means to ensure its efficiency in the Metropolitan Railway, 423.
Vesuvius, height of, _note_, 9.
Victoria Bridge, Montreal, the, described, 391.
Victoria, railways in, 308;
amount of traffic, 310.
Vignoles, Mr. Charles B., first patentee of the centre rail, 336.
Volcano, extinct, railway tunnel through, 386.
Volcanoes in the world, 10.
Von Reaumont, Alfred, History of Rome, 436.
Wales, North and South, production of coal in, _note_, 49;
unpronounceable post towns in, _note_, 144.
Wallis, the late Robert, Esq., M.P., his committee on postal reform,
137.
Warren, Lieut., R.E., his explorations at Jerusalem, 360.
Warwickshire, production of coal in, _note_, 49.
Watches and engines compared, 244.
Water supply to Crewe in 1849, 197, in 1867, 205.
Water supply to Madrid described, 384.
Water tower, the, of the Crystal Palace, railway tunnel under, _note_,
375.
Weedon, its deadly liveliness, 234.
Wellington, the Duke of, sends to Rome in 1834;
time occupied in the journey, 157.
West India mails, the, in 1839 and 1855, 91.
Westbourne, its frequent use in London street nomenclature, _note_,
36.
Westminster school, _note_, 217.
Widows from Wolverton, 229;
married, “no cards,” 230.
Winchester school, _note_, 216.
Worcestershire, production of coal in, _note_, 49.
Word-coining approved of by the Archbishop of Dublin, _note_ 167.
Wolverton carriage establishment, 199;
station and repairing shops, 221;
statistics of, _ib._;
churches and schools, 222;
the refreshment rooms, 224.
Working expenses of British railways, 40, 147;
per centage of, to receipts, 55;
rate per cent. for twelve leading companies, 56.
Working expenses of Indian railways, causes why they must be high,
periodical inundations, 280;
iron sleepers, 282;
fuel, 284;
differ very much on different lines, 289;
on the Alpine and Apennine railways, 346.
Workman’s trains, 62.
Wynter, Dr., the London Commisseriat, 70.
Yard, its proportion to the French metre, 331.
Yates, Edmund, _note_, 104.
Yonge, the Rev. T. E., _note_, 169.
York, the locomotive and carriage establishment of the North-Eastern
Company at, 209.
Yorkshire, production of coal in, _note_, 49.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The traffic receipts published each week by the newspapers neither
represent correctly the actual mileage of railways opened nor the
receipts upon them. Thus, although about 300 miles have been opened
since the 31st of December, 1866, making the actual length of the
railways in the United Kingdom nearly 14,200, the mileage upon which
traffic was published for the week ending the 14th of September last
was only 12,958. Many of the small railway companies, and those which
are chiefly mineral lines, do not publish weekly traffic returns; and
it is to be feared that, in the case of some of the larger railway
companies, increased mileage is not included for several weeks—in some
cases, for several months—after branches are opened, although the
increased earnings are included in the published receipts.
[2] In the paper read by the late Admiral Laws to the Institution of
Civil Engineers, on the 11th of March, 1851, upon the mode of working
an incline of 1 in 27½ on the Oldham branch of the Lancashire and
Yorkshire Railway, and in the report of the discussion which followed
the reading of the paper, will be found several interesting details
relating to the working of inclined planes on railways at that time.
[3] France now possesses these three mountains, the highest in Europe;
Switzerland possesses the two next highest, Finsterarhorn, 14,026
feet, and the Jungfrau, 13,716 feet, both in the Bernese Oberland.
The highest mountain in the Austrian Dominions is the Orrtler Spitz
in the Tyrol, 12,822 feet, the fourteenth highest in Europe. She also
has the fifteenth, Gross Glockner, 12,431 feet. Spain possesses the
sixteenth and seventeenth, Mulhaeen, 11,664 feet, and Pico de Veleta,
11,398 feet. Mount Etna in Sicily is 10,872 feet, the twenty-fourth in
height in Europe, and the highest belonging to the Kingdom of Italy.
Olympus in Thessaly is 9,749 feet. Monte Santo in Greece, 9,628 feet,
is the forty-second highest in the European order. The forty-ninth and
fiftieth are in Corsica, Monte Rotondo, 8,767; Monte d’Oro, 8,701;
Parnassus in Greece is 8,068 feet, and Mount Athos, 6,776. The highest
in the island of Sardinia is Monte Genergentu, the seventy-ninth,
6,293. The Rigi in Switzerland is 6,050. The highest in Styria is
Wechselsberg, 5,352. The highest in Bohemia is Schneekoppe, 5,328.
The highest in Sweden is Mount Adelat, 5,145. The highest peak of the
Apennines, Monte Corno, the thirty-sixth highest mountain in Europe, is
10,144 feet. The next highest, Monte Amaro di Majella, the fifty-first,
is 9,113; Monte Velino, the sixty-second, 7,851; Termenillo Grande,
the sixty-eighth, 7,212. Monte Cimone the seventy-first, 6,975. The
height of Vesuvius is 6,950 feet less than that of his brother volcano,
Mount Etna, being only 3,922 feet, and the 125th in European order.
The highest mountain in Portugal is the Sierra de Foga, 3,609 feet.
The Gross Arberg is the highest in Bavaria, 4,832 feet. Coming to the
United Kingdom, we find that Ben Nevis in Scotland, 4,406 feet, is
the highest, it is the 111th in European order. They come afterwards
as follows—Ben Macdin, 113th, 4,296. Cairn Tuol (Aberdeen), 115th,
4,225. Cairn Gorm, 121st, 4,090. Ben Lawers, 124th, 3,984. Ben Avon
(Aberdeen), 129th, 3,821. Snowdon in North Wales, 134th, 3,590.
Schehallion, Scotland, 135th, 3,547. Cairn Lewellen, North Wales,
136th, 3,471. Curran or Cairn Tual, near the Lakes of Killarney, 140th
in European order, is 3,045 feet. Ben Lomond, Scotland, 144th, 3,912.
Helvellyn, in Cumberland, 147th, is the highest in England, 3,115 feet.
Skiddaw in the same county is fifty-seven feet lower, being 3,058,
and Cross Fell, also in Cumberland, is 2,928. The Cheviot is 2,669,
and Coniston Fell, in the Lakes District, is 2,649 feet. The Nephin
Mountain in the County of Mayo is 2,638 feet. The Morne Mountains,
in the County of Down, are 2,493 feet, Shunner Fell in Yorkshire is
2,348. The summit of Gibraltar is 1,493 feet, and whether Arthur’s Seat
Edinburgh be or be not a mountain, it is 822 feet above sea level.
But many mountains in other parts of the world are of much greater
altitude than those in Europe. The highest in Asia and in the world
is Deodunga, or Chingo-pamari, in Nepaul, 29,002 feet, or exactly 5½
miles above sea level; and there are no less than twenty-eight other
mountains in Asia, the height of which exceeds 20,000 feet, besides
seven that exceed 15,000, twelve that exceed 10,000, sixteen that
exceed 7,500, twenty-two that exceed 5,000, and six that are below
5,000, the lowest enumerated being Taganai, in the Ural Mountains,
3,532 feet above the level of the sea. The total number of the above is
92.
The highest mountain belonging to Africa and the Atlantic Islands is
Kilimanjaro, in equitorial Africa, 20,000 feet high. There are four
others more than 15,000 feet high, seven more than 10,000 feet, (among
which is the Peak of Teneriffe, 12,205 feet), eight above 7,500,
thirteen above 5,000 and eighteen below 5,000; total, 51.
The highest mountain of the American Continent is the Aconcagua,
in Chile, 23,910 feet. There are fourteen higher than 20,000 feet,
forty-two higher than 15,000, nineteen higher than 10,000, twelve
higher than 7,500, twenty-one higher than 5,000, twelve less than
5,000; total, 121.
The highest mountain in Polynesia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands
is a volcano, in Sumatra, called Singalang, 15,000 feet high. Volcanoes
particularly abound in the groups of these highlands. Thus, while
there are only four volcanoes among 169 European mountains, thirteen
among ninety-two Asiatic, eleven among fifty-one in Africa and the
Atlantic islands, thirty-three among 121 American mountains, there are
sixty-three in a total of 109 mountains in Polynesia, Australia, and
the Pacific islands. There are twenty-three of them above 10,000 feet,
sixteen above 7,500, twenty-nine above 5,000, and forty-one under 5,000.
Thus it appears that there are 524 mountains in the world, of altitudes
varying from 1,400 to 29,000 feet, of which 124 are volcanoes. The
greater portion of the foregoing information is derived from the very
interesting article headed “Physical Geography,” in the seventeenth
volume of the eighth (and latest) edition of the _Enclyclopædia
Britannica_, to which the reader is referred for further details.
Writing of mountains reminds us that it was on the Puy de Dome, the
summit of which is 4,806 above the level of the sea, that Pascal, for
whom M. de Charles has invented the letters by which he has attempted
to rob Newton of the honour of having discovered the laws of gravity,
first observed the decrease of barometric pressure as mountains are
ascended. Honour and reputation enough attach to the name of Pascal,
without attempting to add to them by fraud and forgery.
[4] The _Times_ does not take this view, for we find as follows, in one
of its leading articles of the 27th of August, 1867:—“By one of the
clauses in the recent commercial treaty between Austria and Italy, it
is provided that both countries shall co-operate in the restoration and
maintenance of international communication on the frontier. One of the
results of this agreement is, that the magnificent military road of the
Stelvio, a road which constituted one of the wonders of the Alps, but
which Austria, ever since her loss of Lombardy in 1859, had suffered
to go to ruin, will be completed and re-established. Italians and
Austrians are now hard at work, each on their own side, vying with each
other in their endeavours to efface the traces of ten years’ neglect,
and restoring gradients and galleries, bridges and embankments, to
their former condition. It is pleasant to hear of competition in such
peaceful pursuits among people who, only twelve months ago, were
confronting each other amid those very mountain scenes, bent on mutual
destruction.”
[5] Here is the first advertisement announcing the intended passage of
trains over the Brenner Railway:—
COMPAGNIE DES CHEMINS DE FER DU SUD DE L’AUTRICHE ET DE L’ITALIE
CENTRALE.—_Ouverture de la ligne du Tyrol._ (Passage du Brenner).—La
Compagnie a l’honneur de prévenir le public que la ligne du Tyrol,
section d’Innsbruck à Botzen (passage du Brenner), sera ouverte au
transport des marchandises entre l’Allemagne et l’Italie le 17 de ce
mois, et au service des voyageurs, le 24 du même mois. Les expéditions
de marchandises devront être adressées à Kustein (Tyrol), station
frontière du Nord, ou à Ala, station frontière du Sud. Le livret des
tarifs et celui de la marche des trains seront, dès aujourd’hui, à
la disposition du public. A l’agence commerciale de la Société, à
Kustein. A toutes les stations de la ligne du Tyrol. A la direction
commerciale de la Société, à Vienne. Les stations d’Italie forment
l’objet d’un tarif spécial, qui sera à la disposition du public,
dès les premiers jours du mois de Septembre. Jusque là, l’agence
commerciale à Kustein donnera tous les renseignements d’expéditions et
de prix qui lui seront demandés—Vienne, 10 Août, 1867.
Later advertisements announce that the express passenger trains between
Munich and Verona are to complete the journey in eighteen hours. The
distance is 295 miles. Verona is 95 miles from Bologna; 565 miles
from Brindisi; 178 from Florence; 411 from Rome; 574 from Naples. The
following are the distances between London and Munich:—London to Paris,
296 miles; Paris to Kehl (_viâ_ Strasbourg), 325; Kehl to Bruschal
junction, 59; Bruschal to Ulm, 107; Ulm to Munich, 94—total, 881.
Total—London to Brindisi, 1,741 miles; to Florence, 1,354; to Rome,
1,587; to Naples, 1,750.
[6] In trade and commerce? Yes—but not yet in population, as will
be seen by the following statement, very recently published, of the
inhabitants of the ten principal cities in France: Paris, 1,825,274;
Lyons, 323,954; Marseilles, 300,131; Bordeaux, 194,241; Lille, 154,779;
Toulouse, 126,936; Nantes, 111,956; Rouen, 100,671; St. Etienne,
96,620; Strasbourg, 84,167.
[7] According to the _Almanac de Gotha_ for 1867, the smallest
independent state in the world is that of Leichenstein, not quite
three German square miles. Population in 1861, 7,994. Its contingent
to the German Federal Army was seventy-two men. These were supplied by
Austria. The community however was not taxed for them, as the Sovereign
Prince paid for their equipment and maintenance out of his own private
fortune. Leichenstein has not been swallowed up by Prussia. Next to
Leichenstein comes Reuss-Greiz, seven German square miles; population
under 24,000. Prince Henry XXII. came to his sovereign hereditary
honours there last year.
[8] The population of Ireland was at its highest in 1845. It was then
estimated to be 8,295,061. It is estimated to be, in June, 1867,
5,556,262: showing a decrease of 2,738,099 in twenty-two years.
[9] One thing is certain,—it is that the ladies who live within city
precincts do as ladies do in all other parts of the world; for we
learn that at the meeting of the City Commissioners of Sewers, held at
Guildhall, on Tuesday, the 24th of September last, presided over by
our friend, Mr. Deputy de Jersey, Dr. Letheby, the Medical Officer of
Health, presented his report, in which he stated that there had been
103 births in the city during the previous fortnight, or just at the
rate of 2,610 for the twelve months. The Doctor deserves his title,
for only 76 deaths (being 9 less than the average for 10 years) were
registered in the same period. Reference to death statistics for the
whole kingdom shows that the mortality among children under 5 years old
is slightly above the average, 31, as against a little under 30, which
would be the average on 76 for the whole kingdom. The 14 over 60 years
of age who died, are below the average for the whole kingdom; it is
about, 18 for each 76 of the population, at the period of death.
