M EM OIR
OF THE
HON. NATHAN APPLETON, LL.D.T












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MEMOIR
OF THE
HON. NATHAN APPLETON, LL.D.
PREPARED AGREEABLY TO A RESOLUTION
OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
BY ROBERT C. WINTHROP.
mlitt an  ntYrobuction Uanb gppetbnx.
BOSTON:
PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON,
22, SCHOOL STREET.
1861.




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by
THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.




CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society....   1
MEMOIR OF Hon. NATHAN APPLETON,
By Hon. Robert C. Winthrop.                            5
AP PEND I X.
Meeting in the Merchants' Exchange.                        65
Remarks of John A. Lowell, Esq.                        65
Remarks of J. T. Stevenson, Esq.                       66
Remarks of Hon. Edward Everett.68
Resolutions adopted at a Meeting of the Directors of the
Massachusetts Hospital Life-Insurance Company... 73
Resolutions adopted at a Meeting of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company.                                      74
Proceedings at a Meeting of the Directors of the Boston Bank. 75
Proceedings at a Meeting of the Proprietors of Stark Mills, with
the Remarks of William Amory, Esq.                     75
Remarks of Ex-Governor Lincoln at the Annual Meeting of the
American Antiquarian Society.                          77
Resolutions adopted at the same Meeting.                   78
------------ --— r —- - ---- ------ -~ —— CD








MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
AT the stated monthly meeting of this Society, held at
their rooms on Thursday, 8th August, 1861, the President (Hon. Robert C. Winthrop) announced the death
of the Hon. NATHAN APPLETON, a Resident Member of
the Society, as follows:We have been called on so often of late, gentlemen,
to notice the departure of those whose names have
adorned our Honorary or our Resident rolls, that the
language of eulogy may seem to have been almost exhausted. Yet I am sure you would not excuse me, nor
could I excuse myself, were I to fail to make some brief
allusion this morning to a valued and venerable associate, who died only a day or two after our last monthly
meeting.
Lowell, the revered pastor; Shaw, the illustrious
jurist; White, the accomplished counsellor and scholar;
Bowditch, the faithful conveyancer and genial humorist,
whose diligence has illustrated so many title-deeds, and
1




2         MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
whose wit has illuminated so many title-names; -all
these and more have received, in sad succession, our
farewell tributes within a few months past. The wise,
upright and eminent merchant presents no inferior
claim to our respectful remembrance, nor will his name
be associated with less distinguished or less valuable
services to the community.
Not many men, indeed, have exercised a more important influence among us, during the last half-century,
than the late Hon. NATHAN APPLETON. Not many men
have done more than he has done, in promoting the
interests, and sustaining the institutions, to which New
England has owed so much of its prosperity and welfare. No man has done more, by example and by precept, to elevate the standard of mercantile character,
and to exhibit the pursuits of commerce in proud
association with the highest integrity, liberality, and
ability.
The merchants of Boston have already recognized his
peculiar claims to their respect, and have paid him a
tribute not more honorable to him than to themselves.
But he was more than a merchant. As a clear and
vigorous writer on financial and commercial questions;
as a successful expounder of some of the mysteries of
political economy; as a wise and prudent counsellor in
the public affairs of the country, as well as in the practical concerns of private life; as a liberal friend to the
institutions of religion, education, and charity; as a
public-spirited, Christian citizen, of inflexible integrity




INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.             3
and independence, - he has earned a reputation quite
apart from the enterprise and success of his commercial
career.
Few of those whose names, for thirty years past, have
been inscribed with his own on the rolls of our Society,
have taken a more active and intelligent interest in our
pursuits. Few have been more regular in their attendance at our meetings, or more liberal in their contributions to our means.
Tracing back his descent to an early emigrant from
the county of Suffolk in England, where his family had
been settled for more than two centuries before, he was
strongly attracted towards our Colonial history, and
was eager to co-operate in whatever could worthily
illustrate the Pilgrim or the Puritan character. He was
a living illustration of some of the best elements of
both.
This is not the occasion for entering into the details
of his life and services; but, should the Society concur
with the Standing Committee in the resolutions which
they have instructed me to submit, there may be an
opportunity of pursuing the subject more deliberately
hereafter. Let me only add, before offering them, that,
on many accounts, I should have been disposed to
shrink from the responsibility which they impose on
me, had not our lamented friend so far honored me
with his confidence as to express the wish, that I would
undertake any little memoir of him which might be
customary in our collections, - accompanying the ex



4           MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
pression with some sketches of his life, which will form
the largest and best part of whatever I may be able to
prepare.
Mr. Winthrop then offered the following resolutions  -
Resolved, That, in the death of the Hon. NATHAN APPLETON, our
Society has lost a valued member, a liberal friend, and one whose
enterprise and integrity as a merchant, whose ability and accomplishments as a writer, and whose distinguished services as a public
man, have rendered his name an ornament to our rolls.
Resolved, That the President be requested to prepare the customary memoir for our next volume of Proceedings.
The Rev. Dr. BLAGDEN paid an eloquent tribute to
the memory of Mr. Appleton in seconding the resolutions, which were then unanimously adopted.




MEMOIR
OF
HION. NATHAN APPLETON.
AT early dusk on some October or November evening, in the year 1794, a fresh, vigorous, bright-eyed lad,
just turned of fifteen, might have been seen alighting
from a stage-coach near Quaker Lane,* as it was then
called, in the old town of Boston. He had been two
days on the road from his home in the town of New Ipswich, in the State of New Hampshire. On the last of
the two days, the stage-coach had brought him all the
way from Groton in Massachusetts; starting for that purpose early in the morning, stopping at Concord for the
passengers to dine, trundling them through Charlestown
about the time the evening lamps were lighted, and
finishing the whole distance of rather more than thirty
miles in season for supper. For his first day's journey,
there had been no such eligible and expeditious conveyance. The Boston stage-coach, in those days, went
no farther than Groton in that direction. His father's
farm-horse, or perhaps that of one of the neighbors,
* Now Congress Street.




6         MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
had served his turn for the first six or seven miles;
his little brother of ten years old having followed him
as far as Townsend, to ride the horse home again. But
from there he had trudged along to Groton on foot,
with a bundle-handkerchief in his hand, which contained all the wearing apparel he had, except what was
on his back. He was now, on the second evening, at
his journey's end. He had reached the destined scene
of his labors and of his life; and it may be hoped, that
when he laid himself down to rest that night, alone and
in a strange place, some bright visions of success in the
future may have mingled with his dreams of home, and
honored parents, and affectionate brothers and sisters,
whom he had left behind him, and may have softened
the sadness of that first parting.
At early dawn on the morning of Sunday, the 14th
of July, 1861, there died, at his beautiful residence in
Beacon Street, - adorned, within, by many choice works
of luxury and art, and commanding, without, the lovely
scenery of the Mall, the Common, and the rural environs of Boston, - a venerable person of more than
fourscore years; a merchant of large enterprise and
unsullied integrity; a member of many learned societies; a writer of many able essays on commerce and
currency; a wise and prudent counsellor in all private
and public affairs; who had served with marked distinction in the legislative halls both of the State and of
the Nation, and who had enjoyed through life the esteem,
respect, and confidence of the community in which he
lived. His funeral, three days afterwards, was attended
by a large concourse of his fellow-citizens, and by




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.         7
representative men of all professions and classes. A
few hours before the funeral, a public meeting was held
at the Exchange, on occasion of his death, at which
tributes were paid to his memory by several of our most
distinguished merchants and citizens, who all spoke of
him as " fit for an example," -as a man whom the
young merchants of Boston might well take as their
model, and strive to copy. And on the succeeding Sunday, in the pulpit of the church with which he had
been long associated, an eloquent occasional discourse
concluded with the following words:'" A Christian
merchant, whose faith is at once his safeguard and his
impulse, whose conscience is shown in what he says, and
whose heart shines through his deeds, falls behind no
example that may claim the praise, or provoke the
imitation, of men. When such an one passes on to
the eternal world, let those who have beheld his excellence profit by its instruction, and repeat its history." *
As we contemplate in immediate connection, and in
immediate contrast, the two scenes which have thus
been sketched, we naturally desire to know all that is to
be known of the interval between such an opening, and
such a close, of one and the same career; and to understand, so far as it may be fathomed, the secret of so
signal a success. No details would seem to be too minute or trifling, which might help to illustrate such an
example, or to bring it more nearly within the reach of
imitation by those to whom it has been so justly com* "Religion conducive to Prosperity in this Life;" a sermon preached July 21,
1861,- the Sunday after the funeral of the late Hon. Nathan Appleton, of Boston, - by
Ezra S. Gannett, D.D. Boston: 1861. J. H. Eastburn's press.




8         MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
mended. Fortunately, abundant materials are not wanting for this purpose, from the most authentic source;
while the simplicity and unity of the career which they
disclose, will allow the portrait to be finished without
greatly exceeding the compass of our ordinary memoirs.
NATHAN APPLETON was born in New Ipswich, N.Ht.,
on the sixth day of October, 1779; and although his
first journey to Boston, in 1794, would seem to indicate
that he was a lad of very humble fortunes, he was by
no means without advantages of family and education.
Few families, indeed, in New England, and not a great
many in Old England, can be traced farther back than his
own, through a respectable ancestry, and by an unquestioned pedigree. Among the Harleian Manuscripts in
the British Museum is found a genealogy reaching back
to John Appulton of Great Waldingfield, in the county
of Suffolk, who was living there in 1396, and whose
funeral monument in the parish church of that village,
in 1416, was duly decorated (according to Weever) with
"three apples yules, leaves and stalks vert."  Among
the descendants of this John Appulton, some of whom
were settled in Great and some in Little Waldingfield,
- some of whom were connected with knightly families,
and at least one of whom bore the title of Sir, himself, -
Samuel Appleton, the first emigrant to New England (in
1635), was of the seventh generation.
Following down the history of the family on American soil through five generations,* - all of them illus* See Memorial of Samuel Appleton, of Ipswich, Mass., with Genealogical Notices,
&c., by Isaac Appleton Jewett. Boston: 1850.




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.       9
trated by names associated with valuable services in
Church or State, in peace or war, in some honorable
profession or in some no less honorable department of
useful industry, - during the larger part of the time at
Ipswich, in Massachusetts, where the first emigrant
settled, and more recently at New Ipswich, in NlTew
Hampshire, — we come to the subject of our memoir.
He was the seventh son of Isaac Appleton, whose
habitual title of Deacon was doubtless a just recognition
of the gravity of his character, and of the interest which
he took in the religious institutions of the community in
which he lived. The father of twelve children, ten of
whom lived to maturity, Isaac may not have had the
wealth, even if he had the will, to send all his boys to
college. It may perhaps have damped his disposition
for making scholars of the others, that his second son
(Joseph) died so soon after taking his Bachelor's degree
at Hanover. But the early education of his children
was not neglected, either by him or by themselves. The
school life and academy life of Nathan, certainly, seem
to have been deeply impressed on his own memory. He
was evidently an ambitious and a successful scholar.
He pursued his studies until he was fitted to enter college; and, after a formal examination, he was regularly
admitted to the freshman-class at Dartmouth College.
The following passage from the " Sketches of Autobiography," which he committed to the writer of these
pages, with his own hand, not long before his death,
and which were drawn up about six years since, gives a
vivid picture of his early days; and though it leaves
the question unsettled, whether his stopping short at the
2




10          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
very threshold of college life was owing to his father's
preferences or his own, it shows conclusively that it was
not from being turned by at the examination. Nathan
was rnot of a complexion to be turned by from any thing
which he undertook, either as boy or man; and Dartmouth lost a good scholar and a distinguished alumnus,
when he declined the matriculation which she tendered
to him, and to which his examination had fully entitled
him.
" I was born at New Ipswich, according to the record, on the
sixth day of October, 1779. The only tradition which I ever
heard of my infancy is, that I was so near being carried off by
a lung-fever, that preparations were making for laying me out.
The earliest thing of which I have any recollection is the falling of the sash of a window, when I was in somebody's arms,
upon the forefinger of my left hand, by which it was cruelly
crushed, and the marks of which remain all my life. I have
some recollection of going to school to the Widow Tillick, who
taught me the letters by pointing them out with a fescue. I
afterward attended the town-school, kept by a Mr. Hedge. I well
recollect the trepidation with which I was seized, the first day
of my attendance, at seeing a big boy, my cousin, called up, and
receive a severe flogging.  My first appearance in public was at
this school at a very early age, when I recited'Aurora, now
fair daughter of the dawn,' to the great admiration of several
old women, who particularly praised me in the lines,-'I fix the chain to great Olympus' height,
And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight.'
I recollect that this was the first occasion of my appearing in
jacket and trousers, and that they consisted of red calamanco.
Mr. Hedge was unpopular with the older scholars: and, on occasion of some difficulty about the schoolhouse chimney, some of
the bigger boys, being sent up into the garret to see what was
the matter, took advantage of the opportunity to break down the




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           11
chimney altogether; and thus was an end put to the school for
the year. A new schoolhouse was built, about half way up the
steep hill; which was then the only avenue through the middle
of the town. At this I attended school several years during the
winter, or as long as the town-school was kept. The only competition of the scholars was in spelling..... Rebecca Barrett
(afterwards wife of Hon. Samuel Dana) and myself were generally at the head of the class; and there was more difficulty in
making either of us chanoge places, when at the head, than in running through all the rest of the class. My last master here was
Mr. Dakin: and when I had got through the cube-root, and
came to algebra, he frankly told me that he could go no farther
with me; that I then knew as much as he did.
"About the year 179o2, the Academy was established at New
Ipswich.  Mr. Hubbard was the preceptor, - a most worthy,
excellent man. Under his tuition I was prepared for entering
college. He gave exhibitions in very superior style. At one
of them, I performed the part of Belcour in the'West Indian;' at another, that of Marplot in the'Busy-body.'  In
August, 1794, I made the journey to Hanover on horseback,
in company with Charles Barrett and. Bemis; where I was
examined, and admitted to the freshman-class in Dartmouth College. It had, however, been decided, previously, that I should
proceed no further in collegiate studies than the entry.  My
brother Samuel was in trade in New Ipswich, and had decided
on trying his luck in Boston; and he proposed I should accompany him. Whether this proposal was thought more eligible
than going to college by my father or myself, I cannot now say;
but the result was, that it was determined that I should become
a merchant, rather than a scholar."
In immediate sequence to the passage which has thus
been quoted, is found the description of that first humble
advent to Boston, which has already been sketched, but
which is altogether too characteristic to be omitted in
its proper connection and in his own words. It forms




12         MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
the preamble, too, of a brief account of the small beginnings of that mercantile career to which his energies
were henceforth to be devoted, and which he was destined to pursue so successfully for himself, and with so
much honor and advantage to the community in which
he lived and died.  His study of " book-keeping by
double entry," and the emphatic testimony which he
bears to its importance; his going to board with Mr.
Sales for the benefit of speaking French; and his casual
encounter of the late Mr. Justice Story in a small-pox
hospital, where they first formed an acquaintance as
fellow-patients, which ripened, in other years, into relations of the most cordial friendship and the highest
mutual respect, — will not be unobserved by the reader.
Mr. Appleton does not dilate on this latter incident;
simply referring to certain " long discussions" which he
heard there, and expressing himself "highly gratified."
No doubt, the gratification was mutual.  The one was
always an excellent listener: the other was always an
exuberant talker.  If any thing could have relieved
the tedium of that loathsome confinement, it must have
been the ardent, hopeful, enthusiastic discourse of the
youthful Story. How little could either of them have
dreamed of the eminence they were to attain in afterlife! Could they have inoculated each other at that
moment with a little of their respective peculiarities, it
would have been a gain, perhaps, to the social aptitudes
of both.
" It was in October or November, 1794, that I took my departure for Boston. At that time, a stage ran from Boston to
Groton. I was allowed a horse as far as Townsend, with my
brother Eben to take him back. From there I footed it, with a




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           13
pocket-handkerchief in my hand, which contained all my wearing apparel beside what was on my back. I arrived at Groton
early in the afternoon; and, the next morning, took the stage for
Boston. We dined at Concord; and I recollect, that, on passing
Charlestown Bridge, the evening lamps were lighted. My brother commenced business in a small shop in Cornhill; to obtain
which, he was obliged to purchase out the occupant, Mr. William
P. White. His business consisted mostly in purchasing goods
at auction, and selling them to country traders, for cash or short
credit, for a small profit. He soon removed to a larger room, -
No. 50, Cornhill.  My first boarding-place was with a very old
couple, - Mr. and Mrs. Ridgway, near Quaker Lane. I here
became acquainted with Eliphalet Hale, whom I had known at
New Ipswich Academy. He was from Jaffrey. He was in the
service of John Cushing. From him I learned the first principles of book-keeping by double entry. With the assistance of
Mair's Treatise, which I purchased, I soon opened a set of books
for my brother; and, from that time, have never kept books in
any other manner. I have always attributed a great portion of
the failures which take place to a want of attention, or a want
of knowledge, in the proper principles of book-keeping. In the
year 1798, the yellow-fever prevailed in Boston. I was permitted to avail myself of the occasion to be inoculated for the smallpox at Dr. Aspinwall's hospital, at Brookline. Amongst the
patients was Joseph Story, with whose acquaintance I was highly
gratified. He was then a student at college. His long discussions with Dr. Aspinwall I well recollect. In 1799, my brother
made his first voyage to Europe; leaving me in charge of his
business, a part of which was to receive and dispose of his shipments of goods. After his return, we removed to a warehouse
in State Street. I became of age in October, 1800. My brother proposed that I should become a partner with him, on
terms which I considered liberal, and which I accepted. I had,
at an early period, taken lessons in French. I afterward went to
Mr. Sales', in Federal Court, as a boarder, in company with
Henry Higginson, for the benefit of speaking French, which I
continued a year or two."




