James Watt Part 6

Before returning to Birmingham, he married Miss MacGregor, daughter of a Glasgow man of affairs, who was the first in Britain to use chlorine for bleaching, the secret of which Berthollet, its inventor, had communicated to Watt.

Pending the marriage, it was advisable that the partnership with Boulton as. .h.i.therto agreed upon should be executed. Watt writes so to Boulton, and the arrangement between the partners is indicated by the following pa.s.sage of Watt's letter to him:

As you may have possibly mislaid my missive to you concerning the contract, I beg just to mention what I remember of the terms.

1. I to a.s.sign to you two-thirds of the property of the invention.

2. You to pay all expenses of the Act or others incurred before June, 1775 (the date of the Act), and also the expense of future experiments, which money is to be sunk without interest by you, being the consideration you pay for your share.

3. You to advance stock-in-trade bearing interest, but having no claim on me for any part of that, further than my intromissions; the stock itself to be your security and property.

4. I to draw one-third of the profits so soon as any arise from the business, after paying the workmen's wages and goods furnished, but abstract from the stock-in-trade, excepting the interest thereof, which is to be deducted before a balance is struck.

5. I to make drawings, give directions, and make surveys, the company paying for the travelling expenses to either of us when upon engine business.

6. You to keep the books and balance them once a year.

7. A book to be kept wherein to be marked such transactions as are worthy of record, which, when signed by both, to have the force of the contract.

8. Neither of us to alienate our share of the other, and if either of us by death or otherwise shall be incapacitated from acting for ourselves, the other of us to be the sole manager without contradiction or interference of heirs, executors, a.s.signees or others; but the books to be subject to their inspection, and the acting partner of us to be allowed a reasonable commission for extra trouble.

9. The contract to continue in force for twenty-five years, from the 1st of June, 1775, when the partnership commenced, notwithstanding the contract being of later date.

10. Our heirs, executors and a.s.signees bound to observance.

11. In case of demise of both parties, our heirs, etc., to succeed in same manner, and if they all please, they may burn the contract.

If anything be very disagreeable in these terms, you will find me disposed to do everything reasonable for your satisfaction.

Boulton's reply was entirely satisfactory, and upon this basis the arrangement was closed.

Watt, with his usual want of confidence in himself in business affairs, was anxious that Boulton should come to him at Glasgow and arrange all pecuniary matters connected with the marriage. Watt had faced the daughter and conquered, but trembled at the thought of facing the father-in-law. He appeals to his partner as follows:

I am afraid that I shall otherwise make a very bad bargain in money matters, which wise men like you esteem the most essential part, and I myself, although I be an enamoured swain, do not altogether despise. You may perhaps think it odd that in the midst of my friends here I should call for your help; but the fact is that from several reasons I do not choose to place that confidence in any of my friends here that would be necessary in such a case, and I do not know any of them that have more to say with the gentleman in question than I have myself. Besides, you are the only person who can give him satisfactory information concerning my situation.

This being impracticable, as explained by Boulton, who thoroughly approved of the union, the partnership and Boulton's letter were accepted by the judicious father-in-law as satisfactory evidence that his daughter's future was secure. Boulton states in his letter, July, 1776:

It may be difficult to say what is the value of your property in partnership with me. However, I will give it a name, and I do say that I would willingly give you two, or perhaps three thousand pounds for your a.s.signment of your third part of the Act of Parliament. But I should be sorry to make you so bad a bargain, or to make any bargain at all that tended to deprive me of your friendship, acquaintance, and a.s.sistance, hoping that we shall harmoniously live to wear out the twenty-five years, which I had rather do than gain a Nabob's fortune by being the sole proprietor.

This is the kind of expression from the heart to make a partner happy and resolve to do his utmost for one who in the recipient's heart had transposed positions, and is now friend first, and partner afterward.

The marriage took place in July, 1776. Two children were born, both of whom died in youth. Mrs. Watt lived until a ripe old age and enjoyed the fruits of her husband's success and fame. She died in 1832. Arago praises her, and says "Various talents, sound judgment, and strength of mind rendered her a worthy companion."

