James blushed.
“Is it a normal thing to do, then, Sir William?”
“Unfortunately, yes, sir, for passengers as well very often. You will note the funnel, of course.”
There was black smoke in plenty being added to the fog.
“He has left his boiler unattended!”
“There will be a stoker tending the fire, sir, but in essence there is no man to watch his gauges.”
“None to take action should any emergency eventuate.”
“Quite, sir. Was a water pipe to fracture, for example, or the pressure to rise due to a sudden blockage in a steam pipe, then there would be none to do anything. An explosion may be occasioned by any of these factors, or many another, sir. A boiler blowing here, even one of the small sort to be found on these little steamers, would kill some and burn and scald many more.”
“Hence the interest of the Board of Trade.”
“Just so, sir. The steamers are essential to the conduct of business now. Many a clerk lives five miles and more from his office these days. Ten minutes walk, or perhaps a tuppeny bus ride, takes him to the river. Sixpence brings him to the Stairs here within half an hour of leaving home and at most another ten minutes sees him in his office, fresh and ready to work, having bought a pie for breakfast and eaten it as he walks along. The roads are too narrow for more buses and without the steamer there would be two hours of stretching it out on muddy roads, arriving dung-splashed and smelly as well as tired!”
“On which topic, how do the passengers tolerate the smell of the river?”
“One does grow habituated to it, sir, to an extent. It is worsening every year, however. So are the fevers, of course.”
“I have heard word that some doctors, a very few as yet, believe dirty water to be a cause of some fevers.”
Sir William had heard the same; living near the river that worried him – the household water supply came from a shallow well that must be to an extent contaminated by the Thames.
“I have been giving thought to purchasing a summer place for Lady Rumpage and the children, Mr Andrews. They would do better at a distance from Town, I suspect. The influenza is present again this year, and scarlet fever has been reported in several locations in the back alleys. There is word as well of the English Cholera in some of our sea ports.”
The English Cholera, known as well as enteritis, was far less dangerous than the Asiatic disease, killing relatively few adults – though vicious in its mortality amongst the very young.
“Have you heard the word from Bombay? The true disease has struck there, killing indiscriminately. Major Wolverstone has lost all of his family, poor man!”
“The news from the Levanters is that the cholera is spreading west across the land routes. They say, sir, that Samarkand has been almost wholly destroyed, as great a death rate as the Plague ever achieved.”
James was unsure of the exact location of Samarkand, was sufficiently confident in himself now to admit to the fact.
“On the Silk Road, Mr Andrews, the great overland caravan route from China to the ports of the Mediterranean – Black Sea as well, though that is less relevant to us.”
“Will it reach London?”
“I fear it must, sir, though when I know not.”
“I would buy your place in the country as a matter of some urgency, Sir William. Do we know how the Asiatic Cholera spreads?”
“There is no certainty. Miasmas, perhaps?”
They looked at the fog, dark and threatening, could easily imagine evil humours floating in it. They stepped back into the carriage, made their slow way back to James’ house.
“How long will it take you to reach your house this afternoon, Sir William?”
“I shall walk, sir, as faster than wheels in this brume. Two hours? Three at most as I know my way quite well, should not get lost.”
James made quiet enquiries at Westminster, discovered that the Board of Trade was deeply concerned that passengers and crew members both died on the paddle steamers – few as yet, one or two a month was all. He was told that it would require no more than a collision or a blown boiler out in the main stream for the figure to suddenly reach several hundreds.
“It is well known, of course, Mr Andrews, that any poor soul who falls into the Thames is lost. If he does not drown immediately then the fevers of the bowel will almost certainly be his death. A ferry carrying its full load on the way into the office, full of clerks at five in the morning, might have two hundreds cram-packed aboard. All could be lost in one fatal minute! Two, falling foul of each other in the darkness, could empty no few of the offices of the City.”
“What is proposed to be done?”
James’ informant, a senior man in the Board, fell silent, reluctantly answered the repeated question.
“Nothing, Mr Andrews. There is no law, no power to actually do anything. We are waiting the inevitable disaster, writing up our files, perfecting our proposals; we shall be able to outline action within a day of the worst occurring.”
There was no prospect of this government taking action in anticipation of an as yet unproved need. James briefly considered the prospects of Wellington agreeing to pass an Act to regulate steam shipping, decided there was not a hope. He consoled himself that as a general rule it was only clerks who were to be found aboard the ferries, and they were two-a-penny, the streets proliferating with them twice daily as they walked to and from their counting houses and copying rooms.
“Robert, how might the family be affected by a measure to regulate steam shipping, particularly aimed to render the ferries on the Thames safer for the general run of passengers?
“It would not affect us at all, James. The problem lies not with the constructors but with the greedy men who operate the ships. Our ships have their safety-valves and pressure gauges for the engineers to read. We can do no more, and I believe that none of our competitors do less.
