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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands,
+by George Francis Train
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands
+       Dictated in My Seventy-Fourth Year
+
+
+Author: George Francis Train
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 10, 2011  [eBook #38265]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LIFE IN MANY STATES AND IN
+FOREIGN LANDS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Julia Miller, Pat McCoy, and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from images generously made
+available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 38265-h.htm or 38265-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38265/38265-h/38265-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38265/38265-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/mylifemanystates00trairich
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: George Francis Train.
+
+From a recent photograph.]
+
+
+
+
+    MY LIFE IN MANY STATES AND IN FOREIGN LANDS
+
+    Dictated in My Seventy-Fourth Year
+
+    by
+
+    GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN
+
+    Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    [Illustration]
+
+    New York
+    D. Appleton and Company
+    1902
+
+    Copyright, 1902
+    by D. Appleton and Company
+
+    Published November, 1902
+
+
+
+
+
+MY LIFE IN MANY STATES
+
+AND IN FOREIGN LANDS
+
+
+
+
+
+      TO THE CHILDREN
+    AND TO THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN
+      IN THIS AND IN ALL LANDS
+    WHO LOVE AND BELIEVE IN ME
+      BECAUSE THEY KNOW
+    I LOVE AND BELIEVE IN THEM
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+I have been silent for thirty years. During that long period I have
+taken little part in the public life of the world, have written nothing
+beyond occasional letters and newspaper articles, and have conversed
+with few persons, except children in parks and streets. I have found
+children always sympathetic and appreciative. For this reason I have
+readily entered into their play and their more serious moods; and for
+this reason, also, have dedicated this book to them and to their
+children.
+
+For many years I have been a silent recluse, remote from the world in my
+little corner in the Mills Hotel, thinking and waiting patiently. That I
+break this silence now, after so many years, is due to the suggestion of
+a friend who has told me that the world of to-day, as well as the world
+of to-morrow, will be interested in reading my story. I am assured that
+many of the things I have accomplished will endure as a memorial of me,
+and that I ought to give some account of them and of myself.
+
+And so I have tried to compress a story of my life into this book. With
+modesty, I may say that the whole story could not be told in a single
+volume. I have tried not to be prolix, keeping in mind while preparing
+this record of events, "all of which I saw, and part of which I was,"
+that there is a limit to the patience of readers.
+
+I beg my readers to remember that this book was spoken, not written, by
+me. It is my own life-story that I have related. It may not, in every
+part, agree with the recollections of others; but I am sure that it is
+as accurate in statement as it is blameless in purpose. If I should fail
+at any point, this will be due to some wavering of memory, and not to
+intention. Thanks to my early Methodist training, I have never knowingly
+told a lie; and I shall not begin at this time of life.
+
+While I may undertake other volumes that will present another side of
+me--my views and opinions of men and things--that which stands here
+recorded is the story of my life. It has been dictated in the mornings
+of July and August of the past summer, one or two hours being given to
+it during two or three days of each week. Altogether, the time consumed
+in the dictation makes a total of thirty-five hours. Before I began the
+dictation, I wrote out hastily a brief sketch, or mere epitome, of my
+history, so that I might have before my mind a guide that would prevent
+me from wandering too far afield or that might save me from
+tediousness. I give it here, as a foretaste of the book. I have called
+it "My Autobiography boiled down--400 Pages in 200 Words."
+
+"Born 3-24-'29. Orphaned New Orleans, '33. (Father, mother, and three
+sisters--yellow fever.) Came North alone, four years old, to
+grandmother, Waltham, Mass. Supported self since babyhood. Farmer till
+14. Grocer-boy, Cambridgeport, two years. Shipping-clerk, 16. Manager,
+18. Partner, Train & Co., 20 (income, $10,000). Boston, 22 ($15,000).
+
+"Established G. F. T. & Co., Melbourne, Australia, '53. Agent, Barings,
+Duncan & Sherman, White Star Line (income, $95,000). Started 40 clippers
+to California, '49. Flying Cloud, Sovereign of the Seas, Staffordshire.
+Built A. & G. W. R. R., connecting Erie with Ohio and Mississippi, 400
+miles.
+
+"Pioneered first street-railway, Europe, America, Australia. (England:
+Birkenhead, Darlington, Staffordshire, London, '60.) Built first Pacific
+Railway (U. P.), '62-'69, through first Trust, Credit Mobilier. Owned
+five thousand lots, Omaha, worth $30,000,000. (Been in fifteen jails
+without a crime.)
+
+"Train Villa, built at Newport, '68. Daughter's house, 156 Madison
+Avenue, '60. Organized French Commune, Marseilles, Ligue du Midi,
+October, '70, while on return trip around the world in eighty days.
+Jules Verne, two years later, wrote fiction of my fact.
+
+"Made independent race for Presidency against Grant and Greeley, '71-72.
+Cornered lawyers, doctors, clericals, by quoting three columns of Bible
+to release Woodhull-Claflin from jail, '72. Now lunatic by law, through
+six courts.
+
+"Now living in Mills Palace, $3 against $2,000 a week, at Train Villa.
+(Daughter always has room for me in country.) Played Carnegie forty
+years ahead. Three generations living off Credit Mobilier. Author dozen
+books out of print (_vide_ Who's Who, Allibone, Appletons' Cyclopaedia).
+
+"Four times around the world. First, two years. Second, eighty days,
+'70. Third, sixty-seven and a half days, '90. Fourth, sixty days,
+shortest record, '92. Through psychic telepathy, am doubling age.
+Seventy-four years young."
+
+It may be a matter of surprise to some readers that I should have
+accomplished so much at the early age when so many of my most important
+enterprises were accomplished. It should be remembered, however, that I
+began young. I was a mature man at an age when most boys are still tied
+to their mothers' apron strings. I had to begin to take care of myself
+in very tender years. I suppose my experiences in New Orleans, on the
+old farm in Massachusetts, in the grocery store in Boston, and in the
+shipping house of Enoch Train and Company, matured and hardened me
+before my time. I was never much of a boy. I seem to have missed that
+portion of my youth. I was obliged to look out for myself very early,
+and was soon fighting hard in the fierce battle of competition, where
+the weak are so often lost.
+
+It may be worth while to present here some important evidence of the
+confidence that was reposed in me by experienced men, when, as a mere
+youth, I was undertaking vast enterprises that might have made older men
+hesitate. When I was about to leave Boston in '53 for business in
+Australia, and organized the house of Caldwell, Train and Company, I was
+authorized by the following well-established houses of this and other
+countries to use them as references, and did so on our firm circulars:
+John M. Forbes, John E. Thayer and Brother, George B. Upton, Enoch Train
+and Company, Sampson and Tappan, and Josiah Bradlee and Company, of
+Boston; Cary and Company, Goodhue and Company, Josiah Macy and Sons,
+Grinnell, Minturn and Company, and Charles H. Marshall and Company, of
+New York; H. and A. Cope and Company, of Philadelphia; Birckhead and
+Pearce, of Baltimore; J. P. Whitney and Company, of New Orleans; Flint,
+Peabody and Company, and Macondray and Company, of San Francisco; George
+A. Hopley and Company, of Charleston; Archibald Gracie, of Mobile; and
+the following foreign houses: Bowman, Grinnell and Company, and Charles
+Humberston, of Liverpool; Russell and Company and Augustine Heard and
+Company, of Canton.
+
+These were among the best known commercial houses in the world at that
+time. Any business man, familiar with the commercial history of the
+modern world, should consider this list fair enough evidence of the
+confidence I enjoyed among men of affairs. Let me reproduce here--partly
+as evidence along the same line, and partly because of the value I
+attach to it on personal and friendly grounds--the following letter from
+Mr. D. O. Mills:
+
+                                      "NEW YORK, _September 30, 1901_.
+    "Hon. GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN,
+          "_Mills Hotel, Bleecker St., New York_.
+
+    "MY DEAR CITIZEN:
+
+    "The many appreciative notices that have come to my attention of
+    your distinguished talents of early years lead me also to send you
+    a line of appreciation, particularly as touching the part played
+    by you in some of the great commercial enterprises that have so
+    signally marked the nineteenth century, notably in the Merchant
+    Marine, and in the building of the Union Pacific Railroad, in the
+    conception and construction of which you bore so distinguished a
+    part.
+
+    "The present generation, with its conveniences of travel and
+    communication, can not realize what were the difficulties and
+    experiences of the merchant and traveler of those early days when
+    you were engaged in the China trade, and your Clipper Ships were
+    often seen in the port of San Francisco.
+
+    "The long voyage around the Horn, the danger experienced from
+    sudden attack by Indians while traversing the wild and uninhabited
+    country lying between Omaha and the Pacific Coast, are experiences
+    which even an old voyager like myself questions as he speeds
+    across the continent, privileged to enjoy the comforts of a
+    Pullman car, and a railroad service that has shortened the journey
+    from New York to San Francisco from months to a few days. In
+    recalling the many years of our pleasant acquaintance by sea and
+    land, not the least is the remembrance of your kind and genial
+    spirit, and I am glad to see that you have lost none of your
+    sincere wish to do good.
+
+    "With kind regards.
+                  "Very truly yours,
+                              "D. O. MILLS."
+
+Mr. Mills has known me in many walks of life. We have at times walked
+side by side. At others, oceans have roared between us. He is my friend,
+and I was glad to receive this kindly word from him, after many long
+years of acquaintance.
+
+Although I am a hermit now, I was not always so. All who read this book
+must see that. I spent many happy years in society--and never an unhappy
+year anywhere, whether in jail or under social persecution; and I have
+lived many years with my family in my own country and in foreign lands.
+My wife, of whom I have spoken of in the following pages, passed into
+shadow-land in '77. I have children who are scattered widely now. My
+first child, Lily, was born in Boston, in '52, and died when five months
+old, in Boston. My second daughter, Susan Minerva, was born in '55, and
+married Philip Dunbar Guelager, who for thirty-six years was the head of
+the gold and silver department of the Subtreasury in this city. She now
+lives at "Minerva Lodge," Stamford, Connecticut, with my seven-year-old
+grandson. My first son, George Francis Train, Jr., was born in '56, and
+is now in business in San Francisco. Elsey McHenry Train, my last child,
+now lives in Chicago. He was born in '57. I was able to see these
+children well educated, at home and abroad, and to give them some chance
+to see the great world I had known.
+
+A last word as to myself. Readers of this book may think I have
+sometimes taken myself too seriously. I can scarcely agree with them. I
+try not to be too serious about anything--not even about myself. When I
+was making a hopeless fight for the Presidency in '72, I made the
+following statement in one of my speeches:
+
+"Many persons attribute to me simply an impulsiveness, and an
+impressibility, as if I were some erratic comet, rushing madly through
+space, emitting coruscations of fancifully colored sparks, without
+system, rule, or definite object. This is a popular error. I claim to be
+a close analytical observer of passing events, applying the crucible of
+Truth to every new matter or subject presented to my mind or my senses."
+
+I think that estimate may be used to-day in this place. It does not so
+much matter, however, what I may have thought of myself or what I now
+think of myself. What does matter is what I may have done. I stand on my
+achievement.
+
+And with this, I commit my life-story to the kind consideration of
+readers.
+
+                CITIZEN GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN.
+
+    THE MILLS PALACE,
+            _September 22, '02_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    CHAPTER I                                                       PAGE
+
+    WHEN I WAS FOUR YEARS OLD.      1833                               2
+    New Orleans then my home--All the family except myself
+    perish from yellow fever.
+
+    CHAPTER II
+
+    MY VOYAGE FROM NEW ORLEANS TO BOSTON.      1833                   16
+    Four years old and the sole passenger--Sailors teach me to
+    swear--My aunt shocked at my depravity.
+
+    CHAPTER III
+
+    MY BOYHOOD ON A FARM.      1833-1843                              21
+    My grandfather a noted Methodist preacher--My first
+    money earned.
+
+    CHAPTER IV
+
+    SCHOOLDAYS AND A START IN LIFE.      1840-1844                    35
+    Leader of the school--George Ripley my school-teacher--Emerson
+    comes to our village to lecture--Boston visited.
+
+    CHAPTER V
+
+    EARLY NEW ENGLAND METHODISM.                                      45
+    How I was reared religiously--Ideas of right and wrong--Things
+    outgrown.
+
+    CHAPTER VI
+
+    IN A SHIPPING HOUSE IN BOSTON.      1844-1850                     52
+    A place with my uncle--Progress rapidly made--I sell Emerson
+    a ticket for Liverpool--I engage Rufus Choate and
+    Daniel Webster as our lawyers--My first speculation--Building
+    fast ships.
+
+    CHAPTER VII
+
+    A VACATION TOUR.      1850                                        79
+    In Washington I meet Webster, Clay, and President Taylor--A
+    letter with their autographs that served me well.
+
+    CHAPTER VIII
+
+    A PARTNER IN THE LIVERPOOL HOUSE.      1850-1852                  90
+    In Scotland Lord John Russell receives me, and I meet
+    Lady Russell--Reform in the shipping business--Money
+    we made--The Duke of Wellington--I visit Chatsworth.
+
+    CHAPTER IX
+
+    MY COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE--RETURN TO LIVERPOOL.
+    1850-1852                                                        109
+    How I first met my wife--Engaged to marry her within
+    forty-eight hours--Governors in my charge--Our wedding
+    and the commotion that preceded it--Phrenology.
+
+    CHAPTER X
+
+    BUSINESS SUCCESS IN AUSTRALIA.      1853-1855                    126
+    A fine income at twenty-one--Melbourne in those days--American
+    ideas introduced--Accused of stealing $2,000,000.
+
+    CHAPTER XI
+
+    THE GOLD-FEVER IN NEW SOUTH WALES AND TASMANIA.
+    1853-1855                                                        141
+    Lucky and unlucky miners--David D. Porter--Sydney in
+    those days--Free immigrants--Sir John Franklin.
+
+    CHAPTER XII
+
+    OTHER AUSTRALIAN INCIDENTS--A REVOLUTION                         156
+    Proposed as a candidate for President--Riotous times--Curious
+    incidents in business.
+
+    CHAPTER XIII
+
+    A VOYAGE TO CHINA.      1855                                     171
+    Failure of ambitious plans--My first love of flowers--A
+    remarkable Dutch colony.
+
+    CHAPTER XIV
+
+    IN CHINESE CITIES.      1855-1856                                182
+    Hetty Green's husband in Hongkong with me--Pirates and
+    the slave trade--Honesty of the Chinaman--Eating rats--
+    Pidgin-English--Li Hung Chang on board.
+
+    CHAPTER XV
+
+    TO INDIA AND THE HOLY LAND.      1856                            204
+    New ideas in religion--My early Methodism recalled--Where
+    Christ was born.
+
+    CHAPTER XVI
+
+    IN THE CRIMEA.      1856                                         215
+    Plans in speculation that came to naught--The war, and
+    what I learned of it.
+
+    CHAPTER XVII
+
+    HOME ONCE MORE, AND THEN A RETURN TO EUROPE.
+    1856-1857                                                        221
+    Boston and New York after a long absence--With my wife
+    I go to Paris.
+
+    CHAPTER XVIII
+
+    MEN I MET IN PARIS.      1857                                    226
+    A ball at the Tuileries--Eugenie very gracious to me--An
+    unexpected woman comes in--William H. Seward.
+
+    CHAPTER XIX
+
+    BUILDING THE ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.
+    1857-1858                                                        237
+    Queen Maria Christina's fortune employed--Salamanca, the
+    banker--How I secured a great loan.
+
+    CHAPTER XX
+
+    A VISIT TO RUSSIA.      1857                                     249
+    I carry a message to the Grand Duke Constantine--A dinner
+    with Colonel Greig--Moscow and the Nijnii Novgorod
+    fair.
+
+    CHAPTER XXI
+
+    BUILDING THE FIRST STREET-RAILWAYS IN ENGLAND.                   259
+    A line in Liverpool that still exists--Making a start in
+    London--Better success in Staffordshire.
+
+    CHAPTER XXII
+
+    ENGLAND AND OUR CIVIL WAR--BLOCKADE RUNNING.                     271
+    Speeches for the Union in London halls--A plan to end the
+    war--Lincoln and Seward--Arrested for interrupting Sumner
+    in Boston--Dining with Seward when Antietam was
+    fought.
+
+    CHAPTER XXIII
+
+    BUILDING THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY.      1862-1870               283
+    Early belief in such a project--The Credit Mobilier and its
+    origin--Men with whom I was associated.
+
+    CHAPTER XXIV
+
+    THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST.      1863-1870                  293
+    Plan for a chain of great cities across the continent--The
+    creation of Omaha--Cozzen's Hotel--Tour of the Pacific
+    Coast.
+
+    CHAPTER XXV
+
+    THE SHARE I HAD IN THE FRENCH COMMUNE.      1870                 301
+    In Marseilles I help to organize the "Ligue du Midi" of the
+    Commune or "Red Republic"--Attacked by soldiers and
+    almost shot--Imprisoned and poisoned--Deported by Gambetta.
+
+    CHAPTER XXVI
+
+    A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.      1872                             314
+    "Train Villa" at Newport--Independent candidate for the
+    presidency against Grant and Greeley--A tour of the country,
+    in which I address hundreds of thousands.
+
+    CHAPTER XXVII
+
+    DECLARED A LUNATIC.      1872-1873                               323
+    I defend Mrs. Woodhull--Arrested and imprisoned for
+    quoting Scripture--Fifteenth imprisonment without a
+    crime.
+
+    CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+    AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY, SIXTY-SEVEN, AND
+    SIXTY DAYS.      1870, 1890, 1892                                331
+    The tour that Jules Verne used as the basis of his famous
+    story--In '90 I circle the globe in 67 days; and in '92 in 60
+    days.
+
+
+
+
+    ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                  FACING
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+    Portrait of Citizen Train made recently        _Frontispiece_
+
+    Portrait of Citizen Train's grandfather, the Rev. George
+      Pickering                                                        2
+
+    Portrait of Mrs. George Francis Train                            110
+
+    Citizen Train in the Mills Hotel dictating his Reminiscences     200
+
+    Citizen Train's former residence in Madison Avenue,
+      New York                                                       286
+
+    Citizen Train's former villa at Newport                          314
+
+    Citizen Train with the children in Madison Square                324
+
+    Citizen Train and his guests at dinner in the Mills Hotel        338
+
+
+
+
+MY LIFE IN MANY STATES AND IN FOREIGN LANDS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHEN I WAS FOUR YEARS OLD
+
+1833
+
+
+My grandfather was the Reverend George Pickering, of Baltimore--a
+slave-owner. Having fallen in with the early Methodists, long before
+Garrison, Phillips, and Beecher had taken up the abolition idea, he
+liberated his slaves and went to preaching the Gospel. He became an
+itinerant Methodist preacher, with the pitiable salary of $300 a year.
+The sale of one of his "prime" negro slaves would have brought him in
+more money than four years of preaching. He would have been stranded
+very soon if he had not had the good sense to marry my beautiful
+grandmother, who had a thousand-acre farm at Waltham, ten miles out of
+Boston. My grandfather thus could preach around about the neighborhood,
+and then come back to the family at home. My father married the eldest
+daughter of this Methodist preaching grandfather of mine, Maria
+Pickering.
+
+I was born at No. 21 High Street, Boston, during a snow-storm, on the
+24th of March, '29. When I was a baby, my father went to New Orleans and
+opened a store. Soon after arriving in that city I was old enough to
+observe things, and to remember. I can recollect almost everything in my
+life from my fourth year. From the time I was three years old up to this
+present moment--a long stretch of seventy years, the Prophet's limit of
+human life--I can remember almost every event in my life with the
+greatest distinctness. This book of mine will be a pretty fair test of
+my memory.
+
+I can remember the beautiful flowers of the South. How deeply they
+impressed themselves upon my mind! I can recall the garden with its
+wonderful floral wealth, the gift of the Southern sun. I can recollect
+exactly how the old clothesline used to look, with its load of
+linen--the resting-place of the long-bodied insects we called "devil's
+darning needles," or mosquito hawks--and how we children used to strike
+the line with poles, to frighten the insects and see them fly away on
+their filmy wings. And I can remember going down to my father's store,
+filling the pockets of my little frock with dried currants, which I
+thought were lovely, and watching him there at his work.
+
+[Illustration: Rev. George Pickering, George Francis Train's
+grandfather.]
+
+Then came the terrible yellow-fever year. It is still known there as the
+year of the fever, or of the plague. This fearful epidemic swept over
+the city, and left it a city of the dead. It was a catastrophe
+recalled to me by that of Martinique. My family suffered with the rest
+of the city. I remember well the horror of the time. There were no
+hearses to be had. Physicians and undertakers had gone to the grave with
+their patients and patrons. The city could not afford to bury decently
+so many of its dead inhabitants. And the fear of the plague had so
+shaken the human soul that men stood afar off, aghast, and did only what
+they had to do in a coarse, brutal, swift burial of the dead.
+
+There were no coffins to be had, and no one could have got them if there
+had been enough of them. Corpses were buried, all alike, in coarse pine
+boxes, hastily put together in the homes--and often by the very
+hands--of the relatives of the dead. One day they brought into our home
+a coarse pine box. I did not know what it was or for what it was meant.
+Then I saw them take the dead body of my little sister Josephine and put
+it hastily into the rough pine box. I was too young to understand it
+all, but I can never forget that scene; it starts tears even now. After
+nailing up the box and marking it to go "To the Train Vaults," the
+family sat and waited for the coming of the "dead wagon." The city sent
+round carters to pick up the numerous dead, just as it had formerly sent
+out scavenger carts to take away the refuse.
+
+We could hear the "dead wagon" as it approached. We knew it by the
+dolorous cry of the driver. It drew nearer and nearer to our home. It
+all seemed so terrible, and yet I could not understand it. I heard the
+wagon stop under our window. Now the scene all comes back to me, and it
+recalls the rumble and rattle of those tumbrels of the French Reign of
+Terror: only it was the fever, instead of the guillotine, that demanded
+its victims. The driver would not enter the pest-stricken houses. He
+remained in his cart, and shouted out, in a heart-tearing cry, to the
+inmates to bring their dead to him. As he drove up to our window he
+placed his hands around his mouth, as a hunter does in making a halloo,
+and cried: "Bring out--bring out your dead!"
+
+The long-wailed dolorous cry filled the streets, empty of their
+frequenters: "Bring out--bring out your dead!" Again at our home the cry
+was heard; and I saw my father and others lift up the coarse pine box,
+with the body of my little sister shut inside, carry it to the window,
+and toss it into the "dead wagon." And then the wagon rattled away down
+the street, and again, as it stopped under the window of the next house,
+over the doomed city rang the weird cry: "Bring out--bring out your
+dead!"
+
+A few days later another rough pine box was brought to our home. Again I
+did not understand it; but I knew more of the mystery of death than I
+had known before. Into this box they placed the body of my little sister
+Louise. Then we waited for the approach of the "dead wagon." I knew that
+it would again come to our home, to get its freight of death. I went to
+the window, and looked up and down the street, and waited. Far in the
+distance, I heard the cry: "Bring out--bring out your dead!"
+
+The wagon finally arrived. The window was thrown open, the rude box was
+lifted up, taken to the window, and thrown into the wagon, which was
+already loaded with similar boxes. They were in great haste, it seemed
+to me, to be rid of the poor little box. And the carter drove on down
+the street to other stricken homes, crying: "Bring out--bring out your
+dead!"
+
+I now began to feel the loss of my sisters. Two had gone. Only one was
+left with me, my little sister Ellen, as frail and as lovely a flower as
+ever bloomed. When the next box came, and she, dead of the plague, was
+put into it, I thought it time for me to interfere. I went to the window
+and stood guard. Again came the terrible cry: "Bring out--bring out your
+dead!" And my last little sister was taken away in the "dead wagon."
+
+I was too young to understand it all, but I remember going with my
+father and mother in the carriage every time they carried one of my
+sisters to the graveyard.
+
+The next strange thing to happen was the arrival in the house of a box
+much larger than the others. I did not know what it could be for. The
+box was very rough looking. It was made of unplaned boards. My nurse
+told me it was for my mother. Again I took my stand by the window.
+"Bring out--bring out your dead!" resounded mournfully in the street
+just below the window where I stood. I looked out, and there was the
+"dead wagon." It had come for my mother.
+
+I was astonished to find that they did not throw the box containing my
+mother into the wagon. It was too large and heavy. Four or five men had
+to come into the house and take out the box. It was marked "To the Train
+Vaults," and was put into the wagon with the other boxes containing dead
+bodies. Only my father and I sat in the carriage that went to the
+cemetery and to the vaults that day. There were my mother and my three
+little sisters; all had been swept from me in this St. Pierre style--in
+this volcano of yellow fever.
+
+Finally there came one day a letter from my grandmother, the wife of the
+old Methodist itinerant preacher of Waltham: "Send on some one of the
+family, before they are all dead. Send George." And so my father made
+preparations to send me back to Massachusetts. I can remember now the
+exact wording of the card he wrote and pinned on my coat, just like the
+label or tag on a bag of coffee. It read:
+
+     "This is my little son George Francis Train. Four years old.
+     Consigned on board the ship Henry to John Clarke, Jr., Dock
+     Square, Boston; to be sent to his Grandmother Pickering, at
+     Waltham, ten miles from Boston. Take good care of the Little
+     Fellow, as he is the only one left of eleven of us in the house,
+     including the servants [slaves]. I will come on as soon as I can
+     arrange my Business."
+
+I remember how we went down to the ship in the river. She lay out in the
+broad, muddy Mississippi, and seven other vessels lay between her and
+the shore. Planks were laid on the bank, or "levee," as they called the
+shore in New Orleans, and up to the side of the nearest ship. We climbed
+over these planks and passed over the seven vessels, and came to the
+Henry. My father kissed me good-by, and left me on board the ship.
+
+There I was, aboard this great vessel--for so she seemed to me then--a
+little boy, without nurse or guardian to look after me. I was just so
+much freight. I was part of the cargo. We floated down the Mississippi
+slowly, and floated on and on toward the Gulf. We were floating out into
+the great waters, into the great world, floating through the waters of
+Gulf and ocean, floating along in the Gulf Stream, and floating on
+toward my Northern home.
+
+Thus I was floating, when I began my life anew; and I have been floating
+for seventy years!
+
+When my father said good-by to me, kissing me as we passed over the last
+of the seven ships between the Henry and the shore, I saw him put a
+handkerchief to his face, as if to hide from me the tears that were in
+his eyes. He feared that my little heart would break down under the
+strain. But I didn't cry. Everything was so new to me. I was too small
+to realize all that the parting meant and all that had led up to it. I
+could not feel that I was leaving behind me all the members of my
+family--in the vaults of the graveyard. The ship seemed a new world to
+me. I had no eyes for tears--only for wonderment.
+
+For many years afterward I heard nothing of my father. He had dropped
+below the horizon when I floated down the Mississippi, and I saw and
+heard nothing more of him. As my mother and three sisters had been
+buried together in New Orleans, we had taken it for granted that father
+had followed them to the grave, a victim of the same pestilence. But
+nothing was known as to this for many years.
+
+We were anxious to have all the bodies brought together in one graveyard
+in the North and buried side by side. The family burying-ground was at
+Waltham, where eight generations were then sleeping--that is, eight
+generations of Pickerings and Bemises. There were the bodies of my
+great-grandmother, and of ancestors belonging to the first Colonial
+days. My cousin, George Pickering Bemis, Mayor of Omaha, afterward had
+a monument erected over the spot where so many Bemises and Pickerings
+lay in their long rest, to preserve their memory. But my father's body
+was never to rest there; nor was it ever seen by any of his relatives.
+
+My uncle, John Clarke, Jr., who had brought me out of New Orleans and
+rescued me from the plague, tried to find some trace of my father; but
+no record or vestige of him could be found in that city. Every trace of
+him had been swept away. His very existence there had been forgotten,
+erased. No one could be found who had ever heard of him, or knew
+anything about his store. So completely had the pestilence done its
+terrible work of destruction and obliteration. As this period was prior
+to the invention of the daguerreotype, we had no photographs of him. The
+only likenesses that were made then were expensive miniatures on ivory.
+I have no picture of him, except the one I carry forever in my memory.
+
+Sixty years passed away. One day I received a letter from one of my
+cousins, Louisa Train, who was living in Michigan. She told me that her
+father and mother had died, and that the furniture of the old house, in
+which they and her grandparents had lived, had fallen to her. "In moving
+an old bureau," she wrote, "it fell to pieces, and, to my surprise, two
+documents rolled upon the floor. These papers relate to you. One of
+them was a letter from your father to his mother, written from New
+Orleans shortly before you left that city. In it he says:
+
+"'You can imagine my loneliness in being in this great house, always so
+lively, with eleven persons in it, including my own family--now all
+alone. George is with his tutor. He is a very extraordinary boy, though
+only four years old. The other day he repeated some verses, of which I
+can remember these lines:
+
+    "'I am monarch of all I survey;
+      My right there is none to dispute;
+    From the center all round to the sea,
+      I am lord of the fowl and the brute.'"
+
+I was to receive one other message from my father. Since I began writing
+this autobiography, my aged aunt, Abigail Pickering Frost, now in her
+ninetieth year, discovered a letter that my father had written to her
+and to her sister, my aunt Alice, who afterward married Henry A.
+Winslow, upon the day that he placed me on the ship Henry, and sent me
+to my grandmother at Waltham, Mass. Aunt Abigail, after the death of
+aunt Alice, who was one of the victims in the wreck of the Lexington, in
+January, '40, hid the letter in the garret of the old Waltham farmhouse,
+where she later discovered it. She now sends it to me from her home in
+Omaha, Neb., where it had again been lost, and found after a long
+search, as she knew that I would appreciate it as a part of my
+life-story.
+
+The letter came to me as a wail from the dead. I was very young, and
+childish, and thoughtless when I parted from him forever; but his letter
+brought back to me in a flood the bitterness of our life in New Orleans,
+the loneliness of my father in his great grief, and made me suffer,
+nearly seventy years afterward, for the pain that I was then too young
+to understand or feel. I give this letter, which is inexpressibly dear
+to me, just as it was written.
+
+                                      "NEW ORLEANS, _June 10th, 1833_.
+
+     "DEAR SISTERS ABIGAIL AND ALICE:
+
+     "'Tis just two years since I left this place for New York, and
+     arrived in Boston the evening of the 3d of July. I hope MY DEAR
+     BOY will arrive safe and pass the 4th of July with you. He is now
+     on board the ship (and the steamboat alongside the ship) to the
+     Balize. I have written several letters by the ship, and found I
+     had a few moments to spare which I will improve by addressing
+     you. I refer you to the letters to Mother Pickering for
+     _particulars_--as I have not time to say much. I can only say, my
+     dear girls, that I am very unhappy here for reasons you well
+     know. _I part with George as though I was parting with my right
+     eye_--but 'tis for his good and the happiness of all that he
+     should go; take him to your own home, care, and protection; _he
+     is no ordinary boy, but is destined for a great scholar_.
+
+     "I am left here without a friend except my God! in a city where
+     the cholera is raging to a great extent--100 are dying daily! and
+     among them some of the most valuable citizens. A sweet little
+     girl about the age of Ellen, and an intimate acquaintance of
+     George's, who used to walk arm in arm with him, died this morning
+     with the cholera, and a great number of others among our most
+     intimate acquaintances have passed on. Mrs. Simons died in six
+     hours! What is life worth to me? Oh, my dear sisters! could I
+     leave this dreadful place I would, and die among my friends! The
+     thoughts of my dear Maria and Ellen fill me with sorrow! I have
+     mourned over their tombs in silence. I have been with them in my
+     dreams, and frequently I meet them in my room and talk with them
+     as though alive. All here is melancholy. When shall I see you,
+     God only knows! I have relieved my heavy heart of a burden--a
+     weight that was almost unsupportable.
+
+     "In parting with my _lovely boy_ I have bequeathed him to Mother
+     Pickering as a legacy--it being all that I possess! You will take
+     a share of the care, and I know will be all that mothers could be
+     for your dear sister Maria's sake!
+
+     "Give my love to Grandpa Bemis, Father Pickering, and all the
+     rest of the family. Say to them that _my mind is constantly with
+     them_, and will ever be so. I have written in great haste and
+     very badly, as I am on board the ship and _all is confusion_,
+     with the steamboat alongside. Farewell, my dear sisters! Do write
+     me a line. If you knew how much I prize a letter from you, you
+     would write often. Adieu, and believe me your affectionate
+     brother,
+
+                                                        "OLIVER TRAIN.
+
+    "To Misses ABIGAIL and ALICE PICKERING,
+    _Waltham, Mass._"
+
+The other document mentioned by my cousin Louisa, was the deed of a farm
+by my paternal grandfather, making a certain physician trustee of the
+property. I never came into that property! This was my first bequest. I
+had begun, even in my infancy, to give away my property, and I have
+thrown it away ever since. This first "bequest," however, was none of my
+making, although I accepted it, without trying to question the matter.
+
+Another involuntary "bequest" of my childhood was brought about in this
+way. My mother, when a girl, was engaged to marry Stebbins Fiske. It was
+by a mere chance that they were not married--and therefore my name is
+"Train" by a mere accident which changed the fate of my mother and her
+fiance. My father was a warm friend of Stebbins Fiske, and when Fiske
+was called suddenly to New Orleans, just before the day set for the
+marriage, he left his betrothed, Maria Pickering, in charge of my
+father. The result might have been foreseen. It is the common theme of
+romance the world over. My mother and my father fell in love with each
+other, and were married. There was no thought of unfaithfulness; it was
+merely inevitable. Fiske understood the situation, and forgave both of
+them, and continued the stanch friend of both.
+
+In his will Fiske left a small sum--$5,000--to my mother's mother. It
+was the most delicate way in which he could leave some of his money so
+that his old sweetheart might get it. The terms of the will were that
+this money should be divided at my grandmother's death. It was so
+divided, and a certain portion of it should have come to me; but I never
+received a penny. This was my second bequest, for I allowed others to
+take freely what belonged to me.
+
+My third bequest was made with my eyes open. When I was about starting
+for Australia in '53, another uncle-in-law, George W. Frost, whom I
+afterward appointed purchasing agent of the Union Pacific Railway, a
+splendid gentleman and a clergyman, came to me and said: "Your Aunt
+Abbie" (his wife) "and myself are going to take care of your old
+grandmother on the farm. Have you any objections to signing away your
+interest in the old place?"
+
+I said that, of course, I would sign it away. I was all right. I was
+going out into the great world to make fortunes. And I signed it away,
+as if it were a mere nothing.
+
+These incidents I mention here as illustrations of my whole life. Since
+my fourth year I have given away--thrown away--money. I have made others
+rich. But I have never yet got what was due me from others.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+MY VOYAGE FROM NEW ORLEANS TO BOSTON
+
+1833
+
+
+I found myself a part of the cargo--shipped as freight, 2,000 miles,
+from the tropics to the arctic region, without a friend to take care of
+me. I was alone. This feeling, however, did not oppress me overmuch.
+Every one on board tried to make a pet of me, and, besides, there was so
+much to do, so much to see, so much to feel. From cabin to fo'cas'le I
+was made welcome.
+
+There was only one cabin passenger besides myself. I sat at table
+opposite this passenger, and I remember that at the first meal they
+brought on some "flapjacks" (our present-day wheat-cakes). I was very
+fond of them, and ate them with sirup or molasses. I noticed that my
+companion in the cabin did not use molasses with his. I could not
+understand why any one should eat his flapjacks without molasses.
+
+I thought this stranger too ignorant to know that molasses was the
+proper thing with flapjacks, and tried to help him to a fuller knowledge
+of the resources of the table. I reached over, and tried to pour some
+molasses on his plate. Just then a heavy sea struck the ship, and I was
+thrown forward with a lurch. The entire contents of the molasses jug
+went in a flood over the man's trousers! Of course he was furious, and
+did not appreciate my efforts to teach him. I expected him to strike me,
+but he did not. It did not occur to me to beg his pardon, as I was doing
+what I thought to be a pure act of kindness. We afterward became good
+friends.
+
+We were twenty-three days on the voyage. Before we had been aboard long
+I became friendly with everybody on the ship, and they with me. I was
+very active, and had the run of the boat. I was like a parrot, a goat,
+or a monkey--or all three. There was no stewardess on the boat, and as I
+had no one to look after me, I led a wild sort of life. I lived in the
+fo'cas'le, or with the sailors on deck or in the riggings. I liked the
+fo'cas'le best. I soon got to feel at home there. Sometimes I was in the
+cabin with my molasses-hating friend, but the fo'cas'le was my delight,
+and there I was to be found at all hours. During the twenty-three days
+of the voyage I was not washed once! I wore the same clothes days and
+nights, and became a little dirty savage!
+
+It may be easily imagined that communication with these rough, coarse,
+honest, but vulgar sailors had a terrible effect on me. Everything bad
+that is known to sailors these sailors knew, and very soon I knew. I
+observed everything, learned everything. I soon cursed and swore as
+roundly as any of them, using the words as innocently as if they were
+quotations from the Bible.
+
+One of the games the sailors used to play with me was to go up into the
+rigging and call down to me that there was a great plantation up there
+that I could not see. Then they would throw lumps of sugar to me and
+tell me they came from the plantation in the rigging, and monkeys were
+throwing them to me. Of course I believed it all. How was I to know they
+were lying to me? I was only four years old. They stamped upon my mind
+the whole fo'cas'le--its rough life, its jollity, its oaths, and its
+lies.
+
+As soon as our ship came to anchor out came a boat with my uncle. I
+remember that there was a little dog in the boat also. My uncle took me
+to the wharf, and then to his tobacco store in Dock Square. There I
+found awaiting us an old-fashioned chaise, and my uncle said he would
+take me right out to my grandmother's, at Waltham. The drive took us
+through two or three villages, and through several strips of forest.
+Finally we drove up to a little gate that stood about half a mile from
+the old farmhouse, and divided the next place from the farm of my
+grandmother. There were my aunts, all waiting for me.
+
+Imagine the astonishment of my grandmother and of my aunts on seeing
+the dirty little street Arab that came to see them! I was as intolerably
+filthy as any brat that ever came out of a sewer. I fairly reeked with
+the smells and the dirt of the fo'cas'le! To the dust and grime of New
+Orleans I had added the dust and grime of the ship, for I had not been
+near soap and water since I left New Orleans. Fancy going to these clean
+and prim old ladies in such a plight! But I was at least in good health,
+and magnificently alive.
+
+The first thing they did was to summon a sort of town-meeting, to have
+me narrate the events of my voyage. But before I was to go before my
+audience I must be washed and have a change of clothes. This part of the
+program was postponed by an accident. The ladies heard me swear! It
+shocked their gentle minds immeasurably. But I didn't know what swearing
+meant.
+
+What can not a boy learn in three weeks that is bad? I suppose I must
+have picked up all the wickedness of the fo'cas'le without knowing what
+it was. It seemed all right to me; but not to my good grandmother and to
+my aunts.
+
+They wanted to cleanse me outwardly and inwardly, and prepared to start
+outwardly. They insisted that I must change my clothes and have a good
+scrubbing. But before they began I told them some of my experiences
+aboard ship. I told them about the sailors getting sugar from the
+plantation up in the riggings and the monkeys throwing it down to me.
+They told me there were no fields up there, no monkeys and no sugar,
+except what the sailors had carried up with them.
+
+I was indignant. "If you don't believe my story," said I, "about the
+plantation in the rigging and about the monkeys and the sugar, you can
+not wash me or change my clothes."
+
+The line of battle was now drawn. If they did not want to believe my
+story, I was not going to let them do anything for me. That
+monkey-and-sugar story was my ultimatum. They refused to accept it. For
+three days they laid siege to me, but I refused to be washed or clothed
+in a fresh clean suit until they believed my story. I felt I was telling
+the truth, and could not bear to have my word doubted. Finally they said
+that they believed my story.
+
+There is an old tale of a boy who was told by his parents, who did not
+want him to cling any longer to the old myth about Santa Claus, that it
+was not Santa Claus that brought him all the good things on Christmas,
+but that they, his parents, had been giving him the presents year after
+year. The boy turned to his mother and said: "Have you been fooling me
+about the God question too?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+MY BOYHOOD ON A FARM
+
+1833-1843
+
+
+The old house where I spent these years of my childhood and boyhood is
+now more than two hundred years old. It was the home of the old
+Methodists in that section, and had been the headquarters of the sect
+for a hundred years before it began to have regular "conferences." Here
+lived the slave-owner Pickering, who married my grandmother, the
+farmer's daughter. If it had not been for this home, which was a refuge
+and asylum for the itinerant preacher, grandfather Pickering would have
+starved. The farm was his anchorage. Otherwise he would have gone
+adrift.
+
+A religious atmosphere pervaded the place. It left the deepest impress
+upon my mind. The only paper we took was Zion's Herald, a religious
+weekly published by Stevens, of Boston. The difference between this
+calm, religious life of the Methodists and the turbulent, rough, and
+swearing life of the fo'cas'le was very marked. But it took me a long
+time to get away from the atmosphere of the fo'cas'le and into that of
+the Methodists. Even the bath and the clean clothes did not seem to
+change me very much. I discovered that cleanliness is not so very near
+to godliness, after all.
+
+Of course the old Methodists had prayers in the morning and at night,
+and they had grace at every meal. Every one knelt at prayers. But they
+could not make me kneel. I would not bow the knee. I had not got over
+the sailors' ways, and the monkeys, and the throwing down sugar from the
+plantation in the sails--the Santa Claus part of it. I always remembered
+it.
+
+Of course I was taken to the little church, a mile off up in the woods,
+where my grandfather preached. It was in his "circuit." As we were
+coming home one day, and I was driving, the chaise struck a stone, and
+the old gentleman was jostled considerably. He impatiently seized the
+reins from me and gave the horse a severe flip with them, and drove the
+rest of the way himself. The little incident made a deep impression on
+my mind. I said to myself: "If this is the way Christians act, I do not
+want to have anything to do with them."
+
+The Pickerings were an ancient Southern--and before that, an
+English--family. Some of the members lived in South Carolina, some in
+Virginia, others in Maryland. One of them sat in Washington's first
+cabinet. Like my grandfather, they were all slave-owners. Judge Gilbert
+Pickering was chairman of Cromwell's committee that cut off King
+Charles's head. Grandfather Pickering was a liberal man in many ways. I
+have spoken already of his freeing his own slaves. He chose the calling
+of an itinerant Methodist preacher, when to do so meant tremendous
+financial sacrifice and the loss of social rank. He almost starved at
+it, but he stuck to it with great nobleness of mind. It gave him a sort
+of religious freedom.
+
+Once he could have been a bishop in the New England branch of Methodism;
+but he refused the ambitious title. He did not believe in bishops for
+their church. And so, setting aside every offer of preferment, every
+opportunity of rising or getting on in the world, he chose to labor at
+his simple calling, like a martyr. And he would shortly have found
+martyrdom in starvation, had it not been for my lovely grandmother, with
+her thrift and care.
+
+The branch of Methodists to which my grandfather belonged was very
+liberal. It was so liberal, indeed, that my mother and her five sisters
+had all been educated at the Ursuline convent at Charlestown, Mass.,
+which was destroyed by the mob in '42. I remember that after the mob
+burned this convent to the ground the Methodists wanted to buy the site,
+and applied to the Roman Catholic archbishop in Boston, who replied: "We
+sometimes purchase, but we never sell."
+
+Another incident of my boyhood may be recalled here, as it illustrates
+the stubborn pride that had begun to show itself even then. One day an
+elegant carriage drove up to the old house, and a young lady,
+beautifully dressed, got out and asked to see George Train. I went up to
+her, and she told me who she was.
+
+"You must remember, when you grow up," she said, "that I am Miss Sallie
+Rhoades. We are one of the few families of Maryland," she added, with a
+pride that was evident even to my boyish eyes, "that have been able to
+support their carriages for one hundred and fifty years." She spoke with
+the air of a _grande dame_, which stung my own pride keenly.
+
+"While I am very glad to meet my Southern relative," I said, with equal
+pride, even if I could not equal her manner, "we have kept our ox-cart
+on the old farm for two hundred years." I expected the additional half a
+century to stagger her. But it did not seem to reach home; and she drove
+away. This was the last I ever saw of "Miss Sallie Rhoades, of
+Maryland."
+
+In those days in New England we had to depend very much on ourselves on
+the farm, and we made as much of supplies as possible. I became an adept
+at making currant wine, cider, maple sugar, molasses candy, and
+sausages. I used also to make the candles we burned on the place,
+molding them half a dozen at a time in the old candle mold, which was
+never absent from a country house of that day. So, in my lifetime, I
+have passed from the period of the tallow dip to the electric light.
+
+From four to ten years of age I earned my own living on the old farm. I
+believe it is the only instance in the world where a child of four
+supported himself in this way. What I mean by earning my own living is,
+that while the expense of keeping a little youngster like me was very
+small, I earned more than enough to pay my way. I dressed myself. No one
+took care of me. I was left pretty much alone, except in the way of
+receiving religious admonition. I was always running errands for the men
+and women of the place. There was constantly something for me to do.
+
+Moreover, I was very ambitious. I wanted to know everything that was
+going on about me. This has ever been my characteristic. I was born
+inquisitive. I have never been afraid to ask questions. If I ever saw
+anything I did not understand, I asked about it; and the information
+stuck in my mind, like a burr. I never forgot. I soon learned everything
+there was to be learned on the farm.
+
+The room I slept in was a great wide one, and I slept alone. I was not
+afraid; but I remember the great size and depth of that cold New England
+room.
+
+Life on the farm was busy enough. I often set the table and did other
+things that the hired girl did, and could soon do almost everything just
+as well as she--from setting the table to preparing a meal. All this I
+learned before I was ten years old. I mention these little details
+merely to show the difference between the life I had to lead in old New
+England and the life my children and grandchildren have since led.
+
+One blessing and glory was that I had the universal atmosphere. The
+woods and fields were mine. I could roam in the forest and over the
+fields at will. The great farm was a delight to me. I was never afraid
+anywhere. In those days there were no "hoboes" or "hoodlums" roaming
+over the country. We kept no locks on our doors, or clasps on the
+windows. Everything was open.
+
+On the farm, as about the house, I soon learned everything that I could.
+I learned to sow and reap, to plant various crops, to plow, hoe, mow,
+harvest. And I had a special garden of my own, where I raised a little
+of everything--onions, lettuce, cucumbers, parsnips, and other
+vegetables. I knew their seasons, the time to plant them, and when to
+gather them. I was an observer from the cradle. Little escaped my eyes.
+And I have made it a practise all through my life to master everything
+as I came to it.
+
+Of books I saw little in those days. The only ones we had on the farm
+place, in what was termed by courtesy the "library," were the Waverley
+Novels, Jane Porter's Scottish Chiefs, Watts's Hymns, and the Bible.
+There was, of course, Zion's Herald, the religious weekly paper from
+Boston I have already mentioned. These were our literature. I read
+everything I could get hold of, and soon exhausted the small resources
+of the farm library.
+
+We were so far from the village and the more frequented roads that the
+only persons who came to our house were peddlers, who sold us kitchen
+utensils, such as tin pans and buckets, and the lone fisherman, who
+would always sound his horn a mile away to warn us of his approach.
+
+The old house had the usual New England parlor or drawing-room, the room
+of ceremony, never aired until some guest came to occupy it, or there
+was a funeral or baptism in it. I have never found farmers, anywhere in
+the world, who had any idea of ventilation. They slept in closed rooms,
+without any regard to health or cleanliness--for nothing is so cleansing
+as fresh, pure air. There was the old fireplace, with the great andirons
+that could sustain the weight of a forest tree, and often did.
+Everything was a century old, and just that much behind the day; but
+that was then the case everywhere in New England rural sections.
+
+And what fires we used to have in that cavernous chimney! We would place
+a tremendous log on the andirons, and build a fire about it. Soon it
+would give out a terrific heat, but it was not sufficient to warm up the
+great room, into which the cold air swept through a thousand cracks and
+chinks. Our faces, bending over the blazing log, would be fairly
+blistered, while our backs would be chilled with cold. The farther end
+of the room would be icy cold, for drafts had free play. The house was
+poorly built, so far as comfort was concerned, although it was stout
+enough to last a couple of centuries. Not only the winds but the snow
+found easy entrance. If it snowed during the night, I would find a
+streak of snow lying athwart the room the next morning, often putting my
+bare feet in it as I got up in the darkness.
+
+The ignorance of the Puritan farmers of New England was the densest
+ignorance that I have ever seen, even among farmers. They knew nothing,
+and seemed to care nothing, about the laws of health or economy. They
+were content to live exactly in the way their ancestors had lived for
+generations. They learned nothing, and forgot nothing--like the
+Bourbons.
+
+This suggests to me the fact that the climate of New England has changed
+tremendously since I was a boy. Most old people say something like this.
+When I was a boy there was snow every winter and all winter. Now there
+is comparatively little snow. Then it used to begin in November, and we
+were practically shut in on our farms, often even in our houses, for the
+winter. For six months the snow covered the earth. When we wanted to
+get out, we had to break our way out with an ox-sled. The old climate of
+New England has gone.
+
+When I was ten years old I began taking "truck" to the old Quincy market
+in Boston. It was ten miles away, but I soon got accustomed to going
+there alone and selling out the farm produce and vegetables. I had to
+get up at four o'clock in the mornings, in order to look after the horse
+and to harness him. He was called "Old Tom," and was a faithful,
+trustworthy animal.
+
+I would arrive at the market before dawn, and would back the wagon up
+against the market-house and wait for the light. I fed the horse, and
+now and then, if the weather was particularly bad, I would put him in a
+stable for a few hours, at a cost of fifty cents, and feed him on oats.
+
+After closing out the "truck," I would drive to Cambridgeport, where I
+bought the groceries and other supplies for the farm. My grandmother
+trusted all this to me. After this I got a luncheon, which cost me a
+"shilling cut," as it was called then--twelve and a half cents. Then I
+would drive home, and could give to grandmother a full and itemized
+account of everything, without having set down a word or a figure on
+paper. This went on for two or three years.
+
+For amusement, as I have said, I had the universal atmosphere, and I had
+the great old farm, and the forest and the fields. I had them all to
+myself. I roamed over them, and through them, at will. I used to set
+box-traps for rabbits and snares for partridges. I had a little gun,
+also, and a little dog, with which I would hunt rabbits or squirrels.
+The dog I have always regarded with wonder. He could see a gray squirrel
+at the top of a tree half a mile away. Some persons think he smelled the
+squirrel, but I am certain he saw it. And he was only a mongrel, at
+that. He would lead me to a tree, and I would shoot the squirrel. The
+little dog--a sort of fox terrier--was the only real friend I ever had.
+He was my constant companion, whenever I could get to him or he to me.
+In the winter I used him as a warming-pan. The old farmhouse was
+cold--very cold. We had no means of heating it. At night I would find
+the sheets of my bed as cold as an ice-floe. Then I would send my little
+dog down under the covering, and he would stay there until he had warmed
+up the bed.
+
+Then there was pigeon-netting. This is an old sport that has, I suppose,
+died out in New England. In my boyhood, however, great flocks of wild
+pigeons used to come to the New England woods and forests. The device
+for catching large numbers of them by netting was quite primitive, but
+effective.
