Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

politics. Mr. Gladstone remarked:— “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.” Hansard, vol. 101, p. 138, 1848. Supply, 14 Aug. 1848. See also “The Exposition of 1851,” 8vo., p. 217. 〈THE ADMIRALTY REFUSE.〉 The following paragraph appeared in “The Times”31 a short time since, under the head Naval Intelligence:— “A reply has been received to the memorial trans­mit­ted to the Admiralty some few days since from the inspectors employed on the iron frigate ‘Achilles,’ building at Chatham dockyard, requesting that they may be placed on the same footing as regards increased pay as the junior officers and mechanics working on the iron frigate for the additional number of hours they are employed in the dockyard. The Lords of the Admiralty intimate that they cannot accede to the wishes of the memorialists, who are reminded that, as {163} salaried officers of the establishment, the whole of their time is at the disposal of the Admiralty. This decision has caused considerable dissat­is­fac­tion.” 31 About the 20th of May, 1863. It appears that the Admiralty wisely adopted the principle enunciated by Mr. Gladstone. It may, however, not unreasonably have caused dis­sat­is­fac­tion to those who had no interest to back them on finding that such large sums are pocketed by those who are blessed with influential friends in high quarters. If the Com­mis­sion­ers had really wished to have obtained a suitable building at a fair price their course was simple and obvious. They need only have stated the nature and amount of accommodation required, and then have selected half a dozen of the most eminent firms amongst our great contractors, who would each have given them an estimate of the plans they respectively suggested. The Com­mis­sion­ers might have made it one of the conditions that they should not be absolutely bound to give the contract to the author of the plan accepted. But in case of not employing him a sum previously stipulated should have been assigned for the use of the design. By such means they would have had a choice of various plans, and if those plans had, previously to the decision of the Com­mis­sion­ers, been publicly exhibited for a few weeks, they might have been enlightened by public criticism. Such a course would have prevented the gigantic job they afterwards perpetrated. It could therefore find no support from the Com­mis­sion­ers. The present Com­mis­sion­ers, however, are fit successors to those who in 1851 ignored the existence of the author of the “Economy of Man­u­fac­tures” and his inventions. They seem to have been deluded into the belief that they possessed {164} the strength, as well as the desire, quietly to strangle the Difference Engine. It would be idle to break such butterflies upon its matchless wheels, or to give permanence to such names by reflecting them from its diamond-graven plates.32 Though the steam-hammer can crack the coating without injuring the kernel of the filbert it drops upon—the admirable precision of its gigantic power could never be dem­on­strated by exhausting its energy upon an empty nut-shell. 32 For the purpose of testing the steadiness and truth of the tools employed in forming the gun-metal plates, I had some dozen of them turned with a diamond point. The perfect equality of its cut caused the reflected light to be resolved into those beautiful images pointed out by Frauenhofer, and also so much admired in the celebrated gold buttons produced by the late Mr. Barton, the Comptroller of the Mint. Peace, then, to their memory, aptly enshrined in unknown characters within the penetralia of the temple of oblivion. 〈CONSOLATION FOR THE COMMISSIONERS.〉 These celebrities may there at last console themselves in the enjoyment of one enviable privilege denied to them during their earthly career—exemption from the daily consciousness of being “found out.” It is, however, not quite impossible, although deciphering is a brilliant art, that one or other of them may have heard of the dread power of the decipherer. Having myself had some slight acquaintance with that fascinating pursuit, it gives me real pleasure to relieve them from this very natural fear by assuring them that not even the most juvenile decipherer could be so stupid as to apply himself to the interpretation of—characters known to be meaningless. Yet there is one name amongst, but not of them—a fellow-worshipper with myself at far other fanes, whose hands, like mine, have wielded the hammer, and whose pen, like mine, has endeavoured to communicate faithfully to his fellow-men {165} the measure of those truths he has himself laboriously extracted from the material world. With such endowments, it is impossible that he could have had any cognizance of this part of the proceedings of his colleagues.33 33 I have since learnt, with real sat­is­fac­tion, that my friend, Mr. Fairbairn, was not a member of that incompetent Commission. 〈MR. GRAVATT EXPLAINS THE ENGINE.〉 At the commencement of the Exhibition, Mr. Gravatt was constantly present, and was so kind as to explain to many anxious inquirers the nature and uses of the Difference Engine. This, however, interfered so much with his pro­fes­sion­al engagements as a Civil Engineer, that it would have been unreasonable to have expected its continuance. In fact, as not above half a dozen spectators could see the machine at once, it was a great sacrifice of valuable time for a very small result. During the early part of my own examination of the Exhibition I had many opportunities of conversing with experienced workmen, well qualified to appreciate the workmanship of the Difference Engine; these I frequently accompanied to its narrow cell, and pointed out to them its use, as well as the means by which its various parts had received their destined form. Oc­ca­sion­al­ly also I explained it to some few of my personal friends. When Mr. Gravatt or myself were thus engaged, a considerable crowd was often collected, who were anxious to hear about, although they could not see, the Engine itself. Upon one of these occasions I was insulted by impertinent questions conveyed in a loud voice from a person at a distance in the crowd. My taste for music, and especially for organs, was questioned. I was charitable enough to suppose that this was an exceptional case; but in less than a week another instance {166} occurred. After this experience, of course, I seldom went near the Difference Engine. Mr. Gravatt who had generously sacrificed a considerable portion of his valuable time for the information and in­struc­tion of the public was now imperatively called away by pro­fes­sion­al engagements, and the public had no information whatever upon a subject on which it was really very anxious to be instructed. 〈MR. WILMOT BUXTON EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE.〉 Fortunately, however, the Exhibition took place during the long vacation; and a friend of mine, Mr. Wilmot Buxton, of the Chancery Bar, very frequently accompanied me in my visits. Possessing a profound knowledge of the math­e­mat­i­cal principles embodied in the mechanism, I had frequently pointed out to him its nature and relations. These I soon found he so well apprehended that I felt justified in intrusting him with one of my keys of the machine, in order that he might have access to it without the necessity of my presence. Whenever he opened it for his own sat­is­fac­tion or for the in­struc­tion of his friends, he was speedily surrounded by a far larger portion of the public than could possibly see it, but who were still attracted by his lucid oral explanation. It was fortunate for many of the visitors to the Exhibition that this occurred, for the demands on his time, when present, were incessant, and hundreds thus acquired from his explanations a popular view of the subject. After the close of the Exhibition, Mr. Gravatt and myself attended to prepare the Difference Engine for its return to the Museum of King’s College. To our great astonishment, we found that it had already been removed to the Museum at South Kensington. Not only the Difference Engine itself, but also the illustrations and all the unfinished portions of exquisite workmanship which I had lent to the Exhibition for its explanation, were gone. {167} On Mr. Gravatt applying to the Board of Works, it was stated that the Difference Engine itself had been placed in the Kensington Museum because the authorities of King’s College had declined receiving it, and immediate in­struc­tions were of course given for the restoration of my own property.