14        MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
Mr. Appleton had now entered on his majority; and
opportunities were immediately at hand for enlarging
his observation and experience, and for developing that
spirit of sturdy self-reliance which was so leading an
element of his character. He was sent out to England
to purchase goods while Europe was in a state of war.
The news of peace reached him on landing, and changed,
of course, the whole condition and current of trade.
He postpones his purchases, and travels on the Continent. Passing through the various cities of the Low
Countries, he examines; "with attention and interest the
ruins of Valenciennes," whose long siege and bombardment, it seems, he had studied at the time they occurred,
while he was a mere schoolboy. At Paris, he sees the
treasures of art which Napoleon had accumulated as
the spoils of his marvellous conquests in Italy; and,
better still, he sees the great First Consul himself, at a
grand military review, and at the exact period when his
imperial ambition was just beginning to be distinctly
foreshadowed.
He returns to America, and resumes his mercantile
career; is happily married, and soon crosses the ocean
again, for the health of his wife; meets the late Mr.
Francis C. Lowell in Edinburgh, at the moment when
he was first conceiving the policy to which the cotton
manufacture of New England owes its origin, and holds
an earnest and encouraging consultation with him in
regard to it.  Returning home again, he makes two
visits to Washington in close succession, —the one a
casual visit of curiosity, the other as a delegate from the
merchants of Boston, - but both of them bringing him
into familiar association with the men who controlled




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           15
the affairs of the country, and thus preparing him to
meet them afterwards as their peer and colleague; and
all the while he is a merchant still, on the full tide of a
prosperous and laborious business. But we must allow
him to tell this part of his story, too, in his own brief
and simple way; compressing, as he does, the incidents of more than ten years of his life into two or three
manuscript pages.
" In November, 1801, I embarked for Liverpool for the purpose of purchasing goods in our regular business. On the pilot
coming on board, we learned the news of peace, - the peace of
Amiens. The first effect of this peace on American trade was
very unfavorable. It caused many failures. Caution and curtailment were impressed upon me in all my letters from home.
The day after the proclamation of the ratification of the peace, in
April, 1802, I set off from London for the Continent, in company with A. W. Atherton. We embarked at Harwich for
Helvoet Sluys, and visited the different cities of Holland and
Belgium. I examined with attention and interest the ruins of
Valenciennes, whose long siege and bombardIent I had studied
at the time in 1793. At Brussels we hired a cabriolet, which
we finally kept all the way to Paris, where we arrived about the
1st of June. It was at the time of the Consulate; and Napoleon never stood higher in public estimation than then, as the
restorer of peace and of the Catholic religion. At this time, however, his future ambition was shadowed forth, as the books were
opened for subscription to answer the question, — Bonaparte,
sera-t-il Consul d vie? Whilst in Paris, by buying an eligible
seat, we had a very good opportunity to see Bonaparte at a grand
review at the Place Carrousel.  He was then thin and sallow.
The museums and galleries of Paris then exhibited the treasures
stolen from Italy and Belgium, and which were restored by the
treaty of 1815. We returned to England in July; when the accounts from home came worse and worse, and I returned to
Boston in September. I continued in business with my brother,




16          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
with varied success, but, on the whole, with an average of prosperity, until 1809, when our copartnership was dissolved. My
life had, thus far, been a laborious one. In 1806, I married
Maria Theresa, the oldest daughter of Thomas Gold of Pittsfield. In 1810, I formed a copartnership with my brother
Eben and Mr. Daniel P. Parker; which was brought to a close
in 1813, in consequence of the war of 1812.  The war, however, added very considerably to our profits. In 1810, I visited
England on account of the health of my wife. In September,
we made a tour into Scotland and the Lakes; passed the winter
at Bath and Clifton; and in May, 1811, embarked for New
York, where we arrived in June, with greatly restored health.
~" Whilst in Edinburgh, I saw a good deal of Francis C. Lowell, Esq., who was there with his family. We had a good deal
of conversation upon the subject of the cotton manufacture; and
he told me that he had determined, before he returned, to make
himself fully acquainted with the subject, with a view to the
introduction of it at home. I urged him to do so, with an understanding that I should be ready to co-operate with him in
such an undertaking. The war was declared in June, 1812.
It so happened, that I was making a visit at Washington whilst
it was in discussion in the Senate, in secret session; it having
already passed the House. I was invited by Thomas R. Gold,
my wife's uncle, a member from the State of New York, to join
his mess, which was a large one; where I became acquainted
with Harmanus Bleecker, and where Mr. Randolph, then in the
opposition, was a frequent visitor. My time passed then very
pleasantly. I dined at Mr. Foster's, the British minister's, on
the Saturday preceding Wednesday, the 18th of June, when the
War Bill finally passed the Senate. Mr. Foster had so little
expectation of that result, that he actually purchased an icehouse on the day we dined with him, and on which the Senate
passed a vote which made the final result certain. The general
opinion amongst those opposed to the war was, that the Executive (Mr. Madison) was pushed up to make his war-message,
but that he relied on the Senate to defeat it. The news of the
death of Mr. Percival, and the impending repeal of the orders




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           17
in council, reached Washington two days after the declaration of
war. The orders in council were, in fact, repealed; and, in
consequence, large shipments of goods were made for American
account.  To facilitate these shipments, under the alarming
rumors of war which came from America, the British Government agreed to grant licenses or protections to American ships
taking such goods, even should war between the two countries
actually take place. On the arrival of these goods in the United
States, they were taken possession of by the Government under
the Non-intercourse Act, and bonds for the value required to be
given before they could be delivered to the owners. The question of forfeiture was to be settled by Congress. As the amount
involved was many millions of dollars, delegates were appointed
from the different cities. Mr. John Gore and myself were appointed delegates from  Boston.  I accordingly proceeded to
Washington at the commencement of the session, - December,
1812. Washington Irving (then engaged in trade) was one of
the delegates from New York. TWe had hearings before the
Committee of Ways and Means, of which Mr. Cheves was
chairman. We were introduced to many of the distinguished
members of Congress; as Mr. Clay (Speaker), Mr. Calhoun, Mr.
Lowndes, &c. The Committee reported against us; Mr. Cheves,
the chairman, dissenting. After a long, debate, the tHouse decided, by a close vote, in favor of cancelling the bonds.
"Whilst at Washington, and dressing one evening for the
Naval Ball, an illumination was discovered to be lighting uip in
President's Square.  It was soon known that the son of the
Secretary of the Navy (Mr. Hamilton) had arrived in the city
with the flag of the' Macedonian,' captured by Decatur.  This
was afterward carried in triumph about the ballroom; which, of
course, presented a scene of great excitement."
The  next  passage  from  the  "Autobiographical
Sketches," which we proceed with in its order, is a
more considerable one; embracing an account of the first
introduction of the power-loom into this country, and of
the original establishment of the cotton manufacture at
3




18          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
Lowell.  Much of it, if not the whole of it, has been
given substantially, if not in the same words, in a
pamphlet which Mr. Appleton published under his own
name not many years ago. But the part which he took
in so important an enterprise cannot be omitted in this
connection; nor can it fairly be described in any language but his own. There is ground for thinking that
he attached particular importance to its being reproduced in any memoir of which he might be the subject;
and not without reason, - since it not merely unfolds
the marvellous rise and progress of a great branch of
American industry, but exhibits, so strikingly, the capacity of one who was largely concerned in the undertaking, to depict its various stages with simplicity, precision,
and perfect candor. The testimony which he bears to
the merits of others, and especially to the pre-eminent
services of Mr. Lowell, is of no small historical value.
It is the testimony not merely of a witness, but of an
actor; and the seeming disclaimer of any particular
credit for himself is altogether in keeping with his
character, and furnishes a happy illustration of his
unassuming disposition. Posterity will not fail to recognize him as one of the founders of that great manufacturing city, to which he boasts only to have given the
name of his friend.
" In 1813, Mr. F. C. Lowell having returned from Europe,
he and Mr. P. T. Jackson came to me one day on the Exchange,
and stated that they had determined to establish a cotton
manufactory, and that they had purchased a water-power in
Waltham (Bemis's Paper-mills). They had obtained an act of
incorporation; and Mr. Jackson had agreed to give up all other
business, and take the management of the concern. The capital




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.            19
authorized by the charter was four hundred thousand dollars;
but it was only intended to raise one hundred thousand dollars until the experiment was fairly tried. Of this sum, Mr.
Lowell and Mr. Jackson, with his brothers, subscribed the
greater part. They proposed to me to take ten thousand dollars of the stock. I told them, that, theoretically, I thought the
business ought to succeed; but that all I had seen of its practical operation was unfavorable. I was therefore willing to take
five thousand dollars of the stock, in order to see the experiment
fairly tried, as I was sure it would be by Mr. Jackson, and
would make no complaint if I lost the whole; but that I should
decline taking a greater sum. They observed to me, that they
wished to confine the stock in as few hands as possible; that
they would offer the ten shares to one person, whom they
named; and, if he declined taking them, I should have the five
shares which I proposed.  They soon afterward informed me,
that the party they applied to made the same objection; and
they therefore concluded to divide them between us. This was
the origin of my connection with the cotton manufacture. On
the organization of the company, I was appointed one of the
directors; and, by constant communication with Messrs. Lowell
and Jackson, was familiar with the progress of the concern.
"The first measure was to secure the services of Paul Moody,
of Amesbury, whose skill as a mechanic was well known; and
his success fully justified the choice. The power-loom was at
this time being introduced in England; but its construction was
kept very secret. Mr. Lowell had obtained all the information
which was practicable about it, and was determined to perfect
it himself. He was for months experimenting at a store in
Broad Street, employing a man to turn a crank.
"It was not until the building was completed, and other
machinery was running, that the first loom was ready for trial.
Many little matters were to be overcome or adjusted before it
would work perfectly. Mr. Lowell said to me, that he did not
wish me to see it until it was complete, of which he would give
me notice. At length, the time arrived; and he invited me to
go out with him, and see the loom operate. I well recollect




20          MEiMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
the state of satisfaction and admiration with which we sat by the
hour watching the beautiful movement of this new and wonderful machine, destined, as it evidently was, to change the character of all textile industry. This was, I think, in the autumn
of 1814. Mr. Lowell's loom was different in several particulars
from the English loom, which was afterward made public. The
introduction of the power-loom made several other changes
necessary in the process of weaving. The first was in the dressing; for which Mr. Horrocks, of Stockport, obtained a patent,
and of which Mr. Lowell obtained a drawing.  On putting it in
operation, an essential improvement was made upon it, by which
its efficiency was more than doubled.  This WValtham dressingmachine continues in use, with little change, front that time. The
stop-motion of the machine for winding on the beams for dressing was original with this company. The greatest improvement
was in the double speeder. The original fly-frame was made on
no fixed principle for regulating the changing movements necessary in the process of filling a spool. Mr. Lowell undertook to
make the numerous mathematical calculations necessary to perfect these complicated movements, which occupied him constantly
for more than a week. Mr. Moody carried them into effect by
constructing the machinery in conformity. Several trials at law
were made under this patent; involving the nice question,
whether a mathematical calculation could be the subject of a
patent. The last great improvement consisted in a more slack
spinning on throstle spindles; and the spinning of filling directly
on the cops, without the process of winding.
" A pleasant anecdote is connected with this last invention.
Mr. Shepherd, of Taunton, had a patent for a winding-machine,
which was considered the best extant.  Mr. Lowell was chaffering with him  about purchasing the right of using them on a
large scale, offering him some reduction front the price named.
Mr. Shepherd refused; saying,' You must have them: you
know you cannot do without them; can you, Mr. Moody?'
Mr. Moody replied,' I am just thinking that I can spin the
cops direct upon the bobbin.' -' You be hanged!' said Mr. S.:' well, I accept your offer.' -' No,' said Mr. Lowell:' it is too




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           21
late.' From the first starting of the first power-loom, there was
no hesitation or doubt about the success of this manufacture.
The full capital of four hundred thousand dollars was soon filled
up and expended; and an addition of two hundred thousand
dollars was afterwards made by the purchase of the place below,
in Watertown.
"After the peace in 1815, I formed a new  copartnership
with Mr. Benjamin C. Ward. I put in the capital, with the
understanding that I was not to perform any of the labor of
carrying on the business. I had acquired a fortune sufficient for
my moderate desires; but I was unwilling to separate myself
entirely from the operations of business.  So far as the original
object of this copartnership was concerned, - the importation
of British goods, - it was unsuccessful, as I never recovered
back my capital with simple interest; but an accidental circumstance occasioned its continuance until 1830. At the time the
Waltham Company first began to produce cloth, there was but
one place at which domestic goods were sold: this was at a
shop in Cornhill, kept by Mr. Isaac Bowers, or rather by
Mrs. Bowers. Accordingly, the first goods made were sent
to Mrs. Bowers. As there was, at this time, only one loom in
operation, the quantity accumulating was not very great.  However, one day Mr. Lowell said to me, that there was one difficulty which he had not apprehended: the goods would not sell.
We went together to see Mrs. Bowers.  She said everybody
praised the goods, and no objection was made to the price; but
still they made no sales. I told Mr. Lowell, the next time they
sent a parcel to town, to send them to the store of B. C. Ward
and Co., and I would see what could be done.
" The article first made at Waltham was precisely the article of which a large portion of the cotton manufacture of the
country has continued to consist, - a heavy sheeting of No. 14
yarn, thirty-seven inches wide, forty-four picks to the inch, and
weighing something less than three yards to the pound. That
it should have been so well suited to the public demand was
matter of accident. At that time, it was supposed no quantity of
cottons could be sold without being bleached; and the idea was