[10] The street nomenclature of London is very extraordinary. Those
unacquainted with it would hardly believe that there are as many as 50
King Streets, nearly as many Queen Streets, above 60 George Streets,
60 William Streets, and about 45 “New” Streets. This last name often,
as may be supposed, greatly misleads strangers, who imagine that such
streets are only of recent construction. Until the modern conversion of
the “New Road” into City Road, Euston Road, and Marylebone Road, there
were along its entire length places and terraces with every conceivable
name, and as many as between fifty and sixty different enumerations of
numbers. Nor must it be considered that recently-constructed London is
exempt from blemishes of this nature. The word “Westbourne” appears no
less than nineteen times in the _Postal Guide_—there are Westbourne
Crescent, Westbourne Grove (the Regent Street of Westburnia), and then
not only Westbourne Park, but Westbourne Park Cottages, Westbourne
Park Crescent, Westbourne Park Place, Westbourne Park Road, Westbourne
Park Road West, Westbourne Park Terrace, Westbourne Park Villas,
Westbourne Place (Bishop’s Road), Westbourne Square, Westbourne Street
(Paddington), Westbourne Terrace (Bayswater), Westbourne Terrace
(Bishop’s Road), and Upper Westbourne Terrace—so far for the northern
side of Hyde Park; but on the southern there are—Westbourne Street,
Pimlico (to distinguish it from Westbourne Street, Paddington), and
Westbourne Place, Eaton Square. Finally, the list winds up with
Westbourne Road, _Holloway_.
Not so numerous in its locations, but equally puzzling and
unsatisfactory, is “Kensington.” Besides that name, there
are—Kensington Crescent, Kensington Road, Kensington Gate, Kensington
Gore, High Street, Kensington; Kensington Hall, North End, Fulham, and
Kensington Square on the south side of Hyde Park. Kensington Palace and
Kensington Palace Gardens are situate between Kensington and Bayswater,
Kensington Gardens Square is in Paddington, Kensington Gardens Terrace
is in Bayswater Road, Kensington Park Gardens and Kensington Park
Terrace are at Notting Hill.
It is needless to dwell upon the inconvenience and trouble to which
such nomenclature gives rise. Sir John Thwaites, Tite, M.P., Ayrton,
M.P., and other your colleagues of the Metropolitan Board of Works, to
the rescue!
[11] Judging by the appearance of the traffic receipts published for
the first thirty-eight weeks of 1867, it is probable that their total
amount for the year will not fall short of £41,000,000.
[12] Here is one of a great many instances that might be quoted,
from the Irish correspondence of the _Times_ of no later date than
the 1st of October, 1867.—“The necessity for having some efficient
government control of railways, apart from the question of purchase,
is illustrated by the unsatisfactory relations now subsisting between
the Great Southern and Western Railway and the Kilkenny Junction line,
which joins the former at Maryborough. The Great Southern are naturally
unwilling to facilitate an opposition line, and pursue a policy of
obstructiveness, which the directors conceive to be legitimate and
expedient for the protection of their own interests, but which the
public cannot quite understand, and find extremely inconvenient.
Passengers are exposed to the risk of missing the train to Dublin on
reaching Maryborough, and at Kilkenny the Great Southern Company will
neither allow their waggons to come on the rival line with goods nor
to enter the store of the Kilkenny Company. The consequence is that
goods and cattle have to be taken out of the waggons at one part of the
same track and placed in other vehicles at another part to resume their
journey. It is hardly, perhaps, to be expected that companies should be
disposed to assist competitors, but the interests of the public require
that the intention of Parliament to afford increased accommodation
shall not be frustrated.”
[13] During 1866 the coal produce of the various districts of the
kingdom was as follows:—Durham and Northumberland, 25,194,550 tons;
Cumberland, 1,490,481 tons; Yorkshire, 9,714,700 tons; Derbyshire,
4,750,520 tons; Nottinghamshire, 1,600,560 tons; Leicestershire,
866,560 tons; Warwickshire, 775,000 tons; Staffordshire and
Worcestershire, 12,298,580 tons; Lancashire, 12,320,500 tons;
Cheshire, 895,500 tons; Shropshire, 1,220,700 tons; Gloucestershire
and Somersetshire, 1,850,700 tons; Monmouthshire, 4,445,000 tons;
South Wales, 9,376,443 tons; North Wales, 2,082,000 tons; Scotland,
12,625,000 tons; and Ireland, 123,750 tons; making the total
101,630,544 tons above stated. It will be gathered from that statement
that Durham and Northumberland have furnished one-fourth of the
total yield of the kingdom. It is said that the coal-fields of these
counties are gradually lessening; no doubt they are, although it will
be probably three centuries before coal production there will cease to
be profitable. But on the other hand, it is but a few years since the
coal trade of South Wales assumed important proportions; still later,
those of the Forest of Dean and of South Yorkshire. The coal-fields
of Derbyshire are of vast extent, and extraction from them bears no
proportion to what it can be in three or four years, owing to the
opening of new and extensive collieries, especially in the Southern
part of the county. Leicestershire also abounds in very good coal, the
yield of which can, and no doubt will, be rapidly stimulated by means
of the Midland Railway. We are surprised to see it figured for so small
an amount in the above statement.
The estimated value of the 101,630,544 tons of coals raised in 1866
was £25,407,635, at the places of their production. There were 3,188
collieries at work, being an increase of 373 since 1855.
[14] Of these, France took 1,586,327 tons in 1865, and 1,841,335 tons
in 1866. In 1865, Austria took 97,226 tons; Belgium, 21,810; Prussia,
577,183; Russia, 477,033; Spain, 409,497; the “Zolverein,” 586,507. The
Coals imported from England into Belgium are used exclusively in the
manufactories of Ghent and its neighbourhood.
[15] In 1866 many magnificent vessels were added to our mercantile
steam fleet. In fact all the great steam navigation companies have
increased their tonnage, so that no doubt at the present time the total
steam tonnage of the Empire cannot be less than 900,000 tons. It is to
be remembered that in computing registered tonnage in steam vessels,
the space occupied by the engines, boilers, and coal bunkers are not
included. This tells in a very marked manner in the smaller vessels,
especially in tugs, in which the object is to have as much motive-power
as possible, and in which all other space is comparatively useless.
[16] It requires a consumption of from 8 to 9 cwt. of fuel before an
engine is in steam and ready for service.
[17] It was at one of these rolling mills that was produced, within the
last few weeks, an astounding armour plate 15 inches thick. Two years
ago 6-inch plates were considered not difficult of production; 7-inch
might be produced, but anything beyond it was impossible!
[18] KING IRON!—_Vide_ speech of the Right Hon. William Gladstone,
M.P., at the opening of the Barrow Docks, on the 19th of September,
1867. The following magnificent article from the _Times_ of four days
later gives, in the compass of half a column, the most life-like
picture that could be penned of the grandeur of England in former
times, and of her Titanic power in the present:—
“Within living memories,—‘Lancashire-over-Sands’—a couple of score of
inhabitants represented its population; and when the operations at
Barrow, now consummated, were first commenced, a dozen dwelling-houses
were as many as could be counted: yet in ten years Barrow has become
a flourishing town, with a population of, at least, 20,000, and such
prospective wealth and importance as have earned for it a municipal
charter. The explanation of the marvel is contained in two words—iron
and coal. Beneath the desolate soil of this savage district lay beds
of rich iron ore,—the ore brought the miners, the miners brought the
railway, the railway brought the docks; and now the docks, the railway,
and the mines together are represented in a borough as populous as the
old city of Lincoln. When the Furness Railway was first projected, a
person experienced in such matters estimated that a traffic of 60,000
tons would be near the mark. The result affords an instance of how
calculations of this kind have uniformly been exceeded by realities.
Within three years the quantity of ore exported from Barrow exceeded
150,000 tons; this amount had risen in five years to 250,000; and in
ten years, to nearly 500,000.
“This is the simple history of the rise and growth of Barrow. In other
parts of the north similar miracles of progress have occurred during
the present generation—one a place where there was one farmhouse thirty
years since, is now a town with 30,000 inhabitants. But the truth is,
that all these examples, down to the very latest here commemorated,
do but express the continuous displacement of wealth, industry, and
population which has been effected by the development of mineral riches
in the north of England. If any reader will peruse Lord Macaulay’s
description of the Northern Counties in the 17th century, and with
that picture contrast the scene of the present day, he will see at a
glance what a revolution has been accomplished. England began in the
south, and Winchester was its capital. The south was still England,
until mining called the north into place and power. It was not that
the north-country people lacked energy or intelligence,—far from it;
but they had no manufactures, and, for want of them, they were left
behind in numbers, riches, civilisation, and all that confers social
and political importance. Such elements of grandeur as the country
possessed were those of a backward state. Its great feudal nobles
were unmatched in power. The three northern earldoms—Northumberland,
Cumberland, and Westmoreland, represented by the great families of
Percy, Clifford, and Neville—were like little principalities, and
their rulers could combine to alarm the Government and defy the
authority of the Crown. The bishopric of Durham was a Palatinate,
almost a sovereignty, and its cathedral church was as grand as that
of Winchester itself. The great northern abbeys—Fountains, Rivaulx,
Bolton—could compete in magnificence with the most famous foundations
of the south, but all around these wonderful piles reigned solitude
and poverty. At last came the mighty change not unforeseen even in
the days of the Stuarts. As soon as coal was brought into use, the
iron manufacture left the south for the north—the exhausted forests
of Sussex for the productive mines of Newcastle. The woollen trade
gradually flitted from Exeter to Leeds, and the cutlery craft from
Salisbury to Sheffield.
“All this is the work of coal and iron, and Barrow is the most recent
product of the forces in operation. Mr. Gladstone observed with
characteristic ingenuity that, whereas iron is by far the most useful
of all metals—‘perhaps more useful and more necessary than all the rest
put together’—it is at the same time, or rather it was till coal was
discovered, the hardest to obtain. Iron is rarely found in a virgin
state. It is obtained only in the shape of ore, which must be reduced
and purified by fire. The great forests which once covered the whole
county of Sussex supplied the necessary fuel to former generations of
manufacturers, but that material was easily exhausted, and, except for
the development of coal mining, our iron industry would never have
been known. Put coal and iron together, and the result is wealth,
trade, population, power. These mighty agents turn a barrow into a
borough. They attract labour as surely as gold-fields, and it is by
their instrumentality that the displacements of modern society have
been accomplished. What fire and water effect in geology iron and coal
effect in social history. Mr. Disraeli remarks in one of his novels,
that men who sneered at the antiquity of Damascus had great faith in
the future of Birkenhead. There is reason for such faith, and it is to
be found in the history of England for the last two centuries. Trade is
the making of cities. It will be the making of Barrow, just, indeed,
as it was the making of Tyre. Furness is now drawn from its obscurity,
and, for anything that we can tell, may, in a few years’ time, win a
name as great as Winchelsea has lost.”—_Times_, 23rd September, 1867.
[19] But while we are advancing, let it not be forgotten that other
nations are also progressing, some of them marvellously. Take for
example France. M. de Vinck, one of its ablest statisticians, has
recently summarised the commercial state of the country since 1851,
and the following are several of his figures converted from French
to English values. In 1851 the imports of France were £43,760,000,
exports £60,200,000, total £103,560,000. In 1865, imports £141,120,000,
exports £163,480,100, total £304,600,000. In 1851 the number of French
and foreign vessels which entered or left the French ports was 34,436.
In 1865 the number was 51,156. In 1851 the miles of railway open were
2,187. In the end of 1866, 8,750. In 1851 the telegraph services
possessed 1,875 miles and 100 stations, by means of which 10,000
messages were sent in the year, In 1866 it possessed 19,700 miles and
2,100 stations, by means of which 2,500,000 messages were transmitted.
The charges on messages have been reduced 70 per cent. between 1851 and
1866. In 1851 the number of letters carried was 65,000,000, in 1865
329,000,000, and in the interval the postage has been diminished about
20 per cent. In 1851 the indirect taxes and those on consumption were
£29,529,680, in 1866 £51,290,720.
[20] The _Times_ concludes a recent article upon our exports with the
following valuable words of advice and of admonition. “To maintain our
trade we must zealously maintain our industry. We undertake, it may be
almost said, to clothe the world; our exports represent, in the main,
cotton, linen, woollen, and worsted manufactures; our imports are the
raw materials required for this industry, and the food to sustain us in
the work. What other countries grow we make up for use, taking at the
same time the abundance of their harvests, to compensate the deficiency
of our own. That, in a few words, is a summary of our national trade.
We are keeping our position pretty well, but it should not be forgotten
that our rivals are now more numerous, more energetic, and more
confident than in former times, and that we must prepare ourselves for
a competition far more severe than any we have hitherto experienced.”
[21] We omit these in our subsequent comparisons. No doubt their
numbers have increased very greatly in recent years.
[22] There is no doubt that in many instances persons for whom
third class carriages were never intended travel in them. There
is a well-known railway story of a banker in a large agricultural
and commercial town, who was asked, with a look of surprise, by an
acquaintance that he met on the platform, if he were going to travel
third class. “Oh, yes,” was the reply, “it is too bad of the company,
they took off the fourth class only last week.” Two ladies, one with an
expensive black satin dress; the other, with one of Swiss muslin, very
elaborately got up, and both with very pretty bonnets, once complained
to the author, of the conduct of a railway guard, for having put a
bricklayer “with his dirty clothes on” in a compartment with them.
[23] _Workman’s Trains.—From Penge, Sydenham Hill, Dulwich, and Herne
Hill._ The privilege of travelling with Workman’s Tickets is now
accorded to artisans, mechanics, and daily labourers residing in the
vicinity of the above stations. The charge for a Weekly Ticket is Two
Shillings. These tickets will for the present be available to travel
to Victoria, Ludgate Hill, or any other intermediate station by the
following up trains:—
Penge dep. 7 6 a.m. 7 36 a.m. or 8 6 a.m.
Sydenham Hill ” 7 11 ” 7 41 ” ” 8 11 ”
Dulwich ” 7 14 ” 7 44 ” ” 8 14 ”
Herne Hill ” 7 18 ” 7 48 ” ” 8 18 ”
and to return by the trains leaving Victoria at 5·15 p.m., and Ludgate
Hill at 5·44 p.m., and by any later third class train. On Saturdays
these tickets will be available by the train leaving Victoria and
Ludgate Hill at 2·25 p.m., or by any later third class train for the
above stations.
