LIFE AND LABOURS OF MR. BRASSEY ARTHUR HELPS'S WRITINGS. REALMAH. A novel........... $2.00 CASIMIR MAREMMA. A novel........ 2.00 COMPANIONS OF MY SOLITUDE..1.50 ESSAYS WRITTEN IN THE INTERVALS OF BUSINESS. 1.50 BREVIA: Short Essays and Aphorisms...50 CONVERSATIONS ON WAR AND GENERAL CULTURE 1.50 THOUGHTS UPON GOVERNMENT....... 2.25 IVAN DE BIRON. A novel....... 2.25 BRASSEY'S LIFE AND LABORS........ 2.50 ROBERTS BROS., PUBLISHERS, Boston. .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. - 1-.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................-................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ - - - -.. -:,:-:- I I I..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................-......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... —-............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................-............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 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I- I... 1- 1. - t;. 1,.. 1.,.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ga LIFE AND LABOURS OF MR. BRASSEY. I805-I870. BY SIR ARTHUR HELPS, K.C.B. WITH A PREFACE TO- THE -— MEKRCAN EDITION, B Y THE A ULTHOR. BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. I874. CAMBRIDGE: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. DEDICATION. TO THE QUEENi MADAM, I AM very grateful for the permission given me to dedicate this work to Your Majesty. I desired so to dedicate it, because I do not know of any one who has a deeper sympathy with the labouring classes than Your Majesty, or anyone who takes a more heartfelt interest in everything that concerns their habits, their education, and their general welfare. Moreover, this sympathy and this interest are not confined to those classes in Your Majesty's Dominions only, but are extended to them wherever they are to be found. I think also, that it cannot but be very gratifying to Your Majesty to have full evidence that, in a special kind of labour of a very important character, vi DEDICA TION. namely, the construction of railways, Your own subjects have hitherto borne the palm, and have introduced their excellent modes of working into various Foreign countries. Your Majesty will find that the late MR. BRASSEY was an employer of labour after Your Majesty's own heart: always solicitous for the well-being of those who served under him; never keeping aloof from theml, but using the powerful position of a master in such a manner as to win their affections, and to diminish the distance which is often far too great between the employer and the employed. I venture, therefore, to think that the volume will be interesting to Your Majesty on its own account; and that You will be disposed to view with favour the merits, if any, and to deal gently with the faults, of a work written by one who, with all respect, is ever Your Majesty's Faithful and devoted Subject and Servant, ARTHUR HELPS. LONDON: 7.une I872. PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. IN offering an edition of the " Life of Thomas Brassey " to the American public, the author thinks that he may be pardoned for addressing a few words, by way of Preface, to them. His works have often been received with some favour in America; and, therefore, he presumes that, among his readers, there may be some friends to whom he may venture to say what he thinks. about this " Life." The book will not be especially interesting to the American people, as an instance of what is called remarkable success in life; for, in their greatly thriving and rapidly advancing community, there must be numerous instances of persons who have risen, from a comparatively humble position, to one of great power, wealth, and influence. viii PREFA CE. But, to exemplify a fact of this nature was not the object, certainly not the main object, which the author of the "Life" had in view, when he wrote a work which, in many respects, he was unfitted to write, as it demanded from him knowledge of a peculiar kind that was unfamiliar to him. He could not, however, refuse to write it, because he thought that he should be able to bring before the world the example given by a really great man, of the satisfaction that is to be derived from doing good work with but little care, whether it received reward- or even recognition. There were several periods in the course of Thomas Brassey's life, at which, if his career had then been closed, it would not have afforded an instance of success, according to the standard by'which success is too frequently measured in this world. But those who knew this good man intimately, are well aware that he would have been contented with whatever ending there might have been to his arduous career, if assured only upon this one point: that he had done the work entrusted to him, carefully, substantially, and, if the word may be used, righteously., Indeed, PREFA CE. ix every one who had dealings with him would unreservedly testify that he did his duty as befitted a man chosen by others to conduct large enterprizes for them, as an employer of labour on his own account, and as one in whom the public at large placed an entire trust. This abiding sense of duty, the highest incentive to good work, makes his life an example as valuable for America as for England; and, doubtless, it will be recognized as such by all those Americans, and they must be many, who have the same noble object of ambition, and are willing to make the same endeavours to attain it. LONDON, May, I874. PREFACE. I FEEL it to be right to acknowledge in detail the great assistance I have received in writing this work. It would be difficult for me to name all the persons from whom I have derived this assistance; but I must mention some of those who have been my principal coadjutors; namely, Mr. Thomas Brassey, Mr. Ballard, Mr. Bidder, Dr. Burnett, Mr. Day, Mr. Dent, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Evans, Mr. Fowler, Mr. Netlam Giles, Mr. Hancox, Mr. Henry Harrison, Mr. Hawkshaw, Mr. Henfrey, Mr. Hodges, Mr. Holme, Mr. Charles Jones, Mr. Longridge, Mr. Louth, Mr. Mackay, Lieut.-Col. Charles Manby, Mr. Milroy, Mr. Frederic Murton, xii PREFA CE. Mr. Ogilvie, Sir Morton Peto, Bart., Mr. Ray, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Ricketts, Rev. H. Robinson, Mr. Rowan, Mr. Strapp, Mr. Tapp, Mr. Trubshaw, Mr. Wagstaff, Mr. Wilcox, and Mr. Woolcott. The object of this work is not merely to narrate the life and labours of Mr. BRASSEY; but it aims, also, to show forth the labours of others, which that life elicited. The life of many an eminent man, especially if his eminence has consisted in doing one kind of work very well, does not admit of much interest in the narrative itself, and might be very briefly told. It is a melancholy fact, but fact it is, that great conquerors are mainly the persons whose lives are most interesting, such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Cortes, and Napoleon. On the contrary, the lives that have been most serviceable to mankind, as well as the histories of the most peaceful and therefore happiest periods of the lives of nations, give little scope for PREFA CE. xiii exciting narrative. The consequences, however, of the actions of these benefactors of mankind are often of the highest interest; and, in this particular case of Mr. Brassey, those consequences were visible in his own lifetime, and may therefore naturally be incorporated with any account of his life. Mr. Brassey must ever be considered as one of the chief pioneers in the great series of industrial enterprises by which the modern world has, we may almost say, been transformed. The interest in his life greatly depends upon the fact, that his career and the establishment of railways commenced almost simultaneously. He certainly was the first person who went out as a contractor into foreign lands, and who first made the British modes of working known in many parts of the globe. It was fortunate for our reputation with the foreigner, that British skill, workmanship, and power of organization, as manifested in railway construction, were xiv PREFA CE. made known in foreign countries by one who was a type of the men of his calling, and who possessed in perfection some of the most sterling qualities of the British people. When I speak thus of Mr. Brassey, I do not mean for a moment to ignore the services of the engineers under whom he acted, or of the partners with whom he acted in these great undertakings. From Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Brassey's first partner in a foreign railway contract, from many of his succeeding partners, from the able and distinguished men in their several callings who were connected with him in railway enterprises, Mr. Brassey received the. greatest assistance. The business of a contractor is not by any means of an isolated character, and, in the course of Mr. Brassey's life, as will be seen by reference to the Table of Contracts in Chapter XII. he had at least twentyseven partners. To narrate adequately the work that these gentlemen did in Great PREFA CE. xv Britain and in Foreign countries would require many biographies to be written. I feel justified, however, in claiming Mr. Brassey as a representative man from whose career the great exertions and the skill manifested in railway enterprise by, British engineers, contractors, agents, and workmen of all kinds, may be adequately appreciated. Not the least valuable and interesting part of the book, if I may presume to speak of any part as valuable or interesting, is that which gives, incidentally, an account of national characteristics. Lavater said that you could not thoroughly understand a man until you had divided an inheritance with him. Without going so far, I would venture to say that you cannot thoroughly understand a man's nature until you have done business with him, for it is in the transaction of business that all the qualities of a man come forth and are developed. Mr. Brassey himself, and his agents, all of them very xvi PIREFA CE. shrewd and capable persons, had to deal with men of every class in the countries where they were constructing railways. It was a necessary part of their business to understand the characters of the foreigners they dealt with; and the remarks of these agents show that they did not fail to accomplish that primary portion of their labours. Frenchmen, Belgians, Germans, Italians, Russians, Spaniards, and Danes came under the close observation of Mr. Brassey and his agents; and we are told how the men of these various nationalities acquitted themselves in their respective employments., Sometimes we find that our preconceived notions of the characteristics of certain peoples are confirmed: sometimes we find that these preconceived notions require modification. But whatever we learn upon this subject from persons who had such remarkable opportunities of observation, is pure gain, and tends to remove our notions from the region of prejudice to that of fact. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGI DEDICATION... PREFACE... vii LIST OF PLATES.... XV INTRODUCTION....... I I. MR BRASSEY'S CHARACTER AS A BUSINESS MAN.. 9 II. MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER... 20 III. CONTRACT WORK... 38 IV. COMMENCEMENT OF MR. BRASSEY'S FOREIGN WORK..... 52 V. COMPARISONS OF THE MODE OF WORKING, ETC., OF FOREIGN WORKMEN... 74 VI. MR. BRASSEY'S SKILL IN CALCULATIONS.. 97 VII. MR. BRASSEY'S WVORK BECOMES MORE EXTENSIVE IO8 VIII. GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.... I18 xviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGR IX. Mr. BRASSEY'S FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 1. I28 X. AIR. BRASSEY'S FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. 143 XI. MR. BRASSEY'S WEALTH.. I53 XII. MR. BRASSEY'S CONTRACTS 1. 159 XIII. ITALIAN RAILWAYS..... 67 XIV. GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY OF CANADA.. 183 XV. VICTORIA BRIDGE... 99 XVI. MR. 1BRASSEY'S MINOR WORKS. 214 XVII. MR. BRASSEY'S WORKS IN AUSTRALIA 231 XVIII. ARGENTINE RAILWAY...44 XIX. MOLDAVIAN RAILWAYS..... 258 XX. INDIAN RAILWAYS.... 270 XXI. MR. THOMAS BRASSEY'S RECOLLECTIONS. 278 XXII. CLOSE OF MR. BRASSEY'S LIFE. 302 XX1II.. RAILWAYS AND GOVYERNMENT CONTROL.. 329 APPENDIX A. MR. TAPP'S NOTES ON MR. BRASSEY'S TOURS 345 APPENDIX B. LETTERS. 351 APPENDIX C. WAGES.370 INDEX...... 375 LIST OF PLATES. PORTRAIT (from a drawing in the possession of Mr. Thomas Brassey, M.P.).. Frontispiece BULKELEY HAIL (by A. Ricketts, from a Photograph)..TofiW'epage 20 MAP SHOWING SOME OF THE CONTINENTAL CONTRACTS (by A. Rickelts)...,, 52 MAP OF ENGLISH LINES (by G. Eidwards and A. Ricketts)..,, IO MAP OF GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY (by A. Ricketts)... 183 VICTORIA BRIDGE (by A. Ricketts)...,, I99 MAP OF ARGENTINE RAILWAY (by A. Ricketts),, 244 LIFE AND LABOURS OF THE LATE MR. BRASSEY. cow INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. THE first endeavour for a writer should be to put himself in good relation with his readers. If he fail in doing this, he fails in a most important point. They may agree with him, or differ from him, as regards his conclusions; but they will almost always have gained some profit from his work, if he makes them sympathize with him, and understand his meaning and purpose. Both reader and writer have but one and B 2 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. INTRO. the same object: namely, to get at the CHAP.'~ truth in regard to a person, or matter, about whom, or which, it is worth while to know the truth. The In writing the life of Mr. Brassey, I have author's labour undertaken a task for which I have no special lightened by aid qualifications; but the aid I have received received from Mr. from his family and from his many friends B'assey's friends. who do possess these special qualifications, has greatly lightened my labour, and will, I hope, make it effectual in bringing before the world the character and conduct of a very notable person. Before commencing this biography in the ordinary way, by giving the birth, parentage, and education of Mr. Brassey, I shall begin by giving an account of my first acquaintance with him-an acquaintance which afterwards ripened into a sincere friendship, causing me to accept with pleasure the task of writing his life, when requested by his sons to do Danger of SO. They would, no doubt, have done the a memoir being work better and more amply; but then, what written by a son. a son says of his father is always a little'suspect.' Notwithstanding the familiarity INTRODUCTOR Y CHAPTER. 3 of converse which has grown up of late years INTRO. CHAP. between sons and fathers, sons are apt to be not the less proud, and perhaps even more fond, of their fathers than ever; and on that account not the less unfit to write their fathers' lives. I am confirmed in this view, by the life of Exemplifled by the an eminent man, written by his sons, which, Life of Macthough very well and certainly very duti- kintosh. fully written, failed to give the reader an adequate notion of those peculiarities in the hero of the tale, which are so valuable in making us really acquainted with him. This knowledge the reader did not, I think, attain until he came to a letter at the end of the book, written by Sydney Smith. It was a letter which thoroughly succeeded in bringing the man before you by means of such passages as the following: "Curran, the Master of the Rolls, said to Mr. Grattan,' You would be the greatest man of your age, Grattan, if you would buy a few yards of red tape, and tie up your bills and papers.' This was the fault, or the mist fortune, of your excellent father; he never B2 4 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. INTRO. knew the use of red tate, and was utterly CHAP. unfit for the common business of life. That a guinea represented a quantity of shillings, and that it would barter for a quantity of cloth, he was well aware; but the accurate number of the baser coin, or the just measurement of the manufactured article to which he was entitled for his gold, he could never learn, and it was impossible to teach him." 1 Now these are the kind of things which sons are too fond and too respectful to say of their fathers; and therefore I do not think that sons can ever make good biographers. The I now proceed to give an account of my author's introduc- first introduction to Mr. Brassey. I had to tion to Mr. Brassey. receive a visit from him on some official business of much importance and considerable difficulty. When one has heard a great deal of a man, but has not seen him, one cannot help forming some notion as to what manner of man he is. When Mr. Brassey's name was announced, I Life aof Mackintosh, vol. ii. p; 5oo. INTRODUCTORY CRAPTER. 