proper occasion, that it is not merely political eminence or military achievement that you know how to appreciate. You do not allow the triumphs of the senate or the camp, however brilliant, to monopolize your admiration. You are sensible that there is a wisdom, a courage, and an honor, of the counting-house and the exchange always as respectable, and when called into action on a large scale, not less important than those of the cabinet and the field. When you do honor to our respected guest and the house to which he belongs, it is not to the vast undertakings in which it embarks and the millions it sways, but to the liberality and good faith which preside in all its transactions.

I am aware, sir, that there are in all countries, and especially in our own, some popular prejudices against great accumulations of property. We hear, occasionally, of the supposed antagonism of labor and capital. The dangerous power of what has been called "the dynasty of accumulated wealth" is sometimes spoken of in our political circles. It would be too much to contend that property in masses is never abused. Capital and credit, as well as the want of both, are subject to abuse; but I see no reason in the nature of things to assume a necessary antagonism between labor and capital; on the contrary they seem to me the most faithful of allies and best of friends. I think, too, I have observed that those who are loudest in their denunciations of the dangers to be dreaded from accumulated wealth, confine their fears to their neighbors. They are very apprehensive that others may abuse the power which property is supposed to confer; while they pursue themselves, with laudable selfreliance, undisturbed by theory, the acquisition of the shining mischief, particularly when it comes in the shape of a good salary.

Instead of considering accumulated capital as fraught with danger to public liberty, observation will, I think, teach us to regard it not only as an important instrument of public and · private prosperity, but as a sure indication of a country governed by law. What is capital? It is nothing but the fruits of labor saved, instead of being consumed from hand

to mouth. It will not accumulate to any great extent, where it is not protected by law. Look at the countries where capital does, and those where it does not abound. Compare England and the United States on the one hand, with Turkey and Persia on the other. The worse governed a country, the poorer it will be found, however rich in the gifts of nature. There will no doubt be some accumulations of capital in the worst governed country; but it will be timid and furtive, and lose nearly all its power to benefit society, by the necessity of seeking concealment. There are rich Jews at Bagdad, and rich Armenians at Damascus; but their wealth is invested in precious stones, and buried in cellars and caverns: while from time to time it is extorted from its rightful possessors under the torture of the bastinado, inflicted by greedy provincial satraps, in order to furnish them the means of buying the favors of remorseless viziers and sultanas at the seat of government. How different the case in a free country! There capital walks boldly abroad; seeks investment; gives life to commerce, manufactures, and the arts; traverses the land side by side with her sister credit, scattering plenty by the way; smites the everlasting hills with her magic wand, and bids their adamantine portals fly open before the loaded train; puts an iron curb into the foaming jaws of Niagara, and throws a bridge across his roaring whirlpools; unites the Atlantic with the Pacific and Europe with America by her railroads and ocean steamers; and brings the remotest borders of the country into living contact by her electric telegraphs.

But does it stop here? No, sir, in a free and prosperous country like that of our respected guest and our own, it is characteristic of capital that if it gathers largely in, it dispenses liberally abroad. Who is it that takes the lead in every measure of Christian charity and enlightened public spirit? Our guest can answer for all but himself in his own country; I may ask you, sir, (to Mr. Appleton,) with respect to this community. Or rather I will not ask you, sir, but almost any one sooner, who it is that builds the hospital, endows the asylum, the house of refuge, the college, the athenæum, gives sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, and

shelter to the houseless, and performs the thousand other blessed offices of open-handed and warm-hearted Christian love?

Even if this were otherwise, from the very nature of things, there can be no antagonism between capital and the other interests of society, for it seeks of necessity those investments which promote the public accommodation and benefit. In a country like England and America, the owner of capital really reaps the smallest portion of the advantages which flow from its possession; he is but a kind of head bookkeeper or chief clerk to the business community. He may be as rich as Crœsus, but he can neither eat, drink, nor wear more than one man's portion. The houses and warehouses, the ships and railroads which he builds or buys are for the accommodation of others - of the public. I remember hearing a jest made about Mr. Astor's property, which contained I thought a great deal of meaning,—a latent, practical philosophy. Some one was asked whether he would be willing to take care of all Mr. Astor's property, eight or ten millions of dollars, (and that we think a great property; with you, sir, on the other side of the water, it would be a mere "flea-bite,") merely for his board and clothes. "No," was the indignant answer; "do you think me a fool?" "Well," rejoins the other, "that is all that Mr. Astor himself gets for taking care of it; he's found and that's all. The houses, the warehouses, the ships, the farms which he counts by the hundred and is obliged to take care of, are for the accommodation of others." "But then he has the income, the rents of all this mighty property, five or six hundred thousand dollars per annum." "Yes, but he can do nothing with this income but build more houses and warehouses and ships, or loan more money on mortgage for the convenience of others. He's found, and you can make nothing else out of it."