22          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
to imitate the yard-wide goods of India. Mr. Lowell informed
me that he would be satisfied with twenty-five cents the yard for
the goods, although the nominal price was higher. I soon found
a purchaser for the first parcel in Mr. Forsaith, an auctioneer;
who sold them at auction at once, at something over thirty cents.
We continued to sell them at auction for some time, with little
variation of the price. This circumstance led to the company of
B. C. Ward and Co. becoming permanently the selling agents.
In the first instance, I found an interesting and agreeable occupation in paying attention to the sales; and made up the first
account with a charge of one per cent commission, not as an
adequate mercantile commission, but satisfactory under the circumstances. This rate of commission was continued, and finally
became the established rate, under the great increase of the
manufacture.  Thus what was at the commencement rather
unreasonably low, became, when the amount of sales concentrated in single houses amounted to millions of dollars, a desirable and profitable business.
" Under, the influence of the war of 1812, the manufacture
of cotton had greatly increased, especially in Rhode Island, but
in a very imperfect manner.  The effect of the peace of 1815
was ruinous to these manufacturers. In 1816, a new tariff was
to be made. The Rhode-Island manufacturers were clamorous
for a very high specific duty. Mr. Lowell was at Washington for a considerable time during the session of Congress. His
views on the tariff were much more moderate; and he finally
brought Mr. Lowndes and Mr. Calhoun to support the minimum
of six and a quarter cents the square yard, which was carried.
In June, 1816, Mr. Lowell having invited me to make a visit to
Rhode Island with him in order to see the actual state of the
manufacture, I was very happy to accept his proposition. At
this time, the success of the power-loom at Waltham was no
longer matter of speculation or opinion: it was a settled fact.
"We proceeded to Pawtucket. We called on Mr. Wilkinson,
the maker of machinery. He took us into his establishment,
- a large one. All was silent, - not a wheel in motion, not a
man to be seen. He informed us that there was not a spindle




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.            23
running in Pawtucket: except a few in Slater's old mill, making
yarns, all was dead and still. In reply to questions from Mr,
Lowell, he stated, that, during the war, the profits of manufacturing were so great, that the inquiry was never made, whether any
improvement could be made in machinery, but how soon it could
be turned out. We saw several manufacturers: they were all
sad and despairing. Mr. Lowell endeavored to assure them that
the adoption of the power-loom would put a new face upon the
manufacture; but they were incredulous: it might be so; but
they were not disposed to believe it. We proceeded to Providence, and returned by the way of Taunton. We there stopped
at the factory of Mr. Shepherd, who had put a power-loom in
operation, acting vertically; that is to say, the web running up
and down, and the lathe playing in the same way. It was evident that it could not succeed. By degrees, however, the
manufacturers woke up to the fact, that the power-loom was an
instrument which changed the whole character of the manufacture; and that, by adopting the other improvements which had
been made in machinery, the tariff of 1816 was sufficiently protective. Mr. Lowell adopted an entire new  arrangement, in
order to save labor in passing from one process to another; and
in so atranging all the machinery, that the entire product should
be converted into cloth within the mill.
"It is remarkable how few changes, in this respect, have
since been made from those established by him in the first mill
built in Waltham.  It is also remarkable how accurate were his
calculations as to the expense at which goods could be made.
Hte used to say, that the only circumstance which made him
distrust his calculations was, that he could bring them to no
other result but one which was too favorable to be credible.
His calculations, however, did not lead him so far as to make
him imagine that the same goods which were then selling at
thirty cents a yard, would, at any time, be sold at six cents, and
without a loss to the manufacturer, as has since been done. He
died in 1817, beloved and respected by all who knew him.
He is entitled to the credit of having introduced the new system
in the cotton manufacture, under which it has grown up so




24          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
rapidly; for, although Messrs. Jackson and Moody were men of
unsurpassed energy and talent in their way, it was Mr. Lowell
who was the informing soul, which gave direction and form to
the whole proceeding.
"The success of the Waltham Company made me desirous of
extending my interest in the same direction. I was of opinion,
that the time had arrived when the manufacture and printing of
calicoes might be successfully introduced in this country.  In
this opinion, Mr. Jackson coincided; and we set about discovering a water-power.  At the suggestion of Mr. Charles H.
Atherton of Amherst, N. H., we met him at a fall of the
Souhegan River, about six miles fiom its entrance into the
Merrimack; but the power was insufficient for our purpose.
This was in the summer of 1821. In returning, we passed the
Nashua River, without being aware of the existence of the fall
which has since been made the source of so much power by
the Nashua Company. We saw a small gristmill standing in the
meadow near the road, with a dam of some six or seven feet.
Soon after our return, I was at Waltham one day; when I was
informed that Mr. Moody had lately been at Salisbury, where
Mr. Worthen, his old partner, said to him,'I hear, Messrs.
Jackson and Appleton are looking out for water-power: why
don't they buy up the Pawtucket Canal? that would give them
the whole power of the Merrimack, with a fall of thirty feet.'
On the strength of this, Mr. Moody had returned that way, and
was satisfied with the extent of the power, and that Mr. Jackson was making inquiries on the subject.  Mr. Jackson soon
after called on me, and informed me that he had had a correspondence with Mr. Clark of Newburyport, the agent of the
Pawtucket Company, and had ascertained that the stock of that
company, and the lands necessary for using the water-power,
could be purchased; and asked me what I thought of taking
hold of it.  He stated that his engagements at Waltham would
not permit him to take the management of a new concern; but
he mentioned Mr. Kirk Boott as having expressed a wish to take
the management of an active manufacturing establishment, and
that he had confidence in his possessing the proper talent for it.




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.            25
After a discussion, it was agreed that he should consult Mr.
Boott; and that, if he would join us, we would go on with it.
He went at once to see Mr. Boott, and soon returned to inform
me that Mr. Boott entered heartily into the project; and we set
about making the purchases without delay.  Until these were
made, it was necessary to confine all knowledge of the project
to our own three bosoms. Mr. Clark was employed to purchase
the necessary lands, and such shares in the canal as were within
his reach; whilst Mr. Henry Andrews was employed in purchasing up the shares owned in Boston.  I recollect the first interview with Mr. Clark, at which he exhibited a rough sketch of
the canal and adjoining lands, with the prices which he had
ascertained they could be purchased for; and he was directed
to go on and complete the purchases, taking the deeds in his
own name, in order to prevent the project taking wind prematurely.  The purchases were made accordingly for our equal
joint account; each of us furnishing funds as required to
Mr. Boott, who kept the accounts. Formal articles of association were then drawn up. They bear date Deec. 1, 1821; and
are recorded in the records of the Merrimack Manlfacturing
Company, of which they form the germ. The six hundred
shares were thus subscribed:
Kirk Boott and J. W. Boott........ 180
N. Appleton..............   180
P. T. Jackson.............   180
Paul Moody..............    60
600' The Act of Incorporation of the Merrimack Manufacturing
Company bears date 5th of February, 1822; recognizing the
original association as the basis of the company.  Our first visit
to the spot was in the month of November, 1821, when a slight
snow covered the ground. The party consisted of P. T. Jackson,
Kirk Boott, Warren Dutton, Paul Moody, John W. Boott, and
myself. We perambulated the grounds, and scanned the capabilities of the place; and the remark was made, that some of us
might live to see the place contain twenty thousand inhabitants.
4




26          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
"On our first organization, we allowed Mr. Moody to be
interested to the extent of ten per cent, or sixty out of six
hundred shares. We soon after made an arrangement with the
Waltham Company, making a mutual interest between the two
companies.  The canal was a work of great labor.  The first
water-wheel of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company was set
in motion on the 1st of September, 1823.  The business of
printing calicoes was wholly new in this country.  It is true,
that, after it was known that this concern was going into operation for that purpose, two other companies were got up, - one
at Dover, N.H.; the other at Taunton, - in both of which,
goods were probably printed before they were by the Merrimack
Company.
" The bringing the business of printing to any degree of perfection was a matter of difficulty and time.  Mr. Allen Pollock
thought himself competent to manage it, and was employed for
some time. Through the good offices of Mr. Timothy Wiggin,
Mr. Prince, of Manchester, was induced to come out, with his
family; and has remained at the head of the establishment up to
the present period (1855).
"The engraving of cylinders was a most important part of
the process; and Mr. Boott made one voyage to England solely
for the purpose of engaging engravers. It was then kept a very
close mystery. Mr. Dana was employed as chemist. Through
the superior skill and talent of Messrs. Boott, Prince, and
Dana, the company was brought to the highest degree of success.
In the mean time, Mr. Moody was transferred from Waltham to
this place, having charge of the manufacture of machinery. Mr.
Worthen had been employed at an early day. He was a man of
superior mechanical genius, and his death was deeply regretted.
The capital of the Merrimack Company was gradually increased,
a division of the property betwixt that company and the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals was made, new companies were
established, until this new creation became a city, by the name
of Lowell. I may, perhaps, claim having given it the name.
Several names had been suggested, but nothing fixed on.  On
meeting Mr. Boott one day, he said to me that the committees




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.         27
were ready to report the bill (in the Legislature).  It only
remained to fill the blank with the name. He said he considered it narrowed down to two, - Lowell or Derby. I said
to him,'Then Lowell, by all means;' and Lowell it was."
From the intimate acquaintance which Mr. Appleton
had thus acquired with the history of the American cotton manufacture, and with all the details of its machinery
and management firom its earliest establishment in New
England, he derived peculiar qualifications for the
public services which he was soon called upon to
render. No questions which have ever arisen in our
country have given occasion to more important discussions, or more protracted and agitating controversies,
than those which have related to our revenue system;
and no feature of that system has been so frequently
and so violently contested as that which looked to the
encouragement of the manufacture of cotton on American soil. It has divided parties; it has arrayed State
against State, and section against section; it has shaken
the republic to its foundation.  The mad design to rend
the Union asunder forever, which has plunged us at
last into so deplorable a conflict, owed not a little of
its original impulse to the jealousies and antipathies
which had arisen from a fancied antagonism between
the interests of the cotton-growers of the South and the
cotton-spinners of the North. It was in connection with
the alleged injustice of a discriminating tariff, and during
the very debate in which Mr. Appleton first took a prominent part in the Congress of the United States, that
Mr. McDuffie originally promulgated the idea of " a glorious rebellion," by which South Carolina was to be freed




28         MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
from oppression. Few men were in the way of doing
more to counteract this delusion, at this memorable
period of its primary development, than Mr. Appleton;
and no man improved his opportunities to better advantage. In the public journals, in commercial dictionaries
or conversations-lexicons, in the Legislature of Massachusetts, in the Congress of the United States, his pen
and his voice were always ready and always effective in
demonstrating the fallacies of a doctrine, which would
long ago have surrendered to Great Britain the undisputed monopoly of those textile fabrics by which the
world was to be clothed, and for which the raw material
was furnished, in so large a part, by the Southern States.
If the forty-bale theory was at last demolished, it is
hardly too much to say, that the weaver's beam which
dealt the sturdiest blows, and did the largest share in the
demolition, was wielded by the arm of Nathan Appletoll.
He entered the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1815,
and was re-elected one of the Boston representatives in
1816, 1821, 1823, 1824, and 1827.  In 1830, he was
chosen a member of the House of Representatives of
the United States, after one of the most exciting and
closely contested political struggles which Boston has
ever witnessed. Declining a re-election in 1832, he was
induced to resume the Boston seat in Congress, for a
few months, in 1842. It so happened, that some of the
most important discussions which have ever occurred on
the subject of the tariff, in our National Legislature,
were exactly coincident with his terms of service. Perhaps it would be more just to say, that he was selected




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           29
for the candidacy, and induced to accept it, at these
particular times, with a special view to his ability to
grapple with the questions which were then plainly
impending. Certain it is, he was there at the right
moment, both for his own reputation, for the advantage
of his constituents, and, still more, for the right understanding of those great problems of public policy with
which his personal experience and practical sense had
peculiarly fitted him  to deal.  But let us no longer
detain our readers from his own plain and modest
account of this part of his career, and of some of the
services which he rendered to the cause of a discriminating revenue system.
" At the request of Dr. Lieber, I furnished him an article on
the cotton manufacture, for his Dictionary. Mr. Condy Raguet,
editor of the' Banner of the Constitution,' in Philadelphia,
ridiculed the idea therein expressed, that we could compete with
Great Britain in the article of coarse cottons for exportation.
This led to an anonymous correspondence, and the acceptance,
on his part, of a proposition which I made him, to furnish him
some articles on the cotton manufacture; which was accordingly
done in six numbers, signed' Statist,' - the last dated Aug. 31,
1831. In the first number, I stated that the fact of a constantly
increasing export of these gopds for a number of years, although
then only amounting to a million of dollars, was proof of the
fact, that we did furnish them in a fair competition with the British. The fact is adverted to, that we had introduced a manufacture which was a new article in commerce, containing a greater
quantity of the raw material, with a less proportion of labor,
than any thing then in use, and of course furnishing a cheaper
and more economical article of general consumption. It was
also contended, that we had, on the wVhole, a balance of advantages over England in this manufacture: which consisted, first,
in the greater cheapness of water-power over steam, estimated




30          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
as six hundred to three thousand eight hundred and forty; and,
second, in the advantage of having the raw material nearer at
hand, estimated at two cents the pound.  (Cotton was then
subject to a duty in England of five-eighths of a penny per
pound.) Against these advantages, the only offset was a difference in the cost of machinery; which was estimated to cost fifty
per cent more in the United States than in England.
"The second number took up the subject of labor, and gave
documents to prove that the price then paid for labor in the
cotton manufacture in England was as great or greater than was
paid in the United States.  This was owing to our employing
females only, whilst the English employed a large proportion of
men, especially as mule-spinners, earning very high wages;
whilst we had improved throstle-spinning, operated wholly by
females, so as to supersede, in a great measure, the use of mules.
All this has been changed since by the introduction of self-acting
mules.
" Mr. Raguet remarks, that' the views presented in these two
communications are calculated to make a stirring impression upon
public opinion. To disprove the positions of our correspondent
will require the aid of some of our mercantile friends.' He finally
states his readiness to publish the opinions of' Statist' upon the
tariff, as well as information upon the finer branches of the cotton
manufacture.
"' In the third and fourth numbers,' Statist' proceeds to describe the progress of cotton manufacture, which he finally
divides into three classes: viz., first, the coarse goods which we
were then exporting in considerable quantities; second, the finer
descriptions of plain goods, as shirtings and sheetings, in which
our own consumption was well supplied by our own manufacture;
and, third, printed calicoes and other colored goods, of which we
were then supposed to manufacture something more than onehalf our consumption. The different bearing of the tariff on
these classes is pointed out, - on the first, merely nominal; on the
second, very trifling.' It is in the higher branches of the third
class only that the question of a reduction of duty pinches.
Here the two contending tides of importation and manufacture




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.            31
meet: here is the sole action of the tariff.' In these and in
No. 5, the question of the protective policy is discussed; and
a good deal of stress is laid on the impolicy of subjecting our
industry to the fluctuations taking place in other countries, of
which the revulsion of 1829, in England, furnished a striking
example.
" These speculations appear to have been rather distasteful to
Mr. Raguet; for he declined to publish any thing further from
the writer, unless he would avow his name, as he doubted the
correctness of his statement of the cost of manufacturing coarse
cottons. In my rejoinder, I gave him the abstract cost of the
manufacture in an establishment, with a sample of the goods
made, and a personal reference to a merchant in Philadelphia.
HIe, in reply, says that a manufacturer to whom he showed the
sample could not believe that such goods could be made for
seven and one-third cents the pound, as I had stated; but, in
consequence of what he considered concessions on my part, he
invited me to a renewal of the correspondence. This I did not
think proper to do; and so the correspondence ended.  It will
be seen that I took the same ground, in respect to coarse cottons,
in the first speech which I made in Congress.
"About the year 1820, I was elected a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, for Boston, and at intervals for several
years.  At this time, party-spirit ran very low; and at last,
under the administration of Mr. Monroe, may be fairly said to
have died out. With a view to sustain John Quincy Adams for
the Presidency, a final amalgamation of parties took place. I
was present at the last caucus of the Federal members of the
Legislature, at which the union was agreed to, which was consummated by the election of Levi Lincoln as Governor. I well
recollect the first union caucus at the Exchange Coffee House,
when it was amusing to see William Sullivan and Benjamin
Russell harmonize with Major Melville and Ebenezer Clough.
This harmony was somewhat disturbed by a new party, at first
known as the Crawford party, afterward resolved into the allpowerful Jackson party.  My first speech in public was in
opposition to a specific tax on insurance-companies. I was for




