The dead City of Fatehpur Sikri
The dead City of Fatehpur Sikri,BUILT BY AKBAR, AND WHICH FOR 300 YEARS HAS REMAINED DESERTED.
The Pilgrim City of Benares on the Ganges
The Pilgrim City of Benares on the Ganges.
Landing in Ceylon, which lies only seven degrees north of the Equator, we were surrounded by the most profuse and luxuriant tropical vegetation; and the vertical rays of the sun kept us indoors, except in the early morning and late evening. A few days later we had passed through Calcutta and found ourselves at Darjeeling, with snow lying all about us, and with the mighty snow-ranges of the Himalayas piled up before us, and yet we had not left India. We were surrounded by 300,000,000 of people belonging to six hundred nationalities, and speaking as many languages, differing not only in nationality and in language, but in religion, in civilisation, and in their manners and customs, and all this multitude of peoples, nations, and languages were comprised in "India."
Nothing brings this great diversity among the people of India more vividly before the mind than a walk through one of the main streets of Calcutta. Here one meets with natives from every part, some arrayed in simple white garments, but others clothed in gorgeous apparel. Their costumes of silk and satin are radiant with a dazzling wealth of colour, every nationality having its distinctive dress,the Bengalese, the Pathan, the Sikh, the Nepaulese, the Tamils, and the Mahrattas, and all walk with that dignified bearing which proclaims them to be members of a princely class. Our wonder increases. How comes it that this multitude of peoples, these descendants of martial races, live together in peace and amity?
The plains of Delhi, which for 2,000 years were the arena of perpetual conflict as nations were made and unmade, proclaim the warlike character of the people, the intensity of their national hatred, and the ferocity of their bloody feuds. They are now held together in peaceful union by legions of British troops—there are but 70,000 British troops in all India—and probably 250,000,000 out of the 300,000,000 people in India have never seen a British soldier.
This great phalanx of nations is held together, is made happy and prosperous, by the just rule which appeals to their imagination and their sense of justice, and which is administered by 900 British civilians, who are for the most part men under 40 years of age. I think this is one of the most remarkable spectacles the world has ever seen. It speaks well for the English public-school system which has trained these men. It speaks also well for honest administration and the influence and power which it exerts, exercising a moral influence greater and more far-reaching than any military rule.
The most interesting study in India is that of the people, among whom there is the greatest difference in physique. We have the lithe, active little coolie of Southern and Central India, the hewer of wood and the drawer of water; the fat, astute, and subtle Bengalee, devoid of moral or physical courage, a born agitator; the stalwart hillmen of the North-West who furnish our Indian army with its best recruits; and the Mahrattas, the descendants of warlike races, who to-day are among the most active traders.
The student of character has a wide and fruitful field for investigation, but there are certain features which stand out prominently—their marvellous patience, their devotion to their religion, which is almost fanatical. Like the Egyptians of old, they live in the contemplation of death, and look upon death as the great consummation. The elaborate and magnificent tombs we see everywhere correspond to the pyramids and monumental buildings of ancient Egypt; while their ruinous condition attest the wisdom of Solomon, that "Vanity of vanity, all is vanity."
The poverty of India is also striking, but it is not so great as it appears. When we talk of a daily wage of twopence it seems almost impossible that life can be supported on any such sum; but in India a penny will buy all the rice the coolie can eat, and his other expenses are very small. Still, it must be considered a poor country.
There is no scenery in India until we reach the hills, which occupy a considerable area in the Madras presidency, and margin the whole of the North-West. Central and Southern India are vast plains. The grandest mountain view in the world is that of the Himalayas, from Darjeeling. Darjeeling stands at an elevation of 7,000 to 8,000 feet, on the foot hills of the Himalayas, about forty miles from "Kinchin Junga," which is the centre of one of the highest ranges. In the foreground are several deep valleys, usually filled with clouds. Looking over these, a further great bank of clouds appears high up in the heavens. On closer examination we begin to see they are not clouds; their opaque, snowy whiteness and their sharp peaks and serrated edges tell us that this is a range of mountains. "Kinchin Junga" stands in the centre, with an altitude of 28,000 feet, but in this mighty mountain group there is no mountain less than 24,000 feet, and not one of these has been scaled by man. On a clear evening, when the setting sun throws its roseate rays over the snows, no view can be more sublime and beautiful. Away on the west they dip down into Nepaul, and on the extreme right the deep indentation marks the pass by which the British troops entered Tibet.
