to overcome this objection by saying: "By the time you have your share of the business paid for you will be of age and legally responsible."

This conversation marked the unfolding of George Peabody's great business career. He worked with renewed energy to make the firm of Riggs & Peabody a success, "not so much," he once said, "to make money for myself as to show Mr. Riggs that his confidence in me was not misplaced."

The business of the firm required that he should travel extensively. He went often to New York and Philadelphia to purchase goods, and rode through what was then a comparative wilderness, extending the business of the firm to new settlements. The business of Riggs & Peabody grew so rapidly that it became necessary to establish the headquarters of the firm at Baltimore, which was near the trade center.

BEGINS THE BANKING BUSINESS.

Banks were scarce in those days, and many merchants left the money they did not need in their business in the hands of Riggs & Peabody. The amounts were considerable, and this action on the part of the retail merchants suggested to the alert and acquisitive mind of Peabody the idea of establishing a bank in connection with their wholesale business. This idea met the approval of Mr. Riggs, and from this humble beginning the greatest banker, in many respects, in the world began business.

In Baltimore George Peabody became as popular and successful as he had been elsewhere. The Legislature of Maryland passed an act making the banking house of Riggs & Peabody the financial agent of the state, and all state moneys passed through their hands. The business of the firm continued to grow so rapidly that in 1822 it became necessary to establish branch houses in Philadelphia and New York, to which Mr. Peabody gave his personal attention. Seven years later Mr. Riggs, because of advancing age, withdrew from the firm, the name of which was then changed to Peabody, Riggs & Co.

In 1836 the business of the firm was extended to England, and a year later Mr. Peabody went to London and took personal charge of the branch house in that city. From that time until his death London was his home. For ten years previous to taking up his residence in the English capital Mr. Peabody had made frequent visits thereto for the purpose of purchasing English manufactures and selling American products. He had already established strong commercial, financial and social relations with the financiers and leading businessmen of England, and these stood him and the

American people in good stead the very year that he took up his residence there. In the summer of that year the United States witnessed the most terrible financial crisis in its history, and thousands of merchants were irretrievably ruined. Credit, which has been aptly called the "great sympathetic nerve of the commercial world," was paralyzed. Several of the states had defaulted in their obligations, causing the failure of large moneyed institutions. The banks suspended specie payment, and doubt and distrust were thrown upon all American securities.

HOW HE SAVED AMERICAN CREDIT ABROAD.

George Peabody set to work to save the credit of his country. He came to the rescue with his purse and his credit. English financiers, having faith in his integrity, accepted his judgment, and American securities were restored to their former stability. After this remarkable experience Mr. Peabody gradually drifted into the sole career of a banker. In 1843 he withdrew from the firm of Peabody, Riggs & Co. and established the banking house of George Peabody & Co., of Warnford Court, City.

He was a banker only in the American sense of the word, for although he loaned money, changed drafts, bought stock and carried deposits, the same as the Rothschilds and Barings, he did not pay out money as English bankers do, and therefore was not deemed a banker in England. He was strictly an American banker in another sense of that term. His own definition best fits the case:

"I have endeavored in the constitution of its members and in the character of its business to make it an American house, and to give it an American atmosphere; to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center of American news, and an agreeable place for my American friends visiting London," he said.

Mr. Peabody's patriotism, however, was always manifested in a more substantial form than words. In 1851 England held a great exhibition. The United States made no appropriation for American exhibits. Mr. Peabody again came to the rescue of his country's reputation, and by the generous gift of fifteen thousand dollars made it possible for the United States to be properly represented.

SAVED "BROTHER JONATHAN'S" REPUTATION.

Five years later the Hon. Edward Everett, at a public reception given to Mr. Peabody in his native town of Danvers, thus described the event:

"We are bound as Americans, on this occasion particularly, to remember the very important services rendered by your guest to his countrymen who went to England in 1851 with specimens of the products and arts of this country to be exhibited at the Crystal Palace. In most, perhaps in all other countries, this exhibition had been a government affair. Commissioners were appointed by authority to protect the interest of the exhibitors; and, what was more important, appropriations of money were made to defray their expenses. No appropriations were made by Congress. Our exhibitors arrived friendless, some of them penniless, in the great commercial Babel of the world. They found the portion of the Crystal Palace assigned to our country unprepared for the specimens of art and industry which they had brought with them; naked and unadorned by the side of the neighboring arcades and galleries fitted up with elegance and splendor by the richest governments in Europe. The English press began to launch its too-ready sarcasms at the sorry appearance which Brother Jonathan seemed likely to make; and all the exhibitors from this country, and all who felt an interest in their success, were disheartened. At this critical moment our friend stepped forward. He did what Congress should have done. By liberal advances on his part the American department was fitted up, and day after day, as some new product of American ingenuity and taste was added to the list-McCormick's reaper, Colt's revolver, Power's Greek slave, Hobb's unpickable lock, Hoe's wonderful printing presses, and Bond's more wonderful spring governor-it began to be suspected that Brother Jonathan was not quite so much of a simpleton as had been thought. He had contributed his full share, if not to the splendor, at least to the utilities, of the exhibition. In fact, the leading journal at London, with a magnanimity which did it honor, admitted that England had derived more real benefit from the contributions of the United States than from those of any other country."

