show, without excitement, and by a detail of that which cannot be contradicted, the ruinous course the southern people are now pursuing; and which must certainly involve them in confusion and loss at no distant day. Heartily desiring the substantial and solid prosperity of all classes of his countrymen; and the permanency of her democratic institutions, which he believes are based on truth and excellence, the author of this communication respectfully asks their perusal and consideration, of this attempt to lay before them that which concerns them very deeply.

ART. III. SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED MERCHANTS.

INTRODUCTION.

AMONG the influences which lift men above present misfortune, and inspire them with courage at periods when even the prospect of success is vanished, there is none so strong as that which arises from the knowledge that similar misfortunes have been shared, and similar perils overcome, by those in whose path we are treading. The most intrepid man will waver, when he passes over a track in which the footsteps of past experience are invisible. But let him be told that through perseverance he will emerge from the gloom and confusion which is around him into the region to which his ambition is directed, and he will march forward with courage and with strength, inspired by the knowledge that there is scarcely a difficulty which he is to encounter which has not already been vanquished and driven from the field by many whose armor was no stronger than his own. His understanding is not only strengthened and convinced, but his enterprise is enlivened, and his ambition confirmed. We admire the stoutness of heart in those who stood undaunted in face of the disasters which were pouring upon them; and our admiration becomes before long converted, first, into a wish to follow the path which they have chalked out, and secondly, into a determination to pursue it. We see with distinctness the extent of human energy, when in its fulness it is developed; and we determine that the latent qualifications which in our own breast are lurking, shall be brought out and exercised in the degree in which they were formerly so successful.

The example of great and good men, while it gives us strength and courage to mount over the obstacles which are thrown in our path, leads us also by itself to good fortune. It teaches us the faculty of wise and moderate enjoyment; and it teaches us, therefore, to restrain ourselves, when prosperous, within those limits which in adversity we learnt to observe. By accustoming us to the idea that our fortune may take a sudden and disastrous turn, it guaranties us from despair and paralysis if the turn should actually take place. It tells us how to be moderate when moderation is unnecessary, in order that we may bear it with comfort when it should become inevitable. If such, therefore, is the general influence of the history of distinguished men upon those with whom the only affinity with which they are bound is that of humanity, it becomes worth while to

inquire to what purposes of usefulness the same influence may be bent, when he that is the subject of it, and those on whom it operates, stand in the same position, and are occupied in the same sphere. We proceed to consider to what extent the history of eminent merchants can be made profitable to the novice and even to the adept in the affairs of trade.

When we have determined on a pursuit that is to secure us a future support, and to obtain for us probable happiness, it becomes natural to inquire, What are the properties of the pursuit which we have chosen ;what means are necessary for us to insure success ;-what difficulties and drawbacks will fall in our way;-and what methods should we make use of to overcome them? To one whose individual experience is limited, such questions can with difficulty be answered. The young man who enters upon the rugged and winding path of trade, cannot be supposed to foresee the stones on which he may stumble, or the ditch into which he may slip. He may misconstrue events that to the unpractised eye are appa rently unimportant, but which, when they are introduced into the web of real life, modify or change its texture. Those various tools, which in the hand of the practised merchant alone are valuable, he may mishandle and abuse. By dangers which arise unexpectedly, because they arise in defiance of his crude opinions, by the subtlety or craft of those with whom he must deal, or by the accident which in each great system is ingredient, his schemes may be blasted, and he may be led himself into ruin, against which it required experience as well as prudence to guard. To acquire a guide so invaluable, is too often the work of a lifetime of toil and mortification; but it is worthy of consideration, whether by falling back on the log-book of others who have steered through the same course,-whether by making use of their adventures as a plummet by which the depth of the stream may be told, and their chart as a memorial of errors that can be avoided or of points that can be made, we may not arrive at the harbor to which we are bound by a simpler and more speedy route. We can observe, by a study of the history of merchants who have passed successfully through their business career, what means were used by them for the attainment of the end that was placed before them; in what relations they were thrown before their entrance into the great occupation of their life, and how they passed the period of their novitiate; what were the resources which they brought into play, and under what auspices their exer. tions commenced; how far their peculiar condition, or the temporary as pect of trade, acted on their course; in what degree their success was accelerated by prudent attention or lucky speculation, or to what extent their adventures were blighted by their carelessness, their errors, or their misfortunes.

