fortunate. A fair profit on a voyage to China at that day was thirty
thousand dollars. Mr. Astor has been known to gain seventy thousand,
and to have his money in his pocket within the year. He was remarkably
lucky in the war of 1812. All his ships escaped capture, and arriving
at a time when foreign commerce was almost annihilated and tea had
doubled in price, his gains were so immense, that the million or more
lost in the Astorian enterprise gave him not even a momentary
inconvenience.
At that time, too, tea merchants of large capital had an advantage
which they do not now enjoy. A writer explains the manner in which the
business was done in those days:--
"A house that could raise money enough thirty years ago to
send $260,000 in specie, could soon have an uncommon
capital, and this was the working of the old system. The
Griswolds owned the ship Panama. They started her from New
York in the month of May, with a cargo of perhaps $30,000
worth of ginseng, spelter, lead, iron, etc., and $170,000 in
Spanish dollars. The ship goes on the voyage, reaches
Whampoa in safety (a few miles below Canton). Her supercargo
in two months has her loaded with tea, some china ware, a
great deal of cassia or false cinnamon, and a few other
articles. Suppose the cargo, mainly tea, costing about
thirty-seven cents (at that time) per pound on the average.
"The duty was enormous in those days. It was twice the cost
of the tea, at least: so that a tea cargo of $200,000, when
it had paid duty of seventy-five cents per pound (which
would be $400,000), amounted to $600,000. The profit was at
least fifty per cent on the original cost, or $100,000, and
would make the cargo worth $700,000.
"The cargo of teas would be sold almost on arrival (say
eleven or twelve months after the ship left New York in May)
to wholesale grocers, for their notes at four and six
months,--say for $700,000. In those years there was _credit
given by the United States_ of nine, twelve, and eighteen
months! So that the East-India or Canton merchant, after his
ship had made one voyage, had the use of government capital
to the extent of $400,000, on the ordinary cargo of a China
ship.
"No sooner had the ship Panama arrived (or any of the
regular East-Indiamen), than her cargo would be exchanged
for grocers' notes for $700,000. These notes could be turned
into specie very easily, and the owner had only to pay his
bonds for $400,000 duty, at nine, twelve, and eighteen
months, giving him time actually to send two more ships with
$200,000 each to Canton, and have them back again in New
York before the bonds on the first cargo were due.
"John Jacob Astor at one period of his life had several
vessels operating in this way. They would go to the Pacific
(Oregon) and carry from thence furs to Canton. These would
be sold at large profits. Then the cargoes of tea to New
York would pay enormous duties, which Astor did not have to
pay to the United States for a year and a half. His tea
cargoes would be sold for good four and six months paper, or
perhaps cash; so that for eighteen or twenty years John
Jacob Astor had what was actually a free-of-interest loan
from Government of over _five millions_ of dollars."[1]
But it was neither his tea trade nor his fur trade that gave Astor
twenty millions of dollars. It was his sagacity in investing his
profits that made him the richest man in America. When he first trod
the streets of New York, in 1784, the city was a snug, leafy place of
twenty-five thousand inhabitants, situated at the extremity of the
Island, mostly below Cortlandt Street. In 1800, when he began to have
money to invest, the city had more than doubled in population, and had
advanced nearly a mile up the Island. Now, Astor was a shrewd
calculator of the future. No reason appeared why New York should not
repeat this doubling game and this mile of extension every fifteen
years. He acted upon the supposition, and fell into the habit of
buying lands and lots just beyond the verge of the city. One little
anecdote will show the wisdom of this proceeding. He sold a lot in the
vicinity of Wall Street, about the year 1810, for eight thousand
dollars, which was supposed to be somewhat under its value. The
purchaser, after the papers were signed, seemed disposed to chuckle
over his bargain.
"Why, Mr. Astor," said he, "in a few years this lot will be worth
twelve thousand dollars."