32          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
several years Chairman of the Committee of Finance, whose
most important duty was the making of the tax-bill.' Ill 1828, Mr. Calhoun, of Springfield, introduced a resolution approving the protective system, and moved a very early
day for its consideration.  I requested a later one; but, expecting I should oppose it, he declined. A friend, however, wishing
to give me a chance to speak upon it, got a reconsideration carried.
The speech which I made was any thing but an ultra one, and
was very generally approved.  In 1830, it was proposed to me
to stand as candidate for Congress. I hesitated a good deal
before I consented; which I did eventually, and was elected
after a close contest. My competitor was Henry Lee, Esq.; and
the election turned upon free trade or the protective principle.
I took my seat in the Twenty-second Congress, December, 1831.
Mr. Stevenson was chosen Speaker, and, in the appointment of
the committees, placed me on that of Invalid Pensions.  Considering that I was the representative of a greater commercial
interest than ally other individual in the House, and withal a
practical merchant, this appointment could be considered in no
other light than a spiteful revenge upon the city of Boston for
having disappointed the administration in the choice of the
representative. I took lodgings at Gadsby's, in company with
Mr. Webster; each of us having one of the front parlors, in
which we took our meals together every alternate week. At an
early day in the session, Mr. Bouldin, of Virginia, introduced a
resolution of inquiry as to the nature of the minimums recognized in our revenue-laws. A sort of desultory debate, during
the morning hour, had gone on for several weeks; when it
occurred to me as an occasion on which I might make a short
speech. On mentioning it to Mr. Webster, he encouraged me
to do so, and put me in the way cf getting the information
which I wanted. The subject came up again on the 21st of
January, when Mr. MicDuffie made a most strenuous appeal
against further debate on a mere question of inquiry; but, being
prepared, I did not choose to let the opportunity go by. 1
undertook to show that South Carolina was the author of the
system of minimums, which was only another name for specific




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.            33
duties, and a system capable of defence. It was introduced by
Mr. Lowndes, as Chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means, in 1816. I took the occasion to state, that we could
convert a pound of our cotton into the common cloth we
were making for less money than the British could do. This
being a fact well known to me, the statement was made advisedly, wishing the matter to stand on its true basis; but, being
so contrary to the general impression, it quite alarmed some of
the friends of the protective system, as I learned afterwards.
Miy speech gave a new turn to the debate.  It brought up
McDuffie and Cambreling, and the debate occupied the whole
day.  The vote showed a majority of about twenty in favor of
the protective system.
"The great business of that session was the framing a new
tariff. The object was greatly to reduce the revenue, the debt
being paid off, and, at the same time, to continue the principle
of protecting American industry. There were several caucuses of
the friends of protection. At one of them, Governor Davis and
myself were appointed a committee to frame such a tariff. We
accordingly framled one, making every thing free which did not
interfere with our own productions. The subject was finally
referred, in the House of Representatives, to the Committee on
Manufactures, of which John Q. Adams was chairman. He
applied to us for our project, which was substantially adopted in
the tariff of 1832.
" The Committee of Ways and Means, of which Mr. McDuffie
was chairman, made a report at an early period of the session,
very elaborate and able; setting forth the theory, that all duties
on imports were essentially and absolutely taxes upon the exports for which they were exchanged, better known as the fortybale theory. As the argument was very plausible and specious,
I determined to answer it, whenever the subject came up for
discussion. With this view, I prepared an analysis of it with a
good deal of care and time. When the subject of the tariff
came up, Mr. McDuffie opened the discussion with an elaborate
speech, especially addressed to me. He chose a place to deliver
it directly by my side; and made it exceedingly personal, on the
5




34           MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
ground that we were rival manufacturers, - one operating with
hoes and spades, the other with spindles and shuttles. As his
speech contained nothing which was not set forth in his report,
I determined to follow him at once with my answer; and, with
this view, endeavored to get the floor. It was given to Mr.
Crawford, of Pennsylvania; but, when he got through, the next
morning, I obtained it. It was on the 30th of May, 1832. It
so happened that Mr. McDuffie was not in the House during the
first half of my speech. I regretted it; but there was no help
for it. I determined from the first to treat his theory with
great contempt, preserving all due respect to himself.  He
showed a good deal of spiteful ill nature in a subsequent speech.
I drew up a copy of my speech, which was printed by Gales
and Seaton. Mr. McDuffie's was in the hands of Duff Greene.
On inquiring of the latter the cause of the long delay in the
appearance of the speech, he informed me that Mr. McDuffie
found it hard to please himself; that, after setting it up, he had
to take it down, and make an entire new copy. After this, I
thought it proper to keep mine back till his had appeared. His
speech, as printed, is much less personal to myself than as it was
delivered. I received a good many compliments on this speech.
Mr. McDuffie had always maintained, that, whilst his theory was
much abused in the general, no one had undertaken to show the
fallacy of his position.  This was what I endeavored to do;
with what success, it was for others to judge. A very elaborate
review of it was published in the' National Intelligencer,' altogether favorable. I never knew the writer. Since Mr. Webster's death, I have found amongst my papers the following very
flattering note from him after reading this speech:Mr. Webster to N. Appleton, after reading his Speech, June, 1832.
DEAR SmIR, - It appears to me you have completely refuted each
and every of Mr. McDuffie's propositions. I see no vestige left of
one of his arguments. You will see I have made a remark or two
on the tenth, the fourteenth, and seventeenth pages. The speech is
a model of close reasoning on an abstruse subject.
Yours truly,            D. WEBSTER.
Mr. APPLETON.




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           35
"I have long since been of opinion that this South-Carolina theory was only pretence. It was thought a convenient
cover to what has continued their favorite idea,- the separation
of the Slave States from the rest of the Union.
"The renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United
States was one of the exciting topics of this session of Congress.
The first question was on the reference of the subject, as mentioned in the President's Message. The friends of the bank
proposed referring it to the Committee of Ways and Means;
those opposed to it, to a Special Committee. I was desirous to
introduce several amendments, and was in favor of the Special
Committee; but it soon became apparent that the whole struggle was, bank or no bank. No one seemed to trouble himself
much about its character. Its friends, took every thing from Mr.
Biddle. His ipse dixit was law and gospel with them. My
faith in Mr. Biddle had at that time been materially shaken; and
I accordingly laid on the table, and had printed, some amendments, which I intended at the proper time to offer to the bill.
But the bill which had passed the Senate was delayed to the
latest moment of the session, in consequence of a Committee of
Examination having been sent to Philadelphia. The cholera
had broken out in New York. It was believed, that if the bill
was referred to the Committee of the Whole, and subjected to
amendment, it would be lost. It was therefore decided by its
friends to avoid going into committee, but to pass the bill exactly
as it came from the Senate. I was therefore obliged to abandon
my design, or put myself in a hopeless opposition to all my
friends; which I did not choose to do. Mr. Clay made a forcible appeal to me, considering that the fate of the Whig cause depended on passing the measure. He said, with an oath,' Should
Jackson veto it, I will veto hinm!' He was mistaken: Jackson
did veto it, but was not himself vetoed. On my return from
Congress, I found New York a deserted city, on account of the
cholera. On coming into Broadway from the Battery, all was
silent as death; not a person to be seen. On reaching Bunker's
Hotel, the only person visible was a member of Congress from
Connecticut; like myself, on his way home.




36          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
"On my return to Congress, at the second session (December,
1832), South Carolina was in a state of semi-rebellion. General
Jackson, by his admirable proclamation (written by Mr. Livingston), had dealt her a sort of death-blow.
"At the same time, in his message and in the report of the
Secretary of the Treasury, the ground was taken, that the tariff
must be reduced. The reason assigned was, that it would produce too much revenue; the ground assumed being, that, at the
former session, Congress had not carried out the recommendation of the Executive in this particular. It is true, the House
had called on Mr. McLane, the Secretary of the Treasury, for
his project of a bill; which he furnished, and which was adopted
with certain modifications and alterations. I was under the impression, that the reductions which we had made in his bill were
as great, or greater than our additions. I was therefore much
gratified, in making an examination into this matter, to find, that,
so far from the statement of the Executive being true, we had
actually made reductions in the duties, on the basis assumed (the
import of 1831), of a million of dollars beyond those presented
in the bill of Mr. McLane, the Secretary of the Treasury. The
Committee of Ways and Means reported a bill to reduce the
duties, in conformity with the Presidential recommendation
(called Verplanck's Bill). On this bill I felt it my duty to make
a speech; which I accordingly did on the 23d of January, 1833,
in which I dwelt pretty decidedly on the fact, that the assertion
of the President, that we had not carried out the views of the
Secretary in respect to the reduction of the revenue, was not
correct, with the proof of it exhibited in figures. I afterward
introduced a resolution, calling on the Secretary to show how
he came to the result which he had stated. His answer did not
come in till near the close of the session, and was not printed
until all the measures were completed. He was, however, compelled to admit, that our bill reduced the duties more than the
one he sent us. All this was accompanied with a very wry face,
and the attempt to bring in new elements of calculation.
"In the course of my speech, I took the bold measure of introducing an exhibition of the cotton manufacture, which I had




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           37
reason to believe had a very good effect. In the mean time, Mr.
Clay had brought forward his Compromise Bill; reducing the
duties gradually until 1842. On his arrival at Washington, he
had consulted Governor Davis and myself, urging our co-operation in the measure; but, as we viewed it an abandonment of the
principle of protection, we refused to do so. He brought it forward, nevertheless. Verplank's Bill labored very hard: and
the administration, at length despairing of carrying it, decided
in caucus to adopt Mr. Clay's Compromise Bill; which was accordingly introduced, and carried through both Houses, almost
without debate.
"My wife was suffering from a complaint of the lungs. Dr.
Warren was of opinion that she would doubtless hold out during
the winter, and promised to advise me in time of any alarming
change. Early in February, I received such a letter, and returned to Boston in great haste, but, alas! too late. She died on
the 10th, -the day before my arrival. I returned to Washington, at the urgent request of some of my friends, a short time
before the close of the session.
" In 1842, Robert C. Wifithrop was the member of the House
of Representatives from the District of Suffolk. In May, he
resigned his seat in consequence of the illness and impending
death of his wife. A successor must be appointed on the instant. The public looked to either Abbott Lawrence or myself
to fill the vacancy. Mr. Lawrence was appointed commissioner,
on the part of Massachusetts, to settle the Maine boundary question with Lord Ashburton: so that I found myself under an
almost unavoidable necessity of consenting to take the place;
which I did very reluctantly, and took my seat in the Twentyseventh Congress on the 9th of June. The tariff was again the
chief subject of interest. Mr. Clay's compromise had run out
on the 1st of July; and it was a question, whether any duties
whatever could be legally collected. Matters were in a very
complicated state, in consequence of the quarrel between President Tyler and his own party, the Whigs. Again I felt bound
to make a speech on the tariff; so that, in the three sessions in
which I was a member of Congress, I was called on to make




38          MEMOIR OF HON. SNATHAN APPLETON.
three speeches on the tariff, on three different bills. Finally,
with extreme difficulty, the tariff of 1842 was carried. After
the close of the session, I resigned my seat in Congress, in conformity with my own wishes, and also to make room for the
return of Mr. Winthrop, the death of whose wife had taken
place in the mean time. During my residence at Washington, I
took the place of Mr. Winthrop at Mr. Birth's, with Messrs.
Granger, Kennedy, and Saltonstall, - a most agreeable party.
Mr. Fillmore was chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means; and, as I was invited to be present at several of their
meetings, I became quite intimate with him.  The manner in
which he discharged the office of chairman of the Committee of
Ways and Means showed great resources and much tact.  He
won my entire esteem and respect."
But the subject of the tariff is by no means the only
one on which Mr. Appleton has written and spoken with
unsurpassed ability. His attention was early called to
the banking system  of Massachusetts, and to the currency of the United States; and he kept an intelligent
and vigilant eye upon them both, to the end of his life.
He was ever ready with suggestions, as prudent as they
were prompt, for remedying the embarrassments or
averting the disasters to which a paper circulation is so
peculiarly liable; and few men have done more than he
has done towards sustaining public credit, and reviving
public confidence, in those seasons of pressure and
panic by which the speculating spirit of our country
has been so often overtaken. Rarely, indeed, has such
a season occurred, without calling forth from him a letter, a newspaper article or series of articles, a speech
or an essay, which has given the lead and direction to
public sentiment, far beyond the limits of the commu



MEMOIR OF ION. NATHAN APPLETON.      39
nity to which it was inimediately addressed.  He had
a peculiar faculty of disentangling the intricacies of a
financial or commercial question, and of presenting it in
a form intelligible to the common mind. In this respect,
among the men of the last half-century, he was only
second, if second at all, to the late Mr. Albert Gallatin,
with many of whose views he sympathized, and with
whom he shared the enviable distinction of having recalled the commercial and banking community to a
sense of what was just and honest, in many an hour
when they were tempted to seek relief from embarrassment by the postponement of acknowledged obligations.
The key to his whole policy, on questions of finance and
currency, was the stern integrity of his own character;
and he demanded, of those who managed the banking
institutions of the land, only the same strictness in the
fulfilment of engagements which he ever exhibited in his
own individual transactions. His principal essay on the
currency, as published in 1841, and republished with
additions in 1857, is almost worthy of being studied in
the schools, as an elementary manual on this seemingly
difficult subject, which it simplifies to the level of the
most ordinary comprehension. There are those among
us who well remember the attention it excited at Washington, among public men from the South as well as the
North, when it was first received there, at a moment of
great financial perplexity; and the'astonishment which
was expressed, that a little plain, practical, unpretending common sense and common honesty had dispelled
so many of the seeming mysteries of currency and exchange.




