me and of my influence with cotton-planters in 
 Louisiana and Mississippi. He was also in the confidence of 
 Nicholas Biddle, who was considered the first financier in America, 
 and who desired to govern the European cotton-market by his 
 
.NICHOLAS MDDLE. 427 
 
 bank influence. He was urged to do this by the uncertain posU 
 tion of American credit in the European markets ; because the 
 central point of this commerce was London, where the imports of 
 manufactured goods from France had created a deficit for Ameri- 
 cans of from 13 to 15,000,000 dollars. Add to this $13,000,000 
 of interest on a debt of $234,006,648, borrowed by the various 
 states on their own responsibility. In carrying out this project, 
 less was thought of a possible rise in cotton than of losing 
 $27,000,000, to be annually paid in Europe. The rise of a single 
 penny on the pound on 575,000 bales of 360 lbs, each (the quan 
 tity furnished by the crop of 1837-8), would have made a differ- 
 ence of $11,500,000; the rise of a second penny w r ould reduce 
 the trade-balance against the states to almost nothing. But seve- 
 ral things were necessary to effect this rise : First, to strengthen 
 the hands of holders in England, so that they could not be com- 
 pelled by lack of means to sell ; second, to overcome the natural 
 unwillingness of the spinners to pay a higher price for the raw 
 material. Every merchant knows that the spinner is willing to 
 pay a higher price, if he can get the same rise in the prices of his 
 manufactures. This idea did not get into Biddle's head. The 
 advancing consumption of raw material in England for some 
 years back, was proof enough for most Americans of the elasti- 
 city of the market. When I came to New York, in November, 
 1838, he had ended his first attempt to extend the grasp of his 
 ideas in this affair. He had sent persons in autumn, 1837, to 
 Charleston and New Orleans, to buy enormous quantities of cotton 
 on the bank's account, and to ship it to Liverpool and Havre. He 
 had established his eldest son and an old Philadelphia merchant 
 in Liverpool, under the name of Humphreys and Biddle, and to 
 them his cotton w T as consigned. In Havre, the consignees were 
 Hottingucr &Co., with whose representative Wilder he had come 
 to an understanding, and whose paper was sold through his bank. 
 This colossal affair did very well the first year. At this moment 
 I reached New York and visited Wilder, then in the zenith of his 
 glory. As soon as he saw me, he said, " You are the man who 
 could best have based our operations in New Orleans." I asked 
 if I were too late to take a share at least in the business, and he 
 
428 NEW ORLEANS AGAIN. 
 
 said, " Not quite ; you are au old friend of our house ; I will write 
 to Mr. Biddle ; he will see you gladly, and, at any rate, you shall 
 hear from me in New Orleans." 
 
 I w r ent to Philadelphia^ and was warmly received by Biddle and 
 his brother-in-law, Craig, both of whom I had known very well 
 before. After a couple of days' thought, he decided to make no 
 change in the present course of his business or in his agencies. 
 But he said that I should have every help in my own business 
 from his branch-bank in New Orleans — the Merchants' Bank. 
 These were mere words, but I have never had cause to mistrust 
 him, and have often been helped by the house of Humphreys & 
 Biddle. 
 
 I went through Baltimore, Fredericksburg, Virginia, North 
 and South Carolina, Hamburgh, and Milledgeville to Mobile. I 
 met many old acquaintances, and was joyfully received in New 
 Orleans. I received from my old comrades an invitation for the 
 festival of January 8, the anniversary of the Battle of New Or- 
 leans, where my health was drank as an old soldier of that day, 
 and as a promoter of commerce. Twenty-four years had elapsed 
 since that day, and had left but few of my old comrades. Among 
 them, however, was my commandant Planche, now a militia gen- 
 eral. His love for Jackson was as fiery as ever, and he made a 
 long speech in French, requesting me to translate it to the guests, 
 which I did, though of course, all the fire of the original was lost. 
 
 When I left England, Messrs. Barings had promised to keep 
 me informed about the condition of the cotton market, and I soon 
 received letters. The coming crop was, of course, the settling point 
 of the hoped for advance in prices. In England, 1,800,000 bales 
 were reckoned on, and the fixedness of the current price was believed 
 to be sure. The circular of the first fifteen cotton- brokers at the 
 close of the year said, Dec. 31, 1838 : " The whole matter rests 
 on the amount of the import and the politics of the American 
 Bank Party, and these are inseparable." The weekly British 
 consumption during the year, was 23,204 bales, and the total 
 stock remaining in Great Britain, was 321,000, or enough for 
 fourteen weeks. The coming crop was therefore of great import- 
 ance, as there could be no doubt that the consumption would 
 
SPECULATIONS AS TO THE PRICE OF COTTON. 429 
 
 continue. The smaller the crop, of course the better for the 
 Bank party. At the end of the year, the maximum was set down 
 at 1,700,000 bales at highest. But I, who had had so much expe- 
 rience in cotton, knew certainly, from the best instructed planters, 
 of all the cotton growing States, that the crop would not exceed 
 1,600,000. I was then told from England, that if it did not sur- 
 pass a million and a half, there would be an important rise in 
 prices, and if it stopped at 1,400,000 bales, " there was no telling 
 to what rate prices might go." When the crop was gathered in, 
 it furnished but 1,360,000 bales. Only one unforeseeable circum- 
 stance occurred to interfere with the Bank plans. Breadstuff's 
 were extraordinarily rare in England ; and this, according to the 
 measures of the Bank of England, in such cases, affected the cotton 
 industry. It became necessary to import a great quantity of 
 breadstuff's, and this threatened great difficulties in the money 
 market, as an outlay of £10,000,000 must be made for grain. 
 The quantity of American state paper that had been bought, the 
 sums sent out for cotton, and some monetary difficulties in Bel- 
 gium and France made a tightness in the English money market 
 positive. Interest rose : money must be paid for bread : foreign 
 exchanges were wanting : instead of strengthening the Bank (of 
 England) by selling out some of its State Paper, the directors 
 determined to require 3 \ per cent, interest on Exchequer Bills 
 and other paper, which would accumulate such paper in their 
 portfolio, and keep the circulation of their notes in its usual 
 position. On the 28th Feb., 1839, after £2,000,000 ready money 
 had been paid out, the Bank announced its intention of keeping 
 up the 3£ per cent, interest until April, although the discount 
 price at the Exchange was now 4 or 4| per cent. Without re- 
 membering the crisis of 1837, the Bank stuck to this resolve, and 
 on the 28th Feb. 1839, its position was as follows: 
 
 Portfolio, etc., - - £21, Hi ,000 
 Specie, - - - - 6,713,000 
 
 £28,514,000 
 £ of the Obligations, £8,619,000. 
 
 Circulation, - - - £18,098,000 
 Deposits, - - 7,759,000 
 Reserve funds, - • 2,657,000 
 
 £28,514,000 
 
430 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF OPERATIONS. 
 
 Three Months later, May 28. 
 
 Portfolio, &c, - 
 Specie, - - - 
 
 - £23,543,000 
 5,119,000 
 
 Circulation, - - - 
 Deposits, ... 
 Reserve funds, - - 
 
 ions, £8,676,000. 
 
 £18,214,000 
 7,814,000 
 2,634,000 
 
 
 £28,662,000 
 J of the Obligat 
 
 
 £28,662,000 
 
 Portfolio, &c, - 
 Specie, - - - - 
 
 Three Months 
 - £25,141,000 
 2,420,000 
 
 later, Aug. 28. 
 Circulation, - - - 
 Deposits, - - - 
 Reserve funds, - 
 
 £8,156,666.— -$■ 
 culation and Deposits) 
 
 £17,982,000 
 6,488,000 
 3,091,000 
 
 
 £27,561,000 
 
 g- of Obligations 
 Obligations (Cir 
 
 For every £100 of 
 
 £27,561,000 
 the Bank only 
 
 possessed £9 17s. lOd. cash. 
 
 In six months the Treasury had lost £4,353,000 in money, 
 £4,400,000 in paper. The poor bread crop had its influence. 
 Nothing could keep money in the country. A suspension of 
 payment was to be looked for : interest was at from 7 to 10 per 
 cent., and the outlay of ready money, at least, £5,729,666. 
 
 The result of this and of the dearth was a forced lessening of 
 the consumption of cotton, which now in England amounted to 
 328,043 bales, of which 241,785 were American. The weekly 
 consumption was now 16,896 bales, instead of 23,204 as in the 
 preceding year. The reader will now understand what follows. 
 
 Towards the end of January, Mr. Wilder commissioned me to 
 buy 1,000 bales of cotton, one fifth for myself, and the rest for his 
 friends, making my own venture about $6,400, of which I must 
 pay $1600 in cash. I did not possess so much, and was yet un- 
 willing to prevent my re-entrance into this business. These 
 commissions must be attended to without loss of time, or refused. 
 I undertook it. My commissions on the whole purchase reduced 
 my need to $500, which I hoped to make up in some other way. 
 I told Mr. Wilder that I could combine other affairs like this, if 
 I could make certain regular advances before the goods were 
 shipped, and the bills of lading signed, only that I had no means. 
 If he wanted to go further he must give me the credit. He sent 
 
TROUBLE AGAII^ 431 
 
 me a second letter for $50,000. It was known that the shipment 
 was addressed to my old friends and correspondents, but whether 
 for Mr. Wilder's account or my own was not known. As I also 
 made shipments at the same time, through Alexander Dennistoun 
 & Co., and Mr. Nicholson, partner of James Brown & Co., of 
 Liverpool, with advance, which in consequence of the great con- 
 currence, amounted to 87| per cent., it was evident that it could 
 not be all for other people's account ; yet no one saw it, or if they 
 did, they kept it silent. The more I bought, the more was offered, 
 and when I said I must refuse from want of money, I was told to 
 take the cotton and pay for it when I got my returns. Two 
 banks also offered advances upon the bills of lading and the poli- 
 cies of insurance : saying that the cotton might remain at the 
 presses, and that the receipts of the press-owners would be taken 
 as equivalents for the policies and the bills of lading, until these 
 were made out. Thus I got means to make advances, although 
 without any capital of my own. I published a couple of circulars, 
 which convinced everybody that a rise in prices was inevitable. 
 A large sale made in England at ninepence strengthened this con- 
 viction. It was the case with all that I shipped. 
 
 1 had not entered into this vortex thoughtlessly. I must go on 
 buying, but I had a moral certainty that the net products of all 
 the cotton sold in Liverpool would more than meet any obliga- 
 tions of mine ; and so I continued, acting less as mere speculator 
 than as intermediate between furnishers and consumers. 
 
 In all my consignments to the Barings, I had requested them, 
 so soon as the sale of the cotton should have realized more than 
 the amount of the advances, to send me credits for it to New 
 York. I wanted them to feel safe, and then I trusted all to the 
 rise in prices, of which I felt so sure. But my calculations and 
 theirs were all deceived. It was not the amount of the crop upon 
 which the price depended; for the dearth of breadstuffs had 
 restricted the consumption of cotton by the spinners to the amount 
 of 4650 bales per week. 
 
 At last, a letter from the Barings stopped their advances, as 
 they doubted whether all the shipments would repay them. I 
 must stop th" buying. The greatest difficulties arose from the 
 
432 ANOTHER COTTON CRASH. 
 
 errors, outstanding payments, etc., which resulted from advancing 
 on cotton, and obtaining these advances on the receipts of the 
 press-owners, with whom it was deposited. For the delayed 
 payments, the cotton yet in the depots was security for the sellers 
 and factors; but the holders of the receipts upon which the 
 advances were made, also claimed it. Every lawyer in New 
 Orleans was employed, and all was confusion. I collected all 
 who had an interest in the matter — some nine or ten — and showed 
 them the true position of affairs. The reader will be surprised to 
 learn, that in two months and a half 37,000 bales of cotton had 
 passed through my hands. My explanations showed where it had 
 gone ; the names of the sellers ; the amount of the various pur- 
 chases ; how much had been paid or was due ; the European 
 houses to whom it was consigned ; the amount of advances made 
 by them ; and proved that out of $1,440,000, reckoning cotton at 
 $40 per bale, not one dollar had been improperly employed, or 
 had found its way to my pocket. This statement was given to 
 a committee of the persons concerned ; whose general idea was 
 that the difficulty was but momentary. When everything had 
 been put upon paper, it was unanimously resolved, that if any 
 profit should finally result, it should be mine. 
 
 Now came the point of managing the affair. Who should be 
 trusted 1 and should payments be made according to the amount 
 claimed by each creditor ; or should all be united, and gradually 
 paid, equally % While in this state, the firm of Reid, Irving & 
 Co., London, correspondents of the Citizens' Bank, offered to 
 take and manage the whole affair, giving good guarantees for the 
 debts. 
 
 Then appeared single claims upon me personally ; the most 
 important being those of the press-owners. I was left in freedom, 
 however, by giving bail that I would not leave the country. One 
 of my bail was an old clerk of mine, whom I had taken, when 
 penniless, in Bayonne, and established in New Orleans. 1 did not 
 enjoy my freedom long. Some of my bailers, volunteers too, 
 upon whom I had no claim, were advised to retract, and did so ; 
 and while I was about getting others, my old clerk, whom for ten 
 years I had protected, trusted, and advanced, followed their exam- 
 
RELEASED FROM PRISON". 433 
 
 pie. I went to prison. I thought the imprisonment uncalled for, 
 in a place where three and thirty years of labor had won for me, 
 deservedly, the reputation of an honorable man ; but fortune held 
 the bitter cup to my lips, and I must drain it to the dregs. There, 
 where I had played so important a part, won such universal confi- 
 dence, and saved by timely help so many from ruin, I could not 
 expect to be housed with criminals of every sort, and fed with 
 their food, or starve. My counsel, John R. Grymes, convinced of 
 the injustice of my imprisonment, attempted to get me released, 
 and, after a lapse of nine days, succeeded. I went to my house, 
 packed up a few things, and started in a steamer for Louisville. 
 It was twenty-two years since I had been here, yet I found my 
 friend, John S. Snead, in the best circumstances. What twenty- 
 two years can do for an American city is incomprehensible in 
 Europe. In 1810 the population of Cincinnati was 2540, in 1850 
 it was 119,460. 
 
 From Louisville I went to Cincinnati, where I saw in the har- 
 bor over sixty steamboats. Seated at the end of the breakfast- 
 table, in the great eating-room of a favorite hotel, a pair of respect- 
 able looking gentlemen came in and sate opposite to me. Said 
 one to the other, " Vincent Nolte, of New Orleans, came up by 
 this boat ; I don't know where he puts up. Do you know him f* 
 
 " A little," was the answer ; " he was pointed out to me once 
 in New Orleans." 
 
 " Ah ! What does he look like?' 
 
 " Simple enough ; no fuss about him ; an open, friendly 
 manner." 
 
 "He must be a devil of a fellow. Does he look like a 
 schemer V 
 
 " Not at all," was the reply. 
 
 I had finished my breakfast, and it was near the time of em- 
 barking ; so I took my hat, and bowing to the one who had seen 
 me, said, " I am sorry that you did not recognize me. My name 
 is Vincent Nolte, and I have the honor to bid you good morn- 
 ing." As I went away, he cried, " True, by God, sir. Oh, what 
 a pity ! I should have liked to have had a little bit of a chat 
 with you." 
 
 19 
 
434 THE NEW YORK HERALD : 
 
 Had I remained, there would have been no end of questioning, 
 for which the Americans are notorious. But now they have the 
 indirect method. A common remark is, "I speculate what the 
 fellow may be about." 
 
