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diff --git a/76507-0.txt b/76507-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0891b5f --- /dev/null +++ b/76507-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7669 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76507 *** + + + + + + THE EXPOSITION + OF + 1851. + + --------------- + + LONDON: + R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL. + + --------------- + + + + + THE EXPOSITION + OF + 1851; + + OR, + + VIEWS OF THE INDUSTRY, + THE SCIENCE, AND THE GOVERNMENT, + OF ENGLAND. + + BY + CHARLES BABBAGE, ESQ. + CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF MORAL SCIENCES OF THE INSTITUTE + OF FRANCE. + + + + + SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS. + + LONDON: + JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. + 1851. + + + + + PREFACE + + TO THE FIRST EDITION. + + --------------- + + +England has invited the civilized world to meet in its great commercial +centre; asking it, in friendly rivalry, to display for the common +advantage of all, those objects which each country derives from the +gifts of nature, and on which it confers additional utility by processes +of industrial art. + +This invitation, universally accepted, will bring from every quarter a +multitude of people greater than has yet assembled in any western city: +these welcome visitors will enjoy more time and opportunity for +observation than has ever been afforded on any previous occasion. The +statesman and the philosopher, the manufacturer and the merchant, and +all enlightened observers of human nature, may avail themselves of the +opportunity afforded by their visit to this Diorama of the Peaceful +Arts, for taking a more correct view of the industry, the science, the +institutions, and the government of this country. One object of these +pages is, to suggest to such inquirers the agency of those deeper-seated +and less obvious causes which can be detected only by lengthened +observation, and to supply them with a key to explain many of the +otherwise incomprehensible characteristics of England. + +Who, for instance, could have conceived that England, after making +unexampled efforts for the adoption of “_Free Trade_,” should be the +first nation to prohibit[1] its very basis, “_competition_,” at the +world’s great bazaar? + +This country is fortunate in having on the Western Continent, a great +nation derived from the same common stock, speaking the same language, +sharing the same feelings, but fortunately not partaking the same +_prejudices_. Proud of the only ancestry which is not contemptible, it +glories in the genius and the virtues of our common forefathers, and in +its young ambition now strives in science and in literature, to prove +itself _their_ worthy descendants—_our own_ generous rivals. + +Separated from us by an intervening ocean, the judgment of America is +not obscured by the repulsion or the fascination of personal manners,—by +the tales of jealous rivals or enthusiastic friends. It can thus, as it +were, anticipate for us the decision of posterity upon the reputation of +those English writers who have never visited her shores. Many foreigners +speaking other tongues, whose researches in industrial, economical, and +physical science, have conferred honour on their own country, now visit +ours. These and their congenial spirits throughout the world, sit in +judgment on the _prejudices_ of England, and will, if I mistake not, +find ample reason to agree with the Danish statesman in the +opinion,—that great nations are often governed by very small people. + +England has invited the judgment of the world upon its _Arts_ and its +_Industry_;—science appeals to the same tribunal against its +_ingratitude_ and its _injustice_. + +Several friends whose esteem I prize, have urged me to avoid everything +personal,—some even to suppress this volume. I value their friendship, +whilst I reject their counsel. In illustrating the position of science +in this country, it would have been affectation not to have mentioned +the Calculating Engines. Who else _could_ have fully known,—who else +_would_ have fully told their history? + +It has been suggested to me that, to select _individual_ examples for +illustration, is personality. To have made general charges without them, +would have been termed _vague_, and would certainly have been _useless_. +It still however appears to me that a _single_ illustration in each +case, would cause the least pain, and might yet be sufficient for the +purpose. If it is thought otherwise the remedy is easy. + +The facts stated in the following pages are not drawn from any violation +of the confidences of private society: those whose names are mentioned, +are paid by the nation, and therefore responsible to their employers. +Against them I have no personal feeling; their official acts are +necessarily mentioned as parts of the system to which they belong. + +The remark most frequently made has been, “that the publication of this +volume will do me injury.” This opinion is indeed a severer censure on +the conduct of the government than any I have myself pronounced. I do +not agree in it, for I know of no injury within the power of those who +have never given me a single occasion for gratitude. + +Bad men always hate those they have injured;—Good or great men, when +they have discovered that they have been unjust, always more than repair +the injury they have committed. + +Those who, from an acquaintance with the case, can truly interpret this +volume, will _know_ that I have abstained; they will _see_ that I +possess the power, though not the disposition, to avenge injury. But the +same spirit which has carried me through difficulties few have +encountered, at the expense of sacrifices which I hope fewer may ever be +called upon to make, forbids me tamely to submit to injustice. + +The reader of these pages will observe that I have exposed with an +unsparing pen the dishonesty of party. The modes employed by it to +“discredit” and intimidate an honest man are various. + +If he agree with them in a principle, but differ in its application, he +is called “_crotchety_.” If he cannot be induced by sophistry to vote +with them against his sense of right, he is called “_impracticable_.” +If, when passed over in the appointment to some office for which he is +qualified by knowledge and entitled by position, he complain of the +neglect; notwithstanding he continues to vote with his party, he is +called a “_disappointed man_.” If, however, he has energy, and is backed +by great political or professional interest, he may then secure a +_present_ peerage for himself, his wife, or his relative, with a promise +of better treatment when anything desirable becomes vacant. + +At last, having discovered that his party are sincere and united only in +their desire to retain office; if his arguments admit of no +refutation,—if his perception of right can be obscured by no +sophistry,—if he can himself be cajoled by no flattery, seduced by no +advantage, deterred by no intimidation, from expressing his real opinion +upon the merits of his party: then, although he may support them +whenever they are true to their principles, yet he is pronounced a +“_cantankerous fellow_.” Thus bad names are coined by worse[2] men to +destroy honest people; as the madness of innocent dogs arises from the +cry of insanity raised by their villanous pursuers. + +The merit of the original conception of the present Exposition is +insignificant in comparison with that of the efforts by which it was +carried out, and with the importance of its practical results. + +To have seen from afar its effects on the improvement, the wealth, and +the happiness of the people—to have seized the fit moment, when, by the +right use of the influence of an exalted station, it was _possible_ to +overcome the deeply-rooted prejudices of the upper classes—to remove the +still more formidable, because latent, impediments of party—generously +to have undertaken great responsibility, and with indefatigable labour +to have endeavoured to make the best out of the only materials at +hand,—these are endowments of no ordinary kind. + +To move in any rank of society an exception to its general rules, is a +very difficult, and if accompanied by the consciousness of the +situation, a very painful position to a reflecting mind. + +Whatever may be the cause, whether exalted rank, unbounded wealth, +surpassing beauty, or unrivalled wit,—the renown of daring deeds, the +magic of a world-wide fame; to all within those narrow limits the +dangers and the penalties are great. Each exists an isolated spirit; +each, unconsciously imprisoned within its crystal globe, perceives the +colours of all external objects modified by those tints imparted to them +by its own surrounding sphere. No change of view can teach it to rectify +this partial judgment; throughout its earthward course the same undying +rainbow attends to the last its parent drop. + +Rarely indeed can some deep-searching mind, after long comparison, +perceive the real colours of those translucent shells which encompass +kindred spirits; and thus at length enable him to achromatise the medium +which surrounds his own. To one who has thus rectified the +“colour-blindness” of his intellectual vision, how deep the sympathy he +feels for those still involved in that hopeless obscurity from which he +has himself escaped. None can so justly appreciate that sense of +loneliness, that solitude of mind, which surrounds unquestioned eminence +on its lofty throne;—none, therefore, can make so large an allowance for +its errors;—none so skilfully assist in guiding its hazardous career. + +The triumph of the industrial arts will advance the cause of +civilization more rapidly than its warmest advocates could have hoped, +and contribute to the permanent prosperity and strength of the country, +far more than the most splendid victories of successful war. The +influences thus engendered, the arts thus developed, will long continue +to shed their beneficent effects over countries more extensive than +those which the sceptre of England rules. + + --------------- + +P.S.—The greater part of this Work was in type some time previous to the +opening of the Exposition:—it would be of no interest to the public to +explain the cause of this delay. + + --------------- + + NOTE ADDED TO THE SECOND EDITION. + +It has been suggested to me that, without some explanation, the Author +of this Volume might appear to have reserved his opinions on the subject +of the Exposition, until it was too late for the Commission to make use +of them. This was not the case. + +Being fully aware of the importance of such exhibitions, and having +myself, many years before, endeavoured to connect them with the British +Association, I hailed the announcement of the plan as one calculated to +produce the most extensive good. At that period I was in Paris, and both +abroad and at home I have uniformly spoken of the Exposition with the +highest approbation. + +On one or two points I differed entirely from the opinion of those to +whom its management was confided. The questions of the _site of the +building_, and of _affixing prices to articles exhibited_, were the most +important of them. I took the earliest opportunity of expressing +strongly my views on those subjects to several personal friends who were +members of that Commission, nor did I ever fail to communicate through +the fittest channel any circumstance I became acquainted with which +might advance its interests. + + [1] See Chapter on Prices. + + [2] “A bad old woman making a worse will.”—BYRON. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + --------------- + + PAGE + CHAPTER I. + INTRODUCTION 1 + CHAPTER II. + ERROR RESPECTING THE INTERCHANGE OF COMMODITIES 7 + CHAPTER III. + OF SOCIETIES 12 + CHAPTER IV. + ORIGIN OF THE EXPOSITION OF 1851 26 + CHAPTER V. + OBJECT AND USE OF THE EXPOSITION 42 + CHAPTER VI. + LIMITS 48 + CHAPTER VII. + SITE AND CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDING 55 + CHAPTER VIII. + PRICES 64 + CHAPTER IX. + PRIZES 99 + CHAPTER X. + JURIES, ETC. 112 + CHAPTER XI. + ULTERIOR OBJECTS 125 + CHAPTER XII. + INTRIGUES OF SCIENCE 149 + CHAPTER XIII. + CALCULATING ENGINES 173 + CHAPTER XIV. + POSITION OF SCIENCE 189 + CHAPTER XV. + THE PRESS 202 + CHAPTER XVI. + PARTY 209 + CHAPTER XVII. + REWARDS OF MERIT 220 + APPENDIX. + THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER OF MR. WELD’S HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 251 + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + INTRODUCTION. + + +One of the most frequent sources of mistaken views in economical +science, arises from confounding the nature of _universal_ with that of +_general principles_. + +§ _Universal principles_, such as the fact that every number ending with +the figure five is itself divisible by five, rarely occur except in the +exact sciences. Universal principles are those which do not admit of a +single exception. + +_General principles_ are those which are much more frequently obeyed +than violated. Thus it is generally true that _men will be governed by +what they believe to be their interest_. Yet it is certainly true that +many individuals will at times be governed by their passions, others by +their caprice, others by entirely benevolent motives: but all these +classes together, form so small a portion of mankind, that it would be +unsafe in any inquiry to neglect the great principle of self-interest. +Notwithstanding, however, all the exceptions we may meet with, it is +impossible to take any just views of society without the admission of +general principles, and on such grounds they will be used in these +pages. + +Self-interest, combined in various degrees with knowledge, assumes the +most diversified forms. It excites our contempt or raises our +admiration, according to the littleness or the greatness of the object +it pursues—according to the temporary or the more distant advantages it +seeks. On the one hand, it governs the minister of a party on his +doubtful eminence, whilst on the other it guides the enlightened +statesman to the object of his distant ambition. + +§ Again, it is admitted as a general principle that _each man is the +best judge of his own wants and of his own interest_. Now although many +individuals, and even whole classes of society, have at times been +thought by more enlightened men to have formed erroneous opinions as to +their true interest, yet, when it is remembered, that every man must see +many views of his own case, and must know many facts connected with it, +which he has not communicated even to his most confidential adviser, +those who have had most experience are most inclined to believe that the +exceptions are much less frequent than at first sight would appear. + +Another source of erroneous opinions arises from neglecting causes +apparently insignificant. + +In taking a comprehensive view of any subject, it is very desirable to +throw into the shade all its minor points; but in estimating the +consequences of any set of facts, there is another condition which must +be fulfilled, before we can arrive at accurate conclusions. If we are +about to neglect a cause on account of its apparent insignificance, it +is _essential_ that it should not be one of _frequent_ recurrence. Thus, +if a labourer inconsiderately lift his shovel but an inch or two more +than is necessary to throw its load into his barrow, although the +exertion of force is trivial in each instance, its repeated occurrence +during the whole day, will produce at its conclusion a very sensible +difference either in fatigue or in the amount of the work done. Napoleon +is said to have remarked of Laplace, when he was Minister of the +Interior, that he was too much occupied with considering _les infiniment +petites_. To dwell upon small affairs which are isolated, is not the +province of a statesman; but to integrate the effect of their constant +recurrence is worthy of the greatest. + +One of the most important processes in all inquiry, is to divide the +subject to be considered into as many different questions as it will +admit of, and then to examine each separately, or in other words to +suppose that each single cause successively varies whilst all the others +remain constant. + +But this most obvious doctrine of common sense has frequently been +contested in questions of economical science, and has been often +characterized as theoretical, and as entirely inapplicable to the +affairs of life. It is certain that very little progress can be made in +any subject without this aid, and it is hopeless for those whose minds +are incapable of mastering the simpler questions, ever to institute +successfully an investigation into their united action. + +A familiar illustration will explain this better. Two men are making an +excavation, removing the earth in the usual way with spades and +wheelbarrows. + +One of these men, Q., does more work than his companion P., and if an +inquiry is made, Why is this so? the usual reply would be that Q. is +either stronger, more active, or more skilful than P. + +Now it is the third of these qualifications which is the most important, +because if Q. were inferior even both in strength and in activity, he +might yet by means of his skill perform a greater quantity of work +without fatigue. + +He might have ascertained that a _given_ weight of earth raised at each +shovelfull, together with a certain number of shovelfulls per hour, +would be more advantageous for his strength than any other such +combination. + +That a shovel of a certain weight, size, and form would fatigue him less +than those of a different construction. + +That if its handle were two or three inches longer than he required, its +additional weight would at the end of the day have been uselessly lifted +many hundred times. + +That if each spadefull of earth were lifted but an inch or two above the +barrow beyond what was necessary, a still greater waste of force would +arise. + +That if the barrow itself had its wheel at a distance beyond the centre +of its load, it would be more fatiguing to draw. + +That if the barrow had upright sides, it would require more exertion to +turn out its load than if its sides were much inclined. + +Thus although Q. might have less strength and less activity than P., he +might yet by skill and practice, have arrived at some combination of +these tools which should enable him with less fatigue to do more daily +work than P. + +But in order to have arrived at this degree of skill, Q. must when a boy +have been taught to examine _separately_ the consequences of any defect +or inconvenience in the parts of the tools he was to use in after life, +or in the modes of using them. If not so taught, he must have arrived at +the same knowledge by the slower and more painful effort of his own +reflections. + +In either case he would be able to communicate his knowledge to his +friends or his children; and if circumstances induced or obliged him to +enter upon a new trade, he would naturally apply those principles to his +new tools. Indeed, whatever subject might be presented to a mind thus +trained, such habits of inquiry would most probably be applied to its +examination. Thus, by the early education of his reasoning faculties on +the trade by which he is to subsist, he would not only render his own +labour more productive, but would have his mind better prepared for the +reception of other truths. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + ERROR RESPECTING THE INTERCHANGE OF COMMODITIES. + + +There exists in society a widely-spread error relating to the very +principle of that interchange of property between individuals which is +usually called a bargain. It is almost always supposed that one party is +a gainer whilst the other is a loser. Indeed, by those whose reasoning +on the subject has been limited to this single view of the question, it +is with some plausibility maintained, that since the quantity of the +commodities interchanged is in no case augmented by the bargain, the +gain of one party can be accomplished only by an equal loss on the part +of the other. + +The insufficiency of this reasoning depends upon the truth of the +principle that each party, being the best judge of the pleasure or +advantage he can derive from the possession of a thing, _himself_ +decides that in his own case it will be increased by the exchange. + +It may, however, be asked, How does it happen that the sum of two +commodities so exchanged has a greater value after the exchange than +before? or in other words, Whence has the profit arisen?—is there any +third party at whose expense it has been acquired? The answer is—that +there is another source which almost always either directly or +indirectly contributes towards this profit. The advantage is most +frequently won by industry and knowledge from nature herself. + +§ The following illustration, which happens also to be a tolerable +approach to truth, will explain this principle more clearly:— + +It is found by experience that the upper-leather of Boots made in +France, is better and more durable than the upper-leather manufactured +in England. On the other hand, it is found that the leather prepared in +England for the soles of boots is less permeable by water, and more +durable than that made in France. + +Let us suppose that in each country a pair of boots will endure twelve +months’ continual wear; after which time they are thrown aside. + +In England the destruction of the boots will arise from that of the +upper-leather, whilst in France it will be caused by that of the sole. +Let us also suppose that the upper-leather of France will wear three +months longer than the French soles, and reciprocally that the soles of +England will wear three months longer than the English upper-leather. + +Under these circumstances, it is clear that if the inhabitants of each +country insist on making their boots _entirely_ with the produce of +_their own_ tanneries, the average duration of a pair of boots both in +France and in England will be twelve months. + +Let us assume, for the sake of simplicity, that in each country the +upper-leather and the soles have the same value. Then it is equally +clear, if England were to give to France a million pair of soles in +exchange for a million pair of French upper-leathers, that one million +of the inhabitants of each nation would find their boots last during +fifteen instead of twelve months. + +This prolonged duration of their boots would not have been acquired by +any sacrifice on either side: the exchange is here for the common and +great advantage of both. + +This probably arises from the joint action of many causes. The animals +which in each country supply the hides, may either from breed, from +food, or from climate be best adapted to produce that kind of leather in +which each country excels. The water, the bark, or the climate peculiar +to each country, may then contribute its share to the same effect. +Again, the industry, the skill, and the knowledge of the people +employed, as well as the character of the population and the +distribution of its capital, may also have its influence on these +results. + +If we pursue this illustration one stage further, it will appear that it +is our interest not only that we should make these exchanges with +France, but that she should also make exchanges with other countries +than our own. + +Let us suppose that France, having a larger population than England, +required for its annual consumption two million pair of boots, and also +that she possessed no other commodities which we required. Under these +circumstances there could be no further direct interchange of leather, +and France would possess a million pair of upper-leathers beyond our +demand. But it is clear that if France could exchange these +upper-leathers for the wools or any other produce of Germany which we +might require, she would not only gain the additional duration of three +months for her own extra million pair of boots, but would also enrich us +by the advantage which we should derive from the exchange of the strong +hides of England for the produce transmitted to us from Germany. + +§ The general result of all those inquiries of which only the slightest +sketch has now been attempted, is that—_the free and unlimited exchange +of commodities between nations, contributes to the advantage and the +wealth of all_;—that this benefit arises from no sacrifice on the part +of one nation for the profit of another; but that the sum of the +productive powers of man is by these means, without any increased +labour, largely augmented throughout the world;—that this increment is +won partly by the suppression of ignorance and fraud, and partly by the +united effects of industry, of skill, and of science, in compelling +nature to minister to the wants of man. + +All who admit the truth of these principles, must feel an earnest desire +to support every effort which may assist in their dissemination amongst +the masses of mankind. Education is the earliest, and the most effective +aid; but it must be secular education. It must be the education of the +faculties of each child, with reference to the wants of his future +course of life. The religion of the uneducated and unenlightened man, +even when true, partakes of the nature of superstition, and instruction +in religious truth _alone_ will not be enough: his mind must be opened +and informed on other subjects also. He who by observation and inquiry +has arrived at the conviction that any line of conduct which is +dishonest towards his neighbour, will most probably prove unprofitable +to himself in this world, will surely have a strong additional motive to +guard him in the hour of temptation from those courses which his +religion teaches him will incur punishment in a future state. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + OF SOCIETIES. + + +Associations for occasional discussion, of men pursuing the same or +similar studies, have long been found advantageous for the +inter-communication of the difficulties, the doubts, and the discoveries +of students. In more recent times, when each art has gradually connected +itself with the sciences on which its success depends, the importance of +these meetings has become obvious to the manufacturer, although in this +country it may not yet have become apparent to the statesman. + +The Academia del Cimento, the Royal Society of London and the Academy of +Sciences at Paris, have had a long series of imitators in the principal +cities of the civilized world. The increasing extension of science and +the wants of its cultivators, have led them to subdivide their pursuits +and to form Societies specially devoted to each separate subject. + +§ These learned bodies, however, are of a stationary character, located +for convenience in some capital or large city. With the advance of +civilization new wants arose, and Professor Oken of Munich, feeling the +great advantage of periodical meetings of the cultivators of the natural +sciences, organized an annual assemblage of German naturalists to be +held successively in each of the great cities of Germany, thus rendering +the field of friendly intercourse and of scientific observation much +more easily accessible to all who felt an interest in their common +object. + +Although the earliest meetings were small,[3] their value was soon +perceived, and the cultivators of other sciences more or less connected +with natural history, were gradually admitted, to the manifest advantage +of all parties, until at the great meeting in 1828 at Berlin, the +physical sciences themselves possessed their fair share of eminent +representatives. But another important improvement had already +commenced: foreigners were admitted to this German union, and amongst +upwards of four hundred members, although nearly thirty were aliens in +language and in country, they were welcomed with the warmest kindness by +their enlightened friends. + +Baron Alexander Humboldt, the President of the Association, in his +inaugural address proclaimed its principle in the following words:— + +“May those excellent persons, who, deterred neither by the perils of the +sea nor of the land, have hastened to our meeting from Sweden, from +Norway, from Denmark, from Holland, from England, and from Poland, point +out the way to other strangers in succeeding years, so that by turns +every part of Germany may enjoy the effects of scientific communication +with the different nations of Europe.” + +At that meeting a map of Europe was published on which were +conspicuously indicated those towns and countries only, which had sent +representatives to this congress of intellect. On that map Austria +figured an intellectual desert, not because her philosophers were less +industrious in the researches of science, less acute in combining into +laws the facts they had ascertained, nor in any way unworthy of sitting +amongst the congregated talent of their own or of other races: but +because the government of the country, more ignorant of its interest +than the philosophers were of theirs, refused them passports. + +§ A few years afterwards, the light of truth having penetrated official +heads, the learned of Europe, to the credit of the Austrian government, +were invited and hospitably entertained at Vienna. The stability of the +great empire which welcomed them, was not shaken by their patient and +acute discussions: and it was at last perceived that unless when +depressed by neglect or persecution, philosophers possess in their own +departments subjects of far more animating and delightful interest than +the unstable and inconclusive discussions of politics. + +Sweden sent thirteen representatives to the meeting at Berlin in 1828, +Denmark seven, Poland three, Holland two. Russia, France, England and +Naples each sent one. + +§ An account of this scientific congress at Berlin was published in 1829 +in the _Edinburgh Journal of Science_. It was communicated by the author +of these pages to Sir David Brewster. In the number of the same Journal +for April, 1831, is an account by J. F. W. Johnstone, Esq., of the +meeting of this scientific Congress, at Hamburgh, in September, 1830. +Sir David Brewster, in conjunction with the late secretary of the Royal +Society of Edinburgh, Sir J. Robison, and the Rev. William Vernon +Harcourt, and several other cultivators of science, resolved on +attempting to organize a similar institution in Great Britain. The +difficulties as well as the advantages of this undertaking were then +discussed. In Prussia the social position of men of science is quite +different from that which they occupy in England. In Prussia the +sovereign was aware of the value of science to his country, and was +therefore induced to support it by an enlightened patriotism as well as +by a generous ambition. In England science is pursued by no powerful +profession which can aid or thwart the measures of the minister of the +day. He is, therefore, indifferent to its progress, and is usually +incapable of distinguishing the charlatan from the philosopher. + +§ In 1831 the first meeting of the British Association for the +Advancement of Science was held at York. It was proposed by those who +undertook its management, that each succeeding meeting should be held in +some large city or town at a considerable distance from that which +received it in the previous year, and that after its objects had become +well understood by the public, it should complete its cycle by holding a +meeting in the metropolis. But it was soon felt that in order to +influence public opinion, it was necessary that it should combine larger +interests than were yet enlisted in its cause. + +Such at that time was the state of education in England, that amongst +the influential classes, country gentlemen, lawyers, members of +parliament, peers, &c., few were found qualified for, or even capable of +taking any interest in the then _existing_ Sections of the British +Association. + +Accident fortunately supplied an occasion for remedying, at least +partially, this defect. The opportunity occurred at the meeting at +Cambridge in 1833, and was instantly seized upon, although in a somewhat +irregular manner. Professor Quetelet had been deputed by the Belgian +government to attend the third meeting of the British Association. The +varied knowledge and enthusiastic love of science possessed by M. +Quetelet, might have qualified him to take part in any of its sections, +but it so happened that he had brought over with him some highly +interesting statistical documents which unfortunately could find a +reception in none. Under these circumstances, a gentleman[4] who fully +understood their value invited a few of his private friends most +interested in that subject to meet M. Quetelet in his own rooms in +college, for the purpose of talking over this valuable budget. The +author of these pages was one of those thus honoured. He perceived the +advantage that might be taken of the accident, and immediately suggested +to his friend that the invitation should be extended to all those known +to be interested in statistical inquiries, and that those present should +at once form themselves into a Statistical Section, and then apply to +the council for a bill of indemnity for the irregularity. The plan being +unanimously approved of, it was immediately acted upon, and before the +termination of the meeting a Statistical Section was not only recognised +by the Association, but was as fully attended as even the most popular +of the other sections. + +At the concluding meeting of the Statistical Section at Cambridge it was +resolved, that a more permanent body was necessary to carry out the +views and wishes of the section, and it was agreed to establish a +Statistical Society in London. The author of these pages was deputed to +carry out those arrangements which terminated in its establishment. + +The more pressing difficulty being thus removed, the principle of +extending the basis of the Association so as to unite the interests of +various classes, was steadily and unremittingly pursued. The Physical +and Mathematical Section was divided, and a new section, that of the +practical application of mechanical science, or Civil Engineering, was +formed. The next step was very important, but more difficult to +accomplish. It was proposed by an exhibition of the raw produce, the +processes, and the instruments for the production of manufactured goods, +to unite in the same common interest, not only all the consumers, but +all those who contributed to the production, or even to the distribution +of wealth. + +The numerous foreigners who flocked to these annual meetings of the +British Association, might, it was naturally thought, be induced to +bring over with them new instruments of science, or objects of art and +industry, the produce of their respective countries. Whilst thus giving, +and receiving in return new ideas and valuable information, the +commercial interchanges between different nations would necessarily be +augmented by the steadily increasing knowledge of the wants of each, and +by the peaceful rivalry of all. + +The first exhibition of this kind took place at Newcastle in 1838. The +number of exhibitors was not large, but it was hoped that with time and +encouragement this commencement might lead to much more extensive +expositions of more general utility. It was followed by another on an +enlarged scale, held at Birmingham in the succeeding year, after which +it was discontinued. + +The following extracts from a letter addressed by the Author to the +Members of the British Association, were printed in 1839:— + +“My reasons for not resigning the trusteeship of the British Association +at Newcastle were, that by retaining it until the following meeting, I +should give the Society more time to select my successor; and that by +remaining on the council until the meeting at Birmingham, I might be +enabled to assist more effectually in the arrangement of the collections +relating to the mechanical arts, which it was anticipated would be +amongst the largest yet called forth by the British Association.” + +“The real merits of the British Association have been misunderstood by +the superficial; but it possesses in its bearings upon the pecuniary +interests of large masses of the community a power and an influence +which nothing but great misconduct can destroy. Look at the +manufacturers of produce and of machinery, flocking to our annual +meeting to interchange their ideas, enlightening their practical +experience by the reasonings of science, and returning laden with the +seeds of permanent ameliorations in their establishments. Look at the +exhibitions of the productions of our factories, and say whether the +humblest shopkeeper has not an interest in the existence of that body +which gives publicity to the objects in which he deals, and which +spreads them so largely before the eyes of those who can appreciate +their merit, as well as of those who are likely to become consumers.” + +“These are material interests permanently engaged in our cause by the +strongest ties—those of mutual advantage, cemented by reciprocity of +kindly feelings.” + +§ This is not the place to discuss the causes which have led to the +present state of things. It is sufficient here to observe, that if the +views of those who originally organized the British Association, had +been supported both from within and from without, in the manner which so +important a project in the history of science deserved, the Exhibition +of 1851 would have found itself led by the science of the country, +prepared by long experience on a smaller scale, yet under very various +circumstances, to guide with some reasonable prospect of success that +gigantic undertaking, and to elicit from it the many invaluable services +it might be expected to render to civilization. + +Its legislative department would not have been committed to the guidance +of a body of men, all of them respectable, and some, indeed, eminent in +their several lines, but entirely inexperienced in the conduct and +arrangement of any such undertaking—persons, all of them amiable and +excellent in their private capacity, yet who have exhibited in their +corporate union an entire ignorance of the great principle on which +alone such expositions rest,—and who, contrary to the advice and the +remonstrance of the best informed, have forbidden the most important +quality by which men judge of commodities, their _Price_, from being +attached to the objects on which their judgment is to be pronounced. + +§ Long, however, before the origin of these itinerant societies, the +voice of the statesmen of other countries, and the popular voice in +England, had called into existence societies for the promotion of the +arts connected with commerce and manufactures. In France, the +“Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers” was established. In England the +Society of Arts has endured above a century. Its novelty and utility +caused it to flourish for a time: its seat in the metropolis of a people +whose wealth and power arise entirely from the unbending energy with +which they apply themselves to advance the arts and to extend commerce, +added to its powers. Yet, even with these advantages, that Society has +never risen to the position it deserved, and has for years been +languishing in premature decay. Lately, indeed, a powerful impulse has +been communicated to its proceedings, but even the presidency of the +Prince-Consort has not yet raised it to its due position in the public +opinion. + +The causes of this state of things are not remote. The position of the +Royal and of other societies is equally influenced by them. Although +intimately connected with the greatest interests of the country, they +can offer to those who give their time or intellect to advance such +objects, neither wealth nor rank—neither place nor patronage. They +constitute no distinct combination of men into a powerful class, like +the Bar, the Navy, or the Army: they are of no party, and finally, they +are not fashionable. It is true that the discoveries which such +societies profess to reward, are in many instances the source of wealth +to the few who, fortunately for themselves, possess those other +qualities necessary for its acquisition, but which are so rarely united +with genius. It is also true that wealth once acquired, will, if +discreetly employed, certainly lead its possessor to all those other +things, equally coveted as the great prizes in the lottery of life by +the Bar, the Military, and even by the Church. Nor is this to be +regretted, seeing that the aristocracy of this country thus fortunately +receives fresh blood and renewed intellect by adopting into its class +the sagacious merchant, or the skilful fabricator of a princely fortune: +the time may thus be postponed when the accident of birth will no longer +be admitted as a fit qualification for a legislator. But even here it is +the wealth of the aspirant that wins the position, not the integrity and +sagacity of the man. + +In France the government itself took the lead in directing an +institution for the advancement of the arts. In 1795 it established the +Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, in which are deposited an extensive +collection of drawings, models, and machines employed in the various +manufactures of the nation. + +Subsequently, ten professors were attached to this institution, to +lecture gratuitously on those sciences more immediately connected with +arts and manufactures. One of these devotes himself exclusively to the +explanation of machinery in actual employment. There are also lectures +on descriptive geometry, and on mechanical drawing. The expense of this +establishment is about 6,000_l._ a-year. + +§ The government of France perceived at a still earlier period the +advantages which would result from the juxtaposition, at proper +intervals of time, in one large building, of selected specimens of all +the produce of the national industry, and in 1798 the first of these +periodic meetings was held at the expense of the government. During +upwards of half a century, at intervals of about five years, France, +uninterrupted by the many changes in the form of its government, has +continued to maintain these valuable expositions with increasing success +and advantage. Prussia and Belgium also have adopted the plan of holding +these meetings. + +But if the principles on which they rest are well founded, it is clear +that they are applicable to a still wider field: and that as in the +Associations of science, cultivators from all nations are invited to be +present, so in the Exhibition of the productions of industry the general +advantage of mankind is most advanced by the joint contributions of the +whole industrial world. + +§ These views have long been felt and expressed, not merely by men of +speculation, but by those who take a practical part in the affairs of +life. + +Enlightened French statesmen had long been aware of the advantage of +this species of competition, and only abstained from proposing it until +the conviction of the nation justified the foresight of its chiefs. + +At length it was thought that the time had arrived for ascertaining more +correctly the general opinion. Previously, therefore, to making the +necessary arrangements for the Exposition at Paris in 1849, the Minister +of Commerce sent circulars to the several Chambers of Commerce +throughout France, in order to ascertain whether it was the general +opinion that foreign productions should be admitted to the competition. + +The opinion of the public was not, however, sufficiently advanced to +justify the undertaking; and considering the political situation of the +country, the government wisely abstained from a measure which was not +yet entirely in unison with the feelings of the people. + +Thus it has happened that it was reserved for Great Britain, the country +most interested in the cause, though the latest to adopt it, unprepared +by any previous experience at once to attempt this vast enterprise. + + [3] The first was held at Leipsic in 1822. + + [4] The Rev. Richard Jones, Professor of Political Economy at + Haileybury. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + ORIGIN OF THE EXPOSITION OF 1851. + + +§ It is not now necessary to inquire minutely into the origin of the +present Exposition. It is sufficient to state that it appears to have +been proposed by some members of the Society of Arts, who urged it on +the attention of Prince Albert. + +The magnitude of the undertaking, and the great principles on which it +rested, seem not to have been fully understood, and the public were very +imperfectly prepared either to appreciate its advantages or to +contribute to its support. A capitalist was therefore sought, and found +willing to undertake the risk of the speculation, and terms were agreed +upon, by which £20,000 was advanced for distribution in prizes, one of +which was to amount to £5,000. This contract contained some singular +stipulations, and formed the basis of the proceedings for several +months. It contained also a clause by which, on certain conditions, it +might be cancelled within a limited time. + +In order to carry out this undertaking, it was proposed that a Royal +Commission should be issued, over which, of course, Prince Albert should +preside. As soon as these views became publicly known, they excited +great discussion, and were the subject of much criticism. + +§ The Ministers could not of course commit themselves by publicly +avowing their disapprobation of an undertaking commenced under such high +auspices. It might, however, readily have been foreseen that they would +be averse to such a scheme, because whilst it was sure to give them a +great deal of trouble, it would afford them no compensation in the shape +of patronage. + +Those, however, who usually reflect and retail the opinions of the +Government, were by no means silent; at first it was said to be Utopian, +then ridiculous, then, in the slang of official life, it was +“_pooh-poohed_;” at a later period, when great public meetings had been +held, and when public dinners began to give it an English character, the +best speech which has yet been made on the subject, containing the +far-sighted views of a statesman, was ridiculed as full of _German_ +notions, by coxcombs whose intellect was as defective as their +foresight, and whose selfishness was more remarkable than either. + +Another class of persons, the Belgravians, though actuated by the same +motives, were induced to join in the outcry for other reasons. As soon +as it became known that the locality of the building would be the +southern side of Hyde Park, they represented that the park would be +destroyed, and become utterly useless. As if a building covering twenty +acres out of above three hundred and twenty, could prevent the people +from enjoying air and exercise on the remaining three hundred. + +Again, it was asserted that by cutting down a few trees within the +limits assigned to the building, the park would be desolated; the shady +walks destroyed; whilst all the while there was a goodly stock of +timber, old and young, abounding in the other three hundred acres. +Before this absurd delusion could be removed from the public mind, all +the plans were made specially to conform themselves to the enclosure of +these miserable trees. It was not discovered until after the Crystal +Palace was completed, that several of them were on the verge of +extinction, and that all would probably perish by exposure under such +unusual conditions. Some of the most decrepit and most inconveniently +situated trees have now been cut down. + +§ The Belgravians found out other causes of complaint. They could not +tolerate the mass of plebeians of all nations who would traverse their +sacred square, and they threatened to spoil the London season by going +out of town. When it was suggested to them, that in these days of +agricultural distress, if they left town they might console themselves +by letting their houses at a high price, they refused to be consoled. + +The Belgravians next consulted their “_medicine-men_,” who, seeing that +they wanted to be frightened, suggested to them that _some_ foreigners +were dirty,—that dirt in _some_ cases causes disease. The Belgravian +mind immediately made the inference that the foreigners would bring with +them the plague; then they dwelt on sanitary measures, and on the danger +to the public, until they themselves became nearly insane. + +It was then suggested that the foreigners might become assassins by +night,—or take military possession of London by day. Their tradesmen +too, who hated the scheme, and knew the humour of their customers, +assured them that trade would be entirely ruined; whilst at the same +time, it was whispered that many of them had sent large orders to France +for goods to be exhibited at the Crystal Palace, and afterwards to be +sold to their capricious customers, either as French, or as English +surpassing French, just as the whim of the moment might cause a demand +for the one or the other. + +This opposition of the inhabitants of Belgravia increased as the +preparations for the opening of the Exposition advanced. The working +classes had been favourable to the scheme from the commencement, and a +knowledge of its advantages seems to have advanced slowly in society +from below upwards. + +That the inhabitants of this fashionable quarter were necessarily +exposed to some inconveniences cannot be denied. Their much-frequented +riding ground was for a time interfered with, but they should have +remembered that although the public at large _paid_ for the maintenance +of the park, the greatest portion of its advantages were _enjoyed_ by +those residing nearest to it. + +Under these circumstances they ought to have been well content to forego +for a time these trifling advantages, and to suffer with a good grace +the little temporary inconveniences resulting from a plan which was +unrivalled for the advancement of the arts of peace, and calculated not +only to benefit our own country, but to contribute to the civilization +of the world. + +Notwithstanding much opposition and many prophecies of failure, a Royal +Commission was at last appointed. It consisted almost exclusively of +members of parliament, and of persons holding official situations. It +was stated that not more than two of its members had ever seen a foreign +exposition, and although it included many men distinguished in other +departments of knowledge, there was scarcely one whose name was known to +the nations we invited as at all eminent in that over which the +Commission presided. + +In England, a commissioner, however small his acquaintance with the +subject, is always deemed fully competent in virtue of his appointment. +The light in which this places us in the opinion of other nations is by +no means flattering to our national vanity. It has been admirably +described by an accomplished Italian resident amongst us in language +which an Englishman might be proud to own, and with a degree of moral +courage which few Englishmen would dare to exert on such a subject.