Book Nine: A Poor Man
at the Gate Series
Chapter Nine
“Goderich has been informed of his fate, James. He is currently lamenting it, one understands. He is to present his resignation of office today, according to my informant.”
James nodded coolly – he had had confirmation of the news an hour before Robert.
“My Mr Baker was told that the ultimatum was to be conveyed to him today, last of all to know of the event!”
“One cannot but feel that this is a somewhat offhand manner in which to behave to the leading man of the land, James.”
“We are masters of our fate, one understands, Robert. He has earned all that is happening to him – he is a very poor excuse for a man, you know!”
“It is nonetheless discourteous!”
“I am disinclined to waste courtesy on one who cannot appreciate it. He is both arrogant and ignorant. He has trodden on the poor and unfortunate and cannot understand why they hate him. He truckles to the wealthy and is amazed that they despise him. He has sought power for years, but having become Prime Minister has performed not one memorable act, has been content simply to be. He is an aberration – a weakling who should never have risen to any height at all but was made leader of the country for lack of agreement on which of the many better men should hold the post. That he is treated with disdain is no more than a reflection of his just worth.”
Robert was not prepared to argue the case, but felt it was to set a bad precedent, that it devalued all of the values of traditional political life.
“Do you know that the King will send for Wellington? Is it possible that he will seek some other favourite for the post?”
James had not considered the possibility, dismissed it out of hand.
“I doubt he would be so foolish, and am sure besides that he would lack the courage to challenge the Iron Duke. Was it to come to a conflict between King and Parliament then there would be no long drawn-out Civil War this time, and I am quite certain Georgie-Porgie knows it. There would be no army of Cavaliers to ride to the aid of t
his Royal Personage!”
Robert had no love for the holder of the throne, but felt instinctively that it was unwise to treat the gentleman with public disrespect – the republicans needed no such encouragement in their horrible heresy. It was difficult to be a monarchist, he reflected, when the king of the day was such a poor excuse for a gentleman, or indeed for a man at all.
Word came late in the morning that Goderich had stood before his sovereign and had, tearfully, resigned his position. Nothing further occurred for some little time.
“How very foolish! I am afraid that HM is trying to establish a sense of his own power in the minds of his office-holders, delaying his appointment of a Premier so as to demonstrate that he is the source of all legitimacy in Britain. Short-sighted in the extreme, for Wellington will kick his arse for him!”
James agreed, mentioning that there still debts to be cleared, that His Majesty had been spending heavily, again, and had outrun the constable, yet again!
“Is he to beg Parliament for yet another grant-in-aid, do you know, James?”
“So it is suspected.”
“Then he would be well-advised to be very polite to his Prime Minister!”
Wellington was appointed in the afternoon, made his way to St James to kiss the King’s hand, as a Prime Minister must.
“Let us hope that he has remembered to wash today, James.”
“Poor Brummel made some comment to that effect, I believe, only a short while before his final indiscretion, before his creditors were let off their leash. I have been told that the comment to Alvanley was no more than the last straw.”
“I had not heard that – you are far better placed than I to pick up all of the gossip, James.”
“You could take a greater part in political life, Robert.”
“Could, but will not, as much as anything because I have no love for Peel as a person, yet am inclined to support his policies and prescriptions for the country. I would inevitably come into regular contact with him, and that would do far too much violence to my feelings. Have you spoken to Mr Murphy and Captain Hood, by the way, relating to their opinions of his Police Force, which he is to propose again, one understands?”
“Both are, in their different ways, thief-takers, are they not? Hood has dealt more in the way of treason than ordinary felony, which is a distasteful occupation. Murphy, of course, I value beyond any other man – family excepted!”
“Both have told me that a police force will make a great difference to lesser crimes and criminals, and will in many ways protect ordinary folk in their everyday lives. They have also said that the policemen will be quite unable to touch the rich and powerful criminal, of whom there are many. Peel, of course, does not believe that a rich man can be a felon – the two are mutually exclusive!”
“A thief-taker,” Robert continued, “working for his own profit with no commander to say him yea or nay, is free to lay his hands upon any man against whom he can make a case. He will be rewarded at a fixed proportion of the goods or monies recovered. No man pays his salary or denies him promotion. He is free in a way that no policeman - employed on a low wage and needing his eventual pension – can possibly be.”
“Yet we need police, Robert!”
“We do indeed, James. Let us hope that they do not cost us too much!”
The messenger arrived two days later, begging James to attend at Downing Street. Wellington’s first day in office would have been spent negotiating with those who were to be major office holders, particularly the Chancellors of the House of Lords and of the Exchequer; Home and Foreign Secretary; and the ministers in charge of the army and navy. Next could come the Under-Secretaries, to be appointed on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis – these office-holders did not have the clout to negotiate, they accepted patronage or disappeared into the outer darkness.
“Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr Andrews – not a new post but with only a small office as yet. Because of the need for protection for our traders and missionaries there will be regular contact with Horse-Guards, and it is not impossible that the final burden of policy making may come into the hands of the Minister for War.”
