Hudson administered so much of that government of railway matters as was within his hands, which, compared to anything held by other individuals, we freely admit to have been something like absolute.. On that question, we have said as much as we intend, and repeat it simply to show the real relation which we have thus traced between this man and the movement of 1845. Those who would know more of Hudson's personal criminality or honesty, of his errors, inadvertent and willful, of the pervading animus of all his actions, or whether he had a spirit in one part of his career radically opposed to that of another, one good, the other evil, must undertake the investigation for themselves.

Eight years have now elapsed since the great revulsion occurred that unseated George Hudson from his throne, and broke up the empire he had founded. The public tongue, as in all such cases, gradually grew tired of its persecution; its victim began to be forgotten, and for some time he has remained in comparative insignificance. The effect of the evil which he did is gradually being obliterated; the good all remains, and its fruits are perpetually multiplying. These will direct men's favorable thoughts to the man. who was so instrumental in insuring such benefits. He will be judged leniently. It is even thought that the Dethroned may again, before long, emerge from his privacy, and resume a moderate control of the Railway World. But he will not revive the scenes of '45; the world submits easily enough to the repetition of any delusion, but it is not in the nature of things for the same man to lead it twice on the same career of either error or folly." It will be, therefore, only a very modified, a republican control only which he will regain, if any. He will, probably enough, if restored, achieve no further marked distinction. But if he adds nothing to his reputation, he will have at least opportunity to purify it. His reinstatement would be the best possible evidence of his real character; it would, though signalized by nothing of effort or achievement, establish his fame as a safe and upright as well as a strong man, on a foundation of iron. If he has been anything else, he will assuredly never be recalled to his old dominion; it is the fate of dangerous and bad men, whenever they fall from any controlling elevation, to remain in their debasement, forever incapable of rising.

Art. III-TRAITS OF TRADE-LAUDABLE AND INIQUITOUS.

CHAPTER V.

ABOUT CREDIT.

THE mercantile credit system undoubtedly had its rise in the poverty of many who were engaged in the profession, or in their inability to make payHowever ments for merchandise before it was sold and payment received. that may have been, this system has grown into a great convenience, to both capitalists and persons without capital. The capitalist is in want of the interest on his capital; with this he can sit quietly down and see his possessions increase. The energetic man without capital can well afford to pay the interest, for the chance to make sales of his goods before he pays them. In this manner, his profits will in due time swell him into the capi

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talist. There is no peculiarity in merchandising so liable to abuse, as this same system of giving credit. And the sagacity required in its management enters into the merchant's business qualifications, as one of the chief elements. It is not the purpose here to disapprove of the system on account of the evils incidental to it, for it is probable that the tendency of the evils is to extirpate themselves. Some of these will here be noticed briefly, with a few suggestions to such as suffer them.

The systematic plan of espionage adopted and perfected by the "Mercantile Agencies," is far from being generally popular, either with those who sell the information or those who buy it. Those who are interested in these agencies are very well aware that they cannot always rely upon the information received from their agents as free from prejudice, and as being open, manly, and fair. And any imagined necessity for such agencies arises entirely from the attempt to monopolize more trade than rightfully belongs to a concern. Ordinarily, a young man will make sufficient acquaintances in course of the time of serving a suitable apprenticeship, to rely upon in the commencement of a business. If he has the talent to conduct his business in a manner so as to make it an object for strangers to apply to him for a credit, they would doubtless give him such references as he could rely upon, and this is the only legitimate course to increase a trade. The history of the "Mercantile Agency" is briefly as follows:

Some ten years ago, more or less, a merchant in New York, after becoming bankrupt in trade, founded an institution which he called the "Mercantile Agency." A title seemingly selected for its sonorous tone and respectable appearance entirely, as it is in no respect expressive of the character of the institution. Mercantile Inquisition, as conducted, would have more truly expressed its character. The ostensible purpose of the agency was to pro. vide a place of reference, at which merchants and others could readily learn the true character and standing of all traders, manufacturers, &c., about the country, who, from convenience or want of capital, might be disposed to ask for credit on merchandise. This, at the outset, looks fair enough: and, under a mutual arrangement between debtor and creditor, might be rendered mutually beneficial to both parties. On the other hand, let the originator of the system, or any of his worthy accomplices, fill a page of one of their immense folios about a man's habits, his peculiarities, his possessions, all of which go in to make up a man's business character, and thus become the basis of credit-and these gathered piecemeal from an unreliable source, by an irresponsible agent, and the matter assumes an appearance of very serious importance. It becomes a matter of life or death to the subject of the inquisitorial process, and the whole proceeding bears upon its face the most diabolical jesuitism that has ever cursed the world. Offices of correspondence were at first opened in the principal cities; from the cities they even extended to the largest towns, thence to every village throughout the country. The lines of communication are now so perfected, that the movements of every trader within the bounds of the United States are chronicled with astonishing expedition. Fit tools for this kind of work are usually found in the briefless young lawyer, who, from the expectation of business from city clients, can write you up almost any sort of a character to suit an emergency. All the offices furnish letters of introduction gratis to the "most prompt and efficient attorneys in all parts of the country "-so the adverisements say; meaning thereby that these same briefless lawyers shall have as much business as their mischief can make. In case of an unjust grudge against an

