to the amount of
£50,000, to the whole of which he has become entitled, has greatly amused
the neighbourhood by his conduct. From having been but a workman in the
dust-yard in Maiden Lane, he has, now, become a man of independence.
Some days after his sudden acquisition of wealth, he called, in his cab,
on a tailor in Seymour Street, and, taking him to the dust yard, desired
him to measure the whole of the men in the yard for a suit of clothes,
which being accomplished, he ordered them to go to a bootmaker, where
they were all served. On the following Sunday, he ordered a butcher to
supply each of them with a joint of meat. Riley has taken a house in
Argyle Square; and, upon entering it, purposes to give a dinner to all
the dustmen in London, and illuminate the front of his house.”
We have seen, in 1843, _Punch’s_ idea of Prince Albert as a farmer, and
we next hear of him, in connection with this business, as refusing to pay
parish rates for the Flemish Farm; so at a vestry meeting held at
Windsor, on 18 Sep., the subject was brought forward. It appeared that
the estimated rental of the property was £450, and that the last rate, at
8d. in the pound, amounting to £15, had not been paid. It was stated
that the Prince had refused to pay the rates on two grounds, first, that
he had no “beneficial occupation,” and, secondly, that “the property
belonged to the Queen.” The reply to this was, that the Prince certainly
had a beneficial occupation in the farm, for the two prize oxen sold by
him, last year, at £70 and £80, were fatted on this farm, to say nothing
of the crops and agricultural produce, from which His Royal Highness
received great profits, and it was thought there was no reason why he
should be let off, and the poorer farmers made to pay the rates. It was
settled that the collector should make application for the arrears,
amounting to over £200.
_Punch_ drew a harrowing picture, of the brokers being put into Windsor
Castle, and of a paragraph which might appear in the _Court Circular_:
“Yesterday, Her Gracious Majesty visited Prince Albert at her own Bench.”
But matters did not go so far, for on 14 Jan. next following, the Prince
vouchsafed an answer to the Vestry, in which he denied his liability _in
toto_, acting on the advice of the Attorney and Solicitor General, and
Sir Thomas Wilde; and, after crushing the poor vestry, the letter winds
up thus: “And His Royal Highness feels himself at liberty to take the
course which is most satisfactory to his own feelings, and to pay, as a
voluntary contribution, a sum equal to the rate which would have been
annually due, had the legal liability of His Royal Highness been
established. It is also His Royal Highness’s intention that the payment
of the sum referred to should commence from the year 1841.”
And so it has continued to the present day, if we may credit the
authority quoted in the accompanying cutting from the _Globe_ of 8 June,
1901: “HOW THE KING PAYS TAXES.—It is not generally known (says the _Free
Lance_) that the King pays taxes under protest—that is to say, His
Majesty, like Queen Victoria, claims to be exempt from impost, and yet is
willing to contribute, without prejudice, to the rates. For instance,
part of the Windsor farm land lies within the radius of the borough. The
municipal authority issues demand notes for the rates. The Royal
officials respond by paying a sum just under the amount requested, and
the collector is satisfied. There is no question of going to law, for
how can the King be summoned in his own Courts?”
On 31 Oct. Lieut. Waghorn practically demonstrated the feasibility of his
“Overland Route” to India. The regular Mail and his Express arrived at
Suez by the same steamer on 19 Oct. The Express was given to a man on a
dromedary, who, stopping nowhere, entered Alexandria on the 20th. The
Express was delivered to Mr. Waghorn, who started at 11 o’clock. He had
been waiting on board an Austrian steamer, which had remained in
quarantine, so that he arrived at Trieste in free _pratique_. He landed,
however, at Divina, twelve miles nearer London than Trieste, and hurried
through Austria, Prussia, Baden, and Bavaria, with a passport ready
_viséd_ by the representatives of those countries. He reached Mannheim
in 84 hours, proceeded by a steamer to Cologne, thence by special train
to Ostend, by boat to Dover, to London by railway, and arrived at 4.30 in
the morning of the 31st. The news from India thus brought, was published
in all the London papers, which were in Paris before the Mail from
Marseilles was on its way to London.
[Picture: Punch Illustration]
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Railway Mania—Deposit of plans.
The accompanying illustration from _Punch_ (18 Oct.) justly holds up to
ridicule the Railway Mania, which might then be said to have been at its
height. It is called “THE MARCH OF SPECULATION.—‘This is the young Gent,
as takes my Business, Mem. I’m agoin’ into the Railway—Director Line
myself.’”
As a proof of this Madness, see this paragraph: “Oct. 25. During the
past week there were announced, in three newspapers, eighty-nine new
schemes, with a capital of £84,055,000; during the month, there were 357
new schemes announced, with an aggregate capital of £332,000,000.”
On 17 Nov. the _Times_ published a table of all the railway companies
registered up to the 31st October, numbering 1,428, and involving an
outlay of £701,243,208. “Take away,” it said, “£140,000,000 for railways
completed, or in progress, exclude all the most extravagant schemes, and
divide the remainder by ten, can we add, from our present resources, even
a tenth of the vast remainder? Can we add £50,000,000 to the railway
speculations we are irretrievably embarked in? We cannot, without the
most ruinous, universal and desperate confusion.”
Here is a Parody on the situation, 1 Nov.:
“There was a sound, that ceased not day or night,
Of speculation. London gathered then
Unwonted crowds, and moved by promise bright,
To Capel Court rushed women, boys and men,
All seeking railway shares and scrip; and when
The market rose, how many a lad could tell
With joyous glance, and eyes that spake again,
’Twas e’en more lucrative than marrying well;—
When, hark, that warning voice strikes like a rising knell.