5 I could not help supposing that I should INTROsee a hard, stern, forcible, soldierly sort of person, accustomed to sway armies of working men in an imperious fashion. Now tervienthis was very foolish of me; for I had, before, seen many great'captains of industry,' and had almost uniformly found them to be men of suave manners and courteous bearing. Notwithstanding this experience, I was prejudiced and misled by the word'contractor,' and expected to find in Mr. Brassey a very different person from the one I did see. There entered an elderly gentleman of very dignified appearance, and of singularly graceful manners, suggesting at once the idea of what is called a'gentleman of the old school.' He stated his case. No: I express my Mr. Brassey states self wrongly; he did not state his case; he his case. unzderstated it; and there are few things more attractive in a man than that he should be inclined to understate rather than to overstate his own case. He was also very brief; not going over any part of the 6 INTRODUCTOR Y CHAPIYER. INTRO. ground a second time, as is the habit of CHIAP. ninety-nine persons out of every hundred. After he had gone away, I thought to myself (for I knew the matter pretty well, in respect of which he had a grievance) that, had it been nly case, I should not have been able to restrain myself so completely and to speak with so little attention to self-interest as he had done. Comr- On thinking whom he resembled of the petween persons I had ever seen, I found that he LHerert reminded me most of the late Lord Herbert of Lea and Mr. of Lea, a man who, even in a short and Brassey. transient interview, never failed to impress you with a sense of his goodness and benevolence, and of his being one of the most perfect gentlemen you had ever seen. This was my first interview with Mr. Brassey. The impression it produced upon me was that of respect and regard for him, which continued to increase as we became better acquainted. Brassey a I have also to add, that the life of Mr. skilful organizer. Brassey has especial interest for the writer of IIVTRODUCTOR Y CHAPTER. 7 it, as affording an example of skilful organi- INTRO. CHAP. zation, as well as of the fulfilment of other functions, and the performance of other duties, which, though they especially concern Imperial Government, may be thoroughly exemplified in the conduct of private enterprise, when it assumes considerable magnitude and diversity. This work has been written in a very Evidence, how obpeculiar manner. Most of the persons who tained for this work. knew Mr. Brassey well, who had acted with him, or served under him, have kindly consented to be examined as witnesses, and to have their evidence taken down by a shorthand writer. Mr. Thomas Brassey has been the examiner. From his general knowledge of his father's affairs, no one could have fulfilled this office so well; and I gratefully acknowledge the immense assistance that I have derived from the mode in which he has conducted these examinations. It may easily be conjectured that the amount of material thus collected, has been 8 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. INTRO. very great indeed, and has been of the most CHAP. interesting character., I have often regretted that want of space prevents me from giving to my readers as much as I should otherwise like to give of this valuable information. [91 CHAPTER I. -A BRIEF OUTLIVE OF MR. BRASSER S CHARACTER AS A ]MAN OF BUSINESS. N a biography, it is a difficult matter to CHAP. determine where one should introduce _ Outline a description of the character of the person of Mr. Brassey's written about. I have come to the conclu- character. sion that the best plan is to give very early inf the book a brief outline; then, as the occasions arise, to point out, in the narrative, illustrations of the character; and, finally, to take an opportunity of restating and enlarging the description. The most striking point in Mr. Brassey's Mr. Brassey's character, and that which I shall mention first, trustfulness was his trustfulness. This virtue was carried in his agents. to a great extent in him,-to an extent that 10 MR. BRASSEY'S CHARACTER CHAP. may appear almost extreme. He chose his'-I agents with great care, and with consummate judgment. After he had chosen them, he placed implicit trust in them. Then, though perfectly capable of exercising the most minute supervision and criticism of details, he never judged by details, but looked to results; not vexing or wearying those who served under him by minute and tiresome criticism. Liberality. He was exceedingly liberal in the conduct of his business, as will be seen from many instances in the following pages; and probably there never was a man who made so much money, caring so little for the money itself. Equa- He was a man of a singularly calm and equable temperament. It was very rarely, indeed, that either success or failure-and even great failure was not a thing unknown to him-discomposed his complete serenity of mind. I do not mention this by way of The praise. As regards this matter, there are two anxious and un- orders of men. There is the man whose anxious man. anxieties never leave him, who cannot throw AS A MAN OF BUSINESS. II off his robe of office and say' Lie there, CHAP. Lord Treasurer, or Lord Chancellor.' And A there is the man who, having done his best, is satisfied with that best, and can dismiss anxiety as to the result. This is a great felicity of temperament. Those men who do possess it are often liable to be much misconstrued. The world is apt to think that the man who can throw off the burden of care, is, on that account, less caretaking than the man who is harrowed by perpetual anxiety, and who cannot conceal the constant pressure of that anxiety. Mr. Brassey did not take less care than these anxious men are wont to do; but, having given his best efforts to ensure success, was content to await the result, and to abide by it with perfect equanimity. It is. not requisite to do more here than to allude to the powers of perception, of calculation, and of organization, which Mr. Brassey Mr. possessed. These powers will inevitably porasseyo reveal themselves in the course of the tion, cal. narrative, and may, indeed, almost be taken and organizafor granted as belonging to one who success- tion. 1 2 MR. BRASSE Y'S CuHAsRA CTER CHAP. fully carried out great undertakings in which I. I - these powers were absolutely indispensable. Mr. There was not anything more noticeable in Brassey's delicacy in Mr. Brassey's conduct of business than his blaming. mode of blaming where blame was requisite. It was of the very lightest and gentlest kind; but not on that account less forcible or less instructive. To speak metaphorically, his little finger laid gently upon an error was more severely felt than the heavy hand so often put down by a coarse man when he blames his agents or his inferiors. Reluctant blame is the blame that goes to the hearts and consciences of men; and the greatest merit of it is, that while it condemns, it does not discourage. Mr. So thoroughly beloved, and so thoroughly Brassey's visits Of appreciated was Mr. Brassey by all the inspection looked people who served under him, that his forward to by the coming amongst them was looked forward employed. to as a most joyful and festive event. When, for instance, he had any great work on hand in a foreign country, the thousands of people employed by him, from the highest to the lowest, longed to AS A MAN OF BUSINESS. 13 see him amongst them. This could not have CHAP. been the case had he not been utterly devoid of captiousness, and one of those generous employers of labour who recognize to the full all that is well done by those who work under them. Indeied, in this respect, he reversed the relative positions of employer and employed. When any disaster occurred on the works, it was lhe who comforted and excused his agents, instead of receiving comfort or excuses from them..It was a necessity of Mr. Brassey's career Mr. that he should live much with his dependents. courtesy. Now, it may often be observed that the man who has undoubted authority over his fellowmen in one respect, is apt to endeavour to extend that authority to matters in which he has not any right whatever to interfere with those inferiors, or, otherwise than indirectly, to attempt to influence their opinions. The uniform testimony of those who, in any capacity, worked under Mr. Brassey, is, that he never sought to interfere with them, or their opinions,' out of school' as we may say. He 14 MR. BRASSEY'S CHARACTER CHtAP. was one of the least arrogant of men in his I. general converse with mankind, giving a respectful consideration to whatever anyone had to say to him. Even if people talked folly to him, his comment upon it was of the mildest kind. Once, indeed, when a man was talking largely, with very little substance or understanding in his talk, Mr. Brassey was heard to remark,' I think the peas are overgrowing the sticks.' But this was a rare instance of censure-so rare that it greatly attracted the attention of the hearers. Presence Mr. Brassey was gifted with much preof mind. sence of mind. The first Napoleon used to say of himself, that few men were his equals in what he was wont to call'two o'clock of the morning' courage, which is in fact presence of mind on the announcement of unexpected danger and difficulty. Mr. Brassey was fortunate enough to possess this'two o'clock of the morning' courage in a high degree. If called up suddenly in the middle of the night upon some urgent peril or difficulty, he met the alarm with perfect coolness; sat down to consider and calculate what was AS A MAN OF BUSINESS. 15 the best mode of obviating the danger (danger CHAP. seemed to stimulate his faculties, and not to overpower them); and, before the break of day, when he had to proceed to the scene of action, was ready with his plan. It may be easily imagined what confidence this presence of mind on the part of their employer, infused into his principal agents, and all those who were employed under him. Mr. Brassey had a perfect hatred of con- Hatred of contentention. This quality of mind was, second tion. only to his trustfulness, the main element of his success. It was soon discovered by anyone who had dealings with him that, should any matter of controversy arise, he would not only refuse to take any questionable advantage over the other side, but would rather even submit to be taken advantage of.1 Now, there is not a more fruitful virtue in the world than this kind of generosity. It is nearly sure to elicit a kindred response. In most instances where overreaching is begun or continued, it derives its strength from contentiousness. 1 See Letter No. i, in Appendix. 16 MR. BRASSEY'$ CHARACTER CHAP. In the execution of any great undertaking Mr. Brassey's anxiety was that the work Mr. Brassey's should be done quickly, and be done well. anxiety to have work The minor questions as to who should bear well done. the expense of minor matters, unprovided for by specific contract, he left to be settled afterwards; whereas, many men, perhaps I may say most men, would have insisted, beforehand, upon the question being settled as to who should bear the outlay. Mr. Brassey's name is a name not known in the Law Courts. He said to Mr. Giles one day:'I never had but one regular lawsuit. It was in Spain about the Mataro Line, and that was against my will; but I was obliged to submit to it, as I had a partner. We got nothing by it; and I will never have another if I can help it, for I believe in nineteen cases out of twenty you either gain nothing at all, or what you do gain does not compensate you for the worry and anxiety the law-suit occasions you.' His action If a dispute arose between his agents in disputes. and the engineers of the company, for whom he was working, as to the best AS A MAN OF USINAESS. 17 mode of proceeding with the work, he had CHAP. an admirable way of settling the dispute. He -- would appear, perhaps unexpectedly, amongst the contending parties; would not back up his own agents, or enter into vexatious contention with the engineers of the company; Gangers taken into but would, in the presence of them all, take council. the'gangers' into council, and ask them what was their opinion on the matter. It was generally found that the gangers had a very clear opinion, and a very judicious one, as to how the work should proceed: and, at any rate, the contending parties felt that the opinion of those men, with whom the manual execution of the work rested, was an opinion which it was very desirable to defer to and to conciliate. This mode of reference and undefined arbitration was eminently characteristic of this great employer of labour. It did not vex or humiliate anybody; and it brought the matter to a definite conclusion. Our immediate forefathers, in: estimating the character of any man, were always anxious to point out what was. his ruling C 18 MR. BRASSEY'S CHARACTER CHAP. passion. This may be seen in the poets of a former age. They could not conceive the idea of a man unswayed by a ruling passion, which indeed they would invent for him, if he were not blessed, or cursed, with such a motive for endeavour. I must confess that I think the idea is not altogether a-bad one, and that most men have a ruling passionstrong in life, as in death. Now, in writing this memoir, I have endeavoured to find out Mtr.sss what was Mr. Brassey's ruling passion; what Brassey's rpuasin. was the work that he, Mr. Brassey, supposed that he was sent into the world to further and to establish. He had none of the ordinary ambitions. Rank, title, social position had no attraction for him. He had no other objects than those connected with his business. His great ambition-his ruling passion, if I may so express it-was to win a high reputation for skill, integrity, and success in the difficult vocation of a contractor for public works; to give large employment to his fellow-countrymen; and by means of British labour and British skill to knit together foreign countries, and to promote civilization, AS A MAN OF BUSINESS. 19 according to his view of it, throughout the CHAP. world. Mr. Brassey was, in brief, a singularly trustful, generous, large-hearted, dexterous, ruling kind of personage; blessed with a felicitous temperament for bearing the responsibility of great affairs. By giving at once this view which I have formed of Mr. Brassey's character, I hope I may have sufficiently interested the reader to induce him to accompany me on my journey through the details, sometimes of a dry and technical character, which serve to illustrate the nature of a man who undoubtedly proved himself to be one of the foremost leaders of industry in the present age. Ca [ 20 ] CHAPTER II. MR. BRASSE Y'S EARL Y CAREER. (A.D. I8o5-1837.) CHAP. M R. BRASSEY was born November 7, II.'