Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign Part 26

"As the clock struck twelve, the doors of the office were about to be closed, when a gentleman with the plans of one of the Surrey railways arrived, and, with the greatest difficulty, succeeded in obtaining admission. A lull of a few minutes here occurred; but, just before the expiration of the first quarter of an hour, a post chaise, with reeking horses, drove up, in hot haste, to the entrance. In a moment, its occupants (three gentlemen) alighted, and rushed down the pa.s.sage, towards the office door, each bearing a plan of Brobdingnagian dimensions. On reaching the door, and finding it closed, the countenances of all drooped; but one of them, more valorous than the rest, and prompted by the bystanders, gave a loud pull at the bell. It was answered by Inspector Otway, who informed the ringer it was now too late, and that his plans could not be received. The agents did not wait for the conclusion of the unpleasant communication, but took advantage of the door being opened, and threw in their papers, which broke the pa.s.sage lamp in their fall. They were thrown back into the street. When the door was again opened, again went in the plans, only to meet a similar fate.

"In the whole, upwards of 600 plans were duly deposited."

CHAPTER XXVII.

Collapse of the Railway Mania-Sheriff's Officers-Hudson, the Railway King-First "Ethiopian Serenaders"-The n.i.g.g.e.r Minstrel Craze-Commencement of Irish Famine-"The Battle of the Gauges"-Railway Surveyors-Suicide of Haydon, the painter.

Although the collapse of the Railway Mania really began in 1845, its effects were not fully felt until the commencement of this year, when 10 per cent. on Railway Capital had to be lodged with the Accountant General, within seven days from the a.s.sembling of Parliament, which in this case meant the 29th Jan. It really received its first serious wound when the Bank of England rose its rate of discount on 16 Oct., but it was only when the calls had to be paid, that it was found how rotten the whole concern was, as the Marquis of Clanricarde, in a speech, plainly exposed. Said he: "One of the names to the deed, to which he was anxious to direct their attention, was that of a gentleman, said to reside in Finsbury Square, who had subscribed to the amount of 25,000; he was informed no such person was known at that address. There was, also, in the Contract deed, the name of an individual who had figured in the Dublin and Galway Railway Case, who was down for 5,000, and who was understood to be a half-pay officer, in the receipt of 54 a year, but who appeared as a subscriber in different railway schemes to the amount of 41,500. The address of another, whose name was down for 12,200, was stated to be in Watling Street, but it appeared he did not reside there.

In the case of another individual down for 12,500, a false address was found to have been given. Another individual, whom he would not name, was a curate in the parish in Kent; he might be worth all the money for which he appeared responsible in various railway schemes, but his name appeared for 25,000 in different projects, and stood for 10,000 in this line. Another individual, who was down for 25,000, was represented to be in poor circ.u.mstances. A clerk in a public company was down for upwards of 50,000. There were several more cases of the same kind, but he trusted he had stated enough to establish the necessity of referring the matter to a Committee. There were, also, two brothers, sons of a charwoman, living in a garret, one of whom had signed for 12,500, and the other for 25,000; these two brothers, excellent persons, no doubt, but who were receiving about a guinea and a half between them, were down for 37,000."

The story of the collapse is so admirably told by Mr. Francis, that I prefer giving his version than writing of it myself:

"Money was scarce, the price of stock and scrip lowered; the confidence of the people was shaken, and a vision of a dark future on every face. Advertis.e.m.e.nts were suddenly withdrawn from the papers, men of note were seen no more as provisional committeemen; distrust followed the merchant to the mart and the jobber to the Exchange.

The new schemes ceased to be regarded; applications ceased to be forwarded; premiums were either lowered, or ceased to exist. Bankers looked anxiously to the accounts of their customers; bill brokers scrutinised their securities; and every man was suspicious of his neighbour.

"But the distrust was not confined to projected lines. Established railways felt the shock, and were reduced in value. Consols fell one and a half per cent.; Exchequer bills declined in price, and other markets sympathised. The people had awoke from their dream, and trembled. It was a national alarm.

"Words are weak to express the fears and feelings which prevailed.

