Full text of The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review : November 1839, Vol. I, No. V

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H U N T ’S

M E R C H A N T S ’ MAGAZINE.
\

No. V.

NOVEM BER,

1839.

A r t . I. — L E C T U R E ON COM M ERCIAL IN T E G R IT Y .*
T h e lecture which I shall have the honor of offering to you, was deliver­
ed, some years ago, to an institution in Philadelphia, of a similar character
with your own. If some of my remarks may appear to be hafsh or unjust,
I beg you to carry your recollection to the period at which they were writ­
ten. Even then I expressed an opinion that the wrongs I condemned had
diminished and were diminishing, and I am now proud to say that this opi­
nion is verified. The standard of our commercial character is rising, at
home and abroad, and our merchants look more scrupulously, in their enter­
prises, to what is rigidly moral and just, checking the spirit of speculation
by the restraints of a sound and honest discretion. The vulgar maxim,
that." every thing is fair in trade,” is tolerated only by the vulgar trader; the
high-minded, honorable, intellectual merchant, disdains it. He has been
taught by severe lessons to make his calculations on just and rational pre­
mises, and to forbear to plunge into rash and ruinous experiments. This
happy change may, in a great degree, be traced to such associations as this.
The man who sits alone in his counting-house, brooding over his day-book
and leger, intent only upon what he may gain, with no eye to watch his
movements, no warning voice to guard him against the seductions of cupidi­
ty or pride, may slide into practices, may reconcile himself to irregularities,
which he would shrink from if he were awakened to a better conscience by
an association with men of high and correct principles, and a communion
with those of his own calling, from whose conversation and example he
would receive more pure and salutary lessons. Your lectures, treating of
moral and intellectual subjects— addressing themselves to the most elevated
principles of the human character — cultivating every inclination to virtue,
and exposing the danger and disgrace of ignorance and vice,— cannot fail
* W e are indebted to the Hon. Joseph Hopkinson, one of the judges of the United
Slates Circuit Court, for his able lecture on Commercial Integrity, delivered before the
Mercantile Library Associations of New York and Philadelphia. The fearless expo­
sure and censure of the many abuses existing in the commercial usages of this country,
must meet with the approbation of all honorable merchants.
V O L . I . ---- N O . V.




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to chastpn the opinions and purify the hearts of those who hear them. Can
any man meet such a company as this, can he be united with them in a
common design of improvement, and harbor in his bosom that which is low
and dishonest ? Can he listen, from week to week, to the instructions of
knowledge and integrity, and go home to the practice of fraud and dishonor ?
Before I proceed to the main subject of this lecture, allow me a prelimi­
nary explanation, which may be necessary to prevent a misapprehension of
my remarks. In my strictures upon our commercial character, I do not
mean that they shall be applied to the conduct of the American merchant in
his traffic of buying and selling. He is there upright and fair. He mis­
leads by no misrepresentation — he deceives by no equivocation — he buys
and sells honestly. The defect of integrity which I complain of, is the cul­
pable heedlessness, the rash and absurd calculations or expectations, upon
which he makes contracts and embarks in adventures, with scarcely a chance,
with the bare possibility, of success, and with the certainty that the losses
of the failure will fall upon those who have trusted to an honest fulfilment
of his contracts. Add to this first fault, the indifference with which he meets
the event, which involves those who have confided in him in difficulties,
perhaps in ruin, and we have a sad case of depravity. A man who makes
a promise, intending to break it, stands but little lower on the scale of mo­
rality, than one who depends upon a bare possibility of having the ability to
perform it, and takes but little care whether he does or not. This rash con­
fidence in the future, this delusive expectation of rapid wealth, has induced
many, perhaps honest and honorable until thus tempted, to lay their hands
on funds held in sacred trust, seducing themselves with the belief that they
could so employ them as to enrich themselves, and restore the plundered
treasure undiscovered. False and fatal hope ! how soon succeeded by a to­
tal wreck of fortune and reputation ! Such reasoning brought Dr. Dodd to
the gallows, and lias destroyed many better men.
Gentlemen — The subject of this lecture is one in which you have a deep
interest, individually and nationally; that is, the commercial character of
the merchants of the United States, for integrity and honor in the relations
of debtor and creditor. The sound principles which ought to govern this
relation have been so neglected or abused, as to have brought a stain upon
the American name, sinking it below the standard of mercantile morality in
other countries. My views of this important subject will be exposed to you
without palliation or disguise; my opinions will be expressed with abso­
lute frankness. The time, however, imposes a brevity on me which will
preclude the fullness of evidence and illustration which justice to those opi­
nions would demand.
There is no class of our citizens on whose conduct the reputation of our
country, for probity and honor, so immediately depends, as our merchants.
The operations of others are confined within our own limits, and the good
or evil they may do is seldom felt or known beyond them, The merchant,
on the contrary, in the prosecution of his business, touches every portion of
the earth, and comes in contact with the people of all nations. Whether
our statesmen are wise and patriotic, or not — our legislators enlightened
and eloquent — our divines accomplished and pious — our lawyers and phy­
sicians skilful, learned, and faithful — our mechanics ingenious and indus­
trious,— are domestic concerns, questions of opinion or prejudice, about
which strangers may dispute and differ with us, without any imputations
upon us as a moral and just people; but whether our merchants are honest,




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379

or not — whether they are upright and conscientious — whether it is safe or
dangerous to deal with them, — are questions of fact, in which foreigners have
a close and daily interest; are questions not of theoretical conjecture, but to be
decided by the evidence of experience, by the actual transactions of business;
not to be misunderstood bv any capacity, nor concealed from the dullest com­
prehension.
,
The American merchant, then, should never forget that he holds the cha­
racter of his country, as well as his own, in a sacred trust, and that he be­
trays both when he enters into the crooked paths pf dissimulation and trick,
or on the broad and fouler ways of dishonesty and fraud. Strangers can
know us only by the individuals they deal with, whom, in the spirit and
usage of trade, they will take as specimen or sample cards of the whole. If
they find their confidence abused, the reproach is visited not only on the
fraudulent merchant, but on his nation; and we are all involved in his
iniquity.
It is, I fear, n truth we cannot question, that the character of an American
merchant is not highly respected abroad; it is looked upon with distrust; it
has been severely reproached. Is this merely European prejudice ? Is it
an injustice of which we may complain ? Is there not, or has there not
been, — for I believe we have improved and are improving in this respect, —
a looseness of principle and practice in contracting and paying debts, very
rare, if not unknown, among men of the same standing in trade in Europe,
at least on the continent ? The ambition to do a great business is here uni­
versal and devouring; the disposition to contract debts becomes eager and
reckless; the obligation to pay them is but faintly felt, and the failure to do
so hardly produces a sensation of shame in the defaulter, or of any resent­
ment or neglect towards him on the part of his friends or the public. Our
commercial community seem to make a common cause with every delinquent
trader, and to treat the most criminal extravagance, the most thoughtless indis­
cretion, the most daring and desperate speculations, with the lenity due to
accident or misfortune. W hen the catastrophe, which sooner or later awaits
such a course of proceeding, comes, a hasty arrangement is patched up be­
tween the debtor and his creditors, altogether under the dictation of the for­
mer, who deals out the remnants of his property, if there be any, to his
friends or favorites, at his will and pleasure, with the air of a lord chancellor,
and the creditors have nothing to do but to hear and submit to the decree, in
the shape of an assignment. Reservations are made, releases stipulated, pre­
ferences provided for, and the master of the ceremony throws the crumbs that
may remain to the mass of the sufferers, who must take them or nothing.
Debtor and creditor retire from this dishonest mockery with mutual ill will,
the one to resume his business, his station in society, his pride and importance,
his style of living, without any visible shame, degradation, or retrenchment;
and the other, to repeat the same system of credit, with the same disastrous
credulity, to be again its victim. It is not unfrequent for the same indivi­
dual to run a second time over the same course of extravagance, folly, and
ruin. If this is the manner in which we settle the affairs of an insolvent, we
may imagine what becomes of the absent foreign creditor and his claims, and
cannot be surprised if he is loud and sharp in his complaints. In some in­
stances, there is so little feeling of mortification excited by a bankruptcy, so
little remorse for the losses which others will suffer by it, that the whole af­
fair is turned into a jest. Two of these reciprocal drawers and endorsers —
these mutual assurance gentlemen, were enjoying themselves at a convivial




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dinner, on the day they would be under protest, when one of them suddenly
took out his watch, and, observing it was three o’clock, cried out, “ Tom, we
are broke.” 1'he joke was thought excellent, and set the table in a roar.
Is not this criminal levity ? Is it not to make sport of plunder — to create dis­
tress, and then to mock it ?
I am far from intending to involve every insolvent debtor in these re­
proaches; and I repeat, that this heartless depravity, this audacious indiffe­
rence to the consequences of insolvency to creditors, is becoming less frequent
among us; a more healthy tone of feeling is prevailing. Bankruptcy is often
the consequence, here as elsewhere, of inevitable misfortune, and is met with
fidelity and honor. The life of a merchant is, necessarily, a life of peril.
He can scarcely move without danger. He is beset on all sides with disap­
pointments, with fluctuations in the current of business, which sometimes
leave him stranded on an unknown bar, and sometimes sweep him helpless
into the ocean. These vicissitudes depend on causes which no man can con­
trol, and are often so sudden, that no calculation could anticipate, or skill
avoid them. To risk much, to be exposed to hazards, belongs to the voca­
tion of a merchant; his usefulness and success depend, in many cases, on his
enterprise. He must have courage to explore new regions of commerce,
and to encounter the difficulties of untried experiments. To be unfortunate
in such pursuits, is no more disgraceful to an upright trader, than to fall in
the field of battle is dishonorable to the soldier, or defeat to a general who
has done all that valor and skill could achieve to obtain the victory. Very
different is the case of one who, with little of his own to jeopard, commences
business on a system of commercial gambling, and makes his desperate
throws at the risk of others ; who embarks on rash and senseless adventures,
condemned by common sense as by honesty; and when they end in a total
wreck, looks his abused creditors coolly in the face, and offers them a list of bad
debts, and an inventory of worthless goods, provided they will release him
forever from their claims. Enterprise, to be wise, to be honest, should be
founded on some principle, should be directed by experience, by knowledge,
by a fair and reasonable calculation of the result.
It cannot be denied that a course of proceeding, such as I have spoken of,
between a bankrupt and those who have trusted him — that the authority he
assumes, sometimes insolently, over his property, in exclusion of those to
whom it rightfully belongs — are utterly inconsistent with the principles of
honest dealing. They bespeak an unsound, may I not say a corrupt, state
of the mercantile body, so far as they extend, and are destructive of all secu­
rity in commercial dealings. This disease must be probed and corrected ;
every honest man has an interest in removing it. Our merchants must not
consider themselves, or allow others to consider them, as petty traffickers for
petty gains, but as merchants, in the largest and most honorable sense of the
term ; as the men by whom the great operations of the world are sustained,
by whom the intercourse of the human family, however scattered and re­
mote, is kept up ; as the instruments of civilization, of moral and intellectual
improvement; as the agents to distribute the comforts and luxuries of life
over the whole surface of the globe. By them the human race, of every
complexion and character, and wheresoever they may inhabit, are brought
together, and taught to know and to aid each other. They bring the pro­
ducts of every soil and clime, of every species of labor, industry, and skill,
into a common stock, for the use and enjoyment of all. They are the peace­
makers of the world, for they show it to be the interest and happiness of all




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381

to remain at peace; and they demonstrate that it is easier to obtain the good
things we may desire from others, by commerce than by conquest, by ex­
change than by arms. They soften national asperities, and remove unjust
prejudices, by a friendly and beneficial intercourse. Such high functions
cannot be performed by ordinary men, and much less by the mean, the sordid,
or the fraudulent. Those who do perform them faithfully are the noblest
benefactors of mankind.
If it be true, as I have suggested, that commercial punctuality and integrity
are less regarded here than in Europe, we should inquire into the reason of
the difference. The cause of many of our failures in trade, and of the irre­
gularities and misconduct which follow them, will be found in the absolute
ignorance of the trader in the business in which he has embarked. Every
man thinks himself qualified to be a merchant, as if by intuition ; and never
imagines that any preparation or instruction is necessary. He launches
upon the unknown sea, without experience, without knowledge, without
chart or compass, and is soon a stranded wreck. To render himself fit to
exercise the profession of a lawyer, a physician, or the simplest mechanical
art, the candidate puts himself regularly on a course of tuition, and labors for
years to acquire the learning and skill of the occupation. Without this pre­
paration, it would he ridiculous for him to expect the patronage or counte­
nance of the community for his undertaking. Not so with trade. A suc­
cessful mechanic, who by his industry has accumulated a few thousand dol­
lars, scorns the honest means by which he acquired his wealth, and must be
a merchant; as if the mysteries and complicated operations of commerce
could he unfolded on a shop.board, or book-keeping taught by threading
needles. W hy could he not be content to be useful and respected in the bu­
siness he understood, and in which he was truly respectable, and reject the
indulgence of a false and foolish pride, to be something that he is not, which
cannot but expose him to ridicule, and will probably strip him of his well
earned wealth ? Fie would think it very preposterous if a merchant were, in
the same manner, to take up his craft, and become his rival; and is it less so
for him to step into the path of the merchant ? Is it more easy to open the
springs and manage the currents of commerce— to provide, deposite, and re­
gulate the funds and finances of various and extensive mercantile operations,
so that they shall meet every want at the proper time and place— than to cut
a coat, shape a hat, or make a pair of rights and lefts ? The mechanics of
our country are as conspicuous for their liberality, integrity, and intelligence,
as for their industry and skill; and it is only when they leave their proper
employment, and cease to be mechanics, that they lose their high standing.
Does any one believe that commerce is so low in the scale of human affairs,
that the qualifications it demands are so common, as to require no suitable
education, no experience to acquire them? W hy should it not be necessary
for one who aims at the honors and profits of trade, who expects to be distin­
guished by ability and success as a merchant, to undergo a process of in­
struction to obtain a knowledge of his art? W hy should he not begin his
training in a counting house, where he would see the practical operations of
business in all its various branches ; where he could acquire habits of system,
regularity, and exactness — understand thoroughly the science of accounts
and the usages of trade ; where he could learn to distinguish with prompt­
ness and accuracy the qualities of merchandise, the fluctuations of the mar­
ket, and the causes which affect them ; and get a tact of caution and foresight,
of calculation and decision, which are necessary to secure a safe and continued




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prosperity. It is thus, I understand, that merchants who deserve, or even
aspire to, that name, are made in other countries. Not so with us. A man
but says, “ I will be a merchant,” and he is a merchant. The creation of
light was scarcely more instantaneous. Whatever may have been his pre­
vious education or occupation, — or if wanting in both, — if he can open a
counting house, and get an indorser, he is a merchant, and, as such, repairs
to the exchange, and is at once admitted into the fraternity. H e puts on a
bold face and a brave spirit, dashes at any thing that offers in the way of doing
business, however desperate, and finds every body eager to trust him. He
relies on chances which are a hundred to one against him, and his very har­
dihood obtains for him consideration and credit. His adventure is put to sea:
he hopes to enter a closely blockaded port, or, by some miraculous accident,
to make money where all others have lost it. If the issue be against him,
he calls his creditors together, rather with a sort of pride — for it proves
he has been doing business — than with any feeling of humiliation, and tells
them— rvhat they might have known before — that he is ruined, and has no­
thing to pay them ; asks, as a matter of course, for a release, and is exceed­
ingly offended if they hesitate, or require any explanations of his proceedings
and expenditures, his property and his losses. Fairly cut loose from his
debts, he sets out for new adventures and experiments of the same character.
If, on the other hand, he should, against all reason and experience, succeed in
his enterprise, although by a prodigy, and without an atom of knowledge,
foresight, or skill, he at once becomes a great merchant, acquires a reputa­
tion for deep sagacity, is an important man on ’change, is regarded with pe­
culiar deference, his acquaintance and custom are eagerly sought, his credit
has no bounds in banks and out of banks, he borrows and buys at his plea­
sure, and, after a brilliant run of a few years, perhaps of a few months, he
falls into irretrievable ruin, brought on by the encouragement of his first
success, the flattery and importance he derived from it, and as the inevitable,
although procrastinated, result, of ignorance, presumption, and incapacity in
the business he engaged in.
I consider, then, this to be one of the causes of the want of elevation and
stability in the character of an American merchant — that men assume it
who are utterly unqualified for its high offices by their general education, by
a particular education adapted to them, by the want of the knowledge, ac­
quirements, and habits which are indispensable to command respect and ob­
tain a continued and honorable success.
There are other causes, still more grave and disreputable, of the disasters
in our trading community. I would particularly refer to the system of en­
dorsing which prevails: the facility of obtaining credit for immense sums,
on the faith of mere names, with hardly an inquiry into their substance and
strength; and the contrivances and deceptions which are resorted to to keep
up the false and hollow credit thus obtained, and to postpone, as long- as pos­
sible, the inevitable explosion, even after it is known to be inevitable. This
is rank dishonesty. Wherever a trader clearly sees that he cannot hold his
ground, he should at once give it up, and not strive to prop himself up by des­
perate expedients of buying and borrowing, of endorsements and credits,
which but sink him deeper in ruin, and draw his confiding friends into his
difficulties. W hat is the value of an endorser in our system of business ?
An endorsement purports to be a surety for the payment of the note; an ad­
ditional security to the responsibility of the drawer. How seldom is this the
fact! Yet such is the competition for business, the eagerness even to seem




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383

to be engaged in it, that such securities are sought and seized upon as if they
were as sure as the bond of fate. Experience has taught every one that the
drawer and endorser are so linked in with each other, so equally bound in
mutual responsibilities, that the failure of one is the failure of the other, and
the security of both no better than the security of either. C r e d i t , C r e d i t ,
— with little regard to the means of paying, — often ruinous to both parties,
is the fatal bane of commercial prosperity, of commercial honor and honesty.
The transactions of business are little more than fictions. Goods are sold
which the seller has not paid for, and the buyer giyes a note for them which
will never be paid ; and this is called doing business. This is followed by
forced sales and destructive sacrifices, for immediate, but temporary, relief;
and the whole winds up with an assignment, when there is nothing of any
value to assign. A consequence of this state of things is, that the true
merchant, with a substantial and responsible capital, is deprived of his fair
business and profits by a swarm of penniless speculators, who will sell, and
must sell, for whatever price they can g et; lor the moment the ball stops
rolling, they cease to exist. This, assuredly, is an unhealthy state of trade,
and corrupts and enfeebles the whole commercial community. Who has not
been astonished, when bankruptcy comes upon such a trader, by the enormous
extent of his debts; that is, of his credits, in proportion to any property he
ever possessed, and even to his apparent or supposed business or means. He
has been a very small trader who breaks for less than fifty or an hundred
thousand dollars; and he is a very uncommon one who has as many’' hun­
dred cents to pay them.
Money so easily got is as lightly spent, and brings us to another dark
and deep stain on our commercial reputation. The proud splendor, the
reckless extravagance, the boundless luxury, in which these ephemeral
princes indulge themselves, is shockingly immoral, when, at the conclusion
of the pageant, it appears that it was got up at the expense, perhaps on the
ruin, of his creditors. Magnificent mansions in town and country, gorgeous
furniture, shining equipages, costly entertainments at which five hundred or
a thousand dollars are squandered in an evening; in short, a style of living,
an exuberance of expenditure, which would be unwise in our country with
any amount of fortune, and is absolutely criminal in the actual circumstances
of the spendthrift. When the blow falls that prostrates this grandeur, what
efforts are made upon the good nature of the creditors, to retain as much as
possible of these gaudy trappings for the family; instead of casting them
away as the badges and testimonies of deception and dishonor. Little sym­
pathy is shown for the injuries and losses of those who have fed with their
substance the bloated folly of the delinquent; little regard to public opinion
is manifested by him, and scarcely a sense of decorum or shame; but every
thing is hurried to a conclusion, that he may resume what he calls his busi­
ness, be trusted, and — betray again.
Should I forbear to give utterance to a reflection which rises upon ushere—
domestic, it is true, but of infinite concern to a heart that has not smothered
the sensibilities and duties of nature, as well as the obligations of justice.
If the splendid impostor should not live to make his arrangements with his
creditors, in the manner I have mentioned— if he should be cut off before
he has run through his course of dissipation and ruin, in the very midst of
his enjoyments — what a scene of distress and desolation is exhibited in his
house. The wand is broken; the delusion dispelled, and realities take the
place of visions of happiness and wealth. The spacious hall — the rich




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parlors shining with lustres and gold — the luxurious chambers — are now
thrown open and crowded with auctioneers or the officers of the law, and a
motley assembly brought there for bargains, or by curiosity. Every thing
is torn aw ay; scarcely a comfort left, where but just now all was abundance
and luxury. The scene is well depicted by a great dramatic poet:
“ Here stood a ruffian, with a horrid face,
Lording it o’er a pile of massy plate,
Tumbled into a heap for public sale;
There was another, making villanous jests
A t thy undoing; he had ta’en possession
Of all thy ancient, most domestic ornaments,
Rich hangings, intermix’d and wrought with gold.”

And his afflicted wife and children — what is their condition 1 Accus­
tomed to the most delicate and costly indulgence; every wish anticipated,
every sense of pleasure gratified; so protected that the winds of heaven
might not visit them too roughly; unconscious of danger, they find them­
selves in a moment, penniless—helpless-^hopeless. A school, or a boarding
house, unfit for both, is their last poor refuge from want. Is there no immo­
rality in this? Is it not a cruel and criminal violation of sacred and tender
duties ? Is it not a clamorous sin, thus to deceive and destroy those dear and
innocent beings, that should reach the offender in his grave. If he could
hear and respond, he would cry, “ O, I have ta’en too little care of this!”
When a trader is brought to bankruptcy, by whatever means, important
moral duties are imposed upon him, and he will preserve his character or
deepen his condemnation, as he shall faithfully discharge, or obstinately dis­
regard them. Opinions have got a footing among mercantile men — a code
of ethics has received a sanction from them— which appears to me to be alto­
gether wanting in sound principles of justice and morality. Before I speak of
these, I will go a little back into the situation of the bankrupt, in which few
conduct themselves prudently and conscientiously. I have already alluded to
it. It rarely happens that the ruin of a merchant is effected at a single
blow — by one unlooked for mischance. It is more usually the result of a
series of unfortunate events, or rash adventures, or of wanton expenditures;
each bringing him nearer to the catastrophe. He has many significant
warnings of his fall, and cannot but see its approach, when he dares to look
steadily towards it. But this is what he studiously avoids. He shuts his
eyes upon i t ; he strives to deceive himself, and continues to deceive others.
ITe turns from expedient to expedient, from bank to bank, from friend to
friend, from usurer to usurer, from sacrifice to sacrifice, increasing, at every
move, his debts and difficulties, until he can struggle no longer, and sinks
under a load doubled or trebled by his desperate efforts to extricate himself.
If he had had the wisdom, the manliness, the honesty, to yield to the pres­
sure when it first became too heavy for him, how many sacrifices would
have been saved, how many debts avoided, how much injury and reproach
prevented. This weakness, this reluctance to surrender, when we know, or
ought to know, that we cannot sustain the contest, is the source of much of
the calamity and misconduct which attend an insolvency. It is confessed and
regretted too late.
W e come now to the period when the struggle is over. The failure is
admitted and announced. In this situation, what should a just and faithful
man believe to be his duty ? The answer to this question would present it­
self without hesitation to an ingenuous mind, uncontaminated by unsound




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385

opinions, unfettered by false maxims and politic usages. The answer would
be— I will surrender to my creditors my property of every description, for in
truth it is theirs, to be distributed among them in proportion to their respec­
tive debts, untrammeled by any conditions for my own advantage, unimpaired
by any disposition or incumbrance made with a view to my insolvency, and
I will depend upon their liberality and my own industry, guarded by more
caution and economy, for my future fortune and support. Such a man
would come again into business entitled to public confidence, and he would
receive i t ; he would come chastened and instructed by the school of misfor­
tune, and, by the upright prudence of his second bourse, redeem the errors
of the first. How different is the course of proceeding almost universally
adopted in such cases. The debtor constitutes himself the sole judge be­
tween himself and his creditors; he sits down to make, at his pleasure, what
he calls an assignment; he deals out his estate to such persons, and in such
portions, as he may deem most expedient for himself, or find most agreeable;
he dictates the terms, having a special regard to his own interest, on which
ten per cent, or five per cent, shall be paid to the claimants ; he selects the
persons, of course his kindest friends, who shall execute these trusts; and
when every thing is thus decided and prepared, he summons his creditors to
a meeting, not for consultation, not to learn their wishes and opinions about
their own rights and interests, not to ask them what he shall do, but to inform
them of what he has done. In this assignment, it is almost universal to find
the greater part, very often the whole, of the property given to what are
called preferred creditors, among whom, indorsers usually hold a conspicu­
ous place. I have never ceased to reprobate this practice, and to believe
that it has no justification in any principle of right or good conscience.
What is the superior claim of an indorser to payment and indemnity l He
was fully aware of the hazard when he made the engagement; it was as
much an ordinary risk of trade as the sale of merchandise. He took it
upon himself, without asking any other security than the solvency and good
faith of the drawer. The vendor of goods does the same. On this security the
one gives his name, and the other his property; the latter expects nothing but
the payment of his debt, while, in nine cases out of ten, the former receives
the same favor he bestows. And yet this indorser is to be preferred to the
man who has delivered his goods, his labor, his money, on the faith, proba­
bly, of the false credit, of the unsubstantial display of wealth, made or kept
np by the aid of this indorser, whose name and promise have thus been the
instruments of deception, the lures to entice the unsuspecting into a vortex of
ruin, from which the indorser expects to be saved by virtue of an assignment
and a preference. The case is aggravated; it becomes one of unqualified
plunder, when this indorser, after putting his preference in his pocket, never
pays the engagement for which it was given, but settles with his creditors in
the same way. Can we imagine any thing more shocking to every sense
of justice and morality, than that an "honest dealer, who, but a few days be­
fore the failure of h:s debtor, had delivered to him goods, at a fair price,
should be called to witness his bales of merchandise, his barrels of flour,
just as they were received from him, unbroken, unpaid for, handed over to
an assignee for the exclusive benefit of some preferred favorite creditor, un­
der the pretence that he was an indorser; or on some pretence equally ini­
quitous. Yet such things have been done; you all know it, and neither
shame nor dishonor has overwhelmed the perpetrator. I regret that time
and the occasion do not allow me to speak more fully of this system of prevol. x. — no. v.
49




386

Lecture on Commercial Integrity.

ferences; to expose'its injustice, its impolicy, its pernicious effects upon fair
trading, and to show you that while it is maintained, it is in vain to expect a
healthy state of commercial credit, a conscientious caution in contracting
debts, or an honest endeavor to discharge them.
From this condemnation of preferences, I would he understood to except a
peculiar case, that is, the case of money or other property deposited in trust.
This should be sacred. It has nothing to do with the trustee’s business or
trade ; no interest or profit was derived from it to the owner; it was never
intended to be exposed to any risk, or to be involved with his general affairs.
In fact, it never, in any just acceptation, became a part of the property of the
trustee, assignable by him as such. It never was, morally, at his disposal,
for any other uses or purposes than such as were designated by the terms of
the trust, the grant by which he obtained it. He had the legal possession,
but the property never ceased to be in the party by whom, or for whom, it
was deposited. To prefer such a claim is not to take from the creditors any
thing that was theirs ; it is but to return the money to its rightful owner, as
you would return a borrowed horse, or any other specific article; and there
can be no ground of complaint for any body.
If the evils of which I have spoken exist in our commercial community ;
if they are not only producing distress and ruin at home, but are dishonor­
ing the American name abroad, we should anxiously desire to remove
them: we should seek for and apply the remedy. That remedy ought to
be found in the laws of our country, so far as laws can reach the disease ;
but it is in vain we look there for redress— on the contrary, it is in the de­
fects of our law that we find, mainly, the source of the mischief; every
thing seems to have been done by our legislators to favor the debtor, be he
honest or not; to weaken the rights of creditors, to put them at the mercy of
the debtor to receive from him just so much justice as, in his good pleasure, he
may choose to accord to them, and to deny them a reasonable and satisfacto­
ry account from him who first defrauds and then defies them. W e have no
bankrupt law by which a power is given to competent persons to examine
closely and particularly in what manner, for what purposes, the debts of the
bankrupt were contracted; whether in the fair and regular pursuit of his
business, or in the indulgence of flagrant immoralities and vices; to search
deeply, with the means of forcing out the truth, into the manner in which his
property has been lost or disposed o f; to ferret and foil every attempt at con­
cealment, to lay all his transactions bare, to insist upon explicit and satisfac­
tory explanations of all that is suspicious or doubtful; and, when this puri­
fying process is completed, to distribute all the effects obtained by it. honestly
and equally, among the creditors, in proportion to their respective debts.
Had we such a system, we should hear of no preference to indorsers; no fa­
vors to friends; no partial assignments for special objects, which are just so
many contrivances by which an insolvent may cover benefits for himself;
and finally, while a bankrupt law inflicts severe, but merited, penalties upon
a fraudulent, prevaricating, peijured debtor, it holds out cheering induce­
ments and honorable rewards to the open and upright man ; it cherishes and
protects the unfortunate but honest debtor, and returns to him a part of his
substance to supply his wants and resume his business.
W holly different from this are the character and influence of our insol­
vent laws ; at least in Pennsylvania. They do not affect to make any dis­
tinction between honesty and dishonesty, fraud and misfortune; between
the man who has been ruined by the casualties of trade, and one who has




Lecture on Commercial Integrity.

387

wasted his estate in the most nefarious course of dissipation and vice. If it
be manifest, if it be confessed, that the petitioner has poured out his money,
or rather that ofhis creditors, in the dark dens of gambling, or the foul stews
of infamy— it is nothing. If his debts have been contracted by false pro­
mises, by broken faith, by fraudulent pretences, by the basest contrivances;—
it is nothing, he will, nevertheless, receive the benefit of the laws intended,
one would presume, for unfortunate debtors; he demands and obtains his re­
lief, although he may stand before the court which awards it to him, a con­
victed, avowed swindler. He takes the prescribed oath with an air of abso­
lute indifference, and marches off with the step of a conqueror. The only
subject investigated, the only question to be answered, is, do you now offer to
deliver up, for the use of your creditors, all the property you now possess.
When a debtor holds such a power over his estate to the last moment, what
will there be left to be delivered up ? It is true, the mockery of an assign­
ment is gone through, but it is so well understood that there is nothing to be
transferred by it, that it rarely happens that the assignees take upon them­
selves the empty trust, or are put in possession of one dollar by virtue of it.
Creditors no longer think it worth while to attempt an opposition to the dis­
charge, however they may have been injured and defrauded.*
As our laws between debtor and creditor rather encourage than suppress
the impositions and injustice we have spoken of, there is but one other tribunal
to which we can look for correcting them. Public opinion must inculcate
sound doctrines, and visit with indignation those who offend them. While
the truly unfortunate insolvent should be treated with tenderness and respect;
should be enabled by a generous assistance to re-establish himself and re­
trieve his fortune by increased industry and economy: the careless spend­
thrift , the rash and reckless adventurer, the slave of vicious indulgences,
who sports with property not his own, and lavishes uncounted sums to glut
his pride and pamper voluptuous appetites, who wastes with extravagance
what he has gained by fraud—-should be made to feel his crimes and his de­
gradation by the withering neglect of an honest community.
The topics I have endeavored to bring to your consideration are far too
extensive in their illustrations and importance to be compressed, with the
justice that is due to them, within the compass of a lecture. I have not at­
tempted or hoped for more, on this occasion, than to present them to you in
their broad and general aspects, and to invite you to give them a more full
and exact examination in your own reflections. Look to your experience,
to that which has passed and is passing under your own eyes, for the truth
of the facts I have stated: and, for the principles I would inculcate, turn to
the fair and unprejudiced suggestions of your own hearts and understand­
ings. Do not believe that there is one sort of honesty, one code of m o r a l^
*The insolvent system of New York, so far as regards contracts made, or to be ex­
ecuted, within the state, has much of the character of a bankrupt law. The debt is
discharged, and not merely the person of the debtor exonerated from imprisonment.
The scrutiny into the conduct of the insolvent, and the restrictions imposed upon his
acts in contemplation of insolvency, are, at least, nominally, more rigid than in Penn­
sylvania. Nevertheless, the chancellor and judges of the supreme court of New York
reported to the legislature that, in their opinion, the insolvent law was the source of a
great deal of fraud and perjury; that the evil arose from the infirmity inherent in the
system ; that it renders the debtor heedless in the creation of debt, and careless as to
the payment; that he hopes for relief rather in contrivances for a discharge, than in
exertions to perform his duty. “ That the system has been, and still was. and probably
ever must be, from the nature of it, productive of incalculable abuse, fraud, and perju­
ry, and greatly injurious to public morals.”




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Lecture, on Commercial Integrity.

for your business, and another for your ordinary transactions ; that you may
deceive and ruin a man in the way of trade, while you would shrink from
taking a tooth-pick from his pocket; that any thing can be just and honora­
ble in a merchant, that is not so in the man and the citizen, in the gentleman
and Christian. Such distinctions may satisfy the ethics of a grasping cupidi­
ty, and quiet the conscience of one who would be honest only for the world’s
eye and to avoid the penalties of crime, but can never be sanctioned by a
pure and uncorrupted mind.
As a summary of the doctrines I desire to impress upon you, let me add,
that debts contracted in the indulgence of extravagant and unbecoming lux­
uries, or in the pursuit of rash and desperate adventures, a re a violation of
the sound principles of mercantile integrity; that the true merchant will tho­
roughly qualify himself for his business by a patient and systematic prepara­
tion, and will depend upon the regular operations of legitimate commerce for
his profits, which, though more slow, are finally more sure and lasting than
the fluctuating gains of speculation ; that if misfortune and bankruptcy should
fall upon him, he will meet them promptly and manfully, and not attempt to
gain a few lingering, anxious days of credit, for himself, by drawing his
friends into the vortex of his ruin, and extending it to others who may, un­
wittingly, continue to trust him. He will rather at once surrender into the
hands his creditors shall choose to hold the trusts for them, all the property
in his possession or power, unencumbered by selfish stipulations for his own
benefit, undiminished by any concealment, or by assignments or transfers to
favorites of any description.
Since the first delivery of this lecture, events have occurred which have
placed the commercial character of the United States in a new and imposingattitude, and forced admiration from the most jealous and reluctant of our
enemies. W e have seen this superb city swept by a devastating conflagra­
tion, annihilating in a few hours many millions of property: its fierce and
terrible torrents rolling in fearful grandeur into the mid air, fed by magni­
ficent edifices and precious merchandise.
Around, the smoking, scattered fragments lie,
And one vast ruin meets the aching eye.

