OF JVE W   YORK  CITY                      1 I 9
 

CHAPTER  XV.

I'he writer of these Recollections would be a fei^y
arrogant person were he to assume that they w-ere 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
tliem out. I correct as soon as I have a chance, and it
may not be amiss here to state, that any errors that the
reader may discover in this book will be cheerfully cor-
ri^cted in future editions. A note addresssd to the au-
tlior, 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 was a com¬
panion of and traveled in Europe with Washington AU-
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, uiitd the 31st of Au¬
gust, 1841, when Mr. Samuel   Welles died.

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