~-.L Li 805, at Buerton, in the parish of Blirth and Aldford, in Cheshire. He was the son of parentage of Mr. John and Elizabeth Brassey of that parish. Brassey. His family was an ancient one, his ancestors having come over with William the tIis family Conqueror. For nearly six centuries they an tecedents. resided at Bulkeley, near Malpas, in Cheshire, where they possessed a small landed property of three or four hundred acres, which is still in the family. Mr. Brassey was much attached to this ancestral property, and when the old house became almost uninhabitable from the effects of time, he rebuilt -; —--- -— --- —= —-= —-- _____ = —- —— —--T -— , —----- —-; —I ----- —; —-==__-_==_T- — -- —-----— =- ---- --- ---—;: —= —-; = —---— —— - —: —— , —— _, —-— - —i-; 7T =1- _ —_ — —---— = —— -_ ---— r2-_; —-=-; — —--------- --------— - -- --— T ___1-=I-t —;- —------—; =i-_-- _-=T —-___-__' —--— -=-;_~ -2Z-___1 —T- — —-r —— - _ -— ---I —- ---— = — --_ —— =-. - T--=- —-1_=-__;I==, = —-I —— l - —-'-- —-=_L__-=-=- —=_____ —; —- ----;------- -L — _ I; — —---— - —---' —--— -r--- --=iI —-= — ------- — --- — -; —- -:- - _ i-; —Z — ,--=- —---- ----— r ____L;;-___ ------— =-, —-- -— =- -— _ i-l_ ulag- -— —-i~ nULKELEY HALI,. MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER. 21 upon its site a handsome house, with model CHAP. farm buildings on a large scale. Like most other ancient families, the Brasseys were concerned, in one way or another, in the civil war of the Roses; but, whatever losses they may have sustained at that period, so disastrous to many ancient English families, they were fortunate enough to retain a large part of their property. The time when they moved to Buerton The Brasseys at is uncertain; but they must have resided Buerton there for more than two centuries, as is proved by certain documents which are dated in the year I663. Mr. Brassey's father, in addition to property which he possessed in Cheshire, had land of his own at Buerton, and rented from the Marquis of Westminster a large farm adjacent to it. The rent of this farm was 850/. a year. I am particular in noting these facts about the history of Mr. Brassey's family, because it resembles that of many of those families from which our most distinguished men have sprung-an origin which I conceive is very favourable for a man who is destined to do 22 MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER. CHAP. great things in this world. There is a certain amount of culture and of knowledge in such a family; while at the same time it has run no risk of being enervated by luxury, or of having, if I may venture to use the expression, thought itself out. We cannot be blind to the fact that there are amongst us but few descendants of our most eminent men. It certainly seems as though a family, after long ages, like some slowly developing plant, produces its best flower, and then dies off. And when we see distinguished families still producing remarkable men, I believe that if we could investigate the records of those families, we should find that there had been a frequent accession of new blood,-of minds unwearied by mental labour, of bodies not exhausted or rendered unfruitful by luxury. Mr. Mr. Brassey, at twelve years of age, went Brassey goes to to a school at Chester, of which the late scnool, Mr. Harlings was master. At sixteen years of age he left school, and was articled to the late Mr. Lawton, a Land-surveyor and and is Agent. Mr. Lawton was at that time, and a:ticled. for many years had been, the agent of the MR. BRA3SSEY'S EARLY CAREER. 23 late Mr. Francis Richard Price, of Bryn-y-pys, CHAiP. II. Overton, Flintshire. Those of my readers who are no longer young, may remember that in the days of their youth there was a road made, which it was delightful to travel on, and of which all England was very proud. It was called the Holyhead Road. It commenced at Shrews- The Holyhead Road. bury and terminated at Holyhead; and this was the first great work upon which the young Brassey was employed. The celebrated Telford was the engineer of this road, and under him, as a surveyor, a Mr. Penson, of Oswestry, was employed to make the surveys for the road. Mr. Brassey was permitted by his master to assist Mr. Penson in making these surveys. Throughout his life we uniformly find that Me. Brassey Mr. Brassey was a favourite with those with a general favourite. whom, or under whom, he acted. His master, Mr. Lawton, appreciating his value, became much attached to him, and ultimately proposed to take him into the business as a partner. There was an additional reason, at that 24 MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER. CHAP. time, for making such a proposal. Mr. II.'-o ~ Lawton had the shrewdness to perceive that Birkenhead would become a very great place, and that it would give much occupation for men of his calling. Accordingly, he resolved to establish a business there, and to place at the head of it his young friend Brassey. Mr Brassey Mr. Brassey accepted the proposal of partbecomes Mr. Law- nership; and, being then twenty-one years ton's partner. of age, went to reside at Birkenhead as Mr. Lawton's partner, the whole of the Birkenhead estate being the property of Mr. Price. Birken- Birkenhead must at that time have been head in,I8s8. but a very small place, for we have evidence that in 1818 it consisted of only four houses. At this early period Mr. Brassey showed that ingenuity and fertility of resource which was afterwards so largely developed. At'this time he possessed brick-yards and lime-'kilns. In loading and unloading the barges, he-found much injury occurred to the bricks:'he therefore devised a kind of wooden crate, which not only kept the bricks from injury, but also reduced greatly the cost of delivery and re-stacking. MR. BRA SSEY'S EARLY CAREER. 25 On the death of Mr. Lawton, young Mr. CHAP. Brassey became the sole agent and representative of Mr. Price; and, no doubt, acquired Mr. Brassey great experience in directing for him the Mr. Price's agent, rise and progress of that now most populous and thriving place. He had resided there eight years, when, and is introduced accidentally, he came in contact with a great toMr. Stephenson. man-a circumstance which gave the colour and direction to his future life. This great man was George Stephenson. Mr. Brassey either possessed himself, or Stonrton Quarries. as a land-agent had the management of, a certain stone quarry at Stourton. Stone was wanted for the Sankey Viaduct on the Manchester and Liverpool Railway-the first railway, for passenger traffic, that was ever constructed. Mr. Stephenson went with Mr. Brassey to The Sankey examine the stone at this quarry, intending, Viaduct. if satisfied with it, to make a contract for its delivery at the Sankey Viaduct. It is evident that Mr. Stephenson must have been much pleased with his young companion in this excursion, for he immediately sought 26 MR. BRASSEY'S EA RL Y CA RiEER. CHAP. to engage him in the new enterprise of railI.L way-making. Acting under Mr. Stephenson's advice, Mr. Brassey was induced to tender for a contract on the Grand Junction Line. This railway was to run from Newton to Birmingham; and it now forms part of the London and North-Western system. The first tender Mr. Brassey made was for Mr. the Duttton Viaduct, near Warrington; but Brassey's first tender his estimate did not partake of the rashness for Railway of youth, for it was 5,oool. higher than the works. The estimate sent in by the late Mr. Macintosh, Viaduct a well-known contractor of that day, who obtained the contract in question. Not discouraged by this failure, Mr. Brassey next tendered for the Penkridge Viaduct, which is between Stafford and Wolverhampton; also including in his tender ten miles of railway on the same line. Mr. Mr. Brassey was enabled to tender for this conBrassey's first tract by the liberality of his bankers at Railway contract. Chester-Messrs. Dixons-who, on being informed of the circumstances, at once agreed to place a considerable sum to his credit. Mr. Brassey never forgot this act of kindness MR. BRASSE YS EARLY CAREER. 27 on their part, and kept his principal account CHAP. II. with these bankers throughout his lifetime. Mr. Brassey was successful in obtaining this contract. He was now twenty-nine years A.D. 1834. of age. Doubtless he had obtained much knowledge of all kinds of construction connected with his business of a land-surveyor. The construction of railways, however, was at that time altogether a novelty, not only to him, but to all persons engaged in it. The work had not yet begun to run in Difficulties of early grooves, after which everything is com- ailwy paratively so easy; but it required new modes of operation, and the creation of skilled labour of a new kind; also the management of larger bodies of men than hitherto had been brought together for public works, and a more rapid'movement of these armies of labouring men, from place to place, than hitherto had ever been requisite. Moreover, and this is a most important point, the system of'sub-contracts' had not been devised, or, rather, had only been partially and slightly adopted,-a system which has given increased facility to all great public works. 28 MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER. CHAP. Altogether, to take a railway contract in ~ — - those days, and to work it out successfully, was no light undertaking, but one which taxed to the utmost the ability of every kind possessed by the contractor. Mr. Brassey having obtained this contract, completed it most successfully. Mr. George Stephenson was Engineer-in-chief when Mr. Brassey took this contract. A few months, however, after the commencement of the line, Mr. Stephenson resigned his appointment; and the late Mr. Locke, who had Mr. been his pupil and assistant, was appointed Brassey meets Mr. to succeed him as Engineer-in-chief to the Locke. line. On the completion of the Grand Junction Railway, Mr. Locke was employed on the London and Southampton Railway, which had been commenced under the superintendence of the late Mr. Francis Giles. Mr. Mr. Locke asked Mr. Brassey to go Brassey takes a with him; and Mr. Brassey contracted for, contract on the and undertook the important works on that London andSouth- railway between Basingstoke and Winchesampton Railway. ter, and also, on other parts of that line. MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER. 29 It was when Mr. Brassey was thirty-one CHAP. II. years of age, that he came up to London, ~ in consequence of his connection with the A.D. I836. London and Southampton Railway, and thus entered into a much larger sphere of business; in fact, commencing a career which was to lead him into great railway operations, extending over a large part of Europe, India, and the British Possessions in America. It may be requisite here to say something Business relations of the business relations of Mr. Locke between Mr. Locke and Mr. Brassey. It has been thought by and Mr. Brassey. some persons that Mr. Locke showed a spirit of favouritism for Mr. Brassey; and this is so far true, that Mr. Locke was always delighted to have Mr. Brassey as a coadjutor: but those who knew anything of the qualities of that eminent engineer, Mr. Locke, must be well aware that his regard as a man of business for any other man of business would have been founded upon no Mr. prejudices, and upon no unreasonable favour- Brassey's desire to itism. To put the matter very plainly, it crryeout his works was soon discovered that whenever Mr. properly. 30 MR. BRASSE Y'S EARLY CAREER. CHAP. Brassey had undertaken a contract on a line, II.'-" —' the Engineer-in-chief had but little occasion xecute for rigid supervision. Mr. Locke well knew works properly. that a bargain once concluded with Mr. Brassey would be exactly, I may say handsomely, fulfilled, and that no difficulties or contingencies would be made an excuse for delay, or an occasion for demanding any alteration in the terms of the contract. After the fall of a certain great viaduct, which disaster will have to, be mentioned in these pages, it was suggested to Mr. Brassey that, on his representing the facts of the case to the Directors of the Company, some alleviation of his loss might be obtained. His reply to this suggestion was in consonance with the whole tenour of his career.'No,' he said,' I have contracted to make and maintain the road, and nothing shall prevent Thomas Brassey from being as good as his word.' Throughout Mr. Brassey's career, his faithfulness. his desire to do his work efficiently, whether at a gain or a loss, together with his resolution to avoid all petty subjects MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER. 31 of dispute, naturally made him a most wel- cHAP. come fellow-worker to any person placed in such an arduous position-a position requiring so much watchfulness and supervision-as that of Engineer-in-chief to a railway. It was an immense comfort to have a man to deal with, whom it was not necessary to be looking after in respect of any of the details of the work entrusted to him. Mr. Brassey married, on December 27, Mr. Brassey's 183I, Maria, second daughter of Mr. Joseph marriage. Harrison, of Birkenhead. Mr. Harrison carried on the business of a forwarding agent Mr. Harrison of in Liverpool, and acted in this capacity for Birkenthe great firms of Phillips and Son, Sir J. Potter, the Houldsworths, and other leading Manchester houses. In those days there were no railways, and the business of a forwarding agent was of an important and interesting character, as he was the medium of communication between the manufacturer and the shipper. Mr. Harrison was the first Mr Hans. resident in the new town of Birkenhead. BitkenI-e was a man of much intelligence and foresight. Amongst his other agencies, he 32 M1R. BRASSEY'S EARL Y CA REER. CHAP. acted for the old Quay Canal Company, —' and was one of the few persons clear-sighted sufficiently to perceive that canal property would not be ruined by the new mode of transit by railway; but that, in most instances, there would be ample employment for carriers by canal as well as by railway. Indeed, he gave evidence in favour of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, at the time when they were seeking to obtain their bill in Parliament. There was much sympathy between the father-in-law and the son-in-law; and, from the time Mr. Brassey commenced business at Birkenhead, Mr. Harrison predicted his successfill career. Mr. Brassey became acquainted with his future father-in-law shortly after the time when Mr. Lawton received Mr. Brassey as an articled pupil. Mrs. Mrs. Brassey has survived her husband. Brassey. It is always a difficult matter to speak in praise of those who are living, and who may not like to read commendation of themselves. But, notwithstanding this necessary reserve, it is right to mention the fact that Mr. MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER. 33 Brassey's first connection with railways was CHAP. partly due to the advice which he received from his wife. He naturally hesitated to leave Birkenhead, where he had established a large and increasing business; but his wife's spirit and sound judgment convinced her that her husband would be able to find a far more important sphere, for the exercise of his great abilities, by enlisting in the small band of men who had at that time taken in hand the construction of railways. This may now seem a thoroughly self-evident proposition; but it was not so then. My readers must bear in mind the Early objections that were raised to railways, even to railin Committees of the House of Commons. ways.'How would the carriages ever get up hill? how would they ever be able to stop, when going down hill? what would happen if a cow were to come in the way?' Such were the agitating questions asked by the opponents of the new mode of locomotion. In short, they maintained that'these newfangled concerns, might do to convey heavy goods (as improved D 34 MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER. CHAP. tramways),but as for carrying passengers, with any comfort or safety, that was a ludicrous supposition.' It was a very courageous thing for any woman to hold a contrary opinion, and to hold it so firmly that she should venture to advise her husband to throw in his fortunes with the new and much depreciated class of enterprise. Mr. Brassey followed his wife's advice, and to her therefore is due, in no slight degree, the successful career of this remarkable man. There is the more credit due to Mrs. Brassey, as she doubtless foresaw that, in a domestic point of view, her husband's railway engagements would impose a great burden upon her, and a burden of the kind which women especially dislike. The railway contracts, in which Mr. Brassey successively engaged, compelled repeated changes of residence. In the course of thirteen years, Mr. Bras- dating from the commencement of his career sey's several as a Railway Contractor, Mr. Brassey changed changes of residence. his residence eleven times: namely, from Birkenhead to Stafford; from Stafford to Kingston-on-Thames; thence to Popham MR. BRA SSEY'S EARLY CAREER. 