It was an awful calamity— which might paralyze the stoutest heart and sicken
the firm soul to despair. It was not so with you—your merchants, the princi­
pal sufferers, met it with a fortitude that has no example in my memory.
They stood not a moment to deplore their losses with unavailing complaints,
but bravely set to work to repair them. The embers were not cold—nay,
the smothered fires were not extinguished, when the mechanic and the la­
borer, in mid winter, were busy among the ruins, removing the smoking rub­
bish, to erect new mansions surpassing those which were destroyed. This
was, assuredly, a noble and exalted exhibition of moral courage and elastic
energy. In the city of my residence it was beheld with amazement and
pride—your misfortune was our misfortune, and your triumph over it was
also our triumph. May that generous and sisterly sympathy forever con­
tinue between us.
Another, more general calamity, fell upon us, which put the resources of
our country and the character of our people, particularly the mercantile por­
tion, to a severe trial; a trial which would have shaken to the centre, if not
overthrown fora long period, the credit and prosperity of any other people.
From causes of which it is no part of my business now to speak, there was a
sudden and universal prostration of confidence; the paper currency, which




Lecture on Commercial Integrity.

3S9

was the evidence and support of that confidence, was blighted; it could no
longer be redeemed by the gold and silver it professed to represent. There
was not, in these United States, a piece of paper of any public institution,
of any individual, nay. of the government itself, which could command its
nominal amount or value in specie. Even the smallest denominations of coin
were withdrawn from circulation, and all sorts of paper and promises set
afloat as their substitutes. This looked like universal ru in ; so it was con­
sidered in Europe, to the excessive gratification of some politicians, who
sicken at the prosperity of a republic. Ours was sneered at or abused, and
the end of its career confidently pronounced. Our creditors abroad were
scoffed for having trusted American merchants, and their debts declared to
be irrecoverably lost. In the mean time, we were going quietly and perseveringly to work to repair the mischief breaking its force by patience and
forbearance. Incredible efforts were made, and monstrous sacrifices submit­
ted to, to meet the foreign claims. The resources of the country, the energy
and fortitude of our citizens, were brought to the rescue— and at the end of
fifteen months, all was right again. Payments in specie were resumed, or
rather offered, for so complete was the restoration of confidence, that but lit­
tle of it was asked for; business fell into its accustomed channels, as if
nothing had happened to divert or obstruct it. The young eagle shook her
bright plumage, and spread her nervous wings, as she rose to her dazzling
height, looking down upon a prosperous and happy people. For this re­
novation ofhealth we did not require seven and twenty years, nor the aid of
government, as in Great Britain, to re-establish our credit and recruit its
strength. It was done by the spontaneous action, the power and prudence
of a free people, confident in their resources, and understanding how to use
them. This termination of our difficulties was a prodigy that European
economists were not prepared for, and could not comprehend. The con-'
sequence of it has been to revive American credit, to raise it, indeed, beyond
its former elevation.
For ourselves, let us not become rash and presumptuous on this success;
let us rather take a salutary lesson from the difficulties and dangers we have
passed through, that they may not come again upon us; let us temper our
enterprise with discretion, our ambition with moderation, and avoid the
errors, whatever they were, which inflicted upon us such deep injuries, and
exposed us to such appalling perils.*
To the female portion of this audience, the subject of my lecture may seem
to have no interest; indeed, on its former delivery, I had not the honor of
such a presence; it was prepared for an association of merchants. If I am
asked—what have ladies to do with the business and dealings of men ? How
are they concerned in the transactions of trade, or in the manner in which
merchants may settle their accounts? Allow me, in turn, to ask—who has
a deeper interest than woman in the integrity of m anl Are not her good
and evil fortune, her happiness and hopes, inseparably connected with his?
Can his good name be blighted, that a wife, a mother, a sister, does not share
* From the alarming appearance which now hangs over our paper credit; the mul­
tiplication of irresponsible banks, and their enormous, issues of notes on a very slender
foundation of specie ; and perhaps, our immense importation of foreign goods, requi­
ring a substantial payment—it is feared that the caution here recommended has not been
regarded; that we may again be plunged into the difficulties we had so lately over­
come, and from which we shall not escape so easily. It is said that “ Experience
teaches,” but how few are the scholars who profit by her lesson. They hear, but they
heed not; they approve, but they follow not.




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The Moral E n d o f Business.

in the suffering and the shame; when he becomes a mark of scorn—how
are these tender bosoms lacerated ? Would you have a dishonored name
descend upon your children ? Can you, without keen anguish, see them
blush and weep over their father’s guilt? It is an error, sometimes a fatal
one— that men are not more confiding to their wives; that they do not com­
municate more freely with them about their affairs, especially in difficulties.
The good sense, the prudence and sagacity of a wife, sharpened by an affec­
tionate anxiety for the common welfare, will often suggest the best and wisest
counsel. Many a ruined man could have been saved, if he had listened to
the advice of his wife. W hat wife would not counsel her husband to adhere,
in all circumstances, and under every trial, to his integrity, as the best and
dearest property he can retain for his family—as the surest means of retriev­
ing his misfortunes.

A r t . II.— ON T H E M ORAL E N D OF BUSINESS.

Moral Views o f Commerce, Society, and Politics. Twelve Discourses, by
O r v i l l e D e w e y . New Y ork: 1838. D. Felt & Co.
W e know of no more fitting subject for the pages of our magazine, than
the following: on the moral end o f business. The subject is treated calmly
and philosophically, and the important truth kept constantly in view, that tin
ultimate end. of business is virtue, and not, as it would seem too often to be
believed—gain. There are a multitude of instances between men in trans­
actions of business, where the path of strict moral rectitude will not seem
clearly defined unless conscience is felt to be a law ; but there never will
arise a case in which the course to be pursued will not be clearly apparent
to the man whose soul is trained to sentiments of uprightness and gene­
rosity. For the pursuit of commerce, Mr. Dewey entertains the highest res­
pect, believing it to be an instrument for nobler ends than promoting the
wealth of individuals or nations. Next to the Christian religion, it is the
most powerful and active principle of civilization— of knowledge, liberty, and
refinement. Liberty has always followed its steps, and with liberty, sci­
ence and religion have steadily advanced ; and the encouragement and pro­
tection which commerce has lent to the arts in ancient and modern times is
well known to all. Of its moral influences we leave Mr. Dewey to speak,
and we earnestly recommend the profound and interesting discourse to the
calm and deep consideration of our readers.

“ Its moral influences are the only ones of which we stand in any doubt, and
these, it need not be said, are of unequalled importance. The philanthropist,
the Christian, the Christian preacher, are all bound to watch these influen­
ces with the closest attention, and to do all in their power to guard and ele­
vate them. To this work I am attempting to contribute my humble p art;
and I conceive, that I have now come to the grand principle of safety and
improvement, viz., that trade is essentially a moral business, that it has a mo­
ral end more important than success, that the attainment of this end is better
than the acquisition of wealth, and that the failure of it is worse than any
commercial failure— worse than bankruptcy, poverty, ruin.”




The Moral E n d o f Business.

391

“ It is upon this point that I wish especially to insist: but there are one or
two topics, that may previously claim some attention.
“ If, then, business is a moral dispensation, and its highest end is moral, I
shall venture to call in question the commonly supposed desirableness of es­
caping from it—the idea which prevails with so many of making a fortune
in a few years, and afterwards of retiring to a state of leisure. If business
really is a scene of worthy employment and of high moral action, I do not
see why the moderate pursuit of it should not be laid down in the plan of en­
tire active life; and why upon this plan, a man should not determine to give
only so much time each day to his avocations, as would be compatible with
such a p lan; only so much time, in other words, as will be compatible with
the daily enjoyment of life, with reading, society, domestic intercourse, and
all the duties of philanthropy and devotion. If the merchant does not dislike
or despise his employment—and it is when he makes himself the mere slave
of business, that he creates the greatest real objections to it— if, I say, he
looks upon his employment as lawful and laudable, an appointment of God
to accomplish good purposes in this world and better for the nex t: why
should he not, like the physician, the lawyer, and clergyman, like the hus­
bandman and the artisan, continue in it through the period of active life ;
and adjust his views, expectations, and engagements, to that reasonable plan?
But now, instead of this, what do we see around us? W hy, men are en­
gaging in business—here, at home, in their own country, in the bosom of
their families and amidst their friends—as if they were in a foreign and in­
fectious clime, and must be in haste to make their fortunes, that they may
escape with their lives to some place of safety, ease, and enjoyment!
“ And now, what sort of preparation for retirement is this life, absorbed in
business ? It is precisely that sort of preparation that unfits a man for re­
tirement. Nothing will work well or agreeably in experience, which has
not some foundation in previous habits and practice. But for all those
things which are to be a man’s resources in retirement, his previous life, per­
haps, has given him not a moment of time. He has really no rural tastes ;
for he has scarcely seen the country for years, except on hurried journeys
of business; the busy wheels of commerce now, alas! roll through the year,
and he is chained to them every month. H e has made no acquaintance with
the fine arts; no music has there been for his ear but the clink of gold; no
pictures for his eye, but fine colored drawings of houses and lots, or of fancy'
villages and towns. H e has cultivated no habits of reading; and—what I
hold to be just as fatal to the happiness of any life, retired or active—he has
cultivated no habits of devotion. Add to all this, that he is thrown upon the
dangerous state of luxurious leisure—that prepared, enriched, productive hot­
bed of prurient imaginations and teeming passions—without any guards
against its moral perils. And what is likely to be the consequence ? He
will become perhaps an indolent and bloated sensualist, cumbering the
beautiful grounds on which he vegetates rather than lives ; or from the vio­
lent change of his habits, you will soon hear, perhaps, that, without any other
cause than the change, he is dead ; or he may live on, in weariness and
ennui, wishing in his heart that he were back again, though it were to take
his place behind the counter of the humblest shop.
“ I do not pretend, of course, that I am portraying the case of every man
who is proposing to retire from business. There are those, doubtless, whose
views of retiring are reasonable and praiseworthy; who do not propose
to escape from all employment; who are living religiously and virtuously




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The Moral E n d o f Business.

in the midst of their business, and not unwisely intending to make up for the
deficiency of those qualities in retirement; who wish to improve and beau­
tify some pleasant rural abode, and thus, and in many other ways, to be use­
ful to the country around them. To' such a retirement, I have nothing to
object: and I only venture to suggest, as an obvious dictate of good sense,
that he who proposes, some day, to retire from business, should, in the mean
time, cultivate those qualities and habits, which will make him happy in re­
tirement. But this 1 also say, that 1 do more than doubt, whether any man
who is completely engrossed in business, from morning till night, for twenty
or thirty years, can be prepared to enjoy or improve a life of leisure.”
The sensible remarks on the rage for speculation, though perhaps more
apropos at the time when they were made than now, are nevertheless suited
to all time, and particularly applicable to our own community.
“ Another topic, of which I wish to speak, is the rage for speculation. I
wish to speak of it nowTin a particular view—as interfering, that is to say, with
the moral end of business. And here, again, let me observe, that I can have
nothing to do with instances, with exceptions. I can only speak of the ge­
neral tendency of things. And it is not against speculation simply, that I
have any thing to allege. Allbusiness possesses more or less ofthis charac­
ter. Every thing is bought on the expectation of selling it for more. But
this rage for speculation, this eagerness of many for sudden and stupendous
accumulation, this spirit of gambling in trade, is a different thing. It pro­
ceeds on principles altogether different from the maxims of a regular and
pains-taking business. It is not looking to diligence and fidelity for a fair
reward, but to change and chance for a fortunate turn. It is drawing away
men’s minds from the healthful processes of sober industry and attention to
business, and leading them to wait in feverish excitement, as at the -wheel of
a lottery. The proper basis of success— vigilant care and labor—is forsaken
for a system of baseless credit. Upon this system, men proceed, straining
their means and stretching their responsibilities, till, in calm times, they can
scarcely hold on upon their position; and when a sudden jar shakes the com­
mercial world, or a sudden blast sweeps over it, many fall, like untimely
fruit, from the towering tree of fancied prosperity. Upon this system, many
imagine that they are doing well, when they are not doing well. They
rush into expenses, which they cannot afford, upon the strength, not of their
actual, but of their imaginary or expected means. Young men, who, in
former days, would have been advised to walk awhile longer, and patiently
to tread the upward path, must buy horses and vehicles for their accommo­
dation, and mounted upon the car of fancied independence, they are hurried
only to swifter destruction.
“ This system of rash and adventurous speculation, overlooks all the moral
uses and ends of business. To do business and get gain, honestly and con­
scientiously, is a good thing. It is a useful discipline of the character. I
look upon a man who has acquired wealth in a laudable, conscientious, and
generous pursuit of business, not only with a respect far beyond what I can
feel for his wealth—for which, ineeed, abstractly, I can feel none at all—but
with the distinct feeling that he has acquired something far more valuable
than opulence. But for this discipline of the character, for the reasonable­
ness and rectitude of mind which a regular business intercourse may form,
speculation furnishes but a narrow field, if any at a ll; such speculation, I




The Moral E n d o f Business.

393

mean, as has lately created a popular phrensy in this country about the sud­
den acquisition of property. The game which men were playing was too
rapid, and the stake too large, to admit of the calm discriminations of con­
science, and the reasonable contemplation of moral ends. Wealth came
to be looked upon as the only end. And immediate wealth, was the
agitating prize. Men could not wait for the slow and disciplinary
methods by which Providence designed that they should acquire it; but
they felt, as if it were the order of Providence that fortunes should fall
direct from heaven into their open hands. Rather, should we not say, that
multitudes did not look to heaven at all, but to speculation itself, instead,
as if it were a god, or some wonder-working magician, at least, that was
suddenly to endow them with opulence. Acquisition became the story of an
Arabian tale; and men’s minds were filled with romantic schemes, and vi­
sionary hopes, and vain longings, rather than with sobriety, and candor, and
moderation, and gratitude, and trust in Heaven.
“ This insane and insatiable passion for accumulation, ever ready, when
circumstances favor, to seize upon the public mind, is that ‘ love of money
which is the root of all evil,’ th a t1covetousness which is idolatry.’ It springs
from an undue and idolatrous estimate of the value of property. Many are feel­
in g that nothing—nothing will do for them or for their children, but wealth;
not a good character, not well trained and well exerted faculties, not virtue,
not the hope of heaven—nothing but wealth. It is their god, and the god of
their families. Their sons are growing up to the same worship of it, and to
an equally baneful reliance upon it for the future ; they are rushing into ex­
penses, which the divided property of their father’s house will not enable
them to sustain; and they are preparing to be in turn, and from necessity,
slaves to the same idol. How truly is it written, that ‘they that will be rich,
fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition!’ There is no need that
they should be ric h ; but they will be rich. All the noblest functions of life
may be discharged without wealth, all its highest honors obtained, all its pu­
rest pleasures enjoyed ; yet I repeat it—nothing—nothing will do but wealth.
Disappoint a man of this, and he mourns as if the highest end of life were
defeated. Strip him of this, and this gone, all is gone. Strip him of this,
and I shall point to no unheard of experience, when I say— he had rather
die than live!
“ The grievous mistake,, the mournful evil employed in this oversight of
the great spiritual end, which should be sought in all earthly pursuits, is the
subject to which I wished to draw your attention in the last place. It is not
merely in the haste to be Tich, accompanied with the intention to retire from
business to a state of luxurious and self-indulgent leisure ; it is not merely in
the rage lor speculation, that the evils of overlooking the moral aim of busi­
ness are seen ; but they sink deep into the heart, in the ordinary walks of
regular and daily occupation : dethroning the spiritual nature from its pro­
per place, vitiating the affections, and losing some of the noblest opportuni­
ties for virtue, that can be lost on earth.
“ The spiritual nature, I say, is dethroned from its proper place, by this
substitution of the immediate end, wealth, for the ultimate end, virtue. Who
is this being, that labors for nothing but property; with no thought beyond i t ;
with the feeling that nothing will do without i t ; with the feeling that there
are no ends in life that can satisfy him, if that end is not gained?
You
will not tell me, that it is a being of my own fancy. You have probably
VOL. i. — n o . v.
50




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The Moral E nd o f Business.

known such; perhaps some of you are such. I have known men of this
way of thinking, and men, too, of sense and of amiable temper. Who, then,
I ask again, is this being ? He is an immortal being; and his views ought
to stretch themselves to eternity—ought to seek an ever expanding good.
And this being, so immortal in his nature, so infinite in faculties—to what is
he looking? To the sublime mountain range, that spreads along the hori­
zon of the world 1 To the glorious host of glittering stars, the majestic train
of night, the infinite regions of heaven 1 No—his is no upward gaze, no
wide vision of the world ; to a speck of earthly dust he is looking. He
might hft his eye, a philosophic eye, to the magnificence of the universe, for
an object: and upon what is it fixed ? Upon the mole-hill beneath his feet!
That is his end. Every thing is naught, if that is gone. He is an immor­
tal being, I repeat; he may be enrobed in that vesture of light, of virtue,
which never shall decay ; and he is to live through such ages, that the time
shall come when to his eye all the splendors of fortune, of gilded palace and
gorgeous equipage, shall be more than the spangle that falls from a royal
robe; and yet. in that glittering particle of earthly dust, is his soul absorbed
and bound up. I am not saying, now, that he is willing to lose his soul for
that. This he may do. But I only say now, that he sets his soul upon that,
and feels it to be an end so dear, that the irretrievable loss of it, the doom of
poverty, is death to him ; nay, to his sober and deliberate judgment— for I
have known such instances—is worse than death itself! And yet he is an
immortal being, I repeat, and he is sent into this world on an errand ? What
errand ? What is the great mission on which the Master of life hath sent
him here 1 To get riches ? To amass gold coins, and bank notes ? To
scrape together a little of the dust of this earth; and then lie down upon it and
embrace it, in the indolence of enjoyment, or in the rapture of possession ? Is
such worldliness possible 1 Worldliness! Why, it is not worldliness. That
should be the quality of being attached to a world—to all that it can give, and
not to one thing only that it can give—to fame, to power, to moral power, to
influence, to the admiration of the world. Worldliness, methinks, should be
something greater than men make it—should stretch itself out to the breadth
of the great globe, and not wind itself up like a worm in the web of selfish
possession. If I must be worldly, let me have the worldliness of Alexander
and not of Crcesus. And wealth too— I had thought it was a means and not
an end—an instrument which a noble human being handles, and not a heap
of shining dust in which he buries himself; something that a man could
drop from his hand, and still be a man—be all that he ever was— and com­
pass all the noble ends that pertain to a human being. What if you be poor ?
Are you not still a man—O h ! heaven, and mayest be a spirit, and have a uni­
verse of spiritual possessions for your treasure. W hat if you be poor 1 You
may still walk through the world in freedom and in joy. You may still
tread the glorious path of virtue. You may still win the bright prize of
immortality. You may still achieve purposes on earth, that constitute all the
glory of earth—and ends in heaven, that constitute all the glory of heaven!
Nay, if such must be the effect of wealth, I would say, let me be poor. I would
pray God that I might be poor. Rather, and more wisely ought I, perhaps,
to say with Agur, ‘ give me neither poverty nor riches ; lest I be full and
deny thee, and say, who is the Lord 1 or lest I be poor, and steal, and take
the name of my God in vain.’
“ The many corrupting and soul-destroying vices engendered in the mind
by this lamentable oversight of the spiritual aim in business, deserve a sepa­
rate and solemn consideration




The Moral E nd o f Business.

395

“ I believe that you will not accuse me of any disposition to press unreasona­
ble charges against men of business. I cannot possibly let the pulpit throw
burthens of responsibility, or warnings of danger, on this sphere of life, as if
others were not in their measure open to similar admonitions. I come not
here to make war upon any particular class. I pray you not to regard this pul­
pit as holding any relation to you, but that of a faithful and Christian friend;
or as having any interest in the world, connected with business, but your own
true interest. Above all things do I deprecate that worldly and most per­
nicious habit of hearing and approving very good things in the pulpit, and
going away and calmly doing very bad things in the world, as if the two
had no real connexion—that the habit of listening to the admonitions and re­
bukes of the pulpit with a sort of demure respect, or with significant glances
at your neighbors, and then of going away, commending the doctrine with
your lips, to violate it in your lives—as if you said, 1well, the pulpit has act­
ed its part, and now we will go and act ours.’ I act no part here. God forbid;
I endeavor to be reasonable and just in what I say here. I take no liberty to
be extravagant in this place, because I cannot be answered. I hold myself
solemnly bound to say nothing recklessly and for effect. I occupy here no
insulated position. I am continually thinking what my hearers will fairly
have to say on their part, and striving fairly to meet it. I speak to you sim­
ply as one man may speak to another, as soul may speak to its brother soul;
and I solemnly and affectionately say, what I would have you to say to me
in a change of place— I say that the pursuits of business are perilous to your
virtue.
“ On this subject I cannot, indeed, speak with the language of experience.
But I cannot forget that the voice of all moral instruction, in all ages and in
all countries, is a voice of warning. I cannot forget that the voice of holy
Scripture falls in solemn accents upon the perils attending the pursuit of
wealth. How solemn, how strong, how pertinent those accents are, I may
not know, but I must not, for that reason, withhold them.
“ ‘ Wo unto you who are rich,’ saith the holy word, ‘ for ye have not re­
ceived your consolation. Wo unto you who are full, for ye shall hunger.’
Hunger? W hat hath wealth to do with hunger. And yet there is a hun­
ger. W hat is it ? W hat can it be but the hungering of the soul; and that
is the point which, in this discourse, I press upon your attention. And
again it says, ‘ your riches are corrupted; and your gold and silver is can­
kered and is it not cankered in the very hearts of those whom wealth has
made proud, vain, anxious, and jealous, or self-indulgent, sensual, diseased,
and miserable ?— ‘And the rust of them,’ so proceeds the holy text, ‘ shall
be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.’ Ah? the
rust of riches !— not that portion of them that is kept bright in good and holy
uses—‘ and the consuming fire’ of the passions which wealth engenders!
No rich man— I lay it down as an axiom of all experience—no rich man
is safe, who is not a benevolent man. No rich man is safe, but in the imita­
tion of that benevolent God, who is the possessor and dispenser of all the
riches of the universe. W hat else, mean the miseries of a selfishly luxurious
and fashionable life every where? W hat mean the sighs that come up from
the purlieus, and couches, and most secret haunts, of all splendid and self-in­
dulgent opulence ? Do not tell me that other men are sufferers too. Say not
that the poor, and destitute, and forlorn, are miserable also. Ah ! just heaven!
thou hast, in thy mysterious wisdom, appointed to them a lot hard, full hard
to bear. Poor houseless wretches! who 1eat the bitter bread of penury, and




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The Moral E nd o f Business.

drink the baleful cup of m is e ry th e winter’s wind blows keenly through your
‘ looped and windowed raggednessyour children wander about unshod, un­
clothed, and unattended; I wonder not thatye sigh. But why should those who,
surrounded with every thing that heart can wish, or imagination conceive—
the very crumbs that fall from whose table of prosperity might feed hundreds
— why should they sigh amidst their profusion and splendor ? They have
broken the bond that should connect power with usefulness, and opulence
with mercy. That is the reason. They have taken up their treasures, and
wandered away into a forbidden world of their own, far from the sympathies
of suffering humanity ; and the heavy night dews are descending upon their
splendid revels ; and the all-gladdening light of heavenly beneficence is ex­
changed for the sickly glare of selfish enjoyment; and happiness, the bless­
ed angel that hovers over generous deeds and heroic virtues, has fled away
from that world of false gayety and fashionable exclusion.
“ I have, perhaps, wandered a moment from the point before me—the peril
of business—though as business is usually aiming at wealth, I mav be consi­
dered rather as having only pressed that point to some of its ultimate bearings.
“ But the peril of business specifically considered; and I ask, if there is not
good grounds for the admonitions on this point, of every moral and holy teacher
of every age ? W hat means, if there is not, that eternal disingenuity of trade,
that is ever putting on fair appearances and false pretences— of ‘ the buyer that
says, it is naught, it is naught, but when he has gone his way, then boasteth’— of the seller, who is always exhibiting the best samples, not fair but
false samples, of what he has to s e ll; of the seller, I say, who, to use
the language of another, ‘ if he is tying up a bundle of quills, will place se­
veral in the centre of not half the value of the rest, and thus sends forth a
hundred liars, with a fair outside, to proclaim as many falsehoods to the
world V These practices, alas! have fallen into the regular course of the
business of many. All men expect them ; and therefore, you may say, that
nobody is deceived. But deception is intended : else why are these things
done ? W hat if nobody is deceived 1 The seller himself is corrupted. He
may stand acquitted of dishonesty in the moral code of worldly traffic; no
man may charge him with dishonesty, and yet to himself he is a dishonest
man. Did I say that nobody is deceived! Nay, but somebody is deceived.
This man, the seller, is grossly, wofully deceived. He thinks to make a
little profit by his contrivances; and he is selling by penny-worths the very
integrity of his soul. Yes, the pettiest shop where these things are done,
may be to the spiritual vision, a place of more than tragic interest. It is
the stage on which the great action of life is performed. There stands
a man, who in the sharp collisions of daily traffic, might have polished
his mind to the bright and beautiful image of truth, who might have put
on the noble brow of candor, and cherished the very soul of uprightness.
I have known such a man. I have looked into his humble shop. I
have seen the mean and soiled articles with which he is dealing. And
yet the process of things going on there, was as beautiful, as if it had been
done in heaven! But now, what is this man—the man who always turns
up to you the better side of every thing he sells—the man of unceasing con­
trivances and expedients, his life long, to make things appear better than they
are 1 Be he the greatest merchant or the poorest huckster, he is a mean, a
knavish—and were I not awed by the thoughts of his immortality, I should
say—a contemptible creature; whom nobody that knows him can love, whom
nobody can trust, whom nobody can reverence. Not one thing in the




The Moral E nd o f Business.

397

dusty repository of things, great or small, which he deals with, is so vile as
he. W hat is this thing then, which is done, or may be done, in the house
of traffic 1 I tell you, though you may have thought not so of it— I tell you
that there, even there, a soul may be lost!—that that very structure, built for
the gain of earth, may be the gate of h e ll! Say not that this fearful appella­
tion should be applied to worse places than that. A man may as certainly
corrupt all the integrity and virtue of his soul in a warehouse or a shop, as
in a gambling house or a brothel.
“ False to himself, then, may a man become, while he is walking through
the perilous courses of traffic; false also to his neighbor. I cannot dwell
much upon this topic; but I will put one question ; not for reproach, but for
your sober consideration. Must it not render a man extremely liable to be
selfish, that he is engaged in pursuits whose immediate and palpable end is
his own interest ? I wish to draw your attention to this peculiarity of trade. I
do not say, that the motives which originally induce a man to enter into this
sphere of life, may not be as benevolent as those of any other man ; but this is
a point which I wish to have considered—that while the learned profes­
sions have knowledge for their immediate object, and the artist and the arti­
san have the perfection of their works as the thing that directly engages their
attention, the merchant and the trader have for their immediate object profit.
Does not this circumstance greatly expose a man to be selfish ? Full well I
know that many are not so ; that many resist and overcome this influence;
but I think that it is to be resisted. And a wise man, who more deeply
dreads the taint of inward selfishness, than of outward dishonor, will take
care to set up counter influences. And to this end, he should beware how he
clenches his hand and closes his heart against the calls of suffering, the dic­
tates of public spirit, and the claims of beneficence. To listen to them is,
perhaps, his very salvation.
But the vitiating process of business may not stop with selfishness; it is to
be contemplated in still another and higher light. For how possible is it,
that a man while engaged in exchanging and diffusing the bounties of hea­
ven, while all countries and climes are pouring their blessing at his feet,
while he lawfully deals with not one instrument, in mind or matter, but it was
formed and fitted to his use by a beneficent hand—how possible is it that he
may forget and forsake the Being who has given him all things ! How pos­
sible is it that under the very accumulation of his blessings, may be buried all
his gratitude and piety—that he may be too busy to pray, too full to be thank­
ful, too much engrossed with the gifts to think of the Giver. The humblest
giver expects some thanks ; he would think it a lack of ordinary human feel­
ing, in any one, to snatch at his bounties, without casting a look on the bestower; he would gaze in astonishment at such heedlessi ngratitude and ra­
pacity, and almost doubt whether the creatures he helped could be human.
Are they any more human—do they any more deserve the name of men,
when the object of such perverse and senseless ingratitude is the Infinite Be­
nefactor 1 Would we know what aspect it bears before his eye ? Once and
more than once, hath that Infinite Benefactor spoken. I listen, and tremble
as I listen, to that lofty adjuration, with which the sublime prophet hath set
forth His contemplation ofthe ingratitude of his creatures. 1Hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth ! for the Lord hath spoken ; I have nourished and
brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth
his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know; my peo­
ple do not consider.’ Sad and grievous error even in the eye of reason! Great




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The Moral E n d o f Business.

default even to nature’s religion ! But art thou a Christian man—what law
shall acquit thee, if that heavy charge lies at thy door—at the door of thy
warehouse— at the door of thy dwelling. Beware, lest thou forget God in
his mercies! the Giver in his gift! lest the light be gone from thy prosperi­
ty, and prayer from thy heart, and the love of thy neighbor from the labors
of thy calling, and the hope of heaven from the abundance of thine earthly
estate.
“ But not with words of warning— ever painful to use, and not always pro­
fitable— would I now dismiss you from the house of God. I would not
close this discourse, in which I may seem to have pressed heavily on the
evils to which business exposes those who are engaged in it, without holding
up distinctly to view the great moral aim on which it is my main purpose to
insist, and attempting to show its excellence.
“ There is such a nobleness of character in the right course, that it is to
that point I would last direct your attention. The aspirings of youth, the
ambition of manhood, could receive no loftier moral direction than may be
found in the sphere of business. The school of trade, with all its dangers,
may be made one of the noblest schools of virtue in the world; and it is of
some importance to say it :—-because those who regard it as a sphere only of
selfish interests and sordid calculations, are certain to win no lofty moral
prizes in that school. There can be nothing more fatal to elevation of cha­
racter in any sphere, whether it be of business or society, than to speak ha­
bitually of that sphere as given over to low aims and pursuits. If business is
constantly spoken of as contracting the mind and corrupting the heart; if
the pursuit of property is universally satirized as selfish and grasping; too
many who engage in it will think of nothing but of adopting the character
and the course so pointed out. Many causes have contributed, without
doubt, to establish that disparaging estimate of business—the spirit of feudal
aristocracies, the pride of learning, the tone of literature, and the faults of
business itself.
“ I say, therefore, that there is no being in the world for whom I feel a
higher moral respect and admiration, than for the upright man of business;
no, not for the philanthropist, the missionary, or the martyr. I feel that I
could more easily be a martyr, than a man of that lofty moral uprightness.
And let me say yet more distinctly, that it is not for the generous man, that I
feel this kind of respect—that seems to me a lower quality—a mere impulse,
compared with the lofty virtue I speak of. It is not for the man who distri­
butes extensive charities, who bestows magnificent donations. That may
be all very well— I speak not to disparage it—I wish there were more of i t ;
and yet it may all consist with a want of the true, lofty, unbending upright­
ness. That is not the man, then, of whom I speak; but it is he who stands,
amid all the swaying interests and perilous exigencies of trade, firm, calm,
disinterested, and upright,. It is the man, who can see another man’s inter­
ests just as clearly as his own. It is the man whose mind his own advan­
tage does not blind nor cloud for an instant; who could sit a judge, upon a
question between himself and his neighbor, just as safely, as the purest ma­
gistrate upon the bench of justice. Ah! how much richer than ermine,
how far nobler than the train of magisterial authority, how more awful than
the guarded bench of majesty, is that simple, magnanimous, and majestic
truth. Yes, it is the man who is true—true to himself, to his neighbor, and
to his God—true to the right—true to his conscience—and who feels, that
the slightest suggestion of that conscience, is more to him than the chance of
acquiring an hundred estates.”




Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

399

A r t . III.— L E IS U R E — ITS USES A N D A BU SES*
T h e subject announced for discussion this evening, promises little novelty
of thought or learned research, and may in the judgment of some savour
too strongly of the lecturer’s profession. But it has been chosen in the be­
lief, that an audience, like the present, composed of persons distinguished for
zeal in the acquirement of sound knowledge, would prefer practical, though
familiar truths, to flights of fancy or pedantic display; and that they never
would have invited one to address them, who, without a name for science or
general literature, could only have been known to them as a preacher of
morals, if they had wished him entirely to forget his office in complying
with their request.
Leisure strictly signifies unoccupied time. A man of leisure is one who
has nothing to do, a condition supposed to be honorable in those countries
where false forms of society make the many the servants of the few; but hap­
pily not in our own, where the greatest good of the whole number is the glo­
rious aim of an intelligent democracy. Here, the laborer is honorable, the
idler infamous. W e tolerate no drones in our hive, and every one, who
would share in its sweets, must contribute to the general happiness. Indeed,
a man among us must either be content to be busy, or content to be alone,
like the truant school boy, who found no one idle but himself, and was glad
to get back to school for the sake of company; or, like the solitary goose of
Patrick O’Rooney,f be full of fun, and nothing to play with. So may it
ever be. The sweat-drops on the brow of honest toil are more precious than the
jewels of a ducal coronet, and the pen of a ready writer, the tools of the ar­
tisan, and the axe of the backwoodsman, are weapons of a nobler chivalry
than ever couched the lance or wielded the sword.
In this nice sense of the term, we can have no leisure; for the truly virtu­
ous and faithful will find occupation for every moment. Living in a world
of so many wants, and with an immortality before us so full of reward, we
can never lack an opportunity of doing good to others and profiting our­
selves. But every man who pursues a regular calling, however closely he
may devote himself to business, will have certain intervals of relief from
his more pressing engagements. These constitute that leisure of which I
would speak.
During a recent visit to the United States mint, I observed in the gold room,
that a rack was placed over the floor for us to tread upon; and on inquiring
its purpose, I was answered, that it was to prevent the visitor from, carrying
away with the dust of his feet the minute particles of precious metal, which
despite of the utmost care would fall upon the floor, when the rougher edges
of the bars were filed; and that the sweepings of the building saved thou­
sands of dollars in the year. How much more precious the most minute
fragments of time ! and yet how often are they trodden upon like dust by
thoughtlessness and folly 1 The necessity of labor was doubtless intended
for our salutary discipline, yet it is a most painful consideration, that so much
of life’s brief time is lost upon physical wants and momentary gratifications.
To say nothing of our useless infancy, the long years of preparation for ac­
* A Lecture delivered before the New York Mercantile Library Association, in March,
1839, by Rev. George W . Bethune, D. D.
tlmmortalized by Miss Edgeworth.




Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

400

tive life, daily demands for sleep and food and social decencies, what makes
up the business of the world ? Ascend by day some eminence from which
you can look down on this populous city, what busy crowds are hurrying
to and fro—what a hum of anxious voices, what a clamor of incessant toil.
Here a long train of flying cars are drawn along the level way ; there, many
a freighted vessel spreads her white canvass to the breeze, seeking distant
continents, or folds her weary wings as she glides to her rest; below, the
reluctant beast drags his heavy load; stately warehouses rise thick on every
hand, and countless shops display their glittering wares; while marble pala­
ces, with pillared fronts and thronged ascents, demand the admiring eye.
W hat is the cause of all this struggle ? W hat mighty end thus makes man
and beast and element subservient. It is a vain attempt to answer the insatia­
ble craving of the human heart, “ what shall we eat, what shall we drink,
and wherewithal shall we be clothed ?” W ith rare exceptions, mere living
is the business of life, and mind the slave of the body’s occasions—star-eyed
science is invoked only to swell the profits of business by her money mak­
ing or money saving inventions; dear poesy flings aside the noblest lyre
that ever woke echoes of freedom in American bosoms, to go into
--------The Cotton Trade
And Sugar Line,--------

while religion is allowed to tell vulgar rogues, that they must not steal, nor
pull down flour stores, nor riot at elections ; but is frowned back to her al­
tars as an impudent intermeddler with things beyond her sphere, if she
dare to speak of the mysteries of stock-jobbing, excesses of credit, or bubbles
of speculation—and as for conscience, since the notable discovery that corpo­
rations have no souls, her scruples are silenced by an act of assembly. Sure­
ly mind, spiritual, immortal mind, was made for better uses; and when I
think of the spacious shelves laden with well worn books, the crowded lec­
ture hall, the munificent founders, and see before me the intelligent coun­
tenances of those who are'the active members of the Mercantile Library As­
sociation, I am well assured that all is not lost, nor is the city wholly given
to idolatry.
I have meant no disrespect for the city of New York. I have spoken of
it only as part of the busy world. Disrespect for New Y ork? It is my
birth place, the home of my youth, and the asylum of my earliest affections.
Grown it is indeed, almost out of my knowledge; and when I come to visit it,
it seems strange yet familiar, as a vigorous young man in a long coat, whom
one knew first a growing boy in a round-about jacket. I once went far
away in a foreign land, picked up a New Y ork paper, and read an adver­
tisement of building lots in hundred and forty-second street; and on another
page, an article on bringing the Croton River to New York. W hat folly !
I thought to myself. Bring the Croton River to New York? let them wait
a few years longer, and at this rate New York will go to Croton River.
There must have been some mistake, however, for on my return the only
inhabitant I found near that spot was a hermit poor, a fat and greasy citizen
who croaked unconscious defiance of land tax and water rents.
Dear New Y ork ? Few of you, young men, remember it as I do, when
we ran down the Flattenberg on our little sleighs, or skated on Lispenard’s
meadows and Burr’s pond, and thought Leonard street “ up tow n” But
cross in a summer’s day to Weehawken, and climb the hill above the spot
where the monument used to stand, till
“ Your foot is on the verge of the cliff, and you can hear
The low dash of the wave with startled ear,”




Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

40 L

And then look forth upon the bay, and you will see it unchanged.
“ Tall spire, and glittering roof, and battlement,
And banners floating in the sunny air,
And white sails on the calm blue waters bent,
Green isle, and circling shore, are blended there
In wild reality—when life is old,
And many a scene forgot, the heart will hold
Its memory of this; now, lives there one,
Whose infant breath was drawn, or boyhood’s days
Of happiness were passed beneath that sun,
That in his manhood’s prime can calmly gaze
Upon that bay, or on that mountain stand,
Nor feel the prouder of his native land.”

I said I meant no disrespect for New York, neither did I for merchants.
My father was a merchant of New York, and dear to his son, above most
things in this life, is the reputation he won in the walks of commerce, and by
the application of its gains, for unsullied integrity and noble benevolence.
It is beyond the power of thought to estimate the blessings which God has
conferred upon the world by the influence of commerce and commercial
men. The history of modern civilization and modern liberty is indentified
with the history of commerce. The first dawnings of rational freedom were
in the commercial republics of Venice and Genoa; though spoiled by suc­
cess, and depraved by luxury, their merchant-princes became tyrants, and
then slaves. But scarcely later in the Lower Netherlands, the merchant
cities of those brave Saxons and Frisons, who preferred to wring from the
sea an asylum for freedom, rather than submit to Roman conquest or Frank
oppression, with thoughts as free as the ocean breeze which wafted their
freighted barks, first taught the world the lesson of constitutional govern­
ment, and the strength of confederated rights; first proclaimed that the right
of government was not in the hereditary noble, but in man ; and insisted up­
on the admission of every man, even the humblest, to freedom, though they
reserved the honor of citizenship as a reward 'of integrity and industry.
From the free cities of Flanders, from among their merchants and trades­
men, arose the first men of the people that dared to take power by the throat,
and bind the hands of tyranny by the cords of reason ; and since that day,
true civil liberty, I mean that which secures alike the happiness of the whole
people, most abounds where commerce is the most active and the most free.
In our own happy land, we have brought those lessons of equality, confedera­
tion, and self government, nearest to perfection; but we have yet more to learn.
Unhallowed is that pride and insolence of wealth, which would make the
political rights of the poor and rich unequal, for then would the fate of Ve­
nice and Genoa be ours. Unhallowed is that fanaticism, which, from partial
prejudices or selfish interests, would strain the cords of our union to disrup­
tion, for then the chaotic dance of atoms would be repeated in the concussion
of civil wars, and final confusion of rights and liberties; but, though perhaps
I may differ from some who hear me, I must be permitted to add, as the wish
of one humble but sincere patriot, happy will that day be, when trade shall
be free as the spirit of the constitution, every shackle taken from her
wings, and, after a just tax paid for the support and protection of government,
duties be demanded from none, nor privileges granted to any, that are not
granted to all; when every man shall be justified in pursuing whatever ho­
nest occupation he pleases, and trade when he pleases, and in what he plea­
ses, be it goods or be it money, and there be acknowledged no right or power
in any hands to restrain the honest uses of capital, to endanger or distract
von. i. — no. v.
51




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Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

the common currency, to exact from the consumer an artificial price, or to
deprive the producer of his just rewards. Only let commerce be free, and
the sinews of commerce, agriculture and manufactures, be free, and we need
not fear for the freedom of the world. They are young giants that need no
swaddling bands—growing oaks, that ask no hot-house care.
Nor should it be forgotten, that we owe to commerce the discovery of once
unknown continents, and that but for her, we should never have gloried in
the name of Americans. It is commerce which makesthe luxuries of each
land common to a ll; brings the spices of the tropics to enrich the dainties of
our winter festivals, cheers us in the morning with the sober berry’s juice,
and refreshes us in the evening with the cup that cheers, but not inebriates,
mingled and blessed by the fair hands of those we love. The hordes of In­
dia, the serfs of Russia, the paupers of Britain, toil, at her command, for us.
There are also in the stern ethics and the fearless confidence of enlarged
commerce, some of the finest exhibitions of lofty humanity and generous
truth. “ It might tempt one,” says an admirable author, “ to be proud of his
species, when he looks upon the faith reposed in a merchant by a distant
correspondent, who, without one other hold of him than his honor, confides
to him the wealth of a whole flotilla, and sleeps in the confidence that it is
safe. It is indeed an animating thought, amid the gloom of a world’s de­
pravity, when we behold the credit which one man puts in another, though
separated by seas and by continents; when he fixes the anchor of a sure and
steady dependence on the reputed faith of one whom he never saw; when
with all his fear for the treachery of the various elements through which his
property must pass, he knows, that should it arrive at the door of his agent,
his fears and his suspicions may be at an end. W e know nothing finer than
such an act of homage from one being to another, when perhaps the diameter
of the globe is between them ; nor do we think that either the renown of her
victories, or the wisdom of her counsels, so signalizes the country in which
we live, as do the honorable dealings of her merchants, or the awarded con­
fidence of those men, of all tribes and colours and languages, who look to our
agency for the faithfulness of all management, and to our keeping for the
most inviolable of all custody.” Thus Chalmers wrote of the merchants of
his country ; but we may adopt his language for our own. It was indeed
said across the water, that “ the Yankee nation, from General Jackson to a
shoe black, was a fraudulent bankrupt;” but the intelligent and candid Mr.
Cowell, the agent of the bank of England, and one of the most liberal mind­
ed and observing strangers that ever visited our shores, has declared that out
of debts of at least fifteen millions, all but some fourteen or fifteen hundred of
dollars is safe, and that ultimately so. A tolerable dividend for a bankrupt’s
estate!
And when we remember the mutual anguish, the desolated hopes, the
universal gloom of the crisis, through which we passed, the toil that was en­
dured, the sacrifices that were made, and the unavoidable confusion that
reigned, the world must admit that the American merchant will not yield his
honor while his sinews obeys his will, or a gasp of life remains.
Yet giving to commerce all its due, the life of an intelligent being should
have far higher ends than those the pursuits of business can immediately pro­
mise. If immediately beyond the grave be not all a dream, it will be to those
who are prepared to enter it, an immortality of mind and affection, where the
grosser influences of the body, its low necessities and animal pleasures,
which demand so much of present care and toil and time, shall be unknown




Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

403

for ever. There we shall neither plough, nor weave, nor buy, nor sell.
There the miserable arithmetic of dollars and cents shall have no place.
Knowledge shall be the desire and pursuit of the soul, and holy love employ
the willing activity of all its powers. It must be, then, that as life is but the
season of preparation for immortality, the right pursuit of knowledge, and
cultivation of the heart, are the true methods of making life profitable. Re­
ligion teaches this from every page of the inspired volume. The end of
her regeneration is to quicken within us a nobler life than fallen nature gives
us—to make the soul conqueror of the body, which has revolted from its rule
and held it in chains. The end of her faith is by the manifestation of spiritual
and eternal treasures, to win our heart from the pursuit of those objects of
sense which perish in the using, and the end of her morality the practice of
that holy affection, though in the lower forms of which only we now are
capable, that shall be the occupation of eternity. “ Ye are not of the world,
but I have chosen ye out of the world,” is the language of him who “ brought
life and immortality to light” by the Gospel, to all who through him “ look
for glory and honor.”
But they greatly mistake the spirit of Christianity, who make it to consist
in mystical abstractions and formal ceremonies. All knowledge and all
seeming morality, without the love of God, and faith in Christ, will be insuf­
ficient to prepare us for the ordeal of the judgment, and admission to the skies.
The kingdom of God must first be re-established in the heart; yet when
that kingdom is acknowledged and that faith professed, every advance in
true knowledge, and every application of knowledge to true usefulness, is an
additional preparation for our spiritual immortality. True science is the
knowledge of things in their causes; and the knowledge of the Great First
Cause is the end and height of science. But He, who has caused the holy
scriptures to be “ written for our learning” of Him, has also given us His
book of Nature, and every demonstration of science should be regarded by
us as a step of that ladder, by which the student of earth may ascend towards
the presence of God in heaven. It is this which gives to science its dignity
and value. Its only worthy subject should be lasting as the soul itself,
enduring when the minerals, the animals, the vegetables, and the elements,
into the nature of which philosophy now inquires, shall pass away and be
no more, but the soul survive. The name of philosophy has been abused,
and men have accounted themselves philosophers while studying the habits
of an insect’s life, classifying the refuse shells which ocean casts upon its
shores, discovering the properties of stones and plants, searching and com­
paring the anatomy of animal frames, or endeavoring (for after all, meta­
physical science is but an endeavor) to analyze the powers of the human
mind, while the idea of the great Author has scarcely entered their minds,
and they have taken not one step toward communion with him. Mere
worldly utility, the passing mental pleasure of investigation, or the fame of
new discoveries, are the perishing and grovelling aims of such philosophy,
falsely so called. The true end of science is above all these. It is the ele­
vation of the soul above earth, the spiritualizing of the heart from the influ­
ences of mere sense, and the education of immortal man for that eternal
converse with his God face to face, “ where he shall know and be known,
even as he is known.” To terminate science in that which is merely imme­
diately useful, to count its worth merely by its sordid gains, is to make reason
no better than instinct of a wider range, and the faculties of the soul servants
to the senses. W hen death comes, when in the final catastrophe all these




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Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

things shall pass away, such science will appear to have been hut a laborious
folly, and such philosophy the idle vagaries of an idiot’s dream. This is no
religious cant, no prejudiced fanaticism of a narrow minded preacher. It
has been the theory of a just philosophy in all ages. Permit me to quote
the testimony of Cicero, the best ethical writer of the ancients, the noblest
scholar of the school of Socrates; and in the glowing translation of one who
has proved, by a recent address before a learned society, that he has not
studied him in vain, (I refer to Professor Taylor Lewis, and his discourse
before the Phi Beta Kappa of Union College,) “ He that knows himself
will know that he has within him something divine, as it were a shrine and
image of the Deity, consecrated and devoted to him Thus taught to
believe, he will act worthy of so great a gift; and when he hath thoroughly
understood for what end he hath been brought upon the theatre of life, when
he beholds in the principles of things every where shadowed forth images of
everlasting ideas; when thus prepared, he turns to the study of nature, the
land, the seas, the origin of all things, from whence they came, to what ends
they conduce, what in the system of things is mortal and perishing, what is
divine and eternal; when in the study of these, he learns to regard himself,
not as surrounded by the walls of one city, but as an inhabitant of the uni­
verse : in this magnificence of things, this comprehending view and recogni­
tion of universal nature, how will he then know himself? how will he con­
temn, how will he look down upon, how will he count as nothing, those
things which are commonly esteemed the greatest or most useful among
mankind?” and yet, asks the indignant reprover of a base utilitarianism,
who has exhibited higher practical energy than Cicero ?
Can any one doubt that the science of Newton, the peerless prince of all
investigators of God’s lessons in nature, accompanied with the most child­
like faith, and lowly following of the Redeemer, increased his fitness for
that sphere to which the God with whom he had so long walked, took him
at death? and if so, does Newton, now before the throne of the Lamb that was
slain, estimate the value of that science for its usefulness in navigation, or the
convenience of calculating eclipses, or any temporary end ? No, if it be not
forgotten by him among the meridian brightness of heaven’s intellectual and
loving joys, he accounts it to have been precious only so far as it assisted him,
and may assist others, in preparing, by expansive thought and lofty pursuits,
for the soul’s true home, a heaven of perfect happiness, because a heaven of
perfect knowledge and perfect love.
Commerce, then, or any pursuit which is usually called business, is un­
worthy of being considered the proper occupation of life. It is only neces­
sary to provide or to procure the means of living. The time devoted to it
should be considered as a tax upon our immortal being, laid upon us by the
necessities of that curse which sin brought with it into our world. If so,
the leisure which the necessities of business allow, becomes incalculably
more precious, as being the only season when we can devote ourselves mainly
and exclusively to the great end of our being. For though there is no
honest pursuit of life in which we may not serve God and our fellow men,
no man is fitted for the practice of virtue merely by practice; he must in
hours of rest study its theory, contemplate its ends, and intelligently gird
himself for the toil
If there be one here, (though I am sure there is not,) who has no higher
ambition than to be a mere man of business, a mere slave of men’s bodily
necessities, a mere idolater of his own purse; to have his life but a thing of




Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

405

cotton bags and tobacco hogsheads, druggets and dowlasses, madder and
fustic, town lots, bank stocks, and exchanges; his mind like the advertising
side of a daily gazette, or the weekly prices current, the sum of his life, the
balance sheet of his leger, and who estimates his worth by the dollars and
cents which remain to his credit, who would choose for his immortality one
eternal Wall street, and give up a crown of glory to be called the best man
upon “ change ” — if there be such an one, he may despise those moments of
leisure which business spares, waste them in sinful sleep, lounge them away
in vapid amusements, dawdle over ephemeral magazines, or newspaper
reports of police causes and shocking accidents, squabble in the low arena of
party politics, exhaust his breath in blowing up every bubble of popular ex­
citement, lisp idle gallantries in ladies ears, who in their soul despise such
emptiness, and but tolerate the fool as they do a pet dog or a parrot, for want
of better company; or perhaps do worse, in vulgar debaucheries. He may
despise leisure and so waste it, but he must take the consequences in this
world and the next. A mere merchant! a mere man of business ! Who
would be content with such a designation? what respect can one feel for such
a character 1 All he gets from the world is the credit of being worth so
much dross, a little fawning servility from those who wish to borrow of him
or owe him already, or the wondering calculation of how much his heirs
will divide among them when he leaves his wealth behind him with his
rotting body. Were I such a man, 1 would wish my name to die with me,
and would ask neither marble nor granite, nor the venal page, to preserve
the memory of my sordid selfishness. Let it perish like the thistle cut down
by the mower’s scythe, or the dry mullen that decays on the barren hill side.
But there is a true grandeur, which though we cannot reach, we must
admire and may emulate, in him who devotes the energies of a well stored
mind to the pursuit of commerce, that the fruits of noble enterprise may ena­
ble him to follow the bent of his disposition in the spread of knowledge, and
the liberalities of a wide philanthropy; who can shake off the meaner jea­
lousies of trade with the dust of his warehouse ; who leaves behind him the
idolatries of covetousness well pleased to enter the populous solitude of his
library and hold communion with the mighty dead, to join the social circle
and brighten the glow of cheerful but rational converse by the warmth of his
own intelligence, or to mingle with the evening crowd, who meet to devise
and prosecute new plans for doing good to his countrymen and the world ;
whose walls are adorned with works of native art, acquired by a price which
has cheered the child of genius in his low enthusiasm; at whose table and
hearthstone the scholar and the man of science is a welcome and delighted
guest, and whom religion claims as her consistent and beneficent follower.
Like a noble tree, whose roots are struck deep in the fruitful earth, he stands
in a gigantic strength, his higher arms aspiring to heaven, while the poor, the
sorrowful, and the friendless, find shelter and food beneath the shadow of his
wide branches. There are such men, such merchants, such men of business—
rare indeed, but yet some. I need not quote the names of the dead. There
are men now living, living among you. For their sakes let commerce be
vindicated. Their charity will cover a multitude of its sins, and their honor­
able fidelity redeem a city from destruction, though it were a Sodom or
Gomorrah. Let such men be your examples, they are the beacon lights
which at once warn you of the dangers in your course, and guide you to the
sure haven of a self-approving peace and eternal joy.
The first rule I would then give for the use of leisure as not abusing it, is to




406

Leisure—Its Uses and Abuses.
S E T B E F O R E Y O U R S E L V E S P U R E A N D N O B L E AIMS.

Let the pursuit of gain be your necessity; the pursuit of knowledge
and virtue, and religion, your delight and your reward. Regard successful
labors in business as only valuable because they supply you with means of
prosecuting your lofty ends.
Avoid the degrading error of a mere personal ambition; ambition is a
healthful stimulant, when duly mingled with benevolence towards man and
piety towards God—but when all its struggles, and pains, and toils, terminate
in self, it is but selfishness. To acquire money merely to say it is your own,
to spread feasts for flattering parasites, to fling open gorgeously decorated
halls, that well dressed crowds may admire and envy, or to roil in sumptuous
equipages that the vulgar pedestrians, spattered by the wheels, may gape and
wonder, is but one remove from miserly meanness, which starves the sto­
mach to fatten the purse. The industrious artisan reaps his profits from the
prices of extravagance, but the bosom of the pompous purse-proud fool can
receive no merited delight from a result his heart never proposed. In the
same light are we to regard an ostentation of benevolence to the poor, patron­
age to the arts, or assistance to science or literature. The acclamations of
the crowd, the newspaper eulogium, the servile dedication, or the columns of a
charity report, (the more than brazen trumpet of modern Pharisaism,) can
yield the hypocrite no genuine pleasure. Conscience, whose honest rebuke
no bribe can hush, no applauses drown, no rhetoric deceive, points to a frown­
ing God, whose eyes pierce the intents of the rotten heart, and declares,
“ verily thou hast thy reward,” and the wretch confesses in his secret thought,
“ this also is vanity.”
Scarcely better is the pursuit of literary or scientific distinction for its own
sake. It most frequently defeats itself. Eagerness of new discoveries, anx­
iety to lead in some path, impatience for the acquisition of fame, proud un­
willingness to submit to others’ teaching, all lead to the adoption of startling
but crude hypotheses, oversight of true facts, and neglect of careful induction,
glaring extravagance, or quaint affectation of style ; and the pretender, after
strutting a brief hour in fancied greatness, is hissed from the stage to a de­
served hut more infamous oblivion than he would have avoided. Though
even before such a catastrophe, envy of other men’s success may have dis­
figured his semblance of mind, or an insisting egotism covetous of praise, but
unwilling to acquire it except by demands, roused the furies of public scorn
to “ lash him naked through the world.”
Love knowledge for herself, love honor for its own blessed consciousness,
love religion as the messenger-angel to conduct you to your God, and charity
as her attendant handmaid, who scatters flowers over the arid sands of human
experience, and they will so reward you, that ambition itself shall say, “ It
is enough.”
Let me repeat a caution I have before hinted. Estimate not the value of
results by their immediate usefulness ; this would be to centre all in the pre­
sent moment, or at least in the present life. Good is rarely great which can
be accomplished at once. Indeed, all that can be seen in this life, bears but
a mean proportion to the profits of eternity. W e must adventure our whole
capital, and be willing to lose its present interest, if we would find the trea­
sure increased an hundred fold in heaven.
11Man soweth here with toil and care,
But the harvest time of love is there.”

There is a joy in study in the calm hour of seclusion, where we are alone,




Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

407

and yet not alone, for the Father of light is with us—a joy that no stranger
intermeddleth with, which
--------“ An age outweighs
Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas.”--------

There is a joy in worth,* the consciousness of self command, of high pur­
poses, of a free conscience, and an approving God, which no applauses of the
world can equal, and no injustice of the world can take away.
There is a joy in religion, a calm intercourse is opened with heaven ; and
the hope of its immortal blessedness stimulates us to pursue the often rugged
path of present duty, and solaces the pangs of present sorrow.
Be content, even if you can gain nothing more, with the education of your
spirit, by the cultivation of your mind and the cultivation of your heart, for
that sphere where God designs it shall have its largest expansion and high­
est bliss.
The second rule I would suggest for the right cultivation of leisure is,
A COURAGEOUS B E L IE F

THAT

MUCH

L IE S W IT H IN YOUR C A PA B ILIT IES.

The time was, when knowledge and its precious fruits were, like power,
the birthright of the few, and when the scanty and high priced scrolls, upon
which the slow pen of the transcriber had recorded the words of wisdom,
could be bought only by those who were under the necessity of no other
toil. Blessed be God ! this is no longer the case. Knowledge is as com­
mon to all who desire to enjoy her life-giving virtues, as the air we breathe
and the water which we drink. Literature, and even science, have been
known to flourish best with those who have been born to few advantages,
and have not made it their sole profession. Indeed, there seems to be often
an almost fantastic incongruity between the favorite and most successful
studies of some men, and their declared pursuits. The best ethical writer of
Great Britain in the present time is Abercrombie, who closes a day of im­
mense toil in medical practice with happy meditations upon metaphysical
* The following noble lines, written by my esteemed and accomplished friend, Judge
Conrad, of Philadelphia, are subjoined, in the sure belief that they will give pleasure to
all who read them.
G. W . B.




There is a joy in worth,
A high mystetious soul pervading charm,
Which, never daunted, ever bright and warm,
Mocks at the idle shadowy ills of earth,
Amid the gloom is bright, and placid in the storm.
It asks, it needs no aid—
It makes the strong and lofty soul its throne,
There in its self-created heaven alone,
No fear to shake, no mem’ry to upbraid,
It sits a lesser God, life, life is all its own.
The stoic was not wrong—
There is no evil to the virtuous brave,
Or in the battle strife, or on the wave,
Worshipped or scorned, alone, or in the throng—
H e is himself alone, not earth’s or fortune’s slave.
Power, and wealth, and fame,
Are but as reeds upon life’s troubled tide—
Give me but these, a spirit tempest tried,
A brow unshrinking, and a soul of flame,
The joy of conscious worth its courage and its pride.

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Leisure— Ils Uses and Abuses.

themes; while not a few of these most eminent in the same kingdom for
physical science, are thoroughly educated theologians. Drew, the admirable
author of treatises upon the resurrection, the immortality of the soul, and
kindred subjects, was a working shoemaker, who first essayed to pursue
physical science, but abandoned the attempt from the want of money to pur­
chase apparatus, and time to make experiments, and devoted himself to sub­
jects which he could analyze within the laboratory of his own brain, and in­
vestigate while he sat upon his bench and drew the waxen thread. The
writer of Elia, the late Charles Lamb, earned (to use an illustration of a bro­
ther lecturer in another city) his peculiar reputation during three and thirty
years of service as a merchant’s clerk, “ chained,” as he feelingly expressed
it, “ to the desk’s dull wood,” and this in a narrow lane of smoky, drizzling,
ever sombre London. Rogers, the author of the Pleasures of Memory, is still
a banker. Roscoe, it is well known, was engaged either in legal or com­
mercial pursuits, while he wrote the lives of the two Medici. He was, it is
true, as Washington Irving has told us in the Sketch Book, unfortunate in
business, but it was from other causes than incapacity for business, or neglect
of it.
Speaking of Washington Irving, reminds me, by the way, that I was told
by a mere man of business in Liverpool, that he knew my countryman, Mr.
Irving, while he was attempting commercial pursuits in that city; but, said
he, with a dolorous shake of the head, which showed what was uppermost
in his estimation, “ he did’nt get on, sir, he did’nt get on.” Thank God ! he
did’nt get on.
Indeed, men of leisure, as they are termed, are rarely known to attain
greatness. Their time is frittered away in trifles, resolutions, and procras­
tinations. They lack the habit of industry which occupation teaches, and
are exposed to a thousand temptations men of business never know, the force
of sluggishness being the worst of all. The stagnant pool will become
muddy and foul, and perhaps mischievous to the health of its neighborhood ;
but the rapid stream runs sparkling and clear, and having turned the mill
which grinds the bread, may water the meadows with their thousand flow­
ers, and wash the wing of many a joyous bride as he carols in his sport.
It is, therefore, a great mistake, that literature or intellectual pursuits of
any kind must be attached to what is termed professional life. Governor
Everett, in a recent speech, which you have all probably read, gives an ac­
count of a working blacksmith, who had acquired a knowledge of fifty lan­
guages in his hours of leisure. (Without knowing more of that industrious
person, I would hardly recommend his example in all things, for though
my suspicions may be unfounded, I cannot help thinking that some of that
time had been better spent in acquiring the knowledge a few of those lan­
guages contained, than in learning the grammars and vocabularies of the
rest.) Sir William Jones had acquired more than thirty, (including dialects
of India,) though he died in his forty-ninth year, was chained to the bench
at least eight hours a day for a long period, and yet left behind him, besides
some valuable writings, including a volume of delightful lyric poetry, the
product of the leisure hours o f his leisure. Calvin, Luther, and John Wesley,
were all very voluminous writers, and upon profound subjects, although when
we remember the incessant journeyings and labors they went through, it is
difficult to imagine how they found time to preserve even the chain of friend­
ly correspondence.
Let no man say, then, he has no time, and no opportunities for study, be-




Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses,

409

cause he is a man of business. I wish in my heart that young men, who
toil in the drudgery of mercantile pursuits for the gains of others, had more
time allowed them by arrangements upon the part of their employers. It
is a sad tyranny that exacts so large a portion of their daily time, to say noth­
ing of extraordinary but not unfrequent engagements. Yet no young man
need despair of accomplishing much, if he have the courageous confidence
to attempt much, and persevere. It is better, incomparably better, to accom­
plish something, than idly to endeavor after nothing.
This brings me to a third rule for the redemption of leisure,
A C A R E F U L E C O N O M Y I N T H E D IS P O S I T I O N OF I T .

When we regard our fragments of time separately, they seem indeed small,
and offer little encouragement to think much can he done with them ; but,
when we add them together, their aggregate may be very precious. Like
the particles of gold dust, to which I alluded in an early part of this lecture,
each may be almost beneath estimation ; yet as that gold dust, thrown toge­
ther into the crucible, forms the bar from which many a coin is made, so
our leisure economically gathered and applied, will supply us with current
and sterling thoughts, which we may employ in enriching others, while we
enrich ourselves.
Abandon the habit of procrastination—postpone no valuable purpose to a
more convenient season, nor idly dream, as some have done, that- when the
busy toil of years has won the reward of competence, you will then have free
scope and opportunity for higher engagements. Youth is the only season
for the formation of intellectual habit. The sinews of the mind, like those
of the body, soon become stiff and unpliable. It would be as easy for the leo­
pard to change his spots, or the Ethiopian his skin, as for one who had spent
the greater part of his life in entire idolatry of business, to lay aside his inve­
terate taste, tendencies, and customs, for the calm retirement, and inward sa­
tisfactions, and self sustaining pleasures of study and thought. There are
few more pitiable characters, than theirs, who, without any qualification for
a profitable employment of leisure, have in an evil hour given up business by
which they have realized sufficient fortunes, in the vain hope of enjoying
freedom from its laborious exactions.
The toils and anxieties which
they would put away, have become necessary to their existence. The va­
cant hours hang heavy on their hands, and their heart is in the bustling
world from which they profess to have retired. F or a few weeks they may
be missed fromtheir accustomed haunts, but it is soon to re-appear like un­
easy spirits amidst the scenes of former life, lounging in their insurance
offices and bank parlors, meditating prices when they have nothing to sell,
eagerly engaging in the business gossip of the day, wondering why the ex­
pected packet does not arrive, though its arrival promises them neither con­
signments nor remittances, and finding no solace for the widowhood of their
hearts from their first and only love, but in shaving notes, speculating in
stocks, and bidding at land sales; and like
“ The phantom knight, his glory fled,
W ho mourns the field he heaped with dead,
Mounts the wild blast that sweeps amain;
Or chief whose antique crownlet long,
Still sparkled in the feudal song,
Now, from the mountains misty throne,
Sees in the thraldom once his own,
V O L . I . ---- NO.

v.




52

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Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.
His ashes undistinguished lie,
His place, his power, his memory, die.”

So they linger sorrowfully among those who once acknowledged their
power and skill, but now thrust them aside as bores and troublers of busier
m en; or, like the Ghouls of eastern fable, though dead themselves, can yet
suck the life-blood of the living by usurious exactions.
If you would enjoy intellectual pleasures after the necessities of other toil
has ceased, you must prepare for it by the assiduous cultivation of your pre­
vious leisure.
Energetic industry in the use of the few moments of leisure we may have,
is necessary to economy of time.
It is a well known fact, that when the powers of the mind are intensely
given to any matter, more may be accomplished in a few hours, than a slug­
gish indifference will reach in many days. Much pains and practice are
necessary to acquire sufficient mastery over our faculties, to give them this
directness and intensity of application, yet where there is generous enthusi­
asm for the attainment of worthy ends, by pains and practice it may be se­
cured ; and as a man of business, the moment he enters his office in the
morning, and breathes its air, can, almost without an effort, shut out every
thing but business from his thoughts, so will the intellectual aspirant learn
to assume all the spirit of the student the moment he opens his books or takes
up his pen. W ith what ease does the physician pass from the anxieties of
one sick room to those of another, or the lawyer turn the force of his talents
to one case after another, or the merchant settle in the course of a single day
the risks and probabilities of many operations. It requires little more habit
and effort to change the occupation of the mind from business to study, and
study again to business. The mind needs relief it is true, but the best relief is
not entire relaxation, but alternation of pursuit; entire rest, except when
the body needs the repose of slumber is the worst torture of an active spirit.
But industry will avail us little without system. Our plan must be intelli­
gently decided upon, and then steadily pursued. The swiftest runner attains
the goal by successive steps, and though each interval of leisure may not be
sufficient to make much progress, we may pursue as long as it lasts the right
direction, and resume it when another interval occurs. This steady perse­
verance, which is compatible only with system, will in the end accomplish
more than the most violent spasmodic efforts, disconnected from each other
from the want of a plan. There is on record the instance of a studious man,
who, finding that he was called to his dinner every day a few minutes be­
fore it was ready, devoted those few minutes to the writing of a work, which
in the process of time swelled to some goodly volumes ; a striking hint to
us to save the minutes, that hours be not lost; for though it may seem a
mere truism, it is often forgotten, that an hour a day is fifteen days in a year,
and in twenty-four years, a year.
Be not then vacillating in your purposes. Let not every bright meteor
that shoots across your path, attract you to new aims. This would be to
make your life but as whirling sands borne about by every fickle wind. Few
men are great or useful in many pursuits of different nature, for though we
do read of the “ admirable Crichton,” who was skilled in every known ac­
complishment, language, art, and science, he has left behind him no valuable
proofs that he was useful in any thin g ; and we have a common saying, that
a man of many trades is good at none. Be not satisfied with doing any
thing till you have done it well, and then you will have at least the satisfac­
tion of having done nothing ill.




Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

411

These rules being acknowledged to be just, there is little need of stating
formally another, to devote our Leisure to such occupation as is the most
valuable.
If our leisure is to be industrious, our industry should be so directed as to
secure the greatest profit. There is a choice in reading. I will not enter
into any argument to prove the mischievous character of romantic and ficti­
tious writings. Fables are often instructive. Our Saviour taught much in
parables; and as a scholar and a lover of books, I would be sorry to bum the
“ Pilgrim ’s Progress.” True pictures of the human heart, and exhibitions
of safe and moral practice, are often found in the supposed life and adventures
of imaginary characters. Good poetry is but a higher order of metaphysics
and moral teaching. But I put it to your own judgment, whether the
reading of fiction generally is the most valuable use a man of little leisure
can make of his little time. One, whose sole pursuit is of an intellectual
character, may have some faint excuse for thus unbending his overstrained
mind, which must be seduced, as it were, from the fever of thought; but for
him who has but a few hours in the day or week, to follow highwaymen and
fops, with Bulwer, through low crimes and silly affectations, or revel in ima­
gination amidst gorgeous scenes of foreign and aristocratic fashion, as
described in the volumes of trash the modern press vomits upon our shores,
is madness in the extreme. It is the sure way to unfit him for the actual
world in which he lives, and his duties lie.
Newspapers are also sad thieves of time. I speak in no disparagement of
the many able gentlemen who cater for our daily tastes; the fault is rather in
their readers, upon whose favors they live. But, ordinarily, the columns
of our daily prints contain little that is worthy of perusal by a man inquiring
after valuable knowledge. Distorted political statements, squabbles between
rival editors, beginning in wit and ending often in low abuse, accounts of
shocking accidents, and police reports of vulgar crimes, sometimes (alas I)
prurient scandal, and mawkish attempts at sentiment, make up the sum of
their morning and evening offerings. It is often boasted that we have in this
country such a vast number of daily and other newspapers. Their number
is rather a curse than a blessing. Condense the scattered talents of the ma­
ny into a few; make by such aggregation of patronage as would place those
few above all casual necessities, and make intelligent editors recipients of
such rewards as their talents deserve; allow a rational freedom to the press,
and not establish a separate journal for the advocacy of every shade of opi­
nion, or pettishly insist that your newspapers shall be but babbling echoes of
your own prejudices; and the daily and weekly journals will become worth
our reading, and the best minds will contribute to their resources. As it is,
newspapers (if we guard not against them) become dangerous seductions. I
knew a gentleman of learning and talents, who confessed that he became so
interested in a newspaper dispute between two silly and illiterate tailors, that
he missed his amusement when the miserable correspondence ceased; and I
acknowledge for myself, that no matter how I may be pressed with important
engagements, I always seize the morning and evening papers with eagerness,
and never lay them down without a sigh.
Few of our magazines are better worth our attention. They are, for the
most part, a poor patch-work, a tinsel mosaic of superficial learning, crude
novelties, abortive wit, pointless tales, splenetic or fulsome reviews, and half
hatched rhymes. Honorable exceptions there are, but they are too few and
too well known to need any impertinent distinctions from me.