[5] + +It was easy to perceive that when so great a mass of people in distant +quarters of the world was set in motion for such an object, it would be +impossible to draw back, and that its own momentum would carry on the +scheme. + +§ That the Prince who took so strong an interest in it, and who saw so +clearly and so far beyond the horizon which limited the view of those by +whom he was surrounded, should become its chief, was quite natural. +There are, however, circumstances in the state of society in this +country, and in the constitution of human nature itself, which render it +almost impossible to have unfettered discussion when a person of that +exalted rank takes the chair at the meetings of a Committee. + +These objections are entirely unconnected with the individual person, +and if any amount of good feeling and skill in such a Chairman could +remove the difficulty, we have fortunately had amongst us several +Princes who might easily have accomplished it. But the forms of society +forbid in the presence of princes that full and free discussion by which +alone the united knowledge of a Committee can be brought into play. +Debates must take place and divisions occur: otherwise some individual +may take upon himself to assume what either is, or appears to him to be, +the sense of the meeting: this is much more frequently simply the +expression of _his own views_. Thus, perhaps, he prevents the statement +of his opinion by some timid man, which is possibly worth more than that +of all the rest of the Committee. + +Again: in Committees presided over by persons of this elevated rank, it +is not an uncommon occurrence for some member, anxious for the success +of his _own_ views, privately to hint in conversation with other +members, that these are the wishes of their President. + +To these objections, which are generally true, there is, however, one +exception. When the Chairman is eminently conversant with the subject, +while at the same time the minds of the Committee are like a sheet of +blank paper,—the best course that can then be pursued is to allow the +Chairman to interpret the sense of the Committee. + +The first act of the Commission was most judicious. It was to annul the +contract with the capitalist who had undertaken the building and the +commercial management of the Exhibition. It is to be regretted, however, +that the actual amount of compensation which he was to receive, was not +finally settled at the time. The subsequent extent of the undertaking +having exceeded that which was originally contemplated, may render this +a question of some difficulty. + +The next step was to appeal to the public for subscriptions to carry on +the plan. For this object delegates were sent to many of the large +towns, some of whom, not possessing more knowledge of the subject than +the Commissioners themselves, and having none of their tact, nearly +caused the failure of the whole scheme. + +The knowledge and good sense, however, of the working and manufacturing +classes, supplied the deficiencies of these missionaries, and the +subject became popular amongst them. There were, indeed, many exceptions +even amongst these classes. Those whose business had been long +established, and who were manufacturing as largely as their capital +would admit, had no reason to seek additional publicity for the sale of +their produce. Upon them the Exposition would impose only trouble and +expense, without any corresponding advantage. + +Others who possessed machinery of peculiar powers of production, or for +the fabrication of curious products, were unwilling to expose these +singular and costly machines to the eyes of their rivals from all +countries. The produce of such machines being generally novelties, they +found a ready sale for it, and therefore had no reason to seek the +Exhibition as the means of publicity. + +The extent of the demand for space at the Exhibition, has been as was +naturally to be expected, so great, that it was quite unnecessary to +press any person to exhibit who was not fully aware that it was for his +own interest to do so. + +With respect to the subscriptions, there are some observations which it +may be useful to make for the sake of all subscribers to future schemes. +It is said that the total amount subscribed is nearly 90,000_l._ of +which only about 60,000_l._ have been paid. + +No subscription ought ever to be advertised until it has been actually +paid. It is quite unjustifiable to employ the money of _bonâ fide_ +subscribers in paying for advertisements to gratify the vanity of those, +who are ambitious of appearing large donors, and who are yet so mean as +to decline fulfilling their pledges. + +This practice has, unfortunately, of late years been too prevalent. +Persons of rank and position in the country have condescended to allow +their names to appear in lists, for subscriptions which they never +intended to pay, the effect of which has been to decoy others who +trusted to their respectability and truth. The public in future will do +well to abstain from subscribing to _any list_, however respectable the +names may apparently be, unless it is distinctly stated that the +subscriptions advertised have really been paid. + +In the present case it would be a further waste of money to advertise +the defaulters: but the Commission have a remedy, and they owe it to the +genuine subscribers. Let a circular be sent to each defaulter, +announcing that unless his subscription is paid by a certain day, his +name will be returned to the clerk of the _Black list_, who has +directions to make an alphabetical index of defaulters, several copies +of which will be exposed to the public in various parts of the Crystal +Palace during the whole time of the exhibition. + +If public opinion were fully ripe for such a vast industrial +undertaking, it ought to be entirely self-supporting. This seems to have +been the opinion of the Commission, and with every wish to assist that +object, and every desire to make allowances for the want of all past +experience on the subject, a few remarks may be made which may promote +the interests of some future Exposition, even though unavailing for the +present. + +The first question is necessarily the position of the building, and the +facilities for access and egress. As this question is discussed in +Chapter VII., it is sufficient here to state, that the amount received +from the admission of the public will very much depend upon this point. +On the other hand, the difficulty and expense of conveying the things +exhibited, will not be very different in different localities. This +arises from the fact that if a package has to be taken from a boat, a +ship, or a railway, and to be conveyed by cart to the locality at which +it is to be exhibited, the expense and the danger of injury will be but +very slightly increased, whether it is carted an additional quarter of a +mile, or mile, or even a still greater distance. + +Another very important question arises as to the price of admission to +the Exhibition. There is no doubt, that if it were entirely free to the +public, it would be almost entirely useless. Nor is it less certain that +various prices ought to be charged on different days. The Commission +seem to have made a very fair selection for the commencement of the +experiment. Perhaps it would have been better to allow Saturday to be +one of the cheapest days of admission, because in many workshops the +journeymen leave their work at an earlier hour on that day: by the +sacrifice of the half day’s work, they would then be able to spend a +considerable portion of the day in examining those objects in which they +take an interest. + +Perhaps on a future occasion some such scheme of admission as the +following might be found most productive. After the exceptional days at +the commencement, occupying the first fortnight, the admission might be +charged thus:— + + May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. + s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. + Mon. 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 6 0 6 0 3 + Tues. 10 0 5 0 2 6 2 0 1 6 1 0 + Wednes. 5 0 2 6 1 6 1 0 1 0 0 6 + Thurs. 2 6 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 6 0 3 + Frid. 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 6 0 6 0 3 + Sat. 1 0 1 0 0 6 0 6 0 3 0 3 + +The principle of this scale is, that each week day shall gradually +diminish in actual price, but shall always preserve its relative price. +Thus Tuesday is always the day of dearest admission, Wednesday of the +next dearest, whilst Saturday is always the day of cheap admission. +These periods might be distributed by weeks instead of months. + +Whatever arrangement is made as to the price of admission, it is of very +great importance that the number of visitors at the various prices +should be noted and recorded for future use. It will indeed be +unfortunate if knowledge so important for any similar occasion, should +not be registered on the present. + +For this purpose _every_ entrance should have one or more self-acting +turnstiles registering the number of those who pass through it. Not only +the public who pay, but the exhibitors and all who have free admissions +should be registered. At the end of each hour, when the clock strikes, +each gate-keeper should enter in a book the number indicated by his +register. Such a collection of facts, extending over the whole time of +the Exposition, would not only be invaluable for any future one, but +would furnish materials for other important inquiries. + +The general state of the weather, which of course would have a powerful +influence, might be known from other registers: but it would be +advisable that at the end of each day some note were made of the general +state of the weather at the Crystal Palace itself. + +§ After the first of these Expositions it seems probable that their +advantages will become so well known, that it may be quite possible to +let out the stalls to exhibitors under certain conditions. Foreigners +might still be admitted to exhibit without payment, because the expense +of carriage would more than compensate for the rent. + +Some stalls might be granted without rent by the Commissioners, the +peculiar circumstances of each case having been considered. Again, other +stalls, or at least other means of exhibition, might be accorded to +those who contributed articles of actual use in the building; as for +example, a large striking clock, a steam-engine to drive the machinery +or to supply the fountains. + +Other means might be readily devised of increasing the receipts, giving +at the same time increased convenience to the public. Thus, from the +great extent of the building, and from the crowd, it may become +difficult to pass easily from one part of the building to another. Now +if the stalls were placed back to back along the centre of the great +longitudinal avenues, a railway formed of wooden planks placed edgeways +might be raised above the middle of them at a height of about eight +feet, which would interfere but little with the stalls. + +On this open railway cars mounted on wheels bound with india-rubber,[6] +in order to avoid all noise, might travel at the rate of from one to two +or perhaps three miles an hour. These cars might have luxurious +cushions, and hold parties of different numbers. One line in a side +aisle, the “express,” might be devoted entirely to conveying passengers +from one end to the other at the rate of three miles an hour, setting +down at six or more intermediate stations: the payment might be one +penny, or perhaps, on grand days, two or three pence. The other lines +should take parties slowly along, so as to allow time to see the crowd +below and the wonders of the exhibition, which might be rendered more +distinct by means of opera glasses. Each trip might occupy twenty +minutes or half an hour, and be charged threepence, sixpence, or a +shilling, according to the price of admission on that day. By these +means multitudes of ladies, children, and even of men, relieved from +bodily fatigue, might be able to acquire knowledge or derive pleasure, +which without these resources it would be impossible for them to enjoy. + +It is probable that the light iron framing of such cars might be +provided gratuitously by some exhibitors, and the spring cushions and +ornamental drapery might be supplied by others, in consideration of the +advertisement thus afforded of the purveyor’s taste and skill. + +The chariots of these railways should be drawn by means of a rope +connected with the motive power. + +If dumb railways are not thought expedient, small galleries at least +might be made to which admission should be obtained by a small payment, +so that those who wanted to traverse quickly from one part to another of +the building, might thus, by avoiding the crowd, save time. + +Umbrellas, and sticks, and great coats might be taken charge of by +ticket on payment of one halfpenny. Also, any visitor might be allowed +to deposit on his departure a bag containing his catalogue, note-book, +or any articles which it might be inconvenient to him to take home with +him each day, as is customary at the railway stations. + +Other accommodations will suggest themselves, to be provided on the +payment of a very small fee; for example, soap and water and a clean +towel may be very desirable to some visitors, especially to those who +may examine the machinery. + +It is probable that there may occasionally occur large crowds pressing +for admittance. It may be worth while to consider whether in such cases +an additional reserved entrance might not be opened, through which +ladies and children, and men whom age or indisposition has deprived of +the physical force requisite for encountering a crowd, might be allowed +to pass on the farther payment, say of sixpence or a shilling. + +If it were possible to have a similar reserved enclosure close to the +building, in which carriages might remain on payment of a small fee, +much inconvenience would be saved to some of the visitors, and some +advantage would result to those who did not avail themselves of it, in +consequence of the diminished line of carriages at the public entrances. + + [5] “What shall we do with the Glass Palace? By Spiridione + Gambardella.” London: Aylott & Jones, Paternoster-row. + + The speech of the rash “commander of the Channel fleet” (page 9) is + worthy of the pen of the celebrated wit who bestowed that appointment. + + [6] Or the rails themselves might have grooves lined with vulcanized + india-rubber. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + OBJECT AND USE OF THE EXPOSITION. + + +The approaching Exposition is considered by many as a great and splendid +show, calculated to give pleasure and excitement to hundreds of +thousands of persons. Even in this sense it would be beneficial, for it +is always important that the pleasures of the people should be +productive of some advance in their tastes and information. But its +great and paramount value depends on other causes. Its object may be +most concisely expressed by stating that— + +The Exposition is calculated to promote and increase the free +interchange of raw materials and manufactured commodities between all +the nations of the earth. + +Its object is not the exclusive benefit of England, and if any such +mistaken view is still entertained, it may without hesitation be stated +that it would be impossible by any mode of management to accomplish so +selfish an object. + +It is the interest of every people, that all other nations should +advance in knowledge, in industrial skill, in taste, and in science. The +advances made in the two latter subjects acquire _permanent_ existence +only through the _publicity_ given to their enunciation and discussion. +Refining and elevating all by whom they are received, new principles in +taste or in science, as soon as they are accepted as truths, become the +universal property of mankind. + +In whatever distant country any man devises means of diminishing the +cost of production of the commodity he deals in, the following effects +will result— + +He will make larger profits than usual. + +He will then diminish his price in order to get more customers. + +His rivals in trade now find it necessary to undersell him in order to +get back their customers. + +Whilst this competition goes on, the price of the commodity falls, a +larger consumption takes place and new purchasers will arise, which for +a time checks the fall. + +Ultimately, his rivals in the trade either remove their capital into +other lines of business, or adopt the improved process. + +In the mean time the first discoverer will, if a prudent and industrious +man, have realized a considerable capital, for he will be fully aware +that in the present state of science no monopoly can be permanent. He +will rather seek for a succession of moderate improvements, which +exciting no immediate inquiry or rivalry, shall increase the average per +centage of his profits, thus constantly keeping his manufactory one, or +at the utmost, only two steps in advance of his competitors. + +When in consequence of such an improvement, a reduced price and an +enlarged demand has arisen in his own country, the manufacturer will +naturally make inquiries whether at this diminished price other +countries may not be induced to become purchasers. If this is the case, +the fact of their free interchange with him proves that they can acquire +his commodity at a less cost than they can themselves produce it. + +But although the Exposition itself could not and ought not to have been +attempted for the sole benefit of this country, it is almost certain +that England will reap the greatest share of its advantages. This will +arise from the more extended system of her commerce, and from the habits +of her people. The profits of the merchant, other circumstances being +equal, depend upon the amount of his capital. Similarly, the knowledge +brought back by the traveller in foreign countries, or derived from his +observation in his own, will mainly depend on the stock of information +he carried with him to give in exchange. + +§ To arrive at those principles by which the Exposition ought to be +regulated, it becomes necessary to examine the nature and extent of the +interests involved. + +In all interchanges there are three distinct parties concerned— + + The Consumer, + The Middle-man, + The Producer. + +The overwhelming superiority both in amount of capital and in the number +of the first of these classes, the _Consumer_, is at once apparent, and +ought throughout the inquiry to be steadily borne in mind. In fact, each +individual of the other two classes is necessarily a member of the +first; for all men are _consumers_, and as such their common bond of +interest is to purchase every thing in the _cheapest_ market. + +§ The class _Producer_ is equally indispensable for the purposes of +exchange, but its number is much more limited. The interest of each +individual producer is, that he should sell his _own_ produce at as dear +a price as possible, whilst he purchases that of all other producers as +cheaply as he can. + +The class _Producer_, therefore, is not only comparatively small, but +has really a very divided interest, arising only from the difference +between the personal and the class interest of the individual. + +§ The class _Middle-man_ is more extensive, comprising merchants, +brokers, factors, wholesale and retail shopkeepers, hawkers, &c. The +profits of this class are generally regarded by the public with some +degree of suspicion. It is often thought that their profits are +exorbitant. But in truth this is not frequently the case. The division +of employments necessarily produces middle-men, and the public in the +long run obtain the articles they require with more convenience and +economy, and at a less fluctuating price, than it would be without such +agency. But the number of intermediate agents in any commerce is itself +subject to change, in different trades and at various times: it is quite +possible that these changes may not have taken place with sufficient +promptitude, and thus the public may have suffered for a time either by +an excess or a defect in the number of middle-men. + +The interests of middle-men are, individually, the same as those of +consumers. As a class, the extension of commerce is for their advantage, +because they are paid according to the amount of exchanges made. But +they have also another and a very powerful interest. They fear that if +the public were acquainted with the manufacturing price of articles, it +would consider the difference between that and the selling price as a +tax imposed by the middle-man upon the consumer. The middle-man +therefore has a direct interest in preventing the public from arriving +at a knowledge of the prices charged by the original manufacturer. It is +also the interest of the middle-man that the manufacturer should not +know the price at which his produce sells by retail: but, as it is in +most cases impossible to prevent this, few attempts at concealment are +made. + +§ It appears, then, that the interests of these classes may be thus +summed up— + +Consumers, including every human being, have a strong interest in the +freest competition as producing the lowest price. + +Producers have an interest in selling their produce in the dearest +market, and therefore claim free competition. But they have no advantage +in selling it at the highest price: because a high price limits the +extent of the sale. Their object is that the profit on each article, +multiplied by the number sold, shall be the greatest possible. + +Middle-men, although usually adverse to competition, have yet a direct +interest in the amount sold. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + LIMITS. + + +One of the great difficulties in exhibiting together samples of the +produce and the industry of the world, must obviously be the magnitude +and consequent expense of any building capable of containing such an +exposition. In order to do this most effectively, and to secure the +greatest amount of space for the primary object, it became necessary to +lay down principles within the limits of which the objects exhibited +should be confined. No real difficulty opposed the definition of this +boundary, even if a liberal interpretation were admitted. + +The Fine arts and the Industrial arts, although of the highest +importance each to the other, are separated by a sufficiently definite +line of demarcation, even at the points at which they most nearly +approach. The characteristic of the fine arts is, that each example is +an individual—the production of individual taste, and executed by +individual hands; the produce of the fine arts is therefore necessarily +costly. The characteristic of the industrial arts is, that each example +is but one of a multitude,—generated according to the same law, by tools +or machines, (in the largest sense of those terms,) and moved with +unerring precision by the application of physical force. Their produce +is consequently cheap. + +The fine arts idealize nature by generalizing from its individual +objects: the industrial arts realize identity by the unbounded use of +the principle of copying. + +The union of the two, enlarging vastly the utility of both, enables art +to be appreciated and genius to be admired by millions whom its single +productions would never reach; whilst the producer in return, elevated +by the continual presence of the multiplied reproductions of the highest +beauty, acquires a new source of pleasure, and feels his own mechanical +art raised in his estimation by such an alliance. + +§ This distinction between the fine arts and those of industry, would +appear to place some of the latter in a class to which they are not yet +generally admitted. It might seem that all lace not produced by +machinery, must according to this view be admitted amongst the fine +arts. + +There are in the Exhibition some beautiful examples of such lace amongst +the productions of other countries as well as of our own. They are made +by the united labour of many women. The cost of a piece of lace will +consist of— + +1.—The remuneration to the artist who designs the pattern. + +2.—The cost of the raw material. + +3.—The cost of the labour of a large number of women working on it for +many months. + +Let us compare this with the cost of a piece of statuary, which is +undoubtedly of a much higher class of art; it will consist of:— + +1.—The remuneration to the artist who makes the model. + +2.—The cost of the raw material. + +3.—The cost of labour by assistants in cutting the block to the pattern +of the model. + +4.—Finishing the statue by the artist himself. + +In lace-making the skill of the artist is required only for the +production of the first example. Every succeeding copy is made by mere +labour: each copy may be considered as an _individual_, and will cost +the same amount of time. + +In sculpture the three first processes are quite analogous to those in +lace-making. But the fourth process requires the taste and judgment of +the artist. It is this which causes it to retain its rank amongst the +fine arts, whilst lace-making must still be classed amongst the +industrial. + +Here we may observe the strong analogy which unites these very different +processes. If we continue the examination we shall find other +resemblances, and by contrasting sculpture with lace made by machinery, +we shall see in the very nature of their production, the wide interval +which separates the industrial from the fine arts. + +In the making both of lace and of statues, the remuneration to the +artists can only be reduced by producing a larger number of them through +more extended education. The expense of the raw material is small in +both. The expense of labour in lace-making is very large, and it is +perhaps considerable also in sculpture. The discovery of more convenient +localities yielding marble, may make some diminution in its cost; and +the improved manufacture of thread may slightly reduce the price of +lace. A reduction in the price of labour may to a very moderate extent +reduce the cost of the raw material of both. But it is evident that any +_very great_ reduction is not to be expected. + +Let us now contrast this possible reduction with the past history of +some industrial art. The plain lace made at Nottingham, called patent +net, will supply us with a good example. In the year 1813 that lace was +sold in the piece at the rate of 21_s._ a-yard. At the present time lace +of the same kind, but of a better quality, is sold under the same +circumstances at 3_d._ per yard. Thus, in less than forty years the +price of the industrial produce has diminished to one eighty-fourth part +of its original price. + +§ The fine arts, already possessing a building and an exhibition of +their own, which usually opens on the same day as that proposed for the +opening of the Palace of Industry, it seems difficult at first to +imagine why the limited space disposable within the latter edifice +should be occupied by any portion of a subject exclusively belonging to +the fine arts. Yet it has been decided that Sculpture shall be admitted +but Painting rejected.[7] + +Supposing both departments of art to be equally excluded, there would +still be a propriety, and even almost a necessity to admit some examples +of each. New tools used by the sculptor, suppose for preparing the +block, might require an example of their mode of application; whilst the +effects produced on the surface of the marble by other tools, could only +be shown by comparative specimens. + +Machinery of a very beautiful kind has been contrived for copying +accurately, on a reduced or an enlarged scale, both medals and statues. +The Venus de Medici itself could not be justly excluded from a purely +industrial exhibition,—if placed in the centre of a series diminishing +on the one side to a statuette of a foot high, and increasing on the +other to a figure double her own height. Such a series, though fairly +introduced as an illustration of industrial art, would, indeed, itself +be highly interesting to the fine arts, as exhibiting the effect of +change of magnitude, when the proportions remain identical. + +Enamel painting would be excluded as belonging to the fine arts, but +every painting on porcelain partakes in fact of the nature of an enamel +painting. A service of porcelain would of course be admitted as a +specimen of mechanical art, however highly it might be adorned by this +form of painting. + +New modes of engraving might be exhibited, analogous, for example, to +that by which medals are so beautifully represented. There are several +new methods of surface printing for multiplying original designs. In all +such cases it would be very desirable to place before the eye of the +spectator, the originals from which the copies were derived, and it +might also add to the utility and interest of the Exposition, even to +exhibit other forms of engraving of the same subject, for the sake of +comparison. + +The instruments by which daguerreotypes and talbotypes are produced, +would assuredly claim a place; so also might a collection of their +results. It would also be instructive that some of these productions +should be accompanied by the original forms or paintings from which they +were copied. + +The general rule, therefore, might be, that specimens of the fine arts +should not be admitted by themselves; but that they should not be +excluded,—as illustrations,—either of the use of some tool or instrument +by which their own production might be assisted,—or as forming parts or +decorations of objects of the industrial arts,—or for the sake of +comparison with the copies or imitations of them produced by these +latter arts. + + [7] Since this was written, the beautiful effect produced by sculpture + in the Crystal Palace has fully justified the decision of the + Commission. In fact, the only real objection to the admission either + of sculpture or painting arises from the extent of space required. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + SITE AND CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDING. + + +The questions connected with the construction of the building, were +surrounded with considerable difficulties, even to the best informed. It +should be capable of containing specimens, not merely of all the +manufactured products of the world, but also of all the raw materials +now used, and even of such, as being presented to the attention of +competent persons, might probably become useful hereafter. + +The site of such a building, its fitness for its purpose, and the cost +of its construction, were the chief points to be considered. + +Its situation especially was the most important, because that +circumstance would greatly influence the number of persons visiting the +Exposition, and therefore the amount of the receipts out of which the +building was to be paid for. + +The first principle which should guide the choice of a site, is +obviously the _convenience of visitors_; and a little observation, or a +moderate share of common sense, will show how the principle should be +applied. + +It is known to all those who have observed the course of crowds of human +beings going to and returning from some centre of attraction, that if +the spot on which the assemblage is to take place is subject to our +choice, much of the difficulty of the arrangements will be removed. + +Other circumstances being equal, that site is the best which admits of +the greatest number of independent channels by which the multitude can +arrive and retire. The means of access should be so arranged that +various divisions of the visitors would, according to the quarter in +which they reside, naturally take each its own most convenient course, +without the necessity of any instruction from police or attendants. + +Various sites had been proposed. Hyde Park;—the Regent’s Park;—Primrose +Hill, still more distant;—fields on the south side of the Thames +intended to form Battersea Park. + +It is fortunate that neither of the two latter was chosen, although they +had many advocates: for in all probability the receipts would have been +diminished by at least a third, if not by a half. + +Various situations were pointed out in Hyde Park. One on the north +nearly facing Hyde Park Gardens—one on the south nearly opposite the +Barracks; this latter was ultimately chosen. + +§ But a different position may be pointed out which combines so many +advantages that it is much to be regretted it was not placed at the +disposal of the Commission. + +The distance between Cumberland Gate and the gate at Hyde Park Corner, +is about 1,300 yards, or nearly three quarters of a mile. On the eastern +side of the park, adjoining Park Lane, there is a narrow strip occupied +by plantations, the circular reservoir and gardens. + +On the open ground adjacent to this strip, but rather nearer to +Cumberland Gate, the Crystal Palace might advantageously have been +placed. Its length being nearly 629 yards, each end would have been +about 350 yards from the two great roads of access. This site would have +possessed the following advantages:— + + 1. Its distance from the north or south entrance of the park would, + for the average of visitors, have been considerably less than that + of the present site. + + To persons standing at Hyde Park Corner or at Cumberland Gate, the + respective ends of the building would have appeared, from its great + elevation, almost close to them. + + 2. There are very few trees upon it, and those few are still young. + + 3. It is the highest ground in the park, and could, therefore, be + better drained. + +In its present position the building can scarcely be seen from either of +those positions. It is above half a mile from Hyde Park Corner: whilst +it is three quarters of a mile by footpath, and nearly a mile and a half +by carriage drive from Cumberland Gate. + +The large majority of visitors from the north and the south will enter +the park through these two approaches. The average distance, therefore, +which each will have to travel in the park, will be nearly three +quarters of a mile. + + Yards. + The distance of the nearest end of the present building + from Hyde Park Corner is about 940 + From Cumberland Gate is, by footpath, about 1560 + Ditto, by carriage, about 2490 + The distance of the end of the proposed site from Hyde + Park Corner, is about 375 + Ditto, from Cumberland Gate 375 + +If we consider how many persons might have entered close to a building +thus placed, through Grosvenor and Stanhope Gates, or through any +temporary ones near them, it will be perceived that this average +distance would in fact be much diminished. + +Supposing that an equal number of visitors arrive by each approach, we +have some means of approximating to one portion of the inconvenience and +loss which the public will suffer from its present position. + +In the first place the number of visitors has been variously estimated +from one to seven millions. Let us suppose it to be four millions. Each +of these four million visitors will, on an average, have to travel one +mile and a quarter more than would have been necessary to go to and +return from the Exposition. Thus five millions of miles will be +uselessly traversed. If the expense of transport were one penny a-mile, +and the value of time on an average four shillings a-day, the account +would run thus— + + 2,000,000 persons travel 1½ mile. + 1,000,000 + ---------- + 6) 3,000,000 miles at six miles per hour. + ---------- + 10) 500,000 hours. + ---------- + 4s.=⅕l.) 50,000 days of ten hours each. + ------ + 10,000l. value of lost time. + ------ + +A similar calculation of the time lost by 2,000,000 persons travelling +three miles an hour would give 13,333_l._ + +The expense of travelling at 1_d._ per mile of the first 2,000,000, who +travel in carriages, gives— + + 12) 3,000,000 miles. + --------- + 20) 250,000 + ------- + 12,500l. cost of carr. of two millions 1½ mile each. + 10,000l. cost of time of ditto. + 13,333l. cost of time of two millions at 1 mile each. + ------ + 35,833l. total loss. + ------ + +In this estimate the price of one penny a-mile may perhaps be thought +high, especially when it is known that many will go on foot, others in +omnibus, others in their own carriages: but in order to remain the same +number of hours in the present building, from the extra time required to +visit it, it will be necessary for many persons to spend one additional +day in London, which could scarcely be done under twenty pence even by +the poorest visitor. + +The allowance of six miles an hour for travelling in omnibus or +carriage, considering the stoppages of the one, and the crowd on the +single road of approach for both, will be admitted to be moderate. + +The rate of four shillings per day, or twenty-four shillings per week, +as the value of the time of the visitors, will probably be thought less +than its average value. + +There can be no doubt that under these disadvantages the actual site +must cause the loss of a large number of visitors, who would have +partaken of the enjoyment in the more favourable position. The amount of +_pure loss_ thus suffered by the visitors as a class, must be withdrawn +from the sum they intended to expend on their visit. + +One of the earliest acts of the Commission was to advertise for plans of +a building suitable for their purpose. + +Certain principles were laid down. It should be _temporary_ in its +character—it should be economical in its cost—it should be fire-proof or +nearly so—it should be built and fit for use in an inconceivably short +time, and capable of being removed in still less. + +A lithographed plan of the ground assigned for it, was circulated for +the use of all who chose to make suggestions, or to compete for the +prizes offered for the most approved designs; this insured a certain +amount of uniformity in scale, which rendered comparison easier. +Although, from necessity, a very short time could be allowed for +preparation, yet 240 designs for the building were offered. + +These were exhibited to the public at the apartments of the Society of +Arts; a certain number of them were selected as worthy of praise, and +some as deserving more substantial rewards. + +There appears to have existed from the beginning in the public mind, not +only in England but on the Continent, a belief that the Commissioners +would not be very rigid in interpreting their rules. This was probably +confirmed by the sudden and unlooked-for withdrawal of the large prizes +that had been promised to the public at the commencement. Accordingly, +the various plans seemed to vie with each other in violating the rules +laid down by the Commission; those selected for reward were not the most +consistent with them. In order to give confidence to the future, it +would have been expedient, previously to examining their merits, to have +rejected all which grossly violated the conditions proposed by the +Commission. + +Beautiful plans might be suggested for magnificent buildings, if the +designers were alike reckless of cost and of time of construction, and +those who had honestly confined themselves to the prescribed conditions +felt, with some reason, aggrieved at finding the violators of them +applauded and rewarded. + +Although there was, in the opinion of the Commissioners, much of beauty +and genius, and many suggestions of value, yet none of the plans +approached their own idea of what was requisite. It was therefore +resolved that the Commission should itself originate one, availing +themselves of the hints contained in these plans. + +In the mean time, Mr. Paxton, who had devised and successfully carried +out a new kind of architecture, the chief material of which was glass, +came to their assistance. He drew the plans of his singular design, and +was fortunate enough to find in Messrs. Fox and Henderson a firm capable +of supplying all those mechanical details necessary for its success, and +even of contracting to execute the work in a period of time so short +that it will probably long remain unrivalled in the art of construction. + +The Commission accepted this offer, and the present beautiful building +arose as if by magic. Amongst all the curious and singular products +which the taste, the skill, the industry of the world, have confided to +the judgment of England, there will be found within that crystal +envelope, few whose manufacture can claim a higher share of our +admiration than that palace itself, which shelters these splendid +results of advanced civilization. + +The building itself was regularly manufactured. Simple in its +construction, and requiring the multiplied repetition of few parts, its +fabrication was contrived with consummate skill. The internal economy +with which its parts were made and put together on the spot was itself a +most instructive study.[8] + + [8] The reader will find very interesting details and drawings of this + manufacture in the “Illustrated London News,” and in the “Expositor.” + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + PRICES. + + +The great mass of consumers are always anxious to know the _price_ of a +commodity. To them it is the most essential consideration in a purchase. +The thoughtless rich care little about the price, and those who don’t +intend to pay, care still less about it. The most knowing of this latter +class, indeed, often deceive the vigilance of honest tradesmen by +affecting a peculiar earnestness about cheapness. It is quite true that +many well-known articles in great demand have a certain market price, +and some a certain fixed price; as for instance, a penny roll. In this +latter case the judgment of the purchaser is directed to its size, or +its goodness, or to both those qualities together. + +§ It may be useful to trace out the course of purchases by retail, and +to show the fine gradations of impediment which are insensibly +interposed between the vendor and consumer, as obstacles to a full +examination of the article by the latter. Of course neither an article +of daily consumption ought to be taken as an example, nor yet one +immediately wanted by a consumer, whose time is so valuable that it +would be cheaper to go into the first shop he finds and purchase it at +any price. + +§ Let us suppose that a lady having some leisure goes out in search of a +fan. She passes several shops in which they may or may not be kept for +sale. + +She sees some fans in a shop window, but as they are _not open_ she +passes on, intending to return to them if she cannot suit herself +elsewhere. + +A few doors beyond there are some fans _open_, but none of them exactly +suit her taste, and she does not like to give the owner of the shop the +trouble of opening a number of fans, none of which may please her. + +In the next street she sees in the window of a shop some fans, which +_are open_. One of these appears to suit her, but there is no price +marked on it. She does not like to go into the shop and examine more +minutely whether the subtle implement she requires has sufficient +strength to withstand its ball-room trials, lest it may be too expensive +for her purse. + +A short distance beyond another set of _opened_ fans present themselves +to her notice in the window of another shop, each of them with its price +distinctly marked upon it. One of these the hesitating lady prefers, _a +little_, to the last she had approved, and she resolves to enter this +shop and examine the fan. But perceiving before she enters, that there +is no attendant in the shop, she thinks the mistress may be at dinner, +or have gone up stairs to her baby, and she says to herself, “It is of +no consequence; I will not disturb her now.” + +Still passing onward she finds a shop in the window of which is a pretty +fan, although not quite so good as the last, and within there sits the +shopkeeper—but the door is _shut_. + +Although the fan was not the most suitable the lady had seen, yet had +that door been open, she would have entered, hoping that the fans +exposed in the window were samples of classes kept in store within. + +At last she finds all these impediments removed; a fan that will nearly +suit her lies open in the window, with its price clearly marked, an +attendant is in the shop, and the door is hospitably _open_. She enters +and examines it, and finding it well made, asks whether there are others +of the same class of pattern, to which the reply is that it is the only +one remaining. Upon this she purchases the fan, although had she entered +several of the former shops, she might have found fans both more exactly +suited to her taste and at a less price. The _marking_ has decided her +choice. It is not to be imagined that all, or even the greater part of +these impediments, ever occurred to one person at the same time: but +there are few who have not at different times felt the effects of most +of them. + +§ It is said that _ladies by education and birth_ occasionally amuse +themselves by entering shops and giving interminable trouble, having no +intention of making any purchase. This doubtlessly is a libel. + +§ Several other minor impediments deter purchasers from some shops, and +incline them to frequent others; amongst these may be mentioned an over +officiousness in the attendants to recommend to the attention of the +purchaser other articles than those he requires. This pressure to induce +purchases is peculiarly offensive, and drives away the best customers. + +The absence of a marked price upon an article, tends to defeat the +effect of competition, as well as to produce loss of time both to +consumer and vendor. It is therefore, to a certain extent, a cause of +increase of price. + +Its effect is to cause the same article to be sold at different prices +in the same neighbourhood, thus counteracting that uniformity of price +at considerable distances, which is consequent upon rapid and cheap +communication. + +§ As the extent to which this is carried even in a great city, may not +be known, the following occurrence will afford an illustration:— + +A gentleman wishing to make the light of his reading lamp approach more +nearly to day-light, looked out for a lamp-glass of a blue tint. Having +observed one of the wished-for colour in a shop window marked at 1_s._ +6_d._ he purchased it. After a considerable trial he was so satisfied +with the comfort it afforded to his eyes, that he wished to have other +lamps in his house similarly furnished. On returning to the shop at +which the blue globe was purchased, he found that its proprietor had +retired, and his successor was in a different line of business. Seeing +in the window of another shop in his own neighbourhood, a coloured globe +of the same size, he entered and inquired the price. To his great +surprise the price was stated to be 3_s._; and on asking if any +reduction would be made if he took a dozen or two, the answer was that +in that case the lowest price would be half-a-crown each. + +This naturally led him to suppose that the cheapness of the first glass +arose from the accident of its proprietor being about to retire from +business, and he therefore decided upon confining his indulgence in the +luxury of white light to his single reading lamp. One day, however, he +accidentally saw in another shop window a similar globe of blue glass. +On inquiring within, he was informed that its price was 1_s._, and that +the price per dozen was 11_s._ + +Under these new circumstances he provided a blue globe for every lamp in +his house. + +Now it is necessary to observe that these glasses, charged at 3_s._, +1_s._ 6_d._, and 1_s._, were offered for sale at three different shops +not distant from each other a mile and a half, and were not only of the +same size, weight, shade of colour and quality of glass, but had each +the same maker’s stamp upon them, and may possibly have been taken from +the same pot of glass. It is remarkable also that the cheapest glass +globe, although exposed in the shop window, had no price attached to it. + +§ It is obvious, if it were the custom invariably to mark the price upon +each article exposed for sale, that such unreasonable differences of +price in the same article could not exist. It is certain that, if the +Royal Commissioners were to consult the dealer who charged 3_s._ for an +article sold by his neighbour at 1_s._, they would be informed that it +would be absolutely ruinous to have prices affixed to articles +exhibited. Such a tradesman would assure them, and with perfect truth, +that it would entirely destroy his trade. But if he cannot live upon the +ordinary profits of capital employed in his trade, are the unwary public +to pay two hundred per cent. beyond the market price, in order to +support a tradesman unfit for his business? If, on the other hand, the +Commissioners were to ask the opinion of the tradesman who sold the +glass at 1_s._, he undoubtedly would not object to the general practice +of affixing prices to each article. The opinion of the vendor of the +glass at 1_s._ 6_d._ was sufficiently expressed by its being attached to +that article. + +§ There are several causes assigned for the admitted repugnance of +shopkeepers to allow the price of any article they sell to be marked +upon it. + +It is broadly asserted that the public, being unable to judge of the +article, will be guided too much by the cheapness of its money price, +neglecting its other qualities, and will thus be induced to purchase +worthless things. + +It is always somewhat suspicious when the vendor volunteers to take care +of the interest of the purchaser. It reverses the decision of the common +sense of mankind, expressed in the ancient proverb, “_caveat emptor_.” +Besides, it is by no means true that the public are so ignorant or +incapable of