The man to whom this letter was sent was Nicolo Isouard, the afterwards celebrated composer, whom we have to thank for the splendid French operas, "Le Rossignol," " Cendrillon," and " Jeannot et Colin," which for so many years constantly filled the house of the "Opera Comique."

Neither at that time, or for very many years afterwards, did there exist in Paris such a fortune as had now fallen to the lot of

one single man, who, like Ouvrard, had passed a life of such unexampled liberality, and sometimes to the last degree of lavish expenditure. He had in Paris three houses, the firms Girardot & Co., Cinot, Charlemagne & Co., and Charles Rougemont & Co., under his control, and had established three in Brest, Bordeaux, and Orleans, so that his influence had become almost omnipotent. Immense as his more than princely expenditure had become, it still did not amount, as he frequently affirmed, to more than one-third part of his income.

Napoleon's subsequent Arch-Chancellor, Cambaceres, was the man who had placed Ouvrard at the head of his financial organization (Comptabilite). It was of course to be expected, under these circumstances, that he would have more envious rivals than friends. But it was not envy, but the supremacy of an impatient ambition, which could endure no other greatness beside his own, unless it had its origin in him which made the remarkable man who then held the destinies of France in his grasp, Ouvrard's sworn enemy.

Among the causes already mentioned of Napoleon's secret dislike to Ouvrard, were others, which, in the eyes of so excitable and ambitious a temperament as that of Bonaparte, were looked upon as crimes. All Paris had already known, for a long time, that not only was Napoleon by no means insensible to the almost fabulous beauty of the celebrated actress Mademoiselle Georges, but that he also had openly become the first and most favored of her admirers, and figured as a victor where other aspirants had met with signal defeat. This liaison was not secret to any one, not even to Josephine the empress. Moreover, she was in no position to restore the often wavering fidelity of the Emperor, since she herself had much to be forgiven, notwithstanding all that was daily said in the official columns of the " Moniteur" concerning the undeviating wedded faith of Josephine.

Napoleon, who, up to that time as a mere General, had found no special occasion to plume himself upon any great success with the fairer half of creation, was more fortunate as Emperor, and was readily listened to by the rival beauties of the day. In Mademoiselle Georges, the loveliest woman of her time, he flattered

64 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR,

himself that he really had made a complete conquest, looked upon her as his exclusive property, became enamored and jealous. Among the intelligence which he received from Paris, on the day after the battle of Austerlitz, was a message from his Minister of Police, informing him that Mademoiselle Georges had passed several days at Ouvrard's pleasure palace of Raincy, and had there performed one of her very best parts. General Berthier, who had hastened onward four-and-twenty hours in advance of the Emperor, on his return from Vienna, instantly sent for Ouvrard, and intimated to him that this circumstance had in no light degree contributed to exasperate the Emperor, and accelerate his hasty return to Paris.

I had seen and admired Mademoiselle Georges the preceding year, during the short period I spent in Paris, on my journey to Amsterdam ; and limited as my sojourn in that capital had been, I still had found an opportunity to get a peep at life behind the scenes of the new imperial regime. The literary circles of the capital were just at that moment taken up with a new tragedy, which the celebrated play writer and poet Renouard was then preparing to bring out in the Theatre Francais, under the title of " Les Templiers" (The Templars). The part of Ignaz de Molay, the Grand Master of the Templars, was in the hands of Talma ; the parts of the King and the Queen were given to Lafond and Mademoiselle Georges. The rehearsals had been finished. The time for the first performance fixed upon, and the intended presence of the Emperor and Empress everywhere announced.

Paris at that time was in a buzz with all kinds of anecdotes about the remarkably splendid set of diamonds which had been offered to the Empress by the court jeweller Fossin, and which consisted of a diadem, necklace, and pendants for the ears. The price which had been asked for this superb ornament was half a million of francs ; and, unless my memory fails me, I recollect to have heard at that time of another smaller sum, that is to say, about three hundred thousand francs. Josephine, whose purse was always empty, in consequence of her propensity for extravagance, had expressed a desire to obtain possession of these diamonds, but the Emperor would not hear of either of these sums.

Paris had a great deal to say concerning the scenes that passed between Josephine and Napoleon in consequence of this affair ; they were the ever-recurring topic of conversation among the ladies generally, to whose curiosity the jeweller was indebted for very frequent visits. People wanted to see what it was that an Emperor could deny to his Empress.

On the appointed day, placards announcing the first representation of " The Templars" were visible at all the street corners.

I had been so fortunate as to procure a parquet ticket for a seat on the second row of benches, from which I could get a good view of the imperial pair. I saw them enter their box, on the left of the house, and take their seats, Napoleon foremost and Josephine close beside him. In the beginning of the second act, their majesties the king and queen appeared upon the stage. Mademoiselle Georges, in the full splendor of her incomparable charms and her splendid figure, heightened the imposing scene by a dazzling diadem, ear-drops, and necklace, all glittering with the most superb diamonds. As she approached the imperial box, Josephine, who was leaning forward on the front rail, betrayed a hasty movement of surprise, and then suddenly, as if struck by lightning, sank back into her seat—for in the magnificent adornment of the actress she had recognized the jewels she was so anxious to possess. During this little episode in the imperial box, Napoleon remained, as might have been expected, entirely unmoved. For the Parisian world such an incident as this was a regular mine of fresh anecdotes concerning the scenes which they opined must have taken place in the private chambers of the TuiUeries, after their majesties returned from the theatre.

I merely repeat what I saw and heard. Moreover, Napoleon, although in his earlier days as a general, had not always been fortunate in his advances to the fair sex, was never at any time an indifferent observer of female beauty on the stage. When he marched into Milan, the capital of Lombardy, as victor, after the battles of Lodi and Areola, Grassini, the greatest dramatic canta-trice, and also the greatest beauty of her time, was singing at the Teatro delta Scala. The victorious General, who never dreamed of a successful resistance, nevertheless encountered it in the per-

QQ THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR,

son of this lovely prima donna, the aunt of Julia Grisi, who afterwards became so celebrated. She wouli not listen to him. Now it so happened that Madame Grassini was once more the prima donna of the Delia Scala Theatre when Napoleon again returned to Milan, to place the iron crown of the Italian kingdom on his head. The motto it bore, " Gare a qui me touche!" was one which Madame Grassini had not thought of adopting for herself. Old love does not burn, says the proverb, and that was also Napoleon's sensation as he met Madame Grassini for the second time. The acquaintanceship between the everywhere victorious leader and the equally successful cantatrice, had now no longer any obstacle in its way. Napoleon—and I am indebted for this story to Madame Grassini herself, whom I again saw some years after in a Paris salon—once ventured to ask her, in one of those moments when even a twice-crowned head will lay aside its dignity, why she had in former years so disdainfully rejected his addresses, and now gave them so ready a hearing—surrendered to him in fact all that she had to yield. " Ah, Sire!" was her reply, " you were then but a little whiffet of a general—now you are an emperowr (such was her Italian accent)—that is quoite a different thing !" Napoleon, she told me, laughed very heartily at this, and said, " You are right! That makes it doux" (or deux, as she would call it).*

But let us return to Ouvrard himself About four millions of piastres remained in his hands, from the proceeds of his contracts for the Spanish navy, in royal drafts on the Mexican treasury. He revolved in his own mind the idea of going in person to New Spain to realize this capital, with the intention of then applying it as the basis of some gigantic business-combinations he thought of bringing to bear in the East Indies. He was, however, compelled to abandon this scheme, in consequence of the First Consul denying him permission to leave the country. Bonaparte, who was just then busied with the campaign that terminated on the field of Marengo, needed money—and he had learned to feel that,

* The humor of this play on words is lost, in translation. Where the Emperor intimates that his exalted rank gives a zest to their liaison, Madame Grassini's imperfect accent creates quite a different meaning.— Trana.

in Ouvrard he possessed the only man who could procure it for him, and, for the time being, suppressed his secret dislike to so useful an ally. He caused General Berthier to summon Ouvrard into his presence, and addressed him in the following words: " Now, Mr. Ouvrard, will you give me twelve millions of francs ] we shall then understand each other ! You know already what I think of your transactions with the Marine Department!" The reply to this was : " General! I have four to ask of you." After a good deal of argument pro and con, says Ouvrard, " I received an order for the four millions. This appearance of integrity seduced me," he goes on to say ; " but more than all, the manifold promises the First Consul made me; and yet still, the very most of all,"—this is his own confession,—" my innate taste for great operations was what induced me to accept the part offered me by Napoleon, of contractor-general to the government."

Under these circumstances Ouvrard was obliged to give up his projected visit to Mexico. But he procured from the Spanish government the passports requisite for a trip into that country, for his brother, who was established at Philadelphia, under the firm of Ouvrard, De Chailles and Co. The brother was very well received, taken by the Royal Treasurer to his own residence, and thence admitted into the Treasury itself, where, owing to the interruption of trade with the mother country, occasioned by the war, some seventy-one millions of dollars were accumulated. Thereupon, the treasurer pointed out to him a number of marked chests containing four millions of piastres which had been put apart as a separate deposit for the liquidation of the six bills of exchange in Ouvrard's hands.

A written acknowledgment of this deposit from the treasurer was, several years later, of great assistance in the transactions that afterwards took place between Ouvrard and the house of Hope and Co.

The fearful rise in the price of bread that occurred at Paris, in the year 1802, had compelled the First Consul to assemble the eight leading bankers of the capital: Perregaux, Recamier, Ful-chiron and others, to consult with in regard to the measures that were to be adopted for public relief. However, these gentlemen

6S THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR,

did not feel sufficient confidence, and they would not make any orders for foreign breadstuffs without the ready cash in hand. Much annoyed at his ill success in this affair, Napoleon summoned Ouvrard to him at Malmaison, whither the latter at once repaired, accompanied by Vanlerberghe, the usual participant in his enterprises, and finally offered, for the simple commission of 2 per cent., to undertake a contract to supply all the wheat required by the capital, and ship it to Havre. The sums expended, which had to be repaid progressively, accordingly as the bills drawn in England, Holland and Hamburgh, for the necessary purchases, fell due, ran up to the total of twenty-six millions of francs. On the presentation of the very first bill, the Minister of the Public Treasury, Barbe Marbois, declared that he had no money, and it was only after the lapse of eighteen months, and when an understanding had been come to for striking off the whole commission, amounting to half a million by itself, that the two operators succeeded, after the greatest trouble, in getting back the capital they had advanced. Notwithstanding this want of good faith and punctuality, Bonaparte did not hesitate to ask Ouvrard to take in hand, under certain conditions, the immensely increased necessities of his naval service, occasioned by the projected descent upon England. Ouv. rard, whom experience had, indeed, made wiser, but who, as he himself states, did not dare to say, no ! lest he should increase the difficulties attending a reimbursement of the large claims in arrear he already had on the government, gave his consent, in June, 1803, for the term of six years and three months! The contractors were, as early as the spring of 1804, in an unsecured advance of no less a sum than 68,845,000 francs.

The extraordinary and increasing necessities of the different ministries which kept pace with Napoleon's gigantic plans, and which Ouvrard had pledged himself to supply, and the nearly absolute impossibility of procuring the enormous sums they ret quired, without great sacrifice, owing to the then existing condition of public credit in France, often subtracted on the one side far more than they could hope to gain upon the other. They, just at this very time, occasioned Ouvrard and his partner Vanlerberghe, large losses, and the unheard of cash payment of

43,000,296 francs, which, had the government possessed the means of discharging its obligations to its contractors punctually and regularly, they would have been certain to escape. Napoleon, who never had a correct idea of w r hat credit means, and never considered it worth while to make any regulations applicable to it, but looked upon bankers, merchants, and, most especially, public purveyors, as so many birds of prey, found it convenient, by squeezing the mercantile classes, to take from them what they fancied they had rightfully earned, and yet openly applauded and professed the principle that war should pay itself, and be supported at the expense of the enemy. He would not tolerate nor listen to any intimation that in this way public welfare would be undermined, but without even enriching the State. From his character, and from the sway he yielded to his passions, it may be readily conceived that this system had become to him a second nature. Yet, to any one w r ho has never experienced the charm that accompanies a vast, extended commerce, reacting far beyond the usual limits, or learned, from experience, how its unforeseen consequences often render it impossible to recede from it, at will, the w r onderful organization of a man like Ouvrard must remain incomprehensible, plunging continually deeper and deeper as he did into the whirlpool of business, notwithstanding his correct estimate of the tendencies and prejudices that ruled Napoleon, and notwithstanding the constantly recurring instances of his want of good faith. Ouvrard could not have extricated himself from the vortex into which he had plunged, even had he wished to do so. This is evident, from the whole history of his life and actions. " It was ever a clamorous necessity that drove me into these affairs," he says: but the key to this linked labyrinth of necessities lay, usually, in the monstrous proportions of the first undertaking, which was far beyond even his strength. . In the Ministry of Public Finance it seemed to have been adopted, as a rule, always to connect, with partial payments of old debts, a series of new demands; and Barbe-Marbois, the head of that department, finally got so far, that he prevailed upon Ouvrard to assume a fresh contract, to supply all the requirements and wants of the Treasury for the year 1804 (An XIII), an

70 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR,

amount likely to reach the sum of 400,000,000 francs. The inducement held out to Ouvrard consisted in granting him the license of using the bare receipts given him, on the two Ministries of War and the Marine for advances made, as cash payments on account of the new advances; so that, definitively, the State remained his sole debtor for all the enormous advances he had directly or indirectly made.