40          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
We have seen, in our last citation, that Mr. Appleton
early distrusted the policy and principles of the late
Mr. Biddle, and had some pretty independent views in
regard to Mr. Biddle's Bank. We shall see more of
this in the account of his relations to this question
of banks and currency, as given in the extracts from his
Autobiography, with which we now proceed:"The establishment of country banks in Massachusetts commenced about the year 1800. As their bills found a general
circulation, the business was profitable, and the increase of
country banks was rapid. As the bills accumulated in Boston,
something must be done with them.  At one time, the Boston
banks received them; but the sending them home for payment
was very unpopular.  A  nondescript association, called the
Boston Exchange Office, was chartered, with a capital consisting
of' current bank-bills,' and authorized to receive deposits and
make discounts in that currency: but the brokers would send
home the bills of the most accessible banks, and the discount on
country-bank notes; or, in the language of the day, the premium
on Boston money continued to increase. A lawyer of Boston,
named Andrew Dexter, undertook a tremendous speculation, -
no less than the control of the circulating medium of New England. He obtained the control of the Boston Exchange Office;
of a number of distant country banks; of the Berkshire, at
Pittsfield; the Bangor, at Bangor; and especially the Farmers'
Exchange, in Rhode Island.  But, by an act of consummate
folly, he invested the funds they placed within his control in an
enormous building, known by the name of the Boston Exchange.
He and all the country, banks became pressed for means. The
banks threw every obstacle in the way of payment of their bills,
giving drafts on their agents at longer and longer time, until it
reached three months, and the discount increased until it reached
five per cent. At the same time, these bills continued to be
received in payment in the country trade at par. Under these
circumstances, there was a general disposition to resist so great




3MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           41
an abuse. I undertook to form a plan for putting an end to it.
At this time (1808), there was no penalty on the banks of Massachusetts for delay of payment, except simple interest and the
costs of suit. The only power of coercion consisted in multiplying suits.  I obtained a subscription of a hundred dollars
each, from one hundred individuals and firms; which fund was
placed in the hands of William Cochran, a broker, for management. We addressed a circular, which I drew up, addressed to
all the country banks, informing them of our determination to put
an end to the system of evasion and delay by legal means. The
first call was on the Northampton Bank, which had lately gone
into new hands; who were putting out their bills fieely, with a
view of playing the non-payment game. They began paying in
fourpence-halfpennies.  The agent employed, Lewis Tappan,
was instructed to go on counting the money tendered him, but
to inform the cashier, that, if they turned him out of the bank
till he was ready to go, he should bring separate suits in behalf
of all the parties interested in the several demands which he
made; and so on, from day to day.  After holding out until a
late hour, the bank finally gave in, and gave a draft at a few
days' sight on the agent in Boston. No other bank thought
proper to attempt resistance. Dexter's banks all fell into discredit, and ceased to have any currency.
"A system of most barefaced fraud was discovered in connection with the Farmers' Exchange Bank, which compelled
Mr. Dexter to leave the State. A most violent paralysis and
crisis followed in reference to the circulation of country-bank
notes.  Nearly all the country banks, having considerable
circulation, stopped payment; but those which were really
solvent soon acquired the means of resumption. Some finally
liquidated in full; but a great number never paid any thing.
The result of this lesson was a correction of public opinion in
relation to bank circulation. The general sympathy for country
banks ceased: they were left to stand on their own merits.
During this period, there was a good deal of discussion in the
newspapers, in which I took a part.
"In the course of the war with England in 1814, the banks
6




42          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
of New York stopped payment, or, in the language of the day,
suspended payment in specie; and all the South and West followed suit.  At this time, the banks in Boston were very rich
in specie. Neither the banks nor the citizens had gone into the
war loans, as both had done in New York and Philadelphia;
nor had her merchants taken much part in the wild speculations
in merchandise which prevailed in other parts of the country.
The question arose, whether the Boston banks should or could
continue to pay specie whilst all the rest of the country had
suspended. Public opinion was a good deal divided.
"Some very intelligent men took the ground, that it was
absurd for Boston to think of paying specie whilst the banks of
all the rest of the country had suspended. I was a director
of the Boston Bank, and took ground with those who held that
it was a mistake and a disgrace to suspend, except under a dire
necessity; that not only did no such necessity exist, but the fact
that all the other banks of the country were in a state of suspense made it easier for those of Boston to continue to pay
specie; inasmuch as specie, like every thing else, was sure to flow
where it was in use, or wanted, rather than to places where it
had ceased to have any occupation.  The event justified these
views. Boston maintained her integrity in her currency, not
only during the war, but during the long period of Southern
suspension after the peace. The discount on the currency of
Philadelphia reached twenty per cent. Boston felt no pressure
on her money-market until the preparations for resumption after
the establishment of the United-States Bank. She escaped, in
a great measure, the terrible revulsion ever resulting from the
restoration of a sound currency, after the existence, for a long
period, of a depreciated one. This was fully developed in 1819.
Boston suffered from her connection with New York and the
South, but scarcely at all from her operations at home. During
this period of suspension, I wrote frequently in the newspapers,
especially a series of three or four numbers in the daily' Advertiser,' under the head,'Will the Southern Banks again pay
Specie?' also a review of the Report of the Secretary of the
Treasury (Mr. Dallas), severely censuring his action after the




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           43
peace.  I also wrote a review of Mr. Crawford's Report in
1820, in which he made several mistakes in relation to the
currency of New England during the period of Southern suspension.
"In 1834, the country was deeply excited by the warfare
carried on by General Jackson against the United-States Bank.
At a public meeting in Boston, a committee was appointed to
proceed to Washington with a memorial to Congress on the
subject, of which I was appointed chairman. Nothing could
have surprised me more than this appointment, as it was well
known that I was of opinion that Mr. Biddle had already carried the system of contraction farther than was necessary. I
was, therefore, disposed to decline the appointment. I learned,
however, that I had been nominated for this office because of
this opinion; and I finally concluded to accept it. On arriving
in New York, I, with some others of the committee, called upon
James G. King and Mr. Gallatin, who were members of a NewYork Committee. We found the dissatisfaction with Mr. Biddle
very ripe, and that they had given him an ultimatum, which he
must accept, or be denounced at the adjourned public meeting
as unnecessarily pressing upon the mercantile community. Mr.
Gallatin read to us a report which he had prepared to meet the
contingency. The meeting was to be held the next day. In
the evening, who should appear at Bunker's, where the committee stopped, but Mr. Biddle himself! In the course of the
evening, Mr. P. T. Jackson, Mr. Henry Lee, and myself, invited
him to a private conference, at which we told him some home
truths, - that our community ought not and would not sustain
him in further pressure, which he very well knew was not necessary for the safety of the bank, and in which his whole object
was to coerce a charter through the distresses of the mercantile
community. He listened to us; but we could get very little from
him but the merest commonplace. Soon after our arrival at
Washington, I received, as I had previously arranged, a letter
from Mr. King, saying that Mr. Biddle had yielded to the
requisitions of the New-York Committee. Of course, the pressure of the money-market would, in a great measure, cease.




44          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
This intelligence was not altogether agreeable to all my political
friends, so entirely does a political object override all other considerations. The arrangement with the New-York banks was
only for a month; at the end of which, Mr. Biddle was reckless
enough to put an end to it, and renew the pressure with even
greater violence than before.  But Congress adjourned soon
after; when he gave up the chase, changed his tune, and increased the discounts of the bank some ten millions in the course
of six months: -
1st September, 1834........  $47,059,000
1st June, 1835..........   63,649,000
" In 1831, I published a pamphlet, with the title' An Examination of the Banking System of Massachusetts, in Reference
to the Renewal of the Bank Charters.' This was published
without my name; but, as I freely avowed the authorship, it was
generally understood. As it objected to granting the right of
circulation to banks with capitals of less than five hundred thousand dollars, it was opposed by the country-bank interest, and
called forth several pamphlets in answer. It took the ground,
that the tax should apply wholly and only to the right of circulation.'The tax can only be justified as the grant of a privilege
under a right especially belonging to the State, that of regulating
the currency;' not the legal currency transferred to the United
States, but of bank-notes, which may be considered a conventional currency, depending wholly on the choice or pleasure of
the receiver.  My object in publishing this pamphlet was to put
forward certain leading principles which I deemed correct, rather
than any expectation of producing an actual change in the legislation of Massachusetts at that time.
" In 1835-6, a very remarkable state of over-trade existed;
the immediate cause of it being an arrangement by which certain London houses allowed themselves to be drawn upon by
houses in America, without funds in hand, but with an understanding, that, before the maturity of the bills so drawn, other
bills, by other parties, should be substituted for those falling
due.




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.          45
"Whilst these bills could be discounted by the Bank of
England, all went smoothly; and the system went on until the
amount of the accommodation-bills, drawn upon nothing, became
excessive.  The Bank of England became alarmed at the
amount, and refused to discount them.
"The failure of several large houses took place; others
could only be saved by large remittances from America. This
demand produced a call on the banks for specie; a violent
pressure upon the money-market took place; a number of
failures wholly unprecedented occurred in New York; the
panic was tremendous; and at length, after a struggle of a
month, the banks of New York yielded to the storm, and suspended specie payments, about the 1st of -April, 1837. The
banks throughout the whole country followed suit with great
joy and alacrity. I was in Europe at the time, but returned in
September, 1837. The banks of New York had got from the
Legislature an extension of this suspension for a year; which
expired in May, 1838. A call was made for a convention to
meet in New York in April, to consider the subject of a general
resumption. In November; 1837, I commenced a series of four
numbers in the' Boston Daily Advertiser,' advocating an early
resumption of specie payments, and the sending delegates to
the proposed convention at New York. The idea of resumption caused great alarm, and met with much opposition; but it
was agreed to send delegates to the convention. I was, however, carefully excluded, as too radical in favor of resumption.
Philadelphia, under the influence of Mr. Biddle, was utterly
opposed to resumption, and persuaded Boston to go with her.
Under the influence of Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Ward (of Prime,
Ward, and King), the Legislature of New York was prevented
granting a further extension; and the banks of New York
actually resumed about the 1st of May. To assist the resumption, at the suggestion of James G. King, then in England, the
Bank of England sent out by him a million of sovereigns, to be
remitted for in bills of exchange then below par; under the
influence of which, both Boston and Philadelphia resumed soon
after.




46          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
" I was in Philadelphia about this time, and had a conversation with Mr. Biddle, in the course of which I was exceedingly
disgusted with the views which he expressed. There can be
but little doubt that he contemplated compelling the New-York
banks again to suspend, and was in fact defeated by this timely
supply of gold from the Bank of England.
" In 1840, Mr. Clay determined to bring forward his project
for another Bank of the United States. I published, with my
name, a pamphlet on' Currency and Banking,' one motive of
which was to show the danger from an institution of so great
power. I had become satisfied, from my own observation, that
it was a power too great to be intrusted to any one man.
" In 1839 (October), the Bank of the United States, acting
under its Pennsylvania chatter, again suspended payment, and
proved desperately insolvent; carrying with it the Philadelphia
banks, who foolishly involved themselves in its fortunes, from
which they were only relieved by a large loan from Boston and
New York. In arranging this loan, I took a leading and active
part. Philadelphia did resume in consequence, on the 15th of
January, 1841; but the Bank of the United States broke down
after ten days' trial. The other banks of Philadelphia again
followed suit, and did not finally resume until
" During all this period, from 1837, I was frequently writing
for the newspapers in Boston and Philadelphia, urging upon
Philadelphia and the South to restore their currency."
The few remaining pages of the 1" Sketches of Autobiography " are almost wholly taken up with the
account of another and more extensive tour in Europe,
and with the domestic incidents by which it was occasioned and attended. There is nothing of particular
interest or value in it, except inasmuch as it is eminently characteristic of the writer. It gives facts and
names and dates, without the slightest attempt to
describe the wonders of nature or of art which came




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.      47
within his view, or to express the emotions which they
were calculated to excite. It was enough, for his own
satisfaction, to say that he saw such places and persons
and things. He had never studied the style of a wordpainter; and the impressions which he received were
probably rather practical than poetical. On his arrival
at Geneva, he says only, " From thence made an excursion to Chamouni, and back to Geneva: was much
interested in this excursion."  Mont Blanc was certainly
never dismissed with a simpler or less rapturous allusion. We have no idea that the grandeur of the Alps
was lost upon him, or that he failed to appreciate the
sublimity of the scenes which he had witnessed; but
we may presently have reason for thinking, that the
peculiar interest of the excursion was derived from his
finding marks upon the rocks in that region, which concurred with some observations previously made by him
at home.
More gratifying to him, however, we doubt not, than
this view of " the monarch of mountains," or even than
the presentation to the monarch of France, and the
ball at the Tuileries, which he afterwards mentions,
was the visit with which he concludes the account,
as if it were the very climax of the whole tour, - the
visit to the county of Suffolk, to the parishes of Great
and Little Waldingfield, and to Holbrooke Hall, where
his progenitors had resided in years long past. As he
entered that old manor-house, and surveyed the ancestral seat, and then looked on the " beautiful genealogy"
which his good friend Mr. Almack had so kindly prepared for him, he may well have experienced some
emotions of pride, that the family tree had suffered




48          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
nothing by transplantation; that "leaves and stalks,
vert," had proved to be something more than a mere
token of heraldry; and that the name of Appleton
was (to say the least) as worthily distinguished at that
moment, in his own person and in those immediately
connected with him, as it had been during any of the
six or seven generations in which it had either worn a
title of knighthood, or been associated with the gentry
of England. That old Suffolk soil must have contained
its full share of English grit; and the stock which came
from it has, in this instance certainly, proved hardy
and rugged enough to repel all ideas of American degeneracy.  But the " Sketches" must once more speak
for themselves:
"' I declined being a candidate for re-election to the Twentythird Congress, because political life was not much to my taste,
but particularly as inconsistent to my duty to my family as it
was then situated. In 1835 my son Charles made a tour to the
South, on account of his health; but returned in a worse state
than he left, and, in the course of the summer, fell a victim to
his disease. One of my daughters was in delicate health, and I
was advised by Dr. Warren to take a voyage to Europe. Accordingly, in November, with my son Thomas and two daughters, I embarked at New York for Havre, where we arrived
about the middle of December, the thermometer about zero,
which continued till we reached Paris. I was very happy to
meet at Havre my old friend J. B. Greene, whom I had not
seen for many years, and who gave us a most cordial reception.
After a few weeks at Paris, we proceeded to Italy by way of
Lyons, Marseilles, and the Corniche, or maritime Alp road.
At Marseilles we passed two or three days; dined with the
brothers Rabout, who lived with their interesting mother, whose
husband and their father had fallen a sacrifice to the revolution.
We also became acquainted with Mrs. Fitch, and Mr. Oxnard's




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           49
interesting family. We spent a day at Toulon, and at Genoa
dined with Mr. Campbell, the American Consul, who informed
me that a gentleman was in the city with a commission for the
same office, but who, after consulting him, concluded to keep it
in his pocket. We admired the old palaces, full of old pictures,
and the quaint old narrow streets, in which was barely room fbr
a jackass with panniers to pass. By Carrara and Pisa and Florence, we went to Sienna, where we visited the famous gallery
of old pictures, and other curiosities of old times. At Rome we
passed many weeks; visited all the galleries, churches, &c.,
Tivoli and Tusculum.  We remained through the ceremonies
of Holy Week, which should close with the illumination of St.
Peter's and the Girandola from the Castle of St. Angelo; but,
owing to bad weather, these were postponed from day to day
for a week, when the idea was abandoned. We then set out
for Naples, where we passed our time most agreeably, visiting
Pompeii, Vesuvius, Pxstum, Baie, &c. The ruins of Pompeii
and the Museum are the most interesting objects to be found
anywhere. Here we met Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Brooks; and
from Naples we took steamboat for Leghorn, where we spent
two or three days, and enjoyed some musical parties at Mr.
Grant's. Hence to Bologna, Modena, Parma, Mantua, Verona.
The alarming accounts of the cholera prevented our going to
Venice, to our great regret; but we proceeded to Milan and
Como, where we made an excursion up the Lake, then to Lake
Maggiore and the Simplon to Brig;g, and down the Rhone to
Geneva. From thence we made an excursion to Chamouni, and
back to Geneva: I was much interested in this excursion. We
proceeded down the Lake to Lausanne; thence to Neufchatel,
Morat, Berne by Thun, to Interlachen; and made an excursion
over the Col-  to the Faulhorn, where we slept at the temporary house, the highest sleeping-place in Europe; thence by
Brientz to Interlachen; and thence to Berne, Lucerne, and
Ziirich. One of our party was William Appleton, son of William Appleton; a sweet youth, who, for some time, had been
suffering from a disease of the lungs. We reached Schaffhausen, when he was unable to proceed further. We' were at the
7