"Very true," replied Astor; "but now you shall see what I will do with
this money. With eight thousand dollars I buy eighty lots above Canal
Street. By the time your lot is worth twelve thousand dollars, my
eighty lots will be worth eighty thousand dollars"; which proved to be
the fact.
His purchase of the Richmond Hill estate of Aaron Burr was a case in
point. He bought the hundred and sixty acres at a thousand dollars an
acre, and in twelve years the land was worth fifteen hundred dollars a
lot. In the course of time the Island was dotted all over with Astor
lands,--to such an extent that the whole income of his estate for
fifty years could be invested in new houses without buying any more
land.
His land speculations, however, were by no means confined to the
little Island of Manhattan. Aged readers cannot have forgotten the
most celebrated of all his operations of this kind, by which he
acquired a legal title to one third of the county of Putnam in this
State. This enormous tract was part of the estate of Roger Morris and
Mary his wife, who, by adhering to the King of Great Britain in the
Revolutionary War, forfeited their landed property in the State of New
York. Having been duly attainted as public enemies, they fled to
England at the close of the war, and the State sold their lands, in
small parcels, to honest Whig farmers. The estate comprised fifty-one
thousand one hundred and two acres, upon which were living, in 1809,
more than seven hundred families, all relying upon the titles which
the State of New York had given. Now Mr. Astor stepped forward to
disturb the security of this community of farmers. It appeared, and
was proved beyond doubt, that Roger and Mary Morris had only possessed
a _life-interest_ in this estate, and that, therefore, it was only
that life-interest which the State could legally confiscate. The
moment Roger and Mary Morris ceased to live, the property would fall
to their heirs, with all the houses, barns, and other improvements
thereon. After a most thorough examination of the papers by the
leading counsel of that day, Mr. Astor bought the rights of the heirs,
in 1809, for twenty thousand pounds sterling. At that time Roger
Morris was no more; and Mary his wife was nearly eighty, and extremely
infirm. She lingered, however, for some years; and it was not till
after the peace of 1815 that the claims of Mr. Astor were pressed. The
consternation of the farmers and the astonishment of the people
generally, when at length the great millionaire stretched out his hand
to pluck this large ripe pear, may be imagined. A great clamor arose
against him. It cannot be denied, however, that he acted in this
business with moderation and dignity. Upon the first rumor of his
claim, in 1814, commissioners were appointed by the Legislature to
inquire into it. These gentlemen, finding the claim more formidable
than had been suspected, asked Mr. Astor for what sum he would
compromise. The lands were valued at six hundred and sixty-seven
thousand dollars, but Astor replied that he would sell his claim for
three hundred thousand. The offer was not accepted, and the affair
lingered. In 1818, Mary Morris being supposed to be at the point of
death, and the farmers being in constant dread of the writs of
ejectment which her death would bring upon them, commissioners were
again appointed by the Legislature to look into the matter. Again Mr.
Astor was asked upon what terms he would compromise. He replied,
January 19, 1819:--
"In 1813 or 1814 a similar proposition was made to me by the
commissioners then appointed by the Honorable the
Legislature of this State, when I offered to compromise for
the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, which,
considering the value of the property in question, was
thought very reasonable; and, at the present period, when
the life of Mrs. Morris is, according to calculation, worth
little or nothing, she being near eighty-six years of age,
and the property more valuable than it was in 1813, I am
still willing to receive the amount which I then stated,
with interest on the same, payable in money or stock,
bearing an interest of--per cent, payable quarterly. The
stock may be made payable at such periods as the Honorable
the Legislature may deem proper. This offer will, I trust,
be considered as liberal, and as a proof of my willingness
to compromise on terms which are reasonable, considering the
value of the property, the price which it cost me, and the
inconvenience of having so long laid out of my money, which,
if employed in commercial operations, would most likely have
produced better profits."
The Legislature were not yet prepared to compromise. It was not till
1827 that a test case was selected and brought to trial before a jury.