412.

Leisure— Its Uses and Abuses.

F or the same reasons, I would give my testimony against the compends,
and abridgments, and synopses, and epitomes, with which this boasting but
superficial age abounds. If you admire skeletons without flesh, blood, or
beauty, choose them; but if you would woo truth, in her living, breathing,
perfect loveliness, search for her in full treatises and complete demonstrations.
The first will make you pedantic sciolists, the last, true philosophers.
Society you must have. It is necessary to the social wants of the heart,
and the society of intelligent persons will often teach more and in a more
pleasant manner than books. Of society you may have your choice. Waste
not then your time with the silly, who will never receive nor give profit.
The truly good and intelligent are ever ready to meet the advances of the
modest, the virtuous, and inquiring. In the atmosphere w'hich they breathe,
you will always find health and delight; but as “ evil communications cor­
rupt good manners,” so ignorant and idle communications corrupt good
sense.
No society is more profitable, because none more refining and provocative
of virtue, than that of refined and sensible women. God enshrined peculiar
goodness in the form of woman, that her beauty might win, her gentle
voice invite, and the desire of her favor persuade men’s sterner souls to leave
the paths of sinful strife for the ways of pleasantness and peace. But when
woman falls from her blest eminence, and sinks the guardian and the cherisher of pure and rational enjoyments into the vain coquette, and flattered
idolater of idle fashion, she is unworthy of an honorable man’s love, or a
sensible man’s admiration. Beauty is then but at best
-------- “ A pretty play-thing,
Dear deceit.”--------

I honor the chivalrous deference which is paid in our land to women. It
proves that our men know; how to respect virtue and pure affection, and that
our women are worthy of such respect. Yet woman should be something
more than mere woman to win us to their society. To be our companions,
they should be fitted to be our friends; to rule our hearts, they should be
deserving the approbation of our minds. There are many such, and that
there are not more, is rather the fault of our sex than their own; and despite
all the unmanly scandals that have been thrown upon them in prose or verse,
they would rather share in the rational conversation of men of sense, than
listen to the silly compliments of fools; and a man dishonours them as well
as disgraces himself, when he seeks their circle for idle pastime, and not for
the improvement of his mind and the elevation of his heart.
I should be unworthy of my office, were I to conclude this effort to serve
you, without especially commending you to the teachings and communings
of the God of Nature and the Bible. Make God your friend, clothe yourself
with his ever presence, bathe yourselves in the waters of his truth. In the
Scriptures you will find the purest morals, the safest maxims of practical wis­
dom, the most faithful pictures'of the human heart, and the finest examples of
moral heroism. There are the most faithful of histories, poetry the most
sublime, and pathos the most tender. The whole range of literature cannot
vie with that one volume in ministering to true intellectual taste and assisting
mental growth. But, my friends, these are the least reasons for its study. It
is the lamp which our Heavenly Father offers to our hands, that we may
trace the way that leads through the darkness of this life to the region of
eternal light and joy. It tells us of on e who so loved the world as to
come from heaven to earth, that we might learn to ascend from earth to hea­




Commerce and Protection.

413

ven: who, while he sanctified himself to be our Saviour, from the guilt of
our sin, brought all the beauty and strength of divinity to adorn his example
of a perfect man ; and now, from the far heaven of his reward, yet regards
with a brother’s eye, and assists by Almighty strength, every sincere soul
that seeks to tread in his footsteps and trusts in his grace. He will be your
friend if you are his. As my parting counsel, let me then entreat that you
allpw no day to pass without spending some due portion of time in meditating
on the sacred word, and asking the blessed intercession of Jesus, the Son of
God. H e that can find no leisure for this, must make strange estimates ; for
“ what,” I ask you as men of business to make the calculation, “ w h a t i s a
MAN P R O F I T E D

IF H E

G A IN TIIE

W HOLE

WORLD

AND

LOSE

H IS O W N

SO U L.”

A r t . IV.— “ COM M ERCE A N D P R O T E C T IO N .”
To the Editor of the Merchants’ Magazine:

I f i n d in a late Charleston Mercury an article which purports to have
appeared originally in the Democratic Review at Washington, in replica­
tion to mine in an early number of the Merchants’ Magazine. As the logic
of this criticism, review, or whatever it may be termed, appears to me con­
siderably less than irresistible, I am again induced to trespass on your pa­
tience and that of the readers of the Magazine.
My antagonist, with a liberality and courtesy quite characteristic of the
“ free trade” school of political economists, commences by hinting his “ sur­
prise” that such an article as mine, or any advocating protection, should
have been suffered to appear in a mercantile magazine, and proceeds to com­
plain of my “ want of logical acumen and legitimate deduction,” and with
magisterial nod decides that my article is “ better fitted for the arena of a
debating society than for the pages of a philosophical journal.” He is wel­
come to his manners. I did not contemplate any thing more than a simple
recapitulation of the heads of argument in favor of protection, leaving the
outline to be filled up by the reader’s own reflections. But with what grace
is a want of “ logical acumen” complained of by a reviewer, who opens his
argument as follows: “ it would, at the outset, appear that the object of the
article is merely a defence of the tariff as a means of raising revenue.”
Seems so, does it? To whom? To the critic, we must presume; but it
can hardly have seemed so to any one else, when “ Commerce and Protec­
tion" was the title of my essay, and every paragraph of it was aimed direct­
ly at this point—that judicious Protecting Duties, do not operate injurious­
ly on the interests of commerce. But again: in the next paragraph, my re­
viewer asserts that silks, wines, and some other luxuries, are admitted free of
duty, while cottons, which are worn principally by the poorer classes, are
charged twenty-five per cent.: and proceeds to exclaim “ thus the poverty of
the poor is disproportionately taxed, while the abundance of the rich is com­
paratively untouched.” This is a specimen of the “ logical acumen” of a
writer, who eschews my remarks as calculated “ for the declamatory arena
of a debating society.” Because under our present tariff—which is a Com­
promise and not a Protective one, and was last modified by a Congress hos­
tile to Protection—silks are admitted free of duty, (while I wish they
were taxed fifty per cent.,) and cottons charged twenty-five per cent., the infer­




414

Commerce and Protection.

ence—nay, the evidence— is resistless, that Protecting Duties essentially and
necessarily favor the rich at the expense of the poor! Admirable logic !
My reviewer next accuses me of “ begging the question,” in assuming that
Protective Legislation may stimulate the great producing interests of a coun­
try to a higher activity. In his view, this is the very gist of the question. I
am quite content to have it so, but without admitting that I begged this point
in my former article. Let me now adduce some illustrative examples: we
all know that certain bounties are paid by our government to our citizens
engaged in the cod and mackerel fisheries ; will my opponent contend that
no more fish are caught than there would be if no bounty were given ?
A gain: until very recently, Maine was principally a timber-cutting and
commercial state; her bread-stuffs being in great part purchased from abroad.
In 1836 (I believe) her Legislature enacted that a bounty should be paid
thereafter to the producers of wheat within her territory. Under the opera­
tion of that act, in the course of two or three years, the annual production of
wheat in Maine has been quadrupled. Now my opponent will not deny that
this act is clearly a protective one, and directly in the teeth of the “ Free
Trade” principles which Maine has ever professed to cherish. It is an in- ,
stance of the plainest and least equivocal kind of Protection. There can he
no denying the fact, that the amount of wheat produced has vastly increased
under the operation of that act—that in all human probability the act was
the impelling cause, in great part, of the increase. So far, we can hardly
differ. My opponent, then, has no chance of escape from the natural con­
clusion, but through the presumption that the skill and labor employed in
the production of the wheat, has been diverted from some other equally pro­
fitable employment—that therefore Maine has gained nothing by her Pro­
tective policy. But is this presumption justified by fact ? W ill any man
seriously contend that if Maine had not raised the two millions of bushels
extra of wheat during the last three years, she would necessarily have pro­
duced something in its stead, of equal, or greater value? I trust not.
Take another illustration—that of silk. W e now import this article to
the value of some twenty millions per annum. Suppose that, instead of ad­
mitting it free of duty, (which my reviewer strangely instances as a feature
of protection,) we could, by imposing a duty of fifty cents per pound on
the raw material, and one dollar on its manufactures, ensure a domestic
production of the whole amount required within five years—does any man
believe that such production would necessarily cause a reduction, to an
equal or greater amount, of the other productions of the country? I cannot. I
think the annual increase of the national wealth thereby ensured, would be
at least ten millions.
But let us hear the reviewer again:
“ It is stated that our manufacturers compete successfully with Europeans
in the South American and Chinese markets, but that, if they were unpro­
tected at home, they would be unable to do so. The fact in the first part of
the sentence we admit; the correctness of the assumption at its conclusion
we unequivocally deny.
“ If we successfully compete with European manufactures in foreign mar­
kets, it is because we can produce goods, and carry them to market, as cheaply
as our competitors: and, in this case, we must inevitably cut them out of the
home market entirely, and can therefore require no protection.”
Now here is one of those instances of reasoning from plausible but mis­
taken theory, rather than fact, on which the entire “ Free Trade” system is




Commerce and Protection.

415

founded. Nothing can look fairer than the above logic to those whose whole
acquaintance with the matter is purely theoretical; and yet it is directly in
the lace of every days’ experience. Let me illustrate : England and Ame­
rica are competitors in supplying the world with cotton fabrics; each has
brought its machinery for manufacturing them to great perfection; each can
produce them at about an equal cost— we will say, an ordinary fabric for
six cents a yard. Each sells largely to other nations. But by some means,
England finds herself with a heavy excess of manufactured goods on hand—
say twenty millions’ worth. W hat shall she do? To throw them on the
market at home, or where she usually sells, is to create a glut, and depress
prices—perhaps permanently; this will not answer. There is a scheme
worth two of i t : ship them to New York ; rattle them off under the auc­
tioneer’s hammer—perhaps for three fourths of their intrinsic value. But
what of this ? The home market and the foreign market have both been
preserved intact, while her rivals in the manufacture have been embarrassed
and crippled by the depression and derangement of their home market.
But can we not retaliate? Not we. England preaches Free Trade for foreign
consumption; she is too wise to adopt it as the basis of her own policy. My
opponent’s assertion that “ Free Trade principles” are acted on in England,
because there is a considerable, but very decided minority, averse to the
corn laws, &c., &c., will carry conviction to none hut minds of extraordi­
nary “ logical acumen.” What she would do under other circumstances, I
do not assume to judge; what she does I think I understand—and it is at
least as far from “ Free Trade” as any theory ever advocated in this country.
A striking exemplification of the inherent fallacy of “ Free Trade logic,”
is afforded by my reviewer. In one paragraph which I have quoted, he dis­
tinctly admits the fact that our manufacturers [of cottons especially] rival
those of England in the open markets of the world, and therefore, that those
goods are produced and sold here as cheaply as in Great Britian. But in
another paragraph he lights upon the fact that foreign cottons are charged
twenty-five per cent, by our existing tariff; and he straightway assumes that
they must be twenty-five per cent, dearer here than in England, and that the
“ poorer classes” of this country pay a tax of twenty-five per cent, on their
cottons for the benefit of the manufacturer !
Need I add a word of com­
ment ?
But my opponent holds that “ individuals understand their own business
better than legislatures, and that consequently, if uninfluenced by legisla­
tive interference, they will direct their labor and capital into the most profi­
table channel”— and this idea he deems so pertinent and forcible, that he re­
peats it under several variations of phraseology.
Now, if we were proposing for the first time in the world’s history to es­
tablish Protective laws, there might he as much soundness as smartness in
this well-turned sentence. Its fatal error, however, lies in the mistaken as­
sumption, that if we eschewed Protection, our producing interests would
never be affected by “ legislative interference.” It were just as rational in an
individual to fancy that he had no need of the protection of any laws at
all—if he let other men’s property and persons alone, they would certainly
do no less by his. The whole theory of Free Trade partakes of the child’s
fancy, that, when his eyes are shut, nobody can see him.—But my review­
er has a paragraph on this subject; let us consider i t :
“ It has been sometimes urged that it will be impolitic to remove our re­
strictions, so long as other nations continue theirs. W e must however con­




416

Commerce and Prolection.

fess that we cannot seethe policy of suffering ‘another man’s folly to be
master over our wit.’ If other countries choose to pursue a course of policy
hurtful to themselves, is there any reason why we should follow in their foot­
steps, for the sake of reciprocating an injury.”
Now leaving the critic to “ beg the question,” that this course of policy in
other nations is “ hurtful to themselves," we will furnish a parallel to his
logic. Let us suppose some of the “ Non-Resistent” theorists, who hold all
war to be sinful and destructive, were to lecture him on the policy of dis­
banding our army dnd militia, destroying all fire-arms, ordnance, fortifica­
tions, and military stores, and presenting our naked breasts to any invader—
at the same time that Britain was menacinghostility, and overshadowing our
frontier with her troops— what would be his idea of the project 1 Would
he not be tempted to say, “ Sir, your logic may be very good in an abstract,
general sense : but you must first convert our neighbors to your doctrines-, be­
fore you can bring us to act as though all the world were of your way of think­
ing.” “ Nonsense !” says the Non-Resistant; “ why should another man’s
folly be master over our wit ?” If other countries choose to pursue a
course of policy hurtful to themselves, is there any reason why we should
follow in their footsteps for the sake of reciprocating an injury?” This is
the logic of many visionary theorists, who revel in a world of their own crea­
tion ; is it consistent with plain, practical common sense ? My reviewer, in
another place, rem arks:
“ The distress of the years 1825 and 1836 is, with the most obvious
inconsistency, charged to the operation of free trade principles. Not the
shadow of a reason is adduced in favor of this view, but, like the other
notions, (we cannot designate them by the name of arguments,) it rests upon
assumption. That the distress of those years can be clearly traced to the
circumstance of our having, and acting upon, a false standard of value, we
are, at the proper time, prepared to demonstrate, if need be.”
Now, my “ notion,” which of course “ does not deserve the name of argu­
ment,” is this—that if we had had an efficient Protective Tariff, from the
close of the last war down to the present time, we should have imported far
less of the cloths, cutlery, and other manufactures of Great Britain, than we
have done; that, not importing them, we should not have had them to pay for,
nor been in debt for them ; and, of course, that no pressure, convulsion, sus­
pension, or other disasters growing out of a heavy indebtedness to fo­
reign nations, and a demand for its liquidation, would have occurred. I be­
lieve that there is an abundance of facts extant, to show that I have here hinted
at the one true source of our difficulties, and the appropriate remedy. As to
the “ false standard of value,” I shall of course await the demonstration
which my reviewer has threatened. But let us hear Sir Oracle once m ore:
“ W e have stated that protecting duties, instead of stimulating production,
restrict it—or, in other words, that a country acting upon the principles of
free trade, other circumstances being the same, will produce a greater amount
of wealth than a country following a restrictive policy.”
Now, that he has “ stated” this, is true : but that there is a single fact in the
world’s history, which tends to justify his assertion, I seriously doubt. Where
is the country of twenty millions, “ acting upon the principles of Free Trade,"
which produces so great an amount of wealth as Great Britain ? Would she
produce so much grain as now if there were no corn laws ? as much cloths if
the fabrics of all the world were admitted to her ports free of duty ?—so much
wealth, in short, if all the world were allowed to compete with her on equal




Commerce and Protection.

417

terms for the supply of her own markets ? I cannot begin to believe it.
My reviewer denies point blank that the effect of Free Trade would be to
reduce the wages of labor; says the contrary assumption “ is almost too
shallow to require exposure”—that “ we have shown [asserted] that a greater
amount of wealth would be produced, with a given expenditure of labor and
capital, under the Free Trade system, than under the restrictive”—and at
length triumphantly asks, “ But what is the condition of the laboring classes
in the European countries which have so long enjoyed the blessings of Pro­
tection ?” I answer, that I am ready now to proceed to a comparison of
the wages and condition of laborers in those countries, with those of the na­
tions which eschew Protection the world over. If the wages of laborers are
not higher in the former, then I have misread grossly. But I will consider
this point more fully in connexion with another paragraph of my antago­
nist’s, which is the only remaining one in which I find any thing especially
requiring notice, and which, as covering very plausibly the disputed ground,
I shall consider more at length. The paragraph is as follows :
“ On what ground, then, is a protecting duty required for any article 1
On the ground that we can import it more cheaply than it is produced at
home ?—which means that, with the same outlay of labor and capital which
is required to produce the article at home, we can produce a greater amount
of other commodities than is required in exchange for it: consequently, a
course of liberal policy would enable us to obtain the article by a smaller
expenditure of capital and labor, leaving the remainder to be employed in
adding to our wealth in some other way.”
Now, I shall not accuse my reviewer of any unfairness in this statement,
but I do contend that he has taken a very superficial and mistaken view of
the subject. “ W e should buy where we can buy cheapest,”—the old adage,
—is the substance of his argument. Very w ell; but should we buy where
the fewest dollars will pay, or where the smallest amount of the property we
have to offer will be taken in exchange 1 The latter undoubtedly. We
may buy for ten millions in one part of the world, and for twelve millions
in another, and yet the latter be the cheapest purchase, by reason of the dif­
ferent valuations of the property given in exchange. To illustrate this point
fully, I will state a case, made up of facts of almost literal occurrence, and
the principles of which, I with deference suggest, cover the whole ground
of this important controversy. It is as follows:
The township of Londonderry, New Hampshire, is almost exclusively an
agricultural one, and has been from its settlement. The large and busy
manufacturing city of Lowell, Massachusetts, has grown up near it, within
a few years, and-is its present market. Now we will suppose Londonderry to
purchase her cloths of Lowell—say 8,000 yards at an average of five dollars
per yard—and to pay for them in her products as follows:
1,000 cords of wood per annum at $5 . . . . $5,000
10.000 bushels of charcoal at 10 cts.........................
1,000
10.000
“ corn at $ 1 ............................... 10,000
30.000
“ potatoes at 50 cts........................15,000
Cabbages, and other vegetables
..........................9,000
T o t a l , ......................................................... $40,000
Thus an active trade is carried on between the agricultural and manufac­
turing communities, to their mutual advantage; but at length new counsels
prevail. The good people of Londonderry are keen for “ buying where
von. i. — n o . v.
53




418

Mercantile Law.

they can buy cheapest,” and unite in effecting the entire overthrow of
the protecting duties, (and my antagonist frankly avows his hostility to any
tariff whatever.) The tariff is demolished; the revenue is raised by direct
taxation; and my Londonderry friends obtain their broadcloths direct from
Manchester, at four and a half, or we will say four dollars a yard. This is a
handsome saving, certainly. But, cheap as they are, the cloths must still be
paid for; and at length the Londonderry farmers set about it. They muster
their products; but they now find that the old market is destroyed. Other
people have been as keen as they in buying where they could buy cheapest,
and the Lowell manufacturers, unable to manufacture cloth at so low a cash
price as their British rivals, while their labor, fuel, &c., &c., cost them double,
have given over, failed, run down. The manufactories are empty, idle, and
going to decay; their inmates have emigrated to Wisconsin, or scattered
over the country to find some other employment. This is not the case with
Lowell alone, but all similar places. The wood, which formerly brought
five dollars, will now hardly command two dollars; corn brings fifty cents,
and potatoes are dull at twenty-five. In short, while they have bought this
year’s supply of cloths nominally twenty per cent, cheaper than last year,
they find that the very same amount of property which then paid for the
whole, will not now pay for half. They are unable to satisfy their indebted­
ness; their products will hardly command money at any price ; landfalls
rapidly and ruinously; the sheriffs and lawyers are set to work, and half
the property of the township passes under the hammer. The agents or
intermediates of the British manufacturers buy part of i t ; a few misers who
have seen and prepared for the storm take the rest; and the ousted occupants
follow the late population of Lowell to Iowa or Texas. The free trade
principle of “ buying where we can buy cheapest,” has been run out to its
natural termination.
This is no ideal sketch. It is substantially what the whole North expe­
rienced, from beginning to end, in 1816-20. That we may be wiser than
to enact so ruinous a folly again, is the earnest hope of your correspondent,
H. G.

MERCANTILE LAW.
Art. V.— P O P U L A R S U G G E ST IO N S ON T H E P R IN C IP L E S OF
T H E LA W OF G U A R A N T Y A N D S U R E T Y S H IP .*
W isdom is not more shown in the choice of a proper end than in the
selection of proper means. And in this choice of means, certainty in their
results is an essential merit.
Commerce, in all her plans, is constantly
aiming, often in vain, after this certainty.
Does the ship sail to sea:—the
merchant counterbalances the uncertainties of her voyage by insurance, and
thus secures himself against the rage of the uncertain ocean and its unruly
tempests. Nay, more: by insurance of the profits of his voyage, he con­
* This Lecture is the fourth and last of Mr. Lord’s admirable series, read before
the Mercantile Library Association of New York, which have been originally pub­
lished in the pages of our Magazine. The subjects are treated with a method, fidel­
ity, and minuteness, so characteristic of the accomplished author, and will be found
to embrace a mass of valuable information, peculiarly interesting and important to all
business men.




Lav) of Guaranty and Suretyship.

419

verts the very storms and dangers of the deep into the means of increasing
wealth. Thus protected, he lays his plans for the supply of foreign coun­
tries, or provides for the wants of his own, with entire coolness and system,
and increases his private wealth by diffusing general advantages. In like
manner, when his richly laden ship is returned, and her burthen is to be dis­
tributed among another class of merchants, certainty again is to be sought
in the final returns of his adventure. It must be sold. And here again he
has to struggle with uncertainties still greater than those of the fickle ocean.
He is now subject to the misfortunes of life upon society at large;—to the
risks of insolvency and bad faith, instead of the dangers of the elements.
Again does he struggle for some degree of certainty. If he knows the in­
tegrity and prudence of him with whom he would deal, or has knowledge
of his responsibility, he is willing to trust on his unsustained promises. But
ho cannot have this knowledge of all. Some will be strangers: some,
though known, will be young, of unproved characters : some, of doubtful
circumstances, some of questioned integrity. Here it is plain his dealings
cannot go forward, unless this uncertainty of payment can be overcome.
For as he cannot judge of the unknown circumstances of men, or of their
secret purposes of honesty or fraud, the merchant cannot with any exact­
ness compute his risk of loss. And without the knowledge to fix the de­
gree of risk, he cannot reasonably compensate it by a correspondent enhance­
ment of price. The advantage of both parties now becomes obviously pro­
moted if a third person can be found who knows the purchaser so well as
to be willing to engage for him, and is so well known to the seller as that
the latter will feel secure in his promise. The traffic can then, by aid of
this new support, go forward. This new promise intervening, is a surety­
ship or guaranty.
In other cases, also, of reposing trust, in persons either unknown or not
fully confided in, or where the amount of responsibility is too large to admit
of a simple confidence in one man’s fidelity, a surety is called in, to give to
the contemplated transaction the necessary element of certainty.
Suretyship, therefore, implies a want of confidence in the party to be
trusted by him who is to trust; and a full confidence by the surety in him
for whose conduct he engages, and for whom he solicits credit. These are the
natural principles on which the contract of suretyship reposes, and they are
to be constantly borne in mind in considering its consequences.
A suretyship, then, is that engagement, by which one man stipulates for
the acts of another, who'is dealing for his own benefit. The parties are al­
ways three: the debtor, called also the principal, or principal debtor; the
creditor, and the surety. These terms are used in their most extensive
sense; meaning by creditor Aim who reposes the trust or confidence, and
by debtor him who is primarily bound, whether to pay a debt or perform
a duty, and who is trusted for his own account.
Our plan is, 1., to consider the mode in which the surety enters into the
obligation. II. The extent of the obligation. III. The creditor’s duty to­
wards the surety. IV. The exoneration of the surety. V. The fulfil­
ment of the surety’s contract. VI. The surety’s rights against the debtor.
Sometimes the surety unites with the debtor in a joint obligation, and
this is the most convenient form for the creditor. By this the parties bind­
ing themselves, both place themselves in the position of debtors; and al­
though as between the debtor and the surety ail the principles of surety­
ship apply, yet as between them and the creditor, for many purposes, they




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Mercantile Law.

both stand as principal debtors. They are both bound in the same man­
ner to do the act stipulated. Under this form of contract, the creditor is
bound to give notice to the surety of the debtor’s default; and he can imme­
diately, and in the same legal proceeding, have his remedy against both the
parties.
Another form which this engagement assumes is, that of a separate con­
tract by the surety, stipulating in terms that the debtor shall do the act in
question. Here the suretyship stands manifested upon the face of the obli­
gation ; here, except where the stipulation by the surety is express to the
contrary, notice must be given of the debtor’s default before the surety can
be called on : and the enforcing of the obligation against the debtor and the
surety must be by two independent proceedings; and that against the surety
must be adopted with great care, and proceeded in with the utmost caution.
This form of the contract, while equally obligatory with a joint obligation,
has some disadvantages in point of convenience to the creditor, and some
advantages to the surety.
Suretyship is sometimes entered into by the endorsement of a promissory
note; it then becomes subject, as to the creditor, who knows the character of
the endorsement, not only to the principles of the law of suretyship, but also
to the principles regulating promissory notes. The engagement, although
an endorsement, must nevertheless be founded, by the principles of surety­
ship, upon proper consideration of value or advantage, and it must be pur­
sued by the creditor with that active diligence to demand payment and to
notify dishonor, which belong to the law of negotiable paper. Although
this is one of the most common, it is for these reasons not the most eligible
forms of suretyship. But it has one advantage to the creditor, which no other
form of this contract has, in being capable of being negotiable before its
maturity, and thus of forming part of the creditor’s active capital.
A guaranty is often found in an express contract or memorandum, where­
by for some motive or consideration expressed, (the significanc-y of which
the law is to approve,) the debt of another is expressly stipulated for,
and its payment agreed for : sometimes it grows out of the mode of dealing
between the creditor and his correspondents, who, for a certain agreed com­
pensation, engage to make good the performance of the contracts of certain
debtors; as agents for sales, with guaranty commission. Sometimes it grows
out of letters, by which trust is solicited for one, and which, when he becomes
debtor, imposes the obligation of surety upon the writer, as in letters of cre­
dit. In whatever form the suretyship arises, it requires the usual circum­
stances legally requisite to create an obligation, and it also carries with it
certain principles peculiar to itself.
The general principle of contracts most necessary to be here noticed, is,
that it must be upon a sufficient consideration, a principle common to all
contracts not under seal. The law does not regard the mere promise of any
man as a ground for proceeding against him, unless that promise has had
its origin in some advantage to the party promising, or some disadvantage
to the party taking the promise. A promise by me to deliver goods, or to
render services, or to incur a risk, for which promise I have received no­
thing, and in consequence of which, no other person has parted with or done
any thing, is left by the law to the obligations of feeling or conscience alone;
the. law deals with property and for property’s sake; and if no property, no
valuable right or advantage, has been acquired by the party promising in con­
sideration of his doing so, or if none has been parted with by him to whom




Law o f Guaranty and Suretyship.

421

the promise is made in reliance on it, the law pays no regard to such pro­
mise. It deals not with mere sentiments nor with abstract principles of mo­
rals ; it looks only to those dealings between men in their intercourse of traf­
fic, which change their condition as to property or labor, and then only does
it step in as the arbiter of right and the avenger of wrongs.
Without further examination of what forms a consideration giving a legal
sanction to contracts at large, we will notice the circumstances applicable to
the contract of suretyship.
1. If the surety’s promises be made before the creditor trusts the debtor, it
is requisite that the creditor give trust upon the fa ith of the surety’s promise,
or the latter is not binding. Here the consideration of the surety’s promise
is the creditor’s parting with his property; the subject is one within the
law’s domain, and it will enforce the obligation. Litters of credit are sure­
tyship of this sort: these suretyships all derive their force from the creditor’s
acting upon the request they contain; they do not become contracts until
they are acted upon by the crediting party ; if the credit be given first, and
the letter of credit is afterwards presented, it is of no effect. Suretyships of
this nature require, that the creditor, trusting upon faith of them, should with
reasonable diligence inform the surety that he has acted upon his promise,
that the surety may know when, and to whom, and to what extent, he is
bound, and that he may be able to watch over the debtor for whom he en­
gages, and in season demand such counter securities as maybe useful to him.
This notice of acting upon the promise ought never to be omitted by the
creditor: and although it is not very generally understood among mer­
chants that this is essential to the validity of such guaranty, and although
all the circumstances under which it must be given, have not been accurate­
ly settled among lawyers, yet no promise or guaranty for a future credit can
be safely relied on, unless a reasonable, communication be made by the cre­
ditor to the surety of the trust he has given; and the many useful purposes
which this notice answers, and the frequent hardships of the surety’s con­
dition, renders it likely, that the more this subject shall be considered and
discussed, the more strictly and generally will this requirement be enforced.
2. Sometimes the surety’s promise is made after the credit has been given,
and without any new inducement. It is then wholly nugatory: no matter
in what express words it has been made, nor what the nearness of relation
between the parties, nor what the fulness of proof of the promise, it is not
binding: nothing has been done on the faith of i t ; the credit had already been
given; and the promise is regarded as one of those essays of heedless good
nature with which the law has no concern.
But this position has an exception: where the credit is given at the sure­
ty’s request, but without a promise at the time to assume the debt; then, al­
though he did not promise before, nor at the time the credit was given—yet
if he expressly promises afterwards, he is liable: the inducement to the
credit was the act of the surety, and the law will take notice of his promise
to satisfy the debt thus created at his request: the previous request and sub­
sequent promise are regarded as growing out of the same motives, and as
indivisible parts of one transaction.
3. But where the creditor has varied his condition in some manner, in
reliance on this new promise of the surety, as if the creditor stipulated with
the surety to give the debtor a longer time to pay, or to forbear some reme­
dy or security which he the creditor might adopt, or to give up part of the
debt, or if the creditor doubting his debtor’s security, give a premium in




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Mercantile Law

money, or in any advantages, to the surety, and the latter, in consideration of
any of these things, stipulates for payment of the antecedent debt, or for some
past obligations of the debtor, the promise then becomes an available guaran­
ty. It is to he remembered, however, that there must be this new considera­
tion, or the whole promise is idle ; and this new consideration, too, must be
a matter definite in itself, and must actually alter the property or legal rights
of the creditor.
4. When the promise of the surety is not before nor after, but at the time
of the trust given by the creditor, then it is valid, on the principle that the
creditor was influenced by and acted on the promise of both the debtor and
surety, to part with his property, or alter his condition. The promise of the
surety has had effect in creating a bargain, and it must stand as a legal obli­
gation.
It is essential, therefore, to a valid contract of suretyship, that the surety’s
promises have been acted on by the creditor, so as to change the latter’s con­
dition ; and also, that in prospective suretyships, notice be given by the surety
of the credit.
5. Where, however, the contract of the surety is under his hand and seal,
the above principles as to the necessity of a consideration do not apply: the
sealing is considered by the law as conclusive evidence that a proper con­
sideration has passed between the parties; and this presumption can only be
defeated by showing fraud in obtaining the contract, either in its inducement
or its mode of execution. This circumstance would give to sealed guaran­
ties a great advantage in mercantile u se: but on the other hand, as a sealed
instrument comes within the inner recesses of the law’s technicalities, as it re­
quires great accuracy in the statement of the parties and in the precise terms
of the obligation, and is a formal matter, repulsive from its very formality, it
is not greatly in use, nor could it be much recommended as an ordinary
practice to merchants.
Besides the consideration required to give validity to a contract of surety­
ship, the law requires absolutely, that it be in writing, and signed by the
surety. The agreement to answer for the debt, duty, or default of another,
must, by force of despotic statute law, be in w riting; and by agreement is
meant, not only the stipulation or thing promised to be done, but the consi­
deration or legal motive that induces the promise. And this requirement of
writing does not apply merely to promises over a certain amount, (as in some
other cases,) but to all promises of suretyship, however small in amount.
The object of making writing an essential, is not merely to furnish evi­
dence of the terms of the contract, nor is it simply a rule of evidence : it is
a rule of policy: the contract is void if not signed by the surety, although it
may have been written down in his presence, acknowledged by him, and
seen and heard by a score of witnesses. The law requires, as the only and
exclusive proof of his assent, his signature to the writing. This is founded
upon the uncertainty of testimony and its unfaithfulness; upon the frequency
with which conversations of recommendation might he distorted ; upon the
danger of combinations between an unprincipled creditor, and needy and
ignorant or wicked dependents, to turn a bad debt upon the debtor’s friend,
when the latter could not resort to any actual circumstances capable of in­
dependent proof for his protection, to show the promise sworn upon him
either unfounded or improbable. It stands upon the danger of fraud and
perjury in relation to such engagements, and is exclusive of all oaths of
verbal communications. The guaranty, therefore, must be in writing ; no




Law o f Guaranty and Suretyship.

