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unceasingly with the utmost boldness, at the same time with almost unerring sagacity. We have successful gamblers, and we have lucky speculators on the Stock Exchange, but the mighty contractor who invests tens of thousands in a gigantic undertaking only does so upon a basis which can scarcely fail, and calculations which hardly admit of mistake. And when, carefully arranging his operations, so that instead of clashing or interfering with one another, they harmonise and assist one another, he advances more and more freely, not into the arena of tremendous speculation, but into the legitimate field of sound but bold and vigorous enterprise-a field embracing beside his own country those other lands where his powers may have fuller scope, because the march of civilisation and improvement has been slower therein than it has been in this favoured island-then the contractor does, indeed, assume something of the attitude of a conqueror, and may proudly survey the bloodless, but yet splendid, victories he has won, and the substantial triumphs he has achieved.

Referring to the Stock Exchange, it is evident that if the great railway contractor be disposed to turn aside occasionally from his ordinary and safer path to visit that tempting locality (which has so much to answer for), he must be in a position for money-making, giving him considerable advantage over less-informed and more random speculators. Whose opinion in regard to the position and prospects of an important undertaking can be so well worthy of regard as that of the practical man actively engaged in the carrying it out-the man who, almost of necessity, knows more about it, and can take a more comprehensive view of it, than any other party? What secrets can be withheld from the perpetual companion of directors, engineers, superintendents, secretaries, and clerksthe maker-up of periodical mighty bills, which must be met and paid, or the works will be shut, and the shareholders sued? On very large lines of railway, where the contracts are in several hands, the contractor may not, perhaps, occupy so important a position; but on small lines, where the whole of the work most likely is undertaken by one man, the contractor becomes a very terrific personage. Under any circumstances, however, a vast amount of most valuable knowledge in regard to the undertaking on which he is engaged must come to the contractor; and if he choose to turn this knowledge to account through the medium of the Stock Exchange, it is evident that he has a very good chance, to say the least, of adding not inconsiderably to the gains of his contract.

Mr. Peto is chairman of the Chester and Holyhead and the Norfolk and Lowestoft Railways; he is deputy-chairman of the North of Europe Steam-Packet Company, and deputy-chairman of the Rock Life Assurance Company. He is connected, we believe, also, with the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, and has a large contract on the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line. He has a great interest, through his contract and otherwise, in the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada; and the railways in Denmark and Sweden, if we mistake not, are owing to Mr. Peto. It is only recently that his exertions in connexion with the Danish Railway were very courteously noticed and acknowledged by the King of Denmark. Mr. Peto is also connected with the Western of France Railway.

This, of course, is not intended as a perfect enumeration of the many great works with which Mr. Peto is associated, or has an interest in.

The above are merely those undertakings wherein he figures prominently as a contractor, director, or large shareholder.

Does anybody say derisively, How far do the public care to know these particulars regarding a railway contractor? our reply is, that, undoubtedly, as a railway contractor Mr. Peto may have no title to Occupy four or five pages of this Miscellany. But no railway_contractor has exhibited that bold, enterprising spirit manifested by Mr. Peto, as no contractor of any kind has made his contracts the medium of good to thousands of his fellow-men to a tithe of the extent effected by this enlightened and kind-hearted capitalist. Mr. Peto does not simply carry out work designed and put into his hands by others. He is at least foremost among the originators of most of the projects which he subsequently assists to carry out. His active mind looks abroad for requirements to be satisfied in his particular department, just as the mental eye of the statesman examines the condition of a people, and devises plans for the lessening their burdens and advancing their welfare. And it must be confessed, that in a broad, sound view of those things which most materially concern the happiness and comfort of mankind, the projects of such men as Mr. Peto, always useful, always tangibly, palpably calculated to do good and ensure benefit, present a remarkable contrast beside the puny achievements of the majority of professed and lauded philanthropists. Wherefore should this petty statesman, because his brain is perpetually overburdened with an undigested mass of notions for the public good, claim for himself the gratitude of the community, while the designer and executor of great works-works which are important national benefits, which are a blessing during their construction through the employment which they create, which are a permanent advantage when completed by the innumerable valuable purposes to which they become subservient-why should such a man be spoken of as a mere contractor and selfish money-maker?

