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diff --git a/43701-0.txt b/43701-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..09e1f38 --- /dev/null +++ b/43701-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6790 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43701 *** + +RECOLLECTIONS OF A BUSY LIFE. + +[Illustration: _Painted by S. Walters._ _Engraved by R. G. Reeve._ + +VIEW OF THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL, 1836.] + + + + +RECOLLECTIONS OF A BUSY LIFE + +BEING THE REMINISCENCES + +OF A LIVERPOOL MERCHANT + +1840-1910. + +BY + +SIR WILLIAM B. FORWOOD D.L. J.P. + +ILLUSTRATED WITH SEVENTEEN PLATES + + "_Work for some good, be it ever so slowly; + Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly; + Labour! True labour is noble and holy._" + +LIVERPOOL: +HENRY YOUNG & SONS +1910. + + +TO MY CHILDREN +AND +GRANDCHILDREN. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Many of the following pages were written for private circulation. +Influential friends have, however, urged me to publish them, as they may +appeal to a wider circle of readers. I have consented, with diffidence, +but have availed myself of the opportunity to add some chapters upon +local affairs, which I trust may be of public interest, and recall +pleasing memories of bygone times. + +W. B. F. + +BROMBOROUGH HALL, +_December 1st, 1910_. + + + + +A FOREWORD. + + +There are but few men whose lives are worthy to be written for general +publication, but there are many who have accumulated recollections and +experiences which must be interesting and instructive to those of their +own kith and kin, and it is for these I am about to jot down a few +reminiscences of a life which has been largely spent in public work--in +helping to build up the fortunes of a great seaport, in the local +government of an important Municipality, and in the administration of +Justice. Should these pages fall into the hands of friends I am sure +they will be read with kindly and sympathetic feelings, and strangers +will, I hope, accord to them the consideration and indulgence due to a +narrative written only for private publication. + +Life is said to be short, but when I look back upon the events which +have crowded into mine I seem to have lived a long time, and one cannot +but reflect that if the prospect had always looked as long as the +retrospect, how much more patience and deliberation might have been +thrown into the ordering of one's affairs, and how entirely this might +have altered the course of events and changed the goal of one's +endeavours. It is perhaps a merciful and wise ordinance that no man can +reckon beyond the day that is before him, and therefore each day should +be so lived as to be typical of our life; for it is the only portion of +time of which we may truly say it is our own, and at our own disposal +for good or for evil. + +As each life, therefore, has its ambitions--small or great--its +conquests, its trials, and its failures, so each day has to bear its own +burden of trials and anxieties; and as the daily life is lived, and the +daily task accomplished, so will our life's work be fulfilled; but how +few there are who can look back and say their lives have been a success, +and that they have accomplished all they should or all they might have +done. + +A great philosopher and thinker, who passed away only recently, stated, +on the Jubilee of his Professorship, when his contemporaries were saying +that future generations would proclaim him as having accomplished +greater things than Sir Isaac Newton, that "his life had not been a +success, that he had given his time and his mental powers to the +solution of practical problems of everyday life rather than to the +claims of the higher philosophy;" and so, in our more humble spheres +each of us must feel that we have neglected opportunities, and perhaps +the opportunities which we most regret having neglected are those by +which we could have done good to our fellow-men, and not those which +made for the satisfying of our ambition. + +There can be no isolation more dreary than the isolation of an old age, +cut off by the lack of training and habit from sympathy with humanity, +alone in its selfishness, untouched by the joy of feeling and caring for +others. But even short of this isolation of a selfish old age, there +must come to all of us a feeling of disappointment that our part in +helping forward the well-being of others has not been larger and more +fruitful: + + + "Frail is the web the tired worker weaves + Left incomplete: + Fair was life's promise, scanty are its sheaves; + What are its laurels, but a few sere leaves + Withering beneath our feet." + + +I will, however, cease to moralise, and will conclude with this thought +which, I think, forms an appropriate preface to an autobiography. + +How much greater would be the sum total of human happiness if men would +accept as their guide the experience of those who had gone before! How +many disasters might be avoided! How many successful careers might be +shaped and built up! But I suppose as long as men are as they are they +will refuse to accept the experience of others, but will make their own, +and through blunders and mistakes a certain proportion will arrive at +success, but a larger proportion will struggle on, on the ragged edge +and under the cold shade of adversity until the end of their days. + +W. B. F. + +BROMBOROUGH HALL, +CHESHIRE, +_January 21st, 1910_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +A FOREWORD. + PAGE. +CHAPTER I.--EARLY YEARS 1 + + My Father 2 + Edge Hill 4 + Everton 5 + Bootle 5 + Seaforth 6 + The "Great Britain," s.s. 7 + Wrecks on the Seaforth shore 8 + Walton 10 + Aigburth 10 + The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone 12 + His last speech 13 +1848--Waterloo and Southport Railway: Opening 15 + Edge Lane 16 + Early School-days 17 + Home Life 21 + Wavertree Park 23 + + +CHAPTER II.--VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD 25 + +1857--Sail in the "Red Jacket" 25 + Australia 26 + West Coast of South America 27 + Easterly gales in the Channel 28 + + +CHAPTER III.--LIVERPOOL 31 + + Liverpool in 1860-1870 32 + The Town 33 + The Docks 35 + The Dock Board 37 + Election 38 + Birkenhead 39 + Bootle 41 + The Exchange 42 + Cotton Brokers 44 + Commerce 47 + Shipowners 48 + Merchants 49 + The American War of 1861-1865 51 + Blockade Running 53 + The Southern Bazaar 55 + The Volunteer Movement 55 + Intellectual Life 57 + Society 60 + + +CHAPTER IV.--BUSINESS LIFE 64 + + My Father's Office 64 + Financial Panics, 1857-1866 65 +1861--Wrecked in the "Great Eastern" 67 +1861--Arrested in New York 69 + Leech, Harrison and Forwood 71 + My brother Arthur 72 + + +CHAPTER V.--PUBLIC LIFE, 1867 78 + +1868--President Philomathic Society 78 + Professor Huxley 78 +1868--Elected to the TOWN COUNCIL: Early Experiences 79 + CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: + 1870--Elected Vice-President 80 + 1871-1874--President of the Chamber 80 + 1878-1881--Elected President of the + re-constituted Chamber by the votes of the + subscribers to the Exchange News Room 80 + 1870--Fellow Royal Statistical Society 80 +1872--President of the American Chamber of Commerce 81 +1873--Chairman of the Joint Committee of the Northern + Towns on Railway Rates 81 +1877--President United Cotton Association, the precursor + of the Cotton Association 82 +1877--President of the International Cotton Convention 83 +1880--Mayor of Liverpool 83 + Visit of General Sir Frederick Roberts 83 + Visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales 84 + The Opening of the North Docks 84 + Fenian Scare 85 +1903--Lord Mayor 87 + + +CHAPTER VI.--THE FENIAN TROUBLES 88 + +1882--Attempt to blow up the Town Hall 88 + Infernal Machines 90 + The Pensioner's cork leg 91 + Thanks of the Home Secretary 92 + + +CHAPTER VII.--THE TOWN COUNCIL 93 + + The Town Hall--Its Hospitality 97 + Work in the City Council 100 +1868-1882--WATCH COMMITTEE 100 + Burning of the Landing Stage 101 +1870-1884--WATER COMMITTEE: The Vyrnwy Scheme 102 + Hawes Water 102 +1874-1886--PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE 106 + Chairman 106 + Extension of the Boundaries 106 + The Manchester Ship Canal 107 + The Dock Board and the Bridgwater Canal 108 +1887--CORPORATION LEASEHOLDS: Chairman of Special + Committee to enquire into 109 + Report 110 +1908--ESTATE COMMITTEE: Chairman 110 + + +CHAPTER VIII.--LIBRARY, MUSEUM AND ARTS COMMITTEE 112 + +1889--Chairman 114 +1908--Extension of Free Libraries 114 + Mr. Carnegie 115 + The Museum Extended 116 + The Art Galleries 117 + Among the Studios 118 + Lord Leighton 118 + Mr. Greiffenhagen 119 + Sir John Millais 120 + Sir Hubert Herkomer 121 + Sir John Gilbert 122 + Mr. Whistler 123 +1908--Retired from the Committee 123 + Mr. R. D. Holt 128 + + +CHAPTER IX.--KNIGHTHOOD AND FREEDOM OF LIVERPOOL 130 + +1883--KNIGHTHOOD: At Windsor Castle 130 + HONORARY FREEDOM OF CITY OF LIVERPOOL 131 + + +CHAPTER X.--POLITICAL WORK 141 + + Party politics in Liverpool 141 + Conservative Whip 142 +1865--S. R. Graves, M.P. 143 +1873--John Torr, M.P. 143 +1868--Viscount Sandon, M.P. 144 +1880--Edward Whitley, M.P. 144 + Mr. Rathbone, M.P. 145 +1868--Election, South-West Lancashire: Mr. Gladstone + and Mr. R. A. Cross 145 +1869--Chairman Waterloo Polling District 146 +1880--Chairman of the Southport Division 146 +1886 {The Hon. George A. Curzon 146 +to { +1899 {Mr. Curzon Member for Southport 147 + Lord Curzon's work as the Viceroy of India 149 + Duties of a Chairman of a Division 151 + Free Trade and Protection 152 + + +CHAPTER XI.--JUDICIAL WORK 154 + +1873--Placed on Liverpool Bench 154 +1882--Placed on Lancashire County Bench 154 +1900--Placed on Cheshire County Bench 154 +1890--Deputy-Chairman of Quarter Sessions, West Derby + Hundred 154 +1894--Chairman of Quarter Sessions 154 +1894--Chairman of the County Bench 155 +1894--Chairman of the Licensing Justices 155 + Chairman of the Visiting Justices, Walton Jail 157 +1902--Appointed a Deputy-Lieutenant for Lancashire 154 +1909--HIGH SHERIFF FOR LANCASHIRE 159 + Interesting Ceremony at Lancaster Castle 161 + The King and Queen at Knowsley 162 + + +CHAPTER XII.--BLUNDELLSANDS, BROMBOROUGH & CROSBY + + Blundellsands 164 + Crosby Grammar School 166 + Bromborough 168 + + +CHAPTER XIII.--DIRECTORSHIPS 171 + +1889--Chairman Overhead Railway 172 +1893--Opening by the Marquis of Salisbury, + Prime Minister 173 +1898--Chairman of the Bank of Liverpool 176 +1888--Director of the Cunard Company 177 + Some incidents 179 + Castle Wemyss 181 + Making of the Cunard Company 181 + Liverpool and Mediterranean Trade 182 + White Star Line 184 + Mr. T. H. Ismay 185 + Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G. 186 +1888--Director Employers' Liability Assurance Company. + + +CHAPTER XIV.--THE CHURCHES 188 + + The Church, 1860-1870 188 + Dr. McNeile 189 + Dr. Ryle, first Bishop of Liverpool 190 + Nonconformists 192 + THE BUILDING OF A CATHEDRAL 194 + Early History 194 + Chairman of Executive Committee 198 + Foundation-stone laid by the King 199 + Consecration of the Lady Chapel 201 + Convocation 203 + Church Congress 204 + New York Cathedral 204 + + +CHAPTER XV.--PHILANTHROPY, CHARITABLE AND SOCIAL WORK 206 + + Crusade against intemperance 207 + Workmen's dwellings 208 + Local workers 209 + + +CHAPTER XVI.--THE SEAMEN'S ORPHANAGE, ETC. 211 + +1905--ROYAL COMMISSION ON MOTORS 212 + + +CHAPTER XVII.--THE EARL OF DERBY 215 + + Appointments to the County Bench 215 + Prince Fushimi of Japan 220 + + +CHAPTER XVIII.--TRAVELS 223 + + Improvements in Modern Travel 223 +1871--Franco-Prussian Battlefields 225 +1891--Costa Rica 225 + Jamaica 228 +1892--Mexico 228 + Conversion of Mexican Southern Railway Bonds 229 + President Diaz 230 +1905--America: Tour with Lord Claud Hamilton 235 + President Roosevelt 236 +1906--The Desert of Sahara 238 + The Count's Garden, Biskra 240 + Egypt 243 +1907--India: Impressions of 244 +1906--Lord Clive: The result of a Motor Tour 250 + + +CHAPTER XIX.--RECREATIONS 253 + + Yachting 253 +1874--Obtained Certificate from the Board of Trade as a + Master Mariner 255 + Windermere: Happy Days 256 + History of the Royal Windermere Yacht Club 257 + Yacht Racing Association 258 + One of the Founders 258 + Member of the Council 258 + Chairman of the Committee of Measurement 258 + Royal Canoe Club 258 +1879--Rear-Commodore Royal Mersey Yacht Club 257 + Gardening 259 + Orchids 260 + + +CHAPTER XX.--OBITER DICTA 261 + + Success in Life 263 + Observation 266 + Imagination 267 + Integrity 267 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +Liverpool, 1836 _Frontispiece_. + +Shaw's Brow _Facing page_ 34 + +Dock Offices 37 + +The Old Liverpool Exchange 42 + +The Town Hall 93 + +Laying Foundation Stone, Vyrnwy 102 + +Free Libraries 112 + +"Ramleh," East Front 162 + +Bromborough Hall, Garden Front 168 + +The Old Dutch Garden 170 + +The Lady Chapel, Liverpool Cathedral 201 + +Fatehpur Sikri 244 + +Benares 245 + +The Himalayas 248 + +The Taj Mahal 249 + +Yachting on Windermere 256 + +Portrait 261 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +EARLY YEARS. + + +A Great City--its people and its institutions, as seen by a contemporary +presents incidents that do not specially appeal to the historian, who is +more concerned with the larger features and events which mark its +growth; but those incidents may serve as sidelights upon the movements +and the spirit of the times, and woven round the outlines of a life +which has been threaded in the weft of its activities, may afford a +background to bring into more prominent relief and give juster +proportion to the characters and the actions of the men who have built +up its prosperity. + +My story will therefore be of the men and the incidents of my time, +which I think may perhaps possess more than a passing interest, and I +hope serve to awaken pleasant memories. + +As I do not intend to write a record of my family life, which with its +abounding happiness--some great sorrows--successes and +disappointments--must be a sacred thing, I shall only make such +references to my family, or to those friends still happily with us, as +may be necessary to my narrative. + +My great-grandfather, who was born at Plymouth, was a Lieutenant in the +Royal Navy and served on board the "Foudroyant." He was killed in +action, and his widow, in recognition of his courage, was awarded a Post +Captain's pension. She had one son, my grandfather, George Forwood, who +came to Liverpool, where in 1812 he joined Mr. John Moss as partner in +the Otterspool Oil Works (Mr. Moss was the father of the late Sir Thomas +Moss, Bart.). My grandfather appears to have been a man of considerable +ability. Mr. Hughes, in his _History of Liverpool Bankers_, describes +him as "an exceedingly able man, possessing some public spirit." His +published letters and pamphlets on economic subjects show that he took +much interest in the pressing questions of the day, and was very active +in promoting the repeal of the Corn Laws and in the amendment of the +Poor Laws. + +My father, the late Thomas Brittain Forwood, was born in Russell Street +in 1810, and was educated at Dr. Prior's school in Pembroke Place; he +received what was known as a good classical education, and up to the +close of his life his knowledge of Latin was fresh and accurate, and he +could quote freely and aptly from Latin authors. + +He was gifted with a love for mechanics, and he claimed to have made a +locomotive when a boy, using as cylinders two surgical syringes. + +He entered the office of Leech, Harrison and Co. in 1824, when he was 14 +years of age, became a partner at the age of 27, and retired in 1862, +when he purchased the estate of Thornton Manor, in Cheshire; here he +resided for the remainder of his life. My father was endowed with a +quick and bright intelligence, and was a most excellent correspondent in +days when letter writing was a fine art. He had a love and capacity for +hard work. + +He was too much absorbed in his own business to take an active part in +public life, but he was for a time a vice-president of the Chamber of +Commerce, and took a leading part in the effort to obtain a reduction in +the railway charges levied upon Liverpool traffic. He was for twenty-two +years a member of the Mersey Dock Board, and chairman of the Traffic +Committee. After he retired from business he became a magistrate for the +county of Cheshire, and greatly interested himself in the restoration of +Chester cathedral. + +He died at his London house, in Regent's Park, December 18th, 1884, and +was buried at Thornton Hough, Cheshire. My mother was a daughter of +William Bower, the founder of the firm of William Bower and Sons, cotton +brokers. My grandmother, Mrs. Bower, was left a widow when quite young, +but must have been a woman of much ability, for during the minority of +her eldest son, for several years she carried on the business, going +down to the office every day. In this she was actively assisted by the +late Mr. Geo. Holt, the founder of the firm of Geo. Holt and Co., with +the result that when her son came of age the business was one of the +largest and most prosperous on the Cotton Exchange. I often heard her +speak with gratitude of the noble self-sacrifice of Mr. Holt during all +these years. + +I was born at Edge Hill, Liverpool, in 1840--it gives some perspective +to this date when we remember that the year 1839 witnessed the first +publication of Bradshaw's Railway Guide, and the inauguration of the +penny post. It was the year after the accession and marriage of Queen +Victoria, and one of the last of the dark years of the fiscal policy of +Protection in England; so that I may claim that my seventy years have +witnessed a material progress on every side, which has been simply +marvellous, and has eclipsed in the brilliancy of achievement any former +period in the history of our country. The use of the steam-engine has +been increased and extended until it has become the handmaiden of every +industrial occupation; and following in its train we have seen the +development of the spinning jenny, and the blast furnace. And to-day we +see that steam is being dethroned from its high position by the +electrical dynamo and the hydraulic ram, and the turbine is taking the +place of the reciprocating engine. The internal combustion engine has +been invented, and the motor-car is rapidly superseding the horse-drawn +vehicle; while the biplane and monoplane have given a reality to +aviation which never entered the most visionary dreams of a few years +ago. + +My father's house at Edge Hill overlooked the grounds of Mount Vernon +Hall and the gardens of the vicarage; to the east were open fields, with +a few large villas dotted about. Fashionable Liverpool still dwelt in +the large Georgian houses fringing Everton Hill, which looked down upon +one of the loveliest views imaginable. In the foreground were the trees +and woods which ran along what is now Netherfield Road; beyond these the +river flowed; in the distance the Wirral peninsula stretched out, backed +by the Welsh hills. But the town of Liverpool was pushing its way up to +Everton, and San Domingo Road was ceasing to be fashionable; while +Aigburth, Prince's Park, and Edge Lane were rapidly becoming the most +popular suburbs of the fast-rising seaport. + +Soon after I was born my father removed to Marsh Lane, Bootle, and there +were few more charming spots at that time. I remember the grand trees +which encircled Bootle Hall and overarched Marsh Lane; here dwelt in +sylvan retreats the Mathers, the Birches, and the Tyrers. The trees +extended down to the sea-shore, where Miller's Castle stood sentinel--a +modern building remarkable for its keep and battlemented walls. About +half a mile nearer Liverpool there was a row of large houses, known as +Fort Terrace; here one of my uncles lived. The garden ran down to the +sea-shore, and we as boys passed out of the garden to bathe. The Canada +dock is built on the site of Fort Terrace. + +My father removed again, further out, to Seaforth, to a large house on +the Crosby Road, facing an open space known as "Potter's Field," which +was bounded on the further side by the shore. I was sent to school at +Mrs. Carter's, a celebrated dame's school, where many young Liverpool +boys were educated. Mr. Arthur Earle was one of my classmates. Seaforth +was a very prettily wooded village, fine elm trees margining the highway +right up to the canal at Litherland. The village at that time contained +two other important schools, Miss Davenport's and the Rev. Mr. Rawson's. +Mr. Rawson was Vicar of the Parish. Mr. Gladstone, Lord Cross, and Dean +Stanley were educated at Mr. Rawson's. Mr. Rawson was very fond of +telling the story of Mr. Gladstone, when a boy, spending his holiday +afternoons lying before the fire reading Virgil; even in those days he +had formed great expectations of his pupil's future career. Seaforth +vicarage stood between the church and the railway, and was surrounded by +large gardens. Litherland was also a charming rural village, containing +many grand old elm trees, and several large houses. Waterloo was a +rising seaside place, very fashionable in the summer; here Liverpool +merchants occupied cottages, for in those times a cottage at the seaside +was the usual method of spending the summer: fishings in Norway, moors +in Scotland, and tours all over the world not then being in vogue. + +Our home at Seaforth commanded a very beautiful marine view. I remember +seeing the "Great Britain" sail, and the same night she was stranded on +the coast of Ireland. For years the "Great Britain" was regarded as one +of the wonders of the world. She was considered to be such a leviathan +that people said she would never pay, and I believe she never did; her +tonnage was under 4,000 tons. She remained the largest ship afloat for +many years. The "Great Britain" went ashore in Dundrum Bay on the 22nd +September, 1846, and was refloated and towed to Liverpool, August 25th, +1847. She remained for some time in the North Atlantic trade, was +afterwards engaged in the Australian trade, and subsequently was +converted into a four-masted sailing ship. Her final use was as a coal +hulk at the Falkland Islands. + +I also saw the Glasgow steamer "Orion" sail on her fatal voyage. She was +stranded on the Mull of Galloway, and many lives were lost; this was in +1850. + +Very frequently after the prevalence of easterly winds, the entire +channel between the Rock Light and the Crosby Lightship was crowded with +ships, large and small, working their way out to sea--a lovely sight. I +have frequently counted over 300 sail in sight at one time. + +On the Bootle shore, somewhere about where the Hornby dock is situated, +there stood two high landmarks--very conspicuous objects marking the +fairway through the Rock Channel, then very much used; they linger in my +memory, associated with many pleasant donkey rides around them. Bootle +church in those days had two towers, and the old church was quite as +ugly as the one now existing. The Dock Committee built the sea wall of +the Canada dock some time before the docks were constructed. I remember +about the year 1848 seeing seven ships wrecked against this sea wall; +they had dragged their anchors and were driven ashore by a north-west +gale. Wrecks on the Bootle and Seaforth shores were quite common +occurrences. The farmers in the district fenced their fields with timber +from ships stranded on the shore, and the villagers were not above +pilfering their cargoes. The barque "Dickey Sam" with a cargo of tobacco +from Virginia was stranded on the Seaforth sands in 1848, and an +onslaught was made on her cargo by the villagers; and to protect it, my +father organised a body of young men to stand guard over it--not an easy +matter, as the hogsheads of tobacco were strewn along the beach for +several miles. His efforts were rewarded by the underwriters presenting +to him a silver salver with an appropriate inscription. + +Access to Seaforth and Waterloo from Liverpool was afforded by a +four-horse 'bus, which ran in the morning and evening; express boats +also sailed along the canal in summer, starting from the bridge at +Litherland. It was a pretty walk through the fields to Litherland, and +a charming sail along the canal to the wharf in Great Howard Street. + +Riding on horseback on the sea-shore was a very favourite pastime. Many +business men rode into town, keeping to the shore as far as Sandhills +Station. + +On the road to Liverpool, and midway between Bootle and Liverpool, +surrounded by fields, were the ruined walls of Bank Hall, which for 500 +years had been the residence of the Moores, one of the most celebrated +Liverpool families; they were large owners of property, and for that +long period were closely identified with the public life of the little +town. + +The Hall had been pulled down and the materials used for the erection of +the large stone farm buildings and an important farm-house. In my +boyhood days the barns and farm-house still remained, and also the +ancient garden wall, flanked with high stone gate-posts and surmounted +by large carved stone urns, such as were common in the early Georgian +period. A deep and wide ditch ran along the front of the wall, which was +part of the old moat. The Ashcrofts were the tenants of the farm, and I +can remember making hay in a field which would be about the site of the +present Bankhall railway station. Further along again, in Great Howard +Street, stood the jail, commonly called the French prison, many French +prisoners of war having been confined there during the Peninsular war. + +Near Sandhills Station there stood a large house, surrounded by trees, +the residence of John Shaw Leigh, one of the founders of the present +Liverpool. I remember being taken to see the icehouse in the grounds, +which formed a sort of cave. Walton was a very pretty village, and +remained so until a comparatively recent date; its lanes were shaded by +stately trees, amid which there nestled the charming old thatched +cottages which formed the village. The church, the mother church of +Liverpool, was a landmark for miles, and amid its rustic and rural +surroundings was picturesque and romantic. Near at hand were Skirving's +nursery gardens, quite celebrated in their time. + +The southern end of the town preserved its suburban aspect for a much +longer period. Aigburth Road and its great elm trees remained untouched +by the builder of cottages until quite recent times. Prince's Road was +made in 1843, and was margined on either side by fields, which for long +years remained in a more or less ragged condition, some of the land +being occupied by squatters, living in wooden tenements such as we are +familiar with when property lies derelict, past cultivation, but not yet +ripe for the builder. + +Aigburth Road and St. Michael's Hamlet retained their charming and +picturesque features until such a recent period that I need not dwell +upon them. Few towns had more attractive and beautiful suburbs; now the +tramways have encouraged the building of small property in every +direction, and suburban Liverpool is almost destroyed. The area +available for residences has always been limited to the east and south, +owing to the proximity of St. Helens, Wigan, Widnes, and Garston. It +would have been a wise policy if our City Fathers had set apart a +sanctuary for better-class houses, from which tramways were excluded, +and thus avoid driving so many large ratepayers to the Cheshire side to +find a home. + +My sketch of Seaforth and its neighbourhood would not be complete unless +I say a word about several rather celebrated houses which existed in the +district. One was Seaforth Hall, long known as "Muspratt's folly." Mr. +Muspratt, who built the house, and who lived and at the age of 96 died +in it, had the prescience to see that the sandhills, which he bought for +a nominal price, would some day become a part of Liverpool, and he had +also the enterprise to erect one of the finest houses about Liverpool. +Another important house was Seafield, near Waterloo, the residence of +Dr. Hicks; it was surrounded by a large park. This has since been laid +out and built over, and is now known as Waterloo Park. The third +interesting house was Seaforth House, the residence of Sir John +Gladstone, and where his famous son spent his young days. In the +'seventies Mr. Robertson Gladstone, the brother of the Premier, had a +scheme to modernise the old family house, which his brother, Mr. W. E. +Gladstone, who owned the property, allowed him to carry out. Mr. +Robertson Gladstone was my colleague on the Watch Committee, and he +invited me to go out with him to see the alterations he was making, +which I found comprised the construction of a large circular saloon in +the centre of the house. This was a very fine apartment, but it ruined +the rest of the house, making all the other rooms small and ill-shaped. +The house never found a tenant, and some years after, when Mr. W. E. +Gladstone sold his Seaforth estate, it was pulled down. + +When Mr. Robert Holt was Lord Mayor, in 1893, Mr. W. E. Gladstone +visited Liverpool to receive the Freedom of the City. He sent for me to +the Town Hall, and said he understood I was the chairman of the Overhead +Railway, and he wanted to know where we had placed our station at +Seaforth. I told him it was on the south side of the old Rimrose Brook, +and gave him some further particulars. He at once replied, "I remember +as a boy catching what we called 'snigs' in the Rimrose Brook, and from +what you tell me your station is on the north side, and as a boy I +played cricket in the adjoining field, from whence in the far, far +distance we could see the smoke of Liverpool." From enquiries I have +made I find Mr. Gladstone's memory as to the position of the brook was +more accurate than my own. It was a considerable stream and the +cobble-paved highway of Crosby Road was carried over it by a high white +stone bridge. Before leaving the Town Hall Mr. Gladstone asked me if I +knew Seaforth House. On my saying yes, he replied, "What a mess my +brother Robertson made of it!"--alluding to the incident already +mentioned. + +Perhaps I may here interpose another recollection of Liverpool's great +son. When the late Lord Derby was Lord Mayor I was deputed to assist him +when my services were required. One day he sent for me and showed me a +letter he had received from Mr. Gladstone expressing his wish to address +a Liverpool Town's meeting on the Bulgarian Atrocities. Mr. Gladstone, +in a magazine article, had recently used strong language in reference to +the Sultan of Turkey, calling him an assassin. Lord Derby considered it +would not be proper for such language to be used at a Town's meeting, +but he added, "Mr. Gladstone was above everything a gentleman, and if he +received his promise that he would avoid strong language he would be +quite satisfied and would take the chair." Mr. Gladstone at once +assented. The meeting was held in Hengler's Circus. It was crowded from +floor to ceiling. Mr. Gladstone arrived with Mrs. Gladstone, and after a +few introductory remarks by the Lord Mayor, Mr. Gladstone rose to speak. +Walking with the aid of a stick to the front of the platform, placing +his stick upon the table, he clutched hold of the rails and "let himself +go," and for an hour and a quarter he poured out a perfect torrent of +eloquence which held the audience spellbound. It was a great oration, +remarkable not so much for what he said, as for the marvellous restraint +he was evidently exercising to avoid expressing himself in the forcible +language which he considered the circumstances demanded. He was much +exhausted after this great effort; Mrs. Gladstone had, however, some +egg-flip ready, which seemed to revive him. This was Mr. Gladstone's +last great speech; it was fitting it should be delivered in his native +city. + +There was another house at Seaforth which I must also mention, Barkeley +House, the residence of Mr. Smith, commonly known as "Square-the-Circle +Smith," from the fact of his claiming to have solved this problem. Mr. +Smith was the father of Mr. James Barkeley Smith, who for many years did +good work in the City Council. A sketch of the Seaforth of those days +would not be complete without a reference to Rector Rothwell of Sefton, +reputed to be one of the most beautiful readers in the Church; he drove +down to the shore in his yellow gig, winter and summer, and bathed in +the sea. Another grand old man was Archdeacon Jones, who succeeded his +son as the Incumbent of Christ Church, Waterloo, and who died at the age +of 96. I look back upon his memory with reverence, for he was a charming +man; his presence was dignified, his features refined, almost +classical, and he was endowed with a soft, silvery voice, and, both as a +reader and preacher, he was greatly appreciated. I must mention a +touching little incident. About two years before he died he broke his +leg. I called with my wife to see him; before leaving he begged us to +kneel down and he gave us his blessing, expressed in simple but +beautiful language, and spoken with deep feelings of love and kindness. + +I must now revert to my story. The railway from Waterloo to Southport +was opened in July, 1848; it was called the "Shrimpers' Line," and it +was thought it would never pay, as there was apparently no traffic. I +remember, as a small boy, seeing the first train start from Waterloo; +the occasion was a visit made by the directors to inspect the bridge +over the river Alt, and my father was one of the party. The train +consisted of two first-class coaches, and it was drawn by three grey +horses, driven by a man seated on the top of the first coach. Some time +after I saw the first locomotives brought from Liverpool. The Crosby +Road was good enough, but the roads leading from the main Crosby Road to +Waterloo were simply sandy lanes, and along these the heavy lorries, +which carried the locomotives, had to be hauled. It was a work of great +difficulty, as the wheels of the lorries sank up to their axles in the +deep sand. + +The railway was opened from Waterloo to Southport for some years before +it was extended to Liverpool. To-day this line is probably the most +profitable part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire system. + +In 1849 my father bought a house in Edge Lane, then a very charming and +attractive suburb. After passing Marmaduke Street, Edge Hill, there were +no houses in Edge Lane on the south side until Rake Lane was reached. +Here were the residences of Sir John Bent, Mr. George Holt, and others. +The north side of Edge Lane, from the Botanic Gardens up to Laurel Road, +was fringed with villas, surrounded by large gardens containing many +fine trees, and the houses in this part were large and handsome; many of +them still remain. Among those who then resided in Edge Lane were James +Ryley, William Holt, F. A. Clint, Simon Crosfield, Mr. Lowndes, and +Dashper Glynn. Mr. Heywood lived in Edge Lane Hall, then considered a +house of much importance, surrounded as it was by a pretty park. + +The principal events which dwell in my memory as having taken place at +this time are the Fancy Fair held in the Prince's Park, in aid of our +local charities, a very brilliant affair; and the opening of the great +exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park. It was a matter of grave consideration +with my parents if I was of sufficient age to appreciate the exhibition, +but in the end I was allowed to go to London; and I can only say, for +the benefit of all youngsters of 10 and 11 years, that I greatly +enjoyed that magnificent display, and it produced a lasting impression +upon my mind. I recall at this day every detail. The wonderful show of +machinery impressed me most, but the weaving of cloth and the various +industrial processes were all of absorbing interest to my youthful mind, +so much so that on one day I lost my party, and had to find my way back +to our lodgings. Fortunately, half-a-crown had been placed in my pocket +for this contingency, and with the help of a friendly policeman I had no +difficulty. + +The building of the church of St. John the Divine, at Fairfield, greatly +interested me, and during my holidays I was taken up to the top of the +tower to lay the first stone of the steeple. When the church was +consecrated in 1854, Bishop Graham, of Chester, lunched at the +"Hollies," my father being the chairman of the Building Committee. + +After spending two years at a dame's school at Kensington, I was sent to +the upper school of the Liverpool Collegiate. I was placed in the +preparatory school, under the Rev. Mr. Hiley. From the preparatory +school I proceeded to the sixth class. My career was by no means +distinguished; four times a day I walked up and down from Edge Lane to +school. My companions were Tom and Hugh Glynn; they, like myself, made +but little headway. Dr. T. Glynn is now one of the leaders of our +medical profession, and a short time ago I asked him how it was that we +as boys were so stupid. He replied that our walk of eight miles a day +exhausted all our physical and mental energies, and we were left good +for nothing; and I might add we had in those days little or no +relaxation in the shape of games. There was a little cricket in the +summer, but this was the only game ever played, so that our school-days +were days of unrelieved mental and physical work, which entirely +overtaxed our strength. The Rev. J. S. Howson, the principal of the +Collegiate, was very much beloved by the boys. I was a very small boy, +but not too small for the principal to notice and address to him a few +kindly words; in after life, when he became Dean of Chester, he did not +forget me. His sympathy and love for boys and his power of entering into +their feelings made him a very popular head-master. + +At the age of 14 I was sent to Dr. Heldenmier's school at Worksop, in +Nottinghamshire, where the Pestalozzian system of education was carried +on. It was a celebrated school; many Liverpool boys were there with me, +the Muspratts, Hornbys, Langtons, etc., and though we worked hard we had +plenty of relaxation in the workshop and the playing fields, besides +long walks in the lovely parks that surround Worksop, and which are +known as the Dukeries. During these walks we were encouraged to +botanise, collect birds' eggs, etc., and the love of nature which was in +this way inculcated has been one of the delights of my life. The noble +owners of these parks were most kind to the boys. We were frequently +invited to Clumber, the residence of the Duke of Newcastle, who was +Minister of War. The Crimean war was then being waged, and we considered +the duke a very great person; and a few words of kindly approbation he +spoke to me are among the sunny memories of my school days. The Duke of +Portland, who was suffering from some painful malady, which caused him +to hide himself from the world, was also always glad to see the boys, +and to show us the great subterranean galleries he was constructing at +Welbeck; but our greatest delights were skating on the lake at Clumber +in winter, and our excursions to Roch Abbey and to Sherwood Forest in +the summer. The delight of those days will never fade from my memory. We +used to return loaded with treasures, birds' eggs, butterflies, fossils, +and specimens of wild flowers. In the autumn Sir Thomas White always +gave us a day's outing, beating up game for him; this we also greatly +enjoyed; and how we devoured the bread and cheese and small beer which +the keepers provided us for lunch! + +We were taken by the directors of the Manchester, Sheffield and +Lincolnshire Railway to the opening of the new docks at Grimsby. The +directors had a special train which stopped to pick up the boys at +Worksop. Charles Dickens was of the party. On the return journey, I was +in his carriage; he gave me a large cigar to smoke--the first, and the +last cigar I ever smoked, for the effect was disastrous. + +My school days at Worksop were happy days. We spent much time in +studying the natural sciences; we became proficient in joinery and +mechanics; and there was a nice gentlemanly tone in the school. My great +friend was George Pim, of Brenanstown House, Kingstown, Ireland. We +never lost sight of each other. He entered the office of Leech, Harrison +and Forwood, and became a partner with us in Bombay, and afterwards in +New York; he died there in 1877, at the age of 34. A fine, handsome, +bright fellow; to me he was more than a brother, and his like I shall +never see again. The friend of my boyhood, of my young manhood, my +constant companion; he was a good fellow. + +Richard Cobden's only son was at Worksop, a bright, handsome boy. His +father doted upon him, and often came down to visit him, when he took +some of the boys out to dine with him at the "Red Lion"; he was a very +pleasant, genial man, fond of suggesting practical jokes, which we +played off on our schoolmates on our return to school. Poor Dick Cobden +was too full of animal spirits ever to settle down to serious school +work. He had great talent, but no power of application. He died soon +after leaving Worksop. + +When at Worksop I distinguished myself in mathematics, and my master was +very anxious I should proceed to Cambridge, but my father had other +views, and thought a university training would spoil me for a business +career. I have ever regretted it. Every young man who shows any +aptitude should have the opportunity of proceeding to a university, but +in those days the number of university graduates was small, and the +advantage of an advanced education was not generally recognised. Life +was more circumscribed and limited, and a level of education which +suited our forefathers, and had made them prosperous men, was considered +sufficient: more might be unsettling. The only thing to be aimed at and +secured was the power and capacity to make a living; if other +educational accomplishments followed, all well and good, but they were +considered of very secondary importance. + +Our home life was quiet and uninteresting, very happy in its way because +we knew no other. Our greatest dissipations were evening parties, with a +round game of cards; dinner parties were rare, and balls events which +came only very occasionally. Sundays were sadly dull days; all +newspapers were carefully put away, and as children we had to learn the +collect and gospel. Our only dissipation was a short walk in the +afternoon. Oh! those deadly dull Sundays; how they come up before me in +all their depressing surroundings; but religion was then a gloomy +business. Our parsons taught us Sunday after Sunday that God was a God +of vengeance, wielding the most terrible punishment of everlasting fire, +and only the few could be saved from his wrath. How all this is now +happily changed! The God of my youth was endowed with all the +attributes of awe-inspiring terror, which we to-day associate with the +evil one. It is a wonder that people were as virtuous as they were: +there was nothing to hope for, and men might reasonably have concluded +to make the best of the present world, as heaven was impossible of +attainment. In my own case, partaking of the Holy Communion was fraught, +I was taught, with so much risk, that for years after I was confirmed I +dare not partake of the Sacrament. What a revolution in feeling and +sentiment! How much brighter and more reasonable views now obtain! God +is to us the God of Love. We look around us and see that all nature +proclaims His love, and the more fully we recognise that love is the +governing principle of His universe, the nearer we realise and act up to +the ideal of a Christian life. Love and sympathy have been brought back +to the world, and we see their influence wrought out in the drawing +together of the classes, in the wider and more generous distribution of +the good things of life, and in the recognition that heaven is not so +far from any of us. We see that as the tree falls so will it lie; that +in this life we are moulding the life of our future, and that our heaven +will be but the complement of our earthly life, made richer and fuller, +freed from care and sin, and overarched by the eternal presence of God, +whose love will permeate the whole eternal firmament. + +Charles Kingsley was one of the apostles of this new revelation, which +brought hope back to the world, and filled all men with vigour to work +under the encouragement which the God of Love held out to us. It has +broadened and deepened the channels of human sympathy and uplifted us to +a higher level of life and duty. + +During my school days I spent several of my summer holidays in Scotland +with my mother, who was a patient of Professor Simpson in Edinburgh, and +usually resided two or three months in that city. One summer holiday I +stayed with old John Woods, at Greenock. He was the father of +shipbuilding on the Clyde. He was then building a wooden steamer for my +father to trade between Lisbon and Oporto. Another summer holiday I +spent with Mr. Cox, shipbuilder, of Bideford, in Devon, who was building +the sailing ship "Bucton Castle," of 1,100 tons, for my father's firm. +The knowledge of shipbuilding I obtained during these visits has been of +incalculable value to me in after life. Another of my summer vacations +was occupied in obtaining signatures to a monster petition to the +Liverpool corporation praying them to buy the land surrounding the +Botanic Gardens, and lay it out as a public park. I stood at the Edge +Lane gate of the Botanic Gardens with my petition for several weeks, and +I obtained so many signatures that the petition was heavier than two men +could carry. + +I am glad to think it was successful, and the Wavertree Park has +contributed greatly to the pleasure and enjoyment of the people of +Liverpool, and has been the means of preserving to us the Botanic +Gardens. I think it was one of the most useful things I ever +accomplished. