We wonder at the duration of our own existence; that the term of our lives should witness the pride of a powerful state; the successful opposer of the conqueror of armies, and the controller of millions, to dwell only in memory. Yet the sad tale has met our ear, that the U. S. B. of P. is no more.—That pillar of the currency that some thought was based on a rock of ages—that nursing mother, who would fain have gathered the whole nation, as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings—that giant of ubiquity, that dwelt in every town and city, a very mastodon in power, and a mastiff in watchfulness—deserted by his friends, persecuted by his enemies, and cheated by all—expired at Philadelphia on the 5th of Feb. A. D. 1841, after one long and piteous howl of 20 days and 6 hours, in the 5th year of his age.
The power of sympathy is one of the remarkable properties of life, throughout all animate and inanimate creation; and it is a circumstance worthy of note, that, at the moment of his expiring, every inferior cur, from New York to New Orleans, gave one loud and piercing yell, and laid himself down in his den. Throughout the land, old men bowed themselves in sorrow, widows wailed in secret, children began to cry for bread, girls in their teens shed salt tears, lest the fall of stocks should loose them their sweethearts, and a thousand and one ancient virgins retired in privacy to count their rosaries; not with catholic piety and reverence, but to see how much remained in the stocking.
A SHOW OF REASON.
My readers will be surprised, that I should apply the incongruous and unmusical name of bull dog to the U. S. B.; but I must beg them to recollect that I am in Wall-street, that this is Wall-street language, and that no other would be understood here. And as this was the name under which we first made his acquaintance, for the sake of consistency, I must carry out the figure. And to redeem my promise, it only remains that I should give some account of his disease.
For the benefit of science, and the coming generation, it is to be regretted that those who have his body in keeping, have refused a post-mortem examination.[3] Mr. Done-up, the chief physician, insists that he is not dead, and that he will have him kept for a year and a day, for experiments of the galvanic battery, electro-magnetic suspension, and such other inventions and restoratives as his skill may suggest. But it is the opinion of Wall-street physicians, that the doctor will never be able to do more than to embalm his body.
DISEASE—ITS NATURE AND CAUSE.
It is the opinion, also, of those who have had an opportunity of observing his symptoms, that his disease was a species of cholera, a sort of internal evacuation; or, to be more particular in explanation, that while promises were going out one way, the specie was going out the other; and that the too frequent gorging of stocks, state bonds, cotton speculations, &c., had the effect, like Major Downing’s elder-bark tea, to work both ways. One singular circumstance has attended him throughout; which, as it is a reversal of the order of nature, is worth mentioning. In his case, corruption took place long before death, and mortification afterwards. His disease is said to have had its origin in an overheating of the blood, in the great contest about the deposites. But as this is a matter of some dispute, I leave the point to be settled by the great successors of their “illustrious predecessors”—Dr. Done-up of Philadelphia, and Dr. Ran-down of Kinderhook, both of whom, it is supposed will now find sufficient leisure, amicably to settle their differences.
PRACTICAL HINTS.
My friend, the relator of the foregoing, here left me abruptly again, but as I am sure to find him in the same place to-morrow, I shall not fail to make him a visit. What the subject of his conversation will be, I cannot tell, but as he has found me a willing listener, I feel sure that he will be as communicative as ever.
It was my intention, at the close of this chapter, to have expanded a little on the great value to the public, of corporations, when in the hands of men of talent, property, and credit, who can, without responsibility to themselves, act for the benefit of the stockholders. But, as I have already detained my readers too long, and since people will think for themselves, right or wrong, if they ever chance to think at all, I need give no further evidence of their utility, and entire safety in such hands, than the following facts. Among all the officers and directors of the Morrison Kennel, and the U. S. B., in which about forty millions of dollars have been totally sunk and lost, not one of them ever failed, or lost a dollar in his individual capacity; and, had the stockholders loaned their capital directly to the merchants, through whom it will perhaps be said it has been lost, instead of investing it in those stocks, they would have saved in the last 25 years, only about 50 millions of dollars, in their expenses, investments in unconvertible property for their splendid accommodations, and losses consequent upon their management to sustain themselves in a ruinous business.