Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made

of these, a sloop, floated the flag of France and a signal of distress. An American ship ran alongside the stranger, in answer to her signal, and found that the French captain had lost

at Britain, and that the American coast was so well lined with British cruisers that he would never reach port but as a prize. "What shal

war vessel which now made its appearance at the mouth of the bay. Philadelphia was reached in due time, and, as the war bade fair to put an end to his voyages, the captain sold the sloop and her cargo, of which he was part owner, and, entering a small store in Water Street, began the business of a grocer and wine-bottler. His capital was small, his business trifling in e

d to play so important a part in the history of the ci

on, with merely a knowledge of reading and writing. When he was quite young, his mother died, and, as his father soon married again, the severity of a step-mother was added to his other troubles. When about thirteen years of age, he left home, with his father's consent, and began, as a cabin-boy, the life of a mariner. For nine years he sailed between Bordeaux and the French West Indies, rising steadily from his position of cabin-boy to that of mate. He improved his leisure time at sea, until he was not only master of the art of navigation, but generally well

was willing to undertake any honest means of increasing his subsistence. He bought and sold any thing, from groceries to old "junk." His chief profi

s of insanity, which became so decided that her husband was compelled to place her in the State Asylum for the Insane. He appears to have done every thing in his power to restore her to reason. Being pronounced cured, she returned to her home, but in 1

near Burlington, New Jersey, where he carried on his bottling business. His claret commanded a ready sale among the British in Philade

scouraging circumstance, Girard worked on steadily, scorning no employment, however humble, that would yield a profit. Already he had formed the plans which led to his immense wealth, and he was now patiently carrying out the most trying and disheartening preliminaries. Whatever he undertook prospered, and though his gains were small, they were carefully husba

a range of frame buildings in Water Street, one of which he occupied himself, with the privilege of a renewal for a similar period. Rents were very low at that time, as business was prostrated and people were despondent; but Girard, looking far beyond the present, saw a prosperous future

conduct their affairs harmoniously, and in 1790 the firm was dissolved by mutual consent. Stephen Girard's share of the profits at th

ing more. They never returned, doubtless falling victims to the fury of the brutal negroes, and when the vessels were ready to sail there was no one to claim the property they contained. It was taken to Philadelphia, and was most liberally advertised by Mr. Girard, but as no owner ever appear

, he would send it to Bordeaux, where the proceeds of her cargo would be invested in wine and fruit. These she would take to St. Petersburg and exchange for hemp and iron, which were sold at Amsterdam for coin. From Amsterdam she would proce

e was always prepared to survey the field of commerce from a high stand-point. He was familiar with the ports with which he dealt, and was always able to obtain such information concerning them as he desired, in advance of his competitors. H

o Mr. --, Commander and Supercarg

delph

rudent to request my Liverpool correspondents to consign the ship --, cargo, and specie on board, to Mr. --, merchant at Batavia, subject to your control, and have requested said Liverpool friends to make a separate invoice and b

ly I give him the preference. I am sorry to observe, however, that he is alone in a country where a partner appears to me indispensable to a commercial house, as

September, --, when she had on board only nineteen hundred peculs of coffee, are the motives which have compelled me to request of my Liverpool friends

ointing out to you the plan of conduct which I wish you to pursue on your arrival at Batavia, and during your stay at

at that place as a man of good credit, and merits full confidence, you are to deliver to him my Liverpool consignees' letters to his address, and also th

n board untouched, and in the said boxes or packages as they were in when shipped from Liverpool, well

the coffee purchased on account of the ship --, then you are to receive the said coffee, and pay or deliver to your consignee Spanish dollars to the amount of said purchase, and no more, having due regard to the premium or advance allowed at Batavia on old Spanish dollars; and in that way you are to continue paying or delivering dollars as fast

erchants of that place, to communicate your instructions relative to the disposal of the Liverpool cargo, on board of the ship --, the loading of that ship with good merchantable coffee, giving the preference to the first quality whenever it can be purchased on reasonable terms for cash,

made at an out-port, the ship -

very dear one, particularly as the fair purchaser, who has no other object in view but to invest his money, does not stay on the footing of compet

from individuals, as far as practicable, and if the whole quantity necessary to load th

