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ANY of our philosophical readers who may feel a desire to trace the commercial development of our wonderful city to its first beginning, would do well to take a meditative stroll up Ark Lane, past Tennant's old Brewery, in what is now known as the Dennistoun suburb. Here are to be seen mysterious, purposeless fragments of high brick walls, mixed up with and aimlessly intersecting rows of pretentious modern cottages and villas, with here and there little nests of old ruined houses now entirely fallen into decay, - the whole presenting a scene of striking desolation, and of fantastic contrast, such as can seldom be seen except in troubled dreams.
These ruins are all that is now left of the Cudbear Manufactory of George Macintosh & Co., which enjoyed a vigorous existence before a thread of machine-spun yarn or a yard of machine-woven cloth was known in Scotland.
The life of George Macintosh, like that of his friend David Dale, is closely associated with the mercantile and manufacturing prosperity of Glasgow. Indeed, the business career of both these gentlemen presents many points of striking resemblance. Both began life comparatively poor and friendless; both were animated by the same upright and honourable motives, and guided by the same prudence and sagacity; both were highly successful in business, and devoted the fruits of that success to the promotion of the noblest purposes; and the names of both have come down to the present day, hallowed by loving remembrances; whilst many of their associates, with larger pretensions, and occupying more distinguished social positions, are now fairly forgotten.
Mr. Macintosh was born in 1739. His father, Lachlan Macintosh, was tacksman of a farm in Roskeen, Ross-shire, the cultivation of which enabled him to live with his family in comfort and independence. Young George, after going through the usual initiatory routine of country farm work, and finding that the position of a fourth son on a small Highland holding offered but sorry prospects of future worldly advantages, resolved to seek his fortune in Glasgow. Accordingly, with a good stock of health and hope, a fair amount of education, and plenty of Highland enthusiasm, he entered as a junior clerk in the large city tanwork, situated on the classical Molindinar.
The art of tanning and manufacturing leather has been one of the leading branches of industry in Glasgow for ages. Far back in the reign of Charles II. the following curious entry was inserted, and still exists in the records of the burgh:- "The saide day the saids Provest, Bailies, and Counsall, maid report that they had considdered John Woddrops petition, with the loss of his hydes that was takin out of his holls and laide on vpon the sydes of the houssis for saving them from the lait fyre in Gallowgaite, which they fund to be very considderable, and therfoir for helping to repair the samyne they thought fitt to gif him vp his band of nyne hundreth and fyftic merks monie, &c."
The Glasgow historian, John M'Ure, in the beginning of last century, thus discourses upon the Molindinar tanwork: - "Bell's tannarie is a prodigious large building, consisting of bark and lime pits, store houses, and other high and low appartments, with all conveniences whatsomever for carrying on that great work; the buildings are so considerable that it is admired by all strangers who see it."
Gibson, who wrote his history of Glasgow in 1777, mentions the somewhat striking fact, that, while the whole iron trade of Glasgow at the time was valued at £23,000, the value of the boot and shoe trade could be fairly estimated at £32,000, or, including saddlery and tanned leather, £85,000 per annum.
Most of the leading merchants of the city were partners in the "Spoutmouth Tannerie" about the time when Mr. Macintosh entered as a clerk in the business, and we find in the list of partners the names of Mr. Glassford of Dougaldston, Mr. Campbell of Clathic, Mr. Speirs of Elderslie, Mr. Bogle of Daldowie, Provost Bowman, and others - all men of rank at the time. Perhaps the most remunerative branch of the old tannery business was the manufacture of boots and shoes for home sale and exportation. The double profits upon exported manufactures and imported produce had already made many a handsome fortune, and this, no doubt, Mr. Macintosh had sufficient sagacity to perceive. The various steps which led to the first change in his commercial position are not recorded, but we find him, in 1773, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, with 500 boot and shoemakers in his service, and fairly established as a formidable rival to the original tannery company in this branch of business; and although he must have had little practical knowledge of the business, yet, by his careful superintendence, the speculation prospered, and was prosecuted with energy for many years.
About this time he was also connected with a glass manufactory, and, to a limited extent, with the West India trade, but these speculations were soon abandoned in favour of that one great industry to which the greater part of his vigorous energies were henceforth to be devoted. This was the manufacture of "Cudbear" - a dye stuff which, in the age of the purple duffle and the distinguishing state cloak, which marked the rank of the Virginian merchant, was destined to come into extensive use.