_The Metropolitan Extension._ Trains for the use of artisans,
mechanics, and daily labourers now run every day in each direction,
between Victoria and Ludgate Hill. The charge for a Weekly Ticket will
be One Shilling. These tickets are only available in the morning by
one of the advertised workman’s trains, which leave Victoria at 4·0
a.m., 5·0 a.m., and 6·5 a.m., or Ludgate Hill at 5 a.m., and 6·5 a.m.,
and the holders of such tickets may return by any of the ordinary loop
line Metropolitan trains which leave Victoria or Ludgate Hill after
5·30 p.m., or on Saturdays by any similar train starting from either
Victoria or Ludgate Hill after 1·0 p.m.
Conditions upon which the above tickets are issued,—
These tickets are issued subject to the conditions contained in the
Company’s Act, 27 & 28 Vict. cap. 195, and use by the holder is
evidence of a special contract upon those conditions. Tickets for
these trains can be obtained at the booking office of any station
between Victoria, Ludgate Hill, and Penge inclusive, upon personal
application only. The christian and surname, address, and trade, of
the applicant may be required, as well as the name and address of the
employer. Each ticket will be available for Six Days, from Monday to
Saturday inclusive, and for one journey only in each direction on each
day whilst in force, and by the advertised Workman’s Trains only. The
tickets will have to be given up to the company’s ticket collector on
the Saturday on which they expire, and even if issued on a later day in
the week than Monday will still be available only up to and including
the following Saturday. Each subscriber will be allowed to carry, at
his or her sole and exclusive risk, a basket, not exceeding 28 lbs.
weight, containing trade tools, so packed as not to be inconvenient or
dangerous. No other luggage of any description will be allowed to the
holders of Workman’s Tickets.
[24] There is another mistake as regards 1865, the number of sheep and
lambs imported was 914,170; the value for that year is stated at £2.
10s. a-head. At that value 914,170 make £2,285,425, not £1,787,866 as
set forth in the Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom, issued in
August last. We have occasionally observed other errors in Board of
Trade Returns. They are not absolutely to be depended upon.
The following curious paragraph is from the journal of the Financial
Reform Association of April last—“Since 1851 there has been published
annually a return professing to give number and tonnage of vessels
and customs’ revenue at twelve principal ports of the United Kingdom.
In the Commons on Friday, March 15th, Mr. Candlish stated that only
seven of these ports were properly described, the other five being
far below Cardiff, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Swansea, and Grimsby; and
that, whether as regarded shipping, commerce, or revenue, the return
was grossly inaccurate in all particulars.—Mr. Cave, Vice-President
of the Board of Trade, said that for some particular reason or other,
he knew not what, the return had been moved for almost beyond the
memory of man, and had since been continued year after year, for which
he was very sorry, since it added needlessly to the great expense of
unnecessary returns, and was entirely inaccurate from beginning to end.”
[25] The total amount of Tea imported into the United Kingdom in 1866,
was 139,610,044 lbs., but 37,355,044 lbs. being exported, leaves the
amount above stated as the total of British consumption. Its aggregate
cost to the consumers was about £18,500,000, or about 12s. 4d. for each
unit of the population.
[26] A very valuable compendium of the history of English railways from
1820 to 1849. It was published in 1851.
[27] The first of these reports was issued in 1855. Of the eleven
reports since issued, two, the tenth and eleventh, bear no date at all,
whilst the twelfth bears the comprehensive one of “March 1866.” These
three reports, as well as the three that precede them, are signed by
Lord Stanley, of Alderley; of the others the Duke of Argyll signed two,
the late Earl of Elgin one, the late Lord Canning one (the first), and
Lord Colchester one. That for 1867 (the thirteenth) is signed by the
Duke of Montrose. His Grace has dated it.
The last person, not a Peer of Parliament, who was Postmaster-General,
was the Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret, who was appointed on the
29th January, 1771, joint Postmaster-General with Lord Despencer.
He became Lord Carteret on the 29th January, 1784, and continued
as joint Postmaster-General with Lord Walsingham until the 19th
September, 1789. On the death of James, Marquis of Salisbury, on
the 13th June, 1823, Thomas, Earl of Chichester, who had been one
of the two Postmasters-General since the 5th of May, 1807, became
sole Postmaster-General, and there has not been more than one
Postmaster-General since that date. Lord Chichester finally retired
from office on the 17th September, 1827.
[28] The first travelling Post Office was placed on the Grand Junction
Railway (the connecting Railway between Liverpool, Manchester and
Birmingham) on the 6th of July, 1837. On the 1st of January, 1839, the
travelling Post Offices commenced running through, between London and
Liverpool. The first travelling Post Office in Ireland was established
on the Great Southern and Western Railway, between Dublin and Cork,
on the 1st of January, 1855. They are now on every important line
of railway in the United Kingdom, but they are not available as the
travelling post offices are over almost all Europe, for the receipt of
letters as they arrive at and stop at stations. In France, Belgium,
Holland, all Germany, Austria and the Austrian dominions, Switzerland
and Italy, there are letter boxes and receiving apertures on each side
of them, into which letters can be thrown until the very moment that
the trains to which they are attached are leaving the stations; no
late fee is necessary for such letters, in fact a late letter fee is
not known on the Continent, with one exception—Paris. In that city,
since the 9th of May, 1863, letters can be posted at the _Bureaux
d’Arrondissement_ until half an hour after the general closing of the
boxes, and until an hour after their closing at the _Grand Bureau_.
The travelling Post Office staff of the United Kingdom consists of
53 clerks and 147 sorters. These are exclusive of mail officers at
some railway stations, and of 89 mail guards and 40 mail porters. The
average daily journey of each travelling Post Office employé is 170
miles, and the average time of his duty is between 5 and 6 hours.
The “_Service Ambulant_” of France is much more comprehensive, as by
means of the travelling offices a large amount of sorting is performed,
which is the work of the ordinary post offices in England. The staff of
the French travelling post offices was, on the 1st of January, 1866,
composed of 518 “_Agents_” and 654 “_Sous Agents_;” total of the staff,
1,172.
[29] “Newspapers and book packets liable to detention if posted in
pillar boxes within three miles of St. Martin’s-le-Grand.”—POSTAL
GUIDE. _Passim._ Why? Let us also ask, does “detention” mean forfeiture
or delay? Such a penalty, whichever it may be, does not, we believe,
exist in any other part of the Kingdom with regard to newspapers and
book packets posted in pillar boxes.
[30] It is to Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer, Bart, (now Lord Lytton),
that the public is indebted for the Newspaper Duty Reduction Act of
1836; and it is to Mr. Milner Gibson, M.P., that is mainly due the
distinction of having effected, in 1855, the abolition of the “Tax upon
Knowledge” as the Newspaper Duty was then designated.
In 1835 the number of newspaper stamps issued was 32,874,632, and the
number of newspapers conveyed by the post was nearly the same. In 1854,
the last complete year before the abolition of the compulsory stamp, it
was 107,052,053, of which about 37,000,000 were for London newspapers.
About 70,000,000 were transmitted through the post. It is now of course
impossible to do more than estimate the circulation of newspapers,
but the London morning papers alone may be taken at 400,000 a-day, or
125,000,000 per annum; the daily papers published in all other places
at as many more, and weekly papers at 250,000,000: total 500,000,000.
If these figures be approximatively correct, the issue of newspapers
has increased five-fold since 1854, but not more than about a seventh
of them circulate through the post. In fact there has been scarcely any
increase in the number of newspapers through the post since 1854.
The effect of comparatively high newspaper, as contrasted with low
letter postage may be thus illustrated:—the chargeable letters
delivered in the United Kingdom have risen from 75,907,562 in 1839,
the year before the penny postage, to 720,467,007 in 1865, whilst
newspapers, 44,500,000 in 1839, have (including book post packets, of
which there were none in 1839), advanced in 1865 only to 97,252,766.(A)
In France, in 1847, the year before the reduction of inland letter
postage (one penny in each town or _commune_, twopence throughout
France and Algeria, which latter, for postal purposes, is considered
as France), the chargeable letters were 126,480,000, newspapers,
printed matter, and pattern post 90,275,466. In 1856 the newspaper
postage rate was reduced to four centimes per copy, not exceeding an
ounce and a third, with one centime for each additional third of an
ounce, and these rates are diminished one-half when a newspaper is
posted and delivered in the same department. In 1865 the number of
chargeable letters was 314,817,000, newspapers, &c., 275,317,880. Thus
the chargeable letters only exceeded newspapers, &c., by 39,499,120. In
Great Britain the excess was 643,814,241.
There is no doubt that the Post Office charge upon newspapers,
especially with the facilities which the railways now afford to the
department of transmission to any extent, is much too high. This is
particularly so as regards the smaller, general, as well as many of
what are called “class” papers, several of which do not exceed an ounce
or so in weight. The author has given much attention to this subject,
as also to the reduction of postage upon local letters not exceeding
a quarter of an ounce in weight, to one half-penny each, but neither
of these questions can be entered upon here. It may, however, not be
inappropriate to say at present, that “local letters,” that is, letters
which never leave the district of the office in which they are posted,
are those that yield by far the largest revenue per letter to the Post
Office; in fact, a very considerable portion of the total net revenue
of the department is derived from them. The history and development
of London local letters since the commencement of the present century
is curious. In 1801 they were estimated at about 3,200,000. In 1803
they had increased to 6,000,000; and in 1813, to 9,400,000; but in the
following ten years they had advanced only to 10,500,000, that being
the estimated number in 1823. They were almost stationary during the
next ten years, notwithstanding the increase of population; indeed,
they rather retrograded, their number in 1833 being estimated at only
10,200,000. In 1835 they rose to about 11,200,000. In 1839, the year
before the introduction of the penny postage, they were 12,480,000. In
1840, they bounded suddenly to 20,372,000, and in 1844 they reached
27,000,000. In nine years afterwards (1853) they were 43,000,000. In
1855 London was divided for postal purposes into ten districts, by
which very much more rapid delivery was obtained for local letters.
The consequence was, that, in 1858, the third complete year after the
alteration, local letters had risen to 58,404,000; and in 1862, to
71,961,000. In 1865 they were about 90,000,000, of which upwards of
16,000,000 were delivered in the districts in which they were posted.
At the present time the average delivery of letters in London is about
560,000, of which about half are local and half from the provinces
and abroad. The daily number of newspapers and book packets delivered
is about 55,000. If London correspondence continue to increase as it
has in recent years, it will soon be necessary to have half-hourly
collections and deliveries during certain parts of the day.
(A) This is the number stated at page 2 of the Postmaster-General’s
Twelfth Report, but at page 15, it is 97,250,000, a difference of
2,766. The difference between the number of letters, as stated at pages
2 and 15 of the same report, is 7,007; of packets by pattern post,
6,116.
[31] In March of the present year the Post Office commenced sending
the Eastern mails in bags, but no doubt the department will not be
able to continue their use. When cholera prevails, like as it has done
during the present year, Eastern mails contained in bags are said to be
certain conductors and disseminators of the subtle poison.
[32] We recently had twenty shillings’ worth of penny postage stamps
weighed; with the border all round the sheet, 240 stamps weigh a little
more than half an ounce; without the border, the weight is a little
less than half an ounce. Consequently £32 worth weigh one pound, £3,584
one cwt., £71,680 one ton, £716,800 ten tons.
[33] It is at times very difficult to understand the statistics of
the department as given in consecutive Postmaster-General’s reports.
For instance, in the report (the third) following that from which
the figures in the text are taken, we find that the number of the
post offices was increased by 368 in 1856, “making the whole present
number 10,866,” of these 845 are head post offices (75 less than in
1855). In the Fourth Report, although the post offices of the United
Kingdom were increased in 1857 to 11,001, the number of head offices
is stated at 810, or 35 less than in 1856 and 110 less than in 1855.
In the Fifth Report, 134 post offices were added during 1858, making
11,235, but the head offices were 4 less than in 1857. In 1859 the head
offices became 825. In 1860 they were 818. In 1861, 813. In 1862, 808.
Since 1862 the generic terms, “receptacles of letters” are, in the
Postmaster-General’s reports, applied to all places at which letters
can be posted. By a Parliamentary return issued on the 1st of October,
1867, it appears that there are 11,282 post offices in the United
Kingdom, of which 814 are head offices, and 10,468 are sub-offices and
receiving offices. These numbers are irrespective of about 7,000 pillar
boxes all over the kingdom.
[34] The Postal Guide, although containing a great deal of useful
information relating to postal matters, is not a work implicitly to
be relied upon. Recently the author pointed out, in addition to many
other errors and modes of imparting information calculated to mislead
the public, 146 errors upon one subject only. These first appeared in
No. 44, published on 1st of April 1867, and they were repeated in No.
45, published on the 1st of July. In the reply of the Post Office, all
these errors were designated “minor points.” The _amende_, however, was
made in subsequent communications, and improvements promised in the
October edition. The promise has been, in a large measure, fulfilled.
[35] We think we shall he able to show clearly in a work on the Post
Offices of England and France, preparing for publication early next
year, that the penny postal system only began to be profitable to the
nation about the time that Mr. Page wrote his report, notwithstanding
that the statements of net revenue given in Post Office reports would
make it appear to be otherwise. Until 1860, the charges for mail
packets and contract mail steamers were borne on the Naval, and not on
the Post Office Estimates, and the Postal Department debited itself
specifically, for several years, with a charge for packets of about
£4,500 a year! Last year, the total amount voted for our Ocean Postal
Services and Packet Establishments was £821,163, of which £90,601 were
for water conveyance of mails between different parts of the United
Kingdom. Eight-ninths of it (£79,900) were for the mail service between
Holyhead and Kingston. The vessels employed in this service are the
finest and fastest afloat; they usually perform 63 statute miles in
three hours and forty minutes, or at the rate of 17 miles an hour. The
passages have, on some few occasions, been performed in three hours and
twenty-five minutes, or over 18 miles an hour.