Spain had, in a treaty of alliance with France, made herself available for a yearly subsidy of 72,000,000 francs, of which 32,000,000 had already fallen due, without one single franc having been accessible, through either the mediation of the Spanish banker Hervas, or the French Ambassador at Madrid. Ouvrard was, once more, the man on whom Napoleon laid his hand to bring about the payment of this sum ; and the Minister Barbe-Marbois was willing, so far as the Treasury was concerned, to hold Mr. Desprez, and, for the requirements of the Navy, Mr. Vanler-berghe responsible, in Ouvrard's place, whereby, as Ouvrard affirms, it was understood that the latter should be entirely released from all the obligations transferred to the shoulders of the other two contractors, but under the condition that he should again make an advance of the whole amount, viz., 32,000,000 due from Spain. In this way they thought Ouvrard could step forward as the personal creditor of the Spanish Crown, and other advantages might be gained from his agency on this occasion. At length Ouvrard went on to Madrid, after having made the desired advance; but upon his arrival in the Spanish capital found the public Treasury so empty, that it could not even raise the half million of francs needed to defray the expenses of the King's trip to his pleasure palaces. Ouvrard opened his mission by instantly furnishing that amount, the moment he heard of the pinched position of the Royal purse, and, with great skill brought to bear two methods of obtaining admission to the (at that time) all-powerful Prince of Peace (Principe de la Paz), and prepare a favorable reception for the proposals he had to make. One of these methods consisted in drawing a vivid picture of the effect of anger on a man of such indomitable will as Napoleon pos sessed ; the other was in making adroit reference to the Kingdom

of Portugal, which, as every one knew, had a large portion of Godoy's most secret wishes. Ouvrard did not forget to assure him that he was among the very men of whom Napoleon liked to form kings. Both these means worked well; so much so, indeed, that at length it seemed as if there would be something done in earnest. Don Miguel Cay. Soler, the Minister of Finance, de-declared, at an interview in the Prince's presence, that, with the best will in the world, the coffers of the Treasury did not contain a dollar; with the additional remark that the most pressing thing now was to provide for the general dearth of food; money was needed for that, and it had to be procured. Other things could be attended to afterwards. When Soler had retired the Prince, turning to Ouvrard, said, " Now, Sir, you have heard all—more I cannot tell you—give Don Miguel your advice, and I will support your claims with his Majesty. I feel greatly concerned not to see your mission fail. Come to see me every day." The most natural plan surely would now have been to raise a heavy loan to pay the subsidies due to France, besides providing for the future necessities of the Treasury, and remedying the scarcity of food as soon as possible. But the difficulties that lay in the way of these measures were of no common order. These were: first, to acquire the confidence of the foreign bankers, especially those of Holland, who were to furnish the funds, and could depend upon the security offered. The treasures which were lying at the command of the Spanish government in Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere, but which could not be reached, on account of the war then going on, were the only resources Spain had to extricate her from the embarrassments that surrounded her; for all other fountains of relief had run completely dry. To make them available as security for repayment was the task now undertaken by Ouvrard, who, as a preliminary condition to his exertions, demanded, firstly, the exclusive monopoly of the commerce with the Spanish-American colonies; secondly, the free exportation of all the gold and silver stored up there belonging to the government; and, thirdly, full power to make loans even in America, under the guarantee of the Financial Bureaux existing in Spanish America, and their promises to reimburse. This latter condition, however, betrayed a very

imperfect knowledge of American affairs. At the moment when Ouvrard was making these propositions, he was continually pressed by the French Financial Minister, Barbe-Marbois, to send on to Paris, as soon as possible, the gold and silver he had received. The proverbial slowness and caution of the Spaniard did not belie itself in this instance, and the Prince of Peace, who had constantly fretted at the payment of the subsidies to France, finally hesitated to adopt the only means which Ouvrard had proposed. The latter found himself at length obliged to remind the Prince of the letter which the Emperor had written with his own hand to the King of Spain, the moment he was made aware of Godoy's former hesitation concerning the subsidies, and had sent to the Ambassador, Beurnonville, that he might transmit it to the king in person. The letter referred to contained threats, very direct hints at the intimate relations subsisting between the Royal Consort and Godoy, and a peremptory request to expel the latter from the country.

The Prince had managed to weather this storm, but it would not be advisable to expose himself to such danger a second time, as he was given to understand by Ouvrard, who breakfasted with him every day. A fresh letter for the minister, Barbe Marbois, teeming with renewed threats by the emperor, in consequence of the delay and hesitation at Madrid, took Ouvrard in haste once more to the Prince of Peace. There he suddenly found himself in the presence of Queen Caroline. Our skillful financier could not pass by so favorable an opportunity of expressing to her his apprehensions of the danger that menaced the position of her acknowledged favorite, and the immediate consequence was, that Ouvrard received an invitation to occupy apartments in Godoy's palace. When Madrid was made acquainted with this unusual mark of favor, all the barriers with which the haciendas and other authorities had surrounded themselves up to that time, were at once thrown down. Ancient prejudices and long familiar customs were laid aside, and the negotiations had in a few days reached a point to which they had not attained in months before. Ouvrard now hit upon immediate means of at once remedying that most distressing of all evils, scarcity of food, and on the 26th of No-

G. J. OUVRARD. To

vember, 1804, concluded a contract, endorsed by the government, with the " Junta d'Anona" of Madrid, to supply two million centners of corn from the French ports, at 26 francs per centner. Then on the same day he signed agreements with the Ministries of War and the Marine to supply all they might require during several years, and finally gave his signature to a trade-contract, of which the world had hitherto seen no example. This was a contract for the establishment of a common and mutual commercial partnership, under'the firm Ouvrard and Co., between him and Charles IV. king of Spain himself, for the whole duration of the war. The main conditions of this partnership were : Firstly, full power to import on partnership-account into all the harbors of Spanish America, every description of goods and products needed for colonial consumption, during the whole continuance of the war with Great Britain, and at the same time complete authority tb export thence, duty free, all their productions, but more especially their gold and silver ; secondly, the stipulation that all profits resulting from the transactions of this partnership, should be divided in equal halves between his Catholic Majesty and Mr. Ouvrard. Napoleon approved of Ouvrard's contract for the exportation of two million centners of corn from the French ports, under the condition that he should pay an export-duty of four francs per centner, or about eight million francs, which were handed over in cash at Paris. Ouvrard also received from the English government the passes requisite for the transportation of the grain for which he had contracted. His agreement with the "Junta d'Anona," the permission to export already received from Napoleon, and that of the English government to effect the transportation, were published by Ouvrard in all the Spanish newspapers, and produced a magical effect. Wheat fell to such an extent that the Spanish government offered Mr. Ouvrard a million of dollars as a reimbursement, if he would give up his contract; he, however, declined this offer, and contented himself with reducing it to the ships which had already sailed from the French ports. ' Directly after the conclusion of his commercial agreement with king Charles IV. of Spain, Ouvrard was placed in possession of five hundred royal licenses for the introduction, duty

74 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR,

free, of every description of goods into the colonies. These licenses, provided with the signature of Don Miguel Cayetano Soler, left the name of the ship and its captain, the amount of his tonnage, its flag and the nature of its cargo, in blank. Then, upon the 18th of December, 1804, Ouvrard received, in behalf of the proposed commercial partnership, 752 drafts, or livranzas, of the Madrid Chamber of Finance, and the Court Bankers, Garochi, Nephew and Co., for the sum of 52,500,000 piastres. Ouvrard now hastened back to Paris;, revived in" the management of his business-transactions with the Ministries of War, the Marine, and the Interior, that activity which had been wanting in them during his absence, and then repaired in April, 1805, to Amsterdam to explain his agreements and plans to Messrs. Hope and Co. I have often heard from Mr. Labouchere's own lips the confirmation of what Ouvrard related concerning his first interview with the two heads of the latter house, Mr. John Williams Hope and himself: namely, that as he unfolded before them his combinations, plans, and stupendous views, those two gentlemen gave each other a mutual look of amazement, and might have even betrayed a serious doubt whether he was in the full possession of his understanding. So they asked for a couple of days that they might think his propositions over. When the circumspect Labouchere, who had not been able to form any very clear idea either of Ouv-rard's capital, or of his circumstances and present available means from that gentleman's own statements, regarding his connections with the French and Spanish governments, and their War and Marine Departments, nor exactly to unravel the tangled thread of his surprising narratives which made light of millions upon millions, declared to him that the basis of an arrangement with the house of Hope and Co. could be nothing less than an unlimited confidence in himself, and that if their participation in his business was worth any thing to him, he must bind himself to them on all sides, and surrender himself completely to their discretion, refrain from all interference in the manner and way they might see fit to adopt in carrying out his plan, agree to them before hand, acknowledge the correctness of their accounts before hand, and with this intent place twelve blank letters with his signature in their posses-

sion. How they intended to operate, was communicated to him only in outline, and he was given to understand that, for the present, they would confine themselves to the practical part already within reach, to the royal bills of exchange on Mexico, Havana, &c, and to the use of the licenses accordingly as they had to be handed in. Ouvrard consented to every thing, and so, on May 6th, 1805, a very simple agreement was concluded between their house and him. Messrs. Hope and Co. bound themselves to assume the use of the licenses on his account, and for a stipulated commission of 5 per cent, upon all transactions arising from the same, bearing the cost of agencies themselves, and then to pay over to Ouvrard or his properly authorized representative, the net results of the same as soon as they themselves should have received them. They likewise engaged to make good the equivalent of all the bills drawn on them with 3 francs 75 centimes on the piastre, as soon as they should be handed in and have left the ports of the Spanish colonies, duty free. Hereupon, Ouvrard relinquished into the keeping of Messrs. Hope and Co., who were, moreover, commissioned to negotiate a loan for the Spanish crown, the greater part of the documents and bills remaining in his hands, and returned to Paris and Madrid. There I shall leave him, and refer to his embarrassments and fate, only when the development of my own history leads me naturally back to him, and the duty thence arising of clearing up his memory, may require it. For he was, incontestably, the man who first made the elements of credit distinctly visible to his nation, and greatly served the latter by even his wildest operations^ at a time when the interior household-management of a state was scarcely understood, much less seriously laid hold of, by Napoleon. The acts of injustice done to him by Napoleon, and pursued with a degree of obstinacy, were of the most crying kind; but they have been unfortunately palliated in a truly frivolous manner, in the 20th chapter, 6th volume of Thiers' History of the Consulate and Empire; although the historian who, by the way, was scarcely out of bibs and tuckers at the time when they occurred, has tried hard to show that he has drawn his narrative from authentic sources. These sources

76 THE BANKER AND GENERAL PURVEYOR.

were Napoleon's ordered compilations of events under his dominion !

In the business undertaken by the Messrs. Hope, the London house of Baring Brothers and Co. took part; yet this fact was kept secret, on account of the state of relations existing during the war. I, at that time, had no knowledge of the circumstance, and only heard it upon my first return from America, when Mr. Henry Hope communicated it to me.

CHAPTER IV.

THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF MESSRS. HOPE & CO.

The basis of the plan laid down in Amsterdam, and its execution in the United States—David Parish of Antwerp intrusted with the chief control of this business, and Mr. A. P. Lestapsis, from Hope's counting-house, and I, charged with the two most important branches of the money management; the former in Vera Cruz, and myself in New Orleans—My departure from Amsterdam for New York—Breaking out of the yellow fever there— Excursion to Boston—Arrival of the exiled General Moreau in New York— Arrival of David Parish in New York—Final consultations there—My arrival at New Orleans, on the first Easter Sunday, 1806—Sketch of the state of things in that city—Governor Claiborne—The land speculator John McDonough—The lawyer Edward Livingston—My first appearance in New Orleans, as a business man—The yellow fever, which had spared me in New York, seizes me here—The Conspiracy of the former Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr—General Wilkinson—The rencontre of the American frigate Chesapeake with the British man-of-war Leopard, in the year 1807—Its influence upon my business relations—General expectation of war with England.

Two different methods were devised to lift the immense hoardings of silver on deposit in Mexico, and transport it thence. One of these was to procure from the British government, notwithstanding the war with Spain, permission to transport the silver piastres from Vera Cruz to England. At that time great scarcity of coin prevailed in England, especially of silver change, and in this respect the British East India Company was much inconvenienced, as it required large supplies to pay its hands and keep its various establishments throughout India agoing. The first attempt to obtain such permission failed. Pitt, the British Prime Minister, refused it, because it was evidently contributing to

strengthen the enemy's hands, and open sources of aid and comfort which the war had closed against him. But the wisdom and correct feeling of the statesman soon were re-awakened in him, when he perceived and weighed the advantages this supply of silver, once in the hands of the East India Company and the London Exchange, would yield to British trade. To heighten the prosperity of British commerce was to increase the general welfare. Napoleon openly expressed very different opinions; for, when a deputation of commercial men came out from Antwerp to welcome him on his approach to that city, he met them with the words: "I don't like merchants! A merchant is a man who would sell his country for a shilling !" Je n'aime pas les negotiants? Un negotiant est un homme qui vendrait sa pa trie pour un petit ecu ! He despised the walks of trade, and in one of his consultations with Ouvrard, uttered the reproach that he had degraded royalty to the level of trade. " Vous avez abaisse la royaute au niveau du commerce /"

In short, Pitt finally gave his consent to dispatch four frigates, who, in the very midst of the war with Spain, very quietly appeared, one after the other, in the roads of Vera Cruz, and without any interruption took on board about fourteen millions of piastres from the treasury of Mexico, and brought the treasure back to England. Yet, fourteen millions were not more than one quarter of the whole amount which it was desirable to transfer from Mexico to Europe. By far the greater part was not to be transmitted in hard cash, but through the natural channels of trade, by dispatching consignments of goods from America, especially from the United States, to the ports of Europe. The United States, which were at that time wholly in possession of the carrying trade, presented the most extensive field for the purchase of all kinds of colonial produce—not merely their own, such as cotton and tobacco, but also of each and every other kind, such as coffee, sugar, pepper, &c, &c.—since the latter were regularly shipped thither, without the least difficulty, on American account, and under the protection of their neutral flag. But the war between England and the Continent, which obeyed the orders of Napoleon, as well as the watchfulness of the English

fleets and cruisers, made the transport of such purchases, for the account of even the Messrs. Hope, almost impossible. Measures had therefore to be taken to give them the character of neutral property, not in appearance merely, but in reality; and this could be done only by stimulating the enterprising spirit of the American merchants to send shipments on their own account into Continental Europe, taking out their insurance in England, making advances, and for their amount accepting bills on the drawer, which the Messrs. Hope themselves looked about for and indorsed, as being of a kind that had their full and entire confidence. In this manner the home-returning capital accumulated interest and increased, even through the enormously heavy commissions which remained to be raised on these consignments. The whole combination was a most excellent one, but could be easily and naturally carried into execution only in such a country as the' United States, where the enterprising spirit knows no bounds, but where the capital of the venturer is limited. *