There was no village too remote to escape the shock, and there was, probably, no house in town some occupant of which did not shrink from the morrow. The Statesman started to find his new Bank Charter so sadly and so suddenly tried; the peer, who had so thoughtlessly invested, saw ruin opening to his view. Men hurried with bated breath to their brokers; the allottee was uneasy and suspicious, the provisional committeeman grew pale at his fearful responsibility; directors ceased to boast their blus.h.i.+ng honours, and promoters saw their expected profits evaporate. Shares which, the previous week, were a fortune, were, the next, a fatality, to their owners. The reputed shareholders were not found when they were wanted; provisional committeemen were not more easy of access.

"One Railway advertised the names and addresses of thirty-none of whom were to be heard of at the residences ascribed to them. Letters were returned to the Post Office day after day. Nor is this to be wondered at, when it is said that, on one projected line, only 60 was received for deposits, which should have yielded 700,000.

"It was proved in the Committee of the House of Commons, that one subscription list was formed of 'lame ducks of the Alley'; and that, in another, several of the Directors, including the Chairman, had, also, altered their several subscriptions to the amount of 100,000, the very evening on which the list was deposited, and that five s.h.i.+llings a man was given to anyone who would sign for a certain number of shares.

"Nothing more decidedly marked the crisis which had arrived, than the fact that everyone hastened to disown railways. Gentlemen who had been buried in prospectuses, whose names and descriptions had been published under every variation that could fascinate the public, who had figured as Committeemen, and received the precious guineas for their attendance, were eager to a.s.sure the world that they were ignorant of this great transgression. Men who, a month before, had boasted of the large sums they had made by scrip, sent advertis.e.m.e.nts to papers denying their responsibility, or appealed to the Lord Mayor to protect their characters. Members of Parliament who had remained quiet under the infliction, while it was somewhat respectable, fell back upon their privileges, when they saw their purses in danger.

There is no doubt that an unauthorised use of names was one feature of fraudulent companies, and that, amidst a list of common names, it was thought a distinguished one might pa.s.s unnoticed. The complaints, therefore, of those who were thus unceremoniously treated, were just; but the great ma.s.s of denials emanated from persons who, knowingly, encountered the risk, and, meanly, shrunk from the danger.

"It is the conviction of those who were best informed, that no other panic was ever so fatal to the middle cla.s.s. It reached every hearth, it saddened every heart in the metropolis. Entire families were ruined. There was scarcely an important town in England but what beheld some wretched suicide. Daughters, delicately nurtured, went out to seek their bread; sons were recalled from academies; households were separated, homes were desecrated by the emissaries of the law. There was a disruption of every social tie. The debtors'

jails were peopled with promoters; Whitecross Street was filled with speculators; and the Queen's Bench was full to overflowing. Men, who had lived comfortably and independently, found themselves suddenly responsible for sums they had no means of paying. In some cases, they yielded their all, and began the world anew; in others, they left the country for the continent, laughed at their creditors, and defied pursuit. One gentleman was served with four hundred writs; a peer, when similarly pressed, when offered to be relieved from all liabilities for 15,000, betook himself to his yacht, and forgot, in the beauties of the Mediterranean, the difficulties which had surrounded him. Another gentleman who, having nothing to lose, surrendered himself to his creditors, was a director of more than twenty lines. A third was Provisional Committeeman to fifteen. A fourth, who commenced life as a printer, who became insolvent in 1832 and a bankrupt in 1837, who had negotiated partners.h.i.+ps, who had arranged embarra.s.sed affairs, who had collected debts, and turned his attention to anything, did not disdain, also, to be a Railway promoter, a Railway director, or to spell his name in a dozen different ways."

The Sheriff's Officers had a busy time of it, and _Punch_, in "GOING OUT ARRESTING," gives the following colloquy between two of the fraternity:

"'Vell, Aaron, my tear, have yer 'ad any sport?'

"'Pretty vell, I've bagged four Allottees, and two Provisionals!'"

[Picture: Picture of two men in carriages]

But a notice of the Railway Mania would be very incomplete without a mention of George Hudson, the Railway King. He was born at Howsham, a village near York, in March, 1800; was apprenticed to a draper in York; and, subsequently, became princ.i.p.al in the business; thus, early in life, becoming well off, besides having 30,000 left him by a distant relative.