ssel at Batavia, the prices of coffee at the government sales

mense imports of tea into the several ports of Europe, the price of that leaf has been lowered to such a degree as to

future unfavorable prospect to the importers of that article. Indeed, I am convinced that, within a few months from this date, coffee will be ten per cent. cheaper in the United States than what it has been at Batavia for these two year

means in your power to facilit

economy), not amount to the specie funds and net proceeds of her Liverpool cargo, in that event you are to deliver the surplus to your consignee, who will give you a receipt for the

by first good vessel to the United States, or via Europe, to care of my correspondents

money at Batavia, you are to bring it back in Spanish d

osed the sales of the Liverpool cargo, so that you may be the bearer of all the documents, and account-current, relative to the final transactions of the consignment of the

time informed of the several articles of produce and manufactures from each of those places which are the most in demand and quickest of sale at Java. Also of the quantity of eac

o the ship and cargo at Java are two and a half per cent, for selling, and t

fidence, to see that the goods are safely delivered on board of the ship, to

omparatively, to the plunder which has been committed on bo

disbursements of my ships, whenever ship and ca

oard of your ship, and not to go on shore except when the

id Messrs. --, deliver them the aforesaid letter and the consignment of the ship -- and cargo, after having agreed with them in writing, which they will sign and deliver to you, that they engage to transact the business of the ship and cargo on the terms and conditions herein stated; and when tha

to satisfy the curious, tell them that it is probable that the ship will take in molasses, rice, and sugar, if the price of that produce is very low, adding that the whole will depend on the success in selling the small Liverpool cargo. The consignees of said cargo should follow the same line of conduct, and if prop

ults from telling one's business to others, except to create jealousy or c

the necessity of being silent, and to attend with activity,

at sea in fine climates, during your voyage to Batavia, and to take correct extracts, so as to render yourself

rs, resp

en Gi

s plans. Where a deviation from his instructions might cause success in one case, it would cause loss in ninety-nine others. It was understood among all his employés that a rigid obed

to purchase his cargo of teas at a certain port. Upon reac

rnly, "your instructions required

reaching that port I found I could do so much better at -

ed your orders, sir,"

sult ought to justify me in my act, since it puts many thousands m

ed your orders if you had broken me. Nothing can excuse your disobedience. You wi

ience had vastly increased the profit of the voyage, he dismi

st cent due him. He was prompt and faithful in the execution of every contract, never departed in the slightest from his plighted word, and never engaged in any venture which he was not

once engaged with his cashier in a discussion as to the length of time a man would consume in counting a million of dollars, telling out

the other, "I'll wager five hundred dollars that I can ride in my gig from here to my f

and Mr. Girard departed to his farm. He returned in a few hour

ey?" asked Girar

" replied the cashi

to his dismay, Girard saw the walls and ceiling covered with s

e are a million of dots

ubordinate, laughing. "You know the

you would make t

ertake any thi

t not only paid the amount of the wage

n their hands in shares of the Bank of the United States, which was done, during the following year, to the amount of half a million of dollars. When the charter expired, he was the principal creditor of that institution, which Congress refused to renew. Discovering that he could purchase the old Bank and the cashier's house for one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, he at once

, but confined them to the compensation for which they had bargained; yet he contrived to get out of them service more devoted than was received by other men who paid higher wages and made presents. Appeals to him for aid were unanswered. No poor man ever came full-handed from his presence. He turned a deaf ear to the en

r. He made repeated advances to the treasury, unsolicited by the authorities, and on more than one occasion kept the Government supplied with the sinews of war. In 1814, when our prospects, both military and financial, were at their lowest ebb, when the British forces had burned Washington and the New England States were threatening to withdraw from the Union, the Government asked for a loan of five millions of dollars, with the most liberal inducements to subscribers. Only twenty thousand do

it for a more favorable moment, or at least receive in payment treasury notes. Should you be under the

tending to produce a derangement of the currency of the country. It was then a matter of great doubt with him how he should preserve the integrity of his own institution, while the other banks were suspending their payments; but the credit of his own bank was effectually secured by the suggestion of his cashi

its largest stockholder and one of its directors. He even offered to unite his own institution w