The Himalayas from Darjeeling
The Himalayas from Darjeeling.In the Centre, Kinchin Junga, 28,180 feet.
We do not travel to India to see scenery, but Oriental life: the splendours of Agra and Delhi, the pilgrim city of Benares, and the silent, deserted cities of Fatehpur Sikri and Amber, all rich inhistorical records of the great Mogul kings, who for so many centuries held sway in India. It is only by seeing these places that one can form some idea of the magnificence and splendour which surrounded these monarchs, which has never been surpassed.
Agra The Taj Mahal
Agra—The Taj Mahal.THE MARBLE TOMB, ERECTED BY THE EMPEROR SHAH JEHAN, IN MEMORY OF HIS WIFE, A.D. 1648.
While we were in India we saw the beginnings of that unrest which has caused so much anxiety and has led to those outrages which the best Indians must deplore. We have in promoting education in India forgotten that there is but a limited opening for mere students, and in the absence of fitting occupation they become agitators. We ought to train the young men for some definite calling as agriculturists, engineers, or mechanics.
We also thought that the Europeans in India hold themselves too much aloof from the educated Indians. Caste prevents any great intimacy, but more might be done to bridge this over.
With small and reasonable concessions to native ambition, but, above all, with that firmness of administration which alone appeals to the Oriental mind, the present feeling of unrest will pass away, and India will continue to pursue that remarkable development and progress which have done so much for the happiness and well-being of her people.
In the summer of 1906, when motoring through Shropshire, I turned aside to visit the little village church of Morton Saye, of which my great-grandfather, Samuel Peploe, was vicar in 1770. I had not visited the church for nearly fifty years. Then it was a very quaint, old-fashioned place, with black oak pews and a black oak minstrel gallery at one end close to the pulpit. This was the singing gallery, the choir of three voices being led by a violin and cornet.
I found all had been changed. The church had been restored; the old features had disappeared; but fortunately the restoration had been carried out in good taste. I spoke to the vicar, who had followed us in, and who was evidently proud of his little church; he showed me the brass plate he had taken off the coffin of my grandfather, and had placed as a memorial on the walls of the church. I knew the great Lord Clive had been buried in the church, and asked to see his grave. The vicar pointed to a flag-stone under some pews. There was no inscription upon it, and he said that the only record they had that the great soldier was buried in the church was the small brass plate above the vestry door, and he added:—"Strange to say, there is no memorial to the man who made India, either in England or India, except in Shrewsbury, his native town. I suppose," he added, "it was because he committed suicide." On his return home from India Lord Clive wasfuriously attacked by political enemies, and the man who had shown on so many occasions such conspicuous courage on the field of battle quailed and fell, struck down by the venom of his calumniators.
When I was in India during the year following I enquired everywhere for a memorial to Lord Clive, but, although India bristles with statues to its governor-generals and eminent soldiers, there is in India to-day no record of Lord Clive. I was so much impressed with this that I wrote the following letter toThe Times:—
Grand Hotel,Calcutta, Feb. 8th, 1907.Lord Clive.To the Editor ofThe Times.Sir,—India has many monuments erected in honour of successful and popular viceroys and others who have served her well, but I have been unable to discover any monument to Lord Clive, to whom more than any human being we owe our great empire of India. Westminster Abbey contains no record of the great soldier-statesman.In the by-ways of Shropshire, in the quaint little church of Morton-Saye, the village swain sits Sunday after Sunday over the grave of Lord Clive. No inscription marks it, not even his name; a small brass plate hid away over the vestry door and scarcely legible is the only record that the remains of Robert Clive rest within its walls.Truly Lord Clive made India, but in the making of it he aroused jealousies and political enmities which, acting upon a too sensitive nature, brought him to a premature death. But should he be forgotten?The good work which Lord Curzon did for India in every direction is, I am glad to find, gratefully recognised and appreciated by her people. Among the many excellent things he accomplished was the preservation of her ancient monuments and historical records; and, if he had remained in office, I am sure the memory of his illustrious predecessor would not have been forgotten.The Maidan, in Calcutta, would be enriched if it embraced a monument to Lord Clive. Westminster Abbey would more truly reflect all that is great and worthy in England's history if it contained some appropriate record of Robert Clive and what he did to build up her empire.Yours truly,(Signed)William B. Forwood,Chairman of Quarter Sessions for Lancashire.
