Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1854-11-01


! the best acceptances are at from Il to 6
per cent month. Is itnot enough To an.
j. rage a man 2"
"REMINISCENCES OF STEPHEN GIRARD.
| cannot let this opportunity slip by with
out saying something of another mercan:
tile celebrity of the United States, viz. !:
Stephen Girard. This man was born in a
village near the banks of the Garonne.-
He was the son of peasant and had left
This own country as common sailor
Having gradually risen to the post fsec-
~dd mate, he came as such to Philadel-
Phla, where he remained and opened a
tavern on the banks of the Delaware for
such of his countrymeu as were engaged
IN The West India trade. particularlY that
with st. Domingo. The revolution in ST.
Domingo caused an emigration which con-
tInually brought him fresh customers, and
having built some smah vessels to bring
his fugitive countrymen away In safety
from the Island, he bartered flour and
meal for coffee, until his, capital, which
had scarcely been worth mentioning at
first, gradually increased, and enabled
him to build larger vessels and extend his
spirit of enterprise in all directions. His
frugality bordered on ayarice. Sailors
fare was to him the best, and the freight
ing of vessels his favorite pursuit The
success which attended his exertions at
length became unexampled; for he never
had his ships insured, but always chose
skilful and experienced captains. thus sa-
wing himself the heavy expense of taking
out insurance policies, aud continued act
ing on this principle, gradually increasing
his capital more and more, until it had
finally swelled to an enormous amount.
Illterate as French common sailor
must needs be, and scarcely able to write
his own name, he called all his ships after
the great authors of his native country,
and thus enjoyed the sensation of behol-
ding the American flag waving above n
Montesquieu,a a Voltarie, Helvetius, and q
Jean Jacques Rousseau. His ships, which
he was in the habit of sending successfully
to the island Of Mauritius. at that time the
| Isle de France, to Calcutta and Canton,
and each of which cost from forty to six
| ty thousand dollars, brought back cargoes
worth from one to two hundred thousand
dollars to Philadelphia, and thence to
| Europe. particularly TO Messrs. Hope &
Co., at Amsterdam, aud were never in
sured. Remarkable good fortune attend.
ed all these enterprises. Until the year
1915 not one Of his ships was ever lost or
captured. 1t will be easy to form
an idea Of the amount Of capital acccu-
mulated by this saving Of insurance pre-
miums, when one reflects that the latter
went as high as from ten to fifteen, and
even twenty per cent.
Girard's right hand man was coun-
trymen of his, named ROberjeot who,
however, had received his mercantile edu-
cation entirely at Hamburg, under the tu-
tclasc of Profess orBusch. This Rober-
jeo! was the only man whom he now
and then, ana only now and then,
took into his especial confidence, and
he had worked in the house OF GirArd
for a respectable, ye! very moderate sal
AIRY, during the lapse of twenty years !;
frequently something was said about in
| creasing it, but nothing of the sort was
| ever done. Roberjeot, who had some de-
sire to be taken care of in his old age, re-
solved to let his patron know that ii he de-
sired to keep him any longer, he must take
| that matter into serious consideration, and
! give him handsome sum. that he nIi ,ht
put aside and turn to good account. Gil
rard, "a little nettIed by this, replied that
he would give him ten thusand dollars.
but Robrrjcot demanded sixty. He was
told to wait until the next day. when,
without hearing another word in relation
to the matter. he received what he asked
for-sixLy thousand dollars.
MAInanimou5 as Girard could be in
many things, he was, on the other han !.
equally petty in many others. OF his
numerous relatives in France, who we're
all poor peasant folks, he wovld never
hear syllable mentioned. When some
of them upon one occasion venIured to
cross the ocean and visit him in Philadel
phia, he Immediately sent them away
again, with trifling present. In one
particular instance he exhibited unusual
hard Ilaertedness. His captains had re-
ceived the strictest orders TO bring either
strange goods, passengers or letters with
them. One of his ships was returning
from Bordeaux, and though another.
which had hurried on before it, he learn
ed that it was conveying him some rela-
tions of his as passengers he instantly
sent to Newcastle, on the Delaware,
where the ships coming in FROM sea usu-
ally touch, an order to4the captain, for
bidding him to land any passengers, but
to remain at that point until another had
been procured to take them back to Bor-
.deaux, when he might conc mp to Phila-
delphia with his cargo. The captain was
then replaced by another person: He.
however, made an exception IL fagor ot
two nieces. the orphaned daughters OF a
brother who had died 10 poverty He al.
lowed these girls to come 70 him. and
one Of them permission, along with some
twenty Thousand dollars, % marry the
/ brother,a GENERAL LaIIemant. who emf
gratdd o America upon the restoration Of
the Bourbons, after the battle OF Wafer