however,—the _Montesquieu_, _Helvetius_, _Voltaire_, and _Rousseau_—too conspicuously reveal the religious dogmas of their owner. By judicious and successful operations in banking, combined with shipowning, Girard made so large a fortune that, in 1813, he was considered the wealthiest trader in the United States. It is told of him that when, in that year, one of his vessels with a cargo consisting of teas, nankeens, and silks from China, was seized on entering the Delaware, he ransomed her from the captors on the spot by a payment of $93,000, paid in doubloons, and by this transaction added half a million of dollars to his fortune! But Girard, with all his wealth, ended his career without a friend or relative to soothe his declining years and close his eyes in death. His legacies were large and numerous, while the largest of them were characteristic of the man. Among these may be named his bequest of 208,000 acres of land and thirty slaves to the city of New Orleans, and other large tracts of land in Louisiana to the Corporation of Philadelphia. To the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania he gave $30,000 for internal improvements; but the most extraordinary of his bequests was $2,000,000, which he left for the erection of an orphan college at Philadelphia—a magnificent building—and the endowment of suitable instructors, requiring and enjoining, however, by his will, “that no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in the said college; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visitor, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college.” Such was Stephen Girard, master and mariner. [9] _Vide_ Mr. Calhoun’s report, ‘Executive Documents,’ 2nd Session, 28th Congress, Document No. 95. 1844-45. [10] Letter addressed by Mr. Sherwood, British Consul for Maine and New Hampshire, U.S., to Foreign Office, July 23, 1847, see Par. Paper, ‘Commercial Marine of Great Britain, 1848,’ p. 382. [11] Papers relating to the Commercial Marine of Great Britain, 1848, p. 388. [12] Act of 20th July, 1840, section 3, U.S. Acts, Boston Ed., vol. v. p. 394. [13] For some very nice points of distinction, the reader may consult ‘Arnold’s Marine Insurance,’ Ed. 1857, where the decisions of Judge Story and Chancellor Kent are laid down with profound learning and judgment. [14] Act 20th July, 1840, 16th and 17th sections. [15] In a note to this Act (Statutes at Large U.S., Boston, 1850) will be found an admirable exposition of some decisions of the American Courts respecting the scope of a pilot’s duties. They are excellent, but too long to insert here. CHAPTER II.