 From Cincinnati, I went by Wheeling, to Baltimore and Phila- 
 delphia ; where I saw one or two old acquaintances — the navy- 
 agent, John Harrison, the most courteous entertainer, and the 
 possessor of the most elegant and tasteful house in America ; and 
 the former minister to Great Britain, Joseph R. Ingersoll. So to 
 New York. My companion was a black-eyed, well-formed Italian 
 lady. She was, I learned, the daughter of a Florentine notary, 
 and had been the mistress of a Polish noble, who lost his life in 
 the revolutionary troubles in Ravenna and Bologna, in the same 
 battle in which Louis Napoleon's elder brother was killed. She 
 fought at his side, in man's clothes, and had a sabre-scar on her 
 forehead. She had come to the United States through Brazil, 
 with a lineal genealogy from the discoverer Americus Vespucci. 
 She had read of Lafayette's reception, and hoped for such another ; 
 with which object she visited Washington. But neither Secretary 
 of State nor even one member of Congress would interest him- 
 self in the matter ; and she, therefore, levied contributions upon 
 the various States. In this, also, she failed. Now and then she 
 got $1000, but she was an ordinary adventuress, and gained but 
 little. She is now living on a country-seat near Ogdensburg, as 
 mistress of a Hamburgher much younger than herself. 
 
 The morning after my arrival in New York I went to Wall- 
 street, where I was soon surrounded by fifty or sixty men, desi- 
 rous of seeing and analyzing the " keenest cotton speculator iu 
 America." I was glad to get back to my hotel, the " Globe," 
 where I rested at least until the next day. At breakfast next 
 morning, I read in the New York Herald as follows : " Mr. Vin- 
 cent Nolte, the celebrated cotton speculator, from New Orleans, 
 has arrived at the Globe Hotel, Broadway." The waiter was 
 called to point out the remarkable man, and for a while I was the 
 mark for the eyes of all the guests ; who, when tired of staring, 
 said, " Why, he looks like other people." 
 
ITS CLASSIFICATION OF OUR PASSENGERS. 435 
 
 In my youth, in 1804, 1 had played the same part in Peter Go- 
 defroy's theatre at Hamburgh, in a piece taken from the English, 
 and called " Notoriety." The character pleased me, and, when 
 alone, I was always declaiming. But as I had never really been 
 the object of a universal stare until now, it was by no means 
 agreeable to me ; but I had to bear it, both then and since. I 
 knew Mr. Bennet, the editor of the Herald, and I begged of him 
 to take no further notice of me in his paper, and this he promised. 
 There was a bet for the passage of the 1st of August between 
 the steamers Great Western and British Queen. Thousands of 
 people crowded the wharves. The vessels started, and passed 
 through the Narrows at 1 o'clock, p. m. The passengers had not 
 looked on their newspapers as yet, but when the Sandy Hook 
 Lighthouse had been passed, and the hills of Neversink began tc 
 grow dim, the Morning Herald came in play. The leading article 
 said that eight hundred passengers were in the two steamers, and 
 might thus be analyzed : — 
 
 ^ worthy, honorable men. 
 
 ■j^ business men, well to do. 
 
 j\j unfortunate or ruined business men. 
 
 ^ drummers for European houses. 
 
 yJg- idlers in good circumstances. 
 
 -j 2 q speculators and schemers. 
 
 y^ blackguards, intriguers, bankrupts, etc. 
 
 Then came the list of names. To the first category on board 
 the Great Western belonged General Hamilton, a rich South Caro- 
 linian cotton-planter, very influential, and one of the first partisans 
 of Texas, for which state he had bought steamboats for inland navi- 
 gation and for military service, — a great friend of Biddle's, and 
 now on his road to London to negotiate a loan for Texas. 
 
 In the third category stood my name. " Mr. Vincent Nolte," it 
 said, " the giant of cotton speculation, who had the art of getting 
 up great undertakings on small means, and was now on the road 
 to England to turn, with General Hamilton's help, their cotton 
 castles in the air, into realities." Captain Hoskins was required 
 to point out the originals of these two sketches, and did so. All 
 
436 ACHILLE MITRAT. 
 
 who were not sea-sick and remained upon deck, soon became 
 acquainted. Most of them were English and American mer 
 chants, and some — British officers going home from Canada. 
 Achille Murat, second son of the King of Naples, was also on 
 board ; he had quit his South Carolinian cotton plantation to go 
 to Europe and regulate the affairs of his mother, Queen Caroline, 
 recently deceased at Florence. It will be remembered that this 
 lady, who lived long in Trieste, and afterwards in Florence, had 
 yielded to Louis Philippe all claim upon the Chateau de Neuilly, 
 for a rent of 800,000 francs, to descend to her sons. Murat was 
 a good-natured, jovial fellow, who had forgotten all about his 
 princely youth, and gave promise of being enormously fat, fatter 
 than Lablache. The monopoly of the conversation was held by 
 the British officers, and their favorite topics were Wellington and 
 Waterloo. Murat listened attentively, and then broke out sud- 
 denly with the assertion that, had his father led the French Cav- 
 alry at Waterloo, he would have eaten up the Marquis of Angle- 
 sea and his troops, and won the fight. This was the usual end of 
 the discussion. Then Murat would walk up and down with his 
 hands behind his back, like his uncle, and finally go to the British 
 officers and say, " Allons, messieurs ; buvons un coup a la bonne 
 amitie." — The British Queen lost the race by 22 hours. 
 
 Daily intercouse with General Hamilton made me acquainted 
 with his projects about the prices of cotton. Trusting to the 
 Bank of the United States and the financial capacity of its Presi- 
 dent, Nicholas Biddle, to form a committee in some central point 
 for the cotton-growing states, who should keep acquainted with 
 the condition of the European cotton markets, the consumption, 
 stock, etc. ; and also secure all the crops, so that there could be 
 no doubt as to the result, the planters were to be informed of 
 the effect of the condition of the markets upon the relative worth 
 of cotton ; and those who were not willing to sell at the stated 
 price, should receive advances from the bank, and give the sale to 
 the committee's agents. By this means it was hoped to make 
 prices regular and steady. I doubted the feasibility of this plan , 
 but I could not refuse Hamilton's offer to be the head of this com- 
 
DETERMINE TO RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES. 43*7 
 
 mittee, as he expressed so much confidence in my ability. That, 
 however, was to be settled on our return to the States ; for I had 
 determined to go back to New Orleans, being convinced that no 
 man but myself, especially no bank-committee could carry on the 
 liquidation. We determined the day of our return, and I went 
 to Paris to pass a few weeks with my family. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 LAST VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Return to America by way of England — Attempt there to grasp at and seize 
 a shadow — The intended rejection by the house of Hottinguer & Co., at 
 Paris, of the bills of the United States Bank, is communicated to me before- 
 hand, when taking leave, by Mr. Hottinguer himself — An interesting 
 acquaintanceship formed on the way to Boulogne — I embark at Liverpool 
 on board of the steamer Liverpool Packet, which brings over the first 
 protest of the drafts on the Hottinguer firm — Arrival in New York — Gen- 
 eral effect of Hottinguer's measures — The Uuited States Bank suspends 
 specie payments, and so gives the signal for other banks to do the same — 
 Dissolution of the project which had been rejected by General Hamilton — 
 I resolve to bid the West a final farewell, and to try my fortune, in the to 
 me, as yet, unknown East — I return to Europe in the packet-ship England 
 — Remarkable career of Captain Williams — London and Paris — The 
 establishment of a commercial company in Venice draws me to that city 
 on an express invitation from the parties concerned — A sad year in my 
 life — My acquaintanceship with the painter Nerly is my best consolation — 
 I visit Trieste in hope of better fortune. 
 
 The time for my departure arrived, and the night before, I 
 called upon Mr. Henry Hottinguer, now head of the firm. Said 
 he, " You will take back with you a bit of news that will astonish 
 the good people there." " What is it ?" said I. " That to-mor- 
 row morning we shall let the paper of the United States Bank be 
 protested." " That is an astonishing item." " Yes," he said, " it 
 will do more than surprise them ; it will terrify them." " And the 
 amount I" I asked. " Some millions of francs," was the answer. 
 
 He now told me that further connection with the Bank was 
 impossible, inasmuch as it had surpassed the limit given by his 
 firm for advances on cotton and credits. The understanding 
 between his firm and the Barings removed all doubt about the 
 
NICHOLAS BIDDLE. 489 
 
 worth of American paper sent to him direct from Philadelphia, or 
 by the Bank Agent in London, Samuel Jaudon, as guarantees for 
 the enormous advances. As long as his firm had felt secure, they 
 had been ready to support the bank operations with cash and 
 credit ; but the moment of distrust had arrived. The cause of all 
 this was the limitless vanity of Nicholas Biddle, who two years 
 before had, by prudence and clearness saved American credit, in 
 the crisis of 1836-7, and the American mercantile world from 
 ruin. The gratitude of the houses thus saved was limitless, and 
 Biddle was always received with joy in New York, and through- 
 out the States he was hailed as the greatest financier of the day, 
 and the Savior of commerce. The height to which he mounted 
 made him dizzy : he fancied that his popularity and his moneyed 
 influence could lift him to the presidential chair. To win the 
 South, he made enormous advances to the cotton planters. His 
 last measure for popularity was this : there was no American 
 holder of the whole $5,000,000 loan to the State of Mississippi. 
 Planters are naturally unpunctual, and this begot public distrust. 
 Then Biddle took the whole loan, reckoning on his influence and 
 the indorsement of his bank to procure money from the capitalist. 
 When he saw, however, that he had reckoned without his host, he 
 determined to offer a part of it to Hottinguer & Co., as equiva- 
 lent for the Bank exchanges. The French firm, however, already 
 a little nervous, had resolved to get rid of the whole burden, to 
 let the Bank paper be protested, and to send back the Mississippi 
 paper. The news of this soon reached New York, but Biddle and 
 his friends treated it as a bagatelle. 
 
 I went by Boulogne to England, and in the coupee of the dili- 
 gence I met a well-looking man, somewhat forward in manner. 
 The more we conversed the more I liked him. There was no 
 circumstance about which he could not talk well ; no Parisian of 
 whom he had not some trait to describe or anecdote to tell, wit- 
 tily and piquantly. He was equally informed as to the state of 
 parties, and interested me very much. He had many curious 
 details of persons high in place, as the Duke of Orleans, the Eng- 
 lish Ambassador, Baron James Rothschild, and other notables of 
 the Parisian Jockey Club, on the Boulevarde Montmartre. As 
 
440 PACKET SHIP ENGLAND. 
 
 we neared Boulogne, I expressed a hope that he was going to 
 England. " No," he said, " I am to wait at Boulogne." " For 
 some high acquaintance V I asked. " No," he said, " for my 
 tradesmen, who are coming to offer me goods very cheaply." He 
 saw, perhaps, some astonishment in my face, and said, " You are 
 astonished that I should know so well all the distinguished people 
 of Paris. It is easily explained — I am their tailor." " What," I 
 said, " Monsieur Blain, rue d' Amboise f " Yes," he answered, 
 " and I see that you have heard of me ; I am worth talking about, 
 am I not V I assented, and never having met so amiable a tailor, 
 I invited him to sup with me at Boulogne, which invitation he 
 accepted. As soon as I reached London, I paid a short visit to 
 the Barings, and then on to Liverpool to the steamer. I found 
 General Hamilton on board, and in fifteen days we reached New 
 Yor \. At Sandy Hook, the pilot informed us that the Bank of 
 the United States had failed. As soon as I had set foot on shore, 
 [ saw that the Bank was the topic of universal conversation, and 
 that confidence in Biddle was gone. Mr. Wilder said, that the 
 difficulty was but temporary, and that the papers sent back by 
 Hottinguer, would all be paid, as equivalents were now on their 
 way from Havre here. 
 
 I had at once informed the Citizens' Bank, New Orleans, of my 
 return, and my willingness to aid them in the liquidation, if they 
 desired it, and would secure me my personal freedom. I waited 
 for the answer a month, and then learned that the two creditors 
 who had imprisoned me in New Orleans, were on their way to 
 attach me again in New York. I was advised to go to Canada 
 or Europe, and chose the latter, as Hamilton's project could now 
 come to nothing. 
 
 The packet ship England, Captain Wait, in which I sailed, was 
 lost upon her next voyage, and left no trace. The fate of sea- 
 faring men is peculiar and often inexplicable. I have often recalled 
 Wieland's line, 
 
 " What hand shall guide us through this gloom ?" 
 
 My friend Adam Hodgson, of whom I have often spoken, had 
 visited the United States, and returned in the Albion, Captain 
 
LOSS OF THE SHIP ALBION. 441 
 
 Williams. The ship was the best of packets; the Captain the 
 best sailor, and the most agreeable man in the world, and Mr. 
 Hodgson was so delighted, that as a souvenir, he sent Captain 
 Williams a splendid copy of Falconer's Shipwreck. The Captain 
 thanked him, but his countenance fell as he said, " I wish you had 
 chosen some other book. I have never seen this but with a 
 feeling of painful recollection of my poor father, who was lost at 
 sea, and I have always had a presentiment that the same fate 
 would be my own." One year after, the ship, her master, crew, 
 and passengers, with one or two exceptions, were lost on the coast 
 of Kildare. One of these exceptions was a consumptive Phila- 
 delphian named Evans, who had never left his berth since he got 
 on board. He was torn by the waves from the shattered ship, 
 and borne towards the rocks upon the shore, passed twenty -two 
 hours in the water, and was found at last nearly naked. Yet two 
 years ago, he was living and in good health. 
 
 In London I visited only Messrs. Bernouilli and Barings, from 
 whom I got letters of recommendation to various Mediterranean 
 ports ; to Grant & Co. in Leghorn, and their branches in Genoa 
 and Trieste. Then I went to Paris, where I spent the winter in 
 endeavoring by correspondence to arrange a settled future. 
 James and John Grant, the heads of the firm, were five or six 
 years older than I, and, having known me in Leghorn, were the 
 more ready to help me, and to look about for some proper posi- 
 tion for me ; no easy matter — for clerks past sixty years of age 
 are seldom sought after. The Grants' establishment had stood 
 for forty years creditably and honorably. The friendship of the 
 Barings, which they had always possessed, was the cause of their 
 extended business, and also the immense American consignments 
 that they had received ; added to which was their own local influ- 
 ence and cleverness. These worthy men possessed little or none of 
 that mercantile elasticity which enables one to rise from under 
 the pressure that must often be felt in a forty years' mercantile 
 course. A combination of lucky circumstances had given the firm 
 an unexpectedly high rank among Mediterranean houses ; but, as 
 soon as the luck changed, they sank back to their old position, and 
 lost much of their influence. What induced me to cultivate their 
 
 19* 
 
442 DISAPPOINTMENT IN VENICE. 
 
 friendship was, that they were the best-informed people about 
 houses of their own kind and the manner of establishing them — an 
 object never to be lost sight of, and which is the great essential to 
 the merchant. If he gain it sooner than he expected, he can either 
 rest or extend his views ; and if he choose the latter, he must 
 think no more of falling back, but ever go steadily on. The old 
 rule : " that if one rope break, another must be lying ready," — 
 holds good here. Hence comes the necessity, in the present age 
 of commerce, to dismiss the " granny-system" of our fathers. 
 When all goes forward, man can neither delay nor pause alto- 
 gether. 
 
