Part 14 (1/2)
It happened that one day, while pa.s.sing through the crooked streets of old Boston, he overheard some sailors talking to each other of a wreck which had just taken place off the Bahamas; that of a Spanish s.h.i.+p, supposed to have much money on board. His adventurous spirit was at once kindled, and getting together a likely crew without loss of time, he set sail for the Bahamas. The wreck being well in sh.o.r.e he easily found it, and succeeded in recovering a great deal of its cargo, but very little money; and the result was that he barely defrayed his expenses. His success had been such, however, as to stimulate his enterprising spirit; and when he was told of another and far more richly laden vessel which had been wrecked near Port de la Plata more than half a century before, he forthwith formed the resolution of raising the wreck, or at all events of fis.h.i.+ng up the treasure.
Being too poor, however, to undertake such an enterprise without powerful help, he set sail for England in the hope that he might there obtain it. The fame of his success in raising the wreck off the Bahamas had already preceded him. He applied direct to the Government. By his urgent enthusiasm, he succeeded in overcoming the usual inertia of official minds; and Charles II eventually placed at his disposal the ”Rose Algier,” a s.h.i.+p of eighteen guns and ninety- five men, appointing him to the chief command.
Phipps then set sail to find the Spanish s.h.i.+p and fish up the treasure. He reached the coast of Hispaniola in safety; but how to find the sunken s.h.i.+p was the great difficulty. The fact of the wreck was more than fifty years old; and Phipps had only the traditionary rumors of the even to work upon. There was a wide coast to explore, and an outspread ocean, without any trace whatever of the argosy which lay somewhere at its bottom. But the man was stout in heart and full of hope. He set his seamen to work to drag along the coast, and for weeks they went on fis.h.i.+ng up seaweed, s.h.i.+ngle and bits of rock.
No occupation could be more trying to seamen, and they began to grumble one to another, and to whisper that the man in command had brought them on a fool's errand.
At length the murmurers gained head, and the men broke into open mutiny. A body of them rushed one day on to the quarter-deck, and demanded that the voyage should be relinquished. Phipps, however, was not a man to be intimidated; he seized the ringleaders, and sent the others back to their duty. It became necessary to bring the s.h.i.+p to anchor close to a small island for the purpose of repairs; and, to lighten her, the chief part of the stores was landed. Discontent still increasing among the crew, a new plot was laid among the men on sh.o.r.e to seize the s.h.i.+p, throw Phipps overboard, and start on a piratical cruise against the Spaniards in the South Seas. But it was necessary to secure the services of the chief s.h.i.+p-carpenter, who was consequently made privy to the plot. This man proved faithful, and a once told the captain of his danger. Summoning about him those whom he knew to be loyal, Phipps had the s.h.i.+p's guns loaded, which commanded the sh.o.r.e, and ordered the bridge communicating with the vessel to be drawn up. When the mutineers made their appearance, the captain hailed them, and told the men he would fire upon them if they approached the stores (still on land), when they drew back; on which Phipps had the stores res.h.i.+pped under cover of his guns. The mutineers, fearful of being left upon the barren island, threw down their arms and implored to be permitted to return to their duty. The request was granted, and suitable precautions were taken against further mischief. Phipps, however, took the first opportunity of landing the mutinous part of the crew, and engaging other men in their places; but, by the time that he could again proceed actively with his explorations, he found it absolutely necessary to proceed to England for the purpose of repairing the s.h.i.+p. He had now, however, gained more precise information as to the spot where the Spanish treasure-s.h.i.+p had sunk; and, though as yet baffled, he was more confident than ever of the eventual success of his enterprise.
Returned to London, Phipps reported the result of his voyage to the Admirality, who professed to be pleased with his exertions; but he had been unsuccessful, and they would not entrust him with another king's s.h.i.+p. James II was now on the throne, and the Government was in trouble; so Phipps and his golden project appealed to them in vain. He next tried to raise the requisite means by a public subscription. At first he was laughed at; but his ceaseless importunity at length prevailed, and after four years' dinning of his project into the ears of the great and influential--during which time he lived in poverty--he at length succeeded. A company was formed in twenty shares, The Duke of Albemarle, son of General Monk, taking the chief interest in it, and subscribing the princ.i.p.al part of the necessary fund for the prosecution of the enterprise.
