Recollections of a Busy Life: Being the Reminiscences of a Liverpool Merchant 1840-1910. Forwood William Bower
ill feeling against the north.
Under these circumstances Liverpool merchants fitted out many costly expeditions to run the blockade and to carry arms and munitions of war into the southern ports. The modus operandi was to send out a depot ship to Nassau or Bermuda and employ in connection with this swift steamers to run the blockade and bring back cargoes of cotton. The profits of the trade were great, but the risk was also very considerable.
The trade at best was a very questionable one; it was justified on the ground that a blockade cannot be recognised unless effectual. The United States started with a blockading fleet of 150 vessels, but at the end of the war they had 750 vessels employed in this service. The blockade runner had to rely entirely upon her speed, as to fire a gun in her own defence would at once have constituted her a piratical vessel. The fastest steamers were bought and built for the purpose. They usually made the American coast many miles from the port and then under the cover of darkness they stole along the shore until they came to the blockading fleet, when they made a dash for the harbour. It was exciting work, and appealed to many adventurous spirits, and the prize if successful was great. I think all this had a demoralising influence upon Liverpool's commercial life, and the intense spirit of speculation created by the cotton famine was also very injurious. Fortunes were made and lost in a single day. Prices of cotton, while peace and war hung in the balance, fluctuated violently, and when war was seen to be inevitable, they advanced with fearful rapidity. A shilling per lb. was soon reached. The mills went upon short time. By the summer of 1862 cotton was quoted at 2s 6d per lb. The speculative fever became universal; men made fortunes by a single deal. When the recoil came after the war most of these fortunes were lost again. Legitimate trade had been sacrificed to speculation. Mansions luxuriously furnished, picture galleries, horses, and carriages had to be sold, and in not a few instances, their owners, having lost both their legitimate business and their habits of industry, were reduced to penury and want, and were never able to recover themselves. The results of the war were far-reaching. The spirit of speculation was rampant for many years, with disastrous results; it was only when a system of weekly and bi-weekly settlements was introduced that speculation was brought within legitimate limits.
A Nemesis seemed to follow this violent outburst of speculation, and but few houses actively engaged in it survived very long.
Liverpool was also active in assisting the south to build and fit out vessels of war to prey upon American commerce. The "Alabama" was built at Birkenhead; she sailed away to a remote island and there took on board her armament. She and her sister ship, the "Shenandoah," did immense damage to American shipping, for which England had in the end to pay, as by the Geneva arbitration she was held responsible for allowing the "Alabama" to be built and escape.
American shipping has never recovered from this blow, but it is only fair to say that the cost of shipbuilding in America, by reason of her prohibitive tariffs, has mainly prevented her resuming her former position on the ocean.
The Southern Bazaar
Near the close of the war a huge bazaar was held in St. George's Hall, in aid of the southern prisoners of war. It was designated the Southern Bazaar, and the stalls were called after the various states, and were presided over by the leading ladies of the town, assisted by many of the nobility and society people. It was a brilliant success, money was plentiful, and men and women vied with each other in scattering it about. Upwards of £30,000 was realised in the three days.
The Volunteer Movement
No account of the doings in Liverpool in the 'sixties would be complete that did not describe the beginnings of the great volunteer movement, which was destined to occupy so much public attention, and to form such an important portion of our national defence. Liverpool can certainly claim to have initiated the movement. Mr. Bousfield endeavoured to revive this branch of the service in 1853. A few years later he formed a drill club, a very modest beginning, consisting of only 100 men, wearing as their uniform a cap and shell jacket. Captain Bousfield endeavoured several times to obtain recognition by the Government, but failed; and he had to encounter a considerable amount of chaff and ridicule. The public had but little sympathy with the young men who "played at being soldiers." Captain Bousfield was not discouraged, he loved soldiering and was an enthusiast, and his opportunity was soon to arrive. In 1859 the Emperor Napoleon III. became very threatening in his words and ways, and it was apprehended that he might attempt to invade our shores. Captain Bousfield quickly obtained the support of the Government for his volunteers, and the 1st Lancashire Volunteer Regiment was formed. The movement made rapid headway, until we had enrolled in the country upwards of 300,000 men. Colonel Bousfield soon obtained the command of a battalion, and in 1860 was presented with a sword of honour and a purse of £1,800. Liverpool furnished her full quota of volunteers. Colonel Brown commanded a regiment of artillery: Colonel Tilney the 5th Lancashire, a crack regiment; Colonel MacCorquodale the Press Guards; Colonel Bourne, with Major Melly and Captain Hornby (afterwards Colonel H. H. Hornby), the 1st Lancashire Artillery; Colonel MacIver commanded 1,000 of his own men; and among other active volunteers at this time we remember Colonel Steble, Colonel Macfie, Colonel Morrison, Colonel Clay, and many others.
We had also a squadron of cavalry, called the Liverpool Light Horse, Captain Stone in command. I joined the squadron in 1859, and greatly fancied myself mounted on one of my father's carriage horses. We exercised in some fields behind Prospect Vale, Fairfield.
I remember the 1st Lancashire being encamped on the sandhills between Waterloo and Blundellsands. It was the first time any volunteers had been under canvas, and the camp was visited by crowds of people.
Intellectual Life
Liverpool has been always too much absorbed in her commerce to take any prominent position in the world of literature and education, until recent years, when we have atoned in some degree for our remissness in the past, by the founding of our University. Professor Ramsay Muir, in a recent speech, however, claims that we had a Renaissance in Liverpool in the early years of the 19th century, when a group of thinkers, scholars, and writers, finding its centre in William Roscoe, gave to Liverpool a position and a name in the literary world, and she became a real seat of literary activity. To that remarkable man, William Roscoe, we owe the Athenæum, the Literary and Philosophical Society, and the Roscoe collection of pictures now in the Walker Art Gallery. This intellectual effort quickly lost its vitality, and for long years the Literary and Philosophical Society, and the Philomathic Society, struggled alone to keep burning the light of higher culture and literary activity.
Elementary education was almost entirely in the hands of the Church; middle class education depended upon the Liverpool Collegiate, the Mechanic's Institute, afterwards the Liverpool Institute, and the Royal Institution.
The fashion of sending boys to our great public schools did not set in until the 'seventies.
Such was the condition of intellectual life when, in 1880, the Liverpool University College was established, mainly through the efforts of the late Earl of Derby, William Rathbone, Christopher Bushell, E. K. Muspratt, David Jardine, Sir Edward Lawrence, Robert Gladstone, Mr. Muspratt, Sir John Brunner, John Rankin, and William Johnston. The first Principal, Dr. Rendall, rendered excellent service in these early struggling years, which were happily followed by still greater and even more successful efforts under Vice-Chancellor Dale, resulting in the granting of a Royal Charter in 1903, and the founding of a University. The Earl of Derby became Chancellor, and Dr. Dale Vice-Chancellor. The University has been nobly and generously supported by Liverpool men; indeed a reference to the calendar fills me with surprise that so much could have been accomplished within such a brief period. Its work is making itself felt in the general uplifting of the level of education, while the presence in Liverpool of such a distinguished body of professors has had considerable influence in giving a higher and more intellectual tone to society, and in opening up new avenues for thought and activity.
We must not omit to record the excellent work done by the School Board. When first established in 1873, the election of members provoked much sectarian animosity, but in the course of time, through the exertions of Mr. Christopher Bushell and Mr. Sam Rathbone, this hindrance to its success was overcome, and the excellence of its organisation was generally recognised. Its functions have, during the past few years, been transferred to the City Council.
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