enterprising young neighbor, who has open accounts in any of the large cities, how easy to spring a trap upon him that might involve irretrievable ruin, although he might be fully solvent. The local agent may be the disappointed rival of your first love, and has hugged his resentment of your success, that he may destroy you at this time. He may be a deacon of an antagonistic church, which leaves the virtue of charity entirely out of its catalogue of essential acquirements. He may be one with whom you may have been opposed in litigation, or one with whom, without blame on your part, you may be at open rupture. Your character, from such a source, is circulated by post and telegraph, east, west, north, south; while you are pursuing the equal tenor of your life, you have become notorious for something. A thousand folios include a page or more about you and your affairs, without your knowledge or your consent. Go where you may to purchase goods, a character has preceded you, either for your benefit or your destruction.

If any merchant or trader doubts this statement, let him contrive to get the report of himself from one of the offices. If he gets a full report, he will be satisfied.

Perhaps a man has toiled on in trade for many years, has denied himself and his family every luxury, that he might be enabled to add his scanty profits to his capital. Just at the time when he hopes to emerge from his cramped position, he finds, to his astonishment, that his creditors begin to look coldly upon him, when he asks for the usual small credit which has not heretofore been denied him. If so, let him be assured that an insidious enemy from his own town has been tampering with his credit. But in vain he may attempt to efface the suspicion thrown upon him. "The insignificant puppy," he exclaims; "his mother, the old washerwoman under the hill, owes me for the identical clothes she sent her bantling to college in, and for those she has never found it convenient to pay." Yes, perhaps you may have occasionally dunned him, and for this imagined insult you will meet your destruction at his hands.*

There is another view to be taken of the "Mercantile Agency," in wli:h it may be invaluable. When the biographies of our F. M. are to be written, it will furnish many interestingly important facts. Therein will be found the hopeful young merchant's small and uncertain beginnings, his laborious efforts, the number of times he failed, the per centage or no per centage he paid at each failure. One inan, perchance, has in years gone by, carried home your mutton chop, sold you a cabbage, or blacked your boots. One's personal habits, too, can be discovered; whether he was happy in his family, whether his family was a large or a small one, and whether he supported a mistress in addition to his family expenses. All these interesting matters, being the elements of credit, are recorded with particularity that must be exceedingly entertaining to the public after the subject of them becomes a millionaire.

The custom of requiring minute statements from purchasers of goods for the purpose of criminating them in case of misfortune, is one not approved by liberal and noble minded merchants, yet it is frequently practiced. As a general thing, the book wherein such statements are written, is not produced openly, and the new customer frankly told that in it he must be enrolled, and from the record there be measured and managed according to his means. It is kept in some out-of-the-way corner, within the reach of a particular

A true case.

