Walkin along Fifth avenue the other day I passed the house that used to be occupied by Marshall O. Roberts, and I thought to myself that if there was any gratitude in American artists, this place ought to be a sort of shrine for ‘em; for its original owner was without exception the most liberal encourager of American art that New York ever produced. A. T. Stewart did some little thing in the way of encouragin’ native American art, but Roberts went far ahead of him. The Roberts gallery was richer in specimens of American art than any other three collections in the metropolis, and Mr. Roberts himself was always a generous though judicious patron of painters. Eastman, Johnson, Shattuck, Elliot, hosts of other American artists, found in Marshall O. Roberts an enthusiastic and princely admirer. Altogether I suppose Mr. Roberts must have loved American art to the amount of nearly half a million of dollars.
His fondness for art seem to have been born with him. He invested fifty of his first profits as a ship chandler in an American picture he saw in Colman’s art gallery window. And from that time till almost the day of his death he was always buyin’ American paintin’s.
Marshall O. Roberts was one of the most lucky men, who led two entirely different but not incompatible lives, and who was entirely enthusiastic and successful in ‘em both–one-half of him was business, the other half was art, and he lived alternately in the one half and the other, only he never mixed the two lives up. At his office at the foot of Warren street, he was incarnate in dollars and cents; at his palatial home on the avenue he was the student, the critic, the patron of art. Such a man deserves to be lucky, and he was.
From the moment he began his mercantile career in New York, he had good fortune. He was very fortunate in his friends. He utilized ‘em all. He owed his first real start to two friends, the Wetmores.
These Wetmores are now comparatively forgotten, but they are worth recallin’. They were brothers, rather clever, and much attached to each other. Either by a happy accident or a shrewd design they differed in politics, and this difference was the basis of their joint success. I wonder how it is that other brothers have not hit on their idea.
Robert Wetmore was a red-hot Whig. Prosper M. Wetmore was a red-hot Democrat. As Whigs and Democrats were then the only two great divisions of political life, it followed that whichever of ‘em won there was always a Wetmore in luck and in office. When the Whigs were in power Robert W. came to the front, and was Naval Officer of the port of New York. When the Democrats got their innin’s, then Prosper M. got the office, and as each one of ‘em when in played into his brother’s hands who was out, why the Wetmores defied political changes, and were influential, both of ‘em, all the time. This was a double-headed political game that was well played. And as Roberts was on intimate terms with both of the Wetmores, he had alike a soft and sure thing.
This Wetmore arrangement beat civil service out of sight for keepin’ in office under any changes of Administration. There is an idea back of it, and a large family of brothers, by actin’ on it, might cover all parties and contingencies and get ahead of rotation in office.
Well, under President Tyler’s Administration, the Wetmore brothers gave their friend Roberts a big contract for naval supplies, and this laid the foundation of his fortune.
Then the openin’ up of California proved a big thing for Roberts, who at once took his advantage of the opportunity.
He knew a chap by the name of Sloo, who was a keen fellow, with plenty of ideas and check, but not much cash. This Sloo had gone into the lobbyin’ business in Washington and was quite successful in inducin’ legislators to give him just such legislation as he prayed for and paid for. Among other things, this Sloo got from Congress a valuable contract for carryin’ the mails from New York to San Francisco. It was a tip top privilege, a chance for realizin’ in a few years a fortune. But it required big money to carry this contract in and out, and big money was just the only thing Sloo hadn’t got. So he consulted with the Wetmores and they consulted with Roberts, and the upshot was that a company was formed, embracin’ among others, George Law, Edwin Crosswell, Marshall O. Roberts, the Wetmores and Sloo, to run a steamship line to the Isthmus and carry the California mail.
In this company, or combination, which was one of the famous things of its time, every member supplied somethin’ towards the scheme. There were no deadheads. Sloo supplied the government contract; the Wetmores furnished the political influence to keep track of and protect the contract; George Law furnished the money; Crosswell furnished the law, and Roberts supplied the work. Of all these once-once noted set, only George Law and Marshall O. Roberts wound up well. The rest came to grief. The Wetmores got heavily involved and died bankrupts. Crosswell subsided and faded out, and Sloo, the originator of the scheme, died at last in the San Francisco poorhouse. The scheme itself proved too much for its starters, but, as I have just said, George Law and Marshall O. Roberts had the luck to come out smilin’. Before the scheme fell through Oliver Charlick got interested in it and tried to run it as he did the Long Island Railroad afterwards, but couldn’t do it. The only man in the whole scheme who ever did make money by it was Roberts himself, and he only made it indirectly. He sued the government on the contract, and kept suin’ it for nearly twenty years under several different Administrations. Finally, the government gave in and Roberts got nearly two millions of dollars, comin’ out about a million and a half ahead.
Roberts was lucky, too, in the war times. He was a personal friend of Lincoln’s and got the inside track of things at Washington, charterin’ steamers for the government and gettin’ contracts for supplies. He made in the four years of the war nearly four millions of dollars. He didn’t serve the country for nothin’. Roberts tried his hand at New York politics for a while, but his usual luck didn’t follow him here. He ran for Mayor some twenty years ago, but incurring the ill-will of Horace Greeley, he lost the election, much to his chagrin. William H. Wickham was then Roberts’ chief clerk, attendin’ to his steamboat business and was rather snubbed by Roberts. About ten years later Wickham loomed up in politics and ran for Mayor. To Roberts’ infinite disgust his former employee won the election. This was a staggerer for Roberts. The ex-employee got what the ex-employer tried to get, but couldn’t. But such is life.
[Editor’s notes: Roberts was also part of the combine, headed by Cyrus Field, that pushed the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable project.
One of Roberts most well-known acquisitions was the painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware.]