We can listen with great pleasure to soft strains of music-we can deeply admire a noble painting-we can be much moved by the perusal of sweet poetry-we can be enraptured by brilliant oratorical effort-but upon our conscience we must say that, as far as the benefit which he renders to his fellow-man is concerned, we must, above the musician, the artist, the poet, and the orator, give the palm to the bold, intelligent, enterprising, high-minded capitalist and contractor.

We shall be much mistaken if the qualities which have so well served Mr. Peto in the pursuits in which to this time he has been almost exclusively occupied, do not hereafter seek a broader and more important field for display. To be a poor, conceited, half-crazy member of parliament, gifted with the faculty of stringing sentences together, but being quite destitute of the power to cast into them more than the faintest glimmer of sense, and not a glimmer of novelty, is one thing (and a deplorable thing too), but to be the virtual ruler of a mighty nation, to be to a great extent responsible for its well-being, to be looked up to as its guide, as the man in whom it trusts, in whose sagacity, sound judgment, unfailing nerve, it may repose as a child may rest upon its mother's bosom-this is, indeed, a very different matter; and where is the bold, strong, clear mind, conscious within itself of powers suited for such a vast, such an awful position, which does not thrill, and glow, and pant for its attainment?

We have no interest in "writing up" Mr. Peto; and although we are fortunate enough to have some intimacy with him, we are under no obligations to him, therefore the foregoing is the simple expression of an honest opinion that, sneer as some might, and smile as might others, the great capitalist, in a far higher position than that which he at present occupies, would utterly put to shame many of the simperers who think that nobody with other than aristocratic blood flowing in his veins should ever come in contact with the Treasury bench.

What a precious thing is sound common sense, which knocks down sophistry, kicks aside conventionality, which will not be deluded by the shadow but will grasp and retain the substance. Every day and every hour we progress towards the period when miserable fallacies which have long held sway will be exploded, and when simple truth will be undividedly worshipped. Can there be any question that in the positions which affect most nearly the prosperity, the peace, and the happiness of the country, we should find the men who, as far as can be ascertained, are entitled to fill them, not by the circumstances of long lines of ancestors or splendid rent-rolls, but by the possession of those sterling qualifications of lofty talents, profound penetration, and perfect integrity, without which no man should be entitled to take any leading part in the government of a great nation? We have nothing now to do with parties or with policies, we merely enter our protest against any illnatured objection to a clever man's occupying a high position because he may not from his birth have had that position before his own eyes, and had it anticipated for him by other people. We want now, if we never wanted it before, the utmost ability and energy this country can boast to scatter the dark clouds hovering above her, and to court the bright sunshine of triumph and success. Wherever we may find them, let those high intellectual gifts which Omnipotence sees fit to impart to comparatively so few of its creatures, receive the most earnest, most sedulous, most hearty encouragement from the country at large; and if it may have been said, let it never be said again, let it never be the case again, that on account of any old, worn-out, preposterous notions, that because a man's origin or previous life may not precisely have suggested the honourable position. which he may now have shown himself pre-eminently qualified to fill, that therefore he is to be cast aside with contumely, his merit and his claims disregarded, to his country's injury, to his country's shame.

He is so

Mr. Peto is eminently kind and considerate to those in inferior grade to himself with whom business may bring him in contact. from nature, but, to say the truth, there is good policy in this, which men in influential positions might well regard. It is of most important advantage to carry along with you the subordinates in any undertaking. The governor of the Bank of England should not offend even the porter if he can help it, and the railway director will do well to be civil to the junior clerk at a pound a month. Mr. Peto actually fascinates those who are under him; not simply and not even so much by benefits which he confers upon them, as by his free, unostentatious, affable manner—a manner so different to that of the little puffed-up absurdities who may frequently be found among railway directors, that it is winning in the extreme to those who groan under the petty tyranny to which commonly they are subjected.

VOL. XXXVII.