423

circumstance of proof nor excuse will supply this desideratum; and the
writing must contain both the promise, and the ground or consideration on
which it is founded.
But there are cases, where a party has received property or other valua­
ble consideration, and has thereupon made a promise to apply it to the debt
of some other person: these are not treated as suretyships or promises for the
debt or default of another: the debt or duty is in fact that of the very party
promising, founded upon his own reception of the consideration of value,
and it is equally his debt, whether he accounts for it to the debtor or person
from whom he received the consideration, or to their creditors : it is his
own debt, and the circumstance that it is to be paid to one who happens to
he the creditor of another, and that the payment is to extinguish that debt,
does not destroy the original obligation on the party himself.
Such a
contract, although to the creditor it has the effect of a guaranty, yet to the
debtor it is the simple obligation of his own debt or liability.
To illustrate this : In a promise to pay one’s debt, if the creditor will for­
bear for a time, this forbearance, although of actual damage to the creditor,
could not have its value assessed, nor form the ground of any independent
or implied obligation; it can only afford ground for an express promise
on his part, an obligation to do what he may expressly undertake and
specify. But if he receive from the debtor or his friends property to a cer­
tain extent, to be accounted for, this would, from the nature of the thing,
create a debt of itself; and it would be no less, although he should have to
account for it to those who are creditors of the debtor.
The guaranty of sales made by factors and commission merchants gener­
ally, is of this sort.
The factor receives property tor sale, with an under­
standing to him whose property it is, to sell it only to such persons as he
will answer for : this is a direct obligation upon him, then, before he sells at
a ll: it needs not therefore any w riting; he is only stipulating for his own
conduct. W hen he does sell, he is already under a liability which the sale
consummates, hut does not satisfy or discharge. Although this mode of re­
sponsibility does not require a writing by the party bound, yet as he does be­
come bound to his principal for the debts contracted by those to whom he
sells, he has all the privileges of a surety as to any interference by the prin­
cipal with those debts.
Only one other particular as to the form of this contract will be noticed,
and that is th is: the promise of guaranty must he absolutely perfect. A
mere offer to guaranty, or saying that if such a one should wish to purchase,
you should be willing to guaranty, are not to be relied on. There must be
an actual promise to be responsible, a present assumption, not looking to a
farther act or circumstance on the surety’s p art: and as the contract of sure­
tyship is one never extended beyond the clearest meaning of its express terms,
great care should always be usedt hat the words of a guaranty, relied on,
be a direct and explicit promise, and not a mere declaration of any confi­
dence or intentions, however favorable to the debtor.
Supposing now the contract of suretyship formally made, either by bond
under seal, or by a writing signed and expressing the consideration on which
it is made, we next have to determine its extent, its meaning, its applica­
tion to the debtor’s contract.
In determining all these things, a strict construction is to he applied: that
is, the words are to extend no farther than they literally and clearly express ;
nor even to the extent of their literal meaning, unless within the obvious pur­




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pose of the party. The contract, as was observed preliminarily, is founded
on distrust of the debtor, or person seeking to be trusted : it is a contract bur­
densome to the surety, that is, generally involving an obligation without
benefit to the surety, or with a benefit very small in comparison with his lia­
bility. Now this distrust on the part of the creditor is not to be presumed beyond
what he has in terms stated: nor is the surety to be presumed to extend his
liability, thus gratuitous, or scantily compensated, beyond what he also has
explicitly declared. Besides, the law considers suretyship a contract for the
benefit of the weak and the needy, and therefore deserving favor; and it is
therefore jealous ofhaving any greater extent given to it than that to which
the parties most plainly have agreed. A guaranty, therefore, for goods to be
sold, could not, by any agreement between the debtor and creditor, be made
to apply to an old debt; a guaranty for an old debt, could not be applied to
goods to be sold. One for goods to be sold, could not be applied to money to be
lent, or credit furnished, with which.goods may be purchased by the debtor
himself. In this case it may be asked, where is the difference between fur­
nishing goods, or money to the same extent with which goods are purcha­
sed, the amount being the same and the result the same: the answer is, that
it is not the very thing the surety has chosen to stipulate for: perhaps he
might have stipulated for this, but he has not: he might also have refused
from mere caprice to so stipulate, and as he was under no obligation to be­
come surety, he has a right to put himself upon caprice, if he had pleased
by it to justify a refusal. Besides, it is not always as safe to put money or a
credit into a person’s hands as goods: there are temptations to improper use
in ready money and ready credit, of which the more cumbrous and incon­
vertible condition of goods is free ; at all events, the surety is entitled to judge
of this before he is bound, and he can on no principle be supposed to have
left it to others to infer, how far he might go in good nature or in sporting
a hazard, by coming into a suretyship.
So, too, a guaranty to one person for goods, will not cover a sale affected
by another on the faith of that guaranty, even if he to whom the guaranty is
made, should assume a liability for such a purchase. Here, too, the
matter guarantied, and the matter done, seem to be entire equivalents.
But the surety does not commit himself to equivalents. He has a right
to say to him to whom the guaranty is made, I trusted to your fair­
ness as to your sales, your prices, and quality of goods: I wished to have the
debtor begin a dealing with you: I desired that you, and not your neighbor,
should receive the benefit of the sale: I intended to stand in relation of a
party bound to you only, and not to you as a mere representative of another,
and bound to act on his dictation. And whether any such consideration
would be true or not, yet the surety has a full right to say, true or not, you,
creditor, had no right to consider what I would d o : look you only to what
I have done.
Again, a suretyship to a co-partnership, does not protect the dealings with
that firm, after it has assumed a new partner or left out an old one. The
guaranty of a debt to A., B., & C., is not one of a debt to A. & B., nor of one
to A., B., C., & D. ; the debt is different, and the terms of the guaranty, there­
fore, do not identically apply. Besides, the partner who went out may have
been a cautious man, or one in whom the surety had confidence: the partner
who has come in, may be the reverse. By the partners embraced within the
words of the guaranty, the credit may have been niggardly given, ungra­
ciously and uninvitingly offered, and therefore less freely used—all to the
benefit of the surety’s actual liabilities. These things might have been rea-




Law o f Guaranty and Suretyship.

425

sons weighty in the eyes of the surety : but whether so or not, he alone is to
judge, and to say, whether having bound himself to a certain thing, of to
certain persons, he would therefore bind himself to another thing or other
persons, however similar.
This doctrine as to a change of the creditor parties, applies very exten­
sively to bonds for the faithful behavior of clerks, and to standing or con­
tinuing guaranties.
Again, where the duty for which the surety engages.be one of a tempora­
ry character, although renewable, such as the officer of a corporation elect­
ing its officers annually, a bond for the good behavior of such a person, al­
though in terms general and unrestricted, will not extend to a renewed ap­
pointment after the expiration of the current term of office. The surety has
a right to put himself on the identity of the duty: he engages for a man
whose office necessarily ends with the year. It not being certain to every
one that he will be appointed a second, the surety is not therefore supposed
to have but one year in view, although, by indefinite terms, he may seem to
embrace it. Besides, the change in the persons who appoint, in the vigilance
with which the person appointed wTill be watched, or the carelessness with
which he may be trusted, will v ary : at all events, the surety might think so,
and must have been asked about it, and assented to it, before his obligation is
to be made to cover it.
A ll these instances illustrate the principle, that a surety is to be bound to
the simplest extent of his obligation, and not farther: like Antonio’s bond to
Shylock, which was a suretyship, the obligation to give a pound of flesh
carries not the right to one single drop of blood.
But in all these and other cases, if the terms of the surety’s engagement
do, by express terms, cover all such or similar or other changes in the form
or substance of the debt or duty guaranteed, the surety will be bound. There
is no illegality or imperfection in his stretching the borders of his engage­
ment.
One important instance of construction in guaranties, is to determine
whether they are temporary or continuing guaranties. A surety may en­
gage to be responsible for another to the extent of a thousand dollars; it is
essential to know if this is terminated after that amount is trusted, or if it
continues as long as that amount credited from time to timeremaThs unpaid?
The only general rule here is, that as you are to hold strictly within a
surety’s promise, so therefore you are not to construe any guaranty to be a
continuing one, unless it be so in express terms or necessary implication.
When it is a continuing guaranty, it is usually limited to a certain
amount.
The question here will often arise, as to the application of a series of pay­
ments made by the debtor to a creditor, who has several debts owing to him
by the debtor, some of which are guarantied and some are not. Has the
surety a right to have all the payments applied to the debts on which he is
liable, or has the creditor a right to apply them to the debts unprotected by
a surety?
The rules on this subject are founded on the idea, that as the payment
proceeds from the debtor, and is an application of property in his control, it
shall follow the impulse he gives i t ; and if he is silent, then the question is
as to his presumable intentions. Upon this principle, the rules seems to be
th u s:
54
VOL. i . — n o . v .




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Mercantile Laic.

1. W here the debtor, at the time of the payment, directs its application, his
direction must be conformed to.
2. W here the debtor does not so direct, the creditor, at the time of pay­
ment, but not afterwards, may make the application as he pleases: being
done at the time, and the debtor not dissenting nor directing, it is in fact a
tacit application by the debtor himself. His silence speaks.
3. Where neither debtor nor creditor make the application at the time,
then, if third persons are concerned, neither has nor have both united a right
subsequently to make the application of the payment to the prejudice of such
third person— the past is unalterable: the law then applies the payments,
and in its application adopts several rules: all other things being equal, and
the debts alike, it applies the payment to the more ancient debt before the
more recent. If the debts are unlike, it applies it to the debt which, on its
face, it is the debtor’s chief interest to discharge; since, as the creditor has
not made the application at the time, he is presumed to have been directed by
the debtor, and the debtor will be presumed to have applied it as his interest
required.
It will be perceived, that whether a surety be liable for a debt or not, has
no concern with the legal inferences as to the application of the payments,
farther than to prevent a retroactive application.
Our next topic is, the implied obligation of the creditor to the surety. The
contract of suretyship is always a beneficial one to the creditor; and as to the
surety, it is always a burdensome one, assuming an obligation primarily
falling on another. It is a very natural result of these considerations, that
the creditor, for whose benefit this contract is entered into, should be bound
to give to the surety every aid in causing the debt to be paid by the debtor,
whose obligation it is ; and the surety to be reimbursed out of the means of
the debtor all that he may be obliged to advance. As between the debtor
and his surety, the right of the latter to the most full and advantageous re­
dress is of most obvious equity: it is the debtor’s own contract, assumed by the
surety, that the debtor may derive an advantage from the contract guarantied.
And if the surety be thus entitled against the debtor, the creditor, who also is
benefitted by the contract, which is made certain to him by the surety’s un­
dertaking, would outrage every principle of good feeling and of natural
justice, if he did not consider himself bound to give every aid to the surety.
The law recognises and supports these obligations of the creditor to the
surety, by its principle of substitution.
By this, the surety is held entitled to have the unimpaired benefit of
every remedy of the creditor against his debtor, and of every advantage
or collateral security of which the creditor might avail himself; and
the law sanctions this principle, not simply by making the creditor re­
sponsible for the actual loss which the surety might sustain in conse­
quence of the creditor’s impairing his rights of redress, but, in some in­
stances, by the more severe consequence of exonerating the surety from
his whole obligation. Thus, the surety being entitled to sue the debtor
upon payment by himself, and to do it in the creditor’s name if desired,
every act of the creditor which impairs this immediate right of redress, dis­
charges the surety. The creditor, therefore, by enlarging the time of pay­
ment, (by any valid promise,) by releasing the debtor, by destroying any of
the collateral securities in his own hands for the debt, violates the surety’s
rights in them, and therefore must no longer look to his responsibility. All
the doctrine of the exoneration of sureties subsequently to the contracting of
their obligation, rests upon this right in favor of the surety; and the creditor




Law o f Guaranty and Suretyship.

427

must never forget, that he can do no act which shall in the smallest degree
impair his remedies against the debtor or his other securities: and this prin­
ciple applies with equal force, although both the surety’s obligation and the
debtors, have been enforced by suit and judgment: it is a defence from which
he is not precluded by any judgment or legal proceedings against him or the
debtor: his right to the substitution grows out of the nature of his obliga­
tion ; of course it is not lessened, but increased, by having that obligation en­
forced: and he may therefore, upon such conduct by the creditor as would
interfere with the free pursuit of all the remedies and redress in the credi­
tor’s hands, have all farther proceedings against him prohibited.
This right of substitution belongs as well to the guarantying party, who
engages through interest, as to him who makes the engagement from mo­
tives wholly disinterested; it grows out of the natural justice of resorting first
to the debtor, and to the securities by him given for his own debt, in prefer­
ence to the property of another man.
This right of substitution, also, gives a subsequent surety a right to enforce
the creditor’s contracts against anterior sureties, although the latter stand
equally strangers to the principal obligation. Thus, if the creditor, having
notes with the endorsement of sureties, obtains a subsequent guaranty, that
subsequent surety is entitled not only to the remedies against the makers of
the notes, but also against the endorsers: and if the principal debtor have
been sued and given bail, (who are sureties of the most favored class,) the
last surety is entitled to have this obligation of the bail also enforced in his
favor, even although subsequently entered into. The reason is, that every
advantage connected with the primary obligation is deemed to be in contem­
plation of the surety when his secondary obligation is contracted ; and that
all the advantages attached to the original debt, shall always be continued to
it, whether it remain payable to the creditor, or to the surety, on his substi­
tuting himself in his place by a payment.
So far has this principle been attempted to be carried, that it has been in­
sisted on that the creditor shall adopt measures of active diligence to collect
the principal debt, or lose the liability of the surety: and in one instance, this
has been held so ; namely, where a surety requests the creditor to pursue his
debt or securities for it, and the latter neglects to do so, and by subsequent
circumstances his debtor or securities prove insufficient to satisfy the debt,
the surety is in such case discharged. This, however, is rather an anomaly.
It is not very consistent with the rights of the creditor; for, he takes the
suretyship, because he does not rest upon the security of the primary debtor :
he takes the suretyship because he wishes to be freed from the obligation of
a vigilant pursuit: he asks the surety to take upon himself this obligation,
and this is the substance of the surety’s engagement: the latter engages for
the debtor’s fidelity, and ought to be bound to look after it: and it would seem
that if the creditor is ready to receive his debt, and has been passive, so as not
to deprive the surety of his advantages upon his paying the debt, he, the
creditor, is blameless.
But except in the instance above stated, there is no obligation on the
creditor to pursue the debtor in priority to the surety: he has entitled him­
self by his precaution to turn over all this care to the surety, and to say to
the latter, I have taken your engagement because I was not satisfied with
the debtor’s; I did not know him, or knowing, I did not trust him : you
trusted him, you entered into an engagement growing justly only out of
your better knowledge of the debtor, or your greater confidence in or great­
er control over him. He, as I feared, has not performed his obligation:




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Mercantile Law.

you, as I expected, have been called on: and it is not now yours to complain,
that that default has happened, the expectation of which has alone given rise
to our contract; or to found upon the very cause of your obligation an ex­
cuse to be free from its immediate performance. The creditor, therefore, may
always hold himself discharged from the surety’s requests to prosecute, by
offering to the surety to substitute the latter in his place, on receiving the debt;
and generally, the creditor is not bound to watch the debtor, nor to pursue
him, nor to use any other precautions than not actually to obstruct a redress
against him.
Whenever, therefore, circumstances render useful any indulgence to the
debtor, or any change in the condition of the security placed by him in the
creditor’s hands, the consent of the surety must be obtained : after which, he
cannot allege an injury from such indulgence.
In conformity with the principle which holds the surety discharged by in­
dulgence to the debtor, only in consequence of the rights of redress by the
surety being thereby impaired, it has been held, that the creditor may even
discharge a debtor, if in the discharge the rights of the surety against the
debtor for his claims be clearly and fully reserved. Still this needs to be
very cautiously examined before it is admitted as a safe proceeding: and ex­
cept upon careful professional advice, and on circumstances of much exigen­
cy, the creditor must not discharge or delay any of his remedies against the
debtor, or the collateral securities he may have given.
W e next come to the fulfilment of the surety’s obligation. This supposes
the debtor to have failed. Generally, where the obligation is a distinct sure­
tyship on its face, the creditor must notify the surety ofthe debtor’s default be­
fore he calls upon the surety: it being supposed that, except where the surety
places himself in the situation of a principal debtor, or undertakes expressly
and directly in terms for the performance, the creditor will know before the
surety does the non-payment ofthe debt to which the latter is not primarily a
party. But this notice need not be given immediately, as in the case of notice
ofthe dishonor of negotiable paper : it is sufficient if given within a reason­
able time from the debtor’s default, and before suit against the surety. If de­
layed unreasonably, and the surety have, for want of such notice, been put to
loss in his suretyship, it might be difficult to answer whether the surety
would not be discharged.
But although notice ofthe debtor’s default is necessary before proceeding
against the surety, suit against the debtor is not: as before remarked, the
ohject of taking a surety on part of the creditor, is to avoid the necessity of
resorting to a person in whose integrity or solvency he has little confidence:
and besides, the expenses of the suit against the debtor will not be at the
charge of the surety, unless adopted at his express request, or sanctioned
plainly by him.
Nor is the creditor confined to proceeding upon one only of his obligations:
he may at once proceed upon the obligation of the debtor upon all collateral
securities, and upon every surety at the same time, subject only to the rule that
he shall receive only his debt and the expenses of the suits against the parties
or securities respectively. It would be of small use to a creditor to multiply
or accumulate securities if only one could be enforced, or they could only be
enforced one after the other.
The surety having paid the debt or damages for which he bound himself,
the next inquiry is, as to his reimbursement; of course he has a right to pro­
ceed against the debtor whose debt he has been forced to discharge. He has
also a right to receive from the creditor all the securities held by him for the




Law o f Guaranty and Suretyship.

429

principal debt, and that unimpaired and undiminished ; and if any judgment
have been obtained by the creditor against the debtor, the suretyi s en titled
to have that judgment placed in his hands for immediate execution. The
surety has also a right, where others have become co-sureties at the same
time, and in the same rank with him, to call upon them to make up to him
their equal shares of all that he has paid beyond the aliquot part of tfye debt
which he ought to bear.
Often, counter securities are placed in the surety’s hands; and upon the fail­
ure of the principal debtor, the surety also stops payment, and attempts to treat
these securities as his own property, and himself as the actual and only resort
of the creditor. But, although such counter securities are put into the surety’s
hands to indemnify him only, yet the creditor has a right, against the consent
both of the debtor and the surety, to compel the application of these counter
securities to his debt. The law considers such counter securities, however
declared to be for the personal benefit of the surety, to belong to the
debt itself; and that they ought to go to benefit the actual owner of the
debt; the surety holding such counter securities is a trustee of them for
the creditor, in the same manner as the creditor is a trustee for the surety,
of securities he may hold for the debt; and if the surety be insolvent, or an
unsafe depository of the funds placed in his hands as counter security, a court
of equity will restrain him from disposing of them, and place them in a safe
condition.
Often, the security takes a bond of indemnity as a counter security, stipula­
ting to protect him against all loss and damage from his suretyship. When
this is done, it should always be double in its stipulations, containing
one that the debtor shall pay or perform the obligation required, and another,
that the surety shall be indemnified against loss. If the counter security
contain only the indemnity, and not the performance, clause, it cannot be
made available until after the surety shall have paid upon the suretyship
contract, and this is always inconvenient, and in its delay may be ruinous;
but, where it contains both clauses, the surety may proceed against the debtor
as soon as the creditor can against the surety; and the surety’s remedy over
will be ripened as early as his own liability can be enforced.
In the application, however, of the principles of suretyship to practice,
some very unjust considerations are apt to have influence. Most generally
the surety is disappointed when he is called on to pay upon his contract, for
probably few make the engagement unless quite satisfied that they shall not
be called upon to lose in consequence of i t ; and for this reason, also, as well
as from heedless good nature, men enter into the contract with little foresight.
When, however, the loss comes upon him, the surety is apt to be soured by
the disappointment and the loss, and perhaps finds himself committed for a
heavy and ruinous amount. He then first casts about to see whether there
be no loophole or flaw in his engagement, by which he may escape the force
of the law. And although the principles of favor to sureties give them many
advantages in a legal struggle on a doubtful point, yet the question of ho­
nesty is generally very plain. They may be legally exonerated by some
technical informality or omission, while they know perfectly well, and their
consciences are loud in informing them, that they supposed themselves bound,
knew that the creditor supposed it, and that upon faith of this the contract
was made and his property parted w ith ; and yet many a man, in such cases,
with respectable pretensions in mercantile life, will take the advantage of his
legal impunity, and violate his moral obligation. It need not be asked if this




430

Mercantile. Law.

be just, if it be honest, if it be true. Nor need we inquire into the character
of that honesty, or the quality of that honor, which will only perform an ob­
ligation when it can be enforced by the sheriff!
It also often happens, that a surety, finding himself involved by engage­
ments of this sort, and weighed down by them and by debts primarily his
own, iqakes a broad distinction between his suretyships and his other debts,
on the ground that the effect of his suretyship was not to increase his own
property, and therefore he ought first to devote it to his other creditors in
preference to suretyship creditors. It is worthy of much consideration to an
honorable man, whether he can do this injustice. Theobligation ofthe surety­
ship debt is perfect, and the creditor has parted with his property on the faith of
it, just as much as any other creditor parts with it when he delivers it to the sure­
ty himself. The loss to him is as hard as to any other of the surety’s creditors,
and the circumspection of the creditor who has exacted a suretyship certain­
ly ought not to postpone his claims to receive equal justice at the surety’s
hands. Yet, in how few instances does the creditor of a surety receive his
measure of justice, and how needful is it that public opinion on this subject
should be pointed to the eternal principles of right and wrong, and made to
take deep effect upon violations of this obligation.
Ciosin g ou r observations on the particular subj ect, it is not out of place to say,
that, to this enlightened public opinion upon matters of ordinary traffic and busi­
ness, we must look as the source of all our improvements in mercantile ethics.
Laws to rectify abuses in trade can be obtained with difficulty; interminable
discussions arise as to modes of remedy; interested parties will bring to debate
the plainest principles of policy and morals ; ignorance, inexperience, and pre­
sumption, will be met with in legislative h alls; and even laws, however wise,
avail but little against laxness of integrity and a debased moral feeling. But
well principled public opinion meets men at every turn : it faces them in the
exchange, stands beside them in the store; it whispers to them at the fireside,
and thunders after them in the highw ay; men see character given and
withheld upon its breath ; it is the real sovereign in our country.
Sovereign, however, as it is, and powerful as pre-eminent, we are ourselves
its very makers. Public opinion is but the aggregate of individual opinions,
and an aggregate, the weight of which is not estimated by numbers alone, but by
the character and circumstances of those from whom it is drawn forth, estima­
ted and taking effect as acted out in conduct. To form it, we are not merely to
combine our declarations and resolves., but to show forth in all our conduct,
under every provocation and every pressure, those principles of truth, justice,
and regard to public good, which ought to form its basis; to show those
principles, not simply by exacting conduct in conformity to them from others,
but by practising them in our own cases, and against our own apparent inte­
rests ; to forbear a legal exoneration when we are in justice and honor bound ;
to refuse an unj ust advantage, when the blame would all rest on another, and the
benefit fall to ourselves: these are the means by which we may help to form,
to rectify, and control this powerful public opinion. And may it not be per­
mitted to me, young merchants of New York, to commend to you this sub­
ject, as one upon which you ought to make your influence felt ? It is the
American system, the system of this young and. rising empire, to place high
responsibilities and duties on men in very early life, and it is its wisdom.
The middle aged we may criticise, speculate upon, and judge, but can we
alter 1 The young are of course to he moulded, and may therefore be im­
proved. Around them hover our wishes, upon them rest our hopes. Their




Bills o f Exchange— Guaranty.

431

impulse is vigorous, their step firm, and their progress irresistible ; and, gen­
tlemen of the Association, when I think on your numbers, your present ad­
vantages, your future prospects, can it be extravagant to say, that upon you
will it greatly rest to raise, elevate, and perpetuate the mercantile character
of our country.

A r t . VI. — M E R C A N T IL E L A W CASES.
B I L L S O F E X C H A N G E ---- G U A R A N T Y ------W A R R A N T Y ------D E C E I T ------ B I L L S O F
E X C H A N G E ---- P R O T E S T ------F R A U D U L E N T B A N K R U P T C Y ----- C O N S P I R A C Y
TO CH EA T.
B I L L S O F E X C H A N G E -----G U A R A N T Y .

The case of McLaren v. Watson, which was tried in New York, and is
reported in the last volume of Wendell’s Reports, was an action on a writ­
ten guaranty, signed by the defendant, of the following purport:
“ New York, A pril 28, 1838.
“ I hereby guarantee the payment of a note at sixty days, drawn by W il­
liam A. Blackney and Edgar C. Blackney, payable to the order of William
Watson, (New Milford, Conn.,) William Watson, (393 Pearl street,) and
Daniel S. Tuthill, (13 Christopher street,) for $300, value received. Dated
April 28, 1838.”
There were many objections to the plaintiff’s recovery, all of which were
overruled by the Supreme Court, who held, among other things:
1. That a general guaranty, without naming any person as the party
guarantied, is a valid instrument, and may be enforced by any one who ad­
vances money upon i t ; and he may, in an action on the guaranty, declare
as upon a promise to himself.
2. But such guaranty is not negotiable, so that an action may be brought
upon it in the name of any person other than him in whose hands it first be­
came available, unless it be upon the note, the payment of which it guaran­
ties. If it be upon the note, it may be treated as an endorsement, having the
quality of negotiability, with the farther benefit of a demand and notice.
3. It would seem, also, the Court say, that when the guaranty is an abso­
lute promise to pay, and not a mere guaranty for collection, and an advance
of money is made upon the strength of the declaration of its validity by the
guarantor, that the guarantor would be held liable, although there should be
no note in existence.
4. In a guaranty to pay the debt of another, the words, “ for value recei­
ved,” is a sufficient expressing of the consideration to render the instrument
obligatory.
5. It seems that receiving a worthless note as payment is not an extin­
guishment of a debt.
GUARANTY.

In the case of W ard v. Fryer's Executrix, (19 Wendell’s Reports, 494,)
the court held, that an action will not lie on a promise by one to indemnify




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Mercantile Law.

and save another harmless from all loss which he may sustain, in conse­
quence of making advances to a third person, at the request of the promisor,
without showing an ineffectual attempt to coerce judgment from the party
to whom the advances were made, or that endeavors to collect the money
from him would have been useless, by reason of his insolvency, or other­
wise.
W A R R A N T Y ---- D E C E I T .

The case of A. 4" & -E. Salsbury v. Stainer others, decided at Albany,
at the January term of the Supreme Court of New York, (19 Wendell’s Re­
ports, 159,) was an action in which the plaintiffs sought to recover back the
price of 184 bales of Italian hemp, for which they had paid the defendants,
at the rate of $210 per ton, the sum of $5,779 71, besides charges for cartage.
W hen the hemp came to be worked, it was discovered that the interior of
the bales was very different from the exterior, not only being of an inferior
quality, but containing large quantities of tow. The plaintiff opened and
Worked twelve bales, and reshipped the remainder to the city of New York,
where the defendants resided, and tendered the hemp to the defendants, de­
manding a return of the money paid for it. The hemp was examined in New
Y ork by two men experienced in the article, who concurred in stating that
it was not worth more than $150 per ton. The plaintiffs produced a letter,
accompanying the invoice received by them from the defendants, containing
the following clauses: “ there is no more first quality hemp now remain­
ing, but we should be glad to sell our third quality at about $175, if you
have any use for it. W e have only eight tons of it on hand. Our second
quality we hold at $205 at r e t a i l a n d “ advices received from Trieste this
morning by the English packet, quote first quality Ferara hemp, same as
sold to y o u &c. The plaintiffs also proved that the defendants, in speaking
of the hemp in question to other persons to whom they offered to sell the
same, previous to the sale to the plaintiffs, represented it as hemp of the first
quality.
On the part of the defendants, it was proved, that the purchase was made
by the plaintiff, S. E. Salisbury; that the hemp, at the time of the purchase,
was not in the defendants’ storehouse, but in the storehouse of Messrs. De
Rham & Moore ; that the defendants sent a person in their employment to
the store of De Rham & Moore to show the hemp to the plaintiff, telling
him at the same time, examine well fo r yourself; the plaintiff proceeded to
where the hemp was, cut open a bale, and though he said nothing, appeared
satisfied with the quality. The witness testified that the plaintiff might, if
he had so chosen, have cut open every bale; he had the opportunity. It
was farther proved, that the plaintiffs disavowed charging the defendants with
fraud in the sale of the hemp.
At the trial before Judge Yanderpoel, at the Rensselaer circuit, in 1835,
the jury, under the instructions of the court, returned a verdict for the plain­
tiffs for $6,110 45.
The defendants moved for a new trial, and after argument before the Su­
preme Court, it was decided that a new trial should be granted. The Court
held:
1. That there was no implied warranty in the case, that the interior of
the bales should correspond in quality with the exterior; and if there was
fraud, the vendor was not responsible in damages, unless it was shown that
he was privy to it.




ft
Bills o f Exchange■—Protest.

433

2. W here the purchaser opens and examines one of several hales, and is
at liberty to open others, but omits to do so, and the quality of the hemp in
the bil s not examined does not correspond with that opened, he is not per­
mitted to allege that the sale was a sale by sample, nor to contend that he is
entitled to recover damages as on an implied warranty.
B ILL S

OF

E X C H A N G E -----P R O T E S T .

The case of Rogers v. Jackson (reported in the 15th volume of Wendell's
Reports) was an action against the defendant as second endorser of a promis­
sory note. To prove a protest for non-payment, the plaintiff introduced a
notary’s certificate, stating a demand and protest for non-payment, and then
proceeding as follows: “ and I did on the same day put in the post office in
the city of New York, a notice of the said protest, directed to James & John
P. Jackson, endorsers of the said note, at Patterson landing, New Jersey,
the reputed place of residence of the said James & John P. Jackson.”
The defendant contended that the certificate of the notary was defective in
omitting to state “ the post office nearest to the reputed place of residence o f
the defendant,” in accordance with the requirements of a statute of NewYork,'
passed in 1833. The Court sustained the objection, and held that the certi­
ficate was defective.
FRAUDULENT

BANKRUPTCY.

T h e recent trial of Thomas W. Dyott, in Philadelphia, has caused so

much excitement there, and is fraught with so much that is instructive in a
mercantile point of view, that we are induced to give an extended account of
the case.
A few years since, Dr. Dyott established a famous manual labor bank in
Philadelphia, and by means of circulars, advertisements, and false represent­
ations, induced a great many people, principally of the middling interest
and poorer classes, to deposite their earnings in his bank. The institution
became insolvent, and the banker applied for a discharge as an insolvent.
After a long examination, the court refused to grant the application, and com­
mitted him to jail in accordance with the following provision of the law :
“ If it shall appear to the court, upon the hearing of any petition, either
by the examination of the petitioner, or other evidence, that there is just
ground to believe that he has concealed any part of his estate or effects, or
colluded or contrived with any person for such concealment, or conveyed
the same to any person for the use of himself, or of any of his family or
friends, or with the expectation of receiving any future benefit to himself, or
them, and with intent to defraud his creditors, in every such case it shall be
the duty of the court to commit such persons to the jail of the county, for
trial, &c.
“ If such debtor shall, upon trial, be convicted of any of the acts mentioned
in the preceding section, he shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and
sentenced as follows: If found guilty of concealment of property as aforesaid,
he shall be sentenced to undergo an imprisonment in the penitentiary at hard
labor, for a term not less than one, nor more than seven years, at the discre­
tion of the court.”
At the criminal sessions before Judge Conrad, the grand jury indictrd the
defendant. The indictment contained eleven counts 1. Conveying to .1. B.
& C. W. Dyott, certain merchandise, value $100,000. 2. Colluding with
same persons to conceal same goods. 3. Conveying to Thomas W. Dyott.
55
V O L . I. ---- NO. V.




434

Mercantile Law.

Jr. certain merchandise, value $50,000. 4. Colluding with the same per­
son to conceal same goods. 5. Colluding with Michael B. Dyott to con­
ceal goods, value $30,000. 6. Colluding with William Wells to conceal
$840 in money. 7. Conveying to Julia Dyott certain furniture, value
$1000. 8. Concealing certain merchandise, value $50,000. 9, 10, 11.
Concealing sums of money laid at different amounts, but the same charge,
viz. $300,000, $100,000, $10,000.
The trial commenced about the first of May, and continued with slight in­
terruptions till the first of June. Sixty-eight witnesses were examined for the
commonwealth, and thirty-three for the defendant. There was also much
documentary evidence. The jury returned a verdict of guilty.
At a subsequent day, the defendant moved for a new trial; but after a full
and elaborate argument, the court overruled the motion, and he was senten­
ced to confinement in the Eastern Penitentiary three years.
Dr. Dyott is more than seventy years of age. Previous to receiving sen­
tence, he presented to the court the following letter :
•£The subscriber respectfully submits the following remarks, in perfect sin­
cerity and truth. He is aware that they can have no effect upon his liabili­
ty to the penalties of the law. He has been pronounced guilty by a jury.
Successive applications to arrest the judgment, and to set aside the verdict,
have failed. The sentence of the court is now inevitable. This solemn as­
surance is deliberately made, under no expectation that the sentence can be
averted or its character assuaged. He is induced by higher motives to de­
clare in the face of God and man, that he is not guilty of the offtnces with
which he is charged — that he has not in his possession or under his con­
trol, money or property of any description — that no person whatever, with
his knowledge, or according to his belief, has or holds property or money
for his use or benefit — that nothing is withheld or concealed from his credi­
tors, by himself or by any other person, with his connivance, consent,
knowledge, or according to his belief— that he has faithfully surrendered
all that he owned or could claim for the payment of his debts — that he is
literally pennyless — and that he has, without reservation or disguise, truly
disclosed, in his public examination, all that he knows concerning his pro­
perty and business that can in any way whatever be of any advantage to his
creditors, or any of them.
T. W. D y o t t .
August 30th, 1839.”
“ It is impossible,” says the Philadelphia Gazette, “ to contemplate the
imprisonment of this man, at the age of seventy years, with his gray hairs,
in solitary confinement and at hard labor, without feelings of commiseration
for himself, his family, and his friends.” “ W e believe,” adds that paper,
“ Dr. Dyott guilty of fraudulent insolvency. The trial, after a long and
most patient investigation, has so decided.” And “ one can not contemplate
the losses of special depositors in the Dyott bank, without indignation and
sorrow; yet pity mingles with a feeling of justice, when the main actor in
the fraud, bent with years, goes into the gloomy recesses of a penitential
cell, there, perhaps, to end his days.”
C O N SPIR A C Y TO CHEAT.

Subsequent to the trial of Dr. Dyott, as above, several individuals were
brought before the Mayor of Philadelphia, and after a full and elaborate
examination, were ordered to recognise for their appearance at the court of
criminal sessions, to answer the charge ot conspiring with Dr. Dyott to de­




Conspiracy to Cheat.

