MR. STEPHEN GIRARD.

We have abridged the following interesting account from an American paper, "the Philadelphia Banner of the Constitution." We should premise that the extraordinary individual to whom it relates has left an immense fortune for the building and endowment of a College at Philadelphia.

"Mr. Girard was a native of Bordeaux, but came to this country (America) about fifty years ago. He commenced mercantile business in Philadelphia with a very small capital, which he had saved from his earnings as a master of a vessel. His habits of living were the most economical; and by the time the period had arrived, at which our neutral position gave the shipping of the United States superior advantages in commerce, he had accumulated a sufficiency to enable him to enter the field as a ship owner. Taking advantage then of the occasion thus presented, he adopted the principles of good faith in his navigation operations, acted most truly the part of a neutral, and, to avoid incurring the risks which attached, in those belligerent days, to vessels suspected of covering enemies' property under the American flag, refused to carry on board his ships property belonging to any body but himself. The rigid observance of this rule acquired for him a high reputation amongst the officers of the British navy; and it was a rare thing for a vessel belonging to Mr. Girard to be detained on the high seas. Whilst other merchants were interrupted in their voyages, and had their vessels captured, sent for adjudication, and sometimes condemned, rightfully or wrongfully-the ships of Mr. Girard sailed unmolested. He was not even in the habit of making insurance on his vessels and cargoes; and so great was his good fortune in this particular, that he very seldom, in his long career, lost a vessel.

Soon after the expiration of the charter of the old bank of the United States, in 1811, Mr. Girard purchased their banking-house, in Third-street, and commenced the operation of a banker.

"When we say that Mr. Girard was an economist, we do not mean to say it in a relative sense, but in a positive one. We recollect ourselves once calling at his counting-house to see him on business, and were told by his clerk that he was then busily employed in the cellar, cutting up with his own hands his winter's pork, and could not be seen. He entertained no company, lived upon the most simple food plainly cooked, engaged in none of the scenes or indulgences of social life; and being a widower for some years past, without children,

his life was a solitary one. His chief happiness appeared to be employment. He was never idle, but was, emphatically, a man of business. He was rigid in his bargains→→ took care of his sixpences, knowing that the pounds would take care of themselves--and would, perhaps, hold out for the change of a cent as long as any poor man living. This was the result of his habits of early life, and was, in fact, a part of that system and method which he uniformly displayed, and which constituted him the very individual he was.

There is no evidence that he loved money. He certainly did not accumulate property for any good it could do himself. He resembled more the steward of some great proprietor, managing a very large estate for a very moderate compensation, than the proprietor himself. He did not appear to covet honours or fame, and was free from every display of ostentation. His dwelling-house was under the same roof with his counting-house, in a narrow street near the river, and in a neighbourhood occupied altogether with stores. His equipage was an old chaise and a sober-looking farm horse, and the furniture of his house was of the plainest sort. In personal appearance, he was as plain as the plainest citizen; and so entirely free was he from all pride of purse, that he looked more like a man with a hundred dollars than eight millions.

"This economical style of life, known to every body as characterizing Mr. Girard, has induced some persons to entertain very erroneous views of the influence of his mode of living upon the welfare of the community. You would hear people say, 'It is a pity that Mr. Girard does not make a better use of his money-he ought to live more affluently, and by that means give employment to tradesmen and other poor people.' It is very certain that Mr. Girard contributed very little to the support of livery servants, footmen, coachmen, pastry-cooks, French restaurateurs, ice cream makers, dancing masters, musicians, play actors, hair dressers, fancy shopkeepers, jewellers, and many other callings, but his income was not, on that account, less unexpended. His fancy was to set in motion the industry of ship-builders, riggers, and sail-makers, seamen, stavidores, and draymen, and of late years, that of carpenters, bricklayers, brickmakers, masons, plasterers, painters, glaziers, marble masons, and all other mechanics employed by him in building houses. What portion of his capital and income he did so expend, he lent to others, to be expended as they might see fit; and perhaps it might be said, that not a dollar of his immense wealth was suffered to lie idle.

