5,500 Samuel Morris.. the armies of the United States; and do hereby severally promise and engage to execute to the directors of the said bank, bonds of the form hereunto annexed. Witness our hands, this 17th day of June, in the year of our Lord 1780.* Robert Morris....£10,000 | Joseph Carson .... Jas. Wilson..... Kean & Nichols .... £4,000 4,000 William Hall...... £2,000 2,000 4,000 Benjamin Fuller... 2,000 3,000 Meade & Fitzsim Samuel Meredith.. 5,000 Samuel Milds... ... 3,000 Fr. C. Hassenclever. 2,000 Cad Morris.. John Schaffer.. 2,000 Samuel Morris, Jr.. 5,000 Hugh Shield.. John Wilcocks.. 2,000 Philip Moore Matthew Irwin.. 5,000 Abraham Bickley.. 2,000 Smaller sums were subscribed by others, until nearly £300,000, Pennsylvania currency, payable in gold and silver, were obtained, with which bonds, every one of which was honored, the bank called the Pennsylvania Bond Bank, went into operation, on the 17th of July, 1780, and continued until, by the establishment of the Bank of North America, in 1782, the business of the first bank was transferred to the latter. It was the money thus obtained which enabled Washington to keep the field, meet Cornwallis, and, by the capture of the British army at Yorktown, in 1781, terminate the war of the revolution. One of the five soldiers detailed on the night of January 2d, 1777, to the service of keeping alive the fires of the American encampment at Trenton, to deceive the British, whilst Washington, taking the Quaker Road to Princeton, turned the left flank of the enemy, and, suddenly attacking their rear in Princeton, gained an important victory, was John Mease, a Philadelphia merchant, known to some now before me as last of the cocked hats." "the One of the most influential members of Congress, in laying-in conjunction with Morris, Hamilton, and Goodhue, of Massachusetts, himself a merchant-the foundation of a national system of finance and commerce, was a Philadelphia merchant, Thomas Fitzsimmons. • Hazard's Register of Penn., vol. ii., p. 250. + A Brief Account of the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Philadelphia, 1844, p. 29. One of the most efficient officers of the Coninental army, who bore with his regiment the horrors of a winter campaign at Valley Forge, and who had the honor of first publicly reading the Declaration of Independence to the people from the central window of the State House, fronting Independence Square, was Col. John Nixon, a Philadelphia merchant. Merchants have been the most liberal promoters of education, and many are the colleges, and academies, and public libraries in our land which owe their existence or perpetuity to the benefactions of some Philips, or Brown, or Bartlett, or Lawrence, or Appleton, or Astor, or Chandler, or Girard, or Dwight. And, while merchants have equiped several of our largest observatories with telescopes, transits, and equatorials, wherewith to search the heavens and bring to light some new star or unknown planet, a merchant also, moved by the blended feelings of sympathy, benevolence, and patriotism, furnished ships to explore the Polar Seas, to seek out the longlost wanderer, and return, if possible, to the arms of love and to the heart of waiting England, its Arctic navigator, Sir John Franklin. Merchants are the most ardent supporters of Christian missions, and to them, under God, is that cause indebted for its present amplitude and success. May we not say, as we record such deeds, that our merchants, like those of Tyre," are princes, and our traffickers the honorable of the earth?” Princes-not by birth of royal blood, not by patent of earthly nobilitybut princes in the nobleness of their minds, in the royalty of their plans, and in the princeliness of their deeds. Such, then, are merchants as an historical and potential class. They have ever been the first civilizers of the world, by diffusing knowledge, by inspiring industry, by planting commercial colonies, by develop ing national wealth, by breaking down territorial prejudices, by establishing manufactures, by promoting the useful and ornamental arts, by undermining the feudalism of medieval Europe, by fostering liberty, and by having given the splendor of wealth, the renown of discovery, and the glory of law, liberty, and learning to the proudest nations of ancient times and the greatest nations of modern days. Beautifully has Gibbon remarked: "Among the wandering tribes of Arabia the seeds of knowledge and refinement go where the caravans go; and the merchant is the friend of mankind." And now, turn we from merchants in their historic and potential aspect, to contemplate the second line of thought suggested by your name, and to show that in other ways than those just mentioned, "the merchant is the friend of mankind." II. THE FUND-WHY NEEDED, AND TO WHOM BESTOWED? Before, however, I answer these questions, permit me to give a brief sketch of the history of mercantile benevolence, and especially to inquire into the origin and nature of those institutions which have a purpose somewhat sim lar to your own. Associations of merchants and tradesmen, for mutual benefit and protection, can be traced to a very early period. We find the germs of them in the "collegia" and "corpora opificium" of Numa, which Plutarch de ares to be the most admired of all his institutions, and by which he distributed the citizens into companies, according to their art or trades, giving to each its locality, its house, its laws, and religious ceremonies.