Two great difficulties still lay in the way of an entire realization of the whole plan. The first and most important of these was to effect the realization of the values payable in coin in Mexico, and their transport to the United States. The moneys would have to be exported under the American flag and on American account. But such immense capitals as these could only be made neutral by paying a heavy commission, and respectable houses would in no case have lent themselves to it. People had not yet forgotten that a single house in the North of Europe had, at the beginning of the English and French war, covered such a multitude of ships and cargoes and made them neutral, that the English cruisers, put on their guard by the frequent re-appearance of the same names in the consignment papers and bills of lading, availed themselves of this suspicious circumstance, to call them up and obtain their condemnation as good and lawful prizes. The latter was pronounced because it seemed impossible that any one house could cover the seas with such a huge amount of capital as was here seen afloat at one time. The means of overcoming the first difficulty was to be looked for in the United States themselves. From this arose the second, namely, the selection of a

man who should unite sufficient mercantile experience with large intelligence and knowledge of men; and moreover, should possess the capacity for making combinations, so as to devise ways and means of successful exit where they would, otherwise, remain hidden from the eyes of the common observer. The Barings wished to give the management of this business over to the hands of Mr. Samuel P. Labouchere, already named, who was then conducting the French correspondence of their house; but his elder brother, who, as head of the Hope establishment, had concluded the contract with Ouvrard, pointed, out David Parish (who, after the peace of Amiens, had founded a mercantile concern at Antwerp), as the man who, all the circumstances considered, would be the most suitable—Mr. Samuel P. Labouchere not appearing to be a person thoroughly fitted for the post. Mr. P. C. Labouchere had got to know the man of whom I speak—the third son of a John Parish, a Scotch merchant established at Hamburgh, shortly after the opening of his Antwerp house in Paris, and had very quickly discovered his keenness of perception, his skill, and his remarkable, nay, almost instinctive knowledge of human nature. Besides possessing all these valuable qualities, he was a pleasant companion without being a very well read man, had agreeable manners, and was a most excellent whist-player. It was generally hinted, although I could never positively verify the story, nor even credit it, that he was indebted to his large winning at play in Hamburgh for a considerable portion of the capital with which he had commenced his establishment. Ojie thing, however, is quite certain, and Mr. Labouchere was well acquainted with the fact, that within a very short time after opening his concern, Parish had managed to more than treble the amount invested, and this in a very simple way. During his sojourn in Hamburgh, and before his trip to the United States, the Archbishop Talleyrand had been very kindly received and entertained by the Parish family, and had even been provided with funds by them. When Napoleon visited Belgium for the first time, and stopped for some days in Antwerp, Mr. David Parish entertained Prince Talleyrand in his magnificently furnished dwelling; and this renewed acquaintance with a son of the family who had received him with

such kindness on a former occasion, led to an intimacy which, under the agreeable influences of the best table in Antwerp, and frequent matches at cards for high stakes—two things the Prince especially liked, and could appreciate as perfectly as his host himself—became daily stronger, and finally produced a confidential interchange of sentiment. The Prince, as everybody knows, was not at all regardless of the advantages opened to him by his position. We all have heard to what excellent account he turned the first intelligence of the victory at Marengo, and thereby enriched himself. A no less certain opportunity to make another similar speculation was now thrown in his way. Talleyrand, as Napoleon's Minister of Foreign Affairs, possessed the key of what passed in the emperor's mind concerning political and international matters, and was well aware that the speedy outbreak of a war with Great Britain was inevitable. The certain rise of prices for every species of colonial produce, in such a case, was evident. The Prince, ere he left Antwerp, came to an understanding with his young friend, and the latter made use of the hint he got, to employ all the capital and credit he could command in large purchases of colonial goods at Antwerp and elsewhere. Soon after Napoleon's return to Paris, the memorable scene in the Tuilleries with Lord Whitworth occurred ; and a declaration of war and an important rise in the price of all colonial products followed. The first very striking result had given Mr. David Parish considerable weight in the eyes of Mr. Labouchere; and the fact of his having, young as he was, managed to ingratiate himself into the confidence of such a man as» Talleyrand, was regarded as a proof of undeniable merit, and his capacity for the management of the greatest interests. Of course it was not difficult for Mr. Labouchere to prevail upon Parish to intrust the interests of his Antwerp house entirely in the hands of his partner, G. Agie, and accept the agency of his projected business in America. The business itself held out great inducements, and the conditions under which the agency was arranged were no less favorable. These conditions were: Firstly, that Mr. David Parish should enjoy one full fourth of the business advantages and profits arising from these transactions; secondly, that Parish was not to under-

4*

take any separate business that did not go to the common account of both the partners interested, namely, Hope & Co., and David Parish; thirdly, all the travelling and other necessary expenses were to be charged.

Two head agents were still necessary: one for Mexico, to present the bills of exchange and get them cashed, to ship the coin at Vera Cruz, and oversee the sale of the ships' cargoes coming in under license ; the other at New Orleans, to receive the coin as it arrived, to dispatch the cargoes of German, English and French manufactured goods coming in from Europe to Vera Cruz under accompanying licenses, and to make over to the merchants in the latter city as many licenses a? the opportunity would admit. For my own part, there was no necessity for any longer delay in Europe during the financial preparation of the instructions which Mr. Parish was to bring over to me. I consequently embarked during the first days of July, 1805, in the American ship Flora, commanded by Captain Daniel' Sterling, for New York. I arrived after a voyage of 42 days, which was looked upon at that time as a very rapid one. The astonished consignee of the ship, who had not even heard of its arrival in Amsterdam, was standing on the quay to welcome me, its only passenger, and his friend the captain. The world into which I found myself now transported, was entirely new to me. I had, owing to the at that time extreme rarity of authentic works concerning the United- States, read so little about them, that I had possessed a very imperfect idea about the country, and had conceived it to be, in consequence of the thoroughly savage condition in which the land had been discovered and gradually peopled, much further behindhand in civilization than I found it. .

I distinctly remember a circumstance which will give my readers an excellent conception of the singular ideas I entertained in regard to the state of things in America, as compared with the notions of our captain concerning the perfection of his native country. It simply happened one day that an excellent umbrella was broken on deck during a violent storm, and I asked the captain, if he thought I could replace it with as good a one in New York ; when he replied quite sharply : " God bless me ! ask me

whether the sun shines in New York." It must be remembered that this occurred forty-seven years ago, and at that time in Germany, America was generally looked upon as a sort of penal colony or rendezvous for all kinds of scamps and worthless fellows. When I first informed my parents that I was "going thither, my mother at once exclaimed : " It cannot be possible that you have taken into your head this unfortunate idea of going to America 1 Who knows what advantage they may take of your inexperience !" A few days after my arrival in New York, the yellow fever broke out in that city. When I was about starting from Amsterdam, Mr. Labouchere had asked me if I was afraid of the yellow fever; " for"—he added—" if you do feel afraid of it, you must not go to America, as you will be certain to die there !" I had said that I felt no apprehension, and as I really did not feel at all timid about it, I was determined to push boldly on for New York. But the houses to which I was recommended gave me to understand that, as business was generally very quiet in the months of July, August and September, and the city was deserted by every one who could get away, it would be imprudent for me to stay there. I followed their advice and went to Boston; but after a six weeks' sojourn there and in Philadelphia, returned to New York. A few days after my arrival in the latter city, a rumor was circulated that a ship from Cadiz had entered the bay with the exiled General Moreau on board. It was not long before all the militia drums were heard in every part of the city, and their commander-in-chief, a lawyer by the name of Morton, went galloping about in all directions, on horseback, in the uniform of a general, followed by his adjutants, principally young law-students, as if he imagined that Moreau had also begun his career in the legal profession. At any rate, he dashed about, commanding and countermanding, and urging the greatest haste in the preparations every body was making for a grand display in the long main street of the city, called Broadway, which extends to the public promenade designated as the Battery. It was at the latter point that the distinguished stranger was to land. His debarkation took place about an hour later. The general, clad in citizen's style, with a blue coat and pantaloons, mounted a horse prepared for him, amid

rf4 THE MEXICAN BUSINESS OF

music and the acclamations of the crowd, and rode up, surrounded by his staff of parti-colored militia, along the main street to the City Hall. Each separate company of each and every battalion, wore their own peculiar and frequently extremely singular uniform, and it was impossible to look at the ensemble of this military assemblage in any other light than as a harlequin parade; but the officers of this remarkable body were in no slight degree proud of it, and when General Moreau had reached the City Hall, he was very gravely asked by General Morton what he really thought of the American troops ? The general is said to have replied that he had never seen such soldiers in the whole course of his life! which somewhat ambiguous compliment was several times repeated to me, at the same time with the greatest seriousness, as something highly honorable to the American military.*

Some American amateurs had got up a great concert on the same evening in the long saloon of the " City Hotel," at that time the largest public house in the place. General Moreau was invited to be present, and promised to comply. The street-corners were at once covered with large hand-bills, announcing in immense capitals that he would attend the concert. I could not deny myself the pleasure of getting a near view of this distinguished man, and so went to the musical entertainment. There was a great crowd present, but the most striking personage in the throng was by no means General Moreau, of whom every body remarked that he did not look at all like a French general, because he simply wore a blue coat; but General Morton in his Washington uniform, with a blue coat and yellow facings, &c. The latter introduced to the general every one who wanted to take a good stare at him, and the shaking of hands with ladies and gentlemen went on as if it never would end. At length I managed to force my way close up to these two great leaders, Morton the lawyer and militia hero, and the hero of Hohenlinden. Just as I got there, a quaker

* When Marshal Bertrand was, some years ago, visiting the north-western portion of the United States, and had arrived at Buffalo, in the State of New York, a review of the citizen militia was held there in his honor; and the newspapers, on that occasion, revived the old anecdote of thirty years before, and put in his mouth the words I have just attributed to Moreau.

had himself introduced to the latter, and shaking him heartily by the hand, uttered the following words : " Glad to see you safe in America !—Pray, General—say, do you remember what was the price of cochineal when you left Cadiz !" The victor of Hohen-linden shrugged his shoulders and was unable to reply.

Some days after this military festival, my friend Lestapis arrived from Amsterdam with a portion of the documents required to carry on our business. We passed our time for several weeks very pleasantly. The well-known hospitality shown to every stranger, possessing the least cultivation, who arrives in the United States, made it easy for us to enjoy ourselves. At length, in the beginning of November, David Parish arrived. The news of some very large commercial enterprise had already preceded him, and, although the nature of the undertaking had not become, known, the greatest curiosity followed every step he took. Ii\ New York, the whole combination of the enterprise which had been fully discussed at Amsterdam, was unfolded and analyzed, and my friend Lestapis and myself set out, each for his post; he to Vera Cruz and I to New Orleans, where a whole cargo of German linens had arrived, and was awaiting me. The fast-sailing schooner Aspasia had brought it to its destination. I went overland to Charleston, and as (contrary to all expectation) there was no suitable craft there on which I could take passage for New Orleans, I purchased the schooner Regulator, and went in it to the latter port.

It was on Easter Sunday, 1806, that I first set foot on the soil of Louisiana, where I, five years later, was invested .with the rights of citizenship, and I reached the city of New Orleans before nightfall.

Louisiana, originally a French colony, then Spanish, and then again French, had, as every one knows, been sold, shortly before the time of which I speak, to the United States by the French government, for fifteen millions of Spanish dollars, and had been soon afterwards organized as a territory. It possessed an elective legislature, chosen by the people, but the Governor received his appointment from the President of the Confederation, which high post was at that moment occupied by Thomas Jefferson. The

political rival of this celebrated man, in the struggle for the Presidency, had been Aaron Burr, and it was said that the vote of a representative from Kentucky, named William Cole Claiborne, had turned the scale at the election, and secured Jefferson's success. Such a service as this had been rewarded by the President elect with no less a mark of favor than Claiborne's appointment to the governorship of Louisiana. To make way for him, the French prefect, Laussat, a man of education and refinement, possessing all the manners of a French courtier, was removed. Claiborne was exactly the reverse; of fine personal appearance, but, in all other respects, a coarse, rude man, and, at the same time, very sharp and knowing, as most Americans are. The greater part of the then existing population was of French origin. In the city itself the French number at least three-fifths of the inhabitants ; one other fifth was of Spanish race, and another Americans, among whom were some Germans. The city numbered about 16,000 souls, of whom one-third were people of color and slaves. The mercantile class was made up of four or five French establishments, springing from the neighborhood of the Garonne, and founded during the continuance of the French rule ; three Scotch counting-houses, one German concern, and eight or ten commission-houses, lately opened by young American merchants from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The traces of this class, who carried on the early business of New Orleans under the new regime, are now limited to the sugar-planter Shepherd, who is still living, and now very wealthy, and to the still more opulent Mr. W. M. Montgomery, formerly wholesale grocer,, and now the owner of a large portion of the northwestern section of the State, who lives partly at New York and "partly at Paris. Shepherd, whom I have just named, who was but two-and-twenty when he came from Baltimore to New Orleans, was accompanied thither by a young American from the same place, who could not have been more than a few years older than himself. The latter brought some six or eight thousand dollars with him, and after, for a considerable time, exploring all sorts of uncultivated lands lying along the Mississippi, made a choice and purchased. This young man was John McDonough, who made such constant parade

of the lands he had bought, so well understood the game of making fictitious sales to his friend Shepherd, at very high rates, and through him to others at still higher prices, and pursued this system, observing, at the same time, great frugality at home, so long and so skilfully, that at length real purchasers fell into his net, and made themselves part and parcel of it. McDonough talked very little, and seldom mixed in general conversation, especially with ladies, whose society he avoided as much as possible. When he did open his lips, all that fell from them was praise of certain lands he had just purchased, and this theme was inexhaustible. It was not in Louisiana alone that he carried on this system, but also in neighboring States, and he continued it for more than forty years. He passed his spare time in looking after the education of some children in the neighborhood of his homely residence on an estate, or, as they call it in the South, a plantation, belonging to him. He also occupied himself with the amateur study of medicine. McDonough died in October, 1851, and, upon the opening of his will, it was discovered, that at the time of his death he owned four-fifths of all the uncultivated lands in the State of Louisiana, and many tracts of territory in other States, to the very considerable amount of fifteen millions of dollars. During the lapse of some thirty-four years I saw him very frequently, the last time in 1839, and knew but one relation of his, a brother who was a pilot, and died early, if I am not mistaken, of the yellow fever. McDonough himself died without heirs, either direct or collateral, and has made over his whole property to the government of the United States, that it shall expend the same in the establishment of public schools. Beside this general direction, there are a number of small bequests and codicils of very curious nature appended to his will. One of the oddest of these is the bequest made to Leon Gozlan, in Paris. This well-known writer some years ago published a romance called the " Medecin du Pecq," which, in every point of view, but especially by some very peculiar and profound psychological studies, attracted the greatest notice throughout France. The editor of the " Courrier des Etats Unis" republished it in the feuilleton of that widely circulated paper, and it thus fell into the hands of Mr. McDonough, who

read it at home in his solitary hours, and was so charmed with some of the author's observations on the world and men, that he made him his heir to the amount of ten thousand dollars. This sum was lately handed over to Mr. Gozlan by Mr. Rives, the late American Ambassador at Paris, in a check on the house of Albrecht & Co., in Havre.