Grand Hotel,Calcutta, Feb. 8th, 1907.
Lord Clive.
To the Editor ofThe Times.
Sir,—India has many monuments erected in honour of successful and popular viceroys and others who have served her well, but I have been unable to discover any monument to Lord Clive, to whom more than any human being we owe our great empire of India. Westminster Abbey contains no record of the great soldier-statesman.
In the by-ways of Shropshire, in the quaint little church of Morton-Saye, the village swain sits Sunday after Sunday over the grave of Lord Clive. No inscription marks it, not even his name; a small brass plate hid away over the vestry door and scarcely legible is the only record that the remains of Robert Clive rest within its walls.
Truly Lord Clive made India, but in the making of it he aroused jealousies and political enmities which, acting upon a too sensitive nature, brought him to a premature death. But should he be forgotten?
The good work which Lord Curzon did for India in every direction is, I am glad to find, gratefully recognised and appreciated by her people. Among the many excellent things he accomplished was the preservation of her ancient monuments and historical records; and, if he had remained in office, I am sure the memory of his illustrious predecessor would not have been forgotten.
The Maidan, in Calcutta, would be enriched if it embraced a monument to Lord Clive. Westminster Abbey would more truly reflect all that is great and worthy in England's history if it contained some appropriate record of Robert Clive and what he did to build up her empire.
Yours truly,
(Signed)William B. Forwood,Chairman of Quarter Sessions for Lancashire.
The Timeswrote a leading article; Lord Curzon followed with a brilliant letter, and other letters appeared, with a result that a committee was formed, the sum of between £5,000 and £6,000 was subscribed, and we shall shortly have memorials of the great soldier-statesman both in London and in India.
It is a good thing to have a "hobby." Perhaps in these days we have too many, and pursue them with too much intensity, to the neglect of more important matters. To this I must, to some extent, plead guilty. I have devoted much time and thought to boating and to gardening.
My boating days commenced in the 'sixties, when I frequently sailed with my uncle, Alfred Bower, who owned some of the crack yachts belonging to the Birkenhead Model Yacht Club—the "Presto," "Challenge," "Enigma," etc. They were large beamy boats, of about eight to ten tons, with centre boards. Our racing was mostly in the upper reaches of the Mersey, lying between Eastham and the Aigburth shore.
In 1866 I made my first venture, buying the American centre-board yacht "Truant," which had greatly distinguished herself for speed, and taking her up to Windermere. She was not, however, of much use on that expansive but treacherous sheet of water. The heavy squalls were too much for her huge sail plan. I also owned and sailed on the Merseythe "Glance," eight tons; "Satanella," fifteen tons; "Saraband," fourteen tons; and "Leander," twenty tons.
I then for a time gave up yachting on the Mersey, and in 1868 bought a racing boat on Lake Windermere, the "Spray." She was most successful, winning in 1870 every race we sailed.
In 1871 I was induced to build a twenty-ton racing cutter for the sea, and called her the "Playmate." She was built by Ratsey, at Cowes, and was the first boat to carry all her lead ballast on her keel, and in consequence her advent was watched with considerable interest. I sailed her for two years in the various regattas round the coast, on the Solent and on the Clyde, but she was only fairly successful. The competition in the class was very keen, and the boats built by Dan Hatcher carried away most of the prizes.
