well prepared that, in the centre tube, consisting of no less than
10,309 pieces, in which nearly half a million of holes were punched, not
one plate required alteration, neither was there a plate punched wrong.
The faculty of invention, however, was developed in the British
engineers and workmen by the air of the New World. A steam-traveller was
made and sent out by one of the most eminent firms in England, after two
years of experiments and an outlay of some thousands of pounds, which
would never do much more than move itself about, and at last had to be
laid aside as useless. But the same descriptions and drawings having
been shown to Mr. Chaffey, one of the sub-contractors, who "had been in
Canada a sufficient length of time to free his genius from the cramped
ideas of early life," a rough and ugly machine was constructed, which
was soon working well. The same increase of inventiveness, according to
Mr. Hodges, was visible in the ordinary workman, when transferred from
the perfect but mechanical and cramping routine of British industry, to
a country where he has to mix trades and turn his hands to all kinds of
work. "In England he is a machine, but as soon as he gets out to the
United States he becomes an intellectual being." Comparing the German
with the British mechanic, Mr. Hodges says, "I do not think that a
German is a better man than an Englishman; but I draw this distinction
between them, that when a German leaves school he begins to educate
himself, but the Englishman does not, for, as soon as he casts off the
thraldom of school, he learns nothing more unless he is forced to do it,
and if he is forced to do it, he will then beat the German. An
Englishman acts well when he is put under compulsion by circumstances."
Labour being scarce, a number of French-Canadians were, at Mr.
Brassey's suggestion, brought up in organized gangs, each having an
Englishman or an American as their leader. We are told, however, that
they proved useless except for very light work. "They could ballast, but
they could not excavate. They could not even ballast as the English
navvy does, continuously working at filling for the whole day. The only
way in which they could be useful was by allowing them to fill the
waggons, and then ride out with the ballast train to the place where the
ballast was tipped, giving them an opportunity of resting. Then the
empty waggon went back again to be filled and so alternately resting
during the work; in that way, they did very much more. They would work
fast for ten minutes and then they were 'done.' This was not through
idleness but physical weakness. They are small men, and they are a class
who are not well fed. They live entirely on vegetable food, and they
scarcely ever taste meat." It is natural to suppose that the want of
meat is the cause of their inefficiency. Yet the common farm labourer in
England, who does a very hard and long day's work, hardly tastes meat,
in many counties, the year round.
In the case of the Crimean railway, private enterprise came, in a
memorable manner, to the assistance of a government overwhelmed by
administrative difficulties. A forty years peace had rusted the
machinery of the war department, while the machinery of railway
construction was in the highest working order. Sir John Burgoyne, the
chief of the engineering staff, testified that it was impossible to
overrate the services rendered by the railway, or its effects in
shortening the time of the siege, and alleviating the fatigues and
sufferings of the troops. The disorganization of the government
department was accidental and temporary, as was subsequently proved by
the success of the Abyssinian expedition, and, indeed, by the closing
period of the Crimean war itself, when the British army was well
supplied, while the French administration broke down. On the other hand
the resources of private industry, on which the embarrassed government
drew, are always there; and their immense auxiliary power would be at
once manifested if England should become involved in a dangerous war. It
should be remembered, too, that the crushing war expenditure in time of
peace, which alarmists always advocate, would prevent the growth of
those resources, and deprive England of the "sinews of war."
The Danish railways brought the British navvy again into comparison with
his foreign rivals. Mr. Rowan, the agent of Messrs. Peto and Brassey,
was greatly pleased with his Danish labourers, but, on being pressed,
said, "No man is equal to the British navvy; but the Dane, from his
steady, constant labour, is a good workman, and a first-class one will
do nearly as much work in a day as an Englishman." The Dane takes time:
his habit is in summer to begin work at four in the morning, and
continue till eight in the evening, taking five intervals of rest.