50          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
hotel, where he had every attention. He lingered on for some
weeks, when, after giving particular directions for the disposition of his collections, he peacefully and sweetly closed his eyes
at the age of twenty.
"It so happened that the Rev. J. M. (afterward Bishop)
Wainwright arrived at the hotel the day after his death, and
consented to stay, and perform the funeral service. The keeper
of the hotel informed me, that several gentlemen of the place
were desirous of attending the funeral; to which, of course, I
assented. There was quite a procession to the burying-ground,
where I obtained a lot in perpetuity, and afterward sent a
monumental stone from Paris.
"We afterward proceeded to Friburg, Strasburg, BadenBaden, Heidelburg, Darmstadt, Frankfort, to Mayence.  Here
both my daughters were attacked with what the physician called
a' gastric fever,' by which we were detained six weeks. During
this period, Thomas and myself made excursions to the chateau
of Prince -Metternich, at Johannisburg, and to Wisbaden.  On
the 2d November, with snow on the ground, we left Mayence
for Paris, rvid MAetz, Chalons, Rheims, Meaux, where we found
apartments engaged for us at Meurice's.  We left them, however, for very handsome apartments, Rue de Rivoli 10 bis, which
I took for the winter. They were the property of a French
officer, -who married the widow of a rich Marseilles merchant;
but who, belonging to the other party, was out of place under
Louis Philippe.
"During the winter, we attended the various public amusements of Paris, saw all the sights, attended the weekly soirees
of General Cass, were presented at court, and accepted invitations to the grand ball at the Tuileries, - a very splendid affair.
We frequently attended Mr. Walsh's soirdes, where were collected many of the savans.
" About April 20, we left Paris for Brussels. There had been
a heavy snowv-storm, and we met with many drifts on the sides
of the road.  We passed two or three days at Brussels, visited
Waterloo, but were prevented reaching Hougomont by the road
being blocked up with snow. Proceeding to Rotterdam, Am



MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.           51
sterdam, and the Hague, we took the steamer at Rotterdam for
London, where we arrived on the 2d May: the passage up the
Thames was very interesting. We took rooms at the Brunswick Hotel, Jermyn Street; attended Epsom races, the Opera,
&c.; made an excursion to Waldingfield; called on the rector
of Great Waldingfield, who handed me the beautiful genealogy of
the Appletons, drawn by Mr. Almack, now in my possession;
visited both churches and Holbrooke Hall with much interest."
We come, at last, to the passage which forms the
abrupt conclusion of these fragmentary sketches, and
which at once betrays the source of that peculiar gratification which Mr. Appleton derived from  his Alpine
tour, and exhibits him in connection with subjects of
investigation quite apart from those in which we have
hitherto found him engaged:" My attention was early called to the subject of geology, to
which I was attracted by the articles in the different reviews.
I had been accidentally led to notice the striated surface of
rocks, where they had not been acted upon by the atmosphere.
For several years, I carried with me, in travelling, a pocket
compass, and made my observations wherever I had opportunity.
I ascertained that the same state of the rock surfaces existed
firom Canada to the District of Columbia, with grooves all
running in the same direction.  I was greatly surprised that
this fact had never been noticed by geologists, which induced
me to write an article to call their attention to it. I offered it
to a work then published at Cambridge, edited by Dr. Webster
and Mr. Treadwell: they objected to publish it, as indulging
too much in theory, unless I would affix my name to it, to which
they urged me. To this I would not consent, and sent it to
Mr. Sillimlan, who published it in his journal of October, 18o26.
I only considered it important for its facts, which have since
been the subject of great interest, and given rise to much discussion.




52         MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
"It so happened, that in driving one day with Captain Basil
Hall, and stopping to examine a geological formation, in the
course of conversation, he asked me if I was the author of an
article in Silliman's Journal on this subject. On my answering
that I was, he stated to me, that his attention to it had been
called by his father, Sir James Hall, who had published an
article in the Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions, describing
very nearly the same state of things, on one of the mountains of
Scotland. This was the first intimation which I had, that these
important phenomena had been observed anywhere at that time.
The subject has been since very fully gone into by Dr. Jackson,
in his Geology of Maine; and Professor Hitchcock, in that of
Massachusetts. The theories of glaciers and icebergs have been
introduced to account for their strike with the accompanying
alluvium, but with little satisfaction to a careful observer, as I
think.
"c' WVhen in Switzerland, I noticed there some mlarks on the
rocks near the tops of some of the mountains, as on the Col de
Forclaz, near the glacier de Rosenlaui and on the entrance into
Chamouni, in situations directly the reverse of the ravines, into
which alone glaciers can act."
Mr. Appleton had evidently cultivated those habits
of close observation and careful discrimination which
belong to the successful pursuit of natural science;
and, for one who studied it only as an amateur, had
become no mean proficient in geology. The superficial
scratches which he had observed on the rocks, and to
which he had so early called the attention of others,
have given rise to a theory, which has since been much
contested among scientific men. But he had decided
opinions on this, as he had on almost all other questions
which he undertook to examine at all; and he had a
decided manner of expressing those opinions. He did
not seek controversy, perhaps; but he rather relished




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.       53
it, and certainly never shrunk from  it.  Nor did
he ever fail to conduct it with ability, good temper,
and unyielding persistency. He seemed always ready,
and always able, to give a reason for the faith that
was in him, whether that faith related to matters
commercial or political, to questions of morals or of
science, to things temporal or to things eternal. Within
a few years of his death, a casual correspondence with
an Episcopal clergyman in England led him into an
elaborate discussion of the doctrines of " Original Sin
and the Trinity," in which he maintained the views
which had been commended to him from the lips of the
eloquent Channing, and his able and devoted successor,
in the church of which he himself was a faithful and
conscientious member.  The correspondence reached
through twelve long letters, six on each side, - making
up a pamphlet of fifty pages; and even those who
may differ most widely from his conclusions cannot
fail to be struck with the candor, the research, the
precision, and the power which he displayed in the
argument.
And yet, while Mr. Appleton has left so many evidences of distinguished success in so many varied
departments of discussion and controversy, both oral
and written, one might hesitate about calling him either
a great writer or a great debater. There are, at least,
two sorts of persons in the world, — those who cannot tell half they know, and those who can tell a great
deal more than they know. The latter sort are generally classed among great debaters and great writers.
Mr. Appleton was eminently one of the former class.




54         MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
He had not the gift of fluent speech. He did not converse easily. He did not communicate with facility
or with fulness.  " His tongue" (to use the familiar
phrase of the Psalmist) was not " the pen of a ready
writer." Nor was his pen (if we may reverse that
phrase) the tongue of a ready speaker. He made a
few invaluable speeches in Congress; but they were
laboriously prepared, and gained nothing by the delivery. He wrote, as we have seen, many powerful
essays, and a vast number of excellent articles in the
public journals: but a dry, terse, unimaginative style
characterized them all, without illustration or amplification; and we are continually led to say, as we read
them, "What a reserve of information and argument
he had! - how much more he knew and felt than he
was able to express! " Even his style, however, as far
as it went, was a remarkable one, -— clear, concise,
sententious, pungent, conveying his meaning with marvellous exactness, and singularly adapted to the topics
which he treated. Few college-bred men have written
purer English. But it was the style of an acute, independent, and often profound thinker, rather than of an
attractive writer or an impressive speaker.  His productions seem often, indeed, more like the notes of a
speech, or the heads of an argument, than like the
argument or the speech itself. And so they often were
to others, if not to himself. If those who served in
Congress, either with him or during his time, from the
greatest to the least, could tell from what magazines or
reservoirs of fact, experience, and practical knowledge,
they derived many of their most effective materials




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.      55
for some of those efforts which won the admiration of
their constituents and the country, they would say that
it was from the private correspondence, the personal
communication, or the published essays of 1Mr. Nathan
Appleton. Nor can we fail to reflect, now that he is no
more, what a resource to the National Administration his
experience, his sagacity, and his practical wisdom would
have been at this moment, in aiding it to provide for
the financial exigencies which have resulted from the
deplorable conflict into which it has been precipitated
by the madness of the Southern States.
Ile lived long enough to see the commencement of
this conflict, and to realize the difficulties, dangers, and
momentous issues, which it involved. Conservative and
national in all his views, he had always deprecated sectional agitations and contentions, and had combated
the course of the Free-soil and Antislavery parties of
the North, both by his vote and by his pen; but he
had no sympathy with secessionists or disunionists
anywhere. His last pamphlet, published as lately as
March, 1860, was a letter to his friend Mr. Rives, of
Virginia, protesting against the extreme views of the
South as well as of the North.  And, after the first
blow had been struck by Carolina, he knew nothing
but his country's cause; and cordially concurred with
his political friends in the doctrine, that the Government must be supported, the flag defended, and the
authority of the Constitution re-asserted, if possible,
over the whole Union. Within a week before his
death, he gave his name and a handsome contribution
to the reception of a regiment from his native State of




56       lM~EMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
New Hampshire, and regretted that he could not be
present to welcome them personally, as they marched
through Boston on their way to the defence of the
Capital. Yet he regarded the insurrection of the Southern States more in sorrow than in anger, and would have
been one of the last to countenance or to encourage the
idea of prosecuting the war in any spirit of hatred or
revenge, or with any view either of emancipating the
slave or subjugating his master.
But the clouds which had gathered so thickly over
the country were not the only ones which darkened the
closing scenes of the career which has thus been
sketched. While the little remnant of his life was to
be counted by days, and almost by hours, and while
he was awaiting his final summons with calm resignation to the Divine Will, a sudden and most distressing
domestic calamity was announced to him, - resulting,
after a brief interval, in the death of a beloved daughter, who, in the pride of her matronly beauty, and in
the enjoyment of every advantage and distinction which
could render her life dear to herself or enviable to
others, had fallen a victim to an accident which thrilled
the heart of the whole community. " She has gone
but a little while before me" was his only response to
these startling tidings; and he braced himself up anew
to endure whatever his heavenly Father had appointed
for him. On the day of her funeral at Cambridge, he
rose, and dressed himself in a full suit of mourning, and
sat in his accustomed arm-chair, as if he were present
(as he was in spirit) at the sad ceremonial. He listened
with composure, soon afterwards, to a detailed recital,




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.      57
at his own particular request, of all the circumstances
connected with her death and burial, and then retired to
his bed for the night. Before another sun had fully
risen, his spirit had returned to God who gave it; and,
on the third day following, his remains were borne to
Mount Auburn, and laid beside the lovely form of his
lamented child.
Mr. Appleton has himself referred, in the sketches
which have been given, to the death of his first wife in
1833. She had borne him two sons and two daughters.
The second son died, of consumption, in 1835. The
eldest daughter, who had married a son of the late
distinguished English statesman and philosopher, Sir
James Mackintosh, and who resides with her husband
and children in London, was unable to be with him at
the time of his death. The second daughter, the wife
of our accomplished and admirable poet, Longfellow,
was sadly torn away, as we have seen, while her father
was just waiting for his own release. But he had been
most happily married again, in 1839, to an amiable and
excellent person, by whom he had three other children,
who, with their mother and his eldest son, were at hand
to watch over his last hours, to sympathize with him
under the terrible blow which had fallen upon him and
them alike, and to attend him in those closing scenes,
for which none less near and dear than wife and children can ever be sufficient.
It would be unjust to Mr. Appleton's character if
the impression were to be left that he sunk under the
blow which had thus unexpectedly fallen upon him.
He had no nervous susceptibilities which exposed
8




58         MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
him to be prematurely prostrated even by so sudden a
shock. The wreaths of oak and ivy which were laid
upon his coffin were just emblems of his qualities and
career. He was eminently a man of courage and constancy, and had strength of will, and firmness of soul,
for whatever event might betide him. But his own
days had long been numbered, and the vital flame had
so flickered in the socket before the blast of that terrible
bereavement reached it, that it was rather a surprise
that he had lived so long, than that he had died at
last.  "I am  not afraid," was his reply to a friend
who made some suggestion to him only a day or two
before this domestic  calamity  occurred, —" to tell
you the truth, I believe I am not afraid of any thing."
One of the mottoes which has sometimes been associated with his family arms might peculiarly have been
selected as his own motto; and the language in which
it has come down to us was by no means unfamiliar to
him, — Ne cede malis, sed contra auzdentior ito.  If
the first half of the line had been adopted in the spirit
of a pun upon the family name, (as so many of the old
mottoes were,) nothing could have been more applicable to himself personally than the latter half. Partly
as the result of physical constitution, and partly as the
result of the faith which he had cherished and cultivated through life, lie was of a temper never to yield
to adversities, but to bear up bravely against them to
the end.*
* Another motto of the Appleton Family is Jlalis fortitle  obsta.  Both breathe the
same spirit, and both involve the same play upon words.




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.          59
Persistent courage and inflexible integrity were, indeed, the two  leading  elements of Mr. Appleton's
character, and constituted the secrets of his great success.  To these, more than to any thling else, he owed
both his fortune and his fame.  He displayed his boldness by embarking in untried enterprises, by advocating
unpopular doctrines, by resisting popular prejudices, by
confronting the most powerful and accomplished opponents in oral or written argument, and by shrinking
from no controversy into which the independent expression of his opinions might lead him. His integrity was
manifested, where all the world might read it, in the daily
dealings of a long mercantile career, and in the principles which he inculcated in so many forms of moral,
commercial, and financial discussion. There is nothing
in his " Sketches of Autobiography" more true of himself than the following passage from his memoir of
the late Abbott Lawrence, as prepared for this Society
in 1856, and published in our Collections: —," The merchant makes no claim to benevolence or patriotism
as his ruling motive in trade: all he professes is absolute and
undeviating justice. The morals of trade are of the strictest
and purest character.  It is not an uncommon opinion, that
there is a laxity in the mercantile code, which looks with indulgence on what are called the tricks of trade.  It is not so.
Whilst the direct object of all trade is gain, individual benefit,
not the slightest prevarication or deviation from truth is allowable. There is no class of men with whom the Christian rule, of
doing to others what we expect or require in return, is more
strictly demanded than amongst merchants. Mercantile honor
is as delicate and fragile as that of a woman. It will not bear
the slightest stain. The man in trade, who has been found to




60          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
equivocate or falter in his course, becomes a marked man. He
is avoided.  It is thus found, by experience, that integrity is
almost as uniformly the accompaniment of success, as it always
is of character."
It only remains for me to do an act of justice to Mr.
Appleton's character, to which he seemed to attach
particular importance, and which can best be performed
by simply transcribing a memorandum of my own, made
at the time. I had called to bid him good-bye before
going to Europe, two or three years ago; and found him
suffering  severely from  a racking cough, and hardly
expecting to live until my return. After conversing for
a few minutes on several topics, in presence of his family, he asked me to go with him into his little private
library, where he said substantially as follows: —
" You know I have always told you, that I relied on you to
look after my memory after I am gone, and to prepare some
little biography or memoir of me, according to the custom of
our Historical Society.  I have arranged abundant materials,
which you shall have at the right time. But there is one point
of my character that I do not think the world is in the way of
understanding. I have accumulated a large fortune, and people
are liable to think that I have been peculiarly devoted to moneymaking.  As I came to Boston a poor boy, this would be a
natural inference. Yet nothing is more untrue. The truth is,
when I had succeeded in laying up a moderate property, - say
two hundred thousand dollars, - I was quite content, and
intended to retire altogether from business. It was altogether
accidental that I have ever gone further.  I have explained
something of this in my late pamphlet on the history of Lowell
and the Cotton Manufacture.  It was wholly accident that I
went into that business; and the truth is, that my mind has
always been devoted to many other things rather than money



MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.       61
making. That has never been a passion with me, or ever a
subject of much concern. Accident, and not effort, has made
me a rich man."
Mr. Appleton need have had no such apprehensions
as might seem to be implied in these remarks. Neither
the employment of his time, his faculties, nor his fortune, had been that of a mere maker or hoarder or
lover of money; and no such character could ever have
been attached to him by the community in which he
lived. The very investment of so large a part of his
property in domestic manufactures had many of the best
elements of charity; and the satisfaction which he derived from the success by which he was himself enriched,
was not a little enhanced by the consideration, that he
had been the means of affording employment to so great
a number of operatives, of both sexes, who might otherwise have failed to obtain work and wages. But his mind
was one of the last that could have contented itself with
merely poring over his own day-book and ledger, much as
he may have prized the virtues of the trial-balance. He
was a person of large reading, diligent study, careful
reflection, varied acquisition; whose published writings
would alone be sufficient to show how little of his time
and thought could have been taken up with any private,
pecuniary ends of his own. Harvard University recognized his claims to the distinctions of literature by the
honorary degrees of Master of Arts in 1844, and of
Doctor of Laws in 1855. The American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, the American Antiquarian Society,
and other kindred associations, enrolled him among their
domestic members; and the Archaeological Institute of