+
+My uncle Francis (for whom I was named), whom I used to help net
+pigeons, was quite a sportsman. He was fond of fishing, and he was a
+great hand at the nets. We had two places for spreading the nets, one in
+the "vineyard" and the other in a "burnt-hill" in the forest. All the
+foliage was stripped from several trees that were close together. Then
+we would arrange the net so it could be drawn together at the right
+time, spread it over the ground, and bait it. Then we would plant our
+stool-pigeons. As soon as we saw a flock of pigeons approaching we would
+stir the stool-pigeons by pulling on a string to which they were
+attached. They would move about, as if they were really alive. The
+pigeons would circle about the spot, attracted by the fluttering
+stool-pigeons, and then they would catch sight of the grain and come
+down. When the net was filled with them, we would draw the strings, and
+sometimes we caught as many as a hundred at a time. They were then
+killed and sold.
+
+By such work as this I was earning my own support. This is a sample of
+my life on the farm from four to ten years. I wore one suit of clothes a
+year, and the suit cost originally not more than $10, and was made at
+home. I had some little pocket-money occasionally. I was permitted to
+sell the rabbits and partridges, the spoil of my traps and gun. These
+small resources usually enabled me to keep a few cents--sometimes a few
+dollars--in my pockets.
+
+There is nothing more extravagant and truly wasteful than a boy with a
+few dollars in his pockets. He can throw away his slender fortune with
+magnificent bravado. One summer I had accumulated $17, and, naturally, I
+was itching to spend it. The hired man was going up to Concord to help
+celebrate "Cornwallis Day" (October 19), and I got consent to accompany
+him. There was to be a fair, and I took my money with me--very stupidly.
+The memory of it was soon all that remained.
+
+My first step in extravagance was the purchase of a bunch of
+firecrackers. It cost me, apparently, ten cents; but actually it was my
+financial undoing, and cost me $17. I began to pop the crackers, and
+soon had a crowd of boys around me. They were envious of me. They didn't
+have money to buy crackers. I popped away with great nonchalance, but
+husbanding my ammunition and popping only a single cracker at a time.
+This was strategy of a high order; but I could not keep it up. I didn't
+know the resourcefulness of boy-nature. Presently, I heard a boy whisper
+just behind me, to one of his companions: "Just wait a minute, and you
+will see him touch off the whole pack!"
+
+This was irresistible. My blood was fired with ambition. I fired the
+whole bunch at once! The hurrahs and yells were tremendous, and set me
+wild. I went and bought another bunch, and set it all off at one time,
+as if firecrackers were no new thing to me. But my recklessness was not
+to stop there. I had been carried off my feet by the hurrah, as many an
+older person has been before.
+
+Our hired man came to me and said that a very pretty thing was going on
+near by. I went with him, and saw a man playing a game with three
+thimbles, a pea, and a green cushion. The game was to guess under which
+of the thimbles the pea was concealed. The hired man thought he knew and
+insisted that he knew, and the gamester wanted to bet him that he
+didn't. After a while another man came up and tried his hand at
+guessing. He also missed. The loss of his money made him indignant, and
+he took up another of the thimbles. The pea was not there.
+
+The thing then seemed so easy to our hired man that he asked to try a
+dollar on the game. Then the irate man who had lost his money took up
+the other thimble and brushed the pea off the cushion. Our hired man,
+who let nothing that was going on about the green cushion escape his
+sight, saw the pea swept away, and eagerly bet the dealer that there was
+no pea there at all. The dealer took him up, and lifted the thimble, and
+lo! there was the pea. This did not satisfy the hired man, who kept on
+betting, and losing until he had no money left. Thus our savings went up
+in powder smoke and in guesses at the whereabouts of a fleeting pea. I
+did not gamble then, nor have I gambled since.
+
+But the firecracker day had its lessons for me. It taught me some things
+about money and its power, and it got me interested in Cornwallis. I
+began to read American history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SCHOOLDAYS AND A START IN LIFE
+
+1840-1844
+
+
+I went to school, of course, for this was a part of the serious business
+of New England life. Our schoolhouse was two and a half miles distant,
+and the path to it lay across half a dozen farms and ran through the
+forest for a mile. There I was taught the "three R's," and nothing else.
+There was no thought of Latin or Greek, and, except the little
+'rithmetic, no mathematics. I learned to cipher, read, and write; but I
+learned these rudimentary branches very rapidly. At night, in the old
+farmhouse, my aunts would go over the tasks of the day with me.
+
+Our principal diversions were in the winter, when we had delightful
+sleighing parties. The school-children always had one great picnic.
+There would be a six-horse sleigh, and the teacher would be in charge of
+the party. We visited the surrounding towns, and it was a great affair
+to us. We looked forward to it from the very commencement of the school
+year. On examination day, at the close of the term, we children had to
+clean the schoolhouse. There was no janitor, as now. But we enjoyed the
+work, and took a certain childish pride in it.
+
+I remember that one of my earliest ambitions was gratified at that
+period when I was chosen leader of the school. I stood at the head of
+everything. And it was no idle compliment. Boys are not, like their
+elders, influenced by envy or jealousy. They invariably try to select
+the best "man" among them for their leader. Jealousies, envy, and
+heart-burnings come afterward.
+
+Reading the account of the collision between the Priscilla and the
+Powhatan in the Sound off Newport, this year, and the peril that
+threatened five hundred passengers, there came to my mind the
+recollection of a catastrophe that happened sixty-two years ago, and how
+the tidings were brought to me. I can live over again the horror of that
+day. I recall that it was in January, '40.
+
+It was a stormy, bitter day, and I was in the little schoolhouse at Pond
+End, two and a half miles from the farm. The snow had been falling a
+long while, and everything was covered with it. As the day advanced, and
+the snow piled deeper and ever deeper about the little house, and
+covered the forests and fields with a thicker blanket of white, we began
+to grow anxious. Now and then a sleigh would drive up through the
+drifting, flying snow, and the father and mother of some child in the
+school would come in and take away the little boy or girl and disappear
+in the storm. I began to think, with dread, of how I, a little fellow,
+would be able to find my way home through the blinding snow, when
+suddenly there came a tap on the door. The teacher went to the door, and
+called to me: "George, your uncle Emery Bemis has just arrived from
+Boston in his sleigh, and wants to take you home with him."
+
+When I got into the sleigh he seemed to be very sad. He sat quiet for
+some little time, and then turned to me and said: "George, I have some
+terrible news for your grandmother. She is at the farmhouse now, waiting
+to see her youngest daughter, your aunt Alice. Your grandmother expects
+me to bring her. She was coming from New York on the steamer Lexington,
+with the dead body of her husband [and his brother and father], which
+she wanted to bury in the family graveyard. There were three hundred
+passengers on the ship. The Lexington was wrecked and burned in the
+Sound, and three hundred persons were lost--burned or drowned. Your aunt
+was lost. Only five passengers were saved."
+
+Such were the horrible tidings my uncle was bearing to my grandmother
+and my aunts, instead of the living presence they were expecting. This
+incident left an ineradicable impression upon my mind. There was one
+peculiar thing about the accident of the Lexington that struck me at
+the time as being weird and unforgettable. When the ship went to pieces
+the pilot-house was shattered, and a portion of it floated away and
+lodged against the rocks near the shore. The bell itself was uninjured,
+and still swung from its hangings, and there it remained, clanging
+dolorously in every wind. It seemed to my boyish fancy to be tolling
+perpetually for the dead of the Lexington.
+
+Years afterward, while making a speech in a political campaign, I made
+use of this incident. I said the Democratic party of the day was adrift
+from its ancient moorings, and was always calling up something of the
+remote past. It was like the bell of the Lexington, caught upon the
+rocks that had wrecked the ship and tolling forever for the dead.
+
+George Ripley, who was the leader at Brook Farm and, long afterward, was
+associated with Charles A. Dana in the preparation of the American
+Cyclopedia, was at one time my school-teacher on Waltham Plains. General
+Nathaniel P. Banks, who was a few years older than I, was chairman of
+our library committee. We used to have lectures in Rumford Hall. (By the
+way, this hall was named for Count Rumford, whom most persons take to
+have been a German or other foreigner, on account of his foreign title;
+but he was an American.) The lecture night was always a great event in
+Waltham. One day a man came to me and said, "Here is a remarkable
+letter." He read it to me, and it was as follows:
+
+     "_To the Library Committee, Waltham:_
+
+     "I will come to lecture for $5 for myself, but ask you for four
+     quarts of oats for my horse.
+
+                                                "RALPH WALDO EMERSON."
+
+The lecture that Mr. Emerson delivered for us boys of the library
+committee in Waltham was entitled "Nature." We paid him $5 and four
+quarts of oats for it. He delivered it many times afterward, when his
+name was on every lip in the civilized world, and he received $150 to
+$500 for each delivery. He was just as great then, in that hour in the
+little old town of Waltham; it was the same lecture, with the same
+exquisite thought and marvelous wisdom; but it took years for the world
+to recognize the greatness and the beauty and the wisdom of him, and to
+value them at their higher worth. The world paid for the name, not for
+the lecture or the truth and beauty.
+
+During this period I attended school for three months every summer. My
+grandparents wanted to make a clergyman of me. But that sort of thing
+was not in me. I was sent up to Mr. Leonard Frost, at Framingham, ten
+miles distant, and lived with him. Certainly my board could not have
+been more than $2 a week, and the tuition amounted to scarcely anything.
+I was with Mr. Frost just three months, at a total expenditure for
+educational purposes of about $25! This constituted my college
+education. I was then fourteen years old; and this is all the school
+education I have ever had.
+
+The chief game we played when I was a boy was what we called "round
+ball," which has now developed into the national game of baseball. I was
+quite an adept at the game, as I took great interest always in all
+sports and easily excelled in them. I had also a fancy for chemistry,
+and my first experiment was the result of sitting down upon a bottle of
+chemicals. It cost me certain portions of my clothing, and made a
+lasting impression upon me. It effectually put an end to my desire to
+study chemistry further.
+
+About this time a sweeping change came in my life. One day I happened to
+overhear my aunts talking about my future. The good ladies had come to
+the conclusion that a clergyman's life was not the life for me; so they
+were debating the question of sending me out to learn a trade. They said
+it was evident that I would not be a clergyman, a doctor, or a lawyer;
+so I must be a blacksmith, or a carpenter, or a mason. Now I did not
+want to be any of these things.
+
+As soon as I got an opportunity I told my aunts that I did not intend to
+be a carpenter, or a mason, or a blacksmith. I said I was going down to
+Boston--not to the market, but to get a position somewhere. They were
+astounded. They could not believe their ears. But I went.
+
+The city seemed bigger than ever, now that I had to face it and conquer
+it, or have it conquer me. But I was not beaten before the fight. I
+began walking through the streets with as bold a heart as I could
+summon, and kept searching the windows and doors for any sign of "Boy
+wanted." I had seen such notices pasted up in windows when I came into
+the town on marketing trips.
+
+Finally I saw such a sign on a drug-store in Washington Street, and
+walked in. I told the druggist I should like to go to work. He offered
+me my board and lodging for looking after the place. I asked him what
+sort of clothes he wanted me to wear, and he replied that the suit I had
+on--my Sunday clothes--would do for every day. I was quite happy and
+started to work.
+
+The first night I slept in the same building with the store, but above
+it. About one o'clock in the morning the bell rang. Some one wanted the
+doctor at once. I said I wasn't a doctor, and that the doctor was not
+there. The messenger ran off. This was bad enough, to be routed up in
+the middle of the night that way. The next day the druggist went away
+from the store on some business. I sampled everything edible in the
+place. I tried the different kinds of candy, and sirups, and then went
+out and bought some lemonade and a dozen raw oysters. The result may be
+imagined. After a few minutes of Mont Pelee, I decided that I had had
+enough of the drug business. I told the druggist my decision, shut the
+door, and left the store, a disappointed and lonely little fellow.
+
+I hesitated as to my next step. But there was the old farmhouse--and it
+invited me very tenderly just then to return. I was not conquered yet,
+but would fight on. I turned, as if by instinct, toward Cambridgeport,
+the scene of my traffickings with the grocer. My uncle Clarke lived
+there, the uncle that had brought me on from New Orleans; but I could
+not make up my mind to go to him, either. The family would laugh at me.
+No! I would get another place--but it would not be in a drug-store!
+
+Then I had an inspiration. There was the grocer named Holmes! Why not
+try him? I would. So I went to the store of Joseph A. Holmes, at the
+corner of Main Street and Brighton Road. To my eager inquiry, Mr. Holmes
+said: "You have come just in time. We want a boy." Then he asked me what
+wages I wanted. "Just enough to live on," I said. "You can live with
+us," he said; "and I will give you one dollar a week." That meant $50 a
+year. It was a great sum to me. I began to work at once.
+
+This was the winter of '43-'44, and I was fourteen. My work was to drive
+the grocery wagon up to Old Cambridgeport, take orders, and fill them. I
+had to get up at four o'clock in the morning to look after the horse,
+just as I had done on the farm, and to get everything ready for the
+trip. I had the orders of the day before to fill and to deliver at the
+college. Besides, I had to work in the store after I came back from Old
+Cambridgeport. In the evening I had to look after the lamps, sweep out,
+put up the shutters, and do numberless other little things about the
+store. The store was closed at ten o'clock at night. Then I would put
+out the lights, which were old-fashioned oil lamps.
+
+It was a long day for a boy--or for a man. I worked eighteen hours every
+day. And the laborers in the Pennsylvania coal-mines are now striking
+for an eight-hour day! I had six hours of night in which to go to bed
+and to find what sleep I could. This life continued for about two years.
+In that time I had learned to do almost everything that was to be done
+about a grocery store. I had really learned this in the first six
+months.
+
+One of my many little duties was to make paper bags. I had to cut the
+paper and paste it together. Another task was to take a hogshead of
+hams, put each ham in bagging, and sew it up. Then I had to whitewash
+each particular ham. That was a nice business! It went against my nature
+more than any other part of my manifold labors in the store.
+
+Mr. Holmes was a Baptist deacon, but the only thing about him to which
+my youthful taste objected was that he chewed tobacco all the time.
+Yes, there was another objection. He insisted upon my joining the Bible
+class in his Sunday-school. This I would not do. I could not explain it
+all to him; but the Santa Claus matter had not yet worn out of my mind.
+
+One day at the grocery store, Mr. Holmes brought in an elderly gentleman
+and said to me: "George, I want you to take this gentleman" (naming him)
+"up to the college, and walk about with him." The gentleman seemed to me
+to be about sixty years old. Mr. Holmes cautioned me about keeping him
+out of any danger, as he was not very well. "Don't talk to him," he said
+to me, "unless he wants to talk to you."
+
+The thing was like a holiday to me. I walked with him up to the college,
+and all around, as much as he wanted to; and it never occurred to me, in
+all the days I was with him in this way, to find out who he was, or to
+think about it at all.
+
+He was John Jacob Astor, Jr., eldest son of the founder of the great
+house of the Astors. He was practically an invalid. He was then in
+charge of a Mr. Dowse, who generally left him to the care of Mr. Holmes,
+and who, in turn, left him to me. After this, he came to New York, where
+he was taken in charge by his brother, William B. Astor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+EARLY NEW ENGLAND METHODISM
+
+
+Before I get away from my boyhood days, I want to say something about
+the manner of my rearing in the bosom of old New England Methodism. I
+was reared in the strictest ways of morality, in accordance with the old
+system. Grandmother told me that I must not swear, must not drink
+intoxicating liquors, must not lie, must not use tobacco in any form. It
+seemed to me she was stretching out the moral law a little, and that
+there were fifteen, instead of ten, commandments, in the religious
+scheme of Methodism. And each commandment was held up to me as an
+unfailing precept that would make a man of me. I used to say to myself
+that I would be fifteen times a man, as I intended to keep them all.
+
+But while this training was proceeding, and I was being warned against
+drinking and using tobacco, there were some strange inconsistencies
+going on side by side with the precepts. My old grandmother smoked what
+was known as "nigger-head" tobacco, in a little clay pipe. The pipes
+cost about a cent apiece. I used to cut up this tobacco for her. But as
+she smoked, she lost no opportunity of impressing upon me the
+dreadfulness of the tobacco habit.
+
+I made bold one day to ask her why it was that she smoked, and yet told
+me not to smoke. She touched herself in the right side, and said, "The
+doctor tells me to smoke for some trouble here." But she was a very
+lovely old lady, and I would never write or speak a word that could harm
+the dear memory of the mother of my mother.
+
+At this time, also, her father was living. I remember the old gentleman
+now, in his red cap, then a wonder to me, but which afterward became
+very familiar in Constantinople and the East as the Turkish fez. He was
+very aged, being then well along in the eighties. Every night I used to
+go up to his room and make him a toddy. He always wanted me to mix this
+drink for him, as I had learned to make it exactly to his taste. He had
+the rare consistency never to say anything to me about the immorality of
+drinking, nor did I ever speak to him about the matter. But one day I
+asked my grandmother about this "toddy." She touched her left side, and
+said, "It is for something here."
+
+I could not understand it, but here were mysterious "somethings" in my
+grandmother's right side, and in her father's left side, that nullified
+the Methodist religious system and set at naught the additional
+commandments, "Thou shalt not drink," and "Thou shalt not smoke."
+
+But the scheme of morality proved a good thing for me, and served to
+guide me aright in all my wanderings about the world and up and down in
+it. I think it very good testimony to the soundness and virtue of my
+moral training that I have wandered around the world four times, have
+lived in every manner known to man, have been thrown with the most
+dissolute and the most reckless of mankind, and have passed through
+almost every vicissitude of fortune, and have never tasted a drop of
+intoxicating liquor, and have never smoked. I have kept all of the
+commandments--those of Sinai and those of the Methodists.
+
+In my period of wealth and prosperity, I have entertained thousands of
+men, have seen thousands drinking and drunken at my table--and under it;
+but I never touched a drop of my own wine or of the wine of others. I
+have paid a great deal of money for the purchase of all sorts of
+tobacco, and for all sorts of pipes--narghiles, hookas, chibouks--as
+presents for others; but never touched tobacco myself in any way. I have
+been in every rat-hole of the world--but I never touched the rats. It is
+for these reasons that I am seventy-three years young, and am hale and
+strong to-day, and living my life over again like a youth once more.
+
+Years afterward, when I was lecturing, my cousin, George Pickering
+Bemis, ex-Mayor of Omaha, and my aunt Abbie and my cousin Abbie attended
+the one I delivered in Omaha, and all of them felt a little hurt by my
+allusions to the old Methodists, and to my grandmother and her father.
+Bemis wrote to me that they were horrified. But they forgot that what I
+said of the Methodists and of my ancestors was in their praise. I was
+not ridiculing them, but extolling them. I told of these incidents of my
+childhood, because I was speaking of my childhood, and these were facts.
+One of the strictest commandments of old Methodism was to tell the
+truth. They were not satisfied with the mild negative of the Sinaitic
+commandment, "Thou shalt not lie." They added a positive decree, "Thou
+shalt speak the truth." That was all I was doing. I was telling the
+truth about my childhood and boyhood. I have never spoken anything but
+the truth in all my life. This, too, I owe to the early training in
+Methodist virtues and precepts, and to the example and counsel of my
+dear old grandmother.
+
+I could not join the Bible class, at the urgent request of the grocer,
+Mr. Holmes, because I could not see the necessity of God, and no one
+could ever explain to me the reason why there should be, or is, a God. I
+could never recognize the necessity. Morality and ethics I could see the
+necessity of, and the high and authoritative reason for; but religion
+never appealed to my intelligence or to my emotions. The story of the
+Prodigal Son only taught me that to be a Christian one must do something
+to be forgiven for, to repent of; and I could not see the strength of
+such an argument. The plain and sound "ethics" of Methodism, outside of
+"faith" and "belief," always seemed to me to be higher and better than
+this.
+
+I feel that in an autobiography I should say this much about my moral
+creed and principles. Later in life the Bible got me into much trouble,
+involved me in persecutions, and finally landed me in jail--all of which
+I shall refer to in due season.
+
+Children are born savages and cheats. It is only training that makes
+true and honest men and women of them. When a child of five and six, I
+slept with my aunt Alice, the one who was afterward lost on the
+Lexington. One night I saw a fourpence in her pocket-book. When I saw
+that she was asleep, I got up quietly, went to her pocket-book where it
+lay on the table and took the fourpence out of it. But I could not
+retain it. It seared into my conscience. Before she woke up, I went as
+quietly back to the purse and placed the fourpence exactly where I had
+found it. My Methodist training saved me.
+
+On another occasion, my grandmother took me to Watertown to buy me a
+suit of clothes. In the store I noticed, while my grandmother was
+talking with the clerk, a lovely knife in the show-case. I wanted it.
+All my boyish instincts went out to that knife. I had never had a
+knife, and was hungry for one. I looked around, with all the inherited
+cunning of savage and barbarian and predatory ancestors in a thousand
+forests and for a hundred centuries. No one was observing me. Quietly,
+stealthily, I went to the case. I lifted the top, took the beautiful
+knife, and put it in my pocket. It was done. I had the knife, and no one
+would ever be any wiser. I was safe with my spoil. But again my
+Methodist-drilled conscience awoke. It made me go back to the show-case
+and replace the stolen knife. I actually felt better--for a time.
+
+Then the appeal of nature came back stronger than before. I longed for
+the knife. There was no resisting the predatory impulse. Again I stole
+behind the counter, opened the case, took out the knife, and placed it
+securely in my pocket. Again it had been done without chance of
+detection. But again my Methodist-made conscience came to the fore.
+Again it saved me from being a thief. I went back to the case, and put
+the knife in its place, but with great reluctance. Still a third time I
+took the knife from the case and secreted it in my pocket, and again the
+Methodist conscience proved stronger than human nature, and I restored
+the treasure to its proper place. I was finally able to leave the store
+without the knife, and with a clean conscience.
+
+These are the only instances when I started to do an evil thing, and in
+both of them I did not go the full length, but restored the property I
+coveted. Since that time, and with these exceptions, for the entire
+period of my life I have never cheated, stolen, or lied. And yet I have
+been in fifteen jails. For what?
+
+When I was clerk in Mr. Holmes's grocery store I was in charge of the
+money-drawer. I received no salary from Mr. Holmes, but took out the $1
+a week that I was allowed, and kept an account of it. I was trusted, and
+did not betray in the slightest degree this trust and confidence of my
+employer. Every cent that I took out of, or put into the cash-drawer was
+entered upon my account-book, and I was ready at any and all times to
+show exactly how my account stood with the store.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN A SHIPPING HOUSE IN BOSTON
+
+1844-1850
+
+
+The next change in my life, and the real beginning of my career as a
+business man, was soon to come. I had got as much out of the grocery
+store as it could give me, and was yearning for a change and a wider
+field of labor.
+
+One day a gentleman drove up to the store in a carriage drawn by an
+elegant team of horses, and asked if there was a boy there named Train.
+Mr. Holmes thereupon called to me, and said to the strange gentleman,
+"This is George Francis Train." He then told me that the stranger was
+Colonel Enoch Train, and that he wanted to speak to me.
+
+The first thing Colonel Train said was, "I am surprised to see you,
+George. I thought all your family were dead in New Orleans. Your father
+was a very dear friend of mine--and your mother, too." He said, as if
+repeating it to himself, like a sort of formula, "Oliver Train, merchant
+in Merchants' Row." Then he continued: "He was my cousin. But we had
+heard that you were all dead. Where have you been?" I told him where I
+had been living for the past ten years, with my grandmother at Waltham,
+and how my uncle Clarke had brought me back from New Orleans.
+
+After he had made a number of inquiries of me, and I had given him all
+the stock of information I had, Colonel Train drove back to Boston. I
+watched the retreating carriage, and brave and disturbing thoughts came
+to me.
+
+The following day I went to Boston. I had no very definite plan of
+action, but I knew that when the time and opportunity came I should find
+my way, as usual. And so I went directly to the great shipping house of
+Train & Co., at 37 Lewis Wharf. The big granite building seemed titanic
+to my eyes then, as if it contained the whole world of business and
+enterprise. When I went back to Boston years and years afterward, it
+seemed only a plain, ordinary affair. At first sight of it the place was
+simply ahead of and greater than anything I had seen. When I had
+outgrown it, it seemed small.
+
+When I came up to the building, my purpose was at once clear. I walked
+in and asked to see Colonel Train. The colonel shook hands cordially,
+and said he was very glad to see me. "Where do I come in?" I asked.
+
+"Come in?" he almost gasped at this effrontery. "Why, people don't come
+into a big shipping house like this in that way. You are too young."
+
+"I am growing older every day," I replied. "That is the reason I am
+here. I want to make my way in the world." "Well," said the colonel,
+smiling at me, "you come in to see me when you are seventeen years old."
+
+"That will be next year," I replied. "I am sixteen now. I might just as
+well begin this year--right away." He tried to put me off one way after
+another; but I was not to be got rid of. I was there, and I meant to
+stay.
+
+"I will come in to-morrow," I said. Then I left, quite content with
+myself and the turn my venture had taken. Of the issue I had no doubt.
+
+Early on the following day, I went to the shipping office, and took my
+seat at one of the desks. I sat there and waited. After a little while,
+Colonel Train came in. He was astonished to see me sitting there, ready
+for work.
+
+"You here?" he stammered. "Have you left the grocery store?" "Yes, sir,"
+I said; "I have learned everything there is to learn there and in fact
+had done so before I had been there six months. I want a bigger field to
+work in."
+
+"You don't mean to say you have come here without being invited?" "As I
+was not invited, that was about the only way for me to come," I said.
+"As I am here, I might as well stay." And I settled myself in the seat
+at the desk.
+
+Colonel Train looked at the bookkeeper sorely perplexed. But I saw that
+he rather admired my persistence and bravado. I had won the first trial
+of arms.
+
+"Well," said he, after a while, turning again to the bookkeeper, "we
+shall see if we can find something for you to do." "I will find
+something to do," I said. He smiled cordially at this, and said: "I will
+make a man of you." "I will make a man of myself," I replied.
+
+Then the colonel asked Mr. Nazro, who had been the firm's bookkeeper for
+many years, to try to find something for me to do.
+
+It so happened that the ship Anglo-Saxon had just arrived from
+Liverpool, Captain Joseph R. Gordon, with goods for 150 consignees. Mr.
+Nazro handed me the portage bill showing the amount to be collected from
+each of the 150 consignees. The amounts were set down in English money,
+and Mr. Nazro asked me to put them into American, or Federal, money. I
+fancied he was setting me what would prove to be an impossible task,
+just to dispose of me for all time. But he blundered, if this was his
+purpose. I had had some experience of English money at the grocery
+store, having often to change it into American money.
+
+I coolly asked Mr. Nazro what was the prevailing rate of exchange, and
+he replied that it was $4.80 to the pound. "That is just 24 cents to
+the shilling, two cents to the penny," I said, and went to work. It was
+then noon. It would have taken some clerks a week to do the task; but I
+had completed it by six o'clock that afternoon.
+
+When I handed the list back to him, he asked, with an astonished air, if
+I had finished it. "You can see for yourself," I replied. "There it is,
+all made out properly and correctly." "How do you know it is right?"
+said he. "Because I have proved it," I replied.
+
+This little task decided my fate. Mr. Nazro told me the office hours
+were from eight until six, with the rest of the time, the evenings, all
+my own.
+
+The next morning I arrived at the office promptly, and asked Mr. Nazro
+what I was to do. He handed me a package of bills. I saw they were the
+bills upon which I had worked the day before, changing English to
+American currency. There were 150 of them. Each was to contain the
+amount that must be collected from each of the consignees. I at once set
+to work on this new task, and completed it in less time than it had
+taken me to change the money. I went with the bills to Mr. Nazro, and
+asked what I was to do next. He gave me a collector's wallet into which
+to put the bills, and told me to go out and collect the amounts due.
+This was a staggerer, but I set about the difficult undertaking without
+any feeling of discouragement.
+
+At that time Boston was a strange city to me. It is true that I had
+lived on the edge of it for years; but my ceaseless work at the grocery
+store had kept me from roaming over the town and learning anything about
+it. The only section I was at all familiar with was the neighborhood of
+the old Quincy Market, to which I had driven so many wagon-loads of
+garden and farm "truck" in my boyhood days. I was as green as a genuine
+countryman who had come to town for the first time in his life. I knew
+not a soul in the city. But off I started, nothing abashed, with the
+great wallet of bills under my arm. I intended to succeed at this task.
+
+I soon picked out my course through the city. I worked through street
+after street, and collected as I went. I did not stop, but kept steadily
+on, and in the afternoon found myself at the end of the list. I had
+collected nearly every bill.
+
+I returned to the office and handed the wallet and money to Mr. Nazro.
+Again he was astonished. He asked if I had collected all the bills, and
+when I told him nearly all, he asked me for the list. I said I had made
+out none, as it was not necessary. There was all the money; he could
+count it, and compare with the list on his books. He was very much
+surprised, but counted the money, and found it correct to a cent. I did
+not need a list, I told him, because I could carry the whole thing in my
+head.
+
+From that day to this I have done everything I have undertaken in my
+own way, and have found that it was the best way--at least, for me.
+
+My next duty was to see that every one of the 150 consignees received
+the goods that were billed to him. This gave me opportunity for meeting
+a large number of important persons. Among the rest, I met Nathaniel P.
+Banks, who was a Custom-House official at the time, and the great
+writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, whom I saw in the Custom-House on a visit
+from Salem. He had been appointed by President Polk. Of course I knew
+nothing about him at the time, although he was then writing his greatest
+work, and perhaps was casting in his mind The Scarlet Letter. He had
+only just begun to be famous--an interesting fact enough, but one I did
+not learn till long afterward. He seemed very unassuming, and not in
+very affluent circumstances. I suppose his salary from the Government at
+the time was not more than $1,000 a year.
+
+My life in the old shipping house of Train & Co., in Boston, lasted some
+four years. The first vessel that came in, after I began working with
+the company, was the Joshua Bates, named after the American partner of
+the famous house of the Barings. It was of 400 tons, quite a big ship
+for the time. The next was the Washington Irving, 500 tons; and the
+third was the Anglo-Saxon, the bills of which, on a previous voyage, I
+had made out in my trial under Mr. Nazro. The Anglo-Saxon was lost the
+following year--this was in '46--off Cape Sable, with several
+passengers, the captain and crew escaping. After this the Anglo-American
+came in, then the Parliament, the Ocean Monarch, and the Staffordshire.
+All of these were famous ships in their day.
+
+In '48, I was at the pier one day on the lookout for the Ocean Monarch.
+Although the telegraph had been established in '44, it had not been
+brought from Nova Scotia to Boston, and we had only the semaphore to use
+for signaling. When a ship entered the harbor, the captain would take a
+speaking-trumpet and, standing on the bridge, shout out the most
+interesting or important tidings so that the news would get into the
+city before the ship was docked. The Persia was also due, with Captain
+Judkins, and it came in ahead of the Ocean Monarch. Some three or four
+thousand persons were on the pier waiting eagerly for the captain's
+news. I was at the end of the pier, and saw Captain Judkins place the
+trumpet to his lips, and heard him shout the tidings. And this is what I
+heard:
+
+"The Ocean Monarch was burned off Orm's Head. Four hundred passengers
+burned or drowned. Captain Murdoch taken off of a spar by Tom
+Littledale's yacht. A steamer going to Ireland passed by, and refused to
+offer assistance. Complete wreck, and complete loss."
+
+The captain shouted hoarsely, like a sentence of doom from the "last
+trump." Every one was stunned. The scene was indescribable, both the
+dead silence with which the dreadful tidings were received, and the wild
+excitement that soon burst forth.
+
+I took advantage of the awed hush of the people, and rushed toward the
+street end of the pier. There I leaped on my horse that was waiting for
+me, and galloped off. Crossing the ferry, I went madly through
+Commercial Street, up State Street, and to the Merchants' Exchange.
+There I mounted a chair, and amid a great hush, shouted out the tidings,
+word for word, and in almost the exact intonation the captain had used.
+
+One day a gentleman, looking like a farmer, came into the office and
+asked to see Mr. Train. I remember that it was the 5th of October, '47.
+I replied to his question that my name was Train. "I mean the old
+gentleman," he said.
+
+I told him that Colonel Train was out of the office at the time, but
+that as I had charge of the ships, I might be able to attend to his
+business. But I added that I was in a hurry, as the Washington Irving
+was to sail in an hour. "That is just what I am here for," said he. "I
+want to sail on that ship; I want passage for England."
+
+I told him there was one state-room left, and that he could have both
+berths for the price of one--$75, but that he must get aboard in great
+haste, as everything was ready and the ship waiting for final orders.
+He said he was ready, and I started to fill up a passenger slip. "What
+is your name?" I asked. "Ralph Waldo Emerson," he replied.
+
+Then he took out of his pocket an old wallet, with twine wrapped around
+it four or five times, opened it carefully, and counted out $75. I could
+not wait to see whether it was correct, but threw it in the drawer, and
+took him on board.
+
+Mr. Emerson was then starting on his famous visit to England, during
+which he was to visit Carlyle. He afterward mentioned the occurrence in
+his English Traits, where he said: "I took my berth in the packet-ship
+Washington Irving." From the moment when I thus met Emerson for the
+second time, I began to take great interest in him, read him carefully,
+and have continued to read him throughout my life. He has had more
+influence upon me than any other man in the world.
+
+We once chartered the ship Franklin to take a cargo of tar, pitch, and
+turpentine from Wilmington, N. C., consigned to the Baring Brothers,
+London, and return with a cargo of freight. She was about due from
+England, thirty-five days having elapsed since she had started to
+return. By this time I had been placed in charge of all the shipping,
+and I was on the lookout for the Franklin. One day the news came by
+semaphore that a large ship had been wrecked just off the lighthouse,
+while coming into Boston harbor. It was not known what ship it was. The
+sender of the message asked if Train & Co. had a ship due. I thought at
+once it might be the Franklin, making a somewhat faster passage than we
+had expected.
+
+The next day some of the wreckage came into the harbor, and, strangely
+enough, a piece of the floating timbers bore the name Franklin on it. I
+was at the pier when this discovery was made, and rushed at once to the
+insurance office to see whether the policy covering the freight had been
+arranged. It was all right. On the following day, to the astonishment of
+all Boston, the valise of one of the officers of the Franklin was washed
+ashore at Nantasket. In it were many letters, and among them were
+instructions telling how "to sink the vessel off the lighthouse, as she
+was fully insured." When the ship went down the captain was drowned with
+the rest of the crew and the passengers.
+
+I saw at once that here was a case of barratry of the master, and that
+the letter would jeopardize the whole affair of the insurance. It was a
+matter that needed prompt and able legal work. I hastened to the office
+of Rufus Choate, the most famous lawyer in New England of that time. I
+hurriedly explained to Mr. Choate that we had lost a ship, and needed a
+lawyer. "Will you accept a retainer of $500?" I added. He accepted it at
+once, and turned to his desk to write out a receipt. I said there was
+no necessity for a receipt, as the check would be receipt enough, and
+hurried away.
+
+I then went directly across the street to the office of Daniel Webster,
+who was then practising law in Boston. I was particularly anxious to
+have Mr. Webster retained. I remember now the roar of his great, deep
+voice as he responded to my knock with a "Come in" that was like a
+battle peal. And I recall well the picture of the great man, as I saw
+him for the first time. He sat at his flat desk, a magnificent example
+of manhood, his massive head set squarely and solidly upon his
+shoulders. He did not have very much business in those days, and the
+clients that found a way to his office were few.
+
+"Mr. Webster," I said, "we want your services in a very important case.
+Will you accept this as a retainer?" I handed him a check for $1,000. He
+accepted it very promptly, and it seemed to me at the time that the
+check loomed large to him. Such sums came seldom.
+
+One incident in the trial of the case impressed me deeply. It was the
+masterly manner in which Mr. Choate examined the witnesses. He had the
+reputation of being the most effective cross-examiner in New England.
+Before him, in the witness-box, stood one of the owners. Mr. Choate
+wanted to confuse him in his testimony as to the way in which he had
+done a certain thing. He began by asking the longest and most complex
+question that I ever heard. It wound all around the case, and straggled
+through every street in Boston. "You say," Mr. Choate began, "you say
+that you did so and so, that you went to such and such a place, that
+after this you did so and so, and thus and so," and he kept on asking
+him if after doing this and that if such and such was not the case,
+until there was no answering the question, or understanding it.
+
+But Mr. Choate had tackled the wrong man for once. The man was an
+Irishman, and the most nonchalant person I ever saw. Nothing seemed to
+confuse him. While Mr. Choate was firing his complicated questions at
+him, he sat perfectly unmoved, unshaken. He seemed to be taking it all
+in. Then when the astute lawyer had finished, the witness looked at him
+quietly, and said: "Mr. Choate, will yez be after rapatin' that again?"
+
+Bar and bench and spectators broke into roars of laughter. For once Mr.
+Choate was confused. But we won the case, as was to be expected, thanks
+to our matchless array of legal ability.
+
+We had two ships engaged in making what was known as "the triangular
+run"--from Boston to New Orleans, New Orleans to Liverpool, and
+Liverpool back to Boston. They were the St. Petersburg, built in '40 for
+the cotton trade, and having for a figurehead the head and shoulders of
+the Emperor Nicholas; and the Governor Davis, named for the governor of
+the Bay State, whose son is now living at Newport. Once we were
+expecting the Governor Davis to arrive at New Orleans, where the freight
+rates were higher than they had been in many years--three farthings the
+pound. The vessel was to be loaded with cotton for Liverpool. We were
+elated at the prospect of big profits, when a telegram came from our
+agent, Levi H. Gale, at New Orleans. It read: "The Governor Davis is
+burned up."
+
+Our hearts sank. A fortune had been lost, or at least the opportunity to
+make one. I went immediately to the insurance office to see that the
+policies were all right, and found them in good shape. Then it occurred
+to me that there might be a possibility of error in the message. Eager
+with my thought, I rushed to the telegraph office and asked to have the
+message repeated carefully, no matter what it might cost. After awhile
+there came back what had been a terrifying message in this new form:
+"The Governor Davis is bound up." The vessel was safe, and so were our
+profits.
+
+My connection with the packet lines brought me into contact with many
+prominent business men of Boston. Very often I was able to do some
+little thing for them, and once a very amusing incident occurred in
+connection with the attempt of Mr. Milton, of the firm of Milton,
+Cushman & Co., to get some English pigs for breeding purposes. I had
+charge of the catering for our vessels, and made the purchases. Mr.
+Milton asked me to get him some English pigs, and I promised that we
+would bring some over by the very next ship. As the vessels were out for
+quite a time, we frequently carried live animals aboard for food, and
+usually hogs and pigs. It so happened that on this particular trip, when
+going east, one of the sows gave birth to a litter of pigs. They were
+taken to Liverpool. By some mistake they were brought back and delivered
+to Mr. Milton. He prized them very highly, until later on he discovered
+that they were American pigs, born under the American flag on the high
+seas. The mistake subjected him to much good-natured chaffing. No one
+forgot the incident during the old gentleman's life.
+
+Of course, there was always present the temptation to do a little
+business on my own account, during my connection with the Train Packet
+Lines. Indeed, the desire to do this, and the experience I got in it,
+were the foundations of my subsequent business success. It was
+inevitable that I should have undertakings of my own.
+
+My first speculation was the shipment of a cargo of Danvers onions to
+Liverpool in consignment of Baring Brothers. I was eager to have my
+first venture turn out a success. The onions were packed carefully in
+barrels, and I saw myself that they were in the best condition before
+they were shipped. I felt as if I had taken every precaution, and that
+I was assured of a pretty good thing. Then came the news from England:
+"Onions arrived; not in good order. Debit, L3 17s. 6d."
+
+That was the disappointing result of my first venture. I was a loser.
+Years afterward, when I was launching shipping lines between Australia
+and America, I cited this little experience of mine as an example of
+what might be expected by many who sent cargoes to the other end of the
+world.
+
+My second venture proved more successful. This was the shipping of fish
+on ice to New Orleans. It paid me well. But my real career as a shipper
+started in quite another and different way. I am ashamed to confess how
+I began this career, which made me a shipper of cargoes to the other end
+of the earth. But as I was too ignorant at the time to know much better,
+or, indeed, to give any thought at all to the matter, I shall, in the
+interest of truth, make a full confession. I became a smuggler of opium
+into China!
+
+It happened in this way. One of our captains, who was about to start
+with a cargo for the Orient, asked me if I did not want to send over
+something for sale, as he thought a good profit might be made on a
+shipment of something in demand there. "What would be a good thing to
+send?" I asked. "Opium," said he laconically.
+
+Opium meant nothing to me then. I had never thought of it in any way
+other than as a marketable product and an object in cargoes. So I went
+to Henshaw's, in Boston, and got three tins of opium, the best he had.
+This I placed in charge of the captain, and he smuggled it into China,
+and got a good price for it, to the profit of himself and me.
+
+But the smuggling did not end there. I had instructed him to lay in a
+supply of curios, silks, and other oriental things, and bring them to
+Boston. This part of the venture was as successful as the first, and I
+made quite a snug little sum. It was my first considerable profit. That
+was in '46-'47.
+
+I do not think any one in good standing in business has an idea now of
+cheating the Government out of tariff duties. I had not, at that time,
+the slightest idea that I was doing wrong. I felt entirely innocent of
+defrauding two governments, and did not realize that I was a smuggler.
+The wrong of the transaction I fully understood afterward.
+
+But I fear that the moral sense as to smuggling, to use an ugly term,
+was not so delicate in those days. Even patriotic and good men thought
+that it was not very bad to bring in articles from Europe and the Orient
+without stopping to pay the duty levied by the United States. There was
+no systematic attempt to defraud the Government. There was just no
+thought at all, except to get in a few luxuries upon which it did not
+seem worth while to pay the customs dues. I can recall a few examples
+of this lax way of treating the tariff regulations. They were the acts
+of men of great social and business prominence. If done to-day, they
+would shock the whole country--even the Democratic and low tariff, or no
+tariff, part of it.
+
+One day a banker, who was a famous figure in Boston, a leader in the
+world of business, asked me if I could not bring over for him some
+silver he had ordered sent to the Train offices in Liverpool. I
+consented. Shortly after this, the steward of the Ocean Monarch told me
+he had a very heavy package addressed to "George Francis Train." I
+directed him to bring it into the office. Then I saw that the heavy
+package was addressed, in the corner, from the shippers to this famous
+Boston banker. And so, without any intent to defraud the Government on
+my part, and, I suppose, without any intent on the part of the great
+banker to do a distinctly wrong act, we had actually conspired to
+smuggle in some exquisite silver plate for the richest banker in New
+England, to save a few dollars' tariff duty!
+
+Once while I was in Paris, in '50, I wanted to buy some presents for the
+young lady to whom I was engaged to be married--Miss Davis--who was then
+living in Louisville, Ky. I called at the Paris office of a famous
+American firm of jewelers, and the resident agent took me to a
+magnificent establishment, where I saw the wealth of a world in gems.
+
+An amusing thing happened, which I shall relate before I complete the
+story of this smuggling incident. I asked at once to see the most
+beautiful things the shop contained, the latest, and most charming.
+Imagine my surprise and horror when the young girl who was showing me
+around the shop exhibited to me a package of pictures that would have
+subjected me to immediate arrest and incarceration had they been found
+on my person in this city. She explained to me that this was the part of
+the business in her charge, and that she thought, as I was an American
+and new to Paris, I wanted to get hold of some startling pictures to
+carry back to the United States.
+
+Passing through this temptation unscathed, I finally got to the jewels
+and gems of all sorts, and selected some for my betrothed. I bought
+about $1,000 worth. Suddenly the agent of an American house turned on me
+and said he was thinking of sending a present to his firm in New York,
+and asked if I would not take charge of it and deliver it, or have it
+delivered direct. Of course I did not know what this meant--that he
+wanted me to get a package of jewels to his firm without paying the
+tariff duty. I consented, however, before I went into the ethical
+question, and brought over, perhaps, a package of splendid and costly
+diamonds for one of the richest houses in the world.
+
+While in charge of the ships of the house in Boston I had a little
+yacht, called The Sea Witch, that I used in boarding vessels in the
+harbor. One day there arrived a very great man, in my opinion a tower of
+strength in finance--Thomas Baring, afterward Lord Revelstoke, who
+succeeded Lord Ashburton as the representative of England in this
+country. I had prepared to take him on a trip around the harbor, and
+everything was ready for the sail the following day, when he was
+suddenly called to Washington, and sent me a note which read as follows:
+
+     "DEAR MR. TRAIN:
+
+     "As I leave for Washington in the morning, I regret that it will
+     not be possible for me to go with you on The Sea Witch to see
+     Boston harbor. I remember with pleasure the canvasback ducks that
+     you sent to me at London, and which gave me and my friends so
+     much pleasure. I hope to see you on my return.
+
+                                                      "THOMAS BARING."
+
+The great development of the clippers, the boats that soon made the
+reputation of the United States on the seas, was due chiefly to the
+discovery of gold in California. This made it necessary to send a great
+number of ships to the Pacific coast, and I saw that it was essential to
+the success of the trade to send large boats that could make profits on
+this long voyage.
+
+Gold was discovered in '48. At that time our packets had attained to
+the size of only 800 tons. They were considered large boats at the time,
+but now would be called mere tubs. I saw that if we wanted to enter the
+trade with the Pacific we should have to get larger ships. Our first
+packets had been built at East Boston by Donald Mackay: the Joshua
+Bates, 400 tons; the Washington Irving, 500 tons; the Anglo-Saxon, 600
+tons; the Anglo-American, 700 tons; the Ocean Monarch, 800 tons. In a
+few years we had enlarged the packet clipper from a vessel of 400 tons
+to one of 800 tons, or twice the size. The Ocean Monarch was regarded as
+a veritable monster of the seas.
+
+When the gold-fever was setting the country frantic, and every one,
+apparently, wanted to go to California, I said to Mackay: "I want a big
+ship, one that will be larger than the Ocean Monarch." Mackay replied,
+"Two hundred tons bigger?" "No," said I, "I want a ship of 2,000 tons."
+Mackay was one of those men who merely ask what is needed. He said he
+would build the sort of ship I wanted. "I shall call her the Flying
+Cloud," I said. This is the history of that famous ship, destined to
+make a new era in ship-building all over the world.
+
+Longfellow sent me a copy of his poem, The Building of the Ship, which
+he had written to commemorate the construction of a much smaller vessel.
+Not only ship-builders, but the whole world, was talking of the Flying
+Cloud. Her appearance in the world of commerce was a great historic
+event.
+
+No sooner was the Flying Cloud built than many ship-owners wanted to buy
+her. Among others, the house of Grinnell, Minturn & Co., of the
+Swallow-Tail Line, of Liverpool, asked what we would take for her. I
+replied that I wanted $90,000, which meant a handsome profit. The answer
+came back immediately, "We will take her." We sent the vessel to New
+York under Captain Cressey, while I went on by railway. There I closed
+the sale, and the proudest moment of my life, up to that time, was when
+I received a check from Moses H. Grinnell, the New York head of the
+house, for $90,000.
+
+The Flying Cloud was sent from New York to San Francisco, and made the
+passage in eighty-six days, with a full cargo of freight and passengers,
+paying for herself in that single voyage out and back. Her record has
+not been beaten by any sailing ship in the fifty-three years that have
+since elapsed.
+
+The building of this vessel was a tremendous leap forward in
+ship-building; but I was not satisfied. I told Mackay that I wanted a
+still larger ship. He said he could build it. And so we began another
+vessel that was to outstrip in size and capacity the great Flying Cloud.
+
+I was desirous to name this ship the Enoch Train, in honor of the head
+of the Boston house, and had said as much to Duncan MacLane, who was
+the marine reporter for the Boston Post. MacLane had usually written a
+column for his paper on the launching of our ships. He wanted to have
+something to write about the new vessel. I told him the story of Colonel
+Train's life, and that we were going to christen the new vessel with his
+name. I did not consult Colonel Train, thinking that, of course, it was
+all right.
+
+The Post published a long account of the ship, and gave the name as the
+Enoch Train. When I went down to the office that morning Colonel Train
+had not yet arrived, but he soon came in, walking straight as a
+gun-barrel, and seeming to be a little stiff. "Did you see the Post this
+morning?" I asked. "Premature," he replied. That was all he said. He
+would not discuss the matter. I was nettled that he did not appreciate
+the honor I thought I was conferring on him. It was not for nothing that
+a man's name should be borne by the greatest vessel on the seas. I said
+to myself that the name should be changed at once. The ship was to be of
+2,200 tons burden, larger than the Flying Cloud and the Staffordshire,
+both of 2,000 tons, and I decided to call her the Sovereign of the Seas.
+
+The news that we were building a still bigger ship was rapidly
+circulated throughout the world. Many shipping lines wanted to buy her
+before she was off the ways. Despatches from New York shipping lines
+making inquiry as to price came almost daily. I invariably replied that
+we would take $130,000. But this was a little too stiff a price at that
+time, although the Flying Cloud had paid for herself in a single trip. I
+finally sold her to Berren Roosen, Jr., of Hamburg, Germany, through the
+brokers Funch & Menkier, of New York, for $110,000. She was entered in
+my name, although I was at the time only nineteen years of age. I was
+quite proud to have the greatest vessel then afloat on any water
+associated with my name. She was sent to Liverpool.
+
+The California business had grown steadily, and the house of Train had
+taken a leading part in it. One of the biggest of our ships was built
+expressly for it, and employed on the long run from Boston to San
+Francisco. This was the Staffordshire, which we had named for the great
+potteries in England from which we got so much of our import freight.
+She was of the same size and tonnage as the Flying Cloud--2,000 tons. We
+sent her to California on her first trip under Captain Richardson, full
+of freight and passengers. There were three hundred passengers, each
+paying $300 for the trip around the Horn. This brought us in $90,000,
+completely paying for the cost of building and equipping, with cash in
+hand, before she sailed.
+
+The Flying Cloud and the Staffordshire were followed by about forty fast
+clippers during the great gold-fever of '49. I was still in my teens,
+and consider it not an insignificant thing to have accomplished the
+initiation of this magnificent clipper service which revolutionized
+sailing vessels all over the world, and gave to America the reputation
+for building the fastest ships on the seas.
+
+When the California business first opened up, I was bent upon going to
+the Golden Horn myself. I felt that there was to be a great development
+in trade and permanent business there, and wanted to "get in on the
+ground floor." But this was not to be, and my destiny detained me at
+Boston to take my share in the building of fast clippers and in
+developing the trade from the Atlantic side of the continent. I saw that
+MacKondray & Co., and Flint, Peabody & Co., who went to California about
+this time, were making fortunes out of commissions. I also saw men go
+there later to become millionaires in a few years--men like John W.
+Mackay, the pioneer, who died recently in London, worth somewhere
+approximating $100,000,000, most of it taken out of the Comstock Lode,
+the last of the "Big Four"--Mackay, Flood, Fair, and O'Brien--all of
+whom are dead. But my fortunes led in another direction. I was to go
+East, and not West.
+
+In connection with the clipper service to California, I should mention
+here the beginning of the Irish immigration to this country, which
+started at the time of the gold-fever. I saw that this country was very
+sparsely populated, that there were vast areas entirely unoccupied, and
+that there was not only room, but need, for more people. I also had an
+eye to increasing our own business, as our ships were returning from
+Liverpool with very few passengers. In casting about in my mind to
+create business, it occurred to me that the Irish, who were particularly
+restive and desirous of coming to America, might be turned into
+passengers for our boats and into settlers of our waste places.
+
+My first step was to engage the services of as many Irish 'longshoremen
+and stevedores as possible. These were always talking of their friends
+in Ireland, and their friends in the old country were asking them for
+information about the United States. I got the 'longshoremen and
+stevedores to scatter throughout Ireland information about this country
+and about the way to get here. I then set to work to arrange for giving
+to the poor Irish immigrants a cheap and convenient means of passage.