“Not the Foreign Secretary, Your Grace.”
“No. Our colonies are ours – they are in no way foreign entities.”
“Then I am very glad to accept office, Your Grace.”
“Thank you, Mr Andrews – you are very welcome into a post that is your first, but not, I am quite sure, your last in government. I would be obliged to you if you could familiarise yourself with your duties in the immediate future, sir. The government will be making its bow at the levee to be held on Tuesday next.”
Every senior and junior minister must be present at the sole ceremony that recognised the existence of a new government. The members of the ministry were in law ‘the King’s friends’, their function being to assist him in the performance of his many duties; it was therefore considered polite to show him their faces, at least once.
James bowed himself out of Number Ten and left in search of Clapperley, the first and only previous holder of his new position.
“No great complexity, as yet, Mr James.”
Clapperley used the courtesy title given by an inferior to a member of the family of his patron; even James could understand the significance of that.
“Tell me more, Sir Erasmus.”
“Malta and the Republic of the Seven Islands – Corfu and the Ionian States – fit tidily together. The Sugar Islands make another sensible entity, and are our greatest concern. The West African forts and ports, the old Slave Coast and inland, in effect, together with the Gold Coast, are a third geographical unit. Finally we have the awkward bits, close to nowhere else – the Cape and St Helena and Botany Bay and Tasmania and various other odd islands. Canada, biggest and richest of all those colonies which are home to our settlers, is not in our remit, while India is, obviously, of a nature unique to itself and demanding its own Office.”
Sir Erasmus waved a hand around his tiny offices and his six clerks, the centre of control of the empire in being.
“We do not have a great deal to do as the Governors take most of the administrative tasks to themselves. Our concern is primarily to ensure that government funds are properly allocated and are spent as they should be. Matters of defence are especially important.”
Robert had warned James that Clapperley was ‘old-fashioned’ in his attitudes to government money. He had expanded his comment with the single word, ‘corrupt’.
James looked again at the two clerks he could see – there was something wrong about them, he felt. Something was gleaming against the waistcoat of one of them… he tried not to stare, realised that it was a heavy gold chain, presumably with a hunter attached. He was wearing a signet ring as well, quite a large stone. Eighty pounds a year pen-pushers did not wear gold in James’ experience; they could not possibly afford watches.
Should he borrow Murphy for a few weeks, or would Captain Hood be better? It would have to be Murphy, he remembered, the captain was out of the country for a while.
“I understand that you are to take a well-earned retirement, Sir Erasmus.”
“I am indeed, Mr James, the old plough-horse is going out to grass. I am little short of my three score and ten, Mr James and my day is past. I have lived a full life since your noble father dragged me out of provincial obscurity and I wish only now to sit in quiet comfort, regretting only that the great man who made me all that I am is no longer with us. I much wish that he were!”
“As do I, Sir Erasmus. As indeed do I!”
“Will it cause a very great scandal, Robert, if I have all of the clerks taken up for corrupt practices? Will it be felt that I am… ‘rocking the boat’, is, I believe the term?”
“Beg audience of His Grace, brother. It is his government and he must take the decision either to expose all or cover it up. Would Sir Erasmus’ name be bandied about in public, do you think?”
“I do not know. I must take
further advice, I suspect, before I go to the Duke.”
“Grey, or Melbourne, the leaders of your own party. Not Brougham, I suspect.”
“If I do not take action then all will continue as before, and Sir Erasmus’s share will come to my pocket.”
“Oh dear! Whatever will you do, James?”
“Profits have risen to a very satisfactory extent, Mr Tonks, since you have come into office in the mills. I am very pleased. What do we do next?”
“It will be less easy to cut costs in future, Mr Star. We have, I think, reduced waste to the very least possible. I am considering the introduction of Sunday working and the closure of the mills for one week in July or August. At the moment all maintenance is done on the Sabbath and no task can be undertaken that will require more than twenty-four hours to complete. A full week would enable the engineers to rebuild much more fully.”
“Higher wages on the Sabbath, Mr Tonks!”
“They can have a ha’penny an hour more and be thankful, sir! That will make them four shillings a week better off – they can hardly beg for more.”
“They are forever complaining that they have too little money – they cannot complain at that!”
“The only thing is, sir, that the churches and chapels might moan, and attempt to victimise us.”
“True… best we should all get together, all of the mill-owners in town. If all of us make the change at the same time then they will be unable to argue.”
“There is a Union now, Mr Star. Only small as yet and none too well organised – I have a list of all of the names, of course, it only cost two sovereigns into the pocket of one of the new shop-stewards.”
“That was cheap, Mr Tonks!”
“He has a son, a little boy, who fell and injured himself and needed admission into the Infirmary, which was free, and his mother to stay with him for a week, which cost her job.”
“Plenty of work about at the moment. She will find another job quickly enough.”
A Parade Of Virtue (A Poor Man At The Gate Series Book 9) Page 22