 The Messrs. Grant put me in the way of getting the secretary- 
 ship of a new commercial association in Venice. A letter from 
 Messrs. Holmes & Co., in that city, informed me that they awaited 
 my presence to give me positive information ; so I quitted Paris, 
 and by the Simplon and Milan I reached Venice with letters to 
 the directors of the society. I met with a most polite and friendly 
 reception, particularly from Francesco Zucchelli and Giacomo 
 Levy. At last, one of the directors told me in strict confidence, 
 that the post had already been given away even while I was still 
 in Paris, although Mr. Holmes was utterly ignorant of the fact. 
 The choice had been a good one, Mr. H. B. Bremer, formerly con- 
 nected with the house of Buschek, in Trieste, who had been backed 
 by the house of Baur in Altona. It was long before I found the 
 key to the mystification practised towards me. It was that by 
 the systematic organization of such a society, as the projected 
 one, the directors themselves knew nothing, but that the lead was 
 to be taken by an experienced business man, to import cotton 
 from the United Staies, and sugar from Havana and Brazil ; and 
 that the places were to be given to the superfluous clerks of the 
 various merchants engaged in the association. As there were 
 many candidates, the directors, with the exception of Mr. Holmes, 
 agreed that the candidates for book-keeper, cashier, &c, should 
 be named by their employers, but that the business man was to 
 be looked for by all the directors. Among these, Mr. Friederich 
 Oerle, from Augsburg, but a resident of Venice, procured from 
 
THE ARTIST, NERLY. 443 
 
 Messrs. Bauer, in Trieste, the successful candidate. Thus again 
 some months were wasted — a great loss for an old man. 
 
 The little means which I had in Venice were growing smaller 
 every day, and I could find nothing to do. I was ready to take 
 anything : I perfectly knew four languages, and I was at last 
 reduced to make translations of MSS., from and into English, for 
 the monks of San Lorenzo, who had received lately an English 
 inheritance. This supported me for four months, and then the 
 need returned. For months, I lived on bread and cheese, with a 
 couple of glasses of vile red wine, a-day. Mournful as was my 
 condition, the thought of suicide which used to tempt me, never 
 came to me now. The Venetian air breathed repose, and a sort 
 of sympathy to the unfortunate ; the still lagoons by moonlight 
 were of themselves a consolation. Seated alone, beneath a willow 
 on the piazetta, with my eyes on the blue cloudless heaven, I felt 
 at peace, for I knew that if this sorrow were the meed of many 
 a folly, many a heedless step, it was yet not the punishment of 
 dishonor. 
 
 In the recollections of this time, the pleasantest is, of the hours 
 passed with my honest, kind friend, Nerly, and his amiable wife. 
 He who visited Venice, without seeing Nerly in his studio, has 
 sinned against Art. Nerly was born in Erfurt ; where he fell in 
 with that great friend of art, Baron von Rumohr, who saw his 
 talent for painting, and sent him to Italy. He soon succeeded in 
 Rome, where he had settled. He first became known by some 
 pictures painted for Thorwaldsen ; and orders soon came from the 
 highest sources, Ludwig of Bavaria and others. He was the 
 darling of all the German painters in Rome and its neighborhood, 
 who called him their General, and surrounded him in his rides in 
 the Campagna. 
 
 On such occasions he wore a hussar cloak and a shako a la 
 Poniatowski. I saw him first in the caves of Cervara near Rome, 
 frequented by him and his companions in the year 1835. I saw 
 him then, but I did not make his acquaintance until five years 
 later at Mr. Holmes'. There he fell in love with a gentleman's 
 mistress, — the gentleman being the Marquis Marruzzi, a large 
 proprietor in St. Mark's Place. The lady had seen his picture, 
 
444 A LITTLE EMPLOYMENT. 
 
 and wanted to know him. She suddenly discovered a talent for 
 painting, and her protector procured Nerly to instruct her. He 
 fell in love with her, and the result was marriage. The great 
 painter, Robert Fleury, in Paris, got his wife, a lady of high rank, 
 in the same way. In Nerly's studio I forgot some of my mis- 
 ery. The pictures of the celebrated Canaletti, renowned for his 
 Venetian scenes, have deservedly obtained high praise ; but he is 
 surpassed by the English Stanfield and by Nerly. These two 
 stand side by side for truthfulness with Landseer ; for, as his ani- 
 mals appear to live, so their groups and landscapes seem to be 
 nature herself. Nerly's best picture, copied by him four or five 
 times, is " Titian's departure from his birthplace, and his separa- 
 tion from his relatives." It is now in Lord Ashburton's posses- 
 sion, at the Grange in Hampshire. 
 
 The summer of 1840 was hot. I had a very good little room 
 in the quarter of the Holy Apostles, near the Propaganda and the 
 Rialto, where I did not suffer from heat nor from the cries of the ' 
 gondoliers on the canal. On the 15th of August, at noon, there was 
 a heavy thunder-storm, and a tremendous crash led me to sup 
 pose that the lightning had struck somewhere in my neighborhood. 
 I had hardly recovered when in rushed my boot-black, saying that 
 the lightning had struck the Propaganda. " Ebbene" said he, " la 
 Saetta sapete cosa vuol dire /" " No," I answered. " La Saetta 
 vuol dire quaranta cinque. E wwo." He meant that the light- 
 ning in the lottery almanack bears the number 45 — that's one. 
 "To-day," said he, "then, is the 15th — that's two ; and I am," he 
 continued, "just 39 years old — that's three." " Very good," said 
 I ; but how does it concern me V " Now," said he, " if we take 
 a lottery-ticket with the three numbers, 15, 39, 45, we shall be 
 sure to draw a prize. Please give me a scudo" The fellow spent 
 all he could get in the lottery, leaving wife and children to take 
 care of themselves. I refused him the money, and the next day 
 the whole three numbers turned up prizes. 
 
 As the winter approached, my fate looked darker and darker, 
 but at last a little ray of light appeared. Conversation generally 
 fell upon the costliness and worthlessness of Venetian hotels, and 
 it was proposed among the merchants to form a Tontine. I ob- 
 
AID PROMISED. 445 
 
 f 
 lained the formation of this association ; chose the ground ; was 
 introduced to a good architect by the advocate Mengaldo, and 
 made the proper calculations ; all which kept me busy for six 
 months. When the count was prepared, I took it to Francesco 
 Zuchelli, Giacomo Levy, Mr. Mondolfo, and other capitalists. 
 Mr. Mondolfo**) brother, who was interested in the Revolteila 
 hotel, in Truske, and others, was informed of the affair, and he 
 proposed to unite the two associations. But as people wanted to 
 see the affair successful before they subscribed, and much time 
 was being lost, I went to Trieste. 
 
 I knew nobody there but Grant, Brother & Co. ; but a Ham- 
 burg friend introduced me to Messrs. Meticke & Prey, who pro- 
 mised to aid me, and did so. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 MY JOURNEY TO THE BLACK SEA. 
 
 Propositions of the house of Grant, Brothers & Co. to secure their claims 
 against the house of James and John Cortazzi, at Odessa — The puerility of 
 these gentlemen — I set out, and travel to Galatz, by way of Vienna and the 
 Danube, descending the latter river — The baths of Mehadia — Galatz — Con- 
 tinuation of my journey to Odessa by land, in company with one of the 
 many Princes Galitzin — Jassy — The Russian Consul General at that place 
 — Son of the tragic writer, Kotzebue — The Quarantine of Skulieni — Kits- 
 chenew — Potemkin's grave — Odessa — James Cortazzi — The President of 
 the Tribunal of Commerce — A Cossack named Gamaley, Cortazzi's friend 
 and debtor, serves me, at last, as a means for the liquidation of the debt to 
 the house of Grant & Co. — The passport system in the southern Russian 
 ports — Prince Woronzow — The travelling Yankee, Codman ; the first only 
 half-witted American I ever met with in my life. 
 
 I had been but a few weeks in Trieste when the Messrs. Grant 
 requested me to go for them to Odessa, on the Black Sea ; as nei- 
 ther Mr. Hay nor Mr. More, members of the firm, were willing to 
 go — one for household reasons ; the other for fear of being kept 
 too long. 
 
 Messrs. James and John Cortazzi of Odessa, who were connected 
 with the Grants, in Trieste, Leghorn, and Genoa, had received very 
 heavy advances for consignments of wheat taken by the Grants. 
 The advances sometimes passed the assigned limits — the ship- 
 ments of wheat never ; so that the Cortazzis soon got heavily into 
 debt. After this, came failures in sending shipments. At last, 
 the Grants received an order to insure the Cortazzis' ship Alex 
 ander, and her cargo, for a heavy sum. This was done ; but the 
 ship delayed, and delayed, and finally ceased to be heard of, until 
 Mr. Grant, one day, read in a Marseilles newspaper this announce- 
 
PESTH AND THE FATR. 447 
 
 menr, " Arrived. The Russian ship Alexander, with wheat to 
 Messrs. Archias & Co." He wrote to Marseilles, and was 
 answered that the vessel had been sent by the Cortazzis ; and that 
 Messrs. Archias had returned acceptances for more than her full 
 value. Letter after letter went to Odessa, but no answer was 
 returned. John Cortazzi, who had large credit with the London 
 corn-exchange, had received heavy advances for supplies of provi- 
 sions : Mr. John Hornley, head of that Liverpool firm, had mar- 
 ried a Cortazzi : John Cortazzi's wife was a Miss Hornley, and by 
 this alliance he had got into the confidence of the great corn-mer- 
 chants, particularly Joseph and Charles Sturge of Birmingham. 
 To see what could be saved for them, the Grants now sent me to 
 Odessa. 
 
 As soon as I got the necessary papers, I started with the Vienna 
 courier. These papers, my passport, and bank-notes for a hundred 
 gilders, were in a pocket-book in the left breast-pocket of my coat. 
 I sat next the courier, who asked for my passport, which I gave 
 him, and then put back the pocket-book. When we reached 
 Bruck I missed it, and all search was vain ; for the street was filled 
 with Bohemian musicians returning from the annual market. I 
 reported to the police in Bruck, and wrote to Messrs. Grant that 
 I would wait at Vienna for new papers. Fortunately I had my 
 United States passport. 
 
 I was glad of the delay in Vienna, which I had never seen be- 
 fore, and which is a delightful residence for strangers. I took 
 a steamer down the Danube to go by Galatz, Jassy, Bessarabia, 
 and Russia Minor, to Odessa. The same evening we reached 
 Presburg. I could not pass the battle-ground of Wagram, by 
 which Napoleon won a bride from the ancient House of Haps- 
 burg, without recalling those troublous days. But the rapid 
 change of -scene made me forget Napoleon and Wagram long be- 
 fore we got to Presburg. At Pesth we found the annual fair ; 
 the sun was burning, and the deck of the steamer packed with 
 passengers. One of the directors, who was on board, refused to 
 push the speed of the boat, because it would need more coal than 
 usual ; and we did not reach Pesth until sunset, and saw the fair. 
 There were at least 20,000 strangers, and 15,000 wagons laden 
 
448 THE BATHS OF MEHADTA. 
 
 with all sorts of things. There were no traces of the inundation 
 of 1838, which had destroyed 2,000 houses, and which occurred 
 again three years later. We saw the preparation for the iron 
 bridge of 1,500 feet, from Pesth, so often projected by the Vien- 
 nese banker, Baron Sina. 
 
 Early next morning, after a visit to dusty Ofen, we went on. 
 Among the passengers was a Prince Galitzin, with his friend and 
 secretary Wailly, a young French literateur, son of the Professor, 
 and author of a celebrated grammar. We three formed a coterie, 
 as most of the others were Polish Jews. The young prince lived 
 in Paris, and was travelling now because all Russian subjects are 
 obliged to return every two years, and because he had a rich 
 uncle living near Moscow, whose heir he was. 
 
 We staid a day to unload at Alt Orsova, which gave me an 
 opportunity of seeing the Baths of Mehadia. They are on the 
 shores of the Czerna, about five miles off, and the road leads 
 through the rich and charming meadows of the Danube, sprinkled 
 with ruins of an ancient aqueduct with arches 35 feet high. The 
 village of Mehadia is in one of the lowest valleys in Europe, 
 where Trajan's aqueduct- arches still are seen. You bathe in what 
 is left of the Roman temples to Hercules and Esculapius, and the 
 walks are full of taste, and beautifully picturesque ; and he who 
 does not visit it when he can, loses a great pleasure. 
 
 In the morning, flat boats were ready to take us to New Orsova, 
 and to the Iron Gate, through whose tall, rocky sides the turbu- 
 lent Danube, shrunk to 200 feet in width, must pour his impatient 
 floods, and where great care and skill are needed on the part of the 
 boatmen. On the other side of the gate we found another steam- 
 boat, which carried us to Galatz, by Widdin, Giurgewo, and Silis- 
 tria, and Ibra'ily, famous for its grain. Here I hoped to find a decent 
 conveyance to Jassy ; but the Russian post-coach is a basket on 
 four wheels, in which your trunk must serve as seat. Eight horses 
 about the size of Newfoundland dogs were harnessed to this. The 
 driver was fastened on somewhere in front, and, having paid in 
 advance for the journey of thirty leagues to Jassy, and taken a re- 
 ceipt, away we went at a gallop, the postillion never looking 
 round. When the horses are used up, more are instantly caught 
 
QUARANTINE AT JASSY. 449 
 
 from the steppes and harnessed, and the gallop goes ever forward. 
 Your only refreshment is a glass of water, begged in the hut of 
 some Moldavian Jew. Woe to you if you speak no Russian, for 
 the postillion . speaks nothing else. An Englishman, the second 
 time he made this journey, fired a pistol at his postillion's ear, as 
 a substitute for Russian, when he wanted him to stop. Prince 
 Galitzin, who had brought his own carriage, was obliged with 
 twenty-four horses. 
 
 A letter from Mr. Grant introduced me to the British Consul 
 Cunningham, a former clerk of Messrs. Grant. When he came 
 to see me off, and looked at my basket and eight ponies, he said, 
 " By God, no ! " That will not do. You must take my little 
 travelling carriage." He sent at once for this — a nice commo- 
 dious carriage for two people, and expressed his intention of 
 going on one stage with me, to see that I got my relay. " Why," 
 I said, " I have a receipt." " Yes," he answered. " Yet if a go- 
 vernment courier should appear, and want horses, and there were 
 none in the stable, he would just coolly take yours. That sort of 
 affair, however, is not done to a British Consul, thanks to Lord 
 Palmerston." Accordingly, he accompanied me for a couple of 
 leagues, and then went back to Galatz. 
 
 Three leagues further I was overtaken by Galitzin, and he made 
 me exchange seats with his Secretary, who, being a young man, 
 he said, could better support fatigue. In the evening we reached 
 Jassy, and had our passports viseed by the Russian Consul-Gene- 
 ral, who was son of the dramatist Kotzebue, and had a pretty wife 
 from Manheim. There was a quarantine of fourteen days at 
 Skulieni, two leagues from Jassy ; but people were allowed to 
 spend ten days of it at the last named place. He told us that his 
 house was always open to us. He gave us a dinner at his country 
 seat, and two parties at his town house. I pleased him by my 
 familiarity with his father's plays ; and when I left he gave a 
 sketch of the monument at Manheim, made by his wife. He 
 wrote upon this — " Souvenir cTAmitie. I arrived at Skulieni in 
 the evening, during a frightful rain, and was told that the Laza- 
 retto door was closed. I said to one of the officers, who spoke 
 French, that it could make no difference whether I were received 
 
450 POTEMKTN'S MONUMENT 
 
 now or in the morning. He consulted with the others, and then, 
 shrugging his shoulders, said he could not break the rule. No 
 inn for shelter was in the neighborhood, and I ran the risk of spend- 
 ing the night in the rain. When Prince Galitzin came up, how- 
 ever, his influence opened the doors for both. 
 
 We passed into the visitation room, where we were directed, I 
 first, to strip to shirt and trowsers, and to pass into the next room. 
 Here I found four or five colossal Russian officers, and as many 
 employes, and was ordered to strip altogether, and, in a state of 
 complete nudity, to swear, that for fourteen days I had approached 
 neither man nor woman whom I suspected to have the plague ! 
 This oath was to be sworn upon the cross of St. Andrew, which 
 lay upon the floor, and, with some little anger, I turned my back 
 to the officers as I stooped to pick it up. I was then furnished 
 with clean warm water, and flannel, linen shirts, drawers, and 
 a nightgown, and shown to my quarters. My young prince, 
 who had seen this form of an oath, swore hotly that he would 
 never submit; but prince or no prince, he was obliged to do 
 it. When we got into our own room, we burst into incon- 
 trollable laughter. So we spent our four days of quarantine. 
 