It may be said of George Peabody, as it has been said of La Fayette, that he was a citizen of two hemispheres, for, although the latter years of his life were spent in London, his love for his native land was in no wise. diminished. On several occasions he declined high honors at the hands of the Queen, having been offered a baronetcy and the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. After his great donation to the working poor of London he did consent to accept a miniature portrait of Her Majesty, worth about $40,000. Accompanying the gift was a letter of appreciation, which, together with the portrait, now hangs in the Peabody Institute, Peabody, Massachusetts.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

SENT OUT THE KANE ARCTIC EXPEDITION TO SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN-BUILDS HOMES FOR THE POOR IN LONDON-GAVE AWAY MORE THAN

EIGHT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

S

EDUCATION-A debt due from present to future generations.

O WROTE George Peabody when he made his first contribution to found the Peabody Institute in his native town of Danvers. The name of Peabody has become a synonym for philanthropy-not the mere giving of money, for he had no sympathy with almsgiving. Pauperism had no attractions for him; industrious and struggling poverty chiefly engrossed his sympathies. It was a marked feature of his beneficence that it almost invariably had respect to something beyond and better and more enduring than the immediate benefit it might confer. Sometimes patriotism, sometimes international good feeling gave direction to his liberality. He set the highest store upon education, and in applying his resources for the advantage of his own countrymen he selected precisely those modes of assisting them which were most peculiarly adapted to their position and wants. He set an example of wise philanthropy, capable of being initiated on the largest scale without undermining the self-reliant spirit of the poor.

THE KANE EXPEDITION.

One of his earliest public benefactions was the contribution which enabled Dr. Kane, the Arctic explorer, to go upon his voyage in search of the lost Sir John Franklin. In 1852 Henry Grinnell, that warm-hearted friend of humanity, offered his own vessel, the Advance, for a second philanthropic voyage in the Arctic. Mr. Peabody, in pursuance of a life-long policy to establish amity between the English and American people, offered to contribute $10,000 to the expedition. His offer was not at once accepted, because it was believed that Congress would make the needed appropriation. A year passed by without any action by Congress. Then Mr. Grinnell inquired if Mr. Peabody's offer still held good. In making the proposal

originally Mr. Peabody desired and expected that the American vessel would act in conjunction with an English expedition then fitting out for the same purpose. He felt that a co-operation so friendly in a cause so generous would add a new cord to the bond between the two countries.

As the British expedition had sailed long before Mr. Grinnell's inquiry it will be seen that Mr. Peabody's motive had lost much of its weight. However, he authorized the payment of the money which defrayed the expenses of the voyage, the results of which are known to the world. If it failed of its chief design, it enlarged the boundaries of human knowledge and added higher honors to the name of its skillful and brave commander, and gave one more bright page to the annals of heroic adventure and Christian benevolence. Thanks to the gallant and grateful Kane, the name of Peabody is inseparably linked with the honors of the expedition, for within the vast and curving outline of the Humboldt glacier and directly opposite the frozen wastes of Grinnell Land lies Peabody Bay.

GAVE LIBERALLY TO INSTITUTES.

It was in the year (1852) he made his offer to the Kane expedition that he made his first contribution to found the Peabody Institute in his native town. The occasion was the Centennial celebration of the severance of that town from Salem. Mr. Peabody was invited to be present. Instead of appearing in person he sent a letter with the following endorsement on the sealed envelope:

"The seal of this is not to be broken till the toasts are being proposed by the chairman, at the dinner, 16th of June, at Danvers, in commemoration of the one hundredth year since its severance from Salem. It contains a sentiment for the occasion from George Peabody, of London."

When the seal was broken at dinner the envelope was found to contain a donation of $20,000, to be used in founding a lyceum. This lyceum was afterwards dedicated as the Peabody Institute, and Mr. Peabody's total donations to this institution amounted to $250,000.

In 1857 he founded the Peabody Institute at Baltimore, to which his total contributions amounted to $1,500,000. On account of the Civil War, which paralyzed all the activities of the people engaged in peaceful pursuits, this institute was not dedicated until 1866. In that year Mr. Peabody gave $10,000 to establish libraries at Georgetown, D. C., and Thetford, Vermont. This latter donation was made out of gratitude to his uncle,