The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-08-20
Vhe Merchant Princes OF the United states
Death OF Abbott Lawrence

cluster of great hearted men to whose worth
and manliness and nobility of soul her fame is
mostly due. Abbott Lawrence was one of the
few survivors OF the illustrious circle which
Webster had gathered round him, and which,
drinking deep draughts of wholesome patriot
ism from the fountain Of the great wing leader,
gratefully repaid the loan by sharing the bur
then he bore, and giving by their support and
example fresh courage to his heart and strength
TO his nerves He was one of the pillars of
the Old Bay State; if less prominent, less or
namented than others who stood beside him,
he yielded to none in massive soiidity, or prac-
teal usefulness. He was not by trade q pub
lie servant. Not soldier, though in the hour
Of danger he shouldered the musket and
cheerfully offered for his country all he had to
give-his life. Nor yet a politician, though
for large segment of century his counsels
were eagerly sought by State parties, his intiu-
ence was potent and widely extended, and he
actually filed with unblemished fame the high
est diplomatic Office in the gift Of the Presi-
dent. He was nothing but merchant
manufacturer, buyer of other mems wares, a
seller of the fruits of his own industry. And
if his Unsuccessful in every respect as it
events that calling which is supposed to call
into play the smallest and meanest feelings Of
human nature-a calling in which the ignorant
and the vicious regard fraud and avaricc as
essential to success-can be so followed as to
develope the very highest instincts, and rpcn
the noblest impulses Of which humanity is
capable.
We need not waste time in quoting the
career Of Mr.. Lawrence as an example Of a
triumphant struggle against poverty and OBJ
scurity. The country swarms with instances
Of similar struggles ending in similar tri-
umphs. 1t is the glory and the blessing of the
United States that poor man, endowed with
energy and honesty, may always look forward
with some large degree of confidence to the
prospect Of afiiuent prosperity. But wherein
Mr.. Lawrence differed from the mass OF sue
ceesful traders is in the manner he used the
wealth and the influence he had gained.
Any one Of us can count on our fingers the
names Of dozen individuals whose riches
fruit Of their own exertions-are marvel to
the people and theme of envy to their rivals;
but how many Of these are anything but mere
rich men? There are few-there have been
others--a small select band, who, having won
the legitimate reward of industry and in
tegrity, have diverted their minds from the
thought of amassing more, and devoted the
remainder of their energies to works Of
patriotism and benevolcnce. We have had an
Aston to whose last hours the task Of founding
great public library was more grateful than
the acquisition Of fresh millions. Philadelphia
has had Girard, whose boundlcss libcrality
and enlarged experience have ensured, to her,
institutions Of value inestimable, to him a
name that is more sure Of immortality than
that Of any general now commanding armies
at Sehastopol Boston has had Perkins, who
will always be remembered as the man who
gave his own house-a princely mansiOn-for
an asylum for the blind. Others we might
mention--for there are many mora Leake,
to whom New York owes one of her most use
full institutions; Demilt, who. tOiled a life
time to earn fund to establish the Demlt Dis
pensary; Amos Lawrence, brother Of Abbott,
to whom a gift Of $4,000 to school was
mere trife, and the extent Of whose grand
charities- amounting to nearly half a million
Of dolars--was only discovered when his books
revealed secret the Christian had never d.
vulged; and not few such true-hearted men,
to whom wealth was really only an instrument
for the accomplishments Of public good. These
are the aristocracy Of America. They are our
mobiles, whose single-handed munificencc sup
plies the place of State endowments, and
raises monuments SO useful, SO desired, that the
despotisms Of Europe have often purchased Sc
curity and almost popular affection by erecting
them. They are the true merchant princes of
the United States; men who possess such mer-
camille sagacity that they amass wealth, while
others around them are Frustrated; and yet
who are imbued with so princely spirit that
their money is spent as though the notion of
profit had never entered their minds
To this class Abbott Lawrence prc-eminently
belonged. Like his brother, be did not let his
right hand know what his left hand did; and
We shall only learn the true extent of his pa
triotc bencvolcncc when his executors shall
have examined his estate. But there is little
reason TO doubt that the foundation of the
Lawrence Scientific School was but single
one among a long list of similar deeds.
Descended from an old Puritan stock he in
hcrited from his forefathers many of the Puri-
tan virtues, while the softening influence Of
time and enlightenment cfiaced in him their
frailties He was upright, unfinching, uncom-
promising in pursuance of what he conceived
to be his duty; but the uniform testimony of
those who knew him acquits him of the least
tendency to bigotry. Surely a man who should
possess those large, massive qualities of the old
Cromwellian hero, and combine with them the
liberal principles of the leading ntellects Of
the present day, would be type of character
worthy of all veneration. Somewhat such was
Abbott Lawrence. And it is safe to say that
az a private individual as a merchant. and a.