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. + + +Leaving school I entered the office of Salisbury, Turner and Earle, one +of the oldest and leading brokerage houses in the town. The partners +were Mr. Alderman John H. Turner (remarkable for the smallness of his +stature), Mr. Horace Turner, and Mr. Henry Grey. My senior apprentice +was the late Colonel Morrison. I had not been very long in this office +when I contracted a very severe cold, the result of being out all night +on Ben Lomond. I had gone up with my father and a party of friends to +see the sunset; on the way down I lost my way, and finding myself with +darkness coming on, in very boggy land, I sat down on a rock to await +daylight. Heavy rain fell and I was soaked through, which resulted in a +cold that took such a strong hold of me that the doctor ordered me a sea +voyage, and on the 20th November, 1857, I set sail on board the clipper +ship "Red Jacket," for Melbourne. The gold fever was at its height, and +the passenger trade with Australia was very active. Our ship was crowded +with passengers; she was the crack clipper of the day, and carried a +double crew, that she might be enabled to carry sail until the last +moment. We had a very pleasant passage and beat the record, making Port +Phillip Heads in sixty-three days. + +I visited the gold fields at Ballarat, making the journey from Geelong +by stage-coach, drawn by six horses, the roads being mere tracks cut +through the bush. I descended several of the mines; at this time the +alluvial deposits had been worked out, and most of the mines were being +worked at a considerable depth. At Melbourne I stayed with Mr. +Strickland, at a charming villa on the banks of the Yarra-Yarra. Leaving +Melbourne, I took a steamer for Sydney, where my father had many +business friends, and had a very good time yachting in the bay and +riding up country. I managed to lose myself in the bush, and for a whole +day was a solitary wanderer, not knowing where I was. It was a period of +strange sensations and of much anxiety. Eventually, late in the evening +I came across a shepherd, who gave me the best of his simple fare and +guided me to the nearest village. + +From Australia I sailed in a small barque, the "Queen of the Avon," for +Valparaiso; she was only 360 tons register, and I was the only +passenger. + +The voyage across to Valparaiso was eventful. We had bad weather +throughout, and a heavy cyclone which did us great damage about the +decks. We were hove to for two days with a tarpaulin in the mizzen +rigging. We sailed right through the storm centre, where we had no wind, +but a terrific and very confused sea, and here we saw hundreds of +sea-birds of all kinds. At Valparaiso we obtained a charter to load +cocoa at Guayaquil. We had a lovely cruise up the coast, and the sail up +the river to Guayaquil was heavenly; we had the panorama of the Andes on +our right, with the richly verdured island of Puna on the other hand; +flocks of flamingoes were wading in the shallow sea channels, and +pelicans were busy fishing along the margins of the sandbanks. At +Guayaquil we had some good crocodile shooting, not the easiest game to +bag. These reptiles had to be stalked in the most approved fashion; +although they lay seemingly basking and asleep in the sun, with their +great mouths wide open, their ears were very much on the alert, and it +was most difficult to come within shot. We succeeded better from a boat +than from the land, for by allowing the boat to drift with the tide we +were able to get within easy shot without being heard. + +I visited Bodegas and some of the Indian villages at the foot of the +Andes. The whole country was very interesting, and very rich in tropical +birds and flowers. There were too many snakes to make travelling quite +comfortable, but in time we found they all did their best to get away +from us, and we gained more confidence. + +I had a little adventure in Guayaquil which might have been very +unpleasant. There was a revolution, and the government troops had only +just regained possession of the city; I had the misfortune to walk +unwittingly through a barricade, which consisted of some half-dozen +ragged black soldiers, who quite failed to suggest to me a military +outpost. I was at once arrested and taken to the jail. Here I remained +for some hours surrounded by the most horrible looking ruffians, and was +in mortal dread of the time when I should be locked up with them in one +of the foul dens which led off the court-yard. I was fortunately set +free through the kind intervention of an American who had been a witness +of my capture and incarceration. + +At Guayaquil we loaded a cargo of cocoa and sailed for Falmouth for +orders. We arrived off this port in November, 1859, after an uneventful +voyage of 110 days. We tacked the ship off the Manacle Rocks, at the +entrance to the harbour; the wind flew round to the east, and we were +driven out again into the chops of the channel; it was twenty-four days +before we again saw Falmouth. We fought our way against a succession of +easterly gales, sometimes driven out as far west as the Fastnet. The +fleet of ships kept out by the long continued easterly winds was very +large, and the Admiralty was obliged to dispatch relief ships with +stores for their succour. + +No one who has not experienced an easterly gale in the Channel can form +any idea of the toil of a constant fight against a succession of heavy +gales, cold and bleak with sleet and snow. Sometimes the wind would +decrease and we were able to make some headway, and perhaps work our +way within sight of the Scilly Islands, raising our hopes of an early +arrival at our port, then another gale would spring up and drive us back +again to the west of Ireland, and the same thing was repeated over and +over again. The Channel was full of ships detained by adverse gales, and +the home markets were disorganised by the lack of supplies of raw +produce. All this is now a thing of the past, steamers are independent +of head winds, and winter easterly gales no longer strike terror into +the hearts of shipowners and merchants. + +Whilst on this voyage, to relieve the monotony of the daily routine of +sea life, I taught myself navigation, took my trick at the wheel, and +had my place aloft when reefing next to the weather earing, where I +worked with an old man-of-war's man named Amos. Amos was a noble +specimen of the old-fashioned British sailor. He was the king of the +fo'castle, and while he was on hand no swearing or bad language was +heard. The knowledge I then obtained of navigation and seamanship has +been most valuable to me through life. It was a great opportunity, which +I was wise enough to avail myself of. During the whole time I was on +board this ship--nearly eight months--I never missed taking my trick at +the wheel, or going aloft to reef. I well remember laying out on the +fore yardarm, off Cape Horn, for two hours, while we got a close reef +tied. We had to take up belaying pins to knock the frozen snow and ice +off the sail before we could do anything, and the ship was labouring so +heavily in the seaway that our task was most difficult. In navigation I +became so proficient that I could work lunars with ease, and after the +passage home of 110 days without seeing land I placed the position of +the ship within three miles of her true position, near the Wolf Rock, +Land's End, the old captain being ten to twelve miles out in his +longitude. I remember feeling very proud of my good landfall. I told the +old skipper that I thought we should see land at noon. He smiled and +replied that we should not make it before three o'clock. I went aloft on +to the fore yard-arm at one o'clock, and had not been there many minutes +when I shouted "Land Ho!" I saw the sea breaking over the Wolf Rock. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LIVERPOOL. + + +Liverpool occupies the unique position of having filled two important +places in the history of England. There was, firstly, the little town +clustered round about its castle, and holding a charter from King John +dated 1207, its estuary affording a safe haven for the trifling commerce +passing between England and its sister island, Ireland. Thus situated it +had to bear its part in the political movements and the foreign and +civil wars which for long years harassed and distressed the country and +checked its progress. Although the six centuries which intervened +between 1200 and 1800 are filled with many incidents which clothe this +portion of the history of Liverpool with much that is picturesque and +romantic, at the close of the eighteenth century we still find Liverpool +a small if not insignificant place, with a population in 1790 of only +55,000, while the tonnage of her shipping was only 49,541 tons. + +This may be said to close the history of "old" Liverpool. With the dawn +of the nineteenth century a new Liverpool sprang into existence. The +opening of the American trade, the peace of 1814, and the introduction +of steamships, gave an enormous impetus to the growth of the trade of +the port and laid the foundations of that vast and world-wide commerce +which has made the name of Liverpool synonymous with the greatest +achievements in commerce and in science. The building of the Liverpool +and Manchester Railway, the mother of railways, the docks, and the +bridging of the Atlantic by what is practically a steam ferry, will ever +stand out as epoch making. + +Thus in little over a hundred years Liverpool has grown from a small +town into a great city, the city of to-day. + + +LIVERPOOL IN 1860-1870. + +My story must, however, begin with the 'sixties, when I commenced my +business career. The growth of the city and its commerce has since been +fully commensurate with the growth of the country. In the fifty years +which have intervened the Empire has doubled its area and population, +and the United Kingdom has trebled its trade. The population of +Liverpool, including the newly added areas, has during the same period +increased from 433,000 to 750,000, and the tonnage of our shipping from +4,977,272 tons to nearly 17,000,000 tons. She conducts one-third of the +export trade and one-third of the import trade of the United Kingdom, +and she owns one-third of the shipping of the kingdom, and one-seventh +of that of the world. It has been a privilege to have been engaged in +the commerce of the port during this remarkable expansion, and to have +been associated with the conduct of public affairs during this period of +growth and development in the city. Very much of this has been due to +the enterprise and enlightenment of her own people. Liverpool shipowners +have been in the vanguard of steamship enterprise, which has contributed +so greatly to her prosperity; her merchants have built up her great +trade in cotton and grain, and her citizens have not been slow to +promote every sanitary improvement which made for the health and +well-being of her people. + +During the past fifty years the town has been re-sewered, the streets +paved with an impervious pavement, and a new water supply has been +introduced. The city has been encircled by a series of public parks and +recreation grounds, baths and washhouses have been established, free +libraries have been opened in the various suburban centres of +population, cellar dwellings have been abolished, and rookeries in the +shape of courts and tenement houses have been done away with, and in +their place clean and comfortable working-men's cottages and flats have +been substituted. The curse of drink has been effectively checked by the +closing of twenty-five per cent. of the public-houses. To quote from +Professor Ramsay Muir's interesting _History of Liverpool_: "Thus, on +all sides and in many further modes the city government has, during the +last thirty years especially, undertaken a responsibility for the health +and happiness of its citizens unlike anything that its whole previous +history has shown, and if any full account were to be given of what the +city as a whole now endeavours to do for its citizens much ought also to +be said of the extraordinary active works of charity and religion which +have been carried on during these years." + +The Liverpool of to-day is a city very different from the Liverpool of +the 'sixties and 'seventies, indeed it is difficult to recognise them as +being one and the same; the streets remain, but they are widened and +improved, and their inferior and often squalid surroundings have +disappeared; and if our modern architecture is not always of the best, +our new buildings at least impart dignity and importance. Shaw's Brow, +with its rows of inferior, dingy shops, a low public-house at the corner +of each street, has given way to William Brown Street, adorned on one +side by our Museum, Libraries, Art Gallery, and Sessions House, and the +other by St. George's Hall and St. John's Gardens. The rookeries which +clustered round Stanley Street, and were occupied by dealers in old +clothes and secondhand furniture, have been replaced by Victoria Street, +which is margined by banks and public buildings. The terrible slums +which surrounded the Sailors' Home and Custom House, veritable dens of +iniquity, have disappeared. + +[Illustration: _Drawn by William P. Herdman._ + +NORTH SIDE OF SHAW'S BROW, +NOW WILLIAM BROWN STREET.] + +[Illustration: _Drawn by William P. Herdman._ + +SOUTH SIDE OF SHAW'S BROW, +NOW WILLIAM BROWN STREET.] + +The dirty ill-paved town is now the best paved and the best scavenged +town in the United Kingdom. With the growth of the town and the +extension of tramways, residential Liverpool has been pushed further out +until it can get no further, and it is now finding its way into +Cheshire. No private dwelling-house of any importance has been erected +on the Liverpool side for many years. The charming suburb of Aigburth +has long since been destroyed, but the greatest change has taken place +in the docks. The old docks have had to be remodelled to give sufficient +depth of water and quay space for the larger vessels now employed, and +special docks have had to be constructed for the Atlantic steamship +trade. In the 'sixties the Prince's dock was filled with sailing ships +trading to India and the West Coast of South America. They discharged on +the west side and loaded on the east side. It was quite a common thing +for a sailing vessel to occupy four and five weeks loading her outward +cargo. On the walls of the docks and on the rigging of the ships, +posters were displayed notifying that the well-known clipper ship ----, +A1 at Lloyd's, would sail for Calcutta or Bombay, and giving the agent's +name, etc. + +At the south end of the Prince's dock was the George's basin, a tidal +basin through which ships going into the Prince's or George's dock +entered. I remember seeing one of Brocklebank's Calcutta ships, the +"Martaban," enter this basin under sail; it was done very smartly, and +the way in which the canvas was taken in and the sails clewed up and +furled, was a lesson in seamanship. The George's dock was dedicated to +schooners, mostly fruiterers from Lisbon or the Azores, and during the +herring season fishing boats used to discharge in one corner, the fish +girls going down planks to get on board to buy their fish. The Mariners' +church, an old hulk in which Divine Service was held every Sunday, +occupied another corner. + +The Albert dock was filled with East Indiamen discharging their cargoes +of sugar, jute, and linseed, and tea clippers from China; they loaded +their outward cargoes in the Salthouse dock, which adjoined; further +south again, the King's and Queen's docks were occupied by small foreign +vessels, trading to the continental ports. The old New York liners, +sailing ships, loaded in the Bramley Moore dock; and the docks further +north, the Canada being the most northerly, were filled with steamers +trading to the Mediterranean, and the Cunard and Inman lines of +steamers. + +To-day one may hunt from one end of the docks to the other without +finding a dozen sailing ships larger than a schooner. With the exit of +the sailing ship much of the romance has been taken out of the life of +Liverpool. It was a joy to walk round the docks and admire the smart rig +and shipshape appearance of the old sailing vessel. The owner and +captain, and, indeed, all connected with her, became attached to their +ship and took a pride in all her doings. In those days the river Mersey +was a glorious sight with probably half a dozen or more Indiamen lying +to an anchor, being towed in or out, or sailing in under their own +canvas. + +[Illustration: Photo by Randles. + +MERSEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR BOARD OFFICES.] + +The river Mersey, at all times beautiful with its wonderful alternations +of light and its brisk flowing waters, has never been so beautiful since +the old sailing ship days, when at the top of high water the outward +bound fleet proceeded to sea, and the entire river from the Pier Head to +the Rock Light was filled with shipping of all sizes working their way +out to sea, tacking and cross tacking, the clipper with her taut spars +and snow-white canvas, and the small coaster with her tanned sails all +went to make up a picture of wonderful colour and infinite beauty. + + +THE DOCK BOARD. + +There is no branch of the public service of which Liverpool people are +more proud than the administration of the Mersey Docks and Harbour +Board. The members of the Board have always been recruited from our +leading merchants, shipowners, and brokers, and they have been fortunate +in selecting as their chairmen men of exceptional ability. I can +recollect Charles Turner, M.P., Robert Rankin, William Langton, Ralph +Brocklebank, T. D. Hornby, Alfred Holt, John Brancker; and the Board is +to-day presided over by Mr. Robert Gladstone, who worthily maintains the +best traditions of his office. + +Of late years the members have been elected without any contests, but it +was not always so. In the 'seventies there were severe contests, which +arose not upon questions of personal fitness, but were prompted by trade +rivalries. It had become the fashion for the various trades to nominate +members who would look after the particular interests of their trade. +Jealousy was aroused if one trade obtained larger representation than +others. The interests of the steamship owners were opposed to those of +the sailing-ship owner. The one wanted allotted berths to secure +dispatch, the other quay space free and unappropriated. Cotton men +wanted special facilities for cotton, and the timber people yard space +for the storage of timber and deals. Each trade had its associations, +and in addition there was a ratepayers' association, which sought to +break up this system of trade delegation by electing independent men. +The payment of £10 in dock dues gave a vote. So faggot votes were easily +and extensively manufactured. Shipowners and merchants qualified every +clerk in their employ. The nomination of members took place on the 1st +January, and the election on the day following. The elections were hotly +contested, but always in a gentlemanly way, and with much good humour. +It required skill to fill up the voting papers so as to secure a +majority for any particular candidate. + +Among those who busied themselves over these elections I remember +William Johnston, Robert Coltart, Worsley Battersby, Edmund Taylor, +Arthur Forwood, G. B. Thomson, George Cunliffe, and James Barnes. + +The ratepayers' association accomplished much good by the election of +some men of independence. My particular desire at this time was to try +and induce the Board to fund their debt. It was felt that such a large +floating debt was not only cumbrous and inconvenient, but in times of +financial stress, or with a cycle of years of bad trade, might be a +source of danger. I urged the funding of the debt on the nomination +days, and also through the press and Chamber of Commerce. It met with +the strong opposition of the Board, led by Mr. Brocklebank, but in +course of time after the Corporation had taken the lead, the Dock Board +wisely funded a portion of their debt. + +The gradual increase of steamers, the passing of the sailing vessel, and +the large share of the trade of the port being now conducted by +"liners," have to a very large extent done away with trade rivalries; +hence the little interest now taken in the Dock Board elections. + +The present generation scarcely know that the docks were up to 1857 +administered by a Committee of the Corporation. In my young days +Liverpool people were very sore and angry at the action of Parliament +in foisting upon them the Birkenhead docks. These docks had been +constructed by a private company, and were insolvent and a hopeless +failure. Birkenhead had, however, powerful influence in Parliament, and +stoutly opposed any extension of the Liverpool docks, contending that +the Birkenhead docks had not had fair play, and could accommodate the +surplus trade of Liverpool. In the end, in 1857, Liverpool was obliged +to buy them for £1,143,000, and within a very few years had to expend +upon them £3,859,041. This outlay has ever since been a serious burden +upon Liverpool. Nor did the hostile action of Parliament stop here. The +town dues were taken from Liverpool, and commuted for a payment of +£1,500,000. The management of the dock estate was placed in the hands of +the trustees, who are, except three, elected by the dock ratepayers. + +In olden time the Dock Board had an annual excursion to inspect the +lightships, to which they invited the whole of the Council. They were +pleasant days, and it was supposed that the Mayor for the coming year +was selected on these occasions. These excursions contributed to a good +feeling between the Dock Board and the Corporation, which is so +essential if we are to preserve the prosperity of the port. I sometimes +think that our City Fathers apparently forget that our docks and our +commerce are the life-blood of Liverpool. + +Mr. John Bramley Moore's great work on the Dock Board was completed +before my day, but he continued his interest in Liverpool to the last, +and was present at the opening of the North Dock system in 1882, where I +saw him. He used to tell how indefatigably he worked to secure the +extension of the docks in a northerly direction, how he asked Lord Derby +to present the Bootle shore to the Dock Board, urging that it would be +greatly to the gain of the Derby family. Lord Derby replied that it +would be very difficult to convince him of that, and that he had already +refused £90,000 for it. Mr. Bramley Moore then offered if Lord Derby +would transfer his foreshore rights the Dock Committee would raise all +the back land by using it for the deposit of their spoil, which would, +he thought, be an adequate compensation. The deal was closed on this +basis, the Dock Committee secured two miles of river frontage, and the +Derby family the site of the most important part of Bootle, and now +forming one of the most valuable of their estates. + +One of the first docks constructed on this newly-acquired land was the +Bramley Moore, so named after the chairman. + +No one can fail to acknowledge the enterprise and wisdom which have +characterised the administration of the dock estate. Municipal work +follows the demand of the people, and seldom goes ahead of it; but the +provision of docks must anticipate the demand likely to be experienced. +In all this the Dock Board has acted with boldness and with prudence, +under circumstances of much embarassment. The construction of the +Manchester Ship Canal presented a problem of considerable difficulty, +but the Dock Board adopted the courageous but wise policy of looking to +Liverpool and Liverpool trade only, and the facilities they have +provided for the changed conditions of trade have done not a little to +conserve the commerce of the port. + + +THE LIVERPOOL EXCHANGE. + +A great change has taken place in the Liverpool Exchange. In the early +'sixties the old Exchange buildings were still in existence. The +building which surrounded Nelson's monument was classic in design, with +high columns surmounted by Ionic capitals and a heavy cornice. The +newsroom was in the east wing, with windows overlooking on the one side +Exchange Street East, and on the other the "flags." The room had two +rows of lofty pillars supporting the ceiling; and there was ample room +in the various bays not only for newspaper stands, but for chairs and +tables, and it had very much more the appearance of a reading-room in a +club than its elaborate, but less comfortable successor. On the western +and northern side of the Exchange were offices with warehouses overhead. +The Borough Bridewell stood in High Street, its site being now covered +by Brown's Buildings, and the Sessions House occupied part of the site +upon which the newsroom now stands. In the 'sixties high 'change was in +the afternoon between four and five o'clock, but much business was also +transacted during the morning. No merchant or broker considered that he +could commence the work of the day until he had read the news on the +"pillars" in the newsroom. Instead of the work on the Exchange being +done by clerks, it was transacted by the principals, who considered it +only respectful to appear in a tall hat and frock coat. Although in +those days there may have been a little too much formality in dress, in +these there is sadly too little, and with the disappearance of the tall +hat and frock coat one has also to regret the abandonment of those +courtly manners and that respectful consideration which gave a charm to +commercial intercourse, and was not confined to the Exchange and the +office, but was reflected in the home and in private life. + +[Illustration: _Drawn by W. G. Herdman._ + +LIVERPOOL EXCHANGE, 1860.] + +Merchant shipbrokers and general produce brokers transacted their +business in the newsroom, while the cotton brokers, braving all +weathers, were to be found on the "flags." + +The present newsroom was opened in 1867, and shortly afterwards the +Mayor, Mr. Edward Whitley, gave a ball in honour of Prince Arthur and +the Prince and Princess Christian, the ballroom in the Town Hall being +connected with the newsroom by a long corridor constructed of wood. +Dancing took place in both rooms. + +Upon several occasions after a heavy fall of snow, fights with snowballs +were waged on the "flags," until, becoming serious, the police were +obliged to interfere and put a stop to them. A playful seasonable +exchange of snowballs degenerated into a combat with the rougher element +which frequented the "flags." + +I still recall many of the habitués of the Exchange from 1860 to 1870, +men who well represented the varied interests of the great port. While +frock coats and tall hats were the rule, many still wore evening dress +coats, and not a few white cravats. There was old Miles Barton, a +picturesque figure, with his genial smile, and his hat drawn over his +eyes; Isaac Cook, the Quaker, in strictest of raiment; Harold +Littledale, the friend of Birkenhead, and the critic of the Dock Board; +Michael Belcher, the opulent and prosperous cotton broker; the two +Macraes, the principal buyers of cotton for the trade; Tom Bold, the +active Tory political tactician, who in olden days knew the value of +every freeman's vote; H. T. Wilson, the founder of the White Star Line +and the Napoleon of the Tory party; Edmund Thomson, the pioneer of +steamers to the Brazils, who, like most pioneers, was unsuccessful; John +Newall, the "king" of the cotton market, who had an enormous clientele +of very wealthy men; C. K. Prioleau, the representative of the +Confederate Government, who was also the great blockade runner. Mrs. +Prioleau was considered to be the most beautiful woman in Liverpool. Mr. +Prioleau built the house in Abercromby Square which the Bishop now +occupies as his palace. R. L. Bolton, a very successful and bold +operator in cotton, though in appearance the most shy and timid of men +was another well-known figure; he rarely made his appearance until late +in the day, being credited with a love of turning night into day. James +Cox, the opulent bachelor, doyen of the nitrate trade, held his court +always well attended in one corner of the room. I well remember J. +Aspinall Tobin, tall of stature, distinguished in appearance, fluent of +speech, a welcome speaker on every Tory platform; John Donnison, famous +for his little dinners and excellent port; Sam Gath, the tallest man on +the Exchange; Joseph Leather, the forceful partner in Marriotts, a +leading nonconformist, who built and lived at Cleveley, Allerton; +Maurice Williams, the writer of a cotton circular, and a reputed oracle +on cotton--he lived at Allerton Priory, afterwards bought and rebuilt by +Mr. John Grant Morris; Thomas Haigh, the courtly and stately chief of +Haigh and Co., cotton brokers; Edwin Haigh, his son, and the most +vivacious and talkative of men, popular with all; Lloyd Rayner and his +brother Edward, the largest brokers in general produce; S. Bigland, +plain and honest of speech; the two Reynolds, skilled in Sea Island and +Egyptian cotton; John Joynson and his brother Moses; John Bigham, portly +and prosperous; and not far away, his son, John C. Bigham, who was +destined soon to leave the "room" and become the able Queen's Counsel, +the learned President of the Admiralty and Divorce Court, and afterwards +a peer of the realm (Lord Mersey), and whose brilliant career was +doubtless largely due to his early business training; Studley Martin, +the active secretary to the Cotton Brokers' Association, buzzing about +like a busy bee, collecting opinions as to the amount of business doing +in cotton; Thos. Bouch, the dignified representative of the old firm of +Waterhouse and Sons; Edgar Musgrove, an ideal broker, ever present and +ever active. Nor must I forget the noble band of shipbrokers who +collected the cargoes for ships loading outwards: Robert Ashley, Louis +Mors, W. J. Tomlinson, J. B. Walmsley, John McDiarmid, Robert Vining, +Dashper Glynn, Tom Moss, G. Warren, S. B. Guion, all of whom, with many +others, represented vigorous interests which in those days made the +trade of Liverpool. + +Outside the Exchange, but yet very necessary to the success of its +business, were the lawyers and insurance brokers and average adjusters. +Amongst lawyers Mr. Bateson and Mr. Squarey enjoyed the largest +commercial practice; R. N. Dale was the leading underwriter; and Mr. L. +R. Baily was not only very prominent as an average adjuster, but as an +arbitrator he afterwards became one of the members for Liverpool. In +those days, before the establishment of the system of trade +arbitrations, there was abundant employment for lawyers and professional +arbitrators. + +A sketch of the Liverpool Cotton Exchange would not be complete without +a reference being made to the dealings of Maurice Ranger, and others, +who in the 'seventies on several occasions tried to corner the market by +buying "futures" for delivery in a given month, and then obtaining such +a control of the spot market as would prevent the sellers fulfilling +their contracts. Mr. Ranger's operations were on a gigantic scale, but +there was always a "nigger on the fence." The unexpected happened, and I +do not think he ever fully succeeded in these enterprises. He had many +imitators, who were equally unsuccessful. Mr. Joseph B. Morgan did a +useful work for the cotton trade, by establishing the cotton bank to +facilitate clearances in future contracts. + +The removal of the Cotton Exchange to the new premises has taken place +since my active business days, and the whole course and methods of the +trade have changed. + + +COMMERCE. + +In the 'sixties, sailing-ships filled the Liverpool docks, and fully +one-half of them flew the American flag. The great trades of Liverpool +were those carried on with America, Australia, Calcutta, and the West +Coast. The clipper ships belonging to James Baines and Co., and H. T. +Wilson and Co., were renowned for their fast passages to Melbourne, +while the East India and West Coast ships of James Beazley and Co., +Imrie and Tomlinson, McDiarmid and Greenshields, and the Brocklebanks +were justly celebrated for their smartness and sea-going qualities. +Charles MacIver ruled over the destinies of the Cunard Company, and this +line then paid one-third of the Liverpool dock dues. Mr. MacIver was a +man of resolute purpose, and a power in Liverpool; in the early +volunteer days he raised a regiment of field artillery, 1,000 strong, +which he commanded. Many stories are told of his stern love of +discipline. A captain of one of the Mediterranean steamers asked his +permission as a special favour to be allowed to take his wife a voyage +with him. Mr. MacIver whilst granting the request, remarked that it was +contrary to the regulations of the Cunard Company. The captain, upon +proceeding to join his ship with his wife, to his surprise found another +captain in command, and a letter from Mr. MacIver enclosing a return +passenger ticket for himself and his wife. William Inman was building up +the fortunes of the Inman Line, and was the first to study and profit by +the Irish emigration trade. The Bibbys and James Moss and Co. +practically controlled the Mediterranean trade. The "tramp" steamer was +then unknown, and outside the main lines of steamers there were few +vessels; but the Allans were forcing their way to the front, and Mr. +Ismay was establishing the White Star Line, which revolutionised +Atlantic travel. Mr. Alfred Holt was doing pioneer work in the West +India trade, with some small steamers with single engines. These he sold +and went into the China trade, in which he has built up a great concern. + +The Harrisons were sailing ship owners, but they had also a line of +small steamers trading to Charente. They afterwards started steamers to +the Brazils and to Calcutta. Looking back, they appear to have been most +unsuitable vessels, but freights were high, and to Messrs. T. and J. +Harrison belongs the credit of quickly finding out the most suitable +steamer for long voyages, and always keeping their fleets well up to +date. + +We must not forget to mention the merchants of Liverpool, for in those +days the business of a merchant was very different from that of to-day. +He had to take long and far-sighted views, as there was no such thing as +hedging or covering by a sale of futures; his business required +enterprise and the exercise of care and good judgment. Among our most +active merchants we had T. and J. Brocklebank; Finlay, Campbell and Co.; +Baring Brothers; Brown, Shipley and Co.; Malcolmson and Co.; Charles +Saunders; Sandbach, Tinne and Co.; Wm. Moon and Co.; Ogilvy, Gillanders +and Co.; T. and W. Earle and Co.; J. K. Gilliat; J. H. Schroeder and +Co.; Rankin, Gilmour and Co., and others. + +In the 'sixties Liverpool had two great trades. The entrepôt trade, the +produce of the world, centred in Liverpool, and was from thence +distributed to the various ports on the continent. The opening of the +Suez Canal, and the establishment of foreign lines of steamers, have +largely destroyed this trade, and produce now finds its way direct to +Genoa, Antwerp, and Hamburg. The other great trade was in American +produce. For this Liverpool offered the largest and best market. This +trade is unfortunately seriously threatened. The increase in the +population of America is now making large demands upon her productions, +and reducing the quantities available for export. + +Liverpool was also a considerable manufacturing centre. It was the +principal place for rice-milling and sugar-refining, while shipbuilding +and the making of locomotives and marine engines contributed largely to +her prosperity. + +One cannot review the past trade of Liverpool and its present economic +surroundings, without feeling some anxiety for the future. Not only have +the trades which so long made Liverpool their headquarters been to some +extent diverted, but the efforts of rival ports (in many cases railway +ports or ports which have little or no concern as to the payment of +interest on the money employed in their construction) are directed to +the capture of our trade; in this they are still being actively assisted +by the railway companies, who grant to them preferential rates of +carriage. There can be little doubt that our merchants and shipowners +will find new avenues for their enterprise, and new trades will take the +place of those partially lost; but Liverpool has in front of her a fight +to obtain the just advantage of her geographical position, and it is a +fight in which the city must bear its part. + +The city will also have to adopt a more enlightened policy, and +encourage manufacturing industries. This can only be done by reductions +in the city rates, and also in the charges for water. The loss would +only be nominal; we should be recouped by an increased volume of trade, +and by our people obtaining steady occupation instead of the present +casual employment. + + +THE AMERICAN WAR. + +The great war between the Northern and Southern States of America, which +was waged from 1861 to 1865, had a far-reaching influence upon +Liverpool. + +Prior to this date American shipping filled our docks, and 82 per cent. +of our cotton imports were derived from the Southern States. + +The election of Lincoln as President of the United States, and the +rejection of the democratic candidate precipitated a crisis which had +been long pending. + +Slavery was a southern institution, and although it was conducted in the +most humane manner, and many of the worst features of the system were +absent, the principle of slavery was abhorrent to a large section of the +northern people, and the south feared that with the election of Lincoln +this section would become all-powerful. South Carolina was the first +state to assert her sovereign right to secede from the union. Other +states followed slowly and with hesitating steps, and by the end of 1861 +the north and south were engaged in mortal combat. The southern states +were ill equipped for the struggle, they had no war material and were +dependent for clothing and many of the necessities of life upon the +northern manufacturers. + +The policy of the north was, therefore, to establish a blockade of the +south, both by land and by sea, which caused prices of many commodities +to rapidly advance in the south, and cotton, their main export, to +quickly decline in value. + +The English people sympathised with the south, as the weaker power, and +also having been actively associated with them in trade. The arrest of +the southern envoys Mason and Slidell upon the British mail steamer +"Trent," by the federal commander, did not improve the relationship +between Great Britain and the Government at Washington, and created ill +feeling against the north. + +Under these circumstances Liverpool merchants fitted out many costly +expeditions to run the blockade and to carry arms and munitions of war +into the southern ports. The _modus operandi_ was to send out a depot +ship to Nassau or Bermuda and employ in connection with this swift +steamers to run the blockade and bring back cargoes of cotton. The +profits of the trade were great, but the risk was also very +considerable. + +The trade at best was a very questionable one; it was justified on the +ground that a blockade cannot be recognised unless effectual. The United +States started with a blockading fleet of 150 vessels, but at the end of +the war they had 750 vessels employed in this service. The blockade +runner had to rely entirely upon her speed, as to fire a gun in her own +defence would at once have constituted her a piratical vessel. The +fastest steamers were bought and built for the purpose. They usually +made the American coast many miles from the port and then under the +cover of darkness they stole along the shore until they came to the +blockading fleet, when they made a dash for the harbour. It was exciting +work, and appealed to many adventurous spirits, and the prize if +successful was great. I think all this had a demoralising influence upon +Liverpool's commercial life, and the intense spirit of speculation +created by the cotton famine was also very injurious. Fortunes were made +and lost in a single day. Prices of cotton, while peace and war hung in +the balance, fluctuated violently, and when war was seen to be +inevitable, they advanced with fearful rapidity. A shilling per lb. was +soon reached. The mills went upon short time. By the summer of 1862 +cotton was quoted at 2s 6d per lb. The speculative fever became +universal; men made fortunes by a single deal. When the recoil came +after the war most of these fortunes were lost again. Legitimate trade +had been sacrificed to speculation. Mansions luxuriously furnished, +picture galleries, horses, and carriages had to be sold, and in not a +few instances, their owners, having lost both their legitimate business +and their habits of industry, were reduced to penury and want, and were +never able to recover themselves. The results of the war were +far-reaching. The spirit of speculation was rampant for many years, with +disastrous results; it was only when a system of weekly and bi-weekly +settlements was introduced that speculation was brought within +legitimate limits. + +A Nemesis seemed to follow this violent outburst of speculation, and but +few houses actively engaged in it survived very long. + +Liverpool was also active in assisting the south to build and fit out +vessels of war to prey upon American commerce. The "Alabama" was built +at Birkenhead; she sailed away to a remote island and there took on +board her armament. She and her sister ship, the "Shenandoah," did +immense damage to American shipping, for which England had in the end +to pay, as by the Geneva arbitration she was held responsible for +allowing the "Alabama" to be built and escape. + +American shipping has never recovered from this blow, but it is only +fair to say that the cost of shipbuilding in America, by reason of her +prohibitive tariffs, has mainly prevented her resuming her former +position on the ocean. + + +THE SOUTHERN BAZAAR. + +Near the close of the war a huge bazaar was held in St. George's Hall, +in aid of the southern prisoners of war. It was designated the Southern +Bazaar, and the stalls were called after the various states, and were +presided over by the leading ladies of the town, assisted by many of the +nobility and society people. It was a brilliant success, money was +plentiful, and men and women vied with each other in scattering it +about. Upwards of £30,000 was realised in the three days. + + +THE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT. + +No account of the doings in Liverpool in the 'sixties would be complete +that did not describe the beginnings of the great volunteer movement, +which was destined to occupy so much public attention, and to form such +an important portion of our national defence. Liverpool can certainly +claim to have initiated the movement. Mr. Bousfield endeavoured to +revive this branch of the service in 1853. A few years later he formed a +drill club, a very modest beginning, consisting of only 100 men, wearing +as their uniform a cap and shell jacket. Captain Bousfield endeavoured +several times to obtain recognition by the Government, but failed; and +he had to encounter a considerable amount of chaff and ridicule. The +public had but little sympathy with the young men who "played at being +soldiers." Captain Bousfield was not discouraged, he loved soldiering +and was an enthusiast, and his opportunity was soon to arrive. In 1859 +the Emperor Napoleon III. became very threatening in his words and ways, +and it was apprehended that he might attempt to invade our shores. +Captain Bousfield quickly obtained the support of the Government for his +volunteers, and the 1st Lancashire Volunteer Regiment was formed. The +movement made rapid headway, until we had enrolled in the country +upwards of 300,000 men. Colonel Bousfield soon obtained the command of a +battalion, and in 1860 was presented with a sword of honour and a purse +of £1,800. Liverpool furnished her full quota of volunteers. Colonel +Brown commanded a regiment of artillery: Colonel Tilney the 5th +Lancashire, a crack regiment; Colonel MacCorquodale the Press Guards; +Colonel Bourne, with Major Melly and Captain Hornby (afterwards Colonel +H. H. Hornby), the 1st Lancashire Artillery; Colonel MacIver commanded +1,000 of his own men; and among other active volunteers at this time we +remember Colonel Steble, Colonel Macfie, Colonel Morrison, Colonel Clay, +and many others. + +We had also a squadron of cavalry, called the Liverpool Light Horse, +Captain Stone in command. I joined the squadron in 1859, and greatly +fancied myself mounted on one of my father's carriage horses. We +exercised in some fields behind Prospect Vale, Fairfield. + +I remember the 1st Lancashire being encamped on the sandhills between +Waterloo and Blundellsands. It was the first time any volunteers had +been under canvas, and the camp was visited by crowds of people. + + +INTELLECTUAL LIFE. + +Liverpool has been always too much absorbed in her commerce to take any +prominent position in the world of literature and education, until +recent years, when we have atoned in some degree for our remissness in +the past, by the founding of our University. Professor Ramsay Muir, in a +recent speech, however, claims that we had a Renaissance in Liverpool in +the early years of the 19th century, when a group of thinkers, scholars, +and writers, finding its centre in William Roscoe, gave to Liverpool a +position and a name in the literary world, and she became a real seat of +literary activity. To that remarkable man, William Roscoe, we owe the +Athenæum, the Literary and Philosophical Society, and the Roscoe +collection of pictures now in the Walker Art Gallery. This intellectual +effort quickly lost its vitality, and for long years the Literary and +Philosophical Society, and the Philomathic Society, struggled alone to +keep burning the light of higher culture and literary activity. + +Elementary education was almost entirely in the hands of the Church; +middle class education depended upon the Liverpool Collegiate, the +Mechanic's Institute, afterwards the Liverpool Institute, and the Royal +Institution. + +The fashion of sending boys to our great public schools did not set in +until the 'seventies. + +Such was the condition of intellectual life when, in 1880, the Liverpool +University College was established, mainly through the efforts of the +late Earl of Derby, William Rathbone, Christopher Bushell, E. K. +Muspratt, David Jardine, Sir Edward Lawrence, Robert Gladstone, Mr. +Muspratt, Sir John Brunner, John Rankin, and William Johnston. The first +Principal, Dr. Rendall, rendered excellent service in these early +struggling years, which were happily followed by still greater and even +more successful efforts under Vice-Chancellor Dale, resulting in the +granting of a Royal Charter in 1903, and the founding of a University. +The Earl of Derby became Chancellor, and Dr. Dale Vice-Chancellor. The +University has been nobly and generously supported by Liverpool men; +indeed a reference to the calendar fills me with surprise that so much +could have been accomplished within such a brief period. Its work is +making itself felt in the general uplifting of the level of education, +while the presence in Liverpool of such a distinguished body of +professors has had considerable influence in giving a higher and more +intellectual tone to society, and in opening up new avenues for thought +and activity. + +We must not omit to record the excellent work done by the School Board. +When first established in 1873, the election of members provoked much +sectarian animosity, but in the course of time, through the exertions of +Mr. Christopher Bushell and Mr. Sam Rathbone, this hindrance to its +success was overcome, and the excellence of its organisation was +generally recognised. Its functions have, during the past few years, +been transferred to the City Council. + +One of the results of the School Board was the founding of the Council +of Education, which provided, in the shape of scholarships, the means by +which boys could advance from the elementary school to the higher grade +schools and the universities. Mr. Sam Rathbone, Mr. Gilmour, and Mr. +Bushell were very active in promoting this association. + + +SOCIETY IN LIVERPOOL. + +Society was much more exclusive forty or fifty years ago than it is +to-day. The old Liverpool families were looked up to with much respect. + +The American war considerably disturbed Liverpool society, and brought +to the front many new people. Liverpool became more cosmopolitan and +democratic, but there was no serious departure from the old-world +courtesy of manner and decorum in dress until the 'eighties, when it +gradually became fashionable to be less exacting in dress, and the +customs of society grew less conventional. + +In the 'sixties people of wealth and position surrounded themselves with +certain attributes of power and wealth, which gave to the populace some +indication of their rank and their social status, and in manners they +were reserved and dignified. + +Their homes were in the country or in the fashionable suburbs of the +city, and their importance was measured by the extent of their broad +acres. A house in London, in which they dwelt for three or four months +of the year, was the luxury only of the older families, or of those of +great wealth; the fashion of having a flat in London, with a week-end +cottage in the country, was not known--this has followed the more +democratic tendencies of our times. The bringing of people together in +our railway trains, in steamers, in hotel lounges, and foreign travel, +have had a distinctly levelling influence. In the 'sixties some old +county families still made their annual pilgrimage to visit their +friends in the family coach, and the circle of their acquaintances was +limited and exclusive. The family carriage with the rumble at the back +was a dignified and well-turned-out equipage. The dress carriage, with +powdered footmen, was commonly seen in Hyde Park, and was _de rigeur_ at +Court drawing rooms, then held in the afternoon; the array of carriages +at these functions made a splendid show. + +Motors may have the charm of convenience and speed, but can never +replace the smart appearance of the well-turned-out carriage-and-pair. + +The 'sixties were the days of crinoline and poke bonnets, and although +the wearing of crinoline was much ridiculed, ladies' dress in those days +was much more becoming and graceful than many of our more recent +fashions, and girls have never looked more fascinating than when they +wore their pretty little bonnets; but perhaps I may be called +old-fashioned; as we grow older our view points change. We had many old +maids in those days--we have none now--and the old ladies with their +hair worn in dainty curls surmounted by a lace cap were picturesque, and +looked their part. + +The Wellington rooms, which were opened in 1814, were regarded as the +centre of fashionable society. + +These rooms, which are only used five times in each year, are unique in +their exquisite proportions and their charming Adams' decorations +unspoiled by the modern painter and decorator. The floor of the large +ballroom is celebrated for its spring, being, it is stated, suspended by +chains. + +Admission to the rooms was carefully safeguarded, its members belonging +almost exclusively to the families of position and standing. The balls +were conducted on the strictest lines of propriety, carefully enforced +by vigilant stewards, who would not admit of any rough dancing; and such +a thing as kitchen lancers would not have been tolerated. Six or seven +balls were given each year. The first before Christmas was often called +the dirty-frock ball, as new frocks were reserved for the débutantes' +ball, the first ball of the season. No supper was given, only very light +and indifferent refreshments. The attendance gradually fell away, and it +was felt that the time had arrived when something should be done to +revive their interest. Accordingly, about 1890, during my presidency, +the supper room was enlarged, electric light was introduced, and a +supper with champagne provided, and in order to meet the extra expense +the balls were cut down to five. These changes were very successful in +increasing the attendance. There were great misgivings as to the +introduction of the electric light, and its effect upon the complexions +of the ladies. The old form of illumination by wax candles suffused a +very soft light, but the candles were unreliable and often did damage to +ladies' dresses. + +In the 'sixties the only out-door games played were cricket and +croquet. One of the most striking developments of modern days is the +time now devoted to games, especially to golf and lawn tennis. In the +'sixties the facilities for getting about were very limited. The public +conveyances consisted of a few four-horse 'buses, which started from +Castle Street. To-day the bicycle and the motor-car bridge over +distances with rapidity and little fatigue, and make us familiar with +the beauties of our country, which was in old days impossible, while the +electric tram carries the working man to his game at football or to his +cottage in the suburbs. All this is a great gain, adding new interests +to life, and is also very conducive to health and happiness. + +The conditions of life during the past fifty years in every grade of +society have greatly improved; they are brighter, healthier and happier. + +There has been a decrease in the consumption of alcohol, less +intemperance, and a striking diminution in crime and pauperism. With an +increase of over fifty per cent. in the population there is less crime. + +While the necessaries of life have not increased in cost, wages are from +twenty-five to fifty per cent. higher, and the working classes no longer +live in damp cellars or in dark courts and alleys, but have at their +disposal cheerful, sanitary, and convenient homes. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BUSINESS LIFE. + + +On my return home from Australia and South America I entered my father's +office. It was noted for hard work and late hours. The principals seldom +left for home before seven and eight in the evening, and on Friday +nights, when we wrote our cotton circular, and despatched our American +mail, it was usually eleven o'clock before we were able to get away, and +many of the juniors had to work all night. In those days everything was +done by correspondence, and mail letters often ran to a great length, +frequently ten and twelve pages; and unfortunately the principals wasted +much of their time in the middle of the day. The morning's work always +commenced with reading the letters aloud by the head clerk, and +afterwards the principals gave instructions as to replies to be sent, +and laid out the work for the day. + +In those times the business of a merchant's office was much more +laborious, and the risks they ran were greater and longer than they are +to-day, when we have the assistance of telegraphic communication with +all the world. We often refer to the good old days, but they were days +of much anxiety and hard work, and I doubt if the profits were as large; +the risks were certainly much greater, and added to this there was a +constant recurrence of panics. We had a money panic almost every ten +years, 1847, 1857, 1866, of the severity of which we to-day can form +very little idea. It was not merely that the bank rate advanced to +eight, nine, and even ten per cent., but it was impossible to get money +at any price. Bank bills were not discountable, and all kinds of produce +became unsaleable. In addition to these great panics we had frequent +small panics of a very alarming character. I well remember the panics of +1857 and 1866; the intense anxiety and the impossibility of converting +either bills or produce into cash. + +The main cause of all these troubles was that the banks kept too small +reserves, and the provisions of the Bank Charter Act of Sir Robert Peel +were too rigid. The object of the Act was to secure the convertibility +of the bank note into gold, and it would no doubt have worked well had +sufficient reserves been kept, but practically the only reserve of gold +was in the Bank of England, and this was frequently allowed to fall as +low as five or six million in notes. All other institutions, both banks +and discount houses, depended upon this reserve, and employed their +entire resources, relying upon discounting with the Bank of England in +an emergency. This emergency arose about every ten years. The Bank of +England was unable to meet the demand--a panic took place, and the bank +had to apply to the Government to suspend the Bank Act, and allow it to +issue bank notes in excess of the amount allowed by the Act. All this +took time, the suspense was terrible, and many banks and honest traders +were cruelly ruined. Immediately the Act was suspended the panic +disappeared as if by magic, and traders began to breathe freely again. + +Happily far larger reserves are now held by all banks, and banking +business is also conducted on more prudent lines, and trade generally is +worked on a sounder basis; payment by bills is now the exception; +margins and frequent settlements on our produce exchanges prevent undue +speculation, and the system of arbitration now universal has put a stop +to the constant litigation which was a frequent cause of contention and +trouble and loss of valuable time. + +I was admitted a partner in my father's firm on the 1st January, 1862. +The previous year had been a very successful one. My brother Arthur had +visited America, and believing that war between the North and South was +inevitable, had bought cotton very heavily, upon which the firm realised +handsome profits. But it was at the expense of my father's health; the +anxiety was too much for him, and this, coupled with my mother's death +on the 1st August, 1861, so prostrated him, that he was ordered to take +a sea voyage, and it was arranged that I should accompany him. + + +VOYAGE IN THE "GREAT EASTERN." + +On the 7th September, 1861, we embarked on board the steamer "Great +Eastern," for New York, the Liverpool dock walls being lined with people +to see the great ship start. She was far and away the largest vessel +built up to that time, being 679 feet long, 83 feet beam, 48 feet deep, +with a tonnage of 18,915; she was propelled by two sets of engines, +paddle and screw. It was a memorable voyage. Three days out we +encountered a heavy gale, which carried away our boats, then our paddle +wheels. Finally our rudder broke, and the huge ship fell helplessly into +the trough of the sea. Here we remained for three days, rolling so +heavily that everything moveable broke adrift, the saloon was wrecked, +and all the deck fittings broke loose. Two swans and a cow were +precipitated into the saloon through the broken skylights. The cables +broke adrift, and swaying to and fro burst through the plating on one +side of the ship. The captain lost all control of his crew, and the +condition of things was rendered still more alarming by the men breaking +into the storerooms and becoming intoxicated. Some of the passengers +were enrolled as guards; we wore a white handkerchief tied round our +arms, and patrolled the ship in watches for so many hours each day. + +My father was badly cut in the face and head by being thrown into a +mirror in the saloon, during a heavy lurch. I never knew a ship to roll +so heavily, and her rolls to windward were not only remarkable but very +dangerous, as the seas broke over her, shaking her from stem to stern, +the noise reverberating through the vessel like thunder. We remained in +this alarming condition three days, when chains were fixed to our rudder +head and we were able with our screw-engines to get back to Queenstown. +My father returned home, not caring to venture to sea again, but I +embarked on board the "City of Washington," of the Inman Line, and after +a sixteen-day passage arrived in New York. + +An amusing incident occurred during the height of the storm we +experienced in the "Great Eastern." We were rolling heavily, the +condition of the great ship was serious and much alarm was naturally +felt. At this juncture a small brig appeared in sight under close-reefed +sails. As she rode over the big seas like a bird without taking any +water on board, we could not help contrasting her seaworthiness with the +condition of our giant ship, which lay like a log at the mercy of the +waves. The brig seeing our position bore down upon us and came within +hailing distance. My father instructed Captain Walker, of the "Great +Eastern," to enquire if she would stand by us, and to offer her master +£100 per day if he would do so, but no answer came. The little vessel +sailed round us again and again, and the next time she came within +hailing distance my father authorised Captain Walker to say he would +charter the ship, or if necessary buy her, so anxious was he that she +should not leave us. She continued to remain near us all day, and then +the weather moderating she sailed away on her voyage. Two years +afterwards the captain of the brig called at the office, saying he had +been told by a passenger that Mr. Forwood had offered him £100 per day +for standing by the "Great Eastern," and claiming £200, two days' +charter money. I need not say he was not paid, but I think my father +made him a present. + + +ARRESTED IN NEW YORK IN 1861. + +On my arrival in New York I was arrested, searched, and confined in the +Metropolitan Police Station while communications passed with Washington. +On my demanding to be informed of the reason of my detention, the Chief +of Police told me that an Englishman had been hanged by President +Jackson for less than I had done; this was not very cheerful, and he +added he expected orders to send me to Fort Lafayette--the place where +political prisoners were detained--but he declined to give any reason. I +was however released the following day, but kept under the surveillance +of the police, which became so intolerable that I went to Canada, and +returned home through New Brunswick to Halifax. The journey from Quebec +over the frozen lake Temiscuata, through Fredericton to St. John's, was +made on sleighs. I slept one night in the hut of a trapper, another at a +log hut on a portage where I was detained for a day by a snowstorm. An +amusing incident happened on this journey. At Grand Falls I was called +upon by the Mayor, who wished, he said, to show me some attention and +prove his loyalty to the old country, as he understood I was an envoy +going from the Southern States to England. I told him he was mistaken, +but he would not accept my denial, and insisted on driving me part of +the way in his own magnificently appointed sleigh, and giving me a +supper at a place called Tobique. At Halifax another incident befel me. +The hotel in which I stayed was burnt down in the night. I escaped with +my luggage, but none too soon, for the hotel was only a wooden erection +and the fire very quickly destroyed it. + +On our arrival home at Queenstown, we heard with great sorrow of the +death of the Prince Albert, and of the probability of war between +England and America, arising out of the "Trent" affair. I received a +communication from the War Office, requesting me to send full notes of +my journey across New Brunswick, giving approximately the size of the +villages and farm buildings I observed, as it was proposed to march +10,000 British troops up by this route to protect Canada. + +The reason of my arrest in New York was, I learned, that the authorities +believed that I was conveying despatches and money and intended to cross +the military lines and enter the Southern States. My father's firm being +largely engaged in business with the South, there was some foundation +for this impression. I should add that I received through Secretary +Seward an expression of President Lincoln's regret that I should have +been subjected to arrest, and an intimation that if I visited Washington +he would be glad to see me, but I was then in Canada and did not care to +return to the United States. + +Political feeling ran very high in New York. I was passing one afternoon +the St. Nicholas Hotel, Broadway, when I heard someone call out "Sesesh" +(which meant a Southerner), and a man fell, shot down almost at my feet. + + +LEECH, HARRISON AND FORWOOD. + +The business of the firm of Leech, Harrison and Forwood was mainly that +of commission merchants, and receiving cotton and other produce for sale +on consignment. It was an old firm with the best of credit, and a good +reputation. The business was large but very safe, and we never +speculated. I was very proud of the old concern. The business was +founded in 1785 by Mr. Leech, who took into partnership Mr. James +Harrison, whom I remember as a cadaverous looking old gentleman with a +wooden leg, and as he always wore a white cravat his nickname of +"Death's Head and a Mop Stick" was not inappropriate. He retired about +1850. + +Shortly after I was admitted a partner my father's health became +indifferent, and at his wish we bought him out of the firm and took over +the business. We decided to also become steamship owners, and by +arrangement with a firm in Hartlepool we became the managing owners of +several steamers, which we put into the West Indian trade in opposition +to Mr. Alfred Holt. We had not been very long in the trade before the +principal shippers, Imrie and Tomlinson and Alex. Duranty and Co., also +formed a line of steamers, and it seemed at the moment as if we must be +crushed out of the trade, the opposition was so formidable; but with the +dogged determination so characteristic of my brother Arthur we +persevered, and in the end forced both our competitors to join us. We +then formed a large company, the West Indian and Pacific Co., which was +an amalgamation of the three concerns, my firm retaining the management. +The business rapidly grew and separate offices had to be taken. For nine +years my brother devoted his time to the management of the steamship +company, leaving me to work our own business. It was a heavy +responsibility for one so young. Our capital was small, and our business +in cotton and in making advances upon shipping property very active, but +we were well supported by our bankers, Leyland and Bullins. I was a +neighbour of Mr. Geo. Arkle, the managing partner, and shall be ever +grateful for the confidence he reposed in us. I remember his sending +for me in 1866, telling me that we were face to face with a panic, and +as he wanted us to feel comfortable we must cheque upon the bank and +take up all our acceptances against shipping property. The system of +banking was then very much a matter of confidence. During the whole of +my business career we never gave our bankers any security. Mr. Arkle +perhaps carried this principle too far. I remember his refusing to open +an account for a man who was introduced to my firm by highly respectable +people in America, and who had brought with him a draft on Barings for +£80,000 as his capital, Mr. Arkle requiring that my brother and I should +ask him to open the account as a guarantee to him that we were satisfied +as to the man's character, to which he attached more value than to his +capital. About the year 1870 we admitted my brother Brittain into +partnership. Prior to this we opened a house in Bombay, which was +managed by my old school friend, G. F. Pim, who was afterwards joined by +my brother George. + +We retained the management of the West Indian and Pacific Co. for nine +years. The company had prospered under our care, the shares were at a +premium, and the directors were willing to renew our agreement; but they +wanted my brother Arthur to promise to devote less of his time to +politics; this he was unwilling to do, and so our connection ceased. It +was an unfortunate thing for the firm, but luckily we sold out our +shares at a substantial premium, and formed a new company, the Atlas +Company, to run steamers between New York and the West Indies, my +brother still devoting his time to the Atlas Company's interests, and I +attending to the general business. At this I worked very hard, from +early morning to late in the evening, taking only a fortnight's holiday +each year. The business of the firm prospered greatly. At first our +principal business was receiving consignments of cotton, but these led +to such large reclamations, which were seldom paid by the consignors, +that we were on the alert to find some other way of working our cotton +trade, and a visit I made to Mobile to collect reclamations revealed to +me a secret which for years gave us large profits. I stayed in Mobile +with a Mr. Maury, and found that he was the holder of a very large stock +of cotton, against which he sold cotton for future delivery, which +always commanded a substantial premium in New York. When the time for +delivery came round, he tendered the cotton he had bought; in this way +he made a certain and a handsome profit over and above the holding +expenses. What was possible in New Orleans was, I thought, possible in +Liverpool, and on my return home we commenced this cotton banking +business. It was very profitable, and for some time we had it all to +ourselves. + +When we started the Atlas Line in New York, we opened a house under the +title of Pim, Forwood and Co., Mr. Pim leaving Bombay for New York, my +brother George at the same time opening a house for us in New Orleans. +George Pim died in 1878, and my brother George moved from New Orleans to +New York. Here he remained until 1885, when he entered the Liverpool +firm, and my brother Brittain took his place in New York; Brittain +retired in 1885. + +Looking back over my business career, it was a period of strenuous hard +work, but of much happiness and great prosperity. It was always a matter +of regret to us that we had not more of the active co-operation of my +brother Arthur, who was a man of singular ability and remarkable power +of organisation. Unfortunately for the firm, from a very early period in +our partnership he devoted most of his time to politics, which led to +his eventually becoming a member of the House of Commons, and in a very +short period Secretary to the Admiralty. In this office, which he held +for six years, he did most excellent work. To use the words of the then +First Lord of the Admiralty--Lord George Hamilton--he made it possible +to build a ship of war in twelve months when it had previously taken +four and five years. The fusion of the Conservative and Unionist parties +prevented my brother's advance to Cabinet rank. He was one of the ablest +men I ever knew, but he had not the faculty of delegating his work; this +and his overmastering determination to carry out everything to which he +put his hand, entailed upon him an amount of personal work and thought +which few men could have borne, and which in the end proved even more +than he could support without loss of nervous power. I was his partner +for twenty-five years and we never had a serious difference of any kind. +He was a candidate for the representation of Liverpool in Parliament in +1882, but was defeated by Mr. Samuel Smith. He afterwards was elected +member for the Ormskirk division, which he represented at the time of +his death in 1898. He was made a Privy Councillor and afterwards created +a baronet. + +Liverpool owes much to him, for in every position which he filled, as +Chairman of the Finance Committee and of the Health Committee, and as a +Member of Parliament, he did a great work for the city. In politics he +was _facile princeps_, a born leader of men; he built up the +Conservative party in Lancashire, and kept it together in face of many +difficulties. + +It was impossible that a man with such a strong individuality and +determination could avoid making some enemies. He always tried to reach +his goal by the nearest road, even if in doing so he had to tread upon +susceptibilities which might have been conciliated, but withal he was +one of the ablest men Liverpool has produced in recent years; he had at +heart the good of his native city, and no sacrifice of time or thought +was too much if he could only benefit Liverpool or promote the welfare +of the Conservative party. His statue, erected by public subscription, +stands in St. John's Gardens, and each year on the anniversary of his +death a wreath of laurels is placed at its foot by the Constitutional +Association--"Though dead, his spirit still lives." + +In 1890 I retired from business at the age of 50. I was tired with the +fag and toil of twenty-five years' strenuous work, but it was a mistake +to retire. The regular calls of one's own affairs are less trying than +the irregular demands of public work. _Punch's_ advice to those about to +marry, "Don't," is equally applicable to those about to retire from +business. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PUBLIC LIFE. + + +My public life began in 1867, when I was 27 years of age. I then joined +the Council of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. In the following year +(1868) I was elected the President of the Liverpool Philomathic Society, +a position I was very proud of. The Society at that time possessed many +excellent speakers; we had among others Charles Clark, John Patterson, +and James Spence. + +During the year I was President, Professor Huxley came down and +delivered his famous address on "Protoplasm: or the beginnings of life," +and this started a discussion upon the evolution of life, which has +continued to this day. Professor Huxley was my guest at Seaforth and was +a very delightful man. We had also a visit from Professor Huggins, now +the revered President of the Royal Society. He greatly charmed us with +his spectroscope, which he had just invented. I had an observatory at +the top of my house at Seaforth, with a fair-sized astronomical +telescope. The professor gave us some very interesting little lectures +upon his discoveries of the composition of the various stars and +planets. + +In November of the same year I was invited to offer myself as a +candidate for the Town Council to represent Pitt Street Ward, in +succession to Mr. S. R. Graves, M.P. My opponent was Mr. Steel, whom I +defeated, polling 189 votes against his 135 votes. I represented Pitt +Street for nine years, and every election cost me £150. I do not know +what became of the money, but Pitt Street was a very strange +constituency. + +Looking back it seems to me that the Town Council was composed of +Goliaths in those days, men of large minds, and that our debates were +conducted with a staid decorum and order which have long since +disappeared. William Earle, J. J. Stitt, Charles Turner, M.P., F. A. +Clint, Edward Whitley, J. R. Jeffery, are names which come back to me as +prodigies of eloquence. I remember venturing to make a modest speech +shortly after I was elected, and one of the seniors touching me on the +shoulder and saying, "Young man, leave speaking to your elders"; but +they did queer things in those good old days. Many of the aldermen were +rarely seen; they only put in an appearance on the 9th November to +record their vote on the election of the Mayor. + +I was early placed on a deputation to London. I think there were six or +seven deputations in London at one time, each attended by a deputy town +clerk. We stayed at the Burlington Hotel, and had seats provided for us +in the theatre and opera, and carriages to drive in the parks. It was +said that the bill at the Burlington Hotel, at the end of that +Parliamentary session, was "as thick as a family Bible." + + +CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. + +In 1870 I was elected Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce, +becoming the President in 1871, and was also made a Fellow of the Royal +Statistical Society of London. My work at the chamber was very pleasant +and congenial, and together with the late Mr. Lamport, Mr. Philip +Rathbone, and Mr. John Patterson, we did a good deal in moulding the +commercial legislation of that time, the Merchant Shipping Bill and the +Bankruptcy Bill being drafted by our Commercial Law Committee. + +In 1878 the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce was reconstituted, the old +chamber having got into bad repute through becoming too political. The +election of the president of the re-organised chamber was left to the +vote of the three thousand subscribers to the Exchange News Room. Eight +names were submitted, and I was elected president for the second time. +During the following three years excellent work was done by the chamber, +it became very influential with the Government and took rank as the +first chamber in the country. We declined all invitations to be +associated with other chambers, deeming that Liverpool was sufficiently +strong and powerful to stand alone, and in this I think we acted wisely. + + +AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. + +The American Chamber of Commerce existed for the purpose of safeguarding +the interests of the American trade, and was supported by dues levied on +every bale of cotton imported into Liverpool. In its day it did great +and useful work, and accumulated quite a large capital, which it spent +in giving very gorgeous banquets to the American Ministers and +distinguished strangers. I became president of this chamber in 1872, and +during my term of office we entertained General Skenk, the new American +Minister, and others. + + +JOINT COMMITTEE ON RAILWAY RATES. + +In 1873 an attempt was made by the London and North-Western Railway to +amalgamate with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. This aroused great +indignation. Liverpool was already suffering severely from the high +railway charges levied upon her commerce, and it was feared that the +proposed amalgamation would increase these charges. Meetings were held, +and in the end all the towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire were invited to +join with Liverpool in opposing the scheme in Parliament. I was elected +the chairman of this Joint Committee, and we inaugurated an active +Parliamentary campaign. We induced Parliament to remit the bill to a +joint Committee of Lords and Commons. The bill was thrown out, and our +suggestion that a railway tribunal to try cases of unfair charges should +be formed was accepted, and is now known as the Railway Commission; but +by a strange irony of fate, it has become too expensive to be used by +the users of the railways, and is now mainly occupied in settling +differences between railway companies themselves. + + +THE UNITED COTTON ASSOCIATION. + +In 1877 there was some friction between the various cotton interests, +brokers, and merchants, and an association--entitled "The United Cotton +Association"--was formed to endeavour to bring all the branches of the +trade together and to remodel the rules, and I was elected chairman. Up +to this time the Brokers' Association ruled the market, and as many +brokers had become also merchants it was felt that some re-arrangement +of the relative positions of brokers and merchants was necessary. The +position of chairman was one of considerable delicacy, as a very +unpleasant feeling had grown up between merchants and brokers, and there +existed considerable friction; however, in the end we managed to compose +these difficulties and to lay the foundation of the Cotton Association +which now rules the trade. + + +INTERNATIONAL COTTON CONVENTION. + +An International Cotton Convention was held in Liverpool, also in 1877; +it was composed of delegates from all the cotton exchanges of America +and those on the Continent. I was appointed the president; our meetings +extended over ten days and were interspersed with excursions and +entertainments. The convention was productive of much advantage to the +trade, in ensuring a better supervision of the packing, weighing and +shipment of cotton from America, and I think the measures taken +practically put an end to the system of false packing which had become +so injurious to the cotton business. + + +MAYOR OF LIVERPOOL. + +In 1880 I was elected Mayor of Liverpool, an honour which I very greatly +esteemed. It was an eventful year, for many distinguished strangers +visited Liverpool. General Sir Frederick Roberts came as the hero of the +hour after his wonderful march from Cabul to Candahar. He was +entertained at a banquet, and an At Home at the Town Hall, and he with +Lady Roberts stayed with us for three days at Blundellsands. + +Among other visitors we entertained were Lord Lytton, then +Governor-General of India; and King Kallikahua, the King of the Sandwich +Islands. His Majesty was very dignified, and accepted quite as a matter +of course the royal salutes fired by the guard ship in the river as we +passed by in the Dock Board tender. At the banquet in the evening I was +warned by his equerry that I must try and prevent His Majesty imbibing +too freely. It was not an easy thing to do, but to the surprise of my +guests I stopped the wine and ordered cigars; this had the desired +effect. I believe this was the first time smoking was allowed at a Town +Hall banquet. + +The King had with him a big box full of Palais Royal decorations which +he showed me, but with which, fortunately, he did not offer to decorate +me. + + +VISIT OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES. + +Our heaviest function at the Town Hall was the reception and +entertainment of the Prince and Princess of Wales on the occasion of the +opening of the new north docks. + +The Prince and Princess stayed with Lord Sefton at Croxteth, and their +children, the three Princesses, stayed at Knowsley, Lord Sefton's +children having the measles. + +The day of the Royal Visit was lovely. We met the Prince and Princess at +the city boundary, Newsham Park, proceeding thither in the mayor's +carriage, drawn by four horses with postillions and out-riders. After +presenting the Princess with a bouquet we followed to the landing +stage, where the royal party embarked on the river for the new docks. +The course of the royal yacht was kept by our large Atlantic liners, and +by several battleships. The Princess christened the new Alexandra dock +and then we adjourned to a lunch in one of the large sheds, and after +lunch the Prince and Princess entered the mayor's carriage and drove to +the Town Hall, where an address was presented to them. + +The Fenians had been very active in Liverpool, and during the evening at +Croxteth I was told by the aide-de-camp that the Prince had received +several threatening letters, to which his Royal Highness paid no +attention, but he would be glad to know if every precaution had been +taken for the Prince's safety. Although I was able to assure him that +every precaution would be taken, this intimation made me feel anxious +and I drove from Croxteth to the police station in Liverpool to consult +with the superintendents as to what more could be done. We were +compelled to drive the Prince and Princess for two miles through that +portion of the town inhabited by the Irish; we therefore decided to +quicken the pace of the carriage procession, and to instruct the +out-riders to ride close in to the wheels of the royal carriage. These +precautions were however fortunately not necessary, for right along +Scotland Road the Prince and Princess had the heartiest reception, and +when we turned out of Byrom Street into Dale Street it was with a sense +of relief that I turned to the Prince and said, "Sir, you have passed +through the portion of Liverpool in which 200,000 Irish people reside." +He replied, "I have not heard a 'boo' or a groan; it has been simply +splendid." + +We had taken some trouble to obtain a very pretty jewelled +bouquet-holder for the Princess, and it was sent to the florist who was +making the bouquet. In the morning he brought it to the Adelphi Hotel, +broken in two. I showed it to Admiral Sir Astley Cooper, who was one of +the suite. He said, "Whatever you do, have it repaired." Every shop was +shut, the day being a general holiday. The boots at the hotel at last +thought of a working plumber, and to his hands the repairs were +entrusted. All he could do was to solder the handle to the +bouquet-holder, and he did this in such a clumsy fashion that great +"blobs" of solder protruded themselves all round; but it held together +and the bouquet was duly presented by the Mayoress. During the drive +from the dock the Princess, showing me the holder, exclaimed how lovely +it was; alas! my eyes could only see the "blobs" of solder! At Croxteth +that evening, while the presents were being exhibited to the guests, the +holder broke in two, and the story had to be told. + +The three young princesses were entertained all day at the Town Hall by +my daughters. Princess Maud managed to evade the vigilant eyes of Miss +Knollys, and unattended made her way into Castle Street amid the crowd. + + +LORD MAYOR. + +For six weeks in 1903 I again occupied the civic chair. In January of +that year the Lord Mayor, Mr. Watson Rutherford, was anxious to become a +candidate for Parliament, a vacancy having arisen in the West Derby +Ward. As Lord Mayor he could not act as his own returning officer, and +it became necessary that he should resign his office for a time. Both +political parties in the Council were good enough to invite me to accept +the position, and thus I became Lord Mayor for the brief period I have +mentioned. Mr. Rutherford, on retiring, informed me that he had already +spent all the allowance, and all he could offer me were a few cigars. +The duration of my reign was too short to admit of much entertaining, +but I welcomed the opportunity of showing hospitality to many of my old +colleagues and friends. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FENIAN TROUBLES. + + +My year of office as Mayor was made very anxious by the aggressive +tactics of the Fenian agitators. A bomb was placed at the side door of +the Town Hall, and exploded, breaking in the door, destroying the +ceiling and window of the mayor's dressing-room and doing considerable +damage to the furniture. The bomb consisted of a piece of iron gas +piping about 3 inches in diameter and 18 inches long, filled with +explosives and iron nails. The miscreants, after lighting the fuse, ran +away; but the Town Hall was watched by a double cordon of police; the +first took up the chase, the second joined in, and the two men +eventually jumped into a canal boat filled with manure, and were then +secured. They were tried, and sentenced to fourteen years' penal +servitude. They were two Irish stokers, mere tools in the hands of an +Irish-American, who had planned the blowing up of all our public +buildings, but managed to get away. An attempt was also made on the +Custom House, but failed. + +The Home Secretary, Sir William Harcourt, was much exercised by the +position of things in Liverpool, and telegraphed to me enquiring how +many troops were available in Liverpool. I replied fifty, of whom +twenty-five were raw recruits. Next morning the General in command at +York called at the Town Hall, and stated that he had been instructed to +send 2,000 infantry, and two squadrons of cavalry, and wished me to +arrange for their accommodation. He startled me by adding, "I should +like to send you a Gatling gun; they are grand things for clearing the +streets." I felt this was getting serious. I assured him that we did not +apprehend any grave trouble, or disturbances, and if it was known that I +had consented to a Gatling gun being sent for the purpose he mentioned, +I should make myself most unpopular, and that I hoped that the troops +would be sent down gradually so as not to cause alarm. We arranged to +place some of the troops at Rupert Lane, and some in volunteer +drillsheds, but several hundred had to be quartered in the guard ship on +the Mersey. All this was carried out so quietly that no notice of it +appeared in the newspapers. We were congratulating ourselves upon the +success of our scheme, when I received a note from Lord Chief Justice +Coleridge, then presiding at the assizes, requiring my presence at St. +George's Hall. I immediately obeyed the summons, and was ushered into +the judge's private room. The Chief Justice at once stated that he was +informed that a large number of troops had been brought into the town, +without his sanction as the Judge of Assize. In vain I pleaded my +ignorance that his Lordship's permission was necessary, that the troops +had not been requisitioned by me, but had been sent by orders of the +Home Secretary. His Lordship was much annoyed and said I ought to have +known that a Judge of Assize was the Queen's representative, and no +troops could be moved during an assize without the judge's sanction. His +anger was however short-lived; he came to dine with me at the Town Hall +the same evening, and made a capital speech, as he always did, and the +morning's episode was not again mentioned. + +Things in Liverpool continued very unsettled and anxious, and to add to +the difficulty a strike began. We were obliged to show the troops; the +cavalry paraded the line of docks for two or three days, producing an +excellent effect. + +The Home Secretary was very anxious, and wrote to me long letters. The +chief constable, Major Greig, was away ill, and this threw much +responsibility upon the mayor. We were able to collect much information, +which led to the arrest of many notable Fenians, and we stopped the +importation of several consignments of infernal machines. An amusing +incident occurred in connection with one of these. We were informed that +a consignment of thirty-one barrels of cement was coming from New York +by a Cunard steamer, each barrel containing an infernal machine. We +placed a plain clothes officer in the Cunard office to arrest whoever +might claim the cement, which, however, no one did, and we took charge +of the casks as they were landed. Several casks were sent up to the +police office and were there opened and the machines taken out. I was +asked to go down to see the machines, and found them lying on a table in +the detective office, several police officers being gathered round. I +lifted the cover of one; a rolled spill of paper was inserted in the +clock work; this I withdrew, and immediately the works started in +motion, and with equal rapidity the police vanished from the room. I +simply placed my hand on the works and stopped them, and invited the +police to return. On unrolling the spill of paper I found it to be one +of O'Donovan Rossa's billheads; he was at that time the leader of the +Fenian brotherhood in America. + +The machines were neatly made; on the top were the clock works, which +could be regulated to explode at a given time the six dynamite +cartridges enclosed in the chamber below. + +Having taken all the machines out of the casks of cement, the difficulty +arose what to do with them, and eventually we chartered a tug and threw +them overboard in one of the sea channels. + +An amusing incident occurred showing how excited public feeling was at +the time. I was sitting one morning at the table in the Mayor's parlour +in the Town Hall, when I heard a crash of broken glass, and a large, +black, ugly-looking object fell on the floor opposite to me. I rang the +bell and the hall porter came in; I said, "What is that?" "A bomb!" he +exclaimed, and immediately darted out of the room, but he had no sooner +done so than he returned with a policeman, who exclaimed, "Don't be +alarmed, sir, it's only an old pensioner's cork leg." A crowd had +collected in the street outside, in the centre of which was the old +pensioner, who was violently expostulating. On ordering the police to +bring him inside, he said he was very sorry if he had done wrong, but he +was so angry at the many holes in the street pavements, in which he +caught his wooden leg, that he had adopted this rather alarming method +of bringing his complaint under the notice of the Mayor and the +authorities. The cork leg, both in form and colour, much resembled a +bomb made out of a gas pipe, of which we had seen several at the Town +Hall. + +At the end of my year of office I received the thanks of the Home +Secretary, Sir William Harcourt, for my assistance and, at his request, +I pursued enquiries in America which had an important bearing in +checking the Fenian movement at that time. + +[Illustration: LIVERPOOL TOWN HALL.