 I went on in my little carriage towards Kischenew, through 
 woods and mountain passes. We had gone up some seven leagues 
 without any sign of a high road being visible : and my postillion 
 was perfectly ignorant of the country and the way. At last, I 
 saw in the distance a naked hill, crowned by a monument, and with 
 a hut at its base. We inquired there, and learned that it was 
 here that Potemkin, Catherine's favorite, lost his life on his way 
 from the Crimea to Jassy. His niece, Princess Branitzka, who 
 accompanied him, had this monument erected. It was said that 
 Catherine had poisoned him ; but it cannot be true, for, save his 
 niece, he was alone. How much does the recollection of Potem- 
 kin's former greatness teach of the littleness of human things, 
 when one stands in this barren and unvisited desert at the foot of 
 his monument. His niece would have perpetuated his memory 
 by this monument, forgetting that it must be seen to be known. 
 Yet here now lies the dust of one, who was plotting to rob his 
 mighty mistress of her sceptre and her crown. 
 
JAMES CORTAZZI. 451 
 
 I recalled a journey over the Alleghanies in 1811 and 1812, and 
 as then, I now made a map of the route indicated by the guardian 
 of the monument, with a lead pencil, on a bit of paper, making the 
 cross-road with a cross, and the turn off with a semicircle, and so 
 got to Kischenew about eight, P. M. The morning view of this 
 place gave me an idea of the Russian military government. All 
 the city officers were military men, and the more I saw of them, 
 the more my heart beat for the free air of America, whose civili- 
 zation, though left to grow alone, had so far surpassed that founded 
 by Peter the Great. Two days later I reached Odessa, and got 
 my first glimpse of the Black Sea, through incomparable clouds 
 of dust. 
 
 I had heard of Boulevard de Paris, a Rue, and a Hdtel Richelieu 
 in Odessa, and I went to the Hotel St. Petersbourg, in the neigh- 
 borhood of the French named streets. Having leased my empty 
 rooms, and hired my furniture, as is the custom here, I looked 
 about the city. I soon met an acquaintance, Mr. Peter Poel of 
 Hamburgh, whom I had last seen in Paris in 1824, who had mar- 
 ried a niece of the Petersburg banker Stieglitz, and was at the 
 head of a branch house here. He could scarcely believe his eyes 
 when he saw me in Odessa. When I told him my business, he 
 invited me that day to dinner, where, he said, I would meet James 
 Cortazzi, and make arrangements for settling my business. I had 
 formed a more correct opinion of Cortazzi than Mr. Poel, who had 
 known him many years, and I therefore refused the invitation, and 
 visited Cortazzi the next morning. He had heard of my arrival 
 at Mr. Poel's, and was quite embarrassed, although he affected 
 to conceal it by a cavalier manner. I asked him whether he was 
 willing to pay the debt. He objected to moving too fast or slow 
 in the matter ; he would talk to me when he had received certain 
 letters from England — say in a week. The week gone, he dis- 
 appeared, had gone to the country, his clerks said, for ten days. 
 So passed three weeks without any result. In the meantime I 
 learned that, according to commercial law at Odessa, I could get 
 a judgment, but could not compel payment. A merchant could 
 be reduced to bankruptcy only when he refused his own accept- 
 ances, or when he had sold drafts upon foreign houses which should 
 
452 CORTAZZI AND OAMALEY. 
 
 come back dishonored, and he should refuse to refund expenses. 
 In these two cases, if he cannot instantly satisfy all his obligations, 
 he is ipso facto bankrupt. In all other circumstances he is simply 
 a debtor, and the clearest book-debt cannot break him. 
 
 Cortazzi came back very much disinclined for an interview. 
 The Cossack President of the Commercial Court, Gamaley, was a 
 close friend of Cortazzi, as well as his debtor for 20,000 rubles. 
 I did not expect justice from him, but as we were on friendly 
 terms I told him of Cortazzi's dishonest course, and suggested 
 that I should esteem him quite as dishonest, should he decide in 
 Cortazzi's favor in case of a suit. He spoke accordingly to his 
 creditor, but got nothing from him but empty promises ; I deter- 
 mined to begin my suit, only there were no lawyers in Odessa 
 who understood their profession. But I myself drew up in 
 French, as was allowed in Odessa, a memoir, of which I sent a 
 copy to every member of the Tribunal of Commerce. When the 
 cause was heard, it was decided in my favor, so that I had the 
 judgment, but how to get it paid by this mercantile thief I knew , 
 not ; but my acquaintance with Poel helped me here. Gamaley 
 was Poel's debtor precisely to the amount of his debt to Cortazzi, 
 and Poel suggested to Gamaley the necessity of showing me at 
 least justice. Gamaley brought me a proposal from Cortazzi 
 which I sent back, as I did also the second, but he succeeded at 
 last and invited me to meet Cortazzi. When Cortazzi said, " I 
 will sign the document to-morrow, there is my hand ;" I replied, 
 " The pressure of an honest man's hand is worth something, but 
 you have deceived me so often that I will trust- nothing but your 
 signature." As he drew back grumbling, I asked Gamaley if he 
 had heard what I said, and told him that if his word, already 
 thrice broken, were again violated, I would tell the whole story 
 upon the public exchange. I had chosen the right way ; both 
 Gamaley and Cortazzi were rogues, and nothing but this threat 
 would have procured the signature of the latter. The next mor- 
 ning Gamaley requested me to call upon him, and when I entered 
 the room he held the proposal out to me saying, " There, my dear 
 friend, is what you wanted. I hope you are now content, and 
 that you will confess that I worked well for you." I saw Cortazzi's 
 
GENERAL WORONZOW. 453 
 
 signature, but the document still lacked Gamaley as witness. I 
 pointed out the necessity of this, and he signed. 
 
 My business was ended. The manner in which the Exchange 
 at Odessa had regarded the whole affair proved that Cortazzi, like 
 every other merchant of his class, had taken no unusual course to 
 get out of his difficulties, and that he had lost only foreign credit 
 and not his credit at Odessa. People congratulated me, saying 
 that 1 was the first creditor who had ever recovered any debt, 
 except from foreign exchange and paper. That I had taken the 
 best course was proven by the words of John Cortazzi, when he 
 visited the Grants at Trieste on his return from England nine 
 months later. The Grants told him that they expected very little 
 more from him. " You may esteem yourselves very lucky," he 
 said, " in getting what you did ; for if Mr. Nolte had not fright- 
 ened my brother, you would have gotten nothing." 
 
 The agents of the Birmingham house, who had gone to see 
 about their advances to Odessa, wondered how I could have gotten 
 anything from such a nest of robbers. 
 
 I next went to the police for my passport, but was informed 
 that it had been sent to St. Petersburg, and that I must wait three 
 months in Odessa for its return or else take a Russian pass. As 
 this would have been useless beyond the frontier, I called on 
 Prince Woronzow to whom Mr. Poel had introduced me, and 
 begged his help ; and he gave me a written order to the police 
 for a search after my passport, which was found at last in a chest. 
 Ordinarily they are not returned from St. Petersburg for three 
 months. 
 
 General Woronzow, commanding the army of the Caucasus, 
 was now in his sixty-fourth year. I called to thank him. He spoke 
 English as well as if he had studied it at Oxford, and had married 
 his first wife, Lady Pembroke, in England. On my introduction 
 he had invited me to a soiree at his palace at the end of the 
 Boulevard de Paris ; and now to another at his hermitage near 
 Sevastopol. At this time the Grand Duchess Helena, daughter 
 of Prince Paul of Wurtemburg, lately deceased in Paris, and 
 wife of the Grand Duke Michael, was in Odessa on her way to 
 some baths in the Crimea. The princess wanted to get a whole- 
 
454 AN INQUISITIVE YANKEE. 
 
 sale idea of the commerce of Odessa, and ordered all the wheat- 
 laden wagons to be drawn up side by side in the main street. 
 Thus several thousand had collected, waiting for the arrival of the 
 lady. All the water carts also, which supplied drinking water to 
 the city, were ordered to occupy themselves in laying the dust. 
 It was of no importance that the market was in want of wheat, 
 and the citizens in want of water ; they had to wait five days, 
 and then the princess arrived. On the next day she went on 
 board the fleet, and the wagons were then ordered to come in 
 and unload, and the water carts to return to their usual business. 
 When the owners asked for compensation for their six days' loss, 
 they were sent to the devil, and told to hold their tongues, and 
 this is Russian justice. 
 
 The vessel that carried the princess, brought back, on its re- 
 turn, a young American named Codman, in charge of the police. 
 He was from Marblehead, Mass., and had come out as supercargo. 
 He had excited the attention of the police by his habit of asking 
 questions and popping the answers down in a note-book, etc. ; 
 and they were ordered to bring him before the Emperor. He 
 was a right inquisitive Yankee. The Czar asked the object of his 
 visit, and his intentions, when his business was ended. He replied 
 that he wanted to see Russia for himself that he might tell his 
 countrymen the truth about it. The naivete of the young man 
 pleased the Czar, who the Marquis de Custine has shown, is very 
 anxious to hide Russian tyranny and slavery from foreigners, and 
 to cause a belief in advanced civilization. Here was an opportu- 
 nity to get the Americans. " So," said the Czar, " You want to 
 see and learn all about Russia 1 Well, you shall, and at my ex- 
 pense. I will give you letters and see that you are everywhere 
 well received. Where do you want to go first V " To Mos- 
 cow." "When?" "The day after to-morrow, at 6 o'clock." 
 " Good ! the day after to morrow, at 6 o'clock, I will send for you ; 
 be ready." 
 
 This narrative I got from Codman himself. The next morning 
 appeared at the Yankee's door a very handsome drosky and 
 horses, with an imperial coachman and two adjutants. Servants 
 in imperial livery loaded another drosky w r ith his baggage ; the 
 
HIS UNPARALLELED IGNORANCE. 455 
 
 adjutants got into a third, and he was whirled off to Moscow and 
 put into a second rate hotel. He had scarcely arrived when the 
 Governor and all his staff appeared and offered to do the honors 
 of the city. When he had seen all the lions he asked to go tc 
 the Crimea and visit the camp of the army of the Caucasus. He 
 was sent there by the Governor, and so brought to Sevastopol by 
 the flag-ship of the Russian Admiral. Here he wanted to go to 
 headquarters to " see the fun." The Admiral, named, I think, 
 Etschernicheff, who had been a midshipman of Nelson at Trafal- 
 gar, and who saw nothing in his passenger but an uneducated 
 curious individual, got rid of him at Sevastopol. But he had 
 nothing to do there and asked to see the camps. He was told 
 that the commandant, Goloff kin, had refused entrance to strangers, 
 etc., but he did not care. The Czar had promised him admission 
 everywhere and he would complain to him if the field-marshal 
 refused. He grew more and more insolent every day, and was 
 so overbearing that there came a sudden order from imperial 
 headquarters to send him to Odessa, and thence over the frontiers, 
 with some money for his expenses, and the wish for a pleasant 
 journey to him. How he got to Trieste, I did not learn, but he 
 told me his story there, and proved that favors do not always 
 come to intelligent men, since this crazy pate had met with such 
 attention. He did not feel a bit grateful nor did he make any 
 attempt at procuring useful information. All that he talked 
 about was his personal intercourse with Nicholas and the fact that 
 his Majesty had been kinder to him than to any other traveller. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE RETURN TO TRIESTE— 
 
 Departure from Odessa — The Bosphorus — Constantinople and the Golden 
 Horn — The Turkish fleet — Smyrna — Three weeks' quarantine at Malta — 
 Sicily — Naples — Comparison of the impression produced by the Bay of 
 Naples with that I felt at my first sight of New York Bay — Continuation 
 of my return -journey to Trieste, by way of Leghorn, Genoa, and Venice — 
 Trieste — The house of J. C. Ritter & Co. — My position in it — The district- 
 governor, Count Stadion-— Some characteristic sketches of him. 
 
 1 started from Odessa for Constantinople in a Russian steamer, 
 officered by Englishmen, and in forty-four hours reached the Bos- 
 phorus. Here we were detained by a fog, which cleared off at 
 sunset and showed, by the high hills upon the left, to be near 
 Ungiar-Skelessi, where the famous peace was made between Tur- 
 key and Russia, and Field-Marshal Diebitch obtained the object 
 of his march across the Balkan. This treaty forbid to French 
 and English vessels entrance to the Black Sea or passage through 
 the Bosphorus, a measure which remained for some years incom- 
 prehensible to those two nations. 
 
 I had heard so much of the wondrous beauty of the Bosphorus 
 that I was prepared to be disappointed, but what I now saw sur- 
 passed every account. A Russian officer, a fellow passenger, 
 gazed at the lovely shores and only spoke to say, " It is too 
 beautiful ! We must have that." It was the hidden but long 
 cherished wish of his government. The windings of the Bospho- 
 rus showed us many a glorious sight. The northeast wind that 
 had blown for five days and that had helped us through the Black 
 Sea, had prevented the shipping from going up the Dardanelles, 
 and there lay before us two hundred and thirty vessels. Scarcely 
 had we entered the strait which separates Europe from Asia 
 
CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE GOLDEN HORN. 457 
 
 when a light south wind came up and permitted the various 
 sels to m&ke sail. And the flitting of the white sails among the 
 exquisite scenery had a magical effect. I do not feel called upon 
 to describe what so many better pens have done, but I ought to 
 speak of the effect upon myself. The fairy-like view of the pano- 
 rama that unrolled before us was greatest as we neared Bujukdere 
 and Therapia on the right, and Scutari on the left or Asiatic side 
 of the Bosphorus, towards which we looked, over Pera Galata 
 and Constantinople. Over the hundreds and hundreds of great 
 and small dwellings, mosques, minarets, kiosks, and cypresses 
 which cover the hill tops near Therapia and the shores below, we 
 saw the new palace of the Sultan, built by English architects, and 
 of which the white walls and delicate fretwork made it look as if 
 built of cards. 
 
 From the entrance to the Golden Horn, a bay that separates 
 Constantinople from old Stamboul, to the palace in Therapia, lay 
 twenty-two ships-of-the-lin<e, just come from Mehemet Ali, most 
 prominent among them the flag-ship Mahomet, commanded by 
 the Admiral, an Englishman named Walker. From every mast 
 swung flags, an hundred cannons roared salutes, and the bay was 
 covered with thousands of caiques, as is the case whenever the 
 Sultan goes to Mosque by water, furnishing a spectacle that far 
 surpasses the famed Venetian regatta. 
 
 I found several young Englishmen in the Hotel d'Angleterre, 
 upon the heights of Pera, near the new, gorgeous palace of the 
 Russian Embassy. Among them was the son of my London 
 solicitor, Mr. Landford, a well educated, clever young man, who 
 was going with several other Englishmen from Scutari by land 
 along the shores of the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. I went with 
 them to the heights of Ungiar-Skelessi, on one of which is the 
 grave of the prophet Jonah, measuring eight feet by five, and 
 suggesting vast dimensions for the whale that swallowed him. 
 
 Then I went to Bourgurloo, from whence can be seen the 
 southern entrance to the Bosphorus, both shores of the Golden 
 Horn, the Prince Islands, the Tower of Leander, the sea of Mar- 
 mora, and the Dardanelles. With me was the third son of Me- 
 hemet Ali an odd informed young man, with a streak of French 
 
 20 
 
458 BA Y OF NAPLES. 
 
 politeness about him towards us, although he was haughty and 
 peremptory towards the Turks. 
 