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If the life of a merchant should be thus represented,—if the whole track of his mercantile career be followed up, so that each important incident should be pointed out and elucidated; if the influences which bore upon him, and their results, be exhibited ;-a history may be composed that would be of the highest use to those who wish to pursue the course which it would so fully detail. We learn the amount of general as well as mercantile information that may be advantageous to us in our occupation, and discover how injurious will be an inattention to subjects so important; we discover how indispensable are industry, prudence, economy, and tact; and how great was the eminence obtained by those who united elements We become more attentive to qualifications which we see

so necessary.

are the touchstones of success, and give our best exertions to their acquisition.

Every scheme, every speculation of the merchant, should be built on a constant reference to the present condition of the world on which it is to act. His relations are based on the action of every-day life, his whole profession rests upon his constant intercourse with his fellow-men; his maxims must be taken from reality itself, and his experience from his own achievements. It is not enough for him to be conscious of the existence of a fact on which his operations are to be founded; he must search out for its remote origin, and look to its ultimate effects. A spirit of observation so extended will ward him from false opinions and wild speculations, it will show him that with which he has to deal in its essential form, and will impart to him the faculty of ripe and rapid judgment. It may be maintained that to arrive at such a knowledge there is no means so efficacious as to follow out step by step the biography of men who have preceded us in the career into which we are about to enter, to observe them in their various positions, to discover, as far as possible, the actuating motives by which they were led, and to trace out the character of their operation.

But useful as it may be to arouse in the mind feelings of a pure and exalted nature, it is not at such a goal that the biographer should restrain himself. There are but few men, if we look on mankind in a body, on whom the example alone of greatness is sufficient to produce a strong and lasting influence. The great mass think that their powers are not adequate to a career so lofty as that which is displayed before them, and satisfy themselves with the consolatory conclusion, that as it is the province of but few to be born great, their lot has fallen with the many to whom greatness would be beyond the sphere of possibility.

It becomes, therefore, the occasional duty of the biographer to choose his subjects from a class to which all, whose parts are moderate, whose ambition steady, and whose industry unwavering, can elevate themselves. To the historian of commerce, the merchant who has risen by slow but patient ascent to an eminence to which all, with ordinary capacity and the same determination, can arrive, is a far more suitable theme than he who, by a sudden leap, or a mad speculation, has pounced by accident on success; for the track of the latter, like that of a comet, whose movements are the result of its own mad strength, or of some external preponderating attraction, can be seldom pursued; but the orbit of the former, described as it is by the ordinary measure of life, and laid down within bounds which it requires but ordinary ability to follow out, is open to all whose industry and whose determination fit them for its course.

It is the first object in mercantile biography to represent each branch of trade as it exists in the practical world, and to exhibit in their true relief, the various incidents with which it is connected. In the same manner as by the study of the principles of trade we become acquainted with its theory and its character, we can learn, through the study of the lives of merchants, in what way the principles themselves can be brought into play, what practical bearings they possess, to what variations they are subjected by the circumstances under which they operate, what is the extent and scope of which they are capable, and to what degree of success they are calculated ultimately to lead. It would be well, if among the means which, to the honor of our race, are at present exerting for its elevation,

more stress was laid on the more practical methods by which men may be made wiser themselves through the wise example of others. The guide which is thus afforded is more potent than the representation of the most pungent maxims or the teaching of the purest morals, since the latter, even in the most attractive habiliments, are deficient in the interest which their intrinsic worth deserves. So long as the great mass of men are unconvinced of the practicability of those great theories on which commerce rests, so long as they are unable to detect their wholesome working,they will continue to hold them as fair but flimsy dreams, which are more calculated to arouse admiration than conviction, and which must yield, in practice, to the jar of circumstance and the pressure of necessity.

As we are accustomed to look at the ordinary affairs of life only in their direct relations, to take into account the immediate effects alone, without looking into those which are more remote, it is often not enough that our understanding should be convinced how important it would be for us to ac quire certain qualities, or to master points which lay before us in our path, since we are apt even in such cases to deny the conclusion which is placed before us, and to question whether, when reduced to action, the course which is prescribed to us would, in fact, be so beneficial. It is here that biography comes in, and by showing the usefulness of the steps laid down, disarms the objection which is in most cases sufficient to overthrow theo ries the most just and the most practicable. We may hope that the time will soon arrive when the sound influence of biography on the intellectual and political education of mankind will be more generally recognised, and that the history of the life and the actions,of the trials and the triumphs, of men of every class, will be more frequently made use of for the instruction of those with whom their lot is similar.