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE TOWN COUNCIL. + + +The council chamber in the Town Hall has of late years undergone many +alterations. In my early experience it occupied only part of the present +site, and at the eastern end we had a luncheon room. It was a shabby +chamber, badly heated and ventilated; the Mayor's chair was placed on a +raised dais at the western end, and the members of the Council sat at +long mahogany tables running lengthwise. It was a comfortless room, and +very cold in winter. + +The Council met at eleven in the morning, adjourned for lunch at one +o'clock, and usually completed its labours by four or five o'clock in +the afternoon. But we had periods when party feeling ran high, and +obstructive tactics were adopted. At such times we not infrequently sat +until ten o'clock at night. Most of these battles took place upon +licensing questions in which the late Mr. Alex. Balfour, Mr. Simpson, of +landing stage fame, and Mr. McDougal took a leading part. + +It was the practice to deliver long and well considered speeches. Some +of these were excellent, many very dreary. The present conversational +debates would not have been tolerated. We had some very able speakers, +of whom I think the most powerful was Mr. Robertson Gladstone, the elder +brother of the late Premier. He seldom spoke, but when he did he gave +utterance to a perfect torrent of eloquence which seemed to bear +everything before it. He was a remarkable man in many ways, very tall of +stature, and broad in proportion, he wore a low-crowned hat and used to +drive down in a small four-wheeled dogcart. He delighted to give any old +woman a lift, and every Saturday morning he visited the St. John's +market, and took infinite pleasure in bargaining with the market folk. +Mr. J. J. Stitt was also a very fluent and effective speaker, perhaps +too much after the debating society style. Mr. J. R. Jeffery was a good +speaker, so was Mr. William Earle. One of the most useful men in the +Council was Mr. Weightman, who had been the Surveyor to the Corporation, +and became a most efficient Chairman of the Finance Committee. One of +the most laborious members was Mr. Charles Bowring, the father of Sir +William Bowring, Bart. Mr. Bowring was for years Chairman of the Health +Committee. He had a big and difficult work to do, but he did it well, +and was always courteous and considerate. Mr. Beloe was at that time +Chairman of the Water Committee, and was largely responsible for the +Rivington water scheme. I think Mr. Sam Rathbone was one of the most +cultured and able men we ever had in the Council. He spoke with +knowledge and much elegance, and everything he said was refined and +elevating. Mr. John Yates--"honest John Yates"--was a frequent speaker, +and always with effect. Mr. Barkeley Smith was our best and most ready +debater, Mr. Clarke Aspinall our most humorous speaker. + +The first important debate which took place in the Council after I +entered it was on the proposal to purchase land from Lord Sefton for the +purpose of making Sefton Park. It was a prolonged discussion and the +decision arrived at shows that the Council in those days was long +sighted and able to take large views and do big things. Not only was +power taken to purchase land for Sefton Park but also to make Newsham +and Stanley Parks, costing in all £670,000; and this movement to provide +open spaces has continued to this day, and has been supplemented by +private munificence, until Liverpool is surrounded by a belt of parks +and open spaces containing upwards of 1,000 acres, and in addition many +churchyards have been turned into gardens, and small greens have been +provided in various parts. + +I have often been asked if the work of the city was as well done with a +Council of 64 as it is now with a Council of 134. I think the smaller +Council took a more personal interest in the work. The Committees were +smaller and better attended, and the Council more thoroughly discussed +the subjects brought before them. With the larger Council and larger +Committees more work and more responsibility falls upon the chairman and +the permanent officials. I fear the larger and more democratic Council +scarcely appreciates this fact, also they fail to see that if you want +good permanent officials you must pay them adequately. We have +fortunately to-day an excellent staff who do their work well with a full +sense of their responsibility. + +One peculiarity of the larger Council is the time given to the +discussion of small matters, and the little consideration given to large +questions of policy and finance. This I attribute to the fact that the +Council contains many representatives who have not been accustomed to +deal with large affairs, and who refrain from discussing what they do +not fully understand. In this respect I think the present Council shows +to some disadvantage. + +An immense work has been done municipally during this period in +re-modelling and re-making Liverpool. In the 'sixties the streets of +Liverpool were narrow and irregular, the paving and scavenging work was +imperfectly done, the system of sewerage was antiquated, and the homes +in which her working people had to live were squalid and insanitary; +cellar dwellings were very general. To change all this demanded a great +effort and a large expenditure of money, but in the 'seventies and +'eighties we had men in the Council capable of taking large views. + +Although the improvement of Liverpool has been so remarkable, it is +difficult to say to whom it is mainly due; there have been so many +active public-spirited men who have given the best of their time and +thought to the promotion of municipal undertakings. Liverpool has been +fortunate in possessing so many sons who have taken an active interest +in her welfare, and have done their work quietly and unobtrusively. The +re-making of Liverpool has been accomplished in the quiet deliberation +of the committee room, and not in the council chamber. + + +THE TOWN HALL--ITS HOSPITALITY. + +The hospitalities of the Town Hall were in my early years limited to +dinners, and most of these took place in the small dining room, which +will only accommodate about forty guests. When the fleet visited +Liverpool the Mayor gave a ball, but these occasions were rare. To +Dowager Lady Forwood, who was Mayoress in 1877, the credit belongs of +introducing the afternoon receptions, which have proved so great an +attraction. The Town Hall and its suite of reception rooms are unique, +and although built over 100 years ago, are sufficiently commodious for +the social requirements of to-day. The late King, when Prince of Wales, +on his visit to Liverpool in 1881, remarked to me that next to those in +the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg he considered them the best +proportioned rooms in Europe. + +The Lord Mayor receives an allowance of £2,000, and is in addition +provided with carriages and horses. In olden time this allowance was +ample, but it is no longer so, and it is impossible to maintain the old +traditional hospitality of the Town Hall unless the Lord Mayor expends a +further £2,000 out of his own pocket, and many Lord Mayors have +considerably exceeded this sum. It has often been urged that the +allowance should be increased. I doubt if this is desirable. The +invitations to Town Hall functions might be more strictly limited to +representative people, or the entertainments might, as in Manchester, be +placed in the hands of a Committee, but it must not be forgotten that +more is expected of the Lord Mayor in Liverpool than in other places. He +is not only the head of the municipality, but of all charitable and +philanthropic work. The initiation of every undertaking, national as +well as local, emanates from the Town Hall. All this throws upon the +Lord Mayor duties which directly and indirectly involve the dispensing +of hospitality, and I do not think the citizens would wish it should be +otherwise. + +Although Mr. Alderman Livingston was always supposed to have a candidate +ready for the office of Mayor, and loved to be known as the "Mayor +maker," the finding of a candidate for the office has not been always +easy. I remember in 1868 we had some difficulty. The caucus decided to +invite Mr. Alderman Dover to accept the office. I was deputed to obtain +Mr. Dover's consent. I found him at the Angel Hotel smoking a long +churchwarden clay pipe; when I told him my mission he smiled and replied +that his acceptance was impossible, and one of the reasons he gave was +that if his wife once got into the gilded coach she would never get out +of it again. However, after much persuasion he accepted the office, and +made a very good and a very original Mayor. In those days we had a +series of recognised toasts at all the Town Hall banquets: + + + "_The Queen_," + "_The Prince and Princess of Wales, and the + other Members of the Royal Family_," + "_The Bishop and Clergy, + and Ministers of other denominations_," + "_The Army and Navy and Auxiliary Forces_," + + +and very frequently + + + "_The good old town and the trade thereof_." + + +This was a very serious list, as it involved two or three speakers being +called upon to reply for the church and the army. Mr. Dover prepared +three speeches for each toast, which he carefully wrote out and gave to +the butler, with instructions to take a careful note of those present, +and to hand him the speech which he considered had not been heard before +by his guests. So the butler, after casting his eye over the tables, +would hand a manuscript to the Mayor, saying "I think, your Worship, No. +2, 'Royal Family,' will do this evening." At the close of his mayoralty +he offered to sell his speeches to his successor, and he handed to the +charities a cheque for £500, which he had saved out of his allowance as +Mayor. + + +WORK IN THE CITY COUNCIL. + +On entering the Council in 1868 I was placed upon the Watch Committee, +and remained on that committee for fifteen years. The work was of a very +routine character; we had, however, an excellent chairman in Mr. F. A. +Clint, and I have never forgotten the lessons I received from him in the +management of a committee, and how to get the proceedings of a committee +passed by the Council. "Never start a hare" was his motto, "you never +know how it will run, and the amount of discussion it may provoke." +Another lesson which he taught me was always to take the Council into +your confidence. "Tell them everything, and if you make a mistake own up +to it;" and there can be no doubt that there is great wisdom in adopting +this course. Deliberative assemblies are naturally critical and +suspicious: but treat them with confidence and they will return it; once +deceive them, or keep back what they are entitled to know, and your task +thereafter becomes very difficult. + +Mr. Alderman Livingston was the deputy-chairman, and was quite a +character in his way. In personal appearance he resembled Mr. Pickwick, +and his ways were essentially Pickwickian. In the selection of Mayors he +was always very much in evidence, and he was before everything a Tory of +Tories. Politics were his delight, and even when quite an old man he did +not shirk attending the November ward meetings, where his oracular and +often amusing speeches were greatly enjoyed by the electors. + +At one period during the agitation against licensees of public-houses, +the Watch Committee was composed of all the members of the Council with +Mr. S. B. Guion as chairman; and the committee met in the Council +Chamber, but a committee of this size was too unwieldy for +administrative business, and the arrangement did not last long. + + +THE BURNING OF THE LANDING STAGE. + +The original George's Landing Stage was replaced by a new one in 1874, +and this was connected with the floating bridge and the Prince's stage, +the whole forming one floating stage, 2,200 feet in length. On the 28th +July, a few days after the completion of this work, I was attending the +Watch Committee when word reached us that the landing stage was on fire. +We could scarcely believe the report, as it was about the last thing we +thought likely to be burnt. We hurried down to find the report only too +true; huge volumes of dense black smoke enveloped all the approaches. +The fire, commencing at the foot of the northern bridge leading to the +George's stage, spread with great rapidity. The fire engines were +brought on the stage and immense volumes of water were poured upon the +burning deck, but the woodwork was so heavily impregnated with tar that +the flames were irresistible. We worked all afternoon and all night, and +in the end only succeeded in saving the centre of the stage at the foot +of the floating bridge, for a length of about 150 feet. And this was +only done by cutting a wide gap at either end, over which the fire could +not leap. It was very arduous, trying work, as the fumes from the tar +and creosoted timber were very nauseating. The portion salved was very +valuable in preserving a place for the Birkenhead boats. The other +ferries had to land and embark their passengers from temporary platforms +and the adjacent dock walls. + + +THE WATER COMMITTEE. + +In the 'seventies I joined the Water Committee, at a time when further +supplies of water for Liverpool had become a pressing necessity. We had +opened the Beloe "dry dock" at Rivington (so called because many people +believed when this reservoir was being made it would never be filled), +and it was felt that no further supply could be obtained from this +source; nor could we rely upon any further local supply from the red +sandstone, although Mr. Alderman Bennett made long speeches in his +endeavour to prove that the supply from the red sandstone was far from +being exhausted. + +[Illustration: LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE, VYRNWY DAM, BY THE EARL OF +POWIS, 1881.] + +When it was decided to seek for a new watershed our attention was first +directed to the moors round about Bleasdale, some ten miles north of +Preston, but the prospective supply was not sufficiently large. We then +turned our attention to Hawes Water, in Cumberland, the property of Lord +Lonsdale, and appointed a deputation to inspect this lake. We dined and +stayed all night at Lowther Castle, and drove to the lake next morning. +We came away much impressed with the quality of the water and the +cleanness of the watershed, as there were no peat mosses or boggy lands +to discolour the water. + +Mr. Deacon, our young water engineer, had however a more ambitious +scheme in view; he proposed to impound the head waters of the Severn in +the valley of the Vyrnwy. The battle of the watersheds, Hawes Water +_versus_ the Vyrnwy, was waged furiously for several years. The +committee made many visits to the Vyrnwy, taking up its abode at the +Eynant Shooting Lodge, a very picturesque spot (now submerged) standing +at the western end of the lake. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Anthony Bower, the +chairman and deputy-chairman of the committee, were strongly in favour +of the Vyrnwy scheme. + +Alderman Bennett continued to be the persistent advocate of obtaining +additional supplies from the wells, and his opposition to every other +scheme was only set at rest by the Council authorising Mather and Platt +to put a bore-hole down at Bootle at a point which he selected; with the +result that no water was found. During all this period Mr. J. H. Wilson +had a very arduous task, demanding great patience and endurance, and to +him and to Mr. Deacon belong the credit of ultimately securing the +adoption of the Vyrnwy scheme. + +I led the section of the committee in favour of the Hawes Water scheme. +There was no question as to the Vyrnwy yielding an abundant supply, but +the opposition contended that it was brown peaty water, and would remain +brownish after being treated by filtration, and the cost would greatly +exceed that of Hawes Water. I spent days on the moors at Vyrnwy +collecting samples of water. My samples were brown and bad; the samples +collected by Mr. Deacon, on the contrary, were clear and translucent. +The committee were divided as to the relative merits of the two schemes, +and the Council were equally divided. + +When the question came for the ultimate decision of the Council the +debate lasted two days, and I spoke for one hour and a half. We thought +the Hawes Water scheme was winning, when the Mayor, Mr. Thomas Royden, +rose and spoke for half an hour all in favour of the Vyrnwy. His speech +turned many waverers, and the Council voted in favour of the Vyrnwy by +a small majority of three. + +It was a great debate, perhaps the most important we have had in the +Council, certainly in my time. Mr. Royden (now Sir Thomas Royden, Bart.) +was an effective speaker, both in the Council and on the platform; his +voice and his genial smile were a valuable asset of the Conservative +party. + +I was greatly assisted in drawing up a pamphlet in favour of Hawes +Water, and in conducting the opposition, by the town clerk, Mr. Joseph +Rayner. Mr. Rayner was an exceedingly able man, but unfortunately died +comparatively young. + +It fell to my lot, as Mayor in 1881, to take the Council to lay the +foundation stone of the great Vyrnwy dam. It was on a very hot day in +July; the stone was laid by the Earl of Powis, who made a very eloquent +and poetical address, comparing the Vyrnwy with the fountain of Arethusa +which would spring up and fructify the valley, and convey untold +blessings to the great community in the far-off city of Liverpool. + +The building of the dam, and the laying out of the banks of the lake, +called for many charming visits to the Vyrnwy; and although I was not in +favour of the adoption of this scheme I now believe on the whole the +Council did the wisest thing, as there can be no question of the +abundance of the supplies secured by the city. + + +PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE. + +For twelve years I was chairman of this committee, and had much +interesting work to carry through Parliament. The widening of St. +Nicholas' Place and the throwing of part of St. Nicholas' churchyard +into the street was a great improvement, relieving the congestion of +traffic at this point. + +We also endeavoured, during my term of office, to extend the boundaries +of the city. We had a fierce fight in the House of Commons. The local +boards of the districts we intended to absorb assailed us with a perfect +torrent of abuse, and criticised severely our system of local +government. We failed to carry our bill, the chairman of the committee +remarking that Parliament would not grant any extension of city +boundaries when it was objected to by the districts to be absorbed; but +he added, "We are quite satisfied from the evidence you have given that +Liverpool is excellently governed in every department." We made a +mistake in pushing forward this bill on "merits" only, we should have +done some missionary work beforehand, and arranged terms and conditions +with our neighbours. My successor in the chair of this committee, Sir +Thomas Hughes, profited by our experience, and succeeded where we +failed. + +We were greatly assisted in our Parliamentary work by Mr. Harcourt E. +Clare, who was most able and diplomatic, and an excellent negotiator. +His appointment as Clerk of the County Council, though a gain to the +county, was a serious loss to Liverpool. + + +MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL. + +With the attitude of Liverpool in regard to the construction of the +Manchester Ship Canal I was very prominently identified. I had to +conduct the opposition to the Canal Bill through three sessions of +Parliament, six enquiries in all. The Dock Board took the labouring oar, +but it fell to me to work up the commercial case, to prove from a +commercial point of view that the canal was not wanted, and would never +pay. I prepared a great mass of figures, and was under examination +during the six enquiries altogether about thirty hours. Mr. Pember, +Q.C., who led the case for the promoters, paid me the compliment of +saying I was the only witness he had ever had who had compelled him to +get up early in the morning to prepare his cross-examination. + +We defeated the bill in the first two enquiries. At the close of the +second enquiry Mr. Lyster, the engineer to the Mersey Docks and Harbour +Board, completely gave the Dock Board case away. Mr. Pember remarked: +"Mr. Lyster, you have told us that if we make our canal through the +centre of the estuary of the Mersey we shall cause the estuary to silt +up and destroy the bar. What would you do if you had to make a canal to +Manchester?" Mr. Lyster jumped at the bait, and replied, "I should enter +at Eastham and carry the canal along the shore until I reached Runcorn, +and then I would strike inland." Next year the Manchester Corporation +brought in a new bill carrying out Mr. Lyster's suggestion, and as +Liverpool had no answer they succeeded in getting their bill. + +There can be no doubt that the railways had for long years greatly +overcharged their Liverpool traffic. The rate of 12s 6d per ton for +Manchester goods for the thirty-two miles' carriage from Manchester to +Liverpool was a gross overcharge. I had headed deputation after +deputation to the London and North-Western Railway to represent this; +Mr. Moon (afterwards Sir Richard Moon) always received us with much +civility, but nothing was done. The Dock Board had the remedy in their +own hands; they could have bought the Bridgewater Canal, and made a +competitive route; but the prosperity of Liverpool was great, and they +altogether failed to see that Manchester, with its Ship Canal, might one +day be a serious competitor to Liverpool. + +The promoters of the Ship Canal secured an option over the Bridgewater +Canal, and this was really the backbone of their scheme. At the close of +the first parliamentary enquiry, when the Canal Bill was thrown out, Mr. +Wakefield Cropper, the chairman of the Bridgewater Canal, came to me +and said, "The option given to the Ship Canal people has expired; can +you not persuade the Dock Board to buy up the Bridgewater Canal, and +this will put an end to the Ship Canal project?" I walked across the +Green Park with Mr. T. D. Hornby, the chairman of the Dock Board, and +Mr. Squarey, the solicitor, and told them of this conversation, and they +both agreed with me that the Dock Board ought to make the purchase, but, +unfortunately, nothing was done. In the following year the Ship Canal +Bill was again thrown out, and Mr. Cropper again urged that we should +secure the Bridgewater Canal. I called at the Liverpool Dock office in +London and saw Mr. Hornby and Mr. Squarey; they both agreed that the +purchase of the Bridgewater Canal ought to be made, but again no step +was taken, and the Ship Canal made their third application to +Parliament, and succeeded. I have always felt that the Dock Board thus +missed a great opportunity, which in years to come may prove to have +been the golden chance of securing the prosperity of the port. + + +CORPORATION LEASEHOLDS. + +One of the most important enquiries in which I engaged was into our +system of fines on renewals of the leases of the property belonging to +the Corporation. + +The Corporation owns a very large estate within the city. The first +important purchase was made by the Corporation in 1674, when a lease +for 1,000 years was obtained from Sir Caryl Molyneux, of the Liverpool +Heath, which bounded the then town of Liverpool on its eastern side. +This land had been sold on seventy-five years' leases, and as the leases +ran out the lessees had the option of renewal on the payment of a fine; +and in order to encourage the frequent renewal of these leases the fines +during the first twenty years of a lease were made very light. It has +been the practice of the Corporation to use the fines received as income +in the year in which they are received. The fines received in the fifty +years, 1835 to 1885, amounted to £1,762,000. This system of finance is +radically wrong. The fines ought to be invested in annuities, and if +this had been done these fines would now have returned an income of +£66,000 per annum, and would have gone on increasing. + +The committee, of which I was the chairman, held a prolonged enquiry, +and examined many experts and actuaries, and our report is to-day the +standard authority on the leasehold question. Our conclusions and +recommendations are as sound to-day as they were then, but unfortunately +the Council declined to accept or adopt them, and we still pursue the +economically bad system of spending in the first year the fine which +should be spread over the term of the lease. + +When I retired from the Library, Museum, and Arts Committee in 1908, I +was invited to take the chair of the Estate Committee, and found myself +again face to face with the leasehold question. The revenue of the +Corporation from fines on renewal of leases had fallen off to so +alarming an extent that something had to be done to stop the shrinkage +in revenue and restore the capital value of the estate. We had for so +long used the fines as income that the position was a difficult one, and +one only to be surmounted by a self-denying policy of accumulating a +large portion of the assured income from fines for at least twenty-five +years and encouraging leaseholders to extend their leases from +seventy-five to ninety-nine years. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LIBRARY, MUSEUM, AND ARTS COMMITTEE. + + +Liverpool can justly lay claim to be the pioneer of free public +libraries. William Ewart, one of the members for the borough, succeeded +in 1850 in passing through Parliament the Public Libraries Act. But +before this act had become law, a subscription had been raised in +Liverpool for the purpose of starting a library, and a temporary library +was opened in Duke Street. This was afterwards transferred to the +Corporation, and was the beginning of the great library movement in +Liverpool. The Council encouraged by this obtained a special act +empowering them to establish not only a library, but a public library, +museum, and art gallery--thus from the earliest days these three +institutions have been linked together. Sir William Brown provided the +funds for erection of the Library and Museum in William Brown Street. In +1851 the thirteenth Earl of Derby presented to the town his fine +collection of natural history specimens; in 1857 Mr. Joseph Mayer gave +his collection of historical and archæological objects, and in 1873 Mr. +A. B. Walker completed this remarkable group of institutions by building +the Walker Art Gallery. Liverpool has thus been most fortunate in +possessing a public library, a museum, and an art gallery, which have +cost the ratepayers nothing. It would be difficult to find a more unique +cluster of institutions, each so perfectly adapted to its work, and all +furnished with collections which have not only a local but a European +reputation. + +[Illustration: LIVERPOOL FREE LIBRARY AND MUSEUM.] + +I was placed upon the Library and Museum Committee on entering the +Council, Mr. Picton, afterwards Sir James Picton, being the chairman. +The committee met at nine o'clock in the morning, and seldom rose before +twelve. I could not afford so much time, and therefore resigned, but +when master of my own time I joined the committee again, and found the +work very interesting. Sir James Picton had an extensive knowledge of +books, and he is entitled to the credit of building up our splendid +reference library, and of making the excellent collection of books on +architecture which it contains, but he had little sympathy with lending +libraries, and when he died the three branch lending libraries were very +indifferent and poor, which was the more extraordinary bearing in mind +that the act of parliament instituting free libraries was promoted by +Liverpool, and although Liverpool was not the first town to take +advantage of it, she was only six weeks behind Manchester in adopting +it. + +Sir James Picton, the historian of Liverpool, was endowed with an +excellent memory, and his mind was a storehouse of knowledge. He took an +active part in the various literary societies, and was for many years +one of our leading and most enlightened citizens. + +After his death the chair of the Library Committee was occupied for +three years by Mr. Samuelson, and in 1889 I was elected his successor, +and held this chair for nineteen years. There is no public position in +Liverpool more full of interest and with such wide possibilities for +good as the chairmanship of the Library Committee. I very early decided +that the right, and, indeed, only policy to pursue was to make the +institutions placed under my care as democratic and as widely useful as +possible, and this could best be done by breaking down all the barriers +erected by red tape and by trusting the people; and, further, extending +the system of branch libraries and reading rooms. In carrying out this +work I always enjoyed the sympathy and active co-operation of my +committee, and had the valuable assistance of Mr. Cowell, the chief +librarian, and his staff. The acceptance of the guarantee of one +ratepayer instead of two for the respectability of a reader has been a +very popular reform, and the introduction of open bookshelves, +containing the most recent and popular books of the day, has been +greatly appreciated, and I am glad to say the books we have lost have +been very few. Branch lending libraries were opened at the Central +Library, Everton, Windsor Street, Sefton Park, West Derby, Wavertree, +and Garston. At several of these libraries we have reading-rooms and +special books for boys, which are much appreciated by them. + +We were fortunate in inducing Mr. Andrew Carnegie to open the new +library in Windsor Street, and he was so much pleased with it that he +offered to build for us a duplicate in West Derby. He remarked it was +the first time he had ever offered to give a library, making it a rule +that he must be invited to present one, and then if the site was +provided, and a suitable income assured to maintain it, he gave the +necessary funds for the building as a matter of course. Mr. Carnegie +subsequently presented us with another library for Garston, and more +recently he gave me £19,000 for two more libraries, making his gift to +Liverpool £50,000 in all. + +Mr. Carnegie's munificence has been remarkable, not only in its extent, +but in its method. He has given £30,000,000 for the erection of +libraries and other institutions, but all of his gifts have been made +after careful investigation, and in conformity with certain rules which +he has laid down. When he opened the Windsor Street Library he stayed at +Bromborough Hall, and we took him also to the opening of St. Deiniol's +Library, at Hawarden. If Mr. Carnegie had not been a millionaire he +would still have been a remarkable man. Endowed with a keen power of +observation, rapidity of judgment, and great courage, he has all the +elements which make for success in any walk in life. He told me that as +a superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railway he saw that iron bridges +should take the place of their wooden bridges. He formed an iron company +to supply these bridges. Another opportunity offered, of which he was +not slow to avail, when the iron bridges had in course of time to be +replaced with steel. The example of this great railway was quickly +followed by others, and the Carnegie Steel Works grew larger and larger. +The carriage of the iron ore 400 miles by rail, from Lake Superior, was +a costly item, so he constructed his own railway, which enabled him to +greatly reduce the carriage. All these things indicate his enterprise +and courage, which have made him not only a millionaire, but also a +great public benefactor. + +The Council entrusted the Library Committee with the administration of +the moneys granted for technical education, and as it took some years to +lay the foundations of a technical system of education the funds +accumulated, and we were able to pay off the debt on the libraries, +about £8,000, and to build the extension to the museum, costing £80,000. +The foundation stone was laid by me on the 1st July, 1898. Liverpool has +always been rich in museum exhibits, and particularly in natural history +and ethnography, and we have added recently to our collection by +purchasing Canon Tristram's collection of birds. Out of this great +storehouse our director, Doctor Forbes, has arranged the galleries so +admirably, both on the scientific and popular sides, that they are the +admiration of all naturalists, and Liverpool has every reason to be +proud of her museums, which are admittedly the finest out of London. The +galleries were opened by the late Earl of Derby on the 19th October, +1906. + +I was anxious to bring the libraries, and especially the museums, into +closer touch with the University, and have always maintained that +co-operation between these institutions is absolutely necessary, if we +are to get the best out of each. + + +THE WALKER ART GALLERY. + +The work in connection with the Walker Art Gallery has always been to me +one of absorbing interest, and the annual visit in the spring to the +London studios a very great treat. It is not merely that one has the +opportunity of seeing the pictures of the year, but also to hear the +views of the artists; men who lead lives of their own, in their art, and +for their art, and whose views upon art matters open up new avenues for +thought, and continually suggest new methods of action. Mr. Philip +Rathbone was our first chairman of the Art Sub-Committee, and he did a +great work in popularising our Autumn Exhibition in London. He was +almost a bohemian by nature, and was quite at home in the artist world +of London. He was a genius in many ways; he knew much about art; was a +poet whose verses had a charm of their own; he was a delightful +companion and inherited many of those remarkable traits of character +which have distinguished the Rathbone family and have made them such +benefactors of their native city. + + +AMONG THE STUDIOS. + +We had some interesting experiences during our visits to the studios, +and were often asked to criticise and suggest a name for a picture. + +On one occasion when visiting Lord Leighton's studio, he was painting a +charming picture entitled "Persephone," the coming of spring. He had +painted some brown figs in the foreground. Mr. Rathbone remarked that in +spring the figs should be green. Lord Leighton replied, "You are right," +and dabbing his thumb into some green paint on his palette he smeared +the figs with green, and when the picture was finished they remained +green; but inasmuch as you see green and brown figs on a fig-tree at the +same time, in spring and in autumn, Lord Leighton was not incorrect, and +brown figs would, I think, have better suited his colour scheme. Mr. +Byam Shaw painted a picture of "the Princes in the Tower" at Ludlow +Castle, and looking out of the tower upon the landscape beyond, the eye +rested upon a copse of larches, but as larches were not grown in +England for a hundred years after the incident portrayed in the picture, +they had to be painted out and other trees substituted. + +Visiting the studio of Mr. Greiffenhagen we found him engaged upon a +pastoral idyll, a shepherd boy embracing a red-headed girl in a field of +poppies. He had as his models an Italian and his boy. Upon my remarking +upon this, he explained his only inducement to paint the subject was a +promise made by two of his friends, who were engaged to be married, to +sit as his models. They came, and appeared to greatly enjoy the +situation; but alas! they got married and did not return, and he was +obliged to finish his picture with this Italian and his boy. It was a +lovely picture, and now adorns our permanent collection. One is much +impressed when visiting the studios by the comparative poverty of the +profession. I don't suppose the average income of the London artist +exceeds £200 to £300 per annum. They paint pictures but do not sell +them. Formerly they were able to supplement their incomes by working in +black and white, but machine processes have now superseded black and +white, and the architect and house decorator have dealt pictorial art a +severe blow by introducing styles of decoration which leave no room for +the picture. + +Lord Leighton was a great friend to Liverpool, but we did not treat him +kindly. Whenever we had any difficulty in obtaining a picture for our +exhibition he was always ready to take trouble and use his influence to +secure it for us. We bought from him one of the best pictures he ever +painted, the "Andromeda"; the price was £3,000, and he agreed to accept +the amount payable over two years. The purchase was noised abroad, but +unfortunately the Council declined to confirm it. Sir James Picton was +not happy in the way he submitted the proposal to the Council. +Manchester immediately secured the picture. Meeting Lord Leighton a year +or so afterwards I apologised to him for the action of the Council, when +he most magnanimously said, "I was not troubled for myself, but for you, +and it pained me when I heard that Mr. Samuelson, your deputy chairman, +twice came to my house to explain matters, but his courage failed him, +and he went away without even ringing the bell." + +Sir John Millais was appointed President of the Royal Academy in +succession to Lord Leighton. It fell to me to call at his studio only a +few months before he died, when he remarked: "You have in Liverpool my +picture with a kick in it" (alluding to the picture of "Lorenzo and +Isabella," in which the figure in the foreground is in the act of +kicking a dog), and he continued, "I well remember that picture." This +was spoken evidently with a sad recollection. I knew what was passing in +his mind, for the late Sir Henry Tate told me that Mr. Millais painted +the picture when quite a young man, for a dealer, and was to receive in +payment £50. The dealer failed, and Mr. Millais found himself in great +financial difficulty, when a stranger called and said, "I understand +you have painted a picture for Mr. ----" (naming the dealer), and asked +to look at it. He immediately bought it, giving £50, and the painter's +difficulties were removed. + +Mrs. Fraser, the wife of Dr. Fraser, the Bishop of Manchester, told me a +good story of Millais. He was painting the Bishop's portrait, and the +picture had reached the stage of the last sitting. Mr. Millais' dog +jumped upon the chair upon which the artist had placed his palette. The +palette fell on to the floor, paint side downwards. Millais was annoyed +and kicked at the dog. The situation had an amusing side which caused +the Bishop to laugh heartily, whereupon Millais looked still more angry, +and exclaimed, "I have painted the wrong man, I had no idea you had such +a sense of humour." The picture, although an excellent likeness, +represents the Bishop as a demure ecclesiastic. Those who remember him +will recollect how genial and full of humour he was. + +When Mayor in 1881, I acted as honorary secretary to a committee +entrusted with the painting of a likeness of the late Charles MacIver. +We gave the commission to Professor Herkomer, who called at the Town +Hall to enquire what sort of a man Mr. MacIver was. I told him that he +was a man of exceptionally strong character, a perfect autocrat in his +management of the Cunard Company, of which he was one of the founders. +Professor Herkomer called at the Town Hall a few days after, and said, +"I am returning home as I have been unable to find the Mr. MacIver as +you described him: he has lost a near relative and appears broken in +health." The Professor called upon me again a few months after and said +"I have found Mr. MacIver, the strong man you told me he was, and have +painted the portrait." The picture hangs in the permanent collection at +the Walker Art Gallery. + +In 1893, when Mr. Robert Holt was Lord Mayor, he received a telegram +from Sir John Gilbert, R.A., saying he wished to present some of his +pictures to Liverpool, and desiring that some one should go up to select +them. The Council was sitting. The Lord Mayor passed the telegram on to +me, and asked me to go up to London. I did so the same day, and called +upon Sir John Gilbert, at Blackheath, the next morning. On my entering +his room the veteran artist said "I see one of your names is 'Bower,' +are you any relation to Mr. Alfred Bower, who married the daughter of my +old friend Lance, the fruit painter." On my stating that I was his +nephew, he replied, "Well, I intended giving Temple, of the Guildhall, +the first pick, but you shall have it for my old friend's sake." + +I found the house stacked with pictures from the cellar to the attic. +Sir John had been painting and keeping his pictures to present to the +nation, together with an art gallery; but he had suddenly changed his +mind, and resolved to divide them between the great cities. I selected +some twelve or fourteen large canvases, which now adorn our art +gallery. Sir John was our greatest painter of historical pictures, and +one of our most brilliant colourists. + +Mr. Whistler came down to hang our Autumn Exhibition one year. He was +most _difficile_, finding fault with every picture brought before him. +We could not get on, and should have had no exhibition at all had we not +hit upon the expedient of offering him a room all to himself, in which +he should hang the pictures of his own choice and in his own way. He +accepted the offer. This room has ever since been filled with pictures +of the impressionist school. + +Upon Mr. Rathbone's death Mr. John Lea became his successor, and he has +done yeoman service for our Autumn Exhibition. For many years he gave an +annual dinner to the artists in London, and he was honoured by the +presence of the leading members of the Royal Academy and their wives. +The dinners took place at the Grand Hotel, and were exceedingly well +done. They greatly assisted us in our work of collecting the best +pictures of the year. + +It has been a great pleasure to us to entertain at Bromborough Hall many +of the artists entrusted with the hanging of the exhibitions. + +On retiring from the Library Committee in 1908, after nineteen years' +service as chairman, I gave an account of my stewardship, which was +reported as follows in the local press:-- + +"In returning thanks Sir William Forwood said it was with very deep +regret that he had to take leave of them as their chairman. He felt the +time had come when the trust should be placed in younger hands. On the +9th of next month it would be forty years since he entered the City +Council, and his first committee was the Library Committee, of which he +was elected chairman in 1890. Much had happened during that time. In +1890 they had only two small branch libraries, and there were no +reading-rooms in the great centres of population. Early in that year the +Kensington Branch Library and Reading-room was opened. The total issue +of books and periodicals at all the libraries was 1,514,545; last year +the issue was 4,417,043, an increase of nearly 300 per cent. These +figures became more striking when it was remembered that the population +during this period had increased only 17 per cent. Not only had the +appetite for reading grown, but the growth had been in a very +satisfactory direction. Whereas in 1890 76 per cent. of the total issues +were of prose fiction, last year this percentage had fallen to 55 per +cent. He did not wish to disparage the reading of good fiction; on the +contrary, he had always contended that the reading of fiction frequently +formed the habit of reading, which would otherwise never be obtained. +They had worked upon this view, and gave to the borrower of a work of +fiction the right to take out another book of a more serious character. +In 1890 the number of our home readers was 7,300; to-day they had +41,000, and during this period they had added 145,672 books to the +shelves. The total issue of books, etc., during the past eighteen years +reached the enormous total of 47,343,035. In place of forty-nine free +lectures, all given at one centre, they now gave 186 lectures +distributed over nineteen centres. + +"In 1890, out of a rate of one penny in the £, they maintained the +Central Reference Library and three branch libraries, the Art Gallery, +and the Museum. To-day, with the rate of a penny three-farthings, they +maintained three greatly enlarged central institutions, ten lending +libraries and reading-rooms, and gave 186 free lectures. They were now +completing the erection of a library at Garston, and had secured the +land for a library at Walton. The encouraging result of the system of +free access to open bookshelves in the Picton and the branch +reading-rooms induced him to hope that the new library at Walton might +be entirely run upon this principle. They had also done a great deal to +encourage juvenile readers and with most gratifying and encouraging +results. Juvenile libraries and reading-rooms were provided, and free +lectures to the young formed an important branch of their work. They had +been very much helped by the handsome gifts made by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, +the collection of fine art books and prints made by the late Mr. Hugh +Frederick Hornby, to whose generosity they were indebted for the room in +which they were now displayed--and the 978 books in the Braille type +contributed by Miss Hornby, of Walton. + +"The growth of the Natural History Museum had been remarkable. +Liverpool received as a bequest from the 13th Earl of Derby a very large +collection of natural history specimens, which was enriched from time to +time by other gifts. The limited space in the Museum was choked by +specimens which could not be properly displayed or scientifically +arranged, and the greater part of the specimens remained stowed away in +cases in the cellars. In 1899 it was decided to greatly extend the +museum by building further galleries over the new Technical Schools. +This extension cost £80,000. This additional space had been entirely +filled by the zoological collections, which had been most carefully and +scientifically arranged by the director, Dr. Forbes, and they now only +awaited the completion of the descriptive catalogue to make this +department complete and worthy of its high reputation. + +"The Permanent Collection of Art had been greatly enriched by the +pictures purchased and also by pictures presented to the city. The wall +space in the galleries was so limited that the work of the committee was +carried on under great difficulty. An enlargement of the Art Gallery was +urgently needed. Under the active chairmanship of Mr. Lea, assisted by +Mr. Dibdin, the curator, the Autumn Exhibition of pictures continued to +grow in excellence; but, notwithstanding this, it was remarkable that +the interest of the public in pictorial art appeared to be on the +decline. Whereas in 1891 the total receipts of their exhibition reached +£4,138, and in 1892 £3,609, last year they were only £3,068; and while +in 1891 pictures were sold of the value of £7,603, last year the sales +only reached £4,446. This falling off was, however, not peculiar to +Liverpool. The art exhibitions in London had the same experiences. It +was no doubt attributable largely to the beautiful art processes by +which pictures were reproduced, which appeared to satisfy the public +taste and destroyed the desire to see the originals. Another cause might +be attributed to the changes which had taken place in the art decoration +of houses, which did not admit of the display of pictures. No doubt in +time a reaction will take place. Art might sleep but it could never die. +It was not thinkable that a love for pictures could for long be dormant; +but in the meantime they must appeal to the Liverpool public for a +generous support to the efforts made by the Art Committee to bring to +their doors every year the very best pictures produced in this country. + +"In looking back over the past eighteen years," remarked Sir William in +conclusion, "I feel very proud of the excellent work done by these +institutions. We have ministered largely to the education and +entertainment of the people. We have carried brightness and sweetness +into many a home, and have done not a little, I hope, to refine and +elevate the masses of our fellow-citizens, and I think we can also claim +to have been faithful stewards of the funds placed at our disposal. In +taking leave of you I thank you all for your kindness and consideration. +To Mr. Holt, our senior member, who has occupied the vice-chair all +these years, I tender my grateful thanks for his help always so +cheerfully given. I am also greatly indebted to our staff for the +assistance they have invariably extended to me, and I wish to especially +record my obligations to our veteran chief librarian (Mr. Cowell), who +has rendered to me the greatest service in many ways, and especially in +keeping a careful oversight upon our finances. If I might take the +liberty of leaving behind me a word of counsel and advice, I would +say--strive always to popularise these institutions; they belong to the +people, and the more they are brought into close contact with the people +the more generous will be their appreciation and support, and greater +will be the amount of real good accomplished. + +"A cordial vote of thanks was tendered to the vice-chairman, Mr. R. D. +Holt, on the proposition of Alderman Stolterfoht, seconded by Mr. +Crosthwaite." + +Of Mr. Robert Holt I could say much. We were for so long, and so +pleasantly associated on this committee, where for over twenty years he +acted as my deputy-chairman. He was most loyal, most kind and helpful. +He had a temperament which shrank from responsibility, and was naturally +critical and hesitating. Yet he was kindness itself, and inspired a +feeling of love and respect. He had considerable artistic taste and +knowledge of pictures. He passed away at the age of 76, deeply mourned +by all his colleagues. Up to the last he was the most punctual and +regular member in his attendance at the Library Committee. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +KNIGHTHOOD AND FREEDOM OF LIVERPOOL. + + +Some two years after the conclusion of my Mayoralty, in 1883, Mr. +Gladstone, the Prime Minister, wrote to me stating that it would give +him pleasure to submit my name to the Queen for the honour of a +knighthood. + +I attended a special Council at Windsor to receive the "accolade." We +were entertained at luncheon, and after waiting about in the corridors +for some time we were ushered one by one into the oak dining-room. The +gentleman who preceded me, being lame, could not kneel, and the Queen +knighted him standing. When I entered the room there was no cushion to +kneel upon. Her Majesty noticed it at once, and exclaimed, "Where is the +cushion?" and A.D.C.'s flew in all directions in search of one. Meantime +I was kept standing, feeling not a little nervous; the Queen apparently +thought it was a good joke, and laughed, for it appeared from the time +occupied in finding a cushion that cushions did not abound at Windsor. + +I received through Lord Claud Hamilton a very kind message of +congratulation from the Prince of Wales, who had evidently been greatly +impressed by his visit to Liverpool. + +Although the honour of knighthood was ostensibly bestowed in connection +with the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the opening of +the new docks, I was semi-officially informed that it was really a +recognition of my work in connection with the Fenian movement. + + +HONORARY FREEDOM OF LIVERPOOL. + +Much as I valued the honour of knighthood, I still more greatly esteemed +the distinction conferred upon me by my fellow-citizens when they +bestowed upon me the freedom of the city--the greatest honour any man +can receive. Other honours are conferred for political and other +services, all more or less meritorious; but to be singled out by those +among whom you have lived all your life in order to receive the greatest +distinction it is in their power to offer is an honour worth living for, +and particularly when its bestowal is so jealously safe-guarded and kept +so entirely free from political bias as it is in Liverpool. It then +becomes doubly precious. It is easy in a great community to make +enemies. Even the very success which may crown one's efforts to do good +may produce them. A unanimous vote of a large City Council is, +therefore, not an easy thing to obtain, and is in itself a great +compliment. I may perhaps be pardoned if I venture to insert a short +account of the proceedings of the Special Council when the Freedom was +conferred, taken from the _Liverpool Post and Mercury_:-- + +"In the presence of a large and distinguished assembly of ladies and +gentlemen, the freedom of the city of Liverpool was yesterday afternoon +presented, in the Council chamber at the Town Hall, to Sir William +Forwood, the father of the City Council. Sir William was first elected +to the Council as a representative of Pitt Street Ward in November, +1868, and nine years later, in 1877, he was promoted to the aldermanic +bench, of which he is still a member. He was Mayor of the city in +1880-81. He is also a member of the city bench, of the county bench for +Lancashire and Cheshire, chairman of the Liverpool County Quarter +Sessions, and a deputy-lieutenant for Lancashire. The Lord Mayor +(Alderman Charles Petrie) presided, and, preceded by the city regalia, +he was accompanied into the Council chamber by Sir Thomas Hughes, Mr. +John Brancker, and Mr. B. Levy (freemen of the city), Mr. R. A. Hampson, +Mr. R. D. Holt, and Mr. T. Burke (the mover, seconder, and supporter of +the resolution of the City Council in favour of conferring the freedom +on Sir William Forwood), Sir William Tate, Sir John A. Willox, M.P., Mr. +A. Crosthwaite (ex-Lord Mayor), Mr. John Williamson, and many other +prominent citizens. There was also a very large attendance of members +of the City Council. Alderman W. B. Bowring sent a telegram regretting +his inability to be present through indisposition. + +"The Lord Mayor, in opening the interesting proceedings said: I have +much pleasure in asking the Recorder, Mr. Hopwood, kindly to read the +resolution of the Council conferring the honorary freedom of the city +upon Sir William Bower Forwood. + +"The Recorder: My Lord Mayor, I read the minute of the Corporation. 'At +a meeting of the Council of the City of Liverpool, holden on Wednesday, +the 4th day of June, 1902, under the Honorary Freedom of Boroughs Act, +1885, present the Right Hon. Charles Petrie (Lord Mayor), and a full +Council, it was moved by Councillor Hampson, seconded by Councillor R. +D. Holt, supported by Councillor Burke, and resolved unanimously that, +in pursuance of statute 48 and 49 of Victoria, chap. 29, entitled an act +to enable municipal corporations to confer the honorary freedom of +boroughs upon persons of distinction, the honorary freedom of the city +be conferred upon Alderman Sir William Bower Forwood, in recognition of +the eminent services he has rendered to the municipality throughout his +membership of the Council, extending over a period of thirty-three +years, during the course of which he has filled the office of chief +magistrate and other public positions with credit to himself and benefit +to the community, and especially for the deep interest he has taken in +the establishment of libraries and reading-rooms in the city.' + +"The Lord Mayor: Sir William Forwood, ladies and gentlemen, it is not +often we meet in this chamber as a Council under such happy auspices as +we are met to-day. We are gathered here with one accord to do honour to +one of our number whom we are pleased to term the Father of the Council, +Sir William Forwood. Not that he is by any means the oldest man amongst +us, but he happens to have been in the Council longer than any other +member. It is now nearly thirty-four years since Sir William was first +returned as member for Pitt Street Ward, on the 2nd November, 1868, and +ever since then he has held a seat in the City Council, and, as you all +know, he has served upon nearly all the important committees of the +Council--for instance, the Finance, Estate, Watch, Water, Library, +Museum and Arts, and Parliamentary Committees. As chairman of the +Parliamentary Committee he rendered very valuable services in the +opposition to the Manchester Ship Canal, and also with regard to railway +rates. But for many years past Sir William has unstintingly devoted his +time and his great ability to the Library, Museum, and Arts Committee. +And I am sure the city is very greatly indebted to him for the valuable +work that that committee has done." + +The Lord Mayor proceeded to enlarge upon Sir William's services to the +city, and in conclusion said:--"I have now great pleasure, Sir William, +as chief magistrate of the city, in asking you on behalf of the +citizens to accept this illuminated resolution of the Council and also +this casket, and I am sure I am only echoing the sentiment of everyone +here to-day, and not only those here, but those outside, when I say that +we wish you long life, health, and happiness to continue in the honour +which you hold. I will now ask you to sign the roll of honorary freemen. + +"The scroll on which is inscribed the freedom of the city is designed +and illuminated by James Orr Marples (Mr. Rutherfoord), Liverpool and +London Chambers, Exchange. The vellum is bound and backed with royal +blue silk and attached to an ivory roller. At the top of the composition +is the Liver crest and tridents between the arms and supporters of the +city, and a view of the Town Hall. Below, on the left side, beautifully +emblazoned, are the armorial bearings of Sir William B. Forwood, with +the crest and knight's helmet, the steel visor raised. On a scroll +beneath the shield is the motto 'Fide virtute et labore.' The civic +regalia and the port of Liverpool occupy the bottom of the design. +Pendant by a broad blue ribbon from the scroll is the official seal of +the city of Liverpool. + +"The scroll was enclosed in a handsome silver-gilt box, decorated with +panel pictures of the Town Hall, Free Libraries, and Museum, in enamels. + +"Sir William Forwood, having signed the roll, said:--My Lord Mayor, +aldermen, councillors, and ladies and gentlemen,--Believe me it is most +difficult, indeed it is well nigh impossible to find words adequately to +convey to you all the gratitude which fills my heart, to tell you how +deeply I appreciate and value the very great honour and distinction you +have so very generously and graciously conferred upon me, or to thank +you, my Lord Mayor, for the very eloquent, kind, but sadly too +flattering terms in which you have made this presentation. The honorary +freedom of the city of Liverpool, guarded by this Council with so much +jealousy, and bestowed with such a frugal hand, is the greatest honour +which this city can confer--it is a unique order of merit, it is not +conferred by the favour of a monarch or minister, but by the spontaneous +and unanimous voice of a great representative assembly, and as such is +not surpassed by any similar order in this country. It is justly +esteemed and valued by distinguished statesmen and philanthropists, and +not less by successful soldiers who in the hour of their country's great +anxiety have turned defeat into victory. How much more, then, must I +prize it, the freedom of my native city, as one born in Liverpool, and +who has spent his life in your midst, and whose only claim to this great +honour is that he has endeavoured to be of some use to his +fellow-citizens. How imperfect this service has been, how much more I +might have done, no one is more conscious of than I am; but you in your +great kindness and generosity have been good enough to overlook my +shortcomings, and are content to recognise only my long services and my +desire at all times to the best of my ability to promote the welfare of +this important community. I thank you most sincerely and with all my +heart; my children and my children's children will, I am sure, look upon +this beautiful casket and the record which it contains with feelings of +pride and gratification. It is an added charm to the presentation which +you have made to me that I am permitted to associate with it the memory +of my late brother, who gave to this city the best of his life, the best +of his thought and work, and died in their service. His memory will be +long cherished by all those who witnessed his public spirit, his long +and his unselfish devotion to the interests of the people of Liverpool. +I remember well the first time I entered this Town Hall. As a boy I had +spent my summer holidays at the Edge Lane entrance to the Botanic +Gardens, obtaining signatures to a petition to the Town Council asking +them to purchase the land adjoining the Botanic gardens for a park. I +obtained 62,000 signatures. I brought the petition down in a cab. I +remember it was too bulky to carry, and it had to be rolled through the +vestibule to the Town Clerk's office, which was then in this building. +That petition was successful, and the Wavertree Park was the first of +those beautiful parks which now girdle the city. My next appearance +within these walls was as the proud representative for Pitt Street Ward. +It serves to mark the flight of time when I call to mind that of the +members of the Council when I entered it in 1868 only three now +survive--Mr. Samuel Greg Rathbone, Mr. Philip Holt, and myself. Mr. +Rathbone is already a freeman, and our roll of freemen would be greatly +enriched if we could add the name of Liverpool's anonymous and great +benefactor. Of the members who have since entered this Council, many +have fallen by the wayside, many have retired into private life, some +have gone forward to the Commons House of Parliament to bear their part +in the government of the country; but a goodly number have, I am glad to +say, remained faithful to the municipal government of the city, +recognising that they can undertake no more noble or useful work. +Municipal work is many sided: it is full of interests; it is very +attractive, and even fascinating; and it brings with it its own reward +in the satisfaction of feeling that you are doing good. It may lack the +glamour and prestige of the Imperial Parliament, but it has this great +advantage: the City Council affords greater opportunities of initiating +and carrying into effect measures for the benefit of the people among +whom we live, and we have the added advantage of seeing the growth and +fruition of our work. Who can compare the Liverpool of to-day with the +Liverpool of thirty years ago without feeling thankful for what has been +done, and proud that he has been privileged to take part in the doing of +it? It seems only the other day we were wrestling with such an +insanitary condition of things that the unhealthiness of Liverpool was a +byword, and the prevalence of drunkenness and crime caused this city to +be alluded to as the 'black spot on the Mersey.' Great social and +sanitary problems had to be solved, which for years defied all attempts +at their solution--it was only when broader and more enlightened views +of municipal responsibility and duty came to the front, supported by a +healthy and more vigorous public opinion outside, that these problems +were grappled with, with such intelligence and determination that the +Liverpool of to-day can challenge comparison with any city in the +world--not only in the excellence and efficiency of its municipal +government and administration but in its enlightened policy in dealing +with insanitary property, housing the poor, the treatment of infectious +disease, and last but not least, in the suppression and prevention of +drunkenness and crime. You have, my Lord Mayor, alluded to the work done +by the Library, Museum, and Arts Committee over which it is my privilege +to preside. This may not bulk very largely in the public eye, but +nevertheless it is very real, and is doing much for the intellectual and +moral welfare of the people, and helping to make their lives brighter +and happier. When we get those additional funds which I hope the +generosity of the Council will give to us at no distant date, our work +must progress by leaps and bounds. While the freedom of Liverpool which +you have so very generously presented to me is the symbol of the highest +honour conferred by a great city, whose ships cover the seas and whose +commerce fills every corner of the globe, it is more than all this--it +is the kind expression of goodwill and approval of friends with whom it +has been my high privilege to work for so many years--an expression +which I greatly value and appreciate, and for which I return you once +again my most sincere and heartfelt thanks." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +POLITICAL WORK. + + +Party politics have always been very prominent in Liverpool, partly no +doubt due to the old Conservative associations, and partly to the +presence in the city of so many Orangemen. Liverpool in my time has been +mainly Conservative, and indeed, except for a brief period, this party +has held the Town Hall and ruled over the municipal destinies of the +town. It is, however, pleasant to recognise the good work done by the +Liberals, who have always taken their share of committee work and most +loyally helped forward the government of the city. The annual fight for +the possession of the Town Hall has not been so much to secure party +domination in the city as to control its representation in Parliament. +This was an important consideration when the city voted as one unit for +its three members. But it is of less importance now that the city is +divided up into nine wards, each having its own representative in +Parliament. The day may come when politics will happily cease to +influence the municipal elections. + +My earliest recollection of a general election is of being present on +the hustings erected in front of the Town Hall. The nominations took +place on the hustings, and the occasion was taken advantage of to ply +the candidates with questions, and the proceedings seldom ended without +some horse-play, the throwing of rotten eggs and bags of flour, etc. Of +those prominent in these early elections I remember Tom Bold, the Tory +tactician; Alderman Livingston, always to the front in a political +fight; Mr. Alderman Rigby, the Blucher of the party. Money flowed +freely, and also beer on the day of the election, and the town was kept +more or less in a turmoil. All must rejoice in the quiet and orderly +character of an election day under the new conditions which now prevail. + +Very shortly after entering the Town Council I was asked to undertake +the duties of "Whip," though we did not then dignify the position by +that high-sounding name; in other words I acted as honorary secretary to +the Conservative party in the Council. The appointment was probably made +at the instance of my brother Arthur, who was already very active in the +political world, but for business reasons could not at that time make +himself very prominent. "Party" politics were never very congenial to +me, although all my leanings were Conservative. I have felt that "Party" +makes one acquainted with strange bedfellows, and induces men to do and +say things from which they would shrink in everyday life; and I think +"party" considerations are carried too far, and the best interests of +the country are too often sacrificed at its call. + +In my early years the parliamentary representation of the borough was +divided, Mr. T. B. Horsfall and Mr. Ewart being our members. I knew them +only slightly. Mr. S. R. Graves defeated Mr. Ewart in 1865. Mr. Graves +had a fine commanding presence and all the address and _bonhomie_ of an +Irishman. He quickly became very popular at Westminster and did +excellent work for Liverpool. His knowledge of shipping was much +appreciated in the House, and it was generally expected that he would be +the Secretary or the First Lord of the Admiralty, but his career was +prematurely cut off, to the great grief of Liverpool; he died in 1873. +His statue stands in St. George's Hall. I was secretary to the memorial +committee. After defraying the cost of the statue we devoted the balance +of the money collected to the endowment of "Graves" scholars at the +Seamen's Orphanage, an institution with which Mr. Graves had been very +closely identified. + +The parliamentary candidates for the vacancy were Mr. John Torr, a +prominent merchant, who stood in the Conservative interest, and Mr. +William S. Caine, another Liverpool man, supported by the Radicals and +teetotalers. I acted as the honorary Secretary for Mr. Torr. The +election was hotly contested, but Mr. Torr was returned by a majority +of nearly 2,000. In those days we paid much court and deference to our +members. They were held in high personal esteem, always received the +hospitality of our leading men, and were never allowed to stay at an +hotel. + +Lord Sandon became our member in 1868, defeating Mr. William Rathbone. +Naturally a very delicate man with a highly strung nervous system, the +representation of such an important constituency as Liverpool was a +source of much anxiety to him. Any subject brought under his notice +became to him a matter of the first and most urgent importance. Lord +Sandon was a true aristocrat, refined in manner and most courteous and +considerate to all. He continued to represent Liverpool until 1880, when +he succeeded his father in the Peerage and became the Earl of Harrowby. + +Upon the death of Mr. Torr in 1880, Mr. Edward Whitley became our +member. Mr. Whitley had for many years been the most popular man in +Liverpool. An ardent Conservative, a good Evangelical Churchman, and +excelling in good works, the name of Edward Whitley was a household word +in Liverpool. He was the leader of the Tory party in the Council, and +was a frequent speaker, but his speeches, though fluent, were not +convincing. Mr. Whitley, although a very diligent member, was not a +conspicuous success in Parliament; he failed to catch the ear of the +House. Few men have done more for their native town or were more highly +respected in their day and generation. He died in 1892. + +In 1885 the party representation of Liverpool underwent an important +change, a partition of the city into nine divisions being effected, each +returning one member. It has seemed to me that this has involved some +loss of individuality on the part of the nine members, and that +Liverpool has taken comparatively little interest in their doings, and I +am inclined to doubt if the city exercises as much influence in the +affairs of the nation, or if our local parliamentary business is as well +looked after. + +The effacement of the private member is due very much to his inability +to initiate legislation. If he introduces a bill it has to run the +chances of the ballot, and if it is a good measure and gets a good place +in the ballot, it is too frequently adopted by the Government, and in +this way the private member loses his individuality and there is little +inducement for him to originate legislation. + +Mr. Rathbone, when he was our member, had an office and a staff of +clerks in his house at Prince's Gate, London, for the purpose of looking +after the parliamentary business of Liverpool, and it has never since +been so systematically and so well attended to. + +The contest for the County in 1868, when Mr. Gladstone and Mr. R. A. +Cross (now Lord Cross) were the candidates, is very fresh in my memory. +The question of the day was the Irish church. Mr. Gladstone delivered a +series of very brilliant addresses, but to the surprise of everyone Mr. +Cross's replies were equally brilliant, and we thought very crushing. We +took the candidates, Cross and Blackburn, in a coach and four, to +canvass Colonel Blundell at Crosby Hall, and Mr. Weld Blundell at Ince. + +I was shortly afterwards made chairman of the Waterloo Polling District, +and in 1880 became chairman of the Southport Division. The first contest +in this division was between our candidate, Mr. John Edwards Moss (now +Sir John Edwards Moss, Bart.), and Dr. Pilkington (now Sir George +Pilkington). It was an uphill fight; Southport had always been a Radical +place, and remained true to her Radical principles. The electors were +very fastidious; they took exception to our candidate wearing rings on +his fingers, and helping himself while speaking to a little sherry and +water out of his flask. We unfortunately lost the election. + +When the next election came round, we had to look about for another +candidate, and tried for several, but they were not attracted to +Southport; in the end we invited the Honourable George Curzon, the +eldest son of Lord Scarsdale, of Kedleston. He had lately been defeated +at Derby, but he was a young man, only 27, with a record of a very +brilliant university career, and had been president of the Union at +Oxford. Mr. Curzon accepted our invitation, and came down to Southport +to deliver his first speech, which was very brilliant, and quite took +everyone by surprise. He was very boyish in looks, which occasioned one +rough Lancashire man to get up in the meeting and exclaim, "Thou art +o'er young for us." Mr. Curzon quickly replied, "If you will return me +as your member I promise I will improve upon that every day I live." + +In moving a vote of confidence in Mr. Curzon I predicted that he would +one day be Prime Minister, he so greatly impressed me with his +intellectual power and great eloquence. + +Mr. Curzon made a splendid and most active candidate. He addressed +meetings in every village in the division, every speech was carefully +thought out and prepared, and his industry was remarkable. When he +stayed, as he frequently did, at "Ramleh," he retired to his room after +breakfast and we did not see him again until dinner-time; he had been +engaged all day working at his speech. He had the gift of taking pains. +We won the election only by a majority of 460. Mr. Curzon remained our +member for thirteen years, until he was appointed Viceroy of India. We +fought three contests, winning each with an increased majority, until at +the last election, in 1895, Mr. Curzon's majority was 804. His opponent, +then Sir Herbert Naylor-Leyland, was formerly a Conservative, and as +such stood for Colchester. He was made a baronet by the Liberals, and +came and fought Southport as a Radical. When he stood for Colchester as +a Conservative he had made abundant use of Mr. Curzon's speeches at +Southport, delivering them as his own, and we did not fail to make +capital of this amusing episode when he stood as a Radical for +Southport. + +Lady Naylor-Leyland was a beautiful American woman, one of the society +beauties of the day, and she created a sensation as she drove about in +an open carriage all decked with roses. But Mrs. Curzon was equally +attractive; she was a bride, and had most charming and winning manners, +and her presence on our platforms was a great help. It was my duty as +chairman to escort her to our meetings, and I remember almost the last +words she said to me on leaving Southport were, "Sir William, I shall +always think of you getting me through crowds." Mr. Curzon occupied a +furnished house at Southport during the election, and I stayed part of +the time with them; and shall never forget Mrs. Curzon's gracious manner +and her loving devotion to her husband. Alas for him and his great +career, she died too soon. She gave her life, I fear, that she might +support her husband in the splendid discharge of his duties in India. + +Lord Curzon has gone into the House of Lords, where he will, I have no +doubt, render great and distinguished service to the country; but had +Lady Curzon lived I feel he would have entered the more congenial +atmosphere of the Commons, and my prophecy that he would one day be +Prime Minister would have been fulfilled. + +The following incident proves the one great secret of Lord Curzon's +success in life has been his remarkable industry. He made a journey to +Persia, and wrote a book which is to-day the standard work on Persia. He +was anxious to make an index, which he could have had done for him for a +small expenditure, but he preferred to do it himself in his own way, and +for this purpose he remained in rooms at Croydon for a month hard at +work, and I believe I was the only person who knew his address. + +The value of Lord Curzon's work in India cannot very well be overstated. +Travelling through India some two years after his return home, we found +everywhere the impress of his remarkable industry and thoughtfulness. + +One day when visiting the _cutcherry_ of a far distant province, we +found the entire system of correspondence had been personally revised by +the late Viceroy. On another occasion, the engineer of a coal mine to +whom I was talking told me that the Viceroy visited his mine and +personally interested himself in obtaining improved traffic facilities +on the railway. On another day, when visiting a palace at Delhi, we +found a number of Italians restoring the mosaics; they informed us they +were still in the pay of Lord and Lady Curzon. I could go on enumerating +instances of his activity and his abiding interest in India. In the +restoration of the old landmarks and monuments in India, Lord Curzon has +done a work which for generations to come will make his name memorable. + +After Lord Curzon retired from Southport we had another election; this +time Lord Skelmersdale, now the Earl of Lathom, was our candidate, and +Sir Herbert Naylor-Leyland our opponent. The fight was a severe one. We +missed the great personality of Mr. Curzon, and although Lord +Skelmersdale was an industrious candidate, and was very ably assisted by +Lady Skelmersdale, we lost the election. After this I retired from the +chairmanship of the division, and was presented by the Southport +Conservative Association with a handsome silver bowl. + +I congratulated myself as a political leader that I was able to +accomplish the conversion of the two largest landowners in the Southport +Division, Mr. Weld-Blundell, of Ince Hall, and Colonel Blundell, of +Crosby Hall. They had been for generations Liberal, and in the 1868 +election Mr. Gladstone stayed with Mr. Weld-Blundell; but in 1886, on +the Home Rule for Ireland question, they both supported Mr. Curzon, held +meetings for us in their villages, and on the day of the election +Colonel Blundell rode down to the poll at the head of his tenants. +These, however, did not all vote for us. They had always voted Liberal +and did not know why they should change because the squire had done so. + +Crosby Hall and Ince were pleasant country houses to visit in the days +of the old squires. It is strange that although the two estates march +together the families have never inter-married since 1401. + +The duties of a chairman of a division, in which both parties are evenly +balanced, are not light, and can only be successfully accomplished if +made personal. The secret of political success lies largely in +organisation, and this must be vigilantly carried on in times when there +is no political excitement, and when there is apparently no reason to +work. A political organisation to be of any value must be continuous and +must be thorough; it is not possible to organise a party on the eve of +an election; you must have trusty lieutenants who know their work and do +it. One of the weaknesses of any party organisation is the number of +loafers, men ready to shout, but who are not capable of steady work. The +quiet, but not very exciting task of looking after the register, +watching removals, and having a careful canvass and cross-canvass of +every elector, is the organisation and work which wins elections. + +We had in Southport many excellent leaders, Mr. John Formby, Mr. +Beauford, Mr. Clinning, and many others I could name, with whom it was a +great pleasure to work, and my political association with the Southport +Division will ever remain with me as a sunny memory. + +I have declined several invitations to stand for Parliament--on two +occasions from Southport, one from Walton, one from Everton, and more +recently one from Westmorland. When in business it was not possible for +me to enter Parliament, as my brother Arthur was already a member; and I +have since felt that if a member is to make any position in Parliament +he should enter the house on the right side of fifty. + +Of late years my Free Trade principles have been a barrier to my taking +an active part on the Conservative side. I did my best to prevent my +friends delivering themselves up to Tariff Reform, and published a +series of letters in the _Daily Post_ on Free Trade _v._ Protection, +which were afterwards published in pamphlet form, and had a very +extensive circulation. + +Economic subjects have been my favourite studies, and I have seen much +of the working of Protection in America. In 1870 I delivered an address +on Free Trade before the New York Chamber of Commerce, and at their +request I repeated this address before the Chambers of Commerce in +Cleveland, Chicago, etc., but with little success. The question of a +Tariff had already become "political." I was present in America during +some of their industrial crises, upon which I addressed several letters +to the London _Times_ and _Standard_. It is difficult to describe the +intensity and the prolonged suffering caused by the over-production +encouraged by Protection, with no outlet save the home market. The only +relief was the "scrapping" of the surplus manufacturing power, which +brought great suffering to the working people. I have since written many +papers on the subject; the controversy does not therefore come upon me +as something new. This is not the place, however, to discuss these +matters, but one cannot understand Liverpool becoming enamoured with +Tariff Reform. Liverpool lives on her shipping and carrying trade, and +whatever else may happen, this is at least certain, that Tariff Reform +must reduce the quantity of imports and exports, and there must be less +freight for our shipping to carry. Tariff Reform may give temporary +prosperity to the manufacturer, but if ever adopted will be a serious +blow to the trade and prosperity of Liverpool, and indeed of Lancashire, +as the cotton manufacturing industry depends entirely upon our ability +to turn cotton into yarn and cloth at the lowest possible cost. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JUDICIAL WORK. + + +I was placed on the Liverpool Borough Bench of Magistrates in 1873; on +the Lancashire County Bench in 1882; on the Cheshire County Bench in +1900; and was made a Deputy-Lieutenant for Lancashire in 1902. + +In 1900 Mr. Aspinall Tobin, on behalf of the Lancashire County Bench, +invited me to be nominated as the deputy-chairman of Quarter Sessions. +Lord Derby had retired from the chair, and Mr. Hugh Perkins had taken +his place, therefore a deputy-chairman was wanted. + +In accepting this invitation, I decided if elected to this important +position to devote myself to the study of the criminal law, and to +qualify myself as a magistrate, as far as a layman could do so. My spare +time for several years was spent in reading the law of evidence and +criminal law, and I also learnt a great deal from my chairman, who was a +very painstaking magistrate, and who very kindly gave me much good +advice. Mr. Perkins retired in 1894 and I was appointed chairman, and +became the only lay chairman in Lancashire, the other three chairmen +being all Queen's counsel. I was also elected chairman of the County +Bench and of the Licensing Justices. + +We had eight sessions in our court in each year, and this with the +licensing work kept us very busy on several occasions. The sessions in +those days lasted seven and eight days, and once even ten days. + +The appeals from the decisions of the City Justices on licensing +questions were very numerous; at one sessions we heard thirty-eight +appeals, and as in most cases they involved the loss of the license +these appeals were fought with great vigour, and Queen's counsel were +generally engaged in their conduct. + +Lord Mersey and the Honourable Justices Walton, Pickford, and Horridge, +practised at our Quarter Sessions. I was gratified to receive a letter +from one of these learned judges saying that what he knew of the rules +of evidence had been mainly acquired in our court. Quarter sessions may +be termed the nursery of the Bar. Young men get their first briefs, +called "soups," at quarter sessions, and are naturally anxious to air +their knowledge of the law, but many have to learn that the theory and +the practice of the law are not quite the same, and that the application +of the theory can only be obtained by practical experience in court, and +this more particularly applies to the rules of evidence. + +In addition to the judges named many eminent King's counsel have made +their first start at our Quarter Sessions. I can recall the names of +Messrs. McConnell, K.C., Steel, K.C., Collingwood Hope, K.C., W. F. +Taylor, K.C., Alfred Tobin, K.C., and F. E. Smith, K.C., M.P. + +For fifteen years we had no deputy-chairman of Quarter Sessions, which +made my position somewhat arduous, as I could not absent myself from my +post. In the end my old friend, Mr. W. Scott Barrett, the chairman of +the County Council, was appointed my deputy, and a better selection +could not have been made. + +No part of my judicial work gave me more anxiety than the licensing +appeals. One naturally felt great sympathy with the City Justices in +their desire to reduce the drinking facilities which had been the cause +of so much misery and wretchedness in Liverpool, but at the same time +the scales of justice had to be held evenly. Whatever our decisions +were, we felt they would meet with severe criticism; but this did not +deter us from doing what we considered to be our duty, though we knew +that our decisions might involve in many cases serious pecuniary loss +and hardship. I am happy to think that our conduct of this very +difficult business gave satisfaction, both to the public and to the +licensees. + +My experience on the bench has not been fruitful in incidents, although +one day when sitting at Petty Sessions in the city a lame woman was +charged with breaking a window by throwing her crutch through it. The +police evidently apprehended that she might use her crutch as a weapon +while standing for her trial in the dock, for she had a bad character, +and they carefully surrounded her; but she was too clever for them, and +managed to hurl her crutch with great force at the Bench. Fortunately, +it fell short and dropped harmlessly upon the clerk's chair, which was +happily vacant. + +At Petty Sessions in 1889 Mr. Scott Barrett sat with me to hear the +charge against Mrs. Maybrick for the murder of her husband by +administering arsenic. The enquiry lasted two days and we committed her +for trial on the capital charge, feeling no doubt as to our duty, though +of course we heard only the evidence for the Crown. It afterwards became +a _cause celèbre_. Mrs. Maybrick was condemned to death, but the +sentence was commuted to penal servitude. She had many influential +friends, and the agitation to obtain her release was continued with +great activity for many years. + + +WALTON JAIL. + +In connection with my duties as chairman of the County Bench, I also +acted as chairman of the Visiting Justices of the Jail at Walton. We +visited every month, inspected the prison, heard any complaints which +the prisoners had to make, sanctioned any extraordinary punishments, +and distributed the funds subscribed to assist prisoners upon their +discharge. During the ten years of my chairmanship, great reforms were +introduced by the Prison Commissioners. The "treadmill" was abolished; +the "cat o' nine tails," which originally was composed of nine strings +of hard whipcord, each string having nine knots, was robbed of its +terror, each string now being made of soft string without any knots, +until, as a warder said to me, "I cannot even warm them up with it." +Although these changes are all in the right direction, I cannot but +think they have gone too far, as among the 1,200 prisoners at Walton +there are many very rough characters, very difficult of control. Walton +is now a great industrial reformatory, with prison discipline and prison +diet. The governor told me he never saw the prisoners work with so much +energy as when engaged breaking up the "treadmill"; every prisoner on +entrance had to do a month on the "treadmill," whatever his sentence +might be, and there is no doubt it was a severe punishment. The only +severe punishment now left is solitary confinement, which is a terrible +ordeal, and its abolition is now under the consideration of the prison +authorities. + +I must tell one good story. Mr. Platt, the head of the great engineering +firm at Oldham, was the High Sheriff, and was inspecting the jail, and +saw on the "treadmill" one of his workmen; he exclaimed, "Thomas, I am +sorry to see you here." Thomas replied, wiping the beads of perspiration +off his brow, "Aye, Master Sam, if they had this 'ere machine in Holdham +they would work it by steam, wouldn't they?" + +One day, when visiting the firewood factory, in which we gave temporary +employment to discharged prisoners, we directed that about a dozen men +should be sent away to seek work, as they had been too long in the +factory. The following week there was an outbreak of burglaries in +Bootle, and the whole crowd were back again in jail. + + +HIGH SHERIFF OF LANCASHIRE. + +The shrievalty of the County Palatine has always been esteemed the blue +riband of shrievalties. Unlike his compeers elsewhere, the Lancashire +sheriff is specially nominated by the King, whilst the office has always +been maintained in circumstances of considerable splendour, and entails +upon the sheriff the arduous duty of attending eleven assizes in the +year, occupying on an average 130 days. The hospitalities attached to +the office are also considerable, for the sheriff has to give a dinner +to the grand jury and members of the bar at each assize. + +Much deference has to be paid to the Judges of Assize, and many points +of old-world courtesy and etiquette have to be observed, which add to +the interest attaching to the office; and there can be little doubt +that the sheriff's turn-out--a coach-and-four, with trumpeters and +javelin men in their handsome liveries of dark blue and old gold--serves +to impart dignity to the administration of the law, and to impress the +multitude with its majesty and power. + +The High Sheriff is the representative of the King, and takes precedence +of everyone in the county, except the Judges of Assize and the Lord +Lieutenant. + +I was nominated to the office in 1893, and again in 1896, but, there +being no one to take my place at Quarter Sessions, I asked to be +excused. It was, however, a position which appealed to me--it seemed to +me to be the coping-stone to my long devotion to judicial work--and when +I was again nominated in 1908, I accepted, and was duly "pricked" by the +King. + +I appointed the Rev. Canon Armour, D.D., as my chaplain, and my son +Miles as the under-sheriff. + +The Shire-reve, or high sheriff, was in the old Saxon days a position of +great authority and power. He not only was the criminal judge of his +shire, but also collected the King's exchequer, and the office was one +which brought considerable profit to the holder. All this has been +changed, the judicial functions and the collection of the King's revenue +have long since been transferred to others; but theoretically the +sheriff has considerable powers left in his hands--the power of arrest +and the charge of the jails in the county, while the empanelling of +juries and all legal processes of every kind are made in his name. He is +also the returning officer at all elections; this in Lancashire involves +considerable work, as the sheriff is responsible for parliamentary +elections in twenty-three divisions, but fortunately for him, the detail +work is discharged by the under-sheriff or acting under-sheriff, of whom +in Lancashire there are three. + +At the Lancaster Assizes in June, 1909, we had an interesting and +picturesque ceremony. We drove up in the State carriage to the castle, +and were received there by the Constable of the Castle, Mr. Dawson, +supported by his two retainers, who were dressed in their costume of the +fourteenth century. We proceeded into the Shire Hall, and the Constable +requested me to hang my coat-of-arms on the walls with those of my +predecessors since 1188. Having done so the trumpeters sounded a +fanfare, and afterwards played "A fine old English gentleman." I then +made a short speech, and the Constable, with similar ceremony, proceeded +to place on the walls the shields of six of his predecessors as +Constables. The Constables go back to the time of John of Gaunt. The +shields of the Sheriffs and Constables are grouped under the shields of +the various monarchs under whom they served, and make a very brave and +interesting show. The Shire Hall was filled with spectators, and the +function was quite mediæval and interesting in character. + +In July, 1909, His Majesty King Edward visited Lancashire to present +the colours to the newly-created Territorial Army. This was a special +compliment to Lancashire, which had very nobly responded to the call +made upon her and had raised a force of 36,000 men. The King and Queen +stayed at Knowsley. In the park 15,000 Territorials were reviewed; and +on the day following their Majesties proceeded to Worsley Park, where a +further 12,000 were reviewed. The high sheriff being a civil officer, I +had nothing to do with these functions as they were military, but we +were invited to lunch at Knowsley and were then presented to the King +and Queen, and afterwards at lunch we had the seats of honour, as it +appears that when the King is present the high sheriff takes precedence +even of the lord lieutenant. It was an interesting function, and in +spite of indifferent weather passed off well. + +One of the pleasantest incidents of the shrievalty is the number of +distinguished and interesting people one meets. Upon the grand jury we +altogether summoned 250 of the leading men of the county, and at our +banquets we entertained, in addition to the grand jury, all the official +world of the county and many others. During my year I had not only the +honour of meeting our late King Edward, but King George, who, as Prince +of Wales, was on a visit to Knowsley. I had some years ago the honour of +escorting King George and the Queen over the Overhead Railway, when I +was surprised and gratified with his interest in commerce, and the +knowledge he displayed of the trade of the port; and in the somewhat +lengthy conversation his Majesty honoured me with last year at Knowsley, +I was still further impressed with his knowledge of Liverpool and his +interest in the construction and movements of our great Atlantic liners. +His Majesty struck me as being very "human" in his thoughts and +sympathies, and ardent in his wish to be in touch with the activities +which make for the advance and progress of the country; and I therefore +look forward to a reign that will not only be distinguished and +brilliant, but in which our King will be found to recognise and +encourage by his interest the efforts of his subjects in all that makes +for the advancement of the country and the well-being of his subjects. + +[Illustration: "RAMLEH," EAST FRONT.] + +The judges at our Spring Assizes this year were Lord Coleridge and Mr. +Justice Hamilton. They spent the week-end with us at Bromborough. At the +Winter Assizes in November we had Mr. Justice Ridley and Mr. Justice +Bray. These Assizes will be memorable as having introduced what will be +practically continuous sittings in Liverpool and Manchester of the civil +judge. + +I have been much interested in sitting on the bench during the progress +of trials at Assizes. It is an education, and one cannot but be +impressed with the great care the judges exercise, and with their +patience and solicitude for the prisoner. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +BLUNDELLSANDS, CROSBY AND BROMBOROUGH. + + +Having already described the pretty suburbs of Bootle, Seaforth and +Litherland, lying to the north of Liverpool, and the little seaside +resort, Waterloo, as they were in the 'forties and 'fifties, we will now +proceed further afield. Two miles to the north-west of Waterloo the +quaint old-fashioned village of Crosby stood, with its thatched black +and white cottages and its old church built of red brick with its square +tower. Between Crosby and the seashore there were no houses. Immediately +to the north of Waterloo, Squire Houghton had built a large house +(Sandheys) surrounded by quite a park, but to the north of this there +was only a long stretch of sandhills until Hightown Lighthouse was +reached. About 1860 Mr. Arnold Baruchson built a large house on the sea +front, which for some years was the only house on the shore, and was the +beginning of Blundellsands. Other large houses followed, lining both +sides of Burbo Bank Road. The splendid air and magnificent marine views +quickly made Blundellsands an attractive place, but it had no roads, +only sandy lanes, and the only approach was the circuitous one through +Crosby. Its little iron church nestled in the sand dunes. Altogether it +was a very quiet, secluded place. We took up our residence at "Ramleh" +in 1871. Shortly afterwards an American friend expressed his surprise +that people who could afford to live in the fine houses he saw scattered +about should be content to worship God in a "tin" church, as he termed +it. This made me think. I called upon the clergyman, the Rev. B. S. +Derbyshire, and put the matter before him, and offered, if he would +accompany me, to go round and try to raise money to build a permanent +church. Our first effort was not very successful, we received promises +of only £1,450; but by dint of begging, bazaars, etc., we eventually got +together sufficient money to build St. Nicholas' church, of which Mr. +Derbyshire was appointed the first incumbent. Before the iron church was +erected a service was held every Sunday by the Rev. S. C. Armour (now +Canon Armour) in a schoolroom at Brighton-le-Sands, to which he +attracted large congregations by his excellent preaching. + +In the slight allusion made to Blundellsands--my home from 1871 to +1898--I have scarcely done justice to its attractions. Probably no place +in the United Kingdom possesses a finer marine prospect. Its wide +expanse of sea, with its background of the Welsh mountains, Snowdon +standing in the far distance, and in the near foreground the constant +parade of great merchant ships and steamers, which pass and repass all +the day long, make a picture which for beauty and varying interest it is +difficult to surpass. + +The Earl of Northbrook, when First Lord of the Admiralty, stayed with us +at "Ramleh," and remarked that when he looked out of his bedroom window +in the morning he was amazed at the lovely view expanded before him, and +could not resist getting up, although it was only seven o'clock, and +taking a walk along the terrace in front of the house. At breakfast he +told us he knew of no marine view so charming except the Bay of Naples. +Of course, it is not possible to compare the two places; each has its +points of attractiveness. + +"Ramleh" was a fine, commodious house, on the sea front. We bought it +partly built; its completion and the various additions we made gave us +much pleasure and delight, and we were greatly attached to it. + + +CROSBY GRAMMAR SCHOOL. + +We had in Crosby an old school, endowed some three hundred years ago by +a Crosby boy who made his fortune in London, a part of which he handed +to the Merchant Taylors' Company for educational purposes in the village +in which he was born. + +The school was established, the old schoolhouse erected, and it was +carried on with varying, but no great success, for over two hundred +years. At one time when the Merchant Taylors came down to inspect it, +they found it had been closed for some years, whilst the head-master was +living at Sefton quietly drawing his salary. Within my recollection the +scholars numbered only fifteen to twenty, and the head-master frequently +adjourned the school in the afternoon to go rat-hunting. But when Canon +Armour was appointed head-master, he at once sought to bring about a +change and extend the area of the school's usefulness. The city property +belonging to the school had meantime greatly increased in value, and the +opportunity appeared favourable to make the school a great middle-class +institution. In this I was in hearty accord with Canon Armour. We called +meetings of the inhabitants to promote a petition to the Charity +Commissioners in favour of our project. The Vicar of Crosby offered very +strong opposition on the ground that we were robbing the poor man of his +school. In the end we were successful, the present schools were built at +a cost of £37,000, and were soon filled with 250 pupils, and under Canon +Armour's able guidance quickly took a leading position for scholarship, +and became celebrated for the success attained by the pupils at Oxford +and Cambridge. Canon Armour made this school his life's work, and right +well he did it. + + +BROMBOROUGH. + +Bromborough Hall became our residence in 1898. It is a very old house +built in 1617, but enlarged several times since, with the result that +the exterior, though quaint, is not pleasing--partly Georgian and partly +an old English homestead; it cannot be said to have been built in any +style of architecture. Fortunately, the entire south front is wreathed +with wisteria, jasmine and clematis, and this makes it harmonise with +the charming old Dutch garden which stretches out before it. The +interior is rambling, but possesses some interesting features. The hall +has a stone staircase which winds round the walls as in old Georgian +houses. It also has a capacious lounge, a minstrel gallery, and a quaint +old oak chimney-piece. It opens out into an alcove which forms a very +pleasant resort in summer; and beyond again is the Dutch garden, which +is bright and gay in spring with tulips and in summer with begonias and +roses. We have a ghost, which however we have never seen, and a priest's +room with a cupboard carved in stone for the chalice and patten. The +charms of Bromborough Hall are the gardens, which cover about thirteen +acres and contain probably the most extensive lawns and the largest +trees in Wirral. The outlook from the grounds across the river Mersey is +extensive and very lovely. The park is beautifully planted with copses +and groups of trees, and being 500 acres in extent, it forms a very +attractive feature. We have a walk three miles in length which passes +through the woods down to the river, then along the river bank above the +red sandstone cliffs, which at this point margin the river, and back +through the woods, which form our boundary on the south. + +[Illustration: BROMBOROUGH HALL, GARDEN FRONT.] + +Although the present house dates back only to 1617, a Bromborough Hall +has existed since the year 1100; this former hall probably stood in the +park, as there are clear indications of a moated grange having existed +there. The present house was built by a Bridgeman, who became chancellor +of the diocese, one of his sons becoming Bishop of Chester, when for a +time the hall was the bishop's palace. Another son was made Lord +Bradford. The hall afterwards passed into the hands of the Mainwaring +family, who for 150 years were the squire rectors of the parish. The +family is now represented by Mr. E. Kynaston Mainwaring, of Oteley Park, +Salop. + +Bromborough was an active village in very remote days. There is strong +evidence that the battle of Brunaburg was fought in its +neighbourhood--this battle was the "Waterloo" of Anglo-Saxon times, and +secured the Saxon ascendancy in England. The story goes that the Danes +were encamped at Bromborough, and were joined by the five Irish kings; +and that Athelstan, hearing of this, marched out from Chester, gave them +battle, and utterly defeated them. The Queen of Mercia afterwards +erected a monastery in Bromborough as a thank-offering for this victory. +This monastery stood for 200 years, but was destroyed in the times of +the Normans. The old Saxon church remained, and was pulled down only in +1822. The Runic stone decorations still exist in the gardens of the +rectory, and from these archæologists say the church must have been +built about A.D. 800. The two large fields which adjoin Bromborough Park +and run down to the sea are known as the "Wargraves," and Bishop Stubbs, +the great historian, stated it to be his opinion that this was the site +of the famous battle celebrated in verse by Cædmon. + +Bromborough was for centuries the chief market town in the Wirral; the +village cross around which the market was held still exists, also the +manor house in which Charles I. stayed after his defeat near Chester in +1645. + +[Illustration: THE OLD DUTCH GARDEN.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +DIRECTORSHIPS. + + +THE OVERHEAD RAILWAY. + +The Liverpool dock estate margins the Lancashire shore of the Mersey for +six miles, and the offices of the shipowners and merchants, who have +their business with the docks, are about the centre. In old days the +difficulty of getting to and from the various docks was greatly +increased by the crowded state of the adjacent streets. 'Buses ran along +the dock lines of rails, but having frequently to pull up for traffic +they proved a very slow mode of conveyance, but notwithstanding this +they carried 2,500,000 passengers each year. The trade of the port was +consequently greatly hindered by the want of rapid communication, and +the expenses of the port were increased by the difficulty of moving +large bodies of men about. Crews were delayed in getting to their ships, +and stevedores and master-porters lost the greater part of the day in +going from dock to dock. + +Under such circumstances much pressure was brought to bear upon the Dock +Board to construct a railway along the line of docks. In the end they +obtained Parliamentary powers, but for years they hesitated to proceed +with the work. + +Some of us thought the Dock Board was unduly timid, and we felt that the +trade of the port was being seriously hampered. We approached the Dock +Board and offered to find the capital to construct the railway. The Dock +Board agreed to our proposals, subject to terms, and Parliament approved +of the transfer of these powers to me as representing the directors of +the proposed new Overhead Railway. In 1889 we issued a prospectus, the +first directors being myself (chairman), Richard Hobson, Harold +Brocklebank, George Robertson, Edward Lawrence, and James Barrow. Our +capital was subscribed for twice over. + +We were fortunate in making our contracts for the ironwork, which we +purchased at the lowest price ever known. Our first intention was to +work the line with steam locomotives, but during the course of its +construction we very seriously thought out the question of electric +traction. There was much to deter us from adopting the new motive power. +It had not been tried on a large scale; there were unknown risks and +dangers, and the cost of the electric equipment would involve an +additional outlay of £100,000. Nevertheless we eventually decided to +adopt electric traction, laying down as a fundamental principle that +everything should be of the best, and that we would try as few +experiments as possible. We were fortunate in having Sir Douglas Fox and +Mr. Francis Fox as our engineers, and Mr. Cottrell as their local +representative. + +We had many difficulties. The Dock Board, very foolishly I think, +refused to allow us to make our structure strong enough to carry goods +traffic. The Corporation declined to allow us to carry our line along +the foot of St. Nicholas' Churchyard and through the Back Goree, and so +avoid our unsightly structure crossing St. Nicholas' Place and +destroying one of the most beautiful sites and vistas in Liverpool. I +have often been upbraided in the Council for this; but nobody could have +done more than I did to avoid it, and the entire responsibility lies at +the door of the Health Committee, of which Mr. Hawley was at that time +the chairman. + +Neither the Dock Board nor the Corporation was sympathetic to our +undertaking. The former called upon us to re-make the entire line of +dock railway at a cost of £60,000, and the Health Committee, for the +privilege of moving one of our columns a few inches outside our +Parliamentary limits, required us to re-pave Wapping at a cost of +£8,000. + + +OPENING BY THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY. + +Early in 1893 the railway was completed and ready for opening, and the +Marquis of Salisbury, then Prime Minister, kindly undertook to perform +the opening ceremony. The opening was fixed for the 3rd February. Lord +Salisbury arrived from London the night before, and came direct to my +house at Blundellsands. We had a large house party to meet him, +including the first Earl of Lathom, Sir William Cooper, Mr. Walter Long, +Lord Kelvin, and a number of electrical experts. + +The National Telephone Company kindly connected the dinner table with +the various theatres in Manchester and in London, and at ten o'clock +each guest took a little receiver from under the cloth and enjoyed +listening to the various performances at the theatres, where the +pantomimes were still running. The Telephone Company had laid special +direct wires from my house to the trunk wires from Liverpool, so that +the telephonic communications were very clear and distinct. + +On a side table was placed a special instrument for Lord Salisbury, +which was connected directly with the House of Commons. He went to it, +and, taking up the receiver, spoke to Mr. Sydney Herbert, who gave him a +report on the progress of the debate on the address. Lord Salisbury was +both surprised and delighted, and said: "I can hear someone talking +about Uganda." It was the first time the House of Commons was ever +connected by telephone. + +The next morning we drove down to the generating station of the +Overhead, escorted by mounted police. Lord Salisbury started the +engines and then rode in a special train from one end of the line to the +other, and afterwards we adjourned to the Town Hall for luncheon. He was +apparently delighted with the function, and said it was a great pleasure +to him to meet scientific men. He was very well up in the details of +electric traction, and minutely examined every part of our machinery. A +few days after he wrote expressing the pleasure the visit had given him. +He said:--"I thank you heartily for a very interesting evening and day +at the end of last week. I hate political functions, but this was a very +different occasion; it was one of the most interesting twenty-four hours +I have passed." Thus was opened the first full-gauged electric railway +in the world, and I am glad to think that electrically it has been an +unqualified success and has proved a great benefit to the trade of the +port. The railway carried in 1908, 9,500,000 passengers. + +It also promised to be a good property for our shareholders. Our +dividend gradually increased; we had paid 5 per cent. and were well +within sight of 6 per cent., when the whole circumstances of our dock +traffic were changed by the Corporation introducing electricity into the +working of their tramway system and extending their lines so as to +parallel the Overhead Railway. We also suffered from the introduction of +the telephone and from the substitution of steamers for sailing ships, +and of large steamers for small steamers, all tending to reduce the +number of men employed about the docks. + +Still I hope and believe there is a future for our little railway, but +it is heartbreaking work to run a railway which does not earn a +dividend. + +We have had many important people to visit our railway, affording as it +does an excellent view of the docks, and we have always arranged a +special train for their conveyance. Among others whom I have had the +honour of escorting over the line are the present King and Queen when +Prince and Princess of Wales. Our most amusing and difficult visitor was +the Shahzada of Afghanistan. He had no idea of the value of time, and +when we arrived at the end of our journey he called for his doctor and +then for his apothecary, and it was useless my trying to impress upon +his A.D.C. that the whole traffic of the line was being stopped while +his Highness took a pill. + + +THE BANK OF LIVERPOOL. + +I was elected a director of the Bank of Liverpool in 1888, and became +the chairman in 1898. It was during my chairmanship that the old bank in +Water Street was pulled down and the new bank built, which I had the +privilege of opening. I also initiated and conducted the negotiation for +the purchase of Wakefield Crewdsons Bank in Kendal. + + +THE CUNARD COMPANY. + +I was elected a member of the board of directors of the Cunard Company +in 1888, and found the work of looking after a great and progressive +steamship company to be extremely interesting. For two years I was the +deputy-chairman. I resigned this position as it required almost +continual attendance at the Cunard offices, which I could not, with all +my other engagements, possibly give. + +To have been identified with the most forward policy in the shipping +world has always been a source of great pride and pleasure to me. + +A few years after I joined the board we built the "Lucania" and +"Campania," steamers of 13,000 tons and 27,000 horse-power with a speed +of 22 knots. They were in size and in speed a long way ahead of any +steamer afloat, and created very general and great interest. + +At the Jubilee naval review in 1897, held in the Solent, a small steamer +made her appearance. She was little more than a big launch, and was +called the "Turbinia"; she was propelled by a steam turbine and attained +an extraordinary speed. We little thought when we saw this boat rushing +about at a great speed that she would create a revolution in the mode of +using steam for high-speed vessels. + +In 1905 the Germans placed in the Atlantic trade several vessels which +steamed 23 and 23½ knots, which secured for them the blue riband of the +Atlantic. About the same time the White Star fleet and other Atlantic +lines were bought by an American combine, and it appeared as if the +whole Atlantic trade was destined to pass into the hands of the Germans +and Americans. The country was much excited at the prospect, and +pressure was brought upon the Government to assist the Cunard Company, +and thus to preserve to the country the "premier" line of Atlantic +steamers. The Government offered to lend the Cunard Company the money +necessary to build two steamers of 24½ knots speed, and to grant to them +a subsidy of £150,000 per annum. These terms being accepted the Cunard +Company had then to determine the style both of boat and engines which +would best fulfil the conditions of the contract. + +Engines indicating 60,000 and 70,000 horse-power were considered +necessary for a vessel to attain the guaranteed speed, and this power +with reciprocating engines would involve shafting of dangerous size; +hence it was decided to appoint a committee of experts to make enquiry +as to the working of the "Parsons'" turbines in some channel steamers +which were already fitted with this new form of engine. After a +prolonged consideration the committee reported in favour of turbine +engines. Meantime, experimental models of hull forms had been made and +tested in the tanks belonging to the Government, to ascertain the lines +which would give the necessary displacement, and be the most easily +propelled. It was eventually decided to build ships of 780 feet in +length by 86 feet beam, having a gross register of 34,000 tons, with +turbine engines indicating 70,000 horse-power. + +The order for one of these ships, the "Lusitania," was placed on the +Clyde with Messrs. John Brown and Co., for the other, the "Mauretania," +with Messrs. Swan, Hunter and Co., at Newcastle. + +The planning of the cabins and the furnishing and decorating of these +steamers gave us much thought, as we were anxious they should be a +distinct advance on anything yet produced. These ships have fully +realised all our expectations, the "Mauretania" having completed four +round trips across the Atlantic at an average speed of over 25 knots. On +one voyage she averaged over 26 knots on a consumption of 1,000 tons of +coal per day, and on another voyage she made an average speed out and +home of 25.75 knots. + +The "Britannia," the first ship of the Cunard Company, built in 1840, +was only 1,139 tons, with a speed of 8½ knots. + + +VIBRATION. + +An amusing incident occurred in connection with the building of the +"Campania." On her engine trial she vibrated excessively, even +dangerously, breaking some stanchions and deck plating. It was decided +to ask Lord Kelvin, then Sir William Thomson, to investigate the cause +of the vibration, and I was deputed to attend him upon the necessary +trials on the Clyde. After several days' trials Sir William announced +that the vibration would all disappear if the ship was loaded down. +Three thousand tons of coal were put on board, and a large party of +guests were invited for the trial trip. It was arranged that the ship +should upon this trip start at a slow speed, at which there was no +vibration, and when the guests were seated at lunch the directors were +to quietly come on deck and the ship be put at full speed. This was no +sooner done than she began to shake from stem to stern so violently that +the whole of the guests streamed on deck enquiring what was the matter, +and the speed of the ship had to be reduced. The vibration was +afterwards cured by following the suggestion of our old Scotch engineer +and altering the pitch of the screws, so that their revolutions did not +synchronise with the vibratory period of the ship. + +Some few years after this event I was invited to dine one Sunday evening +at Balliol College, Oxford. After dinner I was taken into an adjoining +room to wine by the president, Professor Cairns, well known as a great +philosophical thinker and writer. On passing out of the dining hall a +friend whispered to me, "I am sorry for you; the president never utters +a word to his guest." We sat at a small table _vis-à-vis_. I tried to +draw the president into conversation on several subjects, but failed +lamentably. Eventually I asked him if he knew Lord Kelvin. He at once +said he was an old friend; whereupon I told him the story of my +experience on the "Campania." He became quite excited and interested. On +my leaving the room my friend, who was a don on the classical side, +again came up to me, and asked what we had been talking about. I +answered "Vibration." He replied, "What is that? I never saw the +president so interested and so excited before." + + +CASTLE WEMYSS. + +In connection with the building of the "Campania," I have a pleasing +recollection of a visit to Castle Wemyss, on the Clyde, the residence of +the then chairman of the Cunard Company, Mr. John Burns. Mr. Burns took +me to call upon his father, Sir George Burns, who resided at Wemyss +House. He was then a very old man, over 90 years of age, and as he lay +upon his bed he looked very picturesque, with his handsome aquiline +features and his snow-white locks resting upon the pillow. He told me +with evident pride of the early days of the Cunard Company, of which he +was one of the founders, the others being Mr. Cunard of Halifax, Mr. +Charles MacIver of Liverpool, and his brother Mr. David MacIver; and he +narrated his recollections of the old sailing brigs which used to +convey the mails to Halifax, before the days of steamships. Sir George +died soon after my visit, and was succeeded in his baronetcy by his son, +Mr. John Burns, who at the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen, in 1897, was +created a Peer (Lord Inverclyde). He died in 1901, and was succeeded by +his son George, who died in 1905, after holding the title only a few +years, and was succeeded by his brother James, the present Peer. The +second Lord Inverclyde, who was also chairman of the Cunard Company, was +a man of conspicuous ability, with a big grasp of affairs. It was he who +carried through the agreement with the Government, which resulted in the +building of the "Mauretania" and "Lusitania." During these negotiations +he displayed so much energy, tact, and knowledge of shipping, that had +he lived he was marked out for high position in the Government. It has +been my privilege during the twenty-two years I have been a director of +the Cunard Company, to serve under five chairmen--the first Lord +Inverclyde, Mr. Jardine, the second Lord Inverclyde, Mr. Watson, and Mr. +Booth. + + +THE LIVERPOOL AND MEDITERRANEAN TRADE. + +Sir George Burns' reference to the making of the Cunard Company brings +to my mind the story told by my father-in-law, William Miles Moss, of +the beginnings of the Mediterranean steamship trade, which has made for +Liverpool people so many great fortunes. He said that his firm, James +Moss and Co., Vianna Chapple and Co., and John Bibby and Sons, were +engaged in the Mediterranean trade, which they conducted with sailing +schooners and brigs. In 1848 he thought the time had arrived to replace +these by steamers, and his firm chartered a paddle steamer, which traded +to the Isle of Man, for an experimental voyage to the Mediterranean. She +made a most successful voyage to Genoa, Leghorn, etc., and he was so +encouraged that he made a contract to build a screw steamer for the +Egyptian trade to cost £21,000. Mr. Moss invited the heads of the firms +I have named to dinner at his house, in Lower Breck Road, and told them +what he had done, and asked them to take shares in his new venture, and +then passed a paper round the table that they might write down the +interest they were willing to take. It was returned to him with only +£12,000 subscribed. He said, "I told them they were a shabby lot, and +that I would take the balance." This was the first steamer built to +trade between Liverpool and Alexandria. + +Mr. Moss was a very shrewd, long-sighted man, and for years was the +moving spirit in the Mediterranean steamship trade, being largely +interested in Bibby's as well as being the principal owner of the fleet +of James Moss and Co. He was for many years a member of the Dock Board, +in which he was followed by his son and his grandson. + + +THE WHITE STAR LINE. + +The "making" of the White Star Line must always remain an interesting +incident in the history of our commerce. In the 'sixties the Atlantic +trade was in the hands of the Cunard, the Inman, the National, and the +Guion Companies. At this time the Bibby line of Mediterranean steamers +had been most successful. One of the principal owners in these steamers +was Mr. Schwabe, whose nephew, Mr. Wolff, had just started in business +as a shipbuilder in Belfast, in partnership with Mr. Harland. Mr. T. H. +Ismay had recently formed a partnership with Mr. William Imrie, and had +taken over the business of the White Star Line, then engaged in owning +sailing ships employed in the Australian trade. The story at the time +was that during a game of billiards at Mr. Schwabe's house, in West +Derby, Mr. Schwabe proposed to Mr. Imrie that his firm should start +another line of steamers to New York, adopting as their type the models +which had proved so very profitable in the Mediterranean trade, and +offered if they were built by Messrs. Harland and Wolff to find the +greater part of the capital. The scheme thus inaugurated quickly took +shape. Mr. G. H. Fletcher associated himself with the project, and the +first White Star steamer, the "Oceanic," was built, followed quickly by +the "Celtic," "Baltic," "Germanic," and "Britannic." The steamers were +the first vessels constructed with their cabin accommodation amidships, +where there is the least motion and vibration. This proved a very +attractive feature. Mr. Ismay also took a personal interest in studying +the comfort of the travellers by his line, which quickly became very +popular. Mr. Ismay lived to see the début of his masterpiece, the +"Oceanic," the second of this name, but had passed away in 1899 before +the White Star Line became a part of the great American steamship +combine. + + +MR. T. H. ISMAY. + +Mr. Ismay was a remarkable man. He was of a very retiring disposition, +but had great strength of character, with an aptitude for organisation, +he was able to select good men to assist him, and to obtain from them +the best of their work. Mr. Ismay was one of the ablest men of my time. +He declined all honours, and found his pleasure in surrounding himself +with beautiful pictures and _objets d'art_ in his home at Dawpool, and +he was not unmindful of others, for he founded the Seamen's Pension +Fund, to which he was a large contributor. + +To commemorate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, and Her Majesty's +Diamond Jubilee in 1897, grand reviews of the fleet took place at +Spithead. Mr. Ismay invited a large party of his Liverpool friends on +board the "Teutonic" on both of the occasions to see the reviews. At +Spithead the "Teutonic" was joined by a large and very distinguished +company from London, comprising many of Her Majesty's Ministers, the +leaders of the opposition, and men renowned in literature, science and +art. At the first review the German Emperor and the Prince of Wales came +on board, and spent some time inspecting the ship, and especially her +armament. Other Atlantic liners had on board the members of the House of +Lords and the House of Commons. These reviews were very successful, the +great array of battleships being imposing and impressive, although we +could not avoid remarking their small size compared with the "Teutonic," +"Campania," and other liners present. + +The "Teutonic's" trips will be for long remembered for the munificent +manner in which Mr. Ismay entertained his guests, and the perfection of +all the arrangements. + + +SIR ALFRED JONES, K.C.M.G. + +The late Sir Alfred Jones is another of our great shipowners whose +career conveys many striking lessons. Enthusiastic about everything he +put his hand to, intense in his application to work, and resourceful in +finding out the ways and means to success, he had one fault not uncommon +in forceful men--he had not the power of delegation. He would do +everything himself, and the strain was more than even his robust nature +could stand. On my asking him a few weeks before he died why he did not +take a partner, he replied: "I will do so when I can find a man as +intense as myself." + +As indicating his resourcefulness, when he found bananas were not +selling freely in Liverpool, he brought down a number of hawkers from +London with their barrows and peddled his fruit about the streets. On my +suggesting to him that he would make nothing of Jamaica, on account of +the lazy habits of the negro, he replied: "I will change all that. I +will send out a lot of Scotchmen." + +When he travelled to London he was always accompanied by two clerks, to +whom he dictated letters _en route_. Every moment of his time was filled +up, he told me: "My work is done on a time table. A certain hour each +day I devote to my steamers, another to my oil-mills, another to my +hotels, and so on." + +Sir Alfred Jones' name will, however, ever dwell with us as the founder +and most active supporter of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, +which has destroyed the ravages of yellow fever and made the malarial +and waste places of the world habitable. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE CHURCHES. + + +In my young days eloquent preachers were still much in the fashion, and +attracted large congregations, but the building of churches and +appointing to them preachers of eminence as a financial speculation had +happily ceased. The church in Liverpool was largely recruited from +Ireland, and we had certainly many able men, who were not only eloquent +but whose discourses were also very lengthy. The hearing of sermons was +not merely an act of devotion but a form of religious entertainment and +enjoyment, and a short discourse would not have been appreciated. I +remember one very eloquent divine, to whose church it was impossible to +obtain admission unless you were at the door a quarter of an hour before +the service commenced, being when advanced in years removed to another +church. He continued to preach the same sermons with much of his old +fire and vigour, but he emptied the church, for people would no longer +tolerate fifty minutes every Sunday of the old fashioned controversial +discourse. We had in those days many eminent divines, Dr. Lowe at St. +Jude's, Dr. Taylor at St. Silas', Dr. Falloon at St. Bride's, and Mr. +Ewbank at Everton, and most eloquent of all, Dr. MacNeile at St. Paul's, +Prince's Park. He was a great power, both in the pulpit and the +platform, and in the press. Clergy and laity, rich and poor, were +stirred by his eloquent appeals. I never heard him preach, but his +speeches to the boys at the Collegiate on our prize days still linger in +my memory as marvels of eloquence. His presence was very dignified, and +he was stately in manner. He had a profusion of snow-white hair, which +added impressiveness and solemnity to his handsome appearance. He +wielded a giant's strength in debate, and some thought he used his power +without mercy. He died in 1879 at the age of 83. + +In the 'seventies Dr. Forest, who afterwards became Dean of Worcester, +Mr. Lefroy, afterwards Dean of Norwich, and the Rev. Nevison Loraine, +were among our most prominent and eloquent divines; nor must I forget +the Rev. John MacNaught, of St. Chrysostom's, our first broad churchman, +earnest, eloquent, and courageous, but looked upon with much misgiving +and some suspicion. + +The Bishops of Chester were unable to devote much of their time to the +Liverpool portion of their diocese. The result was that the leaders of +the evangelical party became little autocrats in their way. Under these +conditions church life became dormant, and the church narrow and formal, +and wanting in spirituality. Her liturgy and the devotional part of her +services were sacrificed, and made secondary to preaching. This was the +state of things in 1880, when the see of Liverpool was founded. + +Two great influences were, however, quietly operating in the church. The +school of the Oxford tract writers gave prominence to the sacramental +system and corporate powers of the church, which enlisted a new class of +energies in her service, and the publication of _Essays and Reviews_, +although they gave a temporary shock to church people, was productive of +good, by broadening the theological outlook, and inviting that higher +criticism which quickened more interest in the truths of the Bible, and +deepened the reverence for the wider conception of the love of God. + +Dr. Ryle, our first Bishop, was a recognised leader of the evangelical +party, and a prolific writer of church tracts. He was an able preacher, +a good platform speaker after the old-fashioned pattern, and had a very +imposing and apostolic presence. + +Dr. Ryle's work as our first Bishop was a difficult and arduous one. He +tried to be fair and just to all parties in the church, but he was urged +by some of his evangelical followers to take action in restraint of the +high church practices which prevailed in some churches, and to give his +episcopal sanction to the prosecution of the Rev. J. Bell-Cox. He +consented with reluctance. The Bishop at this time frequently came to my +house and I know how unhappy he was at this juncture; not that he in +any way sympathised with the practices sought to be checked--they were +most repugnant to him--but he appreciated the self-sacrificing work of +the high church clergy, and thought that other and gentler means and +methods might be adopted to bring about the desired result. + +In his later years his Lordship's ecclesiastical views became broader +and more liberal. In face of many difficulties he did an excellent and +most successful work in building churches and schools. Beneath an +apparently haughty manner he had a big and kind heart, and those who +were privileged to know him best loved him most. + +I am sometimes asked are church people as good and zealous as in the +days gone by. I think they are more so. They are more devout, more +earnest, more spiritual. They may be less emotional and do not crowd the +churches to hear sermons, but they are to be found in their hundreds at +the Lord's Supper. The church, which was formerly locked up all week, is +now open for daily prayer. The Holy Communion, which was only +administered on the first Sunday in the month, is now administered every +Sunday, and frequently twice in the day. Strong language and swearing +are less frequently heard, and there is in life a diffusion of light and +sweetness, which can only come from the influence of holy things and the +power of love which has taken a stronger possession of our thoughts and +actions. + +The church is broader, has a wider mission, and it stands upon a higher +pinnacle in men's minds. We recognise that men are differently moulded +in temperament and thought, that a national church must within limits +provide the means of worship suitable to all; and that while the simple +conventicle may to some present the most suitable temple of God, others +are happier if their prayers are winged to His Throne amid beautiful +surroundings and to the sound of choral music. + +The nonconformists have always been active in Liverpool, and have had +many able ministers. The most influential of these churches has always +been the Unitarian. I remember Dr. Martineau only as a name, but the +Rev. Charles Beard I knew and greatly esteemed. He was a power for good +in Liverpool, and much of the uplifting and purifying of Liverpool in +the 'seventies was due to his influence. He had powerful supporters +amongst his congregation in Renshaw Street Chapel: the Holts, the +Rathbones, Gairs, Mellys, Gaskells, Thornleys, etc. + +It has often been said that our University had its birth in Renshaw +Street Chapel. It certainly found there its warmest and most active +supporters. + +Hugh Stowell Brown was another bright light among the nonconformists, a +robust and rugged preacher, who did not neglect his opportunities of +advocating higher ideals of civic life and duty. The Rev. C. M. Birrell, +of Pembroke Chapel, was stately in figure and highly cultured; he won +the respect and esteem of all Christian communities. The Rev. Charles +Garrett was a power in Liverpool and the country, as the great apostle +of temperance. + +In the Roman Catholic church there is one remarkable outstanding figure, +Monsignor Nugent, or as he preferred to be known, Father Nugent: priest, +philanthropist, and friend of all, but particularly of the outcast boy +and fallen woman. I could write pages of this worthy priest's great +goodness, his big heart, his wide and tender sympathies, and his work +among the wreckage of society. His memory will linger with us as an +incentive to all that is noble, all that is loving and tender. + +We must not forget the many laymen who have helped forward church work +in Liverpool: Charles Langton, Charles Grayson, Christopher Bushell, +Hamilton Gilmour, Charles Groves, the builder of churches; Clarke +Aspinall, who spent all his leisure in assisting the clergy in their +church and temperance work; and the Earle family. Among the +nonconformists we had W. P. Lockart, a merchant and an ex-cricketer, who +took up evangelistic work in Toxteth Park, and exercised a wide and +great influence among young men. I have elsewhere mentioned the Rev. Dr. +Lundie, and his influence upon the temperance movement; and I must not +omit Alexander Balfour, Samuel Smith, and Thomas Mathieson, all +prominent and most active lay nonconformists. + +To the active efforts of our clergy we owe much of the improvement in +the social condition of our working classes. Their exertions on behalf +of temperance are worthy of all praise; in training the young in habits +of self-control and self-respect, they are saving the child and making +the man who is to control the future destinies of the empire. + + +THE BUILDING OF A CATHEDRAL. + +The see of Liverpool was founded in 1880. There was little difficulty in +raising the endowment fund, thanks to the personal exertions of Mr. +Torr, M.P., and Mr. Arthur Forwood, but the selection of a bishop was a +matter for grave thought. Liverpool contained many low churchmen and +many Orangemen, and it was also recognised that the high churchmen had +done most excellent work. The views of the evangelical party, however, +prevailed, and Lord Sandon and Mr. Whitley were instructed to use every +influence with Lord Beaconsfield to secure the appointment of an +evangelical churchman. In this they were successful. Lord Beaconsfield +appointed Dr. Ryle, whom he had but recently created a Dean, as the +first Bishop of Liverpool. + +The proposal to erect a cathedral was first made in 1887. A committee +was formed; a site on the west side of St. George's Hall--where St. +John's Church stood--was selected, and a design by Sir William Emerson +was approved by Mr. Ewan Christian, the architectural assessor. I was +appointed one of the treasurers to the fund, and at once began an active +canvass for donations. There was, however, a great lack of enthusiasm; +many objected to the site chosen, and the Bishop did not help the cause, +for though he was in a way anxious that a cathedral should be built, he +freely expressed his opinion, both in public and in private, that +additional churches and mission halls would be more useful. We received +promises of only £41,000, and then we had to allow the scheme to drop, +for it was quite impossible to make further headway. I think the Bishop +was disappointed. He was an earnest, good man, and during his episcopate +great progress was made in church building in the diocese, but in his +heart I do not think he was ever enthusiastic in favour of the cathedral +scheme. + +No further steps were taken towards the erection of a cathedral during +the episcopate of Dr. Ryle. When his successor, Dr. Chavasse, had been +consecrated bishop the scheme took shape again, and shortly after he had +been installed at his suggestion a small committee was formed to +formulate a proposal. The Bishop was good enough to ask me to become the +treasurer. I had so ignominiously failed in my first attempt to collect +money that I declined, but his lordship was very pressing, and after +thinking the matter well over I said I would make an attempt to start a +fund, provided no site was selected and no general committee formed +until we had received sufficient promises to make the scheme a success; +and I added that if my conditions were accepted I would give up all +other work for six weeks and devote myself to working up a cathedral +fund. I made those conditions because I found on my previous effort the +selection of a site and a design was a serious hindrance, as they +afforded reasons and excuses for not giving. The Bishop agreed to this +proposal. I wrote six or eight begging letters every night and followed +them by a call on the day following, and I wrote a series of articles in +the daily press, and managed to arouse a considerable amount of interest +and enthusiasm in our scheme. We started our list with a handsome +donation of £10,000 each from Lord Derby, Sir Alfred Jones, and others. +Canvassing was hard work, but Liverpool people were very good and very +generous. In my daily rounds I met with much kindness, but with some +disappointments. Only one man, whose father made his millions in +Liverpool as a steamship owner, was rude and unpleasant, but even he in +the end relieved his conscience by sending in a small donation. At the +close of six weeks' work I was able to announce to the Bishop's +Committee that we had promises amounting to £168,000. We did not, +however, stop at this. The ball was rolling and must be kept rolling, +and before we called a halt we had promises in meal or malt amounting to +£325,000. In this amount are included special donations for windows, +organ, etc. + +The Earle and Langton families most liberally gave £25,000 towards the +cost of the Lady Chapel, and ladies of old Liverpool families were most +generous in their contributions. + +This success would have been impossible of achievement if it had not +been for the wonderful influence of the Bishop. Everyone recognised his +saintly character, his arduous work, and the statesmanlike manner in +which he ruled over his diocese. Perhaps the Bishop's strongest point in +dealing with men is his power of "enthusing" others. He always looks +upwards, and in the darkest days is full of brightness and words of +encouragement. + +The next step was the selection of a site, and this aroused considerable +discussion. There were many advocates for what was known as the London +Road site, at the junction of that thoroughfare and Pembroke Place, a +very commanding position; but as the cost of the site alone would have +been £150,000 it was placed on one side. The sites of St. Peter's and +St. Luke's were considered and pronounced too small. Eventually St. +James' Mount was decided upon as being central and commanding, and +having picturesque surroundings. The fourteen acres comprising the Mount +were purchased from the Corporation for £20,000. + +It was decided to advertise for designs and give premiums for the two +best, and Mr. Norman Shaw, R.A., and Mr. Bodley, R.A., were appointed +assessors. + +Many designs were sent in and exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery. From +these the assessors selected the design of Mr. Gilbert Scott, a young +man of only 19, a grandson of the great Gothic architect, Sir Gilbert +Scott, R.A. It was a design which did not commend itself entirely to the +committee, and Mr. Scott being a Roman Catholic it was feared some +objection might be taken, and the committee very wisely decided to link +Mr. Bodley, R.A., with Mr. Scott as joint architects--a very happy +combination, for while we secured the genius of Mr. Scott, we also +secured the ripe experience and exquisite taste of Mr. Bodley. + +We elected the Earl of Derby as our president, and I was made the +chairman of the executive committee, a position of much honour and of +absorbing interest, but involving considerable responsibility. We were +fortunate in having on the committee Mr. Arthur Earle, who has rendered +yeoman service both in collecting funds and finding donors of the +windows. We have also received great assistance from Mr. Robert +Gladstone, the deputy-chairman, and Mr. F. M. Radcliffe. + +We had some difficulty with our foundations, as part of the Mount was +made-ground, and the rock when we reached it was very friable. The +consequence was that on the east side we had to go down forty, and even +fifty feet before we obtained a satisfactory foundation. The +foundations for the Choir, Lady Chapel, Vestries, and Chapter House cost +£40,000. + + +FOUNDATION-STONE LAID BY THE KING. + +It was decided to invite the King and Queen to lay the foundation-stone, +as it was the only cathedral likely to be built in this century. The +King graciously consented, and fixed the afternoon of July 19th, 1904, +for the ceremony, the arrangement being that he was to come down from +London in the morning, lunch with the Lord Mayor at the Town Hall, and +afterwards lay the foundation-stone; and on the conclusion of the +ceremony embark upon the royal yacht in the river to proceed to Cardiff, +_en route_ to open the waterworks constructed in South Wales for the +supply of Birmingham. The arrangements for the foundation-stone laying +required much thought, as my experience has taught me that "functions" +are successful only if every detail is well thought