I now return from this episode to the many-colored scenes of my own changeful life. What notions were entertained, in the northern part of the Union, of such a community as made up the population of New Orleans, is clearly conveyed by an anecdote of my friend, Mr. M. Amory, of Boston, whose newly-established house, under the firm of Amory & Cullender, had received the cargo of Schleswig linens sent from Europe, and then held it in charge for me. Just as he was on the point of starting from Boston for New Orleans he had seen in the newspapers an advertisement of a ship about to sail direct to the latter port, and then looking for passengers and freight. Amory called upon the owner to recommend to him his young house as consignee. The owner told him in confidence that he had not at all intended to send his ship to New Orleans, but that he had published the advertisement only for the purpose of discovering among the passengers who would apply for berths, a rascal who had swindled his brother of a considerable sum of money. " For," added the owner, " I consider it probable that he will try to leave for New Orleans, which, as everybody knows, is a regular rendezvous for all sorts of rogues and rabble."

Among these people, thus generally looked upon as the offscourings of the northern States, I found a man of remarkable intellectual powers and real talent. This man was the celebrated Edward* Livingston, originally from the State of New York. He had been a lawyer in the city of New York, and had there, as a member of the Municipal Council, performed the functions of Recorder. In that respect he had played a highly important part, and had once represented the State itself in the Senate at Washington. At length there was suddenly discovered, in the management of the municipal income of the city, then in the hands of the Recorder, an inexplicable deficit of $60,000. Under these cir-

cum stances, it was impossible for Livingston to remain any longer in the place.* He then emigrated to New Orleans, and there began his career anew with the most remarkable success. He there married the young and fascinating widow of a legitimist and legist by the name of Moreau, from St. Domingo. The lady's maiden name had been Davezac, and, after the destruction of the colony, she had fled with her mother, sister, and one brother, first to Jamaica, and then to Louisiana. I shall hereafter find further occasion to speak of Livingston's brother-in-law, Auguste Davezac. He was the same person who, some years after, was appointed, by President Jackson, to the post of American Ambassador, and was from there summoned to Naples to draw the indemnity moneys, but was soon afterward obliged to give up his place at the Hague, on account of what we will call—to use a mild term—irregularities in the arrangement of his accounts.* Davezac was of French origin, but had attained great readiness in the English language, and was employed at the time of my own arrival as a sworn interpreter in the Courts, and he was afterwards in the Legislative Assembly of Louisiana. He had at length become Livingston's factotum, and had made himself almost indispensable to that gentleman, in hunting up the evidence among the family papers of the French planters, and in procuring witnesses who were ready at all times to swear to anything that might be required of them. I recollect particularly a remarkable criminal suit against a certain Beleurgey, the editor of one of the first American papers, " Le Telegraphe" by name, which was published at New Orleans, in the French and English languages, during 1806-'07. The accused had forged the signature of a wealthy planter for the purpose of raising money, and when he was detected had confessed his guilt to the planter in writing and urgently besought him not to appear as prosecutor. The planter felt disposed to accede to this request, but the letter was already in the hands of justice. How, then, did Livingston manage, as the attorney and advocate of Beleurgey, to secure the discharge of the accused, notwithstanding this confession, this damning evidence of his guilt 1 Davezac got together witnesses, who swore before the Court, that they had long known Beleurgey to be the greatest * See Appendix.

of liars, from whose lips there never fell a word of truth. " Look at this !" said Livingston to his French jury ; " the man could not tell the truth; the very acknowledgment of his guilt is a lie, for only a fool would be his own accuser. So then Beleurgey has either lied, or he has not the control of his own understanding, and in either case has not been conscious of what he was doing, and cannot be found guilty !" So the jury brought in a verdict by which he was discharged !

When I first arrived in New Orleans, there was not a single house there possessed of any capital worth mentioning, and an honorable character seemed to me quite as great a rarity. I believed just as much as I pleased of the representations made by the merchants just established there ; and with all their boasting, and great parade of clearness, it was quite remarkable that my experience was not enriched at the beginning, by the knowledge of some unhandsome trick in trade, like those with which every other man seemed to have been proud of having duped his neighbor. The individual who succeeds, with a certain degree of skill, in accomplishing some sharp manoeuvre, is too often rewarded in the United States with the epithet of clever fellow.

In Messrs. Amory & Callender I discovered unswerving integrity, combined with a certain distrust of all undertakings which involved the least risk; and it was precisely in consequence of these two qualities, which are rather rare in American business circles, that I made up my mind to employ their house in the execution of my plans. I had not yet passed a fortnight in New Orleans, and had given no one occasion to conjecture what my object was in coming to the place, when the news was all at once buzzed about that a schooner, under the American flag, six days from Veracruz, had arrived in the Mississippi, with 150,000 Spanish dollars on board for Vincent Nolte.

" Hullo ! who can that be V every one began to ask; " What, that young man V They had, however, scarcely ceased *to express their wonder, when another schooner from Vera Cruz came in with $200,000 on board, and finally, ten days later, a third one appeared, which, like the first, brought $150,000, and all for the same young man ! The French planters had already treated me

with some distinction, merely from the fact that I was a stranger. I spoke French, but now, motif de plus ! their preference knew no bounds. Not a ball or soiree took place at their houses to which I was not invited.

I had already passed more than three months in the city, when, in the beginning of August, I was seized with a terrible attack of yellow fever. A burning headache, as if my brain was on fire, and violent pains in the back, were the first symptoms. The acquaintances by whom I was surrounded, and among them a Spaniard, by the name of Sere, who had become extremely interesting to me through his connection with Vera Cruz, at once called in their favorite physician, a Frenchman by the name of Raoul; and this man, who, in all other respects but intimate knowledge of yellow fever, was a perfect quack, succeeded in saving my life; with the very correct idea that the yellow fever is nothing but a violent inflammation of the gall, he instantly gave me a powerful emetic. Then, on the second day, another one, and on the third a strong purgative. My consciousness gradually returned, and at length I was out of danger, although desperately weakened and unnerved. In the forenoon of the third day the Cashier of the Louisiana Bank, a very honorable man, by the name of Zacharie, came to me, and asked me, with great earnestness, if I had made my will. I replied, " No, why V " Now," he responded, " I need not tell you that you have the yellow fever, and it is more than probable that you will die to-morrow." I raised my head to listen. " For the fourth day is the critical one, through which the patient seldom survives. You have treasure ; large sums lying in the bank to an amount never yet seen here; and were you to die, this capital would fall into extremely unsafe hands. The administrators of the property of foreigners dying here intestate, appointed by the State, are people who not only merit no confidence, but, to tell you the honest truth, are a set of shameless rascals." My reply was that I did not at all feel like dying, and that I would not die. I concluded with the words, " As I am not going to leave the world yet awhile, I don't want to bother my head with making a will." Mr. Zacharie gave me a searching look, and then said, " Well, indeed, my dear Mr. Nolte,

with the disposition that you manifest, I do feel quite sure that you are not going to die."

In the autumn of 1806* there circulated, throughout the United States, all kinds of rumors concerning an intended or already organized conspiracy, whose object was to separate the Southern from the Northern States, and to organize a second American Republic. At the head of this conspiracy, and of this projected duplicate republic, stood the American general, Burr; the same who had been the rival candidate of Jefferson for the Presidency, and had killed Washington's celebrated Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, in a duel. This man of evil reputation, of whom, as was generally known, Jefferson was, personally, afraid, had secretly been travelling through the West, and had there won over many partisans. It was even said that General Wilkinson, the commander of the small military force then maintained by the United States, and a militia general, by the name of Adair, from the State of Kentucky, belonged to this conspiracy. In New Orleans, the local militia was organized by the direction of the United States Government, and put in a condition to bear arms. The Frenchmen residing in that city formed two companies, the Irish a third, and the Germans a fourth. The latter, without knowing much about me, appointed me their Captain, probably because they every day heard of my money deposits in the bank. Military capacity I did not possess, and my sub-officers, consisting of store-clerks, grocers and trades-apprentices, learned no more of the service than I had picked up the day before.

Suddenly there appeared in New Orleans, as commander of the garrison, the very general above referred to, who had fallen under suspicion. He -at once mustered the local militia, and had them sworn in, so that he might exercise full authority over us all, as though we were regular troops of the line. He then had two young Americans, named Samuel Swartwout and P. V. Ogden, suddenly arrested, put on board a small goyernment vessel, and sent to Washington as accomplices of Burr. A few days later General Adair, of Kentucky, arrived by way of the Mississippi, and he also was arrested and dispatched to the capital. At last I was privately informed that I was looked upon with great suspi-

cion by the commanding general, since he had ascertained that the house of Baring, at London, had placed itself in readiness to furnish the funds necessary to secure the success of Burr's conspiracy, and I was well known to be the agent of that firm. When I learned that Wilkinson had secretly sent for a sergeant and corporal from my company, and questioned them concerning me, it seemed perfectly plain to me that the general was playing with false cards, and I resolved, without further delay, to go right to him, and ask him what was running in his head about me. He received me with a certain degree of solemnity, took me to one side, raised his eyes to heaven, and talked a great deal about his responsibility, and his duties to God and the country, which required that he should exercise the greatest vigilance in all directions. Finally he showed me an intercepted letter, written by one of Burr's accomplices, in which the following words occurred : " B. has undertaken to supply all the funds needed to carry out the whole plan." He then asked me what I thought of that, and what I had to say. My reply was, briefly, to the purport, that he must look to better authority than myself to find out what was meant by those words, and that the letter B. most probably indicated his friend Burr : that I was no agent of the Barings, and that if he would do me the honor to examine them, my books were open for his inspection : above all, I wished to know whether he was satisfied with this voluntary declaration, and would leave me undisturbed. Hereupon he seized my hand with the same solemnity that had characterized his first reception of me, once more rolled up his eyes, and said, " You have above a friend and protector; you are an honorable man, Mr. Nolte; return to your home in peace." And thus the affair terminated. I had carefully watched the man, and had come to the conclusion that he was an impostor, and most likely deeply implicated himself in Burr's plot. The result has proven that my conjectures were correct. From the lawsuits that afterwards arose at Washington, out of the arbitrary arrest of General Adair, and Messrs. Swartwout and Ogden, it was made evident that he had promised his aid to Burr in the scheme, but had withdrawn from it in good season. In his defence he constantly made a great show of the pompous words,

*' I have lopped off a limb to save the body of the Constitution !" and it was only Jefferson's preference and protection that saved him from the consequences of his irregular behavior. He had, however, forfeited the good opinion of his countrymen, and at length went away to Mexico, where he died a few years afterwards.

I had yet another trial to encounter during the management of the interest intrusted to my care. This was the rencontre between the English man-of-war Leopard and the American frigate Chesapeake, off the entrance of the bay of the latter name, in the summer of 1807. The English commander had received very accurate and explicit information regarding the enlistment of several deserters from his vessel 6n board of the American frigate, and when the latter showed herself on the open sea, the Leopard bore right down to her, and summoned her captain to surrender the deserting sailors. This the American, very naturally, refused to do. The frigate was poorly manned, and, in all other respects, unfit for action. The first shots from the British vessel were only a few times answered, and then the Chesapeake struck her flag. Hereupon the English officers came on board, mustered the crew, selected their five deserters from the throng, and took them back to the Leopard. This occurrence aroused the most fearful excitement in the United States; every one spoke with the greatest bitterness in favor of immediate war with England. There was no lack of rash counsellors, who endeavored to persuade me that I ought at once to set out for England or the North with my silver deposits. But I was too well aware that, on the part of England, there could be no good and sufficient cause for war, and that, so far as the United States were concerned, war could only be declared by Congress, which would first have to be called together by the President, and thus several months must elapse before the country could be in a position to commence hostilities, even supposing—a case still doubtful—that Congress should deem it necessary and wise to adopt violent measures.

CHAPTER V.

DAVID PARISH IN PHILADELPHIA.

The measures adopted by him—A retrospective glance at Ouvrard and hia affairs—Mismanagement the natural result of the unlimited obligations he had assumed—Complicated relations with the French State Bank, which thereby finds itself obliged to suspend specie payments—Napoleon's return after the peace of Presburg—Despotic measures, and his arbitrary inter ference with Ouvrard's business relations, by which the whole organization is brought to the ground—Napoleon and the house of Hope & Co. in Amsterdam, who, with becoming dignity, reject his propositions, and send his agent, afterwards the Baron Louis, home with a flea in his ear—The French Consul, General de Beaujour, in Philadelphia, is obliged to place himself in the hands of Parish, as Mollien, the Minister of Finance, is also compelled to throw himself into the arms of Hope & Co—False and one-sided judgment of Ouvrard by Thiers, who never did, or never would, comprehend Ouv rard's position as a merchant.