 After a three weeks' stay I left Constantinople, to which the 
 palm must be given over all European or American scenery 
 known to me. A French steamer took me to Smyrna, and soon 
 to Malta, where we passed twenty-two days in the Lazaretto. In 
 Smyrna we had taken another passenger, the son of Lord So- 
 mers, who succeeded to that earldom before we reached Malta. 
 He was a young, cultivated man, who had thoroughly travelled 
 Asia Minor, discovered mines and cities, to which Fellowes and 
 other travellers had gone, and had filled his portfolios with admi- 
 rable views and sketches. We were very good friends in the 
 Lazaretto. At the end of our quarantine he set out for England, 
 to be present at the opening of Parliament, but determined to 
 visit Asia Minor as soon as the ceremony was over. Next year 
 I met with him in Trieste, on his road to the East. I was glad 
 to leave the hot, dry climate of Malta, where there is scarcely any 
 vegetation, and where all the drinking water comes from Africa, 
 and to take the Neapolitan steamer for Messina. 
 
 As we neared the Sicilian coast, we saw Etna in eruption. We 
 stayed long enough in Syracuse to see the ruins of the Roman 
 amphitheatre, the gallery called the " ©ar of Dionysius," the sub- 
 terranean baths, and the theatre. The next morning at ten we 
 reached Messina, the loveliness of which I will not attempt to des- 
 cribe. Another boat took us to Naples, and had any view suc- 
 ceeded the Bay of Naples as it did Messina, I think my delight 
 would have driven me crazy. Fortunately my recollections of 
 the Golden Horn sufficed to calm me. I knew characteristics of 
 the bay from pictures in my father's possession, painted by the 
 brothers Hackert, court painters in Naples ; so that I somewhat 
 knew the place. Furthermore, the impression of New York Bay 
 was ineffaceably stamped on my memory, although it must yield 
 the palm to Naples, for it lacks the haughty head of Vesuvius 
 towering on high ; it lacks the countless monuments of twent}' 
 centuries of old civilization and the gorgeous palaces of the new ; 
 but then it shows a spectacle that the indolent Neapolitan can 
 scarce imagine ; that wondrous active life where every intelligence 
 
RETROSPECTION. - 459 
 
 speaks ; that magnificent shipping, that mingling of the two vast 
 rivers, the fresh and blooming vegetation on the shores. I 
 went to private lodgings at the foot of the Castel del Ovo, where 
 I had a view of the Bay, Vesuvius. But here where I had 
 hoped to find that world-renowned sunshine, the cloudless moonlit 
 nights, and the light Mediterranean airs, the equinoctial storm 
 came on, and tossed the American fleet then cruising in the bay, 
 sent cold rough winds to destroy the genial atmosphere, clouded 
 the azure sky, and poured down chilly rains. Even Vesuvius 
 would not break out for me. In vain my servant told me that an 
 eruption must take place, for the hermit and all other weather 
 prophets had foretold it ; the mountain fires lay still. On the 3d, 
 a fine clear day, I went to Capri, reaching it too late to see the 
 grotto, and the next two days the storm renewed its violence, and 
 made the visit impossible. In spite of this I visited the whole 
 island, and on the evening of the third day gave a ball at the inn, 
 that I might see the Tarantella danced in this, its native land. For 
 two scudi my landlord promised to provide a dozen pretty peas- 
 ants and the requisite cavaliers, with pipers, wine, fruit, bread 
 and cheese, and my ball went finely off. I then gave up the 
 grotto and went to Sorrento, and thence by Castelamare and Portici 
 back to Naples. Busy as I was with the present, I found time 
 for a glance at the past. I had seen in the yellow fever year, 
 1822, a mighty city, (New York,) rendered desolate ; its houses 
 forsaken and its commerce stayed. I had gone down into the city 
 to look at it. The watchman at the Park looked at me in amaze- 
 ment, as did those in Broadway, Wall, and Pearl-streets, who 
 usually sat upon chairs in the middle of the streets smoking 
 cigars. I soon got enough of my lonely walk. My walk in 
 Pompeii was different. Fifteen centuries had gone since this city 
 had been inhabited, and there were no ties to the present. That 
 ancient civilization suggested other ideas and bore another look 
 than that of modern days. Comparison between these civilizations 
 is natural and interesting, but not very instructive, and the only 
 result is, that now man gives to practical industry the energy that 
 then was consecrated to art. Pompeii must be leisurely seen, 
 and will reward the antiquarian. Most of its treasures are in 
 
460 FAILURE OF THE PROJECT. 
 
 the Museo Borbonico. The collection is already immense, and 
 new buildings must be prepared if the disinterments go on as 
 fast as they did in the days of Queen Caroline (Murat). 
 
 I felt a different interest in the hotel, from the window of which 
 poor Nourrit, once the first Parisian opera singer, had thrown 
 himself in despair, when Duprez was preferred to him. " I was 
 king," he wrote ; " I governed the opera at my will — there I 
 reigned ; now I will never govern more." Thus applying Thiers' 
 words about Louis Philippe to himself. He could not bear to see 
 his rival preferred. Whoever has seen Nourrit in the first act of 
 Auber's Gustave ou le Bal Masque, will remember with what a 
 solemn gravity and feeling of superiority he used to strut about 
 and strive to imitate the majesty of kings. Poor fellow he was 
 deposed by Duprez, ut de poitrine, which he could never reach. 
 
 I left Naples without having seen its sky, and the next day I 
 started by Civita Vecchia for Leghorn. The elder Mr. Grant 
 was nearly blind and deaf, and quite retired from business ; Mr. 
 John Grant had gone to the baths, so I went to Trieste. The 
 Hamburg Consul there, Mr. Joseph Prey, informed me that the 
 very respectable house of J. C. Ritter and Co. wanted my help 
 in their German, French, and English correspondences. The duty 
 was an easy one for me, if we should mutually please each other. 
 I was invited for Sunday to the house of Mr. Boeckman, the head 
 of the firm. On Saturday Mr. Meticke pointed him out to me on 
 the exchange, and I saw a person who never stood still for a mo- 
 ment, holding a cane in his hands crossed behind his back. He 
 moved as if he were full of quicksilver, and I could not get a 
 sight of his profile. I found him on Sunday however, friendly and 
 polite, and soon came to an understanding with him. I found also 
 " good nature" to be the characteristic of the whole firm. I 
 remained in charge of the correspondence of this firm for two 
 years, and quitted it because of difference of character and mer- 
 cantile views. All commentaries on our separation were pre- 
 vented by the Messrs. Rftter giving me an entire year's salary, 
 and by the continuation of our friendly intercourse. 
 
 I had now time to look about me, at the manners and customs 
 of the mixed population of Trieste, which consists principally of 
 
THE GOVERNOR OF TRIESTE. 461 
 
 Italians and Germans, plenty of Greeks, and a few English and 
 French. The natives are Sclavic in origin, and the sailors and 
 fishermen from Dalmatia. 
 
 Trieste is both the only free German port in the south and an 
 Austrian city. As free port, it belongs to Germany ; in every- 
 thing else it is part of the Austrian Empire ; and the hearts of 
 the people beat only for Germany when it accords with Austria. 
 This was clearly shown in the Frankfort National Assembly of 
 1848, in the choice of the Trieste deputies, who were Herr Von 
 Bruck and Dr. F. M. Burger, now Governor of Steinmark. Still 
 I must say that the population of Trieste is mercantile, and 
 when I speak of their heart-beatings, I must add, that the hearts 
 are situated in their pockets. But in all commercial places — 
 Trieste, or Hamburg, or Bremen, or anywhere else — commercial 
 interest is the first principle, and patriotism merely secondary. 
 Thus the tendencies of public officers and merchants are different. 
 Once, when Count Stadion, Governor of Trieste, and myself dif- 
 fered about some measure, he frankly — for he was a noble, open- 
 hearted man — remarked, that it was impossible to please every- 
 body. Where the interest of the city was so much in question, as 
 in the case referred to, I thought there could be no difficulty. 
 The Count replied : " Yes, but I look to Vienna, not Trieste ; 
 they must be pleased there ; the rest follows naturally, or must 
 follow." The reconciliation of these two interests is the greatest 
 task of a governor of Trieste, if he wishes the welfare of the city, 
 as Count Stadion unquestionably did. But his cleverness, some- 
 times over-praised, was not equal to all emergencies. He some- 
 times showed weakness, especially in political matters. " It is 
 my custom," he said to me, " to stand behind the curtain, and hold 
 the thread in my own hands, and let others do what is to be done." 
 He, being legally bred, was somewhat pedantic. I never saw him 
 smile ; and even the smoking, which he permitted after his din- 
 ner-parties, never brought an expression of ease, much less of mer- 
 riment, to his face. The man was cold as the statue of the Com- 
 mander in Don Juan ; and the politeness of the entertainer and the 
 respect of the entertained were equally cold. He was esteemed, 
 like, many others, because talent, which he did not possess 
 
462 LOSS OF ONE SITUATION, 
 
 was attributed to him ; and for the same reason, he was made 
 minister. 
 
 Leaving the Messrs. Ritter, I of course had to look for other 
 employment. The secretaryship of the Austrian " Lloyds" was 
 vacant, having been resigned by Mr. J. Hagenauer, and I went 
 directly to M. von Bruck, who was the most influential man in 
 the affair. He came and gave no positive answer, but promised 
 me all his interest. I passed the time in paying a visit to my 
 brother at Florence, and then returned to Trieste, where I found 
 that the post had been given to a person who not only had faith- 
 fully served " Lloyds" in the Levant, but had also private influ- 
 ence. An article, the last of a series written for amusement, on 
 the characteristics of the port of Fiume, and its advantages as a 
 to-be rival of Trieste, made a great noise in the city, and even 
 procured me a request from the Governor to answer it. I did so, 
 to prove to him that I could write German quite as well as French 
 or English. This answer, which was intended for the Journal of 
 " Lloyds," pleased the people of Trieste so much, that they had 
 it inserted in the Allgemeine Zeitung. 
 
 His Excellency observing that I could write German, requested 
 me to write an article for "Lloyds" Journal on the Vienna and 
 Trieste railway, comparing the two routes from Laybach through 
 the Karst and the other along the Isonzo. The governor preferred 
 the first, but the most important men of Trieste, among them Herr 
 von Bruck, disagreed with him. I wrote the article, and gave it 
 to him. It was written rather polemical, and touched upon one 
 or two foreign topics. The governor read it at table to Messrs. 
 Gio di P. Sartorio, C. Regensdorff, of the firm of Reyers, and 
 another gentleman whose name I have forgotten. His excellency 
 read so badly that the article was condemned, and Mr. Regens- 
 dorff requested to furnish a better one as soon as possible. The 
 printers already had a copy of mine, and I was promised a proof 
 on the third day. But the next day I heard that Mr. Regensdorft's 
 was to be printed first. I complained, but Mr. Papsch, the fore- 
 man, had received his orders from his excellency in person. I 
 took my article back, and had it published in the Algemeine 
 Zeitung two days before Mr. Regensdorft's appeared in Trieste. 
 
AND A STRUGGLE FOR ANOTHER. 463 
 
 It provoked a reply in the Augsburger Zeitung, an honor not 
 conferred upon my worthy rival. I would not have spoken of 
 this, except to give an instance of the frequent double-dealing and 
 unworthiness of Count Stadion. 
 
 My friends then advised me to write something that would 
 prove to the governor my commercial cleverness, and I published 
 with Faverge my " Glance at the position of Commerce at the 
 close of the year 1843, with especial reference to Trieste and the 
 future of Austrian Commerce." Count Stadion was pleased with 
 the pamphlet. I obtained first the imprimatur of the censor of 
 the press in Vienna, and then asked for the count's permission to 
 print, which he gave on condition of my altering one paragraph 
 of twenty-eight words. I expressed the same idea in twenty 
 eight other words, and his ^excellency was satisfied. 
 
 The governor had no further doubts of my capability, but he 
 objected to my age. " In Austria," he said, " we prefer only 
 men who have served thirty years under our eyes." And I al- 
 ready counted sixty-five ! The affairs of the Exchange, and its 
 correspondence with government, were usually written in Italian, 
 and the secretary was generally an old man. These writings were 
 suffered to accumulate in Vienna, simply because they were not 
 written in German, and the Council there did not always know 
 Italian. It had long appeared necessary to conduct the corres- 
 pondence in German, and it was proposed to give the Italian 
 secretary a German assistant. Dr. F. M. Burger, then actuary 
 of the Exchange, whose confidence I had won, did all he could for 
 me ; the rest of the authorities were in my favor ; but the Italian 
 secretary and the governor were against me. The governor had 
 nothing to say against me, but he knew that I understood him, 
 and that I doubted his infallibility. Therefore if I were appointed 
 by the Board, I must expect his veto. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 TRIESTE. 
 
 Visit of the Emperor Ferdinand, in the company of his -wife and minister — 
 The Baron Von Kiiebec — His invitation to persevere in the examination of 
 Peel's Bank Bill, of 1844, which I first bring to his notice — He permits me 
 to dedicate my " Condition and Prospects of the World's Commerce in the 
 early months of the year 1845," to him — Count Stadion's great egg, the 
 Austrian East India Company — Mission of Mr. P. Erichsen — The article of 
 the Augsburgh " Algemeine Zeitung," of August 9th, 1845, in relation to the 
 population of Trieste, &c. — A reference to Mr. Von Brack, the true lucky 
 star that has risen over Trieste — Closer acquaintanceship with him — The 
 blind traveller, Lieutenant Holman — The Scotchman, Keith, with his collec- 
 tion of daguerreotypes — Completion of a work on freedom of Trieste as a 
 commercial port — Count Stadion lays his veto upon it — A project touch- 
 ing me, devised by Mr. Von Bruck, takes me to Vienna, and thence to 
 Paris. 
 
 This was the condition of affairs early in 1844, when Baron 
 Von Gehringer, private secretary of Baron Von Kiiebec, came to 
 Trieste, on his way from Constantinople. I had written to him in 
 Vienna, about my just-mentioned pamphlet, and had thanked him 
 for procuring its appearance, when I met him in Venice. He had 
 also read something of mine on the corn trade, and he now told me 
 that the Emperor and his cabinet would visit Trieste in the autumn, 
 ;ind that Baron Von Kiiebec who had read some writings of 
 mine, had expressed a wish to know me. The Emperor came 
 accompanied by Prince Metternich, Count Kollowrath, Baron Von 
 Kiiebec, and other notable persons. I called on the Baron, and 
 was requested to call the next day at 2 o'clock. I had hardly 
 reached there, when Count Stadion entered, and saw me with sur- 
 prise. After waiting a quarter of an hour, I was received, and 
 found him a polite and clever man. The topics of the day were 
 
THE BARON VON KUEBEC. 465 
 
 discussed, and then I expressed my desire for the post as assistant 
 Secretary of the Exchange. He promised to speak to Count Sta- 
 dion about it, and I know he did so, though in vain. He asked 
 what I was doing now, and I told him that I was examining Sir 
 Robert Peel's Bank Bill, with reference to the renewal of the Act 
 of Incorporation of the Bank of England, in order to see its influ- 
 ence upon the English and the general money market. " If you 
 do that, Mr. Nolte," he said, " you will give me great pleasure. 
 We in Austria are rather behindhand in such matters, and require 
 help." " Excellenza," I replied, " that is sufficient to set me at 
 work, but I cannot pass through the hands of Count Stadion, 
 whose grasp is not a friendly one for me." He laughed, and 
 told me to send the work directly to him. Four months 
 afterwards I sent it to Baron Von Gehringer, with a request to 
 give it to M. de Kuebec. This brought me in answer the minis- 
 ter's approval, and a request to publish. 
 