+
+I invented the prepaid passenger certificate, and also the small
+one-pound (English money) bill of exchange. To disseminate information
+about the plan, I had inserted in the Boston Pilot, the Catholic organ
+of the day, the following advertisement, it being a letter from the
+Catholic archbishop:
+
+    "The Boston and Liverpool Packet Line of Enoch Train & Co. have
+    arranged to issue prepaid passenger certificates and small bills
+    of exchange for one pound and upward. This firm is highly
+    respectable, and has established agencies throughout Ireland for
+    the benefit of Irish immigrants.--[Symbol: Cross]FITZPATRICK,
+    Archbishop of Boston."
+
+This advertisement, and this indorsement from a high Catholic authority,
+gave a marked impetus to the flow of Irish immigrants into America.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A VACATION TOUR
+
+1850
+
+
+In '50 it was decided that I should go to Liverpool to take charge of
+the house there. I asked Colonel Train if I could not first have a
+holiday, so that I might see a little of my own country. He told me to
+take two months, and to see as much as I could in that time. My ship was
+scheduled to sail July 25, '50. This was the only holiday I had had in
+four years.
+
+I started for New York. After a brief stay there, I went to Cape May. My
+recollections of that place, which was then the great resort of the
+Atlantic coast, include a famous score I made in rolling ten-pins. This
+game was my forte, and I remember that I defeated a party of
+Philadelphians, scoring strike after strike, and left my score, 290,
+marked up on the wall. It stood unrivaled for years.
+
+I hurried on to Washington from Cape May. The trip was then made by
+boat, rail, and stage. As soon as I reached Washington, I called on
+Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State. I was shown into his office,
+gave him news of New England, and said that every one was discussing his
+great speech of the 7th of March of that year. He looked at me
+inquiringly. "Some are hostile toward your sentiments," I said; "but
+most of the people are with you." "They are talking about it, are they?"
+This was the only comment he made.
+
+Afterward he introduced me to his wife, Mrs. Leroy Webster, and asked if
+I would like to meet the President. I was delighted, and said so. "Just
+wait a moment," he said, and sat down at his desk, took a quill pen and
+wrote on a sheet of blue paper, nearly a foot square, "To the President
+of the United States, introducing a young friend of mine from Boston,
+George Francis Train, shipping merchant, who merely wishes to pay his
+respects to the president.--DANIEL WEBSTER." The large writing covered
+almost the whole page. I thanked him, and started at once for the White
+House.
+
+On arriving there, I was at once ushered into the presence of General
+Taylor, who sat at his desk. The presidential feet rested on another
+chair. I begged him not to rise, but to let me feel at home, and handed
+him the letter from Mr. Webster.
+
+At his request, I seated myself opposite him, and from this point of
+vantage made a hurried study of his appearance. He wore a shirt that
+was formerly white, but which then looked like the map of Mexico after
+the battle of Buena Vista. It was spotted and spattered with tobacco
+juice.
+
+Directly behind me, as I was soon made aware, was a cuspidor, toward
+which the President turned the flow of tobacco juice. I was in mortal
+terror, but I soon saw there was no danger. With as unerring an aim as
+the famous spitter on the boat in Dickens's American Notes, he never
+missed the cuspidor once, or put my person in jeopardy.
+
+My conversation--because, I suppose, it was new to him--interested him,
+and he would not let me go for half an hour. I told him the news of New
+England, and about my journey to Liverpool and its object. This
+particularly interested him, and he asked me a hundred questions about
+the shipping business and the prospects of developing trade with
+England.
+
+As I was about to leave, I said to him that I prized very highly the
+letter from Mr. Webster, and should be very glad to be able to keep it;
+"and I should prize it still more highly, Mr. President, if you would
+add your autograph to it." "Certainly," he replied, and then took up a
+quill pen, and wrote "Z. Taylor." He courteously asked me to call to see
+him again before I left for England.
+
+From the White House, I went direct to the National Hotel, where I asked
+to see Mr. Clay. I was shown up to his room, and soon stood in the
+presence of the great Southern orator. I observed that his shirt also
+bore the same marks as that of the President--stained and smeared with
+tobacco juice.
+
+I told him that I was about to start for England, and that, as I had a
+letter signed by Mr. Webster and the President, I should like to add his
+signature also. "I believe that two signatures are usually necessary on
+Mr. Webster's paper," said Mr. Clay with a smile. He then added his
+autograph to the paper.
+
+Before leaving for Liverpool, I visited Mount Vernon, of course, while
+in Washington, saw the Georgetown Convent, and, indeed, everything of
+interest in the capital at that time. Then I went back to New York and
+up the Hudson to West Point.
+
+My visit to West Point was especially pleasant. I comraded with the
+cadets, who invited me to sleep in their tent on the campus. Among the
+young fellows there at the time, who was very pleasant and friendly, was
+Alfred H. Terry, afterward one of the most distinguished of our
+officers. I attended the cadets' ball at Cozzens's Hotel, messed with
+them, and entered into all of their sports and daily routine. I was
+astonished to notice that in the morning the roar of the gun did not
+disturb their slumbers, although it shook me from sleep. But the
+lightest tap of the drum aroused them instantly. It was force of habit,
+which, I was to learn later, enables men to sleep amid the roar of
+artillery on the battlefield, or amid the howling of storms on the
+ocean. In sleep, as in our waking hours, the trained and disciplined
+mind hears what it wants to hear.
+
+From West Point I went on to Saratoga Springs. It was my first visit to
+these famous springs, and I enjoyed it immensely. On the boat up the
+Hudson I met a beautiful lady, Mrs. Carleton, who was with her sister.
+Mrs. Carleton was the wife of a wealthy New York merchant, who had a
+villa on Staten Island. I stopped at Marvin's United States Hotel. This
+was fifty-two years ago, and the hotel is still there, while Marvin, who
+entertained me more than half a century ago, died last year, his age
+somewhere in the nineties. I enjoyed every moment of my stay at
+Saratoga, for I had never seen anything of social life, and it was all
+new and delightful. The enormous caravansary, with its throngs of
+guests, its never-ceasing round of gaiety, and its own liberal life,
+entranced me. Manners seemed less formal then at the famous spa, and the
+ladies were pleased to meet any one in the most unconventional and
+charming way.
+
+As I say, I was very unsophisticated. I knew little or nothing of the
+"great world," and I was completely horrified one evening when one of
+the ladies said to me in a whisper: "Can you not get me a glass of
+brandy?" I had never touched a drop of brandy, whisky, or even wine, and
+to have this beautifully dressed and refined lady ask me for a glass of
+brandy was a decided shock to me. I understand that now, however, it is
+not very uncommon for ladies to drink wine, whisky, and brandy.
+
+I have seen it stated in the papers recently that the waters at Saratoga
+have the effect of lessening thirst for more ardent waters of a
+spirituous nature. I did not happen to observe any such effect of the
+waters when I was there a half century ago. Drinking was quite general,
+and certainly little restraint seemed to be practised.
+
+I found in society, as elsewhere in the greater affairs of life, that
+leadership was wanting. People stood by and waited for some one to take
+the initiative. One evening one of the ladies said to me that the ball
+had not been arranged for. I asked what ball, and she said the regular
+season ball. For some reason, it had not been arranged by the hotel
+people, and no one seemed disposed to take hold of it. I said, "It
+should be arranged immediately." I saw a few of the leaders, talked it
+over with them, and got them together. We brought off the ball--my first
+experience in these deep waters of social life--with great success. I
+had then been in Saratoga just two days. While I was there I had the
+honor of meeting the social leader of Boston, Mrs. Harrison Grey Otis,
+and the social leader of Philadelphia, Mrs. Rush. There were also
+present at the Springs many representatives of the most prominent
+families in the social life of New York.
+
+I saw in Saratoga the first "gambling hell" that I had ever seen, and I
+was so green about such things--another tribute to my dear old Pickering
+grandmother and New England Methodism--that I did not know what a
+"gambling hell" was when asked if I should like to see one. While I
+possess an inquisitive nature, I have found it a good rule not to ask
+too many questions, until you have tried to find out things without
+betraying your ignorance. I went to the "hell," and was properly
+shocked. The scene suggested to me the gaming at Monte Carlo. I saw a
+number of men sitting around a table playing as intently as if their
+lives depended upon the fall of a card.
+
+My attention was attracted toward a young man, apparently of about
+twenty-five, who was in a desperate plight. Agony was visibly graved in
+every feature and in every line of his face. I asked who he was, and
+heard the name of a distinguished family of northern New York. "What is
+the matter with him!" I asked. My cicerone seemed astonished at my
+stupendous ignorance. "Why, can you not see they are 'going through'
+him?" he said in turn. The expressive term was sufficient even for my
+unsophisticated mind. It told the whole story, like a "scare-head" in a
+"yellow" newspaper.
+
+Then I turned from the victim to the predatory players about him. Who
+were they? To my surprise, the names were those of men famous the world
+over as bankers, merchants, and financiers. There was one man that
+especially interested me. It was the American representative of an
+English house whose commercial paper our house frequently used. I said
+to myself, "I will cut his name from our list," and I did--for a time. I
+learned afterward that banking was only one form of gambling. Great
+financiers are often clever gamesters--players for desperate stakes, but
+infinitely better players than their victims. This world of finance is a
+great Monte Carlo. It was vain to entertain a prejudice against only one
+of the players.
+
+It was now necessary for me to hurry back to Boston in order to catch
+the Parliament, on which I had already engaged passage. But before
+leaving America, I wanted to see something of Canada, and resolved upon
+a rapid trip to Montreal, especially as I found that I could return to
+New York that way almost as quickly as to go across the State. I went on
+to Niagara, and then sailed for Montreal, and had the novel experience
+of shooting La Chine Rapids, an Indian piloting the boat. This was a
+great thing in those days, and I was amazed to see how skilfully the
+Indian guided the boat in and out among the rocks, never doubtful of his
+course, never touching the edges of the reefs and boulders, never
+imperiling human life. I understood that for years these pilots had
+guided the boats down the rapids without a single accident.
+
+On the boat on which I went down the St. Lawrence I met Captain
+Stoddard, of the Crescent City Steam Packet, New York and Havana, and
+Mr. Dinsmore, of the Adams Express Company, with the ladies of their
+families. We all saw Montreal together, and some members of the party
+made excursions to places elsewhere. One of these was to the famous Grey
+Nunnery, the doors of which were closed to the outside world. But these
+Americans, with true American spirit, expected all doors to open to
+them, and would not accept the situation.
+
+When they told me of their failure to get into the nunnery, I said I was
+astonished that the representative of a big steamboat company and of a
+big express company could not get into any building they wished to
+enter. "I will show you what I can do," I said. I had already taken
+thought of the talismanic letter from Daniel Webster, countersigned by
+the President and Mr. Clay, the three biggest men, in popular
+estimation, in the United States at that time. As I shall afterward
+relate, this letter did me a good turn later in Scotland, opening doors
+to me that were closed to nearly all the world. It was now to serve me
+well; but this was the first time I had found occasion for its service
+since leaving Washington.
+
+I went immediately to the nunnery, where I asked to see the Lady
+Superior. I told her I had visited the Convent of the Sacred Heart at
+New York and Georgetown, and that I wanted to see how they compared with
+this most famous convent in Canada. This did not impress her very much,
+it seemed to me, and I instantly had recourse to my letter. "As you do
+not know me," I said, "this letter may serve as a sort of introduction."
+Then I brought out with a flourish my Webster-Taylor-Clay letter. The
+doors at once flew open before me! After viewing the interior of the
+nunnery, I told the Lady Superior that I had a party of friends at the
+hotel who would like very much to see the building, and that if she
+would permit me, I should like to bring them around in the morning. She
+consented, and the next day I took the entire party to the nunnery and
+we were shown through by the Lady Superior.
+
+My time was now running short, and I had to hasten back to New York, if
+I wanted to catch the Parliament. I went by way of Lake Champlain,
+Ticonderoga, and Lake George, and again saw something of Saratoga and
+the Hudson. At Ticonderoga I had the good fortune to meet Bishop Spencer
+of Jamaica, and his son-in-law Archdeacon Smith, and we traveled
+together to Saratoga. Here we met Commodore Trescot, of the Bermuda
+Yacht Club. I invited them all to dine with me at the George Hotel, at
+Lake Saratoga. I was struck by the bishop's dress, for it was the first
+time I had seen the black knickerbockers and the three-cornered chapeau.
+I do not mention the dinner--which was not a great affair--merely for
+the sake of referring to the knickerbockers or the chapeau, but because
+the bishop pressed upon me a special invitation to call upon him when I
+came to London.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A PARTNER IN THE LIVERPOOL HOUSE
+
+1850-1852
+
+
+From Saratoga, I went down the Hudson to New York, and thence to Boston,
+where I arrived in time to take the Parliament, Captain Brown, on the
+25th of July. I had lived fast in the eight weeks of my holiday. It was
+the only vacation I had had since I had begun my business life as a
+grocer boy in Holmes's store, and I had worked hard during that long
+period. The result was that I sprang back too far, like the released
+bow, and was soon to see the effects. As my time was so limited, I had
+tried to make the most of it, and had rushed from place to place, had
+lived in all sorts of hotels and eaten all sorts of food. Besides, the
+travel, all of which had been in a whirl of excitement, aided in
+upsetting my physical system.
+
+A few days on the boat were enough to complete the wreck. I was as badly
+shaken up as Mont Pelee, and was ill for most of the voyage. When I
+reached Liverpool, I had lost thirty pounds, and had to be taken off
+the steamer, and was carried to the house of Mr. Thayer, the Liverpool
+partner of Colonel Train. It was two or three months before I completely
+recovered.
+
+I had hardly reached England before I began to realize that the people
+there use a somewhat different version of the English language than we
+are accustomed to in America. My physician was Dr. Archer. He came to
+see me one morning just after I had had my breakfast, and took his stand
+immediately before the fire, with his back to it. "I am half starved,"
+he said. I immediately rang the bell, and when the servant came turned
+to the physician and asked what he would have for breakfast. He said he
+had eaten breakfast and did not want anything more. "But," said I, "you
+said you were half starved; surely you must be hungry." He burst into a
+roar of laughter. "I meant that I was half starved with cold."
+
+With this as a beginning, I began to pick up the vocabulary peculiar to
+the modern English. My next acquisition was "nasty." I was informed that
+a rather disagreeable day was a very "nasty" day, and that the weather
+was simply "beastly." After mastering these three words, which were
+entirely new to me, and adding such words as I could pick up from the
+daily speech of the men I met, I was soon able to get along in some
+fashion with the English of England.
+
+My first British holiday was spent in Scotland, where I stayed for a
+week. When I was at Balmoral the Queen happened to be there. Leaving
+Balmoral, I went to Braemar, on the way to Aberdeen. A number of young
+students were there at the time, and I spent some moments talking with
+them. Suddenly, there was a tremendous uproar and excitement, and I saw
+a four-in-hand drive up. The students informed me that it was the
+Premier, Lord John Russell, who had just returned from an audience with
+the Queen at Balmoral. I saw there was a chance for some sport. Turning
+to the students, with a smile, I said: "I wonder how his lordship knew I
+had come to Braemar! I hope to have the pleasure of speaking with him."
+
+The students laughed satirically. One of them said: "Look heah, Mr.
+Train, that sort of thing won't do heah, you know. We don't do things as
+you do in America." Another suggested that I should not be treated very
+civilly if I attempted to approach Lord John Russell.
+
+For reply, I took out a card and wrote on it: "An American, in the
+Highlands of Scotland, is delighted to know that he is under the same
+roof with England's Premier, Lord John Russell, and, before he goes,
+would ask the pleasure of speaking with his lordship for a moment." I
+carefully folded the card in the letter that had been given to me by Mr.
+Webster, and afterward signed by the President of the United States and
+Henry Clay. I sent the two in to his lordship.
+
+In a few minutes the door opened, and the secretary of Lord John Russell
+came in and asked for "Mr. Train." I said I was Mr. Train. "Lord John
+Russell," replied the secretary, "waits the pleasure of speaking with
+Mr. Train of Boston." I followed him out of the room, to the amazement
+of the young students, who didn't do things that way in England.
+
+His lordship received me with that easy grace and courtesy which I have
+always observed in Englishmen of high rank. I told him I would not take
+up any of his time, and that I merely wanted to meet him. He made me
+talk about the United States, and insisted upon introducing me to his
+wife. She, also, received me graciously, saying she was "always glad to
+see Americans." She asked me many questions about this country and
+especially about Niagara Falls. A half hour passed by before I was aware
+of the time. I begged pardon for staying so long, and left.
+
+In my book, Young America Abroad, I have referred to this incident and
+to the courteous reception I met at Braemar. When I had gone around the
+world, and returned to America, and was at Newport with Colonel Hiram
+Fuller, in '56, there came to me in the mail one morning a coroneted
+note. It was from London, and written by Lady Russell.
+
+"It was so kind of you," it said, "to remember us at Braemar, and to
+send us your Young America Abroad, which his lordship and I have read
+with a great deal of pleasure. When you come to London, come to see
+us.--FANNIE RUSSELL."
+
+Our Liverpool office was at No. 5 Water Street, George Holt's building.
+As soon as I was able to look after the company's interests, I went down
+to the office and took charge. Mr. Thayer returned to Boston, and later
+to New York. This left me in complete control. At twenty years of age, I
+was the manager of the great house of Train & Co., in Liverpool.
+
+I at once began to reorganize things in Liverpool, and to develop our
+business. I put on two ships a month between Liverpool and Boston, and
+arranged the James McHenry line to Philadelphia, and sent transient
+ships to New York. We also had what was known as the "triangular line,"
+handling cotton and naval stores.
+
+Liverpool I found to be a great port, but very much belated. It was too
+conservative, and the old fogies there were quite content to keep up
+customs that their ancestors had followed without trying to improve upon
+them, or to introduce new and better ones. I set to work to improve
+everything in our business that was susceptible of improvement.
+
+I was astonished, the very first day after I reached the office, to
+learn that nothing was done at night. The entire twelve hours from six
+in the afternoon to six the following morning were absolutely lost, and
+this in a business that requires every minute of time in the twenty-four
+hours. Ships can not be delayed, held at ports for day-light, or laid up
+while men sleep. The work of loading and unloading must proceed with all
+despatch, if there is to be any profit in handling the business, and
+ships must be sent on their voyages without loss of valuable time. I had
+supposed that the English shippers thoroughly understood these simple
+principles of the business in which they have led the world.
+
+Our vessels were very expensive, and we could not afford to lose the
+twelve hours of the night. That much time meant a profit to us, and I
+determined to utilize it. What was my surprise, when I went to the
+proper authorities, to find that we should not be allowed to light up
+the Liverpool docks at night, or to have fires on them. It was feared
+that we should burn the structures and destroy the shipping and docks.
+These dignified gentlemen even laughed at me for suggesting such a
+foolhardy undertaking.
+
+I said to myself, there is always one way to reach men, and I will find
+the way to reach these dignitaries. It occurred to me that I could reach
+them most surely through a plea for the prosperity of the port. I went
+at once to the representatives of all the American lines having offices
+in Liverpool, to organize them into a combined attack on the Liverpool
+port authorities. I saw Captain Delano of the Albert Gallatin, Captain
+French of the Henry Clay, Captain West of the Cope Philadelphia line,
+Captain Cropper of Charles H. Marshall's Black Ball line, Zerega of the
+Blue Packet line, and others, and we decided upon asking the dock board
+to give us a hearing. This the board very readily consented to do.
+
+Prior to this meeting, I went to all the American representatives and
+outlined my plan of campaign. This was to say very plainly to the dock
+board that unless we could have fires and lights on the docks we would
+take the shipping to other ports. The captains and others were
+astonished, but they agreed to let me approach the board with this plain
+threat.
+
+I then went to the board, with all the representatives of the American
+lines, and quietly told the members that we wanted fires and lights on
+the docks at night, that we needed this in order to carry on our
+business in our way, and that unless we could have them, we should at
+once go to other ports. Abandoning a mood of amused laughter, these
+gentlemen suddenly became very serious. Their hoary customs did not seem
+so sacred then, and they ended by throwing a complete somersault, and
+granting us full permission to light up the Liverpool docks at night.
+
+Of course this made a tremendous difference to all of us. We could now
+load our ships at night, thus saving one half of the twenty-four hours,
+which we had been losing. I understand that the Morgan combination,
+fifty-two years after this, has again forced concessions from the
+Liverpool dock board by threatening to take the ships to Southampton.
+
+Our principal freight from Liverpool at that time consisted of crockery
+from the Staffordshire potteries, Manchester dry-goods, and iron and
+steel, and what were known as "chow-chow," or miscellaneous articles. We
+often had as many as 150 consignees in a single cargo. Our principal
+business connections were the firms of John H. Green & Co. and Forward &
+Co., who shipped pottery; Bailey Brothers & Co., Jevons & Co., A. & S.
+Henry & Co., Crafts & Stell, Charles Humberston, and John Ireland. Our
+passenger agent was Daniel P. Mitchell, 18 Waterloo Road.
+
+The first blunder that I made in Liverpool--and the only serious one, I
+believe--was in connection with shipping emigrants to the United States.
+One day a man came into the office and said he was from the estate of
+the Marquis of Lansdowne, and wanted to contract for the shipment of 300
+passengers for New York. We soon came to terms, and I chartered the ship
+President. We charged the Marquis from L3 15s. to L4 a head. I learned
+afterward that these passengers were poor tenants of his estates. The
+Marquis of that time was the grandfather of the present Marquis of
+Lansdowne, Minister of War in the Salisbury cabinet.
+
+At that time we had to pay $2 a head for all immigrants entering the
+country. I had tried to get this changed, through Mr. Webster, but had
+failed. We had also to give bond that the immigrants would not become a
+public charge. It proved a very expensive contract for us, as we had to
+bring back many of these paupers for the old Marquis to take care of.
+
+When I left Boston, I had taken a partnership, one sixth interest, in
+the house of Train & Co. In Liverpool I had twenty-five clerks under me,
+and at one time had four ships in Victoria Docks. It may be inferred
+that I conducted the business with some degree of success, as my
+interest--one sixth--for the first year was $10,000. Next year, when in
+London, I was invited to a grand reception given by Abbott Lawrence, 138
+Piccadilly, who was then United States minister at the court of St.
+James's. That day I dined with Lord Bishop Spencer of Jamaica, whom I
+had met in Saratoga, and took Lady Harvey in. This was my acceptance of
+the invitation he had extended to me in Saratoga. The bishop asked if I
+was going to the reception of the American minister that night, and, on
+my saying that I was, asked me to accept a place in his carriage. This I
+very gladly did, as I had, by this time learned a great deal about the
+value of state and ceremony in English life. The sequence will show how
+this worldly wisdom served me.
+
+At the dinner, however, I had had a very narrow escape. It was the
+"closest call," as we say in the West, that my temperance Methodist
+principles ever had. I was asked, as a great mark of distinction, to
+taste the pet wine of the bishop. The bishop himself acted as chief
+tempter of my old New England principles. He handed me a glass, saying:
+"Mr. Train, this is the wine we call the 'cockroach flavor.' I want you
+to drink some of it with us," and he glanced around his table, at which
+were seated many titled Englishmen and women.
+
+What was I to do? Should I, caught in so dire an emergency, drown my
+principles in the cup that cheers and inebriates? Was all my Methodism
+and New England temperance to go down in shipwreck? The exigency nerved
+me for the task, and I found a courage sufficient to carry me through. I
+had never tasted a drop of wine, and I was not going to begin now. I
+glanced about the room, and slowly raised the glass to my lips. I did
+not taste the wine, but the other guests thought that I did. "We all
+know," I said, "that the wine at your lordship's table is the best."
+This passed without challenge, and, in the ripple of applause, my
+omission to drink the wine was not observed.
+
+Later in the evening I went with the bishop to the American minister's
+reception, and soon saw how well it was that I was in his lordship's
+carriage. Had I been in a hired cab, I should have fared badly. I should
+have had to wait in the long line of these vehicles, while flunkeys
+called out, in stentorian tones as if to advertise all London of the
+fact that you were in a hired concern, "Mr. Train's cab!" and other
+flunkeys, down the line, would take up the cry, "Mr. Train's cab!" until
+one would sink in a fever of chagrin. But as I came in the bishop's
+carriage, I heard respectful voices announce, "Lord Spencer and Mr.
+Train."
+
+I observed several ladies bending over an elderly gentleman, and soon
+another lady asked me if I had seen the duke. As there were two or three
+dukes present, I asked which one. She looked very much surprised, as if
+there could be more than one duke in the world. "Why, the Duke of
+Wellington!" she exclaimed.
+
+I now took occasion to get a good look at the venerable old man. It was
+the first time, and proved to be the only time, I ever saw him. He would
+not have impressed me, I think, had it not been for the light of history
+which seemed, after I once knew it was he, to illuminate his face and
+frame. It was the last year of his enjoyment of great renown. He died
+shortly afterward.
+
+While in England, I availed myself of every opportunity to see the
+country, and study it from every possible point of view. I may add that
+this has been my invariable custom in all countries. I have gone
+through the world as an inquirer and an observer of men and things. As I
+had visited Scotland, I was desirous of seeing another of the islands,
+Wales, so I ran down into that curious country on a vacation, in 1850. I
+went to Bangor, on the Menai Straits, and hardly had got into the hotel
+when a tremendous commotion in the corridors told me that some guest of
+unusual importance had arrived. I asked who it was, and was informed
+that it was the Duke of Devonshire.
+
+"That is exceedingly fortunate for me," I said. "There is no man that I
+would rather see at this moment than the Duke of Devonshire." At this,
+my companions--among whom were young Grinnell, of Grinnell, Bowman &
+Co., whose father sent the Resolute to find Sir John Franklin, young
+Russell, and young Jevons, an iron merchant--began laughing
+immoderately. I wrote on a card that an American, who happened to be at
+the George Hotel when he arrived, would like to see him, if it would not
+be too great an intrusion upon his time. I added that it had been one of
+the desires of my life to visit his famous estate at Chatsworth.
+
+This note I sent to the duke by a messenger. Immediately came back a
+reply that the duke would be very glad to see me, and I was ushered into
+his presence. He was then an elderly man, his voice tremulous and
+uncertain. To make it still more difficult to converse with him, he was
+deaf, but used an ear-trumpet. I succeeded in telling him that his
+palace at Chatsworth was well known throughout America by reputation,
+and that I should like very much to see it, while I was in that part of
+Great Britain. He replied that I must certainly see it before leaving.
+He then called to his secretary to bring him a blue card, and wrote upon
+it a pass to enter the grounds and buildings. This was all very kind,
+and I thanked him for the courtesy.
+
+He then completely stunned me by saying: "You must see the emperor!" I
+knew that the Czar of Russia had been his guest, but it was not likely
+that he was at Chatsworth at that time; so I endeavored to divine what
+the duke meant. My mind ran over horses, conservatories, and dogs.
+
+I could not, for a moment or two, imagine what "the emperor" could be,
+and was about to commit myself irrevocably to a conservatory, a favorite
+horse, or hound; but before making any remark gave him an appreciative
+smile which seemed to please his grace. He called for the blue card
+again, and wrote on it: "Let the emperor play for Mr. Train." I learned
+afterward that it cost the duke $500 to have "the emperor" play, and so
+much the more appreciated his courtesy. I remarked that I had heard "the
+emperor" referred to as the highest fountain in all Europe.
+
+As soon as I got back to Liverpool, I made up a little party to visit
+Chatsworth. When we reached the station I was astonished to see almost a
+regiment of uniformed servants waiting to meet us. I was even more
+astounded when the head of this body-guard of retainers approached and
+asked, in the most deferential manner: "When will your royal highness
+have luncheon?" I saw, of course, that they were taking me for some one
+else, and remarked that they were perhaps waiting for the arrival of the
+Prince of Hesse-Cassel, whom I had just seen at the hotel. The prince
+came up almost immediately afterward, and had the pleasure of seeing
+"the emperor" play, by special authority, on my card from the duke.
+
+The palace is a magnificent residence, so far exceeding anything of the
+kind in England at that time, that George IV. is said to have felt
+offended when invited there, because his own residence was shabby in
+comparison. I made the acquaintance at Chatsworth of Sir Joseph Paxton,
+who the following year modeled the entire glass system of the first
+Crystal Palace at London. I was to see something of the Crystal Palace
+the next year.
+
+Six years after this, when I published my book, Young America Abroad, I
+sent a marked copy to the Duke of Devonshire, and he wrote me a letter
+in which he said: "I am an old man now, sixty-two, but I have not
+forgotten the delightful day when I met you on the Menai Straits."
+
+One day, in my office in Liverpool, I received a card from the
+Secretary, inviting me to the exhibition in London, and Mr. Riddle of
+Boston, who was then on his way to London, asked me to be present on the
+day when the Queen was to come, which was the day before the opening. I
+went to London, and that was the first and the only time I ever saw
+Queen Victoria. She was with Prince Albert, and they were accompanied, I
+remember, by a brilliant staff.
+
+I recall an incident during my visit to London on this occasion which
+aptly illustrates the want of suggestiveness on the part of Englishmen.
+They are content to go along in old ruts, provided only they be old
+enough. Frank Fuller was the contractor for the Crystal Palace, and a
+problem arose, in the construction, as to what to do with a certain
+beautiful and aged elm that had been an object of reverence and stood in
+the way of the proposed building. It had finally been decided to cut it
+down, in order to get it out of the way.
+
+"What!" said I, "cut it down--this exquisite tree?" Some one remarked
+that the authorities did not wish to cut it down, but it stood directly
+in the way of the great palace, and would have to be sacrificed. "The
+palace is here for time," I said, "and this tree may be here for
+eternity. Spare the tree." "But how?" they asked. They were
+bewildered--did not have a thought of what to do, except to hew down the
+venerable tree. "Build your palace around it," I said. This simple
+device had not occurred to them, but it saved the elm.
+
+Mr. Fuller was so pleased by the suggestion, that he began asking me
+about hotels in America, and proposed that I undertake the building of
+an American hotel in London. I said that some time I should, perhaps,
+try the experiment, but that for the present my shipping business would
+keep me fully occupied.
+
+I might as well mention here, although it is not in its chronological
+order, my later experience in trying to establish an American hotel in
+London. It was seven years after the exhibition when the question of an
+American hotel came up again. I had worked up the plan very thoroughly,
+and had some of the most prominent and influential men in England as
+directors of the proposed company. We had, also, obtained options on
+several acres of desirable land in the Strand as a site. In the board of
+directors was Lord Bury, private secretary of the Queen, son of the Earl
+of Albemarle; Mark Lemon, of Punch; and others. The only obstacle to our
+success was the passage of a bill through Parliament authorizing us to
+occupy the land. The hotel caused a great sensation in London, and there
+was much talk of it as a daring and not altogether agreeable invasion of
+England by Americans. On the other hand, there was much commendation,
+and George Augustus Sala, the leading editorial writer of the Telegraph,
+wrote a letter in which he mentioned my name as a guaranty that the
+hotel would be built and would succeed, as, he said, I had succeeded in
+everything.
+
+Matters were well advanced, and it looked as if we should have the
+hotel. I wanted it constructed along distinctly American lines, and sent
+to Paran Stevens to get from him the plans of his three hotels, the
+Revere House in Boston, the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York, and the
+Continental in Philadelphia. We had everything in readiness, when the
+news came that the bill had failed in the House of Lords by sixteen
+votes, although the House of Commons had passed it. I came as near as
+that to building the first American hotel in London. Fifty years later,
+the Hotel Cecil was built, a half century after I had suggested the idea
+and perfected the plan.
+
+My experience in Saratoga had revealed to me the want of suggestiveness
+and resource in men in general. They will continue doing the same thing
+in the same old way generation after generation, without taking thought
+for improving methods in the interest of economy, of time, and of money.
+I have, from time to time, suggested a large number of little
+improvements, mechanical or other devices, for which I have never taken
+out patents or received a cent of profit in any way. I shall bring
+together here a few of these suggestions, made at different times and in
+different countries.
+
+I used to go to the old cider-mill at Piper's, about a half mile from
+our farm. We went in an ox-cart, filled with apples. When we got to the
+cider-mill, all we had to do was to pull out a peg, and the apples would
+roll out into the hopper of the mill.
+
+When I came to New York years afterward I was astonished to notice that
+there were a half-dozen men around every coal-cart, unloading the coal.
+I thought of the ox-cart, the peg, and the hopper, which I had used
+thirty years before. I suggested the use of a device for letting the
+coal run from the cart into the cellar, but could not get any one to
+listen to the proposition. Now, years after my suggestion, all of these
+carts in New York and other large cities of America have small scoops
+running from the cart to the coal-hole, and a single man unloads the
+cart by winding a windlass and lifting the front end of the wagon. In
+London they still keep up the old, clumsy, and expensive method of
+unloading with sacks. The English are in some things where we were a
+century ago.
+
+Once in London I was astonished to see a man, after writing something
+with a lead-pencil, search through his pockets for a piece of
+india-rubber with which to erase an error. He had lost it, and could
+only smudge the paper by marking out what he had written. I said to him:
+"Why don't you attach the rubber to the pencil? Then you couldn't lose
+it." He jumped at my suggestion, took out a patent for the rubber
+attachment to pencils, and made money.
+
+When Rowland Hill, the great English postal reformer, introduced
+penny-postage into England, he found it necessary to employ many girls
+to clip off the stamps from great sheets. I took a sheet of paper to
+him, and showed him how easy it would be by perforation to tear off the
+stamps as needed. He adopted my idea; and now a single machine does the
+whole work.
+
+I noticed one day in England a lot of "flunkeys" rushing up to the
+carriages of titled ladies and busying themselves adjusting steps, which
+were separate from the carriage, and had been taken along with great
+inconvenience. I said to myself, why not have the steps attached? and I
+spoke about the idea to others. It was taken up, and carried out. Now
+every carriage has steps attached as a part of the structure.
+
+In '50, I was with James McHenry in Liverpool, and in trying to pour
+some ink from a bottle into the ink-well, the bottle was upset, and the
+ink spilled all over the desk. This was because too much ink came from
+the mouth. "Give the bottle a nose, like a milk pitcher," I said; "then
+you can pour the ink into the well easily." Holden, of Liverpool, took
+up the idea, and patented it, and made a fortune out of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+MY COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE--RETURN TO LIVERPOOL
+
+1850-1852
+
+
+After the first short stay in Saratoga during my vacation trip in
+America, I had started for a journey West; and was soon to meet with an
+experience that turned the current of my life. At Syracuse I saw a half
+dozen students talking to a lovely girl, bidding her good-by. Her
+appearance struck me in a peculiar way. I turned to Alfredo Ward, who,
+with his wife, was traveling with me, they having just come from
+Valparaiso, Chili. "Look at that girl with the curls," said I. "Do you
+know her?" he asked. "I never saw her before," I answered, "but she
+shall be my wife."
+
+I was quite ready to abandon the remainder of my Western trip, to get an
+opportunity to meet this girl. Taking my grip up hurriedly, I rushed
+over to the train she was on, supposing she was going to New York. I
+soon discovered that she was going the other way, and ran through in my
+mind the chances I could take, the risks I could run, and so took an
+opportunity by the throat. I knew that I was not compelled to leave
+Boston until July 25, and so I had ample time to get to my ship.
+
+I entered the car where the girl was, and found a vacant seat opposite
+her. An elderly gentleman was with her, whom I took to be her father. I
+selected the seat opposite with the deliberate purpose of making the
+acquaintance of the pair at the first opportunity that occurred or that
+I could create.
+
+My chance came sooner than I expected. The elderly gentleman tried to
+raise the sash of the window, and could not move it; it had, as usual,
+stuck fast. I sprang lightly and very quickly across the aisle and said,
+"Permit me to assist you," and adding my youthful strength to his,
+raised the window. Both he and the young lady thanked me. The old
+gentleman went further and asked me to take the seat directly opposite
+him and the young lady, on the same side of the car. I did so, and we
+entered into conversation immediately. I continued my speculations as to
+the relationship that existed between them. The gentleman seemed rather
+elderly for her husband, and she too young to be married at all. He did
+not look exactly as if he were her father.
+
+[Illustration: Mrs. George Francis Train.
+From a photograph.]
+
+Before I could determine this question for myself, he came to my
+assistance, and told me the young lady was the daughter of Colonel
+George T. M. Davis, who was captain and aide-de-camp, under General
+Scott, in the Mexican War, and afterward chief clerk in the War
+Department at Washington. He introduced himself as Dr. Wallace, and said
+that he was taking Miss Davis to her home in the West. I also learned
+that they were going to Oswego, where they would take a boat. I
+immediately exclaimed that I, also, was going in that direction, and was
+delighted to know we should be fellow passengers. In such matters--for
+love is like war--quickness of decision is everything. I would have gone
+in any direction, if only I could remain her fellow passenger.
+
+And so we arrived at Niagara Falls together. Dr. Wallace was kind enough
+to permit me to escort his charge about the Falls, and I was foolish
+enough to do several risky things, in a sort of half-conscious desire to
+appear brave--the last infirmity of the mind of a lover. I went under
+the Falls and clambered about in all sorts of dangerous places, in an
+intoxication of love. It was the same old story, only with the
+difference that our love was mutually discovered and confessed amid the
+roaring accompaniment of the great cataract. We were at the Falls
+forty-eight hours, and before we left we were betrothed.
+
+Soon afterward I sailed for London, as already set forth. It was not
+till '51 that I came back to America, principally for the purpose of
+marrying Miss Davis and taking her back to England with me.
+
+I arrived in Boston shortly before the celebration of Bunker Hill Day,
+which was always a great occasion in that city. General John S. Tyler
+was grand-marshal of the day, and he appointed me one of his aides. It
+was a time when young people were usually left out of all public
+business arrangements. Only the middle-aged or old took part in anything
+of the spectacular nature in this great parade. Probably I attracted a
+great deal of attention, therefore, because of my youth, being then only
+twenty-one.
+
+In truth, I felt a little flattered by the appointment, and determined
+to make as good a show as possible. Having been born and reared on a
+farm, I knew how to ride, so I got the stableman to give me the finest
+stepper he could furnish. He found a beautiful animal, with a frolicsome
+spirit, and I felt that I should prove at least a good part of the
+exhibition. I was decked in a flowing red, white, and blue sash that
+swept below the saddle-girths, and my horse was a proud-looking and
+dainty-paced beast. With a little rehearsing of my part, I was fully
+prepared.
+
+On the occasion of the parade, I am quite sure, I was the observed of
+many observers. The spectators were let into the mystery of the
+beautiful caracoling and dancing of my horse, whom I touched
+occasionally with the spur in a particular way, and who acquitted
+himself with great credit. The populace thought he was trying to unseat
+me, or to run away, and that it was only by excellent horsemanship that
+I was able to hold my seat and look like a centaur. I am ashamed to say,
+at this far distance in retrospect, that it was a proud moment for me,
+and that I took so much pleasure in so idle and empty a show. But youth
+must be served.
+
+I had charge of the Colonial Governors, who were the guests of the city,
+and of the President, and I escorted them from Boston to Charlestown.
+There were Sir John A. MacDonald, of Canada; Governor Tilly, of New
+Brunswick; the Honorable Joseph Howe, ex-Governor of Nova Scotia; and
+Millard Fillmore, President of the United States. President Fillmore and
+Sir John MacDonald rode on the back seat of the first carriage, and Howe
+and Tilly on the front seat. Somehow, Boston seemed to regard the
+colonial officials as equal to, if not a little better than the
+President. I suppose this was because of the sentiment of Bunker Hill,
+and because the presence of British representatives was a matter of
+pride and gratification.
+
+But the day was to end in gloom. As I was in the midst of the gaiety and
+at the height of my exultation, a messenger handed me a despatch. I tore
+it open, and found that it was from a friend in Louisville, Ky., and
+contained a warning. Miss Davis, to whom I was betrothed, lived in
+Louisville, and I was soon to marry her there. The telegram urged me to
+hasten my journey, as the report of the coming marriage had created a
+great deal of bad feeling. My friend advised me to lay aside everything
+and go to Louisville with all possible despatch.
+
+I could not imagine, at first, what this meant. It seemed to convey only
+some presage of disaster. I left the gay scenes of the parade and
+hurried to my room at the hotel. There I made instant preparation for a
+trip to Louisville.
+
+Before leaving Boston, however, I learned what it was that had caused my
+friend in Louisville so much concern. Some time before, there had been a
+marriage of a Kentucky girl with a Northerner--the much-talked of
+wedding of Bigelow Lawrence and Miss Sallie Ward. It had aroused a great
+deal of bitter feeling, because of the increasing tension and friction
+between the North and the South. This was none of my affair; nor did I
+share the feeling on either side. Indeed, at that time, I knew little
+and cared less about the sectional differences between the North and
+South. The only interest I had in the South at that time was a
+commercial one in our shipping business, and the more personal interest
+attaching to that portion of the South that held my future wife.
+
+My own approaching marriage to Miss Davis had, it seems, been regarded
+as of sufficient importance to arouse the same feeling that had been
+created by the Lawrence-Ward marriage. My friends were manifesting much
+solicitude. What most alarmed them was the fact that a number of gallant
+Kentuckians were trying to marry Miss Davis themselves, and thus
+patriotically save her for the South. Among these patriots were Senator
+James Shields, Mexican hero of Belleville, Ill., Lieutenant Merriman of
+the navy, and an officer of the army. There was, also, a suitor from my
+side of the line--"Ned" Baker, of Springfield, Ill., who was afterward
+United States consul-general at Montevideo. In her letters to me she had
+mentioned all of these gentlemen, but I was not particularly anxious
+about the matter, feeling that there was safety in numbers. But now that
+my friends were interesting themselves, I thought it full time that I
+should be looking after affairs myself.
+
+I was doomed to suffer from the inconsistency of woman. When I reached
+Louisville I wrote to her, mentioning the reports sent me by friends.
+This angered her. She became indignant because I had taken any notice of
+these rumors, and refused to see me on that day. But on the following
+day she was in a milder mood, ready to see me. This meeting put to rest
+forever all doubts, suspicions, and jealousies, and my fears melted into
+thin air.
+
+But for all this, I was determined to take no further chances with three
+or four rivals, and decided that I should not again leave my affianced
+bride behind me. I insisted upon an immediate ceremony, and we were
+married by the rector of the Episcopal church in Louisville, October 5,
+'51. Her father, Colonel George T. M. Davis, was then editor of
+Haldeman's Louisville Courier. Belle Key, the famous Kentucky beauty,
+whose sister, Annie Key, married Matthew Ward, who killed a Kentuckian
+in a duel, was my wife's bridesmaid, and Sylvanus J. Macey, son of
+William H. Macey, was groomsman. My wife was only seventeen years old.
+She was very beautiful. Her picture appeared in the Book of Beauty the
+following year.
+
+We came east from Louisville on our wedding journey, stopping at
+Cincinnati, where I had a curious experience. The Burnett House was the
+most popular hotel in the city at that time, and we stayed there. It had
+just fitted up the first "bridal chamber" in this country, if not in the
+world. Every little hotel has one now; but then such a thing was unheard
+of, so far as I have been able to ascertain. At any rate, Mr. Drake, the
+clerk, asked me if I did not wish to take the "bridal chamber." He told
+me it was the only one in the world. As I was ever keen and ready for a
+novelty, I replied that of course I would.
+
+I had already been in a great many hotels in this country. The
+prevailing rate of charge was about $2 a day, at that time. I supposed
+that this splendid room would cost a little more, being a special
+apartment--perhaps about $5 a day. It cost $15! But I was willing to pay
+for the honor of occupying the first "bridal chamber" in the world.
+
+From Cincinnati, we came directly on to Boston, and stayed at the
+Winthrop House, where I had been before. I soon had a conference with
+the Boston house which I represented, and it was determined that I
+should return to Liverpool and resume charge of the branch there, but in
+somewhat different and better circumstances. I returned in '52. The ship
+we sailed on was the Daniel Webster, built by Donald Mackay in East
+Boston, and which I had named in special honor of my friend, the great
+Daniel. Captain Howard was in command.
+
+The trip was destined to be eventful. Five days after leaving Boston we
+ran into a heavy gale from the west. Our boat was very sturdy, and we
+had no fears, but I knew that many smaller and less seaworthy ships
+would suffer in such a driving storm. We were, therefore, on the lookout
+for vessels in distress.
+
+For the greater part of the time, during the height of the gale, I stood
+on the bridge closely scanning the horizon line in front. Suddenly
+something seemed to rise and assume form out of the storm-wrack, and
+this gradually grew into the shape of a vessel. I saw that it was a
+wreck, shouted to the captain, but he, looking in the direction, could
+make out nothing. My eyes seemed to be better than his, although his had
+been trained by long practise at sea. He could not see much better when
+he got his glasses turned in the direction I indicated, but finally he
+discovered the vessel, though he did not seem desirous of leaving his
+present course to offer assistance.
+
+I insisted that we should go to the rescue of the ship and her crew, and
+he turned and said: "Mr. Train, we sea captains are prevented from going
+to the rescue of vessels, or from leaving our course, by the insurance
+companies. We should forfeit our policy in the event of being lost or
+damaged."
+
+"Let me decide that," said I. "We can not do otherwise than go to the
+assistance of these persons." And we went. The Webster bore swiftly down
+upon the wreck, which proved to be in worse plight than I had imagined.
+She was buffeted about by the waves, and seemed in peril of going down
+at any moment. Men and women were clinging to her rigging, hanging over
+her sides, and trying to get spars and timbers on which to entrust
+themselves to the sea. The doomed vessel was the Unicorn, from an Irish
+port, bound for St. John's, N. B., with passengers and railway iron.
+This iron had been the cause of the wreck, for in the rough weather it
+had broken away from its fastenings, or "shipped," as the sailors
+express it, and had broken holes in the sides of the boat and
+overweighted it on one side.
+
+A brig that had sighted the Unicorn before we came up had taken off a
+few of the passengers--as many as it could accommodate. The Unicorn was
+a small vessel, and there seemed little chance for the rest of the
+passengers unless we could reach them. The sea was running very swift
+and high, and it was not possible to bring the Webster close to the side
+of the Unicorn. To make matters worse, the sailors had found that there
+was whisky in the cargo, and in their desperation, drank it without
+restraint. They were, consequently, unmanageable. They could not help us
+to assist the miserable passengers on their own boat.
+
+There was nothing else to be done except to get into our small boats and
+try to save as many passengers as possible. The captain got into one
+boat and I into another, and we were rowed to the side of the Unicorn.
+There we discovered that many had already perished. Dead bodies were
+floating in the sea about the ship. We tried to get up close enough to
+reach the passengers, but found it impossible.
+
+"Throw the passengers into the sea," I shouted to the captain of the
+Unicorn, "and we will pick them up. We can't get up to you." In this
+way, the crew of the Unicorn throwing men and women into the sea, and
+our boats picking them up, we succeeded in saving two hundred. All the
+rest--I do not know how many--were drowned. We finally got these two
+hundred persons safely on board the Daniel Webster.
+
+Here we discovered other difficulties, and it seemed, for a time, as if
+starvation might do the work that had been denied to the waves. There
+was, also, the question of accommodations; but we solved this problem by
+taking some of our extra sails and tarpaulin and rigging up a protection
+for them on the deck and in the hold, so that we made them all fairly
+comfortable. The problem of food was far more difficult. We simply had
+no food, the captain said. There was hardly more than enough for the
+crew and passengers of our own vessel, as the delay caused by the rescue
+and the departure from our course had made an extra demand upon
+supplies.
+
+Here a happy thought occurred to me. We happened to be carrying a cargo
+of corn-meal. I had heard that the Irish, in one of their famines, had
+been fed with corn-meal, learning to eat and even to like it.
+
+"Open the hatches!" I cried, with the enthusiasm of the philosopher who
+cried "Eureka." The problem of food was soon solved. Two of the barrels
+were cut in half, making four tubs. From the staves of other barrels we
+made spoons, and from the meal we made mush which the half-starved men,
+women, and children ate with great relish. They lived on it until we got
+them safely landed on English soil, the entire two hundred persons
+reaching port without the loss of a single soul.
+
+This was my first service at a rescue, and, of course, I was proud of
+it. Captain Howard received a handsome medal from the Life Saving
+Society of England, and the incident greatly increased the reputation of
+our packets.
+
+On arriving at Liverpool, we went to No. 153 Duke Street, a house then
+kept by Mrs. Blodgett, whose husband saw service as consul in Spain.
+This house was at that time the favorite resort of American sea captains
+and shipping men, and was a sort of central point for all Americans in
+Liverpool. John Alfred Marsh, who had been with us in Boston, was with
+me in Liverpool at this time, in the branch of our house there; and I
+think he is the only man living among all of my friends of that year. He
+is now connected with the Guion Line steamships.
+
+During the first year in Liverpool after my marriage, I had a peculiar
+and interesting experience with the science of phrenology. At that time
+every one was talking about its "revelations," and I became somewhat
+interested in it. My interest came chiefly, however, through James
+McHenry, whose line of ships to Philadelphia I had charge of. He
+suggested one day that I go to a phrenologist, saying that I had a most
+curious head. Up to this time, I had not taken any stock in the science,
+which I set down as charlatanry and mountebankism. But he insisted, and
+finally I consented to go with him to Bridges, then the most famous
+phrenologist in Liverpool or in the west of England.
+
+Bridges astonished me so greatly by telling me things about myself that
+I had supposed no one knew but I, that my interest was awakened. Still I
+thought there must be something queer about the thing, and I accused
+McHenry of having told Bridges something about me beforehand so that I
+might be taken by surprise. McHenry so vehemently denied this that I
+knew he was telling me the truth. There was nothing to do but to accept
+the "chart" of Bridges as being at least sincere.
+
+As I like to investigate everything for myself, I determined to see what
+there was in phrenology, and to have my head examined in circumstances
+where there could be no question that the phrenologist had had any
+information about me. So I went to London, and there consulted a still
+more famous phrenologist, the octogenarian Donovan. I said to him: "Mr.
+Donovan, I want you to tell me the plain truth about my head."
+"Phrenology does not lie," he said. "Put down your guinea."
+
+I put down the guinea, and submitted to an examination. He told me
+almost the same things that Bridges had said, and thus confirmed the
+first chart of my head. After finishing his examination, Donovan looked
+at me and said: "You will be either a great reformer, or a great pirate.
+It merely depends upon the direction you take in Ethics!"
+
+Even this examination did not entirely satisfy me. There were still
+higher authorities in phrenology, and I felt that I should not be
+satisfied until I had the verdict of the highest court of appeals. I
+consulted every phrenologist I could reach--a great professor in Paris,
+another from Germany, and finally, I reached the highest authority then
+living, the highest that has ever lived, possibly, the great Dr. Fowler,
+who was then lecturing in England.
+
+He came to Liverpool to lecture, and I went to hear him. Fowler asked
+for some one from the audience to allow him to examine his head. As he
+had never seen me, I felt that I could in this way get an absolutely
+impartial and unprejudiced reading. I went on the stage, and my
+appearance caused a ripple of surprise, for I was known in Liverpool.
+The phrenologist placed his hands on my head and exclaimed: "Jehu, what
+a head!" The audience applauded, as if they thought I had a head, and
+had used it to good purpose in their city.