From the considerations given at the end. of the last chapter, 1 remained where I was. A retrospective glance now carries me back to the central point of the important business, whose chief control was intrusted to the guidance of Mr. David Parish. The latter had selected Philadelphia for his head-quarters, as an inter mediate point between New York and Baltimore; from which two points the cargoes of goods were to be sent out under licenses, and where the most considerable returns in Spanish dollars were to be received. After consultation with some of the first houses, particularly in Baltimore, where the best fast-sailing clippers are built, it was made evident that insurances upon such shipments were not to be thought of, since no less than twenty per cent, premium was required. In order to cover a capital of $60,000, at such a premium, one would have to insure $75,000 ;

so that in shipping and insuring four cargoes, each of the value of $60,000, you would have to lay out a total of $60,000 in premiums ; and thus, even should those cargoes reach their destination in safety, you would have diminished your capital to the extent of the last-mentioned sum—that is to say, out of $240,000 you would have only $180,000 left. Hence it may be perceived, that our four uninsured cargoes, should one be cast away and lost, or be taken by belligerents, and the other three arrive in safety, it would amount to the same thing ; and that as a loss of one in four would be a very rare one, even in time of war, in case fast sailing ships, under vigilant, active and skilful captains, to whom a reasonable recompense had been promised, should they bring their voyage to a successful issue, were used. We adopted the plan of building immediately and at the same time, six fast-sailing vessels, of equal value and equal tonnage, lading them with cargoes worth the same amount, and sending the,m, on the account of the parties assuming the risk, to Vera Cruz, under these Spanish licenses.

In this consisted the first measure to be adopted. The second consideration was, what premium, or what amount of profit was proportioned to the licenses, and introduction of the hitherto excluded goods into Mexico. The third was, who should bear the expense of building the ships and procuring their cargoes. With regard to these two points, it was deemed most advisable to make them both one interest; that is to say, to have the whole outlay for ships and cargoes provided for by one and the same house, and to require of that house one-third of its net profit as a premium for the use of the license. Should one cargo be lost or captured, of course there would be no premium to pay on the license.

It was the house of Messrs. Robert and John Oliver, two honorable Irish gentlemen, who had settled in Baltimore, and already possessed considerable capital there, who, jointly with their brother-in-law, James Craig, of Philadelphia, first undertook this enterprise. It was also stipulated, that should these vessels be used for the transportation of silver coin, not representing the results of the cargoes sent out, the shipper should be entitled to a

freight of five per cent, on the amount embarked. The whole combination was excellent; but before the house in Baltimore had concluded a definite contract with Mr. David Parish, there was yet another matter of anxiety to be decided ; this was, to accurately know to what we would be bound on either side, in case that, notwithstanding the assured exemption of the cargoes from the generally heavy duties in Mexico, unexpected demands should suddenly be made upon us by that Government, and ail at once lifted from the two or three cargoes which might then be lying in the port of Vera Cruz. The Messrs. Oliver desired the guaranty of Mr. David Parish against the consequences of such an eventuality.

It had been fully understood between Ouvrard and his partner, Charles IV., or rather the latter's Ministry, that there should be no duties to pay in Mexico. But the Messrs. Oliver, like prudent merchants, desired to have an accurate knowledge of the length and breadth of their obligations, and thus Mr. Parish had to devise some means of giving them this guaranty, before the scheme could be set in motion. He undertook it for a consideration of twenty per cent., which was to be deducted from the calculation made in Philadelphia, of the rough profits on the cargoes sold in Vera Cruz, and was then to be paid over or made good to Parish.

Soon after his arrival in the United States he had explained the nature of his mission to the oldest and best correspondents of the two firms of Hope & Baring, such men, namely, as Willing & Francis, in Philadelphia, Robert Gilmore & Sons, in Baltimore. James & Thomas H. Perkins, in Boston, and had expressed a desire for their participation in the business. Partly through his not understanding it, and partly because he had not the sufficient disposable means, he was unable to carry on so vast an undertaking alone. After the extraordinary success of Messrs. Oliver had been witnessed in Baltimore, for some eight or ten months, there was no longer any lack of parties, either, to take out the licenses; and Parish was thus placed in a situation to conclude similar arrangements with Isaac McKimm, James Tenant, and John O'Donnell, in Baltimore, and also to transfer a couple of

5

the licenses in the house of Archibald Gracie & Sons, in New York, who had less means than the others, but possessed excellent credit. The agent in Vera Cruz, my friend A. P. Lestapis, had started there under the name of Jose Gabriel de Villanueva. He had formerly served in the counting-house of Mr. Juan Plante, in Santander, and at the death of his colleague, a Spaniard, named Villanueva, who was of the same age, and resembled him both in face and figure, the latter's certificate of birth and other papers had fallen into his hands.

Mr. Labouchere, in Amsterdam, who thoroughly understood and feared the evil consequences, or at least great difficulties, that would attend the appearance of a Frenchman in Mexico, as a commercial agent, and thought that all these would be avoided by the employment of a Spaniard in the Spanish interest, and that by this means one might go on, and even empty the Mexican Treasury, without being disturbed, occasioned this change of name, and directed my friend's appearance under the borrowed title. The secret of this change was intrusted to only one person, a lady in Vera Cruz. Lestapis fell in love with an extremely charming young girl, a Miss Manuelita de Garay, and married her under the name of Villanueva, at the same time promising that he would repeat the ceremony, somewhere outside of Mexico, under the name of Lestapis. This promise was redeemed two years afterwards in Philadelphia.

Villanueva had intrusted two houses in Vera Cruz with the sale of the cargoes sent to him, three-fourths of them to the most respectable and wealthiest of these firms, Pedro Miguel de Echever-ria, and the remaining fourth to the less considerable establishment of Francisco Luis de Septien, under an agreement to make good the half of the commission calculated thereupon at five per cent. The best guage, by which to estimate the whole profits of the cargoes sent to Vera Cruz, is afforded by the sum representing the half of this commission, which amounted to $280,000. The whole of it ran up to the 560,000 piastres, and the net value of the imported cargoes was consequently $11,200,000 ; as there was neither freightage nor duties, all that remained to be deducted from them was embraced in the commission, and some trifling local

OUVRARD IN SPAIN. . 09

expenses. In addition to the proceeds of the goods sold, the clippers, on their return from Vera Cruz, each time brought with them from $100,000 to $200,000, on account of the Bills of Exchange or Libranzas there presented, which, including the moneys received by me in New Orleans, amounted to about 15,000,000 Spanish dollars.

I must now return once more to Ouvrard, from whom the reader parted when he made his last journey to Madrid. One would have supposed that Ouvrard's appetite for colossal under-takings would have been gratified, by this time, to satiety. But such was by no means the case. Directly after his return to Madrid he received, through his friend and patron Godoy, a contract for ten years, by which the products of all the lead and quicksilver mines of Spain were transferred to him, at the average prices of the last ten years ; and to this was added the privilege of supplying the government with all the tobacco it required.

In regular proportion to the successive and rapid arrivals of Spanish dollars in the ports of the United States, Ouvrard received their equivalent through the house of Hope & Co., in Amsterdam, at the stipulated rates, and this enabled him, not only to render the Spanish monarchy the service of making the immense resources it possessed beyond the seas available, but also to put it in a position to discharge with facility the yearly subsidy it owed to France. It does not require any extraordinary talent for calculation to perceive, that this likewise placed the keys of the Spanish Treasury in Napoleon's hands, and that he could retain them in his possession so long as he saw fit. He thus had indirect control of the means which his war with England, and the watchfulness of her fleets, had hitherto made inaccessible to him. This, as I have already remarked, is plain enough to the most limited intelligence, and the eyes of the French Minister in Madrid were at length opened to the fact by Ouvrard's representations. His reports had produced their effect upon the Minister Public of Finance, who had persuaded himself that Ouvrard was the most influential man in Spain; and the truth came flowing in from every reliable quarter so incontestably clear, that any misapprehension of it was almost impossible. And yet, can it be credited, that the greatest

intellect, the mightiest genius of the age, was guilty of precisely this misconception ! Yet so it happened. I have already alluded to his dislike of everything mercantile, or belonging to mercantile pursuits, or carried on in a mercantile way ; and this it was which, united to a blind personal hatred to Ouvrard and his altered policy in relation to Spain, sufficed to overthrow the most magnificent structure that ever the spirit of mercantile enterprise had begun to erect for the benefit of both kingdoms, and, at the same time, deprive the Emperor himself of the richest- sources of Spanish opulence, by closing against him the influx of silver from New Spain.

There is but one thing that offers an excuse for Napoleon's mistake in this matter ; it consists in the confusion of French financial affairs at that time, the enormous requirements of his vast armies, and the unavoidable operations thence arising. He did, indeed, succeed for a while in raising the necessary sums from the taxation and unlimited contributions of the regions he conquered, and in living, to use the proper phrase, at the expense of others ; but in the long run these levies finally overstepped all bounds, produced a diseased condition of financial affairs, and at the same time revolted the countries subjected to them. Then, again, the colossal nature of Ouvrard's already undertaken and projected enterprises required a spirit of order, method, and extreme watchfulness, as well as a number of faithful and capable agents, &c, such as Ouvrard neither had at his command, nor could find in sufficient number. Accustomed to deal lightly with millions, he was, undoubtedly, often in a condition to make his calculations general, and to arrange means of carrying out his plans as a whole, which were by no means deficient in quick and ready efficiency : but the moment his schemes were about to become living realities, the gift of clearly comprehending the requisite measures to be taken, prudence in making the final step, and perseverance in conducting his efforts to a decisive issue, were lacking. Thus the door stood open to all kinds of mismanagement, embezzlement, and roguery, which did not tarry in making themselves apparent first by an unusual crisis of the Bank at Paris. The banker Duprez, who, it will be remembered, had taken Ouvrard's

place in his engagements with thepublic^Treasury^ an# held the obligations of the public Receivers-General,.which.fejl £ue periodically, had, through the circulars <fptt $£ th;em Jby the 7ylji/ifeier of Finance, requested them to forward him all moneys at their disposition, for an interest equivalent of at least <^gfit per cent. In this way vast capital flowed into his hands, of which, as currently reported, he lent, chiefly through vanity, something like fifty millions to needy commercial houses, and soon afterwards involved himself in embarrassment thereby. To help himself out of trouble he had transferred the bonds of the Receivers-General to the Bank of France, and received advances upon them. Thus, when, shortly afterwards, the Bank was disquieted by a sudden demand for the redemption of a large part of its notes, and turned itself for relief to the Beceveurs, with a request that they would come to its aid, and make payments on account, it transpired that Duprez had already received the larger part of the moneys arising upon them, and nothing remained but a direct application to him for the discharge of his obligations at the Bank. Duprez, who was not so situated that he could compromise this piece of deception, found himself compelled to lay the whole condition of his pecuniary affairs before the eyes of the Bank Directors. In consequence of this business, which soon became known, and the ill-concealed anxiety of the Directors themselves, the Bank suddenly fell into discredit; everybody wanted his notes cashed, and, to the universal alarm of the community, the Bank had to suspend its specie payments.

It was on the day after the battle of Austerlitz that this intel-gence reached Napoleon. In something less than a fortnight after this occurrence the Minister Barbe-Marbois had endeavored to remedy the first embarrassment of the State Treasury, by dispatching a courier to Madrid, with a request for Ouvrard to immediately send him the half of the first payment of bills for twenty millions made by the Spanish Government, that is to say, the sum of ten millions, and give him the full and free disposal of the same. Ouvrard had so much confidence in the uprightness of the Minister, that he at once sent him the bills for ten millions of piastres, without deduction. Directly afterwards there appeared

in Madrid an ugent of the Minister, called Wante, with a ministe-rial order addressed to, Ouvrard, in which the latter was required to sumsi&er ec^h i^vl ewry st-e^ies of Spanish values into the hands of the bearer, and thereupon to return without further delay to Paris. A few days later Ouvrard received complete information concerning the Paris Bank crisis above-mentioned. Wante had expressed a wish to be presented to the Prince of Peace, and Ouvrard had instantly satisfied his desire. Soler, the Minister of Finance, who happened to be present, turned to Wante with the words, " Monsieur, if anything has remained undone, you must look to Mr. Ouvrard for it; he has not asked it, since I have received full orders to grant him everything." Wante comprehended in a moment the credit Ouvrard enjoyed, and saw that the French Ministry might and should repose implicit confidence in him : so, after regularly informing himself in relation to Ouvrard's general position, he deemed it incumbent upon him to return to Paris, after having first congratulated Ouvrard upon the influence he had gained.

On the day after his departure Godoy learned, through his private correspondence, that he would, most probably, within a few days, be desired to arrest Ouvrard without further ceremony, and forward him to Paris. Filled with sympathy, the Prince exhibited this letter to his friend Ouvrard, and advised him to depart at once to America, and there await the upshot of these erroneous views entertained by the French government; a frigate was at his disposal for this purpose. But Ouvrard responded that he needed no frigate to take him to America, but only a sufficient escort to Bayonne, whence he would pursue the most direct route to Paris.