* In the time of Augustus, the different tradesmen were established in specific sections of the city. The bankers, brokers, and higher merchants, clustered around the Forum. In the Tuscan Street and the Velabrum, were the confectioners, perfumers, druggists, oil merchants, &c. The booksellers and mercers were found in the Argelitum; while even as now, the wine-shops and taverns nestled close to the fostering care and fostering vice of the circus and the theater.t In Attica and other parts of Greece, we discover associations of men under the title of "Phiditia" at Sparta, and "Erani" at Athens. The Phiditia, (put for philitia, friendship,) was the name given to the mess, consisting of about fifteen persons, who partook together at one table in the public repasts established at Sparta by Lycurgus, the members of which were balloted for, and were obliged to contribute their quota to the expenses of the mess. The "Erani" was the generic title for certain benefit clubs at Athens, the object of which were good-fellowship, feasting, and providing funds for sacrifice. A number of persons, seeking a more luxurious table and more genial companions than could be found at home, entered into a subscription to get up a dinner during the celebration of the great national festivals. If the association proved to be of congenial minds, it was kept up, and became a strong bond of mutual aid and affection. "It sometimes happened, that of the funds subscribed some portion would, after their objects had been fulfilled, remain; and if, when this was the case, any member of the club fell into distress, it was perfectly natural to think of applying this surplus to his benefit. From this, the step was easy to subscribing expressly for the purpose of relieving indigent members, which, at length, was a common practice." Those clubs which partook of a religious character as well as convivial, were called "Thiasi." In all these clubs, however, the money-chest "was the soul of everything, for this being removed, the whole society fell to pieces;" and it can be conclusively shown that no permanent charitable association existed in any of the Grecian States. The poor were left to the occasional charities of the rich, the remnants of public feasts, the brown bread placed in the propylæa of the temples, the corn sometimes distributed from the Odeion, and the shelter of the Leschæ, or buildings without doors, "to intimate that all were welcome; and in them, accordingly, beggars and wanderers of every description congregated round great fires in winter and bad weather, both to sleep and converse." Among the Jews, even as far back as the time of Nehemiah, nearly 500 years before Christ, we discover the fact that merchants were banded together in one fraternity, and that, too, for a very honorable purpose; for it is said in the record of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, after the captivity • Plutarch's Life of Numa. + Du Probleme de la Misere, Paris, 1851, i., 60. The History of the Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, by J. A. St. John. Lond., 1842, fil, 84; Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus. Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, by J. A. St. John, iii., 75, et seq. | Ibid., iii., 29. in Babylon, "from the gate Miphkad unto the Sheepgate, was repaired by the goldsmiths and the merchants." We find, however, in none of these clubs or fraternities anything like permanent provision for the aged, the indigent, and the infirm. During the first three centuries, says Moreau-Christophe,* charity had no other treasuries than the alms of the faithful; no other ministers than the bishops and deacons; no other centers of distribution than the Diaconate; no other asylum for the indigent than the residence of the poor man himself. Then the rich man, poor in spirit, was the visitor of the poor; the rich and the poor were members of one body; and Julian, the apostate, blushed for his pagans, to see the Christians without beggars. But while the Church, in the time of Constantine, seemed culminating in meridian splendor, it was even then beginning to enter the penumbra of that almost total darkness of learning and religion, which, like an eclipse at noonday, settled down upon Europe, and for many centuries Disastrous twilight shed On half the nations." As the darkness wore off, we discover, in the dimness of Anglo-Saxon times, the origin of institutions which were destined to act a conspicuous part in the history of mercantile benevolence and mercantile power. These where termed "Gilda-Mercatorum," or Guilds of Merchants. The name guild being derived from the Saxon word gildan, "to pay," because each member paid a certain tax on becoming a member of the corporation. The earliest merchant-guild of which we have any good account as existing in England, was the Gilda-Teutonicorum, or as they were sometimes styled, "The Steel-yard merchants of London ;" who were known to have been settled there