In 1837, he was Lord Mayor of York; and, the same year, was made Chairman of the York and North Midland Railway, which was opened in 1839. In 1841, he was elected Chairman of the Great North of England Company; and, afterwards, held the same position in the Midland Railway Company. He speculated largely in railways, and, in the Parliamentary return, already alluded to, his subscriptions appear as 319,835.

He came to London, and inhabited the house at Albert Gate, Knightsbridge (now the French Emba.s.sy), where he entertained the Prince Consort, and the aristocracy generally. He was elected M.P. for Sunderland in Aug., 1845, and again served as Lord Mayor of York in 1846. The Railway smash came; and, year by year, things went worse with him, until, early in the year 1849, he had to resign the Chairmans.h.i.+p of the Eastern Central (now Great Eastern), Midland, York, Newcastle and Berwick, and the York and North Midland Railway Companies. He went abroad, where he lived for some time, and tried, unavailingly, to retrieve his fortune. In July, 1865, he was committed to York Castle for Contempt of the Court of Exchequer, in not paying a large debt, and was there incarcerated till the following October.

He fell so low, that, in 1868, some friends took pity on him, and raised a subscription for him, thus obtaining 4,800, with which an annuity was purchased. He died in London, 14 Dec., 1871.

We have been so accustomed to have n.i.g.g.e.r minstrels with us that I suppose very few of us know when they began. Of course, I do not mean the solitary minstrel like Rice of "Jump Jim Crow" fame, who was the first, coming over here in 1836; but the first troupe. I find it in the _Ill.u.s.trated News_ of 24 Jan., 1846, whence also comes this ill.u.s.tration:

[Picture: The Ethiopian Serenaders]

"A party of American minstrels, under the above designation, commenced on Wednesday night (21 Jan.), at the Hanover Square Rooms, a series of concerts, for the avowed purpose of affording an accurate notion of Negro character and melody. These artists are remarkably clever, and admirably 'made up.' They are painted jet black, with ruddy lips, and large mouths; and, being capital actors, the deception created is so great, that wagers have been offered that they are really 'darkies.' They dress in dandy costume, _a la Jullien_-that is, white waistcoated and wristbanded, turned up in the most approved D'Orsay fas.h.i.+on. Of course, it is impossible to come to any right conclusion as to the authenticity of the African airs, especially as they have arranged the compositions of the great European masters in such a grotesque manner. The executants are five in number; one plays the tambourine, Mr. Germon, who is the leader; another the bone castanet; the third, the accordion; and the two others, the banjo, or African guitar. The castanet player does not sing; but his four colleagues have good voices, and, in glees, harmonize charmingly. In a quartet, the parody on the Phantom Chorus, from Bellini's 'Sonnambula'; and in a glee, 'You'll See Them on the Ohio,'

nothing can be more effective than the skilful blending of the parts. It is, perhaps, the _buffo_ exhibition which will create the greatest sensation, and in this quality they are inimitable. The tambourine performer affects a ludicrous air of pompous sentiment, while the castanet sable hero indulges in all kinds of buffoonery and antics. He is a wonderful player-no Spaniard can rival him in rapidity, delicacy and precision. A scene called a 'Railway Overture,' causes an explosion of laughter; they seem to be endowed with perpetual motion; and the scream of the whistle, at the same time as the noise of the engine, beggars all description. The entertainment is quite a novelty, and will, no doubt, be attractive. They have been provided with letters of recommendation from President Polk, and some leading persons in America, who must be better able to appreciate the accuracy of their African delineations than Europeans."

They _were_ popular, with a vengeance-for every little street arab had beef bones for castanets, and every new song was roared out in the streets until it nauseated. _Punch_ drew policemen and dustmen as Ethiopian Serenaders, and even suggested that Lablache, Mario and Tamburini should adopt the style.