Napoleon, who had won the reward of his victorious campaign against Austria at the peace of Presburg, and had reached Paris on his return by the 26th of January, 1806, the next evening summoned into his presence Messrs. Ouvrard, Vanlerberghe, and Desprez (whom Thiers, in the sixth volume of his History of the Empire, styles, on his own authority, the " assembled merchants les negocians reunis"). Ouvrard, however, did not get the message sent to him, and consequently only the other two were

present. They were so overwhelmed by the first outburst of the Emperor's wrath, that Thiers feels himself called upon to say that they shed hot tears. Napoleon had required the Arch-Chancellor Cambaceres to acquaint him with the whole nature of the entanglement that had arisen between the three named gentlemen, the public Treasury and the Bank of France. But who was prepared to evolve light from such a chaos, unless it were Ouvrard himself? Napoleon, who could not even hear that name without an ebullition of the most intense anger, was at first disposed to have all three incarcerated at Vincennes, but finally listened to Cambaceres, who advised him to save as much as possible from this unintentional wreck, and, with that intent, to take possession of all their papers, money, and effects. His resolution was already fixed, when he summoned the State Council together to consult in relation to the form, and Barbe Marbois had begun to read a complete report concerning the affair, when his very first words were interrupted by Napoleon's declaration, that he knew perfectly well what he had to do. " If," said the Emperor, " these men do not give up to me everything they own, and Spain does not pay me all she owes, I will send them to Vincennes, and an army to Madrid." However, Napoleon decided to hear what Ouvrard had to say, and to that end again summoned him on February 6th. Scarcely had the latter uttered a couple of words, after making his appearance in the room of audience, when the Emperor called his State Secretary to him, and said, " Mr. Maret, read my decree to this gentleman !" By the decree referred to, the three partners were declared to be indebted to the State in the sum of 87,000,000 francs, and bound in obligations of various kinds, which were then, on Ouvrard's account, partly in the hands of Messrs. Hope & Co., and partly in the State Treasury, to pay the total sum of 69,000,000,. and give their own notes for the remaining 18,000,000. When this decree had been read aloud, the Emperor broke out upon Ouvrard, and asked what security he could give for the payment of this sum. The reply was that the whole amount should be paid, if the management of his own affairs were left in. his (Ouvrard's) hands. " Now, then," said Napoleon, " I count upon that. I will substitute another decree for this one-,

by which all that you have in the hands of Hope & Co. shall remain under my direction." Ouvrard replied that no other result could be expected from these measures, than that England would put a stop to the exportation of silver dollars from Mexico, and that Spain herself would withdraw from her agreements. This second decree, published February 18th, directed that each and every bill drawn by Ouvrard on the Cashier of the Consolidation Fund, Don Manuel Sirto Espinosa, at Madrid, and accepted by the latter, as detailed in the provisional agreement, made and concluded in the interim, on the 18th of November, 1805, should be withdrawn from the hands of the holders, and transferred to the French State Treasury, viz., the amount of 7,260,849 piastres, which Messrs. Leguin and Michael Jeune, in Paris, sub-contractors of Ouvrard and his associates, then held as guaranties. This, it furthermore intimated, must be delivered back within the space of twenty-four hours.

A courier, who was dispatched to Madrid the very next morning, took the Spanish Government word that this decree had been made public, and that Spain was released from her engagement with Ouvrard. The latter was thus shut out from all activity, and learned, a short time afterwards, through an official announcement in the Moniteur, that not 87,000,000 but 141,000,000 was the amount for which he and his associates had to figure as debtors to the State. Ouvrard and Vanlerberghe succeeded in liquidating this enormous liability ; but a host of other creditors were pressing their claims, and so embarrassed the further arrangement of their business, that on the 31st of December, 1807, they were obliged at length to hand in their declaration of insolvency to the Tribunal of Commerce, at Paris.

In regard to the moneys, bills, and other values in the hands of Messrs. Hope & Co., Napoleon had reckoned without his host. This powerful House, which then stood at the head of the mercantile order throughout the world, and, in Holland not only felt itself perfectly independent, but considered itself equal in financial matters to any potentate on earth, and entitled to occupy a similar footing with them, could not recognize that it was in any manner bound by the imperial decree. Yet Napoleon was weak enough to think differ

ently. He had dictated a letter, addressed to Messrs. Hope & Co., in the hand-writing of Mollien, the successor of Barbe Mar-bois, who had been removed. This missive, couched in the language of a master to his servant, contained the following words : " You have made enough money in the Louisiana business to leave me no room to doubt that you will, without reservation, comply with any order I may see fit to make." He then sent this letter, without Ouvrard's consent, by an Inspector of Finance, to Amsterdam. However, the Finance Inspector was very coolly received, and had to come back without accomplishing anything. Soon afterwards Napoleon thought it advisable to send the Baron Louis—afterwards Louis Philippe's first Minister of Finance—to Holland to explore the ground, and discover what resources Ouv-rard might have there. Baron Louis presented himself to the Messrs. Hope, and disclosed the object of his visit. Mr. Labou-chere, who received him, at once replied: " Whether we have money in our hands for Mr. Ouvrard, or not, Baron, is not a matter for which we are obliged to render any account to you ; and the inappropriateness of your present visit must have been appa rent to yourself!"

This anecdote, related by Ouvrard himself, I can offer as simple truth, for I have likewise heard it repeated frequently by Mr. La-bouchere also, who could not suppress a feeling of inward pride, whenever he got an opportunity, to illustrate his entire independence of the man, at whose feet all Europe bent the knee. He considered Napoleon the greatest tyrant the world had ever seen, but was ever ready to defend him against any charge of blood-thirstiness, an accusation which, like many others in that time, and amid the general exasperation of the fiercest passions, was constantly repeated. " A taste for blood," he used often to say, " was not a trait of Napoleon; but, as a means to an end, he was as ready to lay his hands upon it as upon any other that chanced to be within reach."

The miscalculation made by Napoleon, in imagining that the Spanish bills on Mexico would be just as good values in his hands as in those of Messrs. Hope & Co., was not long in making itself evident. In the first place, there were, nowhere on the continent,

5*

capitalists to be found, whose means were so immense as the resources controlled by Messrs. Hope, who were able to invest a portion of their vast funds in the purchase of such State paper, for the eventual payment of the same had to take -place in another quarter of the globe. They were, moreover, of a doubtful nature, and, finally, the definitive realization of the proceeds was, in any event, remote, and could not be transformed into anything directly accessible. Secondly, Messrs. Hope, through their close relations with the Barings—Mr. Labouchere himself the son-in-law of the eldest head of that house, Sir Francis Baring, and the latter, again, the intimate friend of the then Marquis of Lansdowne, formerly Viscount Shelbourne, and of the Marquis of Wellesley— was perhaps the only firm in a position to convince the Pitt ministry, that the importation of piastres from Mexico was a wholesome transaction for British commerce, and for the East India Company, and to persuade them that in their eyes alone could these values have a nominal worth, and that they alone could impart it to them. Count Mollien, the French Minister of Finance to whom the bills and papers wrested from Ouvrard had been transferred, was not long in making this discovery. Perfectly understanding, as he may have done readily enough, what course the Messrs. Hope took with their drafts and notes of the same kind, he probably conceived that he had nothing more to do than to send them to Mr. Felix de Beaujour, the Consul-General a: Philadelphia, for negotiation.

When the latter received these bills he was thrown into great perplexity. He had felt the pulse of some of the more important French houses in Philadelphia, such as that of Stephen Girard, L. Clapier, and others. No one would have anything to do with the doubtful bills, and there was no means at hand of presenting them in Mexico. Some small sums might have been got together, but when the object consisted of millions, to what purpose were such negotiations? Hence, De Beaujour was compelled to make application to Parish for his advice. It was to have been foreseen, that from this a negotiation, and finally a contract, must arise between these two men. The nature of the transaction has ever remained a secret between them. For when,

in the winter of 1808-'09, I was busied with the first provisional winding up of our heavy operations, I could not find the slightest trace of the business in the correspondence, nor the copy-books, nor in the current account-book of Mr. Parish—the only books that I saw. There was neither any stipulation of conditions, nor sums to be paid. The piastres arrived from time to time in the usual schooners, and were at once delivered to M. de Beaujour. One thing, however, I had an opportunity of certainly knowing, namely, that the sum total of the bills drawn by the French Consul did not exceed 2,000,000 piastres. Some of the bills violently taken from Ouvrard, again found their way into the hands of Messrs. Hope.

Upon the occasion of Ouvrard's subsequently making over, of his own accord, all his assets, in Spain as well as in the hands of Messrs. Hope, to the Public Treasury, (Tre&or Public) the latter saw itself unavoidably compelled to come to an understanding with that firm. Count Mollien was too shrewd a business-man not to perceive the necessity and, at the same time, the advantage, of an amicable arrangement with the Hopes, especially as the power of Napoleon was held at bay by the moral independence of the great mercantile house; and as there was a possibility of procuring from the latter what M. de Beaujour had neither the means nor the influence to obtain—that is to say, advances on account, Had not Napoleon's violent and arbitrary dissolution of the close relations existing between Ouvrard and the Spanish Court cut off the first productive moneyed resources of the Spanish Crown, the silver mines of Mexico would, after the unavoidable delay of a few months, perhaps of a single year, required to complete the necessary preparation, have long been made tributary to the treasury of France. What afterwards occurred, in consequence of the forced abdication of Charles IV. and his next heir to the throne, at Bayonne, the separation of the colonies from the mother country would have brought about. The military supremacy of Napoleon had found its natural limits in America, and the commands of the new monarch imposed upon Spain were totally disregarded. It is impossible to read the exposition of Quvrard's relations and entanglements, given by Thiers in the

22d and 24th chapters of his Sixth Volume, without being convinced that the author's aim has constantly been to make his hero appear as blameless as possible in that whole affair; for by the exercise of the least degree of unprejudiced judgment, in regard to the entire course pursued, from the time of Napoleon's return after the Peace of Presburg, he must have perceived that if, as he affirms, the colossal schemes and combinations of Ouvrard had brought great embarrassment jipon the French Treasury, and especially on the Bank, that circumstance was chiefly ascribable to the insufficiency of the united revenues of the French and Spanish governments to supply their own State necessities and the enormous expenses of Napoleon's military operations. Both countries were forbidden all commerce by sea, and as export trade was thus rendered impossible, their ready money had to go abroad, to pay the indispensable demands for colonial and other goods. Spain had been compelled to declare war against England, and then to assume an obligation to pay during the continuance of that war an annual subsidy of 72,000,000 of francs, and that exactly at a time when the existing hostilities had cut off the usual supplies of ready money flowing in to her from her American Colonies. Ouvrard was useful, nay, almost indispensable to Napoleon, as an inventive head who could instantly find millions to satisfy the Emperor's necessities and whims—farther than this he either would not, or did not see. As it was part of his policy to retake from the so called pilferers of the public income—he looked on Ouvrard as such—what they might have succeeded in getting by dishonest management in spite of him, it was a matter of no concern what means Ouvrard might employ in procuring the money he so constantly required. Yet no very great insight or talent for computation was needed to arrive at the result, that if the directly available means of France were insufficient to meet the usual State expenses and Bonaparte's inordinate demands, and that if Spain was despoiled of the only resource by which she could pretend to discharge her debt, and loans furthermore rendered impossible, through the want of confidence felt by all foreign capitalists, neither an Ouvrard nor any one else could stop the leakage daily and incessantly made by Napoleon, It was, then, necessary to bear upon the natural revenues of State beforehand,

by turning into money, a long time previously to their falling due, the notes of the Receivers General, which the Bank continued to discount. So long as the public was willing to receive the bank-notes emitted instead of money, this foolish system might be protracted, but the first rumor of discredit must inevitably overthrow the frail structure, notwithstanding all Ouvrard's combinations. This fact could not escape the eye of any well-informed person, and hence Thiers himself, in spite of his efforts to make Napoleon appear as free from blame as possible, finally makes the following confession, with evident unwillingness : " It must, however, for the sake of justice be admitted, that to the Emperor himself a great portion"—(I would say the greatest portion)—"of the blame must be ascribed which this circumstance deserves; since he, with great obstinacy and for much too long a time, allowed the weight of these enormous burdens to rest upon the feeble exertions of M. de Marbois, without troubling himself about providing for the extraordinary means these circumstances demanded." The removal of M. de Marbois, the arbitrary measures employed with Ouvrard and his associates, the anathema he fulminated against them, will not serve him before the eyes of posterity to cloak the want of those qualities, which as a ruler he should have possessed, and which were indispensable in controlling the general interests of state. These qualities consisted in a sound appreciation of his financial relations, and unswerving, constant watchfulness in regard to the changes arising in the circumstances that surrounded them. It was the balance of his finances that Napoleon usually neglected, in his calculations.

I have been necessarily obliged to make this, perhaps, too lengthy digression—which also lies far from the aim of these memoirs—because Ouvrard, as the real originator of national credit in France, as the result will show, rendered great and incon-testible service to his country ; and yet, instead of being rated as a man of genius, he is usually regarded as an adventurer. It is beyond a doubt, that the circumstances under which he was destined to develop this genius and the activity of his mind, were among the most extraordinary which the world has yet seen, and that the possibility of their return could now scarcely be admitted,

CHAPTER VI.

FORCED ABANDONMENT OF VERY IMPORTANT OPERATIONS.

My return to Philadelphia—Acquaintance with Robert Fulton at New York —A glance at his history—The trial-trip of the first steamboat Clermont from New York for Albany—Departure for Havana, to call in the government-exchange of *700,000 piastres—Negotiation with the Intendant-Gene-ral Roubaud—Exchange of these bills for a single one drawn to my order, and a bill for 945,000 dollars on the viceroy of Mexico given me,—the largest in amount I ever indorsed—I take passage from Havana in the schooner " Merchant," bound for Baltimore.

It was in the summer of 1807 when we, Lestapis in Mexico and I in New Orleans, received the first intimation from Parish in Philadelphia, that the existing condition of things would bring us rapidly nearer the termination of our agencies, which had at first been counted upon for years. So far as I in particular was concerned, there was no necessity for my remaining in New Orleans longer than the settlement of my affairs in that city required, that is to say, about one month. The arrangements made by Parish with Oliver and Brothers, led to natural alteration of the original plan, according to which assorted cargoes were to come from Europe to New Orleans, and thence be forwarded to Vera Cruz, and; the proceeds and other remittances of money were also to be received at New Orleans, on their way to Europe. Yet, there were great difficulties in the way of forwarding the proceeds, and transferring the licenses; since good bills of exchange on the North and on England were very scarce, and could be had only in small quantities; and for shipments to Europe there were hardly two houses to which I could have made advances with any

thing like security. In August, 1807, I had completed my final arrangements, intrusted the presentation of several bills that yet had some time to run, and amounting in all to about 40,000 dollars, to Messrs. Amory and Callender, and returned to the North, where my services were soon needed in a new business at Havana.