This was the time when yachting, I think, reached its highest point of interest, and the matches of the forty, twenty, and ten ton classes were watched with great keenness throughout the country. In the forty-ton class we had the "Norman," "Muriel," "Bloodhound," "Glance," etc.; and in the twenty-ton class the "Vanessa," "Quickstep," "Sunshine," etc. We had also some very fine sixty-tonners, and an excellent class in schooners. Our regattas were conducted with much keenness, and created great enthusiasm. Locally we had many active yachting men, Mr. David MacIver, M.P.,who sailed the "Sunshine," the "Shadow," and the "Gleam"; Mr. Gibson Sinclair, Mr. Astley Gardner, Mr. Coddington, Mr. Andrew Anderson, Mr. St. Clair Byrne, and others.
It is always wise, and I am sure in the long run pays best, to do everything thoroughly, even although it is only for sport or pastime; and when the Board of Trade allowed yacht owners to present themselves for examination and obtain their certificates as master mariners, I entered my name, and was the fourth yacht owner to qualify, Lord Brassey being the first. My sea experience was, of course, of great service to me. I afterwards found my Board of Trade certificate as a master mariner gave me increased pleasure in yachting, and my crew great confidence in my skill as a navigator.
Selling the "Playmate," I returned to Windermere; indeed I had never left it, but sailed the regattas each year, and in the year 1908 I completed my forty consecutive years' racing upon the lake, winning, for the second year in succession, the Champion Cup. The competition for this cup is limited to yachts which have won first or second prizes. My yacht, the "Kelpie," was designed by Mr. A. Mylne, of Glasgow. She is quite one of the smartest boats on the lake, particularly in light weather.
During my forty years' sailing upon the lake I have witnessed great changes in the designs of the competing yachts. The boats starting with a lengthof 20 feet on the water line, were gradually enlarged by being designed to immerse the whole of the counter, making the water line length 26 feet 6 inches. We carried about 750 feet area of sails, including in this a huge foresail. The boats were large and powerful, but difficult to manage, and it is a wonder no accident took place. We afterwards introduced a load line length of 22 feet with overhangs, with the result that we have established a very smart and useful class of boat.
I built many yachts on the lake—the "Althea," "Truant," "Charm," "Brenda," "Playmate," "Breeze," "Pastime," and "Kelpie"—and several boats for the smaller class. I also built in 1881 the steel launch "Banshee." She was designed by Alexander Richardson, and is to-day the prettiest launch on the lake. I have raced on Windermere with varying success, but it has been the source of enormous enjoyment, and the days spent on Windermere are among my happiest. When we first visited Bowness we were content to reside in lodgings, but in 1879 we rented "Fellborough," a charming little house on the lake shore below the ferry. After remaining here three or four years, we occupied for longer or shorter periods Wynlass Beck, Loughrigg Brow, Ambleside, High Wray Bank; and in 1889 I took on a long lease "Wykefield," at the head of Pull Wyke Bay, a charming house with lovely gardens, and furnished also with a boathouse and pier. Here we remained until 1902, and since thattime we have occasionally occupied Wray Cottage, a pretty dwelling nestling under the shadow of Wray Castle.
Yachting on Windermere, 1909
Yachting on Windermere, 1909.
It would indeed be very difficult to describe the enjoyment Windermere has afforded us during all these years. Our long walks, mountain climbs, picnics on the lakes, fishing, and last, but not least, our regattas, filled our days with pleasure, and we look back upon our holidays with sunny memories of great happiness.
In 1904 I wrote a history of the Royal Windermere Yacht Club. The Rev. Canon Rawnsley added an interesting chapter descriptive of the lake, and the book was illustrated by some excellent photographs.
As a thankoffering to God for permitting us to enjoy such great happiness, in 1908 we placed a stained-glass window in the Parish Church at Bowness representing theTe Deum.
In 1880 we built at Lymington a fifty-ton yawl, which was named the "Leander." In this we cruised for three summers off the west coast of Scotland and south coast of England; but I found I could not spare the necessary time, and was obliged to give up sea yachting for good in 1885.