35 Lane, in Hampshire; afterwards to Win- CHAP. chester; from Winchester to Fareham; from Fareham to Vernon in Normandy; from Vernon to Rouen; from Rouen to Paris; afterwards back again to Rouen; then to Kingstonon-Thames, and finally to Lowndes Square, London. It may be seen by this that the life of a railway contractor has some drawbacks, such as probably may not have been thought of by my readers. The labour and difficulty occasioned Domestic difficulties to Mrs. Brassey, by these frequent re- of Mrs. Brassey. movals, all the arrangements of which were entirely left to her, may well be imagined by those who have had any similar troubles to encounter. Many of these removals, especially those from England, necessitated frequent sales of furniture, and the most cherished articles were compulsorily parted with. These, however, though serious troubles in themselves, were much added to by the social difficulties which occur in such cases, it being very difficult, if not impossible, to make friends, or at any rate to retain them, D2 36 MR. BRASSEY'S EARLY CAREER. CIHAP. in any neighbourhood in which a family does Y not reside more than a year. Mr. Bras- Moreover, Mr. Brassey's occupation, and sey's absence the remote distance of many of his contracts from home. from his place of residence, made constant absence from home inevitable; and even when at home, little could be seen by his family of the head of the house, as he was generally absent from nine or half-past nine in the morning till ten o'clock in the evening. Of course, the education of the children at this period rested entirely with Mrs. Brassey; and, during these years of isolation, she devoted herself with the utmost affection to the care of her sons. Mrs. Brassey could speak French fluently, which was a great assistance to her husband when they first went to France. He never had time to acquire a command of any foreign language, though, I believe, he succeeded in contriving to understand a good many of those technical terms which it was desirable for him to master. Notwithstanding Mrs. Brassey's domestic avocations, which, as we have seen, were MR. BRASSE Y'S EARL, Y CAREER. 37 large and constant, she did not fail to take CHAP. IL the greatest interest in her husband's public - career; and he was wont to take counsel with her in all the weightier matters of business in which he was concerned. [38 ] CHAPTER III. CONTRACT WORKI. (A.D. I838.) CIIAP. REVIOUSLY to narrating the series of great works of construction, in which Mr. Brassey was engaged in foreign countries, it may be well to give a little forethought to the nature of Contract Work, and to see why such a person was wanted at this particular juncture, and for this particular kind of work. Mr. Mr. Hawkshaw, the eminent engineer, Hawkshaw on justly observes that'with the commencerailways. ment of the railway system began an age of great works, during which undertakings of far more colossal dimensions were rapidly projected, and required to be as rapidly carried into execution. The extension of the CONTRA CT WORK. 39 railway system called for larger docks and CHAP. III. larger harbours, and since the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway the public works that have been executed in the United Kingdom alone far exceed all that had been done before.' 1 At first sight, it might appear that there Need for contracwas no need for the contractor. In early tors, days, and perhaps we may say in comparatively barbarous times, great works were doubtless executed without the intervention of the contractor. He is an inevit- a mark cf Civilizaable product of civilization; for, inevitably, tion. with civilization comes the division of labour. It is obvious that one of the main advantages of doing work by contract, and through the agency of a practised contractor, is that you command the knowledge and experience of a trained body of men, fitted for the especial work. Something of this kind is to be observed in great works which were executed before the word'contractor' came into being. We know but little, comparaI See Letter No. 7, in Appendix. 40 CONTRA CT WORK. CHAP. tively speaking, of the history of the conIII. struction of the grand cathedrals which have arisen throughout the Christian world. But we are told by those who have most carefully investigated such matters-that bands of skilled workmen, chiefly Italians, were employed in these buildings, who went from place to place, and were enabled to give instruction to the local workmen. This, in some measure, accounts for the uniformity of style pervading certain periods of church architecture. It might be said, that at first sight, it does not appear why those who have undertaken a great public work, should not execute it by means of their own officers; but almost all experience shows that this would not be a wise course. Reasons in There are many reasons for this conclusion, favour of contract and some of them are based upon much work. knowledge of human nature. If the projectors of the undertaking had to execute the work themselves, they would undoubtedly be seduced into frequent change of plan, from the very fact of their being masters of the CONTRA CT WORK. 41 situation. This may be seen in much smaller CHAP. matters than public works. When a gentle- -- man undertakes to build a house for himself, many are the changes he is induced to make during the building of that house, and large is the additional expense which he generally incurs. The system of contracting for great works necessitates much forethought before commencing them, and, for the most part, a rigid adherence to the plans originally laid down. It may serve to show the need and value of this system of contracting for.great works, that it perpetually tends to extend itself. The great contractor finds it to his advantage to sub-let portions of his contract; Sub-contracting. and these are again sub-let to smaller men, by which means individual skill and exertion are gradually developed to the uttermost. Perhaps in no way could this individual skill and exertion be more amply developed, and the merits of individual men be brought more prominently forward, than by this Advantages of system of contracting. Moreover, it deve- contracts. 42 CONTRA CT WFORK. CHAP. lopes the power of bearing responsibility, and III. tends to create masters out of men. Limits to Thus far as regards the advantages to be which contracts derived from doing work by contract. It may be carried. must, however, be remembered that there are limits within which this practice should be confined, and that there are cases to which it is altogether inapplicable. Govern- The demands, for example, of Government ments and contracts, are not of a nature to be wholly met by dealings with contractors. These demands are liable to be sudden, large, imperative, and indefinite. Hence Government will do wisely not to abandon their establishments. It must also be remembered, that by keeping up some of those establishments, they have, on a sudden pressure, some of the benefits of competition within their reach, and are not entirely at the mercy of what we may call the foreign element of contracting. So, again, as regards matters into which taste and beauty of design enter, or where there is great probability of a change of plan, the system of contracting is not altogether admirable. Even as regards that instance CONTRA CT WORK. 43 which I took before, of a house built by a CHAP. III. private individual for himself, there is consi- --- derable probability that the house will be better built, at any rate more suitably built, for the owner, if it is not built by contract. But no one will contend that it is not likely to be an expensively built house. Those works, however-whether devised The kind of work by governments, public bodies, or private in- fitted for contracts. dividuals —of which the character is definite, and the time for executing them not imperatively short, are the works which it is most advisable to have executed by contract. Now the construction of railways is work which exactly fulfils these conditions. It is very definite in character: it is not like a demand for arms, or other warlike material, which may be wanted by a Government at a very brief notice: and, in short, it is one of those products of labour, in which contract work may be most usefully emiployed. Accordingly, the contractor makes his appearance on the stage as he is imperatively required. The practice of doing works by contract 44 CONTRACT WORK. CHAP. is likely to increase extensively; and therefore, it will not be without advantage to observe, in the course of this memoir, how contractors have been wholly entrusted, and with the best results, with the care of some of the greatest undertakings of our time. It may also be noted that, in carrying out works in foreign countries, great benefit has accrued both to those countries themselves, and to the country in which these projects originated, from the works being confided to contractors who carried hither and thither bands of skilful workmen; and who, indirectly, brought much profit to the mother country, while gradually they instructed the natives of other countries in skilled labour, and made them more useful citizens than Some ad- they were before. There are some parts vantages derived of Europe where the condition of the from the system of whole labouring population has been percontractfig. manently raised by the introduction of British skill and British labour in the execution of a particular work. And this would hardly have been the case, or at any rate would not so soon have been CONTRA CT WORK. 45 the case, but for the presence of the CHAP. III. British contractor and his accompanying army of British workmen; bringing new tools, new modes of working, new methods of payment; and, in short, introducing an element of vigour and prosperity which could not have been so well introduced in any other way. In a speech made by Mr. Henfrey, on the Mr. Henfrey's opening of the Meerut and Umballa section speech. of the Delhi Railway, he says: —' How greatly the working classes of this country(India) have profited by the construction of railways may be judged by the fact, that out of the seventyfive, or eighty millions sterling expended to the present time on Indian railways, nearly two-thirds, or between forty and fifty millions, must have passed, I cannot say into the pockets, but into the hands of the working classes.' When Mr. Brassey took any contract, he let Sub-contracting. out portions of the work to sub-contractors. His way of dealing with them was this: he generally furnished all the materials, and all the plant. I find him on one occasion order- A.D. 1847. 46 CONTRACT WORK. CHAP. ing as many as 2,400 wagons from Messrs. III. Ransome and May. He also provided the sey fiBnds horses. The sub-contractors contracted for the'plant' for sub- the manual labour alone. contractors. But even Mr. Brassey, with all his intelligence and all his knowledge, could not make that intelligence and that knowledge equivalent to the minute care and daily supervision which every man exercises over matters which are completely within his control. For instance, he found that in France to provide horses was an undertaking which did not pay; and afterwards he made all the sub-contractors find their own horses. At first this could not well have been done. Bringing into a strange country Englishmen, hardly any of whom could speak the language, Mr. Brassey very properly took upon himself the greater part of the responsibility, leaving the sub-contractors to find the manual labour, and to execute the work at so much per metre. Ultimately, the sub-contractors found the horses, the manual labour, grease for the wagons, and their own blacksmiths. Mr. Brassey's mode of dealing with the sub CONTRA CT WORK. 47 contractors was of an unusual kind, and such CHAP. as could not have been adopted except by I — a man who had great experience of all kinds Mr. Brassey's of manual work, and who was also a very dealings with the just man. They did not exactly contract sub-contractors. with him, but he appointed to, them their work, telling them what price he should give for it. All the evidence I have before me shows that they were content to take the work at his price, and that they never questioned his accuracy. One of his sub- Mr. Brassey contractors thus describes the process. " They fixes the price of did not ask him any question. He said, sub-contractors,'There is a piece of work for you. Will you go into that? You will have so much for it.' And then they accepted it, and went to work." It may somewhat surprise the reader to find that all these sub-contractors were so willing at once to accept Mr.: Brassey's terms; but this is easily to be accounted for by the conviction which each of them had that, if any mistake had been made, especially a mistake to their injury, there was a court of appeal and raises prices if which listened very readily to any grievance, required. and took care to remedy it. The truth is, 48 CONTRA CT WORK. CHAP. that Mr. Brassey would always increase the price of the contract, or make it up to the sub-contractor in some other way, if the original contract had proved to be too hard a bargain for the sub-contractor. Frequently the work appointed to the sub-contractor turned out to be of a more difficult nature than had been anticipated. He however, would not desist from the work on that account, nor make any appeal in writing to his employer. He would -wait until the time when Mr. Brassey should come round to visit the works. This was generally, at this period, once or twice a month. Of course Mr. Brassey had agents who represented him, providing the necessary materials, making payments, and watching the work of the subcontractors. These agents, however, seldom felt disposed, or were not authorised, to add to the price already agreed upon between Meeting Mr. Brassey and any of the sub-contractors.' between Mr. Bras- The sub-contractor, therefore, who had made;ey and a;ub-con- but an indifferent bargain, awaited eagerly:ractor. This statement applies only to the earlier period of Mr. Brassey's career. CONTRA CT WORK. 49 the coming of Mr. Brassey to the works. CHAP III. One of these occasions is thus described: He came, and saw how matters stood, and invariably satisfied the man. 11 a cutting, taken to be clay, turned out after a very short time to be rock, the sub-contractor would be getting disheartened; yet he still persevered, looking to the time when Mr. Brassey should come. He came, walking along the line as usual, with a number of followers, and on coming to the cutting he looked round, counted the number of wagons at the work, scanned the cutting, and took stock of the nature of the stuff.' This is very hard,' said he to the sub-contractor.'Yes, it is a pretty deal harder than I bargained for.' Mr. Brassey would linger behind, allowing the others to go on, and then commenced the following conversation.'What is your price for this cutting?'' So much a yard, sir.''It is very evident that you are not getting it out for that price. Have you asked for any advance to be made to you for this rock?'' Yes, sir, but I can make no sense of them.''If you say that your price is so much, it is quite clear that you do not do it for that. I am glad that you have persevered with it, but I shall not alter your price; it must remain as it is, but the rock must be measured for you twice; will that do for you?''Yes, very well indeed, and I am very much obliged to you, sir.'' Very well; go on; you have done well in persevering, and I shall look to you again.' The same witness states that.one of these Cost of Mr. visits of inspection would often'cost Mr. Brassey's inspecBrassey a thousand pounds; and as he went tions. E 50 CONTRACT WORK. cHAP. along the line in these inspections, he remembered even the navvies, and saluted them by their names.' In making sub-contracts, Mr. Brassey was very careful to apportion them according to the abilities and experience of the sub-contractor. For example, he never liked to let the brick-work and earth-work to one man. He would let the brick-work to a bricklayer, Care inap- and the earth-work to a man specially acpointing sub-con- quainted with that branch.'I have often,' tractors. says one of his employds,'heard him mention, as a principle of action-" Each one to his own speciality."' Before leaving the subject of Mr. Brassey's dealings with his sub-contractors, it