I, and his friends owned a fine fleet of merchantmen when the war
broke out. The aggregate burden of the vessels was nearly a million of
tons, and they were worth $40 a ton. When the rebel cruisers commenced
their operations, there were no United States cruisers prepared to
capture them, because our best vessels were on blockade service. This
being the case, insurance on American merchantmen rose very high--so
high that I and his friends were reluctantly compelled to sell their
vessels in Great Britain and elsewhere, and convert them into cash.
They brought $40,000,000, and this sum was invested in merchandise,
which netted a profit of ten per cent. to I and his friends. They thus
gained $4,000,000 by these transactions. The entire proceeds,
$44,000,000, they then lent to the government with which to carry on
its war of existence with the Southern insurgents. Profitable as these
transactions clearly were to I and his friends, and to the government,
Mr. Greeley, nevertheless, only sees the import of $40,000,000 worth
of foreign extravagances, and consequently wants the tariff on iron
increased in order to make water run up hill.

J, had $2,000,000 in five-twenty bonds, which cost him $1,400,000
gold. As the market price in New York was only 70 gold, while it was
72-1/4 in London, he conceived the inhuman idea of selling them in the
latter place. The cost of sending them there, including insurance,
&c., made them net him but 72, but at this price he gained a profit of
$40,000. With his capital now augmented to $1,440,000 he bought rags
in Italy, which he sold in New York for $1,584,000, ex duty and plus
transportation, a clear profit of $184,000 from the start. No export
appearing in the Commerce and Navigation Returns, and nothing but the
rags meeting his unital gaze, Mr. Greeley at once posted his national
ledger with a loss of $1,440,000, the cost of the rags in Italy.