New-York tribune., 1869-04-17

Rhode Island;" and the style Of the house has been
Brown q Ives for long time that the memory OF
man runneth not to the contrary. Forty years ago.
Nicholas Brown and Thomas BOynton Ives composed the
firm They were succeeded the business by their sons
John Carter Brown Robert Ives the present mem
bers Of the house, and as they signed themselves he
other day, sole partners" Mr.. Brown is man OF
about years Of age and Mr. Ives may be- perhaps nve
years younger. They are both gentlemen OF renned
tastes aud cultivated Enthusiastically respectable but
empepty conservative they say here in Rhode Islands
and as an evidence Of this may say that Mr Browns
pryate library contains probably the richest collection OF
MSS and Of aud books relating to America
TO be found anywhere among the collectors OF TINS
speciality OLD John Brown the father OF Nicholas whe
was distinguished Of the men who captured the
Gaspee in Providence River in 1772 and who was very
prominent man throughout his whole fe laid the corner
stone Of Rhode Island College, now Brown University
upon its removal from Warren to Providence, IN lf'O
Nicholas Brown afterward contributed largely toward
the University, and the name was changed IN
his honor. while the old college building took the
name of "HOpe" College, after the wife OF Thomas
b. Ives. Among the contributions OF the present
family gifts to the Universities to the Butter
Hospital and the Rhode Island Hospital just completed
Though John Carter and Robert H. Ives are the
sole partners Of the rm the whole family connection are
famlllary spoken OF here "Brown Ives" Mrs Cod
dard sister Of Mr. Ives. She has five sons Inomss'
William. Moses B. L. Frank, and Robert and two daugh'
ters one OF whom married Thomas b. Sheppard ana the
q
Philadelphia. daughter Of Mr.. Ives married Proi'
0ammell formerly Of Brown University, and now sup
posed to lend the force OF his intellectual abilities OF The
Journal newspaper wherever the interests OF Brown
Ives are concerned John Carter Brown and Robert H.
Ives may sole partners though it is asserted
that Mrs. GOddard's money remains In the house
and the Goddards the agents OF the great mill at
Lonsdale but all these the people whom Sprague had
in his mind as Brown Ives the great family the mil
lion dollars may well say here at any other place
O.. 1nGinO
his life in the late war by mistake OF the million dol
lars in the character Of the whose stan he was
placed, was q OF Mr. Robert H Ives The young man
served with Gen. Rodman Of Rhode Island and was
killed at Antietam.
Nobody knows anything with absolute certainty in re
lation to the business Of Brown Ives even their en-
ploy6s being sworn to secrecy in these matters They
have very few outside investments and cannot De sao
TO be extended in the sense in which may DO
truly said Of the spragues. Their property is mostly In
landed estates and an old saying here that Brown
q buy and buy, but never SELL" Almostn the very
heart of this city there of land lying like the
laborers in the Scripture all the day idle, which they will
neither cell nor improve. Many Of their houses have
q look Of antiquity about them wonderfully In
contrast to the elegance Of their mills as de-
sorbed in one OF Spragues speeches, but II they
seldom make repairs for the accommodation OF their
tenants neither do they raise the rents But when they
turned their attention from commercial enterprises 10
cotton spinning shamed," Sprague says Unto employ
the people about them they built what are here called
.yery fine mills though theirrval calls them extrava-
CANT to degree as to ncte others initiate them to
their ruin Their print lworks are at Lonsdae, wnere
they have also large mill and village There they have
the "Hope mill, called after the maternal branch OF the
Ives family, at Phoenix the Pawtuxet and the ASH
ton mill the line Of the Providence and worcester
Railroad in the valley Of the Blackstone. They have also
large interest in the Blackstone Manufacturing Com
pany Mr. Alexander Duncan, the father Of William Dun
can OF Duncan Sherman Co.. being the other member
This establishment built up by the old firm OF Brown
& Ives and Butler the father OF Mrs Duncan These
embrace all the great mills Of Brown Ives and employ
about 15OO persons. The number OF spindles may Dc
approximately estimated at 10000.
Thus have sketched, with much precision as was
able the history character Of these two houses-the
Montagues Capuets of Rhode Island-hat the feuds
which have distracted them may be the better under
stood. They both families OF great respectabhty
home, and well known out OF their own state as
well in it, Their influence in Rhode Island Is as great
their antagOnisms are bitter. When Brown & Ives
sneeze sprague says there general and they
retOrt with illusions TO "Spragues Rhode Is
landers" They at war; and there is no peace any
where them. From sprague came the first onset
but Brown Ives have parred his blows by denying at
least Of his accusations. Which party is most i'm
blttered were difficult to say "sprague is mad."is
heard here a hundred times day Il The Journal can
be taken index of the feeling OF Brown Ives and
the conduct Of young Frank Goddard In getting up an
ovation" to Burnside sure indication that 1t can,
aside from every other consideration in relation TO the
course of that newspaper-the "mllon dollars" in
no very agreeable mood Mr. Ives hear but can trace
it to no Trustworthy is anxious to keep up or per-
haps rather get amity Of feeling in business way,
between the two houses but while Amasa don't care
fig for politics political interests, William would,
think say "NO in that emphatic way characteristic
Of the spragues.
No account Of the feud between these great fam
lies would be complete without some revelation OF the
hidden springs which prompted Senator Spragues re-
markable action These things are essentially secrets
and what worse family secrets But they are secrets
about which II nobody absolutely knows ythngnether
can anybody be said TO be entirely ignorant Sprague
himself hnted at them very broadly but he did little
more than HUT His hints merely illustration"
drawn from great family typined by "a million dol
lars" but his illustration made, he himself says,
with purpose" That purpose may be in one respect
TO break down the great famly-the Capulets in this
ouarre-and dsspate the influence Of the million dol
lars 1t may have been and undoubtedly was his inen
tionfor nobody here doubts his sncertyto break down
noxous system which leaves large capitalists with the
whole capital Of the country and prevents small manu-
facturers from competing with moneyed men armed with
the power and the disposition TO crush them But we
must look deeper than this, and think that after ad-
ng these high purposes Of the Senator, we shall find
the real purpose which he alluded IN his last speech
10 be synonymous with the animus which prompted it,
II is around this anmus where all these secrets hang
and wherein this family quarrel becomes nterlocked
with the politics Of Rhode Island and the financial policy
of the whole country.
Everybody here stands aghast at the bOdness OF his
action and everybody is asking what does 1t all mean
Neghbor confesses to neighbor that 1t is all mystery,
but they whisper confdenay TO each other that Brewn
d Ives are at the bottom Of It, And whether this s tho
fact or not that mpeled sprague to his un-
,snal course Everybody did he attack Burn