appreciating all those other qualities. In some articles +the difficulty is undoubtedly great, whilst in others it may require +time to be spent in their examination even by those who are as +conversant with the articles as the vendor himself. But why should the +time of both parties be wasted by an examination, when the price may be +such as to preclude its purchase, whatever may be its other merits? + +§ Of all the various qualities which contribute to the excellence of any +given article, that which it is most easy to ascertain—that which it is +impossible to falsify—and that without the exact knowledge of which no +purchase can possibly be made, is the very one which it is wished to +withhold from the knowledge of the purchaser, until through the art of +the vendor, the finer feelings of the customer induce him to think +himself in some measure committed to purchase that of which he does not +entirely approve. + +It is from circumstances like these, that the prejudice against retail +dealers arises and is confirmed in the public mind. There is no reason +why that class should not be as highly respected as the possessors of +extensive domains. To deserve that respect they have only to insist upon +all persons in their employment abstaining from the slightest deception +in serving their customers; to which rule it would be desirable to add, +that the leading members of each trade should unite in discountenancing +those who are guilty of any such practices. + +§ The effect upon the sale of an article by the absence of its price may +be illustrated by another example. Some years ago a large bazaar was +held for some charitable object at the Hanover Square Rooms. It was +patronised by the highest rank, and the beauty of the fair shopkeepers +was even more attractive than the wares they had to dispose of. A +collector thought this a favourable opportunity of adding to his +collection a vase of porphyry: having paid the admission fee of 5_s._, +he entered, and soon perceived some beautiful specimens of the object he +desired. Having looked at them for some time, he selected in his mind +one which he would willingly have purchased if it were within the limit +(10_l._) which he had assigned for the gratification of his taste. There +was, however, no price attached to any of the vases, and fearing that +they were all beyond his means, he reluctantly departed without the +wished-for acquisition. It happened that he mentioned in the course of +the next year the circumstance to a friend who was acquainted with the +history of the vase in question. The vase for which he would willingly +have given 10_l._ was not sold at that bazaar, but some time after it +appeared at a less fashionable bazaar And was sold for 5_l._ + +§ Most of those who visit the Exposition will each according to their +means wish to retain some memorial of it. Many will have been +economising during the previous year in order to purchase some object of +utility or of pleasure either for their own use or to take back as +remembrances to their family and friends. It would be very difficult +amidst the vast variety of attractions, even if the price of each were +marked upon it, to select the most desirable article within those limits +of expense to which each purchaser is confined. But by forbidding the +marking of prices, this difficulty is converted into an impossibility. +The first step according to the decree of the Commissioners, would be to +go round and ask the price of at least a hundred, if not a thousand +articles. These must be written down by each inquirer unless the +Exhibitors supply him with printed lists. Even if he make a selection +out of these, it is a hundred to one that some other article in the +enormous collection would, if he had known its price, have pleased him +better. + +§ If we examine the history of the earlier stages of society, we shall +see the constant tendency of its institutions to facilitate the mutual +exchange of commodities between its members, and to remove every +obstacle impeding their interchange. When the population was thinly +scattered over the country, the possessor of a fowl, wanting a pound of +butter, was obliged to go some distance to a neighbour either to +purchase the butter or to get it in exchange for the fowl. But it would +have cost him more time than the worth of the butter if he had visited +several neighbours to find out where it was the cheapest. To remedy this +inconvenience, market days were established in the villages and towns at +more or less frequent intervals. On these occasions each farmer sent one +of the family to the periodic market, who sold the produce of the farm +and purchased whatever might be required of their neighbours, who were +each represented by one of their own family at that common market. +Itinerant vendors of various manufactured articles flocked to these +markets because they there met their customers with less loss of time +and less fatigue. + +Whilst these hawkers thus gained on the one hand, it must be admitted +that they lost on the other those occasionally extravagant profits +sometimes levied on the necessities of their isolated customers. But on +the whole they derived from their trade a more regular rate of profit, +because the competition side by side of rival goods and rival prices, +rendered that profit much less fluctuating. Their greatest gain, +however, arose from the time saved by all parties, which largely +increased the consumption of their respective articles of produce. + +§ When towns became enlarged, the same principle of mutual interest led +to the selection of particular streets or quarters of the town by +particular trades. In many cities on the continent, the jewellers, as +well as some other trades, still occupy entire streets by themselves. + +The next step seems to have been to hold a general exchange in a fixed +spot at certain periodic times. This was necessary for the merchants and +larger dealers, and for international exchanges. In great cities this +was again subdivided into various branches of business, as—The Corn +Exchange—The Coal Exchange, &c. + +§ At these marts a class of men called brokers arose, whose business it +was to sell on commission for the producers, and to purchase on +commission for the merchants or other middle men. + +The economy of time produced by this arrangement is very great. Let us +suppose an exchange or bazaar attended by a hundred purchasers and a +hundred sellers. Each purchaser, in order to become fully acquainted +with the state of the market, must ask at least two questions of each +seller— + + 1st. What is the price? + + 2d. What quantity have you for sale at that price? + +This alone gives rise to _twenty thousand questions_. If, on the other +hand, a broker is employed, each of the two hundred persons who +constitute the market, will have to answer those two questions only to +his own broker; consequently, there will only be four hundred such +questions. If there are twenty brokers, these may meet together at the +market, and each stating his commissions both for purchase and for sale, +a list may be immediately formed by which the state of the market as to +supply and demand becomes known, and in the event of there being but +little difference in the quality of the articles, it becomes easy for +the brokers to arrange the requisite exchanges at prices which are +equitable for all parties. + +§ Great, however, as this advantage is, it is small compared with +another which we shall now consider. When a bargain is made directly by +the two individuals interested in it, there usually occurs on both sides +an attempt to appear more or less indifferent about it, in order to +secure advantageous terms. Thus price is made to depend partly upon the +personal feelings and qualities of the parties, and the less impulsive +and more sagacious will gain considerable advantage over the hasty and +inexperienced. A certain degree also of misrepresentation often occurs, +and the price demanded is frequently greater than that which the seller +is willing to take: thus the quantity of time consumed by parties +themselves in bargaining, is always much greater than that in which +their brokers can do the business for them on more advantageous terms. + +Again: the broker has an interest in effecting sales, because he is paid +in proportion to their amount. But he has no interest in favouring one +class of his customers more than another: his profits depend entirely +upon his knowledge, his industry, and his integrity. The necessity of +the intervening broker arises from the imperfections of mankind, and +when rigidly honest his services are invaluable. If one party is +perfectly aware of all circumstances relating to the state of the +market, he has no need of any broker, because he can acquire no new +information: on the other hand, those who treat with him may as well +save themselves the expense of a broker, because nothing can be +communicated on the subject which is not already known. + +When these principles, which are found to prevail in large transactions, +are applied to the retail concerns of everyday life, the intervention of +the broker is not required. This arises from the multitude of the +transactions, the smallness of the individual amount of each, and the +immense variety of the articles of exchange. + +§ Another class of middle-men now come into existence, namely, +Shopkeepers. The evils already pointed out still exist. One of the +questions, it is true, need not be asked, for the quantity of an article +held by a retail dealer, is usually much larger than the wants of any +individual customer; but the question of price still remains. The +removal of all these difficulties may be accomplished by the adoption of +one simple plan—let the price be affixed to each article. + +Other advantages result from the publicity thus given to price. Many who +would not otherwise inquire the price, thinking it might be above their +means, will now become purchasers. Others, not themselves intending to +purchase, may incidentally cause their friends to purchase by quoting +the prices they have seen affixed to certain articles. Others again, may +be induced by the cheapness of an article to purchase it for uses for +which it was not originally intended,—as, for instance, a beautiful +chintz for papering a room. + +§ In almost all works of industry, whatever may be the kind of +excellence of an article exhibited, it is possible to produce one of +greater excellence. + +Take for instance a sheet of window-glass; its size might be adduced as +the ground of excellence. The beautiful process of “_flashing_” by which +it is made, is preceded by another in which the workman blows a large +globe of glass. The size of the expanded flat circle of glass, called a +“_table_,” depends on the magnitude of this sphere, which again is +limited by the power of the workman’s lungs. But when larger tables were +wanted, an observant workman found that if his mouth had been previously +washed out with water, a greater sphere was produced. In fact, a small +portion of the water, carried over with his breath, became converted +into steam by the heat, and thus increased the pressure within. This led +to a new limit, and there can be no doubt that by means of expensive +mechanical contrivances, still larger spheres might be blown. + +§ Now the whole merit of any such new process, in the eye of the +manufacturer, would depend on the _price_ at which the produce could be +sold. + +The same principle prevails in almost all works of the civil engineer. +With the talent now existing in that profession, scarcely any +undertaking is impossible. The real and most important limitation is the +_price_ of execution. + +§ In the fine arts also the ultimate object still is the acquisition by +the public of the productions submitted to their examination. If, +however, the price is not stated, it may happen that a person of +moderate means, more capable of appreciating a work of art than richer +men, might be prevented from acquiring it by a feeling of delicacy. For +not liking to ask the price, and thinking probably that it is beyond his +means, the object may be sold to a richer competitor at a lower price +than he would himself willingly have given. + +This consequence of the absence of price is injurious both to art and to +artists: it occasionally removes from the field of competition the best +judges of real merit. It is true that in several professions a certain +delicacy respecting money matters exists which is wanting in others. +Medical men and artists are peculiarly subject to its influence; but it +is not reported of any lawyer that he ever refused a fee, and it is +recorded of some Secretary of the Admiralty that he claimed _a quarter +of a year’s war salary_, on account of the two days interruption of +peace by the combat of Algiers. + +§ Another result of the prices not being marked upon objects is, that +the public are unable to form any just estimate of their commercial +value; consequently, no proper public opinion arises to assist the +juries in their decisions. This is a matter of considerable importance: +the duty of a juror at an exposition is quite different from that of a +juror in a legal question. It is the business of the Industrial juror to +avail himself of the knowledge and the observations of all around him. +Much of what he thus hears he may be able himself to verify by +examination or experiment, and thus public opinion will be more matured, +and the decisions of the juries have greater weight. + +§ Many of the qualities of the articles exhibited can only be +ascertained by use, or even by their destruction. In such cases a single +sample would often be purchased if it had its price affixed to it. + +Another class, small indeed in number, but important from its functions, +suffers the greatest inconvenience from the absence of price. Those +engaged in studying the commercial and economical relations of various +manufactures, either for the gratification of their own tastes or for +the instruction of the public, are entirely deprived of the most +important element of their reasonings. + +If _every article_ had its price affixed, many relations would strike +the eye of an experienced observer which might lead him to further +inquiries, and probably to the most interesting results. But it is quite +impossible for him to write to any considerable portion of 15,000 +expositors for their list of prices, or even to go round and ask for it +in the building itself. + +§ Price in many cases offers at once a verification of the truth of +other statements. Thus, to a person conversant with the subjects, + +The low _price_ of an article might prove that it had been manufactured +in some mode entirely different from that usually practised. This would +lead to an examination of it, in order to discover the improved process. + +The _price_ of an article compared with its weight, might prove that the +metal of which it is made _could not_ be genuine. + +The _price_ of a woven fabric, added to a knowledge of its breadth and +substance, even without its weight, might in many cases effectually +disprove the statement of its being entirely made of wool, or hair, or +flax, or silk, as the case might be. + +The exchange of commodities between those to whom such exchanges may be +desirable, being the great and ultimate object of the Exposition, every +circumstance that can give publicity to the things exhibited, should be +most carefully attended to. The price in money is the _most important +element_ in every bargain; to omit it, is not less absurd than to +represent a tragedy without its hero, or to paint a portrait without a +nose. + +It commits a double error: for it withholds the only test by which the +comparative value of things can be known, and it puts aside the greatest +of all interests, that of the consumer, in order to favour a small and +particular class—the middle-men. + +The composition of that Commission must be most extraordinary, where an +error so contrary to the principles and so fatal to the objects of the +Exposition, could have been committed. It is not too late to apply at +least a partial remedy to the evil, and it is scarcely credible that +those with whom it rests, can remain unconscious of the mistake into +which they have been led. + +§ At the eighth meeting of the Commissioners, on the 28th Feb. 1850, +further conditions and limitations were submitted to them by Col. Reid, +one of which was— + + “A price may be attached to the objects exhibited, and the objects, if + sold, may be marked; but no sales will be permitted within the + building.” + +This judicious recommendation was, however, not adopted, for on the 11th +April, 1850, the following rule was published— + + “The Exhibition being intended for the purposes of display only, and + not for those of sale.... + + “For the same reason the Commissioners have decided that the prices + are not to be affixed to the articles exhibited.” + +Several strong remonstrances were addressed to the Commissioners against +the rule forbidding the affixing prices to the articles exhibited. +Efforts were made both in public and through private representations to +some of its individual members, by persons competent to advise, and +anxious for the success of a great and meritorious undertaking. + +In the report of the Leeds Committee to the Commissioners the following +passage occurs:— + + “They are, further, most strongly of opinion that the statement of + price is essential, _if the Exhibition is to be of any real utility_. + To the manufacturer or merchant price will be the test of comparative + value and excellence in the majority of cases; and the inspection of + particular fabrics, especially the products of other districts or + countries, for the purposes of information or improvement, will be of + no avail to them if price as well as style and finish is not before + them.” + +From the secretary to the Hamburg Commission a communication was +received stating that— + + “In consequence of the decision of the Commissioners with respect to + the prohibition to attach prices, it is the opinion that there will be + an _incurable deficiency_ in the Exhibition.” + +From the Central Danish Commission a letter was sent, stating that— + + “By reason of the regulation of Her Majesty’s Commissioners that + prices may not be attached to articles sent for exhibition, and Danish + goods being chiefly remarkable for their cheapness, a space of about + 450 square ft. will be sufficient for Denmark.” + +The Chevalier Bunsen transmitted a despatch from the Prussian +government, _objecting to the decision_ of the Commissioners which +_prohibits the affixing of prices_ to articles exhibited. + +§ On the 14th November, 1850, an answer to this letter was approved, and +ordered to be sent to all foreign commissioners. + +The following are extracts:— + + “The arguments advanced by you in favour of authorizing the affixing + of prices to the articles exhibited, have received the maturest + consideration of Her Majesty’s Commissioners, who are fully sensible + of the great importance of the subject. + + “At the same time, every wish is felt on their part, to give to each + exhibitor the _benefit_ to be derived by him from the knowledge on the + part of the public, of the cheapness of the articles exhibited by him. + They feel, however, as they have already intimated, that by allowing + the affixing of the actual prices to articles themselves, they should + be making themselves responsible for the accuracy of those prices in + all instances, and they would not consider themselves warranted in + assuming this responsibility in the case of an Exhibition of the + productions of all the nations in the world (however perfect may be + the machinery in an individual country, like Prussia, for ensuring + that accuracy, and for preventing the liability to deception). But Her + Majesty’s Commissioners authorize the attachment of a notice to those + Goods, of which the merit consists in the low price at which they can + be produced, to the effect that they are _exhibited for cheapness_, + and they have made it a condition that all persons making this claim + must send the prices in an invoice to the Commissioners, who will + instruct the juries to make this an essential element in their + determination of their awards.” + +The Decision No. 16 was then altered as follows:— + + “Prices are not to be affixed to the articles exhibited, although the + articles may be marked as shown for economy of production. But as the + cost at which articles can be produced will, in some cases, enter into + the question of the distribution of rewards, the Commissioners, or the + persons intrusted with the adjudication of the rewards, may have to + make inquiries, and possibly to take evidence, upon the subject; still + they do not consider it expedient to affix a note of the price to the + articles displayed. When the Exhibitor considers the merit of his + article to consist in its cheapness, and founds a claim on this + ground, he must state the price in the invoice sent to the + Commissioners.” + +This rule is a model specimen of what very clever men united in a large +committee can assent to. + +The first and last sentences of the oracular writing pronounce that— + +Prices must not be affixed to any article exhibited for the judgment of +the public, _even though_ there should be _no other reason_ for +exhibiting it than its price. + +The intervening sentence reveals to us that even Commissioners may in +some cases be themselves unable to judge without a knowledge of the +price—that it may perchance be so important that they must take evidence +upon it. Yet, with a very flattering deference to the sagacity of the +public, they seem to think _it_ can, without that information, form as +good an opinion as their own. + +It may be remarked that the permission to ask of the attendant the price +of an article, on which much stress has been laid, depends on several +contingencies, namely:—that every article has an attendant;—that he is +at all times at his post;—and also that he _knows_ its price. + +It is admitted that the Commissioners wish “to give each exhibitor the +_benefit_ to be derived by him from the knowledge [of price] on the part +of the public,” and also that the public cannot judge without that +information, and yet, with singular inconsistency, they forbid the +simplest and most natural mode of accomplishing this object, placing in +fact an impediment in the way of their own wishes. + +The only argument which is urged in favour of this rule, occurs in the +reply to the Prussian application, in which it is stated, “after the +maturest consideration on the part of Her Majesty’s Commissioners,” they +feel “that by allowing the affixing the actual price to the articles +themselves, they should be making themselves responsible for the +accuracy of those prices in all instances.” This singular timidity in +fact involves the Commissioners in far larger responsibility, since +according to their own argument they admit that they are “_responsible_” +for any statement they “_allow_” the exhibitors to make; it follows, +therefore, that any statement they _command_ the exhibitors to attach to +the articles exposed must be still more firmly _guaranteed_ by the +Commissioners. + +But they have very rightly ordered that every article shall have +attached to it a statement of the _reason_ for which it is exhibited. +Consequently _they guarantee the statements made by exhibitors_. + +If, therefore, a piece of calico is exhibited entirely for the sake of +the _permanence_ of the beautiful colour with which it is dyed, the +beauty it is true may be evident to the eye, but the merit will consist +wholly in the _permanence_. If this is stated by the exhibitor, the +Commissioners themselves are responsible for its truth. + +Again, some beautiful damasked fabric is exhibited; the only merit +consists in its being made entirely of flax. This statement must be +appended, or there is no use in exhibiting it; but if stated, the +_Commissioners are responsible_ that there is no silk intermixed: +multitudes of similar cases might be adduced. + +But the truth is, that no such responsibility as that which they have +assumed, ought to be placed on the Commissioners; their duty is +sufficiently arduous, and their previous experience very limited. A +certain per centage of error and accident, will necessarily occur, even +to the most highly informed, and if they industriously exercise the +knowledge they may acquire in carrying on this undertaking, the public +ought to be grateful for their labours—to assist them in carrying out +their regulations, and remonstrate strongly only when their rules +violate the very foundations of those principles on which the whole +advantage of the Exposition rests. + +§ Nothing could have been more simple than to have repudiated any such +guarantee, and to have left the public to trust to the integrity and +honour of the exhibitors, which, considering the danger and facility of +detection, would have been a sufficient security. The Royal, and almost +all other scientific Societies, place at the head of each volume a +distinct declaration that their authors alone are responsible, both for +the facts as well as for the reasonings contained in their respective +memoirs. + +§ If the alternative were proposed, Shall the rule rigidly laid down +be?— + +“No article shall have its price marked on it”—or, + +“Every article must have its price marked upon it,”—the disadvantages +would be far less under the latter rule. The essential principle of the +Exposition being the increase of commerce and the exchange of +commodities, it might even be contended that sales should be permitted +on the premises. The chief objection to this arises from the impediments +it might offer to the free access of visitors to the examination of the +articles exhibited. + +Means, however, might be suggested by which that objection would be +considerably removed. It might, for instance, be permitted to all those +exhibitors of articles of moderate size, that they should bring in with +them each morning a sufficient number of such articles, done up in paper +ready to be delivered to the purchaser on his handing over the money +price. This would apply to a large number of articles, as shawls, +dresses, &c. + +In other articles, sold by weight, packets might be previously made up +of various weights, as one pound, three pounds, six pounds, &c. In those +sold by length, parcels of fixed numbers of yards might be prepared. + +If this system were still thought to be inconvenient from causing crowds +in particular spots, it might be permitted to the attendants to take +orders for articles to be sent home in the evening, and paid for either +at the time or on delivery. + +It is quite certain that under either of these conditions a much larger +quantity of merchandize would be sold immediately. + +Many would purchase on the spot who could never return for that purpose, +or who were on the point of leaving London, and much trouble would be +saved to a large class of purchasers. + +The effect of the purchases made in the earlier days of the Exposition, +would act as so many advertisements to attract visitors on the +succeeding days; some articles thus purchased would probably be sent +into the country by friends, and others be taken home by visitors, and +many additional country visitors would thus be attracted before the end +of the season. + +Another and a very important advantage would also accrue from such an +arrangement. The manufacturers acquire their knowledge of the demand for +their productions from the factors and agents; these again from the +shopkeepers who sell by retail to the public. Under the proposed +circumstances, this knowledge would be acquired much more rapidly, and +in the course of the first two or three weeks the opinion of the public +would be known upon all the articles of most popular demand. + +§ Upon the whole, the best plan seems to be that the rule should be— + +“Every article must have its price attached.” + +The exception should be exemptions granted by officers of the +Commission, and the ground of those exemptions should be stated on the +respective articles. + +At the Exposition at Paris, in 1849, the general rule was that upon each +article its price should be marked. Certain exceptions occurred, and in +two instances the writer of these pages wishing to purchase specimens, +although assisted most willingly by M. Le Dieu, the indefatigable head +of the management always present on the spot, was unable, after some +correspondence and much inquiry, to purchase or obtain samples of the +objects he desired. + +§ Perhaps the best way of complying with the rules of the Commissioners, +and yet giving the public what they tacitly admit the public will +demand, would be that the exhibitor should fix on each of his articles, +in a conspicuous manner, a letter or a number,[9] and that he should +have on the printed bill or card of address all the corresponding +numbers or letters, and opposite to each the price at which it was to be +sold at his warehouse or place of business. Each expositor might have a +quantity of these addresses hung up or placed upon his stall, with an +indication to the public that they were at liberty to take away these +cards or bills. + +It may be worth while to make a few observations on the reasons which +probably influenced and misled the Commission on so important a point. + +The tradesmen of London had been unduly and rather indelicately pressed +to subscribe towards the Exposition; many were compelled to subscribe +against their wishes. They saw few or none of the advantages which would +accrue to them from it, and they believed, (erroneously,) that it would +inundate the country with foreign and cheaper articles that would +supplant their own trade. + +It was thought that, when the public became acquainted with the +wholesale as well as with the retail price of articles, such knowledge +would lead to a reduction of the retail profits. The public, it was +argued, would be reluctant to make a fair allowance for the various +items which contribute to swell the amount of the difference between the +wholesale and retail price of commodities. + +§ It may be useful then to state broadly the principle, that it is +greatly for the advantage of the public, both as regards economy of time +and of money, that there should always exist a sufficient number of +middle-men of various orders. + +The shopkeeper, who is the one in immediate contact with the public, and +therefore liable to the greatest misrepresentation, has, amongst others, +the following expenses to add to the cost of production, which must +necessarily increase the retail price:— + +1. Commission to broker or other middle-man. + +2. Cost of carriage from manufactory to shop. + +3. Rent of shop itself, and perhaps, also of a warehouse. + +4. Insurance of stock against fire. + +5. Attendants to sell in shop. + +6. Sending goods home to purchasers. + +7. Expense of paper, string, &c. for packing goods delivered. + +8. Loss by plunder of servants. + +9. Expense of taking stock to diminish this loss. + +10. Goods soiled or injured by exposing to sale. + +11. Goods going out of fashion, cheapened by improved manufacture, or +superseded by new inventions. + +12. Giving long credit. + +13. Bad debts. + +14. Payment for his own personal services, as retail trader. + +15. Interest on capital employed. + +§ Admitting, however, that these grounds fully account for a large +difference between the wholesale and retail price, they will by no means +justify several practices which are too frequent at some shops at the +west end of the town. + +Different prices for the very same article are often demanded by retail +tradesmen, according to the supposed position of the purchaser. Fish, +for example, which varies much in price, and is at times very cheap, +will seldom be found charged in the household bill much below the +average price, unless the housekeeper is honest and looks sharply after +the matter. Few circumstances more annoy a customer or are more +injurious to the tradesman than this offence of having two prices. + +When the same prices are charged equally to all customers, it often +happens that it is much higher in the western than in less fashionable +localities. This may arise from a vicious system of giving credit, and +the extra price is necessary to compensate for risk of loss, and of +capital lying unproductive. The effect, however, is injurious to the +tradesman: many of those who pay ready money and would therefore be his +best customers, desert the shop. Those whose means are small, go to a +greater distance for the daily or weekly purchases; whilst those +possessed of larger incomes, purchase the same articles, not only at a +cheaper shop in the city but in larger quantities, and therefore more +nearly at the wholesale price. + +Our foreign visitors naturally ask how it happened that in the country +of Adam Smith so strange a mistake could have been made: they inquire +why none of the eminent disciples of that school were placed on the +Commission? They will learn with surprise that our Minister of Commerce +took, as befitted his office, an active part in it; that the great +economist, to whose profound views and extensive experience in monetary +affairs more than one minister has been indebted, was also a member; +that even the apostle of _free trade_ himself, whose successful +exertions have been crowned with merited reward, sat on the same +commission; and yet that the talents, the knowledge, and the eloquence +of such men, failed to convince the understandings of their colleagues, +who, in violation of the first principles of “_Free trade_,” +deliberately raised an obstacle against _competition_. + +Since the first edition of this work was printed, the Crystal Palace has +been filled by the industry and peopled by the nations of the earth. The +fears of the ignorant, the hopes of the selfish, the vaticinations of +the shallow, have proved alike groundless. Opinions expressed by the few +who were competent to judge, which were then scouted as the ravings of +visionaries, have now become realized as facts. + +However great the admitted advantages resulting from the Exposition have +been, still it has failed to produce anything like the information which +it was calculated to afford. Many of those who most rejoice in its +success regret that so much perseverance and energy have not, owing to +one fatal error, been permitted to accomplish the full amount of good +which they so well deserved to have achieved. + +The public have now had ample opportunity of forming their own opinion +upon the question of _price_; and they are almost unanimous in their +decision that without having the _price_ on the articles they examine, +the collection is of little intrinsic use to them, although it is a very +agreeable and splendid show. + +No attempt to answer the arguments on that question contained in the +first edition of this work has yet reached me. An entirely different +reason has now been assigned for the omission of _price_. + +It is asserted that the shopkeepers of London persuaded the +Commissioners that if _prices_ were permitted to be fixed upon articles, +they, the shopkeepers, would destroy the Exhibition, by not exhibiting +anything themselves, and by their determination ruin the producer, if, +by affixing prices to his produce, he should expose the “_secrets of +trade_.” + +One of the proverbs most frequently appealed to is—deprecation of +_protection_ by one’s _friends_: few cases have ever occurred in which +its application is more necessary. + +These friends thus maintain that the reason for _forbidding prices_ to +be placed upon articles, stated by the Commissioners to have been +arrived at after mature consideration, and _officially_ communicated by +them to foreign governments,—was not the _real reason_. + +The motive of the rule laid down by the Commission seems to have been a +conscientious wish not to mislead the public, and was at most only an +error of judgment. + +The _friends_ of the Commission, however, have imputed to them a line of +conduct which, to use the mildest form of expression, is highly +undignified, and have suggested that they were driven to the adoption of +the rule by fears which were absurd. + +Some of the fashionable shopkeepers at the West-end may have endeavoured +to alarm their too credulous customers by holding out such exaggerated +estimates of their own power; but the mass of London tradesmen are a +shrewder race, and estimate more truly their own influence. They well +know, in the present state of rapid communication throughout the land, +that any such attempt must necessarily fail. Imagine for a moment the +present race of butchers attempting to starve London by combining to +withhold meat. The utmost they could accomplish, if so inclined, would +be to put their customers to some small and temporary inconvenience, at +the expense of certain ruin to themselves. + +The practical effect of forbidding prices has been very unfortunate. The +great and meritorious efforts by which the plan has been carried out, +have been shorn of much of their utility. A building of half the size, +containing only articles _each_ of which had attached to it a short and +clear statement of the grounds on which it was exhibited, and the price +at which it could be acquired, would have conveyed far more instruction +to the public, and have been far more effective for the promotion of +commerce, thus fulfilling much more completely the two great objects of +the Exposition. + +To reply that prices may be obtained on inquiry, betrays a childish +ignorance of the whole subject. It is practically impossible to obtain +the required information; and those who have made the effort, have found +that even in the cases where an attendant is present to explain the +articles, he is often entirely ignorant of their price. + +The effect of the absence of price on visitors is a source of painful +annoyance to themselves, and of loss to the manufacturers and +shopkeepers, from whom they would otherwise have purchased largely. + +Foreigners are so sensible of this defect, that they have in many +instances printed priced catalogues of their own articles. Their +interpretation of our refusal to allow prices to be affixed is, that we +are unable to compete with other nations in economy of production. + +The philosopher and the economist, by whose researches and comparisons +the public might have been instructed, wander through the lofty avenues +and splendid galleries of the Crystal Palace, tantalized by +expectations, raised but to be disappointed. They at last are compelled +to abandon their mission in hopeless despair, wilfully deprived, by the +managers of this industrial feast, of that information on which all +their conclusions must ultimately rest. + + [9] As by one of the rules each separate article exhibited must have a + number, the same numbers might be used in the bills. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + PRIZES. + + +The great feature of the original plan of the Exposition was to give +large prizes. One, at least, was to have been 5,000_l._, and the whole +amount of them 20,000_l._ + +The anticipation of these prizes gave hope and industry to thousands: +means were examined and measures taken by many a workman, at the expense +of great personal sacrifices, to enable him to complete a model of some +favourite scheme, by which he might hope to win one amongst the many +pecuniary prizes, and thus be repaid at least for a portion of his +efforts. + +The announcement on the Continent of these liberal arrangements was +received with unbounded astonishment and admiration. The magnitude of +the great prize seemed to foreigners incredible, and the liberality of +offering it to the competing world, was altogether beyond their +conception of the character assigned to us as a nation. + +It was certainly very unfortunate that such an announcement should have +been made and then withdrawn. But as the question will probably arise +again, it may be useful for some future occasion to inquire now into the +principles on which pecuniary prizes should be awarded. + +Science, literature, and industrial art are in some measure subject to +the same laws in the distribution of pecuniary rewards. It is desirable +that such prizes should be given to those objects only which, possessing +very considerable merit and utility, are of such a nature as not to +repay the first inventors. + +§ One effect of such rewards would be to increase very much the number +of minds engaged in making inventions. This itself is a matter of more +importance than might at first be thought, as will be shown on some +future occasion in examining the question of monopoly. + +The inventor, the capitalist, and the manufacturer of articles are +usually distinct persons. Of these the inventor is generally the least +rewarded. The capitalist and the manufacturer can almost always make +their own way to wealth, and if successful their reward is usually +large, and almost always greater even than the highest prize which could +be offered by the managers of such an Exhibition as is now contemplated. + +If it were a condition for obtaining a prize that no patent should be +taken out, then the prize may be considered as the purchase money of the +patent for the use of the public. If a patent is desired by the +inventor, a medal or an honorary prize might be given, with the addition +in certain cases of a reward in money. + +Perhaps an enumeration of some objects which might become fit subjects +for prizes, may best illustrate these views. + +§ One of the inventions most important to a class of highly skilled +workmen (engineers) would be a small motive power,—ranging perhaps from +the force of half a man, to that of two horses, which might commence as +well as cease its action at a moment’s notice, require no expense of +time for its management, and be of moderate price both in original cost +and in daily expense. A small steam-engine does not fulfil these +conditions. In a town where water is supplied at high-pressure, a +cylinder and a portion of apparatus similar to that of a high-pressure +engine, would fully answer the conditions, if the water could be +supplied at a moderate price. Such a source of power would in many cases +be invaluable to men just rising from the class of journeyman to that of +master. It might also be of great use to many small masters in various +trades. If the cost per day were even somewhat greater than that of +steam for an equal extent of power, it would yet be on the whole much +cheaper, because it would _never consume power without doing_ _work_. It +might be applied to small planing and drilling machines, to lathes, to +grindstones, grinding mills, mangling, and to a great variety of other +purposes. + +§ In all large workshops a separate tool, or rather machine, is used for +each process, and this contributes to the economy of the produce. But +many masters in a small way are unable to afford such an expense, not +having sufficient work for the full employment of any one machine. + +Of this class are many jobbing masters who live by repairing machines. +Such also are that class of masters who make models of the inventions of +others and carry out for them their mechanical speculations. To these +two classes, that of amateur engineers may be added. + +The lathe with its sliding rest is the basis of their stock. With this +they can drill, and with the addition of a few wheels can cut screws. +The further addition of a vertical slide will enable them to plane small +pieces of metal by means of facing cutters on the mandril. By other +additions the teeth of wheels may also be cut, and in some rare cases, a +lathe may be converted into a small planing machine. The loss of time in +making the changes necessary to enable the lathe to fulfil all these +different functions, necessarily confines its use to the peculiar +classes alluded to above, but to make these changes is often less +expensive than to be obliged continually to send to larger workshops +where the heavier portion of their work can be executed. It would +certainly be desirable, if some good plan cannot be devised for bringing +the whole of such operations within the reach of _one_ machine of +moderate price, that at least a system should be devised for combining +them in _two_ separate machines. + +Some readers may possibly think such combinations as have been +mentioned, too minute and special for the subject of a prize: but when +it is considered that they bear upon the interests of one of the best +classes of workmen, and how important it is for the welfare of the +community that skill, industry, and intelligence should be assisted in +their efforts to rise in the social scale, these details will be +excused. + +§ The improvements which have been made in the economy of working +voltaic batteries, lead to the expectation that they may be employed as +sources of artificial light. Although the light thus obtained is not yet +sufficiently steady for general use, it may possibly become available +for light-houses. + +Galvanic light offers some advantages for this purpose on account of its +intensity and of the facility it affords for darkening and restoring the +light, by breaking and renewing the galvanic circuit. + +But it would be possible to adapt the same principle of occultations to +ordinary lighthouses. It would only be necessary to apply mechanism +which should periodically pull down an opaque shade over the glass +cylinders of the argand burners. This should be instantaneously thrown +back by a spring. A series of obscurations corresponding to the digits +of any number, and separated by any intervals, might thus be continually +repeated. + +Ready means might thus be supplied of clearly distinguishing one +light-house from another. For this purpose it would be necessary to +denote the light-houses on any coast by different numbers. + +Any digit might be expressed by an equivalent number of occultations and +restorations of the light: thus— + + 1 2 3 9 + 0.0 0.0.0 0.0.0.0, &c., 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0 + +Again, the character of the digit might be indicated by occultations +preceded and followed, by shorter or longer intervals of light. + +At the commencement, the first digit of any number, might be +distinguished by a previous uniform continuance of the light during ten +or twenty seconds, whilst the separation of each digit from the next in +order might be denoted by a short pause of two or three or more seconds. + +Thus, if the number of a light-house were 253: after a cessation of any +obscuration during ten seconds, two occultations should follow each +other at intervals of about a second. A pause should then occur during +three seconds, after which five occultations should occur, at intervals +of one second, as before. Another pause of three seconds must then +happen, and be succeeded by three other occultations occurring at +intervals of one second each; after which ten seconds must elapse before +the cycle thus described is repeated. + +These might be thus represented:— + + 2 hundreds. 