Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-09-09
From Notes Fifty Years in both Hemispheres.
John Jacob AstOr.

From Notes Fifty Years in both Hemispheres.
John Jacob AstOr.
The argument which Parish had made use
OF with Nj. Gallatin, for the purpose of pro-
curing permission To send out ships in ballast,
to bring back sums Of money from abroad
that were due in the United States, had found
favor in the eyes of q man who had distin-
guished himself from the mass of German
emigrants, by his important successes, his
speculative spirit, and his great wealth had
won a certain celebrity. This man was John
Jacob Astor, the founder Of the American
colony of Astoria, on the northern coast of the
Pacific ocean, which has been so graphically
described by the pen of Washington Irving.
Astor was born at Heidelburg, where the
original name of his family is said to have been
Aschthor, and had come to New York as a
furrier's apprentice. His first savings, that is
to say, the wages he got in the peltry ware
house for beating out, and preparing bear, doe,
and other skins, he invested in the purchase OF
all kinds ofpeltry, bear, mink, and rabbit skins,
which he got from the Indians, who at that
time wandered about the streets of New York
and as soon as he had collected certain
quantity, he sent them to Europe, particularly
to the Leipsic fair.
There he traded them off for Nuremberg
wares, cheap knives, glass beads and other
articles adapted to traffic with the Indians on
the Canadian frontiers, and took them himself
to the latter points, where he again exchanged
them for furs Of various kinds. AS he has
often told me, from his own lips, he carried
on this traffic untiringly for twelve long years,
going in person, alternately to the Canadian
frontier, and then to the Leipsic fair, and
lived all the while as he had been accustomed
to do, humbly and sparingly.
AT length, he had managed to bring together
considerable capital, and gradually became
freighter Of ships and fitted out expeditions
to the northwest coast, to trade with the In
dams of Nootka Sound for furs. Another cir.
cumstance contributed to the increase of his
means. At the peace concluded in l783 be-
tween England and the revolted provinces, the
thirteen nited States, many acres of land in the
State of New York were voted by Congress to
the German soldiers who had fought in the
American army. The latter were chiefly Hesse
Darmstadters. Most of them died in the
course Of the year, without having converted
this property into money; but the relatives and
heirs they left behind them in Germany did
not forget there little inheritances. Upon the
occasion of a visit made by Astor to Heidelburg,
in later years, most of the parties last referred
to as inheriting the allotments of the deceased
German soldiers, and residing in Heidelberg
united and made our friend their legally and
authorized attorney, in order to realize, if pos
sible, from their hitherto. useless acres. But
the hoped for increase of the value of this
property was, on the whole, rather slow in COM
ing, and the heirs wanted money, money, quick
and ready money. Aston having been applied
to on this score, told them that in order to get
ready money, they must reckon up the real
present value of the cash itself, and not any
imagined value of the land, and that only
through pretty considerable sacrifices could
they get cash for the same. Thereupon the
parties advised with each other, and finally
Astor received peremptory orders to sell, with
out further delay. Unknown spectators were
found-the proceeds were small, but the heirs
got what they wanted-money. Attic present
day many of these pieces of ground are among
the most valuable and most important in the
city, and have gradually passed through Astor's
into other hands, the unknown spectators,
however, have faded from the memory of every
body.
Astor, at the moment of the embargo, was
in the possession Of several millions so that
he was able to give his son, William B. Aston,
the magnificent hotel on Broadway called the
Astor House, which cost the sum Of $500, 900.
The permission procured by Parish, to send
out ships in ballast, to bring home silver, had
given Astor the idea that the same privilege
might be extended to vessels dispatched for
the purpose of bringing home the amount of
debts due abroad in goods. With this view he
went to Washington, and there, under the pre-
tence that he had an important depot of teas
at Canton, obtained the desired permission to
send vessel thither in ballast This ship,
however, was only the forerunner of another
one. Astor, in reality owned no depot of teas
in Canton, and hence it simply came 10 this,
that he would, according to the usual custom,
send money thither to purchase the article.
The exceptional favor of sending schooners
in ballast to Vera Cruz which Parish had, up
to this time, enjoyed, but which was now grad.
ually extended to other vessels, whose destina-
ton was not to bring back gold or silver values,
but goods on American account, sufficiently
showed that, under certain circumstances,
there was no indisposition to grant free exit to
ships in ballast for particular object. And
now arose another point, namely, whether
empty vessels, which, however, had silver on
board, could be regarded as in ballast. The
precious metals, are, in most countries, not
looked upon as wares, although in some they
are so classified
1t was not exactly advisable to bring on a
discussion of the question, whether the expor.
tation of silver in otherwise unladen vessels
should depend upon it or not The query was,
whether foreign creditor, who had come to
collect the moneys owed him by American mer.
chants, would be permitted to take the-funds
really thus received back with him. In Wash.
ington there appeared to be every disposition
to allow this Now il was well known, in the
northern ports Of the United States, that the
leading native merchants of Canton had never
hesitated to accord their regular correspondents,
returning year out and year in from tie United
States, certain credits, which amounted to con.
siderable sums Upon this Astor based his
plan, He hunted up, among the Chinese sal.
Tors, or Lascars, on the ships lately arriving
from China, fellow suited to his purpose,
dressed him as Mandarin, and took him with
him to Washington, where he had to play the
part of the Chinese creditor under the name of
Hong Qua, or Kina-Holu. No one dreamed of
the Mandarin's identity, and Astor
pushed his scheme safely through. The 5000,
900 he sent TO Canton were expended there in |
tea and other Chinese articles, and within a
year afterwards returned in that shape to As.
tor's hands, and we're used by him to excellent