CORNELIUS K. GARRISON.

BY WILLIAM Y. WELLS

HIS gentleman was born on the Hudson river, near

ancestors were Hollanders, and among the first settlers of New Amsterdam: on the father's side the Garrisons and Coverts, and on the mother's the Kingslands and the Schuylers-among the earliest of the old Knickerbocker families. His father, Oliver Garrison, was at one time a large capitalist, but lost his property when Cornelius was quite young. The latter, at the age of thirteen, left his home and found employment in the carrying trade on the Hudson river, following this occupation during the business season for about three years. Alive to the value and necessity of an education, he diligently applied himself throughout the winter months when the navigation of the river was suspended, to study at a country school. At the request of his mother, he abandoned the river and went to New York city, to learn architecture and the building trade. He remained in New York three years. The knowledge which he acquired of architecture during that period was extensive, and valuable to him in the years which immediately followed.

At the age of nineteen, young Garrison removed to Canada, where for five or six years he was actively engaged in the erection of buildings, and the constructing of

steamboats on the great lakes. During his residence there, he became a married man, espousing a lady of Buffalo, New York.

In Canada, Mr. Garrison acquired the reputation, which he has ever since enjoyed, of being a reliable, clear-headed, and sagacious business man. The Upper Canada Company-one of the wealthiest in England, and owning extensive possessions-gave to him the general supervision of the Company's affairs in the province; a trust upon which he entered, but which he soon surrendered, owing to the threatened outbreak of hostilities between England and the United States, growing out of the border difficulties existing at the time. Having led an active life in Canada for nearly six years, Mr. Garrison returned to the United States, and went to the Southwest, where he long followed the same business he had so successfully prosecuted in the British provinces, and was also engaged in several other important mercantile enterprises connected with steam navigation on the Mississippi.

About the time of the discovery of gold in California, Mr. Garrison removed to Panama, where he established a commercial and banking house. This enterprise was the most successful of any which had thus far engaged his attention. In the latter part of the year 1852, being then on a visit to New York city, with a view to establish there a branch of his Panama house, our subject accepted an offer made him by the Nicaragua Steamship Company, to take the San Francisco agency of their line of vessels.

A sketch of Mr. Garrison's seven years' residence in California would almost involve a history of San Francisco during that period. He landed in that city when the newly-established Nicaragua Steamship Line was rapidly declining under inefficient management, and had fallen into disrepute by the terrible calamities of the Independence and S. S. Lewis. The Mail Steamship Company, with its splendidly equipped line under the able direction of Captain Knight, was in the full tide of success, and it seemed that the rival line, growing more

and more unpopular with each new disaster, must soon pass out of existence. Mr. Garrison arrived, March 23d, 1853, on the steamer Sierra Nevada, with a salary of $60,000 per annum, and $25,000 additional, as the agent of sundry Insurance Companies. The effect of his administrative ability upon the fortunes of the Nicaragua Transit Company was immediate. From being on the verge of dissolution, it sprang, as if by magic, into life and prosperity. The new agent promptly reorganized the service in every department; recommended the building of several fast ocean steamships, which in due time made their appearance around Cape Horn, he, in some instances, having a proprietary interest in the steamers and placing them on the line as an individual enterprise. Imbuing the Company in New York with his own indomitable energy, he induced Vanderbilt to establish a line of serviceable steamers on the inland waters of Nicaragua. An excellent road was constructed from San Juan del Sur to Virgin Bay, and the navigation of the San Juan River was improved. At the same time he made a strong bid for carrying the mails-letters being taken free to induce patronage to that route--and finally, an equal portion of the treasure shipment was secured. The traveling public admitted that "a power in the land" had appeared, and the Nicaragua route was transformed, from a condition of apathy and decay, into vigorous prosperity, mainly by the energy and will of one man. The steamship competition of that day has never been paralleled in the history of ocean navigation. Its influence extended far and wide, and the rivalry, strained to the utmost tension of conflicting moneyed interests, gave a tone to every department of business on the Pacific coast.

About six months after his arrival, and perhaps before he had come to fully understand his adopted State, Mr. Garrison was elected Mayor of San Francisco. He might fairly have claimed exemption from additional burthens, considering the herculean task he had undertaken in the sphere of his legitimate business. The distinction was wholly unsought by one whose tastes and occupations through life had been outside of the political arena.

His immediate predecessors, Messrs. Harris and Brenham, had filled the Mayoralty with marked ability and success. and it may be supposed that he entered upon his duties with some misgivings as to his qualifications for a field. thus new and untried. It was soon evident, however, that the same sound judgment and executive talent that could grasp and prosperously control steamship lines and banking institutions, could with equal facility administer the affairs of a community. His inaugural address, delivered in October, 1853, to the two branches of the Common Council, was a model of plain, unpretending common sense, abounding in practical suggestions, going straight to the point, and quite devoid of flourish or attempt at oratorical display. He acknowledged the weight of the responsibility, and pledged himself to devote his best energies to the interests of the city.

A month later, he submitted a message, which may challenge any paper of the kind, in sound business ideas and financial propositions. It contained the germs of what became, years afterwards, the rallying cries of reform in the administration of the city government. The first outspoken denunciation in any official document, of the disgraceful public gambling then prevalent in the many saloons in San Francisco, and the first rebuke of Sunday theatricals, with a recommendation for ordinances for their suppression, are found in this message. And it was not merely a verbal protest against the evils described. Mr. Garrison never ceased to wage war against them until the desired reforms were completely effected. The crime of a public gambling hell has never blackened the fame of San Francisco since Mayor Garrison's term. For this act alone he is entitled to the gratitude of all who respect morality, decency and good order. The first proposal of an Industrial School for juvenile delinquents, who should thus be separated from contact with the hardened criminals in the cells of the city prison; the earliest suggestions of a tariff of hack fares for the protection of strangers from extortion; the taxation of non-resident capital, millions of which were enjoying all the protection and benefits of Government without contributing in the least