Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-08-15

tpicture occupied the place Of honor ir
in the superb gallery Of paintings fitted
up BY him in his palace "d' Huys ter
Bosch" tnow a royal pleasure palace, !
which he had built in the woods of Har.
lem. Upon his emigration to England
he had taken this splendid gallery, en-.
urely composed of cabinet-pieces. with
him, and l had the pleasure Of seeing II
frequently, at his residence, in Cavendish
square. To the tone of, refined gentle
man and man of the world, he united a
certain afability which spoke to and
won every heart. The whole souled cor
diality with which he always met me
when came to his dwelling in the CITY,
or to his country seat, Eastsheen, in the
neighborhood Of Richmond, has ALWAYS
remained fresh in my memory. Yet a
secret trouble seemed to be " efcbing on
his mind. This annoyance arose from
the notorious relations of his niece,
Madame William Hope, with a Dutch
officer of dragons by the name of Dopff.
L had attracted his confidence, and he
one day seized Inc suddenly by the hand
led inc to the window, and could not re-
strain his tears, as he told me he must
close the door of his house against her If
she vcntured to bring this man with her
to England. The larger part of his con-
| siderable fortune, which he had hequeath-
ed to Henry, the eldest son of this niece,
and who died unmarried, passed, at the
decease Of the latter, to Adrian, the
second son, who left no male heirs, but
from whom it descended to Francis, the
| third son, born several years afterwards.
This third inheritor is the rich and we'll
known Mr.. Hope, now settled in Paris,
and the only surviving member of that
branch of the whole family. ,-.,.
A close examination into the origin of
the Barring family traces it back to GER
tain Peter Barring. who lived in the yesrs
from l66O to 1910, a., .Groniagen, in the
Dutch province. Of Oyeryssel. One of
his ancestors, uader the name of Francis
Barring, was pastor of the Lutheran church
at Bremen, and in that capacity was
called to London, where, among others,
he had son named John. The latter,
well acquainted with cloth making, set
tied at Lirkbeer, in Devonshire, and there
put up an establishment for The manu-
facture Of that article. He had five chill
dren-four sons, John, Thomas, Francis,
Charles, and daughter called Elizabeth.
Two of these sons, John and Francis,
established themselves, under the firm of
John & Francis BariHg, at London, orig
inally with view Of facilitating their
fathers trade in diSposing of his goods,
and so as to be in a position to import the
raw wmaterial to be required, such as wool
dye-stuttS, &c, themselves directly from
abroad. Thus was established the house
wbich-after the withdrawal of the elder
brother John, who retired to Exeter -
gradually, under the firm-name of Fran
els Barring Il Co., and eventually, under
the firm name Of Barring, Brothers & Co.,
rose to the highest rank of mercantile
eminence in the commerce Of the world.
Sir Francis, who, under the Ministry
of the Count Shelbuln, father of the
present Marquis of Lansdowne, had be-
come his intimate friend and adviser in
financial matters, having, in the year
1898, received the title Of. Baronet, was
already styled by the latter the Prince of
Merchants. He had become somewhat
feeble, and very deaf, when l first rot
personally acquainted with him
On the occasion of one of nv visits to
him, he told me that he had kept at his
business for thirty years before he con-
sidered himself entitled to keep an eaui-
page. Upon another occasion, when [
spoke to him of my project in establish
ing myself in New Orleans, after the ter
mination of my mission, he remarked:
Usually, my young friend, that COM
mission business is the best in which the
commissions take this direction''-here
he motion with his hands as if throw
ing something towards him " but where
the business goes thus !''-motioning as
if he were throwing something from him.
This amounted to saying, in other words,
that receiving consignments was better
business than executing commissions.
Three of his sons, Thomas, Alexander,
and Henry, entered the London establish
ment; but the first, who was intended to
have carried On the fathers name, after
the death CT the latter on the 18th of
September, 1910, assumed the name Of
Sir Thomas, and withdrew from the house,
as the third also found occasion to do at
later period. The latter was passion
ately fond of play, and indulged in it
with SO much success that he several
times broke Enterprise Generate dcs
Jeux," of Paris. But the sight of one oil
the heads of such house, one night after
another, in the great gambling establish
ments, produced a bad effect: and even
if it did not impair his credit, it in no
slight degree damaged his respectab;lity.
This was felt at headquarters, and an
understanding was come to for his with
drawal from the firm.
Alexander Barring, the second son of
Sir Francis, had received portion Of his
education in Hanau, had then completed
it in England, and commenced his mer-
camille career in the house Of Messrs.
Hope, where friendship sprung up be-
tween him and Mr.. P. c. Labouchere,
which led to the latter's marriage, at
later period, with his sister, Maria Bar
ing. When Messrs. Hope retired to Eng
land, in consequence of the occupation of
Holland by. the revolutionary French
army, under Pichegru, and after AleXan.
der Barring had left the House he deter
mined to visit the United States of North
America. At his departure. his father
confined his advice to two especial fec-