will be desirable to see what extent of work was, as a general rule, entrusted to a sub-contractor, and what number of men he had under him. I find that the sub-contracts varied Amount of from 5,000ool. to 25,000.; and that the sub-contracts. number of men employed upon them would be from one to three hundred-the former Sub-let number being more common than the latter. sub-contracts. There were also, occasionally, sub-lettings CONTRACT WORK. 51 made by these sub-contractors; but this was CHAP. III. a practice of which Mr. Brassey did not' approve. It may be remarked, that, throughout his career, Mr. Brassey favoured and furthered the co-operative system; Co-operaconstantly giving a certain share of the system. profits to his agents, and thus making them partakers in the success or failure of the enterprise. He also approved of the'butty-gang' system. This word'butty-gang' requires Buttygangs. some explanation. It means that certain work is let to a gang of about ten or thirteen men, as the case may be, and that the proceeds of the work are equally divided amongst them, something extra being allowed to the head man. This system was originated when the formation of canals first began in England.' Butty-gangs' were afterwards employed on the Paris fortifications which were constructed by French workmen. E2 [52 CHAPTER IV. COIfMMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. (A.D. I84I.) IHAP REAT Britain has been a fortunate Grea country in many respects, but in Great Britain hardly any more fortunate than in the time fortunate as regards at which railway communication was introrailway develop- duced into the country. It was not until after ment. great attention had been paid for many years to the subject of locomotion, and after roads and canals had been brought to a state of comparative perfection throughout England, if not throughout Great Britain, that railways began to be thought of. This was an immense advantage for this country; and it was one which was possessed almost exclusively by Great Britain. In warlike preparations it piJ/ flouJngule' -C C ~rcr hCllerhourg ~ C~a~u~c MAP SHOWING SOME Of "Dielppe eMt-BRASSEY'S ~), ]r~~V, ou~ u- C', _.., CONTINENTAL ENTERPRISES PAR K Oriewam ~rusteam l~ ~ ~~~', y -I-I " WITZI ~~/A ~-( (axdoCz7.,''a'oid-TENa jC/5fY - LenI~~~~~~~~~~~zlls e~~~~ ofalr )~ ~ x ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~ lasto(ja Prato I.1~~~~~~~~~~~~0 g *FLOB~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RENXfl ________ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~ Mar ~~~~~~~~Legit COIMMCENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. 53 is discouraging to notice that when some CHAP. IV. kind of work has been brought to perfection, - such as a stately man-of-war, or a well-constructed and well-armed battery, —that is,' well constructed and well armed' according to the latest knowledge of scientific men of that particular time,-some, comparatively speaking, small advance in science or improvement in manufacture, renders the stately ship or the well-appointed battery useless, and, as we may almost say, ridiculous. It is not so, however, with what may be called the minor modes of locomotion. That a country should be traversed by these in every direction is of the greatest advantage as forming the means of easy approach to the great lines of railway. France, as indeed almost every other con- Respective positions tinental country, was not in the same happy of France and position in this respect as England, at England on the the time when railways were commenced. introduction of It was not, however, to be expected that railways. continental countries would wait to develope a good system of roads and canals before they gave their minds to endeavouring to bring amongst them this new and marvellous 54 COMMENCEiMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. CHAVP. mode of transit by railway, which had proved IV. so successful and was in full activity of construction on this side of the water. Accordingly, about the year I830, the French began to desire that railways should be introduced into France. As a purely commercial speculation, however, there was but little hope of the railway system being adopted in that country; and consequently, the government was induced to choose, in many cases, the plan of giving guarantees to those who were willing to become shareholders in any railway undertaking. It was natural that one of the first railways that would be thought of, was one which should connect Paris with London. Hence Parisand arose the Paris and Rouen Railway. The Rouen Railway. promoters of that line put themselves in communication with the directors of the London and Southampton Railway, and an endeavour was made to facilitate matters by an amalgamation of interests. The proposition which the French Board brought forward was favourably entertained; and ultimately a joint company was formed, COMIMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. 55 called the Paris and Rouen Railway Company: CHAP. IV. one condition stipulated by the English and their friends being, that they should appoint the engineer. This was readily acceded to; and the choice fell on Mr. Locke, who at that time had acquired a high reputation in England-one important element thereof being a confidence on the part of the public in the execution of his works within the estimates.'Mr. Locke, on arriving in France to make Mr. Locke goes to the necessary arrangements, was impressed, France. from the information given to him as to cheapness of labour, with the idea that he should secure lower prices for the work than he had been in the habit of allowing in England: but the pretensions of French contractors seemed so much in excess of his expectations, that he suggested to the Board to invite English contractors to come over and com pete with those of the country. This sug gestion was adopted; and several of the most prominent of the contractors in England were invited to examine the projects of the works, with a view to sending in tenders 56 COMMENCEAIENT OF FOREIGN WORK. cHAP. for their execution. Of these there were IV. only three or four who really entertained the proposition. Mr. Brassey and'the late Mr. William Mackenzie were of that number; in fact, I believe, they were the only two who thoroughly and seriously examined the matter. They soon discovered that the real contest would be only between themselves. The French contractors, owing, perhaps, to a want of practical knowledge of the execution of this new kind of work, to their limited resources of capital, and, still further, to the short time (as it appeared to them) allowed by the engineer for the execution of the line, framed their estimates on far too high a scale.'Seeing this, Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Mr. Brassey, not unwisely, agreed to join, and Brassey joins Mr. consequently tendered conjointly for the conMackenzie. tracts as they came out, and succeeded, by competition, in securing the execution of (with a very trifling exception) the whole of the works. This was Mr. Brassey's dcbut in France, and in fact the commencetnent of his practice in foreign countries. COMMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. 57'The works were commenced in I84I; CHAP. IV. and the line was opened to the public in' May i843.'Mr. Brassey fixed his residence on the Mr. Brassey line, and gave up the whole of his time and removes to France. attention to it. In those early days this was, even to Mr. Brassey, a very heavy and important undertaking. Added to its extent, and the consequent and natural difficulties of organization and management, it possessed the new feature of being in a foreign country, where railway works were as yet unknown, and where, consequently, it was not easy to secure assistants in the shape of practical agents, foremen, and gangers, or even the necessary labourers, miners, and navvies accustomed to that style of work, and to the means of execution adopted by the contractor. All this considerably enhanced the difficulties, more especially as the whole time for completion was very limited, and necessitated, therefore, great energy, decision, and discernment in organizing rapidly a very large 58 COYMIMENCEnMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. CHAP. staff of emrployes of every description, and IV. the bringing over from England numbers of workmen of all classes-amounting, at times, to several thousands.' Railways, Railway construction has been one of the one of the most most gigantic series of enterprises of modern gigantic enterprises times, or of any times, and it seems to me of modem times. that it cannot but be interesting to examine minutely how such enterprises were carried forward by one of the foremost men engaged in them. Mr. Brassey took separate contracts for various portions of the line, being always able to underbid his foreign competitors, from the knowledge he had already acquired in railway-making, and especially from his having begun to collect around him a staff of well-tried and capable men. Mr. Throughout his life to form such a staff was Brassey's choice of one of Mr. Brassey's chief aims. He had, a staff. for this purpose, qualifications of the highest order. In the first place, he was skilful in his choice of men. Then he had a belief Mr. Murton's evidence. COMMEVCEiMENT OF FOREIGN WORK 59 in the men he had chosen. If a man could CHAP. IV. not do well one thing that he had been put - to do, he did not get rid of him, but Mr. Brassey would give him a trial in another branch "a a of work. Mr. Brassey became well known throughout the labour market as an employer who was very loth to part with any man whom he had once employed. He carried this practice to such an extent, that, in one or two rare instances, when his subordinates had opposed him, and even tried to go to law with him (but Mr. Brassey was a man very difficult to go to law with), he did not refuse to'give these men further employment.1 Moreover, he endeavoured so to regulate his work, that there should always, if possible, be employment for all his men, from the highest on the staff to the commonest labourer. This is a matter of great difficulty for the railway contractor. He is not in the position of a manufacturer, who may, even in times of distress, continue to employ his men, perhaps at a reduced rate See Letter No. 2, in Appendix. 60 COMMLIENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. CHAP. of wages, but still employing them, heaping IV. - r - up goods for which there will be sure to Contrac- come a demand at some time. But when tors as employers. there comes a slackness, or a dearth of railway enterprise, it is very difficult to continue to provide employment for all those persons who have been engaged in railway work during busy periods. The way in which Mr. Brassey managed, on these emergencies, was to subdivide the work he had to give into smaller portions; thus endeavouring to provide work for all his staff, for a given period, until better days should come round. Medical It will naturally be a matter of some help for men,. interest to the reader to know how our fellow-countrymen, especially the navvies, got on in a foreign land. Mr. Brassey provided for them medical assistance and hospital accommodation, subscribing always very liberally to the hospitals that were in proximity to his men; and afterwards, with his usual generosity, often continuing those subscriptions when his men had left the country. There was much, however, of difficulty for COMMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. 6I the English in a strange country, which CHAP. IV. their employer could not provide against. Difficulties They had to be employers as well as em- of the English ployed; and their mode of instructing the abroad. Frenchmen working under them, or working with them, was at first of a very original character. They pointed to the earth to be moved, or the wagon to be filled, said the word'd-n' emphatically, stamped their feet, and somehow or other their instructions, thus conveyed, were generally comprehended by the foreigner. This form of instruction was only applicable, however, to very simple cases, and some knowledge of the language had to be acquired by the men, for they could not afford to employ interpreters, as was done by persons of a higher grade in Mr. Brassey's employment. Several of these, and of their sons, soon acquired a competent knowledge of the languages of those countries in which they had such large negotiations to direct, and orders of all kinds to give. But Anavvy among the navvies there grew up a esembI Hong language which could hardly be said to be KHog either French or English;gand which, in fact, either French or English; and which, in fact, Eogn.' 62 COMMENCEMENT OF' FOREIGN WORK. CHAP. must have resembled that strange compound IV. language (Pigeon English) which is spoken at Hong Kong by the Chinese in their converse with British sailors and merchants. It must have had at least as much French in it as English, for it is stated in evidence that'the English learnt twice as much French as the Frenchmen learnt English.' This composite language had its own forms and grammar; and it seems to have been made use of in other countries besides France; for afterwards there were young Savoyards who became quite skilled in the use of this particular language, and who were employed Inter- as cheap interpreters between the sub-conpreters. tractors and the native workmen. One of Mr. Brassey's agents, speaking on this subject, says:-' It was not necessary to understand a word of English, but to understand the Englishman's Italian or French. That I found in many cases. A sharp youth, for example, would be always going about with a ganger, to listen to what he was saying, and to interpret to his (the youth's) countrymen.' CO.MMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. 63 It is pleasing to find that, after all, we CHAP. IV. have some power in the acquisition of languages, for several of these navvies did eventually acquire a considerable knowledge of French, not, of course, speaking it very grammatically, but still having acquired a greater knowledge of it, and a greater command of it, than they had of their native tongue. On this railway between Paris and Languages spoken by Rouen there were no fewer than eleven the men constructlanguages spoken on the works. The British ing railways. spoke English; the Irish, Erse; the Highlanders, Gaelic; and the Welshmen, Welsh. Then there were French, Germans, Belgians, Dutch, Piedmontese, Spaniards, and Poles -all speaking their own languages. There was also one Portuguese, but he was a linguist in his way, and could speak some broken French. This concourse of individuals, from various nations, took place wherever a railway was being constructed by English companies, in any part of the world which was not of a completely isolated character. It was there 64 CO3MMENCEMENVT OF FOREIGN WORK. CHAP. fore of great advantage that there should be IV. some one language, such as that invented by the navvies, which should serve for the purpose of talk and instruction upon railways; and it is not surprising that this language should have been adopted wherever the English came in considerable numbers to be employed in the construction of a line, in any foreign country. Habita- One of the first things to be arranged, tions for the was the lodging accommodation of the numemen. rous bands of workmen, which frequently amounted to from ten to twenty thousand. Sometimes they were located in huts. On this particular railway (the Paris and Rouen line) there was no occasion for the construction of huts, for there are many villages, lying close to each other, all along the course of the river Seine. It is to be noticed that the Germans were content with much poorer accommodation than the other labourers. To use the words of an eye-witness,'They would put up with a barn, or anything.' Advan- Of the advantage which these railway tages derived works proved to the poorer inhabitants of COMMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORKC. 65 those parts of the country through which CHAP. IV. these lines were carried, it is difficult to' by the speak too highly. The'natives,' as our inhabitants Englishmen always called them, were pro- from railway vided with new tools, and learnt the use of works. them; were taught new forms of labour, and the benefit of organization in labouring; were paid regularly, and received a much higher rate of wages, sometimes double or treble that which they had been accustomed to earn. In making the railway from Charleroi to Givet, where the works were of a light character, Mr. Brassey sent out only a few Englishmen, to commence and superintend the construction of the line. One of the sub-contractors thus describes the effect upon the natives of the introduction of railway work.'When we went there, a native Wages in Belgium. labourer was paid one shilling and three pence per day; but when we began to pay them two francs and two francs and a half a day, they thought we were angels from heaven.' More provident and more abstemious than our countrymen, these natives contrived to make considerable savings; and F 66 COMMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. CHAP. they trooped back to their homes, often IV. very distant, bringing not only sustenance and comfort to their wives and families, but having accumulated some capital for their own private enterprises at home. There are extensive districts in which the material prosperity of the inhabitants has been permanently raised by the savings which these hardy labourers realized, and brought back. In I843, the Rouen and Havre Railway, a continuation of the Paris and Rouen line, was projected to complete the communication between Paris and London, by way of Southampton. Rouen and'The works of the Havre railway were Havre Railway. extraordinary in magnitude. The line, leaving the Valley of the Seine at Rouen, had to cross several important valleys to attain the plateau or summit level, and then to descend to the level of the port of Havre. Magnitude This necessitated a large bridge over the of the works. Seine, many tunnels, eight or ten in number, several large viaducts of Ioo feet in height, and huge cuttings and embankments; more COMlMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. 