Phipps was successful in this undertaking. He started other enterprises and succeeded. He was knighted, and as has been stated, became the founder of one of England's n.o.ble families. It should be said, however, that beyond his perseverance, he had but few qualities to commend him. He was coa.r.s.e, ignorant, and brutal, and had to fly from Ma.s.sachusetts to save his life from an indignant people.
But true n.o.bility is not that which is conferred by the warrant of a monarch. If as Pope says, ”An honest man's the n.o.blest work of G.o.d,”
then the n.o.bles man is the honest man, who with his own clear brain and strong right arm, wins his way up from the humblest walks in life, till by virtue of his manhood, he stands the peer of peers, and by Divine right the equal of all earth's kings.
We hear a great deal about an American aristocracy, but no matter what the wishes of a few people with un-American tastes may be, the only aristocracy that can ever find recognition here, is that of brains and the success born of hones toil.
Ninety-nine out of every hundred of the rich families that are wrongly supposed to const.i.tute our aristocracy at this time, were poor less than fifty years ago. Many of the rich families of fifty years ago are poor to-day; and so fortune varies and changes in this new land. Our true aristocrats are successful men like Peter Cooper, who left the world better for having lived in it. We count among our aristocrats, patriots like Lincoln, and if his descendants emulate his n.o.ble example, they too will be enn.o.bled by their countrymen. We reckon Lowell, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Hawthorne, Elisha Howe and George W. Childs among our aristocrats. Andrew Carnegie deserves a place in the same list of American peers, as does Thomas A. Edison.
But after all the true t.i.tle to n.o.bility is implied in the words ”gentleman” and ”lady,” and with these we need not fear comparison with all the world's t.i.tled n.o.bles.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE SUCCESSFUL MAN IS SELF-MADE.
The crown and glory of life is Character. It is the n.o.blest possession of a man, const.i.tuting a rank in itself, and an estate in the general good-will; dignifying every station, and exalting every position in society. It exercises a greater power than wealth, and secures all the honor without the jealousies of fame. It carries with it an influence which always tells; for it is the result of proved honor, rect.i.tude and consistency--qualities which, perhaps, more than any other, command the general confidence and respect of mankind.
Character is human nature in its best form It is moral order embodied in the individual. Men of character are not only the conscience of society, but in every well-governed state they are its best motive power; for it is moral qualities in the main which rule the world.
Even in war, Napoleon said, the moral is to the physical as ten to one. The strength, the industry, and the civilization of nations--all depend upon individual character; and the very foundations of civil security rest upon it. Laws and inst.i.tutions are but its outgrowth.
In the just balance of nature individuals, nations and races, will obtain just so much as they deserve, and no more. And as effect finds its cause, so surely does quality of character amongst a people produce its befitting results.
Though a man have comparatively little culture, slender abilities, and but small wealth, yet, if his character be of sterling worth, he always commands an influence, whether it be in the workshop, the counting-house, the mart, or the senate. Canning wisely wrote in 1801, ”My road must be through Character to Power; I will try no other course; and I am sanguine enough to believe that this course, though not perhaps the quickest, is the surest.” You may admire men of intellect; but something more is necessary before you will trust them. This was strikingly ill.u.s.trated in the career of Francis Horner--a man of whom Sydney Smith said that the Ten Commandments were stamped upon his countenance. ”The valuable and peculiar light,”
says Lord c.o.c.kburn, ”in which his history is calculated to inspire every right-minded youth, is this: He died at the age of thirty- eight; possessed of greater public influence than any other private man, and admired, beloved, trusted, and deplored by all, except the heartless or the base. Now let every young man ask--how was this attained? By rank? He was the son of an Edinburgh merchant. By wealth? Neither he, nor any of his relations, ever had a superfluous sixpence. By office? He held but one, and only for a few years, of no influence, and with very little pay. By talents? His were not splendid, and he had no genius. Cautious and slow, his only ambition was to be right. By eloquence? He spoke in calm, good taste, without any of the oratory that either terrifies or seduces. By any fascination of manner? His was only correct and agreeable. By what, then, was it? Merely by sense, industry, good principles, and a good heart--qualities which no well-const.i.tuted mind need ever despair of attaining. It was the force of his character that raised him; and this character not impressed upon him by nature, but formed, out of no peculiarly fine elements, by himself. There were many in the House of Commons of far greater ability and eloquence. But no one surpa.s.sed him in the combination of an adequate portion of these with moral worth. Horner was born to show what moderate powers, unaided by anything whatever except culture and goodness, may achieve, even when these powers are displayed amidst the compet.i.tion and jealousy of public life.”