The discovery and introduction of this material is curious and romantic, and worthy of record. In the early part of last century, a decent copper and tinsmith of the clan Gordon left his Highland home to prosecute his business in London. In the ordinary course of duty he was employed to repair an old copper boiler in a metropolitan dye-house, famed for producing the Orseille or Archella dye, an ancient art said to have been practised by the Italians, and brought to this country from Florence. While Mr. Gordon was engaged at his task, he was struck with the great similarity of the different processes that he saw going on around him, to those which he remembered to have seen at his own mother's fireside. There, most assuredly, was the well-known lichen or rock-moss, which, under the familiar name of "crottal," he had gathered for dyeing purposes when a boy, and the lustre of which might have graced his own first "philabeg." Its connection with his home in the Highland glen, therefore, was quite as ancient - yes, and as interesting and respectable too! -as with the old Florentines; for, had not the same process been followed by his grandmother and great-grandmother, and the whole Gordon clan, away back into the far remote generations? It so happened that Mr. Cuthbert Gordon, his nephew, - a shrewd, long-headed young Highlander - was at this time following his studies as a chemist, and to him Mr. Gordon communicated his theories respecting the ancient and valuable dye. A course of experimental investigations resulted in confirming the correctness of Mr. Gordon's conclusions, and also in the discovery of a method for procuring the dyeing extract in a concentrated form, which, in honour of the young man who had made the valuable discovery, was henceforth to be distinguished by the somewhat unmusical modification of his own name, "Cudbear."
The manufacture of cudbear on a large scale was first attempted at Leith, by the Messrs. Gordon, uncle and nephew, in company with the brothers Alexander of Edinburgh; but the speculation, although prosecuted with considerable energy for some time, was ultimately unsuccessful, probably for want of the necessary capital to carry on operations on a sufficiently remunerative scale. While in this languishing condition, the business attracted the notice of Mr. Macintosh, who was struck with the ingenuity of the process thus improved, and its importance as a new and profitable manufacture. Besides, one of the most striking features in his character was his intense "clanishness," as it was called, and his love for all that could remind him of the Highland hills and his early home; and there can be little doubt that the new industry would receive additional value in his estimation, from the circumstance that he also must have often seen the common dyeing process, as practised in his boyhood, at the fireside of the old shieling of Auchinluich, among the braes of Roskeen, his own Highland home.
At any rate, he set about the resuscitation of the decaying industry with his accustomed vigour. He had sufficient influence to organize a wealthy co-partnery to take up the business, comprising the names of many of the most substantial merchants in the city; a piece of land was purchased in the eastern outskirts of the town, "by the Craig's park," subsequently extended to about seventeen acres; and to this place the works were removed from Leith in 1777. According to the original arrangement, the Messrs. Gordon conducted the practical details of the manufacture but the business department in all its details was under the sole charge of Mr. Macintosh from the first.
In order to preserve the valuable secret of the cudbear manufacture, the most stringent precautions were taken. A strong wall, ten feet high, was built all round the works; within this wall an elegant and substantial house was erected, in which Mr. Macintosh resided, and which he named Dunchattan (the hill of the Macintosh). Here he surrounded himself with trusty Highlanders, all solemnly sworn to secrecy on entering the service, and mostly all residing within the walls, for the convenience of hearing the Gaelic roll called nightly, and each answering to his own name - a ceremony that was never neglected. So exclusively Highland was the little community, and so markedly isolated from the outside world, that it is said many of the members lived and died within the walls, without the ability of making themselves understood in decent English.
The manufacture of cudbear is now well understood, and may be shortly described as the art of extracting a vegetable dye from a species of lichen, that grows chiefly upon sea-side rocks, by macerating the vegetable in ammonia. Some idea of the extent of the operations conducted by the cudbear company may be gathered from the fact, that the consumption of the lichen from which the dye is obtained amounted to about 250 tons annually. Indeed, the supply in this country was in a short time exhausted, and Norway and Sweden were resorted to for fresh supplies, with this result, that the material rose in price from £3 Per ton to £25, and in war time even £45; and it was found that, on a moderate calculation, no less a sum than £306,000 was remitted to these countries during the time their connection with the cudbear company lasted. There is another striking fact in connection with the business. One of the waste products of the town was found to contain a sufficient amount of ammonia for extracting the dye; and as the material could be obtained for the cost of collecting, it might be supposed that this item of expense would be trifling, yet we are assured that it cost the company £800 annually.
The confidence of Mr. Macintosh was sorely tested by the defalcation of one of his trusty Highlanders, who left his service shortly after the establishment of the cudbear works, to instruct a rival London company in the art and mystery of cudbear manufacture, A conciliatory arrangement, however, seems to have been effected with this company, who were never very prosperous, and soon abandoned the manufacture altogether. The Glasgow works were highly prosperous, notwithstanding this rivalry, under the management, first of Mr. Macintosh, and afterwards of his son Charles, and subsequently of his grandson George, and the late well-known and greatly respected Mr. John King of Levernholm, up till the year 1852, when the old firm of George Macintosh & Co. ceased to exist, having enjoyed a prosperous existence for the long period of seventy-five years.
Old Dunchattan House still sturdily resists the ravages of time and change. A few of the ancient orchard trees yet toss their leafless branches in the summer sky, and here and there, as we have said, scraps and fragments of the original boundary walls wander upwards and downwards, and indications are not wanting of where a dwelling once stood; but the little Highland village, like the small community who gave it life and interest, has passed away for ever.