67 over, the whole of the work had to be com- CHAP. IV. pleted in two years. Mr. Brassey took up his _'-IMr. residence at Rouen, and laboured at this very Brassey removes heavy and important work with unbounded to Rouen. energy. I should say that, never up to that date, had such heavy works been carried out in so short a time. Although many of his people had had two years' experience in France, still, owing to the severe character of the work, there was much difficulty in obtaining the necessary labour, more especially as regards the mining, brickwork, and masonry. The contractors were again obliged to bring over from England hosts of bricklayers, from London or from any place where they could be found; and it may here be mentioned that, of all classes of railway labour, as a rule, the brickmakers and the bricklayers are the worst and the most unscrupulous, and great indeed was the trouble and expense they caused. The necessity also, of working night as well as day, rendered the supervision very difficult, particularly in the tunnels, and much anxiety was thereby occasioned to the engineers as well as to the contractors. F Z 68 COM.MENCEMrENT OF FOREIGN WORK. CHIAP.' During the progress of the works, a great IV. ~ —~ — accident occurred in the second section of the Fall of line, in the fall of the Barentin Viaduct — the Viardnct a huge brick construction of Ioo feet in height and about one-third of a mile in length, having cost some 50,ooo.000; and which had, but a very short time previously, elicited the praise and admiration of the Minister of Public Works, and the other high French officials who visited it.' This great downfall occurred a very short time before the proposed opening of the line. It is scarcely necessary here to seek to establish the causes of this failure; very rapid execution in very bad weather, and being built, in accordance with the contract, with mortar made of lime of the country (but with which the other smaller works had been successfully built), were no doubt the principal causes.' Mr. Brassey was very greatly upset by this untoward event; but he and his partner Mr. Mackenzie met the difficulty most manfully.'The first thing to do,' as they said,' is to build it up again,' and this they started most strenuously to do; not waiting, COMIMEIACEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. 69 as many would have done, whether justly CHAP. IV. or unjustly, to settle, by litigation or otherwise, upon whom the responsibility and the expense should fall.' Not a day was lost by them in the extraordinary efforts they had to make to secure millions of new bricks, and to provide hydraulic lime, which had to be brought from a distance. Suffice it to say that, by their indomitable The Via. duct reenergy and determination promptly to repair built. the evil, and by the skill of their agents, they succeeded in rebuilding this huge structure in less than six vmonths.' I should mention that, as one inducement to the contractors to open the Havre line a few months before the contract time, a premium of about Io,oool. was offered them. This of course they stood to lose by this accident. The Company, however, in consideration of their marvellous and successful efforts to redeem the loss of time, allowed them the benefit of this sum, but the whole of the remainder of the expense they themselves bore. This is one of the many cases where, in spite of all loss, of all difficulty 70 COMMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. CHAP. that determination never to shrink, upon- any IV. pretext, from a contract, fully evinced itself; and therefore, it is a case worthy of note. Mr.'Allusion may appropriately be made here Brassey's personal to Mr. Brassey's personal management of management of works; for, at this period of his career, he works. had not, as at a later time, multifarious contracts in hand in different countries. He was therefore enabled to give up nearly all his time to the works in France; he, consequently, gave them his direct personal management, being assisted mainly by resident agents, each having the superintendence of a district of a few miles.' Mr. Mr. Harrison, at whose house Mr. Brassey Brassey hears of was at the time he received the news of the the accident. Barentin accident, says that the only remark he made, was simply,' I must leave you,' and that he at once sent for Henry Chambers, who had charge of the bricklaying at the viaduct, to give instructions about the rebuilding. I have endeavoured to give somewhat of a 1 Mr. Murton's evidence. COMMENCEMlIENT OF FOREIGN WORK. 71 survey of what were the elements, moral and CHAP. IV. material, which went to form a great railway enterprise in a foreign country. If we look at the several persons and classes engaged they may be enumerated thus:- There were the engineers of the company or of the government who were the promoters of the line. There were the principal contractors, whose work had to satisfy these engineers; and there were the agents Organization reof the contractors to whom were appor- quiredfor railway tioned certain lengths of the line, making. These agents had the duties in some respects of a commissary-general in an army; and, for the work to go on well, it was necessary that they should be men of much intelligence and force of character. Then there were the various artisans, such as bricklayers and masons, whose work, of course, was principally that of constructing the culverts, bridges, stations, tunnels, and viaducts-to which points of the work the attention of the agents had to be carefully directed. Again, there were the sub-contractors, whose duties I have enumerated: and under these were the gangers, the 72 COMMENVCEMENT OF FOREIGN WORK. CHAP. corporals, as it were, in this great army, being IV. ~- T'the persons who had the control of small bodies of the workmen, say twenty or more. Then came the great body of navviesthe privates of the army, upon whose endurance and valour so much depended. It remains only now to imagine all these numerous bodies in full and harmonious action. To take this out of the field of imagination, and to give a real description of the scene, I cannot do better than quote the words of one of Mr. Brassey's time-keepers, from whose evidence I have gained much. Thmen at' I think as fine a spectacle as any man theirwork. could witness, who is accustomed to look at work, is to see a cutting in full operation, with about twenty wagons being filled, every man at his post, and every man with his shirt open, working in the heat of the day, the gangers looking about, and everything going like clockwork. Such an exhibition of physical power attracted many French gentlemen, who came on to the cuttings at Paris and Rouen, and looking at these English workmen with astonishment, said'Mon Dieu! les COMMENCEMENT OF FOREIGN UWORK. 73 Anglais, comme ils travaillent!' Another CHAP. Iv. thing that called forth remark, was the complete silence that prevailed amongst the men. It was a fine sight to see the Englishmen that were there, with their muscular arms and hands hairy and brown.' [ 74 1 CHAPTER V. COMIPARISON OF THE MODES OF WORKING AND TH1E OTHER SPECIAL CHARA CTERISTICS OF THE RA IL WA, WA YLABOURER S OF DIFFERENT COUrNTRIES. CHAP. VCHA. HERE is not anything which is more 1 significant of a man's nature than his mode of working. Work is the outcome of the whole man. The same remark may be made of nations as of individuals; and, throughout the world the different sections of it work very differently. Different Intellectually speaking, this difference is capabilities of very manifest, and it is to be noted throughforeign workmen. out the literature of the various nations that have any literature at all. Some peoples are habitually accurate, and delight in neatness and in finish; others go about their work in a somewhat slovenly and unprepared COMPARISON OF THE CHARA CTERISTICS, ETC. 75 manner, but aim at larger though less con- CHAP. V. plete results. The individuals of some races - can work independently, and so do their work best; others need a large amount of direction and supervision. Nor are these differences less visible ill manual labour. A man such as Mr. Brassey, having to exe cute great works in foreign countries, had, of necessity, to pay great attention to these differences in the capacities of the various people by whom his work was to be executed; and he had to apportion their labours and regulate his payments accordingly. The first promoters of railways in England Advantages of had one considerable advantage as regards a English over the certain class of labourers who were at that firstforeign railway time ready to their hands. The general promoters. subject of locomotion of all kinds, had for a long time attracted great attention in England. Road-making, as I have said before, prospered to a greater extent in England than in any other country; but it was not from the makers of roads that the contractors for railways drew their best supplies of labour of the lowest, but not the least im 76 COMPARISON OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CHAP. portant, kind. The men who did the hardest V. work in railway making, were those who had been engaged in a similar kind of work, re.. quiring cuttings and embankments,-namely, in the formation of canals. Hence the name Origin of of'navigator,' which was soon abbreviated the word'navvy.' into that of'navvy.' These men, having been employed in the construction of canals, were eminently fitted for railway making. Indeed, the work to which they had been accustomed was such as required, in some respects, even more care and attention than railway work; for the best of brickwork and masonry, and well-made earth-works, were necessary to make a canal secure. Those persons, who had to direct the commencement of railway making, had far more difficult problems set before them than had been encountered by the constructors of canals; but, for much of the inferior work, the common labourer at canal making had received a training which more than fitted him for his share of the work on railways. The English navvy is generally, in the LABOURERS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 77 first instance, an agricultural labourer. He CHAP. V. is, however, but an indifferent specimen of a labourer when he first commences, and he earns only about two shillings a-day. Gradually he acquires some of the skill of his fellow-workmen; and then he rises into a higher class, receiving three shillings a-day. Ultimately, if he is a handy man, his work becomes worth still more, and his wages will rise to four shillings a-day. Mr. Ballard's evidence with respect to the Severity of a navvy's amount of labour done by the English work. navvies is very precise, and very valuable. He states as his opinion, that'the labour which a navvy performs exceeds in severity almost any Other description of work.' He says that'a full day's work consists of fourteen sets a day. A "set" is a number of wagons-in fact, a train. There are two men to a wagon. If the wagon goes out fourteen times, each man has to fill seven wagons in the course of the day. Each wagon contains two and a quarter cubic yards. The result is, that each man has to lift nearly twenty tons weight of earth on a 78 COiMPARISON OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CHAP. shovel over his head into a wagon. The V. height of the lifting is about six feet. This is taking it at fourteen sets a day; but the navvies sometimes contrive to get through sixteen sets, and there are some men who will accomplish that astonishing quantity of work by three or four o'clock in the afternoon-a result, I believe, which is not nearly equalled by the workmen of any other country in the world.' No trades There are no trades unions amongst the unions among navvies, and there were very seldom any navvies. strikes. This statement applies not only to the labourers who worked on the Paris and Rouen Railway, but generally to those employed throughout the course of all Mr. Brassey's railway undertakings. The With regard to the conduct of the navvies, navvy's conduct when off duty, in France they were at first abroad. rather troublesome. Brandy was cheap, and they had unfortunately a tendency to drink it freely, which was not the French habit. Mr. Mackay, after admitting this tendency to drink on the part of his countrymen, goes on to say: LABOURERS IN DIFFERENT COlUNTRIES. 79 But after a short time the French found that they were CHAP. a good-natured sort of people, who spent their money v. freely. Hence they were always kindly received; and even the gendarmes themselves began very soon to see which was the best way of managing the Englishmen. They got sometimes unruly on pay-day, but not as a rule. The English navvy came to his foreign work without wife or family. After he had been employed upon one railway abroad, he generally sought for similar employment; or, if he was an intelligent man, aimed at higher employment on other railways in foreign countries. The unmarried Englishmen frequently married foreign wives; the married men, who had left their families behind them, sent home money periodically to their wives; and in either case they often sent money to their parents. The navvy, like most of his fellow-country- The navvy's men, of whatever rank or occupation, scorned dress abroad. to adopt the habits or the dress of the people he lived amongst. An accurate observer thus bears witness to this fact:-'I never found a navvy adopt any other costume, but the English navvy's costume. I have seen him generally with a piece of 80 COMPARISON OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CHAP. string tied round his leg below the knee, and V. with high-low boots laced up, if he could but get them made.' Mr. Brassey, on commencing his work in France, must have had to consider with great care the comparative merits and powers of the English and French labourer. Foreign It was found that the tools in use abroad tools. were of a most inferior description. The French used wooden spades. Their barrow was of a bad form, and they had very inferior pickaxes. These defects could easily be remedied, but not so the manner of carrying out the work, and the men's small power of Compara- working. This was such, that their work tive value of English was found to be worth only two francs a-day, and foreign labour. while the English labourer would earn four francs and a-half. In time, however, the Frenchman living better and learning more, his work became worth four francs a-day; and, gradually, in any work undertaken by Mr. Brassey in France, the number of the English labourers was lessened, and the number of the French labourers increased, LABOURERS IN DIFFERENi' COUNTRIES. 