The most eminent counsel were employed on the part of the
State,--Daniel Webster and Martin Van Buren among them. Astor's cause
was entrusted to Emmet, Ogden, and others. We believe that Aaron Burr
was consulted on the part of Mr. Astor, though he did not appear in
the trial. The efforts of the array of counsel employed by the State
were exerted in vain to find a flaw in the paper upon which Astor's
claim mainly rested. Mr. Webster's speech on this occasion betrays,
even to the unprofessional reader, both that he had no case and that
he knew he had not, for he indulged in a strain of remark that could
only have been designed to prejudice, not convince, the jury.
"It is a claim for lands," said he,
"not in their wild and forest state, but for lands the
intrinsic value of which is mingled with the labor expended
upon them. It is no every-day purchase, for it extends over
towns and counties, and almost takes in a degree of
latitude. It is a stupendous speculation. The individual who
now claims it has not succeeded to it by inheritance; he has
not attained it, as he did that vast wealth which no one
less envies him than I do, by fair and honest exertions in
commercial enterprise, but by speculation, by purchasing the
forlorn hope of the heirs of a family driven from their
country by a bill of attainder. By the defendants, on the
contrary, the lands in question are held as a patrimony.
They have labored for years to improve them. The rugged
hills had grown green under their cultivation before a
question was raised as to the integrity of their titles."
A line of remark like this would appeal powerfully to a jury of
farmers. Its effect, however, was destroyed by the simple observation
of one of the opposing counsel:--
"Mr. Astor bought this property confiding in the justice of the State
of New York, firmly believing that in the litigation of his claim his
rights would be maintained."
It is creditable to the administration of justice in New York, and
creditable to the very institution of trial by jury, that Mr. Astor's
most unpopular and even odious cause was triumphant. Warned by this
verdict, the Legislature consented to compromise on Mr. Astor's own
terms. The requisite amount of "Astor stock," as it was called, was
created. Mr. Astor received about half a million of dollars, and the
titles of the lands were secured to their rightful owners.
The crowning glory of Mr. Astor's mercantile career was that vast and
brilliant enterprise which Washington Irving has commemorated in
"Astoria." No other single individual has ever set on foot a scheme so
extensive, so difficult, and so costly as this; nor has any such
enterprise been carried out with such sustained energy and
perseverance. To establish a line of trading-posts from St. Louis to
the Pacific, a four-months' journey in a land of wilderness, prairie,
mountain, and desert, inhabited by treacherous or hostile savages; to
found a permanent settlement on the Pacific coast as the grand _dépôt_
of furs and supplies; to arrange a plan by which the furs collected
should be regularly transported to China, and the ships return to New
York laden with tea and silks, and then proceed once more to the
Pacific coast to repeat the circuit; to maintain all the parts of this
scheme without the expectation of any but a remote profit, sending
ship after ship before any certain intelligence of the first ventures
had arrived,--this was an enterprise which had been memorable if it
had been undertaken by a wealthy corporation or a powerful government,
instead of a private merchant, unaided by any resources but his own.
At every moment in the conduct of this magnificent attempt Mr. Astor
appears the great man. His parting instructions to the captain of his
first ship call to mind those of General Washington to St. Clair on a
similar occasion. "All the accidents that have yet happened," said the
merchant, "arose from too much confidence in the Indians." The ship
was lost, a year after, by the disregard of this last warning. When
the news reached New York of the massacre of the crew and the
blowing-up of the ship, the man who flew into a passion at seeing a
little boy drop a wineglass behaved with a composure that was the
theme of general admiration. He attended the theatre the same evening,
and entered heartily into the play. Mr. Irving relates that a friend
having expressed surprise at this, Mr. Astor replied:--
"What would you have me do? Would you have me stay at home and weep
for what I cannot help?"
This was not indifference; for when, after nearly two years of weary
waiting, he heard of the safety and success of the overland
expedition, he was so overjoyed that he could scarcely contain
himself.
"I felt ready," said he, "to fall upon my knees in a transport of
gratitude."
A touch in one of his letters shows the absolute confidence he felt in
his own judgment and abilities, a confidence invariably exhibited by
men of the first executive talents.