5 tens. 3 units. + 0000000000·0·000·0·0·0·0·000·0·0·0000000000 + \-------------------------------/ + +Thus, at about every half minute the number of the lighthouse would be +repeated. + +In this manner any number under 1,000 may be expressed in less than one +minute; since the largest, 999, would require + + Seconds. + For each digit 9, or in all 27 + Two short pauses between the digits 6 + One long long pause at end of the number 10 + --- + 43 + +Every light-house, therefore, would be continually repeating its own +number. + +It would contribute still more to prevent mistakes, if the light-houses +on a coast were not numbered in succession; for should any mistake be +made in counting the obscurations, it would most probably be detected if +the digits of the numbers of the light-houses on the same part of the +coast were as different as possible. + + Lighthouse numbered in succession— + 234 235 236 237 238 + Ditto irregularly— + 142 324 581 787 612 + +If a mistake of a single obscuration were made in the units of the +number 237, and it had been counted 236, this observation might, until +repeated, mislead the sailor, and induce him to suppose himself opposite +the preceding light-house. On the contrary, if the irregular mode of +numbering were adopted, the mistake of 786 for 787 could not mislead, +because the seven in the hundreds place would point out the error. It +would, however, be better to have the figure in the tens’ place also +different in any two light-houses so near that a possibility of mistake +is likely to occur. The general benefit which would result to all +maritime nations, renders the practical application of these principles +a peculiarly fit subject for a prize. + +Since the first edition of this work was published, an occulting light +has been exhibited for about three weeks, representing during each night +the constant repetition of one of the following numbers, 136, 227, 354, +432. + +As might easily have been anticipated, its effect was quite satisfactory +in determining those numbers. At about a distance of a quarter of a +mile, its occultations were even more distinct than at shorter +distances. + +Successive improvements have occurred, until it now seems desirable to +revise and simplify the light-houses of the world, by making them speak +one universal language, intelligible even to the commonest capacity. No +time could be more favourable than the present for establishing an +international system of signals, founded on numbers, and adapted to the +wants and convenience of all nations. The following brief outline of +such a plan requires, therefore, no apology. + +The present modes of identifying lighthouses are by + + 1. The _colour_ of the lights. + + 2. The _number_, _distance_, and _relative position_ of the lights + exhibited. + + 3. The _variations_ in colour or intensity, or in the time during + which the lights are partially or totally obscured, compared with + that during which they are visible. + + 4. By striking bells or gongs in foggy weather. + +There are around the coasts of Great Britain about 290 light-houses and +light-ships. They exhibit nearly 390 lights. Of these, about one hundred +lights are coloured, chiefly red. Fifty-five are revolving lights, +varying in their periods from five seconds to four minutes. In foggy +weather fifteen of these toll bells, and thirty-three strike gongs. It +is proposed to abolish all the revolving lights, and to retain white +light, to distinguish by its occupations the number of the light-house +which it is destined to indicate. + +With respect to those lighthouses which indicate ports, next to the +information as to the name of the port, the most important question is +the depth of water at its entrance. This may be given by allowing the +occupations of the white light to indicate the number of the port, after +which a glass of green or of any other colour being interposed, the +number of occultations mark the number of feet of the depth of water at +the time. + +A float in a well, to which the tide has access by a small aperture, +will serve the double purpose of raising the weight that drives the +mechanism for occulting, and of prescribing, according to the height of +the tide in feet, the corresponding number of occultations of the green +light. + +Thus a constant alternation will go on during the whole night of +repetitions of the _number_ of the port, by occultations of white light, +and of the number of feet which indicate the depth of water at its +entrance, by green light. + +There are certain cases of obscuration of lights by fog in which bells +and gongs are continually sounded. These convey information of danger, +but do not identify its position. The same principle which gives +numerical accuracy to light-houses, and even the same mechanism, may be +made to operate during fogs with equal effect on sounds. Thus, by +striking the gong the requisite number of times to indicate the +hundreds, the tens, and the units denoting the light, allowing, of +course, the usual pauses and the same long intervals, the number of the +light-house or light-ship may be known as quickly and as certainly by +means of bells, or gongs, or other sounds, as by the occultations of its +light. + +It may be worth examining what musical notes are heard at the greatest +distances through fogs, and the sounds of what instruments penetrate +farthest amidst the roar of winds and waves. The shrill whistle of the +steam carriage should be tried against the deep tones of the organ and +the loud noise of the trumpet. The most powerful sounds produced by air +require but little physical force for their generation; and whenever the +directions in which it is necessary to give warning are known, the +sounds employed may be concentrated by reflectors, in the same manner as +light. + +The depth of water at the entrance of harbours may easily be indicated +in the day-time by a tide-telegraph governed by the same float which +produces the occultations during the night. Its form may be as below, + + [Illustration: The tide-telegraph.] + +in which the arms projecting on the left side indicate the tens; those +on the right side the units. The long arm for the fifth saves trouble in +counting. These arms must be movable on centres within the mast, and +must be governed by cams connected with the float, so as to indicate at +any time the state of the tide. If it were found necessary to +distinguish light-houses during the day, then signs expressing their +permanent numbers might be painted upon them, or fixed to masts rising +out of each. The right side of the telegraph might, if required, be used +as a day telegraph for communicating with vessels. + +By means of such light-houses it would be easy to convey telegraphic +messages either to vessels in distress, or for other purposes. It would +simply be required to use the light itself or a subsidiary one to +indicate a series of numbers corresponding to those in some known +Telegraphic Dictionary. No danger of any mistake could arise during the +few minutes thus employed, because any other vessel on counting the +succession of obscurations would not only perceive that the light-house +was telegraphing, but would also know the object of the message. A small +apparatus might easily be contrived for the use of vessels, by which +they might ask any questions necessary for their safety. Such means for +ships sailing in company, or even for fleets, might enable them to +proceed on their voyage during the night, and to communicate any orders +even with greater facility than in the day. + +Sir David Brewster proposed in the _Edinburgh Philosophical +Transactions_ a plan for distinguishing light-houses by optical means. +The light transmitted through a thin film, when analysed by a prism, +appears either single, or subdivided into two, three, four or more +parts. Light-houses, therefore, might thus be distinguished from one +another numerically. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + JURIES, ETC. + + +A clear statement of the _principles_ on which each jury is to award +prizes, should be placed before them. These principles ought to be well +discussed, and in that discussion manufacturers should be invited to +take a part. + +The first object of the jury should be to lay down rules by which these +principles are to be carried out. Each class of the subjects to be +rewarded will have its own rules. They will generally be few in number, +and capable of being expressed in few words: some of these are suggested +below, but merely by way of example. + +One of the most general rules will indicate the means by which the jury +can ascertain the fact, that the material of the manufacture under +consideration is truly the substance it is represented to be. + +For instance: some woven fabric is examined, professing to be made +either entirely of wool, or wholly of flax. It may be quite true that +experienced manufacturers and dealers, are able to detect any +adulteration of either material by admixture with the other. But +statements of facts made on authority, never possess the same weight +with the public as those which are accompanied by information enabling +any individual among that public to verify the fact for himself. + +The form of the fibre as shown by the microscope is one test. A more +simple one is to burn some fibres in the flame of a candle. Every fibre +which, when thus treated, produces the smell of burnt feathers, is +animal matter of some kind, as wool, silk, horse-hair, &c. The burnt +fibres of hemp, flax, cotton, and other vegetable matters have a totally +different scent; a fact of which any one may readily assure himself by +making the experiment. + +It may perhaps be necessary in some cases to wash the fabric under +examination, lest in what is termed the “getting up for the market,” +some animal matter or size might mislead. But the jury ought to be +acquainted with all such difficulties, and they should state the method +they took for investigating them. + +The microscope is of great use in the detection of adulterations in most +vegetable substances. + +§ Every object produced is subject to certain defects, and possessed of +certain excellences: these should be clearly enumerated. Whenever such +statements are expressed by numbers, the information will be more +satisfactory. + +Thus, in cutting tools, as applied to various metals, it is very +important that the angle at which the tool is applied, should be stated: +it is also necessary to state the angle which the edge of the tool +receiving the shaving cut off, makes with the surface cut. The velocity +of the tool in cutting should be stated, also the names of the fluids, +if any, used in cutting. + +The durability of woven fabrics, as well as of a great variety of other +manufactured articles, is a most essential quality, on which, combined +with the price, their chief value to the customer depends. + +It is very desirable that the jury should find satisfactory means of +testing this most important character, which is not discernible, even by +the most curious and instructed spectator. + +The knowledge of the weight required for tearing asunder any woven +fabric, as a ribbon, a stay-lace, tape, &c., together with the breaking +weight of their individual threads, and the number of these threads in +an inch, may in some cases be very valuable, especially in coarse +articles, such as sailcloth, sacking, &c. + +In other cases, the articles may be submitted to twenty or thirty +washings and dryings, during which it may repeatedly be examined. The +greatest change will most frequently occur on the first washing, which +removes the dressing. + +§ In many articles the durability of different parts varies +considerably. In some cases one part will wear out, if replaced, many +times before the remainder of the article is at all injured by use. In +all such cases the jury should adopt such rules as the following:— + +Examine the durability of each part, and also the difficulty and the +expense of replacing it when injured. + +Examine also, for the same purpose, what parts are most exposed to +injury or destruction by accident. + +Examine also the _relative_ expense of putting the article in a working +state when first purchased and brought home. + +These rules will be best understood by an illustration. Let us suppose a +jury to be examining the relative merits of several cottage stoves for +cooking. Of course the first inquiry will be as to which admits of the +best performance of the operations of— + + Boiling, Baking, + Stewing, Supply of hot water, + Roasting, Ironing, + Broiling, &c. + +The cost of the fuel must not only be given, but also its weight, +because the price of fuel varies in different localities. The capability +of using different sorts of fuel in the several stoves, and the amount +of fuel so consumed for its equivalent of coal, should also be stated. + +These and other comparative inquiries having been made, the durability +of that part of the stove which is subjected to the direct action of the +burning fuel, must be examined. It will be made either of iron or of +earthenware; and the relative merit of the various stoves will, as far +as this point is concerned, consist in the facility and economy with +which such parts can be removed, and the corresponding new parts be +purchased and replaced in their proper position. It is always desirable +for the consumer that the vendors of such articles should keep a stock +of the parts liable to wear out, and that the latter should undertake to +replace them at a fixed price. + +Those parts of the stove which project so as to be liable to accidental +blows, and those which from their more constant use are much exposed to +accident, as the hinges and the latches of doors, should then be +examined. These, if of cast-iron or other brittle material, and +constituting part of the substance of the door, should be sufficiently +strong to resist fracture: if they are attached to it by rivets or +otherwise, they will be lighter and stronger when made of wrought-iron. + +The last inquiry is into the expense of fixing the stove for use. It may +be set in brickwork, within the chimney, in which case it will require a +bricklayer and a large mass of materials in the shape of bricks and +mortar, and possibly of stone. Or it may stand on its own base +containing its own ash-pit, and by means of a small iron pipe the smoke +may be conveyed into a flue. In this case almost any workman with hammer +and chisel and a small quantity of mortar or cement, can fix it ready +for use. + +Again, the stop-cock for the water-cistern may be either hard-soldered, +riveted, or screwed in. If the latter, it can easily be unscrewed or +reground when necessary. The same remark applies to the leaden +supply-pipe; it may be connected by soldering, or by a union joint. In +the former case these parts will require the aid not only of the tinman +or coppersmith, but also of the plumber. + +§ The expense of repairing a machine does not in all cases depend on the +cost of the part replaced, or even on the actual cost of replacing that +part alone. It often happened in the earlier days of locomotive engines, +that the expense of some small reparation necessary to keep the machine +in good working order, did not amount to ten shillings; whilst the +expense of removing and replacing other parts, without which the workman +could not get at the defective part, amounted to fifty or eighty +shillings, or even to a still larger sum. + +Thus facility of getting at all the parts of an engine for the purposes +of repair, or even of examination, is one of the advantages which the +broad possesses over the narrow gauge. + +§ In many articles exposed to great or sudden force, and to much wear +and tear, it is very desirable that if any breakage occur, it should +happen at that point where the consequences would be the least dangerous +to the persons using it, and the reparation of it least expensive. + +During a series of experiments made by the author in 1839, on the Great +Western Railway, it was necessary, amongst a variety of other curves, to +cause a pen to draw upon long rolls of paper the curve described by the +centre of a carriage, projected on the plane of the road. When +everything is in proper order, this line ought to be parallel to, and in +the middle between, the two rails. But it is well known that instead of +answering these conditions, it often describes a _serpentine_ curve, +arising from that snake-like motion of a train which the carriages +acquire by rolling alternately towards each rail, until they are checked +by the flanges pressing against it. + +To accomplish the drawing of the line above-mentioned, it was necessary +to have depending from the carriage, a very stout jointed wooden arm, +terminating in an iron _shoe_ with a steel projection. This _shoe_ was, +by a powerful spring, pressed close to the rail in the middle point +between the two side wheels of the carriage, and by a communication with +the pen the required curve was described. + +But such an apparatus was exposed to very rough work, and, in fact, was +generally broken three or four times during each experimental journey. +If the broken part had fallen between the wheel and the rail, it might +have caused a serious accident. To prevent this the following +precautions were taken— + +The wooden arm was strengthened with thin strips of iron, except at one +part about an inch long. At this part of the wood a small notch was cut +with a saw. The lower portion had a strong iron eye fixed into it, which +was connected loosely to a hook by a rope passing through a hole in the +middle of the carriage. + +Whenever the apparatus broke, it was always at the notch. The position +of the loose rope holding the broken part was such, that the tendency +was immediately to drag it into the middle of the road under the centre +of the carriage. This at once removed it from interference with the +wheels. The pen describing the curve soon gave notice by ceasing to move +laterally, that the arm was broken; on which one of the assistants +immediately took hold of the loose rope, and pulling the broken fragment +close up to the bottom of the carriage, prevented the possibility of any +further danger. + +§ If each jury were to explain concisely the means employed by them to +examine the qualities of each class of objects submitted to them, much +valuable information would result. A collection of these rules for the +judgment or verification of articles, if reduced into order, and +published in a small compass, by a competent person, at the close of the +Exposition, would be invaluable to the public. The result would be +beneficial to all _honest_ tradesmen, and injurious only to the +_fraudulent_. Such means when put into the hands of the public would +soon enable it to distinguish the genuine from the sophisticated +articles, and to select those which in point of excellence and +durability are best suited to the means or wants of the purchaser.[10] +The increased knowledge of the public would be felt by the retail +dealers, and would make them more anxious to obtain excellent and +durable goods from the manufacturer. + +§ Several of the papers issued by the Commission bear honourable +testimony to the sagacity of those who composed them. They treat the +persons addressed as reasoning men, explaining to them the results +contemplated: thus whilst offering their own most strenuous exertions, +they admit that these would scarcely prove effective without the +co-operation of the public in a plan devised for the common advantage of +all. + +In former days had there been water-fowl in our parks, some such notice +as this would have been placarded:— + +“Whoever throws stones at, or frightens these birds, shall be prosecuted +with the utmost severity of the law.” + +In the present day we read the much more effective address, + +“These birds are recommended to the protection of the public.” + +However ragged the coat of the passer-by, his feelings not his fears are +addressed, and his pride is gratified by being appointed as it were a +temporary trustee for the safety of his feathered friends. The advantage +of acting upon this principle is not confined merely to its direct +efficiency for its purpose. A still more important benefit remains +latent, one which never ought to be lost sight of in the enactment or +the administration of laws. + +_It enlists public opinion in favour of law and of order._[11] + +Thus aiding the prevention, the detection, and the punishment of +offenders, it renders the interference of the police far less necessary, +and when called for, more effective. + +§ This principle might perhaps be applied with advantage to the +admission under regulations of certain classes of _skilled_ workmen by +means of tickets, for a limited number of days. + +Most effective assistance might be rendered both to the police and to +the attendants at the Exposition by the following plan:—Allow a certain +number of persons, in whom the executive can repose +confidence,—generally master manufacturers or employers,—the privilege +of recommending a small number of their best and most regular workmen or +assistants, to whom should be granted tickets of admission, subject to +the following conditions:— + +1. Tickets of admission shall be granted for periods of from three to +any greater number of days. Some tickets being for the first three days +of each week, or otherwise, as may be convenient. + +2. They shall either be gratuitous or obtainable by a small payment. + +3. Each ticket-holder shall wear the ticket by a string from the button +of his coat, or as may be arranged. + +4. He shall, when required by the police or attendants, assist in any +duty they may desire for the safety or general convenience of the +expositors. + +5. Whenever he observes any irregularity, or has reason to believe that +thieves or improper persons have obtained admission, he is to inform the +nearest policeman. + +6. Whenever he observes any machine or any object exhibited, to be out +of order, or in danger of being injured, or its parts misplaced, he is +to communicate the fact to the nearest attendant, who will refer him to +the proper superintendent of that department. He will explain the defect +he has pointed out, and if asked by the superintendent, he is to put it +in order, or suggest to him some other person then present, who may be +better able to complete the reparation. + +7. Each master should be required to pledge his word that he will only +recommend trustworthy persons. Each workman admitted might simply be +required to give his word of honour that he would assist. + +These regulations ought to be printed and stuck up in various parts of +the building. + +It would, indeed, be desirable to have a certain number of boards placed +in the most public parts of the Exposition, on which should be fixed and +properly classified all rules, and other information useful to the +public. Also notices as to prices and hours of visiting the Exposition +might from time to time be affixed. Each board ought also to have a plan +of the ground-floor and galleries of the building, on which the names of +the different subjects and countries occupying the various parts, might +be readily ascertained by the visitors. + + [10] Several valuable papers containing rules of this kind have lately + appeared in the _Lancet_. + + [11] The ancient law of rendering the hundred responsible for damages + done by a mob, is founded on this principle. It is so important, that + the reader will, perhaps, pardon another illustration. + + Amongst boys as amongst men, a degree of pugnacity exists, to the + annoyance of the more quiet portion. This was checked at a certain + school by giving full permission to the boys to fight whenever they + liked, and at the same time prescribing certain simple rules for the + combat, as follows:— + + 1. When two boys wish to fight, they must inform the chief usher of + their wish. + + 2. He must appoint a time for the combat, not sooner than three, + nor more than six hours, after the notice. + + 3. At the appointed time, if the lads are still desirous of the + contest, the chief usher must take the pugnacious ones to an + enclosure, where they cannot be seen by their comrades. He then + desires them to fight until they are tired, he standing by to see + fair play. + + 4. Any boy present or assisting at an illegal fight will be + punished. + + The consequence is that their honour or their ill-humour is soon + satisfied. No party is made, to back them; no friends call out to + them, “Give it him, Tom!” “At him, Jack!” Their pugnacity is not, as + it has been in some instances at public schools, unnaturally excited + by the stimulus either of betting or of brandy. + + After long experience, it was found that quarrels rarely arrived at a + fight. It was the _interest_ of all the rest of the school to make + some just and amicable arrangement. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + ULTERIOR OBJECTS. + + +Besides those universal advantages which will result, in a greater or +less degree, to every nation maintaining friendly intercourse with its +neighbours, there are others arising from the Exposition, which may be +secured by a little industry and small expense, if timely thought is +bestowed upon them. + +There are also opportunities for advancing several kindred subjects to +which it may be useful to allude. + +The most obvious is the facility it will afford of making extensive +collections of examples of the present state of many industrial +products.[12] All woven manufactures, for example, might be arranged in +books. A small piece of each article being pasted in, might be followed +by a short statement of the various facts relating to it—as, for +example, a piece of plain cambric— + + PLAIN CAMBRIC. (Date.) + Woven in a ---- loom, at ---- by ---- + Number of threads in warp. + Number of threads of weft, in ten inches length. + Breadth of piece in inches. + Length of piece in yards. + Weight per square yard. + Price per yard retail. + Price per piece of ---- yards, as sold by the manufacturer. + +Coloured woven goods might be similarly arranged as regards colour, and +the note connected with them ought to contain the name and locality of +the dyer, and also the nature of the dye used. Such volumes would +hereafter become highly instructive, and save many costly experiments. +But it will be necessary to provide against, or to allow for the fading +of the colouring matter. This could be done only by preserving some +portion of it unchanged by time or exposure. Woven fabrics will not +supply this test, but another department of manufacture would, if +properly treated, give by the permanence of its colours, invaluable aid +not only to many arts, but also to the naturalist and the man of +science. + +§ The enamel colours used on porcelain, have the permanent character +required. Different manufactories excel in different colours. The first +step therefore would be to invite each manufacturer to send tablets of +porcelain of a given size, on which are to be painted a number of small +squares, containing all the pure colours he employs. Besides these +squares, a certain number of other squares should contain two or more +combinations of these colours, two by two, or in such proportions as are +usually employed. + +The comparison of these tablets would indicate where the purest and most +useful porcelain colours could be obtained. The next step would be that +a small committee of manufacturers and men of science, should decide on +the number of combinations and shades of colour it might be desirable to +bring together as permanent and standard objects of reference. + +The different makers of porcelain should then each receive an order for +a certain number of tablets containing those colours in which they +respectively excel. Each small square should be numbered. A sufficient +quantity of the proper materials constituting each colour, should then +be mixed in the proper proportion, and applied at the same time, to the +same number on each tablet; and these tablets should be exposed to the +fire under as nearly as possible the same circumstances of heat, and for +the same length of time. + +Thus an extensive system of unchangeable colours might be obtained, and +if 500 sets were made, they might be distributed in all the great cities +and universities of the world. It might perhaps be found that certain +colours were deficient, and this would of course stimulate discovery by +making known the want. Thus, in the course of upwards of twenty-five +years, during which the author has been collecting on a small scale, +such tablets of colours, he has been unable to meet with any specimen of +an enamel colour at all approaching to the pure scarlet of the common +geranium. + +The utility of such sets of standard colours would be very great, +enabling all nations to speak a language regarding colour at once +accurate and universal. It might serve as the starting point and the +test of many analogous collections of materials tinted by colours of +more transitory duration, whose relative degree of fixity might thus be +measured: as silks, cottons, linens, woollens, leather, paper, and many +other materials. + +There are two coloured substances which seem to promise a higher degree +of permanence than those just mentioned—sealing-wax and glass. For these +admit of the renewal of their surfaces by grinding, in case atmospheric +or external causes should have altered or impaired the superficial +colour. + +A collection of small squares of sealing-wax would be cheaper, and might +if duly verified by comparison with the porcelain standard be in many +cases a useful instrument. Glass also might supply a suit of transparent +colours of great interest. A complete collection of the enamel colours +used for the mosaic work made at Rome would also be instructive. + +§ Perhaps the most important advantage which such an Exposition can +confer, is to instruct the consumer in the art of judging of the +character of the commodity he is about to purchase. Besides the money we +pay in return for the skill, labour, and capital expended in producing +each article we purchase; a further, and often a very considerable sum +is paid in order to assure us that it possesses those qualities which +the vendor has asserted. This is called the _cost of verification_; in +some cases, as in that of white sugar, it is very small, for almost +every one can see by its external character the degree of goodness of +that article. In other cases nothing less than a whole life spent in +acquiring a knowledge of his subject, can be of any avail, as _in the +case of the purchase of a field_. The verification of the fact that the +vendor has really the right to sell it, can, in many cases, be arrived +at only by a profound chancery-lawyer, and sometimes requires an expense +even beyond the value of the field itself. + +When the purchaser has been convinced that he is no judge of the +goodness of an article, he usually buys it at some shop having the +reputation of selling only the best of the kind. In this case he justly +pays a higher price to the vendor, who ought to be remunerated for his +skill in selecting good articles from the manufacturer or merchant, and +for his integrity in not taking advantage of the ignorance of his +customer. + +It may be contended that it is cheaper for the purchaser to pay for the +use of the skill and integrity of the vendor than to spend his own time +in acquiring the same skill; and in many instances this is true. Still, +however, the integrity remains to be paid for, and if simple and ready +modes of verification were more generally known, a very large portion of +this loss of time would be saved. + +In all those articles which are easily verified the retail price varies +but little; whilst on those that are difficult to verify, the price of +the same article, although apparently of the same quality, will be found +to vary considerably at different shops. + +The duties of the various juries who will examine and recommend the +articles for which prizes are to be awarded, will require much +consideration. It cannot be expected, even after long experience through +several successive expositions, that it would be possible to form a jury +which should satisfy every exhibitor. Much, however, may be done, even +at the first, by a sincere desire to arrive at just conclusions, and by +an earnest endeavour to inform the public of the principles, and to +point out the observations, which have led their judgment to the +decisions at which they may arrive. Each of the purely mechanical arts +is allied to one or more of the sciences; almost all their various +processes are amenable to, and explicable by known laws; it is possible +for him who is a perfect master of his own craft, so to explain them +without technical terms, and in the language of common sense, that most +persons of tolerably liberal education, and possessing a fair average +intellect, may not only understand the effect produced, but admire the +ingenuity by which it was attained. + +§ It is of great importance that an effort should be made to remove that +veil of mystery which unfortunately, even in minds otherwise well +instructed, often shrouds the principles on which perfection in +manufactures, in science, and still more remarkably in the fine arts, +depends. These principles nevertheless are founded immutably on the +nature of the material world around us, as well as upon our own internal +feelings. Those which regulate taste are as general, although its rules +are not so precise, as those which relate to physics. Nor need it be +dreaded that a knowledge of the _grounds_ of that admiration which works +of genius ever command from cultivated minds, should diminish the +pleasure derived from their contemplation. + +Show to the student some mechanism effecting results apparently beyond +the reach of the art, and he becomes impressed with the immense distance +between his own intelligence and that which contrived it. Explain to him +the simple means and the beautiful combinations by which it is effected, +you then raise him in his own estimation, and the studious disciple thus +instructed, will ultimately arrive at the conclusion that the only +distance which is really _immense_, is that existing between the +perfection of the highest work of human skill and the simplest of the +productions of nature. + +§ In questions relating to taste the subject matter is so idealized, +that the enthusiastic and the timid equally dread its contact with the +more sober powers of reasoning, lest the process of analysis should +disenchant its visionary scenes, and dissolve the unreal basis of their +delight. Taste the most perfect, without a knowledge of the principles +on which it rests, resembles the barren instinct of animals: like them, +it gathers but little improvement from experience, and like them it +perishes with the extinction of the individual life; its labours leave +no inheritance to its race. + +Taste united with an intimate knowledge of its principles, and still +more if conjoined with the power of eliminating from the fleeting +relations amongst the objects of its attention, those resemblances +which, when sufficiently multiplied and defined, lead up to the +discovery of higher generalizations, confers upon its enviable possessor +a double source of happiness; it adds the delight of an intellectual +triumph to those romantic feelings which are excited by the beautiful, +the lovely, or the sublime in Nature, or which are suggested by the most +perfect representations of art. + +The comprehension of the cause of our pleasure renders us more acute to +perceive those elements which conduce to its existence, to trace their +connexion, to estimate their amount, to mould into form, and to call up +for the happiness of others and of ourselves, their endless +combinations. + +There is, however, for that rare union of judgment, imagination, and +taste, which we call genius, when each exists in due proportion and in +rich abundance, a yet higher object, a still nobler ambition. To have +given to mankind those models, which, after twenty centuries, still +rivet their attention, commanding unbounded admiration and defying +rivalry, is indeed a splendid achievement, justly repaid by the undying +fame which accompanies the names of those benefactors to mankind. + +But great as undoubtedly our gratitude ought to be for such gifts, it is +trifling compared with that which civilized society would owe to him, +who should instruct us in the _principles_ that guided the intellect as +well as the hands, of those by whom such immortal works were executed. + +In the fine arts, and in the arts of industry, as well as in the +pursuits of science, the highest department of each is that of the +discovery of principles, and the invention of methods. To investigate +the laws by which human intellect picks with caution its uncertain track +through those obscure and outlying regions of our knowledge which +separate the known and the certain from the unknown;—to teach us how to +cast as it were an intellectual and temporary connecting line across +that chasm, by which a new truth is separated from the old—confident +that when arrested by that isolated truth it will have fixed itself upon +one solid point, amidst a floating chaos of error,—confident also that, +when once the fixity of that single point has been assured, it is always +_possible_, however formidable the task, to link it by innumerable ties +to established knowledge, and thus to fill up the intervening space even +to the very boundary of its enlarged domain:—to achieve such a conquest +in any science surpasses all other discoveries, for it supplies tools +for the use of intellect, and enlarges the limits and the powers of +human reason. + +§ One of the great advantages of the Exposition will arise from the +interchange of kindly feelings between the inhabitants of foreign +countries and our own. The classes who visit us will consist neither of +the very elevated nor of the very low. They will all of them, probably, +possess more instruction and information than the average of their class +amongst their countrymen: consequently they will consist of persons the +most likely to derive instruction from their visit, and therefore to +return home with pleasing impressions. + +It has been found on the continent that the periodic unions of men of +science have had an excellent effect in removing jealousies and +establishing friendships. It has not unfrequently happened that two +philosophers have met in such societies, and have entered into +discussions which have enabled each to appreciate more justly the talent +of the other, before one of them was aware that he had formerly +criticised a work of his new friend, in terms which their present good +understanding would effectually prevent him from repeating. + +The experience we have had of the visit of the National Guard of Paris, +strongly confirms this view. It brought out the better feelings of our +nature towards our neighbours, and all classes took their share in +endeavouring to make those visits agreeable. On their return home, the +feeling excited by the visit was conveyed far beyond the actual +visitors; and it has left on the population of Paris a permanent advance +in good will towards Englishmen. + +§ Several objects may be suggested whose discussion would be of the +greatest importance for the advancement of the industrial arts, but +which are not within the scope of the Exhibition. There are, however, +other places of meeting where some of these might be discussed. The +Society of Civil Engineers might entertain some inquiries, whilst the +Statistical Society would be the most appropriate place for others. + +A few of these objects may be shortly alluded to. + +§ The law of patents is, perhaps, one of the most interesting as well as +of the most difficult questions. Amongst our visitors, doubtless, there +will be several who have studied the subject in their own country and +who might assist us by their information and experience. + +§ We have another law—that of partnership—which presents greater +obstacles to the advance of the mechanical arts than even the defective +state of the patent law. In England, whoever enters into a partnership, +however small a share of the profits he is to receive, yet his whole +fortune becomes responsible for any losses. In most other countries +there are a class of partnerships called anonymous, or _en commandite_, +in which persons willing to risk only a limited sum are entirely +relieved of all further responsibility. + +The effect of our English system is highly unfavourable to inventors. It +prevents in all but a few cases a small capital from being raised by the +joint contributions of persons more immediately acquainted with the +character and prospects of the inventor, and who are in that respect +best fitted to measure the chance of his success. + +A far greater impediment, however, arises from its entirely preventing a +considerable quantity of capital from being directed to inventions. Its +operation may be thus explained. + +There exist in this country a great number of persons of manufacturing +and commercial habits, whose knowledge of men is considerable, and whose +judgment of the capabilities of a proposed scheme or invention, is +cautious and judicious. + +Persons of this description often possess capital, or such credit as +easily to command its use. If partnerships could be entered into, in +which the liability was limited, many persons so circumstanced would +naturally use their skill and knowledge in selecting a certain number of +schemes, in each of which they would embark a small sum. By thus +spreading the risks over an extensive field, the profits to the +capitalist would be much more certain: whilst many an excellent +invention now lost for want of capital to carry it out, would thus +enrich its inventor and benefit the country. + +§ Connected with the subject of patents is another, which is of some +consequence to the public. Many of those capable of improving the arts +by new inventions, have no desire to secure their discoveries by patent +and thus to render them profitable to themselves, but are willing to +give the public the entire advantage. + +Now it is supposed that, if an inventor, under the existing law, +publishes the drawings of an engine which has not actually been +constructed, a machine-maker might make the machine, take out a patent +for it, and supply the public to the exclusion even of the inventor +himself. + +If the invention is a purely mechanical contrivance, it is quite +possible with mere drawings and with the aid of the Mechanical Notation +to demonstrate the possibility of its construction and of all its +movements, with the same certainty as that with which a proposition in +Euclid is proved. + +It seems then desirable, that some mode of publication should be +arranged by which the public should really enjoy the gifts which science +may present without risking monopoly by an interloper. + +$ The subject of co-operation is one of the greatest importance, and +like many other social questions neither its principles nor its limits +seem to be clearly understood. It is of the utmost importance that the +masses should be enlightened on a subject so exciting, and bearing so +directly on their interests. But until it has been further investigated, +and numerous instances having a practical connexion with its principles +have been collected, it is hopeless to attempt a popular treatment of +the subject. It would be highly desirable that those of our foreign +visitors who have at all studied that most important question, should +communicate to us the results of their experience. + +§ The _Mechanical Notation_ to which a slight allusion has been made, is +a system of signs by which all machinery may be perfectly described even +without the necessity of any explanation in words. It forms in fact an +universal language, which will be, when generally employed, capable of +being read by every people, just as the Arabic numerals are at present. + +It has now been in use for more than twenty-five years, during which +time many improvements and additions have been made. A considerable +portion of it was published in 1826.[13] Amongst the subsequent +additions there is one called the Mechanical Alphabet, which consists of +very simple but expressive signs placed above those letters of the +alphabet used to express certain parts of machinery. Possibly from 100 +to 200 of such signs may be required. Now before any publication is made +of those already used, it is of the greatest importance that they should +be thoroughly revised, and that practical mechanicians familiar with +every branch of the art, should contribute information respecting the +requirements in their different departments. Those also who are most +experienced in the art of mechanical drawing, ought to confer together +respecting the new rules according to which all drawings should have +letters attached to the various parts of the machinery they represent. + +The _universality of the language_ is of such importance, that it would +be quite mischievous hastily to publish to the world any other than a +well-considered system of signs. The Exposition of 1851 furnishes an +opportunity for such a revision. + +§ Considerable discussion has arisen respecting the ultimate fate of the +Crystal Palace. Three questions have been agitated:— + +1. Shall it be pulled down? + +2. Shall it be removed to another locality? + +3. To what uses can the building be applied if it is retained? + +Public opinion has undergone a great revolution since the opening of the +Exhibition; but however strongly it may now be expressed, it ought not +to interfere with public faith. If, after all the protestations and +pledges of the Commission, that the building was to be of temporary +duration, it should be permitted to remain permanently in its present +locality, little faith will be given in future to the promises of public +bodies. The pledge contained in the document by which the Commission was +appointed, viz. that 20,000_l._ should be given in prizes, has neither +been redeemed nor forgotten; and the treatment of the income-tax by the +successive political parties has added little to the respect with which +official promises are regarded. + +If the country had originally maintained its undoubted right to use its +own parks for its own purposes, the building might then have remained; +but the inhabitants of Belgravia, having raised a violent opposition to +the selection of that locality, were only pacified on receiving the +strongest assurances that the building should be removed after it had +fulfilled its original purpose. In justice therefore to them, it must be +taken down. + +The second question, Shall the Crystal Palace be removed? is by no means +decided by the answer given to the first. It would be perfectly +consistent with good faith to remove it to any other part of the park +not contiguous to Belgrave Square. + +The third question, therefore, To what uses can the building be applied? +must now be examined, in order to arrive at a definitive decision upon +the second. + +A wish seems to be very generally entertained for the preservation of +the building; and various uses have been suggested to which it might be +advantageously applied. + +Mr. Paxton wishes to convert it into a winter garden. + +M. Gambardella, in his highly interesting pamphlet, “What shall we do +with the Glass Palace?”[14] has proposed to have within its walls +alternately exhibitions of painting and of sculpture. + +Permanent galleries of the fine arts have also been proposed. + +Collections of the industrial arts, and models, have also been +suggested. + +A portion of it might also be appropriated to the building of several +theatres for lectures, of various sizes, capable of containing from 100 +to 2,000 persons. + +The great principle to be borne in mind is, that, whatever the future +destination of the building, it must be self-supporting. The best and +most certain test of its utility to the public is furnished by the fact +of their being willing to pay for the enjoyments it affords them. + +The plan of having a considerable portion of the building devoted to a +winter garden would supply a great want in our wet and uncertain +climate. The temperature ought not to be high, so that exercise might be +taken under shelter. No dogs, horses, or carriages ought to be admitted. + +A large portion of those residing in the immediate neighbourhood would +subscribe, and also many who possessed carriages. But the number of +subscribers would depend chiefly on the position chosen for the +building. In its _present_ locality, the prejudices of the wealthier +class would be increased by the injustice of retaining it in violation +of the strongest pledges, and it would probably have a very limited +number of subscribers. + +Perhaps it might be desirable to add reading-rooms for newspapers and +for the periodical literature of the day. Subscriptions to these might +be either for limited periods, or even for a single day. A +refreshment-room, also, would be required. + +If, however, the building were removed to the situation proposed in the +seventh chapter of this volume, it would be accessible to a much larger +number of subscribers. Its two ends being then placed at a small +distance from the two great thoroughfares passing Hyde Park Corner and +the Marble Arch, a large number of its visitors would arrive by the +omnibuses which pass each of those well-frequented localities. + +Space might readily be found either for periodical or permanent +galleries of painting and of sculpture. An objection has been made to +the former, namely, that the light in the glass palace is not fit for +the exhibition of paintings. It is singular that it should not have +occurred to such objectors that this is almost the only building in +which, from its very nature, there exists the most unlimited control +over both the quantity and the direction of light that may be required. + +The profit to be derived from this part of the establishment will, as in +the former questions, depend greatly on the situation of the building. + +Another plan, mentioned in the first edition of this work, was, to have +collections of the produce and manufactures exhibited on the present +occasion. Few applications of the building would be more appropriate, +and scarcely any could be more useful, than this. Fortunately, the +Executive Committee have undertaken the task, and it cannot be doubted +that the exhibitors will willingly lighten their labour by giving every +assistance in their power. One or two suggestions may here be offered, +for the purpose of impressing on the exhibitors at future Expositions +the great importance of attaching to each object a brief and condensed +account of facts connected with it. In the article of raw materials +there will not be much difficulty, as there are many instances of +excellence in that department. The case of drugs from Liverpool is a +good illustration. Their price, however, is omitted, because it was +forbidden. In the permanent collection, this most important element +will, of course, occupy its proper place. It might also be useful to +give the date of the first importation of each drug, and the first +application to its various uses. The quantity, also, of the chemical +element on which its use is founded contained in a given weight of the +substance would, if known, be highly interesting: as, for instance, the +quantity of quinine in a given weight of bark. + +In making a collection of machines, there is some fear of occupying a +very large space without a corresponding advantage. A lace frame, making +in one breadth of fifteen feet from sixty to a hundred repetitions of +the same lace, would, commercially speaking, be the most advantageous; +but such a frame with only ten repetitions would be more useful for +instruction. The various self-acting mules, also, would easily fill a +large room. Perhaps the collection might be confined to working models: +these might be made, from time to time, to replace the larger machines, +and funds for that purpose might be derived from the payments of the +visitors both to the exhibition and to the lectures which ought to be +given to explain the collection. + +In making a collection of specimens of manufactured articles, as well as +of produce, it would in many cases add little to the expense if a +sufficient quantity were purchased to divide into many samples. Thus, +the collections of foreign countries and of our own cities might be +enriched by authentic specimens. This view applies more particularly to +collections of woven fabrics. + +A well authenticated collection of cotton, flax, wool, and silk, in the +raw state, through all their successive stages of manufacture, up to the +woven fabrics of which they constitute the basis, if accompanied by the +prices of each at intervals of ten years during the last century, would +furnish materials of the most valuable kind, and would greatly aid the +economist, the statesman, and the philosopher, in discovering and +putting to the test the principles connected with their several +inquiries. + +It is not necessary, or even desirable, that this collection should +consist of articles of fancy: it ought to be composed of all those +fabrics which, although at first rare and costly, have ultimately become +objects of habitual consumption by large classes of the community. + +Another purpose of great importance to which a portion of such a +building might be applied, is the construction of convenient theatres +for the delivery of lectures, and for the discussion of questions of +interest. The want of such buildings in the western part of the +metropolis has long been felt, and acts injuriously on the progress of +knowledge. + +In the present state of society, oral statements of the great principles +which govern it, illustrated by striking facts drawn with judgment from +varied sources, would, if delivered with ability and good taste, attract +large audiences. Even science itself might be rendered popular by such +means. Yet if any highly gifted person, qualified for such a task, were +willing to devote to the subject the time necessary to assure the +success of his efforts, he would now be stopped at the very threshold, +for he could find no convenient theatre in any part of the west of +London, which he could hire for the delivery of such a course of +lectures. + +The only theatre capable of holding 1,000 persons, is that of the Royal +Institution in Albemarle Street. Let us suppose the lecturer capable of +attracting 1,000 subscribers, each willing to pay a sovereign for a +short course of lectures. How would the sum thus raised be divided? He +could lecture at that theatre only by the permission of the Managers, +who would scarcely pay him more than 100_l._[15] for the course. The +1,000_l._ therefore, which the public would willingly pay for the +instruction they received would be thus divided:— + + To the intellect which charmed them £100 + To the rent of the room in which they listened 900 + ------ + £1,000 + ------ + +If the 900_l._ were the remuneration of the creative mind, and the +100_l._ were the payment for the use of the room and the necessary +attendants, the information of several classes of society would be far +other than it now is, and the status of the lecturer would be entirely +altered. At present, however great the talent of the instructor, his +position is not exactly that which the interests of society demand. The +term, _itinerant_ lecturer, has long been one of reproach, and even now +it is not thought quite dignified in a gentleman to give a lecture _for +money_. The reason is obvious: nothing is thought respectable in England +which does not produce wealth. Any shrewd and unscrupulous fellow, who +swindles on a gigantic scale, will, if he succeed, be immediately +received with welcome into what is called the best society. Neither wit +nor talent are necessary for his admission: if, indeed, he be horridly +vulgar, a few additional hundreds of thousands will procure him +absolution in fashionable eyes, even for that most deadly sin. + +Enable the instructor to receive his due portion of that reward which +the public are willing to pay, and he too will become rich, and +therefore eminently respectable. With this increased remuneration, minds +of a higher order will be attracted to the study of the most difficult +of arts,—that of teaching; and the time will arrive when accomplished, +enlightened, and independent men may earn from five to ten thousand +a-year without courting a constituency for parliamentary influence, or a +minister for justice to merit he is incapable of appreciating. + +Such results, however, demand the use of convenient theatres of various +sizes, placed in situations easily accessible. + +It appears then that, on every ground which has been considered, the +utility of the Crystal Palace will depend almost entirely on the +situation chosen for its ultimate position. + +Looking at the question in a purely commercial view, considering the +difficulty of access from the north to its present locality; contrasting +it with the facility of access from every quarter in the site proposed; +it is not too much to presume that its revenue would be so greatly +enlarged by the removal, that it would justify an expenditure of forty +or even of fifty thousand pounds. + + [12] The French chamber has devoted 50,000 francs to the purchase of + specimens.