1SG9.] ^^ [Cadwalader. 



OBITUARY KOTICE OF MR. BANCKER BY JUDGE CADAYALADER. 



Charles Nicoll Bancker, one of our oldest members, died on 16tli 

 February last, aged 91 years. The Society's request that I would prepare 

 their memorial of him is fulfilled with a mournful pleasure. But my 

 domestic connection with him was so close that the duty cannot be per- 

 formed without a feeling of some embarrassment. The spontaneous ten- 

 dency to the language of eulogium Avill be restrained. 



I will not here speak of him in his religious or social relations. My re- 

 marks will be limited to subjects which may concern more directly his 

 relations to our Society. 



We may thus consider the career of Mr. Bancker as a merchant on an 

 extended scale, as a practical and scientific insurer, and as a man of gene- 

 ral scientific information. 



New York, the city of his birth, was, in the days of his youth, a place 

 of secondary importance. He removed, in his boyhood, to Philadelphia, 

 then the commercial, political, and literary metropolis, where he entered 

 the cou.nting house of John Guest, one of the largest importers from Eng- 

 land, and was thoroughly educated for the pursuit of commerce. Before 

 he had completed his twenty-first year, he became, through his abilities, 

 energy, and assiduous efficiency, the partner of Mr. Guest, who changed 

 his residence to England, leaving their vast concerns here in the sole charge 

 of his young associate. This was Mr. Bancker's responsible relation for 

 many years, including the latter part of the first Avar, and a great part of 

 the second war, of the French revolution. In each of these eventful periods, 

 the commercial navigation of the world was, in a great measure, carried 

 on under the flag of the United States. The opposing belligerents asserted 

 that the cargoes, professedly of neutral ownership, in vessels thus navi- 

 gated, were of more than twenty times the greatest value that could be 

 honestly owned by neutrals. The retaliatory maritime hostilities of the 

 ojiposing belligerents against professed neutrals were chiefly directed 

 against the United States. Cruisers and privateers captured our vessels 

 and those of avowed enemies almost indiscriminately. Such Avere the 

 causes of the maritime Avar of the United States Avith France in 1799, and 

 of their general war Avith England in 1812. 



I believe that Mr. Bancker's house in trade owned no A^essels, and 

 neither imported nor exported merchandize for the account of others. The 

 immense business in Avhich they were engaged for their own account re- 

 c|uired the purchase of millions of sterling bills. This important part of 

 their business was conducted so regularly and carefully that not a penny 

 Avas ever lost from the failure of parties to such paper. The fact is remark- 

 able, and the reason is interesting. It was not that parties to the paper 

 did not fail. Many failures of course occurred. Of perhaps five sets of 

 Exchange, three, or even four, through capture, might not reach their 

 destination. But there was no loss, for the reason that Mr. Bancker's 