 On the 4th of May, 1845, Count Stadion sent the following 
 rescript : — 
 
 " Well-born Lord : 
 
 " The inclosed MSS., entitled " Examination of the new reform 
 in the English bank and money-market, with their influence on 
 commerce, and its effect upon prices," which your excellency has 
 sent to the President of the Royal Imperial Court, I send back, 
 with this remark, that his excellency the president has read it, 
 with all the interest that its great information, clearness, and pre- 
 cision deserve. 
 
 " With greatest esteem, etc. 
 
 "STADION." 
 
 I recognized the hand of Baron Von Kuebec in this, and deter- 
 mined to dedicate the work to him. I therefore wrote to him, 
 and received the answer on the 27th May, containing his accept- 
 ance of the dedication, and his thanks for the compliment. 
 
 When I asked permission to print it, of Count Stadion, he 
 replied, " Certainly not." But when I remarked that it was to 
 be dedicated, by permission, to Baron Von Kuebec, he said " So." 
 Then I recognized that position, not merit, was what he looked at 
 
 20* 
 
466 MISSION OF MR. P. ERICHSEN. 
 
 in a man. It was not very difficult to see the reason of the im- 
 portance of Trieste, since it is the exit point of all German and 
 Austrian industry by the Mediterranean sea to all regions, and is 
 the first point of j unction between the Levant and the North. Count 
 Stadion did not understand the future importance of Trieste. 
 He felt it as any half-observing person with cosmopolitan ideas 
 would feel it ; but the manner of increasing its importance was 
 utterly hidden from him. The overland voyage of Mr. P. 
 Erichsen, now Secretary of the Vienna and Danube Steamship 
 Company, to India and China, with a view of promoting an East 
 India trade with Trieste, was, of course, in these days of free- 
 trade, useless. The Vienna bankers cared little for these extended 
 operations, and would take no shares in the proposed association, 
 not seeing the source from which profit was to flow ; the trea- 
 sury was not rich enough to support this monopoly, and there 
 was not sufficient surplus capital in Trieste. The true means of 
 bringing Levant commerce to Austria would be the improvement 
 of the postal-system, the roads, and communications generally. 
 Then a company could be found without aid, as indeed took place 
 later. This East India project is the most important that ever 
 got into Count Stadion's head. He had no vitality, however, 
 and soon disappeared. The reader will get a glance of the pre- 
 sent and proper leader of Trieste from the following article, pub- 
 lished in the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, August 9, 1845. 
 
 "POPULATION OF TRIESTE AND ITS DUTY IN THE FUTURE. 
 
 " In this age of universal progress, when the strength of every 
 intellect, high or low, is needed, the idea of coming perfection 
 wars with the love of custom. The more we believe that stand- 
 ing still is retrogression, so much the greater must the union of 
 thought and power appear, without which there can be no progress 
 nor result. Where this union does not exist men should never 
 rest. No enchanter's wand can create it; no law call it into life; 
 it is the result of long vigilance. The necessity which every one 
 feels to contribute his mite towards the common perfection 
 creates the duty of ceasing to be mere spectators of the conflict, 
 and of becoming active participants in it. With such ideas and 
 
TRIESTE. 46f 
 
 with opened eyes it is easy to see by the constitution and organi- 
 zation of our city, by the nature of its manners and customs, what 
 is necessary to produce that common spirit which alone can secure 
 for Trieste the attainment of her object. Thinkers and nonthinkers 
 love her ; but inactive love is useless. 
 
 " Trieste is the only Mediterranean seaport in which all this can 
 be clearly shown. Genoa and Leghorn are not representatives 
 of a mighty empire ; the gate to vast provinces. And yet, 
 though this is undeniable, the voice that should urge the improve- 
 ment of our civil, moral and physical condition is silent — the pro- 
 mise of the future is not whispered. And why this apathy that 
 clogs and retards progress 1 The cause is in our origin, in the mix- 
 ture of our population, in the variety of private interests among 
 which public interests are lost; in the want of energy, in the fet- 
 ters of custom. Our government is paternal, but its wisdom has 
 not yet discovered the means of improvement. There are few ex- 
 amples of active help, and many of the slumberers complain about 
 the evil condition of things. There is here no intention of deny- 
 ing the willingness of our fellow-citizens — most of them do not 
 know their wills, nor discover what they have to do or to let 
 alone, what is their duty towards their government, their fellow- 
 citizens and themselves. They lack union, which alone can lead 
 to improvement. As before said, the history of our position ex- 
 plains this. 
 
 " At the fall of the French Empire this port first perceived its 
 future ; comparison of Trieste now with Trieste in 1814 will 
 prove the march of progress. Its port-freedom and its position 
 with reference to the East showed the source of its coming rise. 
 But other countries discovered this before the Fatherland, which 
 was just recovering from the long war, and in which commerce 
 was yet in its infancy. Glance at our Exchange. It counts fifty- 
 four great enregistered firms, of which only fifteen are established 
 since 1814-15, and of which only seven are from the German 
 part of the Empire. At the head of these, however, stand Messrs. 
 Reyer & Schlik, a firm ever ready to do all for the common good, 
 and already the pointer out of the road to progress, for instance, 
 by tho founding of the Austrian Lloyds. Not profit, but the 
 
468 TRIESTE 
 
 common weal, has been their object. But our population con- 
 sists of Bavarians, Swabians, Rhine! and ers, Saxons, of Swiss, of 
 French and English, of Romans, of Neapolitans and Greeks, all 
 whom have the protection of the government, and find here a 
 common home. Gain was the motive of their settling here, the 
 weightiest, the first motive ; and that love for the Austian Em- 
 pire was only a slowly ripened feeling. Of course, you find 
 here much egotistic indifference and apathy. Therefore we miss 
 that feeling of their own political worth in the grown-up genera- 
 tion born here, of those foreign settlers, which should have raised 
 them to high rank and influence. The more the government 
 shows a tendency to progress, the more it becomes the duty of 
 individuals to give their influence and power to help that progress 
 on — to love the old only when it contains the seed of advance, 
 and not to hate blindly whatsoever is new, but to prove it, and if 
 it be found good, to accept it. Unfortunately this is just the 
 spirit that we lack. 
 
 " The fear that the new will not prove so good as it appears ; a 
 disposition to suspect it as a result of private interests, the excel- 
 lence of which is doubted because unknown or because it comes from 
 a disapproved source — this is the reigning disposition here and 
 prevents the spread of true philanthropy and patriotism. Among 
 those who have ever honorably striven for the independence which 
 every well organized man desires, there is one who has never 
 stood still, who has seen the mighty future of Trieste and urged 
 the city on towards it, whose works are visible to every eye that 
 looks from the heights of Opschina upon the steamers, or lands 
 from one of them here. He is to be found by the stranger at 
 early morning, noon or evening, in the Halls of the Tergesteum 
 or before the Chancery of Lloyds. He is a man of the greatest 
 simplicity of manners, with the forehead of the weariless thinker. 
 Every one listens to him with attention, every one gets a kind, 
 intelligent answer from him. This man, whose sharpness in de- 
 tecting merit in others is only equalled by his modesty in doubt- 
 ing his own, was born on the Rhine, and has won the veneration 
 of Trieste by introducing steamers and founding the Austrian 
 Lloyds. But he was not always rightly judged nor properly 
 
FREIHERR VON BRUCK. 469 
 
 esteemed ; nor was his zeal for public good unsuspected to be 
 zeal for his own interest — nor were his clear insight into the 
 future, his clearness of method and judicious selection of means 
 always appreciated. Yet in his noble example men should have 
 heard a voice saying, ' Go thou and do likewise.' 
 
 " Many Germans have discovered new helps to trade and in 
 dustry in Trieste, opened new ways, and helped the spread and 
 perfectioning of our commerce ; for instance, in opening trade with 
 Hungary. Private interest, people say — and the glorious example 
 stands alone : but the impulse is given, and the next generation 
 will profit by it, and work for the public good. Fortunately 
 Trieste possesses in her governor an earnest man, who, if he do 
 not always find the way of doing a thing, still has the good of the 
 city at heart, sees the greatness of her future, and desires to pro- 
 mote it as now, by the establishment of an East India Co. This 
 proposition has not yet been received by the Vienna bankers with 
 the warmth that it merits, but that will come in time. For men 
 cannot long remain blind to the exhaustless treasury of Indian and 
 Chinese commerce, of the countless purchasers that those wares 
 will bring to Trieste, who will find new necessities and new tastes. 
 But the foundation must be laid, and patience must be exercised 
 and means furnished, before this splendid project can go on. One 
 day Trieste will understand this." 
 
 The man of whom I have spoken above is Freiherr Von Bruck. 
 The morning after the arrival of this article in Trieste, I was sur 
 rounded by anxious people, inquiring if I had read it. When I 
 said " Yes," they asked " How could you write it 1 " " But, 
 how do you know I wrote it 1 ? " "There is no one else here who 
 could have done it." " Well," I said, " I did write it ; and what 
 then 1 What have you to blame in it 1 Is it not all true % " " Yes ; 
 but we cannot bear that a stranger should receive such extraor- 
 dinary praise." " W^ell," I said, " you can prevent the recurrence 
 of this by doing as he has done." Another highly estimable and 
 worthy friend of mine said, " Mr. Nolte, I am sorry that you 
 wrote that article, for I have liked your other writings much." I 
 asked his reasons ; but he would only say, " The article does not 
 
470 HARBOR FREEDOM 
 
 please me." The cause, however, was plain : they were unwil- 
 ling to give the position to Herr Von Bruck, which his undeniable 
 worth deserved from this his second fatherland. Yet my friend 
 abovementioned, became, a few years later, one of the most de- 
 voted followers of Von Bruck. 
 
 A word here of my connection with the Freiherr. I had only 
 known him by sight before my application for the secretaryship 
 of Lloyds ; and the character given to me of him, on my first ar- 
 rival, was that of a clever but crotchetty man. " He tries every- 
 thing," they said — " starts a hundred schemes, gets sharers, and 
 when a scheme threatens badly, backs out of it, and leaves the 
 others to bear the loss." But it was impossible to pass a few 
 weeks in Trieste, without seeing his footsteps in every direction, 
 without recognizing his systematic and well-ordered mind, and 
 seeing in him an extraordinary and thoughtful man — no dreamer 
 — but a clear-sighted, practical man. This belief grew with my 
 knowledge of him, and was proven at my return from Florence. 
 He had a daughter there at a seminary for noble young ladies, 
 and had requested me to visit her and bring him letters. This 
 began a more intimate acquaintance, which increased in the sum- 
 mer, by our frequently dining together on Sundays, at the Hotel 
 Metternich. I gratefully remember his good-will towards me. 
 
 Shortly after the Emperor's visit, the people of Trieste became 
 intensely anxious about the continuation of their harbor freedom. 
 In the Vienna and Pesth journals, constant attempts were made to 
 close the port, because of the lack of funds in the Austrian custom- 
 house. These articles were known to be from the pen of Min- 
 isterial Councillor Von Hock, who had long been controller in 
 Trieste, and who probably expressed the views of the Cabinet. 
 Trieste was disturbed, and the exchange deputation requested me 
 to write a work on free ports in general, and Trieste in particular, 
 in order to distribute it among the high placemen at Vienna, par- 
 ticularly the court councillors, and to get their influence. I un- 
 dertook the work, finished it in about six months, and laid it 
 before the committee, among whom were Herr Constantin Von 
 Reyer, Herr Von Renner, and other principal men, and they de- 
 termined to print it, and to have it also translated by me into 
 
THE BLIND TRAVELLER. 471 
 
 French. But Governor Stadion's approval must be had, and he 
 greatly liked the work on the whole, but disliked certain occasional 
 free-thinking tendencies, and thought that the public was not ready 
 to receive it. The committee, like all the public bodies in Trieste, 
 had to bow to the nod of his excellency. I had been paid a good 
 price for the work, and owned the manuscript and copyright. 
 But the governor wanted the committee to buy the copyright, 
 with which I was very ill content. 
 
 In the summer of 1844, many strangers had come to Trieste in 
 expectation of a visit from the court, and also for sea bathing. 
 One of these could enjoy but little of the festivities, for he was 
 blind. He had, by his eccentricity and wandering through the 
 world, won a certain celebrity, but had no merit as an intelligent 
 person. He was an English naval lieutenant, by name, James 
 Holman, who had lost his sight by the sudden change from a 
 three years' cruise off the coast of Labrador to the West India 
 station. He was thus obliged to quit the service, at the age of 
 28, and to retire on lieutenant's half pay. But William IV., him- 
 self a sailor, made him a knight of Windsor, which entitled him to 
 a house in Windsor Park, and this house he rented for some £80 
 or £100. He lived for some years in the country with his 
 brother, a married but childless preacher. But the difference of 
 circumstances and dispositions made the time pass heavily, and 
 Holman determined to wander about the world. Though he had 
 means enough to employ a good servant, he determined to travel 
 alone, and depend upon the help of his chance companions, in 
 hopes thus to secure more admiration and sympathy. This re- 
 solve was the more remarkable from the fact that he spoke only 
 English. Thus, for twenty-seven years, he wandered about 
 through Norway and Sweden, Russia to Siberia, Poland, Hun- 
 gary, Turkey, Asia Minor, Egypt, and the Mediterranean African 
 coast, Italy, Spain, France, and part of South America. The only 
 difficulty that he met was in Cracow, Poland, where, in spite of 
 his blindness, he was seized as a spy. thrown for nine months into 
 prison, and only released by an English lady of rank, who heard 
 of him while at her hotel in Cracow. He had published eight 
 8vo. vols, of his travels, but being all hearsay they were worth- 
 
472 LIEUTENANT HOLM AN. 
 
 less ; as when he describes the city of Nizza as very small, 
 because, being invited to take a walk, his guide brought him back 
 in half an hour. 
 
 He came to Trieste from Greece, and was brought to the Hotel 
 Metternich by a waiter, hoping to find there some one who could 
 speak English. One day, the host came to me and told me that 
 a blind Englishman desired to sit where he could hear his mother 
 tongue, and asked if he might come to my table. I said yes, and 
 he brought Lieutenant Holman forward. He was a good looking 
 man of sixty, with a long, white, silken beard, which he arranged 
 with a pocket-comb every fifteen minutes. I knew him for twenty 
 days, but never heard him utter a thoughtful phrase. He was a 
 dry narrator, and a most vain man. I asked him one day to let 
 me sketch him, as he was a very patriarchal-looking person. 
 I surprised him when half dressed the next morning, and begged 
 hirn to sit still ; but he would not until he had made a careful 
 toilette, when he said, "I've done, if you think I am looking well 
 enough." I finished my sketch in twenty minutes, and, after 
 many copies had been asked for, had it lithographed. I wrote 
 the following lines under it : — 
 
 Though Providence's stern decree 
 
 Forever closed thy mortal eye, 
 Her own is watchful over thee, 
 
 And her protection ever nigh. 
 
 Thy ways are safe I The torrid zone, 
 
 Siberia's snows and barrenness, 
 All climes where'er thou stepst alone, 
 
 To thee are harm — and dangerless. 
 
 Then travel on until that bourne, 
 
 Where thou wilt reach thy journey's end ; 
 
 "Where all thy vision will return, 
 Aud Heaven's light on thee descend. 
 
 These verses gave extraordinary delight to all the English in 
 Trieste, and the English preacher there paid rather a doubtful 
 compliment, by saying, " I did not give you credit for so much 
 religious sense." I met him once more, seven years later, but 
 only to see him pass by me with rapid step. 
 
HOPES OF A VICE-CONSULSHIP. 473 
 
 Another odd acquaintance, who also sought for English inter- 
 course in the Hotel Metternich, was a Scotchman named Keith. He 
 had travelled through Asia Minor, discovered some ancient cities and 
 mines, and published his travels. His predecessor Fellowes, and 
 other travellers, doubted the existence of these mines, since they 
 had not themselves been able to find them. Therefore Keith 
 resolved on another voyage, in which he determined to daguer- 
 reotype the scenes. He was now returning to England with full 
 and incontestible proofs of his truthfulness ; and he gloried in his 
 anticipated victory. 
 