CHARLES LOUIS MONTAUSSIER.

Montaussier's father was a respectable merchant in Bordeaux, of considerable property and of large commercial connections. He was eminently successful in business until the unfortunate epoch of which we shall presently speak. He had but one son, Charles Louis, born in the year 1750, whom he brought up very carefully. As soon as the boy was old enough, his father accustomed him to business, gave him all the advantage of his own experience in commercial matters, which he understood thoroughly, and pursued such a successful plan with him, that at fourteen he had a fund of information rarely to be met with at his age. This is the more easily to be accounted for, as Charles seconded, by his quick mind and untiring industry, the exertions of his father. About this time his father sent him to a considerable house in Amsterdam. He paid his board there, but carefully concealed the fact from the young man, whom he desired should be treated in every respect as a common apprentice, since he knew that even the best brought-up young man needs a sharp look-out on him, and that those particularly who expect to have the supervision of a large number of workmen should begin by learning the exact condition of those whom they are to command. It would be well if all fathers in similar circumstances would follow his example, as most young merchants who serve

From the German " Lebensbeschreibungen merkwürdiger und berühmter Kaufleute." Nuremberg, 1832.

away from home as boarders, enjoy entirely too great freedom, not only as regards business, but in their whole course of life. The bad effects of this cannot be estimated, as they not only lose the opportunity of gaining valuable information, which should be their great aim, but they acquire a distaste for business, and a fondness for pleasures too often immoral in their tendencies, and are led on by the example of others to actions of which the evil consequences sometimes follow them to the grave. Montaussier passed four years in Amsterdam, and worked the whole time with great industry. He strove particularly to acquaint himself with the state of trade in Germany, as the intercourse between that country and his native town was at that time extremely important. His master at his departure testified his entire satisfaction with him, remained ever after his friend, and was the means afterward of rendering him several important services. After he had been two years at home, his father determined to send him on a journey to the north, in order that he might superintend his business, which lay mostly in that direction, and acquire at the same time a new stock of information. He set off in the year 1770 for Hamburg, where he passed a year among his father's friends, and in that time acquired a thorough knowledge of the trade of the region in which he was placed. He then went to Stockholm, where he remained a short time, and then directed his course to St. Petersburg. After a visit there, he went to a few ports on the Baltic, and from thence sailed to Lubec. On this voyage, the ship in which he sailed was overtaken by a violent storm. The danger soon became very great, as she had sprung a leak and began to let in water, and they were first obliged to lower the great mast, and then to throw all the furniture overboard. They soon found, however, that they must abandon the ship or perish; and the captain with the passengers and crew got into the small-boat, and after much peril arrived safely at Travemunde. Montaussier then travelled through the greater part of Germany, and returned to Bordeaux through Switzerland, having passed about four years on his travels. He had employed his time most advantageously, having examined carefully the peculiarities of trade in each country, and each large town through which he passed, and made himself acquainted with every thing that could have a bearing on his own commercial affairs. He observed also attentively the manners, morals, and government of the different people he visited, and acquired that ease of manner which is only to be gained by mixing in different sorts of society.

His father took him into his business as partner on his return, and found him a great assistance in his very arduous duties. He soon enlarged his father's trade considerably, and as he had made it his business when away to investigate the credit of their former friends, he broke off with many of them, and connected himself with others very extensively.

He had traded in partnership with his father very prosperously for about six years, when suddenly all his good fortune abandoned him. His father had a friend named Montaubert, whom he had always considered an honest man, but who had fallen into very embarrassed circumstances, and who ad drawn bills of exchange on himself for a considerable amount, which, having failed, his creditors insisted on being paid, and threatened to arrest him. He immediately acquainted old Montaussier with the state of his affairs, imposed upon him by means of forged papers, and begged him to go bail for him for 80,000 livres. The old man, who was very much attached to his friend, and had perfect confidence in his integrity, allowed

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