The Danish engineers, in Mr. Rowan's judgment, are over-educated, and,
as a consequence, wanting in decisiveness. "They have been in the habit
of applying to their masters for everything, finding out nothing for
themselves; the consequence is that they are children, and cannot form a
judgment. It is the same in the North of Germany; the great difficulty
is that you cannot get them to come to a decision. They want always to
inquire and to investigate, and they never come to a result." This
evidence must have been given some years ago, for of late it has been
made pretty apparent that the investigations and inquiries of the North
Germans do not prevent their coming to a decision, or that decision from
leading to a result. Mr. Helps seizes the opportunity for a thrust at
the system of competitive examination, which has taken from the heads of
departments the power of "personal selection." The answer to him is
Sedan. A bullet through your heart is the strongest proof which logic
can afford that the German, from whose rifle it comes, was not prevented
by his knowledge of the theory of projectiles from marking his man with
promptness and taking a steady aim. That over-exertion of the intellect
in youth does a man harm, is a true though not a very fruitful
proposition; but knowledge does not destroy decisiveness: it only turns
it from the decisiveness of a bull into the decisiveness of a man. Which
nations do the great works? The educated nations, or Mexico and Spain?
The Australian railways brought out two facts, one gratifying, the other
the reverse. The gratifying fact was that the unlimited confidence which
Mr. Brassey reposed in his agents was repaid by their zeal and fidelity
in his service. The fact which was the reverse of gratifying was, that
the great advantage which the English Labourer gains in Australia, from
the higher wages and comparative cheapness of living, is counteracted by
his love of drink.
The Argentine Railway had special importance and interest, in opening up
a vast and most fruitful and salubrious region to European emigration.
Those territories offer room and food for myriads. "The population of
Russia, that hard-featured country, is about 75,000,000, the population
of the Argentine Republic, to which nature has been so bountiful, and in
which she is so beautiful, is about 1,000,000." If ever government in
the South American States becomes more settled, we shall find them
formidable rivals.
The Indian Railways are also likely to be a landmark in the history of
civilization. They unite that vast country and its people, both
materially and morally, break down caste, bring the natives from all
parts to the centres of instruction, and distribute the produce of the
soil evenly and rapidly, so as to mitigate famines. The Orissa famine
would never have occurred, had Mr. Brassey's works been there. What
effect the railways will ultimately have on British rule is another
question. They multiply the army by increasing the rapidity of
transport, but, on the other hand, they are likely to diminish that
division among the native powers on which the Empire is partly based.
Rebellion may run along the railway line as well as command.
There were periods in Mr. Brassey's career during which he and his
partners were giving employment to 80,000 persons, upon works requiring
seventeen millions of capital for their completion. It is also
satisfactory to know, that in the foreign countries and colonies over
which his operations extended, he was instrumental in raising the wages
and condition of the working class, as well as in affording to the
_elite_ of that class opportunities for rising to higher positions.
His remuneration for all this, though in the aggregate very large, was
by no means excessive. Upon seventy-eight millions of money laid out in
the enterprises which he conducted, he retained two millions and a half,
that is as nearly as possible three per cent. The rest of his fortune
consisted of accumulations. Three per cent. was not more than a fair
payment for the brain-work, the anxiety and the risk. The risk, it must
be recollected, was constant, and there were moments at which, if Mr.
Brassey had died, he would have been found comparatively poor. His
fortune was made, not by immoderate gains upon any one transaction, but
by reasonable profits in a business which was of vast extent, and owed
its vast extent to a reputation, fairly earned by probity, energy and
skill. We do not learn that he figured in any lobby, or formed a member
of any ring. Whether he was a Norman or not, he was too much a
gentleman, in the best sense of the term, to crawl to opulence by low
and petty ways. He left no stain on the escutcheon of a captain of
industry.