It is difficult to realise that many yet with us were contemporaries of Mrs. Watt, and not a few yet living were contemporaries of Watt himself, for he did not pa.s.s away until 1819, eighty-six years ago, so much a thing of yesterday is the material development and progress of the world, which had its basis, start and accomplishment in the steam engine.

The reasons given by Boulton for being unable to proceed to the side of his friend and partner in Glasgow, shed clear light upon the condition of affairs at Soho. Their London agent, like Watt, was also to be married and would be absent. Fothergill had to proceed to London. Scale, one of the managers, was absent. Important visitors were constantly arriving. Said Boulton:

Our copper bottom hath plagued us very much by steam leaks, and therefore I have had one cast (with its conducting pipe) all in one piece; since which the engine doth not take more than 10 feet of steam, and I hope to reduce that quant.i.ty, as we have just received the new piston, which shall be put in and at work tomorrow. Our Soho engine never was in such good order as at present. Bloomfield and Willey (engines) are both well, and I doubt not but Bow engine will be better than any of 'em.

He concludes, "I did not sleep last night, my mind being absorbed by steam." Means for increasing the heating surface swept through his mind, by applying "in copper spheres within the water," the present flue system, also for working steam expansively, "being clear the principle is sound."

To add to Boulton's anxieties, he had received a summons to attend the Solicitor-General next week in opposition to Gainsborough, a clergyman who claimed to be the original inventor. "This is a disagreeable circ.u.mstance, particularly at this season, when you are absent. Harrison is in London and idleness is in our engine shop."

Watt wrote Boulton on July 28, 1776, apologising for his long absence and stating he was now ready to return, and would start "Tuesday first"

for Liverpool, where he expected to meet Boulton. Meanwhile, the latter had been called to London by the Gainsborough business. A note from him, however, reached Watt at Liverpool, in which he says, "As to your absence, say nothing about it. I will forgive it this time, _provided you promise me never to marry again_."

In due time, Mr. and Mrs. Watt arrived and settled early in August, 1776, in Birmingham, which was hereafter to be their permanent home, although, as we shall see, Watt never ceased to keep in close touch with his native town of Greenock and his Glasgow friends. His heart still warmed to the tartan, the soft, broad Scotch accent never forsook him; nor, we may be sure, did the refrain ever leave his heart----

And may dishonour blot our name And quench our household fires, If me or mine forget thy name, Thou dear land of my Sires,

Many a famous Scot has the fair South in recent times called to her--Stephenson, Ruskin, Carlyle, Mill, Gladstone and others--but never before or since, one whose work was the transformation of the world.

At last we have Watt permanently settled alongside the great works to which he was hereafter to devote his rare abilities until his retirement at the expiration of the partnership in 1800. His labors at Soho soon began to tell. The works increased their celebrity beyond all others then known, for materials, workmanship and invention.

The mines of Cornwall promised to become unworkable; indeed, many already had became so. The Newcomen engines could no longer drain the deepened mines. Several orders for Watt engines had been received, and as much depended upon the success of the first, Watt resolved to superintend its erection himself. Mrs. Watt and he started over the terrible road into Cornwall, and had to take up their abode with the superintendent of the mine, there being no other house for miles around.

Naturally the builders and attendants of the Newcomen engine viewed Watt's invasion of their district with no kindly feelings. Great jealousy arose and Watt's sensitive nature was sorely tried. Many attempts to thwart him were met with, and, taken altogether, his life in Cornwall was far from agreeable.

The engine was erected, the day of trial came, mining men, engineers, mining proprietors and others a.s.sembled from all quarters to see the start. Many of the spectators interested in other engines would not have shed tears had it failed, but it started splendidly making eleven eight-foot strokes per minute, which broke the record. Three cheers for the Scotch engineer! It soon worked with greater power and more steadily, and "forked" more water than the ordinary engines with only about one-third the consumption of coal. Watt wrote:

I understand all the west country captains are to be here tomorrow to see the prodigy. The velocity, violence, magnitude, and horrible noise of the engine give universal satisfaction to all beholders, believers or not. I have once or twice trimmed the engine to end the stroke gracefully and to make less noise, but Mr. Wilson cannot sleep without it seems quite furious, so I have left it to the enginemen; and, by the by, the noise seems to convey great ideas of its power to the ignorant, who seem to be no more taken with modest merit in an engine than in a man.