435

fraud the community. One of these, Jacob Ridgway, represented as very
wealthy, refused to give bail, and was committed. He immediately sued out
a writ of habeas corpus, and was brought before the court of common pleas.
The court, after a full hearing of the case, ordered him to be discharged.
It appeared in evidence at this examination, that some time prior to the fifth
of May, 1836, Thomas W. Dyott established a banking institution in the city
of Philadelphia, by the name of the Manual Labor Bank, and on the ninth
of May, executed a bond and warrant of attorney to Stephen Simpson, Samuel
S. Sneyd, Peter A. Calder, and John A. Rowe, in the penalty of $500,000,
stating, that “ he had already issued, and was about to issue, his certain pro­
missory notes for various sums of money,” and “ had already received, and
is about to receive and hold in deposit, such sums of money as shall be left
and deposited with him at his said banking house.” The condition of the
bond was for the faithful payment and discharge of those notes and deposits,
or, in default thereof, execution to issue against his real estate. Judgment
was then issued on this bond in the District Court for the city and county of
Pniladelphia, on the 11th of May, 1836, and the warrant of attorney filed.
In April, 1837, a run was commenced on the bank by thenote holders and
depositors, which Dr. Dyott was unable to meet without assistance. He then
applied to Ridgway (who had before that time occasionally discounted his
notes or loaned him money) for aid. The latter agreed to advance money
from time to time on receiving satisfactory security for its repayment, and on
the 6th of April, 1837, Dr. Dyott executed his bond and warrant of attorney
in favor of Ridgway, in the penal sum of $40,000, conditioned for the repay­
ment of such moneys as might be advanced to him, and, as a farther security,
on the 7th of April, 1837, Dr. Dyott assigned to him an invoice of glass­
ware, valued by Dr. Dyott at $93,899 28. The run on the bank continued
until the general suspension of specie payments in May, 1837. Duringthat
time, Ridgway advancedabout $30,000. His whole advances during the year
1837, being in the neighborhood of $50,000.
On the 19th May, 1837, Messrs. Simpson, Sneyd, and others, executed an
assignment of the bond for $500,000 to Ridgway, to hold the same “ in trust
for the uses and purposes” in the said bond mentioned. This assignment was
entered of record on the 22d of May, 1837, and the judgment marked to the
use of the relator. The existence of the bond as a security for the bank had
been published in the newspapers, but without the names of the obligees or
trustees. Soon after the assignment, the advertisement was altered by Dr.
Dyott’s inserting the name of “ Jacob Ridgway, trustee and bond holder.”
Dr. Dyott was the owner of considerable real estate, which he valued at
$200,000, though Ridgway never considered it worth more than one third
of that sum, and on one occasion told the Doctor that it would not bring
$30,000. What was in reality the value of it does not appear. He also
possessed considerable personal property, but on the 1st of July, 1837, he as­
signed all his stock (including the glass ware which had been assigned as
collateral security to the relator) to J. B. and C. W. Dyott, his son and ne­
phew, for the nominal sum of $150,000. On ascertaining the fact, Ridg­
way required in lieu thereof additional security for his debt, and on the 1st
February, 1838, he received the bond of T. W. Dyott, and J. B. and O. W.
Dyott, for $45,594 83, and on the 10th of May, of the same year, another
bond of the same parties for $13,879 67. He continued his advances until
September, 1838, in various sums, amounting in all, during that year, (inclu­
ding the purchase of the mortgages of $5,000 each,) to the sum of $49,460.




436

Mercantile Law.

After the assignment of the bond, to Ridgway, and the advertisement of his
name as trustee and bond holder, many persons called on him to ascertain
the value of the notes and the security of the deposites. He always stated
his belief in their security, but generally stated that belief to be founded on
the representations of Dr. Dyott; but on some occasions he appeared to speak
without reference to the statements of Doctor Dyott. These statements were
made in 1837; in November of that year he said to one witness who called
on him, that he believed the real or personal estate of the Doctor was suffi­
cient to pay his debts, and that in his opinion the notes of the Manual Labor
Bank were better than those of the Loan or Savings Institution. On the 11th
September. 1838, the bond for $300,000 was re-assigned by Ridgway to the
original obligees. (Simpson, Sneyd, and others,) and the judgment marked
to their use; no other notice was given of this re-assignment at that time, but
at a meeting of the creditors of the bank in November of that year, the
fact of the re-assignment was mentioned; that meeting was called for the
purpose of devising means to enable the bank to continue in operation; a
committee was appointed to wait on Ridgway, and solicit from him a loan of
$30,000, but he declined making any farther advances, and no other efforts
appear to have been made by that committee.
These were the principal facts in the case, on which the counsel for the
government insisted that there was probable cause for binding the defendant
over to answer the following charges, viz.: 1. Conspiracy to establish an
unlawful bank. 2. Conspiracy to support an unlawful bank with a false
capital. 3. Conspiracy to support an unlawful bank with a false capital,
knowing the representation of capital to be false. And each of these with a
view to cheat and defraud the citizens of the Commonwealth.
The remaining charges urged as indicating a fraudulent conspiracy, were,
1. the acceptance of the assignment and making a re-assignment of the bond
for $500,000; 2. The frequent interviews between Ridgway and Dyott; 3.
The representations uniformly made of the solvency of the bank ; and, 4.
Ridgway’s representations of solvency, after he knew of the fraudulent trans­
fer of the goods assigned to him as a collateral security.
After a full hearing of the case, the court were unanimously of opinion,
that there was not sufficient evidence against the defendant to warrant his be­
ing held to answer the charge of conspiracy, and he was discharged.
We learn that several of the creditors of the bank have commenced civil
actions again t Ridgway, to try the question whether he is responsible for the
debts. It may be proper to state, in conclusion, that the testimony before
the Court of Common Pleas was different from that before the m ayor:
several witnesses, and among them one said to be the most important for the
Commonwealth, who were examined there, were not examined in the first
mentioned court.
B e w a r e o f o v e r - t r a d i n g . — If, by depending upon fictitious credit, you
extend your business very far beyond your real capital, the hazard of bank­
ruptcy and ruin will be great. In this case, you risk not only your own pro­
perty, but that of your creditors, which is hardly reconcilable with honest
principles. When the profits of trade happen to be greater than ordinary,
over-trading becomes general; and, if any sudden change occur in the state
of the commerce or currency of the country, a revulsion must inevitably en­
sue, and consign thousands to unexpected ruin.




Mercantile Biography.

437

MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY.
A r t . VII. — M EM OIR OF M A T T H E W CA REY .

T he characters of great and good men belong to mankind ; and there is
no doty more pleasant or useful, than that which seeks the recognition of
their virtues, and stimulates in after life to the imitation of their example.
Few men have ever won a larger space in the public regards than Mat­
thew C arey; and what constitutes that fact one of peculiar gratification to
those who knew him best, few indeed were ever more deserving of public
esteem. There is, then, an agreeable service that we may render unto our­
selves. in studying aright, if possible, the points of his character which “went
to make him what he was.
Mr. Carey was born in Ireland, on the 28th of January, 1760. His fa­
ther was a very worthy man, and by the prudent exercise of his trade, that
of a baker, amassed a handsome fortune. In early life, he was not remark­
able for any extraordinary exhibition of his intellectual powers; and his
education, previous to his reaching the age of fifteen, was mostly confined to
the branches of a common English course.* When, at that age, it became
necessary to select a trade, his own inclination was decidedly in favor of that
of a printer ; and though he declares his father was very much opposed to
that avocation, he was finally able to overcome the aversion, and went as an
apprentice to a Mr. McDonnell, of Dublin, a printer and bookseller, who
was tempted, being very poor, to take him, in consequence of the thirty gui­
neas to be paid as apprentice fees.
He represents himself to have been a voracious reader, previous to his en­
tering with McDonnell; and, like Franklin, in early life, he had made
friends with the keeper of a circulating library, who used to supply him
clandestinely with books, as his father was opposed to his perusing the pro­
miscuous works usually, at that early day, to be met with in such an estab­
lishment.
In consequence of what he always considered, in after life, the careless­
ness of his nurse, he was lame in one foot from the time he was a year old;
and though he ever appeared to regard this as an unparalleled calamity, it
was, no doubt, the means of securing him more studious habits in early life
than he would otherwise have possessed, inasmuch as his infirmity seriously
prevented his mingling in those athletic sports, which most always take up
a considerable portion of youthful days.
He states that his first essay as a writer was when he was about the age
of seventeen, and upon the subject of duelling. It was produced in conse­
quence of a hostile meeting between a fellow apprentice, and the apprentice
of a bookseller named Wogan. The difficulty grew out of a personal alter­
cation between the lads, which ended in blows. Wogan very improperly
urged his apprentice to send a challenge to the opponent, which was accord­
ingly presented, demanding a meeting in the Park on a certain day, and
Wogan went out with his lad, and was the master-spirit of the whole affair.
* Vide an Autobiographical Sketch, which he prepared not manyyears since, at the
suggestion of a gentleman (Mr. Buckingham) who, like Mr. Carey, is the architect of
his own fame, of the facts of which free use will be made in this sketch.




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Mercantile Biography.

Mr. Carey regarded this as most exceptionable conduct on behalf of Wogan,
and, therefore, consequently wrote a bitter denunciation in the Hibernia
Journal, a paper owned in part by Mr. M!Donnell. Young Carey became
known as the author, and besides receiving a severe reprimand, his fellowapprentice, a poor orphan, was finally dismissed, to appease the temper of
W ogan; Carey was deeply indignant, and lost confidence in M‘Donnell.
The next production of which he gives account, was a pamphlet, written
in 1779, in regard to the oppression upon the Irish Catholics; and this,
from its results, proved to be one of the most important events of his early ca­
reer. It shows also much of the ardency, patriotism, and love of liberty,
which we shall see were, through life, leading traits in the character of Mat­
thew Carey. It bespeaks likewise a comprehensive survey of the great
principles of universal freedom, which America had been, and was then, se­
curing, not only for her own sons, but for the nations that should follow her
glorious example.
It will be pertinent to reprint, in this connexion, a single paragraph, sent
out as the parachute of the obnoxious pamphlet.
“ At a time when America, by a desperate effort, has nearly emancipated
herself from slavery; when, laying aside ancient prejudices, a Catholic
King becomes the avowed patron of Protestant freemen; when the tyranny
of a British Parliament over Ireland, has been annihilated by the intrepid
spirit of Irishmen ; it is a most afflicting reflection, that you, my country­
men, the majority of that nation, which has shaken off an unjust English
yoke, remain still enchained by one infinitely more galling: that you are
through your own pusillanimity, daily insulted by impudent menacing ad­
vertisements from insignificant parts of the kingdom; that a few tyrannical
bigots in Meath and Wexford, presume to take into their own hands the le­
gislative and executive part of our government; and with a dictatorial pow­
er, prescribe laws to their fellow subjects.’1
The issue produced much excitement; and, Parliament being in session,
the Duke of Leinster brought it before the House of Lords, and Sir Thomas
Conelly in the House of Commons. It was denounced treasonable and se­
ditious, and quoted in proof of the rebellious views of the Roman Catholics.
Unfortunately for the cause of truth and human liberty, there has always
been found in poor Ireland cringing sycophants to government, who at all
hazards would sustain the “ powers that be.” It was declared to be in this
spirit that a body of Roman Catholics—possessing not a particle of that pa­
triotism which accomplished the Irish insurrection of 1798, or the far nobler
eventof 1776, which declared “ Americaa Nation of Freemen”—denounced
the publication of young Carey, and offered a reward for the apprehension
of its author. His father was greatly alarmed—took steps to have the pam­
phlet suppressed—and by the advice of his friends the son was secretly put
on board a Holyhead packet and sent to France. He was introduced to Dr.
Franklin, “ who had a small printing office at Passy, a village near Paris,
for the purpose of reprinting his despatches from America, and other papers.”
He worked a while for the Doctor, and afterwards with Didot le jeune, on
some English books, which that printer was republishing. In about twelve
months, the excitement having died away in his native country, young Carey
returned home.
While in France, he was called upon by the Marquis de la Fayette, who
was seeking information relative to the condition of Ireland, and we shall




Matthew Carey.

439

see that the great patriot and friend of American Liberty did not forget the
acquaintance, when he was subsequently in Philadelphia.
After his return to Dublin, by the assistance of his father, who had in the
mean time purchased of M'Donnell the balance of his son’s apprenticeship,
young Carey, then being twenty-two years of age, set up a paper called
the Freeman’s Journal. It was commenced in October, 1783, and is descri­
bed by its editor, “ as enthusiastic and violent.” It soon obtained an exten­
sive circulation, had decided influence on public opinion, “ fanning the flame
of patriotism which pervaded the land, and. excited the indignation of govern­
ment, which formed a determination to put it down.” On the 7th of April,
Mr. Foster moved in the House of Commons,
“ That an address be presented to the Lord Lieutenant, requesting that he
will please issue his proclamation, offering a reward for the apprehension
of Matthew Carey.” Parliamentary Register, 1783— 4.
Mr. Carey was also prosecuted for a libel on the Premier. He was final­
ly arrested in his own office, and conveyed to the house of the sergeant-atarms, L’Estrange, as Parliament had previously adjourned. But Parlia­
ment re-assembled on the 19th of April, and he was taken before that body;
and, to the astonishment of all the friends of any thing like liberty of speech,
Mr. Carey was, by a vote of forty-three to forty, committed to Newgate. On
the 14th of May, “ Parliament having adjourned, and their power of detention
in prison having ceased, I was (says Mr. Carey) triumphantly liberated by the
Lord Mayor.” But, he adds, “ although thus freed from the clutches of the
Parliament, the criminal prosecution for the libel on John Foster, the Pre­
mier, like the sword of Damocles, was suspended over my head,” The At­
torney General having besides filed a bill against him, ex-officio, to prevent
the action of the Grand Jury, it was deemed best that he should quit his na­
tive country, inasmuch as justice was obviously to be denied by those in au­
thority in “ his own, his native land.” Accordingly, in the disguise of a fe­
male dress, to escape the myrmidons of government, he took passage on
board the America, on the 7th of September, 1784, and landed in Philadel­
phia on the 15th of November following.
In the difficulties and embarrassments that had attended his prosecution and
imprisonment, his means had much run down, and when he landed on the
wharf at Philadelphia, he was an entire stranger, with scarce a dozen gui­
neas in his pocket 1 The newspaper had been sold to his brother for £500,
to be remitted as soon as he could conveniently do so ; hut his hopes from
that source were almost blasted, for he never received hut £50, the Free­
man’s Journal having ultimately perished, “ partly by the persecution of his
brother, hut chiefly by government’s setting up a paper with the same name,
in order to take its custom and destroy it.”
But a very pleasant and unlooked for event gave new courage to his hopes,
if it did not indeed add a bright coloring to all his after career W e have
said before that the Marquis de la Fayette had made a call upon young Ca­
rey while he was at the printing office of Passy, in France. H e was then at
Mount Vernon, whither a fellow passenger of Mr. Carey’s, named Wallace,
had repaired, to deliver letters which he brought to the Marquis. The Mar­
quis made many inquiries of Wallace in relation to the affairs of Ireland, and
observed, that he had seen an “ account of the Parliament’s proceedings against
the persecuted printer, Matthew Carey.” Wallace informed the Marquis
that he came passenger with Mr. Carey, and that he was then in Philadel­
phia. Subsequently, on the Marquis’s arriving in Philadelphia, he wrote




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Mercantile Biography.

Mr Carey a note, desiring a call at his lodgings. “ He received me,” said
Mr. Carey, “ with great kindness, condoled with me on the persecution I had
undergone, inquired into my prospects, and having told him I intended to set
up a newspaper, he approved the idea, and promised to recommend me to
his friends, Robert Morris and others. Next morning, a letter was handed
to me from him. containing four one hundred dollar notes on the Bank of
North America, but it contained not a word in reference to the enclosure.”
This was a noble act, worthy of the man who had expended a large portion
of a princely fortune, and freely offered his life, in the cause of American li­
berty. He “ meets a poor, persecuted young man, destitute of friends; his
heart expands, and he freely gives him means of making a living, without
the remotest expectation of return, or of ever again seeing the object of his
bounty.”
It is due to Mr. Carey to state, that he subsequently sent the Marquis a
valuable present; and when he arrived in our country in 1824, in broken
fortunes, he sent him, also, a check at New York, for the full sum of four
hundred dollars, which Lafayette very reluctantly received.
lfB ulw er had embodied the early career of Mr. Carey, he might well
have said of him, that,
“ In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves
For a bright manhood, there is no such word
As fa il.”

Actuated by this dauntless spirit, he immediately commenced a newspaper in
Philadelphia, called the Pennsylvania Herald. Pie purchased his types out
of his little fortune, and as a bookseller named Bell had recently deceased,
among whose effects was an old and much worn press, Mr. Carey purposed
its purchase; but Colonel Oswald, who published the Independent Gazetteer,
regarding the commencement of another paper with rival feelings, hid against
Mr. Carey, until he raised the price of the old press to £50, nearly as much
as a new one of the same kind was worth, “ being,” adds Mr. Carey, “ one
third of my whole fortune.”
The first number of his newspaper was issued on the 25th of January,
1785, and the history of its progress shows that none hut an undaunted mind
and indomitable spirit would ever have been successful in its establishment.
The editor was a perfect stranger, totally unacquainted with the feelings,
prejudices, and wishes of those he had come amongst. The first decided im­
pression which the newspaper made, was the commencement, in its columns,
of the English newspaper practice of reporting, in extenso, the speeches of
the House of Assembly. This was then novel in this country, and soon
made the Herald much sought— especially as the editor showed a w'onderful faculty in making his reports accurate. He was much aided in this by a
most tenacious memory, which was at the bottom, in all his after life, of his
storing away for ready use, probably, a greater body of valuable statistical
and other knowledge than most any man of the age in which he lived.
Parties, at this period, ran high in Pennsylvania, as they did elsewhere.
The general classification was Constitutionalists and Republicans. “ The
former were supporters of the constitution then existing, which conferred the
legislative powers on a single body, styled the House of Assembly; and the
executive department on a president and executive council. The republi­
cans were zealous for a change in the legislature, so as to have two branches,
a Senate and House of Representatives. There were various minor points
of difference, unnecessary to be particularized.”




Matthew Carey.

441

Colonel Oswald, of the Gazetteer, was the organ for the republicans, and
wrote a very violent attack on a society of foreigners, styled, “ the newly
adopted sons of the United States.” Mr. Carey, A. J. Dallas, and many
other powerful writers, were members, and they annoyed the republican party
very much with their pens. Colonel Oswald denounced the society as “ fo­
reign renegadoes.” Mr. Carey wrote a reply, in which were these sen­
tences :
“ National reflections are as illiberal as they are unjust; but from Ame­
ricans, they are something worse. A great part of the armies that nobly
gained America her independence, were aliens, or foreigners, many of whose
countrymen are now the subjects of obloquy and reproach. I mean French,
Germans, Irish, etc.”
A bitter newspaper controversy ensued, which finally terminated thus:
Mr. Carey, in speaking of some of Colonel Oswald’s paragraphs, holds this
language:
“ The literary assassin, who basely attempts to blast a character, is a vil­
lain, whether he strut in the glare of day a ferocious Colonel Oswald, with a
drawcansir countenance, or skulks a Junius, concealed for a quarter of a cen­
tury.”
Colonel Oswald made this reply:
“ Your being a cripple is your main protection against personal insults.”
Mr. Carey’s rejoinder w as:
“ Though I am a cripple, there is a certain mode in which I would be on
equality. This hint is the less necessary to a man whose newspaper fre­
quently holds out threats of coming to the point.”
This correspondence Mr. Carey reprinted in a satirical poem, entitled,
“ The Plagi Scurriliad, addressed to Colonel Oswald.” The latter returned
it by a Captain Rice, who said, “ Colonel Oswald considers this a challenge.”
Mr. Carey coolly replied, “ It was so intended,” and referred him to a Mr.
Marmie, a French gentleman, of the house of Turnbull, Marmie, & Co. The
seconds fixed on Saturday, the 21st of January, 178G, for the day of meeting.
They met, accordingly, in New Jersey, opposite the city. Colonel Oswald,
having served in the army, was a practised shot, while Mr. Carey had never
drawn a trigger but once in his life. They were at ten paces distance, when
the word was given, and the pistol of Colonel Oswald shot his antagonist
through the thigh bone, which laid him up for nearly sixteen months. All
the records of the times show that both parties behaved coolly and magnani­
mously on the ground; and the result was more fortunate than most duels
are, for it appears to have made the parties feel towards each other, with the
generous Frenchman, Colonel Dam as: “ It is astonishing how much I like
a man after I’ve fought with him.”
It is but simple justice to Mr. Carey to add here, that he deprecated his
having engaged in this duel during all his after life ; and, following up his
early impressions, he continued to wield his pen against this relic of the ages
of barbarism, which has, through a false notion of honor, swept away from
America so many valuable lives. Mr. Carey appears to have acted through­
out with a firm conviction that it was the determined purpose of Colonel Os­
wald and his friends to blast his character and destroy his hopes ; and, urged
forward by a natural warmth of temperament, he declares, “ On one thing I
was resolved: if I displayed the white feather, I would never see Philadel­
phia more.”
The next work in which Mr. Carey was concerned, was the Columbian
VOL. i. — n o . v.
56




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Mercantile Biography.

Magazine, wherein he was interested with four other partners. He finally,
however, withdrew, and commenced the American Museum, a magazine
“ intended to preserve the valuable fugitive essays that appeared in the news­
papers,” which he continued until December, 1787. But the times were
not very propitious for magazines in those early days, and it should be men­
tioned as a matter of encouragement to others to persevere under great diffi­
culties, that Mr. Carey declares himself often in such a state of “ intense pe­
nury,” that he was frequently compelled to “ borrow money to go to mar­
ket.” As a specimen of his extreme poverty, he quotes the case of a Ger­
man paper-maker, living fifteen miles from the city, to whom Mr. Carey had
given a note for thirty-seven dollars, which he had to come to Philadelphia
five times for, receiving the amount in as many instalments.
The marriage of Mr. Carey was the next event of importance. Miss B.
Flahavan, the daughter of a highly respectable citizen, who, like thousands
of others, was ruined by the revolution, was the partner of his choice. She
had no dowry but that of prudence, intelligence, and industry, and these are
far richer than any other that can be bestowed. She had united herself to a
man whose whole fortunes consisted of a few hundred dollars’ worth of fur­
niture, and some back numbers of his magazine, comparatively valueless as
soon as the work was abandoned. But what of that 1 Both husband and
wife had minds filled with good common sense. They had no false pride to
retard their efforts. They were persevering and economical, and together
they resolved to make their way in the world. “ W e early,” says the hus­
band, “ formed a determination to indulge in no unnecessary expense, and to
mount the ladder so slowly, as to run no risk of having to descend.” W hat
a salutary example is here written in one sentence for the young of our day !
How altered is the mode of beginning the marriage life now-a-days. Large
rents, expensive establishments, unlimited debts, “ routes and rounds of fa­
shion,” are at once launched into; and the young couple live on, so long as
petty shifts, contrivances, and deceptions will sustain them, and then sink into
homeless misery, from which, perchance, they never recover. “ Daughters,
tenderly reared, and who have brought handsome fortunes to their husbands,
are often obliged to return home to their aged parents, who have to maintain
them, their husbands, and their children — a deplorable fate for old age.”
Fathers have the unspeakable misery of beholding their sons, in whom the
hopes of after years were centred, broken down, indolent, reckless, dissipated
— hanging on society as pests and nuisances, instead of becoming ornaments
and examples of it. Ob, “ what masses of misery would it not prevent,” if
the young men of our day would adopt the shining and virtuous example of
the heads of the family, the incidents of whose lives we may so profitably
dwell upon!
They lived happily together for nearly thirty-nine years, — until the death
of Mrs. Carey, which occurred many years since, — rearing a family of six
children, two having died in infancy, and one at the age of seventeen. The
prudential habits, fixed principles, and strong common sense, which ever gui­
ded these parents, have been reflected in the estimable characters of their child­
ren. It will not be proper to speak here, as we might be tempted to do, of
the living; but we may be allowed the remark, as proof of correct parental
guidance, that the gentlemen and ladies of this family are worthily ranked
among our most estimable citizens. The eldest son, Mr. Henry C. Carey,
was for many years known as one of the extensive book house of Carey,
Lea, & Co., from which he retired, a few years since, with an ample fortune,




Matthew Carey.

443

as the result of strict application to business, and unfaltering mercantile honor.
That gentleman, too, is a good writer, and his last work, which was upon
political economy, has met high consideration from the ablest reviews of our
own country, and those of England also.
After the relinquishment of the Museum magazine, Mr. Carey commenced
printing and bookselling on a limited scale, but by the most unceasing indus­
try, perseverance, and integrity, he went on gradually extending his business,
and making slow but sure steps to wealth. “ Some idea,” says Mr. Carey,
“ may be formed of my devotion to business, from the fact, that, for above
twenty-five years, I was present, winter and summer, at the opening of my
store ; and, my parlor being close to the store, I always left my meals when
business of any importance was being transacted.” How different this from
the custom of too many of the present day. Up pretty much all night in the
whirlpool of false society, the morn has wasted into noon ere they come out
to their places of business, and in the afternoon, instead of “ minding the shop,”
they find it “ indispensable to health” to “ whirl out of town in a cabriolet.”
If the example of such a man as Matthew Carey is worth anything, let those
who are determined to succeed in life reform altogether those habits, which
are sure, sooner or later, to bring destruction upon them Neglect of busi­
ness, luxurious living, attempts at show, and false pride, are the alarming
evils that lie in the path of many of the young beginners of our day, of all
trades, professions, and avocations ; and what lessons of caution and wisdom
may we not learn from the characters, habits, and principles of the substan­
tial men who have preceded us, and who, by slow but sure efforts, went
steadily up to positions from which they had no fear of tumbling. Better to
commence small, than to begin large and finally be broken down ; and the
entire history and experience of all the straightforward and sagacious mer­
chants of the past, is a triumphant illustration, that industry, prudence, and
honesty, are sure to ascend, in the long run, where all else may fail. Stephen
Girard was once a poor sailor hoy before the m ast; William Gray, a hum­
ble mechanic ; and Peter C. Brooks, a small-salary secretary in an insurance
office ; and yet they went up by their own hands, became honorable mer­
chants, and amassed princely fortunes. They were, like all men who have
made to themselves fame or fortune, hard workers and close thinkers.
They l! minded their own business,” and, what was of infinite consequence,
had no time to meddle with that of other people.
Their examples may well be imitated, for rigid mercantile integrity, and
unfaltering punctuality in the performance of every obligation, by all who
wish to go up in the right way.
In 1793, Mr. Carey was a most efficient member of the committee of
health, with Mr. Girard and others, when the yellow fever prevailed so
dreadfully in Philadelphia. Both these gentlemen were very active in their
devotion to the sick. When it was found impossible, from the danger of
the situation, to obtain any one to become superintendent of the hospital at
Bushhill, Stephen Girard nobly stepped forward; and Mr. Carey states that
Mr. G. “ helped to dress the sores, and perform all the menial offices for the
sick.” Mr. Carey wrote a history of this dreadful calamity, giving a “ full
account of its rise, progress, effects, and termination.” It is a thrilling nar­
rative.
In the same year, Mr. Carey, regarding with deep commiseration the for­
lorn condition of many of his countrymen who came to our shores, was
principally instrumental in the formation of a society, called, “ The Hiber­




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Mercantile Biography.

nian Society, for the relief of emigrants from I r e l a n d a n institution which
has since done much good, and is still numbered among our most beneficial
societies.
W hile Cobbet was in Philadelphia, in 1796, some meddlesome individu­
als sought to embroil Mr. Carey in an angry controversy with him. In one
of Cobbet’s previous works, he had mentioned Mr. Carey favorably, and the
meddlers were constantly throwing out insinuations that Cobbet was afraid
of him. Mr. Carey addressed a note to Cobbet, early on this attempted em­
broilment, in which he tells him, “ I have never written a line respecting
you, and my determination is to pursue the same line of conduct, unless I am
driven to a different course by unprovoked aggression.” But it seems that
the issue finally came, and a very bitter one it was. It was a newspaper
and pamphlet war of some time continuance, wherein many hard things
were said by both parties. Mr. Carey finally published what he termed “ a
Plumb Pudding for Peter Porcupine,” handling his adversary without
gloves. Cobbet, to turn this publication into ridicule, “ sent his servant with
some venison and jelly between two plates, in return for the plumb pud­
ding,” which his antagonist sent back by a stout Irish porter, with directions
to throw the plates in the middle of Cobbet’s store, which the Hibernian did
most faithfully, and shook his fists at Cobbet into the bargain.* Subse­
quently, Mr. Carey issued a hudibrastic poem, the purpose of which was to
show up the scurrility and abuse that found place in Cobbet’s newspaper;
and so ludicrously did he do this, that it had the effect to end the “ tug of
war.” Cobbet never made any reply afterwards.
In 1802, Mr. Carey was elected by the Senate of the state a director of the
bank of Pennsylvania, which station he occupied until 1805. He mentions, as
a disadvantage to him from the position, the lenity shown by the other direc­
tors, whereby his debts rose extravagantly high. This evil he urges with
great warmth and zeal, as the one which several times in his business-life
came near bringing him to bankruptcy. “ I printed and published,” he de­
clares, “ above twice as many books as were necessary for the extent of my
business; and, in consequence, incurred oppressive debts to banks— was laid
under contribution for interest to them and to usurers, which not only swal­
lowed up my profits, but kept me in a constant state of penury. I was in
many cases shaved so close by the latter class, that they almost skinned me
alive. To this cause my difficulties were nearly altogether owing, for I did
a large and profitable business almost from the time I opened a bookstore.”
He sets down another evil practice of his business career, which he cau­
tions young traders to shun as they would “ temporal perdition.” It is that
of endorsation. “ In this way, in fourteen years," he writes, “ I lost between
thirty and forty thousand dollars; and but for this, I might have retired from
business ten years earlier than I did; besides, in one of the cases of failure, I
was brought to the verge of stoppage.” Actuated by that expansive bene­
volence, which, during his whole life, was a leading trait in his character,
Mr. Carey, about this time, and for some years onward, wrote and published
much to try and bring about a modification of the taxes of Philadelphia.
His positions were founded on the great inequality that existed between the
taxes on real estate and personal property. He states an example, viz.: “ Ste­
phen Girard did not pay as much tax for all the stock of his bank, and all
* Mr. Carey did not speak of this act, in after life, in any other way, than as an un­
justifiable ebullition of passion.




Matthew Carey.

445

his bonds and mortgages, as were paid by a single ground rent of $200.”
Some salutary improvements were finally made, especially so far as related
to “ ground rents and houses.”
The next subject of public importance in which his pen became deeply
engaged was, in 1810, on the question of the renewal of the charter of the
Bank of the United States. He wrote a series of essays warmly advocating
the renewal, and he gave much personal attention to the matter, as well at
home as at the seat of the general government, which, all those who are fa­
miliar with the records of the times are aware, made him many bitter oppo­
nents, as well as many warm friends, according to the character of their
views in regard to the measure in agitation.
The publication of “ The Olive Branch” Mr. Carey regards as one of the
most important events of his life. It took place in 1814. The purpose
which the author had in producing it was, to “ endeavor, by a candid publi­
cation of the follies and errors of both sides, to calm the embittered feeling of
the political parties.” The first edition was produced within the leisure
time of six or seven weeks. It formed a duodecimo volume of two hundred
and fifty-two pages, of which about eighty were public documents. It was
sold out immediately, and the author says, “ I was preparing a new edition
when the thrice-welcome news of peace arrived, which I thought would ren­
der it unnecessary.” But he subsequently had good reason to change that
opinion, by the demands that came i n ; and one edition after another was
prepared, each one receiving some version or addition, until, within three
years and a half, ten editions were struck off, there having been over ten
thousand copies sold.
The next large work he produced, was, “ The Vindicias Hibernicre,”
which made its appearance in 1819. His object in writing this work was,
to prove, among many other positions, that, from the invasion of Ireland by
Cromwell, the government of that country had been mai*ked by almost every
species of “ fraud, chicane, cruelty, and oppression;” that the Irish were,
from time to time, goaded into insurrection; that they did not enjoy the free
exercise of their religion: that the pretended conspiracy of 1641 was a miser­
able fabrication, and that the massacres, said to have been committed by the
Irish in the insurrection of the same year, are unfounded in fact. There
have been, and will continue to be, various opinions as to the success with
which the author has made out his assumptions; but there is one thing, which
every body will be very ready to admit, viz.: that the author brought great
patience, perseverance, and industry, to its preparation, for he consulted not
less than sixty different works, and made five hundred and ninety-six quota­
tions. In Ireland, especially, the book received great praise, having been
pronounced by the highest authorities, as “ the best vindication of Ireland
that was ever written.”
Soon after the publication of his “ Vindication of Ireland,” he entered the
lists in favor of “ The Protective System of American Industry,” and became
for many years the untiring champion of that policy, in its broadest extent.
He wrote a series of nine essays, which were published by a very reputable
society, established in Philadelphia to aid in the encouragement of domestic
industry. They were anxiously sought for by the friends of the system, and
were generally copied into the newspapers north of the Potomac. Subse­
quently he brought forth numerous other writings, favoring the “ Protective
System,” forming, in all, fifty-nine distinct publications, and embracing, in
the whole, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two pages. Besides, he




446

Mercantile Biography.

was always ready to put his hand in his pocket, and did so, to a very large
extent, to aid in the advocacy of a system which he had embraced with such
ardency. As was the case when he came out so warmly for a re-charter of
the former United States Bank, his efforts provoked many opponents, and won
him also many warm friends, as was natural from the controverted nature
of the subject which he so zealously advocated. Many public demonstrations
of gratitude followed his labors, and there were, also, indications of public
opinion, denunciatory of his toils and his views in no stinted terms.
In Professor Longfellow’s recent work, Hyperion, are to be found these
beautiful and expressive sentences:
“ It has become a common saying, that men of genius are always in ad­
vance of their ag-e; which is true. There is something equally true, yet not
so common, namely, that, of these men of genius, the best and bravest are in
advance, not only of their own age, but of every age. As the German prosepoet says, 1every possible future is behind them.’ ”
In no inapt sense may we apply this to Matthew Carey. His penetration
and sagacity seemed to keep him uniformly in advance of most others on
great subjects of state and national importance. As a proof of this, we may
quote what is stated by a worthy compeer, now living, viz.: “ That he was
the first man in Pennsylvania to awaken public attention to the vast impor­
tance of a great system of internal improvements.” He wrote pamphlets
and circulated them, prepared a great many newspaper essays, and, finally,
addressed letters to influential men in different parts of the state, inviting them
to a meeting, to devise ways and means to secure, ultimately, the incalculable
blessings of extended internal communication; and he lived, with many of
his patriotic co-laborers, to witness the state of Pennsylvania not in the rear,
at least, of any other member of the American republic, either in the extent or
value of her internal intercourse.
The latter portion of Mr. Carey’s life is too well known to need a detailment of its incidents* He took an active part in all the worthy charities
of the day. He seemed to have an ambition to do good, and whenever he
took hold of a cause, he brought to it the devotion of his early days. He
was a bold and unceasing advocate of the great system of universal education,
utterly repudiating the idea, that there should be an education for the rich,
and another for the poor, zealously declaring that he would have education
as free as the genial air. His labors in behalf of the poor — constantly seek­
ing, both by his pen and his bounty, to ameliorate their condition — were
untiring and disinterested. Especially have poor widows, left with a family
of little ones to support, cause to remember in thankfulness the ever-readiness with which his heart and his purse were open to their forlorn hopes.
For a long series of years he had a charity list, on which were enrolled the
names of hundreds, to whom he regularly gave, once each fortnight, a do­
nation of groceries and other necessaries of life; and where they are to find
another such a friend as Matthew Carey— God only knows !
In the entire efforts of Matthew Carey, he ever appeared to act upon the
principle, “ to let good offices go round.” In his more elaborate writings,
what lie regards as the great interests of his fellow men, appear to form the
leading motive in their composition. His last publication of any extent was
a small volume, on the subject of domestic economy, entitled, “ The Philoso­
* This, indeed, is the less necessary, as the ample materials of Mr. Carey’s life are
understood to be in the hands of a gentleman far more competent to do it justice.