62        MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
Suffolk County, in Old England, placed his name on its
foreign honorary list. He had, indeed, accumulated a
great estate; but it had brought with it no canker of
pride or avarice.  IHe was a liberal, public-spirited
gentleman, whose charity began at home, but did not end
there; who made handsome provision for a hospitable
household and a numerous family, without limiting his
benevolence within the range of domestic obligations
or personal ties. He was not ostentatious of his bounty,
either in life or death; nor did he seek celebrity for his
name by any single and signal endowment: but he
never looked with indifference on the humane and
philanthropic enterprises of the day, nor declined to
unite in sustaining those institutions of education and
science which are the glory of his time. His sense of
justice and his distaste for display prevailed even here;
and he preferred being known as " doing his share" in
any public cause, to being remarked upon for extraordinary munificence.
The deep interest which he took in our own Society,
during a membership of nearly thirty years, has been
manifested by his punctual attendance at our meetings,
by his frequent donations to our library, and by more
than one most timely and liberal contribution to our
treasury. His instrumentality was highly effective in
our behalf as one of the committee by which our
present building was secured to us; and still more as
one of the executors of his late excellent brother (Mr.
Samuel Appleton) in the establishment of our Publishing Fund, which bears that brother's name. IHis own
name will be cherished in our memories among those




MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.              63
which have most adorned our rolls, and will henceforth
have a conspicuous place in that list of illustrious
Merchants, whose enterprise, integrity, and public spirit
have made up so large a part of the best history of
Boston.
Mr. APPLETON married, —
First, in 1806, Maria Theresa Gold, eldest daughter of Thomas
Gold, Esq., of Pittsfield, who was born 7th November, 1786, and
died 10th February, 1833.
Their children were,
1. Thomas Gold, who was graduated at Harvard University in
1831.
2. Mary, who married Robert James Mackintosh, Esq., formerly
Governor-General of the Leeward Islands, and son of the late Sir
James Mackintosh, and has issue.
3. Charles Sedgwick, who died 25th October, 1835.
4. Fanny Elizabeth, who married Professor Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, and died (leaving issue) 10th July, 1861.
Mr. Appleton married, second, in 1839, Harriot Coffin Sumner, daughter of Jesse Sumner, Esq., of Boston.  Their children
are, -
1. William Sumner, who was graduated at Harvard University in
1860.
2. Harriot.
3. Nathan.




64           MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
The following list of Mr. APPLETON'S WVRITINGS is believed
to comprise all which have been published in pamphlet form: —
An Examination of the Banking System of Massachusetts, in Reference to the Renewal of the Bank Charters. 1831; pp. 48.
Remarks on 5Mr. Bouldin's Resolution of Inquiry into the Nature
of Minimum  Duties.  House of Representatives, Jan. 21,
1832; pp. 12.
Speech in Reply to Mr. MecDuffie, of South Carolina, on the
Tariff. House of Representatives, May 30, 1832; pp. 24.
Speech on the Bill to reduce and otherwise alter the Duties on
Imports. House of Representatives, Jan. 23, 1833; pp. 31.
Remarks on Currency and Banking; having Reference to the
present Derangement of the Circulating Medium in the United
States. 1841; pp. 48 (with Appendix, 73).
Speech on the Tariff and Compromise Act, delivered in the House
of Representatives, July 5, 1842; pp. 10.
Labor: its Relations in Europe and the United States compared.
1844; pp. 16.
Correspondence between Nathan Appleton and John G. Palfrey.
1846; pp. 20.
What is a Revenue Standard? and a Review of Secretary Walker's
Report on the Tariff. 1846; pp. 23.
Correspondence between Nathan Appleton and John A. Lowell in
Relation to the Early History of the City of Lowell. 1848;
pp. 19.
Memoir of Hon. Abbott Lawrence; prepared for the Massachusetts
Historical Society. 1856; pp. 20.
Remarks on Currency and Banking. Third edition. 1857; pp. 63.
Introduction of Power-loom, and Origrin of Lowell. 1858; pp. 36.
The Doctrines of Original Sin and the Trinity; discussed in a
Correspondence between a Clergyman of the Episcopal Church
in England and a Layman of Boston, U. S. 1859; pp. 50.
Letter to the Hon. William C. Rives, of Virginia, on Slavery and
the Union. 1860; pp. 17.




APPENDIX.
MEETING IN THE MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE.
A MEETING of the merchants of Boston was held yesterday,
at noon, in the Merchants' Exchange, for the purpose of testifying their respect for the memory of the late Hon. Nathan
Appleton. It was attended by a large number of prominent
business-men. Mr. J. W. Edmands called the meeting to order;
and, after stating the object of the meeting, he introduced Mr.
John A. Lowell as the President.  Messrs. P. T. Jackson and
Israel Lombard were chosen Secretaries.
Mr. LOWELL then made the following remarks:I thank you for this nomination. I might have hoped that your
choice would have fallen upon some one more used than I to such an
office; and yet I should hardly have been content that this opportunity should not have been afforded me of expressing my appreciation
of the public and private merits of Nathan Appleton.  No one,
perhaps, now living, has been for so long a period intimately associated with him in the pursuits of business; certainly no one is
prepared to render stronger testimony to the sagacity, the public
spirit, the unshaken firmness, the high tone of honor, that marked
every action of his long and useful career. His name is too intimately connected with finance, with commerce, with all the great
industrial pursuits of New England, to need eulogium from any one;
but it is a privilege which we, his fellow-citizens, would not willingly
forego, to bear our ready testimony to those qualities which have
done more than those of perhaps any other one man to enhance the
estimation and promote the prosperity, not of this city only, not of
9




66           MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
this State, nor of New England, but of the whole of our common
country, North, East, West, ay, and South. The time will come, I
am assured, when even that now ungrateful and rebellious land will
enroll the name of Nathan Appleton among the benefactors our country gave us.
REMARKS OF MR. J. T. STEVENSON.
May I be permitted, Milr. Chairman, to offer a resolution for the
consideration of this meeting?
This assembly of so many of our merchants at this unwonted
hour, upon the announcement of the departure fiom the scenes of
earth of a gentleman, who, through a long life, has occupied a very
prominent position in our commercial community, bears ample testimony to the manner in which his usefulness and virtues have been
appreciated here.
Mlr. Nathan Appleton was a man fit for an example.  He was a
loyal and public-spirited citizen, a steadfast fiiend, a safe adviser, an
honorable merchant, and a Christian gentleman. He executed the
numerous trusts which his high character in our community enforced
upon him, with that scrupulous faithfulness which is the brightest
jewel in the ornament of a merchant prince. Notwithstanding his
extreme modesty, amounting almost to bashfulness, the intrinsic
virtues of his character put him into the front rank of the profession
which he had chosen and which he loved.  In the conduct of affairs
he was very cautious, but truly courageous.
He was a very charitable man; not careless in his bestowments:
but rarely did any object which he knew to be a worthy one look for
his aid in vain. I have more than once heard him speak, with
obvious delight, of the fact, that the ample fortune which his own
enterprise had laid the foundations for, and which God had blessed
him with, was so invested as to give honorable employment and
sufficient wages to large numbers of persons less fortunate in that
respect than himself.
He was an accomplished gentleman. Endowed by nature with a
vigorous intellect, lie had employed his leisure from the active work
of business for its cultivation. He studied a subject before he talked
about it.  He was a logical thinker and a lucid writer.  The productions of his pen upon subjects affecting the commercial interests
and the political economy of the country have been of marked
value.




APPENDIX.                          67
In his old age, he enjoyed the innocent pleasures of life with a
zest that milght have become a boy.  The lengthening shadows, as
his sun went down, cast no obscurity over his mind; but he noted,
with the eye of a Christian philosopher, the gradual ebb of his own
vital powers.  Knowing, as lie did, that the time that was lent to
him must be measured by only a few days, lie approached the confines of eternity, though called upon to bear a terrible domestic
burden which an inscrutable Providence had just laid upon him,
with unfaltering step.  His perfect patience was founded on a firm
faith.
I may be asked, " Had our departed friend no faults? "  Of course
he had, for lie was human; and God has not vouchsafed to us that
men should be perfect here on earth. But assuredly we may permit
the cold hand of' death to draw an impenetrable veil over the frailties
or the foibles that made our friend a man, while we contemplate the
virtues which have fitted him for an angel.  May lie be an angel to
us! Let us imitate his example, and revere his memory; then,
though he be sleeping in the grave, he will still be doing good to those
who are to follow him.
We have not come here to mourn his loss. He has enjoyed a long
and a prosperous life.  Twelve years more than'" threescore and
ten" were allotted to him, and a cheerful spirit prevented old age
from becoming a burden to him; and now, in a filll maturity, a good
citizen, a kind friend, and an honorable merchant, has been gathered
to his fathers.  But we have come, rather, to bear a cheerful testimony to his large usefulness and to his many virtues.
Permit me to offtr the resolutions which I will read:Resolved, That the merchants of Boston desire to give expression to their
sense of the exalted worth of the lion. Nathan Appleton, and to testify
their respect for his memory.
Resolved, That the character of Mr. Appleton presented an example
worthy of imitation; that his vigorous intellect was habitually devoted to
useful objects; that his private fortune was so used as to be a public benefaction; that his kind heart, his open hand, his cool judgment, his unswerving integrity, his strict justice, and his pure morality, entitled him to our
affectionate respect while he lived, and will prompt us to cherish his memory
Dow that he has gone.
Resolved, That, without intending to intrude upon the sacred sorrow of
home, we take this occasion to assure the family of our departed friend of our
sincere sympathy with them in their double grief.
Resolved, That, in token of our respect for the deceased, we will attend the
funeral services at the King's Chapel this afternoon.




6 8          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
REMARKS OF HON. EDWARD EVERETT.
Mr. EVERETT spoke substantially as follows: —
IMr. Chairman, - I am rather out of place in this hall; but I have
cheerfully complied with the request of your Committee in giving my
attendance here, to join you in an expression of respect for the
memory of Mr. Appleton. It was my happiness to stand in friendly
relations to him from my earliest entrance into public life, and to
enjoy at all times his political and personal confidence.  He was
certainly a man of high mark; and he possessed those natural
endowments, and traits of character, which would have led to distinction in any walk of life. His career is too well known to those who
hear me to need a minute rehearsal. His original inclination seems
to have been for a profession. Circumstances, however, led him,
after preparing for a collegiate course at Dartmouth, to engage in
business; which he pursued, as we all know, for the rest of his life,
with intelligence, energy, and success.  But he retained to the last
his literary tastes, kept up his knowledge of the Latin language, was
fond of reading and writing, and gave the public many carefully prepared efforts of his pen.  Among these, I may mention his treatise
on currency and banking, first published in 1841; a tract on the
relations of labor in Europe and America; his account of the introduction of the power-loom into the United States, and of the foundation of the city of Lowell; and his biographical memoir of his friend
Mr. Abbott Lawrence, which was prepared at the request of the
Massachusetts Historical Society. Mlir. Appleton's opinions on the
important questions of the day were also occasionally published in
the form of letters to his friends; and, a year or two since, an interesting correspondence with an English clergyman on some theological
questions was printed by him.  All these compositions are marked
with clearness of statement, fulness of information, simplicity of
style, and vigorous common sense, without any attempt at ornament.
Mr. Appleton entered into business in Boston with his elder
brother Samuel in 1795, at the time when the commerce of the
United States, under the genial influence of the Federal Constitution,
had begun to revive from the paralysis caused by the old confederation. Twelve or thirteen years of prosperity followed, during which
he laid the foundations of his fortune.  The restrictive system




APPENDIX.                       69
which commenced in 1807 crippled the trade of the country, and
gradually forced the thoughts of enterprising men toward manufactures.  The first attempts, however, were made without skill or
experience, and with imperfect machinery, and did not inspire Mr.
Appleton with confidence in their success. Being in Europe in 1811,
he met Mr. Francis C. Lowell at Edinburgh, and found that he
entertained sanguine hopes, that, through the medium of the powerloom, the cotton manufacture could be introduced into this country.
MIr. Appleton was at first less confident; but, when Mr. Lowell —
pursuing the object, both in England and after his return, with equal
sagacity and perseverance - determined to make the experiment at
Waltham, Mr. Appleton cheerfully shared the risk.  I need not say
to this audience how completely this experiment succeeded.  The
power-loom was, through the ingenuity of Mr. Lowell, introduced;
and many most effective improvements in the spinning machinery
were superadded. This success was certainly due, in the first instance, to Mr. F. C. Lowell; and next to him, if I mistake not, to the
energy of Mr. Patrick T. Jackson, and the co-operation and influence
of Mr. Appleton.
The return of peace and the influx of foreign goods threatened to
prostrate our infant manufactures; but they had already acquired a
recognized importance as a national interest. Mr. Appleton, in his
valuable pamphlet on the subject, informs us (what is otherwise
matter of record), that, by the representations of Mr. Lowell, the
eminent Southern statesmen, Messrs. Calhoun and Lowndes, were
convinced of the expediency of the square-yard duty of six and a
quarter cents on imported cottons. These gentlemen were satisfied
by Mr. Lowell that they desired no extravagant bounty, but only such
protection as would secure them against the fluctuations and gluts of
the foreign market. He foretold to them, that, the manufacture once
established, the price would be sure to be brought down by domestic
competition; and Mr. Appleton's instructive pamphlet shows us, that
the goods which in 1816 sold for thirty cents per yard were sold in
1843 for six and a quarter cents per yard, fluctuating from seven to
nine cents with the price of cotton. It would be gratifying to know,
from those theorists who maintain that a protective duty is, in all
cases, added to the price of the domestic article, what would be the
price, without the duty of six and a quarter cents, of the article
which, with the duty, sells for six and a half cents. If this theory
is true (and it is the theory on which South Carolina drove the




70           MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
country to the verge of a civil war in 1832), the price without
the duty would be one quarter of one cent per yard!
The success of the enterprise at Waltham led to the foundation
of Lowell, in which the name of your kinsman, sir, is so justly commemorated.  Mr. Appleton was one of the original proprietors,
and engaged a very large capital in the first company. I retain a
lively recollection of a visit made there in his company, and that of
other distinguished persons (among them Mr. John Quincy Adams),
when a single mill only had been built, and the greater part of what
is now Lowell lay in a state of nature. The confident expectation
was then expressed, that persons at that time living would see it a,
city of twenty thousand inhabitants. IMr. Appleton himself, though
then in middle life, lived to see it a city of forty thousand inhabitants!
But notwithstanding the success of the cotton manufacture at
Waltham and Lowell, and many other places in the Northern and
Middle States, the protective policy gained friends but slowly. It
suffired, in fact, at the hands of injudicious advocates, who desired
exorbitant duties, that they might, without capital and without skill,
do what required both. Their imprudent demands played into the
hands of the Southern politicians, who, for the purposes of local
agitation, now made war upon the system which they bad themselves aided in building up. Accordingly, when, about ten years
after the foundation of Lowell, the question arose, whether this
great interest should be sacrificed to the clamors of South Carolina,
Mr. Appleton accepted a nomination to Congress as a friend of
moderate protection, and was elected as the representative of Boston.
I was a member of Congress at the time, and in daily intercourse
with him. He was of the class of men that always, at least in
quiet times, exercise influence in the House, - men who are not
politicians, not office-seekers, not talkers, but who thoroughly understand certain branches of public policy. Mr. Appleton understood
manufactures, currency, and banking. He confined himself to these
subjects in debate. The House, when he rose, gave him its respectful attention, because they knew, that, though not holding out the
attractions of rhetoric, he never spoke without having something to
say that was worth hearing.
There was, I suppose, no person in the community who understood
the subjects of banking and currency better than Mr. Appleton;
few as well. Mr. Webster once, in conversation with me, after




