Indeed, he was wont to reiterate, when rallied upon his new enterprise: "The fact was, I had to do something for my health, you know." Still, the General was not what could be called a thoroughly happy man.
He knew the risks he ran on Change.

He had been reminded, by two or three mortifying losses, that the sun did not always shine on Wall street.

He knew that his railroad was a bubble, and that sooner or later it would burst.

Times would change, and, after all, there was nothing that would last like his manufactures.

With a long foresight, he had ordered the funds received from the Prussian sales of the Belcher rifle to be deposited with a European banking house at interest, to be drawn against in his foreign purchases of material; yet he never drew against this deposit.