8i until, at last, the great bulk of the railway CHAP. V. work in that country was done by Frenchmen. - - There is one fact connected with the payment of wages which deserves, I think, to be noted. The Frenchman, as I said, received two francs a-day: the Englishman four francs and a-half. Now, the respective results of their work was not exactly in this proportion, for in the mere moving of earth it was found that the Frenchman was able to'shift,' as they call it, half as much material as the Englishman. It seems to me probable that this disproportion in favour of the Englishman is an indication of the value attached by the contractor to any additional speed in the execution of his work, and for extra rapidity of execution under pressure more reliance could be placed upon the Englishman than the Frenchman. It is observable, throughout Mr. Brassey's rapiMr. Brassey's career, that he attached great dity of executing value to the rapid execution of any work he works. had undertaken; and if any disaster occurred, his first thought Seems to have been, not who was to blame, or upon whom the loss should fall, but how the work in question G 82 COMPARISON OF THE CHA RA CTERIS71CS OF CHAP. should most promptly be restored. The V.' —' Tother matters were to be afterthoughts, and were always dealt with by him in the most liberal manner; for the proverb that' It is no use crying over spilt milk,' was often in his mouth, and was acted up to as well as quoted. Mlr. Henry As an instance of what I have just said, a.rrison's evidence. Mr. Henry Harrison, Mr. Brassey's brotherin-law, says,' I may mention that at Rugby, during the execution of the Trent Valley contract, there was a great difficulty as to bricks; the clay was very unfavourable for making them, and, after a considerable sum of money had been spent in making bricks of an inferior quality for the railway, it was found necessary to abandon the attempt, and to provide bricks from another source. I naturally felt greatly discouraged at the loss which the contractor had sustained; but MiIr. Brassey observing this, encouraged me not to be unduly depressed, saying that I must never take such troubles to my pillow; as the loss of bricks was a matter of secondary importance so long as the line was completed within the stipulated time. This LABO URERS NV DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 83 encouraging bearing on his part, in this and CHAP. many other similar difficulties, was a great v support to members of his staff, and often cheered them in their work amidst circumstances of great discouragement.' But to resume the description of the contrast between the foreign labourer and the English. There were certain branches of the work which were specialities for them,'plate-laying,' for instance, was originally, and The plateremained for some time, an English speciality. layers. Ultimately, however, the Frenchman acquired the art of plate-laying, and he does it now exceedingly well. There is one branch of work in which the The miner. English labourer has always been pre-eminent. I refer to that of a miner. It requires special energy and endurance, as the conditions under which a man has to labour are exceedingly unfavourable. His clothes are frequently saturated with water, and he has to breathe in a most oppressive atmosphere. Nor is this all. It requires very considerable courage to undertake the risks involved in that branch of mining which consists in the G2 84 COMPARISON OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CHAP. construction of tunnels. I adduce here the V. evidence of Mr. Charles Jones, who has had great experience in this kind of construction. He says:The workmen have to labour in a space which is temporarily shored up by timber, and the pressure of the earth is constantly putting the timber structure to a great strain. At times you hear alarming creaking noises round you, the earth threatening to come in and overwhelm the labourers. On being asked whether, under these most trying circumstances, the peculiar national virtues of the English labourer are not specially manifested, his reply was: Yes; it is often necessary to strengthen the temporary timber structures by adding additional beams, or placing uprights underneath the planks overhead, which are yielding to the weight above them. It requires a considerable amount of courage in the men employed in this kind of work. If they shrink from facing a certain amount of danger, the whole structure would sometimes come in upon them, thereby endangering their lives, and retarding very considerably the progress of the works. It is a matter of some interest to observe what differences there are between the higher classes of Frenchmen and Englishmen employed in railways-for example, the engineers. Here, as might be expected, the difference of LABOURERS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 85 the national character was very visible. The CHAP. V. English engineer had, to use a common phrase, more practical'go-a-headism' in him; but Theneer then it must be taken into consideration that the French engineer partook of the nature of his Government, and had a very different aim from that of the Englishman, following therein the views of his Government, which aimed at making everything most durable. Whatever he superintended, whether it was a bridge or a viaduct, was not merely to last for ninetynine years, but at the end of that time was to be as durable as ever. The different policy of the English and Policy of the two French Governments, arising from the diffe- Govern-' ments. rent natures of the two nations, is remarkable. The English Government, of which, soon after the commencement of railway-making, Sir Robert Peel was at the head, admitted to the uttermost, or nearly to the uttermost, the principle of free competition in regard to the formation of railways in England. I proceed now to give an account of the processes of working of some of the other 86 COMPARISON OF THE CHARA CTERISTICS OF CHAP. foreign workmen, amongst whom Mr. Brassey V. brought his bands of English workmen as pioneers in the art of railway-making. Tools of Their tools were mostly of a similar nature foreign workmen. to those of the French, which were only' Flytools' as one of Mr. Brassey's staff graphicDiffer- ally describes them. In the work on Italian ences of character railways, great difference was found as regards and work of foreign the character, and mode of working, of the different races who now constitute the Italian The Pied- kingdom. The Piedmontese were found to montese. be very good hands. Indeed, one of Mr. Brassey's agents, Mr. Jones, thus expresses his opinion of their merits: —'For cutting rock, the right man is a Piedmontese. He will do the work cheaper than an English miner. He is hardy, vigorous, and a stout mountaineer; he lives well, and his muscular development is good.' Speaking of the Piedmontese generally, he says:-' They are quiet, orderly men; they are not often tipsy or riotous; and they go to their work, and do it steadily, putting by money before they go back to the hills.' He then proceeds to make the following LABO URERS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 87 general observation:-' It is found that all CHAP. V. the people born in the mountains, and on poor lands, have more virtue than those who are born in the plains, and in luxurious places.' With regard to the Neapolitans, they would The Neacome in large troops to the places where railways were being made; and these troops were under the command of certain chieftains, as it were. The leading men, each of them followed by about a thousand labourers, would take a considerable length of earthworks to Their system of execute-for instance, ten miles of light earth- labour on railworks, and side-cuttings. But they would ways. not take any heavzy work. The labourers brought with them their fathers and grandfathers and their male children; but they left the women behind, in their native villages. Then they built huts of mud and trees, which, during the day, were left in charge of the old men, who also undertook the cooking. On account of the climate (I am specially alluding to work in the Maremma), these bands of men could not work more than six 88 COMPARISON OF THE CHARA CTERISTICS OF CHAP. months at a time. They usually earned a V. franc a day; but sometimes, at piece-work, Their they made very nearly two francs a day, working fifteen or sixteen hours; but their work was chiefly that of removing light soil in baskets. As the witness well said,'English navvies would not understand this way of doing work.' These poor Neapolitans, who, by the way, chiefly came from the South of Naples near the Abruzzi, were a very frugal and temperate set of men. They ate bread and vegetables, and drank only water. They had also tobacco, a little coffee, and a small quantity of goats' meat now and then. After their six months' work was done, they would return to the mountains,'with the old men and little boys, carrying the kettles and pans, and taking their money home with them.' The men from Lucca were a race, who, for working powers, might be placed between the Piedmontese and the Neapolitans, being less hardy than the former, and more so than the latter. With regard to the Germans, it is worthy LABOURERS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 89 of remark, that in the opinion of a man who CHAP. had great opportunities of judging, they had less endurance than the French. His words The are:-' I have seen the Frenchmen " harry," that is, overcome their work, and distress the Germans in the power of endurance. And from that circumstance, during the last war, knowing Frenchmen very well, I felt almost certain that they would win the day.' It must be noticed, however, that the Germans employed by Mr. Brassey on the Paris and Rouen Railway were chiefly Bavarians. We now come to the Belgian workmen. The They were, as might be expected, good e labourers; and they had had some experience in railway-making before Mr. Brassey's men came among them, for the King of the Belgians had already taken up railwaymaking. But they, like the rest of the world, were greatly behind the English in several of the processes of work. I will give a remarkable instance of their backwardness, which, moreover, is of general application. The English, very early in their career of 90 COMPARISON OF THE CJHARACTERISTICS OF CHAP. railway construction, bethought them of the' -' excellent idea of filling up the hollows from English the heights-without any intermediate operamode of making tion. They did not remove the earth which railways. they took out from a height to form a cutting, to what is called a'spoil bank,' except in particular cases. They aimed at bringing the earth, which they were obliged to take from the height in order to reduce it to the proper level, at once to the hollow which they had to fill up. This they did in a most ingenious manner. As they formed their line, they laid down temporary rails upon it; then they filled a number of wagons with the earth from the cutting; and these wagons; when filled, were drawn by horses out of the'cutting' to a certain point near the end of the'embankment.' There, the wagons were detached Tipping from each other. Afterwards they were attached singly to the'tip-horse,' who would trot or gallop with them nearly to the brink of the bank, where the horse, being set free by a peculiar contrivance, would step on one side, and the wagon, running on by its own impetus, and coming against a sleeper placed LABOURERS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIIES. 91 at the end of the rails, shot out the earth into CHAP. the proper place. This process is one alike of much skill and some daring; and the idea of it is very creditable to the inventors. Anybody who has watched the whole proceeding, must have been greatly interested by it. Indeed, one lingers on, watching the process with satisfaction. A very forcible phrase is in use among the navvies, when they propose to send a large number of wagons heavily laden from the cutting to the spot where the wagons are to be discharged. They say,' we'll run'em in a red A,avvy's phrase. un;''red' standing in their language for large-a phrase which fully corresponds with other forms of their language. I will now give a description of how this process affected the Belgians, when they first saw it; and I give it in the words of Mr. John Mackay, one of Mr. Brassey's subcontractors: The Belgians had never seen wagons before like ours. The I began laying down a temporary road: they could Beandgianhe understand that, but when I began to make a'turn-out' English for a'lay-by,' for empty wagons to come into as the full wagons passed, they could not make that out at all 92 COIMPARISON OF THE CHARACTERIS'TICS OF CHAP. They assisted me, but I was obliged to manage this work V. myself. At last I got the wagons on the road and began to fill them. I got the'tip' harness on to the horses, but had no one to drive, and so I was obliged to drive myself. I then selected a nimble Belgian for the purpose of teaching him to become a driver, but I had to drive a horse myself for about two days. I gave this man a horse, and told him to start the first'set' of wagons-he looked round the horse, then at the spring bar that the chain was hooked to, but could not make it out. However, I got the first set of wagons filled, and, being driver, I drew the wagons out of the cutting to the tip; but, to my great surprise, when I looked back, I saw that every man in the cutting was following me. They ranged themselves on each side of the bank until they saw the first set of wagons tipped. They could not make out how I pulled the horse out of the road; or how the horse escaped, and the wagon went ahead. This went on for three or four sets, until they understood the mode of operation. The Before Mr. Brassey's agents went out, that Belgian mode of comparatively humble instrument, the barrow, railwaymaking. had been exclusively used by the Belgians in railway works. If there was a cutting and embankment contiguous, they took a' small part of the earth from the cutting for part of the embankment, but all the rest they put out to'spoil.' Then they made up the embankment by barrow-loads of earth from'spoil LABOURERS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 93 banks.' I need hardly say that the English CHAP. V. wagon, and the mode of using it just des- A cribed, have now been generally adopted throughout the Continent. I cannot here refrain from giving another Ingenuity of English remarkable instance of the character and navviesat the Paris ingenuity of the English, which although fortifications. not manifested in railway work, was carried into effect by the English navvy. It occurred on the works of the Paris fortifications commenced at that time, in Louis Philippe's reign, at the instance of M. Thiers. When the Paris and Rouen Railway was completed, some of the English navvies went up to Paris and tried to contract with the Government engineer to get some of the work to be done by'butty-gangs,' and they obtained some work at French prices. There was a'fosse' or ditch all round the works, and the stuff from the ditch was taken out to be put behind the masonry. The Frenchmen used zigzag roads, to get up which was almost interminable, and all the stuff was taken by them out of the ditch by barrows, and wheeled up by this zigzag arrangement on planks, until they got to the top of the wall. When the navvies began working they at once put a pulley upon the top of the wall, to make a'swing run' with a rope, so as to be able to swing the rope, and the empty barrow went down to the bottom by its own gravity; then they had 94 COMPARISON OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CHAP. horses on the top, which pulled the loaded barrows V. vertically up. They worked that way for about six weeks, and earned fifteen francs a day each. Then, no doubt, the French engineers began to see that these Englishmen were making them pay an enormous sum of money for the work, and they reduced the price; and the Englishmen, not having anywhere else to go, had to submit. When the next pay-day came round there was another reduction made to five francs a day. Then the Englishmen began to slacken speed, and complain that their employers cheated them in the measurement and in their pay-they would not do more than five francs' worth of work a day, and took it easy. To revert to the Belgians. There was one remarkable point to be noticed about the Belgian workmen, at least about those who were employed on the Sambre and Meuse Railway. Money not being so easy, when Belgian easy at all, in any country as in England, the system of payment English contractor, or sub-contractor, invariof wages. ably paid his men with great punctuality; a mode of payment which it had not always been in the power of the native contractor to adopt. When Mr. Brassey took the Sambre and Meuse Railway contract, his agent being The men always regularly supplied by him, introduced wish to be paid( the English custom of paying the men every monthly fortnight. After this had gone on for some LAROURERS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 95 little time, the Belgian labourers, in a body, CHAP. V. petitioned to be paid monthly. This naturally rather astonished the contractors; and one of them gives an account of the whole proceeding. He assembled his men together, and asked them what reason they had for making such a request. They replied that they would'rather have their money once a month, because they should have more to take at a time.''But,' said he,'you will want some "sub," 1 during the month, and it will be quite as inconvenient to " sub" you as to pay.'' No,' they said,'they would not want any "' sub."' He then asked them how they were paid by their own contractors. They replied,'every six weeks, sometimes every three months, and sometimes we get none at all.' I believe their request was listened to. The truth was, as the sub-contractor remarks,' that they had implicit confidence in Englishmen, and they thought they could lay out their money better when they had a lump-sum at once.' i A payment on account for' subsistence.' 