 After completing my work on free ports, I published the second 
 volume of " View of the Commercial World in 1846," and closed 
 my literary career in Trieste by a humorous article on the Dal- 
 matian coast, which by Freiherr Von Bruck's desire I published in 
 the Leipziger Illustrirte Zeitung in 1846. It attracted attention to 
 the Lloyds' steamers. It contained a sketch of a good natured 
 wine-traveller, who when he read it exclaimed, " Only that con- 
 founded Nolte could have sketched me so well." 
 
 The bread won by literature in Trieste was very uncertain. The 
 few readers in Trieste had no particular taste for statistics or 
 national economy. To have attended industriously to anything 
 else would soon have used up what means I possessed. Mr. Von 
 Bruck now spoke to me of an agency in London for Austrian 
 commerce. It was in the hands of Baron Rothschild, a man 
 who cared only for title, and who wanted to establish a general 
 consulate office in London. He had expressed these desires in 
 Vienna, and had designated me as a proper person for Vice Con- 
 sul. A correspondence with Mr. Moritz Goldschmidt, partner and 
 agent of the Rothschilds in Vienna, would settle the matter. 1 
 felt sure of Baron Von Kiiebec's help, and on him the nomina- 
 tion depended. So in my sixty-seventh year I left Trieste for the 
 capital. 
 
 Here I first called upon Mr. Goldschmidt, where I was well 
 received, but learned that all depended upon Herr Von Kuebeck. 
 1 at once called upon him, and received a request to wait upon 
 him the day after, at 2 o'clock. When I saw him he received me 
 as an old acquaintance, told me of the condition of the London 
 
474 DIPLOMATIC PROMISES. 
 
 consulate, as well as of that in Paris, and said that a vice consulate 
 was to be formed in each city. That four candidates would be 
 named and presented to him. He then requested me to arrange 
 the matter with the Rothschilds, get my name inscribed, and 
 " when they are presented," said he, " I will choose yours." 
 
 When I told this to Mr. Goldschmidt, he said that the salary 
 was now reckoned at £600 ; but he would know better after 
 seeing Mr. Solomon Rothschild at Paris. He would give me a 
 letter to Baron James, who would introduce me to his father-in- 
 law, Solomon. After eight days' delay I started for Stuttgard, 
 via Ischl, Munich, and Augsburg. Dr. Gustav Kolb, editor of the 
 Allgemeine Zeitung, was my companion part of the way, and 
 accompanied me to visit Mr. Cotta in Stuttgard. I agreed to 
 become the regular correspondent of these gentlemen from Paris, 
 where they had ten correspondents, among others, Mr. Mohl, — 
 this arrangement being made in case I should miss the London 
 appointment; for I had begun to distrust my fate, and to tolerate 
 misfortune. But a good price was offered me for financial letters, 
 and I left Stuttgard and went by Manheim, Frankfort, Cologne, 
 and Brussels to Paris, where I saw my family after a six years' 
 absence. My two daughters had been well educated, and were 
 now pleasant and amiable girls with robust health, such as their 
 poor mother had not had for a long while. I soon saw that 
 there was no hope of the London position, by the politely man- 
 aged delay of the Rothschilds, and at last a letter from Moritz 
 Goldschmidt informed me that I had better waste no more time 
 with the Rothschilds, as they had requested that some imperial 
 civil officer might be appointed, and that it was therefore beyond 
 Baron Von Kuebec's power to appoint me. 
 
 Such are diplomatic promises, but Solomon Rothschild told 
 me that my name headed the list of candidates presented to Herr 
 Von Kiiebec. By this time I saw that it had been settled to 
 give the post to a civil officer, if one could be found, before any- 
 thing had been said to me. But he was not found, and the post 
 was vacant for five years, until Von Bruck's successor, Herr Von 
 Baumgarten, gave it to Mr. Schwartz, the Austrian secretary of 
 the London Crystal Palace, a very worthy man. Most of the 
 
AUSTRIAN CONSULS-GENERAL. 475 
 
 Austrian consuls-general in the Levant are very clever men, as, 
 for instance, Mr. de Laurie in Bucharest, Dr. Gode in Bayreuth, 
 and Mr. Huber in Alexandria. All these were Austrian civil 
 officers, and therefore did not possess the necessary general know- 
 ledge of the commercial world. In England too, a consul parti- 
 cularly needs a knowledge of the language, a very rare accomplish- 
 ment in an Austrian of rank ; for I once heard Count Stadion, at 
 a dinner given to the engineer, Lieut. Waghorn, propose his 
 health, and make a speech in English which nobody could under- 
 stand. This the more astonished me from the fact, that the count 
 had been in England and admired it. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 PARIS, HAMBURGH— VAIN HOPE IN PARIS. 
 
 Remarks upon the condition of public affairs there in the years 1847 and 1848 — 
 False policy of Louis Philippe — Guizot — Negotiations with the publishing 
 house of Messrs. Perthes, Besser, aud Mauke in Hamburgh, in relation to a re- 
 vision of William Benecke's work on tbe " System of Insurauce and Bottomry" 
 — Another visit to Hamburgh in 1848 — The February Revolution at Paris 
 — Its consequences in Germany — Feverish state of things at Hamburgh — 
 The Hamburgh free-trade paper called the " Deutscher Freihafen" — After 
 the withdrawal of its first leading editor, the management of the concern 
 falls into my hands — The sheet christened the " Deutsche Handel's Zei- 
 tung" (German Commercial Journal) in the beginning of 1849 — Dictatorial 
 conduct of the directing committee of shareholders — Exhaustion of the 
 small capital set apart for the support of free-trade principles — The paper 
 dies — The committee set their faces against all explanation of the causes of 
 the paper's decease, aud step in violently — My farewell words to the 
 readers at the close of the paper are despotically suppressed and taken out 
 of the compositor's hands — The revision of W. Benecke's work on " Insu 
 ranee," and the completion of it in the month of April, 1852. 
 
 I expected to better my circumstances in Paris by writing, 
 but was disappointed, and so half of 1847 passed away. I had 
 hitherto visited my family in Paris but seldom, and had no op- 
 portunity of hearing popular ideas nor public sentiment. But now, 
 after a residence of some months, I began to understand more 
 than appeared in the journals. I had passed the first five years 
 of Louis Philippe's reign in Paris, and the other ten abroad, so that 
 the change of public sentiment came suddenly before me. Louis 
 Philippe owed his crown to a mercantile combination, under the 
 direction of Lafayette ; and that he pleased the bourgeois well 
 enough, and the nation had taken him as they would anybody else, 
 
GUIZOT. 477 
 
 yet he had no hold upon the national affection. He based 
 himself only on his goodness as a father, and the remarkable 
 virtues of his family. But he soon showed that he had no in- 
 terest at heart but the private interests of his family. The costly 
 festivities in Paris, and the search for kingly alliances, proved his 
 present views, and the hidden conflict between the bourgeoisie and 
 his monarchical principles must soon leak out. As the princes 
 became popular, they lost favor with him. His ideal was Louis 
 XIV. ; and he gave as his reason for this, that the less indubitable 
 the authority, the easier it would be to rule the people. The 
 venality of Teste, his minister, and the therewith connected plans 
 of Cubieres and others, were well known to him ; and when Teste 
 was exposed by his colleagues, Louis Philippe made him seal- 
 bearer and grand cross of the legion of honor. Any person in 
 Paris could see how slight was the tie between ruler and people. 
 To this was added Guizot's unpopularity. This man so praised 
 abroad, so hated at home, with indubitable first-rate talent, never 
 could win public confidence nor remove suspicion ; and yet be- 
 lieved that a minister must be useful in proportion to his lack of 
 popularity. In such a state of affairs, intrigues were, of course, 
 successful. The letters found in the king's portfolio from De 
 Joinville and D'Aumale, prove that they understood the state of 
 things, and had vainly endeavored to change his measures with re- 
 ference to the banquets and other assemblages. Many a time 
 have I said to friends, that if the king allowed his ministers to 
 have their way, he was playing with his crown. The people knew 
 that he had lost, in 1847, his best counsellor, his sister, the Prin- 
 cess Adelaide, and had now no guide but that false one Guizot. 
 
 Letters from Messrs. Perthes, Besser, & Mauke called me back 
 to Hamburgh in February of the next year. These gentlemen 
 had long wanted to publish a new edition of William Benecke's 
 " System of Assurance and Bottomry," which should show the pro- 
 gress of this system during the last forty years, and its picsent 
 position. They asked me to point out the best man in Trieste for 
 this. Now the best men in Trieste for this were Italians, and 
 could not write German. I told them so, and recommended them 
 to ask Mr. C. Regensdorif, the well instructed business man of 
 
478 THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION IN PARIS. 
 
 Messrs. Reyer & Schlik. His answer was that since I had left 
 Trieste, there was no one left worth mentioning. Therefore com- 
 menced the correspondence which took me to Hamburgh. 
 
 The changes that had followed the great conflagration made me 
 a stranger to everything but the basin of the Alster. My last 
 visit had been in 1830, and I found a new exchange, but in it no 
 faces of my youthful friends, but plenty of antiquated behind-the- 
 age people. As I never liked these in my youth, I cared not for 
 their acquaintance now. Forty-five years were between those 
 days and these, and I expected to see some trace of progress in 
 those faces ; but no ! I can write it as truth, they are to-day what 
 they ever were. 
 
 As a proof of what I could do, I wrote a treatise on Bottomry, 
 quite departing from Benecke's ideas, and simplifying the matter. 
 This work greatly pleased one high exchange authority, and dis- 
 pleased another less instructed ; but I succeeded at last in explain- 
 ing matters to him, and then began my task. 
 
 Scarcely had I commenced when the news of the French Revo 
 lution, of February 24th, reached Hamburgh, during exchange 
 hours, on the 27th. It was unexpected all over Europe ; but it 
 fell like a thunderbolt on Hamburgh. Later news threw some 
 light on the matter, but people were watching the shaking of the 
 first throne in Germany. When the Berlin revolution of March 
 took place, and was followed by that of Vienna, the faces of the 
 Hamburghers waxed very sad, and every man of property looked 
 about sadly, to see how he might preserve it. When Cassar and 
 king knew no longer wherein their safety lay ; when one fled from 
 his throne and capital, and another, as they say, lurked for days 
 in his chamber, how could the Hamburgh Senate, like the walls 
 of Jericho, not fall at the first trumpet blast, and make promises 
 that they never could keep. The so-called leaders of the people 
 from Wiirtemburg, Hungary, the Rhine, and other parts of Ger- 
 many, came to Hamburgh, and required the Senate to promise 
 what they called an amelioration of the condition of the people. 
 Constitutionality was talked about, the red flag hoisted, and Ham- 
 burgh greatly frightened. At this time, a journal belonging to the 
 free-trade class, and called " German Free Ports," which had been 
 
EDITORIAL DIFFICULTIES. 479 
 
 founded six months before, was deserted by its editor, Dr. Scherer, 
 and his place was offered to me. I took it the more readily that 
 my employers in the " Assurance " work were too much occupied 
 with politics to go on with it. 
 
 I was to have been presented to my collaborateurs on Monday, 
 May 22, but this was put off. The close of the week approached, 
 and as the paper must appear on Saturday, I started with direc- 
 tions or instructions, and got out the No. for May 28th, alone. 
 
 Eleven more numbers appeared under my editorship. The 
 first stone of stumbling was the news of Radetzky's victory at 
 Custozza, of the probable effect of which on Italy's political indepen- 
 dence I spoke in the number for August 13. 1 uttered sentiments 
 natural to one who was born an Italian, and who had adopted the 
 United States, and learned there the love of unchecked liberty. 
 But Hamburghers could only see that a German army had con- 
 quered an Italian one, and over this they rejoiced. As I defended 
 my position, it produced a noise. There were in Hamburgh plenty 
 of zealots for Prussia and its king. I was accused of positive un- 
 truthfulness in many of my statements, particularly the cruelties 
 of General Wrangel, and I was reduced to dismiss my Berlin cor- 
 respondent. But I could not get another without going to Berlin, 
 and therefore I went. There I found that all that he had written 
 about Wrangel was very positively true, and that that general had 
 forcibly entered and searched the houses of merchants Heil in the 
 Leipzig street, Krebs in the Jerusalem street, Burgher Otto at 
 the ship-yards, Counsellor of Justice Lindau, and Mr. Hilden- 
 dagen under the Lindens, and that he had destroyed the machinery 
 in the printery of Mr. Krause. I knew many friends of free trade 
 in Berlin, but none would now take the correspondentship, and 1 
 had nothing left but to thank the former correspondent, T. M., for 
 what he had done. When I came back, I simply said that I had 
 engaged a good correspondent, and when the new letters appeared 
 people were delighted with them. A year later, I informed them 
 that the new correspondent was the original T. M. 
 
 The idea of a Red Republic filled all heads, and men tried to 
 prove its existence. Our Frankfort correspondent was suspected 
 of misrepresenting matters. I told their committee that the oor- 
 
480 RESIGNATION OF EDITORIAL DIGNITY. 
 
 respondent was my predecessor, Dr. Scherer, and that his letters 
 appeared to me to be the best that I had seen. But the committee 
 had other views, and I was required on June 2, 1849, to promise 
 that no further letters should be received from Dr. Scherer ; that 
 from the beginning of the third quarter no more political corres- 
 pondence should appear, and that the Berlin, Frankfort, and other 
 correspondents, should be notified by me to cease ; and that in- 
 stead of correspondence the leading article should be a weekly 
 review of politics and news. 
 
 I was astonished at this, that a committee of merchants should 
 thus interfere with an editor's business. But the paper was gov- 
 erned by a committee consisting of the editor and four merchants. 
 The secret of the whole difficulty probably was that I, as citizen 
 of the United States, was a republican, and they knew no differ- 
 ence between the American and the Red Republicans. 
 
 Finally, for want of means and subscribers, I laid down my 
 editorial dignity on the 29th September, 1849. I had written a 
 farewell article, which was at the printer's. A member of the 
 committee heard of it, went to the office, and ordered it to be left 
 out. In the last number I read as follows : 
 
 " Although to-day's is the last number of the German Commer- 
 cial Journal, yet the desire of furthering free trade by means of 
 the press is not resigned, and there will shortly appear a weekly 
 paper called the ' Borsenhalle (Exchange) Times,' in which the 
 reader will find all necessary information on the views and prin- 
 ciples of the friends of free frade." 
 
 This paper, edited by Carl Roback, of Berlin, was found not to 
 pay, and was abandoned after three months' publication. 
 
 During my editorship, I was often told to attend to. the 
 views of the " Hamburgh Exchange," but never could find out 
 where they were expressed. Every man had his own ideas; 
 and the political ideas of merchants are of but little value, as they 
 result not from a cosmopolitan way of thinking, but simply from 
 the consideration of private interests, and it is very seldom that 
 a merchant's opinions are founded upon the general well being of 
 the mass. 
 
 I now returned to my " System of Assurance and Bottomry ;" 
 
"FINIS." 4 81 
 
 begun on October 2, 1849, given up until January, 1852, and 
 then finished in three months. I had begun this work in my 
 seventieth year, and finished it in my seventy-third. Its recep- 
 tion by the public has proven its usefulness, and therefore I may 
 be allowed here to repeat the closing words : 
 
 " My greatest desire in publishing a work, the difficulties of 
 which no man can comprehend, is to free myself from all illusions 
 about my own force, and to prove that I have not over estimated 
 my capabilities. If it be true, I shall enjoy the pleasing con- 
 sciousness that my life, so full of action, has left behind it some 
 traces of usefulness." 
 