Before leaving this subject, we should like to notice a circumstance which pleasingly illustrates the feeling of reciprocal obligation that existed between master and servant in the old cudbear factory. When the business was finally wound up, not one of the old workers was forgotten or neglected. Every individual able to work was in some way provided with employment, or supported till so provided for, while the aged or infirm received a pension. Indeed, very few years have passed since the last of these old pensioners died, and till the present day kindly remembrances are cherished with respect to the faithfulness, the probity, the intelligence, and the piety, manifested by many of the old servants in the nearly forgotten firm of George Macintosh & Co.
Cudbear as a dyeing material can only be applied to textures of wool and silk. In the latter part of last century the mode of dyeing cotton goods was little known; indeed, the knowledge of this art was comparatively useless, as the only form in which cotton was then used to any extent was in the manufacture of a coarse kind of handkerchiefs with linen warps and hand-spun cotton wefts, which received the name of "blunks." About the year 1780, Mr. James Monteith of Anderston warped the first web of pure cotton that is supposed to have been woven in Scotland, and the introduction, shortly afterwards, of the art of cotton spinning by machinery gave such an impetus to the manufacture of cotton cloths, that it was found necessary, if Glasgow was still to hold the place which it had assumed in this branch of industry, that a more intimate knowledge of dyeing cotton fabrics should be acquired. The art of producing the beautiful colour known as adrianople, or turkey red - which had its origin in the far east, although it was commonly practised by continental dyers - was, at that time, a secret to the dyers of this country.
There can be little doubt that the mystery which enshrouded this branch of industry did sorely exercise the keen intellect of George Macintosh, for in 1785 we find him in communication with a French dyer, Monsieur Papillon, who had practiced the art at Rouen, and in that year, in conjunction with his friend, David Dale, Mr. Macintosh had the honour of establishing at Barrowfield the first dye-work that ever produced that much prized dye in Britain, Great interest was manifested in the productions of the firm. A committee of the House of Commons was appointed to examine the goods, and to report. A grautity of several thousand pounds was awarded to Mr. Macintosh "for his exertions in introducing the art of turkey red dyeing into Great Britain," - a reward, by the way, which never reached thai gentleman.
Of course, precautions were taken, somewhat similar to those which had existed at the cudbear manufactory, for the preservation of this valuable secret; but Monsieur Papillon did not remain long in the service. He seems to have been troublesome and contumaceous, and two years had scarcely elapsed when his connection with the Dalmarnock dye-works terminated. In the summer of 1787, Mr. Macintosh, writing to his son Charles, says - "Papillon has now left us entirely. We could not manage his unhappy temper. I have made a great improvement in his process. I dye in twenty days what he took twenty-five to do, and the colour better. We paid him his salary up to October, so as to be quite clear of him." Monsieur Papillon, in fact, appears to have been, both by nature and education, unfitted to stand the keen scrutiny of the shrewd Highlandman. Mr. Macintosh's grandson, George, states that, in 1790, M. Papillon received a premium from the commissioners of Scottish manufactures, in consideration of his communicating to Dr. Black, then professor of chemistry at Edinburgh, a description of his process; but that this description was so incongruous as to lead any scientific reader to suppose either that M. Papillon wished wilfully to mislead, or that he possessed no chemical science whatever.
In 1787 an intimation was made in the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce that Government had purchased the secret of dyeing turkey red, according to the method practiced by a certain Mr. Basil, and that the secretary had procured a description of the process for the use of the Chamber. This document, which is still preserved, was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Rose, Secretary to the Treasury, intimating the desire of the Treasury Lords that, in the meantime, the process should not be made public; and the secretary was therefore instructed to show the same to any of the members who might desire to see it, but not to give it out, nor allow a copy of it to be made, until further directions should be given. It is worthy of notice that both Mr. Macintosh and Mr. Dale, as directors, were present at the meeting when this announcement was made; and we may conjecture with what feelings it might have been received by these gentlemen, threatening, as it did, the prosperity of their newly found source of prosperity.
With regard to the secret involved in the process of turkey red dyeing we may say that it chiefly refers to the mode of preparing the cotton fibre for absorbing the dye, and this was at first effected by successive treatment with barilla, alum, galls, oil, and animal substances; and although many improvements have subsequently been introduced both in the materials employed and in the mode of their application, these, we believe, have been mainly simplifications of the original complicated routine, which in a modified form is still carried out in a manner similar to the old Barrowfield dyeing process.
The utensils necessary for prosecuting the business on anything like a large scale, as these are elaborately stated in the old document alluded to, present such a curious contrast to the extensive apparatus in use at the present day that the description is worth a passing notice. Two large copper pans are described, the dimensions of which are particularly noted. One must be 26½ inches deep, 36 inches in diameter at top and bottom, and 43 inches in the middle. The other pan must be one-third of this size, but "the form of no consequence." These are to be fitted with suitable fire places, and each provided with two lids - one of wood and one of copper - in each of which there must be a hole three inches in diameter covered with a hinged lid. This hole, it is explained, is left for the convenience of raising the cotton fabric out of the pan during the process of dyeing, and this is effected by means of an iron hook fixed on the end of a rope which runs through a pulley inserted in a strong beam overhead. In addition, seven tubs must be provided, and an extra large one "capable of holding sixty gallons." Upon this, one of the largest tubs must be supported, the bottom of which must be overlaid with "a handful of straw, covered by two gallons of clean pebble stones." This vessel is pierced "near the bottom with gimlet holes partially stopped with the upper end of straws." With this primitive apparatus, we are gravely informed, that "sixty gallons of liquid can be run off in forty hours." And, lastly, a pail, a set of dye sticks and poles, and a box-wood wringing peg and pin, constituted the full complement of dyeing apparatus.
