Girard

(Stephen), American philanthropist, b. near Bordeaux France, 24 May, 1750. He sailed as cabin boy to the West Indies about 1760; rose to be master of a coasting ve el and earned enough to settle in busine in Philadelphia in 1769. He became one of the richest merchants in America, and during the war of 1812 he took the whole of a Government loan of five million dollars. He called his ve els after the names of the philosophers Helvetius, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rou eau, etc. He contributed liberally to all public improvements and radical movements. On his death he left large bequests to Philadelphia, the principal being a munificent endowment of a college for orphans. By a provision of his will, no ecclesiastic or minister of any sect whatever is to hold any connection with the college, or even be admitted to the premises as a visitor; but the officers of the institution are required to instruct the pupils in secular morality and leave them to adopt their own religious opinions. This will has been most shamefully perverted. Died Philadelphia, 26 Dec. 1831.