[36] We perceive by recent advertisements in the French papers, and
by a letter from Mr. Daniel A. Lange, the “English representative
of the Suez Maritime Canal Company,” inserted in the _Times_ of the
26th September 1867, that the company proposes to raise £4,000,000
of capital by means of debentures, in addition to the £12,000,000
it has already expended. It is stated that the Great or Grand Canal
will, by means of this loan, positively be finished by the first of
October 1869. The debentures issued at £12 each, bear interest at
the rate of 8½ per cent. per annum, and are to be paid off in the
usual manner adopted in France, that is by lottery at the rate of £20
each. The original capital of the Suez Canal Company was fixed, at
its formation in 1858, at £8,000,000. The length of the canal, when
finished, is to be 100 miles, whilst the railway is 250. The reason is
that Cairo is only about eight miles less distant from Alexandria than
the Mediterranean mouth of the canal is from that of the Red Sea. Suez
and Cairo are, practically, in the same latitude, but when the railway
running nearly due south from Alexandria reaches Cairo, it makes a
right angle towards the east to reach Suez.
[37] In France the number of receptacles for letters is nearly three
times as great as in the United Kingdom. On the 1st of January, 1866,
they were over 43,000, counting the receiver in each railway _bureau
ambulant_ as one. The staff of the French Post Office is also greatly
in excess of that of the United Kingdom. On the 1st of January, 1866,
the latter consisted of 25,082 persons, in which are included “rural
messengers.” At the same date the French staff was 27,749, exclusive of
16,406 rural messengers. Total men, 44,155. The system of rural posts
in France is of extreme interest. For the first thirty years of the
present century, out of 38,000 _communes_ 35,587 were without direct
relations with the Post Office. To obtain a letter it was necessary to
send, in many districts, distances varying from fifteen to twenty-five
miles. By a law passed in May, 1829, every _commune_ of the kingdom
was to be afforded, from the 1st of April, 1839, postal communication,
not less than every second day, with every other part of France. The
service commenced with the appointment of 11,036 rural postmen, and the
system has gradually extended to the employment of 16,406, for there is
not at present a _commune_ in France that has not a daily collection
and delivery. “These 16,406 rural postmen,” says M. A. De Camp, in the
_Revue des deux Mondes_, of January, 1867, “start every morning from
4,700 post offices. They travel through every _commune_, village, and
hamlet, they convey correspondence to the most remote and to almost
inaccessible houses and cottages. Every _commune_ has, at its ‘_Chef
lieu_,’ a letter-box, which is opened by the rural postman. The letters
which he finds in it are delivered by him if they are addressed for
any place in his walk; if not, they are conveyed by him to his post
office, whence they are despatched every evening _en route_ for their
ultimate destinations.” So complete and penetrating is the system, that
immediately after the annexation of Savoy, and of its Alpine regions,
the rural postmen were installed, and now they present themselves daily
at every habitation in the mountains, whenever there is a letter or
even a newspaper to be delivered. “Let,” says a pleasant writer in a
French periodical, “but an Englishman afflicted with ‘_le splene_,’
or any other man, but take up his permanent residence on the highest
Alpine peak on French territory, it matters not Monte Rosa, Monte
Cervino, or Monte Bianco, the rural postman of the mountain will be
bound, if necessary, to visit him daily.”
The rural postmen of France walk an average of sixteen miles each,—a
total of 267,600 miles _daily_. Of their number, 5,248 walk seventeen
miles a day and “upwards.” In this last word is included a certain
number who complete twenty-five miles, “a fact,” as M. Vandal informs
us in the _Annuaire des Postes_ for 1866, “of melancholy notoriety.”
“His visits,” continues M. Vandal, “are solicited with ardour and
received with gratitude.” But his remuneration is not on a par with
these feelings. There are 673 whose pay is only £12 a year, 996 who
receive £14, 2,970 between £14 and £20, 9,988 between £20 and £24, and
only 1,779 who receive higher than £24; the average is only £21. 4s.
per man. They are allowed, however (as is the case in England), to
supplement their postal pay by performing certain little commissions
and conveying small parcels for the inhabitants of the districts in
which their services are employed.
Belgium possesses a rural postal system as extensive and penetrating as
that just described, but, although food and rent are cheaper there than
in France, the average pay of Belgian rural postmen is £30 a year, just
2 francs a day.
[38] There are no official means afforded of distinguishing between
the number of newspapers and of book parcels sent through the post.
A writer in the September number (1862) of _Fraser’s Magazine_ (said
to be Mr. M. D. Hill, brother to Sir Rowland) states, that, in that
year, the number of book parcels was 12,000,000. The circulation of
newspapers through the post is, we apprehend, decreasing, but the
diminution is more than compensated for by the increased number of book
parcels.
[39] From 1839 until 1862, the _number_ of Money Orders issued was
regularly stated in the appendices to the annual reports. Half the
value of the returns now issued is lost through the omission of this
information, especially as it was in 1862 that the limit of an Inland
Money Order was raised from £5 to £10.
[40] We trust there is no doubt whatever upon this point, yet two cases
have recently occurred which cannot fail to awaken much apprehension in
the minds of depositors. In each it appears that a fraudulent person
got hold of a depositor’s book and withdrew the sum to his credit. The
Post Office denied its responsibility on the ground that it had already
discharged its obligation. Machinery to prevent the repetition of such
a fraud could, we apprehend, be easily instituted, which would protect
the Office, and at the same time not interpose unnecessary delay or
impediment to the withdrawal of deposits. For some few years after the
establishment of money orders some frauds were successfully practised
upon the Post Office, but there do not appear to have been of late even
attempts at fraud, yet the money order system is much more simple now,
as regards the public, than it formerly was.
[41] Since the commencement of the present century the idea of making
the machinery of the Post Office available as a means of carrying out
the saving bank system, was occasionally in the minds of benevolent
persons, and the idea so far took shape, that in 1806 Mr. Whitbread
brought into the House of Commons, a bill for the purpose of effecting
this object; but the nation was then too deeply immersed in war and in
considering the ways and means for its sustainment to give attention to
philanthropy. The bill was rejected at an early stage of its career. In
1817 the first comprehensive Savings Bank Act was passed, but it does
not appear that during its progress through Parliament, any effective
efforts were made to connect the Post Office with the system.
On the 31st December, 1865, 3,321 Post Office Savings Banks had been
opened throughout the United Kingdom. Since then the number has been
considerably added to. They have had some but not a very marked effect
upon the savings banks on the old system, for whilst the “capital” of
these latter, that is, the amount of money to the credit of depositors
at the end of each year, was, on the 31st December, 1861, 41,546,475,
it had fallen to £36,307,019 on 31st of December, 1866, but on the
other hand, the “capital” of the Post Office Savings Bank was, at
the last date, £8,121,175, making the total of savings bank capital
£44,428,194, an increase of £2,881,719 since the end of 1861. It is
to be remembered that this last named sum is principally, it might
very nearly be said, altogether due to depositors of the humblest
classes and of the smallest means who, until the establishment of Post
Office Savings Banks, were never able to, at all events did not, avail
themselves of any depositories for their earnings. The subject is one
of deepest interest, but it cannot be perused further in these pages.
[42] The Duke of Argyll is equally distinguished as a senator, a
politician, and a man of letters. The _Quarterly Review_, vol. 84, page
79, reviewing his “Presbytery Examined,” (published in 1848, when His
Grace was not twenty-five years of age), thus speaks:—
“Every peer who employs the opportunities furnished by his high
position, together with his natural gifts, in conscientious labour for
the public good, is now, more than ever, an ornament and a bulwark
to the State, and a blessing to the people. It is therefore, with
unfeigned satisfaction, that we find another of our nobles, one of the
highest in rank, and not the least wealthy in traditional fame, adding
himself to the number who are pledged in the face of the world, by
early efforts, to a life of continued labour. The Duke has not entered
the field of ostensible authorship with any light or frivolous aim, nor
has he incurred the heavier responsibility of handling subjects of deep
moment to human destiny, for the purpose of displaying his intellectual
gifts. The theme he has chosen is one of extended interest, and has
points of contact with a wider sphere, while his pages bear throughout
the marks of an earnestness not to be mistaken; besides, they present
specimens of acuteness and of eloquence full of promise for his
literary fame.”
Of the Duke’s last work, the “Reign of Law,” four editions have gone
rapidly through the press. It is described respectively by the _Times_,
the _Spectator_, and the _Examiner_, as “a very able book,” “a masterly
book,” and “a very remarkable volume;” whilst the _Pall Mall Gazette_
says of it,—“The aim of this book is lofty, and requires not only a
thorough familiarity with metaphysical and scientific subjects, but a
breadth of thought, a freedom from prejudice, a general versatility,
and sympathetic quality of mind, and a power of clear exposition rare
in all ages and in all countries. We have no hesitation in expressing
an opinion that all these qualifications are to be recognised in
the Duke of Argyll, and that his book is as unanswerable as it is
attractive.”
[43] Mr. Lewins, one of the senior clerks, we believe, in the Post
Office, has written a very pleasant and amusing book upon the British
Post, but he naturally looks upon St. Martin’s-le-Grand as perfection.
The Post Office has produced several literary men. Allen, who was
the inventor of Cross Posts, introduced in 1720, by which he amassed
considerable wealth, although not an author, was a great patron of
literature, as well as a most benevolent man. He was the friend of
Fielding, Warburton, and Pope, the last of whom has celebrated his
benevolence in the well known lines,—
“Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame,
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.”
At the present day, there are Anthony Trollope, Edmund Yates, besides
many who adopt the anonymous, and are contributors to our magazines and
reviews, and occasionally to comic periodicals. But there is one man
who, if his duties, first as Accountant-General, and now as one of the
secretaries of the Post Office, had not been so unceasing and absorbing
for many years, would have been, in another sense, among the most
distinguished men of letters of his day. Mr. Frank Ives Scudamore’s
“People that One Never Sees” and his essays “On Dreams,” are amongst
the most brilliant and exquisite little conceptions that pen has ever
committed to paper. Mr. Scudamore finds “sermons in stones,” and
sweetest harmony also.
[44] The following very seriously meant paragraph is contained in the
Postmaster-General’s Fourth Report:—“I think I am safe in stating, as
a general fact, that those boards of directors of railway companies
which have evinced the greatest readiness to meet the wishes of the
Post Office, and to convey mail bags by frequent trains, and at
moderate rates, are, at the same time those boards which have been most
successful in promoting the interests of their companies, as shown by
the market value of their shares!” The company which the writer had
specially in view when framing the foregoing paragraph, was the London,
Brighton and South Coast. The note of admiration is ours.
[45] This is the amount stated in evidence before the Royal
Commissioners on Railways.
[46] Some persons have odd notions of the speed of railway trains. Some
few years ago, a jockey who had missed the express to Newmarket, was
anxious to have a special train, but on being informed of the cost,
he earnestly asked an officer of the Company “if he did not think the
express might be overtaken if he followed it _in a cab_!” The express
train was running on the Eastern Counties.
[47] The “narrow” gauge, the gauge all but universal through England,
Scotland, Wales, and Europe generally, is 4 feet 8½ inches; the
“broad,” or Great Western gauge, is 7 feet. The New York and Erie
Railway gauge is 6 feet; the other American railways are the same as in
England and Europe. The Irish gauge is 5 feet 3 inches. The Canadian
and Indian 5 feet 6 inches.
[48] There is a difference of twenty-six minutes between London and
Dublin times, London being to the east, is the earlier; thus when it
is for instance 9 o’clock, it is 9.26 in Dublin. Dublin time has now
become universal time in Ireland.
[49] At page 6 of the Ninth Report of the Postmaster-General, dated
30th April, 1863, signed by Lord Stanley, of Alderley, it is stated,
“Postal communication between provincial towns has also, in many
instances, been made more frequent. Between Manchester and Liverpool
there are not fewer than _eight mails_ in each direction daily.”
At page 11 of the Twelfth Report, dated “March, 1866,” and signed
also by Lord Stanley, of Alderley, the following words occur:—“The
town districts of Liverpool have now _six deliveries_ of letters
from Manchester daily, as compared with only _three deliveries_ of
such letters in 1863. The improvement in the course of post between
ordinary correspondents in Liverpool and ordinary correspondents in
Manchester, is at present only partial and one-sided. A scheme is
under consideration, however, for the extension of the deliveries and
collections in Manchester, and when this plan shall have been carried
out, a very marked improvement will be effected in the course of post
between these great towns, and will, I doubt not, be followed by a
rapid development of their already large correspondence.” The italics
in the foregoing extracts are ours. To solve the difficulty, if
possible, we obtained the October number of the “Local Postal Guide for
Manchester, (published monthly) by command of the Postmaster-General,”
and it appears by it there are _ten_ collections for Liverpool at the
head office, and _three_ at the receiving offices and pillar posts,—one
of which only began on the 4th of October, 1867. There are eight
arrivals from Liverpool, and six deliveries.
[50] The following admirable and eloquent description of MANCHESTER is,
with one unimportant omission, taken from _Engineering_, of the 22nd of
March, 1867:—
“To the mechanical engineer the name of Manchester has a significance
similar in a certain sense, to that which the name of Mecca has for the
people of Mahommet’s creed. ‘He is not a true follower of the Prophet
who has not been to Mecca once in his life at least;’ so is the saying
in the Orient; and, in drawing the parallel, we are tempted to say—he
is not a true mechanical engineer who has not visited Manchester once
in his life, who has not seen the monuments raised to the memory of
the prophets of modern generations, only recently dead, and more than
that, who has not seen the faces of those great prophets still living
and daily effecting marvels and revealing truth for the benefit of
future generations. With the monuments raised to the dead we do not
of course mean any special bronze memorial of James Watt, nor the
unsightly monument of Crompton which ornaments the central part of
Bolton, nor indeed, the memorial of Richard Roberts, which _ought_ to
stand somewhere in Manchester, but _does not_ stand anywhere. But there
are 150,000 boilers in operation in Manchester and the manufacturing
district surrounding it—we state this figure as estimated by Mr.
Longridge, the chief engineer of the Boiler Insurance and Steam Power
Company—they represent, perhaps, one million of horses’ power in steam
engines daily at work, and these we call the memorial raised by the
town of Manchester to the name of James Watt. As for the monuments
of Crompton and Roberts, they form great groups like the pyramids in
the graveyards of Egyptian rulers, only more numerous, more valuable,
and more useful. Every cotton mill, every manufactory of textile
machinery, is a memorial to Samuel Crompton and Richard Roberts. Take
the largest of these groups—the Hartford Ironworks, Oldham—there are
8,000 men under the command of one leading mind, assisted by every aid
that mechanical appliances can give, and indebted in almost every one
of the details of their machinery to Richard Roberts again, employed
in carrying out the ideas of this great inventor for the benefit of
themselves, their families, and mankind at large. What a sight to
compare with that of a solid chimney standing between four bronze
lions! It is characteristic to the engineering profession that the
works of our great men form monuments for their names which no national
munificence can equal.