I was elected rear-commodore of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club in 1879, and was for a time also commodore of the Cheshire Yacht Club.
In my early days of sea racing, being much impressed by the want of a central authority to regulate all matters connected with yacht racing, I brought the question under the notice of Mr. Dixon Kemp, the yachting editor of theField. He consulted Colonel Leach, a very leading and influential yachtsman, with the result that we formed the Yacht Racing Association. We secured the Prince of Wales as our president, and the Marquis of Exeter as our chairman, and very speedily recruited a large number of members.
I was elected a member of the Council and subsequently chairman of the Measurement Committee, which had very important work to do in connection with the rating of yachts for racing purposes. The old Thames rule was played out; yachts had become of such excessive length and depth that a new rule of measurement became necessary. We took a large amount of expert evidence, and finally drafted a rule which was adopted and remained in force until the present international rule superseded it.
This club was founded in the 'sixties by "Rob Roy" Macgregor, who had built a small decked canoe, in which he had navigated the principal rivers in Europe and the Holy Land. Macgregorwas not only an enthusiastic boating man, but he was a good Christian worker and philanthropist, well known in the East End of London. "Rob Roy" appealed to me and others to form a Northern branch of the Canoe Club on the Mersey. We did so in 1868, establishing our headquarters at Tranmere. The club was very flourishing, and the upper reaches of the Mersey formed a very attractive cruising ground; but the increase in the number of steamers destroyed canoeing on the Mersey as it has destroyed yachting. Living, as we did, at Seaforth, I was able to run my canoe down to the shore and enjoy many pleasant sails in the Crosby Channel. Finding an ordinary "Rob Roy" was too small and very wet in a seaway I designed and built a sailing canoe with a centre board, which was a great success and was the pioneer of sailing canoes.
There can be no more delightful pastime than gardening. I may claim this to be my pet "hobby." Other pastimes are evanescent and leave behind them no lasting results or afford no more than a passing pleasure; but in gardening we have seedtime and harvest, all the pleasures of sowing and planting, watching the gradual growth, training, and nurturing the young plant, and in due time gathering in the flowers or fruit, and in these days when so much is done in "hybridising" we have the added charm ofexperimenting in raising new varieties. We began to import orchids in 1866, bringing them from the West Indies and Central America in large wooden boxes, thinking it necessary to keep them growing, but we lost more than half on the voyage. They are now roughly packed in baskets or bales and a very large percentage arrive safely.
When in India in 1907, at Darjeeling, I hired two men and two donkeys to go down into the valleys of Bhutan to collect orchids. They returned in about ten days with four large baskets full, chiefly denrobiums. Among them there was a good deal of rubbish, but also many good plants, which I sent home, and which have since flowered and done well. There are no plants more difficult to kill than orchids; but, on the other hand, there are no plants more difficult to grow and to flower. Their habits must be known and studied, and, above all, they must be provided with the exact temperature and degree of moisture they have been accustomed to. But the reward of successful cultivation is great and worth striving for. No flowers can be more lovely in form and in colour, and they have the great merit of lasting for days and even weeks in all the wealth of luxuriant beauty. They are the aristocracy of flowers.
William B. Forwood
Photo by Medrington.
Photo by Medrington.
William B. Forwood
Life viewed in retrospect down the vista of half a century of activity, presents many lessons which may be both interesting and instructive—lessons from one's own experience, lessons derived from watching the careers of others, of those who have made a brilliant success, of others who have made a disastrous failure, and of the many who have lived all their lives on the ragged edge between plenty and penury.
It is also instructive to notice the conditions under which the great problem of life had to be worked out, as they vary to some extent with each decade. The world does not stand still, it will not mark time for our convenience; we have to go with the times, and the enigma of life is how to turn them to the best account.
The outstanding features of the present day are the keenness of competition in every walk of life, and the rapidity with which events occur, creating a hurry which is prejudicial to the careful ordering of one's own life.