Matthew Carey.

447

phy of Common Sense,” the object of which was to embody his experience,
ana the maxims of his career of fourscore years. In the preface he feelingly
states, that it will probably be the last one he shall ever give to the public:
and now that the prediction is reality, we may safely declare, if he had pro­
duced nothing else, this little work would raise for him an enduring monu­
ment, in proof of the philosophic and common sense tone of his mind, and
the benevolence and affection of his heart.
There was one feature in the life of Mr. Carey, which was of inestimable
value to the young; and it cannot be too much commended to other gentle­
men of leisure and ample fortune. It was a disposition to extend the hand of
kindness to young men whom he observed of promising talents, justly ambi­
tious, and systematically industrious. He would go out of his way to meet
such, and to make them feel that he respected and was ever ready to aid
them. He had not a particle of that small cliqueism which is too often the
disgrace of literary men, nor had he any of the false pride which unfortunately
becomes the guiding power of many a man who has gone up to wealth by his
own hands. On the contrary, his house, his counsel, his library, his heart, all
were open to the young, the ambitious, and deserving; and many an enterpri­
sing citizen can go back and date the hour of his triumph to the unfaltering
smiles which he ever met from the beaming countenance of Matthew C arey;
and, as perseverance, industry, economy, and integrity, were the Corinthian
columns of his own character, he delighted to impress upon his vast body of
young friends, that upon none other could they ever rear enduring fame or
substantial wealth.
Mr. Carey breathed his last, at his own residence in Walnut street, on the
eveningof Monday, the 17th ofSeptember last,at the ripeage of eighty years.
His having been, a week previously, overturned in his carriage, no doubt has­
tened the termination of his life. His funeral denoted the universal esteem of
his fellow citizens. It was one of the largest, excepting, perhaps, that of
Stephen Girard, that ever occurred in Philadelphia. Many societies joined
in the procession. The body was borne to St. Mary’s Church, where the
solemn service of the dead was performed. The church was crowded to ex­
cess, thousands having come forth, spontaneously, to pay the last tribute of
respect to one who ended his labors of benevolence only when he ceased to
breathe!
“ Such pass aw ay; but they leave
All hope, or love, or truth, or liberty,
Whose forms their mighty spirits could conceive,
To be a rule and law to ages that survive.”

Do n o t m a k e t o o m i i c h h a s t e t o b e r i c h . — By this means nine­
teen twentieths of our merchants fail. They over-reach, not dishonestly,
perhaps, but they attempt to do too much business for their experience and
their means. “ I find,” said a shrewd merchant, “ I make most money when
I am least anxious about it.” There is sound philosophy in this remark.
Caution, prudence, sagacity, and deliberation, are all necessary to success.
Some men, it is true, get rich suddenly; but the great majority do not, and
cannot. Bonaparte once said, “ I have no idea of a merchant’s acquiring a
fortune as a general wins a battle — at a single blow.” Such fortunes too
often vanish suddenly.




Table o f Gold Coins.

448

GOLD COINS.
of G old C oins, the exact Weight, the Assay, and the present Value in the Uni­
ted Stales, according to the Gold Coin B ill passed by Congress during their session
in 1633—4.

A T able

Names of Coins. weight assay.

Value.

Names o f Coins. weight assay.

dw.gr. car.gr. d. c. m.
U nited S tates.
Eagle,coin’d bef.
July 31, 1834. 11 6 12 0 10 66 5
Coined after July 31,1834... 1 018 21 2 & 10 0 0
Shares in propor.
14-43

Foreign Gold.
A ustria.
Souverain........ 3 14 21
Double Ducat.. 4 12 23
H ungarian do.. 2 55 23
Ducat................ 2 6 23
A ugsburg.
D u c a t.............. 2 5 i 23
B avaria.
C a ro lin ............ G 5f 18
M ax d ’or, or
M aximilian .. 4 4 18
D ucat.............. . 2 5 | 23
P is to le ............ 4 64 21
B erne.
D ucat................ 1 23 23
double in prop.
Pistole.............. 4 21 21
B razil.
Johannes.......... 18 00 21
4 in proportion
D o b rao n .......... 34 12 22
D o b ra .............. 18 6 22
Moidore............ G 22 22
4 in proportion
C u sa d o ............
161 21
B runswick.
P istole.............. 4 2H 21
double in prop.
D ucat................ 2 55 23
Carl d ’or b.1802 4 6* 21
double in prop.
Carl d ’or si. 1802 4 6i 21
B aden.
D ucat................ 1 23 i 23
B asil.
D ucat................ 2 41 22
P istole.............. 4 22 21

B ologna.

dw.gr. car f -

Pistole.............
Pistole 1802.. ..
&c. in prop.
Sequin, be. 17t>0
Sequin, si. 1760
Scudo . . . .

21 31
21 2j

3
4
2
2

Ducat.......
2 51 23
7 C olombia, C en­
3
tral A merica
7
C hili, & P eru.
6
Doubloons....... 17 9 20
Denmark.
21
Ducat, Current.
24 0
23
Ducat, Specie..
21
95 7
Christian d’or..
E ast I ndies.
31 0
Rupee, Bombay,
27 5
1818............... 7 11 22
97 9
Rupee, Madras,
12 22
1818...............
Pagoda, Star ..
97 7
4f 19
38
59
29
29

15

2

2

4

If
2f
24

3
2
3

If

1

2i

4 54 2

3*

32 70 6
17 30 1
6 55 7

3 32 8
3 30 0

2

2 26 7

3

15 53 5

0i
2
3

1 81 5
2 26 7
4 2 1

04

7 9 6

0

7 11 0
1 79 8

0

Mohur Sicca of
7 23 23 3§
Bengal ..

E ngland.
3f 17 6 4
0
0
0

d. c. m.

23 2
2 21 5
23 34 2 25 0
21 2* 15 80 4

C ologne.
35
21
3j
2|

Value.

22

8 17 6

0

5 11 5

22 0

4 87 5

22

0

1 69 8

21

2

5 54 21 2

9 68 8
4 81 3

9 20 21
4 22 21

21
2i

9 16 2
4 58 1

7 21

2i

7 70 3

4 34 21 2 j

3 85 1

♦Guinea..
4 in proportion
tSovereign. . . .
Seven Shilling
Piece.............

63 7 F rance.

2i

4 55 2

04
24

2 23 1
3 97 9

14

3 93 3

2|

2 2 0

0
If

2 7 3
4 52 8

Double Louis,
c’d bef. 1786...
Louis, do........
Double Louis,
c’d sin. 1786..
Louis, do........
Dbl. Napoleon,
or 40 francs.
Napoleon, or 20
francs__
Same as the new
Louis.

8

* Guineas, when received in this country, are almost invariably one grain light, and,
therefore, the real value of them is $5 074.
t A Sovereign, when received from the Mint, weighs 5 dwt. 3£ grains, but nine
tenths of those brought to this country do not weigh more than 5 dwt. 2£ grains. The
average value of each Sovereign is $4 85; of course, those which are of full weight
are worth the price stated above.




Table o f Gold Coins.

449

Table o f Gold Coins— continued.

Names of Coins. weight assay.

Value.

dw.gr. car.gr. d.
F rankfort on the
M aine.
Ducat................ 2 5} 23
F landers.
same as Austria
F lorence.
same as Tuscany
G eneva.
Pistole, old ___ 4 7 i 21
Pistole, n e w ... 3 15} 21
G enoa.
Sequin.............. 2 5} 23
Pistole.............. 4 7} 21
New Genovina,
or four Pistole
piece of the Ligurian Repub. 16 4 21
Genovina of 100
lire .................. 18 3 21
£ in propor.
New Genovina,
of 48 lire........ 8 2 21
£ & i in prop.
H amburg.
D ucat................ 2 5} 23
Double in pro.
H anover.
Double George
d ’o r,................ 8 13 21
single in prop.
D ucat................ 2 5} 23
Gold F lo rin .... 2 2 18
double in prop.
H olland.
Double R yder.. 12 21 22
R y d e r.............. 6 9 22
D ucat................ 2 5} 23
10 Guilder Pee.. 4 7} 21
£ in proportion
H a lf Ryder___ 3 4 i 22
H esse C assel.
Pistole.............. 4 7} 21
W m . d ’or, 1815 4 6} 21
H esse D armstadt
C aro lin ............ 3 3 18
D ucat................ 2 5} 23
J apan.
saraeasE.Indies
L eghorn.
same as Tuscany
L eipsic.
same as Saxony
L iege.
D ucat................ 2 5 i 23
L orraine.
Leopold............ 7 5} 21
F ra n c is............ 4 7} 21
L ucca.
P istole.............. 3 13* 21
VOL. I . --- NO V.




2i

Names of Coins. weigh! assay.

Valve.

dw.gr. car.gr. d. C . TO.
M anhetm.
C arolin........... 6 4} 18 2
4 93 2
i & i in prop.
2 27 9
Pistole............. 4 6* 21 2} 3 97 9
Ducat............... 2 5} 23 2} 2 27 3
C.

TO.

M entz.

D u c a t............. 2 5f 23 2}

2 27 9

M alta.

Double Louis.. 10 16 20 01
Louis............... 5 8 20 1
Demi Louis . . . 2 16 20 1}

2
3}

3 93 5
3 44 6

3}
2i

2 30 2 M exico.
Doubloons....... 17 9 20 3
4 1 8

shares in prop.
M ilan.
Sequin............. 2 5} 23 3
3 i 15 23 8
Doppia or Pistole................. 4 l i 21 3
3 16 98 6
Forty Lire piece
1808............... 8 8 21 2}
3i

7 61 9

2}

2 27 9

1|

7 87 9

3}
3}

2 29 7
1 69 4

9 27 8
4 65 3
2 34 8
15 53 5
2 £9 1
3 80 7
7 74 2

N aples.

Six Ducat Piece
1783..............
Two Ducat, or
Sequin, 1762..
Three Ducat, or
Oncetta, 1818.
Six Ducat Piece
1752...............
Six Ducat Piece
1767 and 1772.
Four Ducat Pee
or Pistole 1752
Four Ducat Pee
1767 and 1770.

5 16 21 1}

5 24 9

1 20} 20 1}

1 61 3

2 10} 23 3}

2 49 6

5 16 20 3}

5 11 2

5 18 20 li

5 3 2

3 18} 20 3}

3 41 5

0 12 20 5
3 18} •20 l i
0
6 4 3
2} 2 27 5 N etherlands.
Gold Lion, or 14
2} 4 1 6

3 30 9

0

3 2 1

n
2}

3 96 2
3 96 8

2
3

2 49 1
2 26 7

1}

2 24 5

3
3

6 78 4
4 1 9

3}

3 34 9

Florin Piece.. 5
Ten Florin Pee,
1820............... 4
Souverain,same
as Austria.
Nuremberg.
Ducat............... 2
double in prop.
P ersia.
sameasE.Indies
P arma.
Quadruple Pistole................. 18
double in pro­
portion.
Pistole or Doppia, 1787....... 4
Pistole or Doppia, 1796........ 4
Maria Theresa,
1818............... 4

57

7} 22 0

5 4 6

7} 21 2i

4 16

5} 23 2

2 26 7

9 21 0

16 62 7

14 21

1

4 19 6

14 20 3!

4 13 5

3} 21 2i

3 85 1

Table o f Gold Coins.

450

Table o f Gold Coins— continued.
H eight a s s a y .

V a lu e .

i w . g r . z a r .g r .

d.

N a m e s o f C o in s.

N a m e s o f C o in s.

c. m .

c e ig h t a s s a y .

V a lu e.

i w . g r . c a r .g r .

d.

c. m .

R ussia.

P iedmont.

Pistole, coined
since 1785.... 5 20 21
£ in proportion.
Sequin............. 2 55 23
£ in proportion.
Carlino, coined
since 1785---- 29 6 21
£ in proportion.
Pee of 20 Francs
call’d Marengo 4 3i 20
Pistole or Doppia, 1741 to
1785............... 6 4j 21
Carlino, coined
before 1785... 31 0; 21
P oland.
Ducat............... 2 5 | •23
P ortugal.
Dobraon... . . . . 34 12 22
D o b ra............ 18 6 •22
Johannes......... 18 0 21
Moidore........... 6 22 22
£ in propor.
Piece of 16 Testoons, or 1600
Rees............... 2 G 21
Old Crusado of
400 Rees....... 0 15 21
New Crusado ol
480 R ees....... 0 1GJ 21
Milree, coined
in 1755........... 0 195 •22
New Dobra__ 17 G 22
Joannese......... 9 64 21
double in pro.
half in propor.
Piece of 12 Testoons, or 1200
Rees.............. 1 165 21
Piece of 8 Testoons, or 800
Rees............... 1 4J 21

2j

5 41 2

2J

2 27 9

25 27 33 4
0

3 5G 4

25

5 78 2

2} 28 90 5
21

2 27 9

0 32 70 G
0 17 20 1
35 17 G 4
0
G 55 7

25

2 12 1

Ducat, 1796.... 2 6 23
Ducat, 1763.... 2 55 23
Gold Ruble 1756 1 04 •22
Gold Ruble 1799
185 21
Gold Poltinl777
9 •22
Imperial, 1801.. 7 174 23
H alf Imperial,
1801............... 3 201 •23
H alf Imperial,
1818............... 4 3i 22
Ducat, 1751.... 2 5 23
Double Ducat of
St. Andrew,
1756......... . .. 4 10 23
Half Ducat of
1785............... 1 144 21
Imperial, coined
before 1763---- 10 1G 22
Imperial, coined
in 1763.......... 8 94 22
Imperial, coined
in 1*72........... 8 11 21
H alf Imperial,
coined in 1780. 4 24 21
Ratisbon.
4 Ducat Piece.. 8 21 23

21
2
0
34
0
24

2 29 0
2 26 7
96 7
73 7
35 5
7 83 6

24

3 91 3

04
14

3 94 2
2 21 8

21

4 49 6

34

1 51 2

0

10 11 2

0

7 95 9

35

7 99 5

34

3 87 9

2

8 98 6

S ardinia.

34

58 8

3!

63 7

C arlino......... 10 74 21 14
1 in propor.
Doppietta....... 2 14 21 14

9 47 0

Ducat, 1784.. ..
Ducat, 1797.. ..
Augustus, 1754.
Augustus, 1794

2
2
3
3

1 88 4

S axony.

0
78 0
0 16 35 3
8
76
3
35

2
2
4
4

Sicily.

35

1 57 4

Ounce, 1751...
Double Ounce,
1758...............
Ounce, 1734. ..
Ounce, 1741...

55 23 2
5| 23 24
61 21 18
64 21 24

26
27
92
97

7
9
7
4

2 201 20 14

2 50 5

5 17 20 2
2 201 21 15
2 204 21 1

5 4 2
2 63 6
2 61 3

1 12 0 S pain.
Quadruple Pistole, 1772....... 17
Double and sin­
gle,and shares
8 14 21 25 7 97 5
in proportion.
Doubloon........ 17
8 14 21 2
7 95 1
Pistole............. 4
Coronilla, Golc
4 7 21 2
3 99 9
Dollar, or Vintem, 1801....... 1
21
2
4 7
3 97 5 St . G all.
R ome.
Ducat............... 21
Sequin, sin.176C 2 41 •23 3
2 25 0 S altzburg.
Scudo ofRep’lic 17 05 21 2 15 80 4
Ducat............... 2
Others same as
S weden.
Bologna.
1 Ducat.. . . . . . 2
3|

P russia.

Ducat, 1748---Ducat, 1787....
Frederick, double, 1769........
Frederick, double, 1800........
Frederick, single, 1778........
Frederick, single, 1800........




2 5 | 23 21
2 55 23 2

2 27 9
2 26 7

84

•21 24 16 2 8

9 ■20 3
20 3

84

3 ■20 11

15 53 5
3 88 4
98 3

22 3

21 42 7

5| •23 2

2 26 7

5 23 2

2 23 6

204

Table o f Gold Coins.

451

T a b le o f Gold. C o in s —c o n tin u e d .
N a m e s o f C o in s . w e ig h t a s s a y .

d w . g r . c a r .g r .

V a lu e.

N a m e s o f C o in s. m i g h t a s s a y .

d . c. m .

T urkey, ( c o n t .)

S witzerland.

Pistole of Helvetic Republic,
1890............. 4 21 i 21
Ducat of Lu2 5? 23
Double Ducat
of Lucerne__ 4 l l i 21
Ducat, Schwitz. 2 5 22
Ducat, St. Gall. 2 5} 22
Ducat, Uri . . . . 2 5 23
Five Ducat Pee
of Lucerne... 11 3 21
Pistole, Lucerne 4 21i 21
Pistole,Soleure. 4 22 21
Ducat............... 2 5J 23
T urkey.

2 5J 19
2 55 19
18* 1G
2 5 19
3 1J 22
12) 19
3 4) 23

4 56 1

2

2 26 7

0
2
3
1

4
2
2
2

d. c. m.

1 24 4
1 33 0
1 15 3

T uscany.

T reves.

Sequin fonducli
of Constantinople, 1773...
Sequin fonducli
of Constantinople, 1789...
H alf Misseir,
1818...............
Sequin fonducli
Yermebleshlek.
Rubieh............
Double Sequin,
Mahbub
of
1733...............

2j

d io .g r . c a r .g r .

Sequin Mahbub
of17o9........... 1 12 19 1
Sequin of Cairo
1 15! 18 31
Sequin of Cairo
1 151 16 11

V a lu e.

3
14
19
21

4
1
6
2

Zeechino,or Sequin............... 2 51 23 35
Ruspone of the
kingdom
of
Etruria........... 6 171 23 31

6 93 8

6 23 31

2 31 0

8 21 3

4 6 1

3 10 42 G V enice.
21 4 56 1
Zeechino, or Sequin............... 2
2i 4 56 8
Shares in prop.
2 26 7
2
Doppia or Pistole................. 4
Scudo d’oro, or
Gold C row n.. 26
Ducato d’oro, or
H 1 86 8
Gold Ducat... 1
Osella d’oro.. .. 8
0} 1 81 8 W IRTEMBURG.
Carolin............ 6
Ql
52 1
2
l
1 83 1 WURTZBURG.
3i 3 2 8
Ducat............... 2
43 0 Z urich .
Of
Ducat............... 2
double and half
3 15 9
in proportion.
0

2 30 9

23 23 3l 27 73 3
91 23 31
231 23 31

1 43 5
9 23 7

31 18 2
5 23 2

4 89 8
2 23 G

55 23 2

2 26 7

55 23 2

2 26 7

The following is the standard value of G old, according to an act of Congress pass­
ed in 1801:
A merican, (coined before July 31st, 1834,) is valued at 94 8-10 cts. to the dwt., or
25 6-23 grs. to the dollar. Coined after July 31st, 1834, at 93 cts. to the dwt., or 25|
grs. to the dollar.
E nglish, B razilian, and P ortuguese—94 8-10 cts. to the dwt., (when 22 carat,) or
25 6-20 grs. to the dollar.
F rench—93 1-10 cts. to the dwt., (when 21 car. 2 4-10 grs.,) or 25 3-4 grains to

the dollar.
S panish, M exican, and C olombian—89 9-10 cts. to the dwt., (when 20 car. 3 7-16
grs.,) or 26 7-10 grs. to the dollar.
The above are the only descriptions of Gold that are a legal tender in the United
States. All other kinds are sold at a certain rate per dwt., according to purity.
P ore G old.—The contents in pure Gold can be ascertained by the following rule.
An Eagle of the late law should weigh 258 grs. or 10 dwts. 18 grs.; the assay is 21 car.
2 14-43 grs.
ca r. ca r. g r s.
g rs. g rs.
Therefore, as 24 : 21 2 14-43 :: 258 : 232 pure.
4
4

96
43

86
43

4128 3712
258
4128)957696(232 grs.
I



452

Bank Statistics.

BANK STATISTICS.
JOINT-STOCK BANKS IN ENGLAND.

A return has been published on the subject of joint-stock banks, for the three years
ending 1838. It appears that the increase in the number of these establishments in
England was extremely rapid in 1836. In that year it received a check, and on the
1st of January, 1839; the number was less by three than in January, 1838 —The whole
number of joint-stock banks in England at 1st January last was 108. Of these 11
were established between 18*26 and 1829, both inclusive. There were 22 established
in the five years from 1830 to 1834. No less than 67 were established in 1835 and 1836.
There were 7 established in 1837, and 1 in 1838. The number of partners varies
from 50 to 1,200, and may average about 300. There are half a dozen with less than
fifty partners, the smallest number being seven. Fifty-eight of the banks have branches,
and fifty have none. The branches, including the parent bank, are from two to sixtyseven in number. There are eight banks which have more than twenty branches. The
whole number of parent banks and branches is 668. There are besides about 55!) private
banks in England, that is, banks having no more than six partners. Adding these to
the joint-stock banks and their branches, the whole number of banking establishments
will be about 1,200. According to the last return, dated 2d August, the notes in cir­
culation of all the joint-stock banks were in value £4,665,110. This, divided by the
number of banks (108,) gives an average circulation of only £43,200 for each, or, if we
include the branches, the average for each office, or establishment, is only £8,000. Sup­
posing the money to be employed in discounting at five per cent., the annual profit on
£4,665,0C0 would be only £230,000, or no more than £350 to each establishment. It
is evident that their profits must be chiefly derived from deposits, which they can em­
ploy at five per cent., while, we believe, they give only two. The issues of the private
banks, by the same return, were £7,610,700, which gives an average of about £14,000
for each establishment. It appears that the joint-stock banks, so far from superseding
the private banks, have had but a very slight effect in narrowing their issues.
BANKS OF MISSISSIPPI.

In 1830 there was but a single bank in Mississippi, with the exception of the Branch
Bank of the United States, with a capital of $330,000. During the session of the legis­
lature that year, the Planter’s Bank was incorporated, with a capital of $3,600,000. In
1833 was incorporated the Western Feliciana Railroad and Banking Company, capital
$1,000,000; the Vicksburg Railroad, capital $3,000,000 ; and the Grand Gulf Railroad,
capital $2,000,000. In 1836 the following institutions were created : Mississippi Rail­
road, capital $8,000,000; Commercial Bank of Rodney, $800,000; Commercial Bank
of Columbus, $1,000,000; Tombigbee Railroad, $2,000.000; Aberdeen and Pontotoc,
$1,000,000 ; Commercial Bank of Manchester, $1,000,000; Agricultural Bank of
Mississippi, $600,000; Commercial Bank of Natchez, $3,000,000; Brandon Bank,
$1,000,000; forming an augmentation of banking capital of $22,490,000. In 1837 were
incorporated the Port Gibson Bank, $1,000,000; Vicksburg Bank, $3,000,000 ; Vicks­
burg Water-works, $500,000 ; Northern Bank of Mississippi, $2,000,000 ; Hernando
Railroad, $1,000,000; Bank of Grenada, $1,000,000; Bank of Lexington, $8,000,000;
Benton and Manchester Railroad, $1,000,000; making an increase of $10,3( 0,000. In
1838 the mammoth Union Bank was incorporated, witliacapital of $15,500,000.
To recapitulate:
Banking capital in 1830...............................................$3,000,000
Increase in
1833 .............................................. 7,000,000
“
“
1836............................................... 22 400.000
“
“
1837................................................10,300,000
“
“
1838................................................15,500,000
60,200,000
Add to this sum the capital of institutions not charter­
ed, based upon real estate....................................... 15,000,000




T otal......... 75,200,000

Commercial Regulations and Treaties.

453

COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS AND TREATIES.
REGULATIONS AT ANTW ERP.

T he following important act has recently emanated from the Finance Department

at Brussels. By this act it will be observed, all masters of vessels destined for Ant­
werp will be required to make the first declaration, or entry of their cargoes, at Lillo,
where the Belgian government has established a frontier custom house. In case a
vessel’s cargo when landed exceeds the quantity stated on manifest, a port entry of such
excess will not be allowed to be made at the custom house, and in case of a deficiency,
an explanatory declaration on the part of the master or consignee will not be received,
but in either case the payment of a heavy fine will be imposed on the vessel.
I n s tr u c tio n s f o r th e C a p ta in s o f sea s h ip s d e s tin e d f o r th e p o r t o f A n tw e r p .

§ 1. The first declaration on entering from the sea must be made at the office cus­
tom house at Lillo;
§ 2. The said declaration may consist in the single remittance of the manifesto or
bil s of lading.
§ 3. If the Captain wishes to avoid going on shore, he may deliver up his manifesto or
bills of lading to the officer of the custom house, who is appointed to place attendants
on board of the ships.
§ 4. When the Captain does not go on shore, he must state up the manifesto, or by a
separate declaration in what consist ship’s stores.
§ 5. After the Custom House Officers are on board, and in some cases, after leading
and sealing down the hatches, the Captain may pursue his course to Antwerp.
§ G. At his departure from Antwerp for sea, the Captain must remitkat the Custom
House Officer of Lillo the documents of the Custom House of which he is bearer.
§ 7. These documents may be delivered up to the Custom House Officer charged to
relieve the convoy.
§ 8. If after inquiry, no suspicion of fraud arise, the Captain may follow his course
to the sea.
L. DESMAISIERES, Minister of Finance.
Brussels, July 30, 1839.
RUSSIAN QUARANTINE REGULATIONS.

The Envoy of the Emperor of Russia has communicated to the Department of State,
the following notice to vessels trading to the Russian ports on the Baltic.
The Imperial Government having received the most satisfactory information with
regard to the means employed for the purification of vessels and goods in the English
quarantine establishments at Stangate Creek, Milford Haven, and Mother Bank, near
Portsmouth, has determined that henceforward all vessels with their cargoes of sus­
pected goods which may have been purified in either of those three establishments,
should be admitted into the Russian ports on the Baltic, on presenting a certificate
proving that they have been there purified, without undergoing any other quarantine.
They will, however, continue to obtain an attestation to the same effect from the Danish
quarantine establishments.
WHAMPOA PORT CHARGES.

Pilotage, inward and outward...........................................................................
(Linguist’s and Comprador’s fees vary on ships of different nations.)
English country ships pay for Comprador.........................................................
for Linguist’s fees...................................................
Cumsha, on French vessels, 1,G80 taels.
..
on other vessels, 1,( 00 taels, o r ..........................................................
Charged alike on all vessels, large or small...........................................

$120
50
173
2,223
$2,566

E x t r a C h a r g e s im p o s e d b y th e C o n so o , o n the 2A ih o f A u g u s t , .1838, f o r th e p u r p o s e o f
m e e tin g th e n e c e s s a ry expen ses.

One mace on every pecul of goods composing the cargo.
On country sh ip s................................................................................................
On large ships, (formerly belongingtothe E. I. Company,)............................
On American ships............................................................................................
The sum of$l,189£ on rice ships, includes all other custom-house charges.




$700
1000
700

I

454

Commercial Regulations and Treaties.

By a conclusion of the Committee of the General Chamber of Commerce, the
sum paid to the Hoppo on rice laden ships, should be considered a charge
on the vessel, not on the rice.................................... .................... ................. $939 50
And that the sum paid to the Linguist should also be charged to the ship....... 250 00
Total charges on ship............................................................................. $1189 50
And that all other charges should fall on the rice.
Measurement is charged at three different rates, according to the product arising from
multiplying the length between the mizen and foremasts by the breadth at the gangway,
and dividing the product by 10.
The first class, of which the product so arising is not less than 1600 covids or 1950
feet, pays 0.7874755 taels per covid, or, about $0.8974 per foot.
Second class, above 1200 covids, or 1462} feet, pays 0.7221031 taels per covid, or,
about $0.8229 per foot.
Third class, 1200 covids and under, pays 0.5062341 taels per covid, or, about $0.5229
per foot.
When the consignee of a ship has no share of her import or export cargo under his
management, the Hong merchants usually demand $600 or $700, to defray the charges
on securing her.
MACAO IMPORT DUTIES.

Goods imported into Macao, pay a duty of six per cent, on a fixed valuation,
valuation of, and the duty on, the undermentioned goods, are,
V a lu a tio n .

The
D u ly .

Betel nut, Gambier, and Rattans,....... per pecul..............taels 1.2000
taels 0072
Bicho de m ar.......................................
“
............. “
40.000
“ 2.400
Birds’ nests, first sort........................ per catty................. “ 22.400
“ 1.344
Broadcloth, fine.................................. per covid,.............. “
2.400
“
.144
“
middling............................
“
“ 1.600
.96
“
better than ordinary........
“
“ .800
“
.48
“
coarse................................
“
“ .4S0
“
.28
C am lets...............................................
“
“ .280
“
.16
Camphor, Malay, first sort.................per catty.............. “
18.400
“
1.104
Cardamoms, Cochinchina, & Mace.. .per pecul............... “ 160.000
“
9.600
Cloves, Moluccas................................
“
“22.400
“
1.344
“ Bourbon..................................
“
“17.600
“
1.056
Cochineal.............................................per catty................ 11
1.920
“
.115
Coral fragments, 1st sort....................per pecul................. “ 64.000
“ 3.849
Cotton and Pepper..............................
“
“ 4.000
“
.240
“ yarn and M. O’P. shells.........
“
“ 8.000
“
.400
Dragon’s blood and Tobacco le a f. . . .
“
“12.800
“
.763Elephants’ teeth, 1 to 12 to a pecul___
“
“56.000
“ 3.360
“
“28.800
Ginseng, American............................
“ 1.728
“ 2.736
Indigo, 1st sort....................................
“
“45.600
Lead in bars and Spelter.....................
“
“ 2.400
“
.144
Lead in sheets.....................................
“
“ 4.800
“
.288
Myrrh, 1st sort....................................
“
“12.000
“
.780
Putchuck.............................................
“
“ 6.400
“
.384
Quicksilver.........................................
“
“ 36.000
“ 2.160
Saltpetre, Bengal.................................
“
“ 4.000
“
.240
“
Coast of Goa.......................
“
“ 1.600
“
.60
Sandal wood, Malabar, 1st sort.........
“
“11.520
“
.663
“
Sandwich Islands.......
“
............. “
8.000
“
.490
Tin, Europe.........................................
“
“ 5.600
l;
.319
Tortoise shell, 1st sort........................
“
“ 460.000
“ 27.68}
Opium, imported in Portuguese ships, per chest.......................................
........$104
“
“
in foreign ships, per chest..............................................
........ 15}
Gold and Silver, in coin, bullion, or p late.................................................
2 per cent.
“
“
“
in Spanish vessels from Manilla. .1}
Pearls, Seed Pearls, Fine Corals, Diamonds, and other precious stones, in
conformity to the tariff of 1804 ..................................................................... 2
“
The Portuguese government does not levy any duties on goods exported from Macao.
The calculations are deduced from the pecul of 100 catties, equal to 33} arrateis, or cus­
tom-house pounds, 100 arrateis = 75 catties.




Navigation.

455

NAVIGATION.
NORTH AMERICAN MAILS — CONARD’s CONTRACT.

The government of Great Britain has entered into a formal contract with one of its
citizens, for the regular conveyance of the mails from Liverpool to Halifax, and from
thence to Boston, and, at all seasons when the St. Lawrence is unobstructed by ice,
from Pictou, in Nova Scotia, to Quebec, and thence back. Under an order of the
House of Commons, the contract of the government with Mr. Cunard has been printed,
and the terms of the contract are briefly stated below. As commercial men are more
deeply interested than all others in every improvement which increases the facility,
regularity, and certainty of our communication with Europe, we publish the following
summary of Mr. Cunard’s contract.
It stipulates that the mails shall be dispatched twice every month from Liverpool to
Halifax, and twice every month from Halifax to Liverpool. For executing this ser­
vice, Mr. Cunard is to provide and keep a sufficient number of good and efficient steam
vessels, furnished with engines of not less than three hundred horses’ power. Mr.
Cunard also undertakes to convey the mails and dispatches twice every calendar month
to Boston from Halifax, and to Halifax from Boston, and when the St. Lawrence is
unobstructed by ice, from Pictou, in Nova Scotia, to Quebec, and from Quebec to Pic­
tou, by good and substantial steam vessels, provided with engines of not less than one
hundred and fifty horses5 power. The contract is very specific as to those vessels be­
ing properly found, and provided with a sufficient crew of able seamen. The commis­
sioners of the admiralty are to appoint the two days in each month when the steamers
are to leave Liverpool and Halifax respectively, and they are to proceed, without loss
of time, direct to the end of their voyage. The dispatch of the mail from Halifax for
Boston is to take place as soon as possible after the arrival of the mail at Halifax, which
is likewise to be the case with the Quebec mail after the mail has reached Pictou. The
commissioners may also alter the days of sailing at their pleasure, but they must give
three months’ notice. At the same time they may always delay the departure of the
vessel for not more than twenty-four hours.
If at any time, from stress of weather or other unavoidable circumstances, the ves­
sel should be unable to reach the Mersey, the naval officer in charge of the mails or
dispatches may order the mails to be landed at Bristol, Falmouth, Plymouth, South­
ampton, Portsmouth, Dover, or Deal. For the naval officer, who is to be sent in charge
of the mails and dispatches, the contractor is to provide a suitable first-rate cabin, and
suitable accommodation for a servant, and is to victual the officer like a cabin passen­
ger. If the admiralty please to entrust the mails to the captain of any of the vessels, it
is authorized to do so, and the captain will be bound to take charge of them. A boat
of not less than four oars is to be provided for landing the officer and the mails. Any
stoppage, delay, or putting back into port, not sanctioned by the naval officer, will be
subject to a fine of £100, and a delay of twelve hours in not proceeding on a voyage
from either Liverpool or Halifax after the appointed time, subjects the contractor to a
fine of £590, as well as a further fine of £500 for every additional twelve hours’ delay.
A similar delay in the smaller vessels carrying the mails from Halifax to Boston will
be subject to a fine of £200.
Not less than four of the large steam boats for the voyage across the Atlantic are to
be always kept sea-worthy and in complete repair ; the number of the smaller ones is
not stipulated. The contractor binds himself to introduce and adopt all improvements
directed by the admiralty or suggested by the progress of science. To secure the good­
ness of the vessels, the naval officer in charge of the mails, calling other persons to his
assistance, has full power and authority to survey and examine the vessel whenever he
shall think fit; and repairs which he shall direct in writing, must be made as soon as
possible, under a penalty of £100. The lords of the admiralty, also, reserve to them­
selves a power to survey the vessels and to order any improvements to be made in them
which they think expedient, and the contractor must carry those improvements into
effect to the satisfaction of the admiralty, or forfeit £500. All these fines and penalties
may be stopped out of the money to be paid to the contractor by the Admiralty.
In addition, the contractor is to carry, if required, two chief cabin passengers, from
Liverpool to Halifax, or Halifax to Liverpool, for £30 each, and two fore-cabin passen­
gers at the rate of £15 each; and each seaman, soldier, or marine, at £4. The price
to be charged for such passengers from Halifax to Boston, or from Pictou to Quebec,
is to be, respectively, £5, £3, and £2. Moreover, the contractor is to take on board,
and carry, free of charge, all small packages, directed by the commissioners; and na­




456

Navigation.

val stores not exceeding five tons weight, on receiving two days’ notice that such stores
are to be sent.
In return for all these services, and maintaining all these vessels, the admiralty
agrees to pay to Mr. Cunard £00,000 per annum in quarterly payments. The con­
tract is to commence on June 1st, 1840, or an earlier day if so agreed on, and to continue
in force for seven years from the commencement, and thenceforward until twelve calen­
dar months’ notice, in writing, shall be given by either party.
No part of the contract is to be underlet, and no member of parliament, agreeably to
act of parliament, is to have a share of it. The whole concludes by Cunard binding
himself in a penalty of £15,000 to fulfil his part of the contract.
CHAIN CABLES.