Well said, modest, reserved philosopher with vast horse-power in that big head of yours, working in the closet noiselessly, driving deep but silently into the bosom of nature's secrets, pumping her deepest mines, discovering and bringing to the surface the genius which lay in steam to do your bidding and revolutionise life on earth! In this, the first triumph, there was recompense for all the trials Watt and his wife had endured in Cornwall.

Readers will note that no workman had yet been developed who could be trusted to erect the engine. The master inventor had to go himself as the mechanical genius certain to cure all defects and ensure success.

This shows how indispensable Watt was.

Orders now flowed in, and Watt was needed to prepare the plans and drawings, no one being capable of relieving him of this. To-day we have draftsmen by the thousand to whom it would be easy routine work, as we have thousands to whom the erection of the Watt engine would be play.

Watt was everywhere. At length he had to confess that "a very little more of this hurrying and vexation would knock me up altogether." At this moment he had just been called to return to Cornwall to erect the second engine. He says "I fancy I must be cut in pieces and a portion sent to every tribe in Israel." We may picture him reciting in Falstaffian mood, "Would my name were not so terrible to the enemy (deep-mine water) as it is. There can't a drowned-out mine peep its head out but I'm thrust upon it. Well, well, it always was the trick of my countrymen to make a good thing too common. Better rust to death than be scoured to nothing by this perpetual motion."

Watt had a hard time of it in Cornwall during his next stay there, for he had to go again. He arrives at Redruth to find many troubles.

Forbes' eduction-pipe is a vile job, he writes, and full of holes. The cylinder they have cast for Chacewater is still worse, for it will hardly do at all. The Soho people have sent here Chacewater pipe instead of Wheal Union, and the gudgeon pipe has not arrived with the nozzles. These repeated disappointments will ruin our credit in the country, and I cannot stay here to bear the shame of such failures of promise.

It is easy for present-day captains of industry to plume themselves upon their ability to select men sure to succeed well with any undertaking, and a.s.sume that Watt lacked the indispensable talent for selection, but he had been driven by sad experience to trust none but himself, the skilled workmen needed to co-operate with him not yet having been developed.

We have not touched upon another source of great anxiety to him at this time. The enterprising Boulton would not have been the organiser he was unless blessed with a sanguine disposition and the capacity for shedding troubles. The business was rapidly extending in many branches, all needing capital; the engine business, promising though it was, was no exception. Little money was yet due from sales and much had been spent developing the invention. Boulton's letter to Watt constantly urged cash collections, while mine-owners were not disposed to pay until further tests were made. Boulton suggested loans from Truro bankers on security of the engines, but Watt found this impracticable. The engines were doing astonishingly well to-day, but who could ensure their lasting qualities? Watt shows good judgment in suggesting that Wilkinson, the famous foundryman, should be taken into partnership. He urges his enterprising partner to apply the pruning knife and cut down expenses naively a.s.suring him that "he was practising all the frugality in his power." As Watt's personal expenses then were only ten dollars per week, a smile rises at the prudent Scot's possible contribution to reduction in expenditure. But he was on the right lines, and at least gave Boulton the benefit of example. Watt was never disposed to look on the bright side of things, and to add to Boulton's load, the third partner, Fothergill, was even more desponding than Watt. When Boulton went away to raise means, he was pursued by letters from Fothergill telling him day by day of imperative needs. In one he was of opinion that "the creditors must be called together; better to face the worst than to go on in the neck-and-neck race with ruin." Boulton would hurry back to quiet Fothergill and keep the ship afloat. Here he shines out resplendently. He proved equal to the emergency. His courage and determination rose in proportion to the difficulties to be overcome, borne up by his invariable hope and unshakable belief in the value of Watt's condensing engine, he triumphed at last, pledging, as security for a loan of $70,000, the royalties derivable from the engine patents, and an annuity for a loan of $35,000 more. So small a sum as $105,000 sufficed to keep afloat the big ship laden with all their treasures.