Competition has always been very keen, and the cry has ever been for the return of those good old days when competition was less. If they ever existed, it was before my time.
Everything, however, is comparative. With larger numbers of people there must be more competition, but there are also more opportunities, more employment, more people to feed, and more to clothe.
But with the advance of education, particularly of technical knowledge, the competition has become more intense in the higher branches of industrial and intellectual activity; still, there is room, and ample room, on the top. The lower rungs of the ladder are well occupied, but the numbers thin off as we approach the top, and this must be more and more the case as education advances.
The hurry of the present day is prejudicial to that thoroughness which is necessary if we are to attain efficiency. The hurry of everyday life becomes more and more conspicuous. Living at high pressure, in this super-heated atmosphere we are apt to lose our sense of proportion, and crowd our minds with thoughts, schemes and projects regardless of our power of assimilation and arrangement. Our minds are apt to become mere lumber rooms, into which everything is tossed. Many things are forgotten, and cannot be found when wanted. How much better it would be for ourselves and for the world at large if we could live with moredeliberation, if we could specialise more, be more intense within a more limited range of thought and activity, less casual, more thorough in the commonplaces of life. Life would not lose in interest or picturesqueness, and it would gain in symmetry and value. It may be said that while it might add to the effectiveness of life, it would deprive it of much of its colour and romance; this would not, however, necessarily follow. On the contrary, greater effectiveness would open out new avenues for thought and action, new spheres of usefulness, more refined and elevating in their character, and more satisfying in their results.
These appear to be surroundings in which we have to work out the problems of our lives, and this leads us to the consideration of how we are to achieve success under these conditions of competition and hurry.
There are various kinds of success in life: business success, social success, and success in public affairs. Perhaps to the ordinary individual business success is the most important; it is a source of happiness, promotes social success, and opens up avenues of public usefulness.
If we look back and endeavour to trace the careers of those with whom we have been associated when young, I think we shall observe that those whohave been most successful in their business careers have, with few exceptions, not been the brilliant and clever boys, but rather those of duller intellect, who have had the gift of steady application. This faculty is not born in us; we are by nature casual, and apt to follow the lines of thought and endeavour which require the least labour, and offer the most varied interest. We hate the grind of sustained effort, it bores us, and we long for something new. This dislike of prolonged application, and desire for change, has made more shipwrecks of business careers than perhaps any other cause. In its craving for change and excitement, it leads to speculation as a possible road to wealth without effort.
The power of steady application must be inculcated in the school, by insisting that every subject taught shall be mastered by the boy, and not left until he has made it his own, and is able to clasp his hands on the far side of it. A few subjects taught and mastered in this way are of more value than a whole curriculum of studies learnt in a superficial and casual manner. We are apt to forget that the primary object of all education must be to train the mental faculties and to educate the judgment. We are too prone to cram the boy with knowledge which he has not the power to assimilate and make his own. We set out too often with the presumption that as a boy is born with legs and arms which are ready for use, so he must be born with a brain ready cultivated.The arms and legs do their work very much better if they are trained and strengthened by gymnastic exercises. In like manner the brain requires training—for this reason I have always regretted the gradual elimination of Greek and Latin from our national system of education. I know of nothing to take their place as a gymnastic for the mind.
We too often send boys into the world to handle the most mighty weapons for weal or for woe, "capital and credit," without any proper mental equipment.
The lack of hard mental training is more far-reaching and disastrous than is generally supposed. The want of accuracy leads to many mistakes. Mistakes lead to excuses, and excuses mark the high road to lies. The absence of accuracy is the fruitful parent of carelessness in thought, in habit, and in the discharge of the duties of everyday life. I fear this is a national weakness, for I have found that the German clerk excels in accuracy; he may be wanting in initiative, but he is accurate and reliable in his work. Englishmen have, however, remarkable gifts for a business career, if they are properly trained and educated. A good English man of business is the best in the world, he has great initiative, the power of getting through work, the talent to observe and to form a rapid judgment, but he is not born with these accomplishments, they are largely the result of education and training.