+
+Beverley Tucker was American consul in Liverpool at that time, having
+been appointed by President Pierce. When the famous actor and dramatist,
+John Brougham, visited Liverpool, I suggested that we Americans, in
+whose country Brougham had lived and done his best work, should
+entertain him at a dinner at the Waterloo House. We had a large and
+lively company present, and Brougham was in his best vein. I asked
+Brougham for his autograph, and, at the same time, something about the
+poet Willis, who was then our favorite American poet. He gave me
+instantly, without apparent thought, the following verse:
+
+    "Hyperion curls his forehead on,
+      Behold the poet Willis!
+    For love of such a Corydon,
+      Who would not be a Phyllis?"
+
+Thus have I narrated, in this and the previous chapters, the most
+interesting events and experiences of my life in Liverpool. The life
+there was particularly varied and altogether delightful. It was, of
+course, a very busy time, but I managed to get a great deal of pleasure
+out of it. There was a constant round of entertainments, and the social
+life of the city was generally gay and interesting. At this period I had
+two portraits of my wife and myself made. They are now in the possession
+of my daughter, who keeps them in the room which she always has ready
+for me in the country.
+
+As for my standing in the city, I may give here the opinion of Charles
+Mackay, the poet, author of Cheer, Boys, Cheer, and other well-known
+poems, who wrote, in reviewing my book, Young America in Wall Street,
+that I "walked up the Liverpool Exchange like a Baring or a Rothschild."
+I remained in Liverpool one year with my wife, and then returned to the
+United States. This was in '52. The best men of Liverpool had made me
+welcome everywhere, in all circles of business or of society.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BUSINESS SUCCESS IN AUSTRALIA
+
+1853-1855
+
+
+My wife and I in returning to Boston came on a visit that we expected to
+be brief. I confidently supposed I should go back to Liverpool and
+continue the business of the branch house. But this was not to be.
+Instead, I was soon to make a far wider departure in business fields and
+methods, and to try my fortune at another end of the earth.
+
+When I arrived in Boston, I had a conference with Colonel Train about
+conditions in England, and suggested to him that I should have a
+partnership interest in the Boston house, as well as in the house in
+Liverpool. To my surprise, Colonel Train was not only astonished, but
+indignant. He could not understand how I had pushed ahead so rapidly,
+and this swift advance was by no means pleasant to him. He felt that, in
+some way, I was pushing him out of his place.
+
+"Would you ride over me roughshod?" he asked, almost fiercely, when I
+ventured to suggest a larger partnership interest. I replied that I
+thought I had given full value for everything that the house had done
+for me, and that I should be able to do so in the future. After some
+further discussion, in which the old gentleman was mollified, the matter
+was arranged. I received a partnership interest that was equal to
+$15,000 a year--and I was only twenty-two years old at the time.
+
+As soon as the contract was signed, and it was in my hand, I
+said--because I was still nettled by the manner in which he had received
+my suggestion of a partnership--"Colonel, as you do not seem to care to
+take me into the firm, here is your contract"; and I tore it in two and
+handed him the pieces. "I am going to Australia."
+
+This cool announcement astonished him. He did not know what to do.
+Finally, we came to terms. It was decided that I should go to Melbourne
+to start my own house with Captain Caldwell, one of our oldest
+ship-captains, the house to be known as "Caldwell, Train & Co." It was
+Colonel Train's view that this elderly man would act as a check upon my
+youthful rashness, he having no interest in the firm but good-will
+toward me and one of his captains.
+
+The arrangements once completed, I was eager to be about my work in the
+antipodes, and prepared to sail at the first opportunity. Everything was
+taken from Boston--clerks, sets of books, business forms, etc. Nothing
+was left to the chance of finding or getting in Australia the material
+that we might need. And so the new house of "Caldwell, Train & Co."
+sailed away from Boston on the Plymouth Rock for Melbourne, Australia,
+on a singularly audacious venture.
+
+Captain Caldwell went out in charge of the clerks, while I was to go by
+a different route a little later. I went to New York and took passage
+from there in the old Whitlock Havre packet, Bavaria, Captain Bailey. I
+had two clerks with me, and carried, also, a large amount of office
+supplies in duplicate. Duncan, Sherman & Co. had appointed me their
+agent for the purchase of gold in Melbourne, which was to be shipped to
+London or New York as circumstances permitted, and I had also been
+appointed by the Boston underwriters their agent to represent them in
+the South Seas. The outlook for business seemed especially bright.
+
+I have traveled a great deal since that time, but this was the longest
+period I have ever been on a ship in a single voyage. We were ninety-two
+days from New York to Melbourne. I have twice since gone entirely around
+the world in less time. It was very dreary at times, and I had to resort
+to all manner of things in order to pass the hours. These attempted
+diversions were often very amusing.
+
+I have always wanted to do things a little differently from others,
+partly because it has been more interesting to do them in a novel
+manner, but chiefly because I have found that a better way than the
+accepted one could be found. My desire for novelty led me to do some
+curious things during this long and tedious voyage to Melbourne. One day
+I was looking at the porpoises playing about the ship's bows, and it
+occurred to me that I could harpoon one of them. I asked the captain if
+he had a harpoon, and he brought me one. I then had a rope tied fast
+about me, so that I could be lowered over the bow. I had a good chance
+and let fly the harpoon, and, as luck would have it, succeeded in
+getting a fine porpoise. My successful throw astonished every
+one--myself more than any. The porpoise was brought aboard, and we found
+portions of it very good eating.
+
+On another day I hooked a shark, a "man-eater," ten feet long, and this,
+also, was brought aboard, but no one proposed to eat it. A little later
+we passed into the zone of the albatrosses, and myriads of these
+exquisite birds flew over or hovered above the ship. I was desirous to
+have one of them, and resorted to stratagems learned years ago in the
+days when I used to snare rabbits and net pigeons on the old farm in New
+England. I baited a hook with pork, and threw it out upon the water.
+Instantly a great albatross swooped down upon it and swallowed the bait.
+I drew the bird on board, and found it a magnificent specimen, measuring
+twelve feet from tip to tip of its wings. Of course, I released the bird
+very soon. In such pastimes, we beguiled the time, until we finally
+swept through the great South Seas and into Hobson's Bay, passed Point
+Nepean, and anchored off Sandridge.
+
+I had fancied that Melbourne was not a frequented port, off the tracks
+of commerce, although springing into life and prominence. Imagine my
+surprise when, on rounding the point where one could sweep the expanse
+of the bay, I saw before me some six hundred vessels that had reached
+the port before we arrived, and all, like ourselves, attracted there by
+the rumors of gold, gold, gold! For a second time within a few years,
+the whole world had gone wild over a gold discovery, and was now sending
+thousands of persons to Australia. Thousands more were deterred from
+going only by the fear of starvation, for very few believed at that time
+that Australia could feed the hungry searchers after gold, much less
+give them a fortune in gold nuggets.
+
+Before I left Boston I had heard much about the perils of starvation in
+Australia. I was told that the country produced little, and that its
+scant resources would soon be overtaxed by the horde of gold-seekers.
+"Starve!" I said; "why there are twenty million sheep in the island." I
+was then told that man could not live by mutton alone. But I knew that,
+with these millions of sheep, there was little danger of famine.
+
+From the anchorage at Sandridge to Melbourne the distance is about ten
+miles, the Yarra-Yarra winding and twisting through the tortuous
+channel. As this river is too shallow to admit ships of a greater burden
+than sixty tons, all large vessels anchor at Sandridge, or Williamstown.
+While the distance up the Yarra-Yarra is ten miles, across the spit of
+sand it is only two. I went into Melbourne at once, secured buildings
+for our cargo, and arranged for lighters to take it up the Yarra-Yarra.
+
+The very first thing that impressed me in Australia was the miserable
+and unnecessary inconvenience of having to send everything up the
+twisted channel of the Yarra-Yarra by lighters. I determined to look
+into this and see what could be done. The method was too expensive and
+too slow to suit me. I immediately called on the most influential men of
+the city, like De Graves, Octavius Brown, Dalgetty, Cruikshank & Co.,
+and James Henty, and said to them: "This thing of coming by way of the
+Yarra-Yarra, ten miles, when it is only two miles by land, is out of the
+question. Let us build a railway to Sandridge."
+
+Apparently, this had not occurred to them. They had brought from England
+their habits of thought, and accepted things as they found them. But I
+kept at the railway suggestion, until the line was built. This was my
+first experience in organizing railways. It was not my last.
+
+I also found that it was not possible to get suitable accommodations in
+Melbourne for business. There was no building there that was large
+enough. In order to get one sufficiently commodious, I had to build it.
+Accordingly, we put up at the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth Streets,
+opposite the railway station, the biggest structure in the city. It cost
+a pretty penny. The building was 140 feet deep, 40 feet wide and three
+stories high. The date, "1854," was cut in stone at the top. The edifice
+cost $60,000. I imported iron shutters from England to make it
+fireproof.
+
+It was also necessary to have a building at Sandridge, a warehouse in
+which to store our goods until they were needed in Melbourne, or until
+they were shipped for America or Europe. In putting up this building, I
+resolved to make an experiment. This was to have the building made in
+Boston, and shipped out to me to be erected at Sandridge, thousands of
+miles away. If successful, the warehouse would cost much less and would
+be of better material and in better style than anything I could get in
+Australia. It reached Sandridge all right and was put up at the end of
+the little line of railway, at a cost of $25,000. It was 60 feet deep by
+40 feet wide, and six stories high.
+
+With a warehouse at each end of the line, with all the business credit
+that I could wish, and with the best connections in the world, we were
+prepared to do a big business in Melbourne. How far we succeeded may be
+inferred from the fact that my commissions the first year amounted to
+$95,000.
+
+Melbourne was a small but promising city. It had some 20,000 population
+at the time of the gold-fever, and had grown tremendously in the last
+two or three years, so that, in '54, it must have had something like
+30,000 or 40,000 inhabitants. It was, of course, a frontier town, crude
+and raw, with few of the advantages of civilization. The people were too
+busy with their search for gold and profits to think much of the
+conveniences or luxuries of life. The only good hotel, for instance, was
+the Squatters' Hotel, at Port Philip. There was not even a merchants'
+exchange, although one was greatly needed. The merchants had simply
+never heard of such a thing. I arranged with Salmi Morse, who afterward
+tried to introduce the Passion Play in this country, to assist him in
+putting up a building that could be used for a hotel, theater, and
+mercantile exchange. The hotel was the Criterion, and we had a hall in
+the building for the exchange. The latter was the means of bringing
+together ship captains, merchants, agents, and business men generally,
+and a great stimulus was given to business.
+
+I was able to introduce into Australia a great many articles and ideas
+from America. I brought over from Boston a lot of "Concord" wagons, of
+the same type as the one that "Ben" Holliday drove across the continent,
+and I told Freeman Cobb, who was then with Adams & Co., that I wanted
+him to start a line of coaches between Melbourne and the gold-mines, a
+distance of about sixty miles. I advanced the money for the enterprise,
+and a line was established, the first in Australia, to Geelong,
+Ballarat, Bendigo, and Castle Maine. These were the first coaches seen
+in that continent. The coaches cost in Australia $3,000 apiece.
+
+I had a chaise brought from Boston for my own use. It was so light in
+comparison with the great, heavy, lumbering vehicles that were in use in
+all English countries, that the people there said it would break down
+immediately. They had not heard of Holmes's "Wonderful One-horse Shay
+that ran a hundred years to a day," and did not, of course, know the
+toughness of all "Yankee" things. It didn't break down, and its
+lightness and general serviceableness made it a big advertisement of
+American goods. People urged me to import a great many vehicles from
+America. Every ship brought out wagons of the Concord make, chaises, and
+vehicles of all sorts. Our carriages and buggies attracted much
+attention. They were the first vehicles of the sort that had ever been
+seen in the country. I sold these at a great profit.
+
+A great disappointment and loss occurred, however, through the
+carelessness of the American shippers, on one occasion. They had sent a
+cargo of carriages, and I was certain of a large profit on the shipment.
+What was my surprise and horror, on the arrival of the cargo, to
+discover that the stupid shippers had sent only the tops of the
+carriages! The bodies of the vehicles had actually been shipped to San
+Francisco!
+
+A thing that greatly surprised me, in a land of Englishmen, Scotchmen,
+and Irishmen, was that there were no sports in Australia. It seems more
+strange now, after Kipling's fierce denunciation of the "padded fools at
+the wickets and the muddied oafs at the goal." As I had always been fond
+of outdoor sport, I at once introduced bowling and ten-pins, opened an
+alley and organized a club which was composed of Australian
+bankers--Manager Blackwood of the Union Bank, MacArthur of the Bank of
+Australia, Badcock of the Bank of New South Wales, Bramhall of the
+London Chartered Bank, O'Shaughnessy of the Bank of Australasia, and
+Mathieson of the Bank of Victoria. I mention these names here merely for
+convenience, and to bring together some of the men with whom I was
+associated in social and in business life in Melbourne. They represented
+some $200,000,000 of capital. MacArthur had a beautiful bungalow four
+miles out of Melbourne, where he invited me to shoot.
+
+I found living at a hotel very dreary and very inconvenient, and decided
+to have a home of my own. So I got a two-story house at Collingwood,
+near the residence of Governor Latrobe, just out of the city. Here I
+accommodated my clerks, also. I took the stewardess, Undine, and the
+steward from one of our ships, and was able to set up quite an
+establishment. The United States consul, J. M. Tarleton, and his wife,
+lived with us for a time.
+
+After I had been in Melbourne nearly a year I was guilty of a small
+piece of patriotism that has ever since seemed very amusing to me. I had
+been reared in the belief that every American-born boy has a chance to
+become President of the United States. I had also the idea that a child
+born out of the United States was not, in this sense, American-born. My
+wife expected to give birth to a child in a few months, and, like most
+parents, we fully expected it would be a son. So what should I do, in
+order not to rob my son of the chance of becoming President of his
+country, but send the mother across the seas to Boston, that he might be
+born on the soil of the United States! It was not until some little time
+after this that I learned that nationality follows the parents, and that
+Presidents may be born anywhere, if they are careful in the matter of
+their parents. The expected boy was a girl--if I may be pardoned an
+Irish bull. This was my daughter Sue, who could never be President,
+unless the Woman's Suffrage movement moves along very much faster than
+it has up to this time.
+
+I have not mentioned my partner in the Australian venture, since I said
+that he and our clerks sailed away from Boston for Melbourne on the
+Plymouth Rock--a curious reversal of history, for the West was going to
+exploit the East, and it was singular that a vessel with the historic
+name of Plymouth Rock should have been chosen to bear this new
+Argonautic expedition into the South Seas. Captain Caldwell, as I have
+said, was an elderly man, sober and conservative. He had been a
+sea-captain for many years, and was a man of considerable experience. It
+was the expectation of the Boston shippers that his conservatism would
+serve as a check upon my rashness and venturesomeness.
+
+Captain Caldwell, however, did not like Australia, but his presence did
+not prevent my plunging into whatever speculation or enterprise seemed
+inviting. The country was full of chances, and I should have been
+stupid, indeed, not to have availed myself of them as far as possible.
+But the rough life did not suit Captain Caldwell, although he was
+accustomed to roughing it at sea; and he wanted to return to America. So
+I consented to his return. He went in the same ship with my wife, the
+Red Jacket, which, by the way, was then to make one of the
+record-breaking voyages of the world. Although he had been in Melbourne
+only a few months, I gave him $7,500, which was the share belonging to
+him of the estimated profit in our business.
+
+There was still another incident connected with this voyage of the Red
+Jacket which made it memorable in my experiences. I have mentioned that
+the phrenologist Bridges said, in England, some years before this, that
+I should become either a great reformer or a great pirate. In Melbourne,
+one day, I found myself face to face with a charge of piracy! I was
+accused of trying to make away with some $2,000,000 of gold, which I had
+put on the Red Jacket for shipment to London.
+
+It happened in this way. It was of course customary to have all bills of
+lading signed by the ship's captain. But Captain Reid, of the Red
+Jacket, had been arrested, at the instance of one of the passengers, and
+the ship was libeled on account of a claim. For this reason, Captain
+Reid had not been present to sign the bills of lading. In Boston, I had
+often signed bills of lading in the absence of the captain, so I had had
+no hesitancy as to my course in this emergency. I considered that I had
+a perfect right to sign the bills, and so I did sign them for the
+$2,000,000 in gold, putting it "George Francis Train, for the captain."
+
+Now, the English are a conservative people. When they see anything new
+it "frights" them. They can not understand why there should ever be
+occasion for any new thing under the sun. When the Melbourne banks saw
+that I had signed the papers, they were scared nearly out of their
+boots. They had never heard of such a procedure, and thought their
+insurance was gone.
+
+But this was not all. The Red Jacket was the fastest clipper that had
+then visited Melbourne, and it occurred to these bankers that I was
+going to run off with this gold, and become a Captain Kidd or a
+buccaneering Morgan. They grounded their fears upon the facts that my
+wife was aboard, that Captain Caldwell, my partner and friend, was also
+a passenger, and they believed that Captain Reid was on board, although
+under arrest. To suspicious bankers, here was a really strong case
+against me.
+
+In the meanwhile, the Red Jacket, with her trim sails bellied with the
+wind, and sweeping along in a way of her own that nothing in the South
+Seas could imitate or approach, was passing down Hobson's Bay. The
+Government and the Melbourne authorities despatched two men-of-war after
+her. There was no possibility of her being overhauled by these craft,
+and I gave orders to make for Point Nepean. The sheriffs from Melbourne,
+who thought Captain Reid was aboard, stayed on the ship, but I ordered
+them put off at the Point. They were furious, but could do nothing,
+since they could not act for Melbourne at sea under the Stars and
+Stripes. Accordingly, they were put on a tug and taken back to
+Melbourne. Immediately after the sheriffs left the boat, a little yacht,
+the Flying Eagle, with Captain Reid aboard, came alongside, and the
+captain was put on the Red Jacket, just outside the jurisdiction of
+Australia.
+
+The Red Jacket caught the wind again, and showed her clean heels to the
+slow-sailing men-of-war giving chase. She made the run to Liverpool in
+sixty-four days.
+
+The authorities and the bankers of Melbourne did not like the
+proceedings at all, but saw that they could do nothing. There was great
+anxiety in Australia for two months and more. When it was learned that
+the $2,000,000 of gold had been landed in Liverpool without the loss of
+a farthing, I was heartily congratulated, although the British spirit
+never forgave the taking of matters into my own hands and making the
+best of a bad situation. Their conservatism had received a shock.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE GOLD-FEVER IN NEW SOUTH WALES AND TASMANIA
+
+1853-1855
+
+
+During my stay in Melbourne the gold-fever was at its height. I was
+particularly interested in the mines, and went to Ballarat to see how
+the British managed these things. It was while I was there, as it
+happened, that the great "bonanza nugget" was discovered. I shall never
+forget the impression that this discovery and its tragic ending made
+upon my mind. It is a story that the world has heard many times,
+perhaps, and as many times forgotten; but for one who felt its terrible
+lesson stamped hot upon his heart, it is unforgettable.
+
+There were lucky and unlucky miners in Australia, as there have been
+everywhere else in the world's gold-fields. Many found great nuggets
+that contained fortunes--"infinite riches in a little room"--while many
+more found nothing but infinite hardship and heart-breaking misery.
+Among the army of broken men, there was a "hobo" named Hooligan who had
+not found any gold, could no longer find even work, and was starving.
+One day he went to the owners of a mine or shaft that had been worked
+out, and asked permission to go down to try his luck. They consented.
+The desperate fellow took his pick and descended to the bottom of the
+shaft. In a few minutes he was worth a fortune. He had found the biggest
+nugget ever taken out of the earth's treasure-house. Two hundred feet
+below the surface of the ground, he had driven his pick, by merest
+chance, against a lump of gold that would have transmuted Midas's wand
+into better metal.
+
+He came up out of the shaft, knowing that he had found a pretty big sum,
+but did not realize how much it was. The nugget was brought up and
+weighed. It had exactly the weight of a barrel of flour, 196 pounds. He
+was rich. That morning he had been a beggar, and now he was the richest
+miner in the fields. They weighed the gold carefully, and told him that
+he was a rich man.
+
+"Is--all--that--mine?" he asked, as if the words were as heavy as the
+big nugget and as valuable. They told him it was. "It doesn't belong to
+the Government?" "No." "All mine," he said in a whisper, and dropped to
+the floor, dead.
+
+No one knew him. His name even was not known. He was a mere restless
+wanderer upon the face of the earth, and had broken his heart over the
+biggest nugget, the richest piece of gold, on the globe. And so the
+nugget became the property of the Government, after all.
+
+Capt. David D. Porter, who was afterward admiral of the United States
+navy, visited Melbourne while I was there, and I gave him a reception,
+at which he met the prominent people of the colony. He was a relative of
+mine. I was very proud of him then, though more so later. He was in
+command of the Golden Age, which was afterward famous for the Black
+Warrior incident. He invited my wife and myself to go with him in his
+ship to Sydney, New South Wales. We had a delightful trip around the
+island. The ship made as great a sensation in Sydney as it had made in
+Melbourne. The American flag had rarely been seen above a man-of-war in
+those waters. At Sydney we met Sir Charles Fitzroy, Governor of New
+South Wales, as well as prominent people in civil and official life. Sir
+Charles Fitzroy was a survival of the old "beau" days of the court of
+the last of the Georges, and had the heavy courtesy of that time, when
+everything said or done was accompanied by a low bow and a gracious
+smile. He entertained us handsomely at Government House. We were also
+entertained by Sir Charles Nicholson, at his beautiful country seat. I
+had the peculiar pleasure, while in Australia, of fulfilling one of the
+prophecies of Sidney Smith, made when he had been editor of the
+Quarterly Review some forty years before. He said, I remembered, that in
+half a century cargoes of tea--the luxury that England of his day and
+ours regards as an infallible evidence of civilization--would be landed
+at the docks of Sydney. He referred to Port Jackson, which is now
+dominated by the thriving city of Sydney, and was then one of the most
+promising ports of the South Seas. I was, at that time, receiving tea on
+consignment from Nye, of Canton, China, called the "Napoleon of tea
+trade," and it occurred to me that Australia should be a good market for
+it. Three cargoes came from Canton, with instructions that if the market
+at Melbourne proved unfavorable, one of the cargoes should be shipped to
+Sydney. It was accordingly sent there, fulfilling the prophecy of Sydney
+Smith, and opening the tea trade of that portion of Australia.
+
+Sir Charles Nicholson, before we were there, entertained Commodore
+Wilkes, who was visiting Australia, and who afterward stirred up Great
+Britain by removing forcibly from the British mail-steamer Trent the
+Confederate States' agents, Mason and Slidell. I was surprised to find
+in the harbor two of our old packets, the Anglo-American and the
+Washington Irving, Captain Caldwell's packet, under changed names. They
+had been sold to English ship-owners.
+
+Sydney was not a large place at this time, although it was growing fast.
+It may be well to recall here that it had been founded as a penal
+colony, the effects of which had not entirely passed away at the time of
+my visit, although no convicts had arrived since '41, I believe. The
+influence of Botany Bay had also been felt by Sydney. I was struck by
+the beautiful, narrow, rock-bound entrance to the harbor. It gives to
+the port many miles of seashore, and is so winding that when Captain
+Cook, who discovered it, sailed in and anchored in Botany Bay, some of
+his sailors reported that they saw from the masthead a large inland lake
+in the interior. The "lake" proved to be only an apparent one, produced
+by one of the many windings of the beautiful, sinuous arm of the sea,
+eventually to hold in its embrace the fine city of Sydney.
+
+We returned from Sydney to Melbourne after a short but delightful visit.
+Shortly after leaving port we ran into one of the most terrific storms I
+have ever experienced. It was the right time of the year for gales to
+appear, and this one, as is characteristic of the wild nature of the
+South Seas, seemed to spring from a clear sky and unruffled waters. If
+our boat had been one of the usual type of merchantmen, it must
+certainly have gone down. But the Golden Age was stanch and strong. She
+battled with the seas as with a human foe. In spite of her
+seaworthiness, however, almost every one aboard thought she could not
+withstand the repeated shock of waves that tumbled in mountains against
+her bows.
+
+In the midst of the storm, I saw one of the most prominent and richest
+merchants of Sydney coming across the deck, thrown hither and thither by
+the tossings of the ship, and carrying in his hands a very heavy
+package. "For the love of goodness, what have you there?" I asked in
+amazement. He made no direct reply, and I thought him too much terrified
+to speak, but he finally came close up to me and said: "Mr. Train, I
+know you have some influence here on the ship. I have brought with me
+one thousand sovereigns. They are here"--and he tapped the bag he
+carried in his hands. "I want you to go with me to the captain and give
+him this amount for putting me off in a small boat." "A small boat would
+not live a minute in this sea," I said. "I am prepared," he replied, "to
+take my chances, as it would be better there than here, for the ship may
+go down any moment." I refused to go to the captain with so foolish a
+request, and urged him to be calm, as the ship was stout and would
+weather the storm. He could not calm himself, but fretted and fumed in
+terror. As fortune favored us, the gale suddenly stopped, sweeping on
+away from us as swiftly as it had come. The rich merchant soon took his
+thousand sovereigns back to his room.
+
+I have stated already that I was the agent for Boston insurance people.
+This, of course, made me somewhat solicitous about the safety of all
+vessels in those waters. One morning the entire city of Melbourne was
+startled by the news that a great clipper had gone down or ashore on
+Flinder's Island, off Point Nepean. Later we learned that she was
+ashore, and that signals of distress were flying from her masthead and
+rigging. Of course, I was much alarmed, and began at once to see what
+could be done to save the ship and crew. I got a tug, and was soon
+taking a rescue party down Hobson's Bay. We steamed as fast as the tug's
+engines would carry her through the driving seas. As we neared the
+wreck, we saw that the ship was the Whistler from Boston. She seemed to
+be a complete wreck, and with our glasses we could not discover any sign
+of life aboard her.
+
+I did not give up the venture there, however, but directed the captain
+of the tugboat to make directly for the island. I had a vague hope that
+the crew had somehow managed to get ashore in the boats or on floating
+timbers. The captain did not relish this part of his work, and his fears
+were soon justified, for we very narrowly escaped shipwreck ourselves in
+the wild seas. We had, finally, to wait until the waves went down a
+little, before attempting to land on Flinder's Island. We got up as near
+as we could, however, and then we saw signals flying from shore. We
+signaled in reply, and the wrecked crew understood that we were waiting
+for the sea to run less wildly before attempting to reach land.
+
+The wind died down slowly, and it was hours before we could approach
+the coast. As soon as possible, I got out with a crew in a small boat
+and went to the island. We had a most difficult time in getting through
+the surf and avoiding the breakers, but we finally reached shore. There
+we found Captain Brown with his wife, the ship's officers and the crew,
+all alive and well. They had managed to live on shell-fish and
+wallaby--the small bush kangaroos. They had not been able to take
+anything from the ship, and could not, of course, reach her after she
+had been abandoned. We got them all aboard the tug, and carried them
+safely to Melbourne. The American consul afterward sent them all home by
+way of Liverpool. This was the second rescue of shipwrecked crew and
+passengers that I had made, and I felt a little too proud of it, I
+suppose.
+
+About this time the British and Colonial Governments decided to settle
+Tasmania with free emigrants. The idea was to pay the expenses of all
+who wanted to go to that island, and the Governments made a contract
+with the White Star Line to transport the settlers. The British
+Government was to pay one half the expense, and the Colonial Government
+the remainder. The contract was signed by Henry T. Wilson, manager of
+the White Star Line, the sailing-ship pioneers of Morgan's mammoth
+steamship combination, who sent all the papers to me at Melbourne, as
+representing the company, to see that the terms of the agreement were
+carried out. He also requested me to go to Hobart Town (now called
+Hobart) to be there when the first ship-load of emigrants arrived to
+collect the money for the passage. I immediately took steamer for Hobart
+Town, and I shall never forget the pleasure of that voyage. It was a
+revelation. The trip up the estuary to Hobart Town was delightful, and
+the scenery, I think, was altogether the most charming I had seen in the
+Southern world. At Hobart Town I was received by Mr. Chapman, a shipping
+merchant, to whom I had written in advance, and he made me stay with him
+at his beautiful bungalow, on the crest of a high hill, commanding a
+fine view of the city.
+
+The emigrants arrived in excellent condition. They were the first free
+settlers of Tasmania. There had not been a death aboard ship, and the
+moment the newcomers arrived they were employed, for the city of Hobart
+Town was very thriving, and there was an abundance of work to be done. I
+again had the pleasure of feeling that in this, as in other enterprises,
+I was an argonaut and a pioneer.
+
+I was astonished to find so many persons of prominence, especially in
+the world of letters, settled in this far-away colony of England. At
+Hobart Town I found the Powers, the Howitts (whose books were then
+tremendously popular), and Thorne, the author of Orion. Then, as now,
+this colony was regarded as the most pleasant portion of the vast
+possessions of Great Britain in the South Seas. The climate and the
+aspects of the country were far more pleasant than those of Australia,
+some fifty miles distant across Bass Straits.
+
+At the time of my visit the whole world was talking about the various
+efforts being made to discover the remains of the ill-fated expedition
+to the North Pole that had been led by the former governor of Tasmania,
+the much-beloved Sir John Franklin. He had gone to the north in 1845,
+and nothing had been heard of him since. His wife was supposed to be
+mourning for him in solitude.
+
+Curiosity led me to the house where this famous governor and adventurous
+explorer had lived, and the janitor, a trusted old servant, showed me
+over the building. It was one of those enormous structures which the
+English build for the edification and amazement of the natives in their
+colonies. I had heard and read a great deal about Sir John and the
+lovely woman that was mourning his long absence, and I entered the
+silent house with a feeling that I was trespassing upon a great and
+unutterable grief. Imagine my astonishment--I may say, horror--to learn
+that Lady Franklin, or Lady Jane, as she was generally called, had for
+years lived at one end of the long house, while Sir John had lived at
+the other, and that, as the story went, they had not spoken to each
+other for years. She seemed certainly to have had the grace to assume a
+virtue she did not possess, and apparently mourned her lost lord for
+years, and spent much of her time in liberal charities. This is the
+first time I have referred in any way to this unknown unhappiness of Sir
+John Franklin. It was not known to many people in Tasmania at the time,
+and I suppose that it is known now only to members of the two families,
+the Franklins and the Griffins.
+
+As I had come half around the island of Tasmania, approaching Hobart
+Town from the sea, I had seen nothing of the interior of the country, so
+I determined--after finishing my business in Hobart Town--to cross the
+island to Launceston. There is now a railway running directly across,
+but at that time there was only a stage route. Stages ran every other
+day. I engaged passage in the mail-coach, the same style of coach that
+had been used for hundreds of years in England and Scotland, still as
+rough and cumbersome as when first devised. There, too, was the old
+Tudor driver and the Restoration guard. Nothing was wanting. The coach
+looked to me as if it had been taken from behind the scenes of some old
+comedy--a piece of stage property.
+
+But if the stage was antiquated and out of touch with the modern stir of
+the world, the driver was not. I asked him what he thought would be the
+proper thing in the way of a "tip," as I did not know the ways of
+Tasmania. "That depends, sir," he said, "upon whom we are riding with."
+That settled the business for me, for my tip then had to be a sort of
+measure of my self-esteem. I was literally cornered, and had to give him
+a big tip, in sheer self-defense.
+
+The road to Launceston was an excellent one, a macadam built by
+convicts, and the scenery was the most beautiful I had seen in
+Australasia. When I arrived at Launceston I had to get a pass to leave
+the country, as it had been necessary to have a passport to enter it.
+The British were very particular whom they permitted to leave Tasmania,
+and whom they allowed to go there.
+
+Near Launceston I saw the room in which Francis, who was afterward a
+member of the cabinet of the colony of Victoria and one of the ablest
+and most energetic men of Australasia, had his famous and terrible fight
+with a burglar. This fight has become a tradition all over the colonies
+and is still recalled as one of the thrilling experiences of early days.
+One night Francis heard a noise in his dining-room. He was up late,
+studying in his library, and as the country was infested by desperate
+convicts who had escaped from the camps, he at once went to the room to
+see whether a burglar had broken in.
+
+Peering through the keyhole, he saw a man with a dark lantern putting
+the family plate into a bag. Francis came to a decision at once as to
+what to do. He would enter the room, and fight it out with the robber.
+Silently opening the door, he entered, and then quickly locked the door
+and threw away the key. Immediately there was a desperate fight. The
+burglar finding himself entrapped, turned upon Francis and tried to kill
+him with a huge knife. Francis caught his arm, and a struggle to the
+death began. Several times the burglar wrenched his hand free and
+slashed at Francis, but the plucky fellow did not flinch. He fought
+until he had conquered the robber, threw him to the floor, and bound his
+hands behind him. Francis was himself so badly cut that he was in sight
+of death for weeks.
+
+The exploits of the convict Tracy out in Oregon remind me of a far more
+terrible case in Australia that occurred while I was there. The country
+was a sort of frontier, in the Western sense, from one end to the other.
+It was quite possible that a desperate convict lurked in every patch of
+bush, who would as soon kill you as ask for bread. But news came to
+Melbourne one day that a convict had escaped in a peculiarly terrifying
+manner. He was no ordinary man. He had coolly killed two jailers, or
+guards, having taken from them their own weapons. Then, going to the
+water, he ordered a boatman to row him out to a vessel so that he might
+escape from the country. The boatman, not knowing the character of the
+man he was dealing with, refused, and was shot dead instantly. The
+fugitive then rowed out to the vessel in the dead man's boat, and
+demanded of the captain that he take him aboard and carry him to
+Melbourne. The captain refused, and he also was shot dead, and with
+loaded pistol the convict then compelled the mate to take him to
+Melbourne. After he landed he began a forlorn attempt to save himself
+from his pursuers.
+
+This beginning in his career of murder was sufficiently terrible to give
+the entire region a shock, when it became known that he was at large and
+headed for Melbourne. He was next heard of when he reached Hobson's Bay
+at Sandridge. Here he found a farmer plowing in the field. The convict
+needed his horse, and shooting the farmer, rode away. Another farmer
+followed him, and in turn was killed.
+
+By this time, of course, the whole country was aroused--even the
+police--and parties were hurriedly formed to capture the murderers, for
+no one at the time could believe that it was only one man who was
+committing all these crimes. When he was last seen, he was heading,
+apparently, for Ballarat, where, perhaps, he hoped to be joined by other
+men as desperate as himself. Ballarat was about one hundred miles
+distant, and a posse started in pursuit. Nothing was heard or seen of
+the convict for fifty miles, when one of the party saw a man near a
+squatter's hut carrying another man in his arms. This seemed to be a
+somewhat curious proceeding, and the posse immediately closed in about
+the man. Just as did Tracy, this man shot the leader of the party. The
+others then pushed ahead and captured him before he could kill any one
+else. In the hut they found nine men, tied with ropes. It was not
+understood what use the convict expected to make of them. All were
+uninjured. At the time of his capture, the convict had killed fourteen
+men.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OTHER AUSTRALIAN INCIDENTS--A REVOLUTION
+
+
+Once I tried to be President of the United States. Before that I had
+been offered the presidency of the Australian Republic. It is true that
+there was no Australian Republic at that exact moment, but it looked to
+thousands that there might be one very soon. There was a revolution, or,
+as it should be called, a rebellion, for it was unsuccessful, in which I
+had taken no part or shown any sympathy, but the revolutionists, or
+rebels, offered me the chieftaincy of their government, as soon as they
+could establish it.
+
+It came about in this way. In '54 the miners in the fields of Ballarat
+and Bendigo were in a state of intense ferment. They were discontented
+with existing conditions--their luck in the mines, the way they were
+treated by the Government and the mine proprietors, and especially by
+the utter failure of the Government to protect them in their rights
+against the capitalists. The particular cause of quarrel, however, was
+the licenses.
+
+When I went to Australia, the reader may easily believe, there was very
+little feeling for, or knowledge of, the United States. I at once
+undertook to spread the gospel of Americanism, and introduced the
+celebration of the Fourth of July. The colonists of England have always
+been quite friendly to the people of the United States, having a kindred
+feeling, and all of them have been looking forward to a day when they,
+too, might have a free country to claim for their own, and not merely a
+red spot on the map of Great Britain. For this reason, the Australians
+took kindly to the idea of celebrating the independence of the United
+States, as formerly a colony of Great Britain.
+
+When the miners, who had heard of my "spread-eagleism," as it has since
+been called, started their little revolt against the government of the
+British, they thought of me and offered me the presidency of the
+republic they wanted to create. In the meantime, they elected me their
+representative in the colonial legislature of the miners about
+Maryborough, where they held a great meeting. I could not have taken my
+seat if I had desired it, and as I did not desire it, of course I
+declined. The imaginary presidency I declined, also, as I neither wanted
+it, nor could I have obtained it. The "Five-Star Republic," as it was
+called, was not to be anything but a dream, and the "revolution" of
+Ballarat was only a nightmare.
+
+Soon after I declined these honors, there was a terrible riot at
+Ballarat. The whole mining district had risen against the Government, as
+Latrobe, the governor, had made himself most unpopular by his policy of
+procrastination. Everything connected with the mining fields, he seemed
+to think, could as well be looked after next year as this. The
+resentment of the miners had at last become uncontrollable. But, slow as
+they were about redressing the grievances of the miners, the British
+were fast enough in the business of protecting themselves and in putting
+down disturbances with a firm and heavy hand. Latrobe waited until the
+thing had almost got beyond him. He felt that he was all right with the
+old "squatters," whom he understood and who understood him; but he did
+not realize that the new element, the thousands of miners that had
+floated in from every nation of the globe, did not understand him or his
+ways. They were accustomed to having matters attended to with despatch,
+and could not tolerate the slow conservatism and unchangeableness of the
+English civil office. Personally he was a good man; but otherwise, he
+was as I have described.
+
+The first fruits of the dilatory policy was the sacrifice of forty men.
+Captain Wise and forty of his troops were cut to pieces by the enraged
+miners, who had suddenly risen to fight for their rights. Governor
+Latrobe immediately called for troops from New Zealand, Tasmania, and
+New South Wales, to quell the rioters. The want of preparation of the
+revolters at once became apparent, and it was known that they had sent
+emissaries into Melbourne itself to buy arms and ammunition. The head of
+the insurrection was James McGill, who was an American citizen. He had
+disappeared from the neighborhood of Ballarat, and a reward of one
+thousand pounds sterling had been offered for his capture, dead or
+alive. In Melbourne there was almost a panic. Rumors were that the
+forests were filled with armed men marching to the destruction of the
+place. There were, it was authentically reported, 800 armed men at
+Warren Heap, about eighty miles distant, who were supposed to be
+meditating a raid. People hastened to secrete their jewelry, gold was
+placed in vaults, the banks were guarded, and a special police force was
+sworn in.
+
+Just as the excitement was at its height, it was reported that James
+McGill was in the neighborhood of the city. I was sitting in my office
+one morning, during these days of fear, when a man walked in, as cool as
+if he were merely going to discuss the weather or some trifle of
+business. "I hear," he said, "that you have some $80,000 worth of Colt's
+revolvers in stock, and I have been sent down here to get them." I
+glanced up at the man, and took him in a little more closely. It came to
+me in a flash who he was. "Do you know," said I, "that there is a
+reward offered for your head of one thousand pounds?" "That does not
+mean anything," he said, and smiled as if it were a joke. "They can not
+do anything," he added, as if to allay any fears that I might have.
+
+I again took him in, and thought of my $60,000 warehouse that we were
+then standing in, of the $25,000 warehouse at the other end of the
+railway, and of all my interests in Melbourne, under which we were
+placing a powder mine, and playing over it with lighted torches. "This
+will not do," I said. "You have no right to compromise me in this way."
+"We have elected you president of our republic," he added. "Damn the
+republic!" said I. "Do you mean to tell me that you refuse to be our
+chief?" said he. "I do," I said. "I am not here to lead or encourage
+revolutions, but to carry on my business. I have nothing whatever to do
+with governments or politics; and you must get out of here, if you do
+not want to be hanged yourself, and ruin me." I told him there was not
+the slightest possibility of success, as Great Britain would crush the
+revolt by sheer weight of men, if she could not beat its leaders in any
+other way.
+
+Just then there came a rap at the door, which I had taken the precaution
+to close and lock. I hurried to the door and asked who was there, and
+the reply was that it was Captain McMahon, chief of police. He said to
+me: "Do you know that rascal McGill is in the city? His men are at
+Warren Heap, but he himself has actually come into Melbourne! I want a
+dozen of those Concord wagons of yours immediately." I made a motion of
+my hand to make McGill understand that he must keep quiet. Then I began
+to talk rapidly with the chief of police, and took him to the farther
+end of the warehouse, shutting the door of my office behind us. No more
+wagons were there, for the Government had already got all I had, but I
+wanted time to think. When we had looked around, and had seen that there
+were no wagons, Captain McMahon left, and I hurried back to McGill.
+
+"Now, McGill," I said, "I am not going to betray you, but am going to
+save your life. You must do as I tell you." He looked at me for a
+moment, and said, "But I am not going back on my comrades." "You will
+have no comrades soon, but will be in the hands of the officers
+yourself, if you do not do exactly as I tell you." He finally consented
+to do as I advised.
+
+As soon as I saw that the way was clear, I took him out into the street
+to the nearest barber, where I had his hair cut and his mustache shaved
+off, and then made him put on a workman's suit of clothes. We then got
+into my chaise, and I drove him down to the bay and took him aboard one
+of our ships that was about to sail, and told the men that I had brought
+a new stevedore. McGill pitched in and worked along with the men, and
+there was nothing to show that he was in any way connected with the
+revolution of Ballarat, much less its leader.
+
+Three days later the ship sailed, and McGill went on through England to
+America. This ended the whole affair of the revolution, the chase of the
+leader, and my chance of being President of the Five-Star Republic!
+
+One day a man, wearing a jaunty silk hat, came into my office. "I see
+you bring in rum from New England," said he. "How much have you on
+hand?" I went over the invoices, and told him. He then asked if I gave
+the same terms as other dealers in Melbourne. "Yes," said I; "cash."
+"Oh, no," said he. "I get three months' time." He showed me a contract
+he had just signed with Denniston Brothers & Co., of New York,
+represented in Melbourne by McCullagh & Sellars, for L3,000 payable in
+three months. I was astonished. The house had branches in all of the
+great cities of the world. I told the gentlemanly-looking fellow who
+wanted the rum that if Denniston could afford to trust him for $15,000,
+I thought we could trust him for $3,000. I took pains to see, however,
+that our paper bore an earlier date than that of Denniston. But this
+precaution amounted to nothing against this shrewd manipulator. He gave
+his name as John Boyd.
+
+By the end of the week, I began to grow a little suspicious, and sent my
+clerk to the office of Mr. Boyd early on Monday morning. The office was
+closed, and there was no Mr. Boyd there. He had gone to Sydney, and that
+was the last seen of Boyd in Australia. He had "buncoed" us and
+Denniston & Co. in the easiest sort of way. I really felt cheated, it
+was done so smoothly. I had not got the worth of my money, as I should
+have done had I been harder to deceive. There had been no sport in that.
+
+I next heard of Boyd at Singapore; but I was to run up against him
+later. In '61, when I was giving a junketing trip to some people on the
+Union Pacific road, and a party of us were on the steamboat St. Joseph
+going to Omaha, a man came up to me and claimed an acquaintance.
+Although more than twelve years had passed, I recognized him at once as
+the John Boyd who had got the better of me in that little trade in
+Melbourne. I pretended not to know him. I suppose he assumed that the
+matter had passed out of my mind and that his face was no longer
+familiar to me. He coolly gave me his address on a card, and when I
+looked at it I saw "Noble & Co., Bankers, Des Moines, Iowa." I knew him
+by his broken nose, that would have betrayed him at the ends of the
+earth.
+
+Perhaps the thing I enjoyed most in Australia was the introduction of
+American articles--"Yankee notions," the people there called them--into
+Australia, even against the prejudice of the colonists. They would fight
+hard against everything that was new or American, but I took a delight
+in overcoming their bias, and forcing them to accept our ideas. I made a
+calculation once of the things that I had introduced into Australia, and
+they amounted to something like fifty. Among these were such common
+things as the light wagon, the buggy, shovels, and hoes, and--wonderful
+to think of when one hears and reads so much in these days of the "tins"
+that the British army consumes--tinned, or canned, goods. These had not
+been heard of, and I saw at once that there was a fine chance for some
+profitable business. English packers could not begin to compete with us.
+On one cargo that I brought in from New London, Conn., we made a profit
+of 200 per cent. And now "Tommy Atkins" lives on the "tins" that we
+introduced as a method of carrying provisions from one end of the world
+to the other.
+
+I suppose that it was from a part of the returns from this profitable
+shipment that the owners of the goods founded the Soldiers' Home at
+Noroton, Conn., during the civil war. I must record here a curious
+incident. It was in this home that a soldier carved a most elaborate
+design upon a cane which he gave to me, showing in brief outline the
+whole of my history. It was a wonderful piece of work, and I have kept
+it as a souvenir of the regard of this soldier in the home that was
+probably founded in part with the proceeds of the first great shipment
+of canned goods into Australia, and of my part in introducing this new
+trade into the South Seas.
+
+I had the opportunity of meeting some famous and curious people in
+Australia. On one of the celebrations of the 17th of March, I met a
+great many Irish patriots, among them Smith O'Brien, John Martin, and
+Donohue. I was an invited guest, and sat down with more than two hundred
+of the most prominent Irishmen of the Australasian colonies. When Smith
+O'Brien was in an Irish jail in '48, I asked him for his autograph. I
+have made it a point to collect the autographs of all the famous men and
+women I have met, and now have, perhaps, the finest collection of
+autographs to be seen in this country. O'Brien immediately wrote on a
+card the following verse:
+
+    "Whether on a gallows high,
+      Or in the battle's van,
+    The fittest place for man to die,
+      Is where he dies for man."
+
+This sentiment of the Irish poet was peculiarly appropriate for men,
+who, like the patriots and "rebels" about me, were facing prison or
+death at every hour.
+
+I shall bring together here some incidents of my life in Australia that
+are not closely connected with other events there. We made some
+tremendous profits in Melbourne, the sort that makes one's blood tingle,
+and transforms cool men into wild speculators. I have already mentioned
+the profit of 200 per cent on the cargo of canned goods. On a cargo of
+flour from Boston, 7,000 barrels, we made a profit of 200 per cent, the
+flour selling for L4 sterling the barrel. This flour had been shipped to
+us through John M. Forbes, of Boston, for Philo Shelton and Moses
+Taylor, the millionaire of New York.
+
+When I returned to New York in '57, during the panic, I met Taylor in
+Wall Street. He must have been in terrible need of money to keep his
+head above water, and he at once said to me: "Why did you charge me
+7-1/2 per cent commission for handling that cargo of flour in
+Melbourne?" I looked at him in astonishment. He had forgotten the
+enormous profit he had made on the shipment, and remembered now only the
+small matter of the commission he had been compelled to pay.
+
+I replied that the commission was our usual charge. He told me he was
+buying up his own paper in the street, and was not in temporary
+distress. "I do not think you should have charged me more than 5 per
+cent commission," he said. I was disgusted at this view of a transaction
+that had brought him in a profit that would have been considered
+marvelous even by a usurer. "All right," I said, "I will give you the
+difference now." And I gave him a check for $2,500.
+
+I met a large number of actors and actresses in Melbourne, for it was
+quite the custom as early as that for stars of the stage, whether
+tragedians like Edwin Booth, or dancers like Lola Montez, to make a
+tour of the world and take in Australia on the circuit. I was astonished
+to meet Booth and Laura Keene, "stranded," one day, although they had
+made a successful tour in England. They did not appeal to the rough
+audiences of Australia, and so did not have enough money to take them
+back to the States. It so happened that I had just bought the City of
+Norfolk to send to San Francisco as the pioneer of a new line, which is
+now thoroughly established, and making rapid passages between the two
+ports. I gave them free passage to San Francisco. Laura Keene frequently
+mentioned the fact in "asides" on the stage, but I never received a word
+of thanks or appreciation from Booth. Kate Hayes and Bushnell also
+visited Australia while I was there, and I gave them a concert and
+started them off on their tour.
+
+But the greatest sensation that was created in the theatrical world of
+Australia during my stay was made by Lola Montez, the dancer from
+Madrid. She danced and pirouetted on the necks and hearts of men. The
+rough mining element went wild over her, and she had the wealth and rank
+of Melbourne at her feet. One morning she burst into my office, and
+called out in her quaint accent, "Is Mr. George Francis Train here? Tell
+him that I am his old friend from Boston, and that I have just arrived
+from San Francisco." She had called to make a complaint against the
+captain of our ship, whom she wanted us to discharge for some supposed
+discourtesy to her. We patched up this quarrel, and I did everything I
+could to insure her a successful season in Melbourne. She had a
+tremendous vogue, and danced before crowded houses.
+
+One night I called at the green-room of the theater to see her, sending
+in my card. I had seated myself on the sofa to wait until she finished
+her dancing. Suddenly the door flew open, and in rushed something that
+looked like a great ball of feathers. This ball flew toward me and I was
+enveloped in a cloud of lace! The bold little dancer had thrown her foot
+over my head!
+
+My life in Australia, now drawing to a close, as I had made arrangements
+for leaving there to continue my business operations in Japan, had been
+very charming and profitable. Everything was novel and strange to me,
+and it all made a deep and lasting impression upon my mind, which was
+then eagerly receptive.
+
+I find, in recalling these impressions, that my first idea of Australia
+still remains the most prominent one left in my memory. Australia was
+truly the antipodes. Everything seemed to be reversed, a topsy-turvy
+land. At Botany Bay I was astonished to find the swans were black,
+thereby demolishing our beautiful ideas about "milk-white" swans. The
+birds talked, screamed, or brayed, instead of singing, and the trees
+shed their bark instead of their leaves. The big end of the pears was
+at the stem, and cherry-stones grew on the outside of the fruit. I was
+sitting one day in the garden of the governor-general when I thought I
+felt some one tap me on the shoulder. Then my coat was wrenched off my
+back, and I turned just in time to see it disappear down the throat of a
+tame Australian ostrich, called an emu. The bird had taken me for a
+vegetable.
+
+Sidney Smith describes the kangaroo as an animal with the head of a
+rabbit, the body of a deer, a tail like a bed-post, and which, when in
+danger, puts its young into a pocket in its stomach. But the most
+marvelous of all the queer things of Australia, to my mind, was the
+animal that laid eggs like a hen, suckled its young like a goat, and was
+web-footed, like a duck. This was the duckbill, or water-mole, which the
+Australians called the Patybus.
+
+I also saw in Tasmania, and on Flinder's Island, the race of men that
+was then considered the most remarkable on the globe, the original
+Tasmanian savages; and I saw, also, the most curious weapon that man has
+ever invented, the boomerang. Holmes has described this weapon in one of
+his humorous verses:
+
+    "The boomerang, which the Australian throws,
+    Cuts its own circle, and hits you on the nose."
+
+I got one of the Bushmen to throw his boomerang for me. He threw it
+around a tree and the missile came back toward us. I fully expected to
+be sent sprawling. It dropped almost at the feet of the savage that
+threw it. Even gold in that land is found where it all ends in our
+country--in pockets!
+
+Before closing the account of my Australian experiences, I want to
+record that when I arrived in Melbourne that flourishing port was in a
+horrible condition for a city of its size and importance. Its streets
+were such as would not have been tolerated in an American city of half
+its size or one tenth its wealth. There were practically no public
+works. After I had been there for some little time, a plan was put on
+foot to improve the city. It moved along very slowly, as no one seemed
+to know exactly what to do, or how to do it. Finally, an elaborate
+program was drawn up, and all that was needed to carry it out was the
+money, which would have to be borrowed.