—(_Illustrated News_, 2d. Feb. 1851.) + + [13] Phil. Trans. 1826, p. 250. + + [14] Published by Aylott and Jones, Paternoster Row. + + [15] It is far from the author’s intention to reproach in the + slightest degree the Managers of that most valuable Institution. Every + member having a right to be present at every lecture, it is not in + their power to do otherwise. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + INTRIGUES OF SCIENCE. + + +Several causes have justly lowered the position of science in England. +The conduct of the Royal Society, and of men of science themselves, has +equally contributed to this result. In a work on the Decline of +Science[16] in 1830, I exposed the wretched mismanagement of the Royal +Society, but not until in conjunction with Wollaston and other eminent +men, I had found the inutility of every effort we made to improve it +from within. Our reform bill stands recorded upon the minutes of the +council, with the signatures of Wollaston, of Young, of Herschel, and of +others whose names ought to have commanded respect: but it was defeated +by an ingenious manœuvre. + +The facts stated in the work alluded to, have never been disputed: one +answer[17] only having, as far as I am aware, ever been attempted to any +part of that volume. It appeared in the Annals of Philosophy, and was +first mentioned to me by the late Francis Baily, F.R.S. Not having then +seen it, I inquired whether he thought any reply necessary; his answer +was, “_No: it is a full admission of the truth of your statement._” + +§ In France the body who elect to offices in the Institute, are men of +the highest intellectual attainments, whose suffrage it is an honour to +receive, and who, during the existence of the monarchy, constituted one +amongst the classes out of whom Peers of France were selected. + +In England, out of about 800 Fellows of the Royal Society, the greater +part of them know nothing of science, and of course their votes swamp +those of the members most competent to pronounce opinions. The new mode +of admitting fellows of the Royal Society, has had a good effect in +improving the qualification of those admitted; but unfortunately, its +operation is so slow that it will be many years before the Society is +relieved from its incumbrances. + +§ In the Academy of Sciences at Paris, the office of Secretary is an +object of ambition even to men of the highest scientific attainments. It +is usually held by persons of the greatest eminence, who are themselves +at the same time carrying out original inquiries on subjects connected +with their official duties. It is sufficient to cite the names of +Delambre, of Fourier, of Cuvier, and of Arago. + +In England the Secretary of the Royal Society of London occupies no such +position. To some of our most eminent men, it may, when young, have been +an object of ambition to hold it for a few years: but considering the +very moderate pay of 100_l._ a-year, and how considerable a portion of +time must be occupied by its duties if conscientiously fulfilled, it is +rare that any man of original talent and independent feeling will join +in the intrigues by which it is too frequently obtained. + +In consequence of this state of things, the officers of the Royal +Society are most frequently third or fourth-rate men, who not having +sufficient occupation in their own professions, seek the office as a +means of adding to their income. Or, they may be, in some cases, +military men, who being paid by the public for other duties, are glad to +get relieved from them without the loss of their emoluments. Persons +holding offices in the Royal Society ought by their scientific eminence +to confer dignity on their office: instead of acquiring a position in +the world by its acceptance. + +§ Again, the justice of the decisions of the Council in awarding their +medals, has been publicly impeached. A very few years since, a general +meeting of the Society was summoned on the requisition of several of its +members, to inquire into the circumstances attending the award of +certain Royal medals. It was admitted by the President that there had +been considerable irregularities in some of the awards, and the Council +only escaped a vote of censure in consequence of some little want of +management in those who proposed it. + +During this discussion one of the Fellows of the Royal Society got up, +and remarked that although this case was very bad, it became trifling +when compared with the circumstances attending the very first award of +the Royal medals; for on that occasion the Council had wilfully violated +the laws they had themselves established for their distribution, and +that on his formally demonstrating the facts by reference to their own +minutes, they with singular consistency refused to alter their unfair +and unjust decision. + +§ Difficulties of another kind arise respecting the Presidents of +Societies. When the office of President is really or practically a +permanent one, it is very difficult to carry on the business of the +Society if the President is a person of exalted rank, or if he do not +permanently reside in London. + +In either case it usually happens that a secretary or treasurer, or +other officer who is resident, insensibly becomes the means of +communication with the President, who is naturally anxious to be +acquainted with the feelings and wishes of the body over which he +presides. The most honest officer can scarcely fail to have some little +bias towards his own opinions: he will naturally mix more with those who +approve of, than with those who differ from them, and will consequently, +although perhaps unintentionally, communicate to the President a +one-sided view of his own, as the dominant opinion of the Society. + +The President, on the other hand, however really anxious he may be to +introduce any amendments which he conceives advantageous for the +Society, will naturally doubt their policy if informed that they are not +in unison with the opinions of the body. He will communicate with his +treasurer, secretary, or other officer, and almost always express his +concurrence in the course proposed to him as being the most agreeable to +the body at large. + +The officer, receiving such a reply, will naturally mention at the +Council the opinions of the President. He may even from good nature +allow the Council to think that the President himself _originated_ the +views he only _adopted_ because he believed them to be those of the +Society. + +Under such circumstances, it is difficult to oppose the expressed wishes +of the absent President, and strangely enough, without any intentional +deceit, President, Council, and Society are supposed to be unanimous in +doing what each by itself thinks inexpedient. + +§ It is true that by great kindness, good sense, and decision of +character, the Prince or absent President may in some cases mitigate or +prevent these evils. Such cases, however, are the exception, not the +rule. + +§ In a work containing views on the state of science in England, +foreigners at least will expect that I should take some notice of my own +calculating engines. + +I had hoped that the history of the transactions between myself and the +government respecting them, as related in the eleventh chapter of the +History of the Royal Society by Mr. Weld, together with the two +criticisms on that work in the Athenæum,[18] would have rendered any +further explanation on my part unnecessary. Many persons, however, who +admit these as fully explaining the part I was compelled to take, have +at the same time expressed to me their doubts that some occult agency +was at work to prejudice the government, and have asked who were its +scientific advisers on such an important subject, during the long period +in which the Difference Engine was in abeyance. + +§ I have not been blind to the passions and interests of men. My own +pursuits were of such a character that they interfered with those of +none of my colleagues in the paths of science; and perhaps I may have +trusted too much to this circumstance as exempting me from rivalry and +jealousy. + +As a reformer both in science and in politics, I knew that I should +excite enmity in the minds of some honest men, and also in those of many +other persons who dreaded inquiry into jobs not yet exposed. When I +published the Decline of Science, in 1830, I certainly was not aware how +many would include themselves in the latter class: but had I foreseen +it, I should not have altered my course. To have met and to have +defeated intrigue by watchfulness, might not have been a difficult task, +but it would have required too great a sacrifice of time devoted to far +higher objects. It was, moreover, an occupation for which I had little +taste. + +The time, however, has now arrived when, having given up all expectation +of constructing the Analytical Engine from the drawings which I had +caused to be made at very great expense, I think it right to state the +result of my own observations, and especially to point out the facts +that have come to light to confirm them. These, if they do not open the +eyes of some, who, having been themselves deceived, have done me +injustice, will at all events be of use for the future, and may save the +young and inexperienced enthusiast of science from embarking in +undertakings, honourable to the country, but ruinous to himself. + +It has often been remarked, that an event in itself trivial sometimes +leads to results with which it seems to have no conceivable connexion. + +A beaver constructing his dwelling on the plateau of the Andes, may have +turned the course of a river, which otherwise would shortly have joined +the Pacific, into a valley through which, after lengthened wanderings, +it now flows into the Atlantic Ocean. + +So, by some strange combination of circumstances, a quarrel in which I +had no part, and with whose origin I am unacquainted, seems to have had +an unanticipated effect in impeding the construction of the Calculating +Engines. + +At the time of the foundation of the Astronomical Society, Sir James +South, whose observatory and whose house were hospitably open to every +cultivator of astronomy, was on terms of intimate friendship with almost +all of those persons at that period most eminent in science. It is +sufficient to mention the names of Wollaston and Davy, and to add that +when the late Mr. Fallows was appointed Astronomer at the Cape, although +previously a stranger, he became for several months the guest of Sir +James South, who assisted him in acquiring that practical knowledge of +instruments so necessary in his new avocation.[19] + +§ In 1829 Sir James South was elected President of the Astronomical +Society. It now appears, however, that previously to this appointment, +_a party had been formed_ adverse to Sir J. South, which party, with the +view of thwarting him, placed in the office of Secretary the Rev. +Richard Sheepshanks, Fellow of Trinity Coll., Cambridge.[20] + +In March, 1831, the Board of Visitors of the Royal Observatory of +Greenwich, met at the Admiralty, to consider the propriety of separating +the duties of Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac from those of +Astronomer Royal. The new arrangement was advocated, amongst others, by +Sir J. South, and after some discussion, in which Capt. Beaufort and +myself took part, it was ultimately carried. As we were leaving the +meeting-room, Mr. Sheepshanks addressing me said: “I am determined to +put down Sir James South, and if you and other respectable men will give +him your support, I will put you down.” He at the same time told me he +“intended to put Captain Beaufort down.” + +During the course of 1832, it was found that the large equatorial +mounting which had been contrived and executed by Troughton, for his +friend Sir J. South’s twelve-inch object-glass, was an entire failure. +This produced at the time a difference between two friends who esteemed +each other highly, and who had been for years united by reciprocal acts +of kindness in ties of “_very intimate_” friendship. Well acquainted +myself with the character of the parties, and the circumstances of the +case, I have not the slightest doubt that this unfortunate affair might +easily, by the exertions of judicious friends, have terminated in the +entire restoration of their former friendship. But this was a course +which the Rev. R. Sheepshanks took effectual means to prevent. Having +himself a “_personal_” quarrel with Sir James South, he “_offered_” his +services to assist Messrs. Troughton and Simms. He “_offered to go_” +himself to examine the instrument in Sir J. South’s observatory, and +“_got his friend, Professor Airy, to go with him_” for the purpose of +remedying the defects of the Equatorial. + +Notwithstanding he was told by Mr. Simms that “_Sir J. South had +declared that no person could have been pitched upon more obnoxious than +yourself_,” he still persevered in obtruding himself into Sir J. South’s +observatory as the agent of Troughton and Simms, until it was at last +discovered that no after contrivances or expense could correct the +errors of an instrument itself radically defective in principle. + +It may readily be supposed that the continuance for months of these +visits by Mr. Sheepshanks and Professor Airy, and the _irritating +correspondence_ consequent upon them, which, though _nominally_ that of +Troughton and Simms, was really “_directed by_” the Rev. R. Sheepshanks, +destroyed all hope of a reconciliation. The parties then had recourse to +the Court of King’s Bench, and it was curious to observe the vigour and +energy with which the Rev. R. Sheepshanks applied himself to the +exercise of his earlier studies.[21] + +Having _volunteered_ his services to Messrs. Troughton and Simms—he +“_wrote every letter_” for them during the subsequent law-suit—he acted +for them in all the various characters of “_friend_” and “_adviser_”—of +“_workman_” and “_agent_”—of “_attorney_” and “_counsel_;”[22]—he made +an “_affidavit_” in the case—became a _witness_ himself—and undertook to +_intimidate witnesses_ on the opposite side. + +This latter performance is fortunately rare in England, and is so +remarkable that it is necessary to give some account of the proceedings. + +Not wishing to become involved in so disagreeable a case, I had refused +to be a witness on the part of Sir J. South. Having, however, had some +conversation on the subject with the late Lord Abinger (then Mr. +Scarlett), he represented to me that my evidence was essential for the +justice of the case, and upon that ground I reluctantly waived my +objection to appear as a witness. + +Having been examined in chief on the seventeenth day of the Arbitration, +I remained in the room a few minutes after the Arbitrator had left it. +The Rev. R. Sheepshanks, the only other person then present, addressing +me said, “it was necessary to _discredit me_ because I had supported Sir +J. South.” He added that “he would, at a future time, _attack me_ +publicly on _another subject_, on account of the part I had taken in +this matter.” + +The remembrance of his former threats more than four years before at the +Visitation at the Admiralty, added to the knowledge of the unremitting +perseverance with which he had carried on his hostility to Sir J. South, +satisfied me that it would be unsafe for the cause of truth, and +possibly injurious to myself, if I were not to take measures for making +known the nature of the weapons which the Rev. R. Sheepshanks was +employing. As he had ventured, _after_ my having given evidence on oath, +to threaten me with injury, with the hope of inducing me to modify that +evidence on cross-examination, it appeared to me probable that he might +have been tampering with the evidence of other witnesses in the same +cause, who from their position or circumstances in life, might be +compelled by the fear of his vengeance to shape their evidence so as to +adapt it to his views. + +The Rev. R. Sheepshanks discovered on reflection no impropriety in this +course of intimidating witnesses, or of attacking those who could not be +induced to take up his own private quarrels. He thus defended both. + +“_I think it allowable to throw down the gauntlet in this manner._” + +“_I have another ground of dispute with Captain Beaufort, and certainly +intend to put him down._” + +The gallant Admiral has survived many a dangerous day, and needs not the +pen of a friend to protect his honest and well-earned fame. + +The reader may perhaps be astonished at the statement made in the +preceding pages, and feel disposed to consider it an _ex parte_ +statement. It _is entirely_ an _ex parte_ statement: it is not necessary +for its support that the reader should give credence even to that small +part of it which appears to rest on my own evidence before the +Arbitrator. _The whole of it is founded entirely on the testimony of +the_ Rev. R. Sheepshanks _himself._ Every statement of those which are +marked as quotations was either elicited from him on his +cross-examination, or in the few instances in which it came from myself, +its correctness was confirmed by his subsequent admission or +re-statement. After my statement, and the Rev. R. Sheepshanks’ reply to +it, the Arbitrator addressing him said— + +“With respect to the matter of fact, you agree?” + +Rev. R. Sheepshanks. “Yes, we agree as to the matter of fact.” + +Professor Airy, who was afterwards appointed Astronomer Royal, had long +before become as deeply engaged as his friend Mr. Sheepshanks in this +most unfortunate quarrel. Years of aggravating delay and discussion +resulted from the procrastinated reference, and at length one of the +parties, Mr. Troughton, being dead, a decision not satisfactory to +either was given in December 1838. But the inextinguishable desire “to +put down Sir James South” survived the lawsuit which was only used as a +means, and reappeared from time to time through the aid of the press, in +forcible but somewhat unmeasured charges and recriminations between the +Astronomer Royal, the Rev. R. Sheepshanks and others on the one side, +and the astronomer of Campden Hill on the other. + +It was a curious though a very painful study, to observe from time to +time the various consequences of this feud. + +Against those men of science who refused to forsake their ancient social +relations with Sir James South, a system of disparagement was maintained +which could not fail in the course of time to produce its effects. The +avowed object of the party of which the Rev. R. Sheepshanks was the +organ, was, in his own expressive words, to _discredit and put down +every respectable person_ who supported Sir J. South. + +It was melancholy to observe the gradual change in the expression of +opinions by some of those qualified from their knowledge to guide the +opinion of the public. Intimidated at first into silence; the +uncontradicted assertions of those around them then got possession of +their minds, until at length, without any new examination, they were +flattered into an acquiescence in, if not indeed into the expression of, +opinions entirely opposite to their former ones. These new views were +doubtless conveyed by their flatterers to other ears, and thus the +process of “_discrediting every respectable person_” opposed to them, +was carried on under the authority of honourable names. + +One after another almost all Sir James South’s old friends and +acquaintance amongst _men of science only, however_, were alienated from +him. + +One man was alarmed by the fear that some inaccuracies in his +astronomical publications should be severely criticised. Of another it +was hinted that his mathematics were all wrong, and might be shown up. + +Those who were timid feared the anger of the dominant party; those who +were young might have their prospects blighted by even appearing in +friendly relations with him who supported the unequal conflict; those +who were old loved repose, and found it easiest to appear to side with +the most numerous party; whilst those who saw through the whole of it, +had better things wherewith to occupy their minds, than to attend to +such affairs. + +It is obvious to all who have observed society that such a system of +“_discrediting_” carried on for a series of years, especially against +one too much occupied or too proud to expose it, must end in +establishing the set of opinions propagated by the party. Honest and +even tolerably well-informed persons, will at length be misled, and be +found to adopt them. + +Opinions thus propagated must have had their influence widely spread, +and unless those members of the various administrations with whom +decisions relative to the Difference Engine rested, had been either +highly skilled in mathematical science, or deeply read in human nature, +it would have been almost impossible for them not to have been misled. + +The former qualification is unnecessary; the latter is indispensable for +a statesman. Of the _eight_ Prime-ministers with whom I have had +communications relative to the Difference Engine, _one_ only personally +examined it; doubtless not with the view of criticising the mechanism, +but of reading the character of its author. Had my _official_ +intercourse with that eminent man commenced earlier or continued later, +the fate of the Calculating Engines would probably have been far +different. + +It is always difficult to trace intriguers up to a direct intercourse +with government. In the present case, the vanity of some of them +overcame their judgment, and they gave themselves out as advisers of the +government on scientific subjects. To these I shall not at present +refer, but confine myself to citing from official documents two cases of +direct communication with the government by persons on whose judgment it +appears to have relied. + +The Whigs seemed to have had great confidence in the devotion of the +Rev. R. Sheepshanks to their interests, since they took the +extraordinary step of appointing him, although a Clergyman, one of the +Boundary Commissioners under the Reform Bill, and he is, I believe, at +present one of the Standard Measure Commission. + +The Astronomer Royal, besides his situation at Greenwich, has been a +member of several Commissions:— + + The Tidal Harbour Commission. + The Standard Measure Commission. + The Harbour of Refuge Commission. + The Railway Gauge Commission. + +The following are extracts from his Annual Reports:— + + “The Board of Admiralty, on my representation of the interruption to + our business caused by the rating of so many Chronometers, and _by my + own employment on public business unconnected with the Observatory_, + immediately sanctioned the employment of an additional + computer.”—_Astron. Royal, Rep. June 1841_, p. 7. + + “On former occasions I have avowed without scruple that I do not + consider the Royal Observatory as a mere isolated place for the + conduct of Astronomical observations. I consider it a part, perhaps + the most important part, of the scientific institutions of this + country.”—P. 18. + + “In concluding this long report, I have been uniformly supported by + the _confidence of the government_.”—_Astron. Royal, Rep. June 1844_, + p. 20. + +The following extract of a letter from the Astronomer Royal to the late +Sir Robert Peel, shows that his time was so occupied with the labours of +the Railway Gauge Commission, that he was unable to draw up a memorial +which he had himself proposed, even though it related to an astronomical +subject—our colonial observatories. + + * * * * “I have been so closely employed on the papers of the Railway + Gauge Commission, that it has been impossible for me to draw up a + memorial before the present time. * * * * + + “April 16th, 1846. + To the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., &c.” + + “By the giving opinions on subjects of railways and _other mechanical + matters referred to me by Government_, it has appeared that our + energies are not wholly absorbed in the mere Astronomy of the + Observatory.”—_Astron. Royal, Rep. June 1846_, p. 10. + + (N.B. The italics do not occur in the original quotations.) + +Now it is evident from these extracts from Reports of the Astronomer +Royal to the Board of Visitors and from other facts, that he wishes +himself to be considered the general referee of Government in all +scientific questions. + +The office of Astronomer Royal is one of great importance: it requires +the undivided energy and talents of one person, and great as Mr. Airy’s +abilities undoubtedly are, yet it is highly injudicious to divert them +from their legitimate object,—the direction of the many arduous duties +of the establishment over which he presides. + +During many years I have frequently found, in my communications with +members of Government on subjects connected with the Calculating +Engines, difficulties on their part which remained entirely +unexplained;—unseen obstacles which were never alluded to, but whose +existence could not be doubted. + +Although frequently warned by personal friends that it was unwise to +neglect such machinations as those which I have, at length, been +reluctantly compelled to expose; yet I was unwilling for a long time to +believe that they were directed against myself. + +I have now traced the connexion of the Rev. R. Sheepshanks, (who had +avowed his determination “_to discredit me_,” and also to “_attack me on +another subject at a future time_,”) through his friend the Astronomer +Royal, with the Government. According to the Astronomer Royal’s own +statement, he was their adviser on all scientific subjects. The +Government had no other official adviser, and would scarcely have +ventured to decide upon points connected with some of the most profound +questions of mathematics, on their own responsibility. + +There are, I am aware, other channels than those of official reports, by +which the Government may have been influenced. I do not, therefore, +expect to find any formal report denying the practical utility of the +Calculating Engines, or the possibility of constructing them. + +If there is any such, I claim as a matter of justice, that it be +published. The Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine, are +questions of pure science. If the Astronomer Royal has maintained that +they are either useless or impracticable, then the grounds of that +opinion _must_ have been stated, and, if published, the solidity of +those grounds might be examined. + +It now becomes necessary to take a very brief review of the conduct of +Government with respect to the Difference Engine. Having contrived and +executed a small model of a Difference Engine, I published a very short +account of it in a letter to Sir Humphry Davy, in the year 1822. At the +wish of the Government I undertook to construct for them an engine on a +much larger scale, which should print its results. I continued to work +at this Engine until 1834, refusing in the mean time other sources of +profitable occupation, amongst which was an office of about 2,500_l._ +a-year. Circumstances over which I had no control then caused the work +to be suspended. + +After eight years of repeated applications, and of the most harassing +delay, at the end of 1842 the Government arrived at the resolution of +giving up the completion of the Difference Engine, on the alleged ground +of its expense. + +In the mean time, new views had opened out to me the prospect of +performing purely algebraic operations by means of mechanism. To arrive +at so entirely unexpected a result I deemed worthy of any sacrifice, and +accordingly spared no expense in procuring every subsidiary assistance +which could enable me to attain it. Each successive difficulty was met +by new contrivances, and at last I found that I had surmounted all the +great difficulties of the question, and had made drawings of each +distinct department of the Analytical Engine. + +Having expended upwards of 20,000_l._ on the experiments and inquiries +which had led me to these results, it would not have been prudent to +attempt the _construction_ of such an engine. I thought, however, that +there were several offices in the appointment of Government for which I +was qualified, and to which, under the circumstances, I had some claim. +I hoped if I had obtained one of these, by fulfilling its laborious +duties for a few years, and by allowing the whole salary to accumulate, +that I might then have been able to retire, and adding the money thus +earned to my own private resources, that I might yet have enough of life +and energy left to _execute_ the Analytical Engine, and thus complete +one of the great objects of my ambition. + +Having neither asked nor been offered any acknowledgment for all the +sacrifices I had made, I felt that I had some just claims to one of +these appointments. Every application was unsuccessful; whatever may +have been the reasons, the conduct of Government has been exactly that +which might have been expected had they been the _allies_ or the _dupes_ +of the party which thought it necessary, from enmity to Sir James South, +to “discredit” the author of the Analytical Engine. + +One only of the many reports which were circulated, I thought it worth +while to contradict, and that cost me more trouble, and wasted more of +my time, than the refutation of the calumny was worth. It was boldly and +perseveringly stated that I had received from the Government a large +pecuniary reward for my services. The fact was, not merely that I never +_did_ receive any such reward, but that I was almost constantly +_advancing money_ to pay the engineer who was constructing the Engine +for the Government, before I had myself received the amount of his bills +from the Treasury. + +On tracing up these rumours, they were usually found to arise from a +species of dishonesty very difficult to convict. Thus one person +circulated them widely; when asked for the grounds of the charge, he +referred to certain Parliamentary Papers, and affected to believe that +the sums paid _for the workmen_ were paid to the _inventor_: of course +_he_ could no longer safely propagate the falsehood. Another then took +up the tale, until he was met by the same question, when _he_ not only +expressed his delight at being informed of the truth, but half convinced +his indignant, though credulous auditor, that _he_ would assist in +propagating the correction. Thus the assertion was continually repeated, +until honourable and upright men, who had been deceived and discovered +the deception, were so frequent in society, that it became dangerous to +the character of the traducers to continue the circulation of the +calumny. + +Even since the first edition of this work has appeared, one of these +calumnies has been again revived, in the statement that— + + The reason why the Government gave up the construction of the original + Difference Engine was, that Mr. Babbage refused to finish _it_, and + wished them to take up the Difference Engine No. 2. + +An attempt has been made to prove its truth by a quotation from this +volume, in which the accuser, mistaking dates, assigns the drawings of +the Difference Engine No. 2, which did not exist until 1847, as the +causes of the discontinuance of No. 1, which was given up in 1843. This +charge too is made in the face of a distinct denial by Mr. Babbage that +the late Sir Robert Peel could have been influenced by any such +_supposed_ wish, because he had in his possession a written _disavowal_ +of it from Mr. B. himself; it is also made in the teeth of the very +words used by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, in his letter to Mr. +B. regretting the necessity of giving it up, assigns as its cause “_the +expense_.” Both these latter statements had been already published in +1848. + + [16] Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on some of + its Causes. 1830. + + [17] A small pamphlet, the production of an amiable and excellent + foreign philosopher, cannot be considered an answer: since it did not + _contradict_ the facts, and only answered opinions on science, which + were _not_ maintained in that book. + + [18] Athenæum, 14 Oct. 1848, and 16 Dec. 1848. + + [19] Sir James South, in conjunction with Sir John Herschel, completed + the examination of 380 double and triple stars; a work for which the + authors were awarded the great Astronomical prize of the Institute of + France in 1825, and the Medal of the Astronomical Society of London in + 1826. + + [20] “When he [Sir J. S.] was elected President, I [Rev. R. S.] was + elected Secretary to keep him in order.” + + [21] At an earlier period of his life, his studies were directed + towards the profession of the law. + + [22] On the 19th July, 1836, at the 23d meeting under the Arbitrator, + the Rev. R. Sheepshanks _cross-examined_ Mr. Savage the Architect. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + CALCULATING ENGINES. + + +It is not a bad definition of _man_ to describe him as a _tool-making +animal_. His earliest contrivances to support uncivilized life, were +tools of the simplest and rudest construction. His latest achievements +in the substitution of machinery, not merely for the skill of the human +hand, but for the relief of the human intellect, are founded on the use +of tools of a still higher order. + +The successful construction of all machinery depends on the perfection +of the tools employed, and whoever is a master in the art of tool-making +possesses the key to the construction of all machines. + +The Crystal Palace, and all its splendid contents, owe their existence +to _tools_ as the physical means:—to intellect as the guiding power, +developed equally on works of industry or on objects of taste. + +The contrivance and the construction of tools, must therefore ever stand +at the head of the industrial arts. + +The next stage in the advancement of those arts is equally necessary to +the progress of each. It is the art of drawing. Here, however, a +divergence commences: the drawings of the artist are entirely different +from those of the mechanician. The drawings of the latter are +Geometrical projections, and are of vast importance in all mechanism. +The resources of mechanical drawing have not yet been sufficiently +explored: with the great advance now making in machinery, it will become +necessary to assist its powers by practical yet philosophical rules for +expressing still more clearly by signs and by the letters themselves the +mutual relations of the parts of a machine. + +As we advance towards machinery for more complicated objects, other +demands arise, without satisfying which our further course is absolutely +stopped. It becomes necessary to see at a glance, not only every +_successive_ movement of each amongst thousands of different parts, but +also to scrutinize all contemporaneous actions. This gave rise to the +Mechanical Notation, a language of signs, which, although invented for +one subject, is of so comprehensive a nature as to be applicable to +many. If the whole of the facts relating to a naval or military battle +were known, the mechanical notation would assist the description of it +quite as much as it would that of any complicated engine. + +This brief sketch has been given partly with the view of more distinctly +directing attention to an important point in which England excels all +other countries—the art of _contriving and making tools_; an art which +has been continually forced upon my own observation in the contrivance +and construction of the Calculating Engines. + +When the first idea of inventing mechanical means for the calculation of +all classes of astronomical and arithmetical tables, occurred to me, I +contented myself with making simple drawings, and with forming a small +model of a few parts. But when I understood it to be the wish of the +Government that a large engine should be constructed, a very serious +question presented itself for consideration:— + +Is the present state of the art of making machinery sufficiently +advanced to enable me to execute the multiplied and highly complicated +movements required for the Difference Engine? + +After examining all the resources of existing workshops, I came to the +conclusion that, in order to succeed, it would become necessary to +advance the art of construction itself. I trusted with some confidence +that those studies which had enabled me to contrive mechanism for new +wants, would be equally useful for the invention of new tools, or of +other methods of employing the old. + +During the many years the construction of the Difference Engine was +carried on, the following course was adopted. After each drawing had +been made, a new inquiry was instituted to determine the mechanical +means by which the several parts were to be formed. Frequently sketches, +or new drawings, were made, for the purpose of constructing the tools or +mechanical arrangements thus contrived. This process often elicited some +simpler mode of construction, and thus the original contrivances were +improved. In the mean time, many workmen of the highest skill were +constantly employed in making the tools, and afterwards in using them +for the construction of parts of the engine. The knowledge thus acquired +by the workmen, matured in many cases by their own experience, and often +perhaps improved by their own sagacity, was thus in time disseminated +widely throughout other workshops. Several of the most enlightened +employers and constructors of machinery, who have themselves contributed +to its advance, have expressed to me their opinion that if the +Calculating Engine itself had entirely failed, the money expended by +Government in the attempt to make it, would be well repaid by the +advancement it had caused in the art of mechanical construction. + +It is somewhat singular, that whilst I had anticipated the difficulties +of construction, I had not foreseen a far greater difficulty, which, +however, was surmounted by the invention of the Mechanical Notation. + +The state of the _Difference Engine_ at the time it was abandoned by the +Government, was as follows: A considerable portion of it had been made; +a part (about sixteen figures) was put together; and the drawings, the +whole of which are now in the Museum of King’s College at Somerset +House, were far advanced. Upon this engine the Government expended about +£17,000. + +The drawings of the _Analytical Engine_ have been made entirely at _my +own cost_: I instituted a long series of experiments for the purpose of +reducing the expense of its construction to limits which might be within +the means I could myself afford to supply. I am now resigned to the +necessity of abstaining from its construction, and feel indisposed even +to finish the drawings of one of its many general plans. As a slight +idea of the state of the drawings may be interesting to some of my +readers, I shall refer to a few of the great divisions of the subject. + +ARITHMETICAL ADDITION.—About a dozen plans of different mechanical +movements have been drawn. The last is of the very simplest order. + +CARRIAGE OF TENS.—A larger number of drawings have been made of modes of +carrying tens. They form two classes, in one of which the carriage takes +place successively; in the other it occurs simultaneously, as will be +more fully explained at the end of this chapter. + +MULTIPLYING BY TENS.—This is a very important process, though not +difficult to contrive. Three modes are drawn; the difficulties are +chiefly those of construction, and the most recent experiments now +enable me to use the simplest form. + +DIGIT COUNTING APPARATUS.—It is necessary that the machine should count +the digits of the numbers it multiplies and divides, and that it should +combine these properly with the number of decimals used. This is by no +means so easy as the former operation: two or three systems of +contrivances have been drawn. + +COUNTING APPARATUS.—This is an apparatus of a much more general order, +for treating the indices of functions and for the determination of the +repetitions and movements of the Jacquard cards, on which the Algebraic +developments of functions depend. Two or three such mechanisms have been +drawn. + +SELECTORS.—The object of the system of contrivances thus named, is to +choose in the operation of Arithmetical division the proper multiple to +be subtracted; this is one of the most difficult parts of the engine, +and several different plans have been drawn. The one at last adopted is, +considering the object, tolerably simple. Although division is an +inverse operation, it is possible to perform it entirely by mechanism +without any tentative process. + +REGISTERING APPARATUS.—This is necessary in division to record the +quotient as it arises. It is simple, and different plans have been +drawn. + +ALGEBRAIC SIGNS.—The means of combining these are very simple, and have +been drawn. + +PASSAGE THROUGH ZERO AND INFINITY.—This is one of the most important +parts of the Engine, since it may lead to a totally different action +upon the formulæ employed. The mechanism is much simpler than might have +been expected, and is drawn and fully explained by notations. + +BARRELS AND DRUMS.—These are contrivances for grouping together certain +mechanical actions often required; they are occasionally under the +direction of the cards; sometimes they guide themselves, and sometimes +their own guidance is interfered with by the Zero Apparatus. + +GROUPINGS.—These are drawings of several of the contrivances before +described, united together in various forms. Many drawings of them +exist. + +GENERAL PLANS.