There was a period of great depression in Britain when Boulton and Watt were thus in deep water, and at such times credit is sensitive in the extreme. A small balance on the right side performs wonders. This recalls to the writer how, once in the history of his own firm, credit was kept high during a panic by using the identical sum Boulton raised, $70,000, from a reserve fund that had been laid away and came in very opportunely at the critical time. Every single dollar weighs a hundredfold when credit trembles in the balance. A leading nerve specialist in New York once said that the worst malady he had to treat was the man of affairs whose credit was suspected. His unfailing remedy was: "Call your creditors together, explain all and ask their support. I can then do you some good, but not till then." His patients who did this found themselves restored to vigor. They were supported by creditors and all was bright once more. The wise doctor was sound in his advice. If the firm has neither speculated nor gambled (synonymous terms), nor lived extravagantly, nor endorsed for others, and the business is on a solid foundation, no people have so much at stake in sustaining it as the creditors; they will rally round it and think more of the firm than ever, because they will see behind their money the best of all securities--men at the helm who are not afraid and know how to meet a storm.

Boulton's timid partners no doubt were amazed that he was so blind to the dangers which they with clearer vision saw so clearly. How deluded they were. We may be sure neither of them saw the danger half as vividly as he, but it is not the part of a leader to reveal to his fellows all that he sees or fears. His part is to look dangers steadily in the face and challenge them. It is the great leader who inspires in his followers contempt for the danger which he sees in much truer proportion than they. This Boulton did, for behind all else in his character there lay the indomitable will, the do or die resolve. He had staked his life upon the hazard of a die and he would stand the cost. "But if we fail," often said the timid pair to him, as Macbeth did to his resolute partner, and the same answer came, "_We_ fail." That's all. "One knockdown will not finish this fight. We'll get up again, never fear. We know no such word as fail."[1]

One source of serious trouble arose from Watt and Boulton having been so anxious at first to introduce their engines that they paid small regard to terms. When their success was proved, they offered to settle, taking one-third the value of the fuel saved. This was a liberal offer, for, in addition to the mine-owners saving two-thirds of the former cost of fuel consumed by the previous engines, mines became workable, which without the Watt engine must have been abandoned. These terms however were not accepted, and a long series of disputes arose, ending in some cases only with the patent-right itself. It was resolved that all future engines should be furnished only upon the terms before stated, Watt declaring that otherwise he would not put pen to paper to make new drawings. "Let our terms be moderate," he writes, "and, if possible, consolidated into money _a priori_, and it is certain we shall get _some_ money, enough to keep us out of jail, in continual apprehension of which I live at present." Imprisonment for debt, let it be remembered, had not been abolished. One of the most beneficent forward steps that our time can boast of is the Bankruptcy Court. However hard we may yet be upon offenders against us, society, through humane laws, forgives our debtors in money matters, and gives a clear bill of health after honorable acquittal in bankruptcy, and a fresh start.

The result proved Watt's wisdom. His engines were needed to save the mines. No other could. Applications came in freely upon his terms, and as Watt was a poor hand at bargaining, he insisted that Boulton should come to Cornwall and attend to that part.

Meanwhile great attention was being paid to the works and all pertaining to the men and methods. The firm established perhaps the first benefit society of workmen. Every one was a member and contributed according to his earnings. Out of this fund payments were made to the sick or disabled in varying amounts. No member of the Soho Friendly Society, except a few irreclaimable drunkards, ever came upon the parish.

When Boulton's son came of age, seven hundred were dined. No well-behaved workman was ever turned adrift. Fathers employed introduced their sons into the works and brought them up under their own eye, watching over their conduct and mechanical training. Thus generation after generation followed each other at Soho works.