It was exactly at this time that I, then staying at one of the most celebrated boarding-houses in the city of New York, the Widow Gallop's, on Broadway, while engaged in making my preparations for departure, by mere chance, at breakfast, made the acquaintance of a gentleman who was just about to give the world the first example of steam-navigation. The reader will readily guess that I am now referring to Robert Fulton, and his newly-built steamer " Clermont," constructed by him at his own expense. It was then a topic in the mouth of every body, as the attempt he proposed in a short time to make, to carry his plan into execution, was the object of universal curiosity. My new acquaintance wanted me to be present, and witness the departure of his steamboat, which was to take place from the bank of the Hudson river, at 12 o'clock ; and, indeed, it did not require much persuasion to induce me to accede to this request. So I saw this curious and wonderful structure—130 feet in length, 16£ feet broad, 7 feet depth of hold, rating 160 tons, as it had been described, and containing about 450 passengers—leave the wharf as the clock struck twelve, make right for the middle of the stream, and describe a circle three times in succession. Then, defying the force of the winds and waves alike, it dashed gallantly along its way to Albany, as though the most favorable breeze were filling its sails. A vociferous cheer arose from the thousands assembled on both banks of the Hudson to witness, with their own eyes, the reality of this truly grand experiment, and its brilliant success.

It is the lot of all remarkable and generally useful inventions to be the object of dispute, claimed by the ambition of various nations, and in contending for it, the suum cuique is neither made a habit, nor regarded as a duty. Even the purely accidental and by no means splendid invention of gunpowder is denied to

the German monk who discovered it—the Chinese, they say, had used it long before. The art of printing, too, had been lying hidden in some nook or corner of Lombardy, long ere Guttenberg and Faust touched it. It is, therefore, nothing strange, that the priority in discovering the applicability of steam navigation should have been contested with Fulton by the Scotch, and even the French. We may let these various claims rest on their own intrinsic merit; but one thing can never be brought into question, viz., the unusual perseverance with which Fulton followed up his plans, after the depth of his conviction made him recognize, only in one point of view, the difficulty of realizing it, and the constancy and devoted earnestness that did not hesitate to make any sacrifice, so soon as this difficulty was removed or overcome.

The reader will be enabled to make up his own mind, in relation to all this, to Fulton's right to act as the father of steam navigation, to his unexampled energy under the crushing pressure of so many blows and caprices of fortune, his courage m doing what would be called, in mercantile language, risking his all upon a single card, whenever a lucky turn of affairs suddenly opened to him a way to the execution of his plans.

Fulton was born somewhere between the years 1768 and 1770, in the State of Pennsylvania, and began his career as apprentice to a goldsmith, in Philadelphia. He soon gave evidence of great and manifold talents, among which—when a moneyed friend furnished him with the means of visiting London—a special capacity for mechanics, and a fondness for the study of the steam engine and its possible uses, speedily developed themselves.

In the English capital he made the acquaintance of a fellow-countryman, called James Rumsey, and from him probably gathered the idea of applying steam to navigation ; for Rumsey had dealt with a certain John Fitch a long time in Philadelphia, and had, as early as the year 1788, been an applicant, in common with him, for a patent guarantying the exclusive navigation by steam of all the waters of Pennsylvania. They had failed in this effort, because their petition set forth no express method of the application to ships and boats ; and the Legislature of Pennsylvania very properly hesitated to grant a patent for the undefined

special application for a mere idea, of which several might be in the possession at the same time, and, as it has since appeared, really were. In England, Rumsey was more fortunate, and procured a patent on the 24th of March, 1790.

The drawing of the steamship planned by Fitch is to be found in the first volume of Brewster's Encyclopedia. The vessel was to be propelled by means of stern-wheels; and the scheme differs but little from that of Rumsey, who was fortunate enough, in London, to find an American capitalist, and to interest him in the affair. Just as the construction of the vessel had been commenced, the latter died. The parties interested tried to go on with it, but did not succeed. ±

At the same time several Englishmen and Scotchmen came forward with similar projects, particularly an engineer called Sy mington, who, after he had, as early as 1788 and 1789, become more or less acquainted with the plans of the American, at length, some twelve years later, succeeded in completing a steam vessel, which he named the Charlotte Dundas, and set it in motion, with quite a favorable result, on the Eorth-and-Clyde Canal. He thereupon received orders to build several similar boats for the navigation of the same canal, with the prospect of constructing many more for the Bridgewater Canal. But the Board of Directors of the Forth-and-Clyde Canal opposed the execution of this plan. The Duke of Bridgewater died, and Symington, who had spent a considerable portion of Iris fortune in experiments of all kinds, drew back, and occupied himself with various improvements of his plan, for which he received patents from time to time.

Yet, of all the projects relating to the introduction of steam navigation, none were carried into complete execution, until, finally, after the peace concluded at Ghent, in 1814, between England and the United States, English travellers, convinced, probably, by the success of Fulton's experiment in America, spread the knowledge of it in their own country, incited others to follow Fulton's example, and ere long awakened a general desire to make the history of navigation by steam a subject of pursuit, and to disseminate the assertion, that the American was not its inventor, but that its origin was in the first instance British, and that

Fulton could claim only the merit of having transplanted it to American soil.

In the meanwhile Fulton had not been idle, but, with all the peculiar energy of the American enterprising character, had been straining every nerve to procure the introduction of navigation by steam into his country. However, he found but little vantage-ground, and secured but little faith and no assistance in his undertaking even from his family, the Livingstons, of New York State, most of whom were wealthy, some of them having already been engaged in every description of steamboat and steamship project. This drove him again to Europe, and from England to Paris, where Chancellor Livingston, a relative, was then residing as Ambassador for the United States, and could make him acquainted with scientific men of all classes. He likewise fell in with another relative, Robert Livingston, who had, previously to that time, made experiments in steam navigation, in connection with his countryman Stevens. Fulton and Robert Livingston hereupon had a steam-vessel built at their joint expense. At the moment when it was to perform its first evolutions on the Seine, before the eyes of the authorities and distinguished personages invited thither to witness it, it broke in two, and went to pieces, with the weight of its unwieldy machinery, which had unavoidably been constructed in England.

Fulton, not at all disheartened by this, bethought himself of other projects, and at length perfected plans of certain machines, which he offered to the Government, and which were adapted to the destruction, by sub-marine means, of the English squadron then blockading and annoying Cherbourg. These machines were to be sunken in the water, through which they would make their way, propelled by steam, to the keels of the hostile ships, and, there attaching themselves, explode and destroy the enemy. The plan was, according to custom, referred to a Committee of the War Ministry and the Engineer Corps, but regarded by them as scarcely worth the trouble of an investigation. The jealousy with which the French engineers have ever looked upon strangers is notorious. Besides this, the unsuccessful trial on the Seine worked greatly to Fulton's disadvantage. Gradually his impa-

tience reached a point where it no longer knew any bounds. He stormed the Ministry, the Committee, never received any satisfactory answer, and at length, backed by the Ambassador Livingston's influence, repeatedly made his way to the presence of Napoleon. The latter was taken up with quite other things, and finally, at a court ball, expressed his displeasure at Fulton's headlong zeal in the following words to Livingston: "Debarrassez-moi de cefou o?' Americain /"—" Rid me of this fool of an American!" Fulton felt that there was no longer any field open for him in Paris. So he returned to England, assumed the name of Major Francis, and found means to bring his project before the Board of Admiralty, at whose head stood the well-known minister Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville. The idea was then conceived of blowing up the French ligne cCembassage, and the flotillas of Bologne and Cherbourg, by means of these inventions, which Fulton called torpedoes and catamarans. The Navy Committee and Fulton agreed upon the price of £40,000 sterling, for which the latter was to make over his invention to the British Government, and receive the pay when a first successful trial had been accomplished. The English Admiralty had the machines prepared by their workmen, and intrusted their application to the mighty hands of Lord Nelson, who at that time commanded the English fleet off Bologne. The experiment, however, was unsuccessful; the machines exploded out of the water before they reached the French squadron. Of course there was no further thought of paying Fulton; yet the latter was so unremitting and obstinate in laying the whole blame of failure on the unskilful construction of the machines, that the Admiralty at last agreed to appoint a special committee, in whose presence the inventor should, with a machine prepared under his own personal inspection, prove the practicability of the plan at his own expense and risk; that is to say, on a vessel belonging to himself. On the day fixed Fulton repaired with the Committee, Dundas at its head, to Deal, where a small vessel under the American flag, and purchased by him, lay at anchor in the Roads. Fulton, holding the apparatus in his hand, requested the Committee-men present to glance at their watches. It was just twelve o'clock when he let his torpedo fall into the water, with these words,

" In precisely five-and-twenty minutes, gentlemen, you will see my ship yonder fly into the air !" It happened as he said. The experiment was completely successful, and Fulton of course stood to the stipulated price.

On the Continent, in the meanwhile, the tables had been turned. Napoleon's eye was bent upon another object than the invasion of England. His attention was absorbed in the war with Russia and Austria, and hence the danger that threatened the English shores was no longer so pressing. Consequently an arrangement was come to with Major Francis, who finally accepted one half the amount that had been promised to him, and returned with the money to New York, under his own proper name of Fulton.

Now, when he no longer was dependent upon outside help, his favorite idea revived in him again, with fresh and increased vigor. He built, at his own expense, the large steam vessel previously described, and named it after Clermont, the country-seat of his friend, the Chancellor Livingston. It reached Clermont, at a distance of 110 miles, within twenty-four hours, left that point again at nine o'clock, on the next morning, and arrived at Albany, some forty-seven miles farther, in about eight hours. It had thus made nearly five miles per hour against wind and current.

This steamboat was the first that its owner began to employ to a practical purpose and valuable result. I have, elsewhere, related the further history of Fulton, who lived only eight years after the epoch of his success.*

Among the Bills taken from Ouvrard's portfolio by Napoleon, were some 105 drafts, to the amount of 700,000 piastres, drawn by the Spanish Minister of Finance, Don Miguel Cayetano Soler on the " Caxa de Consolidacion," or Consolidation Fund, in Havana. Count Mollien had sent them to Messrs. Hope & Co., from whose hands they came to mine. The letter of advices from the before-mentioned drawer Soler to the Don Raphael Gomez Roubaud, the Director of the Consolidation Fund, in Havana, said expressly that these bills were to be paid only in silver, and in no other kind

* See my article entitled " Robert Fulton and steam Navigation," in No. 20, of the " Deutschen Handelzeitunjj:" issue of Mav 20, 1849.

of-coin, and, in the two letters of introduction accompanying the advices, for the benefit of the agent intrusted with the presentation of the bills, whose name was left in blank, the same explicit direction was repeated. The blanks referred to, were now filled with my name. One of these letters of recommendation was for the Intendant-General Roubaud, the other for the Governor-General of the Island of Cuba, the Marquis de Someruelos. Both of them contained an especial request to treat the bearer with marked po~ liteness: the reason why I here mention this circumstance, will appear farther on in my narrative.

We had already learned in Philadelphia that, since the breaking off of communications with Mexico, there were no more silver dollars to be found in all Cuba, and that the only current values and tenders there consisted in doubloons which were accepted in the United States, at 15-J- piastres, but were worth from 17£ to 18 in Havana and the Island of Cuba generally, where they then circulated, at that price. There was no doubt whatever that the bills must be paid at Havana, and, as the Spanish Government had itself directed, in silver, and, since the absolute impossibility of making such payment existed, the idea naturally arose of proposing to the Government of the Island an exchange for bills on Mexico, with a small gratification of, say 5 per cent., for premium difference. I had agreed with Parish, that even at par value such an exchange, in case the Cuban Government consented to it, would be a suitable arrangement. In order to facilitate the negotiations at Havana, I had provided myself with an attest of the then Marquis de Castel-Urujo, Spanish Minister at Washington City, who happened to be in Philadelphia. This certificate testified that the premium of insurance on moneys sent from Vera Cruz to the United States, was then from 20 to 25 per cent. I, hereupon, embarked in one of the clippers, a schooner named " Collector," for Havana, and dispatched the same vessel immediately on my arrival, to Vera Cruz, to ship piastres for Philadelphia, with a request to Parish to send the same craft again to me for the purpose of taking further advices to Vera Cruz.

On the next morning, I paid my visit to the Marquis de Someruelos, the Captain General, and then waited upon the Intendant

Don Raphael Gomez Roubaud, to whom the former had referred me, and for whom, as I have already intimated, I held a letter. Both these gentlemen received me with extraordinary politeness, but also, with the plain confession that they must employ the few resources that present circumstances left at their disposal, for their own purposes; that they had no money, above all, silver dollars, and that I should unavoidably have to retire without the funds. " In the mean time," remarked the Intendant, " we are not now treating of a final answer, and will let the matter rest a while longer under consideration." I earnestly requested a speedy interview, and it was appointed for the third day. Upon this occasion, the Intendant declared that he was ready to cash the bills, if I would consent to take doubloons in payment, at 18 piastres a piece. I pointed to the phraseology of the bills, and the particular directions of Soler, the Financial Minister at Madrid, and said that I could accept nothing but silver. " We have not got it," he replied, " and cannot give it to you, if you were to squeeze us. If you will not take doubloons, you will get nothing at all!" I expostulated with him, and pointed out that by his arrangement I would lose three piastres on every doubloon. If, I added, any such plan was to be adopted, it could only base itself upon counting me the doubloons at 15 instead of 18 piastres. He, at length, got angry, and said to me in a stern and loud voice :— " Mr. Nolte, we are not accustomed to being told by strangers what we shall do, and when strangers come to us with such pretensions, we send them there." So saying, he pointed with his forefinger to the lofty Moro Castle, which commands the entrance of the harbor, and was right before us where we stood.