"Were I on the spot," he wrote to one of his agents when the affairs
of the settlement appeared desperate,
"and had the management of affairs, I would defy them all;
but, as it is, everything depends upon you and the friends
about you. Our enterprise is grand and deserves success, and
I hope in God it will meet it. If my object was merely gain
of money, I should say: 'Think whether it is best to save
what we can and abandon the place'; but the thought is like
a dagger to my heart."
He intimates here that his object was not merely "gain of money." What
was it, then? Mr. Irving informs us that it was desire of fame. We
should rather say that when nature endows a man with a remarkable gift
she also implants within him the love of exercising it. Astor loved to
plan a vast, far-reaching enterprise. He loved it as Morphy loves to
play chess, as Napoleon loved to plan a campaign, as Raphael loved to
paint, and Handel to compose.
The war of 1812 foiled the enterprise. "But for that war," Mr. Astor
used to say, "I should have been the richest man that ever lived." He
expected to go on expending money for several years, and then to gain
a steady annual profit of millions. It was, however, that very war
that enabled him to sustain the enormous losses of the enterprise
without injury to his estate, or even a momentary inconvenience.
During the first year of the war he had the luck to receive two or
three cargoes of tea from China, despite the British cruisers. In the
second year of the war, when the Government was reduced to borrow at
eighty, he invested largely in the loan, which, one year after the
peace, stood at one hundred and twenty.
Mr. Astor at all times was a firm believer in the destiny of the
United States. In other words, he held its public stock in profound
respect. He had little to say of politics, but he was a supporter of
the old Whig party for many years, and had a great regard, personal
and political, for its leader and ornament, Henry Clay. He was never
better pleased than when he entertained Mr. Clay at his own house. It
ought to be mentioned in this connection that when, in June, 1812, the
merchants of New York memorialized the Government in favor of the
embargo, which almost annihilated the commerce of the port, the name
of John Jacob Astor headed the list of signatures.
He was an active business man in this city for about forty-six
years,--from his twenty-first to his sixty-seventh year. Toward the
year 1830 he began to withdraw from business, and undertook no new
enterprises, except such as the investment of his income involved. His
three daughters were married. His son and heir was a man of thirty.
Numerous grandchildren were around him, for whom he manifested a true
German fondness; not, however, regarding them with equal favor. He
dispensed, occasionally, a liberal hospitality at his modest house,
though that hospitality was usually bestowed upon men whose presence
at his table conferred distinction upon him who sat at the head of it.
He was fond, strange as it may seem, of the society of literary men.
For Washington Irving he always professed a warm regard, liked to have
him at his house, visited him, and made much of him. Fitz-Greene
Halleck, one of the best talkers of his day, a man full of fun,
anecdote, and fancy, handsome, graceful, and accomplished, was a great
favorite with him. He afterward invited the poet to reside with him
and take charge of his affairs, which Mr. Halleck did for many years,
to the old gentleman's perfect satisfaction. Still later Dr. Cogswell
won his esteem, and was named by him Librarian of the Astor Library.
For his own part, though he rather liked to be read to in his latter
days, he collected no library, no pictures, no objects of curiosity.
As he had none of the wasteful vices, so also he had none of the
costly tastes. Like all other rich men, he was beset continually by
applicants for pecuniary aid, especially by his own countrymen. As a
rule he refused to give: and he was right. He held beggary of all
descriptions in strong contempt, and seemed to think that, in this
country, want and fault are synonymous. Nevertheless, we are told that
he did, now and then, bestow small sums in charity, though we have
failed to get trustworthy evidence of a single instance of his doing
so. It is, no doubt, absolutely necessary for a man who is notoriously
rich to guard against imposture, and to hedge himself about against
the swarms of solicitors who pervade a large and wealthy city. If he
did not, he would be overwhelmed and devoured. His time would be all
consumed and his estate squandered in satisfying the demands of
importunate impudence. Still, among the crowd of applicants there is
here and there one whose claim upon the aid of the rich man is just.
