The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-09 00:00:00

erore. Cornelius Vanderba was born in 1794.

His father died when he was still a child, and he
became a sailor on a small schooner belonging to
his mother, which plied as a ferry boat between
this city and Staten Island. At the age of Is,
having saved some money, he bought a boat him •
self, and entered into competition with his mother,
whom he ruined. At that time there was a certain
Mr. Gibbons, who, from some reason or other, had
vowed vengeance against the proprietor of the
steamboats which had recently been started on the
Hudson River. He heard of Cornelius Vanderbilt,
and, pleased with the early emancipation from
vulgar prejudice which he had shown in beggar-
ing his mother, he engaged him to superintend a
complete line of steamers on the Hudson. This
was the origin of Vend,rbilt's fortunes. In his
new occupation he gave evidence of energy, re-
solution, and of a perfect absence of all scruple.
The new boats drove the old line off the river after
a lengthy struggle, and Vanderbilt, who never for-
got his own interests, managed to make money fur
himself as well as for his patron. Mr. Gibbons
died, and left his yoaeg friend some of his steamers ;
these he used to goad purpose ; wherever he heard
that a boat was doing a remunerative trade on
river or estuary, he seat one of them, and there
it remaine 1, carrying passengers and freight at
nominal prices, until the competition was bought
off at a figure which yielded him a handsome
profit. his name soon became such a bugbear
to all engaged in river navigation, that for seve-
ral years, after the manner of a Highland c ate-
ran, he received more than 1,000 dollars a
month as blackmail from individuals and cam-
panics as the price of immunity from his de-
predations. As his resources increased his am-
bition took a wider range,_ and he determined to
pursue the same tactics on the ocean which had
proved so remunerative on rivers. The Pacific
Mail Company was then at the summit of its pros-
perity. Gold has been discovers 1 in California,
and the steamers of the company were crowded
with passengers, travelling to and fro from the
Isthmus of Panama. The commodore—for he had
proprio mote assumed that title—organised an oppo-
sition cowpauy. Had he confined himself to a legiti-
mwe attempt to share in a growing trade he wand
very probaLly have benefited the community. But
it was repugnant to the nature of the man to gain
by common place enterprise what might be acquired
by other means. Walker, " the grey-eyel man of
destiny," was then filibnstexing in Nicaragua, and,
making this his excuse, he signed, as president of
his company, an agreement with the directors of
the Pacific Mail to withdraw from the Isthmus
trade on payment of 8,000 dollars monthly for
two years. The first instalment he paid into
the exchequer of the company, the others he
absarbed into his own; and it is only within a
few months that he has been forced to disgorge to
the shareholders a portion of this booty. This finan-
cial operation had reduced the shares of the com-
pany to a mere nominal value, and the president,
its fiduciary guardian, declared that it was in debt
to him, and as a set-off appropriated to himself its
ships. Having by this sharp practice become the
absolute owner of a fine fleet of ocean steamers, he
engaged in what may be called the trade piracy of
the 19th century. Wherever a merchant had built
up a remunerative carrying trade, one of these cor-
sairs made its appearance, and competed with him
for it, until he agreed to terms of capitulation.
Flushed with success, at length Vanderbilt deter-
mined to levy contributions from the great Eng..
lish companies which carry passengers between New
York and Europe. Ile established a new line
between France and America, and advertised a scale
of prices which he imagined would secure a mono-
poly of the traffic. But he found that he had to do
with men who were not to be frightened. In vain
a complaint, Congress aided him in his enterprise
with a subsidy; his boats were bad, his officers were
ill-paid, and few cared to save a few dollars at the
risk of their lives. The Vanderbilt steamers sailed
with a beggarly array of empty berths, while the
Cunard and the Southampton boats were always
full. Ile persevered for some time in the attempt,
but finding that, in his expectation of black mail, he
had for once reckoned without his host, he at last
avowed himself beaten, and withdrew his ships.
After his defeat he turned his attention to theprofit-
able field of Government contracts, and in 1861, find-
ing that some sort of public recognition was due to his
merits, as a gentle reminder he presented to the
United States Navy one of his steamers, which
unfortunately was so constructed that it burnt so
much coal as to render it, like an elephant, a bur-
then to its owner. The thanks of his country and
a gold medal were voted to him by Congress for
this generous act, although even within the doors
of the Legislature many were heard to mutter that
the gift was in part a restitution of some portion of
the sums which bad found their way into the donor's
pockets for questionable contracts, and in part a
bid for others still more questionable. With this
present to his country Vanderbilt closed his career
on the seas, and he sold the remainder of his steamers
to a company which in a few months became bank-
rupt. In his raids upon commerce be had rivalled
Captain Kidd, but while to the worthy captain was
adjudged a gibbet, his modern emulator was elected
a railroad director. Such is the different estimate
of the same exploits in two ages ! The correspon-
dent then extracts from a pamphlet, entitled "A_
Chapter on Erie," by Charles Francis Adams, jun.,
some further particulars of this remarkable career.