The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-08-27
For the Dispatch.
GEORGE PEABODY.
tgts Career and his Observation-Disclosures
rneteri.tic 1Anecdotes-.-Hfs sojourn
mt the Springs---The Southern Edu-
nofiOvs Eund.
GpEESBR1ER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, !

GREESBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS,
August 25th, 1869.
The presence of Mr.. Peabody within our
borders for the first time since he became
speciallv eminent suggests the thought
that brief review of the career ana oene-
factions of that great philanthroplst, TO-
rether with some notice of his present so
iourn Mt our favoritc fountain, may prove
Interesting. With this idea in view we
have, through the kindness of the relatives
and friends of that gentleman who attend
him here, gained trustworthy information
as to all the facts to which reference VIII
be made. He, fortunately, needs no partial
pen to impress the world with the greatness
of its obligations to his beneTolence.
George Peabody comes of an ancient Eng
lish family, settled in America as early as
1885. and was born in DanVers, Mass, on
the 18th of February, 1875. he com
menced business as O clerk in store at the
early ape of eleven, and continued thus to
serve in several places in New England for
six years. At the age of seventeen he
formed partnership in the drapery busl-
ness. in Georgetown, d. c., with Ar. Elisha
Riggs. who furnished n capital Of S3,OOo,
Young Peabody having the management Oh
the business. That this partnership was
mutually satisfactory the following anec-
dotc sufficiently proves At the time 1t
was formed the age of his youthful partner,
already six feet high and unusually mature
in appearance, was unknown to MIR. Riggs,
who. in conversation with him some time
after it's establishment, remarked that
many men improperly entered business
when too young, assuming responsibilities
for which their experience did not qualify
them, etc. Mr.. Peabody at the time made
no reply, but upon coming of age required
to this remark of his associate, and in
formed him that though they had been in
partnership nearly four years he was now
only twcnty-one. Mr.. Riggs heard this
with establishment, but without complaint,
and a few years after, upon the winding up
of the concern, received $150,000 ms his
share of the profits on the original capital
Of three thousand.
During his residence in Georgetown the
war with Great Britain was going on, and
the young merchant for time became
soldier, serving in volunteer artillery
company in defence Of the capital. In 1915
the house of Riggs & Peabody was estab-
lished in Baltimore. The style Of the firm
subsequently became Peabody, Riggs & Co.,
and branch houses were opened in New
York and Philadelphia. In the year 1897
Mr.. Peabody fixed his home in London.
where he has ever since resided, though
still claiming to be citizen of the United
States. He has crossed the Atlantic four
teen times, and if his health permits, will
next spring make his fifteenth passage.
His business in London was that of q
banker and commission agent, and his sa-
cacitv in all financial concerns was soon con-
gDicuous. 1t seems only less wonderful
than his liberality because it is oftener par
allclcd. The foundation of his fortune,
for example, is said to have been due to his
extensive purchase during the crisis Of
1885 of Maryland bonds, the State being
then in danger of repudiation--an act by
which he saved her credit, and himself re-
allied largely. He also rendered similar
service subsequently to various States and
corporations in America. Numerous rail
WAYS in the United States are indebted to
him for their speedy completion; he sup
plying them with iron and taking their
bonds in payment. In this way, while add
ing greatly to the wealth Of his native
land. he is understood to have acquired no
small part of his private fortune.
Mr.. Pcabody's extraordinary liherality,
if not before evinced, developed itself as
early as 1851, when he assumed the entire
expense of arranging the American depart
mcnt in the Great Exhibition in London,
and in 1852, when he gave $40, 900 to de-
FRAY the cost of the second expedition in
search Of Sir John Franklin. The same
year he bestowed $4,000 (since increased
tenfold)-his first educational grant--to
found the Peabody Institute in his native
town, then celebrating the centennial ami
vcrsary of its corporation. The Legisla-
ture Of Massachusetts has recently changed
the name of this town from Danvers to
Peabody. 1t is, however, within eighteen
years past that his bcnevolence has been most
striking. and whatever may before have
been the case all that he has done in that
time has not been the result of impulse,
but the carrying out Of pre-conceived
plan. This is indicated by the following
incident
Mr.. W. W. Corcoran, of Washington city,
his friend for half century, and gentle
man well known for his great wealth and
numerous noble charities, had signalizcd
himself by providing for the wants and
transportation to the far West of large
body of Hungarians who had Just been
restitution. Mr.. Peabody, in a letter from
London to Mr.. Corcoran, dated October 3,
1851, uses the following language:
"However liberal l may be, cannot
keep pace with your noble acts of charity
at home, but one Of these days / mean to
come out, and then, if my feelings regard
ing money don't change, and | have plenty,
I shall become strong competitor Of yours
in bencyolcnce. You acted nobly
by the Hungarians."
How the pledge thus given has been re-
deemed, the world knows. The only change
in his benevolent intentions regarding the
United States, as then entertained, that is
known to have taken place, is that funds
which were designed to advance education
in the whole country he has since the war
devoted entirely to the South. His own
words to a member of the Board of Trus-
tees of the Southern Education Fund, on the
occasion Of his last great donation, were
" do this for the South for the benefit Of
the whole country"
Mr.. Peabody is known to be charitable on
principle, to recognize his obligations to
God as having prospered him above others,
and to consider himself merely q steward Of
his bounty. He says that he gives accord
ing to his means; that he does no more,
therefore, than many others, and that he
could not do less. Great, however, as is his
liberality, he Meier entertains applications
for aid from strangers, and habitually de-
clineS to read or anS,cer letters containing
them. On one occasion he committed to the
flames as many as 1900 such letters. One
of his most striking OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
or less illustrated III every gift he has
made-is freedom from sectional or secta-