Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1856-03-29
BARNUNE'S FALL.

1OEAAS4S
The New York papers TEEN with details of
the failure of PH1NEAs P. BARNUM, and admin.
lister largely to the prurient curiosity which
gloats over minute accounts Of the calamitties
and distresses Of ruined spectators. The
judicial investigation into the affairs of Mr..
Barnum proves his failure to be utter and irre-
trievable. His property had all dwindled away
and disappeared. His lands and houses were
either sold, or mortgaged to their full value
His museum no longer figures among his assets.
His stock in various companies which he had
purchased nearly at par, is, to use his own
language, not worth two cents. His piano is
under q lien; his entire supply of ready money
at the time of the examination was less than
twenty-five dollars. while his wardrobe consis-
ted Of the seedy suit he then wore, and ano-
Their not much better. In short, the admissions
and confessions of Barnum, extracted from him
reluctantly and piece-meaI, show that the
whilom millionaire had become a hopeless
bankrupt.
What a contrast! II is scarcely two years
since Barnum published his autobiography. 10
| that amusing record Of successful cunning,
trickery and imposture, the author seemed TO
aim throughout at a display Of the peculiar
qualifications required for the acquisition of
wealth; and sought to illustrate in his own
person the fortunate results of systematic and
uuprincipIed course of humbugin playing ups
on she weakness of human nature. He trium-
phed in the ingenuity with which he had manu-
featured a mermaid. passed off a superannuated
and idiotie negress for the nurse of George
Washington; persuaded Il gullibIe nation that
Tom Thumb was a young man, when he was
really scarcely more than an infant; paImed
Yankee tricksters on the public as wonderful
Italian j~ugglers; created, by the liberal employs
ment of printers ink and dollars, a perfect Juror
for Jenny Lind, and by adroit and artful man
agement, contrived in a few years TO amass
%princely wealth. With a self-complaceney al
most astounding, Barnum plumed himself upon
his mastery of a system of shameful deceit,
and appeared to regard his naked and u%nreliev-
ed confessions of a total absence lof moral
honesty, with something of that spirit of exul>
alton with which a Claude DuvaI might boast
of bis exploits upon the highway, or a Jack
Shepperd of his ability to break through any
Jail in England. The tendency of the book
was bad, and what made it worse was the UNI
consciousness of The writer that he was expos>
ing his own depravity.
This man is now little better than a pauper.
1t may be that the ~leniency of his creditors NAV
save him some meagre fragments from his once
colossal fortune, but the lordly owner of a villa
and 4 palace is not the less humbled to the
dust, and forced to invoke the mercy of the
law, or the kindness of those who had their
judgments over his possessions, TO save him
from beggary and absolute want. Is there not
retribution in this result? Have not the very
Vioac oP ,,hfab p,.,u,, -. r.. -.-4 1
elements of success, led him to his ruin? He
speculated, and, like most crafty adventures
seeking gain by t~ortuous and discreditable
means, he overreacbed himself, and was invol-
we'd il The destruction he brought down upon
others. He was not satisfied with his half a
millionaire fruits of a thousand happy ex-
periments upon public credulity-but must
needs launch his bark upon The uncertain sea
of speculation. lie gambled in stocks, and
that proved a game in which he encountered
equally dishonest players, with far cooler heads,
and Infinitely more experience. As 4 matter
of course, he lost. The adept on one stage,
was a neophyte on another. The duper became
a victim.
One remark made by Barnum during the
examination of his affairs conveys a moral that
cannot be too deeply impressed on the bgsi~
ness classes. Said he, "As long as stuck to
museums and shows, | made money, but lost
only when | dabbIed in other enterprisea."-
This is but another form of the staid adaue.
"Ne sutor ultra crepidam." There are thou
sands men, who, with tenfold the integrity of
Barnum, and with as much sagacity, are bank
rupted through the operation of identicalIy the
same causes. The secret of success in life is
to stick to your trade. Scores of times have
we traced failures to the diversion of capital
from the legitimate and regular line of business
in which the party had been engaged. The
temptations of swift returns and large profits
prove irresistible even to wiser heads than
Barnum's. It may be safely affirmed that
ninety~nine times 10 hundred, the merchant
who wakes wealthy derives his riches from the
regular investment of his means in the BUSH
ness he has chosen, and the undertaking firm.
ness with which he has resisted the besetments
of speculation; while the converse of the propo-
sition that a large majority of failures are at
tFlbutabIe to a departure from this healthy
axiom of trade is equally certain. Barnum, we
suppose, was bound eventually to 90 by the
board. He could not keep out of the current
and vortex which swept him on to ruin. II
was essentially 4 part of his nature TO speculate,
and with all his astuteness, he has not that
vigorous common sense which might have res
strained him. Let him 60. His rise and fall
offer lessons which young men, especially, may
probably take to heart.--M. O. Bee. !.
The Birth. Plads Of Washiagtop.-Mr+Lewis