There is a great reluctance in this country to introduce any system of compulsory military service. Without dwelling upon its advantages to the nation, as likely to increase the physique of our men, military discipline would have a very beneficial moral effect. Probably one of the most valuable traits of character is that of "obedience," and this would be cultivated and enforced by military drill, and I think it would also add to our self-respect. As things are moving we are in danger of becoming a nation of "slackers," both physically and mentally.
I have already spoken of the necessity for steady perseverance and accuracy if we are to make a success in life, but there are two other qualities which are also essential to success, the capacity to observe, and the gift of imagination.
The number of men who go through life with their eyes closed is astonishing. These men regret their want of luck, they say they have had no chances; alas! they have had their chances but either failed to see them, or lacked the courage or capacity to take advantage of them.
The world is so constituted that changes are ever taking place, and every change is fruitful of opportunities. We hear it said of some that everything they touch turns into gold. It is only another way of saying that they are ever on thelook-out for opportunities, and are not laggards in turning them to good account.
The want of imagination prevents many men from making use of their opportunities. Upon a dull day, when the clouds hang in the valleys, and obscure from view the tops of the mountains, imagination fills up the picture, and probably paints the crests of the mountains much higher than they really are. Too many men travel only in the valleys of life, content with what they see; and imagine nothing above or beyond. Suppose, for instance, a serious disaster overtakes the harvest. The man endowed with imagination will look beyond the disaster and note its far-reaching effects, and in them recognise his opportunities for action.
General Sir Richard Baden-Powell is doing an excellent work with his "boy scouts," not only in teaching discipline, but in encouraging the habits of observation and imagination, which will be of the greatest value to them in after-life.
I have touched upon three points necessary to success in life, "thoroughness and accuracy," the faculty of "observation," and the gift of "imagination," because they are but seldom prominently referred to. It is not needful to enlarge upon the value of character nor upon the necessity for "integrity." Of nothing am I morecertain, than that "Honesty is the best policy." I can think of no career which has been permanently successful, in which this "golden rule" has not been observed. Speculation is the gambler's road to fortune. It has many ups and downs, and generally leads to disaster and the "slough of despond." But there is a wide gulf separating speculation from the enterprise of the genius that foresees and devises new methods of trade, or anticipates, as the result of careful observation and calculation, changes in the market value of securities and commodities.
Enterprise degenerates into speculation when the dictates of caution and prudence are set aside. To use the words of an old and much respected Liverpool merchant, who recently passed away, "Commercial success requires the concurrence of two contrary tendencies, caution and enterprise. Caution is necessary in avoiding risks, in foreseeing consequences, and in providing against contingencies, even remote ones. But this will not carry a man far, he must also have the brain to originate, and the courage to strike when a favourable opportunity occurs. What we call a sound judgment is the due balance and just proportion of a well-stored mind. In no department of life is there more need for this balance and proportion than in the higher walks of commerce. The head of a great firm needs be a statesman, an economist, and a financier, as well as a merchant."
I had proposed to conclude this sketch by a short account of the men of my time still living, who have been active in the making of Liverpool, but so many have lent a helping hand, the work having been that of the many rather than of the few, that it would be impossible to avoid being invidious. Events move so rapidly, the men and circumstances of to-day are crowded out and their memory obliterated in the new interests of tomorrow, that no man's work or influence can be said to have exercised more than an evanescent power; yet Liverpool has been built up—its commerce, its municipality, and its charitable and philanthropic work—by leaders of men who have found their work lying at their hand and have done it, and have done it well.
My story must now end. It has necessarily been told in a somewhat desultory manner, leaving out many details and many incidents which might have added to its completeness. But if it interests any of my kin or my friends, and still more, if it inspires them to make some effort on behalf of our great and glorious city—to elevate its social and intellectual life, to adorn and beautify its public streets and places, to brighten the lives and homes of the people, to carry forward and onward the great temple we are building to the glory of God—it will not have failed in its purpose.
LIVERPOOL:LEE AND NIGHTINGALE, PRINTERS, 15, NORTH JOHN STREET.1910.