. At the dissolution in
1790 Stephen Girard's share of the profits amounted to $30,000. Girard's
greatest stroke came from the insurrection of the San Domingo negroes
against the French several years later. He had two vessels lying in the
harbor of one of the island ports. At the first mutterings of danger, a
number of planters took their valuables on board one of these ships and
scurried back to get the remainder. The sequel, as commonly narrated, is
represented thus: The planters failed to return, evidently falling
victims to the fury of the insurrectionists. The vessels were taken to
Philadelphia, and Girard persistently advertised for the owners of the
valuables. As no owners ever appeared, Girard sold the goods and put the
proceeds, $50,000, into his own bank account. "This," says Houghton,
"was a great assistance to him, and the next year he began the building
of those splendid ships which enabled him to engage so actively in the
Chinese and West India trades."

From this time on his profits were colossal. His ships circumnavigated
the world many times and each voyage brought him a fortune. He practiced
all of those arts of deception which were current among the trading
class and which were accepted as shrewdness and were inseparably
associated with legitimate business methods. In giving one of his
captains instructions he wrote, as was his invariable policy, the most
explicit directions to exercise secretiveness and cunning in his
purchases of coffee at Batavia. Be cautious and prudent, was his
admonition. Keep to yourself the intention of the voyage and the amount
of specie that you have on board. To satisfy the curious, throw them off
the scent by telling them that the ship will take in molasses, rice and
sugar, if the price is very low, adding that the whole will depend upon
the success in selling the small Liverpool cargo. If you do this, the
cargo of coffee can be bought ten per cent cheaper than it would be if
it is publicly known there is a quantity of Spanish dollars on board,
besides a valuable cargo of British goods intended to be invested in
coffee for Stephen Girard of Philadelphia.

By 1810 we see him ordering the Barings of London to invest in shares of
the Bank of the United States half a million dollars which they held for
him. When the charter expired, he was the principal creditor of that
bank; and he bought, at a great bargain, the bank and the cashier's
house for $120,000. On May 12, 1812, he