OF JVEW  YORK  CITY.                     119
 

CHAPTER XV.

The writer of these Recollections would be a very
aiTogant person were he to assume that they were per¬
fect, or in every particular correct, or that they tell
everything that could be told about any one merchant
or firm.     Thirty years ago is a long time to recollect.

I frequently am reminded of errors. A friend points
them out. I correct as soon as I have a chance, and it
ma}' not be amiss here to state, that any errors that the
reader may discover in this book will be cheerfully cor¬
rected in future editions. A note addressad to the au¬
thor, will be attended to.

Among the recent deaths is Benjamin Welles, of Bos¬
ton,aged eighty years. He was a son of Samuel Welles,
and was born in 1780. Benjamin Welles Avas a com¬
panion of and traveled In Europe with Washington All-
ston in 1804. Mr. Benjamin Welles was a cousin to
Hon. John Welles; and in 1816 they became partners
In Boston under the firm of John & Benjamin Welles,
and acted as active agents in the United States to Welles
& Co., the great Paris bankers, until tho 31st of Au¬
gust, 1841, when Mr. Samuel   Welles died.

There is not an importer in New York, who does not
remember Ihat banking house. For twenty-five years
at least it was without a rival, and issued credits to an
almost unlimited  extent.    When  the  panic  of 1837