“To pass from the memory of those gone by to those who make Manchester
what it is at present, viz., the centre and metropolis of mechanical
engineering, we need scarcely make an interruption in our cursory
reference to the history of mechanics. Mr. William Fairbairn, Mr.
Whitworth, Mr. Nasmyth, are fellow travellers of Richard Roberts
on the road of progress. They also are erecting monuments to their
names; and the great engineering establishments which bear their
names, form some of the most important items in the great total of
Manchester manufactories, which great total may be considered at
this moment to represent almost every one of the more important
branches of mechanical engineering in the widest sense of that term.
To commence with coal-mining, the Lancashire coal-bed is one of the
richest and most important of this country; its different seams are
applicable to all the varied branches of industry, commencing with
the most valuable of all, the cannel coal, down to the cheapest coal
slack, which is still capable of being converted into coke of good
quality, and by the assistance of the washing machine can be made to
yield the best coke required for the smelting of hematite iron of the
highest marks. We have entered in detail into some interesting points
connected with the coal-mining and iron manufacture of this district,
in our recent account of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company. The iron
manufacture in that locality is rapidly rising. It is based upon an
exchange of coal and ore with the Ulverstone district, and may thank
the introduction of the Bessemer process for its recent prosperity
and its excellent prospects for future success. The Bessemer process
itself (this important element in modern engineering), has found a
centre in Manchester and its neighbourhood. The Bolton Steel Works,
the Lancashire Steel Works, the Manchester Steel and Plant Company,
the important steel works at Crewe, and the Mersey Ironworks in
Liverpool, form an aggregate power of production fully as great as that
which is centred in Sheffield, and of course much greater than in any
other part of the world, that small district in Prussia, on the banks
of the river Ruhr, excepted. The foundries of Manchester, although
their production does not reach that of the largest establishments in
Scotland with regard to quantity, are fully equal to them with regard
to quality and size of individual castings which they are capable of
producing. We have had occasion to mention the hydraulic ram of the
hoist for charging the Woodward cupola at Messrs. Dobson & Barlow’s
works, which has been cast in one piece, 22 feet long, standing on
its end, at the Union Foundry in Bolton, and we have been informed
that this foundry is laid out for casting articles of the heaviest
description, up to a depth of 30 feet. In the Bolton Steel Works,
the anvil of the 25-ton hammer, which has been cast in its place,
is said to be about 200 tons in weight. Machine-moulding, with all
its delicacy and beauty of form, is more developed in the Manchester
district than in any other locality. We have heard of wheels 3 feet in
diameter, with teeth pitched one-eighth of an inch, _i. e._, about 900
in number, being moulded by machinery at the Hartford Works, Oldham.
The application of machine-moulding to railway axle-boxes we have
noticed in our description of the Ashbury Works. For the construction
of stationary engines of different sizes Manchester, we believe,
admits of few rivals. We have noticed the large blowing-engines, with
100-inch cylinders, 12 feet stroke, made at the Bridgewater Foundry,
Patricroft; the pumping-engines for the Abbey Mills Station, and the
Liverpool Waterworks engines, now in progress at the Union Foundry,
Bolton; the beautifully finished rolling-mill engines for the Barrow
Hematite Steel Works, made by Messrs. Hick, Hargreaves & Co.; and
Messrs. Musgrave & Sons’ engines at the Lancashire Steel Company’s
Works and at Barrow-in-Furness. All these, and numbers of others, which
may be counted by hundreds, form the vast group of engine constructions
in Manchester. Engineers’ tools have had their early development, and
still have their principal seat of manufacture, in this important
place. One by one they have come into existence at the Atlas Works in
their first and original types, have obtained their graceful shapes,
the hollow castings of their framework, the scraped surfaces of their
slides, and the dead accuracy of their movements, at Mr. Whitworth’s
works, and have then become standard types of form more or less closely
imitated by every tool-maker, not only in Manchester, but all over the
world.
“Of specialities in tools, such as Messrs. Collier & Co.’s multiple
drills, Messrs. Hetherington & Son’s new drilling machines, and
some new tools at work at Messrs. Parr, Curtis & Madeley’s, we have
had opportunities of taking notice some short time ago. They are
only single items selected out of a great crowd of others, and that
great crowd again forms only one small part of the entire mechanical
business of Manchester. We pass to boiler construction, and we find
it developed into a branch of engineering by itself. It stands upon a
higher level in Manchester than elsewhere, and we need only refer to
our recent description of Mr. Adamson’s works, if we desire a proof
for this assertion. The construction of locomotives—and we comprise
Crewe, St. Helen’s, &c., in the name of that manufacturing district
generally understood under the designation of Manchester by mechanical
engineers—shows the same predominance over that of any other town
as the branches previously named. For railway plant we have now the
newly established Bessemer Steel Works, making rails, axles, tires,
and other articles; we have the Ashbury Works, with their large
production of carriages and waggons; for iron bridges, the Fairbairn
Engineering Company’s Works. Of the machinery employed in the Bessemer
process, the manufacture is exclusively in the hands of Messrs. W. &
J. Galloway & Sons, and Messrs. Hick, Hargreaves & Co. The Nasmyth
and the Condie hammer, and almost all the rolling mills for weldless
tires, such as Messrs. Collier & Co.’s., Messrs. Galloway & Sons’,
and Mr. Jackson’s mills, belong to the workshops of Manchester, and
form elements of its trade. In wood-working machinery the production
of Messrs. Thos. Robinson & Son, of Rochdale, is the largest of that
class. For shipbuilding and marine engineering we need go no farther
than the Mersey; but in this line, and in the branch of agricultural
machinery, the great centres of manufacture lie elsewhere, and must
remain so in the future from natural causes. With the consideration
of these facts we think it sufficiently established that ‘the city
of the tall chimneys’ is more than what it used to be half a century
ago ‘the cotton metropolis;’ it is now the metropolis of mechanical
engineering as well. There is another important institution which
gives to Manchester the character of a metropolis for manufactures,
and that is the Exchange. To attend at the Exchange forms part of the
business of a commercial engineer in Manchester, and the Exchange has
thereby become one of the most important institutions for one branch
of the profession. The Manchester Exchange forms a general place of
appointment for all parties interested in the manufactures of that
district, where every manufacturer expects to find everyone engaged in
trade at a certain hour once or twice in every week. To point out what
saving of time, what enlargement of power for transacting business,
this institution has given to the whole industrial population of
Manchester, will hardly be necessary, but the extraordinary aspect
which the Manchester Exchange presents to the eye of a stranger
entering it any Tuesday between twelve and one o’clock is worthy of
a brief remark. There is a dense crowd, numbering by thousands of
heads, filling the entire area of the large hall, which is divided
longitudinally in three parallel passages by two rows of columns or
pillars supporting the roof. By universal admission, a kind of rule
seems to have been established, perhaps without its having ever been
expressed in words. This rule refers to the division of the total space
in the hall between the different branches represented there. One of
the outer passages belongs to engineers and machinists; the central
part is devoted to the manufacturers of textile fabrics; and the part
of the hall at the opposite side is occupied by the mercantile part of
the assembly, the cotton brokers, exporters of goods, &c.
“A stranger entering the hall for the first time may recognise the
side belonging to the engineers at a single glance. Their faces, their
general appearance, and their whole bearing are characteristic, and
not to be mistaken. There is, of course, no possibility of knowing one
engineer from one merchant at first sight, but an assembly of, say,
two hundred engineers looks as different from a congregation of two
hundred merchants as two groups of men possibly can be. Those habits
of thought and observation, that consciousness of—we may say—creative
power, that determination to succeed in spite of difficulties, which
are the attributes of the mind of an engineer, never fail to show
themselves in the outward appearance of the man; they may be too
faint for recognition in the single individual, but they are stamped
upon an assembly of the members of our profession, where the marks
common to the group come out more prominently by repetition. There
are other things clearly visible in the appearance of the great crowd
collected ‘on Change’ which are not perceptible by observation of
single individuals, and that is the state of the trade and the nature
of the transactions afloat. Looking at the crowd from above, and
knowing the positions which the different branches habitually occupy
in the building, the manner in which the groups cluster together, and
the greater or less speed with which they change their positions, give
remarkably clear indications to the practised eye. The Manchester
Exchange is to be rebuilt and very considerably enlarged. At a public
competition of plans for a new Exchange building, Messrs. Mills and
Mergatroyd, architects of Manchester, have gained the two first
prizes, and they are now entrusted with the construction of the new
building. There are some other points, with regard to which the town
of Manchester has just commenced to take up its proper position as
the great centre of mechanical engineering. A college for engineering
science is to be established in the cotton metropolis very shortly, and
the funds for this purpose have been raised by subscriptions amongst
the leading members of our profession, who have responded to the call
with a princely munificence.”
[51] The earliest historical notice that exists respecting stamps
freeing letters through the post, dates as far back at 1653. In that
year M. de Velayer, _Maître des Requêtes_ in the French Court of
Chancery, established an office close to the law courts, in pursuance
of a Royal Decree of Louis XIV., authorising him to sell for two sous
each, stamped slips of paper with the words printed on them, _Port
payé———— le———— jour du mois———— de l’an_. The date of the privilege
ceasing is not known; it was at M. de Velayer’s death. As regards
modern postage stamps, Sir Rowland Hill, in 1838, gave the credit
of them to Mr. Charles Knight; on the other hand, Dr. Gray, of the
British Museum, claimed to have suggested them in 1834; and Mr. Charles
Whiting, of Beauford House, Strand, in his evidence before the Postal
Committee of 1838, stated that as early as 1830, he had proposed them
to the Government for franking printed matter, and he exhibited several
specimens to the Committee. Mr. Lewins, in _Her Majesty’s Mail_, does
not take a correct view on this subject.
On the 23rd of August, 1839, the Lords of the Treasury offered to “all
artists, men of science, and the public in general,” a premium of
£500 for the best design of an envelope that should fulfil the double
purpose of illustrating the universality of the new postal system, and
of acting as a frank of the value of one penny. The premium was awarded
to the late Mr. Mulready, R.A., but the appearance of the envelopes
caused such fun, banter, and amusement, that they were withdrawn as
soon as possible, and they are now extremely scarce. We hope we shall
not be accused of one of the highest of crimes, if we mention a belief
very current in 1840, that it was not to Mr. Mulready, but to a very
exalted personage, that the authorship of the design should really have
been attributed.
At the first institution of postage stamps, there were only two forms,
black (very shortly afterwards changed to red), one penny; blue,
twopence. There are now ten forms, the value of each of which varies
from one penny to five shillings.
In France, in Switzerland, and in Belgium, in consequence of the cost
of transmission of newspapers and other printed matter in those several
countries being so low, there are postage stamps of the value of one
centime, two, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and eighty,
each. France has also postage stamps of the value of five francs (four
shillings) each.
The number of stamps of different values circulating in the different
countries of the civilised world that issue them (and there is hardly
one such country that does not do so), is rather over 2,000. In case
the reader should be travelling abroad, he may perhaps like to know
what he must ask for, as the equivalent for the English compound word
“Postage-Stamp.” If in France, Switzerland, or Belgium, the word is
“_Timbre-Poste_;” if in Prussia proper or Sweden, “_Freimarke_;”
Hamburg or Lubeck, “_Postmarke_;” Austria, “_Post-Stempfel_;”
the territory that was Hanover, “_Bestelgeld-frei_;” Holland,
“_Post-zegel_;” Italy, “_Franco-bollo_;” Spain, “_Timbre_ (with the
final _e_ pronounced) _de Posta_.”
Timbromaniacs (so collectors of postage stamps are called), give
employment, as we learn from the editor of the _Every Boy’s Annual_,
for 1866, to a considerable number of persons who are especially
engaged in the collection and sale of foreign stamps. These for the
purposes of the trade are of two orders, the “maculate,” or those
which have gone through the post, and the “immaculate,” or those
which, if the owner were in the country to which they belong, would
give free transmission to his letters, the adequate amount of stamps
being fixed upon them. Some postage stamps have already become out of
date, in consequence of the dominions in which they were issued having
been absorbed in other kingdoms. Thus, in Italy, there are no longer
the postage stamps issued in the former kingdom of Naples, or in the
overthrown Grand Duchies of Tuscany, Parma, and Modena. (The last
Stuart Queen of England, wife of James the Second, was the Princess
Mary of Modena.) In 1866, Hanover, Frankfort, Nassau, and Electoral
Hesse, having been seized by Prussia and absorbed into that kingdom,
have ceased to issue postage stamps. The sovereign of the largest
territorial possessions, since the time of Imperial Rome, Charles the
V., of Spain, reigning also as Emperor over Germany, Austria, Bohemia,
Hungary, and the Netherlands, gave authority in or about 1540, to the
Prince of Thurn and Taxis, to establish a line of posts from Vienna to
Brussels; and the family of this House has, ever since, held special
rights and privileges in relation to the postal systems of Germany,
their posts being distinct from those appertaining to the Crown, in
the kingdoms through which their rights extended. But these privileges
absolutely ceased in the countries absorbed by Prussia in 1866, and
negotiations have since been completed for the transfer to Prussia of
the remaining postal rights of the princely house of Thurn and Taxis.
Their cessation, however, will have no consequence as regards postage
stamps, those of the Governments of the countries through which their
privileges extended, only having been issued in them.
Had France at the commencement of this year, been able to obtain
possession of the Duchy of Luxemburg there would not have been an
absorption of postage stamps, as those in use are Dutch.