In similar form, and on a like scale, we may presume that the art of turkey red dyeing first took shape at the Barrowfield works, and, in view of the vast proportions which this art has at present attained, we can scarcely repress a smile while we go back in thought to the little array of pans and tubs from which the great industry took its origin.
The extension of the art of dyeing "Dale's Red," as it was locally known, kept pace with the growth of the cotton manufacture; and after enjoying a prosperous existence for twenty years, the Barrowfield works were sold in 1805 to the late Henry Monteith of Carstairs, under whose vigorous management the beautiful modifications of the process, as applied to Bandana handkerchiefs and to calico printing, have won for the works and their owners a world-wide reputation.
In 1791 Mr. Macintosh and some of his friends established a cotton mill and weaving factory on the Firth of Dornoch, in Sutherland. This was the greatest failure in all his prosperous business career, and yet it is impossible to study this transaction in its various bearings without greatly increasing our respect for the memory of the good man, and our approval of his benevolent aims and purposes.
It may be necessary to take a glance at the domestic and social condition of Sutherland at the time, in order to understand the reasons which induced Mr. Macintosh and his friends to undertake this manufacturing project. The situation was simply deplorable. The isolated position of the county, situated in the far north, surrounded and intersected by rugged mountains, and crossed and recrossed by rapid flood-bearing rivers, the total want of roads and bridges, and the absence of wheeled vehicles of every kind, greatly limited the intercourse of the inhabitants with each other, and almost forbade all intercourse with strangers.
The nearly obsolete "Feudal system" - which, after the Revolution, was in a great measure superseded by influences tending to civilisation and improvement - still lingered in the wilds of Sutherlandshire long after these influences had reached and ameliorated the condition of many of the neighbouring Highland counties. The chieftain still maintained his nominal supremacy; but as he no longer required to summon his adherents for the prosecution of domestic feuds, the clans had settled down into peaceful pursuits, and the small holdings, to which, as the followers of their respective chiefs, they claimed a right at a trifling rent, were ruinously over-populated. These holdings, consequently, were divided and sub-divided, until they became quite inadequate to support the swarming multitudes who filled dale and glen, where they scraped and exhausted every available spot with successive crops of oats upon barley, and barley upon oats, so long as they could be made to yield a bare subsistence. The rent was paid by the sale of cattle. A full grown cow was valued at 30s. or £2, and a sheep sold at from 2s. to 4s. The services of an able-bodied man could be procured for 6d. per day. Mr. Bethune, the parish minister of Dornoch, who describes the country, remarks somewhat querulously, that sometimes 8d. was "demanded." A hired male servant got from 30s. to £2, with board, per annum, and a female servant was worth 20s. to 30s., and in harvest could earn 6d. per day. The authority already quoted states that it was found profitable to sow the grain, especially pease and barley, on the bare ley, and then "plough it down!" Every man was his own carpenter; few implements were required, and one blacksmith served a whole district. The little wooden plough had no iron about it save the coulter and sock, and took four horses to draw it, yoked abreast, the driver taking his place in front, and walking backwards!
When a new house was to be built the neighbours far and near were invited to assist, and a day or two was sufficient for the work. Four walls were constructed of divot or turf; on these wattles, from the neighbouring glen were laid, which in turn received a covering of lighter divots. A large stone was sunk in the middle of the floor - that was the fire-place. A rudely constructed frame work, with two folding boards, was built in the wall - that was the window. An old butter kit was fixed in the roof, or, perhaps, a hole left there - that was the chimney - and so the house was finished. One end served to accommodate the whole family, great and small; the other was devoted to the comfort of the domestic animals - cows, horses, pigs, and dogs. This arrangement was mutually beneficial, inasmuch as it served to economise heat, a most important consideration in that chilly climate. The greater part of the summer work consisted in cutting, drying, and carrying home the necessary winter fuel from the distant peat bogs. We can now scarcely form a faint estimate of the difficulties to be surmounted in the carriage of peat from these distant and nearly inaccessible morasses. On the summer afternoons, long ranks of half-starved garrans (ponies) might be seen winding slowly up the mountain side, each carrying his double crubags (creels), strapped to a wooden saddle, which rested on a straw mat for the prevention of friction. When the moss was reached, the ponies were left to pick a scanty meal in the neighbouring bog, while the men, under the shelter of the next broom bush, slept till the morning. And this dreary routine was repeated while the season or the necessity lasted. Mr. Bethune, in his description, observes:- "The great distance, badness of the roads, weakness of the horses, and scantiness of pasture, impose this cruel necessity, which is peculiarly injurious to health."