[Picture: Picture of musicians]

The Queen opened Parliament on 19 Jan., and in her speech, whilst deprecating "the very frequent instances in which the crime of deliberate a.s.sa.s.sination has been, of late, committed in Ireland," she went on: "I have to lament that, in consequence of a failure of the potato crop in several parts of the United Kingdom, there will be a deficient supply of an article of food which forms the chief subsistence of great numbers of my people. The disease by which the plant has been affected, has prevailed to the utmost extent in Ireland. I have adopted all such precautions as it was in my power to adopt, for the purpose of alleviating the sufferings which may be caused by this calamity; and I shall confidently rely on your co-operation in devising such other means for effecting the same benevolent purpose, as may require the sanction of the Legislature."

On 13 March, Parliament talked somewhat about the matter, and Sir James Graham, the Home Secretary, confessed that distress "pervades the whole of Ireland. It is to be found in every province, in every county, in every union; nay, almost in every parish in Ireland. The course Her Majesty's Government has taken, has been this. We have, in particular parts of Ireland, established depots, where food can be bought at an easy price, at the very lowest price, and, thinking that eleemosynary relief ought to be avoided as much as possible, we propose to afford, to the utmost possible extent, either by means of public works to be undertaken, or by works already established, the means by which the people may be enabled to earn wages, and so to purchase food at the moderate cost at which it will be supplied."

But, in spite of all the Government could do, with the very best intentions, gaunt famine was stalking through the land, and the hungry folk could not be quiet, with the sight of food before them. They were not going to starve when they saw the bakers' shops full of bread, and the butchers', of meat. Human nature and a hungry belly could not stand it-so we can scarcely wonder at the famine riots which ensued. The shops were wrecked, the food was taken; they even laid their hands on a boat proceeding from Limerick to Clare with relief, and plundered it of its cargo of corn and maize flour. But, alas! this was only the commencement of the sad story.

There was an alternative, open to those who had the money-to emigrate-and this they did-see the following, from the _Cork Reporter_, copied into the _Times_ of 18 April: "For the last fortnight our quays have been daily thronged with the fine and stalwart peasantry of this and the adjoining counties, preparing to emigrate to various parts of the trans-Atlantic world. Perhaps, upon no former occasion, even before the hope of railway employment was held out to the people, and when "Government grants" for their relief were never heard of, did the number of emigrants from this quarter exceed the proportion of this present year. Besides the various large and full-freighted vessels, which have left the quays of Cork, direct for America, several s.h.i.+ps were despatched to the west of the county, and had no difficulty in obtaining their full complement of pa.s.sengers. Two large s.h.i.+ps went round to Berehaven, a few days ago, and have, since, left the sh.o.r.es of that bleak district, with over 200 pa.s.sengers. Several other vessels have proceeded, or are about to proceed, for Baltimore and Berehaven, localities in which the dest.i.tution of the present year has been severely felt. Three hundred persons have been ready, for the last fortnight, to embark from Dingle; but, not being able to get a s.h.i.+p to visit them, sufficiently commodious for their accommodation, have been obliged to make the best of their way to Cork. Several vessels, now lying at Pa.s.sage, will sail this day, these taking five hundred and fifty pa.s.sengers . . . At a moderate computation, about 9,000 emigrants have, or, within the next month, will have, left this port for America. It is to be hoped their antic.i.p.ations will be realised. There can be little fear, however, that their condition could be worse, or their prospects more disheartening than those which the 'potato famine' in this country, little mended by the promise of Indian corn, had occasioned. _La faim cha.s.se le loup hors du bois_. To starve, or emigrate, are the only alternatives of the people."

The _Waterford Chronicle_ thus comments: "There will have gone, after the season is over, upwards of 3,000 people, from this country, by this port alone. Not to talk of the rearing of these people-the trouble and expense of bringing up a healthy man, woman, or child, and, especially, leaving out the irreparable loss to society, in this country, of their affections, hopes, and family ties-all, now, sundered and destroyed-not to talk of the countless living deaths of wholesale emigration from a feeling and warm-hearted mother country-the amount of capital taken by these 3,000 is immense. a.s.suming that each individual spends 10 in his pa.s.sage, and before he settles, and that he has 10 more to establish himself, here is direct taking away, in hard cash, of 60,000 gone out of the bleeding pores of Ireland, to increase the misery which is left behind. We are in possession of facts which show that many cunning landlords are sending away their people yearly, but by degrees, and not in such a manner as to subject themselves to a 'clearance notice.' If this system be continued, we shall be tempted to give names. After these things, who will blame the people for outbreaks occasioned by famine?