+
+The chairman of the improvement committee, or whatever it was called,
+came to see me to get me to undertake the floating of the necessary
+loan. I suggested a number of improvements, such as fire-engines, better
+office buildings, better paved streets, and new gas-works. All of these
+suggestions were accepted, and I forecast the floating of the loan. They
+got the money in London, and Melbourne was remodeled, so far as its
+appearance was concerned, and was finally made one of the most
+attractive cities in the British colonies. It now has a population of
+half a million.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A VOYAGE TO CHINA
+
+1855
+
+
+I have already referred to my purpose of going to Japan to establish a
+branch business there. This idea came to me in Australia, after
+Commodore Perry had opened the country to foreigners. It has always been
+my desire to be first on the ground, and I saw that Japan offered the
+greatest possible opportunities for trade of all sorts. I had fixed upon
+Yokohama as the place in which to open our branch house. The rapid
+development of that city since then, under new conditions, and the
+tremendous increase of its trade with Europe and America, as well as
+with India, China, and Australasia, have well justified my early
+judgment. I knew we could acquire great influence in the world of
+commerce, and become, perhaps, the greatest shipping house of the globe,
+with branch houses at Boston, Liverpool, Melbourne, and Yokohama.
+
+This is as good a place as any to give the reasons for the failure of
+these ambitious plans. I had gradually worked out the whole program,
+giving to it hours and days of careful and painstaking examination. I
+felt that the scheme was absolutely safe from every point of view. It
+was big and almost grandiose; but I felt it was sure to result in vast
+fortunes, in the building up of a trade that the world had never before
+conceived or dreamed of, and in the development of American commerce.
+
+In fact, I see now that I was more than half a century ahead of J.
+Pierpont Morgan. I should have formed a great shipping and navigation
+business that would have dwarfed anything else of the kind in the world.
+My plan was not limited to a few lines of ships between Europe and New
+York. It was not confined to an Atlantic ferry. I foresaw, as I fancied,
+American ships dominating the trade of all oceans. I saw the American
+merchant flag in every port of the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans,
+and doing the carrying trade of the world. I had some such vague idea
+when I introduced the fast clipper service between Boston, New York, and
+San Francisco, and, again, when I organized the fast sailing-ship
+service between Boston and Australia. But I did not see it all clear
+before me, as I saw it in Australia. The Orient had cleared my eyes.
+
+Of course, my first thought was for the up-building of our house. I
+wanted it to take the leading part in the stupendous task, and to
+become the first house of the world. All this could have been
+accomplished, except that I had to contend against the conservatism of
+New England, and the very easily understood desire of Colonel Train that
+his house should directly own all its ships. This was, of course,
+impossible. He could not own them, but he might control them. I urged
+upon him the policy of retaining a controlling interest only, and
+letting others come in, bringing the capital we should need for the
+greater enterprise. This was my idea of "combination," of a great
+"shipping combine," more than half a century before it was undertaken,
+in another way, by Mr. Morgan and his associates.
+
+Colonel Train's persistent demand that he should own all the ships, put
+an end to the plan. It not only put an end to a grand project, but put
+an end to his business. He was soon confronted with difficulties. The
+business had outgrown him and his limited means, had become unwieldy and
+unmanageable. As I had foreseen, it needed more men, more minds, more
+money; and these were not forthcoming. And so, in '57, Colonel Train was
+forced down, literally crushed beneath the weight of his own
+undertakings, as Tarpeia was crushed beneath the Sabine shields. He was
+the victim of his desire to own and dominate everything.
+
+Two years before this collapse of a great idea, I left Australia for
+Japan, by way of Java, Singapore, and China, with high hopes. I had
+visions, which were to accompany me for a year or two more, and then I
+had to abandon them and turn my attention to other fields. From
+Melbourne, I sailed on the Dashing Wave. Has it ever occurred to any one
+who writes or thinks of the old days of sailing vessels, those winged
+ships, that the very names of boats have changed, indicating the
+transformation from romance to reality, from poetry to mere prose and
+work-a-day business? In those days we had beautiful and suggestive names
+for ships, just as we ought to try to find beautiful and suggestive
+names for all truly beautiful and lovable things. Now we send out our
+City of Paris, or St. Louis, or St. Paul, or the Minneapolis, or the
+Astoria, or Kentucky, or Blaamanden, or Rotterdam, or Ryndam, or
+Noordam. Then we had such names as Flying Cloud, the clipper that
+shortened the distance between the ends of the world; the Sovereign of
+the Seas, the Monarch of the Ocean, the Flying Arrow, the Sea Eagle. The
+Dashing Wave, Captain Fiske, carried me to Batavia in twenty-six days.
+We were accompanied, for a portion of the trip, by the Flying Arrow.
+
+At Anjer, in the Straits of Sunda, the Malays came off to the ship in
+their little boats with provisions of all sorts to sell. Every one of
+them had letters of recommendation, as they thought, from the English
+captains and officers who had previously traded with them; but these
+letters, if they could have been translated for their possessors, would
+have been instantly cast into the sea and a general riot perhaps would
+have followed. One of the letters read something like this: "If this
+black thief brings any eggs to sell to you, don't buy them, as they are
+always rotten. He may also try to sell you a rooster, but don't buy it,
+as it is the same cock that crew when Peter denied Jesus." Of course
+everybody on the ship roared with laughter as each letter was handed up
+to us and read aloud for the edification of all. The simple Malays
+guffawed loudly in their boats, thinking that we were heartily pleased
+with them and their wares. When next I passed through the Sunda Straits,
+Krakatoa had been at work in eruption and had completely changed the
+face of the coast, and Anjer itself and the little island it stood on
+were gone.
+
+This Dutch colony was a revelation to me in every way. I had never seen
+anything at all like it in any other part of the world, and was never
+again to see anything quite so quaint or so delightful. The ride from
+Batavia to the hotel was full of surprises. I was accompanied by a troop
+of little children, all of them pressing close up to us and crying for
+"doits"--small copper coins. I scattered these little coins among them
+again and again, but they could never get enough, but kept on crying,
+"doit, doit!" Then the color of the trees, the rich shades of the
+flowers that flourished everywhere, the beauty of the scenery--all was
+a delightful surprise. I have never seen elsewhere so many or such rare
+flowers. The whole island of Java, as I was soon to learn, is a vast
+botanical garden, far more beautiful and rare than any that science can
+create. Nature, the great horticulturist, has here done her best and
+final work. The air, too, was delicious. It was perfumed by flowers,
+aromatic herbs, and spices. I had never realized before what was meant
+by the legends of the "Spice Islands," and I fancied that here was the
+place for man to live and die.
+
+I drove to the residence of the governor-general at Buitenzorg,
+thirty-five miles south of Batavia, which was situated in a tremendous
+garden of flowers and trees. It was the most beautiful place I had ever
+seen, and I am quite sure that I have never seen anything more beautiful
+since. I was so delighted with Java, indeed, that I had a model of a
+Javanese village made for me, and shipped it home to my wife with the
+greatest care. What was my surprise, when I finally reached home, and
+asked eagerly if the model had been received, to be told that nothing
+had been seen of it. "Didn't something come from me from Java?" Oh, yes,
+something had come, but it looked so big and uninteresting that it had
+been put down in the cellar. And there my beautiful model of the
+Javanese village had lain, in ignominy, for years! I restored it to its
+proper position in the world, by sending it to the Boston Museum. It
+was lost in the fire that soon afterward destroyed that building.
+
+It was in Java that I first learned to love flowers, and I have loved
+them more and more every year of my life since. The natives of that
+wonderful island love to strew flowers over everything, and to garland
+everything with beautiful blossoms. I soon became infatuated with the
+custom of carrying flowers, and adopted the boutonniere, which I
+afterward introduced in Paris in '56, in London in '57, and in New York
+in '58. I have endeavored to wear a spray of flowers in the lapel of my
+coat every day since my visit to Java.
+
+There was one particularly pleasing custom, which I think should have
+been long ago introduced in this country. This was the fashion of
+bringing in fruit to the table covered with flowers. It is a custom that
+delights three senses at once--the smell, the sight, the taste. The
+first time I saw it was at the table of Mr. Whitelaw Reid, when he gave
+a dinner to me and my friends. After we had finished eating, I was asked
+if I did not wish for some of the fruit. I looked around and could not
+see fruit anywhere. In front of me were great masses of flowers in
+baskets, and I could readily detect the odor of fruits of various kinds,
+but they were invisible. I had almost decided that they were outside in
+the garden, and that possibly we were expected to pluck them from the
+trees, which, heavily laden with their burdens, hung temptingly against
+the windows. But no, the fruit was immediately before me, hidden beneath
+masses of cut flowers, in trays and baskets. I thought it a beautiful
+custom, and one that distinctly appeals to esthetic taste. It could well
+be introduced at Newport or Saratoga, or in Fifth Avenue mansions.
+
+I regretted that Great Britain had lost, through a piece of
+carelessness, these magnificent islands now controlled by Holland;
+although the Dutch have done about as well as any other people could
+have done, I suppose. I believe it was because Lord Canning did not open
+his eastern mail one morning, that these islands became a possession of
+Holland instead of Great Britain.
+
+I did not, on the occasion of my first visit, see anything of the
+Achinese. But I passed, in '92, on my last trip around the world, the
+northwestern end of Sumatra, and Captain Hogg, of the Moyune, pointed to
+the little town of Achin, built on piles. He said that in the interior
+the Dutch were still fighting the Achinese. They had then been fighting
+these desperate Mohammedans--converted Malays--for thirty years. I have
+since thought, having in view this prolonged struggle for freedom of the
+Mohammedan Malays of Sumatra, how desperate is our undertaking in the
+Philippines, where we are trying to subjugate a far larger population
+of Mohammedans, the Moros of the southern islands of the archipelago.
+Holland, I believe, has spent already something like 500,000,000 florins
+to exterminate the Achinese. It may cost us far more to exterminate the
+Moros.
+
+I left Batavia for Singapore on a Dutch man-of-war, Captain Fabius. We
+stopped first at the island of Banka, belonging to Holland, and I saw
+there the famous tin-mines, which are greater than those of Cornwall,
+England. They were the property of the brother of the King of Holland.
+We did not stop at Sarawak, because of the little war that "Rajah"
+Brooke, afterward known as Sarawak Brooke, was carrying on there. We
+arrived at Singapore just too late to meet Townsend Harris, the first
+American diplomatic representative to Japan, as he had gone up to Siam.
+Harris's visit to Japan was the real beginning of a new era in the trade
+of the far East, and no other diplomatic mission in the history of this
+country has been fraught with greater results.
+
+Singapore was then a port of much dirtiness and much business. All the
+vessels of the world came there, and the greatest variety of cargoes
+that I have ever seen. The most interesting thing I saw there was the
+magnificent home of a great Chinese millionaire, who managed the largest
+business in Singapore, or, indeed, in that part of the world. He had a
+splendid palace, surrounded by beautiful and extensive gardens, the
+whole being worthy of a king or emperor. Here he lived in the style of
+some barbaric prince. This Chinaman had established in Singapore the
+kind of store which we in America think we invented--the department
+store. But I learned afterward when I went to China, that the department
+store is common there, and had been known for hundreds, perhaps
+thousands, of years. This development of the store is as old as the
+civilization of the Caucasian race, and, perhaps, was known to China
+ages before America was discovered. I had the pleasure of receiving an
+invitation to visit the Chinaman in his palace, and was astounded by the
+extensive grandeur of everything. He had a passion for animals, and
+owned two tigers in cages that were the largest animals of their kind I
+have ever seen.
+
+From Singapore, I sailed for China on a P. & O. steamer. On board I met
+Dr. Parker, the new American minister to China, and my roommate was
+Alexander Collie, of Manchester, England, who, during our civil war,
+became the chief English blockade runner. I may as well dispose of my
+experiences with Collie while I have him before me. Collie operated his
+blockade-running business through the London and Westminster (Limited)
+Bank. When I was in England I discovered the nature of his work, and
+exposed him through correspondence in the New York Herald. This led to
+the breaking down of his enterprise, and to the bank's loss of L500,000
+sterling. Collie escaped arrest by fleeing to Spain. I have never heard
+of him since.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+IN CHINESE CITIES
+
+1855-1856
+
+
+At Hongkong I went to our correspondents, Williams, Anthon & Co., and
+took passage in Endicott's little steamer, the Spark, for Macao, the
+Portuguese port of China. Before leaving Hongkong, however, as I had
+some little time on my hands, I determined to see everything that was to
+be seen there. I had the remarkable experience of meeting the man who
+was afterward the husband of Hetty Green. This was E. H. Green, who was
+married twelve years later. He was then connected with the house of
+Russell & Sturgis, our correspondents in Manila, and he joined me for
+the trip to Macao and Canton. After a short stay in Hongkong, we went on
+to Macao and Canton.
+
+We had, on this voyage, the common experiences of Chinese
+waters--pirates and typhoons. At the Boca Tigris, the mouth of the
+Canton, or Pearl, river, we were overtaken by the typhoon, and we had to
+anchor near an island in the midst of a number of junks. These soon
+proved to be pirate ships, and we were, apparently, in great danger. The
+pirates immediately began to draw up about us, as if meditating an
+attack. The little Spark would, of course, stand no chance in such a
+contest. I did not think she could last ten minutes in a fight with
+those ugly junks.
+
+The Chinese anchored their boats up close to the Spark, and I noticed
+that a dozen of the ugliest ruffians our own sailors had ever
+encountered were staring in through the cabin windows. I could not
+imagine what they were looking at, and went forward to see what was
+wrong. There was Mr. Green, sitting facing the window, his feet on the
+table, and making faces at the crew. He was the coolest man, I think,
+that I ever saw. Nothing moved him out of his imperturbable calm. The
+Chinamen were scowling at him, but this did not at all disconcert him.
+If he was going to be killed by these devils, he seemed to be thinking,
+he might as well die in a cheerful humor. How could he know they were
+not pirates in disguise?
+
+The pirates expected that we should fall an easy prey into their hands,
+as our coal had given out, and there was no assistance within reach. We
+were in a dilemma, but we attacked the woodwork of the deck, and got
+enough to fire up the engines and get a head of steam, when suddenly, to
+the amazement of the pirates, we steamed out and away. The storm having
+subsided, the junks were soon left far behind and we reached Macao
+safely.
+
+Macao was at that time the headquarters of the new slave trade. I went
+to the top of a high hill for the purpose of looking at the barracoons,
+where slaves were kept. The barracoon is, in meaning, a little barrack,
+but it is, in reality, a pest-hole. Here were gathered the Chinese who
+were to be sent as victims and slaves to the Peruvian islands. The
+practise was to bring Chinamen from the interior by telling them of the
+great riches their countrymen had found in America, which was then a
+name that tempted all Chinamen of the coast regions. Many Chinamen, it
+was known, had gone to America and done well, and the wretches that the
+slave-dealers wanted to ship to Peru were told that they would be sent
+to America. They thought they were going to California; but they were
+shipped to the Chincha islands, near Callao, the port of Lima, Peru.
+
+As Boston was then deeply interested in the subject of slavery in the
+Southern States, I wrote a description of this new slavery in the
+Chincha islands, giving the names of the boats that had recently sailed
+from Macao with full cargoes of slaves. I had heard of this horrible
+traffic in human flesh at Singapore, but could not believe it, until I
+actually saw it at Macao. Whenever the wretches mutinied, or grew
+restive, they were put down in the hold and the hatches closed. The
+horrors of such a position were as great as those of the infamous
+"Middle Passage," made so conspicuous by the abolitionists in the
+campaign against African slavery. Chinamen perished by hundreds, and
+many of the survivors were maimed or invalided for life. In a single
+case, some two hundred victims were smothered and died in the hold of
+one of these slavers. My letters to the New York Herald were copied far
+and near. It was discovered that some of the Boston people themselves
+were interested in enslaving the Chinese. But the practise could not
+stand the light of exposure, and so was broken up.
+
+We hurried on from Macao to Canton, arriving there during the Chinese
+New Year. This city astonished me in a number of ways. It was dirty and
+miserable beyond imagination, with narrow streets and indescribable
+filth. But that it carried on a tremendous volume of trade was apparent
+from a glance. The river was covered with junks and larger vessels at
+Whampoa, the lower port, floating the flags of every nation. Warehouses,
+the "godowns" of the foreign traders, revealed the existence of an
+enormous, and profitable commerce. The word "godown," which many take to
+be a "pidgin-English" word composed of "go" and "down," and signifying
+putting things down in a warehouse, is a Malay word, and comes from
+"gadang," meaning a place for storing articles away. The warehouses were
+surrounded by high walls, in the manner of private villas and town
+residences of the Chinese, and were adorned by beautiful gardens.
+
+There was a pretty custom, among foreign residents, to invite all
+visitors to dine with them. These invitations were sent informally upon
+little cards called "chits." As I was already known in the business
+world there, I received a great many of these invitations. I was walking
+with Mr. Green one day, when he said it was getting time to think about
+dinner. "Where will you dine?" he asked. I replied that I did not know
+which invitation to accept. I thought that I would take some of his
+conceit out of him, by showing him that I had received a great number of
+"chits," and I drew a package of them from my pocket. I remarked coolly
+that I could not make up my mind what to do, as I had an _embarras de
+richesses_. I counted the "chits," and there were eleven. Green, with
+great nonchalance, drew out his package of "chits"; he had thirteen!
+
+He had a great way of taking care of himself in such circumstances. He
+suggested that there was only one thing to do--to find out who, among
+our intending hosts, would have the best dinner. He then took me around
+to the rear of the residences, where a high wall separated the gardens
+from the native city, and where I discovered that the Chinese cooks
+always hung up the game, poultry, and other things they were preparing
+for meals. From this array we could tell what everybody was going to
+have for dinner. After a stroll through the alley, we selected the house
+that had displayed behind it some lovely pheasants and salmon. "The
+owner of that house shall have the honor of being our host," said Green.
+I approved his choice both then and after the dinner, which was an
+excellent one, at which the golden pheasants were the _piece de
+resistance_. I soon discovered for myself, what I had long heard, that
+the Chinese are the best cooks in the world.
+
+Another thing I learned about the Chinaman was that he is the most
+honest tradesman in the world, and the most careful about debts. The
+Chinese New Year is the season when the Chinaman wipes off the slate and
+begins life over again, with a clean record. He pays up all debts, and
+starts even with the world. I learned that on this anniversary the
+Chinaman will sell everything he possesses, even his liberty, his
+person, his life itself, to settle his debts, so that he may face the
+new year with a clean conscience and a pure heart, as well as with no
+bills hanging over him.
+
+As this was practically the first Chinese city I had seen, I was very
+curious about it. It was all new ground to me, and I was eager to
+explore it. I knew that this was not permitted, for six Englishmen had
+been killed shortly before my arrival, for daring to venture inside the
+walls of the Chinese city, which was then as much forbidden ground as
+the "Pink City" of Pekin. The fate of the Englishmen only made me more
+keen to get inside the walls. I thought I could take care of myself
+sufficiently well. I was warned by friends not to risk the thing, but I
+took all the responsibility, and went inside, while the gates were open.
+I had not gone more than a few rods when I heard behind me and all
+around me the wildest cries. Men ran toward me with shouts of
+"Fankwai"--foreign devil; and I saw at once that I had stirred up a
+hornet's nest. I looked about me, and discovered that the gate I had
+come through was still open. There was a pretty fair chance, by running
+fast, for getting through it before the Chinamen could head me off. This
+calculation took about one-millionth of a second, and I plunged for the
+gate, "like a pawing horse let go." If the stop-watch could have been
+held on me, I am sure I should have established a record for a
+short-distance sprint.
+
+The next time I visited Canton was in '70. The gates were open, and the
+walls were of no avail to keep the foreign devils out. The American
+merchant Nye, who was familiarly known as the Napoleon of China, because
+of his gigantic enterprises, took me over the city. I had read and heard
+about Chinamen eating rats, but this was the only time I ever saw the
+thing done, and I could hardly believe my eyes. A Chinaman came up to
+Mr. Nye and me in the street, and offered to sell us a rat, a big
+fellow still alive. I asked if it was to be eaten, and the Chinaman said
+it was. "But it is not cooked," I objected. "I am not going to begin on
+live rats." The Chinaman said he would prepare it--the rat cooked and
+served to cost me two cents. I told him to go ahead. To my surprise he
+took a little stove from under his arm, lighted a fire, and in a few
+minutes had the rodent roasted to a crisp. I was astonished--and
+ashamed--to see how nice it looked. It did appear toothsome. I said to
+the Chinaman, "Now, you can eat it." He did, and with great gusto and
+smacking of the lips. So he got his rat and my two cents, also.
+
+But I ascertained that there is about as much truth in the common
+stories in our silly juvenile literature about Chinamen generally eating
+rats as there is in stories of other marvelous things in far-off lands.
+I also found that there is no deadly upas-tree in Java, which was a
+distinct shock to me. I had been reared, so to speak, in the fatal shade
+of that upas. I had watched birds drop dead as they tried to fly across
+its swath of malignant shadow; I had seen animals stricken by its fatal
+exudations and writhing in agony. I saw all these things in the old New
+England farmhouse, which was the headquarters of the Methodists; but in
+Java, they had all disappeared. There was no upas-tree, and the
+mortality among birds and animals was no greater than necessary to
+satisfy the predatory natures of other animals, birds, and men. And now
+to find in China that the New England stories about general rat-eating
+were false, was another shock.
+
+But the Chinese are not as cleanly as they might be. I learned this
+interesting fact in connection with my taste for Canton ginger. I had
+always, from earliest childhood, been outrageously fond of this delicate
+comfit. I had eaten it in great quantities whenever I got the chance;
+and when I arrived in Canton, the home of this conserve, I at once
+thought of it, and wanted to know more about its manufacture. I learned,
+after some inquiry, that it was put up at a factory on the island of
+Ho-nan, near Canton. Ho-nan is also the name of a famous Buddhist temple
+on the same island. The factory, as well as most of the so-called
+island, is built on piles. I had not altogether overlooked this fact
+when I asked the factory people where they got the water for the sirup
+of the preserves. They looked at me as if I were demented. "Water! why
+we are right over the river!" Yes, they were right over the river, the
+dirtiest and most villainous river in the world. The sewage of the
+dirtiest city in China--which is saying about all that can be said on
+the subject--is emptied into this river. I need not say that I did not
+eat any of the Canton ginger then, and I have not eaten any of it since.
+
+I have set down my views as to the topsy-turviness of things in
+Australia. I found China topsy-turvy in a different way. The Chinese
+begin their books and letters where we end ours, at what we should call
+the back. They read from right to left, instead of from left to right,
+and, strangest of all, the men wear gowns, and the women--don't! When I
+was introduced to How-kwa, a warm friend of the Russells, I advanced to
+shake hands with him, but he stepped back and solemnly shook hands with
+himself for me. Then he waved his hands toward the door, as if to say,
+so it seemed to me, "get out of here," and I was amazed, but Sturgis
+informed me that the great Chinaman was merely beckoning to me to come
+nearer to him. I went up to him, by that time so impressed with the
+Chinese way of doing things backward that if he had kicked at me, I
+should have thought he was asking me to embrace him. We were in
+How-kwa's residence, which was surrounded by the most exquisite gardens,
+and were invited to partake of a cup of tea. For the first time in my
+life I drank tea that cost $30 a pound. We used no sugar nor milk, of
+course, as these things are considered in China to spoil good tea. The
+next best tea I have drunk, I think, was the tea I got at the fair of
+Nijnii Novgorod, Russia, in '57, which had been brought overland
+thousands of miles across mountains and deserts, packed in little
+bricks.
+
+Again, I found that the Chinese look backward, and not forward, and
+ennoble their ancestors, instead of their offspring, and pay little
+attention to the coming generation. They say that they know what their
+ancestors--the dead--were, but can not foretell what the living may
+become. They scull their boats in the rivers from the bow, instead of
+from the stern. Their boatmen are usually women. While we fear the
+water, and seek to make our dwelling places upon the rock or upon very
+dry land, the Chinaman will get as near as possible to the water. In the
+Canton, or Pearl, river there were, when I was there, some 100,000
+persons living on the river, in boats, or on floats, or rafts. A
+Westerner would suppose children were in danger of falling into the
+water. They do fall in, but their mothers have devised a method of
+rescuing them without mischance. Cords are fastened to their bodies, and
+when a child falls overboard, the cord, which is made fast to the boat,
+prevents it from sinking too far before the mother or father catches
+hold and pulls it back into the boat.
+
+They call all servants, male and female, "boy," which reminds me that in
+the Europeanized parts of some of the Japanese cities they do the same,
+and when they want to specify definitely that the "boy" is a girl, they
+say "onna no boy," which means "girl-boy," or girl servant. This is, of
+course, pidgin-English, the business English of the Chinese littoral. I
+had an amusing experience with this pidgin-English. I had invited some
+friends to dine with me, a merchant and his two sons and three
+daughters, and when I asked the servant who had come, he said that the
+merchant had arrived and "two bull chilo, and three cow chilo."
+
+Pidgin-English amused me very much, as it amuses every one who visits
+China. Augustine Heard, the merchant, who was a master of this lingo,
+used to interest me by reciting phrases from it, and once gave me the
+following poem, which is a translation of Longfellow's Excelsior. The
+translation was made by Mr. Heard. It has been published throughout the
+world as an "anonymous" production:
+
+    THE CHINESE EXCELSIOR
+
+    That nightee teem he come chop-chop
+    One young man walkee, no can stop;
+    Maskee snow, maskee ice;
+    He cally flag with chop so nice--
+                  Top-side Galah!
+
+    He muchee solly; one piecee eye
+    Lookee sharp--so fashion--my;
+    He talkee large, he talkee stlong,
+    Too muchee cullo; alle same gong.
+                  Top-side Galah!
+
+    Insidee house he can see light,
+    And evly loom got fire all light,
+    He lookee plenty ice more high,
+    Insidee mout'h he plenty cly--
+                  Top-side Galah!
+
+    Ole man talkee, "No can walk,
+    "Bimeby lain come, velly dark;
+    "Have got water, velly wide!"
+    Maskee, my must go top-side--
+                  Top-side Galah!
+
+    "Man-man," one girlee talkee he,
+    "What for you go top-side look--see?"
+    And one teem more he plenty cly,
+    But alle teem walk plenty high--
+                  Top-side Galah!
+
+    "Take care t'hat spilum tlee, young man,
+    "Take care t'hat ice, must go man-man."
+    One coolie chin-chin he good night,
+    He talkee, "My can go all light"--
+                  Top-side Galah!
+
+    T'hat young man die; one large dog, see,
+    Too muchee bobbly findee he.
+    He hand b'long coldee, all same like ice,
+    He holdee flag wit'h chop so nice--
+                  Top-side Galah!
+
+When I was ready to start for Japan, I had made up my mind to visit
+Shanghai on the way, and was about to start, when Canton merchants,
+native and foreign, tried to dissuade me. They told me it would be
+terribly disappointing, and that I would regret wasting any time there.
+They did not know my nature, and that this sort of thing merely
+stimulated my curiosity and hardened my determination.
+
+I took passage in the P. & O. boat, the Erin, Captain Jameson, and
+supposed, of course, that I should have a state-room. But I was to meet
+with another Chinese surprise. A great Chinese mandarin, going from
+Hongkong to Shanghai, had engaged the whole cabin. I was very desirous
+to see this great personage, and soon had the opportunity. It is my
+practise, when at sea, to take exercise by walking rapidly up and down
+the deck, thus covering many miles a day. I was taking my daily exercise
+the day when the mandarin came on board ship, and every time I passed
+the cabin I noticed that he followed me with his eyes. And so we kept it
+up for some time, I walking as unconcernedly as I could, and the great
+mandarin watching my movements as curiously as if I were some strange
+animal.
+
+After a while he called the first officer, and asked what I was doing.
+"Walking up and down the deck," he was told. "But why does he do it? Is
+he paid for it?" The officer told him it was for exercise. "What is
+that?" asked the Chinese great man. This was explained to him, but he
+could not understand why any one wanted to walk up and down, and do so
+much unnecessary work. The Chinese are not averse to work; indeed, they
+are one of the most industrious people on the face of the earth, but
+they do not do unnecessary work, having, I infer, to do as much
+necessary work as is good for them. And this great dignitary pointed to
+me with scorn and said: "Number one foolo." I hardly need explain that
+"number one," throughout the far East, means the superlative degree.
+
+This mandarin was the great Li Hung Chang, who had been summoned by his
+emperor to save the country from the terrible Tai-ping rebellion. He
+was on his way from Canton to Shanghai. He there called in the splendid
+services of three great foreigners--the Frenchman, Bougevine, the
+American, Ward, and the Englishman, "Chinese" Gordon; but it was largely
+and chiefly due to the stubbornness and genius of Li that the empire was
+saved to the Manchus, at a cost, it is estimated, of twenty millions of
+lives.
+
+When we reached Woosung there were six armed opium ships for cargoes of
+opium from Calcutta and Bombay, which the English were forcing upon the
+Chinese, much as we should force rum on the Mexicans, and make them pay
+for it. The English and Americans were reaping fortunes in the most
+unholy traffic the world has seen--and it will never be forgotten in
+China, or anywhere else, that England went to war with China to force
+China to permit the shipment of opium into that country to ruin millions
+of lives and impoverish millions of families. I feel heartily ashamed of
+myself for having once smuggled a little of this horrible drug into
+China. But I found that many Americans and Englishmen were devoting
+themselves to the trade as a regular business.
+
+In Shanghai I was the guest of Russell & Co., who were then represented
+by Cunningham and G. Griswold Gray. The fighting in the great rebellion
+was still raging--it was not put down until after Gordon recaptured
+Nanking--and when I was in Shanghai the Chinese authorities kept the
+gory heads of rebels hanging from the walls as an example to all who
+contemplated opposing the Manchu rule. These hideous trophies of the war
+were the most impressive things that I saw in Shanghai.
+
+Dr. Lockhart, the missionary, acted voluntarily as my dragoman and guide
+in Shanghai, and showed me things in the city that I could never have
+discovered for myself. In one of the squares I noticed a monument 150
+feet high, which, I was told by Lockhart, had been built by the poor
+people of China in commemoration of an old lady, who had been the Helen
+Gould of her day. Each of the subscribers had contributed cash equal to
+one tenth of a cent.
+
+Some really splendid virtues of the Chinese impressed me deeply. I liked
+and admired them the more I saw them. I have already said that they are
+the most honest people on the globe. It seems to me an extraordinary
+thing that this race, the world's highest type of honesty, should be the
+only race to which we are inhospitable. The Chinese were far ahead of
+Europeans in many ways for centuries. If they have fallen behind now, it
+may be only because Europeans are rushing hastily through their brief
+civilizations, while China, having enjoyed hers for ages, is content to
+watch us rise, flourish, and decay, as we watch the passing generations
+of the forest and the field.
+
+They invented and used the things that we regard as almost the highest
+products of our civilization. They had used the mariner's compass for
+centuries before we had it; they invented printing perhaps a thousand
+years before Gutenberg; they invented gunpowder, which they had used in
+war and every-day life; they had the best paper ever seen long before
+the rest of the world had any, and the outside nations have not yet been
+able to duplicate theirs; they invented the newspaper, and have the
+oldest journal in the world, the Pekin Gazette; they discovered the
+Golden Rule, unless that honor belongs to the Greek, Thales; they
+developed philosophy--the highest system of the world, in
+Confucianism--before the Greeks, and, of course, long before the
+Germans; and they were the first people of the world to appreciate
+education.
+
+Moreover, as Mr. Wu, the great Chinese minister at Washington, has so
+often pointed out, they were democratic long before Thomas Jefferson,
+and long before the Greeks had invented the word "democracy," or had
+discovered the idea of a democratic state or city. I had been taught
+that the hard-headed and practical Scotch had invented the macadam road,
+naming it from a canny Scot of that name; but I found a macadamized road
+in China three or four thousand years old, and long enough to wrap
+around the British Isles. The Chinese have long preceded us, and they
+may long survive us, nullifying all the "imperialism" and
+"expansionism" of Europe and America, which would cut her into fragments
+as the spoil of the world.
+
+While I was in China, on this first visit, and on the several occasions
+of my later visits, I gave much thought to the vast population of that
+country. I have come to the conclusion that the population is less than
+half, probably less than one-third, of what it is generally estimated to
+be. I notice that the Chinese viceroys have recently made an estimate of
+their respective provinces, at the command of the emperor, and that the
+total reaches the enormous figure of 425,000,000. I do not believe that
+there are 200,000,000 people in the entire empire, and I should prefer
+estimating the population at something between 150,000,000 and
+175,000,000.
+
+I found that China is not a densely populated country, as is generally
+supposed. The seashore is fairly crowded, and the impression one gets
+from seeing the surface of the water covered at Canton with rafts and
+floats on which more than 100,000 persons live, is that the inhabitants
+must swarm in the same degree over the face of the land. This is not the
+case. Even the coast is merely fringed with people. Back in the interior
+there are no such dense masses of population. All accounts that I can
+read of the interior, from Father Huc down to Mr. Parsons of New York,
+bear me out in this. I can not see where there are more than
+175,000,000, or 150,000,000, people in that empire. The reports of the
+slaughter in the Tai-ping rebellion, of some 20,000,000 people, would
+seem to indicate a population of at least 200,000,000 or 250,000,000;
+but these figures were greatly exaggerated, as all such things are in
+China. All statistics are nothing but guesswork, and the bigger they are
+the better people like them.
+
+I engaged passage in the Greta, which was to go to Shimoda and Hakodate,
+Japan. My objective point was Yokohama, where it was my purpose to
+establish a branch of the house of Train & Co., Melbourne. My Australian
+house was not connected with Colonel Train's Boston and Liverpool packet
+firm. At this time, however, the English and Russians, who were not as
+good friends then as they are now, were fighting, and the little war
+completely upset all of my plans. I could not get to Yokohama at all,
+and did not visit Japan until several years later. I had, therefore, to
+give up my passage in the Greta, and turn my face from Japan. Just at
+this point, Augustine Heard invited G. Griswold Gray, of Russell & Co.,
+and me to go to Fu-chow, on one of his sailing ships, the John Wade.
+
+[Illustration: George Francis Train dictating his autobiography in his
+room in the Mills Hotel.]
+
+This trip I very willingly made, as I wanted to see everything of China
+that was possible; but it was more adventurous than I had expected. As
+we were sailing down the China coast, a typhoon struck us, and over
+went sails and masts. Our pilot from Shanghai was immediately in
+difficulties, as the pilot from Fu-chow, whom we had just picked up, did
+not understand the pilot we had brought from Shanghai. I had the utmost
+difficulty, owing to my inadequate mastery of pidgin-English, in
+establishing communication between these essential elements of our
+little crew. We had, finally, to get into a boat and make our way up the
+River Min for forty miles in the dark. It was a very trying experience,
+as the river was absolutely unknown to me; the darkness was
+"unpierceable by power of any star," and the river was treacherous in
+itself for small boats. To make matters worse, it was infested by junk
+pirates. This latter danger I had got somewhat accustomed to, as almost
+every inch of Chinese water was, in those days, the field of operations
+for these pirates. The other nations of the world had not yet adopted
+effective means for getting rid of them as the United States got rid of
+the Algerian and Tripolitan plunderers.
+
+We arrived at Fu-chow, after a harassing night on the river. Almost the
+first thing to greet my curious eyes, as they were sweeping the horizon
+for wonders in that land of wonders, was the old suspension bridge,
+which the Chinese assert was built in the fourteenth century. It proved
+to be as much of a curiosity as the Chinese wall in the north. At
+Fu-chow I was a guest in the house of the Russells. Immediately upon
+landing, Gray, Heard, and myself took sedan chairs for a tour through
+the city.
+
+On this occasion I had my first opportunity to appeal to the American
+flag for protection. As we were passing through a very narrow, but
+important street, our coolies were suddenly set upon and overturned. We
+scrambled out of the chairs, and asked what was the matter. We learned
+that the viceroy was also passing through the thoroughfare, and that
+everything and everybody had to give way for his retinue. My companions
+at once stepped out of the way, but my blood was up. I resented being
+upset in the street, like so much refuse, in order to have the filthy
+thoroughfare cleared for the passage of a mere Chinese viceroy.
+
+I had a small American flag in my pocket, carefully wrapped about its
+little staff, and I took it out with a great deal of display and waved
+the tiny emblem around my head. I dared the Chinese servants of the
+viceroy to touch me or to interfere with my right to pass through the
+streets of Fu-chow. This had its effect. I noticed at once that the
+Chinese in the street, who recognized the colors of the United States,
+fell back from me, our coolies got up out of the dirt, and once more
+took hold of the poles of the chairs. The viceroy passed on, pretending
+not to have noticed the incident, and in a few minutes the way was clear
+again.
+
+Fu-chow was the black-tea port of China at that time, and it had been
+opened just two years before. It was astonishing at what a rapid pace
+business of a certain kind swung along in the coast cities of the Far
+East. In two years several of the Canton houses, representatives of the
+great shipping and other business concerns of the world, had opened
+branch offices in Fu-chow. Commercial life there was intensely active
+and very prosperous.
+
+From Fu-chow I went on down the coast to Hongkong, this being my second
+visit there. I noticed at Swatow several ships loaded with Chinese
+slaves destined for the Chincha guano islands of Peru. My destination
+was Calcutta, so we did not have much time to explore the Chinese coast,
+much as I should have liked to do so.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+TO INDIA AND THE HOLY LAND
+
+1856
+
+
+I sailed from Hongkong on Jardine's opium steamer, Fiery Cross. As the
+course we took had been gone over by me in the voyage to Hongkong from
+Singapore, I was not especially interested in it until we had passed the
+Straits and got into Indian waters. The Andaman Islands, where dwells
+one of the lowest races of mankind, interested me greatly. We saw only a
+little of these curious people, the Veddahs, but I learned of a very
+interesting custom followed by the widows of the islands to commemorate
+their deceased husbands. This consists in wearing the skull of the dead
+man on the shoulder as a sort of ornament and memento. It is considered
+a delicate way of perpetuating the memory of the husband.
+
+I had a letter of introduction from Robert Sturgis to George Ashburner,
+at Calcutta, and the moment I arrived Mr. Ashburner insisted upon my
+becoming his guest. I spent three days with him, and have never partaken
+of such luxurious hospitality elsewhere. It is only man in the Orient
+who knows how to live fast and furious and get every enjoyment out of
+his little span of life. I was surrounded by a retinue of servants, who
+stood ready to answer every beck and call. Service in India being highly
+specialized, there was a servant for everything. I had a little army of
+fourteen serving men, four of whom carried my chair, or palanquin, with
+a relay, a man to serve me specially at table, a punka man, and a man
+for every other detail of living.
+
+There was something to do and to see every moment of the time. I was
+taken to all the show-places of the city. The first sight shown to me
+was the famous Black Hole, where John Z. Holwell and one hundred and
+forty-six men were incarcerated in a dungeon twelve feet square. One can
+not escape being told the horrible story, if he visits Calcutta, and I
+suppose that every one hears the narrative with added adornment, after
+the true Hindu style. The special point of the story that was thrust at
+me was the orgy and heavy sleep of the rajah, while his servitors were
+trying to arouse him to answer the screams of the dying men in the Hole.
+In the morning, after the rajah had had his beauty sleep, he was told of
+the little difficulty the English had in breathing in the foul and heavy
+air of the dungeon, and he ordered them released; but death, lingering,
+and as heavy-handed and heavy-hearted as the brutal prince, had already
+released most of them.
+
+One is glad to be told for the ten thousandth time, after hearing this
+ghastly tale, of the clerk Clive leaving his ledgers and pens and
+leading an army to crush the wretches at Plassy. But, like most things
+of the kind, the horrors of the Black Hole have been exaggerated, until
+sympathy, palled, refuses longer to be torn and bled over imaginary as
+well as real terrors. There have been many worse catastrophes, and of a
+nature that should appeal more strongly to the heart. Men, women, and
+children have gone down in flood and pestilence, free from any stain of
+wrong, which can not be said of the victims of the Black Hole. We can
+not forget altogether that they were in India not of right, but as
+conquerors, and that they were originally, at least, in the wrong. But
+the sufferers in the Johnstown flood, the thousands who died in the
+Lisbon, Krakatoa, and Martinique disasters, and other thousands that go
+down in ships at sea--these innocent victims demand sympathy much more.
+
+It seemed that most of my sight-seeing in Calcutta was to be limited to
+horrible things. Indeed, the visitor is often hurried from horror to
+horror, as if he were in some "chamber of horrors" in a museum. I was
+taken to the burning ghaut, where dead bodies are cremated. I saw some
+five hundred little fires, which were so many pyres for the dead. I had
+heard much of the burning of live women in order that they should
+accompany their dead masters, and out of sheer curiosity asked the guard
+if there were men only in the fires. For answer, he took a long hook,
+thrust it into one of the fires, pulled it back and on its prongs
+brought the charred leg of a man. Immediately birds of prey (adjutants)
+pounced down upon the smoking flesh and bore it away. These birds are
+the scavengers of Calcutta, and the special guardians of the ghaut.
+Cremation is a great economy in India. It costs only half a cent to burn
+a body.
+
+Another horror shall complete this gruesome part of my story. Being very
+fond of shrimps, one day I inquired, in a moment of forgetfulness--for
+it is a safe rule not to ask the source of anything in the East--where
+and how they got these shrimps. I was taken to the fishing grounds in
+the mouth of the river, and there saw millions of these prawns flocking,
+like petty scavengers, about the dead bodies that continually float down
+the Ganges. Human flesh was their favorite food. This was enough for me.
+I stopped eating shrimps in India, as I had stopped eating Canton ginger
+preserves in China.
+
+On the second day of my stay in Calcutta I received cards to the
+reception given by Lord Dalhousie to Lord Canning, the new
+Governor-General. Lord Dalhousie, the retiring Governor-General, was
+dying. In fact he had been dying for months. I shall not go into any
+description of the exceedingly brilliant reception. It made an
+ineffaceable impression upon me because of the grouping on that occasion
+of some of the most splendid of the British administrators and of some
+of the most daring of their enemies, who were even then plotting
+revolution and bloodshed. I was introduced to both the passing and the
+coming Governor-General and to General Havelock, afterwards the gallant
+fighter at Lucknow. I had the rare privilege of seeing these three men
+talking amicably with the great Nana Sahib, the leader of the Hindus at
+Cawnpore.
+
+The voyage from Calcutta to Suez was almost devoid of incident. We put
+into Madras, a barren, flat, and dismal place, to take on passengers,
+and then sailed for Point de Galle, Ceylon. At this place I saw, for the
+first time, elephants employed in carrying and piling heavy timbers.
+They go about their task with an intelligence that is nearly human,
+lifting heavy teak timbers and placing them in regular order in great
+piles. I had not before supposed that any animals possessed so much
+sense.
+
+Coming down to Aden, two thousand miles from Galle, sleeping with the
+bulkhead open opposite my berth, one night I felt something slap me in
+the face. As I was all alone, I did not know what to make of it. There
+was no light, and I could not see. As soon as I fell asleep another
+slap came. I had heard about the insects of the tropics, but had no idea
+they were of such size as to cause these slaps. In the morning, I found
+out what had been the matter. Nine flying-fish lay dead in my berth.
+
+At Aden, the most barren and gloomy place I have ever seen, we went out
+to the cantonments, which must have been built thousands of years ago.
+We hurried up the Red Sea to Suez, and then crossed over by land from
+Suez, eighty-four miles, to Cairo, with six hundred camels in the
+caravan. We had coaches carrying six passengers. I have a good idea of
+what the Sahara Desert is from having seen this desert between Suez and
+Cairo. Just before we reached Cairo, there was a cry from one of the
+coaches for us to look up at the sky. There were masts, minarets, and
+the whole city, in fact, painted on the sky. It was my first sight of
+the mirage I had heard so much about. We were then half-way from Suez to
+Cairo.
+
+I put up at Shepheard's Hotel, and immediately arranged to go out to the
+pyramids, ten miles from Cairo. Fifty donkey boys rivaled one another to
+get my custom. My donkey started off, and the first thing I knew he was
+rolling over me in the sand. He had stepped in a gopher-hole, and down
+he went. Travelers now go out in trolley-cars, eat ice-cream and drink
+champagne under the shade of the pyramids, and a splendid hotel stands
+alongside the Sphinx.
+
+In going up the pyramids it took three Arabs, two to push and one to
+pull, to get me to the top. When we got half-way up, an Arab wanted more
+bakshish. I talked to him pretty loud in something he didn't understand,
+and he consented to take me farther. The top of the pyramid of Ghizeh
+has been taken away, and the pyramid is now about fifteen feet square at
+the summit. I made up my mind, the moment I saw the pyramids, that these
+gigantic blocks were not stone, but had been produced by one of the lost
+arts in preparing concrete. It occurred to me, as the pyramids were
+hollow to the base, that they had been storehouses for grain, and were
+not built as tombs for the Rameses and Ptolemies. Humane kings had built
+them, I thought, in order to employ labor in time of dearth.
+
+As all travelers are told, it was said that a man would go down one
+pyramid and come up on another in so many minutes. I had seen such a
+number of "fakes" in my travels that, as I could not tell one Chinaman
+from another, how should I be able to tell one Arab from another? When
+this trick was done for me I thought it did not follow that the man on
+the other pyramid was the man who had been with me.
+
+I was surprised when I left Cairo to find a modern railway, that had
+been built by Said Pasha. We took the train for Alexandria. At
+Alexandria we took passage for the Holy Land. The Rev. J. R. MacFarlane,
+chaplain of Madras, wanted to see Jerusalem and landed at Joppa, or
+Jaffa, which has become famous for Napoleon's massacre.
+
+In going through the Valley of Sharon, we saw orange and lemon groves,
+and fruits of all kinds. It was a lovely valley, but all of a sudden we
+struck into the most desolate country I had ever seen--a mountain, a
+desert, a wilderness of rocks, ravines and canyons. There were rocks to
+the right, rocks to the left, and rocks everywhere. My dragoman had
+a mule and I a donkey. One of these mules had irreverently been
+named Christ and the other Jesus. To the perfect horror of the
+clergyman--until he understood that the men could say nothing else in
+English--the names of the donkeys were spoken with every crack of the
+whip all the way to Jerusalem. The lashing of those donkeys became a
+medley of seeming profanity.
+
+A few weeks before, several people had been killed by the Bedouins on
+the desert. Every one was talking about the dangers of the journey.
+After we got over this wild district, through the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
+we came upon a plateau and saw Jerusalem in the distance. Beautiful is
+that city for situation. Said my companions, at the same instant, "There
+are the Bedouins!" A half dozen horsemen were coming from the direction
+of Jerusalem. We feared danger, but Abram the dragoman showed no fear.
+These men were really not dangerous, being only "barkers" for the hotels
+of Jerusalem. Neither my companion nor myself had any idea that they
+were employes of that kind.
+
+One asked if we would go to "Smith's" near Mount Calvary, to "Jones's"
+near the Via della Rosa, or to another house on the site of Solomon's
+Temple. MacFarlane said, "Don't notice these people. Leave it to the
+dragoman." He decided that we should go to Smith's. From that time,
+until we left, for three days, I saw nothing but humbug and tinsel,
+lying and cheating, ugly women, sand-fleas and dogs, from Joppa through
+Ramlah. The one lovely place was an oasis where we stopped for luncheon.
+Of course this was a long time before Mark Twain went there and wept
+over the tomb of Adam.
+
+In going through the Valley of Jehoshaphat, up the Mount of Olives, of
+course I was impressed with what survived of my Biblical education. New
+England training was still strong in me. The women of Bethlehem,
+carrying baskets on their heads, with flowing robes of calico, were very
+beautiful and healthy-looking; but when I got to Bethlehem, and with my
+farm and cattle experience looked for stalls and mangers, I was, of
+course, disgusted at being taken down two flights and shown an old wet
+cave as the place where the Saviour was said to have been born. I have
+kept the morals of the old Methodists, I hope, but my superstitious
+notions were disappearing every minute I spent in Jerusalem.
+
+Being in the Holy Land, all the stories I had heard in boyhood came back
+to me. I thought of Moses's life. I had been taught to obey his
+commandments, but as a child I saw that he had broken in his own life
+those which say, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit
+adultery--had told Aaron, his brother-in-law, to make a golden image,
+and had got up a trust by means of which he might get all the gold.
+"Thou shalt do no murder," says the law--but he killed an Egyptian and
+hid him in the sand. "Thou shalt not commit adultery "--but he committed
+that sin.
+
+And so on to the end. These commandments were taught by the man who had
+broken every one of them himself. Aaron, who wished to be included in
+the gold-corner into which Moses had refused him admittance, sought to
+make money in some other way, and said, "If we are going for forty years
+into the wilderness, we shall want salt provisions," and so bought up
+all the hogs he could find, without letting Moses into the corner. Then
+Moses spoiled the whole game by the law that no Jews should eat pork! In
+the Holy Land these things all came into my mind. You can imagine how I
+felt sixteen years after, when arrested and detained for six months in
+the Tombs for quoting three columns of the Bible (about which I shall
+speak later).
+
+At night I wanted my clergyman companion to gain an idea of night scenes
+in the East. To make sure that we should not be disturbed, I went to the
+chief of police for a guide to show us Jerusalem by candle-light. We
+went into a dark alley, back of Mount Calvary and the Via della Rosa,
+when the man's movements became suspicious. I could not see why a
+policeman should be so careful where he went. My object had been to see
+the demi-monde of Syria.
+
+When we got to the door, the policeman tried to shut the door, but I put
+my foot in the way. I asked MacFarlane if he was armed. He said he had a
+Madras dagger. MacFarlane was already in the room and I drew him out.
+"Those are Bedouins," said I; "I could see their pistols and swords."
+Intuition told me they were murderers. Sixteen persons had been killed
+in Nablus in '55-'56. The chief of police was the head of the gang. I
+immediately saw our consul, and there was a meeting of representatives
+of the foreign powers, and the whole traffic was exposed. In our case
+they found the men, and after we left they were executed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+IN THE CRIMEA
+
+1856
+
+
+The voyage from Joppa to Constantinople was a succession of surprises,
+from Latokea to Lanarca, Cyprus, Rhodes, and Smyrna. At Beyrout we were
+the guests of a pasha, the leading man of the place. Henry Kennard,
+banker, of Heywood, Kennard & Co., of London, who had joined us in
+Jerusalem, went with us through Syria and was going as far as the
+Crimea. MacFarlane was still with our party. We had a day off in
+Beyrout, and went up to Lebanon, inland, where the cedars seem to
+antedate the olive-trees in the Garden of Gethsemane.
+
+When we got to Smyrna we entered a beautiful bay, somewhat like that of
+Rio Janeiro, and I went out on the fortified hill that overlooks the
+city. I saw from the hill that troops were marching on parade, and went
+off alone to see them. I was told to let my donkey go his own way. He
+brought me to a place where were about one hundred stone steps, almost
+perpendicular. I had a little hesitation about going down these steps,
+but he seemed to know what he was about, and I could do nothing with him
+but hang on his back. I expected him to tumble, and that would have been
+the last of me. He didn't miss a step, however, but took me safely to
+the bottom. I thought of General Putnam's stone-step ride. If he had
+only had a Turkish donkey he would have missed being a hero.