Scraping together, thus, a scanty subsistence from day to day, isolated from the rest of the world, and left entirely at the mercy of the seasons, it is little wonder that, in such a variable climate, the poor Highlanders were often made to feel the pinch of famine. In the years 1782, 1783, and 1784, the crops were very scanty in Sutherlandshire. So severe did the pressure of want become, that the hungry multitudes came down from the interior to the shores of the Dornoch Firth, that they might scramble for shell-fish and sea-ware to stay the pangs of hunger. When intelligence of these privations reached the ears of Mr. Macintosh, all his sympathies were aroused, and, with the assistance of Mr. Dale and several Glasgow friends, whose hearts were ever open to the appeal of want, a vessel was despatched with a cargo of food for the starving Highlanders, part of which was sold at prime cost, and part distributed gratis. It is recorded that eighty poor persons received their periodical dole while the scarcity lasted.
In 1786 Mr. George Dempster of Dunnichen purchased the estate of Skibo, on the Dornoch Firth. Mr. Dempster, who for twenty-eight years represented the Dundee and St. Andrews district of burghs in Parliament, when he came to the estate, was most assiduous in devising measures for improving the condition of his neighbours and tenants. He was a man of great benevolence, and till his death, in 1818, enjoyed the respect and esteem of all classes of the community. This gentleman was the prime agent in the manufacturing speculation which we have mentioned. The estates owned by himself and his brother were about 18,000 acres in extent, but excluding three farms, upon one of which the mansion house was situated, yielded little more than £500 of yearly rental.
Here, then, was an abundant and healthy population in such straitened circumstances, that the offer of fair wages for light work must have appeared to the poor Highlander a welcome prospect, to be gratefully received.
The situation, too, was admirable. An arm of the Firth running up some miles formed a beautiful harbour, where vessels of large burden could find shelter in the stormiest weather, and the water privileges for driving machinery were of the very best. In short, everything promised that the speculation would turn out a great success. A copartnery was soon formed. Nine Glasgow gentlemen took shares in the concern - viz., Mr. Macintosh and Mr. Dale, William, James, and Andrew Robertson, Robert Dunsmore, Robert Bogle of Daldowie, Robert Mackie, West India merchant, and William Gillespie of Woodside. The other partners were mostly local gentlemen. The work was begun with great energy and high hope. A large spinning factory and weaving village were built. Instructors in the various departments were sent from Glasgow, and a second village was got up in haste near the principal harbour; and that the villagers might have nothing to distract their attention from their duties, the various services which they were in the habit of rendering to their superiors were commuted by a money payment. Secure tenures of dwelling-houses, gardens, and other requisites were granted, and Spinningdale, as it was called, promised to be a great mutual benefit. Mr. Bethune, however, whose remarks we have already quoted, thus sketches the Highlander of the period, upon whom the success of the factory depended:- "Petty frauds and offences against society are prevalent here as well as elsewhere; little disingenuities, pilferings, and wilful encroachments, are also committed. The people cannot be called industrious; but they are tenacious and frugal of what they get. If they can but live without much exertion, they are content to live sparingly; and if they relax of their usual parsimony at fairs and other occasional meetings, they know how to make amends, by habitual economy and abstemiousness." And Mr. Dempster says that "Nothing can exceed the wretched condition of their habitations, where an iron pot for preparing food constitutes their principal furniture; and although the women can only earn by spinning about threepence a day, yet the men pass the winter round peat fires, and do very little work."
These habits and conditions were found to be positively fatal to the success of the new enterprise. Why should an active man be doomed to finger among paltry cotton threads, in the midst of noisy and evil-smelling machinery, from week's end to week's end, especially when the partridge and muir hen are on the wing, the trout and salmon are leaping in loch and river, and the broom bushes are gleaming like the beaten gold? And besides all that - here are these inflexible and intolerant Sassenachs, too, with their unreasonable restrictions regarding the use of the tobacco and the dram, and their forgetfulness of the fact, that Donald Ruach and Shamus Gordon, our renowned progenitors, fought side by side with King Robert Bruce, at the battle of Bannockburn!
There was no help for it; with deep disappointment Mr. Macintosh and his friends saw all their magnificent schemes for the improvement of the Highlands doomed to failure, without a particle of sympathy from those for whose benefit all that toil and expense had been wasted. Moreover, all the partners in the speculation, except Mr. Macintosh and Mr. Dale, and another gentleman who held a small share in the business, cautiously withdrew from the concern. It was in vain that the partners appealed to Government for help. They were informed that the funds set aside for improvements in Scotland were to be applied only "for specific purposes of a general nature," whatever that might mean.
A letter sent to Mr. Macintosh by Mr. Dempster, in 1804, is very emphatic; he writes - "I was prepared for the unpleasant tidings of the result of your patriotic efforts to serve your native country. I am sorry that the work is to be abandoned, and still more that it has been attended with loss to you. Alas! bonny Spinningdale. Alas! poor Sutherland." Regrets were vain. This year the works were sold for a mere trifle to an individual who took the precaution to insure them, and immediately afterwards they were wholly consumed by fire; and thus ended Mr. Macintosh's grand plan of help for "poor Sutherland!"