 The close of my life is probably not far off, and in writing the 
 last lines of this volume I would say a word about these sketches 
 from life. For the great mass of readers they will possess but 
 little interest, but for those who have known me, this work may 
 awaken a fresh interest in the past, nor will it be unacceptable to 
 them to walk with me along that varied way which I have tra- 
 velled for so many years. This I deemed their due and mine, 
 and for it I hope that this work will not be quite overlooked. 
 
 VINCENT NOLTE. 
 Hamburgh, May, 1853. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 21 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The reader must bear in mind that this work is a translation, and that the 
 free use of personalities is indulged in by a foreigner, and a man who has 
 evidently formed hasty conclusions. 
 
 The financial allusions to Edward Livingston and Mr. Davezac are upon 
 matters not thoroughly understood by Mr. Nolte. They belong to the political 
 animosities of the past, and would have been suppressed were it not considered 
 that the duty of a translator is faithfulness to his text. 
 
 The allusions to ^General Scott's appearance in Paris, after the battle of 
 Waterloo (page &&), were no doubt occasioned by ill-feeling for some fancied 
 slight, growing out of the circumstances described below — which has been fur- 
 nished, from recollection, by a gentleman who was in Paris at the time, and 
 was personally cognizant of what he states. 
 
 General Scott, soon after the battle of "Waterloo, was in Paris: France, 
 then occupied by more than half a million of hostile troops, did not be- 
 long to Frenchmen. Some of the British regiments which had been with 
 General Ross and Admiral Cockburn, at Washington, were now quartered 
 in Paris, and, as a pleasant conceit, got up a dinner in that capital, to cele- 
 brate the anniversary of the burning of the national buildings [civil], the 
 archives and library, in the capital of another hemisphere. Hundreds of 
 other British officers, of high rank, were present, as approving guests. This 
 continued want of shame on the part of the Vandals, fired General S. 
 with indignation, and he employed months in arranging a retaliatory cele- 
 bration. Receiving the hearty support of the American officers, and many 
 other citizens, then in Paris — Mr. Jackson, Charge dAffaires ; Colonels Dray- 
 ton, M'Ree, Thayer and Archer; his aid-de-camp, Major Mercer, his com- 
 panion, H. Leathenworth, Esquire, of New York, <fcc. <fec. &c. &c. — General S., 
 passing by the war events in which he himself had participated, fixed upon the 
 8th of January — the first anniversary of the battle of New Orleans — when 
 some ninety Americans met, to give vent to their feelings. It is possible that 
 Mr. Nolte, as a resident of New Orleans, may have been called upon to sub- 
 scribe ; but if not, he, certainly, being on the spot, learned the whole history 
 of this dinner. General S. presided. The leading or retaliatory toast, was, of 
 course, General Jackson and his glorious defence of New Orleans! given by 
 Scott with warmth, and all the circumstances which enhanced the victory and 
 
484 APPENDIX. 
 
 deepened the shame of the defeated ; together with a severe animadversion on 
 the recent celebration of the barbarian acts perpetrated at Washington. 
 Nothing was neglected that could give publicity and eclat to the retaliation, 
 The elaborate preparations were mentioned in the highest French, Russian, and 
 German circles, with which Gen. Scott and his American friends were on the 
 most amicable terms. The Hotel Robert was the place selected for meeting, 
 where the allied sovereigns, when in Paris, had habitually dined, and where the 
 elite of the British empire were daily to be seen, in January, 1816 — (Parliament 
 met a month later) — Lord Hill's head-quarters, with a battalion of household 
 troops, was within half pistol shot ; all the American officers were in full cos- 
 tume, <fcc. <fec. (fee. <fec. General S. drew up a full account of the dinner, which 
 The Constitutionel, though a liberal paper, did not dare to publish (being under 
 censorship) till the name of Sir Edward Pakenham (he being the brother-in- 
 law of the Duke of Wellington) was expunged, as well as the relative num- 
 bers engaged at New Orleans — because of the great excess on the British side. 
 Gen. S., however, at the expense of some guineas, caused the full account to be 
 published, as an advertisement, in one of the London journals. Such, no doubt, 
 were the grounds of Mr. Nolte's sneers at the American major general (low 
 rank certainly), in a crowd of field marshals, full generals, and lieutenant gen- 
 erals — many of whom, nevertheless, stood towards him as attentive friends. 
 
J. S. REDFIELD, 
 
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 MEN AND WOMEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 By Arsene Houssate, with beautifully Engraved Portraits of 
 Louis XV., and Madame de Pompadour. Two volume 12mo. 
 450 pages each, extra superfine paper, price $2.50. 
 
 Contents.— Du^esny, Fontenelle, Marivaux, Piron, The Abbe" Prevost, Gentil-Bernard, 
 Florian, Boufflers, Diderot, Gretry, Riverol, Louis XV., Greuze, Boucher, The Van- 
 loos, Lantara, Watteau, La Motte, Dehle, Abbe" Trublet, Buffon, Dorat, Cardinal de 
 Bernis, Crgbillon the Gay, Marie Antoinette, Made, de Pompadour, Vade\ Mile. Ca- 
 margo, Mile. Clairon, Mad. de la PopelinieTe, Sophie Arnould, Crgbillon the Tragic, 
 Mile. Guimard, Three Pages in the Life of Dancourt, A Promenade in the Palais-Royal, 
 the Chevalier de la Clos. 
 
 " A more fascinating book than this rarely issues from the teeming press. Fascina- 
 dng in its subject ; fascinating in its style ; fascinating in its power to lead the reader into 
 castle-building of the most gorgeous and bewitchirw description." — Courier ifEnquirtr. 
 " This is a most welcome book, full of informaaon and amusement, in the form of 
 memoirs, comments, and anecdotes. It has the style of light literature, with the use- 
 fulness of the gravest. It should be in every library, and the hands of every reader." 
 Botton Commonwealth. 
 
 " A Book of Books. — Two deliciously spicy volumes, that are a perfect bonne I 
 for w> epicure in reading.*' — Home Journal. 
 
redfield's new and popular publications. 
 
 LIFE IN THE MISSION. 
 
 Life in the Mission, the Camp, and the Zenana. By Mrs. Coliu 
 Mackenzie. 2 vols., 12mo. Cloth. $2 00. 
 
 "It is enlivened with countless pleasant anecdotes, and altogether is one of the most 
 entertaining and valuable works of the kind that we have met with for many a day." 
 Boston Traveller. 
 
 4 A more charming production has not issued from the press for years, than this jour- 
 nal of Mrs. Mackenzie." — Arthur's Home Gazette. 
 
 u She also gives us a clearer insight into the manners, position, climate, and way of 
 life in general, in that distant land, than we have been able to obtain from any other 
 work." — Christian Herald. 
 
 u Her observations illustrative of the religious state of things, and of the progress of 
 Missions in the East, will be found specially valuable. It is on the whole a fascinating 
 work, and withal is fitted to do good." — Puritan Recorder. 
 
 " She was familiarly acquainted with some of the excellent laborers sent out by the 
 Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, of whom she speaks in the most favorable 
 terms. The work is instructive and very readable." — Presbyterian. 
 
 i+. 
 
 WESTERN CHARACTERS. 
 
 Western Characters ; being Types of Border Life in the Western 
 States. By J. L. M'Connel. Author of "Talbot and Vernon," 
 "The Glenns," &c, &c. With Six Illustrations by Darley. 
 12mo. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 " Ten different classes are sketched in this admirable book, and written by the hand 
 Df a master. The author is an expert limner, and makes his portraits striking." — Buj- 
 r alo Express. 
 
 *' Never has Darley's pencil been more effectively used. The writer and sketcher 
 Bave made a unique and most attractive American book." — Boston Transcript. 
 
 " When we say that the book before us is calm in style as it is forcible in matter, we 
 nave indicated a sufficiency of good qualities to secure the attention of the reader, who 
 would extend his sympathies and secure himself a due degree of amusement, without 
 — what is not uncommon in books with similar titles — a shock to his taste, or insult to 
 his judgment. There is nothing equal to them in the book illustrations of the day. A 
 special paragraph should be given to the illustrations by Darley." — Literary World 
 
 *k 
 
 A THANKSGIVING STORY. 
 
 Chanticleer: A Story of the Peabody Family. By Cornelius 
 Mathews. With Illustrations by Darley, Walcutt, and Dallas. 
 12 mo. 75 cents. 
 
 ••Its success is already a fixed fact in our literature. 'Chanticleer' is one of those 
 simple and interesting tales which, like the ' Vicar of Wakefield' and Zchokke's ' Poor 
 Pastor,' win their way to the reader's heart and dwell there. It is full of sunshine: a 
 hearty and a genial book." — New York Daily Times. 
 
 " ' Chanticleer' is scarcely inferior In a literary point of view to any of the Christmas 
 stories of Charles Dickens, and is more interesting to Americans because of its allusions 
 to the peculiar customs of this country." — N. Y. Com. Advertiser. 
 
 ••• Chanticleer* has won the public heart, both by the felicity of its subject, and thb 
 grace, wit, and goodness, displayed in its execution." — Southern Literary Gazette. 
 
 "It possesses literary merit of the highest order, and will live in the affections of afl 
 readers of good taste and good morals, not only while Thanksgiving dinners are remf m 
 bered, but while genius is appreciated." — Morning Ncvos, Savannah. 
 
REDFIELD'S NEW AND P0PU11R PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 CLOVERNOOK; 
 
 Or, Recollections of our Neighborhood in the West. By Alicr 
 Caret. Illustrated by Darley. One vol., 12mo., price $1.00. 
 (Fourth edition.) 
 
 " In this volume there is a freshnee s which perpetually charms the reader. You seem 
 ta be made free of western homes at once."— Old Colony Memorial. 
 
 " They bear the true stamp of genius— simple, natural, truthful — and evince a keen 
 •ense of the humor and pathos, of the comedy and tragedy, of life in the country.'' — 2 
 Q Wh.iU.ier. 
 
 TF*. 
 
 DREAM-LAND BY DAY-LIGHT: 
 
 A Panorama of Romance. By Caroline Chesebho'. Illustrated 
 t>y Darley. One vol., 12mo., price $1.25. (Second edition.) 
 
 " These simple and beautiful stories are all highly endued with an exquisite percep- 
 tion of natural beauty, with which is combined an appreciative sense of its relation to 
 the highest moral emotions." — Albany State Register. 
 
 " Gladly do we greet this floweret in the field of our literature, for it is fragrant with 
 sweet and bright with hues that mark it to be of Heaven's own planting." — Courier and 
 Enquirer. 
 
 " There is a depth of sentiment and feeling not ordinarily met with, and some of the 
 noblest faculties and affections of man's nature are depicted and illustrated by the aktt- 
 ful pen of the authoress." — Churchman. 
 
 * 
 
 LAYS OF THE SCOTTISH CAVALIERS. 
 
 By William E. Aytoun, Professor of Literature and Belles-Let 
 
 tres in the University of Edinburgh and Editor of Blackwood's 
 Magazine. One vol., 12mo. cloth, price $1.00. 
 
 " Since Lockhart and Macaulay's ballads, we have had no metrical work to be com- 
 pared in spirit, vigor, and rhythm with this. These ballads knbedy and embalm the 
 chief historical incidents of Scottish history— literally in 'thoughts that breathe and 
 words that burn.' They are full of lyric energy, graphic description, and genuine feel 
 mg." — Home Journal. 
 
 " The fine ballad of • Montrose' in this collection is alone worth the price of the book,' 
 Soston Transcript. 
 
 <5/^ 
 
 THE BOOK OF BALLADS. 
 By Bon Gaultier. One volume, 12rao., cloth, price 75 cents. 
 
 " Here is a book for everybody who loves classic fun. It is made up of ballads o* 
 11 sorts, each a capital parody upon the style of some one of the best lyric writers of 
 Ihe time, from the thundering versification of Lockhart and Macaulay to the sweetest 
 and simplest strains of Wordsworth and Tennyson. The author is one of the first 
 •cholars, and one of the most finished writers of the day, and this production is but the 
 frolic of his genius in play-time ■" — Courier and Enquirer. 
 
 " We do not know to whom belongs this nom de plume, but he is certainly a humeri*! 
 af no wimracn powrr." — Providence Journal. 
 
REDFIELDS NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 LEE'S TALES OF LAB OB. 
 
 SUMMERFIELD; 
 
 Or, Life on a Farm. By Day Kellogg Lee. One vol., 12mo; 
 price $1.00. 
 
 " We hare read it with lively and satisfied interest. The scenes are natural, the char- 
 acters homely and life-like, and the narrative replete with passages of the profoundest 
 pathos, and incidents of almost painful interest. Above all, ' Summerfield' is in the 
 deepest sense religious, and calculated to exert a strong and wholesome moral influence 
 on its readers, who we trust will be many." — Horace Greeley. 
 
 " It aims to teach the lesson of contentment, and the rural picture which it draws, and 
 the scenes of home happiness with which it makes us acquainted, are well calculated to 
 enforce it." — Atlas. 
 
 " There is a great deal of life and nature in the story, and in some of the scenes there 
 is a rich display of wit."— Albany Argus. 
 
 " It has a flavor of originality, and the descriptions are generally excellent; and, what 
 is something of a peculiarity at present in writing of this kind, not overburdened with 
 words." — Literary World. 
 
 «i 
 
 THE MASTER BUILDER; 
 
 Or, Life at a Trade. By Day Kellogg Lee. One vol., 12mo; 
 price $1.00. 
 
 " He is a powerful and graphic writer, and from what we have seen in the pages of 
 the ' Master Builder,' it is a romance of excellent aim and success." — State Register. 
 
 " The ' Master Builder* is the master production. It is romance into which is instilled 
 the realities of life ; and incentives are put forth to noble exertion and virtue. The 
 story is pleasing— almost fascinating ; the moral is pure and undefiled." — Daily Times. 
 
 " Its descriptions are, many of them, strikingly beautiful ; commingling in good pro- 
 portions, the witty, the grotesque, the pathetic, and the heroic. It may be read with 
 profit as well as pleasure." — Argus. 
 
 " The work before us will commend itself to the masses, depicting as it does mosf 
 graphically the struggles and privations which await the unknown and uncared-foi 
 Mechanic in his journey through life. It is what might be called a romance, but not of 
 love, jealousy, and revenge order." — Lockport Courier. 
 
 1 The whole scheme of the story is well worked up and very instructive."— Albany 
 
 A 
 
 MERRIMAC; 
 
 Or, Life at the Loom. By Day Kellogg Lee. One vol., 12mo ; 
 price $1.00. 
 
 " A new volume of the series of popular stories which have already gained a well- 
 deserved reputation for the author. As a picture of an important and unique phase of 
 New England life, the work is very interesting, and can scarcely fail of popularity among 
 the million."— Harper's Magazine. 
 
 " The work is extremely well written. It is as interesting as a novel, while it is natu- 
 ral as every-day life." — Boston Traveller. 
 
 * Merrimac is a story which, by its simple pathos, and truthfulness to nature, will 
 touch the heart of every reader. It is free from the least tinge of that odious stilted 
 style of thought and diction characteristic of the majority of the novels with which the 
 reading public are deluged." — N. Y. Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 " Another plain, straightforward, absorbing work from a pen which before has added 
 riches to our literature, and honor to him who wielded it."— Buffalo Express. 
 
 " It is written in a genial spirit and abounds in humor."— N. Y. Courier and Enquirer. 
 
AN XKITIAL «H> ^ « ««B 
 
 w , uu BE ASSESS^ FOR rA,UU R E HE ^^ 
 THIS BOOK ON THE ° A J E QN THE FO URTH 
 
 ^l-TO -00 50 N EN THE SEVENTH «V 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 NOV 1 8 1982 
 
 -DEU0T198B 
 
 _AUG-0±-t991 h 
 
 
YB 21583 
 
 915414 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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