+
+My donkey seemed to know more than I about the streets of Smyrna, and I
+gave him the rein. He took me past the sentinels to the parade ground,
+as he appeared to know the password, and across the parade, which was
+against regulations. When we arrived at the center of the ground, he
+began very peculiar operations, as if he had been with Barnum. Here was
+a donkey that would have made a fortune for a circus. The soldiers were
+coming up in platoons, when the donkey began to stand on his hind feet,
+and then on his fore feet. The roar of the advancing regiment convinced
+me that I was in a tight place. I got off his back and walked alone on
+the opposite side, and then escaped through a gate. I have never heard
+of the obstinate animal since.
+
+From Smyrna to Constantinople we passed among famous Greek
+islands--Rhodes, and Chios, where twenty-two thousand Greeks were killed
+by the Turks--but we had not time to stop at any of them. At
+Constantinople I preferred to take passage in a transient steamer,
+instead of waiting for the Government boat. I stopped here only to see
+our minister, Carroll Spence, of Baltimore, and then hurried on through
+the Marmoro Strait and the Bosporus, and into the Black Sea, and there
+found an immense fleet of transports, from the port of Sebastopol. I was
+delighted to see alongside of one another three of our Boston clippers,
+built by Donald Mackay in East Boston, that had brought French troops
+from France: the Great Republic, Captain Limeburner, the Monarch of the
+Seas, Captain Gardner, and the Ocean Queen of clippers, Captain Zerega.
+Ships filled the little bay, bows and sterns touching the shore on one
+side and the other. Not one could have got out in case of fire.
+
+We immediately got horses to go out to Balaklava, and there I was glad
+to meet my old friend, Captain Furber, of the Black Ball Line and the
+Ocean Clipper, who gave me a state-room and all the courtesies of his
+ship. He had come for the French. Kennard went with the British. Horses
+and attendants were furnished me by the French generals free of cost.
+
+My object in going to the Crimea was to speculate in munitions of war,
+which I supposed would be sold for a mere bagatelle. But the armies took
+their material away with them--English, Russian, Turkish, French,
+Sardinian--so there was no chance for business there. The British
+troops were in rags and tatters. Their new uniforms had not arrived,
+and their shoes were worn out. I went on board one of the clippers and
+spoke about the shoes not having arrived. "What!" exclaimed the captain;
+"I am loaded with shoes! I have been here six months." "Have you
+notified the commissary?" "Yes." What could I do? All this was afterward
+described by "Bull Run" Russell. He was then the correspondent of the
+London Times, and so exposed the mismanagement of the war that ships
+were sent with provisions, uniforms, and everything, after the war was
+over.
+
+Through the courtesy of French officers, I visited the city of
+Sebastopol, a ten-mile journey from Balaklava, and saw the
+twenty-one-gun battery, the Redan, and the Malakoff, and, of course, the
+ruin of the famous city. I could see the masts of the ships at the
+entrance of the bay, the fleet that had been sunk by the Russians to
+block the channel. Here they had crossed in the night to the Star Fort
+on the opposite side, which was strongly fortified. It would have been
+almost impossible for the allied armies to interfere with the Russians.
+They had made up their minds to fight it out to the end.
+
+The French zouave commander got up a banquet for me with twenty of the
+officers of all the armies--Turkish, French, English, Sardinian, and
+Russian. I did something to stir up the battle spirit again, and
+several times almost got them fighting over the table, especially when I
+asked some question that brought a reply from the zouave general of the
+Ninety-sixth regiment of Algiers. He rose and said to the Englishmen who
+had disputed his word: "You were asleep at the Alma, you were late at
+Inkerman, late at Balaklava, ran from the Redan and at Chernaya." This
+of course roused the English officers, and we had to pour oil on
+troubled waters.
+
+There were two princes among the Russians, and of course they were
+delighted to see the allies fighting among themselves. They helped me in
+stirring up the quarrel. I made them admit that Todleben's earthworks
+were a new feature in war--baskets of earth used for forts on the inside
+of Sebastopol, put up impromptu, and holding these armies so long at
+bay. In the Redan it was complete slaughter, two thousand persons being
+killed. MacMahon in the Malakoff saw at once that it was not a close
+fort, and said, "J'y suis, j'y reste." Speaking of MacMahon, a very
+singular thing has been suggested. Put together a half dozen faces of
+French notables--MacMahon, de Lesseps, Alexandre Dumas (_pere et fils_),
+Victor Hugo, President Faure, and add my portrait, and you could hardly
+tell which was which.
+
+Tennyson has given to the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava the
+power of his name and genius, but that fight has been a terribly
+exaggerated affair, so far as massacre was concerned. Only one third was
+killed, with nearly one half the horses. In our civil war, where a
+million men were killed, at the cost of a billion dollars, from the
+firing into Sumter to Appomattox, on both sides, there were many charges
+where the slaughter was proportionately greater than that. Take
+Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, where a whole division was mowed
+down--or Custer's command (with Sitting Bull, in the Black Hills), all
+massacred, with the exception of one man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+HOME ONCE MORE AND THEN A RETURN TO EUROPE
+
+1856
+
+
+From the Crimea I returned to England and thence to America. Wilson, of
+the White Star Line, wished to construct the largest clipper ever built
+in England. It was to be called the George Francis Train, as I had had
+in my consignment or in my charge the fastest four clippers in the
+world--Flying Cloud, eighty-six days from New York to San Francisco;
+Sovereign of the Seas, which stood in my name at the custom-house (2,200
+tons), which made three hundred and seventy-four miles under sail in one
+day, a thing never known before by a sailing ship; the Red Jacket, built
+at Rockland, Maine; and the Lightning, built by Donald Mackay at East
+Boston, which sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in sixty-three days;
+but I declined the White Star honors.
+
+The day after my arrival in New York, in July, '56--I had been away
+since February, '53--the Herald had sixteen columns, about three pages,
+from me in one issue, an amount of space I think that no correspondent
+before or since has had--either from India, China, or Japan. I had
+arrived ahead of my own mail. The members of the present staff of the
+Herald have no idea that the man whom they have looked upon as a lunatic
+was sufficiently sane to make a big sensation in their paper in July,
+'56. The present James Gordon Bennett was then only fifteen years old.
+Frederick Hudson had entire charge of the paper under the elder Bennett.
+Mr. Bennett, wishing to put his son ahead, pensioned Mr. Hudson, who
+went into the country to live, and, in crossing a railway track, was
+killed. Mr. Bennett gave me a very kind reception. He asked if I desired
+to go to Congress. "No," I said. "Don't you want to publish books?"
+"Yes, but I am going abroad now, as I am not through with my business in
+Australia."
+
+Here, at twenty-seven years of age, I had traveled over the world, and
+had had these great business experiences. I had been called, as a
+sneering term, "Young America." I kept the name, and used it afterward
+in all my newspaper work. But Freeman Hunt, of the Merchants' Magazine,
+who edited my books, changed it to An American Merchant in Europe, Asia,
+and Australia, thinking the title Young America not dignified enough.
+This book was a series of letters from Java, Singapore, China, Bengal,
+Egypt, the Holy Land, the Crimea, England, Melbourne, Sydney, etc. It
+was published in '57 in New York and London.
+
+From New York I went to Boston, and escaped my first opportunity of
+going to jail by giving bail bond for $80,000. George B. Upton
+represented my house in Boston and was in Europe. He was traveling at
+the time, and his people instructed him to have me arrested for any
+interest the Barings might have, through open credits, in our firm.
+Colonel Enoch Train and Donald Mackay signed the bond. The claim was
+that I had made a lot of money, and had not given to others what was
+their due. I had never used the Barings' credit out in Australia, and
+returned to them $50,000. So far as Upton was concerned, I had paid my
+partner, Captain Caldwell, $8,000 in cash, when he went home in the Red
+Jacket only a few months after his arrival in Melbourne. This was my
+first false arrest and legal prosecution. From this time for many years
+I kept getting into jail, for no crime whatever.
+
+After looking over the accounts in the books for '57, Upton came the
+next year to me in New York, just as I was going abroad, and said, "We
+are in a tight place in Boston." Imagine my astonishment when he asked
+if I was willing that any little account coming to me should be placed
+to my credit, and used to help him out. Considering that I had been
+arrested for $80,000, I thought this peculiar. He gave me a credit for
+L500 on the Barings, however; it seems that $6,000 had been sent to me
+by the house in Melbourne while I was away. Inasmuch as I have never
+since inquired how my account stood with Upton, I should like to have
+his son look at the books, and see what may be due me.
+
+In '56 I took my wife and baby Sue to Paris. I had observed in Europe
+that the Germans were more far-sighted than we in learning many
+languages. The bright German boy in a country town is taught French and
+English, and then sent to Bremen or Hamburg to get the practical
+education of merchants in great shipping houses. Afterward, he is sent
+to England to find out other modes of doing business. Then perhaps he
+establishes a house in New York. I found that German merchants, all over
+the world, were far ahead of ours, because of their practical training
+and mastery of languages. Seeing, in my travels around the world, that
+the German was everywhere, I determined to learn languages, and went to
+Paris for that purpose.
+
+We took rooms at the Grand Hotel de Louvre, in the Rue de Rivoli, and I
+at once went to Galignani, of "The Messenger," to find teachers. Under a
+Catholic priest, I studied Italian and French at the same time, which
+may account for my having a little of the Italian accent in my French. I
+have never known an Italian who was able to master the French accent. I
+also learned Portuguese and Spanish. This gave me the four Latin
+languages. I had, in '48, studied German under Gasper Buetts, who came to
+America during the Revolution of '48 with Carl Schurz. German texts and
+pronunciation I had to practise every day, but as I have never had a
+fancy for that language, I have not kept it up. I sent my sons to
+Frankfort-on-the-Main to learn German, and afterward to Seelig's College
+in Vevey, Switzerland, in '71, to learn Italian and French. My daughter
+Sue was sent to Stuttgart, and she is thoroughly acquainted with both
+German and French.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+MEN I MET IN PARIS
+
+1856-1857
+
+
+My life in Paris seems now like a romance to my memory. I was
+twenty-seven, and thought I had seen all the world, but discovered how
+little I knew, compared with others whom I met. I found, as in all these
+foreign cities, that notables in society and in public life often did
+not know one another. At Count Arthur De La More's, of the Orleanist
+staff, I found the greatest hostility toward the Emperor. One day we
+were sitting in the entresol, at his rooms on the Rue de Rivoli,
+opposite the Tuileries, and he asked me whether I could see that man
+walking on the veranda of the Tuileries. I said I could, to which he
+replied: "Could one of your sharpshooters pick him off from here?" I
+looked up with surprise, and thought I saw the future assassin of the
+Emperor, but said nothing. I told him some of our men like Daniel Boone
+and David Crockett could have picked off a squirrel as far as they could
+see it. It was a little while after this that the Orsini bomb was fired
+at the Emperor. This was because Napoleon, though a member of the
+Carbonari, had "gone back on" the order; but his life was spared.
+
+Prince Galitzen of Russia gave me a dinner at the Cafe Philippe, where I
+met some of the Russian nobility. These men were the cleverest I have
+ever seen. All were good linguists, artists, statesmen, soldiers, men of
+the world. At Prince Czartoryski's I met leading Poles, who were still
+revolutionists, plotting against Russia. One of these, a man of about
+eighty, said to me: "In my teens I went to St. Petersburg, saw Alexander
+and told him the condition of Poland. I asked him what he was going to
+do. He asked me what I should recommend. 'There are two ways of
+governing Poland,' I said; 'through interest or through fear.' Fear was
+the policy adopted. When I was forty, I again went to St. Petersburg.
+Nicholas was Czar, and he repeated the same question. I again answered,
+'through interest or through fear.' When I was sixty I met another
+Emperor, and the same question was put to me, and I made the same reply.
+Poland is partitioned," he added; "and we are now only a memory."
+
+At Leon Lillo's I met many Spaniards of the nobility and the ruling
+family. I still think that Lillo was the son of Queen Cristina, by her
+husband the Duke of Rianzares, a common soldier, of physical beauty,
+whom she had taken from the ranks and made a Duke. I used to meet him at
+Lillo's. Cristina, who was then probably the richest woman in the world,
+had bought Malmaison, the palace of Josephine. It was through this
+connection that I met Salamanca, the Spanish Rothschild, her banker. I
+shall speak later of how I got the funds to build the Atlantic and Great
+Western Railway, connecting the Erie Railway with the Ohio and
+Mississippi Railway.
+
+At the Marquis del Grillo's I met his wife, the great Italian
+tragedienne, Ristori, whom I had seen on the stage in "Elizabeth." I met
+leading men of the Second Empire at the house of the Count de Rouville,
+including Persigny, the Foreign Minister, Count de Morny, the Minister
+of War, Walewski, Prince "Plon-Plon," and Mocquard, private secretary to
+the Emperor. At Triat's Gymnase I met the men who afterward organized
+the Commune. At the house of Mrs. Winfield Scott, who was then living
+in Paris, I met many Americans, and at Castle's I saw "Bohemia."
+
+Meeting all these different persons, distinguished in the great world of
+Paris, I was gaining the knowledge that would make me a walking library
+of political affairs in Europe. This made up for the loss of a college
+career. Practical experience and observation were my university.
+
+That year, '56-'57, was a very important time in my life in many ways. I
+received an invitation to a ball at the Tuileries, engraved in the
+usual style, on a card a foot square, and bearing the enormous seal of
+the Second Empire. For the first time in my life I appeared in borrowed
+plumes. I hired what I call a "flunkey" suit, and paid forty-five francs
+for it. In this I was presented. It was not a civil nor a military suit,
+but a sort of mongrel affair, that served me as a court costume. Of
+course, my wife appeared in proper evening dress. There were four
+thousand persons present, the highest in the society of Paris, military
+and civil--ambassadors in their regalia, regimental officers in their
+different uniforms, and the aristocracy in their robes. There were also
+Algerian officers. Although the Tuileries was very large, the four
+thousand guests found themselves in much crowded rooms.
+
+During this reception and ball I suddenly felt some cold substance going
+down my back. Putting my hand to my neck, I found there a cupful of
+ice-cream that an Algerian officer had dropped, with the usual "Pardon,
+monsieur." I assured him it was all right, but the ice-cream gave me a
+decidedly boreal feeling.
+
+The ball was in the usual court style, and I shall not undertake to
+describe it. After some time had passed, all at once there was silence,
+instead of the terrible hum. It was the presage of something important,
+I felt sure. The wax candles in the chandeliers burned brilliantly, and
+we were all on the _qui vive_ to know what was coming. Looking toward
+the great folding doors at the end of the hall, a lady appeared. It was
+the age of crinoline, and she must have had a circumference of eight
+feet. She was the Emperor's favorite, the Countess Castiglione. The
+sensation she made was tremendous.
+
+I should mention that before this happened I had been presented to the
+Empress. We were all ranged in diplomatic order for presentation, and
+when it came my turn she seemed particularly courteous, saying in
+English to me: "You speak French very fluently." To this I replied:
+"When I am able to speak French, your Majesty, as well as you speak
+English, I shall be willing to trust myself in that language. In the
+meanwhile let me ask you to talk as you prefer." All those presented
+seemed surprised to see me talking with the Empress, as it was, I
+believe, unusual for a foreigner and a newcomer to be thus honored. She
+was very gracious, and made me feel as much at home as if I had been in
+my own family. The introduction of the crinoline had been made by the
+Empress before the birth of the Prince Imperial. Anti-Imperialists had
+been busy gossiping about the coming event, and intimated that it was
+impossible the Emperor could become the father of a child.
+
+After the Countess Castiglione appeared in such dare-devil fashion, in
+the presence of the whole court, the Empress appeared in much different
+mood. The next day she went to England, and became the guest of the
+Queen for three weeks.
+
+The Italian war was then going on, and I was desirous of mastering the
+Italian language, in order to carry out certain contracts I had made
+with the Emperor. McHenry was my partner, and I had written to him that
+the Emperor wanted a half dozen steamers immediately. The French needed
+the boats for the transport of provisions. McHenry was in London, and in
+my letter I told him there was no doubt that the war would eventually be
+won by France and Italy. This was just after the great battles of
+Magenta and Solferino. He sent me back this despatch: "La paix est
+signe." You can imagine my surprise. It shows that the most careful of
+men sometimes make mistakes.
+
+Mr. Seward, afterward Secretary of State, was in Paris in '56-'57, and I
+showed him as much of Paris as I dared. There were certain places to
+which I did not feel authorized to take him, but I managed to make him
+see a great deal of Paris that would have been sealed to him had he
+undertaken to go about this microcosmic city without a guide.
+
+Mr. Seward astonished me very much one day by a remark showing his
+detachment from the great world of European thought and power. I said
+to him: "Mr. Seward, how would you like to see M. Lamartine?" "Which
+Lamartine?" he coolly asked, as if there could be more than one. "Why,
+Alphonse de Lamartine," said I. "There is only one Lamartine in France
+or in the world." He asked if I knew him. I replied that Lamartine gave
+receptions twice a week, and that I had attended them during the winter.
+As there was a reception that day, I asked Mr. Seward if he cared to go.
+He very gladly accepted the invitation, and we went together.
+
+Lamartine, it will be remembered, married an English lady, a most
+charming, lovely woman; but he had never learned to speak English. He
+was like Hugo in this respect, and thought it was not worth while to
+struggle through the intricacies and difficulties of the spelling and
+pronunciation. But Madame Lamartine spoke French very fluently and
+accurately.
+
+I have observed as an invariable rule, from one end of the world to the
+other, that if one person addresses another in a language the second
+person does not understand, the talker thinks he can make himself
+understood by simply bawling out his sentences like a town-crier. Mr.
+Seward was no exception to this common frailty among mankind. When he
+saw that Lamartine did not understand his English, he placed his hand
+over his mouth, and shouted into M. Lamartine's ear. The great Frenchman
+smiled at each discharge, but could not reply. At last I said, "Mr.
+Seward, M. Lamartine is not deaf, but he does not understand English. If
+you will permit either Madame Lamartine or myself to interpret for you,
+there will be no difficulty." Mr. Seward continued to shout for some
+time, but finally broke down. Madame Lamartine and I then translated his
+remarks to Lamartine. After this we got along finely, and a most
+delightful conversation followed between the two men.
+
+It had been my intention, when I came to Paris, to go on to Australia;
+but as I passed through the various countries of Europe I saw that the
+shadow of panic and failure rested upon all. I had, indeed, completed
+many arrangements for going back to Melbourne, and I had got a letter of
+credit from the representative in London of the Bank of New South Wales
+for L20,000; but the project fell through, because of the panics and
+disasters of the year '57.
+
+In '58--I may mention at this place--I had a few months' leisure on my
+hands, and decided to give my wife and her stepmother, Mrs. George T. M.
+Davis, a trip about Europe. We traveled through France, Italy, Austria,
+and Germany. At Leghorn we went to witness a spectacular exhibition of
+the storming of Sebastopol. It was a magnificent spectacle, realistic in
+the extreme. No one was astonished, when, at the very point where the
+city was taken and the fort blown up, a terrific burst of light
+appeared. Instantly thereafter we discovered that the explosion had been
+too real. The theater was ablaze. Of course there was a wild rush for
+the doors. Panic followed, and while we were crushed and trampled in the
+press, we got off finally with only severe bruises. The official report
+next morning gave the casualties as forty killed and one hundred
+injured; but the Government suppressed the facts. The dead and injured
+far outnumbered these figures.
+
+We had an experience in Naples which illustrated the every-day use of
+words by the English that to us are offensive. We were aboard one of the
+dirty little steamboats that were found in that part of the
+Mediterranean, and, as the weather was somewhat rough, the bilge water
+had been shaken about in the night, and a terrible odor pervaded every
+nook of the vessel. An English nobleman was aboard, and in the morning,
+wishing to say something agreeable to my wife's stepmother, he said:
+"Madam, didn't you observe a dreadful stink in your state-room last
+night?" The blood of all the Pomeroys was fired by this supposed
+indelicacy. "Sir!" Mrs. Davis retorted, stepping back with great
+hauteur. I immediately advanced and said, "My dear madam, the gentleman
+meant no harm. The English prefer that 'nasty' word to something more
+refined and less shocking. He meant no insult." The Englishman
+explained; but the lady was not appeased.
+
+At Rome I was astonished to find a delegation awaiting me. I could not
+make out what it meant, when I was hailed as a "liberator." There were
+many "liberators" in the Italy of those days; and I supposed they
+mistook me for Mazzini, or Garibaldi, or Orsini, or some other leader of
+the people. "Whom do you think I am?" I asked. "Citizen George Francis
+Train," they said. This was too much for my credulity. What was worse
+still, they asked me to go with them. I did not know just where they
+expected me to go, or what they would expect me to do when I got there.
+Things were pretty black in Italy just then, and I did not desire to be
+mixed up in "revolutions," or liberty movements, or conspiracies.
+However, they assured me that it would be all right, and I consented to
+go. I went through a dark alley, to their meeting place, and was told
+more things about the revolution than I cared to know or to remember. It
+was not a healthful kind of knowledge to carry about Italy with one.
+
+But the curious thing about the affair was that here, as everywhere,
+these people regarded me as a leader of revolts--Carbonari, La Commune,
+Chartists, Fenians, Internationals--as if I were ready for every species
+of deviltry. For fifteen years five or six governments kept their spies
+shadowing me in Europe and America.
+
+From Italy we passed into Austria. At Vienna we had the opportunity,
+through the courtesy of some friends near the court, of witnessing a
+splendid celebration by the Order of Maria Teresa, which was the most
+gorgeous and most beautiful spectacle I think I have ever seen. We soon
+returned to London, and then came to America, where I was to resume work
+on projects and enterprises here.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+BUILDING THE ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY
+
+1857-1858
+
+
+The great project of a connecting railway between the Eastern and the
+Middle Western States had been in my mind for some years. Queen Maria
+Cristina's fortune, which was then the greatest possessed by any woman
+in the world, seemed to me to offer a solution of the problem. I had no
+idea, of course, of attempting to use her fortune in any schemes of my
+own and for my own interest, but I saw at once that I could utilize her
+idle wealth to the tremendous advantage of the United States and, at the
+same time, render a service to her.
+
+The Queen had had a large quantity of funds in the old United States
+Bank that President Jackson smashed, and James McHenry, who was
+connected with me in many enterprises, learned that she had taken as
+securities some coal lands in Pennsylvania. I saw the Duke of Rianzares,
+the guardsman Fernando Munoz, whom Maria Cristina had fallen in love
+with and made a grandee of her kingdom, and finally married in '44. He
+had his headquarters at Lillo's in the Square Clary, and he introduced
+me to the Queen's secretary, Salerno. I suggested to the Spaniards the
+advisability of hunting up these coal lands of the Queen. McHenry had
+already made arrangements for me to go to America with her assistant
+secretary, Don Rodrigo de Questa, who did not know a word of English.
+The preliminaries were arranged, and we set out for Liverpool and
+America.
+
+One of the first of many difficulties into which poor de Questa fell
+because of his ignorance of English occurred the first day out from
+Liverpool. The Spaniard, with a fatuous assumption common to Europeans,
+thought that whenever he failed to find the exact word he wanted in
+another tongue than his own, all that was necessary was to use French.
+The Spaniard asked the steward to get him some fish for breakfast. He
+knew the Spanish word would not answer, and could not think of the
+English word, though he had tried to master it for some time. He then
+fell back upon the French, and asked for "poisson." Of course, the
+steward thought he wanted poison, and reported the matter to
+headquarters, thinking suicide was contemplated.
+
+De Questa would have had serious trouble but for the thoughtfulness of
+the steward, who remembered that I was traveling with him and came to
+me for advice. "When did he ask for poison?" I inquired. "At
+breakfast-time," said the steward. "Oh, then, he merely wants fish," and
+I explained as well as I could to an English steward the meaning of the
+French word.
+
+The English of the ignorant classes look upon French very much as a
+clergyman does upon profanity, or as a missionary regards the muttered
+charms and incantations of a "voodoo" priestess. De Questa finally got
+his fish, but he had long before lost his appetite. This adventure
+discouraged him so much that he refused thenceforth to try to convey in
+English, Castilian, or French, any of his desires concerning food, but
+resorted to the primitive sign language. When he wanted eggs, he would
+flap his arms together and cackle like a hen that has just laid an egg.
+The steward who, perhaps, had never seen two square inches of
+countryside in his life, thought he was imitating a rooster and laughed
+until he almost had a fit. De Questa nearly starved. He had, at last, to
+eat whatever he could find, without trying to seek what he wanted. I
+explained to him that roosters did not lay eggs!
+
+Our destination was Philadelphia. It was there that the Spaniards who
+were living upon Queen Maria Cristina's property had their headquarters.
+I found two of them, Christopher and John Fallon, living in fine houses,
+with something of a court about them. They had control of about forty
+thousand acres of coal lands belonging to the Queen. This large tract
+was situated at a place to which the Fallons had given their name,
+Fallonville. I at once consulted several of the best lawyers of
+Philadelphia, among them William B. Reed, later Minister to China, and
+was advised to go immediately to the lands and see what had been done
+with them. I made an appointment with John Fallon, and we went out to
+the mines. I can not now recall exactly where they were, but I remember
+that we passed through a wilderness, after leaving the train that took
+us from Philadelphia, and that we had a very long drive in carriages. A
+railway track had been built through the forest to the mines, and it
+seemed to me about fifteen miles long. I appeared to John Fallon as a
+foreigner who was interested in mines and in coal lands in particular,
+but not, of course, as representing the Queen.
+
+As soon as I returned to Philadelphia and reported what I had learned,
+my lawyers advised me to go back to Paris and report to the Queen. De
+Questa and I, therefore, returned as soon as possible. McHenry met me in
+London, and we went on to Paris together. We had a conference with Lillo
+and with Don Jose de Salamanca, the Queen's banker, and it was decided
+that the Queen should take active possession of her immense property at
+once. I saw that there was a great deal of money in the land, and that
+there was a fine opportunity for the Atlantic and Great Western Railway,
+if I could in some way get the use of a portion of this vast coal
+domain.
+
+I saw also that my connection with the affair had already given me a
+lever with which I could work to some purpose upon Don Jose de
+Salamanca, and that this was the best card to play.
+
+As soon as possible I went to his banking office and asked for a
+conference. I had learned enough, in my dealings with bankers and
+financiers, to know that you must approach them on the right side, from
+the side of money, and not from that of a mere wish. Accordingly I wrote
+on my card that I wished to propose a loan of $1,000,000. I really came
+as a borrower, but circumstances permitted me to play the role of the
+lender. I was admitted at once, but if I had asked outright for a loan I
+should have been shown the door. As soon as I was in his presence I
+said, without preface: "I have no cash in my pockets, nor would you wish
+it if I had; but I want to show you something."
+
+"I understood that you wanted to lend me a million," said the Spaniard.
+"I do not see the million."
+
+"You will, when I explain," I said. "I want to use your credit." (I knew
+that he had none in London and that he could do nothing there.) "I
+propose to deposit with you $2,000,000 of the bonds of the Atlantic and
+Great Western Railway for $1,000,000 of your notes."
+
+I knew that the bait of a credit in London would affect him, as the
+Spanish bankers had long tried in vain to establish their credit in the
+financial metropolis of the world.
+
+"Where is this property?" he asked.
+
+I drew a diagram of the property for him, explaining its location and
+its relation to other properties and enterprises. I told him of the Erie
+Railway, ending at Olean, and the Ohio and Mississippi Railway from
+Cincinnati to St. Louis. "There is no connection between these two great
+highways," I said, "and a highway that will connect them will prove a
+fortune-maker to every one associated with the project." I explained
+that there were only four hundred miles between the two, and how I
+purposed filling in this gap. Between the two ends of the completed
+railways lay three wealthy States. This road has since been reorganized
+under the name of the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, or as it is
+colloquially called, the "Nyp. and O." Near Olean now exists a town that
+has the name of my Spanish friend, Salamanca.
+
+My arguments touched Salamanca, but did not capture him. They paved the
+way, however, for his complete capitulation a little later. My next step
+was to go to London and confer with the Kennards, famous bankers of
+that city. We arranged that a nephew of the Kennards, a son of Robert
+William Kennard, then a member of Parliament, and an engineer of note,
+should accompany me to America and go over the entire ground of the
+proposed route.
+
+We came to New York in October, '57, and shortly after we arrived had a
+conference at the St. Nicholas Hotel, in Broadway, with the men who were
+most interested in the proposed road. Maps were exhibited, and the plans
+fully explained. We then left for Olean, where we were met by the
+contractor in charge of the road, whose name was Doolittle, by Morton
+the local engineer, and by General C. L. Ward, the president of the
+road. The whole party took wagons for Jamestown, forty miles away. At
+this point we were met by a committee appointed to take care of us and
+to show us what had been done, and what could be done. This was the
+program throughout, as we passed on from point to point. Among the men
+who met us at Jamestown was Reuben E. Fenton, who had just been elected
+Representative in Congress from that district, and was afterward
+Governor and United States Senator. The line of the road was followed as
+far as Dayton, Ohio, where it was proposed to connect with the Cleveland
+and Cincinnati Railway.
+
+At Mansfield there was a great gathering in honor of the occasion. The
+committees of the three States--New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, were
+present, and there was speech-making. I made a speech, which is printed
+in full in "Spread-Eagleism," published in '58. Judge Bartley, afterward
+famous on the Federal bench, was chairman of the meeting. I asked if
+there were not some one present from Ohio who could give us a clear
+statement as to what we could expect. Judge Bartley called on "Mr.
+Sherman." A tall, spare man arose. It was John Sherman. He made a speech
+that was clear, direct, and forcible. Among the other speakers were
+Robert E. Schenck, of "Emma Mine" fame, who had been elected to Congress
+recently, and Senator Benjamin F. Wade.
+
+Just before the close of the meeting I introduced Thomas Kennard, the
+civil engineer, and told the crowd that the road was to be built, and
+that it would be aided by the money of Queen Maria Cristina of Spain and
+the great Spanish banker, Salamanca.
+
+I made a report in London of the work accomplished in America, and at
+once began to purchase material for the road. I sought out Mr. Crawshay
+Bailey, then a member of Parliament, and a great Welsh iron-master, and
+he invited me to dine with him and his wife. He had just married a
+charming young lady. At dinner, I found that Mrs. Bailey spoke French
+very fluently and that Mr. Bailey did not understand a word of it. So I
+asked permission of the iron-worker to carry on a conversation in French
+with Mrs. Bailey. This delighted him very much, for he liked to see that
+his wife was mistress of a language of which he did not know a single
+word. This subtle flattery of his judgment and taste so pleased him that
+I was able to close a bargain with him for 25,000 tons of iron at $40
+the ton--$1,000,000--pledging for the debt bonds of the Atlantic and
+Great Western Railway, at two to one. This was the first great purchase
+made after the panic of '57.
+
+My second purchase was made from the Ebwvale Company, of Wales. Through
+Manager Robinson I negotiated for 30,000 tons of iron at $40 the
+ton--$1,200,000--pledging bonds of the road at two to one, as with
+Bailey.
+
+I have already spoken of Salamanca, the Spanish Rothschild, and how I
+had tried to obtain his notes for $1,000,000. I finally succeeded in
+getting this loan, pledging $2,000,000 bonds of the road as security. At
+this time, no Spanish securities had been negotiated in Lombard Street
+for years. It was highly necessary for me that these notes of Salamanca
+should be negotiated. I went to Mathew Marshall, Jr., of the Bank of
+London. He was the son of the old Mathew Marshall who had signed the
+notes of the Bank of England for fifty years. I asked him what $50,000
+of the notes of Salamanca would be accepted at by the bank. He replied
+that they would not be accepted at all. "No Spanish paper can be used in
+London," he said.
+
+I then had recourse to a scheme that I had previously worked out with
+some degree of elaboration. I asked Marshall if he would not oblige me
+by telling me, as a friend, what sixty-day bills of the kind I held
+would be worth if they could be used. He said they should be handled at
+six per centum. I telegraphed immediately to McHenry, in Liverpool, as
+follows: "Marshall will not touch this paper under six per cent. Will
+Moseley" (the big financier there) "do it for five?" McHenry answered
+that Moseley would not handle it for less than Marshall's rate, but
+would take $50,000 at six per centum.
+
+Upon the strength of this, four hundred miles of railway were built,
+through three great States, opening up a vast territory, and bringing in
+fortunes to a large number of men. My arrangement with McHenry was that
+I was to receive L100,000 as commission. No papers were signed, but I
+asked McHenry to give me a paper settling $100,000 on my wife, Willie
+Davis Train, which was done. After the road was built, Sir Morton Peto
+came over from England with some London bankers, on McHenry's
+invitation. McHenry believed in playing the part of a prince when it
+came to giving an entertainment, and he invited the visitors to a
+banquet at Delmonico's, then at Fourteenth Street and Fifth Avenue. It
+cost him $15,000.
+
+As I had not yet secured my commission, I thought this was a good time
+to collect it, and instructed my lawyer, Clark Bell, now of No. 39
+Broadway, to present and press my claim. McHenry was so afraid he would
+be arrested while these moneyed men were with him that he settled at
+once, giving me his notes at four months for the balance due. Gold was
+very high at this time, being $1.90, and as the notes were on London, I
+found they could be negotiated through McHenry's agents, McAudrey &
+Wann. It happened that these agents had lost some $7,000 on information
+that I had given to them about the result of the battle of Gettysburg;
+so I agreed to reimburse them for the loss, if they would cash the notes
+at once, which they did.
+
+This was in '66, and a singular thing happened. When the notes fell due
+in London on the 6th May, that comparatively small amount of gold
+precipitated something of a panic in the unsteady market of the day.
+Everything went with a crash. Moseley, the banker of Liverpool, failed
+for a large sum; Lemuel Goddard, of London, followed with a loss of as
+much more; Lunnon & Company failed for a greater amount; McHenry for
+some millions; Sir Morton Peto for other millions; and Overend, Gurney &
+Company for another large amount. This showed to me the real
+shallowness and insubstantiality of the great world of finance. It is
+built upon straw and paper. The secret of its great masters and
+"Napoleons" is nothing but what is known among other gamblers as
+"bluff."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A VISIT TO RUSSIA
+
+1857
+
+
+The year '57 was a memorable period in my life in many ways. The great
+panic of the time swept away my ambitious projects as if they had been
+so many dreams and visions. My contracts in Italy were destroyed by the
+peace of Villa Franca, and my Australian plans were defeated by the
+panic. I was therefore ready to take up anything that looked promising;
+but, as I had nothing immediately on hand, I took advantage of the
+enforced leisure to see more of England and the continent of Europe.
+
+I was in Liverpool at the time the Niagara arrived there for the purpose
+of laying the Atlantic cable, and suggested giving a banquet to Captain
+Hudson and Commander Pennock, who was my cousin, and to the other
+officers, at Lynn's Waterloo Hotel. This old landmark, the resort of
+American ship-captains for many years, was torn down long ago. At this
+time a letter came to Captain Hudson from the Grand Duke Constantine,
+of Russia, who had arrived at Dover in his yacht, the Livadia, thanking
+him for granting permission for three Russian officers to witness the
+laying of the cable.
+
+In this little incident I saw an opportunity for visiting Russia in a
+semi-official capacity, enabling me to see that country to much better
+advantage. I said to Captain Hudson that I should like to carry his
+answer to the Grand Duke. He replied that no answer was required, and
+that, besides, the Grand Duke had returned to St. Petersburg. I assured
+him that strict courtesy demanded an acknowledgment of the letter, and
+that it would make no difference to me about the Grand Duke being in St.
+Petersburg, as I expected to visit that city. So I persuaded him to let
+me take an answer to the Russian Prince. I suggested the phrasing of the
+letter. The Grand Duke was informed that I was visiting Russia for the
+purpose of seeing the Nijnii Novgorod fair, and that the United States
+was always glad to do anything that helped to repay Russia for her long
+friendship.
+
+I immediately started for London, where I called on the American
+Minister, George M. Dallas. Mr. Dallas was very courteous, but he
+evidently wanted to have the opportunity of handing the letter to the
+Grand Duke himself. He offered to see that the communication was
+expeditiously and properly transmitted. "But," I said, "I desire to take
+it in person." I next called on John Delane, who was long the editor of
+the London Times, and he asked me to write him some letters from Russia.
+Then I left London for The Hague.
+
+I met at The Hague Admiral Ariens, to whom I had been introduced by
+Captain Fabius of the Dutch man-of-war, some years before, at Singapore.
+From Holland I went through Germany, visiting Stettin, where I saw the
+beginnings of those great ship-yards that are now sending out the
+greatest and fastest vessels on the seas. I took a steamer from Stettin
+for St. Petersburg.
+
+At the Russian capital I called at once on our minister, Governor
+Seymour, of Connecticut. Mr. Seymour made the same suggestion that Mr.
+Dallas had made. He wished to transmit the letter to the Grand Duke. But
+I was not to be deprived of the final triumph of my schemes. I told the
+Minister that I had come all the way from Liverpool, and that it was my
+purpose to hand the letter to the Grand Duke, if I had to travel all
+over the Russian empire to do it. I was informed that it was not the
+season for seeing this high official, as he had left the city and was at
+his country residence, at Strelna.
+
+My answer to this was, in true Yankee fashion, "Where is Strelna?" I was
+told that it was just below Peterhof. Then I was advised not to try to
+see the Grand Duke on that day, as it was Saturday. I resolved to go at
+once to Strelna, without regard to official days, as I had long since
+discovered that the only way to do a thing of this sort was to do it
+straightway. I got a fast team, and was taken out to the Grand Duke's
+palace.
+
+I found the residence situated in the midst of an immense forest park,
+and sentinels guarded every avenue of approach. These stopped me at
+every turn, but at every challenge I showed the letter to the Grand Duke
+and told my errand. I was passed on and on, until I was inside the
+palace itself. Here I was met by a gentleman in the long frock coat the
+Russians affect, with his breast covered with military orders. He
+offered, as soon as I told him my errand, to take the letter to the
+Grand Duke; but I merely said that it was my purpose to hand it to him
+in person. I now began to fear that it would require some little time to
+get into the presence of this high dignitary. I expected to be put off
+for several days, and then to end up against a secretary or an
+aide-de-camp, who would finally have me meet some one very near the
+Grand Duke, but not the Grand Duke himself.
+
+I was at last shown by this military-looking gentleman into a reception
+room of the most spacious proportions. I sat down and prepared to wait
+for a secretary or aide-de-camp, when, suddenly, the door flew open,
+and, with a rapid step, a handsome, delicate-looking gentleman advanced
+toward me. I rose, and again went through the tiresome explanation that
+I had a letter for the Grand Duke, which I should like to hand to him
+in person, and so on, and so on. I expected to receive the reply that
+this gentleman would be greatly pleased to relieve me of the trouble,
+and was prepared to answer rather severely that I wished to hand the
+letter to his Grace myself. He said, with a gracious smile, which played
+like a dim light over his pale features, that he would see that the
+Grand Duke received the letter. "But," I said, "I must hand it to him
+myself." "Is it necessary?" he asked, with his faint smile. "It is," I
+replied as firmly as I could.
+
+He stepped back a little, and said, with a bow, "I am the Grand Duke." I
+almost sank into the chair with surprise. As soon as I recovered my
+composure, I handed him the letter, which I now felt to be a very small
+affair for so much ceremony and trouble.
+
+While I was waiting for the Grand Duke to read the letter, two great
+dogs came into the room, from different directions, and immediately
+began fighting. The Grand Duke said something in Russian, which showed
+that he at least knew how to speak commandingly. The great beasts, with
+drooping tails, slunk from his presence like whipped children.
+
+The Grand Duke Constantine was a younger brother of the Czar, and was a
+man of many accomplishments. He spoke with ease and grace seven
+languages, and his English was quite as grammatical and exact as my
+own. The Grand Duke, as soon as he had read the letter, called in his
+aide-de-camp, Colonel Greig, and said that the colonel would see to it
+that all my needs were attended to immediately, and expressed the wish
+that he might see me on my return from Nijnii. "I should like to know
+what you, as an American, think of Russia."
+
+Colonel Greig took me to the residence of his mother, the widow of
+Admiral Greig of the Russian navy, who lived just opposite Kronstadt. We
+were driven over in a troika, or droshky, with one horse trotting in the
+middle and one on each side, in full gallop. It was the most
+delightfully exhilarating drive I had ever taken, and I still think that
+the troika is the most attractive of all vehicles. At the Greigs' I was
+treated with the utmost consideration, and was a guest at a banquet the
+first night I was there. When I came to prepare for this function, I
+remembered that I had no change of clothes with me, as I had come out
+from St. Petersburg in a great hurry.
+
+In this dilemma, I turned to Colonel Greig and explained that it was not
+possible for me to attend the banquet as I had no dress clothes with me.
+He looked me over, and replied: "I think we are about the same size.
+Suppose you try one of my suits?" I accepted the offer at once, and
+found that his suit fitted me as well as my own. The banquet was a great
+affair, with a vast concourse of "skis," "offs," "neffs," and so
+on--little tag-ends of words by which one may tell a Russian name, even
+if it were possible not to tell it from its general appearance and sound
+without them.
+
+After a few days at the Greigs', I left for Moscow, where I was received
+by Prince Dombriski, brother-in-law of the Emperor. The old city of
+Moscow impressed me more than any other city of Europe. It seemed to
+belong to quite another world and to a different civilization. There is
+something primitive and prehistoric about it--elemental in its
+somberness and in its grandeur. I was astonished to find in the Kremlin
+a portrait of Napoleon at the battle of Borodino.
+
+In going from the capital to Moscow over the straight line of railway, I
+heard much of the way that the Czar Nicholas had built the road. It is
+said that he summoned to him his chief contractor and engineer,
+Carmichael, and asked him to make specifications for the line as
+arranged for between the two cities. The Czar confidently expected that
+he was being deceived about all matters of this kind, and was prepared
+for fraud in this enterprise. Carmichael drew up elaborate
+specifications, which Nicholas saw at once were entirely too elaborate,
+and gave abundant room for "pickings." He turned to Carmichael and asked
+if the specifications were all right. Carmichael assured him they were.
+"All right, then," said Nicholas, "I shall turn them over, just as they
+are, to Major Whistler." The Major was the uncle of the famous artist
+of to-day. Whistler built the road on Carmichael's specifications, and
+made a fortune, which has been the foundation of a half dozen family
+estates--the Winans, Harrison, Whistler estates, et al.
+
+I observed a peculiar effect of the direct method of the Czar in
+building a straight road to Moscow. All the big cities and even the
+prosperous and important towns had, without exception, been left at
+varying distances from the line of railway. At the little stations on
+the route the Russians would get off and get hot water in samovars and
+make tea, each of them carrying a supply of tea in bricks, with square
+loaf sugar in their pockets.
+
+Nijnii Novgorod I found a wonderful city. There, on the "Mother" Volga,
+as the Russians call it, I saw the origin of all the world's fairs and
+expositions, in this great fair, at which the nations of a world unknown
+to Europe and America assemble for traffic and barter. More than
+100,000,000 rubles, or, roughly, $50,000,000, change hands in six weeks.
+There the traveler, who is too indolent or too poor to see the remote
+tribes of the earth, may have all these strange and outlandish races
+come to him, on the banks of the Volga. It was a marvelous experience to
+me, and I considered it as well worth a trip around the world to see
+Nijnii Novgorod alone.
+
+Some time afterward, when I was in England, I received a letter from
+Baron Bruno, the Russian Ambassador, enclosing a letter from Colonel
+Greig, the aide-de-camp of the Grand Duke Constantine. He said that the
+Grand Duke had read my book, Young America Abroad, with interest. The
+Grand Duke, he said, was greatly pleased with my descriptions of Russia,
+with my exposure of the Crimean fiasco, and with my predictions as to
+the future development and greatness of the country. He added that the
+Russian Government would like to have me visit the region of the Amur,
+Petropauloffski and Vladivostok, and to make a report of the prospects
+of far-eastern Siberia.
+
+The Government proposed to make all the arrangements for me, so that I
+could travel in luxury and leisure; but I could not then undertake so
+extended an enterprise, besides I have ever preferred to follow my own
+ideas rather than those of others. I desired to pursue original lines of
+investigation, to go over new routes of travel and of trade, to explore
+corners of the world that had not been worn into paths by the myriad
+feet of travelers. I have always felt hampered in trying to carry out
+the suggestions of others. I have found that there is but one course for
+me, if I am to succeed, and that is to follow my own counsel. I must be
+myself, untrammeled, unfettered, or I fail. If I had gone to Eastern
+Siberia for the Russian Government, I might have succeeded in the way
+the Government expected; but the chances, I consider, would have been
+against me. If I had gone there at my own motion, I might have created a
+sensation by exploiting that vast and magnificent region, which must
+soon play a tremendously important part in the history of the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+BUILDING THE FIRST STREET-RAILWAYS IN ENGLAND
+
+1858
+
+
+In '58, when I visited Philadelphia on business of Queen Maria Cristina,
+of Spain, I observed the network of street-railways in that city, which
+then, perhaps, had the most perfect system of surface transportation in
+the world. I was struck with the idea of the great convenience these
+railways must be to business men and to all workers, and wondered why
+London, with so many more persons, had never had recourse to the
+street-railway. At that time there was not an inch of "tramway," or
+street-railway, in Great Britain, or anywhere outside of New York and
+Philadelphia. I stored the idea up in my mind, intending to utilize it
+some day, when I returned to England.
+
+Before undertaking the work of constructing street-railways in England,
+I was called upon to do a little financiering for my father-in-law,
+Colonel George T. M. Davis. Colonel Davis came to me in London and
+wished me to assist in organizing the Adirondack Railway in upper New
+York. He had been introduced to Hamilton and Waddell, who had a grant
+from the New York legislature of 600,000 acres in the Adirondacks; but
+nothing could be done at that time. Later, in '64, I organized the
+Adirondack road, and met General Rosecrans and Cheney, of Little Falls,
+at the Astor House, for the purpose of building the railway. I
+subscribed $20,000 for myself and $20,000 for my wife, and got a large
+sum from my friends. A large party of us went in carriages from the
+United States Hotel, Saratoga, through the country along the proposed
+route to Lucerne. George Augustus Sala, who was visiting this country at
+the time, was with us, also Dr. T. C. Durant, president of the Credit
+Mobilier, and J. S. T. Stranahan, of Brooklyn. This was the beginning of
+the Adirondack road, of which Colonel Davis was the president when he
+died in '88. My plan was to build the road through the entire forest to
+Ogdensburg, but it was never carried out. This was four decades before
+the millionaire colonists began flocking in there, the Huntingtons,
+Astors, Webbs, Rockefellers, Woodruffs, Durants, et al.
+
+My first efforts in introducing street-railways in England were made in
+Liverpool. I chose this city because I had been long associated with it
+and because, as it was the leading seaport of the world, I had a false
+idea that it was progressive. But I was soon set right as to this
+estimate of Liverpool. I recalled, in the hour of discouragement, the
+great difficulty I had had years before, in '50, in getting the
+municipal government to permit us to have lights and fire on the docks
+at night, in order to facilitate the handling of the very traffic that
+was the basis of the city's prosperity. Now, when I proposed the laying
+of a street-railway, I found the leading men of the city just as narrow
+and just as hopelessly behind the times as they had been in the matter
+of improving shipping facilities. They would not consider the
+proposition at all.
+
+But this did not stop my efforts nor dampen my ardor. I felt that the
+plan would succeed somewhere in England, and I began to look about to
+see where the best chances of success might be found. All through the
+year '58 and into '59 I was at work upon my original plan. I had made
+every possible arrangement for the immediate construction of a railway,
+if I could only get some municipality to grant the necessary permission.
+
+Finally, it occurred to me that the man I wanted was John Laird, the
+progressive and energetic ship-builder, the man who afterward built the
+Alabama and other Confederate craft, and who was at the time chairman of
+the Commissioners of Birkenhead, just across the Mersey opposite
+Liverpool. Surely, thought I, here is a man with enterprise enough to
+appreciate this thing, which means so much for the working people and
+all business men. So I went to Mr. Laird, and after a long conference
+with him, I made a formal request to the Commissioners for permission to
+construct a surface railway, or "tramway," as it is called in England.
+My proposition was to lay a track four miles long, running out to the
+Birkenhead Park. I offered to lay the road at my own expense, to pave a
+certain proportion of the streets through which the line passed, and to
+charge fares lower than those then charged by the omnibuses. If the line
+did not then satisfy the city authorities, I was to remove it at my own
+expense and to place all the streets affected in as good order as when
+the road was begun.
+
+I found Mr. Laird as liberal-minded as I had expected, and with his
+influence, the Board of Commissioners consented to let me make the
+experiment. I went to work at once, and the road was pushed through with
+great despatch. I felt that it ought to get into operation before the
+'buses and other transportation companies stirred up too much
+opposition. As soon as the working people found how comfortable and
+cheap the new mode of conveyance was, I felt sure they would stand up
+for it so strongly as to defeat the efforts of the omnibus men to tear
+up the line.
+
+The "tramway" proved a success from the start, and became as popular as
+I had expected. It was crowded with passengers at all hours of the day.
+The road is there to-day; and I learned a curious thing in connection
+with the line only recently. Twelve years ago the cashier of the
+restaurant in the Mills Hotel No. 1, Mr. Bryan, was the manager of the
+street-railway I had built in Birkenhead forty-two years ago.
+
+Another incident of this period I should record here. I invited to
+Birkenhead most of the leading journalists and writers of London, having
+in view, of course, an intended invasion of the great metropolis. While
+these men were together I suggested the organization of a literary club,
+and this suggestion was the germ from which grew the Savage Club of
+London. My speech at the opening of the first street-railway in the Old
+World will appear in my forthcoming book of speeches.
+
+As soon as I had completed my work in Birkenhead, I went to London, and
+opened a campaign for "tramways" in that metropolis of 4,000,000 people.
+It was a complex business from the first, and I had to make a study of
+the government and the conditions, and, above all, of the prejudices of
+citizens. The first step was to apply to every parish, for the parish
+there is our ward, and something more, for it has a far greater measure
+of home rule. Each parish had to grant permission for any tramway that
+was to invade its ancient and sacred precincts.
+
+The greatest difficulty was the one I had most dreaded from the
+start--the opposition of the 'bus men. There are, or were at that time,
+6,000 omnibuses in the streets of London, and in every one of the
+drivers, and in every one who was interested in the profits of the
+business, my tramway project had an unrelenting foe. I found that the
+influence of these men was tremendous, because they reached the masses
+of the people in a way that I could never hope to do. Their efforts were
+unremitting. They worked upon the different parish governments, upon the
+people at large, upon the municipal government, and upon Parliament
+itself. I believe they had sufficient influence to have carried the war
+even into the cabinet and to the throne.
+
+However, as I shall soon relate, the opposition of the 'buses did not
+prove to be as terrible in the end as I had feared. The heaviest blows
+came from a higher source. The "people," in England, as elsewhere, seem
+very powerful at first, in the beginnings of all enterprises. To oppose
+them would seem to be inviting destruction. But in the end it is found
+that the real power is lodged elsewhere, and whenever this real power
+wants a thing done, the "people" do not exist. The fiction that they do
+exist disappears at once in the clear atmosphere of "exigency."