But, apart from political considerations, France has had
a very fortunate escape, in one respect, by not obtaining
the desired annexation. In the canton of Diekerch there are
three rather picturesque villages, the names of which are
respectively, Schindermanderscheid, Oberschindermanderscheid, and
Nederschindermanderscheid. What the French, with their dislike to
consonants, would have converted those words into it is impossible
to say. Even “Nantzig,” when they got possession of Lorraine, was
changed to “Nancy,” and Metz, instead of retaining its original German
pronunciation, is invariably spoken in France as if it were written
“Messe.” Although the _Annuaire des Postes_ for 1867, gives the names
of upwards of 19,000 foreign post offices in Europe and North America,
it has not ventured to include in it the above named Luxembourg
villages; yet, there are among them several Welsh, Polish, and Russian
towns, with many names totally unpronounceable except by natives, and
even they must, at times, experience difficulty; witness—Solnychewsku,
Wysselok, Domojirowe, Oiaskoe Sermanske (Russian); Jjewsku, Zawod,
Wjätka (Poland); Yaysymudw, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, and Llanfairynghornwy
(Wales).
[52] The Furies have the faces of women; their looks are full of
terror, they hold lighted torches in their hands, snakes and serpents
coil around their necks and shoulders. They are sometimes called in
Latin _Furiæ_, because they make men mad by stings of conscience.
They are the offspring of Nox and Acheron, and are esteemed virgins,
because, since they are the avengers of all wickedness, nothing can
corrupt or pervert them from inflicting the punishment that is due
to offenders. There are only three Furies; some add a fourth, called
Lisso, that is rage and madness, but she is easily reduced to the
other three. The office of the Furies is to punish and torment the
wicked by frightening and following them with burning torches.—_Tooke’s
Mythological Systems of the Greeks and Romans_, 36th edition, revised,
corrected, and _improved_. London, 1831.
[53] The following is a statement of the traffic receipts and dividends
on unguaranteed stock, for 1865, of the leading English railways.
For their mileage see page 107. London and North-Western, receipts
£6,312,056, dividend 6⅝ per cent.; Great Western, £3,585,614, 1
per cent.; North-Eastern, £3,529,288, 3 per cent.; Great Eastern,
£1,690,269, no dividend; North British, £1,309,865, no dividend;
Midland, £2,728,131, 5⅜ per cent.; London and South-Western,
£1,477,843, 5 per cent.; Caledonian, £1,432,475, 5¼ per cent.;
Lancashire and Yorkshire, £2,150,643, 5⅞ per cent.; Great Northern,
£1,064,799, 7⅛ per cent.; London, Brighton and South Coast, £1,055,116,
5¾ per cent.; London, Chatham and Dover, £446,896, no dividend. It is a
fact worthy of notice, that some of the smallest lines pay the largest
dividends. Thus the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont (10 miles), paid
10 per cent.; the Whitehaven Junction (13 miles), 10 per cent.; the
Furness (53 miles), 10 per cent.; Taff Vale (76 miles), 9½ per cent.;
Blyth and Tyne (36 miles), 9¾ per cent. In Ireland, the Dublin and
Kingston 7½ miles long, is guaranteed nearly 9 per cent. by the Dublin,
Wicklow and Wexford Company. The reverse and black side of the picture
is, that there were no less than ninety-one railways in England,
twenty-eight in Ireland, and eleven in Scotland, which paid no dividend
at all.
[54] Statements have recently appeared in the newspapers to the effect
that the per centage available for division upon the _whole_ capital
invested in English railways is 4, in Scotch 4½, and in Irish 3½. This,
no doubt, is correct, but the average is diffused over both debenture
and share capitals.
[55] The National Debt was diminished £3,994,102 in the year ending
the 31st March, 1867. Its amount then was £800,848,847, composed as
follows:—£769,541,004 funded, £23,351,043 annuities capitalised, and
£7,956,800 unfunded. The interest and management were £151,510 less
than in the previous year.
[56] Our American cousins do not exactly agree with us in notions
respecting Free Trade. A worthy writer in the _New York Times_, of
September last, under the _nom de plume_ of MONADNOCK, writes thus:—
“The correspondents of English papers give melancholy accounts of
dull business in commerce and manufactures in America, but the remedy
for this is so easy, as pointed out in a _Times’_ leader, that it is
only necessary to call an extra Session of Congress and adopt it.
You have only to remove all restrictions upon Free Trade. Repeal all
duties upon imports, and every shipyard would be alive with workers,
every factory in full operation, and the whole country prosperous and
happy. But the trouble is that nobody in America knows anything about
political economy. Under the actual tariff it is said that American
manufacturers are undersold by those of England and Germany, and Free
Trade would bring all right again. It happens, however, that England,
with Free Trade, is scarcely building any ships, and that she is in
serious danger from Continental competition. How is this muddle to be
disposed of? With Free Trade, half the labouring population in England
lives upon wages just above the point of starvation, with no resource
in sickness or old age but the workhouse, and Ireland is in a state of
chronic poverty and discontent. With Free Trade there is a perpetual
war between capital and labour, and the enormous burden of pauperism
is increasing. Americans may be ignorant of political economy, but I
cannot see that the English are overburdened with wisdom, or that the
practical results of their system are of a very enticing character. The
working men of England believe in Protection, and the English Colonies
practise it to the great annoyance of the theorists at home.
“After all, Free Trade is a proved impossibility. Parliament is
constantly interfering with what, according to our philosophers, should
regulate itself. The Poor Law system is itself a Protective measure.
So are all the laws limiting the hours and ages, and regulating the
conditions of labour. There are Acts of Parliament forbidding the
employment of women in coal-pits, where a few years ago they worked
naked like brute beasts; Acts forbidding the employment in factories
of children of twelve years; and during the last Session laws have
been passed for the protection of children in the numerous trades and
in the agricultural gangs which would disgrace Dahomey. There is need
of abundance more of such interference. In the black country, north of
Birmingham, there is a large population engaged in making nails by hard
labour, especially horseshoe nails. On an average, three females are
employed in this work to one male. I wonder if in all America there is
one female blacksmith. Even the strongest-minded of the advocates of
woman’s rights have not claimed for women the trade of a blacksmith.
But here little girls from seven to nine years old, are set to work
and kept to work, as long as they can stand, hammering at the anvil,
roasting by the forge, blacked with soot, never seeing schoolhouse or
playground, but employed their whole lives making horseshoe nails for a
bare subsistence. Absolute Free Trade sets women and children to work
at forge and mine, and reduces wages to the lowest possible standard,
and that is the system against which humanity protests, and with which
Parliament, in spite of theories, finds it necessary to interfere. Free
Trade, as ultimated in England, is the most debased ignorance, the most
abhorrent cruelty, the most disgusting vice, and the most heartbreaking
misery that can be seen in any country calling itself civilised and
Christian. There is too much freedom of all kinds in England, and
especially a great deal too much in Free Trade.”
The _Times_, of the 5th of October last, replies at great length.
Having fully explained the reasons why the United States adhere to
Protection, the writer proceeds:—
“Free Trade in this country has been the labour of several generations
of scientific and public-spirited men; it has been established on
principles that have acquired the force of axioms, and is now proved
and illustrated by splendid results. It may be said to have outlived
prejudice, and to require no vindication. This, at least, is true as
regards the educated classes, for it cannot be denied that lower down
in the social scale Protection lingers still, in company with many
other heresies, superstitions, and manifold forms of unreason. Free
Trade requires a man to look beyond himself, beyond his own employment,
beyond his own class, to the common right and weal, and this requires a
certain amount of moral education. But it would be scarcely possible to
detect in any respectable organ of opinion any trace of the old error,
however ingeniously disguised.
“The _New York Times_ abuses Free Trade, by charging upon it everything
unhappy or disagreeable in the condition of this country, and by
asserting that Free Trade cannot be carried out consistently, and is
therefore a hollow hypocrisy. Our agricultural labourers work like
slaves for a pittance, our women and children make horseshoe nails,
or traverse the country in gangs such as would disgrace the kingdom
of Dahomey. Our shipyards are idle, our workhouses full, and the most
repulsive and incessant toil receives wages just above starvation
point. The English labourer pines for Protection; the Irish peasant for
any possible escape from the allegiance and laws that keep him poor
and degraded. Meanwhile, when the pinch comes, we give up Free Trade.
In the opinion of the _New York Times_, it is an abandonment of Free
Trade to provide workhouses for destitution, sickness, and old age; to
prohibit the employment of women and girls in coal-pits; to limit the
hours of factory children and provide for their schooling; to interfere
with any trade for sanitary ends; or to aid any man, woman, or child
to be what they ought to be, to have what they ought to have, or to do
what they ought to do. Free Trade, the writer says, has produced all
this hideous mass of misery, and, having done it, recoils in horror
from its own work, and hands the matter over to Protection in the shape
of public charity and philanthropy.
“As the writer has taken his picture of England from the columns of
its public press, and from its Parliamentary debates and returns, we
should be the last to deny that there is in it a foundation of truth.
But it is only as if an American were to fill his boxes with the very
worst and filthiest rubbish he could pick up in this metropolis, and
take it home as a fair average and faithful representation of the
capital of the mother country. There is no falsehood so mischievous
as truth partially and malignantly selected. As to Free Trade, the
writer does not know what it is, and probably does not care to know. It
is trade emancipated from all restrictions and burdens which are not
in the interest of all the parties concerned; that is, which are for
one person against another, one class against another, or one nation
against another. As it is in the interest of common humanity—that is,
of all the world—that the destitute, sick, and aged should not be left
to perish; that children should not be worked above their strength,
or left without education; that women and girls should not be made
mere beasts of burden, or reduced to savagery, these are not questions
of trade at all, free or not free. Little as “MONADNOCK” seems to be
aware, he is himself interested in the maintenance of human nature
at its highest possible elevation all over the world. At all events,
he must allow Englishmen to indulge the sentiments of benevolence
without having it imputed to them that they do it on protective—that
is, selfish—principles, and, in so doing, are offending against the
great doctrine of Free Trade. But is it Free Trade that has produced
the scandals which Protection, this writer says, is invoked in vain
to mitigate? They all existed, far worse, in the days of Protection.
They are the evils of a crowded country. The population of these isles
has doubled since the beginning of the century, but it is impossible
to rescue an acre from the surrounding seas except generally at an
extravagant cost, or even to reclaim an acre without risk of loss. The
land won’t employ all, and the surplus must do what they can. America,
on the contrary, has millions upon millions of the best land in the
world to draw upon as fast as she wants them. She has all the charm
of novelty, as well as its more solid advantages. Till her citizens
fell out with one another in the mere excess of youthful energy,
and the mere exuberance of wealth and power, they had no need of an
army to call an army, or of a fleet to call a fleet. It is folly,
if not mockery, to compare such a country with England, as if the
circumstances were equal, and laws responsible for all the difference.
A septuagenarian may be healthy and strong for his years; his activity
of mind and body may speak well for the moderation of his diet, the
regularity of his habits and the calmness of his temper. What would be
thought of a young man of twenty, of remarkable strength and stature,
who taunted the old gentleman with his inability to carry a sack of
corn, to throw a cricket ball a hundred yards, to run a mile in five
minutes, to leap over his own height, to walk twenty miles in a day, to
eat a dish of raw fruit or a quart of oats without indigestion? Should
the old gentleman even confess himself unequal to such feats, that
would be no disparagement of the habits and plan of life which have
made him what he is—healthy for his time of life, strong, with good
heart, and with duly cultivated mental powers.”
The following, from the _Scientific American_ of August last, furnishes
a present comment upon the value of “Protection” in the United States:—
“The mills are running at a loss in Lowell, Lawrence, and most of the
other manufacturing towns of Massachusetts, and throughout New England.
The Manchester mills and print works have goods on hand unsold of the
value of $2,000,000 (£430,000). The same state of things exists with
the Amoskeag Company.”
[57] Since 1865 there is a regularly organised service for the
conveyance of ice from Martigny, Sion, and intermediate stations in
the Canton du Valais, Switzerland, _viâ_ Lausanne and Dijon, to Paris.
As many as fifty tons a-day are during several months in the year,
thus carried. As we write we have before us the traffic estimates of
the proposed railway from Geneva to Chamounix, forty-four miles long,
and one of the items of business expected is the conveyance of ice
to Paris, Lyons, Avignon, and Marseilles, to be carried in the first
instance on a tramway or siding not more than half-a-mile from one of
the glaciers of Mont Blanc, and then to be hooked on to the railway.
Of the value of ice in actual railway transport, we have the testimony
of recent American papers. The _New York Times_ says,—“Large quantities
of dead meat are brought to New York from distances of 800 to 1,200
miles, by railway. Ordinary covered goods waggons are employed, and the
meat, in quarters, is laid upon the ice, the ice being laid directly
upon the floors of the waggons. Ice is laid also upon the top, and
additional quarters are laid upon this, with a final layer of ice over
the whole. At one time a break of gauge existed, and the waggons had
to be unloaded, and the meat repacked in ice. This expense and delay
are now saved. This mode of carrying meat is found to be very cheap and
satisfactory.”
[58] On the death of the Earl of Spencer, father of the well-known
Lord Althorp, in 1834, His Lordship succeeded to the Earldom. When
Lord Melbourne went to Brighton to receive the king’s commands as to
the appointment of a new Chancellor of the Exchequer, His Majesty
informed the Minister that, under the circumstances, he considered the
administration at an end. This announcement created great surprise and
excitement in the political circles and throughout the nation. The Duke
of Wellington being sent for, His Grace advised the King to appoint Sir
Robert Peel premier, and this was done accordingly.—_Haydn’s Book of
Dignitaries._ The Earl Spencer, whose death is above referred to, died
on the 10th of November. The Duke of Wellington held several offices
until the return of Sir Robert Peel to England, at the latter end of
December. His ministry only lasted until the end of March, 1835.
[59] “Post,” in the middle periods of our Anglo Saxon history, was
the man who conveyed a letter. “Haste! post haste!” was intended as
an instruction or request to the bearer of it to use despatch in its
conveyance, just as in modern days we occasionally see on the envelope
of letters, “Immediate,” or on the letters of the humbler classes,
“With Speed,” “A Post,” was a character often introduced in the masques
and allegories of the middle ages, as well as in the pageants got up
for the amusement of Majesty during royal “progresses.”
[60] “_L’Hora di Roma_ is now the time all over Italy. It is 36 minutes
in advance of Paris, and 45 in advance of that of London.”