Nay, it is nothing, empty as the wind,
But a “bear” whisper down Throgmorton Street;
Wild enterprise shall still be unconfined;
No rest for us, when rising premiums greet
The morn, to pour their treasures at our feet;—
When, hark! that solemn sound is heard once more,
The gathering bears its echoes yet repeat—
’Tis but too true, is now the general roar,
The Bank has raised her rate, as she has done before.
And then, and there were hurryings to and fro,
And anxious thoughts, and signs of sad distress,
Faces all pale, that, but an hour ago
Smiled at the thought of their own craftiness;
And there were sudden partings, such as press
The coins from hungry pockets, mutual sighs
Of brokers and their clients. Who can guess
How many a “stag” already panting flies,
When upon times so bright, such awful panics rise?”
Mr. Francis, in his _History of the English Railway_, says: “The daily
press was thoroughly deluged with advertisements; double sheets did not
supply space enough for them; double doubles were resorted to, and, then,
frequently, insertions were delayed. It has been estimated that the
receipts of the leading journals averaged, at one period £12,000 and
£14,000 a week, from this source. The railway papers, on some occasions,
contained advertisements that must have netted £700 to £800 on each
publication. The printer, the lithographer, and the stationer, with the
preparation of prospectuses, the execution of maps, and the supply of
other requisites, also made a considerable harvest.
“The leading engineers were, necessarily, at a great premium. Mr. Brunel
was said to be connected with fourteen lines, Mr. Robert Stephenson with
thirty-four, Mr. Locke with thirty-one, Mr. Rastrick with seventeen, and
other engineers with one hundred and thirteen.
“The novelist has appropriated this peculiar portion of commercial
history, and, describing it, says gravely and graphically: ‘A colony of
solicitors, engineers and seedy accountants, settled in the purlieus of
Threadneedle Street. Every town and parish in the Kingdom blazed out in
zinc plates over the doorways. From the cellar to the roof, every
fragment of a room held its committee. The darkest cupboard on the
stairs contained a secretary, or a clerk. Men, who were never seen east
of Temple Bar before, or since, were, now, as familiar to the pavement of
Moorgate Street, {279} as the stockbrokers; ladies of title, lords,
Members of Parliament, and fashionable loungers thronged the noisy
passages, and were jostled by adventurers, by gamblers, rogues and
imposters.’
“The advantages of competition were pointed out, with the choicest
phraseology. Lines which passed by barren districts, and by waste
heaths, the termini of which were in uninhabitable places, reached a high
premium. The shares of one company rose 2,400 per cent. Everything was
to pay a large dividend; everything was to yield a large profit. One
railway was to cross the entire Principality without a single curve.
“The shares of another were issued, the company formed, and the directors
appointed, with only the terminal points surveyed. In the Ely railway,
not one person connected with the country through which it was to pass,
subscribed the title deed.
“The engineers who were examined in favour of particular lines, promised
all and everything in their evidence. It was humourously said of them,
‘they plunge through the bowels of mountains; they undertake to drain
lakes; they bridge valleys with viaducts; their steepest gradients are
gentle undulations; their curves are lines of beauty; they interrupt no
traffic; they touch no prejudice.’
“Labour of all kinds increased in demand. The price of iron rose from
sixty-eight shillings to one-hundred-and-twenty per ton. Money remained
abundant. Promoters received their tens and twenties of thousands.
Rumours of sudden fortunes were very plentiful. Estates were purchased
by those who were content with their gains; and, to crown the whole, a
grave report was circulated, that Northumberland House, with its princely
reminiscences, and palatial grandeur, was to be bought by the South
Western. Many of the railways attained prices which staggered reasonable
men. The more worthless the article, the greater seemed the struggle to
obtain it. Premiums of £5 and £6 were matters of course, even where
there were four or five competitors for the road. One company, which
contained a clause to lease it at three-and-a-half per Cent., for 999
years, rose to twenty premium, so mad were the many to speculate.
“Every branch of commerce participated in the advantages of an increased
circulation. The chief articles of trade met with large returns; profits
were regular; and all luxuries which suited an affluent community,
procured an augmented sale. Banking credit remained facile; interest
still kept low; money, speaking as they of the City speak, could be had
for next to nothing. It was advanced on everything which bore a value,
whether readily convertible, or not. Bill brokers would only allow
one-and-a-half per cent. for cash; and what is one-and-a-half to men who
revelled in the thought of two hundred? The exchanges remained
remarkably steady. The employment of the labourer on the new lines, of
the operative in the factory, of the skilled artisan in the workshop, of
the clerk at the desk, tended to add to the delusive feeling, and was one
of the forms in which, for a time, the population was benefitted. But,
when the strength of the Kingdom is wasted in gambling, temporary,
indeed, is the good, compared with the cost. Many, whose money was
safely invested, sold at any price, to enter the share market. Servants
withdrew their hoards from the savings banks. The tradesman crippled his
business. The legitimate love of money became a fierce lust. The peer
came from his club to his brokers; the clergyman came from his pulpit to
the mart; the country gentleman forsook the calmness of his rural domain
for the feverish excitement of Threadneedle Street. Voluptuous tastes
were indulged in by those who were previously starving. The new men vied
with the old, in the luxurious adornments of their houses. Everyone
smiled with