Nor when riches increased did he set his heart upon them. His heart was
set on the work rather than on the pay. The monuments and enterprise of
his skill were more to him than the millions. He seems even to have been
rather careless in keeping his accounts. He gave away freely--as much as
L200,000, it is believed--in the course of his life. His accumulations
arose not from parsimony but from the smallness of his personal
expenses. He hated show and luxury, and kept a moderate establishment,
which the increase of his wealth never induced him to extend. He seems
to have felt a singular diffidence as to his capacity for aristocratic
expenditure. The conversation turning one day on the immense fortunes of
certain noblemen, he said, "I understand it is easy and natural enough
for those who are born and brought up to it, to spend L50,000 or even
L150,000 a year; but I should be very sorry to have to undergo the
fatigue of even spending L30,000 a year. I believe such a job as that
would drive me mad." He felt an equally strange misgiving as to his
capacity for aristocratic idleness. "It requires a special education,"
he said, "to be idle, or to employ the twenty-four hours, in a rational
way, without any calling or occupation. To live the life of a gentleman,
one must have been brought up to it. It is impossible for a man who has
been engaged in business pursuits the greater part of his life to
retire; if he does so, he soon discovers that he has made a great
mistake. I shall not retire, but if for some good reason, I should be
obliged to do so, it would be to a farm. There I would bring up stock
which I would cause to be weighed every day, ascertaining at the same
time their daily cost, as against the increasing weight. I should then
know when to sell and start again with another lot."
Of tinsel, which sometimes is as corrupting to vulgar souls as money,
this man seems to have been as regardless as he was of pelf. He received
the Cross of the Iron Crown from the Emperor of Austria. He accepted
what was graciously offered, but he said that, as an Englishman, he did
not know what good Crosses were to him. The circumstance reminded him
that he had received other Crosses, but he had to ask his agent what
they were, and where they were. He was told that they were the Legion of
Honour of France, and the Chevaliership of Italy; but the Crosses could
not be found. Duplicates were procured to be taken to Mrs. Brassey, who,
her husband remarked, would be glad to possess them all.
Such millionaires would do unmixed good in the world; but unfortunately
they are apt to die and leave their millions, and the social influence
which the millions confer, to "that unfeathered two-legged thing, a
son." This is by no means said with a personal reference. On the
contrary, it is evident that Mr. Brassey was especially fortunate in his
heir. We find some indication of this in a chapter towards the close of
Mr. Helps' volume, in which are thrown together the son's miscellaneous
recollections of the father. The chapter affords further proof that the
great contractor was not made of the same clay as the Fisks and
Vanderbilts--that he was not a mere market-rigger and money-grubber--but
a really great man, devoted to a special calling. He is represented by
his son as having taken a lively interest in a wide and varied range of
subjects--engineering subjects especially as a matter of course, but not
engineering subjects alone. He studied countries and their people,
evincing the utmost interest in Chicago, speculating on the future
industrial prosperity of Canada, and imparting the results of his
observations admirably when he got home. Like all great men, he had a
poetic element in his character. He loved the beauties of nature, and
delighted in mountain scenery. He was a great sight-seer, and when he
visited a city on business, went through its churches, public buildings,
and picture-galleries, as assiduously as a tourist. For half an hour he
stood gazing with delight on the Maison Carree, at Nismes. For sculpture
and painting he had a strong taste, and the Venus of Milo "was a joy to
him." He had a keen eye for beauty, shapeliness and comeliness
everywhere, in porcelain, in furniture, in dress, in a well built yacht,
in a well appointed regiment of horse. Society, too, he liked, in spite
of his simplicity of habits; loved to gather his friends around his
board, and was always a genial host. For literature he had no time, but
he enjoyed oratory, and liked to hear good reading. He used to test his
son's progress in reading, at the close of each half year, by making him
read aloud a chapter of the Bible. His good sense confined his ambition
to his proper sphere, and prevented him from giving ear to any
solicitations to go into politics, which he had not leisure to study,
and which he knew ought not to be handled by ignorance. His own leanings
were Conservative; but his son, who is a Liberal, testifies that his
father never offered him advice on political matters, or remonstrated
with him on a single vote which he gave in the House of Commons. It is
little to the discredit of a man so immersed in business that he should
have been fascinated, as he was, by the outward appearance of perfect
order presented by the French Empire and by the brilliancy of its
visible edifice, not discerning the explosive forces which its policy
was all the time accumulating in the dark social realms below; though
the fact that he, with all his natural sagacity, did fall into this
tremendous error, is a warning to railway and steamboat politicians.