We have now to consider the character of Mr. Macintosh from a point of view in which it appears strangely incongruous. As we have already seen, the habitual tendencies of his mind were essentially benevolent - in fact, wherever want, or misery, or ignorance, presented themselves, there George Macintosh was found labouring with the whole force of his energetic disposition, to alleviate the distress. How, then, are we to account for the seeming inconsistency of this good man, devoting the same energy for years to the work of amateur recruiting for the army? literally entreating or entrapping thoughtless young men to offer themselves for a miserable remuneration as "food for powder!" The motives that could impel a heart the kindest and a hand the most beneficent to this work are worthy of consideration.
We believe that, among the thousands that swarm through the busy streets and lanes of our city at the present day, there will not be found one who can cherish a distinct personal recollection of the trepedation and mistrust and dismay that fell upon all classes of the community in the disastrous year 1793. Then the population of Paris madly rose against their rulers, and with sanguinary ferocity, which shall continue a reproach and shame while the world lasts, murdered their king and queen, with many of the best and wisest of the citizens, overthrew all restraints, sacred and secular, and, under the plausible name of liberty and equality, set up a system of government and social order, which was nothing short of anarchy. In blind rage even the tombs of their own kings were ravaged, and the national churches pillaged; even heathen rites were publicly sanctioned, and a noted strumpet was set up on the altar of the Cathedral to receive the public homage of the citizens. The National Convention, too, in their pride of power, declared war against all systems of government that they thought could interfere with their newly-found liberty; especially against the King of Great Britain and the Stadtholder of the United Provinces was their rancour directed, To enable the Convention further to carry out a plan of universal subjugation, a Decree was submitted and received with great approbation, proposing that "Till the moment when all the enemies of France shall be driven from the Republic, every Frenchman shall be in permanent readiness for service in the army. The young men shall march to the combat; the married men shall forge arms, and transport provisions; the children shall make lint of old linen; and the old men shall cause themselves to be carried into the public squares to excite the courage of the warriors, and preach hatred against the enemies of the Republic!" Further, provision was made for washing all the cellars in Paris to obtain saltpetre, (1) and for the national edifices being converted into military storehouses, and used as the quarters of district battalions, in preparation for a general rising at the word of command. The whole force to be marshalled under military banners, inscribed - "THE FRENCH NATION RISEN AGAINST TYRANNY!"
Early in the year 1794, the English Government set itself in good earnest to devise measures whereby this formidable military power, now in active preparation for being poured upon our shores, should be met. "Letters of Service" were immediately despatched to the friendly chiefs in the northern counties of Scotland, imploring help in the nation's great need - to Gordon of Huntly, Mackintosh of Aberarder, M'Donell of Glengarry, Colonel Fraser of Inverness, and the great chief of the clan Chattan, Aeneas Mackintosh - all loyal men and true. The brave chieftain of the Mackintosh, who had fought stoutly in the American war, in a letter to his namesake and friend in Glasgow, says:- "I believe that I (who have already had a pretty long trial of the fighting trade) must again gird on my sword, and collect our scattered tribes. I must begin to feel their pulses, to know if they beat high in their country's cause, and for the honour of clan Chattan, under whose saffron banners they have formerly done such feats of arms." What his experience had taught him, after the operation of "feeling the pulses" of the clan, is revealed in another letter to Mr. Macintosh. He says - "Times are altered in this country. Men do not now go out at the call of their lairds, unless for valuable considerations, such as leases for nineteen years, or a lessened rent." And he adds - "Manufacturing towns are the proper situations for recruiting, but even there, had not such a friend as yourself stepped forward, our chances would have been small."
In these circumstances, we think there is a ready solution of Mr. Macintosh's zeal. Independently of his habitual "clannishness," that could so ill brook the idea of his kith and kin, even in a "Highland degree," having their aims frustrated, here was the spectacle of his beloved country as sorely in need of timely help as ever were those starving masses, from whom his ready aid and bounty had never been withheld. We must also keep in remembrance that the sentiments of loyalty to king, constitution, and church, which were cherished in the social circles to which Mr. Macintosh was attached, although they may now be fairly characterised as rank Toryism, had been gradually gathering strength since the memorable 1745, and were held with a tenacity of affection and reverence scarcely conceded, now-a-days, to our most valued moral convictions; indeed, the contrast between the horrors of democracy, and the rule of right and safety embodied in the British Constitution, as both were exhibited at this time, strengthened the national determination to support the Government at whatever sacrifice.
In the midst of the general alarm occasioned by the anticipated invasion, and the universal gloom which it cast over trade and commerce, it is curious and diverting to note the common opinions entertained with regard to the much vaunted military prowess of Britain's foes. Burns sang, and his sentiments found ready response in the popular mind:-
"Their gun's a burden on their shouther,-
They downa bear the scent o' pouther;
Their bauldest thought's a hankerin' swither
To stan' or rin,
Till skelp, - a shot, - they're aff a' throuther
To save their skin!"