—Drawings of all the parts necessary for the Analytical +Engine have been made in many forms. No less than thirty different +general plans for connecting them together, have been devised and +partially drawn; one or two are far advanced. No. 25 was lithographed at +Paris in 1840. These have been superseded by simpler or more powerful +combinations, and the last and most simple has only been sketched. + +A large number of Mechanical Notations exist, showing the movements of +these several parts, and also explaining the processes of arithmetic and +algebra to which they relate. One amongst them, for the process of +division, covers nearly thirty large folio sheets. + +About twenty years after I had commenced the first Difference Engine, +and after the greater part of these drawings had been completed, I found +that almost every contrivance in it had been superseded by new and more +simple mechanism, which the construction of the Analytical Engine had +rendered necessary. Under these circumstances I made drawings of an +entirely new Difference Engine. The drawings, both for the calculating +and the printing parts, amounting in number to twenty-four, are +completed. They are accompanied by the necessary mechanical notations, +and by an index of letters to the drawings; so that although there is as +yet no description in words, there is effectively such a description by +signs, that this new Difference Engine might be constructed from them. + +Amongst the difficulties which surrounded the idea of the construction +of an Engine for developing Analytical formulæ, there were some which +seemed insuperable if not impossible, not merely to the common +understandings of well-informed persons, but even to the more practised +intellect of some of the greatest masters of that science which the +machine was intended to control. It still seemed, after much discussion, +at least highly doubtful whether such formulæ could ever be brought +within the grasp of mechanism. + +I have met in the course of my inquiries with four cases of obstacles +presenting the appearance of impossibilities. As these form a very +interesting chapter in the history of the human mind, and are on the one +hand connected with some of the simplest elements of mechanism, and on +the other with some of the highest principles of philosophy, I shall +endeavour to explain them in a short, and, I hope, somewhat popular +manner, to those who have a very moderate share of mathematical +knowledge. Those of my readers to whom they may not be sufficiently +interesting, will, I hope, excuse the interruption, and pass on to the +succeeding chapters. + +§ The first difficulty arose at an early stage of the Analytical Engine. +The mechanism necessary to add one number to another, if the carriage of +the tens be neglected, is very simple. Various modes had been devised +and drawings of about a dozen contrivances for carrying the tens had +been made. The same general principle pervaded all of them. Each figure +wheel when receiving addition, in the act of passing from nine to ten +caused a lever to be put aside. An axis with arms arranged spirally upon +it then revolved, and commencing with the lowest figure replaced +successively those levers which might have been put aside during the +addition. This replacing action upon the levers caused unity to be added +to the figure wheel next above. The numerical example below will +illustrate the process. + + 597,999 Numbers to be added. + 201,001 + ------- + 798,990 Sum without any carriage. + 1 Puts aside lever acting on tens. + ------- + 798,900 First spiral arm adds tens and + 1 puts aside the next lever. + ------- + 798,000 Second spiral arm adds hundreds, and + 1 puts aside the next lever. + ------- + 799,000 Third spiral arm adds thousands. + +Now there is in this mechanism a certain analogy with the act of memory. +The lever thrust aside by the passage of the tens, is the equivalent of +the note of an event made in the memory, whilst the spiral arm, acting +at an after time upon the lever put aside, in some measure resembles the +endeavours made to recollect a fact. + +It will be observed that in these modes of _carrying_, the action must +be _successive_. Supposing a number to consist of thirty places of +figures, each of which is a nine, then if any other number of thirty +figures be added to it, since the addition of each figure to the +corresponding one takes place at the same time, the whole addition will +only occupy nine units of time. But since the number added may be unity, +the carriages may possibly amount to twenty-nine. Consequently the time +of making the carriages may be more than three times as long as that +required for addition. + +The time thus occupied was, it is true, very considerably shortened in +the Difference Engine: but when the Analytical Engine was to be +contrived, it became essentially necessary to diminish it still further. +After much time fruitlessly expended in many contrivances and drawings, +a very different principle, which seemed indeed at first to be +impossible, suggested itself. + +It is evident that whenever a carriage is conveyed to the figure above, +if that figure happen to be a nine, a new carriage must then take place, +and so on as far as the nines extend. Now the principle sought to be +expressed in mechanism amounted to this. + +1st. That a lever should be put aside, as before, on the passage of a +figure-wheel from nine to ten. + +2d. That the engine should then ascertain the position of all those +nines which by carriage would ultimately become zero, and give notice of +new carriages; that, foreseeing those events, it should anticipate the +result by making all the carriages simultaneously. + +This was at last accomplished, and many different mechanical +contrivances fulfilling these conditions were drawn. The former part of +this mechanism bears an analogy to memory, the latter to foresight. The +apparatus remembers as it were, one set of events, the transits from +nine to ten: examines what nines are found in certain critical places: +then, in consequence of the concurrence of these events, acts at once so +as to anticipate other actions that would have happened at a more +distant period, had less artificial means been used. + +§ The second apparent impossibility seemed to present far greater +difficulty. Fortunately it was not one of immediate _practical_ +importance, although as a question of philosophical inquiry it possessed +the highest interest. I had frequently discussed with Mrs. Somerville +and my highly gifted friend the late Professor M‘Cullagh of Dublin, the +question whether it was possible that we should be able to treat +algebraic formulæ by means of machinery. The result of many inquiries +led to the conclusion, that if not really impossible, it was almost +hopeless. The first difficulty was that of representing an indefinite +number in a machine of finite size. It was readily admitted that if a +machine afforded means of operating on _all_ numbers under twenty places +of figures, then that any number, or _an indefinite_ number, of less +than twenty places or figures might be represented by it. But such +number will not be really indefinite. It would be possible to make a +machine capable of operating upon numbers of forty, sixty, or one +hundred places of figures: still, however, a limit must at last be +reached, and the numbers represented would not be really _indefinite_. +After lengthened consideration of this subject, the solution of the +difficulty was discovered; and it presented the appearance of reasoning +in a circle. + +Algebraical operations in their most general form cannot be carried on +by machinery without the capability of expressing _indefinite_ +constants. On the other hand, the only way of arriving at the expression +of an indefinite constant, was through the intervention of Algebra +itself. + +This is not a fit place to enter into the detail of the means employed, +further than to observe, that it was found possible to evade the +difficulty, by connecting _indefinite_ number with the _infinite in +time_ instead of with the _infinite in space_. + +The solution of this difficulty being found, and the discovery of +another principle having been made, namely—that _the nature of a +function might be indicated by its position_—algebra, in all its most +abstract forms, was placed completely within the reach of mechanism. + +§ The third difficulty that presented itself was one which I had long +before anticipated. It was proposed to me nearly at the same time by +three of the most eminent cultivators of analysis then existing, M. +Jacobi, M. Bessel, and Professor M‘Cullagh, who were examining the +drawings of the Analytical Engine. The question they proposed was +this:—How would the Analytical Engine be able to treat calculations in +which the use of tables of logarithms, sines, &c. or any other tabular +numbers should be required? + +My reply was, that as at the time logarithms were invented, it became +necessary to remodel the whole of the formulæ of Trigonometry, in order +to adapt it to the new instrument of calculation: so when the Analytical +Engine is made, it will be desirable to transform all formulæ containing +tabular numbers into others better adapted to the use of such a machine. +This, I replied, is the answer I give to you as mathematicians; but I +added, that for others less skilled in our science, I had another +answer: namely— + +That the engine might be so arranged that wherever tabular numbers of +any kind, occurred in a formula given it to compute, it would on +arriving at any required tabular number, as for instance, if it required +the logarithm of 1207, stop itself, and ring a bell to call the +attendant, who would find written at a certain part of the machine +“Wanted log. of 1207.” The attendant would then fetch from tables +previously computed by the engine, the logarithm it required, and +placing it in the proper place, would lift a detent, permitting the +engine to continue its work. + +The next step of the engine, on receiving the tabular number (in this +case the logarithm of 1207) would be to _verify_ the fact of its being +really that logarithm. In case no mistake had been made by the +attendant, the engine would use the given tabular number, and go on with +its work until some other tabular number were required, when the same +process would be repeated. If, however, any mistake had been made by the +attendant, and a wrong logarithm had been accidentally given to the +engine, it would have discovered the mistake, and have rung a louder +bell to call the attention of its guide, who on looking at the proper +place, would see a plate above the logarithm he had just put in with the +word “_wrong_” engraven upon it. + +By such means it would be perfectly possible to make all calculations +requiring tabular numbers, without the chance of error. + +Although such a plan does not seem absolutely impossible, it has always +excited, in those informed of it for the first time, the greatest +surprise. How, it has been often asked, does it happen if the engine +knows when the _wrong_ logarithm is offered to it, that it does not also +know the right one; and if so, what is the necessity of having recourse +to the attendant to supply it? The solution of this difficulty is +accomplished by the very simplest means. + +§ The fourth of the apparent impossibilities to which I have referred, +involves a condition of so extraordinary a nature that even the most +fastidious inquirer into the powers of the Analytical Engine could +scarcely require it to fulfil. + +Knowing the kind of objections that my countrymen make to this +invention, I proposed to myself this inquiry:— + +Is it possible so to construct the Analytical Engine, that after the +cards representing the formulæ and numbers are put into it, and the +handle is turned, the following condition shall be fulfilled? + +The attendant shall stop the machine in the middle of its work, whenever +he chooses, and as often as he pleases. At each stoppage he shall +examine all the figure wheels, and if he can, without breaking the +machine, move any of them to other figures, he shall be at liberty to do +so. Thus he may from time to time, falsify as many numbers as he +pleases. Yet notwithstanding this, the final calculation and all the +intermediate steps shall be entirely free from error. I have succeeded +in fulfilling this condition by means of a principle in itself very +simple. It may add somewhat, though not very much, to the amount of +mechanism required; in many parts of the engine the principle has been +already carried out. I by no means think such a plan _necessary_, +although wherever it can be accomplished without expense it ought to be +adopted. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + POSITION OF SCIENCE. + + +Science in England is not a profession: its cultivators are scarcely +recognised even as a class. Our language itself contains no _single_ +term by which their occupation can be expressed. We borrow a foreign +word [_Savant_] from another country whose high ambition it is to +advance science, and whose deeper policy, in accord with more generous +feelings, gives to the intellectual labourer reward and honour, in +return for services which crown the nation with imperishable renown, and +ultimately enrich the human race. + +The first question which presents itself to a government desirous of +advancing science, is to consider what departments of knowledge it is +important that it should reward. This is a point upon which much +misunderstanding prevails, and with regard to which interested parties +have studiously endeavoured to delude the public. + +As the fund which can be applied to this purpose even by a generous +nation, is moderate, the first limitation of its application ought +naturally to be,—to confine it to those discoveries which are from their +very nature not immediately capable of becoming a source of profit. + +One of the most common errors, is to reward persons who have merely +acquired an extensive knowledge of various departments of science, but +who have neither extended its boundaries by new methods, nor added new +principles to its theories. + +§ An analogous mistake often occurs to wealthy and benevolent persons +residing in the country, who, finding in the son of their village +blacksmith or other artificer, some great aptitude for figures, +immediately conclude that if properly trained and then sent to College, +he will turn out a great mathematician. Now although in very rare +instances such cases may have occurred, the general result is quite +different. The lad thus selected, if as is usually the case he is +somewhat above the average intellect, will under such favourable +circumstances probably acquire a considerable knowledge of science, and +become a very respectable member of society. But if the benevolent +person who thus totally changed the position in life of this young man, +had first made inquiries at our national schools, he would probably have +found several out of every hundred scholars, capable under similar +treatment of acquiring a still larger amount of that knowledge. + +§ With the increasing extension of science the labour of some of its +details becomes excessive, and those who are able to afford the expense, +gladly employ computers to relieve them from the more irksome portions +of their toil. The reduction of astronomical and meteorological +observations are of this kind. When once the formulæ to be used are +decided upon, and a skeleton form is ruled or printed and a system of +checks is devised, the remaining work may be executed by persons of very +moderate attainments. This may be extended to the computation of the +orbits of planets, of comets, and of double stars, and such assistance +may usually be had on very moderate terms. In more extensive operations, +the liability to error from the want of sufficient checks, and the great +tediousness and even uncertainty of the result must remain, until +mechanism shall entirely relieve the mind from these difficulties. + +§ Let us now consider what is the present situation of men of science in +England. + +The estimate which is formed of the social position of any class of +society, depends mainly upon the answer to these two questions:— + +What are the salaries of the highest offices to which the most +successful may aspire? + +What are the honorary distinctions which the most eminent can attain? + +Offices of a strictly scientific nature are few, and their salaries are +generally of small amount: amongst these there are— + +A few of the professorships at our universities. + +The Astronomer Royal. + +The Astronomers of some of our Colonial Observatories. + +The Master of Mechanics to the Queen. + +The Conductor of the Nautical Almanac. + +The Director of the Museum of Economical Geology and of the Geological +Survey. + +Various officers of the same institution. + +Some of the officers in the Natural History department of the British +Museum. + +The most valuable of these, that of Astronomer Royal, receives about +1,300_l._ a-year, including a pension of 300_l._ + +Thus there is amongst this class one solitary prize of at the utmost +1,300_l._ a-year, and that is confined to one department of science. + +Offices for which men of science are at least as fit as any other +persons, are numerous, though they are very rarely attained by those who +pursue it. + + +It may, perhaps, have been expected that the recent appointment of Sir +John Herschel to the Mastership of the Mint, should have been noticed in +the previous list. But until the motives which dictated it are known, I +have no observation to make, except that it is gratifying to me to find +that the great principle of the “claims of science,” for which I have +all my life been contending, has been thus as it were, unconsciously +admitted by the minister: and had the accident of birth placed me in his +position, the appointment would have been the same, although the motives +for it might have been different. + +Let us now turn to the _honorary distinctions_ which await science. +During the eleven years of the present reign, one solitary instance is +to be found of a baronetcy given for science, and that too occurred only +at a festival (the coronation) at which baronetages and peerages were +showered upon those whose sole claim was founded on the mere support of +party. + +During the same interval, about half a dozen of those who cultivate +science, have been knighted. + +It appears then that the highest position a man of science can attain, +and that but very rarely, is a baronetcy; that the highest salary is +about 1,000_l._ a-year. When this is compared with the most successful +prizes in the army, the navy, the church, or the bar, it shows at once +the inferior position occupied by science. + +Connected with the navy is an office which ought to be held by a person +eminently uniting science with practical skill. The Surveyor-General of +the Navy has to decide upon questions of the greatest difficulty. The +mathematical theories and inquiries on which the various qualities of +sailing vessels and steamers depend, are of the most complicated kind, +and are not even yet sufficiently advanced to serve as secure and +absolute guides. Yet without a knowledge of their present state, and a +power of advancing those theories, it is hopeless to expect the greatest +and most valuable additions to the science of naval architecture. This +can only be accomplished by one who combines a great facility in +applying such portions of them as admit of it, to the practical facts +which experience is continually bringing to light. + +The talent for commanding a fleet is by no means rare: the most +successful in that line may attain fortune, the peerage, and a large +pension. The talent for investigating the laws regulating the forms of +ships, is of the very rarest order. Even if its possessor should happen +to be of the naval profession, his greatest reward could only extend to +knighthood, and a thousand a-year during the tenure of an office of +great labour. Of course, naval men having the requisite talents, would +never turn them into so unprofitable a direction: yet it would be +difficult to say how many millions of money have been, and continue to +be, uselessly expended for want of that knowledge. + +Amongst those situations in the appointment of the government, there are +many in which a knowledge of various branches of science is highly +useful. A considerable number of these are filled by officers of +engineers, artillery, and other corps of the army and of the navy. Thus +those whose service is already paid for by the country, are excused from +doing their ordinary duty, and are paid again for doing another and +perhaps a more agreeable duty. + +Under the delusive plea that _military_ and _civil_ engineering are the +same science, military engineers have been placed in situations for +which they were unfit, and civil engineers have been excluded, to the +injury of that profession, and to the much greater damage of the +country. The Ordnance Magnetical Observatories will furnish an example +of the _economy_ which, it is pretended, results from such arrangements. + +Some ten or twelve years ago, it was proposed by Humboldt that various +governments should establish magnetical observatories at different +points on the earth’s surface, so chosen that by the united information +thus obtained, we might arrive at more accurate and correct ideas of the +state of the earth’s magnetism. That plan has been pursued with great +advantage to science. A magnetical observatory was built at Greenwich, +and continuous observations were made which have been reduced and +published annually under the direction of the Astronomer Royal. The +expense[23] of the Magnetic and Meteoric Observatory, excluding that +portion of the Astronomer Royal’s salary which may be considered due to +his services in the direction of this department, but _including the +whole of the making and recording the observations themselves_, is +720_l._ annually. + +There are other magnetical observatories in several of our colonies in +which observations are made. These observations appear to be sent for +reduction to an establishment at Woolwich, under the superintendence of +Colonel Sabine. + +Now the first and most obvious course would have been to have employed +an additional number of computers at Greenwich, who should use the same +formulæ and methods of reduction. This would ensure perfect uniformity, +and would apparently be the most economical plan. + +The course that is actually pursued is to have a separate establishment +at Woolwich, with an officer, and several non-commissioned officers on +extra pay, so that the account stands thus:—[24] + + £ s. d. + One officer, extra pay 182 10 0 + One non-commissioned officer, ditto 27 7 6 + Three non-commissioned officers, ditto 68 8 9 + Contingent, not exceeding 200 0 0 + ------------ + Apparent expense £478 6 3 + +But to this must be added— + + The full pay of Lieut.-Colonel 300 0 5 + His extra pay 273 15 0 + Full pay of one officer, if a Captain 192 16 3 + Ditto one non-commissioned ditto[25] 20 0 0 + Ditto three ditto ditto 50 0 0 + ------------- + Real expense £1,314 17 11 + +In the estimate for civil service for 1850[26] the following items +occur:— + + £ s. d. + Extra pay to Colonel Sabine, Royal Artillery, for + services in connexion with the Magnetic and + Meteorological Observations, for ten years, from + 7th May, 1839, to 7th May, 1849, at 15s. a-day 2,739 15 0 + Deduct 3s. 4d. per day granted him from 1st June, + 1841, to 7th May, 1848, as compensation for loss + of command pay 434 8 0 + -------------- + £2,305 7 0 + +This certainly requires an explanation. Here is an officer not doing the +services of his profession, who it seems has been allowed a compensation +for what he _might_ have received if he _had_ rendered those services: +notwithstanding which, at the end of ten years, he claims and is allowed +the above sum of £2,305 7_s._ for services the payment of which it would +seem by this account was never contemplated during those ten years. + +It is also to be remarked that Colonel Sabine does not reside at +Woolwich, where the only effective portion of the work is carried on. + +§ But to return to our argument: it is singular that even the principles +on which science ought to be rewarded, are not entirely settled. + +Should all equally great discoveries be rewarded in the same way, +without regard to the different positions in society which the +discoverers occupy? If this principle were admitted, the rewards must be +very large, or there would be none for the higher classes of society. + +Of all steps in the social scale, that which first elevates a man into +the class of Gentlemen is by far the greatest. In this country, where +the differences of rank are great, there is fortunately, until we +approach royalty, no absolute line of demarcation between any classes, +except the one alluded to; even the peerage to a private gentleman is +not so great an advance. + +It is without doubt very desirable that all classes should contribute to +the intellectual advancement of the country. But unless different +advantages are proposed to different classes, it is not possible to +apply any general stimulus to all. + +§ Those who maintain that science is its own reward, cannot have +remarked the vicious circle in which they reason. The delight derived +from discovery is indeed a high intellectual reward, but the force of +this maxim is only known practically to those who have already advanced +in the career of discovery: it can, therefore, never direct the inquirer +into that line. All men are subject to the same feelings and passions. +It is assuredly true that men of wealth and rank will be happier if they +cultivate their faculties, and add to the amount of human knowledge: but +they cannot be aware of this truth until they are considerably advanced, +consequently it cannot have induced them to commence this cultivation. + +§ But it is for the interest of those who are the consumers of +knowledge, that all other minds should be induced to advance it: +therefore it is our interest to place even before the highest classes, +at the commencement of their career, motives for its pursuit. Having +raised such expectations, justice requires us to fulfil them; nor can we +regret that the advantages derived from the course into which we have +invited them, should have proved beneficial to them beyond even the +limits of our prediction. + +It is of the very nature of knowledge that the recondite and apparently +useless acquisition of to-day, becomes part of the popular food of a +succeeding generation. Thus the nobleman who spends his wealth in +constructing unrivalled instruments, and his nights in scrutinizing with +them the remotest boundaries of space into which human vision has yet +penetrated, is preparing a source of pleasure and happiness for the +descendants of those very peasants whom his practical skill in +engineering has raised by his own instructions above the ranks in which +he originally found them. + +§ Another question has been raised, but not yet answered, respecting +those pensions which have been awarded for scientific discoveries. A +certain definite limit has been fixed by practice, which has never yet +been exceeded in pensions assigned to science. The sum of three hundred +a-year, the maximum of reward to science, is almost the minimum of +reward for other services. + +The most important question is, Whether these pensions are given as the +reward of scientific services rendered to the country, or as charity to +enlightened and studious persons who happen to be poor? In the one case, +they are an honour which a philosopher may be proud of receiving from +his country: in the other, they are no more than a higher order of +pauper relief, which an independent gentleman can scarcely condescend to +accept. + +Another important question, though of a different nature, also arises +here. Are these pensions, thus small in amount, fit to be offered to +those who, in order to arrive at their discoveries, have themselves in +some cases spent out of their own private fortune, sums far larger than +the fee simple of the rewards thus offered to them. + +Is it just that the _same rewards_ should be given to persons filling +well-endowed scientific offices, supplied with all the means of +discovery which the most perfect art can produce, as to other +philosophers, who, at the expense of their own personal comfort and +perhaps of the interests of their family, have purchased the costly +means by which they have succeeded in _equally_ improving their several +departments of science? + +For the honour and the advancement of science, it is necessary that +these questions should be distinctly answered. It is to be hoped that +some independent member of parliament will at last press them in a +manner which no ministerial shuffling can evade. + + [23] See App. to Rept. of Select Com. on Misc. Expenditure, p. 222. + + [24] See p. 221 App. to Rept. on Misc. Expenditure, p. 848 (543) II. + + [25] The pay of the non-commissioned officers has been assumed as + somewhat less by ten per cent. than their extra pay. + + [26] See p. 41, App. to Rept. on Misc. Expenditure, p. 848, (268) IV. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + THE PRESS. + + +Some of the principles for the discovery of truth, professed and acted +upon by those who administer the laws of England, and by those who +practice in its courts, are certainly repugnant to the first impressions +and feelings of honest men, if not also to common sense. It is, +therefore, absolutely necessary, in order to remove these impressions, +to state the ground on which those principles are defended. That ground +may be shortly expressed thus— + +It has been found by long experience that it is more for the advantage +of truth and justice that professional men should be stimulated by fees +and the hope of advancement, to put forward or conceal every fact, to +advance, withhold, or oppose every inference and argument, _solely_ as +it may be of advantage to the party by whom they are employed. + +It is also stated that the public are aware of this convention, and, +therefore, are not deceived by the speeches of the advocate. + +Without asking whether the long experience alluded to has ever been +fortified by the trial and the failure of an opposite course, it may be +at once stated that this mode of arriving at truth is contrary to the +result of long experience in matters of science. In all discussions on +those subjects, it is found far more conducive to truth, if either party +in discussing a mooted point discover in his own argument a flaw, +unobserved by his opponent, that he should immediately point it out, and +that they should both apply their minds to repair it, and if +unsuccessful, admit it. The same course is pursued with regard to facts; +every circumstance, however apparently remote, is contributed by both +inquirers to the common stock, without the slightest care as to its +bearings on one or the other side of the question. Facts thus conveyed +for the first time to the mind of one of the parties, often recall to +his memory analogous facts, and thus the materials of reasoning or of +induction become largely increased. + +§ To this supposed legal principle, it may be fairly objected that it is +entirely a theoretical view. To be convinced of this it is enough to +appeal to every man who has ever sat on a jury or heard one addressed by +counsel. He well knows that the very first effort of the learned +advocate is to attempt to persuade the jury that he is no advocate at +all. This line is sustained throughout his address, and his great object +is to convince them that he himself personally believes both the facts +to which his witnesses testify, and the inferences he adduces from their +evidence. The more skilful the advocate, the more he endeavours to +persuade the jury that he is merely an impartial observer, assisting +them in arriving at a just conclusion. + +The effects of long habit in thus mystifying less practised reasoners, +cannot fail to be injurious to the moral character of the man. Take a +case of title to property, on which a barrister is consulted. Suppose +the holder has no right whatever to it, yet will the barrister by every +means his knowledge and ingenuity can suggest, help his client to rob +some other person of his property. It is useless to say that in such +circumstances the attorney conceals certain facts of his case, and does +not put the facts to the counsel in this plain way. On such occasions +the most skilful counsel are always employed, and they are certainly +competent, _if they choose it_, to ascertain the real state of the case. +In criminal cases such attempts to mislead juries are still more +reprehensible. + +§ If the principle now discussed is sound, it is capable of application +to another subject—the press. But strangely enough, lawyers, more than +any other class, abuse the press because it treats its subject +commercially, and refuse to admit that rule in the case of editors of +newspapers, which they claim as a sanction for themselves. A little +examination, however, will show that the conduct of the press is much +more defensible than that of the bar. + +The public require a daily account of all facts connected with politics +and the institutions of the country; it also demands analyses, +discussions, and opinions on the bearings of all such facts upon its +interests. As opinions amongst the public are often much opposed to, or +widely different from each other, it is clear that this demand cannot be +satisfied without many newspapers. Now, looking solely to the commercial +profit arising from its sale, it is tolerably certain that some one +paper supported by greater capital, and conducted with greater skill, +will endeavour to represent the opinions of the largest class of those +who purchase these sheets of diurnal information. The first place being +thus occupied, other journals will arise to represent the opinions of +smaller, yet, perhaps, of powerful classes. Thus the opinions of all +parties, and, in some measure, their relative strength, become known to +each other. This is an end much to be desired. + +If the opinions of the public change, those of the leading journal must +of course follow, even though they are directly opposed to those +advocated by it a few days before. Such a change undoubtedly shocks the +feelings of many who remain constant to their own views, and cases often +occur in which these latter give up their usual paper. It must, however, +be admitted that there are few political or economical questions on +which one side is morally right, the other morally wrong. That a given +man has or has not got possession of another man’s estate, that a man +has or has not committed a murder or other crime, must, in most cases, +be well known to his counsel; if in either case the wrong-doer escapes +punishment, an injury is done to society. But whether a given line of +policy or a given law, is more or less beneficial or even injurious to +the State, is generally dependent on so many causes that very few are +able to foresee their consequences with tolerable certainty. + +The most general and unsophisticated opinion is, that no man is +justified in advocating, even when unpaid, doctrines in which he does +not himself believe. With respect to the press, it is possible that the +writer of the second article may be a different individual from the +person who wrote the first article; but even were he the same person, +the bar at least have no right to find fault with him. + +§ The press then may advantageously be considered as expressing the +opinions of classes, not of individuals. It has greatly improved in the +last quarter of a century, in consequence of the general improvement of +all classes. + +There is now also fortunately established a certain professional feeling +amongst its members that reports of speeches, or of facts, ought to be +_rigidly exact_. Abstracts of speeches will occasionally be coloured not +by additions, but by selections or omissions, according to the side of +the question advocated by the writer. Yet even here the more popular +papers are careful to do justice to all parties. It is the more +important that this latter rule should be admitted as a principle, +because, from the great length of the debates themselves, they are +rarely read by persons much occupied, except when questions of great +interest occur. + +To such persons an _impartial_ abstract is invaluable. + +In the leading articles greater latitude is allowable. These, if the +theory which has been explained is admitted, are avowedly the +expressions of the opinion of its customers. The power of the press is +undoubtedly great, yet it is bound by the strongest ties of interest not +to abuse that power. It is clearly its interest to seem consistent, and +consequently to employ, at almost any expense, the best means of +ascertaining the opinions of the country _before_ they are publicly +expressed. Having attained this knowledge, it will get the credit of +appearing to lead public opinion. + +Its powers of doing good when honestly conducted, are yet larger than +its powers of mischief. Yet even here its power is of necessity limited. +It cannot advocate even the _best_ course of policy on any important +subject unless it is tolerably certain that it will succeed in +convincing its customers that it is _really_ the best. It _ought_ not to +advocate that best course, because the falling off of its subscribers +might then disable it from as effectually assisting the _second best_. +It, however, neither ought, nor is it ultimately its interest, to +conceal those opinions from its subscribers. + +The power it possesses, of exposing knaves and swindlers, by means of +its correspondents, and of sending highly intelligent commissioners from +time to time to inquire personally into the situation of various classes +of the population, are of great value, and could only be exercised by a +wealthy as well as by a powerful press. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + PARTY. + + “Of all the tyrannies that molest this terrestrial scene perhaps there + is none so arbitrary, so extravagant, or so grotesque as the tyranny + of party. There is none that so frequently subjects the wise to the + caprices of the fool, and the good to the designs of the knave.”—_The + Times, Dec. 1850._ + + +There are two great principles of government which divide the opinions +of mankind. + +1st. Unchangeableness; or, “Let things alone:”—the law of the Medes and +Persians. + +2d. Progress; or, the continual advancement of mankind in the +improvement of their Institutions. + +No number of persons sufficiently extensive to deserve the name of a +class, have ever advocated the principle of _Retrocession_. Some few +enthusiasts have indeed believed in a golden age, and have advocated the +pastoral, or even the hunting life. These, however, were not persons +capable of collecting, examining, and weighing the evidence on which +alone an opinion on the comparative happiness of people existing in a +savage or in a civilized state of life can justly be formed. + +A larger number exist, the admirers of the past, each perhaps the +worshipper of his own peculiar age. Had he lived in those times, +enjoying only the ordinary capacity he now possesses, but endowed with +all the increased knowledge of the present day, he might then have +attained a position more commensurate with his wishes, though quite +disproportioned to the industry of his exertions or the calibre of his +intellect. + +§ In our own country, “the wisdom of our ancestors” is with some the +hackneyed theme of unbounded admiration. + +Our ancestors were generally wise and sagacious men: they applied their +energies and their knowledge, as far as it went, to their _existing_ +wants and necessities. Those amongst them who deserved that character, +would, if questioned, have expressed in language the precept to which +their deeds conformed. Availing themselves gratefully of all the +knowledge bequeathed to them by their predecessors, they struggled to +advance it for their own and their children’s benefit, and thus they +might have counselled every generation to their latest posterity:— + +“You have received from us, tested by many trials, the treasured +knowledge, gathered under difficulty and danger, of our country’s +experience. + +“Let the great object of each generation be to purify that body of +knowledge from its partial errors, to add to it the greatest amount of +new truths. + +“Remember that accumulated knowledge, like accumulated capital, +increases at compound interest: but it differs from the accumulation of +capital in this; that the increase of knowledge produces a more rapid +rate of progress, whilst the accumulation of capital leads to a lower +rate of interest. Capital thus checks its own accumulation: knowledge +thus accelerates it own advance. Each generation, therefore, to deserve +comparison with its predecessor, is bound to add much more largely to +the common stock than that which it immediately succeeds.” + +§ A question has not unfrequently been proposed by those who apply their +foresight to remote rather than to immediate objects— + +“What will become of our posterity when our coal-fields are exhausted?” + +The best answer to this question is, that when that distant day arrives, +if our posterity, with the accumulated knowledge of centuries, shall +have failed to find any substitute for coal in the many other sources of +heat which nature supplies, they will then deserve to be frost-bitten. + +§ It is remarkable that the great parties adopt opposite principles in +pursuance of the same line of reasoning. + +The advocates of things as they are, wish to stop all change, in order +to _prevent revolution_. Those who inculcate continual progress, support +it, because it makes all changes gradual, and thus, in their opinion, it +_prevents revolution_. + +It is by sudden changes in laws and institutions that the greatest +misery is inflicted on mankind. Those gradual changes which are spread +over a considerable period are foreseen, and men make preparation +beforehand to accommodate themselves to the new but expected +circumstances. + +If the changes effected by the Reform Bill, had been spread over the ten +preceding and ten subsequent years, few will deny that it would have +been a better measure, and more effective for its purpose. The +experience derived from its earlier changes would then have been +available for its later uses. The pertinacity, however, with which all +reform was resisted, led to such a state of affairs, that after the +refusal to transfer the franchise from East Retford, revolution was +averted only by vast and _immediate_ concession. + +§ The terms Tory and Whig had been the watchwords of these two parties, +until, at last, the public lost all confidence in either. With the +increasing wealth of the country, and with the greater application of +observation, of reasoning, and of science, to its many arts and +manufactures, a vast increase has been produced in the numbers, the +power, and the influence of the middle classes. Many individuals who +have raised themselves by their intellect and industry into this class, +have been so fully impressed with the advantages of previous training, +that they have made efforts to give their children an education more +extensive and more liberal than any which, until lately, our +universities had attempted to supply. + +It is to the growth of this class, which includes men possessing from +500_l._ to 5,000_l._ a-year, that we are indebted for much of the +strength which public opinion now exerts upon the ministry of the day. +Notwithstanding the vast influence of wealth and of rank throughout the +country, there are still amongst these middle classes, thousands whose +moderation renders them rich; who, therefore, can afford to be honest, +and whose approbation is neither to be purchased by wealth, nor won by +the seductions of rank and of fashionable life. + +Such men, on all public questions, influence widely and justly the +opinions of those around them. There are such in the House of Commons; +and, with the extension of knowledge, many more will be added to their +number. + +Thus the very weakness of an administration may possibly become an +advantage, since it thus becomes impossible for government to carry any +measure entirely opposed to the calm good sense of the people. This, +however, admits of one excepted case. If a party to advance its own +interests will pander to some strong passion, to some prejudice of +ignorance or of bigotry, it may for a time succeed, though it will +ultimately lose in character. + +In the meantime, the people have found out that Party is made use of +only for the aggrandizement of a few families; that it has degenerated +into a clique, banded together for mercenary purposes, without +enthusiasm or genius to compensate for its meanness, and with little of +talent to palliate its want of integrity. + +The reign of party, however, verges towards its end; the supplies on +which it feeds are sapped by economical reform. That almost all places +under Government are greatly overpaid admits of no denial. The demand +for them is notoriously great, and it is equally notorious that nothing +but the strongest political interest has any chance in the contest for +them. + +The government of England is nominally a limited monarchy, but +practically almost an oligarchy. A large number of its appointments are +shared by a few families, into which some daring and unscrupulous +intruders occasionally force their way, by opposition which it is easier +to quell by place than to answer by argument: or into which less gifted +and more cunning supporters sometimes obtain an entrance by a judicious +alliance. + +§ It is strongly asserted that government cannot go on without party. +That those who maintain this opinion are incapable of so conducting it, +must be at once admitted. + +Without, however, entering into the debateable question of the _limits_ +of party, it is sufficient to state another principle, which no honest +man will deny, and then to leave to the advocates of party to reconcile +it with their doctrine. + +_It is morally wrong to endeavour to convince any one of the truth of an +opinion in which the advocate himself does not believe._ + +If this principle were practically acted upon, how much of the valuable +time of both Houses of Parliament would be saved! In looking over a +debate, or still better, a _division_, the private opinions of many of +the speakers are often well known by their friends to be quite at +variance with the doctrines they advocated in their speeches. The +quasi-honesty of those who admit the truth in private, is however +venial, when compared with the hypocrisy of those who are equally false +on both occasions. + +Party, then, as it practically exists, is one of the evils of the +political state of England. + +The remedy must come partly from the reduction of temptation, by +diminishing the salaries of all those places and appointments for which +there is such immense competition; partly from the effect of public +opinion; and ultimately, to a far greater extent, when any sincere +desire exists to restrain it, from improved methods of distributing +patronage. + +But one defect seems almost always to accompany a high state of +civilization, namely,—a great deficiency of moral courage in large +classes of persons, who from knowledge and position ought rightly to +contribute their share to the formation and expression of public +opinion. The first evil which this produces, is an excessive zeal and +energy in a few of those who are most strongly convinced. These bear the +brunt of the attacks of all who are interested in the support of abuses. +If, unhappily, they are not independent in fortune as well as in spirit, +these, the forlorn hope of reform, are sure ultimately to be trampled +upon and destroyed by the jobbers—they die with ruined fortunes and +broken hearts. + +Many of those who shared their opinions, and urged on their enthusiasm, +but who warily abstained from expressing their own thoughts _in public_, +now venture to avow those principles, to which opinion has at length +advanced: these reap the rewards won by the energies and sacrifices of +their martyred friends. For such, the epithet the poet applied to Bacon +is not unfit: + + —“the wisest—meanest of mankind.”—POPE. + +A very serious evil arises from this timidity in expressing opinions. +The whole state of society presents a counterfeit surface,—no man knows +how many or how few really share his opinions: its whole fabric is in a +state of unstable equilibrium; it is liable at every moment to most +unlooked-for changes, from accidents apparently trivial. + +The following is one amongst many examples which might have been +selected of the different standard with which Party measures services +rendered to the public by those within and those without its own limits. + +In the year 1847, when some millions of English money were sent over to +save the people of Ireland from perishing by famine, it became necessary +to organize a system of accounts and of regulations, for the direction +of those officers who were sent over for the purpose of personally +superintending the distribution of this relief. + +These arrangements were made by the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, +Sir C. T----, K.C.B., at extra hours; but it does not appear how many +months he was so employed. + +The office at that time held by this gentleman, was one for which he +received a salary of £2,500 per annum; and certainly this liberal salary +ought to have commanded the devotion of his whole time, if necessary, to +the public service. It would seem that some application was made from +the Treasury, and that Lord John Russell acceded to it with unwonted +liberality. He gave the remuneration in a manner thought +unconstitutional by several eminent members of the House of Commons, and +to an extent justly considered extravagant by the public. + +The following extracts from Hansard will explain the matter. + + “The Chancellor of the Exchequer.—With regard to Sir C. T----, the + case was an exceptional one; but his services on the extraordinary + emergency alluded to were so very great that it had been thought right + to make a Treasury minute, awarding him £2,500. The item would be + found in the ‘Civil Contingencies’ laid before the House. + + “Mr. Disraeli,—while readily acknowledging the great services rendered + by this gentleman, could not forget that the Order of the Bath had + been conferred upon him—a reward bestowed upon him as for services + which could not be paid by a pecuniary grant. The vote of £2,500 was + surely conceived in rather bad taste; and a _preux chevalier_ like Sir + C. T----, bearing his blushing honours, might well be supposed to + recoil from receiving an extra year’s salary. + + “Mr. Gladstone—condemned the conduct of Government in this matter. It + was their duty to have submitted a vote to the House, not to have + taken on themselves to reward a public servant. If there was one rule + connected with the public service which more than any other ought to + be scrupulously observed, it was this, that the salary of a public + officer, more especially if he were of high rank, ought to cover all + the services he might be called upon to render. Any departure from + this rule must be dangerous. + + “Lord John Russell said, that the Government thought the services of + Sir C. T---- were deserving of reward. + + “Mr. Goulburn.—According to all precedent, the House of Commons ought + to have fixed the amount of Sir C. T.’s remuneration. + + “Lord John Russell.—Sir C. T---- stated in his evidence that he worked + three hours before breakfast; that he then went to the Treasury, where + he worked all day; and that the pressure upon him was such that he + wondered that he had been able to get through it alive.”—_Hansard_, + Vol. 101, p. 138, 1848. Supply, 14th Aug. 1848. + +There appears to be some indistinctness as to the fund out of which this +2,500_l._ was taken. Compare Hansard with Questions 1693 and 1696 of the +Report on Miscellaneous Expenditure. + +No mode of keeping accounts, however, will alter the fact; that if the +famine had not occurred, neither would the 2,500_l._ have been required; +consequently, that sum was part of the whole amount our humanity cost +us. + +The liberality of the Minister to the Assistant Secretary of the +Treasury, may be explained by stating that he was the _brother-in-law_ +of a Cabinet Minister. + +There was another gentleman at least equal in talent to the Assistant +Secretary, whose services were gratuitous, who, at the risk of his +health, was actively engaged on the spot in superintending the +distribution of the relief. To him the Government thought it sufficient +to give the Companionship of the Bath, whilst the Assistant Secretary +was made a Commander of that Order. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + REWARDS OF MERIT. + + +The personal distinctions in the gift of the Government of this country +consist of the following five orders of knighthood:— + + NAME. NO. OF MEMBERS. + GRAND KNIGHT COMP. + CROSS. COM. + The Garter 25 + The Thistle 16 + St. Patrick 16 + The Bath Military 50 102 525 + The Bath Civil 25 50 200 + St. George and St. Michael 15 20 25 + --------------------- + 147 172 750 + +Of these, the first three are restricted, with few and rare exceptions, +to persons of a certain rank—including earls, and those above them. The +number of these, with the addition of three sons for each duke, and of +the eldest sons of marquesses, amounts to about four hundred and fifty. +Amongst this favoured class fifty-seven ribbons may be conferred; so +that about one-eighth of the class enjoy the decoration. + +These ribbons, although much sought after by the class amongst which +they are distributed, are more correctly appreciated by the public at +large. + +With some illustrious and honourable exceptions, they are usually given +by those in power to their party supporters. They have also occasionally +been employed by the minister of the day, as inducements to persuade his +friends to postpone inconvenient questions, to the agitation of which +they had been publicly pledged. + +An amusing and characteristic anecdote respecting one of these Orders, +the Garter, is related of a late Premier. At a time when several of +these “baubles” had fallen vacant, and been judiciously given away by +the discreet minister, a friend asked him, why he had not retained a +Garter for himself? to which he wittily replied, “Why, the fact is, I +don’t see the use of a man’s bribing himself.” + +The order of St. Michael and St. George was instituted for the Ionian +Islands, and is usually given, after a certain time of service, to the +Lord High Commissioner, to the Commanders-in-Chief of the Mediterranean +fleet, and to other persons connected with the public service in those +quarters. + +Thus England has, practically, only one order of merit; and, singularly +enough, with the exception of a few civil crosses of the first-class +almost invariably given for diplomatic service, until lately, that order +was not accessible to any other than military merit. + +§ In countries, however, which we fondly flattered ourselves were less +advanced in civilization than our own, the vulgar notion of paying +homage to brute force has long been superseded by a more just +appreciation of the elements of military glory. Nations even the most +ambitious of this species of renown, have admitted that physical +prowess, that recklessness of personal danger, form but the smallest +amongst those qualities which contribute to military success. + +It is now felt and admitted, that it is the civil capacity of the great +commander which prepares the way for his military triumphs; that his +knowledge of human nature enables him to select the fittest agents, and +to place them in the situations best adapted to their powers; that his +intimate acquaintance with all the accessaries which contribute to the +health and comfort of his troops, enables him to sustain their moral and +physical energy. It has been seen that he must have studied and properly +estimated the character of his foes as well as of his allies, and have +made himself acquainted with the personal character of the chiefs of +both; and still further, that he must have scrutinized the secret +motives which regulated their respective governments. + +When directly engaged in the operations of contending armies occupying a +wide extent of country, he must be able, with rapid glance, to ascertain +the force it is possible to concentrate upon each of many points in any +given time, and the greater or less chance of failing in the attempt. He +must also be able to foresee, with something more than conjecture, what +amount of the enemy’s force can be brought to the same spot in the same +and in different times. With these elements he must undertake one of the +most difficult of mental tasks, that of classifying and grouping the +innumerable combinations to which either party may have recourse for +purposes of attack or defence. Out of the multitude of such +combinations, which might baffle by their simple enumeration the +strongest memory, throwing aside the less important, he must be able to +discover, to fix his attention, and to act upon the most favourable. +Finally, when the course thus selected having been pursued, and perhaps +partially carried out, is found to be entirely deranged by one of those +many chances inseparable from such operations, then, in the midst of +action, he must be able suddenly to organise a different system of +operations, new to all other minds, yet possibly although unconsciously, +anticipated by his own. + +The genius that can meet and overcome such difficulties _must_ be +intellectual, and would, under different circumstances, have been +distinguished in many a different career. + +Nor even would it be very surprising that such a commander, estimating +justly the extent of his own powers, and conscious of having planned the +best combinations of which his mind is capable, should, having issued +his orders, calmly lie down on the eve of the approaching conflict, and +find in sleep that bodily restoration so indispensable to the full +exercise of his faculties in the mighty struggle about to ensue. + +§ It is not uninteresting to observe in society the opinions of its +different classes respecting honours conferred on science. Military and +naval men, especially the most eminent, feel that genius is limited by +no profession, and themselves sympathizing with it, would gladly hail as +brothers in the same distinction, the philosopher and the poet. With +lawyers the case is reversed; genius dwells not in their courts: +industry and acuteness, monopolised by one absorbing professional +subject, exclude larger views; and ribbons not being amongst the +honoraria of their own profession, they reprobate their application to +science. To this there are, however, some noble exceptions. Amongst the +brightest ornaments of their own profession, men are to be found of +larger experience and more extended views than it often produces, who +are themselves qualified to have become discoverers in other sciences. +It is much to be regretted when such powers are applied to the mere +administration, instead of to the reformation, of the laws of their +country. + +It is difficult to pronounce on the opinion of the ministers of our +Church as a body: one portion of them, by far the least informed, +protests against anything which can advance the honour and the interests +of science, because, in their limited and mistaken view, science is +adverse to religion. This is not the place to argue that great question. +It is sufficient to remark, that the best-informed and most enlightened +men of all creeds and pursuits, agree that truth can never damage truth, +and that every truth is allied indissolubly by chains more or less +circuitous with all other truths; whilst error, at every step we make in +its diffusion, becomes not only wider apart and more discordant from all +truths, but has also the additional chance of destruction from all rival +errors. + +All established religions are, and must be in practice, political +engines—they have all a strong tendency to self-aggrandisement. Our own +is by no means exempt from this very natural infirmity. + +The Church has been reproached with endeavouring to appropriate to +itself all those professorships in our Universities which are connected +with science: it is however certain that the larger portion of these +ill-remunerated offices have been filled by clergymen. + +But a much graver charge attaches itself, if not to our clergy, +certainly to those who have the distribution of ecclesiastical +patronage. The richest Church in the world maintains that its funds are +quite insufficient for the purposes of religion, and that our working +clergy are ill-paid, and church accommodation insufficient. It calls +therefore upon the nation to endow it with larger funds, and yet, while +reluctant to sacrifice its own superfluities, it approves of its rich +sinecures being given to reward,—not the professional service of its +indefatigable parochial clergy, but those of its members who, having +devoted the greater part of their time to scientific researches, have +political or private interest enough to obtain such advancement. + +But this mode of rewarding merit is neither creditable to the Church nor +advantageous to science. It tempts into the Church talents which some of +its distinguished members maintain to be naturally of a disqualifying, +if not of an antagonistic nature to the pursuits of religion; whilst, on +the other hand, it makes a most unjust and arbitrary distinction amongst +men of science themselves. It precludes those who cannot conscientiously +subscribe to Articles, at once conflicting and incomprehensible, from +the acquisition of that preferment and that position in society, which +thus in many cases, must be conferred on less scrupulous, and certainly +less distinguished inquirers into the works of nature. + +As the honorary distinctions of orders of knighthood are not usually +bestowed on the clerical profession, its members generally profess to +entertain a great contempt for them, and pronounce them unfit for the +recognition of scientific merit. + +The want of an order for the reward of civil service, having been +publicly commented upon, the question was at last forced upon the +attention of the government. A plan was drawn up for the reformation of +the Order of the Bath, and amongst the qualifications for its civil +grades the word science was for the first time introduced. The draft, +however, remained in the office, and the intention, if such it were, of +the Tories was not followed out. + +On the advent of the Whigs to office, they seized upon so plausible an +opportunity for gaining popularity, whilst in reality they were serving +their own purposes. They proceeded to reconstruct the Order of the Bath, +making two divisions, the Military and the Civil, each of which +consisted of three classes. + +On the 25th May, 1847, there appeared in the Gazette letters patent +under the great seal reconstituting the Order of the Bath. It was +announced that it should consist of two divisions, the Military and the +Civil; each division comprising three classes. This memorable document +was accompanied by certain regulations as to the number of each class of +the knights, followed by a new set of thirty-seven statutes, which it +declares “_shall henceforth be inviolably observed and kept within_ _the +said Order_.” But throughout these “_inviolable_” statutes, _scientific_ +merit is not even mentioned as a qualification. + +In the Civil branch of the Order the qualification for the first class +is prescribed by the eighth statute, and the tenth and twelfth statutes +distinctly refer to the same. The only qualification to be found in the +statutes applicable to either of the three civil classes, is when, +referring to the first class of the order, it is stated that— + +“No persons shall be nominated thereto, or to either of the other two +civil divisions of this Order, who shall not _by their personal services +to our crown_, or _by the performance of public duties_, have merited +our royal favour.” + +The first of these two qualifications includes the services in the +household of the Sovereign. Now although it may be agreeable, and may +even be thought desirable, that the head of the State should have means +of occasionally conferring distinction upon those of its subjects in +personal attendance upon it, who have undertaken and accomplished duties +beyond the immediate sphere of those for which they are paid in money +and by position, yet such claims are personal, not national claims. The +lord-in-waiting who has been the agreeable cicerone of some foreign +prince, may well be contented with the diamond ring, the costly +_tabatière_, or the flattering miniature, eclipsed only by the +brilliants surrounding it, which recall to his memory those hours of +idleness. If the prince be also a sovereign, he may add to these +gratifications, that of conferring a ribbon as a further return for the +_empressement_ with which the polished official has fulfilled the duties +of his office. Under such circumstances he will easily acquire +permission to wear that distinction in his own country: a permission +which would be refused by government to the author of the most splendid +scientific discovery which might shed a lustre over the age in which he +lives. + +If such decorations are desirable for such services, let them be +confined to one or to all of the four other orders: but let one national +order at least be consecrated to real merit. + +The only other class who are qualified by the Statutes for the honours +of the Bath, are “those who by the performance of public duties have +merited our favour.” This may indeed include every person who holds +office, but it is clear that the intention was to exclude everybody not +already receiving pay from the public. + +It has been suggested that a different conclusion may be inferred from +the tenth paragraph of the prefatory matter to these statutes, in which +the following words occur:— + +“To the due distribution of rewards amongst such of our faithful +subjects as are now or shall hereafter become eminently distinguished by +their loyalty and merit in the military or civil service of us, our +heirs, and successors, or _shall otherwise have merited our favour_.” + +These latter words are certainly placed with some skill, to furnish a +loophole for escape, if public opinion should scout the limited range to +which the gratitude of the country would thus be confined by a party, +who differ only from the Tories in affecting an admiration for knowledge +which they do not feel. It must, however, be observed that this is a +mere statement, and that no such words occur in any _statute_. Besides, +those who maintain that the party in power when these statutes were +issued, intended that science or any other kind of unpaid civil merit, +should be susceptible of reward by the Order of the Bath, except it also +received pay from the country, must at the same time admit that during +the four years in which that party has distributed those honours, +England has not furnished one single instance of any other than a paid +official having been thought sufficiently distinguished to deserve the +honour. + +The public recollect with sufficient disgust the professions of both +parties respecting science and literature, when the “pension list” was +revised in 1838. The claims of science and of literature were then with +affected generosity put forward by party, while the true object was to +save for their own advantage as large a pension list as they could. That +object once attained, a different view of those claims was taken, as we +see by its results, of which a searching analysis must at no distant day +be made. + +The statements uttered in both Houses even during the last session, by +members of the present administration, have been so _extraordinary_, +that the public are compelled to look beyond the plain English meaning +of words, and to withhold their confidence until they have examined them +with the scrutiny of a casuist. It is not therefore surprising that +those who interpret statutes issued by such parties, should suspect the +existence of latent meanings. + +Dismissing this point, however, the obvious interpretation of the +_statutes_ of the Bath is that no one is qualified to become a member +who has not been actually in the _service_ of the country, that is, who +has not already been paid for his labours. + +The real intention of the concoctors of this scheme is too evident to be +concealed. They hoped, by bestowing the Order in few and rare cases on +some public servants who had made exertions beyond those of their class, +or sacrifices beyond necessity, to get credit for a generosity to which +they are strangers, whilst the real object was to secure for their own +party and supporters the largest possible share of the patronage. + +The advantages they promised themselves from the present arrangement +were these:— + +1st. By confining the Order of the Bath to officials, they limited the +number of competitors. + +2d. They thus limited it to a class which contained already a large +proportion of their own friends and of the friends of their opponents. + +3d. This plan enabled them, by putting into office their own connexions, +persons perhaps of very ordinary abilities, ultimately to push them into +the upper departments, and then on pretence of extraordinary service to +give them these honours. + +4th. It enabled them also to make way for such connexions, by tempting +those above them, whether friends or opponents, to retire on the receipt +of one or other of the decorations of the Bath. + +It is not to be denied that such rewards, fairly and judiciously given +for _great_ and _extraordinary_ services, might furnish fit motives for +extraordinary exertions. But if honours are to be given to every chief +of an office or head of a department, after more or less service in +proportion to the extent of his political interest, or to every minister +we send abroad, without regard to the success of his mission; and if +promotion in the Order is to depend on the time during which they have +been members of it, then the Bath will no longer be the reward of great +exertions or of brilliant talent, but of seniority and routine. Its +crimson ribbon will thus cease to distinguish civil merit, and become +the appropriate reward of _red-tape_ mediocrity. + +It has been suggested that a new order of knighthood should be created, +for the purpose of rewarding scientific and literary merit. This plan is +entirely inadmissible: there are already five Orders of English Knights, +and the new Order would, as the most recent creation, be inferior in +rank to those now existing. It would, therefore, necessarily fix science +at a low point in the social scale. + +If it were adopted, the numerous members of the Order of the Bath would +then look down upon and disparage the new Order; whilst, on the other +hand, if great discoveries in science were admitted as claims to its +honours, every member of the Order of the Bath would be interested in +defending his scientific brethren. + +§ Much discussion has lately arisen respecting the payment of persons in +the employment of government. The economists have lately had a committee +of the House of Commons, in which they have in some instances damaged a +good cause by want of information. Their enemies will doubtless take +advantage of their ignorance, and seem not unwilling to have allowed +them to fall into these mistakes. + +Those who contend that persons in office are under-paid, generally +maintain the doctrine that the holder of every office ought to receive +enough to support him, without any assistance from private fortune, in +that position of society which others in the same or similar offices +occupy. + +This may be true for some of the higher stations, where great talents +and industry are essential; but these offices are the exceptions. To +maintain this doctrine is to assert, that the government must pay such a +salary to every employé as to be able to choose out of the whole number +of persons existing in the country, those most capable of filling that +office. Now in every country where capital has at all accumulated, there +will always be a sufficient number of persons, having some amount of +private fortune, who will be able and willing to fill all the ordinary +offices requiring no very special talent, for a much smaller sum than +their average expenditure would require. This more limited class is yet +sufficiently large for the government to select from. The competition of +capital with labour leads to this result. + +The inducements to office under government are many, in addition to that +of its salary. + +1st. The salary itself generally increases with the time of service. + +2d. There is usually a retiring pension after a certain time of service, +or in case of accidental incapacity. + +3d. There is the chance of promotion by political interest, or perchance +from skill and industry displayed in office. + +4th. Some incapable head of a department may want a clever fellow to do +the work for which he is himself either too idle or too ignorant. + +5th. There is the chance of being promoted, in order to make a vacancy +for some one below who has more influence. + +6th. Then there are the great prizes,—few indeed, but very great when +occurring to those without the accidents of birth or interest. It is +possible that a clerk commencing at a salary of 80_l._ may ultimately +attain a seat in the cabinet, and then the peerage is open to him. + +Admitting that there are several cases in which offices are considerably +underpaid, no answer has yet been given to the great argument arising +from supply and demand. It is an admitted fact, that for every office +under government, and for every grade in the army and navy, the number +of fitting candidates on each vacancy is very large, and the political +and family interest set at work to acquire it, is very great. This can +arise only from those offices being overpaid, not by the actual money +payment, but by combining that form of remuneration with position in +society, and other advantages to which they lead. If this be the case, +it is quite unnecessary to add any new inducement—such as the decoration +of the Bath—to those so circumstanced, unless it be indeed for very +extraordinary services. + +Another indication of over-payment is to be found in the fact, that in +several professions such offices are matter of sale and purchase. They +are so avowedly both in the Church and in the Army. + +The Whigs, afraid of intellect when combined with independence, have, +during their temporary and tolerated possession of office, confined the +new honours the country has to bestow, to those persons only who can be +influenced by the hope of promotion,—namely, to those already occupying +office. If a distinction is to be made amongst scientific men, let us +inquire whether those who fill the few public situations reserved for +science and paid by the country, ought to be eligible rather than those +whose equally successful contributions to science have been given +without any such advantage. + +To enable any individual in the present day to enlarge the bounds of +science by original discovery, he must be content to sacrifice his whole +time and energies to that object. It is true that a considerable or even +a great knowledge of certain sciences, and possibly the power of making +some additions to them, may co-exist in a few instances with the +qualifications necessary for other employments. Such attainments are +highly creditable to those officials who so employ their leisure without +neglecting their official duties. But the more successful their +scientific discoveries, the greater must be the regret that the whole +power of such intelligence cannot be directed to one subject. + +The various sciences have, it is true, such relations to each other, +that few can be cultivated to any great advantage without some +acquaintance with those sciences intimately connected with the favourite +pursuit. But if it is admitted that all inquiries into Nature and her +laws, are directly beneficial to the arts and commerce of the country, +it is, in a national point of view, eminently impolitic not to secure +for science that division of labour which so remarkably contributes to +the progress of all other subjects. + +In addition to the unbounded occupation of time and thought, necessary +for the most effective employment of mind in the path of original +discovery, there are far other requisites. In some sciences, many +laborious transcriptions, in others still more laborious arithmetical +computations, are required; in others, abstruse and complicated although +known and regulated algebraical processes, must be gone through; in +others, drawings of the most complicated description must be executed +with almost overwhelming labour; in others, extensive experiments must +be made. Again, in some, where mechanical means must be contrived for +new and intellectual processes, it may be necessary even to invent and +make new tools for the purpose of bringing mechanical art itself up to +that degree of perfection which science demands. Although the contriving +and directing mind engaged in researches that require such aids, ought +undoubtedly to be united with a physical structure capable itself of +accomplishing each and all that such pursuits require, yet it is often +impossible that one human frame, however hardy, can sustain that labour: +time itself would be wanting, limited as it ever must be by the duration +of one human life. + +Yet if the powers of that mind and that frame have been rightly +cultivated, and if the want of pecuniary means do not prevent their +exercise, it is quite possible, by proper aid, to concentrate in one +life the accumulated labour of many. Assistants of various degrees of +manual and mental skill may be employed, the economical organization of +their labour may be arranged. The most perfect effect of such an +establishment can only be attained when the presiding head is never +employed except on work for which money could procure no substitute, and +when each assistant is devoted to work of the highest kind which he can +successfully execute. + +He who directs a scientific establishment for the Government, has all +these means provided for him, and is himself paid, though not always +liberally, for his own labours. _He_ is to be deemed _qualified_ for the +order of the Bath. + +_He_ who sacrifices profession and that position to which its most +successful members usually attain, who spends a fortune in purchasing +that assistance which alone can render his power effective, and has +spent his life in cultivating highly that power for the advancement of +science, is deemed by his country, however great his success, +_disqualified_ for the Order of the Bath. + +But it is not the sound and wholesome part of the country—it is not the +people of England who have arrived at this conclusion;—it is the +insolence of power,—it is the meanness of party,—it is the selfishness +of a clique. + +The spirit which dictated a limitation equally opposed to every generous +feeling and to every statesman-like view, is consistent only with such +influences. When the ministry founded that new source of patronage, it +sought to acquire for itself a kind of popularity amongst its adherents. +Had it admitted intellectual merit, it would have obtained popularity +for the Crown from an enlightened nation. But the interests of party are +transitory,—those of the sovereign permanent: it is the interest of +party to be ever jealous of the personal popularity of the Crown. + +In thus excluding from its honours one class of the intelligence of the +country, did it never occur to the short-sighted minister who planned +this arrangement, that some portion of the talents thus insulted, might +be driven to other inquiries which it would neither be easy to answer +nor even expedient to discuss? + +A party which first refuses to science the means of acquiring +competence,—then excludes it from personal honours because it has +already been denied official position,—and which refuses it hereditary +rank, because it has not devoted itself to the acquisition of wealth, +will naturally cause questions to be raised as to the expediency of +different forms of government. + +Of what class, it will naturally be asked, are the persons who have made +such laws? + +Is the possession of hereditary rank at all necessary for the government +of the country? + +At a distant period, and under a less complicated form of society, the +obvious disadvantages of appointing a legislator for life from the +accident of his birth, instead of the fitness of his talents, might have +been tolerated under the influence of force. It has since been +consecrated by established usage, and some of its evils mitigated by the +continual infusion of fresh blood into decaying stocks. But at the +present day, and amidst the multiplied relations of highly civilized +life, the question whether an upper chamber ought to be hereditary, or +appointed only for life, is one upon which nations as well as +philosophers, avowedly disagree. + +In a very few years this great question will come to be more thoroughly +investigated, and those who now advocate the continuance of existing +institutions, will then have enough on their hands, without rashly +forcing, by injustice and insult, both talent and interest into the +ranks of their opponents. + +At present it is sufficient to call attention to a statement often made, +that a chamber of Peers for life is incompatible with the existence of a +limited monarchy. This, like many other party dogmas, is a mere +gratuitous assertion, put forward to alarm the timid who have +experienced the advantages and are anxious for the continuance of that +form of government. + +Various opinions have been advanced, and are current in society, +concerning the proper reward for those _whose science adds to the +boundaries of human knowledge_, and certain principles are held by the +occupiers of high political office, to which it may be well to advert. + +Some of these persons have themselves acquired a smattering of one +science, political economy, and thus they reason:—They are informed that +it is a highly agreeable occupation to make discoveries, and although it +is known that it costs years of labour and study to acquire that power, +yet it is found that many persons are willing to indulge in this luxury, +and are generally disposed to publish the results of their discoveries. +Since, therefore, the public can get the benefit of the knowledge for +nothing, it would be very extravagant in the stewards of the public to +pay anything for it. + +But it seems not to have been observed by these reasoners, that although +all discoveries are of value to the country, yet the time at which they +become practically useful occurs at very different, and often at distant +periods. It might also be suggested to them, that the discoverers of the +great principles of nature are very rarely the persons most capable of +applying them to practice. It is also clear that the acquisition of +money was not one of their objects in devoting themselves to such +unprofitable pursuits. + +Under such circumstances, if the Government neither encourage science by +pecuniary nor by honorary reward, it is most probable that the +discoveries which are made, will occur in its more recondite recesses; +and as the only recompense obtained is the intellectual pleasure felt in +the pursuit, the greater part of the discoveries made will be of the +most abstract kind. + +This tendency is still further increased by the fact that the far larger +number of those who cultivate science, are precluded from competition by +the expense necessary for the pursuit of many of its more practical +branches. The most highly intellectual and exciting,—all the departments +of the pure mathematics, for example, attract by the comparative economy +of the expenditure they demand. + +And yet it may happen that immense sums might have been saved to the +nation, if the efforts of competent men had been applied to reform the +domestic economy or rather the domestic extravagance of many of our +public establishments, instead of expending them more agreeably though +less profitably, on the interpretation of an almost impossible cypher, +or the still more interesting discovery of relations amongst new orders +of imaginary quantities. + +How often has the question been asked by persons seeking a profitable +investment of their capital, Will such a canal or railroad pay? This is +really an indefinite question, and admits of no one answer applicable to +all cases. It may, for example, in some particular instance, be +tolerably certain that at the end of the first four years, if the shares +are sold, and the account closed, there will be an entire loss of half +the principal, and all interest during that time. If the shares are not +sold until the end of eight years, they will produce a return of the +original capital, together with a profit of five per cent. If, however, +those shares were retained until the end of twelve years, they might, +when sold, produce a return of the original capital, together with a +profit of ten per cent. during the whole time. + +Now, it is obvious that the answer to the question, “Will that canal or +railway pay?” must depend on the capital possessed by the purchaser and +on the period of time during which he can afford to abstain from its +use. The purchaser who could not abstain from the use of the interest of +his money for four years might be ruined, whilst he who could abstain +for twelve, might be greatly enriched. But a wealthy country is +generally better able to abstain than any commercial firm, and the +investment in discoveries becoming productive at a distant time, will be +of far more advantage to a nation than to individuals. + +A certain number of persons maintain the opinion, that if men of science +became rich they would become idle, and that it is expedient to starve +them into discovery. Such persons may perhaps have been misled by +arguing from a supposed analogy with some other profession. But the +pleasure of science arises from the exertion, not from the inactivity of +the mind. + +Others, and a very large number, hold that science is of so sublime a +nature, that it ought to be above all sublunary rewards;—they maintain +that it is beneath its dignity to wish for the wealth or the honours +awarded to success in other pursuits;—that ribbons and titles are quite +unworthy of the ambition of those who are searching into the truths of +nature. + +When men state a principle, the best test of their sincerity is to be +found in their application of it. We may ourselves utterly repudiate a +principle, and yet be unable to show that it is not sincerely believed +by those who assert its authority. Man cannot dive into the mind of his +fellow-man, and witness the internal conviction he asserts; but he can +always examine the _fairness_ with which he applies that principle. + +Now, if the lofty dignity of science is such that it is, from its very +nature, incompatible with wealth—if decorations and titles are entirely +unworthy of its legitimate ambition,—then, as a necessary consequence, +all pursuits of a higher order are still more absolutely excluded from +such vanities. + +Is it consistent, therefore, with these opinions, to maintain that the +Ministers of a Christian Church, who interpret to us the _word_ of God, +should receive payment for their labour, rank for their exertions, and, +in some instances, even the very ribbons[27] so contemned: whilst those +who make us intimately acquainted with the _works_ of the Almighty, who +discover to us the laws which he has impressed on matter, and thus add +to the physical comfort, the intellectual pleasure, and the religious +feeling of mankind, should be compelled to exercise those rare +endowments, only by the sacrifice of fortune and the renunciation of all +those enjoyments, rewards, and honours, which the ministers even of the +purest creed receive without reproach? + +But these are the opinions of the shallow and the thoughtless. The +pursuits of mind may modify, they can never obliterate the instincts, +the feelings, or the passions of man. + +The consciousness of power, and the conviction of its successful +exertion, exist undiminished by the neglect or the ingratitude of the +country he inhabits. The certainty that a future age will repair the +injustice of the present, and the knowledge that the more distant the +day of reparation, the more he has outstripped the efforts of his +cotemporaries, may well sustain him against the sneers of the ignorant, +or the jealousy of rivals. + +It is possible that in some rare instance such a man may feel personally +little ambition to attain what all others covet; still, however, he may +be bound by other ties which link him inseparably to the present. + +He may look with fond and affectionate gratitude on her whose maternal +care watched over the dangers of his childhood; who trained his infant +mind, and with her own mild power, checking the rash vigour of his +youthful days, remained ever the faithful and respected counsellor of +his riper age. To gladden the declining years of her who with more than +prophetic inspiration, foresaw as woman only can, the distant fame of +her beloved offspring, he may well be forgiven the desire for some +outward mark of his country’s approbation. + +If such a relative were wanting, there might yet survive another parent +whose less enthusiastic temperament had ever repressed those fond +anticipations of maternal affection, but who now in the ripeness of his +honoured age, might be compelled, with faltering accents, to admit that +the voice of the country confirmed the predictions of the mother. + +Perhaps another and yet dearer friend might exist, the partner of his +daily cares, the witness of his unceasing toil; whose youthful mind, +cultivated by his skill, rewards with enduring affection those efforts +which called into existence her own latent and unsuspected powers. When +driven by exhausted means and injured health almost to despair of the +achievement of his life’s great object—when the brain itself reels +beneath the weight its own ambition has imposed, and the world’s neglect +aggravates the throbbings of an overtasked frame, an angel spirit sits +beside his couch ministering with gentlest skill to every wish, watching +with anxious thought till renovated nature shall admit of bolder +counsels, then points the way to hope, herself the guardian of his +deathless fame. + +The fool may sneer, the worldly-wise may smile, the heartless laugh,—the +saint may moralize, the bigot preach: there dwells not within the deep +recesses of the human heart one sentiment more powerful, more exalted, +or more pure than these. + +That man is not a statesman, who is unaware of the strength of these +powerful excitements to human action. Cold and incapable of such +sentiments himself,—no grasp of intellect enables him to infer their +existence, and thus to supply the deficiencies of his own, by an insight +into the hearts of others. + +That man is a fool, not a statesman, who knowing their strength, +hesitates to avail himself of it for the benefit of his country and of +mankind. + +But if there should arise a man conscious of their power, who yet should +dare to use it for the purposes of party, that man will combine in his +character the not incongruous mixture of statesman and of knave. A +statesman he may be, if he can penetrate into the character of men, and +can divine the action of human motives upon the masses, as well as on +the individuals of his race. With such knowledge, and with the talent +that its possession implies, he cannot be a fool; except indeed, in as +far as he is entitled to credit for that limited amount of folly which +is inseparably attached to him in his other character of knave. It is +_possible_ that he may be successful in his day; it is _certain_ that he +will ultimately be found out and disgraced in the eyes of posterity. His +name may remain a beacon for a time, until some greater or more recent +knave supersedes his example, and thus consigns him to oblivion. + +It is not then the gaudy ribbon, the brilliant star, the titled name, +that have intrinsic charms for him who dedicates his genius to the +search for truth. How large a portion of his real greatness, even of his +most splendid discoveries, would he not willingly sacrifice to confer on +those he loves that exquisite happiness, which arises only when hidden +but long-cherished convictions, entertained diffidently from the +consciousness of partial affection, receive at length their final +confirmation by that decision which national acknowledgment can alone +command! + + [27] The following dignitaries of the Church wear decorations of + Orders of Knighthood. + + Archbishop of Armagh. Bishop of Oxford. + Archbishop of Dublin. Dean of Westminster. + Dean of St. Patrick. + + The vestments of the Bishop of Oxford throw into the shade those even + of Roman Catholic prelates. + + “The said prelate shall have and wear for his habit, a mantle of + crimson velvet, lined with white taffeta, richly guarded with the + Sovereign’s badges and cognizances, and upon his right shoulder an + escutcheon of the arms of the Order, within a garter, and the lace of + his mantle shall be of blue silk, interwoven with gold.”—_History of + British Orders of Knighthood, by Sir Harris Nicolas_, p. 430. + + + + + Appendix. + + --------------- + + THE + ELEVENTH CHAPTER + OF THE + HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. + + + BY + C. R. WELD, ESQ. + ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. + + --------------- + + REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE PROPRIETOR. + + + + + EXTRACT FROM WELD’S + HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. + + --------------- + + + CHAPTER XI. + + The Society receive a Letter from the Treasury respecting Mr. + Babbage’s Calculating Machine—Letter from Mr. Babbage to Sir H. + Davy—A Committee appointed to consider Mr. Babbage’s Plan—They + Report in favour of it—Mr. Babbage has an interview with the + Chancellor of the Exchequer—Government advance + 1,500_l_.—Difference-Engine commenced—Mr. Babbage gives all his + labour gratuitously—Advice of the Society again requested—Mr. + Babbage’s Statement—Committee appointed to inspect the Engine—Their + Report—Heavy Expenses not met by the Treasury—Meeting of Mr. + Babbage’s personal friends—Their Report—Duke of Wellington inspects + the Works—His Grace recommends the Treasury to make further + Payments—Letter from Mr. Babbage to the Treasury—Communication from + the Treasury to the Council—Referred to a Committee—Report of + Committee—They recommend the Works to be removed to the vicinity of + Mr. Babbage’s Residence—Government act on the + Recommendation—Fire-proof Buildings erected—Misunderstanding with + Mr. Clement—Works stopped—Mr. Babbage discovers new principles + which supersede those connected with the Difference-Engine—He + requests an interview with Lord Melbourne—Letter to M. Quetelet + explaining the principles of Analytical-Engine—Mr. Babbage visits + Turin—M. Menabrea’s account of the Engine—Translated with Notes by + Lady Lovelace—Mr. Babbage applies to Government for their + Determination—Letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer—Mr. + Babbage’s Answer—Government resolve not to proceed with the + Engine—Mr. Babbage has an interview with Sir R. + Peel—Difference-Engine placed in the Museum of King’s + College—Present State of the Analytical-Engine. + + --------------- + + + 1820-25. + +On the 1st April, 1823, a letter was received from the Treasury, +requesting the Council to take into consideration a plan which had been +submitted to Government by Mr. Babbage, for “applying machinery to the +purposes of calculating and printing mathematical tables;” and the Lords +of the Treasury further desired “to be favoured with the opinion of the +Royal Society on the merits and utility of this invention[28].” + +This is the earliest allusion to the celebrated Calculating Engine of +Mr. Babbage, in the records of the Society[29]. But the invention had +been brought before them in the previous year by a letter from Mr. +Babbage to Sir H. Davy, dated July 3, 1822, in which he gives some +account of a small model of his engine for calculating differences, +which “produced figures at the rate of 44 a minute, and performed with +rapidity and precision all those calculations for which it was +designed[30].” He then proceeds to enumerate various tables which the +machine was adapted to calculate, and concludes: “I am aware that these +statements may perhaps be viewed as something more than Utopian, and +that the philosophers of Laputa may be called up to dispute my claim to +originality. Should such be the case, I hope the resemblance will be +found to adhere to the nature of the subject, rather than to the manner +in which it has been treated. Conscious from my own experience of the +difficulty of convincing those who are but little skilled in +mathematical knowledge, of the possibility of making a machine which +shall perform calculations, I was naturally anxious, in introducing it +to the public, to appeal to the testimony of one so distinguished in the +records of British science[31]. Induced by a conviction of the great +utility of such engines, to withdraw for some time my attention from a +subject on which it has been engaged during several years, and which +possesses charms of a higher order, I have now arrived at a point where +success is no longer doubtful. It must, however, be attained at a very +considerable expense, which would not probably be replaced by the works +it might produce for a long period of time, and which is an undertaking +I should feel unwilling to commence, as altogether foreign to my habits +and pursuits.” + +The Council appointed a Committee to take Mr. Babbage’s plan into +consideration, which was composed of the following gentlemen: Sir H. +Davy, Mr. Brande, Mr. Combe, Mr. Baily, Mr. (now Sir Mark Isambard) +Brunel, Major (now General) Colby, Mr. Davies Gilbert, Mr. (now Sir +John) Herschel, Captain Kater, Mr. Pond (Astronomer-Royal), Dr. +Wollaston, and Dr. Young. On the 1st May, 1823, the Committee reported: +“That it appears that Mr. Babbage has displayed great talents and +ingenuity in the construction of his machine for computation, which the +Committee think fully adequate to the attainment of the objects proposed +by the inventor, and that they consider Mr. Babbage as highly deserving +of public encouragement in the prosecution of his arduous +undertaking[32].” + +This Report was transmitted to the Lords of the Treasury, by whom it +was, with Mr. Babbage’s letter to Sir H. Davy, printed and laid before +Parliament[33]. + +In July, 1823, Mr. Babbage had an interview with the Chancellor of the +Exchequer, Mr. Robinson (now Earl of Ripon), to ascertain if it were the +wish of Government that he should construct a large engine of the kind, +which would also print the results it calculated. Unfortunately, no +Minute of that conversation was made at the time, nor was any +sufficiently distinct understanding arrived at, as it afterwards +appeared that a contrary impression was left on the mind of either +party[34]. Mr. Babbage’s conviction was, that whatever might be the +labour and difficulty of the undertaking, the engine itself would, of +course, become the property of the Government, which had paid for its +construction. + +Soon after this interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a letter +was sent from the Treasury to the Royal Society, informing them that the +Lords of the Treasury “had directed the issue of 1,500_l._ to Mr. +Babbage, to enable him to bring his invention to perfection, in the +manner recommended.” + +These words “_in the manner recommended_,” can refer only to the +previous recommendation by the Royal Society; but it does not appear +from their Report, that any plan, terms, or conditions had been pointed +out. + +Towards the end of July, 1823, Mr. Babbage took measures for the +construction of the present Difference-Engine[35], and it was regularly +proceeded with for four years. + +And here it is right to state, that Mr. Babbage gave his mental labour +gratuitously, and that from first to last he has not derived any +emolument whatever from Government[36]. Sectional, and other drawings, +of the most delicate nature had to be made; tools to be formed expressly +to meet mechanical difficulties; and workmen to be educated in the +practical knowledge necessary in the construction of the machine. The +mechanical department was placed under the management of Mr. Clement, a +draughtsman of great ability, and a practical mechanic of the highest +order[37]. Money was advanced from time to time by the Treasury, the +accounts furnished by the engineer undergoing the examination of +auditors[38], and passing through the hands of Mr. Babbage. Thus years +elapsed, and public attention became at length directed to the fact, +that a large sum had been expended upon the construction of the engine, +which was not completed. Again the advice of the Royal Society was +solicited. + +In December, 1828, Government begged the Council “to institute such +enquiries as would enable them to report upon the state to which it (the +machine) had then arrived; and also whether the progress made in its +construction confirmed them in the opinion which they had formerly +expressed, that it would ultimately prove adequate to the important +object which it was intended to attain.” + +Accompanying this communication was a statement from Mr. Babbage of the +condition of the engine, in which he says:— + + “The machine has required a longer time and greater expense than was + anticipated, and Mr. Babbage has already expended about 6,000_l._ on + this object. The work is now in a state of considerable forwardness, + numerous and large drawings of it have been made, and much of the + mechanism has been executed, and many workmen are occupied daily in + its completion.” + +A Committee was appointed by the Council, consisting of Mr. Gilbert +(President), Dr. Roget, Captain Sabine, Sir John Herschel, Mr. Baily, +Mr. Brunel, Captain Kater, Mr. Donkin, Mr. Penn, Mr. Rennie, Mr. Barton, +and Mr. Warburton.