As a speaker Mr. Peto is thoroughly practical. He never aims at any oratorical display. He is forcible and clear; and though he can scarcely be termed fluent, he seldom hesitates, and never absolutely stumbles or becomes confused. In his manner of speaking there is the same frankness and appearance of sincerity and candour which give such effect to his remarks in simple conversation. Grumbling shareholders do not like to persist in complaining to one who replies to them with such perfect courtesy and good-humour, and who shows to them in such a positive but quiet and kind-hearted way that really they should not be ill-tempered, for most surely it is their gratitude and not their censure which is deserved by the board of directors, whose conduct they are venturing to criticise. A meeting generally takes part with a chairman when he thus treats a dissenting shareholder. If the latter be snubbed or bullied, a feeling of sympathy will sometimes spring up, and the foundation be laid for a furious onslaught on the directorial body; but if this gentler course be adopted, the tide of sympathy will roll the other way, and the insignificant Mr. Jones, or Mr. Smith-holder, perhaps, of a couple of shares, who is opposing a body of men, any one of whom could buy him up and all his relations-is soon voted a nuisance, and put down with fearful clamour, and amidst general and fierce indignation.

As a philanthropist Mr. Peto is known far and wide; and great as are his means, one is staggered occasionally at the vastness of his contributions to charitable objects. He has been especially liberal to the Idiot Asylum-a noble institution, having care for those who are utterly incapable of caring for themselves. There is something very fit and suitable in the support which Mr. Peto renders to this charity. What has obtained for him his vast wealth, what has enabled him to spread his name almost throughout the globe in connexion with great and noble undertakings, what may bring him fresh honours and still richer laurels, but that gift of superior intelligence, beside which the poor dim mind of the idiot presents such a sad and melancholy contrast? It may well be that the ever-working mind of the enterprising capitalist may be touched with peculiar force by the spectacle of an intellect into which light has shone so feebly that it can know no labour, but must sit in dull and moping idleness. The stout strong man, how tenderly he will embrace and shield from danger the trembling infant, who scarce can thank him for his protection. The man of vigorous intellectual grasp, capable of entering fearlessly on the boldest field of thought, or surveying unconfused a mass of minutest considerations, may well spread a shield over the hapless being who could not interpose even a prayer against the harsh buffetings and cruel treatment of the rough wide world.

THE BLUE DRAGOON.

IN the Dutch town of M- there resided, at the close of the last century, an aged widow, known by the name of Madame Andrecht. The only occupants of the house, which was the widow's property, were herself and a maid-servant of about the same age. As the widow was in a precarious state of health, she kept no society, and did not leave her room for weeks together. Her only recreation was, that she went in spring, when the weather was settled, to visit her son, who resided in a neighbouring village, and on these excursions she was always accompanied by her servant, who was accustomed to her temper, and was the only nurse she would have about her. During these absences from town the house was uninhabited, and though carefully locked up, not guarded with any special attention.

The widow returned from her annual excursion on the 30th of June, 17-, and found that during her absence the house had been broken into, and besides other valuables, all her plate and jewels carried off. The authorities were immediately informed, and both burgomaster and police began making a diligent inquiry. It was not difficult to discover how the thieves had broken into the house. The window of a back room looked on the garden, and had been secured within by a brass screw on either side. A pane of glass had been broken on each side of the frame, the screws had been taken out, and they had carried off their plunder by the back-door, which was found unfastened. All the other windows were still securely bolted, and several rooms had not even been entered. It was evident that the thieves had set to work in great security, had taken their time, and had not been apprehensive of being disturbed. They had removed the top of a heavy old escritoire, which had been carefully locked, and had lifted out the doors. This operation had been effected so cleverly that there was not the slightest trace of violence. Out of this escritoire the jewels and other valuables had been taken. chests had also been broken open, and gold, silver, and apparel carried off. The value of the objects missed amounted to about 2000 Dutch florins.

Two

It was conjectured that the robbery had been effected by more than one person; it was equally probable that the plan had been matured long before. It was also apparent that the robbery had been committed by persons not unacquainted with the house and the widow's circumstances. The widow's house was situated in an outlying street, and was the only respectable one in the immediate neighbourhood. Persons in inferior circumstances, and among them several suspicious characters, occupied the adjacent houses. At the end of the garden behind the house, from which side the thieves must have come, ran the inner town ditch, which was navigable, and only divided from it by a quickset hedge. The next house was a corner one, and a narrow path ran along its side and the garden hedge to a plank laid across the ditch. It was not supposed, however, that the thieves had climbed over the hedges of the two gardens, but it was much more likely that they had come in a boat to the hedge and climbed over it. No suspicious footsteps could be noticed in the garden-walks or flower-beds.

The discovery immediately caused great excitement: the whole neigh bourhood was astir, and a mob of curious persons surrounded the house

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