A writer under the signature of “ an Old Shipper,” has published in the New Bed­
ford Mercury the following table of the strength of chains made of the best L o ic m o o r
i r o n . It will be seen by this table, that an inch bar of round iron breaks at a pressure
of seventeen tons; made into chain, twenty-nine tons break it; and. by the government
regulation, it is proved by a pressure of sixteen tons. The test to which they are sub­
mitted, is a hydraulic press, of a steady, gradually increasing power. A sudden jerk
or strain, like the motion of a ship in a short sea, is a severe trial to a cable. In such a
case, they will often break with much less strain than the tabular number. The float­
ing light ship of Liverpool is one hundred and twenty tons, has very short masts, no
yards, and is moored with two If inch chains, of one hundred and twenty fathoms each.
In the gale of the 6th of January, 1839, both her chains were broken, she was compelled
to desert her post, and, in consequence of her absence, many lives and several fine ships,
among them the Pennsylvania, were totally lost.
S i z e o f I ro n .

1-8
2
1 7-8
1 3-4
1 5-8
1 1-2
1 3-8
1 1-4
1 1-8
1
0 15-16
0 7-8
0 13-16
0 3-4
e n -16
0 5-8
0 9-16
0 1-2

•2

B rea k s w h en in B a rs .

B rea k s w hen m ade
in t o C h a in s .

at 80 tons pressure. at 138 tons pressure.
c:
120
69 “
CC
[(
103 CC
59 CC
cc
cc
88 c c
51 CC
c:
cc
43 cc
73 c c
c
c
c
c
c
c
63
37 ((
cc
cc
53 c c
31 cc
cc
cc
26 c c
44 c c
cc
CC
36 c c
21 c c
cc
cc
29 c c
17 C C
cc
cc
14 c c
24 c c
cc
cc
12 c c
21 c c
cc
cc
10 c c
17 c c
cc
cc
9 cc
16 c c
cc
cc
8 cc
14 c c
cc
cc
12 c c
7 CC
cc
cc
cc
cc
10
5i c c
cc
cc
cc
4i
7i

P r o v e d b y a stre s s o f

7*2tons.
64
56
48
42
36
30
25
20
16
14
12
10i
9
7*
6
5
4

FRENCH TRADE.

Habits of piracy and fraud have been introduced into French commerce, says the
Courier Francais, once famed for its honesty. M. Duchatel, when Commerce Minis­
ter, was obliged to denounce in a public circular the shameful tricks practised by
French traders in South America. A short time since, the Bordeaux papers published
a letter from Martinique, complaining of the way in which the flour sent from France
was adulterated. The English may buy our wines at Bordeaux and supplant French
wine-merchants not only abroad, since it is known that French manufacturers send
cloth without solidity, and fraudulent measure. Everywhere and in every branch
French reputation is discredited by greedy men, anxious merely for momentary gain.
France keeps only the commerce of mode and fashions. The speech of the President
of the Tribunal of Commerce proves how low commerce is fallen. The dividends in
bankruptcies have been but 15 per cent., on an average, for the last two years. In 496
bankruptcies the primitive capital was not more than six millions of francs, or 240J.
per individual; whilst the debts incurred amounted to forty millions of francs. Thus
the average that each of these persons, witfya capital of 6,000 francs, continued to spend,
was 11,300 francs each year, for six years.




Navigation.

457

MISSISSIPPI STEAMBOATS.

In one of the late numbers of the “ Ladies’Companion,” — aliterary periodical, whose
elevated tone confers honor upon the literature of our country, and which often diversi­
fies its lighter and more entertaining contents with valuable information, — wefind the
following statistics of the steamboat navigation of the Mississippi:
11A steamboat of three hundred and twenty-five tons, costs, when completely
fitted out, from forty to fifty thousand dollars. A boat of this tonnage will carry five
hundred tons .down stream. It will carry fifteen hundred bales of cotton on deck.
From Memphis to New Orleans, the freight of cotton is two dollars per bale; from
Vicksburg and vicinity, one and a half; all points between Natchez, one dollar. The
furnaces consume twenty-four cords of wood a day, for which from three to four dol­
lars a cord is paid. The price of wood is increasing every year, and is higher in Low­
er than in Upper Mississippi. The charge for freight is, from New Orleans to St.
Louis, on groceries and heavy articles, seventy-five cents per hundred ; from New Or­
leans to Louisville, fifty cents. There are a greater number of boats in the latter trade,
and therefore the competition is closer. The expenses, which also show the number of
officers and employees, of the steamer above mentioned, are as follows :
Cost of the boat........................................................................$40,000
Captain’s salary, per m onth...................................................... 150 00
Clerk’s salary, per month.......................................................... 130 00
Two pilots, each $200 per month..............................................400 00
First mate, per month................................................................ 80 00
Second mate, per month............................................................ 55 00
Two engineers, $100 each, per month....................................... 200 00
Eight deck hands, $40 each, per month..................................... 320 CO
Sixteen firemen, $35 each, per m onth....................................... 500 00
Steward, $60 per month............................................................. 60 00
Two cooks, at $50 each, per month......................................... ICO 00
Cabin boys, waiters, and chambermaids, altogether, per month 200 00
Total amount of wages per month......... $2,255 00
The daily expenses of the boat for wood, are ninety-five dollars ; and we have, be­
sides, to consider the cost of the table.
1 It will be seen by the above list of expenses, that the original cost, outfit, and mainte­
nance of a steamer, are very great; and no fact of greater force than this, can be advan­
ced to prove the extent of that trade, which can employ five hundred such boats, and
these constantly making money for their owners. Some boats pay for themselves du­
ring the first year. As they are constructed lightly, compared with ships, they do not
last long, and a boat that has been running five years is considered old; indeed, five
years, with the constant wear and tear they meet with, is sufficient to render them unfit
for farther use.
RATES OF PILOTAGE ESTABLISHED BY THE BAHAMA LEGISLATURE.

Information has been communicated to the Department of State, at Washington, by
the acting consul of the United States at Turk’s Island, of an act of the Bahama Legis­
lature, passed 21st of June, 1839, (in force for five years,) establishing the rates of pilotage.
For every vessel anchored opposite the towns of Grand or Salt Key,
From 50 to 100 tons....................................................................$150
100 to 150 tons................................................................... 200
150 to 200 tons................................................................... 350
200 to 300 tons, and upwards.......................................... 400
For every vessel anchored at the Riding Place,
From 50 to 100 tons............................................*.............. $2 00
2 50
100 to 150 tons..........................................
150 to 200 tons.................................................................. 400
200 to 300 tons, and upw ards........................................... 500
For every vessel conducted through the reef into the H awk’s Nest,
From 50 to 100 tons.................................................................. $250
100 to 150 tons.................................................................. 500
150 to 200 tons................................................................... 700
200 to 300 tons............... 1............................................ 9 00
300 tons, and upwards................................................ 13 00
The eighth clause gives to the pilot acting as Harbor Master, in the removal of ves­
sels, “ a fee equal to a moiety of the fee for the pilotage of any ship or other vessel.”
VOL. I . ----NO. V.




58

Commercial Statistics.

458

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.
COMMERCE OP SOUTH CAROLINA, FROM

1789 TO 1838.

EXPORTS.

£

Domestic. Foreign.

1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
1799
1800
1,801
1832
947,765
1803 6,863,343
1804 5,142,100 2,309,516
1805 5,957,646 3,108,979
1806 6,797,061 2,946,718
1807 7,129,365 3,783,199
260,402
1808 1,404,043
385,972
1809 2,861,369
408,774
1810 4,881.810
210,295
1811 4,650,984
1812 2,024,834
11,361
53,449
1813 2,915,035
1,428
1814
736.471
100,346
1815 6.574.783
403,196
1816 10,446,213
428,270
1817 9,944,343
256,664
1818 11,184,293
236.192
1819 8,014,598
192,401
1820 8.690,539
332,996
1821 6,867,515
123,954
1822 7,136.366
226,816
182c 6,671,998
1824 7,833,71c
200,369
1825 10,876,475
180,267
1826 7,468,966
85,070
133,065
1827 8,189,496
42,142
1823 6,508,571
40,910
1829 8,134,676
46,210
1830 7,580.821
1831 6,528,605
46,596
1832 7,685,833
66.898
96,813
1833 8,337,512
88,213
1834 11,119,565
113,718
1835 11,224,298
1836 13,482,757
201,619
81,169
1837 11,138,992
1838 11,017.391
24,679
* Ending September 30.




Registered
tonnage.
Total.
2,693,268
2,42,"t,250
3,191,867
3.867,908
5,938,492
7,620,019
6,505,118
6,994,179
8,729,015
10,663.510
14,301,045
10,639,365
7,811,108
7,451,616
9.06^,6*25
9,743,782
10,912,564
1,664,445
3,247,341
5,290,614
4,861,279
2,036,195
2,968,484
737,899
6.675,129
10,819,409
10,372,613
11,440,962
8,250,790
8,882,940
7,200,511
7,260,320
1,8.98.814
8,034,082
11,056,742
7,554,036
8,322.561
6,550,712
8,175.586
7,627,031
6,575,201
7,752,731
8,434,325
1,207,778
11,338.016
13,684.376
11,220,161
11,042,070

525,845 3,685
364,128 3,360
398,571 35.413
718,431 56,037
783,297 60,650
413,322 346,448
1,282,229 564,203
634,495 360,420
2,000,3061,091,963
2,2113,8121,006,784
2,257,1001,221,253
1,206,350. 863,399
867,126 217,329
1,061,806 335,841
1.303,812 448.813
1,334,518 419.3M)
1,352,778 594,3-6
452,279 171,592
537,043 137,600
697,255 138,855
386,355 32,444
457.288 14,081
272,705 20,530
149,353
1,450
1,400,887 16,058
1,474,474 106,489
1,145,678 88,876
1,308,104 29.950
813,829 31,601
613.698 25,993
595,318 48,286
794,001 25,513
765,899 42.608
732,077 50,524
661,328 53,292
573.707 55.066
592.026 24,160
450,967 17.978
490,750 18,348
497,397 21,586
505,050 16,291
523,031 34,384
401,634 12,888
459,935
7,535
3,652
453,391
682,383 12,831

23,856 00
21,338 CO
12,998 15
21,369 35
25.483 75
29.994 17
31,360 57
33,753 22
38,567 42
43,731 70
51,192 21
31,353 75
30,993 34
41,868 75
35,107 60
40,158 61
45,222 85
41,628 11
42,675 74
43,354 77
19,390 23
14,959 72
17,476 22
21,596 76
24,501 39
23.880 84
24,390 83
14,584 94
15,591 29
15,177 25
16,249 32
12,842 65
12.275 68
12.176 51
10,712 07
12,066 50
12.694 82
12,871 44
7,842 03
7.043 48
5,802 88
5,837 21
6.038 19
6,200 37
9,314 12*
9.260 32*
8,413 53*
11,848 24

3,007,113
2,283,586
2,419,101
2,166,185
1,892,297
1,534,483
1,434,106
1,242,048
1,139,618
1,054,619
1,238,163
1,213,725
1,517,705
1,787,267
1,891,805
2,801,361
2,510.860
2,318,791
[From Hazard's V. S. Register.

STATEMENT OF TEA EXPORTED INTO THE UNITED STATES IN THE SEASON OF

1838- 39.




Black Teas, Peculs 11,761
Green Teas, Peculs 52,949
Total Peculs, 64,710

i ‘24
1682
201
196

280
230

34

46

155
497
208
548
105
632
227
344
184
400
235

194
308
360
417

Peculs 1826 6468
Chests 2898 10780

3201
6402

1826

6
40

i-27

428
50
141
112
49
77
326
265

1912
992
2010
187
1951
1156
1704
1465
1797
962

115
50
245

2186
2175
1135
3491
371
2516
632
2062
2401
1060
3552

156

ioo
410

278

582

213
296

64
4
25

300
230
397
60
34

71
195 3621 35717
142
487 7242 52525
Chests 20,709
“ 79,607
Chests, 100,316

£ .

i74
45
497
26
855

§
s .
i- 3
C5

I m p e r ia l.

237
218

O ra n g e
Pecco.

315
253
252

H yso n
S k in .

New York.
do.
do.
New York v i a Manilla.
New York.
New York v i a Manilla.
Philadelphia.
New York.
do.
do.
Manilla and New York.
New York.
Manilla and New York.
New York.
do.
do.
do.
Boston.
New York.
do.
do.
do.

4
§ §
0 ,4

Young
H y so n .

Mandarin...................
Splendid.....................
Baptiste Mezick.........
H indoo......................
Philippe 1st................
Levant........................
Commerce..................
Albion........................
Mary Chilton.............
York............................
Ceylon........................
Trenton......................
A sia............................
J. N. Gossler.............
London.......................
Omega........................
Francis Stanton.........
Vancouver................
N iantic.......................
G irard ........................
M ay 9 R om an.......................
14 Canada.......................

1838. July 4
24
24
6
August 8
12
Sept. 20
Nov. 19
20
1839. Jan. 12
21
30
Feb. 1
5
7
March 20

s £
<0

P ecco .

D e s tin a tio n .

S h ip s .

T e a , G re e n , P e c u ls .
H y so n .

Commercial Statistics.

D e sp a tc h .

C ongo.

T e a , B la c k , P e c u ls .

468
238
287
119
385
84
144
580
245
412
115
95
239
888
117
18
328

418
147
148
82
248
131
155
303
168
262
67
140
125
826
117
47
222

360
297
137
234

79
21

114
125

i65
6
35

ii)3
485
90
284

38
432
60
215

3230
6314

306
502

5724
6896

4351
6128

460

Mercantile Miscellanies.

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.
NEW YORK MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.

Below we present the prospectus of the lectures to be delivered before the Associa­
tion the ensuing season, commencing on the 1st of November, and concluding on the
24th of March next. W e congratulate the members on the rich intellectual treat in
store for them The subjects are judiciously selected, and will be treated in a mas­
terly manner by the able men to whom the duty is entrusted. It will be seen that the
list comprises some of our best scholars and professional gentlemen. W e entertain so
high a respect for the worth and abilities of the whole, that we cannot take a single ex­
ception to them. They form a bright galaxy, such as is seldom presented to the lovers
of science and literature. Much credit is due to the president and directors for their
liberality and judgment in securing the services of so many eminent literary gentle­
men, who by their talents and the great diversity of subjects cannot fail to make this
the most interesting course that has ever been given. It is truly gratifying to witness
the continued exertions of this meritorious institution, in constantly affording additional
sources of improvement to its members, now, we believe, exceeding 5000 in number.
F i r s t C o u rse .

Introductory Lecture, Friday, November 1st, 1839, by Professor Denison Olmsted.
On the Atmosphere and its Phenomena, ten Lectures, by Professor Denison Olmsted.
1. Moral Influence of the Literature of the last and present Centuries—2. On the
Battle of Bunker Hill, two Lectures, by the Hon. Alexander H. Everett.
On the Moral Philosophy of Human Life, two Lectures, by Orville Dewey, D. D.
On the Accordance of Geology with the Mosaic Record of the “ Six Days,” one Lec­
ture, by the Rev. Thomas C. Levins.
On the Constitution of the United States, two Lectures, by the Hon. Benjamin F.
Butler.
On Schiller, six Lectures, by the Rev. Charles Follen.
On Transcendentalism, one Lecture, by the Rev. Henry W . Bellows.
S e c o n d C ou rse.

Introductory Lecture, Monday, Jan. 20th, 1840, by Charles Constantine Pise, D. D.
On the Principles of Credit, one Lecture, by C. Francis Adams, Esq.
On Music, two Lectures, by Samuel W ard, Jr. Esq.
On Henry Grattan, two Lectures, by the Rev. Thomas C. Levins.
On the Chemistry of Nature, ten Lectures, by John Torrey, M. D.
On Education, two Lectures, by the Hon. Horace Mann.
On the Philosophy of History, three Lectures, by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
On Meteoric Stones, two Lectures, by Professor Sillimun.
1. Life and Writings of Dante—2. Life and Writings of Chaucer, three Lectures,
by Professor Henry W . Longfellow.
NINETEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF TH E BOSTON MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.

This old and valuable Institution, whose merits are well known, and whose influ­
ence has been long and widely exerted, celebrated its 19th anniversary on the evening
of the 30th of September, by an address from the Hon. Rufus Choate, and a poem by a
member of the society. Of the address it will be no mean praise to say, it was every
way worthy to follow the eloquent and beautiful performance of Governor Everett,
who officiated as orator last year. Of the manner and matter of that address, criticism
throughout the country has placed them, beyond a doubt, amongst the highest efforts of
genius, and we are happy to say Mr. Choate’s production will not suffer by compari­
son with that splendid effort.
A crowded and brilliant audience filled the hall to the very ceiling, long before the
exercises commenced, and throughout the whole evening the interest did not flag for a
moment.
It is with deep regret we notice, that it is Mr. Choates’ invariable rule to decline all
invitations of publication. W e hoped to have seen in print the patriotic and thrilling
words which electrified that numerous assembly, confident that the community at large
would appreciate and profit by the admirable sentiments which they conveyed. W e
do not remember ever to have heard this gentleman to more advantage. As an orator,
he is certainly unsurpassed in the country ; and as a bold and vigorous writer, there are
few if any superior minds in New England. The themes which he chose for the occa­




Mercantile Miscellanies.

461

sion, were those which no other individual could handle with greater effect and energy.
The peculiar duty of the merchant to his country,—his influence in time of peace and
war,—was the groundwork of that glorious chain of thought, which the orator poured
forth with surpassing skill and power. No one engaged in mercantile pursuits, could
have listened to this address without imbibing a pure lesson of patriotism, and rejoicing
in the lot to which providence had cast him. The burning words of this eloquent son
of Massachusetts, will live long in the memories of that youthful band, who came up *
to gather lessons of wisdom and strength for the daily business and warfare of life.
The poem which followed the address, was a neat and appropriate offering from one
of the gentlemen who composed the society. It was well delivered, and elicited fre­
quent applause. Allusions to many of the exciting topics of the day, were happily
made, and received with great good nature by the audience.
The annual election for the choice of officers of the association occurred on the 2d in­
stant. Mr. Atkins, who has long presided over the interests of the Institution with so
much zeal and prudence, declined a re-election. A committee was chosen from the
members to offer him sincere thanks, for the faithful and impartial manner in which he
had performed the duties of his situation. He leaves the presidential chair with the
good wishes of all.
Many of the directors, who had been in office sometime, also declined serving another
season. The following list was chosen for the ensuing year.
EDW ARD STEARNS, President..
SAMUEL E. SAWYER, Vice President.
DIRECTORS.

W . N. Fairbanks,
N. P. Kemp,
D. N. Haskell,
Allen Hephard,
N. Greene, Jr.
P. Gildersleeve,
H . J. Burton,
W . D. Weston.
E. P. Whipple,
E. A. H obart, Treasurer.
Tnos. J. A llen, Secretary.
If this institution continues to advance as rapidly as it has done for the last few years,
it will be second to none of its kind in the country. New rooms are greatly needed, on
the plan of those in Clinton Hall, and it is confidently hoped, that ere long, the mer­
chants of Boston will place at the disposal of this praiseworthy society, a suitable
building for their fast increasing library. Members are constantly joining, and larger
accommodations are loudly called for.
F.
MERCANTILE LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA.

This society, we are glad to learn, have resolved to have a course of lectures during
the ensuing winter. The hours of leisure that even the most sedulous votary of busi­
ness necessarily finds, are golden hours, if consecrated by the charms of the Library, or
the instruction of the lecture room ; and in the series of lectures to be undertaken by the
Mercantile Library Company, much advantage may justly be anticipated. The in­
troductory lecture will be delivered on the first Friday evening in the present month, by
the Hon. John Sergeant, to be followed on each successive Friday evening, by the fol­
lowing gentlemen :
Hon. Sami. L. Southard,
J. R. Chandler, Esq.
Sami. Rush, Esq.
Wm. M. Meredith, Esq.
Professor Yethake,
Dr. Emerson,
Rev. Albert Barnes, •
J. R. Tyson, Esq.
Rev. John Coleman.
Hon. Judge Conrad.
M. M‘Michael, Esq.
David P. Brown, Esq.
Dr. M'Murtie.
Rev. Thos. H. Stockton,
James S. Smith, Esq.
YOUNG m e n s ’ INSTITUTE OF HARTFORD, CONN.

W e are pleased to find by the first annual report of this young and vigorous institu­
tion, established for the moral and intellectual improvement of its members, that it is
in a very prosperous condition. The number of volumes in the Institute already ex­
ceeds 5,600. A reading room has been attached to the library, and several gentlemen
of eminent abilities have been engaged to deliver a course of lectures the ensuing sea­
son. The success of this and similar institutions throughout the country, established




462

Mercantile Miscellanies.

and supported by our young men, must be highly gratifying to the patriot and philan­
thropist, affording evidence, as it does, that the vain and frivolous pleasures of youth
are giving place to higher and more rational enjoyments.
The following are the names of the officers of the Institute: Henry Barnard, Presi­
dent; George G. Spencer and Wm. M. Durand, Vice Presidents; Wm. N. Matson
# and G. F. Davis, Secretaries; Erastus Collins, Treasurer; J. S. Morgan, J. D. W il­
lard, E. W . Coleman, A. Storrs, and Alfred Gill, Directors.
BOOK-KEEPING.
T h e S cien ce o f D o u b le E n t r y B o o k -k e e p in g s im p lif ie d , a r r a n g e d , a n d m e th o d iz e d , e x ­
p la i n e d b y d e fin ite r u le s , a n d i llu s tr a te d b y e n tr ie s c la sse d i n a m a n n e r e n tir e ly d iffe r ­
e n t f r o m a n y w o r k e v e r before offered to th e p u b lic ; a lso , c o n ta in in g a K e y , e x p la in in g
th e m a n n e r o f j o u r n a l i z i n g , a n d th? n a tu r e o f th e bu sin ess tr a n s a c tio n o f each o f th e D a y ­
book e n tr ie s , to g e th e r w i t h P r a c t i c a l F o r m s f o r k e e p in g books, a s c ir c u m s ta n c e s m a y
d ir e c t, i n d iff e r e n t c o m m e r c ia l h o u s e s ; P u b lic L e c tu r e s , <pc., <pe. By J. C. C olt,

Accountant.
Franklin.

Fourth Edition. New York: William Jackson, and Robinson &

In a commercial community like ours, the scientific mode of keeping accounts is a
study of surpassing interest. For many years it has attracted attention commensurate
with its importance. At the present moment, when our mercantile concernments are
so widely extended, and when consequently the qualifications for success must so far
exceed those formerly demanded, the mysteries of Book-keeping have excited such in­
creased notice, that the press swarms with commentators. Nearly all these profess to
have discovered some royal road to the science, which makes the last adventurer always
represent himself as a lit t l e b e tte r than any who has gone before him.
The work now upon our table puts forth no pretensions of this nature. It parades
no new and talismanic plan, which is to cast all others into oblivion, and create ac­
countants by a charm. The author supposes that the primary principles of the science
have been long thoroughly established. He confines himself, therefore, to making these
understood. But he has observed that in practice these principles assume very differ­
ent forms, sometimes varying to a degree which would lead a superficial observer to
deny them a common parentage. Mr. Colt shows that the genus is the same, although
the species differ. Here is his originality; and the scheme he has hit upon is not only
intelligent, but philosophical.
Far different is the course usually pursued. All previous authors on the subject —
at least all those with whose works we are familiar — suppose the book-keeper at his
counting-house desk, noting each entry as it might occur by chance in business, when
at one moment a chest of tea is sold, at another a ship to be freighted for the Indies;
when, next, goods are received on commission, afterwards a consignment is made to
Europe, and then a speculation is adventured on in the stocks. Now, all these are good
business-like entries, no doubt; but each belong to different, very different classes. To
fling them together in this heterogene manner, only confuses the uninstructed, who re­
quires in the outset to be impressed with that well weighed order, that spirit of classifi­
cation, which has earned for Book-keeping its title of a science.
How does Mr. Colt get over this 'l W e will try to show.
He considers, as we have before stated, that the fundamental principles of Book-keep­
ing are immutable, but that in practice they express themselves in five different forms.
He first explains the unalterable basis of the science ; he then carries the learner through
each of the five varieties it assumes in practice. In his illustrations he exhibits every
possible shape of entry, and with such clearness and simplicity as to render all of them
perfectly comprehensible even to a child.
The five different forms of whicli we have spoken, are classed as follows:
The first class illustrates a regular running merchandise account, or such entries as
arise in a store where goods are regularly bought and sold.
The second confines itself to those entries and accounts proceeding from the purchase
and sale of stocks, real estate, and general agencies for such purposes.
The third illustrates such entries and accounts as are common to a house receiving
goods to sell on commission, or doing a commission business.
The fourth exhibits those entries and accounts which arise from consigning goods
to be sold on commission, singly and in partnership.
The fifth is limited to single and joint speculations.
When we stated that the illustrations of these five classes include every description of
entry which can arise in business, we should have added, that in addition to such as are
appropriate to each respective class, some may occasionally occur which cannot dis­




Mercantile Miscellanies.

463

tinctly be assigned to either. For this case Mr. Colt has provided. He very adroitly
scatters these anomalous entries among the main divisions, in such a manner as to
make them explain themselves without disturbing the order of the rest.
There needs no argument to prove that by this novel mode of classification, a more
thorough knowledge of the science can be communicated, than by the old and jumbled
system which has so long prevailed amongst us, and which is still supported in the
more recent works of various authors. The plan of Mr. Colt displays a sound good
sense, in addition to its novelty, which must recommend it, not only to such as are study­
ing the science for their own use, but to those who are engaged in teaching it to others.
The predecessors of Mr. Colt have gone no farther than the development of the fun­
damental principles of Book-keeping. Mr. Colt, alone, does not stop here. Besides
giving the various forms in practice, and rivetting in the learner’s mind those princi­
ples of the science which are found so invaluable in later life, Mr. Colt imagines his
pupil in actual business on his own account, and supplies him with so great a variety
of models for keeping his books on the principles of double entry, that the young mer­
chant cannot be unprepared for any situation which may chance thereafter to arise.
These practical models for keeping books indicatedn Mr. Colt a much more compre­
hensive view of the subject than has ever been taken before. They supply a desidera­
tum, the lack of which has disenabled students from satisfying their employers, and
given them very harsh thoughts of those instructors who have sent them into the count­
ing-house, with the assurance that they were fully qualified to perform all its duties.
Whoever will examine Mr. Colt’s production, may discern at once why he has succeed­
ed in overcoming this disadvantage. It is, simply, because he has not, like others,
failed to discriminate between the method of expounding the principles of the science,
and the form or forms for keeping books in practice. W e should suppose that these
practical models for keeping books, which have never been given by any writer, before
Mr. Colt, would to young accountants be invaluable.
Of the day-book entries and miscellaneous forms, — accounts current, for example,—
and the like, we forbear to give any description, because all such works contain some­
thing of the sort. Nevertheless, even in these Mr. Colt has evinced no common skill
and judgment, by exhibiting them in shapes as nearly original as possible, and always
so as to impress them, and make them instructive. And there are other recommenda­
tions, not usually found in works of this nature, to which attention ought to be pointed:
among these, we would particularize certain directions to the learner, a vocabulary of
mercantile terms and phrases, and a key explaining the nature of the most difficult
transactions, and the manner of journalizing each of the day-book entries.
In the close of Mr. Colt’s work, it appears, that the importance of acquiring a know­
ledge of the science which it unfolds, has been urged by the author in several public
addresses, which are to be found in the appendix. As nothing of the kind has been be­
fore published, their novelty will at least excite curiosity. They will gratify, without
doubt, those for whom they were intended, and stimulate young men to a laudable am­
bition for a general knowledge of commerce. This article has already extended too far
to allow of our offering any extracts, as was at first our purpose; hence, we must be
satisfied with remarking, that they are expressed with great earnestness, and show a
high sense of the dignity of the study for which their author has given such an able
manual.
P.
A PICTORIAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE WORLD.

Edited by S. G. Goodrich.
The editor of this extensive publication, has a name particularly associated with
juvenile literature, but it is well known that he is able to cope successfully with sub­
jects which demand the exercise of masculine intellect. The present work, of which
one or two numbers have been issued, is demonstrative of this. W e have seldom seen
a publication which seemed more fully to accomplish its design, than this — so far as
we have examined it. Its particular object is to popularise geography; to give a pre­
sent view of the world, physical, political, commercial, and moral — setting forth the
various topics in.the most entertaining, useful, and practical manner.
The whole work will contain 1100 large royal 8vo. pages, and will be enriched by
1000 illustrative engravings. Its utility as a family book — as a magazine of geogra­
phical knowledge for school, and other libraries, is too obvious to need our notice; but
it is particularly entitled to our attention as a storehouse of valuable and accurate com­
mercial intelligence. Geography is one of the first studies that should engage the at­
tention of merchants; and we have seen no work comparable to this, in convenience
and utility, to our own citizens. The United States are fully treated in the work; and




464

Mercantile Miscellanies.

we perceive much valuable information in respect to the western states and territories,
Texas, etc., which we have not noticed elsewhere. Some interesting statistical tables
wr shall take the liberty to transfer to future numbers of our magazine.
W e cannot do a better service to our commercial friends, than to commend this work
to their attention. It'will prove a most useful counting-house companion, and espe­
cially claims the notice of young men who are fitting themselves for mercantile pur­
suits. No man understands the art of making the acquisition of knowledge agreeable
and effectual better than Mr. Goodrich, and he seems to have employed his skill to good
advantage in the present instance. He has, of course, had large assistance in the pre­
paration of this work, and we are not assured that he is the writer of the sketches of
manners and customs dispersed through the volume. It will strike the reader, however,
that they are written with great raciness and just discrimination, quite unlike the prosy
delineations of the Morses and Pinkertons of other days.
IMPORTATION OF WHEAT.

It is stated in the Baltimore Chronicle, that the quantity of wheat which was im­
ported into the United States, in 1837, exceeded by far all the importation of that grain
since the settlement of the country. The following tabular statement shows the great
disproportion between the receipts of wheat in several years.
Q u a n t i t y o f W h e a t im p o r te d in to th e U n ite d S ta le s , d u r i n g th e s e v e r a l y e a r s e n d in g o n
th e 301A S ep tem b er.
B u s h e ls.

Y ear.

1831 ..................... 620
1832
............ 1,168
1833 ......................1,600
Y ear.

Y ear.

B u s h e ls.

1834 ................. 1,225
1835
........ 238,769
1836
.........533,698

B u s h e ls.

Y ear.

1837............... 3,921,259
1838............... 844,536

T h e e x p o r ta tio n o f W h e a t f o r th e sa m e y e a r s w a s a s f o l l o w s :
B u s h e ls.
Y ear.
B u s h e ls.
Y ear.

1831
1832
1833

408,810
88,304
32,221

1834........
1835 .......
1836........

1837.
1838.

B u s h e ls.

.. 17,303
.. 6,291

Y ear.

T h e e x p o r ta tio n o f W h e a t F l o u r i n th e sa m e y e a r w a s a s f o U m c s :
Y ea r.
B u sh e ls.
B u sh e ls.
Y ear.
B u s h e ls.

1831.
1832.
1833.

____ 1,806,529
.......... 864,919
......... 955,768

1834 ................. 835,352
1835 ................. 779,396
1836
....... 505400

1837
1838

....... 318.719
....... 448,161

GOLD AND SILVER.

It is stated in the Miners’ Journal, that the product of gold in forty years (from 1790
to 18307 from the mines of Mexico, Chili, Buenos Ayres, and Russia, was 17,003,579
pounds sterling, and the product of silver from the same mines, in the same period,
amounted to 170,326,620 pounds sterling. The annual coinageof gold and silver in the
mints of Mexico, including Guanaxuato, Zacatecas, Guadalaxara, Durango, San Luis,
and Ilapan, is about eleven million of dollars, and the annual coinage of the mints
of Lima and Cuzco, about two million of dollars. The entire exportation of
dollars from Chili in three years was only three million, and the different smelting
works of Peru do not annually turn out more than two million and a half of dollars
in bars of silver. The product of the mines is diminishing every year, and will con­
tinue to diminish, not only on account of the exhaustion of the metal, and the increased
difficulty of working the mines, but from the disturbed state of the countries in which
they are situated.
COMMERCE OF NEW ORLEANS.

The commercial year of New Orleans terminates on the 30th of September, and the
operations during the year just closed, are thus stated in Levy’s Commercial Intelli­
gencer : It appears that 1825 vessels from sea, and 1573 steamboats, have arrived in
the port of New Orleans, besides flat-boats, barges, and pirogues, so numerous, that no
one has ventured to keep an account of them. In the river craft, have been brought thi­
ther, 593,000 bales of cotton, 70,000 hogsheads of sugar, 25,000 hogsheads of molasses,
39,630 hogsheads of tobacco, 436,237 barrels of flour, 218,673 kegs of lard, 205,007 pigs
lead, 166,113 barrels of pork, and 7,192,156 pounds of pork in bulk, 1,700,003 staves,
20,000 hogsheads bacon, besides 1,50b,900 pounds bacon in bulk, 30,000 barrels whis­
key, 49,539 pieces Kentucky bagging, 63,107 coils bale rope, and a great variety of ar­
ticles of minor importance.