, 1890-11-05

Isaac ThellnSSOn. That remarkable dis
counter Ut the future-whicb, as IL rule, OBJ
stinately declines 10 be diScoun tel-was -
Geuevese by birth, who made an enormous
fortune as "a merchant In London. He died
seven years after DIR. Franklin, leaving to
his widow and children only one hundred
thousand pounds, and directing that The
residue of his property, which was said to
amount to more than six hundred thousand
pounds, should be placed in the hands OF his
trustees, to accumulate during the lives of
his three sons aud the lives of their sons.
Then the estates directed to be purchased
with the pro !uct of the accumulated
tuud were to he conveyed TO the eldest male
descendant of his three sORS, with the befRft
Of su~rvivorship. limo such heir then ex.
listed, the entire sum amaSSed was to be
applied TO the reduction of the National
Debt. 1t was said, as an apology for the
execution of this deliberately capriciOus
scheme, that Nr. TheIlussOn, at the time Of
his death, held IA great deal of property in
trust, and that he wished a sufficient time
to clapse tor The appearance Of persons
who might Or able to p in just claim to
the funds OF which he was trustee. Such a
contingency, considering the period of his
making his will, was not unlikely. The
COiCihSbl VI GtIopc III 1lSt NdS COuNulSSN
from end to end by wars and Iumours Of
wars ri lug ont of the calaclysm of the
FYnch Revolution; ThellusSnn must have
had many foreign cOrresp Ondeuts aud for
aught that could be told, a host OF princes
and .pOtentatrS, mobiles, bishops, and mo-
naSnC fraletnltleS, terrified at the irTup-
lions Of The French armies and what SEEM
Ell to be the prOXimatp dissolution Of civili-
sed society, may have placed their wealth
fsr safe keeping In the hands Of the uplight
AnglO-GrneVrse merchant. It is, indeed, -
well-kn0wn fact that many such deposits
were made by wealthy foreigners with Eng
iiSh banking and mercantile firms in the
early days ct the Revolution, and were not
detiuitively claimed until the Peace in 1914,
- it was found that some Of the depOSi-
taries through disa strouS speCulati0nS and
losses by the capture of their merchandise
10y the enemy = privatperS, were unable to
render Il satisfactory account of their
stewardship. and went bankrupt in cVnSe.
quence. Peter TlelluSs0n'S will was con
tested bv the hPirS-at-law, but it's validity
was eventually pronounced by the House
of Lords in 1906.
This singular test amPntary drama was,
however, to haYe two additional acts. The
last surviving grandson of Peter Isaac
ThellussOn died in 1855 and a dispute
then arose ~ to whether the eldest male
descendant Or the male descendant of the
ehtSt son should lXheIit the accumulated
riches. The question WAS decided on ap-
peal to the House OF Lords in 1859 in ia.
vOur Of tir male descendant Of the Oldest
sen. Then, however. was made u diScOVe-
ry worthy to rank with that which so dL-
vented the audiehce in the High Court Of
ChanceIy whrh the great case Of ''Jarn.
dyce versus ~JarndyGe" came to a close. In
that celebrated lirigatiUtI it was found that,
the COSTS having always been costs in the
cause, there was nothing whatever left for
the successful litigant. unless Indeed, it were
the usual sweet little bill Of costs 'Eas be-
tween attorney and client" The TheIlussOn
appeal case differed somewhat from the
J&rndyce one. There was something lett
for tile victorious plaintiff besides the shell
OF the bivalve. The oyster was still u
splendidly fat one; but the expenses OF con-
tuned and protTacted litigation had been
50 prOdiglOuS that it was SAIL that the dis
possible property did not greatly exceed in
value that of the original nest-egg of ak
hundred Thousand pounds left by Peter
ThelluSson. The last Scare of this strange
eventtul history was a SIlutary caveat to
teStatoTS bitten with a mania for making
fa-.tastic wills. In 1860 the Legislature
passed what Is known as the "Thellusson
Act" restraining tcGtatOrs from deViSing
their property for purposes of accumnla-
ton foe u longer period than tw nty-on6
years after death, ant directing that any
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