With this sum he went to Geneva, where he invested it
in Swiss watches worth $200,000 in Geneva, but $210,000 in New
Orleans, ex duty and plus transportation. To New Orleans he
accordingly shipped the watches, and they were sold. By these
transactions he not only got rid of his elephant, but both he and the
country clearly gained $50,000. Yet according to Mr. Greeley's single
eye the country suffered to the extent of $200,000, for in the exports
appeared nothing, but among the imports $200,000 worth of foreign
gewgaws, only fit to keep time with.
G, (an actual transaction) shipped by the Great Eastern on her last
voyage from New York, lard and other merchandise, worth in New York
$600,000, the fact of which, in the hurry of business, he failed to
report to the Custom House, and it therefore did not appear in the
exports. This lard was carried to England, where it found no sale, and
was reshipped to New York. G only escaped being charged duty on it
when it arrived, by swearing that it had been originally shipped from
here in good faith; yet it was entered as an import (free of duty),
and showed, according to Mr.
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