+
+The first of these real powers that I had to attack was the Metropolitan
+Board of Aldermen. I appeared before the board with a carefully prepared
+model of the tramways I proposed. It was a sort of public hearing, and
+I was very closely questioned about the plans of operating the road, the
+effect its presence in the narrow streets would have in interfering with
+traffic, the danger of accidents, and so on. There was present a noble
+lord who, I saw, was fighting desperately against the project. He eyed
+me closely and made sharp interrogations. When he wished to be
+particularly effective, as is the manner of Englishmen of his class, he
+would drop his monocle, then readjust it carefully, with many writhings
+and twistings of his eyebrows, and, when the single glass was properly
+adjusted, half close the other eye and concentrate the full blaze of the
+monocle upon his victim. If the victim survives this, so much the worse
+for him, for he will then be subjected to a long drawl and to "hems" and
+"haws" that would shatter the composure of a Philadelphia lawyer.
+
+We soon took up the problem of laying the tramway up Ludgate Hill, where
+the street is exceedingly narrow. His lordship fixed me with his
+glittering monocle. I saw from which direction the firing would come.
+After readjusting his monocle, so as to get the range better, he said:
+
+"May I--ah--ask a question, Mr.--ah--Train?" When an Englishman wants to
+be sarcastic, and ironical, and cutting, he finds the means readiest to
+his mind in a pretended forgetting of your name.
+
+"That is what I am here for, my lord," I replied, as graciously as
+possible.
+
+"You know, of course, how very narrow is Ludgate Hill. Suppose that when
+I go down to the Mansion House in my carriage, one of my horses should
+slip on your d--d rail, and break his leg--would you pay for the horse?"
+
+This produced a sensation, for the English love a lord even more than we
+plain Americans do. As soon as the stir had ceased, I replied, in a
+voice that carried to the ends of the hall:
+
+"My lord, if you could convince me that your d--d old horse would not
+have fallen if the rail had not been there, I certainly should pay for
+it." This retort caught the audience so happily that the tide swept
+around my way, to the discomfiture of the noble lord. The hearing
+resulted in my obtaining permission to lay a tramway from the Marble
+Arch at Oxford Street and from Hyde Park to Bayswater, a distance of one
+or two miles.
+
+I soon built other lines, also: one from Victoria Station to Westminster
+Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, and another from Westminster Bridge
+to Kennington Gate on the way to Clapham. These were constructed on my
+patent of a half-inch flange.
+
+The omnibuses, defeated in this part of the fighting, resorted to
+peculiar but effective tactics. As soon as I laid a portion of my
+tracks--which was done upon the same terms under which I had put down
+the line in Birkenhead--the 'bus drivers tried in every possible way to
+wreck their vehicles on the rails. They would drive across again and
+again and take the rails in the most reckless way, in order to catch and
+twist their wheels. They were very often successful, and there were many
+accidents of this sort. The excitement increased greatly with every foot
+of track laid down. But the people, as in Birkenhead, were tremendously
+in favor of the tramway. It was such a convenience to them that they
+sided with me in the fight. The 'bus drivers and companies and the
+aristocracy were against me--the one because my trams interfered with
+their business, the other because they owned their private conveyances,
+and did not like to drive across the rails. I dressed conductors and
+drivers in the uniform of volunteers, to which many soldiers objected.
+In the meanwhile the cars were crowded with passengers at all hours,
+there being throughout the day a rush such as is seen in New York only
+in what we call the "rush hours."
+
+In all this excitement and press of travel, accidents were, of course,
+unavoidable. I dreaded one, as I felt it would be the crucial point. It
+might turn against me the popular feeling, now so strongly setting in my
+direction, for the "mob" (so called) of London is fully as excitable and
+as ungovernable as the "mob" of Paris, and its prejudices are more
+deeply intrenched. Finally, the dreaded accident came. A boy was
+killed, and I was arrested for manslaughter.
+
+In order to appease public feeling, I paid the expenses of the boy's
+funeral, and did everything that could possibly be done to pay, in a
+material way, for his death. The accident was entirely unavoidable, and
+the tramway was not responsible for it, but there was a great deal of
+feeling, chiefly due to the agitation of the 'bus drivers. Sir John
+Villiers Shelley, member of Parliament, a relative of the poet, who was
+chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works and the representative of
+the omnibus people, led the fight against me. We had a terrific
+struggle. The bill to authorize the tramways had gone to Parliament, and
+this was now defeated by a few votes. I had six of the ablest lawyers of
+England to represent me (through Baxter, Rose & Norton, solicitors), but
+the influence of the 'bus men, aided by the sentiment in certain
+quarters against me on account of my speeches in favor of the American
+Union, was too strong for me, and I had to abandon the fight in London.
+
+I then went to the Potteries in Staffordshire, and there, after renewing
+the same kind of fighting that I had had in London, in every new town I
+undertook to lay railways in, I succeeded in building seven miles of
+track through the crockery-making country. Those tracks are there
+to-day.
+
+My failure in London, which was to have been expected, must be set off
+by these successes in Birkenhead and in Staffordshire. I am entitled to
+the credit of laying the first street-railways in England, having to
+overcome the most formidable of all the enemies of progress--British
+prejudice. I afterward went to Darlington, where Stephenson had built
+his first railway, from Stockton to Darlington, in '29, the year of my
+birth, and I constructed a tramway there to connect the two steam
+railways through that town.
+
+My life, therefore, spans the entire railway building of the world. The
+first railway was built the year I was born, and since that time, in a
+space of seventy-three years, more than 200,000 miles of railway have
+been constructed in the United States alone. In much of this great work
+I have had some share. I suggested the railway that connects Melbourne
+with its port, and mapped out the present railway system in Australia
+thirty-nine years ago; I organized the line that connects the Eastern
+States with the great Middle West--the Atlantic and Great Western
+Railway; and I organized and built the first railway that pierced the
+great American desert, and brought the Atlantic and Pacific coasts into
+close touch and led to the development of the far West.
+
+I may mention here, also, that I built a street-railway in Geneva,
+Switzerland, which is still in use; and one in Copenhagen, which proved
+that there was at least something sound in "the state of Denmark."
+Other railways, as in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, suggested by me,
+have been changed from horse to trolley lines. I also suggested the road
+in Bombay, India, which was the first railway in all Asia, now extended.
+
+It may be of interest to record that when I began building
+street-railways, I sent to the United States and got the plans of the
+Philadelphia roads and of the New York Third Avenue line. It was
+therefore upon the models of American roads that these foreign railways
+were constructed.
+
+It is sometimes said that it is remarkable that little is known of my
+connection with these great enterprises--for they were great, and
+epoch-making. But my achievements in England, in the pioneer work of
+building street-railways, is a matter of recorded history. An account of
+my work there will be found in a book by Dr. Albert Shaw, editor of the
+Review of Reviews, Municipal Government in Great Britain, as well as in
+other books that deal with the industrial life of the period.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+ENGLAND AND OUR CIVIL WAR--BLOCKADE RUNNING
+
+
+I have referred already to the antagonism felt toward me in certain
+English quarters because of my speeches in favor of the Federal American
+Union in the hour of its danger. Love of country was always stronger in
+me than love of money, and I let slip no opportunity to defend the cause
+of the Union and to prove to the English of the upper classes that they
+were mistaken in supposing that the Confederacy could succeed. Those who
+were not in England at this period, when the South was in the first
+flush of its success, and when it seemed likely that England and France
+would go to the assistance of the South, merely to strengthen themselves
+by weakening the power of the United States, can not appreciate the
+extent or the power of British sympathy for the Confederacy. The element
+in England that took sides with the South was tremendously influential.
+I had already felt its power in a personal way through the defeat of my
+street-railway projects.
+
+As soon as I observed the trend of British opinion, I went into public
+halls and spoke in favor of the Union, and tried to show that right and
+might were both on the side of the North, and that, no matter how many
+successes the South might win in the beginning of the war, it would
+inevitably be crushed beneath the weight of the rest of the country. I
+did not confine myself to speeches of this sort. I attacked the men who
+were trading on the war by sending blockade runners into Southern ports
+in violation of the rules of war. And so I was in some relation with
+Lord John Russell on the one hand and Emperor Louis Napoleon on the
+other, in the critical days of the Mason-Slidell affair and the
+discussion of "belligerent rights" of the South.
+
+Before taking part in this desperate effort to stem the tide of British
+opinion, and to defeat the efforts of British traders to make money by
+selling merchandise to the South contraband of war, I placed my wife and
+children on board a steamer for New York, in order to remove them from
+troubled scenes. This fight was to cost me the opportunity of making a
+fortune of perhaps $5,000,000, by upsetting my street-railway projects.
+
+I may mention here that in '58, during the Italian war, I bought the
+London Morning Chronicle for the French Emperor, paying $10,000 for it,
+and putting Thornton Hunt, son of Leigh Hunt, in editorial charge, at a
+salary of $2,000 a year. It was a daily paper; and as the Emperor
+wanted a weekly also, I arranged for him the purchase of the London
+Spectator at the same price, and put in Townsend (I think that was the
+name) as editor, at a salary of $2,000 a year. When the war was over,
+these papers of course passed out of our hands, and the Chronicle made a
+most savage attack on me in the tramway discussion, taking the part of
+the omnibus drivers. It again attacked me for my exposure of blockade
+running from British ports. I had given the names of the men interested,
+the marks of the cargoes, and the destination of the shipments, in a
+letter that I wrote to the New York Herald. These men thought they had
+assassinated the United States Republic.
+
+The feeling against me was so intense at one time that I anticipated an
+attempt to kill me. Strong influences were brought to bear upon me to
+stop a paper that I had established in London, with my private
+secretary, George Pickering Bemis, as manager, for the purpose of
+disseminating correct news and views about the civil war. Secretary
+Seward, by the way, sent $100, through his private secretary, Mr. J. C.
+Derby (who was afterward connected with the house of D. Appleton and
+Company, and wrote his recollections under the title, Fifty Years Among
+Authors, Books, and Publishers), to assist in keeping up this journal.
+The intense strain wore upon me to such an extent that I had an attack
+of insomnia, and almost lost my senses at times. I would not go armed,
+but relied for defense upon a small cane that I carried under my arm, so
+grasped by the end in front as to enable me to whirl it about instantly
+in case I should be attacked from the rear.
+
+In August, '62, I observed that a vessel called the Mavrockadatis was
+acting suspiciously, and came to the conclusion that she was a blockade
+runner. I believed that she was loaded with supplies for the
+Confederates, and that as soon as she was clear at sea she would make
+for a Southern port or for some rendezvous with a Confederate ship. I
+determined to frustrate this design, and took passage on her for St.
+John's, Newfoundland, which I supposed was only her ostensible
+destination. Of course, I registered under an assumed name, taking the
+name "Oliver" for the occasion.
+
+As it turned out, I was wrong. The vessel kept on her course as
+represented, and we arrived at St. John's, Newfoundland, instead of at a
+Southern port. This broke up my program, as I had intended, immediately
+upon reaching a Southern port, to go direct to Richmond and see if
+anything could be done to end the war. As I may not have occasion again
+to refer to this plan, which I had had in mind for some time, I shall
+speak of it here. I had arranged with the President and with Mr. Seward
+to go to Richmond to see what could be done.
+
+My idea was that the Southern leaders were in complete ignorance of the
+power and resources of the North; they had fancied, because of the great
+military reputation of Southern soldiers, that it would be comparatively
+easy to beat Northern troops in the field; and that, in the last event,
+England and France would come to their assistance. I felt confident of
+convincing Jefferson Davis and other Southern leaders that all these
+views were erroneous. I thought it would be a simple thing to prove that
+they could not count on the assistance of either England or France, as
+these two nations would not unite, and neither would undertake the task
+alone. I also thought I could give them such evidence of the great
+resources of the North, both in men and means, that they would recognize
+the uselessness of the struggle. Another view I had in mind was that I
+could impress the Southerners with the suggestion that, in the event of
+their abandoning the contest at that stage, they could obtain far better
+terms than the victorious North would be content to offer after a long
+and harrowing war. But this was not to be. Stanton heard of our plans,
+and sent Montgomery Blair to negotiate with the Southern leaders, with
+what result is too well known.
+
+I landed in Newfoundland, instead of in the South, as I have said, with
+all my immediate plans thwarted. But I took up the course of my life
+exactly at the point where I stood. I was in Newfoundland just one day,
+and I wrote a history of that Crown Colony from the information I
+gleaned in this brief visit. I shall republish it some day. I observed
+in St. John's, as I have observed elsewhere, that people are fashioned
+by their occupations. These people were physically the creation of
+fisheries. I noted the tomcod married to the hake, and the shark wedded
+to the swordfish. The fish of the sea, which they ate and upon which
+they lived and had their being, were all represented in their features,
+from the sardine to the sperm whale.
+
+From St. John's, Newfoundland, I went to Boston, by way of St. Johns,
+New Brunswick, stopping at Portland, Maine, for a brief visit. At
+Portland I was met by B. F. Guild on behalf of Curtis Guild, owner of
+the Boston Commercial Bulletin, which had just been established. Guild
+published my Union speeches, and must have spent $1,000 a week--the
+Bulletin was a weekly paper--in advertising them and my other writings.
+I published my History of Newfoundland in his paper, receiving for it
+$10 a column, the only pay I have ever received from a newspaper or
+other periodical for my work. I saw recently a notice of the death of B.
+F. Guild, at the age of eighty-nine. I had no idea he was so old.
+
+I found that I had returned to my country the most popular American in
+public life. I was greeted everywhere by vast concourses of people, who
+cheered me and demanded speeches about the situation in England and my
+experiences there. At Boston I was met by a tremendous gathering, and it
+looked like a procession as we went up State Street to the Revere House.
+I was placed in the rooms that had been occupied by the Prince of Wales,
+now King Edward, on his visit to Boston two years before.
+
+I was not long in Boston before I got into trouble by trying to
+enlighten the people with regard to the war. There was a great
+assemblage in Faneuil Hall, where Sumner was to speak, and I went there
+to see what was going on. Sumner was not a very effective speaker before
+mixed audiences, and could not have stood up for twenty minutes in the
+halls of London, where the greatest freedom of debate is indulged in,
+and where every speaker must be prepared to answer quickly and to the
+point any question that may be hurled at him, or to reply with sharpness
+and point to any retort that may come from the crowd that faces him.
+
+I was very much astonished, therefore, to hear Sumner challenge any one
+in the audience to confute his arguments. I knew, of course, that the
+gantlet thus lightly thrown down was a mere oratorical figure, but in
+England it would have been taken up at once, and Sumner would have been
+routed. The temptation was too much for me. I rose, to the apparent
+astonishment and embarrassment of the orator and of the committee on the
+platform, and said: "Mr. Sumner, when you have finished, I should like
+to speak a word." The cheering that greeted my acceptance of the
+gaily-flung challenge was cordial.
+
+As soon as Sumner had finished I climbed to the platform. There I had
+the greatest difficulty with the committee, which seemed determined to
+suppress any attempt to reply to the hero and god of the upper classes
+in Boston. The moment I began to talk the committee signaled to the
+band, and the music drowned my voice. When the band stopped I started
+again, but the committee endeavored to stop me. I acted as my own
+policeman and cleared the platform, when another rush was made upon me,
+and all went tumbling from the stage. I was then arrested and taken to
+the City Hall. The crowd seemed decidedly with me, although the utmost
+it knew as to my sentiments was that I was opposed to making instant
+abolition of slavery a condition precedent to putting an end to the war
+(that is, on Lincoln's platform, Union, with or without slavery).
+
+In a few minutes there was a crowd of some thousands of people about the
+City Hall demanding loudly that I be set at liberty. I quieted the
+people by sending word to them that I was preparing a proclamation to
+the American people. This proclamation, entitled "God Save the People,"
+was published by Guild in the Bulletin--and I should like to get a copy
+of it, as I have lost my own. This arrest did not interfere with me very
+much.
+
+I made a contract with Guild to lecture in the North and West, and my
+first lecture was given in the Academy of Music, New York. The general
+subject was the abolition question, as it related to the war between the
+States. At this meeting Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, was made chairman,
+but the audience did not like that, and a big cabbage was thrown to the
+stage from the gallery. I then took charge of the meeting myself, and
+walking to the edge of the stage, said: "I see that you do not like Mr.
+Clay; but he should have a fair chance. If Mr. Guild will arrange for a
+meeting at Cooper Institute to-morrow night, I will debate with Mr.
+Clay, and you can then fire at me cabbages or gold dollars, as you like.
+I propose the following subject for the discussion: American Slavery as
+a Stepping-stone from African Barbarism to Christian Civilization;
+hence, it is a Divine Institution." Mr. Clay accepted.
+
+The next evening, at Cooper Institute, there was a large audience that
+packed the hall from door to stage; $1,300 were taken at the box-office.
+The papers on the following morning gave from two to four columns of the
+discussion, and the London Times considered it sufficiently important,
+even to Englishmen, to give a long account and editorial comments. It
+said that the honors of the debate had been with me, and gave a specimen
+of my repartee, which, it said, had swept Mr. Clay off his feet.
+
+Mr. Clay had referred in his speech to an interview he had had with
+President Lincoln, who was then hesitating as to issuing the
+Proclamation of Emancipation. Mr. Clay said, "I told the President that
+I would not flesh my sword in the defense of Washington unless he issued
+a proclamation freeing the slaves." My reply was: "It is fair to assume
+that, in order to make Major-General Cassius M. Clay flesh his sword,
+the President will issue the proclamation." There was loud laughter at
+this. The President did issue his proclamation three months after this.
+
+I received a postal card the other day from Clay, who is now a
+nonagenarian, in his armed castle in Kentucky.
+
+I was in Washington after this debate, which occurred in September, '62,
+and was warmly received by the President and members of his cabinet. I
+had heard very much, of course, about the freedom of speech of Mr.
+Lincoln, and was not, therefore, astonished to hear him relate several
+characteristic anecdotes. In fact, three of the most prominent men in
+the United States at that time were striving to outdo one another in
+jests--the President, Senator Nesmyth of Oregon, and Senator Nye.
+
+Mr. Seward invited me to a dinner at his residence, the historic house
+where later the assassin tried to kill him, where General Sickles killed
+Philip Barton Key, and which in more recent years was occupied by James
+G. Blaine. Most of the members of the cabinet were present. I was asked
+to describe some of the scenes of my recent travels, and told about
+Chinese dinners, to their great amusement. Afterward I told them a story
+then current about Wendell Phillips, the abolitionist. Phillips was once
+in Charleston, South Carolina, and returned late to dinner at his hotel.
+As he approached the door, it was held open by a negro slave. Phillips
+said haughtily that he had never permitted a slave to wait on him, and
+that he would not do so now. "How long have you been a slave?" asked Mr.
+Phillips. The negro replied: "I ain't got no time to talk erbout dat
+now, wid only five minits fur dinner." Mr. Phillips told the slave to
+leave the room, that he would not let him serve him at the table; he
+would wait on himself. "I cain't do dat, suh; I is 'sponsible for de
+silber on de table, suh!"
+
+Loud laughter greeted this story. In the very midst of the uproar the
+door was burst open, and Secretary Stanton appeared, his face white with
+emotion. In a choking voice, that was scarcely audible and would not
+have been heard had not every nerve in our bodies been strained to catch
+the momentous words we expected, he said: "A battle is raging at
+Antietam! Ten thousand men have been killed, and the rebels are now
+probably marching on Washington!"
+
+There was a hush, and we told no more stories that night. It is
+remarkable that almost all the great battles hung long in the scales of
+victory. Neither side knew whether it had won until some time after the
+fighting had ceased. It was so at Antietam, and had been so in the case
+of Bull Run or Manassas. The true tidings came in slowly.
+
+I took no part in the war on the battlefield, because as soon as I
+looked into the causes of the war and its continuance, I saw that it was
+a contract war. I came back to this country fully expecting to serve. I
+had been assured of a high commission; but could not conscientiously
+take part in a struggle in which thousands of lives were being
+sacrificed to greed. Such was my honest belief, and such was my course.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+BUILDING THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY
+
+1862-1870
+
+
+When the Englishmen tore up my street-railways in England, I made a
+speech in which I told them I would build a railway across the Rocky
+Mountains and the Great American Desert which would ruin the old trade
+routes across Egypt to China and Japan. I pointed out then that this
+route would be far shorter in time than the old route, and that Europe
+would soon be traversing America to reach the Orient. This was no new
+idea, sprung at the moment in a feeling of resentment. I had suggested
+this route across America ten years earlier, at Melbourne, Australia.
+
+New York, then as now, we Americans regarded as the starting point of
+all great enterprises, and to New York I came. I called at once upon
+leaders in the world of finance--Commodore Vanderbilt, Commodore
+Garrison, William B. Astor, Moses H. Grinnell, Marshall O. Roberts, and
+others, and frankly told them of my plans. One of them said to me:
+
+"Train, you have reputation enough now. Why do something that will mar
+it? You are known all over the world as the Clipper-Ship King. This is
+enough glory for one man. If you attempt to build a railway across the
+desert and over the Rocky Mountains, the world will call you a lunatic."
+
+And this was all that I received from these gentlemen! Not a word of
+encouragement, not a cent of contributed funds--only the warning that
+the world, like themselves, would call me a madman.
+
+Unaffected by this cold reception, I kept steadily on with my task, and
+proceeded to organize the great railway. Congress granted the necessary
+charter in '62. It authorized the building of a road from the Missouri
+River to California, with an issue of $100,000,000 of stock and
+$50,000,000 of bonds--to be issued in sections, the first section to be
+at the rate of $16,000 a mile; and the last at $48,000 a mile, with
+20,000,000 acres of land in alternate sections; and $2,000,000 to be
+subscribed, ten per centum to be paid into the State treasury at Albany.
+
+My friends in Boston took the stock, but I failed to get the cash to go
+ahead with the road in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York. At this
+point, when matters looked a little dark, an idea occurred to me that
+cleared the sky. It made the construction of the great line a certainty.
+In Paris, a few years before, I had been much interested in new methods
+of finance as devised by the brothers Emile and Isaac Perrere. These
+shrewd and ingenious men, finding that old methods could not be used to
+meet many demands of modern times, invented entirely new ones which they
+organized into two systems known as the Credit Mobilier and the Credit
+Foncier--or systems of credit based on personal property and land. The
+French Government had supported these systems of the Perreres, and Baron
+Haussmann had resorted to them in his great undertaking in rebuilding
+and remodeling the French capital, making it the most beautiful city of
+the world. I determined upon introducing this new style of finance into
+this country.
+
+I found that a bill had been passed in Pennsylvania in '59, for Duff
+Green, granting authority for the organization of the "Pennsylvania
+Fiscal Agency," which, on examination, I saw could be used for my
+purpose. I bought this charter for $25,000. The bill had been
+"engineered" through the Pennsylvania legislature by a man named Hall,
+and others of the Philadelphia Custom-House. In order to make it
+suitable for our uses, I wanted its title changed, and asked to have the
+legislature change the title to "Credit Mobilier of America." The matter
+went through without trouble, and I paid $500 for having this done. When
+I happened to mention to William H. Harding, of the Philadelphia
+Inquirer, that it had cost me $500 to have the title of the charter
+altered, he told me he could have had it done for $50. I did not know
+as much of the ways of legislation in Pennsylvania then as I did later.
+The sum I paid for the charter was made up from $5,000 cash and $20,000
+of the bonds of the Credit Mobilier. I was to have $50,000 for
+organizing the company. I think it worth while to call attention here to
+the fact that this was the first so-called "Trust" organized in this
+country.
+
+Having failed to raise the money elsewhere, I went to Boston, and there
+succeeded in launching the enterprise. My own subscription of $150,000
+was the pint of water that started the great wheel of the machinery. I
+give here--for it is a matter of historic interest, since the building
+of this road marked the opening of a new era in the United States--the
+list of the subscribers who were my copartners in the undertaking:
+
+    Lombard and friends                                      $100,000
+    Oakes and Oliver Ames                                     200,000
+    Sidney Dillon                                $100,000
+    Cyrus H. McCormick                            100,000
+    Ben Holliday                                  100,000
+    John Duff                                     100,000     400,000
+                                                  -------
+    Glidden & Williams                             50,000
+    Joseph Nickerson                              100,000
+    Fred Nickerson                                 50,000
+    Baker & Morrill                                50,000
+    Samuel Hooper and Dexter                       50,000
+    Price Crowell                                  25,000
+    Bardwell and Otis Norcross                     75,000     400,000
+                                                   ------
+    Williams & Guion                               50,000
+    William H. Macy                                25,000
+    H. S. McComb, Wilmington, Del.                 75,000
+    George Francis Train, through Colonel George
+    T. M. Davis, trustee for my wife and children 150,000     300,000
+                                                  -------  ----------
+                                                           $1,400,000
+
+[Illustration: Home of George Francis Train from 1863 to 1869,
+No. 156 Madison Avenue, New York.]
+
+I had offered an interest in the road to old and well-established
+merchants of New York and other cities--the Grays, the Goodhues, the
+Aspinwalls, the Howlands, the Grinnells, the Marshalls, and Davis,
+Brooks & Company; and even to some of the new men, like Henry
+Clews--agreeing to put them in "on the ground floor," if I may use an
+expression from the lesser world of finance. But they were afraid. It
+was too big. Only two of them, William H. Macy and William H. Guion,
+would take any stock.
+
+There was a meeting of the stockholders in Gibson's office in Wall
+Street, for the purpose of electing a board of directors. By this time
+the importance of the road had become recognized, and there was an
+active desire on the part of the chiefs of the trunk lines leading to
+the West to obtain control of the charter. They had their
+representatives there, and I saw from the first that an attempt would be
+made to capture the Union Pacific Railway as a trophy of one of these
+powerful Eastern lines. Fortunately, as I perfectly well knew, they were
+not quite powerful enough, in the circumstance, even with a united
+front, to accomplish their purposes.
+
+William B. Ogden was in the chair, and a hasty calculation convinced me
+that probably $200,000,000 were represented by the men gathered in the
+little office. Of the great trunk lines represented I can recall now the
+Baltimore and Ohio, the Pennsylvania, and the New York Central. It was
+from the forces of the last that the lightning came.
+
+As soon as the meeting had been called to order, and the purpose of it
+stated by the chair, a gentleman arose and began speaking in a wheezy,
+squeaky voice. But he had a way of saying what he wanted, and of saying
+it shrewdly, adroitly, and very effectively. I could see that he was
+accustomed to win in the Shakespearian way--"by indirections find
+directions out." He said that as everything was ready for the election
+of a board, he would suggest that the chair should appoint a committee
+of five which should then name a board of thirty members. I saw that
+this was an adroit move to put one of these big roads in control of the
+committee and, of course, in control of the Union Pacific. The chair
+immediately named five men, three of whom were representatives of the
+New York Central.
+
+I turned to a gentleman sitting next me and asked who was the
+wheezy-voiced man who had just taken his seat. "That is Samuel J.
+Tilden," said he.
+
+Matters now went as I had foreseen. Of course, the three New York
+Central men on the committee named a New York Central board of
+directors. They thought they had quietly and effectively bagged the
+game. But I held in my pocket the power that could overturn all their
+schemes. In fact I had offered the presidency of the road to Moses
+Taylor, founder of the City National Bank, now controlled by Mr.
+Stillman, and to A. A. Low, father of the present Mayor of New York. But
+both had laughed at me, thinking it absurd that I should presume to have
+so much power. I then made up my own list of officers, and named John A.
+Dix as president, and John J. Cisco as treasurer. Afterward I made a
+short speech, in which I said that I held the control of the road in my
+hands.
+
+The vote was called for by the chair, and out of the $2,000,000 of stock
+represented, the New York Central influence cast $300,000 and I the vote
+of $1,700,000. This completely surprised those present, and they left
+the office as rats fly from a sinking ship. I was indignant, and
+shouted: "You stand on the corners of Wall Street again and call me a
+'damned Copperhead'; but don't forget that I kicked $200,000,000 worth
+of you into the street!" And that is the reason why they called me
+"crazy"!
+
+I went out West in the autumn of '63 to break ground for the first mile
+of railway track west of the Missouri river. None of the directors was
+with me; I was entirely alone. I made a speech at Omaha in which I
+predicted that the road would be completed by '70, and in which I
+forecast the great development of Omaha and the Northwest. This speech
+was printed all over the world, and I was denounced as a madman and a
+visionary. I had, every one said, prophesied the impossible. And yet
+every word of that speech was true, both as to its facts and as to its
+prophecies. I give here a few extracts from it, as it was published in
+the Omaha Republican, December 3, '63, and as it has been republished in
+that paper and others many times since:
+
+     America is the stage, the world is the audience of to-day. While
+     one act of the drama represents the booming of the cannon on the
+     Rapidan, the Cumberland, and the Rio Grande, sounding the
+     death-knell of rebellious war, the next scene records the booming
+     of cannon on both sides of the Missouri to celebrate the grandest
+     work of peace that ever attracted the energies of man. The great
+     Pacific Railway is commenced, and if you knew the man who has
+     hold of the affair as well as I do, no doubt would ever arise as
+     to its speedy completion. The President shows his good judgment
+     in locating the road where the Almighty placed the signal
+     station, at the entrance of a garden seven hundred miles in
+     length and twenty broad.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Before the first century of the nation's birth, we may see in the
+     New York depot some strange Pacific railway notice.
+
+     "_European passengers for Japan will please take the night
+     train._
+
+     "_Passengers for China this way._
+
+     "_African and Asiatic freight must be distinctly marked: For
+     Peking via San Francisco._"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Immigration will soon pour into these valleys. Ten millions of
+     emigrants will settle in this golden land in twenty years.
+
+I had predicted that the railway would be completed in '70. On May 10,
+'69, the "golden spike" was driven at Ogden, Utah. Among the papers
+throughout the world that had ridiculed me as being mad or visionary
+because of my speech at Omaha in '63, was the Hongkong Press, which
+said that it was generally thought in China during my visit there in
+'55-'56 that I was a little "off," and that this speech, which predicted
+a railway across the Rocky Mountains, clearly proved that I was both
+visionary and mad. On my journey around the world in '70, after the
+completion of the Union Pacific Railway, I stepped into the office of
+the Hongkong paper and asked for the editor. When he came out, I asked
+him to show me the file of his paper containing my Omaha speech. He
+brought it out, and we turned to the column. "Do you know Train?" he
+asked me. "Why, I am Train," I said, "and it seems that you did not know
+me in Hongkong in '55-'56. I have just come through the Rocky Mountains
+over that road."
+
+The tremendous importance of the Union Pacific Railway is now too well
+known to need any further comment here from me. It is enough to say that
+it was through my suggestion and through my plans and energy that this
+mighty highway across the continent, breaking up the old trade routes of
+the world, and turning the tide of commerce from its ancient eastern
+tracks across the wide expanse of the American continent, was created.
+
+     NOTE.--Albert D. Richardson in his once famous book Beyond the
+     Mississippi, writing of the development of Omaha and the
+     Northwest, due to the building of the Union Pacific Railway,
+     says: "Here was George Francis Train, at the head of a great
+     company called the Credit Foncier, organized for dealing in lands
+     and stocks for building cities along the railway from the
+     Missouri to Salt Lake. This corporation had been clothed by the
+     Nebraska legislature with nearly every power imaginable, save
+     that of reconstructing the late rebel States. It was erecting
+     neat cottages in Omaha and at other points west.
+
+     "Mr. Train owned personally about five hundred acres in Omaha,
+     which cost him only one hundred and seventy-five dollars per
+     acre--a most promising investment. He is a noticeable, original
+     American, who has crowded wonderful and varied experiences into
+     his short life. An orphan boy, employed to sweep the
+     counting-room, he rose to the head of a great Boston shipping
+     house; then established a branch in Liverpool; next organized and
+     conducted a heavy commission business in Australia, and
+     astonished his neighbors in that era of fabulous prices, with
+     Brussels carpets, and marble counters, and a free champagne
+     luncheon daily in his business office. Afterward he made the
+     circuit of the world, wrote books of travel, fought British
+     prejudices against street-railways, occupying his leisure time by
+     fiery and audacious American war speeches to our island cousins,
+     until he spent a fortune, and enjoyed the delights of a month in
+     a British prison.
+
+     "Thence he returned to America; lectured everywhere; and now he
+     is trying to build a belt of cities across the continent. At
+     least a magnificent project. Curiously combining keen sagacity
+     with wild enthusiasm, a man who might have built the pyramids, or
+     been confined in a strait-jacket for eccentricities, according to
+     the age he lived in, he observes dryly that since he began to
+     make money, people no longer pronounce him crazy! He drinks no
+     spirits, uses no tobacco, talks on the stump like an embodied
+     Niagara, composes songs to order by the hour as fast as he can
+     sing them, like an Italian improvisatore, remembers every droll
+     story from Joe Miller to Artemus Ward, is a born actor, is
+     intensely in earnest, and has the most absolute and outspoken
+     faith in himself and his future."
+
+     [At the time Richardson saw me at Omaha, in '64, another noted
+     journalist, William Hepworth Dixon, editor of the London
+     Athenaeum, called on me, traveling with Sir Charles Dilke, who was
+     writing Greater Britain. I introduced him to Richardson.--G. F.
+     T.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST
+
+1863-1870
+
+
+Very much of my work that has aided most in the development of this
+country was done in the great region of the Northwest, then a wild
+country, trackless and uninhabited except by savages. Of course, the
+chief achievement in the West was the building of the Union Pacific
+Railway, which led up to the inception and construction of other
+railways and to the present prosperity of the entire section.
+
+But this enterprise was merely a beginning. I looked upon it only as the
+launching of a hundred other projects, which, if I had been able to
+carry them to completion, would have transformed the West in a few
+years, and anticipated its present state of wealth and power by more
+than a full generation. One of my plans was the creation of a chain of
+great towns across the continent, connecting Boston with San Francisco
+by a magnificent highway of cities. That this was not an idle dream is
+shown by the rapid growth of Chicago, which owes its greatness to its
+situation upon this natural highway of trade; and to the development of
+Omaha, which owes its prosperity directly to the Union Pacific Railway
+and to the other enterprises that I organized in the West. Most of these
+plans were defeated by a financial panic, by the lack of cooperation on
+the part of the very people who were most interested in their success,
+and by events which I shall describe in the following chapters of this
+book. Some of them succeeded, however, and I was able to accomplish a
+great deal of work that has gone into the winning and making of the
+West.
+
+When I went out to Omaha to break ground for the Union Pacific Railway,
+on December 3, '63, there was only one hotel in that town. This was the
+Herndon House, a respectable affair, now U. P. headquarters. I was
+astonished that men of energy, enterprise, and means had not seized the
+opportunity to erect a large hotel at this point, which had already
+given every promise of rapid and immediate growth. But what directly
+suggested to me the building of such a hotel on my own account was a
+little incident that occurred at a breakfast that I happened to be
+giving in the Herndon House.
+
+I had invited a number of prominent men--Representatives in Congress,
+and others--to take breakfast with me in this house, as I desired to
+present to them some of my plans. The breakfast was a characteristic
+Western meal, with prairie chickens and Nebraska trout. While we were
+seated, one of those sudden and always unexpected cyclones on the plains
+came up, and the hotel shook like a leaf in the terrible storm. Our
+table was very near a window in which were large panes of glass, which I
+feared could not withstand the tremendous force of the wind. They were
+quivering under the stress of weather, and I called to a strapping negro
+waiter at our table to stand with his broad back against the window.
+This proved a security against the storm without; but it precipitated a
+storm within.
+
+Allen, the manager of the Herndon, and a man with a political turn of
+mind, saw in the incident an assault on the rights of the negroes. He
+hurried over to the table and protested against this act as an outrage.
+I could not afford to enter into a quarrel with him at the time, so I
+merely said: "I am about the size of the negro; I will take his place."
+I then ordered the fellow away from the window, took his post, and
+stayed there until the fury of the storm abated. Then I was ready for
+Allen.
+
+I walked out in front of the house and, pointing to a large vacant
+square facing it, asked who owned it. I was told the owner's name and
+immediately sent a messenger for him post-haste. He arrived in a short
+time, and I asked his price. It was $5,000. I wrote out and handed him a
+check for the amount, and took from him, on the spot, a deed for the
+property.
+
+Then I asked for a contractor who could build a hotel. A man named
+Richmond was brought to me. "Can you build a three-story hotel in sixty
+days on this plot?" asked I. After some hesitation he said it would be
+merely a question of money. "How much?" I asked. "One thousand dollars a
+day." "Show me that you are responsible for $60,000." He did so, and I
+took out an envelope and sketched on the back of it a rough plan of the
+hotel. "I am going to the mountains," I said, "and I shall want this
+hotel, with 120 rooms, complete, when I return in sixty days."
+
+When I got back, the hotel was finished. I immediately rented it to
+Cozzens, of West Point, New York, for $10,000 a year. This is the famous
+Cozzens's Hotel of Omaha, which has been more written about, I suppose,
+than almost any other hostelry ever built in the United States. It is
+the show-place of Omaha to this day.
+
+The completion of the Union Pacific Railway in '69 was the occasion of
+my visit to California and Oregon. In San Francisco I gave a banquet to
+men prominent in finance and politics, and took occasion to refer to the
+efforts that had been made there, as it seemed to me, to aid the
+seceding States. I was making a response to the toast of "The Union,"
+and had said that if I had been the Federal general in command in
+California at the time, I should have hanged certain men, some of whom
+were present. This was pretty hot shot, and I did not wonder at the
+resentment of the men to whom I referred. I was astonished, however, by
+the terrific scoring I received from the city press the following
+morning. I read the reports of, and the comments on, my speech as I was
+making preparations to have my special car taken back East that
+afternoon. I was very indignant, but did not know exactly what to do.
+
+Just at this moment a man approached me and said that he would like to
+have me deliver a lecture that evening in the theater. He was the
+manager, Mr. Poole. I saw my opportunity, and accepted, refusing,
+however, his proffer of $500 in gold, and agreeing to take one-half the
+gross receipts for a series of lectures. I delivered twenty-eight
+lectures to crowded houses, and took in, for my share, $10,000 in gold.
+I did not spare my critics, but flayed them alive.
+
+My lectures made me the most conspicuous man on the Pacific coast, and I
+received despatches of congratulations, or invitations to deliver
+lectures and speeches, almost every hour of the day. I accepted a
+five-hundred-dollar check to go to Portland, Oregon, to make the
+Fourth-of-July oration, and the Gussie Tellefair was sent to meet me and
+take me up the Columbia in state. The oration was delivered to a big
+audience of Oregonians, trappers and mountaineers, some of them wearing
+the quaintest garb I had ever seen.
+
+I mention this visit to Portland because it afforded me opportunity for
+doing several things of importance. I visited the famous Dalles of the
+Columbia river, and while there saw the Indians spearing salmon. I asked
+what they were doing, and was told that they were laying in their supply
+for the winter. I went to the place where the braves were spearing the
+fish and asked one of them to let me try my hand at the fish-spear.
+Having accustomed myself a little to throwing the harpoon, I found that
+I could manage the Indian's weapon quite skilfully, and succeeded in
+landing 200 salmon in two hours. Of course the fish were running in
+swarms, but this two hours' work would have brought me $1,000 if I could
+have taken the catch to New York.
+
+I was the first white man, I believe, that had taken salmon out of the
+Columbia, and it then occurred to me, if the Indians could lay up a
+supply of fish for the winter, why could not white men do the same
+thing? I thereupon suggested the canning of salmon, which has since been
+developed into so large an industry and has made the Quinnat salmon the
+king-fish of the world, putting Columbia salmon into almost every
+household of civilization.
+
+Another fact may be recorded here. My Fourth-of-July oration had been
+such a success that I was asked to make another speech at Seattle, on
+Puget Sound, which was then a struggling village. I was accompanying a
+delegation or committee from the East that was looking for a good place
+for the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railway, which had been
+projected after the great success of the Union Pacific. When we passed
+the point where Tacoma now stands, I was attracted by its appearance and
+said: "There is your terminus." The committee selected the spot, and
+Tacoma was founded there.
+
+An amusing incident closed this part of my journey. I went from Seattle
+to Victoria, British Columbia, and was astonished to find the town in
+the wildest commotion. Troops were at the docks, and the moment I landed
+I observed that the greatest interest was taken in me. At last, as they
+saw me walking about alone, one of the officials came up and said: "Why,
+are you alone?" "Of course," I replied. "Did you expect me to bring an
+army with me?" I said this in jest, not knowing how closely it touched
+his question. He then took me aside and said, "Read this despatch." I
+opened the despatch and read: "Train is on the Hunt."
+
+I saw what it meant, and how the good people had been deceived. The Hunt
+was the vessel I came on, and the telegraph operator at Seattle, knowing
+that I had been with the Fenians and had been stirring up a good deal of
+trouble in California, thought he would have some fun with the
+Canadians. The people of Victoria were on the lookout for me to arrive
+with a gang of Fenians!
+
+I did not smile, but determined to carry the joke a little further.
+Walking into the telegraph office, I filed the following cablegram for
+Dublin, Ireland. "Down England, up Ireland." The jest cost me $40 in
+tolls, but I enjoyed it that much.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE SHARE I HAD IN THE FRENCH COMMUNE
+
+1870
+
+
+My participation in the Commune in France, in the year '70, was the
+result of chance. I arrived at Marseilles at a very critical time in the
+history of that city. It was the hour when the Commune, or, as it was
+styled there by many, the "Red Republic," was born. I was on a tour of
+the world, the voyage in which I eclipsed all former feats of travel,
+and circled the globe in eighty days. This served Jules Verne, two years
+later, as the groundwork for his famous romance Around the World in
+Eighty Days. The whole journey had been eventful, but I shall write of
+that in a later chapter.
+
+The French Empire had fallen and the Republic had risen within the
+period of my swift flight; and now one of the darkest and most desperate
+enterprises known in history was afoot--the attempt to transform France
+and the world into a system of "communes," erected upon the ruins of all
+national governments.
+
+I arrived at Marseilles on the Donai, of the Imperial Messagerie line,
+October 20, '70, and went at once to the Grand Hotel de Louvre. Imagine
+my astonishment when I was received there by a delegation, and, for the
+third time, hailed as "liberator." The empty title of liberator--so
+easily conferred by the excitable Latin races--had become rather a joke
+with me. The Australian revolutionists who wanted to make me President
+of their paper republic, were in earnest, and would have done something
+notable, had they ever got the opportunity, with sufficient men behind
+them; but the Italians I had not felt much confidence in, nor had I any
+desire to work for their cause.
+
+The acclaim with which the people in the streets of Marseilles received
+me, at first jarred upon my sensibilities and seemed an echo merely of
+the little affair in Rome. However, I was soon to be convinced of the
+deep sincerity of these revolutionists, and was destined to take an
+active and honest part in their cause. It is remarkable how a slight
+incident may turn the whole current of one's life. It had been my
+intention to proceed as rapidly as possible to Berlin, and take a look
+at the victorious Prussian army; but here I was at the very moment of my
+arrival on French soil, involved in the problems and struggles of the
+French people, as precipitated by the Prussian army, having for their
+object the undoing of much of the work of the German conquest.
+
+When the revolutionary committee hailed me as "liberator," I thought
+they had mistaken me for some one else, and asked the leaders if they
+had not done so. "No," they said; "we have heard of you and want you to
+join the revolution." It seemed that they had kept track of my rapid
+progress around the world, and told me they knew when I was at Port
+Said, and had prepared to receive me as soon as I landed in Marseilles.
+
+"Six thousand people are waiting for you now in the opera-house," they
+said.
+
+"Waiting for me?" I asked, incredulous. "How long have they been
+waiting, and what are they waiting for?"
+
+"They have been assembled for an hour; and they want you to address them
+in behalf of the revolution."
+
+"Well," said I, making a decision immediately, "I can not keep these
+good people waiting. I will go with you." I had decided to trust to the
+inspiration of the moment, when I should stand face to face with that
+volatile French audience.
+
+From the moment I entered the opera-house, packed with excited people
+from the stage to the topmost boxes, I was possessed by the French
+revolutionary spirit. The fire and enthusiasm of the people swept me
+from my feet. I was thenceforth a "Communist," a member of their "Red
+Republic." I felt this, as soon as I joined that cheering and ecstatic
+mob--for it really was a mob then, and mobs have been the germs of all
+great national movements in France.
+
+A committee of some sort, prepared for the occasion, immediately seized
+hold of me, and we marched, or rushed, through the crowd, down the
+aisle, and up on the stage. About 250 persons, the more important movers
+in the agitation, I suppose, were standing, all cheering at the top of
+their voices. As I was placed upon the stage, in front of the audience,
+there came a burst of cheers of "Vive la Republique!" "Vive la Commune!"
+and many were shouting out my name with a French accent and a nasal "n."
+It was irresistible. I stepped to the front of the stage and tried to
+speak, but for several minutes could not utter a word that could be
+heard a foot away, the din of the shouting and cheering was so
+overwhelming.
+
+When the shouting ceased, I told the people that I was in Marseilles on
+a trip around the world, but as they had called upon me to take part in
+their movement, I should be glad to repay, in my own behalf, a small
+portion of the enormous debt of gratitude that my country owed to France
+for Lafayette, Rochambeau, and de Grasse. I repeated a part of the
+"Marseillaise," which always stirs Frenchmen to the depths, and a few
+verses from Holmes's poem on France--
+
+    "Pluck Conde's baton from the trench,
+      Wake up stout Charles Martel;
+    Or give some woman's hand to clench
+      The sword of La Pucelle!"
+
+I also urged that France should not yield an inch of her territory to
+the rapacious Prussians.
+
+The excitement of the hour carried everything before it, and the crowd
+outside, numbering at least 20,000, finally was joined by the 6,000
+inside, and the whole mass, making a grand and noisy procession,
+escorted me to my hotel where I had taken the entire front suite of
+apartments. The next morning I was waited upon by a committee of the
+revolutionists. They said they wanted a military leader, and that
+Cluseret was the man for the place. He would be able to lead the forces
+of the Ligue du Midi.
+
+Cluseret was then in Switzerland, where he had taken refuge after the
+troops drove him out of Lyons at the orders of Gambetta. He was the
+Gustave Paul Cluseret who had taken part in our Civil War, serving on
+the staffs of McClellan and Fremont, and who later was Military Chief of
+the Paris Commune. We sent to Switzerland and invited General Cluseret
+to join us in Marseilles. To our surprise he sent word that he would
+need a force of 2,000 armed men! This settled Cluseret, as far as I was
+concerned.
+
+A few days later a card was brought to me in the hotel bearing the name
+"Tirez," and the statement that M. Tirez occupied room 113 in the same
+hotel. I went up to this room, and there found a splendid-looking fellow
+with a great military mustache. "Are you M. Tirez?" I asked. "I am
+General Cluseret," he said. "I thought you wanted 2,000 armed men?" I
+said. "You can probably give me more than that number," he said, with a
+smile. "You seem to be in command of everything and everybody here." "We
+shall see," I said. I asked him to go to the Cirque with me that
+evening.
+
+There were at least 10,000 men in this gigantic amphitheater. I made a
+short speech and said I wanted to give them a surprise. "You want a
+military leader. I have brought you one. Here is your leader--General
+Gustave Paul Cluseret." He was greeted with tremendous cheers.
+
+We at once organized military headquarters and prepared to take
+possession of the city. In this effort we were aided by the liberal
+views of the prefet, M. Esquiros, a republican, and later by the
+incapacity of the new prefet appointed by Gambetta, M. Gent. The next
+day we marched to the military fortifications with a great mass of men.
+General Cluseret and I were arm in arm as we entered the gates. I
+observed the officer in charge of the guns at the entrance about to give
+an order, which I knew meant a volley that would sweep us into the next
+world. I sprang forward and seized the officer by the arm. "Come to see
+me at the hotel," I whispered in his ear. The order to fire was not
+given, and we filed into the fortifications and took possession in the
+name of the Commune--the "Red Republic."
+
+The following day 150 of the Guarde Mobile came to the hotel and
+demanded General Cluseret. I told the officers he was not present, but
+they insisted upon invading my rooms. I then told them that they would
+not be permitted to cross the threshold alive. I was armed with a
+revolver, and three of my own secretaries were armed in the same way. I
+said to the chief officer at the door that there were four men inside
+and we would shoot any one who tried to enter; we thought we could kill
+at least two dozen of them. The Guarde held a short council outside, and
+I soon heard their military step resounding down the hall. They had
+given up the search for Cluseret.
+
+The next morning I saw from my window an army marching down the street.
+I thought it was our army, and went out on the balcony and began
+shouting "Vive la Republique!" and "Vive la Commune!" with the people in
+the street; but there was an ominous silence in the ranks of the troops.
+They did not respond to these revolutionary sentiments. Then I saw the
+new prefet, M. Gent, Gambetta's man, in a carriage, with the army.
+Suddenly I heard a shot, and Gent dropped to the bottom of the vehicle.
+Some one had tried to kill him, but missed, and the prefet did not care
+to be conspicuous again.
+
+The troops came to a halt directly in front of the hotel, and I saw that
+the officers were regarding with anger the flag of the Commune that
+floated from the balcony. Orders were given, and five men, a firing
+squad, stepped from the ranks and knelt, with their rifles in hand,
+ready to fire. I knew that it was their purpose to shoot me. I do not
+know why, but I felt that if the thing had to be, I should die in the
+most dramatic manner possible. There were two other flags on the
+balcony, the colors of France and America. I seized both of these, and
+wrapped them quickly about my body. Then I stepped forward, and knelt at
+the front of the balcony, in the same military posture as the soldiers
+below me. I then shouted to the officers in French:
+
+"Fire, fire, you miserable cowards! Fire upon the flags of France and
+America wrapped around the body of an American citizen--if you have the
+courage!"
+
+An order was spoken, too low for me to catch, but the kneeling soldiers
+dropped their rifles, and then rose, and rejoined the ranks. Another
+order was shouted along the line, and the troops marched on down the
+street and out of sight.
+
+The attempted assassination of the prefet had an unexpected effect upon
+public opinion in Marseilles. It turned the mercurial Frenchman against
+the Commune. I advised General Cluseret to go at once to Paris. I even
+purchased a gold-laced uniform for him. His subsequent history, as
+military leader of the Commune in Paris, his capture, trial, release,
+and retirement to Switzerland, are well known.
+
+At this time I believe the tide of war might have been turned in favor
+of France by some swift movement like those of which the mobile Boers
+made good use in South Africa, perhaps by an attack on the rear of the
+German armies. France was filled with German soldiers, but Germany was
+unguarded; and I believed then that a body of light horsemen, say, like
+the Algerians, might have created such a diversion by a rapid raid to
+the rear that it would have forced the Germans back to the Rhine, or
+even to Berlin. I was astonished by the tremendous amount of munitions
+of war, and by the masses of troops that were still available in the
+south of France. Leadership, and not troops, was what France lacked.
+
+I left Marseilles for Lyons, after the troops tried to shoot me in the
+balcony of the hotel, and was accompanied by Cremieux, one of the
+leaders of the Ligue du Midi. As we left Marseilles, a man, wearing
+conspicuously the ribbon of the Legion of Honor, entered our
+compartment. I at once set him down as a spy, and began talking with
+Cremieux in a loud voice. My estimate of his character was justified in
+an unpleasant way at Lyons. No sooner had we entered the suburbs of that
+city than our friend left the compartment and got off the train.
+
+When the train came to a stop in the station, I sprang out of the
+compartment with Cremieux, and was confronted by six bayonets. Both of
+us were placed under arrest. Immediately I remembered the little slip of
+paper in my pocket which might betray Cluseret, if found, and I seized
+it hastily and put it into my mouth. The officer of the squad of
+soldiers rushed forward to stop me, but it was too late. The slip had
+gone. I had swallowed it.
+
+"That was the address of General Cluseret!" shouted the officer.
+
+"Of course," said I. "And it has gone to a rendezvous with my
+breakfast!"