In the country of our guest, and in Europe generally, capital is more frequently called upon than it is with us to exert an influence on public affairs. It rises there to the importance of a fourth estate of the realm, and in despotic governments is often the only effectual check on power. In looking

lately at some extracts from the memoirs of Count Mollien, Minister of Finance under Napoleon, I was surprised to see how much deference the imperial autocrat was obliged to pay to the chief of his treasury. Had he done it more he might have worn his crown to the grave. That honest minister more than once put a drag chain on the wheels of conquest, while they were rolling over prostrate Europe.

The necessary connection of capital with politics in Europe is curiously illustrated by an anecdote related to me from a very high source, and showing with what vigilance the great movements of the times are watched by the leading bankers. I heard it a few years ago from the Duke of Wellington, and as there is nothing confidential in it, I will take the liberty of repeating it to the company, though, as a general rule, there is nothing I more carefully avoid than repeating in public what has fallen in private, in my hearing, from the lips of distinguished men. During my last residence in England, I happened to remark to the Duke of Wellington, that I was in London in the month of June, 1815, when the news of the battle of Waterloo arrived, and I mentioned some circumstances that fell under my observation relative to its effect on the public mind. The Duke said, " You will perhaps be surprised to hear, that the intelligence of that event did not first reach London through the official despatch, but through a private channel." Considering the importance of the event, not inferior to any thing since the battle of Pharsalia, and that no time would naturally be lost in transmitting the intelligence from head-quarters, I was certainly surprised to hear this.

The truth was as follows: In consequence of the immensely critical state of affairs, - all the armies of Europe, not less than a million of men, being already congregated in Belgium or on the march toward it, — and the results of the approaching shock being likely to be of great moment to the whole financial as well as the whole political world, the great panking house of Rothschild had sent a confidential agent to watch the progress of events, and to transmit to London the earliest news of any important occurrence. This agent seems

He

to have united discretion with sagacity. He did not repair to head-quarters, nor leap into the flaming crater of war. forbore (very properly) to place himself

Between the pass and fell incensed points

Of mighty opposites;

but as Louis XVIII. was then at Ghent, he justly concluded that if any important event occurred, the king of the French would be the first to hear of it; and that his immediate vicinity would be the best post for news. He accordingly repaired to Ghent and took up his lodgings directly opposite the house where the king was temporarily residing. It was midsummer, and doors and windows were all open. The country was full of rumors; the great actions of the 16th, 17th, and the greatest of all, that of the 18th, had now been fought; -the sweep of these mighty blows was felt in the air, but nothing was distinctly reported.

At length, on the 19th of June, if I recollect the date aright, our vigilant agent saw an officer, evidently of rank, arrive in hot haste, throw himself from his panting horse, rush unannounced into the house and into the apartment where the king was, and where he could be seen by the agent through the open windows, and approach the king without ceremony. After a few hasty words from the officer, the king threw his arms round his neck and kissed him; and as soon as he was released from his majesty's embrace, he was hugged and kissed by all the princes, ministers, and chamberlains in the room. This was enough for the agent; he did not wait to hear the precise tenor of the news. He was sure that nothing but an event most important and auspicious could so have broken down the etiquette that "doth hedge a king." In fact, this general embracing among a room full of men probably struck his cold Anglo-Saxon temperament more than it would that of the fervid and demonstrative South. At any rate he had seen enough. He leaped on his horse, rode at the top of his speed to Ostend, took passage in a pilot boat which was kept waiting, and arrived in London. He reported to his employer what he had seen; he could do no more; and Baron Roth