Mr. Brassey's advice was often sought by parents who had sons to start
in the world. "As usual, a disposition was shewn to prefer a career
which did not involve the apparent degradation of learning a trade
practically, side by side with operatives in a workshop. But my father,
who had known, by his wide experience, the immense value of a technical
knowledge of a trade or business as compared with general educational
advantages of the second order, and who knew how much more easy it is to
earn a living as a skilful artisan than as a clerk, possessing a mere
general education, always urged those who sought his advice to begin by
giving to their sons a practical knowledge of a trade."
"My father," says Mr. Brassey, junior, "ever mindful of his own
struggles and efforts in early life, evinced at all times the most
anxious disposition to assist young men to enter upon a career. The
small loans which he advanced for this purpose, and the innumerable
letters which he wrote in the hope of obtaining for his young clients
help or employment in other quarters, constitute a bright and most
honourable feature in his life." His powers of letter-writing were
enormous, and, it seems to us, were exercised even to excess. So much
writing would, at least, in the case of any ordinary man, have consumed
too much of the energy which should be devoted to thought. His
correspondence was brought with his luncheon basket when he was shooting
on the moors. After a long day's journey he sat down in the coffee room
of the hotel, and wrote thirty-two letters before he went to bed. He
never allowed a letter, even a begging letter, to remain unanswered;
and, says his son, "the same benignity and courtesy which marked his
conduct in every relation of life, pervaded his whole correspondence."
"In the many volumes of his letters which are preserved, I venture to
affirm that there is not the faintest indication of an ungenerous or
unkindly sentiment--not a sentence which is not inspired by the spirit
of equity and justice, and by universal charity to mankind."
By the same authority we are assured that "Mr. Brassey was of a
singularly patient disposition in dealing with all ordinary affairs of
life. We know how, whenever a hitch occurs in a railway journey, a great
number of passengers become irritated, almost to a kind of foolish
frenzy. He always took these matters most patiently. He well knew that
no persons are so anxious to avoid such detentions as the officials
themselves, and never allowed himself to altercate with a helpless guard
or distracted station-master."
The only blemish which the son can recollect in the father's character,
is a want of firmness in blaming when blame was due, and an incapacity
of refusing a request or rejecting a proposal strongly urged by others.
The latter defect was, in his son's judgment, the cause of the greatest
disasters which he experienced as a man of business. Both defects were
closely allied to virtues--extreme tenderness of heart and consideration
for the feelings of others.
"He was graceful," says Mr. Brassey, junior, in conclusion, "in every
movement, always intelligent in observation, with an excellent command
of language, and only here and there betrayed, by some slight
provincialisms, in how small a degree he had in early life enjoyed the
educational advantages of those with whom his high commercial position
in later years placed him in constant communication. But these things
are small in comparison to the greater points of character by which he
seemed to me to be distinguished. In all he said or did, he showed
himself to be inspired by that chivalry of heart and mind which must
truly ennoble him who possesses it, and without which one cannot be a
perfect gentleman."
Mention has been made of his great generosity. One of his old agents
having lost all his earnings, Mr. Brassey gave him several new missions,
that be might have a chance of recovering himself. But the agent died
suddenly, and his wife nearly at the same time, leaving six orphan
children without provision. Mr. Brassey gave up, in their favour, a
policy of insurance which he held as security for several thousands,
and, in addition, headed a subscription list for them with a large sum.
It seems that his delicacy in giving was equal to his generosity; that
of his numberless benefactions, very few were published in subscription
lists, and that his right hand seldom knew what his left hand did.
His refinement was of the truly moral kind, and of the kind that tells
on others. Not only was coarse and indecent language checked in his
presence, but the pain he evinced at all outbreaks of unkind feeling,
and at manifestation of petty jealousies, operated strongly in
preventing any such displays from taking place before him. As one who
was the most intimate with him observed, "his people seemed to enter
into a higher atmosphere when they were in his presence, conscious, no
doubt, of the intense dislike which he had of everything that was mean,
petty, or contentious."
Mr. Helps tells us that the tender-heartedness which pervaded Mr.
Brassey's character was never more manifested than on the occasion of
any illness of his friends. At the busiest period of his life he would
travel hundreds of miles to be at the bedside of a sick or dying friend.