APPENDIX.                            71
mentioning other distinguished financiers, added, " But Mr. Appleton, on these subjects, is our most acute and profound tllinker."
IIis tract on currency, first published in 1841, and since reprinted
twice, shows, I think, the justice of this remark.  I am certainly
bound to admit it; for, on one important subject, I must own that
he was right, and I was wrong.  Sooner than most men, he discovered the false system and danogerous principles on which the Balnk
of' the UTnited States was proceeding, and foretold tile crash which
afterwards took place.  I-Iad every one possessed his discernment in
this respect, how  much public wrong and private suffering would
have been spared!
For the several last years of his life, Mr. Appleton had been
withdrawn from  active participation in business, beyond what was
necessary for the care of his property, of which he malde a liberal
use as a patron of every meritorious charity and public-spirited
enterprise.  He watched with p'atriotic anxiety the progress of our
sectional controversies, but took no active part in affairs.  I shlall
not attempt to sketch his private character.  Judging fronm the conclusion of Mr. Stevenson's remarks, which is all I had thle  ood
fortune to hear, it is unnecessary to attempt it.  I have come not
prepared as I could wish, but with these desultory recollections and
thoughts, the unstudied dictate of my own feelings, -  not h tribute
worthy of him, or of tile beautiful example which he afforded of a
mnlture, well-balanced character.  Eminently happy in his domestic
relations, he enjoyed to the fill, in the decline of life, so far as
impaired health would permit, his well-earned prosperity; moderate in  all things, his mianners simple and unostentatious, his
character spotless, his religious convictions and hopes the governing
principle of' his life.  Mercantile honor he held in all but superstitious estimation.  In his memoir of Mr. Lawrence, hlie says it is a
great error to suppose, because the occupation of thle trader, from
its nature, affords to men of low-toned character a temptation or
opportunity for dishonest gain, that therefore thel true merchant
deems lightly of his hlonor:  " It is as dear to him," 1he adds, "' as a'woman's chastity."  Of the elevated firame of mind to whicli he Ihad
risen in the last dlays of his life, the domestic calamity to wlhicl  I Mr.
Stevenson has alluded drew out a pLtlletic illustration.  Whlen the
intelligence was brought him  of the shocking event wvichl destroyed
the life of his beloved daullter, he said, " She has only gone a little
while befo'ue me."  We cannot, Mr. Chairman, deeply deplore the




72          MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
close of a life leaving behind it so pure a memory, protracted, as
Mr. Stevenson has observed, so far beyond the appointed term, and
terminated in a spirit so truly Christian.
I beg, leave to second the resolutions which he has laid on the
table.
The resolutions were then unanimously adopted; and, on
motion of Abbott Lawrence, the secretaries were directed to
transmit a copy of them to the family of the deceased.
Mr. Lowell, the chairman, stated that it had been suggested
to him, that the merchants of this city close their stores and
counting-rooms at four o'clock, that those in their employ might
have an opportunity of attending Mr. Appleton's funeral, which
was to take place at half-past four o'clock, at KIing's Chapel.
The meeting then adjourned. The above suggestion was quite
generally carried out.
The funeral of the Hon. Nathan Appleton took place yesterday afternoon. After the usual services at the late residence of
the deceased on Beacon Street, the body was removed to King's
Chapel, where a large number of persons had assembled.
Among the many distinguished gentlemen present were Hon.
Edward Everett, President Felton and Professors Holmes and
Lowell of Harvard College, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Hon.
S. A. Eliot, Amos A. Lawrence, James Lawrence, Abbott Lawrence, and Hon. William Sturgis. The relatives of the deceased
were also present. The services were conducted by Rev. Ezra
S. Gannett, D.D. After singing by the choir, Dr. Gannett read
selections from the King's-Chapel Liturgy, and made an appropriate prayer. After the services, the body was placed in the
hearse, and conveyed to the family burial lot in Mount-Auburn
Cemetery, followed by a procession of relatives and friends. -
Boston Journal, 17th July, 1861.




APPENDIX.                        73
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOSPITAL LIFE INSURANCE
COMPANY.
At the stated meeting of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, - consisting of
the following members: William Amory, Edward Austin, Francis Bacon, J. Ingersoll Bowditch, J. Wiley Edmands, George
H. Kuhn, Amos A. Lawrence, Charles G. Loring, Francis C.
Lowell, John A. Lowell, George R. Minot, Ignatius Sargent,
William Sturgis, - on the seventh day of August, 1861, the fol-.
lowing preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted: -
" The office of President of this institution having been made
vacant by the death of the Hon. Nathan Appleton, who, being one
of its founders and a director for the space of twenty-six years, has
presided over it for the remaining twelve of its existence, and served
upon the Committee of Finance throughout both periods, - the
members of this Board avail themselves of the opportunity of its first
assembling since the event, to express, and place upon record, their
profound sense of the value of his services, as among those to whom
it is chiefly indebted for its success and usefulness; and to whose
extensive knowledge, sound judgment, comprehensive wisdom, and
urbane manners, the ease, safety, and pleasure with which its important affairs have been administered, are eminently due;" Therefore Resolved, That, in the death of the honored head of
this institution, the members of this Board lament the departure of an
officer most able, efficient, and faithful, to whom they and the other
officers of the Company, and all interested in the management of its
highly responsible trusts, are deeply indebted for the sagacity, wisdom, and fidelity which he ever contributed in the administration of
its affairs; and of a profoundly venerated associate and friend, by
whom the labors of all its various departments have been from its
foundation enlightened and cheered.
" Resolved, That, while thus mourning the removal of an honored
officer of this Company and of a revered personal friend, they recognize also the loss, to the city and the commonwealth, of one of their
noblest citizens and brightest ornaments; whose extensive knowledge
and far-reaching sagacity as a merchant and financier; whose wisdom, patriotism, and magnanimity as a statesman; whose high
10




74           MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
culture and virtues as a Christian gentleman, neighbor, and friend;
and whose spotless and elevating example in all the walks of private and official life, - secured to him the universal love and respect
of all who knew him, and should be held in ever-grateful remembrance by those who survive him.
" Resolved, That the members of this Board desire individually
to express to the family of the deceased their profound sympathy in
the affliction attending the departure of one so eminently worthy of
all love and respect, however chastened by the reflection that his
powers to enjoy and communicate happiness were vouchsafed to a
ripe old age, and that neither his virtues nor their influence can ever
tie; and that Mr. Sturgis and Mr. Loring be a Committee to communicate to them this assurance, together with a copy of these resolutions.
" Resolved, That these proceedings be entered at large upon the
records of this Company."
A true copy from the records.
Attest:         MOSEs  L. HALE, Secretary.
THE MERRIMACK MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
At the adjourned annual meeting of the stockholders of the
Merrimack Manufacturing Company, held in Boston, on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 1861, upon motion of Mr. JOHN A. LOWELL,
it was unanimously
" Resolved, That the Merrimack Manufacturing Company entertain a high sense of the value of the services of the late Hon. Nathan
Appleton, who, for so long a period, contributed to the prosperity of
this Company in the varied capacities of selling agent, director, and
president. To his sagacity, vigilance, enterprise, and unflinching
firmness, should be ascribed, in a large measure, a success to which
it would not be easy, in this country, to find a parallel.
c" Resolved, That the Treasurer be requested to communicate this
expression of our deep feeling to the family of Mr. Appleton."
A true copy of record.
Attest:         T. P. TENNEY, Clerk.




APPENDIX.                        75
THE BOSTON BANK.
BOSTON BANK, BOSTON, July 15, 1861.
At a special meeting of the Directors of the Boston Bank,
held at the banking-room this day, the following expression of
the feeling of the members of the Board was unanimously
adopted:-       -
"Voted, That the death of the Hon. Nathan Appleton, who has
been a director of this bank for more than forty-eight successive
years, prompts us to record our appreciation of his great usefulness
and of his many virtues.
" Mr. Appleton brought to the performance of his duties here
the same faithfulness which characterized his execution of the many
important trusts which have been committed to him. The kindness
of his heart, the vigor of his intellect, the coolness of his judgment,
the strictness of his justice, and the purity of his morals, insured to
him the affectionate respect of those who were associated with him
during his long and useful life.
" Voted, That the Cashier be requested to communicate these proceedings to the family of Mr. Appleton, with an assurance of the
sympathy of the members of this Board with them in this hour of
their bereavement.
" Voted, That this testimonial be entered upon the records of the
bank, and that this Board will attend the funeral services in respect
to the deceased."
A true copy.              JAS. C. WILD, Cashier.
STARK   MILLS.
At a meeting of the proprietors, held in Manchester, N.H.,
26th June, 1861, in consequence of a letter from the Hon. Nathan
Appleton, one of the Directors and President of this Company
from its first organization in 1838 to the present time, declining
a re-election to a membership of the Board of Directors on account of ill health, the following vote was proposed by WILLIAM
AMORY, Esq., and passed unanimously; viz.: —




76           MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.' That this Company receive with great regret the declination of
the Hon. Nathan Appleton to remain longer in the Board of Directors on account of ill health; and that the sincere thanks of this
Company be tendered to him for the important and valuable services
he has rendered so acceptably in his capacity of President and
Director, from the organization thereof in 1838 to the present time;
and that the Clerk of the Company be requested to present to Mr.
Appleton a copy of this vote, with the assurance of the high respect,
appreciation, and good wishes entertained for him by this Company,
collectively and individually."
Remarks of WILLIAM  AMORY, Esq., on proposing a vote of
thanks to the Hon. Nathan Appleton:Though I am aware, Mr. President, that any remark from any
one is superfluous to insure a ready, cordial, and unanimous assent
to any vote expressive of personal respect and affection, here or anywhere, for the Hon. Nathan Appleton, or to any grateful expression
of our high appreciation of the value of his official services, or of
our sincere regret at their loss in this instance, I cannot, in justice
to this Company, or to my own feelings, or to the claims of Mr.
Appleton, resist the temptation - by a very few words in support of
this vote - to put on record official testimony of the estimation in
which these services are held by the members, directors, and officers
of this Company.
Mr. Appleton has been, as we all know, long deservedly considered, and is often termed, the Father of Lowell; and, if directly
less entitled to the same relationship to the city of Manchester, still,
as chiefly instrumental in the successful introduction and promotion,
by his capital and enterprise, of the manufacture of cotton goods
into this country, he may fairly claim, and we proudly concede to
him, our filial gratitude and respect as one of the Fathers, and
among the most influential, liberal, and efficient patrons of this
place.
It was especially by the liberal aid of his subscription and
example that the first mills in this city were erected, more than
twenty years since, by the Stark Company, under an organization
appointing him a member of the Board of Directors, and President of
the Corporation; and, during the whole of that time, he has uninterruptedly discharged all the duties of that office, with that signal
fidelity, punctuality, discretion, intelligence, and kindness for which




APPENDIX.                       77
he has always been distinguished. Rarely, if ever, absent from any
meeting of either the Board or the Company, he was always able
and ready to aid us with sound, independent, safe, and disinterested
counsel.
Boldness tempered with judgment; self-reliance, coupled with a
courteous respect for the opinions of others; a rare faculty of generalization, with a minute knowledge of details derived from large
and long experience; a hopeful confidence in the character of NewEngland people and in the progress of New-England manufactures,
combined with prudence; a philanthropic interest and sympathy for
those employed in our mills, consistent with, and promotive of, the
prosperity of the proprietors; a steady, courageous, encouraging defiance of the temporary troubles that interrupt occasionally the success
of all business during commercial or political panics and crises; dignity in presiding at our business-meetings, and a genial bonhomie at
our social entertainments; an example of that directness of purpose
and stern integrity which diffuses its influence over the management
of every department of any business under his immediate or remote
supervision, - such are his claims to our thanks and respects, and
our regrets at his resignation.
I omit here, Mr. President, as inappropriate to this occasion, any
mention of many other qualities characteristic of Mr. Appleton in
private or social life, recognized and respected by his personal friends
and the community he belongs to; and confine myself to the enumeration of such only as authorize and enjoin upon us the passage
of the vote proposed to express our thanks for the services he has
so long and so acceptably rendered, and our regrets that he is compelled by any cause, and especially by ill health, to decline a
re-election.
AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.
At the Annual Meeting of this Society, held at Worcester on
the 21st of October, 1861, the Hon. LEVI LINCOLN said as
follows: -
Mr. PRESIDENT, - The Report of the Council to the Society,
which has been read, makes appropriate reference to the recent
lamented decease of our late-honored and much-esteemed associate




78           MEMOIR OF HON. NATHAN APPLETON.
and friend, the Hon. Nathan Appleton, and contains a beautifiul and
most just tribute to his character. I know not how any thing can
well be added to its truthfulness or effect. It was my happiness, personally to have known Mr. Appleton for nearly half a century of
years. He belonged to a generation now mostly passed away.
There are few of his cotemporaries who survive him; and, of those
few, I find myself the only one present here, who may utter the living
voice in reverence to his memory.
Mr. Appleton was a man of no ordinary endowments. His liberal, enlarged, comprehensive, and cultivated mind embraced not only
the great interests of the community, but the still higher duties of
patriotism, and loyal devotion to free institutions and constitutional
government. As a legislator and a statesman, he shared largely in
the confidence of the people, and was repeatedly honored by official
positions in the councils of the State and the Nation. I have myself,
sir, had opportunity to witness the untiring labor, the discreet judgment, the signal ability, with which he discharged the public service,
and the commanding influence which these had upon the action of
others. As a member of this Society, we all remember his venerable
form; his unfailing attendance, even under the burden of physical
infirmity, upon our meetings in Boston; and the various manifestations of his interest in the progress, prosperity, and growing usefulness
of our Society. Sir, the Society, in heartfelt sympathy with the
Council, in the homage rendered to his virtues by the accepted Report,
would doubtless seek to add a distinct expression of its sense of the
greatness of the public loss in his death; and I ask permission to
offer for consideration at this time the following Resolutions:" The American Antiquarian Society, since its last meeting, have
occasion to deplore, in the decease of the Hon. Nathan Appleton of
Boston, the loss of one of its most distinguished and valued members.
" Therefore, to give expression to their sense of the greatness of
the bereavement, and of the profound respect in which they hold the
character and memory of their deceased associate and friend,
"Resolved, That, in the fellowship of the Hon. Nathan Appleton,
this Society enjoyed the countenance, aid, and support of a faithful
and attentive member, a devoted friend of scientific research and
acquisition, and a munificent public benefactor.
"Resolved, That in the public relations which, at different times
and for many years, Mr. Appleton sustained to the State and Na



APPENDIX.                        79
tional Governments, as a member of the Legislature of the Commonwealth, and, subsequently, as a representative in the Congress of the
United States, his services were eminently distinguished by proofs
of untiring assiduity in duty; liberal, comprehensive, and enlightened
views of public policy; and a spirit of patriotism commensurate with
the principles of the Constitution, and the best interests and honor
of the Republic.
"Resolved, That, in common with other beneficent institutions with
which he was associated; the State which he so long and faithfully
served; the business community, to which his whole life was an
example of industry, probity, and usefulness, - we mourn his departure, and deeply sympathize with those to whom his death is an
irreparable personal affliction.
" Resolved, That the foregoing Resolutions be entered at large upon
the records of the Society, and a copy thereof be transmitted, by the
Secretary, to the Family of the deceased."