by the middle of the tenth century, and are justly denominated by Pennant, "our masters in the art of commerce." So powerful was this guild, which Anderson calls "a most eminent mercantile confederacy, which is not to be paralleled in either ancient or modern story," that, with some slight exceptions, nearly all the commerce of England was in the hands of the Steel-yard merchants, or "Easterling-Gild," as Stowe calls it, for nearly four hundred years. In the reign of Edward III., these guilds, which then were numerous, were reconstructed, their names changed, their internal economy altered, and their rights defined by royal charter. Thenceforth they were known as "The Livery companies of London," from the distinct dress and livery, or party-colored gowns and hoods, which each assumed. Their design was originally mutual protection in their respective craft or mystery. Exclusive privileges were granted to them by royal charter, that they might become adepts in their several occupations, repress illicit trade, and guard against incompetent workmen, fraudulent traffic, an adulterated merchandise. To each was given entire surveillance of its craft, so that none could exercise the functions of a mercer, draper, grocer, &c., except by license and franchise of these several companies, thus establishing great monoplies, and sometimes, indeed, very oppressive ones, as the right of search and seizure pertained to several guilds, while the right • Du Probleme de la Misere, ii., 236. The History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London, by Wm. Herbert, 2 vols. Lond., 1837. of regulating weights and measures, and the standard value of the precious metals, was intrusted to others. With these secular aims were also blended religious designs. All the great companies took their rise before the Reformation, and hence we find in them many observances peculiar to the times. Each had its patron saint, to whom altars were built in the churches of which they held the advowson; the saint being generally chosen from some relation, real or supposed, to the craft or mystery of the company, as the fishmongers chose St. Peter, and met in St. Peter's Church; the drapers, the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Holy Lamb, or fleece," as the emblem of that trade, and assembled for their ecclesiastical services in St. Mary Bethlem Church; the merchant tailors selected as the patron saint, St. John the Baptist, as the messenger or prophet who announced the advent of the " Holy Lamb;" and the goldsmiths' patron was St. Dunstan, reputed to have been a fellow-craftsman. Their liveries resembled many of the robes of the monastic orders, and the mottoes on their coats of arms also indicated their religious character. The motto of the skinners was, "to God be all the glory" that of the grocers, "God grant grace;" the clothworkers was, My trust is in God alone;" the ironmongers, "God is our strength," and the drapers, "Unto God be honor and glory." They had formerly processions in livery to their several churches, where they heard mass, and sung requiems for the souls of the dead in their fraternity, and many kept priests for the special service of oraison, feriall, and mass, at what were called "obits," or anniversaries of the death of benefactors, when mass was sung for the repose of their souls. Though these guilds increased until over ninety were founded in London alone, the carmen, and pavers, and soap-makers being incorporated as well as others, yet the lucrative nature of the occupations of some, soon gave them social and pecuniary ascendency, and in the beginning of the 15th century a separation of the wealthier from the more indigent companies took place. Henceforth the most substantial bodies, the principal crafts, or as they were termed, "the most worshipful fellowships," to the number of twelve, were styled "the great livery companies," viz., mercers, grocers, drapers, fishmongers, goldsmiths, skinners, merchant tailors, haberdashers, salters, ironmongers, vintners, and clothworkers. These had many privileges and honors: such as the right of making freemen of the city, choosing the Lord Mayor, Chamberlain, and other high civil functionaries, and electing members of Parliament for the city: so that from the time of Henry Fitz Alwin, in 1190, down to Sir Robert Wilmot, in 1742, a period of over 550 years, not an instance can be found wherein the Lord Mayor did not belong to some one of these "worshipful companies." Indeed, until near the middle of the last century these guilds held munincipal government of London. And here I would remark, that the changes in the language and in the trade of England since these companies were chartered three centuries ago, makes it necessary to say, that the names of some of them do not give a correct idea of the original occupation of those who formed the guild Thus the mercers were not dealers in small wares, as the name now indicates, but silk merchants; the grocers were not as now, those who sell what is commonly called West India goods at retail, but, says Ravenhill," was a term at first distinguishing merchants of this society, in opposition to inferior traders, for that they usually sold in gross quantities |