+
+The soldiers took Cremieux and myself to the Bastile, in Lyons, and I
+was detained there for thirteen days. When I went into the cell I was
+very tired and sat up against the wall and leaned my head against it. In
+a moment I detected the breathing of a man very near me, and perceived a
+crack in the wall, against which a spy in the adjacent cell was
+inclining his ear to catch any incriminating words that might pass
+between Cremieux and myself. It was the old trick of the Inquisition;
+but it did not serve the purposes of these late players of it.
+
+My secretary, Mr. Bemis, who came on from Marseilles by a later train,
+could not find me in Lyons. He spent a week in looking for me. At the
+end of that time my wife, who was in New York, telegraphed to the
+American legation at Paris asking if the report were true that I had
+been killed. It had been currently reported in America that the soldiers
+had shot me in Marseilles. Mr. Bemis went immediately to the Guarde
+Mobile, which was in sympathy with the Commune, the organization from
+which General Cluseret had been driven by Gambetta. The Guarde sent a
+deputation of 150 officers to the prefet of the city, who ordered my
+immediate release. Gambetta was appealed to, and he directed that I be
+sent to him at Tours by special train.
+
+To Tours I went in style. I had been poisoned in the Lyons Bastile, and
+was ill, in consequence, having lost thirty pounds of flesh in thirteen
+days. I was met at Tours by Gambetta's secretary, M. Ranc, afterward a
+deputy, who told me I could see the Dictator at four o'clock. "Why not
+now?" I asked. "Because it is not possible for M. Gambetta to work until
+he has had his dinner." I found that these French officials were as fond
+of their dinner as English officials. At the appointed hour M. Ranc took
+me to the palace of the prefecture, and I was admitted at once to
+Gambetta's presence.
+
+I found everything in confusion. The prefecture was filled with men who
+had been waiting for the Dictator's pleasure. In the first ante-rooms I
+saw men who had been waiting for three weeks; in the next rooms were
+those who had waited for two weeks; and in the third rooms I found
+officers of the army and navy, who had waited one week. As I passed in
+among these throngs with an air of self-possession, they took me for
+some grand personage, and I heard whispers that I must be the ambassador
+from Spain or the Papal Nuncio.
+
+Gambetta was seated at his desk in a large and handsomely furnished
+room. He made not the slightest sign of being aware that I was present.
+He did not even turn his face toward me. I did not learn until afterward
+that the distinguished Italian-Frenchman had one glass eye, and could
+see me just as well at an angle as he could full-face. But I grew tired
+of standing there silent, and was already weary from my long
+incarceration. I decided, after taking in this strange character, then
+at the top of the seething pot of French politics, that the best course
+for me was to put on a bold front.
+
+"When a distinguished stranger calls to see you, M. Gambetta, I think
+you might offer him a chair."
+
+The great man smiled, and motioned me to a seat with considerable
+graciousness. I took a chair, and said:
+
+"M. Gambetta, you are the head of France, and I intend to be President
+of the United States. You can assist me, and I can assist you."
+
+He looked at me with a curious regard, but did not smile.
+
+"Send me to America, and I can help you get munitions of war, and win
+over the sympathy and assistance of the Americans."
+
+I knew, of course, that he was going to send me out of France in any
+event, and I wanted to discount his plan.
+
+The Dictator smiled again, and said: "You sent Cluseret to Paris, and
+bought him a uniform for 300 francs."
+
+"You are only fairly well informed, M. Gambetta. I paid 350 francs for
+the uniform."
+
+"Cluseret is a scoundrel," he said.
+
+"The Communards call you that," I replied.
+
+He ended our interview by saying a few pleasant words, bowing me out of
+the room, and sending me out of France forthwith.
+
+I went straight to London, then to Liverpool, and sailed for New York in
+the Abyssinia, which, curiously enough, was afterward the pioneer ship
+on the line of boats between Vancouver and Yokohama, it having been
+bought by the Canadian Pacific.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
+
+1872
+
+
+I have passed a great many days in jail. A jail is a good place to
+meditate and to plan in, if only one can be patient in such a place.
+Much of my work was thought out and wrought out while living in the
+fifteen jails of which I have been a tenant. It was in a jail in Dublin,
+called the Four Courts' Marshalsea, that a feeling of confidence that I
+might one day be President of the United States first came into definite
+form. It was in this prison, also, that I planned Train Villa, which was
+to be built in Newport. As my life in that Villa, which in its day was
+one of the most famous and luxurious in America, was a sort of prelude
+to my campaign for the Presidency, I may fitly say here what I have to
+say about it in this book.
+
+[Illustration: Train Villa, George Francis Train's summer home in
+Newport from 1868 to 1872.]
+
+
+I had long wanted a handsome residence by the sea, and so, when I had
+nearly completed the work done in connection with the Union Pacific
+Railway, and there seemed to be ahead of me a period of comparative
+leisure, I projected this house. My plans were made before I was in
+the Dublin jail. My wife built the Villa, or began work on it, while I
+was still in the Marshalsea. The lot on which it stands embraced some
+two and a half acres in the most delightful region of Newport. In order
+that my boys might have an opportunity for sport at home, I had a
+building put up for billiards and bowling. This was, I believe, the
+first residence in Newport that had a special place of this kind,
+although of course, many had billiard tables. A fine cottage was also
+built for my father-in-law, Colonel George T. M. Davis. This cottage was
+sold recently for $50,000, to the Dolans of Philadelphia.
+
+The Villa itself must have cost $100,000, but the truth is, I have never
+known how much money was lavished upon its building and adornment. I was
+called rich and had never, at any time, given a thought to the mere
+details of money. What I wanted I got. In those days that was the
+substance of my economic system in personal matters. We lived there in
+manorial style, entertaining so lavishly and freely that the Villa
+became a free guest-house for all Newport. I also recollect that my
+living cost me more than $2,000 a week. Now I manage to live on $3 a
+week in the Mills Hotel, or Palace, as I call it. Here I am more
+contented than I was at Newport. I seem to be saving $1,997 a week. We
+turned out, in Newport, six carriages when we went driving; but this was
+a display that I always set my heart against. It seemed to be mere
+wastefulness.
+
+Since my occupancy, Train Villa, as it is called to this day, has been
+rented by some of the most prominent persons in the fashionable world.
+Among those who have lived in it are the Kernochans, the Kips, Governor
+Lippitt of Rhode Island, some of the Vanderbilts and the Mortimers. At
+the present time, it is occupied by George B. de Forest. It was formerly
+rented for $5,000 for three months or the season. It never paid us two
+per centum on its cost, and finally was sold by the trustee, Colonel
+Davis.
+
+The Villa was once turned into a jail, although I was not the captive in
+that instance. In the famous Credit Mobilier case, in '72-'73, a man,
+who was my guest at the time, was arrested, and, as the Credit Mobilier
+men then in Newport could not give bail in the sum of $1,000,000, as
+demanded, an arrangement was made with the sheriff by which the Villa
+temporarily became a jail, where my guest was confined.
+
+So full of confidence was I that I could be elected President in '72,
+that I telegraphed from San Francisco that I would reach Newport on a
+certain day, and wished arrangements made for a "Presidential" banquet.
+Although this banquet was not the end of the campaign, it was the last
+flourish of trumpets in my Presidential aspirations.
+
+My political career in fact was brief. My intention was to have it
+extend through at least a Presidential term; but the people would not
+have it so. Prior to '69, '70, '71, and '72, I had taken no active part
+in politics, although I had been interested in various campaigns and in
+many great public questions of the day. I have already referred to the
+offer made to me by the revolutionists in Australia to make me their
+President. That was, perhaps, the first time that anything political
+ever entered my life. The offer was by no means a temptation to me and I
+refused to consider it, without a single poignant regret.
+
+In '65, the Fenians, after I had espoused the general cause of the
+Irish, as of the oppressed of every country, asked me to attend their
+first convention, which was to be held in Philadelphia. They wished me
+to address them. This I did, but I took no active part in the work of
+the convention or of the faction. I had already attended the Democratic
+Convention in Louisville in '64, when I held a proxy from Nebraska, and
+had hoped to have General Dix nominated for President and Admiral
+Farragut for Vice-President, but I was not permitted to take my seat.
+
+While I was in the Four Courts' Marshalsea, in Dublin, in '68, James
+Brooks, of the New York Express, sent word to me that the Democrats in
+convention were willing to nominate Salmon P. Chase if I would consent
+to take the second place on the ticket. This did not suit me at all, and
+I sent a despatch to Brooks that I would take the first place only, and
+that as Chase was my friend, he could take the second place. This put an
+end to the negotiations.
+
+But the seed of ambition had been sown, even before this, and it
+germinated in the old Irish prison. As soon as I got out of that jail, I
+began my campaign for President of the United States, and in '69 started
+on a program that involved 1,000 addresses to 1,000 conventions. It
+seemed to me that, with the effect I had always had upon people in my
+speeches and in personal contact, and with the record of great
+achievements in behalf of the progress of the world, especially with
+regard to the development of this country, I should succeed. I supposed
+that a man with my record, and without a stain on my reputation or
+blemish in my character, would be received as a popular candidate.
+
+I had not the slightest doubt that I should be elected; and, with this
+sublime self-confidence, threw myself into the campaign with an energy
+and fire that never before, perhaps, characterized a Presidential
+candidate. I went into the campaign as into a battle. I forced fighting
+at every point along the line, fiercely assailing Grant and his
+"nepotism," on the one hand, and Greeley, and the spirit of compromise
+and barter that I felt his nomination represented, on the other.
+
+In the year '69 I had made twenty-eight speeches in California, and
+eighty on the Pacific coast. I also made a trip over the Union Pacific
+Railway, on the first train over that line, and made addresses at many
+places throughout the country. The following year, '70, I seriously set
+myself to the task of appealing to the people directly for support, and
+began a series of public addresses on the issues of the day. But this
+year's work was interrupted by my trip around the world in eighty days,
+which consumed the end of the year, from the 1st of August to Christmas.
+
+In '71 I fought hard from January to December, making the total of my
+speeches to the people 800, and having spoken directly, up to that time,
+to something like 2,000,000 persons. Of course, my campaign was made on
+independent lines entirely. I was not the nominee nor the complaisant
+tool of any party or faction. I made my race as one who came from the
+bosom of the people, and who represented the highest interests of the
+people. It was just here that failure came. I thought I knew something
+of the people, and felt confident that they would prefer a man of
+independence, who had accomplished something for them, to a man who was
+a mere tool of his party, a distributor of patronage to his friends and
+relatives, or to one who was a mere stalking-horse. But I was mistaken.
+The people, as Barnum has said, love to be humbugged, and are quite
+ready to pay tribute to the political boss and spoilsman.
+
+A remarkable feature of my campaign was that, instead of scattering
+money broadcast, to draw crowds or to win votes, I made a charge for
+admission to hear my addresses. I spoke to audiences that paid to hear
+me talk to them in my own behalf and in theirs. In three years of active
+work--with the interruption of my trip around the world in '70--I took
+in $90,000 in admission charges. In spite of these charges, I spoke to
+more people and had greater audiences to listen to me than any other
+speaker during that heated campaign.
+
+There was another remarkable thing about my campaign. I possessed
+tremendous power over audiences. So long as I could reach them with my
+voice, or talk with them or shake hands with them, I could hold them;
+but the moment they got out of my reach they got away from me, and
+slipped back again to the sway of the political bosses.
+
+I saw that my chance of getting the nomination was lost long before the
+assembling of the Liberal Republican Convention of '72 in Cincinnati. I
+was not astonished by the result of that convention, except that I did
+not expect the nomination of Greeley, which I considered as a piece of
+political treachery, a deliberately calculated movement in the interest
+of Grant. But I still felt, vainly, indeed, some hope that the people
+would see the futility of supporting Greeley, and of placing me at the
+head of the ticket.
+
+I can recall now the scenes in the Convention Hall when Carl Schurz
+nominated Horace Greeley. Outside of some cheering on the part of those
+who were party to the trickery, the nomination was received with ominous
+stillness. Suddenly, from out of the gallery, near where I was seated,
+there came a thin, quavering, piercing voice, like the cry of a seer of
+the wilderness or a wandering Jeremiah: "Sold, by God, but the goods not
+delivered!"
+
+The words sounded then like a pronouncement of doom; but it proved not
+to be so. The "deal" was carried out, and the "goods" were delivered.
+Grant was elected, and Greeley, betrayed, retired, a heart-broken man.
+
+Before I close this chapter on the Presidency, I wish to record here one
+distinct service which I believe I rendered this city and the country
+during my campaign. It was I, and not the New York newspapers, that
+first exposed the so-called "Tweed Ring." I began the fight against this
+ring of corrupt politicians, single-handed, and kept it up for more than
+a year before any New York paper or any other journal took up the issue.
+The New York papers, in fact, refused to publish my speech exposing this
+gang of public plunderers, and it was published in the Lyons, N. Y.,
+Republican on April 22, '71. The speech itself was made long before
+Tweed had been accused of misuse of public funds.
+
+While I was on the platform, a voice asked me "Who is the ring?" I had
+been attacking the "ring" in every public utterance in New York. I
+replied: "Hoffman, Tweed, Sweeney, Fisk, and Gould." Later, in the same
+speech, I said: "Tweed and Sweeney are taxing you from head to foot,
+while their horses are living in palaces," and then, using, for effect,
+some of the methods of the French Commune, I cried: "To the lamp-post!
+All those in favor of hanging Tweed to a lamp-post, say aye!" There was
+a tremendous outburst of "ayes."
+
+In other speeches I went into details and gave the sums of which the
+people of New York had been plundered, and the amounts that had been
+paid in bribes to obtain influence in stilling public suspicion, and to
+buy immunity from exposure and opportunity for further theft.
+
+So my campaign for the Presidency was not entirely in vain. It was
+something that seemed unavoidable, toward which I seemed pressed by
+circumstance and fate; and I can rest in the consciousness that it
+accomplished some permanent good.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+DECLARED A LUNATIC
+
+1872-1873
+
+
+I had hardly got out of the Presidential race before I got into jail
+again. I passed easily from one kind of life to the other. In fact, the
+last thing I did in connection with my political campaign had been the
+indirect cause of getting me into the Tombs. The Tombs has the honor of
+being the fourteenth jail that has given me shelter for purposes of
+meditation.
+
+In November, '72, I was making a speech from Henry Clews's steps in Wall
+Street, partly to quiet a mob, when a paper was thrust into my hand. I
+glanced at it, thinking it had to do with myself, and saw that Victoria
+C. Woodhull and Tennie C. Claflin had been arrested for publishing in
+their paper in Brooklyn an account of a scandal about a famous clergyman
+in that city. The charge was "obscenity," and they had been arrested at
+the instance of Anthony Comstock. I immediately said: "This may be
+libel, but it is not obscenity."
+
+That assertion, with what I soon did to establish its truth, got me
+into jail, with the result that six courts in succession--afraid to
+bring me to trial for "obscenity"--declared me a "lunatic," and
+prevented my enjoyment of property in Omaha, Nebraska, which is now
+worth millions of dollars.
+
+From Wall Street I hurried to Ludlow Street Jail, where I found Victoria
+C. Woodhull and Tennie C. Claflin in a cell about eight by four feet. I
+was indignant that two women, who had merely published a current rumor,
+should be treated in this way, and took a piece of charcoal and wrote,
+on the newly whitewashed walls of the cell a couplet suggesting the
+baseness of this attack upon their reputations. It is sufficient to say
+here that public feeling was so aroused that these women were soon set
+free; but I got myself deeper and deeper into the toils of the courts.
+
+[Illustration: George Francis Train with the children in Madison
+Square.]
+
+In order to prove that the publication was not obscene, if judged by
+Christian standards of purity, I published in my paper, called The Train
+Ligue, three columns of quotations from the Bible. Every verse I used
+was worse than anything published by these women. I was immediately
+arrested on a charge of "obscenity," and taken to the Tombs. I was never
+tried on this charge, but was kept in jail as a lunatic, and then
+dismissed, under the ban of declared lunacy, and have so remained for
+thirty years. Although the public pretended to be against me, it was
+very eager to buy the edition of my paper that gave these extracts
+from the Bible. The price of the paper rose from five cents a copy to
+twenty, forty, sixty cents, and even to one dollar. In a few days it was
+selling surreptitiously for two dollars a copy.
+
+I was put in Tweed's cell, number 56, in "Murderers' Row," in the Tombs,
+where at that time were twenty-two men imprisoned under the charge of
+murder. I made the twenty-third inhabitant of that ghastly "Row." It is
+remarkable that not one of these men was hanged. All were either
+acquitted, or tried and sentenced and got off with varying terms of
+service.
+
+It was not a select, but it was at least a famous, group of men in
+"Murderers' Row." Across the narrow hallway, just opposite my cell, was
+Edward S. Stokes, who had killed James Fisk, Jr. Next to me were John J.
+Scannell and Richard Croker, both of whom have been prominent in the
+city administration in later years. There was, also, the famous Sharkey,
+who might have got into worse trouble than any of us, but who escaped
+through the pluck and ingenuity of Maggie Jordan. Maggie happened to be
+about the same size as her lover, and changed clothes with him in the
+cell. The warden, one morning, found he had a woman in his cage instead
+of Sharkey. This was the last ever heard of Sharkey, so far as I know.
+
+My chief purpose in jail was not to get out, but to be tried on the
+charge of obscenity. I had been arrested for that offense, and
+determined that I would be either acquitted or convicted. But I have
+never had a trial to this day. I do not believe that any court in the
+land would face the danger of trying to convict a man of publishing
+obscenity for quoting from the standard book on morality read throughout
+Christendom.
+
+However this may be, I was offered a hundred avenues of escape from
+jail, every conceivable one, except the honest and straightforward one
+of a fair trial by jury. Men offered to bail me out; twice I was taken
+out on proceedings instituted by women; but I would not avail myself of
+this way to freedom. Several times I was left alone in the court-house
+or in hallways, or other places, where access to the street was easy,
+entirely without guards, in the vain hope that I would walk off with my
+liberty. I was discharged by the courts; and I was offered freedom if I
+would sign certain papers that were brought to me, but I invariably
+refused to look at them. In all cases I merely turned back and took my
+place in the cell, and waited for justice.
+
+In '73 I was finally taken before Judge Davis in the Court of Oyer and
+Terminer. William F. Howe, who died this year, was one of my counsel,
+and Clark Bell was another. Howe took the ground, first, that obviously
+there could be nothing obscene in the publication of extracts from the
+Bible, and, second, if there were, that I was insane at the time of the
+publication. The judge hastily said that he would instruct the jury to
+acquit me if the defense took this position. Mr. Bell then asked that a
+simple verdict of "not guilty" be rendered; but the judge insisted upon
+its form being "Not guilty, on the ground of insanity." This verdict was
+taken.
+
+I rose immediately, and said: "I protest against this whole proceeding.
+I have been four months in jail; and I have had no trial for the offense
+with which I am charged." I felt that I was in the same plight as Paul.
+The Bible and the Church, surely, could not condemn me for quoting
+Scripture; and I had appealed unto Caesar; but Caesar refused, out of
+sheer cowardice, to hear me and try me. I was not even listened to when
+I made this protest, and I shouted, so that all must hear me: "Your
+honor, I move your impeachment in the name of the people!"
+
+The sensation was tremendous. "Sit down!" roared the judge. He evidently
+thought that I would attack him. An order committing me to the State
+Lunatic Asylum was issued, and I was taken back to the Tombs. But I did
+not go to the asylum. Another writ of habeas corpus took me out of jail,
+and I at last turned my back on the Tombs--a lunatic by judicial decree.
+I hope that the courts, inasmuch as I am their ward, and have been for
+thirty years, have protected me in my rights, and have safeguarded those
+interests in Omaha where some millions of dollars depend upon the
+question of my sanity.
+
+The moment I was taken out of the Tombs, I went down town, had a bath,
+got a good meal, put on better clothes, and bought passage for England.
+I went to join my family at Homburg, as my sons were then in Germany,
+studying at Frankfort.
+
+This Woodhull-Claflin affair had far-reaching effects. Besides leaving
+me for thirty years in the grip of the court, it affected many other
+persons. I shall refer here only to one of these, the publisher of a
+newspaper in Toledo, who printed some of the matter that I had printed
+in New York. He was prosecuted, and his paper and press were seized. The
+poor fellow asked me to lecture in his interest. I could not do this,
+but helped him to raise some money to buy a new printing-press. This was
+in August, '83, when I was at Vevay, Switzerland.
+
+A worthless piece of paper eventually fell into the hands of another
+man, who proceeded to prosecute me, and, with the assistance of the
+courts, kept me in the Charles Street Jail, Boston, for some time. I was
+arrested for this old debt of another man, and was refused the
+constitutional relief of habeas corpus by Judge Devins and five other
+judges of Massachusetts. The amount of the debt had steadily increased,
+and was $800 in '89. Finally, I went before Judge McKim, and he at once
+dismissed the case as groundless.
+
+This brought my jail experiences to a close. Was it fitting that Boston,
+where I had lived and worked; where I had devised the building of the
+greatest ships the world had known up to that time; where I had
+projected and organized the clipper-ship service to California, and
+opened a new era in the carrying trade of the world, and where I had
+organized the Union Pacific Railway to develop the entire West and draw
+continents nearer together, should put me in jail for a petty debt that
+I did not owe, as in some sort an evidence of its gratitude?
+
+My prison experience has been more varied than that of the most
+confirmed and hardened criminal; and yet I have never committed a crime,
+cheated a human being, or told a lie. I have been imprisoned in almost
+every sort of jail that man has devised. I have been in police stations,
+in Marshalseas in England and in Ireland, in common jails in Boston, in
+the Bastile of Lyons, in the Prefecture at Tours as the prisoner of
+Gambetta, Dictator of France, and in the famous old Tombs of New York. I
+have used prisons well. They have been as schools to me, where I have
+reflected, and learned more about myself--and a man's own self is the
+best object of any one's study. I have, also, made jails the source of
+fruitful ideas, and from them have launched many of my most startling
+and useful projects and innovations. And so they have not been jails to
+me, any more than they were to Lovelace:
+
+    "Stone walls do not a prison make,
+      Nor iron bars a cage;
+    Minds innocent and quiet take
+      That for an hermitage."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY, SIXTY-SEVEN, AND SIXTY DAYS
+
+1870, 1890, 1892
+
+
+I went around the world in eighty days in the year '70, two years before
+Jules Verne wrote his famous romance, Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-vingts
+Jours, which was founded upon my voyage. Since then I have made two
+tours of the world, one in sixty-seven and a half days, and the other in
+sixty. The last voyage still stands as the record trip in circling the
+globe.
+
+I have always been something of a traveler, restless in my earlier
+years, and never averse to visiting new scenes and experiencing new
+sensations. In Australasia I had improved every opportunity to see the
+new world of the South Seas, and later had visited every part of the
+Orient that I could by any possibility reach during my various journeys
+in that portion of the globe. Europe I had traversed quite thoroughly,
+from the Crimea to Nijnii Novgorod, from the Volga to the Thames, from
+Spain to Finland. When I left Australia it was my intention to
+establish a great business in Yokohama, and, when that had been done, I
+intended to pass on across the Pacific, thus girdling the globe; but my
+first effort to go around the world was prevented by the war in the
+Crimea, and so I turned back and came home, as already described, by way
+of China, India, Egypt, and Europe.
+
+The desire for travel possessed me mightily in '69, just after the
+golden spike was driven at the completion of the Union Pacific Railway,
+by which California and New York were made nearer one another by many
+days of travel. The circumference of the globe had been shrunken. I
+wanted, naturally, to be the first man to utilize the great advantage
+thus given to travel by making the quickest trip around the world.
+
+After closing my lecture tour on the Pacific coast in the spring and
+summer of '70, I prepared for such a trip, carefully calculating that it
+could be made within eighty days, even with the inevitable losses due to
+bad connections at different ports. I wanted to take my sons, George and
+Elsey, with me, but, at the last moment, they were prevented from going.
+I found out only a few days ago, when accusing my daughter Sue of
+keeping them in Newport, that their mother had given them ten golden
+eagles each not to go. I sailed from San Francisco August 1, '70. On the
+same ship was Susan B. King, whom I found in San Francisco waiting to
+sail, as she was tired of the way her affairs were going in New York and
+wanted a long trip for rest and recreation. She had $30,000 with her,
+which she said she would try to invest profitably on the voyage. She was
+then quite an old woman, as the world generally estimates age.
+
+I made Yokohama in very good time, and went immediately to the Japanese
+capital, the new seat of the Emperor, Tokyo. I may record here a very
+curious thing. I believe I was the last man--the last foreigner, at
+least--who had taken part in an old national custom of Japan, by which
+persons of opposite sex bathe together, without bathing suits. It was
+then considered, in that land of good morals and fine esthetic sense,
+that no impropriety was involved in this custom. Manners and customs
+there were open and free as in Greece, when Athens was "the eye of
+Greece" and the center of the world's civilization. I went to one of the
+public baths to experience a decidedly new sensation. I was allowed to
+bathe with old men and women, young men and maidens--and no one, except,
+perhaps, myself, felt any degree of embarrassment or false modesty.
+
+But the fact that a foreigner was bathing in this way with Japanese
+women and girls made something of a stir in Tokyo that had been
+unexpected by me. It seems that, a short time before, some Englishmen
+had gone into one of the public baths and made themselves very
+offensive. This had taught the Japanese that they could not trust the
+foreigner, and they had already nearly decided to exclude foreigners
+from their baths, or to separate the sexes. My experience was,
+therefore, the last, as I believe. After this the sexes were not
+permitted to bathe together.
+
+I observed that the Japanese used small paper packages for tea, thus
+making it convenient to handle tea. I then recalled the custom of the
+Chinese in compressing tea for transportation by caravan to the great
+Fair of Nijnii Novgorod. Here was an opportunity, I thought, and I
+suggested to Susan B. King that she might invest her $30,000 to good
+purpose in sending to New York a cargo of tea put up in little paper
+packages, and that, if she wanted to try it, I would give her letters to
+men in Canton who could arrange the matter for her. She undertook the
+scheme, and I wrote a description of it for Anglin's Gazette, in
+Yokohama. The tea was shipped to New York, and was handled at the
+Demorest headquarters. The tea was in half-pound and pound packages.
+This was long before Sir Thomas Lipton employed this method of putting
+up teas.
+
+At Saigon, in French Cochin-China, I met the United States ship Alaska;
+and from that port sailed on a ship of the Messagerie Imperiale line for
+Marseilles. The remainder of the voyage was uneventful, except for the
+diversion just before we left Singapore of hearing the news of the fall
+of the Second Empire, the defeat of Louis Napoleon at Sedan, and the
+establishment of the republic.
+
+I have already recorded, in the chapter on the Commune in France, my
+arrival at Marseilles and my experiences in the brief period of my
+visit. After I had been arrested and liberated, and had had my interview
+with Gambetta at Tours, I passed on rapidly to New York, and finished my
+tour of the world inside of eighty days.
+
+My second trip was made in the year '90. I planned it while I was in
+jail in Boston for a debt that I did not contract. There had been some
+note-worthy efforts on the part of newspaper writers to make a
+record-breaking trip, and Miss Bisland had gone around in seventy-eight
+days, while Nellie Bly had succeeded in making the voyage in
+seventy-three days. I proposed to Col. John A. Cockerill, of the New
+York World, who had sent Nellie Bly on her trip, to make the circuit in
+less time; but he did not care to upset the World's own record. I then
+telegraphed to Radebaugh, proprietor of the Tacoma Ledger, that if he
+would raise $1,000 for a lecture in Tacoma, I would make a trip around
+the world in less than seventy days. He told me to come on.
+
+As I started West, to sail on the Abyssinia, I received message after
+message from Radebaugh. Instead of the $1,000 I had asked for, $1,500
+had been subscribed by the time I reached Chicago, and at St. Paul it
+had gone up to $3,500. I soon reached Tacoma, and lectured there to an
+immense audience, taking in $4,200, the largest amount ever paid for a
+single lecture--and sailed out into the Pacific March 18th. I was
+accompanied by S. W. Wall, editor of the Ledger. Lafcadio Hearn, the
+distinguished writer, was on the same ship, on his way to Japan. He was
+so ill that he did not leave his state-room during the voyage.
+
+We made Yokohama in sixteen days, and the moment I landed I telegraphed
+to the American legation at Tokyo to get me a passport. It had always
+taken three days to get a passport, but I said that I must have this at
+once, and I got it. In seven hours I was on the way to Kobe, overland,
+three hundred miles across Japan. I caught the German ship for Nagasaki,
+from which point, after a short delay, I sailed for Hongkong. In a trip
+of this kind, of course, one sees little of interest. It is a mere
+question of rushing from vessel to vessel the moment you get into port,
+or of catching trains, or of chartering boats to bridge gaps, or of
+haggling with ship-captains or railway managers about getting extra
+accommodations at very extra prices.
+
+My longest delay was at Singapore, where I lost forty hours. The next
+longest loss of time was in New York--wonderful to relate--where I was
+delayed thirty-six hours, although four railways were competing for the
+honor of taking me across the continent on a record-breaking journey. I
+arrived on Saturday, and had to charter a special car--which cost
+$1,500--and could not get away until Monday morning. I was near being
+delayed a day at Calais, France, but succeeded in chartering a boat to
+take me over the Channel. As this boat carried the British mails, I was
+relieved of the expense by the British Government.
+
+At Portland I met with a most annoying delay of five hours, due entirely
+to mismanagement. This most unexpectedly lengthened out my tour at the
+very end, and so angered me that I refused to attend a banquet the
+people had prepared for me. I pushed on to Tacoma as soon as I could get
+anything to carry me, and arrived there exactly sixty-seven days,
+thirteen hours, two minutes, and fifty-five seconds from the time I had
+started. The actual time of traveling was fifty-nine days and seven
+hours. Seven days and five hours had been lost. This was then the
+fastest trip around the world. It has been beaten since by myself.
+
+As I had started on my second trip from a Pacific coast point, there was
+a good deal of rivalry among the growing towns in that section with
+regard to the honor of being the starting-point of my third trip in '92,
+in which I eclipsed all previous records. I had already announced that
+this could readily be done, as the Pacific steamships were very much
+faster than they had been at the time of my former voyage, and as the
+connections at various ports were much better. Sir William Van Horne
+had also written that he wanted me to make another tour of the world,
+using one of the fast ships of the Canadian Pacific road, the famous
+Empresses, that soon would be put on the line to Yokohama. The new town
+of Whatcom, on Puget Sound, in the extreme northwest of Washington,
+raised the amount necessary for the trip, and I made my start from that
+point, catching the Empress of India from Vancouver.
+
+An account of this voyage would necessarily be only a panoramic glance
+at a narrow line around the world. I made Yokohama in eleven days, was
+at Kobe, Japan, in thirteen, and at Shanghai in fifteen. Here I had some
+difficulty in finding a fast steamer for Singapore, but succeeded in
+getting aboard a swift German boat, the Friga, which put me in Singapore
+in time to catch the Moyune, the last of the fast tea ships, and on her
+I sailed as far as Port Said, through the Suez Canal. At Port Said I
+boarded the Ismaila for Brindisi, Italy. Then I again rushed across
+Europe, and caught the Majestic at Liverpool for New York. I found a
+distinguished company on board, including Ambassador John Hay, D. O.
+Mills, Lady Stewart, Mrs. Paran Stevens, and Senator Spooner.
+
+[Illustration: Dinner in the Mills Hotel given by George Francis Train.]
+
+I arrived in New York in good time, had a very slight delay in
+comparison with that of my second voyage, and went flying across the
+continent to Whatcom. The entire trip, giving a complete circuit of
+the globe, was made in sixty days.
+
+To these three trips I attach no more importance, I hope, than is fairly
+their due. In each of them, in succession, I had beaten all previous
+records of travel; and this was something in the interests of all
+persons who travel, as showing what could be done under stress, and as a
+stimulus to greater efforts to reduce the long months and days consumed
+on voyages from country to country. But they were, as I consider them,
+merely incidents in a life that has better things to show. One of these
+voyages, the one in which I "put a girdle round the earth" in eighty
+days, has the honor of having given the suggestion for one of the most
+interesting romances in literature. This, at least, is something.
+
+But I give this brief account of my voyages, at the end of my
+autobiography, chiefly because I regard them as somewhat typical of my
+life. I have lived fast. I have ever been an advocate of speed. I was
+born into a slow world, and I wished to oil the wheels and gear, so that
+the machine would spin faster and, withal, to better purposes. I
+suggested larger and fleeter ships, to shorten travel on the ocean. I
+built street-railways, so that the workers of the world might save a few
+minutes from their days of pitiless toil, and so might have a little
+leisure for enjoyment and self-improvement. I built great railway
+lines--the Atlantic and Great Western, and the Union Pacific--that the
+continent might be traversed by men and commerce more rapidly, and its
+waste places made to blossom like the rose. I wished to add a stimulus,
+a spur, a goad--if necessary--that the slow, old world might go on more
+swiftly, "and fetch the age of gold," with more leisure, more culture,
+more happiness. And so I put faster ships on the oceans, and faster
+means of travel on land.
+
+My own rapid tours of the world are, therefore, typical of my life. Thus
+an account of them seems to round it off fitly with a "Bon voyage" to
+every one.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+    Achinese, subjugation of the, 178.
+    Aden, visit to, 208.
+    Adirondack Railway, 260.
+    American Merchant in Europe, Asia, and Australia, an, 222.
+    Andaman Islands, 204.
+    Anglo-American, the, 72, 144.
+    Anglo-Saxon, the, 55, 58, 72.
+    Anjer, visit of the natives at, 174.
+    Antietam, Battle of, 282.
+    Ariens, Admiral, 251.
+    Around the world tours, 331.
+    Around the World in Eighty Days, 301, 331.
+    Ashburner, George, 204.
+    Astor, John Jacob, Jr., 44.
+    Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 237, 269.
+    Australia, begin business in, 127;
+      gold-fever in, 130, 141;
+      outlaws of, 152, 156;
+      railway system of, 269;
+      rebellion in, 156.
+    Austria, travels in, 233.
+
+    Bailey, Crawshay, and Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 244.
+    Balaklava, visit to, 217.
+    Balmoral, visit to, 92.
+    Banka, tin mines of, 179.
+    Banking and gambling compared, 86.
+    Banks, Gen. Nathaniel P., 38, 58.
+    Baring, Thomas, visit to America, 71.
+    Bartley, Judge, 244.
+    Bastile at Lyons, a prisoner in the, 310.
+    Batavia, Java, beauty of, 175.
+    Bemis, Emery, 37.
+    Bemis, George Pickering, 8, 48, 273, 311.
+    Bennett, James Gordon, 222.
+    Beyrout, visit to, 215.
+    Birkenhead, tramways in, 261.
+    Black Hole of Calcutta, 205.
+    Blockade running, 272.
+    Bly, Nellie, trip round the world, 335.
+    Bombay, India, railroad in, 270.
+    "Bonanza nugget," the, story of, 141.
+    Boomerang, the, 169.
+    Booth, Edwin, in Melbourne, 166.
+    Botany Bay, 144.
+    Bougevine, Gen., in China, 196.
+    Bowling, skill in, 79;
+      in Australia, 135.
+    Braemar, meeting with Lord John Russell at, 92.
+    Bridges, the phrenologist, 122.
+    Briticisms, 91.
+    Brooke, "Sarawak," 179.
+    Brougham, John, visit to Liverpool, 124.
+    Bunker Hill Day, 112.
+    Bury, Lord, 105.
+    Bushnell, the actor, in Melbourne, 167.
+
+    Cairo, land trip from Suez to, 209.
+    Calcutta, visit to, 204.
+    Caldwell, Captain, partner in the Australian house, 127, 136, 223.
+    California, discovery of gold in, 71.
+    Canada, visit to, 86.
+    Canning, Lord, Governor-General of India, 207.
+    Canton, visit to, 182, 185.
+    Cape May, in 1850, 79.
+    Carleton, Mrs., meeting with, 83.
+    Castiglione, Countess, 230.
+    Ceylon, visit to, 208.
+    Chatsworth, visit to, 102.
+    China, visit to, 180;
+      population of, 190.
+    Chinese, civilization of the, 197;
+      customs of the, 190;
+      honesty of the, 187.
+    Choate, Rufus, retained in the Franklin case, 62.
+    Chronicle, London, purchase of the, 272.
+    Cincinnati, honeymoon trip to, 116.
+    Civil War in the United States, England and the, 271.
+    Claflin, Tennie C., arrest of, 323.
+    Clarke, John, Jr., 7, 9.
+    Clay, Cassius M., debate with, 279.
+    Clay, Henry, calls on, 81.
+    Cluseret, Gen. Gustave Paul, summoned from Switzerland, 305.
+    Collie, Alexander, 180.
+    Collingwood, home at, 135.
+    Commune, the, 301.
+    Constantine, Grand Duke, meeting with, at Strelna, 251.
+    Constantinople, visit to, 216.
+    Cook, Captain, in Botany Bay, 145.
+    Copenhagen, tramway in, 269.
+    Cozzens's Hotel, Omaha, 296.
+    Credit Foncier, 285.
+    Credit Mobilier of America, 260, 285, 316.
+    Crimea, in the, 217.
+    Cristina, Queen Maria, and Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 227,
+      237.
+    Crystal Palace, 103, 104.
+
+    Dalhousie, Lord, Governor-General of India, 207.
+    Dallas, George M., 250.
+    Daniel Webster, the, 117.
+    Darlington, England, tramways in, 269.
+    Davis, Col. George T. M., 110, 116, 259.
+    Delane, John, editor London Times, 251.
+    Delmonico's, McHenry's $15,000 dinner at, 246.
+    De Morny, Count, 228.
+    De Questa, Rodrigo, and Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 238.
+    Derby, J. C., 273.
+    Devonshire, Duke of, meeting with the, 101.
+    Dinsmore, Mr., meeting with, 87.
+    Dombriski, Prince, received by, 255.
+    Donohue, Irish patriot, 165.
+    Donovan, the phrenologist, 122.
+    Drinking by women in 1850, 83.
+    Dublin, imprisonment in, 314.
+    Duckbill, the Australian, 169.
+    Durant, Dr. T. C., president of Credit Mobilier, 260.
+
+    Elephants as carriers, 208.
+    Emerson, Ralph W., lecture at Waltham, 39;
+      engages passage for Europe, 60.
+    Emigration, Irish, to America, 76;
+      of the Landsdowne tenants, 97;
+      to Tasmania, 148.
+    "Emperor, the," fountain at Chatsworth, 102.
+    England, first impressions of, 90;
+      introduction of tramways in, 259;
+      and the Civil War in the United States, 271.
+    Excelsior, the Chinese, 193.
+
+    Fallow, Christopher and John, 239.
+    Fenton, Reuben E., 243.
+    Fillmore, Millard, President, 113.
+    Fiske, Stebbins, 13.
+    Fitzroy, Sir Charles, Governor of New South Wales, 143.
+    "Five-Star Republic," the, of Australia, 157.
+    Flowers, love of, 177.
+    Flying Cloud, the, 72, 221.
+    Flying-fish, experience with, 208.
+    Fowler, the phrenologist, 123.
+    France, travels in, 233.
+    Franklin, wreck of the, 61.
+    Franklin, Sir John, house in Tasmania, 150.
+    Frost, Abigail Pickering, 10.
+    Frost, George W., 14.
+    Frost, Leonard, 39.
+    Fu-chow, visit to, 200.
+    Fuller, Frank, builder of Crystal Palace, 104.
+    Fuller, Col. Hiram, 93.
+
+    Gambetta, interview with, 311.
+    Gambling at Saratoga in 1850, 85.
+    Geneva, Switzerland, tramway in, 269.
+    Georgetown Convent, visit to, 82.
+    Germany, travels in, 233.
+    Ginger, preparation of Canton, 190.
+    "Godowns," 185.
+    Golden Age, the, and Black Warrior incident, 143.
+    Gold-fever, in California, 71;
+      in Australia, 130, 141.
+    Gordon, "Chinese," 196.
+    Governor Davis, the, 64.
+    Grant, U. S., election to the presidency, 321.
+    Gray Nunnery, Montreal, visit to the, 87.
+    Greeley, Horace, nomination of, 320.
+    Green, E. H., in Hongkong, 182.
+    Greig, Colonel, entertained by, 254.
+    Guild, B. F., editor of Boston Commercial Bulletin, 276.
+
+    Harris, Townsend, 179.
+    Havelock, General, 208.
+    Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 58.
+    Hayes, Kate, in Melbourne, 167.
+    Heard, Augustine, author of The Chinese Excelsior, 193, 200.
+    Henry, voyage to Boston on the, 7, 16.
+    Herald, New York, in 1856, 221.
+    Hill, Rowland, English postal reformer, 108.
+    Hobart Town, Tasmania, visit to, 149.
+    Holmes, Joseph A., secure employment with, 42.
+    Hongkong, visits to, 182, 203.
+    Hooligan, finder of the "bonanza nugget," 141.
+    Horsemanship, 112.
+    Hotel scheme for London, 105.
+    Howe, Joseph, ex-Governor of Nova Scotia, 113.
+    Howitt, William and Mary, 149.
+    Hudson, Captain, 249.
+    Hudson, Frederick, 222.
+    Hunt, Thornton, made editor of London Morning Chronicle, 272.
+
+    Imprisonment, 314, 334.
+    India, visit to, 204.
+    Inventions, 106.
+    Irish immigration to America, 76.
+    Italy, travels in, 233.
+
+    Japan, leaves Australia for, 168, 171;
+      trip abandoned, 200.
+    Java, visit to, 174.
+    Jerusalem, visit to, 211.
+    Joppa, visit to, 211.
+    Joshua Bates, the, 58, 72.
+
+    Kangaroos, Sidney Smith on, 169.
+    Keene, Laura, in Melbourne, 166.
+    Kennard, Thomas, and Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 243.
+    King, Susan B., 332.
+    Krakatoa, volcano of, 175.
+    Kremlin, at the, 255.
+
+    Lachine Rapids, shooting the, 86.
+    Laird, John, and the Birkenhead tramways, 261.
+    Lake Champlain, visit to, 88.
+    Lake George, visit to, 88.
+    Lamartine, Alphonse de, meeting with Seward, 232.
+    Lansdowne, Marquis of, 97.
+    Latrobe, Governor, 158.
+    Launceston, Tasmania, visit to, 151.
+    Lawrence, Abbott, United States Minister, 98.
+    Lawrence, Bigelow, marriage to Sallie Ward, 114.
+    Leghorn, explosion at, 233.
+    Lemon, Mark, 105.
+    Lexington, burning of the, 10, 36.
+    Lightning, the, 221.
+    Ligue du Midi, the, 305.
+    Li Hung Chang, meeting with, 195.
+    Lillo, Leon, 227;
+      and Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 238.
+    Lincoln, President, and emancipation, 280.
+    Liverpool, take charge of business in, 79, 90;
+      business facilities of, 94;
+      return to, after marriage, 117;
+      introduction of street-railways, 260.
+    London, visits to, 98, 104;
+      introduction of tramways, 263.
+    Lyons, imprisonment at, 310.
+
+    Macao, visit to, 182.
+    MacDonald, Sir John A., 113.
+    MacFarlane, Rev. J. R., companion in the Holy Land, 211.
+    McGill, James, Australian outlaw, 159.
+    McHenry, James, 94, 108, 121, 231;
+      and Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 237.
+    Mackay, Charles, author, 125.
+    Mackay, Donald, 72, 223.
+    Mackay, John W., 76.
+    MacMahon, Marshal, in the Crimea, 219.
+    Madras, visit to, 208.
+    Marriage, 109.
+    Marseilles, in the Commune, 301.
+    Marsh, John Alfred, 121.
+    Marshall, Matthew, Jr., and Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 245.
+    Martin, John, Irish patriot, 165.
+    Marvin, the hotel-keeper, 83.
+    Mavrockadatis, the, trip to Newfoundland on, 274.
+    Melbourne, Australia, begin business in, 127;
+      in 1854, 133;
+      public improvement in, 170.
+    Methodism, New England, 21, 45.
+    Mirage, a, 209.
+    Montez, Lola, in Melbourne, 167.
+    Montreal, visit to, 86.
+    Morse, Salmi, 133.
+    Moscow, visit to, 255.
+    Mount Vernon, visit to, 82.
+    Munoz, Fernando, 237.
+
+    Nana Sahib, 208.
+    Naples, visit to, 234.
+    Napoleon, Emperor Louis, 272;
+      hatred of, 226.
+    New Orleans, yellow fever at, 2.
+    New South Wales, gold-fever in, 130, 141.
+    New York, to sell Flying Cloud, 73;
+      vacation in, 79.
+    Niagara Falls, visit to, 86, 111.
+    Nicholson, Sir Charles, 143.
+    Nijnii Novgorod, visit to, 256.
+    Noroton, Conn., Soldiers' Home in, 164.
+
+    O'Brien, Smith, Irish patriot, 165.
+    Ocean Monarch, the, 72;
+      burning of, 59.
+    Omaha, development of, 294.
+    Opium trade, 67;
+      English, in China, 196.
+    Otis, Mrs. Harrison Grey, meeting with, 84.
+    Outlaws, Australian, 152.
+
+    Palestine, visit to, 211.
+    Paris, first visit to, 224, 226.
+    Parker, Dr., United States Minister to China, 180.
+    Parliament, the, trip to Liverpool on, 90.
+    Paxton, Sir Joseph, meeting with, 103.
+    Pennock, Commander, 249.
+    Peto, Sir Morton, 246.
+    Philippines, war in the, 178.
+    Phillips, Wendell, and the negro, 281.
+    Phrenology, experiences with, 121.
+    Pickering, Rev. George, 1, 21.
+    Pickering, Judge Gilbert, 23.
+    Pickering, Maria, 1.
+    Pidgin-English, 185, 192.
+    Pigeon-netting, 30.
+    Pirates, Chinese, 182, 201.
+    Plymouth Rock, the, trip to Melbourne on, 127.
+    Point de Galle, Ceylon, visit to, 208.
+    Porter, Capt. David D., visits Melbourne, 143.
+    Portland, Ore., speech at, 297.
+    Presidential aspirations, 314.
+    Pyramids, trip to the, 209.
+
+    Railway building, in Australia, 131, 269;
+      Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 237, 269;
+      English street-railways, 259;
+      Union Pacific Railway, 269, 283.
+    Red Jacket, the, 221;
+      the incident at Melbourne, 138.
+    Rhoades, Sallie, 24.
+    Rianzares, Duke of, 227, 237.
+    Richardson, Albert D., Beyond the Mississippi, 291.
+    Ripley, George, 38.
+    Ristori, meeting with, 228.
+    Rome, hailed as "liberator" in uprising my 235.
+    Rumford, Count, 38.
+    Rush, Mrs., meeting with, 84.
+    Russell, Lord John, meeting with, at Braemar, 92;
+      and the Civil War, 272.
+    Russia, visit to, 249.
+
+    St. Petersburg, visit to, 251.
+    St. Petersburg, the, 64.
+    Sala, George Augustus, 105;
+      in America, 260.
+    Salamanca, Jose de, Spanish banker, 228;
+      and Atlantic and Great Western Railway, 240.
+    San Francisco, lectures in, 296.
+    Saratoga, visit to, 83.
+    Savage Club of London, organization of the, 263.
+    Schenck, Robert E., 244.
+    Scotland, visit to, 92.
+    Seattle, speech in, 299.
+    Sebastopol, visit to, 217.
+    Seward, William H., in Paris, 231;
+      and the Mavrockadatis incident, 274;
+      in Washington, 281.
+    Seymour, Thomas H., Minister to Russia, 251.
+    Shanghai, visit to, 194.
+    Shelley, Sir John Villiers, 268.
+    Sherman, John, 244.
+    Ships, naming of, 174.
+    Singapore, visit to, 179.
+    Slave trade, Chinese, 184, 203.
+    Smith, Archdeacon, meeting with, 88.
+    Smith, Sidney, on kangaroos, 169;
+      prophecy in regard to Sydney, Australia, 143.
+    Smuggling, 67.
+    Smyrna, visit to, 215.
+    Sovereign of the Seas, the, 74, 221.
+    Spectator, the London, purchase of, 273.
+    Spence, Carroll, 217.
+    Spencer, Bishop of Jamaica, meeting with, 88;
+      dinner with, in London, 98.
+    "Spread-Eagleism," 244.
+    Staffordshire, introduction of tramways in, 268.
+    Staffordshire, the, 74.
+    Stettin, visit to, 251.
+    Stevens, Paran, 106.
+    Stoddard, Captain, meeting with, 87.
+    Street-railways, first English, 259.
+    Strelna, meeting with Grand Duke Constantine at, 251.
+    Suez, visit to, and land trip to Cairo, 209.
+    Sumner, Charles, speaks in Boston on the war, 277.
+    Swans, black, 168.
+    Sydney, visit to, 143.
+
+    Tai-ping rebellion, 196.
+    Tasmania, visit to, 148;
+      gold-fever in, 130, 141.
+    Taylor, Moses, 166.
+    Taylor, President, introduced to, 80.
+    Tea, Chinese and Russian, 191, 334.
+    Temperance, 47, 99.
+    Ten-pins, skill in, 79;
+      in Australia, 135.
+    The Hague, visit to, 251.
+    Ticonderoga, visit to, 88.
+    Tilden, Samuel J., and Union Pacific Railway, 288.
+    Tilly, Governor, of New Brunswick, 113.
+    Tombs, imprisonment in the, 324.
+    Train, Ellen, 5.
+    Train, Col. Enoch, 52, 126, 223;
+      failure of, 173.
+    Train, Josephine, 3.
+    Train, Louisa, 9.
+    Train, Louise, 5.
+    Train, Oliver, 1, 7.
+    Train Villa, Newport, 314.
+    Tramways. See Street-railways.
+    Trescot, Commodore, meeting with, 88.
+    Tucker, Beverley, consul in Liverpool, 123.
+    Tweed Ring, exposure of the, 32.
+
+    Unicorn, the wreck of, 118.
+    Union Pacific Railway, 269, 283.
+    Upas-tree, fable of the, 189.
+    Upton, George B., 223.
+
+    Verne, Jules, Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-vingts Jours, 301, 331.
+    Victoria, Queen, 92, 104.
+    Vienna, visit to, 235.
+
+    Wade, Benjamin, 244.
+    Wales, visit to, 101.
+    Waltham, Mass., homestead at, 1, 19, 21.
+    Ward, Frederick Townsend, in China, 196.
+    Ward, Alfredo, 109.
+    Ward, Gen. C. L., 243.
+    Ward, Sallie, marriage to Bigelow Lawrence, 114.
+    Washington, vacation trip to, 79.
+    Washington Irving, the, 58, 72, 144.
+    Webster, Daniel, letter from, 80, 87, 92;
+      retained in the Franklin case, 63;
+      Secretary of State, 80.
+    Wellington, Duke of, 100.
+    West Point, visit to, 82.
+    Whistler, Major, 255.
+    Willis, N. P., John Brougham on, 124.
+    Wilson, Henry T., 148.
+    Winslow, Henry A., 10.
+    Woodhull, Victoria C., arrest of, 323.
+    World tours, 331.
+
+    Young America Abroad, 93, 103, 257.
+    Young America in Wall Street, 125.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Punctuation has been corrected without note.
+
+page 280: "nonogenarian" changed to "nonagenarian" (who is now a
+nonagenarian, in his armed castle in Kentucky).
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY LIFE IN MANY STATES AND IN
+FOREIGN LANDS***
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