the fiscal prosperity of the country manifested, that, as late as 1831, when the country was placed in extreme embarrassment from the scarcity of money, he perceived the cause in the fact that the balance of trade was against us to a considerable extent, and he accordingly drew upon the house of Baring Brothers & Co. for bills of exchange to the amount of twelve thousand pounds sterling, which he disposed of to the Bank of the United States at an advance of ten per cent., which draft was followed up by another for ten thousand, which was disposed of in like manner to other institutions. This act tended to reduce the value of bills, a

th of the Delaware, in the spring of 1813. Fearing that his prize would be recaptured by an American ship of war if he attempted to send her into port, the English admiral dispatched a flag of truce to Mr. Girard, and proposed to him to ransom the ve

ch in 1828 was estimated at ten million

or no benefit from his vast wealth, so far as his individual comfort was concerned. He gave nothing in charity. Lazarus would have lain at his doors a life-time without being noticed by him. He was solitary, soured, cold, with a heart of stone, and fully conscious of his personal unpopularity. Yet he valued wealth-valued it for the powe

and he was resolved that nothing should make him swerve from his endeavor to accumulate a fortune which should make him all powerful in life and remembered in

ght show his disapproval of the observance of it as a day of rest. Rest, he said, made a man rusty, and attendance upon the worship of God he den

ave once had a warm heart. His early troubles and his domestic

kindness which were extended to others, changed the natural current of his feelings, and, acting on a warm and passionate temperament, alienated him from his home, his parents, and his friends. And when in after time there were superadded years of bitter anguish, resulting from his

e subject of this memoir, and it must be confessed that his view of Girard's character is sustained by the following incidents,

tless, and the streets were deserted. It was a season of horror and dread. Those who could not get away avoided each other, and the sufferers were left to languish and die. Money could

r aid. On the 12th and 14th, meetings were held at the City Hall, at the last of which a volunteer committee was appointed to superintend the measures to be taken for checking the pestilence. Twenty-seven men volunteered to serve, but only twelve had the courage to fulfill their promise. They set to work promptly. The ho

and Helm were regarded as doomed men, but they did not falter from their self-imposed task. They went to work at once. Girard chose the post of honor, which was the post of danger-the management of the interior of the hospital. His d

ut this was not all. Besides personally superintending the interior of the hospital

last breath, and then, wrapping them in the sheet on which they had died, carry them out to the burial ground and place them in the trench. He had a vivid recollection of the difficulty of

D'S H

ouse, and the driver, first having bound a handkerchief over his mouth, opened the door of the carriage, and quickly remounted to the box. A short, thick-set man stepped from the coach and entered the house. In a minute or two the observer, who stood at a safe distance watching the proceedings, heard a shuffling noise in the entry, and soon saw the stout little man supporting with extreme difficulty a tall, gaunt, yellow-visaged victim of the pestilence. Girard held round the wais

rge his duties, never absenting himself from

ellow-citizens. In the absence of physicians, he took upon himself the office of prescribing for the sick, and as his treatment involved careful nursing and the use o

that I have visited as many as fifteen sick people in a day, and what will surprise you still more, I have lost only one patient, an Irishman, who would drink a little. I do not flatter myself tha

favor in estimating his character, for t

n hands in the work of tilling it. He was very proud of the vegetables and fruits he raised himself, and took great interest in improving their growth. During the visit of the present head of the house of Baring Bros, (then a young man) t

hay-loft," w

d Mr. Baring; but almost before the word

dressing the banker, "that your shi

s arrive safe. She is a good ship. Mr. Baring, you must excuse me; I am

ting to cross a crowded street, he was knocked down by a passing wagon and injured severely. His ear was cut off, his face bruised, and his sight entir

who was the mother of a very large family, he gave sixty thousand dollars. He gave to each of the captains then in his employ who had made two voyages in his service, and who should bring his

with free fuel; ten thousand to the Society for the Relief of Distressed Sea-Captains and their Families; twenty thousand to the Masonic Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, for the relief of poor members; six thousand for the establishment of a free school in Passyunk, near Philadelphia; five

ollars, he left to trustees for the erection and endowment of the

h devoted all the results of his unusual genius in his calling to the noblest of purposes, and to enterprises

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