And, subsequently, our own street Homer, Blind Alick, quite as emphatically, although perhaps less euphoniously, expressed public sentiment thus -
"As for the Emperor Napoleon Bonyparty,
And some of the French Imperial Guards,
They thought they had no more to do
Than to take our gallant Scotch lads:
But very soon, on the contrary,
The Royal Greys they let them ken
They might go and tell the tyrant Bonyparty,
They cared not a ___ for either him or his men!"
These opinions formed a capital ground of encouragement, then, to the new recruits, but unfortunately they were held quite as tenaciously by our foes in depreciation of British valour, and it required many weary years of hard fighting, and the expenditure of much bloodshed and treasure to decide the question; and through all these years, so long as his life extended, did Mr Macintosh, with a perseverance and success which can only be accounted for by the great respect and confidence which his public life and character had acquired for him, continue his patriotic labours unwearyingly. However averse we may feel to the idea of establishing truth and justice by means of "hard knocks," it would be sheer ingratitude to forget that, under Providence, we owe a deep debt of gratitude to the memory of such men as old George Macintosh, to whose patriotism and energy we are indebted for the privilege of sitting so many years under our own vine and fig trees in peace and comfort. (2)
Whilst yet a young man, and still a clerk in the old tanwork, Mr. Macintosh married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Charles Moore, minister of Stirling. Mr. Moore was a native of Ireland, and the son of an officer in King William's service. Both directly and collaterally Mr. Moore's progeny were greatly distinguished. His son, Dr. John Moore, the author of Zeluco and other works, was much respected and admired, no less for his amiable disposition and goodness of heart than for his great literary accomplishments; and his grandson was Sir John Moore, who fell at Corunna, and whose heroism and military skill have gained for him a deathless name. Sir John Moore, it is worthy of remark, when a young man, entered as a clerk in the Dunchattan House, and the training he there received, under the careful superintendence of his uncle, Mr. Macintosh, we may assume, were of the greatest service to him in the formation of those prompt methodical habits which were the main sources of his military success in after life.
The married life of Mr. Macintosh seems to have been, so far as its social and domestic aspects are concerned, a very happy one. In the last year of his life he writes of his wife as his "loving companion of forty years;" and Dr. Ritchie, at his death, bears testimony "that the deep affliction of his widow gives heart-piercing witness to the purity and constancy and tenderness of their conjugal affection."
When the Chamber of Commerce was instituted in 1783, Mr. Macintosh was one of its most zealous and active promoters, and through the long period of twenty-four years, with the exception of a few short intervals, he served as one of its most respected and useful directors. In fact, he held office as chairman of the Chamber at the time of his death; and unless we are greatly mistaken, his life was unduly shortened by his active services on behalf of the Chamber and the town. In the years 1806 and 1807, when Mr. Macintosh was chairman, several matters were brought before the Chamber, deeply affecting the commercial welfare of the community. One of these was the small number of Custom-House officers and tide waiters appointed to do duty at Greenock and Port-Glasgow, then the shipping ports for the city, and the multitude of uselessly complicated forms which they were called upon to enforce; and although the Chamber had hitherto only asked such modified restrictions and privileges as were in use at the ports of Liverpool and London, their moderate requests remained unheeded. Another grievance was that the drawback of duty granted on English rock salt - a material which was found indispensable in the manufacture of "chlorine" for bleaching purposes - was shamefully unequal in England and Scotland respectively, to the prejudice and loss of the Scotch manufacturers employed in making the much-prized bleaching powder. Government had also proposed a duty of forty shillings per ton on iron, a large per centage upon its total value. The merchants and shippers on the west coast were anxious for an increase in number and efficiency of their Lighthouses. And lastly, an Edict had been promulgated by Government, declaring that apprentices under indenture who might be enlisted in the army could not be claimed by their respective masters.
In the spring of the year 1807, these matters were discussed in the Chamber, and at the last meeting over which Mr. Macintosh presided, he was appointed to take part with the magistrates of the city in any plan of action that they might think likely to remove the evils complained of.
There are many things, as it appears to us, strikingly pathetic in this last meeting of the good old man with his brethren in the Directorate. The attendance was fairly representative, and yet, when he looked around him, excepting the secretary, Mr. Hamilton, then within a single year of his removal also, there was not an individual of the strong and sympathetic band present who, twenty-four years before, held wise counsel with him around that table. The membership of the whole Chamber had in that interval nearly changed, and few indeed of the old mercantile aristocracy, his early companions, remained. Besides, a great shadow had fallen upon his own household. His youngest daughter, a lady of varied and uncommon accomplishments, to whom he was tenderly attached, was stricken with rapid consumption, and taken away; and his "loving companion for forty years," Mary Moore, was fairly prostrated by the calamity, and rendered unable to rise from her bed. In view of these circumstances, what an amount of pathos do the few words assume which had been recently spoken by him on the death of his oldest friend, Mr. Malcolm M'Gilvra, the patriarch of the little social circle, the Gaelic Club, of which Mr. Macintosh was president. "The father of the Club is gone - the oldest in years - the gayest in all juvenile and innocent amusements - the first in the dance - the last to part with a social friend. His venerable countenance and grey locks created respect, while his cheerful good humour diffused mirth. In all his dealings and conversation he was strictly just and honourable, in religion and piety sincere. We have lost one of our best members, and many poor their best friend." And then, in the usual form at the meeting, he proposed a sentiment or toast in memory of their aged friend, expressed in his beloved Gaelic, we presume, the language ever so musical in his ears -
"May we all live in health and comfort to the age of Callum,
And when we cease to be members may we he regretted like Callum!"