out beforehand. + +Around the foundation-stone a huge amphitheatre of wood was constructed +capable of seating 7,000 persons, and in the centre we erected an +ornamental dais upon which the King and Queen were received and where +they stood during the religious service; and in front of the dais, about +thirty feet away, the foundation-stone stood ready for lifting and +laying. We also formed a choir of 1,000 voices to take the musical part +of the service, led by the band of the Coldstream Guards. + +The day was beautifully fine and the city splendidly decorated, quite a +royal day. Lord Derby and the High Sheriff met their Majesties on their +arrival at Lime Street Station, when presentations were made to their +Majesties. The King was in the uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet; Lord +Derby appeared as Lord-Lieutenant, and uniforms and court dress were +worn by the guests. Their Majesties proceeded from the station to the +Town Hall, where a very select company was assembled. After luncheon the +King knighted the Lord Mayor, who became Sir Robert Hampson. At Lord +Derby's request I proceeded to the site to receive their Majesties on +their arrival, and afterwards had the honour of presenting the +architects and the members of the committee. + +The service was conducted by the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of +Liverpool and Chester. It was grand and majestic, worthy of the +occasion. Most of the bishops of the northern province were present in +their robes, and also about 300 of the clergy. At the conclusion of the +service the King expressed to me his great satisfaction, and the Queen +did the same, adding that the music was beautifully rendered. Everything +passed off well, but during the service heavy banks of clouds began to +gather, and the royal party had scarcely left the site when the rain +fell. + +[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL, LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL.] + + +CONSECRATION OF THE LADY CHAPEL. + +The consecration of the Lady Chapel took place on Wednesday, 29th June, +1910, St. Peter's Day, and was a most imposing and impressive ceremony. +The Lord Bishop conducted the service, the Archbishop of York preached +the sermon, and they were supported by the Archbishop of Dublin and +twenty-four other bishops, all wearing their convocation robes. There +was a large assembly, the difficulty being to accommodate all who wished +for seats. + +The Bishops' procession was formed in the vestries, and was composed of +the Chapter and Clergy, the Cathedral Choir, the Bishops and their +Chaplains, the Bishop of the Diocese, and the Archbishop of York. The +procession marched round the chapel through the street to the door of +the Lady Chapel, the choir singing an appropriate anthem. Arriving at +the door, after the recital of some prayers, the Bishop knocked, +demanding admission. Upon entering the church, the Earl of Derby, the +president, in his chancellor's robes, and attended by Mr. Arthur Earle, +Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Radcliffe, Sir Robert Hampson, and myself, as the +chairman, advanced and handed the Bishop a request that he would +consecrate the chapel, and also a deed conveying the chapel and its site +to the Bishop and the Chapter. The procession then proceeded to their +places in the choir, and the service commenced, the musical part being +beautifully rendered by the choir, Mr. Burstall presiding at the organ. +The service was interesting and quaint, especially the blessing by the +different bishops of the various votive offerings. The Archbishop +preached a most eloquent sermon, taking as his text: Habakkuk 2nd +chapter, 20th verse, "The Lord is in his holy temple: let the whole +earth keep silence." The consecration was followed by a luncheon at the +Town Hall. An octave of special services was held in the chapel in the +following week, at which several bishops preached. + +This is not the place to describe the architectural features of the Lady +Chapel, but it seems to have won the admiration of all by its charming +proportions, its chaste but rich beauty, and its quiet, devotional +feeling. + +The gifts to the chapel by the Earle and Langton families were both +numerous and costly; and of the total cost of the chapel, about £70,000, +these families generously contributed nearly one-half. Their offerings +were supplemented by those of other friends, so that the chapel when +opened was complete in every detail, and with every accessory. + +To the Dowager Countess of Derby and her committee of lady workers, with +Miss Stolterfoht as secretary, we are indebted for the beautiful +embroideries which do so much for the adornment and enrichment of the +choir. + +We launched this first and great instalment of the cathedral "in humble +thankfulness to Almighty God that He has prospered our handiwork, and +pray that in this holy and beautiful house prayer and praise may be ever +offered unto Him; that He will assist with His blessing our effort to +complete the cathedral for His Glory; that He will endue with wisdom the +heads that guide, preserve from evil the hands that work, provide the +silver and gold, and carry to a glorious completion the building thus +begun." + + +YORK HOUSE OF CONVOCATION. + +In 1902 the Lord Bishop was good enough to nominate me as a member of +Convocation. We met at York once each year, when the clergy held their +meetings within the precincts of the cathedral, and the laymen in a +temperance hall. Our debates were purely academical and bore no fruit, +and no notice was taken of us by the Archbishop or the cathedral +authorities. If the clergy and laity were to meet together, Convocation +would have a reality and a value, for if nothing should come of their +public discussions they would at least get to know each other, and an +interchange of ideas could not be otherwise than advantageous to both. +Under the rule of Archbishop Lang I have no doubt Convocation will +become a very valuable institution. + + +CHURCH CONGRESS. + +The opportunity was afforded me to take part in several meetings of the +Church Congress. At some I read papers and at others I was a special +speaker. The most interesting congress was the one held in Exeter in +1894, when I was the guest of Bishop Bickersteth, at the Palace. The +other guests at the Palace were Dr. Temple, then Bishop of London; Dr. +Wordsworth, Bishop of Salisbury; Dr. Gott, Bishop of Truro; and Lord +Cross. + +We were all much interested with the rugged intellectual power of the +Bishop of London. His epigrammatic utterances interjected into our +after-dinner talk were full of wisdom, and often bubbled over with +quiet, quaint humour. Many stories were told of the Bishop when he was +the Bishop of Exeter; of the kindness which was concealed under his +brusque, outspoken manner, and his remarkable influence for good. He +delivered at Exeter a striking and very forcible address upon +temperance. His eyesight was already very defective and Mrs. Temple had +to lead him about. To the surprise of everybody he not only became +Archbishop of Canterbury, but will also be remembered as one of our +great archbishops. + + +NEW YORK CATHEDRAL. + +When in New York I had the opportunity of visiting their cathedral, the +construction of which had been recently commenced. The clerk of the +works took me into a room to show me the model of the cathedral, and he +also showed me a list of cathedrals with their principal dimensions. At +the foot of the list came the New York cathedral, the largest of all. I +said to him, "You have forgotten one cathedral, the Liverpool +cathedral." He replied, "So I have; where will it come?" I told him to +put it at the bottom. He looked at me for a few moments in evident +surprise, and said, "Is it to be larger than New York?" and on my +answering "Yes" he replied, "Oh, we will make that all right; we will +add another bay to our nave." I thought this was truly American, a +determination not to be beaten. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +PHILANTHROPY, CHARITABLE AND SOCIAL WORK. + + +In no department of Liverpool life has more distinct progress been made +than in its social regeneration. Liverpool was always liberal and +generous in her charities, but there was an absence of enlightenment in +her municipal administration, and an utter failure to realise the social +degradation in which so many of her people lived; her streets in the +'sixties were not fit places for respectable people after dark, while +the neighbourhood of the Sailors' Home at all times of the day was a +place to be avoided. Liverpool was known as the "black spot" on the +Mersey, and well earned that title. + +It is difficult to make people sober or moral by act of parliament, and +the Liverpool people did not wait for Parliament, but aroused and set in +motion a strong public opinion, which demanded radical social changes. +The town had been flooded with licensed public-houses at a time when Mr. +J. R. Jeffery, Mr. Robertson Gladstone, and other justices advocated the +free license system, and the increased competition in the sale of drink +had led to many evils. The justices thought that by extending licences +they would do away with what was called the "gin palace," as it would no +longer be worth the publican's while to invest large sums of money to +make his house attractive and alluring. The multiplicity of licences, +however, increased intemperance to such an extent that in 1874 things +were so bad that the _Times_ commented on the dreadful moral condition +of Liverpool, and its unparalleled death-rate, as indicating that "the +leading inhabitants were negligent of their duties as citizens." The +public conscience was aroused, and a band of very earnest temperance +men, headed by Mr. Alexander Balfour, the Rev. Dr. Lundie, and Mr. Sam. +Smith began a crusade against the licensing justices and the Watch +Committee, whom they considered to be sympathetic with the drink +"trade," and a Vigilance Committee was formed. The struggle was a long +and fierce one, but great reforms have taken place. The streets of +Liverpool have been purified, and the temptations to drink have been +largely reduced. The name of Alexander Balfour will ever stand out +prominently as the chief of this movement, in the days when strong men +were wanted to lead, and in these latter days Sir Thomas Hughes is +entitled to much credit for the firm and consistent manner he has ruled +over the licensing bench. + +Liverpool now breathes freely, and is no longer "the black spot" on the +Mersey. + +Throughout this long and angry controversy the Conservative party +occupied a difficult position. Many of its most active supporters were +connected with what is termed the "trade," they were endeavouring to +conduct a very difficult business respectably, and in conformity with +the licensing laws, they have also been called upon to make large +sacrifices. The Conservative party were always sympathetic with the +"trade," and felt that the measures meted out to them were unduly harsh, +but have always recognised that something heroic must be done to win +back the city's good name. It is regrettable that a great and +much-needed social reform should have become so much mixed up with party +politics, but under the circumstances it was perhaps unavoidable. + +The reforms which have taken place owe much of their success to our +press. _Porcupine_ in the 'seventies, under the editorship of Hugh +Shimmin, was their active and strong advocate; and more recently the +_Daily Post_ under the direction of Sir Edward Russell, has also done +good service, and sad to say, both editors had to appear in the law +court to vindicate their actions. + +While this movement to exercise increased supervision over public-houses +and to diminish their number was in progress, the City Council was +actively engaged in the problem of not merely demolishing insanitary +property, but of replacing the rookeries thus destroyed by suitable and +well designed houses. This new policy began in 1885, when the group of +dwellings known as Victoria Square was erected. This good work has +proceeded rapidly, and the Corporation has already expended considerably +over £1,000,000 in this direction. + +Perhaps no one obtains such a full insight into the charitable and +philanthropic work of the city as the Lord Mayor. He is called upon to +preside over annual meetings of some ninety of our charities, and is +brought into close contact with the many smaller societies, doing what +they can for bettering and brightening the lives of the people. Whatever +may have been the shortcomings of Liverpool in other respects, her +people have always liberally supported her charities, and these have +been far-reaching and generous in the benefits they have conferred upon +the community. + +In the wide realm of philanthropy Liverpool has had many active workers, +for the most part unknown to fame, who plod away day after day in our +slums, with no prospect of reward, save the satisfaction of doing +something to ameliorate and brighten the lives of others. Recently a +short paragraph in a newspaper told us of the death of a clergyman who +had a distinguished university career, and who for twenty-four years +lived and worked unknown in the by-ways of Liverpool, attached to no +church, but doing what he could to uplift those around about him--and +there are many such. Among our workers in the good cause of +philanthropy we have had Mr. Edward Whitley, M.P., Mr. Clarke Aspinall, +Mr. Christopher Bushell, Mr. William Rathbone, M.P., Mr. William +Crosfield, Mr. Charles Langton, Canon Major Lester, and Monsignor +Nugent. + +Mr. William Rathbone was not only an ideal local member of Parliament, +but for more than half a century he was foremost in every good work in +Liverpool. As a member of the Select Vestry he made the poor laws a +special subject of study. In the founding of our University, and the +District Nursing Association (the first in the country) Mr. Rathbone +rendered a great service. + +Mr. Christopher Bushell was another leader of men; tall and dignified in +appearance and a good speaker, he was active in the cause of +philanthropy in support of the church and of education. + +Nor must we forget the many ladies who have devoted their energies to +charitable and philanthropic work. Miss Calder has accomplished great +things for the school of cookery, and we have Miss Melly and Miss +Rathbone working for the Kyrle Society. The late Countess of Lathom was +ever ready with her handsome and distinguished presence and eloquent +voice to help forward every good work. Only a few months before she met +with her sad and tragic death she said to me, "When I am gone you must +write as my epitaph, 'She opened bazaars.'" Liverpool has had few +friends more devoted or more capable than the late Lady Lathom. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE SEAMEN'S ORPHANAGE, ETC. + + +On the death of Mr. Alfred Turner in 1896, I was made president of the +Seamen's Orphanage. The detail work of the institution is carried on by +the chairman of the committee. The first chairman was Mr. Robert Allan, +whose devotion to the interests of the institution was beyond all +praise. On his retirement his place was filled by Mr. J. H. Beazley, one +of the sons of the founder, the late James Beazley. No institution in +the city of Liverpool is doing a better or a nobler work. We can all +realise how much our safety, and how greatly our prosperity as a nation, +depend upon our sailors, yet we scarcely appreciate how little chance a +sailor has of saving money for a rainy day, and how entirely dependent +his widow and family generally are upon public support. + +The institution is worked upon right lines; a high moral and religious +tone is inculcated, and the children are brought up to be good Christian +boys and girls and to take a pride in their school. I do not know +anything more refreshing than to visit the school, with its hundreds of +bright, joyous children, all so glad to make you welcome with their +cheery "Good morning, sir!" + +Our anniversary Sunday is a red-letter day in the institution, the +sermon being preached by a bishop. After the service an inspection of +the institution is made. It has been my privilege to entertain the +bishops during their visit, and we have had staying with us the Bishops +of Carlisle, Hereford, Bangor, Sodor and Man, Manchester, and the +Archbishop of York. + + +THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON MOTORS. + +The advent of the motor vehicle, driven by an internal combustion +engine, was remarkable for its suddenness and its rapid development. + +The motor was only in the experimental stage in 1896, yet four years +later several thousand were on the roads, and this number increased in +another five years to 60,000. That vehicles should be driven along the +public highways at thirty and forty, and even fifty miles an hour, was +subversive of all ideas of what was prudent and safe, and when these +vehicles set up clouds of dust in their progress, there was a public +outcry. This was fully justified, for the speed at which motors were +driven was undoubtedly excessive. On the other hand, the public did not +realise the complete control which the drivers could exercise, even at +high speeds. + +The Government, in response to the popular demand in 1905, appointed a +Royal Commission on Motors, of which I was nominated a member. Viscount +Selby was appointed the chairman, and the other members were the Marquis +of Winchester, Sir Edward Henry, Chief of the Metropolitan Police, Sir +David Harrel, K.C.B., and Mr. Munroe, C.B., of the Local Government +Board. + +We held about fifty sittings, extending over a year, and examined over +sixty witnesses, representing the Highway Authorities, the various motor +clubs and manufacturers, and a large number of persons who were opposed +to the use of motors on the high roads, unless limited to a low rate of +speed. + +The enquiry was interesting and instructive. It brought out the fact +that much as many people object to motors, they one and all agreed that +they had come to stay. It was also proved that since railways had +withdrawn the heavy traffic from the highways, the roads had been +allowed to fall into poor condition, and to this could be attributed +some part of the complaints as to dust. I was personally in favour of +limiting the speed to twenty-five miles an hour in the open and ten +miles through towns and villages; but as all the other members of the +Commission felt that in the open country we should rely upon the powers +of the present Highway Act, which makes it a serious offence to drive at +a speed causing danger to the public, and were in favour of a no-speed +limit, except through villages, I gave way so that our report might be +a unanimous report. We made a long list of recommendations for the +better regulation of motor traffic. I am glad to say our report was well +received, and although no bill has been introduced to give legal force +to its recommendations, they are being very generally acted upon. + +I have often since regretted that I did not press my recommendation +restricting the speed in the open to twenty-five miles an hour, as I +feel it would have largely solved the speed question. The powers under +the Highway Act would still have remained, compelling motorists to drive +at all times with due regard to public safety. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE EARL OF DERBY. + + +APPOINTMENTS TO THE COUNTY BENCH. + +I was brought into such frequent contact with the late Lord Derby, in +connection with my duties as chairman of Quarter Sessions, that I should +like to add a few words of appreciation of his lordship's great kindness +and consideration. I must, however, in order to make my story quite +clear, preface my remarks by a reference to the late Earl of Sefton, who +was the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire for so many years. Lord Sefton in +his appointments to the bench, took an infinite amount of trouble to +select good men, and men who when appointed would do their work. He was +good enough frequently to consult me, and I certainly did my best to +support him in his choice of suitable men for the office of magistrate, +which I hold to be a position of importance and responsibility. + +It is not generally recognised that magistrates are endowed with very +great power over the liberties of the people, and they ought therefore +to be selected with great care. Two magistrates sitting at Petty +Sessions have in a sense more power than a judge sitting at an Assize. +They not only determine the guilt of the prisoner, but can and do +impose considerable terms of imprisonment. At the Assizes the jury +decide if the prisoner is guilty, the judge only awards the punishment. + +Lord Sefton unfortunately made a mistake in some of his appointments to +the Salford Division. He was, however, entirely free from blame. +Erroneous information was given to him, and he made, quite unawares, +some political appointments. He added to the bench the names of several +Conservative politicians, which gave great offence to the Liberal +Government then in power. Mr. Bryce, then Chancellor of the Duchy, +wished to rectify the mistake by insisting upon Lord Sefton appointing a +number of active Liberals. This he declined to do, and it led to a +deadlock. Lord Sefton threatened to resign, and would have done so had +we not been able to build a bridge over which both he and the Chancellor +were able to retire without loss of dignity. I was much helped in these +negotiations by my friend, the late Mr. Robert D. Holt. + +Upon Lord Sefton's death Lord Derby was appointed the Lord Lieutenant. +Naturally a timid man, he was very anxious to avoid the mistake made by +his predecessor, and for several years he created no new magistrates in +some Petty Sessional Divisions, and the administration of justice was +rendered most difficult through the lack of justices. + +I was at this time frequently at Knowsley, and spent hours in going over +lists of names with his lordship, and always came away with a promise +that some appointments should be made forthwith, but still he hesitated. +It was quite impossible to feel disappointed. Lord Derby was always so +courteous and kind, and one could not help feeling that his hesitation +arose from his extreme conscientiousness and high sense of duty, and +also one could not fail to recognise that his task was delicate and +difficult. + +When the Liberal Government came into office in 1905, they set about to +adjust the inequality between the political parties as represented on +the bench, and the Lord Chancellor practically made all the +appointments, the Lord Lieutenant merely confirming. Under this +arrangement the bench in Lancashire has been greatly increased, but I +doubt if its status has been maintained. + +Lord and Lady Derby from time to time extended great kindness to us, +Lady Derby frequently inviting us to dine and sleep at Knowsley, to meet +her distinguished guests. In this way we had the opportunity of meeting +the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Lord Chancellor (Lord Halsbury), +the Prime Minister (Mr. Balfour), and others. The hospitality of +Knowsley is proverbial, Lord and Lady Derby were ideal host and hostess, +and we have paid no pleasanter visits than those to Knowsley. + +When Lord Derby was elected Lord Mayor of Liverpool I was asked to act +as his deputy, as it was not expected that his lordship would do more +than the formal and official work. For some time I called at the Town +Hall every morning to see if I could be of any service, but I quickly +discovered that Lord Derby was not going to discharge his duties in a +perfunctory manner, and my services were required very little. I +remember on one of my visits his lordship telling me his horse was the +favourite for the Oaks, which was to be run on the day following. I +begged him to go up to see the race, but he replied his first duty was +at the Town Hall. + +The race was run, and Lord Derby's horse won. I often narrated this +episode as a proof of his lordship's devotion to his duties, and once in +his presence, when he intervened and said: "Do not give me too much +credit; I must confess the temptation to see my horse win was too strong +for me. I went up by the midnight train, and returned by the first train +after the race." + +Lord Derby proved a most excellent Lord Mayor, and the debates in the +Council were never before--and have never since been--conducted with so +much decorum and dignity. The hospitality of the Town Hall was +maintained on a splendid scale. Lady Derby took a keen personal interest +in all the arrangements, and her own charming personality contributed +greatly to the popularity and success of his lordship's year of office, +which I have also reason to believe he greatly enjoyed. + +It may be interesting to narrate how Lord Derby became Lord Mayor. I +had heard it stated that his brother and predecessor in the title had +often expressed his wish that the old tradition of the family might be +revived, and that he might be asked to become Mayor of Liverpool; and +bearing this in mind I ventured one day to mention the subject to Lord +Stanley. I found it not only interested him greatly, but he said he was +sure his father would appreciate the honour, provided it was the +unanimous wish of the Council. I mentioned the matter to our leader in +the Council, and an early opportunity was availed of to elect Lord Derby +as the first Lord Mayor of the extended Liverpool. + +By the death of Lord Derby, Liverpool sustained a grievous loss. He had +filled many great public positions--Governor-General of Canada, +Secretary of State for War--but in no position did he do more useful +work than in the management of his own vast estates, and in furthering +good work of every description round and about Liverpool. He fully +realised that great responsibility attached to his position, and he +devoted himself to the discharge of his many duties in the county and in +Liverpool with an assiduity and earnestness which won the admiration of +all, while all were fascinated by his great courtesy and old-world charm +of manner. + +Lord Derby took a deep and active interest in the building of the +cathedral, always making a point of attending our meetings when in +Liverpool, and his encouragement and wise words of advice were most +helpful. + + +PRINCE FUSHIMI OF JAPAN. + +In June, 1907, I received a letter from Sir Edward Grey, the Secretary +of State for Foreign Affairs, asking me if I could entertain at +Bromborough Hall the Prince Fushimi of Japan, a royal prince, who was +visiting England on a special mission from the Emperor. I replied that, +while I should be delighted to do all I could to extend hospitality to +the Prince, I could only place ten bedrooms at his disposal. Sir Edward +Grey replied that as the suite comprised twenty-two he had asked Lord +Derby to invite the Prince to Knowsley, but would be glad if I would +make the necessary arrangements for his visit to Liverpool. This was +followed by a letter from Lord Derby asking me to send to his +comptroller a list of the guests I thought he ought to invite, +intimating that he could put up thirty and dine forty all told. I made +out a purely official list, and arranged for the Lord Mayor to give the +Prince a luncheon at the Town Hall, and for the Dock Board to take him +in their tender for a sail on the river, and afterwards to proceed to +Knowsley. + +The suite in attendance on the Prince was most distinguished, including +the Grand Chamberlain to the Emperor, the Admiral who had been Minister +of Marine during the Russo-Japanese war, the General who commanded the +cavalry during the war, and many other men of eminence. They mostly +spoke English, and were very interesting. They were charmed with the +park at Knowsley, and were familiar with the history of many of the +great personages whose portraits were displayed upon the walls of the +Knowsley dining-room. They asked innumerable questions, and among other +things wanted a plan of Knowsley. The only plan Lord Derby could produce +was a plan made to show the drainage system. Strange to say, they were +delighted with it. + +The following morning, shortly before leaving, the Prince came +downstairs, preceded by two of his suite, bearing a beautiful cabinet, +which he placed at Lady Derby's feet, a present from the Emperor. Lady +Derby was much gratified, and said she was more than repaid for all the +trouble she had taken in opening the house and bringing all the +servants, carriages, and horses from London, adding, "They are such +perfect gentlemen." + +Knowsley was in the hands of the painters, and, being in the middle of +the London season, it was not an easy thing to arrange to entertain the +Prince; but as the King had expressed a wish that Lord Derby should be +his host, it had to be done. Liverpool had a good friend in the late +Lord Derby, and no one will ever know the trouble he took to entertain +royal and distinguished visitors to Liverpool, oftentimes at +considerable personal inconvenience. + +During the war between Russia and Japan, it was for long a question if +the fleet of Japan would be strong enough to meet the Russian fleet. At +the close of the war it came out for the first time that the most +powerful ship in the Japanese fleet had in the early days of the war +been blown up by a mine, with the loss of 800 lives. I ventured to ask +the Minister of Marine how they managed to keep the secret so well. He +simply replied, "Our people are very patriotic." I also asked the +general who was in command of the cavalry how it was that their great +strategical movements did not leak out. He answered with a twinkle in +his eye, "The newspaper gentlemen were very pleasant, and we managed to +interest and amuse them elsewhere." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +TRAVELS. + + +One of the most remarkable developments of modern times has been the +increase in the facilities for foreign travel, with the consequence that +travelling has become the pastime of the many, and not the privilege of +the few. In the 'sixties and 'seventies travelling was difficult. In the +first place, a passport had to be obtained, with the visé of the +ambassador of every country through which it was intended to pass. It +usually took ten days to procure this, and there also had to be faced +the difficulties of the Customs at the various frontiers, the absence of +through train services, and the general halo of suspicion with which +foreigners were regarded on the continent, and which led frequently to +unpleasantness. In 1860, on my way to Trieste, I was detained at Turin, +and at the hotel I met Mr. Ed. Lear, R.A., the author of the _Book of +Nonsense_, who was on his way to paint a picture in Italy. Mr. Lear made +a few pen-and-ink sketches for me. When I arrived at the Austrian +frontier at Verona, these were found in my baggage, and I was detained +for twelve hours while enquiries were made about me by telegraph. +Another time, I was staying at the little Portuguese town of Elvas, and +walked across the frontier to see Badajos, the scene of the memorable +siege during the Peninsular war. On entering the town, I was asked for +my passport, which I produced, but as it had no Spanish visé I was +placed in charge of a gendarme, who with a drawn sword marched me across +the frontier back into Portugal. These little incidents serve to +illustrate the suspicion which surrounded travellers on the continent. + +In addition to my voyage round the world, already described, I paid +annual visits to the Southern States of America, in connection with my +firm's cotton business, and I also spent some time in Portugal and the +West Indies. + +In no department of travel has more progress been made than in ocean +travel. I crossed the Atlantic in 1861 in the "City of Washington," of +the Inman Line, and returned in the Cunard steamer "Niagara," the voyage +each way lasting twelve days, and they were twelve days of great +discomfort. The sleeping accommodation was below the saloon; the cabins +were lit by oil lamps, which were put out at eleven o'clock at night; +the air was foul and stifling; and there was an entire absence of +ventilation. + +In the saloon, above the dining-tables, trays filled with wine-glasses +swung from side to side with every roll of the ship; the saloon was lit +by candles, which spurted grease and smelt abominably. There was no +smoking room provided, and we sat in the "fiddlee" upon coils of rope, +while the sea washed to and fro, or else we tried to get under the lee +of the funnel. What a change has taken place, and how greatly the +electric light has contributed to the comfort of travellers by sea! + + +THE FRANCO-GERMAN BATTLEFIELDS. + +The most interesting journey I ever made was in 1871, when with my +father and the late Dr. Grimsdale and Mr. Ryley I visited the +Franco-Prussian battlefields. The war was not ended and the German army +was still surrounding Paris, which made travelling difficult, but we met +with great civility from the Prussian officers, and visited the +battlefields of Saarbrück, where the Prince Imperial received his +baptism of fire, Wörth, Hagenau, Weissenburg, Gravelotte, where we found +men still burying the horses slain in the battle, Mars-le-Tour, Metz, +and finally Sedan. We gathered many trophies, but were not allowed to +bring them away. Wherever the Prussians made a stand and were +slaughtered in their hundreds, as at Gravelotte, we found pieces of +small German Bibles, and we were told that every German soldier, from +the Emperor William downwards, carried a Bible in his haversack. + + +COSTA RICA. + +The year after I retired from business, in 1891, I visited Costa Rica +with my eldest daughter, to inspect the railway in which we were much +interested. The country from Port Limon, which lies on the shores of the +Gulf of Mexico, bathed in a tropical sun, to San José, the capital, is +most picturesque and remarkable for its deep ravines, its rapid rivers, +and its wealth of vegetation. On leaving Port Limon we passed through +long and deep valleys filled with palms and every species of tropical +plants, which made us exclaim that we might be in the Kew +conservatories. We gradually worked our way up 5,000 feet to the plateau +upon which San José is situated, and the scenery hereabouts reminded us +of an undulating English landscape, such as we have in Kent or Surrey. + +The railway was then in its infancy, and in a very rickety condition; it +was said that the man who travelled by it for the first time was a hero, +and if he travelled a second time he was a fool. But reconstruction was +already in progress. + +We were much interested in the banana cultivation, as it supplied +cargoes for our steamers sailing between Port Limon and New York, a +trade which has since developed into gigantic dimensions. We had all the +anxiety of finding the capital necessary to finance both the banana +industry and the railway, and like most pioneers we did not secure the +reward; it went to an American company, who reaped where we had sown. My +daughter and I had a charming trip to Cartago, and ascended the volcano +of Iritzu, 13,000 feet, and from the summit had a view of both the +Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. We made also a trip to the Pacific coast on +horseback; it was a long journey, and in order to escape the heat of the +sun we travelled chiefly by night. We passed innumerable waggons drawn +by bullocks and laden with coffee for shipment from the Pacific coast. +It required some vigilance on our part to prevent our horses being +struck by the long horns of the bullocks as we passed by. We had +eventually to leave the high road and strike through the bush, the +Indians going before cutting down with their _machettes_ the vines and +tree branches which blocked the path. We returned only a few days later, +yet such is the rapid growth of tropical vegetation that the Indians had +again to clear the track. We stayed the second night at the village of +Esperanto, and early next day reached the Trinidad gold mines, situated +on the mountain side looking down on the Pacific coast. I shall never +forget the view which stretched out before us. There was the Pacific +Ocean lying opalescent in the bright beams of the morning sun, and +studded with little blue islands, looking like so many blue beads upon a +silvered mirror. + +On our way out from Jamaica to Limon we spent two days at Colon. The +works on the Panama Canal were in active operation. We went a little way +up and saw enough to convince me that the French would never make the +canal. The waste of money was prodigious. We saw a train of trucks +loaded with cases side-tracked into the bush and completely grown over. +The sickness was also terrible. Every day a funeral train came down to +Colon from the works with bodies for interment, and grave spaces in the +cemetery were so scarce that they were let at a rental of so much a +month. Now, thanks to the researches of the Liverpool Tropical School of +Medicine, these pestiferous swamps have been rendered innocuous. + + +JAMAICA. + +I made a voyage to Jamaica in 1864, the year of the rebellion, and had +the pleasure of staying with Governor Eyre. The rebellion at one time +assumed a very grave aspect, and the governor got into serious trouble, +because, to save the situation, he shot several of the rebel +ringleaders, after a trial by drumhead court-martial. I fully believed +from what I knew of the circumstances that he was justified in doing so, +and his action prevented a serious outbreak, but he was made the +scapegoat. + +I have visited Jamaica several times, and until I had seen Ceylon, +considered it the most beautiful island in the world. + + +MEXICO. + +In 1892, when on a visit to America with my daughter, I was asked to +proceed to Mexico, to endeavour to induce the Mexican Government to +give their National Bonds in exchange for the bonds of the Mexican +Southern Railway. These had been guaranteed by the several Mexican +States through which the railway passed, but there had been default in +the interest payments, and the bonds were in consequence greatly +depreciated in value, the $100 bond selling in London for $25. I thought +it was a hopeless mission, but decided to go. We proceeded from New York +through Arkansas and Texas. It took us thirty-six hours in the train to +cross Texas, travelling all the while; this will give some idea of the +great size of this state. + +On our way we saw in the newspapers that an insurrection had broken out +in Mexico, headed by Gusman. The New York papers had long detailed +accounts. This induced me to break our journey at Laredo, which is +situated on the frontier of Mexico, as I did not wish to expose my +daughter to any danger. On my arrival at the hotel at Laredo, I sent for +the landlord and asked him where the rebellion was. He replied, "Right +here, sir, in this hotel." I could not understand what he meant, and +desired him to explain himself. "Well," he said, "I will tell you how it +was. Some reports reached the north that a civil war had broken out, and +one day fourteen newspaper reporters arrived. They came to this hotel +and sent for me, and demanded how they could get to the seat of the war, +and where Gusman, the leader of the rebels, was to be found. I told +them there was no rebellion, and that I had seen Gusman in Laredo a few +days before, selling cattle. They were not, however, satisfied, and said +that they had come down to write up a civil war, and a civil war there +must be. They stayed in this hotel ten days, sending to the north every +day long accounts of the progress of hostilities, and then they returned +home." I thought this was one of the best stories of the methods of +American journalists that I had ever heard, and as I knew it to be true, +I repeated it to President Diaz a few days later, on my arrival at the +city of Mexico. The old President was much amused, and said it reminded +him of the story of a tiger. He received news that the people of a +certain village were being destroyed by a tiger, and dared not venture +out for fear of the animal, so he sent down a company of soldiers; they +found it was quite true that the villagers were scared to death, but +there was no tiger. A puma is called in Mexico a tiger. + +When I told the President the object of my mission to Mexico he laughed, +and exclaimed, "Did I think he was going to give me his good money for +my bad money?" In my heart I thought he had very aptly described the +situation, but I replied that I hoped to convince him that the good +credit of Mexico was in jeopardy by my railway bonds being in default, +and if the Government would step into the breach it would place the +credit of Mexico in a high position in the London money market. I, +however, made very little impression upon him. I was asking for Mexican +bonds worth £900,000 for my railway bonds worth at the outside £250,000. +I had several interviews, but met with very little encouragement. I, +however, got to know the President, and he became very friendly and +pleasant to me. On one of my visits he told me of his birthplace, +Oaxaca, situated about 200 miles south of the city of Mexico; he was +evidently very proud of it. He spoke of the beauty of the situation, the +richness of the country, both in the fertility of its soil and mineral +resources, and the industry of the Indian population. + +I thought it would not be a bad idea to run down and see Oaxaca. I was +doing no good in Mexico, and I should also be able to see something of +the Mexican Southern Railway, which ran about half the way to a place +called Tehuacan. We proceeded by train to Puebla, where I left my +daughter, and then down the long broad valley of Tehuacan. Every few +miles we came to a magnificent church, which formerly had been the +centre of a village or town, for during the Spanish occupation this +valley contained a population of 1,000,000, and was very fertile and +rich. We saw now and again the aqueducts and tunnels which had conveyed +water through the valley for irrigation. + +At Tehuacan we passed through several fine cañons; here we took horses, +as the railway was not completed beyond this point, and rode through a +very delightful country. The first night we slept at an Indian village, +or tried to sleep, but were disturbed by the barking of dogs. Every +house appeared to possess a dog, which made it its business to howl and +make the night hideous. The village was quite tidy, the houses mostly +built of bamboo and thatched with dried palm leaves. The Indians +themselves, in their wide-brimmed hats and white calico clothes, often +wearing woollen ponchos, were picturesque and interesting. + +On our arrival at Oaxaca we put up at the hotel, which was far from +inviting, and then called upon the governor and the archbishop, the +latter an Irishman with a decided brogue; he is a very rich and powerful +man, and practically rules over his diocese, both in temporal as well as +in spiritual affairs. + +Oaxaca was a charming little town, prettily situated in a valley; in the +centre of the town is a public garden and bandstand. One of the secrets +of President Diaz's popularity is his sympathy with the love of music so +general among the Indians, and he has wisely provided every little town +with its orchestra. + +We were much interested in the market, and saw the country people bring +in with their produce little nuggets of gold, which they had washed out +of the gravel beds on their farms. + +The Indians in these parts consist of two clans or tribes, the "Black" +and the "White Hats"; the "Black Hats" were a troublesome people to +control, but so far as I could see, the Indians are an industrious and +well-conducted people. + +On my return to the city of Mexico, the President was greatly surprised +and delighted when I told him where I had been. He was much interested +and asked me many questions, and from this moment my mission appeared to +make headway; I had made the President my friend. A bill was introduced +into the Legislature authorising the issue of Mexican bonds in exchange +for my railway bonds. Although it met with some opposition, the +President was all-powerful, and it passed the Legislature, and in six +weeks I received the new Mexican government bonds for £1,000,000. I can +well remember the smile of the chief clerk in the Treasury when he +handed me the bonds. I asked him why he laughed; he said such a rapid +thing had never been done in Mexico before, and he could not quite see +why they should have hurried in this way; nor could I, save that my +daily presence at the Treasury acted as a gentle stimulus. + +We returned home via El Paso and Denver. The directors of the Mexican +Southern Railway were greatly delighted at my success, and presented me +with a cheque for £1,000. I look back upon this journey with much +pleasure, not only from recollections of a very beautiful and +fascinating country and people, but having enjoyed the friendship of two +very remarkable men--President Diaz and Signor Don Limantour, the +present finance minister in Mexico. One day in course of conversation +with the President, I mentioned my great admiration for Signor Don +Limantour, and I added that he had been educated at Stonyhurst, in +England, which I considered a great advantage to him. It was, therefore, +very gratifying to me to learn shortly after I had reached England that +he had been made finance minister, with the understanding that he would +succeed Diaz as President. In the hands of two such capable men the +future of Mexico is assured. + +President Diaz is a man of great commonsense and of strong will. To +consolidate his rule in the early years of his presidency he was obliged +to be severe. The country was infested with banditti, who put a stop to +all commerce and travel. Diaz, when he caught the banditti, made them +into rural guards, on the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief, +and by this means he quickly restored law and order. Even when I was in +the country gibbets were still to be seen, some having hanging to them +the remains of their former victims. For some years after I returned +President Diaz occasionally corresponded with me, and I kept him +informed of the condition of things in Europe, and in particular of the +position of Mexican finance in London. + + +AMERICA IN 1905. + +In company with Lord Claud Hamilton I again visited America in 1905. We +sailed from Liverpool in the "Ivernia." When we arrived at Boston Lord +Claud received a letter from the president of the New York Central +Railway placing at his disposal a private car which would be attached to +any train we required, and in which we were free to go to any part of +the United States. This was a personal compliment to Lord Claud as +chairman of the Great Eastern Railway. + +We found the car contained a dining saloon, four state rooms, and at one +end was a smoking room and observatory in which we could sit and view +the scenery. + +There was an excellent _chef_ and a very attentive steward; and in this +car