96 COMPARISON OF THE CHARA CTERISTICS, ETC. CHAP. Mr. Hawkshaw says, speaking on the V. relative value of unskilled labour in different Mrwk- countries,'I have arrived at the conclusion the relative that its cost is much the same in all. I have value of labour. had personal experience in South America, in Russia, and in Holland, as well as in my own country; and as consulting engineer to some of the Indian and other foreign railways, I am pretty well acquainted with the value of Hindoo and other labour; and though an English labourer will do a larger amount of work than a Creole or Hindoo, yet you have to pay them proportionately higher wages. Dutch labourers are, I think, as good as English, or nearly so; and Russian workmen are docile and easily taught, and readily adopt every method shown to them to be better than their own.' 1 1 See Letter No. 7, in Appendix. [ 97 ] CHAPTER VI. MR. BRASSEY'S SKILL IN DEALING WITtI SCHEMES AND CALCULA TIONS. XWA E have seen how a railway is started; CHAP. how the enterprise is manned; and - -- we have gained some notion of how the work goes on when it is in full operation. This, however, gives but an inadequate representation of the labours of such men as Mr. Brassey, and the agents employed under him. A large part, both of his work and their The investigawork, consisted in making calculations re- tionof schemes. specting the different schemes which were put before him; many of which, as might be expected, after much thought and labour had been given to them, had to be rejected, or came to nothing, at least for him. In fact, I am told that Mr. Brassey unsuccessfully tendered for works to the amount of H 98 All. BRASSEY'S SKILL IN DEALING CHAP. nearly I 5o,ooo,ooo/. In speaking of this VI. investigation of schemes, one of Mr. Brassey's agents observes,'this forms a most interesting part of our experience, as it has occupied almost one half of our lives.' Mr. There was no part of Mr. Brassey's work Brassey's skill in in which he showed more ability than in estimating making these investigations, and coming to a conclusion upon them. Here, too, his sagacity in the original choice of agents, and in his subsequent mode of dealing with them, came and mental into full play. Moreover, his great powers arithmetic. of calculation, for, though not claiming any of the wondrous powers of a Bidder, Mr.:Brassey held a high place among mental arithmeticians, found a fitting field for exertion. A project When any scheme was submitted to Mr. laid before Mr. Brassev, he was accustomed to deal with it Brassey. in this manner. The proposal was generally accompanied by plans and sections of some kind, and a few calculations. Mr. Brassey then sent for one of his agents, in whom he had confidence, and who would probably be one of the persons entrusted to carry out the project if it were found to be accept WITH SCHEMES AND CALCULATIONS. 99 able. Mr. Brassey handed the papers to CHAP. VI. this agent, and asked him in general terms to look at them, and in the first place to He COnsay whether the figures appeared to him to agent, be anything like what they ought to be, or what the work might be done for. The report of the agent was generally a whoreports verbal one, not occupying, perhaps, more than the matter. five minutes. If the report was such as to induce Mr. Brassey to suppose that there might be something in the scheme, he would say to the agent,' Then you had better go off and see to it.' Mr. Brassey would always have the project considered by some of his own people on the ground; and one of the points of investigation which he insisted upon being made with great accuracy, was the following: —namely, whether the length of line stated in the project was nearly the same as the length of the line would really be. His reason for causing this part of the enquiry to be made with care, was one which gives a good instance of his foresight, and shrewdness, H2 I00 MR. BRASSEY'S SKILL IN DEALING CHAP. especially as applicable to foreign railways. VI. Very often on the length of the line depended the value. of the Government guarantee to the shareholders. If the line proved to be much longer than was supposed, the amount of money at first thought to be sufficient would not prove to be sufficient. Then subsequent loans would have to be obtained; and Mr. Brassey's experience showed him that these subsequent loans were almost always obtained on unfavourable terms. Action of The agent carefully ascertained the length the agent consider- of the proposed line; examined the sections; ing a project. went into the price of material and the price of labour in the country. Finally, he' took out the quantities,' using the plans and sections supplied by the promoters. The agent then came back to give a report to Mr. Brassey. When a line had to pass through easy country, the agent's labour in making the report, and Mr. Brassey's in coming to a conclusion upon that report, were but light. In a mountainous country, however, the labour WITH SCHEMES AND CALCULATIONS. 10I was of a very different kind, and the most CHAP. VI. minute investigation of details was necessary. ----- As an instance of the manner in which An instance of Mr. Brassey dealt with those whom he em- Mr..Brassey's ployed, I may adduce the evidence of one of confidence. his agents. He had gone for Mr. Brassey to investigate and report upon a proposed railway in Holland. With regard to this railway, Mr. Brassey was required to sign a preliminary contract, which involved on his part such a knowledge of all the circumstances as would enable him to frame his estimates. The agent says:The investigation which I had made was his only source of information. He said,' Let me see how you have got at that.' I came to his office, and it took us a quarter of an hour at least, to look over details, which was a great deal of time for Mr. Brassey to give to any one matter. The length of the proposed line was about I20 kilometres, and the estimated cost was about twenty-seven millions of francs. I had considered it for a long time; and when he went into the matter, in a quarter of an hour, or twenty minutes at the outside, he examined all the details. I mean to say, that in that short time he turned them all over, and stopped at the difficult points; and in the case of one of the bridge estimates, he went through* my figures minutely, to see whether I had in. 102 MIR. BRASSEY'S SKILL IN DEALING CHAP. cluded all the details for the foundations, and had, in VI. fact, included every detail which was likely to be involved in the execution of the work. He looked at the details for culverts, to see how I got at their price, and then investigated the calculations as to the price of the brickwork, of the stone-work, and the average quantities of earthwork. I had worked them out, to see what the average was upon separate lengths of the line. At the end of this investigation, he said,' That will do.' Never after that did he look into any estimate of mine in such detail. At the same time that we dwell upon the apparently wonderful way in which Mr. Brassey, and other great employers of labour, come to these conclusions, so rapidly and yet at the same time so judiciously, we must recollect that the results of the experience of these men often assume a very distinct form. Cost of For example, in railway construction, large railways at home and experience seems to show, as was pointed albroad. out in the last chapter, that there is very little difference between the cost of labour in this country and in foreign countries: at any rate, not such difference as cannot easily be allowed for. Of the enormous difference that exists in the expenses attendant on the construction of railways, and of the consequent care that WITH SCHEMES AND CA LCULA TIONS. I03 must be taken in forming estimates, I am en- CHAP. VI. abled to give a very remarkable illustration. ~ In the tunnel that was made on the Salisbury Buckhorn Western and Yeovil Railway, in I86o, the difference tunnel. of expense was as follows:-The construction of a yard at one end cost I2., while a yard at the other end cost as much as I 20/.1 In reverting to Mr. Brassey's skill as an Mental calculaarithmetician, I may make a remark, which I tion. think may be of some service in the way of education. I think it may be observed that all the men who have great powers of mental calculation, or who, as lawyers, statesmen, men of business, or authors, show great readiness in speech or action, or vast memory as regards facts, have made it a rule, or at any rate a practice, to rely upon that memory alone, and have not indulged in much writing of notes, to subserve the memory. If I am Memory to be cul. right in this statement, and 1 have many tivated in youth. memorable examples, such as the late Lord Lyndhurst and the late Baron Rothschild, to adduce in my favour, it would indicate that Mr. Harrison's evidence. 104 MR. BRASS~EY'S SKILL LV DEALING CHAP. in youth great pains should be taken to VI. cultivate the services of that most admirable friend and servant, the memory. I am particular in insisting upon this point in reference to Mr. Brassey. I am going to mention a striking instance of his powers of calculation; but before doing so, I should like to show how he dealt habitually with his memory, and what trust he put in it. He never condescended to that weak practice of making many notes. He had dealings with hundreds, I may almost say with thousands, of people. They came and told him their views and their wishes, their schemes, their intentions, and their grievances. He heard them all;' and if he did not reply to them at the time, as it was often impossible to do, for he had to make enquiries in relation to what they stated, it was perfectly certain that they would receive answers in writing, showing a complete knowledge of all the facts which it was necessary for him to refer to. He was one of the greatest I See Letter No. 5, in Appendix. W7ITH SCHIEMES AND CALCULATIONS. 105 letter-writers ever known. Retaining in his CHAP. VI. mind all he had to write about, he was -- ready at any halt in his innumerable jour- Mrey neys, if it were only a halt of a quarter of gette an hour at a railway station, to sit down and writer. write several letters, generally of the clearest and most distinct nature, embodying all the requisite facts and circumstances. This masterful memory would never have been attained if Mr. Brassey had been one of those persons who weakly, as I think it, rely upon notes, or written materials of any kind, in any matter where memory alone may be expected and encouraged to do the work. I now give the instance of his power of Example of Mr. mental calculation, which I have before Brassey's mental alluded to. I take the words of one of his calculations. staff:After dinner Mr. Brassey, and Mr. Strapp, the princlpal representative of the contract, were going into details of prices; and Mr. Brassey called me to take a chair by them, and go into details of prices of different kinds of work. I noticed especially, after we had given him the cost, for instance of a bridge-all the details of the bridge, and the total cost-he said;' How many bridges of that kind are there upon the line at the same prices?' 1o6 MR. BRASSEY'S SKILL IN DEALING CHAP. Again, as to the culverts, or bridges of a different size. _VIM. After going through the quantities of the masonry, we went into the earthworks, and talked about the nature of the material and average length of'lead' from the different cuttings, and how much would this cost, and how much such and such a bank would cost, or such and such a deviation, and the prices of different parts of the works. Then we came to the question of rails:-they would cost so much delivered at the station, and so much delivered on and along the line. There was a very great distance to convey them: but there was a great facility for carting during the winter months, owing to a great deal of wood being carted into the towns for the winter fires, so that we could get the rails carted by a sort of back carriage on sledges. We had to get all these details as to carting the rails, and we gave him the average cost of the rails on the line; and then, almost in a few seconds, he arrived at the approximate cost of the line per mile, mentally. Mr. Before, ending this chapter, I should Brassey's general observe that Mr. Brassey's conclusions were accuracy hardly ever found to be wrong as regards the subject-matter upon which they were employed, when that subject-matter was the construction of a railway. Whenever he fell into any difficulty, it was generally the result of some financial embarrassment; and over such embarrassments no man can be said to have a complete control. They depend WITH SCHEMES AND CALCULA TIONS. 107 upon large general causes, against the opera- CHAP. VI. tion of which a prudent man may sometimes' — guard; but by which even the most prudent of men, engaged in large commercial undertakings, are liable to be surprised. [ Io8 ] CHAPTER VII. MR. BRASSE Y'S [WORK BECOMIE S MORE EXTENSIVE. (A.D. 1845.) CHAP. M R. BRASSEY now entered into what -.LV may be called a new phase of his life. phase in He was no longer the contractor for one or Mr.ey', two lines only, but had become a man to life. whom many persons resorted when they were the projectors of great railway schemes. This is the kind of change which occurs to most men, of any note, in the course of their career. They begin by doing well some one or two things in which they are totally engaged, being obliged to attend to every detail and to make themselves thoroughly masters of the work. They do not so much superintend as execute. It is sometimes found, however, that this change is not attended by fortunate results, ~'?'MAP OF. Adi zl BRITISH ISLES SHOWINC RAILWAYS lilvrnes B1 | CONSTRUCTED BY ~''-%rn><'' MRI3RASSEY 8halnoo.'Carliele. ItI 1/L-.tFSt K\ IARGENTINE REPUBLIC A) Sic~kelt5 HO