[61] “I know, gentlemen, that I have detained you at considerable
length. There is, however, one most important subject upon which I must
speak, and you must bear with me for a while. I claim that during the
whole course of my political and private life I have been, and I will
continue to be, the friend and well-wisher of the working classes;
and I think I know those classes well enough, and more especially
in this my own immediate neighbourhood, to know this, that there is
nothing they wish for so much as plain speaking and plain dealing,
and I venture in their presence, I hope of many of them—and I trust
my words may reach many of those which are not present—I venture to
warn them against one danger which I, in common with others, foresee
as a possible consequence of the great measure which we have given.
Apprehensions are entertained that the working men, not satisfied with
overcoming that political influence to which they are entitled, will
be disposed to lend themselves as dupes to designing persons, who may
endeavour to cajole them, with the idea of returning representatives
to Parliament, with loud professions of being the only friends of
the working classes, and of being sent to Parliament especially to
promote legislative measures intended to conduce to their welfare. Now,
I believe that there never was a Parliament more disposed than the
present to look to the interests of the working classes, and to consult
for their benefit. I can only hope that the next Parliament may be
equally desirous of effecting that object, and equally acquainted with
the best modes of carrying it into effect. But I warn as a friend—as an
earnest and sincere friend, and speaking from the deepest conviction—I
warn the working classes not to be led away by the flattering delusion
of men who will tell them that they can induce Parliament to pass a
measure of exceptional legislation for their especial and immediate
benefit. They cannot induce, I hope, any Parliament to pass any such
measure; and if such a measure were to be passed, the workmen would
find to their misfortune that it was the greatest injury that could be
done them—I mean a measure attempting to regulate the rate of wages. To
interfere between labour and capital is beyond the legislation of any
Parliament; and, indeed, it would be, in short, only to lead Parliament
to adopt such a course of legislation as has been recommended in some
of the bye-laws we have heard so much of lately in connection with the
various Trades’ Unions in the country. Do not let me be misunderstood.
I am no adversary or opponent of Trades’ Unions. I think that,
confined to their legitimate object, they are useful and salutary
instruments for maintaining the rights of the labouring classes; and
forty-three years ago I was the member of the House of Commons who
first recommended and succeeded in carrying the abolition of those
laws which made it illegal for workmen to agree to combine together
not to work under a certain amount of wages. I therefore hope that
what I say may be understood as not proceeding from one who desires
to oppress the working man. I say that even strikes, objectionable
as they are in principle, and injurious as they are to the working
classes, are not an illegitimate or an illegal mode of proceeding. I
say that if capital and labour cannot agree together, the only mode
of bringing them together is the absence of one or the other—the
capital to employ the labour, or the labourer to give the capital. I
go further, and I say that so long as Trades’ Unions are charitable
associations, and their contributions go to the relief of those who are
thrown out of work by no fault of their own, they are unobjectionable
and meritorious; but, from the disclosures we have recently heard, it
appears they have gone far beyond those acts. I do not mean to refer
to those gross acts of intimidation, picketing, rattening, and acts
leading to murder. They are acts which no person will defend, and
the members of Trades’ Unions themselves shrink from acknowledging
their participation in them; but I say that these associations go
beyond their limits when they agree not only themselves not to work,
but to prevent and intimidate other persons from working. For my own
part, looking to the public and private interests of the members, I
cannot for the life of me understand how English workmen, entitled to
make the most of their own industry and science, can submit to the
tyranny under which they are groaning. Gentlemen, the whole course of
our legislation for the last, I won’t say how many years, has been a
protest against class legislation. It has been an argument in favour
of the free admission of all foreign goods, an argument in favour of
free-trade, an argument opposed to all class protection. What would
you say if, in the city of Manchester, Government were to impose,
as in Continental countries, an _octroi_ duty on the importation of
every article of agricultural produce? The whole city would be in an
uproar; and yet you submit to the bye-laws of associations which say
that not only shall a tax be paid, but that not a single brick shall
be laid in Manchester that is imported from a foreign country, that
is, from beyond a single district, even from beyond the breadth of a
canal. We are speaking here in the Free-trade Hall. What do you say
of bye-laws which say that not a stone shall be worked in a quarry,
to save an enormous additional amount of labour in carting it to the
place where it is to be deposited, but that it shall be brought in bulk
and worked by the workmen; and if it should have been worked in the
quarry, then the farce is to be gone through of working it again by
workmen in Manchester? If this system is to prevail, what is to become
of your threshing machines and your steam ploughs, your mowing and
reaping machines? You would have to resort to your old flail and other
obsolete implements, and in manufactures to old handloom weaving; you
would have to do away with the power-loom and all those inventions of
genius which, while they have multiplied, to an indefinite amount, the
productive capital of the country, have at the same time multiplied to
an extent almost equally indefinite the amount and number of persons
employed. I say that the British workmen would do well seriously to
consider these things. Let me add that I have now been for two and
forty years a married man; and let me advise the workmen when they fall
into any difficulty to consult their wives. If the workmen are the
bread winners, their wives are the bread managers; and let them ask
their wives and their children, if they cannot answer for themselves,
what they think in the long run they have gained from those strikes
which they have carried on with so much perseverance and so much loss,
greatly to the advantage of those who apply the strings and manage the
puppet.”—_Speech of the Right Hon. the Earl of Derby at Manchester,
17th of October, 1867._
The author avails himself of this opportunity to give his experience
of a strike, which he went through as principal officer of the
Eastern Counties Railway Company in 1849. In that year the locomotive
superintendent had frequently to direct engine-drivers of passenger
trains, not to leave their engines at stations, except to oil or
look after them. The order not having been attended to by some of
the men, the locomotive superintendent issued a notice to the effect
that a shilling fine would be inflicted upon any driver who quitted
his engine except for the purposes above stated. A man, notoriously
not a first-class man, but with an abundance of that quality which is
vulgarly, though effectively, expressed by the word “jaw,” undertook,
as was afterwards learned, to set the rule at defiance. Accordingly on
the next day, he alighted from his engine at a first-class station,
and ostentatiously walked up and down the platform with his hands
in his trowser’s pockets; he was, of course, fined. He declined to
pay the shilling; and, owing to what is unfortunately usual in such
cases, the influence of outsiders, men who had never done the honest
day’s work of an honest workman in their lives, the engine-drivers
to a man, gave notice of their intention to leave the service in a
week, unless the order were withdrawn. Had the demand been complied
with, the discipline of the line was at an end. The Board, for it now
became a Board question, therefore, after much serious and protracted
deliberation, took this view. Orders were consequently given to the
principal officers to lose not a moment, and to spare no expense in
procuring engine-drivers elsewhere. This was no easy task to accomplish
in so short a time as a week, but by arranging for the diminution of
the number of trains, and through the sympathy of the public, which in
the first instance had been altogether with the men, but was totally
changed when the real facts became known, the service of the line was
continued, and within nine days from that on which the old hands had
given notice of retirement, almost all the usual trains were restored
to the time table. The anxieties of a strike on a great leading railway
are of a fearful character; those only who, like the author and his
other brother officers, had to go through one, can attempt to describe
them, and the very best description that could be written would fall
far short of their reality.
But as regards the men; at first their leaders and the outsiders who
were urging them to destruction, were very sanguine of success; in
fact, at the meetings that were held three or four times a day (for
there was a species of sittings _en permanence_) it was assured to
them. But as days passed on and the order was not withdrawn, the
passions of the leaders rose; not only were threats uttered, but
notwithstanding apparently most careful watching on the part of men
whose trustworthiness there was no reason to doubt, some of the engines
were tampered with, tow was introduced along the piston rods to prevent
their acting; parts that should be oiled were not oiled, and some other
things were done that at the time were described as “not intended to do
serious damage, just to maim and lame the engines a bit, not to destroy
them.”
But in this strike, that happened which has happened in every other
strike, combination, or conspiracy of men of the humbler classes, since
the days that strikes, combinations, or conspiracies first existed—that
is, there was what is usually known as “a traitor in the camp,” for the
author knew, within less than an hour after each meeting broke up, all
the material facts that had occurred at it. It is needless to say that
the information given was of great value in check-mating the men, and
leading to their eventual defeat.
So far as regards the strike during its progress, and until its death;
and now for its consequences. The men were no sooner completely beaten
than they were of course deserted by the leaders and the puppet-movers.
The subscriptions that were promised by “the trades” during the strike
were not forthcoming when the strike was over. The very word implies
that the workers work not, but that, nevertheless, the employers
require their service. But, unhappily for the men, this had ceased to
be so on the railway.
The reverse of the picture was now seen by the men whom Lord Derby so
happily describes as the “bread-winners,” as well as by the wives, whom
His Lordship, with equal aptitude, names the “bread-managers.” The two
pounds sterling a-week—or more—that the men were accustomed to receive
each Saturday afternoon, were no longer ready at the pay-table; no,
they did not even have the ten, fifteen, or twenty shillings a week,
so vauntingly promised just a fortnight previously. “Strike-pay” was
promised for six months certain, actual payment was for one week only.
Engine drivers, as a rule, are not more provident than the other
sections of the working community of the railways; yet, some had saved
a little money, with which they expected to hold out a few weeks, by
which time they believed they would easily get into work again. But, in
this respect, they were mistaken. There is a rule on railways that when
an engine driver applies for a situation, the locomotive superintendent
of the company at which employment is sought, writes for the man’s
character at his last place. This is obviously requisite, not only
as an ordinary precaution, but as an act of necessity, in case a man
should have been dismissed in consequence of intoxication, or owing to
having caused an accident. In the case of the Eastern Counties engine
drivers, the locomotive superintendents of the already opened lines
throughout the country refused to engage them for fully a year after
the strike had ended.
The more necessitous of the men appealed to the author, and to his
brother officers, to be reinstated. Many a man, hard working, honest,
and worthy, accompanied his appeals by tears, caused by bitter sorrow
and anguish at their positions; and, some of them, when reproached,
that they, so esteemed and respected, as they knew they always had
been, by their officers—yet had deserted—invariably replied, that they
were told, in the plainest terms, that if they did not join the strike,
they, their wives and children, should be made to suffer for it in
their persons. No doubt they then knew, what the world at large has
only recently known, that such threats were meant, not as threats, but
as realities. It was felt, however, that it would be unjust towards the
new men if the old were re-admitted, at all events at first; but, by
degrees, as vacancies occurred, some of those who had not emigrated, or
who had not been taken on lines which just then were opened in various
parts of the kingdom, came back into the service. But they came back
at the bottom of the list of drivers, with six shillings a-day, as
goods engine drivers, instead of seven shillings and sixpence a-day
as passenger drivers of the first class, and it took some of them two
years after re-admission, before they regained their former first-class
pay. Of the distress in many forms which the strike caused to men who
had no alternative but to join in it, innumerable instances could be
cited, and the author was able to confirm by personal experience what
he had always believed to be the case, that in strikes, workmen are
usually beaten, and that, if even apparently successful, they are, they
must be, losers.
[62] We would not dare to invent a word of bi-lingual derivatives if we
had not the authority of all the bishops for so doing, and to this we
may add that the member of the Episcopal Bench, who is a distinguished
philologist, especially sanctions word-coining. Dr. Chenevix Trench,
Archbishop of Dublin, says (page 151 _et seq._ of his “_Study of
Words_,”) that poets may at all times coin them, and prose (not prosy)
writers occasionally, and His Grace refers, in proof, to Cicero and
St. Augustine. “Pan,” is of the old Greek, but “Anglican,” as well as
“Anglia,” are Latin words, that were coined two or three centuries
after Latin was living and every-day-spoken. “Anglia” is in reality
derived from the Angles, an ancient German nation, an off-shoot of the
Suevi, who migrated to the parts of Denmark, now known as Schleswig and
Holstein. In process of time they came over to this country in greater
numbers than the inhabitants of the other nations that dwelt along the
East Coast of Northern Europe. Tracing the derivation of “Angli,” we
fear that the name comes from nothing more dignified than the Saxon
word angel or engel, which signified a fish-hook. Being the most daring
of all the pirates that infested the Northern Seas, they were specially
distinguished as such among other nations, who said of the Angli, that
they were like hooks, they caught all that was in the sea and made prey
of it. Such were our ancestors of 2,000 years ago and upwards. (Has
the vulgar saying of “with a hook,” any connection with our origin
as an Anglo-Saxon nation?) But hear what Professor Henry Morley says
of Englishmen, through Saxon and English Literature, for more than
thirteen centuries. “Our writers before Chaucer, were men speaking the
mind of our country during the period of the formation of the language,
either in Latin, the common tongue of the learned, or in Anglo-Saxon,
or in Anglo-Norman, or in English, of which the original elements were
so variously proportioned and so incompletely blended, that it differs
much from English of to-day. But with occasional impediment of a word
that has passed out of use, the language of Chaucer, and those of his
contemporaries who did not, like the author of “Piers Plowman,” write
in the less developed English of a rural district, speaks to us all yet
with a living warmth. With Gower and Chaucer, therefore, begins the
literature of formed English; and as the best fruit of John Gower’s
genius is contained, not in his English, but in his Latin poetry, it is
by common consent to Geoffery Chaucer that we now look back as to the
very spring and well of English undefiled.
“But our Chaucer was only a middle link in a long chain. Before his
birth, the literature of this country had maintained, for a longer time
than has passed since his birth, a foremost place in the intellectual
history of Europe. To say nothing of the yet earlier Beowulf, English
Cædmon poured the soul of a Christian poet into noble song 650 years
before Chaucer was born. Six centuries before Chaucer, Bede, foremost
of Christian scholars, was the historian of England, and Chaucer wrote
his “Canterbury Tales,” not quite five centuries ago. It is only
because we have done so much during these five centuries, and every
stroke of the work has told upon our present, that we are content to
look on Wycliff, Chaucer, Gower, and the author of “Piers Plowman,”
as men of a remote time who lived in the dim caves about the bubbling
source of our literature. They did not live at the source of our
literature, and they are not remote. Their aspirations were ours, their
ways of thinking ours, their battle ours, except that we have the
advantage of a few points gained.