Franklin attributed his success as a public man not to his talents or his powers of speaking--for these were but moderate--but to his known integrity of character. Hence, it was, he says, ”that I had so much weight with my fellow-citizens. I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and yet I generally carried my point.” Character creates confidence in men in high station as well as in humble life.
It was said of the first Emperor Alexander of Russia, that his personal character was equivalent to a const.i.tution. During the wars of the Fronde, Montaigne was the only man amongst the French gentry who kept his castle gates unbarred; and it was said of him, that his personal character was a better protection for him than a regiment of horse would have been.
That character is power, is true in a much higher sense than that knowledge is power. Mind without heart, intelligence without conduct, cleverness without goodness, are powers in their way, but they may be powers only for mischief. We may be instructed or amused by them; but it is sometimes as difficult to admire them as it would be to admire the dexterity of a pickpocket or the horsemans.h.i.+p of a highwayman.
Truthfulness, integrity, and goodness--qualities that hang not on any man's breath--form the essence of manly character, or, as one of our old writers has it, ”that inbred loyalty unto Virtue which can serve her without a livery.” He who possesses these qualities, united with strength of purpose, carries with him a power which is irresistible.
He is strong to do good, strong to resist evil, and strong to bear up under difficulty and misfortune. When Stephen of Colonna fell into the hands of his base a.s.sailants, and they asked him in derision, ”Where is now your fortress?” ”Here,” was his bold reply, placing his hand upon his heart. It is in misfortune that the character of the upright man s.h.i.+nes forth with the greatest l.u.s.tre; and when all else fails, he takes his stand upon his integrity and his courage.
The rules of conduct followed by Lord Erskine--a man of sterling independence of principle and scrupulous adherence to truth--are worthy of being engraven on every young man's heart. ”It was a first command and counsel of my earliest youth,” he said, ”always to do what my conscience told me to be a duty, and to leave the consequence to G.o.d. I shall carry with me the memory, and I trust the practice, of this parental lesson to the grave. I have hitherto followed it, and I have no reason to complain that my obedience to it has been a temporal sacrifice. I have found it, on the contrary, the road to prosperity and wealth, and I shall point out the same path to my children for their pursuit.”
Every man is bound to aim at the possession of a good character as one of the highest objects of life. The very effort to secure it by worthy means will furnish him with a motive of exertion; and his idea of manhood, in proportion as it is elevated, will steady and animate his motive. It is well to have a high standard of life, even though we may not be able altogether to realize it. ”The youth,” says Mr.
Disraeli, ”who does not look up will look down; and the spirit that does not soar is destined perhaps to grovel.” George Herbert wisely writes:
”Pitch thy behavior low, thy projects high, So shall thou humble and magnanimous be. Sink not in spirit; who aimeth at the sky Shoots higher much that he that means a tree.”
He who has a high standard of living and thinking will certainly do better than he who has none at all. ”Pluck at a gown of gold,” says the Scotch proverb, ”and you may get a sleeve o't.” Whoever tries for the highest results cannot fail to reach a point far in advance of that from which he started; and though the end attained may fall short of that proposed, still, the very effort to rise, of itself cannot fail to prove permanently beneficial.