Shortly after the meeting of the Chamber, to which we have just alluded, Mr. Macintosh set out for England. What the particular objects were that could induce him to undertake a long and tiresome journey at his advanced period of life, and especially at the time when his wife was enfeebled by a great family affliction, we are not informed. We may feel assured, however, that they must have been both urgent and important, and there is no incongruity in the supposition that they had reference in some way to the duties imposed upon him, in respect of the claims of right and justice advanced by the Chamber and the city, both of which he loved so well.
On his journey homewards he was seized at Moffat with an alarming illness of an inflammatory character. Intelligence was immediately despatched to his son-in-law, Mr. Balfour, W.S., Edinburgh, and his son Charles, at Glasgow. The letter to Charles contained a postscript, which, considered as probably the last words Mr. Macintosh ever wrote, is striking and characteristic. He says - "The people of the inn are the most attentive and most civil I ever saw - wonderfully so indeed." On receiving the alarming intelligence, Mr. Balfour and his wife, with his son Charles, hastened to Moffat, taking with them the best medical aid that could be procured, only to find the good old man rapidly sinking and beyond help; and when Mrs. Macintosh reached Moffat - having risen from her sick bed, and in company with one trusted servant hurried to her husband's relief - she found that her loving companion was dead. She is said to have borne the shock with Christian fortitude, and her family and friends wondered at her exemplary patience and cheerful resignation. Alas! the loneliness of Dunchattan and its accompanying associations were too much for her enfeebled constitution to bear, and in a few months she was laid by the side of him she had mourned so truly, in the old Cathedral churchyard. "They were lovely in their lives, and in death they were not divided."
George Macintosh died on the 26th day of July, 1807. On the Sunday following his funeral, as a mark of esteem for one so universally lamented, a sad procession walked to St. Andrew's Church, consisting of the children of the Highland Society - one of the numerous charities which received a great share of Mr. Macintosh's sympathy and assistance - accompanied by the directors of the Society and their friends, the members of the Gaelic Club, headed by his old neighbour and friend, Provost James M'Kenzie, and the body of Magistrates, most of whom were brother merchants, and all of whom knew the worth of the deceased, and mourned his loss.
In sketching the character of Mr. Macintosh, Dr. Ritchie, the minister of the church, said:- "Mr. Macintosh possessed an elevation of soul superior to that ignoble spirit of a corrupted age which casts off even the forms of religion. He feared God; he worshipped Him who made heaven and earth; he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ - he believed in its doctrines, he acted upon its laws. While his profession of religion was conscientious and fair, it was free from affectation. He was pious without enthusiasm - the friend of substantial godliness without fanaticism. The bigotry of prejudice, the gloom of superstition, the contempt of those who adopted modes of worship different from his, never disgraced his creed, never soured his temper, never polluted his conversation; in him, piety was combined with charity, and the love of his God with the love of his neighbour. Piety is the parent of charity; how profound, therefore, was the piety which reigned in the heart of Mr. George Macintosh; its spirit smiled through his eye when he looked kindness, opened his hand when he bestowed benefits, and rendered him the willing agent to distribute, as the almoner of Providence, a portion to the children of poverty. Wherever the 'still small voice' of charity was heard craving in confidence immediate relief in urgent pressure, there stood by her side George Macintosh, animating by his countenance, prompting by his words, and constraining by his example, the benevolent exertions of others. His good works were a gently flowing stream, winding softly through the haunts of poverty and disease."
We think these remarks, the truth and beauty of which were willingly acknowledged at the time, throw a radiance around the few simple and characteristic observations offered by Mr. Macintosh on the death of his old friend, the father of the Gaelic Club, and show his own character, as sketched unwittingly by himself, in a most pleasant and amiable light both "Godwards and manwards."
Thus lived and died George Macintosh. Among the Glasgow commercial aristocracy of the present day we have yet left many whose beneficence keeps pace with their prosperity; but amongst them all we feel assured none will be found unwilling to acknowledge how much the good old town is indebted for its present prosperity to the energy, the benevolence, and the true stamp of piety exhibited by such men as David Dale and George Macintosh.
(1) A French chemist had just made the discovery that the burial vaults of Paris were a perfect mine of nitre. Could this be the reason for rifling the vaults in which lay the bodies of the French kings? If so, what a weird idea it gives us of the "base uses" to which even royalty may be put!
(2) "Assuredly there were few towns throughout the length and breadth of the land where a more intense feeling of joy or of grief, resulting from the war, might be expected to be expressed than in Glasgow, as in none did the British army find more recruits than in the Scottish western metropolis. Several, indeed, of the most conspicuous regiments were filled almost to a man from Glasgow." - (Strang's Clubs, page 377.)
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