There is nothing plentiful in the land but ruin! Employment is scarce-money is scarce-the people are being thinned-farms are being consolidated-bullock land is progressing-

"Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where cows acc.u.mulate, and men decay."

For some long time there had been a conflict of opinion as to the merits of different sized gauges for railways. Brunel, the magnificent, advocated a width of seven feet, and practised it on the Great Western; others wished for something far more modest. Great was the wrangling over this "battle of the gauges," and a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the matter. They gave in their Report on 30 May, and the question was settled by "An Act for regulating the Gauge of Railways" (9 and 10 Vic., c. 57-pa.s.sed 18 Aug., 1846) by which it was settled that, in future, all Railway lines in England were to be 4 feet 8 in. wide, and in Ireland, the width was to be 5 ft. 3 in.

By the way, Railway surveyors were paid well, and almost everyone that had ever dragged a chain posed as a surveyor. As a sample-on 23 Ap. is reported the case of White _v._ Koe and Maun-where a witness said "Levellers are always well paid. I have received, before this 10 a mile, and I could level from seven to eight miles a day. These are not extraordinary terms. I had to find hands to help me. I had three men at 7s. a day each."

On 22 June poor Haydon, the painter, committed suicide. He was extremely egotistical, and nothing could persuade him that he was not the best painter of his time. His fixed idea was that he was without a peer-but no one else thought so. His diary is very sad reading. Here is an entry (Ap. 13) relative to the exhibition of his picture, "The Banishment of Aristides": "Receipts 1 3s. 6d. An advertis.e.m.e.nt of a finer description could not have been written to catch the public; but not a s.h.i.+lling more was added to the receipts. They rush by thousands to see Tom Thumb.

They push-they fight-they scream-they faint-they cry 'Help!' and 'Murder!' They see my bills and caravans, but do not read them; their eyes are on them, but their sense is gone. It is an insanity-a _rabies furor_-a dream-of which I would not have believed Englishmen could have been guilty." He even wrote to the _Times_ about it: "GENERAL TOM THUMB, last week, received 12,000 people, who paid him 600; B. R. HAYDON, who has devoted 42 years to elevate their taste, was honoured by the visits of 133, producing 5 13s. 6d., being a reward for painting two of his finest works, 'Aristides and Nero.' HORACE VERNET, LA ROCHE, INGRES, CORNELIUS, HESS, SNORR, and SCHEFFER, hasten to this glorious country of fresco and patronage, and grand design, if you have a tender fancy to end your days in a Whig Union."

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The last Post Office Bellman-The "Corn Law" Act-Sir Walter Scott's monument-The Irish famine-The Duke of Wellington's statue-Gun cotton-Introduction of ether-Model dwelling houses-Baths and Wash-houses-Smithfield Cattle market-"The Bull Fight of Smithfield"-The first submarine telegraph.

_The Ill.u.s.trated London News_, of 27 June, gives us "THE LETTER CARRIER'S LAST KNELL.-We have just lost another of what poor Thomas Hood called, 'Those evening bells.' The Postmaster General having issued his fiat for the abolition of 'ringing bells' by the Letter Carriers, the last knell was rung out on the evening of Wednesday last; and, as a memorial of the departure of what appeared to most persons, a very useful practice, our artist has sketched a Letter Carrier, on his last evening call at our office; and another hand has appended the following lament:

The Dustman was first to forego his bra.s.s clapper, The m.u.f.finboy speedily followed his shade; And, now, 'tis the Postman-that double-tongued rapper- Must give up his Bell for the eve's promenade.

"_Tantae Animis_?' sage Legislators!

Why rage against trifles like these? Prithee tell, Why leave the solution to rude commentators, Who say, that at home, you've enough in one _Belle_?"

On 26 June the Royal a.s.sent was given to an Act (910 Vic., c. 22), called "An Act to amend the Laws relating to the Importation of Corn."

This regulated the duty on corn by a sliding scale of prices, which was to be in force until 1 Feb., 1849, when it was fixed at 1s. per quarter.

The pa.s.sing of this Act caused general rejoicing throughout the country, and put an end to a great deal of political rancour.