La favorite le 4 Janvier 1880 recevez, moncher l'expression de ma haute estime et de toute mon amittle La Favorite was, I think, one of the Khedive's palaces. A far worthier ruler than this Khedive was Benito Juarez, President of the Mexican republic, Indian or half-caste though he was. His signature was given me many years ago by the son of a wealthy merchant of Mexico, who, in the frequent revolutions, had escaped plunder by the supplies which he always furnished to the needs of all parties alike when their side was down. He found it far cheaper, he told me, to support the needy than to bribe the powerful. So uncertain was the tenure of office, so great and sudden were the blows of fortune, that, even if gratitude were silent, prudence protected him from being plundered by men who at the next turn of the wheel might be reduced from splendor to beggary. In those days there was not a single bank in Mexico; checks and bank-notes were unknown, payments being always made in specie. For the requirements of foreign trade there was a constant transmission of silver dollars between the capital and the port. The safe conveyance of this treasure was secured by a guard of soldiers. My friend the merchant once lamented to me the loss of a large sum. It was no corporal or sergeant who proved faithless, nor even a lieutenant or a captain; a general turned brigand and decamped with the dollars. From the Mexican President I turn to the first President of the United States. In In my earliest childhood my father instilled into me such a veneration of that great man that, when I was a schoolboy of the age of eight or nine, I once angered my little comrades by crying out, "I wish I was an American, for then I should be a countryman of George Washington!" It has long been enough for me to be an Englishman. This autograph is nothing more than an order for payment, but it is all in Washington's hand, and is the more interesting as it was written in the last year of his life. It runs as follows: MOUNT VERNON May 16th, 1799 The Cashier of the Office of Discount & Deposit, Baltimore, Will please pay WTM Greetham Esq or bearer the sum of Three Hundred & Seventy one dollars Nineteen cents and chg the same to My Acc! 37110% Dolls Go1 WASHINGTON In my collection, by the side of this autograph, I always keep one of the stamps which George III. and his worthless ministers, supported by a Parliament which far more represented the king 1 I am not sure what the letter is that follows G, if indeed it is a letter, and not a flourish. |