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So far from his mode of expenditure operating disadvantageously to the working classes, it has been, of all others, the one which was calculated to produce the greatest good to the community. No part of his income has been spent unproductively, for every dollar which has gone towards the support of industry, there is a dollar's worth, or something more, to show for it; which would not have been the case, had the course been pursued which so many people deem to be the most beneficial. Even the little he consumed himself, in his support, was but the wages of a hard-working overseer, or manager, engaged in seeing the property entrusted to his stewardship ap; plied to the most productive purposes. And cannot any one perceive that the superintendence of so frugal and industrious a steward, has been the means of accumulating an immense fund in the city of Philadelphia, which could never have existed, but owing to the cheapness with which so large a capital was managed? The same sum divided into a hundred portions could never have produced the same accumula tion; and for this simple reason, that, in its management, a hundred individuals or families would have had to be supported, whereas in this case only one individual was to be supported, and he, too, very frugally. Had Mr. Girard been a miser who buried his wealth, had he hid his talent in a napkin, then indeed he would have been obnoxious to the imputation of an unfaithful steward. But he did not so he put his talent to the exchangers, where it accumulated for the benefit of the community, more than for that of himself; and, as far as the question of national wealth is concerned, he may be called a good and faithful servant.

"For the last five years Mr. Girard confined himself altogether to a vegetable diet, abstaining entirely from animal food, in consequence of a liability to erysipelas. He has told a gentleman that his own individual subsistence did not cost more than twenty cents a day. He never exhibited any concern about life, nor had he any fears of death. He used to say, that a man who would leave off business because he thought himself rich enough, had very erroneous views-that he attached no more importance to his wealth, than he did to his old shoes: but so fully was he impressed with the idea that active employment was one of the greatest duties of life, that he said about a month ago, to our informant, when death comes for me, he will find me busy, unless I am asleep in bed.' The remark, that he would plant a tree to-day, if he thought he would die to-morrow, was made to our informant; to whom he also stated his age, namely, in his 82nd year."

April 1,

ALEXANDER NIMMO, ESQ. The late Alexander Nimmo was government engineer in Ireland for above a quarter of a century, and his death in Dublin on the 20th of January has called forth an intense expression of regret in that country, the scene of his extensive and indefatigable usefulness, as well as the arena of his high fame as an engineer. He was born in the burgh of Kirkcaldy in 1783. His father, it is believed, was a native of the same place, and by trade a watchmaker, though latterly he in addition kept what was called a hardware store. Mr. Nimmo, the father, was, by nature and acquirements, a very extraordinary man, for the period in which he lived; and it is more than probable that he communicated the first elements of education to his son. He was afterwards placed in the Grammar School of his native town, from whence he removed to the College of St. Andrew's, where he studied two years," and finally completed his studies at the College of Edinburgh. At this period he was quite undecided to which of the learned professions he should devote the energies of his great mental powers. He was one of

the best Greek and Latin scholars of his

day. He spoke and wrote French fluently, as well as the languages of the nations of the north of Europe. The higher branches of geometry and algebra were his favourite studies, as being immediately connected with mathematics, of which he had a profound knowledge. He seemed, as it were, intuitively to unlock the storehouses of the

literature of the ancients and moderns. It was on this adamantine base of almost universal knowledge that he justly acquired his celebrity as one of the ablest engineers of his time. He was at length proffered the appointment of rector to an academy established at Inverness. It is not known how long he submitted to this mechanical drudgery, so harassing to an idiosyncracy so actively energetic and buoyant as his. He, however, resigned his appointment in disgust, striking out for himself a new road to honour and fame, in devoting the whole of his future life to the study of engineering in all its various complicated branches. In a very short time the Government availed themselves of his talents as an engineer in Ireland, where he chiefly lived, and where he died at the early age of forty-nine.

WILLIAM HERRICK, ESQ.

Died on the 18th February, in the eightyseventh year of his age, Wm. Herrick, Esq. of Beau Manor Park, in the county of Leicester. His ancestors were here seated in the eleventh century, and he was the fifth heir-male in succession from Sir Wm. Herrick, Knt. Ambassador from Queen Elizabeth to the Porte; one of the Tellers of the

aid of the completion of any public or charitable work.

