he assurance that on
their dear pledges of affection his name and virtues will live after
him. His lawyer, physician, and his servants were the only witnesses to
the mortal agony of one who could have commanded troops of devoted
friends, and who possessed the qualities which might have adorned the
domestic and social circle.

So departed this life the rich and eccentric possessor of acres
sufficient to have made a duchy or a kingdom, and of money adequate to
the maintenance of the dignity and power of such a position.

But if his death and funeral were attended by so few witnesses, an
occasion quickly followed which was honored by the presence of a large,
eager, curious crowd. It was when his will was probated and read in
court. Intense was the curiosity of the public to know what disposition
the eccentric old man had made of his enormous property. This feeling
was soon gratified. The will was produced. It was a curious document,
written on stout foolscap by the testator himself, in a remarkably neat,
clear hand, with the lines as close as type, and his autograph signed to
every page. Being an holographic will, under the law of Louisiana it
required no witness. Ever since 1838, this will had lain among certain
old papers of the deceased; and yet, during all this time, it had been
'the thought by day and dream by night' of the devoted old millionaire.
In its preparation, he had consulted the most eminent lawyers and
studied the most approved law-books bearing on his grand scheme. Truly,
a curious, bold, and gigantic scheme it was. But let us to the will. In
a slow, solemn and impressive tone, the judge proceeded to read to an
eager and interested multitude this remarkable testament.

After setting forth, in the usual form, his nativity, his present
residence, his belief in God and in the uncertainty of life, and that he
has no heirs living in the ascending or descending line, and directing
an inventory of his property to be taken immediately after his death, he
proceeds to bequeath to the children of his sister, a widow lady in
Baltimore, a ten-acre lot in Baltimore, the usufruct to remain in the
widow, with six thousand dollars in cash. He then emancipates his old
servants, ten in number, whom he designates. The rest of his slaves he
provides shall be sent to Liberia. Certain of them are to be sent after
serving those who shall succeed to his estate for fifteen years. The
slaves to be sent to Liberia are to be supplie