"Indeed!" was my response. " Now, I should very much like to see the interior of a fortress to which strangers are scrupulously denied admission." He looked at me with some surprise, but very gravely, and then continued: " Can we not come to an understanding 1 I can so arrange it, that you may get the whole amount in sugar—will you take it V My answer was, that I had not come to buy sugar, what else could it be! " But what will you do, then, when no other kind of payment is possible ?" " I will enter my protest," said I, " and go very quietly back with

my bills." " A protest V he almost shouted, " you cannot find in the whole colony, one single notary who would dare to protest the bills of the government." " I have provided against that," was my rejoinder, " for, before my departure from Philadelphia, 1 had myself legally made a Notary, my signature will be certified as good in law by the Marquis de Castel Urujo, and so everything is in regular form and order—nous sommes en regie," were my last words, for we conversed in the French language. I had learned from good authority, in the city, that Don Raphael had been Secretary to the Spanish Legation at Paris, and that he had received the appointment of Intendant General and Director of the Tobacco-Factory—a royal manufactory of cigars—through the influence of Prince Talleyrand, who was fond of him. I availed myself of this circumstance to express to the Intendant my regret that my very simple mission had to contend with so many obstacles, and that I feared all this would produce a bad impression at Paris, especially upon one person whom we both respected. He at once responded in his bad French, and with a certain degree of vivacity, " Personne que Monsu Talleyrand!" He then looked very grave, and at length said : " Have you nothing to propose to me V He was now at the point where I wished to have him. My reply was riot long in coming, and I endeavored to make him understand, that as we had a regular establishment in Mexico for the presentation of our numerous bills, it would perhaps be the best and shortest plan to give me a bill on the Viceroy of Mexico, merely adding, that getting my money there was not the same as receiving it in Havana, and hence he would, of course, perceive that this exchange could not be made without a certain premium! He finally said, " Give me your ideas in writing, and we shall then see how we can come to an arrangement with each other !" The mention of Talleyrand's name had already worked in some degree, but how deep an impression it was yet destined to produce will be apparent to my readers from what is to follow. I drew up my letter to the Intendant, declared to him the conditions under which I would consent to an exchange of the bills; and on the principle' that much must be demanded, in order to receive something, asked for a premium of thirty-five per cent., basing

120 ADVENTURE AT THE CATHEDRAL.

this demand upon the fact, that the premium of insurance from Vera Cruz to Philadelphia was at twenty-five per cent. I then dispatched my letter, which was written in the French language, to the official personages. The foreign idiom I had employed rendered necessary a translation into Spanish, communication of the translated document to the Captain-General, and gave rise to a correspondence, to which, from the interminable questions propounded, I could see no end. I waited several days, in no very pleasant mood, for a reply. Christmas was approaching, and, upon the evening before that universal holiday, I went, like everybody else, quite alone to the Cathedral. In one of the obscurely-illuminated passages of that edifice I all at once heard my name pronounced, in a subdued voice, at my shoulder. " Mr. Nolte ! Mr. Nolte!" I glanced round and saw, close behind me, a man not yet forty, to judge by his appearance, but to whom a certain bureaucratic air seemed to have become a second nature. " You are," he continued, "a German, if I am not mistaken V "Yes," I replied, " of German descent at least." " Well," he added, " I am employed in the offices of the Consolidation Fund. I know for what purpose you are here, have read all your letters, and can, perhaps, render you a service as a fellow-countryman. You write extremely well, and your arguments are irresistible; but you will not bring the business through after that fashion in this country. You must try another plan"—here he made a motion with his thumb and forefinger, as though he were counting money —" our Intendant is very greedy for gold. The only argument that touches him is this"—and here he repeated his finger-play.

I thanked him for his information, inquired his name, and then asked him who was the person most confidentially favored by the Intendant. He named to me a Mr. Santa Maria, former associate partner of the house of Cuesta & Santa Maria, who lived in a certain degree of retirement, but still magnificently, in the suburb called the Salii. After the holiday I hastened to pave my way to this individual. My correspondent, Don Salvador de Martiartu, who subsequently became so rich, and who had not been able to give me one single word of useful advice, or any useful indication of the plan I ought to pursue, was evidently excited when I made

inquiries concerning Senor Santa Maria, said that the latter was a sly dog, and not to be trusted, but a man greatly respected, and one who kept the best table, after the Spanish style, in Havana. He did not, however, belong to his acquaintance.

I then applied to Mr. James Drake, an Englishman, married to a Spanish lady, and who was well known in the mercantile world. He told me he would make me acquainted with Santa Maria; that he was a skilful manager, and I must be on my guard, for he was not to be trusted beyond a finger's breadth. Thus I succeeded in meeting Santa Maria, who gave me to understand, at our very first interview, that he knew my whole business, the In-tendant had told him everything, and he had intended to seek me out the very next day, for the purpose of offering me his services. I concluded from this, in my own mind, that the Intendant had instructed him to approach me, and find out what could be made of me. " You require," he said, with a laugh, " thirty-five per cent, to get your dollars from Mexico. Do you think it will be possible to procure as much as that V "Ay ! why not f was my answer; " when one has the right on his side, and knows how to talk !" While I was uttering these words, I too used the peculiar motion of the fingers employed by the German clerk of the Caxo de Consolidation. " I see," continued Santa Maria, " that we shall readily understand each other. Now, furnish me with any plausible calculation whatever, that it would be better for this government to give you a bill of exchange on Mexico for the 700,000 silver piastres, with the addition of thirty-five per cent., than to let you take 46,666§ doubloons out of the country—for our treasury is empty—and I will guarantee the rest. Hold your purse ready." Upon this we separated, and after some use of arithmetic, backwards and forwards, I next day brought him the following brief calculation:—

MEMORANDUM.

"Were I to accept doubloons at 18 piasters apiece, which I could dispose oi and turn into current money only at 16, in the United States, a loss would thence arise for me, of 16£ per cent. Now, in order to make up this loss which I, being entitled to be paid silver, am not bound to suffer, I should havt'

6

to receive 840,000 piastres in gold, -whereby the government would be obliged to pay out a surplusage of 140,000 piastres more than if they gave me silver.

$840,000 Less 16£ per cent, - - - - 140,000

$700,000. Again, the sum paid out must be replaced by importation from Mexico, and to cover this capital of $840,000 with insurance, - - $988,235 must be insured. From Vera Cruz to Philadelphia, the premium is 25 per cent, but from Vera Cruz to Havana, I count only some 15 per cent. 148 235

The amount covered, 840,000

The Government's loss, 140,000

Outlay for premium, 148,235

Total outlay, $288,235

The premium of 35 per cent, asked by me, for 700,000 piastres, amounts to 245,000

Consequently, the Government of Cuba would save by my

proposed operation, $43,235

When I took this memorandum to Santa Maria his eyes danced again. " Why," he shouted, " that's clear enough to stun a man! Not another word is needed !" A couple of days later he let me know that the Intendant had agreed, and the only thing to be arranged now was, what amount I was going to give him and the Intendant together. I finally settled with him on two per cent, of the $700,000, whenever the new bill of exchange was handed over, that is, $14,000.

The Intendant could not officiate in government matters without the concurrence of the Captain-General, and it was therefore necessary to get his assent to the exchange of bills. The Marquis de Someruelos, a thoroughly honorable man, said that he would not have a word to say in the matter, if the Consulate approved of the calculation. This Consulate was composed of three of the first Spanish merchants in Havana, one of whom had the reputation of being an incorruptible man ; but the others were accustomed to listen only to jingling arguments. The next step, now, was to procure the desired adoption of my plan by thest>

men. After Santa Maria had felt the pulse of both the easy-conscienced gentlemen, he told me that three thousand dollars would be enough "pour terminer Vaffaire" —to wind up the affair! I handed over the money, and a week afterwards received, in two remittances, a single bill on the Viceroy of Mexico, for the total sum of $945,000. The heaviest indorsement I ever gave was this, of course, when I dispatched it to Villanueva. The Intendant and I had agreed that my hundred and five bills were to be delivered only when the intelligence came from Mexico that his draft had been honored ; but they should remain, until that time, in a packet, stamped with both our seals, in the safe of the Caxa de Consolidation.

After the ultimate conclusion of our business negotiation, the Intendant gave me a splendid dinner in the Palace of the Intend-ancy, and, according to the custom at that time prevailing in Havana, I was placed alone at the head of the table. On my right sat the Intendant, and the whole company, excepting Mr. James Drake, who sat on my left in plain citizen's dress, were attired in bestarred and beribboned uniforms. When the party was breaking up in the evening, the Intendant took me aside, and quietly said, " When you write to Paris do not forget to assure Prince Talleyrand of my devotion, and to tell him what reception you had at my hands." 1 merely answered, " Je ferai mo7i devoir" —I'll do my duty—for I could not give him a promise of the kind.

The schooner Collector appeared, a few days later, off the harbor, and then left with my dispatches for Vera Cruz, whence I, in a very short time, received the satisfactory intelligence, that the Viceroy had paid the heavy bill. I then took my seal from the packet in the Consolidation Bureau, and gave the German an appropriate douceur. Forty-four years have rolled away since then, but I have never been fortunate enough to remember the name of that friendly man. He was a Rhinelander, however.

Since the Messrs. Hope, in accordance with the arrangements made between them and Ouvrard, which, as the reader will remember, were transferred to the French treasury, had to pay three francs and seventy-five centimes for every dollar received and demanded, the $700,000 payable at Havana were estimated

at 2,625,000 francs. Through my arrangements, another payment in Vera Cruz was now substituted for this one, and, at the rate just given, a clear profit of 918,750 francs was secured. I was really gratified at being the means of putting so much money into the pockets of my patrons at Amsterdam. How this business finally resulted, remains for my readers to learn in the further course of this narrative.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SHIPWRECK.

Shipwreck off the coast of Florida, on the Carysfort Reef—My sojourn in the village of Nassau on the Island of New Providence, one of the Bahama group—Return to the United States—Arrival in Philadelphia.

There existed no necessity of an immediate return to Philadelphia, as the embargo laid upon all shipping by the American Government had reduced commerce, particularly the export trade of the United States, to a stand-still. I might have awaited a better season of the year for my voyage back to the States, yet, however much my sojourn in Havana pleased me, I still felt an inward anxiety for more agreeable circumstances than those which there surrounded me. Yankee supercargoes and ship-captains did not satisfy my need of daily conversation, and my heart too was not altogether an uninterested party to the desire I felt for an early return to Philadelphia. One vessel bound for Charleston, and two for Baltimore, offered me the chance of passage home. One of the latter was the schooner Independence, a real " clipper," and the other was a strong-built schooner called the ^Merchant.'''' I bespoke my passage in the latter, with a young Englishman called Creighton, an agent for the New York house of Murray & Sons. We were to sail on the 18th of January, 1808, and our baggage was on board, but we were detained, by contrary winds, until January 25th, on which day several good ships, that had arrived in the meanwhile, and had already taken in cargo, put to sea with us. We should not believe in omens ; and to allow ourselves to be governed by them I have ever regarded as great folly; yet, that at certain moments of our lives

a dark foreshadowing of some misfortune, or some great annoyance that is impending, rises within us, I experienced twice in the same year. At the moment when I went on board of the clipper Merchant an inner-voice spoke to me, as if to say that I had done wrong in not selecting the schooner Independence.

It was noon when we made sail. Violent northeast winds had hindered our departure. Even upon the occurrence of these northern storms, when the sea breaks over the lofty Moro Castle, perched as it is upon rocks, the waters inside of the fortress in the bay that forms the harbor of Havana are but slightly agitated. The sudden change from the latter to the towering billows of the Gulf Stream often upsets even seamen, as frequently happens likewise in the British Channel when sailing out of Dover. My travelling companions and I were attacked with violent seasickness, and driven to our beds, when we had hardly turned our backs upon the fort. On the next day, it blew a gale from the south-east, which tossed us to and fro : our sea-sickness was past, but partly for want of appetite or any desire to move, and partly through sheer indolence, we lay dozing on our mattresses. That night, about eleven o'clock, I was awakened by a dreadfully severe concussion, and almost thrown out of my berth. The sudden cessation of the ship's motion and a still more violent jolt left me no further doubt that we had struck. I shouted to my travelling comrade, Creighton, and my faithful negro, Celestin, to come on deck. Now followed three concussions, so violent that I could scarcely keep my feet, and at the same moment, the ship lay over on her beam ends. " Where is the captain T* I asked of the man at the helm. " He is asleep!" was the answer. I shouted into the cabin which was already filling with water : " Captain Murphy ! Captain Murphy!" No reply ! " Where is the mate, then V was my next question. " Up there by the forecastle!" was the reply. I now felt an arm, which I seized. It was the captain, who stumbled out of his cabin, yawning, and as I afterwards learned, had been drinking all the evening with the mate. I had scarcely made the captain understand the full extent of our danger, when, still laboring under the effects of his carouse and sudden alarm, he began, as if totally deprived of his senses, to bellow

forth an incoherent jumble of commands. We had been five minutes in this situation, before a single sail was taken in. The schooner was careening over more and more, and was already half under water. A couple of sailors had been lucky enough, in this general confusion, to find the axe, and we hoped, that by cutting away the masts, we should be able to right the ship again; but the axe proved useless, and the wind extinguished our only lantern.

It was time to take to the boat, and, after great exertions, we managed to get it loose from the tackle that secured it to the deck, and launch it. The constant cracking of our craft made us fear that it was going to pieces. How we succeeded in getting a keg of ship's biscuit, the compass and the Captain's quadrant into the long boat, is now incomprehensible to me. Four sailors leaped into the boat and went to work bailing out the water that dashed in furiously over the breakers. My colored man had, with great effort, worked his way into the cabin which was half under water, and, heaven only knows how, seized my wearing apparel, (for I was in little more than my shirt,) my watch and my writing-desk, in which, as he well knew, I kept papers of great value and importance. I could not open this secretary, for where was the key 1 So I threw it into the long-boat where my travelling-friend had managed to put his also, and then laid hold of a rope to swing himself down after it, when suddenly the tackle that held the boat to our vessel parted, and the little craft, with the four sailors in it, was swept away from us. A couple of minutes afterwards, we heard the words: " We are aground! we shall perish!" and then the howling of the tempest and the roar of the sea was the only sound in our ears. The jolly-boat was still left hanging from the stern davits, over the rudder. That might save us! It took us but an instant to lower it; but it had hardly touched the water before the waves had dashed it to pieces against the stern. We had now but one hope of escape left—the construction of a serviceable raft. Desperate as the attempt seemed, we still managed to get together a couple of spare spars and oars, and tackle to fasten them, when suddenly the foremast went crashing over the side, carrying away our half-completed