clerk, who often writes therein, and is ever ready to swear to what is written. The salesman or partner who does the agreeable for the concern, smoothly ingratiates himself into the confidence of the young merchant, when he makes his first purchase. In an easy, off-hand, flattering manner, he will contrive to draw out of him most of the particulars of his life, prospects, and hopes. These may be given with all the colorings of the hopeful, ingenuous, energetic ardor of youth. The man behind the screen, with the reference book, makes no allowance. Expectations are recorded as realities, imaginations as facts. The book is closed, and thrust back into its hole for future use. The young merchant, nothing suspicious that such apparent gentlemen can d› otherwise than honorably and kindly by him, perhaps begins to respect them as patrons at any rate, he has submitted to their heartless attentions with resignation, if not for the love of them. A larger quantity of goods is forced upon him than he has a market for; he is charged larger prices than his market will bear; he gets many styles of goods not suited to his market; he makes some bad debts: these are all causes of failure, and he fails. Now the tone of his patrons is changed. No profanity is sufficiently sacriligious to furnish epithets to heap upon him; no insult is too gross to cast at him: no fate here or hereafter is bad enough for such a "swindling scoundrel!” Nothing is said about looking to the man's account, to see how much more he has paid in profits than he now owes. But the questions are asked"Can he be intimidated?" "Can he be criminated?" Under these circumstances, a complaint may be entered against him for fraud, or some one other of the technicalities applied often to honest men who are unfortunate in business. In consequence of such proceedings, a failed merchant has to submit to an ordeal more terrible to the sensitive mind than death. His business is gone, his small capital is gone, his reputation is gone, his courage is gɔne. His wife and children, dearer to him than his own soul, are slighted and insulted. It is not possible to pile more torture upon humanity than he is made to bear. This is no fiction; there are thousands who will admit it as fact, and within their own experience. Yet we often hear the expression-"Kindness to unfortunate debtors!" Yes, kindness there may be toward men who have managed in such a manner as to save a fortune by failure; kindness toward knaves whose knavery is too deep for your capacity; kindness, in some cases, toward connections; but kindness, or the least consideration from any benevolent motive, toward unfortunate debtors, who may have been so imprudent as to have made any favorable statements of their affairs, is perfectly apocryphal. It is in the exception, not the rule.

If the reader has ever had the privilege of the inner sanctum of a large dry goods jobbing house in Boston or New York, he will recognize the following colloquy as no uncommon occurrence. Let it be understood as taking place between a merchant and his confidential clerk :

Merchant. "Mr. Jones, how about our customers Holfast & Driver--do they pay us promptly?"

Jones. "A little behind, Sir. Extended their last note."

Merchant. "How much do they owe, Mr. Jones, and when due?" Jones. "Two thousand dollars, sir, and all coming due within sixty days."

Merchant. "They have sometimes asked for an introduction to other houses when it was not convenient. Advise them now, Mr. Jones, to extend their acquaintance, and give them leave to refer to us. Say to inquirers, that we have had the utmost confidence in them, and have always sold

them all we could. I think, Mr. Jones, they may last until we get our pay."

Such are some of the unpleasant occurrences that arise out of the credit system. But, as a general thing, they cure themselves. The unjust merchant may acquire great wealth, but with it he justly gets the curses of the community. The best advice that can be given to young merchants who take credit on their purchases, is that they should avoid all dealing with men who make use of any unjust means to obtain their custom. If they will not take this advice, they will probably become wiser by their own experience.

The true theory of a safe credit is, that it must always be based upon property in existence. A man has no inoral right to eat, drink, or wear that which he has not the immediate means to pay for. Let the retailer get his pay upon the delivery of his goods, and make his payments promptly, and the system would work admirably back, through all parties, to the producer. Let him be in default, and the consequence devolves in trouble and ruin back to every party through which the property passes. If this reasoning is correct, the philosophy of credit would require that it should invariably cease as soon as the property for which it was given is put to use.

CHAPTER VI.

SPECULATIONS.

Making money by speculation, without regard to the established laws of trade, is a matter that can be compared to nothing so well, as to the dealing in lottery tickets, or some other species of gambling where no sagacity is required. There may be one chance in one thousand, or one in ten thousand for success, but the odds stand too fearfully against one to encourage the practice. The qualification here made will be easily perceived. There are apparent speculations which are based upon the closest calculations of demand and supply. Let a merchant ascertain just how much of any given article there is in the market, and also just how large the demand will be, and he may safely purchase the whole with a certainty of realizing a profit. If one of the earliest adventurers to California could have foreseen the immense population of San Francisco, and thereupon purchased the whole tract of land upon which the city now stands, his profits in the operation would have been beyond calculation. Such as these must be considered truly legitimate operations. But the folly of rushing blindly into risks which may be managed by skillful importers, is too absurd for any thing more than a passing allusion. Such was the tulip mania in Holland. While this raged men were known to give their whole possessions, amounting to thousands of florins, for a single favorite bulb. The Mississippi scheme was another, in which a reckless gambler succeeded in fascinating a whole nation. The South Sea bubble is not forgotten. The hundreds of companies incorporated for all sorts of imaginable purposes have all been described in full, but the ruin and misery caused by the final explosions have been territic beyond description. Yet men will seldom learn wisdom only from their own personal experience. The same reckless scenes are enacted every year. The land speculations in the State of Maine nearly beggared the State. Men left their warehouses, counting-rooms, and