It were much to be desired that a way should be devised by which these
meritorious askers could be sifted from the mass, and the nature of
their requests made known to men who have the means and the wish to
aid such. Some kind of Benevolent Intelligence Office appears to be
needed among us. In the absence of such an institution we must not be
surprised that men renowned for their wealth convert themselves into
human porcupines, and erect their defensive armor at the approach of
every one who carries a subscription-book. True, a generous man might
establish a private bureau of investigation; but a generous man is not
very likely to acquire a fortune of twenty millions. Such an
accumulation of wealth is just as wise as if a man who had to walk ten
miles on a hot day should, of his own choice, carry on his back a
large sack of potatoes. A man of superior sense and feeling will not
waste his life so, unless he has in view a grand public object. On the
contrary, he will rather do as Franklin did, who, having acquired at
the age of forty-two a modest competence, sold out his thriving
business on easy terms to a younger man, and devoted the rest of his
happy life to the pursuit of knowledge and the service of his country.
But we cannot all be Franklins. In the affairs of the world
millionaires are as indispensable as philosophers; and it is fortunate
for society that some men take pleasure in heaping up enormous masses
of capital.
Having retired from business, Mr. Astor determined to fulfil the vow
of his youth, and build in Broadway a house larger and costlier than
any it could then boast. Behold the result in the Astor House, which
remains to this day one of our most solid, imposing, and respectable
structures. The ground on which the hotel stands was covered with
substantial three-story brick houses, one of which Astor himself
occupied; and it was thought at the time a wasteful and rash
proceeding to destroy them. Old Mr. Coster, a retired merchant of
great wealth, who lived next door to Mr. Astor's residence, was
extremely indisposed to remove, and held out long against every offer
of the millionaire. His house was worth thirty thousand dollars. Astor
offered him that sum; but the offer was very positively declined, and
the old gentleman declared it to be his intention to spend the
remainder of his days in the house. Mr. Astor offered forty thousand
without effect. At length the indomitable projector revealed his
purpose to his neighbor.
"Mr. Coster," said he, "I want to build a hotel. I have got all the
other lots; now name your own price."
To which Coster replied by confessing the real obstacle to the sale.
"The fact is," said he, "I can't sell unless Mrs. Coster consents. If
she is willing, I'll sell for sixty thousand, and you can call
to-morrow morning and ask her."
Mr. Astor presented himself at the time named.
"Well, Mr. Astor," said the lady in the tone of one who was conferring
a very great favor for nothing, "we are such old friends that I am
willing for your sake."
So the house was bought, and with the proceeds Mr. Coster built the
spacious granite mansion a mile up Broadway, which is now known as
Barnum's Museum. Mr. Astor used to relate this story with great glee.
He was particularly amused at the simplicity of the old lady in
considering it a great favor to him to sell her house at twice its
value. It was at this time that he removed to a wide, two-story brick
house opposite Niblo's, the front door of which bore a large silver
plate, exhibiting to awestruck passers-by the words: "MR. ASTOR." Soon
after the hotel was finished, he made a present of it to his eldest
son, or, in legal language, he sold it to him for the sum of one
dollar, "to him in hand paid."
In the decline of his life, when his vast fortune was safe from the
perils of business, he was still as sparing in his personal
expenditures, as close in his bargains, as watchful over his
accumulations as he had been when economy was essential to his
solvency and progress. He enjoyed keenly the consciousness, the
feeling of being rich. The roll-book of his possessions was his Bible.
He scanned it fondly, and saw with quiet but deep delight the
catalogue of his property lengthening from month to month. The love of
accumulation grew with his years until it ruled him like a tyrant. If
at fifty he possessed his millions, at sixty-five his millions
possessed him. Only to his own children and to their children was he
liberal; and his liberality to them was all arranged with a view to
keeping his estate in the family, and to cause it at every moment to
tend toward a final consolidation in one enormous mass. He was ever
considerate for the comfort of his imbecile son. One of his last
enterprises was to build for him a commodious residence.