The English nation has ever shown itself insensible to the claims of genius and high intellectual endowments, except where the results have been brought directly to bear in statesmanship or war. Of this inability to appreciate the highest order of intellectual excellence Watt affords a striking example. When it was suggested to the British government by those better capable than that government was of appreciating the genius of this great man, that the nation would do itself honour by erecting a splendid monument at his own [Pg319] cost to him to whom it was so deeply indebted for the extension of its resources and the augmentation of its power, the reply was that such a measure could not be adopted as it might be drawn into a precedent in like cases thereafter! A precedent in like cases!! When will the time arrive when the world will produce a like case? The monument which has been erected in Westminster Abbey was in fact raised by private subscription, the nation having thus stigmatised itself through the act of its government with the everlasting disgrace of refusing the honour proposed to it. The other statues and monuments which have been erected to this great man, have been for the most part raised by the filial piety and the never-dying affection and veneration of the present Mr. James Watt. A statue has been presented by him to the University of Glasgow, and placed in one of the halls of that college. The inhabitants of Greenock have also erected a marble statue of Watt, for which, and for a library, a building has been erected at the expense of about 3,500l. which has been defrayed by Mr. James Watt. A colossal bronze statue has been erected on a handsome granite pedestal, standing at one of the corners of George Square, Glasgow. The monument in Westminster Abbey, erected by the subscription raised at the public meeting already alluded to, is a colossal statue of Carrara marble, by Chantrey.
Watt was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1784; of the Royal Society of London in 1785; a member of the Batavian Society in 1787; and a corresponding member of the Institut of France in 1808. The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the University of Glasgow, in 1806; and in 1814, the highest scientific honour which can be attained by a philosopher, was conferred on him by the Academy of Sciences of the Institut of France, who nominated him one of its eight foreign associates.
On the pedestal of the monument in Westminster Abbey is engraved the following inscription from the pen of Lord Brougham:— [Pg320]
NOT TO PERPETUATE A NAME
WHICH MUST ENDURE WHILE THE PEACEFUL ARTS FLOURISH,
BUT TO SHOW
THAT MANKIND HAVE LEARNED TO HONOUR THOSE
WHO BEST DESERVE THEIR GRATITUDE,
THE KING
HIS MINISTERS, AND MANY OF THE NOBLES
AND COMMONERS OF THE REALM
RAISED THIS MONUMENT TO
JAMES WATT,
WHO DIRECTING THE FORCE OF AN ORIGINAL GENIUS,
EARLY EXERCISED IN PHILOSOPHIC RESEARCH
TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF
THE STEAM ENGINE,
ENLARGED THE RESOURCES OF HIS COUNTRY,
INCREASED THE POWER OF MAN,
AND ROSE TO AN EMINENT PLACE
AMONG THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FOLLOWERS OF SCIENCE
AND THE REAL BENEFACTORS OF THE WORLD.
BORN AT GREENOCK MDCCXXXVI.
DIED AT HEATHFIELD IN STAFFORDSHIRE MDCCCXIX.
WATT'S CHAPEL IN HANDSWORTH CHURCH.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] See Buchanan on the Economy of Fuel and Management of Heat, especially as it relates to heating and drying by means of Steam.