A Meeting of Newsvenders has been recently held, in order to adopt petitions to Parliament against the exclusive privileges enjoyed by the clerks of the Post-office in the transmission of newspapers, to the serious injury of the fair trader. These petitions dwelt on the large capital required in the trade, and stated that no other was more heavily taxed, or returned less profit with equal risk to those engaged in it. They complained of the serious injury done it by the peculiar advantages which the official situation conferred on the clerks of the Post-office, who could forward newspapers so late as eight o'clock in the evening, while the newsvenders were compelled to put their into the office two hours

papers

earlier, unless they chose to pay a halfpenny on each-that is, nearly the whole of their profit. They complained also of injurious reports spread by the clerks in their circulars to the various provincial towns. The next topic was the diminution of the revenue, and the inconvenience to the public resulting from the heavy charges on the export of British newspapers to foreign countries. These charges were stated to be (exclusive of the profits enjoyed by the clerks as news agents) for a daily paper 60, for a three day 75, for a two day 115, and for a weekly paper 175 per cent. Nor was the import trade less burdened for the sole advantage of the clerks, since the charge on a Paris paper was 61. 18s., though the price and postage to Calais were no more than 31. 4s. a year.

The ceremony of opening the new Eastern Dock entrance and basin, at Lower Shadwell, completing that magnificent example of commercial enterprise, the London Dock, as originally designed, took place in the presence of an immense concourse of spectators, who assembled from all quarters to witness the sight. Excellent order was preserved throughout the day by the attendance of a strong body of the New Police, and the Thames police-officers and river constables. Not a single accident occurred.

The Cholera.-As far as London is concerned, the Cholera appears to be subsiding. The new cases on Thursday the 22nd were 58, the deaths 28, the recoveries 30, the entire cases remaining 176. The deaths had, in every previous report, been greater in number than the recoveries.-On the 16th, the new cases were 54, the deaths 35, the recoveries 29, the cases remaining 166. We were in hopes that, as a change of temperature bad accompanied these favourable symptoms, they would continue; for we were led, from the observations of Doctors Lorimer and Burton, of Haddington, to connect these two circumstances together.

The event has neither wholly confirmed nor has it negatived our conjecture.-The cases on the 17th and 18th averaged 364, the deaths 224, the recoveries 274. On the 18th, the total cases remaining were 139; on the 19th, however, there was a large increase the new cases were 86, the deaths 38, the recoveries only 25, the cases remaining 162. Whether this change was a consequent of the dissipation that usually marks the beginning of the week, we cannot say.—On Tuesday the 20th and Wednesday the 21st, there was a second recession, though not so marked as the previous one, the cases being 120 on the two days, the deaths 73, and the recoveries 43.-The Central Board not having published a list on Wednesday,-and the clerk not being sufficiently remunerated, we suppose, by his 20l. a month, to warrant the labour of making any distinction of the two days,-we cannot assign its proper share of the cases and deaths to the indulgence on the occasion of the General Fast.-On Friday the 23rd, the new cases were 47, the deaths 33, the recoveries 39, and the cases remaining 171.-From the various parts of the country, the accounts up to the 20th, are as follow-new cases, 56; deaths, 51; recovered, 17; remaining, 124. Total number of cases since the commencement, 6,784; deaths, 2,169.

ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS.

The Rev. Philip Alpe, M.A. of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to the Curacy of Empingham, Rutland.

The Rev. John Wing, of Thorney, to the Rectory of Thornaugh with Wansford, Northampton

shire; and the Rev. William Wing, of Thornaugh, to the Rectory of Sibson cum Stibbington,

Hants, both vacant by the death of the Rev. W. Wing, sen. Patron, the Duke of Bedford.

The Rev. St. John Wells Lucas, M.A. of Downing College, Cambridge, to the Chaplaincy of that College, on the resignation of the Rev. T. Worsley.

The Rev. T. Linton, to the Curacies of Apethorpe and Wood Newton, Northamptonshire.

The Rev. T. H. Walker, Vicar of Stoke Gif ford, Gloucestershire, to the Vicarage of Bick

leigh, with the Chapelry of Sheepster, Devon.

The Rev. J. Blackwell, of Jesus College, Oxford, to the Vicarage of Manerdivy, Pembrokeshire, vacant by the death of the Rev. Bird Allen.

The Rev. Thomas Hulton, A.M. to the Perpetual Curacy of Ashmanaugh, Norfolk.

The Rev. Francis Close, M.A. to the Rectory of Hatford, Berks.

The Rev. Bernard Gilpin, A.M. to the Rectory of Burnham Saint Mary, otherwise Burnham Westgate, with a Mediety of Burnham Saint Margaret, otherwise Norton, and a Mediety of Burnham All Saints, otherwise Ulph, annexed, Norfolk, Patrons, the Master, Fellows, and Scholars of Christ's College, Cambridge.