In his turn he experienced, in his own last illness, similar
manifestations of affectionate solicitude. Many of the persons, we are
told, who had served him in foreign countries and at home, came from
great distances solely for the chance of seeing once more their old
master whom they loved so much. They were men of all classes, humble
navvies as well as trusted agents. They would not intrude upon his
illness, but would wait for hours in the hall, in the hope of seeing him
borne to his carriage, and getting a shake of the hand or a sign of
friendly recognition. "The world," remarks Mr. Helps, "is after all not
so ungrateful as it is sometimes supposed to be; those who deserve to be
loved generally are loved, having elicited the faculty of loving which
exists to a great extent in all of us."
"Mr. Brassey," we are told, "had ever been a very religious man. His
religion was of that kind which most of us would desire for ourselves--
utterly undisturbed by doubts of any sort, entirely tolerant, not built
upon small or even upon great differences of belief. He clung resolutely
and with entire hopefulness to that creed, and abode by that form of
worship, in which he had been brought up as a child." The religious
element in his character was no doubt strong, and lay at the root of his
tender-heartedness and his charity as well as of the calm resignation
with which he met disaster, and his indifference to gain. At the time of
a great panic, when things were at the worst, he only said: "Never mind,
we must be content with a little less, that is all." This was when he
supposed himself to have lost a million. The duty of religious inquiry,
which he could not perform himself, he would no doubt have recognised in
those to whose lot it falls to give their fellow-men assurance of
religious truth.
Mr. Brassey's wife said of him that "he was a most unworldly man." This
may seem a strange thing to say of a great contractor and a millionaire.
Yet, in the highest sense, it was true. Mr. Brassey was not a monk; his
life was passed in the world, and in the world's most engrossing, and,
as it proves in too many cases, most contaminating business. Yet, if the
picture of him presented to us be true, he kept himself "unspotted from
the world."
His character is reflected in the portrait which forms the frontispiece
to the biography, and on which those who pursue his calling will do well
sometimes to look.
A WIREPULLER OF KINGS.
[Footnote: Memoirs of Baron Stockmar. By his son, Baron E. Von Stockmar.
Translated from the German by G. A. M. Edited by F. Max Muller. In two
volumes. London: Longman's, Green and Co.]
Some of our readers will remember that there was at one time a great
panic in England about the unconstitutional influence of Prince Albert,
and that, connected with Prince Albert's name in the invectives of a
part of the press, was that of the intimate friend, constant guest, and
trusted adviser of the Royal Family, Baron Stockmar. The suspicion was
justified by the fact in both cases; but in the case of Baron Stockmar,
as well as in that of Prince Albert, the influence appears to have been
exercised on the whole for good. Lord Aberdeen, who spoke his mind with
the sincerity and simplicity of a perfectly honest man, said of
Stockmar; "I have known men as clever, as discreet, as good, and with as
good judgment; but I never knew any one who united all these qualities
as he did." Melbourne was jealous of his reputed influence, but
testified to his sense and worth. Palmerston disliked, we may say hated,
him; but he declared him the only disinterested man of the kind he had
ever known.
Stockmar was a man of good family, who originally pursued the profession
of medicine, and having attracted the notice of Prince Leopold of Saxe
Coburg, the husband of Princess Charlotte, and afterwards king of the
Belgians, was appointed physician in ordinary to that Prince upon his
marriage. When, in course of time, he exchanged the functions of
physician in ordinary for those of wirepuller in ordinary, he found that
the time passed in medical study had not been thrown away. He said
himself, "It was a clever stroke to have originally studied medicine;
without the knowledge thus acquired, without the psychological and
physiological experiences thus obtained, my _savoir faire_ would
often have gone a-begging." It seems also that he practised politics on
medical principles, penetrating a political situation, or detecting a
political disease, by the help of single expressions or acts, after the
manner of medical diagnosis, and in his curative treatment endeavouring
to remove as far as possible every pathological impediment, so that the
healing moral nature might be set free, and social and human laws resume
their restorative power. He might have graduated as a politician in a
worse school.