[39] + +They minutely inspected the drawings, tools, and the parts of the engine +then executed, and drew up a report, “declining to consider the +principle on which the practicability of the machinery depends, and of +the public utility of the object which it proposes to attain; because +they considered the former fully admitted, and the latter obvious to all +who consider the immense advantage of accurate numerical tables in all +matters of calculation, which it is professedly the object of the engine +to calculate and print with perfect accuracy.” + +They further stated, that “the progress made was as great as could be +expected, considering the numerous difficulties to be overcome; and +lastly, that they had no hesitation in giving it as their opinion, that +the engine was likely to fulfil the expectations entertained of it by +its inventor.” + +The Council adopted the Report, expressing their trust, that while Mr. +Babbage’s mind was intently occupied on an undertaking likely to do so +much honour to his country, he might be relieved as much as possible +from all other sources of anxiety. + +It is clear that the Council of the Royal Society regarded Mr. Babbage’s +engine, as it then existed, in a favourable light, and were sanguine +respecting its satisfactory completion. + +Government acted on the foregoing Report; funds were advanced, the +machinery was declared national property, and the works were continued. +But there was evidently a misgiving on the part of the Lords of the +Treasury, for the official payments soon failed to meet the heavy and +increasing expenses incurred by Mr. Babbage. + +Under these circumstances, by the advice of Mr. Wolryche Whitmore (Mr. +Babbage’s brother-in-law), a meeting of Mr. Babbage’s personal friends +was held on the 12th of May, 1829. It consisted of:— + + The Duke of Somerset, F.R.S., + Lord Ashley, M.P., + Sir John Franklin, Capt. R.N., F.R.S., + Mr. Wolryche Whitmore, M.P., + Dr. Fitton, F.R.S., + Mr. Francis Baily, F.R.S., + Sir John Herschel, F.R.S. + +They drew up the annexed Report:— + + “_May 12, 1829._ + + “The attention of the undersigned personal friends of Mr. Babbage + having been called by him to the actual state of his Machine for + Calculating and Printing Mathematical Tables; and to his relation to + the Government on the one hand, and to the Engineers and workmen + employed by him in its execution on the other, declare themselves + satisfied, from his statements and from the documents they have + perused, of the following facts. + + “That Mr. Babbage was originally induced to take up the work on its + present extensive scale, by an understanding on his part, that it was + the wish of Government he should do so, and by an advance of 1,500_l._ + in the outset, with a full impression on his mind that such further + advances would be made as the progress of the work should require, and + as should secure him from ultimate loss. + + “That the public and scientific importance of the Engine has been + acknowledged, in a Report of a Committee of the Royal Society, made at + the time of its first receiving the sanction of His Majesty’s + Government, and that its actual state of progress is such, as in the + opinion of the most eminent Engineers and other Members of the Royal + Society, as detailed in a further Report of a Committee of that body, + to warrant their impression of the moral certainty of its success, + should funds not be wanting for its completion. + + “That it appears, that Mr. Babbage’s actual expenditure has amounted + to nearly 7,000_l._ and that the whole sum advanced to him by the + Government is 3,000_l._ + + “That Mr. Babbage has devoted, from the commencement of his arduous + undertaking, the most assiduous and anxious attention to the work in + hand, to the injury of his health, and the neglect and refusal of + other profitable occupations. + + “That a very huge expense still remains to be incurred, to the + probable amount of at least 4,000_l._, as far as he can foresee, + before the Engine can be completed; but that Mr. Babbage’s private + fortune is not such as, in their opinion, to justify the sacrifices he + must make in completing it without further and effectual assistance + from Government; taking into consideration not only his own interest, + but that of his family dependent on him. + + “Under these circumstances, it is their opinion that a full and speedy + representation of the case ought to be made to Government, and that in + the most direct manner by a personal application to his Grace the Duke + of Wellington. + + “And that in case of such application proving unsuccessful in + procuring effectual and adequate assistance, they must regard Mr. + Babbage as no longer called on—considering the pecuniary and personal + sacrifices he will then have made; considering the entire and _bonâ + fide_ expenditure of all that he will have received from the public + purse on the object of its destination, and considering the moral + certainty to which it is at length by his exertions reduced—as no + longer called on to go on with an undertaking which may prove the + destruction of his health, and the great injury, if not the ruin of + his fortune. + + “That it is their opinion that Mr. W. Whitmore and Mr. Herschel should + request an interview with the Duke of Wellington for the purpose of + making this representation. + + (Signed,) SOMERSET. + ASHLEY. + JOHN FRANKLIN. + W. W. WHITMORE. + WM. HENRY FITTON. + FRANCIS BAILY. + J. F. W. HERSCHEL.” + +In consequence of what passed at this interview, which took place as +suggested, the Duke of Wellington, accompanied by the Chancellor of the +Exchequer (Mr. Goulburn) and Lord Ashley, inspected the _model_ of the +engine, the drawings, and parts in progress. The Duke recommended that a +grant of 3,000_l._ should be made towards the completion of the machine, +which was duly paid by the Treasury. + +In the mean time, difficulties of another kind arose. The engineer, who +had constructed the Engine under Mr. Babbage’s directions, had delivered +his bills in such a state, that it was impossible to judge how far the +charges were just and reasonable; and although Mr. Babbage had paid +several thousand pounds, there yet remained a considerable balance, +which could not be liquidated until the accounts had been examined, and +the charges approved by professional engineers. + +With a view of drawing attention to these charges, Mr. Babbage addressed +the following letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer:— + + “_Dorset Street, 21 December, 1830._ + “MY LORD, + “I beg to call your Lordship’s attention to the enclosed + account[40] of the expenses of the Machine for calculating and + printing mathematical tables, by which it appears that a sum of + 592_l._ 4_s._ 8_d._ remained due to myself upon the last account, and + that a further sum of nearly 600_l._ has since become due to Mr. + Clement. + + “It is for the payment of this latter sum that I wish to call your + Lordship’s attention. Mr. Maudslay, one of the engineers appointed by + the Government to examine the bills of Mr. Clement, having been unable + from illness to attend, his report has been delayed, and Mr. Clement + informs me that should the money remain unpaid much longer, he shall + be obliged, from want of funds, to discharge some of the workmen; an + event which I need not inform your Lordship would be very prejudicial + to the progress of the machine. + + “Another point which I wish to submit to your attention, when your + Lordship shall have had leisure to examine personally the present + state of the works, is, that since it is absolutely necessary to find + additional room for the erection of the machine, it becomes a matter + of serious consideration whether it would not contribute to the + speedier completion of the machine, and also to economy in + expenditure, to remove the works to the neighbourhood of my own + residence. + “I have, &c. + “C. BABBAGE.” + +The receipt of this letter caused the Treasury to make the following +communication to the Secretary of the Royal Society:— + + “_Treasury, 24 December, 1830._ + “SIR, + “The Lords Commissioners of H. M. Treasury, having had under + their consideration a letter from Mr. Babbage, containing an account + of the expense which has been incurred in the construction of the + Machine for calculating and printing mathematical tables, amounting to + the sum of 7,192_l._ 4_s._ 8_d._, and requesting an advance of 600_l._ + to defray a part of that expense; I am commanded by their Lordships to + refer you to the Report of the Council of the Royal Society dated 16th + February, 1829, which entirely satisfied their Lordships of the + propriety of supporting Mr. Babbage in the construction of this + machine, and to state that advances to the amount of 6,000_l._ have + been made on this account, and that directions have been given for a + further advance of 600_l._ + + “I am also to acquaint you, that the Machine is the property of + Government, and consequently my Lords propose to defray the further + expense necessary for its completion. I am further to request you will + move the Council of the Royal Society to cause the machine to be + inspected, and to favour my Lords with their opinion whether the work + is proceeding in a satisfactory manner, and without unnecessary + expense, and what further sum may probably be necessary for completing + it. + “I am, &c. + “J. STEWART.” + “_The Secretary, Royal Society._” + +The consideration of this letter was referred to the same Committee +which had previously been appointed for a similar purpose, with the +addition of Sir John Lubbock and Mr. Troughton. + +Again the Committee met[41] Mr. Babbage, at No. 21, Prospect Place, +Lambeth (where the construction of the engine was carried on), and +minutely inspected the machinery and drawings. + +Their Report embodied the whole facts of the case:—the workmanship of +the various parts of the machine was declared to have been executed with +the greatest possible degree of perfection, and the pains taken to +verify the charges on the part of the Government altogether +satisfactory. It was recommended that the vacancy occasioned by the +decease of Mr. Maudslay, who had been appointed to inspect the accounts, +should be filled up by another engineer, conversant with the execution +of machinery, and the value thereof. With respect to the suggested +removal of the workshops nearer to Mr. Babbage’s residence, the +Committee gave their entire concurrence, on the ground that greater +expedition would thereby be attained in carrying on the work, and that +it was highly essential to secure all the machinery and drawings in +fire-proof premises, without delay. A plot of ground held on lease by +Mr. Babbage, adjacent to his garden at the back of his house in Dorset +Street, was recommended as a desirable site for the contemplated +erections, of which the plans and estimates had been submitted to the +Committee. The framers of the Report stated in conclusion that:— + + “Such an arrangement would be eminently conducive to the speedy and + economical completion of the Machine, as well as to the effectual + working and employment of the same, after it shall have been + completed. + + “That as to the sum which may be necessary for completing the Engine, + they attach hereto the estimate of Mr. Brunel.”[42] + +The Report, with Mr. Brunel’s estimate, were sent to the Treasury on the +13th April, 1831: and having been approved by a Committee of practical +engineers appointed by Government, the latter acted on the +recommendations which it contained. The piece of ground adjoining Mr. +Babbage’s garden was taken, and a fire-proof building erected, designed +to contain the plans and drawings, and also the engine when completed. +But new and unforeseen difficulties arose. When about 17,000_l._ had +been expended, further progress was arrested on account of a +misunderstanding with Mr. Clement, who made the most extravagant demands +as compensation for carrying on the construction of the engine in the +new buildings. These demands could not be satisfied with proper regard +to the justice due to Government. Mr. Clement accordingly withdrew from +the undertaking, and carried with him all the valuable tools that had +been used in the work; a proceeding the more unfortunate, as many of +them had been invented expressly to meet the unusual forms and +combinations arising out of the novel construction.[43] + +An offer was made to surrender the tools, for a given sum, which was +declined, and the works came to a stand-still. But other circumstances +interposed to prevent the completion of the original design. + +During the suspension of the works, Mr. Babbage had been deprived of the +use of his own drawings. Having in the meanwhile naturally speculated +upon the general principles on which machinery for calculation might be +constructed, _a principle of an entirely new kind_ occurred to him, the +power of which over the most complicated arithmetical operations seemed +nearly unbounded. This was the executing of analytical operations by +means of an analytical-engine. On re-examining his drawings, when +returned to him by the engineer, the new principle appeared to be +limited only by the extent of the mechanism it might require. The +invention of simpler mechanical means for performing the elementary +operations of the engine, now derived a far greater importance than it +had hitherto possessed; and should such simplifications be discovered, +it seemed difficult to anticipate, or even to over-estimate, the vast +results which might be attained. + +These new views acquired additional importance from their bearings upon +the engine already partly executed for the Government; for, if such +simplifications should be discovered, it might happen that the +Analytical-Engine would execute with greater rapidity the calculations +for which the Difference-Engine was intended; or that the +Difference-Engine would itself be superseded by a far simpler mode of +construction. + +Though these views might perhaps at that period have appeared visionary, +they have subsequently been completely realized. To have allowed the +construction of the Difference-Engine to be resumed, while these new +conceptions were withheld from the Government, would have been improper; +yet the state of uncertainty in which those views were then necessarily +involved, rendered any written communication respecting their probable +bearing on that engine, a task of very great difficulty. It therefore +appeared to Mr. Babbage, that the most straightforward course was to ask +for an interview with the head of the Government, and to communicate to +him the exact state of the case. + +On the 26th September, 1834, Mr. Babbage requested an audience of Lord +Melbourne, for the purpose of placing these views before him; his +Lordship acceded to the request, but from some cause the interview was +postponed; and soon after, the ministry went out of office, without the +desired conference having taken place. + +The duration of the Duke of Wellington’s administration was short; and +no decision on the subject of the _Difference_-Engine was obtained. + +In May, 1835, Mr. Babbage announced in a letter[44] to M. Quetelet, +which was laid before the Academy of Sciences at Brussels, that he had +“for six months been engaged in making the drawings of a new calculating +engine of _far greater power than the first_.” “I am myself astonished,” +says Mr. Babbage, “at the power I have been enabled to give to this +machine; a year ago I should not have believed this result possible. +This machine is intended to contain a hundred variables, or numbers +susceptible of changing, and each of these numbers may consist of +twenty-five figures. The greatest difficulties of the invention have +already been surmounted, and the plans will be finished in a few +months.” + +Subsequently to the date of this letter, Mr. Babbage visited Turin, +where he explained to Baron Plana, M. Menabrea, and several other +distinguished philosophers of that city, the mathematical principles of +his Analytical-Engine, and also the drawings and engravings of the more +curious mechanical contrivances, by which those principles were to be +carried into effect. M. Menabrea, with Mr. Babbage’s consent, published +the information which he had received in the 41st volume of the +_Bibliothèque Universelle de Génève_. The article is remarkable as +giving the first account of the Analytical-Engine.[45] An English +translation, with copious original notes, made by a lady of +distinguished rank and talent,[46] was published in the third volume of +Taylor’s _Scientific Memoirs_. + +But it did not contain all the information respecting the +Difference-Engine that was desirable, and Mr. Babbage was consequently +led to communicate a short article upon this subject to the +_Philosophical Magazine_, which is inserted in the 23rd volume[47]. The +more comprehensive statements and official documents which Mr. Babbage +has placed at my disposal renders it unnecessary to do more than allude +to that article. + +For nine years, that is, from the year 1833, when the construction of +the Difference-Engine was suspended, until 1842, no decision respecting +the machine was arrived at, although Mr. Babbage made several +applications to Government on the subject. + +On the 21st October, 1838, he wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, +stating that the question he wished to have settled was:—“Whether the +Government required him to superintend the completion of the +Difference-Engine, which had been suspended during the last five years, +according to the original plan and principle, or whether they intended +to discontinue it altogether.” This letter produced no result. Time wore +on, and Sir Robert Peel became Prime Minister. This was in 1841. Up to +the termination of the Parliamentary Session in 1842, Mr. Babbage had +received no other communication on the subject than a note from Sir +George Clerk (Secretary to the Treasury), written in January of that +year, stating that he feared the pressing official duties of Sir Robert +Peel would prevent him turning his attention to the matter for some +days. + +Having availed himself of several private channels for recalling the +question to Sir Robert Peel’s attention without effect, Mr. Babbage, on +the 8th of October, 1842, again wrote to him, requesting an early +decision. + +At last Mr. Babbage received the following letter:— + + “_Downing Street, Nov. 3, 1842._ + “MY DEAR SIR, + “The Solicitor-General has informed me that you are most + anxious to have an early and decided answer as to the determination of + the Government with respect to the completion of your Calculating + Engine. I accordingly took the earliest opportunity of communicating + with Sir R. Peel on the subject. + + “We both regret the necessity of abandoning the completion of a + Machine on which so much scientific ingenuity and labour have been + bestowed. But on the other hand, the expense which would be necessary + in order to render it either satisfactory to yourself, or generally + useful, appears on the lowest calculation so far to exceed what we + should be justified in incurring, that we consider ourselves as having + no other alternative. + + “We trust that by withdrawing all claim on the part of the Government + to the Machine as at present constructed, and by placing it at your + entire disposal, we may, to a degree, assist your future exertions in + the cause of science. + “I am, &c. + “HENRY GOULBURN. + “_Charles Babbage, Esq._” + + “P.S. Sir R. Peel begs me to add, that as I have undertaken to express + to you our joint opinion on this matter, he trusts you will excuse his + not separately replying to the letter, which you addressed to him on + the subject a short time since.” + +To this letter Mr. Babbage replied as follows:— + + “_Dorset Street, Nov. 6, 1842._ + “MY DEAR SIR, + “I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the + 3rd of Nov., containing your own and Sir Robert Peel’s decision + respecting the Engine for calculating and printing mathematical tables + by means of Differences, the construction of which has been suspended + about eight years. + + “You inform me that both regret the necessity of abandoning the + completion of the Engine, but that not feeling justified in incurring + the large expense which it may probably require, you have no other + alternative. + + “You also offer, on the part of Government, to withdraw all claim in + the Machine as at present constructed, and to place it at my entire + disposal, with the view of assisting my future exertions in the cause + of science. + + “The drawings and the parts of the Machine already executed are, as + you are aware, the absolute property of Government, and I have no + claim whatever to them. + + “Whilst I thank you for the feeling which that offer manifests, I + must, under all the circumstances, decline accepting it. + “I am, &c. + “C. BABBAGE.” + +Mr. Babbage had an interview with Sir R. Peel subsequently to the date +of the foregoing letter: the result was, however, entirely +unsatisfactory; and thus, with the communication from the then +Chancellor of the Exchequer, terminated an engagement which had existed +upwards of twenty years, during which period it is due to Mr. Babbage to +state, that he refused more than one highly desirable and profitable +situation,[48] in order that he might give his whole time and thoughts +to the fulfilment of the contract, which he considered himself to have +entered into with the Government. + +With respect to the Difference-Engine little remains to be added. In +1843, an application was made to Government, by the Trustees of King’s +College, London, to allow the Engine, as it existed, to be removed to +the museum of that institution. The request was complied with; and the +Engine, enclosed within a glass case, now stands nearly in the centre of +the Museum. It is capable of calculating to five figures, and two orders +of differences, and performs the work with absolute precision; but no +portion whatever of printing machinery, which was one of the great +objects in the construction of the Engine, exists. All the drawings of +the machinery and other contrivances are also in King’s College. + +Before closing this Chapter, it will not be out of place to put upon +record the state of the Analytical-Engine at this period (1848). + +Mechanical Notations have been made, both of the actions of detached +parts, and of the general action of the whole, which cover about four or +five hundred large folio sheets of paper. + +The original rough sketches are contained in about five volumes. There +are upwards of one hundred large drawings. No part of the construction +of the Analytical-Engine has yet been commenced. A long series of +experiments have, however, been made upon the art of shaping metals; and +the tools to be employed for that purpose have been discussed, and many +drawings of them prepared. The great object of these inquiries and +experiments is, on the one hand, by simplifying the construction as much +as possible, and on the other, by contriving new and cheaper means of +execution, ultimately to reduce the expense within those limits which a +private individual may command. + + [28] In the following account of the Difference and Analytical + Engines, besides the MS. documents in the Archives of the Royal + Society, I have derived very valuable information from an unpublished + statement drawn up by Mr. Babbage, which he has been so kind as to + place in my hands. The original documents which are in Mr. Babbage’s + possession, and which are referred to, I have myself examined. + + [29] The idea of a Calculating Engine is not new. The celebrated + Pascal constructed a machine for executing the ordinary operations of + arithmetic, a description of which will be found in the _Encycl. + Méthod._, and in the Works of Pascal, Tom. IV. p. 7, Paris, 1819. In + his _Pensées_ he says, alluding to this Engine: “_La machine + arithmétique fait des effets qui approchent plus de la pensée que tout + ce que font les animaux; mais elle ne fait rien qui puisse faire dire + qu’elle a de la volonté comme les animaux._” Subsequently, Leibnitz + invented a machine by which, says Mr. De Morgan, “arithmetic + computations could be made.” Polenus, a learned and ingenious Italian, + invented a machine by which multiplication was performed—and + mechanical contrivances for performing particular arithmetical + processes were made about a century ago, but they were merely + modifications of Pascal’s. These Engines were very different to Mr. + Babbage’s Difference-Engine. + + [30] This letter was printed and published in July, 1822. + + [31] Sir H. Davy had witnessed and expressed his admiration of the + performances of the Engine. + + [32] I am informed upon good authority, that Dr. Young differed in + opinion from his colleagues. Without doubting that an engine could be + made, he conceived that it would be far more useful to invest the + probable cost of constructing such a calculating machine as was + proposed, in the funds, and apply the dividends to paying calculators. + + [33] Parliamentary Paper, No. 370, 1823. + + [34] Mr. Babbage very justly observes, that had the mutual relations + of the two parties, and the details of the plans then adopted, been + clearly defined, there is little doubt but that the Difference-Engine + would long since have existed. + + [35] It will be desirable to distinguish between, + + 1. The small _Model_ of the Original or Difference-Engine. + + 2. The Difference-Engine itself, belonging to the Government, a + part only of which has been put together. + + 3. The designs for another Engine called the Analytical-Engine. + + [36] Sir R. Peel distinctly admitted this in the House of Commons in + March, 1843. + + [37] A curious anecdote is related illustrative of the great + perfection to which Mr. Clement was in the habit of bringing + machinery. He received an order from America to construct a large + screw in the _best possible manner_, and he accordingly made one with + the greatest mathematical accuracy. But his bill amounted to some + hundreds of pounds, which completely staggered the American, who never + calculated upon paying more than 20_l._ at the utmost for the screw. + The matter was referred to arbitrators, who gave an opinion in favour + of Mr. Clement. + + [38] They were Messrs. Brunel, Donkin, and Field. + + [39] Colonel Sabine informs me, that Dr. Whewell was afterwards added + to the Committee. + + [40] + £ s. d. + Expense to end of 1824 600 0 0 + Expense to end of 1827 521 16 9 + Mr. Clement’s Bills to June, 1827 4,775 15 3 + Ditto, 9th May, 1829 730 12 8 + ------------- + 6,628 4 8 + Deduct old tools sold 36 0 0 + ------------- + 6,592 4 8 + Mr. Clement’s Bill to December, 1830, about 600 0 0 + ------------- + 7,192 4 8 + ------------- + + [41] I have a letter of Sir J. Herschel’s before me, expressing his + regret at being unable to attend on this occasion, but that his faith + in the engine and its inventor remained unshaken. + + [42] Mr. Brunel’s estimate appears in the following letter to Mr. + Warburton:— + + “_Feb. 28, 1831._ + “DEAR SIR, + “Having taken in consideration the erection of the + proposed shops, the removal of the machinery, the accommodation for + it, and also for the maker; having also taken into consideration the + further completion of the drawings, and the ultimate accomplishment + of the Engine until it is capable of producing plates for printing; + though I feel confident that the sum of 8,000_l._ will be ample to + realize the objects that are contemplated, I should nevertheless + recommend that the Government be advised to provide for the sum of + 12,000_l._ by way of estimate, and that the yearly sum required, + exclusive of the sum requisite for the buildings and removal (say + 2,000_l._), will not exceed from 2,000_l._ to 2,500_l._ + “I am, &c. + “M. I. BRUNEL.” + “_Henry Warburton, Esq._” + + [43] This Mr. Clement had a legal right to do. Startling as it may + appear to the unprofessional reader, it is nevertheless the fact, that + engineers and mechanics possess the right of property to all tools + that they have constructed, although the cost of construction has been + defrayed by their employers. + + [44] Mr. Babbage informs me, that this letter was intended only as a + private communication. + + [45] In the _Ninth Bridgewater Treatise_, Mr. Babbage has employed + various arguments deduced from the Analytical-Engine, which afford + some idea of its powers. See second edition. In 1838, several copies + of plans of this new engine, engraved on wood, were circulated amongst + Mr. Babbage’s friends at the Meeting of the British Association at + Newcastle. + + In 1840, Mr. Babbage had one of his general plans of the + Analytical-Engine lithographed at Paris. + + [46] I am authorized by Lord Lovelace to say, that the translator is + Lady Lovelace. + + [47] “The Difference-Engine could only tabulate, and was incapable by + its nature of developing; the Analytical-Engine was intended to either + tabulate or develop. The Difference-Engine is the embodying of one + particular and very limited set of operations, the Analytical-Engine, + the embodying of the science of operations. The distinctive + characteristic of the Analytical-Engine, is the introduction into it + of the principle which Jacquard devised for regulating by means of + punched cards the most complicated patterns in the fabrication of + brocaded stuffs. Nothing of the sort exists in the Difference-Engine. + We may say most aptly, that the Analytical-Engine weaves _Algebraical + patterns_, just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves!”—Note + to translation of Menabrea’s Memoir. The 59th volume of the _Edinburgh + Review_ contains an able and elaborate article upon the + Difference-Engine, written by Dr. Lardner. + + [48] Mr. Babbage has shown me letters by which it appears that he + declined offices of great emolument, the acceptance of which would + have interfered with his labours upon the Difference-Engine. + + + + +The annexed Review of the Eleventh Chapter of MR. WELD’S HISTORY OF THE +ROYAL SOCIETY, by Professor DE MORGAN, has been reprinted with his +permission, and that of the Editor, _verbatim_, from the Athenæum of +October 14th, 1848. + +Three Notes at the foot of the pages have been added for the purpose of +explanation. + +These are followed by the remarks upon them, reprinted from the +“_Athenæum_” of 16th December, 1848. + + + + + PROFESSOR DE MORGAN’S REVIEW _of_ WELD’S + HISTORY _of the_ ROYAL SOCIETY. + + --------------- + + THE ATHENÆUM. + _LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1848._ + + --------------- + + + + + MR. BABBAGE’S CALCULATING MACHINE. + + +In our review of Mr. Weld’s “History of the Royal Society,” [_ante_, p. +621,] we noted that one chapter was devoted to the history of the +celebrated undertaking above named. This chapter is taken from materials +furnished by Mr. Babbage himself, all the documents having undergone the +inspection of Mr. Weld. Of recent publications on the subject it may be +well to note—1. A short account of the transactions with the Government, +communicated by Mr. Babbage to the _Philosophical Magazine_ for +September, 1843. 2. A sketch of the _Analytical Engine_ (on which Mr. +Babbage is now at work, that commenced by the Government being the +_Difference Engine_) written in Italian by Menabrea, and translated, +with notes (and a list of all previous publications), by the Countess of +Lovelace (August 1843). The statements put forward by Mr. Babbage have +thus been in substance before the public for five years, without +contradiction: for though the account (No. 1) was not signed, it was +stated to be _from authority_, allowed to pass as such by the Editors of +the magazine, and generally understood to emanate from Mr. Babbage. We +are then bound to take this first statement as admitted by Government, +more especially after the publication by Mr. Weld, avowedly made from +the documents furnished by Mr. Babbage himself: and assuredly we +understand Mr. Weld as conceiving himself to be distinctly informed by +Mr. Babbage, that _all_ documents of any importance had been +communicated. + +The heads of the public history of the _Difference Engine_ are as +follows:—In April, 1823, the Government requested the opinion of the +Royal Society on Mr. Babbage’s plan for “applying machinery to the +purposes of calculating and printing mathematical tables.” The Royal +Society reported favourably, that the machine was “fully adequate to the +objects proposed,”—and this report was laid before Parliament. In July, +Mr. Babbage had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Earl +of Ripon) to ascertain if Government would wish him to construct for +_printing_ as well as _calculating_. There is no minute of this +conversation, and the parties have different memories upon it. But soon +after, the Treasury informs the Royal Society that 1,500_l._ was to be +issued to Mr. Babbage “to enable him to bring his invention to +perfection, in the manner recommended.” Mr. Weld remarks that no plan +had been pointed out; but it must be noticed that the original +application was for an opinion upon _calculating and printing_, that the +opinion spoke of the _full adequacy_ of the plan for _the objects +proposed_, and that the final determination of the Government was to +proceed _as recommended_. Unless there were a previous understanding +that all documents should either speak with the verbal completeness of +an indictment or be wholly void, it is clear that the Government +determined to assist Mr. Babbage in realizing the full invention, and +told him so.[49] + +The work went on for four years, under advances of money from time to +time: the funds were applied by Mr. Babbage, and the accounts were +audited by Messrs. Brunel, Donkin, and Field. We suppose that Government +did not exceed the proposed advance of 1,500_l._; but this is not +expressly stated. In December, 1828, Government applied again to the +Royal Society to report upon the state, progress, and prospects of the +machine. Mr. Babbage at the same time stated that he had expended +6,000_l._—meaning, we suppose, 4,500_l._ over and above the Government +advance. A Committee, consisting of Messrs. Gilbert, Roget, Sabine, +Herschel, Baily, Brunel (the elder), Kater, Donkin, Penn, Rennie, +Barton, Warburton, declined to report on practicability or utility, +considering both as fully established, and reported that, the +difficulties considered, the progress was as great as could be expected, +and that the engine was likely to fulfil the expectations of its +inventor. On this report the Government made further advances, and the +machine was declared national property. But the official payments soon +failed: and Mr. Babbage called a meeting of private friends, in May +1829, who, on the representation that he had then advanced 4,000_l._ +himself, in addition to the Government advance of 3,000_l._, advised him +strongly not to proceed without adequate help from the Government. On +this representation, the Duke of Wellington, Mr. Goulburn, and Lord +Ashley inspected what there was to show, and the Treasury advanced +3,000_l._ more. In December 1830, nearly 600_l._ was still due to Mr. +Babbage, “upon the last account,” and that sum to the superintendent, +Mr. Clement. The Treasury gave directions for the advance of 600_l._ to +pay Mr. Clement, and desired a fresh inspection and opinion from the +Royal Society. The Committee above named (with the addition of Sir J. +Lubbock and Mr. Troughton) reported (April 1831) as favourably as before +on every point, and recommended attention to Mr. Babbage’s suggestion +that the workshops should be removed to the neighbourhood of his +residence. With regard to probable expense, they subjoined Mr. Brunel’s +estimate that 8,000_l._ additional would be sufficient; but recommending +that the Government be advised to provide for 12,000_l._ by way of +estimate. A piece of ground adjoining Mr. Babbage’s garden was taken, +and a fire-proof building was erected. When about 17,000_l._ had been +expended altogether, further progress was arrested by the extravagant +demands made by Mr. Clement, as compensation for carrying on the +construction in the new buildings. These were out of the question: and +Mr. Clement withdrew, taking with him all the tools which had been used, +many of which had been invented for the occasion. For it is the law that +engineers and mechanics possess the right of property in all tools they +have constructed, even though the cost of construction may have been +defrayed by their employers. A special agreement ought, the reader will +say, to have been made as to these tools; but whether the neglect is to +be charged on Mr. Babbage, or on the Government, those must say who feel +able. As it very seldom happens that the employer furnishes tools, it is +easy to see how the necessity for a special agreement may have escaped +the notice of all parties. + +So far all is intelligible enough, and no blame attaches to either side, +at least that we can venture to impute. But now the question divides in +a curious way. While the works were suspended, Mr. Babbage reconsidered +the whole question, and invented what he calls the _Analytical +Engine_,—which we will take, on his word and Menabrea’s publication, +derived from his communications, to be immensely superior to the +_Difference Engine_. To resume the latter, while Government was +unacquainted with these new and more simple conceptions, would have been +improper; to write on unfinished speculations would have been difficult. +Mr. Babbage therefore (September 1834) requested a personal interview +with Lord Melbourne; which was agreed to,—but before it took place the +ministry was dissolved. From this time until 1842 Mr. Babbage made +applications to the various administrations, which remained unanswered; +until at last, in November, 1842, a letter from Mr. Goulburn, in answer +to a new application, informed Mr. Babbage that the Government intended +to discontinue the project on the ground of expense. + +In the meanwhile Mr. Babbage incurred severe censure in scientific +circles, as being himself the cause of the delay. It was asserted that +he had compromised the Royal Society, which had so strongly recommended +his project to the Government. It was pretty generally believed that the +delay arose from his determination that the Government should take up +the new engine and abandon the old one. + +But, until the statement made by him shall be proved either false or +defective, it must stand that the Government never returned any answer +to the question—Shall the new engine be constructed, or shall the old +one be proceeded with? We are of opinion that they ought to have +required him to proceed with the old one. They ought to have said—The +public can only judge by results: how well satisfied soever men of +science may be that the new machine is immeasurably superior to the old +one, society at large will never comprehend the abandonment of a scheme +on which so much has been expended; they will say—What if, in +constructing No. 2, No. 3 should be discovered, as much superior to No. +2 as No. 2 is to No. 1! And if Mr. Babbage had declined to proceed with +his first project, when thus urged, it is our opinion that he would have +richly deserved a very harsh censure. And of this we are sure, that if +Government had allowed him to finish the first machine, and he had done +so with success, the House of Commons would willingly have granted money +for the second,—aye, and for the third and fourth, if he had invented +them. But the Government itself prevented the matter from coming to any +such issue. It is possible that Sir R. Peel and Mr. Goulburn allowed Mr. +Babbage’s well-known wish[50] to abandon the first plan in favour of the +new one to influence their decision. It may be that they were startled +at finding that 17,000_l._ expended upon one project was only the +precursor of another. If so, we think they put themselves in the wrong +by not fastening on Mr. Babbage the alternative of either proceeding +with the existing construction, or taking the entire responsibility of +refusal upon himself. As the matter now stands, and unless Mr. Babbage +can be refuted, the answer to the question why he did not proceed is, +that during the eight years in which he had to bear the blame of the +delay he could not procure even the attention of the Government, much +less any decision on the course to be taken. + +It is generally understood that Mr. Babbage is determined to proceed +with the _Analytical Engine_, gradually, and at his own expense; and +that the drawings are in a state of great forwardness. According to Mr. +Babbage himself, many experiments have been made with the object “on the +one hand, by simplifying the construction as much as possible, and on +the other, by contriving new and cheaper means of execution, ultimately +to reduce the expense within those limits which a private individual may +command.” + +In looking at all the circumstances of this statement, we regret its +divided responsibility. Mr. Weld has seen Mr. Babbage’s documents. +Should he have made an insufficient selection, who is to blame? Mr. Weld +says, “I have derived very valuable information from an unpublished +statement drawn up by Mr. Babbage, which he has been so kind as to place +in my hands. The original documents, which are in Mr. Babbage’s +possession, and which are referred to, I have myself examined.” From all +this we should conclude that if Mr. Weld had omitted anything material, +or fallen into any misconception, Mr. Babbage would before this have set +it right. But it would be more satisfactory if we had Mr. Babbage’s own +acceptance of the statement thus made, as being that on which he is +content to rest his case; at least until some specific counter-statement +should demand more detail of explanation. Continued silence will be +tantamount to such acceptance. + +There is also one piece of information which must be drawn out before +the case can be finally adjudicated. We stand thus:—Scientific rumour +states that Mr. Babbage compelled the Government to give him up by +demanding permission to abandon the _Difference Engine_ and substitute +the _Analytical Engine_. To this, in the formal point of view, Mr. +Babbage has fully answered, by showing that the Government never +communicated to him that it was their pleasure he should proceed on the +plan originally contemplated. The question now remains—Did Mr. Babbage, +or did he not, in the several unanswered applications which he made to +the Ministry, press the claims of the new machine and the abandonment of +the old? If so, did he do it in such a manner as to give to understand, +or make apparent, that he would not consent to recommence operations at +the point of relinquishment? The “several applications” which were made +from 1833 to 1838 are not particularized, much less described as to +contents. But, in October 1838, Mr. Babbage wrote to the Chancellor of +the Exchequer, stating, to use Mr. Weld’s words, that “the question he +wished to have settled” was, whether the Government required him to +superintend the completion of the _Difference Engine_ according to the +original plan and principle, or whether they intended to discontinue it +altogether. Now the words _quoted_ are very like the idiom a person +would employ who had in his mind that up to that time some other +question had been among those proposed for discussion. And it is worthy +of note that all the communications are undescribed until we come to the +one of October 1838; which shows that then at least, whether before or +not, Mr. Babbage had put the question on the right issue. Of what tenor, +then, were the undescribed applications?[51] If of the same as that of +October 1838, Mr. Babbage stands quite clear; but if they were such as +fairly to give rise to the rumour above mentioned, then it must be said, +that though _he_ had every disposition to get wrong, Government always +prevented him by blocking his path with an error of its own. But in any +case it is to be remembered, that for the last four years of unanswered +application Mr. Babbage stood upon the right ground; and also that the +rumoured _refusal_ to proceed never was made. + +The public, we think, has a right to explanation from the Government, +and to further explanation from Mr. Babbage. Sir R. Peel turned it off +with a joke in the House of Commons. He recommended that the machine +should be set to calculate the time at which it would be of use. He +ought rather to have advised that it should be set to compute the number +of applications which might remain unanswered before a Minister, if the +subject were not one which might affect his parliamentary power. If it +had done this, it would have shown that its usefulness had commenced. + + [49] By the words “_no plan_,” the reviewer here evidently refers to + the _mechanical and mathematical plan_, on the fitness of which the + Royal Society had already, as he observes, made a report. Mr. Weld, on + the other hand, refers to the _mutual relations_ of the two parties, + Mr. Babbage and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, relative to the + expenses and even to the ownership of the _Difference-Engine_, as + appears by the footnote (34) at page 256. + C. B. + + [50] It is scarcely possible that this _supposed_ wish could have + influenced Sir Robert Peel, because he had before him a written + disavowal of it from Mr. Babbage himself. + C. B. + + [51] The two following will sufficiently explain them:—On the 23d + December, 1834, Mr. Babbage addressed a statement to the Duke of + Wellington, pointing out the only plans which, in his opinion, could + be pursued for terminating the questions relative to the _Difference + Engine_, namely: + + _First_, the Government might desire Mr. Babbage to continue the + construction of the Engine in the hands of the person who has hitherto + been employed in making it. + + _Secondly_, the Government might wish to know whether any other person + could be substituted for the engineer at present employed to continue + the construction; a course which was possible. + + _Thirdly_, the Government might (although he did not presume that they + would) substitute some person to superintend the completion of the + Engine instead of Mr. Babbage himself. + + _Fourthly_, the Government might be disposed to give up the + undertaking entirely. + + A letter to Sir R. Peel from Mr. Babbage, dated 7th April, 1835, and + enclosing the above plans, concludes thus:— + + “The delays and difficulties of years will, I hope, excuse my + expressing a wish that I may at length be relieved from them by an + early decision of the Government on the question.” + C. B. + + + + + _From the_ ATHENÆUM _of_ SATURDAY, DEC. _16th, 1848_. + + --------------- + + +Mr. Babbage has reprinted, for private circulation, Mr. Weld’s chapter +on his _Calculating Machine_, and has appended to it our review[52] of +that chapter [see _ante_, p. 1029] with three short foot-notes. The +first of these is on a point immaterial to the issue; the second and +third contain distinct statements of fact from Mr. Babbage, in reference +to our comments upon his proceedings and those of the Government. Our +readers will remember that from September 1834 to November 1842, Mr. +Babbage could not procure the attention of the Government to the state +of the engine, on which 17,000_l._ had been spent; and that, about the +beginning of that period, Mr. Babbage had invented the new engine, which +he called the _Analytical Engine_. And further, they will remember that +all notion of the possibility of blame having been justly incurred by +Mr. Babbage rested, in our comment, upon the hypothesis that he had put +his wish to abandon the _Difference Engine_ and substitute the +_Analytical Engine_ before the Government in such a form as to give them +a right to suppose that he was unwilling to proceed with the former. On +our remark that it is possible that Sir R. Peel and Mr. Goulburn allowed +his well-known wish to influence their decision, Mr. Babbage +observes:—“It is scarcely possible that this _supposed_ wish could have +influenced Sir Robert Peel, because he had before him a written +disavowal of it from Mr. Babbage himself.” + +Again, of the first half of the period of unanswered application Mr. +Weld gives no account, as to the tenor of the applications therein made +to the Government: though he shows by documents that during the second +half Mr. Babbage, to repeat our own phrase, “stood upon the right +ground.” And thereupon we expressed our opinion that the public had a +right to explanation from the Government, and to further explanation +from Mr. Babbage. This further explanation Mr. Babbage now gives, in the +following words; among which we insert some bracketed comments:— + +“The two following [applications made to the Government] will +sufficiently explain them [the undescribed applications of the first +half of the period of unanswered application]:—On the 23rd December, +1834, Mr. Babbage addressed a statement to the Duke of Wellington, +pointing out the only [the reader will remark this word _only_] plans +which in his opinion could be pursued for terminating the questions +relative to the _Difference Engine_, namely—_First_, the Government +might desire Mr. Babbage to continue the construction of the engine in +the hands of the person who has hitherto been employed in making it. +_Secondly_, the Government might wish to know whether any other person +could be substituted for the engineer at present employed to continue +the construction—a course which was possible. _Thirdly_, the Government +might (although he did not presume that they would) substitute some +person to superintend the completion of the engine instead of Mr. +Babbage himself. _Fourthly_, the Government might be disposed to give up +the undertaking entirely.” A letter to Sir Robert Peel from Mr. Babbage, +dated the 7th of April, 1835, and enclosing the above plans, concludes +thus: “The delays and difficulties of years will, I hope, excuse my +expressing a wish that I may at length be relieved from them by an early +decision of the Government on the question.” + +From the above it appears that at the end of 1834, Mr. Babbage—though +then so full of the _new_ engine, that in September he had asked an +audience of Lord Melbourne, to communicate the exact state of the case, +and to request, of course, his consideration of the question whether the +new engine should or should not take the place of the old one—began his +applications to the Government with distinct reference to the _old_ +engine, and to the question of its completion or abandonment. Certainly +the first of the two applications was not well timed, for it was made +when the Duke of Wellington held all the seals, and a Government courier +was hunting Sir Robert Peel all over Italy, to tell him to come home +quick and be Prime Minister. But it was repeated to Sir Robert Peel in +the April following, when the latter was also in official possession of +the previous letter. + +Mr. Babbage having thus filled up the only _lacuna_ which the public +press has brought to his notice, we can but repeat that those who would +impute to him the blame of the failure of Government to complete his +Calculating Machine must begin by proving his statement to be false or +defective. In 1835 he complains _to_ the Government of “delays and +difficulties,” which he implies to be mainly caused _by_ the Government, +and he gets no answer whatever to repeated applications, until 1843. +Those who have propagated the rumours that his conduct was the cause of +the delay, and that he compromised his friends in the Royal Society, who +had aided in bringing him under the notice of the Government, are bound +to abstain in future, or to show cause. + +We end by a quotation from Mr. Weld, which we abstained from giving so +long as we supposed that the discontinuance of the Calculating Machine +might be, in any degree, Mr. Babbage’s fault. “Mr. Babbage has shown me +letters, by which it appears that he declined offices of great +emolument, the acceptance of which would have interfered with his +labours upon the _Difference Engine_.” + + [52] We said in that review that Menabrea’s Memoir was in Italian:—we + should have said French. + + THE END. + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes. + + + New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the + public domain. + + Italic text is denoted by underscores _thus_, small capitals have been + changed to all capitals. + + Some words are inconsistently hyphenated such as “light-house”, + “lighthouse” and “astronomer-royal”, “astronomer royal”. These have + been left as originally printed. + + The footnotes have been renumbered throughout the book and moved to + the ends of the chapters. + + The Appendix consists of extracts from other publications. The + footnotes have been renumbered but there remain references to page + numbers in the original publications. + + Some small changes have been made as follows: + + A closing quotation mark at the end of the first sentence of footnote + 47 has been removed since all of this text is taken from the note + cited. + + In order to obtain the correct alignment of text: + + On page 126 the dashes serving to indicate repeated text have been + replaced by duplicated text. + + In the table in footnote 40 the ditto marks have been replaced by + duplicated text. + + In the table on page 220 “The Bath” has been repeated instead of being + bracketed to “Military” and “Civil”. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76507 *** |