“With Chaucer our own day begins, but he is not the day-spring of
our literature. In prose and verse for century after century before
the time of Chaucer, there was a literature here of home-speaking
earnestness, practical wit and humour, that attacked substantial ills
of life; sturdy resistance against tyrannies in Church and State; and
as the root of all its strength, a faithful reverence for God. With all
this, Chaucer was in harmony; and so too, as we shall find, have been
our best writers of every succeeding generation. For in our literature,
which is but our voice as a people, the mind speaks, that has so
laboured as to win for England, almost alone among the nations, the
inheritance of an inalienable freedom.”—_English Writers from Chaucer
to Dunbar._
The most distinguished among our classical scholars, the Rev. T. E.
Yonge, says, in his recent edition of the complete works of Horace,
that, partly in consequence of some resemblance in our present national
character to that of the Romans in their cultivated age, our literature
bears many traces of Horace. His sentiments, if not indicative of deep
thought, are so instinct with the practical common sense on which we
pride ourselves, so genial, and, above all, so charmingly expressed,
that they are continually recurring to the recollection of every
educated mind, and re-appearing in our best authors. The _Pall Mall
Gazette_ hasn’t a good word for Mr. Yonge, nohow.
[63] The most remarkable instances of absence of mind that we can
remember reading are the two following:—
A writer in the eighty-seventh volume of the _Quarterly Review_, in
the course of a very pleasant article upon the mechanism of the Post
Office as it was in 1850, says: “Of dead letters, a considerable
number containing property valued in two consecutive years at upwards
of £10,000, have actually been posted without any addresses at all!
Indeed many years ago, a blank undirected letter, on being opened
at the Dead Letter Office in London, was found to contain in notes
no less than £1,500. The only way,” proceeds the writer, “in which
this extraordinary, and at first sight almost incomprehensible, fact
can be accounted for is, that the attention of the good lady or good
gentleman who had folded and sealed such a valuable money letter had
been so hysterically exhausted by the desire to do both with extreme
caution, that, under a moral syncope, there had not remained between
the crown of the head and the soles of the feet strength of mind enough
to enable her or him to finish the operation. In short, the neglect had
proceeded from what is properly enough called ‘absence of mind,’ which,
in a description for which we humbly beg pardon, we will endeavour to
exemplify by the following anecdote:—An over-tired Yankee, travelling
in Kentucky, called at a log-hut for refreshment. The young woman
of the hovel, that she might quickly spread the table, gave him her
infant to hold, and in a few minutes laying before him a homely meal,
she then modestly returned to her work. The long-backed man, naturally
enough, was enraptured at the sight of the repast, and overwhelmed by
conflicting feelings of gratitude to the young woman, of admiration
of the lovely infant that sat smiling on his knee, and of extreme
hunger, in a fit of absence of mind exactly such as caused the person
in England to post a letter containing £1,500 without any address, he,
to the horror of the hostess, all of a sudden, with great energy ...
kissed the loaf, buttered the child’s face, and cut its head off—at
least so runs the story in Kentucky.”
Our second case of remarkable absence of mind is also American, and it
has in one respect the advantage over the foregoing, it occurred at
the beginning of this year. A judge “out West,” presiding at a trial,
so completely lost his presence of mind by the presence of a beautiful
young English lady about to be examined as a witness, that when she
had repeated the words of the oath, previous to her examination in the
case, he placed his face for her to kiss instead of the book. The young
English lady, not being acquainted with American jurisprudence, but
having a great respect for the law, did as she was ordered to do by
the judge. His absence of mind was so great, that when the witness had
completed her evidence he swore her again, this time, however, varying
the form of the oath slightly; “The evidence you have given is the
truth, the whole truth,” &c. The kiss was in the act of being repeated,
and there is no knowing how long the Judge’s absence of mind might have
continued, had not his wife very fortunately come on to the bench in
the very nick of time to administer to him a sharp blow on one ear,
which, for fear of ear-jealousy, was passed on to the other with almost
electric rapidity. The spectators in court, as well as the counsel,
attorneys, jury, and officers, were unanimously of opinion that the
remedy was equally effective as it was rapid and pungent. As regards
the beautiful English lady, the only inconvenience she experienced was
that she had to be sworn all over again and to be examined all over
again. Both the direct and cross-examining counsel were bachelors.
“The next news that is expected to be heard of one of them,” says the
editor of the American newspaper from which the foregoing is extracted
and its truth guaranteed, “and of the beautiful English lady, is in
the portion of our advertisements that we call ‘Our Ladies’ Column’;
and as regards the other counsel, we have already set up in type
the following headings of a sensational article we intend to write:
‘Appalling suicide of a very distinguished and remarkable Member of the
Bar.—Disappointed love.—A beautiful young English lady.’”
[64] The class of all others that sails closest to the wind on railways
is the class of “Bagmen.” Ladies’ dogs occasionally lead them to do a
little bit of cheating. Innumerable pleasant stories could be told in
connection with this subject. “Sweet little pets!” hidden under shawls
and in hand-baskets are the most common modes of concealment, but
others more erudite are occasionally practised. For instance, shortly
after telegraphs were laid alongside of railways, a principal officer
of a Railway Company got into a compartment of a stopping train, at
an intermediate station. The train had hardly left, when an elderly
gentleman, in terms of endearment, invited what turned out to be a
little Skye terrier to come out of its concealment under the seat. The
dog came out, jumped up, and appeared to enjoy his journey, until the
speed of the train slackened previous to stopping at a station; the dog
then instinctively retreated to its hiding place, and came out again in
due course after the train had started. The officer of the Company left
the train a station or two afterwards. On its arrival at the London
ticket platform, the gentleman delivered up the tickets for his party.
“Dog ticket, Sir, please.” “Dog ticket! what dog ticket?” “Ticket,
Sir, for skye terrier, black and tan, with his ears nearly over his
eyes; travelling for comfort sake under the seat opposite to you,
Sir, in a large carpet-bag, red ground with yellow cross-bars.” The
gentleman found resistance useless; he paid the fare demanded, when the
ticket collector, who throughout the scene had never changed a muscle,
handed him a ticket that he had prepared beforehand. “Dog ticket, Sir;
gentlemen not allowed to travel with a dog without a dog ticket; you
will have to give it up in London.” “Yes; but how did you know I had
a dog?—that’s what puzzles me?” “Ah, Sir,” said the ticket collector,
relaxing a little, but with an air of satisfaction; “the telegraph is
laid on our railway. Them’s the wires you see on the outside; we find
them very useful in our business, Sir. Thank you, Sir, good morning.”
It is needless to tell what part the principal officer of the Company
played in this pleasant little drama. On arrival in London the dog
ticket was duly claimed, a little word to that effect having been sent
up by a previous train to be sure to have it demanded, although, as a
usual practice, dog tickets are collected at the same time as those for
passengers.
Sometimes scenes that ought to be very heart-rending and touching occur
when a dog for which the fare has been regularly paid is separated from
its owner, but as a rule, objection is not made to a dog travelling
with passengers if they have no objection, and the dog be only a small
one. We have more than once had conversations with ladies on “the
great dog question,” and some of them say truly that, as there is no
charge on railways for “nasty cats and parrots, and other birds,” or
“for babies under three years of age,” why should they be made to pay
for what does not give a twentieth part of the trouble that only one
baby causes. But after all, the number of dogs that are paid for, as
compared with “free” dogs, is very small indeed.
[65] It is to be understood that, although the numbers of passengers
carried, as stated above, do not correspond with the numbers given
at page 40 _et seq._, there is in reality no difference, as in the
previous pages the journeys of the ticket-holders are not included, but
in this page they are.
[66] As these sheets are going through the press, we find circulating
through the newspapers the following account of _carriage accidents
only_ in the streets of London for 1866 and the first nine months of
the present year:—“Of the persons who frequented the streets of London
last year, 205 were killed by horses and carriages of various kinds,
or, on an average, four persons met with a violent death by this class
of accidents every week. In 1865 the number was still greater, 232
persons being killed by street vehicles. These numbers, however, only
represent the cases which terminated fatally; of those persons who were
seriously, but not fatally, injured, there is no record. Of the 205
deaths in 1866, 36, or 17·4 per cent., were the result of falls from
vehicles, and 17, or 8·4 per cent., occurred by collisions, &c., death
resulting through being knocked down by or thrown out of vehicles. Of
the number of persons who were run over, 14, or 6·6 per cent., were
killed by omnibuses; 7, or 3·6 per cent., by carriages; 25, or 12·0 per
cent., by cabs; 105, or 51 per cent, by heavy vehicles, such as carts,
vans, drays, and waggons. In glancing at these results, it is worthy
of notice that the greater portion of the fatal carriage accidents in
the streets of London were not caused by cabs or omnibuses, the deaths
by these vehicles amounting only to 29 per cent. of the total number.
One-half of the accidents were caused by the heavy vehicles, and about
20 per cent. of the total deaths occurred among carters and carmen. Of
persons run over, about 77 per cent. were males and 23 per cent. were
females. Among males 26 per cent. of the deaths were those of children
under ten years of age; among females about 60 per cent. of the deaths
were those of children under ten years of age. The number of carriage
accidents in the streets of London which terminated fatally in the
first nine months of 1867 was 129.”
Dr. Ogden Fletcher, the Medical Officer of the Manchester, Sheffield
and Lincolnshire Railway, in his recent interesting work, _Railways in
their Medical Aspects_, to which, as well as to the subject upon which
it treats, we hope to refer hereafter, says that there are five times
more people killed by carriages in the streets of London every year,
than were killed on all the railways in Great Britain during any of the
last seven or eight years.
[67] The aggregate number of vessels entering and clearing outwards
from all the ports of the United Kingdom in 1866 was 403,598, being
5,657 less than in 1865. The total tonnage of these vessels in 1866
was 31,262,450, of which 21,255,726 was British, and 10,006,724 was
foreign. Of this total tonnage about a third, or 10,761,413 was tonnage
of steam vessels, of which 9,484,594 was British, and 1,276,819 was
foreign. Thus, whilst the steam tonnage of Great Britain was not far
from being one-half of its total tonnage, the tonnage of foreign steam
vessels frequenting the ports of the United Kingdom was only a little
more than an eighth of its total tonnage. The tonnage of the ships
lost or damaged on or near the British coasts in 1866 was 428,000. The
_Times_, in the course of a most interesting and lengthened summary of
ocean and coast disasters for 1866, speaks in terms of just indignation
of the unseaworthy state that colliers and other coasting vessels,
but especially colliers, are permitted to go to sea, and concludes
by stating that, “The aggregate loss of life is enormous, and so is
the aggregate destruction of property. The former is a species of woe
inflicted on humanity; the latter is practically a tax upon commerce.
While the art of saving life on the coast is understood, thanks to the
progress of science and to the stout hearts of our coast population,
the art of preserving property is as yet but imperfectly known among
us, and still more imperfectly practised.
“On reviewing the dismal record, we are bound to take courage from the
many gratifying facts it reveals in regard to saving of life, which,
after all, is our principal object in commenting on this doleful
_Register_. Noble work has been done, and is doing, in that way, which
has not only elicited the admiration of the British public, but also
that of many foreign nations; and this was strikingly illustrated
last July by the International Jury of the Paris Universal Exhibition
awarding to the National Lifeboat Institution one out of their nineteen
great gold medals, in acknowledgment of the important services it had
rendered to shipwrecked sailors of all nations, hundreds of whom, and
thousands of our own hardy sailors, it had rescued from a premature
grave, and many homes from the desolation of widowhood and orphanage.”
[68] The return issued by the Statistical Committee of Lloyd’s,
October, 1867, shows that the number of lives lost by casualties to
ships for the half-year ending the 30th of June last was 687, being
only 209 less than during the whole of 1866. 503 crews of sailing ships
were saved and 17 crews of steamers. The number of crews drowned was
29. The return goes on to state that the total number of casualties
to sailing ships in the half-year was 5,525, to steamers 500. The
number of ships missing was 64, of steamers 7. Total number of ships
abandoned 228, steamers 5. Of these 190 were totally lost. The number
of collisions to ships is 808, to steamers 147; total, 955. Of these
85 were sunk. The number of vessels sinking from causes other than
collision was 281. The number of ships stranded was 1,483, of steamers
126. There were three cases of piracy. The number of vessels burnt or
on fire was 65 ships and 5 steamers. The number of cases of mutiny,
sickness, casualties to crew, and refusing to do duty was 201. There
were 11 ships waterlogged. Totally lost, 1,072 ships and 37 steamers.
[69] Captain Shaw, the Superintendent of the London Fire Brigade,
stated in his evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons that
sat in 1867, on protection of life and property from fire, that there
were 681 fires in London in 1840, one to every 2,800 inhabitants, and
one to every 379 houses. In 1850 the number of fires was 868, or one
to every 2,673 inhabitants, one to every 347 houses. In 1860 the fires
were 1,056, one to every 2,613 inhabitants, one to every 335 houses.
The fires in 1865 were unexceptionally high—1,502, or one to every
1,900 inhabitants, one to every 250 houses. In 1866 the number of fires
was 1,338. The “heavy fires” are now about 25 per cent. of the whole
number, but in 1860 they were above 40 per cent. The average sum spent
upon a fire in London for many years has been £18. But fires are much
more expensive in America: Brooklyn (opposite New York), costs £35 each
fire; Baltimore, £90; Boston, £157; New Orleans, £172. Of 29,069 fires
which have occurred in the last 33 years in London, candles caused
11 per cent. of them; curtains nearly 10; gas nearly 8; flues nearly
8; sparks from pipes, 4½; lucifer matches, children playing, smoking
tobacco, and stoves, each, 1½ per cent. The Fire Insurance Companies
and the Fire Brigade consider one-third of the London fires as involved
in suspicion; but Sir Thomas Henry, the Chief Magistrate of Bow Street,
does not concur in this opinion.
[70] A proof of the value and economy of steel rails is afforded by
what has occurred at Chalk Farm station. At this part of the London
and North-Western Railway the traffic is literally unceasing. On one
line, for a short length, are ordinary rails, and Bessemer rails on
the other. The latter have already outlived twenty-five sets of iron
rails, and appear very nearly as fresh as when first laid down. Very
nearly the same result has been obtained at the locomotive shops of the
London, Chatham and Dover Company.