we travelled and lived for three weeks, being most sumptuously +entertained. We picked up two friends, so we had a very pleasant party +of four. We visited Niagara, Chicago, St. Louis (to see the Exhibition), +Washington, and other places _en route_. At St. Louis we were received +by the president of the Exhibition, Mr. Francis, who drove us round the +grounds in a Western prairie coach, painted yellow, and drawn by six +white horses. It was a curious experience. The coach was fully laden, +and as we rushed around the corners it lurched and heeled over in a +truly alarming manner. We felt for the time as if we were part of a Wild +West circus troupe. + +The Exhibition was very well worth seeing. Of all the great exhibitions +it was quite one of the best. The illuminations in the evening were on a +magnificent scale. + +During our railway progress we were surprised at the number of wrecks of +trains we passed; seventeen in all. Many had been accompanied by loss of +life, but little or no allusion was made to them in the newspapers. We +began to feel anxious for our own safety, and we were congratulating +ourselves upon our escape from all trouble, when, nearing New York on +our way from Washington, suddenly we saw our locomotive sail away in +front of us, and looking back saw the remainder of the train standing +half-a-mile behind us. The couplings had broken, but the automatic +brakes, fortunately, brought us to a standstill. + +When we arrived at any important place at which we intended to make a +stay, we placed the private car on a siding while we took up our +quarters at an hotel or a country club. These country clubs are charming +institutions in America, and the members are most generous in extending +their hospitality to travellers. + +When at Washington President Roosevelt kindly invited us to dine at the +White House. We were unable to accept this invitation, and he then asked +us to lunch. With the exception of General Chaffee, we were alone with +the President. The White House has a very English homelike aspect. It is +a large Georgian house furnished and decorated in Adams style, and +resembles an English gentleman's country residence. + +President Roosevelt is a thick-set man of medium height, very vivacious +and active, both mentally and physically. He had all the energy and +strenuous activity, while his Chief Secretary of State, Mr. Hay, had the +wisdom and discretion, and the two made a strong combination. When Mr. +Hay died this salutary restraint was removed, and President Roosevelt +tried to carry out reforms with a rush. Though his intentions were +excellent the rough and hasty methods he adopted plunged the country +into a disastrous and far-reaching financial disaster. + +At lunch the President told me that he had that morning been reading +Macaulay for the third or fourth time, and was anxious to know when +Tories in England ceased to be called Tories. I replied, "It was after +Macaulay's time; about the 'sixties." He then told me that he had been +to see the Jiu-jitsu clan of Japanese perform with their grips; they had +300 grips, and being fond of athletics he had learned thirty of them. +After lunch, while I was standing near the fire, the President rushed at +me and said, "Let me try a few of the grips on you," and before I could +answer he had my right arm over his shoulder, and I had to follow +bodily. He did not hurt me, and relinquished his grip when he found he +was my master. He then took hold of my legs below the knees and threw +me over his shoulder, and finally, taking hold of my hands, placed me on +my back. The easy way in which he caught me and prevented my falling was +a proof of his great muscular strength. He attacked Lord Claud Hamilton +in a similar fashion, but Lord Claud shrank from the contest. I think +this was a proof of the extreme human character of the President. He +will live as one of America's greatest Presidents, and I suppose there +are not many men who can say they have wrestled with this great +uncrowned king of America. + + +MISCELLANEOUS TOURS. + +Of our winter travels in the Mediterranean, our visits to Egypt, Greece, +Algiers, Norway, etc., I need not say much, the ground is now so +familiar to most people. + + +THE DESERT OF SAHARA. + +We had one little experience, to which I look back with much interest. +Staying at Biskra, on the borders of the Sahara, we formed a camp and +went four or five days' sojourn into the desert, quite a unique and +pleasant tour. We were joined by two American ladies, and our camp +consisted of eleven men and about a dozen mules, and four or five +camels. We had an excellent native dragoman, who turned out to be a +very good cook. The camels carried the tents and bedding, and the +kitchen utensils, while we rode the mules. As we marched out of Biskra +we formed quite an important cavalcade and all the people in the hotel +turned out to see us. After marching about ten miles we halted for +lunch, and it was surprising how soon Achmed had a ragout ready for us. +We afterwards marched about fifteen miles, and pitched our camp just +outside an oasis, and not very far from an encampment of Bedouins. + +The days were very hot, but the nights quite cold. Our beds were spread +on the ground in the tents, and we required all our blankets and rugs to +keep the cold out. An armed Arab slept on the ground outside the door of +each tent. The desert at this season of the year--the spring--was +covered, more or less, with short grass and an abundance of wild +flowers. In many places we had to pass over large areas of sand dunes, +which were very trying, and to cross the dried-up beds of rivers. These +rivers come down from the mountains when the snows melt and rush along +in mighty torrents, scooping out water courses, until they finally lose +themselves in the burning sands of the desert. As we got away from the +mountains, the desert began to look more and more like the ocean, with +its clean-cut horizon all round, the hummocks of sand reminding one of +Atlantic seas. The clear blue sky and the translucent atmosphere +imparted an enchanting aspect to the scene; indeed, it became +fascinating, and I can quite enter into the spirit of the Bedouin, who +sees in the wastes of his Sahara so much to love and to attract him. + +The intense sense of loneliness is a new experience for an Englishman, +and awakens within him strange emotions, giving him new views of his +environment and throwing new lights upon the future. The starlight +nights were lovely, and on one night we were able to play bridge by +starlight up to midnight. + +We passed through several oases, which usually consist of a village +surrounded by two or three thousand date-palm trees, the houses being +built of mud and thatched with palm leaves. Palms constitute the riches +of this country, and a man's wealth is computed by the number of +date-palm trees or camels he possesses. + +The Bedouin tribes we came across seemed a well-behaved, peaceable +people. They move about with their flocks of sheep and goats. At night +their flocks are tethered about their tents, and by day they wander in +search of pasture. The men beguile their time while watching their +flocks by doing embroideries, and also in making garments. They lead the +simple life. + + +THE COUNT'S GARDEN, BISKRA. + +All lovers of a garden will take great delight in the Count's garden at +Biskra, rendered famous by the beautiful poetic description given of it +by Mr. Hichens in his novel the _Garden of Allah_. + +The garden is situated just outside Biskra, on the banks of the river +Benevent. It was laid out fifty years ago by the Count Landon, who +lavished his money upon it to make this the most perfect tropical garden +in the world. Every species of palm tree, every plant known in the +tropics, finds here a home. On the south side it is bordered by the +river, with terraces overlooking the desert wastes of the Sahara beyond; +running streams of water intersect the garden and afford the means of +the constant irrigation which is necessary. The borders and walks are +wonderfully kept by an army of Arab gardeners, so vigilant in their +attention that it is almost impossible for a falling leaf to reach the +ground before it is caught and removed; thus everything is tidy and +orderly. + +It was in this garden Domini met the Count Anteoni and listened to his +reasons for finding his happiness in its leafy solitudes: "I come here +to think; this is my special thinking place." It was to him an ideal +place for finding out interior truth. The Arabs of the Sahara sing, "No +one but God and I knows what is in my heart," and so the vast solitudes +of the desert in their terrible stillness, overwhelming distances, and +awe-inspiring silence, make men think and think. The Arabs say in truth +that "No man can be an atheist in the desert." + +We enter the garden through a large gateway, flanked on one side by a +two-storied Moorish dwelling-house which contains the sleeping +apartments of the Count. We cross a large court-yard margined by +hedgerows, towering up twenty feet or more, deeply cut to form a shade +for the benches underneath. At the far end of the quadrangle is the +salon, the walls of which are covered with bougainvillea of a deep +violet colour. On the far side the salon looks out upon a broad avenue +of date-palms, fringed with hedgerows of dark red hibiscus and scarlet +geranium. A few yards beyond is the Arab divan, embowered by purple +bougainvillea. Huge date-palms lift their heads above all and afford a +welcome shade from the direct rays of the sun; but its rays glint +through and light up the orange trees, with their red golden fruit, +which stand on the far side, and throw a yellow shimmering tint over the +feathery foliage of the bamboos which fill in the space between the +palms. + +Everywhere overhead the date-palms and the cocoanut-palms meet and form +a series of leafy arcades, throwing a canopy over the undergrowth, +protecting it from the scorching rays of the sun. This undergrowth +consists of hedgerows of bamboos, hibiscus, and alamanders, intersected +by avenues of date and cocoanut-palms, alcoves in shady corners, +pergolas shrouded with creepers leading out of mysterious paths and +by-ways, groves of phoenix-palms and bananas, thickets of scarlet +geraniums, and large clearings filled with fan-palms. Everywhere is the +music of running water rippling as it flows through its tortuous +channels, distributing life and luxuriance in its path. + +It is difficult to enumerate all the trees which give so much charm to +the garden, but I must not forget the acacias, gums, indiarubber trees, +eucalyptus, and many varieties of mimosa. + +The garden is thrown open to the public upon a small payment, and forms +one of the great attractions of Biskra. It is difficult to conceive a +more wonderful contrast than that between the luxuriant tropical +vegetation of the Count's garden and the arid, sandy wastes of the +Sahara with which it is surrounded, and out of which indeed it has been +created. It was amusing to run across in out-of-the-way nooks and +corners so many people diligently reading, and it was always the same +book, the _Garden of Allah_. + + +EGYPT. + +There is probably no country so fascinating to the traveller as Egypt. +It is not merely that it is Oriental and picturesque, but it is a Bible +land and the seat of the early dawn of civilisation. Its explorers have +made discoveries out of which they have been enabled to build up the +history of an ancient and most remarkable people; and while the +traveller beholds in wonder the gigantic proportions of pyramid, pylon +and temple, he is fascinated by the story which recent discoveries have +woven around them. One cannot visit Egypt without becoming an +Egyptologist in a small way. My two visits to Assouan gave me a very +good grasp of the centuries of history rolled up within the Nile valley, +and enabled me to deliver on my return several lectures in the Picton +Lecture Hall in connection with our course of free lectures. + +Things have been changed very much in Egypt. The lovely island of Philæ, +with its Ptolemean temple, is submerged, and the valley of the Nile has +changed its character by the raising of its waters. Cairo has become the +pilgrimage of the fashionable, and much of what was primitive and +interesting has been improved away, but still the Egypt of history +remains, and will remain, to charm and fascinate with its spell of +romance--its reverence for the dead and the grandeur of its religious +rites and ceremonies. + + +IMPRESSIONS OF INDIA. + +India awakens within us such a sense of vastness and distance, and so +strongly appeals to our imagination, that one is much tempted to write +at length that others may enter into our enjoyment of a country and a +people so great, so picturesque, and so remarkable. It was this feeling +which prompted me, while in India, to write a series of letters to the +_Liverpool Daily Post_. These letters are too long to be reproduced +here, and I must, therefore, confine myself to a brief résumé of our +impressions of India. The first thing which almost staggers the +imagination is the extent of our Indian Empire. + +[Illustration: THE DEAD CITY OF FATEHPUR SIKRI, +BUILT BY AKBAR, AND WHICH FOR 300 YEARS HAS REMAINED DESERTED.] + +[Illustration: THE PILGRIM CITY OF BENARES ON THE GANGES.] + +Landing in Ceylon, which lies only seven degrees north of the Equator, +we were surrounded by the most profuse and luxuriant tropical +vegetation; and the vertical rays of the sun kept us indoors, except in +the early morning and late evening. A few days later we had passed +through Calcutta and found ourselves at Darjeeling, with snow lying all +about us, and with the mighty snow-ranges of the Himalayas piled up +before us, and yet we had not left India. We were surrounded by +300,000,000 of people belonging to six hundred nationalities, and +speaking as many languages, differing not only in nationality and in +language, but in religion, in civilisation, and in their manners and +customs, and all this multitude of peoples, nations, and languages were +comprised in "India." + +Nothing brings this great diversity among the people of India more +vividly before the mind than a walk through one of the main streets of +Calcutta. Here one meets with natives from every part, some arrayed in +simple white garments, but others clothed in gorgeous apparel. Their +costumes of silk and satin are radiant with a dazzling wealth of colour, +every nationality having its distinctive dress, the Bengalese, the +Pathan, the Sikh, the Nepaulese, the Tamils, and the Mahrattas, and all +walk with that dignified bearing which proclaims them to be members of a +princely class. Our wonder increases. How comes it that this multitude +of peoples, these descendants of martial races, live together in peace +and amity? + +The plains of Delhi, which for 2,000 years were the arena of perpetual +conflict as nations were made and unmade, proclaim the warlike character +of the people, the intensity of their national hatred, and the ferocity +of their bloody feuds. They are now held together in peaceful union by +legions of British troops--there are but 70,000 British troops in all +India--and probably 250,000,000 out of the 300,000,000 people in India +have never seen a British soldier. + +This great phalanx of nations is held together, is made happy and +prosperous, by the just rule which appeals to their imagination and +their sense of justice, and which is administered by 900 British +civilians, who are for the most part men under 40 years of age. I think +this is one of the most remarkable spectacles the world has ever seen. +It speaks well for the English public-school system which has trained +these men. It speaks also well for honest administration and the +influence and power which it exerts, exercising a moral influence +greater and more far-reaching than any military rule. + +The most interesting study in India is that of the people, among whom +there is the greatest difference in physique. We have the lithe, active +little coolie of Southern and Central India, the hewer of wood and the +drawer of water; the fat, astute, and subtle Bengalee, devoid of moral +or physical courage, a born agitator; the stalwart hillmen of the +North-West who furnish our Indian army with its best recruits; and the +Mahrattas, the descendants of warlike races, who to-day are among the +most active traders. + +The student of character has a wide and fruitful field for +investigation, but there are certain features which stand out +prominently--their marvellous patience, their devotion to their +religion, which is almost fanatical. Like the Egyptians of old, they +live in the contemplation of death, and look upon death as the great +consummation. The elaborate and magnificent tombs we see everywhere +correspond to the pyramids and monumental buildings of ancient Egypt; +while their ruinous condition attest the wisdom of Solomon, that "Vanity +of vanity, all is vanity." + +The poverty of India is also striking, but it is not so great as it +appears. When we talk of a daily wage of twopence it seems almost +impossible that life can be supported on any such sum; but in India a +penny will buy all the rice the coolie can eat, and his other expenses +are very small. Still, it must be considered a poor country. + +There is no scenery in India until we reach the hills, which occupy a +considerable area in the Madras presidency, and margin the whole of the +North-West. Central and Southern India are vast plains. The grandest +mountain view in the world is that of the Himalayas, from Darjeeling. +Darjeeling stands at an elevation of 7,000 to 8,000 feet, on the foot +hills of the Himalayas, about forty miles from "Kinchin Junga," which is +the centre of one of the highest ranges. In the foreground are several +deep valleys, usually filled with clouds. Looking over these, a further +great bank of clouds appears high up in the heavens. On closer +examination we begin to see they are not clouds; their opaque, snowy +whiteness and their sharp peaks and serrated edges tell us that this is +a range of mountains. "Kinchin Junga" stands in the centre, with an +altitude of 28,000 feet, but in this mighty mountain group there is no +mountain less than 24,000 feet, and not one of these has been scaled by +man. On a clear evening, when the setting sun throws its roseate rays +over the snows, no view can be more sublime and beautiful. Away on the +west they dip down into Nepaul, and on the extreme right the deep +indentation marks the pass by which the British troops entered Tibet. + +[Illustration: THE HIMALAYAS FROM DARJEELING. + +IN THE CENTRE, KINCHIN JUNGA, 28,180 FEET.] + +We do not travel to India to see scenery, but Oriental life: the +splendours of Agra and Delhi, the pilgrim city of Benares, and the +silent, deserted cities of Fatehpur Sikri and Amber, all rich in +historical records of the great Mogul kings, who for so many centuries +held sway in India. It is only by seeing these places that one can form +some idea of the magnificence and splendour which surrounded these +monarchs, which has never been surpassed. + +[Illustration: AGRA--THE TAJ MAHAL. + +THE MARBLE TOMB, ERECTED BY THE EMPEROR SHAH JEHAN, IN MEMORY OF HIS +WIFE, A.D. 1648.] + +While we were in India we saw the beginnings of that unrest which has +caused so much anxiety and has led to those outrages which the best +Indians must deplore. We have in promoting education in India forgotten +that there is but a limited opening for mere students, and in the +absence of fitting occupation they become agitators. We ought to train +the young men for some definite calling as agriculturists, engineers, or +mechanics. + +We also thought that the Europeans in India hold themselves too much +aloof from the educated Indians. Caste prevents any great intimacy, but +more might be done to bridge this over. + +With small and reasonable concessions to native ambition, but, above +all, with that firmness of administration which alone appeals to the +Oriental mind, the present feeling of unrest will pass away, and India +will continue to pursue that remarkable development and progress which +have done so much for the happiness and well-being of her people. + + +LORD CLIVE. + +In the summer of 1906, when motoring through Shropshire, I turned aside +to visit the little village church of Morton Saye, of which my +great-grandfather, Samuel Peploe, was vicar in 1770. I had not visited +the church for nearly fifty years. Then it was a very quaint, +old-fashioned place, with black oak pews and a black oak minstrel +gallery at one end close to the pulpit. This was the singing gallery, +the choir of three voices being led by a violin and cornet. + +I found all had been changed. The church had been restored; the old +features had disappeared; but fortunately the restoration had been +carried out in good taste. I spoke to the vicar, who had followed us in, +and who was evidently proud of his little church; he showed me the brass +plate he had taken off the coffin of my grandfather, and had placed as a +memorial on the walls of the church. I knew the great Lord Clive had +been buried in the church, and asked to see his grave. The vicar pointed +to a flag-stone under some pews. There was no inscription upon it, and +he said that the only record they had that the great soldier was buried +in the church was the small brass plate above the vestry door, and he +added:--"Strange to say, there is no memorial to the man who made India, +either in England or India, except in Shrewsbury, his native town. I +suppose," he added, "it was because he committed suicide." On his return +home from India Lord Clive was furiously attacked by political enemies, +and the man who had shown on so many occasions such conspicuous courage +on the field of battle quailed and fell, struck down by the venom of his +calumniators. + +When I was in India during the year following I enquired everywhere for +a memorial to Lord Clive, but, although India bristles with statues to +its governor-generals and eminent soldiers, there is in India to-day no +record of Lord Clive. I was so much impressed with this that I wrote the +following letter to _The Times_:-- + + + Grand Hotel, Calcutta, Feb. 8th, 1907. + + LORD CLIVE. + + To the Editor of _The Times_. + + Sir,--India has many monuments erected in honour of successful and + popular viceroys and others who have served her well, but I have + been unable to discover any monument to Lord Clive, to whom more + than any human being we owe our great empire of India. Westminster + Abbey contains no record of the great soldier-statesman. + + In the by-ways of Shropshire, in the quaint little church of + Morton-Saye, the village swain sits Sunday after Sunday over the + grave of Lord Clive. No inscription marks it, not even his name; a + small brass plate hid away over the vestry door and scarcely + legible is the only record that the remains of Robert Clive rest + within its walls. + + Truly Lord Clive made India, but in the making of it he aroused + jealousies and political enmities which, acting upon a too + sensitive nature, brought him to a premature death. But should he + be forgotten? + + The good work which Lord Curzon did for India in every direction + is, I am glad to find, gratefully recognised and appreciated by her + people. Among the many excellent things he accomplished was the + preservation of her ancient monuments and historical records; and, + if he had remained in office, I am sure the memory of his + illustrious predecessor would not have been forgotten. + + The Maidan, in Calcutta, would be enriched if it embraced a + monument to Lord Clive. Westminster Abbey would more truly reflect + all that is great and worthy in England's history if it contained + some appropriate record of Robert Clive and what he did to build up + her empire. + + Yours truly, + + (Signed) WILLIAM B. FORWOOD, + Chairman of Quarter Sessions for Lancashire. + + +_The Times_ wrote a leading article; Lord Curzon followed with a +brilliant letter, and other letters appeared, with a result that a +committee was formed, the sum of between £5,000 and £6,000 was +subscribed, and we shall shortly have memorials of the great +soldier-statesman both in London and in India. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +RECREATIONS. + + +It is a good thing to have a "hobby." Perhaps in these days we have too +many, and pursue them with too much intensity, to the neglect of more +important matters. To this I must, to some extent, plead guilty. I have +devoted much time and thought to boating and to gardening. + +My boating days commenced in the 'sixties, when I frequently sailed with +my uncle, Alfred Bower, who owned some of the crack yachts belonging to +the Birkenhead Model Yacht Club--the "Presto," "Challenge," "Enigma," +etc. They were large beamy boats, of about eight to ten tons, with +centre boards. Our racing was mostly in the upper reaches of the Mersey, +lying between Eastham and the Aigburth shore. + +In 1866 I made my first venture, buying the American centre-board yacht +"Truant," which had greatly distinguished herself for speed, and taking +her up to Windermere. She was not, however, of much use on that +expansive but treacherous sheet of water. The heavy squalls were too +much for her huge sail plan. I also owned and sailed on the Mersey the +"Glance," eight tons; "Satanella," fifteen tons; "Saraband," fourteen +tons; and "Leander," twenty tons. + +I then for a time gave up yachting on the Mersey, and in 1868 bought a +racing boat on Lake Windermere, the "Spray." She was most successful, +winning in 1870 every race we sailed. + +In 1871 I was induced to build a twenty-ton racing cutter for the sea, +and called her the "Playmate." She was built by Ratsey, at Cowes, and +was the first boat to carry all her lead ballast on her keel, and in +consequence her advent was watched with considerable interest. I sailed +her for two years in the various regattas round the coast, on the Solent +and on the Clyde, but she was only fairly successful. The competition in +the class was very keen, and the boats built by Dan Hatcher carried away +most of the prizes. + +This was the time when yachting, I think, reached its highest point of +interest, and the matches of the forty, twenty, and ten ton classes were +watched with great keenness throughout the country. In the forty-ton +class we had the "Norman," "Muriel," "Bloodhound," "Glance," etc.; and +in the twenty-ton class the "Vanessa," "Quickstep," "Sunshine," etc. We +had also some very fine sixty-tonners, and an excellent class in +schooners. Our regattas were conducted with much keenness, and created +great enthusiasm. Locally we had many active yachting men, Mr. David +MacIver, M.P., who sailed the "Sunshine," the "Shadow," and the +"Gleam"; Mr. Gibson Sinclair, Mr. Astley Gardner, Mr. Coddington, Mr. +Andrew Anderson, Mr. St. Clair Byrne, and others. + +It is always wise, and I am sure in the long run pays best, to do +everything thoroughly, even although it is only for sport or pastime; +and when the Board of Trade allowed yacht owners to present themselves +for examination and obtain their certificates as master mariners, I +entered my name, and was the fourth yacht owner to qualify, Lord Brassey +being the first. My sea experience was, of course, of great service to +me. I afterwards found my Board of Trade certificate as a master mariner +gave me increased pleasure in yachting, and my crew great confidence in +my skill as a navigator. + +Selling the "Playmate," I returned to Windermere; indeed I had never +left it, but sailed the regattas each year, and in the year 1908 I +completed my forty consecutive years' racing upon the lake, winning, for +the second year in succession, the Champion Cup. The competition for +this cup is limited to yachts which have won first or second prizes. My +yacht, the "Kelpie," was designed by Mr. A. Mylne, of Glasgow. She is +quite one of the smartest boats on the lake, particularly in light +weather. + +During my forty years' sailing upon the lake I have witnessed great +changes in the designs of the competing yachts. The boats starting with +a length of 20 feet on the water line, were gradually enlarged by being +designed to immerse the whole of the counter, making the water line +length 26 feet 6 inches. We carried about 750 feet area of sails, +including in this a huge foresail. The boats were large and powerful, +but difficult to manage, and it is a wonder no accident took place. We +afterwards introduced a load line length of 22 feet with overhangs, with +the result that we have established a very smart and useful class of +boat. + +I built many yachts on the lake--the "Althea," "Truant," "Charm," +"Brenda," "Playmate," "Breeze," "Pastime," and "Kelpie"--and several +boats for the smaller class. I also built in 1881 the steel launch +"Banshee." She was designed by Alexander Richardson, and is to-day the +prettiest launch on the lake. I have raced on Windermere with varying +success, but it has been the source of enormous enjoyment, and the days +spent on Windermere are among my happiest. When we first visited Bowness +we were content to reside in lodgings, but in 1879 we rented +"Fellborough," a charming little house on the lake shore below the +ferry. After remaining here three or four years, we occupied for longer +or shorter periods Wynlass Beck, Loughrigg Brow, Ambleside, High Wray +Bank; and in 1889 I took on a long lease "Wykefield," at the head of +Pull Wyke Bay, a charming house with lovely gardens, and furnished also +with a boathouse and pier. Here we remained until 1902, and since that +time we have occasionally occupied Wray Cottage, a pretty dwelling +nestling under the shadow of Wray Castle. + +[Illustration: YACHTING ON WINDERMERE, 1909.] + +It would indeed be very difficult to describe the enjoyment Windermere +has afforded us during all these years. Our long walks, mountain climbs, +picnics on the lakes, fishing, and last, but not least, our regattas, +filled our days with pleasure, and we look back upon our holidays with +sunny memories of great happiness. + +In 1904 I wrote a history of the Royal Windermere Yacht Club. The Rev. +Canon Rawnsley added an interesting chapter descriptive of the lake, and +the book was illustrated by some excellent photographs. + +As a thankoffering to God for permitting us to enjoy such great +happiness, in 1908 we placed a stained-glass window in the Parish Church +at Bowness representing the _Te Deum_. + +In 1880 we built at Lymington a fifty-ton yawl, which was named the +"Leander." In this we cruised for three summers off the west coast of +Scotland and south coast of England; but I found I could not spare the +necessary time, and was obliged to give up sea yachting for good in +1885. + +I was elected rear-commodore of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club in 1879, and +was for a time also commodore of the Cheshire Yacht Club. + + +YACHT RACING ASSOCIATION. + +In my early days of sea racing, being much impressed by the want of a +central authority to regulate all matters connected with yacht racing, I +brought the question under the notice of Mr. Dixon Kemp, the yachting +editor of the _Field_. He consulted Colonel Leach, a very leading and +influential yachtsman, with the result that we formed the Yacht Racing +Association. We secured the Prince of Wales as our president, and the +Marquis of Exeter as our chairman, and very speedily recruited a large +number of members. + +I was elected a member of the Council and subsequently chairman of the +Measurement Committee, which had very important work to do in connection +with the rating of yachts for racing purposes. The old Thames rule was +played out; yachts had become of such excessive length and depth that a +new rule of measurement became necessary. We took a large amount of +expert evidence, and finally drafted a rule which was adopted and +remained in force until the present international rule superseded it. + + +ROYAL CANOE CLUB. + +This club was founded in the 'sixties by "Rob Roy" Macgregor, who had +built a small decked canoe, in which he had navigated the principal +rivers in Europe and the Holy Land. Macgregor was not only an +enthusiastic boating man, but he was a good Christian worker and +philanthropist, well known in the East End of London. "Rob Roy" appealed +to me and others to form a Northern branch of the Canoe Club on the +Mersey. We did so in 1868, establishing our headquarters at Tranmere. +The club was very flourishing, and the upper reaches of the Mersey +formed a very attractive cruising ground; but the increase in the number +of steamers destroyed canoeing on the Mersey as it has destroyed +yachting. Living, as we did, at Seaforth, I was able to run my canoe +down to the shore and enjoy many pleasant sails in the Crosby Channel. +Finding an ordinary "Rob Roy" was too small and very wet in a seaway I +designed and built a sailing canoe with a centre board, which was a +great success and was the pioneer of sailing canoes. + + +GARDENING. + +There can be no more delightful pastime than gardening. I may claim this +to be my pet "hobby." Other pastimes are evanescent and leave behind +them no lasting results or afford no more than a passing pleasure; but +in gardening we have seedtime and harvest, all the pleasures of sowing +and planting, watching the gradual growth, training, and nurturing the +young plant, and in due time gathering in the flowers or fruit, and in +these days when so much is done in "hybridising" we have the added charm +of experimenting in raising new varieties. We began to import orchids +in 1866, bringing them from the West Indies and Central America in large +wooden boxes, thinking it necessary to keep them growing, but we lost +more than half on the voyage. They are now roughly packed in baskets or +bales and a very large percentage arrive safely. + +When in India in 1907, at Darjeeling, I hired two men and two donkeys to +go down into the valleys of Bhutan to collect orchids. They returned in +about ten days with four large baskets full, chiefly denrobiums. Among +them there was a good deal of rubbish, but also many good plants, which +I sent home, and which have since flowered and done well. There are no +plants more difficult to kill than orchids; but, on the other hand, +there are no plants more difficult to grow and to flower. Their habits +must be known and studied, and, above all, they must be provided with +the exact temperature and degree of moisture they have been accustomed +to. But the reward of successful cultivation is great and worth striving +for. No flowers can be more lovely in form and in colour, and they have +the great merit of lasting for days and even weeks in all the wealth of +luxuriant beauty. They are the aristocracy of flowers. + +[Illustration: _Photo by Medrington._ William B. Forwood] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +OBITER DICTA. + + +Life viewed in retrospect down the vista of half a century of activity, +presents many lessons which may be both interesting and +instructive--lessons from one's own experience, lessons derived from +watching the careers of others, of those who have made a brilliant +success, of others who have made a disastrous failure, and of the many +who have lived all their lives on the ragged edge between plenty and +penury. + +It is also instructive to notice the conditions under which the great +problem of life had to be worked out, as they vary to some extent with +each decade. The world does not stand still, it will not mark time for +our convenience; we have to go with the times, and the enigma of life is +how to turn them to the best account. + +The outstanding features of the present day are the keenness of +competition in every walk of life, and the rapidity with which events +occur, creating a hurry which is prejudicial to the careful ordering of +one's own life. + +Competition has always been very keen, and the cry has ever been for +the return of those good old days when competition was less. If they +ever existed, it was before my time. + +Everything, however, is comparative. With larger numbers of people there +must be more competition, but there are also more opportunities, more +employment, more people to feed, and more to clothe. + +But with the advance of education, particularly of technical knowledge, +the competition has become more intense in the higher branches of +industrial and intellectual activity; still, there is room, and ample +room, on the top. The lower rungs of the ladder are well occupied, but +the numbers thin off as we approach the top, and this must be more and +more the case as education advances. + +The hurry of the present day is prejudicial to that thoroughness which +is necessary if we are to attain efficiency. The hurry of everyday life +becomes more and more conspicuous. Living at high pressure, in this +super-heated atmosphere we are apt to lose our sense of proportion, and +crowd our minds with thoughts, schemes and projects regardless of our +power of assimilation and arrangement. Our minds are apt to become mere +lumber rooms, into which everything is tossed. Many things are +forgotten, and cannot be found when wanted. How much better it would be +for ourselves and for the world at large if we could live with more +deliberation, if we could specialise more, be more intense within a more +limited range of thought and activity, less casual, more thorough in the +commonplaces of life. Life would not lose in interest or +picturesqueness, and it would gain in symmetry and value. It may be said +that while it might add to the effectiveness of life, it would deprive +it of much of its colour and romance; this would not, however, +necessarily follow. On the contrary, greater effectiveness would open +out new avenues for thought and action, new spheres of usefulness, more +refined and elevating in their character, and more satisfying in their +results. + +These appear to be surroundings in which we have to work out the +problems of our lives, and this leads us to the consideration of how we +are to achieve success under these conditions of competition and hurry. + + +SUCCESS IN LIFE. + +There are various kinds of success in life: business success, social +success, and success in public affairs. Perhaps to the ordinary +individual business success is the most important; it is a source of +happiness, promotes social success, and opens up avenues of public +usefulness. + +If we look back and endeavour to trace the careers of those with whom we +have been associated when young, I think we shall observe that those +who have been most successful in their business careers have, with few +exceptions, not been the brilliant and clever boys, but rather those of +duller intellect, who have had the gift of steady application. This +faculty is not born in us; we are by nature casual, and apt to follow +the lines of thought and endeavour which require the least labour, and +offer the most varied interest. We hate the grind of sustained effort, +it bores us, and we long for something new. This dislike of prolonged +application, and desire for change, has made more shipwrecks of business +careers than perhaps any other cause. In its craving for change and +excitement, it leads to speculation as a possible road to wealth without +effort. + +The power of steady application must be inculcated in the school, by +insisting that every subject taught shall be mastered by the boy, and +not left until he has made it his own, and is able to clasp his hands on +the far side of it. A few subjects taught and mastered in this way are +of more value than a whole curriculum of studies learnt in a superficial +and casual manner. We are apt to forget that the primary object of all +education must be to train the mental faculties and to educate the +judgment. We are too prone to cram the boy with knowledge which he has +not the power to assimilate and make his own. We set out too often with +the presumption that as a boy is born with legs and arms which are ready +for use, so he must be born with a brain ready cultivated. The arms and +legs do their work very much better if they are trained and strengthened +by gymnastic exercises. In like manner the brain requires training--for +this reason I have always regretted the gradual elimination of Greek and +Latin from our national system of education. I know of nothing to take +their place as a gymnastic for the mind. + +We too often send boys into the world to handle the most mighty weapons +for weal or for woe, "capital and credit," without any proper mental +equipment. + +The lack of hard mental training is more far-reaching and disastrous +than is generally supposed. The want of accuracy leads to many mistakes. +Mistakes lead to excuses, and excuses mark the high road to lies. The +absence of accuracy is the fruitful parent of carelessness in thought, +in habit, and in the discharge of the duties of everyday life. I fear +this is a national weakness, for I have found that the German clerk +excels in accuracy; he may be wanting in initiative, but he is accurate +and reliable in his work. Englishmen have, however, remarkable gifts for +a business career, if they are properly trained and educated. A good +English man of business is the best in the world, he has great +initiative, the power of getting through work, the talent to observe and +to form a rapid judgment, but he is not born with these accomplishments, +they are largely the result of education and training. + +There is a great reluctance in this country to introduce any system of +compulsory military service. Without dwelling upon its advantages to the +nation, as likely to increase the physique of our men, military +discipline would have a very beneficial moral effect. Probably one of +the most valuable traits of character is that of "obedience," and this +would be cultivated and enforced by military drill, and I think it would +also add to our self-respect. As things are moving we are in danger of +becoming a nation of "slackers," both physically and mentally. + +I have already spoken of the necessity for steady perseverance and +accuracy if we are to make a success in life, but there are two other +qualities which are also essential to success, the capacity to observe, +and the gift of imagination. + + +OBSERVATION. + +The number of men who go through life with their eyes closed is +astonishing. These men regret their want of luck, they say they have had +no chances; alas! they have had their chances but either failed to see +them, or lacked the courage or capacity to take advantage of them. + +The world is so constituted that changes are ever taking place, and +every change is fruitful of opportunities. We hear it said of some that +everything they touch turns into gold. It is only another way of saying +that they are ever on the look-out for opportunities, and are not +laggards in turning them to good account. + + +IMAGINATION. + +The want of imagination prevents many men from making use of their +opportunities. Upon a dull day, when the clouds hang in the valleys, and +obscure from view the tops of the mountains, imagination fills up the +picture, and probably paints the crests of the mountains much higher +than they really are. Too many men travel only in the valleys of life, +content with what they see; and imagine nothing above or beyond. +Suppose, for instance, a serious disaster overtakes the harvest. The man +endowed with imagination will look beyond the disaster and note its +far-reaching effects, and in them recognise his opportunities for +action. + +General Sir Richard Baden-Powell is doing an excellent work with his +"boy scouts," not only in teaching discipline, but in encouraging the +habits of observation and imagination, which will be of the greatest +value to them in after-life. + +I have touched upon three points necessary to success in life, +"thoroughness and accuracy," the faculty of "observation," and the gift +of "imagination," because they are but seldom prominently referred to. +It is not needful to enlarge upon the value of character nor upon the +necessity for "integrity." Of nothing am I more certain, than that +"Honesty is the best policy." I can think of no career which has been +permanently successful, in which this "golden rule" has not been +observed. Speculation is the gambler's road to fortune. It has many ups +and downs, and generally leads to disaster and the "slough of despond." +But there is a wide gulf separating speculation from the enterprise of +the genius that foresees and devises new methods of trade, or +anticipates, as the result of careful observation and calculation, +changes in the market value of securities and commodities. + +Enterprise degenerates into speculation when the dictates of caution and +prudence are set aside. To use the words of an old and much respected +Liverpool merchant, who recently passed away, "Commercial success +requires the concurrence of two contrary tendencies, caution and +enterprise. Caution is necessary in avoiding risks, in foreseeing +consequences, and in providing against contingencies, even remote ones. +But this will not carry a man far, he must also have the brain to +originate, and the courage to strike when a favourable opportunity +occurs. What we call a sound judgment is the due balance and just +proportion of a well-stored mind. In no department of life is there more +need for this balance and proportion than in the higher walks of +commerce. The head of a great firm needs be a statesman, an economist, +and a financier, as well as a merchant." + +I had proposed to conclude this sketch by a short account of the men of +my time still living, who have been active in the making of Liverpool, +but so many have lent a helping hand, the work having been that of the +many rather than of the few, that it would be impossible to avoid being +invidious. Events move so rapidly, the men and circumstances of to-day +are crowded out and their memory obliterated in the new interests of +tomorrow, that no man's work or influence can be said to have exercised +more than an evanescent power; yet Liverpool has been built up--its +commerce, its municipality, and its charitable and philanthropic +work--by leaders of men who have found their work lying at their hand +and have done it, and have done it well. + +My story must now end. It has necessarily been told in a somewhat +desultory manner, leaving out many details and many incidents which +might have added to its completeness. But if it interests any of my kin +or my friends, and still more, if it inspires them to make some effort +on behalf of our great and glorious city--to elevate its social and +intellectual life, to adorn and beautify its public streets and places, +to brighten the lives and homes of the people, to carry forward and +onward the great temple we are building to the glory of God--it will not +have failed in its purpose. + + +LIVERPOOL: +LEE AND NIGHTINGALE, PRINTERS, 15, NORTH JOHN STREET. + +1910. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Recollections of a Busy Life, by William B. Forwood + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43701 *** |